Reviewing Henry Kamen’s new book The Disinherited: The Exiles Who Created Spanish Culture, the British columnist Peter Preston writes, “There are many varieties of European exceptionalism but nothing that equals Spain’s exceptional ability to create a legendary identity without borders. . . The reasons for flight or absence [from Spain] opened reach seams of creativity. . . They infused the life of distant countries such as Mexico and Argentina. . . [Unlike its British equivalent] the Spanish empire – built on the outside, nourished by what it found - could never pack its bags and sail home; for it had not really come from Spain in the first place. The disinherited? Maybe: but also people of talent or industry, building their own inheritances across distant horizons.”

Addressing himself to modern “inclusive, vibrant” Spain, Preston adds, “Only fools, blind to the past, can be blithe. The problems of the Basques and the Catalans, racketing down the centuries, are in no final sense resolved. . . The passions of yesteryear surely lie just below the surface of the bland Europe that Brussels exports like Band Aid packs. Today’s Spain, ready at last to play its full part in shaping our continent, is still in the formative stages, still struggling to bury the ghosts. . . Nothing is over here: nothing settled, or complete. . . Ordinary, basic, decent Spain still bleeds and broods and obsesses over its past.”

And talking of today’s Spain, it struck me yesterday it’s a major irony Spain is at the same time both the most fervent member of the EU superstate and also the country most likely to break up into the regional entities favoured by Brussels over the traditional – and troublesome – nation states. Perhaps this is inevitable given her inherent instability.

Which is enough to ponder on for today.