Dawn

Dawn

Monday, December 09, 2019

Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain: 9.12.19

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.   
                  Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain
Spanish Politics 
  • Spain has made gains in visibility in Brussels but not in influence, says El País here, in Spanish.
  • I wonder if there are any descendants of, say, Napoleon, Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler who number among the ranks of today's millionaires. Why? Because I've read that all 6 of Franco's grandchildren have achieved this status. Rather like Ffart managed it; with some help from their crooked antecedents.
Spanish Life 
  • Here's The Olive Press with more details of the astonishing ERE case. 
  • Sometimes the depth of criminal activity defies belief. As here.  
  • No one in Spain seems to care much about the closure of village churches but there's great concern that they're losing their main social centre - the bar. In Castilla y León, more than 2,000 of these have gone in the last decade.
Galician Life 
  •  The majority of new jobs created here pay only €735-1100 a month. Or €8,800-13,200 a year. Well below the national average wage of c. €23,000. No wonder some folk have difficulty 'getting to the end of the month'. Unless they live with their parents, I guess.
  •  China has replaced Galicia as the main purchaser of fish from Ecuador and Argentina. I don't suppose the fish care.
The UK Election
  • This is the election that may be decided by that most ectoplasmic and enigmatic tranche of voters — the “don’t knows”. At least a quarter of the electorate is dithering. How, after all that has happened, can they be so unsure?   One broad reason for the rise of these enigmatic people is the breakdown in traditional party loyalties. Today only 16% of the population identifies strongly with one or another political party. In the 1960s the figure was above 50%. Brexit has accelerated that drift, with more affluent and educated voters turning leftwards, towards Labour and the Liberal Democrats, and poorer, less educated voters trooping, a little resentfully perhaps, over to the Conservatives.  What does all this mean for the final week of campaigning? Conventional wisdom has it that the party with the clearest, least ambiguous message scoops up the greater proportion of the undecideds, and that — on the face of it — is good news for Boris Johnson. “Let’s get Brexit done” may have a certain weariness of tone, but it is undoubtedly clear. On the other hand, if the remain voters really are planning to vote tactically, against the Tories, we might find ourselves heading towards a hung parliament.
The EU
  • Protectionism via the 'precautionary principle': The EU bases its regulations on “hazard”, the possibility that a chemical could conceivably cause, say, cancer, even if only at impossibly high doses. WTO rules by contrast require a full “risk” analysis that takes into account likely exposure. . . . Alcohol, for instance, is a known carcinogen at very high doses, though perfectly safe in moderation. The absurdity of the EU approach can be seen in the fact that if wine were sprayed on vineyards as a pesticide, it would have to be banned under a hazard-based approach. And aspirin would never be approved.
USA
  • Music to reader Perry's ears?: The awful truth is dawning on thoughtful Americans; the trashing of norms of behaviour by this president has been enabled by well-meaning but naive liberals who thought those norms were not worth spelling out in class. In place of pride came much ignorance.
The Way the World
  • Efforts to cut vehicle emissions are being undermined because gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles(SUVs) are outselling electric cars by 37 to 1.
Spanish 
  • Words of the Day:  Chinches: Bed bugs.  Chalecos amarillos: Gilets jaunes.
English
  • Stephen Pinker again . . . Fractal: A curve or geometrical figure, each part of which has the same statistical character as the whole. Useful knowledge.
Finally . . . 
  • I read yesterday the old dictum that Good fences make for good neighbours. I was reminded of returning from the UK 3 years ago to find that my neighbour had ripped out our entire shared hedge 'to improve my garden so I can more easily sell my house'.  Three years on, she's just managed to do this and the hedge has almost recovered from her vandalism.
  • P. S. Adding injury to injury, she presented me with a bill for €200 as my share of the cost. But in two €100 instalments 12 months apart. 'Because you were so angry when you got home I was afraid to tell you then of the total cost. But the gardener is pressing me for the rest of his money.'

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