Esperanza Aguirre (to give her her short title) is President of the PP party in Madrid and ex-President of the Madrid region. Not to be confused with the President of Madrid city, who is someone else. She left the Madrid region job and took up headhunting in September last year. It seemed at the time like an exit from politics but one now has to wonder. In her capacity as President of the PP party in Madrid, she has attended recent party meetings on the corruption revelations and laid into both President Rajoy and the Ministress of Health, Sra. Mato. For this she's been accused of disloyalty and of 'taking advantage' of the situation. Well, of course she has. She's a politician. And an ambitious one at that. Perhaps her career in headhunting will be a short one. As she continues to headhunt herself for the top job. I once bet my Spanish dinner companions that she'd achieve this within 10 years but they pooh-poohed this. Well, we'll see. If she does, I fear Graeme of South of Watford will top himself.

It seems that said President Rajoy confused his EU peers this week, when he insisted – with reference to the corruption revelations – that “They are all untrue, except for some things.” I wonder if anyone pressed him on this, but rather doubt it. Meanwhile, he's been rather undermined by the more than a dozen PP party officials who've admitted they received moneys as detailed in the Bárcenas handwritten accounts.

Rajoy is, of course, Galician and there is a brand of humour here, called retranca, which deals in irony and sarcasm. It's possible he was making a joke but, again, I rather doubt it.

TVG is Televisión de Galicia. One way or another it gets its finance from the local government. Which is in the hands of the PP party. This might just explain their treatment of the corruption scandal in its news programs, where it's never been the first item. Until, that is, they could report that “The police have entered the offices of El País. They suspect the Bárcenas' papers of being false.” Likewise, when reporting on the corruption charges laid against the mayor of Carballiño, they somehow neglected to report his affiliation to the PP party. Fearless in the pursuit of truth.

Every Brit remembers how adept Gordon Brown was in resorting to 'stealth taxes' to generate revenue, while not touching the income tax rate. I thought of him last week when taking the metro from the centre of Madrid to the airport. When you get to Barajas station, you can't get out of it (e. g. to catch a plane) unless you shove 3 euros into a machine at the top of the elevators. Likewise for the return journey. Doubtless this amount will rise over time, very probably at a rate higher than that of inflation. Captive market and all that.

I guess, in view of the employment to be created, it counts as Good News that a decision has been taken on the location for Eurovegas. It's to be established in Alcorcon, 15km south of Madrid. Personally, I don't think Barcelona ever had a chance.

Our brains, it seems, are capable of winnowing the information we receive and deciding what to retain and what to junk. Intriguingly, this takes place when we're asleep. Acting on what instructions, I wonder.

Finally . . . Courtesy of The Guardian, here's an interactive view of London from the top of its latest architectural feature - The Shard.