By Khilen Mehta

So if you’re like me, you are probably thinking what you can do this summer now that your domestic football season has drawn to a close. Your teams fate has been decided, you’ve shed your tears and you promise yourself that next season you will listen to your partner when they say, “it’s only a game, love!”

But is it really worth all the drama? Is it worth losing your beloved fingernails? Is it worth your wife or girlfriend threatening to leave you? Too damn right it is! And that’s why, even though England aren’t in it this time round, all football fans eyes will  be peeled on the European Championships this summer.

You can never get enough of football. Even if your team isn’t in it, there is always some member of your team playing, and you even get an early opportunity to scout some of the targets your manager is after. Seriously, what more could you want? So let’s get the lads round, crack the beers open and read my guide to the top three countries this coming summer.

1)     Spain- The Perennial Under-achievers

Every tournament pundits say the same. This is their best chance. They have the players and they have the support but every tournament they fall away at the quarter-final stage. So why should this year be different I hear you shouting? Because this time, Spain are coming into the tournament on a great run of form. 14 games without defeat including games against England and Italy. Fernando Torres will lead the line, Cesc will be tougher after a hard season and Ramos oozes class at the back. Could this year actually be their year?

Key Player: Fernando Torres to continue to knock the goals in

2)     Italy- The reigning world champions

So can the best team in the world, become the best team in Europe? Arguably the best passing team around, Italy’s only problem has been their lack of pace in going forward. However with a new fluid front three, they have a new attacking dimension that could catch teams out. They have the experience and they have the players. A definite threat.

Key Player: Andrea Pirlo will hold the team together and provide a set piece threat

3)     France- Last chance for the golden age?

Raymond Domenech has been bold in his squad selection. He has left out David Trezeguet and in his place fans will be itching to catch a glimpse of the countrys new gems, Karim Benzema and Hatem Ben Arfa. They have a solid, experienced spine with the likes of Thierry Henry, Claude Makelele and William Gallas all itching to make amends for their World Cup  misery.

Key Player: Thierry Henry to make up for his Barcelona misery

Call me biased, but I actually believe this could be Spain´s year. I´ve probably just jinxed them…

by Lev Elgudin

If you look up the word quaint on dictionary.com, here’s what you’ll find:

quaint

–adjective, -er, -est.

After taking a five day rent-a-car road trip through southern France, I found that the word describes the historical charm of the region perfectly. And, as with all quaint places, a cheap, mapless, hippie-style ride through the side roads is a must.
The drive from Madrid to San Sebastián is about 4 hours with no traffic, which means about 5 hours in real life. Not too long if you’re used to driving longer distances, plus with beautiful sights and a bit of mountain weaving on the way.
But me and my two friends wanted as much southern France time as we could get, so we didn’t stop on the way, and arrived in Donostia (Basque for San Sebastián) at approximately 1 am, just in time to meet a couch surfer (check out couchsurfing.com) who’d agreed to show us the bar scene. It seems like a cool city, certainly a separate future trip altogether. One weird thing about it: in Madrid, we’re used to “chinos” selling beer and food on the street at night; in San Sebastián they sell glow sticks and weird glowing spinning tops for a couple of euros. And no beer. Needless to say, I was distracted for hours.

Wednesday night’s sleep was both one of the most uncomfortable and satisfying of my life. After leaving Donostia at about 3:30 am, we drove out past the border into France just a few kilometres away. We found a quaint little field, off a small, woodsy road, and parked. We had a tent, but it was raining, and we were tired. So we did the logical thing: we slept in the car. As I received a last minute upgrade from Atesa for some unknown Spanish reason, our car was a Citroen C5, which is a relatively large sedan. So we piled our bags in the front two seats, moved them up as far as they went, flattened out the back seats and stretched out on top of our home-brought blankets and pillows with our feet in the trunk. With the three of us, it was a tight squeeze, but a few tokes and some wine had us good and passed out.

When we awoke, we found that our quaint little field was actually someone’s house, and the small woodsy road was actually part of a residential neighbourhood where people wake up early and get to work. By our 10 am wake up time, the street was bustling with activity. It was a holiday too in France, so we were greeted with a lot of weird looks and stares. What would you do if you saw three bleary-eyed strangers emerging from a seemingly abandoned car parked on the grass right next to your house? The didn’t seem to care though, so my respect for the French went up a lot.

The rest of the trip was filled with lots of French food and wine, delicious chocolate croissants, foie gras, and crepes. And lots of other things too. Here are some highlights.
Bordeaux: Le Fiacre sound bar (www.le-fiacre.com) is located near Place Rey-Berland in the centre of town. It’s a “post rock” punk bar which was relatively quiet on this Thursday night, but the bartender said it’s usually packed with locals and regulars. They have a live band in the basement every weekend, and how can you miss a bar that features acts like Pussydelic and Funky Freaks. The highlight of the night was when we started talking to a Parisian visiting the city on holiday. Boy, did he make a lot of hand motions. Lots of weaving and twirling, sometimes using both hands, seemingly unattached to what he was actually saying. Neither his English nor Spanish were very good, but that didn’t matter, his orchestra directing hands didn’t stop. Nice guy though.

Every little town: has a tourism office, and amazingly, from Thursday to Sunday, they were all closed. It’s amazing the Spanish have a worldwide reputation for not working a lot, the French work week is capped at 35 hours.
All small French villages are equipped with cool-looking cathedrals. Every single one.
Highways are crazily expensive, at least by US standards. The drive from Bordeaux to Toulouse is about 2 hours, but it cost 16 euros.
The road you want to be on if you’re not in a hurry is N1113, a side road that gets you from Bordeaux to Toulouse in about 4 hours. It’s filled with off-road fruit stands with delicious strawberries, a million chateaux for wine tasting mostly in the Graves area, and small little quaint villages that are seemingly all the same but somehow different.

On a final and abrupt note, I want to mention a February article in Time magazine (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1720316,00.html) that states, among other wondrous statistics, 90% of French women over 50 are sexually active. To me, that’s incredible. But after spending some time in the south of France, I saw why. These small little quaint towns, there’s little to do but drink wine, eat foie, and have wild outdoor sex. It’s a beautiful country, I recommend a visit.

by Luc Ciotkowski

Real Madrid have won their 31st Spanish Football League Championship after a compelling finish in the Kingdom of Navarra.

Down to 10 men and staring defeat in the face, Real Madrid made an astonishing comeback to score two goals in the 87th and 89th minute and seal the title in extraordinary fashion.

A header by Robben cancelled out Puñal’s penalty, before Higuain sent Los Blancos into delirium with a lashed diagonal strike in the last minute of the match.

Knowing that a win in Pamplona or a false move by Villareal against Getafe would crown them champions, El Madrid had prepared their celebration party in Madrid’s famous Plaza de Cibeles before the action started.

However, Villareal had not read the script and kept the pressure on Madrid with a 2-0 victory against Getafe earlier on Sunday evening. Real knew at kick off that only a win would be good enough to tie up the league title with three games still to play. Their opposition, Osasuna, remain embroiled in a scrap to avoid relegation and they knew going into the game that a defeat would leave them third bottom.

After a goalless first half, Madrid’s chances of settling the league were dealt a huge blow as Fabio Cannavaro was dismissed for a second bookable offence at the beginning of the second period. Osasuna didn’t make their numerical advantage tell and Real hit the bar through a Sneijder lob, but no goals came.

The champagne looked certain to stay on ice and the party, rumoured to have cost 400,000€, was set to be postponed at least until the match against Barcelona on 7th May, when Puñal converted a penalty for Osasuna in the 83rd minute. The eagle-eyed referee had seen Heinze’s inexplicable handball of an Osasuna corner. Many Real Madrid fans in the capital’s bars emptied their glasses and got ready to shuffle home and kick the dog, when 10-man-Madrid levelled through Robbens’ glancing header. With just three minutes on the clock, Madrid’s blushes appeared to be saved, but they couldn’t dream of more than that, could they?

The answer was an unbelievable, roaring, ecstatic ‘yes’. Argentine forward Higuain found himself unattended in the Osasuna area and buried a powerful half-volley after chesting the ball down. The party began and thousands of fans flocked to Plaza de Cibeles to celebrate Schuster’s first championship as manager and Madrid’s new record 31st. Madrid’s holiday weekend just got extended until Monday morning.

By Helen Macrae

Since the last time we spoke I’ve not (a) had a wealthy long-lost relative die and leave me a substantial inheritance, (b) landed a lucrative contract to replace Penelope Cruz as the face of Mango, or (c) married a Texan oil billionaire. In other words, I’m still broke. At this time of year I imagine that many of you are in the same boat, with students running out of loan/grant/money from the Bank of Mum & Dad, and the rest of us trying to save those pennies in order to afford to go on holiday somewhere a bit better than Bognor this summer. Fear not though, help is at hand! Like a kindly (albeit cash-strapped) fairy godmother, I’ll be here during the coming weeks to guide you through your darkest dinero-free moments. Here’s this week’s tip to get you started, and let the penny-pinching begin! 

Picnic o’clock

Since Madrid is blessed with particularly pleasant weather during the summer months, what better way to spend a lazy afternoon than enjoying a picnic in one of the city’s many parks. Head out to Casa de Campo to get away from it all, try the Retiro if you prefer somewhere a bit more central, or if ancient Egyptian artefacts are more you thing then make a beeline for Parque Templo Debod. Of course, the essential ingredient of a picnic is, well…a picnic, and since you’re broke you probably don’t have the money to skip down to El Corte Ingles for strawberries and champagne. But before you go entertaining any ideas of shoplifting, just remember many an inventive meal can be scrounged from an almost-empty kitchen cupboard…just think back your uni days when you had to do it at the end of term in order to not to starve! Tried and tested dishes include noodles and peas, tuna and ketchup, and my personal favourite, fishfinger spaghetti. Buen provecho! 

By Helen Macrae

You’ll have to forgive me for doing a triple-take when I saw the flyer for Forward Festival. Surely a brand spanking new event can’t possibly have a line-up THIS amazing?? Spanking aside, if good music is your cup of tea and you fancy a 12-hour thrashathon to some of the hottest DJs and acts of the moment, then dust off your dancing shoes and get thee to the Madrid Telefónica Arena on Friday 9^th May for some serious fun.

Purveyors of danceable top-notch techno and one of the few truly creative groups around, Underworld, are headlining. Still going strong an incredible 28 years after their formation, original duo Karl Hyde and Rick Smith are back to treat us to a performance fusing together elements of trance, drum and bass, dub, techno and ambient house, accompanied by Hyde’s whispered, hypnotic lyrics and hopefully sprinkled with that unique brand of Underworld magic responsible for the band’s ongoing success. Perhaps best-known for the epic “Born Slippy” (1996), considered one of the greatest dance tracks of the decade, which then became the soundtrack of a generation after it was immortalised in Danny Boyle’s film “Trainspotting”, the band have since undertaken varying projects, the latest of which has resulted in the long-anticipated release of their fifth studio album “Oblivion with Bells” (2007). Underworld have been on a long and exhilarating journey over the years, and are here in Madrid this May to show us it’s not over yet.

2manydjs are another obvious highlight on the bill. Also known as Soulwax, the Dewaele brothers only have one rule when it comes to their record collection: if it gets the dance floor jumping then it’s worth playing. Their sets and remixes are a mash up of just about anything and everything - breaks, rock, pop, country, house, you name it - in an exploration of the finest products of music history. Like their sets, the duo are full of surprises, with David in possession of a black belt in tae kwon do and Stephen named as the chairman of the Belgian Carpenters Association. If you’ve not seen the pair of them perform before, expect something along the lines of mind blowing.

Other artists confirmed so far include Spanish electro-pop group Fangoria, featuring none other than the queen of the movida herself, Alaska, and her partner-in-crime Nacho Canut, who will share the stage with Nancys Rubias, the glam-electro-clash band headed by Mario Vaquerizo. Liverpool-based group Ladytron will be treating us to their distinctive brand of electronic pop, whereas Montreal-born DJ/producer Tiga is journeying from slighter further afield to provide a blistering soundtrack perfect for a good old stomp. German producer Alexander Kowalski will be giving us a live performance of his unique blend of classic Detroit and historical Berlin techno, and Philadelphia-based producer and DJ Diplo will be showing us just why Gwen Stefani, Kanye West, Bloc Party and many others have been clamouring to undergo his remixing services. Soulwax will also be squeezing in a cheeky set and last but not least, darling of the Dutch club scene, Isis, will be there to kick off proceedings.

The fun starts in the early evening, with doors opening at 6.30pm. Tickets cost a mere 50€ in advance (55€ on the door), so go on, give your ears a treat! For further details (including more artist info, set times and ticket outlets) check out:

www.forwardfestival.es

http://www.myspace.com/festivalforward

by Cynthia Goldman

I never thought I’d be so happy and so sad to leave a foreign, predominantly Muslim country. After being in Istanbul, Turkey for six days for what was originally a school trip, I was finally able to leave the country.

I had realized I lost my passport seconds before loading the bus to the airport. Of course, I panicked. I cried. I had no idea what to do. I asked myself why? How could this happen to me? I was forced to stay another day. Fortunately my brilliant religion professor was kind enough to stay with me. In the end, losing a passport in such an exotic city might’ve happened for the best. It was the most amazing experience I have had in my time studying abroad!

The country of Turkey is in both southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia, bordering the Black Sea. Istanbul is in the northwestern part of the country with a population of at least 10 million people. It is roughly the size of Los Angeles. The ethnic mix is mostly Turkish although it is easy to see a diversity of people and religions. Never in one city had I seen so many Catholic churches, Jewish synagogues and Islamic mosques. Nor women dressed in full-bodied black dresses with veils and gloves walking down the street chatting with their girlfriend in a miniskirt and blue hair.

The city is both modern and ancient. Istanbul was founded way back in 660 BC as Byzantium. In 330 AD, it was renamed Constantinople by Constantine the Great, who made it the capital of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. In 1204, the city was raided by Crusaders, and then two and a half centuries later it was taken by the Turks. Istanbul was the official name in 1930.

Walking in front of the Blue Mosque in Sultanahmeht square, I couldn’t help but marvel at the beauty of the mosque framed between colourful tulips and clear, sunny skies. And suddenly there’s a call for prayer that adds to the mysticism and beauty. It is absolutely spellbinding!

The grand bazaar is teeming with activity with vendors speaking several languages in attempts to lure customers in there shops. You can find almost anything at the bazaar like gold jewelry and precious stones, colourful lamps, hookahs, and knockoff purses and bags.

Although the vendors could be too much sometimes, I found the Turkish people incredibly warm-hearted. When I was sitting on the hotel floor crying over my lost passport the hotel staff and travel agent were so kind telling me not to worry. Smile. Istanbul wanted me to stay. At the Turkish police station, the officers joked around and offered me apple tea while efficiently writing up my missing passport report. The travel agent who so kindly booked me another flight home and translated everything to English took my professor and me out to dinner.

Dinner was amazing. We ate at vine-covered outdoor restaurant next to a busy little pedestrian street, ancient Ottaman artefacts and a fresh foods market. The owner of the restaurant was so kind to treat us to the most delicious fruits and vegetables with fresh baked bread that was spread with hummus, butter and cheese. Then we ate kebabs with lamb, chicken, beef, rice and yogurt. I would tell you the name of the foods but I don’t speak Turkish and have a horrible memory for names.

In the end, staying an extra day in Turkey may have happened for the best. It was truly a revelational experience to see such a completely different and beautiful culture on my own. I feel that most people would have to witness it to completely understand it. As I got off the plane in Barajas Airport, I felt happy to be “home” and lucky to have gotten my passport. But also lucky to have had such a wonderful taste of Turkey.

by Helen Macrae

As all current and ex-students know, when your loan’s dwindled to nothing and you’re broker than Paul McCartney would be if Heather Mills had got her way, you need to get creative if you want to have fun without spending any money. Although my housemate H and I graduated almost three years ago, we don’t seem to have progressed much beyond the state of penniless students, so, when we found ourselves with nearly a week off work this Easter but barely 10 Euros between us, we had to come up with a plan.

Here are our Madrid top tips for minimum spend and maximum F U N !

1. Retiro it up

Madrid’s number one park is huge, easy to get to and, best of all, completely free. Go on a Sunday and count how many kids you can spot trussed up in their Sunday best after church (double points for any siblings in matching outfits) or have a laugh at all the people sweltering in their rubbish Spiderman/Mickey Mouse costumes. If you really want to blend in with the Madrileños, wear beige or, if you’re feeling fancy, a bit of gold (weekend beige).

2. Snog

While you’re down at the Retiro you might as well do as the Spanish do and have a good old snog. Just grab your partner, find a highly visible park bench and go for it! See how long you can manage without coming up for air, or perhaps try testing how amorous you can get (bonus points for any removal of clothes!) before someone comes over to tell you off/you’re thrown out by park security. If you don’t have a lady or fella to snog, then fear not, just try our next tip which is…

3. Stroll down Calle Lavapies

Take a walk down this street in our favourite barrio and you will more than likely get a few lecherous comments shouted at you by willing suitors. If none of them take your fancy, head into one of the many curry houses instead and see if you can sweet-talk your way into some free poppadums.

4. Explore the dark side

If all the romance is just too much or you’ve recently had an unpleasant break-up and are feeling particularly bitter, head back to the Retiro and annoy some snogging couples by throwing twigs/stones/frozen peas at them. Make sure you’re well-hidden before you start and plan your escape route should things get nasty.

5. Be cultured

Find out when the various art galleries do their freebie days and try to pass for an arty type (beret optional). Since it’s free the place will probably be heaving with both Madrileños and foreigners alike, but while you’re queueing you can play everybody’s favourite game “Guess the nationality” to while away the time.

6. Try the swapsies market

Not technically free, but if you do want to buy something from this market (unlikely) it won’t cost you more than a couple of cents. The stallholders set out their wares (i.e. tat they’ve found in a dustbin) just over the road from Atocha station most days in the early evening, and therein ensues a frenzy of bartering until the police show up and everyone gets moved along.

7. Go Swedish

Hours of fun can be had at IKEA, Sweden’s best export. The easiest one to get to if you don’t have a car (which, let’s face it, is pretty unlikely if you’re skint and if you do you probably don’t have the money to fill it up with petrol anyway) is Madrid Este on Metro Line 1 (Las Suertes). Bring your camera and take a few photos of you and your mates posing in the various home set-ups to send back to the parents (”Look mum, we DO live in a nice tidy flat”) and have fun testing the beds and sofas for comfort. See how long it takes before you are forcibly removed from the premises.

8. Ride the Circle line

Ok, so it’s probably not the most thrilling Saturday night you could have, but it’ll only cost you the price of a Metro ticket, jump on Line 6 and you might meet some new friends!

By Maja Gojkovic

Spain in the last decade has been known as a ‘job creation machine’. In the last decade, Spain has generated more new jobs in comparison to the other original 15 members of the European Union. Spain has a Gross Domestic Product growth rate of 3.75% which has been very beneficial for the economy.

With the general election looming on 9 March, the Socialist government and the conservative opposition are trying to convince voters that they can keep the ‘job machine’ producing new employment even as Spain braces itself for an economic downturn.

The Socialist Party are promising to kick off a number of new public-works projects to create jobs and stop the economic downturn.

by Simon Rashleigh

I’m just a foreigner who speaks a little Spanish. I’m not even very interested in Spanish politics, but for some reason, I found myself inexorably drawn to the television on Monday at 10pm, to watch the great debate.

I confess I enjoyed it. I usually enjoy pre-poll debates. Just a few months ago I watched the antipodean version, as Rudd took on Howard for the grand title of Prime Minister of Australia. That was amusing, too.

In Australia, during the broadcast of the debate, the audience have the opportunity, as in Big Brother, to vote for their favourite candidate. The result is displayed as an oscillating line going up and down across the screen. As the potential leaders make their respective cases, this line tells us the audience’s affections for the candidates. It’s a great innovation, and a handsome creature to boot, so the line has become affectionately known as the worm. In late 2007, the worm favoured Mr Rudd over the incumbent John Howard.

Mr Rudd is now the PM in Oz, meanwhile in Spain, the hopefuls are still slugging it out. And on Monday, they provided us with another scintillating night of politi-tainment!

So, what was it like? Let me give you my brief impressions: The opening was great. Channel 1 gave us an hour-long build up. I’m not sure what it was about, the rules and the history I think, but I was cooking chicken and rice. When I walked in with my steamy plate, the two-sports reporters (hastily brought in for this once in fifteen-year job), began to talk excitedly of the pocos minutos que nos quedan (few minutes remaining). The time finally came for the start of the big debate, there were only 20 seconds, 15 seconds, 10 seconds, and then:

Blackout

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

funny blue twirling graphic. And then…

The camera zooms to an enormous beige table. It is big enough for two grown men to have a proper wrestle on. We zoom further to another sports reporter. It turns out he is the referee. I didn’t write down his speech, but it went something like this:

We are really very lucky and thanks to democracy and thanks to the two partidos agreeing to have a debate. Let’s go boys, you’ve already been briefed on the rules.

It was an appropriately over-the-top intro, and we were ready for the back-and-forth to begin.

Rajoy opened with 3 minutes very well spoken about why he should be boss and not Zapatero. Then for 3 minutes Zapatero spoke about why he should be boss and not Rajoy. Pretty much the whole debate went along in this pattern. For added excitement, the time for each candidate to speak was reduced to two minutes, and then one minute.

It appeared that both candidates had used a similar team of university graduates to produce bold-coloured graphs. These visual aids were employed to prove things such as steeply rising prices, robust economic growth, doublings of illegal immigrants and just plain ol’ unemployment being under control. Mr Rajoy, I suggest for the next debate, might need to show his graphs to the camera rather than to Señor Zapatero.

Both Zapatero and Rajoy became overly excited by the 60-second time-limit and got more difficult for an angloparlante to understand. Sr. Zapatero managed to calm down in “Topic 2: Social Issues”, but Rajoy never seemed to calm down for the rest of the debate. He also seemed to forget, as the debate rolled on, to tell us why he should be boss. Instead he concentrated a little too much on why Zapatero shouldn’t be.

I hate to take a cheap shot, but Mr. Zapatero has really pointy eyebrows. Perfectly pointy. But I liked the way he glared down his opponent from under those arches, barely glancing at his notes.

Mr Zapatero, could, I think, answer questions more directly. Or perhaps he can’t, which is why he didn’t. His strategy was to take rather scant regard of the issues brought to attention by his opponent, and instead made the case that his government has done well and should be elected on this basis. This technique worked because by the end of his allotted time, even I had forgotten the original questions posed.

So who won really? Well, Zapatero fairly easily if you ask me. Not necessarily for his politics, but for his style. Mr Rajoy did, however, successfully pose the question: está España realmente bien? If Rajoy was targeting an English speaking audience, which he ain’t, his slogan could well be: Is Spain OK? No way!

All in all, it was an entertaining couple of hours. The television academy did great work with the cameras and the editing, cutting to the reactions of the candidates as their opponent made a scathing criticism. For the record, Rajoy tended to look at his notes at these times, while Zapatero tried to distract his opponent with those eyebrows, before confidently scribbling down his rebuttal. And what I enjoyed most of all was the feeling of being at home. Democracy is democracy after all, and I felt like I was seeing the same Australian debate, just translated to Spanish. The issues were different but the politics, that is to say the game of politics, was the same. The only thing missing was the worm.

The candidates return next Monday for the return leg.

By Chris Read

Spain’s government on Monday demanded Britain prevent fuel spills from a wrecked ship off its colony Gibraltar that have polluted Spanish beaches.

Small amounts of fuel from the New Flame bulk carrier, which partially sank off Gibraltar in August, washed onto beaches near Algeciras over the weekend after a storm, Spain’s Environment Ministry said.

The scrap carrier sank after colliding with a tanker in waters under Gibraltar’s jurisdiction and Spain says it is the British colony’s responsibility that the wreck is cleaned up.

Spanish media says leaking fuel from the wreck has washed up along more than one kilometre (half a mile) of beaches in the south of the country.

Spain’s foreign ministry summoned British ambassador Denise Holt “to communicate our concern over the sinking of the New Flame,” a ministry source said.

The government will also “note that the ministry has written to the British embassy several times asking that the United Kingdom assume its responsibilities” over the New Flame, the source said.

The Gibraltar government said that stormy weather at the weekend caused the ship to sink further, and all that now remains visible above the surface is the vessel’s navigation bridge, aft mast and the upper part of her funnel.

“As this was not unexpected, Titan, the firm contracted for the wreck removal operation, had already put in place precautionary measures before the onset of the stormy weather,” a Gibraltar government statement said.

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos meanwhile said Gibraltar Chief Minister Peter Caruana had promised to “do whatever is necessary to avoid a deterioration” in the situation.

Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht but has retained a constitutional claim should Britain renounce sovereignty.