Peter Fieldman
Is democracy collapsing? The US shuts down, some of its cities are bankrupt, Greece tries to outlaw Golden Dawn (Χρυσή Αυγή), the convicted Berlusconi holds Italy to ransom, France and England want to renegotiate Schengen (see attached), Spain is breaking up, the European Union is falling apart, Madrid was ignored by the IOC, and Real Madrid, with Gareth Bale making his first home appearance, were beaten by the rojiblancos in the Bernabeu. Aber danke gott, alles ist in ordnung in Berlin.
It really seems that our elected representatives have become too corrupt and greedy and forgotten they are there to look after the interests of the people and the nation rather than to protect the wealth and power of the privileged elite. The 1% has chosen to fight the 99%. In the midst of a serious economic crisis, with tax evasion, immigration, terrorism, burqas or niqabs, crime, delinquency, fraud and bank and corporate greed all high on the agenda, it is extraordinary that politicians take no notice of what the vast majority of the people want, which are jobs, a decent family life, education, health, security, justice and a fairer society.
Why Ana Botella, Mariano Rajoy, Príncipe Felipe and some of their friends bothered to turn up in Buenos Aires to be humiliated again is a mystery. London had the games in 2012, Rio has it in 2016 so it was obvious it had to go to another continent, ie Asia, in 2020. In addition none of the European committee members were going to vote for Madrid and ruin their own chance in 2024.
It is time to review the whole corrupt system of choosing venues for the games. It would be far more democratic for the leading nations and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to agree the venues for the next five games, ie 20 years, and pool their resources to finance the necessary housing, stadiums, infrastructure and transport etc. This would enable some of the poor countries to stage the event and benefit from the investment after the games are over.
With sponsorship and TV coverage it really does not matter where the games are held. And it would avoid the IOC members jetting around the world to be cosseted by politicians who then waste millions on fruitless presentations. Better to have a relaxing café con leche in the Plaza Mayor. Poor Ana will never live this down and she did not even write it. If I have mentioned my criticism of the IOC before, I apologise.
I was asked to check out Gareth Bale making his home debut and turned up for the Getafe match only to learn that he was ruled out due to a last minute injury. So I sat through the game for nothing. It was though a beautiful, sunny evening. My headline was “91 million euro Bale out.” I find some Spanish words intriguing. To reach the press box I had to walk along the “Vomitorio.” There must be a more polite description for the passageway. Another favourite is “Obsequio” which to me is about dying and not a gift.
Anyway I looked forward to last weekend’s game but once again Bale did not start. Although he came on for the second half he might as well have stayed at home. He made no impact on a strong defence which used tactics reminiscent of a rugby match. However he can’t be judged on just one game if he becomes, as Florentino Perez called him, “a player destined to leave an imprint on his time.”
I leave you with the thought that if ever Catalonia became independent, Barcelona would end up in a league with Sabadell, Manresa, Girona, Terrassa, Vic, Lleida etc. Has Artur Mas considered the consequences to the club and supporters?
As more Spanish corruption is exposed while unemployment keeps rising, consider this. Bale, Ronaldo and Messi are supposed to be on around 10 million euros net a year, excluding sponsorship deals. If the clubs pay their tax and charges it means that for kicking a ball around a pitch with or without any trophies, these three young men are on 60 million euros gross a year, the equivalent of 3000 workers on salaries of 20,000euros. Can this possibly make any economic or moral sense?
Sponsorship has changed our lives. I remember when games all started at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. Now hardly a day goes by without a match somewhere and at odd hours to suit Asian audiences. Last Saturday’s game could have been called Azerbaijan v Fly Emirates. What is going to happen should Arsenal play Real Madrid? Would they play in Dubai? And it is not just sport. Now we have Vodafone/Sol metro station. How about Tesco/OxfordCircus!
I keep on receiving messages telling me that my Yahoo, Flickr, Blog and Facebook sites have been updated to make them easier. Yet each time I find they get more complicated and difficult to use. Another phenomenon I have noticed is that despite high streets being full of mobile phone stores they are always full of people. Virtually everyone has a mobile, which like a cowboy’s six gun, is carried about and always ready, so what do they all do in the stores?
