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

There’s to be a new consumer protection law. It mainly only offers protection for customers of ‘basic utilities and services’ since, unfortunately, the vast majority of companies in Spain providing anything other than these are exempt. Those covered are: Water, electricity, gas or any other form of household energy; transport services including buses, coaches, trains, airlines, ferries, taxis, and similar; postal services, including couriers; telecommunications including internet and electronic communication services; audio-visual services involving one-off or subscription payments, such as television or streaming services; and financial services including banking and insurance. It might work. I guess More here.

Meanwhile. cigarette smokers are to be impoverished and drummed out of the filthy habit. Can’t say I mind about that. The VdG today: The Ministry of Health has its anti-tobacco plan ready: raise the prices of packs and reduce the places where cigarettes are allowed. The first measure depends on what the Treasury says, since the state collects about €7bn a year from smokers. As for the prohibited areas, it seems that shots are being aimed at canopies and terraces. For now, we won’t see measures like those of Brooklyn, where tobacco sales are not allowed to those born on or after January 1, 2000.

Some rail travellers are going to be very happy. But probably not those going between Madrid and Galicia, who will continue to be fleeced by Renfe.

Portugal

Post the general election the Guardian wonders how voters there can be stupid as others throughout Europe.

Ireland

The overwhelming defeat of the government’ proposals shows how out of touch the political establishment is. Not only there, some would say.

(A)GW/Energy/Net Zero

A gulf now lies between the wishful thinking of the political class and economic reality, yet still the discourse is dominated by doomsday language and a worrying desire to silence dissent. . . It is time politicians ended the delusion that the current, top-down, centrally-planned approach to decarbonisation is the right one, and can be delivered at low cost. Rationale here.

Quotes of the Day

• No religion has a ‘right not to be offended’.
• JK Rowling’s post commemorating Mother’s Day: Happy Birthing Parent Day to all whose large gametes were fertilised resulting in small humans whose sex was assigned by doctors making mostly lucky guesses.
• JKR’s response to the resulting ‘tsunami of hostility’ from trans folk: Devastated and bewildered that my embrace of inclusive language has angered its most enthusiastic devotees, so let’s just say: Happy Mother’s Day to all females who’ve raised children.

The Way of the World

See here for ‘the task of pragmatic liberalism’ . . . The left’s great service to modern politics was to lead the battle for race equality; now its great disservice is to find racism under every stone.

I’m guessing that, like me, you’re bewildered by the variety in the pop-ups that demand you choose between 2 or 3 options before reading on. Why can I sometimes Reject All and sometimes not? What law is being implemented? Or ignored.? Do US journals obey/ignore laws different for UK and EU journals? . . . This is an article which is – at least initially – on this theme. It might provide some insights. On the other hand . . .

English

Eshitiffication: This is when a company – Amazon, Deliveroo or Uber, for example – provides a new e-service that is initially great for consumers but gradually shifts to (ab)using a dominant position in order to shaft customers, suppliers and employees in pursuit of profit and shareholder returns. Local cooperatives can be one solution to this, it’s said.

Did you know? . . .

For every person on earth there are 2.5 million ants

Finally . . .

The aphorisms of 18th-century German physicist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg: Indisputably, masculine beauty has not yet been portrayed enough by the hands which alone could do so — feminine hands.

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. And this is something on the so-called Beckham Rule, which is beneficial – tax-wise – for folk who want to work here.