Spanish Eating:
I mentioned that my elder daughter was unhappy about the number of
fast food options replacing old shops in her barrio of
Malasaña. Spot on time comes a report that 'Spain's healthy diet is
under threat from such establishments'. Which ties in with earlier
news that the country's kids are now the fattest in Europe after
those of Malta. Though I find this hard to believe.
A Cultural Difference: Sky
News on Saturday stressed that, because of viewer sensitivitity,
they wouldn't be showing corpses of children on beaches in Greece. In
contrast, El País showed no such reluctance on the front page
of yesterday's issue. Your guess is as good as mine.
In an international survey of
'economic freedom' (ease of doing business, I guess), the UK
ranks 10th and Spain 43rd, down in the
'moderately free' group. So, no great surprise there. Ambrose Evans Pritchard notes that the EU doesn't do well on the whole, endorsing
his belief that this misguided political project will die within the
next 10-15 years. “It continues to exist”, he says, “only out
of inertia”.
Talking of the EU . . . As this has
been such a success over the last 60 years, I'm proposing – as the
solution to internecine warfare - a Middle East Union(MEU).
This would bring together such different races as Arabs, Iranians and
Jews and such different cultures as those of Iran, Saudi Arabia,
Israel et al. Not to mention the various major religions and their
schisms. I mean, if the EU can transcend these obstacles so
impressively in post-war Europe, surely it can be done not so very
far to the east. All they have to do is pledge 'ever closer union',
install a vast bureaucracy, introduce a common currency and then
ignore whatever the people of respective countries want or deserve. A
benevolent dictatorship, in essence. With the benevolence - as in the
EU - going mainly to the politicians and the bureaucrats. Especially
those who've retired. Who could really doubt that this is really the
only solution to the age-old problems of the region? But do I hear
anyone tabling this solution, building on the successful EU model?
No, I don't. Political pygmies, all of them.
Another non-surprise . . . The
Spanish ex-IMF chief Rodrigo Rato
is stand trial for fraud,
along with more than 60 other executives of Caja Madrid and Bankía.
Somehow, they managed to use company credit cards to spend €12
million on themselves and their wives/girlfriends. As usual, no date
for the trial has been set and time may eventually run out.
Festivals: TheLocal tells us that February is the month of these in Spain. Seems a
bit early to me but here's their article.
Finally . . . Unhappy Pontevedra
News:
- When I came here 15 years ago, the mayor said the nearby wood pulp factory (and its smell and smoke) would be gone by 2018. He's still in power – though, naturally, under investigation – but Madrid has announced that the company is to be given another 60 years lease on the site.
- There was a small but devastating fire in the city last night, in a building which fronted both a street just outside the old quarter and a granite arcade in the main square of the quarter. Sadly, the firemen started at the former, meaning more destruction in the square than might have been the case. As I was on a train from Madrid, I didn't see the fire from my window overlooking the city but I'll certainly see the consequences later this morning.
That apart, it's good to be home.
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