Dawn

Dawn

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Thoughts from Galicia, Spain: 21.6.18

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 page here.

Spain
  • Here's news that will have a lot of people in Spain jumping up and down, though not necessarily for joy.
  • There are 7 candidates for the job of leading the ousted PP party, 2 women and 5 men. And it very much looks like the winner could be one of the former. This would be 59 years after Golda Meir in Israel, 39 years after Mrs Thatcher in the UK, and 13 years after Mrs Merkel in Germany. Mind you, a female president doesn't even seem to be on the horizon in France. Assuming Ms Le Pen can be ignored.
  • If you've ever wondered why Spain emerged from the years of La Crisis far better than Italy did, click here for Don Quijones' answer.
Life in Spain
  • I've said (complained?) a few times that lawyers in Spain don't have anything like the status they do in the Anglosphere. Notaries are more important. Demigods, even. But studying law is definitely the thing to do if you want to go into politics. Of the 7 candidates to take over from Sr Rajoy, 4 of them did this and 1 didn't. The other 2 might well have done so also but they're not exactly well-known and I can't find details of their academic careers.
  • Here's the seasonal help you need, from The Local, of course.
  • Good news but all a bit irrelevant to most of us, I suspect.
  • Even better news.
The USA
  • So, which first lady won the cosmetic surgery stakes at the white House this week?
  • A necessary correction
  • Amy Sullivan, in the New York TimesDecades of fear-mongering about Democrats and religious liberals have worked. 80% of white evangelicals would vote against Jesus Christ himself if he ran as a Democrat.
  • But . . .  President Fart has suddenly found the capacity he said he didn't have to abolish a law which didn't actually exist. Says it all recently.
  • As does this:-

Galicia/Pontevedra
  • The new PSOE government is naturally looking at all the development 'commitments' it inherited from the PP. This doesn't bode well for the start of the AVE high speed train service from Madrid to our cities. As readers will recall, this was originally promised for 1993 but is now forecast for 2020. I'd be prepared to bet on slippage. Contrast this with the details of all the unjustifiable vanity projects detailed in the report I cited yesterday on misguided infrastructure investments over the last 10 years or more.
  • In 1900, Galicia's population was 11% of that of Spain. It's now 6%. Last year, there were almost 14,000 fewer births than deaths. And the region has lost 65,000 young people (18-35) in the last 4 years. It's not looking good. Maybe that's why President Feijoo has decided to stay her – to fix the problems. Maybe.
  • The Albanian who was running a heroin smuggling operation here has been sentenced to 7.5 years in jail, though I suspect the prosecution asked for around 100, as happens here in Spain. And a family of cocaine smugglers have been sentenced to jail periods of between 1.5 and 10 months. Bloody 'ell, you can get more than that for taking a foto of a policeman on duty.
Finally . . .
  • Inspired by various articles, I've drawn up my list of the 7 Things We've Learned So Far from the World Cup:-
  1. VAR is a success. It's greatly helping to rid the (low scoring) sport of injustices that cause grievances and, some say, fuel after-match violence. Hence more penalties.
  2. VAR should be used more often, especially to stop the fouling that takes place in the penalty area when there are free kicks or corners. No one minds the delays.
  3. The favourite foul these days is the foot stamp.
  4. Players still fall to the ground at the slightest touch in the opponents' penalty area. Or even dive in the absence of a touch, in the case of Portugal's Ronaldo. The usual ploy is to clutch your face in agony even if it was your shin that was briefly touched. Another obvious candidate for VAR usage.
  5. Technology could surely be used to give an immediate judgement on an offside issue, by a loud noise, for example. It will happen, eventually.
  6. Iran have developed an original field formation. Eschewing 2-3-5, 4-4-2, 3-4-3, etc., they've brought us 9-1. Occasionally, 10-0. At least until Spain scored (luckily) early in the second half.
  7. As Iran showed us, such a defensive strategy can nullify even the top-level skills of Spain's tic-tac team. An not just England.
Incidentally, at one moment in last night's match, there were 5 or 6 Spanish and Iranian players all vainly tryng to kick at a ball stuck in the middle of a melée. I was reminded of the way 8 year olds play.

© David Colin Davies, Pontevedra: 21.6.18

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