Life in Culebrón

This week, in the Spanish media there has been a lot about Miguel Ángel Blanco, a local politician in the Basque country who was abducted and murdered by ETA, the Basque terrorist group. Miguel died in July 1997 so this is the 25th anniversary. As always with things ETA related or to do with the victims of terror there has been controversy. Basically some people say that the political party Bildu, which operates in the Basque Country, and is a sometimes ally of the present socialist government, is the direct successor to the ETA terrorist group. Others say that making that association is as unrealistic as following the trail of the very mainstream Partido Popular back to some hypothetical Francoist roots. I wonder if there is some sort of rule about how long has to pass before groups, people, finally lay old antagonisms to rest, acknowledge the damage and move forward. I understand the Catalans are still upset by a battle in the War of Succession that took place in 1714 but Coventrians...

The other day, at work, they asked me if I'd be willing to do a quick cramming course for 17 or 18year olds who had had trouble with their final marks in the English test or who were about to do an English paper as a part of their University entrance exam. I had to do a bit of checking around to find out exactly what I might be taking on. I knew that some recent changes in education law, the law called LOMCE,  had made changes to the various exams but it's one thing having a general idea and another knowing the specifics of an exam. So now I know about PAUs and EvAUs and how people still call the whole thing selectividad. I even understand the marking scheme - for English at least. Obviously though I'm at a disadvantage over Spaniards who have gone through the system or who grew with the changes as they affected their children or younger relatives. So whilst I know there was a system with EGB, BUP, COU and now there's a system with ESO and Bachillerato and vocationa...