Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
- Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain.
Spain
- Adios Sr Rajoy. The ex-PM has resigned from his seat in parliament but will stay as the party Chairman/Secretary until a successor is announced in July. This is looking more and more like fellow Galician and president of the Galician Xunta, Alberto Feijoo/Feijó/Feixo.
- Another good initiative from the new PSOE governments
- The US company Blackstone has become Spain's biggest owner of both hotels and private properties. Details here.
Life in Spain
- Portuguese football player and star of the Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo (who did quite well last night against Spain) has avoided a spell in jail by agreeing to pay the Hacienda €18.8m to settle a tax fraud claim. See the BBC on this here. A lesson for us all there.
The EU
- In this article, the renowned economist Joseph Stiglitz takes a look at the euro and wonders if it can be saved. And the EU along with it, of course. As he says: The euro was a system almost designed to fail. Needless to say, everything depends on the Germans.
The USA
- Fart's latest bon mots re Kim Jung Un:- When he speaks his people sit up straight. I want my people to do the same. He later said this had been sarcasm. Of course it was.
Nutters Corner
- This article tells you what you need to know about the origins and extent of the American Christian Right and its coercive dysfunctionality of patriarchal evangelicalism. As the writer warns his compatriots: You may not come from Jesus Land, USA, but Jesus Land is coming for you. We will all be subjected to theocratic dystopia, to “one kleptocracy under God,” if we don’t stop the Christian Right.
Galicia/Pontevedra
- I recently mentioned that, in 3 weeks in the South, I wasn't once accosted by a beggar. In contrast, I've said, this can happen more than 5 times a day here in Pontevedra city. Yesterday lunchtime I jotted down all the regulars I could think of, plus one or 2 other NG's (New Guy/Gal) who came by yesterday. And here they are. By the way, this list excludes the both the gypsies encamped at the entrance of every church and supermarket and also the men and women (gorroneos??) who unnecessarily guide you into free public parking spaces:-
The ex-addict woman in her 50s (María) who does drag round a dog
The guy in his 30s with a mullet haircut
The bearded, greasy-clothed bag-man who stands in the same spot, day in day out, in the main square clinking coins in one hand and holding out the other
The desperate long-haired addict in his 20s
The loud mouthed nutter, Miguel, who walks around screaming at folk to give him a cigarette
The lazy guitarist outside the health centre by the Alameda
The nasty male duo who curse me for telling them to sod off
The skinny female addict in her 40s(20s?)
The well-dressed middle-aged guys who sit all day on steps of vacant shops with a placard in front of them saying something like No Work, No Resources.
NG 1
NG 2
Finally . . .
- There's a British dish called Spotted dick. Not sure what it is but I hear today that restaurants are to rename it Spotted Richard because diners are too embarrassed to ask for it. We're all snowflakes now.
© David Colin Davies, Pontevedra: 16.6.18
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