Letters to the Editor

When everything shines, nothing illuminates

We live surrounded by lights: screens, advertisements, neon lights. Everything wants to attract attention, but we no longer look at anything calmly. We struggle to differentiate between what's bright and what's worthwhile. Perhaps we need less light and more clarity. Authenticity doesn't always make a splash: sometimes, it's just there.

Inés Fernández de los Muros Monterde

Mollet del Vallès

Impoverish the public, enrich the private

Feijóo's penultimate idea is a 0% VAT rate for self-employed workers with a turnover of less than €85,000. It sounds good, but it smacks of less public revenue and more excuses to continue destroying the welfare state. The PP isn't seeking to relieve the self-employed, but rather to justify further cuts. Their model is clear: to undermine the public sector so that the private sector can flourish and so that those they defend can make money.

It's fine to lower taxes for the less fortunate, but only if, in return, they raise them for the rich and large companies that proportionally pay less than them. We must finally understand what it means to take public money and give it to private companies that pursue profits to be distributed among their directors and shareholders—billions, in many cases. This only means that the money for our pensions, education, healthcare, and infrastructure goes into the pockets of a few. Feijóo wants us to have health insurance, pensions, private schools, and universities. But what if the system collapses, as in 2008? Who then bails out ordinary citizens? The state, whose tax collection capacity has been diminished? Will pensioners have to beg at church doors? Let's not be fooled: the PP leader's plan for Spain is a massive transfer of public money into the pockets of private companies and vulture funds. And that is indeed an abuse that widens the social gap.

Miguel Fernández-Palacios Gordon

Madrid

Brunch

A few years ago, to meet up we would go to the place we all know: the same old bar, with the same old bar, the same old chairs, and the same old tables. Over time, we've normalized it by swapping it for hanging plants, marble seats, or even nothing at all, because these days, to have lunch at one of the famous brunches, it seems you have to make an appointment.

The new brunch trend only reveals what we already experienced a few years ago: the loss of the local at the expense of the arrival of tourism and gentrification.

There are fewer and fewer neighborhood bars and more "nice" places, designed for those who are just passing through. Cities are filled with places that resemble each other, but where no one knows each other anymore. Going back to the neighborhood where you grew up no longer feels the same: the bars are no longer the same, nor are the prices. It's not about being against brunch, but rather about asking ourselves what we're leaving behind.

Kelly Vanesa Caiza Arboleda

Barcelona

What the city hides

I read that a group of people had the privilege of entering the ghost station of the Barcelona Metro, closed since 1972. They explained that everything had remained the same, including the 1970s advertising and posters. I was struck by the thought that, while the city never stops changing, beneath our feet another time still endures. We live in an era that seeks to renew everything, to make it newer, faster, more modern. But perhaps we also need places like this to remind us that not everything should be rushed. That what remains intact, what no one touches, also has value: it reminds us of where we come from and invites us to look at the city with more tenderness.

Aina Suñé Torregrosa

Sant Cugat del Vallès