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.
Matters English
- The O2 loss of service lasted 24 hours but is back in operation. Which is good, as I'll need to tether my phone to my laptop to get wifi over the next week in Leeds . . .
Spain
- Gibraltar: How to calm things down, Spanish style.
- The predictable response to the appeal court confirmation of the initial Manada verdict
- The current political scene.
- From under the fascist stone there's emerged an ugly Francoist toad.
- Deja vu?? Reports Lenox of Business Over Tapas: A former Disney director wants to build a Eurovegas in Extremadura. The development, in the town of Badajoz, called Elysium City, contemplates four casinos, a port and a stadium. See El País on this here.
- And see this advice from El País if you've had a child in Spain since 2014? You could be due a tax rebate.
- Here's a rather enthusiastic/unenthusiastic video on Pontevedra. HT to Lenox for this.
The UK and Brexit
- Mrs May: For a while now, some of us in Westminster have been convinced that Theresa May is a sleeper agent whose mission is to undermine her own government. That conspiracy theory is now officially dead in the water. Because there is now nothing secretive about the prime minister’s actions. Her cover is well and truly blown. She is entirely open about using every opportunity to destroy her credibility. May has gone rogue. A one-woman Terminator whose systems are riddled with malware and who is hellbent on destroying everything around her. The government, the country, the universe. But most of all, herself.
- Talking of understanding people . . . I'm not convinced that the EU technocrats have a good idea of how Brits think. And react. If there really is the almighty disaster of a no-deal Brexit, this will surely have been a major factor. Mind you, it was a tough challenge.
The EU
- How will it face up to its challenge? One commentator's interesting thoughts on its 3 options:- The leadership understands that forced federalisation would be met with strong resistance. Surplus countries are unwilling to share their wealth, and all members refuse to give up complete sovereignty. The EU will continue to muddle through in a way that staunch Remainer Wolfgang Münchau of the Financial Times called “managing its relative economic decline”. The optimal solution would be for leaders to draw the logical conclusion from the major disasters of the past years, give up the impossible dream of the superstate and start planning an alliance based on genuinely shared interests. Brexit would be the best opportunity to launch this exercise by negotiating in a constructive way instead of alienating a former member state and ally. Alas, this is the least likely outcome because the EU leadership is wedded to the abolition of the nation state, is used to ruling rather than governing, and the ruling classes have too much vested interest in the game. The third possibility is that the leadership will realise that the experiment has failed but refuse to abandon it. In a hopeless situation, sometimes the best defence is attack. Merkel has called on EU countries to “give up more sovereignty”, and on France to share its Security Council seat with the EU, in practice strengthening German dominance. Merkel and Macron have both called for a “real European army”. The migrant situation, terrorism and civil unrest à la française may be construed a justification of extraordinary measures. It is just one step from here to rely on a “European army” to help member states keep “law and order”. Which scenario would the UK be part of?
© [David] Colin Davies
No comments:
Post a Comment