A CONFERENCE in Barcelona on April 24th drew both Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, and Catalonia’s premier, Artur Mas. But the two avoided each other, another example of how Spain is failing to tackle one of its thorniest problems: the future of this region of 7m people as support for independence grows.Talk of an independent Catalonia remains hypothetical. Yet all sides of the political spectrum now talk of an impending “train crash”. Catalonia is not Scotland, whose referendum on September 18th was sanctioned by the British government. Spain’s parliament voted by a huge majority last month to reject a request from the Catalan parliament for an independence vote. Mr Mas plans a non-binding referendum on November 9th. But Mr Rajoy hopes to have it banned by the constitutional court. What then?Mr Mas is being pushed by forces beyond his control. His Convergence and Union (CiU) coalition, which has backed Spain’s decentralised system of 17 regional governments, trails the explicitly separatist Catalan Republican Left (ERC) in the polls. These also show 55% support for independence, and a far bigger majority wanting a vote. A pressure group…