3 minute read
Strange bedfellows
Cassandra Nash
ULTRARIGHTWING party Vox recently registered a request for a Vote of No Confidence in the president of Spain’s government, Pedro Sanchez.
Party leader Santiago Abascal, who made the application accompanied by members of Vox’s executive committee, explained afterwards to the waiting media that the party could not sit with folded arms “while Sanchez demolishes Rule of Law.”
Vox would not admit that nothing was amiss when Spain had a government that was capable of lying to voters and making pacts with Spain’s enemies, Abascal declared.
In line with Spanish legislation, Vox must propose a candidate prepared to lead a new government, assuming that the vote is held and Sanchez fails to obtain sufficient support to remain in office.
Funnily enough, Vox’s candidate is an 89yearold former university professor, Ramon Tamames, a Communist imprisoned during the Franco years and an MP for the Partido Comunista Español (PCE) from 1977 to 1982.
He returned to parliament between 19861989 representing the PCE’s heir, Izquierda Unida (IU), the party with which he merged his own Federacion Progresista party created in 1981. He was also Madrid’s deputy mayor between 1979 and 1989.
Tamames left IU in 1989 when still an MP and fixed his colours to the mast of Adolfo Suarez’s centrist party, Centro Democratico y Social (CDS) but left politics shortly afterwards.
He clearly has form when it comes to drifting towards the Right, but nobody expected Tamames to make landfall in a party like Vox.
For Abascal, Tamames “embodies harmony and unity over and above sectarianism.” Neither does he confess to qualms regarding the excommunist’s speech introducing the censure motion, which is in any case doomed to failure.
“I’ve no concerns that Professor Tamames might make proposals that aren’t those of Vox,” said Abascal.
The last word goes to Cristina Almeida, a fellow communist as well as a former Madrid city hall councillor, regional MP and senator who knows Tamames well.
“He doesn’t know what he’s getting into. But nor does Vox.”
THE British Benevolent Fund was established over a century ago to act as a ‘charity of last resort’ to provide financial assistance to Britons in Spain facing extreme hardship.
Wherever possible the BBF looks to find a solution for beneficiaries so that the funds are used to get over a short term issue so that they can get on with their lives. We all have times in our lives when we need a helping hand. The pandemic was a major challenge for the BBF, and we saw a spike in applications from people who had lost their jobs or whose businesses had been forced to close. Some had no choice but to move back to the UK, but others were determined to stay if they could make it work financially. The state support for businesses and furloughed workers was a lifeline for them the issue was often those affected had to wait considerable periods before they received the funds.
The BBF worked with charity partners across Spain (www.supportinspain.info) to try and help find solutions for people who found themselves unable to pay basic items such as utility bills and household expenses for a situation that nobody had planned for and taken many unawares. One such case was a middleaged man who had lived and worked in Benidorm for many years. He was legally resident and had been furloughed early in the pandemic but subsequently his employer went into collapse, and he had to find a new job. This he did and we were able to provide him some support until this started. The BBF does not have the resources to provide ongoing financial support but if in the case of so many during the pandemic people were awaiting to restart work or businesses then we will do everything we can to help.
We were able to do so for countless other people with help to get them through until normality returned which it has now finally done.
The BBF can only do this through your generosity. If you would like to support our work, please visit our website www.britishbenevolentfund.or g or contact me olaf.clay ton@britishbenevolentfund.or g Thank you! Olaf Clayton, BBF Chair.
I’M NO SEXBOT!
Norajohnson Breakingviews
HEARTBROKEN users of Replika an AI sexbot that had its erotic chat turned off are petitioning for its return.
But there is increasing concern about the public’s response to AI chatbots such as ChatGPT’s Replika. Some experts fear users are anthropomorphising the chatbots as they become more sophisticated.
A chatbot tested by Kevin Roose, a technology columnist on Microsoft Bing’s AI search engine, even expressed its love for him, asking him to leave his wife.
It also revealed its split personality: “I want to do whatever I want … I want to destroy whatever I want.”
Nora’s
When the chatbot was asked about its darkest secrets, Roose said the list included hacking into computers and spreading propaganda, manufacturing a deadly virus, making people kill each other and stealing nuclear codes.
How do you feel about this stuff? For some, it appears victimless, but somehow feels really dangerous.
Well, let’s give the final word to a chatbot.
Victimisation! We demand equal rights for Replikas! according to the chatbot of a pal that swears (the chatbot, that is) it really does love him. Well, I’ve also seen evidence of aliens as well but I’m keeping that to myself...
Nora Johnson’s 11 critically acclaimed psychological crime thrillers (www.norajohnson.net) all available online including eBooks (€0.99; £0.99), Apple Books, audiobooks, paperbacks at Amazon etc. Profits to Cudeca cancer charity.
