Oz in Spain

Margie Abbott says her husband “gets women” – but Prime Minister Julia Gillard begs to differ. “Do you want to know how God turns a man into a feminist?” the Australian opposition leader’s wife asked in a speech in Sydney. “He gives him three daughters… I’m not a politician and I’m not political – but just don’t ever try and tell me that my husband of 24 years and the father of three daughters is on some anti-women crusade. It’s simply not true. Tony Abbott gets women and… the women in Tony Abbott’s life certainly get him.”

Four days later, Gillard’s feisty response in Parliament, attacking Abbott’s burgeoning history of hypocrisy, left him looking more awkwardly SMUG than touchy-feely Sensitive New Age Guy.

When Lieutenant-Coronel Antonio Tejero and his band of military misfits infamously stormed Spain’s Cortes (parliament) on 23 February and shot several machine gun rounds into the air most of the deputies dropped terrified to the floor and hid. Except for three: acting minister of defence and deputy prime minister General Manuel Gutiérrez Mellado, who remonstrated with Tejero and ordered him to desist, acting prime minister Adolfo Suárez… and Communist Party leader Santiago Carrillo, who calmly lit a cigarette (they were different times) and remained seated.

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Junta in hot water with European Tour… Sergio García on the way to victory in 2011 (Photo: Fernando Herranz)

Valderrama’s pre-eminent role on the Spanish golfing scene could have come to an undignified end after the effectively 11th hour cancellation of the third edition of the Andalucía Masters, due to be held from 18 to 21 October.

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The real story… Spain’s burst property bubble explained (en españistani).

Six months after the Partido Popular came to power in Spain…

Poland? Ukraine? Mexico? Rio de Janeiro? Rome? Spain!

Splendid pageantry… or obsolete pomp? Two differing views of the celebrations to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s diamond jubilee – and (at least in Australia’s case) the more pressing and pertinent issue of republicanism.

Michael McGuire: No crowning glory in right royal farce (The Punch)

Jeremy Paxman: We’re all monarchists now – even me (The Telegraph)

Sound Off

By Drake Stamford

I’ve decided there are very few pleasures left in life and people watching is one of them. I’m on my own in Palma in a quite nice tapas bar overlooking the harbour.

Life is sweet. I’ve enjoyed a rather nice Albariño and I’m in, as my late father used to call it, a reflective mood. I’m watching a guy flick some kind of colourful projectile in the air and suggest to all of the people in the restaurant that they really do want one of these. […]

In the latest, almost inexplicable, example of how social networking can warp otherwise prudent people’s judgment, a Mallorca politician has been forced to withdraw her candidature for a Senate seat in the 20 November elections. […]

Two plus two equals…