Sick cuts

One of the many reasons to live in this part of the world is Catalunya’s very good public health system. Sadly though, it seems that is all about to change for the worse.

“Between the sky and the earth”

The stunning photography of Cristina Garcia Rodero...

"I tried to photograph the mysterious, true and magical soul of popular Spain in all its passion, love, humor, tenderness, rage, pain, in all its truth; and the fullest and most intense moments in the lives of these characters as simple as they are irresistible…”

Wise words on Spain and Israel

"I am not referring...to legitimate criticism of Israeli policies. But the talk one hears in Spain often crosses the line of legitimate criticism. In this newspaper one commentator, who shall remain nameless, said that the creation of the state of Israel was a mistake, and that it would be better if it disappeared. In a recent opinion survey, 10 percent responded that the disappearance of Israel would be the preferred solution to the Middle East conflict. Israel is now the only country that is the object of such remarks."

Raphael Schutz, the Israeli ambassador to Spain writing in El Pais.

"Francoism isn't over in Spain"

91 year-old Galician man who as a youth lost both parents to the extremes of the era asks "...What can you expect from a country that does not even dare say that Franco was a dictator?"

He is here refering to the recent controversy over a biographical dictionary published by the Royal Academy of History that only mentions Franco as "head of state."

Spain's "whistling island"

"On the small mountainous island of La Gomera, one of the Canaries, the children speak to each other from miles apart using one of the most unusual languages in the world. Known as Silbo, the whistling language of Gomera Island has a vocabulary of over 4,000 words, and is used by "Silbadors" to send messages across the island's high peaks and deep valleys."

Read more here.

Barcelona professor supports warnings on seafoods

Joan Llobet, a pharmacy professor at Barcelona University, is backing the call by the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) on its stricter recommendations about the consumption of certain seafood.

In an El Pais article, he described the recommendations as "reasonable" even if they create "social alarm" and are "economically dangerous."

Read more here.