El País: Spanish population in decline

The story on the Spanish daily's pages here.

Miniature recycling containers

The photo shows the upper part of an interesting piece of urban equipment as recently seen in Figueres. It is a recycling container for special, small size waste, such as ink cartridges, cork from wine bottles, CDs & DVDs, mobile phones and/or their batteries, incandescent and low-energy light bulbs. Its surface serves as a screen for advertising, and the whole container requires less space than the average vending machine. It offers a convenient way of getting rid of small but potentially toxic waste that otherwise often ends up in a conventional waste dump.

The Russians are coming

It's a recurrent theme this year when looking through smaller or bigger newspaper: the Russian tourists. They are coming in ever bigger numbers to Catalonia and Spain; Barcelona is their second favorite city in the world after New York - and they spend more money than the average tourist from other places. And one notices the menues and real estate advertising in Cyrillic letters, be it in Cambrils or La Pineda on the Catalan "Gold Coast" [Costa Daurada], or in Figueres in the north, close to the Costa Brava. According to La Vanguardia newspaper the Russians spend 250 - 280 EUR per person per day - and they stay longer than other tourists. They like luxury goods so that the brand stores on Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona already make sure to have Russian speaking staff. They are sure to visit all of Barcelona's attractions but also Port Aventura near Tarragona, the vineyards of the Penedès region - and maybe Paris (France) for a day too... Unfortunately, not all of them are well behaved, Chekov citing cosmopolitans - but neither are all of the tourists from Northern Europe or Britain; and in times of economic crisis such as the present one, that leaves about 20% of the local population out of work, hotel-, restaurant-, and shop-owners are prepared to tolerate quite a lot to accomodate well paying customers...

Barcelona as a business place (slightly old...)

While browsing through old newspapers, I found these figures for Barcelona as a business place in comparison with other cities (El País, October 10, 2010, i.e. 10/10/10):

Best cities for business: ranked 4th (1st: London; 2009)

Entrepreneurial activity: rank 7 (1st: Mexico [country]; 2008)

Export business perspectives: rank 8 (1st: Lisbon [sic!]; 2010)

DFI projects: rank 6 (1st: London; 2008)

Trade fair organization: rank 5 (1st: Singapur, 2008)

Employees in Science&Tech: rank 5 (1st: Paris; 2008)

Scientific output: rank 15 (1st: Beijing; 2009)

Airport passengers: rank 9 (1st: London Heathrow; 2009)

Hotel beds: rank 4 (1st Paris; 2008)

Cruise ship passangers: rank 1 (2008)

Employee's quality of life: rank 1 (2009)

CO2 emissions: rank 1 (year ?)

Cost of life: rank 38 (1st Tokyo; 2009)

Cost of renting an apartment: rank 31 (1st NYC; 2009)

Cost of renting an office: rank 40 (1st London; 2009)

Cost of renting industrial grounds: rank 6 (1st London; 2009)

Salary levels: rank 24 (1st Zurich; 2008)

Unemployment levels: rank 37 (1st Prague; 2008)


As you see, these figures are already a little old; maybe they have newer figures on the city's website, here.

Over-fed Spaniards

One week ago two researchers of the Universidasd Autónoma de Madrid, J.R. Banegas and F. Rodríguez Artalejo, presented their study "Enrica" (financed by Sanofi) on the health of the average Spaniard, after examining 12.000 adults. Its outcome can be summarized like this: 62% of the adult population is overweight (23% obese), and this is the result of a sedentary lifestyle. 28% smokers. The average inhabitant of this country passes 14 hours a week watching TV and seven hours in front of a computer screen.

A recurring problem for the treatment of overweight patients is described by Dr. Banegas: "Every citizen is advised to realize physical activity during their time of leasure (a minimum of 150 minutes/week of moderate physical activity, or 60 minutes of vigorous activity), but only 30% of the population follows this advise."

The traditional Mediterranean diet - admired and copied by the health conscious all over the world - has incorporated too much animal fat.
The study informs about the recommended portions of a nutritional mix, and the actual amount in the typical Spaniard's diet; though they eat a lot, of some nutrients their intake is deficient:

nutrients....................recommended.........actually taken in
saturated fats..............7-8%........................12%
proteins......................<300 g.....................400+
carbohydrates..............50-55%...................42%
fibers...........................25+%......................23%

They also take in too few fruits and vegetables and too little milk.

Dr. Banegas: "80% of Spaniards with obesity is medically counselled about weight loss, but only 40% follows these recommendations."

Another problem is smoking: 28% of the population means quite a high rate in comparison to other developed countries.

33% of the population suffers from high blood pressure. One third does not know it. A lot of those who know it and are treated do not follow their physician's advise, which means that only 20% of hypertension is well treated.
One in two Spaniards has problem with high cholesterol levels, but half of them do not know and others do not follow an adequate diet though they know. 7% of the population are diabetics.
The study author's haven't noticed important changes in comparison with earlier studies, and they see their outcomes in line with developments in other Mediterranean countries.

The main problems remain a sedentary lifestyle, smoking, and eating too much, especially meat.
(source www.lavanguardia.com)

75 years ago: a coup attempt that led to civil war

On July 16 - 18, 1936, a group of officers attempted a coup against the republican government that initially failed and led to the Spanish Civil War.

"Today in History" of the Washington Post: "In 1936, the Spanish Civil War began as right-wing army generals launched a coup attempt against the Second Spanish Republic."

The Wikipedia has an exhaustive article on that conflict that also introduces one to the relevant literature.

Today's Spanish and Catalan newspapers are full of special articles on the topic, some of them accessible for free.

Fully accessible:

El País dedicates one of its Sunday supplements ("Domingo" - generally full of political comment, essays, excerpts of political books, etc.) to the anniversary, here.

And in its Sunday magazine "El País Semanal" an interview with Paul Preston.

El Periòdico offers a day-to-day overview of the war's beginnings.

La Vanguardia has video documentaries, here.

Only headlines or summary:

The Catalan daily Ara only tells us what's in their printed edition, here.

Avui's Sunday supplement Presència lets us see the pictures (pdf dossier here), but not the interview with historian Paul Preston.


Spanish public television broadcasted a documentary on the still open questions about that conflict, they have it on-line here.

It stresses the essential importance of the aid from fascist Germany and Italy to the rebels from the very beginning: e.g. without their planes, Franco's troops from Northern Africa could not have crossed the Strait of Gibraltar as quickly and easily as they did...

One of the leading experts is Paul Preston. The LSE's Who's Who here. He leads the Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies. El País offers these articles on the historian and/or his work.

MSNBC has a blog entry on the pictures of that war.

El País on corruption case in Valencia

Will the "Popular Party" head of government of the autonomous region of Valencia, Francisco Camps, finally step down? That is a question for many editorialists today. He was recently re-elected with an absolute majority but if the accusations against him are true, he should go, and quickly - otherwise the image of his party that looks forward to winning next year's general elections in Spain will be tarnished. The article from El País with the headline "Valencian premier to stand trial for accepting suits as gifts" is here.

Addition Aug. 9: shortly after the publication of the entry above, Camps stepped down as the regional premier. El País has more on the subject under the headline "Gürtel tapes show ring bribed PP politicians", here.