A Bad Day For The Defenders Of The Nation

The Partido Popular has descibed it as a "historical betrayal". What they are referring to is not Mariano Rajoy's decision to continue as PP leader, instead it's the visit by Spanish foreign minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos to Gibraltar today. Such is the wave of outrage that the visit has provoked that as many as 12 people were believed to be standing by the frontier to whistle their protest at the first ever ministerial level visit by a Spanish politician to the big rock. They can whistle all they want because it's not a crime. In a case brought by the ultra right wing DENAES (Foundation for the Defence of the Spanish Nation) a judge today decided that those who drowned the national anthem in a chorus of whistles during the final of the Copa del Rey did not commit any offence. Spain would probably have needed to double its prison capacity to incarcerate all of those involved in the action. The judges decision was made on the almost absurdly democratic grounds that such an act is covered by the freedom of expression. No wonder the nation is falling apart.