Spanish-Chinese
Relations:
These have taken a huge knock following the arrest of 5 executives of
the Madrid branch of China's largest bank – ICBC. Beijing, using
the language of disguised threat, has asked Spain to to
"safeguard the legal rights and interests" of the
employees. They shouldn't worry; no one ends up in prison in Spain
for fraud, money-laundering and the like.
Which
reminds me . . .
Spanish
Taxation:
An columnist in the Voz
de Galicia
stresses that Spain is effectively a fiscal paradise for her crooked
politicians and businessmen. But a different kind from Lichtenstein
et al, where this prevails under the law. Here it happens in
violation of the law. He stresses that rates
of tax here are at EU levels but provides this table to show that the
problem here is evasion
of taxes. These are the percentages of total wealth generated
collected represented by taxes:-
France
54
Italy
48
Greece
46 [!!]
Portugal
45
Spain
39
So,
there you have it – the Spanish are the West European champions at
evading taxes. Who'd have thought it?
Upsetting
(Some) People: In 2011, a young woman bared her chest in a Madrid
university chapel. Arrested for 'outraging religious sentiments', she
is finally having her day in court this week, 5 years later. I wonder
if it's illegal to offend Satanists as well. Or even just
common-or-garden atheists. We all have sensibilities, after all. Why
should theists be privileged over the growing number of the rest of
us?
The
EU:
Can you think of anything more stupid than starting a crucial
discussion at 3am? I can – Having an equally critical debate around
a lunch table involving 28 people. Que
va!
Satan:
As you might now, this word derives from the Persian, Sheitun,
commonly pronounced Sheitan.
One of the many alternatives is Lucifer, 'Bearer of light'. In
Spanish, this becomes Luzbel,
'Beautiful light'(Luz
Belleza).
Local
News:
- There's a trial going on in Pontevedra of a gypsy chap who killed his wife, “in self-defence”. I say it's going on but it isn't really. It's been suspended because relations of the woman keep trying to assault the accused. A colourful lot, our gypsies.
- Some readers might recall that a house below mine began construction in spring 2012. And that I've noted its non-completion a couple of times since then. Well, I can now report that , as you can see, it's still unfinished.
Someone has clearly run out of money. It's a shame because it has its own new rubbish containers right in front of it. We could have done with them in our street.
Finally
. . . A Personal Note:
Long time readers will recall that a couple of years ago I received a
2 month water bill in excess of €600, thanks to an undetected leak
in the front garden. Since then, I've been husbanding and using both
rain water and the run-off from the hot tap. Plus I've disciplined
myself to use as little water as possible. In this way, I've reduced
my volume by more than 60%. And I expect to 'get back' the excess
payment within 2 or 3 more years. It'd be earlier if the fixed
charges weren't so outrageously high. Of course, I don't expect
visitors to impose the disciplines upon themselves. So, summer is
always a setback. The magnitude of which depends on numbers, of
course. I just grin and bear the cost.
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