The Gospel According To Losantos

Difficult times over at the COPE, the Spanish radio station owned by the Catholic Church. After a couple of years of rumours about his imminent departure, it does now seem that the Reverend Federico Jiménez Losantos is about to part company with the COPE. It appears that even the bishops have finally had enough of the daily dose of insults and conspiracy theories, the fact that Losantos has recently turned more of his fire on the Partido Popular rather than on the sinners and unbelievers probably hasn’t assisted his cause.

Rather than just sack him directly, the COPE have offered Losantos a move from his prime time morning slot to a less popular evening programme which he would have to share with his big friend Cesar Vidal. Difficult though it would be for this Little and Large of the loony right to share a cramped studio, the offer clearly doesn’t take into account the size of Federico’s ego. Losantos has presented himself recently in his morning sermons as the man who saved La Cope from destruction. The lost army of anonymous commenters who endlessly roam the plains of Castilla y Leon will no doubt be out and about ensuring that we hear of his "legion" of admirers. Some of the more fanatical have even gone a bit too far for the Reverend himself, with threats to withhold their contribution to the church on their tax declarations. However, what becomes clear above all is that the number one fan of Losantos is Federico himself.

So far the man beneficiaries of the tussle look like being the lawyers, as Losantos attempts to extract whatever he can in return for surrendering his contract. We don’t know yet whether Vidal will join him in abandoning the ship. The latter is a prolific author, and has definitively overturned the maxim that quality should come before quantity, he seems to produce a new book on something every week. The proposed replacement for Losantos, Ignacio Villa, has clearly taken all the Libertad Digital dog eat dog, everyone for themselves, philosophy a bit too seriously for the liking of Federico, and has now been frozen out of the inner circle as a result of being tempted by the offer from the COPE

Not to worry. Losantos, after so long spent praying at the shrine of Santa Espe de Mumbai, has received his just reward. In the knick of time the heavens have opened and a radio frequency for the holy city of Madrid has fallen into the hands of Losantos and his other good friend Pedro Jota Ramirez. Whilst some believe that Fede has been cast out into the wilderness because of his decision to place PP leader Mariano Rajoy in the nationalist/terrorist/socialist camp, there are those who argue that setting up a rival radio network to that of your current employer doesn't necessarily help your future employment prospects. The heretics will soon be harangued from a new pulpit; at least once the lawyers have finished having their say.