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

A possible explanation for why the hospitality sector relies heavily on South Americans.

A readers’ survey in a British newspaper puts Porto at 9th and Sevilla at 2nd in the Top 10 Best Cities in the World to visit. Yet another good reason not to go back to either of them.

I watched the 6th running of the bulls in Pamplona this morning. As previously, I noted how difficult it is to detect a singe female face among the teeming hordes. Maybe only 1%, says one commentator. Which I’d regard as an exaggeration. Women are far too wise to risk injury or death. Or possibly are just less drunk.

Cousas de Galicia

Last night and this morning were a minor nightmare in Pv city and Lérez, both connected with yesterday’s public holiday and the night-long pop concerts. Last evening, I couldn’t get into a city car park for the first time in 25 years. Nor into my normal spot in Lérez. Where some young women changing their attire behind their car hinted at concert attendance.

Then, this morning, there was chaos at the entrance to the Mercadona car park in Lérez. This was primarily due to the continuing roadworks but it wasn’t helped by stupid/inconsiderate behaviour by some drivers. One of these, having parked in the only exit road open, came out of the car park on foot with the traditional apologetic wave of the hand, signifying that – in his mind at least – no one had really been inconvenienced. And then the local police arrived, to make things worse by directing both the entering and exiting cars. 

Getting there at 11 was bad timing on my part but I had planned to go 2 hours earlier, to be first in the supermarket. In Spain, timing can be absolutely critical. Most obviously going to and from the beach. Or driving long distances.

The UK

This morning I learnt of a chap called David Betz and of his expectation of a sort of civil war in the UK within a few years. He is a Professor of War in the Modern World at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London[my alma mater]. He’s recognized as an expert in military strategy, unconventional warfare, insurgency, information warfare, and the vulnerabilities of modern societies. He has publicly warned that the UK is at significant risk of civil conflict, potentially within 5 years. His reasoning is based on several interconnected factors, all of which are fleshed out at the end of this post:-

• Collapse of Trust and Legitimacy:
• Societal Fragmentation
• Vulnerable Infrastructure
• Perfect Storm of Risk Factors

Betz describes the current environment as a “perfect storm,” with economic decline, political polarization, mass immigration, and loss of faith in elites all contributing to instability. He is pessimistic about the possibility of reversing these trends, suggesting that conflict is now “close to inevitable”. Betz does not expect conventional armies or clear battle lines. Instead, he anticipates a messy, decentralized conflict with multiple factions, sporadic violence, and widespread disruption—more like an “abscessed tooth fragmenting in the mouth” than a single dramatic confrontation.He warns that violence could reach or exceed the intensity of the Northern Ireland Troubles, but on a national scale, with attacks on public figures, politicians, and infrastructure.

Needless to say, not everyone agrees with Betz. But I guess he’d agree with my observation of a few weeks ago that the UK has lost its way in recent decades.

One obvious question: Is the UK alone in this? The USA? France? Germany?? Sweden even???

The EU

Europe’s youth aren’t inspired by the EU and its remote, top-down structures need a fresh, citizen-led approach fit for the digital age, asserts this Guardian columnist.

The MAGA Reality TV Show

Trump yesterday lavishly praised Hesgeth for a Fox News appearance he never actually made.

His (typical) response to a question about the Texas floods: Only a bad person would ask a question like that, to be honest with you. I don’t know who you are, but only a very evil person would ask a question like that. [Yet more projection].

Trump has defended the handling of the Texas floods, which are testing his vow to shutter FEMA. Since the disaster that killed at least 120 people, he has remained quiet about promises to axe the relief agency.

Having read about this ambassadorial appointment, I was left wondering if Trump says and does everything on the basis of an incredibly cruel and twisted sense of humour. Is this a feature of sociopathy and/or malignant narcissism? [The AI answer: A cruel, twisted sense of humour—often characterized by enjoyment of dark, offensive, or aggressive jokes at the expense of others—can be associated with both sociopathy (psychopathy) and malignant narcissism, though not universally present in all individuals with these traits.]

Quotes of the Day

• Possibly incontestable . . . We’re becoming inured to Trump’s outbursts – but when he goes quiet, we need to be worried. Across the US, without soundbites or stunts, the president is building a police state and eroding democracy. . . . He is being quietly assisted in that goal by those US institutions that should regard themselves as co-equal branches of government – Congress and the supreme court – and whose constitutional duty is to stand up to an overmighty executive.
• Hannah Arendt: Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those fools and crackpots whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty. They know they will fall if/when he does.

Spanish

• Decepionante/Poco satisfacto: Underwhelming.
• Enseres: Belongings.
• Arrear: Herd, wrangle, drive.
• Chiflarse: To lose it [Me chifla: I love it! I get off on!}
• Sillita: Child seat.
• Alzador: Booster seat [says my daughter. May be Madrid slang]

English

Shred loss: Not a widely recognized scientific or medical term. Generally refers to the loss of “shred”—the visible muscle definition achieved by reducing body fat. In fitness culture, to “shred” means to lower your body fat percentage through a combination of diet and exercise, so that muscle definition becomes more pronounced. In a humorous or satirical context, “shred loss” can also refer to losing one’s physical “radness” or fitness edge, as a made-up condition described in skateboarding or gaming communities. 

Did You Know?

One could not think of Aristotle or Beethoven multiplying 3,472,701 by 99,999 without making a mistake, nor could one think of him remembering the range of this or that railway share for two years, or the number of ten-penny nails in a hundred weight, or the freight on lard from Galveston to Rotterdam. And by the same token one could not imagine him expert at billiards, or at grouse-shooting, or at golf, or at any other of the idiotic games at which what are called successful men commonly divert themselves. In his great study of British genius, Havelock Ellis found that an incapacity for such petty expertness was visible in almost all first rate men. They are bad at tying cravats. They do not understand the fashionable card games. They are puzzled by book-keeping. They know nothing of party politics. In brief, they are inert and impotent in the very fields of endeavour that see the average men’s highest performances, and are easily surpassed by men who, in actual intelligence, are about as far below them as the Simidae. — H.L. Mencken, In Defense of Women, 1918

Finally . . .

Are you a cynic?

DAVID BETZ’S INTERCONNECTED UK FACTORS

Collapse of Trust and Legitimacy:

• Diminishing trust in institutions: Betz argues that public trust in government, the justice system, police, and other key institutions has collapsed to record lows. This erosion of legitimacy, he believes, is historically a precursor to societal breakdown and violence.
• Perceived two-tier justice system: He points to increasing public perception of unfairness and bias in the legal and political systems, further undermining faith in the state.

Societal Fragmentation

• Loss of national cohesion: Betz sees British society as increasingly fractured along lines of ethnicity, ideology, and geography, with a growing rural/urban divide and the rise of rival identities.
• “Ulsterisation” of Britain: He draws parallels to Northern Ireland’s Troubles, warning that Britain could see similar patterns of sectarianism, territorial control, and paramilitary-style violence.

Vulnerable Infrastructure.

• Critical infrastructure at risk: Betz foresees attacks on infrastructure—such as electricity, water, and telecommunications—as likely tactics in future unrest, making cities especially vulnerable to chaos and deprivation.

Perfect Storm of Risk Factors

• Multiple crises converging: He describes the current environment as a “perfect storm,” with economic decline, political polarization, mass immigration, and loss of faith in elites all contributing to instability.

• No clear “off-ramp”: Betz is pessimistic about the possibility of reversing these trends, suggesting that conflict is now “close to inevitable”.

Nature of the Predicted Conflict

• Not a traditional civil war: Betz does not expect conventional armies or clear battle lines. Instead, he anticipates a messy, decentralized conflict with multiple factions, sporadic violence, and widespread disruption—more like an “abscessed tooth fragmenting in the mouth” than a single dramatic confrontation.
• Potential scale: He warns that violence could reach or exceed the intensity of the Northern Ireland Troubles, but on a national scale, with attacks on public figures, politicians, and infrastructure.

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 or on Substack.

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.
• Buying a property ‘off-plan’.
• A comparison of UK and Spanish living costs.
• And here’s a personal guide to moving to Spain – to work, not to retire.
• What to do if your visa application is rejected.
• A warning re social security and VAT(IVA) payments for those who plane to be sel-employed
• Finally, from a tax lawyer: Everything you need to know about taxes and healthcare when retiring to Spain.