The
Spanish government would have us all believe corners have been
turned, tunnels have ended and new days have dawned but the majority
of the populace have quite some difficulty believing this. This
video, for example, highlights the unhappy situation of three Madrid
families bighted by the curse of unemployment. They become involved
in a protest movement and one wonders again how long it will be
before these turn into something more violent.
With
the immaculacy of timing for which governments are renowned, it was
announced this week that the price of electricity in Spain will rise
by 11% early next. This is despite the government promising this
wouldn't happen and after increases in the last few years
cumulatively greater than anywhere else in the world. That said, the
increase may not happen. Or, more likely, it may well happen but at a
lower percentage. The government has been so shocked by the
(predictable) reaction that it's said it'll review things. And the
Competition authorities have said they're looking at the government
buying process because of indications of funny business. The system
is that the government has an auction of suppliers every few months.
And, whadyknow, the prices of the bidders all rise in the wholesale
market just before each auction. Which may be just a coincidence, of
course.
The
only Galician bank of note, NovoCaixaGalcia (NCG), has been sold to a
Venezuelan bank half its size. The Spanish government had used €10
billion of EU funds to keep the bank afloat and managed to sell it
for a whopping €1 billion. If I've got my sums right, that's a loss
of €9 billion. But, hell, it's somebody else's money, the cheapest
of the lot. The new owners have, of course, ducked the question of
redundancies "Not worth talking about" and said the bank
will remain "Galician". As if. Near term, of course, we
will have to get used to the 5th logo change in the same number of
years.
The
Spanish President, Mariano Rajoy, is so dull he makes John Major look
like Joseph in his coat of many colours. Unsurprisingly, when he
attended an EU conference this week the security guards failed to
recognise him and asked to see his badge. Yet another blow to Brand
Spain.
Finally
. . . Maybe there is a God, after all. Ahead of a long road trip
tomorrow, I dropped my MP3 USB cable in the road last night, where it
was run over by a car. But, with the help of a pen-knife, I managed
to fix the connector and load up on podcasts. But I really will
believe there's a God if I can manage to get to the south coast
without being fined for wearing an earpiece while driving. Or for
anything else, for that matter. Taking my hand off the steering wheel
to change gear, example. Or taking my eyes off the road to look in
the rear-view mirror. Hey, ho.
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