Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain

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' 

Detailed info on Galicia and Pontevedra city here.  https://thoughtsfromgalicia.comCosas de España/Galiza

Here's the latest post-Brexit guidance for Brits in or coming to Spain. The carta de invitación might well not be essential if you're going to stay in a friend or relative's house. Though 'this could still change in the future.' Bottom line: 'In the meantime, be prepared to supply all other cited documents on arrival'.

News for car owners who need to have the ITV inspection.

Yesterday I was addressed in a shop firstly in the informal/friendly 'tu' and then by the formal 'usted'. Was this because (Anglo) I was a customer, or was it because (Spanish) I was older than the shop assistant? I  guess I'll never know. Or much care.

Can there many other households in Spain which have as many problems with water as I have? In the last few weeks, I've had the nth leak from a pipe under my lawn and not one but 2 breakdowns in the water pump which maintains the pressure. And, yesterday, I had floods - upstairs and downstairs - when a wall tap next to a toilet cistern refused to close and the plug I put in the end of the flexible tube from it proved inadequate. As I discovered when I came back to the house after 3 hours in town. Right now - with the water turned off at the main tap - I have only buckets and pans of water around the house, as I wait for my friendly plumber to come. Yet again.  

Postscript: The challenge I have when there's leak in the house is emptying the huge underground tank below my drive through which the city water passes into my house. My guess is that its original rationale was a reservoir in the event city water failed. But now, lacking a tap, it's just something that has to be laboriously drained - into bath, buckets, pans, jugs, etc. when something needs to be attended to in the house. Like a tap that won't turn off. But my neighbour has today advised me of a solution - replace the underground tank by a much smaller one adjacent to the water pump. For which I will now get an estimate. Simples.

Quote of the Day

Creating a nightmare atmosphere and then claiming that you’re the victim is classic 2021 behaviour.

Spanish

What do you know about the very Spanish letter Ñ? (Which sound also exists in both Gallego and its sister language Portuguese but is represented as 'nh').

English

 ‘Heavy lifting’: A useful phrase in Spain, as in the the advice: If Spanish friends advise you they’ll arrive around 2pm, the word ‘around’ is doing some pretty heavy lifting . . .

Finally  . . .  

Yesterday I moved into my summer trousers. This was to jump both the 'weather start of summer'(June 1) and, of course, the meteorological start of summer (June 21). I reminded myself of my first year here, when a neighbour remarked rather disparagingly that I was looking 'very summery' (muy veraniego) when wearing shorts in the city on a hot day in May. 

Actually, I know it's truly summer because yesterday one of the banes of my life - an irritating accordionist - made his first appearance of the year in the old quarter - playing the same bloody 3 tunes as in every previous year. Turns out he's Bulgarian, which might explain why I've never understood a word of his Spanish when he's stopped to talk to me. And to stretch out his hand. I pay to get rid of him, of course. If I haven't managed take refuge in the toilets before he gets to my  table. 

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' 

Detailed info on Galicia and Pontevedra city here.   

Covid 

As we approach the debut of the EU's White List, here's the death per million rates for selected venues. In all of these, this is falling:-

Portugal: 1  

Israel: 3

The UK: 6 

Sweden: 7  

Switzerland: 7

The Netherlands: 13 

Belgium: 20, from the highest in the world last year.

Spain: 31  

Greece: 51  

France: 137  

Italy: 144  

Germany: 178

Turkey: 216  

The USA: 553 but slowly falling - One of the legacies of Trump? Choose your state. Oregon’s is only 5.

Here's what's said to be complete guidance for Brits on the consequences of Spain's Amber status.

Cosas de España/Galiza

That extra 6 months to change your British driving licence for a Spanish one, if you've got he right paperwork . . . Maybe not in our town. 

I confess to being amused at the thought of senior Brits being taught to negotiate roundabouts(circles) the way Spaniards do. Which I've never seen in the any of the 20+ countries I've driven in over the decades.

Lenox talks about books here.

Paella to be an item of 'cultural heritage'. Really?? How about Irish stew, then?

María's Level Ground: Days 49-50. Spot on re Eurovision. Portugal 

The UK 

Click here if you want to understand how and why the UK got its initial reaction to the Covid threat so wrong. For which Johnson's government - thanks to massive investment in vaccines and 'going it alone' - seems to have been forgiven. Much to the chagrin of the opposition Labour Party. A week is a long time in politics, as an ex-leader of this party once said.

Finally  . . . 

Here are 3 questions to rest your ability to analyse, as opposed to rationalising. Answers tomorrow:-

1. Suppose a baseball and a baseball bat together cost $1.10, and the bat costs a dollar more than the baseball. How much does the ball cost?  

2. If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets? 

3. In a lake, there's a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?  

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' 

Detailed info on Galicia and Pontevedra city here. 

Covid 

The UK: 

The one-shot J&J/Janssen jab has been approved there. Good news for those of us who've already had it.

Spain: 

1. It's now feared that, though Malta, some Greek and Caribbean islands and Finland will be added to the UK's Green List next week, Spain's Canary and Balearic Islands won't be. It's claimed this is because the UK government fears immigration officials will be overwhelmed on the return of holidaymakers. An excuse which is unlikely to go down well in suffering Spain

2. Spain will soon be trialling the new EU Covid Certificate/Passport scheme.

Cosas de España/Galiza

More on the saga of the (non)pardons  for Catalan rebels

News to calm the beating breasts of Brits worried about being deported from Spain for disobeying the 90/180 days rule

And good news also for those who failed to exchange their driving licence in time.

Who can win at this game? A racism row erupts in Spain after 'equality' stamps are given lower value to dark skin tones. The Equality Stamps range was launched to coincide with the anniversary of the murder of George Floyd by a US police officer.

The first folk I helped to look for a house in Galicia 15 years or more ago had come up from Andalucia because of predictions that, by now, that region would be Sahara-like. I thought of them when reading this headline: Experts predict Iraq-like weather for Spain in the near future. Heatwaves at currently unimaginable temperatures will increase throughout the Iberian peninsula in 2 projected scenarios by 2050. I've put the date in my diary to remind me to check how true that is then.

Quite a few articles have been written on 'unknown' Galicia since I started writing about the place back in 2001, followed by my Guide, and then a much fuller one by my friend Martin Lambert. Here’s a decent article explaining why Galicia is the most underrated region in Spain. It gets a lot right but not everything . . . .

- Galicia is wet and windy: Not always and not everywhere.

- Galician (Galego) has several Celtic words: I'd like to know what these are.

- Galicia is a member of the Celtic League: No, it isn't. They won't let it join because Gallego is not a Celtic language. https://www.celticleague.net/about-us/

- The surf scene is only now emerging: Not my perspective but never mind.

María's Level Ground: 52-54

Portugal

Our local media tells us that Portugal has committed itself to building a high-speed train from Lisbon to connect with ours up to La Coruña. The priority stretch will from Oporto via  Braga to Vigo airport, starting in 2025. Of course, with the 30 year delay in our own  high-speed line from Madrid to Galicia behind us, none of us believe any of this.

The UK 

Gwyneth Paltrow's shop in London has failed and closed. Someone has suggested this is because Brits just aren't Goopy enough.

The EU  

Below is a 2nd article on the surprising development of a collapse of a trade etc. deal with Switzerland. Brussels has turned nasty, and wants to extend its reach, previously limited largely to economic affairs, into other fields such as justice, home affairs, and entitlements.

France 

A double-dip recession rocks Macron. I do believe AEP predicted this.

The USA

15% of (North) Americans believe the theories of QAnon, the group that thinks a Satan-worshipping cabal of international pedophiles conspired to keep Donald Trump out of the White House last year.

The Way of the World

PPSD - Post pandemic stress disorder . . .

Which reminds me . . . Psychiatry: Said to be the only branch of medicine where practitioners both invent and treat conditions. Criticised by some for: Increasing bio-reductionism[?], decreased humanism, diagnostic exuberance, and excessive dependence on prescribing medication. Even worse, this study concluded that: Psychiatric diagnoses are scientifically worthless as tools to identify discrete mental health disorders. Hmmm.

Spanish

The Canary Islands . . . Las Canarias. Named after . . . dogs. Latin: Dog, Canis. Spanish: Perro. But the Galician for dog is Can. Plural Cans. Hence our annual spoof Festival de Cans. Which I've yet to attend. Maybe next September.

Finally  . . .  

A few notes on William Buckland, a 19th century English eccentric geologist:-

- He had a taste for eating his way through every kind of animal, from bluebottles to porpoises.  

- His fascination with all aspects of the animal kingdom was such that he had been the first to identify the faeces of an ichthyosaur, and could distinguish bat urine by taste,

- His most startling feat, perhaps, was to gobble down what was reliably reported to have been the heart of King Louis XIV of France.

THE ARTICLE 

The looming threat of Switzerland's own Brexit moment risks calamity for Brussels.  There are striking similarities between Brexit and the treaty negotiations Switzerland has been holding with the EU.  Jeremy Warner, the Telegraph

You'd have thought that Switzerland would have welcomed Brexit with open arms. For the Alpine state, being outside the European Union but wholly surrounded by its presence has been a lonely experience. Brexit seemingly ended that isolation, potentially offering an alternative vision of cohabitation between sovereign European nations.  But perhaps surprisingly, that sense of common purpose was never much of a thing in Switzerland. It wasn't that the Swiss disapproved of Brexit; rather it was that Britain's act of defiance brought an unwelcome degree of focus on their own, faintly privileged economic arrangements with the EU. These have long been regarded by Brussels as outdated and therefore ripe for absorption into the regimented whole.  Prior to Brexit, they had managed to slip through under the radar; the apparent anomaly was too small to be much bothered with. There were bigger fish to fry. With Brexit, the presiding clerics of EU orthodoxy have turned their gaze back on the Swiss misfit with renewed ferocity, forcing Bern finally to confront the choice between subjugation and a fuller form of divorce. Application of the EU thumbscrew has failed to work; to the contrary, as in Britain, it has only succeeded in strengthening Swiss resolve. With as little idea of where the decision might take them as Britain's Brexiteers, the Swiss have seemingly chosen freedom over enslavement. 

Switzerland may not be a member of either the EU or the European Economic Area, but it is to all intents and purposes very much a part of Europe's single market, with virtually unrestricted access. Happily, it has also managed to escape many of its obligations. Rather, its relationship is governed by a bewildering array of bilateral agreements, gathered together under seven overarching treaties. These have enabled Switzerland to enjoy some of the same "cake and eat it" attributes of being outside the club but enjoying its privileges that Boris Johnson once aspired to, but failed to secure. Yet as is its wont, Brussels has turned nasty, and wants to extend its reach, previously limited largely to economic affairs, into other fields such as justice, home affairs, and entitlements.

Negotiations on new arrangements long pre-date Brexit, but it is Britain's two fingers to the EU that brought matters to a head. The EU has been threatening and cajoling Bern ever since.

In so doing, Brussels has completely failed to learn the lessons of Britain's departure, making intolerable demands which it must know Swiss MPs and voters cannot accept.  Unilaterally, the Swiss government has therefore pulled the plug on the talks, risking breach of the treaties and expulsion from the single market. It's not yet come to that, but the moment of truth is fast approaching. Full scale Swexit looms into view.

European policymakers have no-one to blame but themselves and their own intransigence. The particular sticking points are surprisingly similar to the ones that bedevilled Britain's post referendum negotiations with the EU - subservience to European state aid and free movement rules. The underlying politics of Swexit are also strikingly similar. With its four official languages - Italian, French, German and Romansh - Switzerland could scarcely be a more European country. But like Britain, it has a centuries old sense of national exceptionalism and identity. For the UK, it's our history of empire and commonwealth that sets us apart; for Switzerland it is the tradition of neutrality, of being of Europe but not part of it. The EU's remote and unaccountable decision makers are the very antithesis of the direct democracy that Switzerland and its cantons aspire to.

Bern still has levers it can pull against the EU leviathan, not least its pivotal position in European trade. Huge amounts of it pass through its Alpine tunnels, and along its roads and railways. It would be easy to obstruct the unfettered transit rights the EU currently enjoys. This is potentially a much more powerful card than anything Britain had to play.

A further similarity with Brexit is the divide between business, which is broadly in favour of further integration into Europe, and the popular will, which is very much against it.  But even among businesses, there is no single voice. There are two halves to Switzerland's business community; the big multinationals such as Nesle, Roche and Swiss Re, all of which think and act in dollar terms and for whom, with subsidiaries all over the world, membership of the EU is of little importance.  Yet the bulk of employment is provided by the Swiss "mittelstand" of medium sized enterprises, many of them highly integrated into and dependent on Europe's single market. Here there is an evident mismatch between the perceived interests of the bosses, and the instincts of their workers.

Some kind of denouement is approaching. Much depends on how Britain fares, having rejected the half in, half out approach Switzerland has followed to date. If the UK prospers economically on the arm's length basis it has opted for, then Europe's single market loses its raison d'etre, and Switzerland will soon be following Britain into fully fledged divorce; in such circumstances, others will quickly follow.

 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' 

Detailed info on Galicia and Pontevedra city here. 

Covid 

The UK: Back on the pessimism downswing, thanks to the growing number of Indian-variant cases. The June 21 Freedom Date is now said to be hanging in the balance. The 7 day moving average of deaths has risen slightly to 8, from 6 four days ago. 

Unlike Spain, Portugal and (I think) Greece, France has placed restrictions on travellers from the UK because of said variant. Which is already widespread there.  

Cosas de España/Galiza

The Spanish (socialist) government is naturally looking for more taxes and is attempting to harmonise inheritance tax rules across its 17 regions. But the Galician government objects to imposed changes to our laws, under which we can reduce taxes by making lifetime gifts - via a notary, of course - to our kids. Our president had describe the new law(s) as an illegal violation of the the sovereignty, competences and civil law of the Galician people. He also doesn't like the prospect of the Xunta having to repay taxes on car registrations. I guess we're heading for the Constitutional Court. Nice for lawyers.

I was premature to says the government was going to pardon the Catalan politicians. For the Supreme Court has rejected the pardon as an unacceptable solution. Quite where this leaves things, I'm not at all sure. Some insight here.

Can you travel to Spain for your summer holidays? Possibly. It all depends.

Not that I go to the beach very often but this certainly has my support: For more than 2 years the organisation No Fumadores (No Smokers) has been gathering signatures aimed at transforming our 4,964km of coastline into areas free of cigarette smoke and discarded cigarette butts. And now a petition signed by more than 283,000 people calling for ban smoking at all its beaches has been delivered to the country’s environment minister.

 The UK 

As if we didn't know by now . . . Boris Johnson is the master of chaos and confusion. Bottom line . . . Johnson is not going to change. This method, after all, has got him to where he is today. That said, his career will, of course, end in failure - as all political careers do. But not just yet. 

I may yet get to vote in the 2024 general election: The government plans to scrap the arbitrary rule that prevents citizens from voting if they've lived abroad for more than 15 years. But it doesn't look as if, despite being a taxpayer, I'll ever be allowed to vote in a Spanish general election. Unless I become Spanish, rather than Irish, to regain my EU citizenship. 

The EU  

As its leaders sat down in Lisbon yesterday for talks re economic measures, the mad despot running Belarus said he'll flood the EU with migrants and drugs, if they impose sanctions because of his Ryanair heist. Not a nice chap. 

Switzerland: In the article below, AEP accuses the EU of being nasty to it. The EU, he avers, poisons relations with every neighbour. In a sense, he adds, the EU has made the same error as it did vis-a-vis the UK - being imperious and disrespectful. Tellingly,  Swiss support for EU membership is said to have collapsed to only 10% now, from around 50% in the early 1990s. Norway next?

Spanish

To be hanging in  the balance: Estar en tela de juicio. Or (better?) Pender de un hilo.

Finally  . . .  

My Irish nationality process was supposed to take 6-9 months but has already taken 18 and is still suspended because of Covid levels in Dublin. So, money down the drain at the moment. Fortunately, my pre-Brexit rights have been retained under the Brexit deal and, unlike Brits who ignored the many warnings/advice, I have my TIE to prove it.

THE ARTICLE 

Switzerland's ordeal ends all doubt: the EU poisons relations with every neighbour. The bloc has overplayed its hand and now risks a disorderly breakdown in relations - another pyrrhic victory for EU statecraft: Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, the Telegraph

The EU has ‘lost’ another country. It has overplayed its hand against Switzerland. It now risks a disorderly breakdown in a crucial diplomatic relationship with its fourth biggest trade partner.

While the US sustains a mostly amicable modus vivendi with a fully sovereign Canada, the EU is chronically at odds with its near abroad, forever seeking to extend its regulatory and judicial reach, and to impose its ideology. 

Switzerland’s rejection of its Framework Agreement with the EU after seven years of negotiating agony is a brave act of  defiance. Brussels long thought it would never come to this because the economic price for the Swiss would be too high, and because it assumed that pro-EU elites in Bern would succeed in slipping through the terms against the expressed wishes of their own voters.

Prof Carl Baudenbacher, the veteran president of the EFTA court until 2017, said the framework deal was essentially an attempt to hustle Switzerland into the European Economic Area by the back door, under the implicit jurisdiction of the European Court, and subject to ‘dynamic alignment’ with future EU laws.

Thomas Aeschi, parliamentary leader of the Swiss People’s Party, said cross-clauses in the text give the ECJ reach into tax codes, farming, healthcare, and cantonal state-aid policies. “We end up becoming a passive member of the EU without voting rights,” he said.

The EU’s maximalist push has failed because it was never going to get through the upper chamber representing the hardline cantons, or survive a referendum. The labour unions deem it a threat to Switzerland’s social model, undercutting the Swiss wage protection regime in a race to the bottom.

The political right balks at giving EU migrants access to the Swiss social security system, as if it were a birthright the moment they set foot in the country. Swiss negotiators say they must come with adequate funds: Brussels says Switzerland must swallow the EU’s Citizens’ Rights Directive with all its implications for political union. As the Swiss foreign minister put it, that would “constitute a paradigm shift in Switzerland's migration policy”. 

In a sense the EU has made the same error as did in its handling of the UK. Had Brussels been less imperious (and more respectful) in Brexit talks, it would have helped Theresa May keep the UK closely tied to the EU custom area as an economic satellite. 

Instead, the EU lost Britain altogether. It ended up with Boris Johnson and a much harder Brexit, with all kinds of consequences. One is that European exporters are now losing UK market share rapidly to global rivals; another is that the UK will move further into the US regulatory orbit. 

The Brexit deal also embroils the EU in co-responsibility for a Northern Irish settlement that is unworkable and will continue to poison EU-UK relations for years to come. This will have knock-on effects for security and defence, where the EU is often the demandeur. The rupture becomes final and total.

Switzerland is now in a delicate position. Some 120 bilateral accords will lapse one by one, progressively shutting the country out of the single market and its EU cooperation arrangements. This has already begun with the expiry of a deal on trade in medical devices.  Renewable certificates are next on the list.

EU negotiators weaponised energy linkages to browbeat the Swiss - a tactic used against the UK -  dialling down co-operation on power grids and network codes. This has disrupted intraday market flows. 

But energy is double-edged and the Swiss know it. Switzerland is a European power hub. Some 10pc of the EU’s electricity passes through 40 connection points on its territory. These are an economic lifeline for the Italian industrial heartland of Lombardy.

Swiss hydro-power - 60pc of its electricity output - is ‘dispatchable’ and needed to buttress intermittent renewables in the EU. It is the ‘Alpine battery’ for German and French solar power.

Prof Carl Baudenbacher wrote in the Brussels Reporter that the European Commission has ratcheted up the pressure over the years as a ruthless negotiating tactic, practising “a policy of punishment that is difficult to reconcile with good faith”. 

These include a “discriminatory refusal of stock exchange equivalence” since July 2019; threats to exclude it from the joint Horizon research programme: a refusal to update the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade and other accords; and even the exclusion of Switzerland from the EU system of Covid surveillance apps. All entail a degree of self-harm.

The view in Brussels is that Switzerland will be forced back to the table once the escalating cost of resistance becomes clearer. The working premise is that the failure is entirely Switzerland’s problem. The Swiss people can lump it, or leave it.

“The EU is always arrogant, inflexible, stroppy, and does not care about annoying neighbours, because for them there is no cost to it,” said Charles Grant from the Centre for European Reform. The Swiss are doubly vulnerable because they do not bring security and defence chips to the diplomatic table. 

But the result of this coercion policy over the years is that Swiss popular support for EU membership has collapsed to 10pc from around 50pc in the early 1990s. It has nurtured a simmering national resentment.

“The EU never learns. It keeps overloading its demands and trying to advance its judicial machine but this can never be a basis for a sustainable relationship. It keeps backfiring,” said Pieter Cleppe, former head of Open Europe in Brussels.

Norway is a different story, but the echoes are striking. The country has acquiesced, repeatedly and under threat, to EU directives that erode the solidarity principles of Nordic society, and in one case had to accept an ECJ ruling stripping Norway of its right to set basic employment protections for workers on its own soil.

Tensions are coming to a head again, this time over the EU’s energy package, which greatly increases the Commission’s power over management of natural resources. Norway’s opposition Centre Party wants to halt integration into the EU’s energy system and pull out of the regulatory agency ACER, a course that would lead to a Swiss-style showdown.

What is remarkable about EU statecraft is the lack of self-critique or any misgiving about the wisdom of provoking every country in its immediate orbit. You could argue that Russia and Turkey deserve it under their current leaders. But the pattern of insensitivity is common to all.

The question has to be asked: is it actually possible for a sovereign state in Europe to have good neighbourly relations with the EU?

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' 

Detailed info on Galicia and Pontevedra city here. 

Covid 

Below is the latest overview from MD of Private Eye. As I can't currently scan stuff, it's in the form of fotos. Apologies for that. Especially for the variable readability . . . Still worth a read..

Cosas de España/Galiza

Wise but rather unexpected . . . To the wrath of Vox, the Spanish PM is going to pardon the Catalan leaders jailed a few years ago for holding an illegal referendum.

As this report shows, some dropped mobile phones should be left where they lie. 

The wealthiest municipality in Spain is Pozuelo in north Madrid, where the average income is €28,300pa. The poorest is Níjar in Almería, at €7,300. I'm surprised the former isn't higher, given the national average of (I think) around €23,000.

As I neared my lunchtime terrace yesterday, looking for a table, I noticed an empty one with evidence of 4 absent customers. And then I clocked 4 teenage girls a little way off, all smoking. This is an aspect of Spanish culture which actually seems to have got worse in the 20 years I've been here. I guess things will change for the better, but when? And how many avoidable lung cancer deaths?

The UK 

That Cummings testimony . . . One observer: Boris Johnon’s former adviser provided a fascinating description of all he felt had gone wrong during the pandemic. The most important error was that nobody had believed the British people would assent to tough lockdown measures and other restrictions of civil liberties. This assumption underpinned a policy of suppression that was abandoned only when it was realised it would result in hundreds of thousands of avoidable deaths. Not only did this mean lockdown came too late, but also there was no planning for it, no policy for testing and no protection for care homes. This error was compounded by Johnson’s reluctance to impose restrictions at all, which led to further serious mistakes in the autumn. These were serious mistakes and people died because the government made them. In fact, this is fundamentally the same account as has appeared in newspapers for the past year. It is ironic, given that Cummings accuses reporters and pundits of being worthless, that he mainly confirmed that the media coverage was correct. 

How to be a true Brit: I’ve learnt that after writing a stiff email I must go back over it, inserting conditional phrases — “if you wouldn’t possibly mind” or “if that isn’t too much trouble” — to create the passive-aggressive tone which, bafflingly, constitutes politeness in at least southern Britain. 

The EU  

There might well be other governments here which were equally incompetent at the outset of Covid. Will they all be subjected to official Inquiries?

Spanish 

Ánimo! Take  your pick ,  . .

Come on! 

Chin up!

Go!  

Courage!

Cheer up! 

English

The latest euphemism: To be 'in microsleep': To nod off; fall asleep - at the wheel.

Finally  . . .  

Poppycock! (Rubbish!) comes from the old Dutch expression Zo fijn als gemalen poppekak:'As fine as powdered doll's crap'..

COVID: THE MD OVERVIEW

 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' 

Detailed info on Galicia and Pontevedra city here. 

Covid 

Spain: Island holidays are on the cards even if rest of country is on the amber list. The UK government pledge means the Canaries and the Balearics could be on the quarantine-free Green list, separately from the Amber Spanish mainland. Confused? Who isn't?

Cosas de España/Galiza

Good to read that Pontevedra's ICU occupation, at 17%, is now lower than it has been since last October. But I'm getting fed up with the mask nazis who point out my mine has slipped slightly below the tip of my nose. Roll on their disappearance 'promised' by the regional president

Not good to read: Galicia ranks 4th nationally as regards price increases since the start of the pandemic (3%). And it's not food or telephone bills that are to blame. Housing, gas and electricity are soaring to levels not seen in the last 20 years.

Big Guardia Civil (drugs?) operation close to my house this morning, with a chopper above a nearby block of council-owned flats* and over my garden. Shame my 2 year old grandson has gone back to Madrid and is missing the excitement.

* code words  . . . 

The UK 

This weekend, the reputation of LGBT charity Stonewall crashed as decisively as the British Eurovision entry, when it lost a key relationship with the Equality and Human Rights Commission. This is not a minor blip in the culture wars; it is the beginning of a reckoning against the woke authoritarianism that has gripped British institutions. Well, maybe. All to do with transgenderism.

Germany 

If you liked Merkel’s foreign policy, you’ll love Laschet’s. The leader of Germany’s Christian Democrats and Merkel’s would-be successor as chancellor gave a landmark foreign policy speech and it had a familiar ring to it.  Best summed up with his own boilerplate: “I share the chancellor’s position.” 

What about on Russia? “I wouldn’t change a thing,”

China? “A competitor and partner.”

The transatlantic relationship? “Europe’s place is on the side of the U.S. and Canada.”  “I share the chancellor’s position.” 

The USA

With Joe Biden preparing for his first trip abroad as president, European leaders are noticing a change in the transatlantic air. The hostile and nasty American arrogance of Donald Trump is gone, replaced by the more polite and friendly American arrogance that they remember — not always fondly — from their dealings with previous U.S. presidents.

A shame? A business that spent more than $1bn developing supersonic jets intended to replace Concorde has shut down after running out of money. It had hoped to begin commercial flights by 2026.

Persia

Am very sad to be missing this: Epic Iran — A study of an extraordinary civilisation. The history of Iran is the subject of a magnificent new show at the V&A. A mind-expanding experience. This link might well work for you.

Spanish

I see that you still have your nose to the grindstone: Ya veo que aún estás quemándote las pestañas.

Finally  . . .

Oh, dear.  . . . Your bird feeder could be messing with the natural pecking order, wreaking havoc on the local ecosystem. A study suggests that the spoils of bird feeders are not being divided fairly, with blue tits outcompeting more timid woodland rivals. That's in parts of the UK. In my garden, it's the greedy greenfinches which dominate the feeder, beating out the poor sparrows who used to have exclusive use. 

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' 

Detailed info on Galicia and Pontevedra city here. 

Covid 

The UK: There's growing optimism that June 21 will see total freedom, as fears about the Indian variant recede and the jabs continue to mount up.

Spain. A warning from the British government: In some parts of Spain - i. e. the Canary Islands  - a negative COVID-19 may be required when checking in to tourist accommodation. You should check this prior to travel.

Cosas de España/Galiza

This comment risks misinterpretation . . . The UK's media obsesses about pedophilia and the Spanish media does the same about 'gender violence', even though - as far as I can tell - the stats here are no worse than elsewhere and are lower than in, for example, the UK. That said, last week saw 6 women die at the hands of men. Experts speculate that the surge in murders may be related to the easing of lockdown restrictions. Gender-related murders fell to a historic low last year because, it is thought, men were able to control their partners without the need to use violence or kill them. Once mobility curbs were lifted and women sought to escape their captors the killings increased.

To my astonishment, they're going to use DNA testing to prove which of 5 candidate places really saw the birth of Christopher Columbus. Here in Poio, we know he was a Gallego, born just down the road. Where there's a museum dedicated to him on the site of his birthplace.  

So, was the computer item waiting for me at the IT shop last night? Of course not. After waiting 20 minutes, I was told it hadn't been sent because, on someone's reflection, it didn't do what I needed it to do. So, against my will, I resorted to Amazon and will have to wait another week.

María's Level Ground: Day 51. A different Santiago.  

The UK 

It's suggested that up to 100,000 desperate Brits will ignore government injunctions and go on pilgrimage to Amber Spain this week. Which will cost them at least and arm on tests and quarantine costs, and will probably de at the expense of medical insurance.

A propos . . . Here's the BBC on the current travel rules.

Boris Johnson might well be a global laughing stock but: The clock is ticking on Johnson’s people-pleasing. The prime minister’s brand of matey nationalism wins plaudits from fans but hides an emptiness behind the masquerade. See the harsh article - from a right-of centre -paper - below.

In case you live in a (British) cave . . . As of 'quite soon', there'll be a right-of-centre-but-certainy-not-Fox News-type TV news channel in the UK - GB News. To be available on Freeview, Freesat, Sky, YouView and Virgin Media. It won't provide rolling news but, instead, is expected to be a mix of news, opinion and debate. A la France 24? Or Moscow's RT?

English

‘Main character energy’: Generation Z uses this to positively describe themselves or others. While it originated as a meme, the idea of thinking of yourself as the primary character and romanticizing your own life actually has cognitive benefits. They say.

Finally  . . . 

The answers to yesterday's conundrums:- 

1. 5

2. 5

3. 47

Don't worry if you didn't get them right because . . .  One's quotient of rational ability has been called RQ, as opposed to IQ and this correlates imperfectly with IQ. You might still be clever. Sort of. 

Backcloth: Starting in the 20th century, psychologists began to realize that people use their analytical ability not to analyze, but rather to rationalize — that is, to conform observed facts to their preconceived biases. Understanding the two main reasons why humans do so lies at the heart of both individual and mass delusions. The first reason for the proclivity all of us—the smart, the dumb, and the average—have for such irrationality is that true rationality is extraordinarily hard work, and few possess the ability to do it. 

THE ARTICLE

The clock is ticking on Johnson’s people-pleasing. The prime minister’s brand of matey nationalism wins plaudits from fans but hides an emptiness behind the masquerade: Max Hastings, The (right-of-centre,Tory-supporting) Telegraph

Eight years ago Tim Montgomerie penned a Times column citing the Danish TV series Borgen, in which lead character Birgitte Nyborg breaks the political mould to form a Free New Democratic party. Montgomerie asked: “Don’t we need something like that in Britain?” He proposed a grouping of the centre right on crime, welfare and migration, committed to extending home ownership and cutting taxes on the poor.

Today, his dream has sort of come true. Britain is ruled by a government that, though called Conservative, is nothing of the sort. Trending right on culture, left on economics, it represents instead Johnsonian nationalism. People like me, who deplore the prime minister, nonetheless cannot dispute that he has remade British politics. This is an achievement that ensures his place in the history books, although it remains to be seen whether he winds up nudging his idol Winston Churchill, or instead Lord North.

The new party’s mastery derives from the prime minister’s personal popularity, rejection of Europe, a willingness to embrace any other policy that pleases a quorum of voters, and the brutal suppression of dissent. Even when the government incurs public wrath, as it has done by the chaos of its foreign holiday guidance, anger attaches to ministers rather than to their leader.

This evokes the wartime German catchphrase in the face of disaster: “If only the Fuhrer knew!” It explains Johnson’s stubbornness in indulging on his front bench proven inadequates and rogues. They serve as lightning conductors for failure; emphasise his own stature by their lack of political inches; rely for their bread upon his patronage. It is hard to imagine Gavin Williamson or Robert Jenrick, to name but two, reaching a shortlist for town dogcatcher if they lost their jobs.

No one can aspire to displace the prime minister who lacks a generous measure of his star quality, which argues that Rishi Sunak remains the only plausible contender. Johnson’s future troubles will come not from the opposition, but instead from Conservative MPs who recoil from his personality cult and from policy-making on Strictly voting principles.

As long as the pandemic persists, which seems likely to be many moons yet, so will the invisibility of other issues and of lesser politicians. Johnson’s licence to address the nation at will, without facing tough scrutiny from a shamefully tame media that defers to the national emergency, confers a huge advantage upon him. He has borrowed from the Trump playbook a contempt for rules and precedents: if he has the power to adopt a course, to promote a favourite or ignore a hostile regulatory verdict, he uses it, judging that his base does not care.

I wrote earlier this year that all politics has become vaccine politics. We remain so preoccupied with personal circumstances that our capacity to engage with other issues is slight.

In the historic narrative of Britain, the pandemic represents a temporary crisis alongside the enduring challenges: education, the post-Brexit threat to the financial services sector, infrastructure, climate change, incompetent policing, health and social care. But scarcely anybody outside think tanks is addressing these things.

The prime minister and his chancellor have drowned short-term discontents beneath a tidal wave of public money. Johnson offers pledges on social levelling-up, global trade deals, resolution of the post-Brexit Irish threat, improving education, reforming the railways. There is no evidence, however, that he possesses substantive policies for any of these things, nor even that he thinks deeply about them. He merely persists with doing what he does best: telling every audience what it wants to hear, not least that he will not attack their pockets.

“To govern is to choose” has been a truism since the phrase was first attributed to Pierre Mendes-France in 1954, though it is probably a couple of millennia older. Johnson, however, has transformed that principle into “to govern is to fudge”. He is a fundamentally weak man, save in his personal ambition, who hates to be forced to make decisions.

I do not doubt that he would like to make Britain a better place, where the trains run faster, schools educate, the north flourishes and carbon targets are met. But while he excels at articulating such objectives, he lacks the application, and sincere concern for others, to pursue them effectively. The government’s Integrated Review of defence exemplified this. It represents an admirable statement of where Britain would like to go, bereft of plausible explanations of how it might get there, especially since the prime minister has led us into isolation. Many British people feel more disdainful than for decades towards foreigners. A cynic might suggest that Johnson bribed French fishermen to blockade the Channel Islands on the eve of the Hartlepool by-election.

As a nation we are cursed by self-importance, a belief in our exceptionalism fed by recent events. How could the vaccinated British not feel smug when they gaze across the Channel towards so many unvaccinated Europeans?

Nobody much cares that, since Brexit, 10 per cent of bank assets have been transferred from London to the EU. Few people have read last month’s paper from the US Council on Foreign Relations, proposing a “concert of major powers” to conduct ongoing discussions about global issues. Its six-strong membership would comprise America, China, Russia, India, Japan and the EU. We are not mentioned. Practically, this does not matter, because the “concert” will never happen. But we should be sobered by the revelation that an influential transatlantic body is so dismissive of “global Britain”.

I wrote three years ago that, if Boris Johnson ever achieved his ambition to become prime minister, Britain would forgo any claim to be considered a serious country. I stick with that. The day will come when the British people again feel obliged to be serious, but probably not soon. With heroic complacency, many today think that, if we can only get the masks off, we shall be in a pretty good place. Would that this looked likely for our children.

Part of me hates myself for writing like this. Bleak reflections win few friends when there is a craving for good cheer, which the prime minister uses his remarkable blokeish gifts to assuage. But such thoughts demand expression if we are to retain some grip on reality, as distinct from the parody of it dispensed by No 10.

The pandemic is causing much that is not normal to happen all over the world. But some uniquely British not-normal stuff is also taking place. It seems important to keep flagging the weirdness of the presidential imposture and abolition of accountability that characterise the Johnsonian age, from which honesty, and thus moral authority, have sailed away on a balloon ride.

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' 

NOTE: Info on Galicia and my Guide to Pontevedra city here. 

Covid 

It seems that Brits can now visit Spain without proof of a test but will be quarantined when they get back. Whereas, for Portugal you must have proof of a test but won't quarantined on your return. And you won't be permitted to enter other EU countries until the UK is included on a White List, maybe in 2 weeks' time. So, no overall EU policy. 

As regards Spain, below is worrying advice for those planning to visit relatives or friends resident here. Have you heard of the carta de invitaćion? As the writer says, there's a lot of confusion. And as the Sunday Times cartoonist puts it this morning . . .

Cosas de España/Galiza

Spain's utility companies are (very) slowly moving away from the monopolistic, high fixed-charges, screw-the-consumer model. Here's something on this in respect of electricity. As regards water, the bills from my monopoly supplier continue to confuse me, as - even when my volume is nil - the cost can vary by 20%. Is there a global market in water?

It's never wise to be optimistic re a shopping expedition in Spain, especially when you've ordered something and been given a collection date. A brief conversation in the IT shop yesterday at 11am:-

Hola. I ordered something  3 days a via Miguel. Has it arrived?

Miguel who?

Miguel your boss.

He's not here and he's said nothing to me about it. 

When will he be here?

Soon. Maybe in half an hour.

Needless to say. 1. I didn't wait, and 2. I wasn't surprised, or even disappointed. I'll return on Monday evening.

Check for your name here. I'm astonished to see mine featured. I'm guessing a lot of mature Brits down South. 

Quote of the Day  

Starting in the 20th century, psychologists began to realize that people use their analytical ability not to analyze, but rather to rationalize—that is, to conform observed facts to their preconceived biases. Understanding the 2 main reasons why humans do so lies at the heart of both individual and mass delusions. The first reason for the proclivity all of us—the smart, the dumb, and the average—have for such irrationality is that true rationality is extraordinarily hard work, and few possess the ability to do it. Further, the facility for rationality correlates imperfectly with IQ.

Finally  . . .

Well, the annual something-fest which is the Eurovision song contest - incorporating Israel and Australia - was won by a rock group from that stalwart of the rock music industry, Italy. As is the norm these days, the UK got no points at all, both from the national juries and the country phone-ins. Spain didn't fare much better. An interesting wrinkle(?) - Three countries with a history of good rock music - the UK, The Netherlands and Denmark - gave very few points to the Italian effort at this genre. Which must say something. But I don’t suppose the Italians care.

My daughter and my 2 year old grandson have been here for a week. The things that no longer work are:-

- My backup laptop

- The water pump

- The Sky TV remote-control, and

- The oven

Actually, I've 'fixed' the oven this morning. Somehow a child lock safety measure had been turned on. I'm guessing by a child.

VISITING RELATIVES OR FRIENDS RESIDENT IN SPAIN FROM THE UK?

Something those of you need to be aware of.

There is a requirement in Spain (and probably all other EU countries) that all visitors from non EU countries have the means if challenged at the point of entry to prove that they have return transport tickets, the means to support themselves whilst here and registered accommodation. In theory, it's to stop people coming here on holiday and deciding to stay, becoming a burden on the state.

So what, you say. Well, it's the bit about accommodation. If you plan to stay in the homes of friends or family, you need to produce a carta de invitaćion - an official form provided by your hosts via the police. Your hosts need to go to the local police office a month beforehand, fill out an application form for every person coming, pay €74 per person visiting, go back 3 weeks later to pick up the document, then email it to you so you can produce it at the border control when challenged. 

No form, no entry.

It's not clear how those with a 2nd home in Spain will be treated. It is clear that only those with resident status can apply for the carta de invitaćion, which rules out these people. If they wish to rent out their holiday homes, they need to be officially registered with the tourist authority and pay for the annual licence, then issue their rental clients with the appropriate confirmation of booking paperwork. 

What people need to do who only want to provide their holiday home without charge to friends and family is still not clear.

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' 

NOTE: Info on Galicia and my Guide to Pontevedra city here. 

Covid 

Spain has called on the British government to relax restrictions for visitors to regions with low contagion rates. Fat chance, I suspect.

Cosas de España/Galiza

The Prime Minister has confirmed that from next Monday, travellers from the UK, Japan New Zealand, South Korea or China will be able to enter Spain without undergoing quarantine or showing a negative PCR test. I wonder if Brits wanting to avoid quarantine on returning home, can use Oporto, Lisbon or Faro as starting and ending points for their Iberian adventure.

More here on how to beat the ’90 days in 180’ restriction.

It's official: Some laws in Spain are not real laws and can be ignored with impunity. Until the police decide to implement them. The head of the Traffic Department has admitted they've been going easy on cyclists, ignoring offences so as to promote the use of bikes. But now, he says, the time has come for them to meet their obligations. By which I think he means the cyclists, not the police. We'll see. As with the e-scooters which whiz around pedestrian areas at more than 20kph.

Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas relates the story of a Spanish coast guard arresting a jet-ski driver in the summer of 2014 under the impression he’d caught a narcotráficante. The driver had no papers but insisted - rightly - he was the king of Morocco and so he didn’t need any bloody papers. Cue embarrassed cop.

I wonder if anyone (Lenox?) knows the answer to the perpetual conundrum - Why do Spanish estate agents(realtors) never email you the details they've promised to? Despite earning 3% on a sale.

Good news for older Spanish men . . . British writer Elaine Kingett, who's 71, has tried Badoo and Lovoo - never heard of them - from her home in Sevilla and says Spanish men do it better. I'm not sure what.

María's Level Ground: 47 & 48: Compassion.  

The EU  

A decision in Brussels to add the UK to an EU “white list” of countries whose tourists will be welcome this summer is to be delayed due to concerns over the Covid variant first identified in India. EU diplomats were expected to use a revised threshold of infection cases to extend the list of countries at a meeting yesterday but the decision has been put back by 2 weeks. 

Germany

AEP says there's real concern about the growing inflation rate which - given the traditional German concern about (obsession with?) this measure -  has ramifications for the direction of the entire EU economic policy. Probably more so for the poorer southern members than the richer northern ones. 

The USA

Some books make you so angry you want to chuck rocks at the bad guys they expose. This book - ‘Empire of Pain’ by Patrick Radden Keefe  - is one of those. It's an exposé of the Sackler family that allegedly fuelled opioid pain-killer addiction in America and is jaw-dropping. This addiction has killed 500,000, more than died in all the wars the country has fought since 1945, and has cost the country more than $80 billion a year a healthcare and other costs. There’s so much greed and venality that it is hard to know where to begin,

Quotes of the Day:   

1. A young  person: If you find e-bikes an irritating accident waiting to happen, not eco-cool transport, you’re over 40. 

2. A doctor: E-scooters are the adults’ garden trampoline: both keep the hospitals Accident & Emergency department nice and busy.

Finally  . . .

The collared doves seem to be building a nest in my bougainvillea again. So as to avoid scaring them off, I've had to lower the blind on a window and lock the door into the garden below the bougainvillea. Which is a bit of a nuisance and I guess I won’t be too pleased if they do breed there this year and keep me awake with their incessant cooing come the dawn.

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' 

NOTE: Info on Galicia and my Guide to Pontevedra city here. 

Covid 

Spain: 

1. Down to medium risk. The 4th wave hasn't been as bad as earlier waves and a 5th one might not happen. But not enough and all rather belated for the tourism industry.  

2. A new warning for holidaying Brits: Passengers who meet entry requirements may be asked to demonstrate sufficient funds for their stay, present a return or onward ticket, and proof of accommodation. Details here, I think.

The UK. Good news: Infection rates are clearly rising in only 3 out of 15 Indian variant hotspots, easing fears about how quickly it spreads. Cases in the over 60s are not rising in any of the areas currently subject to surge testing outside Bolton. This is seen as an encouraging sign that the vaccines are protecting the most vulnerable.

Cosas de España

Here's Guy Hedgecoe on an event which the Spanish media regards as cataclysmic. 

A nice little article - to which I can relate - from Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas, to which I owe 1 or 2 of today’s items

And, talking of  villages . . . Olvera is given an award. Another reason to go again to Cádiz.

Portugal 

Holidaying in Spain will cost about €580 euros in various tests because London has kept us on the list of risk countries. Many tourists (of those we need so much) will think about it and perhaps change Benidorm for Portimão, because to travel between the UK and Portugal needs no test. The advantages of having the pandemic under control.

The UK 

"Quite a few” countries are on the cusp of joining the green list for quarantine-free holidays at the beginning of June, Boris Johnson is claimed to have said - Malta, Grenada, Cayman Islands, Fiji, British Virgin Islands, Finland and Caribbean islands including Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis, Turks and Caicos and Anguilla. But not Spain, France, Italy or Greece. Just possibly the Spanish and Greek islands.

Quote of the Day:   

Od but still true, from Raymond Chandler:- Man has always been a venal animal. The growth of populations, the huge costs of war, the incessant pressure of confiscatory taxation – all these things make him more and more venal. The average man is tired and scared, and a tired, scared man can’t afford ideals. He has to buy food for his family. In our time we have seen a shocking decline in both public and private morals. You can’t expect quality from people whose lives are a subjection to a lack of quality. You can’t have quality with mass production. You don’t want it because it lasts too long. So you substitute styling, which is a commercial swindle intended to produce artificial obsolescence. Mass production couldn’t sell its goods next year unless it made what is sold this year look unfashionable a year from now. We have the whitest kitchens and the most shining bathrooms in the world. But in the lovely white kitchen the average [person] can’t produce a meal fit to eat, and the lovely shining bathroom is mostly a receptacle for deodorants, laxatives, sleeping pills, and the products of that confidence racket called the cosmetic industry. We make the finest packages in the world, Mr Marlowe. The stuff inside is mostly junk.

Finally  . . .

I read that the Traffic police have - logically - been adjusting the times of their patrols to the beginning of the curfew. Which explains why, after 20 years of none, I've been tested twice in the last 6 months at 9pm. I'm not in the habit of going home after a heavy lunch at 5pm or after dinner at 2 or 3 in the morning.

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' 

NOTE: Info on Galicia and my Guide to Pontevedra city here. 

Covid 

The EU: Has said it will be open [not sure when*] without a need for quarantine or testing to fully vaccinated travellers making non-essential trips from countries with low Covid-19 infection rates. The UK and the USA are expected to be on the list.

But: 

Holidays aren't seen as non-essential, as least not by the UK government. A government minister has insisted Brits aren't allowed to holiday in Amber countries such as Spain. Not surprisingly, the  tourism industry has warned that 'mixed messages' are risking disaster for it. More that 70% of British travel companies are said to be selling holidays in Amber countries. Which can only end in tears for some. And possibly some law suits.

*Stop-press:  Diplomatic sources suggest that ears about the spread of the Indian variant will delay an EU decision to allow easier access for British tourists, including those fully vaccinated. A decision to add Britain to the safe travel list was expected tomorrow but growing concern about clusters of the Indian variant could cause a delay.

Cousas de España

Politics: Some good news from Cataluña?

Economics: Definitely some good - if surprising - news for the entire country

There is 'A high-profile spat is taking place between the boss of Banco Santander, Ana Botín, and a chap who thinks he was appointed its CEO but suddenly wasn't. This is said to  have transfixed Europe’s banking industry. Though possibly no the rest of us.

Cousas de Galiza

María's Level Ground: Days 44-46.  Uh, uh. It seems that, with the state of alarm gone, everyone thinks the pandemic is over. 

Driving in and around Pontevedra city, I see no evidence yet of the reduced speed limits. So, I wonder what the legal situation is for those who haven't read the State Bulletin and abide by the (incorrect?) signs still in place.

The USA

The US state attorney-general has said that  an investigation into the Trump Organisation is no longer purely civil but had become a criminal one. This doesn't mean anyone's guilty of anything, of course . . .

The Way of the World

Oh, good . . . Google is to offer users help with gender-neutral language. Just when I was beginning to get a bit desperate . . . Am so pleased to know I'll be reminded not to write things like 'chairman'. But what about 'he' and 'she'?

The Twitter account of a Vox politician was temporarily suspended this week after he wrote that a man can't get pregnant because he has no womb or eggs. According to Twitter, this amounted to the incitement of hatred. I guess that, if one person anywhere in the world felt hated, this was accurate in today's non-judgmental, (hyper)sensitive world. The man should be hung. But only because he’s a member of Vox.

Spanish 

Los bafles: Baffles, or loudspeakers/'cabinets'. Singular Un bafle: 1. La pantalla o caja acústica que mejora la calidad del sonido de un altavoz. 2. El altavoz de un equipo de sonido. There’s no long an excuse to be baffled by this word . . .

Quote of the Day: The most dangerous 4 words in the English language, especially in the context of finance/economics - 'It's different this time'.

Finally  . . .

Well, I might have managed to evade the Covid virus over 12 months but not the bloody common cold virus brought here by my daughter and grandson from Madrid. Not to mention  a cough. Así son las cosas.

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' 

NOTE: Info on Galicia and my Guide to Pontevedra city 

Covid 

Spain:

1. Good news. And the bestof it is that Galicia has one of the lowest death rate, and relatively empty ICUs. .

2. More good news.

Cousas de España

See below an Economist article on Spanish politics of the last 10 years. A case of dashed hopes? Or even worse? Given that The ‘indignados’ broke more than they managed to build.  

And a bit more on the socialist PM here.

Cousas de Galiza

Passing the bottom of a street in the city centre last night I noticed 2 things. Firstly, the zebra crossing there had been painted over and, secondly, that - in a single-lane street - there were parked cars facing both directions. Returning 30 minutes later, I noticed 2 more things. Firstly, the cars were all facing the same direction (albeit a different one from yesterday) and, secondly, there were 2 local policemen standing in the middle of the road, 50m apart. I asked one of them if the street was now 2-way. ’No’, he said. ‘We’re just changing it round’. This was at midday, not midnight. As I said the other day, things here do happen in sequence but not necessarily in the right order. And, as I’ve also said, the changes in traffic direction are frequent. It’s almost as if our (world famous city-planning) mayor wants to dissuade drivers from coming into his city.

Finally  . . .

There is a corner of St Helens which will be forever Spain . . .

THE ARTICLE 

Ten years after Spain’s indignados protests, Spanish politics are still broken.

On May 15th 2011 some 20,000 mainly young, middle-class Spaniards occupied the Puerta del Sol, in the heart of Madrid, angry at austerity and the sense of entitlement among politicians and bankers. Organised through social media and calling themselves los indignados (“the indignant ones”), it was a new kind of protest movement, one that would be swiftly copied elsewhere, notably by Occupy Wall Street and Occupy London later that year.

Initially enjoying broad public support, the indignados shook Spain to the core. Within three years they helped to spawn two new national political parties, Podemos on the left and Ciudadanos on the centre-right. In 2015 these parties grabbed 34% of the vote between them. A stable political system long based on the Socialists and the conservative People’s Party (PP) fragmented. The result has been four general elections in the past six years, none of which has produced a majority government.

A decade on, Spain is in many ways a different country. The legacy of the indignados is palpable but far from straightforward. “May 15th was a great outburst of dismissal,” says Carolina Bescansa, a sociologist who took part and was one of the founders of Podemos. “The consensus was on what we didn’t want. We didn’t want more cuts, we didn’t want corruption and we didn’t want that way of doing politics behind the backs of citizens.”

On the first two points the movement achieved changes. Unlike the policy during the slump of 2008-12, Spain’s government has spent heavily to protect household income during the pandemic, partly thanks to more accommodating policies from the European Central Bank and the European Commission. “Corruption still exists but there’s no longer impunity,” says Ms Bescansa. Dozens of politicians and bankers have been jailed over the past decade. Banks treat people with mortgages better. The indignados also heralded a generational change, as new political leaders rose through the introduction of party primaries. At 49, Pedro Sánchez, the Socialist prime minister since 2018, is the oldest of the national party leaders.

But in other ways remaking Spanish politics has proved elusive. Last year Podemos entered government as the Socialists’ junior partner in Spain’s first coalition government since the 1930s. But Podemos itself has changed. It began as a broad left-populist outfit, with some similarities to Italy’s Five Star Movement. In 2015 its leader, Pablo Iglesias, hoped to displace the Socialists, just as Syriza, another insurgent party, did in Greece. Podemos peaked in 2016 when it won 21% of the vote. It has declined ever since, as Mr Iglesias ruthlessly sidelined his fellow leaders and mimicked the Communist Party, with which he allied. He stepped down as a deputy prime minister to run in Madrid’s regional election on May 4th, but did poorly. He then announced his resignation from politics.

The best chances of renewal were squandered. In 2016 the Socialists and Ciudadanos, with 130 of 350 parliamentary seats between them, agreed on a programme of political and economic reforms but were thwarted when others refused to let them govern. An election in April 2019 gave the two a combined majority of 180 seats. But Albert Rivera, Ciudadanos’s leader, had steered his party to the right and was set on a bid to displace the PP. It failed, too. Mr Sánchez showed no interest in wooing him. By then the two “detested each other”, writes Ramón González Férriz in a book on why regeneration failed.

“The opportunity for reform is no longer on the table,” says Pablo Simón of Carlos III University in Madrid. “Now there’s a different logic, of polarisation.” That dynamic was at work when Mr Sánchez, with the help of Catalan and Basque nationalists as well as Podemos, toppled a PP government with a censure motion over corruption in 2018. It was intensified by the rise of another new party, Vox, a hard-right splinter from the PP, initially in response to the threat of Catalan separatism.

Polarisation reached a new low in a nasty campaign for the recent snap election on May 4th in Madrid, which saw death threats, mailed with bullets, against six politicians, starting with Mr Iglesias. Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the PP regional president, campaigned against Mr Sánchez, rather than her local rivals, under the banner of “freedom”—to keep taxes light and bars open despite the pandemic. This message and her spontaneous manner resonated far more with madrileños, weary of lockdowns, than Mr Iglesias’s overheated claim to be fighting “fascism”. Ms Díaz Ayuso doubled the PP’s vote and came close to an absolute majority of seats. The Socialists suffered a heavy defeat and were overtaken by Más Madrid, a regional party of dissidents from Podemos driven out by Mr Iglesias. Vox failed to gain much. Ciudadanos lost all its seats in the regional assembly, a failure that could prove terminal.

In some ways this result points to the resilience of the old two-party system, wounded though it remains. It suffers from “two very disruptive parties at the extremes” in Vox and Podemos, Mr González warns. Mr Iglesias’s departure, like Mr Rivera’s last year, underlined their failure to forge a “new politics”. A decade on, the politicians look just as disconnected from the voters. But citizens’ rage has given way to disillusion, aggravated by the pandemic’s destruction of lives and livelihoods. Five years of vigorous economic growth from 2014 to 2019 failed to restore Spaniards’ trust in their politicians and their institutions, among the lowest of any country in the European Union. 

The indignados broke more than they managed to build.  

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' 

NOTE: Info on Galicia and my Guide to Pontevedra city here.  

Covid 

The UK: According to new data released by theOffice of National Statistics, between  January, 2020 and the end of February, 2021, non-religious people were less likely to die from COVID compared to every religious group. Within religious groups, higher mortality rates were seen for people identifying as Muslim than for all other religious groups. Not terribly surprising, of course, given anti-science attitudes in religious communities.

Cosas de España

For those with a deep interest in Spanish politics, here’s an article on the brief life of the centrist Ciudadanos party, now heading for oblivion. Whatever that suggests.

Cousas de Galiza

An incident in our drug trafficking capital . . . In Vilagarcía, a traffic accident ended in the settling of scores with an axe to the head.

Well, wouldn't you be worried? . . . The workers of A Lama prison are concerned about the arrival of Norber Feher, or 'Igor the Russian', whose criminal record is extensive. In addition to the triple murder for which he must serve a life sentence, he had already been convicted of killing several policemen and civilians in cold blood in Italy. Not content with this, he was recently responsible for an incident in Dueñas prison in which 5 officials were injured. He looks perfectly normal, of course.

Galicia has the reputation for more feismo(ugliness) than elsewhere. So, it's good to read that: The next stage in the fight against ugliness in Galicia will be a guide from an advisory body of the Xunta on how to improve things in historic areas, the countryside and industrial estates, providing good-practice recommendations on the design, location and size of posters and signs of both commercial or informative character. Wonder if it will make any difference.

Portugal 

Unemployment rose by 70% in the past year in the Algarve, the region most reliant on tourism, so locals are delighted to see yesterday's arrivals from the UK. And from Germany I'd guess.

The EU  

The EU finally has its vaccine rollout on track but history will still judge it a loser. There will be economic and political fallout.

Meanwhile . . . EU divisions over Israel-Palestine leave Brussels powerless as the conflict worsens. The bloc has long failed to find a common position on the intractable conflict in Middle East. See the article here.

English

What is difficult is to find a full consensus on Israel. What, I wonder, is a partial consensus.

Quote of the Day: Variant caution risks becoming an excuse never to return to normality.

Finally  . . . 

Yesterday, it was almost too hot to sit in the sun. Today, the rain is falling from a cloudful sky and the temperature has fallen 10 degrees. Tomorrow, the sun will return, but just for the day. The perils of living on the Atlantic coast.

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' 

 NOTE: Info on Galicia and my Guide to Pontevedra city here. 

Covid 

Spain. So now we know . . . The Spanish government blames lack of trustworthy data on its slow response to the pandemic. The National Security Council says that decisions on how to address the crisis were made with “partial or out-of-date information”. More here on this. One wonders how different this was from every other European country, including the UK - in contrast with Asian countries.

Cosas de España and Galiza 

More bad news for Spain . . . Brits' holiday plans are thrown into chaos by Covid variants, as they're urged to stay away from Amber list countries such as Spain, Italy, France and Greece. Because: Swathes of Europe are largely unvaccinated.

This won't help. . . Appeals for calm fell on deaf ears as revellers filled Barcelona’s streets after the Covid curfew ended. Mass street drinking sessions, or 'botellones', erupted over the weekend after the Spanish government lifted a 6-month state of emergency. Crowds hugged, danced and sang on the city’s streets, with the largest groups gathering on the beaches. Many partygoers were not wearing masks despite it remaining mandatory in all public places in Spain, both inside and outdoors. Perhaps Spain needs a new motto to replace Spain is Different. Maybe: Fun can be fatal.

More here on the plans to change the social security payment system for the self-employed(los autonomos).

Europe's only 'true' desert?

María's Level Ground: Days 41-43

Portugal 

Brits (and Germans, I guess) are flooding back as of today.

Quote of the Day: Moral superiority is the curse of our times.

Finally  . . 

Today is a holiday in Galicia - Galician Literature Day. So, much/most/all of the text in our 10-15(sic) regional papers will be in Gallego. I might get to read bits of some of them.

Oh, yes. To add to my woes of yesterday, my coffee machine broke this morning. Though, in this case, I did manage to fix it. But both laptops are still malfunctioning - well, Apple products are so cheap, what can you expect? - and today the IT stores here in Galicia are, of course, all closed.

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'  

NOTE: Info on Galicia and my Guide to Pontevedra city here.  

Covid  

That newish Indian variant: Everything depends on its transmissibility . . . . If it is just 10-20% more transmissible, we will only see a mild bump in new hospitalisations. But if it’s 30-50% more transmissible, the numbers of infections will grow so large that hospitalisations will quickly rocket beyond the heath service's capacity to cope. “At this point in the [UK]vaccine rollout, there are still too few adults vaccinated to prevent a significant resurgence that ultimately could put unsustainable pressure on the NHS, without non-pharmaceutical interventions. If the Indian variant does have such a large transmission advantage, it is a realistic possibility that progressing with all relaxation steps would lead to a substantial resurgence of hospitalisations”.

Cosas de España/Galiza

Bad news. Diminishing optimism?

Good news? The government is reported to be backing off its proposal to make all main roads tollroads in 2024

Someone up in La Coruña has been defrauded by ‘a Frenchman’ who advertised a  €30,000 watch on a false web page. I wonder if it was the owner of Inditex/Zara, the richest chap in Spain. I mean, who else buys a watch at this price?

I’m told you can get a quick turn-round PCR test in Vigo for €30. The UK price range seems to be €70-170. I’ve no idea what accounts for the massive difference, as there seems to be plenty of competition in the UK. 

The Way of the World/Social Media

Taking things to their logical extreme . . . We aren't even free to to retain books in Navaho, Swahili and Euskara.

Free society is finished if we fail to resist this new Dark Age of unreason.  See the article below.

Quote of the Day

I understand the requirement to “get things working again” post Covid. But could we not retain at least something of the modesty and simplicity that has been imposed upon us these past 15 months? Shopping locally, spending less, travelling less and taking a greater pleasure in the natural world? That may be the gift of Covid: a realisation that not everything we did before was terribly good for us, or for the planet.

Harry and Meghan are poster children for a strange new kind of ‘activism’ that manages to be cringey, preachy, narcissistic, faintly ridiculous and incredibly remunerative at the same time. 

Finally  . . 

This post is late today simply because I forgot, because of grandfather duties, to write it. And also because I now have charging and printing challenges with both my old laptop and my newish one which I’ve been trying to fix. Another thing I’m trying to do is not kill my daughter for causing one of the problems. Temporarily revised priorities, you might say.

THE ARTICLE 

Free society is finished if we fail to resist this new Dark Age of unreason. With the old arguments over, we’re living through an era in which rational debate itself is rejected: Janet Daley, The Telegraph

Many years ago someone who was not remotely sympathetic to Communism told me that he dreaded the collapse of the Soviet Union because the Cold War balance of threat between the two superpowers was the only thing preventing global chaos. If the USSR ceased to exist, he said, what would follow would be endless outbursts of nationalist territorial disputes and terrorist adventurism. What was then called the Third World (because it was outside the two main power blocs) would no longer be bribed and bullied into some kind of order by the competing interests of East and West and so would be abandoned to its own anarchic ends.

That may or may not have been a sound analysis. You may feel, looking at the Middle East and Afghanistan, that there was something in it. But there was an even more cataclysmic consequence of the end of that almost century-long ideological confrontation between the communist bloc and the West which we are living through now. The Cold War which dominated the politics (and culture) of the twentieth century was not just a military confrontation, it was an argument: a substantive, sometimes cynical but nonetheless genuine, disagreement about how people should live. To engage in it – even to understand it – required knowledge of basic principles, an ability to marshal evidence, a willingness to enter into debate.

In the West where it was legally possible to converse about these things, there was ongoing and very serious discussion of the merits of capitalism and private enterprise vs state ownership of property and a command economy. Occasional fits of repression, or attempts to suppress such debate, would flare up but they never really succeeded in extinguishing the fundamental notion that this was, by its very nature, a conflict of ideas which had to be examined on their merits.

Now that great argument is over. Totalitarian communism is either utterly discredited (as in Russia) or persists in name only (as in China where it has been replaced by totalitarian state capitalism). Both of those nations have more or less reverted to their ancient traditions of tyrannical rule without too much resistance from their populations. It is in the West where the vacuum has caused the most trauma.

In the void left by the absence of that huge, all-embracing disagreement, what has emerged? A rejection of rational dispute itself, a retreat from reasoned debate, of arguments that follow from first principles, of defending a conclusion with evidence or paying due respect to conflicting viewpoints: in short, a culture war in which no ground can ever be given.

Marxism and capitalism in their original doctrinal forms had grown directly out of the Enlightenment: the whole point was to construct political and economic systems that would be beneficial to the majority and which could compete for general approval. Both were corrupted and distorted by human frailties but their idealistic intentions were based on theories and values that could be articulated and defended. As indeed they were, so extensively and exhaustively that people, not infrequently, changed their minds – were converted or “turned” in the case of intelligence agents.

What has replaced all that? Public discourse does not consist of competing arguments any more: it isn’t a proper discussion at all. It is a diatribe in which one side tries to destroy, or prohibit, or totally suppress the other. We have returned to a Dark Age where reason and actual disputation are considered dangerous: where views contrary to those being imposed by what are often nothing more than activist cults can be criminalised. Not only must those who now hold opinions which breach orthodoxy be banned but historic figures who could not possibly have anticipated current social attitudes must be anathematised as well.

Where have we seen this before in the West? When religious authority determined the truth and could prohibit any dissent – when books that might lead to subversive, unacceptable thoughts could become prohibited texts forbidden to anyone not given specific permission to read them. By an extraordinary irony, the Vatican’s list of prohibited books, the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (which was only abolished in 1966), included two great Enlightenment thinkers, David Hume and John Locke, who are currently under attack by the new Inquisition which seeks to root out any historic connection with the slave trade.

What is significant is not the modern views that are being propounded but the way they are being enforced. The question is not whether you approve of these opinions but whether you accept that they must not be questioned, subjected to examination, or disputed. Much has been said about the “illiberalism” of what now presents itself as liberal opinion but what is happening goes way beyond simple intolerance. It is a return of something no thinking person expected to see again in the rational West: the banishment, or the hunting down, or the deliberate ruination, not just of explicit opposition but of coincidental association with a tainted position.

This isn’t so much the Middle Ages – which had its own high standards of intellectual rigour even when it was condemning Galileo for heresy: it is a kind of enforced blindness to the process of reason. As a result, the only arguments that may be permitted are about detail within the orthodoxy: do trans rights take precedence over those of biological women? Which forms of speech for describing contentious identities are permissible? How far back must historic guilt be traced?

So we are arguing about how many angels can stand on the head of a pin. What is worse is that once you have devalued argument and evidence, you have no defence against superstition and hysteria: the lunatic conspiracy theorists and the social control fanatics have as much legitimacy as anyone.

This new Dark Age, with its odd combination of narcissism and self-loathing, is a threat nobody saw coming. If the institutions that should resist – universities, the arts, and democratic governments – fall before it, the free society is finished, defeated more resoundingly than it would ever have been by the old enemy.

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' 

NOTE: Info on Galicia and my Guide to Pontevedra city here. 

Covid  

Spain. More optimism?

The UK: In contrast, pessimism. The newish Indian variant, being more transmissible and possibly vaccine-resistant, could kaibosh plans for relaxations and delay the return to whatever normal used to be. Overseas summer holidays for Brits are looking less and less likely. You’d have to be pretty optimistic/stupid to book a holiday right now.

An interesting article on Ivermectin and its non-use. A minority view seems to be gaining wider acceptance.

Cosas de España/Galiza 

Mark Stücklin returns to the subject of squatters here, with a warning for those planning to buy property in Spain. Especially those who plan to leave it empty some of the time.

Those new speed limits . . . A foto guide. Not at all confusing. If you never exceed 20kph, you should be OK. Though not in Pontevedra city's one-way streets, of course.

Here's an article on the cleaning of Santiago cathedral. For some reason, the before and after fotos aren’t of the main facade, even though it’s no longer covered in blue plastic, I believe. As for the beautiful Puerta de Gloria, it used to be free to see this but, now it’s been re-painted, this costs €12. Maybe even more now.

I read yesterday about wild boar marauding in our hills but, as yet, nothing as outrageous as this . . . In the latest example of wild boars wreaking havoc in Italy, a group of them cornered a woman in a supermarket car park and stole her shopping.

Portugal 

A 2nd volte face in within 2 days. Now the Portuguese government has returned to the assurance Brits will be allowed into Portugal from Monday, May 17. Not May 30 May. Despite EU ‘rules’. Hence:-

The UK 

One wonders what this signifies: More than 5m EU citizens living in the UK have applied for settled status, nearly double the number thought to be residents before the 2016 referendum.

Religious Nutters/Crooks Corner

My favourite religious nutter: Self-proclaimed Christian “prophetess” Kat Kerr, who thinks there’s football in Heaven, that God will put back any baby lost through a miscarriage, and that God keeps a warehouse in Heaven for anyone who needs (for example) a new kidney, now claims she has definitive proof of angels. Kerr now says she has a picture of “Heaven’s Army” dragging demons, in chains, past the roof of her house. Just imagine what would have happened to this woman in, say, the 15th century. Or even the 19th.

English

The neologism cheugy: Pronounced chew-gee.

1. Used on the internet to denote lifestyle trends characteristic of the early 2010s, seen as the opposite of trendy or as trying too hard. Hence cheugs.

or

2. Aesthetics/people/experiences that are basic. Broadly, someone who's out of date.  

Finally  . . .

Irritating things on (British) TV

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' 

NOTE: Info on Galicia and my Guide to Pontevedra city here. 

My thanks to Lenox Napier of Business Over Tapas for a couple of today's items. 

Cosas de España 

Spain hopes to welcome around 45 million foreign tourists this year, just over half the pre-pandemic total registered in 2019, when it was the second-most visited country in the world. Which sounds more than a tad optimistic to me.

Politics: The bogeyman of the right wing - pony-tailed Pablo Iglesias - has retired from the game, after years of appalling abuse from right wing opponents. Giles Tremlett reviews here his impact on Spanish politics, averring that he changed it profoundly, as his party - Podemos - was the first insurgent party to break up the longstanding and corrupt Socialist-PP duopoly. Meaning that now, each of these must rule with a coalition partner or two. 

Be careful when buying your saffron. The police have cracked down on a crime ring passing off 'cheap' Iranian stuff as Spanish. We're told there was a shadowy business network that allegedly used complex financial transactions, real estate purchases and front men to hide profits, while setting up secret warehouses where saffron would be weighed and sorted.  

I've always been  confused by the attitude of the Spanish government to the self-employed - autonomos - forcing them to pay very high social security contributions from the first day. In recent years, a discount has been applied for a short initial period but the current (socialist) government is proposing to markedly reduce contributions for early-stage entrepreneurs and compensate by markedly increasing them for later stage folk. It's said that the Tax Office (La Hacienda) is particularly suspicious of the self-employed, perhaps with some  justification.

Cousas de Galiza 

Two or three years ago, the Pontevedra council said it was going to introduce a limit of 10kph in the city and I believe I did see a sign or two in evidence of this. But I also noted that no one seemed to be obeying it so wasn’t surprised when the signs disappeared. Yesterday, I saw a report that this limit is going to be (re)introduced for the city's one-way streets. Of which there are many. Last night I tried to keep to this and, of course, couldn't get out of first gear. And Lenox Napier has written somewhere that, on a motorbike, you'll fall over at this speed. These laws can only be written by 17 years olds who've never driven a car. Or by bureaucrats with too much time on their hands. Or, most likely, under the tutelage of a mayor who really wants to see no cars in his city at all.

Meanwhile, is it a coincidence that - the day after the introduction of a 30kph limit - I saw 6 police cars within an hour in the city? Admittedly with 5 of these being in a petrol station. For reasons I can't begin to guess at. There’ve been official denials of a special campaign but I naturally wonder how truthful these are.

María's Level Ground: Days  39-40

Portugal 

The latest headline: Tens of thousands of Britons hoping for a holiday in Portugal this month had their plans plunged into chaos last night as the country looked set to ban holidaymakers until at least May 30. So, later than the optimistic date of 18 May, cited yesterday.

The UK 

At Cerne Abbas in Dorset, there's a hillside chalk carving of a naked giant boasting a huge erect phallus. It dates from Saxon times and was thought to have always been thus. But soil investigation reveals the impressive member was added in the 17th century and was probably created by a chap taking the piss out of  Oliver Cromwell, via a 'political statement', after he'd been forced by the Puritan head honcho to flee to France. Which is nice to know.

France

A wonderful country relentlessly let down by its politicians, says the (right wing) writer of the article below. Who fears the country is a pressure cooker waiting to explode.

Finally  . . 

I've recently bought coffee beans from 2 cafés here in Pontevedra city and have paid €17.50 and €12.50 per kilo for them. In the second case this was actually below the price of €15.35 quoted to me by the local company providing it.This week I bought some Portuguese stuff down in Valença at €14.00. Two things surprise me:-

1. The beans I buy normally at Mercadona are only €8.64 a kilo, which must say something about the quality of their product.

2. At the recommended dose of 7gms of beans per helping of coffee in a café (on the side of one pack), each kilo provides 143 cups. At €1.20 a cup this is a gross income (for black coffee) of €171.60. And a net income of:-

17.50: 154.10 

14.00: 157.60

12.50: 159.10

Which seems rather a lot and perhaps explains why so there’s a café every 50 metres or so.

THE ARTICLES 

Barnier’s incendiary immigration U-turn betrays the panic gripping the French elite. France’s pressure cooker politics can only be fixed by a Brexit-style moment of democratic renewal: Allister Heath, Telegraph

What is wrong with France? There is an unmistakable whiff of panic in the Parisian air, a growing sense among sections of the ruling class that France, riven by culture wars, its economy and society in never-ending decline, its housing estates in the banlieues permanently on the brink, is nearing a tipping point. 

For all the sneers, Boris Johnson’s latest electoral triumph did not go unnoticed. What, the more far-sighted intellos ask themselves, will be France’s equivalent of Brexit, if, or rather when, it finally comes? Will it be another 1961 (a failed putsch), 1968 (hard-Left student insurrection), 1981 (communists in government), 1789 (proper revolution) or, hopefully, something milder, more constructive?  The gilets jaunes two years ago were a false alarm, but how will the rage of la France profonde manifest itself next time? Emmanuel Macron has admitted that Leave would win a vote on Frexit, though nobody will want to risk one. It’s a great shame: France, the country in which I grew up, needs a cathartic reset like Brexit, a political earthquake that is neither hard-Left nor hard-Right but which finally empowers the culturally conservative majority.

The country’s woes are many. Crime and disorder remain horribly high; extremist Islamism is rife, despite Macron’s efforts; racism and tensions between communities continue to traduce France’s republican heritage; the economy has been sluggish for years, weighed down by taxes, a bloated state, red tape, militant unions and a residual anti-entrepreneurialism; unemployment is high, especially among the young; and the education system, captured by egalitarian Leftists, is in long-term decline. 

Like in the UK, smaller towns, rural areas and the provinces are in freefall, and economic activity is concentrated in big cities. Yet France’s crisis is far greater than Britain’s, and unlike here a log-jammed political system militates against a rational solution. There is no middle France, anti-technocratic but mainstream radical conservative force. The result: extremist parties of Left and Right enjoy huge support.

The president’s latest gimmick has been to abolish the technocratic super-school he graduated from – the Ecole Nationale d’Administration, alma mater of swathes of the ruling class. There is just one caveat: he is opening a seemingly identikit institution under a new name. The vaccine mess has exposed France’s bureaucracy as pathetically inadequate, and thus further questioned its legitimacy. 

Hilariously, Michel Barnier, the EU’s erstwhile Brexit negotiator, believes he has the answer. Barnier has always been part of the problem, building an undemocratic Europe and causing untold misery with the euro. Yet he craves rewards for his many failings, and fancies himself as president.  In a breathtakingly hypocritical reinvention, Barnier is now calling for the end of all immigration from outside the EU for three to five years, and a rethink of the Schengen agreement. The first part is unbelievably extreme, stolen from Marine Le Pen’s manifesto. It is not racist to want to control and reduce immigration; it is racist to want to ban all non-European migrants and only them. It is also absurd: why not allow exceptions for doctors or entrepreneurs? No Western government has ever gone this far. 

Although ending Schengen is a separate issue, Barnier was probably dog-whistling that he would also like to restrict internal EU movement. It would be an astonishing U-turn from a man who claimed to venerate the indivisibility of the single market. When the British wanted to control immigration, he dismissed them as xenophobic; now that he seeks to tap into France’s anger against the system, a total ban on non-EU migrants suddenly becomes a sensible way of tackling terrorism. Never again believe Eurocrats claiming the liberal internationalist moral high ground.

The backdrop to Barnier’s demagoguery is simple. Le Pen is at 26 per cent in the polls; she would still be defeated in the second round against Macron but only just, grabbing 46 per cent. Much of her support is derived from younger people: she is the first choice of 30 per cent of 25-34-year olds, against just 20 per cent for Macron. She would be a disastrous choice, but many otherwise sensible voters are flirting with her because they think there is no other way of precipitating the shake-up they crave.

Even more ominously, France’s military, including retired generals and serving officers, have made two inflammatory interventions in recent weeks. “If a civil war breaks out, the army will maintain order,” they warned in a letter to a magazine; a poll revealed that the majority of the public agree. The soldiers accused the government of “selling out” to Islamism and slammed those who “scorn our country”. The fury in the army is mirrored in the country’s many police forces, and is deeply unhealthy. 

Meanwhile, Macron’s correct and necessary anti-Islamism keeps morphing into a dangerous and immoral anti-Islam and anti all other minority faiths. Appallingly, one Macron ally this week told off a party candidate for wearing a Muslim headscarf on an election leaflet, claiming it was incompatible with the party’s values. 

France rightly rejects wokery, but otherwise has catastrophically conflated integration with assimilation: it believes the only way to make immigration work is for newcomers to embrace compulsory secularism and sever all connection with their past. Freedom of religion is over: such madness will simply fuel further explosive tensions. Britain’s liberal-conservative solution is hugely superior, and conducive to harmony, freedom and social mobility; we have embraced hyphenated identities. It is obviously and rightly possible to wear the symbols or garments of any religion or none and be fully, proudly British. 

Macron will be remembered as a slightly better French Tony Blair. He has passed some reforms, but his Left-Right fusionism has failed, and the country is dangerously close to falling into neo-fascist or neo-communist hands. France is in desperate need of a Thatcher, and a Johnson, rolled into one: first, to liberalise the economy, then to show that it is possible for a mainstream, respectable candidate to be tough on crime, Eurosceptic and ready to tackle the massive problems in the outer cities. 

France is a pressure cooker waiting to explode. Who can rescue her before it is too late?

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' 

NOTE: Info on Galicia and my Guide to Pontevedra city here.      

Covid  

Spain: The Prime Minister claims that Spain is "100 days away from achieving herd immunity”. Yes, well. Maybe.

Cosas de España/Galiza

The Minister of Foreign Affairs blames Isabel Ayuso’s ‘Libertad’ program for Madrid for Spain being Amber: “The Madrid region president says that what matters in this country is libertad – going out for beers, going to the bullfights, out and about whenever and wherever they want. What's more, those who say that you have to respect social distance rules and you have to be prudent and responsible are accused of being communists. And what happens is that the infection numbers from Madrid, undoubtedly the worst in the country, count towards the average that the UK uses to put Spain at Amber”.

I’m confused about the new speed limit of 30kph which was supposed to be introduced in villages and towns yesterday. On one of the (admittedly) main roads into and out of Pontevedra city, there are still 80, 60 and 40 signs. And down the bottom of my hill (30 for a long time now), it’s still 50 in a residential area. On said main road yesterday, there was a police patrol at the surprising hour of 11am. Unlikely to be for breath testing, so possibly fining folk doing more than 30 as they approached the city. I wouldn’t be at all surprised.

Talking of roads . . . There were humungous tailbacks at the exits for Vigo airport yesterday, in both directions. This is because one of the main Covid testing centres is in an exhibition hall there. I imagine quite a few folk missed their flights.

Life in Spain . . . When I got a train back from Vigo yesterday, it was 75% empty but, of course, someone was sitting in my allocated seat. And, as usual, there was the standard profuse Spanish apology - on the well-established principle that it's easier and less inconvenient to say sorry than to obey rules.

Portugal 

The possible price of unity . . . Thousands of British holidaymakers due to visit Portugal next week may face difficulties entering the country as the EU has banned non-essential travel from non-EU states. To ignore the ban would be diplomatically delicate because Portugal holds the EU presidency. The cabinet will discuss the issue today. If the issue isn't resolved, thousands of British visitors could be turned away at the airport. By the time the Champions League final is due to be held in Porto on May 29, which is due to be confirmed by Uefa today, officials believe that the EU will have ended the non-essential travel ban and British fans will be able to enter the country without difficulties. However, it is thought that the earliest that the EU will change the ban will be Wednesday, 18 May.

The UK 

You can't keep AEP down. See the first article below for his optimistic take on the UK economy: Britain’s coiled-spring recovery is now an economic fact, and it looks even stronger than the most giddy optimists had dared to hope. 

You might well think the problem of Scotland for the UK is the same as that of Cataluña for Spain and that most non-Scottish Brits would be against that country’s independence. If so, you’d be wrong on both counts. See the second article below.

The USA

Trump labels Liz Cheney ‘A bitter, horrible human being’. Yet more evidence of the man’s indulgence in ‘projection’.

The Way of the World

Amazon ratings. . .  Who's going to be surprised?

Social media

Social media was supposed to to free us all - but it's resulted in a free-for-all where no-one's free, certainly not children

English

1. Well, I never . . . The word ‘farm’ came to English from Latin, via Norman French. Its original meaning was ‘a fixed payment or rent for a plot of land.’

2. 'Price matched to' = 'Costs the same as'

Quote of the Day

Thanks to the pandemic, Boris Johnson – the playboy of politics, the Don Juan of Downing Street, the Conservative Casanova – found himself having to make casual sex a criminal offence. 

Finally  . . 

That Peleton ad that I hate . . .

THE ARTICLES

1. As Britain booms again, let us scrub ‘despite Brexit’ from the lexicon. By early next year the UK is set to close the entire economic gap with the eurozone that has built up since the Brexit referendum: Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Telegraph

Britain’s coiled-spring recovery is now an economic fact, and it looks even stronger than the most giddy optimists had dared to hope. 

Barring any upset from Covid variants or a bond rout, the British economy will be the G7 star this year. That is not in itself surprising. Part of this is a mechanical V-shaped rebound from last year’s exaggerated statistical dip.  

But what may surprise some is the real possibility that the UK will grow faster than a slowing China in 2022 as Rishi Sunak’s “super deduction” on plant and machinery investment unlocks a treasure of excess corporate savings.

It may also outgrow Joe Biden’s America, despite his fiscal trillions and a compliant Federal Reserve. That would crown the first authentic year of Brexit – without pandemic distortions – fundamentally changing global perceptions of Britain’s post-EU reinvention. 

The 2.1% jump in GDP in March blew away consensus. It silences persistent talk that the UK has gained little from early vaccination and is still essentially moving in economic lockstep with Europe. Blockbuster growth of 5pc (20pc-plus annualised) is on the cards for this quarter. 

The pace is so torrid that Capital Economics thinks the UK may regain its pre-pandemic level of output by late summer, with little or no permanent scarring. Investec has pencilled in the sorpasso for September, saying growth could “easily exceed” 8pc this year.

If so, the UK will cross its pre-Covid line long before the eurozone, and a year ahead of the Club Med bloc. On a nominal GDP basis, it has already matched Germany and overtaken France, Italy, and Spain.

This is a remarkable turn of fortunes given that the OECD, IMF, and other voices of the global establishment were predicting something close to perma-slump for these benighted isles in 2021 and 2022. The OECD forecast in December that the UK would be the economic basket case among developed states this year (along with Argentina), limping into 2022 with output still 6.4pc below pre-Covid levels.

It is well known that British households have amassed £130bn of excess savings during Covid. We will find out soon how much of this is pent-up spending waiting to explode. But what is less known is that UK companies are sitting on a further £100bn, some 50pc above normal levels. “We think this is even more important,”  said David Owen from Jefferies.

“The super deduction has cut the effective marginal rate of corporation tax to zero. Companies have all this cash sitting on their balance sheets and it’s a no brainer for them to invest,” he said. The latest CBI survey shows that investment intentions are a whisker shy of thirty-year highs.  

The Bank of England thinks business spending on plant and digital technology will rise by 7pc this year and 13pc next year, matching the IT blitz during the dotcom boom in 1998.

“It won’t be the Roaring Twenties but we are about to ride an investment wave. It’s a Covid story, a net-zero story, and a Brexit story, all coming together in a very optimistic way,” says Owen.

The trade data for March showed that goods exports to the EU have largely regained their prior levels and are above flows last summer when the UK was still part of the single market. Even exports of fish and shellfish have returned to normal. 

“People were far too pessimistic about the magnitude of the hit. The idea that there was going to be a seismic fall in trade after Brexit was always rubbish. Companies adapt,” says Julian Jessop, a fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs.

This export rebound comes despite some harassment. The National Pig Association says 30pc of all UK consignments to the EU are being checked, far higher than for other third countries. Just 1% of pig imports from New Zealand are checked. I will add British pork to my next shopping trip.

We can start to separate teething problems from the structural effects of Brexit, and start to make a coherent judgement on where we stand. What is clear already is that British firms are learning to cope with customs red-tape – because they have little choice, and because the size of the EU market makes it worthwhile. The numbers complaining of UK border disruption have fallen to 7pc from 35pc in early February. 

What is equally clear is that EU firms have lost UK market share to global competitors. Imports from the rest of the world are growing twice as fast, and this divergence is likely to widen when Britain ends its unilateral waiver on customs clearance for EU goods and imposes reciprocal curbs.

The EU’s decision to make cross-Channel trade more cumbersome than flows under other trade deals – as a penalty for refusing to remain a full regulatory satellite – has had one salient consequence so far: it has hurt small European exporters.

There is much that can still go wrong for the UK. Simon Ward from Janus Henderson says the red-hot growth in the money supply risks a “major blow-out” in the balance of payments and ultimately a sterling upset. 

“What is concerning is that the UK’s money growth has overtaken other major areas. It’s crazy that they are still doing QE,” he says. His measure of broad money growth – non-financial M4 – topped 16% earlier this year, the fastest pace since the Lawson credit boom in the late 1980s. This will catch fire if velocity returns to normal.

The Bank of England has underestimated the strength of the rebound and is coming under increasingly ferocious criticism from monetarists. It will have to navigate a treacherous exit from over-stimulus. Any delay in tightening only makes it harder.

Europe too will have its boom. But recovery will start later, due to third wave lockdowns in April. It will be less exuberant when it comes. Industrial bottlenecks will be a bigger relative headwind for the manufacturing hubs of Germany and Italy. Fiscal stimulus is greater than it was but is half-hearted compared to Bidenomics. 

The Commission’s Spring Forecast released on Wednesday said the eurozone would grow 4.3pc this year and 4.4pc next year, implying that most countries will not recoup their lost GDP before 2022. 

The Recovery Fund remains totemic in EU rhetoric but is proving smaller than headline figures suggest. Submissions so far amount to just €433bn, too little to move the macroeconomic needle for the bloc as a whole over a five-year period. Most countries have shunned the loan component, with the notable exception of Mario Draghi’s Italy. “It’s lacklustre,” said Bert Colijn from ING.

My bet: by early next year the UK will have closed the entire economic gap with the eurozone that has built up since the Referendum shock in 2016; by the end of next year it will have regained its pre-pandemic trajectory, almost as if Covid had never happened.

At that point the UK’s maligned economy will have overtaken the eurozone big four and established an outright lead of around 2% of GDP. Can we then scrub the words “despite Brexit” from the journalistic lexicon?

2. Boris risks furious English backlash by throwing more money at Scotland.  Most English voters couldn’t give a stuff if Scotland choses to leave the union - and a sizeable minority would positively welcome it. Jeremy Warner, Telegraph

The pound has seen something of a resurgence, against both the dollar and the euro, since last week’s super-Thursday elections. The spurt in part reflects relief that Scottish independence has become that little bit less likely.

Notwithstanding the pro-separatist majority that now exists in the Scottish Parliament, the fact is that Nicola Sturgeon was denied the majority she sought for her own party, weakening the legitimacy of demands for a second referendum. In the event, more votes were cast for pro-union parties than separatist ones.

Small wonder that the First Minister shrinks from the idea of an immediate second vote; she would struggle to win it if held tomorrow. Her gamble is that Boris Johnson’s determination to deny any question of a second referendum will play into her hands, and she could be right.

In this age of identity politics, nothing is more likely to sustain Sturgeon in her position than lecturing from Westminster about how much worse off Scots are going to be if they vote for independence, and for good measure to deny them another chance to vote on it anyway. Once again she plays the downtrodden Scots card, subjugated by bullying English Old Etonians.

Yet it is not just North of the Border that Boris Johnson needs to win the argument for the union; he also has to win hearts and minds in England, where the challenge might reasonably be thought just as big. It is admittedly improbable in the extreme that the English will ever be given a vote on the future of the union, but if they were, chances are they would as happily vote for Scottish separation as the Scots themselves.

Surveys repeatedly show that most English voters couldn’t give a stuff if Scotland chooses to leave, and that a sizeable minority would positively welcome it. Attitudes are harder still when it comes to Northern Ireland, which in per capita terms enjoys an even bigger fiscal transfer from the rest of the country than Scotland.

Scotland may be the epicentre of the debate, but ultimately, the future stability of the UK depends as much on consent south of the border as it does among Scots.

Many English voters already think far too much money is spent keeping Scotland onside. Any more risks a serious backlash.

Ever greater levels of devolution are the price Westminster has deemed necessary to keep the union together. Yet chucking money and powers at Scotland is not going to be a sustainable solution if it ends up alienating everyone else. If going “federal” is the answer, it won’t work unless all are offered similar levels of political and economic autonomy.

The current devolution settlement is already intolerably asymmetric. Many of Scotland’s domestic affairs - including health, education and public transport - are determined by Scotland’s devolved institutions, over which England holds little sway. Yet public policy for England itself continues to be decided by UK-wide institutions in which Scotland does have a say through representation at Westminster.

This asymmetry used to be called the “West Lothian Question”, a term coined by Enoch Powell after the MP for the Westminster constituency who first raised the issue, Tam Dalyell. The “English votes for English laws” reforms of the first Cameron government only partially answered the complaint.

With the Johnson Government enjoying a “stonking” great majority at Westminster, constitutional issues such as these might seem of little more than academic interest. They hardly matter. Scottish MPs cannot influence what Johnson does in England.

What does matter, however, is the size of the subsidy paid by the rest of the country to support the devolutionary settlement. Analysis by the Office for National Statistics shows that in 2018-19, Scotland’s fiscal deficit was around £2,450 per person. In other words, they spend that much more per person than they raise in taxation.

The numbers that underlie this statistic further enhance the sense of English grievance. Tax revenues per person are about the same as the average for the rest of the UK, but spending is much higher - £14,500, against a little under £12,600 for England. If you want to know why Scotland can splash out on a 4pc pay rise for health workers, but England can seemingly afford no more than 1pc, there you have it.

True enough, the per capita fiscal deficit for Wales and Northern Ireland is even bigger, as indeed it is for the more deprived regions of England, including the North East and North West. The difference is that all these areas of the UK are considerably poorer. It is the shortfall in tax revenues, not the excess in spending, which makes the difference.

Scots should be careful what they wish for; many voters south of the border would gladly see them go. Yet English nationalists too should be worried by the logic of such thinking. Reductio ad absurdum, the same argument can be applied to the English regions.

To the extent that there are any fiscal surpluses to be had at all in the UK these days, they all come from London, the South East, and East Anglia. Why should rich Londoners subsidise poor Northerners? The old heptarchy of seven sovereign Anglo Saxon nations beckons. Refusal to cross-subsidise between regions would split the country asunder.

In any case, selling the merits of the union to the English is perhaps as big a challenge as selling them to the Scots. As Boris Johnson must know from his success in red wall constituencies, identity politics have become as powerful a force south of the border as north of it.

Yet despite the seemingly one-way flow of money, the bottom line is that the English have as much to lose as the Scots from the death of the union. Scotland is just 6.5pc of total UK GDP, so in simple economic terms, its loss might not seem of much importance.

Even so, a lot of things begin to unravel once the union is gone - the UK’s position on the UN Security Council, its independent nuclear deterrent, its military credibility and its still-potent soft power around the world to name but some of them.

International perceptions matter. What chance for Global Britain once globally insignificant? Scottish separation would be as much the end of an era for England as for Scotland, and not in a good way.

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' 

NOTE: If you want to know more about Galicia or read my Guide to Pontevedra city, click here.  

Covid  

The UK: The Indian Covid variant calls in question 17 May reopening in UK, say experts. The highly transmissible B.1.617.2 is now second most common variant and is spreading in north-west England. The dramatic rise in UK cases of a variant first discovered in India could undermine the country’s roadmap for reopening, scientists are cautioning.

Below is the latest UK-oriented overview of Covid from MD of Private Eye magazine,

An interesting bit of research on who spreads it most effectively.

Cosas de España 

Despite Sunday night's  nationwide scenes of hedonism - or even bacchanalianism - the Prime Minister has ruled out going into reverse and re-imposing a State of Alarm. Even if the courts throw out the continuing restrictions wanted by some regional governments. Pandora's box is open and staying open, for Libertad! 'The future is vaccination', says the PM. Not much point vaccinating folk who come down with Covid this week, I fear.

Meanwhile, as I - in my role as Cassandra- was saying  yesterday . . .

And the blame game I predicted has duly started already.

Spain isn't on the UK’s green list - meaning no quarantine on return - but could move to it when the categories are reviewed in early June. But I fear that prospect is now receding, as we face an increase from the current rate of 180.

Assuming any of them want to take the risk of coming here, Spain plans to waive its PCR testing requirement for Brits from May 20. But only if the UK's Covid-19 infection rate is 50 cases, way below Spain's.

Spain’s 3,806-km high-speed network is the second longest in the world, but it is clearly underused. So, competition for Renfe is coming - a little late - from the cheap subsidiary of France's SNCF. See here and here.

Cousas de Galiza 

About 22 years ago, I visited the new house of the new mayor of Pontevedra, as his wife was a friend of mine. I recall him being very proud of the place, on the outskirts of the city. Yesterday, I read that it's claimed he didn't have a licence to occupy it. Which seems like quite a mistake for a senior official to make. But, then, neither did the vendor of my house, meaning I had to pay to rectify the situation when I bought it, via the same notary who'd neglected to check on its existence the first time round, when it was bought from the builder. The mayor is still in office, by the way and has done some very good things for the city. But I'm reminded of the construction of our newest bridge across the river Lérez 5 or 6 years ago. Which had to be suspended after 9 months until the licence to build it had been obtained. Things aren't always sequential in Spain. Well, they are but not necessarily in the correct order. I'm sure the mayor is right when he says the situation will be swiftly 'regularised'. Doubtless without a penalty of any sort.

Certain crimes/offences in Pontevedra province naturally fell during the last 12 months  - burglary and traffic offences, for example. But drug trafficking and cyber-crime increased. Possibly because the police were busy fining folk for not wearing masks or keeping their distance. These days they're very occupied with bar owners trying to recoup profits by exceeding their licensed tables. We have 4 different types of police force in the province, I believe. If not 5. Perhaps things fall between the cracks.

For drivers here, be very careful when driving through towns and villages now - 80% of all roads. There will certainly be confusion and, inevitably, lots of fines.

María's Level Ground: Days 37 & 38.  Another note of despair . . .

COVID OVERVIEW: MD, of Private Eye 

Caught in a trap 

Should Boris Johnson be "more upbeat" in his presentation of the pandemic data, as the Telegraph and others are now demanding? Certainly the UK data is looking good. More than 50% of the UK population has had at least one dose of a vaccine and they are working, with Sars-CoV-2 infection rates, hospitalisation and deaths at their lowest levels for 7 months.

We bought and worked hard for our success, paying 4 times as much as some countries to get early access to the Pfizer vaccine, and investing heavily in developing and delivering the Oxford- AstraZeneca (OAZ) vaccine. And, staring down the barrel of 1,300 Covid deaths a day, we gambled on early vaccination before more safety data was available, and spacing out vaccines against manufacturers' recommendations to reach more people more quickly. These gambles have worked. Daily UK Covid admissions are down to double figures.

Alas, global infection rates have doubled in the past 2 months and are at their highest ever. India, South America and mainland Europe are hardest hit. India has 5,000 Covid deaths a day and only 8.6 % of the population has had a vaccine dose. There is a strong argument for suspending existing vaccine patents to allow poorer countries to manufacture their own (although the process is highly complex). There is an even stronger argument for using the OAZ vaccine globally, and for the UK and others to donate any excess.

Dominic Cummings appears keen to expose Johnson's pre-vaccination failures (late lockdowns; lack of border control), but Johnson, Donald Trump and Narendra Modi are not the only world leaders outsmarted and humbled by something I1/10,000th the diameter of this full stop. Johnson vowed to follow the data, and he could lift restrictions when all the most vulnerable have been offered 2nd vaccines. But he will always need a safety net. A future vaccine-resistant variant could emerge by chance and require a temporary lockdown to reduce deaths while vaccines are adjusted. By declaring that his roadmap out of lockdown will be "irreversible", he has removed his safety net. h makes him a hostage to fortune again. No wonder he looks worried.

Of mice and men

The role of chance in pandemics was well illustrated in controlled epidemic studies of mice by William Tapley and Major Greenwood between 1920 and 1940. The pair admitted that "hundreds of thousands of mice were sacrificed" in their meticulous process of controlling myriad variables - type of infection, type of mouse, degree of overcrowding, "mouse hold" size, the level of pre-existing immunity, nutrition, genetic variations, etc.

The overriding conclusion is that, even when when you control as much aas you possibly can, chance events contribute greatly to the patterns and speed of spread in epidemics. This is not surprising, given that viruses mutate at random. Alas, some shit happens by chance" is the excuse history never forgives and the media never accepts.

Fear kills too

The biggest communication challenge of this pandemic has been to get people to take all sensible measures to reduce the risk of infection and spread without scaring the shit out of them.

We know fear is very bad for physical and mental health and can trigger heart attacks in those susceptible. Fear may be one reason 20,000 pupils appear to have fallen off the school register. GPs and hospitals are now seeing a steady stream of tragic "Covid delay" patients who were too frightened to seek help for "red flag" cancer symptoms and now have incurable disease.

As one woman explained: "I found this rock-hard lump in Illy breast in March [2020]. I knew what it was but I thought it could wait. A relative of mine had gone to hospital and caught Covid in hospital and died. I knew if I went to see my GP he would just send me to hospital, and I didn't want to die from Covid. Every day, I worried if I was doing the right thing or not. Some days, I would get as far as putting my coat on to go down to the GP, but then changing my mind ... " She lived a life of fearful rumination until November before seeking help, and now has metastatic spread.

Alas, fear is an inevitable consequence of incompetence. We weren't prepared for this pandemic but confidently believed we were. (The UK was ranked second in a global index of pandemic preparedness on 24 October 20 19. The US was top.) When we realised the outbreak was-out of control and we needed to lock down, Johnson's manner turned overnight from upbeat to fearful, and fear has been used as a tactic to enforce compliance with the restrictions ever since, with scary advertising campaigns, fines and threats of imprisonment, and relentless coverage of Covid deaths and daily death updates. In such a climate of fear, an advert reminding you to get a breast lump checked did not break through.

NHS protection

In an ideal world, the health service should protect the people, not rely on the people to protect it. This would require a big increase in capacity and staffing, rather than routinely running it at close to 100% capacity. Instead of being overwhelmed by a single disease, we could have split sites into Covid and non-Covid centres. Everyone would know where to go with their breast lump, and the risk of contracting Covid there would be very small.

We paid a fortune to build Nightingale .hospitals and requisition private hospitals for, say, cancer care, but they also rely on NHS staff to run them and so were barely used. Covid and non-Covid patients ended up sharing the same hospitals and more than '40,000 people who didn't have Covid on admission caught it there.

Much of the fear around Covid was justified by our inability to control it; 15,000 lives may have been shortened by Covid, and the cancer figures may be just as shocking. Johnson is right not to be too upbeat.

No rush

Would a jolly Boris Johnson increase footfall on the high street? Possibly not. Prolonged lockdown has been a huge psychological experiment with many unknown consequences. Some people may be fearful and anxious about returning to shops, many will be worried about their finances with the end of furlough, and some have got into the habit of not buying - or needing - so much stuff.

People will still tum out for what matters to them (a murdered woman; a dead royal; a destructive European Super League), but now the shopping shackles are off, footfal1 in non-food stores is still well below 2019 levels. Whether that is due to lack of confidence, cash or consumer desire remains to be seen. Eating out is also down on April 2019 could be fear of hypothermia as much as fear of crowds. The relentless "stay at home' message taking a while to reverse.

Mental health

Multiple surveys and calls to charities suggest the pandemic has made mental health worse, but as yet there was no increase in rates of suicide in the UK up to October 2020. This has been observed in other countries too. There may yet be variations between demographic groups or geographical areas, but the crisis may have fostered a sense of social cohesion to fight an external threat, as exemplified by falling suicide rates around the time of the two world wars.

Financial support and investment in mental health services also help, but there could yet be a later rise if people perceive their post-Covid lives to have less meaning and purpose, or think others are recovering better than they are. More than 1m people in the UK are suffering with long Covid, which can have profound neuropsychiatric consequences.

The great outdoors

One way to reduce fear and anxiety in a pandemic is to emphasise what can be done as well as what can't: "Stay at home or walk outside" would have been a much better message. The chances of catching the virus outside are minimal compared to inside. Most of those infected were sitting or lying still. in still air where the virus hangs around in tiny droplets. So walking in fresh air is a sure way to avoid infection. It also profoundly improves health.

Walking cure

There is no drug yet invented which matches the physical and mental health benefits of walking outdoors. It reduces anxiety, lifts mood, helps you sleep better and improves cardiorespiratory, metabolic and musculo-skeletal health. Those who can't walk (or wheel), or who suffer post-exertional malaise when they overdo it, have a good excuse. For the vast majority. the amount of physical activity done over a lifetime increases both length and quality of life, and reduces the risk of all manner of disease. The best way to avoid Covid is not to catch the virus. But if you do, the fitter you are, the far more likely you are to recover.

In 2005, researchers studied 1,705 Australian men over 70 and measured how fast each man walked. Five years later, 266 men had died, but no one who could walk faster than 1.36 metres per second at the outset (or 5km/h) had died. As the researchers observed: "Faster speeds are protective against mortality because fast walkers can maintain a safe distance from the Grim Reaper." And coronavirus.

The fitter you are at any age, the less you fall.

The more you need help getting out of a chair or off the toilet, the easier you are to infect. The bottom line: if you can walk, walk - quick enough to make you pleasantly breathless but not so fast you can't enjoy the surroundings.

Lessons from smallpox

Countries have been left to go their own way on Covid, but if we want to control pandemics (or global warming) now or in the future, it requires global cooperation. One solution is to prevent infections jumping over from animals in the first place, which will mean a big rethink in how we treat and eat animals. Some outbreaks on a crowded planet will occur by chance, so constant surveillance, preparation, early action and coordinated international responses are needed to prevent outbreaks becoming pandemics.

Ridding the world of naturally occurring smallpox by 1979 required previously unseen cooperation between rival superpowers and impressive execution of eradication plans around the globe. Whatever the motives, it's good to see China helping India with its current Covid calamity, and Norway - having decided not to use the OAZ vaccine for now - lending its 216,000 doses to Sweden and Iceland so they are used before the expiry date.

Money talks

One reason the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine is declined by some is the rare clotting risk (also shared by the Johnson and Johnson vaccine). Another is the cost. Given a choice, people opt for the expensive vaccine, not the cost-price one. Expect any annual multi-variant Covid boosters to be more expensive.

Malaria has killed more people in history than any other illness. It still sickens 200m and kills 400,000 every year, many of them children. The news that the OAZ team may have produced a safe and effective vaccine is welcome, but why has it taken 37 years?

One reason is that the malaria parasite is far more complex than Sars-CoV2. Another is that it mainly affects poor people in poor countries who can't afford vaccines. Now, thanks to climate change, mosquitoes are moving from equatorial regions to northern latitudes where the rich world resides. Expect more dengue and malaria vaccines soon ... 

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' 

NOTE: If you want to know more about Galicia or read my Guide to Pontevedra city, click here.   

Cosas de España

Once the national State of Alarm ended 2 days ago, it was too much to expect that Spain would avoid another movida a la 1978. In other countries, there are experiments with agglomerations, such as the 5,000 kids at a controlled event in Liverpool. As of Sunday, the whole of Spain has become one massive experiment. As this is 98% uncontrolled, we now await a 4th wave. Or is it the 5th? Meanwhile, over in the UK, they're hoping to avoid a 3rd and look like succeeding. That's what the importance of Spanish fun means in reality. More deaths than necessary, especially in Madrid under the Presidenta de Libertad. Hey, ho. 

And when the 4th or 5th wave duly arrives, there’ll be an almighty blame game between Madrid and all 19 regional capitals over who should have stopped it. Así son las cosas in de facto federal Spain.

Talking of fun . .Yesterday I stressed its importance to Spaniards. John Carlin cited tapas-eating with friends as one huge aspect of this but I feel the best example is simply talking. Often simultaneously and loudly - the latter made necessary by the former, of course. I have to admit I have no problem with this, as this is one way in which Spain and I are compatible. When I'm not trying to read.

Click here if you still need to know about residual restrictions in your region - or would like to see a foto of the inside of the incomparable Grand Mosque of Córdoba. And others of elsewhere.

A friend has responded to yesterday's item on the local birth rate, saying the pregnancy rate right now suggests an end year baby boom. We will see.

Maybe because it's spring and they have young have to feed but suddenly both our pigeons and the seagulls are outrageously bold. Two days ago I had to forcefully stop a pigeon eating my peanuts right in from to me and last night I witnessed a seagull swoop down over the shoulder of a young woman and take a slice of tortilla from her plate. Leaving her shaking and tearful with the shock of having a large bird's wings beating in her face. Shades of Hitchcock's famous film/movie. I then had to advise her to get rid of the remaining food, as said seagull was perched on the top of an adjacent parasol, clearly gearing up for another raid. Time to get out my large water pistol.

Portugal 

The on-going saga of the Lisbon-Madrid high speed rail line may have hit another stumbling block last week, as the Portuguese Foreign Minister stated it’s not a priority. He didn't outrule the project, but made it clear that Portugal has two other priorities. Firstly, to shorten the journey time between Lisbon and the northern city of Porto, and secondly, to extend that line into Vigo in Galicia, Spain.  

In case this is your thing . . . The annual international festival of Flamenco and Fado will return to Badajoz this summer, from 2-10 July. A sample. Not my bag. Well, the fado bit anyway.

Checking this out, I came across the ‘best ever’ flamenco dancer, who wowed the entire world between 1929 and 1963, giving her last performance very shortly before she died aged only 63 - Carmen Amaya, a Catalan gypsy. You can see her here in the 1930s, here in the 1940s and here in that last performance. Astonishing. And you can read about her and her character, here in English and here in Spanish. Same text, I believe. Wish I'd known her but glad I didn't marry her . . 

Spanish 

Pigeon: Paloma

Dove: Paloma

Hence, from both Google and Deepl:- This one is a pigeon but that one is a dove: Esta es una paloma pero esa es una paloma . . . 

English

Just in case you ever need it - a word I came across yesterday: 

Obsoletion: Becoming obsolete or out of date.

As opposed to obsolescence: The process of becoming obsolete or outdated and no longer used.

And just in case you were confused earlier  . . . To outrule is the first example I've seen of this possible neologism. As yet, it's not recognised by my spellcheck but is included in Wiktionary to mean:-

1. To eliminate by deduction. Going back - surprisingly - to 1968 in the Irish Journal of Medical Science: ‘The possibility of remote Mediterranean ancestry cannot be outruled in the family investigated.’ 

2. To rule or reign longer or better than. As in: ‘Queen Elizabeth and Isabella of Castile outruled male monarchs.’

Finally  . . 

A reader has kindly - bizarrely? - asked for a foto of the shirt I cut when I removed the 12-language label containing a microchip. Well, it's now with a seamstress for repair but here's the foto of the damage I sent to my daughters, so they could laugh at me. Yet again. My elder daughter's response: "Hmmm. But you do things so patiently..."

Late last night - keen to avoid spending at least €100 on repair - I gave my laptop a gentle bit of  'percussive maintenance'* near the USB points. As this was successful, I'm left wondering about the cause of the problem that cost me 5 hours in the morning trying to solve it. And whether the fix will be permanent.

* In IT, percussive maintenance is the art of shaking, banging or pounding on something, in order to make it work. Experts generally define it as the use of rough impact on physical hardware to solve some type of malfunction. While many consider it to be a barbaric expression of anger on inanimate objects, it's actually a legit way of fixing stuff. First you have to ask yourself why something doesn't work. More often than not it is something coming out of alignment. 

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' 

NOTE: If you want to know more about Galicia or read my Guide to Pontevedra city, click here.  

Cosas de España

The estimable George Carlin has written an accurate article on the Madrid elections. It’s reproduced below and contains this nugget: If there is one thing the Spanish enjoy more than anything else — more than football, more than flamenco, more than bulls, more than sex — it is to sit and drink and eat and chat with family and friends. A former ambassador to London offered me the insight, over lunch, and, as a half-Spaniard living in Spain, I experienced that shock of recognition one has on hearing a truth hidden in plain sight. Again and again, people say: En España se vive muy bien — in Spain we live very well.

It reminds me that I routinely tell people they’ll never truly understand Spain until they take on board that the superordinate goal of the Spanish is fun. In its  local forms, of course.

In contrast . . . My latest frustrating brush with RENFE:-

Get the phone number for phone reservations from the web 

Wait until it's operative at 10am ('first thing' in Spain, at least on a Sunday)

Call this number 

Wait 7 minutes on a premium number

Talk about what I want for my daughter coming from Madrid

Am asked if I have registered my credit card

I say I have for on line purchases

Am told this is not good for phone reservations and I have to register separately

I say there's nothing about this on the Help page for phone purchases

Am told I can be sent the link by email or SMS

As I am saying which I prefer the phone goes dead

The phone stays dead.

The Way of the World/Quote of the Day/Social media

The social-media-obsessed Left believes that the culture wars are an all-or-nothing fight to the death and that it is therefore obligatory to eviscerate opponents for minor heresies. Most right-minded people, on the other hand, wish to eradicate racism and other forms of discrimination, but in a way that leads to reconciliation, not hatred. The concept of forgiveness is central to the western tradition  .

English

Well, I never . . .The word ‘monk’ comes from the monachoi, who lived a life of chastity and self abnegation in the Loire valley of the early Middle Ages. 

And ‘chaplain’ comes from the name of the folk who looked after the (rendered in two) cloak - the capella - of St Martin of Tours - the capellani.

Where would we be without religion? 

Finally  . . .

I went to the supermarket last night for a couple of food items and ended up buying a shirt as well. Looking this morning for the cleaning instructions, I found this label:-

It seems to serve absolutely no purpose. So, as instructed, I cut it off. And managed to cut the shirt in the process. Need I say that this was above the waist-line . . .?

THE ARTICLE 

She gave them beer and tapas; they handed her a shot at PM. Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s winning election strategy in Madrid helped her crush her Socialist rivals: Let the people party: John Carlin, The Times  

If there is one thing the Spanish enjoy more than anything else — more than football, more than flamenco, more than bulls, more than sex — it is to sit and drink and eat and chat with family and friends. A former ambassador to London offered me the insight, over lunch, and, as a half-Spaniard living in Spain, I experienced that shock of recognition one has on hearing a truth hidden in plain sight.

Consuming beer, wine and tapas is the national pastime and the key reason why the festive “iron lady” who heads the Spanish right scored a landslide victory in regional elections in Madrid on Tuesday, more than doubling her tally of votes two years ago.

A victor on all fronts, Isabel Díaz Ayuso crushed the ruling Socialist party of the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, saw off the threat on her right flank of the Franco-friendly Vox party and slaughtered the radical-left party Podemos, forcing the immediate retirement from politics of Pablo Iglesias, its pony-tailed and hitherto charismatic leader.

At a time when the left is in retreat in Europe, as in England, Sánchez’s Socialists are rattled. They won a majority of votes in the last national elections but had to go into a coalition with flailing Podemos to form a government. The next general election is due at the end of 2023 but Ayuso’s victory, signalling a possible change in the national mood, raises the prospect that it may be sooner.

The 42-year-old darling and likely future leader of the centre-right Popular Party had an unbeatable formula. On the one hand, Ayuso played the reds-under-the-bed card, appealing to the primal populist emotion of fear, while championing low taxes; on the other, more imaginatively and to far more decisive effect, she turned the pandemic to her political advantage. Instead of battening down the hatches, she played down the risks and encouraged the people to make merry.

Under the wide powers of discretion ceded by central government to the autonomous regions, no city in the country, perhaps no city in Europe, has had a more carefree approach to Covid-19 over the past six months than Madrid. Not only have schools continued to function as normal, but bars and restaurants have been open until 11pm every day since October. The contrast with London and Paris is staggering. Closing time in Barcelona has never gone beyond 5pm.

Madrid’s restaurateurs have not been slow to express their gratitude. Among the dishes named after her in recent months: “Calamares a la Ayuso”; “Papas a la Ayuso” and “Pizza Madonna Ayuso”.

A member of the “getting out of bed is a risk too” school of thought, Ayuso placed more emphasis than other parts of Spain on keeping the economy going and allowing Madrid residents their God-given right to have fun. But she was not entirely devil-may-care. Curbs were imposed. Limits were placed on indoor dining, there was an 11pm-6am curfew, and when a neighbourhood registered infection rates above a certain threshold, residents were banned from crossing municipal boundaries. Just over a quarter of the population has been vaccinated and infections are down, prompting a national easing of restrictions that comes into effect today. Madrid will be going further than any other region, declaring an end to the nighttime curfews and extending restaurant hours till midnight.

The mortality rates in the Madrid region have been higher than in Barcelona’s region, Catalonia, but not catastrophically so. The most recent figures reveal a death toll in Madrid, whose overall population is 6.6 million, of 15,075. In Catalonia — population 7.5 million — it is 14,292. A brutal truth Ayuso would have factored into her calculations is that only a fraction of the Madrid electorate have suffered a Covid-19 death in the family, and many would rather die themselves than vote for a party of the left.

It has not escaped the attention of voters that whereas the Marxist Iglesias and his like-minded wife own a villa with a pool on Madrid’s outskirts, Ayuso, who split up with her hairdresser boyfriend last year, lives alone in the city in a rented flat.

Ayuso’s campaign played up the positives of her pandemic response. Her winning slogan could not have been simpler: Libertad! What did that mean? Freedom, as her political cousin Donald Trump might have imagined it, from “communism”? Yes, in part. It was not long ago that Iglesias, political cousin of Jeremy Corbyn, used to declare he “envied” what has turned out to be the disastrous Chavista regime in Venezuela. Hence the Ayuso election banner: “Madrid or Caracas?”

But what libertad meant to the majority who voted for Ayuso was something more immediately meaningful. It meant the freedom to eat and drink to your heart’s content; it meant reopening Madrid’s Las Ventas bullring last weekend for the first time since the pandemic began; it meant being different from the benighted inhabitants of most of the rest of the planet; it meant, dammit, being proudly, defiantly Madrileño.

My friend the former Spanish ambassador in the UK, a Catalan resident of Madrid called Carles Casajuana, nailed it in a column in Barcelona’s La Vanguardia on Monday. “Bearing the standard of freedom and defence of the Madrid way of life,” Casajuana wrote, “Ayuso has portrayed herself as the protector of people’s right to spend their money as they wish and of the longing for a full life of a citizenry fed up with the pandemic, like everybody else.”

Ayuso won big by flattering her constituents, “by massaging their egos”, as Casajuana wrote. What she did, he explained after the election, was to hold up a mirror to them and show them an image that concurred with their idealised sense of themselves as unapologetic bon viveurs.

Many Spaniards, Casajuana agrees, have a complex about the Anglo-Saxons, whom they regard as more organised, more diligent and less corrupt (the Boris Johnson cash-for-curtains scandal seems inexplicably banal here). Yet they take solace and pride in the conviction that they have a wiser approach to life. A Spaniard may lament the failings of the society he or she inhabits, but a comforting reflection will never be far away.

Again and again, people say: En España se vive muy bien — in Spain we live very well. Ayuso’s rocket-lik rise is down to her instinctive understanding that, after a year of gloom, this was the moment to celebrate Madrid’s chief article of secular faith. Ten years ago she ran the Twitter account of the Madrid regional leader’s dog. Now she is the regional leader and a potential future prime minister. Her secret is contained in an extract from a campaign speech.

“Madrid must be one of very few cities in the world that has traffic jams at three on a Saturday morning, and as citizens of Madrid you know exactly what I mean,” Ayuso said. “The hallmark of our city is that the streets are always alive. For women like me, going out and enjoying my city with absolute passion, going out for dinner, for a drink in an outdoor terraza and coming back late at night, is something that makes me proud of my city, for it is part of what Madrid is.”

The applause was thunderous. After Tuesday’s vote the Socialist vice-president, Carmen Calvo, complained about what she perceived to be Ayuso’s frivolity. “We don’t talk about beers and tapas,” Calvo said. “We talk about programmes and policies.”

That is why Ayuso won more seats in the Madrid parliament than all three left parties combined. By appealing to self-love, food and drink, she connected, as the left did not, with the masses.

Nice comment to this article.-  Everything Carlin says is very true, of course. But what isn't ever said by Spaniards about their good life is that it's in part financed by OPM - other people's money. Specifically, Northern European taxpayers. And few pay the price of the vast corruption of the politico-corporate nexus. And the inefficiencies can be mind-blowing, as anyone who's lived here or read Vincent Werner's "It's not what it is; the real(s)pain " will know. Because of the emphasis on fun, it's a fabulous place to retire to but I do wonder how many non-Spaniards could happily work here. Though journalism is probably a good number, especially if you're half Spanish . . . :-)

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' 

NOTE: If you want to know more about Galicia or read my Guide to Pontevedra city, click here.   

Covid  

The UK: The government has confirmed that the ban on non-essential travel for travellers from England will be lifted from 17 May, with a traffic light system in place to guide travellers on quarantine and testing requirements for returning from overseas destinations. The lists would be reviewed every 3 weeks. The Green List is expected to still require testing before travel, but with no requirement for quarantine on return.

Mask sense: After a year of questionable advice on masking, ranging from head-scratching and mildly amusing to outright laughable — such as Spain mandating use of face masks while swimming in the ocean — health experts who counter the prevailing narrative on universal masking are finally getting some airtime in the mainstream media. Click here for more on this.

Cosas de España

Disappointingly but not surprisingly, Spain isn't on the Green List. But at least will be in the Amber box - for ‘essential travel only’. This means Brits are still advised against coming here and they'll have to quarantine 10 days on their return.  

Although disappointed by this status, the tourism sector welcomed the news that the European Commission have recommended that, from June, foreign citizens who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, and travelling from countries with a good epidemiological situation, should be allowed to travel into the EU without additional restrictions. The proposals that are being considered by the EU member states would allow travel into the EU for people who had received, at least 14 days before arrival, the final dose of an authorised vaccine. There will also be consideration of a country’s Covid data, with unvaccinated travellers allowed to travel from a country with a ‘good epidemiological situation.’ This would potentially allow younger tourists from the UK to visit Spain with limited or no restrictions imposed.

The backcloth: Foreign tourism in Spain in March fell 76% from a year ago, meaning that recovery of the crucial sector from the hammer blow of Covid is not yet in sight.

Mark Stücklin writes here of the effect of PP policies on property in Madrid.

Cousas de Galiza 

There  used to be 4, if not 5, large convents in Pontevedra city. So, dozens, if not hundreds, of nuns. Now they're down to 3. Who don't live in a convent but in a flat above the Moroccan restaurant. The last functioning convent in the city - of the Claristas - closed 4 or 5 years ago (after 800 years in business), when the handful of aged residents were sent somewhere better for them. Yesterday, the city council announced it'd bought the convent and its grounds for €3.2m. The latter are far more extensive than I'd imagined, as you can see here:-

The Cloister

The council has outlined plans to develop the site but I'll report on them if and when they come to fruition. 

I guess it's as good a time as any to cite this article from Marinero on the (highly profitable) myth of St James and his sojourns in Galicia, vertical and horizontal, alive and dead.

You can see George Borrow's scathing comments on the myth in my Galicia page here. Scroll down to the penultimate section.

María's Level Ground: Days  33 & 24. These things are sent to try us . . .

Portugal 

As this fine country's on the UK's Green List, here's a relevant Guardian article, very possibly sponsored . . .

The USA

Will Biden's economic plans  bankrupt America? There is certainly a risk if the money leaks into transfers instead of being spent on productive investment or forms of education with an economic return - which do not include semesters on identity politics. But the status quo ante was not a viable course either. America was already on the brink of bankruptcy on January 6 - political bankruptcy - and therefore emergency largesse became the new imperative. Donald Trump’s Putsch - and the collusion it elicited - has brought about the very socialism he so reviles. Poetic justice.

Meanwhile, some stats:-

- The real wages of non-supervisory workers peaked in 1973. 

- The average CEO of an S&P 500 company now earns 357 times more.

- This is up from 20 times more 50 years ago.  

Finally  . . .

There are usually 200-250 views a day to my posts on this site, some of them possibly by humans. But a couple of times last week and again yesterday and today there were more than 500. Which means either something has happened or the Russian bots are out in force. But, as we Brits say: Mustn’t grumble . . .

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' 

NOTE: If you want to know more about Galicia or read my Guide to Pontevedra city, click here.

Cosas de España/Galiza

From Sunday next, the Spanish state will back out of the Covid restriction business and leave it to each of the 17 regional governments to impose whatever they feel necessary. But they’ll have to get court approval in each case, with opponents having the right of appeal against them to the country's Supreme Court. Cue confusion and possible chaos in at least some regions, as things wend their way through the notoriously slow Spanish system. Making interim fines potentially illegal, I guess.

Have the Andalucian Jehovah Witnesses gone all hi-tech? Or is it, perhaps, the Mormons? . . . In the past few days more than a dozen devices have been left on doorsteps in Chiclana. All had the thing on their screens - a  Bible prophecy.

It's suggested the Galician government will (initially) impose a cost of 1 cent per km on all its new toll roads, compared with the almost 12c/km we pay for the existing AP9 north-south motorway. I've no idea if this will include the N roads, such as the N550 which runs north-south between the Portuguese border and La Coruña but I suspect so. Probably via overhead gantries with cameras, as in Portugal. Meaning you have to buy a dongle. Another new tax. Certainly it'll include the A6 which runs down to the north of Madrid and is currently free. As well as other (much shorter) A roads in the region

The Way of the World 

The UK Football Association is replacing the shirt logo of the medieval crest of 3 lions with one featuring a lion cub, a lion and a lioness. The FA says the move will give the crest a “fresh purpose” that will symbolise “inclusivity at all levels of football”. Toddlers next.

English

A possible synonym for ‘dogsbody’ - ‘chief cook and bottle washer’.

Spanish 

How do you say ‘dogsbody’ in Castellano. Take your pick:-

From one site, the very literal: Cuerpo de perro.

From another: The better - Burro de carga  

From a third: The probably best - Botones

Quote of the Day

Has Peloton's lockdown cult lost its stride and is it about to go from must have to must hate? I think I was in the van of this trend.

Finally  . . .

You can pee in at least 3 ways in Spanish:-

Orinar

Hacer pis

Mear

The last one comes from the Latin meiere, from which came meio. But this means both urine and semen. The mind boggles.

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' 

NOTE: If you want to know more about Galicia or read my Guide to Pontevedra city, click here.

Covid  

The UK: Flu and pneumonia overtake Covid-19 as causes of death, with the Covid death rate being the lowest in 7 months. So, why is the rollback so slow?

There's info on Ivermectin from Don Quijones here. It's a useful off-patent, anti-parasitic that has been discovered to have powerful anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties. It's being used in more than 20 countries, with 'promising results'.

Cosas de España

Bad news for motorists, always an easy target:-

1. There's to be a new CO2 tax from September,

2. Spain will be 'going Portuguese' soon. Inevitably. It would be nice to think our local toll would reduce from more than 10c/km to 4 but this is  never going to happen, I suspect. 

Mark Stücklin has an article here explaining the Spanish non-lucrative visa. This allows the applicant to live, but not to work, in Spain.  Excellent for retirees and students and a good option for those who want to test the waters and are considering living in Spain long term.

The limits on expats in Spain may breach human rights. See the 1st. article below.

Fiona Govan of The Olive Press explains, in the 2nd article below, why Madrid has rewarded the anti-lockdown Right.

Cousas de Galiza

María's Level Ground: Days 31&32. María's view of the Madrid developments.   

France

Circumstances change principles, they say. M Macron needs right-wing support. So . . . Macron’s speech - to commemorate the death of Boney - followed weeks of anguished debate in France over the merits of commemorating a divisive figure hailed by the right as a pillar of national history but denounced by the left as a warmongering despot draped in racism and sexism. Presidential advisers had briefed the media that he would seek to find a middle ground between the conflicting visions of the emperor, remaining faithful to his centrist instincts. Instead he delivered a distinctly positive appraisal of the soldier who rose from humble origins in Corsica to proclaim himself emperor. How does one say 'to tack right’ in French?

The USA

No, it’s not a spoof or a parody - Trump’s ‘retroactive’ blog page. Here and here. A real barrel of laughs. Such as  this one: We know that our rights do not come from government, they come from God, and no earthly force can ever take those rights away. That includes the right to religious liberty and the right to Keep and Bear Arms. And how about a Trump Freedom hat for only $40.00? Or a Don't Blame Me I Voted for Trump mug for a mere $30.00? 

English

A British term which came up in conversation with a friend yesterday: A 'dogsbody': Someone who does menial or drudge work. A rough American equivalent would be a package-handler, gofer, grunt, or lackey. I wouldn't have thought the last cited was particularly American. Anyway, the history of the word is said by Wiki to be: In the early 19th century, the Royal Navy used dried peas boiled in a bag (pease pudding) as one of their staple foods. Sailors nicknamed this item "dog's body". In the early 20th century, junior officers and midshipmen who did jobs avoided by senior officers began to be called "dogsbodies". The term became more common in non-naval usage c. 1930, referring to people who were stuck with rough work.

Quote of the Day

Meghan Markle’s fun-free children’s book may put an entire generation off reading.

Finally  . . .

Not exactly what I was expecting. . . 

Perhaps it's the pH.

THE ARTICLES

1. The limits on expats in Spain may breach human rights. Allowing Britons who own property to stay in the country only half the time is unfair: Leon Fernando Del Canto

Hundreds of thousands of British expats living in Spain face increasingly unfavourable tax burdens and discrimination over their pre-Brexit immigration status.

Before the UK’s departure from the EU, most British citizens living in Spain failed to register their residence and have been flying under the radar — until now.

British homeowners in Spain must now comply with rules that mean that non-EU nationals can stay in the country for a maximum of 90 days in every 180. They face potential deportation or a ban from the country should they outstay their welcome. There is zero leeway for emergencies, whether family crises, attending to property issues or any other urgent matter. Border control data systems mean nobody will go unnoticed.

The so-called golden visa seems to be the only solution offered to those not wanting to become residents, but obtaining those documents in London incurs consulate fees of more than £1,600. It is imperative that the Spanish government resolves this problem.

Those who acquired property in Spain before December 31 last year should be provided with a free residence permit. Failure to grant such permits would lead to a breach of their human rights.

The European Convention on Human Rights states that individuals have a legal right to “peacefully enjoy” the possession of their home and deprivation of possessions by states should be subject to certain fair and equitable conditions. It is worth noting that in addition to the UK being a member of the Council of Europe, the ECHR applies to any foreign citizen in Spain.

State rules preventing people from peacefully enjoying their property, independently of whether it is their main residence, are likely directly to violate that convention right. However, to begin legal proceedings all remedies that could provide redress in Spain for the alleged violation must have been exhausted, a process which could take years.

To make matters worse, from the beginning of this year, as a result of Brexit, British citizens who own property in Spain or generate income in the country have been classified as non-resident taxpayers and they must pay 24 per cent income tax compared with 19 per cent for EU nationals. In addition, Britons renting their properties are not able to deduct any costs or expenses, significantly increasing their overheads.

As a result, it would be no surprise if there were soon an onslaught of UK residents litigating in Spain. And with EU freedom of movement laws no longer applying to Britons, this issue goes far beyond Spain as well: more than half a million Britons own second homes within the Schengen zone.

2. Why Madrid has rewarded the anti-lockdown Right. Lockdown isn’t always a surefire vote winner - just ask Madrileños, who won the latest elections with a landslide: Fiona Govan 

A group stands in the doorway of a newly opened sushi restaurant in downtown Malasaña chatting loudly as they smoke cigarettes, their masks resting on their chins, while waiting for space to open up within. In the plaza outside, a waiter frantically clears a table to seat a young couple who are already perusing the menu via an app on their mobile phones. Further up the street, traffic has been diverted so that bars can place tables on the cobbles to cater for the crowds of Madrileños meeting their friends for an aperitivo in the warm spring sunshine.

This is Madrid, a city in the grip of a fourth wave where the Covid-19 infection rate consistently ranks as the highest across Spain’s regions but where, over the last six months, restrictions have been the most lax.

From lamp-posts that line the streets and from giant billboards across the capital’s metro stations, is the smiling face of the woman who has made this state of semi-normality possible, the self-styled patron saint of the hospitality industry, Isabel Diaz Ayuso. On Tuesday, her gamble paid off, confounding the international political consensus that lockdowns are overwhelmingly popular with the public and securing a landslide win for her conservative Popular Party (PP).

Under a state of emergency imposed last October by socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, regional authorities were given the power under broad national guidelines to determine health policies and impose their own restrictions. Since then, Ayuso has steadfastly stuck to the belief that there was no need to kill the economy, too. While regions including Catalonia, Andalucia and the Balearic Islands shut down all non-essential businesses including shops, bars and restaurants, Madrid was determined to keep them open, defying Sanchez, health chiefs, and quite often common sense.

With Ayuso at the helm, for Madrileños the fun, though curbed, didn’t stop. On the evening that England went back into lockdown, I commiserated with my mother over the phone before rushing out to the opera, then joined friends for a glass of wine and tapas just in time to get home for the 11pm curfew (although admittedly that was an early night by Madrid standards).

Traumatised by the strictest lockdown in western Europe, when for six weeks Spaniards were confined to their homes, unable to go outside even to exercise as the coronavirus raged, Ayuso’s determination to keep things open won support even from those who wouldn’t traditionally buy into her Right-wing political ideology.

The well chosen word libertad (freedom) for her campaign slogan hit a chord and on Tuesday she increased her party’s share of the vote by 20 percentage points, doubling the number of seats in the regional assembly from the last election in 2019.

Although the PP still fell short of a majority and will need the support of the Right-wing Vox party to govern, this isn’t likely to prove a problem for Ayuso, a woman who started her political career tweeting on behalf of a predecessor’s dog. In a defiant response to Left-wing critics during campaigning in March, she said: “When they call you a fascist, you know you’re doing it right … and you’re on the right side of history.”

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' 

NOTE: If you want to know more about Galicia or read my Guide to Pontevedra city, click here.

Covid  

See below for an article on the key challenge of gene sequencing, which seems to be done well in the UK.

Cosas de España

Politics: So, the 'nastiest Madrid election in decades' has turned out as expected - A crushing election victory for a combative conservative leader who kept Madrid open during the pandemic. .  . This has boosted the Spanish right’s chances of regaining national power. Isabel Díaz Ayuso, dismissed as a Trumpista populist by her critics, won more than 44% of the vote last night, more than doubling the seats held by the [right wing] PP in the Madrid regional assembly. The result dealt a severe blow to the Socialist-led coalition central government. All this,despite Madrid having the 2nd highest incidence of Covid cases in the country. But the PP party didn't get an absolute majority and will now work with the far-right Vox party. The (originally) centrist Ciudadanos party - which achieved early success not so long ago - has now disappeared from the electoral map altogether. Here's a Guardian article on the developments.

As Imbard -Wilkinson put it yesterday: Ayuso’s cry for “freedom”, the slogan on hoardings across Madrid that depict her wearing a black leather jacket and white T-shirt, has a populist attraction in a city often equated with a hedonistic spirit and whose businesses are grateful for her policy of keeping it open. But it is her inflammatory anti-left-wing rhetoric that has struck a chord among conservatives who regard as anathema the Socialist-led government of Pedro Sánchez.

By the by, and not surprising really: Concerns about the pandemic prompted public health measures at the ballot boxes, such as a recommended time slot for older voters and an hour-long voting slot for those with coronavirus or in quarantine. Polling stations were disinfected and ventilated every three hours. Long waiting times, my daughter told me. All under the banner of Freedom!

Hats off to this lady in next-door Asturias.

Cousas de Galiza

I suspect it's not all that uncommon: A Pontevedra tapas bar owner has been done for having 25 tables in use. Not only was this in excess of his Covid allowance but way above the 9 tables his licence permitted. And he'd already been prosecuted once. Some people really do chance their arm. In this case, he possibly made more from breaking the law than the fine imposed on him. Simples, social stigma is not being a consideration.

Today my GP neighbour will try to get me enrolled on the Galician Xunta's vaccine certification scheme. Which might or might not be enough for national and international travel. I will report . . .

The Way of the World 

Personal responsibility is being eroded by militant identity politics. In branding societal problems 'systemic', we risk letting guilty individuals off the hook. See second article below.

Quote of the Day: Meghan has written her ‘debut’ book. This is worrying: might there be more?

Finally  . . .

Some advice, however old you are, from an expert, who's also a sufferer: Neuroscience has advanced to the point that we know Alzheimer’s disease starts in the brain at least 10, possibly 20, years before any cognitive symptoms are noticed. The question is, with earlier detection, can we stop those processes before the damage is done? Can we act to change the course of this disease? I believe the answer is Yes. The lifestyle changes I suggest to my patients - a strategic regime of  exercise - especially aerobic -  a modified Mediterranean diet called the MIND diet, with special emphasis on brain-healthy foods, and everyday activities that keep you socially active and mentally stimulated: daily crossword puzzles, reading 6 to 10 books per month. There now is overwhelming evidence that, during the 10 to 20 years before the onset of cognitive impairment, the simple lifestyle changes cited above can markedly slow the progression of Alzheimer’s. I believe that a cure will eventually be found, but until that happens we need to focus on these early stages, before memory and a fundamental sense of self disappears. There is no time to lose.

THE ARTICLES  

1. How Britain leads the world in Covid sequencing. The UK punches above its weight in sequencing and our scientists realised early on that understanding viral mutations would be crucial: By Julia Bradshaw, TheTelegraph

Sequencing the covid pathogen is crucial to stopping the spread of the virus and developing effective vaccines against it.

“I have to cancel our chat, I’m on an urgent call with India,” Prof Sharon Peacock writes in a last-minute email. With the pandemic bringing the subcontinent to its knees, Peacock and her team of genomic sequencing experts at the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium, known as Cog-UK, are offering technical expertise to their Indian counterparts on virus surveillance. Monitoring the virus as it mutates by sequencing its genome is something Peacock and her team have, over the past year, become global experts on.

In March 2020 as the pandemic struck, Peacock, a Cambridge expert on sequencing pathogens and director at Public Health England, immediately realised the UK would need to create a country-wide sequencing network to monitor the virus variants. She had a chat with Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government’s chief scientific adviser, made a few phone calls, got 20 people into a room and together they wrote a blueprint for what is now Cog-UK. “When I was calling people up, my question to them was: ‘I think we need to stand up a sequencing network in the UK. Does that sound right to you and would you support it?’,” she recalls. “What surprised me wasn’t the enthusiasm among the scientists, but how quickly we did it. We went from 20 people in a room on March 20, to a fully funded consortium on April 1 and that wasn’t easy. We set up the ethical framework, the governance structures, the management structures and working groups, the infrastructure, all from scratch.” Four days later an application landed on Sir Patrick’s desk. “He was a supporter from the very outset and that relationship with Patrick was very important,” she says.

What Peacock and her colleagues did was to bring the entire genomic sequencing expertise of the country under one umbrella. She says they effectively “hoovered up” all the capability, asking every scientist or researcher, mostly at universities, who had a sequencing machine and knew how to run it, to stop their research and help out by being part of Cog-UK. Luckily, everyone wanted to pitch in. Many of the scientists involved in setting up Cog-UK were well-versed in sequencing pathogens and had even been out to west Africa during the Ebola outbreak. “It was quite high-risk,” Peacock says. “Because what Cog-UK was doing had never been done before.”

The Wellcome Sanger Institute, a genomics and genetics research giant, which contributed £5.5m to fund Cog-UK, was also involved, in addition to the four public health agencies. Together with the Government’s £14.5m grant from its Covid Fighting Fund, the organisation had raised the £20m it needed.

The result of this remarkable endeavour is today’s little-known network of gene sequencing labs across the country, into which more than 100 hospitals and testing centres feed samples for genetic analysis.

It’s a challenging logistical operation, something like running a supermarket, Peacock explains. “We have couriers who know where to take the samples. It’s not random, but very orchestrated as to which sequencing lab a sample from a particular hospital will flow into. They have to be transported at a set temperature, they arrive en masse and the positives have to be picked out.”

So far, Cog-UK has sequenced the genomes of more than 452,045 Covid pathogens and, of all the Covid genomes sequenced in the world, half have been done by Cog-UK. The UK punches well above its weight here. All that data is published into a database and monitored and analysed. “Sequencing has become an essential part of managing the pandemic, it’s not optional,” says Peacock.

Understanding viral mutations is crucial for public health authorities, governments and vaccine developers, and key to staying ahead of the curve and stopping the spread. But it’s only recently that other countries have cottoned on to this, says Jason Betley, science director at genome sequencing company Illumina. Not knowing how a virus is mutating is like flying blind, he says. “The reason the B117 Kent variant became important was because it grew from nothing to dominating the whole of the UK in a matter of weeks, and that tells you there is something special about it and as a country you might want to change the way you are approaching this problem,” Betley says.

Around 70% of the Covid genomes sequenced in the world have been done using Illumina technology. The US-based company, which has a major R&D lab in Cambridge, inherited its next-generation sequencing tech after acquiring Cambridge spin-out Solexa in 2007. Genomic sequencing was born in the UK, Betley points out.

Illumina started working with Peacock during the MRSA outbreak 10 years ago, tracking the spread of the pathogen and looking at the mutations. Sanger also happens to be one of Illumina’s most important customers and, when the institute first started sequencing the Covid virus a year ago, there was a great deal of collaboration. Illumina designed a faster way of sequencing the pathogen at Sanger’s request – in just four days. The company then decided to make its own Covid sequencing product that it could commercialise for other customers. It put a big team on that project in April, and in early June it won regulatory approval, a three-month process that would normally take three years. “Because we threw everything, including the kitchen sink at it, and all our best people working seven days a week, we did it,” Betley says.

Illumina, and its British rival Oxford Nanopore, might have expected to be fielding phone calls from health authorities all over the world desperate to get their hands on the technology. Not so. In fact, Illumina’s chief medical officer, Dr Phil Febbo, spent the following summer knocking on doors in the US trying to get organisations interested in genomic surveillance “When we launched it in the summer people didn’t necessarily anticipate the importance of sequencing the entire base of the viral genome, all they were interested in was PCR testing. “It was only when we started to identify these variants of concern that others realised they had to be sequencing or they would have no idea what was under their noses.” Now, he says, it is Illumina’s door that is getting the knocks. And the test it developed last spring is now in the hands of dozens of organisations. Manufacturing has stepped up enormously to meet demand.

Over the past year Illumina’s share price has risen by 68%. Oxford Nanopore’s fortunes have also been transformed by the pandemic. It plans to float in London in what many expect will be one of the largest of the year and could value the company at £7bn. “The field is booming with a lot of inward investment into start-up sequencing companies. The potential for the technology to transform drugs research and diagnostics is only just starting to be realised,” Betley says. “It has been an interesting ride and we are on a wild phase of it now.”

2. Personal responsibility is being eroded by militant identity politics. In branding societal problems 'systemic', we risk letting guilty individuals off the hook: Nick Timothy, The Telegraph

You might have never heard of Noel Clarke. Before his Bafta award for his “outstanding contribution to cinema” last month, I had never heard of him either. Since declaring him its “rising star” twelve years ago, Bafta had not seen fit to grant him any other honours. 

Nonetheless, the year after Prince William criticised its lack of diversity, Bafta decided to recognise Clarke – who is black – for his career contribution to the British film industry. 

Thirteen days before the award, Bafta was passed information about Noel Clarke’s allegedly predatory behaviour. Yet it took no action. Why? In a statement, the organisation claims that it was because it had yet to receive a firsthand account. Yet a few days later, following publicity around the decision, it rushed to suspend the award and his membership of the organisation.

While the allegations against Clarke are serious and numerous, none is yet proved, but the case is worthy of study. Under pressure to improve the diversity of its awards, and no doubt afraid of accusations of racism, Bafta chose to honour a man it was told had used his power to predate upon women. Then, under pressure following a media investigation, it acted abruptly and  seemingly without due process.

The Bafta decision-making was poor but not unusual. Across society, holding individuals accountable for their behaviour has become complicated, and in some cases impossible, thanks to militant identity politics. And as previously apolitical arenas have become political – from ice cream companies campaigning for transgender rights to football clubs embracing the Marxist and anti-Semitic Black Lives Matter movement – the inconsistency and hypocrisy is growing.

We are now far from the ideal that we should be judged according to our character and actions. Instead we are judged at least in part by what we are instead of who we are. Old forms of racism, sexism and bigotry continue to exist, but are now compounded by a new prejudice, perpetrated in the name of progress.

Theories of “systemic racism”, which assert without evidence that all society subjugates and punishes minorities, lie behind the assault on our shared institutions, history and culture, and the accusation – so frequently made – that individuals and organisations are racist. This is no abstract argument: like President Biden, Keir Starmer has promised to root out not racism itself, but structural racism, which declares those of us who are not minorities unavoidably guilty.

For many, it is no longer sufficient to not be racist, or to fight racist discrimination. The starting point for any conversation about race must be to confess to having been racist, and to have been a beneficiary of historical racism, without quibble or query. To express doubt about structural racism is to be guilty of “white fragility”, leaving the accused with a choice between confession and further punishment. Minorities who express the same scepticism are written off as “racial gatekeepers”, race traitors who hold their beliefs not in good faith, but to protect the racist majority in return for personal reward.¡

In these circumstances, it is unsurprising that institutions of almost every kind – from the police to schools, big corporations to public sector agencies, and universities to Bafta – have surrendered to this cynical game. They declare themselves guilty, engage in positive discrimination, and have their HR departments establish training programmes based on pseudoscience like unconscious bias training. But the departure from judging one another on our individual merits is a dangerous game.

To understand why, think back to Isaiah Berlin’s two concepts of liberty. There is a negative conception of liberty, Berlin argued, and a positive one. The negative asked, “what is the area within which the subject – a person or group of persons – is or should be left to do or be what he is able to do or be, without interference by other persons?” The positive asked, “what, or who, is the source of control of interference that can determine someone to do, or be, this rather than that?”

Negative liberty, then, suggests we should be free to do as we wish. But of course there must be limits to that liberty. Without limits, the rich and the strong will enjoy their liberty at the expense of the poor and the weak. We can argue about where the limits to negative liberty lie, but we should all agree that there are core freedoms that must never be disturbed, regardless of apparent justification.

Positive liberty is about our desire not to be free from others, but to be free to live our lives as we choose. For advocates of positive liberty, who determines our liberties is as important as what those liberties are. This notion of liberty has been incredibly powerful in the last hundred years or so of public life, and we have its followers to thank for achievements including universal healthcare and education, welfare and workplace protections.

But just as with negative freedom, the idea of positive freedom can be dangerous when it overreaches. It can be nannying, intrusive and cause economic harm, but its consequences can also be more violent and tragic. For when we are asked to think of ourselves as simply part of a larger entity – whether tribes, races, faiths or totalitarian parties – we are not far from having our individual freedom subordinated to a supposedly superior, higher freedom or greater good.

We therefore need a balance. We need negative freedom to protect a core set of freedoms from despotism, but we need positive freedom to grant us the means by which we can lead fulfilled and happy lives. The problem today is that the woke agenda pursued by social justice warriors – to whom so many parts of society and government have surrendered – is a case study in the overreach of the positive concept of liberty.

Theories of systemic bigotry hold the innocent guilty, and allow the guilty to escape censure. And truth, fairness and justice are swept aside as inconvenient obstacles in the pursuit of apparent progress for a supposedly greater good. The sooner we get back to judging one another on the basis of our beliefs and actions, the better it will be for all of us.

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' 

NOTE: Info on Galicia here. Where you can also find my Guide to Pontevedra city.

Covid  

Portugal: Deaths are down to only 2 a day but the country is still not on the UK's Green List. No way to treat an old friend and ally. But it might well join Malta, Gibraltar, the Seychelles and Israel on May 17.

The UK: Just one Covid death yesterday. Meaning that the virus was surely outnumbered by other causes neglected over the last 12 months. Perspective may yet make a return. Meanwhile, the 1m social distancing rule won't be lifted until at least June 21.

In contrast: The 7 day moving average:-

Italy: 270, falling.

France: 265, falling.

Spain: 79, falling.

Germany: 239, not falling.

Sweden: 6, falling.

Cosas de España

How powerful is the Roman Catholic Church these days, almost 50 years after the death of Franco? How far is is it still woven into the fabric of Spanish life.  Click here for one informed view. Of course, whatever the church’s influence actually is, the Vox party would like it to be greater.

Here's Isambard Wilkinson on Madrid's Vox-supported 'freedom fighter'/'Trumpista'. Tellingly: The capital and its surrounding region has been among Europe’s worst hit areas in the pandemic but her risky gambit to keep Madrid open appears to have paid off.

Spain's political future?  Farewell the Centre?

Cousas de Galiza

María's Level Ground: Days 29 and 30

The UK 

It’s not so long ago that ministers used to quit on a regular basis for breaking the rules but the idea now seems laughable. For an extreme example of how things used to be, consider the case of Mark Harper, who resigned as an immigration minister in 2014 after discovering that his cleaner didn’t have the right to work in the UK. Imagine that today. I mean, it’s inconceivable, right? Thank-you, Mr Johnson and pals. And Brexit. And Covid.

France

Killer robot dogs to control unhappy voters. Whatever next?

The USA

When Mississippi became the 2nd state to leave the Union, the Declaration of Secession was read from the balcony of the city hall. It contained these statements: Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery  -  the greatest material interest of the world, and: A blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. Wow. All justified by the Bible, of course. No wonder attitudes have taken so long to change.

The Way of the World 

The nation state is back. As they have struggled with the pandemic, governments have amassed extraordinary powers. They can close your business, stop you travelling and forbid you to see your family. They can prevent you from holding the hand of a dying relative. They can bar you from returning to your home country.These are not the decisions of local authorities or international bodies, but almost invariably of national governments. It is they who can close borders, halt exports, impose laws and print money on any scale. Anyone who thought that globalisation meant the withering of nation state power has had a terrible shock. Even now, that power is underestimated. More is still to come: in a new race to lead innovation and promote greater self-sufficiency, nations will intervene in more industries, control supplies of minerals, unleash colossal spending and raise taxes. Even the mighty tech companies will face a day of reckoning with the power of the nation state. It is a paradox of our times that this revival of nation coincides, in much of the western world, with a growing crisis of national identity. Nowhere more so than in the UK, perhaps. What with Brexit behind it and Scexit possibly ahead of it.

English

Reader Perry has reminded me that there's long been a word confusingly similar to transhumanism  - transhumance. Very relevant to Spain, as you can see here and here. It still survives up in the northern regions of Asturias, Cantabria and Navarra.

Finally  . . .

I have a plant called the Christmas or Easter cactus, because that's when it's likely to bloom. It's not really a cactus, though it certainly looks like one. Anyway, mine bloomed in full last Xmas, so I was surprised to see a single flower emerging a week or so ago, and here it is:-

I was impressed by its unique status but yesterday I noticed a couple of more  buds. So not quite the rebel I thought it was.

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' 

NOTE: Info on Galicia here. Where you can also find the first 9 sections of my guide to Pontevedra city. 

Covid  

I got a J&J/Janssen jab early this morning. So these are relevant questions: Vaccinated but won't go out? The rise of Covid anxiety syndrome. We're beating the virus, yet many have been left with a chronic fear of reintegrating. How can we break free of this self-imposed lockdown?

Cosas de España/Galiza

Wow. Here’s para on Galicia here which doesn't contain the standard lie that rain falls incessantly, every day of the year . . . The scenery and coastline in Galicia is often compared with Scotland [is it?] – although its weather generally is not, since, despite fairly regular light rain which keeps its bright emerald tones intact, Galicia is a huge favourite with summer tourists seeking some beach time. 

Actually, I've come to the garden of the Parador to write this post. Under a blue, cloudless sky. But it's almost Andalucian  -  too hot in the sun, too cold in the shade. A north wind, I guess. But I’m not really complaining. It’s glorious. 

I arrived just before my appointment time for my jab this morning, expecting to be allowed into the hall at 9.35. What I found was a long line of more than 100 people - in rows of 5 or 6 - with no apparent system based on the time slots advised by SMS. And nil social distancing. Having seen several folk 'jump' the queue, I asked if everyone had a specific time. The answer was Yes but, as mine had passed, I should proceed to the head of the line and enter. Which I did, to find about 7 booths and, belatedly, 1-2m distancing. I was expecting only the first of 2 Pfizer or AZ jabs but was told it was the single J&J/Janssen version and I didn't need to return - assuming I didn't die during the compulsory 15m sit-down period or later. So far so good, though my shoulder hurts a tad. Nothing was said about a certificate allowing me to travel to the UK this summer and I forgot to ask. No one I've asked since knows how to get one of these, so I will talk to my doctor neighbour tonight.

Portugal 

I hear the border at Valença is not being policed. But is it a trampa? Will be fined on our return? Who'd rule it out?

The UK

The return of Colin the Cake. Only in Scotland . . .

The EU 

First I've heard of this.  I had a vague recollection of Mr Michel being an anglophile but the opposite is the case. I mistook him for the nice Mr Tusk.  

The Way of the World 

Edinburgh University lecturers have been issued with guidance on transgender issues, including a list of “microinsults” they should not use, such as: “I wanted to be a boy when I was a child.” Other phrases that they have been told to refrain from using include “all women hate their periods” and “all people think about being the opposite gender sometimes”. The sayings have been described as “microaggressions” which “negate or nullify the thoughts, feelings or lived reality of trans and non-binary people” and undermine their transition to different genders, according to the guidance. YCMIU.

English 

This is a headline of an article in The Times today: Line of Duty review: So was H worth the wait? Definately. But this last word doesn't exist in English and should be Definitely. This - in 'The paper of record' - is testament to the decline in sub-editing in the UK press. Several years ago it was reported that (expensive) UK staff had been replaced by (cheap) teenagers in NZ who could do it during the UK nighttime, ahead of the morning issue. But not always very efficiently, it seems. And has seemed for years now.

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' 

NOTE: Info on Galicia here. Detailed info on Pontevedra coming (relatively) soon.

Covid  

Spain: A questionable development?

Moving on: The three things you’ll need to make sense of a changing world. See the excellent article below.

Cosas de España

Lenox Napier on speaking Spanish.

Mark Stücklin here again addresses the issue of squatters: In Spain, he says, there is a greater risk of squatters getting in than in other countries, and once they are in, the cost to owners is higher than in other countries. Put another way, there’s a bigger chance of it happening, and when it does happen, it’s much worse.

Cousas de Galiza

A propos . .  The Voz de Galicia had an article on 16 April with the headline: The Xunta warns of an acceleration in Squatting. And then adds: The Xunta calls for [national] legal reform to end the incongruence of greater penalties for robbing a phone than taking over a property. There's been at least another 6 articles on the issue since then in that paper alone. So, yes, a pretty serious issue. 

Entrepreneurial local travel agencies are offering trips to Russia to those who don't want to wait for one of the variants available here and are happy to have the Sputnik option.

Plans for Pontevedra: I looked up 'intelligent tourism'. It comes under the rubric of Alternative tourism.

María's Level Ground: Day 28

The UK

Boris Johnson’s salary is £157,372 pa. This is ‘close to the top 1% of UK earners’ but leaves him 13th in the list of 20 international peers, with Germany and Sweden above him but France and the Netherlands below him. Top of the list is Singapore(£1,592,299) and the bottom 2 are Spain (£72,188) and Brazil(£53,517). I never fancied being PM here anyway.

The Way of the World 

In case you need to know, this is what transhumanism is.

English 

This sentence appeared in The Times today: Senior Tories say the affair has shined a light on Johnson’s financial difficulties. I'd never heard 'shined' before, only the irregular 'shone'. But both exist, it says here. Perhaps frequent ‘wrong’ usage has introduced the regular version. As ever, the people decided, not an academy.

Finally  . . .

I checked it out and it's true . . . St Francis of Assisi really did aver that fleas and other bodily parasites are the pearls of poverty, as gifts from God. Which is as good a reason as any to discount anything else he postulated. But no doubt it helped to think this during the Black Death.

THE ARTICLE  

The three things you’ll need to make sense of a changing world: Tim Harford, The Times

There is a famous legend about Galileo’s telescope. The tale, which has grown in the telling, is that when the great Italian scientist was being prosecuted by the Catholic church for professing that the Earth and planets orbited the sun, he invited the cardinals to take a look through his telescope and see for themselves. The cardinals refused to look, claiming that the telescope itself was some sort of trick.

The story tempts us to feel satisfied with our modern rationality but we shouldn’t be so smug. Far too many people refuse to gaze through the lens of statistics today. We, too, are afraid of being tricked.

There is a reason for that fear. Margaret Thatcher and John Major endlessly redefined “unemployment” in order to reduce the headline figure. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were masters of statistical misdirection. The Leave campaign boldly lied about the numbers; indeed, their aim was to be accused of lying, with a noisy row playing to their strengths.

No wonder we have been reluctant to look through the statistical telescope. Britain sent £350 million a week to the EU? Brexit would cost 820,000 jobs? Whatever number those liars on the other team were saying, nobody believed a digit of it. Whether or not the British people had had enough of experts, we had certainly had enough of statistics.

Then came Covid and everything changed. Amid the tragedy there was a striking change of tone. Our knee-jerk cynicism was quietened. We had questions: how dangerous was this virus? How did it spread? Who was most at risk? Suddenly, we needed the numbers.

For a proud geek like me, it was refreshing that statistics were no longer being used as a weapon but as a tool. Like radar, ultrasound, or the humble telescope, data show us things that are otherwise invisible. But they can only help us if we use them wisely; indeed, they can only help us if we are willing to use them at all. So what has the statistical telescope shown us recently, where are its lenses cracked or warped and, most importantly, how can we use it to bring the world into focus?

Step one: keep calm

If the past 5 years have taught us anything, it’s that what we believe or disbelieve is as much to do with our hearts as with our heads. We tell ourselves that we rely on the facts but our preconceptions and our politics influence what we believe the facts to be. So at the risk of sounding like a mindfulness guru with a calculator, I believe we should all notice our emotional reactions to the statistical claims that swirl around us. The media and social media thrive on fear, joy, anger and smug vindication. There’s nothing wrong with feeling emotions but we are not at our wisest when rushing to rage-tweet about a claim we did not actually check. So take a moment to notice your instinctive reaction to that astounding piece of data. Then look again.

Eric Feigl-Ding should have done just that in March last year. Dr Feigl-Ding, an American epidemiologist with a large Twitter following and an excitable style, shared a graph from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adding, “Newsflash for YOUNG PEOPLE: You are not invincible! You’re just as likely to be hospitalized as older generations — even CDC says so!” The CDC graph actually said the opposite, albeit in a confusing graph. It showed that vastly more over-45s than under-45s were in hospital. Dr Feigl-Ding should have looked at the small print, otherwise known as the x-axis.

A few days later the right-wing US pundit Ann Coulter tweeted a pair of graphs with the comment “For people under 60, coronavirus is LESS dangerous than the seasonal flu.” Again, the graphs showed the opposite. But Coulter’s “black is white” message was retweeted more than 10,000 times. When passions are running high and the situation is urgent, who has time to stop and think?

If you’re not experiencing any emotional reaction that, too, is worth noticing. In February last year the infectious disease expert Dr Nathalie MacDermott told me that the new coronavirus seemed to kill nearly one in 100 infected people and might easily infect two thirds of the world’s population. These were shocking numbers but the first was accurate and the second would probably have happened without dramatic lockdowns. We were looking either at 50 million deaths or a radical change to our way of life.

When I look back on that conversation, I’m struck by how little emotion it provoked. I could do the maths but I couldn’t grasp what it might mean. I later discovered that psychologists have a term for this: “negative panic”. Sometimes the emotion you don’t feel is the emotion you should be noticing.

Step two: get context

Statistics can seem bewildering but you can get a long way with simple questions about context. What is being measured here? Is it going up or going down? Is it big or small?

Consider the recent alarm over the possibility that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine might, in rare cases, cause a dangerous form of blood clot. How worried should we be? The UK regulators have published data suggesting the risk of a fatal clot might be two in a million. That doesn’t help much without context. “Two in a million” sounds reassuring but “risk of fatal blood clots” does not. So get context. Find a useful comparison. What else carries a two in a million risk of death?

The answer, according to the Cambridge University statisticians Sir David Spiegelhalter and Mike Pearson, is a 500-mile drive in a car, 40-mile cycle ride, or a 12-mile trip on a motorcycle. Ride a motorbike to the vaccination centre and your journey is more dangerous than the side effects of the vaccine.

Scientists are still trying to quantify the exact risk of fatal side effects: some European regulators think they are higher than two in a million. I will admit that such comparisons can be treacherous. Last summer I compared the daily risk of catching a fatal case of Covid to the risk of dying in the bath. The claim went viral — so vivid! — but I was wrong, not about the risks of Covid, but the risks of bathing. Despite my statistical gaffe, the basic principle is sound: when confronted with a number that you can’t visualise, compare it with a number that you can.

Statistics are often presented without any context at all: in a political speech, in a headline, or in a social media meme. Context-free claims should be a red flag, showing that all is not well. Fortunately, Google giveth what Facebook taketh away: it has never been easier to get the bigger picture with a couple of clicks to a reliable source. For example, the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said last month that the UK was “facing a very serious third wave”. Thirty seconds on a site such as Our World In Data would have showed that our official case count was much lower than Canada’s and falling. 

Any of us can now fact-check a prime minister in seconds from the comfort of our armchair.

Another example: blood-curdling headlines such as “Moderna admits South African Covid variant reduces its vaccine antibody levels SIX-FOLD”. Six-fold? IN CAPITALS? Holy escaped variants! While the six-fold number is both terrifying and true, it is irrelevant. The vaccine still seems to protect against the variant just as well as against the original virus.

The most context-free of all statistical claims is the one that uses no statistics at all: the dramatic photographs of groaning shopping trolleys before the first lockdown, alongside reports of panic buying.

The statistics could have brought much-needed context. Kantar, a consultancy, found that in mid-March last year only 3 per cent of shoppers had “bought extraordinary quantities” of pasta. This wasn’t a story about hoarding but people picking up a little extra, and about the fact that more people were visiting the supermarket instead of the office canteen.

That one statistic from Kantar could have reassured us that the shelves would soon be full again and, perhaps more importantly, reassured us that self-centred hoarders are a tiny minority. However, it was not widely reported: underwhelming, vaguely reassuring statistics rarely are.

Step 3: be curious

Vaccines can be political. The data already suggest a gap emerging in the US, where Democrats are getting vaccinated, while Republicans are more likely to hesitate or refuse. It is a striking example of how polarisation can influence our thinking, even on life-or-death matters that should have nothing to do with politics. Researchers at the Cultural Cognition Project at Yale University study this sort of stubborn tribalism and have found an unexpected cure: curiosity. Curiosity means being open to surprises and willing to admit to gaps in your knowledge so perhaps we should not be too shocked that more curious people are less politically tribal in their reasoning. Most of us tend to be dismissive of new information that challenges our preconceptions but curious people tend to be more open-minded, finding the new facts intriguing rather than threatening.

I’ve found it fascinating to learn more about vaccines. Consider Pfizer’s first earth-shaking statistic: its vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective. Behind that number were the stories of 43,538 trial volunteers, along with the scientists at BioNTech who developed the vaccine. Who knew there were so many ways to create vaccines? Who knew the manufacturing process was so complex? Who knew that they make vast quantities of glass vials in the Venice region, which I had imagined specialised only in the finest and most decorative glassware? The 90 per cent number is crucial but only the beginning of the questions.

By the time the long-awaited needle slid into my arm last week I didn’t have the mental space to be anxious: I was too busy being curious.

Fixing cracks in the statistical telescope

This three-pronged approach — calm, context and curiosity — will get you a surprisingly long way in making sense of the numbers without the need to resort to a spreadsheet. Of course, no matter how much calm, context and curiosity we bring to the numbers, the data themselves need to be reliable. The pandemic has also shown us that there are some cracks in the lens of our statistical telescope.

The most obvious was the lack of testing capacity in the early weeks of the pandemic. The government started making bold promises about scaling up testing, then misled the public by claiming to have hit the targets. The signature move was to claim that a test had been performed the moment a home-testing kit was posted out, despite the fact that it later transpired many tests were never returned. The subterfuge was shameful and the early lack of tests cost lives.

A second statistical pratfall came in October, when it emerged that more than 15,000 positive test results had dropped out of the test-and-trace system because an outdated version of Microsoft Excel (not enough rows!) had been used somewhere in the data pipeline. Amusing as that error might seem, it also cost lives. It is hard to think of a more telling example of the way that we suffer when our statistical infrastructure is creaking.

We are not the only country to have problems. Last year US health departments found themselves sharing outbreak data by fax, while volunteers had to step in to gather data about testing because the federal government didn’t have it. Europe’s economic

statistics have creaked under the strain of reflecting the impact of schools shifting to remote learning, or hospitals cancelling routine procedures. The UK’s statistics are probably more accurate which, alas, means the story looks worse.

These failings should not blind us to the progress that has been made. The scale of daily testing is now vast. Daily data on the pandemic — deaths, hospitalisations, cases and vaccinations — are available to you and me on an easily accessible dashboard at the same time that they are available to the prime minister. The Office for National Statistics conducts a large biological survey of the country, allowing it to estimate the prevalence both of the virus and of antibodies. The NHS has led the world in running rigorous clinical trials for Covid treatments: the Recovery trial, organised by researchers at Oxford University, is open to any Covid patient in any NHS hospital in the country. It has discovered a treatment, dexamethasone, that has already saved a million lives around the world.

All this should stiffen our statistical sinews and catalyse our calculators: the numbers matter. When the boffins and the policy wonks collect them and analyse them in the right way, they save lives. To help the rest of us understand an invisible threat in a confusing world, we could do far worse than turn to the lens of statistics. We can’t all pick apart the technical details but we can keep calm, get context, and be curious. That statistical telescope isn’t a club to beat up your opponents, or a prop for your wobbly arguments. It’s designed to bring things into focus. So look through it and gaze around. 

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' 

NOTE: Info on Galicia here. Detailed info on Pontevedra coming (relatively) soon. https://thoughtsfromgalicia.com

Covid  

After chasing both my medical centre and the Galician health authority, I'll finally have my first jab next Monday. If this blog doesn't appear on Tuesday and thereafter, you'll know why . . .

Spain will extend the gap between the first and second doses of AZ’s coronavirus vaccine by between 4 and 6 weeks.This could increase the interval between doses to up to 16 weeks. In the UK, I think it's 12 weeks. But here in Galicia, I have my 2 appointments this month  - for the Pfizer jab? - only 3 weeks apart. I've no idea why there are these differences. Or whether they're scientifically significant

Cosas de España/Galiza

Spain is different, it's frequently said. Certainly you'd never see these fotos like this in the UK. Mind you, these are nothing compared with what you can see in many shops windows down in Toledo:-

I've talked of differing attitudes to risk. So this is a relevant diagram:-

The Pontevedra city council says its new plan is to make the city a lure for 'intelligent tourism'. This is something else I don't understand the meaning of.

María's Level Ground: Days 26 & 27. Broom hunting.

The Way of the World 

Will we one day see the end of black and white chess pieces? Meanwhile, something amusing from Private Eye:-

An interesting take . . . Five years ago, American social scientists noticed a new and intriguing phenomenon. Most ethnic groups feel more warmly about their own race that other races but, "starting about 2016", white liberals actually rate non-white groups more positively than they do whites. This was attributed to 'white guilt.' 

Assuaging this feeling has created a lucrative market for publishers.

English 

The word 'spell' has 2 meanings, born of the fact it came to us via both Anglo-Saxon and French versions of an Indo-European word. One of the meanings in Middle English was 'story'. So 'Good Spell' to 'Gospel'. . . Who knew?