In a recent judicial review of the sentences handed down on those convicted for the Madrid train bombings of 2004, one or two people were acquitted and several had their sentences either reduced or - in one case - increased. I'm still trying to get my head round the announcement that one person had his gaol term reduced from 42,924 years to 42,922. Which probably means around 20 in each case. The other sentence which has foxed me recently is the relatively light one - well, 58 years - for a paedophile on the grounds that he wasn't 'aggressive'. But I'm sure it all makes sense to someone.

The government's projections of the number of immigrants who'd take up their offer/bribe of 2 years' dole to go back home have proved rather optimistic. Only 10%, it seems, are happy to do this - despite the economic downturn here. Natural optimists, obviously.

Another milestone legal case - The Supreme Court has ordered Vélez-Málaga town hall to pay €156,000 compensation to each of 18 residents of a building in Torre del Mar troubled for years by the noise from a bar below them. I guess I'll be long dead before the courts start fining people because their chained-up dogs bark all night. Possibly my grandchildren as well. Dead, I mean. Not chained-up.

It's not in the Royal Academy's dictionary but my impression is that un filler is a trailer for a movie film or the like. Why not un trailer? Or would this be to confuse it with un truck? Anyway, it's probably related to un spot.

Galicia Facts

I'm always intrigued to see the Selectividad marks demanded by Spanish universities of applicants for various course. Years ago Physiotherapy seemed to rank at or near the top but now seems to have fallen out of favour, at least in some institutions. Nursing, on the other hand, continues to demand high academic achievement. Here are this year's requirements for the three main Galician universities. :-
Santiago
1. Medicine - 88%
2. Dentistry
3. Audio-Visual Communication[?]
4. Journalism
5. Nursing

La Coruña
1. Physiotherapy 76%
2. Law and Company Administration
3. Public works[??]
4. Nursing
5. Architecture

Vigo
1. English-Spanish Translation - 79%
2. Audio-Visual Communication
3. Industrial & Mechanical Engineering
4. Nursing
5. Advertising & PR

I don't know whether this applies Spain-wide, but it seems that in this neck of the woods you need to be smarter to become a nurse than an architect. Which might explain the region's reputation for ugly buildings in beautiful countryside. The other shock is that journalism remains an honourable career choice. But then, as I keep saying, Spain is happily without a tabloid/yellow press. It makes do with a pink one.

Asked whether they felt the McCann case should have been dropped or not, 90% of the Voz de Galicia readers who bothered to vote on line said No. I'm guessing this is because they still believe the parents did it. In contrast, the British media are reporting that the Portuguese police never had any evidence at all to back up their decision to label them the chief suspects. Perhaps the VdG readers will change their minds when they read this. But I rather doubt it.