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

Spain’s approach to reducing the flow of immigrant/refugee boats is said to offer a lesson for UK.

Spain’s government takes the view that an EU army has become necessary to reduce the bloc’s dependence on the USA for its defence. Might be some way away, if it ever happens at all. Even if it’s true to say that it has become a mainstream notion among leading figures in the bloc. Jaw jaw.

HT to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for the news that the percentage of people in Spain ‘without religion’ rose from 13% in 2000 to 40% in 2024. But is as high as 61% among those 18 to 24.

Pig stew (cocido) month has begun up in the Galician hills, in Lalín . . .

The UK

What I’ve thought for a long time. . . . We gain nothing by pretending we’re still a world power while our nation rots from the inside. Much the same can be said of France, I guess. High time to go the way of The Netherlands??

Europe

From that article . . . Europe’s hypocrisy is matched only by its impotence.

Iran

An update from Richard North. No surprise to read that Russia is helping the ayatollahs with their repression. We already know that the murderous Mr Putin finds it easy to sleep at night.

The USA

Insights into Trump’s mind from Michael Wolff, who probably knows the man better than most. If not all.

• What being mocked really does to Trump.
• Why Trump can’t escape Epstein forever.
• The one thing that truly terrifies Trump.

After these, you’ll surely be asking yourself how so many Americans could vote him into power, not just once but twice. One answer is said to be because he’s been a reality TV star and a celebrity for a long time. And this apparently counts for a lot in the US.

A British view . . . In some ways, the US civil war has already started. The appalling tragedy in Minneapolis is what happens when you hollow out a democracy’s intellectual inner life. . . When a democracy gets to this point, when it feels comfortable enough to vote in Mr Reality TV twice, but to also prance around saying men are women, I think you have to accept that no one is any longer serious about it.

Quote of the Day

Much of the success of the administrator in carrying out a program depends upon how far it is his sole object overshadowing everything else, or how far he is thinking of himself; for this last is an obstruction that has caused many a good man to stumble and a good cause to fall. The two aims are inconsistent, often enough for us to state as a general rule that one cannot both do things and get the credit for them. — A. Lawrence Lowell, 1938

The Way of the World

An amusing Scottish apology.

Spanish

• Atisbar: Glimpse, see, peek, peer, watch, discern
• Socavar: Undermine.
• Aparatoso: Bulky. Cumbersome. Spectacular. (Often used re car crashes).

English

Test your vocabulary. You might well have already seen this list, given how often it’s come up in my FB feed.

You Have to Laugh

A nice take-off of Trump. Close your eyes for best effect.

Finally . . .

Be warned . . . Hackers have stolen the sensitive information of 17.5 million Instagram accounts. Complete with usernames, physical addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and more, this data can be abused by cybercriminals to impersonate trusted brands, trick users, and steal their passwords. Critically, this data is already being offered on the dark web, with individual users also receiving legitimate password reset notifications from Instagram.

What to do:-

• Beware of emails and messages that claim to come from Instagram, as they could be sent by malicious hackers trying to trick you into handing over your password.
• If you’re concerned, sign into your Instagram account and reset your password to a new, strong, unique password.

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.