Sad and happy news today in the papers. Apparently our (and believe me, I use “our” in the broadest, most detached, possible meaning) newly elected Prime Minister believes there’s a way out of the crisis that Spain (and, thus, Catalonia) is suffering. That’s the good news. Also, an old politician who used to work for Franco (the dictator) just died yesterday. That’s also good news. Mmm, wait, too many good news.

It turns out that the plan to get out of the crisis is by, surprise, cutting back expenses. Logic dictates that if you don’t have enough money, you simply cannot spend a lot. Ok, I buy that, but, and bear with me, what if we just tried to SELECT where we spend our money, rather than cutting expenses blindly in all areas. Maybe, just maybe, if we spent money in Education, Science, Technology, Health Care and Culture we won’t be like this in two/three year’s time. Well, our (again in the broadest possible sense) politicians beg to differ. Apparently the problem lies within public companies, civil servants and “Comunidades Autónomas”.

To those of you who are not familiar with “Comunidades Autónomas” (CCAA) let me try to explain you what they are:

Spain is divided into administrative divisions, called CCAA, which have their own parliament, government and may decide to implement policies on health care, education, safety, traffic… you name it BUT not on external affairs or justice (well, they can in some cases). It’s sort of a Federal state, but by no means do the CCAA have the same importance a state in a Federation of states (such as the USA) would have. This CCAA have its own divisions as well. In Catalunya, a CCAA who some believe has to become a free state (me one of them), we have “Comarques” (shires). Each of these shires has its own Council, which is a sort of … hell, even I can’t tell you what a Council does. Apparently they support the villages in their shires and organise communal services and activities (garbage collection, concerts, sports, you know). And then, of course, we have the city councils. Spain is also, at the same time, divided into Provinces. You see the problem we have now? There are too many useless levels of administration. So, the Spanish Government wants to get rid of those Councils. Of course CCAA are upset and complaining, but I’d bet my entire fortune (€2) that most of the population would vote “yes” on that.

Why stop there? Why not cut down the budget of several Ministries? (remember, CCAA do most of the work, so many Ministries are merely coordinating resources, but not doing much else, ergo, they need less personnel, ergo, less money).

In fact, why not get rid of Provinces as well? The problem with civil servants lies in SOME public companies and all the high-rank politicians who are suckling on Provinces, Councils and Ministries. So, the good news (getting out of the crisis) becomes bad news as nothing is going to change and we are going to live worse. Hooraaay for our (broad) politicians!

400 words ago I was telling you about a Franquist politician that passed away on Sunday, at night. He used to be a minister of Franco, a spokesperson for the regime but, as he was one of the politicians involved in writing the Constitution when Democracy kicked in, all is forgotten. Fraga has become today a man of peace, a father of the Constitution and one of the most important figures of Spanish “glorious” history. And me thinking you couldn’t whitewash history.

So, good news, bad news, no difference.

Night!

Every once in a while someone tells me s/he is reading the blog. Today it happened twice, one by email and one in person. And then I feel kind of guilty, as I don’t really write much. I always tried to write, write, write! But suddenly I realise that I can’t as often as I would like to, or be as clever as I want to be.

Well, how about a new deal? Instead of a new post every week (which I failed to provide) why not a post every time I feel like writing? I promise I’ll try to be clever and insightful

You all remember the song Something stupid, no doubt. And the last line.

Well, if we change the ending of the famous last line it pretty much summarises what’s happening to European politics and economy lately. Just when it seems economy is recovering, when the news tell of the final of the recession, of the begining of the end, someone goes and says something stupid. Yesterday the European Central Bank bought debt from some European countries. They didn’t say which ones, but the markets were comfortable as the media guessed these countries were Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy. The markets were also relieved to hear that Italy will take serious action to reduce its debt, mainly eliminating provinces and joining little villages, thus unificating services. It is a great sacrifice but, we must agree, a necessary one.

Even in Spain, you know, this country where coherence is so scarce when it comes down to politics, the former Vicepresident and Minister of the Interior, mr. Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba (yes, the one who resigned his post in the government so he can run for President come this Fall) said that provinces are badly organised, a reminiscense of the past and that they should be completely refurbished or eliminated, as there are other levels of the administration which fulfil its function.

Mr. Rubalcaba is, in fact, right. Provinces were a division (badly copied from France) that the Central Government adopted to better implement their policies in Spain. 19th Century. When democracy was restored (late 20th Century), Spain was divided into semiautonomous regions called “Comunidades Autonomas”, which, in fact, are local governments with various degrees of autonomy (depending on the region and the number of competences they asked to be transferred) which, in its turn, depend from the Central Government. It is not a Federal State, as the Central Government is still much more powerful, but it is a bad copy of it. These Communities are, in its turn, divided into Shires (each shire has its own council) and then we have cities, towns, etc.

I know for a non-Spaniard this division is not easy to understand. In fact, Provinces and Comunidades Autónomas make each other redundant, and the inner divisions of each community into shires makes the old provinces still more pointless. So yes, it would be a good idea to get rid of provinces (and shires, while we are at it). It’s a pity that Mr. Rubalcaba has to say it now that he’s no longer in the government. The answer from the almost certain winners for the coming elections, the conservatives (Partido Popular), believe that this attack on provinces comes from the fact that Mr. Rubalcaba’s party has lost its grasp on many of these provinces and that his idea is not practical, but biased. Maybe so, maybe it is biased, but we would eliminate superflous levels of administration. I also believe that the conservative’s idea of “trimming” ministries (as autonomic communities have many competences transferred onto them) and even eliminating some is a good idea.

So again, markets looked pleased but now understand that nothing is to be done, because someone had something stupid to say. And when things looked the calmest, with markets slowly growing, the Central European Bank announces that it is considering to sell debt. European Stock Markets reacted with joy, but Germany stated that this is not going to happen. And down they go again.

Would someone please buy them Carson and Gaile’s song? Or even Sinatra’s cover? fine, get them Williams and Kidman, but for God’s sake, please, please listen to the song and try to understand the last line.

In fact, forget it, here you have.

And then I go and spoil it all, by saying something stupid like I love you.

If there’s anything that we can’t discuss about the Greeks is that they laid the foundations for drama. As you know, the most popular genre was the tragedy. Hence, a Greek tragedy was something that the Classics treated with outmost respect.

The Greeks were once a glorious civilization. True, only under the rule of a Macedonian were they able to expand as they did, but still their influence, especially in terms of culture, was huge. The Greeks were the centre of the known world for a long time. Then along came the Romans, but still the Greeks were revered and considered. Hellenistic culture expanded around the Mediterranean (notoriously in Alexandria, Egypt) and Greece ended up being part of the Bizantine Empire, until its fall under the Turks in the late 15th Century. They finally became independent again in the 19th Century. But Greece was already a shadow of the past, a mockery of the state it once was.The inventors of democracy, the cultural focus in Europe were no more.

Modern Greek is, slowly but steadily, becoming a failed state. Many economists agreee that Greece only made it into the European Union (1981) because it cheated in the first place. It seems their fast economic growth wasn’t that big or that fast, and that real numbers were hidden. Thus, Greek politicians planned all economic politics on false data. Of course, if you have 10,000 and produce 20,000 every year, you can afford to spend up to 30,000 this year and 20,000 the subsequent years. The problem is that you DON’T have 10,000, you DON’T produce 20,000 but you spend more than 30,000 every year. Sooner or later, the bubble has to burst, and it did in the worst possible manner. Greece had to be rescued by Europe in 2010 (to many Greeks I’m sure that felt the same way as when the British were helping them fight against the Turks in the 19th Century Independence War while some of those British were ALSO stealing art works from the country – parts of the Parthenon, for instance) and that meant cuts, layoffs, etc. The rescue was not enough. Greece cannot simply pay its debts, and the informations that come from the Hellenic country are not good.

Not so long ago, the government acknowledged that they were paying retirement pensions to MANY deceased individuals. “Many”, of course, means that they have NO IDEA of the number of the relatives of deceased people who are getting these pensions. It also transcended that the Government does not know for certain how many civil servants are there in Greece.

Greek politicians haven’t cared AT ALL about their country’s economy. Black money roams freely around the country (latest studies show a staggering 40% of all transactions do not pay taxes as they are not done legally), and so one so forth. Now, Europe is forcing Greece to be diligent for once. To go back to Classic Greece. To go back to being the centre of Europe. But I fear it is too late. Today Greece MUST aprove the new cuts imposed by Europe, amidst hell on the streets of its cities, but they have no other options. They can always fail, but one feels that’s what they have done already.

Facebook is indeed useful sometimes.

Thanks to it, I’ve learnt of a project called “An Ambulance Too Far”. Three guys from the UK (as they say: a telecoms guy, a van driver and a music student) aim to travel from Goodwood Circuit (UK) to Mongolia in an ambulance, which they will donate to the Mongol authorities, to raise funds for charity.

So far they’re up to more than 600 pounds (their target is 1,000 pounds) and they are leaving on the 23rd July.

You can find more info on their blog.

Good show!

Sorprenent. Els jutges que portin més de 10 anys treballats, podran acollir-se a un quatrimestre sabàtic remunerat.  Aparentment, la idea és compensar-los per l’extrema pressió que han de soportar, doncs la seva feina s’incrementa.

Digueu-me descregut, però sempre he pensat que el gran mal de la justícia probablement és l’excessiva paperassa i el munt de temps que es dedica a la resolució d’assumptes més o menys clars. No deixa de ser sorprenent per exemple el cas Palau, on el propi tempo del jutge més la “complexitat” del cas ha fet que la situació ara mateix estigui molt lluny d’estar resolta. O el cas de l’Estatut. O qualsevol judici menor, amb temps d’espera llarguíssims.

Diuen que la justícia està saturada, però la pròpia justícia ajuda a col·lapsar-se. És tan rígida i procedimental que no s’admeten a tràmit moltes denúncies per mal redactades o complimentades, això sempre comporta un recurs, que s’ha de resoldre, i de nou presentació de la denúncia. Per entendre’ns, la justícia per anar de Lleida a Barcelona sempre passa per Cadis i enlloc d’anar amb cotxe, hi va en patinet. Que sí, que acaba arribant a Barcelona, però quan ho fa, arriba esgotada, pren una decisió fruit del cansament i a l’hora de la veritat tothom la critica, perquè fa les coses molt tard i malament.

Potser algú els hauria de dir que hi ha autovia directa fins a Barcelona, i que amb cotxe s’hi arriba abans. Això sí, no cal que passin el límit de velocitat, que després es cansaran i demanaran quatrimestres sabàtics…

Fun morning and silly news. Maybe it’s too hot, but in my head there’s a connection that links these two pieces of news.

The first one is an email the Department of Education sent to Catalan school and highschool principals. It reads:

As established in the 2010-11 school calendar, teacher’s activities can’t finish before 7th July in centres dependant of the Catalan Department of Education.
However, teachers who have been granted a new destination, different from the one they’re currently in, can ask for permission to go to the new school from the 1st to 7th July in order to prepare the new school year, whilst finishing all the activities in their current school.

Those interested should ask their school’s direction, together with a document written by the new school’s principal that certifies their presence in the new school until 7th July.

(…)

The second one can be found at BBC.co.uk. An emperor penguin from Antartic visists New Zealand beach. Poor little bugger was swimming and, instead of heading towards Antartica, where he was going, our friend took a wrong turn and ended up in New Zealand.

After reading the email principals got, I believe there will be many penguins in Catalan schools.