2 minute read
Strange bedfellows
Cassandra Nash
ULTRARIGHTWING party Vox recently registered a request for a Vote of No Confidence in the president of Spain’s government, Pedro Sanchez.
Party leader Santiago Abascal, who made the application accompanied by members of Vox’s executive committee, explained afterwards to the waiting media that the party could not sit with folded arms “while Sanchez demolishes Rule of Law.”
Vox would not admit that nothing was amiss when Spain had a government that was capable of lying to voters and making pacts with Spain’s enemies, Abascal declared.
In line with Spanish legislation, Vox must propose a candidate prepared to lead a new government, assuming that the vote is held and Sanchez fails to obtain sufficient support to remain in office.
Funnily enough, Vox’s candidate is an 89yearold former university professor, Ramon Tamames, a Communist imprisoned during the Franco years and an MP for the Partido Comunista Español (PCE) from 1977 to 1982.
He returned to parliament between 19861989 representing the PCE’s heir, Izquierda Unida (IU), the party with which he merged his own Federacion Progresista party created in 1981. He was also Madrid’s deputy mayor between 1979 and 1989.
Tamames left IU in 1989 when still an MP and fixed his colours to the mast of Adolfo Suarez’s centrist party, Centro Democratico y Social (CDS) but left politics shortly afterwards.
He clearly has form when it comes to drifting towards the Right, but nobody expected Tamames to make landfall in a party like Vox.
For Abascal, Tamames “embodies harmony and unity over and above sectarianism.” Neither does he confess to qualms regarding the excommunist’s speech introducing the censure motion, which is in any case doomed to failure.
“I’ve no concerns that Professor Tamames might make proposals that aren’t those of Vox,” said Abascal.
The last word goes to Cristina Almeida, a fellow communist as well as a former Madrid city hall councillor, regional MP and senator who knows Tamames well.
“He doesn’t know what he’s getting into. But nor does Vox.”
Cabbage patch
APPROXIMATELY six million people in the UK admitted relying on TikTok and other social media sites for their healthcare information.
Most were millennials born between 1981 and 1996 or their Generation Z successors who often feel let down by the NHS, although medical professionals warn that generally they are buying into false hopes and misinformation.
Cabbage juice, overflowing with vitamins and minerals, is a current TikTok craze, hailed as a miracle cure for countless ailments including gastritis, a condition that requires medical attention.
In any case, older generations were there first. Surely elderly readers must remember being given or forced to drinkthe water strained off from recently boiled greens?
Linda Hall
SLEEP at least seven hours a night if you want to stick to a diet or exercise routine.
Doctors discovered that overweight or obese adults participating in weight loss and fitness programmes had fewer problems keeping to calorierestricted diets and exercise routines after a good night’s sleep.
Experts recommend a minimum seven hours of sleep a night for adults although research suggests that as many as one in three get less.
Three consecutive nights of insufficient sleep result in a decline in mental and physical health, poor concentration, moodiness and even breathing problems, they said.
There was also evidence
AS the worst of winter recedes, there is more incentive to resume outdoors exercise after months of huddling indoors.
That raises the question of how much or how little is required to bring health benefits.
In the UK, the NHS recommends weekly exercise of between 150 and 300 minutes of activity that increases the heart rate and makes you breathe hard.
The majority who don’t manage even the minimum 150 minutes will be glad to
