Category Archives: Misc
Hans Küng RIP
Swiss theologian Hans Küng died on Tuesday at the age of 93 in his home in Tübingen, Germany It was a real godsend to be able to see him and talk to him seven years ago when I was researching Pope of Good Promise and when his mind and body was still with him. It was the first and last time I met him and what a privilege it was to be with him. He was a prophet for the Church in our time ! This was my account of …
A Test of Our Humanity
News of the evacuation at the end of January from coronavirus-hit Wuhan including 83 British and 27 EU mainly Spanish citizens was largely overshadowed, in the British and Spanish media at least, by coverage of the UK’s official exit from the EU. Nonetheless reports focused on the evident sense of relief felt by some of the evacuees at getting out , as well as a sense of uncertainty about their health prospects.. The only certainty about the coronavirus itself is that it has affected not inconsiderable numbers in China, enough …
El sentido liberal
El sentido liberal Es estos días que avanzan las fechas de elecciones en España y el Reino Unido, dos países que por sangre de madre y padre me unen en un compartido sentido de patriotismo, quería reflejar sobre aspectos que me llaman la atención ya que tienen que ver con algunos valores de conducta cívica además de política. De los recién acontecimientos, quería remarcar en dos que se vivieron por separado en ambos países a principios de esta semana y que por algunas horas dominaron la cobertura mediática nacional. …
Falklands War-History & Legacy
The Falklands War, following the Argentine military occupation of disputed British territory in the South Atlantic, involved the biggest British naval deployment since WW2, lasted 74 days and cost the lives 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel, and three Falkland Islanders . It ended in British victory, the collapse of Argentina’s military regime, and contributed to Mrs Thatcher’s reelection as prime-minister. To a new generation of young European adults, the Falklands War not only barely features in their collective memory, but is largely ignored as a subject worth …
The shame of Argentine Football
In the Paraguayan Capital of Asuncion , hardly an icon of historic accountability, a group of South American football executives will meet tomorrow (Tuesday) to decide when and how, if at all, the second leg of the continent’s club championship Copa Libertadores final between River Plate and Boca Juniors of Argentina will be played. This is no routine meeting. It comes after the match initially scheduled for last Saturday was cancelled twice over the weekend as a result of a violent attack in Buenos Aires on the Boca team bus …
England vs Spain Football
Nothing like being a bicultural (British-Spanish) European citizen in a rowdy pub in south London to experience the high and lows of an England-Spain football match at Wembley. Let me say from the outset that my well-known enthusiasm as an author for Spanish football had me in a minority of two in a pub that last Saturday was packed to the rafters with mainly young well tanked English males determined to drink as much beer as possible and back the home team. The pub and most of Wembley were of …
Messi’s Rites of Passage
We have grown used to Messi speaking through his football, but on Tuesday night against Nigeria he showed a less typical, for him, capacity to play the leader. While his opening goal showed the vision, touch, composure and accuracy that has marked his genius for more than a decade, as illustrative of personality was his talk to his team-mates at half time, and the celebration of Argentina’s second goal. The talk just before Argentina walked out for the second half, by all accounts, involved not a huge speech but a …
Memory, Martyrs and Mission
Rome may be full of enduring Christian relics, many of them well known and repeatedly visited by pilgrims, but the temporary exhibition currently on show in the crypt of the Venerable English College is a little publicized gem, well worth visiting if only for a reminder of the enduring and rich legacy of English Catholicism and the part played by Jesuits in its defense. But hurry, it send on May 11th, after a short run of less than a month.. Entitled ‘Memory, Martyrs, and Mission’, exhibits included a first …
Homage to Iniesta
Few people will lament Andres Iniesta’s departure from FC Barcelona as much as Messi. In a book of personal tributes to Iniesta published last year, that of his Argentine colleague speaks volumes about how integral to Barca’s success the two have been, largely because of the unique personal understanding between them as individuals. Messi tells how he never feels more comfortable than when knowing Iniesta is playing alongside him, for the players both feel and live for their football, without letting politics intrude, instinctively playing to each other’s strength, …
Mary Magdalene
This past Sunday the Catholic church I visited had its images covered in deep purple as is traditional at this time leading up to Easter, its altar monopolised by men. Coming in from the bustle of London on St Patrick’s weekend and finding shelter from the aggressive final snow storm of the Beast from the East, I was drawn into a controlled clerical space, then soothed by plain chant and incense and a measured silence with which I was encouraged to meditate on the mystery of Christ. Later in the …
