Stormy Weather

Until about 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon I thought I had some kind of magical luck with Asturian weather conditions. After being there at Easter when it was one of the few places in the country with good weather, and after a hot sunny Saturday this time, my luck had to give at some point. Try and imagine what it is like to spend 30 minutes fully dressed under a high powered shower (with additional thunder and lightning overhead) and you'll have some idea of just how seriously the Asturian weather took its revenge on us as we made our way down towards the lakes of Covadonga and the safety of the car. I poured water out of my boots after changing and they were still wet when I got home this evening. Yesterday as we made our way along the amazing route that follows the Rio Cares, the storms were a bit kinder on us - just as well, I didn't want to be sliding around in mud with a straight 100 metre drop down to the river just to the side of us. Anyway, I'm going to work on a Google map showing 3 spectacular routes in the Picos de Europa; in the meantime here is a taste of the scenery.

The view from the hotel room in Arenas de Cabrales

El Naranjo de Bulnes and Urriellu

View from the lakes of Covadonga

La Ruta del Cares....just remember not to look down!

Storm clouds gather over the Rio Cares

Get Out Of Town

Summer is over and the boots have been pulled out of their hiding place. No blogging, no Internet. I'll be back on Tuesday; maybe with some nice photos, almost certainly with a nice map of where I've been.

Marked For Life

Ok, it's time for this blog to get back to what it does really well - taking the piss out of Esperanza Aguirre! Don't run away, there is a serious point behind this post. A few months ago I wrote a guest post on racism in Spain for the blog Notes From Spain (while its owners were getting severely stressed out on holiday in Thailand). Almost in passing I mentioned the educational policy of the regional government in Madrid, which encourages the ghettoisation of immigrant children in the public school system of the region. In one of the comments to that post, Katie from España Profunda confirmed my suspicion about Aguirre's policies with first hand experience of having worked in a public school in Madrid.

Well El País today provided further confirmation with a report showing that 80% of immigrant children in Madrid are now being educated in the public system, whilst 2 out of 3 Spanish pupils are going either entirely private or to the unreasonably heavily subsidised concertados. It's not an accidental policy. Tonight I read that Aguirre now wants all pupils in the public schools to wear a uniform. She's clearly not satisfied with the fact that enough of these pupils have darker coloured skins or speak strange languages, she needs something else to identify their second class status. Someone should tell her, gently if possible (harshly if not), that this sort of stigmatisation hasn't been popular since the end of the Second World War.

On a more frivolous note, I was quietly proud for a while - despite the end of Google Bombing - that the words "Pauper President" had such success in identifying Aguirre in Google searches. Unfortunately some people have started using them about other politicians, what a liberty.

The Circus Comes To Town

I rarely post about issues from outside of Spain, but my reasons for not having written anything so far about the McCann case go beyond that. I felt very uncomfortable from the beginning with their campaign to find their missing daughter Madeleine, run as it was by professional spin doctors who seem to regard the whole thing as a test of their promotional skills. I couldn't really fathom what would make a man looking for a daughter supposedly abducted in Southern Portugal go to New York on tour, and I couldn't see the usefulness of it. I also have to admit that I dislike the way in which cases like this can attract so much attention, while so many other cases of equal suffering go completely unnoticed. Anyway, I'm going to limit this post to the impact of the case here in Spain. I’m aware that this is potentially a very slippery slope; I started writing about the Madrid train bombings because of a piece of invented nonsense I saw about a washing machine timer, and ended up dedicating an entire blog to the issue. This time I will be more careful.

The other day, whilst reading a typically sensible post on the issue over at El Siglo de las Luces, I noticed a link in the comments to a blog called Escepticismo Criminologico which turns out to be entirely about the McCann case. The blog is written by someone called Elvira Saez de Alberola, who states that she is a professional with 15 years experience in the study of forensic science and criminology. I was almost immediately struck by the ambiguity of that description; it could mean she is a permanent student, an internationally respected expert on criminal behaviour, or just a chartered accountant with a passion for crime novels. Whatever, the way in which the blog is presented led me to expect a cool, serious, fact-based analysis of the McCann case; isn’t that what scepticism is about? Well unfortunately, that’s not what you get if you turn up at this page.

What you get instead is Elvira’s theory on the case, and it doesn’t take too long to work out that Elvira finds Gerry and Kate McCann guilty on all counts for the disappearance of their daughter. Fine, if you have facts and proof to back it up, but that is precisely what we are all lacking in this case which is still so much of a mystery for most of us. In this respect Elvira is no different from anyone else, despite whatever professional training she has, she still has to rely on the same scraps of often unreliable information emerging on the case that everyone else gets. Despite this apparent drawback she has no doubts, there are frequent assertions featuring our old friend “I knew there was something funny about this case from the very beginning”.

Now everyone is entitled to believe what they want about the case, but what I find striking in the case of Elvira’s page is the sheer determination shared by her and many of those who comment to hold the McCanns responsible. It also emerges from reading the blog that the reasons behind this are not, ahem, entirely professional. Elvira seems visibly upset by the image of devout Catholic parents that has been presented to us over the last few months. She strikes a blow at that one by pointing out that the McCanns have used in-vitro fertilisation and therefore can be struck off the list of “good” Catholics. If we throw out those who have used contraception too, at some point the churches might get dangerously empty. Who the hell still confuses being a good Catholic with being a good parent anyway? Perhaps the same people who confuse scepticism with speculation?

My reference earlier to the Madrid bombings was not entirely accidental; the reasoning process that Elvira uses in the presentation of her case against the McCanns is very similar to that used by the conspiracy theorists like Luis del Pino who have floated so much garbage about the train bombings. Not because she accuses the police, as Del Pino does, of having been involved in committing the crime. Far from it, Elvira currently admits no criticism at all of the police or judicial system, we’ll have to wait and see whether her stand survives a result that doesn’t suit her theory. No, the similarity comes from the methodology. You start with a hypothesis as any good scientist should, but instead of testing that hypothesis against the available evidence to see whether it holds water, you set about moulding the evidence so that it fits your hypothesis. Facts which do not support the theory are simply brushed aside as irrelevant. Any gaps in the narrative (and in this case there are many such gaps) are then filled with speculative opinion that fits perfectly into the false premises on which the hypothesis now rests. So we are treated to imaginary snippets of conversation on how the McCanns could have decided to use their medical training by administering medicine to their children to make them sleep. This may be a depressingly common approach; it is also unfortunately a bogus one.

I don't know if she has any connection in her professional life with the prosecution of alleged criminals, but with this methodology I sincerely hope not. The difference with the train bombings conspiracy theories is that there is at least the possibility that Elvira could end up being right about the case. That does not mean that the way she has arrived at her conclusions is also correct, all it will show is that her number came up when they span the wheel of probability. Any result that doesn't support her hypothesis is unlikely to lead to an admission of getting it wrong, it never does with this kind of reasoning. Indeed, with references to the lawyer the McCanns have contracted as a specialist in getting the guilty freed, perhaps she is already preparing the escape route. A curious judgement for a professional to make on a defence lawyer, there have also been many references to him having defended General Pinochet - now there was a good Catholic for you! One thing I have never bought is this kind of "I'm a professional so my speculation is better than yours" attitude. A theory without proof remains that even when it is proposed by a Nobel Prize winner.

Yesterday, our blogging professional approvingly posted an email she had received from a Portuguese policeman on how to tell whether someone is guilty or not. The policeman informs us that someone who is unjustly accused of a crime never cries. As a criteria for judging the guilt of someone it’s almost enough to bring tears to my eyes, it’s about one step above ducking suspected witches. Whatever happened to evidence? I wonder how many innocent people have been jailed because their reaction to an accusation is not what the policeman expects it to be. Some of the comments being left by readers on an increasingly surreal blog are simply astounding. Anyway, the British can rest assured that Napoleon was wrong when he called us a nation of shopkeepers, according to many of these comments we are instead a nation of cold, distant, calculating child killers. Presumably, the man who shot his 18 month old daughter in the head a few weeks ago near Madrid did so because he was a "hot blooded Latin". Isn't it amazing how easy life can become when you stop doing your own thinking? Many others of those who comment are full of these "who would react this way if their daughter had been kidnapped" judgements that very few of us are ever likely to be in a position to make. One beautiful comment today compared Elvira to Agatha Christie. Indeed, file under “F” for fiction.

Of course the behaviour of the British tabloid press has been equally pathetic, but what's new about that? The coverage in some other British papers such as the Guardian is actually considerably better than that of the Spanish press. In the age of Google Reader you quickly become aware of how much "news" you read that is a rewrite of the same story from another source. Especially if you link to feeds from different countries. I have no theory on the case myself, there are quite simply still too many things we don't know, and the information we receive is often appallingly unreliable. Whatever I might think about the way the campaign has been organised on their behalf, if the McCanns did no harm to their daughter then I wish them no harm. Unfortunately, the backlash the campaign has produced leads many people to be far less even handed in their judgements. Over at Elvira's the case is practically closed and the lynching posse is saddled up and ready to ride. I suppose that we can at least be grateful for the virtual nature of mob law on Internet. There is a kind of grisly fascination in the way in which this feeding frenzy grows, it is tempered by the realisation of just how hugely popular this kind of exploitative stuff is. I am also aware that just by writing this post I've become part of the circus.

It’s been a long post, perhaps too long but sometimes you can’t deal with an issue in 20 lines of text. My closing question is this. Just how much impact on global warming would it have if we were to make a bonfire out of all the speculative rubbish that has been written about this case?

Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Whenever I see work starting on one of Madrid's squares it is hard not feel a little bit scared. The prospect of another quiet, leafy haven been turned into a hostile, stone or concrete desert is always on the cards with the city administration here. It is not just a question of poor urban aesthetics, the new model of square also comes aimed at the homeless. Instead of doing something to deal with the issue of why people are homeless, the administration opts for making their life as uncomfortable and difficult as possible. In the process it creates public spaces that nobody wants to use. If you think I'm exaggerating, take a look at this excellent video from adn.es.

Themes That Can Change An Election

Anyone who lives in Spain, foreign or otherwise, should soon be aware that we are in the midst of an election campaign. Not officially of course, the general election has not been called yet and may not happen until March 2008; but nevertheless the campaign has begun with the return from the summer holidays.

The first opinion polls published after the summer break have done nothing to alter a pattern that has remained fairly steady over the last year. The governing PSOE is given an advantage of anywhere between 1-5 percentage points over the opposition Partido Popular (PP); let’s split the difference and call it 3%. This is enough advantage to let them form the next government, but not enough to offer them the possibility of an outright majority. Nothing that the PP has done has made much impact on that pattern, although we don’t need to go back further than the last general election in Spain to know that things can still change. It is still possible that we could even get an early election, but there is not much time left for it to be called, nor does the government currently have much of a pretext for doing it.

Before the whole thing becomes completely unbearable, I am going to run a little series on this blog over the next few weeks around the issues that could potentially alter the final result of this election; about 5 or 6 themes occur to me. I could of course finish this post by citing the famous quote from Harold Wilson about a week being a long time in politics. However, I’ll go a bit further back in time and to a different Harold in search of the perfect cliché. Harold McMillan was once asked what really worried him and he replied “Events, dear boy, events”. Translated into more modern English this means….shit happens.

Solidarity Forever

South of Watford has been awarded a prize! Bernardo Muñoz at El Siglo de las Luces has kindly included this blog amongst those given the honour of being a Blog Solidario. I’ve just got back from parading the trophy around Madrid in an open topped bus. Reading the instructions on the bottom of the statuette it appears that I’m now required to choose 7 blogs worthy of the same award. Given that the rules are made to be broken, or at least to be slightly stretched, I’ve decided to nominate 2 for the moment.


So here we go; let’s hear that drum roll please. The first award goes to Tom Clarke for thebadrash.com, a blog from Barcelona promoting similar values to those that I try to defend from here in Madrid. Dividing the award equally between the English and Spanish language blogospheres, I give my second nomination to Evaristo at El Rey de la Baraja for services to hinbestigation and the never ending search for la verdaz. Pass it on.

The First Fruits Of Autumn

“Mummy, where does the jamón come from?”

“Well darling, it all starts with a little seed, a bit like this one:”


“Somewhere in Extremadura the seed falls from the tree into the mouth of the little piggy. The seed grows and grows inside the little piggy’s stomach until it can’t take it any more – then it pops into the piggy’s leg, the leg falls off and becomes a lovely jamón! Then the jamón goes all the way to Madrid to be eaten by a greedy guiri."




This picture was taken a few days ago, and I could almost do a before and after shot given the big hole I’ve managed to make in it since then.

En Un Lugar De La Mancha

Welcome to the airport of Madrid Sur – on exiting the arrivals area you will find taxis, and a bus service to the nearest train station. You could be reading about this new airport in a few months time as Ryan Air or some other low cost company tries to convince you that you can get to Madrid really cheaply if you fly with them into Madrid Sur. However, be warned that the Madrid underground has yet to make it as far as Madrid’s second airport and I’m afraid there could be quite a long wait before it gets there. Indeed, you might even want to consider the alternative of staying inside the terminal and taking another flight to your destination. The problem is….well, it’s just not very close to Madrid. Taking advantage of a great new mapping feature pointed out by Ben at Notes From Spain, take a look at the map below to see just where you might be flying into.


View Larger Map

Zoom out a bit, then a bit more. Yes, that is Ciudad Real near to the airport, and Toledo a bit further to the north. But if you keep zooming out Madrid will eventually come into sight, just before you get to see the entire Iberian peninsula. The city is only 200 kilometres away from the airport – and no, there isn’t an extra zero on that distance.

The original name for this privately run airport was going to be Don Quijote, a name which undoubtedly fits the location, but which has obviously not been deemed attractive enough. The airport has the undoubted advantage of being inconvenient for getting almost everywhere, except for Ciudad Real itself; no matter how much they talk about the high speed train being nearby. There is a justifiable case for the name being Sevilla Norte, or how about Lisboa Este? Battle has been declared against the new name by Madrid’s regional government, and the man leading the battle is the deeply unpleasant Manuel Lamela, I almost hope he loses and it has to be said the early signs are not encouraging for him. Whatever you do, don’t leap into a taxi and ask to be taken to the city centre, you’ll make the taxi driver’s day but your holiday budget might disappear on day one.

ETA Set The Agenda

In the end it was hardly surprising that it was ETA who managed to bring the summer political break to a close. Their bombing of a Guardia Civil barracks in the Basque town of Durango at the end of last week reminded us that it was only a matter of time before they would be able to carry out a successful attack. Fortunately the success of the attack was limited to its headline grabbing capacity, nobody received more than light injuries despite the use of an estimated 80-100 kilos of “homemade” explosive. In spite of the success of recent police operations against them, the limitations of a strategy based entirely around policing are demonstrated by a group that may be weakened but which still retains the capacity to act. It's hard to know whether the recent successes in stopping ETA attacks are down to fortune, inexperience on the part of the newest ETA recruits, or inside knowledge.

As predictable as the attack itself was the political reaction to it. The government called for unity in the face of the threat of more attacks, and secure in the knowledge that such a united front would never be joined by the main opposition party, the Partido Popular (PP). The PP came out with even more predictable statements that they could not even claim to have written in response to the bombing, this was a script that was written months if not years ago, and whose objective is to place responsibility for any actions by ETA at the door of the government. They continue to follow their leader Mariano Rajoy’s catch-all formula that if ETA don’t place bombs it is because the government has made concessions; and if they do place bombs it is because the government has not delivered on these concessions. They have also intensified their calls for those parties who refuse to condemn the bombing to be made illegal – a proposal that would definitely get interesting if we started to apply it to all politically provoked violence and not just that of ETA.

Meanwhile there is interesting movement in Basque politics; a rift seems to be growing inside the conservative nationalist party (PNV) that dominates politics in the region. The divide seems to be between pragmatists who believe in looking for progress based on agreement with the governing PSOE, and those who favour a more openly nationalist course which would include an attempt to hold a referendum on independence. At the same time there are clear signs of a new anti-nationalist party being formed from what remains of the supposedly anti-ETA organisation Basta Ya, which enjoyed its greatest success before 2004 when the PP and PSOE joined together in a remarkably unsuccessful attempt to unseat the PNV from the regional government. The new party, expected to be unveiled in early September will feature at least one well known refugee from the PSOE, Rosa Diez. Its anti-nationalist perspective will of course be aimed at regional nationalism only, criticism of flag waving Spaniards in Madrid will not be forthcoming. The model being followed is that of Ciutadans, the new party that so far has enjoyed a very brief moment of glory in Cataluña. The Basque version will have bigger names, with philosopher Fernando Savater also involved, but will end up hunting for votes in the same pond as the PP and the PSOE. Apart from an anti-nationalist stance already covered by the PP, it’s hard to see what they can offer.

La Liga 2007-8....The Return Of The Big Spenders

It’s been a tough summer for sport, filled only with drugged up cyclists trying to climb mountain passes, and pijo tennis players grunting their way around Europe; but it doesn’t matter because the Spanish football season starts again today! The close season has seen huge amounts of money being spent by a handful of the major clubs. Meanwhile, I look back at the incorrect predictions I made for last season, and I don’t see much reason to change them greatly for this one – even though I will probably be wrong again.

The great divide between a handful of clubs competing for the top spots and the rest is more evident than ever as the spending by many smaller clubs is clearly designed to do no more than just keep them afloat in the top division. So once again it looks like a competition between Barcelona, Sevilla, Valencia, Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid. Who else could possibly be added to this list? Zaragoza had quite an impressive season last year, but I’m not sure if they have invested in improving the squad to make a bigger impact. The Getafes and Osasunas can prove tough teams to beat, but don’t usually keep the momentum going for a whole season. Meanwhile, Villareal finished very strongly last season after a dismal beginning, and they are a well run team but we will see whether the loss of Forlán as well as Riquelme dooms them to mid-table status. Perhaps Rossi will fill the gap left by Forlán.

Champions last season more because of the inconsistency of their rivals than because of any of their own virtues, the inevitable and overdue clear out has happened at Real Madrid. They have spent a fortune this summer on new players and despite the German trainer it seems they are looking more to Holland as a source of new talent than anywhere else. However, the big spending does not seem to be at all focused, and the prices they have paid for some players are astonishing. Schuster can’t complain that he is forced to work with a team he has inherited, but neither does he have the team he wants. What has been very interesting is the incapacity of Madrid to attract the really big names, despite an apparent willingness to spend whatever is necessary. The early signs are not good, and this being Real Madrid there are already rumours before the first game of the season that the club is searching for possible alternative trainers. Even by Madrid standards this seems a bit premature, but poor pre-season performances topped by the double defeat they received in the Supercopa at the hands of Sevilla is more than sufficient to provoke murmurs of discontent in this club.

Atlético Madrid may have lost Fernando Torres to Liverpool, but they have invested a surprisingly large amount of money in the team, considering the other interests of those who run the club. The combination of Forlán and Agüero both looked very good in a UEFA Cup game that I watched the other week, and if these two players maintain form then they could be much more effective than an attack based solely around the overrated Torres (an opinion obviously not shared by Rafa Benitez). There will also be the erratic contribution of Reyes and Luis Garcia. So when their new acquisitions are on song we can expect some decent football, the question – as always with Atlético – is whether they will be able to maintain any consistency. They start against Real Madrid today.

Valencia have become more of a Spanish team, in the sense of their squad rather than just their location. They now provide the backbone of the national squad, whether that is as much of a distinction as it sounds is open to debate. They were very fitful last season, but when they were on form with everyone fit they were as good as anyone else in the top group of teams. Sevilla were really the Spanish team of last season, taking the UEFA Cup for a second consecutive year as well as the Copa del Rey. If they hadn’t suffered from vertigo every time they went top of the league, they would have added that title to the list as well. Despite the almost inevitable loss of Alves, they have maintained most of their squad (and more importantly their coach) and show every sign of being one of the main contenders again this season. Behind the scenes, an efficient scouting system seems to be a major part of their recent success.

Which brings us to Barcelona, the team that disappointed so much last season as they seemed to lose their way after a triumphant couple of seasons. Much has been made of the addition of Henry, and it will be interesting to see if he combines well with Eto’o. He’s not a young striker any more, but then nor is Van Nistelrooy in Madrid. Perhaps just as important could be the addition of the Argentinian Gabi Milito in defence, he certainly looks a much better deal than Pepe, the Portuguese defender that Real Madrid brought in at a much higher price. If anyone is going to shine, this should be the year of Messi. Their offensive capabilities should be beyond doubt, it’s the rest that has to work as well if they are going to recover their dominant position.

Of the other teams, the only newcomer that appears to have money to spend is Murcia, whilst it remains to be seen whether “big” clubs such as Betis or Athletic Bilbao can turn things around enough to avoid being caught again in relegation battles. So let’s go for a prediction, neither Madrid nor Barça will win the league; the title this year will end up in Sevilla or Valencia. The advantage of not having many readers is that I won’t have loads of people reminding me how wrong I was come May 2008.

Meanwhile in the background there is the bizarre television war over rights to matches, which could see us having no televised live games this weekend, or having more than we expected to see! Behind it all I suspect the beginning of a deeper battle between rival media groups that will extend well beyond the issue of who shows Sevilla against Getafe. It’s a game of two halves, following a chaotic first half, soothing wads of money will be applied in the right places and normal service will be resumed. If not, there is always the Premier League – with 2 live games every weekend on Spanish TV.

Where's Oli?

This game of spot the difference is fast taking over my blog, but with the football season about to begin in Spain it would be a shame to let this one pass. Here we see some of Barcelona's star players in one of their pre-season training sessions. First of all we see Messi, Eto'o, Henry, Ronaldinho and Oleguer posing proudly for the cameras:




Then in our second shot, play close attention now, we see Messi, Eto'o, Henry, Ronaldinho and....and....but where's Oli?


I would like to suggest that the exclusion of Oleguer from the photo has been because of his tendency to express political opinions that do not please the Barmy Army (pseudonym of the Partido Popular in my sporting posts). However, the reality is probably more prosaic, the people preparing the piece were not prepared to concede him a place in the Fantastic Five. Stalin would have been proud of this work, although he wasn't a big Photoshop user.


via La Libreta de Van Gaal

Pulp Friction

With politics in Spain finally taking what will probably be a very short summer break, let’s turn our attention to consumer affairs. A couple of weeks ago I noticed a very aggressive example of attack advertising in the press. The company behind it was Don Simón, justly famous as sellers of cheap wine that is so bad it doesn’t even justify the price of a bottle; so it gets sold in cartons. That, however, is not their only business; Don Simón are heavily involved in one of the fastest growing markets in Spain, the sale of “fresh” orange juice. As sales of other longer life juices have declined, the market for the more genuine article has boomed in recent years and competition is becoming fierce. I have to say that the quality of the juice sold by Don Simón is significantly higher than that of their wine, and I do buy it occasionally although it is not my preferred brand.

Which brings us back to the advertisement placed by Don Simón. Basically, it was an attack on their rivals Pascual, alleging that they were selling an orange juice as if it was fresh when in reality it is not. The basis of the complaint by Don Simón is that the product sold by their rivals is always stored in the cold cabinets in supermarkets even though there is actually no need for this, as it is a product that does not require constant refrigeration. Now this is not a new trick. Anyone who is familiar with a product called Sunny Delight will have come across the pioneers of the idea that getting your product into chiller cabinets convinces consumers that what they are buying is somehow “natural”. Sunny Delight was a particularly artificial, high sugar and almost orange juice free, product that had the sort of bright orange colour that you never get from the fruit itself. The scam got uncovered in the UK, as it became clear that Sunny Delight had such a low content of natural ingredients that placing it in cold cabinets was just pure marketing. It was even alleged that high consumption of the product could turn the skin of the person consuming it a colour not too different from that of the drink itself; because it was full of artificial colouring. As if that wasn't enough, its effect on fish was frankly frightening.

In Spain, Sunny Delight became bizarrely popular – when you consider the quantity of the natural fruit that the country produces – and is still to be found on sale here. The absence of the kind of consumer awareness about products that you get so much of in the UK now, makes it easier for this kind of marketing to succeed. This lack of awareness is something I put down to the fact that the Spanish have not had such a long period of highly processed industrialisation of their food. They are used to products where the origin and content of what you are consuming seems to be clearer. That is now changing as the big supermarkets and food processing companies become more powerful, although the country has still not reached the point where “dinner” is bought in a supermarket box whose contents can be placed directly in the microwave. The growth in the market for fresh orange juice that you buy off the shelf is in itself a reflection of this change in shopping and eating customs. Because the brand of orange juice that I prefer to Don Simón or any of their rivals is this one, and it’s widely available.

Has Barcelona Lost Its Shine?

There is an evident sensation of crisis surrounding Cataluña this summer, and particularly Barcelona. The city that seemed to have entered a bright new era with the holding of the Olympics in 1992 now seems threatened by imminent collapse if we believe all that we read in the press. The electricity supply to whole areas of the city is kept going by a series of temporary generators following the collapse of a badly placed cable in a substation. The commuter trains are not working well, with passengers being left stranded by repeated train failures. The airport seems to be close to collapse, and there are tremendous traffic jams stretching along the Mediterranean. Couple this with a view that Madrid has overtaken it as the centre of economic power and it might seem that the city is passing through hard times

Well, not quite. It does appear that the electricity supply for the region is held together by sticky tape, paper clips and strategically placed chunks of chewing gum; but that’s not a new situation and nor is it unique to Barcelona. In my first job in Madrid I worked in an office where we had some servers with uninterruptible power supplies, notionally because they were going to be used in Asia. In reality, this feature became much more useful in Spain in a summer when virtually every major thunderstorm seemed to bring a power cut as an inevitable by-product. The companies responsible, Endesa and Red Electrica de España engage in mutual finger pointing whilst admitting that there are serious problems with the network.

The AVE arrives in Barcelona....

The airport is clearly operating at full capacity, but that is because air travel has increased enormously, we are in peak season and the construction of new terminals can hardly keep pace. When a new runway was opened to increase capacity at Madrid airport a few years back they said that it was operating at full capacity from the first minute it came into operation. A new terminal is due to open in Barcelona in 2009, but surely we are reaching the stage where continual airport expansion has to be seen as undesirable. The same applies to the roads, building new roads just encourages more and more people to take their cars everywhere they go. Madrid is surrounded by relatively new stretches of road, but I don’t hear many people talking about how quickly they get to work in the mornings, nor does the road going to Valencia and the Mediterranean become any easier to negotiate in summer.

Which brings us to the trains. The regional commuter system in Cataluña does have problems and seems to lack investment, and is an area where action should be taken because it relieves pressure on the road system. At the same time, some of the delays and problems are being caused by the arrival in Barcelona of the long awaited high speed train connection (the AVE), which will make Barcelona-Madrid by train seem like a good idea.

The nationalist parties in the region have predictably attempted to suggest that all of these problems occur because Cataluña is discriminated against when it comes to investment. Creating a sensation of victimisation is a key part of their political practice, indeed without it there would be little basis for much of what they preach. Yet, apart from the issue of the commuter trains, there is no real sign that this is the case. The electricity companies are private organisations who hate having to invest if they can avoid it, preferring to spend their money on promoting takeover bids and making sure that their senior executives want for nothing. They need to be forced to maintain the network instead of just dreaming about their share price. Real or not, the sensation of crisis will worry the government as Cataluña remains a key source of votes for them. So ministers are being despatched to Barcelona, and holidays are interrupted as damage control operations commence. Summer can be a dangerous time for a government with a general election just around the corner.

Hey Dude, Give Me Back My Logo!

Another chance to play spot the difference on South of Watford. No sooner has the Spanish government proudly unveiled its new logo than someone has to go comparing it to those used by other countries - like that of Germany for example! Judge for yourselves whether it was worth the €12,000 it cost to cop...sorry, I meant to say design - I wonder what the hourly rate was:

via Escolar.net

Flamenco Nights

I'm not a big fan of flamenco music and I buy relatively little of it, but the full force of the music truly comes across when you see some of the finest perfomers live in concert. This weekend I saw both José Mercé and Carmen Linares performing on consecutive nights in the Jardines de Sabatini in Madrid. The music aside, Sabatini is one of the best places in Madrid for concerts during the summer. If there is any air moving in the city on a hot August night then at least some of its effects will be felt in this place, as it overlooks the descent down to what used to be the River Manzanares. Even the royal palace (almost) looks beautiful as a backdrop to the stage where the concerts are held.

After the concert by Carmen Linares on Saturday night, I crossed over the Viaducto, formerly Madrid's favourite spot for committing suicide, to watch Antonio Carmona perform en Las Vistillas as part of the fiestas currently taking place in the centre of Madrid. Carmona is well known as one of the leaders of Ketama, a group that have produced some of the most interesting fusions of "new" flamenco with other music. I'm not sure if the group is formally dead, or if they are just resting, but on the evidence of Saturday night I think Carmona would be better off getting them back into action. His newer material is nowhere near as good, too smooth and bland for my liking, and after seeing a superb performance by Linares the contrast was even greater.

It's A Vole, Not A Mole

There is a plague of topillos covering much of central Spain this summer. It doesn't seem very Biblical, they sound far less threatening than locusts for example, but the little beasts are steadily munching their way through a high proportion of crops in Castilla and Leon; and the menace is still spreading. So what is the difference between a topo (mole) and a topillo? That was the question I put to a couple of Spanish people I know last weekend. The answers I got were not very convincing, suggesting that it's been a while since the last plague. Having seen a picture of one in the paper, I didn't really buy the suggestion that the topillo was just a smaller version of the topo, it looked too mouse like. Fortunately there is always Wikipedia, and given that there are thankfully still no conspiracy theories concerning the common vole, the online encyclopaedia contains a decent account of Microtus Arvalis. Nothing to do with blind Mr. Mole at all.


All the farmers in the affected areas are currently clamouring for the use of poison to deal with the plague, presumably any subsequent ecological consequences are entirely accidental. They are also starting to use “controlled” burning of fields to try and hold back the advance of the vole army; which doesn’t strike me as being very wise considering how dry much of Spain tends to be at this time of year. Anyway, now its time to play spot the connection, and the key word for today is poison. Because voles are not the only victims of poisoning in this part of the country. If you take a look at the Wikipedia article I have linked to, you will see that el topillo has quite a distinguished list of predators. The problem is that those who seek to keep natural predators out of the hunting grounds of Castilla and Leon make frequent use of poison to kill them all off. One bad decision breeds another, and maybe the idea that the plague results from an unusually warm winter is just a poisonous rumour?

Navarra's Loyal Opposition

The worst fears of those hoping for a change in the regional government in Navarra have now been realised. After hovering in the shadows during the futile coalition negotiations of the last two months, the national leadership of the PSOE stepped out into the open last week to make clear they would not support a government between their Navarran section (the PSN) and the Basque nationalists of Nafarroa Bai (NaBai). The PSN’s candidate for the regional presidency, Fernando Puras, has already resigned; after all there is little point in being a candidate if you will not be allowed to form a government when you have the chance. More resignations are possible and there is even talk of splits in the party and a rebellion when it comes to the vote on electing the new president. Because the new president of the region is going to be the same as the old one; Miguel Sanz of the UPN (the Partido Popular in Navarra) looks likely to be elected this weekend by the regional parliament because the PSN is going to abstain and allow the formation of a minority administration.

The PSOE nationally have left little doubt that the reason for the decision was their fear of the PP exploiting the coalition with nationalists to try and win votes elsewhere in the country. Their campaign on the issue would undoubtedly be ugly and hysterical, and the PSOE have decided they don’t want to have that hanging over them 6 months before the general election campaign formally begins. Even if you think the reasons for not reaching an agreement with NaBai are sound, the way in which the issue has been handled is appalling. To engage in weeks of negotiations with a party that you have no intention of forming a government with might work if you have alternatives, but here the only alternative available is to put the PP back into power. PSOE national organiser Jose Blanco was quoted as saying that the agreement with NaBai had gone further than he would have liked. This begs the question of where the hell he has been for the last 2 months. I suspect the PSOE believed that NaBai would not agree to their tough demands on the government program and composition. However, NaBai called their bluff by agreeing to park any nationalist demands, and accepting a tiny presence in the proposed new government. At that point the PSOE pulled the plug very abruptly.

If you take Blanco's position at face value then what he is saying is that the PSOE will never govern in Navarra unless they win an absolute majority of the votes; or perhaps if they can form a majority with Izquierda Unida. Now, we have to assume that this is not really the case, and that they will be willing to form a coalition with NaBai at some point in the future when the national leadership decides it no longer damages them to do so. Otherwise, the PSOE needs a political earthquake in the region to stand any chance of governing; they are currently only the third largest party in votes. In the meantime Prime Minister Zapatero has promised “firm” opposition to the regional government they are helping to power. Presumably, this firm opposition will not include voting against the new administration on any major issue, as that would undo the whole operation by leading to a vote of censure. The PSOE members and supporters in the region are understandably demoralised; “vote for us and we’ll make sure our opponents govern” is not the sort of slogan that gets anyone leaping out of bed and running to the nearest polling station.

The national PSOE leadership veers wildly between some quite astute politics, and some completely incompetent politics. Navarra falls into the latter category, as did Madrid for the municipal elections. They have shown a smart recovery from that one, the whole Madrid party leadership has been smoothly replaced with a fresh new team; the road back to recovery in Navarra looks a bit tougher.

A Caballo Vamos Pal Monte

Eliades Ochoa, one of the surviving members of the Buena Vista Social Club, seems to have turned his August residency at Clamores jazz club into an annual event. So in his honour, here's the canción del verano - at least for those of us working all of August in Madrid. Let's see if I can write in Cuban:

Yo trabaho sin reposo....

Fireman Zapatero

Fireman Zapatero isn't having an easy summer. Next year he's up for re-election as Chief Spanish Fire Officer, and he doesn't want anything to spoil his chances while everyone is relaxing by the beach. Fireman Zapatero goes to the Canary Islands. They have been having big fires, and huge areas of Tenerife and Gran Canaria have been burnt. However, by the time Fireman Zapatero gets there the locals have managed to extinguish the fires that other locals had started. "So the fire is out" says Fireman Zapatero, "Good. Here's a big bag of money to make sure its stays out; must rush, things to do and places to go".

Fireman Zapatero goes to Barcelona, the city is not on fire apart from the odd electricity substation or two; but the lights are blinking on and off, the trains are not working, the traffic jams are piling up and maybe some people will start looking for a new Chief Fire Officer if things don't improve. "I see you're having problems", says Fireman Zapatero, "Here's a big bag of mone.....oh sorry, I seem to have given all my money to those nice people in the Canary Islands! Never mind, I'll write you a note promising big bags of money from next year; things can only get better!".

Fireman Zapatero is on holiday now, but he is still watchful. He lies in his hammock and seems to be asleep, but he keeps one half-opened eye on the neighbour's barbecue in case it gets out of control.

MMore PPoverty!

I know I have stretched the compassion of this blog's readers almost to breaking point with these sad tales of hard times for prominent members of the Partido Popular, but new cases continually come up. I've just noticed this evening that retiring IMF president Rodrigo Rato is expected to get by on the meagre pension of USD 80,000 a year for the rest of his life. This is ridiculous, this man has dedicated 3 long, hard, years of his life to ensuring that nobody in the developing world gets free health care or education, and yet he is expected to scrape by on this pittance! I hate to think another appeal for help could be on the cards, but I don't see an alternative. Have a heart, think about Roddy.

Spanish Football For Beginners....The Recovery Of The Pelotazo

When I wrote about the complexities of the pelotazo a few months ago, I mentioned Atlético Madrid as being one of the clubs most interested in using this new tactical manoeuvre that is revolutionising the modern game here in Spain. Well the last few days have confirmed this as plans have been announced for the club to leave its current stadium, and for massive redevelopment to take place on the site it currently occupies.

The idea is that Atleti will get as a new stadium La Peineta, situated on the other side of the city from their current home, the Vicente Calderón. The catch is that the new stadium must be substantially refurbished and that this will be paid for out of the profits of the pelotazo, and it will not become their property before 2016. Now what is the significance behind the choice of that year? Well, having failed to get the 2012 Olympics, the city administration now hopes to be a candidate for the 2016 games. Given that the city budget is more or less used up for the next few years thanks to the burial of the M-30 ring road, the idea that Atleti pay to refurbish La Peineta as their new 70000 seat stadium means that Madrid does not need to bear the cost of an Olympic stadium should the city be unfortunate enough to be offered the games.



The pelotazo gets ever more complicated, and that is before we mention the brewers. It's not just the Vicente Calderón that is involved in this huge redevelopment; a sizable part of the land involved belongs to the Mahou beer company and was the site of their old factory. When they moved to a new installation outside of the city they annoyed the regional government of Madrid by placing the new factory just over the border in the autonomous region of Castilla La Mancha. So for years they have been unable to do anything to redevelop the old site, worth a fortune given its proximity to the centre of the city. As part of the deal, they will have to make a contribution, along with Atleti, to the burying of the stretch of the M-30 that currently runs under one side of the Vicente Calderón. In return Mahou are guaranteed a fortune from development of their property.

I read the other day that the club has a debt of 400 million euros, which if true is an incredible figure for a club with the support they have and with the amount of money that is floating around in the game these days. The officially admitted debt is around 130 million which is still not bad going. It is of course be a tribute to the magnificent way in which the club has been run by the Gil family, whose other most notable success was the conversion of Marbella into the most corrupt municipality in the country. Perhaps not surprisingly, Marbella is also heavily in debt. The simple fact is that the club is run as a private affair, and that is what separates this deal from the one which Real Madrid achieved. Of the 250 million euros which the club could potentially receive from the deal, about 90% will soon disappear as part of the continual revolving door at the club where money enters and promptly exits through the other side. Between the cost of the new stadium, the development carried out at the old site, and the contribution to burying the M-30, the club itself will see virtually nothing out of it all. Not that this will worry the current owners in any way, the club belongs to a property company and evidence is already emerging of links between their directors and the companies who will receive all of this money.

So it goes without saying that we are not about to see a new era of galacticos at the club, despite the fact that they have been spending quite heavily this summer. Real Madrid were able to use the pelotazo to wipe out their debt completely, it looks like Atlético could redevelop half of the city and still not achieve a similar objective. Their long suffering supporters can make the long trek to San Blas from 2010 onwards, and reflect on a deal which gives them a hugely expensive new stadium that they neither asked for nor needed. The whole deal seems to sum up the way in which both club and city work these days, with a project that only benefits a tiny group of already wealthy people. No wonder it plays such an important part in today’s game; ¡viva el pelotazo!

A Royal Flush

Yet more costume drama involving the Spanish royal family following the persecution of the magazine El Jueves. Another attention seeking judge, Fernando Marlaska Grande, has activated a case against a different satirical magazine for a piece they printed on a bizarre trip by King Juan Carlos to Russia a few months ago. This trip, which was not part of an official visit to the country, is the origin of a very strange tale about the king hunting a bear that, to put it mildly, was not in full possession of all its faculties at the time of its death. In short, it was said to have been drunk (the bear, not the king). Whether true or not, the story is hardly grounds for threatening people with court action, and was widely published by all sorts of media at the time. It may not portray the king in the most flattering of lights, but why should anyone be obliged to do so?

The consequences of the decision to pursue the case against El Jueves continue. I am no fan of the conservative Basque nationalist party, the PNV, but I think the article written by one of their veteran politicians last week on his blog hits the nail right on the head. The Basques have a reputation for straight talking, and Iñaki Anasagasti doesn't mince words in his forthright piece. People have subsequently been very hard on Anasagasti, who did nothing more than express his personal opinions on his own blog. You could legitimately ask why it is not illegal to call the royals a bunch of idle wasters on a blog, yet it is apparently illegal to do a satirical cartoon of them. Bad, unnecessary laws applied in a selective way always throw up such inconsistencies.

Meanwhile, it's amusing to see the gymnastics being performed by some of those who saw the freedom of expression issue with such apparent clarity in the case of the caricatures of Mohammed. One example was a piece by Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa in El País at the weekend, where he indulged in a pompous attack on those responsible for the offending cartoon. Vargas Llosa is living proof that being an excellent writer of fiction does not mean that you will write sensibly on anything connected to reality. Much of those who rush to defend the royals against what are hardly deadly attacks always turn to the king’s supposed role in “saving” democracy during the failed coup attempt in 1981. The fact that, after thinking it over for quite a few hours, he decided to come down on the side of democracy doesn't seem to me to be something that deserves special praise. How do we know he didn't just toss a coin to decide the issue? Perhaps he did it on the best of three to make it more interesting. I'm afraid that a head of state that doesn't have it absolutely clear where he stands on the values which he has been appointed to uphold should not be in that position in the first place. The Bourbons don’t come high on any list I have ever seen of strugglers for freedom and liberty.

Some people might get offended by such opinions, but that is no justification for us to have judges crawling over every word that gets written on the subject. Seeing the opening of new cases in this way simply suggests that the judges involved have nothing better to do with their time; that's unlikely to be the case. Republican sentiments may be in a minority in Spain, but it is still a significant minority and no amount of judicial intimidation of critical voices changes that. So there, it’s hot as hell in Madrid and I’ll say no more.

In Defence Of Benidorm

I spent last weekend in Benidorm, a place that at one time I thought I was never very likely to visit. I had an image of the town as being the archetypal place for the cheap package holiday, largely based on a British documentary that I remember from quite a few years ago. This programme tracked a package tour group during their trip to the town, and the resulting portrayal was both funny and horrific at the same time. I still have this memory of one member of the group, who wore a huge straw hat and carried an enormous ventriloquists dummy duck (I suppose it could have been an ostrich) with him at all times! It showed the rituals of the package holiday in all its glory with bogus flamenco shows and rivers of cheap sangria.

Well now I have been, more than once, and I have to say I quite like the place. Much more residential than I imagined, and with a stronger Spanish flavour than the image presented, it's not an unpleasant place to go. The weather can be good at most times of year and the place has life all year round, unlike some other places that seem semi deserted outside of the main season. Admittedly, the average age in November or December probably gets close to 90 as it is such a favourite for retired people escaping the cold northern winter; but that doesn’t matter.

Part of what I like about it is the mixing of the cultures, not because I need to have a full roast dinner with all the trimmings in the middle of July; but it does make the place very easy to adapt to if you’re a Brit based in Spain like I am. You can go for an excellent Spanish lunch and then settle down in an English style pub by the beach to watch some Premier League football in the afternoon – now that’s what I call multicultural. In addition the surrounding area has some excellent walking routes, best done outside of the hottest months. Unfortunately, to get there directly from Madrid without a car means taking the bus, and the bus drivers of ALSA for the journey there and back are runaway winners of this month's China Railways Customer Service Prize for degrading and humiliating treatment of passengers. Sunday's driver was spectacularly nasty. Fortunately the train service to Alicante is fast and comfortable, and that’s how I'm going next time; because I’m going back.

Meanwhile, Back In The Middle Ages....

On my way to the beach on Saturday morning I stopped to buy the paper and was stunned to see the headlines about the seizure of an entire edition of the satirical magazine El Jueves. The reason for this drastic action was that the front page was allegedly insulting to the Spanish royal family with its cartoon of Prince Felipe “pleasuring” his wife (I think that’s the royal way to say it?). The move was ordered by judge Juan del Olmo, who was the investigating magistrate for the Madrid bombings and who is now showing alarming signs of wanting to be one of these judges for whom the day to day judicial routine is never going to be enough. Now I knew there was a crime of insulting the royals, but I thought until now that it was just something that they dragged out whenever they needed to lay charges against Batasuna’s leadership. The prosecutors have confirmed their intention this afternoon to charge those responsible for the cartoon.

A seizure of this kind is reminiscent of other times with the police being sent out to grab every copy they can find; one of the worst things about it is the claim proudly made by prosecutors that they acted of their own accord, without any pressure from the royal family. Effectively they are saying that if they voluntarily sweep the path under the royal foot then they are demonstrating greater dignity and independence than if they are obliged to do it. I’m not sure I get that one. The response from the government and many others has been pathetically timid, with the vice president of the government shamefully declaring the other day that the right to free expression had to be limited by “respect” for institutions; in other words you can say what you want as long as it’s not against the powerful.

The object of the satire is only partly the prince, it is aimed equally at the proposal by the Spanish government to pay €2500 for each newborn child. The universal nature of the benefit does, I suppose, mean that even members of the royal family would be eligible; and given their recent prolific breeding habits they could do quite nicely out of it. Those who think that the royal family is just a harmless medieval decoration should think again when it starts being used as a reason to seize publications and close down web sites. There are already plenty of reasons to justify a republic; we don’t need to be offered more. Anyway, judge the “offence” for yourselves:

Regional Dancing

Several weeks have passed since the municipal and regional elections at the end of May, but some complicated politics mean that the question of who governs still isn't resolved in all cases. Most complicated of all has been the case of Navarra, where we have witnessed a very strange and slightly farcical negotiating process. The result of the elections in the region left the Partido Popular (PP) - known there as the UPN - short of an overall majority. This left open the possibility of a coalition government being formed by the PSOE and the alliance of Basque nationalist parties known as Nafarroa Bai (NaBai).

After several weeks, the negotiations between the PSOE and NaBai finally broke down last week, and the reason seems to be that the PSOE never wanted them to succeed. With apparent agreement on the program of the government, and with NaBai having agreed to drop any nationalist demands on the status of Navarra it seemed that the only thing left to agree was the composition of the government itself. That is where the PSOE put a significant spanner in the works, by demanding a significant presence of independents in the administration. They then declared the negotiations to be over. It's hard to avoid the suspicion that the whole negotiating process has been a pretence on the part of the PSOE, with no genuine intention of ever reaching an agreement. It has been evident that much of the national leadership is uncomfortable with the idea of an alliance with NaBai, for fear that the PP would exploit it in the rest of the country. This being Navarra, and not Cataluña, the national leadership gets its way.

It's not as if we haven't been here before, the "tripartit" in Cataluña caused the PP to make all sorts of extravagant claims and to demonise Esquerra Republicana as being the most evil creatures that ever existed. Obviously in the case of an agreement in Navarra they would have tried to do the same, along the lines of their hysterical campaign before the elections. However, given that none of this has worked it is hard to see what the PSOE are so scared about. Their local leader, Fernando Puras, has now been reported as saying that he sees fresh elections as the best solution. Given that the only outcome likely to change the current situation would be an overall majority for the PP he is effectively advocating this as the solution to the impasse. Maybe he will even call on his supporters not to vote, wanting your opponents to win so that you are not placed in a delicate position is taking things a bit too far.

Meanwhile, interim PP leader Mariano Rajoy has presented a proposal for a new electoral law which would make it impossible for parties with less than 30% of the vote to form a government. The proposal is essentially a result of the inability of the PP to form alliances with other parties, and amongst other curious effects would mean that no party at all would be allowed to govern in Barcelona. All Rajoy needs to do now is add a clause forbidding parties whose names contain the words "Izquierda", "Socialista" or "Nacionalista" from participating in elections and success for the PP is almost guaranteed. Oh, but maybe Spain has been down that road before?

Holy War

The Catholic Church in Spain has declared war on the government. What could the evil infidels running the country have done to warrant such a strong reaction? Perhaps they have decided to stop collecting money for the Church via the taxation system, or to stop subsidising religious schools with public money? Much to the disappointment of those of us who believe in a genuine separation of Church and state it is neither of these. Instead they have introduced a new citizenship course into the education curriculum. It doesn’t sound like such a terrible thing to do, all very worthy, but hardly the sort of thing to provoke such a strong reaction. However, under the guise of turning young Spaniards into responsible citizens it turns out that the course is going to be filled with dangerous ideas about….wait for it…tolerance, democracy and equality of treatment! It should be no surprise therefore that Spain’s bishops have taken up arms against such ideas, all of which are very foreign to them.

Most ironic of all is the way in which they protest about the new course, claiming that it is an attack on freedom of choice in education. Ironic because this comes from an institution not exactly noted for their promotion of choice when they were given the chance to be involved in deciding how to educate the country’s youth. It's not too difficult to see that their real problem is that they are now firmly removed from the control over moral indoctrination that they would love to have. Gone are the days when they could freely impose their firm spiritual beliefs on impressionable young children - when commandments like the following provided a sound moral platform for all:

Thou shalt not kill unless you are a powerful person and remember to express mild regret afterwards.

Thou shalt not pay compensation to the victims of child abuse by members of the clergy until compelled to do so.

It's definitely a higher kind of morality that they represent. This after all is the institution which still mourns dead fascists on the walls of hundreds, if not thousands, of churches around the country. The same Church that is proceeding with the latest beatification process for 498 "martyrs" of the Spanish Civil War without even considering for a moment whether the Church might not bear some responsibility for its own role in that conflict. The transition following Franco’s death did not reach all areas of life in the country, and the ecclesiastical hierarchy in Spain provides us with regular reminders of that.

The Red Flags Of Murcia

Don't get too alarmed, this post is not quite as militant as the title suggests. I spent the weekend in Murcia on what has now become an annual excursion; visiting the Mar de Musicas festival held in Cartagena. Youssou N'Dour was the attraction on Saturday night and the place was packed, to the extent that we had a serious case of overbooking. This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the evident lack of interest that many of those attending had in the concert - I suspect an inflated guest list is the cause of the crowding and the presence of so many people who go to an event that doesn't interest them. Meanwhile, the only red flags I saw were those flapping on the beaches of La Manga as a strong wind meant that swimming was declared unsafe and the temperature never got near what you would normally expect for Murcia at this time of year. Not that I minded, the beer was cold and the grilled sardines were fantastic.

All of which gives me a suitable pretext for writing on a Murcia related story that previously fell off my list of potential topics to post about. A few months ago I read in the press about a new stretch of motorway that was being opened between Cartagena and Almeria to the south. This would normally be of no interest to me but it was reported that nobody from the government turned up for the wine and canapés that accompanied the inauguration of this motorway, despite it being a national government project. The reason for this absence has to do with what lies behind the new road. It has several exits which lead the driver taking them to nowhere at all! No village or town lies at the end of them. At least not yet, the reason these exits exist is because of plans to open up one of the few stretches of Mediterranean coastline that has not yet been entirely constructed. The projects that the Murcian regional government have prepared for the area are not small scale, we are talking about developments that combined involve hundreds of thousands of new homes.

The new motorway was projected by the previous government led by our bitter and twisted old friend José Maria Aznar, and the regional government of Murcia is also firmly under the control of his party, the Partido Popular. One of the biggest developments planned for the region, Marina de Cope, is intended to have accommodation for 60000 people as well as the now mandatory golf courses. Following the finest traditions of the construction industry, the site chosen was previously a protected natural park which amongst other attractions had one of the few remaining turtle populations. Such details could not be allowed to stand in the way of such a promising development, and the Murcian government acted to remove the protection. This decision has been taken to the Constitutional Tribunal, which you might think would mean the plans have to be put on hold. No way, the Murcian government has informed the tribunal that it doesn’t matter what decision they reach when they finally get around to hearing the case, because construction is going to start anyway. There’s nothing like a bit of respect for the rule of law! Don’t even ask where the water for these developments might come from, you could present a serious argument for saying that the Sahara begins in this region.

The best summary of this situation I found on the web came happily from a site that I already link to, Los Genoveses. It’s a pity there isn't a red flag we could use to stop these people from concreting the few remaining open spaces on the coastline. Avanti popolo!

Shed No Tears For The Spirit Of Ermua

It's all very well to say that summer is just about concerts or sitting in terrazas, but surely there still has to be a bit of space for politics? Today is the 10th anniversary of the assassination by ETA of the Partido Popular (PP) councillor in the Basque town of Ermua, Miguel Ángel Blanco. He is not the only local councillor to have been killed by ETA, but his death created a huge impact in Spain because of the way in which it happened. First he was kidnapped, and ETA delivered an ultimatum of 48 hours for the Spanish government to agree to move their prisoners to the Basque country. With no concessions forthcoming from the government, ETA carried out their threat and executed Blanco.

There was a genuine popular reaction that followed the assassination, the tension of the 48 hours between the kidnapping and the killing set it apart from many other ETA actions. I remember the events quite well, the drama of Blanco's assassination took place just a couple of weeks after my arrival in Spain. Unfortunately, this is also the point at which the abuse of terrorism for political advantage by the PP became part of the political landscape. Let's fast forward a couple of months from the assassination. A concert was organised in the Las Ventas bullring in Madrid in homage to Blanco and supposedly in support of liberty and democracy. It turned out to be very different. The singer songwriter Raimon began singing and a huge chorus of boos and whistles came from a significant section of the audience; Raimon had the temerity to sing in Catalan! The actor José Sacristan, associated with the left, stepped forward to cite some verses from Brecht; and got the same treatment. The entire leadership of the government and PP was present and didn't even seem a little bit perturbed by the behaviour of their supporters. It was a display of aggressive intolerance that at the time I found shocking, although seeing it in the light of events that have occurred since it fails to surprise. I just didn't realise at the time how neanderthal the Spanish right is compared to much of Europe - Poland excepted. The concert ended up as a shameful propaganda gift to ETA, who could point to such behaviour as a sign that things in Spain had not really changed.

That concert is where the true spirit of Ermua ended, the appropriation of terrorism for electoral objectives began and has continued ever since. So when I saw the PP leaders calling this week for a return to the spirit of Ermua I understood exactly what they meant, they organised their own commemoration of Blanco together with their satellite organisations; and boycotted the all-party event organised by the town council. That same council has requested that one of those satellite organisations, the Foro de Ermua, stops using the name of the town so that it ceases to be associated with their sectarian positions. What is regrettable about the whole affair is not the isolation of the PP - they made their choice - simply that they cannot shake the habit of opportunist manipulation of a genuine public rejection of terror.

Summer Tunes

Enough ranting about politics, summer is a time to take it easy and enjoy the fact that Madrid gets some decent live music for a change. Last night it was the turn of this man, Alpha Blondy, at Conde Duque.

3 more concerts in the next 4 days, life is good.

Are You A Ratista?

No sooner had I written my post on who is best placed to be the next leader of the Partido Popular (PP), than something had to happen to throw it all open again. In a comment on my original post, Evaristo suggested the name of former Spanish finance minister and current IMF director-general Rodrigo Rato as an alternative candidate to Esperanza Aguirre or Alberto Ruiz Gallardón. No chance, I said, he's too far from home to be a contender and doesn’t have sufficient support in the party. A couple of days later, Rato took care of the distance problem and announced his intention to leave the IMF and return home to Spain.

I like to think he took his decision after reading South of Watford and realising that his chances of being PP leader were not good while he lived the good life in Washington. However, I’m prepared to accept that his return might not be a result of this blog showing disrespect for his chances. In any case the decision certainly caused some expectation both inside and outside of the PP. Officially he has returned for family reasons and is not seeking to resume his domestic political career (cue murmurs of “heard that one before”). I have even seen suggestions that he is returning to Spain because of lurrrv, although I’m not sure about that one because he could always have followed the Wolfowitz Principle and placed the object of his affections in a well paid post in the IMF.

Maybe he is retired from active politics, but the problem is that a politician who wanted to place himself as a possible successor to current leader Mariano Rajoy would not behave much differently. Rato is making loyal, supportive, noises but maintaining a safe distance from a party leadership that could be facing a second successive electoral defeat. Should that defeat occur then he can instantly put himself at the service of the party. He certainly provokes less rejection inside the PP than Gallardón does, although maybe he is not ideological enough for those who currently pull the strings in the party. He’s a candidate…..or maybe he isn’t!

On an incidental note, Rato’s return spells the end of the war “dividend” from Aznar’s disastrous participation in the Iraq invasion. The only beneficiaries of this adventure have been those PP politicians (Aznar included) who got nice jobs out of having US support for positions in major companies or international organisations. Jobs for the boys (and girls), shame about the rest.