Brits and Spain; Spanish justice; Clean/dirty cities; Heritage sites; The net; Arrogant Apple; & Xmas trees.

Just what Spain needs: Fewer and fewer Brits are taking their money there to live but more and more are choosing Spain as a cheap holiday destination. With a good percentage of the latter vomiting out their cash in the streets. Quite the opposite of what the government says it wants. The same government which did nothing during all the years of bad UK press about house demolitions and the like. Other than to criticise the foreigners for being both greedy and stupid, for not understanding that Spain is full of crooks. Especially in the government. Mind you, most of the Brits were, indeed, stupid. Forgoing a lawyer (some of whom are honest) in favour of a smiling estate agent. Davies basic rule: The greater the charm, the more likely the roguery. Rule 2: Never forget that in Spain, it's regarded as a sin not to rip off idiots. It even has to be confessed.

Speaking of which . . . I've confessed that I don't understand the Spanish justice system. And it's possible no one can. I say this because the long-running case of bribes to the PP party from businessmen in search of (very) lucrative contracts looks like ending with the conviction (and jailing) of 2 party officials but not of the PP party itself. Which appears not to have known of black cash payments over 18 years to its senior members, including the current President. So, a very inefficient organisation. Except when it came to acting as a conduit and washing machine for vast sums of money en B. It goes without saying that none of the senior members of the party now in government are being prosecuted either.

To be more positive - Oviedo, in apple-rich Asturias, is Spain's cleanest city and Madrid is the dirtiest, says a new study. Given the choice . . . And I like cider.

Spain boasts 44 World Heritage sites. Here's The Local's view of '10 of the best'. Other opinions are just as valid.

Nice comment from A A Gill about the internet: It’s a mass kleptocracy that steals everything - music, films, TV shows, football games, the answers to exam questions, memes, jokes. It believes in collective ownership and the possibility of something turning into something else, a constant shape-shifting of collective plagiarism. Has the ring of truth about it.

I tried yesterday to send Apple an internet question about a new Mac battery. But it wouldn't go without my agreeing to receive unsolicited offers, etc. This is surely abusive, especially when my chances of receiving a sensible reply are low. The new Microsoft. 

Finally . . . A few yards from where I used to catch my bus home from primary school in Liscard, Merseyside, they yesterday erected their 2015 Xmas tree. Apparently this is the response to be criticised for having the country's worst tree last Xmas.

Yes, 'back in the day', kids of 5-11 weren't picked up by their mothers in Chelsea tractors. Or even saw their mothers until they got home. How did we survive?