Your views

The “List System” strangles democracy. If you voted for a person rather than a party list you would know who to button hole when you had a gripe.
There is too much government. Four levels National, Regional, Island and Local is two too many and should be halved. 52 local councils are even more exaggerated and should be quartered.
There is a lack of a “professional” civil service to scrutinise and control large capital projects leaving it to unqualified politicians.

I’d like to expand this last point and suggest a major cause of the corruption which seems endemic in Majorca and Spain nationwide. He notes the lack of “professional” (Frank’s inverted commas) civil servants but there are no shortage of “appointees” (my commas). The Palma Council alone has 300 of them many placed in management positions in state run companies for which they may be completely unsuited. Scotland with a population of 5 million (Palma 1 million) has only 8 and all are advisors and occupy no management positions.
Every time there is a change of Government there can be a corresponding change of appointees.
They may have just 4 or 5 years in work before they too are fired – not long for their snouts in the pig’s trough to accumulate a secret retirement fund.
More importantly the new incoming Government after saying good riddance to the old 300 can patronise 300 of their relatives and friends. They are unlikely to vote to change this lucrative system.

Mike Lillico
Playa de Palma