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

Pre-election politics:

The NY Times says Spanish democracy is safe, even from Vox

And María has set me right on the right-ward tendencies of the Galicians, who’ve never had a PSOE administration. Galicians and the Right: I think a book could be written on this. Because the rebel [Franco] forces won so convincingly in the first days of the civil war, people think most Galicians were okay with the rebellion and with Franco. But, it was the effectiveness of the military forces, and of the following terror, that made Galicians shut up and just nod “yes”. Also, not every Galician who fought for Franco went willingly. My father-in-law’s father was forced to go by being threatened with losing all his land. Many were threatened the same way. For years, to avoid prison and other problems, parents never talked with their children about opposing Franco. Even years later, during democracy, many people found it very difficult to talk about their actions and beliefs back then, just in case, and many stories have been lost. We tend to vote PP mostly from atavistic fear.

More evidence here that confusion reigns on the question of when, if ever, all our aoutvias and N roads will, as down in Portugal, become toll roads, under an EU diktat.

If you went to the web page of the Pv Jazz & Blues Festival, you’ll have seen that even the English version only uses Galician to describe the performers. Not even both this and Spanish. This is the way of things these days, if the event is in any way financed by the city’s BNG (nationalist) council. Not good. Or right.

Yesterday’s Diario de Pontevedra, had a wrap-around cover from said BNG party featuring a Spanish dictum: A verguenza do galego non é deixar algo no plato. ‘The Galician shame is not to leave anything on the plate’. So, it is that the lat thing on the plate routinely features in the question: So, who’s going to eat the Galican shame? In Spanish: Entonces, ¿quién se va a comer la vergüenza gallega? Back to the ad . . . The ‘killer’ codicil is that whoever takes the last piece nos dean migallas. Leaves us crumbs. This is a reference to Madrid’s polticians.

Still on the Gallego theme . . . The Guardian reports here on a new anthem written by a Madrileño rapper, Tangana, for the supporters of Vigo`s football team, Celta. It’s called Oliveira Dos Cen Anos and you can hear it performed here – with Galician and Spanish lyrics – by the city’s Coral Casablanca choir, accompanied by a tambourine-wielding female vocal group called Lagharteiras and by Celta supporters’ club, Tropas de Breogán. Rousing (Celtic) stuff, I guess. Even without the ululating ladies on the terraces.

The UK

The more you read about the European far right, the more risible it is that Britain is seen as the pariah state in the eyes of progressive liberals, says Richard North’s son here.

You don’t have to like Nigel Farage – and I don’t – to be scandalised by the idealogically-based treatment of him by a bank which accepts business from assorted money-launderers, drug barons and Russian oligarchs. And probably even from Boris Johhnson. Fascinating to see how the bank has backtracked since its appalling internal docs* were publicised. Will the abject aplogy of Nat West’s CEO be enough or will we see her head roll down the street?

* Childish stuff, which read as if written by gullible schoolchildren with a Marxist teacher.

The EU

A Macron veto has raised some hackles. See here and, even more vitriolically, here. Witness: The whole sorry saga unveils that far from being the open, internationalist organisation it claims to be, the EU is an increasingly closed and insular clique, interested mainly in protecting the privileges of its governing elite as it presides over the managed decline of the Continent. Strong stuff.

Russia

A couple of questions arise around recent economic and social developments:-

• Is the country ever more a kleptocracy/thievocracy?
• Is Putin ‘more holy than godly’, as the phrase has it? This article contains some interesting stats, including a surprising one on abortions.

And the overarching questions . . . Are these developments making Russia stronger or weaker? And does Putin really care so long as his personal position and wealth are secure? Finally . . . Can these ever be?

(A)GW/Energy/Net Zero

A few years ago, scinece-writer Matt Ridley wrote a fascinating book – The Rational Optimist – which questioned the prevailing pessimism around global developments and gave a rational explanation for why we can – and will – overcome challenges such as climate change and the population boom. Here, he takes issue with the BBC’s take on recent weather patterns. Yes, he says, heatwaves are getting more intense thanks to global warming, but the alarmism is shameless. He has a point. In making it, he cites the challenging statistic that: Globally, roughly 10 times as many people die of cold as die of heat. Something, he says, is true even of countries like India and Italy. So, warming has meant fewer people dying.

Covid

English

• Gay: Reader James has kindly sent me this old Punch cartoon, which suggests the word once has a slang meaning I didn’t know of:-

• So, why do we say kangaroo court?

Phubbing: From ‘snubbing’. The practice of ignoring or snubbing your partner in favour of your smartphone. . . Of scrolling endlessly through Instagram streams of people you don’t know, inhaling TikTok content designed for someone a third your age, studying YouTube masterclasses on the correct way to fold fitted sheets, and in doing so ignoring all gentle inquiries re the quality of your day and what you should have for dinner. O tempora, o mores.

Did you know?

Google Maps isn’t totally reliable in urban settings. And it failed me again in Pv city last night, when – only 50m from my destination right ahead of me – it started to send me, literally, around the houses. Fortunately, I knew enough about the barrio to ignore it.

Finally . . .

Yesterday, I bought a remarkably cheap bottle of Californian Chardonnay in a new Aldi supermarket. When trying to extract the cork, I was taken aback to realise, that it had a screw top. For, I’d predicted we wouldn’t see this in Iberia for at least another 20 years. But opening the bottle wasn’t as easy as I’d expected. Firstly because it has a metal wrapper around the cap which was tough to remove and, secondly, because I then couldn’t turn the cap and had to resort to doing this with a monkey-wrench! Corks can be a lot easier . . .

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 – updated a bit in early July 2023.