We are heading for a March general election. What this means is that the always-serious press – which I enjoy – will become very heavy. I am not looking forward to this, especially as it will be followed by months of obsession with the upcoming royal wedding.

Gerund Watch 1: I was very taken with this one in yesterday’s paper :- decisión-making. This one is a beauty as, firstly, it contains a helpful accent on the last syllable and, secondly, it actually appears to mean in Spanish what it means in English. This is unique, in my experience.

Gerund Watch 2: This is not really a gerund; it just looks like one. The English word pudding has been transmuted into puding [sometimes pudín] to mean a specific dessert – rice pudding usually.

A high court in Andalucia yesterday pronounced that the owner of a brothel was obliged to include his employees in the social security system and, thus, pay taxes on their income. The judges made an analogy with illegal immigrant labourers and so the inference to be drawn is that brothel owners have this obligation even though prostitution itself is against the law. Three of the twelve judges went out on a limb and said they had misgivings about the brothel owner being able to dictate working hours [and practices?] to female employees. I wonder whether he will be similarly liable for accidents at work, whatever these might include. Pregnancy, for example. The mind boggles.