War of the Spanish Succession – Leeds's Singing Organ-Grinder

It’s all relative

My thought is that George Galloway supported the ayatollahs but balanced that in this splendid rant, while I guess in Brian Souter’s vision the good/bad labelling is reversed on the scales. For the record, Philip of Bourbon spoke French, Charles of Habsburg spoke German, both had multilingual armies, and – though hispanophile – neither patronised…

How to resolve the Catalan mess to everyone’s satisfaction

A referendum is an excellent idea: it just needs to be conducted on a wider basis.

Updated esteladas

And a great train-wreck song.

Vygos Cagados, a jingoistic Dutch print celebrating the Battle of Vigo Bay (1702)

But why, and for whom, would a Dutchman pun on Vigo / figo (fig) when both spelling and pronunciation of the latter were long obsolete in standard Spanish?

<a href='www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=1564618&partid=1&searchText=santiago+compostela&fromADBC=ad&toADBC=ad&titleSubject=on&physicalAttribute=on&numpages=10&images=on&orig=%2fresearch%2fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx&currentPage=1'>British Museum</a>.

Jingoistic poem celebrating the Battle of Vigo Bay (1702)

Half roasted Frenchmen, some o’er Gratings Broil’d/Do mix with Spaniards in the Sea parboil’d;

<a href='http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_Vigo_bay_october_23_1702.jpg'>Zeeslag in de baai van Vigo</a>

Fiesta mayor programmes and Zapatero

Party political prejudice, or yet more historical memory bollocks?