Monthly Archives: November 2012
Catalonia: premature divorce averted
The Catalan electorate have been short changed by headline writers. To call this a resounding personal defeat for Arturo Mas, on the one hand, or a sweeping endorsement of Catalan nationalism on the other is to simplify things to the point of distortion. True, Mas failed to obtain the absolute majority of CIU he had been seeking but the increase, at his party’s expense , of the vote for Esquerra, suggests that a majority of Catalan voters remain deeply unhappy about their current relationship with the Spanish state as …
Flamenco meets the Subsaharan migrant
A lot of water has passed under the Spanish cultural bridge since I first saw the flamenco guitarist Paco Peña in the late 1960’s playing his guitar in a charity fund-raising event for London’s Spanish immigrant community. Half a century ago, Peña was slowly building up a following after moving as a teenager to the UK from Spain, and playing for diners at the since defunct Antonio’s Restaurant in Covent Garden. His fan base initially grew among the new British mass tourism to Spain, and other previously uninitiated in traditional …
Politicos poco transparentes, periodismo sin rigor
Cuando amigos me preguntan qué ventajas veo en ser hijo de madre Española y padre Anglo-Sajón/ Escocés, respondo, citando a Valle Inclán, que es el privilegio de ver las cosas con la perceptiva de la otra ribera. Ser bi-cultural no provoca trastornos bipolares sino al contrario puede, en un buen día, facilitar cierta claridad de perspectiva basada en la experiencia de lo bueno y lo malo de una cultura y la otra. Pues bien, doy gracias a dios que la profesión de periodista la aprendí en el Reino Unido, con …
The difference between Stamford Bridge and the Nou Camp
As anyone who reads some of the comments on my blogs will know, I have an obsessive follower. He follows me continuously so as to conduct an unrelenting campaign of criticism verging on defamation whenever I write anything positive about FC Barcelona- which is quite often, I admit. I can reveal that ‘Captain Terry’ –for that is the alias under which he pursues me on the web- is known to me as a good friend from childhood on any other subject but football- otherwise I would have set the dogs …
Keeping the BBC in perspective
Looking back over the thirty years I worked for the FT, I still cannot believe how lucky I was to have worked for an organisation that believed there was such a thing as journalistic integrity. It meant that however difficult the assignment we were expected to get our facts right, and on stories of particularly sensitivity, there were hierarchical checks and balances in place that went via down-table sub-editor to the editor, as well as legal ones, with a lawyer at the end of a phone, or if needs be, …
Love-in at Celtic Park
Its rare to recall a football game in which your team’s defeat doesn’t leave you with a bitter after-taste. But few Barca supporters looked dejected last night as they emerged into the Scottish rain after seeing their team lose 2-1 to Celtic in their Champion’s league tie. From earlier in the day Barca and Celtic supporters had been sharing pints, swapping travelers tales, previous match anecdotes, and shared good memories of a Swede. When the match was almost upon them , the 1,000 cules who had scraped their spare …
Los Catalanes y el bien comun
Nací en Madrid, de una tradición familiar influenciada más que nada por el liberalismo esencial de mi abuelo Marañon- la política no como dogma, sino como una manera de ser, de respeto hacia el otro, de reverencia hacia el buen común. De padre Escocés, crecí en el país (Inglaterra) con la tradición parlamentaria más antigua y hoy dia- mas representativa del mundo- donde mi religión (la Católica) fue perseguida en tiempos pasados y donde los fieles aun somos minoría. Debo mi educación, y mi fe en la humanidad hecha posible …
