Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.
Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
- Christopher Howse: 'A Pilgrim in Spain'*
Covid
Good news: An MS drug almost halved hospitalised patients' risk of severe Covid symptoms. Those given the inhaled version of interferon beta-1a treatment were twice as likely to recover within 14 days as those on a placebo.
Reasons for wearing that mask.
A hard-hitting video, aimed at Spain’s young.
Living La Vida Loca in Galicia/Spain
I lose track of Spain's 'language wars', even in the context of only Galicia. There seems to be a move being planned by this government to stop Spanish (Castellano) being the 'vehicular language' for education but I can't be sure about this. If so, is the pendulum swinging to the other extreme? And is it to appease the Catalans?
The oposiciones are government exams in all sorts of fields where the Spanish government is more involved than it would be in the Anglo world. I’ve always assumed these were for young people but I’ve recently learned you can go on taking them throughout your career, e. g. in Medicine. And now I read that the profile of the average opositor is: ‘In work and over 55’. You live and learn.
For those of you lucky enough to be able to get out in Madrid.
Here's María's Falling Back Chronicle Day 59, asking whether enforced cultural changes will be temporary or permanent. I agree with her view on this
The UK
The former chief medical officer says the UK prepared for wrong sort of pandemic: Scientific advice to focus on influenza threat meant the UK never put plans in place to tackle a major coronavirus. I think we knew this of this incompetence months ago. And its consequences - principally horrendously destructive lockdowns. Abject failure, but not unique to the UK. And compare the response of the Taiwanese government, recently cited here.
English
Stiffrump: An 18th century word, meaning: An obstinate and haughty individual who refuses to budge no matter what.
Finally . . .
A couple of less serious Spanish comments on the vaccine . . .
And a nice video . . .
* A terrible book, by the way. Don't be tempted to buy it, unless you're a very religious Protestant.