Bullfighting Back On TV

The economy dominated the news again this week in Spain with another recession becoming more likely by the day, a village in Cuenca accepting pesetas, and tens off thousands protesting the labour law reforms in Madrid.

The story that caught my attention the most though was that the Partido Popular supports the decision of TVE Spanish state television to show bullfighting on TV again. At the moment the broadcasting of bullfighting between 6am and 10pm, known as the hours of child protection, is prohibited, and as bullfights tend to be between these hours they aren’t shown on TV.

Apparently something called a Broadcast Stylebook has been drawn up by the Administrative Council of the TVE, and they have decided to omit the above conditions thus allowing bullfights to be shown on TV. The PP are drawing up legislation for Congress to approve at least 10 bullfights to be broadcast on TVE each season although broadcasts are said to be unlikely as TVE are having to feel assets to make ends meet and there is no money to broadcast the fights as the TV rights for the main ferias are expensive.

The economy though was the main story of the week again with data showing that output shrank to 0.3% in the final quarter of last year, causing stocks to tumble, and putting yet more pressure on the banking sector, not helped at all by the ongoing issues in Greece. Although the yield on sovereign debate declined and volumes were solid, the general consensus is that Spain is heading towards another recession at the end of the first quarter that is expected to last throughout 2012 and into 2013.

Sometime ago I was asked what I thought would happen to Spain and the Euro i.e. would Spain revert to the pesetas. Personally I don’t see that happening but at the time I said that I would allow people to use their old pesetas to stimulate some spending. As pesetas can still be exchanged at the Bank of Spain in Madrid my argument was that at least some money would start circulating again. Interesting then that businessmen in Villamayor de Santiago in Cuenca are now accepting pesetas once again. The town, which has a population of about 3,000, is governed by the Socialist Mayor, José Julián Fernández. Over the past month 29 shopkeepers in the locality have taken 1.25 million pesetas, (7,512 €) and they say the initiative has ‘saved the month’.

With tens of thousands taking to the streets recently to protest against the labour reforms, the government is finding itself between a rock and a hard placed seems, which I suspect is somewhat more comfortable than the government in Greece is feeling these days! Here in Spain the government is likely to be punished for delaying the budget announcement until April which just so happens to be after the March 25th regional elections. Blatant manipulation by the Spanish Government …….. no change there then!

Chris is a freelance writer who writes a monthly column for the Telegraph Expat as well as a weekly column for the Round Town News. He lives in Almerimar with his wife Sands, five cats, two Harley-Davidson’s and more often than not a bottle of red wine. He runs the successful expat blog www.almerimarlife.com , and his wife runs the cat re-homing and transport project www.alstrays.com .

Chris’s columns are sponsored by www.spain-holiday.com and www.campaya.co.uk on the Telegraph Expat site and by www.blitzcleaning.es here on Round Town News. You can hear Chris every Friday discussing his views, thought and experiences of life in Spain on www.italkfm.com .