Hangman and hanging of a dream – Catalonian Independence.

I am playing hangman with a nine-year-old girl in a village north of Barcelona. Her mother tongue is Catalan, her second language is Spanish, but we are playing in English. She won with ‘bubbles’. It took the word ‘pygmy’ to beat her. She is nine, English is her third language and it took a word …

Could the Catalonian referendum spark a collapse of Spain?

This article first appeared in Tne Independent on October 1, 2017, here. Just in my lifetime Spain has been ruled by a military dictator, restored a monarchy, restored democracy, had a military coup, had a terrorist separatist organisation kill innocent civilians, joined the EU, joined the Euro, just escaped a near financial collapse, and had …

Has Nationalism backfired with Brexit?

This article first appeared in The New Daily on April 4th, 2017, here.   Donald Trump’s first months in the White House have overshadowed what would otherwise have been the major issue in the media: Brexit. Over the last few days Britain has formally started its departure from the political and economic block that is …