The Sobremesa Podcast

In recent months Pedro Sánchez's government has faced the most sustained judicial offensive of its time in office. Sanchez’s wife has been ordered to stand trial for influence peddling and her passport confiscated because a right-wing judge believed she constituted a flight risk. Meanwhile the prime minister’s brother is now awaiting a verdict in a highly controversial trial for influence peddling...

Let me tell you a story about Lavapiés. Spain's housing crisis has finally come for you. Your home has just been sold to a vulture fund and they want you out. What would you do? The residents at Calle Tribulete 7 came together and set out on a path of resistance, one that would transform them into a Madrid-wide symbol of the battle for housing rights. The documentary Soy Tribulete 7 (I am Trib...

Last month Madrid’s right wing regional premier Isabel Ayuso took it upon herself to travel to Mexico so as to lecture the Mexican public about their own history - as she participated in a homage to the conquistador Hernan Cortes. Proving once again her reputation as a Trumpian figure within the mainstream conservative Popular Party, she even went as far as to insist on her return to Madrid that “...

Pablo Picasso’s Guernica is probably the most well known painting of the 20th century, and has become a universal symbol of the horrors of war. But it has also been the subject of renewed controversy in recent weeks in Spain - over a yet another request by the Basque government for the painting to be displayed at least temporarily in Bilbao. The current request comes ahead of the 90th anniversary...

With the announcement from deputy prime minister Yolanda Diaz that she would not be standing as a candidate in next year’s general election, Spain’s radical left currently looks leaderless and increasingly fragmented. In this context, attention has turned towards Gabriel Rufian as a potential new left-wing figurehead. Yet there is one major issue: Rufian, a charismatic,working class Catalan MP is...

On this episode Alan is joined by Gregorio Alonso, Associate Professor in Hispanic History at the University of Leeds. We explore the 1812 Cádiz Constitution, a landmark document born in a time of siege and upheaval. Gregorio takes us through the tensions between liberalism and Catholicism, the shaping of Hispanidad, and how these ideas influenced Spain and the loss of its empire. This conversatio...

Hours after the United States and Israel bombed Iran on Saturday morning, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez released a statement which read: “We reject the unilateral military action of the United States and Israel that entails an escalation and contributes to a more uncertain and hostile international order...We demand immediate de-escalation and full respect for international law." He also co...

Today's guest is historian Helen Graham, who discusses her research into the brutal prison system under Francoist dictatorship. Her work shows how mass incarceration after the Spanish Civil War was only one part of a much wider system of control and surveillance — one that reached beyond prison walls into families, communities, and everyday life, shaping how millions of people experienced dictator...

Originally released 01 August 2024 On the eve of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936, Barcelona was set to host the Popular Olympic games. Bringing together athletes from around the world under the banner of anti-fascism, the event was meant to take place just weeks before the Nazi Olympics in Berlin. Yet as the athletes gathered for the opening ceremony, the military coup was launched, in turn, le...

Originally published: 12/07/22 This week's guest is sociologist Nicole Iturriaga who Eoghan talked to about her new book 'Exhuming Violent Histories: Forensics, Memory and Rewriting Spain's Past'. The book provides a detailed case study of Spain’s best-known historical memory organization, the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory which since 2000 has been responsible for exhuming many...

Jim Jump, the editor of the poetry anthology " Poems from Spain: British and Irish International Brigaders on the Spanish Civil War", joins Alan to discuss the collection of poems that stretch the length Spanish Civil War and after. All poems were written by men and women participating in the International Brigades. They cover the lives of the poets themselves, recite poetry from the book and disc...

2025 was the year Spain stood out in Europe over its clear opposition to the Israeli genocide in Gaza, as well as over its critical stance towards the Trump-led military spending spree in NATO.  With the fall of the Social Democrats in Germany, the country’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez also reinforced his position within the EU as the major figurehead of the continent’s centre-left.  Yet, at home...

Spain is the European Union’s largest fruit and vegetable producer, with exports topping €18 billion in 2024. Yet those whose work sustains this lucrative sector face widespread underpayment and labour rights violations - with some facing extreme exploitation bordering on modern slavery. As Eoghan tells Alan, this model should not be seen as some antiqued part of the Spanish economy but rather in...

As Spain marks the fiftieth anniversary of the death of dictator Francisco Franco, Eoghan sits down for a wide-range interview with Sebastiaan Faber, Professor of Hispanic Studies at Oberlin College and author of Exhuming Franco. They discuss the very contested institutional, political and ideological legacies of the dictatorship - as well as the continued fascination with Franco on the far-right...

In this episode of The Sobremesa Podcast , Alan McGuire speaks with historian Dr. Jorge Marco , author of Paradise in Hell: Alcohol and Drugs in the Spanish Civil War (University of Wales Press). They explore how intoxication shaped the Spanish Civil War. Not just on the battlefield, but in propaganda, gender roles, and moral control. From the image of the “drunken enemy” to the ideal of the sober...

This week we discuss the use of football as a propaganda tool under the Francisco Franco dictatorship, concentrating in particular on the cases of Real Madrid and Barcelona. Eoghan speaks to historian Alejandro Quiroga, author of the book the book ‘Football and National Identities in Spain’. If you like what we are producing and want more, please consider making a donation to our Buy me a coffee p...

In the later years of Franco’s regime, Spain was beginning to change socially, culturally, and economically. But beneath the surface of so-called “soft dictatorship” the state continued to torture, imprison, and silence those who didn’t fit its moral order and catholic ideology. In this episode, we revisit a conversation with Sonia Cuesta Maniar , a doctoral researcher at St Antony’s College, Univ...

In this episode of The Sobremesa Podcast , Alan McGuire and Eoghan Gilmartin are joined by Barcelona-based Italian journalist Tiare Gatti Mora. they discuss Spain’s relationship with Palestine and Israel. The conversation explores the political and moral dynamics behind Spain’s arms embargo, its efforts to help stop the genocide in Gaza, and the possible calculations shaping Pedro Sánchez’s stance...

In this episode of The Sobremesa Podcast , we explore the complex and often contradictory history of Catalonia under Franco with historian Dr. Andrew Dowling . We unpack how the Francoist regime initially crushed Catalan language and culture , only to later co-opt selective elements for its own purposes — reshaping Catalan identity under authoritarian rule. We also examine the uncomfortable truths...

This week's guest is historian Nicolás Sesma whose book on the francoist dictatorship, ‘Ni Una, Ni Grande, Ni Libre’, was named by El País as one of the top ten books published in Spanish in 2024. The book offers a brilliant re-telling of the four decades of the Francoist regime, placing particular emphasis on how a changing international context impacted its development. It also interrogates and...

Ten days ago Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party was rocked by a major corruption scandal - when the party’s head of organization Santos Cerdan became implicated in a massive graft operation involving the Spanish construction giant Acciona. The case has called into question Sánchez’s political judgement and credibility - in what is the most serious crisis of his seven year stint...

In this special live episode, recorded at the launch of The Last Days of Alicante , Alan McGuire is joined by Eoghan and a close audience of family and friends to discuss his debut poetry collection. The conversation explores the themes behind the book, from tracing the scars of the Spanish Civil War in modern-day Spain to the life and legacy of Miguel Hernández. With audience questions and reflec...

In this episode, historian Pablo Sánchez León joins Alan to explore the powerful and often disturbing alliance between the Catholic Church and the Franco regime. We go beyond the conventional narrative of the Spanish Civil War to uncover how the conflict functioned as a modern Catholic holy war — framed not just as a political struggle, but as a divine crusade to purify Spain. We discuss how anti-...

2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Francisco Franco and Sobremesa Podcast is launching a series of episodes examining in detail and from various angles Francoism and the dictatorial regime built during his 40 year rule over Spain from the end of the Civil War in 1939 to his death in 1975. To start the series, we are delighted to be rejoined by renowned historian and biographer Paul Pr...

Last Monday at around 12.30 in the afternoon, the Iberian peninsula suffered the worst blackout in Europe over the last decades as 55 million people in Spain, Portugal and parts of south-west France were left without electricity for hours. In Madrid’s metro alone, there were 150,000 people travelling on the network when the power went and they were forced to evacuate while many high-speed trains w...