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 . .

The FT asks: Gut or guile? Pedro Sánchez’s resignation threat leaves Spain on edge.

And The Times asks the obvious question: Is it true love or true politics? Sánchez keeps Spain guessing. The prime minister’s threat to quit over corruption allegations levelled at his wife has the nation on tenterhooks, writes Isambard Wilkinson. Possibly not his fault that enamorado is given as enamarado . . .

The allegations against Gómez were made by a group called Manos Limpias, or “Clean Hands.” See the end of this post for info on these scurrilous folk.

News re seemingly necessary measures to reduce road deaths. More fines, I guess.

More here on next year’s(?) EU entry fee for non-EU citizens.

For those with a Spanish property . . . .The legalities of home surveillance

The UK

The Scottish Nationalist Party is finished, says this Scotsman. But, even if it isn’t, the Scottish Green Party certainly seems to me. But can Scottish politics be even more ‘brutal’ than the Spanish variety . . .

I guessed yesterday that reversing devolution would be impossible. Maybe not.

Current Scottish events would normally be comforting news for a Spanish PM, but maybe not right now.

The USA

How to explain the continuing popularity of a man like Donald Trump . . . It is a puzzling phenomenon. Journalists and academics have long pondered how this particular specimen of American manhood — the meticulously coiffed disco-dancing nepo baby who skipped military service in Vietnam — could ever have become a model adult, much less a modern incarnation of Hercules. And the key to his particular brand of potency, it turns out, has little to do with any of the products collectively known among e-commerce retailers as “alpha-male bromeopathy”. Trump’s appeal is more ancient and instinctive than spray-tanning and chest-waxing; he stands at the end of a long-neglected, long-ridiculed and long-dismissed archetypal lineage, a genealogy of mythic manhood fully articulated a little more than three decades ago in a best-selling book written by the sage of American manliness, Robert Bly.

Quotes of the Day

At present, Spanish politics appears less like a chivalrous tale of the type that besotted Don Quixote than a Latin American telenovela or soap opera. As if they’re normally less than febrile!

Devolution was meant to bring power closer to the people, resulting in more effective decision-making. Instead, all it seems to have achieved is the propelling to power of complete non-entities who think their role is to beg for money from London – only to spend it on insane policies and their own incompetent governance. I wonder if Madrid ever thinks this about some – or even all – of Spain’s 17 Autonomous Communities.

Spanish

Culebrón: ‘Big snake’; Saga; Soap opera. And Un hombre muy astuto y solapado. And Herpes zóster.
Solapado: Take your pick: Malicioso, reservado, taimado, ladino, cauteloso, marrajo, marrullero, astuto, sutil, sagaz, hipócrita, artero, agazapado. Dicho de una persona que por costumbre oculta maliciosa y cautelosamente sus pensamientos.

Did You Know?

Everyone knows Boab was the last Muslim ruler of Granada, ousted by F&I in the eventful year of 1492. And that he was the Moor in the painting of The Moor’s Last Sigh. And that his mother castigated him for weeping like a woman after not defending the city like a man, And that he was exiled by F&I to North Africa. Trouble is – according to the author of a new book – The Faiths of Spain – only the first of these ‘facts’ is true. He was indeed the last Muslim ruler of Granada but never sighed over its loss, his mum never bollocked him, and he wasn’t exiled to the Barbary Coast but was given a lovely finca south of Granada, in the Alpujarras. So, now we know, Though I half wish we didn’t

Finally . . .

I confess that the state of the British MSM/’legacy media’ such that I could – over a week or two – produce a long list of page 1 headlines which cause me to ask Who gives a flying fuck? Usually to do with celebrities or folk I’ve never heard of. Others might be more interested, of course. Presumably readers who are too old to get their ‘news’ from social media.

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.

If you’re thinking of moving to Spain, go to one of my early April posts to see a link to an excellent guide on this.

MANOS LIMPIAS

Manos Limpias takes advantage of a peculiarity of Spanish law called the “popular prosecution” that allows individuals or entities to take part in certain criminal cases even when they haven’t been directly harmed by the accused.

Manos Limpias describes itself as a union, but its main activity is as a platform pursuing legal cases. Many have been linked to right-wing causes targeting leftist politicians, and most of them never prosper. But it did play a role in a major legal case that ended in the conviction of the son-in-law of Spain’s former King Juan Carlos and led to his daughter Princess Cristina being dragged into court before she was absolved.

Manos Limpias’ general secretary, Miguel Bernad, belonged to a far-right party in the 1980s and early 90s. Last month, Bernad won an appeal in Spain’s Supreme Court after a lower court had found him guilty for allegedly being part of an extortion ring.

On Thursday, Manos Limpias issued a statement to Spanish state news agency EFE saying that its allegations against Gómez were entirely based on media reports. It said: “If they are not true, it would be up to those who published them to admit to their falsehood, but if they are true, then we believe that the legal case should continue forward.”