It’s sad when anyone is on their last lap. A deeply personal time which families normally spend together.
Which makes Adolfo hijo’s announcement of his dad’s impending demise feel more than a little weird to me.
But hey, I’ve never quite understood the praise for Suarez either. That he was ‘important‘ is obvious: he was the first elected PM since the 1930s. Anyone in that position would have been ‘important’. But as with Juanca, I feel he gets a bit too much praise for doing what he had to do. Had he failed to promote the democratic transition, something else would have happened. He was a weak leader and his weakness helped trigger the 1981 coup attempt / reality TV show (depending whether you could be bothered to watch the end of Salvados the other day). In a way, he is the template for poor leadership that Spain has been hobbled with ever since.
I’d tend to the view that his constitutional fudge and – let’s be honest – his good looks prevented serious conflict then but may have bequeathed us problems shortly. The son’s outpouring seems to me utterly modest compared to the effusions of grief every time a C-lister stubs a toenail. But maybe you’re not (yet) a fan of the Daily Fail.