Tuesday, April 04, 2017
The Sun Has Gone Out
Here’s where we are, and our
apologies for another Brexit-related editorial. Michael Howard – a past Leader
of the Conservatives and an ex-home secretary under John Major – suggests (no
doubt in jest) that Britain would go to war against Spain over Brexit. Mrs May
produces her walrus-laugh for the cameras, Spain is appalled by this political
gaff and gunboat diplomacy, the British residents in Spain are understandably alarmed,
and Gibraltar is stuck (forgive us) between
a rock and a hard place.
Now, Spain wants Gibraltar –
that’s no secret – but it’s not stupid. It has offered a joint sovereignty with
the UK, giving Gib full access to the EU – or failing that, it would consider
the colony to be outside the borders of the European Union and would, simply,
close the gate. It has never suggested ‘invasion’, so Michael Howard needs to
be robustly disciplined by his boss.
Now, Spain wants Gibraltar –
that’s no secret – but it’s not stupid. It has offered a joint sovereignty with
the UK, giving Gib full access to the EU – or failing that, it would consider
the colony to be outside the borders of the European Union and would, simply,
close the gate. It has never suggested ‘invasion’, so Michael Howard needs to
be robustly disciplined by his boss.
One Spanish commentator we
like suggests that Spain keep Gibraltar... and give the UK Benidorm instead.
The United Kingdom, of course,
is interested in trade. Brexit was about closing down everything else, but
never trade. The UK inexplicably hopes for the same amount of trade with the EU
as it currently enjoys – but it won’t get it without a price.
Well, we know that Spain
wants Gibraltar. It will also – out of pique – put a spoke in London’s wheel by
relaxing its opposition to a second referendum for Scotland. Fine,
what else does Whitehall have to discuss in the next two years? What, in short,
of the other twenty six EU states?
Holland might want the British to consume
more drop; Germany would like that 1966
goal disallowed; France apparently wants London to negotiate with Brussels in
French (Heh!). We all know what the Republic of Ireland wants and maybe, for
all we know, Romania’s proposal is that the British need to drive on the other
side of the road by 2020. Maybe Portugal wants a larger slice of the fisheries
and Greece wants its marbles back (so, for that matter, does Michael Howard).
You can’t fight all of these
wars, Mrs May, not if you want to keep the trade in place.
Friday, March 31, 2017
What a cachonfinger!
'Outrage'? Didn't those poor idiots see this coming?
But look on the bright side. There was always the issue of what European language would become the official language of the EU, following the humiliating departure of the UK. It would be silly if it were English, a language officially spoken by no one. But wait, my sorrowful and monolingual friends. Gibraltar Español! So, the future official language of the EU need not change from what it is today since there'll be a bit (a jolly small bit) of the EU wot speaks English.
Or rather, 'Gibraltarian'!
The New Map of the European Union
Monday, March 27, 2017
A Couple of Posters for our Town
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
A few Pictures from San José (Cabo de Gata) Last Weekend.
Wednesday, March 08, 2017
You Can't Say That!
The freedom of expression –
the First Amendment to the United States Constitution – is the right to say or
write (or sing) what you like. Within civilized limits perhaps? Here in Spain,
we have that freedom; mostly. It was understood that one didn’t insult the
Royal Family (‘lèse-majesté’) or
champion ETA or other forms of terrorism (even though the ETA is a dead duck
these days). It was also understood that one insulted Christianity and Islam at
one’s own risk.
So, we have a number of cases
recently of people being arrested and either threatened with prison or indeed being
condemned for inappropriate songs, posts, tweets and commentary. Some of these
are attracting a lot of attention, while the Courts evidently appear to the
Public Eye to be dealing leniently with white-collar and political crime.
The gay creature that dressed
up as the Virgin Mary and suffers a parody of crucifixion in Las Palmas as part
of the carnivales there being a case
in point. As The Olive Press says:
‘...The performance, by Borja Casillas (aka
Drag Sethlas), has provoked an embittered debate, and at its centre is Bishop
Francisco Casas, who accused Casillas of ‘frivolous blasphemy’...’. A proposal
to investigate the issue further by the Canaries prosecutor has now been
initiated following a complaint by the Christian Lawyers Association, says El Huff Post here.
A Canaries imam says ‘I can’t even imagine what would happen if they tried
something similar with an image of Mohammed’ (here).
Meanwhile, a bus in Madrid,
painted by a far-right Christian group called Hazte Oir, is impounded for
advertising anti transsexual propaganda (‘a boy has a penis, a girl has a
vulva’).
Meanwhile, others are in
deeper water. The current round of arrests began with the titiriteros this time last year, two puppeteers imprisoned
for five days for ‘celebrating terrorism’ in what was described
by one woman who saw the show in Madrid as ‘rather less violent than Spongebob
Squarepants’. They were eventually pardoned. More recently, we have heard of Cesar Strawberry, the punky Marxist singer from
Def Con Dos who faces one year of jail-time for his songs.
This week, six ‘Twitterers’
were condemned
in court for various improper postings on the Twitter platform. They posted
humiliations and pro-terrorist remarks and received anything up to two years
each (the normal limit for not actually going
to jail for a first offence). Another poster, a girl from Murcia, with her joke
about the assassination of Franco’s successor Carrero Blanco, must wait for a
new defence lawyer – her previous one was a great supporter of the Caudillo apparently.
So much for ‘black humour’, she says. The Mallorquín rapper, Valtonyc, now facing three and a half years for two offensive songs, has
one of them on YouTube here. Three hundred thousand people have seen it so far.
A liberal judge says in an interview with El
Diario: ‘Our criminal laws are very harsh with conduct linked to freedom of
expression, as well as the criminalization of poverty. But they are extremely
gentle with political and financial delinquency’. So what to do?
Rather oddly, the Minister
for Justice says this week that ‘in Spain, no one is condemned for their
songs or their opinions’. He blames the courts.
We are left with only this: should
the accent be placed on the content of inappropriate speech – or on a better
education for the speaker?
Monday, March 06, 2017
Vera Bulls
On the last Sunday of February, there was a 'charity' bullfight in Vera. Because this was not a usual traditional corrida, the matadores didn't wear their 'suits of lights', but instead dressed in Andalusian cowboy fashion (picture). The event was significant because five of the six were top-of-the-line names, and the sixth was an up-and-coming Almería novillero.
I wanted in particular to see one of them, a young Peruvian called Andrés Roca Rey, as he has made a name for himself despite his young age (he's now nineteen) and he was unable to attend a fight I had gone to see in Almería City last summer (he'd been gored the week before in Málaga).
The Vera ring is one of seventeen bullrings across the province of Almería (most of 'em still in operation) and this particular one seats 4,800 spectators. They vary in size, with the Roquetas del Mar one holding 8,000 and the Almería City one at 9,800 (the world's largest, in Mexico City, holds 41,300 people).
The Sunday fight began with Diego Ventura, a mounted bullfighter, called a rejoneador. He would switch horses during his faena, and place his barbed banderilleras with skill into the back of the bull, ending his time with a lance through the bull's back and into its heart. At one point, the bull nudged his horse (not good) and he fell off (picture). He was awarded an ear, following lots of white hankie waving from the crowd.
Following Diego, the others were matadores, fighting from the ground. We saw El Córdobes, El Fandi (who also does his own bandilleras) and Cayetano (the bull stepped on his foot at one point). All were good but were unable to make clean kills.
Then came Roca Rey. Who was sublime. He's worth watching on YouTube (here). Here in Vera, he seemed to work at the peak of his talents, and he killed the bull at the 'moment of truth' with a perfect thrust. The crowd stood and roared and he was awarded both ears and the tail by the president.
The sixth and final fighter, Juan Carlos Benitez, was awarded an ear for a clean kill, but I had left by then. You can't improve on perfection.
I wanted in particular to see one of them, a young Peruvian called Andrés Roca Rey, as he has made a name for himself despite his young age (he's now nineteen) and he was unable to attend a fight I had gone to see in Almería City last summer (he'd been gored the week before in Málaga).
The Vera ring is one of seventeen bullrings across the province of Almería (most of 'em still in operation) and this particular one seats 4,800 spectators. They vary in size, with the Roquetas del Mar one holding 8,000 and the Almería City one at 9,800 (the world's largest, in Mexico City, holds 41,300 people).
The Sunday fight began with Diego Ventura, a mounted bullfighter, called a rejoneador. He would switch horses during his faena, and place his barbed banderilleras with skill into the back of the bull, ending his time with a lance through the bull's back and into its heart. At one point, the bull nudged his horse (not good) and he fell off (picture). He was awarded an ear, following lots of white hankie waving from the crowd.
Following Diego, the others were matadores, fighting from the ground. We saw El Córdobes, El Fandi (who also does his own bandilleras) and Cayetano (the bull stepped on his foot at one point). All were good but were unable to make clean kills.
Then came Roca Rey. Who was sublime. He's worth watching on YouTube (here). Here in Vera, he seemed to work at the peak of his talents, and he killed the bull at the 'moment of truth' with a perfect thrust. The crowd stood and roared and he was awarded both ears and the tail by the president.
The sixth and final fighter, Juan Carlos Benitez, was awarded an ear for a clean kill, but I had left by then. You can't improve on perfection.
Friday, February 24, 2017
The Entertainer (Offline)
The Entertainer was a weekly newspaper that started in April 1985. It was a 'free sheet' (as they used to call these things) serving the English-speaking population in Almería. This in the days before desktop publication, the Internet and colour printing. The next year, a second edition for the Costa Blanca, and soon after, a third for the Costa del Sol. Spin-offs included 'Entertainer en Español' - a monthly for Almería, and, briefly, another for Alicante. There was also a radio show called 'The Entertainer Show', broadcast from Radio Indalo, in Mojácar and Radio Marbella on the Costa del Sol.The newspaper was sold in 1999, but, alas, things did not progress smoothly.
I ran a similar-sounding title from November 2003, a monthly called The New Entertainer, with support from a Spanish journalist called Ángel Medina (it ran to sixty issues) while also editing El Indálico (110 issues). I also wrote/write for Actualidad Almanzora, La Opinión de Almería, El Mirador, The Reader, The Olive Press and The RTN.
I started The Entertainer Online (a blog) started in September 2002, when the title for the newspaper was substituted by the new owners. It was a advertising-free blog, with additional pages, including a large number of useful links about Spain.
The blog has continued since then, until early in January this year, following attacks from somewhere (let's suppose it was the Russians).
Briefly, another blog - a simpler one - with the GoDaddy people, but now I suppose it's time to give up and concentrate on my other projects.
Business over Tapas: A weekly subscription news service about Spain (Facebook here).
Spanish Shilling: Essays about Spain, since January 2006
...and now, taking over from The Entertainer Online, Lenox Napier: Local news and opinion.
