Is nothing sacred? Spain’s leading cosmetic surgery clinic stands accused of cheating its clients by charging them for the highest quality breast implants but inserting cheaper articles. It’s dismissed the charge as a figment of the imagination of a surgeon dismissed for incompetence. It will be an interesting trial.

I have to confess to being utterly confused by the shenanigans of Catalunia’s tripartite-coalition politicians. Surveying the latest claims and counter-claims, I was drawn to the conclusion there’s no problem that can’t be made worse by a dose of nationalist-laden coalition government. Which is probably just as true closer to home.

Quote of the week - Asked to comment on the fact that France’s high-speed train is 3 times faster than the UK’s, British Rail’s spokesman replied - "Well, France is three times bigger than Britain."


Galicia Facts & Perspectives

Picking up on the cosmetic surgery theme, there were reportedly 8,000 interventions here last year, 7% up on 2005. Most of these were breast operations, of course, but the surprise is that 30% of these were for reductions. Compared with other regions, Galicia is said to have a disproportionate number of over-endowed ladies. These must include the fearsome pocket battleships you occasionally bump into on the street. Or, if you are smart, you don’t.

If you were asked to guess the professions of the three members of the next drug-smuggling team to be caught along the Galician coast, I suspect you wouldn’t come up with ‘An army corporal, a police officer and an employee of the local council.’ Sadly, you’d be wrong. Thank God it wasn’t a bishop, a heart surgeon and the ex-president of the Xunta.

It’s official – The Chief of Police in Pontevedra says most of the town’s residents have no idea of how to negotiate roundabouts. He puts this down to the fact that most drivers qualified before these first appeared here. My friend Andrew and I beg to differ. We regularly watch with incredulity the dangerously bizarre way the driving schools teach their clients to turn left here. So it’s no surprise to us that 25% of the town’s accidents occur on roundabouts.