And God gave us Trump
The ex-US president has proven he can survive aggressive attacks every time we think he has finally been defeated
Henry Kissinger’s aphrodisiacs
The late statesman often said power is the most potent stimulant because it offers impunity and amnesia
Martin Luther King’s last night
While historians may dwell on the civil rights leader’s extramarital affairs, we must not lose sight of his heroism in the face of injustice
Jordan Neely, the castaway in a subway car
I learned in New York that the deranged homeless man who keeps silent in his bubble of invisibility can be ignored without annoyance. The one who breaks into speech and screams becomes a menace
The other pandemic
Spanish politics is as destructive as the coronavirus. There will one day be a vaccine against the latter, but there seems to be no remedy for the former If we don’t do something, these people will be the ruin of us all
In Francoland
Both Europe and the US love what they see as Spain’s quaint backwardness so much that they feel insulted when we explain to them how much we have changed
Nostalgia Factory
Remembering New York before the advance of high street uniformity
Lessons of winter
The best lesson of this season in New York comes from another country, from one's other city, where it never gets this cold, indoors or out
Unacceptable clarity
The masculine, serene Camus of the photographs became a man harassed, verbally and physically, by those who had once been his friend
Indonesian night
In Indonesia, in less than a year, about a million people were murdered as a consequence of a military coup d'état
Bicycle lives and death
A waiter was on his way to work last week when he was killed by a hit-and-run driver
Parallel lives
Dionisio Ridruejo and Ferran Planes narrate two distinct, complementary tales
Lorca's journey
We see the young man who arrived in New York, relieved of the weight of the immediate past, lived there with his eyes open every day, and returned to Spain a changed man
Big industry
Just as amazing as the Spanish cultural heritage is the indifference and even hostility that Spaniards feel for it
On the trail of Juan Gris
Some painters, given over to the material aspects of their art, like to let on that literature is a closed book to them
Reluctant warriors
Normal people are disinclined to kill or die, unless they have been brutalized by fanaticism
Lost heritage
When I was a child, more houses than now were built against the wall, like organisms that had grown out of it
Sunday stroll
The employment statistics, and the long faces of politicians, counsel resignation or emigration for today's young arts graduates
The Stendhal vice
Our addiction to reading would not exist without the habit of perpetual writing