Dawn

Dawn

Thursday, May 20, 2010

One inevitably wonders Where next? for the eurozone. And, indeed, the entire world. Especially after reading articles like this one. And phrases such as “No democracy will immolate itself on the altar of monetary union for long.”

Going back to words . . . Here’s another article on the mot de jour – 'progressive'. It contains a description of Britain as “moderate, socially liberal, economically liberal and tough-minded.” Which will be a hard sentence for the Spanish to understand, given their concept of ‘liberal economics’ as 19th century laissez-faire capitalism.

President Zapatero has announced that, as part of his ("socialist") treatment for Spain’s economic woes, he'll be hitting the usual suspects of “the banks, the rich and the Church”. This is presumably aimed at retrieving some of the 7.5 percentage points he lost to the Opposition after the announcement of his first austerity measures a week ago. Below him, his ministers are playing another round of one of his government’s favourite games – Contradictory Announcements on Really Important Matters. One wonders whether this is a deliberate attempt at kite flying. Or just the incompetence of an administration in panic.

Finally . . . I’ve often said that the Spanish – whilst perhaps not the most considerate-to-others people on the planet – certainly rank as the best apologisers in the world. Which makes it all the more surprising you almost never hear this reply from shop assistants here – “No, I’m sorry. We don’t have any of those.” Frankly, the answer is normally just a bald No, without even a hint of regret. Let alone advice on where you might get the item required. I’m motivated to mention this now because I actually did get an “I’m sorry” today. Which, truth to tell, knocked me back a bit. One doesn’t like to have one’s low expectations exceeded.

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