MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 10 March 2016

Morning high (8.04am): 8.8C
Forecast high: 14C; UV: 3
Three-day forecast: 11 March - Rain, 13C; 12 March - Sun, cloud, 13C; 13 March - Sun, cloud, 13C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North 5 to 7, waves to three metres.

One of those kitchen-sink days: rain, wind, coastal conditions - alerts for all three. Very windy early on, grey and damp. Unlikely to be much improvement. Tomorrow better but strong winds remaining.

Evening update (19.30): Rubbish day. High of 11.4C.

The Less Than Grand Pact For Education

Last Saturday, in the hall of Palma's Conservatory and with the accompaniment of a primary school choir, a pact was signed. This was a pact - a grand one at that - which Francina Armengol had been saying was required even before she came to form a different pact, one that she heads as president. It is a grand pact for education in the Balearics. One so grand that the following are not part of it: the Partido Popular, Ciudadanos, Podemos, the STEI-i and CCOO unions and the Plataforma Crida (the ones who have a habit of wearing the green t-shirts in support of quality, lay and Catalan education in the Balearics). At the actual signing, the PP did put in an appearance, not because they support the document that was being signed but because they wanted it to be known that they were willing to show some support for what they will doubtless have a great deal to say when the pact document turns up for parliamentary discussion.

The principal signatories to the grand pact were, therefore, the two parties of government - Francina's PSOE and Més. The principal speakers were President Armengol, Vice-President Barceló and the education minister, Martí March. Which doesn't sound as though the pact is all that grand. However, there were also representatives of Illes per un Pacte. Yes, another pact but one that has been absolutely fundamental in arriving at the pact. For three years, Illes per un Pacte, led by educationalists, has been been involving some eighty different organisations in attempting to draft a document that will pave the way for stability in Balearic education: a system that will not be liable to constant political upheaval. It managed to bring in bodies as diverse as the Assemblea de Docents (the most awkward of the awkward teaching squads), the Chamber of Commerce, the university and the federation of parents' associations. It is its document that was being signed and it is its document that will now form the basis for legislation to hopefully achieve the seemingly unachievable: once-and-for-all consensus as to the model of Balearic education.

The context for all this, if it needs restating, can be defined as the seven years from 2008 to 2015, a period during which the Castellano language was booted into the long grass of educational instruction, was left there as an endangered species and then revived on the back of the calamitous trilingual teaching project. Two governments with very differing ideologies had conspired in attempting to make the standard of Balearic public education worse than it was by their linguistic tunnel visions.

But as there is now a government similar in hue to that of 2008, why should there be any belief that history isn't simply repeating itself? Catalanism has arguably never had it so good as it currently does. However, there are those - notably the representatives from Illes per un Pacte - who are placing the emphasis where it should be and where it should have been for years: on addressing what is one of the highest rates of pupil failure in Spain. The emphasis is education in the round and not squabbling over the number of hours dedicated to teaching in which language.

This might be the hope but there is a long way to go in genuinely arriving at a grand pact that might legitimately be said to be consensual and which will be, as education minister March observed, without "rhetorical declarations, empty words and simple slogans" and will be based on "scientific facts" and basic points for educational improvement.

Until there is full disclosure of what this grand pact does actually entail, the propagandists are filling their boots in giving their interpretations. One has it that this pact is something born out of extreme left ideology that wouldn't have been out of place in Pol Pot's intellectual genocide in Cambodia. This, one fancies, is something of an exaggeration. Indeed, the leftist orientation of the pact has been queried by Podemos. One of the reasons it has not signed up is that it does not see a total rejection of the despised LOMCE, the national government's school curriculum for, supposedly, quality in education. Inherent to this, and crucially for Podemos, are LOMCE's non-secular aspects, as with the insistence on religious education. Podemos is squarely in the Crida green t-shirt camp: lay education and only lay education.

And inevitably, and much as Illes per un Pacte might not have been stressing this, there is the language issue. The pact, it is being suggested, will simply revert to the immersion in Catalan that was brought about in 2008. While schools will be given powers to decide on the use of language (which could include English if they want to), Catalan will have preferential treatment. Which is possibly how it should be. But a grand pact on education? Dream on.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 9 March 2016

Morning high (7.56am): 7.8C
Forecast high: 15C; UV: 3
Three-day forecast: 10 March - Rain, 13C; 11 March - Sun, cloud, 13C; 12 March - Sun, cloud, 13C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 to 3 increasing West 4 to 5 during the morning.

Bright and sunny morning but the fine start is not due to last. An alert for rain today and tomorrow (high winds also tomorrow). Things set to improve on Friday.

Evening update (20.30): Filthy weather forecast for today has not materialised yet. May do overnight, and tomorrow, hold onto your hats, apparently.

The Tourist Tax Carve-Up

The draft for the legislation for the Balearic sustainable tourism tax contains (pages 19 and 20) the six purposes for which its revenue is intended. There had originally been five, which were the ones that had been given prominence. They are: the conservation and modernisation of the natural, rural and marine environment; the promotion of means to deal with seasonality, tourism promotion and the development of infrastructure; the rehabilitation of cultural heritage; projects for research and development related to economic diversification and to the tourism sector; improvement in tourism sector training and quality of employment.

The sixth purpose, given altogether less prominence, is for investment in public service infrastructure, essential for compensating for the impact of tourism, especially social and health infrastructures. This item was appended late in the day. It crept in almost unannounced, but it is the item which is now central to the argument that has arisen regarding the use of tax revenue for investment in care homes for the elderly.

If you read through the list of purposes again, you will find that there is great scope for interpretation. The more specific and clearer purposes are for the likes of tourism promotion and tourism sector training. But others are far less specific. Take dealing with seasonality, for instance. The vagueness of this is such that it can be wrapped up in the mysterious item six. A justification for the use of revenue for care homes is that it will help to deal with seasonality. How is frankly beyond me.

The further justification lies with the compensating for the impact of tourism. This, it is argued, is because low pay in the tourism sector has meant that some of the elderly have been left without sufficient pensions or savings and so are therefore obliged to seek care in public residences. The argument is not wholly specious but it is selective. The tourism sector has of course got away with paying low wages, but so it has in every country in the world. It is, I'm afraid, the nature of the beast, whether I like it, you like it or politicians like it. And is tourism the only lowly paid sector of the economy? What about supermarkets and other retail outlets? Is there to be a sustainable retailing tax to raise revenues with a similar purpose in mind, i.e. compensating the elderly for the impact of commerce? What about some public sector jobs? Street cleaners, for instance. Is there to be a sustainable public sector tax? One could go on.

There is the distinct flavour of the "reductio ad absurdum" with the arguments to justify the use of tax revenue for care homes. And they don't have to end with the consequences of direct employment in the tourism sector. There would be no need for sustainable retailing or public sector taxes. Tourism uses supermarkets just as tourism likes the streets to be clean. Reductio ad absurdum.

Again, if you look at the list of purposes, there is an unwritten connection between them, and that is Més. The party controls the tourism ministry, the environment ministry, the ministry for culture and the social services ministry. The only other ministry which might be said to encroach into this list is Iago Negueruela's employment ministry. One says might. Negueruela is from PSOE.

Does one conclude from the list of purposes and ministerial responsibilities that the tourist tax is a Més tax and a Més carve-up? One might well draw such conclusions. PSOE has been the weak-willed bystander to all this, with the exception of Catalina Cladera eyeing up some millions to add to the annual budget. Otherwise it has been Podemos who have been the protagonists. As I've observed previously, Més has not taken kindly to Podemos interference and a usurping of natural Més territory, as with the natural territory of the environment or with the manmade territory of Mallorcan (Balearic) culture and heritage.

The care-homes plan is the one that has drawn the greatest gasps. Or has it? There was an online poll on the website of a local Spanish newspaper. Do you agree with the use of part of the revenue from the tax being used to finance residences? Seventy-one per cent said yes. If one assumes that this 71% is overwhelmingly Mallorcan, then who is anyone to challenge the favourable sentiment? But then, this is not sentiment coming from tourists (except when Mallorcans are obliged to also pay the tax for stays in tourist accommodation).

There again, tourists themselves are the least of the politicians' concerns, as various factions hover in unseemly fashion over the honeypot windfall of tourist tax revenue, each wanting their spoonfuls. In truth, it's pathetic, while if one believes in Machiavellianism, then the care-homes claim is all a negotiation ruse, one to be dropped in gaining total agreement (not yet arrived at) for priority to be given to environmental purposes.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 8 March 2016

Morning high (8.00am): 9.3C
Forecast high: 13C; UV: 3
Three-day forecast: 9 March - Cloud, 15C; 10 March - Cloud, sun, 11C; 11 March - Sun, cloud, 12C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North-Northeast 6 easing 4 to 5 during the afternoon.

Quite blowy, with an alert in place for poor coastal conditions. Some sunny spells through the day. The odd shower possible, though rain more likely on Wednesday.

Evening update (21.00): Cold old north wind. Some sun. Not a lot. High of 12.9C.

Spain's Government: What Now?

Among the numerous party leaders and spokespeople who had their say in the investiture debate last Friday, there was one who would have been largely unknown, not just to anyone from outside Spain but to many within it. This was Iñigo Alli. He was speaking for the Unión del Pueblo Navarro, a regional party that has two deputies in Congress. Alli's intervention would not have been considered important, but amid the fractiousness of the occasion his words were measured and telling. He concluded by observing that over a period of 75 days the main political parties had been incapable of arriving at a solution for government. He urged them to now conduct themselves with humility and generosity in seeking such a solution. They were words that could have been spoken by millions who have no wish for an election re-run and who are growing weary of this very incapability.

There is no denying that the election on 20 December brought about massive upheaval. A PSOE spokesperson in Mallorca, Cosme Bonet, has rightly noted that the consequence of the vote in December requires a new form of analysis: the established way and order was cast asunder five days before Christmas. It was perhaps too much to anticipate that 75 days would be sufficient to arrive at this new analysis. But the question then arises as to how long should be sufficient. If no accord is reached by the start of May, there will be a further hiatus of 54 days before a new election, and it would hold no guarantee of any significant voting change or of creating the means for there to be accord. For month after endless month Spain would be under limbo-government with a nominal administration and an equally nominal opposition.

Faced with this absurdity, humility and generosity are indeed needed. But a pact with such saintly virtues seems as distant as it has been for the now four score days since the election. Given the positions stated and postures adopted during the investiture debates, there seems as if there can be only outcome. Notwithstanding the belief that accommodation can be made with Pedro Sánchez and Albert Rivera held by Mariano Rajoy, whose posturing was as unseemly as anyone's and was an affront to the post that he occupies, neither PSOE nor Ciudadanos (C's) appear inclined to wish to make such accommodation. The only game left in town - for Sánchez - is Podemos.

When the press provide, as they have been for several weeks, their graphics of how different pact permutations would look, these gloss over the enormous complexities of the 20 December upheaval. The media, both in Spain and overseas, can oversimplify a situation that is vastly more nuanced than is suggested by adjectives applied to political parties. In this facile framework, Podemos is constantly referred to as "anti-austerity". It is, but the very use of this discards everything else that it represents. It isn't totally meaningless, but if there were to be simplistic adjectival usage for each party, then why are the C's not given the adjective anti-Catalonian independence? This is a policy every bit as central to the C's narrative as the dismantling of austerity economics is to Podemos.

The Catalonia question is just one that hovers in a Damocles fashion above those who would be in power, an ever-presence prepared to strike and cut limbs from a body for government being crafted like some Frankenstein's monster. Pablo Iglesias of Podemos referred to there being no monsters in his ranks, but there are several monsters of policy constantly poised to render a beast of governmental agreement lifeless. The invective directed at Rivera and the C's over the Catalonia question cannot suddenly be forgotten or forgiven.

PSOE, the C's and Podemos need each other, but they will be unable to arrive at a deal unless there is some humility and generosity. An accord with Sánchez is not impossible - Podemos acolytes made that clear - but how might it come about? There may end up having to be some issues on which they will agree to disagree, such as Catalonia. Podemos hasn't got this far to now spurn the opportunity of influencing national policies, and so one suspects that there may well be a tripartite agreement similar to that which exists in the Balearics. Podemos would commit to a series of policies for a "government of change" but would stay out of the government as such.

Such an arrangement is not working wholly satisfactorily in the Balearics, but it was one which recognised that upheaval to the established way and order had occurred. It is one by which Podemos is not directly accountable or responsible for government, but under the new analysis that Bonet has called for, there is arguably something to commend it. Anything has to be better than the current state of non-government. Doesn't it?

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 7 March 2016

Morning high (8.10am): 9.1C
Forecast high: 14C; UV: 3
Three-day forecast: 8 March - Cloud, sun, 13C; 9 March - Cloud, 13C; 10 March - Cloud, 12C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West 3 to 5, easing Variable 2 to 3 late in the day.

A better morning than yesterday. Fairly bright, some light cloud. Staying like this during the day, with light breezes.

Evening update (20.30): High of 16.3C. Some sunny breaks but mainly cloudy.

Woolworth In Palma

In August 1965, "The New York Times" ran a short news report in its business section. It read: "The F. W. Woolworth Co., which operates the country's largest chain of variety stores, announced Wednesday that it would open a store chain in Spain and also import Spanish-made goods for sale in its stores in the United States, Canada and elsewhere. Robert C. Kirkwood, chairman, said Woolworth had obtained approval from the Spanish government to form a wholly owned subsidiary in Spain for both ventures. The plan is still in a formulative (sic) stage, so few details are available, another Woolworth executive said. Woolworth's decision to enter the Spanish market resulted from the company's studies and surveys of foreign markets, Kirkwood said."

Robert Kirkwood has gone down in retail history as one of the great CEOs and visionaries. Five years before this announcement, he had issued a warning to the UK Woolworth company. Despite the fact that it was then the second largest stock on the London Stock Exchange (only ICI was bigger), Kirkwood could sense where retailing was heading. The UK management mostly ignored him. The seeds of failure that took fifty years to grow into one of the most spectacular business collapses ever had been sown then. Inept and conservative management was to destroy Woolies.

But Kirkwood didn't necessarily get everything right. Almost five years after the announcement, Woolworth stores began to open in Spain. There were to be grand shops in Madrid, Santander, Alicante, Malaga, Granada, Cordoba and Palma. In 1972, what had been Granja Reus - founded by Gabriel Reus in 1935 - became Woolworth. It was located where Jaime III becomes Unión by the Plaza Juan Carlos I, then known as Plaza Pio XII, at the top of the Borne. Today, the store is C&A.

Eight years after it had opened, it was to close, as were the other Woolworth stores in Spain. In August 1980, "El País" had reported that the future of the 565 Woolworth employees in Spain were under threat because of the "serious financial crisis" that the Spanish company faced. Workers, said the UGT union, were putting this down to "poor management". A few weeks later, at the start of October, "El País" carried the news of the closure. Agreements had been reached to pay off staff and they would cost the company more than two hundred million pesetas. The serious crisis that the stores had faced amounted to debts of 150 million pesetas in unpaid rent, a debt to Banesto bank of 110 million pesetas and a further twenty million in unpaid invoices. These were a lot of millions, though at the rate of exchange when the peseta eventually became the euro, the debt was equivalent to almost 1.7 million euros. But that was in 1980.

What went so wrong? Was it a case, similar to the UK, of poor management, as the workforce suggested? Was there some resistance to what was the first major foreign retailer? As far as this was concerned, it doesn't appear to have been. In the Palma store, the whole island flocked in. They loved Woolworth, but it may have had more to do with the fact that it was the first store to have escalators. People would come to ride them. They didn't always spend money.

But actually they did. In the first financial year from when the Palma store opened and until 1975, the Woolworth operation in Spain recorded profits of getting on for some 100 million pesetas. After 1975, however, the rot set in. That year may just give a clue. Woolworth, never exactly known for being upmarket, may well have appealed to a still Franco-era Mallorca and Spain. Yet it would have appealed only so much. There was already a demand for elegance in clothing that Woolworth may not have been able to satisfy. With political change would have come greater demand for liberated and new design, while the Woolworth store in Palma had suddenly been confronted by a competitor. In October 1974, just a short distance away on Jaime III, the grand Spanish department store, Galerias Preciados, opened. (It was to become El Corte Inglés some twenty years later.)

Product ranges that weren't, so I've been told, terribly interesting or exciting, the arrival of competitors, the changes in society. They probably all conspired to create the debt that was to finally devour Woolworth. Kirkwood had misread the signs and the market surveys. After the Palma store closed, it was to be three years - 1983 - before C&A moved in.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 6 March 2016

Morning high (8.26am): 10.1C
Forecast high: 13C; UV: 3
Three-day forecast: 7 March - Cloud, 15C; 8 March - Sun, cloud, 11C; 9 March - Cloud, 13C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 3 to 5 veering Southwest 2 to 4 by evening.

Some storm rumbling away though not doing much, unlike last night when there was an absolute drenching. Mainly cloudy today, with rain probable and not particularly warm.

Evening update (20.00): Rain was indeed probable: there was a massive hailstorm this morning and then some further showers. High of 13C. Now down to around seven degrees.

Spanish Parliament For Beginners

"Bottom ... Doo-Doo ... I'madick ..." These "names" come from one of Rowan Atkinson's master-calling-the-register sketches. It's strange what you think of when observing Spain's parliamentarians at play. Once, twice and eventually three and possibly four times a malady of investiture failure. And the climax is when the speaker and his helpers read out the names of every single one of the 350 deputies in Congress and every single one of them has to rise and say "sí" or "no". They did so twice. 219 no, 130 yes, only for the 130 to become 131 at the second time of asking: the lady from the Canaries saying she would go sí was met with a nod of thanks from the boy Pedro.

Bottom, Doo-Doo, I'madick and all the others rose twice and sat down twice. But oh that the names were that simple. The person one felt most sorry for was the recorder, typing away furiously. The names would come up on screen. At various points he or she gave up. Well, you would when some names could occupy a small novel on their own.

Highlights? Too many to mention. The boy Pedro lambasted Mazza and the PP for all the corruption. Mazza responded by suggesting that the attempt at investiture was in itself corrupt. PSOE's Antonio Hernando, supposedly having the last word after the interminable speeches by all the party representatives, said it wasn't corruption if the King has called for the investiture attempt. It was then that it all kicked off, another Hernando (a PP one) demanding a right of reply to the first Hernando for having challenged Rajoy's corruption jibe that had come about because of what the boy Pedro had said. Patxi, the speaker (whose a bloke by the way) started to lose control, as a fellow from Ciudadanos (C's) demanded the right of reply to a geezer called Rufián (yes really, Ruffian) from some Catalonian Republican-commie party who'd said that the C's had not condemned Franco. Then there was Ruffian's mate, cast in the classic role of veteran, battling commie who demanded a further right of reply for some reason. This chap, Joan Tarda, is very much of the old school, an Eric Heffer in a Spanish style, meaning lots of grey hair and a heavy moustache.

By now, everyone had forgotten that The Hairy One had seemingly stretched out a hand of rapprochement to the boy Pedro or that Al Rivera of the C's had indulged in a display of goading and being goaded that had made him appear like an obnoxious twerp. Patxi was reduced to Spanish for Beginners 101. There was a great deal of "hombre", "tranquilo", "vamos a ver". And when they did finally vamos a ver, the result the second time round was almost identical to the first vote. Everyone knew it would be, which made the second time of asking even more pointless than the first had been. But it wasn't totally pointless. Why? Because it showed that the chances of this lot - all 350 of them - ever reaching some agreement over the next prime minister (president) is as likely as Princess Cristina having gone before the court and declaring that it was a fair cop but society was to blame.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 5 March 2016

Morning high (8.16am): 12.4C
Forecast high: 16C; UV: 3
Three-day forecast: 6 March - Cloud, 13C; 7 March - Cloud, 13C; 8 March - Cloud, 11C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northwest 5 to 6 backing Southwest 4 to 5 by the evening.

Probably an idea to make the most of today. Next few days looking chilly and occasionally damp as a cold front tracks across from the mainland.

Evening update (24.00): What had been a fine day is ending with a storm: that'll be the cold air pushing in. High of 17.1C.

Holiday Rentals: The Right Noises On Consensus

Regulation on holiday rentals can be expected within six months. This is what the Balearic parliament agreed on Wednesday, and they agreed without dissent. That it was the Partido Popular which made the proposal was not grounds for opposition. The PP has seen the light and the need for regulation; something that did not shine when the party was in power.

Knowing what this regulation might entail is anyone's guess. It will almost certainly offer owners of apartments the opportunity to finally be able to market properties as tourist accommodation in an open and legal fashion, but what might the attached strings be? We have previously heard that the government is considering some form of zoning system by which rental accommodation would be confined to specific parts of towns or resorts; this is certainly what is wanted for Palma. Other than this, there have been precious few hints, other than that - inevitably for this government - there will be attempts at consensus with all involved.

By this, it principally means the involvement of business, relevant associations and federations (Aptur, the tourist properties association, and the Mallorca Hoteliers Federation, as examples), town halls and others. What of, however, owners themselves, ones not represented by Aptur? And not just owners who might wish to rent out properties as holiday lets. There are the other owners to consider. Are there not? How far does consensus go? In a democratic sense, communities (i.e. for apartment blocks) should be able to decide whether there are tourist rentals or not on the basis of a simple majority. Some would be happy with the outcome, others not, and it would depend which way the vote went. But over and above this are the rights of an individual owner, regardless of neighbours. This seems to be at least one of the angles being taken by Més. Toni Reus, knowledgeable of matters in Can Picafort from his time as mayor of Santa Margalida and still a councillor as well as a parliamentary deputy, has spoken again of the "human right" to rent out without obstruction and so allow owners to derive legitimate additional income.

There is a great deal for the government to consider, and one trusts that the tourism ministry (along with the tax agency) have already been preparing the ground. Drafting, debating and approving regulation within six months is a tight schedule otherwise. And given how the tourist tax has provoked such argument among the so-called partners in government, one shouldn't rule out there being a repeat with holiday rentals.

An interesting aspect of the consensus that is to be sought is the emphasis apparently to be placed on involving online agencies. Which ones remains to be seen, but if the government is wanting to bring the likes of Airbnb into the discussions, then this would be a very sensible move. Whether administrations like it or not, they need to work with the internet suppliers and recognise how the market has changed since Airbnb and others made their presence felt. At present, these administrations prefer to seek legal action or issue fines (as has been the case in Barcelona). It is preferable to make these businesses part of the solution and not keep them on the outside as the problem. So if it is the government's intention to involve them, then the government should be applauded.

The PP had also proposed that tourist tax implementation should be delayed until the holiday rentals legislation is in place. The government was, of course, never likely to support this, and it didn't. But there is a curious situation unfolding whereby, on the one hand, the government may be moving towards a more liberalised market and, on the other, it is in discussion with the national finance ministry (and so the Hacienda) to look at how much tougher it can get.

The word coming out of the regional tourism ministry is that it is determined to track down properties that are being rented out (and not just apartments) with payment in black. But we have heard this before. The fact is that, although the ministry may therefore be more determined to get its inspectors out and about, it doesn't have that many inspectors. And these same inspectors will also be expected to undertake tasks such as checking on hotels and bars. One can possibly anticipate there being the announcement of a campaign some time during the season which involves additional inspectors being brought in from the mainland. The government did something similar in checking employment contracts and working conditions last summer by adding numbers to its employment ministry inspectorate.

Fundamentally, though, if the government wishes to get tough and show it is getting tough, it will want some good examples. Rather than single owners, the emphasis will surely be on the organised operators, which can take in vast sums and pay nothing by way of tax. And if these are indeed to be the prime targets, then the government should once more be applauded.

Another ingredient that the government may wish to take account of comes courtesy of the "Defensor del Pueblo", the Ombudsman. In the annual report, the office of the Ombudsman admonishes administrations for the "unreasonable" ways in which they have curtailed the freedom of individuals to offer properties for tourist rental. The report draws attention, for instance, to a six thousand euro fine issued by the Catalonian government to an owner who had not made the proper declaration of being the "accountable" person responsible for the property. It also directs comments towards the Balearics in opining that there appear not to be "public interest reasons" for the current legislation as it applies in the Balearics.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 4 March 2016

Morning high (7.42am): 8.5C
Forecast high: 20C; UV: 4
Three-day forecast: 5 March - Sun, cloud, 16C; 6 March - Cloud, 11C; 7 March - Cloud, 11C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West-Southwest 3 to 4 increasing Southwest 4 to 5 by the evening.

Bright morning and a fairly warm day on the cards with stiffish southwesterlies bringing in the warming air. Change over the weekend, and due to be cold on Sunday.

Evening update (22.15): High of 19.8C. Quite sunny but breezy.

Spain In A Day: Insults and tedium

Multi-tasking you could call it, were it not for the fact that the task was singular. Multi-single tasking, if that isn't an oxymoron, which it probably is. The task was writing. So, nothing unusual in that regard. But it was a day - Wednesday - that demanded simultaneous tasking, a day that was unusual in that it projected onto screens, Twitter and multimedia for the multi-tasking the coalescing of great institutions. Parliament, not one but two, the judiciary and the monarchy. All that was missing was the church, though it, buried within the bile that was being belched in Congress, was a bystander on this day of multi-institutional exposure. 

The tasks were these: keeping across debate in the Balearic parliament; keeping across the interrogation of the one-time Duke of Palma; keeping across the debate (the wrong word) on the investiture of Pedro Sánchez. Of these, the first was uncommonly civilised and meaningful in that a key subject was of broad interest. On too many occasions, the Balearic parliament peers deep into its rectum and plucks out arguments that are of no interest other than to parliament itself.

The subject was holiday rentals. For once, parliament was capable of arriving at unanimity - consensus in today's politically correct parlance. It agreed that regulation should be introduced within six months. The unstated message was why it had been taking the government so long to pull its finger out on a subject of infinitely greater importance than the wretched tourist tax. There are times, perhaps, when messages need not to be stated. Let's just all agree to agree and get on with it.

The normal state of dysfunctionality of the Balearic parliament - puerile debate, childish remarks, egotistical posturing - was momentarily cast into the background. It was the national parliament, the Congress of the Cortes, that was to borrow what is usually the normality of Palma's institution. Borrow and graft on insults and observations that should play no part in the most important of institutional processes - the confirmation or otherwise of His Majesty's principal political officer.

It has occurred on more than one occasion that current-day Spain is in a constant state of historical regurgitation. And here was an occasion which confirmed this. While minor parties had their digs, and these included aspirations of independence for Catalonia and the Basques, there was Pablo Iglesias of Podemos, a party that is highly contemporary and yet a relic of the past. How can it be anything other than when references can be made to the Civil War and to the dark fight with ETA terrorism in the early 1980s? Iglesias's dredging up of the murder of two ETA terrorists in 1983 was reprehensible, an utterly uncalled-for stick with which to beat Pedro Sánchez. The murders were themselves appalling, but Iglesias should remember the context. Spain was still in turmoil, with ETA at the centre of this. A year before there had been another coup attempt (covered up) which had sought to deprive Felipe Gónzalez and PSOE the government it deserved. All that Iglesias succeeded in doing was to trigger suspicions that Podemos is not wholly without ETA sympathies.

The debate, which wasn't a debate just an excuse for pathetic trading in insults, was always destined to be a charade. Sánchez had no hope of winning. I had written the introductory paragraph long before the vote was taken; all that was needed was slight tweaking. Mariano Rajoy, as malicious and small-minded as Iglesias in his abuse, suggested that the King hadn't been fooled, and thus managed to suggest that the King had been fooled. The monarch should have been left out of this disgraceful exercise in his name, but this couldn't have been avoided. The King had given Sánchez his blessing to attempt to form a government. Well, someone has to try.

Inadvertently, Wednesday became a bad day for the monarchy. In the court in Palma, the ex-Duke of Palma was subject to the questioning of Pedro Horrach. Of the three tasks this was by far the most tedious. Listening to Horrach deliver questions as though he is an aloof maths teacher, listening to Urdangarin's monotonous replies, the best that one could say that it was at least civilised, albeit that the presiding judge had to rebuke Horrach for constantly asking about invoices. Rebuke? What for? Aren't the invoices crucial to the whole case?

But it was the fact that the Royal Household was supposedly overseeing all that went on at Nóos made it a bad day for the monarchy: Congress and its antics just confirmed this.

It was a curious day of multi-single tasking. A day when the institutions of Congress and monarchy seemed to be unravelling and yet when the judiciary, with its prosecutor's forensic obsessions, and - most surprisingly of all - the Balearic parliament with its consensus came to the rescue. It was Spain in a day. Contrary and exhausting.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 3 March 2016

Morning high (7.16am): 12C
Forecast high: 16C; UV: 3
Three-day forecast: 4 March - Sun, cloud, 19C; 5 March - Cloud, 14C; 6 March - Cloud, 11C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northwest 4 to 5 locally 6.

Another decent day in prospect. Bit breezy though. Now looking a bit iffy over the weekend and into next week.

Evening update (20.45): Not bad. High of 16.7C.

Expatophobia And Schadenfreude

It was a nice day on Tuesday. A very nice day. A public holiday. The sky was clear and the sun was shining. Some were working. I was. More on that below. But in an idle moment ... . There are few better ways to be idle and indulge the idleness of moments than being idle on Facebook. 'Tis the habitat of the idle. Where do people find time? I know. They don't work. I was glad they weren't on Tuesday. They had posted lots of nice photos. Pictures of blue skies. Blue seas. Sandy sand. Mountains with blue skies. Pools with blue in the background. Not a cloud to be seen. Right moment for a beer. Right moment for a cheeky sunbathe. Right moment for a touch of tapas. And there were the tapas. On a table set against a blue background.

As I stared into this wallpaper of blueness, I thought of some imaginary character in, oh I don't know, let's say it was Macclesfield. Nothing against Macclesfield. It was a place. Could have been anywhere. This character was labouring over some tedious spreadsheet calculations in a tedious office in a tedious street with the rain lashing down. Let's call him, I don't know, Bob. In an idle moment, Bob logged onto Facebook. Bob has a friend who goes to Mallorca. The friend had been sharing. Bob was looking at a wallpaper of blueness. Later, right on five o'clock, Bob grabbed his coat and braced himself for the rain that was still lashing down. An evening of pie and chips and "Eastenders" for Bob. An evening like most others. He watched the news. There was this report. From sunny Spain. In my imaginary Bob world, Bob was hearing about the plight of British foreign residents who might, some time later this year, be about to be turfed out of Spain. Bob watched with keen interest. Then he started to laugh. He laughed and laughed and laughed. Before going to bed, Bob went on Facebook. He found one of those photos of blueness. He didn't like. Instead, he fired off a comment. "Not for much longer. Ha ha ha. (Smiley emoticon)."

You could understand Bob being like this. All those photos taken by people doing nothing. Blue, blue and more blue. Serves 'em right. They turned their backs on lashing rain and tedium. Now it's going to be payback time. Here's my vote. Leave, leave, leave. Ha ha ha. That's stuffed you.

Britain. Land of birth and all that. Holder of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Passport. "Her Britannic Majesty's Secretary of State Requests and requires in the Name of Her Majesty all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance, and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary." Pass freely. Atop the bit on the front in gold lettering are the words "European Union". Here's something else they might not have thought about.

It seems like a war. A nation divided. A nation that is hostage to its past. Caught up, unwittingly, unwillingly and uncertainly, are the nation's foreign legion. So, it doesn't have the vote (some of it). Tough luck, sucker. You made the choice. The foreign legion is on the end of indifference allied with Expatophobia, an intense dislike of those who had escaped Macclesfield on a filthy day in March. The attitudes, the vitriol, the contempt expressed by some who appear content for the foreign legion to be the victims of war. Refugees. Where is the spirit of British tolerance, once famed and admired by those from Europe who sought their own refuge over many, many years, escaping the persecutions of religious and political wars and hatreds on the continent? Disappearing with the new-age era of hysterical intolerance fired from across the twenty miles that kept the nation safe but also enabled those fleeing intolerance to find safe haven. But amidst this intolerance is envy. That is what the Bobs feel, if they were to admit it. As they cannot, they delight in schadenfreude. An ironic sentiment, given that it is borrowed from another nation who some can never forgive for having supplanted the once great nation as a world industrial power and for having been the creators of the monster that grew to be Brussels. What's more they did it in collaboration with the French. How could they, the French? After all that was done for them.

But for Bob and the other Bobs, just to let you know. The foreign legion comes in different guises. There's blue and there's blue. Yes, I can look out at the blue and be thankful I can, but I work. Every single day. Just as others work every single day. And those who don't. Why should their retirements or lifestyles be denied them? Schadenfreude is a German word. 

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 2 March 2016

Morning high (7.43am): 14.1C
Forecast high: 18C; UV: 4
Three-day forecast: 3 March - Sun, cloud, 16C; 4 March - Sun, cloud, 16C; 5 March - Sun, 14C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West 3 to 5.

Decent morning. Sunny today but also pretty windy, with a yellow alert for coastal conditions that will last until tomorrow.

Evening update (20.30): Warm. High of 22.3C.

Is The Medical Faculty Really Needed?

They were handing out awards the other evening. While Hollywood was congratulating itself, in Mallorca there were congratulations for, among others, Real Mallorca - an award for longevity, one supposes.

These were the Ramon Llull prizes and Gold Medal. They are dished out each year to coincide with Balearics Day. Because it is the Balearics and not just Mallorca, there are awards for the other islands. The Ibiza university school of tourism and the Mahon Philharmonic got gongs as well. Good for them.

The highest award of this gala event at Palma's Teatre Principal was the Gold Medal. This is the award that carries the greatest distinction in the autonomous community that is the Balearics. It went to a doctor, Oriol Bonnín, who has devoted the past generation to being one of the islands' leading heart surgeons. Asked about the possibility (his name has been mentioned) of his becoming the first dean of the medical faculty at the University of the Balearic Islands, he said that there are those who are better prepared than he is for such a role.

That the medical faculty should crop up was inevitable. Might it, some years down the line, receive a Ramon Llull just like the Ibiza tourism school did the other evening? If the politicians have anything to do with it, then yes. The politicians who support it, that is. Because of Bonnin's standing in the medical profession, he was bound to have been asked the question. Though he seems less than interested in the post of dean, he is a strong supporter of the faculty. It is something which, on the surface, would seem to be politically neutral. Something that is a "good thing". So why is there the fuss over it that there is?

The faculty has long been called for. There are only two regions of the country that don't have one: La Rioja and the Balearics. For a region, the Balearics, with one of the country's finest public health hospitals, a strong reputation for health care in any event and ambitions for health tourism, the absence of kudos from a medical faculty can seem anachronistic. A medical faculty brings it with it greater prestige, higher levels of professionalism, more rigorous research. It also has great advantages for those undertaking medical studies. A medical school in Mallorca will mean not being obliged to study on the mainland, with the attendant additional costs for studying that this entails.

It had already been announced that a course in medical studies would be introduced for the 2016-2017 university year. Despite this, it wasn't until a few days ago that the regional government formally approved the creation of the faculty. Such apparent lateness, given that the course would begin in September, has been offset to some extent by the fact that a joint committee from the university and regional ministries of education and health have been paving the way for the course since last September.

Back in February, the government announced that half a million euros would be budgeted for something that won't require new facilities as it will be integrated into the medical teaching unit at Son Espases. But also in February, Podemos launched a major assault on the plan for the faculty. This wasn't because the party was against it but because it argued that it was neither an educational nor a health priority. In one of the more coherent cases that Podemos has put forward in challenging a government decision, the party argued that it would still be the case that students would need to move to the mainland because of the limited number of places, that there were other disciplines as deserving of their own faculties as medicine, that a whole host of major organisations have been advising against the necessity for more medical faculties in Spain and that the budget to be diverted towards it could be prejudicial to existing faculties and research at the university.

Above all, Podemos challenged the decision-making process that was to lead to the government's ultimate approval. Different options needed to have been presented with "transparency" and only once they were understood could a decision be taken. Essentially, it was arguing that the decision had come not from the education ministry but from the health ministry, and Podemos has had its issues with that ministry because of the alleged nepotism over the appointment of Juli Fuster as director-general of IB-Salut.

The budget for the initial course has since been increased by 100,000 euros, and the budget is just one source of what has become a row between Podemos and the government that is every bit as raw as the one over the tourist tax. Money should be devoted to primary care, scholarships and social needs, Podemos argues.

Is the faculty simply a prestige project for the government? For Podemos, it would seem that it is.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 1 March 2016

Morning high (6.57am): 10.2C
Forecast high: 15C; UV: 3
Three-day forecast: 2 March - Sun, cloud, 19C; 3 March - Sun, cloud, 14C; 4 March - Sun, 17C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West 3 to 4.

In like a lamb, as it were. March, that is. Might be a bit windy today but otherwise sunny, with the forecast till the end of the week having improved.

Evening update (21.00): Very good day. High of 18.9C.

The Problems With Mallorca's Senior Officials

They get themselves into a right old tangle in Mallorca with their "altos cargos" - senior officials appointed through a political process. These officials can be, variously and as examples, director-generals of departments within regional government ministries, directors of companies that are owned by government authorities or directors of foundations that have as their trustees and governing bodies representation from political parties.

During the period of the current administration - since late June last year, therefore - controversy surrounding senior officials has rarely been far away. The greatest controversy concerned the appointment of Juli Fuster. He is the director-general of the IB-Salut health service. His wife, it just so happens, is the health minister. The Fuster affair has now been put to bed, but other appointments keep surfacing and keep causing problems.

Early in February, the selection committee for the Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation approved the appointment of Francisco Copado as the foundation's new director. The selection committee has its experts in such matters. It also has its political representatives. The trustees and governing committee for the foundation have as their president the mayor of Palma. The vice-president is Palma's councillor for culture. There are other town hall representatives, some from other parties, as well as members away from the town hall, such as the grandson of Joan Miró.

Ever since the appointment was made, questions have been asked about Copado's qualifications for the post. He himself was interviewed by the press and sought to downplay his absence of management experience of running a museum or similar. This is meant to be a requirement for the job. Copado has a relevant degree and masters and knowledge of the arts and cultural worlds and also several languages. It was seemingly the latter which swayed the selection committee in his favour, but the Partido Popular's Javier Bonet, a member of the governing committee, has questioned not just the appointment but also its legality. He has suggested it might be a case of "prevaricación", that difficult word in Spanish which, in legal terms, can be interpreted as, for instance, abuse of power in public office.

A special meeting of the trustees' board is to be held to consider the affair. One feels that Bonet is overstating things. He had earlier challenged the appointment by reminding the councillor for culture, Miquel Perelló, that he (Perelló) had told the media that none of the candidates for the advertised position met all its requirements. Rather than some political motives, it would seem that Copado was felt to have been the best available. As such, one has some sympathy for him, as he's hardly been out of the media glare since he was appointed.

This may have been a tricky appointment but at least it was one made via what seems to have been a normal recruitment process. The same cannot be said of the new director-general of the Balearic Tourism Agency (ATB). Copado isn't a political appointee (or doesn't appear to be). Pere Muñoz, however, is.

The ATB is the tourism ministry's marketing and promotion department. Last September, Miquel Àngel Roig was made director-general of the agency. He resigned last month, having spent roughly the same length of time in his post as the now former director of the Palacio de Congresos company had. (That company is run by the regional government and the town hall.) Both departed citing personal reasons. Josep Sintes has since gone on record in identifying major disagreements he had with the Palacio board, especially its president, the town hall's tourism councillor, Joana Maria Adrover. Roig has said nothing. Apparently he was made a good offer to return to Hotelbeds, for whom he had worked before being appointed ATB director-general.

Roig was, therefore, someone with a tourism background. Muñoz's background, on the other hand, is more questionable in this regard. One particularly disparaging review of his experience suggests that it is limited to having managed the accommodation and car park at Lluc Monastery. He is currently disentangling his business interests in order to take up the appointment, and one of these interests is with a Catalonian company involved in tourism operations. But crucially, he is an old associate of Biel Barceló, the tourism minister. They were in fact at one point rivals within the PSM (Mallorcan socialists). He hasn't had frontline political experience for some years but he has now returned to the frontline, because his appointment is political.

It is said that Barceló had considered him for the position before appointing Roig but decided not to because of the fuss with other political appointments. Now, though, Barceló seems to believe it's safe to appoint him. Sources other than Barceló in Més and close to the government are understood not to have much faith in Muñoz. One fancies that there may be another parliamentary row over a senior official appointment brewing.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 29 February 2016

Morning high (7.54am): 10.9C
Forecast high: 15C; UV: 3
Three-day forecast: 1 March - Sun, 15C; 2 March - Sun, cloud, 15C; 3 March - Cloud, 13C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West-Northwest 4 to 5 veering East 3 in the afternoon.

Rather grey first thing. Sunny intervals expected later. Tomorrow possibly the best day of the week for sun.

Evening update (20.00): Indifferent sort of a day. High of 16.2C.

Windmills: Industrial Heritage Of The Present Day

There was a great deal of interest in windmills last week. It was to do with the Euroregion windmills' route, the Euroregion in question being the one to which Mallorca belongs (Catalonia, the Pyrenees, Languedoc, Roussillon). Six Mallorcan windmills officially became part of this route. Four of them are privately owned and have been restored, while two are town hall properties (one in Montuiri, the other in Manacor). The Council of Mallorca is backing the route, meaning that it is to be promoted as an example of the island's heritage and of its industrial heritage in particular.

Of the four privately owned mills, there is one in both Montuiri and Manacor as well, plus ones in Porreres and Llucmajor. They go under names that, in some instances, indicate ownership just like estates and houses, such as Molí de Can Nofre (in Montuiri). The two publicly owned ones are called Molí des Fraret for reasons that escape me. A fraret is a puffin in Catalan. The word may be a corruption from fariner to indicate flour mill. Whatever the meaning, the windmill in Manacor dates from the eighteenth century, as does its counterpart in Montuiri, which now doubles as the archaeological museum for the Son Fornés Talayotic site in the town.

Most of the windmills are from a similar time. In Montuiri, where there are several mills, Can Nofre is in fact the oldest, as it was built in the seventeenth century. But the windmills of Majorca are from much older times. References to pre-Catalan times don't seem to exist, though there were undoubtedly mills during the Muslim period. The first true documentation comes from the thirteenth century. Ramon Llull mentioned them, while the oldest specific reference is to the windmill of S'Alqueria Blanca in Santanyi in 1262.

Windmills didn't really come into their own until the sixteenth century, however. This was when the period of windmill expansion started and it was to continue into the twentieth century. The originals were of roughly similar design and specification: up to eight metres high, ten metres in diameter and with walls some one metre thick. This was the spec, in any event, of the traditional flour mill. The designs of others varied, as did their purpose: some for extracting water, while there were others that were water mills, i.e. driven by running water.

But water extraction had mainly relied on animal power. Donkeys and mules would walk round and round, blindfolded in order to prevent sickness. The animals would also be used to grind wheat, salt and clay. Known as the "molinos de sangre", the mills of blood, there had been a time when donkeys and mules hadn't been needed: slaves were deployed instead.

The greatest revolution with windmills wasn't to be until the mid-nineteenth century: 1845 to be precise. It was then that the first true water mill, i.e. one that harnessed wind to extract water, was used by the Dutch engineer Paul Bouvij for accelerating the drying of wetlands in the Prat de Sant Jordi in Palma.

This mill, with a lateen sail-style wheel, was added to by ever more innovative designs, primarily the "ramell" (for flower) designs. And by now, the new mills were almost exclusively used to get water out of the ground. While they were to be found all over the island, there were concentrations in specific areas: in and around Palma; in the south-eastern zone of Campos and Ses Salines; and in the potato and vegetable-growing region of Sa Pobla and Muro. Further and ever more modern designs came along as technology introduced the American-style wind pump in the 1920s and then wind turbines for electricity generation from the 1930s.

Though the windmills are part of an old industrial heritage, they are also very much part of the present. Of water-pumping windmills, a census of 2002 registered more than 2,500, getting on for a half of them in the Palma area. In Campos there were over 600. Of flour-grinding mills, a different census in the late 1990s put their number at 796, with concentrations in Llucmajor, Felanitx, Palma and Manacor. So it has been the case that the ancient technology, adapted to contemporary use, has seen the number of mills increase over the years. Between 1960 and the start of the last century, over 600 water mills were added.


Index for February 2016

Basketball - 8 February 2016
Beach chiringuitos - 10 February 2016
British abroad - 26 February 2016
City branding and emotion - 5 February 2016
Corruption trials - 25 February 2016
EU referendum - 23 February 2016
Floating waterparks - 11 February 2016
Green taxes v. tourist tax - 9 February 2016
Groundhog Day and Mallorca - 4 February 2016
Holiday rentals and government - 17 February 2016
Hotel receptionists - 19 February 2016
Joan Binimelis - 21 February 2016
Libraries in Mallorca - 15 February 2016
Mallorca Maritime Museum - 18 February 2016
Mariano Rajoy and Pedro Sánchez - 14 February 2016, 28 February 2016
Més and the Balearic government - 24 February 2016
Palma town hall and managing people - 16 February 2016
Place names: Palma and Alcudia - 1 February 2016
PSOE and the dangers of Podemos - 2 February 2016
Tourism technology - 13 February 2016
Tourist tax - 6 February 2016, 7 February 2016, 12 February 2016, 20 February 2016, 22 February 2016, 27 February 2016
Windmills in Mallorca - 29 February 2016
Zika and other plagues - 3 February 2016

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 28 February 2016

Morning high (7.53am): 6.2C
Forecast high: 14C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 29 February - Cloud, 15C; 1 March - Sun, 13C; 2 March - Sun, cloud, 15C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00):  Southwest 4 to 6 veering Northeast 3 to 4 around midday.

Chilly morning, reasonably bright. A better day in prospect than yesterday, though there is a possibility of showers. The week ahead a mixed bag of quite good sun at times plus wind and the occasional shower.

Evening update (19.50): Raining at the moment and there was a shower in the afternoon after what had been a reasonable morning. High of 15.4C.

Panto Season In Spain

"He's behind you!" "Oh no he isn't!" "Oh yes he is!" It's panto season in Spain. We know this because one of the great dames has decreed it thus. Mariano Rajoy has said there's a panto. Oh yes there is. It was a peculiar observation by Mazza. The Spanish, as with most of the rest of the non-British world, doesn't get panto. For the Spanish it's doubly confusing. Why would you actively seek out audience participation? Ah, you see, times they are a-changing and even Mazza has got the citizen participation bug. Which part of the pantomime horse should he be? The question needs to be posted on to the Official Bulletin. At present, Mazza is firmly in the rear. But who knows? The pantomime is such that he could become the front and double up as Widow Twankey.

Mariano's panto will take place this week when the boy Pedro Sánchez of PSOE attempts to get himself voted in as prime minister (president). There are other words and expressions that one could call on to describe the current state of non-government in Spain, but Mazza has opted for pantomime. How about total farce? Here's any one of the Brian Rix-style leaders of the four parties racing around the stage of the Whitehall Theatre with his trousers round his ankles. More tea, vicar?

Just to remind you, it is now over two months since there was an election. This coming week, there is the remote possibility that the boy Pedro might actually become prime minister (president). But it is only remote on account of the pantomime nature of the whole farrago. He's tied a pre-nuptial agreement with Ciudadanos, a party with two many syllables that is referred to more easily as the C's, and a right bunch of C's they are in some politicians' estimation (Pablo Iglesias of Podemos for one). Its leader is Albert Rivera, a youthful politician who, were he to trim his name down to Al Rivera, would sound like some dreadful crooning act from the 1970s appearing for the summer season on Hastings pier under the Al moniker but in reality being Les Reeves from Warrington.

But back at the panto, and who was it that the boy Pedro chose to reveal was behind him in a YouTube video designed to persuade the party membership that Al would make a suitable partner for a progressive and reforming government with Pedro at the helm? Yes, it was none other than Pablo Iglesias. But not that Pablo Iglesias. The Hairy One from Podemos may be able to boast facial hair and a great deal of hair full stop, but the Pablo behind Pedro was the one who founded PSOE in the days when socialists really were socialists, sported frightening moustaches, lectured everyone on Karl Marx and sang "The Internationale" and actually meant it.

Mariano, meanwhile, was sending a sort of love letter to Al. Convinced that the panto will descend into high farce, he was proposing a meeting after the boy Pedro fails to garner sufficient support in either of the upcoming Congress votes this week. "You know that I am always available," said Mazza, meaning that he is quite prepared (only prepared) to countenance any sort of link with the C's and PSOE if he's still prime minister (president). "A big hug," the letter concluded in the chummy way that letters are concluded in a Spanish style.

So, what can we expect this week? Well, let's ask the audience. Will Pedro become prime minister (president)? Oh yes he will. Oh no he won't.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 27 February 2016

Morning high (6.23am): 10.4C
Forecast high: 14C; UV: 2
Three-day forecast: 28 February - Cloud, 14C; 29 February - Cloud, 13C; 1 March - Sun, 13C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00):  Southwest 4 to 5 occasionally 6.

A bit of a storm overnight. Occasional sunny spells today but mostly cloudy with the chance of showers and also quite windy. This is something of a holiday weekend on account of 1 March being Balearics Day, with the best weather likely to be on 1 March.

Evening update (20.15): High of 14.3C. The odd bit of sun but also wind and rain. And not that warm.

Subsidising OAPs With The Tourist Tax

Pilar Carbonell is the director-general of Balearic tourism. In other words, and despite not being an elected official, she is the islands' tourism number two behind the minister, Biel Barceló. Tourism director-generals have been known to get promoted: Jaime Martínez, the previous minister, was a DG under Carlos Delgado. So, they're pretty important people.

I've met Carbonell. She seems attentive and sensible enough, so what was she doing coming out with yet another proposal as to how tourist tax revenues should be spent? As a DG she's in a reasonable position to have a view, but it was the purpose that didn't seem wholly reasonable. She was proposing that some of the revenue should go towards a type of Balearic senior citizens' winter-season tourism programme. This was not the Imserso programme that is statewide but one based on it and seemingly for Balearic OAPs only.

As Imserso provides subsidised winter breaks for Spanish pensioners, Pilar's version presumably entails tax revenue being used for subsidies. To be fair, it isn't in principle such a mad idea. Tackling seasonality is supposedly a key objective of the sustainable tourism tax law (it's in the draft legislation at any event). And seniors' winter tourism fits that particular bill. However, there are flaws to her scheme.

The first is: why should tourists from other countries help to foot the bill for tourists in the Balearics to have a winter break? The demands being made on foreign tourist altruism via the tax are high enough as it is. I'm unsure that this altruism stretches to subsidised OAP holidays. But if it does, then why not include tourists from other countries? Holidaymakers might not find it such a bad proposition if they knew that their tax payments were to go on helping to fund a winter's holiday for mum and dad or gran and grandad. It won't though, which thus raises the potential for discrimination. Europe's lawyers would be all over the proposal like a rash.

The second is: where do these senior citizen tourists typically stay? Hotels. In fact, they only stay in hotels. The Imserso scheme is a decent means of allowing some hotels to keep open in the winter and to keep people gainfully employed. In this regard, the scheme might be thought to be useful. But aren't the hoteliers supposed to be some sort of devil incarnate when it comes to the government and the tourist tax? 

Thirdly: if the holidays were to be subsidised, would the tax be as well? Ah, actually not, because the government's draft legislation makes an exemption for Imserso tourists. Yes, if you're Spanish, you're on a pension and you're on an Imserso scheme, you don't have to pay. Another one for the discrimination seekers.

Fourthly: while hotels might be able to fill some rooms and keep some people in jobs, what about other businesses? One of the failings of Imserso is that, typically, the Spanish OAPs spend virtually nothing outside their hotel. The main additional beneficiaries are coach operators who ferry the pensioners around on excursions. Bars, restaurants and others are rarely beneficiaries.

All in all, therefore, the Pilar proposal doesn't sound that good. But then she was doing what everyone else is, and that is seeking to find ways of claiming the tax revenues. Palma wants a 10% cut of it (the PP in Palma do at any rate). Calvia wants its slice. Always Palma, always Calvia: the rest can go hang. The government, though, is trying to avoid there being any divvying-up by location. The revenue will be spent project by project, though the terms of reference for this are unknown. This hasn't stopped the Council of Mallorca coming out with its own demand: 74% of tax revenue should be spent on Mallorca, it says.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 26 February 2016

Morning high (7.50am): 9.8C
Forecast high: 17C; UV: 3
Three-day forecast: 27 February - Rain, wind, 14C; 28 February - Cloud, 11C; 29 February - Cloud, 12C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00):  West 3 to 4 easing temporarily Variable 2 to 3 around midday.

Pleasant morning, but sun today may be in limited supply over the weekend, as temperatures drop, the wind picks up and rain falls, with snow possible at around 800 metres.

The British Abroad: In images

I didn't know the name Peter Dench until the other day. Many of you may not have known his name. Which is not to say that Peter Dench is not well-known. He is. In the world of photojournalism, that is.

Because of where we are - Mallorca; because of what we all know - Magalluf and its attendant attractions; because of the insatiable appetite of journalism in its different guises to record the moments, we are presented with an example of Peter Dench's work. Bloke on holiday. Brit bloke on holiday. Brit bloke slumped over a wall. A Magalluf wall. We don't know quite how old Brit bloke is. It's hard to say when he's face down and enquiries are being made as to his well-being by a passing and caring female who seems to be in the wrong resort. The only surprise with the photo was that Brit bloke still had his shorts on. That's Magalluf for you. Usually. Keeled over and kit off.

Taken as a single image, the photo could have been misconstrued as merely another attempt to exploit the Magalluf reputation and present it to the world in the name of journalism. A single image that could have been taken a thousand times. And not just in Magalluf. But the single image needs to be considered within the context of the whole Peter Dench oeuvre. He records Englishness and Britishness. Warts and all, but principally the warts.

The Sony World Photography Awards are broken down into numerous categories. One of them is Daily Life within a wider category of Documentary and itself under the heading of Professional. Among the Daily Life nominees are, for example, Espen Rasmussen with "The Curse of Coal". And then there is Peter Dench, "The British Abroad".

The very title gives the game away. "The British Abroad" presupposes a type of Brit. The legend immediately suggests that this is Brit abroad of a less than wholly edifying nature. It is a title that has been with us pretty much since mass tourism jetted into the skies in the early 1960s. Brits abroad have always been, variously, uncouth, ill-educated, slobs, drunks, xenophobes, small-minded. Brits abroad have long required low-lying walls, designed and built by tourist authorities to permit being slumped over following the intake of a year's worth of alcohol in one night.

The only variables within this generic are those of age. Brit abroad doesn't necessarily grow old gracefully. Indeed, quite the contrary. But for the marketers, this particular segment of the Brit market can only be defined, apart from age, by its lower ratings in the ABC socioeconomic scheme of things. Lower in fact. Here are Huxley's Deltas and Epsilons. These are non-beings in the new schemata of, for example, the marketing brains trust of Meliá New Town, the brave new world of As and B+s, segmented in their own ways, such as by membership of the Millennial Generation, one in which all youthful(ish) tourists have excellent dental work, surf the artificial surf and that of the internet, are attached permanently to social networks and want for no more than a glass of extraordinarily expensive sparkling water.

These new-age beings do not, therefore, inhabit the stereotypical land of The British Abroad. They do not conform with an image that has been carved out with such mindless dedication over decades. But were they to be the subject of an alternative exercise in photojournalism, they would likewise be a kind of pastiche but within its own narrow terms of reference. And that's because there have to be certain defining images, ones that make sense and have coherence as being representative in order to be displayed to the world, be it via Sony awards or otherwise.

For all this, and in the context of Magalluf, it needs to be said that The British Abroad is an evolving being. And it is here where I have to question Peter Dench. Not because of his fine work, not because of his excellent eye and composition, not because of the virtues of photographically capturing images that together create a powerful representation of a particular strand of British existence.

A collection of The British Abroad, replete with bloke in tutu standing on a balcony, Bollocks Karaoke Pub and others, that is on a Getty website carries a description and explanation: The Dench Diary Foreign Special. It is the written support to the images, some of which are from Magalluf (others are from elsewhere, such as Ibiza). The feature, this collection of images, comes from spring-summer 2012 and 2013. It is this, therefore, that I question. We've moved on. Haven't we? Why drag out the bloke on the wall now?

This is not to say that all has changed in Magalluf. But can the imagery be said to deal with the passé? Or will The British Abroad always be with us?

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 25 February 2016

Morning high (7.44am): 13.5C
Forecast high: 16C; UV: 3
Three-day forecast: 26 February - Cloud, 17C; 27 February - Cloud, 12C; 28 February - Cloud, sun, 12C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00):  Northwest 4 locally 5 backing West 3 to 4 during the afternoon.

Sun peeking through early cloud and this may be the pattern today. Possible shower at some stage. Outlook for tomorrow and into the weekend - mostly cloudy and temperature dropping.

Evening update (21.30): High of 17.4C. Some good sun in the afternoon.

Look In The Mirror: Corruption trials

Is there a point at which sympathy replaces contempt and when one questions the need for prolonging the agony? She has been unwell, we know. Perhaps these public appearances - ones in court - are for public consumption and are designed to elicit sympathy. Her reputation destroyed, her dealings dissected and vilified by court and media, her life seemingly destroyed. Why continue with applying the pain?

Maria Munar, the one-time princess of Mallorca, cuts a pathetic figure. She has been in prison since July 2013, serving a six-year sentence for one of the corruption cases in which she was a central figure. Three months after she entered prison, the Supreme Court confirmed a five and a half year sentence in respect of a different case. She has returned to court, admitted wrongdoing in relation to yet another. A prison term for that will be substituted by a fine.

It was not just the sad, drawn and despairing countenance which spoke as though there had been a bereavement. There was the mourning black of the dyed hair. All vitality gone, it was as though she were attending her own funeral, shrouded in black, making confessions prior to a meeting with very much higher authorities than the Earthly ones who control her punishment.

It wasn't only Maria. Next to her on the hard, wooden bench of the courtroom was her one-time dauphin, Miquel Nadal. An extraordinary photo. Maria gaunt, Miquel almost as though he were suntanned despite his own incarceration for much the same corruption cases that burst from the one-time Unió Mallorquina. Yet his expression was strange. Fixed, wide-eyed. He's lost weight. How many more times will he be obliged to sit on that unyielding block of cold courtroom wood?

To his right was another. Francesc Buils, the tourism minister before Miquel. He is a courtroom regular too. Some while he ago, he was conveying a positive impression of his time inside. He even managed to get some words to the media. He was playing basketball, going to the gym, making the most of a bad job. He had appeared almost cheerful. Now, in this same photo, it seemed as though the weight was returning. The expression was blank, resigned.

In another court, many miles away, the one-time president of the Spanish confederation of businesses and co-partner in the Grupo Marsans empire, Gerardo Díaz Ferrán, wondered last October how much more pain and damage could be inflicted on one person. He referred to his "regrettable life" but also to what he claimed was a trial for something for which he had been previously acquitted. His regrettable life includes various illnesses from which he is said to be suffering.

Back in Mallorca, we have the various cast members of the Nóos trial. We have the close-up photos of the Infanta. There is no hiding place for her in the courtroom. For the most part, she is expressionless. She seeks to disguise reactions, but in the examination of her eyes, does one detect fear and anxiety? If there were once these with Maria, they have gone. The fear has gone, replaced only by the knowledge of inevitable greater humiliation. The eyes are dull. The life has gone.

The Infanta, for now, has Urdangarin. They can arrive at court together. But she seems to share something with Maria, with Miquel, Francesc and Gerardo. They are so terribly alone. It is this exposure of solitude as much as the rectitude of prosecutors that impel ever more such exposure that can shock as much as the empty expressions. Backs were turned long ago, just as backs have now been turned on Cristina, Urdangarin and Matas. The falls from grace, either confirmed or awaiting confirmation or acquittal, are made naked in front of the relentless examinations of prosecutor and voyeuristic media and public.

It is of course because of who they are. There are countless others who endure the same but who are never identified in such ways, who never parade personal grief in seeking the eliciting of sympathy. These are trials, in a sense, of reconciliation, of a nation at long last coming to terms with its unwritten rules that could permit immoral behaviour determined from on high. Matas, Munar, Díaz Ferrán; they are the coalition of political and corporate lives with their mutual benefits. The prosecutors, the public want, demand retribution, yet there lurks an uneasy sense that this reconciliation is one for a process to which society was often complicit. To what extent do the empty expressions mirror those of a public - not all of it, but some - which drew its own benefits and behaviours from tacit approval?

Perhaps there needs to be a broader reconciliation and examination of conscience. Sympathy? But for whom? Check the mirror and wonder if the failings in these faces are those of others. 

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 24 February 2016

Morning high (7.40am): 9.4C
Forecast high: 20C; UV: 3
Three-day forecast: 25 February - Cloud, 15C; 26 February - Sun, cloud, 14C; 27 February - Cloud, 12C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00):  Variable 2 increasing Southwest 3 to 4 during the afternoon.

A fine morning and a good day to come. In terms of sun and warmth likely to be the best for a few days.

Evening update (22.00): High of 21.3C. Breeze picked up later on. Before that, very pleasant and warm.

You Need A Més Of Help

It was at the time when The Beach Boys were on their way down. Occasional gems would still emerge but "You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone" wasn't one of them. Heavy beards had replaced the one-time surfer look, Carl might have passed for Lowell George of Little Feat, and there they were singing about a mess. I didn't know then as I still don't know now whether a mess of help is some sort of idiomatic expression or if it was just made up. Whatever its origin, the presumption was that one needed a good deal of help in order to stand alone, which in the case of The Beach Boys by 1972 meant almost totally without Brian and in a manner that had dispensed with the sunny disposition of sun-and-beach surferdom and had adopted a grizzled eco-evangelist beard-dom.

There's a metaphor here, trust me. One is the grizzled, bearded eco-evangelism of portly in a Carl Wilson-style Vicenç Vidal, the regional government's eco minister and member of the party of all things eco-righteous, Més. The wider metaphor is for Més as a party. It needs a mess of help to stand alone. Or appears to. With whom does it stand shoulder to shoulder? Do any of the parties of the so-called government pact demonstrate such solidarity? Or has it all fallen apart and they are just trying to keep up appearances?

It had once occurred to me that Més, being more to the left than PSOE, might have been some sort of mentoring facility for Podemos as it took its first innocent steps into the bear pit of the Balearic parliament. This has not been the case. Podemos has required no buddy system to assist it in its mission to out shout everyone and anyone else. It cares nought for unwritten protocols, smashing down doors with Jack Nicholson mad-eyed determination. One can have some admiration, even as the Podemos collective shouts "little pigs", taking an axe to the comfort of procedures formed over thirty or so years of Balearic parliamentary democracy. Admiration, but there's something terrifying as well. "Here's Johnny!"

How can this be, though? There are, after all, the accords for change, the agreements for government, the pact between PSOE, Més and Podemos. These accords are as may be. They can be quoted and cited but no one is now under any illusion that they are the axe blows in the hands of Podemos and only Podemos. While PSOE, in the form of Francina Armengol, tries to steer a gentle course of non-confrontation with Podemos, Més have had enough of the charade. They are standing alone because they are standing up and exposing the masquerade.

It is precisely that greater leftness which is, one suspects, at the heart of the fallout. There is only so much political territory that various parties can occupy simultaneously before they all start bitching with each other. And as I observed the other day, Podemos has even begun to cut fertile eco land from under Més by claiming the environmentalist agenda with the tourist tax.

It is understood that PSOE and Més have grown sick and tired of Podemos and are to seek "clarification" in order to try and end the crisis of mutual lack of confidence and salvage what might remain of the pact. But both parties should have known how things would be. If Podemos was not in the government but was outside and directing government, the recipe always existed for chaos. And so it is proving. It is Més, though, which can stomach the situation less, and it has been David Abril who has been the most vocal in attacking Podemos. As it isn't in government, it doesn't understand what it's like to have to govern day by day. For Podemos, everything is theoretical, observations from without and not practicalities from within.

The "communicative distance" that has grown between the government and Podemos, according to Alberto Jarabo, could also have been predicted. When there is one party, Podemos, so totally pissing off two others, the communication is bound to break down. Accords for change are irrelevant. One is dealing with human nature. When Johnny crashes his axe through the door, you lash out with a knife to his hand.

But above all, it was the result of the December general election that has shattered any illusion of harmony with the Balearic government pact. That result rendered Més irrelevant, while it ushered in the new most voted-for party of the left, i.e. Podemos. Emboldened by how it polled, Podemos has been shouting ever more loudly. Yet there is likely to be a twist. If Pedro Sánchez opts for Ciudadanos, the PSOE-Podemos relationship in the Balearics will be placed under ever greater strain. For Més, there will be barely any room left to stand alone. 

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 23 February 2016

Morning high (7.40am): 10C
Forecast high: 18C; UV: 3
Three-day forecast: 24 February - Sun, cloud, 21C; 25 February - Sun, cloud, 13C; 26 February - Sun, cloud, 15C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00):  Variable 2 to 3 increasing during the morning to West-Northwest 3 to 5.

Cloudy start, should clear, should be sunny. Forecast for later this week and for the weekend suggests falling temperatures from the current quite high values.

Evening update (21.15): Some decent sun but also a chill breeze at times. High of 19.9C. 

A Midsummer Night's Referendum

Oh no. Having spent the last several years paying only cursory attention to British affairs, other than to the achievements (or not) of various sports teams, it seems that I may be forced into discarding this comparative disinterest. A prevailing sense of ennui with Dave-ism, Corbynism, the ism of whoever it is leading the Liberal Democrats, Farage-ism, the loony rightism of much of the British press must now be subordinate to the frantic, the fanatic and the fantastic of the ensuing four months. As if I haven't enough on my plate with Rajoy, Podemos and the Infanta. Thanks a lot, Dave. Will you, by the way, be coming to Mallorca for your summer hols this year if if all goes it's up this June? Take care, Dave, there may be hidden dangers lurking behind the coffee-sipping photo opportunity at the Club Pollença. A wild expatriate donning a pith helmet and brandishing an elephant gun of non-voting-right shot aimed firmly at the prime ministerial posterior.

As a prelude to the hullabaloo that will now resonate until approximately Midsummer's Night, I confess to having admired a comment by a Sara on the Majorca Daily Bulletin website, in which she questioned why Brits who have lived outside the UK for so long insist on being called expats rather than immigrants. The word, she suggested, "sounds so colonial and snobbish". I would add that it can be used as a pejorative with which to attack Britons who have had the temerity to wish to live somewhere else and that - as a collective term - it seeks to ghettoise those who have no absolutely no wish to be recognisable as a member of a gin-drinking ghetto. I have long attempted to eschew the word. I can't stand it. Even if I may be one, I spend zero amount of mental time contemplating my status as one or agonising as to the meaning of E-life.

But Dave is going to force even a re-adjustment in this regard. You will not be able to move for the E-word between now and June and for several years after. The fate of those with E-status lies with the should we stays or should we goes of the summer solstice. We can prepare our fires for Midsummer's Night here in Mallorca, while Middle (mainly to the right) England heads to the polling stations, newspapers with strident front pages issuing instructions in their hands, and lights the kindling to unleash the fire of all fires. Atop this pyre will be the effigy of Jean-Claude Juncker, the great tomes from Maastricht, the labyrinthine documentation of the workings of the single market, liberal (as in unconstrained) sprinklings of benefits, migrants, eastern European rantings, anti-German sentiment, anti-French sentiment, anti-pretty much anything and, oh yes, anti-those of an E-status. Ha, ha, serves you right for turning your backs on a filthy British midwinter. Your Midsummer's Nightmare has arrived.

Of course, this may not be how things go. They may not go it's up. Dave will have saved the day. But that's all four months away. While the goes and stays trade blows from now until June, the British immigrant population of Mallorca (and Spain) will be in a state of high anxiety. What will it mean? Oh, woe is us. Where can we find answers? Will I be placed on the first Royal Air Force evacuation flight on the morning of 24 June?

Answers? What answers? As the questions aren't actually known yet, how can there be answers? Sorry, yes, there are of course questions. Many of them. But officially they can't be answered because the terms of reference are as yet unknown. And that's the biggest question of the lot. The unknown. The total unknown. There has never been a departure from the European project. The rules are not written. And it will take years for them to be, meaning that those of an E-status will be in a sort of an E-limbo land, brought about by the fascinations of Midsummer's Night and its Fairyland of Referendum.

For what it's worth, at a recent meeting of the now no-more Europeos por España there seemed reasonable confidence that those with permanent residence status would not be about to lose it. But don't take my word and, as yet, don't take anyone's word, because they don't know. All is speculation. All is prone to putting the wind up the British immigrant, causing anxiety and stress, when the T's and C's that will follow if the leaves have their day may well calm fears of mass deportations.

So now the waiting begins. In four months time we will know how well the good people of the United Kingdom will have swallowed the hysteria (or not). Questions, questions. And here's one. Whose head will be transformed into that of a donkey?

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 22 February 2016

Morning high (8.10am): 19.1C
Forecast high: 23C; UV: 3
Three-day forecast: 23 February - Sun, 18C; 24 February - Sun, cloud, 16C; 25 February - Sun, cloud, 14C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): South-Southwest 3 to 5 veering West by the evening.

What a difference a day makes - thirteen degrees difference for the morning report. Rainy and a bit breezy. Sun should emerge later. Not as warm tomorrow but more sun.

Evening update (21.15): Pretty warm - a high of 23.9C - but only so much sun. More a case of light cloud.

The Constipated Government

There's a nasty obstruction in the bowels of Balearic political power. It cannot be shifted. Hard as it might be tried, no laxative can eliminate it. This obstruction is the government itself, its dietary habit of chewing over things around and around with their resultant disappearance up the collective governmental backside, having compacted movement into all but permanent blockage.

It was Jaume Font who spoke of constipation. The El Pi leader observed that the government has been constipated from the outset, unable to act in any decisive fashion because the real government - Podemos - has remained loose on its diet of political prunes: loose and firing cannon from the outside. Splat! Things can get and are messy.

Yet Podemos, for all that it can be said that the party benefits from loose stool, suffers from great dungheaps of anal retentiveness. Stubbornness, a need for control, obsession with detail, they all collide with the desperate attempts of the constipated government to exert its own control; the meal that has provoked all this excretory awkwardness having been the indigestible tourist tax.

This tax, says the Podemos Boot Girl, Laura Camargo, is a "symbol" of the government of change, this being the government of which her party isn't a member. But the "accords for change", to which Podemos is a signatory, are supposed to herald a new era of dialogue. On each issue there is dialogue, and at the end of the process, such dialogue can be said to have been shown to work. So long as Podemos gets its way. Laura is convinced that one day soon the tourist tax will truly be green. Dialogue is a one-way street where Podemos is concerned.

Somehow, and no one can say for sure, purposes for the tax totally divorced from any tourism application managed to slip into the general ranting emanating from the Boot Girl. Apparently, the late-night pow-wow to save the tax raised the prospect of revenue going towards the government's guaranteed social income scheme, and it was the government which proposed this. Oh no it didn't, came the reply, with the Més minister for social matters as livid as other members of Més: relations between Podemos and Més appear to have all but broken down. So much for accords for change. Had Laura just been stirring it, then? Possibly so, but she was stirring it into a green, eco-friendly, biodegradable pulp.

Why, one might ask, was all this not sorted out in those happy, smily days before Biel Barceló disappeared and when he and sweet and friendly Francina could announce that the tax draft had been approved? One reason why is that Podemos isn't in the government. Even it doesn't actually draft legislation. Yet. Another reason, one suspects, was that Podemos, because of the "symbolic" nature of the tax, was always destined to enter into a bloody great scrap over it, and that's because it wanted to. The symbolism of the tax is that it is a testbed. If Podemos fails with its ambitions for the tax, then whither the whole project with PSOE and Més?

Laura said that having a fight (over the tax) was not the way, when it is she who engages in fights and could start one in an empty room. It is what she does; hence the nickname. "We were screaming like we were kids in primary school," an unidentified Podemos source said of that late-night meeting. Yep, sounds about right. Biel Barceló, the slowly evaporating tourism minister, made a brief reappearance to say that the important thing was to succeed, that they (the government) were a little surprised by the Podemos stance (which was an understatement) and that the citizens would not understand if advances of the government were to be thwarted. In fact, one suspects that the citizens would know full well why advances might be thwarted. They voted for it after all: the constipated government.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 21 February 2016

Morning high (8.33am): 6.2C
Forecast high: 17C; UV: 3
Three-day forecast: 22 February - Sun, cloud, 23C; 23 February - Sun, cloud, 15C; 24 February - Sun, cloud, 16C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 to 3.

Cloudy start but may clear to give a sunny day as good as yesterday's. Tomorrow is forecast to be quite warm. General outlook is reasonable.

Evening update (20.50): High of 18.2C. Not much sun but ok otherwise.

Manacor's Renaissance Man

The Manacor History Museum is one of the best museums outside Palma and it has recently launched an exhibition dedicated to one of the town's illustrious sons but someone who will be largely unknown. Perhaps this isn't surprising, as his most famous work failed to be published.

Joan Binimelis lived from 1539 to 1616. The exhibition refers to him as a "manacorí" (person from Manacor) of the Renaissance. Yet this Renaissance man had to contend with influences that were contrary to new ways, such as the Inquisition. He was, among other things, a doctor, a man of the cloth, a geographer, map maker, astronomer, mathematician and humanist. Such a range of interests and professions should arguably - and long ago - have placed him in the limited pantheon of all-time Mallorcan greats, such as another polymath, Ramon Llull, with whom he shares linguistic achievement that was of a somewhat groundbreaking nature. Llull is widely attributed with having popularised Catalan through his novel, "Blanquerna". Binimelis put together a work that was not in Catalan but in Mallorquín, a language (or dialect if one prefers), of which it is usually said that there was not a written tradition: it was a spoken language and only spoken.

Binimelis, however, destroys that perception. Moreover, what he wrote in Mallorquín was a work of absolute importance. He was the author of the first ever history of Mallorca, its title, "Història General del Regne de Mallorca", the general history of the kingdom of Mallorca.

He commended this work to the justices who governed Mallorca (indeed it was intended to have been his legacy to them), noting that there were two versions: one in Castellano and the other in "nostre llengua mallorquina", our Mallorcan language. The Mallorcan version was in fact finished first, in 1595. However, he was to die in 1616 a bitter man who had been largely discredited and who had not seen any interest in the work actually being published.

These justices were men who formed what was essentially like a town hall today, except that they presided over the whole island. They were important people, but though Binimelis was hopeful of their patronage, something went wrong. And there are different theories as to what. One has to do with the fact that, although the book was a history of Mallorca from the time of Jaume I's invasion of 1229, it referred to things that were distinctly non-Mallorcan, such as the story of Noah and the Ark. This, it has been suggested, led to a conclusion that the Renaissance man wasn't quite as modern as he might have appeared. However, it is also said that allusions to mythology or the Bible weren't entirely uncommon for the time, even if Noah had somehow managed to appear in Mallorca's past.

A more simple explanation is that the justices who were the civil authorities on the island didn't have the money to commit to publication. This may indeed have been the reason, were it not for a third possibility: the Inquisition. It would appear that Binimelis was accused of having been more than merely friendly with a nun. He denied this but eventually confessed: the Inquisition did have a habit (so to speak) of getting their man. The stigma of such an apparent dalliance, it has been argued, was enough to make the justices go cool on any formal agreement with Binimelis.

Whatever the reason, the work lay little known and unpublished until it was to appear in Castellano in 1927. Even then, however, it wasn't known who the original author had been. It was to take a further fifty years, through a study of documents pertaining to the Inquisition, to confirm that it had been Binimelis. Some ten years after this confirmation, he finally received recognition and was named an illustrious son of Manacor.

Despite the occasional odd references to Noah, the Binimelis work was of major importance. It was a history but also encyclopedic in that it chronicled things such as food, produce, animals, fish, even the winds of Mallorca. But on the history itself, here was stuff, for example, about the creation of the new settlements that were established in Mallorca after the Catalan conquest. And there was also a charting of Moorish invasions - the famed ones of Pollensa in 1550 and Soller in 1561 - but others too: Alcudia in 1551 and 1558; Andratx in 1553 and 1578.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 20 February 2016

Morning high (8.37am): 6.7C
Forecast high: 15C; UV: 3
Three-day forecast: 21 February - Sun, 18C; 22 February - Sun, cloud, 17C; 23 February - Sun, cloud, 15C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2.

Following the rain yesterday morning, which was usefully heavy at times (useful for replenishing water levels), a calmer pattern emerged and continues today with sun and light breezes. Staying sunny into tomorrow.