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

Very good news . . . Spain maintains its Good Samaritan status, as regards organ donations.

Excellent news . . . Madrid is to get a huge Chinatown of its own, possibly to feed the numerous Chinese students not working very hard – if at all – in the many colleges of that city to get the points which will improve their ranking back home, under the Social Credit System.

The UK

Says this columnist: In many respects, and compared to other countries, Britain has succeeded in managing its newly multiracial identity. But, in other obvious and very visible ways, it is failing. There is widespread self-segregation along ethnic and religious lines in British towns and cities. In many schools, segregation is more pronounced than in the communities they serve. This reminded me of the case of Ray Honeyford, a headmaster who was sacked 39 years ago for his views on multiculturalism and its probable impact on education and society. Verily, has this pot been a long time brewing. But things are even worse in France, I believe. Where multiculturism was rejected in favour of assimilation. Which has also been a failure, at least in the banlieues of Paris.

No one tips in pubs anymore, someone has claimed. People would say that they didn’t tip in pubs, but they did. You’d pay in cash and tell the bartender to keep the change, or ‘buy a pint’ for the staff behind the bar. True. When I worked as a barman, aged 17, the conventional phrase was ‘Have one for yourself’, whereupon a small fixed amount was added to the bill and taken from the till. But nowhere near the cost of a drink, in fact.

Europe

Which European ‘tribe‘ do you belong to?

China

A massive demographic time bomb is said to be ticking there.

AI

Google has publishers ‘between a rock and a hard place’ over AI, it says here. Businesses fear that blocking Google’s artificial intelligence search “crawlers” would mean they lose out on valuable internet traffic. While most publishers, such as media organisations, have blocked OpenAI’s web crawler, a bot that sucks in their content to feed ChatGPT with information, they fear that barring Google’s equivalent, which supplies its Bard chatbot, would disadvantage them in the long term when it comes to making their information findable and accessible on traditional Google.

I hope that makes sense to at least one reader.

(A)GW/Energy/Net Zero

Technical and economic illiteracy around the production of steel result in a cruel hoax, says Richard North here. Business, it seems is increasingly in the hands of ignorant politicians and bureaucrats. I blame it on Brexit. And, of course, Net Zero fanaticism.

The Way of the World

Does anyone believe this sort of guff that spews out of every organisation accused of malfeasance these days?: Merseyside Police is committed to ensuring that everyone meets the high expectations of the public and when they don’t we will take robust action. Our officers are the public face of Merseyside Police and it is vital that our communities feel confident that we will hold officers and staff to account when required. Merseyside Police rightly takes a zero-tolerance approach to anyone who commits assault or causes criminal damage. The unacceptable action of individuals will not be allowed to damage the good name built up by the vast majority of our officers and staff who do an exemplary job and work day in, day out to ensure that all of our communities are protected.

Finally . . .

Surely it’s not only foreigners who are confused by today’s slang . . . .

• NPC: Boring
• Rizz: Charisma
• No cap: Telling the truth
• Beef: Argument
• Pop-off: To go crazy
• Dead:Boring
• Salty: Upset
• Safe: Good
• Drip: Fashionable clothes
• Peng: Something good
• Bruv: A close friend
• Bare:Very, a lot
• Fam: Friend
• Flex: To show off
• Shook: Scared
• Gassed: Excited
• Wet:: Uncool, boring
• Bait: Obvious or well known

The Usual Links . . .

You can get my posts by email as soon as they’re published. With the added bonus that they’ll contain the typos I’ll discover later. I believe there’s a box for this at the bottom of each post. I guess it’s logical that this doesn’t appear on the version given to me . . .

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.

For those thinking of moving to Spain:- This is an extremely comprehensive and accurate guide to the challenge, written by a Brit who lives in both the North and the South and who’s very involved in helping Camino walkers.