During centuries English and Spaniards have been at odds. England with its industrial revolution, the British Empire, Gibraltar and their powerful uncle Tom have left Spain quite behind.
Nonetheless a lot of people know Spain and a lot of people in Spain are in love with London and English music and series.
Today Spain is news, of course, too, in the UK.
It seems that people in the UK are worried about the eurocrisis affecting the UK too.
Few people in Spain would ask for help from Britain as history says that we are just rivals.
But in fact we are neighbours. Why the British come to Spain. Well, one reason is because Spain it is not so far from Britain. And the same happens with London. We go to London because it is not so far.
And why we were always in war in last centuries? Well, maybe because we were not so far away.
I imagine that people in England are very happy with the Greenwich meridian. You do not need to be near England to have the same meridian. And you can be near England and not have the same meridian. But in Spain we also have the same meridian. And it is nice when you croos it to think that we have it because just going north you have London.
I am sad that when I listen to British politicians they only talk about Europe to say they won’t pay any bailout, etc. I feel as if Britain treated the continent as the enemy. Unfortunately in Catalonia happens something similar with the rest of the state.
So, how could England help Spain?
Well, the first thing that England could do is to think what kind of future wants. To be a country that once was glorious and that now it just lives on its old glory or to be a country that joins other to be important again.
I understand that the British will be always afraid of joining too much Europe as in the past Germany threw bombs to London. I understand that people in Britain mistrust Europe. But the only thing I can say is that we should be very proud of current Germany. It is incredible that one country that once was ruled by Adolf Hitler is now ruled by Angela Merkel. It is incredible the change that Germany has made. The Germany of today has nothing to do with the Germany of yesterday. In my case, some of the sweetest and more wonderful people I have known where from Germany.
So, how England should help Spain. Well, there is one way very obvious: to respect the currency of Spain. It is quite terrible that London is attacking the euro all the time through the Financial Times. People in London should know that there is a newspaper from London that is carrying almost a war against mainland Europe.
Another way of helping Spain is to create an official programme between British and Spanish government so that a lot of people from Britain can come to live in Spain. Let me explain:
Until now people from Britian came to Spain to retire or so. As this was done in an individual way it was sometimes not easy and full of problems. What I propose is an agreement between the countries so that British citizens can buy a house in Spain with the total backing of Britian and Spain. As you may know we have had a bubble of real estate in Spain so a lot of cheap flats are available! Why not using this to attract people from Europe?
As a way to return the help Spain could stop asking from Gibraltar. Let the people from Gibraltar decide. As long as I can enter Gibraltar as a tourist to see it I do not mind it being British at all! Maybe the fact that is British is good for tourism to this part of southern Europe.
George Orwell wrote Homage to Catalonia. He fought for the Spanish republic. Now, fortunately we have democracies.
Maybe I am wrong but I have the feeling that if British had supported the euro this last years now the eurocrisis maybe would not be so hard. I cannot imagine the FT saying the things it says if London had the euro as its currency.
Do you imagine that in mainalnd Europe we had a very important newspaper and we were using it each day to attack the pound. Something similar seems to me doing the Finacial Times.
I think that if the only way for Britain to succeed is that mainland Europe collapses then it says very little about Britain.
So to end, I think that the UK instead of worrying so much about how the eurocrisis will affect the islands should just keep an eye of the Financial Times. The winds of the storm may come from the Continent but I have the feeling that somebody in the UK (the FT and others) have done all possible for this storm to start. They are not bringing a lot of suffering to people in the eurozone. They also give a damm about the British I think because the possible collapse of the euro can only good for speculators. It is a disgrace that these horrible people are associated with London. Decent people in London should be ashamed of this people in the CIty.
