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

The PM has unveiled a $15.66bn plan to protect economy from the US tariffs.

There’s been a predictable rise in questionable practices among estate agents/realtors.

More on dogs . . . Poodle puppies available on line seem to cost around around 2,500 euros. But a merle-black French bulldog will set you back 15,000[sic] . . . disreputable folk there.

Cousas de Galicia

It seems that some at least of the puppies being advertised in Galicia have been stolen in Portugal. Or bought cheaply from there.

Fascinating Spain brings us an article on the attractions of the nearby Arousa Island. I guess it’s to be expected that the article doesn’t mention that: The Illa de Arousa is notorious for its connection to drug trafficking due to its strategic location within the Rías Baixas region.

Pontevedra will be hosting 2 more huge triathlon events, this year and next year. I’d better start booking tables now . . .

This morning, I noted this star on the garret of a house in Pv city’s old quarter, on a property on the edge of the old Jewish Quarter and close to the ex-Jewish cemetery and synagogue.

If it is a star of David, I suspect it’s the only visible sign of Judaism in the city. I need to consult this very recent book – Barrio Hebreo – Ciudad de Pontevedra, by Pedro de Lorenzo y Macías,

There was a supplement on the Miño (border) area in one of today’s local paper. It featured Oporto’s airport. Which rather says it all about Galicia’s 3 inferior facilities.

The UK

Trump has unleashed utter havoc on the world, and Britain will not be spared. It is beyond delusional to think the UK can profit from the upending of global trade. The greater damage to the British economy comes from the recessionary shock to Europe, and from the drastic spillovers of global retaliation, not from the direct tariff hit.

The USA

So, which side of the divide are you on?

1. Trump and fans

• Trump: I think it’s going very well. The markets are going to boom. The stock market will boom. The country will boom. My policies will never change.
• Howard Lutnick, the [manic/deranged] Commerce Secretary: Trust Trump. He’s the greatest negotiator in the world. He knows what he’s doing.
• The [out-to-lunch] White House Press Secretary: I think everyone on Wall St should put their trust in President Trump. He has a plan and he is building on the great tariffs-based success of his first administration.

2. Just about everyone else

• Trump’s tariff formula is baffling. It makes no sense to any economist. It’s what you would get if you asked Chat GPT to devise your tariff policy.
• This might be the single stupidest thing any of us will ever see. It is stupid in every way: presentationally, intellectually, politically, methodologically, morally and of course economically. The word stupid doesn’t really suffice for the full level of idiocy we’ve now reached.
• The tariffs are the greatest trade shock in world history.
• Trump’s tariffs are a monstrous and momentous act of folly.
• Trump’s idiotic and flawed tariff calculations have stunned economists. ‘Willing sycophants’ have come up with a simplistic formula that has thrown the global economy into disarray.

Hard to believe you’d find the development credible in a dystopian novel. Not to mention the main characters. And the US voters . . .

The Reaction

• Donald Trump thought markets would beat his victims into submission. Instead they have turned on him, as it becomes clear that the US has vastly overplayed its hand and now faces furious retaliation from an angry world. It is America that risks spiralling into a deep economic crisis.
• What Trump can’t imagine is that anyone he bullies has self-respect and dignity. This is because none of the grovelling sycophants around him has any. He is learning that the rest of the world is not peopled by feckless Yes-men. Surrounded by jellyfish all his life, he believes no one has a spine.

Russia

Only a few countries in the entire world have not had at least a 10% tariff imposed. One, of course, is the USA. Another is Russia. I’ve yet to see an explanation of this but this is an AI generated comment: Russia is excluded due to existing US sanctions that have significantly reduced trade between the two countries. The White House explained that these sanctions already “preclude any meaningful trade” with Russia. This rationale was also applied to other heavily sanctioned nations like Belarus, Cuba, and North Korea.

Spanish

• Visto bueno: Approval
• Cacharro: Pot, especially here in Galicia – one for catching octopuses
• Cachorro: Puppy

American English

The lower 40: I got the Jeep-based definition of this from the Merriam Webster dictionary but I’ve learned that it really means the rag-end of a larger property. Originally, 40 acres.

Did You Know?

The estimable Autodidact Professor has a page citing events on this day in specific years. Here’s today’s. It’s inevitably rather Anglo. More anon . .

You Have to Laugh

Finally . .

Welcome to new subscribers Marina and Victor, though I believe Victor was a reader years ago.

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 . . .
• I can also be read on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/colin.davies.752861 or on Substack at https://doncolin.substack.com/
• 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.