'Spain is undergoing a crisis of enormous proportions.'

Not me. Jose, Manuel,Garcia, Margallo; Spain's foreign minister said it on the radio, and he has the right of it. Since Spain's loopy conservative government forced through Angela Merkel's spending limits as part of their constitution, things have gone from bad to worse. (See previous blogs.)

Spain's jobless are now nearly one in four. 5.6 million spaniards, 24.4% of the workforce, are out of work. Half of the under 25s have no work. No one has a job in 1.7 million households. And Standard and Poor, the idiots who said there was nothing wrong with Lehman Brothers about a fortnight before they collapsed, and who are british chancellor George Osborne's guardian angels, just knocked the security rating of spanish debt down another two notches.

No wonder Mr Margallo compared the EU to the 'doomed liner Titanic' (FT)

Naturally, both Margallo and Spain's economy minister Luis De Guindos, made it clear that there was no alternative, and they would be sailing on.

Can you hear the band playing? Makes me all teary.