Cataluña:
Things are not going well for independence-minded Catalans. In one
short week, the EU has said Cataluña would not be a member of the EU
if it seceded from Spain. And "major
Spanish and European banks warned that Cataluña would put 'financial
stability' at risk if it separated from Spain and the EU, potentially
driving them to abandon the region." More on the latter here.
Bull-goading:
This week will see a legal suit against the mayor of Tordesillas,
brought by a number of groups sufficiently horrified by the recent
Toro de Vega festival to want to try to stop it under existing laws.
Technically, it will hinge on the danger to spectators. The fiesta's
days are surely numbered, even if this action fails. As it probably
will.
The
EU Migration Challenge: No one could accuse the EU's response of
being comprehensive and effective. Here's an interesting take from a
Catholic organisation, addressing the difficult balance between
compassion and common-sense. Right or wrong, at least it has the
courage to address the issue of increasing numbers of Muslims from
eastern Europe, Iraq and Syria. Not to mention Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Google
Translate: This is still a pretty dreadful app but I was impressed by
this translation of hahhahahah
into Hahhahahah.
Galicia:
You can't be considered a serious Spanish region if you lack a major
corruption scandal. Click here for details of ours, which centres on
the now well-known scam of phoney training companies implausibly
sucking millions of euros of easy EU money into, in this case, a
small office in a town in the back of beyond.
Finally
. . . The wonderful Brian Sewell has left us for a place - as
a ex-Catholic - where the art will surely be better than he ever
thought it was here. These are some of his beautifully waspish
comments on the gaudy false gods of BritArt:-
Tracey
Emin: Art’s Jade Goody – a cunning exploitation of ignorance,
irascible emotion and raw sex to draw attention to herself.
Grayson
Perry: His pottery is vulgar . . . most of his pottery could be
intriguingly subversive if converted into table lamps.
Damien
Hirst: To own a Hirst is to tell the world that your bathroom
taps are gilded and your Rolls-Royce is pink.
Anish
Kapoor: When he puts some wonky Meccano structure up at the
expense of £16 million for the Olympics, that’s a joke. That isn’t
art.
All
four: Tracey Emin and Grayson Perry and Damien Hirst and Anish
Kapoor and whoever else really deserve every cruelty because it’s
the only way. They are so accustomed to being told how wonderful they
are and somehow it’s impossible to get through the complacency that
is engendered by that.
Chris
Ofili: Spurious rubbish, most of it.
Banksy:
He is a complete clown and what he does has absolutely nothing to do
with art.
Sewell
had a link with Galicia, of course. He did an entertaining TV
series on The French Way to Santiago de Compostela, though it
was in an old Mercedes and, some say, in the reverse
direction. He ended up(started??) on the beach at Finisterra, burning his
clothes and weepily threatening a return to Catholicism. Worth the
price of the BBC video. Trust me.
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