the warmth of collectivism eh 😬 he's a smart guy and wd have chosen that word conscious of its historical echoes. It's going to "fun" watching how this goes

with all the usual caveats this is what chatgpt says. It's accurate for Barcelona, I pay I.65 EUR in our local Argentine-Italian grocery, run by a Pakistani family because who else but immigrants in this city does real work

The Iranian regime will lose patience with the protests and drown them in blood, hangings and torture on a massive scale. And everyone will be fine with that, especially the "pro-Palestinian" left

I've watched the first 3 episodes of series 1 and can confirm that it's brilliant, better even than what it says 👇 Anyone familiar with NI history and the actions of the Brit security state there will see a lot more in it than the travails of 3 probationary cops www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

what do you bet the catastrophe in Switzerland was caused by some fucking moron letting off some sort of pyrotechnic thing

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a reminder that here in Spain the holiday season is only getting warmed up: the biggie is Reyes, January 6, when the Three Kings leave presents for the kids. It's quite a laugh in BCN as their majesties arrive by boat, "hold talks" with the Mayor who summarises their "decisions" for the press

More EU and more Spain in the EU is Pedro Sánchez's central ideological commitment. For the PP it's a window where you apply to get money, thru a translator as they only speak Spanish. For Vox it's an internationalist conspiracy that must be thoroughly remoulded on lines that Putin will like

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Under the far-seeing leadership of President Dr. Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón the price of domestic electricity is expected to fall by almost 5% this year. He pays no heed to the whining of the FT and other running dogs of robber baron capitalism!!

I like the fact that whatever is going on around her the wife looks thorougly unimpressed

I once had the misfortune to be in Holland for the new year, it was hell

In other news: water is wet, the sky is blue and Bob Prevost is a Catholic

ditto for Vox here. And people still deny it with, "come now, the powers that be will never let that happen, the business sector will step" and similar bromides

yes-ish. the collapse of indy support is a result of the coercive measures taken by the PP in power and supported by the PSOE in opposition, and the tranquilisers applied by the PSOE in power.

I can hear the police helicopter, the first sign that boisterous New Year celebrations are getting underway

this is very good, that said I'd have avoided the "tenuous connection" jibe in the 2nd para, which she corrects later on. And she could have contrasted the efforts made on behalf of this fucker with the sweet fuck all done for British Israeli hostages

The title is clickbait, they're more like statements of the fucking obvious macdonnchada.substack.com/p/prediction...

The performing arts highlight of the year was a local covers band in the plaza in front of our building. They changed the classic chant to "Hey Joan, Miró! , Hey Joan, Miró! "

I've never regretted an early block on here. Saves time and aggro for both parties

Streeting talked about a customs union as if one could be whipped up in 5 mins to suit the UK and emphasised that the red lines cdn't be touched. In other words, "Why can't we just have cake?"

someone should tell him we already have a far right, ultra natiionalist party, the siamese twin of an ultrawoke human rights, rainbows and butterflies party. The name of this unusual political organism is Sinn Féin

because he says so himself and because his apologies are obviously insincere (FAOD: the govt was right to campaign for his release. Being a c*** doesn't annul one's rights)

Buenos Aires summer traditions include massive power outages, sometimes lasting days. In January, you keep nervously glancing at the AC and hoping it's not going to be today. One of the few things in Argentina the rich can't buy their way out of. www.lanacion.com.ar/sociedad/cor...

totally agree. the Spanish media is the same, "Poll numbers shock for pervert, crime lord, and traitor Sánchez"

Spain continues to firehose money at defence. The most interesting destination of this particular dollop of cash is the plan to have 4 completely home-designed and built submarines by 2030 archive.ph/1my21

so much this

I once looked at the airport (EZE) n Buenos Aires to see El Gringo Heinze sitting opposite me. I'm not a clothes person but I was immediately overwhelmed by envy of his suit

QEPD. her essay is well worth a read

This is bollocks. You can make a fairish guess but you can't prove it

In view of the collapse of America as we have known it I'm not sure of the value to France, or anybody, of interoperability with the US Navy, being a good partner etc. So it's 10bn EUR (minimum) for the grandeur of nation and not much else @michaelshurkin.bsky.social youtu.be/oC41PjgYSIE

Looking thru the stats I see this is by far the most widely read piece I've written this year. And pieces on Irish antisemitism, Gaza and related did miles better than anything about Spain. Lucky Spain that no one gives a fuck what goes on here macdonnchada.substack.com/p/an-alterna...

agree, it's entirely pernicious

If I was MBS and I thought it was worth the effort I'd grind the UAE into the dirt. There'd be no calls for sanctions or arms embargoes or sending me to the Hague, just some polite requests to let Western expats flee. No one wd lift a finger to help the brown-skinned semi-slave expats

I was once attacked by a new age traveller type chap for declining to hold his dog while he went into Sainsubury's, He called me "a fucking American" as the security guard dragged him off me

I see Saudi Arabia has started bombing Yemen, again. Looking forward to the outrage-laden opeds, angry statements from human rights orgs, law professors blathering, academics on here losing their shit etc

As I've been saying, the "moderate", "centrist" and "pragmatic" PP is gagging to go into government with the neofascist Vox

while playing in the UK he was suspended for three games for replying "gracias, negrito" to a friend on Insta. The English sporting authorities thinking they can police the use of rioplatense Spanish sounds pretty racist to me

How is this lawfully possible, and why has the UK political system normalised behaviour by sitting MPs and Lords that so evidently runs counter to the national interest?

Morals aside, how is it remotely possible that Shadow Attorney General — and a serving member of the UK legislature, of any political affiliation — can lawfully take on work representing a Russian oligarch sanctioned by the UK government?

The Aragon region election is on February 8, if Vox does as well as it did in Extremadura last week, well, it'll be another ill augury

I wonder how the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is doing... oh wait.....

We need to stop translating Guardia Civil as Civil Guard. It makes them sound like a bunch busybodies who go around chiding people for bad manners. Just leave it as Guardia Civil

As he's a citizen it was right to work to free him. Crowing about it was idiotic. One would hope similar efforts are made for all citizens held by despotic regimes but I rather doubt it

París seems to have been made for the literary life.. by literary life I mean reading ...Paris is a city for reading well... which means studying, which means converting the content of books into an obsession

One day, Adam will be on Bluesky. For now, I highly recommend following him on Facebook. #jewsky

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A thoroughly depressing read. It could be that the liberal, open, outward looking Spain that I fell in love with 40+ years ago - and which flourished under both centre-left and centre-right governments - will soon give way to something far darker and more reactionary. If so, it will not end well.

what a piece of shit. it'll be sad when he gets thrown and suffers a life changing injury