Spain and Egypt

Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers around the world, introduced by Pascale Harter. In this edition:

Pot and pan protests: Spain's new national dish?

The Spanish national credit rating has just been downgraded by the agencies, and the government's status in the eyes of its own people has sunk even lower. Many Spaniards who are feeling the pain of cuts are furious that they're now having to borrow even more money from the EU to bail the banks out.

And they're not accepting it quietly. Protestors are now using kitchenware to cook up a storm of public indignation, as Paul Mason saw – and heard - on the streets of Madrid and farmland near Seville.

Freedom of speech (in the sitting room)

In Egypt, popular focus is on the future shape of the country's new democracy. This weekend will see the final run-off in the presidential election. It's what the protests in Tahrir Square were hoping for; the casting-off of control, the freedom to choose in an un-fixed vote. But what do Egyptians think now about the choice of candidates at the ballot box?

Paul Martin recently revisited Egypt, 30 years after his first posting there as a BBC correspondent, and found his former landlord's family weren't notably enthusiastic about either of the options on offer.