With nothing British to comment on – except my ability to screw an extra 5 quid out of a notebook seller in Tottenham Court Road today – I turn to The Economist for a view of Spain’s performance against that of its EU partners. The article begins:- “Enthusiasts for European integration used to spend a lot of time fretting about a ‘two-speed Europe’ (meaning that some countries would engage in closer integration than others). Now they are fretting about a two-speed euro zone as well” and you can read the rest here. One – unsurprising - comment is that “Spain’s exporters look puny compared with her large, idle industries, such as construction, that cater to domestic demand.” So all a tad worrying for the next few years. Especially if tourism doesn’t quickly pick up from its 10% drop over the last 12 months. Difficult to be optimistic. Especially for a pessimist.

And here’s another Economist article on Spain. This time on the world of top-team football, where money seems to have lost all meaning for the President of Real Madrid.

If cricket is your bag, then tomorrow will be a good day to stay glued to your TV or radio. Especially if you’re English. For the Australians may well have blown it in the final and conclusive match of the 5-match series. If so, this would compensate most of my compatriots for a summer that was forecast to be hot enough for endless BBQ’s but which hasn't been. To say the least.

Finally . . . No sooner do I boast that the aggregate of Followers plus Google Readers has reached one hundred, then one of the latter unkindly departs the scene. So, thank God for the news from a considerate reader that there are other RSS feeds that I was overlooking. I was already depressed enough about leaving the UK to return to Spain. As if.