It's pretty good to be a Spanish football fan at the moment. The reigning European champions set off for South Africa following a 6-0 victory against Poland in Murcia's Nueva Condomina stadium that emphatically rubber-stamped the 'tournament favourite' tag already hanging around Spain's neck. Poland are by no means a decent team, racking up just 11 points in a qualifying group that included San Marino and Northern Ireland, and if it were not for for Manchester United goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak Spain might have eased to double figures. But it is not so much the scoreline as the source of the goals that will have made Spain's opponents – if any had failed to notice over the last two years – … [Read more...] about Spain equipped for football immortality
Archives for June 2010
Overcrowding leaves Spain’s prisons on the brink
Madrid’s Valdemoro prison, known as “Madrid III”, sits amid the arid badlands south of the capital, a few miles off the main road to Andalusia. Like all of Spain’s 87 prisons, Valdemoro is overcrowded. It was built to accommodate 980 prisoners, but now holds more than 1,500. A further 20 jails in the country are at more than twice their original capacity. Valdemoro is a holding centre for suspects in cases led by the investigating judges of the High Court. That principally means those accused of terrorism, along with suspected drug and arms traffickers. It is where the men responsible for the March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombings were held while awaiting trial. Among the foreigners … [Read more...] about Overcrowding leaves Spain’s prisons on the brink
Zapatero’s summer of discontent
It’s not easy for any politician to be told he is a “political corpse.” But when the person saying this has just saved your skin it’s particularly hard to digest. So when Spain’s prime minister now looks at Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, spokesman for the centre-right Catalan CiU grouping, it is with mixed feelings. CiU ensured José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s €15-billion austerity package went through Congress on May 27 by abstaining during the vote. The abstention meant the governing Socialists’ 169 deputies scraped the measures through, with 168 voting against. The Catalan conservatives justified their abstention by insisting that while they did not agree with all the measures, the … [Read more...] about Zapatero’s summer of discontent