Category Archives: Blog

Hours after facing down calls in parliament to resign for firing top coppers – Marlaska goes and fires ANOTHER top copper

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So today marked one of the most tumultuous days in the Spanish parliament ever, with accusations of supporting terrorism being levied at Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias, general cries of corruption, and a unified demand from the main opposition parties for the Minister of the Interior Fernando Grande-Marlaska to either stand down or be fired. Really, it’s almost a question of what will explode first, the ruling coalition or Spain itself. Marlaska is in trouble for Continue reading Hours after facing down calls in parliament to resign for firing top coppers – Marlaska goes and fires ANOTHER top copper→

Madrid’s Guardia Civil chief fired – for investigating those he shouldn’t, it seems

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Colonel Diego Perez de los Lobos, the head of the Madrid Guardia Civil, has been fired on personal orders from the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, with immediate effect. A terse note from the Ministry of the Interior confirmed the firing, and said that the motive was down to a “loss of confidence in his ability to do his job”. The Colonel was later seen driving out of head office, in mufti and in Continue reading Madrid’s Guardia Civil chief fired – for investigating those he shouldn’t, it seems→

Iglesias just got re-elected in a landslide and got permission for a pay-rise to boot

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Podemos held its third Citizen’s Assembly, online due to the COVID19 crisis, this week. Iglesias got re-elected as leader by a whopping 92%. However, only 11% of party members bothered to vote, so maybe he isn’t as popular as he thinks he is. The low turnout may have been influenced by the fact that he only had one opponent, a nobody called Fernando Barredo. Nobody had ever heard of this Fernando before, he was obviously Continue reading Iglesias just got re-elected in a landslide and got permission for a pay-rise to boot→

Another 100 million euros to stop gender violence

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The Spanish council of ministers has just approved an additional 500 million euros to help prevent gender related violence, split over five years (so that’s 100 million euros a year), on top of what-ever large amount is currently spends on gender related violence. Seems it was going to be 1,000 million euros, not sure what happened to the other 500 million! https://boe.es/boe/dias/2020/05/19/pdfs/BOE-A-2020-5135.pdf The money is divided up according to population density according to an eye-wateringly Continue reading Another 100 million euros to stop gender violence→

Pedro Sanchez’s bad day out

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While you were out enjoying the sun, the commies in government just blew up the coalition. OK, this is difficult to explain but I’ll try to explain why Sanchez just went down the toilet today. Both the PSOE and Podemos have said they want to undo the “labour reform” laws enacted by the previous PP government, which made it (very slightly) easier for companies to hire and fire. PSOE want to “evolve” the laws, Podemos Continue reading Pedro Sanchez’s bad day out→

A new history of the railways in the Levante

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Local historians Juan Antonio Soler and Andrew Devey have been working together for the last two years on a massive project to chart the mining development of the 19th century mines here in the east of the province. They have uncovered a huge amount of new detail and original photographs, which are about to be published in a book called The local greenways and the history of the mines, railway and cables etc. in the Continue reading A new history of the railways in the Levante→

Geology comes wild

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What to do on a calm weekend? Over breakfast, as I fruitlessly delved into the fridge for something to eat as the missus cooked up her carnivorous desayuno, I popped this question. (No, not that question. Dirty boy). To my surprise, I was met with a firm decision to visit the basalticas of Cabo de Gata. Now, I was convinced that you could only see them underwater. But after a check with geologist-supreme David Monge, I was Continue reading Geology comes wild→

A new friend….

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Whilst pottering about in the high mountains this week, I stumbled across this little fellow. ABout 12-15 cm long. I’ve never seen such a big one this side of the mountains before. Most of the big ones are over in the Cabo de Gata. I took a video of him – he was eating ants. Whilst recording, he refused to move or eat an ant. As soon as I put the camera down, he relaxed Continue reading A new friend….→