The EU elections; Great thinkers; The Vatican; Telecoms: Spaniards in London; & Sub-editing

64% of Spaniards are forecast to vote in the upcoming EU elections. This is rather surprising, given the low opinion they have of their current politicians. Perhaps it's in the expectation of a better form of democracy. Some hope. I'd be surprised if more than 35% of Brits go to the polls, being even less trusting of European politicians than they are of their own. And most of those who do vote will be making a protest by supporting UKIP. Which will be a meaningless result.

Prospect magazine has published a list of the world's greatest thinkers, as elected by its readers. Three of the first 5 are Indian, which was a bit of a surprise. But not as much as the inclusion of Pope Francis at number 5.

Talking of prominent Catholics . . . I was a little surprised to read recently that the latter's number 2 - sacked from his position as head of the Vatican's corrupt financial ministry - had ignored his boss's example of humility and moved into a vast apartment of great splendour. Which possibly says something about the reactionary forces Pope Francis is up against.

One of the numerous obligations imposed by the EU on its member states is that everyone should have an internet speed of at least 30 megas by some date in the future. Locally (i. e. in my barrio), Telefónica don't seem much concerned with this but nationally they've persuaded the government to bring in a law allowing them to expropriate private properties - e. g. terraces - to install telecoms infrastructure. Does this happen elsewhere, I wonder, as I plod along with my 'up to 10 megas'. Meaning around 0.5 megas in practice.

Seven years ago, a tube train crashed in Valencia. As with the recent rail crash near Santiago, all the blame was heaped on the driver, who'd conveniently died in the accident. But now a judge has decided to question 3 technicians of the city's railway company, FGV and, once again, it's the braking system which is the centre of the investigation. Better late than never. Which is a comment which seems to be of general application to the Spanish judicial system.

For those who read Spanish, the blog Guirilandia is an excellent read. The author is a Spaniard living in London, writing about how he finds life there. Today there's an article from Sergio Delgado Somodevilla on what a foreigner should do to fit in with British/London life and how to overcome the psychological barriers to this

Finally . . . A couple more beauties missed by the teenage sub-editors of the Daily Telegraph:

• First Minister faces renewed demands for an apoogy after saying he admires 'some aspects' of Putin's leadership
• The Ecclestone daugter who lives on another planet