By and large, on the whole and weighing the pros and cons, the best thing to do in a pub fight is not to take sides. Apart from any other consideration, you are then best able to ensure that your own beer is not spilled in the mayhem! The Catalan insurrection is, perhaps and potentially, the biggest European 'pub fight' since Jugoslavia splintered into its constituent parts and I would advise any Catalans daft enough to read this blog to recall the amount of spilled blood that flowed as a result. Of course, I also realise that once the slaughter ended relations between the likes of Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia et al seem to have settled down and I am not expert enough to decide whether they would have been better off together or apart.
Returning, somewhat reluctantly, to Spain/Catalonia, the residents will be pleased to note that I have no advice of any use to offer. When it comes to nationalism, hearts tend to rule heads and I can only hope that they will eventually solve their dispute reasonably amicably - although I will not be holding my breath. A sobering thought which might even induce 'Junck the Drunk' to take more water with it, is the undoubted fact that numerous other 'provinces' in other countries of the (so-called) European Union (who sniggered?) are also eying the exit-doors. Perhaps, with a bit of luck and a following wind, there might not be an EU left for us to Brexit from!
Of course, the EU's stance with regard to Catalonian independence is to dismiss it all as an internal affair to be dealt with by the Spanish and bugger any Catalonian desire for independence. This of course is the same beneficent EU that supports the Spanish position with regard to Gibraltar. It is also the EU that the Nats fervently wish to remain a part of!!! The EU has scored a perfect double whammy in which one of the main planks of the Nat's campaign for independence has been completely and utterly swept away. Wee Jimmie Krankie literally doesn't have a leg to stand on any more.
Even a plaster saint couldn't fail to be rendered helpless by the giggles!
Posted by: Richard | Saturday, 28 October 2017 at 14:57
Catalonian independence probably won't happen, so they will be left with a valuable consolation prize: grievance.
Posted by: Whitewall | Saturday, 28 October 2017 at 15:40
The Basques are waiting to see what happens. They will be next in the queue if the Catalans succeed. Even Galicia has a very vocal minority seeking independence.
Posted by: Timbo | Saturday, 28 October 2017 at 16:15
I wonder what's next...Germany? Many German speaking provinces making the German Empire or even the former Holy Roman Empire of 500 years ago. The gang in Brussels may be trying to hold a fist full of marbles.
Posted by: Whitewall | Saturday, 28 October 2017 at 16:24
Bearing in mind that the EU set up the committee of the regions in 1994 with proposals to carve up the nation states of Europe, I doubt the EU is much troubled.
One of its dafter proposals was a region of the channel incorporating southern England with Northern France.
And the committee is still there with its own President and its own budget, even though it doesn't appear to have been all that active recently.
Posted by: Pat | Saturday, 28 October 2017 at 17:48
Another malfunction, David. ITMA!
Posted by: mike fowle | Saturday, 28 October 2017 at 19:04
Pompous,
Just in case you missed it the last time, here is my post from the last time you appeared on this site.
Now (as the saying goes) have sex and travel.
So Pompous, take a screenshot of this.
You were banned from this site, not because David Duff disagreed with what you were saying, but for a sustained series of gratuitous ad-hominem attacks, some made on other posters on this site, but mostly on David himself.
Your comments, as I can attest, went far further than mere disagreement would warrant. You actually went out of your way to be as unpleasant as possible, so much so that even those of us who on occasion agreed with something you said, welcomed the fact that you had been banned.
Apart from the narcissistic nature of your posts, their sheer unpleasantness is a strong indication that you are a spanner or two short of a full toolbox. Now, do us all a favour and go away. Oh, and do yourself a favour. Get psychological help. You need it.
Posted by: Richard | Saturday, 28 October 2017 at 19:14
Richard - all you say is true however to be fair today he is being mildly provocative but not offensive so his comment should stand.
Posted by: Cuffleyburgers | Saturday, 28 October 2017 at 19:21
"Last time I heard of arguments like these it was a movie about the last days of Hitler and the firmly held belief that the tensions between Americans and Stalin's Russians were going to save the Reich."
Mild by his standards Cuffers, agreed, but no attempt to justify what he's saying, just more unpleasantness. I think that you'll also agree that his persistence in coming back to a private blog from which he's been banned indicates that something may well be amiss upstairs.
I wonder if he used to pull the wings off flies as a child?
Posted by: Richard | Saturday, 28 October 2017 at 19:40
Ladies and Gentlemen, please, please, just ignore 'PompousG'. As and when he sneaks in here and I notice it he will be zapped. In 12 years he is the first to be banned so I suppose that's not a bad record.
Posted by: David Duff | Saturday, 28 October 2017 at 21:41
So many drones ...
Posted by: JK | Sunday, 29 October 2017 at 00:48
As said before, separatism works in favour of the EU.
It's just the EU cannot admit it until the big states, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Britain have disintegrated. The EU is hostage to those big states for now.
But be sure, once a separatist micro-state breaks free from its parent state, all the siblings will follow. The big state will cease to be. And the EU will welcome the multitude of new micro-members with open arms. Lots of little guys are easier to lead than a handful of big guys.
Even Czech Republic has separatist movements for Moravia and Bohemia. Even the little guys can be littler.
And what is the cause of this "rock breaking" process that paves the way with cobblestones for the Holy Roman Empire II, you ask?
Here's the delicious irony.
It's actually country-bumpkinism!
For every nation state country-bumpkin there are ten micro-state country-bumpkins. The fractal nature of country-bumpkinism works to destroy the big ones. The rock breaking into cobblestones is self service. The EU doesn't have to do anything for it to happen. It just picks up the cobblestones, says "Welcome friend" and places them neatly in the highway from Galway to the Urals (yes, Russia will fall too, and be added to the glorious HRE II).
For the nation state and country-bumpkins, it's turtles all the way down. Godel would be proud.
SoD
Posted by: Loz | Sunday, 29 October 2017 at 10:04
How far do the turtles go down in country-bumpkinism, we might ask?
Is there a stopping condition in this Turing machine?
We'll yes there is actually. It's the individual. The finest grain of cobblestone.
And that's how the fractal loop completes its beautiful form. The EU is me, and I am the EU ...
"E pluribus unum".
The EU reaches out to outflank all the powers that lord it over me and abuse me. Britain, England, Surrey Borough, Frimley Parish, and says, "What help, friend?". ECJ. ECHR. Freedom of movement. Social rules and regs. Even straight cucumbers that keep the shipping container costs down and reduce the supermarket prices I pay.
I am a cobblestone grain in the bottom slab of this pyramid of lords. Why wouldn't I reach out to the king who lords it over them in my eternal struggle against them? It is the absolutely right strategy.
Now we see the deeper truth in the "bullies in the playground" analogy. You have one bully in the playground and you have a problem. You will be bullied. You have two bullies in the playground and you don't have a problem because the two will fight each other before they get to you. Hold their coats and let 'em is a good strategy to avoid being bullied in a two bully playground.
But what if one wins or breaks free and gets to you?
Best strategy is to double, treble, and turtle down on your bully insurance! With multiple bullies in the playground they all fight each other with even less chance of any breaking free to get to you than when there were just two. And you can always appeal to king-bully if any of the others usurps his right and gets close to you.
We'll that's the way it's heading, and I'm all aboard. And it's all thanks to the country-bumpkins!
Cheers Guys and Gals, keep up the good work!
SoD
Posted by: Loz | Sunday, 29 October 2017 at 10:44
It doesn't work like that Lawrence. What actually happens is that if you fight off one bully, the others - who are invariably members of the same gang - attack you mob-handed and give you a real pounding.
How do I know this? I went to boarding school and experienced it all first-hand. Unfortunately, this is a perfect microcosm of the EU.
Posted by: Richard | Sunday, 29 October 2017 at 12:47
Also, I can tell you - again from experience - that any appeals to the king bully will fall on deaf ears. Again, this is true of the EU.
Posted by: Richard | Sunday, 29 October 2017 at 12:51
If they're all knocking six bells out of you then they're not multiple bullies, but merely the agents of one bully.
Your awful experience back up my model.
You needed another gang - or more than one gang.
SoD
Posted by: Loz | Sunday, 29 October 2017 at 13:54