Both the left-of-centre El Pais and the right-of-centre El Mundo agree that the low turnout for the Andalucian Constitution referendum reflects political failure. Naturally, each leading political party blames the other. El Mundo claims the whole exercise – involving the pointless definition of Andalucia as a ‘national reality’ and the parallel affirmation of the ‘indissolubility of Spain’ – was driven by a socialist regional President keen to help his oppo in Catalunia. And that it’s all part of the mindless break-up of Spain by a government which couldn’t survive without ‘Nationalist’ support. They may have a point.

I posed the question yesterday of whether the Andalucians wouldn’t prefer to vote on the issue of corruption rather than on the [arcane and irrelevant?] question of their new Constitution. An answer came yesterday in the news that, in the cesspit of Marbella, only 27% of them went to the polls. This probably represents the local council’s payroll. Or briberoll, as it should be called.

I really don’t mean this to sound patronising but one of the things I love about Spain is that it still maintains some of the institutions of my youth, long since banned in the UK. One of these is the annual Miss and Mister [or Mees and Meester] Spain contests. But there’s a bit of a fuss this week because the organisers have refused to allow the lovely Miss Cantabria to take part as she is a mother. The young lady in question – without a hint of irony – has dismissed this as ‘sexist’. And she has been backed up by the relevant lady Minister in the national government. Feathers are fluttering all over the dovecot.

Galicia Facts

The Academy of the Asturian Language [yes, there really is one] is up in arms against what it sees as ‘unfounded and damaging’ attempts by its Galician equivalent to label as Gallego the related language spoken in western Asturias. The sobering background to this nonsense is that foreign investment in Galicia in 2006 was the lowest in 15 years. And this after 3 previous bad years. The main barriers, according to our local press, are a shortage of land designated industrial and a bureaucratic mindset which is worse than elsewhere in Spain. ‘Rome’ and ‘fiddling’ are words which spring to mind.

This week saw the annual Galician ‘national’ fox-shooting competition up in the hills. The 900 contestants had to deal with two troublesome groups. The first comprised 200 ‘ecologists’ who tried to disrupt things and generally caused consternation on the part of the participants, who simply couldn’t comprehend why anyone would object to this traditional pastime. The second [smaller] group comprised the vets who had to check the foxes had really just been shot. Not defrosted after a few days or weeks in someone’s freezer. Yes, but who was guarding the guards?

UK Society

There’s concern in the UK that young girls are being sexualised at a very early age. One targeted product is the Bratz Doll, which apparently comes in cropped top, mini-skirt and skimpy underwear. Responding to the alarm, a spokesman for the company said its dolls were bought only by over-8s and that "The Bratz brand, which has remained number one in the UK market for 23 consecutive months, focuses on core values of friendship, hair play and a 'passion for fashion'." One advantage of totalitarian government is that people who talk like this can just be taken out and shot. Or, better still, garrotted.

A Scottish columnist, Andrew O’Hagan, says the great British virtue – 'too seldom recalled by those heralding the break-up of Britain' - is to live and let live. Strangely enough, this is [rightly] seen as a major Spanish virtue as well. O’Hagan adds that ‘The modern taste for hammering everyone into being and talking the same way is the great bore of the age. Fear of difference and dread of incorrectness are the twin ushers of banality and thoughtlessness in our own time’. He then calls for a return to ‘excessive individuality’ in Britain. Which is where I begin to part company with him. There’s an awful lot of this in Spain and it’s not necessarily a Good Thing.