Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain
Spain- From The Local:-
- The estimable Guy Hedgecoe writes here of (an ex) senior El Mundo journalist who's upset the applecart and seriously ruffled feathers in the dovecot by taking the lid off a media industry that is in not only economic decline but which has utterly lost its ethical bearings . . . in a situation of cosiness between media, business and politics. One paragraph quoted by GH reminds me of the complaint made by Dutchman, Vincent Werner, about suppression of initiative and promotion of obsequious sycophants being a feature of Spanish corporate life. In a word, an absence of meritocracy.
- On this, Lenox Napier cites an amusing meme on Facebook saying: If the prosecution were as quick to order the arrest of a corrupt politician as they are that of an elderly person who helps his terminally ill soul-mate to die with dignity, we’d probably be lending money to Germany by next Christmas. Possibly not much of an exaggeration.
- Nothing has changed this week. Still an almighty mess with an uncertain future. My only real concern now is whether the pound is going to rise agains the dollar.
- It occurred to me yesterday that one good test of a functioning democracy is to ask whether there's a vibrant satire industry at work within it. The UK certainly has one, and so does Spain. And the nightly satire shows on US TV is one of life's joys. But . . . is there anything equivalent within the EU empire, taking the piss out of it? Please let me know if there is. But I suspect not. A (very) powerful government that's not really seen as a government. Because you can't get shut of it?
- I wrote about rampant bureaucracy the other day. Right on cue, a Guardian correspondent has talked about how even modern capitalism, in the UK at least, encourages this, with its emphasis on targets and box-ticking. It is true, he says that the Soviet bureaucracy von Mises rightly denounced reduced its workers to subjugated drones. But the system his disciples have created is heading the same way. Possibly an exaggeration.
- Word of the Day: Comilona.
- Odd Old Word: Holy-how: 'The membrane - or caul - encompassing the head of some infants when born, esteemed an omen of good luck and a preservative against drowning'.
- I read that a speed camera outside Málaga on the A-7, heading towards Almeria, is the third most active in the country. I wonder it it's the (deceptive) one that got me last year. 80kph on an autovia.
- Which reminds me . . . Some French organisation is pursuing me for €180* it says I owe them for a minor speeding infraction late one night last year. A similar offence - sudden 80kph limit on a motorway. The bastards certainly know where to put the cameras.
* Starting with €40, if paid immediately. But, as I got the letter 2 months later, this wasn't possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment