Two Brad Pitt exclusives

  • French farmer tells him, “Get off my land!”
  • Did a Pakistani Dracula turn Brad and Angelina into zombies?

Brilliant video of Andalusian socialist mayor taking €30K bribe from developer

Twenty-nine actually, he forgot a grand. And then there’s thirty more on completion. The mayor of Ohanes’ analysis of the electoral politics of corruption is hilarious: Of course, this isn’t real corruption like the conservative PP’s. Nice detail: the telly stays on, not to kill hidden mikes, but for reasons of social etiquette.

Portuguese Prime Minister corruption charges

Socialist José Sócrates continues to deny taking bribes from the British developer, Freeport, while he was environment minister. Zazie links to bloggers who expose his official income and assets, and wonders how a chicken can get so fat on so little, and why the two major parties are keeping so quiet.

Comparison of Spanish and English development law and practice

Over at Charles Svoboda’s blog for Abusos Urbanísticos No. Its anonymous British lawyer author concludes that The hope is that the authorities will use [the hiatus caused by the bust] to introduce laws and controls that will respect European norms including the rights to private property, the protection of the environment, public contracts, etc. and…

Spanish traditional theme park architecture

More traditional building for Colin Davies: Real stone is expensive and makes it hard to plug holes and to plaster, so in Spain@Disney you stick (pre)machined chunks or carpet tile-type stuff onto the concrete prefab with glue. Chorus: Cladding imitates but also improves on reality.