The government’s latest dismissive soundbite about Sunday’s large-scale demonstration in Madrid is that the numbers involved didn’t even amount to half of those killed in Iraq. This seems to me to be even odder than the one I quoted yesterday.

I said yesterday that politics here are rarely boring. But this is not the same as edifying. It struck me today that the President and the Leader of the Opposition are currently doing a good impression of two one-armed, one-legged drunks having a brawl in a mud-filled ring. Very dirty, very noisy, full of aimless gestures but not very productive or conclusive. The May elections can’t come soon enough as a lance with which to burst this boil.

Spain is a pretty relaxed place when it comes to sexual matters. I mention this because, firstly, at dinner with my daughter and friends on Saturday there arose the subject of a vibrating ring that had been featured in an article in a Sunday paper. And because, secondly, one of the young ladies advised that a local supermarket was offering them as a reward for fidelity. It quite put me off my dinner.

Galicia Facts and Perspectives

The local PP party has said it will, if elected to power, ensure that Galician children are fluent in not just Spanish and Galician but also English. This will be achieved via ‘trilingual centres’ in which kids as young as 3 will start on English. They will also ensure the local TV station offers at least one program a week in English, subtitled in Gallego.

A guest of mine today bought 2 Tintin books in Spanish for his niece. Well, he thought they were both in Spanish but, not having his glasses with him, he’d actually bought one in Spanish and one in Gallego. The former was 10 euros but the latter only 5. Asked for an explanation, I passed. It could be market forces. Or it could, I suppose, be subsidies.