http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...n-2377789.html

Reminds me of some African states, roads and trains going nowhere. White elephants funded by EU money, police with no patrol cars. Only the tip of the iceburg too, wonder what all those pueblos did with the money during the good time

Its not true,load of rubbish.......

They talk of white elephant projects, only read yesterday of the last Vueling flight from Ciudad Real, it's now effectively closed, millions in debt.
http://www.abc.es/20111106/economia/...111060102.html

Hello another lets knock Spain thread, why do you lot bother ?
You don`t live here and are not moving here, so please go away and stop trolling. :curse: :curse:

I thought it would be Ok seeing as it wasn't the Daily Fail I forgot the hidden rule though...only talk about the UK as most posters know FA about Spain

What is the use of posting UK rag links that are trying to take the pressure off the UK meltdown, people that live in Spain know exactly what is happening here already.
It will sort itself out nicely eventually when the UK pays its dues to the euro fund.
Lots of lovely new roads, lighting, green areas and work for the councils, fast train line soon too, all courtesy of the euro donations.

Somehow I don't think Our Man in Madrid will be too impressed with this article.
I look forward to his response with the greatest of interest.

I don't knock Spain, but I read an article today that town halls in Murcia are shutting down street lights to save money - the amount saved is quite considerable. They seem to be concentrating on towns with large expat populations, like Alcazares.

The article is in a newspaper called the Coast Rider, which is online, but I read it in the paper version.

And I thought that I lived in Spain, perhaps I am living in a dream world.
What I find strange is that anyone moving back to the UK spends so much time on the Spain forum,why, what is lacking in their life, there has to be something most people probably would not even bother or at the most a quick look every now and then. I must admit that if I moved back I would be busy getting on with my new life not being busy telling people in Spain that they know nothing about it. What arrogance.

Graham

I am on here because I am interested in what is happening in Spain as I lived there 15 years (a bit like you with all the Sheffield and Union crap!). I have friends and relatices in Spain...spanish ones too, so a bit of discussion would be interesting. Why is that arrogant that I put on some news about spanish news I would sugget that some of you are lacking something that you feel the need to discuss things that happened in the Uk under Thatcher. I try to be civil to you but you don't actually thi nk before you post do you

The time to get seriously worried is when they run out of money for fireworks.

Sorry, I have to disagree with you, Graham. At least, slightly.

If someone like Jacky, who has lived in Spain for many years and has Spanish family connections, writes about Spain, then she really does know more about Spain than most of us.

It helps to offset the gushing praise from newcomers who are still wet behind the ears. The town halls in the Valencian province are up to their eyes in debt, as is the Valencian autonomous government itself. The central government in Madrid has to borrow heavily to support the regions and may not always be able to do so, and then it really will be lights out all round.

Whatever.

Graham

Great idea. Towns spend a FORTUNE on lighting, an most of it wasted. I seen to remember the canary island with the observatories wanted to build a second power station to power all the extra street lights they wanted to install. The scientists were horrified as this would cause a monstrous amount of light pollution. So they sat down with the authorities, and devised a plan. They suggested using reflective shades that threw all the light downwards, with no waste to the sky, they put in energy saving bulbs, and I think, reduced the numbers of lights and increased spacing.

This saved so much power, that even with the extra lights they still had spare capacity on the first power station and didn't need the second.

Naughty.

I know that these places are having a difficult time, that there genuinely is a crisis throughout Spain and that it is severely effecting the vast majority of families. However when I read reports such as this I wonder how the hell our little town is surviving and growing in these terrible times. Last year we had two new shops open and this year there are two more and last week a new dental practice opened its doors. They are all diverse and must be relevant to the people of the town because they are apparently doing good business.

Rosemary