Who's Fiddling Here
dated 2010-05-10 | posted in columns | topic Economy | permanent link
And the Band Played On
If Nero fiddled while Rome burned, the Portuguese are not far behind. In the USA, where I spent the past two weeks, CNN blared the news about Greece and continually asked “Who’s next?” I cowered as commentators talked about Portugal, “a tiny country that can’t handle its debt.” Other journalists lumped Portugal with Spain. (Many Americans don’t know that Portugal is a separate country.) The two, broadc ...
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
dated 2010-05-25 | posted in columns | topic People | permanent link
I spent the past week randomly looking, listening and observing in this part of Portugal. It occurred to me recently that I’ve never seen a black person working in a bank, insurance company, or in any firm of importance except to clean them up. It’s true that I live in Cascais, often referred to as the “Beverly Hills of Portugal”, but when I asked my banker if she knew of any black managers or tellers in Lisbon, she looked at me with a “ not ...