In celebrating twenty years of existence, the travel magazine "Hosteltur" has identified twenty words or terms which have defined tourism since 1994. These are terms which are applicable to tourism generally, so I have narrowed the parameters and considered themes which have been of fundamental importance to Mallorca since 1994.
1. All-inclusive. The origins of the all-inclusive can be argued about. They are normally attributed to Club Med and their expansion to complexes such as Sandals. While Club Med had been around on Mallorca since the 1950s, it hadn't been a significant player, and the all-inclusive, as we now know it, didn't become a feature of the tourism landscape until roughly twenty years ago, and even then it was limited largely to the north and east of the island. We all know about its diffusion since then and the extent to which it has disrupted the previously harmonious balance between hotel and complementary sectors.
2. Beach zoning. On 4 March 1994 the Balearic Government issued a decree which established criteria for what could happen and what couldn't happen on beaches and on which parts. Different zones were created, some of which had limits set as to space which could be used. Why does this make the list? Firstly, because there hadn't previously been such a system and secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it was a form of standardisation which removed improvisation and arguably also removed some of the fun that had been had on beaches.
3. Crisis. Mallorca has experienced previous economic hard times - the oil crisis in the 1970s and the recession of the early 1990s - but the crisis (still with us but not as bad as it had been) shook tourism in different ways, such as by cutting credit and making even more popular the cost appeal of the all-inclusive holiday.
4. EasyJet. It may seem remarkable that easyJet isn't even twenty years old yet: it was founded in 1995. By 1998 the airline was flying daily from Luton to Palma as part of its summer schedule (late March to late October). EasyJet and the other low-cost airlines were to be significant in increasing passenger traffic through Son Sant Joan and in putting an impetus behind independent travel to the detriment of the package holiday.
5. Euro. 1 January 1999 was when it happened; when suddenly everything in Mallorca became that much more expensive. This is the commonly held view, and one that has some justification. It removed the inconvenience of changing currency, but only for those tourists from countries which adopted it.
6. Internet. In 1994 the internet was still an unproven concept and was far from being in everyday use. How things have changed. The web has not just been a fundamental change, it has been a revolution. Tourism has been turned on its head. Bookings, information, recommendations ..., it gave the tourist-consumer a power he previously hadn't possessed.
7. Ley General Turística. 24 March 1999 was the day when the Balearics' first tourism law was approved. The more recent 2012 tourism law reinforced much of what was in this first law, including prohibitions on some types of private property as holiday accommodation. One of the mysteries that surrounds the holiday-lets argument is quite why anyone finds it a comparatively new argument. It has certainly existed since 1999, though in fact there was a law as long ago as 1984 which tackled the subject - the "ley sobre alojamientos extrahoteleros".
8. POOT. The Plan de la Oferta Turística de Mallorca was approved by decree on 6 April 1995. It was a plan that was of profound importance. Though there had been previous plans which sought to organise how land was used for tourism purposes, the POOT was the first time that hard-and-fast criteria had been adopted. Essentially what POOT does is to place limits on the amount of tourism development within municipal boundaries.
9. Secondary activities. This is the newest of the fundamental changes. Part of the 2012 tourism law, secondary activities allow hotels to offer activities to the general public (and so not just guests) which had previously been the domain of the non-hotel, complementary sector. They can include all manner of things - restaurants, shops, clubs, concerts to name but a few. It is early days but secondary activities are likely to disrupt even further the balance between the hotel and complementary sectors.
10. Sustainability. An at-times nebulous concept and one that seems more often to be used for marketing purposes than for practical ones, sustainability is supposed to strike a balance between the demands of tourism and those of the environment, resources and the local economy. One of the first conferences dedicated to the subject was held in 1995.
Space has permitted only ten themes. There are others, and perhaps you have your own suggestions as to ways in which Mallorca's tourism has been changed over the last 20 years.
Showing posts with label Euro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Euro. Show all posts
Monday, April 14, 2014
Monday, February 11, 2013
Imperfect Information
Ed Smith, the former cricketer now writer, has discussed the issue of player rotation policy in cricket on the website Cricinfo.com. Smith has highlighted the debate that is raging in Australia over what the national selectors dub "informed player management". The word "informed" is crucial, as the main point Smith makes is that the rotation, especially of fast bowlers, is based on "imperfect information". Because the three formats of international cricket and the demands they make on players have co-existed for only a few years, there is no bank of data relating to players from previous eras on which selectors, coaches, physios and sports scientists can draw. The best anyone can come up with in support of rotation and of managing players' workloads, argues Smith, is "an informed judgement".
The article is interesting in its own right, but what struck me about it was that his subject serves as something of an analogy for politics and economics and indeed for how most if not all of us live our lives.
In Spain, as elsewhere in Europe, imperfect information dominates. The country's politics and economics are tied to two projects that have always been exercises in operating on the basis of imperfect information, namely European integration and the Euro. It is possible to argue, just, that models existed for both projects, but they were far from perfect. The two projects have been experiments, and it is in the nature of experiments that not every outcome can be predicted. Experiments have an inherent quality, that of uncertainty. And uncertainty has a nasty habit of producing the unexpected, though if there is one certainty for any system developed on the basis of imperfect information, then it is that the unexpected will occur.
Sadly, there is no such thing as perfect information. If there were, then decisions would be very much more simple and straightforward than they usually are. To take the Euro and the possibility of Spain exiting it, there are plenty of commentators who claim to know what the outcome would be. But how can they know for certain? Just as the Euro was the product of imperfect information, so an exit would be based on imperfect information. It hasn't happened before. No one can say with certainty what the outcome might be. Two imperfects do not make a perfect; they can just as easily be doubly imperfect.
The current political situation in Spain is a different matter insofar as it is possible to draw on previous information, but that information, commonly what happened in the 1930s, is far from perfect. The circumstances are different today, especially because of European integration. An informed judgement which predicts a similar descent into chaos as occurred eighty years ago is one that uses the perfect information available to us of that period, but it cannot be perfect as it neglects the imperfections provided by contemporary circumstances.
That there are uncertainties surrounding both Spain's economy and political situation is undeniable. And managing these uncertainties is an almost impossible task, given the uniqueness of the circumstances and the very imperfection of the information on which to base decisions. But this is what governments are charged with doing. Even if they themselves don't know, they should give an appearance of knowing and of offering leadership that can at least go some way to ameliorating the stress of uncertainty within society. The Spanish Government is failing to offer this. Instead, it finds itself in the eye of a perfect storm, one that merely adds to the uncertainty.
There is another type of imperfect information. That which is dispensed and which can itself cause greater uncertainty. Set against the economy and the political situation, rules on letting out accommodation and on driving licences for foreign residents are trivial in the extreme. Recently, information in articles, far from clarifying the situation, has only served to increase uncertainty. On both topics, talk to anyone else who is supposedly in the know and you will get a different interpretation.
Yet, here are issues which should be easily enough understood as there should be a clear and unequivocal set of rules. So why does confusion dominate? Is it that governmental officialdom willfully ensures that information is imperfect? Perhaps so. Perhaps, because this officialdom operates under conditions of imperfect information, it expects everyone else to. Hence, you arrive at a situation by which no one knows for sure about anything: governments, citizens, cricket selectors. Everyone tries instead to make an informed judgement, the only problem being that the information is less than perfect.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The article is interesting in its own right, but what struck me about it was that his subject serves as something of an analogy for politics and economics and indeed for how most if not all of us live our lives.
In Spain, as elsewhere in Europe, imperfect information dominates. The country's politics and economics are tied to two projects that have always been exercises in operating on the basis of imperfect information, namely European integration and the Euro. It is possible to argue, just, that models existed for both projects, but they were far from perfect. The two projects have been experiments, and it is in the nature of experiments that not every outcome can be predicted. Experiments have an inherent quality, that of uncertainty. And uncertainty has a nasty habit of producing the unexpected, though if there is one certainty for any system developed on the basis of imperfect information, then it is that the unexpected will occur.
Sadly, there is no such thing as perfect information. If there were, then decisions would be very much more simple and straightforward than they usually are. To take the Euro and the possibility of Spain exiting it, there are plenty of commentators who claim to know what the outcome would be. But how can they know for certain? Just as the Euro was the product of imperfect information, so an exit would be based on imperfect information. It hasn't happened before. No one can say with certainty what the outcome might be. Two imperfects do not make a perfect; they can just as easily be doubly imperfect.
The current political situation in Spain is a different matter insofar as it is possible to draw on previous information, but that information, commonly what happened in the 1930s, is far from perfect. The circumstances are different today, especially because of European integration. An informed judgement which predicts a similar descent into chaos as occurred eighty years ago is one that uses the perfect information available to us of that period, but it cannot be perfect as it neglects the imperfections provided by contemporary circumstances.
That there are uncertainties surrounding both Spain's economy and political situation is undeniable. And managing these uncertainties is an almost impossible task, given the uniqueness of the circumstances and the very imperfection of the information on which to base decisions. But this is what governments are charged with doing. Even if they themselves don't know, they should give an appearance of knowing and of offering leadership that can at least go some way to ameliorating the stress of uncertainty within society. The Spanish Government is failing to offer this. Instead, it finds itself in the eye of a perfect storm, one that merely adds to the uncertainty.
There is another type of imperfect information. That which is dispensed and which can itself cause greater uncertainty. Set against the economy and the political situation, rules on letting out accommodation and on driving licences for foreign residents are trivial in the extreme. Recently, information in articles, far from clarifying the situation, has only served to increase uncertainty. On both topics, talk to anyone else who is supposedly in the know and you will get a different interpretation.
Yet, here are issues which should be easily enough understood as there should be a clear and unequivocal set of rules. So why does confusion dominate? Is it that governmental officialdom willfully ensures that information is imperfect? Perhaps so. Perhaps, because this officialdom operates under conditions of imperfect information, it expects everyone else to. Hence, you arrive at a situation by which no one knows for sure about anything: governments, citizens, cricket selectors. Everyone tries instead to make an informed judgement, the only problem being that the information is less than perfect.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, February 04, 2012
Turn Back Time: The peseta
The history of coinage is long, nearly 3,000 years old. The peseta's history doesn't stretch back to pre-history, but in a sense it represents the pre-history of today's Spain and every now and then a story in its honour emerges - one of times past being enacted in the present day.
The peseta first appeared in 1869. It retains a spiritual hold over many Spaniards who hanker after the country's modern pre-history. Its replacement, the euro, is blamed for all manner of sins, most notably a rise in prices. European Monetary Union condemned the peseta, but how did the peseta come about?
Before 1869 there was the escudo. Perhaps there were Spaniards in the 1880s who looked back fondly to the days of the escudo, because the peseta came into being as a result of monetary union.
Long forgotten is the fact that in 1865 the agreement was made to form the Latin Monetary Union. This wasn't just a union of Latin countries, as Belgium, for instance, was a part of it. There was no single currency as such, but each currency conformed to a standard of weight of gold in its coinage, which enabled national coins to be interchangeable.
The union fell apart in the early years of the twentieth century. The peseta, of course, continued, eventually becoming one of Europe's comedy coins (along with the lira for instance) and a currency with an exchange rate that demanded complicated multiplication in order to arrive at conversion.
Cheapness under the peseta is what has so many people wishing for the old days. The days when, for 166 pesetas (the equivalent of one euro), you could get so drunk that a trip to emergency would be required in order that the stomach pump could be applied. This is why the peseta keeps on making a reappearance, rather like a 1960s pop group embarking on a reunion tour.
The small town of Villamayor de Santiago is the latest venue for this reunion. For one month a number of local businesses have participated in peseta nostalgia. As a reminder of the comedy gold that was the peseta, some one million pesetas have been spent, which sounds a lot but isn't.
There are an awful lot of pesetas still knocking around. The usual estimate given by the Bank of Spain is 1.7 billion euros worth (and don't even try multiplying this into pesetas). Unlike other countries, it is still possible to exchange the old Spanish currency for euros, which is why the peseta reunion tours will doubtless continue. The hoarding might be explained by a hope that one day the peseta will make a dramatic comeback; if it did, it would be with the old line-up and the same old songs.
It is now no longer the case that both euros and pesetas are quoted, but it has taken years for the practice to fall away. There remains a mindset firmly stuck on the peseta, and it isn't solely one of older folk. A relatively youthful neighbour once enquired of me the price that another neighbour's house was on the market for. I gave the price in euros and she responded by quoting it back at me in pesetas (however many millions it was).
The mentality has never moved away from the peseta. It is one, for many a Spaniard and Mallorcan, that is rooted in the past. The peseta represents this past more than anything; a past that was before the euro, Spain's modern pre-history. The currency is symbolic of a golden age that never was, or was only ever as golden as European largesse made it. Yet at a time of virtual economic collapse, the sins of the euro make the peseta and the past seem all the more appealing.
It is most unlikely that the peseta would return, unless, that is, the Spanish Government wished to add the chaos and hyper-inflation this would create to its already long list of challenges. But the government is looking to the past in other ways. It wishes to dismantle some of the social liberal policies of the modern post-history under Zapatero, to repeal aspects of abortion law and, in the process, to set back the role of women in Spanish society.
Here is also a country in which the past can be airbrushed by the legal system, so as to attempt to retain an impression of a totally specious golden age. The case against judge Baltasar Garzón for his attempt to investigate crimes against humanity is a national disgrace.
Some of the country might want their peseta back, but whose head do they want to put on it?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The peseta first appeared in 1869. It retains a spiritual hold over many Spaniards who hanker after the country's modern pre-history. Its replacement, the euro, is blamed for all manner of sins, most notably a rise in prices. European Monetary Union condemned the peseta, but how did the peseta come about?
Before 1869 there was the escudo. Perhaps there were Spaniards in the 1880s who looked back fondly to the days of the escudo, because the peseta came into being as a result of monetary union.
Long forgotten is the fact that in 1865 the agreement was made to form the Latin Monetary Union. This wasn't just a union of Latin countries, as Belgium, for instance, was a part of it. There was no single currency as such, but each currency conformed to a standard of weight of gold in its coinage, which enabled national coins to be interchangeable.
The union fell apart in the early years of the twentieth century. The peseta, of course, continued, eventually becoming one of Europe's comedy coins (along with the lira for instance) and a currency with an exchange rate that demanded complicated multiplication in order to arrive at conversion.
Cheapness under the peseta is what has so many people wishing for the old days. The days when, for 166 pesetas (the equivalent of one euro), you could get so drunk that a trip to emergency would be required in order that the stomach pump could be applied. This is why the peseta keeps on making a reappearance, rather like a 1960s pop group embarking on a reunion tour.
The small town of Villamayor de Santiago is the latest venue for this reunion. For one month a number of local businesses have participated in peseta nostalgia. As a reminder of the comedy gold that was the peseta, some one million pesetas have been spent, which sounds a lot but isn't.
There are an awful lot of pesetas still knocking around. The usual estimate given by the Bank of Spain is 1.7 billion euros worth (and don't even try multiplying this into pesetas). Unlike other countries, it is still possible to exchange the old Spanish currency for euros, which is why the peseta reunion tours will doubtless continue. The hoarding might be explained by a hope that one day the peseta will make a dramatic comeback; if it did, it would be with the old line-up and the same old songs.
It is now no longer the case that both euros and pesetas are quoted, but it has taken years for the practice to fall away. There remains a mindset firmly stuck on the peseta, and it isn't solely one of older folk. A relatively youthful neighbour once enquired of me the price that another neighbour's house was on the market for. I gave the price in euros and she responded by quoting it back at me in pesetas (however many millions it was).
The mentality has never moved away from the peseta. It is one, for many a Spaniard and Mallorcan, that is rooted in the past. The peseta represents this past more than anything; a past that was before the euro, Spain's modern pre-history. The currency is symbolic of a golden age that never was, or was only ever as golden as European largesse made it. Yet at a time of virtual economic collapse, the sins of the euro make the peseta and the past seem all the more appealing.
It is most unlikely that the peseta would return, unless, that is, the Spanish Government wished to add the chaos and hyper-inflation this would create to its already long list of challenges. But the government is looking to the past in other ways. It wishes to dismantle some of the social liberal policies of the modern post-history under Zapatero, to repeal aspects of abortion law and, in the process, to set back the role of women in Spanish society.
Here is also a country in which the past can be airbrushed by the legal system, so as to attempt to retain an impression of a totally specious golden age. The case against judge Baltasar Garzón for his attempt to investigate crimes against humanity is a national disgrace.
Some of the country might want their peseta back, but whose head do they want to put on it?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Banking Mad: We're Europeans Whether We Like It Or Not
Some time back in the nineties, I think it was 1995, I was invited to meet a founder of an organisation that was to be some sort of lobby group for European integration. He was looking for someone to be its director of communications. We met in a London club, and I suppose I poured out my good "European" credentials.
I never heard again from him and nor did I ever hear more of the organisation. Perhaps it was all a pipe dream, like much of the European "project" - as it is turning out.
You can get things wrong. You are permitted to change your mind. Even in the mid-90s when the project seemed as exciting as it was, there was a nagging doubt in the back of my mind. How was it all supposed to work?
Around the same time, I met Gerry Malone, the former Conservative MP. It was to discuss a publication in which he had an interest along with Andrew Neil. Once more nothing came of it, but perhaps because of bigger fish to fry - Neil became editor of "The European" and Malone went on to succeed him before the newspaper (by then in magazine format) folded at the end of 1998.
Wind forward to around 2005, and I am inventing the idea of a story that has yet to be written but which is threatening to be played out. The story's premise was the descent of Europe into war, not a military war but an economic war, the background being the collapse of the economic system. I claim no foresight, it just seemed like a good and imaginary apocalyptic vision to provide the context for a story.
All these things were coming to mind as I listened to Andrew Neil giving Ken Clarke the run around on radio the other evening. Clarke was that rare beast, a Conservative beast of a politician for whom I have had any time. Was. He has come to sound like a parody of himself, not just in how he speaks but also what he speaks. The sheer arrogant insouciance was staggering. At one point, as Ken droned on, I'm sure I detected the sound of someone sarcastically snoring, and it presumably wasn't the presenter John Pienaar.
This was a discussion about the state of the Euro, the EU and Ireland and its descent into what is now also political turmoil. It's not an issue about the Euro, so Clarke was saying, but one of out-of-control bankers. Right but also wrong as the Euro was and is the currency.
Sitting in Spain listening to this, you know full well what's coming next. The fire storm is heading southwards. Perhaps. The Spanish economy slipping back again, more austerity measures to be handed out in a desperate attempt to stave off the inevitable. Zapatero might yet face his own early elections when the flames start to encroach upon Madrid's city limits.
You are permitted to admit that you were wrong, to admit that you were sold a pup. Or this at least is how the "project" is panning out: the with-hindsight pretentious notion of being "Europeans", an entirely specious concept that sought to graft a nationhood onto enduring diversity. Why did "The European" fail? Apart from the original idea of the highly pro-European Robert Maxwell being "barking mad" according to Gerry Malone, it was because it was - as has been said elsewhere - a paper for a nation which didn't exist; which doesn't exist and is never likely to exist.
The flaws with the Euro are not for me to go into, but fundamentally a currency unsupported by a harmonised political structure and harmonised institutions and financial and fiscal policies was always going to be a tough call. It was a massive experiment which may now be unravelling along with the political conceit that brought it about but at the same time the laudable political motives behind integration. What was created in order to overcome division is generating it - economic war but also sociopolitical war, one predicated on migration that has inflamed old prejudices and, more seriously, precisely the extremism that it was meant to stamp out.
We know the arguments in favour. Of course we do. Don't we? And one is to avoid economic war, which is why Ireland will not be allowed to go to the wall, which is only right. But how often can this be repeated and remain politically acceptable if other countries are to be bailed out? Who next? Well, we know who next. Or at least we think we do. An unsettling idea is that one can sit in Spain and listen to Andrew Neil versus Ken Clarke, be uncomfortable with views that have shifted a considerable distance from the days of a meeting in a London club and be further uncomfortable with the ease of movement that brought one to be sitting in Spain. It's simply not good enough to rail against the Euro and the European Union, because to do so would be hypocritical.
But, but, but ... . The dire predictions regarding Spain may not be accurate. For starters, the Spanish banking system is not in the same mess as Ireland's. This stems from much tighter regulation on lending and the insistence on banks' securing debts laid down by the Bank of Spain. Yes, there has been much cash flowing into what are now all but worthless property development and speculation, but the level of lending is not at Irish levels.
So maybe Ken Clarke is right. It isn't about the Euro, but just about banks. Perhaps so, but sentiment goes a long way, and the sentiment against the Euro and countries perceived as weak within the monetary system goes as far, which is why worries about Spain will remain and why the Euro and the whole European project will attract such anxiety.
But hold on, what would be the alternative? Something potentially altogether worse. To borrow from an Irishman, things may be falling apart, the centre may not be holding, but I, for one, hope to God it does hold. We are Europeans whether we like it or not.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
I never heard again from him and nor did I ever hear more of the organisation. Perhaps it was all a pipe dream, like much of the European "project" - as it is turning out.
You can get things wrong. You are permitted to change your mind. Even in the mid-90s when the project seemed as exciting as it was, there was a nagging doubt in the back of my mind. How was it all supposed to work?
Around the same time, I met Gerry Malone, the former Conservative MP. It was to discuss a publication in which he had an interest along with Andrew Neil. Once more nothing came of it, but perhaps because of bigger fish to fry - Neil became editor of "The European" and Malone went on to succeed him before the newspaper (by then in magazine format) folded at the end of 1998.
Wind forward to around 2005, and I am inventing the idea of a story that has yet to be written but which is threatening to be played out. The story's premise was the descent of Europe into war, not a military war but an economic war, the background being the collapse of the economic system. I claim no foresight, it just seemed like a good and imaginary apocalyptic vision to provide the context for a story.
All these things were coming to mind as I listened to Andrew Neil giving Ken Clarke the run around on radio the other evening. Clarke was that rare beast, a Conservative beast of a politician for whom I have had any time. Was. He has come to sound like a parody of himself, not just in how he speaks but also what he speaks. The sheer arrogant insouciance was staggering. At one point, as Ken droned on, I'm sure I detected the sound of someone sarcastically snoring, and it presumably wasn't the presenter John Pienaar.
This was a discussion about the state of the Euro, the EU and Ireland and its descent into what is now also political turmoil. It's not an issue about the Euro, so Clarke was saying, but one of out-of-control bankers. Right but also wrong as the Euro was and is the currency.
Sitting in Spain listening to this, you know full well what's coming next. The fire storm is heading southwards. Perhaps. The Spanish economy slipping back again, more austerity measures to be handed out in a desperate attempt to stave off the inevitable. Zapatero might yet face his own early elections when the flames start to encroach upon Madrid's city limits.
You are permitted to admit that you were wrong, to admit that you were sold a pup. Or this at least is how the "project" is panning out: the with-hindsight pretentious notion of being "Europeans", an entirely specious concept that sought to graft a nationhood onto enduring diversity. Why did "The European" fail? Apart from the original idea of the highly pro-European Robert Maxwell being "barking mad" according to Gerry Malone, it was because it was - as has been said elsewhere - a paper for a nation which didn't exist; which doesn't exist and is never likely to exist.
The flaws with the Euro are not for me to go into, but fundamentally a currency unsupported by a harmonised political structure and harmonised institutions and financial and fiscal policies was always going to be a tough call. It was a massive experiment which may now be unravelling along with the political conceit that brought it about but at the same time the laudable political motives behind integration. What was created in order to overcome division is generating it - economic war but also sociopolitical war, one predicated on migration that has inflamed old prejudices and, more seriously, precisely the extremism that it was meant to stamp out.
We know the arguments in favour. Of course we do. Don't we? And one is to avoid economic war, which is why Ireland will not be allowed to go to the wall, which is only right. But how often can this be repeated and remain politically acceptable if other countries are to be bailed out? Who next? Well, we know who next. Or at least we think we do. An unsettling idea is that one can sit in Spain and listen to Andrew Neil versus Ken Clarke, be uncomfortable with views that have shifted a considerable distance from the days of a meeting in a London club and be further uncomfortable with the ease of movement that brought one to be sitting in Spain. It's simply not good enough to rail against the Euro and the European Union, because to do so would be hypocritical.
But, but, but ... . The dire predictions regarding Spain may not be accurate. For starters, the Spanish banking system is not in the same mess as Ireland's. This stems from much tighter regulation on lending and the insistence on banks' securing debts laid down by the Bank of Spain. Yes, there has been much cash flowing into what are now all but worthless property development and speculation, but the level of lending is not at Irish levels.
So maybe Ken Clarke is right. It isn't about the Euro, but just about banks. Perhaps so, but sentiment goes a long way, and the sentiment against the Euro and countries perceived as weak within the monetary system goes as far, which is why worries about Spain will remain and why the Euro and the whole European project will attract such anxiety.
But hold on, what would be the alternative? Something potentially altogether worse. To borrow from an Irishman, things may be falling apart, the centre may not be holding, but I, for one, hope to God it does hold. We are Europeans whether we like it or not.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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