Another day in Spain, another ‘nationalist’ group. By this I don’t mean they’ve just come into being; only that I’ve never heard of them before. Today it’s the turn of some Aragonese, who are commemorating the 300^th anniversary of their subjugation by Castile [equals Spain]. Or, as they put it, “300 years on and we are still conquered and colonised.” Actually, looking eastwards, things must be pretty galling for them as they watch the Catalans crawl towards independence. After all, Catalunia [and a lot else] used to belong to Aragón, which will remain under the Spanish yoke.

Another day in Galicia and another grey blanket of cloud. And probably the coolest first day of July in history. Can we have our global warming back, please?

Another day in the UK and another warning re the property market there - Interest rates do not merely look certain to rise next week: they look certain to continue to rise over the next year or so. Not the least cause of this is the non-stop rise in house prices, the result of too much cash being in the economy. Like all bubbles, this one will soon burst, and I'm amazed more people can't see it. The whole point of a rate rise is to make such high prices unsustainable. Anyone buying a house now at the top of the market, and preparing to borrow huge amounts to do so, needs his head examined. This time next year - unless the buyer is in that rarefied part of the market where properties worth several millions change hands for cash - the value of his asset will be lower, his repayments will be higher, and his wallet will be severely squeezed. Negative equity will stalk the land, and repossessions will rise - but at least then, for the patient, there will be bargains to be had. Thank God this can’t happen in Spain.

But one thing that can happen is that the President alone – as with supermarket food prices in France – can overrule the market and dictate the price of energy. On Friday, Mr Zapatero vetoed his cabinet-approved increase of a mere 2% in the cost of electricity. He felt this would be too much after a similar rise in January. I guess UK readers who’ve seen increases in their energy bills of close to a 100% because of the oil market can only look on and weep at the sight of Continental liberal economics in practice. And wonder whether Mr Z is a saint of genius or just King Canute.

The Madness of Britain: Last Thursday – almost seven years to the day since officials of Sunderland city council strode up to Steve Thoburn's market stall to seize his scales and accuse him of the criminal offence of selling a pound of bananas - the same council passed a remarkable motion. It welcomed "the new ruling of the European Commission to allow the continued use indefinitely of imperial measures alongside metric measures", and "the statement of intent to allow the sole use of imperial measures by traders who wish to do so". The council expressed "sincere regret" for the "premature death" of Mr Thoburn, who died of a stress-induced heart attack in 2004 at the age of 39. For four years he had been at the centre of the campaign on behalf of Britain's "metric martyrs". Finally, the councillors resolved that they had no objection to the people of Sunderland petitioning for Mr Thoburn's Royal Pardon, along with thousands of people from all over the world. What largesse!

Note for Border Collie fans: If you’ve arrived here because you’re looking for a Border Collie puppy in Spain, you might like to know a friend of mine is about to start breeding from a pair brought from the UK. If you’re interested, drop me a line at colindavies@terra.es, putting Border Collie as the subject.