Here's a headline
you're unlikely to ever see the like of in Spain, and not only
because it's in English . . ."Rail chiefs could face the sack
over rail chaos". It relates, of course, to the problems caused
by over-running engineering works on the UK network throught Xmas. As we wait to
see, one of the well-paid bunch has been told he won't get his vast 371,000 pounds pre-retirement bonus. Which is a start.
As we approach Jan 1,
one group of people fears a change coming into force that day. These
are the shopkeepers and restaurant/bar owners throughout Spain who've
long benefitted from low rents dating under a control daing back to
the Franco era. Thenceforth, rents will be market linked the result
will be that many small operators will be forced to move elsewhere.
This will allow larger retailers to move in, creating the risk that
Spanish high streets will end up looking like those of the UK.
Exactly the same. Not all progress is good.
Someone has hacked into
the computers of Spain's National Police Force and destroyed files
relating to some corruption trials. The culprits are said to be
Russian but you do have to wonder. Even if it were down to Russians,
who commissioned them?
If you listen to BBC4's podcasts - as I do and will do again when I find my iPod - one thing you'll note is just how many foreign academics work in UK universities, all speaking excellent English. Personally, I feel this is a very good thing. Especially as there's a wide range of accents.
Here's a series of
short videos featuring national/regional dancing. I thought they were
Galician but am assured they're Aragonese. This being so, I can
probably safely say they're both elegant (the women) and a tad camp
(the men). Make up your own mind. Note: The computer seems to have updated the same (soundless) bit twice. Am working on it! Perhaps it's because they're now in Apple Quicktime format.
And, penultimately,
here's someone's view of the best vacation places in Southern Spain.
Finally . . . Another
extract from the 1942 Guide for Yanks in Limeyland:
Remember There's A War
On. Britain may look a little shop-worn and grimy to you. The British
people are anxious to have you know that you are not seeing their
country at its best. There's been a war on since 1939. The houses
haven't been painted because the factories aren't making paint –
they're making planes. The famous English gardens and parks are
either unkempt because there are no men to take care of them, or they
are being used to grow needed vegetables. British taxicabs look
antique because Britain makes tanks for herself and Russia and hasn't
time to make new cars. British trains are cold because power is
needed for industry, not for heating. There are no luxury dining cars
on trains because total war effort has no place for such frills. The
trains are unwashed and grimy because men and women are needed for
more important work than car-washing. The British people are anxious
for you to know that in normal times Britain looks much pettier,
cleaner, neater.
GOVERNMENT
ALTHOUGH you'll read in
the papers about "lords" and "sirs," England
is still one of the great democracies and the cradle of many American
liberties. Personal rule by the King has been dead in England for
nearly a thousand years. Today, the King reigns, but does not govern.
The British people have great affection for their monarch but they
have stripped him of practically all political power. It is well to
remember this in you comings and goings about England. Be careful not
to criticise the King. The British feel about that the way you would
if anyone spoke against our country or our flag. Today's King and
Queen stuck with the people through the blitzes and had their home
bombed just like anyone else, and the people are proud of them.
Britain the Cradle of
Democracy. Today the old power of the King has been shifted to
Parliament, the Prime Minister and his Cabinet. The British
Parliament has been called the mother of parliaments, because almost
all the representative bodies in the world have been copied from it.
It is made up of two houses, the House of Commons and the House of
Lords. The House of Commons is the most powerful group and is elected
by all adult men and women in the country, much like our Congress.
Today the House of Lords can do little more than add its approval to
laws passed by the House of Commons. Many of the titles held by the
lords (such as "baron" and "duke" and
"earl") have been passed from father to son for hundreds
of years. Others are granted for outstanding achievement, much as
American colleges and universities give honorary degrees to famous
men and women. These customs may seem strange and old-fashioned but
they give the British the same feeling of security and comfort that
many of us get from the familiar ritual of a church service.
The important thing to
remember is that within the apparently old-fashioned framework the
British enjoy a practical, working twentieth century democracy which
is in some ways even more flexible and sensitive to the will of the
people than our own.
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