It is deeply embarrassing that the eviction of this elderly lady in Madrid was necessary for everyone to suddenly rush to action. Firstly, because it is not serious, and secondly, for those who claim they have been warning us for a long time, because an anti-eviction decree will soften the blow, but it is not the solution to the housing problem.

Trump withdrew access to the White House from a series of media outlets and now a federal judge has ordered him to let them back in because the ban was likely unconstitutional.

Yesterday, an 87-year-old woman was evicted from her home because she could not afford the rent increase from 500 to 2,750 euros. Since this eviction happened in Madrid, where the loudspeaker resonates louder –also in Catalonia–, this image of this lady, whose name is Maricarmen, has become the symbol of the wreckage that the real estate market is causing in the lives of thousands of people.Between 7,000 and 8,000 evictions take place in Catalonia every year. The vast majority are due to non-payment of rent (approximately 75%). Everything is legal: there is a law, which the judge applies, with the protection of the police. It is legal, but it is neither ethical nor decent. And this is when all eyes turn towards politics, so that it may correct what we call the abuses of the market. But for decades now, the market has been winning over politics. Here and everywhere else. And there is no need for a dramatic eviction like yesterday's to verify its effects: how many young people cannot emancipate themselves from their parents' house because they cannot afford rent –with the consequent effect that this has on their future expectations, of living as a couple, of starting their own family, of having children–? How many families have had to leave their lifelong neighborhood or city because they cannot afford to live there?The remote and immediate causes of the housing crisis have been long debated. You hear from developers and they point out that there are few building plots, you hear from the real estate sector and it says there is a lack of supply, you hear everyone saying that public housing has not been built, you hear from small landlords and they say they do not want to be treated like large holders, like vulture funds and speculators, and having to carry out, out of their own pockets, the housing policies that governments have not implemented. The problem is that the real estate market is eating away at everyone's life. Do you remember the case of that teacher from Mallorca who worked in Ibiza and every day took a plane to go teach classes in Ibiza because it was more cost-effective to take a plane than to pay rent? Well, that's it.The effects on collective morale, the loss of trust in democracy, and the increase in lack of solidarity are enormous. Here and everywhere. If there is a globalized problem, it is housing. In this context, yesterday Pedro Sánchez took a photo with the mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, which he finished with the following phrase: “The powerful fear us”. It is the type of statement that should be made with actions rather than words, especially when the facts contradict you. A bad day to say “The powerful fear us”, because it is not true. The image of Maricarmen from yesterday is one of great social violence.Yes, politics has its codes, and international alliances are highly sought after, the photo with Mamdani is sought after, but the housing problem surpasses them all, even the political leaders with the greatest social conscience.Good morning

It is no coincidence that the same party –Aliança Catalana– that congratulates the German AfD with the "Ja hem passat!" (We have passed!) that the Francoists chanted in 1939 when they entered Madrid has committed the "mistake" of voting in favor of the Vox deputy who insulted the memory of President Lluís Companys by labeling him a murderer. Because if you are Catalan and a democrat, you cannot be mistaken about Companys in any way.

As we already told you yesterday, the Constitutional Court endorsed the amnesty law. Although the magistrates' deliberations are secret, it has been an open secret (as almost always happens in the Spanish judicial corridors): the progressive majority opposed the proposal of a conservative magistrate who was against it, and now the forecast is that in the week of October 5th, the TC will end up giving the green light to the amnesty. And it would be then that Judge Llarena would have to lift the arrest warrant for Puigdemont, Comín and Puig, and the Supreme Court would have to definitively archive all the cases related to the 'Procés' that it still keeps open. A very bitter medicine for an application of justice that is arrogant and proud.When would Puigdemont return?The ARA delegate in Madrid, Núria Orriols, specifies that the president in exile could choose between three moments to return: once the Constitutional Court has decided, after the withdrawal of Llarena's arrest warrant, or once the case has been definitively shelved. You can be sure that after spending 9 years in Belgium, it won't make a difference to Puigdemont if it takes a day or a month more, and that he will not return until it is clear that they will not arrest him. Another thing is that, once here, some random Peinado-style judge might find a traffic fine he didn't pay or revive the Aigües de Girona case. But beyond the criminal situation, there is the political one. And Puigdemont must decide what he wants to do: whether to go to Parliament to act as leader of the opposition, whether to run again or not, and in turn, Junts will have to see if it is capable of covering, from what was once Convergència, with its connection to big business, the entire independence movement beyond the size of its pocket.Meanwhile, yesterday the Mossos superintendent, Carles Hernández, head of the General Information Commissariat, the police branch on which that unfortunate infiltration of two agents into a teachers' assembly depended, appeared before the Parliament of Catalonia.

The other day I got hooked listening to an interview they were conducting with Dr. Joan Manuel del Pozo, president of the Education Council of Catalonia, who is to lead the debate on education.

To no one's surprise, Begoña Gómez, the wife of the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has been sent to trial for embezzlement and influence peddling.It is the news of the day and, at the same time, it was already taken for granted. You know what happens when the episodes of a series are coming to an end, when the writers drown the protagonists with an accumulation of problems? Well, here we are: the Spanish legislature has months left, and Aznar's watchword of “Whoever can do, let them do” is working at full speed. Note that the judge who is sending Sánchez's wife to trial, the judge Juan Carlos Peinado, is retiring next week. He is leaving through the front door, with a big game trophy. Because one thing is that Begoña Gómez has to answer to the law like everyone else, but not everyone is answering to the law in the same way. Carlos Mazón, with hundreds of deaths on his conscience, continues to collect a deputy's salary. It would be touching if it were not pathetic to hear yesterday on TVE a minister of Sánchez, Óscar López, acknowledging that at the beginning of the 'Procés', he did not understand what was happening, and that now he understands everything.

The tantrum that Madrid is throwing over the referees is the most apotheotic exercise in cynicism seen in recent footballing times. They are the footballing incarnation of eternal Spain, the señorío turned into a shirt, the Cid Campeador who scores winning goals in the ninetieth minute and beyond. They give interviews with the 15 European Cups behind them, they have more Leagues than anyone else and a president who is a de facto power of the Ibex who hires and fires journalists. To have it all, they even have the crown presiding over their crest. They have everything in their favor. They have always had everything in their favor (I made my debut at the Camp Nou with Guruceta). And yet, their TV channel states that "the only thing missing is a circular that allows Madrid's rivals to take the field armed with revolvers".

President Puigdemont has broken his silence to the media this weekend and has spoken about his return to Catalonia. It has been more than a year since he granted an interview to any Catalan media outlet and it remains the same, because he has granted the interview to the English newspaper The Sunday Times. The headline they have given it already explains that, for the international public, the Procés and its leaders seem so far away that it does not even put his name in the headline: “An exiled Catalan separatist has no regrets and considers returning to Spain”. And as a subtitle: “Carles Puigdemont has spent nine turbulent years away from home, during which he has suffered an arrest and lost his parents without having the opportunity to see them. Now he wants to «breathe reality» again”. The president in exile explained it this way, in this interview granted at his home, in Waterloo, a few kilometers from Brussels:Puigdemont: “The current Catalonia is not the same as it was when I left the country. During all this time I have tried to be in contact with my team and with the people, to understand exactly what is happening in Catalonia. But I know that it is not the same as smelling, touching, feeling, being among the people. This is my first intention when I arrive: to immerse myself in reality. To touch again. To feel, to smell the country”. When Puigdemont speaks publicly in this tone, it is clear that he now sees it closer than ever. And following the thread of his response, it is by feeling, touching, and smelling the country that he must decide if he wants to act as leader of the opposition to Illa and, above all, if he wants to run for the presidency again, or if Catalonia and the memory he has left behind have changed so much that he will not be able to turn the polls around.Meanwhile, this weekend Sánchez, Feijóo and Abascal have been through Catalonia. Sánchez to say that now everything is going much better thanks to Salvador Illa, Abascal to tell us that the problem is Islam and Feijóo to consider that we are material for a psychiatrist. Feijóo: “And I do not want a Catalonia trapped in a permanent loop, sitting on a psychiatrist's couch asking itself what it is. No, I do want to turn the page. I want you Catalans not to be the ones who pay the most taxes in Spain and the ones who receive the worst services. You cannot have a Rodalies that is sometimes scary and other times shameful. You cannot have the worst education in Spain, along with Ceuta and Melilla. You cannot have the highest crime rates. And you cannot accept that your industry is dismantled, whether it be called Seat, Ascó or Valdebeos. We will maintain the Catalan industry above all else”.Look, Mr. Feijóo, part of our financial problems come from the premeditated asphyxiation of which your party is one of the historic co-responsible parties. Asphyxiation that extends to the trains, for example: 34 years after the first AVE (Madrid-Seville), the Mediterranean corridor is still unfinished. And for you to suggest that we have a mental disorder that needs a psychiatrist is a very crude way of belittling the history of Catalonia and Spain. It’s a good thing you came to ask for our vote.Good morning.

Sánchez says that “the Catalonia of 2026 resembles much more the one that the Catalans have always wanted.” Is there a single Catalan who wants a Rodalies service that makes their life impossible, courtesy of the disastrous state duo Renfe-Adif? Not to mention the AP-7 and, in general, the shameless percentage of non-compliance with the State investments budgeted for our country. It is one thing to come and hold rallies with rose-tinted arguments, and quite another to ignore the reality that tears down the speeches.The same thing happens to Feijóo. When he states that he wants Catalonia to lead “the reconstruction of Spain”, I wonder if he knows that 34 years after the first Madrid-Seville high-speed train, the Mediterranean corridor is still unfinished, or if he has ever heard of the fiscal deficit.Of course Feijóo doesn't care, because with the mentality of the little lords and owners of Spain that characterizes the PP, he doesn't even realize how insulting it is to hear him say, "I don't want a Catalonia in a permanent loop, sitting on a psychiatrist's couch, wondering what it is or what it is not."Treating Catalonia as if it had a mental disorder is not exactly a display of finesse. Every time it votes, Catalonia expresses that this supervised and underfunded autonomy falls short. Reducing the history of Spain and Catalonia to a transient mental alienation is of a very thick caliber, only suitable for colonial mentalities. If Feijóo is bothered by the question of what Catalonia is or is not, he has it very simple: let him ask directly and commit to respecting the result.

Of the 10,000 national police officers that the State sent to beat us on October 1st, only four are being tried. The head of this group has declared that, with the number of objects people were throwing at them, it was sufficiently justified to “be able to use anti-riot means,” which “are not harmful, they are deterrent.” And he says this a few meters away from Roger Español, who had an eye emptied by the rubber bullets they fired directly at his body.The accused can lie, of course, especially if they follow the example of their bosses. The Deputy Prime Minister of the Spanish government Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría stated that day: “The object of the actions of the State security forces has never been the people, but the electoral material. They have always sought to protect rights and freedoms.”An interpreter swears before the judge that she will perform the role of interpreter well and faithfully, and then is unable to translate a question from Catalan to Spanish that any of us would have translated without any problem. In the end, the lawyers themselves do the translation until one of them gets tired of it and switches to Spanish. The next day, the press finds out that the interpreter is a graduate in translation and interpreting from UPF, but specialized in Ukrainian and Russian.Memories come of Judge Marchena promising that, if anything, the videos of the police charges would be seen at the end of the trial, "with great pleasure". A veteran lawyer for the political prisoners told them: “You will see that when the trial starts you won't have to go back and forth from prison every day”. The streaming service to follow the trial of the police officers in Barcelona did not work on Thursday afternoon. The question is, therefore, whether the accused will be acquitted or if they will be acquitted and given a medal.

Many things have happened this week, and the most important one (even if it seems so) is not that Florentino Pérez is going to Ceuta today to make a resounding profession of the Spanish identity of Madrid and Ceuta. A kind of “how could I not love you”, if I am Madrid.But today the news in Ceuta is that the thousands of people who were living in poor conditions on the beaches have finally been moved to the city's port, where a decent camp awaits them. It has taken a month and nineteen days for the president of Ceuta, the Spanish government, the judiciary, and the police unions to agree and stop preventing it. A shameful management. By the way, very far but very close to Ceuta, in New York, the governments of Morocco and Israel have signed the agreement by which Rabat and Tel Aviv elevate their diplomatic relations to the embassy level, and they will soon exchange ambassadors. Morocco is not only the neighbor that holds the key to African immigration to the EU, but it also reinforces its long-standing alliance with the United States, now with Trump.But, of course, in a week where the topic of debate has been whether AI could kill us all before 2030, any other news seems small. In reality, everything matters. If we talk about ourselves, it has begun, as you know, the trial of the four national police officers accused of torture and injuries resulting in the loss of an organ, when they fired the rubber bullet that left Roger Español blind in one eye on October 1st. The day before yesterday they said that the operation was “absolutely perfect”, and yesterday the police officers declared, very remorseful, as proof of the aggression with which they were received, that people were shouting “Españolazos” at them, that they were only defending themselves, that they gave warnings and that they were not going to cause harm but to deter. And they said this with Roger Español present there.Police: “The very aggressive manner in which the public gathered there was throwing objects, mm, stones, cobblestones, bottles, from... from the facades they were also throwing them, and their physical integrity was at serious risk. This is more than enough, more than enough, to be able to use the riot control equipment that the intervention units are legally equipped with, which are not harmful, mm, they are not... They are deterrent. They are not harmful, they are deterrent.”But the moment that sums it all up is this one. The judge calls a Catalan interpreter, who gets so nervous that she cannot interpret anything.

The eternal Spain is furious with two Real Madrid stars who have refused to support the good heart of the Valencian Association of Entrepreneurs (they have their website in Spanish), which apparently is very worried about Ceuta.

The President of the Generalitat traveled to Extremadura yesterday to celebrate the National Day there. He said he was going there to present and share an “open, inclusive, and solidary Catalonia.” I wonder when it stopped being open, inclusive, and solidary. Or does open, inclusive, and solidary mean Spanish? Who is the President saying all this to? To Madrid? To the King? To the Ibex-35? To PSOE voters in Catalonia, so they don’t vote for Abascal? Because Illa will leave, and the Extremaduran government will continue to instill the same old prejudices in Extremadurans. Notice that yesterday, to argue that she is against the new financing system, the Extremaduran President, María Guardiola, said that she wants to prevent a new wave of Extremaduran migration from repeating itself. I wonder what 43 years of autonomy has done for Extremadura if we are still like this.As you know, on these occasions the word that is repeated the most is solidarity. And after decades of seeing the fiscal effort we make in Catalonia, one wonders where the solidarity with the Catalans is, among whom there are thousands and thousands of children and grandchildren of Extremadurans, who have to take Rodalies every day, or the AP-7, or have to queue on healthcare waiting lists. I insist, good neighborliness is always good, but it must be based on respect and truth.And speaking of defending the Catalans for the services they pay the State for but which the State does not provide them, let's talk about Rodalies. The cable theft at the Estació de França, in Barcelona, caused delays on the R2 south line. Man, when they can already steal the cable at the Estació de França itself, it's not that you have your guard down, but rather that you have no guard at all, and that goes for Adif. It is the sixth theft in 10 days. And since a piece of news is better understood alongside another:A young woman creates a system to alert about Renfe and Adif delays. It is a system invented by Marina Castellano, a 24-year-old engineer from Badalona, which warns of Rodalies incidents up to three-quarters of an hour before the official channels. Nothing more needs to be said, right? It is a system that detects, verifies, and processes thousands of messages on social networks about breakdowns. Castellano is a student of mathematical engineering in data science at Pompeu Fabra University, and when she had to approach her final degree project (TFG), the idea of improving Rodalies information immediately came to mind "to make life a little easier for users". If a student can do it, why don't those who are paid to do it do it? Because they don't think about the people, that is, about the service they provide.

The search for good neighborliness is always profitable, even more so if we are talking about Catalonia and Extremadura, with thousands of Catalans who have their family roots there. But good neighborliness, to be real, must be based on truth and respect.

The first words today must be to congratulate Sebastià Alzamora.Yesterday, the Spanish Ministry of Culture announced that it was awarding him the 2026 National Poetry Prize for the book “Sala Augusta seguit de Llengua materna”, published by Proa. In a Hispanic culture where only that which is Castilian is authentically Spanish, the fact that the ministry has distinguished an author in Catalan is an oasis of recognition and coexistence that we celebrate. This, plus what Alzamora said, that “the prize was received by a book written in Catalan in Mallorca, where the Spanish right and far-right are working to destroy the Catalan language in all spheres”. Be that as it may, many congratulations, Sebastià.For the rest, we are in the same place. With a change that seems minor, but might not be. Judge Llarena blew hot and cold yesterday regarding the application of the amnesty.

It was enough for Toni Clapés to say "I think this will be the last year that I will present and direct Versió RAC1" and a national choir of afternoon widows and widowers has torn their garments and, amidst great shrieks, has begun to mourn in advance. Normal: we are talking about radio history and a program that has managed to talk about what everyone talks about but in a way that no one else does, with a freedom that has grown as its creator's personality has matured.

Yesterday, President Illa gave himself a bath of solemnity to highlight that he has reached the midpoint of his term with a budget for next year, a project to improve the financing system, and the country with the independence movement faded. And all of this is no small thing, considering he only has 42 deputies. Stability of today versus the independence paralysis of ten years, would be the message.Illa gave a speech, therefore, there were no uncomfortable questions nor did he make any self-criticism for the management problems, which was precisely what he boasted about in the election campaign two years ago. On the contrary, the idea was to convey an inspiring and visionary message (the conference was titled 'The future is here') on a quiet night.And within this presidential framework, the president made the announcement intended to make headlines: Illa will promote a great educational pact.“As president of the Generalitat, I am calling from this moment on the whole country to a debate on education, a debate to take action, a debate that will lead us to reach a new great country consensus for education. I will soon initiate a round of meetings with the political forces with parliamentary representation, I will ask the Education Council of Catalonia to be the instrument for this debate, from the knowledge and pluralism it represents. I commit to ensuring that the debate includes, now yes, reaching the 6% of public investment as established by the education law approved by the Parliament of Catalonia in the year 2009. A 6% of the resources of the country's gross domestic product destined for education. We must take Catalan education to excellence”.This has been their way of admitting that, after two years of management, this school year has begun with a teachers' strike and the conflict is far from over. We are in favor of this pact. Not today. Days ago, as you will surely remember if you follow us regularly. 15 days ago, on September 1st, I said here: “A country pact for education. Now or never, because what is at stake is the country itself”. And a week ago I stated that “reaching a great country agreement for education, thinking of the students and the future of the country, is increasingly necessary”. Therefore, it would be good news if this pact turned out well. It could turn out well, because we have the talent and it seems (Illa announced that it would move towards 6% of public investment in Education) that we will have the means. But the greatness and generosity of the Government, the opposition, the unions, the teachers, and the families are needed. I insist, hopefully this pact can be developed, because the future of the country depends on it, but the Government must admit that it has not been at all inspired when it comes to setting the course.Beyond the specific announcements, beyond what is said, there is what is meant. And yesterday, the president wanted to send a message of self-esteem, even of the joy of living, as when he said that “Catalonia is a wonderful place, where wonderful things happen”. I also believe it, but when a politician wants to generate enthusiasm in Catalonia, he must keep in mind that this is a country for which the Spanish Constitution and the Statute of Catalonia, and the financing, are too small, very small, and that the common regime does not inspire. And that this morning there are people looking at Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, who have signed a document more declarative than effective to form a common front and pressure London for independence and thinks that what is most exciting is giving a state to the nation.

A kind of perfect storm is taking over the world: gas prices are climbing like never before (which means that everything will go up even more) and in a matter of four days the fear that artificial intelligence will get out of control and kill us all (and that, along the way, it will sink jobs, stock markets, and the Chinese Communist Party) has increased exponentially.

On the way back from the Diada celebration in Barcelona, I heard that the protesters were making the same demographic summary: there were people over 50 and under 25. And the presence of young people is interpreted as a green shoot that dispels the idea that the end of the 2017 process created a cut that had no tail behind it.It helps that the failure of the 2017 process objective, plus the subsequent state repression and the division of the parties, apart from leaving the Government in the hands of the PSC, has shifted the center of political debate in Catalonia, so that problems such as the lack of housing, insecurity on the streets, the poor service of the suburban trains (Rodalies), strikes in Education, Healthcare or the farmers' protests, the use of the language... all this has ended up filling the voting intention polls for Aliança Catalana, which mimics the messages of the entire European far-right: there are groups impossible to incorporate into Catalan identity, who furthermore commit crimes and take the aid, with the approval of traditional parties, some corrupt and all clinging to their seats. And so, the lifelong debate, the Catalonia-Spain one, is replaced by the local version of a darker and more authoritarian global agenda. Yes, we have a debate about the regional financing system or the application of the amnesty, but the protest vote, of radical change, is shifting, polls say, towards Aliança Catalana, hand in hand with the identity vote in a radical sense (particularly Islamophobic, as we heard in the party's speeches at the Diada) and the punishment vote against the institutions.Where do these votes come from? Many of them come from the sovereignty movement, especially from Junts, and now Vox intends to attract the most Spanish-leaning disenchanted vote from the PSC, also taking advantage of the fact that it has now reached the middle of the legislative term with serious management problems in all the departments most important in terms of budget and impact on the lives of the majority. At the end of the week, Santiago Abascal will come to Catalonia to open the political season, taking advantage of the fact that Aliança Catalana has placed at the center the debate on the favorite topic they share, which is immigration. For Vox, the enemies are immigration and Sánchez, who does not defend Spain's borders. And for Aliança Catalana, the enemies are immigration and the rest of the parties, which do not defend security, public services; that is to say, Catalan identity and Western identity.