12.00: Second post of the day.

I’ve had another of those emails from a Galician interpendista which manages – in one fell swoop – to display a woeful ignorance of not just history but also politics and economics as well. This one claims Galicia is a real country because it became a kingdom after the fall of the Roman empire and that, once it shakes off the yoke of the Spanish colonisers, it will once again be a rich and powerful country.

As ever, I imagine this is from a young male who lives with his parents and so knows less than zilch about even personal independence. I wouldn’t normally mention his existence but I feel compelled to ask both him and all his colleagues who torture themselves reading this blog if they feel it was right for Galician politicians to have spent far more time over the last 12 months discussing whether Galicia is a region, country, national reality or nation than they did in discussing the prevention of the regular fires which this year threaten to turn Galicia into something best called ‘Wasteland’. Preceded, of course, by whatever irrelevant adjective they prefer.

A simple Yes or No will do. And I wouldn’t bet against the Yeses.