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 . .

In the latest edition of Business Over Tapas Lenox Napier asks: So, who writes and who believes fake news (‘bulos’) And answers: According to a major study by Meta, a whopping 97% of invented or manipulated stories, when shared, come from right-wing sympathisers.
One prolific example is El Debate, a site which, says Lenox, continues to provide false information to its gullible readers.

Fernando Alonso makes a strange claim. But it might be true, I guess.

A couple of guides from Eye on Spain:-

• How to make churros, if you really want to.
• How to prepare for a property-viewing trip to Spain

Possibly even more useful: How to get a clave PIN.

Portugal

Great beaches near Peniche, once a quaint little village.

The UK

For those interested, some ideas on how to stop the national rot. As of now: Britain is snookered by its own neurosis, held back by cowardice and corruption, politicians preferring gimmicks and culture war bullshit to the rational change we need. Good stuff. TB brutally H, I’m very glad I don’t live there.

On the other hand . . . The UK has overtaken China to become the world’s number-two destination by value after the US for greenfield foreign direct investment. And its service industries’ exports are booming as never before. These realities do not chime with the idea of a country in terminal decline.

Less importantly . . . As an avid listener to several podcasts, I was intrigued to read that: The podcast world is ruled by men: political pundits, nerdy historians[my favourite], knackered dads and classic mansplainers. Now, though, sitting atop the charts is Natalie Cassidy.  While other podcasters chew over the meaty subjects of the day, she unpicks the quotidian issues that truly matter: drivers in the middle lane who cut into the queueing traffic at the last minute to get off the motorway; accidentally putting white tissues into a black wash; how to dress in the British sunshine; the hell of packing; and the relentlessness of parenthood. TBH, I’d like to hear the one about socks going missing in the wash. But, on reflection, it’s enough to know more than a million Brits share my wonderment about this.

France

Lest we forget. . .  1217 was the year English underdogs saw off the French. The French prince ‘Louis the Lion’ rocked up in England to take the crown — but was beaten back by a motley crew of veterans, outlaws and women.

Germany

Why is the far right on the rise in Germany — all over again?

Russia

How Putin’s gas empire crumbled. Good reading.

The Way of the World

A question of the moment – Did Britain Get Rich From Slavery?. And here’s one answer. There are others, possibly reflecting political standpoints more than objective truth.

Quote of the Day

If you grew up in Oxford, as I did, you will know what academia can do to the mind. It can turn even quite sharp, intelligent people into wailing, blabbering, urine-stained perpetual children, insulated from life’s difficulties by huge funding, grants, stipends. Unsurprisingly, over many years, this has changed the face of education. Rare now are the Nobel prizewinners, the geniuses, the subtle, great minds. More typically, academia attracts freeloaders, pisstakers, lightweights and middle-class frauds, all coasting through life on an arrogant wave of private (often foreign) money, endowments, rich campuses and grade inflation. It’s a racket: just as long as you can half-fill out some grant form, you can do whatever you want.
Take this incredible PhD subject: “My dissertation is on fantasies of limitless energy in the Romantic transatlantic imagination from 1760 to 1860. My goal is to write a prehistory of metabolic rift.

What can I say? Only that the grade inflation in my old London university college is astonishing. And it’s very far from being the worst. Anyway, you can find the identity of the PhD student here. You might not be surprised.

Net Zero

Someone thinks the electric car crash will rival the dotcom bubble. Could be right, I guess. I certainly can’t justify one for myself. Except on saving the planet grounds, of course.

Did You know

Oscar Wilde regarded consistency as the last refuge of the unimaginative. And Emerson said: A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen, philosophers and divines.

Who am I to disagree?

Finally . . .

A headline: High-flyers leave investment bank Stifel after sex with cleaner.

More relevant to my life, I caught the first moth of the year today. Damn. My lambswool pullovers are stored – unprotected – on the floor of the bedroom I currently share with 2 young grandsons . .

BTW . . . The spellcheck here doesn’t recognise ‘moth’. Keeps trying to change it to ‘month’. Progress . .

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.