Editorial:
My Godfather Andrew Fountaine was an interesting man. He lived in a giant house (in Spain, it would be called un palacio) in the middle of the Norfolk countryside called Narford Hall. It had 52 bedrooms and a private chapel reserved for Henry VIII (when he happened to be in the neighbourhood). Andrew was known locally as being bitterly against fox hunting, and he would empty a shotgun in the general direction of anyone he saw on his estate wearing red and riding a horse. After the War, Andrew – something of a Mosleyite – went into politics but ‘…exiled from the Conservative Party prior to the 1950 general election, Fountaine, standing for a new party, the National Front, fell just 361 votes short of being returned to Westminster. He would remain a prime mover in the NF cause throughout the 1960s and ’70s – ‘the movement’s moneybags to a large degree’ – losing more elections along the way…’
He wasn’t much of a godfather, truth to say. I don’t think he ever passed me a single cheque drawn on Coutts.
He was quite the handful though. There’s a ringing quote from Andrew in the 1948 Conservative conference where he denounced the Labour Party as consisting of "semi-alien mongrels and hermaphrodite communists".
He told my mother (she was a cousin of his) that his party didn’t need or want the usual suspects – Blacks, Homosexuals, Jews (although they seem to favour Israel in these interesting times), Women (their place is in the home), Intellectuals (always asking difficult questions) and any Aristocrats (present company excluded). No, he said, we want the down-trodden, the poorly educated, the fearful and the (beery) flag-wavers.
A generation or two later, the British have Brexit, Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson.
These days, here in Spain, the equivalent to this collection of extremists is the Vox party and their leader Santiago Abascal (he often dresses up in military outfits, presumably for the sake of it). He and many of his circle originated in the Spanish conservative party, the PP.
I was having dinner the other night with a conservative friend with ties to the Establishment in Madrid, and he says that the apparent 15% approval that Vox enjoys is in fact badly understated; in fact, the latest poll finds them with 19% favour. Since then, they’ve squabbled with the Catholic Church and bishops (over Islam) and have been found to have just received a second massive tranche of money from a Hungarian bank.
Across Europe we have these hate groups, politically linked in every way except for the detail on the flag, while being strongly supported and financed by the Russians and their allies. In England, there’s currently an (embarrassing) George Cross flag-waving anti-immigrant campaign. Here we have the Vox politicians attempting to disallow Muslim prayer meetings.
If you see someone with a Spanish flag wristband, that’ll be a Voxxer, so don’t ask them about Franco. It also leads the question – can you have a national flag without being a Nationalist? Unless it’s the season of the World Cup, then evidently not.
Social Media has been kind to Vox (extreme posts often attract more attention that the softer ones, as Donald Trump would tell you), while several eccentric groups such as Abogados Cristianos, Hazte Oir and Manos Limpias have all helped to put a spoke in the lefty government’s wheels, and then there are several news outlets which are heavily subsidised by the far-right who print what they’re told – OKDiario, The Objective and EDATV being examples...
It may be too soon to fear a Vox government, but they would likely enter through the back door in an alliance with the Partido Popular (the party under Feijóo’s control could never earn a majority by itself). Expect lots of flags in the months to come.
Perhaps then, I’ll be able to dine out with my Andrew Fountaine stories.
Housing:
From Spanish Property Insight here: ‘Spain has firmly established itself as Europe’s leader in branded residences, with more than 2,000 units already on the market and many more in the pipeline, according to a new report.
According to data from the Branded Residences Monitor, the country now counts 2,041 branded residential and tourist properties, putting it ahead in southern Europe alongside Portugal. Between them, the two countries boast more than 4,000 units valued at €5,200 million.
“Clients are no longer just buying square metres and location: they want experiences, services, and a brand to back their investment,” explains Felipe Reuse, managing director of Property Partners Spain. These residences combine the privacy of a home with the services of a five-star hotel, from concierge and spa facilities to security and fine dining…’
Holapueblo is a platform whose purpose is to connect people interested in settling in rural areas and implementing their entrepreneurial projects with towns looking for new residents.
Tourism:
From Xataca here: ‘On its way to becoming Europe's leading tourist destination, Spain is on the verge of a milestone: 100 million tourists’.
Finance:
‘These August fires are causing losses of hundreds of millions and are in consequence increasing rural discontent, indeed a still-unknown number of livestock has been lost. Farmers and ranchers are demanding accelerated aid from all the relevant authorities and anticipate new protests in the fall’. From elDiario.es here.
La Distribución Anged, the employers' associations of El Corte Inglés, Carrefour, Ikea and twenty other groups (with some 236,000 employees between them) urge an immigration plan to bring in workers and fill 16,000 vacancies. El Economista has the story, and notes that here in Spain, there are almost 153,000 unfilled jobs in total.
Cash is king. From Adsl Zone here: ‘The Ministry of Consumer Affairs declares war on those establishments that deny cash payments to their customers: fines for businesses are already arriving’.
Politics:
From Tribune here: ‘Spain’s Far-Right Problem. Right-wing Spanish groups are helping to incite racist, xenophobic rampages in a cheap attempt at parliamentary gain. Is the Spanish Left strong enough to fight back?’
The remarkable party-finances of Vox is presented at Contra Información here.
Pedro Sánchez defends the work of Virginia Barcones, the Director of Civil Protection, after attacks against her from the PP: "She's been working tirelessly", he says. Barcones had received a political attack from the PP spokesperson Elías Bendodo who described her as “a pyromaniac”. “He’s accusing me of a crime. How far do we have to go? There are thousands of men and women who have had to abandon their homes, who have seen the flames take their homes, the forest, the grass that their animals eat... And it continues to burn. Please, those who don't contribute, step aside," she answered (The report is found at El HuffPost here).
Justice Minister Félix Bolaños attacks Bendodo for calling the head of Civil Protection an "arsonist": "He's a well-tanned and well-rested leader criticizing someone who has been working straight for eleven days", he said on Friday.
In another reversal, ‘The PP’s MEP Dolors Montserrat acknowledges that the EU "sent resources from the very beginning" to fight the fires’ says elDiario.es here.
The Justice Minister explains that four ministers will be appearing in the Senate this week to account for their actions in response to the fires. In reality, it should be the presidents of the stricken regions that are called to explain themselves.
Sánchez urges climate pact after Spain wildfires. From InSpain News here: ‘Spain’s prime minister has called for a cross-party climate pact after one of the country’s most destructive wildfire seasons in recent memory. Pedro Sánchez said September will mark the start of talks on a state agreement to confront the growing risks posed by climate change…’
El País has ‘Criticism of Alfonso Fernández Mañueco increases: six years of government marked by poorly managed fire control. The president of Castilla y León defends himself against the doubts raised by several municipalities and the citizen protests over the fires’. Regional elections are coming to CyL in March 2026 and, as El Mundo has it: ‘The opposition and the streets are laying siege to Mañueco and forcing him to become the first regional president to be held accountable for the management of the fires’.
Things aren’t much better in Galicia: ‘Thousands of people in Galicia demand the resignation of Alfonso Rueda following his handling of the forest fires. People filled the streets of some thirty towns to demand a "Galician forest with a future" in opposition to the "absent forestry policy" of the Popular Party in the Xunta’, says El Salto Diario here.
‘Two weeks of PP hedging its bets to evade responsibility for the fires. The regional presidents of the Partido Popular have gone from rejecting state resources to combat the wave of fires to blaming the government for not anticipating their subsequent requests and failing to assume its responsibilities, while seeking scapegoats and rejecting a state pact’ says elDiario.es here.
The Transport Minister Óscar Puente replies to Feijóo: "Everything he's asking for is already being done. But he doesn't care."
El Plural applauds Castilla La Mancha: ‘More fire prevention as Castilla La Mancha has weathered the fires better, unlike Galicia and Castilla y León, where the PP's lack of planning has left hectares devastated. … In this context, the Second Vice President of the Government of Castilla La Mancha, José Manuel Caballero, has defended the importance of allocating 116 million euros annually to a plan where the key is to stay one step ahead of the disaster’.
The PP should be writhing in shame over its handling of the Dana in Valencia and its inept forest conservation and recent massive fires in three of its autonomous regions (CyL, Galicia and Extremadura). ‘We might be fachas’, said the mayor of Madrid José Luis Martínez-Almeida back in 2021, ‘but we know how to govern’. Or, maybe not so much. They do know how to wriggle though – with Feijoo presenting a list of fire-fighting tips this week, or claiming on Monday that the weather authority (Aemet) didn’t send out proper warnings to the Valencian authorities last October.
From Xornal de Galicia here: ‘The European Court of Auditors exposes the PP's negligent and propagandistic management of fire prevention. A devastating report from the European institution shows that the Xunta of Feijóo and Rueda has lied to the Galician people, leaving the mountains and lives at risk due to its inaction and its opportunistic dependence on community funds…’
Andalusian leader Juanma Moreno calls for a "social majority" ahead of the upcoming elections: "The PP has a different style, without insults", he says, without apparent irony.
Found on Twitter: ‘The Black Autumn of the Popular Party. The return to the political scene following the summer break does not look good for the Partido Popular. It will have to face trials in three major corruption cases involving more than 150 senior party officials. The first problem will come in November. The main trial in the Caso Gürtel is scheduled to take place from November 3 to 17, 2025, in the National Court. It will deal with the concealment of illicit income in international banks and other crimes such as tax fraud and money laundering’. Unless our friend Judge Peinado can save the day…
Opinion from the economist Juan Torres López: ‘If Vox governed, debt would sky-rocket and pensions would be miserable. The Spanish far-right party has published its economic program loaded with ultra-liberal proposals whose lack of foundation and harmful effects have already been highlighted on many occasions…’
From Maria, at Spanish Views from a Small Town here: ‘There are too many people that still claim that life under Franco was much better than now. They have forgotten, if they ever knew, that a dictatorship is absolutely not comparable to a democracy. Anyone younger than us, in our mid-fifties, never lived it. Those older than us, from their mid-sixties on up, are the ones who experienced what it meant to live in a National-Catholic state…’
Catalonia:
A story from Éamann Mac Donnchada in Barcelona – must we speak Catalan? ‘Ice Cream and Identity in Barcelona, with Argentine Immigrants in a Starring Role’.
Gibraltar:
‘Spain and the United Kingdom plan to tear down la verja with Gibraltar next January. Madrid and London expect Brussels to have the final text of the agreement ready by October and for it to be ratified by December’. El País reports here.
Europe:
Canal Red says: ‘The EU surrenders to Trump, accepts tariffs of 27.5% on cars and 15% on wine, and allows him to pollute for free. Spain's trade deficit with the US grew by 37% in the first half of the year, and wine producers fear a 10% drop in their exports’.
From The HuffPost (USA) here: ‘European postal services (including Spain) suspend shipment of packages to the U.S. over tariffs. Multiple postal services around Europe say they are suspending the shipment of many packages to the United States amid a lack of clarity over new import duties’. La Vanguardia also carries the story.
From The Guardian here: ‘Flags as symbols of prejudice, not pride – and a distinct air of menace. Welcome to England 2025. The rapid spread of these banners is unsettling – and shows how the hard right is reaching people and places the left cannot’.
Corruption:
From El Plural here: ‘New developments surrounding the "Montoro case," although this time through journalistic investigations, following the revelation a few weeks ago of the preferential treatment the former minister allegedly provided to several gas companies, for which he allegedly made changes to several laws to benefit them, significantly reducing the amount of taxes they had to pay. According to the investigation, Cristóbal Montoro, who was head of the Hacienda during the presidencies of José María Aznar and Mariano Rajoy, allegedly granted these "favours" to subsequently receive kickbacks through his law firm known as Equipo Económico. However, despite the outcry caused by this news, there may be gaps in this UCO (Guardia Civil) investigation that have not received sufficient attention or have not been investigated as deeply as they should have. The Central Operational Unit (UCO) is thought to be "working with astonishing slowness" in this case…’
From LaSexta here: ‘The ex-Podemos politician Ramón Espinar: "Judge Peinado is closer to himself being convicted of malfeasance than is Begoña Gómez for her open cases". Ramón Espinar assesses the developments in Begoña Gómez's indictment for embezzlement and asserts that all the open cases against her "are merely part of a prospective investigation by Judge Peinado to see what he finds"’.
Courts:
InfoLibre discusses Lawfare – as various cases filtered through the opinions of conservative judges continue their course (and damn the complete lack of evidence).
‘Three complaints force the Judiciary to monitor Judge Peinado's excesses and errors. The disciplinary authority has opened proceedings against the judge for his actions in the cases against Begoña Gómez and a senior official of the Madrid City Council’. From elDiario.es.
Media:
A video on YouTube asks: ‘How far can trash journalism go? Eduardo Inda and OkDiario have crossed every imaginable line in harassing Pedro Sánchez's family. And I'm not just talking about the president, but also his mother, his minor daughters, and relatives who have absolutely nothing to do with politics…’
‘The CyL president Mañueco paid OkDiario €12,000 in three contracts while the mountains were burning. In the first eight months of 2025 alone, the Castilla y León regional government has awarded sixteen minor contracts to Eduardo Inda's newspaper in ‘institutional advertising’ for more than €90,000’. The story at El Salto Diario here.
Then there’s a new wrinkle (Twitter): ‘No. It's impossible to know which media outlets the Community of Madrid allocates advertising money to. The Community has outsourced that function to an agency, Irismedia Agencia de Medio, with a budget of 27.5 million euros’.
From elDiario.es here: ‘The Russian participation in the hoaxes against the EU. Ten years have passed since the European Union began detecting disinformation manoeuvres and interference in a kind of new hybrid war seeking to influence European public opinion. In many cases, it was traditional propaganda used as a weapon of war, but sophisticated and adapted to the 21st century, which, thanks to the Internet, allows for greater proliferation and influence on ordinary citizens…’
Actor Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) has publicly called the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) "Nazis" in a message posted on his Instagram account.
Is this for real? From The Poke here: ‘There’s not enough facepalm in the world for the bigoted Brits who moved to Benidorm because there are ‘too many foreigners in the UK’.
Ecology:
From the Sweden Herald (fine people all) here: ‘Spain Endures Record Heat Wave Amid Devastating Wildfires. Spain has during August been under a 16-day long heat wave which according to the country's meteorological institute was the "most intense that has ever been documented"’.
El HuffPost (Wednesday) here: ‘Zamora, León, Asturias and Lugo: the fires that are still burning and are forcing evacuations. According to the latest data from the European Forest Fire Information System, the number of hectares burned in Spain since the beginning of the year has now reached 413,992, resulting from a total of 268 fires’.
From Politico here: ‘Wildfires are preventable. So why does the Iberian Peninsula keep burning? Governments can’t use climate change as an excuse for failing to take preventive measures, scientists say’.
‘Experts deny that clearing and logging forests is prohibited in Spain. Contrary to what some social media posts claim, experts point out that la Ley de Montes (the Forestry Law) and various regional regulations not only do not prohibit it, but they regulate forest maintenance and use’. From Público here.
Various:
Asking Google’s AI about religion:
In 2025, between 53% and 55% of Spaniards will identify as Catholics, although only a smaller percentage (around 17-19%) are practicing Catholics.
Evangelicals in Spain number one million - 2%
Currently, almost two million Muslims live in Spain, representing 4% of the total population.
There are (only) 45,000 Spanish Jews.
According to recent data from 2025, the number of Spaniards who declare themselves atheists varies between 15.6% and 21.6%, although other studies combine atheists with nonbelievers and agnostics, placing the "non-religious" group at around 30-40%.
From Público here: ‘Dozens of boats will set sail from Barcelona this weekend on the "largest international solidarity mission" with Gaza. The objective of this flotilla, which will head for the territory on August 31 and will be joined by vessels from other countries, is to end the "siege" of the Palestinian people and open a humanitarian corridor by sea’.
LaLiga's indiscriminate blocking: from pirated football to taking down legitimate websites like UEFA, DAZN, and GitHub… From a page called Teléfonos here, we read: ‘In their crusade against illegal broadcasting, LaLiga and Spanish telecommunications operators have extended their networks so far that they are dragging down unexpected victims’.
The new record for the Catalonian human tower: eight levels! Video here.
Last week, on a sunny afternoon, a boat full of African refugees abruptly landed on a nudist beach in Vera Playa (Almería). Both sides were said to be exceedingly surprised.
From El País here: ‘'Braveheart' in Teba (Málaga): in the town that became Scotland for a few days last week. The Andalusian town commemorated the story of Sir James Douglas during a festive period that's perfect for exploring its local historical heritage and natural surroundings’.
See Spain:
The Olive Press brings us: ‘One of the delights of Spain is visiting its unspoilt interior where historic buildings are often set in a landscape virtually unchanged for centuries. While the coastal regions of Andalucía and Valencia are well known and the famous cities of Seville, Córdoba and Granada too, a trip inland to the unfashionable province of Jaén is well worth the effort. For lovers of history, architecture, and timeless beauty, it is full of hidden treasures. Among its crown jewels are the twin towns of Baeza and Úbeda, just five miles apart, which together have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2003. Their streets, squares, and palaces have seen centuries of art, culture, and wealth – and they remain surprisingly unspoiled by mass tourism…’
20Minutos shows us ‘The 35 places in Spain that aspire to become World Heritage Sites’.
Letters:
As you know, many news-sites have pay-walls. One can generally get around them by copying their url (web address) and pasting it at https://archive.ph/
Finally:
Fito & Fitipaldis - Por la boca vive el pez on YouTube here.
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