Jere Mateo swam to the beach at Portpatrick, a beautiful little village on the Scottish coast. The locals watched him emerge from the sea, tired and unable to understand where he had come from. "I'm swimming from Ireland," he told them. Mateo had been swimming for twelve hours across the Northern Strait, from Northern Ireland to Scotland, overcoming low temperatures, tides, and jellyfish. "They applauded me. I was so happy that I forgot about my walking problems and fell," he explains, smiling. He had just become the first person to make this solo crossing. The first Catalan and the second person with reduced mobility. And the first with brain damage. "It was magical. During those hours of swimming, I was able to think a lot and organize many ideas. I came out at peace with myself," he adds.

Police in Northern Ireland are investigating as a hate crime the burning of a bonfire in Moygashel depicting a boat with twelve mannequins wearing life jackets and a sign reading "Stop the boats"[We stopped the boats]. Moygashel is a small town in County Tyrone, about 75 kilometers southwest of Belfast. The representation, which crowned the pile of shovels with which these bonfires are traditionally made, is a direct reference to the arrival of refugees across the English Channel. The motto "Stop the boats" It was coined by the previous British government, led by Conservative Rishi Sunak.