House sales/prices; Dubious pardons; Bye-bye monarchy?; Gurtel explained; Romanian victims.

The sale of houses and the prices thereof continue to fall in Spain, 7 years after the boom turned to bust. And yet, sales to foreigners increased significantly last year, with Brits being well to the fore in the quest for bargains. Given that prices are expected to fall still further, these are either canny souls who know exactly what they're doing or folk who - as the traditional phrase has it - have left their brains at the airport. Either way, good luck to them. One thing's for sure, unless there are very good reasons, this is not the time to accept the asking price, however reasonable the (on-commission) estate agent says it is.

The Executive arm of the Spanish government has the constitutional power to pardon criminals - something which it regularly does - without giving reasons - in respect of senior politicians and bankers. In addition, the government has a similar power stemming from nothing more than custom and practice. So it is that: " A Spanish banker jailed for stealing €30,000 ($41,000) from a client is one of 21 prisoners given a reprieve during this year's traditional Easter pardons. Every Holy Week, around 20 prisoners are freed at the request of the Catholic cofradías, the religious brotherhoods behind most of the processions which take place across the country". It's said that the tradition began with a 1759 prison riot in Malaga. So, Easter is a time when friendships really count in Spain. As if they didn't at every other time of the year!

Demonstrators took to the streets of Spain last night to call for the restoration of a republic. The current Constitutional Monarchy model has failed, they say, resulting in a two-party system mired in perpetual corruption. The 1978 'transitional model' , they add, has outlived its usefulness and needs to be replaced by something more up-to-date. And who would gainsay any of that, particularly if it means a sensible federal state? So, good luck to the March for Dignity.

HT to Lenox for the advice that you can, perhaps, get a full understanding of the vast Gurtel corruption case from this article in El País in English.

Finally . . . I don't whether this is happening in Pontevedra as well as in Ferrol but I might just have a bit more sympathy for some of our beggars in due course.