"United in difference, we are unstoppable", stated Juan Carlos Rivero at the closing of RTVE's broadcast of the match between France and Spain, considered by many to be the true World Cup final. Beyond the fact that this grandiloquent cliché seemed to be part of the string of responses with which the governmental orbit reacted to Rajoy's few-hours-old sincerity about the French, it is worth asking to what extent this appeal was not only about football but also about politics. In this second scenario — worse things have been seen — and taking for granted the existence of an "us" that allows us to go "united in difference", perhaps we should ask ourselves: to do what? Only to reinforce the sense of belonging? Perhaps it would be better to unite to improve Rodalies, to complete the Mediterranean Corridor or to achieve, once and for all, railway interoperability. Or are we to unite to colonize institutions, protect relatives or raise walls against immigrants, against the right, or against anyone who aspires to a political alternation in Spain? I confess that doubts are piling up.

No political or social leader of the Catalan or Basque independence movements nor of Podemos can be surprised to find out they were spied on. Yet The New Yorker presenting evidence that sophisticated Israeli computerised espionage material that only states can access has been installed on more than 60 mobiles phones takes it to another level. It is not the same to suspect that your conversations are being listened to as to have hard evidence, with the government ending up admitting the National Intelligence Centre (CNI) is probably behind a clearly illegal espionage.