Spain
Secession is a strange, sibilant, lisping sort of a word. Not easy to say after a few schooners. But you can expect to hear more of it in the months ahead. Belgium, Spain, the United Kingdom – perhaps even Australia – are all, to varying degrees, embroiled in the process of national divorce.
Secession is the act of exiting or withdrawing from a political union – in this case a State. When a region seeks to secede from a wider union it does more than simply threaten the geographic integrity of a nation; it undermines the legitimacy of the existing constitutional structures; and as a result it casts doubt on the State’s authority.
Australia is not immune from the secessionist virus, as this headline in The West Australian shows: WA’s a big economy on its own. The article went on to note that an independent WA would be the world’s third richest country in terms of GDP per capita; it would soon over take Portugal and Ireland.
Continue reading "Hey WA - don’t be seduced by successful secessions" »
That dopey Spaniard. Three-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador has been banned for two years, and is now officially just a two-time Tour de France winner, after copping a two year ban for drug use.
Contador was overnight stripped of his 2010 Tour win by the Court of Arbitration for Sport for testing positive to the banned anabolic agent clenbuterol. The Spaniard says he ingested the substance by eating contaminated steak.
Sure he did. The Punch has dined on more than occasion at a delightful tapas bar near our office and we can say with some confidence that both the chorizo and the steak was steroid free.
Continue reading "Other stuff to be angry about today (with chorizo pic)" »
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Frank says:
UMM Cadel Evans faced the same ban during the Beijing Olympics..so I wouldnt get too excited..the question is are cyclists self-esteems so low that they have to resort to drugs to compete? Read more »
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PsychoHyena says:
@Kika, so it’s not okay to selectively breed animals but it’s okay for humans to selectively breed? If not then you should be breeding with everyone you walk past. Read more »
Spaniards went to the polls today in 1978 to vote for democracy following 40 years of dictatorial rule.
Welcome to Monday. What’s on your mind? Share it here.
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encareeFradly says:
Enjoy <a >Coolest Gadget Reviews</a> Read more »
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Reg says:
Where has the Nuclear Power thread gone Lucy? I wanted to add this comparison between US and German subsidy for wind versus coal solar and hours of sunshine. http://1bog.org/files/2010/10/what_if_solar_was_subsidized_like_fossil_fuels.jpg Read more »
It’s Tuesday @ The Punch
Today in 1981 a rebel army who supported the late General Franco stormed the Spanish Parliament In Madrid and took 350 MP’s hostage.
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John A Neve says:
Spain had the right idea, dictatorship today, democracy tomorrow. However, the real power stayed in the same hands!! Read more »
It’s Monday @ The Punch
Today in 1973 Spanish Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco was killed in a car bomb attack in Madrid.
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SLF says:
@shabangabang…so a contrived campaign, engineered to take a song to number one is a good thing if it stops a contrived campaign, engineered to take a song to number one? Not sure I get the point to be honst. It stoped the Cowell machine for a week, but he still… Read more »
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shabangabang says:
I want to give a big shout out to the fine folk of the UK for making ‘Killing in the Name Of’ by Rage Against the machine their Xmas No 1 song. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/2779109/Rage-Against-The-Machine-beat-Joe-McElderry-in-race-for-Christmas-number-one.html Down with Simon Cowell! Read more »
DON’T be surprised as you walk down a street in Spain to hear someone humming or even singing the words to Waltzing Matilda.
The catchy unofficial Aussie national anthem has become somewhat of a sensation in Spain since it was chosen by a mobile telephone company to promote its new summer tariff plan, then featured in their advertisement in the break of the televised Champions League soccer grand final watched by millions across Europe recently.
The accents on the advertisement are strange and the video clip is downright wacky but online chat rooms and talk back radio in Spain has been inundated with debates about “Billy-bongs” and “Kooly-bar trees” and speculation about what it was that a man put into a “ta-ka” bag.
Continue reading "Juan’s a jolly swagman: the Spanish Waltzing Matilda" »
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Bill Magoffin says:
Waltzing Matilda was written by Andrew Barton (Banjo) Paterson while visiting Dagworth Station near Kynuna in Western Queensland in January 1895. He supplied the original lyrics which form an allegory of events surrounding the shearers war of 1894 that had culminated in the ‘Battle of Dagworth’ that had occured on… Read more »
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Robbo of Wynn Vale SA says:
Will bring a smile to the South Australian Premier, Mike ‘Miguel’ Rann. After all, SA is screaming ahead with the assistance of Spanish business leaders: Desal Plant, SPAIN Warship Design, SPAIN $6m leftover Trams, SPAIN No-public-tender Govt Buildings, SPAIN Recently, a prominent Adelaide journo bantered with a renaming of South… Read more »
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