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

How Spain’s right wing is winning the youth vote.

In the weekend’s elections in Castiilla y León, the right-of-centre party did gain a couple of seats and remains the largest party but will again have to govern in a coalition with the far-right Vox party. The left-of-centre PSOE party neither gained nor lost seats, but the far-left parties did.

Mark Stücklin warns here that the Iran war could increase construction sector costs and both drive up housing costs and delay building projects, adding further strain to a market already struggling with a housing shortage.

I was intrigued this morning to discover that, for the past 25 years, I’ve been living in the ‘Cornwall of Spain’. Which, rain notwithstanding, is a part of Spain that is ideal for a spring holiday for Brits because of its its quiet, authentic charm.

I’ve moaned more than once about Spaniards lacking radar and invading my personal space, walking across my front within inches of my face. Last evening, I experienced the very essence of this . . . A young couple came towards me from my left – holding hands, chatting and clearly intent on crossing diagonally to my right. I expected them to walk across the front of me but what actually happened was that, as they reached me, they split, with one of them passing in front of me and the other behind me. This meant that they had to stop holding hands, of course. But, being Spanish, they continued talking as if I wasn’t between them. Which amused me considerably. I sincerely doubt that, if you’d have asked them, they would have realised they’d done this.

Europe

Right now, it doesn’t look like any European ally is going to give Trump much, if any, help in digging himself out of the hole he’s in.

The US-Iran War

A view from the UK . . . A humiliating failure now looms, as symbolically damaging to US global standing and national self-esteem as Afghanistan or Iraq.

A States-side view . . . It would be exceedingly difficult for the US and Israel to claw their way back from the disaster they have created for themselves and their allies and hapless fellow travelers, even charitably assuming Israel recognizes sooner rather than later that its position has become untenable. The only way out for the West is regime change in Washington. There is no path for negotiation even if Trump and Netanyahu were to have Damascene conversions. The repeated duplicity of both belligerents means this war will be a test to destruction.

I’m guessing no one will be surprised to hear that the CIA and/or Israel’s Mossad is/are trying to foment a Kurdish revolt in north western Iran. With unclear objectives.

The USA

See my earlier post on the delusional, bellicose president.

An informative and entertaining podcast . . . Trump and his goons are toast: Joanna Coles speaks with Steve Schmidt about the mounting panic spreading through Republican circles as Donald Trump’s political and foreign policy instincts collide with a party increasingly worried about where it’s headed. From the growing anxiety inside the GOP about Trump’s escalating confrontation with Iran to the bizarre internal dramas of Trump World, Schmidt breaks down a series of moments that have Republicans whispering behind closed doors. The conversation dives into the stunning downfall of Kristi Noem after her controversial ad campaign helped push Trump to fire one of his own loyalists, the surreal optics of Marco Rubio awkwardly navigating Trump’s orbit, and the broader sense that the party’s leadership is trapped between loyalty to Trump and fear of the political consequences.

Trump’s popularity is not actually the lowest in the history of the US presidency. An even lower one of 26% was achieved in the 1950s by Truman, when he differed with the immensely popular General McArthur over the handling of the Korean War. Specifically on the issue of dropping atomic bombs on China.

While Trump is an extreme case, the 79- year-old is completely in tune with the spirit of the times, and in a way most rooted in the USA. That country has pioneered the culture of instant gratification.

The Way of the World/Social Media

A report last year by Pisa was chilling. Not only did it demonstrate that 15-year-olds in high-income countries had shown, from about 2012, a steady decline in reasoning and problem-solving, but also that “adults show a similar pattern, with declines visible across all age groups”. This is the age of concentration loss. To put it at its most alarming, we are all becoming a little bit more like Trump. Although, one would hope, without the amorality and narcissism.

Spanish

• Cambiar de sitio: To redeploy
• No cualquiera: Not just anybody
• Sumidero: Sump, sinkhole, sink.

English

The Gaza effect: The phenomenon where events attract disproportionate attention because of the identity of the participants. [cf. the current attack on Kabul Afghanistan by Pakistan].

Did you know?

I’m sure, if asked, you’d guess that Mother’s Day was originally an un-commercial religious event. In fact, the ‘mother’ in question was one’s mother/parish church. . . . In the UK and Ireland, Mothering Sunday emerged in the 16th century on the 4th Sunday of Lent. It involved returning to one’s mother church and visiting family, especially servants reuniting with mothers. This tradition faded but was revived in the early 1900s. In the USA, the modern Mother’s Day began in 1908 when Anna Jarvis organized a service in Grafton, West Virginia, to honor her late mother, President Wilson made it official in 1914, set for the 2nd Sunday in May. Jarvis later opposed its commercialization.

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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.

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