Dinner with the media

Yesterday evening the Caesar's Hotel in Bayswater hosted one of the regular meetings of the Catalan community in London, organized with the support of Catalans UK and Fundació Catalunya Empresa Oberta. This time the event had as guest speakers the correspondents in London of La Vanguardia, Rafael Ramos and El Pais, Walter Oppenheimer, together with Xesco Reverter of the Catalan public broadcaster TV3. The topic of the day: the recent election in Scotland and the victory of the SNP.

There was diversity of opinions but there was a shared sense of admiration (and let's admit it, some envy too!) for the way the United Kingdom handles its internal national differences and recognizes Scotland's nationhood, and how issues like a possible referendum of independence can be openly discussed without the political tension getting to unsustainable levels.

For similarities between Catalonia and Scotland, here's an interesting article by Marta Vilella, another Catalan Londonite, by the way.