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 Galicia/España

A provincial Spanish town is challenging cities by showing 120 Renaissance works. A major art exhibition in Alba de Tormes aims to break cultural stranglehold of Madrid and Barcelona

Talking of culture . . . Bullfighting is said by The Economist here to be under attack.

Eye on Spain gives us the best driving roads in Spain here.

And the estimable Max gives us here the Spanish names of all the fish you can find in the country. Up in Galicia, we have the problem of names in Gallego, which might differ from village to village.

You might be able to set a house purchase against your tax due by the end of this month. Details here.

The UK

The British electorate appears to be heading in the opposite direction from most of Europe. The headline political story from many of the major democracies in the EU like France, Germany and Italy is a dramatic increase in support for parties that are further to the Right than has been acceptable in the mainstream for generations. . . . But here, the population seems to be going decisively the other way, being about to elect a government of the Left with a majority so crushing that it will take a generation for a plausible opposition to reconstruct itself.

Richard North feels we are in uncharted territory. The election, he says here, has become a magical mystery tour where the only looming certainty is that we are likely to end up with a government that nobody actually wants.

Immigration . . . . Prime Ministers from Blair onwards have ushered in cheap labour while vowing to stop it. That’s why trust has gone. More here.

The Way of the World

Elite overproduction refers to when there are more highly educated people than there are jobs available for them. This has been a particular problem for those who left university in the decade after 2008, because many of them got degrees in humanities subjects just when the traditional career paths for humanities graduates —publishing, media, academia — crumbled away, reduced by the financial crash and the internet. And . . .If you’ve wondered why there is so much angry activism around these days, the kind that is more focused on tearing things down than building better things, and why it is largely happening in liberal sectors run by the middle class — literary festivals, say — then look no further than elite overproduction. Social justice activism of the past decade has largely consisted of not actually improving anyone’s lives but chiding and ostracising anyone assumed to be impure in thought or deed.

Gender apartheid . . . An amusing video on the subject. I’m still wondering when I’ll see anti-Iran demonstration on London’s streets.

Quote of the Day

It’s funny, isn’t it, when suddenly the penny drops. When you cut through the patronising, focus-grouped, disingenuous management-speak and see people for who they are.

English

Intersectionality: A sociological framework for understanding how an individual’s multiple, overlapping identities (such as race, gender, class, sexuality, disability status, etc.) intersect and lead to unique experiences of privilege and marginalization. The core idea is that these different identity markers do not exist independently, but rather inform and shape each other in complex ways, creating compounded layers of oppression or advantage. . . . All those people “oppressed” by the patriarchal, colonialist, white-supremacist nation state have common cause.

Did you know?

“Turn your watch upside down in Bombay and you see the time in London.” It appears this is roughly true: Because Indian Standard Time has an offset of UTC+05:30, an analog watch set to Indian time and read upside down will give the time in London — 10:10 becomes 4:40, noon becomes 6:30, and so on. The reverse is also true — a London watch read upside down will give the time in India. Unfortunately the hand positions are only approximate, and the UK observes daylight saving time while India doesn’t. So just now it doesn’t work. Interesting idea, though.

Finally . .

I’ve been in the UK for just under 6 months. Not once in that time have I been asked to prove my identity. Even to folk delivering stuff to the door of my daughter’s house – Amazon, the Post Office and major supermarkets, inter alia. Contrast Spain, where you get nothing without showing your ID card. Mind you, some companies are so unconcerned with risk that they’ll leave stuff on the doorstep, if you don’t come to the door within 10 seconds . . . Different cultures.

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.
• 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. Finally, some advice on getting a mortgage.