Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain
Spain- At last, a positive development around Gibraltar.
- Some strange Semana Santa sugerencias.
- Good news for those of us with bank accounts. (Is there anyone else in modern Spain?)
- Guy Hedgecoe here gives his take on the early days of the trial of the Catalans accused of various hanging offences. The political crisis, he rightly says, is one which has been fuelled by stubbornness and lack of equanimity on both sides.
- Swapping your driving licence advice.
- Local news . . .
- Rents are rising rapidly in Pontevedra, yet there are more than 7,000 empty properties in the city. Please explain this, writing on only one side of the paper.
- The numbers of camino pilgrims continue to rise year on year but demand for places in the city's hostel is down 35% on this time last year. The fault of Airbnb et al, they say.
- I've got one of the last remaining tickets for the concert of the English pianist, James Rhodes, here in Pontevedra on 19 May. It cost me €25 but, as he annoys me with his pollyanna comments about Spain, Madrid and now Galicia, I'm willing to take offers . . .
- M Macron has gone (very) large on his vision of a greater France. Sorry, a more effective EU. See the article below on this. As the writer stresses: He could have taken on board the concerns that drove voters to back Brexit, like the scale of the European project. Instead, he argues that their concerns are best answered by the EU taking an even greater role in the lives of Europe's citizens.
- The Attorney General, Mr Cox, can return from Brussels with a cast-iron promise to end the backstop on December 31, 2020; but it will make no difference to those for whom the central flaw in the Withdrawal Agreement is that it leaves the UK as a vassal state subject to EU law for possibly three years, during which time all sorts of regulations can be passed to which we will subsequently be obliged to subscribe.
- Can this really be true? Well, in Fart's world, I guess it surely can be.
- The biggest tax havens in the world? Not apparently Jersey, the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands, which have compliance rates of 100, 94 and 100% respectively as regards international ultimate-ownership revelation requirements. The rate in the UK proper, by contrast, is just 51%. And the best place in the world for our criminal mastermind would not even be a place like Panama (29%), but the US state of Delaware, with a compliance rate of just 6%.
- Social media firms to face huge fines for failing to keep children safe. At least in the UK. See the second article below.
- Word of the Day:- Apuntar.
- When I was an 18 year old doing voluntary service in the Seychelles - someone had to do it - I had a run-in with the allegedly communist leader of one of the opposition parties over something he'd written about me and my colleagues - Albert René. He later became President of the Seychelles, while I failed to become famous. But he's now died and I'm still alive. There's an obit in the Times today. It seems he was very fond of women.
1. Brexiteers should thank Emmanuel Macron — his vision of the EU shows why we have to leave
Back in the 2014 elections to the European Parliament, Ukip topped the polls in the United Kingdom, a clear sign of the growing mood among the British people that culminated with them voting to leave the European Union altogether two years later.
A fresh round of European elections loom this May, an event that British voters should not expect to participate if Brexit is secured this month, but the leaders of the remaining 27 members are in full campaign mode.
Brexit cannot be forgiven by the pro-EU ideologues, as they are working hard to hold the fort against the Eurosceptic and populist barbarians they see pounding at the gates. So Emmanuel Macron, who is trying to keep the gilets jaunes and Marine Le Pen's National Rally at bay in France, continues to pour scorn on Britain as it heads to the exit door.
The President is balancing that with a full-throated defence of the EU, in an attempt to show the British what they are missing. But Brexiteers should be pleased with the plan he is pursuing unabashedly, as it vindicates their decision to leave the bloc.
Mr Macron sets out his ambition in the pages of the Guardian, and 27 similarly inclined papers across the continent. "Citizens of Europe," he begins with characteristic modesty, acknowledging he is "taking the liberty of addressing you directly" because he wants to save the EU from the "danger" posed by Brexit. He could have taken on board the concerns that drove voters to back Brexit, like the scale of the European project. Instead, he argues that their concerns are best answered by the EU taking an even greater role in the lives of Europe's citizens.
One of the key arguments Brexiteers made during the referendum was that the EU had become much more than an economic union, with its tentacles creeping into so much more of British life.
Despite Remainers' impassioned attempts to deny that, Monsieur Macron admits: "Europe is not just an economic market. It is a project." That project should provide, he says, "values that unite".
The "project" (he constantly uses that word) should prioritise "convergence rather than competition". Clearly, its values include protectionism (or "fair competition" as Mr Macron calls it) and homogeneity.
Europe in his mind should dictate more areas of national policy, with special EU-wide agencies envisaged to manage asylum policy, fight electoral meddling, invest in green projects, and European rules envisaged to police speech on the internet alongside cross-continental initiatives like a "social shield for all workers" and an EU-wide minimum wage.
Competition laws and industrial regulation will be changed to protect "strategic interests", which shows the French President's determination to rein in the free market.
"In this Europe, the UK, I am sure, will find its true place," President Macron rounds off. But "this Europe", a centralising project set on taking more power from voters in the name of the European ideal, is what voters decided to leave. As rude as the French leader might be about their decision, Brexiteers should thank him for being so blunt as he is constantly reminding them that they made the right choice.
2. Social media firms to face huge fines for failing to keep children safe. Charles Hymas
Social media firms face huge fines if they fail to keep children safe online under a new legally enforced code that will be enacted as early as this autumn.
In what campaigners say will be a sea change in online safety, the tech giants will be required by law to enforce their terms and conditions to protect children from harmful content such as cyberbullying, self-harm, sexual content and abuse – and prevent under-age children from joining their sites. Companies such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat will be expected to ensure that only children aged 13 and over are on their platforms and that the content is appropriate for their age.
Those that breach the “age appropriate” code face fines of up to 4 per cent of global turnover by Elizabeth Denham, the Information Commissioner, who will police the new regime. She said: “Our code will clearly outline what is required of developers at the design stage so that children are protected in the first place. Safeguards must be built in, not bolted on. “We will not hesitate to use our considerable powers to enforce the law.”
Much as a parent who buys their child a cuddly toy should have the confidence there are no sharp edges or loose fixings so they should have the confidence that online games, websites and new technologies will be safe, she said. “The price of digital innovation cannot be our children’s privacy and safety. The two can and must go hand in hand.”
The code is also expected to prevent companies “profiling” children if it is detrimental to the child.
This will bar them from using personal data and algorithms to target children with potentially harmful material – in the way Molly Russell, 14, was directed to self-harm content before she took her life.
There are also expected to be measures to protect children from paedophiles by requiring all settings to be, by default, at maximum privacy with geolocators also switched off.
Under the code, children will get clear and understandable terms and conditions and access to mechanisms for reporting, complaining and redress.
The code is due to be unveiled alongside the Government’s White Paper which is likely to introduce a statutory “duty of care” on tech giants, creating a regulator with powers to impose fines.
Baroness Kidron, whose amendment to the Data Protection Act 2018 paved the way for the code, said it could combat online harms before Government legislation takes effect in two years. “What the Government is doing is admirable but what can go on the books now is data protection that will bring meaningful change for children in a way that the public has not yet grasped.”
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