In El Pais this week, their literary critics and colleagues chose Chesil Beach as the best novel of 2008. Call me paranoid but I can’t help feeling this is because it confirms the Spanish view that all Brits are sexually repressed.

Tomorrow, the presidency of the EU Commission will move from a committed Europhile – the president of France – to a eurosceptic, the president of Czechoslovakia. This is not going down well across Europe and the impression gained is that one is not allowed to disagree with what we might call the party line. This has led me to wonder who actually constitutes the Government and who the Opposition of the allegedly democratic body which rules so much of our lives. And whether it’s really regarded as acceptable for a party of opposition to be put in power by what passes for the European electorate. Actually, the answer’s pretty obvious. Any and all opposition to the great project from, say, French, Dutch or Irish referendum voters will be roundly and contemptuously ignored. There simply is no mechanism for an effective Opposition to the EU government. Which is hardly a new observation but the change of president has given us a timely reminder us of it. The Czech chap may be able to slow things down for 6 months but the project will steamroller on towards ultimate success or massive failure. And during this process Spain’s great [and understable] love affair with the EU will either continue or, like all infatuations, turn to either real love or to disappointment and even disdain. Which is a good time to note that [relatively poor] foreigners are now officially more than 10% of the [relatively rich] Spanish population. Which will surely provide the central and local governments with some real challenges in the future. Especially during a recession.

I actually wrote the above paragraph yesterday. Today I read that a mere 80% of Spaniards think the government needs to change its policy on immigration. And this is before unemployment reaches the levels it’s forecast to soar to in 2009.

The second pertinent thing I read today was this forecast for the EU – “It will be a good year for the EU despite the drama of an Irish referendum and the uncertainties of the Czech presidency for the first half of the year. Even if Ireland votes “No”, the EU will chug along.” Of course it will. What’s to stop it other than implosion?

Here’s a linguistic conundrum for Spanish speakers to mull over on their day off tomorrow, inspired by yet another look at the small ads at the back of the Faro de Vigo. Should it be “Las chicas mas sexy”, which I think is the normal way it’s done. Or “Las chicas mas sexys”, which I saw today. And has the Royal Academy of the Spanish language pronounced on this?

Just a quick comment today on the Great Galician Turbine Turmoil [the Mammoth Mill Mess?] – It seems that an added element of bizarreness to the process was that the views of the Ministry of the Environment were ignored and that the plans announced call for several ‘parks’ in protected areas. The leader of the PP party has said of the whole affair that “It smells of something rotten.” Hard to disagree. It’s either a brilliant move by the nationalist BNG that will secure it increased representation and power in March or both a reflection of just how much power has gone to its head and the highwater mark of its exercise of same. Not long to wait to see whether it has over-reached itself in mistaking its position for that of the much-better-supported Basque and Catalan nationalist parties.

Finally, the last day of the year sees me finally bringing you these pictures of the best tuning in and around town, and which I’ve been trying to snap for quite a while. When I’ve had my camera with me, it wasn’t to be seen and when it was, I didn’t have my camera. But today I came back from town and found it parked in front of me. Serendipity? Or God again? If the latter, it occurs to me he might turn out to be Jeremy Clarkson.




Actually, it now strikes me this may be the same car I photographed from afar last week. Oh well, Happy New Year, everyone.

A couple of years ago, President Zapatero announced he was regularising the situation of around 800,000 immigrants who were living here illegally. This caused a bit of a storm among his EU colleagues, as he’d somehow neglected to tell them he was planning it. The French, in particular, were concerned about the consequences for them. Anyway, today we read that the Spanish government has offered these same people a lump sum to give up their residence rights and return to their country of origin. With a promise not to come back for at least 3 years. I keep on saying just how pragmatic the Spanish are but I wonder if I’m right in believing it’s impossible to imagine such a policy being quietly received in the UK? Or even France. Regardless of how sensible it might be.

It’s fascinating to read the comments of the EU establishment to the effect that it’s undemocratic for the Irish who represent 1% of the population to stop the creation of the real European government desired by everyone else. For a start, it’s at least unknown and, at most, probably untrue that everyone else in Europe wants the Treaty. Which is why they’re not being asked. Or asked again, in the case of the French and the Dutch, who’ve already given their negative verdict. Secondly, small groups of people buggering up your plans is exactly what happens in a true democracy, though there’s clearly no place for this in a cosy club of right-thinking, elitist politicians and bureaucrats determined to sustain their game plan and increase their power base come what may. And they wonder why the biggest problem in every advanced nation today is the lack of trust felt by the people in their politicians,

Down at a more micro level – The Pontevedra council has announced it’s taking action against the 10+ companies who’ve not only erected 200 illegal billboards around the town but ignored demands they be taken down. Does this sort of Wild West, cavalier commerce also take place in other developed countries, I wonder.

I’ve suggested that immigration is on the cusp of becoming the issue in Spanish politics. There’s now evidence that the government has twigged this as well. Aside from having several of its ministers issue unhelpfully tendentious statements about developments in Italy, the PSOE party has now assured us it will "guarantee respect for social norms that, before the arrival of immigrants, our society had never seen broken - in such important areas as housing, quality of life, commerce, opening hours and the use of public space, which have suffered evident tensions because of the arrival of foreigners coming from different cultures." I wonder how this code translates among the various groups at whom it’s aimed. Those incorrigible Chinese, for example, who insist on opening their bazaars at hours convenient to customers. Stand by for some regimentation in the name of cultural preservation. It will be fascinating to see whether the Spanish government has learned from mistakes in the UK and France. Unless, of course, you’re an unemployed immigrant foreigner whose way of doing things is now seen as a threat to the fabric of Spanish society. I guess we’ve all got to learn to hate real foreigners now, instead of those dreadful phoney-foreigners, the Catalans. Whom we can now laugh at because their team only came third in the League and will now have to play in the early rounds of next year’s Champions League.

Talking of cultural constructs and football competitions [and how often can one say that?], I wrote the other day that Spaniards tend to see Brits as either gentleman toffs or ooliganes. Ahead of tonight’s all-British Champions League final, this article suggests the poor Russians are still stuck with only the former stereotype. Oh dear. In for a shock.

I say ‘all-British’ final but this, of course, only applies to the [many] fans and the [few] ooliganes. There are precious few Brits in either team. And we can be pretty sure it will be the ooliganes who’ll garner all the media attention. Unless the game is a brilliant demonstration of English-style football and the fans all go home sober and happy. Some hope.

Over at Notes from Spain, Ben and Marina recently commented how un-Spanish it is to wear shorts on the streets. When I did this years ago during May temperatures in the 30s, a friend greeted me with something like “Que veraniego estás!” [How summery you are!]. Which I foolishly took to be a compliment, rather than the indirecta it was - on a par with any snobbish British put-down. But then I live in Pijolandia outside Pontevedra and don’t much care what the repressed urbanites think of me. Which is why I’ve never worn shorts in town since.

A little more seriously, this reference to sartorial norms has reminded me of earlier observations that the Spanish are the most informal people in the world, except when they’re being formal. And that they’re the most individualistic folk on earth, except when they’re behaving like sheep. Which should get me a few more fans.

A few metres from where I park my car before walking into town each morning, there’s a Stop sign which is only about 4 feet high. Two days ago I walked right into this while reading a book. Not the upright but the sign itself. If you think this is stupid, wait ‘til I tell you I managed it again yesterday, this time while fumbling for my keys. And I had thought I was the only man in the world who could do two things at the same time. Sic transit gloria mundi.

Finally, for those who were thrilled to see the photos of the collared doves raising a brace of chicks in the bougainvillea a foot or so from my bedroom window, you’ll be pleased to hear they’ve moved in again. Which means I won’t be able to raise or lower my blinds for at least a fortnight. Ah well. I have bigger things to moan about. As you probably know.

The Anglo Galician Association – open to all who speak English – now has a Forum on the web. If you have a query about Galicia, why not register and post it.

In the interests of balance, I should record that The Economist has praised the Bank of Spain’s handing of an economic situation which is turning out to be the crisis it was forecast not to be a month or three ago. Perhaps the bank never believed the pre-election assurances of the government. Or was impervious to the shower of election bribes that were offered.

Less positively, for a depressing explanation of why Germany’s annualised growth rate of 6% shouldn’t be taken too seriously, click here.

As I filled my car with petrol at €1.22 a litre [or 4.39 quid a gallon], I took to wondering who was benefiting from the incessant increases. Apart from the producer countries, of course. And the oil companies earning ‘windfall' profits. And their shareholders getting bigger dividends. And the governments – regional and central – whose tax revenues are soaring. But, these apart, it can’t be in anybody’s financial interests, can it? At least not in the short term. And at least not for you and me. On further reflection, though, the increases seem to be a bonanza for everybody but us consumers. Or have I missed something?

To brighten your day – Here’s a follow-up to yesterday’s citation of the hatchette job on Cherie Blair, this time from The Observer. It’s always fascinating to see bitchiness in full flow but this piece ends with a marvellous suggestion as to how the un-sainted Cherie might go about garnering some sympathy for herself. Tough as this might sound.

Reportedly, only 8 years ago 83% of Spaniard parents were unconcerned about their kids attending classes with ‘foreigners’. For which read not fellow EU citizens but immigrants from, then, South America and, now, just about everywhere. The point of the article was that the number would be much lower now. Reading it, I recalled something said to me when I was 19 and banging on about the need for tolerance – “Yes, but it’s easy to be tolerant when you have nothing to tolerate”. Such have been the demographic changes in Spain in the last booming decade, it was inevitable tensions would rise and take Immigration to the top of the regularly published Worry List of the Spanish populace. And that’s without considering the impact of an economic downturn. Interesting times. That old Chinese curse.

Galician Facts

The region’s language-normalisation officers are demanding more cash and resources so they can more effectively police the law requiring that kids here are taught 50% of their lessons – the more important ones – in Gallego. Which has at least the beauty of being logical. What’s the point of an un-enforced law? A question which occurs to me quite regularly.

According to yesterday’s Diario de Pontevedra, the daily consumption of water in the city is 300 litres. This compares with figures of 134 and 152 for unmetered/metered houses in the UK a few years ago. And with 166 in Spain in 2005. I wonder what on earth we’re doing with it all.

Finally, a propos nothing at all, I’d like to pay tribute to Ryan Giggs of Manchester United, after whom my border collie was named by one of my Evertonian-father-defying daughters a little over 14 years ago. He has played in the first team throughout this hugely successful period and brought nothing but credit to his team. Ryan Giggs I mean, not Ryan Davies. A true, understated hero among the prima donnas who surround him. I do hope he doesn’t become a manager and end his career in ignominy. After all, he can probably pay well for good advice. Which will be even more expensive if he ignores it.

The Anglo Galician Association – open to all who speak English – now has a Forum on the web. If you have a query about Galicia, why not register and post it.

A British parliamentary commission says the government’s claim that immigrants contribute 6 billion pounds a year to the UK economy is pure, unsubstantiated hokum. Or words to that effect. I fancy I’ve heard much the same claim of economic benefit regularly made in Spain about its own massive influx of foreigners over the last 5 to 10 years. So I wonder whether this, too, is questionable. It’s possible that the fact Spain doesn’t have more than a million [two million?] people claiming they can’t work because they’ve got a bad back differentiates the cases.

The legal maximum for alcohol for driving in Britain is 0.8 per mg, which is a lot higher than most other European countries. Nonetheless, UK road fatalities are lower than elsewhere. But this couldn’t last, of course, and the government says it plans to bring the limit in line with its EU partners, at 0.5mg. They say this will save ‘up to 65’ lives a year. I wonder how they do these calculations. And whether they use the same Mickey Mouse economics apparently used to justify levels of immigration way above anything they forecast only a few years ago.

Quote of the Week

There’ll be an uprising in this country soon.

My mother - after reading a tabloid article about a veiled Muslim woman who’s claiming thousands of pounds in compensation for the ‘racial discrimination’ behind her failure to land a job in a hairdressing salon. She’s totally wrong, of course - my mother I mean - but I can’t help wondering whether her concerns are more akin to those of the electorate than Gordon Brown appreciates. Especially in those sectors of the economy where - according to the same Parliamentary commission - immigration has led to wage erosion.

The good thing about this debate in the UK is that it is a debate. As others have commented, even the British government is now saying things for which they themselves would have labelled you racist five years ago. Maybe we have to ‘thank’ the London tube and bus bombings for this.

A certain C. Fernandez writing for one of the British papers says that men are hopeless at recognising when women are flirting with them. I like this notion. It’s greatly preferable to the conclusion that I’ve never been chatted up because I’m ugly. Or because - in the view of one reader at least - I look like Brian Sewell.

You can’t stay in Hoylake without playing a round of golf on the world famous Royal Liverpool course. Or, in my case, on the municipal course across the road from it. But at least Tiger Woods and his colleagues used the latter for practice sessions. So we may have sworn at the same bloody magpies. Though I doubt he lost as many balls.

Probably my final comment on Sunday’s general election - Over at Iberian Notes, John Chappell has again done a fine job in listing the Anglo takes on the results. As a committed right-winger, John is worried The Guardian shares his perspective. Having read it, I think it also echoes one or two of my own points of yesterday:- The socialists cannot take too much comfort from their victory. Not only are the 169 seats they won 7 short of the 176 needed for an absolute majority but the PP gained 5 more seats and also a record number of votes. Spanish politics became very polarised and parliamentary life very vicious during the last socialist government and it looks as if this will remain so. The country is divided into two solid blocs, and the situation will not be eased by the socialists having to find a parliamentary ally and horse trade among one or more of the regional parties (whose influence on national political life is out of all proportion to their political weight because of the quirks of the electoral system). So, the times remain interesting.

It’s been said many times that the truly massive influx of immigrants into Spain over the last 5 years – up to 10% of the population of 44m – was essential for the high economic growth the country enjoyed. Very probably true but, with the bubble burst, guess which section of the population is being hardest hit by the downturn. The unemployment forecasts for immigrants – especially in the frozen-rigid construction sector – are horrendous. So it wasn’t hard arriving at the sort of view expressed in the same Guardian article:- Spaniards have so far been remarkably tolerant of immigrants who have flooded into the country over the last decade, as there has been plenty of work for them. But as unemployment rises and state schools and the public health system become even more stretched this tolerance is going to be tested. As I said yesterday, I doubt Mr Z will be enjoying his victory for very long. But neither would have Rajoy, if he’d managed to bring off the unexpected.

On a personal level, if the Portuguese workers on the building site opposite my house should be unfortunate enough to lose their jobs, I will at least be able to park in front of my house again. It’s an ill wind . . .

In the regional election in Andalucia, a fourth or fifth term was granted to the guy who has presided over all the corruption down there for many years now and who appears unable or unwilling to do much about it. Hence today’s headline from the Costa del Crime - Four top National Policemen arrested for corruption in Málaga. You can read the details here. I wonder what it will take to clean up these stables. The voters don’t appear to be terribly concerned about it.

There’s a campaign against the plastic bag in various countries around the world. If they’re banned here, what are we going to put our rubbish in every night before we deposit it in the central container down the street? Will the system have to change? Wheelie bins for all? Buy shares now.

Finally, for those who can stand it - Customer service: Carrefour- Chapter 3. The machine was taken back yesterday because Epson had not provided any helpful advice about correcting the problem. The response was it would ‘probably take 4 weeks’ for Carrefours’ tech service people to get round to plugging it in and checking whether it really is malfunctioning. In Spain - where ‘tomorrow’ can still mean anything - such an estimate is distinctly worrying. Ironically, when I got home, there was a message from Epson saying it certainly looked as if the machine was crocked and I should contact a local Epson repair centre. My resolution to never again buy anything from either Epson or Carrefour has not weakened much in the past 24 hours. But let’s see if either of the head offices respond. Can’t say I’m optimistic.

To counteract any suggestion this blog is too negative about the Spanish economy – particularly the construction sector - I’d like to stress that GDP growth this year, though down on forecast, will still be a very impressive 3.8% or more. Way up on the performance in other EU members. According to a column in Sunday’s El Mundo, the composition of this growth shows the underlying strength of the Spanish economy and its ability to withstand the current turbulence arising from criminally senseless mortgage lending in the USA. Briefly, the slowdown in consumer spending and reduced investment in construction are largely compensated for by growth in exports, investment in plant & machinery and continued strength in the tourism sector. Plus better growth in wages than at any time during the last 15 years. At least, I think that’s what the article says.

Readers arrive at this blog – currently around 150 a day – in a variety of ways. None are stranger that the bizarrely-worded searches via Google and the like that keep me amused. Yesterday, in fact, brought two of these. I apologise if the first offends . . .
Suck a donkey dick
and
throwing goats off church towers
The second is not exactly rare. And, strangely enough, I’d quoted it to Spanish friends on Monday, when stressing that the UK equivalent of Spaniards who think all Brits resemble the scum who vomit their way around Ibiza are the Brits who think all Spaniards love nothing more of a weekend than to chuck a screaming goat off a church tower. My friends were shocked and incredulous. At least about the image of themselves. Strangely, they didn’t seem to think the British stereotype was so outrageous.

Talking of national stereotypes - Thanks to TV and press reports of such things as the organised theft of luxury cars, fraudulent charity collecting and roving gangs of young pickpockets in Madrid, most Spaniards - if asked them what word they associate with Romanian - would probably respond Thief. Or perhaps Gypsy. Which is a little ironic as the number of Romanians in Spain has risen from 211,000 at the start of 2007 to 506,000 at the beginning of October. In fact, they may now outnumber even the Moroccans here. And this is despite a two-year moratorium on free entry under EU norms. So one wonders what will happen when the floodgates are fully open. And what the reaction will be. I just hope one or two of them are plumbers who mean it when they promise to come "sometime this week”.

And talking of rude words – El Pais featured an article a couple of days ago on the topical subject of telebasura. The headline read Tellyrubbish is devouring our kids. Family fights, infidelities and insults dominate the programs shown during the hours of juvenile viewing. The paper then gave an example of the sort of bad language that’s commonplace. So far, I haven’t found a Spanish friend to whom this makes any more sense than it does to me. Perhaps a clever reader could oblige - Tu eres mi cabrón, ¿Crees que voy a llamar a un putón sin dientes del puerto?" Click here for the full text.

In the USA, it’s illegal – I think – to overtake a parked school bus in any circumstances. Here in Spain, I’m sure it’s not only illegal but also stupid to cross a solid white line to overtake a bus parked on a blind bend. Particularly if you’re the second of two drivers doing this in quick succession. What I’m not sure about is why the road accident statistics in Spain aren’t even higher than they are.

Finally . . . Something to make the heart soar. And the face to break out in a smile - The missing section of a 17th century cabinet worth £1 million has been found outside the toilets of a pizza restaurant in Yorkshire. Click here for more.

Well, this was the weekend when the newly elected mayors and councillors took office around Spain. I’d like to be able to give a summary of the recent elections – for Galicia at the very least – but I’m just too confused to do this. My general impression is that – except for Madrid and Valencia - the left wing parties made considerable progress at the expense of the right-wing parties, even where the latter gained most votes. This is because of numerous pacts between the socialist PSOE party and further-to-the-left and/or ‘nationalist’ parties. The overall picture is one of frantic horse-trading, some of which wasn’t actually consummated by Saturday’s deadline. Unsurprisingly, some commentators are calling for a change to voting mechanics so as to avoid what they see as a fraud on the electorate.

As for said Madrid and Valencia exceptions, one El Pais columnist last week explained this as a result of the Americanisation of these cities. Or of Madrid, at least. The theory runs that the economic success of the city is built on influx of aspirational immigrants who move up the ladder and are replaced by more of the same. The traditional stable Spanish working class and its voting patterns have thus disappeared. Seems plausible to me. And it must be nice for the rabidly anti-American Left to have the Yankees to blame.

It may be that the current No. 1 preoccupation of the Spanish is resurgent terrorism - especially when we’re being regularly told another ETA atrocity is imminent - but you don’t have to be Einstein to realise that ‘Immigration’ is knocking at the door. The country’s population of 45m now includes more than 4m foreigners. As others have said, this is a relatively new phenomenon here and it will provide a severe test of the Spanish belief that – except when it comes to gypsies – they’re not racist. My own perception is there’s a lot of low-level, ‘old-fashioned’ racism around and it will challenge a government of any stamp to prevent this becoming something worse. But at least they’ve had the opportunity to learn from mistakes in both Britain and France.

An interesting immigration wrinkle - Rumania is about to overtake Morocco as the primary source of foreigners. So they can’t all be pickpockets in Madrid or beggars in Pontevedra.

As I recall, April and May were quite dry and bright here. For the first two weeks of June, though, the sun appears to have gone on vacation. But what can you expect when you live on the Atlantic coast?

As my daughters well know, as an ageing pedant I’m easily irritated by the use of ‘amount’ when it should be ‘number’. As in Mr Sousa says the amount of people in the room hampered forensic work. But what chance have I got when it’s the BBC which inflicts this error on us? Where is the Royal Academy of English when you need it?

Finally, it’s reported the British theatre director Sir Trevor Nunn paid £27,000 for a Damien Hirst painting that was actually the work of the artist's two-year-old son. You couldn’t make it up.

My friend Andrew had less of a pleasant and efficient time than me at his polling station on Sunday. Despite flourishing both a census card and his ID, he was told he didn’t exist so couldn’t vote. He had to traipse across town to two separate offices to get a certificate of his entitlement. Faced with this, the small army behind the desk, decided to huddle and revisit the electoral rolls, where they finally found him under Foreigners: EU Community Citizens. A computer might have been quicker. Provided they didn’t take the usual step of entering his second forename as his surname when beginning the search.

Standing back from the detail, it looks as if, in terms of voting percentages and council seats, the big loser in the Galicia municipal elections was the Galician Nationalist Party [the BNG]. And in terms of increased power, the winner appears to be . . . the Galician Nationalist Party. This is simply because the socialist PSOE party gained seats in places where it can now form a coalition administration with the ‘rejected’ BNG to replace or keep out the majority-voted PP party. Depending on where you’re standing, this is clearly undemocratic or manifestly in tune with the will of the people. Or just more evidence of Spain’s increasingly fissiparous nature.

More locally, I read this morning that the strengthened PSOE may well demand that Pontevedra’s BNG mayor hand over the reins to the socialist leader. And even closer to home in Poio, there are rumours the PSOE will not back the BNG mayor for another term. Exciting times. At least for those of us living in Chickenland.

I had a curry dinner last night for some teacher friends and my daughters. As everyone is fluent in both English and Spanish, it was a an evening of non-stop vibrant conversation. Even more so when in Spanish than when in English, if this is possible. Or perhaps my Spanish guests just spoke even louder in their own language. Anyway, the real fun started after dinner, when they took advantage of my piano and the guitar. Is there anyone in Spain who can’t play the latter? And is it true there’s no one more industrious than a Spaniard when it comes to doing something he/she enjoys? Learning to play an instrument, for example. Or just talking. The only sad aspect of the evening is that we apparently didn’t make enough noise to annoy Bawling Tony, who’s back from the sea for 6 long weeks.

I posted a compilation on Racism in Spain recently. Apropos, here’s a very valid comment from Ben at Notes from Spain on the subject. This has inspired me, if that’s the word, to dedicate my latest 3 year compilation to IMMIGRATION. Though the main reason may be that I know this won’t take me too long and I’m a little fragile this morning . . .

2004

A high court in Andalucia yesterday pronounced that the owner of a brothel was obliged to include his employees in the social security system and, thus, pay taxes on their income. The judges made an analogy with illegal immigrant labourers and so the inference to be drawn is that brothel owners have this obligation even though prostitution itself is against the law. Three of the twelve judges went out on a limb and said they had misgivings about the brothel owner being able to dictate working hours [and practices?] to female employees. I wonder whether he will be similarly liable for accidents at work, whatever these might include. Pregnancy, for example. The mind boggles…

The Spanish government has said that they may issue papers to a large chunk of illegal immigrants, allowing them to work as domestic servants. This points up one of the fascinating aspects of Spanish society – viz. that, although per capita income is not high up the EU list, most people here employ a cleaner or maid, even when here is only one salary coming into the house. Perhaps things will change if the illegals become legal, start paying tax and price themselves out of business.

In truth, the Spanish probably would be more racist if the immigrants already here were spread more widely throughout the country. On the other hand, the almost-daily reports of drowned Africans who didn’t make it alive it to the Spanish coast surely provoke at least a degree of compassion.

Spain has a big problem with illegal Moroccan immigrants arriving on the south coast in rafts, many of them dead. But it surprised me to learn today that these comprise only 10% of ilegales from that country. The rest arrive with French visas. So, it’s not only the UK which receives refugees posted on, as it were, from France. Sometimes you just have to admire the French for their total lack of principle.

Tension appears to be growing between the Autonomous Communities [regions] and Madrid over who pays for the cost of educating ‘foreigners’ who come to live in Spain. This seemed to me a strange thing for them to be fighting about until I realised that ‘foreign’ is a code word for ‘immigrant’, which is itself a code word for ‘North African’.

2005

The latest census figures reveal a Spanish population of around 44 million and a “foreigners” component of 8%, or 3.5 million. The biggest group of these is the Moroccans [usually referred to by the codeword ‘immigrants’], followed by Ecuadorians, Romanians, Colombians and Brits [at 225,000]. The fastest rate of growth is amongst the Rumanians. I wouldn’t have thought there were that many windscreens to wash or cigarette lighters to sell at traffic lights.

My daughter in Madrid is now into her fourth month of getting herself registered at the town hall so she can secure the state health cover we failed to get here in Pontevedra. Having read that 600,000 illegal immigrants are being allowed to register under an amnesty which ends very soon, I suggested to Faye it might be quicker if she got herself down to Andalucia and sat on a beach until she was arrested.

Spain’s proximity to Africa means it’s a favoured target for illegal immigrants. These arrive by raft and boat on the south and east coasts in their thousands, many of them already dead. As if this weren’t enough of a problem, Spain also has 2 enclaves [decidedly not ‘colonies’ like Gibraltar] in Africa. Over the past 2 nights around 500 Africans have stormed the security fences around one of these in an attempt to get over them using makeshift ladders. Given that some of them succeeded, I guess the prospect is of more of these desperate sallies.

Another 600 Africans rushed the fences around one of the Spanish enclaves last night and 300 of them managed to get onto Spanish soil. My understanding is Spain can’t now send them back directly but must either absorb them or go through due process, hampered by the fact the illegal immigrants never have any papers revealing their country of origin. Spain has again appealed to the EU to throw money at the problem. And, right on cue, a Moroccan politician has said what Africa needs is a ‘real Marshall Plan’.

The Moroccan government continues to find simple solutions to the problem of thousands of sub-Saharan Africans using its territory as a launching pad into Spain’s enclaves. Three days ago they started cutting down the forests near the fences and two days ago they took twelve hundred poor souls into the desert near the Algerian border and dumped them there. Following international protests, they’ve retrieved them, pending further strokes of genius.

The Moroccan government continues to earn brickbats for its treatment of the illegal immigrants who launched themselves – unsuccessfully – at the Spanish fences around Melilla and Ceuta in North Africa. Having dumped more than a thousand of them in the middle of the desert near Algeria, they’ve now responded to the storm of protests by driving them in a convoy to the other end of the country, near the Western Sahara.

The President – Mr Zapatero – could probably do with some domestic favour right now. For recent surveys suggest the Spanish public is increasingly critical of him for perceived weakness in the face of illegal immigrants, an unfriendly Moroccan government and the Catalans who are trying to weaken their relationship with the state. Calls are naturally being made for a change in the law so as to allow illegal immigrants to be sent straight back. Given that the Spanish government is almost certainly barred from taking unilateral action, it may not be long now before the Spanish find there’s more to being in the EU than an endless flow of grants and subsidies from north to south.

The EU Justice Commissioner has warned there are 40,000 people in Algeria and Morocco waiting to launch themselves at the fences around Ceuta and Melilla. Perhaps they’ve heard today’s report that half of the 900,000 jobs created in Spain last year went to ‘foreigners’. Or that Mr Zapatero last year gave residence rights to over 700,000 illegal immigrants, a step that was immediately criticised by the German government as an open invitation for more of the same.

There was a picture in yesterday’s press of French and Spanish politicians smiling broadly after agreeing they’ll seek a change in EU laws on illegal immigration. Below the surface things are not so chummy. France is furious that many of the French-speaking African illegals recently given the right to stay in Spain have already crossed the Pyrenees. I suspect the real purpose of the meeting was to stop Mr ‘Bambi’ Zapatero continuing with his nice-guy, soft-touch policies.

Today Mr Zapatero tried to persuade his EU colleagues that the borders between its African enclaves and Morocco are really those of Europe and not just Spain. I suspect he had a hard time. The argument that these aren’t really colonies but part of Spain possibly played less well at the summit than it does in Spain. But you can’t blame him for trying; the number of illegal immigrants coming into Spain exceeds those entering Germany, France and the UK put together. Only Italy comes close.

Well, Mr Zapatero came away from the summit with a commitment to double the budget for immigration measures. More likely ‘anti-immigration’ measures, I suspect. Mr Blair, meanwhile, came away with less than nothing. Or, to put it how the UK Daily Telegraph did this morning in a headline which probably didn’t appear in French papers - ‘Chirac wrecks summit’. In fact, not content with this, the French president promised to do the same at the November budget meeting, if anyone threatens the sacred cow of the ruinously expensive Common Agricultural Policy. On this, he can surely rely on the support of Spain, the second largest beneficiary after France. I wonder how long it will be before Mr Blair accepts there’s no Third Way in Europe, just naked national interest.

I read today that 50% of the sub-Saharans that get to Spain are bent on passing through to countries in which their language is spoken. The prime target is France. This must be very welcome news to President Chirac and his government, as they face the 11th consecutive night of rioting by disadvantaged young Frenchmen of African descent. No wonder they’re upset about President Zapatero’s policy of legalising the presence of hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants in Spain.

The dreadful events in France are being followed here by possibly even more interest than elsewhere. One reason for this is that economic migrants from Spain 30-40 years ago tended to end up in the appalling Paris ghettos. So there’s more knowledge here of the situation than in other countries. Plus, Spain has its own large inflow of African immigrants and so is asking itself whether riots could happen here. Possibly not, as Spain’s immigration problem is of much more recent origin and so the problem doesn’t exist of 2^nd and 3^rd generation immigrants who are disaffected citizens. Or at least not yet.

You might think the bickering 25 members of the EU have enough on their plate without getting involved in even larger negotiations. But, no, they’ve all been meeting along with 10 other countries in a Mediterranean Summit in Barcelona. I suppose, if the Catalunian government had had their way, this would have been 11. Anyway, they were there to discuss the challenges of immigration and terrorism and they finally decided they were all against the latter. Or they would be, if they could only agree on a definition. You can tell just how a big a failure the event was from the conviction with which Mr Blair insisted it had been a huge success. I wonder if that man would now recognise reality if it jumped up and hit him in the face with a wet kipper.

2006

When asked what aspect of life worried them most at the end of 2005, 49% of the great Spanish public answered Unemployment. Second came Immigration, with 29%, followed by ETA terrorism. Only 3% felt very concerned by increasing regionalism/nationalism and a mere 2% plumped for the revision of the constitutional arrangements between Madrid and all the regions. Which all rather puts us fevered scribes in our place, doesn’t it.

For several years now, illegal immigrants have been arriving on Spain’s coasts in their thousands each year. Many of them don’t make it alive. Recently the numbers have risen significantly, particularly in respect of Mauritanian refugees trying to land in the Canary Islands. In fact, things have got so bad Galicia has even agreed to take a share of those who make it. The poor souls may find the weather a bit of a shock, though it was 29 in one city in today, the highest temperature in Spain.

According to the latest OECD factbook, the UK is not 'flooded' by immigrants. Greece, Canada and Spain top the list. Spain's ratio is 4 times greater, though I suspect there are definition differences since returning émigrés are regarded as immigrants there.

The Canary Islands were engulfed by the largest wave yet of illegal immigrants from down the west coast of Africa. Or at least by the lucky ones who survived the journey. The opposition party naturally alleges this is all a result of the government giving resident status to hundreds of thousands of ‘sinpapeles’ [paperless people] last year. And whose to say they’re wrong? The said government has, naturally, insisted this is a European and not just a Spanish problem and demanded assistance. On this, they are surely right; if you give the illegal immigrants residence and they immediately head north across the Pyrenees, you have certainly made this a Europe problem. But you may not command much sympathy in London, Paris and Berlin.

Illegal immigration is naturally a major item in this weekend’s press. Apart from the tide of souls from West Africa, it seems that, as a result of France [naturally] ploughing its own furrow and tightening its regulations, more sin papeles are now flooding southwards across the Pyrenees than northwards. So Spain feels caught in a pincer and resents the lack of sympathy from Brussels. In the UK, one of the main union leaders has called for an amnesty for all illegal immigrants, on the grounds they’re needed for all the menial tasks in the economy that the natives won’t undertake. How much more true this must be of a booming Spanish economy in which nationals don’t even want to wait at table, never mind sweep streets and clean toilets.

Immigration has taken a long time to become a major political concern in Spain but – doubtless reflecting concern at the waves of boat people now coming into the Canaries - a survey this week reported that 69% of Spaniards think there are too many immigrants in the country. By this they mean South Americans, Africans and criminal East Europeans, of course. Not us wonderful Brits.

It’s reported today that the high levels of immigration into Spain have caused a ‘baby bum’. In 2005, Spain had a fertility rate of 1.34, up from 1.33 in the previous year. This doesn’t sound like a major difference but it meant 11,025 more babies, largely thanks to the labours of Ecuadorian and Moroccan women, it seems. Despite this, Spain still falls below the EU average of 1.5 and is well beaten by Ireland (1.99), France (1.90), Finland (1.80) and Sweden (1.75).

Last year Galicia suffered a net 8,000 loss in its population, the highest in Spain. It would have been worse but for the 15,000 immigrants who compensated for the 20,000 people who left the region.

In the latest survey of what concerns the Spanish populace, Terrorism has fallen to 5^th place. Ranked 1 to 4 are Unemployment, Immigration, Security and Housing. In an interesting contrast with the UK, Health and Education come in at only 10 and 13 respectively. And, despite the regular diet of media reports, Corruption only manages 17^th. But I guess this is logical. If there were great popular antipathy to it, there would be less of it.

Given the regular reports of raftfulls of illegal immigrants arriving in the Canary Islands, I suppose it was to be expected the issue of immigration would now be knocking on the door of first place in the list of things that concern the Spanish public. Unemployment remains the prime concern but possibly not for much longer.

Galicia’s population grew fractionally to 2.8m at the start of 2006. All of the increase of 2,000 [and a bit more] was due to immigration. Despite this, Galicia remains at the bottom of the relevant Spanish table, with only 2.6% of its population comprising foreigners.

Asked for help by a Spanish government struggling with waves of illegal immigrants, the EU

has said it has neither additional money nor resources to allocate. One can’t help wondering whether this rebuff reflects lingering irritation at Spain’s unilateral move last year to regulate the presence of hundreds of thousands of ‘paperless’ residents who can now move northwards to other EU members countries. Or maybe it's because Spain already gets 80% of the relevant budget.

Coincidentally, a report today suggests that Spain’s high level of economic growth over the last decade owes a great deal to the influx of immigrants. In fact, it goes so far as to say the numbers would have been negative without this boost. In retrospect, perhaps it’s only fair they were allowed them to stay.

And still on this subject - as you would expect, illegal immigrants use a thousand pretexts to justify entry into Spanish territory. But none as surreal, say the police, as a group of Algerians who landed from a raft in one of the north African enclaves and claimed they were British citizens who’d left their papers in their hotel. In Gibraltar, presumably.

I see the suspicion I voiced a few days ago has now been confirmed – “Today the European Commission finally turned round and said Spain should take some of the blame for the surge in illegal African migration to the Canary Islands. The EU justice commissioner, Franco Frattini, said – in a nutshell – that the Socialist government helped cause this crisis, with its amnesty last year for hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants. Spain granted this without first controlling black-market labour or consulting EU leaders. This enraged countries like Germany, who suspected that many of the regularized migrants would soon be turning up in their country, thanks to the border-less Schengen zone. It also seemed likely to be what immigration officials call a “pull factor” for fresh migrants.” . . . ‘Chickens’ and ‘roosting’ are the words that spring to mind, I guess.

As it addresses its growing immigration problem, Spain is lucky enough to be able to weigh up the pros and cons of both the struggling British and French models. As regards the former, food for thought is provided by this statistic from a recent survey – 81 per cent of British Muslims consider themselves Muslim first and British second. This is a higher proportion than in Jordan, Egypt and Turkey and is only exceeded by Pakistan.

There are said to be between 15 and 18,000 illegal immigrants here in Galicia. But this represents only 2.5% of the population, against 8.5% for Spain as a whole and 16% in the Balearic Islands.

The Spanish president, Mr Zapatero, has proposed a triple-element bi-partisan approach to the problems currently dominating the media here – achieving a permanent ceasefire with ETA, controlling illegal immigration, and dealing with the vast and wide-spread corruption arising from the construction ‘bum’ of the last decade. However, the opposition leader has rejected this, possibly because he wants to be free to claim skulduggery always soars here when the socialists get back into power. Of course, to him it doesn’t matter if this is true or not, so long as it’s credible to the populace. Which – thanks to the last socialist administration – it certainly is.

The Spanish like to see themselves as non-racist. But, as someone once commented, it’s easy to be tolerant when you’ve nothing to tolerate. Immigrant numbers have been rising quickly in recent years and, for the first time, concern about immigration has now replaced unemployment as the number one worry for the populace. In third position is housing, with terrorism falling to fourth. It’s ironic, then, that the Spanish government has said it will suspend the current peace process if ETA is proved to be behind a raid in south France which netted hundreds of small arms.

The United Nations has forecast that Spain’s population will increase by almost 5% by 2050. This compares with 7% for Italy, 10% for France and 15% for the UK. In contrast, Germany’s population will fall by 10%, though this is nothing compared with the huge reductions forecast for Bulgaria, Russia and others. The main driver of the growth, the UN says, will be massive migrations from Africa and the East. Its forecasts are said to have been largely accurate in the past but, of course, this may not mean much. And an intervening world war would surely put a spanner in the works.

This week’s revelations about the UK government’s negotiations with IRA terrorists must have provided food for thought here in Spain, especially for President Zapatero. It can’t have been a good time for him to be reading that Tony Blair’s right-hand man feels he made ill-considered, ‘irresponsible’ and unnecessary concessions to the IRA in his desperation to achieve any sort of peace settlement. The outcome, of course, was the strengthening of the position of the right-wing extremists. And administrative gridlock in Northern Ireland. Not happy precedents.

The all-party Commission on prostitution in Spain has confirmed its preference for the Do Nothing option, even though the country is increasingly referred to as ‘Europe’s brothel’. Much to the annoyance of the minority parties and the prostitutes’ union, the two main political parties have agreed there's no case for either legalising/regulating the trade or taking measures against its customers. Instead, the government will ‘increase efforts to stop the illegal trafficking’ of the hundreds of thousands of women brought here from Africa and South America. That should do the trick. Just look what’s been achieved with drug smuggling and illegal construction projects.

By the way, the prostitutes’ union wanted the trade legalised so they could benefit from employee-protection laws and because they would be entitled to social security. It has criticised Spain’s feminists for not supporting them. This is the first time I’ve heard any suggestion that Spain actually has any feminists. Or 'lesbians', as Spanish men tend to call them.

In so far as one can stumble onto a massive street demonstration, my daughter and I managed it in Madrid yesterday evening. The numbers attending were 2,500,000, if you believe the Opposition which organised it, or 342,655, if you believe the rather more precise Government which was upset by it. Anyway, my daughter and I were on our way to see an exhibition of bonsais in the Botanical Gardens. She felt there were only 17 of these, whereas I put it at 6.3. Whatever, it was rather disappointing.

There was a wide range of placards on display at the demo but perhaps the most direct was “Zapatero, Have the balls to call an election!” Of course, if I say this was a very Spanish approach, I’ll be accused of rehearsing stale stereotypes. So I won’t. Probably because I lack the cojones.

In one of those reports which leave one slack-jawed, I read this morning that the authorities in Pamplona had suspended – albeit only provisionally – the driving licence of a man who’d hit people on zebra crossings three times in the last 18 months. As well as being involved in 2 crashes. Based on the fact he’d only applied his breaks after hitting each of his victims, the police had requested the suspension because, they said, of a suspicion his eyesight might not be all that it should. There was no suggestion, though, the judge had requested a brain scan for the police.

This week’s advertising scam in El Mundo’s magazine section is a slimming treatment which comprises 11 plants and is guaranteed to get you down to the weight you want no matter what you eat. This time there’s no address for you to write to – even in Andalucia - but there is a premium rate number on which you can get a free assessment of your chances of benefiting from this miracle. Surely there must be laws against this outright chicanery. Or is advertising revenue now so hard to come by in the internet age that no one cares what is sold and how many sad people are duped?

Much of the increase in Spain’s population in recent years has been down to immigration – illegal, legal and post-facto legalised. The government insists this has contributed materially to the country’s impressive economic growth. Perhaps so but one thing it certainly has done is to help prevent real salary increases over the last 5 or 6 years. Given the origin – and religion – of many of the immigrants, large social issues will surely arise if this continues. But my impression is there is as little public debate here as there has been in the UK. This is despite the issue ranking high on the regular lists of what concerns the Spanish. I was reminded of this when reading the following in a British paper this morning - The numbers are breathtaking. Each year 223,000 more people settle in the UK than leave it. If immigration continues at the same rate this will add 16 million people in the next 45 years. Most migrants will settle in the South, because that is where the jobs are. It is difficult to imagine how another 16 million people can be squashed into the area without making it uninhabitable. . . The subject is rarely discussed, for the simple reason that to raise it is to risk being branded a racist.

So, will this self-imposed but ill-advised silence be observed here in Spain, until it’s too late?

The Cervantes Institute in Madrid currently has a small exhibition of reports from various non-Spanish Civil War correspondents. These include evocative pieces from Hemingway, Orwell and Jay Allen, who was in Badajoz during the appalling slaughter of 4,000 Republicans there. Well worth a visit. If only to discover that the UK’s Daily Mail was even more of a scaremonger then than it is now. For one thing, it could never bring itself to describe the [legitimate] government forces as anything but ‘The Reds’. Hardly a model of objective reportage but maybe this was thin on the ground then.

Spain is currently riveted by an outbreak of racially-driven gang warfare between Spanish and Ecuadorian youths in a suburb of Madrid. Despite their attitude towards the large gypsy element here, the Spanish like to believe they’re not racist. Often, though, the assertions you hear sound awfully like those of the UK’s infamous Jane Goody, who has denied she’s a racist even though she makes statements most would regard as blatantly such. They usually include something along the lines of ‘I can’t be racist because I didn’t mean my comments to upset anyone’. The inference is that it’s all the fault of the offended party who, perhaps, can’t take a joke. The classic recent case was of the national football team trainer, who couldn’t understand why black Arsenal players were upset at his calling them niggers. Anyway, the riots will do little to reduce the growing public concern here that there’s too much immigration. And they may well bring the latent racism to the surface and prove to the Spanish government that it’s not just France and Britain who have serious integration and assimilation problems.

To be more positive, I am constantly impressed by how the young people of Spain show respect towards the elderly. Some, I suppose, would say I have a vested interest in this.

Galicia Facts

Anyone who’s tried to rent property in Galicia knows that – despite the fact there are 230,000 empty properties here – it’s virtually impossible to find anywhere except in the holiday months of July and August. When you have to pay through the nose. My impression is this situation is paralleled throughout Spain and the governments of the Basque County and Catalunia have now decided to address it by taxing vacant properties. The minister of housing in the Galician Xunta – as in other regions – has said they won’t be following this ‘punitive’ example but will be incentivising owners. Am I alone in shivering at the thought of a government interfering in the housing market? Or in fearing that any rules will be skilfully manipulated for the benefit of a few?

Anyone who want to get a [lucrative] pharmacy here in Galicia would do well to master Gallego. In the points-based system used to maintain this long-standing guild, you get 10 points for knowing Gallego but only 2 for having a doctorate in pharmacy.

Footnote: For anyone wanting to read Orwell’s essays, here’s a useful reference:-

http://orwell.ru/library/essays/wiw/

Second post of the day.

Last year, 4,000 Africans arrived in the Canary Islands in kayaks or the like. This year’s total is heading for 30,000. These are brought by Senegalese fishermen, who justify their activities on the basis that huge EU trawlers have destroyed their fishing grounds and thus robbed them of a living. Ironic, isn’t it?

An Irish purveyor of a cream liquor [no, not that one] faced a couple of options for its Christmas billboard theme here in Galicia. The basic English version was ‘Your little moment’. The Spanish translation was ‘Tu momentito’. And the Galician, ‘O teu momentiño’. What they came up with was ‘Your momentiño’. And thus took the first step towards the invention of Galenglish. Or perhaps Galish.

Displaying a grasp of reality that you’d expect, the Galician Nationalist Party [the BNG] has proposed Galicia moves to the same time as the Canary Islands and Portugal. In terms solely of longitude, this makes excellent sense. But, as a political policy, it doesn’t have a prayer. For one thing, with only one exception the whole of Spain really should be on the same time as the UK. But since this exception is Catalunia, Madrid is never going to permit any tinkering with time zones.

En passant, because Spain is on the ‘wrong’ clock, Spanish mornings are darker and the evenings lighter than they should be. And, as Galicia is on the western fringe, this effect is exacerbated here. At the moment, for example, it doesn’t get light until well after 8.30 in the morning. The compensation, of course, is long light evenings throughout the summer.

There was a rather hard hitting editorial in the Voz de Galicia on Monday, touching on some of the themes that crop in this blog. There’s a translation below. But, first …..

NOTICE: I’ve compiled my blog for 2003-4 into a compendium under various obvious headings. Anyone who’d like a [free] copy should write to me at colindavies@terra.es, putting Compendium as the subject.

Here's the editorial . .

GALICIA AND GRUYERE CHEESE

The highway in 0 Salnes was carried away as if it had been drawn in the sand by a child. Subventions to RENFE serve only to maintain third world trains which circulate empty. The dam in Umia couldn’t even prevent a single flood. Vigo and other cities pour their untreated waste into the sea. Santiago’s City of Culture lacks cultural projects. Excess urban developments extend over water courses and marshes which will need millions in investment in the coming years, like someone burying money. As for the grand projects which the PP party gifted us – high speed trains to Medina, Bilbao and Oporto; the Cantabrian autovia; an autovia between Ourense and Lugo; the widening of the highways to Ribeira and O Grove; a second autovia between Vigo and Pontevedra; super ports and airports; plus a thousand other miracles – none of these happened in the 16 years in which it governed and all of them – what a coincidence! – were going to be realised in their 5th term.

Pérez Touriño is right when he says Galicia is like a Gruyère cheese. And it will be even more so unless, instead of just analysing the state of the public works, we also look at the financing of the universities, the health system, the collapse of agriculture, the level of access to new technologies, care of the aged and other things of this sort, which all co-exist with a population which has the lowest salaries and pensions in Spain and which is ageing in gigantic strides.

For sure, the apology of the last government can’t last for ever. And it’s also true the coalition government hasn’t had the courage and the wit to make a public audit of the Fraga era so as to clarify the waste of EU funds. For this reason, two tasks are outstanding. The first – which is the responsibility of the Xunta – is to say what hasn’t been said, to sort out what hasn’t been sorted out, and to sink money as if there were no tomorrow in correcting old disasters and into making the country, as soon as possible, like an Arzuan cheese. The second – which falls to the citizens – is an obligation on our part to learn what constitutes good government, to distinguish good management from clientilism, to avoid confusing works with their plaques and not to entrust tomorrow to political paternalism.

The third world reputation which we’re gaining throughout Spain has something of the truth about it and much that is deserved. And perhaps the time has arrived to look again at what we analysts have said about the mania for governing from the car or from the parliamentary bench - on the basis of cheap shafts of genius - and to rip up the pages of the newspaper. For the cost of that age of (German) gold has mortgaged our future.