Late Spanish election result: the anti-bullfighters got 65,705 votes

Those awful bombs in Madrid rather overshadowed a less sensational little story unfolding during the Spanish general election just passed. My brother-in-law stood for the office of senator on an anti-bullfighting ticket, and though he stood no chance of winning and never expected to, he did exceptionally well. Here I must pause. I do not want to upset a good friend. My affection for my brother-in-law is equalled only by the affection and regard in which I hold Tristan Garel-Jones and his wonderful family. And Lord Garel-Jones, as the world knows, is the bullfighting correspondent of this magazine. Before you (and he) cry, ‘That is not the title under which he writes’, let me acknowledge as much. Tristan, who correctly insists that the Spanish do not call the practice bullfighting and see the contest as a kind of dance, a branch more of the arts than of human aggression, is described as The Spectator’s ‘taurine correspondent’.