'Cutting the ham', a comment on political correctness and other things

If you've been following our site over the last few days, you will have read something about Muslims and ham. The Alexander Bewick Soap Box did, too, and a major rant was set off to the delight and rubbing of hands by many of our readers. Set right under the photo that illustrates this item, the opening paragraph reads, "This is a Spanish jamón being cut as it should, in fine, almost transparent slivers. Some consider it an art. Others see it as an offence." Worth a read, unless you're a racist who bangs on about how much better the UK is.

'Has Alejandro Sánchez been let loose?'

That's the headline of the latest The Alexander Bewick Soap Box item. The article posits that the Mayor of La Línea is being manipulated by his party headquarters in Madrid. And that Sánchez has taken the opportunity to create diversions from the fact that his council can't pay its workers. Will he emerge unscathed from the chaos he seems to have engendered? Doubt it, says Bewick.

As you know, Dear Reader, Alexander Bewick came out of the closet a while back. But he has written quite a few interesting articles, including a recent one about a Romanian mother aged 10, who came to Spain to give birth and has created an upheaval in the media as well as the social services. You can check some of the more popular articles on the blog's sidebar.

'Alcohol More Harmful Than Heroin, Cocaine or Ecstasy' - is this news?

The Alexander Bewick Soap Box sports an article about the headline that is catching the attention all over the world (above). "One of the main facts about alcohol is that it is a disinhibitor. In other words, it lowers one's inhibitions. How do we otherwise explain that relaxed feeling after a couple of drinks - and, usually some time later, that feeling oh-so-sick, not to mention those dreadful hangovers? How can we otherwise explain the fact of so many otherwise sensible young people getting pregnant after 'a night out'? How do we otherwise explain the words I have heard so many times: "Oh, I began drinking at (say) thirteen, and then it was hash and later other stuff, at parties..."?" says the article. It also asks, "Should Professor Nutt's study lead to a new prohibition? What do you think?"

Pushmepullyou politics continues as usual

"...as it has for altogether too long, especially when it comes to jurisdiction over waters (Sorry, I couldn't find a picture of a PMPY in the water). China and Japan are at it over a tiny island over on the other side of the world. Just across the Atlantic and a big squidge further down there are some islands that for me were the Malvinas in the morning and the Falklands in the afternoon (this needs more explanation but would send me right off track). Closer to home was the farcical invasion of the even tinier island of Perejil (Parsley Island for a rock sticking out of the water, for God's sake!) by Moroccan troops some years ago, an invasion heroically thwarted by valiant Spanish soldiers. Much closer is Gibraltar." So starts the latest article on The Alexander Bewick Soap Box. Read on.

Alexander Bewick comes out of the closet!

Our colleague and friend Alexander Bewick has decided to make a public confession about his condition. On his blog, The Alexander Bewick Soap Box, he admits to not having been who he is for some forty-five years - he also promises to write more. We at CampoPulse and JimenaPulse are happy to support Alexander in his decision and look forward to his sometimes acid comments on things as they are, or could be or should be, in the world. In case anyone wonders, Bewick writes mostly about Spain, a country he obviously loves and has known since 1968. Not unlike our very own Prospero... (From whom a note: We do know what 'coming out' means, but is there a tongue in cheek around here, monkeys?)

Bewick is back - and writes about vuvuzelas...

After an absence of three months, our colleague Alexander Bewick has 'thrown up' at his computer (his words, not ours) again. In an article titled 'Tradition, right or wrong - but why?', he rails against tradition for the sake of it. Bewick's blog, The Alexander Bewick Soap Box is part of OneLinePULSE Publications, which publishes this and other, partner sites, as well as our 'colour supplement' DominGo, the latest edition of which is delayed for purely humanitarian reasons that we will not discuss here.

'There but for the grace of Greece'

SPAIN
We are not economists here, which accounts for us not offering opinions on the economy. We are trying to refrain from offering opinions about the drastic measures being taken by the Zapatero government to cut back €190 billion of the country's deficit by 2013. It's difficult to bite our tongues, so we've left it to Alexander Bewick's Soap Box, where he says, "... at the top of the heap sit the fat cats who made vast, often illegal and fraudulent profits on land speculation throughout the country. Even Zapatero admits it: "Those who have had nothing to do with the recession, who did nothing to create it, are the ones who will have to make the greatest efforts to get out of it." Great. Another good socialist concept." He's also 'borrowed' the cartoon from DominGo, the thief!

'Fascism is alive and well and living in Spain'

So says Alexander Bewick in his most recent explosion of opinion on The Alexander Bewick Soap Box. Falange Española, he says, "is the euphemism used before, during and after the Spanish Civil war for the blueshirt Fascist party of Spain. It still exists as a group, organization or political 'party', whichever you choose to call it. Its members are the ones you see giving the Fascist salute at the kind of commemoration very few wish to remember." Its full title is "a difficult translation at best, particularly when imagining that 'Nacional Sindicalista' could easily have been 'Nacional Socialista' that would very easily be translated to National Socialist, or Nazi." Worth a read, this, to catch up on one of Spain's more shameful -and current- episodes.

Corruption as a way of life

Says Alexander Bewick's Soap Box: "Luis Roldán Ibáñez is a free man today, having spent 15 of a 30 year prison sentence in jail. At age 66 he is entitled to receive a pension although he has never returned the €10million he stole as the first civilian to head the Guardia Civil. "I have paid dearly for what I did," he says, "but there are those who got away scot free." Of course there are, lots of them, but none as corrupt as this head of one of the country's principal police forces from 1986 to 1993 - plenty of time to steal plenty of money." See the whole article here.

A load of bull

Alexander Bewick is back again - again. This time he writes about bullfighting. Apparently Catalonia is debating banning the corrida from the region, while Madrid is declaring it a Bien de Interés Cultural. In Andalucía, the PP is proposing a law to 'defend our traditions, our culture and our fiesta nacional (another name for the bullfight)'. Bewick also confesses to having 'followed the bulls' in a youthful fantasy regarding Ernest Hemingway. See for yourself.

Haiti: Is there life after death?

(Picture by 'Haitian Masters') Almost a year after he had apparently disappeared, without warning and no further ado, we get an e-mail from our old friend Alexander Bewick, whose blog was a feature of JimenaPulse for quite a while - until he vanished. His e-mail points to an article on his Soap Box, titled as above and dated today, about Haiti, its history and its people. Hard-hitting, it is well worth a read. (We will keep an eye on it -his blog- and maybe renew his 'featureability'.)