Editorial:
I was looking at my cell phone on Saturday and it said: ‘Higher temperature is expected tomorrow’. I looked again and it said 40ºC. Forty degrees is higher than my blood temperature. Then it added, lows of 28ºC during the night. Sticky!
Mojácar where I live is said to have an agreeable microclimate. It’s not as hot as much of Spain in the summer, and it never snows here in the winter.
We had one bad fire back in 2009, which burned a couple of thousand hectares between Mojácar and next-door Turre, including my old farmhouse (the house survived but all the trees and garden went, and I had the terrible experience of seeing little birds flying and abruptly turning into puffs of flame).
The fire will come so fast, so fast, that people can get caught and they can die. That day, the police drove by with a megaphone – ‘Get out now!’ We grabbed the dog and we drove down into the nearby rambla, the dry riverbed.
People don’t forget a bad fire: the fear and doubts will remain long afterwards.
Right now, many thousands of people are experiencing this (and much worse). There are huge fires burning across the north-west of Spain in particular. On Sunday, we read of 120,000 hectares burnt (as against 47,000Ha in all of 2024). But three days later, according to the Wednesday 3.00pm TV news, the total area burned for 2025 across Spain stood at 400,000Ha – particularly these past two weeks in Galicia, Castilla y León, Extremadura and Asturias. Just Galicia alone has already overcome the terrible wave of fires in 2017: by Wednesday, the blaze had taken 155,000 hectares there. To combat the flames, the Government has maintained a large deployment of more than 3,400 soldiers and 450 resources, which have been joined, among others, by air resources and BRIF helicopter-borne brigades of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, with 600 personnel, and more than 5,000 Guardia Civiles and 350 National Police officers. Furthermore, Pedro Sánchez pledged on Sunday to forge a ‘national pact’ to confront the climate crisis during a visit to the wildfire-ravaged region of Galicia.
Spain is now in its third consecutive week of heat alerts, with fires still burning in the northwest and western provinces. Military units remain on the ground to support exhausted fire crews, while France and Italy have dispatched water-dropping aircraft to an air base near Salamanca (Castilla y León) to aid the response. On Monday, we read that ‘Spain accepts help from several European countries to help tackle the nineteen active forest fires ravaging the country. Firefighting reinforcements from Germany, Slovakia and the Netherlands will be added to those already provided by Italy and France’.
Even so, we read of ‘dangerous and uncontrolled fires’, with not enough help, or maybe none at all. A UME (army) captain acknowledges the lack of resources to fight the fires: "We are under terrible pressure", he says.
Fires will eventually die down, as the fire-fighters gain control, or simply as the wind turns, or even when there’s nothing left to burn. But until then, there is devastation, loss of life, loss of animals, homes and businesses. Over the weekend, there were reports of major fires with far too little help as the services were badly stretched, and of villagers being told to wear wet face-masks and to stay in their homes.
We read of global warming, and we worry if things will get even worse next summer. But whether one considers this as probable, or as a story cooked up by doomsayers, various hoaxes (bulos) can be found everywhere, from irresponsible news-outlets to social media. The main ones are: ‘There is an organized criminal network operating behind the fires’ (if intentional, they will come from simple acts of arson).
‘They want to reclassify the burned lands thanks to the reform of the Forestry Law’ (burned areas may not be rezoned as urban for 20 years).
‘Penalties must be increased to stop the fires’ (currently, you can get up to 20 years in prison, but only 9% of firebugs are apprehended).
‘Arsonists are primarily responsible’ (under 10% of fires are wilful).
‘The fires are intentional; climate change has nothing to do with it’ (hot summers dry out the undergrowth).
‘Protected areas burn more than other areas left to nature’ (This depends on where the fire starts, not where it ends up).
One way or another, it will take decades to repair the burnt forests – and perhaps some of the villages and homes and stables will be gone forever.
So, whose job is it to finance the fire-stations, pay for the airplanes and send out the firefighters? The answer (and the politics) is that it falls on the regional governments. ‘It is often pointed out that summer fires are avoided in winter, when clean-up and preparation activities are carried out to hinder the easy spread of fires’. Short of a national emergency.
And thus, we come to the politics.
‘…The outcry comes after Feijóo accused Sánchez of not having activated "vigilance in Spain's forests and mountains" in time before the risk season began. He also blamed him for the fires that began ravaging Andalucía, Castilla and León, Galicia, and Madrid (all PP fiefdoms)’. Público quotes Pablo Fernández (Podemos) who says ‘The PP is only clear about the regional powers to lower taxes for the wealthy, and to privatize public services. In the other areas, it tries to pass the buck, as is the case with forest fire prevention and extinction, which falls under the jurisdiction of the regional governments’. Another source agrees – ‘From extreme denialism to cuts in fire prevention: the political debate on the climate emergency’. One report tells of how a bulldozer was moved 17 kilometres from its fire extinguishing job to become the backdrop to a speech from Feijóo and the regional president for Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, in Palacios del Sil (León). The vecinos were understandably not amused.
Firefighters are often poorly paid, or have temporary jobs, or (as in Madrid) are on strike (they’ve agreed to return to work until the emergency is over)…
And still Spain (and next door Portugal) are burning.
Housing:
Mark Stücklin’s Spanish Property Insight says here that ‘Spain has more than 43,000 homes priced above €1 million advertised at one portal (Idealista), although the vast majority are concentrated in just a handful of provinces’. As to – Where are the cheapest coastal properties found, SPI has the answer here. In passing, I think that those places away from the resorts, and there are still some coastal villages where nothing much happens, are the cheapest option – at the risk of feeling isolated, lonely and perhaps bored.
Facing the possible 100% property tax on non-EU citizens now under consideration by the Spanish government, EuroNews analyses property taxes across Europe.
The Olive Press reminds us that ‘Homeowners in Spain are set to be hit by mandatory renovations that could set them back thousands of euros’. European Union energy efficiency standards for domestic properties will start coming into force from 2030 for all member states, including Spain.
From CadenaSer here: ‘Hourly rentals in Madrid: "I paid 650 euros to sleep in a living room with my husband and niece." The Tenants' Union denounces the "exorbitant" increase in rental prices, which is leading to the proliferation of phenomena such as hourly and daily rentals’. The article says: ‘Rent prices in Madrid continue to rise, with no change expected: an average 80-square-metre apartment can now cost around €1,700, according to the latest report published by the Fotocasa website. This increasingly tense market is leading to phenomena such as daily or even hourly rentals. Private rooms, some with a bathroom and others with a shared toilet, without a TV, for €50 a day. This is what is being offered in the Plaza de Castilla and Tetuán areas, where a one-bedroom apartment from a real estate agency can cost over €1,800 a month…’
La Nueva España has ‘A well-known businessman is highly critical of the housing problem: "They call it co-living, which sounds cooler"’. There’s a good quote from the protagonist, José Elías Navarro, who says "My generation bought an apartment. The next one rented. The current one shares a room. If this isn't going backwards, tell me what is".
From The Express (Arguably, the UK’s silliest newspaper) here: ‘Twelve stunning Spanish villages where Brits can live for less than £500 a month’
Tourism:
elDiario.es was in the Balearics: ‘Mallorca is more expensive than ever, but it's breaking tourist records: "The crowds are overwhelming. It takes you half an hour just to walk five metres." Iconic enclaves on the island such as Cala Mondragó, Es Trenc, and es Caló des Moro experience similar overcrowding every summer. In May, 1.82 million people gathered in a single day on islands with just 1.2 million inhabitants, and the population here is expected to have doubled for August’.
Hosteltur says that many tourists and holidaymakers have chosen the north of Spain this August. ‘Northern Spain has consolidated its position as the main tourist destination this summer, driven by a sharp increase in hotel bookings and prices. This region has seen a 9.19% increase in bookings and a 6.54% increase in the average daily rate (ADR), significantly exceeding the national average. This phenomenon reflects a shift in traveller preferences, who are opting for less crowded destinations with milder temperatures, to the detriment of areas in the south and along the Mediterranean coast, which are experiencing declines…’
Meanwhile, says elDiario.es here, ‘Tourists visiting Madrid while the locals try to escape the heat have this to say: "I wouldn't go back again in August". National and international visitors who have decided to explore the capital during the heat wave are taking refuge in the city's interior spaces, parks, and public fountains, while they consider returning at another milder time of year…’
Finance:
From Expansión here: ‘Spanish exports to the United States fall by 5% in the first half of 2025 but soar to China’. It says that ‘Total foreign sales reached 197,150 million through June, up 1% and the second-highest figure ever for a first half of the year. Amid a growing rapprochement with China, exports to the Asian giant grew by 13.7%’.
El Mundo has an interview with economics professor José Ignacio Conde-Ruiz: "If immigrants weren’t arriving, it would be 'game over' for the Spanish economy," he says.
The Guardian has ‘How Spain put up wealth taxes – without chasing away the billionaires’.
El Plural in Valencia here: ‘Carlos Mazón and Vox's new tax measure will forgive €60 million annually for the wealthiest Valencians. The wealth tax reform will exempt 13,300 taxpayers -half of those who would normally be responsible- from paying taxes by doubling the threshold limit’.
Politics:
From The Guardian here: ‘Spanish people know deadly heatwaves are now an annual event. So why are our politicians in denial?’. ‘…What is happening in Spain now goes far beyond discomfort. More than 1,500 deaths have already been linked to heatwaves this summer alone. Public-sector workers are collapsing from heatstroke on our city streets. Entire communities in the Madrid suburbs have been devastated by wildfires. On Monday, 198 weather stations recorded temperatures of 40C or higher. Following a record-breaking July, the first 20 days of August will probably be the warmest on record. Alongside housing, the climate crisis is Spain’s most visible and most persistent problem: every summer reminds us of this…’ Andalucía Today has ‘Spain to declare fire-ravaged areas emergency zones with state-aid pledged’. The Times blames Pedro Sánchez for everything here.
From elDiario.es here: ‘With the fires, the PP is repeating the "Dana" strategy to exempt its regional presidents from responsibility. Mañueco (CyL) and Moreno (Andalucía) face elections in the coming months, while Guardiola (Extremadura) governs in a minority with Vox and with the budgets postponed’. The minister Óscar López says: ‘The autonomous communities are in themselves, a state. And the regional presidents are neither commentators nor chat-show invitees; they are presidents who have obligations and powers. And all of Spain knows perfectly well that the autonomous communities have powers over prevention and extinction"…’. From Público here: ‘Alfonso Fernández Mañueco (CyL) does not request Emergency Level 3 (that’s to say: Government help) so as not to have to be under the orders of the Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska (wiki)’. In short, the PP regions don’t want to pass control to the PSOE government, as it makes them look weak, but at the same time, they want to switch the blame to Pedro Sánchez. Óscar Puente (the Minister of Transport) says ‘Everything Feijóo is asking for (about fires) is being done, but he doesn't care’. From CadenaSer here: ‘The regional map of fire prevention spending: Castile and León has cut its budget by 90% in the last thirteen years’.
The Government reminds the Partido Popular that, when the Unidad Militar de Emergencias (UME) was introduced by President Zapatero in 2005 to help with forest fires and other calamities, the PP was bitterly opposed to the wasteful project… Europa Press has a long memory.
Gibraltar:
The La Línea City Council is applying to purchase the Customs Office where La Verja, the Gibraltar frontier fence is found. We read at EuropaSur that "The disappearance of La Verja, the practical integration of Gibraltar into the Schengen Area, and the establishment of a stable cooperation framework significantly redefines not only the political level, but also the territorial, urban, and functional model of La Línea de la Concepción. The city, historically structured as a border and frontier, faces the challenge and opportunity to reinvent itself as a city of connection and centrality within a cross-border conurbation with Gibraltar."
Europe:
From The Daily Telegraph here: ‘European rearmament is pushing Trump into irrelevance on Ukraine. This vain, vacillating, gullible US president no longer commands the West’.
Corruption:
Regarding the disgraced ex-Minister for Hacienda Cristóbal Montoro with Público. Among other gaps, it's worth noting that the UCO (Guardia Civil judicial police) doesn't analyse all the banking transactions of Montoro’s Equipo Económico and its partners, it doesn't identify some of the beneficiaries of funds or those who paid in and it doesn't attempt to locate other accounts belonging to those under investigation despite clear indications that they exist. Público asked experts who regularly investigate corruption cases to analyse the UCO report. Their conclusion is clear: "Either there is a lack of interest in the investigation or those who drafted the report don't know how these schemes operate".
From Xornal Galicia here: ‘The environmental association Arco Iris has revealed a devastating fact: while the Regional Ministry of Rural Environment insists that the Chandrexa de Queixa fire destroyed 17,500 hectares, satellite analysis reveals a much harsher reality: 24,700 hectares devastated in just ten days. The difference is not insignificant: we are talking about more than 7,000 hectares "disappeared" from official records, which calls into question the transparency of the Xunta and reveals an institutional strategy to minimize the scope of an unprecedented environmental catastrophe…’
Courts:
Good to see that Judge Peinado hasn’t taken an August vacation. From El País here: ‘Peinado charges Begoña Gómez and her advisor at the Moncloa Palace with embezzlement. The judge will take a statement from Pedro Sánchez's wife as a suspect on September 11’. From El Plural, ‘This charge against Begoña Gómez stems from an indictment filed by Vox, which the judge is upholding. However, one of the key points to analyse was a memory of May 5th of this year, the date on which Judge Peinado said that Begoña Gómez and Cristina Álvarez could not have committed the crime of embezzlement. However, it seems that his opinion has changed over the months…’ A journalist on the Malas Lenguas (a TV news show) is asked if he considers that Judge Peinado ‘…is trying to get Pedro Sánchez removed from the presidency of the Government of Spain, to which he responded not only by stating that "absolutely", but also defended the judge's "tireless" commitment to this…’ El Plural has: ‘The PP connections of Judge Peinado's essential associates at the Madrid Provincial Court. These family, political, and professional ties have raised suspicions about the impartiality with which the controversial judge is conducting the case’. From El HuffPost here: ‘The General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) has opened an investigative inquiry into Judge Juan Carlos Peinado, following a complaint filed by the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations, Félix Bolaños, following the judge's questioning of him as a witness back in April’. From LaSexta here: ‘Begoña Gómez files a complaint against Judge Peinado for malfeasance and disclosure of secrets’.
A question from El Plural – ‘Do you think she’s being persecuted unfairly?’ 93% says yes.
Media:
There’s a small town called Jaraíz de la Vera (Cáceres), letting off fireworks during its fiestas, and in the same picture, you can see the hills surrounding are on fire (Twitter).
According to Público here, when a reporter collapsed from the heat during a press conference, El Español printed: ‘Pedro Sánchez "took advantage of a journalist fainting due to a possible heat stroke to leave the session". Although that's what happened, there wouldn't be anything wrong with that if that were the case, since the worker's health is more important, and the news conference could be resumed later.
Everyone knows that if the meeting hadn't been interrupted, the headline would have been: "The evil Sánchez won't stop the press conference despite a journalist's heat exhaustion"…’
Público says that ‘Workers at the TVG Galician public television are demanding the dismissal of news directors for their coverage of the fires. They accuse them of "deliberate inaction" to conceal the seriousness of the situation caused by the fire and demand that they be replaced by "newsroom professionals capable of leading" the coverage of the disaster’.
Not that every August fire makes the front page: ‘"Every day 30 new fires appear in Galicia, from 30 to 35 fires per day that are practically all extinguished, and I also have to say that from August to today we have registered 492 fires in the month of August alone, that is, 370 more fires than there were last year." The statements are from the Minister of Rural Affairs, María José Gómez, in an interview this Monday with CadenaSer. Figures that reveal that the Xunta de Galicia has hidden 447 fires so far this month, since it has only released information on 45 during this same period…’ Praza has the story (en galego) here.
Vox on the TV news-show Mañaneros 360: ‘That they hold the far right up to the mirror every day and broadcasts its misdeeds is something Vox cannot tolerate. The leader of the hate party stated verbatim: "I have seen the hateful laughter in the media at Vox's proposals by some news directors on TVE. We are going to wipe that laughter off their faces because we are going to get there, we are going to implement the policies that must be implemented, and we are going to make the traitors pay for their responsibility"…’ Público reports here.
InfoLibre has ‘the most shocking photos of the fires this weekend’.
El Debate (a notorious right-wing news site) here has the story of ‘Dozens of Hazte Oír umbrellas calling Pedro Sánchez corrupt were found decorating Lanzarote’s La Mareta beach on Tuesday’ (Pedro Sánchez and his wife Begoña are spending their summer hols there, as circumstances permit).
Ecology:
From El Boletín here: ‘Over the last decade, cuts have eroded the response capacity of firefighters, forest firefighters, and firefighting teams in many autonomous communities. Data confirms the decline in prevention, while unions and firefighters complain of a lack of personnel, seasonal contracts, and obsolete equipment…’
A short video of the death of a village, Palacios de Jamuz (León), last week by fire.
Civio has ‘The justifications behind intentional forest fires. The motivation for most fires is unknown. For the rest, agricultural burning and livestock practices play a significant role’.
From Huelva Información here: ‘A battalion of firefighting donkeys is clearing grass near Doñana to prevent fires. This initiative involves eighteen donkeys working intensively clearing dry grass, a task carried out by this unit that has been in existence for ten years’. (We know, but we forget – goats, sheep and other grazing animals are key to the maintenance of the sierras).
A NASA agency has an up-to-date map of the world’s fires here.
20Minutos here (Wednesday afternoon): The weather is changing – with cooler temperatures arriving and some rain in the north.
CadenaSer has ‘A study by the Valencia Bioparc shows that ‘renaturalization’ is the best weapon against climate change. The study confirms a temperature difference of up to five degrees between the vegetated areas of the Bioparc and Valencia's city centre’.
From InSpain News here: ‘Valencia’s Albufera lagoon is more polluted than the Mar Menor. Pollution levels are off the charts’. It says: ‘For decades, Valencia’s Albufera lagoon has been celebrated as one of Spain’s most emblematic wetlands. Yet new findings suggest the jewel of the Mediterranean is now facing a far deeper crisis than even the Mar Menor in Murcia — long seen as the country’s most notorious environmental disaster’.
‘Spain and the EU frustrated as efforts to curb plastic pollution fail at the UN thanks to opposition from oil-producing countries’. The Olive Press is here.
Various:
Vox in Aguilas (Murcia) has come out against the provincial wild tortoise conservation plan! This because it "further ruins our farmers". The more likely reason is because they are called tortuga mora – the Moorish tortoise – and we know what the Voxxers think about anything Moorish… the story comes from Info Águilas.
‘On the border between Spain and Portugal, where geography becomes a negotiation between granite markers and diplomatic agreements, lies a story that seems straight out of a Berlanga novel. Diego González, historian and author of Historiones de la geografía (GeoPlaneta, 2025), tells the story of a rural hotel that, by expanding its kitchen, ended up invading Portugal. The solution was as unusual as it was effective: moving the border.
"It's one of my favourite stories, so much so that I've slept in that rural house three times," González confesses’. This one comes from CadenaSer here.
From Al Descubierto we find ‘The Grammar of Hate: how the far right manipulates language to divide us’. We know where this is going…
Diario16 has ‘CIA documents debunk the story denying corruption during the Franco regime. The US intelligence services advised against providing financial aid to Franco's Spain because it was "too corrupt and incompetent"’. In the end, the fear of communism weighed in Franco’s favour and Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an aid agreement with the Spanish in 1953.
See Spain:
From El Confidencial here: ‘In the peaceful region of Tierra de Pinares, in the province of Segovia, lies a small town with a fascinating history. Coca, with just over 1,700 inhabitants, witnessed the birth of one of the most important emperors in the history of the Roman Empire. But it's not just its history that draws visitors; its impressive castle also makes it a unique destination for lovers of historical and cultural tourism…’
Letters:
The airport run.
I'm sorry, but from the first sentence it is nothing but confusing to me. Have another read through.
I did, and I'm still confused!
WM.
I was rather pleased with it. The camel story by the way is true.
Lenox
Finally:
Santana - La Flaca (Lyric Video) ft. Juanes on YouTube here.
Si (
No(
