Monthly Archives: December 2013
My Christmas Carol
a. Verse One Just now I watched my football team FC Barcelona finish off their year playing a beautiful game of football-poetic in its creation, selfless in its delivery. The team played without their two non-Spanish superstars-Messi and Neymar- and yet had Pedro (born in the Canaries) and Cesc (a Catalan) scoring some sublime goals, and Jordi Alba (a Catalan) and Iniesta (a Castilian) in perfect harmony down the left-hand side and in the middle. Barca’s manager, Tata Martino likes to rotate his players (several of them Spanish internationals) …
Neymar’s night at the Nou Camp
Celtic dismally failed to live up to their brave heart image last night, but their gutless performance at the Nou Camp should not detract from the fact that this was a FC Barcelona victory worthy of note. Above all, this will be remembered as the match in which Neymar showed what he is capable of as a playmaker, on and off the ball, assisting, delivering, and scoring goals-his Champion’s League drought transformed into a flowing hat rick. And to have Neymar showing his true talent, and visibly enjoying himself, …
La mal imagen de Argentina
El ejemplo de Nelson Mandela, y también del Papa Francisco (un argentino) nos recuerda que el liderazgo, el compromiso, la misericordia y reconciliación, son los pilares de una política humana y capaz de transformación. Algo de esto se vivió en Argentina en Diciembre de 1983 al asumir la presidencia Raúl Alfonsín, un político social demócrata de talla Europea que supo en su mejor momento romper las divisiones tribales y clasistas de un país, para después dejar desperdiciar lo conseguido, atrapado por lo peor de su pais. De los …
La Roja’s Brazilian challenge
To mark today’s draw for next summer’s World Cup, let me offer you a bit of interesting history, and some preliminary thoughts on who might win. As I relate in my latest book ‘La Roja’ (now published in English (UK & US editions), Spanish – ‘De Rio Tinto a La Roja’, and German) https://www.jimmy-burns.com/books/ the world of football was in a different place back in 1950 when Brazil hosted her last football World Cup. It was the first such tournament to be staged anywhere in the world since 1938 …
Nigella- I am on your side
It’s a tried and tested argument that high profile personalities should know that having their private lives splashed across the front-pages is an inevitable part of their existence, and thus should have no reason to be surprised when this happens. In the age of the internet and 24 hours news nothing really can be kept secret, so it’s best to make sure that you have nothing to hide that could be used against you. Reputation can be protected only on the basis of integrity and honesty. Now Nigella Lawson …
