On the march

摘要

WHEN Albert Rivera gave a talk at a regular breakfast meeting for business folk at the Ritz Hotel in Madrid last month, more than 600 people turned up, a record for the event. He has suddenly become Spain's hottest ticket, almost three years after he leapt into national politics at the head of Ciudadanos ("Citizens"), a newish liberal party. In December Ciudadanos became the biggest single force in Catalonia at a regional election. Now it is jostling the ruling conservative People's Party (pp) at the top of the national opinion polls. That has made the government of Mariano Rajoy, the long-serving prime minister, palpably nervous.