Tierra de Perros pale ale from Tenerife By James Tweedie in Tenerife Herle Haggard might have sung that they don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA, but it turns out they DO drink real ale in Realejos, Tenerife, Spain.  Tierra de Perros (land of the dogs), a new pale ale from a micro-brewery founded in the north Tenerife town last year, is now on the menu in several of the bars and restaurants in La laguna, the trendy former capital of the island. The name 'Tierra de Perros' harks back to the origin of the name of the Canary Islands. Explorers sent by King Juba II, the vassal king of Numidia (a kingdom that spanned parts of modern Algeria and Tunisia) and later Mauretania (present-day Morocco) named the seven-isle archipelago for the fierce wild dogs (Latin canis ) that lived there. The Canary islands are best known for pilsner brands such as Dorada (from Tenerife) and Reina (from Gran Canaria), but several small, independent breweries have...

Actor and Activist Willy Toledo By James Tweedie in Tenerife Spanish actor and veteran left-wing political campaigner Guillermo 'Willy' Toledo has responded to 'insults' hurled at him after he criticised new political party Podemos. Podemos,which translates as 'we can', is an ostensibly left-wing party led by charismatic academic Pablo Iglesias. Although only formed in January, Podemos has enjoyed close media coverage and won eight per cent of the vote in the European Parliament elections in May, gaining five seats. Podemos came fourth behind the Conservative Peoples' Party (PP), the centre-left Socialist Worker's Party of Spain (PSOE) and the Plural Left (IP) alliance, which includes the Spanish Communist Party.  Mr Toledo was variously disparaged as the middle class son of a doctor and a drunkard, after publicly criticising Podemos on Tuesday as being "devoid of content and ideology", "lacking power and effectiveness...