Yesterday I re-read Orwell's essay on language
that obscures meaning, including his famous statement that Political
language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder
respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
Later, I saw this example in Private Eye's Pseuds Corner; John
Osborne: I propose that Philip Larkin developed a set of
techniques that allowed him to instantiate unfixity in the very
fabric of his verse. These techniques include ellipsis, a four-act
structure with closing reversal, asysmmetrical stanza lengths and
rhyme schemes, plus a battery of disaggregative linguistic devices
such as split similes, negative qualifiers, oxymora and rampant
paronomasia. Together these techniques constitute the implements of a
home-grown deconstructionism.
Possibly good news: The man responsible for
one of Spain's notorious ghost airports - and a lot else besides -
has had his 4-year jail sentence confirmed by the Supreme Court. We
now wait to see if he ever sets foot in any jail and how long it is
before friends in the Cabinet issue a pardon. I doubt he's on
tenterhooks.
Spain: I sent an email to my home insurance
company today. I got an automatic response which didn't just say
they'd answer as soon as they could; it cited the law under which
they're obliged to do do. I wonder what this adds to my
satisfaction/expectation. One gets the impression that, if there were
no legal compulsion, they wouldn't do it. Said law: El artículo
10.3, capítulo II de la Orden ECO/734/2004, de 11 de marzo, sobre
los Departamentos y Servicios de Atención al Cliente y el Defensor
del Cliente de las Entidades Financieras
I'm told you can be arrested in Spain for a 'lack
of respect towards authority', usually in the form of an unfriendly
Guardia Civil officer. Who would seem to have a good deal of scope.
Especially when it's his word against yours. Here and here (para 4)
are a couple of examples.
I mentioned Gib the other day. Specifically, the
failure of the Spanish authorities to comply with EU instructions
around the frontier queues. Here's an article which claims to provide
the proof of borderline skulduggery.
Finally . . . A new verb for me: 'To vape'. This
is to smoke an electric cigarette and there are now vape cafés all
around the UK. And a Vape Room in London airport. Progress?
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