Cronyism and nepotism, digital partisanship (appointments by decree by the political party apparatus once they access government) or the nineteenth-century "vuelva usted mañana", which made journalist Mariano José de Larra famous, along with the scourges of corruption and opacity, are commonplaces entrenched in the Spanish and Catalan administrations and in popular culture. How is it possible that, after fifty years of democracy, we still have not managed to have an efficient and meritocratic administration, at the service of citizens and not of the political whims of rulers?

Many people are wondering these days how it's possible for a political leader who lives closely with members of his team to be unaware of the systematic corruption that occurs in some cases. And apparently they're right; it seems impossible to have been at the side of a consummate cheat for years and not have detected any hint of his fraudulent activity. Are these leaders so short-sighted, so insensitive that they don't notice what some outward manifestations must inevitably have?