Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.
Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
- Christopher Howse: 'A Pilgrim in Spain'*
Covid 19 Lockdowns
Lockdowns are officially indefensible. Sweden has won the international experiment, as its firms outperform even the German Großunternehmen while Covid deaths plummet in line with the rest of Europe. . . The Covid saga rumbles on. A grim tale of Machiavellian idiocy, statistical illiteracy, and robotic leaders who have no idea how to level with voters. Still, at least they have realised their lockdown error. It’s a glimmer of hope to which we must cling. See the full article below.
A (brilliant) old song of which I’m reminded.
And a new one.
Covid 19 in Spain and Galicia
A Spanish commentator writes: Spain’s failure to come up with a coherent, coordinated approach to managing COVID-19 (along with many other issues) is largely due to its division into so-called autonomous regions, which enjoy significant devolved power. the Spanish system of regional autonomy has led to duplications, bureaucracy and corruption, and above all, a lack of coordination and sharing of information in real time that has made us much more vulnerable to a threat of a global nature. Full article here.
An interesting Covid consequence.
Living La Vida Loca in Spain and Galicia
My TIE: Well, I now have my snazzy new card. In the end, the process was quick and problem-free. But there were 2 (non?)surprises: Firstly, I was again asked - by a nice lady - for the green Certificado de Residencia which was taken from me 6 weeks ago; and, secondly, I was asked to give a print of both my index fingers before the card was given to me. It left me wondering - if this were the most effective way of proving my identity - why I had to both produce the resguardo and to show my passport. And why the card couldn't have been given to me days ago, when I didn't have my passport. It's as if, to access my Mac, Apple asked me to show the bill for its purchase, a copy of a contract with them and finally my relevant passport page before demanding and accepting 2 fingerprints. It all rather contrasts with the system now in place in the car park below Pontevedra's market which allows my car to exit without putting the payment receipt into the slot. But, then, that's a commercial operation, where efficiency and common sense matter. I was also reminded of how the introduction of computers into the the Post Office (Correos) had made the clerks even slower than 10 or 15 years ago. Finally on this . . . My TIE lasts for 10 years. I suspect that, by 2030, at least a retina examination will have been added to the panoply of measures required to prove one's identity. And maybe voice-recognition. And something not yet invented. The expression 'belt and braces' doesn't quite cover it.
My Dutch friend has finally had enough and has told El Corte Inglés it can stuff its card up its corporate jaxi. After more than 2 weeks of conversations re what they require, yesterday he received a letter demanding for the renewal of his card:-
- His latest salary chit
- His pension details
- An official certificate of his work history (from the Social Security)
- A copy of his last income tax (Renta) return
- A photocopy of a statement from a savings account or the current account to which bills will be debited.
- Any other important data which he thinks will agilizar the process . . . [!!]
This is surely an even better example of beyond-belt-and-braces avoidance of risk than my experience with the Policía Nacional. I wasn't going to write this but, after 19 years of working here, my friend despairs of Spain's future once the flows of other people's money stops. And even if the sun continues to shine and the tourism industry recovers. As the father of 2 teenage Spanish daughters, this is less than academic to him.
The response of the last employee of El Corte Inglés to whom he spoke was that his dissatisfaction and complaints would be noted and passed on. I wouldn't be confident of that.
A propos . . . There seems to be a significant difference between the Golden Visa regulations and the high-handed way bureaucrats interpret them. This high-handed treatment of investors is in keeping with the behaviour of other areas of the Spanish bureaucracy, and echoes Spain’s not so distant, authoritarian past. Click here for the full article.
I think we can say without much fear of contradiction that the motto of Spanish officialdom ain't Keep Things Simple. Especially, it seems, if you're a budding entrepreneur or autónima.
Talking of illegal acts committed with impunity . .
The UK
Well, I’d certainly be annoyed bye this . . .
The USA
Just in case you're thinking of moving there . . . Trump may be behind Joe Biden in the polls but among Republican voters he has an approval rating hovering around 90%. In 2016, there was endless friction between the Republican Party machine and Trump. No longer. His message, his priorities, his instincts, his tone is now theirs. What this convention has done is expel any lingering doubt. His takeover of the Republican Party is complete. Win or lose on November 3, that could remain true for years to come.
In an attempt to prove he's done relatively - if not wonderfully - well, Trump fans continue to stress that US Covid deaths per million are less than in Belgium, the UK, Spain and Italy. What they don't say is that the USA - after being way behind Sweden - is now within a whisker of the latter's total, having passed those of Luxembourg, Switzerland, Ireland, the Netherlands and France along the way. Or that while the USA's total has soared from 356 in mid June to 556(+56%) now, Germany's has gone from 106 to 112(+6%). And Portugal's from 149 to 177 (+10%).
Despite the rising deaths per million - the only truly relevant statistic - a Trump spokesperson claimed this morning that, thanks to him, 'Everything is going in the right direction'. Dear god.
English/Spanish
My thanks to the reader who kindly provided this info:-
- You can't escape your destiny: Another variant appears in Rubén Blades' famous song Pedro Navaja . . . Si naciste pa' martillo, del Cielo te caen los clavos.
- You can't have your cake and eat it too: There are at least three equivalents:- Soplar y sorber, no puede ser/Estar en la procesión y repicando/Estar al plato y a las tajadas.
Finally . . .
My thanks also to the reader who suggested star anise with my ground coffee beans. Certainly a success. Now to add canela?
THE ARTICLE
Europe is at last waking up to its lockdown folly. As battening down the hatches fast loses favour, we can at least take this as a glimmer of hope: Sherelle Jacobs, the Telegraph
Did you hear it? Beyond the second wave sirens and the schools debate, the sound of the penny dropping on the global stage. In recent days, world leaders have hinted at an extraordinary admission: lockdowns are a disaster, and we can’t afford to repeat the mistake.
Still, when that spiritless reverend of the global order Angela Merkel delivered this confession a few days ago, she was so officiously ambiguous that the world paid no attention. “Politically, we want to avoid closing borders again at any cost, but that assumes that we act in coordination,” she droned at a summit in the Mediterranean. And with that, an earthquake: saving lives “at any cost” has been excised from the lexicon of liberal internationalism. Instead the aim is to save the economy. This means “acting in coordination” to kill off second lockdowns.
Emmanuel Macron was the first leader to drop this little bombshell. Last week he said that France can’t cope with the “collateral damage” of a second lockdown, explaining that “zero risk never exists in any society”. Italy joined in three days later, with the health minister hinting that the country will not return to national hibernation. Meanwhile, after lauding China’s draconian lockdown, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is imploring countries to avoid battening down the hatches again.
About time. Lockdowns are officially indefensible. Sweden has won the international experiment, as its firms outperform even the German Großunternehmen while Covid deaths plummet in line with the rest of Europe. Scientists caution that it may take years to develop a vaccine. Economists warn that even the richest economies in the world cannot afford national lockdowns costing up to 3 per cent of GDP per month.
Perhaps even doom-mongering politicians have twigged that civilisation threatens to evaporate into a mushroom cloud of psychoneurotic delirium. Polling reveals that Westerners on average believe 6 per cent of their national populations have died from Covid-19. The real figure is around 100 times lower.
Or maybe global leaders have been terrified by their instinct to protect the status quo. After all, seasonal travel shutdowns are an existential threat to a borderless Europe. Italy’s collapse following another lockdown would bankrupt the Eurozone. The banal rituals of cosmopolitanism are under threat – from the professional class’s daily pilgrimage into the cities to Starbucks lattes in reusable cups.
The trouble is, if Britain is any guide, leaders will struggle to persuade the masses to keep calm and carry on. Risk-averse statesmen aren’t ideal poster children for the message that we must all learn to live with more risk.
More importantly, no leader dare tackle the toxic relationship between mass panic and “the science”. Take the problem of dodgy Covid statistics. The bizarre failure of politicians to explain to people the basic fact that “rising” cases could partly reflect an increase in testing is a scandal. So is their inability to point out that, far from being cause for alarm, mild upticks may be an encouraging sign that testing and tracing is working, as the system becomes more effective at picking up localised spikes.
Nor do governments have a handle on the spurious second wave modelling that could yet drive us into another lockdown. It is, however, a myth that politicians are helpless against the judgment of career scientists. In Britain and beyond, politicians have never followed the modelling; modelling has always followed the politicians.
As the pandemic hit, officials across the world requested forecasts for long-term worst-case scenarios, even though it is widely held in expert circles that statistical models are only accurate for roughly two-week stretches. Worse, part of the reason the science has come up with ridiculous solutions is that politicians have asked ridiculous questions.
As government adviser Prof Mark Woolhouse recently told a parliamentary committee:“We are not aiming the models at the right target; we are aiming them at everyone when in fact the burden of this disease is very concentrated.” Perhaps the number crunchers would do better to model social distancing measures directed at the vulnerable rather than population-wide lockdowns.
Sadly, world leaders are less interested in taking the science debate forward than in covering their backs. Their expediency will only fuel paranoia. After an intriguing U-turn from the WHO, face masks are being rolled out as a mass market placebo from Britain to Spain. The notion that they reassure more people than they alarm – let alone the evidence that they work – is risible. Still, they usefully distract from the incompetence of Western states when it comes to the routine mass testing that could genuinely quiet hysteria and avert new lockdowns.
And so the Covid saga rumbles on. A grim tale of Machiavellian idiocy, statistical illiteracy, and robotic leaders who have no idea how to level with voters. Still, at least they have realised their lockdown error. It’s a glimmer of hope to which we must cling.
* A terrible book, by the way. Don't be tempted to buy it, unless you're a very religious Protestant.