Dawn

Dawn

Monday, January 25, 2016

More idle thoughts.

Governing Spain. Or not: The market-worrying limbo/purgatory will continue for a while yet. There's to be more discussions this week between the king and party leaders. And the likely next president – the leader of the PSOE socialist party – is unwilling to progress coalition talks until (ex)President Rajoy is effectively voted out during early February, in absentia. Meanwhile he's accused the leader of the (further left) Podemos party of being a tad forward and uppity in wanting to talk now about the allocation of ministerial offices. “Although the PSOE and Podemos may hold similar views on the 'diagnosis' of Spain's current situation, he's said, “this is just the tip of the iceberg and, to work together, they also need to agree on policy”. Which should be fun, now that – in typical Spanish fashion – they're indulging in mild insults directed at each other. Perhaps they're uncharacteristically thick-skinned. The right wing party, Ciudadanos – considered by many to be a sort of back-up PP party – has said it won't joint a coalition of PSOE and Podemos, labelling them ´losers' of December's elections. But no one's asking them to right now. So this seems a bit presumptuous. If not entirely pointless.

Corruption: Meanwhile, life in Spain proceeds as normal. Various bigwigs in the La Coruña provincial government in Galicia – plus a town mayor - have been accused of financial malfeasance. Viz: Giving annual illegal subventions to the mayor's favourite football club. Such traditional favours are no longer handed out with equally traditional impunity. Though no one is likely to end up with anything worse than a suspended sentence.

Lonely Planet's 16 Best Value Destinations for 2016: Of Galicia, the guide says: This under-the-radar north western region of Spain generally costs less than other destinations in the country. Sample the local delicacy, seafood, in small tapas portions, without blowing a hole in your budget. Beyond Santiago de Compostela, Galicia extends to a rocky coastline, which is flanked by spectacular inlets and pristine villages. This is lilly-gilding at its worst. It's a horrible place and there's no reason why any foreigners should visit it and disrupt the life of us residents. Far better to go to Spain's only other offering, Madrid.

Homeopathic Remedies: Some of us are rather cynical - or at least sceptical - about these. Here's a comment from one such naysayer on the issue of the relentless PR aimed at establishing their alleged value: It's quite understandable that the homeopaths chose flower remedies to promote even though flowers make up a small proportion of the total substances used in homeopathic rituals. Looking at the website, the UK's leading homeopathic pharmacy, we can see remedies made using fossils, salamanders, dandruff, rats blood, hoover dust, Brillo pads, exhaust fumes, plaice, twiglets, gin, shipwrecks, goldfish, mustard gas and mobile phone radiation. Wow!

The latest Daily Telegraph gaffe: The Cambridge gradate . . .

Finally . . . Removing numerous things from the car my daughter wants to sell, I came across this item:


It's about 15cm/6 inches long and very heavy. Probably left in the car by a mechanic. Anyone know what it is? There was also a dead cat. But I recognised that.

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