Month: September 2010

ZP says “no plans to change strategy” after failure of strike

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There is only one way to describe yesterdays general strike: a whopping failure. Even amongst funcionarios, the cosseted civil servants who recently got a 5% pay cut, takeup ranged from 12% to just 24% in different parts of the Administration. In the private sector, large unionised sectors (ie the car factories, the mines, etc) takeup with around 100%, but that was via the use of strong pickets and borderline intimidatory tactics. In this area, for Continue reading ZP says “no plans to change strategy” after failure of strike→

General strike updates

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It seems that electricty consumption across Spain is running at 10,9% lower than normal  for a weekday – about what you’d experience on a normal festivo. For those of you who have to be up to the minute with strike news, El Mundo has a cunning app on their frontpage which shows up, on a degree of seriousness, every incident happening today connected with the general strike: http://www.elmundo.es And Ideal is running a series of Continue reading General strike updates→

1,000 notches on my blog

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This is my 1,000th post on my blog. Wow. Those 1,000 posts have generated: 1,290 comments 4 writs (two sent via post; I employ good lawyers!) Quite a few death threats, most from the Galician National Front And quite a few decent chats over a beer Here’s to the next thousand!

Still no date for opening of new county courts

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Luis Pizarro – no, not the Incan conqueror, the Andalucian Minister of Justice- was in town recently for a ganders at the new county courts, a vast 30,000 m2 building that has been completed on the Ronda in Almería. The Cuidad de Justicia, on which work has now been completed, still has no date for the opening, and Luis refused to be drawn on a date. This follows on, and partly prompted, the whinging from Continue reading Still no date for opening of new county courts→

Local politics in Arboleas and the Arboleas forum

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I’m not much of a man for forums -too busy- but I was recently made aware of some interesting developments on the biggest of our local English language forums, arboleas.co.uk. All of the busiest forums seem to be up in the Almanzora valley – read Lenox’s interesting post about the different ones here. What with being retired, and being under the threat of demolition, the Brits of the Almanzora Valley have a lot of time Continue reading Local politics in Arboleas and the Arboleas forum→

Luciano Alonso witters on about tourism (you’d almost think it was his job)

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There is an incredibly boring, yet long, article in today’s La Voz de Almería by Luciano Alonso Alonso, Andalucian Minister of Tourism, Commerce and Sport, in which he manages to quote Shakespeare, Washington Irving and Darwin whilst reflecting on the importance of tourism for Andalucia. All of them, of course, great exponents of tourism. It seems that today is the World Day of Tourism (sadly, I missed the fireworks and free paella). Tourism, as Luciano Continue reading Luciano Alonso witters on about tourism (you’d almost think it was his job)→

Almeria courts have collapsed

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It appears that the court system in Almería have collapsed, with the courts giving out trial dates for late 2013. So, if you lodge your case today – Sept 2010 – you’ll have to wait over three years before it even gets to a judge, according to the judicial head of Almeria, Luis Miguel Columna. The Judicial Association say that it’s not their fault, but rather that they are overloaded and understaffed. D. Columna points Continue reading Almeria courts have collapsed→