So, the 10 year debilitating battle between Blair and Brown in the UK has re-surfaced in the form of a to-the-death fight between Brown and the scarcely-known Blair proxy, David Miliband. What a fraud on the British electorate. And it makes the post-election PP disunity of a month ago look like a love-in. No wonder some commentators feel the UK Labour party is on the verge of extinction, such could be the price the furious voters inflict on it in a couple of years. Thank God I'm on record saying - and repeating! - for years now that History would be very unkind to New Labour. I suspect the only hope the party has of avoiding a wipe-out in 2010 is for Miliband to persist in his treachery and place a few more knives in Brown's back so as to secure his departure within 12 months. A true Scottish Play. Where is Shakespeare when you need him? And would he be working for the egregious Rupert Murdoch?

Meanwhile, here in Spain it's now the consensus that, dreadful as things now are, the worst is ahead of us. Hindsight is always a wonderful thing. Especially if you have no foresight. And even more so if you have precious little sight of any kind. The Economy Minister now tells us he always feared Spain had a speculative bubble and that is was surely wrong to build 800,000 properties a year. Well, Sr Solbes, some of us were saying at the time it was happening - 2 or 3 years ago - that it was madness to build more properties than France, Germany and the UK combined. In a country which already had the highest first, second and third home ownership rates in Europe. But your government was apparently deaf as well as blind. Right up until just after the election. If the Spanish electorate believes your hogwash that the recession is all the fault of external factors, then they really do deserve you.

But at least the government - in its continued pursuit of social developments in lieu of economic measures - has refused to bow down to the pressure of the Catholic Church for dilution in respect of the Citizenship classes about to be introduced in state schools. Or even all schools. Small mercies.

As for the 'debate' on the complex issue of finance for the regions, it's reported that - predictably - Madrid has failed to prevent the formation of opposing self-interest groups. Specifically, the North West v the East, and the North v the South. Not to mention Cataluña v Almost Everybody Else.

There was a chap on the radio this morning drawing a distinction between fidelity and loyalty in a relationship. I didn't hear his preamble but I suspect he meant in the male-to-female direction and not necessarily vice versa. Certainly, the female presenter seemed to be having difficulty keeping her temper, not least when he argued that men had their instincts and impulses and that, if these weren't attended to, there would be no human life at all on earth. I couldn't of course, tell whether he was being serious but he certainly sounded as if he believed this guff. Or at least had the confidence that a significant proportion of the listeners would. But, anyway, I guess it's a small price to pay for having a more balanced society. In which you won't get threatened with a sexual harassment suit for telling your secretary she looks nice today. But some might disagree.

Quotes of the Week

In all this, it is hard to feel too much sympathy for Gordon Brown. This, after all, is the man who systematically subverted Tony Blair for more than a decade.
Matthew d'Acona, political commentator

It's incredible that people question my Galician-ness simply because I prefer to write in Spanish.
Marta Rivera de la Cruz, Galician author.

Galicia Facts

There was a bad goring in the first of Pontevedra's four annual bullfights last night. But not of a matador. It seems the bull decided to return from whence it had come into the ring and caught the poor chap trying to close the door, hurling him into the air. Today's Diario de Pontevedra has front page pictures. Plus another 5 pages on the corrida. Strange, then, that it couldn't find space for a report and photo on the anti-bullfighting demonstration in the city yesterday midday. Not even in its 8 page photo spread of events of the week. I wonder why not.

Anyway, here's a photo from me. It's of a famous Pontevedra parrot which does a lot of wolf-whistling at passers-by, down near Vegetables Square. Even at me.


And here's one of a building in Pontevedra's gem of an old quarter that's recently been restored. Proving the truth of my oft-stated contention to visitors that the previous dirty, derelict shell could be one of the city's finest edifices. BTW - The joker in the foreground is either the town idiot or someone who's yet to recover from the first of the bacchanalia which always follow the bullfights.


And, finally, here's another fine restoration. You can tell it's the HQ of the local architects' association from the 'natural rust' metallic sheets where the groundfloor windows should be. These are currently de riguer for anything done by Galicia's leading lights. Especially César Portela. They're also an unattractive feature of the recent extension to the museum. But the latter will surely be put into the shade by the even uglier replacement museum building which opens this week. Picture in due course.