I regularly mention the
void between Spain's macro and micro economy numbers. Here's
something on the latter – the preponderance of 'precarious'
short-term contracts, recently condemned by the EU.
And here's something of
an explanation for why austerity and things like the above haven't
led to the rise of a far-right party here. Apart from the fact, of
course, that the right-of-centre PP party does a pretty good job
of encompassing ultra-conservatives and even pseudo-fascists.
If I watched Spanish
TV – specifically the dubbed programs that I can't stand
– I'd be delighted with this news.
Reader Maria has
provided details of a clash she had with bureaucracy here when,
coming from the USA, she applied for a Spanish driving licence. I had
similar problems when I arrived here and no local car insurance company
would accept a No Claims certificate from another company. In a “low
ethics society” (as a Spanish reader once termed it), there's not a
lot of trust around. For similar reasons, when I came to sell my first car
here, I was told the provision of an FSH (full service history) was
pointless, as everyone would assume it was either forged or provided
by a friend or relative in the business. But there's another side to
this low ethics coin, as evidenced in this letter from a Dutchman to
Lenox of Business Over Tapas:-
Dear Lenox, I wanted to comment on
your snippet concerning Spanish laws and Spanish bureaucracy. From
what you write I take it you haven't had to deal
much with British laws and bureaucracy of late? Or, for that matter,
Dutch laws and bureaucracy. What I find so refreshing in Spain is
that there is little or no moral disapproval if you don't observe all
the laws. If you break a law (or do not observe it) and get caught,
you get fined - and the neighbours just shrug their shoulders and
laugh a little for being such a fool as to get caught. Our experience
has been that even the stern bureaucrats in Hacienda often shrug
their shoulders and try to help us find a way of avoiding the worst
tangles. Whereas in Holland and England, people who break the law
also get disapproval ladled over them as being immoral and wicked -
the neighbours won't speak to them and their children are not allowed
to play with the children of the malefactor. I suppose a lot of your
time
(and certainly a lot of
our time) is spent on constructing methods of avoiding the problems encountered in observing all the laws, but then we have the same
problems in Holland and England. It is just that each country
has a different area in which it is difficult and a lot of time
passed in getting used to one country is spent on finding the
"wriggle room". Jan
And low ethics are not
confined to Spain, of course. Here's a report of a British example in a Spanish context, similar to that in respect of all the infamously specious whiplash
claims which have raised car insurance premiums for everyone in the UK.
Current events in the
UK are reviving an old Galician joke - viz. That - given the
similarities in weather, verdant countryside, sense of humour and (?)Celtic
history – Galicia should solve its problems with Madrid by
transferring itself to the UK as a replacement for Scotland. More seriously, here's why Spain will do its utmost to thwart Scottish nationalist aspirations.
Nutters' Corner: If
this one nutter who stands out, it's a chap called Ken Ham. He's an
evangelists' evangelist who has constructed a replica Ark as a theme
park. And, yes, it contains dinosaurs. Here he is reacting to some
comments of Pope Francis about the creation of the world and some
kind words of his towards atheists. A really nice guy, Mr Ham. And an
unreconstructed cretin of the first order.
Finally . . The Disinformation Review is an EU organisation which provides evidence of Moscow's relentless propaganda, both at home and abroad. The authors yesterday confessed themselves as 'bewildered' as I am that RT News is setting up a special unit to counteract fake news. Which is beyond farce. But well in keeping with the (self)delusional nature of the channel's reporting.
Today's cartoon:-
 |
| The government wants all schools run like businesses, Timmy. So, you're fired. |
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