Twitteretter

We are having riots in Spain, or Catalonia, depending on where you sit on Catalonian independence, after Hasel, a rapper, has been imprisoned for crimes including inciting violence and insulting the Spanish crown, in his lyrics and social media. The rioters clamour in defence of freedom of expression, a fundamental right that often nowadays seems to be given prevalence, in the mind of many, over others’ right not to be attacked. I’m following two scientists from the same discipline, whose positions on this issue could not be further apart. Interesting, as they’ve been trained on the scientific method and the need to consider all evidence. However, what for one is black, for the other is white when, in the balance of probability, it is likely grey. This must be an issue of biased sources or, if multiple bilateral sources are being considered, biased evaluation of such sources. When even scientists fall foul of this, imagine the population at large. One of the great challenges of our age...

In amongst all the US presidential election kerfuffle many, even in Spain, may have missed the sentence of the trial against Josep Lluis Trapero, the ex-commander in chief of Catalonian police, accused of rebellion by Spanish prosecutors. Major Trapero has been exonerated, to the chagrin of Spanish nationalists and the elation of Catalonian ones. The former will see it as evidence of a corrupt court system soft on independentists, the latter as evidence of an oppressing Spanish state. Both are extreme interpretations. It is no more than the completion of a normal process in society and evidence that the separation of powers in Spain is alive and well. An accusation with sufficient merit is brought, heard and adjudicated on the basis of the case built. For justice to be done, however, we still need to see Trapero restored to his role, if he still wishes to fulfil it, and the mitigation of any pecuniary and other personal damages the ultimately unsuccessful prosecution may have caused h...