Spain's Constitutional Court has pronounced Basque plans for a referendum on their future unconstitutional. Which can hardly have come as a shock to many people. The interesting question is what happens next, as it surely isn't the end of the road for nationalist aspirations there. My guess it will take place anyway. After that, it's anyone's guess. This is a show which will run and run.

Interesting to see that the Italian government is taking action against street prostitution, making it a crime to engage the services of an 'angel of the night'. I wouldn't go so far as to say something similar could never happen here but my guess would be the 10th or 11th of Never.

The Minister of the Economy yesterday took time off from speculating whether Spain's growth this quarter will be 0.1, nil, or -0.1% to tell us that, if indeed there is a recession, this will be a good thing if it 'cleans up' Spain's economy. True. But how?

I confess to feeling some sympathy for the El País reader who wrote in today to say that, whatever time of the day she switches on Radio Classica, she gets a program about Fernando Palacios. This gentleman turns out to be not only a composer but also the director of the channel. The disgruntled listener suggested the station be re-named Radio Fernando Palacios. Or RFP, at least. What was I saying recently about the low expectation of impartiality here?

So Russel Brand shocked folk at the recent US MTV awards. What a shocker. It's what he does best. Personally, while I'd rather poke my eyes out with blunt needles than listen to him, I suspect he's nowhere near as vapid as he seems. That said, I entirely agree with Andrew Pierce that he owes his transient fame not to the comic genius exhibited by Ricky Gervais or Sacha Baron Cohen when they conquered America. His celebrity is based entirely on puerile shock tactics, which have brought him his own radio show, TV show, and best-selling autobiography. Oh, world. Oh, zeitgeist.

Galicia

By the end of the year, you'll be able to travel by the AVE high-speed train from Málaga to Barcelona in a little under 6 hours. Here in Galicia, we wait to hear whether we'll be able to do half the distance in a similar time by 2012, 2016, 2018 or even 2020. No wonder Gallegos feel hard done by. Whichever party is in power. All that said, I see in today's papers that the President of the Xunta is still promising we'll have the AVE here by 2012. Hard to see what else he can say, even though the regional elections are not quite as near as we thought they were a couple of weeks ago.

I recently noted that the President of the nationalist BNG party had labelled 'racist' any Galician who didn't support his party's language policy. It seems to be catching, as the Scottish Nationalists have now taken to calling anyone who opposes their policies "racist and colonialist". As sad as it's probably effective.

I saw this week that Pontevedra's new museum is to be featured in the Spanish hall at the upcoming Venice Bienal. As this presumably reflects its stature as an outstanding piece of architecture, I felt I should bring you a picture or two. So here it is . . .


Oh, my mistake. This traditionalist building is the new city archive, next door. Here's a couple of views of the museum itself. It's easy to see why it's so well regarded. A happy marriage of granite and glass slabs that fits with the modernistic lampposts, benches and other ephemeral street furniture:-




Finally . . . You can say what you like about Sarah Palin but I'm grateful her appearance on the world stage has led to the knowledge that the plural of moose is meese. How many politicians ever make anything like this contribution to the world? Or at least the Anglospheric bit of it.