Hello.
It’s September 1st and we’re already here, with that mix of extreme laziness to go back to work but also eager to continue enjoying this newsletter, the podcast and the permanent adventure that is doing journalism at elDiario.es.
I have disconnected a lot, the truth. You’ll forgive me if these first few days you notice that I’m lost in the news.
I hope your August has been wonderful. September will be, although today it seems impossible.
Come on. Grab a coffee and let’s get down to business.
where does the day go
Russia is still there
August passed and today he still has a Russian accent. We no longer talk so much about bombs, but about an economic war between Putin and Europe where the weapon is the price of energy. Russia has suspended gas supplies to Germany; It is not the first time that it has happened in recent months and Moscow’s explanations are always the same: it will only be a few days, it is a technical failure, nothing to do with the war. Already. But it scares.
Meanwhile, the European Union presses tightening the granting of visas to Russian citizens and knocking down a liberal principle that seemed sacred: now you see possible (and necessary) intervene in the market so that prices do not depend on how expensive Russian gas is. That is, something like Spain and Portugal have been applying since before the summer, with accusations of social communism from the right, which in this battle has chosen to side with the benefit of the energy companies, who knows why. The PP, which did not support the cap on the price of gas in Congress, is seeing let’s see how it goes back. Inflation tightens throughout Europe and if you have a variable mortgage, bad news.
- a little bitch. Also the death of Mikhail Gorbachev, a difficult man to understand that changed the recent history of this world, has been put at the service of the exchange of blows between the West and Moscow. On Russian television they say that they prefer not to talk much about the former president because they prefer not to dishonor a dead person. In Europe it is noted that Putin has dismantled everything he got. meanwhile i can’t stop watching Pizza Hut ad from 1997.
- Our podcast returns on Monday. We are already working on the new chapters of this second season of A song a day. You already know that during the summer we have been recommending other podcasts that we like and today’s is Raw Meat. It is a sound documentary that brings us closer to the life of the refugees from the war in Ukraine in a very different way than is usual in many reports: naturally, without dramatic fuss.
The dance on the right
Write down a date that we already have close: September 25. Elections in Italy after the collapse of the government of Mario Draghi. In these elections, the traditional right and the new extreme right go together, sponsored by Silvio Berlusconi. An explosive mixture that has received the approval of the European People’s Party. And that, which seems like a minor gesture, is actually a change of criteria that It can facilitate the path of rapprochement between Feij贸o and Vox.
- pensions. Meanwhile, the Government faces the last phase of the pension reform. Two points remain: the period of years to calculate the pension and what the highest salaries contribute. They have to be closed this year. You have to negotiate with unions and businessmen, but also within the Executive: PSOE and United We Can have their differences.
don’t miss it
- fourth dose. Today we interview Carolina Darias, Minister of Health. We have asked him why there seems to be a very notable excess of deaths during the summer, if it is due to the heat or due to consequences derived from the pandemic that are not being analyzed.
- Do you use public transportation? Well, from today the government discounts come into effect. here a guide to see how things work in each community.
- strings. The hull of an oil tanker has been breached off the coast of the Strait of Gibraltar. For now what we know is that there is a leak, in principle of lubricating oil. The ship has been surrounded by a barrier in case there is a more serious oil spill. Here we update the news.
things i didn’t know
- He did not know that the origin of the origin of the origin of the story of Beauty and the Beast is in a man born in the Canary Islands. It is counted in this amazing twitter thread. That man’s name was Pedro Gonz谩lez, he was born in Tenerife in 1537, completely covered in hair and his status as a “weirdo” led him to become internationally known in the European royal courts, who ‘collected’ people as if they were objects. A French king wanted to give him another status, granted him a noble title, arranged a marriage for him with a beautiful lady and had children who inherited his condition. The echo of his life reached the eighteenth century and inspired a french writer the first version of what we know today as a Disney story.
- I didn’t know that there was the hypertrichosis, the disease that Pedro Gonz谩lez suffered precisely, the canary turned into a Beast for history. They also called it the ‘werewolf disease’. It has been documented in very few people throughout history. What covers the body of those affected by this type of hypertrichosis is lanugo, that is, that fluff with which newborns are born and then falls off. Well, they don’t drop it. It grows.
We are going to leave it here, it is the first day and we are not going to choke. More tomorrow.
Thanks for being there again!
A hug,
Juanlu.
about this blog
‘Al d铆a’ and ‘Un tema al d铆a’ are the elDiario.es newsletter and podcast to keep you informed with the latest news every morning. With Juanlu S谩nchez, deputy director of eldiario.es, and the contributions of the entire newsroom.
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