This photograph of Hell, taken earlier on this evening in Madrid, is pretty typical of what happens when thousands of people all leave the city at around the same time, as they do whenever there's a public holiday (which there is this weekend). So when ETA decides to set off five bombs at petrol stations on the main highways leading out of Madrid, as they did at around 6pm this evening (two policemen slightly wounded, little material damage) to provoke chaos, they're actually only provoking further chaos. Joining in the fun, as it were. There's been no ETA activity in Madrid since 2002, unless we believe the theory that they were in on the Atocha atrocity, which has been revived in certain quarters of late: presumably they've been feeling ignored. Here they are centre-stage again, for a few days at least, and let's hope this isn't the start of their Christmas 2004 campaign.

Anyway, the point of all this is that it confirms my own personal conspiracy theory that there must be ETA infiltrators working in the Madrid City Council. Otherwise, how do you explain the fun-spoiling traffic jams in and around the capital, 365 days a year?
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