Tuesday, July 24, 2007

All the News that's Fit to Print

A bit of backstory. el jueves (or to give it its full title, el jueves: La revista que sale los miércoles [Thursday, the magazine published on Wednesdays]), is the Spanish equivalent of Private Eye. The big story last week was that Presidente Zapatero has decided to give €2,500 to each family per child born after July 3rd. This explains the front cover of el jueves 1,573.

The headline says, '€2,500 for a kid'
The subheading says, 'We see there are elections coming up, Zappy!'
The two figures are recognisably Prince Felipe of the Asturias, the next in line to the throne, and his wife Letizia.
Cheery Felipe is saying, 'Just fancy! If you get knocked up, it'll be the closest thing to work I've done all my life!'
Naturally, the royal family were displeased. Also, and more importantly, the judiciary. The magazine was ruled offensive and withdrawn from circulation. el jueves was also asked to print a retraction. Which it did: this is the cover of No: 1,574, with new pictures of Felipe and Letizia.

The headline says, 'A correction!'
The subheading says, 'This is the cover we wanted to print!'
I think that what I'm feeling is admiration.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for brightening up a dull Wednesday morning.
Also, Tom's plant looks alive again after plenty of tender loving care overnight.
JMW.

K said...

When I was assistante-ing in France, there were still teachers who referred to our Wednesday afternoons off as "les jeudis".

At least the Spanish Private Eye isn't still banging on about Conrad Black...

By the way, my e-mail addy is kirsten dot donaldson at gmx dot net (or words to that effect). Sorry to take so long getting back to you - I'm still catching up from last weekend, in which we chose to go to the Midlands. Great timing, huh? (We didn't wash away.)