Bank shares fell considerably in Spain this week, including those of the flagship, Banco Santander. For one British commentator – speaking for the many Brits who now have accounts with Santander – this raised a critical question: – “Could it be that Santander, considered the best of the survivor banks, has finally been caught by the financial crisis it so adeptly dodged two years ago? The writer answers his own question with the reply that “Analysts think not.” He goes on to say there are three reasons UK depositors should be confident there’s little to worry about the UK operation - “First, Santander's UK business is regulated here. Second, because the bank is diversified – with operations in South America as well as Europe. And third, because its Spanish and Portuguese exposures are manageable”. But what about Santander’s exposure back home in Spain, where it has €24bn of Spanish sovereign debt and €3.3bn of Portuguese sovereign debt? The writer acknowledges that this has “spooked markets” but stresses that “The bank has options. A stake in the UK bank may be floated to raise funds for its potential acquisition of Royal Bank of Scotland's small business branches. The float would realise a capital gain at group level, in much the same way as happened when a 15% stake in the Brazilian subsidiary was listed. That gain could help offset continental losses.” So, while “The collapse in the shares may be worrying, they are still trading at a premium to book value – which means the markets prefer Santander to the British banks.” And markets, as we know, don’t make mistakes.

Another thing we all know is that modern politicians routinely devalue words and phrases in their desperate determination to deceive us – a process which began before George Orwell commented on it. I’ve previously mentioned that, since all UK parties now describe themselves as “progressive”, this is one of the latest words to be shredded of all meaning. So I wasn’t too surprised to see the desperate Labour Party on Friday calling for an “alliance of the progressive majority” to keep the Conservatives out of power.” Which would include Far Left Neanderthal Socialists and even anarchists, I guess.

Finally on the elections, here are some random quotes that appealed to me:- 

We are facing one of the worst economic crises ever faced by this country. This is not a time for Parliament to be involved in discussions on voting reform.

Although accused of delivering some unholy mess, the electorate seems to me to have got exactly what it wanted: a political class both flummoxed and humbled, who can never again take their votes in vain.

Whatever happens over this weekend, the political system will not revert to its old binary ways in a generation.

One Labour adviser said: “We don’t want to end up like the drunk girl at a party trying to get off with Clegg. You usually see her later in the car park being sick.”


As it happens, while he waits to hear the roll of the tumbrels, Gordon Brown is fulfilling his Prime Ministerial diary duties. One of these yesterday was a meeting with President Zapatero. I wonder how upbeat that was.

Here’s a pretty devastating overview of Mr Brown from the man, Anthony Seldon, who wrote a biography of him a few years ago:-
It begins:-
I did not foresee it,” Gordon Brown was heard to say on Friday. But then the Gordon Brown story is a Shakespearean tragedy of King Lear proportions. Like King Lear, he lashes out in all directions, now berating, now making sycophantic overtures, a desperate figure clinging by his nails to the vestiges of power. Like Lear, he demeans himself, and fails to see the truth, a truth evident to those all around him.
And it ends:-
Like King Lear, Brown’s core problem was that he could not 'see better.' He failed to realise how much more successful the party would have been under a fresh leader. His lack of self-knowledge prevented him seeing the looming electoral disaster, and seeing that he was not the equal of his huge ambition. He was a man who possessed greatness, of intellect and heart, but whose political career is ending in Shakespearean tragedy, not because his daughters turned against him, but because his party and the country did.

As you read this, you are forced (yet again for some of us) to wonder how he ever became Prime Minister in the first place. Will I ever feel sorry for him now that his career is ending in ignominy? Well, if he goes into depression, Yes. Otherwise, No. Just another to-be-forgotten Ozymandias. Sailing away on a sea of debt. Which others will have to pay for.

Finally . . . The really bad news of the week. Tony is home from the sea for a month or so, to bawl whenever he feels it appropriate. Which is often. I pity my visitors of the next few weeks.