Dawn

Dawn

Friday, December 21, 2018

Thoughts from Heald Green, England: 21.12.18

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. Garish but informative.

I'm indebted to Lenox Napier of the comprehensive Business Over Tapas for some of the following items.

England
  • Who can you trust these days? Yesterday I had to drive from Hoylake back to Heald Green – via Knutsford - and had the choice of either doing it all by motorway or mostly cross-country on the A roads. As I'd read last week a forecast that there'd be 3 hour delays yesterday on the notorious M6, I decided to take the slower, more scenic and very much more nostalgic route across country, passing Chester and Northwich. Needless to say, when I crossed over the M6, the traffic was flowing smoothly.
Spain
  • The Spanish tax office – the Hacienda - is reported to be preparing a raid on the owners of Airbnb-style tourist apartments. From January, the tax-office will begin to receive information from web platforms and other intermediaries giving the identity of the owners of the rented properties.
  • Political patronage Spanish style – in a region already infamous for its many thousands of rather under-employed civil servants . . . . Susana Díaz, the outgoing president of the Junta de Andalucía, has been promoting people to administrative posts at the rate of over one per day. 
  • As for the new right-of-centre coalition administration there, the horse-trading is proving less than productive at the moment. But Lenox advises that the likelihood is that a government of Partido Popular and Ciudadanos will be agreed by 27 December, with the lesser-supported latter providing the President. Cue more political patronage, but of people of a different stamp/'outlook'. . .
  • Spain’s population grew in the first half of 2018 by 121, 564 and, by the end of this year will be c. 46.9m. Interestingly, immigrants compensated for a fall in the Spanish birthrate below the replacement level. These tend to me culturally, linguistically and religiously rather more similar to the locals than is the case in other countries. Making assimilation rather easier. Unless they're gypsies, of course.
The UK and Brexit
  • NTR, except another day has passed with nothing at all being resolved.
  • I continue to believe there'll be an extension of the withdrawal notice period, as a prelude to a second referendum. When all hell will break loose in the UK. Possibly even civil war. The Brits haven't had a good war for ages now. And the last one of the (un)civil type was more than 350 years ago. Long overdue. As is a Revolution, since the last (Glorious) one of these was in 1688. The country needs shaking up.
  • Meanwhile, I've set up an organisation to promote a UK-wide boycott of all goods of EU origin. Especially French wines and German cars. Oh, and Belgian chocolates. And Dutch flowers. The list of things Brits can do without grows by the hour. Those arrogant technocrats will be sorry!
  • On a personal note, I'm resolved to reject all proposals of marriage from Continental women. Which should break a few hearts.
Spanish
Finally . . .
  • Reader Perry advises he won't be paying to read cited articles from The Local. Well, as I've said, if you have a Mac with the Reader option and if you get The Local from an RSS aggregator such as Finder or The Old Reader, it seems that the notice you get saying you've reached your free monthly limit doesn't appear if you've instructed your Mac to automatically convert all their articles to Reader view. But, again, please don't tell anyone . .
© [David] Colin Davies

No comments: