It's one of life's major ironies that, although the description 'liberal' was first coined in Spain in the sense which it still generally bears around the world, here it has come to mean red-in-tooth-and-claw capitalism at worst, or Thatcherism at best. It can be quite confusing when left-of-centre newspapers summarily reject 'liberal' economic proposals as if they were redolent of the worst excesses of the 19 century US robber barons. Sometimes accompanied by the hackneyed cartoon of a fat, cigar-chomping businessman in a frock coat and stove-pipe hat, brandishing a cloth bag with a big dollar sign on it. But it all adds to the gaiety of life, I guess.

Talking about economic proposals, the right-of-centre El Mundo has dismissed the government's package of emergency measures as mere 'marketing'. By which I suppose it means majoring on presentation rather than substance. From left-of-centre, El País tells us that "The coexistence of perturbations of different natures requiring solutions that are at least in part contradictory complicates politico-economic decisions." And who could argue with that? The problem is that not many people seem to think the government is up to the task. Possibly because it is still doing an excellent impression of a rabbit caught in the glare of a car's headlights.

The slanty eyes ad: My comments have naturally generated a Spanish response and the essence of the reaction is - as predicted - that it couldn't possibly be offensive or racist since intentions were 100% good. Here's an elegant attempt by David Jackson - an Englishman born and bred in Andalucia, I believe - to be fair to both sides. And, of course, I agree with him - having already said it - that the most pertinent contribution to this, er, debate would be a reliable survey of how Chinese folk living in Spain found it. My final comment is that this afternoon I asked a good Spanish friend - married to an Anglo - what she thought of it. She smiled, ducked the issue of whether it was racist, and said "Well, it's just one of those stupid things that the Spanish thoughtlessly do and then defend to the death when criticised for it." So, perhaps we can leave it at that, with the question of whether it was subjectively or objectively racist hanging in the air. To be positive, it was good that forgiveness was sought for any unintended slant. Sorry, slight.

Tomorrow's controversy will be the presentation of my considered view of Nationalists.

Galicia

If you'd been sunning yourself on the wonderful Lalanzada beach near O Grove yesterday, you'd have been treated to the sight of an 18 metre speedboat being beached there by drug traffickers who felt it'd best to set fire to it and jump ship rather than hang around for the pursuing helicopter and boats of the Guardia Civil. Leaving behind 1,400 kilos of cocaine. It would all have made an unusual postcard home. If anyone in Spain ever sent one. But a camera in a mobile phone is an excellent substitute, it seems.

I referred the other day to the almighty mess around the basilica of Santa Maria in Pontevedra and ventured the view that neither residents nor tourists were too concerned about things. It seems I was wrong; one tourist - pressed for his views on the city by the Diario de Pontevedra - asked "How can things around the emblematic basilica have been allowed to come to such a pass." But, since he was Catalan, we're probably entitled to tell him to push off back to his own nation and to solve the well known civil engineering problems there before he comes here shooting his mouth off about what pleases and displeases real Spanish tourists. Of course, this would be best done in Castellano as he might not understand it in Gallego. Sometimes you have to make an exception.