ego
cabra presumida en estado puro
viernes, 3 de febrero de 2012
how to improve ypur english
http://esl.about.com/od/englishlearningresources/ht/how_to_improve_english.htm
martes, 24 de enero de 2012
"The day is short", "A Prairie Home Companion" ("L'últim show"), Robert Altman (2006)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4uWfupCcj8&feature=fvsr
domingo, 25 de diciembre de 2011
Skipping Christmas
Skipping Christmas
John Grisham, 2001
Random House
277 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780440422969
In Brief
Luther and Nora Krank are fed up with the chaos of Christmas. The endless shopping lists, the frenzied dashes through the mall, the hassle of decorating the tree... where has all the joy gone? This year, celebrating seems like too much effort. With their only child off in Peru, they decide that just this once, they'll skip the holidays. They spend their Christmas budget on a Caribbean cruise set to sail on December 25, and happily settle in for a restful holiday season free of rooftop snowmen and festive parties.
But the Kranks soon learn that their vacation from Christmas isn't much of a vacation at all, and that skipping the holidays has consequences they didn't bargain for...
A modern Christmas classic, Skipping Christmas is a charming and hilarious look at the mayhem and madness that have become ingrained in our holiday tradition. (From the publisher.)
A 2004 film version of the book, renamed Christmas with the Kranks, stars Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis.
top of page
About the Author
• Birth—February 8, 1955
• Where—Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA
• Education—B.S., Mississippi State; J.D., University of
Mississippi
• Currently—lives in Oxford, Mississippi and Albermarle,
Virginia
Since first publishing A Time to Kill in 1988, Grisham has written one novel a year (his other books are The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, The Partner, The Street Lawyer, The Testament, The Brethren, A Painted House, Skipping Christmas, The Summons, The King of Torts, Bleachers, The Last Juror, and The Broker) and all of them have become international bestsellers. The Innocent Man (October 2006) marks his first foray into non-fiction.
Grisham lives with his wife Renee and their two children Ty and Shea. The family splits their time between their Victorian home on a farm in Mississippi and a plantation near Charlottesville, VA.
More
As a young boy in Arkansas, John Grisham dreamed of being a baseball player. Fortunately for his millions of fans, that career didn't pan out. His family moved to Mississippi in 1967, where Grisham eventually received a law degree from Ole Miss and established a practice in Southaven for criminal and civil law. In 1983, Grisham was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives, where he served until 1990.
While working as an attorney, Grisham witnessed emotional testimony from the case of a young girl's rape. Naturally inquisitive, Grisham's mind started to wander: what if the terrible crime yielded an equally terrible revenge? These questions of right and wrong were the subject of his first novel, A Time to Kill (1988), written in the stolen moments before and between court appearances. The book wasn't widely distributed, but his next title would be the one to bring him to the national spotlight. The day after he finished A Time to Kill, Grisham began work on The Firm (1991), the story of a whiz kid attorney who joins a crooked law firm. The book was an instant hit, spent 47 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and was made into a movie starring Tom Cruise.
With the success of The Firm, Grisham resigned from the Mississippi House of Representatives to focus exclusively on his writing. What followed was a string of bestselling legal thrillers that demonstrated the author's uncanny ability to capture the unique drama of the courtroom. Several of his novels were turned into blockbuster movies.
In 1996, Grisham returned to his law practice for one last case, honoring a promise he had made before his retirement. He represented the family of a railroad worker who was killed on the job, the case went to trial, and Grisham won the largest verdict of his career when the family was awarded more than $650,000.
Although he is best known for his legal thrillers, Grisham has ventured outside the genre with several well-received novels (A Painted House, Bleachers, et al) and an earnest and compelling nonfiction account of small-town justice gone terribly wrong (The Innocent Man). The popularity of these stand-alones proves that Grisham is no mere one-trick pony but a gifted writer with real "legs."
Extras
From a 2004 Barnes & Noble interview:
• A prolific writer, it takes Grisham an average of six months to complete a novel.
• Grisham has the right to approve or reject whoever is cast in movies based on his books. He has even written two screenplays himself: Mickey and The Gingerbread Man.
• Baseball is one of Grisham's great loves. He serves as the local Little League commissioner and has six baseball diamonds on his property, where he hosts games.
• His favorite writers
I love to read people like John Steinbeck and William Styron, and people like that; some Hemingway, some Faulkner. I'll read a great novel, and I'll say, 'I'll never be that good!' I have to recognize my own limitations. I think where I am real good is putting a story together—putting a plot together—and being able to hook the reader fairly early on in an engaging story, and make the pages turn.
• Why he loves to write:
I think it's just this fascination I have with escapism—with being able to just chuck it all, and walk away.
• On one of the secrets to his inspiration:
A hyperactive imagination, which I guess I was born with.
• On the characters of his prior books:
I forget about these people so fast. I get embarrassed all the time because I'll be at a bookstore signing books, and somebody will ask me a question about The Partner, or The Brethren or something I wrote five or six years ago, and I can't answer the question because I don't remember what happened. I really tend to forget about them real fast because I'm always thinking about the next book or the next two books or the next movie.
• On "the good life" as a writer:
Hey, I'm the luckiest guy in the world—I really feel that way! I get to work about six months out of the year writing a novel, the other six months, I watch baseball games, raise my kids, stay on the farm with my wife and the horses, and live a very easy life—I'm very spoiled.
(Bio and interview from Barnes & Noble.)
top of page
Critics Say . . .
For all its clever curmudgeonly edge and minor charms, no way does this Christmas yarn from Grisham rank with A Christmas Carol, as the publisher claims. Nor does it rank with Grisham's own best work. The premise is terrific, as you'd expect from Grisham. Fed up with the commercial aspects of Christmas, particularly all the money spent, and alone for the holiday for the first time in decades (their daughter has just joined the Peace Corps), grumpy Luther Krank and his sweeter wife, Nora, decide to skip Christmas this year to forgo the gifts, the tree, the decorations, the cards, the parties and to spend the dollars saved on a 10-day Caribbean cruise. But as clever as this setup is, its elaboration is ho-hum. There's a good reason why nearly all classic Christmas tales rely on an element of fantasy, for, literarily at least, Christmas is a time of miracles. Grisham sticks to the mundane, however, and his story lacks magic for that. He does a smartly entertaining job of satirizing the usual Christmas frenzy, as Luther and Nora resist entreaties from various charities as well as increasing pressure from their neighbors (all sharply drawn, recognizable members of the generic all-American burb, the book's setting) to do up their house in the traditional way, including installing the giant Frosty that this year adorns the roof of every home on the block except theirs. And when something happens that prompts the Kranks to jump back into Christmas at the last minute, Grisham does slip in a celebration of the real spirit of Christmas, to the point of perhaps squeezing a tear or two from his most sentimental readers (even if he comes uncomfortably close to It's a Wonderful Life to do so). But it's too little, too late. The misanthropy in this short novel makes a good antidote to the more cloying Christmas tales, and the book is fun to read. To compare it to Dickens, however, is...humbug.
Publishers Weekly
Accountant Luther Krank is a Scrooge for the new millennium. He calculates that he and his wife, Nora, can take a Caribbean cruise during Christmas for much less money than they spent during the previous year's Christmas season. But Luther doesn't just want to take a vacation during Christmas; he wants to take a vacation from Christmas and skip it altogether. This means that the Kranks will not buy a Christmas tree or calendar, put up any decorations, send any Christmas cards, give any gifts, or attend or host any parties much to the chagrin of their hyperfestive neighbors. However, an unexpected phone call at the last minute leads to a change in plans. Hilarity ensues, but the poignant conclusion is unforgettable. Grisham astutely captures the way many people spend the holiday season, from fighting the crowds to commenting on their neighbors' Christmas trees. A Painted House was Grisham's first departure from the legal thriller genre, and this further demonstrates his ability to tell a story with nary a courtroom in sight. Highly recommended for all public libraries. —Samantha J. Gust, Niagara Univ. Lib., NY
Library Journal
top of page
Book Club Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Skipping Christmas:
1. This book has been called a "modern day Christmas classic." What does the term mean—what makes the book a "Christmas classic"? Do you agree that it is?
2. As you were reading the book, did you find yourself siding with the Kranks' decision to skip Christmas...or disgreeing with them?
3. What are your feelings toward the Christmas holidays? Has this book affected how you will view the season?
4. When friends and neighbors learn that the Kranks plan to skip Christmas, they try to convince them to change their minds. Why do the neighbors find the Kranks' plans so disturbing? Do you find the neighbors' interference appropriate ... or inappropriate?
5. When the Kranks learn Blair is returning from Peru for the holidays, they decide to cancel their cruise and celebrate the holidays as they had in the past. Yet they decided not to tell Blair what they had been planning. Why? Does it seem strange that parents would behave this way toward an adult child?
6. Have you seen Christmas with the Kranks, the 2004 film based on the book and starring Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis? If so, how does it compare to the book? If not, do you want to see it after having read the book?
7. Talk about the commercialization of the Christmas season. Do you agree with the Kranks that it's excessive and detracts from the true meaning of Christmas? Or do you feel that the holiday with all its commercial trappings is festive and exciting...that the Kranks are Scrooges...and that you need to take the good with the bad? (There's no "right" answer here....) Is it possible to avoid or escape the commercialism and still celebrate Christmas?
8. Once the Kranks change their plans with Blair's arrival, the neighbors pull together to help them pull off their traditional holiday celebration. Did your opinion of the neighbors change?
9. If you skipped Christmas, what would you miss the most? Alternatively...what would you enjoy the most?
10. Did you find this story enjoyable, even endearing? Or do you think John Grisham should stick to writing legal thrillers?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
John Grisham, 2001
Random House
277 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780440422969
In Brief
Luther and Nora Krank are fed up with the chaos of Christmas. The endless shopping lists, the frenzied dashes through the mall, the hassle of decorating the tree... where has all the joy gone? This year, celebrating seems like too much effort. With their only child off in Peru, they decide that just this once, they'll skip the holidays. They spend their Christmas budget on a Caribbean cruise set to sail on December 25, and happily settle in for a restful holiday season free of rooftop snowmen and festive parties.
But the Kranks soon learn that their vacation from Christmas isn't much of a vacation at all, and that skipping the holidays has consequences they didn't bargain for...
A modern Christmas classic, Skipping Christmas is a charming and hilarious look at the mayhem and madness that have become ingrained in our holiday tradition. (From the publisher.)
A 2004 film version of the book, renamed Christmas with the Kranks, stars Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis.
top of page
About the Author
• Birth—February 8, 1955
• Where—Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA
• Education—B.S., Mississippi State; J.D., University of
Mississippi
• Currently—lives in Oxford, Mississippi and Albermarle,
Virginia
Since first publishing A Time to Kill in 1988, Grisham has written one novel a year (his other books are The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, The Partner, The Street Lawyer, The Testament, The Brethren, A Painted House, Skipping Christmas, The Summons, The King of Torts, Bleachers, The Last Juror, and The Broker) and all of them have become international bestsellers. The Innocent Man (October 2006) marks his first foray into non-fiction.
Grisham lives with his wife Renee and their two children Ty and Shea. The family splits their time between their Victorian home on a farm in Mississippi and a plantation near Charlottesville, VA.
More
As a young boy in Arkansas, John Grisham dreamed of being a baseball player. Fortunately for his millions of fans, that career didn't pan out. His family moved to Mississippi in 1967, where Grisham eventually received a law degree from Ole Miss and established a practice in Southaven for criminal and civil law. In 1983, Grisham was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives, where he served until 1990.
While working as an attorney, Grisham witnessed emotional testimony from the case of a young girl's rape. Naturally inquisitive, Grisham's mind started to wander: what if the terrible crime yielded an equally terrible revenge? These questions of right and wrong were the subject of his first novel, A Time to Kill (1988), written in the stolen moments before and between court appearances. The book wasn't widely distributed, but his next title would be the one to bring him to the national spotlight. The day after he finished A Time to Kill, Grisham began work on The Firm (1991), the story of a whiz kid attorney who joins a crooked law firm. The book was an instant hit, spent 47 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and was made into a movie starring Tom Cruise.
With the success of The Firm, Grisham resigned from the Mississippi House of Representatives to focus exclusively on his writing. What followed was a string of bestselling legal thrillers that demonstrated the author's uncanny ability to capture the unique drama of the courtroom. Several of his novels were turned into blockbuster movies.
In 1996, Grisham returned to his law practice for one last case, honoring a promise he had made before his retirement. He represented the family of a railroad worker who was killed on the job, the case went to trial, and Grisham won the largest verdict of his career when the family was awarded more than $650,000.
Although he is best known for his legal thrillers, Grisham has ventured outside the genre with several well-received novels (A Painted House, Bleachers, et al) and an earnest and compelling nonfiction account of small-town justice gone terribly wrong (The Innocent Man). The popularity of these stand-alones proves that Grisham is no mere one-trick pony but a gifted writer with real "legs."
Extras
From a 2004 Barnes & Noble interview:
• A prolific writer, it takes Grisham an average of six months to complete a novel.
• Grisham has the right to approve or reject whoever is cast in movies based on his books. He has even written two screenplays himself: Mickey and The Gingerbread Man.
• Baseball is one of Grisham's great loves. He serves as the local Little League commissioner and has six baseball diamonds on his property, where he hosts games.
• His favorite writers
I love to read people like John Steinbeck and William Styron, and people like that; some Hemingway, some Faulkner. I'll read a great novel, and I'll say, 'I'll never be that good!' I have to recognize my own limitations. I think where I am real good is putting a story together—putting a plot together—and being able to hook the reader fairly early on in an engaging story, and make the pages turn.
• Why he loves to write:
I think it's just this fascination I have with escapism—with being able to just chuck it all, and walk away.
• On one of the secrets to his inspiration:
A hyperactive imagination, which I guess I was born with.
• On the characters of his prior books:
I forget about these people so fast. I get embarrassed all the time because I'll be at a bookstore signing books, and somebody will ask me a question about The Partner, or The Brethren or something I wrote five or six years ago, and I can't answer the question because I don't remember what happened. I really tend to forget about them real fast because I'm always thinking about the next book or the next two books or the next movie.
• On "the good life" as a writer:
Hey, I'm the luckiest guy in the world—I really feel that way! I get to work about six months out of the year writing a novel, the other six months, I watch baseball games, raise my kids, stay on the farm with my wife and the horses, and live a very easy life—I'm very spoiled.
(Bio and interview from Barnes & Noble.)
top of page
Critics Say . . .
For all its clever curmudgeonly edge and minor charms, no way does this Christmas yarn from Grisham rank with A Christmas Carol, as the publisher claims. Nor does it rank with Grisham's own best work. The premise is terrific, as you'd expect from Grisham. Fed up with the commercial aspects of Christmas, particularly all the money spent, and alone for the holiday for the first time in decades (their daughter has just joined the Peace Corps), grumpy Luther Krank and his sweeter wife, Nora, decide to skip Christmas this year to forgo the gifts, the tree, the decorations, the cards, the parties and to spend the dollars saved on a 10-day Caribbean cruise. But as clever as this setup is, its elaboration is ho-hum. There's a good reason why nearly all classic Christmas tales rely on an element of fantasy, for, literarily at least, Christmas is a time of miracles. Grisham sticks to the mundane, however, and his story lacks magic for that. He does a smartly entertaining job of satirizing the usual Christmas frenzy, as Luther and Nora resist entreaties from various charities as well as increasing pressure from their neighbors (all sharply drawn, recognizable members of the generic all-American burb, the book's setting) to do up their house in the traditional way, including installing the giant Frosty that this year adorns the roof of every home on the block except theirs. And when something happens that prompts the Kranks to jump back into Christmas at the last minute, Grisham does slip in a celebration of the real spirit of Christmas, to the point of perhaps squeezing a tear or two from his most sentimental readers (even if he comes uncomfortably close to It's a Wonderful Life to do so). But it's too little, too late. The misanthropy in this short novel makes a good antidote to the more cloying Christmas tales, and the book is fun to read. To compare it to Dickens, however, is...humbug.
Publishers Weekly
Accountant Luther Krank is a Scrooge for the new millennium. He calculates that he and his wife, Nora, can take a Caribbean cruise during Christmas for much less money than they spent during the previous year's Christmas season. But Luther doesn't just want to take a vacation during Christmas; he wants to take a vacation from Christmas and skip it altogether. This means that the Kranks will not buy a Christmas tree or calendar, put up any decorations, send any Christmas cards, give any gifts, or attend or host any parties much to the chagrin of their hyperfestive neighbors. However, an unexpected phone call at the last minute leads to a change in plans. Hilarity ensues, but the poignant conclusion is unforgettable. Grisham astutely captures the way many people spend the holiday season, from fighting the crowds to commenting on their neighbors' Christmas trees. A Painted House was Grisham's first departure from the legal thriller genre, and this further demonstrates his ability to tell a story with nary a courtroom in sight. Highly recommended for all public libraries. —Samantha J. Gust, Niagara Univ. Lib., NY
Library Journal
top of page
Book Club Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Skipping Christmas:
1. This book has been called a "modern day Christmas classic." What does the term mean—what makes the book a "Christmas classic"? Do you agree that it is?
2. As you were reading the book, did you find yourself siding with the Kranks' decision to skip Christmas...or disgreeing with them?
3. What are your feelings toward the Christmas holidays? Has this book affected how you will view the season?
4. When friends and neighbors learn that the Kranks plan to skip Christmas, they try to convince them to change their minds. Why do the neighbors find the Kranks' plans so disturbing? Do you find the neighbors' interference appropriate ... or inappropriate?
5. When the Kranks learn Blair is returning from Peru for the holidays, they decide to cancel their cruise and celebrate the holidays as they had in the past. Yet they decided not to tell Blair what they had been planning. Why? Does it seem strange that parents would behave this way toward an adult child?
6. Have you seen Christmas with the Kranks, the 2004 film based on the book and starring Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis? If so, how does it compare to the book? If not, do you want to see it after having read the book?
7. Talk about the commercialization of the Christmas season. Do you agree with the Kranks that it's excessive and detracts from the true meaning of Christmas? Or do you feel that the holiday with all its commercial trappings is festive and exciting...that the Kranks are Scrooges...and that you need to take the good with the bad? (There's no "right" answer here....) Is it possible to avoid or escape the commercialism and still celebrate Christmas?
8. Once the Kranks change their plans with Blair's arrival, the neighbors pull together to help them pull off their traditional holiday celebration. Did your opinion of the neighbors change?
9. If you skipped Christmas, what would you miss the most? Alternatively...what would you enjoy the most?
10. Did you find this story enjoyable, even endearing? Or do you think John Grisham should stick to writing legal thrillers?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
The king expresses concern over a loss of faith in some of Spain's institutions
Royal example
There had been widespread expectation over the content of the king's traditional Christmas message to Spaniards, and not only amongst political circles. It was anticipated that Don Juan Carlos would make some reference, albeit indirectly and in a generic sense, to the problem created for the royal family by Iñaki Urdangarin, the husband of Princess Cristina. The Royal Household had already publically described the conduct of Urdangarin in his private business dealings within the ambit of the Nóos Instititute as "not exemplary." The king's son-in-law oversaw the non-profit organization until mid-2006 and is now being investigated for alleged misappropriation of public funds.
In fact, the king devoted the central portion of his speech to the scandal, although he did not expressly cite Urdangarin at any moment. The monarch admitted to feeling enormous concern over the damage caused to the credibility and prestige of the crown amongst public opinion, and he backed the role of the courts in dealing with any such irregular conduct. While the Spanish crown continues to enjoy the affection of a majority of Spaniards, episodes such as the one involving the Infanta Cristina's husband have contributed to the royal family's popularity having fallen somewhat in recent times.
The king talked of the need for "rigor, responsibility and exemplariness among those who represent public institutions," and of the unavoidable necessity under the rule of law that "any untoward action must be judged and punished according to the law." In the current context, it is noteworthy that he underlined these observations in the following way, albeit to state the obvious: "Everyone is equal under the law."
In terms of the "not exemplary" behavior of Urdangarin, which has put the Royal Household in a difficult position as well as damaging the image of the crown, public censure of his relative's conduct and the promise of greater transparency in the future management of the funds the king and his family receive from the state budget constitute a brave reaction on the part of the monarch. It is also not the kind of response we are used to seeing on the part of state institutions when under fire.
That public criticism of Urdangarin's conduct has not infringed upon his right to the presumption of innocence. The royal family is an institutionalized family, subject to certain behavioral restraints. Any member who contravenes these special rules thus commits acts which can be termed unbecoming of someone in their position, regardless of the judicial treatment they receive. What can be demanded of the judiciary is that it determines as quickly as possible what accusations are to be leveled at Urdangarin, as the current delay in doing so only encourages the formulation of premature judgments which could create a problem in terms of his right to be considered innocent until proven guilty.
Global crisis
As well as being a token of the "sincerity and realism" with which Don Juan Carlos says he wishes to talk to Spaniards, it was natural that much of his Christmas message should focus on the financial and economic crisis, and the grave consequences it continues to have on families and the job market, with almost five million Spanish workers currently unemployed. Unfortunately, this issue has been a fixture in these royal messages since 2008. This year, the king freely recognized the "global nature" of the crisis, and the necessity of combating it within the context of the European Union.
Also worth highlighting is the commitment expressed by King Juan Carlos to working from within the institution of the crown to help create an atmosphere of unity and cohesion in the new political environment as the Popular Party takes up the reins of government after beating the Socialists in November's general elections.
Terrorism again cropped up in the Christmas speech but, after ETA's announcement this year of a "definitive" end to violence, on this occasion it was not a case of condemning attacks, but rather telling the terrorists that the time has come for them to "hand over their murderous weapons" while also offering much-deserved homage to the victims.
There had been widespread expectation over the content of the king's traditional Christmas message to Spaniards, and not only amongst political circles. It was anticipated that Don Juan Carlos would make some reference, albeit indirectly and in a generic sense, to the problem created for the royal family by Iñaki Urdangarin, the husband of Princess Cristina. The Royal Household had already publically described the conduct of Urdangarin in his private business dealings within the ambit of the Nóos Instititute as "not exemplary." The king's son-in-law oversaw the non-profit organization until mid-2006 and is now being investigated for alleged misappropriation of public funds.
In fact, the king devoted the central portion of his speech to the scandal, although he did not expressly cite Urdangarin at any moment. The monarch admitted to feeling enormous concern over the damage caused to the credibility and prestige of the crown amongst public opinion, and he backed the role of the courts in dealing with any such irregular conduct. While the Spanish crown continues to enjoy the affection of a majority of Spaniards, episodes such as the one involving the Infanta Cristina's husband have contributed to the royal family's popularity having fallen somewhat in recent times.
The king talked of the need for "rigor, responsibility and exemplariness among those who represent public institutions," and of the unavoidable necessity under the rule of law that "any untoward action must be judged and punished according to the law." In the current context, it is noteworthy that he underlined these observations in the following way, albeit to state the obvious: "Everyone is equal under the law."
In terms of the "not exemplary" behavior of Urdangarin, which has put the Royal Household in a difficult position as well as damaging the image of the crown, public censure of his relative's conduct and the promise of greater transparency in the future management of the funds the king and his family receive from the state budget constitute a brave reaction on the part of the monarch. It is also not the kind of response we are used to seeing on the part of state institutions when under fire.
That public criticism of Urdangarin's conduct has not infringed upon his right to the presumption of innocence. The royal family is an institutionalized family, subject to certain behavioral restraints. Any member who contravenes these special rules thus commits acts which can be termed unbecoming of someone in their position, regardless of the judicial treatment they receive. What can be demanded of the judiciary is that it determines as quickly as possible what accusations are to be leveled at Urdangarin, as the current delay in doing so only encourages the formulation of premature judgments which could create a problem in terms of his right to be considered innocent until proven guilty.
Global crisis
As well as being a token of the "sincerity and realism" with which Don Juan Carlos says he wishes to talk to Spaniards, it was natural that much of his Christmas message should focus on the financial and economic crisis, and the grave consequences it continues to have on families and the job market, with almost five million Spanish workers currently unemployed. Unfortunately, this issue has been a fixture in these royal messages since 2008. This year, the king freely recognized the "global nature" of the crisis, and the necessity of combating it within the context of the European Union.
Also worth highlighting is the commitment expressed by King Juan Carlos to working from within the institution of the crown to help create an atmosphere of unity and cohesion in the new political environment as the Popular Party takes up the reins of government after beating the Socialists in November's general elections.
Terrorism again cropped up in the Christmas speech but, after ETA's announcement this year of a "definitive" end to violence, on this occasion it was not a case of condemning attacks, but rather telling the terrorists that the time has come for them to "hand over their murderous weapons" while also offering much-deserved homage to the victims.
domingo, 18 de diciembre de 2011
Suscribirse a:
Entradas (Atom)