Ana
Botella, you may recall, is the Madrid Mayor who got into a spot of ridicule last year over her presentation to the Olympics
authorities on her city's case for the 2020 Games. Well, she's come
in for a lot more mockery over the fact that her CV is blank in the
brochure issued at Davos about the great and the good attending the
annual jamboree there. Some of those laughing argue, with
justification, that it's right and appropriate there's nothing on the
page as the only reason she's the Mayor of Madrid is that she's
married to ex-president Aznar.
With
power, they say, comes responsibility and I'll be thinking about
that. But, meanwhile, I'll just mention that - no sooner do I
highlight the madness of Spain's tax burden for the self-employed -
than the government announces it's thinking of bringing in a
progressive monthly rate, in line with earnings. The only question
arising is - Why are they just thinking about it and not just doing
it? Who on earth is opposing the change?
I
mentioned that a new political party - Vox - had been launched,
situated right of centre. Well, now there's a new party on the left
as well - Podemos (We can). According to our Spy in
Congress, these developments have together unleashed fear and
panic in the established parties, who currently (ahead of imminent EU
elections) have no idea how to deal with these threats to their
bi-party hegemony. So, is Spain finally changing for the good, thanks
largely to disgust and anger at the degree of corruption enabled by
the boom and to the pain experienced by the middle and lower classes
in the bust? Let's hope so. And let's pray there are more Burgos-type
successful popular riots to drive home the message that the days of
doing just what you like when you get to power are over. Cue Bob
Dylan.
By
the way . . . Vox
is pronounced Box in Spanish but Bosh in Gallego. A bit too close to
Bosch for comfort, I'd have thought.
I
have a neighbour who used to hold a senior position in the Ministry
of Health. During an English chat yesterday, I was telling her about
a Madrid woman I knew who was one of 3 secretaries allocated to a
senior official in the Ministry of Agriculture. Having nothing to do,
she was bored stiff but staying put until retirement. My neighbour
wasn't at all surprised but I was when she told me she'd had not 3
but 6 secretaries - 3 for the morning and 3 for the afternoon. And
that it was impossible to get rid of any of them, because of the
keep-the-plebs happy legislation dating from "the socialist
Franco era". So, the Caudillo was more of a NAZI than just a
mere fascist. Must check with my old fellow Christian Brother
victim, Paul Preston.
Finally
. . . One of the things you can (easily) get in Galicia that's now
pretty rare in the UK is tripe. Or callos. Researching
something else, though, I came across this foto of my home town in
1900, with the advert for a whole store of the stuff. And I can
still recall the butcher's van with great slabs of it visiting
our street many decades later. But not now. Thank God.
Incidentally,
notice the abundance of parking in the street. And also note that my
(red-haired, Irish) grandmother lived in a cul-de-sac off this
street, which though called Seaview Road, certainly didn't
overlook the sea. Or even the river Mersey.
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