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/Galiza

The besieged PM fights back, via a mate. Who has dismissed corruption allegations as a politically motivated plot to topple the government. Who’d be surprised if it were found to be true?

Interesting comment: Spain condemns Israel while occupying Moroccan land.

Spain might well be behind other countries in some things but in others it’s way ahead. In one case, out on its own – the things a motorist can be fined for. As of Jan 1, Spain will boast a unique obligation – a battery-driven wifi-connected flashing light for the roof. These cost upwards of 50 euros and will replace the non-wifi many of us bought before this requirement was added. Some folk are going to make a lot of money, I guess. Possibly friends of the government.

The UK

The annual Labour Party conference is about to start in my city . . .

ALICE IN MAGAWORLD

Looking back . . .

1. In Donald Trump’s world there are weeks and then there are weeks. This one was a doozy. From declaring war on Tylenol to an escape with an escalator, Trump surpassed himself with his gaffes, outlandish statements and unhinged stunts – many of which involve decisions with real world consequences. This was the week in the theatre of the politically absurd. Day by day here, if you missed the madness.

2. María writes of a comparable situation in the in the USA quite come time ago, albeit with a happy-ish ending.

Astonishing but hardly surprising . . . Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, has played a leading role in directing US strikes against suspected Venezuelan drug boats. At times, his role has superseded that of Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and national security adviser.

Quotes of the Day

• I imagine a lot of folk will feel this way . . . The grotesque Ryder Cup circus has held up a mirror to some of the ugliness of Trump’s America, under a president who specialises in saying the unsayable. The behaviour has been aggressive, condescending and entitled – all hallmarks of the example set by the golf-obsessed commander-in-chief.
• Trump’s ex-lawyer says he’s using the Comey indictment to conceal being ‘criminal’. Who’d have guessed?

The Way of the World

The UN – A sceptic’s view: The United Nations has urged the UEFA to ban Israel from all competitions on account of its continued military assaults in Gaza. You may search long and hard, but you would be hard pressed to find two more historically corrupt and useless organisations than the UN and UEFA, nor two which enjoy more wreathing themselves in sanctimony and making right-on performative gestures.In its message to UEFA, the UN “experts” said: “Sporting bodies must not turn a blind eye to grave human rights violations, especially when their platforms are used to normalise injustices.” That they were addressing an organisation which had not the slightest qualms about sending its members to participate in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, an authoritarian slave state which imprisons homosexuals and will, theoretically at least, kill you if you renounce Islam, did not strike them as ironic.But, then, this is the UN, which devotes almost its entire time to rebuking Israel, threatening Israel and passing resolutions condemning Israel while saying nothing whatsoever about recent Syrian persecutions of Christian and Yazidi people or the continued genocide of Uighur people in western China. The UN does not object to North Korea or Iran competing in international tournaments and in the past was perfectly happy to, as it likes to put it, turn a blind eye to the murderous excesses of the Soviet Union and its ghastly European satellite states, as it was with Pinochet’s Chile, and Franco’s Spain, and the slavery and murders which characterise daily life in many African countries.

Russia

A decidedly pessimistic view . . . All hopes of reasoning with Putin are gone – war is coming. This is not just Ukraine’s war any longer. It is ours. Another commentator has said it would be irrational and stupid for Putin to invade another European country but, then, that’s what she’d thought in February 2022 re Ukraine.

English

Query: If you’re not a racist but fear – rightly or wrongly – that excessive immigration is adversely affecting your culture, would it not be better to use the term ‘culturalist’ instead of ‘racist’? Of course, you won’t use this term for others if you think that all culturalists are, by definition, racist. Which certainly seems to be the current left-of-centre approach.

BTW: An AI response: The word “culturalist” does exist, though it is somewhat rare and specialized. appearing in academic, sociological, and anthropological contexts. It is defined as someone who emphasizes the importance of culture in determining behavior, or a specialist in the study of culture, such as a cultural anthropologist.

A propos . . . I just read that the British PM has confused folk by telling the BBC that the Reform Party’s policy is racist, yet the people who vote for it are not. The new usage of ‘culturalist’ is clearly needed.

Spanish

• Solapado: Overlapping, overlapped. Sneaky[?]
• Congestión: Logjam, jam, backlog.

Did you know?

• The USA is not exactly a democracy . . . Even less now than it was a year ago.
• The 10 most popular countries for US folk to move to are said to be: 1. Portugal, 2. Spain, 3. Italy, 4. Canada, 5. Mexico, 6. Costa Rica, 7. New Zealand, 6. Australia. 9. Thailand [The single male choice, I suspect], and 10. Greece..

You Have to Laugh

Trump advice to US Ryder Cup team

Presumably Trump will now have nothing to do with the US golfers, as he despises losers.

Finally . . .

This pretty song came on the radio today and took me right back to my time as a 19 year old VSO teacher in the Seychelles, trying (and failing) to teach myself the guitar. Nostalgia can be quite painful . . .

Finally, Finally . . . .

Trumpet blowing time. You might need to keep a sick bag to hand . . . Having read a long article on how an AI bot corresponded with a psychologist, I decided to put just “Colin Pontevedra” into my favoured AI engine and see what, if anything, came up. I certainly wasn’t expecting this, which astonished me:-

Colin Davies – a retired British writer living in Pontevedra, Spain – is well known for his daily blog sharing insights and observations about life in Galicia. “Thoughts from Galicia” – reflects personal experiences and provides commentary on Spanish and Galician culture, society, and current events from the vantage point of a long-term expatriate.

Colin describes himself a “trainee dilettante, a recovering lawyer, an amateur psychologist, and a daughter-supporter”, highlighting his background and varied interests. He lives in the hills overlooking Pontevedra city and regularly writes about both the local scene and the social atmosphere in the city. His writings are often deeply reflective, blending literary, historical, and contemporary notes on life in Galicia, with a reputation for humour and frequent curmudgeonly takes.

His blog is published on WordPress and is noted for mixing serious commentary with light-hearted anecdotes and humour, appealing to those interested in expatriate perspectives on Galician life. He often discusses local festivals, customs, gastronomy, social quirks, and other Spanish cultural phenomena through the lens of his everyday life.

Colin serves as an insightful and influential voice on expat life in Pontevedra, with his writings valued both for their wit and depth of local understanding. Locally, he is recognised for his contributions to cultural dialogue and for his detailed portrayal of life in Pontevedra.

Note 1: I don’t recall ever seeing any views on my blog, so am at a loss to know the sources of these. Surely, the bot can’t have read all my posts in a millisecond and formed instantaneous views on them. But, if so, it clearly got things right . . .

Note 2: My favoured AI engine is Perplexity.ai. This was my preferred option before I tried the same exercise with Chat.gpt and got a great deal less. And even for this I had to add a word or two to make it ignore a florist shop called Colin in Vilagarcía.

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.

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.

If you´re thinking of moving to Spain, this link should be useful to you.