Euro Weekly News - Axarquia 3 - 9 February 2022 Issue 1909

THE BEST FINANCE NEWS ON PAGES 12 - 15 Issue No. 1909

3 - 9 February 2022

RINCON’S FISHY GASTRONOMY THE capital of Malaga has welcomed a fourth edition of De Rincón, El Boquerón, a cookery book celebrating the gastronomic potential of an‐ chovies.

The book features 28 recipes contributed by chefs from the municipality of Malaga, all of who belong to the Red de Restaurantes del Boqueron Victoriano.

The recipes all have an‐ chovies as the main ingredi‐ ent. They range from tradi‐ tional and signature dishes to the more creative – and even include desserts. The gastro‐ nomic focus is squarely on one of Rincon de la Victoria’s most popular products.

Attending the launch, tourism councillor, Antonio José Martín, said the book “shows the different ways of cooking the victoriano an‐ chovy. A tasty, versatile oily fish that can become the star of any haute cuisine dish.”

Furthermore, he added, initiatives like this are “yet another way for us to contin‐ ue promoting the excellent gastronomy of the munici‐ pality." The Fiesta del Bo‐ queron Victoriano festival is celebrated every September in Rincon de Victoria, and is an anchovy‐themed mix of popular culture and haute cuisine that has been granted Provincial Tourism Interest status.

The recipe collection (avail‐ able only in Spanish) can be found on the Rincon de la Victoria Town Hall website www.turismoenrincon.es.

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Get ready for Nerja Carnival

CARNIVAL TIME: The programme will be released soon.

CIVIL PROTECTION: The medals will recognise exceptional and extraordinary actions.

ANDALUCIA has created Civil Protection Merit medals to recognise exceptional and extraordinary actions in the face of risks and catastrophes.

These medals will be given to those who have put themselves in situations of serious risk for the public, for exceptional solidarity, collaboration and cooperation with civil protection institutions, as well as for those who have given continuous services over time.

The new awards will recognise exception‐ al and extraordinary actions in relation to security and protection by safeguarding the life and integrity of people, property and the environment.

There will be two award distinctions ‐ a Gold Medal for Civil Protection Merit and a Silver Medal.

The gold will recognise conduct of an ex‐ ceptional nature ‐ whether on duty or off duty by emergency and civil protection per‐ sonnel or individuals, showing exceptional courage and dedication.

The silver will distinguish extraordinary actions.

The person in charge of the Ministry of the Presidency, Public Administration and the Interior will grant these medals by means of an order that will be published in the BOJA. The medals have an exclusively honorary character, will be delivered in a public act and, provided that the winner authorises it, registered in the Record Book of Medals of Merit of Civil Protection of Andalucia.

The design features the international colours of Civil Protection, which are blue and orange. It consists of a cobalt blue cir‐ cular central part containing eight gold or silver stars depending on the category ‐ representative of the Andalucian provinces ‐ which surround an orange circle with the inscription ‘Andalucia Civil Protection.’

It also includes an equilateral triangle of the same cobalt blue where the silhouette of the Andalucian autonomous community stands out. The set is topped by the Spanish Royal Crown, also in gold or silver, support‐ ed by the traditional laurel and oak leaves.

The reverse bears the inscription engraved: ‘To the Merit of Civil Protection.’

NERJA Town Council has started preparations for the celebration of Carnival 2022, which will take place between February 24 and 27.

It has been announced by the Councillor for Popu‐ lar Traditions, Elena Galvez, that “the Governing Board has approved the Participation Bases for the costume contests, with an allocation for prizes of €34,245, which will go to children’s contests, Ninfa and Momo, the Great Parade, the burial of Chan‐ quete, as well as the pets.

“After the break caused by the Covid‐19 health crisis, we have recovered one of the most important Nerja celebrations of the year. The Nerja Carnival has been declared a Provincial Tourist Singularity Festival by the Malaga Provincial Council, and it is one of the festivals with the greatest popular partic‐ ipation in our festive calendar.

“The Department of Popular Traditions is working on the organisation of the Carnival with the aim that it can be celebrated in a sanitary and safe man‐ ner.”

The poster for the celebration and the program‐ ming of the four days will be released in the near fu‐ ture. The town crier will also be announced.

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Library hours are extended THE study room of the Cul‐ tural Centre Nuestra Señora del Carmen ‐ Antigua Azucar‐ era, and the two libraries will extend their hours from to‐ morrow, February 1, to meet the needs of students during exam periods.

Deputy mayor of Torre del Mar, Jesus Perez Atencia said that “little by little we recover normality after all the restric‐ tions we have suffered these years due to the pandemic.

“It is an initiative focused above all on the university community of Torre del Mar, although it benefits all users of these study centres. We

STUDY ROOMS: Will be open for longer.

currently have two libraries, the one on Avenida de An‐ dalucia and the new one on Calle Duque de Ahumada; and also the study room of the Azucarera. All of them equipped and conditioned for studying.”

The deputy mayor of Tor‐ reño reported that “the new hours for the library on Calle

Torrox among the 10 fastest growing municipalities in Spain TORROX, which now has 18,937 inhabitants, 944 more than in 2020, adds its seventh consecutive year of growth since the ar‐ rival of the current municipal president, Oscar Medina.

Medina expressed: “Thanks to the tourist promotion from the government team, we have made Torrox recognised as a quality tourist destination and for a place of residence.

“We are a clean and safe town and we will continue working to provide better infrastructure and equipment, in addition to expanding green areas for growing sustainably.”

Duque de Ahumada and for the one located on Avenida de Andalucia will be the same, being open to the pub‐ lic from Monday to Friday, from 9am to 2pm and from 4pm to 9pm.

“The schedule of the study room of the Cultural Centre Nuestra Señora del Carmen ‐ Antigua Azucarera will be from Monday to Friday, from 8.30am to 2pm and from 4pm to 8pm. On weekends it remains as it was, being Sat‐ urdays from 10.30am to 2pm and from 5pm to 8pm.

For Perez Atencia it is about “flexible hours that are com‐ patible with the students who use these facilities on a daily basis. We are always open to proposals from the users of these study centres so that they can carry out their work in an ideal way.”

NEWS

A return to normality ACTIVITIES such as regional dance, choir, guitar, oil painting, canvas painting, recy‐ cling and memory workshops have re‐ turned to normality in the various day cen‐ tres in Velez‐Malaga.

The first deputy mayor of of Velez‐Mala‐ ga, Jesus Perez Atencia, pointed out that “with the opening of the day centres a few months ago, work was done to incorporate the different workshops and occupational activities framed within the active ageing programme designed by the council itself into the daily routine. In 2022, they want to recover all of them, reaching a percentage of participation similar to that of before the pandemic.

“Municipal centres for the elderly are safe

Safety regulations need to be applied.

spaces as long as we continue to comply with the prevention regulations that have been established, such as the correct use of masks, maintaining social distance, limita‐ tion of the established capacity and correct ventilation of the halls.”

Velez-Malaga supports animal welfare VELEZ-MALAGA Council has approved a new law on the possession of pets and po‐ tentially dangerous dogs, placing it at the forefront of animal welfare and protection.

The first deputy mayor, Jesus Perez Aten‐ cia, said: “It is one more step from this gov‐ ernment team to make our municipality a friendly place for pets, as we have already shown with the dog beach and the improve‐ ments to the dog parks. We will continue to advance to achieve a municipality with more

public space for our animals.”

Mayor of Environment, Antonio Ariza, said the new law encourages “adoption, responsi‐ ble animal ownership, the fight against aban‐ donment and abuse.”

The new law incorporates the CER method (capture, sterilisation and return) for colonies of stray cats, including regulating their feed‐ ing, as well as making sure circus shows re‐ spect the well‐being and good treatment of animals.

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NIBS EXTRA Environmental education RINCON DE LA VICTORIA has started a new Annual En‐ vironmental Education Pro‐ gramme with a calendar of activities to spread environ‐ mental values. The pro‐ gramme has been designed with the aim of developing free educational workshops to address all areas of sustain‐ ability.

Almuñecar tributes ON Holocaust Memorial Day on Friday, January 28, Al‐ muñecar paid tribute to the Almuñequeros imprisoned in the concentration camps, re‐ membering them, as well as the rest of Spaniards who suf‐ fered Nazi repression, with the discovery of a plaque in the central Paseo del Altillo.

Donate blood MALAGA City’s campaign ‘For the love of art, donate blood’ began on Tuesday, February 1. People who donate blood before February 12 will re‐ ceive an invitation booklet from the Regional Transfu‐ sion Centre with which they will be able to access the main museums in Malaga for free!

Nerja employment NERJA Council has launched its Employment Programme, which will facilitate the hiring of 83 people from the munici‐ pality for six months full‐time.

The jobs will be published to‐ morrow on the Virtual Board of the Electronic Headquar‐ ters and on the Nerja website, and the application period will open on Wednesday.

APAA adoption APAA animal charity still has small puppies needing adopt‐ ing or fostering. Foster homes are great for puppies as they help to improve their sociali‐ sation skills and get them used to living in a home. If you are interested in adopting or fostering, please contact the APAA Rescue Dog and Cat Blog on Facebook.

3 - 9 February 2022

Recovering the boulevards THE mayor of Motril, Luisa Maria Garcia Chamorro, has thanked the Andalucian Government for the cleaning of watercourses on the boulevards of Motril “after decades of neglect” that “solves very serious risk problems.”

Chamorro has also explained that the Junta de Andalucia is not limiting itself to cleaning, “but to comprehensive actions that are responsible and totally appropri‐ ate to the environment of the area, which are a real revolution if we compare it with what was done previously.”

The cleaning of the boulevard in Carchuna has now been complet‐ ed after the channel had become completely invaded by cane, elim‐ inating any native riparian vegeta‐ tion needed for creatures such as fish.

Chamarro explained that “the invasive vegetation has been elim‐ inated, waste has been removed ‐ especially plastics ‐ and the sedi‐ ments have been relocated.”

The president of the ELA, Con‐ cepcion Abarca, said: “I have to

CLEANING UP: The board has done great work.

thank the great work that the board is doing in riverbeds and ravines; I have nothing but words of recognition, because in this area we have many problems with the riverbeds and dangers that, with actions like this, are going to be avoided considerably.”

The deputy mayor for Agricul‐ ture, Antonio Escamez, reiterated

“the close collaboration of Motril Council and the Delegation of Agriculture, which has made it possible to clean up boulevards that had been clogged for years.

Old roads and spaces that were a danger are now naturalised, clean and integrated into the en‐ vironment so that they can fulfil their function.”

Philosophy workshops in Velez-Malaga THE Culture Department of the Velez‐Malaga and the Velez‐Malaga Philos‐ ophy Club presented a new programme of activ‐ ities for this quarter with the aim of promoting the practice of philosophy.

Workshops on philoso‐ phy will be held as well as meetings called ‘Philo‐ sophical Dialogues,’

taught by expert practi‐ cal philosophers and aimed at all audiences.

The activities will be‐ gin on February 9 and will take place at the Ex‐ ile Centre.

Philosopher Karina Nazal explained that pre‐ vious workshops were very well received and “for this reason, we

want to continue with them to do philosophy, investigate and reflect among all so that the participants can see how it can make us have a fuller life. You just have to go with an open mind.”

The ‘Philosophical Dia‐ logues’ will take place on February 9 and March 9

Pruning ‘shock plan’ THE Barrios Los Marinos and the orange trees of Calle Mariana Pineda and Avenida de Andalucia are just some of the areas where action is being tak‐ en in line with the prun‐ ing ‘shock plan’ agreed by the Environment Area of Almuñecar Council, as re‐ ported by mayor Luis Aragon. Aragon stated the work is intended to

be carried out as soon as possible due to the condi‐ tions of some of the trees and, in some cases, for safety reasons in adverse weather conditions that could cause a danger to the public.

It is also the ideal time due to the weather at the moment to get work started and enter the spring season with most

of the work completed.

The mayor of the Envi‐ ronment advanced that this pruning ‘shock plan’ will be extended to other areas of the town where it is necessary to under‐ take this task.

Also, in parallel, prun‐ ing and cleaning work on bushes and gardening in general has also been car‐ ried out.

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and will last one hour.

The ‘Philosophical Workshops’ are more in‐ depth and can be devel‐ oped in one or two ses‐ sions. The workshops will be on February 23 and March 23.

All activities are free of charge and will take place at 6pm at the Exile Centre in Velez‐Malaga.

Those interested in participating can reg‐ ister through the email: clubdefilosofi avelez@gmail.com.

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Cultural heritage aid given THIS week, the Territorial Delegation of Tourism in Malaga held a meeting with the representatives of 12 municipalities that have benefited from aid for the enhancement of tourism.

These grants are award‐ ed on a competitive basis and amount to a total of over €580,000 across the province. In Axarquia, five municipalities have bene‐ fited from the aid ‐ Mo‐ clinejo, Macharaviaya, Al‐ machar, El Borge and Alfarnate.

With these funds, the Mirador de Moclinejo Am‐ phitheatre will be adapted and the Macharqaviaya church will be reformed. In addition, Almachar will al‐ locate the aid to acquire and reform the winery, El Borge will receive adapted access to the interpreta‐ tion centre and Alfarnate will improve the aesthetics of Calle Parras.

The objective of these grants (which total €5 mil‐ lion across Andalucía as a whole, and have been al‐ located to a hundred ar‐ eas) is to promote local tourism and universal ac‐ cessibility through the protection, promotion and development of cul‐ tural heritage.

The maximum percent‐ age of the subsidy is up to 100 per cent of the project, provided that it does not exceed the maximum amount of €60,000.

and finally...

THE President of La Cruz Roja, Eduardo Recio, visited the mem‐ bers of The Phoenix Club on Tuesday January 25 at La Vega Restaurant in Torre Del Mar. The Phoenix Club has been in existence for the last 13 years, has a diverse membership and meet every Tuesday between 12pm and 2pm. After a break of two years due to Covid restric‐ tions, the members were finally able to make a donation of €3,000 to La Cruz Roja. The donation that was made was to as‐ sist the vulnerable and under‐privileged in Velez‐Malaga and the surrounding area. Eduardo Recio thanked all the members present for their kind donation and said it would go a long way to greatly help those who they care for locally and he wished to continue to keep close ties with The Phoenix Club.

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NEWS

A moment to reflect.......

FOR reasons that I’ll maybe go into later, I’ve recently had cause to do some deep reflection.

On one of the grey days so typical over the month of January, I found myself looking deep into the purpose and enjoyment of our lives. Maybe it’s a bi‐product of the pandemic times we’ve been living through recently.

Maybe it’s having time to think about what really matters.

As publisher of Euro Weekly for al‐ most a quarter of a century, it feels like now is as good a time as any to take an unbiased view of what we hope we achieve, and what we mean to you, and all the other hundreds of thou‐ sands of people who read their copy of Euro Weekly every week.

We consistently question our value to our readers. We challenge our‐ selves every day to be relevant, to be in touch, to matter, and to improve in many different ways the lives of every one of those hundreds of thousands of people who spend minutes and hours connecting with their local com‐ munity through our pages, both online and in print.

Taking this altruistic view made me think.

How often do we remind ourselves of the very reasons we exist?

How often do we take the time to tell the people around us just how much we care for them and appreci‐ ate the massive contribution they make to Euro Weekly, and the com‐

munities we publish in?

It takes the combined talents of over 60 people to bring each copy of Euro Weekly alive. And life is what we’re all about. Helping you make choices, giving you options and infor‐ mation and being ‘The Pulse of your Community’.

So call us old‐fashioned, but the 300 words you’ve just read are dedicated to the Euro Weekly team, their won‐ derful efforts and hard work and the result of the love we all share for our newspaper Euro Weekly which we hope continues to be a small but sig‐ nificant part of your life in Spain, in good times and challenging times!

Michel Euesden C.E.O. & Founder

Costa del Soul Poll

By Ross Williams

LIKE many of us living in this country we happily call home, the last two years have been ex‐ tremely taxing. To be clear, I’m not referring to the recent fiasco of the overseas declaration taxes. The ‘taxing’ I mean is the way in which things that are both physically and mentally challenging are becoming part of our ev‐ eryday lives.

There’s probably no better example of this than the myriad of con‐ flicting rules and regula‐ tions governing interna‐ tional border controls and travel laws intended to keep us safe from the impact of Covid‐19 and Omicron viruses.

I experienced a real humdinger of misinfor‐ mation recently when I tried to attend an indus‐ try conference in Aus‐ tralia; just type in ‘Aus‐ tralian Entry Rules for

non‐Australians’ into your preferred search en‐ gine and scan the mix of advice. It’s a nightmare.

As a result, I’ve decided to avoid travelling for a while and instead ex‐ plore and take advantage of the many pleasures of life closer to home.

In my opinion, we are incredibly fortunate to live in one of the most beautiful and exciting places on earth.

I’ve started by identi‐ fying 10 destinations that I have neglected in the past few years. I

plan to visit or reac‐ quaint myself, and my family, with each one over the next few months. I’m going to write about each of them, and I’d also like to hear from you about the areas you feel have soul and are eminently worth visiting or revisiting.

I’m calling it the ‘Cos‐ ta del Soul’ poll, and you can share in cele‐ brating Spanish destina‐ tions with a lot of soul by emailing your favourites to me at soul@euroweeklynews.com

and finally...

LEGENDARY spoon bender Uri Gellar has warned NASA to prepare for an alien invasion after a spooky new discovery in the Milky Way. The illusionist has raised the prospect after Australian scientists found a pulsing energy source 4,000 light‐years away. Uri, 75, believes the scientists have stumbled upon the radio communications of ‘superior beings’ from out‐ er space.

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Expats and Modelo 720 ruling Heart shaped diamond JUDGING by recent news reports, you could be forgiven for thinking that Spain’s egregious Modelo 720 World‐ wide Asset Declaration reporting re‐ quirement is already dead and buried since the European Court of Justice (ECJ) declared aspects of it illegal on Thursday January 27.

The bad news is the Modelo 720

will almost certainly live on in one form or another. The good news is, it will be a milder financial threat to ex‐ pats living in Spain.

The Spanish press reported it as a “severe blow” to the 720 form, and attention has immediately switched to how people can claw back the fines they have suffered at the hands

Spanish Space Agency ACCORDING to Diana Morant, Spain’s Minister of Science and Innovation, the Spanish Space Agency will be ready in a year. It will be integrated into the Span‐ ish Security Strategy, and covered by a Science Law approved by the Council of Ministers.

The agency will ‘promote, coordinate, and share, all the needs that exist in space, and, above all, promote research and innovation in space technology’, as well as represent Spain’s interests with‐ in the European Space Agency (ESA), and NASA. Spain is one of the top four coun‐ tries involved in EU space technolo‐ gy, and one of the top five involved in the European Space Agency (ESA).

Spain is involved in the ESA.

The location has yet to be decided ‐ though it may not be Madrid: “We have to understand that Spain does not end in Madrid, and science is widely distributed in our country,” said the minister, “Science is done in all territories.”

of the Modelo 720 since it was intro‐ duced by the Partido Popular (PP) fi‐ nance minister Cristóbal Montoro back in 2013.

Realistically, the Modelo 720 tax declaration form isn’t going any‐ where. It will just be tweaked to get around the ECJ’s objections and carry on being a headache for expats in Spain with assets of €50,000 or more (per asset class) abroad.

The good news is the fines and penalties for falling foul of the Mode‐ lo 720 are expected to be much lighter, so it won’t be such a big risk for expats living in Spain.

The Modelo 720 was introduced in 2013 ostensibly to clamp down on tax evasion and corruption and as the PP party at the time stank of corruption, the law was introduced with an amnesty that basically allowed bent politicians and their cronies to le‐ galise wealth with just a slap on the wrist, whilst expats with legitimate wealth outside of Spain were put in a risky situation.

If you didn’t know about the new law, or made any mistake in your declaration, you could be ruined by huge fines, so let’s now hope for the best rather than the worst as amend‐ ments take place.

UK Jewellers Han‐ cocks have an‐ nounced their Jewel of the Month for Valentine’s is the beautiful Edwardian era Tiffany & Co. di‐ amond heart pen‐ dant.

With its elegant domed and rounded form, this stunning diamond is a sub‐ stantial one inch wide and tall.

It is fully pavé set with sparkling an‐ tique European bril‐ liant cut diamonds set in platinum and backed with 18ct gold suspended from a detachable dia‐ mond set loop.

The diamonds are estimated to weigh around 3.8cts in to‐

Jewel of the month.

tal. The heart motif has been used in jewellery since the Middle Ages, gaining popularity during the era of courtly love.

It is perhaps the most popular and enduring of symbols and each era has found new ways to depict it and embel‐ lish it.

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Partygate fallout TORY MP Angela Richardson has resigned as ministerial aide in Boris Johnson’s government citing ‘deep disappointment’ over the handling of the

lockdown parties at Downing Street.

Ms Richardson, Conservative MP for Guildford, had been working for Michael Gove, but re-

signed last week, on the day the Sue Gray report was published. The report, she said, “clearly states there were failings at Number Ten Downing Street that let us all down.

“I share the deep disappointment that it has taken so long to get to this stage when there could have been an early acknowledgment and apology.”

Ms Richardson explained that ‘moving sto-

ries’ about her constituents’ experiences during Covid lockdowns influenced her decision to quit.

Adding, “Any request for a sense of perspective from those around Number Ten” had rung hollow with an ITU nurse she had met: “Frontline N H S workers like her had also been working hard through the pandemic putting their health and lives on the line to save others.”

Human chain rescue ON the morning of Friday, Jan‐ uary 28 a two lane bridge col‐ lapsed in Pittsburgh (USA) prompting people to form a human chain to help rescue those trapped in a bus dan‐ gling over the edge. The res‐ cuers formed a chain nearly 46 metres long to reach the bus.

Only minor injuries were re‐

ported with no fatalities, ac‐ cording to authorities, who al‐ so said they were flying drones to make sure no one was un‐ der any collapsed sections. Po‐ lice reported the span, on Forbes Avenue over Fern Hol‐ low Creek in Frick Park, came down just before 7am.

Darryl Jones, Pittsburgh Bu‐ reau of Fire Chief, said that three or four vehicles were in‐ volved in the collapse and there were 10 minor injuries with three taken to the hospi‐ tal. None of the injuries were life‐threatening, Jones con‐ firmed.

Brave mum THERE was tragedy in Ceuta as a mother saved her son in a road accident, but died as a result. The incident occurred at around 6pm on Saturday, January 22, in the Reina Re‐ gente neighbourhood of the autonomous city. According to witnesses, the young boy ran towards the road and the brave mum went after him.

The boy escaped without harm, but the car was unable to avoid the mother. She re‐ ceived treatment in the In‐ tensive Care Unit of Melilla Regional Hospital, but has since died of her injuries.

Eduardo de Castro, respon‐ sible for public safety in the city, says that, tragically, nothing can be done to stop these incidents from occur‐ ring. He added that for the town this is the first road traf‐ fic accident death so far this year.

NEWS

Group arrested

DETAINED: For inciting hatred and violence on social media.

THE National Police has ar‐ rested seven people ‐ four in Barcelona, one in the Madrid municipality of Tor‐ rejon de Ardoz, and two in the Alicante Province towns of Alcoy, and Onte‐ niente in Valencia. They were detained for their part in a radical far‐right group that was found to be incit‐ ing hatred and violence on social media networks.

According to the General Directorate of the Police, the investigation began in the first quarter of 2020, af‐ ter the force received an anonymous complaint through the citizen collabo‐ ration web portal. The

anonymous caller alerted them to the creation of an online forum with a radical and violent extreme right‐ wing ideology. This was something that was corrob‐ orated by the investigators, who detected forums and instant messaging applica‐ tions from where the ar‐ rested sent direct and fil‐ tered messages to subjects, with a profile according to their postulates and radical ideologies. They were be‐ lieved to be attracting and indoctrinating other sub‐ jects in order to commit vi‐ olent actions aimed at sub‐ verting the constitutional order.

Bookings up JET2 has reported a 30 per cent surge in bookings for Spain, Italy and Portugal.

The Spanish islands and mainland Spain will benefit massively from the changes in coronavirus testing rules set to come into place on Friday February 11.

According to Jet2’s Chief Executive Steve Heapy, the company is already noticing a “notable increase in de‐ mand for holidays and flights” since the Covid testing rule changes were announced in the UK. He revealed: “Before yesterday’s announcement de‐ mand was already strong, however bookings have jumped by another 30 per cent when compared with the previous week, demonstrating just how much of a game‐changer the removal of all testing is for fully vac‐ cinated holidaymakers.

“With international travel starting to look like it did before the pandemic, customers are jumping at the chance to book their flights and holidays.”

and finally...

RUSSIAN YouTuber, Alex Burkan, has entered the Guinness Book of World Records because he has cre‐ ated the world’s first retractable lightsaber.

This home‐made device is very similar to the fa‐ mous sabers used in fight sequences in the Star Wars films. In addition, it has the ability to produce a me‐ tre‐long plasma blade when turned on, burning at an intensity of 2,800 degrees, it can even cut through steel.

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Hollywood stars take a pay cut BRAD PITT and George Clooney have agreed to lower their salaries to en‐ sure their new film will get released.

Clooney revealed in his last interview that both he and Brad did not think twice before reducing their salaries for the new movie, which is due to be‐ gin shooting this summer, and will be directed by Jon Watts. While plot details are being kept under

wraps, the Apple TV+ film is known to follow two lone‐wolf fixers who are assigned to the same job.

Their pay cut will help to fi‐ nance, and pay for, its pre‐ miere in cinemas around the world. Clooney took time to reflect on the ‘co‐ existence’ between pro‐ duction companies that al‐ so own their own streaming platforms, as is the case with Apple, and also Netflix.

Top anti-ageing doctor in Europe DR VICENTE MERA of Clinica Britannia in Calpe has won an award at the European awards in medicine 2021 in recognition of his innovative work in anti‐ageing medicine.

With a devotion to cutting edge tech‐ niques and therapies, Dr Mera has been propelled to the forefront of internal and anti‐ageing medicine.

He has 25 years of international experi‐ ence in multiple basic areas of ageing, in‐ cluding genomics, nutrition, gut microbio‐ ta, immunity, detoxification, physical preparation, stress management, tobacco cessation, sleep, hormone substitution and nutritional supplements.

In the field of regenerative medicine and ageing, Dr Vicente Mera has also in‐ corporated new areas of knowledge such as bio‐identical hormonal therapeutics, genetic and genomic counselling, the telomeric evaluation and obtaining of mesenchymal stem cells and the storage of them for future practical applications.

Dr Mera studied in Sevilla, and then specialised in Internal Medicine in one of

DR MERA: In recognition of his work.

the most reputable departments in Spain, the Puerta de Hierro Clinic in Madrid, where he served as chief resident for six years.

He went on to work in different hospi‐ tals in Sevilla, Cordoba and Alicante, be‐ fore finally settling on the Costa Blanca, where he was hired as head of the inter‐ nal medicine service of the HCB hospital and now heads up his own health centre, Clinica Britannia in Calpe.

NEWS

Dog found after 6 years AN emotional video of a missing dog being reunited with its family after six years has highlighted the importance of microchip‐ ping.

Pepa Tenonio found a dog on the road between the towns of Deifontes and Iznalloz in Granada. The mi‐ crochip revealed he had been missing for six years.

Thanks to the information on the chip, Pepa was able to locate the owners. She posted an emotional re‐ union video on social net‐ works in which she sends an important message to all pet owners.

Dico’s owner had unfortu‐ nately passed away; howev‐ er, the video shows his emo‐ tional relatives hugging the dog. When Pepa called the telephone number on the chip, the owners’ children cried, knowing that Dico was alive and coming home.

The video went viral on social media.

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Masks here to stay

A small price to pay.

RYANAIR’S finance chief has warned that masks are here to stay. He has said that they are a “small price to pay” for being able to travel around the world during the pandemic and avoid travel restrictions re‐ turning.

Neil Sorahan explained: “Masks will be something that will be with us for a while longer to come. If that is the price we have to pay for the next few months, into summer ‐ it’s a small price to pay.

“It’s a bit like after 9/11, we ended up with our toi‐ letries in plastic bags, maybe we’ll have to live with masks for a while longer.”

3 - 9 February 2022

Airline compensation

PROPOSALS announced on Monday, Jan‐ uary 31 promise fairer and simpler com‐ pensation rules for UK domestic passen‐ gers, which could see claims for delays of more than an hour.

The proposals are intended to replace EU rules that require compensation to be paid for flights delayed by more than three hours. Currently, domestic passen‐ gers on flights shorter than 1,500 kilome‐ tres (932 miles) can claim £220 for delays of more than three hours, but nothing for shorter waits.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the proposals “aim to bolster airline con‐ sumer protections and rights.” Under the new plan, which is under consultation, passengers would be entitled to 25 per

FAKE money scams are noth‐ ing new. Printing paper bills is relatively simple, but mak‐ ing coins from a material sim‐ ilar to the real thing is more complex. This makes fraud‐ sters resort to real foreign coins, passing them off as eu‐ ro coins ‐ although logically they are not legal tender in Spain and their value is also much lower.

The Guardia Civil has

NEW RULES: Promise fairer rights.

cent of the ticket price for a delay of more than one hour but less than two hours, 50 per cent of the ticket price for a delay of more than two hours but less than three hours, and 100 per cent of the ticket price for a delay of more than three hours.

Fake euro coin scam

warned of these scams on its social media pages. The coins, very similar to the Eu‐ ropean ones, come from Ar‐ gentina, Venezuela, the Do‐ minican Republic and Jamaica.

The value of these coins

can be less than a cent, and the most expensive ‐ Ja‐ maican dollars ‐ barely reach €0.11.

Some characteristics that make them very similar to the euro are the gold rim of the coin, the silver interior and symbols such as the Venezuelan stars ‐ which are reminiscent of those of the European Union and can lead to error.

EWN

9

Supporting Amazon NEIL YOUNG has decided to ramp up his new‐found dislike of Spotify, by offer‐ ing his fans a free four‐ month subscription to Amazon’s streaming ser‐ vice. The folk‐rock legend posted a message pro‐ moting Amazon on his of‐ ficial Twitter account to his 76,000 followers on Sunday, January 30.

He also pushed the of‐ fer on his website, where it said, “Amazon has been leading the pack in bring‐ ing hi‐res audio to the masses, and it’s a great place to enjoy my entire

catalogue, in the highest quality available.”

This all comes as the re‐ sult of Young’s protest against Spotify and its continued broadcasting of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. He has removed all his music, and is boy‐ cotting the platform, in‐ sisting that its controver‐ sial anti‐vaccine podcaster Rogan is pushing disinfor‐ mation about the vac‐ cines.

Joni Mitchell and Nils Lofgren have both sided with Young in removing their music from Spotify.

and finally...

FRITZ SCHALL, an Austrian man who now lives with his family in Colombia, South America, decided he would build a house.

Not just any house, he built one that was upside down! Located in the town of Guatavita, ‘Casa‐Loca’ has turned into a massive tourist attraction, and captured the imagination of those who visit. Inside the home, in the upside‐down world, you can walk on the ceilings instead of the floor, and the furniture is under‐ neath you.

10 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

3 - 9 February 2022

Elon Musk’s student offer T H E multimillionaire Elon Musk offered $5,000 to a student from the University of Central Florida (UCF) if he closed his Twitter account dedi‐ cated to tracking the movements of Musk’s private jet.

Jack Sweeney, a 19‐ year‐old student in his first year at the UCF, said that he was surprised when the founder of Tesla and the aerospace

MUSK: Has a private jet.

company SpaceX sent him a message with a

strange request: that he delete his Twitter ac‐ count due to security concerns. Musk offered $5,000 for the favour.

However, in one of the messages exchanged, the teenager asked for $50,000 to cover the cost of tuition, although Musk has not yet agreed to that.

Sweeney is the person behind the username @ElonJet, an account

that reveals very specific data about the location of Musk’s private jet.

The teenager explained that he created an algo‐ rithm to track the plane using data from compa‐ nies that record flight data through a transponder.

The information pro‐ vided by Sweeney on his Twitter account has at‐ tracted more than 100,000 followers.

NEWS

New HIV trials to begin ON January 27, the scientific research organisation IAVI and the pharmaceutical company Moderna announced that they had teamed up to launch the first phase of clinical trials on experi‐ mental vaccines against HIV using mRNA technology.

The trial is designed to test the hypothesis that the sequential administering of HIV immunogens via messenger RNA can trig‐ ger specific types of responses from B cells, leading to the gener‐ ation of broadly neutralising antibodies (bNAbs).

The generation of bNAbs is one of the objectives of vaccina‐ tion against HIV, and this is the first step in the process. The im‐ munogens that are being tested in the trials were developed by scientific teams from IAVI and Scripps Research and will be given via mRNA technology from Moderna.

The study will be carried out at four centres in the United States. The centres will enrol 56 HIV‐negative adult volunteers, of whom 48 will receive one or two doses of mRNA‐1644 and 32 will receive the mRNA‐1644v2‐Core booster. Another eight vol‐ unteers will only receive the booster immunogen.

Minority refuse third vaccine and finally...

A B O U T 9 per cent of Spaniards are refusing to get the third vac‐ cine against coronavirus, as changing recommendations do not inspire confidence.

More than 20 million Spaniards have received the third vaccine against coronavirus, but a minori‐ ty is reluctant. According to the latest research by the Spanish Centre of Sociological Research (CIS), around 84.5 per cent of

those who have received at least one dose are willing to get the third jab, but 9 per cent are un‐ willing and 4 per cent are unsure.

There are many factors behind the uncertainty: fear, scepticism, doubts about its protection, or simply confusion due to contra‐ dictory messages from the health authorities. “To all those having doubts, I tell them to trust sci‐ ence,” stated Isabel Jimeno, from

the Spanish Society of General and Family Doctors (SEMG).

According to data from the Min‐ istry of Health, on January 26, the number of people who had re‐ ceived at least one dose of the vaccine was 39,080,436 (92 per cent of over‐12s) and the number of those with two doses was 38,264,820 (90.7 per cent).

A total of 20,289,629 people had received the third dose.

THE Italian Ministry of Work has opened an investigation into a job advertisement for a receptionist position which asked for a photo of the candidate ‘in a bathing suit or something similar.’

The company also requested that the candidates were wom‐ en under 30 with a ‘cheerful character and an attractive appear‐ ance.’ The company, which has a branch in the commercial cen‐ tre of Naples, offered an income of €500 a month for 24 hours a week.

The advertisement, which was posted on various job portals, has been met by fierce criticism and called ‘sexist.’

FEATURE

www.euroweeklynews.com

EUROPEAN PRESS DENMARK

Insurance failure

Words removed

ALWAYS read the small print is a maxim when taking out insurance, but 14 Danish insurances companies have been hit with fines for discrimination against female clients who became pregnant. Eight companies have accepted the fines and the others have until February 1 or could be prosecuted.

SCRABBLE is becoming increasingly more difficult in Denmark as it has been reported by the Danish Language Board, that some 3,581 words were removed from the Danish Spelling Dictionary between 1986 and 2012 as they were considered obsolete or replaced by English words.

THE NETHERLANDS Racial profiling

Mortgage help

THE Dutch Tax Office, having been brought to task over wrongly accusing parents of fraud, is back in the spotlight after an independent review found that in 11 per cent of cases it viewed, people were being highlighted as potential fraudsters on the basis of their appearance and nationality.

WITH rental properties becoming increasingly expensive, the National Mortgage Guarantee agency, supported by a number of commercial banks, is to help renters who pay more than a mortgage would cost but have been turned down by lenders to get their feet on the property ladder.

BELGIUM Holocaust research

Unclaimed money

DURING the Second World War, the Belgian railway company NMBS was responsible for the deportation of more than 25,000 Jews and Roma to death camps. To mark Holocaust Memorial Day, the Belgian Government has commissioned research into the role of the company and who made the decisions.

THIS is not an email scam but a genuine fact according to the Belga News Agency as it revealed that Belgian customers had around €575 million sitting unclaimed in dormant bank accounts at the end of 2021, up €7 million from the previous year.

GERMANY Telegram ban

Snap resignation

THE German Government is reportedly considering banning the encrypted messaging app Telegram which it contends is being used by different groups to promote hate speech and conspiracy theories. Its complaints have been made to the creators of the app, but these have apparently been ignored.

VICE-ADMIRAL Kay-Achim Schönbach who was head of the German navy has tendered his resignation after making a number of comments during a visit to India about the Ukraine and Russia which has caused the German government some embarrassment especially as he said that Vladimir Putin deserved “respect”.

FRANCE Child victims

Bizarre artwork

CATHOLIC dioceses throughout France have raised €20 million to compensate up to 330,000 victims of historical child sexual abuse by clergy over seven decades according to the president of the Selam fund. The French Catholic Church has confirmed that it will also contribute its own funds.

IT has been discovered that a senior French surgeon has offered to sell as a piece of art for €2,500, without permission, an X-ray of the arm of a concert goer, shot during the 2015 Bataclan attack, which shows a bullet still lodged in the forearm.

NORWAY Spoilt for choice

Future Queen

THE Norwegian Finance Ministry may be breathing a sigh of relief after controversially inviting former Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg to apply to head the Bank of Norway as it seems possible that due to the Ukraine problem he will be asked to remain as head of NATO.

THE first woman born to be Queen of Norway officially came of age on Friday January 21 when she celebrated her 18th birthday. Flags flew and cannons fired in honour of Princess Ingrid Alexandra, daughter of Crown Prince Haakon, heir apparent to the Norwegian throne.

3 - 9 February 2022

EWN 11

FINANCE BUSINESS EXTRA Record job creation FIGURES for 2021 show that the Spanish labour market recovered strongly following the 2020 drop due to the pandemic with 615,900 fewer people unemployed which represents the largest annual re‐ duction since 2015, while employ‐ ment grew by 840,700 jobs, the highest number since 2005.

Camp Nou Spotify ONCE mega‐wealthy Barcelona FC is looking to cut wages of its players and obtain as much long‐term sponsorship as possible. According to Football España, it is in negotia‐ tion with Spotify to take over the main shirt spot and may rename its stadium Camp Nou Spotify.

GDP bounce ALTHOUGH there had been a number of negative reports about the growth of the Spanish econo‐ my for the fourth quarter of 2021, the growth of GDP by 2 per cent was well above the somewhat gloomy forecast of 1.4 per cent thanks in part to export demand.

Fewer cars UK car production fell to its lowest level in 65 years in 2021, according to figures released on January 27 by the Society of Motor Manufac‐ turers and Traders. The number of vehicles produced was 859,575, the lowest number since 1956 and the Suez Crisis.

Spain Shynes THE recently unveiled SHYNE (Spanish Hydrogen Network) pro‐ ject, the largest renewable hydro‐ gen consortium in Spain is made up of 33 entities from different sec‐ tors comprising 22 companies and 11 associations, technology cen‐ tres, and universities under the leadership of Repsol with the aim of promoting renewable hydrogen projects in all areas of the econo‐ my. The projects in SHYNE will in‐ volve an accumulated investment of €3.23 billion and this will enable the implementation of different initiatives for the production, distri‐ bution, and use of renewable hy‐ drogen in the industrial sector, in transport and other outlets creat‐ ing an estimated 13,000 new jobs.

12

www.euroweeklynews.com • 3 - 9 February 2021

STAT OF WEEK

$7 million

(€6.3 million) is the price expected when the world’s largest black diamond, the Enigma weighing more than 550 carats, goes to auction in London in February.

Spanish legislation contrary to EU law IN a bid to ensure that Spanish tax resi‐ dents declare all of their financial in‐ vestments and sources of income re‐ gardless of where they may be derived from, the Spanish Government intro‐ duced penalties for those who did not make accurate declarations.

On February 15, 2017 the European Commission issued a reasoned opinion in which it found that certain aspects of the requirement for Spanish tax resi‐ dents to declare overseas assets or rights by means of a form entitled ‘Form 720’ were incompatible with EU law. The Commission referred the matter to the European Court of Jus‐

tice which on January 27, 2022 issued its findings in the matter and the fol‐ lowing is a brief interpretation of the findings. Whilst in principle the concept of trying to stop tax residents from evading their obligations is acceptable, the Court has found that the legislation goes beyond what is necessary to achieve those objectives.

In the first place, the Court considers that Spain has failed to fulfil its obliga‐ tions under the free movement of cap‐ ital within the European Union.

Then by imposing very high penal‐ ties for failure to declare overseas hold‐ ings, the tax authority may be de‐

manding payment in excess of 100 per cent of the value of the assets held which constitutes a disproportionate interference with the free movement of capital.

Finally, the fact that the penalties for those ‘hiding’ overseas assets are stricter than internal evasion also im‐ pinges on free movement of capital.

This doesn’t mean at this stage that there can be queues for refunds from those fined but ‘If the Court of Justice finds that there has been a failure to fulfil obligations, the Member State concerned must comply with the Court’s judgement without delay’.

Manage rising costs Do they need executor? with a pre-paid plan LEGALLY SPEAKING

I recently did my Spanish Will. The lawyer draw‐ ing up the Will appointed himself as the executor of the Will, giving him a maximum of five years to execute the Will. Is this clause normal?

1. What would happen if the solicitor pre‐deceased me?

2. Why can’t I appoint my wife and children to be execu‐ tors of the Will?

3. Can I amend the Will by taking it to another notary and attaching a codicil appointing my wife and children as the executors or should I do a new Will?

4. If the solicitor did execute the Will is there a govern‐ ment set fee or can he charge whatever he wants?

T K (Costa del Sol) Spanish DAVID SEARL law does not require that a YOU AND THE LAW testament have an IN SPAIN executor. You can‐ not name your wife and children as executors be‐ cause they are inheritors and the law says you can‐ not be named as executor if you are an inheritor. If your executor dies before you do, his appointment dies with him. There is no set official fee for an ex‐ ecutor. His charges should be agreed beforehand. If you are unhappy it seems that your best bet is to get a new lawyer and make a new Will.

Send your questions for David Searl through lawyers Ubeda-Retana and Associates in Fuengirola at Ask@lawtaxspain.com, or call 952 667 090.

SPAIN ranked 34 out of 180 in the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) produced annually by Transparen‐ cy International. The CPI ranks 180 countries around the world by their perceived levels of public sector corrup‐ tion and the results are given on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

While corruption takes vastly differ‐ ent forms from country to country, this year’s scores reveal that all regions of

A S funeral prices contin‐ ue to soar, purchasing a Golden Leaves pre‐paid plan gives you the security and reassurance you and your Tailored to your needs. family need for when the time comes.

With a wealth of expertise, Golden Leaves can aid you in finding the right pre‐paid funeral plan. Tailored to your needs, wishes, and budget, they assist you in planning every aspect of your service.

Golden Leaves is the only funeral planning busi‐ ness to offer repatriation plans to British expats living overseas as well as foreign expats living in the UK. For expats living abroad, Golden Leaves believe it’s essential to have a pre‐paid funeral plan in place.

Strict regulations, bureaucratic red tape, and a potential language barrier can cause your family distress at an already difficult time.

For more information, visit their website: www.goldenleavesinternational.com, send an email to info@goldenleavesinternational.com, or call for free on 800 098 309.

Public sector corruption the globe are at a standstill when it comes to fighting public sector corrup‐ tion. At the top of the CPI, countries in Western Europe and the European Union continue to wrestle with trans‐ parency and accountability in their re‐ sponse to Covid‐19, threatening the re‐ gion’s clean image.

The global Covid‐19 pandemic has according to the report been used in many countries as an excuse to curtail basic freedoms and side‐step impor‐ tant checks and balances.

Topping the list as being the least corrupt countries and with similar scores are Denmark, Finland and New

Digital pickpockets WHILST the increase in lim‐ its when using contactless debit cards is welcomed by many, there is a potential problem.

Investigations by media outlets in both Belgium and Germany have shown that it is possible to obtain a card terminal online for as little as €14.99 and then by simply walking up to peo‐ ple in crowds and placing the terminal near to their pockets or bags it is possi‐ ble to ‘harvest’ their cards.

In the long term, this form of digital pickpocket‐ ing would be uncovered as the identity of the scam‐ mer would be known to banks, but in the short term, there is money to be made.

Not making money DE LA RUE, the company that makes money finds itself unable to make as much money as forecast due to the pandemic and supply chain issues.

One of the significant costs of producing notes for some 140 countries is the secure shipping of vast amounts of heavy paper which meant that it has set up production centres around the world with main printing taking place in the UK, Malta and Sri Lanka.

Due to rising energy prices as well as higher costs of raw materials and microchips for pass‐ ports, it has had to re‐ duce its profit forecast from £45 million to around £40 million.

Zealand with Norway and Sweden in the top 10.

The UK is 11th but dropping to 34th place is Spain behind such countries as Qatar, Chile and Taiwan.

At the bottom of the list are a num‐ ber of countries which have been in‐ volved in armed conflict and revolution such as South Sudan, Yemen and Syria although poverty‐stricken Venezuela clocks in at number 177.

14 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

3 - 9 February 2022

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR MONEY WITH US

LONDON - FTSE 100

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C LOSING P RICES J ANUARY 31

COMPANY PRICE(P) 3I Group 1.333,00 Abrdn 243,20 Admiral Group 3.160,0 Anglo American 3.251,0 Antofagasta 1.339,00 Ashtead Group 5.244,0 Associated British Foods 1.929,5 AstraZeneca 8.640,0 Auto Trader Group Plc 659,00 Avast 606,40 Aveva 2.876,0 Aviva 433,50 B&M European Value Retail 562,40 BAE Systems 590,80 Bank VTB DRC 1,118 Barclays 195,82 Barratt Developments 609,40 Berkeley 4.170,0 BHP Group 2.361,00 BP 385,67 British American Tobacco 3.145,0 British Land Company 541,20 BT Group 190,35 Bunzl 2.797,0 Burberry Group 1.848,0 Carnival 1.280,0 Centrica 73,02 Coca Cola HBC AG 2.439,0 Compass 1.644,00 CRH 3.709,0 Croda Intl 7.810,0 DCC 6.230,0 Diageo 3.715,0 DS Smith 374,50 EasyJet 612,40 Experian 3.035,0 Ferguson 11.580,0 Flutter Entertainment 10.870,0 Fresnillo 618,60 GlaxoSmithKline 1.654,60 Glencore 389,50 Halma 2.445,0 Hargreaves Lansdown 1.326,00 Hikma Pharma 2.056,00 HSBC 526,20 IAG 155,18 Imperial Brands 1.743,50 Informa 546,80 InterContinental 4.747,0

CHANGE(P) +23,50 +1,70 -6,0 -67,5 +9,00 +72,0 -29,5 -109,0 +11,60 +0,20 +42,0 +1,30 -2,20 +0,40 +0,026 -0,50 +4,80 +65,0 -15,00 +2,30 +4,5 -5,00 -2,50 +34,0 +20,0 +21,0 +2,16 +28,0 -5,50 +54,0 +134,0 +56,0 +39,5 +2,80 -5,60 +61,0 +145,0 -20,0 -10,20 -3,20 -2,75 +37,0 +10,00 -12,00 +1,50 +1,12 -9,50 +2,20 +39,0

% CHG. +1,77% +0,70% -0,19% -2,03% +0,67% +1,37% -1,51% -1,24% +1,77% +0,03% +1,47% +0,30% -0,39% +0,07% +2,36% -0,25% +0,79% +1,58% -0,63% +0,60% +0,14% -0,92% -1,27% +1,22% +1,08% +1,65% +3,00% +1,16% -0,33% +1,47% +1,72% +0,90% +1,07% +0,75% -0,91% +2,02% +1,26% -0,18% -1,61% -0,19% -0,70% +1,52% +0,76% -0,58% +0,28% +0,73% -0,54% +0,40% +0,82%

NET VOL 100,41K 421,38K 38,37K 631,31K 102,53K 87,83K 127,44K 153,07K 168,09K 74,90K 31,38K 648,26K 263,56K 553,13K 23,26K 3,78M 345,66K 28,78K 762,63K 954,99K 265,79K 42,49K 5,11M 59,41K 72,43K 120,26K 4,84M 44,62K 346,68K 110,94K 22,32K 20,03K 278,49K 162,59K 196,07K 142,04K 39,37K 46,50K 364,31K 597,62K 3,83M 84,16K 96,50K 17,13K 4,33M 2,83M 175,03K 242,04K 115,15K

COMPANY

PRICE(P)

Intermediate Capital Intertek ITV J Sainsbury Johnson Matthey Land Securities Legal & General Lloyds Banking London Stock Exchange Meggitt Melrose Industries Mondi National Grid NatWest Group Next Norilskiy Nikel ADR Ocado Persimmon Phoenix Prudential Reckitt Benckiser Relx Rentokil Rightmove Rio Tinto PLC Rolls-Royce Holdings Rosneft DRC Royal Dutch Shell A Royal Dutch Shell B Sage Samsung Electronics DRC Sberbank Schroders Scottish Mortgage Segro Severn Trent Smith & Nephew Smiths Group Spirax-Sarco Engineering SSE St. James’s Place Standard Chartered Taylor Wimpey Tesco Tui Unilever United Utilities Vodafone Group PLC Whitbread WPP

1.874,00 5.294,0 111,45 291,80 1.896,0 784,40 283,80 51,19 6.936,0 738,20 150,70 1.840,50 1.091,60 242,60 7.486,0 28,48 1.455,00 2.381,0 661,40 1.226,00 5.972,0 2.235,00 511,00 631,40 5.267,6 113,76 7,35 1.877,6 1.878,2 711,40 1.524,00 13,63 3.318,0 1.047,00 1.285,00 2.883,0 1.242,50 1.545,00 12.900,0 1.570,50 1.482,00 532,00 148,22 295,85 246,00 3.783,5 1.071,00 130,50 2.952,0 1.149,50

CHANGE(P) +20,50 +22,0 +0,35 -6,30 +5,0 -1,40 +2,60 +0,06 +18,0 +5,60 +1,80 +27,50 +4,00 +1,10 -74,0 +0,42 +28,50 +28,0 -0,80 +3,50 -62,0 +21,00 +2,80 +6,40 -116,0 +1,60 +0,14 0,0 0,0 +4,40 +30,50 +0,63 +31,0 +36,50 +12,50 +3,0 +10,50 +9,50 +300,0 +3,50 +20,50 +1,40 +0,45 -6,60 -4,60 +19,5 +0,87 +5,20 -19,0 +8,00

% CHG.

NET VOL

+1,10% +0,41% +0,31% -2,11% +0,26% -0,18% +0,92% +0,12% +0,26% +0,76% +1,20% +1,51% +0,37% +0,45% -0,98% +1,49% +1,98% +1,19% -0,12% +0,28% -1,03% +0,94% +0,55% +1,01% -2,15% +1,42% +1,98% 0,00% 0,00% +0,62% +2,03% +4,77% +0,94% +3,55% +0,98% +0,10% +0,85% +0,62% +2,35% +0,22% +1,39% +0,26% +0,30% -2,17% -1,83% +0,52% +0,08% +4,08% -0,64% +0,70%

44,45K 14,69K 732,66K 518,26K 28,47K 129,22K 966,44K 26,65M 78,25K 52,49K 263,22K 85,07K 342,32K 1,90M 25,98K 101,23K 164,86K 134,25K 231,66K 402,12K 103,92K 252,86K 207,77K 240,43K 37,79K 3,67M 233,18K 0 0 267,87K 1,47K 1,03M 13,43K 789,71K 141,39K 29,38K 119,61K 37,29K 7,95K 155,26K 7,39K 508,18K 314,36K 2,29M 955,77K 505,59K 12,09K 41,29M 92,78K 392,40K

1.20257

0.83115

Units per €

US dollar (USD) ........................................1.1169 Japan yen (JPY)........................................128.93 Switzerland franc (CHF) ...........................1.0406 Denmark kroner (DKK) .............................7.4430 Norway kroner (NOK) ...............................10.010

currenciesdirect.com/marbella • Tel: +34 952 906 581 THE ABOVE TABLE USES THE CURRENT INTERBANK EXCHANGE RATES, WHICH AREN’T REPRESENTATIVE OF THE RATE WE OFFER

DOW JONES C LOSING P RICES J ANUARY 31

COMPANY 3M American Express Amgen Apple Boeing Caterpillar Chevron Cisco Coca-Cola Dow Goldman Sachs Home Depot Honeywell IBM Intel J&J JPMorgan McDonald’s Merck&Co Microsoft Nike Procter&Gamble Salesforce.com The Travelers UnitedHealth Verizon Visa A Walgreens Boots Walmart Walt Disney

PRICE 160,54 169,77 222,25 162,80 183,77 196,80 128,07 53,44 58,94 59,07 333,45 352,84 196,05 131,79 46,30 169,30 142,17 247,16 79,18 294,45 140,61 157,32 210,88 163,42 455,08 51,19 216,10 49,32 133,95 133,56

CHANGE -7,06 +5,16 +5,14 +11,11 +0,82 -11,01 -4,76 +0,99 +1,19 -0,14 +5,98 +10,11 +1,34 +1,98 -0,32 +1,20 +1,30 +7,35 +0,32 +8,42 +1,27 +1,37 +9,39 +1,16 +4,46 +1,71 +21,85 +0,46 +1,68 +3,21

CHANGE% VOLUME(M) -4,15% 6,20M +3,00% 4,24M +2,29% 2,44M +6,98% 174,88M +0,43% 10,81M -5,19% 10,51M -3,52% 24,57M +1,81% 30,84M +2,00% 18,93M -0,23% 6,91M +1,75% 3,63M +2,84% 4,49M +0,67% 3,35M +1,49% 5,41M -0,67% 61,21M +0,70% 9,71M +0,89% 14,03M +2,95% 3,83M +0,40% 13,76M +2,81% 49,42M +0,88% 6,09M +0,86% 9,36M +4,41% 8,18M +0,70% 1,23M +0,97% 3,35M +3,34% 28,66M +10,60% 26,31M +0,92% 5,42M +1,24% 7,95M +2,37% 9,81M M - MILLION DOLLARS

NASDAQ C LOSING P RICES J ANUARY 31

COMPANY

CHANGE NET / %

VOLUME

+175.63% +87.93% +33.33% +24.13% +23.67% +23.50% +22.35% +21.69% +21.54% +21.02% +19.79%

28.91M 105.19M 25.44M 353.40K 3.93M 4.78M 12.08M 32.19K 66.34K 1.47M 698.08K

-31.37% -22.58% -21.16% -20.45% -19.05% -15.83% -15.77% -15.50% -14.96% -14.55% -13.28%

1.90M 20.26K 1.76M 3.14M 8.09M 81.68K 384.25K 6.42K 27.20K 19.09M 82.11K

Most Advanced Knightscope Imperial Petroleum Yoshitsu ADR Mawson Infrastructure Group Dave Inc Vaccinex Provention Bio Regencell Bioscience Holdings Rallybio Applied Genetic Clearfield

Most Declined Williams Industrial ECP Environmental Growth Opportunities Volcon InVivo Therapeutics DouYu MDJM Xos Warrants Qurate Retail B Pennsylvania REIT Pref C Qurate Retail A Fusion Fuel Green

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

www.euroweeklynews.com

Currency outlook: Pound bolstered by Covid optimism, Euro undermined by ECB’s dovish bias

EUROZONE: Economic activity is likely to have weakened in the last quarter of 2021.

ASK THE EXPERT Peter Loveday

Contact me at euroweekly@currenciesdirect.com

Euro EUR/GBP: Down from £0.85 to £0.83 EUR/USD: Unchanged at $1.13 The euro trended broadly lower over the past four weeks, mostly as a result of the per‐ ceived policy divergence between the Euro‐ pean Central Bank (ECB) and other major cen‐ tral banks, with the ECB’s dovish bias undermining the single currency.

Whilst its peers look ready to embark on a new tightening cycle, the ECB remains com‐ mitted to maintaining its ultra‐loose policy as it continues to dismiss inflationary pressures in the Eurozone as ‘transitory’.

Recent Eurozone data releases have also acted as a headwind for the single currency in recent weeks as they indicate economic activi‐ ty is likely to have weakened in the last quarter of 2021.

Meanwhile the euro has also been pres‐ sured by Europe’s ongoing Covid woes, with many countries within the Eurozone reporting record increases in daily cases, raising addition‐ al concerns over the bloc’s economic recovery.

Looking ahead, the contrast in monetary policy between the ECB and other major cen‐ tral banks may become an increasing liability for the euro over the coming month, while the threat of a potential conflict in neighbouring Ukraine may also supress EUR sentiment.

Pound GBP/EUR: Up from €1.17 to €1.19 GBP/USD: Up from $1.32 to $1.35 The pound enjoyed a strong start to 2022, with the currency carrying over the positive momentum it saw at the end of 2021 A key factor underpinning Sterling senti‐ ment over the past month was the UK gov‐ ernment’s decision not to impose stricter Covid restrictions in England and to instead ‘ride out’ Omicron.

Further buoying GBP exchange rates were considerable bets the Bank of England (BoE) will hike interest rates again at its first policy

meeting of 2022.

However the pound’s ascent hasn’t been completely frictionless, with the currency be‐ ing shaken by political jitters in recent weeks as Boris Johnson faces a potential leadership challenge after the Prime Minister admitted he attended a ‘bring your own booze’ party in the Downing Street garden during the first lockdown in May 2020.

It seems safe to assume that the BoE’s February policy meeting will be the primary fo‐ cus for GBP investors in the coming month.

With a February interest rate hike already largely priced in by markets the focus will in‐ stead be on the bank’s forward guidance.

If the BoE signals plans for the current tight‐ ening cycle to accelerate then the pound is likely to maintain its positive trajectory.

US Dollar USD/GBP: Down from £0.75 to £0.73 USD/EUR: Up from €0.87 to €0.88 The US dollar stumbled over the finish line in 2021, with easing fears over the Omicron Covid variant resulting in demand for the safe‐ haven currency waning.

However the US dollar didn’t stay on the defensive for long, with the currency catching fresh bids in January amidst growing specula‐ tion the Federal Reserve could begin hiking in‐ terest rates earlier than previously thought.

Bets the Fed could start raising rates from March ‐ once it finishes tapering its stimulus programme ‐ helped to drive US Treasury yields higher, which also helped to underpin USD exchange rates in recent weeks.

Elsewhere, elevated geopolitical uncertainty also lent strength to the ‘greenback’, with ten‐ sions between the West and Russia and China spooking investors.

Acting as a headwind for the US dollar how‐ ever has been the continued disappointment in US employment data, with the US economy adding fewer than half the number of jobs ex‐ pected in December. The Fed’s first policy meeting of the year could act as a key catalyst for the US dollar going forward.

Analysts are currently predicting the Fed will deliver up to four rate hikes in 2022 and any signals from the bank confirming this are likely to bolster USD exchange rates.

Visit us at our Spanish offices in Costa del Sol, Costa Almeria, North Costa Blanca and South Costa Blanca.

Telephone UK +44 (0) 207 847 9400 SPAIN +34 950 478 914 Email euroweekly@currenciesdirect.com • www.currenciesdirect.com.

3 - 9 February 2022

EWN 15

16 EWN

www.euroweeklynews.com

3 - 9 February 2022

FEATURE

Vaccinations in Spain:

THE question ‘to jab or not to get jabbed’ seems to be on everyone’s lips, with the vaccine continuing programme, while others are adamant in opting not to get the jab due to concerns about its effecti and where do you stand? Here the Euro Weekly News is delving into both sides of the argument to

After a slow start, vaccination rates in Spain have shot up. According to Statista, as of January 20, 2022, over 88 million vaccine doses have been administered in Spain.

The stats Andalucia has the highest rate of dosage, with around 16 million doses administered and the autonomous city of Melilla is the re‐ gion with the lowest vaccination uptake.

While other European countries have had to resort to mandated vaccines, Spain has avoid‐ ed this thanks to its high vaccination rates, and more than 71 per cent of Spain’s population is fully vaccinated, making it one of the highest vaccinated countries in Europe.

Spain’s health minister, Carolina Darias re‐ cently said: “Compared to the other four most populated countries in the EU, Spain holds the first place in all the indicators, also placing us in the first position of G20 countries both in first‐ doses injections and in full vaccination.”

The law

‘National pride’ So, why has the vaccination programme in Spain been so successful? According to Dr Vi‐ cente Soriano, professor of infectious diseases director of the UNIR Medical Centre in Madrid, it’s a matter of national pride.

For Soriano, the vaccination programme for nursing homes and vulnerable people was the big turning point. More than 95 per cent of the elderly have been vaccinated which, according to Soriano, made a huge impact: “we didn’t have any more admissions from nursing home residents.”

Another reason behind Spain’s vaccination success is “solidarity values,” said Josep Lobera, a sociology professor at the Autonomous Uni‐ versity of Madrid. And he might be on to some‐ thing.

With such a high number of Spaniards in their late 20s still living at home with their par‐ ents, young people have shown great willing‐ ness to get the vaccine and protect older family members.

In June 2021, the Imperial College London shared results from a study that showed 79 per cent of Spanish people trust the vaccine. When

COVID VACCINE: More than 71 per cent of Spain’s population is fully vaccinated.

we consider Spain’s history (Spain notoriously delayed Polio vaccination by close to a decade, resulting in a large number of deaths and grave disabilities), this makes a lot of sense.

The science So let’s look at the science. The Covid‐19 vaccine was created in record time. This mon‐ umentally quick turnaround raised a few con‐ cerns, however, scientists and doctors around the world assure us that the vaccine is perfect‐ ly safe.

The WHO commented: “Like all vaccines, Covid‐19 vaccines go through a rigorous, multi‐

stage testing process, including large clinical tri‐ als that involve tens of thousands of people.

These trials are specifically designed to identify any safety concerns.”

Several Covid‐19 vaccinations were devel‐ oped using mRNA technology. This technology has been studied in labs for over a decade and has been used to develop other vaccines such as the flu and rabies vaccine.

Again, the WHO issues that they are per‐ fectly safe: “These mRNA vaccines have been rigorously assessed for safety, and clinical tri‐ als have shown that they provide a long‐last‐ ing immune response. mRNA vaccines are not live virus vaccines and do not interfere with human DNA.”

There is currently no statutory obligation to get a Covid‐19 vaccine in Spain, however, new rules for visitors will come into effect from February 1, 2022.

According to Spain’s official tourism website, as of 1 February 2022, “all travellers to Spain must have a vaccination certificate and the cer‐ tificate must have been issued by the compe‐ tent authorities of the country of origin at least 14 days after the date of administration of the last dose of the full course of vaccination, as long as the final dose of that course of vaccina‐ tion was no more than 270 days ago. From that time, the certificate must show the administra‐ tion of a booster vaccination.”

For those over the age of six, face coverings remain obligatory on public transport and oth‐ er indoor and outdoor public areas. Social dis‐ tancing of 1.5 metres also continues. Rules vary slightly from autonomous region to au‐ tonomous region.

Children between the ages of three and five are also encouraged to wear masks, although this remains a recommendation. Those who aren’t able to wear a mask due to health issues are also exempt.

As the situation continues to evolve, Spain has recently taken the decision to reduce the isolation period for positive cases from 10 days to seven days, provided the person isolating doesn’t have any symptoms on day seven.

Spain is the first country in Europe to reduce the isolation period.

In response to this decision, President Pedro Sanchez stated: “We need to find a balance be‐ tween public health, mental health and the economy.”

FEATURE

www.euroweeklynews.com

3 - 9 February 2022

EWN 17

The great debate

g to divide the population. Some are vocally championing the vaccine and the success of the vaccine iveness and the consequences of mandatory vaccines. But what are the arguments on both sides, see how Spanish locals feel about the vaccine.

On the other hand, according to research almost one out of every 10 Spaniards are refusing to get the third vaccine, with the recommendations changing constantly causing a drop in confidence around how effective the vaccine really is.

This is, however, still a small minority, with latest research by the Spanish Centre of Sociological Research (CIS) showing that around 84.5 per cent of those who have received at least one dose are willing to get the third jab. Still, 9 per cent are unwilling and 4 per cent are unsure.

Mistrust There are many factors behind the uncertainty ‐ fear, scepticism, doubts about its protection, or simply confu‐ sion due to contradictory messages from the health authorities.

Isabel Jimeno, from the Spanish Soci‐ ety of General and Family Doctors (SEMG) stated: “To all those having doubts, I tell them to trust science,” with the third dose proven to provide significant protection.

Included in those not wanting to get the vaccine are people who are con‐ cerned about the side‐effects and be‐ coming unwell after the jab.

Hopkins Medicine has addressed this worry, however, with its website stating: “The vaccines do not contain live coron‐ avirus, and you cannot and will not get Covid‐19 from getting vaccinated.

“After the shots, you might experience a sore arm, a mild fever or body aches, but this doesn’t mean you have Covid‐ 19. These symptoms, if they happen at all, are temporary, usually lasting only a day or two. They signal a natural re‐ sponse as your body’s immune system learns to recognise and fight the coron‐ avirus.”

Getting the vaccine will not make you seriously unwell, getting Covid‐19, how‐ ever, can.

Effectiveness Some have questioned how the vac‐ cine is effective if we still have the need for booster doses, and how many booster doses will be required

normalised and often shared amongst like‐ minded people ‐ fuelling their beliefs.

Medical News Today writes that “an‐ ti‐vaxxers are people who believe that vaccines are unsafe and infringe on their human rights. They typically deny the existence or validity of the science supporting their use in the general population.” The violation of human rights has been called into question in many European countries enforcing mandatory vaccination, with Germany, Denmark and Austria enforcing the mandate.

The debate

MISTRUST: Some have questioned how the vaccine is effective if we still need boosters.

to top‐up the vaccine’s effectiveness.

Health officials have stated that Covid will eventually be treated like the flu, with those most vulnerable needing a jab each year. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) states that if we “want to move towards a scenario of endemicity, then such boosters should be synchronised with the arrival of the cold season.”

Vaccine hesitancy Differing from those people who call themselves vaccine‐hesitant, ‘anti‐

vaxxers’ usually use aggressive meth‐ ods to push others not to get certain jabs that are designed to help prevent disease. It is interesting to note that new research has found that two‐ thirds of the propaganda posted on‐ line and on social media about the vaccine is created by just 12 so‐called influencers.

Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of the CCDH, told Sky News that social media giants “bear none of the cost for the content” they host, and that the people spreading this content are skilled in marketing and social media, meaning that these views are more

The pandemic has not only had a huge effect on the public, but many businesses have been forced to close due to the enforcement of the Covid passport in the hospitality sector.

With regards to Spain, areas that rely heavily on tourism such as the Costa del Sol and Benidorm have been hit hard, even so, Andalucia decided to ex‐ tend its use just a few days ago be‐ cause of high infection rates. Many businesses are losing millions and have called into question whether the mandatory passport should be dropped in a bid to recover the economy.

There are still unknowns with re‐ gards to mutations and variants of the virus and the real long‐term effects of receiving the vaccine, however, with the world taken over by this pandemic, has Covid now taught us a lesson on preparedness?

18 EWN

3 - 9 February 2022

LEAPY LEE SAYS IT OTHERS THINK IT ONE of the dilemmas in these days of our glorious woke society is how we are able to describe ourselves without actually offending someone!

I can’t declare I’m a male in case it distresses the Trans‐genders. I can’t state I’m able bodied for fear of upsetting those not so fortunate. I can’t say I’m elderly, as I could be accused of insulting other elderly people!

And I most certainly can’t proclaim I’m white, as I would undoubtedly be labelled a racist!

‘Neopronouns’ don’t help. The idea of referring to myself as an ‘it’ ’fayer’ ‘ey’ or ‘them’ is so ridiculous I’m convinced that colleagues would probably consider bundling me off to the nearest institution ‐ assuming they knew who I was of course! Did you ever hear such a load of old cobblers in your life?

People, or probably ‘persons,’ actually sit around discussing these matters, and are no doubt being paid handsomely for it.

Why can’t I find a job like that? Is anyone who reads this column employed in these areas? Probably not.

Just for once, wouldn’t it be nice to

www.euroweeklynews.com

Sweet irony

witness some of these shadowy wokers publicly interrogated, even if it were merely to explain to us how they reach some of their asinine directives.

Unfortunately that will never happen, purely because any open discussion of that ilk would undoubtedly lead to accusations of racism or some bigotry or another.

At a recent function I sat opposite a lady from the UK who was visiting Mallorca. She reads the EWN online and told me that people in Britain have actually become afraid to openly discuss problems that are considered non‐PC. She also revealed that a number of her normally moderate friends were not at all happy with the situation.

It appears the media’s almost fanatical endeavours to hoodwink and gaslight the British public is not actually working at all ‐ it is in fact having the reverse effect. By insulting the intelligence of the majority and suppressing the airing of their views and opinions under the Damocles sword of possible legal action or accusations of bigotry, they are creating a culture of

simmering frustration which is actually obstructing diversity.

This extremely eloquent and well educated lady praised the efforts of the EWN in its promotion of the freedom of speech and wished they were ‘allowed to do the same’! How sad ‐ and how alarming is that?

I don’t of course know at the time of writing the outcome of the Downing Street ‘party’ affair. However, I couldn’t help a chuckle on hearing that the Police Investigation the lefties were initially salivating over, could in fact actually prevent the publishing of the Sue Gray report Labour and its media cronies have been harping on about for weeks.

Oh the sweet irony of it all!

Keep the faith Love Leapy leapylee2002@hotmail.com expatradioscotland.com Mon and Friday. 1pm till 4 To read more articles from our columnists and to have your say in the comments go to www.euroweeklynews.com

Leapy Lee’s opinions are his own and are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or sponsors.

FEATURE

TV & Film Review by Laura Kemp

On now: The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window A BEREAVED mother watch‐ es the world go by with a glass of wine (or a few bot‐ tles) from her living room window ‐ until she witnesses a brutal murder... or did she?

Do not be fooled into thinking this is your classic mystery series, this is a satiri‐ cal and dark take on mystery dramas such as The Girl on the Train, The Woman in the Window and Hitchcock’s Rear Window ‐ I mean, just look at that huge title.

Kristen Bell (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) plays a heartbroken bereaved mother, Anna. When new neighbour and widow Neil moves in across the street with his daughter Emma, An‐ na quickly becomes ob‐ sessed and offers to make them a casserole for dinner.

After finding out Neil has a girlfriend, Anna becomes ab‐ sorbed in washing down sleeping pills with red wine

while watching the seeming‐ ly happy family from her window ‐ until she witnesses the murder of Neil’s girl‐ friend, Lisa... or did she?

Anna’s imagination goes into overdrive ‐ queue break‐ins, stalking, police vis‐ its and a ventriloquist dum‐ my.

This short series has the typical mystery formula.

There are twists and turns in every episode to keep you guessing before it all comes together at the end.

The series was well done and cleverly poked fun at the genre ‐ something that isn’t done often. It is worth a binge‐watch one evening and for the dark humour amongst sometime ridicu‐ lous scenes.

The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window began streaming on Netflix on Fri‐ day January 28.

FEATURE

www.euroweeklynews.com

3 - 9 February 2022

EWN 19

LEGAL OR LUDICROUS? LAWS YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE BREAKING the streets of London. But a pregnant woman is legally entitled to relieve herself anywhere she wants!

Finally, it’s illegal not to tell the tax man anything you don’t want him to know, but it’s perfectly legal not to give him information you don’t mind him knowing (umm, yeah. I think I’ve got that).

Legal or ludicrous? Makes you won‐ der why all these daft obsolete laws haven’t been repealed. But then, the UK Government’s far too busy dealing with all the endless ‘partygate’ shenanigans.

NORA JOHNSON BREAKING VIEWS Nora is the author of popular psychological suspense and crime thrillers and a freelance journalist.

To comment on any of the issues raised in her column, go to www.euroweeklynews.com/3.0.15/nora-johnson

DID you know Prince Charles couldn’t be charged for setting off a nuclear bomb? Well, according to a recent study, he’s exempt from sanction over a range of laws ‐ and also has special rights over certain ‘crown roads’.

Problem is, nobody knows where those roads are!

It’s all down, apparently, to the ar‐ cane constitutional position of the Duchy of Cornwall. This 700‐year‐old landowning estate, which provides the heir to the throne with an income, can’t be made criminally liable for con‐ traventions of certain laws which in‐ clude the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Nuclear Explosions (Prohibition & Inspections) Act 1998.

Well, this started me thinking about ancient UK laws that have never been repealed (even though statutes may have rendered some obsolete). Among Nora Johnson’s opinions

CLAIRE GORDON FINDING BALANCE IN AN UNEVEN WORLD “WE must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

This quote by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel plays in my head on a regular basis as I navigate the world as it stands.

We cannot sit in silence as people spout racist rhetoric and harmful generalisations about minority groups as all of these words add up to something much more harmful in the long run.

People tend to tap out of difficult conversations because it “isn’t them saying it” as if this is a full absolution of doing any harm. It isn’t. If a person stands by and does nothing while someone else is causing damage, they are complicit in that action.

Platforming hate runs along those same lines. While free speech should absolutely be defended as an inalienable right, that doesn’t mean you have to give room to people’s prejudice on a mass scale. Making space for unfounded and unresearched bias to be replicated and reinforced across a large area

Nora Johnson’s psychological crime thrillers ‘The Sentinel’, ‘No Safe Place’, ‘Betrayal’, ‘The Girl in the Woods’, ‘The Girl in the Red Dress’, ‘No Way Back’, ‘Landscape of Lies’, ‘Retribution’, ‘Soul Stealer’, ‘The De Clerambault Code’ (www.nora‐john son.net) available online as eBook (€0.99; £0.99), Apple Books, paper‐ back and audiobook. All profits to Costa del Sol Cudeca cancer charity.

OBSOLETE LAWS: Why have they not been repealed?

the weirdest are the ones banning you low profile MPs broke this particular from eating mince pies on Christmas law. It’s illegal too to enter the Houses Day. Guilty as charged, m’lud! But if of Parliament wearing a suit of armour you lock me up, you’d have to imprison (and if you then sit down and die, at least half the UK population too... you’ve REALLY blown it.)

Did you also know it’s illegal to die Other bizarre laws still in existence To read more articles from our columnists while in the Houses of Parliament? include a ban on firing a cannon close and to have your say in the comments go Which prompts the question: ‘How to a house, the use of any slide upon to www.euroweeklynews.com would they tell?’ if certain excessively ice or snow, or driving cattle through are her own and are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or sponsors.

Silence with no kind of rebuttal is endorsing those ideas, whether the people doing it think so or not.

When corporations do this under the guise of balance, it legitimises and endorses dangerous ideas to their audience. It is one thing to look at issues from both sides and make sure there is a balanced view, it is quite another to let people unleash baseless and unsubstantiated bile with an aim to stir up division.

There should be an onus on both sides of the fence to have to back up their words with facts. Usually, it is on the person challenging the right-wing status quo to ensure they have perfect knowledge of an issue, inside and out, with examples and statistics galore. The person upholding the broken system is allowed to blunder and blether through rants with no substance, sometimes not even any truth at all, with impunity.

Social media is a big problem when it comes to this kind of hands-off approach to hate speech.

After the Christchurch shootings, New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ar-

den said: “We cannot simply sit back and accept that these platforms just exist and that what is said on them is not the responsibility of the place where they are published. They are the publisher. Not just the postman. There cannot be a case of all profit, no responsibility.”

Their silence on the issue is complicity. People’s silence down the pub when someone tells a racist joke is complicity.

Silence and removing yourself from a situation in which someone is causing harm to another is complicity.

If you are not challenging it, you are ratifying it. It is time for people to start standing up and being vocal, as the idea that not getting involved is the same as doing no harm is dangerous. It also allows others to silently support the overtly hateful people and keep them going under the veil of fairness when it is anything but.

To read more articles from our columnists and to have your say in the comments go to www.euroweeklynews.com

Claire Gordon’s opinions are her own and are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or sponsors.

THURSDAY 03/02

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A New Life in the Sun Four in a Bed The Simpsons The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Geordie Hospital 24 Hours in A&E Davina McCall's Language of Love 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown

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A New Life in the Sun Four in a Bed The Simpsons The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News George Clarke's Amazing Spaces 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown The Last Leg First Dates

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Four in a Bed Four in a Bed Sun, Sea and Selling Houses A Place in the Sun Channel 4 News Independence Day Men in Black: International Central Intelligence The Last Leg

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Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging A Place in the Sun Chateau DIY Channel 4 News Luxury Holidays For Less The Great Pottery Throw Down Celebrity Hunted The Curse Gogglebox

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A Place in the Sun A New Life in the Sun Four in a Bed The Simpsons The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News The Great Cookbook Challenge 60 Days with the Gypsies Boobs

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A New Life in the Sun Four in a Bed The Simpsons The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Geordie Hospital 24 Hours in A&E Davina McCall's Language of Love 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown

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Countdown A Place in the Sun A New Life in the Sun Four in a Bed The Simpsons The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Kirstie and Phil's Love it or List it Katie Price's Mucky Mansion

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Neighbours Winter Road Rescue GPs: Behind Closed Doors 5 News Update Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly 5 News Update The Teacher Gabby Petito Peter Tobin: A Life of Evil

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3 - 9 February 2022

DAVID WORBOYS

MIDSOMER MADNESS

THINKING ALOUD IN 1962 I watched Darryl F Zanuck’s classic ‘The Longest Day’ in the Granada cinema in Ayles‐ bury. As far as I recall, the only ap‐ pearance of a woman was fea‐ tured on a photograph shown by one of the male characters to an‐ other.

The 109 actors credited include just three women, all in cameo roles. This is hardly surprising, con‐ sidering the theme of the film, shot in France, was the 1944 D‐Day landings. In its military context, any‐ thing more than the fleeting ap‐ pearance of a woman would have been unrealistic, as there was only one woman involved and there was no scope for romantic encoun‐ ters. However, in today’s age of po‐ litical correctness and female equal‐ ity, this would have provoked an outcry from gender equalitarians.

The basis of this assumption is the gradual evolvement of ‘Mid‐ somer Murders’ into a totally unre‐ alistic representation of village life

FEATURE

Chiltern Villages are still predominantly white.

in England. Response to objections to the absence of non‐white char‐ acters in the series has gone way over the top. In some recent episodes the majority of partici‐ pants in these sleepy Bucking‐ hamshire villages are of African, In‐ dian or Oriental heritage.

I grew up in the Chilterns and for 60 years have been frequenting such picturesque villages as Ham‐ bledon, Turville, Little Missenden and Long Crendon where many of the scenes are shot. Even today the

only non‐whites there are likely to be tourists, often on the Midsomer trail. Even the neighbouring towns of Beaconsfield and Amersham, al‐ so featured, are predominantly white.

In these villages, the fetes, cricket on the green and tea at the vicarage are still predominantly the preserve of middle‐class English white people. That’s just the way it is.

Once the incongruity was re‐ alised, the idyllic village setting was

phased out. More recent episodes have drifted further away from the original rural theme of murders in a middle‐class English village. In order to accommodate the racial mix of characters, the plots feature much more urban situations. There are now episodes involving drug smug‐ gling, discotheques, brothels and business corruption.

The point at issue is the denial of an element of English life, the por‐ trayal of which is in danger of being confined to the scrapheap. And it

seems to be the result of obsession with a distorted kind of equal rights. These villages require white actors and actresses. Has anybody calculated whether people with hazel eyes or auburn hair are ap‐ propriately represented? Even en‐ tertainment seems to be surren‐ dered to the interests of political correctness.

Miscasting can be disastrous.

Anybody who has seen King Henry VIII portrayed as a cockney thug (by Ray Winstone) or Mozart as a gib‐ bering idiot (by Tom Hulce in ‘Amadeus’) will know what I mean.

It would not surprise me if there has already been a female Othello or a black Sherlock Holmes, It is not the casting of ethnic characters in ‘Midsomer Murders’ that is at fault. It is the miscasting of the villages.

To read more articles from our columnists and to have your say in the comments go to www.euroweeklynews.com

David Worboys’s opinions are his own and are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or sponsors.

HOW TO STOP THINKING - THE NEW SCIENCE OF A LOST ART TONI C. EASTWOOD OBE, MBA

#TheWomanBeyond I’M all for rediscovering the ancient tools that can help us to be our optimal best. This one is brilliantly simple.

How do we master the lost art of how to stop thinking? Patrick McKeown is one of the world’s leading experts on optimal breathing, in his book The Oxygen Advan‐ tage, he presents a simple yet revolutionary approach to improving your body’s oxygen use, increasing your health, weight loss, and sports performance ‐ whether you’re a re‐ covering couch potato or an Ironman triathlon champion.

Patrick makes a remarkably interesting point, he says that we spend all our time in school learning how to think but that we’re never taught how to STOP thinking.

Fact is, most of our ‘thinking’ isn’t thinking at all. We’re simply looping the same unpro‐ ductive thought over and over again.

Get this: According to a study done at USC, the average person has 70,000 thoughts per day. And, according to some experts, most of our thoughts are useless, 70 per cent are negative and 80‐90 per cent of them are the same thoughts we had yester‐ day, and the day before and the day before and before...

You get it, that’s crazy. (Literally.) I get it, if I allow myself, my mind is full of useless nega‐ tive, ‘I’m not good enough’ chatter and filled with ruminations of how things are going to spiral out of control.

This is really enervating. We waste a tonne of energy spinning our mental wheels ‐ creating more stress and anxiety and fa‐ tigue while diminishing our performance and well‐being. (Not a winning combina‐ tion.)

So, learning how to STOP thinking is an es‐ pecially important skill.

Patrick’s #1 tip on how to master the art of not thinking.

Breathe. Simple eh!! But believe me it is SOOO powerful.

Specifically, breathe through your nose.

Deeply (but lightly!) into your diaphragm.

(One of Patrick’s Big Ideas I’ll share more in another column, is the fact that we all breathe way too much ‐ which, paradoxical‐ ly, decreases the amount of oxygen released into our cells.)

For now: Breathe through your nose.

Deeply. Yet lightly.

And ahhhhh…

Our mind has slowed down. All that wast‐ ed energy is recouped.

Bonus tips!! Here’s two other ways to stop that mental chatter: #2 Put your attention on your body. And a final tip, #3 Take time to be present, immerse yourself in the present moment.

Let’s think productively when we need to do so, and then get really good at turning the brain off. Give it a try, I promise you will reap the benefits. Let me know how you get on.

Stay Focused, Keep Positive and Choose to +1 in Every Moment.

Love, Hugs, High Fives and Fist Bumps Toni x Toni Eastwood OBE, MBA #TheWoman‐ Beyond. Ignite Your Passion, Fulfil Your Dreams and Awaken Your Greatness!

A wonderful way to stay present is to practise some self‐care, put you at the top of your priority list!!! I’ve made this super easy for you with my 10 Day Self‐Care Challenge FREE E‐ Book, so why not join me and my team and loads of our clients for our 10 Day Self‐Care Challenge.

I challenge you to try a new self‐ care activity for 10 days straight. I’ll provide you with easy self‐care strategies to try from day one through 10, all suitable for a busy lifestyle ‐ like yours.

For more info and to receive your FREE copy straight to your in‐box, head on over to: https://quantumvantage.co.uk/ 10dayselfcarechallenge Don’t hold back another moment. You could be just one step away…

To read more articles from our columnists and to have your say in the comments go to www.euroweeklynews.com

Please do get in touch if you have any questions. Follow me, chat and share your thoughts and network with other fabulous women in my Visionary Women Facebook Group.

@tonieastwood

@SixSecretsToSuccess @VisionaryWomen

tonieastwoodobe

sixsecretstosuccess

EW YOUR PAPER - YOUR VOICE - YOUR OPINION Letters should be emailed to yoursay@euroweeklynews.com or make your comments on our website: www.euroweeklynews.com Views expressed and opinions given are not necessarily those of the EWN publishers. No responsibility is accepted for accuracy of information, errors, omissions or statements.

THE JOURNEY OF MY LOST PURSE IN MORAIRA There are really great people in this world and on this occasion it’s someone in the Moraira area. Almost three months ago I mislaid my small black purse, it only had €20 in it. However, I was still very upset I had lost it because it had my driving licence, my EHIC card, my NI details and my personal medical card that I have to carry with me after a recent illness. The address on the card was my address in Scotland.

I am presently in Scotland and today I received a parcel from Spain, sadly no name or contact number. It was my little black purse and everything inside was intact.

Just amazing and so much appreciated.

I will be back in Moraira mid February and want to thank the person who very kindly took the time to send my purse and all it’s contents to me here in Scotland. It was a lovely surprise and I am so grateful.

Thank you so much.

Margaret

Brexit conundrum I get a pension from my work in UK Local Government, which is taxed at source.

I declare this to Hacienda, who tell me that the tax should be reclaimed from UK and paid to them.

HM Revenue & Customs inform me that with the current Double Ta-

From our Facebook

THANK YOU: What a lovely surprise and so much appreciated.

xation Treaty, this is not the case, and no refund will be made by them.

I wonder if any of your other readers have encountered this problem, and come to a satisfactory conclusion, or am I just another Brexit case!

Hugh

Parking problems?

I fail to agree with the comments re ‘parking improvements in Torre

del Mar. How can the ‘new’ parking area between Calles Cipriano Maldonado and Acequia ‘ease’ the congestion and parking problems which are never-ending in the town when the very convenient Plaza Axarquia has been ‘demolished’ and is, apparently, to become a ‘pleasure park’?

I assume those who make these decisions have personal ‘parking space’ elsewhere.

Yours sincerely, Mrs P H

BORIS JOHNSON: Is he trying to save his job?

John Sidman No. Brilliant PM, envied by Europe, who are now trying so pitifully to oust him over a party and piece of cake. No wonder we came out of Europe and now let them fester.

Brenda Jones Of course the greased piglet is trying to save his job... The Guardian call him that and what a wonderful name. He slips out of any mess and most voters still think he’s doing a great job. They just refuse to see that he and his cronies are just sticking fingers up at all the gullibles. The rich are getting richer as usual.

Murray Wasik

70 YEARS OF SERVICE IT will be just a few days following the publication of this edition of Euro Weekly News that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will celebrate the Platinum Anniversary of her Accession to the Throne of the United Kingdom.

She automatically became Britain’s Monarch the moment her father King George VI died in the early morning of February 6, 1952 and she has reigned for 70 years through good times and bad.

Not only is she the world’s longest reigning monarch, she is the fifth of all time and there is ever y chance that she will beat King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand and Johann II of Liechtenstein, both of whom also reigned for 70 years.

It would however be a miracle if she managed to beat the record of King Sobhuza II who acceded to the throne of Swaziland (now renamed Eswatini) aged just four months and remained in place for an

CORRECTIONS

OUR VIEW

astounding 82 years.

So much has changed since Princess Elizabeth was born in 1926 and the now 95-year-old must look back in wonder at what has happened during her time.

Who would have thought that three out of her four children would be estranged from their first spouses when George VI only became king when his brother Edward decided to marry a divorced woman?

Morals and expectations have changed so much over the years that she must be amazed at the fact that even her own Prime Minister is accused of ignoring her government’s own rules whilst she had to attend Prince Philip’s funeral more or less alone.

Hopefully the celebrations expected around the UK will help to cheer her up even as she waits to see if her second son, Andrew, is branded a paedophile in court.

Of course he welcomes the Met and probably suggested the enquiry, knowing that any criminal investigative information will be withheld from the public.

Alison Steele Absolutely he is.

Paul Skirrow Well done Boris more important things than a couple of wines.

Murray Wasik Johnson... the compulsive stranger to the truth will use every tool in his darker side of politic’s box to keep his job as PM.

David Walsh It’s delayed because Boris hasn’t finished writing it yet.

At the EWN, we pride ourselves that reports are accurate and fair. If we do slip up, we promise to set the record straight in a clear, no-nonsense manner. To ask for an inaccuracy to be corrected. Email: editorial@euroweeklynews.com

www.euroweeklynews.com • 3 - 9 February 2022

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PETS

Who’s going to cherish your pets while you’re away?

I F you are planning a trip later this year you still need to plan early for pet and house‐sitters.

Perhaps you are al‐ ready making plans for a staycation get a w a y . Ev e n i f y o u a r e planning just a short trip, you’ll know that you simply can’t trav‐ el with some pets.

Young pets in particu‐ lar may benefit from staying behind so they can follow their rou‐ tines at home. So, plan ahead.

Take a moment to plan ahead for pet and house‐sitters, if you have trips planned later this year. Now is the time to get ready. We will

help you as much as we can. Our philoso‐ phy is that we are all in this together. These are the steps to take: 1. Register as a homeowner on House SitMatch.com 2. Choose a Premi‐ um account (£89 per year) to ensure you can help online when needed 3. Create a profile with photos of your pet and the house 4. Post a house‐sit advert stating your plans for next year’s holiday Covid permit‐ ting Do you need a pet‐ sitter in 2022? Then get started right now.

How does it work?

HouseSitMatch can

SITTERS: Will look after your pets while you are away.

help you find suitable sitters. Join our net‐ work for a small annu‐ al fee. You get ID checked for safety and then build your advert saying when you are going on holi‐ day. House‐sitters see your advert, they re‐ spond and you choose the sitter who’ll care for your pets.

Trustpilot Testimo‐ nials ‐ 4.8 / 5 Excel‐ lent rating (New Trustpilot rating scale) Here’s what mem‐ bers have said about us ‐ HouseSitMatch found us a perfect house‐sitter…

HouseSitMatch found us a perfect

house‐sitter while we were away in Canada and we were delight‐ ed with the care and attention that Hous‐ eSit Match took in helping us find the right person.

Ros Morris ‐ Dog owner How do you join?

Please register on‐ line via our website www.Housesitmatch.c om ‐ Choose a member‐ ship plan ‐ Please note prices go up soon so sign up now on subscription to se‐ cure these prices: • Standard (DIY op‐ tion) = £69 pa • Premium (with support at each step) = £89 pa

Do you need a house-sitter? Get in touch. House-sitting can be a win-win for both parties, free house and pet-sitting, and the experienced and checked sitters get free accommodation! Register as either a house-sitter or homeowner with a 50 per cent discount using coupon code SUPER50 - an exclusive offer for readers.

To find a house or pet-sitter go to www.HouseSitMatch.com.

Choose a carrier for your canine pet companion WITH vast selections of pet carriers available for pooches, it’s difficult to know where to start.

First, decide what the carrier will be used for. If it’s only for car trips and to keep them contained while out and about, go for something lightweight, easy to carry and pack and most importantly, comfortable for your dog.

If it’s for flying with your pet, check with the airline as they have strict regulations for pet carriers with size and construction requirements.

Then choose the style that will best suit your dog and activities.

Standard hard‐sided carrier: Durable and rugged, the hard shell is easy to clean and offers more protection.

Soft‐sided carrier: The most popular style for trans‐ porting smaller dogs.

DIFFERENT STYLES: Find the one that best suits your dog and activities.

ANYONE who is renting a property will know the struggle to find some‐ where that accepts pets.

So what can you do if you have a pet‐sized hole in your heart, but a land‐ lord who won’t accept dogs or cats?

More and more people are turning to fish as pets and they are great for people who don’t have space or time for more high‐maintenance pets.

With the right equip‐ ment and research, fish can make an ideal first pet for children, teaching them the responsibility of looking after a pet.

Generally speaking, fish are easier and less ex‐ pensive to feed and care for than some other pets, but still re‐ quire the right environ‐ ment and knowledgeable owners.

Unlike dogs and cats,

Fish and tips fish never suffer from separation anxiety or de‐ structive behaviours when left alone.

They don’t need daily walks or litter trays and never have to be groomed or have teeth cleaned!

As well as having a proven calming effect on anyone who watches them, they are quiet so you never have to worry about them waking

GOLDFISH: A good starting point and low maintenance.

your sleeping baby.

A well‐maintained aquarium can be a great addition to any home and fish come in an array of sizes, shapes and vibrant colours.

If you’ve never kept fish before, please do your re‐ search and start small with a bowl or aquarium and low‐maintenance, hardy fish such as the goldfish.

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ROAD TEST

by Mark Slack IF you have a limited bud‐ get yet want an ‘interest‐ ing’ car, what do you choose? There are many excellent superminis on the market, but arguably many are transport rather than something to raise a smile. Well, Hyundai may have the answer with the i20N. The N range is Hyundai’s sporting line up and as my previ‐ ous test of the i30 N proved they are in‐ credibly quick, well handling cars, yet re‐ tain the prac‐ ticality need‐ ed for workaday usage.

Hyundai’s i20 prices start from €19,706/ £16,500 but the N, it’s a single model, with its 204PS, 1.6‐litre tur‐ bocharged petrol engine costs €30,120/£25,220.

This pocket rocket will reach 62 mph in 6.2 sec‐ onds and is mated to a six‐ speed manual gearbox. No automatic option here.

There’s real sporting pedi‐ gree to Hyundai’s N range and the i20 makes for a highly entertaining drive.

It’s a properly grown‐up performance hatchback.

Launch control enables you to set up for the quick‐ est standing start possible, it’s fun but in reality not

3 - 9 February 2022

Hyundai i20N a ‘pocket rocket’ setting the benchmark

A most enjoyable and memorable car.

Facts at a Glance Model: Hyundai i20N Engine: 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol Gears: 6-Speed manual Performance: 0-100 kph (62 mph) 6.2 seconds/Maximum Speed 230 kph (143 mph) Economy: 7.0l/100km (40.4 mpg) Combined driving (WLTP) Emissions: 158 g/km (WLTP) Model tested was UK-specification and equipment levels and prices may vary in other markets. really of practical use on the road. Enter some track days, which you could with the i20N, and it potentially becomes a much more useable feature. A more on‐road performance fea‐ ture is Rev Matching, which is effectively double de‐clutching, that makes

smoother, more sporting gear changes.

There’s a limited slip dif‐ ferential to aid quicker cor‐ nering, slightly lower ride height and an excellent power to weight ratio.

However, even in ‘econ’ drive mode the ride is pret‐ ty firm, but you know what

you’re buying into with this kind of car.

This is not only one of the most enter‐ taining cars for the money, but one of the quickest cross coun‐ try hatches money can buy.

Yet unlike many cars of this ilk it’s perfectly com‐ fortable on the motorway and

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longer journeys. It feels very grown up inside and doesn’t show any sign of budget cuts to fund its performance. There are some hard and scratchy plastics but it’s a much nicer interior than Ford’s Fiesta ST. Standard equipment on the i20N includes keyless entry and go, heated front seats, high beam assist, auto dipping rear view mirror, heated steering wheel, powered and heat‐ ed door mirrors, air condi‐ tioning, the list is lengthy and comprehensive.

I am fortunate to drive many different cars but this little Hyundai is with‐ out doubt one of the most enjoyable and memorable.

In terms of equipment, performance and fun for your money it’s pretty much unbeatable.

Car labels change IN the coming months, importance will be at‐ tached to the anti‐pollution protocols of cities with the regulation and cars labelled B and C. B vehicles correspond to gasoline registered since 2000 and diesel from 2006 and C vehi‐ cles are gasoline since 2006 and diesel from 2015.

Low emission zones have been created in municipalities with more than 50,000 people, so many cities in Spain will be affected when they implement their zones.

In these areas, vehicles with labels B and C have limited circulation.

The new Traffic Law will enter into force on March 21 and from that moment the fines of

€200 will begin for entering these areas with B and C cars, although there are municipalities that have a lower penalty charge.

In Madrid, the Martinez‐Almeida Town Hall has fines of €90 for those drivers who break the law. The low emission zones that exist in the capital of Spain are in the downtown area of the city, as well as the new Plaza Eliptica.

In Barcelona the penalties for breaking the rule are €100, although they do not apply to vehicles with a C badge. The anti‐pollution zone covers an area of 95 kilometres, with the territories of Barcelona, Esplugues de Llobre‐ gat, Hospitalet, Sant Adria de Besos and Cor‐ nella de Llobregat.

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3 - 9 February 2022

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WALKING FOOTBALLERS New F1 rules ARE KEEPING BUSY PHEW! That was a busy week of walking football on the Coast and inland Axar‐ quia, with games in the League, Cup, and friendlies taking place.

Malaga travelled the short distance to Finca Naundrup in the Hidromas‐ ter Championship to play WFS Calahonda. The home team took the lead in the first half with Tomas putting one in from distance.

Malaga peppered the Calahonda goal from then on, but their keeper Tony Smith was in outstanding form, making a dozen or so.

Superb saves before Mala‐ ga’s man of the match, Pedrin finally drew them level.

Malaga felt they were un‐ lucky at the end, with what Manager Terry Norrington

FINCA NAUNDRUP: Malaga played Calahonda. described as “a perfectly good goal by Fransisco Pino disallowed,” which left the game finishing 1‐1.

Calahonda player/manag‐ er Lesh Brzuzy described the game as “a hard fought out game with a fair result.”

Certainly an advantageous result for the current lead‐ ers the Walking Dead, with both Calahonda and Malaga breathing down their neck.

On Wednesday night the Walking Dead met WFS Calahonda in the BAHA Irish Whiskey Cup Calahonda played an older set of guys than they normally do in the league, and did really well to keep the score line down to a 4‐0 loss, Martin Tigue the manager of the Walking Dead said, “that’s the worst we have played all year.”

The result put the Walking

Dead through to the Round Robin final.

Aston Viñuela took a se‐ lect side to new boys Torrox Tornadoes for a friendly.

The game ended in a 2‐1 victory for Torrox and Man‐ ager Steve Lynton said he was “delighted by their progress and the spirit with which the game was played.”

On Saturday February 5, Malaga select travel to Competa to play Boca se‐ niors, another new club, in a friendly game.

The Malaga squad will be made up mainly of guys not getting much game time, coming back from injury or new. Kick off in Competa is 11am.

For all club news see walkingfooty.com on Face‐ book

AT the start of each F1 season, rules are updated. Yet, 2022 is different, as the rule book has been completely re‐ vamped. Mercedes Technical Director James Allison said that he believes some teams will have “painful seasons” as they struggle to adapt to overhauled regulations.

Rules are changed each year to make the sport more competitive and exciting, but also safer. This year, there are major changes to the car’s mechanics and aerodynam‐ ics that will force some teams to completely redesign their vehicles.

The scale of the changes is what Allison fears may have wrong‐stepped some teams, who may have got their preparations for the new season “badly wrong.”

He said: “The rule set is not only enormous, the regula‐ tions are about twice the size of what’s preceded them, but they’re all almost entirely different from what came before them. That has meant we’ve had to redesign the car from tip to toe.” The German team added an eighth consecutive Constructors’ Championship in 2021, a period of unprecedented success since the last major changes to car design in 2014.

F1 RULES: Have been given a complete overhaul.