Though many aspects of Spain are incredibly backwards, there’s something incredibly modern about their politics.

They don’t have silly minority parties like the Lib Dems, they don’t have mad communist parties like in France, and they actually talk about the problems instead of personalities, unlike Britain.

What most struck me though, is their campaigning, and I have two main examples of how Spain is miraculously ahead of the game.

Here’s the first example. You are all familiar with this picture of Obama with the slogan “Change.” below:

I then realised that this ground-breaking piece of imagery was nothing but a jumped up PSOE campaign from 1982. Have a glance at Felipe Gonzalez:

The topline reads “Vote PSOE” and the slogan means “For change.” Suspicious, no?

Anyway, this is just an aside compared to what I want to go into. My second example pertains to the infamous Conservative Cameron poster campaign:

Which bears an amazing resemblance to the Spanish Conservative Party’s (el Partido Popular) election posters in 2008, which was also just a picture of their leader with a slogan. Take a look at “Make it to the end of the month” “With Rajoy it’s possible“:

Note that the British Tories decided to drop the blue coloured background.

So, the next interesting development is that in Britain, everybody lauded the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the My David Cameron website for it’s (very good, I shall add) instant poster parody maker of the above poster, and subsequent campaign editions. However, back in their elections in 2008, that’s right, they had their own DIY-Rajoy poster generator!

And they call it New Media!

As I sort my life out in Spain and get back into regular blogging, I’m pleased to offer this bit of continuity.

On the 14th and 21st of March, elections for the Conseils Regionals all over France will take place.

These will be a decisive test for French politics because, as it stands, the Parti Socialiste has everything to play for. Currently, the Socialists hold an impressive 20 out of 22 regions, with Corsica and Alsace being the ones out of reach. Although Sarkozy’s right-wing UMP is looking to grab as many as it can, notably PACA, signs of success don’t look promising.

It is a peculiarity I noted during my stay, that the French Parti Socialiste is incredibly strong at a Regional (obviously) and local level. Nationally, they just can’t seem to get their act together, though I have noticed a clever and subtle branding change recently. Anyway, these elections could be the victory the PS seriously needs to turn the Press Narrative in its favour, in my analysis, the PS still has not quite reconciled itself over defeat in round one in the Presidential elections of 2002, having been beaten by Jean Marie Le Pen (Front National).

Speaking of JM Le P, this brings us neatly (it’s as if I plan and organise these articles, isn’t it?) to the elections in Provence-Alps-Cote d’Azur, a key area I worked in between June and two weeks ago.

Observe the video:

For non-francophonists, the video outlines the opinion polls in PACA. The first slide shows voting intention for the first round, depending on the results, two or three parties will go through (there are certain details, but lets call it that if the FN, as the 3rd party, get more than 10%, they go through). 30 seconds in, you see the voting intention in case of a “triangulaire”, three-way fight. At 49%, it’s good news for the socialists, despite the Greens running their own list (disruptive, non?). At 45 seconds, it shows the voting intention in case of a left-right duel, in which it’s a closer race 53:47 with the Socialists ahead. The rest of the video shows the current Président de la Région Michel Vauzelle (friend of the blog!) saying the usual “this is a good result but we mustn’t be complacent.”

I’ll be going back to France to help out the PS in PACA between the first and second rounds. In you want to learn more, click here and here to see previous relevant posts.

I’ve been in Spain for just about a week now, and it’s quite an adjustment.

Moving from France to Spain is a larger leap than England to France. Equally, I am trying to make the transition from the workplace to the classroom.

My first impressions have been formed, and they tell you more about me than they do the locals.
Principally, I feel much more foreign here than I ever did in France. In Nice, my nationality was more like a funny hat that I would bring out and wear from time to time. Here, it’s a lot more permanent simply because of genetics; I don’t (as far as I know) look even the remotest bit Spanish, the locals react as such.

Even thus, my identity is still a bit confused. In Nice, I was so connected through my job to the town and the region PACA that I feel much more at home speaking with the French students than I do the English.

Then when you add my personality into the mix it becomes even more complex. Friend and colleague Jack Penrose, well known for his linguistic elegance and amateur poetry (rumoured) described me as “someone who flushes before he’s finished pissing.” I would translate that phrase as “time-efficient”. My life is divided into hour-long blocks of time; I enjoy darting from one meeting to another, getting from A to B. I love my Blackberry, I hate downtime.

This “time-efficiency” trait is a direct contradiction with the Spanish way of life.

Everything is closed, all the time, and nobody cares about anything. If it is agreed to meet at 1200, may god help the person who turns up at 1210, particularly if they find we’ve already left.

At the risk of being compared to Hugh Abbot, I find it’s much more difficult to click with Spanish people as we don’t seem to have very much in common. Hopefully that will change once classes start and I get involved with the PSOE (that the Spanish Labour / Socialist party… you know… the one with Zapatero in it.)

Of course it’s early to start making wild generalisations, but there really is a key difference in the mood of this part of my placement. In France, I was integrated and absorbed in the culture, ethic and identity. In Spain, I feel like I am looking at society through a lens.

Eight months ago, I arrived in Nice, now it’s time for me to leave.

It’s been an excellent stay, and I never wanted to leave for a minute.

There will be a longer, more reflective post after I get back in the UK. For now though, I’ll show you this video which was a campaign song for Opposition group in Nice Changer d’ère.

It’s not goodbye, it’s Au Revoir.

I’ll be in the UK from this evening until January 22nd.

Next stop: Madrid.

To start the year 2010, let’s look back at 2009.

Like many bloggers, I’m going to enter the Orwell Prize, an award for political blogging.

Unlike many bloggers, I don’t expect to win. I’m sure it’s a total stitch-up reserved for some snooty journalist. (Prove me wrong, guys, prove me wrong.)

How did I pick the Top Ten? It was a complex algorithm I like to call “That’ll Do” which involves rules of thumb, unreliable memories, bitterness, arrogance and guesswork.

The result was a mix of posts that almost made a splash in either links or comments or hits, ones that almost achieved something, ones that were almost exclusive, ones that were almost a good idea. I’m going to almost win this prize, it’s almost certain.

Anyway, here’s the list in chronological order:

• We’re going to get hammered on June 4th – and videos like these don’t help
• Anti-BNP Demonstration at BRLSI Meeting
• The Prime Minister is in legacy mode: he is destroying 100 years of history for his own ego
• Libertarian Party threatens Libel against Hadleigh Roberts
• Cutting down the Commons will cripple Cameron’s government
• My very French By-election: The Battle for Nice 6
• Dividing Lines: When politics comes between friends
• Fixed Term Parliaments won’t necessarily fix Parliament
• It is Labour’s duty to defeat the BNP, we must end the ‘No Platform’ policy
• Tory PPC: “It is about time we had a recession”

Enjoy!