Spain's shift towards the radical right
Yesterday’s snap election in Castile-León, one of the 17 regional autonomies into which Spain is divided, was another excellent day…
Can Spain save its dying villages?
In a little village on the Spanish Meseta, I once asked an old lady about the next village some three…
Spain's growing culture war over General Franco
There are hundreds of mass graves dotted around the Spanish countryside. In roadside ditches, down hillside gullies, dumped in pits…
Spain's pardoning of Catalan separatists may backfire
In one of his adventures on the highways of 17th-century Spain, Don Quixote encounters a gang of prisoners ‘manacled and…
Is this a new dawn for the Spanish right?
In Tuesday’s regional elections in Madrid, the right-wing Partido Popular emerged as by far the most successful party, more than…
Can Spain's Europhilism last?
‘Suppose a man be carried, whilst fast asleep, into a room where there is a person he longs to see…
Spain's anarchists are rioting
Michael Bakunin, the 19th century revolutionary Russian anarchist, identified Spain as the place where his creed was most likely to…
Catalonia’s grievance culture
‘Scotland,’ declared the Times in 1856, is ‘manifestly a country in want of a grievance.’ The same could be said…
Can Spain's faith in the EU survive Covid?
According to ancient Moorish legend, when the world was created each land was given five wishes. Spain’s first four wishes…
The dark art of playing world-class Scrabble
How to win at Scrabble
Will Spain’s nation of rogues comply with the curfew?
A few years ago, when I was in the queue to catch a plane, a Spanish lady caught me watching…
Spain’s politics is fraying
‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ Philosopher George Santayana’s dictum is starting to look more…
Spain’s bureaucracy may not survive Covid
Sancho Panza’s long-cherished ambition was to become a politician. He wanted to be installed as governor of an island; Don…
Does Catalonia really want independence?
In 1714, after a long siege, Spain managed to regain control of Barcelona after the War of Spanish Succession. Catalan…
Juan Carlos' exile may not save the Spanish monarchy
In the ‘bad bank’ model, a bank protects itself by dumping its toxic assets onto a second, newly-created institution. By…
Spain's fiendishly complex rules for easing the lockdown
Once upon a time, when travel was still allowed, I checked into a small hotel in back-of-beyond Extremadura, in South-West…
Spain faces a political reckoning after its coronavirus crisis
Here in Spain we have proper lockdown. We’re not ‘allowed out once a day for exercise’ over here. ‘You Brits…
