Xe-Lo And The Andy Capps

And so, another week of everyday Podemos folk. The plot thickened, and no more so than when Xe-Lo was photographed "fraternising" with the PP. The expelled Podemosite, fag in mouth (highly uncomplimentary it looked), was walking in the street with the PP's pro-tem leader, Miquel Vidal. What might that mean?

There was a peculiar lurch to the right among the Podemos sisters who have been ejected by High Command. Xe-Lo was with Miquel, and Montse was cosying up to Xavier (Pericay of Ciudadanos). Determined to remain as a Balearic parliamentary deputy, Montse announced that she would be seeking refuge in something known as the Grupo Mixto. This mixed group is an odd affair that comprises Ciudadanos (two of them) and the Gent from Formentera, of which there is only one gent, as in one person; which is roughly the sum population of Formentera. The Gent is (are) defined as eco-socialist and Catalan nationalist, which would make them bed mates of Més and most certainly not C's, who brandish garlic every time the devil of the nationalist thing is broadcast.

What do they have in common? Well, nothing, other than being parliamentary waifs and strays huddling together to keep warm and to ward off the mighty powers that dwarf them. And now Montse's about to enter their midst; Xe-Lo as well probably. At least they'll grow in size; in more ways than one. Stranger and stranger.

Meanwhile, the vultures were gathering and preparing to hover over the curly-haired head of Podemos number one Alberto Jarabo. Xe-Lo-ites gathered at a bar in Palma, the purpose of this being, it was suggested, to come up with a strategy to depose Alberto. Their intervention may not be necessary. Chief among the Podemosites, Pablo Iglesias, was making known his admiration and affection for The Boot Girl (Laura Camargo), ostensibly Alberto's number two but poised, though she denies it, to formally wrench power from Alberto. Her Bootness was being praised for her anti-capitalism, which Pablo has now fully bought into (if an anti-capitalist can be said to buy into anything).

The Spanish press have shortened the name of this bunch to "anticaps", which is just a short step away from them being "Andy Capps", and appropriate this is, if only some respects. Andy, from good working-class stock, could be a motif for the anticaps, except for the fact that they aren't working class (Iglesias certainly isn't). As for his permanent cigarette, that has more in common with Xe-Lo, who seemed to be on the point of joining the ranks of fully paid-up capitalists.

To add to all this confusion, Mallorca was graced with the presence of the Infant. Iñigo Errejón, representing the alternative, Podemos-lite, not-Andy Capps, was invited by Alberto to come and explain his view of the ever more weird world of Podemos. Was this Alberto aligning himself with the Infantists? He wasn't actually saying, but there were others in the Balearics who came out firmly in favour of the Infant, one of them being Da Judge (Juan Pedro Yllanes).

Then there was the whole business of who might get the gig as president (speaker) of parliament once Xe-Lo is finally prised out of the chair. More confusion. Iglesias was supporting Jarabo in his determination to cling onto the speaker's throne. The Boot Girl was intimating that Podemos might give it up and allow a Mésite to take over. Who was supporting who then? And on what? Podemos - one moment this, one moment that, but certainly never a dull moment.