I covered Spain's transition to democracy for The Times of London between 1975 and 1978 and I then joined the Financial Times and was based in Mexico between 1978 and 1984 covering Mexico, Central America and Cuba. I returned to Madrid in 1986 when I left the FT. Since then I have written 20 books on various countries, mainly Spain. I have written on Spain and Turkey for Spain's Real Instituto Elcano since the think tank was founded in 2002. I also contribute opinion pieces to El País and ABC and have a column in the online newspaper El Imparcial.