Brains and brawn

PEDRO SANCHEZ, still Spain’s president and possibly its next with a great deal of luck and the wind behind him said that Spain’s Right has more testosterone than neurones.

Basically, it’s the old “brawn versus brain” argument although Pablo Casado’s brawn is more like visceral verbal brawling.

His university career was unexceptional and instead of taking a double degree, managed only Law as he devoted so much of his time to student politics and debating.

All the same, he picked up a nice little Master’s degree with a minimum of effort in circumstances very similar to Cristina Cifuentes but, unlike her, was clever enough not to coerce anyone into vouching for its veracity.

Or shoplift two pots of face cream, which is what did for her in the end, much to the satisfaction of PP rivals who probably were, and still are, thankful to see her removed.

No chance to swing

LESS than a month before the April 28 general election, polls suggest that PP+Cs+Vox won’t add up.

As things stand the trio won’t be able to pull off the Andalucia trick again on a national scale, which doesn’t mean that the PSOE could form a government without making alliances.

The obvious solution would be a PSOE-Ciudadanos deal, replicating that of March 2015 when Pedro Sanchez and Albert Rivera tried to form a government but were scuppered by Pablo Iglesias.

At that time the Podemos supremo thought he was riding high but four years later Podemos is coming apart at the seams and a repeat performance is unlikely.

Rivera himself ruled out that possibility by forcing through an internal Cs vote – not to everyone’s liking it must be said – that ruled out any possibility of a post-election pact with the PSOE. 

The Cs leader is known for swinging both ways in his political relationships and now that the PP no longer looks so promising, he must be kicking himself for turning down the PSOE before he’d even been propositioned.

Chips and blocks

PABLO CASADO announced the Partido Popular voting list for Madrid which he, naturally heads.

Who is second? None other than Adolfo Suarez Illana, son of the Transition’s first democratically-elected president who helped to steer Spain away from dictatorship.

“Adolfo embodies the values of the desire for peace, prudence and audacity that his father represented,” the PP leader declared.

So, nothing like Casado, then.

String pulling

QUIM TORRA, president of Cataluña’s regional government, could be prosecuted for his slowness in removing yellow ribbons supporting separatist politicians from public buildings

Owing to his reluctance to comply with electoral regulations the Public Prosecution department recommended preventing Torra from holding public to which he heroically replied that he was “prepared to accept the consequences of being president of the Catalan government.”

Pity that he is unprepared to accept the responsibilities, too.  He could try passing a Budget and actually governing and doing the job he’s paid to do, instead of poncing around while his cowardly puppet master pulls the strings in Waterloo.