Awake, for morning in the bowl of night has flung the stone that puts
the stars to flight.
And, lo, the hunter of the east 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

Mark Stücklin tells us here of the consequences of Spain’s ‘punishing’ property taxes.

Why the Spanish national anthem is wordless – not for the lack of trying.

I’ve learned from Michael Reid’s Spain that Cataluña’s TV3 channel takes a rather nationalistic approach to the imminent weather. . . . Their chart is only of the països catalans and shows what this will be in Perpignan in France but not in Zaragoza or Madrid.

I also also learned today – from this article – that the (very active) Secretary of Labour is a lawyer from Galicia. As the article says, she’s from the far-left of the government coalition spectrum, but what isn’t mentioned is that she’s a long-time member of the Communist Party and has, in the past, praised the regimes of Fidel Castro in Cuba and Hugo Chávez in Venezuela. As you’d expect, she’s very active in the area of workers’ rights, which she has certainly improved. But I can’t say how effective she’s been in addressing the oft-mentioned ‘structural problems’ of Spain’s labour market.

The UK

I’m no fan of the show but I smiled when I saw the headline: Whippet crowned best in show at Crufts. For, I once owned one and it was great fun it was to watch him taking the piss out of other dogs. And, if I were to have another dog to replace my late border collie, I’d get another whippet. Perhaps when I can no longer go on road trips but can still walk a bit.

France

A politician there has gone globally viral for a speech on Trump described here.

The USA: Trump’s Latest Outrages

Just in case you haven’t heard them . . . There might well have been more this afternoon.

• Ahead of the start of peace talks in Saudi Arabia, Trump has suggested Ukraine might cease to exist as a sovereign state. The impression gained was that he couldn’t really care less about that. Other than it risking his Nobel Peace Prize, I guess.
• I’m the King: Yesterday, Trump shared a photo on social media showing half his face and half of Elvis Presley’s. Later adding: “For so many years people have been saying that Elvis and I look alike. Now this pic has been going all over the place. What do you think?”
• The Ukrainians have taken our money like candy from a baby

A propos . . . I’ve started to listen to a podcast from 2 US clinical psychologists, entitled Shrinking Trump. Their latest episode analyses the White House meeting with Zelensky, and endorses my own view that Vance was worse than Trump. Indeed, they forecast that he will oust (a mentally deficient) Trump in 18 months time, using Article 25 of the Constitution. The observations they make on Trump’s personality and behaviour are well worth listening to (and, for me, reminiscent of a woman – La Tóxica – I once lived with, albeit not for very long). They fear that Trump might well ignore judicial opposition, in which case effective responses are not immediately obvious. Also worth listening to is their 7 February podcast on Musk’s ‘unhinged hypomania’. They also have a YouTube channel.

The USA: Observations and Quotes

The deterioration of US democracy . . . The founding fathers baked reason, truth and free speech into the US. That’s all gone now. . . . Multilateral organisations like the EU and the UN, expressing the same Enlightenment values as the US constitution, are in Trump’s crosshairs. The unashamed project is to reshape the world economic and political order so it serves only the interests of the US – as if it did not already.  . . Trumpites come from the mobster, cowboy, might-is-right, make-a-deal-on-my-terms strain of US culture and society. They are the masters now, and will gladly bend the US electoral system to stay that way.

Some idiot in Congress has proposed that the 100 dollar bill displays Trump’s face. The knee bending/arse licking are beyond embarrassment and parody. I feel the Congress should be renamed The Sycophancy.

Which reminds me . . . This foto shows Howard Lutnick, who is the US Commerce Secretary . .

He is quite possibly Trump’s loudest sycophantic parrot, especially on tariffs. Against all the emerging evidence, he says that Americans should not be bracing for a recession, as there isn’t going to be one. A funnier comedian than Zelensky, then.

María tells us here how Trump’s attitude to art is a fit with that of previous autocrats. They know what they like. And what you should like. Or at least are allowed to see.

We live in an era when very clever people – mostly men, and men who’ve played Civilisation II a lot – think they can answer every problem with a wordy substack.  But while creative destruction might be useful in business, it cannot be applied to a state, upon which millions depend for safety and security.

Spanish

• Macizo: Bed/base: Massif: Mass
• Hilera: Row, line
• Alhaja: Jewellery, presumably of Arabic origin.
• Chuchito: 1. Plato típico guatemalteco: Es una especie de tamal pequeño, elaborado con masa de maíz, generalmente relleno de carne de pollo o cerdo, y mezclado con una salsa de tomate.. Este platillo tradicional se cocina al vapor y suele ir acompañado de una salsa de tomate y queso duro espolvoreado. 2. En algunos contextos, especialmente en Colombia, “Chuchito” es una forma informal y cariñosa de referirse a Jesús o Cristo.

English

I don’t usually have any problems with American English but I do wish they’d say ‘I couldn’t care less’, rather than the totally illogical ‘I could care less’. I wonder how the change happened.

You Have to Laugh

Bill Maher’s new patriotic posters . . . and SNL’s Weekend Update. [Nice to see an American called Colin . . .]

Finally . . .

I was reading about some political spat when this ad came up on my feed: Free-spirited, flowy, and effortlessly stunning, this Bohemian V-neck strappy dress is the perfect blend of elegance and wanderlust. Putting aside the totally inappropriate targeting*, the question arises of how on earth any garment can express wanderlust.

* Unless Google has me down as trans, or as a cross-dresser or a drag artist.

My thanks to those readers who take the trouble to Like my posts.

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. If you do this but don’t read the posts, I will delete your subscription. So perhaps don’t bother if you have other reasons for subscribing . . .
• 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. But see here on this. And this article ‘debunks claims re wealth and residency taxes’. Probably only relevant if you’re a HNWI. In which case, you’ll surely know what that stands for.
• Getting a mortgage in Spain: Some advice on this challenge.