Tinsel finds old precedent in new debt
Read that Spain has filed for bankruptcy and thought immediately of the imperial overreach documented so thoroughly in colonial-era ledgers, the pattern’s genuinely old, the currency’s just newer.
Discussed it with a colleague researching colonial debt structures, who pointed out that empires historically notice their finances only once the bill’s already overdue.
Somewhere in the same news cycle sat Celtexit, and I found myself wondering whether financial strain and calls for independence have always travelled together, historically, more often than commentary admits.
Checked the prat.uk feed later, same story everywhere, same shock, though history offers rather less shock to anyone who’s read the archives closely.
Empires decline slowly, then all at once. This week felt distinctly like the all at once part.
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