It is remarkably difficult to predict how Spain and the EU might look in a year or two. After watching The Great Dictator yesterday, I feel partially prepared for the unknown.

This is the same project that was meant to be an exemplar of good business. Now we can see how that works: a tax-free gambling centre paid for with our taxes and presided over by politicians and other gangsters.

Unemployment dropped slightly during a cold April and hopefully as the tourists arrive, it will drop some more over the summer. But it's still very high and the various cuts don't seem to be stimulating job-creation. Someone asked me the other day if I'd thought about leaving: migrating somewhere. The answer is no: if Catalonia and Spain are to have a decent future, good, decent people need to stay here. And me, obviously. Seriously: I wouldn't consider it for a second. Besides, I've booked my summer holiday: I've got something to look forward to.

The PP in Madrid announced a plan to get rid of the Generalitat's ACC1Ó agency which helps Catalan businesses find new markets in other countries. The argument is that Spain's ICEX agency already does this. The Spanish government knows very well that ICEX and ACC1Ó have agreements in place not to duplicate efforts but this is a nuance the PP neglects to mention. The Generalitat has said that ACC1Ó is sacrosanct - its work is dedicated to increasing exports, which is supposed to be the sort of thing that governments like - but we'll see. I obviously have some personal interest in ACC1Ó remaining.

Meanwhile, the 'Plan B' that Catalan commentators have been bickering about has been clarified somewhat. The newspaper Ara (subscription totally worth it: you get the supplements and everything!) had a bit yesterday explaining the process Artur Mas is likely to follow in order to force Madrid to give us more money. Part of the plan could be calling early elections (never a bad idea when opinion polls look favourable) - and organizing some sort of national coalition of the Catalanist parties, i.e. CiU, ICV, ERC, SI. Assuming they manage to beat the PP and PSC, they'd then introduce a law in the Catalan parliament which will give Catalonia the power to manage 100% of its tax revenues within Catalonia. In other words, Madrid would get sod all.

The problem with the plan is that it's almost certainly illegal. It's essentially an appropriation of the central government's fiscal power. Fransesc Homs said a few days ago that by calling (and winning) an election on this issue, the Generalitat would have the moral authority to act in this way. It would be a mandate, but more importantly, it could set up the most significant confrontation between Catalonia and Spain in decades. If Spain refuses to negotiate, Catalonia will have taken a key step towards self-rule. I don't think it'll get that far, mind.

Not much news about Eurovegas recently. My suspicion has always been that Artur Mas doesn't really want the giant casino complex to be built in Catalonia, but he made sure we are in the running, in order to have a negotiation chip with Madrid at some point in the future. Not much evidence to support that, unfortunately. Eurovegas is a disgusting idea and I'd rather it didn't land anywhere in Spain.

We're eagerly awaiting the result of the French presidential election. There is definitely some hope here that a Socialist victory could change things in Europe. I'm not so sure. It's nice to have hope in your heart but I think we'd be better trying to force our own government to change tack, instead of hoping for someone else to do it.

And finally, Pep Guardiola has left FC Barcelona. He's being replaced by Tito Vilanova.

A few months ago, I resolved to take more of an active role in politics in Catalonia. I'm not planning to run for mayor or anything like that, but as a disenfranchised non-citizen my options are basically limited to joining and supporting political organisations. In a way, I had been heading in this direction for the 10 years I've lived here. I decided to join a political party for the first time since my arrival in 2002.

For me, a political party ought to be a broad church, but a united one. After experiences with arguably over-ideological groups in the UK, I needed to find an organisation which reflects a plurality of opinions with an agreed general direction. The federated nature of many parties here does seem to offer that sort of broadness (but let us not forget that many parties, including Labour, are federations).

What, then, is my political ideology? What are its main components and how important are they to me, relative to each other?

There should be little doubt from the posts on this blog that I'm a supporter of left wing politics. Marx continues to offer the best analysis of capital and socialism the best answer. Egalitarianism, a defence of workers' rights, opposition to exploitation and colonialism: these are concepts that for me are tied-up inevitably with socialism. And at a time when capitalism is in such serious crisis, when political parties across Europe are eagerly tearing up the social contract we have enjoyed for decades, we have to be even more strident in our defence of rights and benefits that were hard-won and remain well-deserved.

Catalan independence: a tricky subject. I've been careful on this blog not to express a clear position on whether or not I support the concept of independence for Catalonia. I should think it's clear that I've leaned in that direction but I've never been explicit about my opinion because I've genuinely never been sure of it. My ideological position here is that a majority of people in a geographical area who want to claim the right to self-determination should be allowed to do so. If this were the case in Catalonia, I would support a push for independence. I don't believe that's the case currently, but I do think that as time goes by, general 'soft' support for independence is increasing. I also think that independence from Spain would be almost impossible to achieve. But that's a point for another day.

When we look at the challenges that face us in the coming years, many of them come down to poor custodianship of our planet. We need to embrace green policies wherever we can, and support alternative energies, public transport over personal vehicles, sustainable development and agriculture. I feel strongly that this beautiful planet can be protected, without the vast de-population supported by apocalyptic doomsday freaks. Better management of resources, for the good of all, can be achieved.

A few months ago, I joined a political party which I think represents my views. Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds (ICV-EUiA 'Initiative for Catalonia Greens - United and Alternative Left') is of the left, defends equality for all, supports the right to self-determination and promotes green policies. This blog will continue as it has always been: not much to read, but it's always independent. That won't change. But I've made a resolution for change and call on my friends to do the same.

Happy May Day!

And the king of Spain - always careful to make it look like he cares about these problems - decided to use his time to go on holiday in Botswana, hunting elephant.

These people are so out of touch, it's disgusting. Completely fucking disgusting.

The declaration of a new republic might not solve our problems but it would be a step in the right direction.

Reasons for supporting the strike:

• Even the PP accepts their reforms won't increase employment
• Spain is in recession, making job security more vital than ever
• Workers can now be fired for 9 days' medical leave, even with a doctor's note
• The reforms strike particularly harshly at the young and newly employed
• The reforms are designed to destroy workers' collective power
• The reforms incentivize putting women on short-term contracts, widening the gender gap in the workplace
• Emergency redundancies can now be declared even when a company is still growing

The PP and CiU are determined to destroy the hard-won social model in Spain. They try to blame public spending for the crisis but it's the private sector that really caused these problems. So they're introducing privatization into the health service, cuts to education budgets, cuts to civil service wages (not for diputados, though, of course), cuts to pensions... And all the while, unemployment grows.

This strike is a vital opportunity to express your anger at a set of labor reforms and spending cuts which won't create employment but will only deepen the crisis for working people in Spain.

The sentence leaves Garzón the only significant loser in the Gürtel corruption case which he was prosecuting. The case involves businessman Francisco Correa and numerous members of the ruling Popular Party. Valencian PP leader Francisco Camps was acquitted on corruption charges a few days ago.

The reason all this is so awful is that no one has any real doubt that Camps, Correa et al are guilty as hell. The evidence is there. Garzón's defence (and I admit only a very shaky understanding of the law here) is that the wiretaps, which listened in on conversations between indicted suspects and their lawyers, were justified on the basis that the lawyers themselves were managing money-laundering operations for their clients. But again, that's not even what's wrong.

What's wrong in Spain is a determination in a large part of the ruling class to stop anyone from challenging their corrupt way of running the country. The PP and the PSOE have both been accused of significant political corruption (though I think it's fair to say that the most shockingly extravagant cases usually involve the PP). The courts are highly politicised and have accepted private prosecutions against Garzón (a poppinjay and ass as ever there was) which would have been dismissed without a thought in most countries.

But of course, Spain is not most countries. Just a few years ago, foreign journalists were impressed by the forward-looking example that Spain was setting for Europe. Garzón, social legislation, a seemingly stable economy with impressively low deficits... it almost seemed as if Spain had managed to get something right.

All this has been a great lesson for me... perhaps one of the most important I needed to learn in my journey towards becoming a Spaniard. This is not a country with a great history of democracy or getting things right. And the left here is generally even more inept than the right. And I love this country more every day, even though I know it's a tough place which will displease me endlessly with its stubborn refusal to get things right. And I'm sticking by it. And I'll do something to try to make it better: however Sisyphean a life's task that might be.

==

*Via email, the troublesome nomenclature of magistrate/judge/prosecutor has been pointed out. For the purposes of a nicer text, I'm going to stick with what I've already got. But yeah, he's a judge.

The devil behind this horror story of a near travesty of justice is none other than Baltasar Garzón, the crusading Marxist-Leninist investigative judge, famed for his collection of anti-PP tattoos. Camps will no doubt find some solace in the fact that Garzón remains on trial himself, for having the temerity to investigate the deaths of a paltry 114,000 people during Spain's "long transition" (1939-1978). It's a shame that Mañuel Fraga didn't live to see the verdict delivered.

"Quin país de merda, tú!" - a traditional saying from Cerdanyola which roughly translates as "Freedom for Francisco Camps! Death to Garzón!".

In a post entitled "IMMIGRANT INVASION AT THE KINGS' PROCESSION IN TORTOSA" (his caps), Casanova observes how yet another tradition has been ruined by immigrants. He writes:

INDIGNANT over what I saw at the Kings' procession in Tortosa. A swarm ['eixam' - I think 'swarm' is best, but you could almost use 'plague'] of immigrant children - mainly moros [Moroccans - kind of like saying 'Pakis' for Pakistanis in England] - interrupted the collection of sweets thrown from the kings' floats to the point of putting at risk our children's physical safety due to the savagery and brutality they displayed while trying to get all the sweets. What - if it can be known [sic] - are these moros doing to our traditions?

(My apologies for a slightly dodgy translation).

What follows is a charming discussion between Casanova and some of his acolytes. Among the first comments:

Raquel Iseres: Gum sweets are normally made with animal gelatin, often from pigs. We need to spread the word about this so they realise they've been eating pork without knowing it.

Mayka Miras González: What a shame they didn't die from eating so many sweets, the scum.

Now, I know it's easy to point out the failings of fascist diatribe, or the inanity of Facebook comments. But seeing Mayka Miras González saying she wished some little kids were dead, makes me really angry.

Happy new year to you, too. Let's support smashing the PxC in 2012.

__

*It is really a cruel twist of fate that a man named Casanova should be quite so... lacking when it comes to physical beauty. Kind of like Lord Adonis.

Live updates below.

21:53 - With 67% of the vote counted, the PP has 187 seats for the PSOE's 109.
In Catalonia, CiU looks like it could beat the PSC.

20:28 - Andalucia is the most important victory for the PP. They've achieved more voted there than the PSOE for the first time ever. The PSOE has lost about 10 seats in Andalucia. This is one of the poorest regions in Spain and many PSOE voters feel they have been forgotten about by the Madrid government.

20:23 - The Socialist PSOE has dropped by 14 points in Spain ('2 million votes') whereas the PP has increased its share of the vote by only 3.5 points. The PP will govern not because they've been chosen by a plurality but because the Socialist vote has withered so seriously.

Today's elections in Spain will probably result in a significant PP victory. I'll be updating this post from time to time with tasty morsels of doom. I'll probably find some sort of widget to help me out too. My last blog post, about who will win Spain's elections, why, and what that means, can be read here.

20:00 - First exit poll results: The PP has a clear absolute majority in Spain's elections with up to 185 seats. The PSOE is down to 119.

In Catalonia: the PSC leads, followed by CiU and then the PP. The results here are not surprising: the PP has failed to overtake CiU or PSC. Iniciativa (Green/Communist) has done well. ERC maintains 3 seats. UPyD and fascist PxC have failed to win any seats.

19:44 - IMPORTANT: until 2000 (8 pm), the Spanish government prohibits actual results of the elections being reported. So we have to wait just over 15 minutes for first results.

19:30 - TV3 is also reporting that the cost of this year's elections is 6% below 2008's. Austerity in action.

19:00 - Catalonia 'leads the decline in turnout' according to TV3. They always find a way for Catalonia to be ahead of Spain.

18:30 - Voter turnout is down 3.3 points on 2008. This will likely benefit the right (PP).

The prospect of seeing the PP in power again after 8 years is not a happy one. While I'm no fan of the PSOE (I think I called them 'the very worst party in Spain' at one point, though I can't find a link), my suspicion is that before long many who loathe the Socialists will remember how much more they loathed the PP last time they governed.

In Barcelona, the general mood seems to be one of totally ignoring these elections. After a swing to the right in recent Catalan and city hall elections, most people here seem to be trying to avoid thinking about having the PP in government. My prediction is that the turnout will be very low.

It is once the PP take over government (in a few weeks' time, according to Spanish electoral law) that the dread will really set in. This is a party running for office in a country on the verge of massive economic disaster which has failed to express any coherent economic policies whatsoever. Their posters include slogans like "Primero, el Empleo" (Jobs First) but their policies will doubtless be savage cuts and successive rounds of redundancies and privatisation.

At the same time, it looks increasingly possible that Spain could be forced into needing a bailout from the European Central Bank or the IMF. I say 'forced' because categorcially, this does not need to happen. The pressure being applied to successive European countries is organised, focused and has at its core the aim to destroy the Euro. Politically, I'm no great fan of the EU. But forcing Spain's exit from the Euro along with other countries in 2012 could threaten the very existence of the EU. I'd rather try to make it better for people.

In Catalonia, there are already some hints that the PP might try to buy an end to the Linguistic Immersion education policy with a fairer share of tax revenues. CiU, craven demagogues that they are, may well go for this. I worry too that fascist groups like 'Plataforma Per Catalunya' (Catalan fascists whose electoral pamphlets are seemingly only published in Castilian Spanish), may win a seat or two.

Finally, I expect this PP government to be faced with huge protests and strikes. One of the many problems with a PSOE government pushing through neo-liberal policies was the failure of the unions to properly challenge them. Now that the PP will be in government, there will be more inclination on the part of unions and workers to fight back. The Indignats (which inspired the Occupy movement in the USA) will also probably fight back harder: I'll bet that more than a few Indignats have voted PSOE in the past and will do again, but that basically none of them are PP supporters. Also, the harder left wing party Izquierda Unida might fare better at the polls this year than for the last decade or so: they may be able to use this to force a more left wing opposition.

So here we are on the edge of a precipice, you and me. We face the prospect of a government which will not have won on merit but by default, with no policies for saving Spain's economy, but hopefully with broad opposition from a curiously revitalised left. People might not be interested in these elections but the next four years will be anything but boring.

Over the years, this blog has evolved. At first I shared links (that's what blogs used to be for), talked about books and music, and explored some of my innocent ideas about politics. Some time after March 2004, I felt inexorably drawn into the debate on Catalan language policy and the Catalan national question in general. And we've had some fun debates here. Who could forget the heady days of the Spain Herald folding, and Iberian Notes closing down? Or the excellent response I got to my 'Some questions...' posts?

The problem was that whenever I wrote about other topics - books, music, links, food, travel, etc - I'd get hardly any response at all. Which is pretty frustrating because of all the topics I ever write about, Catalan independence is... well, it's not the one that interests me the most.

Over the last few months, I've been toying with different solutions to this problem. I decided that I'd either rebrand this blog and try to branch out into other topics of discussion, or I'd keep thebadrash.com for Catalan politics and related topics and start another blog for stuff that everyone else in the world is interested in. I've gone for the latter option.

tombcn.com is my new 'homepage'. It'll be about just about any topic I can think of, except Catalan and Spanish politics. It needs some design and lots more content but it's fresh and new and exciting*. Look, it already has a short post about Martiniquan jazz!

Meanwhile, I do intend to update this place from time to time. Però, poc.

See you at the other place. Until then, adéu siau!

____

*OK that's pushing it a bit.

The City

It's a pleasant place. No one would say that the city itself is particularly beautiful (the towers of the financial district are particularly foul) but its surrounding geography is gorgeous, as are the portals that link the City with the outside: the Bay and the Golden Gate bridges. SF sums up that late 20th century ideal of a business-oriented city with a sporty, arty, foody vibe. It's kind of like Sydney, or at least that's the place it most reminds me of. The difference is that SF is apparently fed by new technologies while Sydney banks the wealth obtained in vast mines.

Earthquakes

San Franciscans do not enjoy jokes about earthquakes. Or even jokey remarks. Many people here seem to be expecting the Big One which, depending on how big it is, could realistically destroy the whole place. It's "long overdue" but I hope that it never strikes, at least not while there are people living here.

Food and Beverages

San Francisco considers itself to be something of a 'foody' city. Which is both a good thing and a bad thing. I didn't get to eat at Boulevard, just up the road from my hotel because I couldn't get anyone to come with me. Likewise, the French Laundry, out in Napa. Most of what I did eat here (a couple of gourmet hamburgers, some Thai curry, a couple of traditional brasserie dinners, Chinese - twice) was very good and quite affordable. The local beer scene is lively and tasty, and even the city's standard brew - Anchor Steam - is pretty good. I really enjoyed Napa Smith's Organic IPA, with which the hotel cunningly stocked my room's minibar. I didn't get to try much local wine but I enjoyed a Conn Creek cabernet sauvignon (2008, I think), over a couple of nights.

Districts

I stayed at the Harbor Court hotel, on the embarcadero (old port). It's close to our US office and so was pretty convenient for work. This is quite a touristy area, but it's at the bottom of the financial district, which is where I found an Apple Store kind enough to sell me an iPad (over €100 cheaper than in Europe). Chinatown is fun, but I suspect it would have been a lot more fun 30 years ago. The Mission is my favorite district. It's traditionally a latino neighborhood and has also played host to a range of great restaurants, galleries, bars and stores for decades. We ate some pretty good Thai food here and I also had dinner with Chris Barr from Yahoo in a place called Grub. The meal there was good, but I was suffering slightly from the Korean kimchi burrito with hot sauce that I'd eaten for lunch. Also in the Mission is the Pirate Store, 826 Valencia Street. This is also the spiritual home of The Believer, my current favorite periodical (I'm going to keep pushing this until you all subscribe). The Pirate Store has all the supplies any pirate might need, from lard to fathoms and siren silencers. It's next door to a taxidermy store. These are two of the best shops I've ever been to. I didn't see much of the Castro, though we did drive through it.

Technology

My reason for visiting San Francisco should be evident to anyone with even an inkling of what I do for a living. As the world capital of 'new technologies', especially web services and mobile devices, it's at the center of my work day. Indeed, it was practically absurd that I hadn't visited before. But there you have it. People here frequently exchange tips and recommendations for apps, and more than in Barcelona or London (that I've seen at any rate), all decisions are predicated on the advice of an iPhone or Android device. I had kind of hoped there'd be some city-wide high-speed wireless offering but this wasn't the case. Facebook had a major event in town while I was here (in fact, I was supposed to be there bit due to a mix up, that didn't happen). The local newspapers often report corporate stories at Yahoo, Twitter, Apple and Google on their front pages. This is a city imbued with a technological optimism. I shudder to think what could happen to the industry if an earthquake really does strike. I suspect that this may be one factor that encourages some firms to prefer Palo Alto and other cities further away from the faultline. Well, that and taxes.

And now I must put my California-designed notebook away and check out of my hotel. I'm coming back to Catalonia. That's a great feeling.

There are a few photos from my visit on Google+ here. You don't need to be a member of Google+ to view them. But you should sign up anyway: it's a pretty good service.

This summer we spent a week in Brittany in July and a fortnight in Menorca in August. Neither house has television or internet.

The area around Josselin in Brittany is perfect for lazy cycling: the Nantes-Brest canal has lovely towpaths: I saw an otter on one bike ride, and only about two metres away too. We stayed in a village in the middle of nowhere, without street lights or other light pollution sources. We had two cloudless nights and had as good a view of the Milky Way as we'd had in ages. Loads of shooting stars too.

The three of us sat in the car bound for La Rochelle, but still in Brittany. Our car has a cassette deck for which we have a flimsy shop-bought device that also plugs into an iPod. Said device (the 4th we've bought) failed as soon as we departed. What this meant is that we discovered FIP radio. A radio station that plays Bach, then Gillespie, then JAE, then some country, then some funky shit, then tons more jazz. It took me hours back home to work out what station we'd been listening to.

FIP was a revelation. It still is. I know that tons of other people knew about it (particularly in Brighton) and this might seem like saying "I've discovered that I like air!". Like it ought to, FIP provides good archives of its playlist. Which is mostly great. I'm working on having the station play permanently on this site. I think it's only fair that I inflict this on as many people as possible.

In Menorca, we connected an Android phone to some speakers we bought and listened to FIP online. I listened to the World Service as I read my le Carré. We also listened to some Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. I like jazz, but don't really know enough about it. I always love Coltrane, Davis, Bird, Ornette, and I adore the old-timey stuff you can find on Spotify.

We also listened to a fair bit of Magnetic Fields, tons of Talking Heads, and the odd Stones or Royal Trux song when in need of rock.