Sam Jones

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

YouTube video by Willie Colón WILLIE COLÓN DEMASIADO CORAZÓN (Willie Colón - Ennio Gatti),

m.youtube.com/watch?v=FCv_...

A war foretold: how the CIA and MI6 got hold of Putin’s Ukraine plans and why nobody believed them Drawing on more than 100 interviews with senior intelligence officials and other insiders in multiple countries, this exclusive account details how the US and Britain uncovered Vladimir Putin’s plans ...

Gripping read, culmination of many months' work by @shaunwalker7.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

Wonderful piece. Made me laugh out loud (twice). How Chris Boffey will be missed ...

Peru’s president ousted in ‘express impeachment’ after just four months Interim president José Jerí voted out by country’s congress amid scandal concerning secretive meetings

#Peru's congress just removed José Jerí, the country's 8th president since 2016. #chifagate www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

If you are reading this it is because I’m dead: here’s what I want to tell you about how to live | Carlos Hernández de Miguel Leaving this world in an age of lies and cruelty, my last message is simple: don’t give up on truth, says Spanish journalist Carlos Hernández de Miguel

“If you are reading this, is because I am dead: here’s what I want to tell you about how to live

My last message is simple: don’t give up on truth”

Carlos Hernández de Miguel was a Spanish journalist and writer. He died on 3 February 2026

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

If you are reading this it is because I’m dead: here’s what I want to tell you about how to live | Carlos Hernández de Miguel Leaving this world in an age of lies and cruelty, my last message is simple: don’t give up on truth, says Spanish journalist Carlos Hernández de Miguel

'Looking back shows you that freedom, life and democracy are never guaranteed, and that we must fight every day to preserve them.'

An English translation of the final, posthumous column by the Spanish journalist and writer Carlos Hernández, who died this week.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

If you are reading this it is because I’m dead: here’s what I want to tell you about how to live | Carlos Hernández de Miguel Leaving this world in an age of lies and cruelty, my last message is simple: don’t give up on truth, says Spanish journalist Carlos Hernández de Miguel

If you are reading this it is because I’m dead: here’s what I want to tell you about how to live | Carlos Hernández de Miguel

Carta desde el más allá: la despedida de Carlos Hernández El periodista Carlos Hernández, que ha fallecido este martes a los 56 años, dejó este texto escrito para que fuera publicado en elDiario.es tras su muerte

El periodista Carlos Hernández, que ha fallecido este martes a los 56 años, dejó este texto escrito para que fuera publicado en elDiario.es tras su muerte: Carta desde el más allá

www.eldiario.es/sociedad/car...

Quiero mandar un abrazo enorme a compañeros, familias y amigos de Carlos Hernández.

Su carrera ha sido un ejemplo de compromiso. Su trabajo para dar a conocer los campos de concentración creados por el franquismo tiene un valor incalculable para la memoria democrática de nuestro país.

Very sad to hear that Carlos Hernández has died. Such a great journalist, writer and historian. He was also very generous with both his time and his huge knowledge. DEP.

How Madrid’s Prado Museum is trying to avoid becoming like ‘the Metro at rush-hour’ The famous gallery, home to masterpieces from Goya and Velázquez, is exploring how best to preserve, and improve, the visitor experience

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

V.kind, Deborah. Many thanks and happy new year!

Many thanks, Bill. Happy new year!

Cecilia Giménez’s botched Monkey Christ became a global meme. The real marvel was the humble, graceful woman behind it | Sam Jones The restorer, who died on Monday, brought unwanted attention to herself – and her small Spanish town. Then, slowly, a small miracle took place, says Sam Jones, the Guardian’s Madrid correspondent

“We were all too busy chuckling over the meme to see that the incomplete restoration was never the story – the restorer was”

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Thanks, Tom. Very kind. Happy new year!

Many thanks, Eduardo. Y feliz año!

AI showing signs of self-preservation and humans should be ready to pull plug, says pioneer Canadian computer scientist Yoshua Bengio warns against granting legal rights to cutting-edge technology

Happy new year!

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Number of people who say Britons must be born in UK is rising, study shows Exclusive: Research finds ‘worrying’ surge in support for hard-right narratives on national identity

The rise of ethno-nationalism?

Number of people who believe “Britishness” is something you are born with almost doubles in two years
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025... @ecourea.bsky.social Exc

Madrid. Late December afternoon.

So sorry to hear of the death of The Cure's Perry Bamonte, a former guitar tech who stepped up to become a full member for 15 years, an invaluable Swiss Army knife multi-instrumentalist. Every fan loved seeing him back on board for the Lost World tour. R.I.P. 'Teddy'. Love to his family & friends. x

‘From her pen sprang unforgettable females’: 16th-century Spanish author’s knight’s tale given reboot Beatriz Bernal’s pioneering novel features brave, chivalrous women who ride dragons and her adapter wants his illustrated version to reach young readers

“Sixty years before a deluded nobleman from La Mancha was overdosing on tales of derring-do, visiting his madness on those around him – and single-handedly rewriting the rules of fiction – the deeds of another heroic knight had already made literary history”

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

Erin L. Thompson | Fake it till you make it Jonathan Tokeley-Parry, who died last month, had a business card in the early 1990s that described him as ‘Jonty “...

‘Not knowing whether a set of papyrus fragments were valuable or even genuine, the farmer dropped off a sample at the British Museum for an evaluation.

The expert who examined the papyri could identify them precisely because he had dug them up himself in Saqqara.’

www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/no...

The Spanish Ambassador, José Pascual Marco Martìnez, with family members of the International Brigades at the Spanish Embassy in London

The Spanish Ambassador, José Pascual Marco Martìnez, toasting some very happy descendents of International Brigaders who were awarded Spanish citizenship today.

Udo Kier obituary Actor whose eccentric presence was in demand for both arthouse and Hollywood films

'He collected modern art and furniture, and divided his time between two properties in Palm Springs – a converted modernist library and a ranch – where he lived with his dog Liza, his giant tortoise Hans, and a plastic horse called Max Von Sydow'

www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...

Trump may yet secure a Ukraine deal – but it threatens to be a disaster for Kyiv Ukraine could be forced into an agreement but plan as it stands seems too bizarre for Zelenskyy to sell to his public

“This time it feels a bit different… Zelenskyy’s solemn bearing on Friday afternoon shows how worried he is about what is being put in front of him,” writes @shaunwalker7.bsky.social, a reporter who knows really well what he’s talking about www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

Spain has too rosy a view of Franco’s regime. Let’s remind ourselves of its horrors | Giles Tremlett Little is taught about the murderous, incompetent dictatorship – and now almost one in five young people say Franco was good for the country, says historian Giles Tremlett

"Ignorance is dangerous. It is not surprising that almost one in five young people believe his dictatorship was good for Spain. The only way to change that is to break the silence and teach young Spaniards what Francoism was really about."

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Five years after starting it, my new book "Travels through the Spanish Civil War" is published today by @hurstpublishers.bsky.social (5 Dec in the US). Available in bookshops and whereever you get your books online. hurstpublishers.com/book/travels...
Announcing Zoom presentation soon
Many thanks!

‘Dangerous nostalgia’: did Spain’s ‘pact of forgetting’ after Franco leave new generation open to far right? Events to mark the 50th anniversary of dictator’s death are intended to remind Spaniards, particularly the young, of the dangers of fascism

‘Dangerous nostalgia’: did Spain’s ‘pact of forgetting’ after Franco leave new generation open to far right? Many thanks @demiguelch.bsky.social and Almudena Carracedo

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...