Spanish Shilling

One of the most prominent memories in the Spanish scrapbook, along with the picture of the caudillo under the heading ¡Españoles, Franco ha Muerto! and another of the rebel Guardia Civil Antonio Tejero firing his revolver into the ceiling of Las Cortes, the Spanish Parliament, would be the smiling and unctuous photograph of José María Aznar along with Tony Blair and George W Bush at their meeting in the Azores on the eve of the (Second) American Gulf War and invasion of Iraq twenty three years ago this month.

Aznar paid dearly (as did Spain) for getting this country involved in a foreign adventure, especially so a year later on March 11 2004 when Arab terrorists planted some bombs in the local Madrid railway system, killing 193 people and wounding some 2,000 more.

Aznar compounded his error by blaming the wrong set of assassins, the Basque ETA group rather than Al Qaeda. This cost his party the general election just two days later, allowing the PSOE leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to become the new president of Spain.

One of his first acts was to reverse Spain’s participation in the war against Saddam.

The question of course now arises – what policy would an actual PP/Vox government have taken following the current Israeli/American attack against Iran?

As we don’t have such a leadership, let us look instead at Pedro Sánchez.

I like a quote of his: ‘Spain opposes this catastrophe. Because we understand that governments are there to improve people’s lives, to solve problems, not to worsen them. And it is unacceptable that leaders who are incapable of fulfilling this task use the smokescreen of war to mask their incompetence and line the pockets of a select few’.

Donald Trump answered this by saying something like – ‘who needs Spain anyway?’

That remains to be seen; as much of the European Union, after a certain hesitation, now appears to agree with Sánchez. Although, you see, there’s Feijóo ‘and his Mariachis’ who of course continue to see themselves as vassals of Trump. A plan which is not playing well with much of the Spanish electorate.

Why do the conservatives here (with their allies in the Media) always try and sink the Spanish ship of state?

68% of Spaniards, says El País, say they are against Trump and Netanyahu’s war, with 23% being in favour. Even El Mundo (a conservative newspaper) can’t do much better, with 62% against the war (although we are told in the same headline that those respondents prefer China to the USA).

We see that the right-wing’s patriotism, it seems, has exceptions. It works against immigration, against separatists, against the left, against anyone who doesn't subscribe to the right's short-sighted view of Spain. But it vanishes the moment a thug with an American flag arrives and orders everyone to stand at attention.

Sánchez says – before we all cry ¡No Pasarán! – ‘The people must be aware that what may happen to their wallets has nothing to do with the decisions of the Spanish Government, but with a war in Iran that is illegal and that will bring much suffering.”

We’ve already seen the rise in petrol prices and the next electric bill won’t be far behind.

The Guardian reckons that Pedro Sánchez is ‘one of the very few European leaders to openly and emphatically reject the demands of a US president whose trademark negotiating style is an erratic mix of bullying, humiliation and self-aggrandisement’.

The war (or invasion) has had some bad press, from torpedoing an apparently unarmed Iranian frigate in international waters, to callously bombing a girls’ school with at least 165 children dead. Then there was the obscene prayer-meeting in the Oval Office (our fundamentalists are better than their fundamentalists) as ‘non-commissioned officers were elsewhere being told that the Iran war is part of God’s plan and that President Donald Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth”’. Not my Jesus, Buddy. 

Let’s give Sánchez the last word: ‘Es un orgullo ser español. Por defender lo que defendemos ante la barbarie y ante la guerra’. It is a source of pride to be Spanish. For defending what we defend in the face of barbarism and war.

No doubt I'll have to update this essay... (just sayin')

From the Spanish and international media...

The big news this week is the weekend Israeli and US attack on Iran (with the apparent support of France, Germany and the UK) and the consequences thereof. Spain has two US bases, Morón de la Frontera (Seville) and Rota (Cádiz). The Iranian ambassador to Spain said on Monday that his country considered any offensive base in Europe to be a legitimate target. The Spanish Government has insisted that it won’t participate in the adventure and warned the Americans not to involve the bases in any aggression. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez openly condemned the US and Israeli strikes on Saturday, warning that they could heighten regional tensions and “contribute to a more uncertain and hostile international order.” He later noted that "One can stand both against a hateful regime and an unjustified attack." El País in English says that the USAF has now moved its tanker planes elsewhere.

Around 30,000 Spaniards are currently in the Middle East. On Tuesday, ‘Minister Albares confirmed that "the evacuation operations" of Spaniards in the Middle East are already underway’. 

Infobae says that ‘Pedro Sánchez has once again emerged as the lone dissenting voice in the EU's Middle East crisis cabinet following the attack on Iran. The region is entering an escalation with "unpredictable" consequences. The Spanish leader has positioned himself as the critical voice in Europe in response to the attack by Washington and Tel Aviv’. EuroNews says on Monday that ‘Spain rejects Israel's accusation of “standing with Iran” and other tyrants’.

So, is Spain on ‘the right side of history’? The Israeli foreign minister for one thinks not.

From Business Insider here: 'The US president lashes out at the Spanish government for not allowing him to use the Rota and Morón military bases during the military operation against Iran. Donald Trump this (Tuesday) afternoon launched a scathing attack against Spain and the government of Pedro Sánchez, even ordering Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to initiate an "economic war" live on air. "We're going to cut all trade ties with Spain. We don't want anything to do with Spain," he told the press…’

Well then, it’s lucky that Spain is in the EU.

From RTVE here: ‘The Spanish government, responding to Trump's threat to cut off trade with Spain: "He will have to respect international law"’. The Lad Bible says: ‘Spain's PM fires back at Donald Trump over threat to 'cut all trade' for not helping US military. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has accused Donald Trump of instigating the breakdown of international law’.

Opinion from elDiario.es here: ‘Trump Returns the Spanish Flag to the Left. A leftist today can embrace a civic, pluralistic, democratic, respectful, empathetic patriotism committed to international law. This gift of the Spanish flag to the left would never have been possible without the invaluable collaboration of the PP and Vox, who have become satellites of the MAGA movement’.

The PP here and Vox here both say that Sánchez is on the side of the ayatollahs.

The Daily Telegraph ends a hostile editorial on Sánchez with ‘…For what it’s worth, my guess is that Trump has better things to do with his time than give Spain the kicking it fully deserves, and will simply content himself with publicly lambasting its useless leader’.

From 20Minutos here: ‘China defends Spain after Trump's threat: "Trade should not be used as a weapon"’ (with video).

It's early days, but this sneak attack by Trump and Netanyahu will likely not end well. 

*I look forward to comments on this one. 

Each Western power (at least, the ones in Europe) has a far-right political party which will fight tooth and nail, by fair means and foul, to gain ascendency in the national politics.

Here in Spain, it’s Vox (there are a few others, but currently of no interest). The party today has 33 deputies in the Spanish parliament making it the third largest group. These include their po-faced spokesperson Pepa Millán and the nephew of the disgraced conservative politician Rodrigo Rato, the oddly inept José María Figaredo (known as Frigodedo by his detractors).

Vox began in 2013, when its leader Santiago Abascal dropped his membership in the Partido Popular to start a fresh far-right party. Santi (as he is called by his supporters) is a handsome-looking fellow, and instead of sporting a wild hair-style, like Donald Trump, Boris Johnson or Geert Wilders, he is well-groomed, has a short beard, and – when the cameras are willing – he might jump on a horse in a manly sort of way. In short, he’s more of a Putin than a clown. 

All of the original founders of Vox have since squabbled with Abascal and have left politics – as Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, Macarena Olona, Rocio Monasterio, Víctor Sánchez del Real, Juan Luis Steegman… and now (hanging by his fingertips), Javier Ortega Smith – the Vox spokesperson in the Madrid City Hall, best remembered for swimming into Gibraltar in 2016 and raising – briefly – a Spanish flag on the rock there.

Ignacio Garriga is the party Secretary General, a highly religious man born in Catalonia with a Spanish/Belgian father and an Equatoguinean mother. For obvious reasons, he will have reached his zenith with his current position and is no threat to his boss.  

The party is present in the European Parliament – led by a man who came from the moribund Falange Española de las JONS and a lookalike for the baddie in the first Indiana Jones film called Jorge Buxadé. Vox is aligned with the Patriots for Europe (Fidesz, Rassemblement National, Vlaams Belang and others: parties in thrall to Donald Trump).

Vox is also found in most of the regional governments and many town halls – usually either in an uneasy alliance with the Partido Popular or sniffily standing aside. Says Abascal regarding any deal to be made post-elections in the two regions of Extremadura or Aragón: ‘The PP wants to treat us like savages’, he says. If they fail to come to an arrangement – and Vox increased its number of councillors in both elections – then the regions will need to call for fresh elections. The next regional ballot, with a similar PP/Vox forecast, is Castilla-León later this month.

The party program is simple enough: old school nationalism, tradition, Catholic, anti-immigrant, unimpressed by women’s issues and global warming, and in favour of lower taxes. The party does well with young men (who are apparently concerned that women have too many rights and protections). It’s also popular in the countryside, particularly in the provinces of Murcia, Almería and Cádiz (where there are lots of foreign immigrants working the fields: people – needless to say – who don’t have the Vote). Those underprivileged folk who back the ‘ultras’ are sometimes known as ‘los fachapobres’ – that’s to say, the poor fascists.

'Make España Great Again' could be its slogan, although Santi rarely wears a vulgar baseball-cap. 

Vox is in some ways merely an extension of the Partido Popular (which has recently been moving to the right in an attempt to claw back support), and notable extremists within the PP include Isabel Díaz Ayuso (president of the Madrid region) and the PP deputy Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo.

There’s been another thorn in Abascal’s side down in Murcia, where José Ángel Antelo the alarmingly tall Vox leader there had fallen into disapproval with head office, and (like Ortega Smith above) wouldn’t leave his post. Earlier this week, the rest of the regional party councillors voted together for his summary ejection as leader and spokesperson.

As one headline says with satisfaction: ‘The far right is slowly devouring itself while selling order and discipline to its supporters’. Another is of more concern: ‘Centralized command and a personality cult: Abascal sidelines critics and completes his vision for the new Vox’.

Nevertheless, it doesn't look like this party will go the way of Ciudadanos or Podemos in the near future. 

Endesa (founded in 1944) was a public company which was sold off to the private sector beginning in 1998 and finally ending up under the control of the Italian (publically owned) Enel by 2009. 

...

Back in the summer of 2024, the electric company stopped sending me bills. Kind of them. I went to their local office several times, and also sent them a few emails, and was told on each occasion that the issue was 'una incidencia'.  

This continued until some fellow showed up, lost, to put in a new meter, sometime about November last year. By then, I had enjoyed sixteen months without a factura.

Since then, they've been coming in fast. Sometimes quite expensive ones as they adjust for the months consumed. Some of the facturas are for two months, others for one. I've been paying them as best I can. 

Yesterday, a Sunday (!), the company sent me nine emails. They were all different bills, some for dates I had already paid, some repeated and some new.

They added up to a lot of money.

I went to the local office and the lady there says that some of them were repeats indeed, but four of them were good... and besides, there were another two of them waiting for me in her computer. 

You can ask to pay them in parts she said helpfully...

I never got an apology or an acknowledgement - despite six visits so far to the regional office.  

I can see myself changing to another electric supplier in the days to come.  

Come Thursdays, and my email fills with unwanted spam. Last week I got a couple from Norton Security sent from two different sites reminding me it’s time to pay their annual subscription (I have never in my life used Norton). The kosher version of this company functions precisely as a spam-buster. Their messages also say I ‘can unsubscribe’ by clicking on something or other; thank you, most kind, I think not.

Microsoft also reaches out, again twice, from two different and rather odd sounding addresses, neither of which appear on their proper webpage – no doubt an oversight on their part. Again, I block them (‘submit as Spam’), but they will return (probably next Thursday – I wonder, possibly this day has an extra significance in Albania?).

Then there was a special deal on a memory-foam pillow. I’m retired. I already have a fucking pillow.  

I got a too-good-to-refuse offer on my ‘auto-insurance’, an Omaha Steak gourmet sampler box (no charge), a free mystery parcel from the American post office (!), a cure for Alzheimers from Bill Gates and a message which assures me that ‘my wife says I’ve never had sex like this’.

Again, I can unsubscribe, but well, maybe I should go and get married first.

This is all designed to catch out the unwary.

What I do, what we all do, is mark it as ‘Spam’ and then wait for the next one.

Whatever happened to those exiled Nigerian princes who would kindly offer you half of five million piastres if they could just borrow your bank account for a few days?

Also on Thursday last week – what a day it was! – a message arrived that very evening from my bank to tell me that it was going to pay on my behalf to another bank which I have never dealt with the unlikely sum of 1,982.44€ within the hour and could I ring this number if I wasn’t in agreement… No, I could not.

The next day, the lady at the bank told me that it hadn’t come from them. There’s a surprise.

I got several bothersome phone calls on Thursday as well. No one rings any more – they send you a WhatsApp instead. Now these calls, and I’ve blocked loads of them, come from Madrid or Valladolid or Lichtenstein and they want to sell me something. ‘Hola’, they say, ‘buenas tardes. Mi nombre es-’, but by then I’ve already hung up the phone.

All this, and I’m on the Lista Robinson (created precisely to stop these calls) and besides, the Government has just made these call-centres illegal. Maybe the word hasn’t got through yet.

These days, one is always doing something more rewarding than waiting for a phone call. In my case it was driving (try and get the phone out of your trouser pocket while wearing a seat-belt) or having a siesta and dreaming about how I was going to surprise my future wife.

A useful site called Maldita keeps an eye out on scams. I was reading about how somebody sends you a message on WhatsApp about an earthquake and how you should link to such and such a page which, says the item, will clear out your phone in under ten seconds!

On Facebook last… yes dammit, it was also on Thursday… a series of adverts appeared with the Spanish king trying to sell me a get-rich-quick scheme. Then one from the head of the Banco de Santander, then another with both of them. I wrote to the Facebook poohbahs and said it was a scam and they thanked me for my nice letter, but that the adverts were fine and dandy. Old Mark Chuckleburg must need the money.

I remember last summer there was another Fb scam, where you and nine others received a message about a car-crash and an ‘Oh The Horror! Click here for details’.

I checked with Google AI and got: ‘Spam bypasses filters because spammers constantly evolve tactics—using new domains, rotating IP addresses, and embedding text within images to evade detection. Filters cannot be perfectly restrictive without blocking legitimate emails, and sophisticated spam often masks itself as legitimate, personalized, or "important" content to bypass automated AI-based filters’.

It was almost a relief to hear from a poor French-woman today who was caught by one of those hugger-muggers (Eastern Europeans who wisely avoid stealing from Spaniards). She lost her thief-proof Cartier watch in a tris-tras which, the husband told me, he himself couldn’t have removed from her wrist in less than a minute.

And thus we continue, one eye on our purse, as the world turns.

What’s that? Trump’s dead? Click on this link.

The blurb says: 'The truth doesn’t always shout. Sometimes it walks in quietly, barefoot, and sits in front of you when denial is no longer an option.

La Verdad Llegó Descalza is a romantic Spanish soul blues song about the lies that hurt not for what they say, but for how long we believe them. A story of clarity, self-respect, and emotional awakening carried by a deep, intimate blues groove'.

This one - on YouTube here - is part of a series of blues performed in Spanish. It's absolutely stunning.

There isn't much blues in Spanish, so this series is doubly welcome. 

There's a catch though - it's created by Artificial Intelligence.  

Now I’m getting a little older, I have taken to walking each day. Severe walking. This means, according to those health experts that infest the Internet, that I must haul in my stomach, straighten my back, and walk, purposely, at least six or eight or ten thousand steps a day, according to whichever adviser catches me first.

I used to take the dog with me for my peregrinations, but I’ve noticed that, unlike me, he reckons that age is an excuse to stay home and chew on a book.

To measure my steps, I have an application on my mobile phone. Six or seven thousand yesterday, including the steps I took when I stupidly left the phone on the bed.

Another health expert tells me that I must walk along my route – happily, I live between the countryside and the beach – with a sense of awe as this will refresh my brain.

If you prefer to use a kayak for your exercise, then it would of course be a sense of oar.

And thus, I walk purposefully along the beach, winking gamely at the passersby, and sigh mightily each time I notice a seagull, a flowering sandwort or a naked woman going past on a pedalo.

The day before yesterday, I had to go to the Townhall to get a paper. This means in our fragrant dorp, parking at the back then walking up to the village itself: through, up and over and down the narrow streets on the other side. And then back. Steps mostly, and no cheating. Then (fortifying myself en route with a cold glass of beer), I drove down to the urbanisation on the beach where there’s currently no parking because the city fathers are building a parking-lot (enjoy the irony) to see a lawyer, who promptly sent me back up to the village again for another bit of paper.  

And that day, wonder of wonders, I scored around 9,000 steps just chasing documents.

This made me think: what kind of numbers does a waiter do, or a barman – just with his daily toing and froing between the coffee machine and the icebox? Probably a hell of a lot more than nine thousand. Come to think of it, I once did 20,000 without leaving the stables.

It’s been windy though. Wind is not kind to those who travel on their own energy. I used to particularly hate cycling into the wind. It’s worse than rain or probably (although I wouldn’t swear to it) snow. The wind makes forward motion very stressful, and the sense of awe can go and hang itself. 

On this occasion – last weekend – the wind was blowing strongly. With gusts, says my phone knowledgeably, of up to 75kph. I started out on my enjoyable power-walk, tummy in and gamely taking notice of my surroundings (including a plastic wheelie-bin that suddenly overtook me on the straight) and decided, as the rain started, that I should probably turn around and head back to the car. Lean forward with little tiny faltering steps.

Then, as I passed the supermarket, I had an idea: twice round and up and down the aisles would easily put me in the black.

As for the awe, I bought a chocolate bar.  

...

The picture is of a windswept Indalo, the totem for our province.

Spain has had some good media reports recently – if only from abroad. It started in December with Italy’s L’Espresso naming Sánchez the person of the year. The New Statesman followed with an enthusiastic write-up, and an article late last month at the FT said that ‘Spain leads the formerly weak southern EU economies that are now outpacing France and Germany’.  The Spanish economy is doing well, there are plenty of tourists and the appreciation of Spain’s culture domestically, says the Government, is on the increase.

But let’s jump to where Spain’s brand of socialism is taking the country today. 

The New York Times just last week ran an article written by Sánchez himself: ‘I’m the Prime Minister of Spain. This is why the West needs migrants.’ Yes, one-sided you might say, after all, he wrote it to justify his policies; but look where it shows up!

His ‘guest essay’ appeared to diss President Trump: ‘…What should we do with these people? Some leaders have chosen to hunt them down and deport them through operations that are both unlawful and cruel. My government has chosen a different way: a fast and simple path to regularize their immigration status…’. Furthermore, he writes, the plan ‘…is endorsed by more than 900 nongovernmental organizations, including the Catholic Church, and it has the support of business associations and trade unions alike. More important, it is backed by the people’. The Guardian picks up on this with: ‘Yes, migrants are key to Spain’s economic boom. But Pedro Sánchez’s decision to regularise 500,000 people should rather be applauded for its humanity’.

Spain is getting used to bucking Western political trends. ‘Last year they recognized Palestine as a state, resisted President Trump’s demand that NATO members increase their defence spending to 5% of GDP and doubled down on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. But there can be no better example of Spain going its own way than with immigration’.

Or perhaps we could argue the merits of the new proposal to ban the use of social media for the under-sixteens. ‘First’, said Sánchez at the World Governments Summit in Dubai last week, ‘We will change the law in Spain to hold platform executives legally accountable for the many infringements taking place on their sites’.

Do Spaniards support restricting social media for children? 

A Spanish poll a year ago asked whether children under 14 should be banned from using social media: 82% agreed. The current plan of course is for the under-16s.

The Spectator (that bastion of British Conservative thought) says ‘Spain’s PM is on the right side of this battle’.

The X and Telegram owners don’t like the idea – with Elon Musk calling Sánchez ‘a dirty tyrant and traitor to the people of Spain’ and Pavel Durov writing in a long screed on Telegram directly to his Spanish subscribers (including the under-sixteens), that ‘the measures announced by Sánchez are not safeguards, but rather steps toward total control to censor his critics, and that they must fight for their rights’.

On the strength of this, could other apps – maybe purely commercial ones – feel encouraged to send out to subscribers their political opinions?

Sánchez answered this on X with an apparent allusion to Don Quixote: "Let the techno-oligarchs bark, Sancho, it's a sign that we're riding forwards."

It’s certainly a special moment: where a foreign businessman can circumnavigate The State and appeal with propaganda aimed directly at his Spanish followers.

Internet access is starting at increasingly younger ages, and it's not just teenagers who are hyperconnected. 42% of children admit to having browsed the internet before the age of eight, and half of 15-year-olds spend at least thirty hours a week in front of a screen, according to an OECD report.

There will be problems: What age verification systems will be used? How will concerns about the privacy risks of providing proof of age be addressed? To what extent will adult access to social media be restricted to protect minors?

Beyond showing fluffy kittens and creating social bonding, we read that the threats from social media are many, and over half of all teens have experienced some form of cyberbullying, damage in self-esteem, sexual threats, misleading content, scams, risk-taking, challenges, hate-speech and dodgy advertising and claims.

And, for that matter, with less sleep and time left for other activities.

In all, Pedro Sánchez demonstrates that the obligation of a good government is to look out for and protect its people, not someone else’s billionaires.

I was sorting through some old books of mine found in a few boxes in the attic and came across a handful I just knew the local English Library would kill to get their hands on. Treasures like ‘Fodor’s Amsterdam 1957’, 'Maigret's Second to Last Case' and a virgin copy of ‘Teach Yourself Swahili’.

At the bottom, hidden under the ‘Collected Works of Alistair MacLean’s Greatest Poems’, I found a peculiar scientific magazine about pets, or rather: ‘Anthrozoös – A Multidisciplinary Journal of the Interactions of People, Animals and Nature’.

Where on earth did that come from?

The library was closed for the day, giving me a chance to dive into the mag, thirty years old this month. All a bit beyond me, although I found an article about cockfighting – a pastime apparently still legal in Jeréz de la Frontera.

Another book, and I’ll keep this one, has seventy-five front pages of Almería newspapers courtesy of the Almería Press Association.

One of the newspapers featured was mine: ‘The Entertainer’ (if you remember it). 

I found another treasure: ‘Mi Mamá me Mima’ – a book about how Spanish women were treated during the Franco years (Spoiler: not good), with useful tips about cleaning the kitchen and so on.

In reality though, once I’ve dusted off all the classics, the dictionaries and the Latin primers, and put them lovingly either in the trash or aside for the Chief Librarian to worry about, I turn with more interest to the large remainder.

See, I’m more of a thriller reader.

Spy stories are good, plus bug-eyed monster books and the better detective yarns. By now, I've read over seven thousand of them I reckon (apart from War and Peace, which took a month, I can usually get through two or three books a week). 

When we first moved to Spain, before the Age of Television, my dad shipped half a ton of novels to keep us (and a number of English-speaking neighbours) amused. It was hard finding shops that catered for the English reader back then. There was one shop in Granada which had a shelf of very old paperbacks – probably printed in the fifties – and a couple of second-hand places in far off Torremolinos on one side, and Benidorm on the other. So not much to be going on with unless you brought your own with you (or fancied a merry weekend in T-Town).

I was an unwilling student in England in those tender days of the second half of the sixties and was a keen reader (there wasn’t much else to do at my school). So, with a suitcase full of books, records and teabags, I would be welcomed three times a year by my parents (or one of their friends if there was a party going on) at the Almería airport.

My bookcase, or rather, my several bookcases, are full of treasures and as I get older and more forgetful, I discover, ruefully, that I can read them all over again.

As for an electric book, a Kindle (with a thousand books stored therein), I think it would look a bit silly and self-conscious leaning against the wall all by itself on an otherwise naked bookshelf.

I still prefer books to the soulless TV, which now – for a small consideration – brings you shows in your own language (one might never know that the neighbours are Spanish).

These days, I can’t afford new books in English (where available) and don’t approve of Amazon, so the second-hand or charity shops (we have at least eight within a ten-minute drive) keep me happy enough, four for a euro.

And then, there’s the library. They say they will accept books in good condition but are probably thinking of someone bringing in just two or three. They have a fine collection, it must be said, and I’m a keen member (also – it’s nice to talk with the volunteer librarians about books).

I brought them four boxes-worth last week.

I was wondering though: the English Library still doesn’t have a computer, using instead a card-filing system; but one day, in the far future, I suppose one could just download one’s reading matter via the Internet onto one’s trusty Kindle – leaving me and many like me with no one to talk to.

There are seventeen autonomous regions in Spain (plus the two autonomous cities of Melilla and Ceuta). Some of these regions are large: Andalucía comprises eight provinces, Castilla y León has nine, and others are small – such as Madrid, La Rioja, Murcia plus another four, which are all uni-provincial.

Each region has its own government and president.

Right now, we are in election mode in some of the autonomies (every four years unless called before). Extremadura with two provinces just had theirs in December – although the problem in the capital, Mérida, arises with the third party, Vox, insisting on various functions within the minority government of María Guadiola (PP) in exchange for their support. 

The final outcome remains unclear – and Extremadura could soon be called to the polls again.

Aragón is controlled by the PP and is currently in campaign mode for February 8th. It looks like Jorge Azcón will be returned, but as above, will need the support of a revitalised Vox. The Vox candidate Alejando Nolasco is a little extreme, describing the regional PP as ‘pro Islam’, according to one of the local news-sites.

Meanwhile, the candidacy of a PSOE government minister, Pilar Alegría, probably won’t be of much help for the party’s chances. The far-left once again refuses to join together (a bit like the Life of Brian’s joke of the antipathy between the People’s Front of Judea and the Judean People’s Front). Thus: IU and Sumar on the one hand, la Chunta Aragonesista on the other and Podemos bringing up the rear.

Aragón is three provinces, with its capital in Zaragoza.

The next up – for March 15th – is another PP stronghold, with Alfonso Fernández Mañueco (PP) holding the keys to Castilla y León. His problem might be the disastrous summer fires throughout the region, badly mismanaged by Mañueco and his team. Nevertheless, he will likely win say the experts (with the support or otherwise of Vox). The capital of this, the largest region of Spain with nine provinces (although the three western provinces of León, Salamanca and Zamora all want to leave) is Valladolid.

Finally, we come to Andalucía – yet again held by the PP. The president is Juanma Moreno and is seen as one of the two leading candidates (along with Madrid’s Ayuso) to take over the party nationally when Feijóo throws in the towel. The PSOE candidate is the heavyweight María Jesus Montero, the current Minister for Hacienda and vice-president of Spain. The date is sometime in June.

There could be the chance of an early surprise general election on the same day as the Andalusian ballot – depending on events and Pedro Sánchez.

In all these regions – as indeed elsewhere – the key to the throne-room appears to be in the hands of Santiago Abascal’s Vox party. In an uncomfortable alliance with the PP (which must make allowances and exceptions), Spain is approaching a difficult time.