Land Of Confusion

Now, you might be under the impression that the long drawn-out, utterly tedious and indeed utterly pointless controversy surrounding the projected golf course near Playa de Muro had finally come to some conclusion. You might be under this impression if you had read that the environment minister had "vetoed" it. You would, though, have needed to have read a bit more closely in order to discover that it wasn't the environment minister and that what the not-the-environment minister actually said was that it was a matter for the Mallorca Council, though he did also say that there were enough golf courses (well, more or less he said that) and that the current government was against expansion of different types (including "touristic" and "sporting" ones) if they did not have full government approval.

As far as the argument about there being enough golf courses, he - and he is in fact the minister for mobility and "ordenación" (whatever that is) - is absolutely right. I have said it time and time again on this blog that the conversion of the Son Bosc finca is not appropriate because another golf course is simply not needed. To hell with the environmental issues, important though they also are, the straightforward business case for the course is completely unproven. Right, so good, the minister seems to get that much, and the reporting suggests that this is all a victory for enviro agitators GOB. It may well indeed be, but what exactly does this have to do with this particular minister? Not a great deal, one imagines, if the actions of the equivalent here of the Ombudsman are anything to go by. Following a complaint by GOB, the Ombudsman is investigating whether there has been a lack of objectivity in the case of the Son Bosc golf development by ... the environment ministry, which is a different ministry to that of the mobility chap but is still part of the same Balearic Government. And yet, according to the minister, it should all be a matter for the Mallorca Council, which has nevertheless not prevented him from "vetoing" the development.

And there is something else which is a matter for the Mallorca Council, about which the minister is having his say. Following a meeting with GOB, he cast doubts as to plans advanced, by the Mallorca Council, for new ring roads around Palma.

So, hang on, let's just try and get this straight if we can, or try and make a bit of a sense of it. The minister, whose government is under investigation from the Ombudsman, has a meeting with those who registered the complaint that has led to the Ombudsman's investigation, at which he says no to the subject of that investigation, and passes the buck to the Mallorca Council against whose plans for the ring roads he is also now not in agreement with, a point he makes following a meeting with those who registered the Son Bosc complaint that led to the Ombudsman's investigation. Right, well that's all clear then.

But if it is indeed down to the Mallorca Council to decide on Son Bosc and for the Council to draw up plans for new roads, one asks the question again of local politics: who actually is responsible and why does one need so many tiers of government? Can a regional government not sort out roads and other environmental matters? They have their say on the matters, so why not just let them get on with dealing with them? Then there is the question of possible overlap and turf wars. Where is the line between the environment ministry and the mobility ministry? It gets dreadfully confusing. And maybe there is just one other aspect to all this. The environment minister is from the UM (Unió Mallorquina) party and the mobility minister is from the Mallorcan socialists.

You have probably lost the plot. Don't worry, so have I.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Queen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpys1c3jCNs). Today's title - again, yes, once again.

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)