Dawn

Dawn

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

The latest on the crash enquiry; Risk; Cyclists, young and old; and PP corruption.

Over at South of Watford, Graeme has always been tough on Spain's politicos and newspapers. Or those from the centre-right to the far right at least. But he's OK and here's his take on the aftermath of the Santiago crash. He's just a little more sceptical/cynical than I am but, then, he's been in Spain longer. And he reads more papers than me.

The right-of-centre El Mundo continues to stress the driver's responsibility while asking no questions about security system(s) which should counteract driver errors. The paper's line is that the train was 'out of control' for 5 to 7 minutes, even though it adds that the driver didn't leave either the cabin or the controls during this period. Nor did he use the phone supplied by RENFE. The suggestion is that - even though he'd done this route 60 times before - he was was disorientated as to where he was and only braked when it was too late. I find this confusing but, as I've said, we need analysis of the black box(es) data. This began today, it's reported. In the interim, I've no doubt that the national government, the regional government, Adif and RENFE won't budge a millimetre from their line that it was all down to the fault of a negligent driver. Which, of course, it may be. Though it would be nice to have some hard evidence of both what happened and what didn't happen.

The left-of-centre El Pais takes a wider and less partisan approach in today's editorial.

You might think that, especially here in Galicia, there'd be heightened sense of risk right now. If there is, it wasn't evident yesterday when the impatient driver behind me drove up my backside the length of a long, slow stretch of nasty bends on the autovia down to Portugal. Nor this morning when I had to brake hard entering a roundabout to avoid being hit in the side by someone coming from the left way above the limit. As usual with men like this - it's always men - he gave me a look which suggested I shouldn't be on the road the same time as him.

Which naturally leads into the subject of cyclists on the pavements and in the pedestrianised parts of town. Essentially one's at permanent risk of being hit from behind by one of these jokers, as they weave in and out of traffic at speed. God help you if you unwittingly step to one side as one of them reaches you. The government has just announced it'll be introducing fines for jaywalkers - desperate times, desperate measures - which seems to me like the right time to start collecting revenue from these blatant law-breakers. Not to mention the scooter and motor-bike riders with their noise suppressors removed!

Which reminds me . . . I realised this week why the world of motorcycling is dominated by Spain. It's because, from the age of about 2, kids here are allowed - nay, encouraged - to career down slopes on little bikes without the aid of stabilisers or brakes. Oblivious to the pedestrians in their way.

Anyway, the focus of popular attention now switches to President Rajoy and what he's likely to say in Parliament this week about the allegations of illegal funding and backhanders to senior party members. Significantly, around 90% of people surveyed don't think he'll say anything revealing and a large majority say they believe the ex-treasurer who's making the allegations more than they do the president. Which, ironically, rather supports his normal stance of saying nothing. The probability is he'll take the classic Spanish defence of - "OK, we did it but the Opposition is worse." Known in brief as "Y tú más!".

Finally . . . Don't bother to try to subscribe to Old Reader. After a week or so of problems, they've effectively closed it down. The Curse of Col

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