On this website you’ll find a collection of my feature interviews, opinions and reviews on politics, film, travel and more.
It all started many years ago while working in Spain, where I went on to become the editor and chief writer for the Costa Almería News.
Just as ‘churnalism’ was starting to become the mainstay of many papers, including the ‘freebies’ which largely copied and pasted stories cobbled together from the Spanish dailies, CAN expected to source its own stuff – or at the very least, dig a lot deeper with a topical story than the competition to justify appearing in print.
When I became editor in 2007, I didn’t think that this forgotten and economically depressed corner of Spain would draw much attention from the foreign press.
But the demolition of an elderly British couple’s home by the authorities in 2008 changed all that.
Everyone from the BBC, Bloomberg, Sky and the UK tabloids swooped down on Almería to chronicle their plight, much to the embarrassment of local politicians and even some in the Spanish media, who would have rather kept the international spotlight strictly on the more positive aspects of the property and tourism boom.
Almería, once the choice location for Spaghetti Westerns, had inadvertently lived up to its fictional Wild West image, only now the place had become synonymous with planning abuse, corrupt government officials and naïve property buyers. It was a Spaghetti Western of sorts, in the sense that there was a strong element of human drama in the face of blatant injustice – even though it happened without a six-shooter in sight.
Fortunately, there was a lot more to write about the place. The landscape alone has inspired not just film makers as prestigious as David Lean and Steven Spielberg, but a steady stream of musicians, painters and writers (just don’t get me started on the Palomares nuclear accident – the other reason foreigners flocked to Almería in the 1960s, albeit in US army uniforms).
I’ve divided articles into three sections to make them more accessible. In other media, you can read more recent features written for other publications.
Richard Torné
March 2025
