Some historical advice from an Irish perspective for Esperanza Aguirre on the pitfalls of attempting to demonstrate by symbolic means the virile and libertarian spirit of Madrid in the invented and regrettable conflict between it and doldrummed Barcelona.

In response to confusion in the markets re Spain’s constitutional arrangements and the size and distribution of its public debt, kaleBirthday has, remarkably, gained the consent of the Catalan, Spanish and EU administrations to conduct a binding poll on the future of the troubled region. Vote now or forever hold your peace.

A Google Maps/Le Figaro mashup.

The precedents for, and some possible implications of, the Catalanisation of Barcelona’s cinemas. Plus some crowd-pleasing video of the Quebec language police in action. (Allez! Allez! Allez! And the hell with the economy!) All in somewhat fevered response to an article by Martin Dahms in the Tages-Anzeiger.

Scratch a libertarian and you’ll discover a totalitarian, so keep scratching.

The British establishment doesn’t give a rat’s arse what he thinks.

What do ghit ratios from La Vanguardia, El Periodico, El País, ADN, ABC, El Mundo, Público, and Levante tell us about their owners’ priorities?

Is Spain a federal state? Is Arenys de Munt the new Andorra? Can I pay taxes to anyone I want?

Xenophobic atavism in the 1640 Reapers Revolt.

Mid-20th century Ibero-American hits, state-controlled media, the personal and the public.

Was S Felipe Neri the original big swinging dick?

Promotes law as a truth-telling device.

By Ramon Vila & Marta Cuatrecasas

Don’t try to force feminism on women.

I wondered here whether pew-beating as a means of reliving medieval pogroms was a nineteenth century invented tradition. It was a rather naive question, and confirmation that the practice was already popular in Barcelona in 1848 is to be found in this Libro Verde entry for today, Holy Wednesday.

Broadly illustrative of how we got where we are, with a joke at the end.

Variation in air traffic numbers throws interesting light on Spain’s problems as it plunges into recession.

Is it on a mission from God?

Kalebeul’s investigation into Vosk and the Na’kuhl temporal conduit yields some surprising results.

And what to do when those boring old marble columns get in the way of your new staircase.