Bullfighting Awarded Cultural Status Despite Opposition

Bullfighting may be one of the last bloodsports to disappear completely, due to a legislation which has awarded it with a special status in Spanish culture.

According to the Guardian, the bill – which was passed with twenty-four votes to six – solidifies the status of bullfighting as “part of the cultural heritage worthy of protection throughout the national territory”, despite strong and vocal opposition from every direction. However, almost all of the amendments put forward by these opponents were rejected by the right-wing People’s Party.

Although conjuring up a stereotypical image of Spanish culture, there has been a gradual decline in the popularity of bullfighting, due to ongoing pressure from animal rights groups and campaigns which demand greater recognition of and support for animal welfare; in short, to stop citing entertainment and culture as reasons to put animals through deaths preceded by great torment and suffering. It is notable that some of this support for animals comes from within Spain, in the form of “Torture is not Culture”.

The growing awareness is also in part due to tourists seeing for themselves exactly what the animals go through; in the annual Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, the event does not stop with the “running”, and in fact the bulls are rounded up into an arena and meet a similarly violent and distressing end to the bulls in bullfighting.

The ban of bullfighting has been successful and complete in Catalonia and the Canary Islands, but as yet is limited to these places, as other regions attempt to preserve bullfighting as a tradition. But one of the only things going for bullfighting, in this day and age, is the notion of “tradition”, which is not dissimilar to the tactics used by many countries to boost tourism, and thus the economy.

In this respect, one of the best ways to stop events featuring animal cruelty, such as bullfighting, is not to have any role in it while travelling abroad, even as a spectator, as this involves contributing to suffering, which must sooner rather than later lose its “status” as a national tradition.

Book Review: Britpop, Cool Britannia and the Spectacular Demise of English Rock

“Something has shifted, theres a new feeling on the streets. Theres a desire for change. Britain is exporting pop music again. Now all we need is a new government.”

Alistair Campbell
Tony Blair’s Press Secretary, Autumn 1996

If there was ever a quote that epitomised the time John Harris writes about, it’s this one. Britpop for those of you who don’t know is the name given to the period in the 1990s in which British music, politics and culture went through a perceived revolution, resuming its apparent dominance and international prestige. Mostly used in a musical context, the striking thing about the word ‘Britpop’ is that it can be applied to anything from Oasis to the Spice Girls – so certainly not a genre then (although John Harris focuses specifically on Britpop as rock music). Unlike other socio-cultural movements like punk, Britpop as a concept was much more successful. The fact it helped carry a new Labour government to election victory is a testament to that. And it’s traits like that that make Britpop such brilliant subject matter for a book.

First of all I’d like to say I’m hardly a bookworm. Having not read a book in over five years and with the only books I’d ever read page-to-page being the Harry Potter series, it’s not hard to imagine how close I fit the average reading activity of someone my age. It was first and foremost my interest not only in non-fiction but music in general that inspired my purchase, anybody feeling interested in either of the latter should follow suit. Fundamentally, it’s Harris’s ability to create a story of immense detail and insight that borders on the academic while simultaneously forging a read that really feels like a book about rock stars and the mindless fun that comes with it that makes it so successful. From studio to stadium, it’s rock n’ roll storytelling of some of the greatest bands of the era (Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Suede, Elastica) and the conflict, relationships and scene that enveloped around them is one of the most interesting times in our music history, and whilst previously writing for publications as NME, Q, Select, Melody Maker as well as a healthy selection of the mainstream press, this veteran writer does the period complete justice.

Okay, so until now I’ve never actually read a “proper” book. So perhaps you’d see this as nothing more than a proud statement of my literary accomplishment. But perhaps the fact I finished this one, and that it has spurred me on to read more says more about the book than it does me.

A truly thrilling read.