Many Americans think that the 100 days business began with FDR, while the French think that Villepin stole it off Napoleon (and many wish him a similar fate). I don’t know who was first, but (useless information starts here): A certain cardinal Miçer Napoleón was granted 100 days (and one year: damn) partial indulgence in…
Here‘s another random example of why Europe doesn’t work: ICT policy consisting of a chunk of liberalisation initiatives (great, if it weren’t a sure bet that they’ll be stripped out or frustrated by the usual culprits) and large lumps of pork. (The documentation is, characteristically, available in two pain-in-the-posterior formats, .doc and .pdf, instead of…
Global warming is a reality in Gracia, where the guy at Bar Musical Zimbabwe has included a sun setting behind a desert island (I always thought Zimbabwe was land-locked) on his storefront sign. Despite claims to the contrary, Zimbabwean “traditional” music styles are just as un-proto-democratic as is the Ampurdan dance, the sardana. However, like…
Most of the Spanish press screw up and write that today’s referendum is the first in Holland’s history. Not true: constitutional referenda were held in 1796, 1798 and 1801, while Holland was occupied by … the French. Symbolic local referenda were also held in 1952 over a European constitution whose progress was blocked by the…
I don’t recall anyone having commented on the most important aspect of Donald Rumsfeld’s thoughtful little pome, The Unknown, namely the omission of one important permutation:
Nice one from Steyn in the Torygraph: ‘The American constitution begins with the words “We the people”. The starting point for the EU constitution is: “We know better than the people.”‘ Our leader has told his French friend that leadership is not one of the latter’s strong points–although I believe it was Zap who, by…
From the man who called Sylvia Saint a sow, sad news for those who believe that the only good Spanish film is a sex film. Fortunately Jesús Franco shows no signs of making good on his promise to die camera in hand.
Mark Liberman is being nasty to our beloved intellectuals, most of whom we manage to ignore most of the time. His frustration may arise from a misunderstanding of the role of the intellectual in European society, which is something like that of a Catholic bishop in the States. I think somewhere in Campo cerrado Max…
The right is perturbed because men are getting married on Los Lunnis. Their objections are historical rather than theological–no one’s suggesting we respect Genesis 24:3 and 38:6 and allow fathers to select girlies for their sons–and their problem is that the world has moved on. I’d regard myself as a natural PP voter (although that…