So,
Spain's Constitutional Court - famed for its lethargy - took less
than a day to declare Cataluña's imminent independence referendum
illegal. "Supersonic", as the Catalan President noted. The
next step? Who knows. Theoretically, the Nov. 9 referendum has been
suspended by the court for up to 5 months, while it considers the
options for going forward. Meanwhile, the Spanish President has
recorded his pain that Cataluña's actions are 'profoundly
undemocratic'. Which is rich, coming from a party which is not known
for its adherence to the concept of democracy and which - true to
form - is currently trying to rig mayoral elections in its favour.
Inter alia.
Which
reminds me . . . Every now and again, someone writes a heartfelt
letter to a Spanish paper complaining about the extraordinary levels
of corruption here and stressing (correctly) that there's no
political will to do anything about it. Today's was in El País.
All that said, the governing PP party is reported to be trying to
agree a pact with the opposition PSOE party. But I doubt anyone in
the country sees this as anything but a smokescreen, ahead of next
year's elections. When we're bound to get "We're cleaner than
you" claims in abundance. The parties may not actually do
anything about corruption but they know it seriously concerns the
voters.
Talking
about Spanish laws . . . I'm not sure I believe I'm writing this but
2 Catalans who burnt a foto of the last king face heavy fines for the
'crime' of lèse-majesté,
or 'violating the dignity of a head of state'. Presumably, they
couldn't have been charged with this medieval offence if they'd burnt
the foto a minute after Juan Carlos had abdicated. But who knows.
Galicia's
3 (barely) international airports - for fewer than 3m people -
continue to lose money and rack up debt. The chances of any sensible
action to address this problem - i. e. closure(s) - seem as remote as ever, since there are municipal faces to save. Incidentally, I say
'3m people' but most of us in southern Galicia at least regard
Porto's much better facility as our main option. Which is why it
advertises itself as "The airport for all Galicians.".
Words:
Yesterday I thought I saw the expression piano en plano,
('flat piano') which I assumed meant 'grand piano'. But checking in
the dictionary, I see the right Spanish translation is piano
de cola ('piano with a tail'). Which I have to say is even odder.
But admirably accurate and down-to-earth.
Finally
. . . In a BBC podcast today, I heard there were around 170 states
in Europe, only 28 of which formed the EU. But Wikipedia says there
are only 50. Maybe I misheard. Still, who can list the 50?