Well, I see that both Greece and Spain have suffered a knock to their credit ratings. So, were the Jeremiahs (Edward and Ambrose) right? Will Greece default? Will Spain? Will the ECB help out and impose IMF disciplines as the price for doing so? I dunno but here’s one view.

Talking (almost) of the banks . . . Here’s one answer to the simple question I’ve been asking for months – What’s the fundamental problem and how do we solve it? Cut them down to size, essentially. And eliminate the “pointless bigness” which serves only to maximise both salaries and moral hazard. I recommend you scroll down to A Bluffer’s Guide to Banking first. Actually, I've just seen it's Buffer's. Not sure of the difference.

Does anyone know who Francisco Villamil might be and why he has sent me this blog citation and this video, relating to some movement called The Middle Classes? A new party or a PP front? Given how flattering the photo of La Esperanza is, I’m guessing the latter. Graeme over at South of Watford will be apoplectic, if so.

The chap at the table next to me as I write this is eating a huge plate of eggs and chips. Nothing wrong with this, of course. One of my own favourites. But it’s reminded me of the comment of my friend Alfred B Mittington the other day, to the effect that Galicians go out to restaurants to eat exactly the same things they eat at home but can’t be bothered to cook. He can be quite caustic at times, can Alfred.

Alfred’s name sprang to mind earlier today when I saw that the very-right-of-centre ABC paper had devoted a whole page to the issue of Gibraltar. I didn’t read it, of course, as I suspected it contained the same tired case demolished by Alfred here. The main reaction I had was to wonder whether slightly more important issues in Spain had ever been honoured with a full page editorial in ABC. Take your choice. There are quite a few. Though I wouldn't number the abortion issue among them.

Finally . . . Pontevedra now has a new web page with 200 plus videos and 2,000 plus photos. Click here for your tour. A propos . . . I see that the ‘Spanish’ for click used on this page is clip, instead of, say, pulse. An error or a neologism?