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Underestimating the intelligence of the public

Tuesday, August 25, 2009
From El Pais (not a permalink):

"The Basque regional government on Monday asked for a public boycott of bars, restaurants and other establishments that have put up posters and pictures paying tribute to ETA...The Basque regional government on Monday asked for a public boycott of bars, restaurants and other establishments that have put up posters and pictures paying tribute to ETA".

Applying that line of thought to these parts, I imagine that precious few Irish Republicans frequent bars with UVF regalia, and reprints of the Dublin Declaration probably do not line the walls of pubs favoured by Loyalists.

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posted by Croydonian

The end of Portugal?

Thursday, July 30, 2009
From El Pais (short-lived English link, Spanish permalink here )

"Four in 10 Portuguese would support the political union of their country with Spain, according to a new poll. The study, published yesterday by the Barometer of Spanish-Portuguese Opinion BOHL), found notably less support for an Iberian federation from Spanish respondents. Roughly 40 percent of the 363 individuals polled in Portugal by researchers from the University of Salamanca supported the union, while only 30 percent of the 513 participating Spaniards said they were partial to the idea".

Further digging discloses the full text of the research here (in Spanish), and a combination of bar Spanish, French, inspired guess work and so forth makes me pretty confident that I have these findings correct:

6.9% of Spaniards can name the Portuguese president, and 1.2% its current prime minister. ( I could...) 54.2% of Portuguese can name the Spanish PM. 10.2% of Spaniards and 11.3% of Portuguese correctly identified Philip II as the first king of a united Spain and Portugal. Elsewhere, 41.8% of Spaniards know the colours of the flag of Portugal and 55.4% of Portuguese know the colours of the Spanish flag. The best known Spaniards in Portugal are Julio Iglesias, King Juan Carlos and Princess Letizia. The reverse celebs are Luis Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo and Saramago (?).

Given what goes on in Brussels, those 40% of Portuguese not especially bothered about the mother country might find that things will happen sooner than they think, albeit in another form.....

I just 'spoke' to a Portuguese friend, admittedly married to a Spaniard, and he was pretty relaxed about the idea. Quoth he: "we are the same people".

And just for fun, a noted Portuguese canned fish product:



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posted by Croydonian

Madrid gets rid of its favourite son

Tuesday, June 30, 2009
In this case, El Caudillo himself, Francisco Franco:

"There was a rare moment of almost total unanimity in Madrid City Hall yesterday when the majority Popular Party (PP) added the lion’s share of its votes to left wing parties and agreed to revoke the honors the capital had once bestowed on General Francisco Franco, dictator of Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975... [these being] the titles of honorary mayor and city’s favorite son as well as two other medals". (Source. Link will only work today)

A few points come to mind. Franco may have suffered from ego problems if he let it be known he wanted these things to happen, it is all a bit late in the day to revoke them and I am not convinced of the wisdom of judging past actions by contemporary standards. Where the end of Franco's Spain differs from various other C20th European undemocratic regimes is that it was not a war or a revolution that ended it, and thus an Eastern Bloc style smashing of the idols never came to pass.

Anyway, it will be pretty quiet here until mid afternoon. Places to go, people to see and all that.

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posted by Croydonian

When the boot is on the other foot

Wednesday, May 06, 2009
(Apologies for the blizzard of cliches as post headlines)

The British abroad, doncha just love 'em (Short term link only):

"British students in Alicante have more problems integrating in public schools than pupils of any other nationality, a new study has found. Language and cultural differences are mostly to blame, according to the NGO Orihuela- Alicante Migration, which published the study based onfigures from the Valencia region’s education department. Sociologists...rote that British students “resist the opportunities of exchange with other nationalities and cultures” more than others".

I think I might be excused a hollow laugh.

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posted by Croydonian

Now let's hear Hoon say /that/ here

Monday, March 23, 2009
From El Pais:

"London would be “completely at ease” if Madrid’s Barajas airport were to be selected ahead of Heathrow as the hub of a possible new alliance between Iberia and British Airways, the UK transport minister has told EL PAÍS. Geoff Hoon, who was in Madrid to discuss the upcoming G20 London Summit with Spanish officials, said it was better for the two airlines, and not the governments, to decide the location of any future hub".

He's right, but I want him to give the same quote to the British press.

Elsewhere he appears to accuse the Turks & Caicos Islands of being soft on criminals (in the context of tax).

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posted by Croydonian

Lex talionis

Thursday, March 05, 2009
A rather unnerving tale from El Pais (in short form in a non-permalink here) involving an Iranian woman, now resident in Spain who was the victim of an acid attack. I would not recommend that anyone given to squeamishness should click the English language link as she looks far worse than, say, Simon Weston.

The woman, as is her right under Iranian law, is intent on returning to Iran to mete out the same treatment to her attacker. While I have every sympathy with poor woman, I think it would be reasonable for the Spanish authorities to impound her passport for the duration, given that she would be committing, or commissioning, what would assuredly be a crime under Spanish law.

I do not intend to go into a diatribe against sharia law, but would rather note that giving the victim of a crime an over large say in the punishment of the offender serves to undermine the authority of the judiciary and removes the separation between crime and punishment necessary for a judiciary to act in the interests of wider societal interests and to remain at least one remove from the victim.

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posted by Croydonian

At last, a politician stands up for the free market

Friday, January 23, 2009
The altogether splendid, utterly sound and sadly missed José María Aznar López, former PM of Spain has been interviewed by Le Figaro, and here are my favourite bits:

"Doesn't the economic crisis signify the failure of the free market?

It is certainly not a failure of the free market, but a failure of the current mechanism of state regulation and intervention in a sector which is already highly regulated, the banking system. It is the same with politics - democracy is not discredited merely because a bad government has been elected.

What would you do to end the crisis?

We have an obligation to save the banks because without a sound financial system, there can be no stability. But economic reforms should be made. More flexibility and freedom in the economy, less taxation, less expenditure, more budgetary stability and less intervention of the State".

Shame he has retired from active politics, frankly. He would be very welcome in these parts to encourage a bit of sinew-stiffening. Just this once I will forgive him for sporting what appears to be a brigade of guards tie.

Some of the comments suggest that our Gallic chums would like him in their corner too.

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posted by Croydonian

Yet more newly unveiled evidence of Spanish bellicosity

Monday, November 03, 2008
Having decided against invading Germany in '37, the Spanish military was quite happy to sit out WW2, Korea, Vietnam etc etc, but they might have been sent over the Douro in '75:

"In 1975, while dictator Francisco Franco’s health waned and a transition was about to take shape,
Prime Minister Carlos Arias Navarro privately told the United States that Spain was prepared to declare war on Portugal to prevent a communist spillover from Lisbon’s newly installed leftwing
government, declassified documents show".

More at the El Pais english site here, and in Spanish here.

Can't imagine our Portuguese friends would have been much of a challenge to Spain, frankly. Perhaps the much vaunted longest alliance - twixt us and the Portos - would have been called upon. Note, however, that we were prepared to do the dirty on Lisbon by way of carving up its African empire with the Germans, as per discussions somewhere around the turn of the last entry. I can't lay hands on the reference, alas.

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posted by Croydonian

Starting WWII two years early....

Sunday, October 19, 2008
In quite the oddest tale dredged up from any national archive in a long time, I have discovered that "According to the newspaper El Pais, the Spanish government was considering declaring war on Germany in 1937". Source . Odder still, it also refers to 'plans...for a possible invasion'.


it was the de jure government of Spain, the Republicans, rather than Franco's lot that wanted to unleash the dogs of war on Hitler's Germany and a bit of rooting around suggests that the navy and the air force were, initially at least, loyal to the Republic. Consequently the government would have had the ability to project force of sorts, although the rather sizeable problem of France would have prevented any march across the German frontier. I have not been able to discover what manner of warships the Republic had at its command, but they had fairly bleeding edge bombers in the Tupolev SB-2.

The idea was spiked becuase 'it transpired that they could not rely on support from Russia. Madrid was also unsure of the extent they could depend on help from European democracies like Great Britain or France'.

Lots more here for anyone who has anything better than my 'bar Spanish'.

Being unable to resist the temptation to speculate wildly, I imagine a war that started two years earlier would have led to Soviet domination of the entire continent.


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posted by Croydonian

A national humiliation

Saturday, September 20, 2008
Not for us - for once - but for Spain:

"A delegation of police and government officials from the Spanish North African enclave of Melilla were forced to seek refuge in a hairdressing salon on the Moroccan side of the border on Thursday after they were attacked by a group of people angry at a recent increase in border checks".

(snigger)


I wonder if they were asked where they were going for their holidays.

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posted by Croydonian

What's NOT in the British press

Thursday, September 04, 2008
Those reasonably well-informed on foreign affairs will have heard of both José María Aznar, one time Spanish PM and French justice minister Rachida Dati.

Ms Dati is with child - as the Telegraph has noted it and wonders who is the daddy. A Moroccan title, L'Observateur, has pointed the finger. Aznar denies it, and 'has given instructions to his lawyers for an immediate study ahead of legal action against those who had ‘started such falsities’.

There's a joke about the reconquista to be had in there somewhere.

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posted by Croydonian

A Spanish example for Brown

Tuesday, September 02, 2008
More a token gesture, but notable nonetheless:

"Socialist politicians in regional governments and town councils nationwide have been asked to tighten their belts by party leader and Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero as he seeks to rein in profligate public spending. The austerity measures, including salary freezes, were agreed yesterday by Zapatero and other senior Socialists at the first meeting of the party’s leadership committee".

Could be worse for the Partido Socialista Obrero Español and our own dear Labour Party - performance-related pay could be on the cards.

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posted by Croydonian

How to lose friends and alienate people through blogging

Thursday, July 31, 2008
Catalan Green Socialist MP, Lluís Suñé Morales, has shown with this well thought out post on his blog that the squabbling, foot swallowing and so forth some manage in these parts is rank amateurism:

Extremadura is the poorest region of Spain, whereas his home turf of Catalonia is at the top of the economic tree. Draw whichever UK etc parallels you like. The post, which - fancy - he has now deleted suggests that people should adopt an Extremaduran child at a cost of €1000 per month. He claimed it was a joke, and merely a wry comment on regional subsidies. The Extremadurans are not best pleased. My very limited Spanish allows me to work out that in this item the Extremaduran authorities are going to sic their lawyers on him. Some English language detail is available at El Pais.

The coalitions and parties in Spain can be a tad confusing, but Morales flies the colours of Initiative for Catalonia Greens / United and Alternative Left, neither of which are parties I could imagine myself voting for.

The former has an 'ideology [that] looks to renew the left and is firmly against communism as practised in the former Soviet Union and against capitalism, as practised by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, but also against social democracy, which is only a lesser evil, but does not respond to the environmental and social challenges ahead. From the ecosocialist point of view, both communism and capitalism are two faces of the productivism "mode of production" (a marxist term), which should be phased out if our planet is to survive. According to this book, this ideology is also deeply feminist and pro "freedom of the European peoples".

The UAL has Communists in it, so further exegesis would be pointless.

Nice man, very green and very socialist.....

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posted by Croydonian

"Continental people have sex life; the English have hot water bottles"

Monday, July 07, 2008
George Mikes' observation seems to be believed by our various neighbours Outre Manche, judging from a survey for the Game of Love Observatory, or Observatoire du Jeu Amoureux. Looks to be a PR stunt for an internet dating firm, but enough pre-amble, to the amusing findings:

In which of these countries (UK, D, F, I, E) is love most important?:

We reckon Italy - 43%. And us? 14%. Pity the poor Germans: 2%. Our average score across five countries is 5%, and the lowest overall. France's average is 31% and Italy's 37%.

Mind you, the reputation of our womanhood (and chaps too) has been noted - 33% think the time between meeting and closing the deal, as it were, is shortest with Britons.

Elsewhere, Italy leads for Lotharios and Lothariettos, with the British, French and the ever modest Italians considering them the most seductive. The Spanish think they are the best, we give ourselves 22%, no one else goes above 3%.

Best dressed? 14% of Germans think they are, and a rather deluded (present company excepted) 16% of Britons think we are. They shoot horses, don't they?

Pity the land of Cervantes, Lorca, Velasquez etc - only 2% of Germans, Italians and Gauls judge them 'the most cultivated'. We give them 5%, they give themselves 16%. A modest 62% of Germans give themselves the laurels. We attract a solid 25% average share of voice.

Don't bother telling a joke in Milan or Valencia - the Italians and Spanish do not think we are funny. They think they are. However, you have a one in four chance of bringing the house down in Germany or France. Pity the Germans and the French - take away folk voting for themselves and they fail to secure a double figure share of voice anywhere. We are the most likely to be creasing up at Teutonic humour after the Germans - 2% of us think they have best humour. I suspect that those responding thus were having some fun with the questionaire....

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posted by Croydonian

Memo to Cherie Blair

Friday, May 16, 2008
Cancel the Spanish translation, and don't bother with a promotional tour of your memoirs in Spain:

"The possibility that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair could become the EU’s first president generally produces an adverse reaction among Spaniards, with 45 percent against compared to 37 percent in favor". C/O El País

Mind you, would 37% of Britons want Mr Tony as Holy Roman Emperor?

Further, our Spanish friends may well have discovered the Errors of Socialism (thanks Friedrich Von..) in that

"Two out of three Spaniards believe Spain has “little or no influence” in the European Union, according to a new opinion poll that confirms public perceptions of their country’s waning influence in the world...Spain’s Socialist government finds itself increasingly isolated in Europe, following the election of right-of-center leaders in Germany, France and, most recently, Italy".

Ho ho.

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posted by Croydonian

Equality before the law, Spanish style

Thursday, May 15, 2008
The punishment for a crime, subject to mitigation, should be identical where the crimes are identical, yes?

Not in Spain:

"The Constitutional Court has approved the controversial Gender Violence Law, which allows judges to impose harsher sentences on men convicted of domestic violence against their partners than a woman would face for the same crime".

Clearly the average man has greater physical strength than the average woman, but a broken nose is a broken nose is a broken nose, whether inflicted by Carmen or by Don José.

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posted by Croydonian

Deckchairs at half-mast....

Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Because the father of Benidorm has just finished his stay on planet earth - Pedro Zaragoza, former mayor of the place and the architect of its growth has died at 85. More at El País.

And an anecdote that deserves a wider audience: "In the 1950s Zaragoza famously prohibited offensive remarks being made about women in bikinis".

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posted by Croydonian

What do 'confidence, equality, progress and efficiency' smell of?

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
A question many of us have suffered sleepless nights over, no doubt. However, they smell of patchouli and rose petals, apparently.

And how does this information come to be in the public domain? Because 'the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) on Monday unveiled Spain’s first politically inspired fragrance'. (Although there are plenty of smells that make me think of the Left....)

"The red-coloured air fresheners are supposed to be inspired by the values of the left. “Confidence, equality, progress and efficiency”. 'Efficiency', eh? Now that is a good one.

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posted by Croydonian

One way of dealing with the queues at Ikea

Tuesday, December 11, 2007
"Ram-raiders staged a daring robbery in Madrid on Sunday, by driving through the window of a packed Ikea store and firing several shots into the air. The raid, which lasted only 75 seconds, saw the thieves make off with just €5,000". Source

Either that, or Spain has a provisional wing to some interior decorating company.

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posted by Croydonian

Logic check for Señor Zapatero

Monday, November 26, 2007
From El País: "In a speech before 7,000 Socialist Party members in Madrid, Zapatero accused the opposition Popular Party of doing nothing but “obstructing” progress over the last three and a half years, during which time the Socialists have lacked an absolute majority in Congress".

Doubtless Zapatero felt that Socialist opposition to the PP when it was in power was not 'obstruction', but rather a principled stand. However, it gets sillier:

"I ask for a larger majority in order to recover social and political coexistence in Spain… because this country has great ideological pluralism and growing diversity".

Erm, run that one by me again José - it is bad for the opposition to disagree with you, and you want a larger majority so that they cannot obstruct you, but meanwhile political co-existence and ideological pluralism are just fabulous.....

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posted by Croydonian