A very bad news week for the UK. Firstly, Britain is now amongst the 10 most taxed countries in the world - above the USA, Australia, Germany, Italy and . . . Spain. Secondly, the IMF has opined that house prices here are dramatically overvalued, raising the real prospect of a major correction. However, overvaluation is said to even worse in Ireland and . . . Spain. Finally, Britain no longer has the lowest road mortality rate in Europe. She’s been overtaken by Malta, Holland, Sweden, Switzerland and Norway. Though not yet by Spain.

I mentioned the other day you don’t have to be long in the UK to feel the heavy hand of the ‘nanny state’ upon your shoulder. The aim appears to be to remove all sense of personal initiative and responsibility and, beyond that, to entirely eliminate the element of risk from that intrinsically dangerous activity, living. In this increasingly regulated society, there are for example, huge white letters on the road telling you to LOOK LEFT on the road at crossings - just in case you’re too stupid to remember which way the traffic is coming from. Combined with the suppression of fun and the elevation of animals to a superior status to that of humans, this can be quite depressing. Which is how I felt after reading this notice on the railings of Hoylake promenade:- There are wading birds who use this beach. If they are disturbed, they use up valuable energy resources. So please do not go on the beach or allow your dog to run on it if there are birds on it. This is the sort of thing I’m talking about when I say the UK is now an insane place. To me, at least.

Galicia Facts

The mayors of Galicia’s cities have decided against the creation of special zones dedicated to binge drinking and are now considering further restrictions on the sale of alcohol to teenagers. I find this confusing as those in place have clearly not stopped 12 year-olds getting hold of 2 litre bottles of coca cola mixed with one spirit or another. Meanwhile, I was rather horrified to hear from a reader that Pontevedra’s council had even considered trying to move the botellón out of the old quarter and into the rather lovely central gardens. Given the enmity between Pontevedra and Vigo, I don’t know why they don’t just opt for paying for the kids to be bussed to and from our neighbouring city. Sorted.

In the third quarter of this year, house prices fell slightly throughout the region except in the Pontevedra province, where they rose 1.2%. Over the last 12 months, Galicia is said to have experienced a rise of 7%, against 5% nationally.


Finally . . . If you’re a fan of Formula 1 motor racing, you can sign an on-line protest against corruption in this farcical sport and against the persecution of Fernando Alonso. A day or so ago, there were more than 119,000 signatures on this. No prize for guessing which country most of these came from.