Dawn

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Monday, July 16, 2018

Thoughts from Galicia, Spain: 16.7.18

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 hereGarish but informative.

Spain
  • So, the Pamplona bull-running is over for another year. As ever, I'm astonished by 3 things:-
  1. How small the bulls are next to the cows,
  2. How stupid some runners are to place themselves in the left hand corner of a sharp right turn, where the bulls (450-550 kilos each) nearly always crash into the barrier, and
  3. How few people are killed or even just injured.
Here's a report suggesting there were 28 injuries during the week, with 6 on the last day
  • No real surprise to read that, when they travel abroad, the top 3 destinations of Spaniards are 1. Paris; 2. London; and 3: Rome. Even less surprising is what they head for when they get to these cities
Life in Spain
  • Just under 60 years ago, the British newspaper, The Observer, published an article on Franco's rapidly changing Spain. This is an extract. Interesting to note that some Spaniards were already worried about the early tourist 'hordes'. It is impossible to overlook the danger represented in certain regions of Spain by the tourist current as a vehicle of ideas and customs highly pernicious to our family morality, warned the National Association of Fathers of Families. Which possibly no longer exists. The original article can be purchased here.
Portugal
  • Our Iberian neighbour is big on cork. I can't help feeling this is a declining market, at least as regards the bottle-stopper niche.
The UK/Brexit
  • For those very few still interested in where this is going, here's Richard North's comments this morning, on the White Paper and Mrs May's TV interview yesterday. In which she regularly – and almost impressively – dodged the key questions.
  • And below is a slightly earlier article on her easy-to-reject offer to the EU.
The USA
  • So, we now know that the ('brutal') 'advice' Trump gave to Mrs May was that the UK should not negotiate with the EU but, instead, sue it. Which is either brilliant or insane.
  • Trump once again displayed his incapacity to keep his considerable gob shut by talking of the queen's view of Brexit. Personally, I find it impossible to believe she voiced any to the man.
  • Nice cartoon:-

Russia
  • As Trump picks a fight with the EU, Putin spots an opportunity to make Russia a 'natural ally' of Europe, it says here. Taster: There are signs that Putin is less interested in what Trump might or might not offer — especially given the American president’s unpredictability and constant self-contradictions. Instead, he has positioned himself to capitalize on the meeting in Helsinki by reinforcing the view among his own citizens that he has succeeded in making Russia great again, and demonstrating to Europe that on many issues — from trade to climate change to the Iran nuclear cord — its interests align more closely with Moscow than Washington. Well done, Donald.
Finally . . .
  • World Cup: France were worthy winners but what a shame a good final was marred by a ridiculous penalty decision by the referee. As someone has written this morning: VAR is a boon to the game, vital in the modern technology age, but weak officials don’t help. One thing that would be worth discussing is whether handball incidents should be viewed in slow motion because, when they are, penalties are more likely to be awarded as the impression is given that there is time to get your hand out of the way. It distorts things. Those decisions would be better off being seen again in real time.
© David Colin Davies, Pontevedra: 16.7.18

THE ARTICLE

Theresa May's Brexit proposal is so detached from reality that it can only end in disaster
Ever since 17.4 million of us voted to leave the European Union, we have been confronted with one question overriding all others: how could we free ourselves completely from the political structures of the EU without doing irreparable damage to our economy?

During more than 40 years of European integration, the UK economy has become so enmeshed with those of the rest of the EU that a vast tranche of our economic activity is only legally authorised by a thicket of EU laws. Was it possible that we could extricate ourselves entirely from the EU, while holding on to that economic relationship which, in exports alone, provides 14% of our national income, also yielding a hefty slice of government tax income?

Even before the referendum, some of us were urging that there was only one practical way we could get pretty well all we wanted: to become a fully independent country, freeing ourselves from three quarters of the EU’s laws, while continuing to enjoy “frictionless” trade. And also leaving us free to sign trade deals across the world, and even to exercise some control over EU immigration. This was to remain in the wider European Economic Area (EEA) by rejoining Norway in the European Free Trade Association.

This could have solved virtually all the problems that have proved so intractable, including the Irish border.

But Theresa May chose instead to leave the EU’s economic system altogether, to become a “third country”. Thus have we wasted 17 months discussing entirely fanciful proposals, each of which contradicted the “core principle” that the EU made clear even before we triggered Article 50: that it would not be possible “to cherry-pick and be a participant in parts of the Single Market”, to enjoy a uniquely privileged status not open to any “third country” outside the EEA.

Yet what is Mrs May’s latest proposal, which has provoked such uproar, but again exactly that? It is so detached from reality that it can only end next March in the ultimate disaster, where we crash out without an agreement. Few people in Britain yet have any idea of the chaos that will ensue, as we are shut out of our largest export market and much besides. Whole industries will go into meltdown. It will be the gravest economic crisis in our history. And we shall have brought it entirely on ourselves, because those in charge of our affairs have never begun to understand the technical realities of what we’re up against.

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