As the world knows, the trial has started of those accused of being behind the 2004 bombings in Madrid. I get the impression El Mundo is still flogging the deadest of horses in trying to establish some link between these Islamic extremists and the Basque terrorist group, ETA. I guess they’re struggling to find a face-saving way of letting go of the claim. Meanwhile, though, I doubt many are convinced, even on the right wing.

I’ve commented that new bank branches are sprouting like spring shoots down in Pontevedra. So I wasn’t surprised to read this week that Spain now has the highest number of branches per capita in the world. These are, of course, expensive to run, especially given the personnel needed to give the Spanish the immediate, face-to-face service they prefer. And yet Spanish banks are now amongst the most profitable in the world. You don’t need to be a genius to work out how this is possible.

Talking of low quality but expensive service – A friend of mine who lives in a village 15km outside Pontevedra has just asked Telefonica for an ADSL line. They’ve replied that the existing line is poor so, instead of 20 euros a month, the service will cost 30 euros. Translated this means ‘We can’t be bothered to invest in giving you the line to which you’re legally entitled and, if you’re stupid enough to insist on having broadband, we will take advantage of you by charging a 50% premium’. Strangely, all the other providers quoted the same monthly charge - possibly because they have to rent the line from Telefonica. Like the banks, Telefonica is also a highly profitable company. But who could be surprised? I sometimes wonder why the Spanish bother to have a Minister for Consumer Affairs. Though, in fact, I think it’s only a part of a larger portfolio. Which possibly includes Trade and Commerce.

Once again I take my hat off to the serious dailies here for their obit columns. This week for example, they’ve featured the inventor of the TV remote control, who possibly didn’t even rate a mention in his home town’s rag.

Postscript to the Tenerife fiesta problems – The lawyer for the unhappy residents asserts that – between 3 and 4 am – the decibel level in the street was between 104 and 130, against a legal limit of 55. There were a couple of opposing articles on this subject in Sunday’s El Mundo. One of these basically said no one opposed fiestas but it couldn’t be a free-for-all; there had to be limits on how much noise was generated. The nub of the second one was that ‘A lot of noise equals a fiesta; little noise equals a funeral’. Of course, in some countries this would read ‘No noise equals a funeral’. But not here, where they’re essentially another social occasion.

I said yesterday I disagreed with Andrew O’Hagan about Britain needing more individuality. But I’ve since realised he may really have been talking about eccentricity. As John Hooper points out in The New Spaniards, there’s a world of difference between genuine eccentricity – of which there is little in conformist Spain – and individualismo. Of which there’s a great deal. Your preferred synonym for this word depends on whether you’re experiencing or displaying it. In the former case, I opt for ‘selfish’. When I display it, it’s called ‘getting my own back’.

Galicia Facts

The EU has said it won’t be giving Galicia any cash in respect of last August’s dreadful fires. Perhaps it’s read that the region has the lowest per capita number of fire-fighters in all Spain and feels it needs to put its own house in order before seeking hand-outs. Actually, the Commission did say it was a tad illogical to seek compensation for a natural disaster while loudly proclaiming it was the result of a home-grown politico-criminal conspiracy. Hmmm. . . perhaps they’re a bit more sophisticated in Brussels than in the constituencies of Lugo and Ourense, for example. Thus is the Xunta hoist by its own petard.