Visiting
the UK, I'm confronted again by the separate hot and cold
taps(faucets) which the Spanish find so amusing as it leaves them
with the impression that the UK is less modern than Spain. And which has
left me wondering whether there is a convention that the hot tap is
always on the left.
Blogger
David Jackson gives an insight into Spanish electricity bills here. As
he says:-
- Spanish electricity bills are amazingly complex,
- They’ve recently obfuscated the tax bit by taking certain taxes that used to be separate on your bill and hiding them in the consumed energy bit, but it’s still there.
- Spain has the third highest electricity prices in the EU, higher than in the UK.
- With an ageing infrastructure, closure of plants and future increase of fossil fuel prices, it isn’t going to get better
Galicians
will be interested to hear that some Danish archeologists think they've found the tomb of King Ulf The Galicia Raider, who made a habit of attacking their
coast in the 11th century. And was understandably known back home as Ulv
Galiciefarer. I guess the tomb is in Denmark but the article doesn't say so.
I've
referred to US evangelists as the gift which keeps on giving. I enjoy
a daily diet of their pious inanities via the site of The Friendly Atheist but don't usually cite any here. But sometimes this has to be
done. Take a look at the insane Jim Bakker here. He thinks critics of Trump are inhabited by demons.
Talking
about Trump . . . I see this morning he's cancelled a meeting with
the president of Mexico and won't restore it until that country
starts treating the USA with respect. I suspect his speech was
written for him. For what on earth does Trump know about treating
people with respect?
Two items
on the UK from today's media:
- The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says that the currency of degrees in the UK has been “undermined” by too many illiterate and innumerate students being shoehorned onto courses and graduating with little discernible improvement in the most basic skills. You don't say.
- Visitors to London face the prospect of a “tourist tax” as councils scramble to raise cash to pay for local services. This is bitterly opposed by the hospitality industry which described it as “absolute folly”.
Today's foto:
:
Finally . . . A bit about Business Over Tapas, published by my net colleague Lenox Napier and an invaluable source for me and others:-
Business
over Tapas – Useful News for Homeowners and Investors
Business
over Tapas is a subscription news service which has been around for a
while now, originally as Per Svensson’s ‘Weekly Report’ and
from 2013, with its current name.
The BoT
seeks to supply useful information for those who have little time to
trawl through a hundred or more sites about Spain every week. There’s
only hard news here: no frills, and certainly, no shills.
The reports
come synthesised from a large number of news-sites, both Spanish and
foreign, as well as from blogs, press releases and personal
experience (the editor, Lenox Napier, is a journalist who moved to
Spain as a child, many decades ago). Lenox is helped by economist
Andrew Brociner, who divides his time between Spain and Italy, and
retired journalist José Antonio Sierra, who spent many years living
in the Republic of Ireland.
The idea
of the name is the point that, in Spain, so much business, gossip,
deals and trade-secrets are shared outside the office and over a
beer. Not a full lunch then, with heavy plates to digest, but a
wealth of different subjects served in saucers.
While the
‘free press’ is avidly picked up by the English-speaking
expatriates in Spain, there is little useful news, and many stories
are tied in some commercial way to local business (from where the
free press draws its income). Business over Tapas has no advertisers
and relies on a modest annual subscription.
There is
both a Facebook presence and a webpage for Business over Tapas. A
free copy will be sent on inquiry.
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