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

That old macro v micro gap that I bang on about . . Macroeconomic data continue to surprise on the upside, but there is no trace of euphoria among the population. National GDP growth and record employment are overshadowed by the inflationary crisis, job insecurity and rising tax burdens. Household finances are not keeping pace with GDP and what is happening is that the number of families struggling to make ends meet has increased. The last article from The Corner I cited stressed that GDP per capita was not keeping up with other EU members, despite Spain’s superior topline performance. Well, somebody must be getting richer . .

A damning report names the worst beaches across Spain for sewage, environmental destruction and plastic waste. A total of 48 black-flag beaches have been unveiled. And the culpability lies not with corruption or greed but with ‘touristification’. Which doesn’t rule out corruption and greed, of course. Sorry to see 8 in Galicia. Or Galiza, to give it its galego name.

Get ready for the mutant cockroaches. At least if you live in the South, or are visiting to get roasted.

Germany

Oh, to be in Berlin, with the Euros about to start. Several smiles here.

Time to shed British misconceptions, says this travel writer.

The UK

Here’s Richard North this morning on the July 4 general election . . .The Labour party manifesto has managed to piss off a considerable range of potential voters, not least the Muslim Vote organisation, which condemned the offer to minority communities and Muslims as “risible”. Trouble ahead, then. Religiously driven.

RN’s final comment . . . The “pissed off” group may be the deciding factor in this election where the strength of feeling against all the established parties seems to be growing by the day. In all my years, I’ve never known anything like it.

France

So, not just the Conservative party in the UK . . . Macron’s party is facing a wipeout in his snap parliamentary elections after France’s left-wing parties struck a unity pact, says the FT here.

The USA

Don’t fall for the idea that Hunter Biden’s felony conviction proves there’s no bias in the American judicial system. Rationale here.

I get the impression that the polls are now not going the way of the Orange Clown.

Ukraine v Russia

After relentlessly shelling the city of Mariupol, Russia is reported to be deliberately starving the remaining residents.. So, doubtless we’ll see anti-Russia demonstrations on UK streets quite soon. Unless they’re not Slavs but secret Arabs. In which case, no one will care enough to protest about their victims.

The Way of the World

We live in a world built on shifting sands. We live in terrifying times.

I’ve read a couple of reviews which say this is too painful to watch. I found it almost too painful to get to the end of the article and to that quote.

Quote of the Day

A right-wing view . . . As Europe sees an astonishing Right-ward swing, voting against deluded eco-loons and culture-obliterating, open-border globalists, the UK is about to usher in the opposite on a grand scale. Always marching to the beat of different drum. Either in the van or in the rear.

Net Zero

Richard North on the UK scene . . . If you have a political party which, on the one hand, tells you it is going to set up a new organisation, the purpose of which is “to cut bills for good” while, at the same time is proposing to create “650,000 new high-quality jobs” as part of its ‘Green Prosperity Plan’, you know you’ve got a problem. Yet this is precisely what’s on offer from the Labour Party in pursuit of its grandiose, but ultimately utterly mad, ambition to “make Britain a clean energy superpower” in order to reach the mythical but completely unattainable net-zero targets by 2030.

I seem to recall that the UK contributes just 0.1% of the world’s carbon dioxide. Maybe as much as ‘less than 1%’. 10 times more, but still utterly insignificant.

I just checked . . . The UK contributes around 1% of global carbon dioxide emissions annually. . . But it has to be punished because it led the way to industrialisation. Certainly in the van with that development. Shamefully. We should have stayed in the 18th century, living with – and dependent on – those few of our many kids who survived childhood.

Finally . . .

We live in a world . . . . Tesla shareholders have approved a $45bn pay deal for its CEO, Elon Musk – the largest-ever compensation package granted to an executive at a US-listed company. Perhaps the billions he already had have been slipping through his fingers. Or sticking to the palms of his accountants.

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.