Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain
Spain- So, Franco's exhumation really will take place?
- News on 'Spain's DNA'
- Spain's politicians - or some of them at least - are still being very unimpressive on the Cataluña issue. See the estimable Matthew Bennett here. With whom I always find it easy to agree.
- Our Combarro beach has been nominated as one of Spain's 15 best. It isn't. It might be full of cute hórreos but a beach there ain't. I wonder how manyUK travel correspondents actually leave their homes.
- I read at least 10 articles on Brexit yesterday morning, across the political spectrum. And some more this morning. The one positive is that some columnists are very funny on the subject. And others are nicely vicious about the rampant incompetence on the national stage. Here's a few select comments:-
- As Dickens didn’t quite write: “It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times…” We all seem to be taking a certain delight in describing these turbulent days in politics. Just when you think the national pantomime that is Brexit can’t get any more surreal or chaotic, along comes another vote in the Commons to prove you wrong.
- Brexit is not only about Europe. It is a stress test of Britain’s political institutions, to see whether or not they are capable of effective representation. They are currently failing that test in the most embarrassing manner.
- Day 993 in the Big Brexit House. The inmates had voted for something, but nobody was quite sure what. We were now well into an infinitesimally small 12th dimension. A near airless vacuum, devoid of intelligent life. Somehow all but 15 Tories, along with six Labour leavers, had managed to convince themselves that they didn’t need to take back the control they had once voted to take back. They were happy to be guided by a prime minister who clearly didn’t know what she was doing. No one knew anything. Least of all Lino[Leader In Name Only]. In the final vote, the Brexit secretary who had summed up the debate for the government turned out to vote against the government. The cabinet now has a collective death wish. A parliament of donkeys led by nematodes. The country went to bed praying there would be no tomorrow. Where’s an asteroid when you need one?
- As for the possible next developments:-
- Now the EU27 leaders really do hold all the cards, but so far no one is threatening to play the joker.
- A delayed Brexit will be disastrous for the EU. Because it will, after the EU elections in July, flood the European Parliament with angry, nasty Brexiteers, led by Nigel Farage.
- As for today. . . . Richard North is at his most vicious here. In addition to the 'imbecilic' politicians there has been the equally dismal role played by the media in the Brexit saga. Displaying the flaccid intellectual grasp of issues portrayed by the average journalist. Effectively, all we have to show for nearly 3 years of torment is a divided country and a looming economic disaster, and growing evidence that we are governed by a bunch of people for whom the description "cretins" would actually be a compliment.
- BUT . . . . While the rest of the world scoffs at the British Parliamentary pantomime, there are some who believe that it demonstrates the strengths of a 300+ year old democracy. Contrasting with what goes on elsewhere. See the first article below, which is worth a read by both Remainers and Brexiteers alike.
- Finally . . . Those who are weary of it all (everyone?), might well enjoy the second article below.
- Someone has said The vain revel in compliments. But the true egotist revels in criticism. He didn't have Fart in mind but, if the cap fits . . .
- Again in the dock after publication of the appalling stuff from the madman down in New Zealand. We will look back with incredulity on these years.
- 1. Word of the Day: Altibajo
- 2. In Spanish, Laurel and Hardy were not known here by their names but as El Gordo y El Flaco. The Fat Guy and the Thin Guy. Why?? They could/should have been known as El Perejil y El Robusto . . .
- Odd old word of the Day: Lovequick: 'With the eagerness of love'.
- I wrote recently of the various generation labels for people born since 1945:-
1961-1981: Generation X
1982-1996: Generation Y/Millennials
1997-2018: Generation Z
But last night I was confused when someone referred to Generation Y as people born in 1995 and after. So I checked and Wiki says: Millennials are currently aged 20-35, or born between 1980 and the end of 1994 (with some more generous definitions taking in those born up to 2000). They also get called Generation Y, because they follow on from Generation X (born 1965-1979). Generation Z were born between 1995 and 2015. Got it?
THE ARTICLES
Even on Brexit, our democracy is proving a magnificent spectacle - don't knock it. At least our politics is transparent - unlike the EU’s
“This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land, Dear for her reputation through the world, Is now leased out, I die pronouncing it, Like to a tenement or pelting farm: England, bound in with the triumphant sea, Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame, With inky blots and rotten parchment bonds: That England, that was wont to conquer others, Hath made a shameful conquest of itself”.
Part of the genius of Shakespeare is his timelessness; his writings seem as relevant to the contemporary world as they were to the age in which he lived or was addressing. John of Gaunt’s famous deathbed speech in Richard II seems perfectly to encapsulate the sense of shame that has engulfed our politics these past several years, with Parliament and Government alike paralysed by the challenges of Brexit.
Britain’s hard-won reputation for pragmatism and functioning democracy is being tested as rarely before. If today’s press, not just in Britain but throughout Europe, is to be believed, we have indeed made a shameful conquest of ourselves. The world sniggers at our predicament. On all sides, our system is accused of monumental failure, uselessness and incompetence. Our democratic institutions seem to be proving themselves unequal to the task of delivering a successful Brexit.
That in any case is the prevailing narrative, but it is one with which I can’t agree. To the contrary, there is something rather magnificent in what is now happening, for it is a powerful demonstration of representative democracy in action, imperfect, turbulent, anarchic, even archaic in nature, but also accountable, transparent and strangely civilised and courteous in the way it conducts itself.
It could have been very different. In less clement jurisdictions, it almost certainly would have been. Yet there is no civil war, no public disorder, and no revolutionary Terreur, only the sound of bellowing and heated debate, of argument and counter argument, from which, in time, a resolution of sorts will emerge. Whether it is no deal, Theresa May’s deal, a second referendum, Labour’s Brexit in name only or another general election is not yet clear. But one way or another, by default or design, when all is said and done, the process will deliver a result that will have been transparently and exhaustively reached.
Anger among Brexiteers at a referendum supposedly betrayed is understandable, yet no-one has a monopoly of understanding of what that instruction meant; interpretation and implementation is for Parliament to determine, not some self-appointed political minority.
What do citizens want? It’s hard to know, but certainly not a system where, armed with the supposed “will of the people”, the executive bulldozes all before it, with elected representatives expected meekly to acquiesce as if forced to fight for a cause in which they do not believe. That way lies authoritarianism and the People’s Republic of China.
None of this is to argue that our politics are faultless. Even acknowledging the constraints of minority government, ministerial competence has to be seriously questioned. Playing the game of historical parallels, it might be argued that nothing quite as bad has been seen since the days of Lord North, the Prime Minister widely blamed for having “lost” the American colonies. From start to finish, he completely misread the situation, culminating in a vote of no-confidence that dislodged him.
Turning that around, however, the more exact parallel with Lord North is not Mrs May, but the European Union. When the dust settles on Britain’s rupture with Europe, the question historians will be keenest to address is not how Britain came to botch Brexit but how the EU could have been so careless, unaccommodating and blind to democratic legitimacy as to lose and destabilise its second largest economy.
In his book, How Democracy Dies, David Runciman, professor of politics at Cambridge University, points out that Greek democracy recently suffered a blow which in some respects was much worse than the military coup in 1967; in the face of an intransigent EU, an elected government found itself unable to carry out its promises, leading many Greeks to conclude that they no longer ruled themselves, but had become subservient to far away forces.
As we are discovering, one of the drawbacks of representative democracy is that it is very good at saying what it doesn’t want, but much poorer at defining what it does. In the case of Brexit, however, this apparent indecision reflects not so much a broken system as the divisions which are apparent in the country as a whole. If achieving more decisive action means suppressing debate, riding roughshod over the sensitivities of others, deselecting those who disagree, and being closed to argument, then warts and all, I’d prefer to stick to what we’ve got.
Democracy is about pluralism; it presupposes a capacity for frustration and patience. If we stifle these traits, we fall prey to the same democratic deficit that we accuse the EU of.
2. Wishing Brexit was over? If we leave on time, life will return to normal sooner than you think
A delay to Article 50 would mean we'll be arguing about this forever
As Dickens didn’t quite write: “It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times…” We all seem to be taking a certain delight in describing these turbulent days in politics. Just when you think the national pantomime that is Brexit can’t get any more surreal or chaotic, along comes another vote in the Commons to prove you wrong.
And just when commentators fret that they’ve run out of hyperbole and colourful metaphors, they discover a new vein of the stuff to mine for the next morning’s edition.
Things truly are a bit mad. There’s very little point in denying it. Cabinet ministers breaking the party whip, government motions going down to historic defeats, resignations, shouting matches, defections. What a time to be alive!
But there is a chance – no more than that, mind you, but a greater chance than you might think – that one day, and one day soon, everything will be back to normal.
Just imagine it: government collective responsibility restored, ministers resigning only when they’ve been caught speeding (and denying the fact) or pilfering their parliamentary expenses, skinheaded thugs having to come up with new excuses in order to indulge their hatred of women MPs.
And imagine the policy debates: arguments about whether the government is spending too little or too much, whether we are taxed too much or not enough, how school standards can be raised and health outcomes improved.
It sounds absurdly boring compared to what we now have, but doesn’t it also sound completely wonderful? Imagine turning on the wireless of a morning and not hearing the word “Brexit” even once!
It could happen. If Article 50 is delayed by a year or even two, then we can kiss goodbye to the return of normality ever. Such a delay could only lead to a complete reversal of Brexit (for now) and that would land the whole of the UK in The Scottish Trap.
Because independence was rejected by Scots in 2014, the debate has never gone away. We don’t get to debate all those other things like tax and health and education, because everyone’s still shouting about independence and waving flags about, demanding another “once in a lifetime opportunity” to vote again.
Had we actually voted Yes to separatism and nationalism, we would by now have been forced to talk about real, proper, grown-up politics (although that would be small consolation for such an act of constitutional vandalism).
It doesn’t have to be that way across the UK, because Leave won, and once we’ve left the EU, there will (probably) be no going back. All those Tories whose motivation for entering politics in the first place was their obsession with, and contempt for, the institutions of Brussels and Strasbourg might leave politics altogether, their life’s work accomplished.
Some may well discover there’s more to political life than Brexit and refocus their energies on policies that affect their constituents. Just a thought.
And Labour will have an opportunity to re-order its priorities too. I must admit, in my naiveté, I always assumed that parliamentary colleagues joined the Labour Party in order to fight poverty and inequality.
It has transpired in the last three years that I was wrong - that the motivating factor for many Labour MPs’ political careers was the direct opposite of that of the Tory ERG-ers: an utter devotion to the EU above everything else. Which is odd, given the low profile EU issues have always had at local and national party meetings. Still, you live and learn.
So those Labour MPs, as they lie at night beneath their dark blue duvets with the gold stars stitched into it, as they turn to blow a kiss at the framed photo of Jean-Claude Juncker on their bedside cabinet before turning off the light, must surely be asking themselves what on earth they will campaign on after (if) we leave the EU. Was there ever a time before People’s Votes and customs unions and backstops crowded out every other issue?
Yes, there was. And it will return, sooner or later, provided we actually leave the EU and can draw a line under this prolonged and divisive debate.
You need a top-gear imagination, and you must squint to see it, but it’s there, just over the horizon, just out of reach. A functional parliament and government is ours for the taking.
The media will pretend to be relieved, but in fact they have never enjoyed themselves so much as they have these past couple of years, and especially these last few weeks. But they’ll fall into line and get used to the status quo ante, perhaps with more yearning than the rest of us.
Books will be written about this extraordinary phase in our nation’s life story, children will learn about the Great Brexit Debates, documentaries will be made about them and, eventually, these days will pass from living memory.
(Imagine the scene, a generation from now, when a former government minister is asked by his young daughter, “Daddy, what did you do in the Great Brexit War?” To which he will answer, “I voted with the government whip against the government on an amendment in support of government policy. We lost. And then I resigned.”)
We apologise for this interruption to your normal lives. Please stay tuned – normal service will be restored as soon as possible.
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