Boars; Elections; Tony Blair; Windscreens; & Ideology v Art.

Wild boars - Jabalíes - are a regular feature of news reports in Galicia, either for gobbling crops or causing accidents on the roads. Or for being roasted over coals. Somehow, they've now reached the UK after an absence of 400 years - and started attacking southern folk and grubbing up gardens. Worse, if hunters don't start killing them as fast as they can, they'll be running the country by 2025. Needless to say, there are animal rights people who don't want to see any culling. Possibly they want to be in a future wild boar government. More here.

Talking of the UK, yet another commentator, surveying the hustings, has declared that: "The election is awash with wild funding promises. Trouble is, we prefer trivia and bluster to serious, informed discussion". Much the same could be said of Spain. Except here it would be 'serious, uninformed shouting and You're-Even-Worse abuse'.

Which reminds me . . . Here's Don Quijones on the subject of that poor-boy-made-awfully-good, Tony Blair. A man he sees as: "A walking, talking conflict of interest. The perfect ambassador of a deeply rotten system of national and global governance." Good stuff. BTW, I can confirm it's not true that the Pope has asked Blair to give up his recently-acquired Catholicism, such is the damage this has done to a church which wishes to retain its image of poverty.

Tomorrow, I'm having my windscreen replaced after a stone put a longcrack in it on the drive from Portugal. This isn't as simple as it used to be, as I discovered when the company called me after an internet request for an appointment. Nowadays there are things like light and rain sensors in windscreens, so you have to go through a questionnaire. They also wanted my ID number, even though (to my surprise) their internet page had said this was optional. Only temporarily, it would seem.

Finally . . . Yesterday I enjoyed a short podcast by the English novelist, Howard Jacobson. It began with the perceptive comment: "Years ago, when a 'friend' meant someone you knew and an opinion was something you arrived at after thought . . . " If you want to hear more - on the subject of Ideology versus Art - click here.