I mentioned, the other day, the irritating frequency of speed cameras here in Britain. Today it's reported that convictions arising from their use fell below a million last year, for the first time since 2001. Tellingly, this coincides with the central government relieving the local authorities of the chance to use these cameras as revenue generators. So, no great surprise there.

Over in Spain, the police have arrested almost 3,400 drivers in a week-long national campaign against the use of mobile phones at the wheel. But this is a paltry number and I reckon I could get at least this many in one day down at the roundabout at the bottom of my hill. A lack of seriousness is suggested by this meagre harvest.

Talking of numbers . . . I went to my younger daughter's email today and found she had 20,432 unread messages in her Inbox. Yes, you read that correctly. No wonder I never get an answer unless I use Facebook.

Finnish politics don't make many appearances in this blog. But events at the weekend - when the True Finns party got19% of the vote - “could turn Finland's traditionally pro-EU politics on its head.” Allegedly, “The strong showing for the populist True Finns reflects growing public frustration in some EU states about footing the bill for weaker economies such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal.”

Right on cue, here's the eurosceptic British MEP, Daniel Hannan, with his 10 reasons why the UK shouldn't contribute to the Portuguese bailout currently being negotiated by eurocrats and whoever has their hands on the reins of power in our government-less neighbour.

Finally . . . I regularly say that one of Spain's great pluses is that it has nothing like Britain's scabrous tabloid press. I was reminded of this today when reading this marvellous tongue-in-cheek plea for sympathy for the country's tabloid hacks.