All Aboard The Podemos Bus

Coming to us soon - us as in those living in Palma - will be the Hazte Oír "bus of hate", as it has been branded. The bus is scheduled to appear in Mallorca at the start of June. It won't if the town hall and others have anything to do with it. A different bus may be made to feel more welcome. Podemos have their own. It's the "tramabús", trama referring to plot or conspiracy, so it is a bus dedicated to the corrupt and the allegedly corrupt. Among this roll call are ... Mariano Rajoy, Felipe González, José María Aznar, Esperanza Aguirre and Rodrigo Rato. The latter of these, we have been learning over the past few days, allegedly laundered millions while he was both the head of the International Monetary Fund and the deputy prime minister of Spain (this is what the Guardia Civil is said to have ascertained).

The bus has divided opinion within Podemos, broadly along the lines exposed by the recent battle for control of the party. The Iglesias faction, the victorious one, seems pleased with the bus. Those sticking to the wing of the vanquished Infant, Íñigo Errejón, are less enamoured. Indeed, they think it's ridiculous, especially as it's as though Podemos have taken a leaf out of the hated Hazte Oír's book.

There is also some disquiet about how much the bus is costing - some 600 or 700 euros a day. Maybe, therefore, Podemos could offset this by organising excursions. Why not offer a Podemos trip to tourists? The bus could show visitors the more saturated parts of the island (and indeed elsewhere in Spain). Nice idea, but there would need to be an operator's licence. And to not have one simply wouldn't do. All would be above board aboard the Podemos plot bus.