Forests continue to burn profligately in the Iberian Peninsula. In fact, Spain and Portugal last year accounted for 81% of all fires in the EU. And more than 9% of Spain has gone up in flames in the last 15 years. The suggestions persist that much of this destruction is deliberate. Understandably, then, someone has queried whether it’s wise to pay the fire-fighting companies by the size of the conflagrations extinguished.

A local columnist has bemoaned the demise of bullfighting in Spain, especially in the secessionist regions, where it is seen as too Spanish. The writer points the finger at rich and risk-averse bullfighters who, he says, spend more time in the pages of the gossip magazines than in the ring. But he also blames the British for planting football in Spanish soil, just as they have planted their flag on the rock of Gibraltar. It’s possible his tongue was firmly in his cheek but it’s still quite an achievement to get the Gibraltar issue into an article on bullfighting.

Poor Johnny Depp. His voice, of course, has long been eliminated by the mighty Spanish dubbing industry but now his very identity has been lifted. To El Mundo at least, he is now Johnny Deep.

I’ve written this blog during an afternoon of unusual but glorious yellow light. Sadly, the cause is a filter created by the smoke from a large fire in the valley of the river Lérez.