Oh Mariano, why won’t your women just leave you alone and let you get on with your job of telling the world how bad Spain’s economy is under a PSOE government while trying not to look too happy about how the nation is going down the gutter.

But no, they just can’t let a chance to question your manhood slip by. First it was Nebrera’s adéu, and now it is Esperanza Aguirre’s turn to step out of line. The president of the Comunidad de Madrid is once again putting Rajoy’s credibility as head of the Partido Popular to the test. The subject of the dispute is none other than the control of Caja Madrid, Spain’s fourth largest financial institution.

The Partido Popular has got to be the Dallas (as in J.R.’s, not Jerry Jones’s) of the Spanish political scene. It is by far the best political show in the country, unless, that is, you like a bunch of bitter men in tweeds grumbling about one another incessantly, and then you can do no better than Esquerra.  But if you can’t get enough of treachery, corruption, and yes, ladies, or at least, one lady who is rather easy on the eye, then the PP has been where it’s at for …