Monthly Archives: December 2017
Duelists in El Clasico
If there was an enduring image of today’s El Clasico it is that of Lionel Messi celebrating his penalty. He spreads out his legs, pumps his chest out and raises head and arms to the fans like Moses displaying the most important commandment. That the stadium, happened to be Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu and the fans in teir vast majority home-grown and visceral tribal opponents of FC Barcelona made the gesture defiant in itself. What made it cheeky was that it broke with Messi’s usually more modest grsture to his …
Tomorrow’s unmissable El Clasico
Doubt it not – today’s El Clasico – Real Madrid ‘s Spanish league encounter with FC Barcelona is already much more than a football game. With the star studded teams in two of the best clubs led by the two best players in the world-Messi and Ronaldo- and followed by billions of viewers around the world , this is anticipated as one of the great unmissable sporting spectacles of the year. But this historically politically charged occasion between two great rivals is likely to be played with added drama and …
Catalonia’s Democratic Deficit
Nothing quite like a Catalan regional election to show the world what a huge democratic deficit prevails in that part of Spain. High on my list of failed characters is Carlos Puigdemont, a man who would have been disciplined and almost certainly sacked as a senior executive of any transparent business or the leader of any truly democratic party, but resurrects because he stands for a movement that believes only in its own narrow nationalist interests and has projected himself, quiet falsely, as the martyr of a noble cause. …
