Covid 

A sceptical view of the panic(?) response to Omicron: We’re almost certainly overreacting to the omicron variant. . . . Competent responses to new variants can hardly be expected when data are interpreted and acted on at lightning speed . . . We are now two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, but still have not settled on a proportionate method of containing it. Now the omicron variant of the virus has struck, and we must ask ourselves whether we are reacting appropriately. . . . Our current approach to interpreting science is too rapid and simplistic. As a consequence, indisputable facts are established overnight. The sheer speed at which data are interpreted generates overconfident, pessimistic predictions about what might happen next. As a result, we seem to be losing the ability to think critically.  . . [Experts] Heneghan and Jefferson suggest that we “must ask ourselves whether we are reacting appropriately” – the inference being that we are seeing a repeat of the same structural incompetence that has dogged the entire management of this epidemic. 

Cosas de España/Galiza 

The crew of the Crew of $100m ‘narco-sub’ recently caught near Vigo are refusing to name their paymasters. Well, would you, with your entire family with their necks in a noose?

Visa news: Spain will introduce new measures that aim to attract digital nomads after the country’s government has approved such measures. Through the digital nomad visa, many talented people from other countries would be eligible to live in Spain as well as work remotely, contributing to Spain’s economic sector. The digital nomad visa will permit internationals from non-European Economic Area (EEA) countries as well as persons who hold EU passports or those arriving from Schengen Zone countries to work remotely in Spain for under 6 months of the year without being obliged to register officially. I hope that’s clear . .

An international survey has it that Spain is the country with the highest proportion of the population who believe that the political system needs to be completely reformed. Spain is  the only nation surveyed where a majority (54%) believe the system should be rebuilt from scratch. Another 32% who would like to see “great changes”. Only 2% consider that the system “should not be changed”. Food for constitutional thought. But probably no action.

In Pontevedra city, French bulldogs have long be the most favoured breed. Which just surely be more down to fashion than aesthetics. But This is a breed which is more likely than others to be diagnosed with 20 common disorders, though it does have lower odds of being diagnosed with 11 out of the 43 common disorders compared with other dogs, including undesirable behaviour, lameness and obesity. That said, scientists say that the low levels of reported undesirable behaviours could be partly due to French bulldog owners being more tolerant of issues such as snoring and smelly coats caused by sweat trapped in skin folds. It’s truly beyond me why anyone would want one of them.

The UK  

See here fo Richard North’s take of the Covid views expressed above.

2020 saw the staggering number 50,000 artefacts discovered by archeologists, professional and amateurs. And, for obvious reasons, thus was a lower than usual year

The EU

Yesterday I wondered where the EU funds heading for Spain would end up. Today, on cue, here’s an article of the long-standing blight of peculation in societies of ‘low ethics’. Choice bits:-

– The vested interests are simply too great, the huge sums of money too tempting. 

– A classic of over-investment is Spain’s high-speed rail network. It has absorbed €56 billion over the past 35 years, €14 billion from the EU, but remains chronically underused. One external report put the inappropriate allocation of public funds (to 2016) at €26 billion. 

– A euphemistic plea has been voiced for “Transparency in hidden agendas behind public works”. 

– Compared with such herculean Hispanic achievements, the case of Berlin’s new airport seems modest.

And a comment from a reader: Twenty years ago, Neil Kinnock [ex Labour Party leader] was sent to Brussels to sort out the EU’s finances. He stayed there and became rich; the EU finances changed not one jot.

Jaundiced? Moi!

Spanish

Voz en off: Voice off

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