From the headlines

If there were any SUR in English readers who didn’t know the word the Spanish use for beach bars and restaurants a few months ago, they certainly do now. ‘The chiringuitos must all come off the sand’, threatened one headline; ‘Government agrees to negotiate over chiringuitos’, promised another, followed by reports of the chiringuito owners [...]

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However much the world is becoming globalised, however much we travel around and even settle in other countries, however integrated a foreigner may feel in a society, foreigners are still foreigners. Even adopting the nationality of your new home still makes you of foreign origin.
The news we read and hear every day only emphasises how [...]

Filed under: General by Rachel Haynes
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This Monday morning I have noticed that the news on surinenglish.com to have collected the most comments over the weekend is a short item about the Catholic church linking two current issues: child abuse in religious schools and abortion.
“Abortion worse than abuse, says Spanish Cardinal” reads the headline, whose correctness was disputed in one of [...]

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Two years ago I happened to be in England at the time of the Wimbledon final and I found myself passionately cheering on Spain’s Rafa Nadal in his match against Roger Federer. Yesterday, watching the final of the Madrid Open, I realised my loyalty had changed sides as I rooted for Federer and celebrated his [...]

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First it was mad cow disease, then bird flu and now swine flu. If we human beings didn’t have enough health fears of our own, the animal kingdom comes along and provides a few more, reminding us yet again that when it comes to examining cells under a microscope we are all more or [...]

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It’s been all change at the Junta de Andalucía this week. The departure of Manuel Chaves to Madrid has led to a complete shake-up of the regional government under the new President José Antonio Griñán, a man who has emerged from the shadow of Chaves as someone determined to make some changes, rather than simply [...]

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As anticipated Zapatero has announced his Cabinet reshuffle. New blood to bring new ideas or strategies aimed at getting us out of this deepening recession. After 19 years at the helm of the Junta de Andalucía granted by six electoral victories, Manuel Chaves has been summoned back to Madrid to become the third of three Deputy Prime [...]

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Semana Santa is upon us.  With it comes the usual debate, at least among those of us who are not directly involved, about whether the Holy Week processions are pure religious devotion, folklore, culture or simple tradition.
What we do know is that this week’s celebrations have a pull powerful enough to make thousands of people, of all ages walk [...]

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Marketing is something you would normally associate with the business world rather than the spiritual, but the Catholic Church seems to have got the hang of it. Last year the radio and the papers were full of appeals for funds – help the church help others, tick the Church box on your ‘declaración de la [...]

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On Thursday one little machine could be seen slowly working away at a building in Marbella. Little by little it knocked away the bricks, cement and plaster, gradually turning 34 homes into a pile of rubble. Thirty-four homes that were never lived in, thresholds that no one was ever carried over, walls that never heard [...]

Filed under: General by Rachel Haynes
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