Dawn

Dawn

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Two separate gang rapes of 13 year old girls in southern Spain have highlighted the fact that Spanish law doesn’t regard those below 14 as capable of criminal acts. It would be astonishing if this didn't prompt calls for an immediate change in the law. And so it has. It was also inevitable that those on the right of the political spectrum would see these horrific events as a consequence of the anything-goes attitude prevalent in Spain since the end of the Franco dictatorship. In fact, one angry chap on the radio this morning suggested Spain had bred a generation of youths who were responding like Pavlov’s dogs to the sexual stimulations all around them. And, in an extreme example of Spanish public discourse, he accused his opponents of talking “shit, shit and shit”. Which might just have weakened his case a little. Anyway, I guess we can expect to see a lot more of this sort of ‘dialogue’ now. Plus earnest, soul-searching articles in all the newspapers.

Another irritation for those on the Right this week has been the visit of the Spanish Foreign Minister to Gibraltar, the first in more than 300 years. Given Spain’s claim to sovereignty over The Rock, it was inevitable the Opposition would claim that a trip there didn’t rank as a journey to foreign parts. Truth to tell, though, the improvement in relations with Britain over this perennial problem must rank as one of the real successes of the Zapatero administration.

Well, the recession must have well and truly arrived; I saw an Orange mobile phone outlet that had closed down this morning. Will they be like London buses and come along in droves now?

But amidst the gloom, there’s always time for a good human-interest story. This touching Anglo-Spanish example is headlined “A Happy Ending”. But, while I certainly wouldn’t want to wish the couple ill, since they’ve only just got married, I rather feel it’d be more accurate to label it “A Happy Beginning”. Well, what would you expect? We are all victims of our experience(s) . . .

Finally, my thanks to readers for comments on the Spanish word tirabuzones for ‘ringlets’. According to the dictionary of the Royal Academy – which does have its uses – it’s a corruption of the French phrase tire bouchons. Which means something like ‘stretched curls’, I suspect. So, nothing to do with mailboxes at all.

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