An amusingly sad death; Ugly builings in Spain; More clerical criminals; At odds beliefs; A bad school; & Serial.

So, the Duqesa de Alba has died at 88. This woman was famous for being exceptionally rich, for having 52 titles, for marrying a man 24 years her junior and for being a darling of Spain's 'pink press'. Most of all, though, she was notable for having chosen to subject herself to the world's worst plastic surgeon. That said, I don't know what she looked like before she was smothered in molten plastic and put in wind tunnel. By this time, you'll want some pix, so type duquesa de alba in Google Images. And stand back. Some of the fotos are offensive to dogs and baboons. All that said, having contributed to the gaiety of life, she will be much missed. See the DT obit here.

With all the publicity this death will attract, it's probably a good time for the Spanish media to quietly report - if at all - that the EU has lambasted Spain over the tactics she's deployed on the border with Gibraltar. These were apparently designed to annoy everyone - British and Spanish - living on or near the Rock.

Talking of eyesores . . . Here's The Local's view of the 10 ugliest buildings in Spain. I'm surprised to see Bilbao's Guggenheim included. But not my neighbour's Bar-B-Q.

Who'd have thought the pope was so powerful? After a phone call from him to the Bishop of Granada, 10 priests have been suspended from their pastoral work because of allegations of sexual abuse. This is not the way the Catholic church has traditionally done things and I suspect this is another pontifical step on the road to assassination by the old guard. Or at least an early death.

Talking of religion . . . Only around 30% of Brits are said to believe in a god. But 50% believe in some form of after-life. Not sure how one squares this.

A village school in England has been reprimanded by the inspectorate for not having an appropriate racial/religious mix. Possibly because of its rural location. In the words of the do-gooders, the school wasn't 'outstanding' because its pupils’ cultural development was limited by a “lack of first-hand experience of the diverse make up of modern British society”. Perhaps they should ship in day-pupils from the nearest inner city. Or re-locate to Rotheram. 

Finally . . . I wasn't going to cite this but someone let the cat out of the bag in the British media the other day - There's a marvellous American podcast called Serial. Spread over several episodes, it tracks the investigation of a journalist int the murder of a schoolgirl and the (suspect?) conviction of her ex-boyfriend. More on it here. And you can access it here. Riveting stuff.