Giving the poor doggy a bone

THE ban on cash transactions over €2,500 will hit Spain’s submerged economy – Europe’s largest.

This deep-rooted tradition explains the Budget amnesty for those declaring hidden assets in exchange for a 10 per cent levy.

Despite its initial unfairness to conscientious taxpayers, there will be no future hiding place for those accepting the offer and next time around there will be a bone or two more for Hacienda.

When the cupboard is bare, neither Mother Hubbard nor Rajoy care where they come from.

The baby-snatchers

SOME newborn babies in Spain were clearly taken from their mothers in the 60s, 70s and early 80s and sold to adoptive parents, with one nun’s name recurring in several cases.

But not every mother who gave birth to a stillbirth child was the victim of deception.

The infant mortality rate was high at the time, but a retrospective conspiracy theory will always be more attractive than the sad truth.

He wouldn’t dare!

SPAIN is currently Europe’s whipping boy although the spendthrift habits of some autonomous regions are the true culprits.

Spain is a collection of former nations for whom – especially those that are bilingual – Madrid is synonymous with autocracy and dictatorship.

Unfortunately for the economy and Rajoy, who doggedly defends the system, imposing order on the autonomies is going to trigger more unrest than austerity measures or spending cuts.