Good to read that, in its search for alternative revenue streams, the Galician government is planning to tax those of us who draw water from wells we’ve paid to be installed on our land. Presumably the air above our houses will be next.

On a wider Spanish front, President Zapatero’s situation continues to deteriorate. His austerity package has cost him his cosy relationship with the unions, civil service strikes are in the offing, the Opposition’s lead in the polls has suddenly soared from 1.5 to 9% and his own personal rating has gone in the opposite direction, from close to 5 out of ten to only 3.7. That said, it’s still higher than that of the Leader of the Opposition, the seriously uncharismatic Sr Rajoy. Who really should be contemplating an alternative day job.

Meanwhile, on an even wider EU front, no one appears to know what is happening, after what most people seem to think was a series of panic announcements-cum-measures from Mrs Merkel. The markets have again taken flight. Which is ironic as Mrs M’s unilateral initiatives – which irritated all the junior partners in the EU – were meant to inspire them with confidence and to save the euro. Which immediately fell. For an interesting analysis of all this, click here. A couple of sampler comments – "For the first time in many years, the technocrats who run our economies are realising that the main barrier to resolving a crisis and reinstating business-as-usual is not so much our ability to afford it but our populations' willingness to pay. As long as things were going well, economies were growing rapidly, and affluence was increasing, it was easy for politicians to pretend that, when it came to economics, national borders didn't much matter any more. But now the chips are down, nationalism is back. . . . the continent is a hodge-podge of nations trying to disguise itself as a completely liberalised market. Unfortunately, its people have different ideas.” Which is the EU’s Achilles’ heel, of course.

Incidentally, it says something about the responsibility of politicians for this crisis when you read that “Currently 20 countries in the EU [i. e. 74% of then] are under scrutiny for their excessive budget deficits and have been asked to provide details of their austerity measures and structural reforms designed to reduce their debts.”

Finally . . . Another of those conversations that give an insight into the Spanish concept of customer service. At least among bureaucrats. This one took place yesterday in the Turismo office in Tui, down on the border with Portugal:-
Do you have this brochure in English for my visitor?
Yes, but I’ve got only one copy left.
So?
Well, I can’t give it to you.
Why not? You can’t read it and don’t need it.
Because it’s the last one. We should have more next week.