Scientists in the UK have recorded plants talking to each other. Specifically, two cabbages. They say 'talking but essentially it's the release of chemicals from one under threat that causes a reaction in the other. The next experiments will be the sexing of plants and then an investigation of whether the female plants 'talk' more than the males. Or vice versa.

Talking of women . . . I looked up from the paper in the café this afternoon to see two of them breast feeding. Not each other, of course. Each had a baby. Turning my head away as nonchalantly as I could, my eyes met two thirty-somethings canoodling over their laptops. So I returned to the paper and kept my head down. Interestingly, all four of these folk were foreign, whatever that may portend.

According to an unimpeachable source (The Economist), 48% of Spaniards have a smartphone, which is more than in the UK and Italy, for example. Me, I have a simple dumbphone, which still manages to outfox me.

Fifteen years or more ago, Galician smugglers switched from cigarettes to something lighter, whiter and more profitable. But now they've returned to ciggies, after rises in the tax on them has given them a golden opportunity. Apparently, they're sold to those sad people who stand outside bars and restaurants whatever the weather.

So, Harry Redknapp is completely innocent of tax evasion, despite having a bank account in Monaco in his dog's name. Just as Francisco Camps was adjudged completely innocent of corruption in the Gürtel case. Oh, the unpredictability of juries. Which is why they're preferred, of course. Especially if you're as popular as, say, Ken Dodd.

Talking of untruths, here's an interesting article on the accuracy of Spain's unemployment rate.

My learned friend, Alfie. B. Mittington, has finally begun his own blog. For reasons beyond me, it's called Metis meets Mittington and you can read it here.

Finally . . . No more emails from the prolix 'James Tyler' but I do have this video he's sent to me in my capacity as 'Eglish slimme' ! It centres on the collapse of the dollar and tells you the top five places you don't want to be when this happens. Enjoy!