Photo of the week

 

Playmobil bullring, Cordoba, Spain.

When I first came to Spain a few years ago, I was taken aback to see that bullfighting reports appeared in the Culture section of my daily newspaper alongside the book reviews and film write-ups. It was also strange to see how much time the journalists spent talking about the (generally poor) quality of the bulls on show: this appears to be the real controversy here in Andalusia– not whether bullfighting should be allowed (it is –by Royal Decree) but if the toros bravos, or fighting bulls, are being deliberately bred ‘weak’ to make them easier to dispense with in the ring. For an excellent (and balanced) overview of bullfighting, see author and Alexander Fiske-Harrison’s blog. Or even better, buy his book Into the Arena.