The Boy and The Coconut Tree

I began writing about Catalonia   in June 2013 when I first arrived and have met many Catalans since then, people from both sides of the political spectrum and what I am sensing now, 10 months later, is an increasing sense of frustration, anger and possibly worse.   One thing I have learned from my many travels is never to get involved in the politics or political debate of the country that happens to be my host at that time. Australian politics never interested me, it is democracy, it works, and the political debate is rough and ready and similar to the politics of my home country. The USA was more complex and there always seemed to be more division and anger between opposing sides. If I said the wrong thing, or liked the wrong president then I could be ostracized as happened at a cocktail party in Boston in 2000 when I commented on how good Clinton had been and how GW Bush made me shudder. I am sure historians will back me up one day. In Vietnam, political debate or...