Dawn

Dawn

Monday, April 13, 2015

Poltics!; Taxes; Booze; A special tortilla; Scouse ladies; & El Jorgito.

Politicians in the UK continue to make statements that bear little relation to the truth. The leader of the Labour party promises to rescue the NHS, neglecting to say that the Conservative government ploughed even more money into it than the last Labour administration did. The Conservative Chancellor refers to said NHS as 'brilliant', while knowing damn well it's far from this, especially if you need chronic care. Is the electorate as stupid as they clearly think it is? I fear so.

Political phrases which make me want to reach for the vomit bucket are 'working people' (Labour) and 'hard-working families' (both Labour and Conservative). Over in the USA, Hillary Clinton's equivalent phrase is 'everyday Americans'. All of these, of course, are code for social groups to which the politicians have never belonged.

The Spanish tax office has announced it'll be allocating far more of its resources this year to major offenders such as corrupt businessmen and politicians. Logically, of course, they should be devoting 98% of their resources to these and only 2% to the small fry.

Talking of tax . . . The deputy leader of the British Labour party responded to a question on her leader's alleged tax avoidance by insisting he hadn't indulged in tax evasion, a completely different thing. So, yes, they must believe we're all stupid.

As everyone in the world knows, the curse of modern Britain is alcohol in general and binge-drinking among the young in particular. And it seems to be catching on in both Spain and, would you believe, France as well. One of our more successful exports, then.

Here in Pontevedra, I was welcomed back with gusto in my favourite tapas bar yesterday, where the chef kindly gave me a dish of chopped ginger with her (magnificent) tortilla. Possibly making me the first person to eat this dish like this. Of course, within a few minutes I was approached by 2 of the city's most regular beggars. Though 50% of them realised that it wasn't worth giving me her spiel.

If you missed the glorious sight of the Liverpool women on Aintree's Ladies' Day, you can catch them here. Some of them are apparently sober.

Finally . . . I'm off to Lisbon for a week today, driving down with my Dutch friend Peter, of Santiago. We'll be following in the footsteps of George Borrow, along with other members of the GB Society. Peter is a world expert on this gentleman (El Jorgito) and his adventures in Spain (and Portugal) in the 1830s. Click here for and here for more on this subject.

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