me today I'm at Grove Park Station in the London borough of Lewisham that way is looking towards central London and that way where the past 465 just went that's going towards Tunbridge. Come here today to do another episode of Branchline Britain because here is where the Bromley North branch starts it's a little self-contained little branch line just over there but this these platforms here this is the Southeastern Mainline so going towards Dover and Hastings this opened in 1871 but it's the branch that was opened in 1878 that we've come here to see so there's four platforms on the Mainline two island platforms we come down here onto platform one and this is the little branch platform where I've just painted the footbridge it seems to have bits of its roof missing but other than that it does look really nice to see it painted we're about a mess so you can actually see you know the lattice footbridge which is really nice so we come down here and this is what we're going to do today we're looking for and look at the Sundridge Park and Bromley North station so for those of you who have seen branchline Britain episodes in the past what we do is we start at the station usually the Mainline junction station and then we walk to the other end stopping at stations on the way there's another class 465 passing through behind the Palisade fence so you can't see it very well so this is the little branch platform it is connected with and here comes the little branch I say little branch train it's a four car EMU like you get on the Mainline plus 465 465 169 so this is our branch train for today so we're not going to get on it but we will follow it and we'll see a couple of other places along the line for a little branch line I only has one train going up and down it's quite luxury and apart from this section here it's got two tracks there's two platforms at Sundridge Park and there's two platforms at Bromley North it's just this section here where there's only single track up until 1990 there were through trains into London Termini but as the Southwest of Mainline got busier they had to curtail them to this little branch platform it's very long platform you almost could run an 8 possibly even a 10 car train I'm not gonna walk right down to the end but the branch just branch off over there what I think we'll do we'll go round and under the Southeastern Mainline there's a park around the corner so perhaps what we'll do is we're going to have a look at that and that's where we should be able to see where the branch line is that's quite interesting there's two ways you could fewer one of those people like just got the train most of them are going out of the bridge which suggests they are probably changing trains here they're probably Grofark isn't their final destination you can go out of the station that way but there's another bridge which I can see one or two people have taken a more modern bridge at this end of the platform which I quite like because it sort of takes you basically a separate route out to the front of the station so when we get out there that's where I'll go and find that park oh and also the other thing you can come here to do which one they will perhaps do in the future is the green chain walk and the capital ring walk they are things I do plan to do at some point in the future not sure when especially on nice day up today so as we come up the stairs here gives us a view of the rest of growth park station and you can see down there the connection with the main line I think there's a connection in fact pretty short as a connection at the other end just in a very distance see the tunnels on the main line so there's our branch train down there and we follow this sort of long is it a corridor because it's kind of outside or is it just a long bridge bridge like corridor out to front station until 1952 you could have caught a tram here but nearest trams get to here now it's Beckham Junction we'll talk more about trams later because never say never trams may return because there's talk of what to do with the line in the future you can see the long ramps up from the station so it looks as though this station is step 3 except the Bromley North branch because there wasn't a lift was there there's no lift unfortunately to get on to the Bromley North branch but and the rest of the platform the rest of the platforms already were step 3 on our ticket barriers here because I haven't got my travel card to hand Mr Riesling I've to stop filming doesn't look like it I just want to show you this picture this is called Grove Park home of the railway children not sure why that is the railway children goes out about it but maybe the maybe that was written here if anyone knows the link between Grove Park and Railway children do comment and tell me so I said I've got Riesling not touching in or out there aren't a ticket barriers I've got a paper travel card today so I don't need to worry about that you just walk out and so here we are we're outside the front of Grove Park station I'm going to go down to the park now where the line where we'll be able to see the apex or we'll be in between the apex of the two lines I've come away from the hustle and bustle of the railway stations it's rather pleasant park called Chimbrick meadows beside me this is the Quaggy River which flows from on the golf course near Sundridge Park one of the stations on the line about five miles in that direction to join the River Ravensbourne and then that in turn joins the Thames now the southeast and main line is just behind these popper trees and the Quaggy River is going to have to be is culverted underneath so we'll have a look at that and then we'll pass under the railway ourself this river doesn't actually cross the Bromley North Branch there so the Bromley North Branch as I said this line was already here it was added seven years later by the Bromley direct railway company so another company basically to introduce a bit of competition and they're working with Southeastern Railway there was already a railway station what is now Bromley South that was already there there's the Quaggy River so that had opened 20 years prior the Quaggy River now because under this footpath and you can just see the culvert just there so what we're going to do is we're going to follow the path around to where we can go under the railway and hopefully we will find the river on the other side of the main line just coming this way up the path running parallel with the Southeastern Main Line I mentioned the Green Chain Walk there's some signs pointing you in that direction so we'll see more of this in one day I'll actually do a video on the Green Chain Walk so now we're going to walk under the Southeastern Main Line so I said this would have gone to over the other line at Bromley South that was the Southeastern and Chatham Railway so that would have gone to Chatham but you could also get to Dover that way we're nine miles and 22 chains from London from the Terminal I know that because it says it there let's walk through this tunnel now nice and cool on a hot day and then it's when we get to the other side it gives the illusion of a vibe up pretty much it side on way even though it's in a tunnel it's quite cool we get to the other side we will have a look at the Quaggy River and we'll be kind of in the apex of the junction with the Bromley South Front so as we come to here I can already see where fairly obviously river flows and here a train coming off the Bromley South Front so the culvert will be we get to see the culvert as nettles along by the river but we can certainly go and see hmm we're going to see oh no I don't know come all fence stops obviously we're not going to go inside but then we'll go over the bridge and oh yeah look we can actually go right to the culvert that's useful so here is the Quaggy River and there's the culvert so this is the first time the river crosses a railway and it's fairly short and short distance I think from here where's a housing estate there there must be culverted under the housing estate this river seems to be almost stealing the show at the moment bit now perhaps once I have to come to a video on this river like we have done rivers in the past the river of Mistborn in Buckinshire followed that from source to Confluence that was quite exciting doing that not a lot of water in but it is summer it's not dried up though like chalk streams have a habit of doing so across this bridge here and this takes us into another little park and basically it's not a huge amount to see but the reason I'm bringing you this way is to show you the apex of the two lines so you can see the tunnel on the other side of the river or the bridge which we walked under southeast the main line goes that way and then the Bromley North Branch goes there to the apex it's just down where those trees are I'm going to now head off into the housing estate and we'll go and try and find some more of the Bromley North Branch I'm now walking through a housing estate I have already crossed the railway once but there wasn't great deal to see and the bridge has all scaffolding right so I thought I'd show you this bit so this is where we cross back under the railway so again it's double track which is a narrow road for Greater London feels more like an out in the countryside I suppose when this was built this would have been fairly rural interestingly I am one thing I have since found out I said about the railway children been home at the railway children that's because Nesbitt lived in the area so I understand it now although the railway children wasn't set in this area and Nesbitt came from this area so we're gonna walk away this footpath kind of goes around the about way up towards Sundry's Park station I think it goes up here because these modern houses so I'm gonna keep walking and soon we'll be at Sundry's Park well now following is rather pleasant footpath the lane got narrow and narrow so it came a footpath railway line is just there there's a footbridge here so what I thought I'd do we're quite close to Sundry's Park if I can see over we'll wait and see the train come pass if I can see over the fence and okay can just sit right so that's Sundry's Park station just down there and the train is there so we'll wait here and see the train go by as the train disappears towards Grove Park I'm going to continue down into this housing estate and round to the station an interesting thing about it's bridge I've noticed this side's just got typical brick parapet but on this side it's been one point been covered with a system which I think is banned now to stop people climbing over it now we get past a fence we used to break up glass bottles and set them into the cement and it would basically do the same job as past their fence with my wife's it's a better example there but it does look like they've been along and smoothed it all off but it's not something you see much of anymore I'm going to continue now down to find Sundry's Park station this is Plasto Lane and down there is Sundry's Park station platforms go underneath the lane now Plasto Lane and Sundry's Park the station was originally called Plasto not to be confused with Plasto on the district line and then in 1894 is renamed Sundry's Park you can just see the footbridge ticket office and there's the London end of the platform just beyond the trees is the bridge where we saw the train I'm going to cross the road and we're going to go and have a look at the state so as we come across Plasto Lane now you can see we have another lattice footbridge which is quite nice that one's in the south-eastern colours we're now 10 miles and 12 chains from the London Terminal and you can also see these links to the Green Chain Walk so I think I've basically been following part of the Green Chain Walk but as I said Green Chain Walk is a video for another day a few videos for another day here is the station building so it's got weather board it's brick I think but it's got weather board clad doesn't like ticket voucher anything so we're going to go we probably could go straight down the slope there but I want to go over the bridge so we'll come into the station this way so the ticket office it looks like it is open some time but not currently and here we are very nice and cool for hot then it's got the breeze blowing its way through the road bridge where we were a moment ago it's a very small station not a lot here there's a train in 10 minutes I'll probably sit down have a drink I think and wait and see that pass through so this side trains to Grove Park everybody knows from New Cross and London that side it probably I didn't read it before yeah it does I can just see the sign says to Romney North I suppose you could get trained here to Romney North walk to Romney South and that would open up a few more journey opportunities I wonder what be quicker to go from here to Bromley South and walk or to go from here back up to Hiver Green and rounds and rounds to Bromley South by train I'm not sure anyway oh there is a way out so as I'm going to continue walking to Bromley North one I'm going to leave the station through that that gateway over there and follow that path but now let's just wait and see a train arrive I've now come back over the other side so we saw the train arrive and depart on its way from Grove Park to Bromley North calling it's only into media station just looking at the line it's going up quite a hill now I'm not sure if they ever have done any charters on this line I think there might have been one or two where there's ever been any steam but the fact is it's basically double track the whole way in theory you could run a steam train up and down here it'd be quite cool if they could do that a weekend so you just get a loco a couple of carriages maybe diesel on the end to go up and down you know it could almost you know work around the existing service because you know it's it's extravagant to have two tracks for one train I mean it's nice I'm not saying they should rationalize it I think it's a bit of a miracle hasn't been rationalized but yeah two tracks all the way so at the other end of the line at Bromley North we'll see when we get there there's two platforms but while we're here what's quite interesting we won't see it now because the train's gone up there you can see a red light and above the red light there was a number two indicating the train was going into number two so so the train's going to platform one it would say number one there's also two little lights beside the red lights called a dolly signal that must be but that's also to go into platform one or maybe there's a siding I'm not sure but we'll see when we get there I'm gonna follow this slope now up and out the station and we're gonna now walk to Bromley North I'm almost at the top of the slope interestingly as a gate here so looks like they could close it off if they wanted to so it's probably not a public right away ah now this road has also been closed off so you can't drive through here that said that makes easier for looking at the station from the bridge the last thing is if we looked on here I know it's not for oh yeah I say it's not far to Bromley North I can actually just see Bromley North the camera's not gonna be out but as soon as the track disappears literally there is Bromley North station so the line is about two miles long or probably slightly less than two miles probably about maybe just under one and a half miles from Grove Park to Sundris Park and I would say it's a quarter of a mile to Bromley North so we're talking a very short railway possibly not the shortest branch line in London I think that might go to Mill Hill East certainly one of the shortest again nice for the station there so I'm gonna continue my way that way and eventually well we know it's not far to walk to Bromley North I've now reached a very caged-in footbridge or least the stairs are caged in I think the bridge itself isn't too bad this takes us over the branch this is the last bridge I've realized now it's not necessarily a thing of branch line Britain I got to go over every bridge on the line but on this occasion we have been over every bridge on the line could almost be forgiven thinking this is a bridge over in disused line I reckon that must have been a good shard once the railway is there it's hiding behind these trees here so and the other interesting thing is we should be able to see you know I was looking down the track bed or not track it's not a disused line we should be able to see the next bridge it's just around the corner there I can just see it I don't know if the camera's picking it out so from each bridge on this line we've been able to see the next bridge joys of a short branch there's the station itself interestingly there is a train sat on the other platform but that's been sat there the whole time because it's been the same unit 4 6 5 1 6 9 going up and down all day see the station I'll talk a bit about station building when we get down there so it's currently worked by class 4 6 5's they have used 4 6 6's in the past the other thing I've realized with branch line Britain it's not necessarily been the intention but well the first episode was at Beckinscott that was like the introductory episode but then we did Greenford then we did Henley all three branches have been networkers that's not probably going to continue there will be a few more branches where we get networkers either diesel or electric but yeah it just so happens how it's been I wonder if that's a base of an old Superbox there possibly we can see the track layer I'm still not sure what that dolly signals for because it really is only there's the crossover and that's it really and then there's station anyway let's walk around to the railway station itself I have made it to Bromley North there you go Bromley North pretty soon quite clearly but the station is actually on the other side of the road Bromley Town Centre is down there so we are at the northern part of Bromley Town Centre but there's the railway station just there in front of us now the railway as we already know opened in 1878 station building we see there is not the original in 1925 Southern Railway decided to rebuild the station and they got the architect James Rob Scott who designed many Southern Railway stations to rebuild it so building so James Rob Scott this is his design other stations he built quite a lot in London such as Richmond Serbetton and Chessington branch which will be a future episode of branch line Britain thinking of other future episodes of branch line Britain when we get round to doing the Seath of branch we'll see Durrington on the Seath that's another sister of this station a station built by James Rob Scott so he did a lot of railway stations on Southern region we'll run across here now it proudly says Southern Railway and we'll go and have a look inside plus this stop just here so yeah Southern Railway nicely displayed one interesting thing we'll talk a bit about future uses of the line there has been talk of extending Croydon's tram link from Beckinham Junction through to Bromley I can almost just imagine trams coming up this road here and terminating either here or possibly there has been talk whether it'll ever happen of the line being converted to a tramway but we'll talk about that in a minute let's just have another look at the front of the station unfortunately the ticket office is closed so we can't walk through it so I have to go around the side entrance there you go that is the station it's a listed building in 1990 they listed the station building so it's never going to be demolished which is good to know so if any changes were to happen to the line in the future I'll talk about the other soon but the tram link idea because we're walking along here I reckon it was to happen the trams would come along here this is the side entrance and probably that building would get demolished and the trams would have to run there and on to the line and you can almost run it as below what they have on the line from Beckinham Junction to Crystal Palace you can have trams on one side and trains on the other so here we are just let you have a look into the closed ticket office and put the camera through the mesh so you can see it so yeah it's quite an impressive station building shame we can't go inside just as well my arms slightly longer I have two trains waiting for us but we can only get on the one we've been seeing going up and down the track in five minutes so I've got five minutes I don't need to rush interestingly we can compare class four six five because this is a class six four plus four six five nine whilst that's a class four six five zero the difference is four six five nines have first class you don't really get any perks except it's first class but this line I believe doesn't have the first class service so if that unit was the train then we could sit in first class because it would be declassified which is something I always do always look on real-time trains if I find out the train doesn't have first-class accommodation or isn't booked to have first-class accommodation means it's declassified and I go and sit in it and I've had some quite enjoyable journeys in the past on various lines in declassified first-class accommodation often though for very short journeys but still nice to go first class and not pay first class so it also has first class at this end of the train so we're going to go right down here and we're going to get on the train so have a look at the front train just for the sake of it so these platforms could probably take eight car trains I'm fairly sure to have been some charters up here at some point in the past whether one of the buffer puffs has been up here that's a train that goes up and the charters train local order goes up and down various branches I wonder if the Hastings unit has ever been up there talking of which have a look at my shirt it's not the Hastings unit but those of you who know will know what its connection has to Southern Railway diesel so whether they ever come up here I'm not entirely sure anyway if we're going to now leave Bromley North and get on the train for the journey back so this is the interior of a network he's haven't really been refurbished much in there so they're fairly I mean the moquettes have changed but the seating layouts haven't says no ironing board seats or anything like that so I'm going to enjoy the journey now back to Grove Park so as we depart Bromley North for the short journey to Grove Park we'll talk a bit about the future of the line there's no plans at the moment to change anything as far as I'm aware but there have been other ideas have been mooted I mentioned them about trams there's always been talk of extending the tram link from Beckilham Junction through to Bromley now Bromley town centre is quite big so to me a logical thing would be it could serve Bromley South so that's that's just under park between actually in there so there's talk of extending it if it was extended to Bromley South to me it would be logical then to extend it to Bromley North and then say if you wanted to get on this train at Grove Park or Sundarys Park where we're shortly going to be arriving at you could get on the train and then jump on the tram say the tram-terminated outside Bromley North and travel on Tobacco and Junkton or to Bromley South and get the train out you know towards Kent. I did mention obviously it's two tracks you very rarely ever pass another train because I think there's only ever one train going up and down. There is another unit stable there so at some point they must swap the trains over and obviously the train goes back to the depot. I'm just coming into Sundress Park. So one idea I've got is if you effectively made one half heavy rail one half light rail but then might be slightly complicated what you'll do here with heights of platforms and everything. So I think it's unlikely but it would potentially get converted to a tram line going all the way up to Grove Park and then when it gets to Grove Park potentially the tram line could go further. Other ideas that have come across is there's always been talk of extending the Bakerloo line from Elephant and Castle. Nothing's ever come with that but the plan is basically to serve the Campbell area and it's looking more likely they're leaning towards extending it down the Hayes branch which is perhaps another one. The Hayes branch is basically like a longer version of this it's a line that sort of goes up to a similar station at Hayes but it's got a few more stations on the way we'll do that one one day. There's talk of the Bakerloo line coming there you could potentially bore tunnels all the way to Grove Park and then have the Bakerloo line running along here. Again I don't know if it'll ever happen. Another idea has been to extend the London overground from New Cross but then the problem is the reason why you don't have through trains to London is because basically the southeastern mainline is pretty full to capacity so there isn't the capacity to run these into London so there wouldn't really be the capacity for the London overground trains to run along here so I don't think that's going to happen either. So I think really this line will just continue to exist as it does. The bridge is being walked under the brick footbridge so I walked along the footpath all along there. So yes I don't know what's going to happen really with this line I think it will just I mean there is no real plans it's just ideas as to what may or may not happen I think it will continue as it is but I really would love to see a special charter run down here or if they've had one weekend where they just ran a steam train up and down as like a service train it has been done in places it's unusual but has been done on and this will be the where these just past these houses this will be where the road bridge which we walked under was and then there's one more road bridge where I have plans to film a train and there's milepost nine and three quarters that's from London not from Grove Park. If I'd looked at a milepost when I was at Bromley North I could have probably worked out exactly how long the line is but it's it we're talking less than two miles it's a very short little branch line so like I say it's quite extravagant it's double tracked running besides some allotments now fairly soon we'll come to the apex of with the southeastern line passing more allotments this is the other road bridge this is where I plan to film the train but with the scaffolding it made it not quite as easy as I planned so I walked all through these houses and um I'll very shortly be arriving at Grove Park there's a lot of mature trees these big oak trees on the line I don't know if they have enough trouble with leaves on the line milepost nine and a half there so um it's there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of maintenance of the embankment I expect once in a while time these would have been completely bare these embankments we're slowing right down we've still got two tracks I'm interested in my reflection um interesting to see what will happen when we get to Grove Park because I think the train potentially could carry on through the the branch lines bay platform and on towards London I think there is also a connection this ends because obviously trains do have to come on and off the branch to go to the depot that's the last of the houses so the the park we were in um will be just down there you can't really see because of the trees and that's where the quaggy river will flow through there the second tracks are splitting apart from us now you can see it slightly further you could almost be forgiven for thinking we're passing through a disuse station here it's what it looks a bit like but I don't think it is oh and there's a train on the main line you might just we should go on to Grove Park just say for Bromley North change here surely if you have that's a bit of an odd announcement because you just go back the other way maybe that's in case you've got on the wrong train got the train going the wrong way at Sundris Park um I don't know what's about anyway we're now coming into Grove Park so we'll get off we'll see the front of the train and then I'm going to get on a train haven't decided where I'm going yeah there's quite a lot of people waiting to get on we're even going to go back to Bromley and have a walk around there or I might get a train back into London I haven't quite decided but that is the joys of having a travel guard you can go pretty much whatever you like here we go we're just pulling in now to Grove Park we'll get out and see the front of the train and then here we are we've arrived at Grove Park we saw this at the beginning of the video this long bridge like thing corridor in the sky if you look the line set as a track point so if the driver didn't stop the train would hit the wall but you can see it's connected to the main line so I hope you enjoyed this little explore of one of London's quite nice little branch lines that's not such a busy line thank you very much for watching please do feel free to like subscribe and comment and from the branch train at Grove Park goodbye


Well, Broadcasting System presents... Hello, I hope I haven't kept you waiting. Yes, this is the crime club. I'm the librarian. Cupid can be deadly. Yes, we have that story for you. Come right over. You're here. Good. Take the easy chair by the window. Comfortable? The manuscript is on this shelf. Here it is. Cupid can be deadly. The very unusual story of a dream that was made of the stuff that killed. Let's look at it under the reading lamp. The house in the hills of Westchester was big and rambling, like a medieval castle. And it was owned by the beautiful and temperamental Linda Barry, the celebrated actress. It was late Saturday night, and Paul Palmer, a Broadway columnist and one of the weekend guests, came quickly down the stairs. And as he made the right angle turn toward the library, he met Professor Caldwell, a psychologist, and another one of the guests. Oh, excuse me, Mr. Palmer, I didn't hear you coming. I walk on my toes. Have you seen Toby? Toby? Miss Randolph. Oh, yes. No, I haven't seen her in quite a while. Yes, girl B. Have you looked in her room? Just now. Well, I'm going out for a drive with Sam Winslow. That funny private detective? I look around outside if I should see Miss Randolph. Yeah, tell her about me. Well, of course. In the meantime, you might ask Miss Barry. Or is she? In the library. Now, if you don't mind. I don't. Thank you. I asked Mr. Winslow to be ready in ten minutes. It's almost that now. Well, good luck, Mr. Palmer. Why don't I stay home for a change? Paul. Ah, the lady's mad. You've got no idea how mad, honey. You're sizzling. Don't be clever. I can't help it. Give me the gun. No. Give it to me. You can't sizzle without it. You have no right to do that, Paul. It's done. Shall we go before an arbitration board? You, you keyhole people. Oh, a big one for my column. Linda Berry slaps a guest in her own house. And who was that guest? Your Broadway reporter. He's the host of the world. You can go home now any time you want. Wait a minute. I haven't got time. We'll give it to you. Who was going to get that bullet?  Was it going to be your manager and have a heartthrob, Wally Brooks? Paul? Ah, then it was for the other half a heartthrob, Sam Winslow. No.  You're not leaving this room until... I'll call it was for your girlfriend, Toby Randolph. It's no use trying to talk me out of it, Wally. I'm going to get away from this place as soon as I can find Paul. All right, Toby, you want to go, you can go, but why? I don't like it here. Meaning me? No. The house? No. Professor Caldwell's been lecturing you about the mine. Say, you and I are running away from Linda, are you? I am. But why? I don't like the way she creeps up on me. That's too bad, honey. See what I mean? Walking in the garden. But a rosy picture. What's this all about, Linda? I'll bet you couldn't find such a beautiful setting anywhere. Even the moon is perfect tonight. What on earth are you talking about? Excuse me, Wally, I'm not sticking around to find out. You're sticking around, Toby. My hair.  Let's sort of her, Linda. I said, let's sort of her, Linda. Let go. You're breaking my finger. I'll break them, Linda, if you don't get your hands off. All right, all right, all right, let go of me. No. Thanks, Wally. Now I'll give her a sample of mine. No, you don't. But she got me from behind. I don't care how she got you. But I want to know why. Nobody has to. What's that? That's enough. Just let me get at her. I'll show her how to pull hair. Stop it. That goes for both of us. Listen, Wally, any time we need a referee.  And stand over by that tree. What about her? I'll take care of her. All right, Linda. How was Toby making a fool out of you? She wouldn't leave you alone. What? For the minute she got here with Paul, she's been trying to get her claws into you. And you let her.  You didn't do a thing to stop her. I've been watching you. You are nuts. It took you a long time to find out, Wally.  And stay that way until I got this thing settled. Now, Linda, since when do I have to sign the book every time I look at another girl? You only look. There's nothing between Toby and me. She's got Paul, and for what I know, she's completely satisfied. Am I right, Toby? You're right. Yeah. But you are not completely satisfied with me, Linda. Are you? I never said I was. Well, you never had to. We've been engaged for exactly one year. How many protégés have you had in that year? Don't be low, do you? Five. And now it's that cheap, chiseling Sam Winslow, a private detective, the worst of the lot. I like to help people. Sure. But why are they always men? Coincidence. No, cut it out. Will you? You're not talking to someone behind a bib? I didn't know you were jealous. I'm not. I've never said a thing to you. Third party here. Can we wait? No, I don't care who's listening. I'm fed up and I'm... Yes? Yes. And you can get yourself another manager, too. The less I see of you, the better. You're raving. We'll see about that. Come on, Toby. Let's find Paul and get out of here. I'm on our way. Just a bit of, Wally. You're not walking out on me. Save your thread. I said you're not, dear. Listen. When there's any air to be given, I give it. And, Wally, I'm not giving you the air yet. You don't seem to get the ideal and...  Enough to marry you tomorrow.  What's that? I'll repeat it for you. Slowly. What have you got up your sleeve? The ace of trumps and it's been there for a long time. Okay. Show it.  What? And I'm the only one who could keep you out of jail. You'd better start explaining, Linda. All right. If you don't mind the crowd. Let Toby hear it. You've been forging my name to Chex. Have I? $70,000 worth. You know my signature and you've been doing a perfect job. Part of those checks. You'll see them in court. I'll see them now. Where are they, Linda? Stop it. I'm twisting my arm. Come on, baby. Produce. You'll never get them, Wally. You can kill me, but you'll never get those checks. Professor, what kept you? I didn't realize you were waiting, Mr. Winslow. It said ten minutes, didn't we? I've been sitting in his car for twenty. I'm sorry, but I met Mr. Palmer and he was agitated about the disappearance of his lady friend, so I tried some psychology. Not quite. I looked around for her just to be helpful. You're the type, aren't you? Well... Yeah. Okay, let's go for that drive. Mr. Winslow, would you mind if we didn't? What's the idea? It's rather late and I can talk to you here just as well. Okay. It's about what I think you know. Me and Linda? Yes. You don't approve? Miss Barry is my patient. Her welfare is my concern. I'm not good for it, huh? I think you ought to leave at once. I'm sorry, I was only trying to relieve a delicate situation. Miss Barry and Mr. Brooks are engaged to be married. I read that in Paul Palmer's column a year ago. They should be married, Mr. Winslow. But as long as you're in the picture... Stop right there, pal. If Linda wants to wash me out, she can do it any time. Well... The fact is, she wants me in. So that's where I stay. Would you marry her? You won't. You don't love her. I'm not exactly indifferent to her charms, Professor. She has a lot of money. You'll catch on fast, don't you? Well, how would you tell her that? You want to live, don't you? Mr. Winslow, are you...  You can't do that when you're dead. You're not threatening me, young man. I know Miss Barry has given you money. And I know that she's made you the beneficiary of one of her largest life insurance policies. You know a lot, pal. I also know that you've been poisoning her mind against Mr. Brooks. But you'll never get another chance. When I get through telling Miss Barry the truth about you... Nice speech, Professor, and I'll take a deep breath. All right, hold it. Hold it. It might have to last you a lifetime. Here's your room, Toby. Good night. I'll see you in the morning. Paul, I don't know why I listened to you. After what Linda said and did to me tonight... She's a crackpot. But she's loaded with material. At least two columns at a one weekend. All right. But I don't like the idea of sleeping in her house. Good night, sweetheart. Pleasant dreams. What's the matter, Toby? Don't ask me now. Don't hurt me. I'm getting my bathrobe. Would you please hurry? I'm doing the best I can. Getting into a bathrobe takes time. All right. Oh, Paul, darling. What's the matter? I had the most awful dream. What? I dreamed I was cupid riding a black horse. Toby, do you realize it's only five o'clock in the morning? I couldn't sleep a wink after that. Every time I closed my eyes, there was that black horse. And Linda.  It was terrible. I was sitting on the horse, and I kept shooting arrows into her heart. Yeah, yeah. Poisoned arrows. Every time I took one out of the quiver, I dipped it into a bottle of cyanide that was tied around the horse's neck. Go, go back to bed, sugar. What you need is some sleep. But I can't. Darling. Oh, you've got to help me. Let's go down to the living room. But honey, why? That's where the dream took place. You expect to find a black horse down there? I don't know what I expect to find. But if you don't come with me... Get that look out of your eyes, Angel. Well, I'm desperate. I've never been so upset before. Now, take my arm, cupid. We're off to catch a dream. I wouldn't bother you ordinarily. Sometimes I wish you would. Hunting, we will go. Hunting, we will go. Watch your step the stairs. Thanks. I could only be as calm as you. My arm would feel fine. You're digging your nails into it. And it's not even responsible for your dream. I'm sorry. I'll bet you are. But I am. You never liked this arm anyway. Now tell me the truth. Oh, that light. Where? Under the living room door. Okay, okay. So you're crazy about my arm. Stay here. Do you want to get knocked down by a horse? I'm going with you. Good Lord. Linda. On the floor. With an arrow in her chest. I killed her, Paul. Don't try to tell me I didn't. You didn't. Oh, what's the use?  Now listen, honey. I'm a killer and no amount of coaxing is going to convince me that I'm not. But dreams don't make murderers. How do you know I was dreaming? You said so. Maybe that's what I thought. But actually... Goodbye, Paul. It's been nice knowing you. Where are you going? The police will have to know about this. And I'm going to phone you. No, you're not. Put it down, Toby. I've got to get myself up. Okay, then I'll put it down. Oh. Sorry. Your hand was in the way. Okay. Now, you'll do me one favor. Don't tell anyone about your dream. We're going to have the police in on this, aren't we? Sure. But not until I've got you straightened out. Come on. Where? Out for a walk. That's somebody else's money. Good morning. Huh? Professor Caldwell. Brighten early, aren't we? I always say there's nothing like the country air to... Good heavens. Behind you. Miss Barry. We found her that way. The arrow in her chest. Her pulse. Mr. Palmer, do you realize she's been murdered? I'm beginning to. Who did this? We don't know. I did, Professor. Toby, you, Miss Randolph. You'd better send for the police. I'll tell them everything. Well, as long as you're going this far, why not tell it to Professor Caldwell? He's a psychologist. Is this a problem in a psychologist? She had a dream. It was more than that, Paul. I saw the whole thing. The living room, Linda. And I was shooting arrows into her heart. But you were riding on a black horse. Professor, do you see a black horse in this room? Very, very interesting. She was also dressed up as Cupid. She was? Forget it. Hmm. Miss Randolph, you had a dream in which you saw yourself as Cupid murdering Miss Berry? So I thought. But there was no romantic conflict between you and Miss Berry? You said there wasn't. Toby, for Pete's sake. I'll let her talk, Mr. Palmer. She'll hang herself. You'll see about that. Go on, Miss Randolph. Last night, Linda accused me of trying to take Wally Brooks away from her. We had a hair-pulling match. Amazing. The most unusual dream coincidence I've ever heard of. Professor. Don't be alarmed, Mr. Palmer. This young lady is quite innocent. You mean it couldn't have happened as I told it? Certainly not. You're not Cupid and there's no horse. But... Yes? Well, on the other hand, Miss Berry is dead. There is an arrow through her heart. This young lady is quite innocent. You mean it couldn't have happened as I told it? Certainly not. You're not Cupid and there's no horse. But... Yes? On the other hand, Miss Berry is dead. There is an arrow through her heart. That can only mean that if you're guilty, Miss Randolph, then you must be a somnambulist. Oh, good Lord. What now, Toby? Paul, as a child, I used to walk in my sleep regularly. You don't care what you do to yourself. Listen, Professor, I've got an idea. I'm afraid we need one, Mr. Palmer. If you hypnotized Toby, we could really find out what she did last night, couldn't we? We could. All right. Then hypnotize. Sit down, Toby. We're going to work. You want to know the truth? And I've got it. You mean I don't have to be hypnotized? No. All you've got to do is remember what happened after Linda pulled your hair last night. She... She... What you told me just before you went to your room. Wally said he was through and she... Of course! She accused Wally of forging her name to Chex. Mr. Palmer, do you realize what you're saying? I'm saying what Toby said Linda said. And she was there. Come on. Well, ask Wally. Don't knock yourselves out, kiddies. Sam. Yeah.  How long have you been here, Sam? Not long enough to embarrass anybody. Why? What made you come down? It's only six o'clock. I get restless sometimes. Why? You've got a reputation for waking up with a dinner bell. Oh. You think it was me, huh? It could have been, Mr. Winslow. I was going to hear from the professor. Mr. Palmer, this man is the beneficiary of a $50,000 insurance policy taken out by Miss Barry. Well, I'll be... Not anymore, Toby. Okay, Sam. You tell me. I had influence with the babe. I was her type. That's not telling me, pal. She hired me to find out where a dough was going. Checks she didn't remember signing. Then she took a shine to me. What was I going to do? Now listen, Sam. That's exactly what I did. After I found out who was signing those checks with Linda's Johanna Hancock, it was her boyfriend, Wally Brooks. I know all about that. Great. Here's something you don't know. Where's Wally? What? I'm going out about 10 minutes ago. That's what woke me up.  Mr. Brooks has a car in the garage, and we heard no car. There it is, Professor. Well, what do you say, Paul? Well, send for the police. They know all the answers. Oh, well. How about some breakfast, Toby? No, thanks, Paul. It'll be an hour before we hit New York, and I... Oh, look. There's a nice quiet place just around the next intersection. The food's good. I don't feel like eating, Paul. What's the matter with you? Why didn't you let me tell the police about my dream? Oh, it's that dream again. I killed Linda. Listen, honey, the police know how to analyze a crime, and they suspect Wally. Just because he disappeared. He didn't take a thing that belonged to him, not even his socks. It doesn't prove he's a murderer. He's been forging Linda's name to checks, and she found him out. He wouldn't have killed her for that. She was ready to marry him. Now, listen. I won't. Wally's not a killer. And I don't believe he was ever a thief. But the police found the checks. What's the use? You've made up your mind to cheat the law, and you don't care who dies as long as it isn't me. You don't know what you're talking about. And I'm going to prove it once and for all. If you only could. We'll turn around and then we'll hit right for police headquarters. Why? In your dream, Cupid was dipping the arrows into a bottle of cyanide. Yes. So far, there's been no mention of cyanide with the police of the corner. I'm going to insist on a lab test of the arrow point. Fair enough. Yeah.  Understand? That's a very unusual request, Mr. Palmer. I'm an unusual guy, Captain. Yeah. You read my column? Sometimes. And you want to know how I work? I do a thorough job on everything and everybody. Yeah. Captain, it wouldn't take much of your time to do a lab test on that arrow. Please. Why should you be interested, Miss Randolph? I... Well, you see... Frankly, I don't. Paul, I'm going to tell him. I can't live with it anymore. I've got to talk. You've done too much already. Let's get out of here. Now, wait a minute. She's got to talk and I'm here to listen.  I think I killed Linda Berry. Uh-huh. Paul and Professor Caldwell have been trying to tell me I couldn't have done it. But I know different. Sure. Here's a pencil and some paper. You write it down. Nothing doing, Captain. Now, you stay out of this, Mr. Palmer. But you don't understand. You can't take a confession from her. You wait outside. Oh, for Pete's sake, why don't you listen? Outside, Mr. All right. But you'll never convict her. She claims there was cyanide on the tip of the arrow. There was. What? Here's the coroner's report. You want to read it? Good. Lord, but she only dreamed about it. Now, listen to you. If you make one more attempt to influence this lady, I'll... I've got to use that phone. Are you getting out of here? Yes, yes. But let me call Professor Caldwell, the psychologist. He's an expert on dreams. Call him from the other room. Okay. But hold up that confession until he gets here, will you? The other room, Mr. Now, here's the dog. Thanks for the assist, Captain. I never would have made it without your help. Now, Professor Caldwell. Yes? This is Paul Palmer.  How soon can you get here? No, I can't. I want you to... You must. Mr. Brooks came in a few minutes ago. What? And with us also. Wally? He came back? Please, Mr. Palmer, as soon as you can. It'll take me at least 15 minutes. That won't do any good. It'll have to. Now, listen, Professor, don't let Wally get away. I wanted to meet a certain captain of the police with a firsthand story of why he disappeared. It's me, Professor. Where's Wally? You said you'd be here in 15 minutes. It's more than half an hour since you called. I had a flat. Where's Wally Brooks? We took him up to his room about a half an hour ago. You... Sam, what are you doing on your feet? But, Professor, you told me... It was phenomenal, Mr. Palmer. I went back to the living room after I spoke to you, and there was... I couldn't believe it. Yeah, I was standing and Wally wasn't. But I thought that he... So it seemed, pal. He took me by surprise, but all I had to get over was one punch. And when that was settled... Okay. Let's go up and have a talk with him. If he's conscious. Ha-ha, Sam, don't flatter yourself. You don't hit that hard. Bye, pal. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Ha-ha-ha. Uh, Professor, would you say that Sam is human? Definitely not. A species of two-legged animal. If I had my way... Bet you haven't. Okay. We'll settle this later. Listen, Wally... Hey. What do you know? The guy came too. Not so as you can notice it. We left him on the bed. If he didn't come to, how'd he get in that chair? Come here, Professor. What seems to be wrong, Mr. Palmer? Check him. I've got an idea. He's dead. Dead? Mr. Winslow. Don't look at me. I couldn't have killed him with one punch. I don't hit that hard. He is dead, Mr. Palmer. Now, wait a minute.  How can a guy tell without a stethoscope? Mr. Brooks has no pulse and there's no action in his heart that I can hear. Let's call a doctor. I am a doctor, Mr. Winslow. My specialty happens to be psychology, but that doesn't mean that I... Never mind that, Professor. I know what killed Wally. What's that? Poison. From this tiny bottle. A bottle? But I don't see it. He's clutching it in his hand. He's got a grip on it. I can't break it. Come along, pal. The guy committed suicide. I want the cops to find that bottle in his hand. But I've got to know whether it contains cyanide. Come on, Professor. You should know how to flex muscles. I'm afraid it would be impossible in this case, Mr. Palmer. Why? Obviously, rigor mortis is set in. I'm not giving up. If that bottle contains cyanide and... What did you say, Professor? Rigor mortis, Mr. Palmer. The rigidity of the muscles that occurs after death. Yeah. Sam, close that door. What's the idea? Close it. I want to ask the professor a few questions with no way out. Okay. You've got me guessing, pal. Mr. Palmer, what is the meaning of this? I'll let you know, Professor. Sam, get on that phone. Call the Medical Society of New York. What? Don't look so dumb. Ask them if they got a member by the name of Professor Caldwell. What's your name, Professor? You're very clever, Mr. Palmer. It's about time. But it didn't take you long to get that gun out of your pocket, did it? Does it matter? Why did you kill Linda? She made a startling discovery. The checks were forged? They weren't forged, Mr. Palmer. Now look. Oh, no, no. I see what you mean. She signed them herself, or she was under your influence. Yeah, what goes with this guy? An electric chair, Sam. He's a phony psychologist, and Linda was one of his patients. Each time she came to his office, he got her just in the right mood to be hypnotized. Then he'd tell her to write a check and sign it. They were all made out to cash, weren't they, Professor? Of course. And she cast them for me while she was in that right mood. But why did you kill her? I told you. Can't you figure it out, pal? She accused Wally. I suppose she had the guy arrested.  No. They investigate everybody. And what did they find out? This guy's a phony doctor. Yeah. Remind me to like you the next time we meet. Thanks. Now, Professor, about Toby. You hypnotized her, too. And you induced her to have that dream. Why? The young lady was a perfect subject after her quarrel with Miss Barry. But how did you get to her? I took her to the door of the room, and I saw her go in. She came out later. The poor child was very disturbed. Naturally, she needed attention. Take it easy, Paul. It's gone. Yeah. You, uh... You changed your mind about Toby, Professor, when Wally disappeared. When he came back, you set him up as the perfect suicide. It's quite simple. Such an easy way out. No trial, no investigation. The suspect committed suicide. Q-E-D. Q-E-D. Well... Yeah. So that's why you tried to get rid of me, Professor. I think I'll go now, gentlemen. You didn't want a private detective around while you were fixing a murder and a frame up. Goodbye, Mr. Winslow. You even tried to put the frame around me.  Really? Would you like me to put you out of your misery? I'm standing here by the door, Professor. If you want to get out, you'll have to come through me.  No, Professor! Mr. Palmer! Present! You shouldn't have forgotten about me, not even for a minute. Bad psychology. Paul, I'll take the gun. I'll take it, Sam. One more twist soon! That's all mine. Now, Professor... I have nothing to say to you, Mr. Palmer. He doesn't like me, Sam. I'm sick of it.   Okay, you take one arm and I'll take the other. We'll give this guy a lift down to police headquarters. That won't be exactly psychological. How did you decide that Professor Caldwell was the murderer? He said rigor mortis. Yes, that's what you told me before, but how did you really decide? Wally couldn't have been dead more than half an hour. Rigor mortis takes from six to eight hours to set in. Any doctor knows that. Any real doctor? But what made Wally so rigid? Hypnotism. Did you ever see people hypnotized? Several times, but their bodies become so rigid they couldn't even be bent. There you have it. Thanks, I don't want it. Death doesn't relax those muscles. They stay that way. I still don't want it. You're hard to please, young lady. What do you want? I do really like to know. Sure. I want something to eat. I'm hungry. So close is tonight's story. Cupid can be deadly. Steadman Coles wrote the radio script. Roger Bauer produced and directed. Sidney Smith played the part of Paul Palmer. Virginia Dwyer was Toby Randolph. Cameron Prudum was Professor Caldwell. Helen Shields played Linda Barry. Larry Haynes was Sam Winslow. And Sherling Oliver was heard as Wally Brooks. Oh, I beg your pardon. Hello, I hope I haven't kept you waiting. Yes, this is a crime club. I'm the librarian. Next week? I'm sorry, we won't be here next week. No, this is the last program in the current series. Yes, we're sorry too. Of course, there'll be something here next week. Racket smashes. Yes. This is the same time and over most of these same stations. You'll be listening? Fine. I'll tell them to look for you. This program came from New York. This is the last broadcast in the current crime club series. In its place, the Mutual Broadcasting System will present the exciting real-life crime drama, Racket Smashers. Don't fail to tune in at this time next week over most of these stations for the true criminal cases of Racket Smashers. Stay tuned now for another Mutual Favorite, Quiet Please, which follows in just a moment. This is the world's largest network serving more than 450 radio stations, the Mutual Broadcasting System.


I have been back to Ireland after 50 years. I was a student attending Trinity College in the 60s. And the first thing I feel is how much this country has changed. The same way that may happen to you if you go back after 20 years to Spain, you will see how the country has improved, has changed in a positive way. And I think this is the case of Ireland too. What I have been doing for the last three years is trying to improve and to promote the improvement of the image of Spain abroad. When I started my job, I was appointed by the prime minister to do this job, try to make some improvement in the image of Spain. The image of Spain at that time was suffering, suffering basically because of economic imbalances. And although the image is something broader than the economy, when we are in the middle of a crisis, the economy has such a big influence that the whole image of the country suffers. We had one of the strongest crises Spain had, only comparable to something in the 16th century, at the beginning of the 19th century during the Napoleon Wars, and even bigger than the big crisis of the 1920s, which Spain didn't suffer so much. In this case it was a terrible, a terrible drop of our economy, both in terms of GDP, a big deficit in our public accounts, almost everything was in trouble. And we were the next candidate after Greece, Portugal, Ireland, we were the next candidate for a bailout. And that was clear in all that was published in the summer of 2012 when I was appointed to the most fascinating job I had in my life. And I had some fascinating jobs before. I was the CEO of Iberia, an airline, and to be the CEO of an airline is a very fascinating job. I joined the company with my black hair and I came out after three years with white hair, so you can find the kind of challenge that is to run an airline. I was in other jobs, but this was really a very interesting one. So the first thing we had to do was to see how we could recover confidence, because in a process like that the first thing you lose is confidence. And when you don't have confidence it's very difficult to be present in the international markets, to get money from others, to attract investors to a country which requires capital. So that was the main target, how to get back to confidence. And the only way we found was trying to present the case of Spain through the last 40 years and say, how did Spain behave with some of the big challenges that had to encounter in the recent past? The first was to join EEC. So we joined in 1986 and many countries had many doubts about the possibility of Spain within the EEC bringing down all the tariffs, allowing products from all the most advanced countries in Europe to come to our market, which had been a very protected market for many years. And we were able, through work and effort, not only to be a reasonable partner within the EEC, the European Union at the time, but also to take a big advantage of joining the EEC in terms of opening our companies to foreign markets, to get funds from the European Union to do a very important investment in our infrastructure, to improve our roads, to improve our railroads, to improve our ports, our airports, and build up a very modern infrastructure that we have today with some help and support from these funds from Europe. So that was the first challenge for Spain, and we fulfilled it. The second one was to be part of the euro. To be part of the euro, as you may remember, the Treaty of Maastricht established a number of conditions that the country had to fulfill in order to be a member from the beginning of the euro. And we fulfilled that in a rather short period of time, and not only we fulfilled, but we were able to work with this new currency and also again to take advantage of that. We are a very pro-European country. We believe in the advantages of being a member of the European Union. And this is the public opinion in Spain, both in academia and by normal people, who at levels of 70% support integration in Europe and the evaluation they make of this almost 30 years so we have been a member. So we had a recent record of being confronted to challenges and being able to overcome them and be a member of those challenging clubs to which we wanted to belong. So that was the first idea, was to say we are going to do reforms, we are doing important reforms to bring to balance our public accounts, to increase our productivity in our industry, in our productive sectors and we will be making sure that this will be a plan accepted by European Union with a calendar and reaching the different targets on time. So after we start to do these reforms we started to see also with the support of Mr Draghi who had been very important in this process with the support of the European Central Bank saying that the Central Bank would fight for the euro and would defend all the members in that process. We started to see signs of recovery, signs of reducing the deficit, cutting the public spending, improving our public accounts and then the confidence was little by little coming back and we started to see some clear results of the acceptance of what Spain was doing. To give you an idea, we follow a number of metrics to see how the image of the country moves forward. One of them is an index that we make with the 3030 leading investment banks. The opinion of the 30 leading investment banks which are half of them are American, the other half is English, French, German, one Japanese and one Italian. Those banks, as you know, they make regular reports on countries and maybe 50 pages, 100 pages, but at the end in the front page they have on the top right of the report space for a world and the world could be one of those three, buy, hold or sell, meaning the recommendation of those banks to investors, investors who are the clients of the banks, companies, funds, individuals, and this world for us is what was the most important thing. By the end of 2012, out of those 30 reports from leading investment banks, we had 25 saying for Spain sell, so if you have an investment try to get rid of it, 4% were saying hold, wait and see what happens and one of them was saying buy, and one who was an exception. By last year's end, so in December 2014, published along the spring of this year, we had totally inverted that position and we had last results were 26 saying buy, two saying hold and two saying sell. So we completely changed this opinion, which is a key opinion when you go into international markets looking for finance or when you are looking for foreign investment coming to Spain. This has been, I haven't made the same exercise with Ireland but as you were saying, the parallel is quite impressive. Both in the years of prosperity in which you were called the Celtic Tiger and we were called the continental tiger, so it was possible to have two tigers at the zoo simultaneously in the continent, the island. And from those years in which we were subject of admiration by others to the grey years or black years that came from 2008 and to the reaction that both countries had made. I have to say that Ireland was first. First we were a little later because of political change and required to go into some of these measures and these reforms and as a consequence both countries coming out of that deep swimming pool quite fast. Discussion in the academic world was whether once we were down in the swimming pool we would be walking or we would be coming up and I think both countries have surprised most of international communities having a high speed way out. And this year 2015 as a reality that Ireland would be growing at levels of 4% in GDP and Spain would be with levels a little below between 3.3 and 3.6 by the end of the year. Coming very rapidly as a consequence of the reforms and both countries convinced that we still have reforms, pending reforms, things that we have to continue doing if we don't want to lose this momentum and this rhythm and we want to keep making our economies more competitive. This is something that I think we all have in mind that we have to ask in our case the new government coming out of the polls in two months and in Ireland a little later the new government to continue to do the right things. And I think it's very rewarding to read the reports that are made by public institutions like IMF or the European Union or OCD and the last one published was the third quarter report of the European Union in which they mentioned both countries, Ireland and Spain as a good example of how reforms produce good results and make a country to come out of the crisis in a rather quick rhythm and recommending other countries which are more lazy, which are not acting the same way to follow the example of Ireland or Spain. As you can imagine, my job of trying to sell Spain has become much more rewarding and much easier than three years ago. Three years ago I was talking to investors, to journalists, to people who create opinions and it was a fierce discussion which normally as one of them told me it could be true but you are in front of a red light and when you have a red light in traffic you have to stop there and you cannot move. One year later I was talking to the same person and he said well now you are in orange light. That means well you should be prudent but maybe you could cross if you look to the left or to the right and no one comes and you could cut. Then a few months ago in March I saw him again and said finally you have the green light so you are a country that we can recommend to our people, to our customers, to our investors. This is a little bit of the process we have followed and now of course we have a big challenge ahead of us is the general elections. What is going to happen in Spain in political terms and how the terming could be the new government to follow in the same path or have temptations to go into another direction. First thing I would like to say is that as normally happens two months ago is yet quite difficult to make a bet on what is going to happen. It's too difficult to be called as the Americans say. It's a little too far away although it's only two months but to find out what really happens. Second thing I would like to say is that in economic terms there would be little choice. There would be no room for other things that the kind of policy that we have committed with the European Union and that we have been following in the last three years. So there is not too much room for crazy ideas for coming back. It would not be, just would not be possible and I guess for Ireland would be exactly the same thing. We are, thanks God, we are more and more linked to other countries. We are more committed to international goals, to common goals and those goals have to be pursued and achieved independently if you have a government from the left a government to the right. I think the bad news for the politicians is that they have less and less room for interference. They have more and more commitments that they have to fulfill. And so there is not as much room as it used to be maybe 20 years ago for doing things in the wrong or in the right direction. There is a narrow avenue through which you can move a little bit to the left or to the right but this path is something you cannot go in the wrong direction. Although some people, some citizens feel that this could be the case, that could be the risk that someone from a radical position could modify. Unfortunately, on the contrary, very fortunately the room for those is limited. What do you expect or what could happen in Spain? In Spain it is going to happen something that is different from what has been the case in political terms for the last 35 years. During that period after the death of Franco and the arrival of the monarchy and democracy we have been governed during all those years by a party, a dominant party which was one of the two options one the socialist party and the other one the popular party which is the center right being the socialist center left party. So most of the Spaniards have been voting center center right or center left through that period of time. And in some cases the winning party was able to have a majority in parliament and needed no alliances like today. Today we have a government who has had the majority in parliament so has been governing by themselves. In the past it happened with the socialist and now for the first time there is a common conviction that no one of the two big parties would have a majority comfortable enough to be governing with support from the parliament so they would have to get into some kind of alliance. And the alliance could be one between the two big parties make a gross coalition like in the German modern this is something that we never had in Spain we never tried that alternative of a big coalition of the two big parties and otherwise would be a coalition of one of the two big parties with two emerging parties two emerging parties that have appeared in the political scene very recently they don't have one of them is only a year and a half old which is Podemos which is a radical leftist party and the other one who has been only in Catalonia for a number of years defending Catalonia as part of Spain and now has spread all over the Spanish geography but only a year ago so it's also very recent but it's getting a lot of votes both from the popular party from the socialist and becoming more and more a player in political Spain so we have the two old big parties and these two modern parties that have built the popularity criticizing the big parties and making them look responsible for corruptions and other scandals in economic life how big these two parties could be after the vote we don't know most of people estimate that while the two big parties would have over 100 seats in the parliament the parliament has 350 seats so you need a majority of 176 to govern the two big parties will get something between 100 and 130 each the two new parties will get something between 30 and 50 seats each of them so all kind of combinations are possible and as I said today is too early to explain what could happen my wish my wish and also my opinion because I'm optimistic and sometimes I have the tendency to think that what I wish is what will happen it doesn't happen very often that sometimes happens my wish would be a coalition of the two big parties a coalition between the centre right and the centre left to be able to agree on some basic issues that the country has to deal with one of them is the Catalonia issue but others are these reinforcements of reforms that have to be made in different aspects and some of these as big national issues require the consensus of the two big parties that would be one possibility it's not what the analyst thinks that will happen very much is considered that the antagonism between the two big parties has gone so far that it's almost impossible to put them together but I think would be the best thing for Spain and in terms of the image the area I take care of I think that would reinforce the image of Spain putting together the big parties and trying to keep doing the reforms and things which are still needed and that's why I would like something like that but I don't think at this moment what most of the analysts think so this is a personal opinion and you should take like this in any case I want to thank you for being here and I'm willing to comment with you and to learn also from the Irish experience and if you agree we can move into a dialogue Thank you very much