Rob Cox and Carles Boix, professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton, discuss Scotland’s bid for independence and what a “yes” vote might mean for the rest of Europe. (+)

I have always thought that you don’t truly know a person until you see how he or she acts in situations of personal crisis. For example, a husband’s reaction when his wife asks him for a divorce shows what he is like as a person. Some men recognize that they’ve done things badly and correct their mistakes. Sometimes this honest reaction ends up resolving the crisis. Other husbands react in irate and violent ways. Their anger often makes them mock their wife and insult and even threaten her. In showing a true despotic and abusive personality, her image of her husband deteriorates and her urge to leave nothing but grows. (+)

Written by Carles Boix and J. C. Major   In its May 5 editorial, the Financial Times once again urged Spanish authorities to work on a compromise aimed at solving the Catalan question. The same point has been made more or less explicitly by other international actors. Likewise, in Madrid as well as in Barcelona, some small but influential groups realize that the territorial arrangement now in place in Spain is unworkable and are calling, each in their own way, for a negotiated solution. Only this week, some have seen in the announcement of the Spanish king's abdication an opportunity to break the present impasse. (+)

En un article publicat a El País el dia 20 de gener, Josep Borrell i Joan Llorach Mariné conviden els lectors a explicar-los on són els 16.000 milions d'euros de la balança fiscal catalana. L'exministre socialista i el coautor del text descriuen una situació suposadament graciosa en la qual, després d'aconseguir la independència, Artur Mas i Oriol Junqueras es presenten al despatx del conseller Andreu Mas-Colell i li pregunten pels 16.000 milions del suposat dèficit de la balança fiscal catalana. Utilitzant les dades publicades per la Generalitat sobre els ingressos i despeses del 2009, Borrell i Llorach (d'ara endavant B-Ll) es mofen de Mas i Junqueras quan descobreixen que els diners no apareix per enlloc. Tot en un to molt divertit. (+)