Is it time for a street party?

*Tumbleweed*

*Nothing* (oops spoke too soon… it'll be a Catalonia-only party, after all)

*Heh heh*

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August 27, 2008 | Filed Under Internet computer, Politics | Leave a Comment 

Shock, horror: UK government uses state broadcaster to broadcast propaganda

This story, which The Guardian broke yesterday, whill no doubt fill all freedom lovers with fear. Could it really be true that the British government, the PM of which has openly called for more resources to be dedicated to 'propaganda' in the media, the same government which sacked the entire board of directors of the BBC after the Corporation had the temerity to suggest they'd misled the public, would really use the state broadcasting service to broadcast specifically anti-Al Qaeda propaganda? Surely not!?!

As any fule know, the BBC has been used for this purpose for decades (since forever, basically). In many ways, there's not much wrong with it: anti-Al Qaeda messages are hardly harmful. But intentionally misleading people (like when they promoted the idea of Al Qaeda as some sort of cogent, identifiable enemy), is.

The BBC deny that this edition of Analysis was influenced by the government. So where, exactly, does 'security correspondent' Frank Gardner get his information from? I bet you a tenner that when he's talking about people as difficult to meet and assess as Al Qaeda, his mates at SIS or FCO give him a pretty good briefing. And why not? It's not like he's going to go to Waziristan himself to ask Osama if he's on hist last legs.

But it's not just the 'war on terror' which the British government operates via the BBC. Most official foreign policy positions are mirrored in BBC coverage. While it is fashionable to call the BBC 'biased' (normally because they report the deaths of Palestininan women and children, the bloody Trots!), in fact the Corporation is inherently tied to the establishment, and particularly when it comes to foreign policy. This is why the headline on Radio 4's PM programme yesterday wasn't "Is Russia redrawing the world map?" but "Russia redraws the world map" - exactly the UK's official line, and a far stronger headline than employed by The Guardian or Channel 4.

That anyone at the BBC or the UK government would try to deny what is an obvious, even understandable, state of affairs is hilarious. Almost as much as anyone thinking this is news.

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August 27, 2008 | Filed Under 'Terror', UK | Leave a Comment 

Disaster at Barajas Airport

There has been a major accident today at Madrid's Barajas airport. Apparently, a Spanair flight to the Canary Islands veered off the runway as it tried to take off. Witnesses reported seeing an engine on fire. The Guardian is now reporting up to 150 dead. The airport is, understandably, closed.

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August 20, 2008 | Filed Under Spain | 2 Comments 

Thought for the night: Spanish racism - an easy fix

If the Spanish want foreigners to stop accusing them of being racist, it would be prudent to avoid these regular, embarrassing cock-ups. Or for someone here to actually criticise this kind of nonsense.

Oh yeah and has Iberian Notes finally given up?! I'm told it looks pretty quiet over there…

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August 18, 2008 | Filed Under Spain | Leave a Comment 

Normal service will be renewed…

I've been spending quite a lot of time in Tarragona recently, without Internet access (quite a joy, in many ways). Anyway, it's summer and I'm sure everyone out there has something better to do than read some blog. If not, get thee to a beach!

I'm back in work tomorrow, so I'm sure that I'll be blogging fairly regularly again before long.

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August 18, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, Site news | 1 Comment 

Let's Fighting Love

As it's my birthday, I thought I'd post something funny today. I couldn't think of anything to write, so I'll steal something from South Park instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioAj0gzS4Rs

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August 5, 2008 | Filed Under General | 3 Comments 

Ha ha ha!

Warning as HSBC profits fall 28%.

That'll teach the buggers for still insisting that I owe them money (I don't).

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August 4, 2008 | Filed Under Capital | Leave a Comment 

Fawkes and the nasty right

Those of you who follow the UK political scene will be aware of the Guy Fawkes blog. For many, it's not much more than the most famous of many scurrilous, muck-raking (not that this is a bad thing), anti-Labour Westminster blogs.

But its composition, as well as its readership, is riddled with what might at best be termed 'dodgy' thinking. Comments on posts are generally uncensored and expose that the modern, Tory right wing has not changed, despite what Cameron would have us believe. They remain as nasty - and comtemptible - as ever. Those of you tempted to vote Tory in the next election (after all, it wouldn't make much difference, right?) - remember that Guido Fawkes is very popular not only with politically astute Conservative voters but also, apparently, with many of the party's activists.

Some comments from a thread that included a picture of Gordon Brown and a group of young boys:

"They all look like nice boys - are they aware of the turd-burgling snot-gobbler's predilections?"

"I hope Brown is paying for those rentboy's out of his own pocket.
You never know what these cunt's try to put on their expenses."

"He looks uncomfortable because he's dithering over which one to pick."

"Hey guys, we all know the filthy habits of Gay Gordo, but those are likely just ordinary innocent (so far) kids - unfair to call them rentboys just because that is what that foul perverted fucker likes."

"I wonder if the photographer got any shot's of Brown getting spit roasted.I'm sure his mate's at Liebour HQ would pay handsomely for them."

"next thing you know kids get touched up, then go missing, media blackout and files buried for 100yrs
geoffrey, how many times have i told you, naughty naughty, very naughty"

"So lads where is the nearest public lavatory?"

…and I haven't even posted the ones about Harriet Harman. Nice guys, huh? I always wonder what makes some men write such knowledgeable, angry depictions of the gay sex they claim to hate.

Oh, and the other day I saw someone referring to Labour as 'ZaNu LieBore' - possibly the worst attempt at making up a name since that whole 'Bliar' fiasco.

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July 31, 2008 | Filed Under Politics, UK | 2 Comments 

My nation is strong, your nation is shit

It has been a while since I touched on anything connected to the political/cultural temperature around here. I do have one pet theory that I've been chewing over for a few months now. It's not a particularly original idea so any of you who know the proper cultural studies term for it should let me know. I decided to write this after seeing the hilariously tragic TeleMadrid video over at South of Watford.

I'll start off by reiterating that I'm not a Catalan nationalist. I oppose nationalism in general as it doesn't really fit with any of my other beliefs and often seems to be a divisive concept. In this way, I also oppose Spanish, French and British nationalism. At the same time, I do not like the idea of a mono-cultured, mono-linguistic world where people's cultural differences are erased in the name of 'peace'. It wouldn't work and we'd lose a lot of what makes humanity so interesting.

Anyway, my theory is pretty simple. People who come from dominant, mono-cultured, mono-linguistic nation states are generally less sympathetic to the culture and 'nationality' of smaller, less dominant regions and countries.

At the same time, the most strident opponents of nationalism are nearly always from countries with very strong and safe nationalisms*. Example: John at Iberian Notes. He's an intelligent guy who sees absolutely no contradiction in slamming any and all movements which seek to promote Catalan culture, identity or autonomy… while at the same time being an extremely noisy cheerleader for American imperialism. His opposition to nationalism seems to go as far as La Franja (and takes in the Basque Country too). When looking at his own country, he seems completely oblivious of the fact that he strongly supports American nationalism. In the past, he has also expressed strong support for Israel (a highly nationalist society) but condemns Palestinian nationalism as dangerous (or 'terrorist'). And he's not alone: these are standard and accepted positions.**

Similarly, domestic opposition to Catalan nationalism is nearly always couched in the language of Spanish nationalism. There can be few arguments less logical than 'down with Catalan nationalism: one language for all Spaniards', a political movement which is being actively promoted by some Spanish politicians, El Mundo and various Spanish and ex-pat (i.e. British and American) bloggers.

Actually, it is often the ex-pats who are the most strident opponents of Catalan autonomy and culture. In my experience, people born in other areas of Spain who live and work here (often married to a Catalan), speak the language and generally support at least the status quo, and sometimes even the push for further autonomy. It has always been my German, French and British colleagues who find Catalans to be 'stupid', 'silly', 'pathetic' or 'dangerous' for insisting on speaking the language they feel most comfortable with. It is no coincidence that the British, French and German states are the world's most important historical nation-states.

In the end, what it comes down to is the perceived relative strength of one nation against another. If Catalonia were still the great nation it was for about 40 years, they might be the dominant nation-state, mocking the English for not speaking French, or those regionalist losers in Andalucia. They'd probably be just as bad as the British, the French and the Germans are now. And the British, the French and the Germans would no doubt feel the same indignation at being told they should speak another language in the shops on their own street, just to 'make things easier'.

===

*This is not to say that just because someone's English, she cannot oppose nationalism.

**So, one man's nation is another man's region.

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July 25, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, Politics, Spain, UK | 12 Comments 

Summercase 2008: final review

Yes, as Grey said in his comment on my brief binary review, I was warned. I seriously doubt that I'll go back to Summercase. Here's my Last.fm review (links point to last.fm pages).

==

In over 11 years of regularly attending pop festivals, Summercase 2008 was by far and away the worst organised and most blatantly commercial event I've ever attended.

The lineup was poor and got worse with the loss of mia and Santogold, among others. A group of low-quality English pop groups (Maximo Park, Kaiser Chiefs, Sex Pistols, The Verve…) dominated the lineup and left little room for decent local or international break-through acts.

Also, the organisers' addiction to Disneyfied 1970s acts (Sex Pistols, Blondie, The Stranglers…) made for further dull concerts as large groups of 20-somethings mumbled through the lyrics to PlayAtomic, a song which was fist performed before any of them were conceived. Incidentally, Blondie's guitarist also managed to mess-up the guitar-part for Atomic, despite it being one of the most celebrated riffs in pop history. Give you a clue: it's not good enough to just play the notes in the right order… you need to get the rhythm right too.

The thing is that, of what I saw, the only truly great concert was by Cornelius (easily the most experimental artist playing at this MOR event). Pretty much everything else was just rubbish.

As to the general organisation of the event, we were shocked and dismayed at the rudeness and generally low level of service offered by the Summercase team. Part of this was to do with the alleged policy of festival organisers to employ staff not from Barcelona, in order to prevent the normal issue of 'free drinks for friends' happening. What this resulted in was a service team of rude and aggressive non-locals who spoke neither Catalan nor English, and who were quite clearly unhappy with their work. Added to this, the females were forced to wear very tight pink t-shirts (men were in brown), and the festival succeeded in making itself not only a gross display of consumerism but also perfectly happy with breaking Barcelona's modern conventions on language, culture and gender equality.

This year, I decided not to attend FIB because I thought the lineup didn't justify a trip down to Castelló… especially when I had a festival on my doorstep. I won't make that mistake again. And it looks like, with a huge drop in attendance, Summercase needs to sort out its act or clear off altogether.

Summercase 2008: 0

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July 23, 2008 | Filed Under Crap, Music | 6 Comments 

Summercase Day Two: yeah, yeah

We managed to drag ourselves out to the second day of Summercase yesterday. We didn't see anything that beat Cornelius. Review:

Kings Of Leon - 1 - but only just

The Stranglers - 1 - too Disnified but Golden Brown's a great song

Mogwai - 0 - scheduling fuck-up

CSS - 1 - I still love Lovefoxxx

The Raveonettes - 1

Neon Neon - 1 - the only performer to utter a word in Catalan. He's Welsh, after all.

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July 20, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, Music | 2 Comments 

Summercase Day One: has fun ever been so corporate?

Bands we saw yesterday, scores using my not-patented binary scoring system.

We Are Scientists - 0

Edwyn Collins - 1 - a very enjoyable show

Ian Brown - 1

Grinderman - 0 - sorry, but the Bad Seeds are way better.

Blondie - 0 - Basically Blondie-On-Ice, this Disneyfied production was so sickly sweet that all of the local audience enjoyed it. Bad sign.

Cornelius - 1 - by far the most enjoyable concert of the evening.

Primal Scream - 0 -  we didn't stay for the full gig. Heard the Motorstorm song, though.

==

Summercase is the worst example I've ever seen of corporate pop festival management. The multiple sponsor tie-ins lack any nuance of subtlety and induce a sort of nausea on first contact.

Speaking of which, the 'facilities' are completely awful. The only food to purchase is Telepizza, beer: San Miguel (I mean, sius plau!), loos with doors that don't lock, staff who don't speak Catalan or English… in 11 years of attending pop festivals, Summercase is by far the worst.

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July 19, 2008 | Filed Under Music | 4 Comments 

Donald Trump: Housing market is still alive!

Those of you struggling to meet your mortgage payments, terrified of what might happen if food and fuel get even more expensive, calm down! There's a man here who'd like to show you that it's not all doom and gloom.

Donald Trump, a well known and very rich man, has just sold his 5km sq. beach-front property to another very rich man for a record breaking $95 million. Trump said of the sale:

In an age of so many people getting hurt in real estate, it shows that you can still do well in real estate. I think it's a great sign for the area, a great sign for Palm Beach and all that Palm Beach represents.

So next time you start to moan about your rent and food bills going up, or the fact that you can't take a holiday this year, just remember: maybe if you worked a little harder, you'd be in possession of a $95 million mansion in Palm Beach. Think on.

(Coming next week: I will explain why banks deserve billions of dollars of government handouts but the working poor don't. And I'm reliably informed that Iberian Notes isn't frothing at the mouth about 'nationalising the banks' which always used to be his yardstick for the end of the world and the rise of the Bolshevik terror. I guess it's OK when it's done by people with whom you share what amounts to being a kind of a political philosophy).

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July 18, 2008 | Filed Under Capital | Leave a Comment 

What I'm planning to watch at Summercase

I had to contact the festival organisers to get a copy of the set times in plain text (essential for producing your own Excel festival guides… at least I haven't laminated it). Their web designers/webmasters obviously know little about accessibility.

Here's my planned viewing (highlighted in pink). Read more

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July 16, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, Crap, General, Music | 3 Comments 

Old media sucks #286

Colin at Thoughts from Galicia posted a link to this article by Danial Hannan where he assesses that most people who are against bullfighting have only adopted that position because they are sociopaths. In an article full of resentment and dislike towards people who hold a different point of view to him, Hannan argues that socialists, egalitarians and Islamists are all simply motivated by misanthropy, just like people who oppose the corrida.

Animals can be a handy cause for people seeking to justify their dislike of humans. There are always men casting around for a way to validate their sociopathic tendencies. A hundred years ago, they claimed to be outraged on behalf of the proletariat. Then, when working people found their own political representatives, the Angry Young Men took to championing colonials who were less likely to speak for themselves. Now, Nicaraguan day-labourers and black South Africans and the Vietnamese peasants have also found their own spokesmen, so the Sturm und Drang brigade have shifted to the one constituency than is guaranteed never to disown them: animals.

I mean, I know he's writing for the abominal Telegraph but does he really have to come off as such a measly, whiney, grovelling little prick of a sophist?

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July 14, 2008 | Filed Under Spain | Leave a Comment 

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