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 right-of-centre site The Corner claims that the PM has run out of narrative and neither governs nor stops the rise of the far-right Vox party.

Said PM has announced the setting-up of a state-owned sovereign wealth fund to boost sectors including housing and national security. The fund will be called ‘Spain Grows’ and aims to extend the economic stimulus of the European Union’s Next Generation fund, which helped the country recover from the Covid pandemic.

The EU’s ETIAS scheme has been delayed yet again.

The Prado’s plans for this year.

The UK

I don’t know why they bothered asking which is the best UK city, when the answer is so obvious . . .
Iran

How Iran’s military power made Trump think twice. The tone in Washington has changed significantly and the US president’s missiles have not materialised. Trump has explained away the apparent pause in military threats to Iran. The regime had assured him that “the killing had stopped”, going on to present the apparent halting of 800 executions of protesters as clear evidence that his threats had been effective. As if the statements of the Iranian government are any more credible than his. The estimate for the slaughtered protesters has reached 30,000.

A safe prediction: Iran’s ayatollah will fall — but the road may be long and deadly.

The USA

• Mad: In the recent NYT interview, Trump was asked about his promise of $2,000 cheques funded by tariff revenues. He replied: “I did that? When did I do that?”.
• Madder and madder: Trump threatens tariffs against those countries which oppose him taking over Greenland.
• The Epstein files: Astonishingly, only 2% have been released, with 5 million to come. Unless Trump somehow succeeds in his increasingly desperate attempts to prevent this.
• Greenland: No one believes Trump thinks owning it is essential for US security. So, apart from the obvious distraction value of another invasion, who’s behind it and what’s the rationale? A very plausible view is that it’s being driven by the vile pair of Miller and Vance, whose real objective is to destroy NATO. Aware that Congress will never approve a US exit from NATO, they see a takeover of Greenland as an effective way to achieve what Denmark has said it will achieve. Hence the European resistance and the show of force. Trump might not be serious and the Europeans might be right to totally discount an invasion but they are – understandably – treating the threat of a NATO break-up as very serious.
• Public Opinion: Per a WSJ poll . . . By a 15 point margin, voters now rate the economy as weak rather than strong, up from only just 4 points last July. I guess it’s possible even some idiots now don’t believe Trump’s ludicrous assertions.
• The Post-Trump Literary Cornucopia: When he’s finally left the presidency, there’ll be no shortage of books on him and the destruction he’ll have wreaked by then, while making himself and his family even more wealthy. I wonder whether one of them will be An Encyclopedia of Trumpian Corruption. Surely a long tome.

Quote of the Day

One year of Trump in the White House and The USA is more divided than ever.

Russia

With friends like Putin, who needs enemies? The Russian leader has failed to support his allies in Syria, Venezuela and Iran, undermining his anti-western alliance. It shows not just cynicism but weakness.

Possibly the understatement of the century . . .  The Kremlin is still struggling to understand Trump’s ‘America First‘ policy. A club of many members.

The Way of the World

Lenox Napier asks whose side Trump is on.

Spanish

• Esperanzador: Encouraging, hopeful, promising, heartening, hope-filled.
• El algodón no engaña: ‘The cotton doesn’t lie’. Equivalent to ‘The proof of the pudding is in the eating’. [The expression comes from the idea of the prueba del algodón , where a piece of cotton shows whether something is truly clean.]
• Estruendo: Rumble, sound, crash, din, bang, thunder, rumbling, boom, noise.

Did you know?

Red wine might be good for you Or not.

You Have to Laugh

The world’s third richest person was forced to change the name of his superyacht after he realised it spelt “I’m a Nazi” backwards. Larry Ellison named the vessel the Izanami after a mythical Japanese deity. But he scrambled to change it when the horror name was pointed out to him.

Finally . . .

The Crypto Queen who swindled her way to billions is said to be still with us. Four new episodes from the BBC’s podcast will bring us up to date with the latest theories about Dr Ruja Ignatova, on the run since 2017 and accused of defrauding countless victim in the One Coin currency scam. Was she murdered by co-conspirators? Or is she, as new rumours suggest, alive and living quietly in Cape Town?

My thanks to those readers who take the trouble to Like my posts.

The Usual Links . . .

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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.