Dawn

Dawn

Saturday, March 02, 2019

Thoughts from Galicia, Spain: 2.3.19

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
             Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain
Spain
  • Dear god: Another woodwork exit . . . An 'Ultra-Catholic' group compares feminists to Hitler. Vox voters, surely.
  • Dear dog: A canine surprise?
  • This is the museum I tried to visit one Monday a few years ago, only to find it was the first day of the winter schedule, when it closes for that day of the week. Must try again.
  • Brexit: Good news from the Beeb, and from The Local.
  • A couple of days ago, I walked for an hour on the camino out of Pontevedra and, for a short while, detoured from the main Portuguese route on to the newish camino espiritual, which goes over the mountains to Cambados and then Padrón, where is rejoins the main camino. Almost immediately, I came across this impressive but abandoned house:-

Since it's opposite the gates to a factory, my guess is it used to be the home of the owners of the latter. Which turned out to be the destination of the trucks which are ruining the tarmac of the road over the bridge mentioned last week. The house and it garden walls are of granite, of course.
  • Just before the camino splits, there are these impressive examples of local graffiti:-














  • Continuing with fotos, here's whey the North West of Spain feels hard-done-by. It's the European goods train network, existing and 'planned':-


Brexit and The UK
  • Richard North today: With precious little hard news and much speculation on the back of anonymous sources, the noise level is as high as it has ever been. The inevitable corollary is that the intelligence content in media reports it about as low as it can get. So, we get the sport of 'Guess the extension' – where ranks of anonymous "EU diplomats" and others are lined up to offer views on the length of time that will be sought, with two and 21 months competing for pole position. If the latter, there could be much fun around whether UK residents would have a right to take part in EU parliamentary elections towards the end of May.
  • As we wait, get ready to hear a lot more about a "joint interpretative instrument" - a last-minute 'legally binding' side document, aimed at providing Brexiteers with a guarantee that Mrs May's hated-by-just-about-everyone deal won't keep the UK in the EU as a 'vassal state' in perpetuity.
  • See the article below for a (reasonably or overly optimistic?) take from a Brexiteer.  Whatever it is, it contrasts with what Mrs May has been accused of by an ex-aide - treating  Brexit as a damage-limitation exercise, rather than taking advantage of the economic opportunities of leaving. Quite logical in a Remainer, of course. And possibly very predictable.
  • As it is, at this very late stage and thanks to the pathetic planning of the British government,  damage limitation is about all we can expect, with the emphasis on damage, and not a lot of limitation. Says RN.
The UK
  • Rainer Zitelmann, a German economic historian, commissioned a poll of 4,000 people in Britain, the US, Germany and France. The results are said to have astonished him, as his  “social envy coefficient” placed the French and British at opposite ends of the spectrum — a conclusion that he found “extraordinary. Zitelmann found that the British are less envious than the French, Germans or even Americans. And they are more relaxed about the “super-rich”, less prone to schadenfreude and less likely to favour penal taxation on executives in order to redistribute wealth to their workers.
The USA
The World
  • Political fashions change. Once, the future seemed to belong to smiling Tony Blair types (or Bill Clinton epigones) who sought to offend as few people as possible, settle down on the TV studio sofa and try to look and talk as unlike politicians as it was possible to do. Locally and nationally, victory tended to go to the centrist candidates with the fewest enemies. Now, people want leaders with something to say, who stick out from the identikit politicians - even if they are hated for doing so. Take Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders, socialists who haven’t changed their views in decades. Until recently, this confined them to obscurity. Now, both have found an appeal that astonishes those still using the late-1990s political playbook. If being ridiculed is fatal, why did Mr Corbyn win over more people in the last general election than any leader in any modern British election? If being hated is fatal, why is Donald Trump in the White House? Exasperation with the old politics has brought a demand for people who go against the grain. Principle, individuality and authenticity are, once again, at a premium. You and I might loathe Mr Corbyn’s politics, but it’s hard to say he’s inauthentic or unprincipled. [I'm personally not too sure of that.]
Social Media


Spanish
Finally . . .
  • I think I might have cleared up lingering confusion on my part:-
1945-1960: Baby Boomers
1961-1981: Generation X
1982-1996: Generation Y/Millennials
1997-2018: Generation Z
Give or take a year or two either way . . . Feel free to disagree.

THE ARTICLE

Britain's economy is set to boom and become the largest in Europe - because of Brexit

Clear-sighted, grown-up analysis shows the economic doom-mongering is wrong

The public finances are on the mend, recording a healthy surplus in January on booming tax receipts. Employment is at record levels, with real wage growth at a two-year high. Despite a global slowdown, Britain expanded 1.4 per cent last year, recording just 4 per cent unemployment. Yet Germany and France are on the brink of recession, the Italian economy is contracting and eurozone joblessness is twice as high.

The UK has economic problems – and let no-one say we don’t hear about them, given the relentless drumbeat of anti-Brexit media negativity. Just as the economy held up after the 2016 referendum, though – belying Treasury warnings of “an immediate and profound economic shock” – there are signs of defiant economic strength once more and confidence in our long-term future.

Norway’s $1 trillion (£753 billion) sovereign wealth fund, among the world’s most respected investors, has just confirmed it will boost its UK holdings. “Over time, our UK allocation will increase,” said Yngve Slyngstad, the Norwegian Fund’s CEO. “With our 30-year plus time horizon, current political discussions don’t change our view,” he added, reaffirming his commitment to Britain even in the case of a “no-deal” Brexit.

This kind of clear-sighted, grown-up analysis from professionals contrasts starkly with endless doom-mongering we get from subsidy-hungry politicos at the CBI. It’s precisely because Britain will thrive after Brexit that we attracted record foreign direct investment last year, beating the US, with only China attracting more. Even British start-ups raised almost £8 billion in venture capital during 2018 – some 70 per cent more than their French and Germany counterparts.

Boeing has opened its first manufacturing plant in Europe – in Sheffield. Technology-driven investment is piling in – not just to London but to Manchester and the North East too. And, as Brexit-bashing stories about planes not flying are trumped by reality, investors from China to the Middle East are flocking to a country just judged by Forbes magazine as the “best place in the world to do business” for the second year in a row.

Yes, overseas investors are taking advantage of the weaker pound, which makes UK assets look attractive. But that’s how exchange rates work – which is why Europe’s monetary union is so crippling for many of its members. And there is far more that makes Britain attractive than temporary good value. Our relatively “young” demography means the UK is on course to outstrip Germany, becoming Europe’s biggest economy.
The UK boasts one of the world’s top three universities across 34 out of 48 subject areas, according to an authoritative new survey. There are seven British universities in the world’s top-40 – and not a single EU-based institution that isn’t in the UK.

With our political classes making a meal of Brexit, on-going uncertainty is hindering domestic investment. Leaving the EU under such circumstances is far from ideal. Yet once the storm clouds have passed and we’ve safely left, Britain will stand out as an even more attractive destination – not least compared to a eurozone made up of member states increasingly prone to economic incoherence and political extremes.
Since June 2016, we have obsessed over the procedural mechanics of leaving the EU. What’s needed now is an even more intense focus on what really counts – the actual policies we should implement once Westminster has regained control over Britain’s laws, borders, money and trade.

Freed from EU “structural fund” restrictions, there is huge scope for a much more effective UK regional policy, boosting growth across Britain. Closing the productivity gap between the South East and elsewhere means more regional infrastructure spending – and I’d introduce infrastructure bonds to channel institutional savings (including pension funds) into revenue-generating projects.

A dozen low-tax UK “free ports” – stymied under EU rules – would help spread wealth across the country, as would post-Brexit agriculture and fishing policies, shifting subsidies towards smaller farmers while reclaiming UK fishing grounds. Our sovereign industrial policy should avoid “picking winners”, and instead be based on low and simple personal and business taxation, world-class transport and broadband connectivity, access to fast-growing international export markets and, above all, a steady supply of skilled and unskilled labour.

Skills must be central to the UK’s post-Brexit policy mix. Securing a high-wage, high-productivity economy means putting vocational training at the heart of government – with its own Cabinet position. Brexit need not mean an erosion of workers’ rights and a regulatory race to the bottom – and, despite scaremongering, I don’t believe it will, not least as our own Parliament will be in charge.

Since 2016, our political leaders have been largely silent on the opportunities provided by Brexit. Buoyed by the world’s confidence in Britain, we must now show confidence in our decision to leave and in ourselves.

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