The beautiful game What I know about football could be written on the back of a postage stamp, and what I like about the sport could just about fit into the price on its front, but as it's World Cup time, I can't escape the topic. Especially as Spain is the current favourite (betting odds as of…

Smoke-free Spain? It seems a logical follow-on from my last post, which was about drinking and driving here in Spain, to talk about smoking. The recently-announced tightening of the anti-tobacco law is kicking up a hell of a stink — or rather, trying to remove it. The stink, that is, of…

Una cervecita? The other day I was having a chat with a girlfriend about the thorny subject of drinking and driving. Specifically, Spanish men drinking and driving. More specifically, Spanish men drinking cerveza and driving. It's a cultural-generational thing, we decided. As English girls, we…

Stars in their Eyes If you're a sucker, as I am, for kitsch Euro TV, then you won't have missed last Saturday's Eurovision Song Contest, from Oslo. This year's high-tech super-extravanganza of Euro-multiculturalism and, er, singing (worldwide audience: 120 million), was remarkable for two main…

White party (for those who can) For those of the glam jetset crowd who still have the money to party, Marbella (where else?) is the place to be tonight. Summer is “officially” launched in the internationally famous coastal resort this evening, with the much-anticipated Grand Opening White Party…

End of the party? If my posts at the beginning of the year tended to be about the weather (more specifically, the endless rain), lately they are dwelling on the state of the economy, and the government's handling of it, namely the public sector pay cuts. It's unavoidable - sorry. The crisis is…

Mushrooms and more palaces New buildings in cities, particularly those as historic as Seville, are always very controversial. Even in more modern metropolises, such as New York, the design of a contemporary edifice can provoke reactions as much emotional as cerebral - for example, Freedom Tower…

Horses for courses Last night, news came in of the first "evacuations" from this year's El Rocio pilgrimage. The Hermano Mayor of Triana was among four rocieros taken to hospital suffering from dolencia cardiaca. A few people were kicked by horses too - all par for the course, with the…

Happiness While I am a great believer that surveys are just space fillers for lazy journalists (30% of women don't think their husbands help enough around the house - shock, horror; 52% of men don't get on with their mother-in-law - well, who'd have guessed it?) - I am as guilty as the rest,…

Don't miss the palace! This week, there's a rare chance to visit one of Seville's most impressive buildings, the Palacio San Telmo. It has been closed to the public during the last five years for a major refurbishment project. Anyone who has passed it in the last few months will have noticed…