An interesting question appears to be increasingly taxing British minds - Who broke the Broken Society? Quot homines, tot sententiae, I guess. Time will tell. The bigger question is whether it can be fixed. By the Cameroons or anyone else. Probably not before many more teenagers are stabbed to death.

Meanwhile, back here in Spain, the noteworthy aspect of all the headline issues of last week’s PSOE conference – abortion, euthanasia, the need for greater laicism – is that they were deliberately rejected for inclusion in what passed for the party’s manifesto prior to the March general elections. No wonder we’re more cynical than ever about politicians. Actually, President Zapatero did manage to hit one demand on the head – viz. that state funerals be abolished. Perhaps this comes under maintaining previous levels of public expenditure however harshly the economic winds blow.

A columnist in the Voz de Galicia yesterday began his article – “The country furthest from Spain is Portugal. And not only as regards respect and courtesy. The drinks are British, the women lyrical, and the food French”. Well, I’ve had food in Portugal and ‘French’ isn’t the word that springs to mind. Possibly the phrase [sadly, someone else’s] ‘carbohydrate overload’. But not ‘French’. I haven’t had any Portuguese women so I don’t know whether they're lyrical or not, presupposing I knew what the writer was going on about. However, from ever-so-casual observation, I can say they’re a lot less pretty than Spanish women. On average.

Galicia Facts

The organisation Galicia Bilingüe is taking legal action against the Xunta on the grounds it’s now virtually impossible to do anything with them in Spanish. I have to say that, though I’ve seen it done to locals, no funcionario here has ever declined to speak to me in Spanish. However, it’s certainly true this language scarcely ever features in anything issued by the Xunta in written form. If ever. Even stuff produced for the benefit of almost exclusively Spanish tourists. Some may argue this is legitimate ‘promotion’ of the local language, though I wouldn’t be one of them. But at least written Gallego is easier to understand – if you speak Spanish – than the spoken form. Of which there are several, I might add. I’d even go so far as to say that I’ve heard Galician friends from the coast say they struggle with the Gallego of those in the hills. Perhaps this is why the Royal Academy and the Xunta have invented a standard version which none of them speak. Unless they work for the local TV channel. Which, of course, is financed by the Xunta. María in Wonderland.

Which reminds me – Things change slowly here in Galicia. The most popular names for babies over the last 12 months have been Antonio and María. And they have ousted Pablo and Lucía from the Top Ten. What’s even more remarkable is that María appears again at number 2. [María del Carmen], number 6. [María Dolores] and at number 10. [María Pilar]. And Carmen gets in by itself at number 3. So, the collective name for Marías must a wonderland, I guess.

Aggressive seagulls are an increasing nuisance in the UK and the same is true here in Pontevedra. Three times last evening I had to beat off a bird anxious to grab the anchovy on the sliver of bread next to my drink. The gull habitually perches on the hoarding of the bar and swoops down, with menace, on anyone who fails to scoff their tapas offering at the speed of light. Things are not helped by the idiots who think it’s fun to throw their food on the floor to make things easier for the creature. Doubtless my new camera will be bringing you a picture soon. But there is one good thing about predatory seagulls – they scare off the flying rats commonly known as pigeons.