The Tragedy in Algeciras

Racism isn’t a subject I wanted to get into here (beyond a few jokes at the expense of the Brexiteers and their comic view of foreigners), but a recent, terrible, event in Algeciras has brought the subject up once again in political conversation and, inevitably, social media, where we all tend to say (or write in under 280 letters) – more than we should.

Especially if we sign it with un nick (an alias).

A Moroccan left his home the other evening, armed with a machete, and killed a local priest. There’s a video of his victory strut (available on Twitter) and, encouraged, he went off and wounded a second priest before being arrested.

His photo in the media, taken at the police station, shows somebody who is clearly pleased with himself.

The reaction was perhaps obvious, as we’ve all seen it before.

The local Muslim community showed horror at the tragedy and they acquitted themselves, as they always do, with sympathy, kindness and honour. “This is very sad, and it tarnishes our image. Our holy book says that no one can kill. For us God gives life and no one has the right to take it away. That is what Islam says, Islam is peace. The boy who has done this does not know Islam, he is yet another victim, the culprits are the leaders (jihadists) who brainwash people like him," a 36-year-old Moroccan who has lived in Algeciras for decades told reporters.

Elsewhere, we read that the Muslim community in Algeciras are receiving threats ‘we are being warned that the guns are loaded and ready’.

There are some 875,000 Moroccans living legally in Spain, plus many from other Muslim nations. One family from Casablanca lives next to me in Almería, and I am close to them. On the other side, we have several young Africans who have crossed the Mediterranean in dangerous conditions. One of them lost a brother on such a crossing. They are friendly, too.

Maybe, of course, for them as much as for me, it’s hard being a racist when you’re a foreigner. 

No doubt the Secret Police keep an eye on all of us foreigners, which makes me think – didn’t I used to be a European?

And talking of the police, a chief inspector from Valencia, recently sacked for racist comments, is now patrolling the churches there with (a gang of ruffians) a group of concerned citizens.

But then, others also keep an eye on us, especially if we can’t vote. Take the Vox party and its followers. ‘You open the doors, and in they come’ says Santiago Abascal bitterly.

The PP’s Núñez Feijóo meanwhile was unable to express himself adequately after claiming that ‘We Christians for centuries have never killed for our religion’.

We read that ‘…Although the atrocity met with swift condemnation and revulsion from Christian, Muslim and Jewish groups, the reactions of the leaders of the conservative People’s party (PP) and the far-right Vox party have been denounced by members of the country’s Socialist-led coalition government and by migrant and anti-racism NGOs…’

ECD runs an opinion piece: ‘…You don't have to be a Vox sympathizer to recognize that our first concern should be the anti-Christian hatred reflected in this attack and others of the same type that are taking place in Europe. Before the imaginary victims of possible Islamophobia, we should think of the real victims of a deadly Islamist ideology…’

And that silly fellow in the police station. Smiling.

 

Pedro Sánchez, Heavyweight

 Pedro Sánchez may be facing an election year, and even some wobbly polling results, but he is flying high at the present time.

Let’s start with this headline: 'The Government, in full global respect: praise in Davos, Pedro Sánchez on CNN and Yolanda Díaz in The Financial Times. The policies of the Spanish Government are recognized in different relevant spaces and in the media. The president of the World Economic Forum publicly praised the good economic data. Labour Ministers such as those from Brazil or Germany consider Spain a benchmark in labour matters'.

"Congratulations on the good economic results. The same is not happening in the rest of the world", says the President of the World Economic Forum Børge Brende to Pedro Sánchez.

The president participated last week (Tuesday) in the economic forum of Davos in which he had asked the global elites to help governments to oblige companies to pay their share of taxes and to deter them from storing their wealth in tax havens.

Sánchez has one evident advantage over Núñez Feijóo when abroad – he speaks several languages (English, French, Portuguese and Italian) whereas Feijóo admits ruefully that he ‘wished he spoke English’ (we are reminded of Mariano Rajoy when he was asked a question by a BBC reporter in English and his famous reply “Venga, no hombre” before pointing towards a safer bet).

In short, Sánchez looks the part.

In other welcome news for Sánchez, December year-on-year inflation was 10.4% in the EU, 9.2% in the Eurozone, while Spain was the lowest in Europe at 5.5%. The figures come from Eurostat.

Following Davos, Spain and France signed a historic Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation last week as Sánchez met with Emmanuel Macron in Barcelona for a summit in a meeting described as sharing a European vision. A strategic alliance, no less. It all went well, beyond a protest by the currently reduced independence movement in Barcelona (where one senior independentista was thumped by a police baton during the excitement). One source talks of ‘Language learning, the cross-border hospital in Cerdanya, and the boosting of tourism: Spain and France's Treaty of Barcelona Friendship agreement signed in the Catalan capital aims at strengthening ties in the environment, plus security, culture, and defence’.

The answer must be a strong Europe says Emmanuel Macron in an interview with El País.

As Pedro edges towards joining Macron as being recognised internationally as a Statesman (‘a skilled, experienced, and respected political leader or figure’ says the Oxford Dictionary), his image is under ferocious attack from the Right, using facts, fiction, bulos, sometimes manipulation from the media and even the judiciary (lawfare); and, inevitably, pressure, threats and insults from both the public and certain agitators on social media (the probable cause of the abrupt departure of Jacinda Ardern over in New Zealand).

Sánchez renowned abroad may not mean that he will continue to lead Spain after the next domestic elections, of course: but, as they say, forty-eight weeks is a long time in politics.

The Napier: 'Worth Waiting For'

1933 Napier-Railton photoshop by Saranuwat Thamniroth

 

There was a time, Gentle Reader, when almost anyone could build a car. You needed little more in those early days of the Twentieth Century than a few bits of metal, a reasonable knowledge of carpentry and a wealthy uncle. 

Just fix this 'ere motor doofangle to the old cart, put a seat and a steerer in the front, oh don't fergit the klaxon parp parp, and away you go. 

Many, many companies were formed and cars were built to be sold to both the neighbors and the adventurous. Looking them up today, there were endless marques, and I even found something called the Lenox Motor Car Company, which probably made about twenty units before switching, with a sigh of relief, to manufacturing curtain rods. 

When Henry Ford introduced the assembly line, the smaller manufacturers were unable to compete with his novel building it from-the-floor up system; and with the introduction of rules, regulations, laws, copyrights, registrations, patents and trade marks, along with the economies of scale ('How many radiators did you say you want? One?'), the writing was on the wall. 

At least in the USA, the kids could build their fantasy buggies and models and replicas and one-offs - whereas in most European countries, beyond properly registered kits, the opportunities to build a better mouse-trap were (and are) few. 

Among the more successful of the early brands was Napier cars. This was because, as D. Napier and Son Limited, they had been building engines for around a hundred years before someone - a German called Karl Benz - thought of attaching one to a wagon back in 1886. 

Napier cars began production in 1900 and - as Wiki tells us - Napier also gained fame in 1904 by being the first car to cross the Canadian Rockies as Mr and Mrs Charles Glidden, sponsors of the Glidden Tours, covered 3,536 miles from Boston to Vancouver. One can only imagine the journey - no restaurants, no bars, no gas stations, and come to think of it, no roads either. 

Napier cars were famous for their abilities on the racing circuits, and by 1901 they were racing a sixteen liter car (with mixed results). It wasn't until 1904 that their first commercial vehicle was built, with a five liter engine. Several hundred were sold to satisfied customers as in 1905 a Napier broke the speed record over a mile at almost 105mph. 

A treasured framed advert for the 1916 Colonial Napier, with the tag 'Worth Waiting For' (they probably meant from the dealer, not because it had run out of gas), hangs on the wall at my home. 

The last Napier car was sold in 1924, a six liter car with Cunard-designed coachwork. In all, Napier built some 4,260 cars over its time as a manufacturer. 

The company's aero engines were used in securing various land speed records (and attempts) stretching between 1929, 1931, 1937 and then unbeaten between 1939 and 1964. 

The company returned to building airplane engines, including the popular Lion, the Sabre and the Deltic - this last was used in locomotives, minesweepers and torpedo boats. The company was taken over by English Electric in 1942, although a new Napier company making aero engines (in partnership with Rolls Royce) briefly surfaced in 1961.  

There's an association called the Napier Power Heritage Trust which has information about the company.  Amongst other jewels, there's this: 'As well as manufacturing cars at Acton, in 1904 an assembly shop was set up in the USA. The Napier Motor Company of America opened their factory in 1904 in the town of Jamaica Plain close to Boston in Massachusetts. The factory was in part of the old B.F. Sturtevant blower plant opposite the railway station between Green and Williams Streets. All the components for the vehicles were manufactured in Acton and exported to Jamaica Plain for assembly...'

I have a picture of our old house in Norfolk in England with members of the hunt no doubt drinking a toast to the Master. In the picture stands a car - I wonder, could it be an old Napier - say, or maybe even a Lenox!

The Eco-Sticker and Nitrogen Dioxide in the City

There’s a certain panic over these eco-stickers that we are meant to put on the windshield of our vehicles (or on the petrol tank of the motorbike), if we wish to enter the centre of our local city, or indeed any major town of over 50,000 inhabitants.

Madrid and Barcelona, at least, sound keen to lower the ghastly smog levels following condemnation from the European Court of Justice. Around 7.5 million people live in these two cities – fifteen per cent of all Spaniards. To drive in either, motorists need to obtain and show a special sticker, an environmental badge.

Other large and no-so-large cities are generally a bit healthier, with sea-breeze, mountain air or other excuses for the remarkable breathability of the local soup. As such, no one seems too bothered to bring in the dreaded ZBE, low emission zone, penciled in for this January, until it absolutely categorically positively has to be installed, by the end of 2023.

So, panic over, more or less, and maybe.

After all, it seems that there are only seven out of the eighty largest cities in Spain which would pass the limit of nitrogen dioxide levels. Granada and Murcia are the worst, Badajoz and Benidorm are the best. The police themselves say that only 13% of cities that should have their ZBE-system in place have so far got around to it. There's a useful map here.

For a vehicle which would fail such a test, due to its exhaust smoke and its age, and in consequence unable to be used in the designated city-centre low emission zone, there is little to be done beyond pushing it to the edge of the city and selling it for peanuts to some country rube.

They’ll put up signs at the approaches to the ZBE: a red outline with the image of a car and dirty dots coming out of its exhaust. Then, those vehicles allowed access will have their handy eco-sticker representation on the same sign – possibly even with the hours permitted. No doubt a camera will be there as well; after all, there are few city halls that can’t do with some extra low-hanging income (the fine in question being 200 euros).

Some cameras will apparently double up and check if your ITV is current as well.

All of this is music to the ears of Spain’s elderly traffic czar Pere Navarro, who can ride around all day long in a modern vehicle with an up-to-date sticker, while talking on the phone and, if he likes, drinking a glass of something medicinal. He has a chauffeur you see.

149 cities and major towns across Spain will be operating the ZBE-system, sooner or later, with places as modest as Chiclana, Alcoi, Estepona, Fuengirola, Torrevieja, Torremolinos and Mijas making the list.

In short, each town hall must decide for itself as to the ‘when’; and they will have to place traffic signs to inform drivers, therefore (says an item from the useful police N332 page) ‘if you have not seen any sign yet, it is because they are still planning where to do it’.

The sticker – assuming one’s vehicle makes the grade – can be bought at the correos for five euros (bring ID and car papers) or online from the DGT website. Foreign cars should have their own European sticker already (!), while Brit cars will… er… um…

Old cars, collectors’ items all, are released from this program.  An old – or historic car – must be over fifty and be properly registered – which will cost between 600 and 900 euros.

The four types of sticker are: O blue (electric cars); ECO green and blue (hybrids); C Green (petrol passenger cars and vans from January 2006, diesel from January 2014) and B yellow (as above, January 2000 for petrol, January 2006 for diesel). One can even punch in a licence plate on the DGT website to find out if the vehicle is going to earn a sticker. Of course, there’s a useful kit that can convert your car from petrol to zero-emission gas or electric for between 2,000 and 7,000 euros. Maybe. Or again, haul it to the edge of the city and put a ‘Se Vende’ sign on it.

And then you see, you will take the municipal bus, or – if they have one – the tram.