Spain
Trains in Spain
The first railway line in Spain, from Barcelona to Mataro a few miles up the coast towards the French border,…
Spanish practices
In October 1936, on the anniversary of Columbus’s discovery of the New World, a ceremony was held at Salamanca University,…
Low life
Valencia was a furnace. During the short ride from the airport, the taxi driver supplemented his chat about the weather…
How not to handle an independence referendum
If David Cameron seeks any testament to his handling of Britain’s difficulties with Scottish separatism, the mess that Spain is…
Bullfighting
Looking at the programme for the feria of San Isidro in Madrid this month (bullfights are being held on 31…
Who needs governments?
The Spanish seem to be doing better without one
Britannia rued the waves
Military history is more popular than respected. It is not hard to see why. It is masculine history, a trifecta…
Courting Sultana Isabel
The idea for a mechanical cock was never going to work. In 1595 the English ambassador to Constantinople, Edward Barton,…
The young entrepreneurs making the best of Spain’s crisis
Lara Prendergast finds delicacies amid the dilapidation in Andalucía
Why did Goya’s sitters put up with his brutal honesty?
Sometimes, contrary to a widespread suspicion, critics do get it right. On 17 August, 1798 an anonymous contributor to the…
Will Spain learn?
One of the unforeseen consequences of the reunification of Europe after the Cold War has been a resurgence of independence…
In search of the platonic gazpacho
We were eating tapas and talking about Spain. Leaving caviar on one side, when jamón ibérico is at its best,…
Low life
Watching the daily running of the bulls through Pamplona’s narrow streets online this week has given me a wistful pang…
Matajudíos
A village has changed its name because it seemed offensive. But I think the villagers were under a misapprehension. The…
Living history
It has been a while since the BBC really pushed the boat out on the epic history documentary front. Perhaps…
Remembering Raymond
Laughter, bird-watching and erudition with Raymond Carr
Mob rules
Would-be leaders of the left are harnessing the mood of angry populism
A toast to Spain
Towards the chimes at midnight, a few of us left a — respectable — establishment near Leicester Square. Eight or…
Twin peaks
Is there a more beautiful aria than ‘O mio babbino caro’ from Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi? There are more overwhelming moments…
No brainer
One feels the pang of impending failure whenever the Royal Ballet ventures like a deluded Don Quixote into a periodic…
Demons of deflation
The new fear haunting Europe
The empire on which the sun never set
Geoffrey Parker is a product of Nottingham and Christ’s College Cambridge, and I think was once a pupil of the…
Low life
Another writer I once liked very much is Gerald Brenan. Brenan served with distinction in the first world war and…
Station to station
Atlantico is a vast buffet inside the Lopesan Costa Meloneras Resort Spa and Casino in Gran Canaria. The Lopesan Costa…
Diary
Andrew Marr 22 August 2015 9:00 am
This is the Corbyn summer. From the perspective of a short holiday, my overwhelming feeling is one of despair at…