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 VdG today: President Pedro Sánchez ruled out calling early elections yesterday in his appearance following the revelations about the Koldo case, which implicates the party’s secretary, Santos Cerdán. “The PSOE and I shouldn’t have trusted him,” Sánchez said, speaking of the politician, demanding his resignation from office and from parliament. He apologized to the Spanish people and announced internal party measures, such as an audit and changes to the executive branch, but ignored a crisis within the government: “There won’t be an election until 2027. This isn’t about me or the PSOE, it’s about a political project,” he said.

From the evidence of last night’s dinner with 5 friends, I suspect few Spaniards will be surprised by reports that the PM’s right-hand man took kickbacks.

A ‘re-ignited’ right royal ‘legal and diplomatic’ battle caused by the British. Quite a lot of money at stake. And more lawyers’ fortunes to be made.

Cousas de Galicia

There’s a statue on Pv city’s Alameda dedicated to the heroes of the 1809 Battle of [nearby] Puente Sampayo. It’s incontestable that the battle was primarily a Spanish victory under Colonel Pabmlo Morillo. But it’s a bit of a shame that Spanish accounts always seem to overlook that the British played a supportive role – via troops and possibly logistical assistance. Whatever . . . The French forces of Marshal Ney were forced to retreat and their attempt to re-capture the cities of Pontevedra and Vigo failed. The battle marked the final evacuation of Galicia by the French army and the creation of a new front. Historical note: Back then, Pv city was bigger and more important than Vigo. Which certainly isn’t true now. Hence the enduring hatred of Vigo on the part of the denizens of Pv city – referred to by George Borrow in his wonderful Bible in Spain, in recounting his visit to Pv city in 1838.

Israel-Iran

So . . . Where does it go from here​?

Maybe some quotes from Kaplan’s Waste Land tomorrow . . .

Trumpworld/LA LA Land

More from the utterly strange land of the ceaseless TV reality show

TACO Tontarías

• Our troops did a great job in LA. [A statement made before they had arrived]
• We need to apply some common sense. [From a man who gives no indication of having any]

This is another chance to read this pessimistic article on where the USA currently finds itself.. Essentially on the edge of failure as a democratic state. . . The government no longer serves as an impartial arbiter of competing interests, but as a factional tool of the leader and his inner circle

Two relevant articles from the FT. . .

Trump’s show of force in Los Angeles: Deploying federal troops is a warning to states opposed to his immigration clampdown.

Donald Trump tests the limits of presidential authority by sending troops into Los Angeles. Critics warn that the administration is increasingly ruling in defiance of the US Constitution and political norms.

The tiny red spot un this map is where there was a riot in the (very large) city of Los Angeles – a city which Trump claims would now be a heap of cinders if he hadnt sent ín National Guard troops and then some marines.

As the Governor of California said, there was “no unmet need” for federal help. Deploying National Guard forces, he added, was “purposefully inflammatory”. And, as they say, part of the authoritarian playbook.

Trump Sycophantic Bag Carriers

• Poor Stephen Miller, humiliated by Trump​’s sudden volte-face on deporting non-criminal immigrants. My heart bleeds for him.
• I think we can safely assume that the brain of the ludicrous, ignorant and mendacious Kristi Noem is malfunctioning because of the weight of her enormous hair extensions. And possibly a reaction to chemicals used in dental and cosmetic surgery . . It’s truly astonishing that the queen of Cosplay would accuse someone else of ‘performative theatre’. But that’s Trump’s USA, of course. Always projecting.

• Another empty vessel, Trump’s Attorney General – Pam Bondi – has effectively admitted she doesn’t understand the Insurrection Act. Or maybe is just another obsequious liar.

Quotes of the Day

• JD Vance: Foreign nationals with no legal right to be in the country waving foreign flags and assaulting law enforcement could be legally defined as an invasion. [One wonders how many of these above 1 would constitute an invasion of a country of 330m. We know that he knows this is bullshit of the first order.]
• Stephen Miller: The choice before the country is to deport the invaders, or surrender to insurrection. [Or to have Stephen Miller put down because of rabies.]
• In life, it pays to have the right friends. In politics, having the right enemies is even better. Part of Donald Trump’s success in the past decade has been an implausible amount of luck in picking his adversaries

The UK

I’ve been wondering if Trump could happen there and have concluded that there are more factors against this happening than there are in favour of it. One of these is that the UK is not a ‘200 year old experiment’ in a republican democracy, but a constitutional, parliamentary democracy organically grown over more than a thousand years. True, Boris Johnson showed that a PM could ride roughshod over an unwritten constitution based on norms and conventions but he didn’t last long and there was never any equivalent to the US national guard to do his authoritarian bidding. Then there is the British custom of laughing to scorn people like Trump. Especially if he wears a series of inane baseball caps. The last man to try to introduce fascism in the UK – Oswald Mosely – was both beaten and laughed off the streets in the 1930s. Which prompts the question, when will a satirical novel lampoon Trump the way Mosely was mocked as Sir Roderick Spode in P. G. Wodehouse’s 1938 novel The Code of the Woosters. And where is today’s equivalent of Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator. Chaplin, of course, was born British, not American.

Finally . . .

I was about to depart from the X platform last night when I discovered that I had almost as many followers there as subscribers on WordPress. In contrast, my Substack page only has 2 subscribers. And 50% of these are me . . .

Welcome to the latest WordPress Subscriber, whose name could be S. Deconink and who has a nice web page here.

Finally, Finally . . .

The last 2 entries in The Pillow Book . . .

Things that are unpleasant to see

• Someone in a robe whose back seem as crooked.
• People who wear their clothes with the collars pulled back.
• A noble’s carriage that has dirty blinds.
• People who insist on bringing out all their children when they receive a visit from someone who rarely comes to see them.
• Boys who wear high clogs with their trouser skirts. I realise this is the modern fashion but I still don’t like it.
• Women in travelling costumes who walk in a great hurry.
• A priest who wears a paper headdress to perform a service of purification.
• A thin ugly woman who has dark skin and wears a wig.
• A lean, hirsute man taking a nap in the daytime. Does it occur to him what a spectacularly he is making of himself? Ugly men should sleep only at night, for they cannot be seen in the dark and, besides, most people are in bed themselves. But they should get up at the crack of dawn, so that no one has to see them lying down.
• A pretty woman looks even prettier when she gets up after taking a nap on a summer day. But an unattractive woman should avoid such things, for her face will be all puffy and shining and, if she is not lucky, her cheeks will have an ugly, lopsided look.
• When two people, having taken a nap together in the daytime, wake up and see each other’s sleep-swollen faces, how dreary life must seem to them.
• A dark skinned person always looks very ugly in an unlined robe of stiff silk. If the robe is scarlet however, it looks better even though it is just as transparent.
• I suppose one of the reasons I don’t like ugly women to wear unlined robes is that one can see their navels.

The End

It is getting so dark that I can scarcely see go on writing and my brushes all worn out. Yet I should like to add a few things before I end. I wrote these notes at home, when I had a good deal of time to myself and thought no one would notice what I was doing. Everything that I have seen and felt is included. Since much of it might appear as malicious and even harmful to other people, I was careful to keep my book hidden. But now it has become public, which is the last thing I expected. I had a vast quantity of paper at my disposal, and I set about filling the notebooks with odd facts, stories from the past and all sorts of other things, often including the most trivial material. On the whole, I concentrated on things and people that I found charming and splendid; my notes are also full of poems and observations on trees and plants, birds and insects. I was sure that when people saw my book they would say “It’s even worse than I expected. No one can really tell what she is like”. After all, it was written entirely for my own amusement and I put things down exactly as they came to me. How could my casual jottings possibly bear comparison with the many impressive books that exist in our time. Readers have declared, however, that I can be proud of my work. This has surprised me greatly. Yet I suppose it is not so strange that people should like it, for, as will be gathered from these notes of mine, I am the sort of person who approves of what others abhor and detest the things they like. Whatever people may think of my book, I still regret that it ever came to light

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.
• This post of mine contains several relevant articles from ThinkSpain.
• 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.
• A comparison of UK and Spanish living costs.
• And here’s a personal guide to moving to Spain – to work, not to retire.
• Finally, from a tax lawyer: Everything you need to know about taxes and healthcare when retiring to Spain.