SPANISH LIFE/CULTURE
Solar Energy: Less than 10 years ago, Spain was on its way to being a clear leader in this. And the roadside on the A6 down to Madrid was festooned with large panels. Suddenly, the government did an abrupt volte-face, ended subsidies and started penalising everyone who'd followed its lead. We can only guess at what influenced this decision. But, as someone has said: No other modern country in the world taxes the sun.
The Hispanic Barbara Cartland: Just in case you want to know who this is, it's Corín Tellado, an Asturian novelist who churned out more than 4,000 books in this romantic nonsense genre. For the first time, one of these is now available in English. Read more about her in The Guardian here.
Only in Spain?: One of my lovely neighbours last night used the word canalillo. I checked in the dictionary of the Royal Academy, to find this definition: Comienzo de la
concavidad que separa los pechos de la mujer, tal como se muestra
desde el escote. Or, roughly: The bit right at the top of the cleavage. But the original/proper translation is probably 'Gutter'. You get the picture.
Conflict of Interest: It didn't take long for me to discover, after I immigrated in 2000, that this concept wasn't well developed here. It was when I learned that my insurance agent would be representing both me and the insurance company in the event of a problem. But mainly me, of course. This article addresses this theme in the context of legal advice.
Conflict of Interest: It didn't take long for me to discover, after I immigrated in 2000, that this concept wasn't well developed here. It was when I learned that my insurance agent would be representing both me and the insurance company in the event of a problem. But mainly me, of course. This article addresses this theme in the context of legal advice.
THE USA
Trump's Acceptance Speech: A good speech gives the air of spontaneity. The trick is to make it seem that the speaker is making it up on the spot. Trump achieves this effortlessly, by actually making it up on the spot.
Why Trump Won, Perhaps: The softening of centrism has been the cause of its defeat, and it is being replaced not by a right wing ideologue but by a populist. Trump has even adopted classic Bill Clinton-style triangulation – from the Right he takes tax cuts and from the Left he takes support for government programmes.
Of course, big government and low taxes are not logically or practically compatible. But Trump doesn’t care – it is what the voters want. And it is what they will get. The failures of Trump will be incompetence and an inability to deliver on raised expectations. He has no idea how to deliver his promise to double growth because it can’t be done.
Trump's Business Successes: See here for Newsweek's fascinating but somewhat sceptical/skeptical take on these.
RUSSIA
RT News & Trump: The head of this propaganda channel - sorry, scourge of the [non-Russian] establishment - is delirious at the outcome of the US election. She offers various reasons but the best is that it means the end of 'aggressive liberalism'. Well, maybe. Click here for her unrestrained twitter joy. I fear she will be one of very many to be disappointed.
GALICIAN STUFF
Feijoo's Magic Wand: Señor F is the PP leader who's just been given another 4 years as President of the Galician government, the Xunta. Among other things, he'll be creating 100,000 new jobs over this period. He'll also be ensuring that developments in Cataluña - most obviously a reduction in payments into the central coffers - don't lead to further delays in the completion of the AVE high-speed railtrack to Madrid. As if. Trumpesque stuff. If the AVE really is delayed, he says, he'll be introducing a flying pig service to and from the capital until we finally have the train service with which most of the rest of the country has long been blessed.
THE CORRUPTION CAVALCADE
Susana Díaz: This is the ambitious President of the Andalucian government and the woman who forced the recent defenestration of the PSOE leader, Pablo Sánchez. Which, in turn, led to reduced support for the party among the electorate. As everyone knows, voters don't like divided parties. Anyway, she's been shrouded in rumours of wrong-dealing for some time but so far has managed to stay out of the courts. This week, though, members of her own party have persuaded a judge to open a case against her for 'conspiracy' around the investiture of Sr Rajoy as President of Spain. Interesting.
Podemos: The party leader has put down to “good luck” the fact that a fellow party member made €20,000 on the sale of a subsidized home in 2010. News of the sale has created a public outcry because Ramón Espinar has been an outspoken critic of speculation with public housing in the Madrid region. Espinar admitted last week that he purchased a subsidized home and resold it just months after signing the title deed in March 2010. Corruption or just 'low ethics', a la so many British politicians?
FINALLY
Speaking Scouse: Click here to see and hear a young Korean guy instructing his fellow countrymen how to say 'chicken' with a Liverpool accent. And more.
THE GALLERY
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