It is always a pleasure to watch a master at work  - the cook working elegantly under pressure, the guitarist casually creating complexity, the plasterer flicking out a perfect surface. And the most impressive is to observe late masterpieces, when the master combines absolute command of the craft with a mature personal vision - think of Beethoven's late quartets, 'The Tempest', the Rembrandt self portrait at Kenwood. We have masters of the art of politics here in Spain, and the other day one of the greatest excelled himself ...

Carlos Fabra has been for many years President of the Diputación of Castellón, which is the northernmost province of the Community of Valencia. Until Friday 25th March 2011, Castellón was the only province of the Mediterranean coast that did not have an airport. The shame, the shame... Or, more significantly, the money, the money - since, like everywhere from Benidorm to the Costa Brava, there were vast lucrative projects for hotels and golf courses and holiday apartments which needed to be fed with a steady flow of customers. So Carlos Fabra had a personal vision - Castellón should have a state-of-the-art airport.

Fabra is a classic example of the cacique - the big man, the boss of everything in his area. The definition of cacique given in the Diccionario de la Real Academia is disapproving, mentioning 'abusive use of power' and 'excessive influence in political affairs'. Fabra undoubtedly doesn't see himself like that - extraverted and immensely energetic, he just enjoys making things happen, and if that means controlling things, so what? His public image is not helped by the fact that, due to a life-long problem with his eyes, he has to wear dark glasses at all times. Think 'mafia' ...

Anyway, ten years ago, Fabra took on the airport project. After years and years and years of negotiations, seeking subsidies and private investment, the Diputación ending up paying for the whole thing - around 150m euros. Now completed, the airport is to be franchised to a private company, but ... since very few of the Lucrative Projects (see above) have actually come to fruition, the private company doubts how profitable the enterprise is going to be. So, to keep the project going, the Diputación will cover all losses for the next eight years. (Gulp)

But the airport is built. It has a runway, a control tower and a terminal. Unfortunately, (it emerged at the grand inauguration last Friday), it doesn't have a licence to operate as an airport, so it doesn't have any aircraft or the possibility, for some time to come, of having any actual flights.

This, you might have thought, would have cast a shadow on the opening celebrations - but not to a master of the political art like Carlos Fabra. He enthusiastically pointed out that the citizens of Castellón (who have paid for the whole thing) could visit the airport at any time, see the control tower and the terminal, and walk on the runway ... "something that they couldn't do if there were aircraft landing".

Masterly!