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’
Apologies to early readers and email subscribers for all the typos yesterday. Not sure how thev evaded both me and WordPress.
Links are again ‘ugly’ today and will be until my laptop is fixed. Please note that those with ‘archive’ in the URL might or might not work for you. They do on my daughter’s Mac but not on my Android phone. Obviously I can’t say about PCs . .
Cosas de España
Lenox Napier writes on beggars he knows here . .
https://spanishshilling.blogspot.com/2024/04/if-wishes-were-horses-beggars-would-ride.html?m=1
A Spanish Minister says the UK stories re 191 quid a day are a hoax. I think he means false news. The Spanish word bulo does for both, I think.
Spanish men suffer baldness more than most others, it’s reported. A surprise to me, I confess
A booming Galician industry suffers a setback.
Nice to see the AVE high-speed train arriving in more northern cities. We’ll surely have it all the way through to La Coruña, Santiago de Compostela, Pontevedra and Vigo one of these decades.
Bad – but not very surprising – news . . Spain suffers one of the highest rates of brain waste in Europe, failing to make the most out of its talented migrant workforce. The country’s process for “homologación” (degree recognition) has failed thousands of highly qualified migrants, who often wait years for the process to be completed and meanwhile work in menial jobs or do not work at all. In Spain, one in every two people of a migrant background are overqualified for their jobs. For one of Spain’s major trade unions, UGT, the results are concerning, “Spanish employers say they lack workers, but here we have so many people who can’t exercise their profession.” The issue of delays in degree recognition is just one of several factors hurting qualified migrants in Spain. Whilst 2 out of 33 college educated migrant workers in Spain haven’t been able to get recognition are overqualified for their jobs, amongst those who do get the recognition, half still remain in jobs that don’t match their qualifications. Spain has one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe and lacks a diversified economy, meaning there are not enough jobs for a highly educated workforce and many people of a migrant background are funnelled towards tourism, or agriculture jobs. Still, systemic racism plays a key role. For Ahmed Khalifa, president of the Moroccan Association for the Integration of Immigrants, the findings are unsurprising, “There is a glass ceiling that you cannot overcome, which prevents real equality in access to all job opportunities.”
From her small Galician village, María reminisces about somevplace larger . .
https://spanishviews.wordpress.com/2024/04/21/in-normal-times-31-you-cant-go-home-again
Iran
Nice quote, from a ‘noted political commentator’ there: ‘After 45 years, there is only one thing that modern Iran has proven itself to be truly expert in: making enemies.’ Both at home and abroad, it seems. The days of the regime are numbered, the only question is hiw much damage it can do in the interim.
Quote of the Day
A follow up to yesterday’s comment on politicians . . . ‘Politics is for the weird and the wealthy.’ This is from Tony Blair, and he should know. Some believe things were better when politics was for intelligent, wealthy and uncorruptible aristocrats . . .
The Way of the World
A not-so-philosphical question . . . Can we afford ‘mindless compassion’?
Finally . . .
Welcome to new subscriber Juan, but as his web page is for a full service Graphic Communications and Retail Program Provider, I suspect he won’t be reading this.
If you’re thinking of moving to Spain, go to one of my recent posts to see a link to an excellent guide on this.
Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain 
I am!
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…this is Juan btw. ¡Saludos!
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