The lawyer Joan Piqué Vidal, known for having led the defense of Jordi Pujol in the Banca Catalana case and having been convicted later for corruption, died in Castelldefels on October 7th at the age of 93. His life is the story of a fall. From being one of the most influential lawyers in Catalonia in the 90s, a member of what was then known as golden robes, he went on to enter prison following the Estivill case and to fall into absolute discredit, the example of what someone who believes in the functioning of the law must never do.

Pedro Sánchez Castejón (Madrid, 1972) is, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, "an enigma, wrapped in a mystery inside a hieroglyph". Is he the cynical, cold and unscrupulous monster that the right paints? Or is he the empathetic and compassionate leader for the people who are struggling most that the left defends? Is he an aspiring dictator or, on the contrary, the last wall standing against the global far-right? The only certainty is that between the current Pedro Sánchez and the one who burst onto the political scene in 2014 there is an abyss. And it is this evolution, riddled with dramatic twists, changes of opinion and an undeniable capacity to overcome adversity and adapt reality to his needs, that has led to what we know today as Sanchismo. This is the story of the great prestidigitator of recent Spanish political history.

Pedro Sánchez has called snap elections that, in reality, are a plebiscite on his person and, especially, on what he represents and what we know as Sanchismo. Sanchismo is defined, first of all, by opposition. In a world dominated by a strong conservative, and even reactionary, impulse, Sánchez has managed to build his own profile that is almost countercultural: his congenital smile and optimism clash with the depression of the international left. The other great ingredient of Sanchismo is a specific way of doing politics, with a strong sense of power (something that especially makes the right nervous and has led him to clash with the deep state), and a mixture of opportunism and a sense of opportunity, just as he demonstrated back in the day with the amnesty and now with the housing decrees.

If Pedro Sánchez stands out for anything, it is for his political instinct. With the polls on the ground and the conversation framework dominated by Ceuta and the PSOE corruption cases, the Moncloa had designed a plan that consisted of presenting a very expansive budget project this autumn that would allow him to generate many headlines and culminate in a vote at the end of the year in which the treacherous triple right (the PP, Vox, and Junts) would defeat them. This was the ideal framework to call them for February or March, since the elections could turn into a referendum on those social budgets, that is to say, on the country's model.

In current politics, hyper-leadership proliferates, but what is valued most is a personal brand that exceeds the party brand. This is what characters as disparate as Gabriel Rufián, Carles Puigdemont, Ada Colau, or Juanma Moreno Bonilla have in common.

In 2019, the newspaper El Mundo launched a campaign with the slogan "The truth, however uncomfortable it may be". Over time, this phrase has become institutionalized and the newspaper uses it regularly to promote itself. I thought about this when, this week, I read a report on Ceuta that certainly caused discomfort among its own readers, as could be seen in the comments section.

Just as last weekend in Spain right-wing people were in favor of Madrid and Formula 1 and left-wingers against it, now the same thing has happened again with the gesture of the Real Madrid stars who did not want to wear the solidarity shirt with Ceuta. While the right-wing press is crucifying them and practically demanding their public stoning, the progressive press has come to the players' rescue. The newspaper El País publishes this Friday an editorial sympathetic to at least one of the players involved, Kylian Mbappé, who is also the only one who has given explanations, in this case to the newspaper As, which, oh surprise, also belongs to the Prisa group. The most curious thing is that when this newspaper published the full interview with the player, it omitted this part.

In Madrid, they still have not digested the act of rebellion by Vinícius, Mbappé, and Konaté in refusing to wear a solidarity shirt for the people of Ceuta. So much so that now they are starting to fire, by elevation, at Florentino Pérez. The best example is an article signed by Kike Marín – a sports journalist with long experience who has worked for Mark andAs– a El Confidencial titled "The offense of Mbappé, Vinícius and Konaté in Ceuta, another symptom of the lack of control at Real Madrid". The journalist points to one of Pérez's main advisors, the Moroccan-born Anas Laghari, as being responsible for this lack of control and for some decisions that are difficult for Madrid fans to understand, such as the low profile the club has adopted regarding the Ceuta cause. "The simple fact that the honorary president of Real Madrid, José Martínez Pirri, even if it is from Ceuta it should embarrass Mbappé, Vinícius and Konaté", he writes. "It seems that the club is slipping out of Florentino's hands", he concludes.

Today is a day when culers, and anti-Madridistas in general, can sit back and eat popcorn while the White House implodes. The refusal of Mbappé, Vinícius, and Konaté to wear a solidarity shirt with Ceuta before the match against Elche has sparked an authentic pitched battle on social media and has fractured Madridismo into two irreconcilable camps. On one hand, there are those who consider these three players traitors to Spain and to the values of the club that pays them, and who, therefore, must be expelled from Real Madrid. And then there are those who consider that politics and sports should not be mixed and downplay it. What is happening? Well, the former are the ones who identify most with the stances of the PP and Vox, and accuse the latter (and the players themselves) of playing into Pedro Sánchez's hands. This is how, for example, Zabala de la Serna writes in El Mundo.

Tempered at The Objective, hired by Abc for her investigations into PSOE corruption, a panelist on esRadio and Horizonte... Ketty Garat has become a new shining star of the 'fatxosfera' (right-wing sphere). In one of her latest appearances on Federico Jiménez Losantos' program, he asks her, as the daughter of a military man, what her opinion is of the photograph taken of King Felipe VI with the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, and the heads of the three branches of the armed forces: land, sea, and air. And Garat replies: "My father was not only an admiral, but also a member of the Navy leadership, and that forces me to be prudent, but I have my own personal opinion. There is a deep conviction right now, not only in the military sphere but also in the realm of justice, of the Prosecutor's Office, that this government is a democratic danger, it is a threat to democracy".

Formula 1 fans gave their verdict on Sunday regarding the Formula 1 race in Madrid. Searching with the keywords Madring (which is the name of the circuit) and boring resulted in endless lists of complaints from viewers. So much so, that even Minister Puente saw an opportunity to weigh in and described it as a "dud".

My nose tells me that when you have to exaggerate the success of an event a lot, it is because something is failing. These days one can verify the level of nervousness that reigns at Ayuso's place regarding Formula 1 by watching Telemadrid turned into a NO-DO that is shameful. Saturday's news program began with the following headlines. First: "The consecration of Madrid as a temple of F1" (??). Second: "Ayuso and Almeida tour the circuit". Third: "Madrid makes history". Fourth: "The fans crown Madrid". And the fifth was, naturally, about Ceuta.

I imagine that even at El Mundo they have regrets about the treatment they are giving the Ceuta crisis (sensationalist headlines, dehumanization of migrants, etc.) that they have felt obligated to seek a philosophical justification to keep their conscience clear. The person in charge of such a difficult mission has been a writer named Juan Diego Madueño, who clings to the change of opinion of a socialist deputy from Ceuta, who in 2024 said that the immigrants were "children" and now says they are "invaders," seasoned with interviews with three philosophers (the unavoidable Victoria Camps, the over-the-top libertarian Javier Sádaba, and the newspaper's own columnist Jorge Freire) to reach the conclusion that being a good person is a relic of the past: "The Ceuta crisis and the death of do-goodism: 'It is the religion of idiots'."

Sometimes information aligns in a way that creates front pages that concentrate the contradictions and complexities of a country. It is somewhat what happened to El País this Friday. The main headline is about the Supreme Court's decision to temporarily suspend the so-called grandchildren law, which grants the right to vote and nationality to the descendants of the republican exile: "The Supreme Court gives wings to Vox's theory of electoral fraud". The information is so relevant that the newspaper considered it necessary to also include the editorial on the front page, with a headline that leaves no room for doubt: "Legal absurdity".

The Diada arrives at a time dominated by international uncertainty and a layer of pessimism that permeates everything and gives wings to populism. In the case of Catalonia, a discourse about a supposed decline has long been installed, to the point that it has ended up affecting the country's self-esteem. Obviously, there are reasons for concern, as has been seen recently with the results of the PISA tests, but we also cannot ignore that these catastrophic discourses are not harmless and intend to impose a frame specific: that there is a glorious past to return to. And if there is one thing that has not yet been invented, it is a time machine.

The award for recycling of the day has been won by the newspaper ABC, which has dug up old interviews and statements by Rafa Nadal to build a story clearly intended to chase clicks and spark debate on social media. The headline was as follows: "I am happy to be Spanish, but when the tax bill arrives I am a little less so". The newspaper begins the information with a very significant fact, and that is that according to the magazine Forbes, Nadal earned 135 million dollars in cash between 2002 and 2024. It should be taken into account that this is only one part, and perhaps not the main one, of the Mallorcan tennis player's source of income. It is estimated that income from sponsorships multiplies this figure by 3 or 4. And then we arrive at the phrase in question. It corresponds to an interview with the Corriere della Sera from the year 2020, the same one in which he explains that his whole family is Madridista, although some switched to Barça when his uncle, Miquel Àngel Nadal, played there. He did not.

When a government makes lists of journalists and classifies them according to ideology, it is inevitable to think of McCarthyism and the famous blacklists of communists. The scandal caused by the list of journalists and pundits that they had at the Ministry of the Interior is surprising because, apart from being a deplorable practice that is reminiscent of authoritarian regimes, it is, above all, unnecessary, because for better or for worse everyone knows where each pundit stands. However, once the list has been analyzed, there are things that stand out. 119 right-wing pundits, 111 left-wing, 41 independent or unaffiliated, and 11 who are described as "moderate" are identified. Therefore, it must be said that the list is quite balanced.

Spanish nationalism is certainly curious: it advertises itself as a non-nationalism, as a natural state of affairs that requires no display of self-affirmation, but then, in practice, it competes over such provincial things as who has commissioned the largest flag of Spain. Until now, this record was held by former socialist minister José Bono, who on October 12, 2001, inaugurated at the Plaza Colón in Madrid what was then the largest flag: 294 square meters, 35 kilos, and a 50-meter flagpole. It was only a matter of time, therefore, for some Popular Party leader to take the record from him. The pseudo-media outlet Ok Diario reported proudly on Monday that the new record holder was Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who has had a new flag built at the Formula 1 street circuit that exceeds Bono's by 122 square meters, that is, it measures 416.

Obviously, the headline is ironic. And if not, judge for yourselves. It turns out that Eduardo Inda has published an interview with the President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, on the eve of the Formula 1 Grand Prix celebration. And what follows are the questions he asks her, all very witty and, above all, incisive. First: "We have toured the entire circuit, there are a lot of Spanish flags, right? That's a bit far-right, a bit fascist, a bit reactionary. And that flag, which is bigger than the one in Colón...". Second: "At every turn, everywhere there is the Spanish flag. The government delegate, Francisco Martín, would surely have preferred Bildu flags". Third: "The truth is that what we have seen is impressive, colossal, there is nothing like it in the world". Fourth: "The area full of bars and restaurants is very good, it looks like the Plaza Mayor, with very well-known places. Whose idea was it?". Fifth: "I love so many Spanish flags, I'm very fascist, very far-right, but I love it". Sixth: "What did you think of the banked turn?" Seventh: "They say it will be the circuit with the most public transport in the world". Eighth: "You said that the Grand Prix would not cost the taxpayer a single euro. Do you maintain that?" (This is the only question that is saved, and Ayuso's answer is: "Why can the Catalonia Grand Prix have 40 million and Madrid zero?" In other words, it will cost the taxpayers money.) Ninth: "Manuela Bergerot, spokesperson for Més Madrid, who is a picturesque character, has said that the Grand Prix will not contribute anything to the people of Madrid". Tenth: "Will the Prime Minister come?" Eleventh: "Will any minister or representative of the central government come?" Twelfth: "And the friend of Bildu and ETA, the government delegate".

A user on X uploaded a video after the Betis - Real Madrid match on Friday in which a group of Betis fans could be seen shouting the typical, not-so-subtle anti-government chant of "Pedro Sánchez, son of a..." So far, so normal. The internet is full of them. The surprise comes when we see that the official profile of El Español writes to them: "Hello, good evening! We have seen the video and would like to share it on our social media. Would you give us permission? Obviously, we would cite you and mention you as the author. Thank you very much and best regards".