Testimony 1: In the judicial investigation
for corruption of the king's sister and her husband, their accountant
has come out of the long grass and provided evidence of their guilt.
Or at least of his. The new evidence didn't mention her at all but
confirms her husband and his business partner "led the group as
its bosses, having absolute control and decision-making power over
it". One wonders if this is the last card of the establishment
in its attempt to stop the princess going forward to trial.
Testimony 2: In the trial for corruption of
the ex-President of one of Galicia's 4 provinces, all his ex-mayors
have lined up to say what a good chap he was and how only they were
reponsible for decisions to employ over a hundred of his relatives. A
good example as we're likely to get of the contempt in which Spain's
politicians hold the judiciary and the public.
There are 265 people in Spain facing prison
sentences for organising strikes across Spain against austerity-driven wage cuts, tax hikes, unemployment and a general worsening
of working conditions. Again, one is forced to question the direction
of travel of the country's right-of-centre party.
There's an American woman called Ann Coulter (no,
me neither) who doesn't like football("soccer") and she's
tabulated her distaste here. Fair enough, but I'm bored by the American version of rounders but don't go on about it. Nor do I laugh (well, not much) at the concept of the ice-hockey "World" series, involving just the USA and Canada. Anyway, her diatribe has
garnered a number of ripostes, of which this is a good one. Incidentally, how many folk know that 'soccer' derives from the word 'association'', as in 'association football'?
As I've said Spanish commercial TV companies bow
to no one in their ability to foist ads on the viewers even during
the programs. The latest trick I'm told, is to shrink the main screen
so that it can be joined by a second screen displaying an ad. Is
there no limit to what Spanish viewers will put up with? Or, after
years of these abuses, do they not even notice? As with their
politicos.
Finally . . . They say the Spanish house market is
picking up in the south of Spain. Well, maybe but here it doesn't
seem to be. Most of the new houses around me remain empty. And some
of them are on sale by those who bought at the height of the boom and
probably now have considerable negative equity. Here's one seller who
decided to go to inordinate lengths to catch the eye of passing
drivers:-
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