But,
seriously, here's a Financial Times leader cited and endorsed
by El Mundo this morning. As
the concluding sentences put it:- Spain
is still fighting its way through the most wrenching economic crisis
of the democratic era, at a time when nearly all its institutions,
from the monarchy to the judiciary, exhibit signs of rot. There must
be a full, transparent and independent investigation of the alleged
Bárcenas accounts. Neither the government nor the country can afford
anything less.
Nor the EU, I guess. The mere perception of governmental instability
is going to worry the markets.
And
here's Guy Hedgecoe of IberoSphere with his own comments and
queries on a saga that will surely run and run. I'll content myself
with repeating that what we need is an unequivocal statement that the
government is aware of the extent of corruption and is determined to
stamp it out wherever it's found. If this can't or won't come from
the Rajoy administration, then it has to come from another one.
Back
on terra firma . . . One of Hamburg's leading attractions –
for kids of all ages – is a model railway which goes way beyond the
normal meaning of these words. It's called Miniatur Wunderland
and I spent a pleasant three hours there this afternoon. Though it
was disconcerting being with people who were aware of your existence
and children who apologised if they bumped into you. Here's a 5
minute video which just about does justice to this marvel.
Rather
to my surprise, the Germans go in for dubbing as much as the Spanish.
The false actors' voices – as in Spain – are so well established
that I half expected someone other than Al Pacino to walk up to take
the lifetime achievement honour he was scheduled to receive at an
awards ceremony here last week.
So,
the bones under the Leicester car-park really are those of Richard
III. Or Richard One Hundred and Eleven, as an American commentator
reportedly once said. This places at least one group of folk in a
dilemma – The people who own the spot where the king's corpse was
alleged to have been chucked into the river. I guess they have 3
options:- 1. Quietly remove the plaque, 2. Balls it out, as if
nothing had happened, or 3. Put up a new plaque a metre or so away,
reading:- And this is where the body of King Richard was fished
out of the river before being buried in an
unmarked grave.
Finally
. . . An English language school here in Hamburg runs an ad with the
bare statement:- We have ways of making you talk. OK, it's
funny but will the Hamburgers understand the humour and irony? And is
it not a bit risky if they do?
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