Following
a petition, the Spanish parliament - dominated by the right-of-centre
PP party - has predictably decided to bestow the accolade of
'Cultural Heritage Asset' on the country's Fiesta Nacional -
bullfighting. This won't affect either the regions in which it's been
banned or the regions - most of the rest - where there's no interest
in corridas but it will allow the government to
subsidise the activity with taxpayers' money. Even though most of
them aren't aficionados. And even though we're living through
austere times, with cuts to healthcare, benefits and pensions. As and
when the opposition PSOE party gets back in power, the ban will
surely be restored. Heigh ho.
In
my dissertation on Spain's major corruption cases the other day, I
inevitably missed one or more that have been going on for some time.
Preeminent among these is the Malaya case involving €2.4bn
of misappropriated funds down in Malaga. More here. As the report
asks, how many will actually go to jail? Well, none of those who are
sentenced to fewer than 2 years, for sure. It has to be said that
things were even worse under the regime(s) of the ex mayor, Jesus
Gil, who actually did undergo a spell in jail, before death prevented
further stays at his majesty's pleasure. If there really is a grim
reaper, he surely (and ironically) took Jesus down below.
For
single men living in Spain, here's The Local's latest Top Ten
list - of things to do and not to do on a date with a Spanish woman.
I've sent it to a trio of Spanish lady friends and will report on
their reaction sometime soon.
A
while ago I asked whether Pontvedra (pop. 83,000) really needs the
18-20 jewellery shops I'd noted around town. And I wondered whether
they'd all stay open. Well, all of those which weren't
money-laundering operations for local narcotraficos. I need to
do another survey but, meanwhile, here's one I walked past yesterday.
Talking
of town . . . As in most places in Europe these days, it's hard to
avoid Rumanians. Most frequently as beggars outside the supermarkets.
Or as people who knock down your front door when you're out and
ransack your flat. Recently though, we've had a new team in town - a
group of guys who specialise in breaking into tobacco shops. Usually
by entering the place next door and breaking through a shared wall.
Luckily, the police caught them in flagrente delicto this week
and, after a bit of a battle, duly arrested them. Incidentally,
Spanish has a specific word for the breaking in through a hole in a wall
or ceiling - un butrón. Effected by butroneros, of course.
Correction:
Spain's public debt is not approaching 100% of her GDP; it's only
90%. Not my error but that of the typist who compiled the number for
the government's announcement. Odd that no one picked up on it.
Especially as it frightened the markets for a while.
For
some reason, I was checking on my old university last night - King's
College, London -
to
find that the Laws faculty had finally moved from the Strand to the
East Wing of the magnificent Somerset House next door. King's had
finally leased this after a negotiation which had lasted - wait for
it - 180 years.
Finally
. . . I have to confess to checking this blog's readership stats
early in the morning and then last thing at night. The overnight
number is usually between 100 and 150. But this morning was a sliver
under 600. I have no idea why but I did use the word Sex in
the title of yesterday's post and this may just be the reason.
Against this, I've tried in the past to see if this and other obvious
words coincide with increased readership numbers but failed to find
any correlation. So, a minor mystery.
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