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

As far as I can make out, several entities – including the far-right organisations Manos Limpias and Hazte Oir – are taking the Government Delegate in Ceuta to court over the mass refugees affair. All very Spanish, reflecting, I think, the fact that prosecutions can be initiated here by private ‘persons’.

HT to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for the news that – as I’d noticed – the Spanish are changing their famous habit of eating as late as 10pm. For many, it’s now 9pm. Still pretty late by international standards.

Last weekend’s Formula 1 race around Madrid’s streets was not a great success, it seems. Labelled ‘boring’ by both spectators and drivers. Changes will need to be made to the course. they say.

The Middle East War

The latest update from Naked Capitalism.

The United States of Trump America

As I was saying . . . The Dumbest Trade War Revisited: Trump’s decision to escalate a tariff brawl with Canada makes no economic or political sense

A British Historian Laurence Rees published last year a book called The Nazi Mind: Twelve Warnings from History (2025). As Trump matches up with many of them, the question arises: Did someone school him or did it all come naturally?:-

• Using conspiracy theories to explain political defeat. ‘We were cheated in 2020’.
• “Them and Us”: Dividing society into a virtuous national “people” and dangerous internal enemies.
• The leader as hero: A leader-centred movement demanding personal loyalty.
• Corrupting or radicalising youth
• Exploiting humiliation and decline. National restoration myths based on grievance and lost greatness. MAGA
• Conniving with established elites. Oligarchs.
• Undermining human rights and liberal institutions. Attacking judges.
• Exploiting religion and utopian promises. Christian nationalism
• Defining and valuing enemies: The radical, crazy, criminal Left.
• Eliminating resistance. Primary-ing Republicans. Fake news.
• Escalating racism
• Terror, violence, and killing at a distance. ICE.

Relevant Books

• To be published in October. Can be pre-ordered now: Wtf America?!: The Way Out of This Hell and Back to Democracy. On Amazon or here.
• The final pages of Kurt Andersen’s fascinating run through the USA’s history – Fantasyland: How America went haywire. A 500 year history.
• Profiles in Cowardice, by Jacob Weisberg. Cited in this podcast.

Spanish

• Tajada: Slice, cut. sliver, etc.
• Tajado: Chopped
• Tejado: Roof, rooftop
• Tejido: Tissue, fabric, weaving

Did you know?

A clumsy roller-skates pioneer

Finally . . . You Have to Laugh

• Astonishingly, from 30 years ago – a presentiment of the Trump era.
• If Trump came clean . . .

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

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I can also be read on X at Thoughts from Galicia. And on Substack here. I no longer post 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 there.

If you´re thinking of moving to Spain, this link should be useful to you. And this, on the annual costs of owning property here.