I Can't Read You

"Political turmoil." Thus read the front-page headline of "The Bulletin". What could it have been? Things political seemed to have been relatively quiet in the UK. It turned out to be a local political story - on the front page. And what was/is this turmoil? It involves a minister being implicated in a scandal. That's all you need to know, because this is what mostly all political turmoil stories here have to do with. The story, as such, has been written many times before; the only things that change are the names. The fact also is that you may not be at all interested, and if not, read on ...

The particular minister is the one for tourism. The last time the Balearic Government was rocked by "turmoil", the minister involved was the one for ... tourism. Not the same person, just the same job. The current tourism minister is Miquel Nadal, a name some of you may have taken note of, as it has appeared on the blog before now. I say some of you. It so happened that I was in a bar yesterday morning as the "political turmoil" headline was being read out. It was of course a British bar; you would not get a copy of "The Bulletin" hanging around a Spanish bar. Of the assembled four people (all of whom live here), I asked do you know who the tourism minister is? As in, what's his name? Blanks. Not totally surprising I suppose. But then I tried - who's the president of the Balearic Government? Blanks. Antich, says I. Isn't he a Yugoslavian footballer? Very good. Actually no, because he's now just Serbian, but he was at one time the whole Yugoslavian nine yards. Finally I went for the president (some say prime minister) of Spain. Erm. Well, no. As a specialist subject on "Mastermind", I suggest avoiding Spanish or Mallorcan politics.

This was all quite instructive; at least I thought so. Not only do people - British people - not know who local politicians are, they really don't care. Ok, some do know and do care, but they are, I would submit, in a minority. That same minority would also know about British politicians. The majority might take more of an interest in what's happening with UK politics, but they are more interested still in Jade Goody and the footy.

What was most instructive was what it revealed about the media here, or what the media here can ever mean. Newspapers, British newspapers, appeal to particular demographics. Readers of "The Times" know a lot about British politics; they may not know much about Jade Goody. The reverse applies to readers of "The Sun". So, how do you reconcile these competing demographics and these competing interests through the local media, which amounts to "The Bulletin", freebies and various niche magazines? The answer is that you probably cannot. The market is too small anyway.

And if the political turmoil continues, if it claims another sacked minister, who will care? Not the Brits, that's for sure. For sure, a sample of four people hardly constitutes a quorum, let alone a market research sample. Nevertheless, the story may be written, but it won't be read.


Cloughie and the Damned
Can we just talk a bit about reading of another sort? The Brian Clough novel and film - "The Damned United" - create a bit of an issue here because Clough had a holiday home on the island and there are scenes of Mallorca in the film. I have not read the book. I have not seen the flim. I have heard the arguments though, in particular on Five Live where Pat Murphy played his I-was-a-mate-of-Cloughie's hand (and was not best pleased by the film). But there is this suggestion that David Peace, born in 1967, could not have written a book about events that happened when he was seven. Well, obviously he could have done because he has, and I'm going to defend Peace totally. So what that he would have no personal experience of that time?

There will be much written about this film, not least here because of the Mallorca connection, but maybe it should be taken into account that it was firstly a novel and secondly a film. And novels and films have been known to occasionally play a tad loose with history.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Tears For Fears (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMBbJ_l0Tb4). Today's title - nearly took instead something by his sister about written or, more accurately, unwritten. Who he?

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