I mentioned the other day that St George’s Day [23 April] would probably be celebrated rather more in Georgia than in England. What I overlooked is that the Catalan for George is Jordi and so the dragon-slayer is big in the North East of Spain as well. Needless to say, in a region always keen to celebrate its nation status, things are taken to the other extreme from England. The words “refuge” and “rogues” spring to mind. Not to mention “Scottish”, “British” and “ Brown”. And “end in tears”.

In Leeds, where my younger daughter lives, she puts all her recyclable items into one [green, of course] bin and everything else into a traditional black bin. I wondered why the former weren’t separated into different materials but the answer came in a TV program this week. It all goes to a central municipal facility, where it’s hand-sorted into plastic, paper, etc. In contrast, here in Spain we put our bottles, plastic, paper and household waste into different containers in the street, to be emptied at different intervals. However, given that at least some of my neighbours seem to be rather confused as to what constitutes ‘paper’ and ‘plastic’, I wonder whether, as in the UK, everything isn’t later re-united in one huge sorting facility. If so, it might explain the doubling of the charges over the last few years.

Still on an Eco theme – If you’re someone who not only fears the consequences of global warming but also sees CO2 emissions as the main factor, you might like to know that “Projected emissions of greenhouse gases from the global south would trigger dangerous climate change even if the north were to cut its emissions to zero tomorrow”. The answer, it seems, is to transfer humongous amounts of money from the north to the south to bribe them to stop developing. Easy, peasy. Click here for the details.

Talking about municipal services and charges, I read this morning that a full 20% of municipal taxes in the UK now goes to finance the final-salary schemes of Britain’s growing battalions of officious bureaucrats. Given that these schemes have all but disappeared from the private sector because of government tax measures, this is little short of scandalous. Or, as I’ve said before, a particular form of corruption. Where is Wat Tyler when you need him?

A relevant comment from William Chislett’s Spain going Places – “Spain has the fourth most comprehensive mandatory pension scheme among OECD countries. Future retirees can expect, under the current situation, to receive state pension benefits equivalent to 81% of their pre-retirement earnings as against 96% in Greece, at the top of the league, and 31% in the UK, at the bottom”. Of course, Spanish workers may have to keep going until they’re 68 or more. But this seems like a fair trade-off for a life of geriatric ease.

For those with an interest in the current shenanigans in Spain’s PP opposition party which can’t be satisfied by my witterings – or even by Graeme’s analyses over at South of Watford - here’s an excellent summary from someone who really does seem to know what he’s talking about. But who appears not to have much sympathy for Señor I’m-here-to-stay Rajoy. I'm indebted to John over at Iberian Notes for this.

Along with the governments of the regions of Andalucia, Asturias and Castile y La Mancha, the Galicia’s Xunta has rejected Madrid’s proposed new way of financing the country’s 17 Autonomous Communities. But, if you choose to become President of Spain, you will quickly learn – and regularly re-learn – that it certainly is possible to displease all the people all the time. This particular president – Sr. Zapatero - is also now discovering that his €400 tax rebate/electoral bribe – not payable to me and a few deserving others, by the way – will hit state finances just as tax revenues are plummeting because of lower [7%!] property tax and [16%] sales tax receipts. And not long before he has to compensate the regions for scrapping the annual wealth tax [el Patrimonio] from the end of this year. I wonder if he really believed his own assurances of a soft landing and his forecasts of continuing stellar growth. I suspect not.