Dawn

Dawn

Saturday, October 28, 2006

After being bit hit by dreadful fires in August, some of Galicia’s coastal towns have now been devastated by floods caused by October’s unprecedented rainfall. And by the local government’s failure to protect them against the predictable tragedy of tons of ashes and mud being washed down on to the beaches and the shellfish breeding areas.

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.

I recently alluded to the Health and Safety Gestapo in the UK. So I was naturally amused to read that residents of one town there plan to forego the annual burning of Guy Fawkes on November 5’s Bonfire Night and immolate an effigy of an H&S executive instead.

For non-Brits – Guy Fawkes was hung, drawn and quartered in 1605 for attempting to blow up the British parliament. Some think this would be far too lenient for H&S executives.

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