Only in Spain? 1, 2 & 3; The parlous DT; Russian propaganda; Italian sex and lies; & Allan Toussaint.

ONLY IN SPAIN? 1: Not for the first time, an ousted female councillor - from Castilleja de la Cuesta - is taking her naked body to Interviú magazine. Does this happen elsewhere?

ONLY IN SPAIN? 2: It turns out that those who joined Franco's Blue Division to fight with the Nazis in Russia are still getting war pensions from the German government. Unlike Germans who fought at the time. Likewise, no Spanish war pensions have been paid since Franco died in 1975. With austerity savings essential, these pensions - averaging €400 a month - are now at risk. It's reminded me of the Márquez story of the Colonel waiting in vain for his pension.

ONLY IN SPAIN? 3: The energy company, Iberdrola, has been found guilty of rigging the wholesale market. The fine of €25 million will, of course, be passed on to customers in due course.

THE DECLINE OF THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: This is now a poor reflection of the paper it once was, not even out-selling The Times these days, and becoming ever more like the execrable Daily Mail. Yesterday it noted at the end of one article: "Christopher Booker is author of The Real Gloal Warming Disaster". I'm sure he isn't. But the article is well worth a read, as it provides a commentary on 10 GW 'myths'.

RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA: I've mentioned RT TV's approach to news a few times. It seems others - such as Anne Applebaum in the Washington Post - have also noticed that:- Follow the Russian media over any time period and you soon begin to see patterns. Nothing ever just “happens.” Every event is always part of a larger story, usually a conspiracy theory. Russia, or rather a plot to destroy or undermine Russia, always lies at the centre. Elements of reality are included in the story, but distorted with virtual reality in order to suit the story line. You can say that again. Only in the last week, it's been reported that Russia has been under attack from the USA, the EU, the CIA, Turkey, Turkobanderists, Ukraine, and by 'ISIS and its business partners'.

A SENTENCE YOU MAY NEVER SEE AGAIN: A Spanish priest and an Italian PR woman, on trial for leaking Vatican secrets, are engaged in a war of words amid accusations of seduction, sex and spying for the Italian secret services.

FINALLY . . . A FINE PIANO PLAYER: I'm disappointed I only became aware of Allan Toussaint via an obit in one of the Spanish papers. Post mortem, I bought a couple of his CDs and I do hope he didn't die in poverty because of this delay on my part. One of them has him singing as well as playing the joanna but, on the more recent one, he merely plays a terrific blues piano with various soloists on other instruments. Perhaps the best is his version of the old standard - St James Infirmary Blues. Well worth a listen.

Note: For months, Facebook has prevented me from just putting a link to my blog on my page. But I've found this doesn't happen if I insert a foto. So here's one of my beautiful younger daughter that she will hopefully feel is better than the 'not-my-best' one of yesterday. She's attending a wedding with her alleged father. Wearing his own wedding suit from a few years previous. But not his beard.