So, President Zapatero has finally got serious about government finances and announced a series of deficit-cutting measures that go some way beyond anything ‘promised’ to date. I’m not clear how much these are a consequence of the EU’s weekend decision to set up its humungous fund for those troubled economies willing to take its medicine, but I had my friend Alfie B Mittingon on the line today claiming he’d been vindicated in his prediction that Sr Z would find some way to blame Brussels for the pain in Spain. And who can blame him. Alfie, I mean.

As for Britain . . . Now for the good news – from Simon Jenkins in The Guardian . . Cameron faces the toughest hand of cards ever dealt a new prime minister but he has orchestrated the game brilliantly so far. The first peacetime coalition since the 1930s has emerged fully formed from the electoral wreckage of the last four days. It at least hints at a political realignment on the centre-right, similar to that seen in English local government for the past five years. Without it, Cameron clearly felt he could not undertake the engineering of a massive restructuring of public finances. He may be famously unflappable. He may have a sense of humour, a capacity to listen and social assurance, but he faces the labours of Hercules. He has passed the first test. Well, I, for one, am happy at the possible emergence of a stronger centre-right and wish him the best of luck. Perhaps the mould is at least cracked, if not yet broken.

I forgot to mention yesterday that we were told – at the English Reading Club – that we’ll only be doing exercises next week (just what I need), as there’s a problem in getting copies of our next book. Lost somewhere between La Coruña and Vigo, it appears.

Which reminds me . . . the fusion of Galicia’s two savings banks (caixas) was formally announced yesterday. It seems it will have two of everything (HQs, Presidents, Boards, etc,) except same-street branches. So there won’t be many redundancies among management, it seems. Only down at the pavement level. Who says these are primarily political organisations?

We had a big raid yesterday on one of the gypsy settlements at the bottom of our hill. Managed by the Guardia Civil and not the less serious local police. There was a decent hoard of drugs, weapons and cash but it seems business simply moved uphill during the day to the other camp. The one, ironically, only a few hundred metres from the house of Judge Varela of the Supreme Court.

So, does the English ‘stevedore’ come from the Spanish ‘estibador’ or vice versa? My guess is the latter.

I see that Telefónica has dropped this name in favour of Movistar, previously used (I think) only for its mobile phones. Presumably we can now expect a raft of improvements in its customer service policies, to go with its new image.

It seems it’s not always a bad thing for governments to be cash-strapped. This, I hear, is the only thing which stopped the British government of the 1960s demolishing the magnificent Whitehall complex and replacing it with a 60s brutal ziggurat fit for bureaucrats. It's an ill wind, as they say.

Well, I began this post with Alfie B Mittington and I will now end it with what he admits is a bit of a rant against modern Brussels bureaucrats. Many readers will probably concur that a such a thing is not entirely out of place here . . . Incidentally, Alfie has a penchant for neologisms. What might appear to be a spelling error ain’t necessarily so:-

Is there honour among eurogues?(1)

Oh,  but the cheek of it! The brazen, barefaced, shameless nerve! Some days ago, lashing out at the news that Standard & Poor’s had callously lowered the Spanish credit rating from AA+ to merely AA (anybody interested in hearing MY alphabetic proposal?), one of the royally-remunerated officials irresponsible for the European monetary system asked: ‘Don’t these 30-year olds of S&P realise what hardships they cause to the poor people of these countries?’

The Bloody Nerve!!!

Those who caused the mess blaming those who are simply doing their job!?

Those guilty of murder blaming the undertakers for the funeral!?

Let there be no misunderstanding. I am no fan of the conceited, puerile Yuppie stockbrokers in their red suspenders and Gucci shoes who drive to work in their Jaguars to kindle the bonfire of the vanities in which to roast the marshmallows of our monetary system. Slick gold-diggers, they are, and worthy of a whipping. But blame them for the plight of poor Spanish workers and unemployed? These Armani Atillas are merely doing what they get paid for, in an honest, scientific way! They look at the numbers, they draw their conclusions, and their decisions Speak the Truth, from a cold, chilly profit-generating viewpoint. Too bad if that Truth is inconvenient for the Eurogues who sit in on Brussels’ committees and see their favourite hobby (fooling around with the lives of the citizenry for your own gain, amusement and prestige) go wrong. Oh, but Go Ahead, mister Beurocrat: kill the messenger who brings you the news that the soldiers have faithfully executed your orders to exterminate the enemy city! The scoundrel is guilty of Mass Murder!

What’s that? Oh, I don’t understand what’s going on, don't I? It is the SPECULATORS who are behind all this trouble! Those evil, bloodsucking, scheming, dark Speculators. Not you! No, you Beurocrats did everything right. The correct way. Honest. In an intelligent manner. With the best intentions…

Ay, it is wonderful to have a scapegoat, who is so anonymous, so faceless and so deeply concealed, that you never need to show him to the people or mention him by name(1). In the past bloodsucking Jews, scheming Masons, evil Witches, conspiring Commies, and Popish Plots all served the same happy purpose. Now we have Speculators. Curiously borrowed from the favourite terminology of die-hard Leninists….

Did our Beurocrats, our superb leaders, do everything correctly and honestly?

Let me see now… Greece was allowed into the Euro-zone although she did not meet the criteria for entry (The pet project of the Euro HAD to be the broadest possible success!) Then the Euro was forced down our throats, foie gras style, against our wills, in spite of our misgivings, at our considerable cost (the Euro was good for us, you see? Daddy knew best. It would bring us stability, growth, affluence and accountability of the less trustworthy members). As soon as the Euro was established, however, the rules of the 1997 Stability Pact were blatantly ignored and nullified, so that everyone – France and Germany foremost - could run up as big a deficit as they bloody-well liked (aggressive unaccountability, we were told, was healthy for the economy). Then Brussels affably looked the other way as Greece fraudulently ran up a debt of astronomical proportions (Am I My Brother’s Keeper?). Now Greece gets bailed out against the rules of the Euro treaties (The EURO MUST be saved! For the Euro is God! It is no longer the Means, but the Goal!). To do so, we not only fork over billions in loans (which will not cost the taxpayer a cent, we are assured by these honest officials…), but also obliges us – and I quote here – that ‘the European Central Bank [be] freed to go against its Charter’ by buying up ‘distressed national bonds’. This also, we are assured, will not cost the taxpayer a penny. But why is it that silly little me thinks that throwing good money after bad bonds will not necessarily generate profits? (Surely because I am a priggish ignorant puritan idiot!)

Honesty, Brussels style. Probity, in its Beurocrat variety….

And why did we get here? We got here, ultimately, because of the Total Democratic Deficit of the European Union. And I do not mean, for once, the blatant disregard of below-zero turn-out during European elections. I am not talking of the habitual sweeping of electoral results below the carpet if the outcome is not convenient. Or of the shameless repetition ad nauseam, of Irish elections until the Right Answer is received. No, what I have in mind is something more fundamental: the fact that there is no parliament, representing the Sovereignty of the People, which can sent the real executive packing if it misbehaves. No: the REAL Executive. Not that sad bunch of useless, burnt-out, garbage-canned politicians-beyond-their-prime who fill the seats of the European Commission; but the real ones: the Kohls, Mitterrands, Gonzalezes Sarkozys, Merkels, Berlusconis and Balkenendes who take the decisions as to where Europe goes and what it does. Since these folks cannot be toppled, they can fool around with the rules with brazen impunity. And they do so. Without a thought for tomorrow. In short: we are back at the Ancien Regime of a small oligarchy appointing itself, snugly, and not being controlled in anything it does. And therefore making a mess of things because nobody will call them to account.

Ancient Regime….

I have a dream…

In that dream, I see a Guillotine on all the main squares of the different European capitals: on Place de la Concorde, as of old; on Sindagma Sqaure in Athens and the Forum in Rome; on the Plaza Mayor in Madrid and Rocio in Lisbon; on the Dam in Amsterdam, the Alexanderplatz in Berlin and the Grote Markt in Brussels; and yes: even on Trafalgar Square and in front of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. As a reminder… or perhaps for Future Use.

Next time I’ll tackle the new Trillion Dollar Baby recently born in Brussels… What it spells for you citizens; what its chances are of survival; and what will happen to you if it fails like a soufflé in the draught. Unless, that is, events overtake me. Because let us face it: things are moving faster at the moment than I can write against them. Must be them damn speculators in their Jags, speeding up the traffic.

Al ‘Populin’ Mittington (former member of the British Boshevik Front)

PS Join me on the Guillotine Society on Facebook!

(1) The only speculator known by name is George Soros (a Greek!!). But sadly he don’t really qualify, does he? - because the awful spoilsport spends so much on charity and development that you cannot really hold him up to the Righteous Anger of the People as the paragon of evil, can you now?