The new 1 item on the national news yesterday morning was the health of a famous female singer. The number 2 item was the death of 4,000 people in the Indonesian earthquake. Hmm. Spain doesn’t, thank God, have a tabloid press but this is getting close.

Immigration has taken a long time to become a major political issue in Spain but – doubtless reflecting concern at the waves of boat people now coming into the Canaries - a survey this week reported that 69% of Spaniards think there are too many immigrants in the country. By this they mean South Americans, Africans and criminal East Europeans, of course. Not us wonderful Brits.

Renting property has long been difficult in Spain and now we learn that measures introduced by the last government aimed at increasing volume and reducing prices has had the opposite effect. Truly, there is no problem so bad that government interference can’t make it worse. Especially in a country where rules exist to be bent. And subsidies are to be sought whether or not you really meet the criteria.

Walking down to town this morning, the thought struck me – I wonder how many of the Galician nationalists who wrote to upbraid me still live at home. Quite a few I suspect. Quite ironic really. I mean, one accepts teenagers will have extreme views but perhaps there should be a law that no one who is over 20 and still living at home should be allowed to say anything about regional/national independence until he/she has demonstrated a capacity to achieve it for themselves. Not much to ask, I wouldn’t have thought. And so on to . . .

GALICIAN POLITICS

Very many thanks to Xose for his considered and interesting response. I was beginning to despair of anything adult and intelligent. Yes, I agree that Brits and Americans should learn more languages and can say so on the basis [are you reading deadbeat? Sorry, feelbeat?] that Gallego will be my eighth. In British secondary schools, at least, it’s compulsory to learn a second language – an international one, that is, and not another British one. But what then happens is that no one around the world wants to speak anything other than English with you. So it’s very hard to gain any practice. This, for me, is actually one of the [many] attractions of Galicia. Almost no one here tries to speak English, allegedly because of a characteristic Galician fear of exposing/embarrassing yourself.

I suggested yesterday the constituent bits of the BNG might not all agree with each other. Today I read that Divergent internal sensitivities[!] of leftists and progressives within the BNG have opted for a change of direction in the nationalist organisation. They intend to bring to the autumn conference a new political strategy, to be driven by a new top team. Lummy! Looks like sparks.