Word: forums
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ROME, Italy—Last weekend, I went to the Roman forum with a friend who had just arrived from Paris. It was hot and he was disgruntled. Nothing was labeled in a helpful manner (a few bronze plaques here and there, some in Latin) and it was difficult to distinguish between the various structures. I stood in the sun and read to him from a guidebook, pleading with him to use his imagination...
...course, I did not convince him; in fact, he is not, strictly speaking, wrong. It is true that the ancient ruins of the forum are poorly indicated (if at all), that the Palatine is no better, that there is not even much of the original structures left to see, and that—in a city where tourism is a primary industry—this lack of attention to such detail seems bizarre. It is also probably true that if Rome were Paris things might be labeled, maybe even with explanations in three or four languages. Rome, however...
...conflict has taken the form of a handful of failed sieges, a 1960s appeal by Spain to the U.N. to include Gibraltar in its decolonization measures, and endless expressions of outrage over everything from docked nuclear submarines to a visit from Princess Anne. The 2006 creation of a Tripartite Forum for Dialogue among the governments of Spain, Britain and Gibraltar has reduced the levels of hostility, but only slightly...
...Valle believes that kind of pragmatism is exactly what is needed from the Tripartite Forum talks, whose program includes discussions of visas, financial regulations, education and, yes, the environment. "There's an absolute void there, so when you have a catastrophe like the New Flame [a cargo ship that collided with an oil tanker and sank off the Gibraltar coast in 2007], any initiative by anyone only produces more conflict," he says. "In that sense, any agreement that comes out of the talks will be better than what there is now, which is nothing." (See pictures of Spain's Madcap...
...sect also uses the Internet to spread its gospel. On one online forum, hundreds of supporters sing the praises of Christ and La Familia. "Victory to La Familia Michoacana, gloryfying Jesus by helping others," writes one aficionado who calls himself Fran. "Evil will only reign until Jesus stops it," writes another who calls himself the Messenger. "Nobody is saved from divine justice and they cannot imagine the pain and suffering they will go through...