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NEWS REVIEW 2008
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A NATIONAL competition to write lyrics to Spain’s wordless anthem was declared null after the winning verses were described as doggerel, divisive, nationalistic and undemocratic. However, the mission to put words to the music has not been abandoned and the search will resume after the Peking Olympics. (Edition 1178)
SPAIN is the EU’s largest producer of genetically modified crops and the world’s 12th, said the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) last week. There are experimental plantings of rice, citrus fruit and tomatoes throughout the country with Aragon and Cataluña accounting for 80 per cent of the 75,000 hectares producing GM corn. (Edition 1181)
TWELVE illegal hunters were arrested in Toledo and Salamanca last week, amongst them Pedro Gutierrez, ‘El Capea’ – bullfighter son of the veteran matador Niño de la Capea. Spain’s national parks were favourite locations for clandestine shoots of everything from owls to wolves, with clients paying 1,000 euros to kill a stag and up to 6,000 for a mountain goat. (Edition 1185)
NOT producing paperwork gets anyone into a spot of bother with the Guardia Civil, but at Vecindario in Gran Canaria the guardias themselves are without paper. Toilet paper, that is. Fresh supplies promised a month ago have not yet arrived and the men were perplexed by written orders instructing them to take ‘alternative measures not involving later payment’. (Edition 1188)
THIRTY-EIGHT per cent of Spaniards lean to the right when kissing, compared to 15 per cent who lean to the left. The majority said it was important to be attracted to the other person to get round to kissing in the first place. Nearly a quarter of women said their first kiss occurred on holiday, but for 28 per cent of men it happened at a party and almost half of those questioned said the experience was better than they expected, although for 14 per cent it was spoiled by nerves. (Edition 1191)
THE remains of a mediaeval boat were found while excavating an underground car park near Barcelona’s Estación de Francia, an area that was once open sea. Experts believe the 13th or 14th century boat was built in northern Europe and proves that Barcelona had commercial relations with Atlantic as well as Mediterranean ports.
The remains were taken to the Underwater Archaeological Centre in Gerona where restoration work is expected to take four years. (Edition 1195)
SANTIAGO BERNARDEZ imported 100 kilts from a Scottish manufacturer after registering his design for a Galician plaid with the Tartan World Register. The tartan is 50 per cent cobalt blue, representing Galicia’s coat of arms, 40 per cent navy blue in allusion to the region’s maritime tradition and 10 per cent white in honour of the regional flag. The kilts went on sale for the first time at the Ortigueira Festival where they were soon snapped up. (Edition 1205)
CLASSICAL MUSIC on trains was introduced 15 years ago but the Renfe railway company decided to disconnect the background music and wait to see if the public missed it. No-one complained in Madrid or Barcelona where the majority of passengers responding to an earlier survey had said they did not like or want background music. “People now have their own iPods and MP3 players or prefer to read,” said Renfe who confirmed that by 2009 piped music would be removed from all trains. (Edition 1212)
SPAIN slipped by three points in the Reporters without Borders’ classification of press freedom, sharing 36th place with South Africa, Bosnia, the United States and Taiwan. The organisation’s secretary general, Jean-François Julliard, blamed Spain’s mediocre performance on the Basque terrorist group, ETA, which he said continued to be the country’s principal threat to freedom of speech. (Edition 1217)
JOSÉ BONO, speaker of the Spanish parliament, planned for celebrities to read out the constitution during the Constitution Day celebrations held in the parliament chamber each December 6. Bono’s list included the presidents of the Real Madrid and Barcelona football clubs but the scheme annoyed MPs who asked why Atletico de Madrid and Malaga were excluded. The plan was quietly dropped and prospective narrators informed that the readings were suspended owing to ‘organisational problems’. (Edition 1222) |  Return to Top
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