It seems the Spanish government has been forced by the EU to make a complete climb-down over the takeover of a major energy company by the German giant, EON. Not only will it take place but also without the conditions Madrid tried to impose. My initial view that this was a good thing has been rather tempered by reading in a UK paper that the EU rules on energy competition are seen by German companies as only applying to other countries.

El Mundo continues with its campaign to prove the government’s investigation into the Madrid bombings of March 2004 is a whitewash, tainted by police incompetence and deception. As I understand it, El Mundo believes there were links between the Islamic terrorists and ETA. A government spokesman in parliament this week likened this to the claim that Bush was behind the destruction of the Twin Towers. This did little for the already strained relations between the government and the opposition.

In one of those developments which seem all to common in Spain, someone convicted of massive financial skulduggery has left jail after serving only a small proportion of his sentence. In this case, I get the impression that – for one reason or another – the individual in question actually saw little of the inside of a cell before he was officially returned to the street. I speak of Sr. Vera, who was the Secretary of State for Internal Security in the last Socialist administration. In this capacity, he was able to divert into various bank accounts tens of millions of euros allocated to the fight against ETA. None of this, it is said, has since been returned. The belief abroad is that, in cases like this, the leniently dealt with criminal has a dirty-washing basket, the lid of which he is more than willing to take off if needs be. This may or may not be true but the Spanish are a suspicious lot. A survey this week showed that 83% of them believe there is ‘a lot’ or ‘quite a lot’ of tax evasion. Who’d have thought it?

In another survey, it was reported that nicotine levels had fallen an impressive 75% in the work place since January. And in bars, cafés and discos?? Well, would you believe 0%? Of course you would, if you read this blog regularly. Accompanying the report was a photo of the sign on the door of one bar – “In this bar, not only are you allowed to smoke here; you are obliged to”.