Yesterday – in the context of the infrastructure problems in Catalunia – I was planning to write this sort of thing always happens when there is [over?]rapid economic growth. In the event, I decided this was perhaps a little negative. But our power cut last night has rather changed my perspective.

The death occurred last week of a priest who was sympathetic to ETA and who was famous for saying things like ‘ETA may kill people but it’s fighting a war and, unlike its opponents, doesn’t use torture’. I had wondered how his views squared with those of the Catholic Church and the fact that he committed suicide served merely to endorse this question. As did the sight of a nun or two following his coffin.

A recent survey in the UK identified the over-65s as the happiest group in that society. I wonder if this is because half of them are already living in Spain or Rumania. And the other half are planning to move soon.

This year’s required mark for entering university medical faculties has risen to 8.4. Here in Galicia, home-grown candidates are concerned applicants from nearby Portugal are edging them out. The suggestion of a ‘language barrier’ has been made, compelling them to pass an exam in Gallego. But the answer has come down that, since this isn’t done for people from the rest of Spain, it would be illegal. Interestingly, it seems those aspirants who don’t achieve the cut-off mark for medicine opt for nursing instead. Which would be unimaginable in the UK, I suspect.

Yesterday I queried whether anti-crime measures proposed by President Sarkozy in France could ever see the light of day in the UK. This morning comes the news that the Human Rights Act of 2000 will prevent the killer of a headmaster being deported to his country of birth, even though he’s still "a genuine and present risk" to the public. His lawyers have successfully argued that he has a right to life with his family. Which is more than was granted to his victim, of course.