Day: August 4, 2011

Junta gets the cash to finish the Almanzora motorway

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Despite Andalusia having gone bankrupt, the Junta continues to promise large scale infrastructure projects. And to finance these grandiose scheme, someone in power had a Bad Idea. Namely, a private-public partnership scheme in which the private sector finances the work, in exchange for the right to milk it royally over the next xx years. In the case of the Almanzora motorway, the Junta has -somehow, backs of sofas come to mind- scrounged 160 million euros, Continue reading Junta gets the cash to finish the Almanzora motorway→

UK and the Sixteen

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Off to the UK for a few days on Monday -business and pleasure, this time- and I was lucky enough (booked a few weeks ago) to get some of the last decent seats for the concert of Harry Christopher’s The Sixteen at Worcester cathedral, part of the 3 Choirs choral music festival. Should be fun! The gf has been a fan of the Sixteen since she saw them on BBC3 a few months ago. For Continue reading UK and the Sixteen→

Correos runs out of ideas for stamps

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The Spanish post office is running out of ideas for stamps was my first thought when some letters arrived with two MSN messenger lookalike icons hugging each other, under the slogan “for respect on the net” (por el respeto en la RED). Shortly afterwards another one arrived, an icon of someone using a mouse with a sinister shadow in the background creeping away. Soy lo que hago proclaims the slogan (I am what I do). Continue reading Correos runs out of ideas for stamps→

Inquisition: The Reign of fear

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Historian Toby Green brings a dark period of Spanish history to life in this well thought out book. Toby examines the reasons behind the Inquisition, the original “faceless bureaucracy”, and shows us how it started as a political entity designed to enforce the control of the Spanish kings over their newly conquered Moorish possessions (Andalusia, etc) before gradually becoming a tool of political oppression. Along the way, we delve into such byways as why the Continue reading Inquisition: The Reign of fear→