The "C" word

As I got out of bed this morning I heard in the news headlines that "peritos" (experts) in Brussels were predicting that Portugal would be the poorest country in Europe by the year 2050.

Wow - thought I - people all over the country will be feeling very content. Yet one more story to prove how poor Portugal is. One more piece of the jig-saw puzzle - Portugal is in dire straights and that there is nothing we can do about it.

I have a theory, based on nothing empirical, that lots of people in Portugal love a story that shows how wrong things are. At risk of being seen as not-a-serious-person I wonder if there really is anything wrong in Portugal - or if it's just a story that has become so vivid and widespread that people have started to live it. To be trapped by it. To make it part of their ... C-u-l-t-u-r-e.

Except in education, of course. That's never a story. That's true!

Tags: Portugal, culture