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Eviction of 87-year-old puts Spain’s deepening housing crisis in the spotlight

Images of Maricarmen Abascal being forcibly removed from her home sparked protests and a reckoning over the country’s soaring real estate marketImages of an octogenarian being evicted from the home she had lived in for seven decades on a stretcher, flanked by protesters and police officers, have sparked indignation across Spain.At the weekend, days after the first protests began, Madrid’s central Sol plaza was still full of anger at the treatment of Maricarmen Abascal. Tens of thousands of people marched through Spain’s capital on Saturday, rattling keys as they called for measures to curb rising housing costs and make evictions more difficult. Some brought tents and sleeping bags, announcing plans to set up a protest camp. Come Sunday, many were still there: their demand, a nationwide reckoning over access to housing. Continue reading...

Ashifa Kassam in MadridSpainEurope

GuardianSep 23Preview

‘My body is on fire!’: my perilous, painful, perfect month of pilates

A growing number of men, including singers Shaggy and Harry Styles, are taking up pilates. When I realised I could no longer touch my toes, I decided to try it outI realised something needed to change when I nearly toppled over trying to tie my shoelaces. I was on a busy high street, with people rushing past holding shopping bags, when I saw my open shoelace spooled on the ground. I bent down to deal with it and felt gravity move against me. Only a quick flail of my arms stopped me from faceplanting. When I raised myself back upright, I felt a sharp pain in my lower back. This can’t be right, I thought.Bracing my foot on a bin to finally fix my shoelace, it dawned on me. I’d become rusty. My core strength was nonexistent, as was my flexibility. Years behind a desk had taken a toll, not helped by an after-work routine of watching TV or playing video games on the sofa. But after getting ho

Sammy GecsoylerHealth & wellbeingPilates