A couple of amendments/additions to yesterday’s story about the intrepid, though merely would-be, brothel creeper. Firstly, he was a tetraplegic and not a quadriplegic. Secondly, his vehicle was more of a motorised seat–cum-bed than just a wheelchair. Finally, the man in question has naturally become a hero of the TV gossip shows. In contrast, El Mundo made but a brief reference to his arrest and neglected to cite the objective of his mal-executed trip. Conspicuous by their absence, though, are those people in Spain who feel no one should be visiting a place where women are openly exploited. But perhaps this is because they can’t get their distinctly odd view reported. Killjoys are not popular in Spain.

I see that, ahead of the local elections here this month, we’re all to be bombarded by a mixture of special magazines, CDs and even hour-long DVD’s from the various parties. This is either a brilliant example of the use of new technology or a complete waste of money. Or both. I can’t wait to find out.

Sometimes in Spain one reads a press report that’s hard to follow through an arcane maze of accusation and counter-accusation. One then checks with one’s Spanish friends, to find even they’ve given up on trying to understand what’s going on and have adopted a simple ‘curse on both houses’ attitude. One example is the current clash between the recently resigned/sacked head of the stock market supervisory body and the government of president Zapatero. The former got on the wrong side of Mr Z by defending shareholders’ interests against what Brussels called illegal [but successful] government efforts to stop a German company taking over a Spanish utility operator. Following his assisted departure, the aggrieved ex-functionary made some accusation or other against a director of a major bank, said to be a friend of Mr Z and his party, and the latter responded by branding him a liar and an incompetent who should never have been in the job in the first place. But I really can’t be sure. All one really takes away is a whiff of dirty work at the crossroads. And an understanding of why 75% of Spaniards say they have little or no interest in politics.

The Spanish king, on the other hand, seems to take a decidedly different – if unconstitutional – view and has made two surprise contributions recently. He firstly opined in favour of the EU constitution and has now suggested that, in the light of Ulster success, governments really do need to negotiate with terrorist organisations. The right-of-centre PP party feel this lends royal support to the incumbent PSOE party. And who could blame them, regardless of the correctness of the king’s stance?

Finally – one of those developments that leave me laughing – the Deputy Director of the Spanish Royal Academy is up in arms about the Madrid authorities putting the English word By-Pass on its road signs. They should, he asserts, have used the Academy-blessed alternative Baipás. Very Hispanic. But I guess Circunvalación would take up a lot more paint. And Carretera de Circunvalación even more.