Michael Row The Boat Ashore

The Unió Mallorquina party has a new leader. Again. Some eighteen months since the last one came in, in comes the latest new one - Miquel Àngel Flaquer who replaces another Miquel, Nadal of that name. Flaquer has promised that the past two years of instability in the party will now be put behind them. There is not just a sense of déjà vu about the election of a new leader, it exists also in that Nadal said much the same thing when he assumed the leadership. Flaquer had some words for Nadal, suggesting that he had used the party as a "personal instrument". There will be a resumption of "munarismo" in the party, a reference to the matriarch of the UM, María Antonia Munar, now the president of the Balearic parliament and former president of the party. She was a founder of the party in 1982 and now looms over it in Thatcherite fashion, ready to handbag anyone who steps out of line. The leaders of the UM benefit from her patronage. Nadal was one; he was very much Munar's boy when the last election was held. Not that it got him very far - well about eighteen months.

The fractious nature of the UM was in evidence prior to Nadal's elevation. At one point during the leadership battle that he won, he actually took his bat home and withdrew his candidature, only to come back with the Munar handbag of approval and trounce both Alcúdia's mayor Miquel Ferrer, who rictus-grinned through his gap-toothed smile having lost, and Miquel Grimalt, he of the notorious "Decreto Grimalt", now the environment minister. All these Miquels - all these Michaels rowing the boat ashore into the rocks of political turmoil. Maybe now there is a Micky who will steady the ship. You wouldn't really bet on it. But the UM does need to be stable. It does, after all, form part of the coalition that governs the islands, if govern is quite the right word - Nadal is also in a position of some importance as tourism minister.

As always, or seemingly as always, there was something a bit odd about the reporting of all this. Flaquer also had some words for the current state of Spanish politics, dominated, as it is, by the ruling PSOE and the Partido Popular. It fell, as all too frequently, to "The Bulletin" to provide the oddness. It referred to the PSOE as the National Socialists. Yep, the "n" and the "s" were capitalised. For anyone who might be a tad concerned, the PSOE is not a Nazi party. What should have been said was something along the lines of the nationwide socialist party - national socialists most certainly not.

Finally on the UM, just as a reminder, it was the matriarch Munar who once complained about the "invasion of foreigners" into Mallorca. So, if you happen to be foreign and are planning an invasion, just bear in mind that María and her party are not among your greatest fans.


And coming back to our favourite newspaper. What exactly are we to make of its propaganda for the Calvia bar association and this association for "Europeans", which now seems to be called "Europeos por España"? (It probably always was called that, just that it was reported wrongly as "Europa" rather than "España.) Once more, this propaganda appears in the Calvia section. The first understandably so, but the latter? But more importantly, are we to conclude that newspapers locally are mere vehicles for whatever association wants to publicise itself? Maybe we should. There was a very revealing interview in yesterday's issue with a journalist from the Bulletin's sister paper "Ultima Hora" who is due to retire next year. He said, inter alia, that journalism is "not about typing press releases". How right he is. And if you really must, you can google and discover that there is a website for this esteemed European association. And no, I'm not giving out the address; what do you think this is, a propaganda exercise?


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Chris Isaak, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4KHqg_gq4s. Today's title - take your pick with this one.

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