In A Public Way

You hear a great deal about the public way. It hasn't as yet been restyled as the citizens' way, but it can surely only be a matter of time. The political new age demands that everything is in the name of the citizen, irrespective of whether a long-established term might carry a degree of legalese. And matters of legality dominate the public way. They are their own invisible obstacles to perambulating citizens. Or alternatively, they are means of liberating this people's space and consigning its defilers to cloistered huddles up against the windows of a bar - or not, as the case may be, and it is the case.

Where is this way, you may well ask. It is to be seen all around. It is walked on, sat on, ran on, biked on. Every street, every prom, the way is public. And this public dimension determines what parts of the public way can be scrutinised by security cameras. The public needs its privacy. 

A conclusion that might be drawn by the very term the public way is that the public in some way owns it. This, despite the fight for the citizens' rights of way being waged by political parties, groups who wish to save this or that, Facebook and Change.org campaigns in states of high dudgeon, isn't the case. The public is lent its way. Someone else always owns it. Part of the problem, however, is knowing who. Or what.

Though the public does not have ownership, because of the new age, it does get its say. Hence, there was the citizens' vote to decide the fate of the terraces on Palma's Born. And the citizens duly spake - all some 3.75% of Palma's total population. The public way could be owned by the terraces - right down the middle of the wooded avenue - though of course the terraces (or rather the bar owners) do not own the way. The town hall does. The way, in this instance, belongs to it. In its magnanimity, it has permitted others to borrow it in return for sizable rental income.

Terraces are perhaps the most discussed of public way matters. How much terrace can or should there be? What should the furniture that sits on it look like and be made of? What hours can it be open for? Such questions exercise the minds of town councillors across Mallorca. The terrace, a symbol of summery and less than summery socialising for as long it has been since someone came up with the idea of sticking seats on the public way, creates its own controversies. And because of the legalese associated with the public way, these normally end up in, variously, fines, court appearances and the inevitable "denuncia". One man's public way is most certainly not another's. Or, one man would rather like to get his hands on a part of the public way currently being occupied by another.

This, at least in part, is the background to the social-network frenzy that has turned normally genteel Puerto Pollensa into a public-way fury. An ice-cream kiosk, there from a time when even the most veteran of Puerto Pollensa advocates would find it hard to dredge out reminiscence, is the subject of a public-way takeover. Or so it seems. The only problem is (not the only one in truth) that the cones have been served these past fifty years on what is clearly public way. Only now has it been decreed, for matters of strict legality, that there should be a tender for its occupation. 

Of course, some bright spark might interfere by suggesting that this isn't public way for the town hall to determine. There was, as establishment owners will recall only too unhappily, some confusion as to who got the royalties for letting terraces occupy the public way. Both the town hall and the Costas Authority were, until it was finally realised that it couldn't be both of them.

In Palma, where the public way is debated more than anywhere else, they're now talking about ensuring that every single terrace conforms to standards of furniture design and colour. This has happened elsewhere in valiant attempts to make the public way not appear to be a total mess of competing colours and bad taste parasols. On balance, it's probably reasonable enough, but nonetheless implies that orthodoxy must exist on the public way: any colour so long as it's a shade of beige.

There also needs to be consideration of Europe when it comes to public way matters. Another Palma terrace carry-on, involving moving terraces closer to their respective establishments, has had to take account of EU doctrine for there being a public way corridor by buildings so that the blind have access and can tap the buildings with walking-sticks.

It can all get terribly complicated. But ultimately, how much way does the public actually need? A great deal, it would seem.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 20 April 2016

Morning high (7.47am): 14.6C
Forecast high: 22C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 21 April - Cloud, 21C; 22 April - Cloud, 18C; 23 April - Cloud, sun, 18C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East-Southeast 4 to 5 occasionally 6.

Light cloud this morning. Should be mostly sunny until the afternoon when cloud will build up and we could be in for some rain.

Evening update (20.15): Forecast was right. Clouding up later on and quite breezy. May be some rain overnight. High of 23.1C.

The Neglected Ministry Of Tourism

One of the oldest national ministries of Spanish government has the title "fomento". The word means development or promotion. It was created in 1832, its principal functions being, as they still are, transport and communications. In 1905 the ministry acquired a further responsibility - tourism, on account of the fact that the national commission for tourism was attached to the ministry. This commission was to evolve into what became the tourism directorate-general, directly responsible to the interior ministry. In 1951 this directorate-general became a ministry in its own right, sharing this with information. The best-known minister for information and tourism was Manuel Fraga, who held the position from 1962 to 1969. Arguably, he is still the best known of all ministers who have ever had tourism responsibilities.

Fraga, though he oversaw propaganda and censorship because of the information part of his remit, was one of Franco's more enlightened ministers. He certainly helped in getting the dictator (and the church and the Guardia Civil) to lighten up or to take a less strict line. His role in Spain's tourism development should not be underestimated.

Post-Franco, the ministry was wound up. The information element was no longer necessary, once censorship was officially done away with. Though this had clearly been an important ingredient for a dictatorial regime, it is possible to argue that the ministry, certainly once Fraga came in, gave tourism the greatest governmental prominence it has ever had. Tourism, thereafter, found itself tied in with trade, then transport and communication (back to the old days, therefore), the economy and finance and finally, in the current government, with industry and energy.

This list doesn't tell the whole story, though. For the entire period of José María Aznar's time as prime minister there was no actual tourism minister: tourism was subordinate to the wider economy in ministerial terms. There have long been calls for there to be a minister at cabinet level with sole responsibility, but it has never happened. Fraga, I would maintain, was the closest Spain ever got in this respect.

As tourism hovers around the 11% GDP mark for the country as a whole, it is legitimate to ask whether the industry merits a dedicated minister and ministry. But as has been said consistently in recent years, tourism has been crucial in helping the Spanish economy to recover. How often have we heard it being described as the driving force behind recovery? So it is obviously an important industry, but its importance varies. There are parts of Spain where tourism is vastly more important than others, and there is no region of the country where it is more important than the Balearics.

For the year 2013, tourism contributed 45.5% of Balearic GDP. The region which came closest was the Canaries (31.2%). In another sun-and-beach region, Andalusia, the percentage - 12.5% - wasn't that much greater than the national figure. Such wide variance goes some way to explain why the resignation of the tourism minister has not been greeted with tears in the Balearics.

José Manuel Soria came into his post as industry, energy and tourism minister with a background of having been a vice-president of the Canaries. With a tourism secretary-of-state, Isabel Borrego, being Mallorcan, it might have appeared that the two archipelagos could be assured of a good hearing in Madrid. Such an expectation proved to be a largely false one. Borrego has been widely vilified by the industry. Soria had a better reception by some parts of the industry but not in the Balearics. Gabriel Barceló, co-founder of the Barceló hotel group, said of Soria: "We have a minister for everything except tourism."

His views were echoed by other big hitters in the Mallorcan tourism industry. When it wasn't the founders of Barceló, Riu, Meliá and Iberostar taking him to one side, it was the former president of the hoteliers' federation. Aurelio Vázquez. Why was the IVA (VAT) rate for the industry not being reduced, as had been promised? Why were Aena being allowed to raise airport charges? But it was the oil business that really caused the anger, and so much so that Soria fell out with a PP colleague, former president, José Ramón Bauzá.

The soundings for oil off the Balearics (and also the Canaries) were unacceptable to the tourism industry and to all political parties. But Soria was in an awkward position. He was energy minister as well. It was his other responsibilities which led Gabriel Barceló to say what he did, and the question had to be asked as to why such a combination of duties was ever considered to have been a good idea.

That, though, is the fate of tourism at national level. Never on its own, it never has a sole voice to defend it, while for the Balearics - with such a high GDP dependence - ministers rarely, if ever, offer satisfaction.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 19 April 2016

Morning high (7.44am): 12.3C
Forecast high: 18C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 20 April - Sun, cloud, 18C; 21 April - Sun, cloud, 22C; 22 April - Cloud, 17C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 4 occasionally 5.

Nice, sunny morning. All's good for today. Tomorrow, the wind will be up and there may be showers.

Evening update (22.45): Pleasant enough. Not as warm as recently. High of 18.9C.

The Rise Of Tourismphobia

It's some five years since I wrote an article entitled "Tourismphobia". The word was a straight lift from Spanish. "Turismofobia" was a condition that was being taken increasingly seriously in the summer of 2011. It was largely attributed to the difficult economic circumstances of the time and to the potential undermining of the principle of reciprocity that exists in the relationship between tourism and its destinations. I observed in 2011 that this reciprocity is "one under which a destination opens its doors, accepts there will be changes but expects some compensation". So long as an equilibrium has been and is maintained, any "underlying social tensions caused by tourism" are minimal.

Five years ago, there was little evidence of this phobia in Mallorca, despite the economic crisis. But it was evident elsewhere. Barcelona was a prime example, and the phobia was to get worse, especially in La Barceloneta, where uncontrolled, illegal rentals were attracting a type of youth tourism that was driving residents to despair. Barcelona was also being overrun. There were, some felt, simply too many tourists.

In the Canary Islands, and Tenerife in particular, there was a feeling of "social divorce" arising from the scale and type of tourism. The phobia was never widespread there, but it was sufficiently obvious for efforts to be made in involving local people in tourism and in its promotion and in communicating the benefits of tourism. A similar campaign in Barcelona made even more strenuous efforts in this regard.

Tourismphobia was a minority social problem, but as I concluded in 2011 its growth could not be discounted. With the graffiti in Palma, might one suggest that the phobia is on the increase?

The regional government - Biel Barceló anyway - has sought to downplay the graffiti. Yes, it sends out a bad message, but an "act of vandalism" shouldn't be blown out of proportion. And up to a point, he is right. From the style of the writing, it is thought that the graffiti was the work of no more than two people. Hardly a mass movement, therefore.

Caution needs to be exercised in extrapolating from a possibly isolated incident in saying that tourismphobia - a social rejection of tourism, if you like - is on the increase. In Palma and in Mallorca, it might require some social attitudes research, rather than anecdote, to establish the existence of the phobia: such research has been carried out in Barcelona. But the Palma graffiti may well be a response to what the Spanish tourism journalist, Xavier Canalis, has drawn attention to: tourism gentrification of cities. This gives rise to a fundamental question: who are cities for, residents or tourists?

Palma's centre has experienced an increase in the number of boutique hotels, an increased number of passengers from huge-capacity cruise ships and also a significant increase in the availability of private accommodation. It is the latter, more so than the others, that has raised concerns with politicians. But it is this very expression of concern, and not just regarding Palma by any means, that might be said to contribute to tourismphobia. 

The political narrative at present is focused on overcrowding - the saturation of tourist areas. It also embraces the nature of employment (worker exploitation) and the need for sustainability. The tourist tax, aka the sustainable tourism tax, comes with its in-built narrative, and it is one predicated on a need to extract dues from tourists to address damage caused by tourism (and therefore the individual tourist). In addition, the narrative demonises hotels, a means of attracting tourists who threaten this sustainability. And now, we also have what seems to be a crisis of lack of accommodation, the consequence of property being made available for ever more tourists.

Javier Vich, the president of Palma's hoteliers, has suggested that it is government policy which gave rise to the graffiti. What he was implying is that the more politicians refer to negative consequences of tourism, then the more the public becomes conscious of them and the more, therefore, that attitudes shift away from what was that one-time reciprocity. The consequence is tourismphobia.

Negative attitudes towards tourism have, in recent years, resulted from the "drunken tourism" of Magalluf and from the impact of all-inclusives. The Palma slogans are not representative of either but appear instead to reflect the city's tourism gentrification allied to apparent overcrowding. Such attitudes can be addressed, as in Magalluf. Although the success is open to debate, the process of transformation may well bring about more positive attitudes. Meanwhile, however, there is the constant narrative that can only help to fuel negative perceptions, and the very conceptualistion of the tourist tax adds to these. There is majority public support for the tax, and because the tax is based on a negative premiss of righting damage, the very existence of the tax can only add to negative attitudes.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 18 April 2016

Morning high (6.36am): 15C
Forecast high: 19C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 19 April - Sun, cloud, 18C; 20 April - Sun, cloud, 18C; 21 April - Sun, cloud, 17C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North 2 to 3 increasing Northeast 4 to 5.

Better forecast for today than had been the case yesterday. Sunny and pretty warm. Possibilities of showers midweek.

Evening update (21.00): Hazy cloud sort of a day, some sunny spells. High of 20.4C.

The Changing Traditions Of Fiestas

The Mallorcan fiesta is an all-year-round occurrence. Arguably, it is never more spectacular than in January, a month when comparatively few visitors witness the demonic happenings on behalf of the saints Antony and Sebastian, breathe in the smoke of the bonfires and listen to the music - contemporary and ancient - in squares across the island. But it is summer that is most closely associated with fiesta. The word has an almost onomatopoeic quality: its sound is one of summer suffused with vibrant colours, embraced by the heat of the night and the literalism of its meaning - party.

The fiesta is of course more than its contemporary manifestations of DJs, Zumba sessions and children's entertainment gangs. It is tradition, rooted in religious ceremonies and in the idiosyncrasies of island culture. In the recent past - since the late 1970s at least - it has also been the heartbeat of revivalism. The soul of Mallorca was rediscovered. From the ashes of industrial upheaval that caused migration from the fields to the tourist empires of the coasts came the Phoenix of the return of traditional symbols - the instruments (such as the xeremia pipes), the curious and the bizarre (demons, big heads), the folk dances in their various guises. None of this had died out, but much of it had become sidelined in the rush towards a new age of touristic gold in the (some anyway) manufactured resorts.

This process of rediscovery over the past four decades or so has to be considered in the context of current-day developments. They are ones which seek to amend tradition or even eliminate it. And they all come with degrees of argument or controversy attached.

In the town of Alaro, for example, the town hall wants women to be part of the cossier folk dance troupe. Heaven forfend! The townsfolk are said to be divided on the matter, though there appear to be more in favour than against. In an age of equality, the majority view is likely to prevail, and who is to say that it should not. The Alaro case, however, and when set against other arguments, can seem minor, for there are more controversial matters at stake.

Take Soller and its Firó fiesta in May. The showpiece is the Moors and Christians battle, the grandest of all the island battles between invaders and defenders. Bar owners in the Plaça Constitució, the setting for the climax, are unhappy at proposals that they close for a time. Theirs is a commercial controversy, not one to do with tradition. There is another: the simulation of the hanging of peasants by the invading Moors. There have been calls for this to be stopped. They have been made not on the grounds of any political correctness but because of the sensitivities of some: psychological effects or sad reminders of a suicide. The town hall has listened. The hangings will continue.

And then there are fiestas with animals. The controversy is being played out in the Balearic parliament. An amendment to the animal protection act would see the end to any fiesta display that might entail animal suffering. Principally and most obviously this refers to bulls; indeed, bulls are the reason why the amendment is to come before parliament and will surely be approved.

Bullfighting will cease to be. Some will lament its passing. Many more will not. But the ban raises a question about tradition. Is tradition finite? Can it be said to be outdated and to have run its course? There is almost certainly a majority view that it can and should be consigned to the past when it involves bulls. But the people of Fornalutx, with its bull-run the centrepiece of the summer fiesta, are less inclined to this view. While outsiders look on and see barbarism, the villagers see tradition. It will be banned.

But the amendment may affect all manner of other fiesta traditions. Will the live cockerel at the summit of Pollensa's greasy pine of Sant Antoni become history? There are those who have made the case in the past for it being so. They have invoked the ban (now some ten years old) regarding the release of live ducks for the Can Picafort swim of high summer. Yet there is a rule that applies. More than one hundred years of tradition, and the animal tradition is permitted. This is the case in Pollensa but is not in Can Picafort.

There is no rule which says that tradition has to be for all time. No rule which says that tradition cannot be amended. There are traditions worth fighting for and maintaining. There are others which are not.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 17 April 2016

Morning high (8.26am): 14.4C
Forecast high: 23C; UV: 6
Three-day forecast: 18 April - Cloud, 19C; 19 April - Sun, cloud, 16C; 20 April - Sun, cloud, 22C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West 3 to 4 easing Variable 2 by later afternoon.

Some cloud around, picking up though. Pretty good day anticipated. Tomorrow forecast to be cloudy all day with an outside chance of a shower.

Evening update (20.15): Sun came out, it was warm but a light cloud haze came over later on. High of 26.7C.

Catalan Graffiti

Somewhere in the bowels of the education ministry, of the ministry for non-participation and opacity, and Palma's department for culture, patrimony, historical memory and linguistic policy, there will be those muttering sweetly about graffiti bilingualism. Yes, when it comes to graffiti sloganising, the citizens (no more than two of them probably) avoid the temptation of using the third language - that imposed three hundred years ago by a distant relative of the current king. Tell tourists to bugger off, but don't do so in Castellano. That would never do. English? That's ok. Catalan? That's even better.

In my wildest fantasies, I imagine Podemos's Dave Spart and The Boot Girl stealing around ye olde Palma under cover of night, spray cans in one hand and a smartphone in the other: Google Translate into English from Catalan, tourists are terrorists. But Alberto and Laura wouldn't do such things. Let me make that perfectly clear. More likely would be members of the Més-ite sect. They, after all, want the tourist tax honeypot going towards the preservation of crumbling old patrimonial ruins. (Podemos want to spend it all on conserving the habitats of the ancient mountain ant and a small farming plot in Porreres where they grow organic lentils and hope that tourists will be mad enough to pay the vastly inflated sum demanded for a 400 gram jar with a nice eco-looking label; not that any tourist would, given that he will be out of pocket having forked out for the lentil grower.)

No, you see, if the Més-ites deface patrimonial property, a strong case can then be made for the 80 million a year going on some form of magical anti-graffiti gel (biodegradable) that forms a veneer invisible to the naked eye but which allows graffiti to be removed using a Brillo pad and a family-sized bottle of Eroski Ultra washing-up liquid. Bingo! The entire Balearic inventory of old and even older constructions can be protected, including the prehistoric Talayotic sites on which some miscreant might wish to daub "Visca la República!". Well they can. To their heart's and spray can's delight, but the newly diversified economy (pressed into service to protect ancient patrimony 24/7, 365 days of the year) will provide highly paid operatives to get out there and rub it off, with no damage being done to the original stonework.

Alternatively, the Palma graffiti may just have been the work of a couple of pathetic losers.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 16 April 2016

Morning high (7.12am): 13.4C
Forecast high: 23C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 17 April - Sun, cloud, 23C; 18 April - Sun, cloud, 17C; 19 April - Cloud, 18C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Southwest 3 to 5 easing Variable 2 to 3 around midday.

Quite cloudy first thing. Should lift and give a fine and warm day.

Evening update (20.00): You can't knock it. Pleasant breeze, good sun, high of 26.9C.

Tour Operators Unclear About The Tourist Tax

As we prepare for the July storm to break, the tourist tax is slowly finding its way into the travelling public's consciousness. Trip Advisor has been quite useful in this regard with the sharing of information pleasingly accurate. Less pleasing is a generally negative attitude towards the tax, which is hardly surprising.

Thomson, like Jet2, have been emailing clients to tell them about the tax, but from a quick glance at tour operator websites, the news of the tax doesn't feature prominently. Thomas Cook does at least have a full explanation, though one has to go to Travel Updates to find it listed as "sustainable tourism tax". What is revealing, though, is that Thomas Cook is unable to give totally certain information. This is because it doesn't have it. No one does. On "when and how to pay", it says that it is "likely" that travellers will have to pay when checking in at their accommodation. "The government haven't advised how this should be paid." A recommendation is made to take sufficient euros to cover the cost.

Thomas Cook also can't say whether the tax will apply if travellers arrive before 1 July and then stay beyond the introduction date of 1 July. Again, the recommendation is to have money just in case. As for "why do I have to pay?", Thomas Cook points out that the tax is specifically aimed at tourists, that it is a cost beyond its control. The tour operator accepts that the tax is "something you probably weren't expecting to pay and is sorry the government has decided to bring this in so quickly".

Whatever communications the tourism ministry is sending to the tour operators, they are clearly incomplete and partly this is the result of the tax having been rushed in. Thomas Cook is absolutely right in this regard, and it is more than just regrettable that the ministry (and government) is leaving even the major players, like the big tour operators, in the dark and unable to give complete information. The government's handling of the tax's introduction has been incompetent.

There have been some criticisms of tour operators. If they knew about the tax before, why did they not say anything earlier? It's true enough that the tour operators were well aware of the intention to bring in the tax. It was, for instance, given a good airing at London's Travel Market last November but had been spoken about more or less from the moment the new government took office in late June. In the tour operators' defence, though, until the tax was officially and definitively approved by parliament, it was difficult for them to say anything to their clients. The approval wasn't until the week before Easter, and it might be remembered that there was just a chance - right up until the last minute - that Podemos might have scuppered it.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 15 April 2016

Morning high (7.33am): 11.4C
Forecast high: 24C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 16 April - Sun, cloud, 24C; 17 April - Sun, cloud, 19C; 18 April - Cloud, 17C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): South 2 to 3 occasionally 4.

Another quite warm and sunny day in prospect. Things staying good for the weekend.

Evening update (21.15): High of 26.1C. April whoppers.

Paying Homage: 85 years on

They were paying homage yesterday. In towns and villages across the island, they remembered the victims, though the date is more of a celebration. Eighty-five years ago on 14 April, the Second Republic came into being. It was to herald a period of chaos, extraordinary even for a nation that had endured decades of chaos and violence. It was the culmination of all that had been unleashed at least since the time of the Napoleonic War and the drafting of the 1812 Liberal Constitution (some one hundred years earlier, in truth). It ushered in the years of the great dictator - great in the sense that Franco was far more important in dictatorial terms than Primo de Rivera (who had preceded the Republic) had been. Franco can never be considered in isolation. His regime had an inevitability about it: one created by political, religious, monarchical and military disasters. To quote Bismarck: "I am firmly convinced that Spain is the strongest country in the world. Century after century trying to destroy herself and still no success."

Some villages suffered more than most. Pollensa was one of them. Some 26 Republicans were executed. They, and the around 150 people who were imprisoned, were remembered in the town's Seglars square yesterday evening. The executions and imprisonments were often just politically motivated. Being a Republican was a sufficient enough crime. Others who were victims of the Nationalists were so because of motives of revenge. Vendettas, only partly related to the division that fostered the Civil War, were an excuse for payback. Charges were often spurious and weak. I learned recently about a gardener from Pollensa who was imprisoned merely because he had been employed by a Republican.

Pollensa town hall recently expressed its support for the regional government's law on war graves and for the Argentinian legal initiative in respect of violations under Franco. There was almost unanimous backing. The one Partido Popular councillor abstained, out of step with former PP colleagues, including the ex-mayor, who formed a rival group prior to last year's election. For the most part, even the right sympathise with pro-Republican sentiment in Pollensa. Or is this better expressed as anti-Francoist sentiment? There is a difference.

In Palma the homage paid was on a grander scale. Well, there was a DJ as well. It was held in the town hall square - Plaça de Cort. "Visca la República!" said the poster. The gathering had the support of the town hall, Podemos, Més, unions, feminists, a Palestinian group, a Greco-Mallorcan solidarity group and others, one of which was the Fundació Emili Darder. He was the Republican mayor of Palma, shot in 1937. Pollensa's Republican mayor, Pere Josep Cànaves, was shot in 1938.

Why some of these groups were lending their support was not totally clear. But if they wished to, then that was up to them. There was, though, a question about the support shown by the town hall. The PP and the C's questioned it. The town halls' official social media accounts were used to promote the event; Ajuntament de Palma appeared on the poster. The administration, argued the PP/C's, should not be involving itself in something of an ideological and partisan nature.

Absent from the political parties named as supporters was PSOE. By implication, though, it was a supporter. The mayor is a PSOE man, after all. The mayor, José Hila, has appeared to be easily swayed by Republican initiatives. Whereas he once agreed that the Feixina monument should become a monument to the victims of war and so lose its Francoist symbolism, he now heads an administration which has formally announced the specification for the monument's demolition on the Official Bulletin. Hila bends to the will of his political partners, one can't help but feeling. Previous PSOE mayors - all previous and surviving mayors of the democratic era in fact - are opposed to the demolition.

The monument has been allowed to become a cause célèbre, a case of whipping up a storm unnecessarily in the pursuit of ideological righteousness. By some, that is. Does Hila truly subscribe to it? Maybe he does. In the process, division has been created. It may have existed previously but it has been allowed to become more visible, while there are those without strong sympathies either way who have no wish to see the monument go.

One can understand that passions of 80 or more years ago still burn. Heaven knows, it will be 80 years on 17 July when the Civil War broke out with the military uprising in Morocco. There are bound to be events. The past cannot and should not be forgotten. For family descendants, the war graves act might allow them to get that now clichéd word "closure". Remembering and remembrance are appropriate. Ideological posturing is quite a different matter.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 14 April 2016

Morning high (7.47am): 10.4C
Forecast high: 23C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 15 April - Sun, cloud, 22C; 16 April - Sun, cloud, 21C; 17 April - Cloud, 21C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 to 3 mostly East.

And more of the same, thanks very much, though possibly warmer. Light breezes, lots of sun.

Evening update (21.15): Hmm. High of 26.6C.

The Conde Affair: Business corruption

The Panama papers continue to supply sensational reading. Spain's society - politics, royalty, business, the arts, sports - is implicated. The names provide a who's who of the county's VIP establishment: Jóse Manuel Soria, the acting industry, energy and tourism minister; Pilar de Borbón, the King's aunt; Oleguer Pujol, son of Jordi, the former president of Catalonia; Francisco and Juan José Franco, great grandsons of the dictator; Pedro Almodóvar, film director; Lionel Messi, footballer.

Last week, when the leak was becoming a tidal wave, someone was invited onto Spanish television to discuss tax havens. He said that demagogues claim that anyone with a company registered in a tax haven is a "common criminal". There is a great deal of ignorance, he went on. These companies are audited and their taxes are paid. It was "outrageous" to condemn someone just for having a company in countries with tax advantages superior to others. He also suggested that it was "ridiculous" that Spain did not have its own tax haven. He ventured that it could be the Canaries.

A few days later, the person who had said all this was arrested. He is Mario Conde, businessman, politician and an ex-con who now - if perhaps only temporarily - finds himself once more behind bars. Conde is not cited in the Panama papers, but his arrest, coinciding as it does with the leaks, has merely served to crank up the level of outrage. Conde might believe that it is outrageous to attack those who seek advantages in tax havens, but it is far from only demagogues who have been drawing their conclusions. The outrage is great, its timing possibly crucial. The whiff of another type of corruption could yet influence the interminable goings-on with forming a new government or a second election.

Spain's society, given its love affair with football, would probably be unmoved by mention of Messi, who has after all already had his brushes with the tax man. Members of the arts world might likewise be looked upon sympathetically. Politicians and businesspeople, however, are different. And into the roll of business dishonour that there already is comes Conde. Again.

In 1997, he was originally sentenced to six years in prison. In 2001, he was sentenced to fourteen years. The following year, the Supreme Court upped this to twenty years. He went to jail but was released in 2008.

At the heart of this was the so-called "caso Banesto". This erupted in 1993. It was to do with a web of corporate corruption at the bank. Its president was Mario Conde. The actual amount that Conde and others were said to have embezzled from Banesto varies according to reports, but the figure of 26 million euros (its equivalent in pesetas at the time) is common. And his arrest centres on an anti-corruption prosecution investigation that he had been involved in repatriating to Spain more than 13 million euros.

This amount, so it is claimed, had been coming back to Spain from overseas accounts, in particular ones in Switzerland and London, in small amounts - some 3,000 euros at a time - since 1999. Seemingly, it was a very much larger sum, 600,000 euros, that alerted interest. This was a transfer from Switzerland to La Caixa Bank in 2014. It was the bank itself which, in effect, blew the whistle as it had queried the legitimacy of the transfer. A judge at the Spanish High Court, Santiago Pedraz, is now investigating a total of 15 people, including various Conde family members.

Conde always protested his innocence over the Banesto affair. It even found its way to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. There again, Conde had a record of having influential friends. They included, at the time when the Bank of Spain had to intervene with Banesto, the prime minister, Felipe González, and leader of the opposition, José María Aznar. There was also Adolfo Suárez, the man who led Spain's transition to democracy.

Judge Pedraz and the prosecution service are looking into the network of 40 companies that the Conde family had established. It is this web of businesses, plus the offshore element, that has echoes not just of the Panama papers but also the Nóos affair.

Conde is one in that roll of business dishonour. Others include Rodrigo Rato, ex-minister, ex-IMF, ex-banker; Gerardo Díaz Ferrán, ex-president of the Spanish equivalent of the CBI, co-founder of the giant Grupo Marsans; Ángel de Cabo, Díaz Ferrán's Mr. Fix-It, who headed what now seems the mysterious acquisition of the Hotetur chain (Alcudia's Bellevue and all). There are others. 

The Conde affair, this Conde Nasty, just makes the stench more malodorous. It fans the flames of the fire that Podemos, among others, has started, one that has engulfed a society previously only too willingly apathetic in shrugging a collective shoulder and saying that's Spain. There's outrage all right.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 13 April 2016

Morning high (7.49am): 11.4C
Forecast high: 20C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 14 April - Sun, 20C; 15 April - Sun, cloud, 19C; 16 April - Sun, cloud, 19C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West-Northwest 5 locally 5.

Another good one on the cards. Light breezes, lots of sun. Warm.

Evening update (21.00): Good enough. High of 23.6C.

In Contempt: Parliament and government

The question arises. Or should do. How often has it been asked? And what have been the answers? It needs asking. If there is another general election - probably on 26 June - if the result were much the same as the 20 December election and if there were to be no agreement for government after 26 June, would there be a third election in a further six months time? One would assume that there would be, and that they would carry on having elections until someone finally blinks or they all decide that things have become rather silly. Or maybe they would just carry on and on, elections being held in perpetuity, the Partido Popular remaining in nominal power, Mariano Rajoy being acting premier until the day comes when he keels over.

The question may not have to be put, if they can come up with an agreement. But how can they? If you've lost track of where we are or indeed lost the will to live on account of the never-breaking saga, then here's a reminder as to why they are unable to.

PSOE wants Podemos to back it and the C's. Podemos won't do so. It says no to the C's. They are not "progressive". They are not left-wing. They have no truck with a Catalonia referendum.

The Partido Popular seems prepared to offer Pedro Sánchez the vice-presidency of a coalition government (to include the C's) with Mariano Rajoy remaining number one. PSOE won't accept this. Nor will the C's.

Intractable. That is the problem. Come 2 May, intractable it remains, and there is another election, and all the while the PP and Rajoy are acting. In a semi-permanent state of non-government in which it is now showing contempt. More of this below.

If there is a second election, then the current "pact" between PSOE and the C's would be abandoned. Albert Rivera, the C's leader, has said so. Rivera may be eyeing the polls and seeing his party gaining. Might he therefore contemplate a U-turn and join forces with the PP, which can also point to slight gains (unlike Podemos, which the polls suggest is going backwards)? Never rule anything out, but a U-turn it most certainly would be.

At the last minute, just before the 2 May deadline, might Sánchez and PSOE have a change of heart? Might they say that they have done all they can to bring Podemos into the fold of a "progressive" government. But hard as they have tried, they have been unsuccessful. As a result, and in the interests of the nation (aka citizens), they will agree to a grand coalition with the PP. Never rule anything out, but it would be unlikely, though perhaps less unlikely if Rajoy were to stand aside and let someone else be premier.

Any arrangement that might involve the PP has, though, become even more difficult than it already was. This is because Congress is taking the government (and so the PP) to court. To the Constitutional Court. Why? Because the government, everyone else in Congress says, is in contempt of parliament. Such a contempt charge has never been laid before, but then there has never been a situation as there is at present, with an acting government and an acting premier.

The contempt arises because neither Rajoy nor the defence minister has been prepared to come before Congress to answer questions. The government doesn't need to answer questions and nor should it. The constitution suggests that there can only be questions once a new prime minister has been sworn in, and Rajoy and other ministers are only acting.

It is an extraordinary situation. Rajoy, among other things, has been attending meetings with EU leaders, but he does not have to answer to parliament. At a lesser level of importance, the national finance minister has been talking tough and talking sanctions over the Balearic refusal to amend the deficit - one demanded by a government when it was not acting but now is acting. No wonder the Balearic government has legal services crawling all over the threat. Rajoy and his government maintain that, because of the acting nature of their government, they are answerable to the courts and not parliament itself. Contemptuous? It certainly seems like it.

But might it be said that all the parties and not only the PP are behaving in a contemptuous fashion? Incapable of ironing out differences, stubbornly sticking to the "red lines" which they will not cross, they are bringing the electoral system into contempt. All the while that PSOE fails in brokering a deal, it allows the reviled Rajoy to continue, acting as he apparently seems fit, referring to the courts and not parliament.

The two-party duopoly has been broken, but in its place democracy has created the stasis of contempt: the parties for each other and for the public.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 12 April 2016

Morning high (7.38am): 10.8C
Forecast high: 21C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 13 April - Sun, cloud, 20C; 14 April - Sun, cloud, 19C; 15 April - Sun, cloud, 19C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): South-Southwest 3 to 4 locally Northeast 2 to 3 in the afternoon.

Things starting to crank up, the old UV rating getting to seven now. One of the most pleasant times of the year: warm sunshine but clean air and freshness.

Evening update (20.45): High of 24.4C. Pretty good.

Twits Of Twitter: Partido Popular

If your party suffers a calamitous election defeat, it is to be expected that there will be a period of bloodletting. Calm, rational review rarely follows calamity. Instead, knives are sharpened, bodies are left. From fractiousness come factions, fighting over the bones of a disintegrated entity. Putting the monster back together again takes time. The wounds are too profound for there to be rapid reparatory surgery.

Nevertheless, if Mariano Rajoy and central office had allowed otherwise, the Partido Popular in the Balearics might now be on the path to recovery. Central office did not allow. The regional party would have to wait until the PP nationally was subjected to its own calamitous humiliation. Only then would the Balearics PP be permitted to cleanse itself of the soiling of its factionalism, to definitively wave its dirty underwear for public view, to get it out of the way, to elect a new leader.

That might have been the theory, but as the general election of 20-D increasingly appears to have heralded another election (26-J in all likelihood), the practice has proved to be different. The PP in the Balearics is still in leadership limbo, unable to move on. When might it be allowed to have its regional congress and elect its leader? Who can say?

It is now getting on for a year since José Ramón Bauzá's PP suffered defeat by the fourteen cuts of seats that it lost in the Balearic parliament. No sooner was it dawning on the party that it had just suffered its worst ever election performance than the battle lines were being drawn and the trenches dug. A phony war prior to the election - former PP mayors, such as those of Alaro and Pollensa, had already jumped ship and abandoned the autocratic Bauzá - became total war, and at the head of the rebel troops was the environment and agriculture minister, Biel Company.

At one time it had appeared as if Company was likely to get a clear run at being the party's next leader. But with the special congress delayed and delayed, there has been ample time for the factions - far from simmering down - to become more and more agitated. And among the agitators has been Bauzá. Far from having accepted being exiled to the Senate with his tail between his legs, he has been doing his best to stir things. His charge that the party lacked direction did not go down well, the implication of this having been that it was not going in the direction that he had taken it.

Modern party warfare now plays out on different fields of battle, one of these being social media. And it has been on Twitter and Facebook where the Company and Bauzá factions have been engaged in skirmishes. At the heart of this were messages on both networks from one Pilar Bauzá Díaz. She had, for instance, placed the blame for the loss of PP votes on the former president, while exchanging views with, among others, the former director of Balearic ports and airports, Antonio Deudero (a Bauzá man). She also praised the work of Biel Company - "the best agriculture minister of all time".

It might be noted that José Ramón's full name is Bauzá Díaz. But Pilar of that name was unrelated to him. She was in fact Company's wife. Her fake account was exposed when she, by error, used her own name. So against this background, Company laid into Bauzá at a PP general meeting last week. If he, the former president, was going after him (Company), then he would go after Bauzá. Company was furious at what he saw as a deliberate leaking of these social media exchanges by Bauzá's personal secretary in the Senate to the mainstream media. The only problem being of course that it was all out there in the public domain anyway, and his wife had mistakenly blown her own trolling cover.

The general secretary of the PP, the party's nominal and temporary leader, Miquel Vidal, has sought to draw a line under the affair. No action will be taken, and it's being put down to the fact that people get "angry" from time to time, and that it was all an "internal" matter. Which may be fair enough, but Company, adding that he will neither forgive nor forget the supposed leak, has suffered - one would have to think - a great deal of damage. You would also have to think that he was aware of his wife's fake account (for which he did apologise).

The time that it is taking in getting around to elect a new leader is only making matters worse for the PP, and this twittish use of Twitter highlights the fact. When they do finally get round to an election, the matter will not be ignored. Meanwhile, and as the PP tears itself apart, it's supposed to be the main opposition.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 11 April 2016

Morning high (7.23am): 10.5C
Forecast high: 21C; UV: 6
Three-day forecast: 12 April - Sun, cloud, 21C; 13 April - Sun, cloud, 18C; 14 April - Sun, cloud, 20C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): South 3 to 5 locally Variable 2 to 3 during the afternoon.

As yesterday one would think. Plenty of sun, a fresh breeze but not as strong as it was yesterday.

Evening update (21.00): Decent. High of 24.1C.

Dry Stone: Intangible Cultural Heritage

The Tramuntana mountain range was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2010. What may not be well understood are the criteria by which this declaration was made. It was not on account of the mountains being mountains. How many mountain ranges can there be across the globe? And how many would boast higher mountains than the Tramuntana can? No, the mountains in themselves, while obviously crucial, were not the principal reason.

Unesco identified the "historical, cultural and socioeconomic processes that have taken place". The mountains are evidence of cultural intermingling in that they have drawn on the physical efforts of the different cultures which have occupied them, most obviously the Muslims and the Christians of post-1229 invasion. What was initiated centuries ago is what there now is: a landscape that was shaped by the labours and ingenuity of its inhabitants. It is one characterised by water systems (hundreds of years before the massive reservoirs were created in the 1970s), by the terracing and by the dry-stone work which itself was used to make the terraces but also to form the means of communication that criss-cross the mountains - the pathways or rudimentary roads. And amidst these developments was the cultivation, such as the olive groves and orange trees.

It is, therefore, the cultural landscape that Unesco honours, one that sets the Tramuntana apart. But not wholly apart. The key element of dry stone, and dry stone in mountainous regions, is not unique to Mallorca. There are similar examples, for instance in Cyprus, and they have a common link - that of a Mediterranean culture combined with that of the Iberian peninsula and out into the Atlantic and the Canary Islands: the dry-stone culture.

What one sees in the Tramuntana is the physical presence of this remarkable culture, such as the path of the barranc (ravine) de Biniaraix in the south of Soller: the very name Biniaraix, a linguistic amalgam of the human cultures that carved the Tramuntana landscape - Arabic and Catalan. And now, in addition to this physical cultural heritage, there is an initiative to add the abstract, the non-physical.

In Mallorca, there is one and only one example of Unesco intangible cultural heritage. It can be seen in the sense that there are singers, but it is non-physical because it is a song, or a chant if one prefers. This is the chant of the Sibil-la, performed on Christmas Eve in churches, monasteries (and the Cathedral) across Mallorca: the most spiritual of Tramuntana sites, Lluc Monastery, is where the intangible meets the tangible in celebrating these different types of culture.

The Balearic regional government's culture ministry and the islands' councils are joining force in participating in an international campaign which is aimed at having "pedra en sec" - dry stone - be declared Unesco intangible cultural heritage. In fact, the first impulse behind this initiative came from the east of the Mediterranean: Cyprus and Greece. Now, and in addition to the Balearics, there is interest from regions in Spain as far apart as Galicia in the north-west to Catalonia in the east and Andalusia in the south, as well as in the Canaries.

But, one might ask, how can this be intangible culture? Dry stone can be seen, touched, walked upon, worked. It is tangible. Which of course is true, but the international candidacy of dry stone and its Mediterranean/Iberian culture focuses on what went into dry stone: the knowledge and skills of its working and the ways in which these were and have been passed down through the centuries. It is a culture of life, of living, of economy and of landscaping, one that unifies different cultures.

Unesco has to decide. Proposals can be made by governments and administrations for its committees to ponder. In the case of dry stone, the candidacy will concentrate on the technique of this ancient craft: the shared human ability that created the landscapes and transformed the physical environment, as happened in the Tramuntana.

All the regions (and countries) involved in this initiative will meet in September and finalise the necessary documentation to meet Unesco guidelines. If all goes to plan, then the candidacy will be submitted to Unesco by March of next year, and the result of the evaluation of the proposals will be known in 2018.

If a declaration is made, it wouldn't of course be Mallorca's alone, unlike the Sibil-la, but it would be great recognition nonetheless for the human ingenuity which left the legacy that it has for us to all enjoy.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 10 April 2016

Morning high (6.20am): 8.1C
Forecast high: 21C; UV: 6
Three-day forecast: 11 April - Sun, cloud, 21C; 12 April - Sun, cloud, 18C; 13 April - Sun, cloud, 17C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West 2 to 4 backing and increasing South 4 to 5 during the morning.

Another fine spring day to come, with southerlies maybe making things feel warmer. The week's outlook is very good.

Evening update (20.30): High of 22.8C. Very sunny, but the wind was fresh for a southerly, so a touch chilly out of the sun.

The Ministry Of Més Per Menorca

Is Francina truly with it, do you suppose? One does have to ask the question, given that she appears to be off in the clouds or with the fairies of consensus and dialogue, spouting - repeatedly - what at its kindest can best be referred to as total and utter drivel. It did come as a surprise, it has to be said, that Sweet and Friendly Armengol (Sweet FA) should have accused the PP's poster girl, Marga Prohens, of dabbling in the politics of the "slum". This is not what we have come to expect from Frankie. Mind you, Marga had more or less accused her of being useless. She was not capable of leading the government. She was being led and none more so than by the Més-ites of Menorca.

These strange beings from across the Menorca channel have occupied a ministry. Theoretically, it is known as the participation, transparency and culture ministry (re-arrange the order as you see fit, and also don't forget sport, which is lurking there somewhere as well). But for all practical purposes it is the Ministry of Més per Menorca, an office for the Més party over the water that somehow seems to have been created within the regional government.

Whatever this ministry actually does, and no one knows except perhaps for one or two Més-ites who dreamt it up, it now has a new minister. The ideological crisis within the Menorcan Més-ite sect did of course claim its victim. One of its number, Esperança (Hope) Camps, was expelled for having not been true to the Més-ite faith, whatever this might be, and she will forever more be referred to as Hopeless, at least where her now former senior officials are concerned.

To the rescue has come someone who will be able to reinvigorate the boys from the ministry, and they do all seem to be boys. There they were, lined up at the official ceremony over which Frankie presided to announce last week's ministerial shake-up. And boy, were the boys happy: smiling away, displaying their "I Survived Esperança" t-shirts. In charge of the boys will now be Mrs. Brown. Yes, it's Mrs. Brown's Boys at the ministry.

It is in fact Ruth Mateu. Who? According to Frankie, Ruth is "brave and committed". What does that mean? Is she about to lock horns in a rugby scrum front row with Joe Marler? Such bravery and commitment will be evident, so we understand, from her heading a "key" ministry. One would rather hope that all ministries are key, but the Ministry of Més per Menorca would appear to be key plus one: a bunch of keys maybe.

Ruth wasn't the only brave and committed one. All three ministerial changes represented bravery and commitment, and these will, said Francina, strengthen the government in responding, inevitably, to the needs of the citizens. One doubts, however, that the citizens are particularly bothered about the musical chairs or have any more idea than Frankie does as to what the Ministry of Més per Menorca supposedly does.

Still, the citizens can rest easily in their beds, knowing that the government has been strengthened, which hardly sounds like a ringing endorsement of how it was previously.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 9 April 2016

Morning high (8.03am): 11.2C
Forecast high: 17C; UV: 6
Three-day forecast: 10 April - Sun, 21C; 11 April - Sun, 18C; 12 April - Sun, cloud, 18C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West-Northwest 3 to 5.

Fine, bright morning. The miserable and cold weather of yesterday is gone, and for today and the next few days the forecast is for good, sunny conditions. All set fair then for today and tomorrow's boat show and gastronomy event in Puerto Alcudia.

Evening update (21.00): Nice. High of 19.5C.

Questions Of Illogic: The tourist tax

The draft for the law on the tax for touristic stays and sustainable tourism (the final version has yet to appear on the Official Bulletin) makes numerous references to items of legislation, both Balearic and national. One item it does not refer to is the revision of Article 78 of the 1992 law on the "impuesto sobre el valor añadido" - IVA. This revision was made in March 2012. At around the same time, the Catalonian parliament was approving the tax for touristic stays, which was introduced in November that year. The national government's amendment was well-timed, more than just coincidental. It established the basis for applying IVA (VAT) to a tourist tax, or rather THE tourist tax, as Catalonia was the only part of Spain that was proposing one; it is still the only part of Spain which has one, though the Balearics will shortly join it.

Had it been any region of Spain other than Catalonia that was bringing in a tourist tax, it is a moot point as to whether Article 78 would have been revised in the way that it was. But it was revised. A leading hotelier in Barcelona observed that it seemed somewhat illogical to have a tax on a tax, but Catalonia was obliged to comply with Article 78.

Biel Barceló, the tourism minister, says that it is illogical that a tax raised in the Balearics should be subject to a national tax. He may well think this, but he knew full well that there was such a national tax. The announcement of the application of IVA may have taken some by surprise, but it would have been no surprise to the government. It has known about it all along. Yet, when it came to the drafting of the legislation, there was no mention of IVA. It might strike some as strange that legislation of a tax nature should overlook a tax element.

It is only now, when the government is getting around to communicating information regarding the tax, that it has chosen to give the full story. It is disgraceful for it to only be doing so now. It is equally disgraceful for Barceló to keep referring to small amounts of money - a few cents in the case of the IVA element, he has said. The amounts may not be great, either the tax itself or the IVA add-on, but one person's small amount is another person's not so small amount. It's an insult. Barceló and others would do well to remember that the industry it so dearly wishes to now sustain was originally built with money from ordinary working people.

The IVA admission is, unfortunately, just another example of how poorly the tourist tax has been managed. As someone not opposed in principle to a tax, it has been the obfuscation, the vacillating as to its purpose, the simplistic references to "small amounts" and the interminable sustainable clap-trap that has led to a revision in attitude. And one can add, for good measure, the fact that the Balearic tax will represent a greater burden for the taxpaying tourist than Catalonia's does.

The hoteliers, meanwhile, see the same illogic as expressed by the Barcelona hotelier. What is the justification for applying IVA to the tourist tax? What service is subject to tax? The service of the regional government's unofficial tax collectors, i.e. the hoteliers and other accommodation providers? Only the national government can say, which is of course a convenient cop-out for the regional government. Don't blame us, blame Madrid. Maybe, but then Madrid didn't introduce a tourist tax. It just changed the IVA rules to ensure it got a bit more revenue for itself from an administration it wasn't friendly with (Catalonia) and will now get some more from an administration with which diplomatic, financial relations have all but broken down.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 8 April 2016

Morning high (7.39am): 12.2C
Forecast high: 14C; UV: 5
Three-day forecast: 9 April - Sun, 17C; 10 April - Sun, 18C; 11 April - Sun, 18C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North 4 occasionally 5 backing Northwest in the afternoon.

Cloudy start and rain is a possibility. Picking up by later on and introducing a pattern of settled, sunny weather for the next few days.

Evening update (20.30): Well, that didn't go according to plan. Persistent rain for much of the day, never heavy, and cold - down to eight or so degrees. The sun finally put in appearance and boosted the high to 12.4C.

From Mallorca To Panama

Panama is a Central American republic which has gifted to the world a canal and a hat. In more general terms, its global impact is limited. It doesn't possess a national football team of any note, which might spread its name further, and hasn't been responsible for any international musical genre. In the relatively recent past, global attention was paid to it on account of General Manuel Noriega, a military ruler for whom corruption and abuse of human rights weren't options but ways of life. When the US finally invaded - Operation Just Cause - Noriega was removed from power, flown to the US, put on trial and sentenced to 40 years for, among other things, drug trafficking and money laundering.

Since then, Panama has become a more stable society, one mostly ignored by the world. Until now. To its canal and its hat, it has now added its papers. The world has also become familiar with a law firm called Mossack Fonseca, a firm that everyday folk around the globe would never have heard of. Less than everyday folk, however, knew a great deal about it. Panama itself is one of the chief tax havens cited, albeit that it lags some distance behind the British Virgin Islands. The Bahamas, the Seychelles, paradises in one regard have been revealed to be paradises in another - the Spanish refer to a tax haven as a "paraíso fiscal".

While the leaks have claimed Iceland's prime minister, cited the father of Britain's PM, implicated the president of Russia and have led to Swiss police interest in the headquarters of Uefa, they have also landed rather closer to home in Mallorca. Two of the island's major hotel chains have been forced to issue statements in respect of dealings with Mossack Fonseca. The Escarrer family (Meliá Hotels International) administered from 1985 a trust through Mossack Fonseca which looked after the wealth of the hotel chain's founder and president, Gabriel Escarrer Juliá. Meliá says that in line with Spanish government measures the situation has been "regularised" for a long time, with overseas bank accounts being declared to the tax authorities.

Luis and Carmen Riu Güell of Riu Hotels & Resorts had at least two offshore companies registered in Panama, which were linked to Mossack Fonseca. Riu says, however, that the association with Mossack Fonseca ended some years ago. It has stated that it complies with tax laws in both Spain and Panama. It might be noted that Riu has two hotels in Panama. As such, there now being bank accounts and registered companies would not be unusual. These are, says Riu, legally constituted companies.

It needs stressing that there is nothing to suggest any wrongdoing on behalf of Meliá, Riu or family members. But the leaking of their Panama connection could really not have come at a worse time. Or put it another way, it couldn't have come at a better time for certain politicians. Laura Camargo of Podemos was one of the first to put her Panama hat on. The matter will be taken to parliament next week. President Armengol will be asked what measures the Balearic government will be proposing to investigate what quantity of money has "allegedly" been "stolen" from the islands. She needs to be careful what she says, one can't help feeling.

Inevitably, the affair is being linked by Podemos to what Camargo describes as "serious cases of labour exploitation" in the Balearics. It is the accusations of exploitation plus the demonising of the hoteliers, especially the large ones, that make the Panama papers such a Godsend for Podemos. As it also is for David Abril, the most vocal of anti-hotelier Més voices. The large hotel chains should now cease giving lessons and advice in respect of tourism policy, he says. While the hoteliers have been campaigning against the tourist tax, they have been "diverting millions to Panama through phantom companies in order not to pay tax here". Even the town hall in Palma is having its say. Neus Truyol, the Més deputy mayor for ecology, wants the state to investigate cases of alleged tax fraud suggested by the Panama papers.

It might be noted that there are others mentioned in the papers. One of them is King Felipe's aunt, Pilar de Borbón, the sister of the former king, Juan Carlos. And in the case of the royals, her name appearing among the leaks is also less than opportune. One aspect of the ongoing Nóos trial is that Princess Cristina's husband was involved in diverting money to tax havens via the companies that he and ex-business partner, Diego Torres, set up.

The Panama papers will continue to throw up revelations, as potentially damaging as any from Wikileaks. Spain got away relatively lightly with Wikileaks, but now, and regardless of how correct affairs were or may have been, the political atmosphere is different. There are some who will smell blood. 

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 7 April 2016

Morning high (7.53am): 11.8C
Forecast high: 17C; UV: 6
Three-day forecast: 8 April - Cloud, sun, 15C; 9 April - Sun, 15C; 10 April - Sun, 18C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North-Northeast 5 to 6 easing North 3 to 4 by the afternoon.

Lighter morning than yesterday. Might be some rain knocking around this evening. In between, sunny spells and the wind down, though still a bit rough at sea.

Evening update (20.00): Reasonably sunny, reasonably warm. High of 18.9C.

Going By The Clock: Spanish days

They're talking time again. It's one of those topics that possibly only the Spanish can talk about. Time is a national pastime. Rather like the weather is for the British. How strange that it is the same word in Spanish: "tiempo".

Mariano Rajoy, of whom it might be suggested that he is running out of time, has said that if he were to remain premier, then he would change the working day and the basis of time. The day would end at six in the evening (or is it afternoon?), while Spain would revert to the time when it was fully in time with British time (and Portuguese time, oh, and Canary Islands' time).

These discussions crop up frequently; usually when there's been the loss or gaining of an hour - spring forward, fall back. But these are discussions that the man and woman in the street (or more appropriately the bar) would have. Politicians can talk about such things at any time.

Rajoy has previously had it in mind to make changes to time. In 2013, the matter came before Congress, but only now, when Rajoy is merely acting at being a prime minister, has he stated clearly his preference to legislate. If he's still holding out for another crack at an election, does he think this might be a vote-winner? Would a nation be swayed by being told to go home at 6pm or by Greenwich Mean Time? Perhaps it would be. It might be noted that Ciudadanos (C's), would-be usurpers of some of the traditional PP support base, made changing time an electoral pledge. Is this how it works? Time is an issue between right and left? If I had the time to plough through the several hundred items in the Podemos programme, I might be able to verify that it is or it isn't.

Abandoning Central European Time (CET) and aligning the clocks with the British does make geographical sense. Apart from the Balearics and bits of the eastern part of the mainland, Spain lies to the west of the Meridian, as of course do Portugal and the Canaries, the only part of Spain that goes it alone time-wise. But in the time debate, this seems a diversion. What really exercises politicians and those who devote great energies to researching time is the working day. This is linked with CET, but the actual time system may not fundamentally make a great deal of difference. Do people in the Canaries operate according to different daily patterns to other Spaniards? One would very much doubt that they do. Culture is culture, and Spanish time culture is pretty homogenous, regardless of whether the clocks are set according to CET or British Summer Time.

The accepted norm for the Spanish working day is that it starts at 9am takes a break at 2pm, resumes at 4pm and ends at 7pm. But accepted norms are only normal enough. The working day can and does extend to 8pm or 9pm. So it is the lateness of this end plus the two hours off (which can be more) that are under the microscope, as also is a work culture - in certain situations - which demands being seen to be working late, however unproductive this might be.

It is productivity that is really at the heart of the time debate. Hence, why a political party with pro-business ambitions like the C's would embrace a need for time change in order to boost output and work efficiency and effectiveness. Politically, although Congress made no real move on the issue in 2013, a parliamentary commission was to be established, and it was to be guided by the national commission for the rationalisation of hours: yes, there really is such a body. It itself has been influenced by the work of Professor Nuria Chinchilla, probably the foremost expert on the subject. She has been banging the drum for change for years, the result of her being the IESE Business School's director for the centre for work and the family.

Her argumentation is indisputable. If people work late, don't eat until 10pm, watch prime time TV (that doesn't start until 10pm), go to bed at 1am or 2am but still get up and go to work for nine in the morning, then the nation is in a permanent and collective state akin to jetlag. From a productivity perspective this makes no sense.

Of course, not everyone follows such a routine, just as not everyone follows a work pattern which conforms with a norm. Nine to five in the UK or US has long been no more than a guideline. Work is work, and the working day is dependent upon all sorts of factors. As a general principle, however, the Rajoy time change has much merit. But what about the culture? Working days, Greenwich Mean Time can be subject to legislation, but who can legislate for culture?

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 6 April 2016

Morning high (7.40am): 14.3C
Forecast high: 17C; UV: 5
Three-day forecast: 7 April - Cloud, sun, 17C; 8 April - Cloud, sun, 14C; 9 April - Sun, 15C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 6 to 7. Waves of three metres.

Windy old morning. Alerts out for wind and poor coastal conditions. Should be reasonably sunny later though.

Evening update (20.45): Remained quite windy. Sunny spells. High of 18.2C.

In Search Of Balearic Innovation

What does Biel Barceló do with himself? He does have a great deal on his plate. Tourism, the tourist tax and the tax on the tourist tax. That's enough of a job for one politician, you might think, but Biel is also vice-president, which requires him being involved in all manner of things unrelated to his ministerial portfolio. And this portfolio also means innovation and research.

Looking at reported activities since last summer on the government's web page for the vice-president and minister for innovation, research and tourism, one finds comparatively little devoted to the innovation and research components. There are one or two activities where the worlds of his portfolio collide. Take 10 February this year. An agreement signed with the university for a collaboration on touristic innovation. One of its principal ingredients is a project for Big Data aimed at the segmentation of markets for niche tourist products - cultural tourism, health tourism, cycling and so on. 

Yet there is nothing which might be described as major when it comes to innovation and research: certainly nothing comparable to the introduction of the tourist tax and to the other tourism dilemmas he is confronting, e.g. the regulation of holiday rentals. Might one conclude, therefore, that Biel has taken on rather more than one minister can handle? One might well do so. But the innovation stuff was a Biel project even before he landed in government last June. This is because it is very much the stuff of left-wing political agendas. Which is not to hint at anything critical. Quite the contrary. But glance at general and/or electoral programmes for Podemos and an often forgotten precursor to Podemos, namely Partido X, and you will find a great deal of prominence given to innovation.

Joy and wealth through innovation. This might be a slogan of the left. Innovation has an egalitarian feel to it. Wealth will be distributed thanks to it. Economies will be diversified because of it. Quite possibly. But much depends on how innovation is defined, what it is and what it actually means, what returns can be made on it. The greatest of returns come from different sources. They emerge from an unfettered spirit of entrepreneurialism, supported by a mentality geared to success and risk-taking as well as by an educational system which provides the knowledgeable raw material. They come also from Big Capitalism, the keepers of vast wealth with access to ever more from investors and debt and equity capital. Typically, they do not come from the state, unless the state is under strict centralised control.

For Barceló, an amalgam of tourism and innovation is a major step on a roadmap (they love roadmaps in current Balearic public administrations) to the Holy Grail of his much spoken-of new economic model. This is a model with a great deal to commend it. If, that is, we knew what it was and what it might look like. This is not a model which has shape, which is stuck together with glue and allowed to set before it is painted. It is a model of the abstract. Intangible, undefined.

For all the talk of a new model and of innovation, it's not as though we haven't been here before. In its rawest sense, innovation demands finance. It isn't simply a thought process. Flesh in an economic manner has to be applied to the bones of creative thinking.

Back in 2005, the amount which the Balearic government (the Matas government) dedicated to innovation and development (or R&D, call it what you like) was 183 million euros. The Antich administration which succeeded it was one that arrived in a flurry of talk about innovation. It was to be a big thing, just like new railways were to be, and we know what happened to those. Yes, there was crisis, and when recession hits there are things which are hurled from the window - research being one of them. But Balearic investment in R&D collapsed to a greater degree than other regions. By 2009, the amount had fallen to 55 million euros. It hasn't recovered. The overall level is now pitiful.

The report from the EAE Business School into R&D investment by Spain's regions makes for grim reading. The Balearics are bumbling along at the bottom of the league table. The principal industries - hospitality and construction - provide vastly lower levels of investment than those of oil, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and IT/telecoms.

The Balearics are caught in an economic vice of industries which, while they can be and are innovative, do not embark on programmes that generate major shifts in terms of economic welfare, returns on investment and wealth distribution. They don't have the need to. They are not those types of industry. So where does Barceló's innovation come from? Where does his economic model come from? Perhaps he can tell us.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 5 April 2016

Morning high (7.40am): 15.2C
Forecast high: 18C; UV: 5
Three-day forecast: 6 April - Cloud, sun, wind, 17C; 7 April - Cloud, sun, 15C; 8 April - Cloud, sun, 153C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 to 4 increasing North 5 to 6 by the afternoon.

Grey morning and a grey day on the cards. Rain likely. The wind getting up from the north later. Rather iffy until Saturday when there should be more settled conditions.

Evening update (20.45): Not great. The sun tried at times and then gave up. Some rain but only light. High of 18.8C.

Quotas, Intrigues And Government Crisis

All governments have their moments of crisis when inner tensions arise. Dismissals, reshuffles, even resignations will occur. They are not in themselves unusual. Within the most rigid and disciplined of governments there are disagreements, spats and also intrigues. The moments of crisis are often self-induced rather than brought about by outside events.

During the periods in office of the two Balearic governments prior to the current one, there were times of upheaval. The "pact" of 2007 to 2011, which comprised PSOE, the PSM Mallorcan socialists and the old Unió Mallorquina (UM), was an amalgam of incompatible convenience. PSOE was the arbiter, caught between two parties which, because of their competing claims on Mallorcan nationalism but from very different ideological perspectives, hated each other. It didn't help PSM humour that the UM nabbed some high-profile ministries - tourism and environment. (Want to know why Més now have these ministries in the current government? There's your answer.)

The crisis that engulfed the pact government wasn't, remarkably enough, because of the inherent conflict. It came about because the UM was consumed by corruption charges. They were to eventually prove too much even for a docile president like Francesc Antich. He booted the UM out, with some sixteen months left of the legislature.

The regime of José Ramón Bauzá had, at its outset, nothing of this in-built tension. One party, the Partido Popular, was governing with a majority. For all this, however, it was a government which spent most of its period of office in a state of crisis. After just a year, the first health minister, Carmen Castro, resigned. Personal reasons, it was said. A few months later her replacement, Antoni Mesquida, also resigned. Personal reasons were initially cited. Then we found out the real reason. Austerity and cutbacks to the health service were too much for this brother of PSOE's Joan, currently in charge of "special projects" in Calvia.

The finance minister, Pep Aguiló, left the following May, sacked because Bauzá needed to sacrifice him. The so-called green taxes, aimed at large retailers and car-hire agencies, threatened to deprive Bauzá of a significant support base in the Balearic business community. The taxes were dropped.

Next to go was Rafael Bosch, the education minister. It was his sacking that was to eventually expose the tensions within the PP. Bosch was not the advocate of trilingual teaching and anti-Catalanism that Bauzá wanted. His departure arguably signalled the eventual end of Bauzá. The remaining two years were 24 months of chaos, fall-outs and recrimination.

Bauzá was quite different to Antich. He was an authoritarian who sought to impose discipline but failed to. Antich was more the diplomat, all the time having to balance the conflicts that he had been party to in forming the pact. The same can now be said for Francina Armengol. But she heads a quite different type of government. One party, Podemos, isn't even part of government. It remains outside, pulling strings, determining policy and sniping at the government when it suits it to do so. However, Podemos is not the reason for the crisis that has broken out in the Armengol administration because of the resignation of culture, transparency and participation minister Esperança Camps.

Nine months into government and its first victim has been claimed. There were rumblings about Camps, her effectiveness, the fact that she wasn't a politician as such when appointed, her continuing to live in Valencia and her apparent lack of knowledge of the "realities" of the Balearics. Some of which begs the question as to why she was appointed in the first place, but it was this appointment which uncovers the divided nature of the Armengol administration. We had thought (and will continue to think) that Podemos is the wrecking crew, but how much thought had we given to Més?

In itself Més is a coalition, but not just of the PSM, the Greens and the one everyone forgets, Entesa. It is a coalition between Mallorca and Menorca. Camps was a Més Menorca appointee. It made her and ultimately it broke her. She faced rebellion because her senior officials simply didn't rate her, but she might have survived had it not been for the intrigues within Més in Menorca.

She was also an appointment based on the unwritten island quota system for ministerial positions. Bauzá hadn't concerned himself so much with this. When Castro, from Ibiza, resigned, she wasn't replaced by someone else from Ibiza. The quota system is far more evident with the Armengol government; just another aspect of coalition, if you like.

Armengol is asking Més to come up with a replacement with "weight" for Camps. It will probably be Més Menorca which makes the nomination. That way all the constituent parts of government are kept sweet, meaning that all the factions and the intriguers are kept happy. It's a recipe for crisis. Don't bank on it not repeating itself.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 4 April 2016

Morning high (7.57am): 9.1C
Forecast high: 20C; UV: 5
Three-day forecast: 5 April - Cloud, 18C; 6 April - Cloud, sun, 15C; 7 April - Cloud, sun, 15C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): South 3 to 4, possible fog patches until midday.

Fairly cloudy start. Not a lot of sun anticipated today. Quite warm though. Tomorrow is looking like a washout.

Evening update (20.00): High of 20.3C. Sunny spells but mostly light cloud. Also quite windy.

Paradise Enjoys A Boom

Much can be said and has been said about paradise - the Mallorcan one, that is - and paradise, as the title of this article suggests, is enjoying a boom. Again. It has enjoyed various booms at various times in the past, but each one brings with it some questions, some doubts. The current boom in paradise is accompanied by fears of overcrowding, of shortages of accommodation, of gridlock on access roads to beaches. Paradise is never totally without blemish.

This paradise, as far as foreigners were concerned, only genuinely began to be discovered in the early years of the last century. Those who arrived tended to congregate together. They made the then suburb of El Terreno in Palma one of their main enclaves. It was here that the American writer Gertrude Stein lived for a time. And it was Stein who was to immortalise the Mallorcan paradise in the words she said to Robert Graves: "It's paradise, if you can stand it."

Stein's words still seem curious. What did she really mean? It was as though there was a catch to paradise. Or was there? The words are equivocal: they can be interpreted in different ways. But that was Stein for you.

For the most part, the foreigners who came and who were also writers painted word pictures of this Mediterranean paradise in paradisal terms. There weren't among them the criticisms that George Sand had made. And besides, Sand had come to Mallorca decades before. Her Mallorca was that of the late 1830s, not of the first years of the twentieth century.

The foreign writers came for different reasons. Some wrote guide books, others wrote stories. There were also journalists, introducing Mallorca to a world that was almost totally ignorant of the island. Among them were Americans, writing for an audience that knew very little about Europe let alone an island in the Mediterranean.

These writers and indeed other foreign residents (mainly British, French and also American) began to colonise other parts of Mallorca, and none more so than Puerto Pollensa. Some time in the future I hope to be able to explain quite why there was the foreign community in Puerto Pollensa, as it's a story - as far as I'm aware - that hasn't ever been explained. The painters we know about, but they were typically from Mexico and South America or from Catalonia. Of the British and Americans, we know very little, other than about the famed visitors, such as Agatha Christie, rather than residents.

Spain held a particular fascination for the Americans, and Ernest Hemingway was the clearest example of a writer who explored the culture of the country. In something of the mould of Hemingway was an American journalist who came to Puerto Pollensa in 1932. He would file copy for US publications and he also wrote for "The Daily Palma Post". His name was Theodore Pratt, Ted Pratt.

I have asked around, though getting an answer is, as might be expected, proving difficult. Are there any recollections of Ted Pratt? Where, my curiosity makes me wonder, did he live? It was in a cottage in Puerto Pollensa. That much is for sure. But which one? Maybe it isn't there any more. The cottage, however, is important to the Ted Pratt story. In 1933, the cottage was besieged by angry Mallorcans.

In July of that year, an article appeared in "American Mercury". The author was Ted Pratt. Its title was "Paradise Enjoys A Boom". Pratt was in Mallorca at a time when there was a boom, a tourism boom. The island was discovering tourism in ways that it hadn't previously. New coastal urbanisations were being developed or planned. The British and American residents of Puerto Pollensa were a key market to be added, it was hoped, to a wave of golf tourists for the island's first ever golf course in Puerto Alcudia, which was created in 1934. By that time, Ted Pratt had gone.

Pratt's article was utterly vicious. There were some things he liked and admired, such as the local brandy, mushrooms and handicraft - embroideries in particular. Otherwise, and he had lived in Puerto Pollensa for a year when he wrote the article, he attacked the people, the food, the wine, the mountains: you name it, Ted had it in for it.

He might have thought that no one in Mallorca would read the article. Well, they did. In translation. "Ultima Hora" got hold of it, and there was outrage. Ted Pratt and his wife were forced to leave Puerto Pollensa. They took refuge in Palma but were then "advised" to get off the island. He had chosen to attack paradise, and for that he could not be forgiven.

* Photo of Theodore Pratt some years after he was in Mallorca.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 3 April 2016

Morning high (7.25am): 8.1C
Forecast high: 20C; UV: 5
Three-day forecast: 4 April - Cloud, 21C; 5 April - Cloud, 16C; 6 April - Cloud, sun, 15C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): South-Southeast 3 to 4.

Better morning and should be a better day. The forecast for the week isn't that great though.

Evening update (19.15): Pleasant. High of 21.6C.

Silvia Cano's Army

Fred Karno, aka Frederick John Westcott, was the man who invented slapstick comedy. It was he who made the custard pie in the face famous. He lent his name to a phrase - Fred Karno's Army - used to denote a chaotic organisation. Silvia Cano did not invent slapstick. But in other regards, she shares something in common with Fred, not least - the most splendidly fortunate of circumstances - her surname. It sounds just like Fred's moniker.

Silvia, it needs to be pointed out, is not some sort of Mallorcan stand-up. She is a master (sic) of contemporary philosophy and also an expert in the psychosocial aspects of domestic violence. Furthermore, she is an avowed member of the sisterhood. All of which led many to wonder quite why she had launched the type of custard pie in the face that she did. She wasn't having a laugh, one needs to make clear. Her particular custard pie was aimed at a different type of sisterhood (and indeed brotherhood), that to be found within the orders of the Catholic faith. In fact, one might suggest that Silvia was rubbing the pie in the faces of the entire Catholic establishment.

In addition to her various other qualifications, Silvia is the general secretary of PSOE in Mallorca, a kind of right-hand (or left-hand) woman to sweet and friendly Frankie Armengol, president of a chaotic organisation sometimes referred to as the Balearic government. In her gen-sec capacity, Silvia offered her thoughts about local telly. Specifically, she was questioning the continuing live transmission of Sunday mass from Palma Cathedral by the public broadcaster, IB3. "Pornography," suggested Silvia, "also has its public". With this utterance, the pie was launched, swiftly followed by any amount of stuff hitting the fan.

As always, one needs to place her comment in context. She went on to add that no one would think to put sex programmes on public telly. What she most certainly was not suggesting was that mass should be replaced by some dodgy video with porn actresses dressed as nuns enjoying pleasures of the flesh with a group of midgets. But the context didn't matter. It was the porn reference which did.

There was something of the John Lennon Beatles are more famous than Jesus moment about all this. Lennon was of course totally misrepresented. As has been the case with Silvia. Misrepresentation or not, critics rounded on her. How, for instance, could a fully paid-up member of the sisterhood even think to mention porn? This was one line of attack. Had she said football instead it wouldn't have been half as bad. But no, it was porn. And so not long after she had offered her thoughts, Change.org was in full petitioning mode. It was being demanded that she retract her comments and issue an apology for having compared the Eucharist to YouPorn (or some such).

Silvia has thus far refused to apologise, maintaining that it's all down to interpretations made by others. Which is true, but unfortunately such interpretations do get made, even if they are out of context, while it was also unfortunate that the timing of the row should coincide with the Fred Karno-style chaotic organisation as displayed by the departure of someone else from the ranks of the sisterhood: the government's Esperança Camps discovered that all hope had run out and she resigned.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 2 April 2016

Morning high (8.13am): 11.6C
Forecast high: 17C; UV: 5
Three-day forecast: 3 April - Sun, cloud, 21C; 4 April - Cloud, sun, 18C; 5 April - Rain, 15C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 4 to 5.

Grey start but should improve during the morning. Tomorrow expected to be quite warm as the breezes switch southerly.

Evening update (20.45): Picked up eventually. High of 17.7C.

The Follies Of Youth: Tourist tax

You need to be careful that things don't come back and bite you. In a multimedia era, even one at the end of the last century, there may be something lurking which can cause embarrassment. Ask Inma Benito, the president of the Mallorca Hoteliers Federation and one of the principal opponents of the tourist tax.

A clip was hauled out from the film archives of Spanish television earlier this week. The year was 1998. It featured a researcher from the University of the Balearic Islands: Inma Benito. She was involved with tourism courses in Menorca at the time and in the clip she says that it would be positive if a tourist tax were to be introduced. There was a market disposed to paying a tax. The price had to be reasonable, but the market would be willing to pay it. Indeed, a market that was not well disposed towards a tourist tax would not be interesting for the Balearics.

Oh, the follies of youth. Benito has laughed it all off. After twenty years in the hotel and tourism sector one sees things differently. She hadn't remembered saying it. There again, she hadn't had any opportunity to study a tax.

Well, it was twenty years ago (or eighteen to be exact) and opinions can and do change, especially when you have been a career administrator with the hoteliers federation for as long as Inma has been. But there was one aspect of what she said which did rather touch a nerve: it was the thing about not being interested in a market that was not disposed to paying a tax. The unspoken message here was one that was widely discussed at the time and was to be a backdrop to the introduction of the old eco-tax: the "quality" of the tourist.

The insinuation of what this meant was not to be lost on the German market in particular, especially when Maria Munar was championing greater quality among the tourist class. And associated with this was the whole issue of tourism numbers. It is remarkable how things just keep coming around. In parliament on Thursday the issue was raised once again. Does the government wish to place a ceiling on the number of tourists? Biel Barceló has suggested that it does, while on another occasion having said that it would not be feasible to do so.

Benito's pro-tax declaration was not the only interesting aspect of this trip down television lane. There was also Francesc Antich (PSOE), to become president in 1999, referring to the need for a tax in order to change the model of growth. For that, one can read Biel Barceló's present-day change of economic model.

The narrative hasn't changed, only certain people's opinions. Inma is often photographed laughing.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 1 April 2016

Morning high (7.17am): 12.2C
Forecast high: 15C; UV: 5
Three-day forecast: 2 April - Cloud, sun, 18C; 3 April - Cloud, sun, 18C; 4 April - Cloud, 18C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 5 to 6.

Cloudy and there has been a spot of rain. Mostly overcast today with the prospect of showers. Quite windy as well. Better over the weekend.

Evening update (23.15): More than just showers. Persistent rain, especially this evening and quite heavy in parts. A high of 13.4C this morning around 10am and the temperature went down after this.

The Problem With The Balearic Young

Some years ago, a parent (English, married to a Mallorcan) told me that if she had a choice the family would move to Palma from Puerto Pollensa. Her concern was with her son's education. The city, Palma, was serious in a way that Puerto Pollensa was not. The education to be received there might have been good enough. But where was that education leading? The local kids, she explained, observed how things were in Puerto Pollensa: the summers of beach and having a good time. The summer had a hold. Education wasn't so important. Why worry too much with it when summers would mean bar and other seasonal jobs which would fund the fun of summer. Education was caught in a vice of summertime ethos.

These were remarks made pre-crisis. One positive aspect of crisis was that it addressed the lamentably high school dropout rate among Balearic sixteen-year-olds. Puerto Pollensa was not the only place to be affected by the abrupt disruption of that easy life of summertime. Staying on at school became more attractive. But despite this, the Balearics still lag well behind the rest of Spain in this regard - ten percentage points behind a national average of 95% of 16-year-olds who stay on at school. The actual school failure rate also shows a ten per cent difference: 32% as opposed to a national 22.

The problems with an underperforming state education system in the Balearics are well known and have been much discussed. While fingers might be pointed in the direction of politicians and teachers (their organisations more than individuals) and more crucially the system itself, none can be held wholly to account. There appears to be a more deep-seated malaise - a social one that is linked inextricably to the nature of the job market.

The Gadeso research foundation has reported this week that 21.4% of those aged between 20 and 24 fall into the category of the "ni-ni", someone who neither works nor studies. In comparative terms, the Balearics are not as bad in this regard as with school performance: the national rate is 20.6%. They presumably find their way into the unemployment statistics. The Labour Force Survey for the final quarter of 2015 placed this at just under 45% for this age group. The rate is very much worse for the 16 to 19 group below it: getting on for 75%.

Seasonality obviously influences fourth quarter figures, but it is this - seasonality - which explains so much. It isn't only the young who are affected in a harmful fashion, but they are harmed more than most.

Crisis put the opportunities of the young into sharp relief and most certainly not only in the Balearics and Spain. But it gave rise to some extraordinary disruption. Away from the Balearics there was the case of the town of Benalup in Andalusia, a community all but destroyed when the construction industry collapsed and took with it great numbers of young people who had left school to work in the industry, had been earning very good money, bought properties with cheap mortgages, only for it all to suddenly and devastatingly go Benalup.

To address the problem of unemployment among the young there, training courses were introduced. As with Mallorca, these training courses have provided a glut of people with qualifications as, for example, web and graphic designers. An economy cannot, however, survive on design. How many designers does any one economy actually need?

Of ministers in the current Balearic government, there is one who seems to be doing his work diligently. He is the employment (and trade) minister, Iago Negueruela. His is arguably the most difficult of the portfolios of government. He is variously charged with tackling job-market seasonality, working conditions and contracts, diversification of the economy and of course unemployment full stop. But his is not work that is in isolation. It is tied in with Biel Barceló's tourism (and innovation and development) ministry and Marti March's education ministry. At more distance, but also important, is Vicenç Vidal's agriculture portfolio. Why this? There is a serious deficiency in the number of young people in the agriculture sector.

Farming, though, is no more a game-changing panacea for youth unemployment woes than is Barceló's desire for innovation. Nor is the youth guarantee work scheme for which Negueruela is responsible. The take-up is nothing like he would hope that it would be. Nor, might it be said, will be government coercion - aimed principally at the hoteliers - to introduce higher-paid and full contracts. Even a left-wing regime can interfere or intervene only so much in the workings of the market.

One wonders, though, how much of an improvement the government can make. Is it the case that there is an attitudinal problem, as the parent from Puerto Pollensa suggested? Is this the nature of the beast? If so, it is a beast that Mallorca has bred.