Well it is Spain!

Yesterday I was relaxing in the hotel bar when the news item on the television showed matadors getting outdone by the bulls. I had no idea what they were saying so I supposed it was a review of the worst events, or something of the sort.

When I finished work tonight it was quite late and there were just 2 of us left in the office. I remembered to ask if bullfighting was still practiced in Spain.

"Of course" he replied, and he went on to say that the bulls are special. Well they look normal to me so I asked him to explain.

These bulls, it appears, have a favoured life. Allowed to roam on spacious fields and eat what they chose, it is a far better life than being farm-bred. And they are a specialist breed; since most bulls will ignore you, these are bred because they are aggressive and attack you!

Do they get eaten after the fight? Oh yes, the Spanish, I was told, don't like waste and the bulls are tasty! No difference there then.

I explained that some people would object to the sport. His response was genuinely surprised. "Why" he asked? It turned out to be hard to justify so I did not try hard.

So what about the news item? He explained that yesterday there was a bullfight in which all 3 matadors were gored by the bulls. They had only 3 so for the first time in over 30 years the fight had to be stopped. The BBC news item is here, with pictures.

It appeared that the bulls had won!

Just once in 30 years so no wonder it was a news item. Mathematicians can calculate from this the odds against the bull. They can't be good.

Terry

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