SOME LIKE IT HOT

Here’s an interesting story that has been widely reported in the Málaga press over the last few days. It seems that Ronda has the highest percentage of female fire fighters anywhere in the EU.

Traditionally being a “fireman” was, as the name suggests, strictly a male pursuit but today, in Ronda at least, the person who turns up to save you in an emergency may well be a “firewoman”.

Twenty per cent of the fire fighters are women which places the town of the Tajo at the top of the European league.

It was back in 1985 that the first ‘bombera’ was employed in Spain. Obviously things have moved on since them and whilst women joining a still strongly male team feel some initial nervousness they soon bond with their male and female colleagues.

Alejandro Hurtado, who is the chief of the fire service in Ronda, stated: “We are companions from day one and they are perfectly integrated in the squad.” He added that he was perfectly satisfied with the work of the female crew members.

In Andalucía at this time there are over 2,500 fire fighters. Of that total just 32 are women and three of them are in Ronda. Some good way still to go before equality is established but as the ‘bomberas’ in Ronda say as a new female colleague joins up: “ya éramos uno más” – “now we are one more!”

By the by I am dedicating this piece to my editor at the Costa del Sol News, who yes is a woman, and who I know is a ‘bombera’ at heart!

THE GLOBAL VILLAGE

Yesterday I, an Englishman, went in to a Chinese restaurant in the Spanish town of Ronda where on the TV was the news in Italian beamed by satellite from RAI in Rome.

Which takes my mind back some years to when I went in to a traditional teashop in London’s Chinatown. As I settled down at my table to steaming tea with cakes the serving girls were crouched below the counter munching on burgers bought from McDonald’s in Shaftesbury Avenue.

PARTY, PARTY, PARTY

Some 25 years ago I knew a man who was a Conservative councillor. The slight problem was he was a socialist and probably still is. He knew that in the area in which he lived a Labour candidate would never be elected so he joined the Tories, became local branch chairman, then a District councillor and then a County Councillor.

As he may still hold that post I will say no more as I do not want to embarrass him. In truth I have to say that the people he represented have not done badly by him. He lives in the heart of his ward, has defended their interests and has only abandoned them to tow the party line when it was wise to do so.

All this came to mind because the mayor of the inland Málaga town of Ronda is a member of the Partido Andalucista. I was going to say he was a leading light in the party but as it was decimated at last year’s local and regional government elections that might be overstating his role.

Now the Partido Andalucista, as its name suggests, is dedicated to promoting the interests of the people of Andalucía. Hence when those same people totally reject the PA at the polls leaving it with no MPs in the Andalucía parliament then the game is up.

Recently the party elected a new leader and is thinking deeply about its future. The mayor of Ronda, Antonio Marín Lara, has another solution. He has suggested that he, along with some of his PA councillors, might quit the party, become a ‘mixed group’ on the council, before joining with the socialists of PSOE.

Now it so happens that Marín has recently formed a coalition in Ronda between his party and PSOE, so they jointly govern with the socialists holding some of the top posts. That came about after he surprised one and all, and especially the councillors of the centre-right Partido Popular, by breaking his coalition with them. They had been in coalition with Marín both before the local elections and after - they also had held some of the key positions.

Before those elections Marín had suggested that perhaps he and his councillors might quit the PA and join the Partido Popular. However the prospect was not warmly welcomed by the PP. As it happens the PA are probably more ideologically aligned with PSOE rather than the PP, a party that is a staunch defender of a centralised Spain.

Of course coalitions are formed so that a party can keep power and other smaller parties can attain power, which they’d never achieve in their own right. In politics power is everything. Politicians will jump in to bed with some unlikely partners to achieve it or retain it. They will explain this by saying they are acting in the interests of the local electors. Of course, they are acting solely in their own interest. They know that, we know that, but being politicians – they wouldn’t dare say it.