IGNORAMUSES VERSUS IDIOTS, SHORTAGES ON THE MEDICAL FRONTIER, UNION TAKES HIGHLY SCIENTIFIC POLL, GENTRIFIERS FEAR GUARRO NATIVES, ZP WOULD HAVE SAVED THE DAY

by Stephan Ortiz

Air Berlin’s president, Joachim Hunold, is in big trouble with the Islas Baleares, where the airline runs several routes. In response to a letter from the general director of Política Lingüística suggesting that Air Berlin’ and several other companies’ prestige would benefit from offering their information in Catalan, Hunold, who clearly doesn’t know who he’s dealing with and isn’t afraid to poke the bear, wrote an editorial in the company’s magazine that was not particularly well-received. Among other provocations, Hunold suggested that Catalan has made Spanish a second language on the islands, Catalan is something that takes getting used to, audially, and that regional nationalisms are recreating medieval microstates. Not to be outdone, Joan Puig, the ex diputado of Esquerra Republicana, then proceeded to call Air Berlin a bunch of nazis. Man, it’s great to see Europe coming together so nicely.

Apparently 46% of new doctors entering the Catalan medical system are foreigners, most hailing from South America and the Caribbean. Barna experiences particularly acute shortages of medical personnel in the summertime, and this verano they’re going to need 300 new doctors to cover all the necessary posts, a 33% increase from last year. Given that it’s summer, ya, the Minister of Health has suggested that these nouvinguts get a pass on the normal 6-month process for the standardization of their licenses, and the Catalan medics are up in arms. What to do? Work absurdly abusive hours or give a pass on public health standards? Once again, here’s to planning ahead.

According to a UGT survey, 71% of workers confess that they are “quemado”. Unfortunately, they didn’t probe further to find out what percentage was “quemadísimo”. UGT was particularly feisty about some of the deep-rooted workplace conditions that they consider to be contributing to this stress...among them “hablar a gritos, criticar la vida privada, y ser ignorados or amenazados.” I bet it’s also really hard when you go for that fifth coffee break of the day and you find that there is only leche sencera.

La Mina residents fear that the “guarridad” of “some people” will ruin their precious new T-6 tramline. Super-psyched about the pretty new palmeras and “asfaltados de colores” that have been installed to posar guapa the Rambla, they are nonetheless fairly sure that it won’t last for long, as most of the recently-constructed buildings are already covered in anti-police graffiti. In a totally logical move, therefore, the Mossos have announced that the new line will be protected by extra police and private security guards.

They’ve decided not to divert water from the Ebro to Catalunya after all, since we’re no longer in peril, what with the 53% fullness of the reservoirs. Great. Now we have a full year to start planning (read: do nothing about) water-saving tactics for 2009. Perhaps this year could also be used to contemplate other regions’ suggestion that the national government come up with an emergency water-distribution system for everyone, not just Catalunya. Aren’t we tired of being referred to as Zapatero’s special amigachos and wasting our political capital on problems we could start solving ourselves?