@radiobrendan The bars/tiendas are stocking up. Replica jerseys of the competing nations are being sold on the street. There’s giddy excitement in the air. Yep, Rugby World Cup 2015 is almost upon us and Colombia is gearing up for it with gusto. OK, I might be in dreamland...
@radiobrendan In many ways there is a sense of inevitability to all of this. Although those who call the shots in both Colombia and Venezuela are pretty much from the same stock, the ideologies they (claim) to follow are far from similar. Considering socialist Venezuela’s...
@radiobrendan There is a poem by the late Irish Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney, entitled ‘Scaffolding’. In it, he explains how builders rely heavily on scaffolding to aid them in the early stages of construction. (OK, they may be able to build something without it, but...
@wwaycorrigan By the very virtue of the fact that I maintain a blog as well as being a paid contributor to an on-line media group, the internet and its associated tools are important for me. Indeed for practically all journalists and writers these days, it’s almost an...
@radiobrendan In general, leaving Bogotá on a public holiday weekend, or puente as it’s known in these parts, can be more hassle than it’s really worth, especially if you’re going overland as the majority tend to do. Apart from the obligatory long queues at the bus terminals alongside inflated prices both for tickets and in […]
@radiobrendan There’s a scene in the Godfather Part II movie where a sick Hyman Roth, in Havana, is being seen by a Cuban doctor who only speaks Spanish. Before leaving, the doctor gives his instructions as to what Roth should do to recuperate. As this is being relayed in...
@radiobrendan The Wrong Way approach to dating, or more appropriately trying to set up dates, has been to follow in some ways the economic policy of light-touch regulation. A laissez-faire style; um, beating about the bush rather than grabbing it by the hands you could say. In...
@radiobrendan There’s no doubt that sport can have a very positive impact on society. For one, those who actually engage in a sport generally have much better all-round health than those who don’t. Then you have the uniting aspect to it. Sports can bring together a...
@radiobrendan I recently had to write an article for another publication looking at a new movement, centred in Argentina and labelled on social media ‘NiUnaMenos’ (‘NotOneLess’), calling for an end to violence against women. Many of the protesters involved in this have spoken about how they believe that many men see women as mere objects, […]
@radiobrendan When you’re an expat who has been based in Colombia for a while, you generally get used to the place; well, as much as a westerner can in these parts. In fact, you can even start to take it for granted, especially in terms of its natural beauty. It is only...
