El Pais says the heavy falls in the share prices of building companies is evidence of government success in ensuring a ‘soft-landing’ after the 10-year construction boom. Maybe. But I certainly agree with the added comment that the government needs to find an alternative engine for continued growth in the economy.

Our displaced and paranoid Basque friend, Aleksu, has written to tell me my views on Scottish nationalism clearly form the basis of my ‘hatred’ of the Basque people. God knows what he’ll say when he’s reprised my imminent compilation on Basque nationalism and ETA terrorism. Not that he accepts this term, of course. I do wish he had better things to do than read my blog.

Mind you, he’s nowhere near as vitriolic as the anonymous reader who yesterday sent me a total of 9 messages, all of which were variants of this one:-

I think all the gypsies and Morrocans and blacks should be sent to England ! and you should go with them ! why don't you go back to your fucking Island and stay there ! hijo de puta , ingles puerco ! ps. who like like English people in Europe ? who ?? all the problem in the world are caused by the English , americans and Israel ! who are you to judge the spanish people when the english are are the biggest leaches and hypocrtics ! they leach all dimons and gold from African countries ! its too bad Hittler dindt sink you fucking Island to the bottom of the atlantic !

This gentleman’s bile seemed to rise the more he wrote and he eventually moved from merely threatening to beat me up on the streets of ‘Pontebedra’ to saying he’d kill me. So, if I suddenly stop writing, could someone have Google trace him. I suspect they can. Or am I, too, being paranoid?