Jimmy Burns's Blog, page 16

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)

http://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 because of the political divisions and economic hardships provoked by the Second World War and its aftermath. 

Spain, was still evolving as a football nation and ruled by General Franco. She had never won a major championship. She was not among the favourites either on or off the pitch. England , who had introduced football to Spain and Latin America less than a century earlier, and counted legends of the likes Wright and Ramsay, Finney and Mortensen, Mannion and Matthews in their squad,was.

Previously in this tournament, Spain and England had won their opening games, against the United States and Chile respectively. But then Spain beat Chile, and England lost to the US. The Spaniards thus faced the English with an unbeaten record in the competition so far and needing only a draw to enter the final stages.

The Spaniards were up for a fight, with the team counting on some impressive club players –Basora and Cesar (FC Barcelona), Luis Molowny (Real Madrid) and Telmo Zarra, the leader scorer of the Spanish League and widely admired bastion of Athletic de Bilbao.  It was Zarra that scored the one and only goal of the game, in an action for ever immortalised by the ecstatic live commentary of Spanish national radio’s Matias Prats.

As things turned out, Spain’s involvement in the 1950 tournament ended in failure, eliminated from the final stages, after being swamped by Brazil 1-6 and beaten by Sweden 1-3. Uruguay won the tournament, much to Brazil’s chagrin. After that, Spain failed to qualify in four of the next six World Cups, and performed badly in the two that it did contest.  Spain had to wait another sixty years before winning the tournament in South Africa in 2010.   

Spain, or La Roja as it is now  popularly known, qualified for this summer having gone through the group stages undefeated, scoring 14 goals and conceding just three times. But   it is facing a major challenge to retain its reputation as the best national squad in the world. As it prepares to defend its title, the Spanish squad cannot rest on its laurels.

 Over at FC Barcelona, the club that provided both the creative style and most of the players behind the success of La Roja in 2010 and its follow up European Championship win in 2012, the sense of unassailable supremacy has been lost, with the once iconic mid-field duo of Iniesta (goal scorer of the winning championship goal in 2010) and Xavi less than impressive so far this season. Moreover Spain faces tough competition from national teams that have hugely improved their performance since the last World Cup, like Argentina, Germany, and Brazil, the host nation.  (England remain a rank outsider having failed to impress with any quality over the last year. )

However Spain’s  coach Vicente Del Bosque has a proven track record of forging teams that not only play, on a good day,  beautiful football, but can also pull back from disaster and win and he has an extraordinary pool of talent to pick from. There are his  in-form other tried and tested  squad players like Busquets, Xabi Alonso , Ramos, Navas, Cazorla, Javi Martinez, and Silva; stars who have particularly brilliant seasons in foreign lands like LLorente(Juventus), and Negredo(Man City);  super young bloods of Spain’s hugely successful under-21 team such as Isco, Koke, and Batra, and last but no means least the Brazilian born but nationalised Spaniard Diego Costa . No other national team has such a galaxy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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 is not by any stretch of the imagination a low profile figure. She is an attractive and intelligent  celebrity chef, who has a huge TV following on both sides of the Atlantic ,and whose cook books grace the kitchens  of millions of middle and upper class kitchens.

This week Nigella told a widely reported public court case involving her former employees that she had snorted a few lines of cocaine and smoked a few joints during her life, an admission that has been devoured by the  tabloids and even some broadsheets.  On the way to court she had to run the gauntlet of press cameras. It was courageous and loyal of her brother Dominic to be with her-true brotherhood.

I have to say that on balance I feel sorry for Nigella – a woman whose two marriages have hardly been beds of roses, whose past drug taking while not exactly saintly never became a habit and who finds herself in the limelight, envied by some, resented by others, struggling to be treated as an ordinary human being. Society can do with more compassion , not least in this season of  Advent.

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¿Qué puede aprender España de los Británicos?

 

¿Qué puede  aprender  España de los Británicos? Pues, en el tema de cómo manejar una reivindicación democrática, bastante.

En lo que va  de la semana, Alex Salmond ha llevado el debate sobre el independismo escoces a un nivel mayor  al publicar un detallado programa al que ya han respondido los que piensan que la separación del Reino Unido es una locura economía y política. En los medios ‘serios’ británicos-entre ellos el Financial Times-se analizan los argumentos  pros y en contra con objetividad.

Los que se oponen—eso  alianza entre conservadores, laboristas, y liberal demócratas, muchos de ellos escoceses- aún tienen que definirse con el mismo detalle- pero ya están a la vista varios documentos académicos, libros,  y de informes de ‘think-tanks’ que argumentan con cierta coherencia la necesidad del voto ‘no’.

Mientras tanto en Catalunya, aun queda por ver un documento tan claro y persuasivo como el de Salmond. Por el contrario, sin aun tener un programa claro y detallado de lo que supondría una Catalunya fuera del estado Español, el  nacionalismo Catalán está  dividido  entre los que quieren pactar con Madrid y los que buscan forzar la legitimidad democrática a través de la movilización de masas , y parece algo indeciso  en el cómo y cuándo de un referéndum. Por su parte, parece que el PSOE no ve la causa independista  como parte de su renovación partidista, y Rajoy nos dice que los intentos de separatismo tanto de los escoceses como de los catalanes serán frenados por Europa. Lo que no se ve surgiendo de la clase política del centro es un acuerdo, ni una predisposición al dialogo, ni mucho menos un programa de respuesta a las reivindicación Catalana sobre la cual los Catalanes puedan votar. Mientras se encuentra un modus vivendi con Iran, el tema de Catalunya sigue estancado.

Todo muy diferente a  la  experiencia Británica, donde la alianza anti-independencia  ‘Better Together’- mejor juntos- refleja bajo su slogan una inteligencia consensual y capacidad de dialogo y argumento, además de un respeto hacia  el derecho de decidir – todos aspectos que están ausentes del actual escenario político Español.

 

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Barca: When the baby gets thrown out with the bathwater

 

Johan Cruyff may have been forgiven for permitting himself a chuckle, while watching Barca lose to Ajax in Amsterdam on Tuesday night- but I suspect he was as saddened by the visitors as he was encouraged by the courage and dedication of some of the home team.

Not known for his modesty, Johan has felt estranged from FC Barcelona for some time, abdicating the role of honorary VIP rather than endorse with his presence in the Nou Camp the presidency of Sandro Rosell.

Behind the clash of egos has been Cruyff’s suggestion that Barca post-Guardiola is losing an identity built over decades- with Barca, far from being more than a club, becoming like any other club driven by money and the determination to make more of it, whatever the means.

Barca’s performance the Amsterdam arena was so poor that it raised serious questions about the Martino effect. Not only was Barca’s unbeaten record broken, but it was relinquished by a team that seemed to lack style,  cohesion, and passion.

This was Barca unrecognisable from the heyday of the Guardiola period which itself was a reincarnation of Cruyff’s dream team period. The mid-field was inconsequential, quick passing and possession virtually absent and even attempted moments of creativity, like Neymar’s scissor kick turned into farce.

Since taking over as coach, Tata Martino has focused on producing football he believed is more likely to win. But last night the long-ball failed as did the strikes at goal, the advance of defenders into attack was laboured, and Pinto’s idiosyncrasies risked defeat by a greater margin.As for the untried youngsters on the bench, they should have been played from the outset.

This was Barca not only without ambition, but without transition, without rhythm, weak in defence and ineffectual in attack. When is Neymar going to score in the Champion’s League? This was a Barca evidently playing without passion, let alone joy- one could almost sense players like Xavi and Iniesta deliberately showing up their unhappiness with Martino’s system before their legendary icon. The baby had been thrown out with the bathwater.

 

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My Catholic family

 

 

The Vatican has launched a worldwide survey to find out what Catholics really think about its teaching on marriage and family life, the BBC reports…Pope Francis is calling bishops to Rome next October to discuss possible reform that considers modern social realities.

This survey has been badly organised by the Vatican civil service- haphazard distribution, and couched in ecclesiastical language that risks being lost on ordinary souls. But it remains a rare democratic exercise involving the Catholic faithful worldwide. It has got me thinking about my faith and my family. Here is my response.

My principle reference on the value of the family has to be the story of  that most exemplary of all families –that of Jesus’s. As a Catholic I was taught that Jesus was the son of God, made man, that his was a Virgin birth, his mother Mary-wife of Joseph-immaculately conceived- an  impossible act to follow. 

  My faith tells me that we are all children of God, and thus, through the humanity of Jesus, trust in his love and forgiveness. But what is it that draws me  to the Christmas story? It is  the simple narrative of the young family escaping persecution, seeking humble shelter in the company of good shepherds, noble kings, and domesticated  animals- a context resonant of trust, peace, and hope.  It is this joy filled harmony that we strive for in our family life. Responsible parenthood means following Christ and trying for  the good of ourselves, our children, and the whole of human society to imitate him in the  true evangelical spirit of The Beatitudes(Mt. 5, 1-12).

The Gospels  remind us of some of the  challenges of being a fair and loving parent . I think of the parable of the prodigal son who inspires boundless mercy and love in his father. I think too of  the sisters Mary and Martha whose contrasting spiritual and material values are of a kind, in a modern context,  that can provoke tension  in family life- besieged as it is by relentless consumerism.

When I started going through  the questions in the Vatican’s survey of Catholic opinion on the ‘pastoral challenges of the family’ with my adult daughters (28 and 27)-both educated in Catholic schools-, they said they simply could not understand what was being asked or why. “This is Gobbeldygook,” said one. “Does the Vatican inhabot another planet?” said the other.

So I found myself translating the questionnaire into a language I felt could better touch on  their generational experience. Their comments did not surprise me for we have brought up our  children to be respectful of the values of honesty and openness, even if we may have failed to impose orthodoxy on them.

They believe in relationships that dignify the human person- boyfriends and girlfriends should respect them, and they them, and look to their parents for advice. Pre-marital sex is not sex without limits but part of developing a loving relationship and it goes with social responsibility- the use of contraception. They believe the weekly Sunday dinners they share with their parents are a worthwhile event for it is quality family time. We gather as a community. My daughters are not regular Church goers, and live their  life as Catholics according to their own judgement, intuition, and feelings. This includes a tolerant attitude toward friends who are gay or single or separated parents. They deserve to be welcomed to, not thrown out of  ‘God’s house’, they said almost in unison.

Our daughters each wear  Christian crosses, still fill in Advent calendars, and join us in Church at Christmas and Easter. As well as fellow Catholics and other Christians, they count Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Budhists and agnostics among their friends.And they vote Labour.

 As for myself- of the papal documents  the survey mentions ,  Gaudium et Spes resonates with me most  for I remember  growing up in the 1960’s listening to my late father and his Catholic friends regularly quoting this text  as exemplifying all that was most positive and hopeful in the Second Vatican Council, bringing the Church into full and open  engagement with the challenges of the modern world and pointing to a better future.

Subsequent papal documents- or at  least the manner on which they were widely quoted within the Church and by the secular media-led me to believe that the Vatican was increasingly out of touch with the  reality of my existence where responsible birth regulation by artificial methods seemed broadly accepted by my Catholic and non Catholics friends, where growing sexual equality formed part of civilised society, and where the suffering partners of broken marriages seemed badly let down by official Church teaching.

Most Catholic families I know of , and I count mine among them, are conscious that in our most positive expression,  we are not so much a ‘domestic church’- to claim it would strike me as sanctimonious, fundamentalist even- but a small community in which, from childhood, we can learn moral values, honour God and make good use of freedom. Family life is both the main anchor and departure point for our relationship with the bigger community, the broader society. It  should not be inward looking or exclusive.

We have learnt from  our parents and we try and teach our children that we have a special responsibility for the young, the old, the sick, the handicapped,  the poor, and the environment. That we have a moral duty to stand up for human rights, to be compassionate to others, including those of a different sexual orientation or who have been unable to maintain a stable family environment.  The difficulties in maintaining a sense of Church in our family midst come partly from the pressures of a secular consumer society but partly from the negativity and hypocricy with which the institutional Church has been viewed by Catholics as well as non-Catholics.

I have an instinctive weariness of clerical  comfort zones, and lay apologists, parroting church teaching in a way that  buries conscience and doubt. However my experience of what has  worked best at parish level has been that of lay people-men and women- being fully empowered to organise themselves , along with a strong and effective liason with a well managed local Catholic school, further outreach with other faiths  and institutions in the community, and a priest at ease with himself and his parishioners.

The institutional Church has so badly handled and conveyed Church teaching as to allow those not just outside but also many Catholics to view the doctrinal orthodoxy of successive popes as repressive rather than  life giving. There have been some very worthwhile and inspiring words in papal documents  but all too often the rays of light have been shut out by reactive forces.

I agree with Catholic journalist Annabel Miller who sees the biggest challenge facing family life today as being  represented by the culture of casual sex, drugs and drink. How sad it was indeed to watch the BBC TV pictures earlier this week of young hung-over  teenagers attending a special clinic for sexually transmitted diseases. And yes I am also concerned with evidence that male transmitted HIV is on the rise, and that far too many children continued to be abused.

If the Vatican was to turn its attention to socioeconomic justice  and refocus its teaching on sexuality,away from sin and towards love and respect of the human body, it would indeed, as Annabel  puts, “find many friends in unexpected places, inside and outside the Church.”

The survey asks what specific contribution can couples and families make to spreading a credible and holistic idea of the couple and the Christian family today? My answer is one word –LOVE. We have to show, as a couple and as a family , that our shared love is not exclusive but a permanent bridge to others.

The question the Bishops need to ask themselves:  Is Church official policy  a. compassionate and b. does it make sense as part of an evangelisation process in the 21st century?

 Take the case of an old friend of mine. Brought up a Catholic, she fell in love and married a Catholic, only to discover subsequently that he had become  an alcoholic. His condition  worsened after she had given birth to their two children. He not only got drunk periodically but turned verbally and physically abusive towards her when he did do. She was forced to try and hide from her children this fact together with  his incapacity to hold up a job and his squandering of the family assets until she decided to separate for the sake of her own sanity and her children’s survival. She eventually met a non-Catholic but deeply religious divorcee with children of his own with whom she entered a deeply loving relationship. But her exclusion from communion on the basis that she was “obstinately  persisting in manifest grave sin” (Canon Law clause 915)and the refusal of the Church to accept her  second marriage as valid left her frustrated  and angry and with a deep sense of betrayal towards the Church she felt she been born to be loyal to.

She could have of course tried as others I know for ecclesiastical annulment of her first marriage on the basis of alleged non consummation according to the Catholic Church affirmation that, in a true marriage, a man and a woman become “one flesh” before the eyes of God.  But the  process of annulment before an ecclesiastical  tribunal would have been a dishonest affair predicated on the premise of an idealised version of marriage when all sorts of complex  feelings and situations contributed to a initially loving couple breaking apart in a personal and pastoral crisis.

In  British dioceses the Catholic marriage rate is dropping despite an increase in the estimated Catholic population. Could it be, as the religious affairs commentator Clifford Longley suggests,  that younger Catholics favour less formalised structures where the price of failure is  less rejecting. (See The Tablet 26th October 2013)?

I agree with Longley that the bishops should think back to Pope John Paul 2  own words in Familiaris Consortio in  which he recognised there was “in fact a difference between those who have sincerely tried to save their first marriage and been unjustly abandoned, and those who through their own grave fault have destroyed a canonically valid marriage.” JP2 also mentioned “those who have entered into a second union for the sake of the children’s upbringing, and who are sometimes subjectively certain in conscience that their previous and irreparably destroyed marriage had never been valid.” I would argue that there are many divorced Catholics who recognise one or the other of these scenarios or a mixture of both.”  JP2 urged reasonable pastors to exercise careful discernment.

But Church canon law needs to be adapted to bring home those Catholics, married or otherwise,  that never deserved to be excluded.Pope Francis has shown himself capable of speaking  a language of compassion. He has also shown he is prepared to listen. I hope that under his papacy society can be offered a renewed vision of the value of human life, and how a loving marriage and family can help heal wounded humanity. I hope that God’s understanding can be truly experienced by those whose marriage has irreversibly broken down, and others who have felt marginalised by Church teaching. We are all deserving of God’s forgiveness, and love.

 

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Cuando se pierde la politica como una manera civilizada de ser

 

Parece que en el tema de Catalunya estamos de nuevo- tal vez nunca fue otra- que en el escenario de dos trenes enfrentados  que van inevitablemente  a darse uno con el otro. Pero aun hay tiempo para bajarse en un anden por el camino y recuperar algo  de lo que es  razonable, de lo qu es sensato. Hay que romper filas, rearmar otras,  recomponer un sentido de lo que  supone un país que forma parte de la comunidad Europea, buscar nuevas alianzas internqs y externas, no dejarse llevar  por los extremismos.

A estas alturas sigo creyendo que dejar el tema en manos del Sr Rajoy y el Sr Mas nos condena al desastre. Tales son  los fallos de liderazgo y imaginacion de  cada uno, que los dos se están dejando  llevar no por lo que es un sentimiento patriótico, de lo que supone el bien común de todos los españoles,  y aqui incluyo por supuesto a  los Catalanes,  sino por las irracionalidades y perjuicios de áreas especificas  de poder político que en si estan poco preocupados por la salida hacia la confrontación en vez del dialogo, y la reconciliacion.

Por un lado están los supuestos barones del PP y esa movida algo hipócrita de ciertos elementos dentro de un partido que se sienten  capazitados para interpretar lo que supone la democracia al  mismo tiempo de no asumir responsabilidad de contabilidad y transparencia en respuesta a  los serios cuestionamientos que han surgido del caso no resuelto de Barcenas.

Por el otro,  esta un sector del nacionalismo Catalan que haze tiempo perdió la riendas de sus propio caballo político para dejárselo llevar a galope tenido por los que no quieren otra salida que la independencia y que ya declaran- de facto unilateralmente – con sus banderas y gritos y mitificacionse historicas que hace tiempo rompieron con cualquier sentido de concenso o voluntad   genuinamente democratica.

En las manos de estos combatientes emotivos, la política se reduce a discusiones interminables  sobre que es un hecho histórico, cual es el numero real de asistentes  a una manifestación ,  las banderas que mas se ven, los gritos que mas se oyen. Los medios se dejan llevar, y demasiados están sordos cuando se les ofrece  la perspectiva de la otra ribera.

Ya he escrito el contraste de estas dos  Espanas con un Reino Unido donde un primer ministro conservador y un líder nacionalista escoces han demonstrado la madurez  y la inteligencia de acordar un proceso democrático en la cuestión de nacionalidad que deja a un lado intereses partidistas. Tambien vale recordar que los que argumentan en contra de la indepencia de Escocia lo hacen en una coalición que incluye a políticos del gobierno gobernante (conservadores y liberal democratas)  y altos cargos del partido opositor Laborista, ,muchos de ellos de sangre escocesa.

Nada de coalición y concenso en la Espana de hoy: Los del PP encantados que el PSOE sufra desprestigio por su propia falta de liderazgo y unidad, y los independistas encantados de ver como el CIU igualmente se divide en si,quedándose en desventaja en los sondeos de opinión, para que la Esquerra se crezca creyendo la unica fuerza capacitada para abrir la puerta al futuro.

Y me pregunto ¿donde están los que quieren no solamente bajar en el anden pero después poder subir  a un tren y  emprender un viaje positivo, racional y pacifico, en concordia ? Politicos capaz de recuperar la política  como un manera de ser civilizada, que lleve a la búsqueda de un acuerdo en lo que se puede y debe cambiar y lo que se debe dejar en su sitio.

Sin duda alguna,  el lógico final de los dos trenes enfrentados es un desastre de consequencias imprevisibles  pero donde el peor de todos mundos pasaria por una independencia unilateral  y un intento del estado constitucional   de imponerse, bajo derecho, a la fuerza.

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Cuando Escocia no es Catalunya

 

Vuelvo a mi casa de Londres después de unos días  en Escocia, donde es evidente el contraste con el ambiente que se vive actualmente en Catalunya.  Tanto en Londres como en Edimburgo y Glasgow, hay  ‘seny’. En Barcelona y Madrid parece que se ha perdido.

A menos de un ano del  referéndum consentido en Escocia, no hay confrontación sino dialogo y debate moderado en el cual los que están decididos discuten sus posiciones alrededor de una  mesa y no en la calle, y donde hay muchos que se declaran abiertamente indecisos  aunque hasta ahora se han considerado  Británicos y Escoceses.

En Edimburgo, el Castillo medieval  asume varias perspectivas sobre la misma historia que va desde guerras de independencia hasta la unidad de reinos, pasando por grandes actos heroicos de ingleses y escoceses.  El desarrollo del imperio británico y su revolución industrial sirvió tanto al sur como el norte. Miles de soldados ingleses y escoceses murieron luchando contra el Káiser Alemán y Hitler.

En Escocia, la monarquía goza de respeto.  El palacio favorito de la Reina Isabel es Balmoral igual que lo fue con La Reina Victoria.  Su marido es el Duque de Edimburgo.  La Princesa Anne tiene a su cargo mantener la imagen positiva que se tiene de la monarquía por todo el Reino Unido. El ejército Británico considera a sus regimientos reales escoceses como entre  los más patriotas. Miles de escoceses trabajan para la flota nuclear de la marina del Reino Unido.  El deportista Andy Murray, un escoces,  es un héroe Británico. En Wimbledon fue celebrado por un país unido y al mismo tiempo consciente y tolerante de sus diferencias.

Banderas –tanto del reino Unido como la Escocesa-vi pocas, no como en Catalunya donde los independistas se han adelante a alzar sus banderas en cada pueblo como una declaración de facto unilateral. En Glasgow y en Edimburgo, las dos grandes ciudades escoceses, se mantiene una nomenclatura equilibrada, basada en una narrativa histórica que se resiste a ser manipulada por argumentos excluyentes. Las calles y los monumentos recuerdan a los gran héroes del  Imperio Británico, a reyes escoceses, a batallas de hace siglos donde murieron escoceses luchando contra ingleses, y batallas más recientes donde ingleses y escoceses se juntaron en el mismo bando.

Hablas con escoceses  que, sin meterse en sentimentalismo ni partidismos, te señalan lo bueno y lo mal que hay en ser parte del Reino Unido y las ventajas y las desventajas que podían traer la independencia. La mayoría, en base de mi encuesta personal entre varios docenas con os cuales hable, tienen más seguridad trabajo y mejores servicios hospitalarios y educativos que cualquier región autonómica  de España, a pesar de no tener el mismo poder de recaudación fiscal a nivel local.

Si la política no se ha radicalizado es porque hay dos políticos claves que ha sabido poner los intereses del país más allá de los intereses partidarios. El líder nacionalista Escoces Alex Salmond y el Primer Ministro Ingles David Cameron acordaron hace tiempo los términos de  un referéndum  que tanto ingleses como escoceses  consideran una genialidad democratuca.

En Escocia, poca gente tiene gran afecto personal por David Cameron, pero reconocen que a darles la oportunidad de votar por la independencia o  en contra ha mostrado cierta madurez política, aunque sabiendo que juega una carta que puede ganar ya que ha dejado una via abierta para la independencia sin proncunciarse en detalle lo que supondría un majoria del voto ‘no’ para el  estado autonómico. Al Alex Salmond se le reconoce cómo un  gran político que ha sabido ganarse espacios sin perder el respeto de sus seguidores ni de sus más críticos.  Perdiendo el referendum aun confía en salir ganando algo, en derechos autonómicos.  La coalición de conservadores, socialistas, y liberal democratas  a favor del no que lidera el ex ministro de economía Laborista Alistar Darling ha mostrado un gran sentido de patriotismo a dejar a un lado los interés partidistas bajo el lema ‘Better Together’, mejor juntos. Estos políticos  se definen como Britanicos y escoceses.

Los escoceses tiene una vida privilegiada comparados a los del otros habitantes del Reino Unidos. No pagan por sus recetas farmacéuticas, sus hijos gozan de cursos universitarios sin pago, tienen paisajes espectaculares, whiskey que se vende bien por todo el mundo, no pagan por el uso de sus autopistas  y tienen recursos naturales que les sobran.  El día que tengan que recaudar más, tal vez algunos de esos privilegios serán insostenibles  igual que los puestos de trabajo  que ofrece Estado Británico.

Y ya que hable de Catalunya al principio termino con una anécdota. Termine mi vista a Escocia apuntándome a ver el partido del Celtic con el Barca. Al que le gusta a el buen futbol y un ambiente de estadio incomparable, no se lo ocurre perder tal  oportunidad.

La noche previa al partido, me junte con unos amigos de Glasgow. Unos decididos a votar el ‘si’, otros el ‘no’ pero todos de acuerdo que el referéndum formaba parte de un proceso democrático, y que Escocia saldría adelante con u resultado o el otro.

Ni hubo gritos, ni desplantes, ni mucho menos, puñetazos. Nadie su fue de la mesa. El dialogo, el debate, la conversación siguió más allá de la medianoche. Más de uno de ellos llego a comentar que la que ventaja que todos ellos tenían sobre Españoles-fuesen Catalanes o Castellanos- es que tenían un Estado y gobierno  que funcionaba mejor que muchos otros en Europa y un primer ministro Ingles  y un líder escoces que comparten la  astucia política de saber que nos  llega a ningún  lado sin cierto grado de pragmatismo.

Al día siguiente  me encontré entre escoceses y catalanes que celebraban un ‘encuentro’ solidario de dos clubs de futbol que presumen de una cierta  identidad cultural y política  de derecho democrático.

Democráticos eran  la mayoría de los culés en el estadio-pero no todos. Hubo un grupito de jóvenes rapados que quisieron presumir  de sus credenciales independistas en sus camisas, sus cantos, y sus  consignas. Justo antes de comenzar el partido, vieron a otro joven  vestido con la bufanda y la camisa del Barca y una bandera Española sobre la espalda. A verle, un rapado se tiro encima e intento quitarle la bandera, mientras que su amiguete gritaba- “esa bandera me da asco”.

Y yo me puse en el medio- como medio escoces, nacido en Madrid, y culé que soy- , y, gracias a la ayuda de dos guardias escoceses y dos policías de Barcelona, pudimos sepárales con el argumento que el ejemplo lo tenía que dar yo como miembro de la Peña Blaugrana de London y además en un estadio Británico donde la democracia pasaba por un no rotundo a la violencia  igual que el Nou Camp. Hicimos las pazes y todos gozamos del partido.

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Barca: Is there a method in the madness?

 

Blame me for being a romantic cule , but what I always thought set us Barca fans apart from ordinary mortals was that they followed a team that not only won games and trophies but did so in a way that was exemplary in terms of solidarity, creativity, and general human conduct- it is what makes FC Barcelona mes que un club.

Of late, I am struggling to retain this sense of association. Not  only does the politics of the club seemed characterised by egos – witness the totemic refusal of Johan Cruyff to attend the Barca-Ajax match at the Nou Camp-but there seems  also to be a distinct  lack of transparency and accountability behind Sandro Rosell’s key decisions, from the club’s ongoing relations with Qatar to the transfer of Neymar and the choice of Tata Martino as coach, among other transfer decisions.

As for the team itself, I don’t what it is right now. Gone  is the defining presence of Xavi and Iniesta in midfield, and that seamless transition play of fluid passing and interchangeable positions.Instead we are seeing  long balls being played from the back with  increasing frequency by a defence that  is shambolic under pressure  and would have conceded many more goals had it not been for Valdes making some spectacular saves. As for alternatives, we are expected to wait for Pujol’s mythical  return as if he alone can provide redemption.

I hope that there is a method in the madness. Perhaps Tata is rotating more to ensure that key players do not reach  the second half of the season exhausted.  Certainly Pedro seems to be stimulated although both he and Ces seems happier playing for La Roja. There is an air of disfunctionality in the way that Barca currently plays which is worrying. The best one can say about Tata’s  Barca at present, apart from the fact that it  is scoring goals,  is that it is unpredictable –and therefore difficult for the opposition to plan against- with even the brilliance of Neymar and Messi  lacking consistency in when and how well it will manifest itself.

There are individual acts of genius, but a team ethos seems to be lacking .  Barca is playing like Real Madrid, with a strong dose of Argentina.

 

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Why La Sra Clegg has my vote

 

It’s party conference season in the UK , and once again Miriam Gonzalez, the wife of the deputy-prime minister, Nick Clegg, has provided a better photopportunity   than any other figure in her husband’s lack-lustre Liberal Democrat party could imagine in  his or her dreams.

Ms Gonzalez looks and acts as a woman where duty and ambition  co-exist in perfect harmony,  being-as she is- perfectly in tune with her commitments as mother, lawyer, and wife of a leading politician, with that extra touch of style and natural human warmth, that her Spanish blood gives her.

Working as she does for an international law firm, she is emblemic of a generation of Spanish women who have taken advantages of the equal opportunities that have surpassed previous political and cultural barriers.  She seems at home, and as self-confident in Glasgow (where the Lib Dem  party conference was this week) as in her native Valladolid.

At the same time this EU citizen remains a committed Roman Catholic. Thankfully, long gone are the days when such religious principles might have proved a disadvantage in the UK, with Spanish wives of UK citizens looked at with suspicion by members of the establishment, even if they too were Catholic .

In his published diary, Evelyn Waugh referred to my Spanish mother Mabel-newly arrived in postwar London as the young bride of his friend, the publisher Tom Burns- as of  “swarthy, squat, Japanese appearance.” While my father retained a certain literary respect for Waugh, my mother came to think of him, not without some justification, as a misogynist, and of a social and cultural snobbery that verged on racism. These are not labels, thankfully, one can attach to Ms Gonzalez’s husband or his friends. Mr Clegg’s agnosticism has long co-existed perfectly happily alongside his wife’s Faith. I can think of few political couples of such seemingly perfect fit and, as an Anglo-Spaniard, I know how culturally enriched their children must feel.

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Catalunya: Encuentros callejeros y el seny de mi amic Carles

 

Catalunya :Encuentros Callejeros y el seny de mi amic Carles

Hoy fui acosado verbalmente y por separado sobre el tema de Catalunya por dos personas que considero amigos pero que al parezer-uno por telefono desde Madrid, el otro, mas directamente, cuando los dos caminabamos por la Calle Mayor de Sitges- pierden los estribos. En vez de eschuchar y dialogar se lanzaron por seperado a un discurso monologo miopico y separatista- dejando anulado mi intento de hablar de una via constructiva y consensual a la manera anglo-sajona.

Gracias a dios aun hay Castellanos y Catalanes con seny y sentido civico. Veanla entrevista en La Vanguardia de hoy a un un tercer amigo Carles Casajuana, ex embajador en Londres, que nunca he visto perder los estribos y a quien considero un Europeo ejemplar.

Dice Carles:

La Constitucio ha de ser interpretada d’acord amb els principis que la informen i no pot ser una barrera. El dret d’independencia unilateral no existeix. Existeix el dret de negociar i, si la voluntat dels que es volem separar es clara, l’Estat hauria d’asseure’s a negociar. I tercer, la pregunta de la consulta hauria de ser clara y precisar la majoria necessaria per legitimar el resultat.

PS por cierto, en la misma Calle Mayor de Sitges,en visperas de la semana festiva de Santa Tecla, me encontre-gracias a Dios- mas tarde con un cuarto amigo (otro Catalan pero abierto a los demas) que me dijo: No te precupes por estos desplantes, amic Jimmy, el que no ha conocido el amor, no puede amar.

Amen, digo yo.

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