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

I wrote recently that high-level corruption was the bane of Spain. There are so many cases that the public is conditioned to believing almost any allegation against senior politicians. Or, now, their partners. This is a Times article on claims currently circulating about the partner of the Presidenta of Madrid and the wife of the PM. More expansive, more amusing and probably more accurate are these comments lifted from Lenox Napier’s latest Business Over Tapas:-

• The future hope of the Partido Popular is the attractive Madrid regional President. Isabel Díaz Ayuso. She is popular and charismatic and the lucid spokesperson for the modern conservatives: the ‘pijos’ as they are sometimes known in Spain. Last summer, Ayuso and her boyfriend moved into a luxury one million euro apartment and, allegedly, into the upstairs roof apartment, belonging to a company controlled by the boyfriend’s lawyer. Said boyfriend is Alberto González Amador, who earned €2m in commissions during the pandemic and has since attracted the attention of Tax Office for neglecting to pay his taxes – claimed to stand at some €350,000. In fact, he had recognised the debt and had offered to pay the outstanding amount ‘plus any fines’. The original story of the boyfriend’s misdoings and his protection by Ayuso first appeared in elDiario.es a week or two ago. Since then, other news-sources have either fanned the flames, or done their best to put them out – depending on their political stance and the amount of money pledged to them in institutional advertising over the past few months. An example of is Eduardo Inda, the director of OKDiario, who wrote: ‘What they have done with Ayuso and her boyfriend shows that the Government is a mafia and Sánchez its boss’. And Ayuso’s Chief of Staff, quickly responded to the scandal by opening a WhatsApp conversation with a journalist at elDiario.es and threatening to both sue and close them down:-

“We are going to crush you. You’re going to have to close. Idiots. Fuck you!”

“Is that a threat?” the journalist asked.

“It’s a fact,” was the response.

• El Huff Post has it that: ‘Nervousness is growing in the PP due to the controversy over Ayuso’s boyfriend: “It is not being managed well”. Senior politicians in the party (known as Los Barones) recognize that the Chief of Staff’s public and private statements are unacceptable: “The normal thing would be for him to resign”.’
• The Partido Popular had attempted to involve Pedro Sánchez’ wife in some imbroglio to do with Air Europe and reported her to the Office of Conflict of Interests, but its ruling came out as negative.
• Several right-wing newspapers are claiming that ‘masked reporters’ from elDiario.es tried to break into Ayuso’s apartment, and that El País reporters were bothering neighbours in her apartment block. But most media outlets recognised the stories as fake-news, put out to muddy the waters. Indeed, on Wednesday afternoon, the Chief of Staff admitted he’d made the whole thing up.

Coming down from these heights – or up from these depths, if you prefer . . . UK tourists are being warned by the tabloid press of the risk of death from an imminent heat wave affecting areas like Seville, Malaga, and Murcia. Might be valid.

From the VdG today: The myths about income tax: “If I’m a minor I don’t have to pay taxes.” “If I pay something, the Tax Office won’t investigate me.” “If I’m unemployed, income tax doesn’t affect me.” These are some of the myths, and there are many, about the income tax return, and they are as false as the fact that the earth is flat. There are numerous erroneous beliefs re personal income tax that cause taxpayers quite a bit of discomfort when they find themselves in front of the Tax Office.

In one of those sponsored travel articles which don’t really accord with reality, this hotel in Finisterra was included as one of the 25 ‘coolest coastal hotels in Spain’:

I have to confess that, on my 2 or 3 trips to the lighthouse there (taking visitors), I’ve never noticed it. . .

Quote of the Day

The tide is turning on one of the modern age’s great frustrations – self-service checkouts. Not before time, supermarkets are getting rid these. Good riddance, I say. It isn’t so much the rise in shoplifting that bothers me as constantly being made to feel like a shoplifter, even when I am trying to pay. I’ve used these self-service checkouts hundreds of times now but I can probably count on one hand the number of occasions I’ve succeeded in getting through without having to call an assistant. The “unexpected item in a the bagging area” is quite often, well, a bag.

Sadly, this doesn’t seem to be happening in our local Sainsburys. Where I’ve learned that you need to tap several times on Go to Pay, before your bill will be shown and your bankcard accepted. And that the hovering staff member has ‘no idea’ why this is so.

The Way of the World

Richard North makes the point this morning that the internet and social media have destroyed the UK’s serious press, leading to ubiquitous trivia – ‘clickbait’ – in all of them. Which is why last year I – rather belatedly – cancelled all the subscriptions I had to British (once)’heavy’ newspapers.

Suzanne Moore is a left-of-centre columnist who left the Guardian last year because of its editorial line on the clash of transgender and women’s rights. Here she asserts – inter alia – that: The idea that “gender-affirming care” is lifesaving is a myth that has been propagated by activists. 

Social Media

I believe I answered this yesterday . . . The single most important question of our age – Has social media driven millions of people stark staring bonkers? Or were these people always stark staring bonkers but we just didn’t realise it until they were given social media?

It’s the latter, I suggested – as someone who’s never really understood how people can be as stupid as they seem to be. That said, I advised both my daughters when they were learning to drive: Always be aware that the most stupid kid in your primary school class is now driving a car on the same road as you.

Spanish

Bulo: Fake news

English

The expression ‘I couldn’t care less’ is British English. In American English, it’s ‘I could care less’. The beauty of AI is that a search will give you an explanation like this in less than a second, and without sponsored ads or the need to trawl through several other citations: The British expression became the American phrase through a linguistic evolution that occurred in the late 1940s. This led to a shift in meaning, whereby the phrase “could care less” is often used colloquially to express indifference, despite its illogical structure compared to the original expression. I rest my case. Though not as regards AI searches, as they’re not always accurate. And can, as we know, be very ‘woke’.

Cyberflashing: Commonly called “Sending a dick pic” a new crime in the UK, for which the first offender has just been jailed. Where he probably wouldn’t be advised to send one to fellow inmates.

Did you know? . . .

The expression ‘It’s all Greek to me’ in Greek is ‘It’s all Chinese to me’. And in Czech it’s ‘This is a Spanish village to me’.

Finally . . .

One of those headlines . . I didn’t report a stolen card because thief spent less than my wife, says former police chief.

Thanks to this article, I’ve renewed my relationship with the films of the founders of the Archers company. And last night I enjoyed their The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. Even on YouTube the colour – by Technicolor in 1942 – is magnificent. You cans see their filmography here. Where it’s noteworthy that their most controversial film – Peeping Tom – isn’t cited in the text. Elsewhere I read that: This psychological horror-thriller film caused shock and disgust upon its release due to its portrayal of voyeurism and violence. Powell’s decision to cast his own son in a key role added controversy to the film. Despite the initial harsh criticism and negative reception, “Peeping Tom” has undergone a critical reappraisal over the years and is now considered a masterpiece and one of the best horror films of all time. The film explores themes of voyeurism, the cinema spectator’s identification with the protagonist, and challenges cinematic conventions, making it a significant work in British cinema history

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