The Spanish Parliament on Thursday voted
overwhelming in favour of a motion designed to block Catalonia's
'right to decide' on self-rule by holding an independence referendum.
So that's that. It'll all go away now. Not. Roll on September.
We now have the transcript of Princess Cristina's
court appearance last week. In summary, she gave the judge 550
"evasive answers", in her attempt to show she was just the
little woman in her marriage, signing whatever business papers her
husband put before her and asking ne'er a single question about them. Understandably, at one point the judge told her she was insulting his
intelligence. Asked whether she thought the Tax Office had gone easy
on her because of her position, she replied that she thought that, as
the daughter of the king, they'd treated her with greater than normal
scrutiny. The problem with this answer is that it's blatantly at odds
with the facts. But, by the time she gave it, it was already clear
that truth was the last thing she was concerned with.
Talking of royalty . . . Spain's richest (and
possibly oddest-looking) woman - the Duquesa de Alba - may one day
reign as the Queen of Scotland, should they ditch the British queen
Elizabeth after gaining independence. For one of the numerous titles of the Duquesa includes the word 'Stuart'. Whether the Scots would
take to her 24-years-younger, Cuban, gold-digging husband, is another
matter. More here.
In a list of black economies I
saw the other day, Spain naturally ranked pretty high at 25% of the
white, official economy. But what was really intriguing was Belgium's
position close behind Spain's. Has it always been thus there? Or
did things begin to deteriorate once the EU started to operate from
Brussels? If not, what's the reason for this performance?
I watched a political discussion on Spanish TV
last night, among a panel of 8 commentators. At the minimum, there
were 2 people talking at the same time. And sometimes there were 6. Or
even 8. In the latter cases, of course, most of them were shouting to
be heard. 'Twas ever thus here. It passes for discussion. Second only
to participating in one, the Spanish love to watch a good argument.
Even if they have the devil's own job of making out what's being
said
Galicia has a population of around 3m. So, how
many political parties do you think we have? The answer is 259, of
whom I recognise the names/acronyms of 3. 107 parties have been
formed since the start of La Crisis alone, which looks to me
like democracy gone mad. The Galician nationalist party - the BNG -
has 25 parties under its umbrella. Which is why it's called a
'Block', I guess.
Begging is wet work in constant rain. It's hard
not to look bedraggled. And so it was with 2 beggars who approached
me and the 3 Spanish ladies I was taking a drink with on Wednesday.
The first - a well-known woman - was treated benevolently and given a
euro by each of the ladies. The second - a well-known and ill-looking
man 'selling' books - was given short shrift and sent away with nothing. For the life
of me, I couldn't figure out why he was deserving of so much less
sympathy. But will ask.
Finally . . . It's official - In the UK, this winter is already the wettest since records began in 1911. As for Pontevedra . .
.
The Environment
January: 31 days. On which it rained: 28 - 93%
February: 21 days. On which it has rained: 21 - 100%.
February: 21 days. On which it has rained: 21 - 100%.
So,
49 out of 52 - 94%, and rising.
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