All stories start in a specific time and place; that’s how literature explains the complexity of the world. The crisis affects me directly; many of my Spanish friends are currently experiencing its full devastating force. They feel that the future is full of uncertainty and watch in astonishment as life in a normal European country becomes more out of joint by the day, swept along in the mad two-horse race between the centre-right People’s Party (PP) and centre-left Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), neither of which is capable of giving the slightest account of what went wrong in the past. what is going wrong today and worst of all what could go even more wrong in the future.

Are all the ancient works of art currently stored or displayed in the world’s museums war booty? Some were ’borrowed’ (or stolen), others given or rescued for restoration and preservation. But now some of the countries of origin are pressing harder for restitution, including through the FBI