Dawn

Dawn

Friday, June 01, 2018

Thoughts from Galicia, Spain: 1.6.18

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable. 
- Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain

If you've arrived here because of an interest in Galicia or Pontevedra, see my web pagehere.

Spanish Politics
  • Well, Lenox was right. It very much looks like curtains for Prime Minister Rajoy, who – astonishingly – preferred to spend EIGHT hours in a Madrid restaurant yesterday afternoon and evening, in preference to the continuing censure debate in parliament. Nothing like going out gracefully and with dignity. I wrote yesterday that he looked like an 'arrogant dead-duck'. This morning – with the PSOE having (surprisingly) got all the votes it needed to oust him – he looks more like a dead dead-duck.
  • Anyway, he's universally expected to avoid a vote today by resigning this morning. As to who will be PM next, we don't yet know. Maybe his deputy – the poisoned dwarf – for a while, or maybe the PSOE leader. Either way, Spain is heading for another general election and it's anyone's guess what will happen after that. Almost certainly, though, another minority administration, whichever the leading party is. Spain's political problems are far from over. And that's without taking Cataluña into consideration!
  • I see that the PSOE leader, like me, has 2 daughters. What is called in the UK 'a gentleman's family', though I've never found out why. Perry?
  • En passant, I see that one of the parties which would have voted with the government is Foro Asturias, which has 1 seat in the Congress and which, inevitably, is described as 'right-wing'. This contrasts with Galicia's (bigger?) BNG party(definitely not right wing), which (I believe) has none. I don't know why but, then, I don't understand Spain's political set-up. Perhaps it results from Asturias being one of the 'unitary' regions. No provinces, just the region. Sierra?
  • Finally on this . . . Extracts from El Pais's editorial yesterday, written before the now-expected resignation: It’s worthwhile remembering that, if we find ourselves faced with this diabolical dilemma, it is exclusively because Rajoy refused to step down. By failing to assume his political responsibilities, Rajoy has subjected the Spanish democratic system to unbearable tensions. The corruption of his Popular Party (PP), proven in the courts, and his lack of personal credibility, questioned in the Gürtel court ruling, should have prompted him to announce his resignation immediately and call early elections. His refusal to resign has denied him the last opportunity to rescue his political standing with one final courageous decision. As well as damaging democracy, his determination to continue as prime minister is generating dangerous instability in what is a precarious international and national context (consider current events in Italy and their impact on the markets, then add to that the highly delicate crisis in Catalonia).
Life in Spain
  • HT to Lenox of Business Over Tapas for this: From a place in the top ten down to 19th place. This has been the significant drop in healthcare in Spain in just one year, according to a study published in The Lancet. No idea why, other than, of course, the impact of cost savings arising from Brussels-imposed austerity.
  • A Danish friend who lives near Santiago – not to be confused with my Dutch friend who also lives near that city – told me this story yesterday . . . He was sitting in his usual bar, taking his usual tiffin - a large brandy – when in walked a local cop and asked him if he was X's father. He tentatively replied in the positive and asked why. “Because I have his wallet, which someone found in the park. I looked up his address and then discovered you were his father and, according to your neighbours, would almost be certainly be here at this time of the day”. After receiving expressions of gratitude, the cop looked at my friend's car keys on the table and then at the glass of brandy. He said nothing but, like Pontius Pilate, departed smiling. So, all very nice but it rather contrasts with the endless fines I get from El Tráfico despite watching the speed signs like a hawk. But such is Spain. Rather arbitrary at times. And often depending on the thinnest of personal connections. Such as living in or near the same town.
The EU
  • A British columnist has opined that: The eurozone needs a Trump to shake it up. He then explains: It is Europe’s great misfortune to have embarked on precisely the right political project at precisely the wrong time. Seven decades ago the promise of a transcontinental currency to unite once-warring states would have been in tune with the times, as it was in the United States after the Civil War. It would have been the glue to stick together a troubled continent. Not any more. The swing in public opinion away from internationalism and towards the nation state is hardly Europe-specific. We are seeing much the same thing across the developed world, for all sorts of reasons: the financial crisis, the rise in inequality and fall in real incomes, an increase in the flow of people across borders. . . . Europe’s misfortune is to have committed itself to a project that diminishes national sovereignty at the very moment people want more of it. Ain't that the truth and there's no denying it.
Germany
  • Blimey . . . Deutsche Bank has been whacked serially by layoffs, strategic redirections and misdirections, CEO chaos, three years in a row of big losses, and many billions of dollars in fines – the price it is now paying for having gone from a stodgy German bank that was taking care of its industrial customers in Germany to a global powerhouse with one of the riskiest, most far-flung operations around. Imperial overreach???
The USA
  • Things are really bad for Fart when Fox News Debunks Trump’s Ridiculous ‘Spygate’ Diversion.
The UK
  • A startling video about the young women of Liverpool, inspired (if that's the word) by the Kardashians, one of whom was yesterday given special treatment by Fart. Which figures.
Galicia/Pontevedra
  • I thought I'd take a look at what's on in our impressive museum today. The site came up in Gallego but switched to Spanish when I clicked on the flag. But, when I clicked on the Union Jack, it reverted to Gallego. Which reminded me . . . I once offered to translate - free of charge - all their labels into English. They said they'd get back to me. That was about 15 years ago and I'm still waiting for the call. IGIMSTS.
Finally
  1. Reader Sierra has corrected my supposition that the Irish were the most numerous foreigners in the UK. It's actually the Polish, which I'd forgotten.
  2. I learnt yesterday that I haven't been automatically getting comments in my email. I don't know why not but, checking on Blogspot, it seems that Google has deleted this facility. GDPR??? Surely not. My apologies to any reader who was expecting a response. I guess I'll now have to read my own bloody blog every day . . . 

© David Colin Davies, Pontevedra: 1.6.18

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