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.

PSOE to legalise illegal beach developments

I’m just curious: did PSOE secretary general José Blanco know this disgraceful amendment to coastal protection legislation was going to be introduced when he purchased an illegal apartment on a Galician beach, or is this all about saving Andalusia’s socialist president for life Manuel Chaves’ illegal and still undemolished beach hotel?

How a right-wing tree became a left-wing tree

Over at Crónica Verde, about the ongoing destruction by the Andalusian PSOE of the Doñana National Park. This is quite different from the abuse of natural space during the dictatorship because (all together now!) Franco was of the right, while Chaves is of the left, and the people’s friend to boot.

A dangerous lack of a sense of his own absurdity

I know a quite considerable number of clever, balanced Italians, and I also believe that there are millions more out there. Tragically none of them seem to show the slightest inclination to get involved in their country’s political process, which is left to people like Berlusconi, who, while not a new class of José Antonios…

Valdesolation

El blog Ausente links to a piece by Rinzewind (which links etc etc) about Valdeluz. This is the settlement built in the desert outside Guadalajara and equipped with a high-speed train station in what appeared to be a corrupt development deal engineered by PP bigwigs Esperanza Aguirre and Álvarez Cascos with the blessing of PSOE…

How many deputies do 300,000 votes buy?

Or, the advantages of belonging to a tribe under Spain’s current electoral system: Nice photo all the same: [ Source. Absurd quote last night: “I’m happy Zapatero’s won, he’s good looking, isn’t he! Now let’s see if he can get rid of all these homosexuals this time round.” There’s one vote the PP missed. Favourite…

Communal herding arrangements in the Pyrenees

The sheep and goats above have just arrived back in Plan from low pastures to spend the summer in the mountains, rather like schoolchildren coming back from a language exchange. Joaquí­n Costa’s Colectivismo agrario en España (1898), available in full on Corde, contains a number of accounts of communal herding arrangements in the Pyrenees: The…
The sheep and goats above have just arrived back in Plan from low pastures to spend the summer in the mountains, rather like schoolchildren coming back from a language exchange. Joaquín Costa's Colectivismo agrario en España (1898), available in full on Corde, contains a number of accounts of communal herding arrangements in the Pyrenees: