Awake, for morning in the bowl of night has flung the stone that puts the stars to flight.

And, lo, has caught the sultan’s turret in a noose of light!

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable

 Christopher Howse: ‘A Pilgrim in Spain’

Cosas de España/Galiza

I confess to being confused by what’s happening in Spanish politics, specifically in the governing coalition. The leader of Sumar and would-be national Presidenta, Yolanda Diaz, comes – like Franco – from the Galician city of Ferrol, though they couldn’t be further apart politically. At the moment, she’s the politician with the highest approval rating, averaging 49%. But for how long? She was the protégé of the founder of Podemos but they fell out and he now accuses her of being too cosy with the Socialists of the PSOE and for not having clear policies. Just ambitions, I guess. Pretty typical left-of-centre politics, I suppose.

So, more than 80% of Parisians have demanded e-scooters be banned from both pavements(sidewalks) and roads, as in a few other cities. Is it too much to hope that Madrid – or at least Pv city – will follow suit? For me, their most irritating appearance in on the narrow paths between O Burgo bridge and the start of Rúa Real in the old quarter. Which itself is not exactly wide. I keep meaning to return to carrying a walking stick, held horizontally.

Looking for a Semana Santa festival to attend? This is for you.

And here’s more on the bizarre event in Verges.

It’s rare to see a Ford Escort RS Cosworth, like this one near the flea market last Sunday:-

And it’s ironic, I guess, to see 2 child seats in the back of one. Doesn’t exactly shout ‘boy racer’.

Strange that Spanish referees are the highest paid in the world. One wonders why.

Less strange to read that 2 or 3 narco-subs set sail for Galicia every year. There’s said to be 1,000 of them operating off South America. The vast majority with impunity.

France

E-bike operators, fighting a ban, have offered to implement over-18s policies, stop multiple passengers piling on, and add number plates so miscreants can be identified. Well, they would, wouldn’t they?

(A)GW

The basic theme of the author of Fossil Future is that the drivers of rapid CO2 elimination/Net Zero operate within a framework that is both irrational and, indeed, immoral. If you haven’t already, you can easily glean this from the list of his Headings that I posted yesterday. I don’t know if his views are valid – you can read about the book here and see comments for and against it here – but I do know that – given the economic implications of Net Zero – the debate needs to be had. And that you can’t claim to be rational and unbiased without listening to both sides. The said economic implications won’t just impact those billions currently ‘empowered’ by fossil fuels but also, as the author stresses, the even larger group of those not yet empowered but currently en route to a better life. Which is why China and India, inter alia, will go their own way. Whatever Europe and the US do. While taking their cash.

Incidentally . . . As a ex-Catholic, it’s easy for me to see a similarity between the indoctrination of that organisation and today’s version of this perpetrated by the quasi-religion of the Apocalypse predictors. And to see a parallel with pre and post Reformation events in Europe, when heretics were cancelled by being burned to death. The ‘un-impacted’ Earth is Heaven; Fossil fuels are Evil/the Devil; Net Zero is God. No wonder people worry about the creation of unjustifiable fear in young folk, just as it was in Catholics when I was a kid. And probably still is. Hellfire and brimstone, if you don’t do what we tell you to. Forget thinking.

As I wrote recently, more and more people are writing about the economic implications of – at its most extreme – eradicating fossil fuels immediately or even ‘soon’. They need to be listened to.

A propos . . . There’s a report this morning that the UK government has been (‘secretly’) warned that its Net Zero aspirations are not feasible. The question arises – Why are we being fed them? Virtue signalling in defiance of reality?

The Way of the World

Talking about global concerns . . . Folk are getting really quite worried about AI . . .

• The open letter ain’t enough
• The world must wake up to speed and scale of AI. Artificial intelligence is like the nuclear age – we can’t slow it and it is therefore vital governments get ahead of the game

Quote of The Day

The New Zealand Prime Minister – Chris Hipkins – was asked the question de jour: ‘What is a woman’ and came up with the response: “To be honest, that question has come slightly out of left field for me. I wasn’t expecting it, so it’s not something I’ve formulated an answer on”. Unfortunately for Mr Hipkins, his press conference was watched by JK Rowling. “in the interests of balance,” she tweeted, “someone should now ask women how they define Chris Hipkins.”

English

Q: Does ‘perhaps’ come from ‘per happenstance’?

A: More likely from per + happes (chances)

Did you know?

The Spanish Tax Office says tips should be included in annual income declarations. As the headline in the VdG put it: La propina tendría que tributar a Hacienda. (Solo tendría) . . .

Finally . . .

I had a sudden recollection this morning of a friend of my younger daughter being amused – a few years ago – that I knew the petrol consumption of my car. Apparently none of his generation did/do. This reminded me that both of my daughters thought nothing of spending a good deal of money on a Friday night while at university and, as adults, don’t regard taking taxis as a semi-luxury. Times have changed. Are they victims of a consumer society? Or were they just richer than I was at 20?

For new readers:- If you’ve landed here looking for info on Galicia or Pontevedra, try here. If you’re passing through Pontevedra on the Camino, you’ll find a guide to the city there.