Examples of some commissioned and published articles by Nick Snelling
Big Bang
On the second day of January 1492, Boabdil, the last Moorish ruler in Spain, reluctantly handed over the keys of Granada and the beautiful Alhambra palace to the Christian monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. This was the catalyst for an extraordinary time. By the end of the year, Christopher Columbus had discovered the Americas for Spain and, within thirty years, Spain had unexpectedly exploded, like a meteor, onto the international scene to become the dominant power in Europe. Rich, powerful and newly intolerant, Spain had finally come of age, after a sustained history of disunity and international impotence. In fact, until 1492 Spain had never been united for long, in any meaningful sense, as a single nation. Over a…
All the King’s Men
Politics in Spain, the Transition to democracy BY NICK SNELLING Imagine living in one of the most backward countries in Western Europe – a country ruled by the longest serving fascist dictator of the twentieth century, who had murdered and oppressed countless people after one of the most brutal civil wars in modern Europe. Think what it must be like to be in a country where you are not allowed to speak your provincial dialect and where the police are a fearsome para-military force, the law is arbitrary and the media is controlled by the state. Consider a creaking infrastructure with an uneven economy and much of the population existing at subsistence level, at direct variance to the rest of…
What did the Moors in Spain do for us?
What did the Moors in Spain do for us? BY NICK SNELLING One of the curiosities of Spain is the seeming denial by the Spanish of the past existence of the Moors in their country. Certainly, much is made of the ‘heroic’ Christian Reconquista, but rarely is the Moorish invasion of Spain looked upon as having provided any intrinsic benefit. In fact, apart from a few scintillating buildings, such as the Alhambra and the Cordoba Mezquita, it would be easy to imagine that, during their 780 years presence, the Moors in Spain contributed nothing of consequence to the country. In fact, the Moors had a profound influence not just upon Spain but the whole of Western Europe. Indeed, it has…
The Borgias, either Caesar or nothing!
The Borgias, either Caesar or nothing! Wrapped in a carpet, the horribly bloated and badly decomposing body of Pope Alexander VI was pummelled and pushed unceremoniously into a hastily made and too small coffin. No priests attended his burial nor were there wax tapers, lights, solemn masses or chanting monks. It was August 1503 at the Vatican and the Spanish Borgia’s iron grip on power was unravelling fast. With Alexandar VI dead, the Borgias had, in all senses of the word, lost their ‘Godfather’, Back in the Vatican, Alexander VI’s private chambers had already been pillaged, so that all that remained were a few hangings and cushions. Meanwhile, the Pope’s son, the ruthless and terrifying Cesare Borgia, was desperately trying…
The Big Issue – Immigration in Spain
The Big Issue – Immigration in Spain BY NICK SNELLING Between 1998 and 2007 Spain’s population rose by an astonishing 14%. Furthermore, immigrants, according to the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica (INE), now account for 9.9% of the population as of January 2007. More worrying for the Spanish is the sheer speed in which mass immigration has occurred. In 2000 there were 900,000 registered foreigners in Spain, but by 2007 this had risen to 4.4 million – a threefold increase that places Spain second only to the US in the world league for net immigration. Of course, Spanish government figures on immigration are very conservative, as they are based only upon properly registered foreigners. Accordingly, they do not take into account…
On the rocks, divorce in Spain and domestic violence
On the rocks, divorce in Spain and domestic violence BY NICK SNELLING Spain now has one of the highest rates of divorce in Europe with 1 in 2.3 marriages ending in divorce. This equates to a marital break-up every 3.7 minutes. To make matters worse, Spain has a shocking domestic violence problem, which yet again came to a head when four women were killed by their partners on ‘Black Tuesday’ (26th February 2008). This brought to 17, the number of women murdered by their partners by the end of February 2008 setting that year firmly on target to exceed the horrors of previous years. Clearly, seismic changes are dangerously vibrating through Spanish society. In fact, it is not surprising that…
Sex in Spain and the confessions of a call girl
Sex in Spain and the confessions of a call girl BY NICK SNELLING “Madre mia!” exclaims Michelle, roaring with laughter, “I have seen just about everything!” We are in a small anteroom within the Majestic brothel in Valencia city and I have just asked Michelle to tell me about her craziest experience. She sits in front of me dressed in a decorative bikini top and tiny, denim shorts that emphasise her mind boggling figure. I am having difficulty concentrating and I am fast wondering who is interviewing who. Meanwhile, my old friend and back-up translator, Alberto, is clearly transfixed by Michelle’s super-enhanced cleavage. Clearly, investigating the top end of prostitution in Spain is more challenging than I had thought. There…
Hooked, drugs in Spain and the gateway to hell
Hooked, drugs in Spain and the gateway to hell BY NICK SNELLING In 2006 Spain overtook the United States in having the highest per capita number of cocaine users in the world. In 2007 well over 2 ½ tons of cocaine was seized at Madrid’s Barajas airport alone and it has been estimated that 94% of all Euro notes circulating in Spain have traces of the drug. In 2005 Spain accounted for half of all the seizures of cannabis resin in Europe and three quarters of the total amount seized. Clearly, Spain is at the forefront of the European war against drugs. Unfortunately, according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCCDA), Spain has become the gateway…
Marbella, the Godfather, a face lift and Mr Clean
Marbella, the Godfather, a face lift and Mr Clean BY NICK SNELLING For property owners in Marbella the corruption and malfeasance of Marbella Town hall has been a nightmare of truly appalling proportions with an emotional cost difficult to calculate. Some 600-700 properties risk being demolished whilst around 18,000 others are blighted by illegality. Amazingly, one of the potentially richest towns in Spain is virtually bankrupt and has an infrastructure on the point of collapse. The scandal of Marbella is a story that verges on the incredible. To some extent, it all began with the property crash of 1989. Marbella was already notorious as a place where the jet-set rubbed shoulders with criminals and shady businessman. For twenty years its…
Clubbing Together, Brothels in Spain and Spanish Culture
Clubbing Together, Brothels in Spain and Spanish Culture BY NICK SNELLING In 2003, Spain’s Institute of National Statistics (INE) showed that just over one in four Spanish men under the age of 49 had experienced sex with a prostitute – with one in fifteen having done so within the previous year. This was backed up by Maribel Montano of the ruling PSOE party who claimed in 2007 that: ‘every day 1.5 million men pay for sex’ in Spain. In fact, there are an estimated 300,000 prostitutes working in Spain possibly turning over around 40 billion Euros per year, which roughly equates to the country’s education budget. For good reason, Spain is sometimes dubbed the ‘Brothel of Europe’. Certainly, the openness…
The amazing story of Spain from dictatorship to democracy (Part 5 of 5)
AWAITING THE TEMPEST (Spain from dictatorship to democracy) Part 5 The aftermath… On the 20th November 1975 General Franco died in La Paz hospital, Madrid. He was 82 and had long outlived Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, his contemporary dictators. He had also managed to die in bed surrounded by physicians, after a long life, something that he had so cruelly denied many Spaniards during his 36 years of power. Right to the end of his life, Franco remained in charge. However, to some extent, his power had been diminished by the death of the one man who may have ensured the continuance of his regime. This was Admiral Carrero Blanco, a hard line Francoist and member of the Opus Dei,…
The amazing story of Spain from dictatorship to democracy (Part 4 of 5)
AWAITING THE TEMPEST (Spain from dictatorship to democracy) Part 4 Imagine it is the early 1970s and you are in Spain… Fiestas may not be emblematic of Spain but they do spring to some people’s minds when the country is mentioned. They occur annually everywhere in Spain, in every town and village, last several days and take a bewildering multitude of forms, some of which are very bizarre. However, most have a religious basis, and many can be profoundly moving. Interestingly, fiestas are not some artifice created by Franco or his tourist department. Most fiestas date back into the mists of time and are usually highly ritualised events that celebrate the Catholic faith. A fine example is the Easter (Semana…
The amazing story of Spain from dictatorship to democracy (Part 3 of 5)
AWAITING THE TEMPEST Part 3 Imagine it is the early 1970s and you are in Spain… Needless to say, the building boom has had an extraordinary affect upon the demographics of Spain. In fact, since 1960, well over a million Spaniards have left the countryside for the towns and coast. This has been encouraged by Franco after his adoption of conventional economics and his issue of the Stabilisation Plan of 1959. This explicitly recognised that Spain could no longer remain an agricultural society (Franco’s natural instinct) and needed to expand into industry and tourism, if it was to evolve into a modern, successful state. However, for many Spaniards, particularly from rural areas, the tourist industry is a shock. Indeed, this…
The amazing story of Spain from dictatorship to democracy (Part 2 of 5)
AWAITING THE TEMPEST (Spain from dictatorship to democracy) Part 2 Imagine it is the early 1970s and you are in Spain… Of course, in some ways, life is better than it has ever been in Spain. There is negligible crime, the economy is undergoing miraculous growth and there is more money in the country than ever before, which is producing a burgeoning middle class. This is an extraordinary phenomenon within a traditionally impoverished state, noted for the wealth of a few and the poverty of the vast majority. After the Second World War (1939-45), Spain (along with the UK) received no help from the USA’s far sighted and extraordinarily successful Marshall Plan, which was aimed at regenerating a ruined Europe. …
The amazing story of Spain from dictatorship to democracy (Part 1 of 5)
AWAITING THE TEMPEST Part 1 Imagine it is the early 1970s and you are in Spain, with the country still firmly in the grip of General Franco (El Caudillo). He is in his late 70s (he was born in 1892) and has held absolute power for the past thirty plus years, since the end of the brutal Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Over 500,000 Spaniards were killed during the Civil War and memories of it are still fresh, with many Spaniards having first-hand experience of the war. Almost everyone is scarred by this and the awful White Terror, during which Franco sought to cleanse the country of any opposition or past opponents of the Nacionales. From 1936 to 1945 there were…
The origins of the Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War 1936-39 was a conflict notable for its brutality and for the way it savagely divided Spain. It resulted, of course, in General Franco’s long dictatorship (which only ended in 1975) and was a defining moment for Spain – the results of which can be felt even now. However, the Civil War in Spain was also notorious for being incredibly ‘messy’ politically – so much so that understanding what was happening can be extremely difficult. Everyone, it seems, was fighting everyone, at one time or another, as a bewildering array of political views sought dominance in Spain from extreme anarchists through to communists, socialists, fascists and republicans. Different areas, different members of families and competing regional interests…
El Cid, Spanish national hero and extraordinary soldier
El Cid is one of the great heroes of Spain and, unlike Britain’s beloved King Arthur, he is someone who really existed. Born sometime in 1040, close to Burgos in the kingdom of Castille, El Cid was a true adventurer who had an extraordinary life, during which (somehow) he managed to survive despite fighting, at various times, for both the Moors and for the Spanish. By the end of his life, this remarkable soldier had carved out his own fiefdom in Valencia. This he ruled with little more than cursory attention to King Alfonso VI – the most powerful Christian king in Spain at the time. Of course, to many people, the image of El Cid that springs to mind…
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