Axarquia 29 September - 5 October 2022 Issue 1943

BEST OKTOBERFEST EVER

Tamsin Brown AVENIDA ESPERANTO in Torrox Costa was flooded with German spirit from September 22 to 25 during what was the municipali ty’s eighth edition of the famous Oktoberfest.

The mayor of Torrox, Óscar Medina, accompa nied by the consul of the Federal Republic of Ger many in Malaga, Arnulf Braun, and the councillor for Commerce, Sandra Ex tremera, were in charge of tapping the first beer bar rel and exclaiming “O’zapft is!”, which means “it is tapped” in the Bavar ian dialect and signifies that the festival is official ly underway.

Medina speaks a little German and did not hesi tate to address the festival goers in their own lan guage. Torrox has a signifi cant German population, which is why every effort is made to make the festi val bigger and better ev ery year.

This year, more people attended the event than ever before. They were

World Tourism Day

TO mark the occasion of World Tourism Day, Rincon de la Victoria organised a range of activities for all audiences with the aim of celebrating tourism and highlighting the importance of the sector in the mu nicipality.

Beach pride

TORRE DEL MAR partici pated in the International Seabed Clean­Up on Sat urday, September 24, on the Poniente beach.

This was the eighth edi tion of the event organ ised by the Marine Watchers Network and Proyecto Libera, and it had the support of the Apañao Sub diving club.

The deputy mayor of Torre del Mar, Jesús Pérez Atencia, said: “This is an activity to raise awareness and remove urban waste in environ

able to enjoy a wide vari ety of German beer brands and craft beer alongside typical dishes such as sausages and pork knuckles. The atmosphere was fantastic and it was clear that everyone want ed to have a good time.

mental areas. This clean ing of the seabed serves not only to remove nu merous polluting objects from the sea, but also to teach people about the importance of not leaving rubbish in open areas.”

When Oktoberfest end ed, the mayor expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of the festival and said that they are al

ready preparing the next one with the intention of topping the success of this year’s edition, which he described as “the best Ok toberfest in the history of Torrox.”

“Our municipality is a tourist destination that con tinues to grow and we believe it was necessary to prepare these events as another way for visitors and tourists to get to know Rincon de la Victoria,” said Antonio José Martín, the councillor for Tourism. The mayor, Francisco Salado, also highlighted “the enor mous amount of work we have been doing over the past few years to put Rincon de la Victoria at the forefront of tourism on the Costa del Sol.”

The event took place from September 23 to 27, and highlights included free concerts, a golf tourna ment and special tours of the Cueva del Tesoro.

Leonardo Fernández Graña received the Rincon de la Victoria Tourism Award.

Young people helped to clean the beach in Torre del Mar.

Credit: Rincon de la Victoria Town Hall

GERMAN SPIRIT: The inauguration of this year’s Oktoberfest in Torrox.

Credit: Torrox Town Hall

Credit: Organización Juvenil Española - Málaga

Artistic photography

THE Villa de Nerja Cultural Centre has opened its new ex hibition season with “Concept and Figure” by the photogra pher Ana Golpe. The exhibi tion can be visited until November 22.

At the inauguration on September 23, the councillor for Culture, Gema Laguna, praised the photographer for her talent and congratulated her on the high artistic quality of the collection of black and white images.

Ana Golpe was born in Melilla and trained as a pro fessional photographer in

Cadiz before moving to Mala ga, where she specialised in fashion. She has always had a love of social and artistic pho tography. She is a member of the Andalucian Federation of Photographers (FAF) and the IMAGEN collective of photog raphers in Fuengirola and is al so currently a contributor to the fashion publication Qua tro Magazine (Mexico).

The exhibition consists of 22 artistic photos and can be visited in the hall of the Villa de Nerja Cultural Centre from 11am to 2pm and from 5pm to 8pm.

Week of the Elderly

UNTIL Saturday October 1, Nerja is holding the sixth edi tion of its Week of the Elderly. The Department of the Elder ly of the Nerja Town Hall had organised a wide variety of ac tivities for the week.

“We have prepared a pro gramme with which the Nerja Town Hall wants to acknowl

edge the role played by the el derly in our society,” said the councillor for the Elderly, Ele na Gálvez.

The Department of the El derly encouraged all residents to participate in the activities.

More information from the Office for Attention to the El derly, at the town hall.

Nesting boxes

Tamsin Brown

ON September 23, the first deputy mayor of Velez‐Malaga, Jesús Pérez Aten cia; the councillor for the Environment, Antonio Ariza; and the representa tive of the company EMVIPSA, Belén Zapata, announced a new initiative that will involve placing bird nesting boxes in all the villages of the municipality.

Perez Atencia said that the nesting boxes would al low birds such as robins, black redstarts and fly catchers to complete their reproductive cycles in places where there are very young trees or trees that

are subject to pruning.

Credit: Velez-Malaga Town Hall

1st dance company

ON Tuesday September 20, the Almuñecar councillor for Culture and Education, Alber to García Gilabert, attended the presentation of the mu nicipality’s first dance compa ny, formed of dancers from the Solange Janssens Dance Academy.

dents in their second year of professional dance training.

The Solange Janssens Dance Company will give its first public performance on April 29 next year to mark the occasion of International Dance Day and will serve to promote Almuñecar.

There will also be more set up for swifts, in order to prevent them from nesting on the facades of buildings.

“The aim is to try to alle viate the depletion of these native birds, which are very beneficial in dealing with in sect pests and preventing a loss of biodiversity,” he said. A total of 54 wooden nests will be placed in dif ferent parks, schools and municipal buildings, provid ing safe spaces for the breeding of various species of birds in the area and thereby helping the urban ecosystem of the munici pality.

According to the school’s director, Solange Janssens, the dance company has been created “so that when dancers finish their degree they have a professional out let to perform both nationally and internationally.”

The company is currently formed of 10 girls aged be tween 12 and 16 who are stu

The Solange Janssens Dance Academy, located in the La Paloma neighbour hood of Almuñecar, has al ready made a name for itself in the municipality, having trained hundreds of students of all ages in different types of dance, including contempo rary, classical, rhythmic gym nastics and hip-hop.

Antique iron collectors

THE 17th edition of the International Meeting of Collectors of Old Flat Irons was held in Torre del Mar from Septem ber 22 to 25. More than 100 experts from more than 20 different coun tries travelled to Torre del Mar for the special event.

The event, which was coordinated by Pierre Lachnowicz, the owner of one of the best iron collections in the world, takes place every three years. The previous two were held in New York and Germany, and this edition was scheduled for 2021, but had to be postponed because of the pandemic.

Pierre Lachnowicz said: “These events serve to showcase rarely seen irons, which allows collectors to meet and connect with one another.”

Among those who at tended was the person who has the largest iron collection in the world, with 35,000 irons, and who also collects coffee mills.

The first deputy may or of Velez-Malaga and councillor for Tourism, Jesús Pérez Atencia, al so highlighted the value of the event for tourism, particularly as the tourist season is now over.

Some of the nesting boxes to be placed around Velez-Malaga.

The dancers in Almuñecar’s first dance company.

Credit: Almuñecar Town Hall

Patron saint festivities

Cleaning palm treesStrange lights

ON Sunday September 25, a number of people in differ ent points around Axarquia and other parts of Andalucia reported seeing a ‘strange’ row of lights in the night sky. The lights were produced by Starlink satellites launched by Space X, the internet service company owned by Elon Musk.

Kyiv Ballet

THE Kyiv Ballet, under the artistic direction of Ana Sophia Scheller, will perform Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake in Almuñecar on Wednesday October 12. Tickets for the performance cost €27 and can be purchased at www.bravoentradas.es. For each ticket sold, €1.50 will go to UNICEF to support their work in Ukraine.

No water

AROUND 2,000 of Periana’s 3,000 residents were still un able to drink the tap water in their homes a week after they were advised not to on September 16 due to high levels of turbidity in the wa ter. As of September 24, the town hall was still working to find a solution.

Language exchange

SIX students from the Al‐An dalus secondary school in Al muñecar are starting the aca demic year with a month at a school in France. They will then host their French coun terparts in Spain. The lan guage and cultural exchange programme ‘PicassoMob’ is part of an agreement be tween Spain and France.

School

playgrounds

TORROX will equip the play grounds of all the schools in the municipality with mod ern fixed awnings so that the children can have a shaded area for their outdoor activi ties. The awnings will replace removable screens ‘which were not only not very visual ly pleasing, but were also not very efficient’.

Tamsin Brown

THE traditional neighbour hood of San Miguel in Al muñecar will once again hon our its patron saint, San Miguel, with four days of fes tivities, from today Thursday, September 29, to Sunday, October 2. The Department of Festivities of the Almuñe car Town Hall has prepared an exciting programme of events and activities to be en joyed by residents and visi tors.

The councillor for Culture and Festivities, Alberto García Gilabert, said: “Once again, tradition and customs will be

the protagonists in the streets and there will be a

joyful atmosphere all day long.”

The festivities will kick off today with a mass and a pro cession followed by a con cert. In addition to the excel lent music and entertainment offered every day, highlights of the pro gramme of activities include a Pilates and therapeutic yo ga masterclass, a table foot ball championship, a firework display and a foam party.

During the festivities, visits to the Cave of the Seven Palaces Museum and San Miguel Castle will be free of charge. The full programme can be found on the Almuñe car Town Hall website.

Arts and culture classes

THE Department of Culture, Fairs and Festivities of the Rincon de la Victoria Town Hall has announced that new courses in music, dance, theatre, photog raphy and folklore will begin in October.

The second deputy mayor, Elena Aguilar, said that the classes will “con tribute to preserving and developing the culture and traditions of the municipality and are adapted to all levels and ages.”

The music and dance workshops will

be held in Benagalbon. The classes of fered include jazz and improvisation, modern dance, introduction to dance for children, classical and contemporary dance, music and movement and music for babies.

The Municipal Theatre School, direct ed by Bosco Vida, offers artistic educa tion in all areas of performance for chil dren, teenagers and adults.

The photography workshops taught

Youth employment

THE town hall of Rincon de la Victoria will hire up to 38 unemployed young people from the municipality through the Junta de An dalucia’s youth employment programme ti tled ‘Joven Ahora’. To apply for these posi tions, the applicant must be between 18 and 29 years old and be registered with the An dalucian Employment Service (SAE) and the National Youth Guarantee System. This was announced by the town hall on Saturday September 23.

The Rincon Town Hall received a grant of €342,000 from the Ministry of Employment, Enterprise and Self‐Employment of the Junta de Andalucia for the initiative. The full‐time contracts offered will be for six months and will allow young people to work as caretak ers, administrative clerks, bricklayers, gar deners and labourers.

“We aim to promote the employability of unemployed young people in Rincon de la Victoria by giving them the chance to gain work experience linked to an occupation, hir ing them to carry out projects approved by the town hall,” said the councillor for Em ployment, María de la Paz Couto.

ON September 21, the Al muñecar Town Hall’s De partment of the Environ ment and Gardens began cleaning the 10,000 palm trees that can be found on the streets, prome nades and beaches of the municipality, according to the councillor for the De partment, Luis Aragón.

by Carlos Bueno start from scratch with no previous knowledge required. The training covers topics such as por trait photography, fashion photography and product photography.

For more information, visit the Department of Culture (the old railway station on Avenida del Mediterráneo), call 951 501 098 or email cultura@rincondelavictoria.es.

Marcos Merino Trio

THE Marcos Merino Trio, formed of Marcos Merino on the piano, Rafa Sibajas on the double bass and Juanma Nieto on the drums, will be playing at the Hotel Plaza Cavana in Nerja on Saturday, Oc tober 1.

The Marcos Merino Trio was created by the Malaga pianist in 2007 and many incredibly varied musicians have been a part of it, each leaving their mark in their own way. Merino is currently in the pre‐production phase of mak ing his new album, which will be released in mid‐2023.

This new project is a step for ward in the creative process of Merino’s music. It has a more in trospective feel and reflects the experience gained by the pianist over years of travelling and chang ing cities. The project has many of the same characteristics as groups previously led by Merino while bringing new compositions and

clear aesthetic evolution. Tickets start at €14 and can be purchased by phone on 690 073 871, via email at ventana.abier ta.acp@gmail.com or online at www.ventana‐abierta.es. The performance starts at 8pm.

“The work started in the playgrounds of public schools at the beginning of the school year. Now we are continuing in the areas where the seeds of the Washingtonia variety have begun to fall to the ground, as this is danger ous for pedestrians and motorbike drivers,” said Aragón.

The workers are work ing hard to clean even the highest trees. “Many of the trees are more than 20 metres high, which is why it is neces sary to use machinery such as lifts and have highly qualified people to work manually when the height exceeds the capac ity of the lift,” added Aragón.

The cleaning work will continue for several months. Residents are asked to cooperate and drivers are asked to re spect the no parking signs where the work is being carried out.

TRADITION: The patron saint festivities of San Miguel in 2019.

Credit: Almuñecar Town Hall

Tamsin Brown

THE Rincon de la Victoria Town Hall has announced that a family‐orientated environmental workshop

titled ‘Taking Care of Mu nicipal Streams’ will take place from 11am to 2pm on Sunday, October 2, in the children’s area of the

Huerta Julián Park.

Caring for streams

The aim is to educate people about the impor tance of taking care of na ture and natural resources. The councillor for the Envi ronment, Borja Ortiz, said: “Education is a great tool for raising awareness among the general public and teaching people what they can do to preserve streams, rivers and all other natural resources.”

The mayor of Rincon, Francisco Salado, highlight ed the need to make every

A GROUP of five young people from Almuñecar, accompanied by the deputy mayor and councillor for Youth, Beatriz González, have participated in the first‐ever youth exchange programme organised be tween the twin towns of Cariñena (Zaragoza) and Almuñecar. Next year will be the 50th anniversary of the twin town relationship.

The group left the bus station in Almuñecar on Friday September 23 and headed for Malaga, where they took the high‐speed train to Zaragoza. Upon arrival in Cariñena, they were welcomed by the mayor, Sergio Ortíz, who introduced them

one aware of the impor tance of caring for the envi ronment from a very early age. “We are very happy that these workshops are being carried out by the De partment of Environmental Sustainability, especially be cause most of the partici pants will be entire families who can then apply what they have learnt,” he said.

Twin towns

to the local young people also par ticipating in the exchange. They re turned on September 26.

This exchange was an initiative of the Departments of Young People of both town halls and aims to “al low the residents of both towns to develop bonds of friendship.”

Almuñecar has been twinned with Cariñena since January 11 of 1973, when José Antonio Bustos was mayor. In March of 2019, the mayor of Almuñecar, Trinidad Her rera, and the mayor of Cariñena, Sergio Ortiz, renewed the oath of the twin town relationship in a spe cial ceremony.

EXCHANGE: The Almuñecar students in Cariñena, Zaragoza.

Credit: Almuñecar Town Hall

Poetic anthology of Axarquia

THE multipurpose building of Torrox Costa was the setting chosen for the presentation of the book Poetic anthol ogy of Axarquia (Antología poética de la Axarquía), a collection of work by 38 poets who were either born in the re gion or chose to make it their home, on Friday September 23.

The Torrox councillor for Culture, María de los Ángeles Ruiz, was present at the event, along with some of the poets whose works feature in the book, such as Beatriz Reinoso, Concha

Chicano, Luisa Serrano and Daniel Godoy, from Torrox; Carmen M Sabio, Haydee Acosta and Lucía Muñoz, from Nerja; and Cristina Cobos, Ildefonso Gómez and Juan Salvador, from VelezMalaga.

The book also has work by the highly acclaimed and influential writers María Zambrano, Salvador Rueda and Joaquín Lobato. The councillor for Cul ture encouraged people to purchase the collection so that they can enjoy poetry written by local authors.

Coraxalia are recruiting!

CORAXALIA CHOIR is recruiting new members for the upcoming season. If you’d like to polish your singing skills and sing as a group, this is the opportunity for you!

The local choir is always on the look out for new members to join the group who sing between 5.30pm­8pm on Thursdays in Velez­Malaga.

All are welcome to the group who try to foster an inclusive and friendly environ ment. The choir has international mem bers and sing a wide variety of songs that are sure to appeal to all. Male and female voices are needed in the group, with var

ied arrangements that will showcase all vocal talent.

Coraxalia rehearse at the Casa Herman dad de la Cofradia de los Estudiantes, Plaza de los Sastres. The choir season runs from September to June annually, corre sponding with the school academic year.

The choir’s sister group is also looking for new members in Almuñecar and Salo breña who rehearse between 8pm and 10pm on Tuesdays at Calle Laderas de Castelar 52 in Almuñecar.

Those interested can attend practice, email eucorax@hotmail.com or call 689 111 352.

AROUND 30 people partici pated in the first hike organ ised by Almuñecar’s Munici pal Department of Sports (AMD) after the summer break, which took place on Sunday September 25 and consisted of a route between Trevelez and Juviles.

The hikers followed the GR7 trail and ended in Juviles, where they visited the ruins of the Moorish castle. Walking through the municipalities of the two highest villages in Spain meant that participants enjoyed extraordinary views along the way.

The next hike will take place on Sunday October 9. The route runs through the Acequias del Poqueira and the level of difficulty is medi um/high. It features medieval irrigation channels and a trail through the mountains, offer ing the chance to enjoy the spectacular scenery of the Alpujarra of Granada.

Those interested in partici pating can obtain further in formation and register until the Thursday before the hike at the AMD office in the Fran cisco Bonet stadium (Calle Puerto de la Cruz) or on 958 883 142.

Hike to Juviles

Rincon-Benagalbon roadworks begin

THE Rincon de la Victoria Town Hall has begun work to im prove the condition of the surface of the MA­3200 road that runs from Rincon de la Victoria to Benagalbon.

The work which began on Tuesday, September 27, is part of the first phase of the Provincial Council of Malaga’s plan to improve the surfaces of a total of 19 roads. The plan has a budget of €3,905,857.

Work will be carried out on the 3.9 kilometres of the MA3200 road, from the junction of the recycling point to the end of Avenida Padre Benito. The entire stretch of road will be as phalted from October 3 to 17, and signposting and painting work will be carried out until October 27. Traffic will be modi fied and regulated. In no case will traffic be cut off.

EN ROUTE: On the hike between Trevelez and Juviles.

Photo credit: Coraxalia Choir

Best research

A SPANISH doctor named the best researcher in the world when it comes to blood cancer myeloma has been honoured by the International Myeloma Society (IMS).

Doctor María Victoria Mateos, who is head of the innovative therapy unit at the Salamanca Uni versity Assistance Com

plex and chair of the Spanish Society of Hema tology and Hemotherapy, was given the award on Friday, September 23 at the IMS annual general meeting in Los Angeles.

Speaking about the award, she said that she had been working on myeloma since complet ing her doctoral thesis on the subject in 2000. Myeloma is the second most common cancer af ter lymphoma affecting millions annually.

Myeloma affects one in 100,000 inhabitants every year and is detected in about 2,000 cases annual ly in Spain. Early diag noses is making it possible to treat patients sooner with ‘premalignant situa tions on the rise’.

In receiving the award Mateos said more money was needed and praised Spain’s healthcare sys tem.

Online appointments

ONLINE medical consultations are becoming increasingly popular which is changing the face of healthcare for the elderly. The pandemic forced many of our daily activities online, in cluding medical appointments.

Many patients turned to the internet to get advice from their doctor. But the internet has become the unexpected pioneer of healthcare in the elderly population.

Medical organisation, Top Doctors, conduct ed research for the International Day for the El derly on October 1, one in five online or tele phone consultations are with patients over 64. Top Doctors found that online appointments were particularly requested by patients in re gions with a large elderly population which lacked specialist medical care.

Patients can receive medical care from the

comfort of their own homes. Limiting vulnera ble patients’ contact with other patients re duces the risk of additional infections dramati cally. Patients can also access specialists who may not ordinarily work in their area and sec ond opinions on original diagnoses.

Advances like this could boost elderly care in Spain, which currently sits at 38 out of 44 coun tries for elderly care analysed in the study.

Catalonia’s smoking ban

AS announced on Friday, September 23, by Josep Maria Argimon, Catalonia’s Minister of Health, the government is to implement ‘smoke‐free’ spaces. New regulations will be in troduced to convert terraces, entrances and ex its of schools, and bus stops, into places where smoking is prohibited. He explained that there must be a ‘transition period’ and that the mea sure responds to reduction in smokers.

Argimon also revealed that from January 2023 the Generalitat will offer free nicotine

substitutes to people who want to quit smok ing and who have incomes of less than €18,000. This will be offered because these people have practically ‘double or more’ chances of quitting the consumption of tobac co, which he has described as small.

Smoking has “a social ingredient” he contin ued, since people with a lower income level are the ones who smoke the most. He estimated that there are between 600,000 and 700,000 smokers with an income of less than €18,000.

ONLINE CONSULTATIONS: Protect elderly people from disease.

Photo credit: Rido / shutterstock.com

Football stand off

FIFTEEN Spanish women’s footballers have quit the national team complaining that the na tional team coach Jorge Vilda and his staff are harming their health and emotional state with their training methods.

Team members say they are unhappy with the management of injuries, the atmosphere in the locker room, Vilda’s team selection and his training sessions according to a news source.

The Federation and the Spanish Football As sociation are standing by the coach saying: “We will not allow the players to question the conti nuity of the national coach and his coaching staff, since making those decisions does not fall within their powers.”

The Spanish Football Association has warned the players that refusing to honour a call‐up for

THE latest Covid data pub lished in Spain by the Ministry of Health shows an increase in the incidence rate among the over 60s, but a drop in hospi talisations and ICU occupancy.

The Ministry of Health pub lished its twice‐weekly Covid numbers in Spain on Friday, September 23, compiled us ing data provided by the au tonomous communities.

Friday’s report shows that a total of 10,306 new cases of

Members have quit the women’s football team.

a national team was classified as a “very serious infraction and can carry sanctions of two and five years of disqualification.”

The situation is promising to result in a stand off between players and the sport’s manage ment.

Covid stats

coronavirus have been added, which brings the total number of people infected with Covid‐19 to 13,403,502 since the start of the pandem ic. In the last 14 days, the ac cumulated incidence rate in people aged over 60 currently stands at 136.26 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Another 72 deaths have been registered from Covid‐19 in the last week. Since the start of the pandemic in Spain, that brings the death toll from coronavirus to 114,009 people.

The lethality in people over 60 years of age stands at 3.7 per cent.

Image Spanish Football Federation

Burgos bones

ACCORDING to scientists involved in the landmark find, facial bones discov ered in Burgos, northern Spain, date back 1.4 million years and could end up changing the book of hu man prehistory. They are the oldest human fossils ever unearthed on the Eu ropean continent.

Speaking with Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, Aurora Martin, the archaeologist

Brits voting rights

THE Electoral Census Office in Spain has announced that British residents are now able to vote in Spanish local elec tions.

On May 28, 2023 municipal elections will be held in Spain. In these elections, nationals of European Union countries and countries that have signed a reciprocity agreement with Spain for voting in municipal elections will be able to vote.

In what is good news for British residents living in Spain, the Ministerial Order amending the previous Order to in clude the UK in the group of countries which now have a “reciprocal arrangement for Voting in the Local Spanish Elec tions” makes this possible.

Upon completion of the amendments there will be vari ous options for registering to vote including online. To be eli gible, Brits must have been resident in Spain for three years or more and must be registered on the Padron.

who is the general coordi nator of the Museum of Human Evolution in Bur gos, said: “We don’t yet know which first human species the fragments found belonged to.”

They were unearthed on an excavation site near Burgos, at the caves of the Sierra de Atapuerca at the end of June. Martin de scribed the bones as “a breakthrough that will help rewrite the history of hu man evolution.”

She emphasised: “Until 1994, it was known that there were no ancient hu man species in Europe until 500,000 years ago. Now we’re talking about 1.4 mil lion years ago. In other words, we pushed back the evolution of humans in Eu rope one million years.”

The Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos is where all the Stone Age fossils are on display that have been found at the fa mous World Heritage Site.

Party central!

A RECENT study revealed that almost 70 per cent of tourists coming to Spain come to party! Research by travel company Jetcost found that 69 per cent of tourists listed ‘partying’ as a key purpose of their trip.

The survey found that 64 per cent of those asked planned to go out every night of their holiday.

The idea of Spain as a ‘party destination’ was most popu lar among British, German, Italian, French and Dutch tourists. The research found that equally, many tourists cit ed cultural experiences as their main purpose for a holi day in Spain. The top three aims of tourists on holiday to Spain were to enjoy beaches, enjoy Spanish cuisine and visit

tourist attractions.

Jetcost completed the sur vey over the summer holiday season and the Managing Di rector, Ignazio Ciarmoli, ex plained that the survey sought to prove that some tourists consider Spain a party destination. He said “like with everything, if done in modera tion, with respect for others, it is fine.”

Vets in support

A PETITION demanding a new animal pro tection law that will not exclude hunting dogs from protection has got more than 200,000 signatures and support from more than 600 vets.

The National Platform for the Protection of Animals which is made up of more than 165 animal rights associations, announced its backing for the petition. The petition de mands change to the current animal rights law proposed by the PSOE which excludes hunting dogs from animal rights protection.

The new law would introduce distinctions between the rights dogs are entitled to de pending on if they are a pet or a hunting dog. Current laws give all dogs the same rights.

Animal rights organisations are launching their ‘same dogs, same law’ campaign to de mand expanding of the criteria for protec tions. María González dismissed the PSOE leg islation calling it a “setback for animal rights which plays into the hands of abusive hunters.” She said all dogs should be entitled to the same rights protections.

BURGOS CAVES: Facial bones discovered.

Credit: Google maps - Paco Puche

Pop sensation Trevis

HOT off an electrifying performance at Puente Romano supporting Craig David, LA‐based up and comer Trevis Brendmoe sat down with the Eu ro Weekly News to discuss music, fame, and his love for Eu rope.

Originally from Nor way, Trevis is now one of the biggest emerging names on the US pop scene, also getting regu lar airtime on BBC’s Ra dio 1. Speaking about his journey from Europe to LA, Trevis told the Euro Weekly News: “It wasn’t always music for me. From age five I religiously trained to be a profession al football player in hopes of one day playing for the Norwegian national team.

“By the time I was 15 I started training with the Manchester United soccer school and academy pro gramme, but my career came to an abrupt halt and I was pretty lost in life after several problematic trips to the ER due to patellar injuries and dislo cation. Right there and then everything I ever loved, I had to give up.

“My mom relocated me to Los Angeles after a dark year of depression. When I was in LA I immediately formed a deep connection and purpose with music. I went from being in such a dark place to developing a deep relationship with my artistry.”

The star turned his ex perience into success quickly, releasing multiple singles and quickly gaining press attention thanks to his heartthrob looks and talented vocals.

Speaking about his mu sic, he explained: “I like to say I dabble in genres. My sound is pop music with a heavy influence of R&B.”

He added: “I love Chris Brown. Cocaine 80s and Kanye West are some of my influences from song writing to producing. R&B is also a major part of who

I am as an artist and I also need to give a shout to Jeremih, Par tynextdoor and Bill With ers.”

Now in Eu rope, Trevis told the EWN was like to perform on the same stage as Craig David.

He said: “It was an ab solutely surreal feeling standing on stage in front of 2,500 people in Spain. The energy in the crowd was amazing and I could n’t have asked for a bet ter reception.

“I was in Marbella shooting a music video this summer as well as performing at Puente Ro mano and at the famous hotspot Olivia Valere nightclub. I got the call to warm up for Craig David’s TS5 show shortly after and it was a dream come true.”

Explaining what’s next, the star explained: “I just released my debut EP ‘Floor Plan’ and it re ceived so much love in the UK.

“My music has been played on BBC Radio 1Xtra all summer and I just got put on BBC Radio

1’s Future Artists. I’m go ing to London to work with UK producers and keep promoting the EP. With everything going on, hopefully I’ll be able to tour and play my music at venues across the UK.”

The songwriter said he has plenty more music planned for the future too.

He explained: “I was producing and writing so much music during the Covid lockdown and we have multiple EPs worth of music we’re getting ready to share with the world!

“As we keep pushing my new project and my industry friend circle grows, I’m talking to a lot of established artists and DJs in Europe, Nigeria, and the US on features, remixes, and collabora tions. There are so many exciting things to come!”

TREVIS: The star has

Credit:TrevisBrendmoe

INTERVIEW

BUSINESS EXTRA

Selfridges plans

NOW that the Central Group Europe has taken over operating Selfridges, it has two pressing plans, firstly to update the flagship store in London’s Oxford Street, including the refurbishing of the former hotel and also look to increase the number of stores in British cities from the current four.

Wooing investors

SPANISH President Pedro Sánchez who spent several days in New York taking part in the latest United Nations General Assembly managed to find time to meet with the heads of several large US investment funds to discuss the Spanish economy and promote investment opportunities.

No more cards

ACCORDING to a report by the Financial Times, the CEO of massive US bank J P Morgan Jamie Dimon has instructed senior executives to create an alternative payment option in order to keep ahead of online operations such as Bizum and to phase out credit cards.

Going down

THE impending bankruptcy of Spanish industrial group Abengoa which has literally run out of money and couldn’t find new backing means that the National Securities Market Commission (CMNV) will be delisting the company’s shares from the Madrid and Barcelona Stock Exchanges by the end of September.

Home work

PERHAPS logical, as many people like working from home and even though some employers believe that they are less productive, law firm Stephenson Harwood has indicated to many of its staff that they can work remotely full time, but must take a drop in salary of 20 per cent.

STAT OF WEEK

UK bank rate increased

Helping power Europe FINANCE

THE Bank of England in creased bank rate to 2.25 per cent on Thursday September 22, as it sees Britain floundering into recession, just one day before new Prime Minis ter Liz Truss and Chancel lor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng unveil their plans to save the economy.

There is little doubt that the currently inde pendent Bank of England and the new government will quickly be at daggers drawn as they simply don’t agree on a policy for the country’s way for ward.

At the same time as raising the interest rate by 0.5 per cent, the Mon etary Policy Committee (MPC) also voted unani mously to reduce the stock of purchased UK government bonds, fi nanced by the issuance of central bank reserves,

by £80 billion over the next 12 months, to a to tal of £758 billion.

Effectively whilst the government needs more money to finance its plans, not only will the Bank be making less money available, it will also make borrowing from the commercial market more expensive

for the government.

Inflation fell slightly in August to 9.9 per cent but the Bank of England has a target set at 2 per cent which it seems to believe can only be reached by limiting the money available to both consumers and business es.

Mortgage rates will

continue to increase and it is debateable whether companies will be com fortable in spending more money in invest ments when they are fac ing huge increases in prices, even with promise of caps on ener gy costs which are at best, short term mea sures.

No fiscal restraints

SPAIN will not implement European Union fiscal restraints for another year and this decision was approved by the Congress of Deputies on Thursday September 22.

One of the major problems that the government of Partido Popular leader Mariano Rajoy faced was the repeated inability of the Spanish economy to comply with the EU de mand for the reduction of debt and to balance imports and exports.

The current coalition has for the last three years been able to argue that the effects of the pandemic and now the backlash from the Russian invasion of Ukraine were unforesee able.

Whilst confirming that it will en deavour to maintain fiscal responsi bility, the Spanish government will not be restrained by strict ‘guide lines’ from the European Union, but will be able to plot its own course in planning the 2023 budget.

This means that it may once again

suspend the stability and debt objec tives, as well as the spending rule, in the case of ‘extraordinary emergen cy situations that considerably harm the financial situation or the eco nomic or social sustainability of the State’.

According to a statement from the government, “The objective of this initiative is to be able to continue de ploying the necessary measures to mitigate the impact of rising prices

on families and the productive fabric, as the Executive has already been adopting in the last year.”

Minister of Finance and Public Function, María Jesús Montero, made it clear in a speech to Congress that the suspension of fiscal rules does not mean abandoning fiscal re sponsibility as Spain’s deficit was re duced from 10.3 per cent in 2020 to 6.9 per cent in 2021, for 2022 it is forecast to drop to 5 per cent.

IN a bid to assist partners dur ing the winter, Teresa Ribera, Spain’s Minister for Ecological Transition, announced on September 22, that from November 1, the Euskadour Compression Plant, will in crease the supply of natural gas to Europe by 18 per cent.

This will mean that Spain will also supply France with 6 per cent of its annual needs, subject to Spain continuing to receive gas from neighbour and largest supplier Algeria.

As part of the strategy to re duce dependence on Russian gas, the government has ac celerated the operation of the El Musel regasification plant in Gijon. Ribera also announced that three more projects have been approved that will max imise the connection with Italy.

Heatwave surprise

ACCORDING to a report pub lished by the ZEW Mannheim and Frankfurt School of Fi nance and Management, ex treme heat causes labour productivity to fall.

This study shows for the first time that substantial parts of the trade‐related economic damage from heat‐waves occur in countries that are not directly exposed to the temperature shocks.

Supply shortfalls caused by this have an impact on global trade: Less is exported and importers have to accept the losses of affected exporters or switch to other exporters, which causes additional costs.

The researchers showed that in months when a coun try’s average temperature is at least 30°C, exports fall by an average of 3.4 per cent.

The Bank Governor and Chancellor of the Exchequer meet.

Keeping a firm grip on Spain’s money (Minister Montero in centre).

Credit: HM Treasury Twitter

Credit: María Jesús Montero

is the amount that Spanish energy company Iberdrola intends to invest in the USA by way of acquisition and growth over the period 2022 to 2025.

3I Group 1.080,50 1.114,50 1.074,50 357,19K

Abrdn 137,45 142,5 136,8 1,12M

Admiral Group 2.066,00 2.133,00 2.059,00 121,80K

Anglo American 2.708,00 2.860,00 2.686,00 603,57K

Antofagasta 1.053,74 1.106,88 1.048,35 91,07K

Ashtead Group 3.746,50 3.940,50 3.743,50 25,73K

Associated British Foods 1.297,80 1.350,00 1.296,20 24,69K

AstraZeneca 9.814,60 10.053,20 9.787,90 31,55K

Auto Trader Group Plc 580,6 600,4 579,92 29,44K

Aveva 3.149,70 3.150,00 3.130,80 87,67K

Aviva 424,95 435,65 424,55 720,88K

B&M European Value Retail SA324,68 332,8 323,4 529,89K

BAE Systems 791 812,4 788,93 352,10K

Barclays 161,89 167,42 161,81 2,80M

Barratt Developments 405,4 425,3 404,6 594,01K

Berkeley 3.470,00 3.643,00 3.469,00 16,45K

BHP Group Ltd 2.210,00 2.263,50 2.201,50 130,28K

BP 442,04 456 438,54 10,26M

British American Tobacco 3.418,00 3.492,50 3.407,00 68,17K

British Land Company 358,4 379,2 358,1 156,96K

BT Group 130,85 135,79 130,67 1,03M

Bunzl 2.635,00 2.703,00 2.621,00 1,25M

Burberry Group 1.650,00 1.721,00 1.642,20 67,74K

Carnival 715 749,4 712,3 48,37K

Centrica 78,08 81,04 77,74 1,35M

Coca Cola HBC AG 1.883,70 1.936,60 1.873,00 27,00K

Compass 1.787,50 1.820,00 1.778,20 59,94K

CRH 2.900,00 2.968,00 2.893,00 204,70K

Croda Intl 6.270,00 6.486,00 6.244,00 16,85K

DCC 4.574,00 4.701,00 4.551,00 136,48K

Diageo 3.725,00 3.773,50 3.707,70 48,73K

DS Smith 255,37 264,1 254,72 337,21K

EasyJet 311,65 327,58 310,75 649,00K

Experian 2.555,80 2.600,00 2.545,80 24,36K

Ferguson 9.383,00 9.692,10 9.362,00 5,84K

Flutter Entertainment 9.700,00 9.793,20 9.636,10 366,31K

Fresnillo 687,2 736,6 686,4 426,67K

Glencore 470,22 491,75 466 8,56M

GSK plc 1.289,56 1.327,80 1.283,23 225,55K

Halma 2.015,00 2.059,00 2.006,60 17,65K

Hargreaves Lansdown 814 835,6 809,8 39,70K

Hikma Pharma 1.183,31 1.223,66 1.182,98 25,82K

HSBC 508,5 521,5 507,23 761,60K IAG 100,54 104,6 100,3 3,40M

Imperial Brands 1.878,08 1.911,50 1.867,00 1,66M

521,6 533

Intermediate Capital 1.026,50 1.090,50 1.024,50 829,86K

Intertek 3.683,00 3.763,00 3.671,00 77,34K

ITV 61 63,3 61,09 1,29M

J Sainsbury 193 198,05 192,29 295,57K

Johnson Matthey 1.852,60 1.900,50 1.852,10 5,33K

Land Securities 537,1 569,8 536,2 148,54K

Legal & General 246,8 256,85 246,2 1,86M

Lloyds Banking 46,49 48,3 46,46 20,28M

London Stock Exchange 7.344,60 7.478,00 7.300,00 102,17K

Melrose Industries 99 103,4 99,38 1,34M

Mondi 1.361,98 1.408,00 1.359,32 12,61K

National Grid 995 1.034,00 989,09 343,78K

NatWest Group 247,5 256,86 247,3 12,87M

Next 5.540,00 5.824,00 5.528,00 22,74K

Norilskiy Nikel ADR 9,1 9,1 9,1 0

Ocado 549 566,5 548,16 90,63K

Persimmon 1.350,00 1.431,80 1.336,00 355,74K

Phoenix 583 603,6 582,51 343,68K

Prudential 926,6 963,9 923,2 176,74K

Reckitt Benckiser 5.977,00 6.144,50 5.958,00 20,76K

Relx 2.162,04 2.185,00 2.151,22 60,69K

Rentokil 491,3 504,1 489,3 47,27K

Rightmove 584,2 600,6 584 379,39K

Rio Tinto PLC 4.645,00 4.833,00 4.636,80 136,90K

Rolls-Royce Holdings 72,18 75,28 72 4,22M

Rosneft DRC 0,2 0,2 0,2 0

Sage 692,8 710,2 690,6 334,92K

Samsung Electronics DRC 951,2 963 950,6 3,64K

Schroders 413,8 429,8 412,7 621,49K

Scottish Mortgage 782 794,4 779,31 452,92K

Segro 757,5 811,6 755,1 129,43K

Severn Trent 2.530,00 2.594,90 2.520,00 16,15K

Shell 2.260,00 2.321,00 2.240,00 405,85K

Smith & Nephew 994,31 1.011,00 992,31 108,45K

Smiths Group 1.496,50 1.553,80 1.482,17 22,10K

Spirax-Sarco Engineering 9.448,00 9.974,00 9.448,00 1,97K

SSE 1.680,50 1.738,00 1.672,82 164,80K

St. James’s Place 1.057,00 1.067,00 1.046,25 31,03K

Standard Chartered 578,6 598,6 578,4 156,23K

Taylor Wimpey 102,88 109,82 102,74 1,70M

Tesco 224,1 228,3 223,3 767,21K

Tui 132,1 135,35 131,35 2,29M

Unilever 4.003,90 4.059,50 3.966,50 58,61K

United Utilities 976,6 1.001,00 972 66,98K

Vodafone Group PLC 107,69 109,9 107,56 1,51M

Whitbread 2.454,00 2.504,00 2.442,80 25,53K

54,88K

3M 114,14 115,05 3,66M

American Express 143,03 148,89 142,46 3,20M

Amgen 227,75 229,37 223,3 2,05M

Apple 152,74 154,47 150,91 85,87M

Boeing 138,71 143,7 138,29 6,26M

Caterpillar 170,55 174,62 170,29 2,50M

Chevron 154,89 158,28 154,74 6,34M

Cisco 41,15 41,55 41,14 16,54M

Coca-Cola 59,26 59,73 59,2 11,38M

Dow 44,77 45,55 44,75 4,62M

Goldman Sachs 312,92 323,39 311,2 2,20M

Home Depot 269,14 271,22 267,85 3,50M

Honeywell 173,25 174,75 172,02 2,18M

IBM 125,31 126,51 124,41 4,04M

Intel 28,07 28,5 28,04 35,52M

J&J 166,18 167,16 162,83 7,33M

JPMorgan 111,21 113,6 111,07 11,52M

McDonald’s 247,94 250,43 247,65 2,29M

Merck&Co 87,51 88,15 84,55 11,44M

Microsoft 240,98 243,86 237,57 30,79M

Nike 98,55 100,21 97,83 9,60M

Procter&Gamble 136,21 137,07 135,24 5,04M

Salesforce Inc 150,15 152,86 149,15 12,39M

The Travelers 157 158,14 155,54 1,13M

UnitedHealth 517,46 520,97 506,11 2,28M

Verizon 39,93 40,4 39,26 19,77M

Visa A 185,79 187,21 184,66 6,59M

Walgreens Boots 33,32 33,53 32,92 4,87M

Walmart 133,39 134,72 132,84 5,49M

Walt Disney 102,16 104,66 102,02 10,55M

-42.72%

-33.11%

-29.05%

-28.80%

-27.62%

-26.97% 477.39K

Motorsport Gaming Us LLC -25.85% 103.85K

Pine Island Acquisition -25.15% 34.31K

Wavedancer -23.46% 188.44K

Mediwound -22.86% 884.82K

EXTRA

N26 improvements

AFTER receiving com plaints from Spanish cus tomers of German online bank N26 that they were finding it impossible to make payments via Bizum, which is owned by a con sortium of Spanish banks, a solution has been reached.

N26 has announced that users who possess a Span ish IBAN number will be enabled to use instant pay ment system Bizum which connects mobile phones to bank accounts free of charge and not only should this benefit its 900,000 plus customers, but should en courage new clients to sign up for the service.

Inflation down

THE final August inflation details for Spain have been confirmed by the National Statistics Institute as slight ly higher than originally forecast at 10.5 per cent on a year‐to‐year basis but still show a definite decline from July’s 10.8 per cent figure with an expectation that it will continue to drop.

Moonpiggy bank

POPULAR greetings card and gift supplier Moonpig which operates out of Guernsey and London has advised that despite fears of recession its overall trading performance has been in line with its expec tations to date and is con fident that greetings cards will continue to be in de mand from customers.

Another scam

A PONZI scheme is basical ly a kind of fraud whereby investors are promised high returns but the inter est comes from using funds from new investors. Now a Spanish court is in vestigating a Dutch medici nal cannabis investment platform after it all went up in smoke!

Mobile phone charges

THE UK government has capped mobile roaming charges to benefit a small number of Brits abroad by signing an agreement to limit charges for using data and making calls and texts in Norway and Ice land.

The news was released to mark the first meeting of the UK‐EEA Eu ropean Free Trade Association (EF TA) Joint Committee which saw the signing of the agreement.

The cap is a world‐first in a Free Trade Agreement, keeping costs low for holidaymakers and busi ness travellers to Norway and Ice land.

International Trade Minister Conor Burns MP said: “This news builds on the landmark trade agree ment between the UK and Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, and is the first of its kind worldwide showing how the innovative trade deals we negotiate are bringing real benefits to British travellers.

Doesn’t come cheap

DEF LEPPARD bass guitarist Rick Savage has launched luxury clothing line Overnight Angels Crew which he has created with son Scott.

It seems that rock musi cians, no matter how suc cessful are always looking to become involved in new projects and despite set ting off on a US and UK Stadium Tour with other vintage metal bands Möt ley Crüe, Poison and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Savage is launching his clothing range.

Speaking about the launch which took place on Thursday September 22, Savage said: “The collec tion has been developed from a place of nostalgia, inspired by the title track of Ian Hunter’s 1977 album Overnight Angels.

“I had just been released from Sheffield United Foot ball Club and was at a cross roads in my life. It was that summer of ’77 that Def Lep pard formed and so I really wanted to pay homage to such a pivotal moment in my life. And to be able work

on this alongside my son, Scott, means so much more.”

The pair recruited Fash ion Designer, Nick Holland (who had previously launched successful fash ion brand, Pretty Green, with Oasis’ Liam Gallagher) to advise and assist and blend Savage’s vision to fuse the inspirations from music and fashion to cre

ate clothing that is disrup tive, evocative and con temporary in spirit.

It’s a style ideal for both young and old, male and female but if you check the brand website at https://overnight‐angels‐crew.com / you will see that it is aimed at lovers of metal with prices that might just be more shock than rock!

“I look forward to working with businesses across the UK to take ad vantage of deals that banish barri ers, boost jobs and save money.

Credit:

“Our trade deal with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein signed last year aims to boost critical sec tors like digital, financial, and pro fessional business services, slash tariffs on top‐quality British ex ports and support jobs in every cor ner of the UK.

“The new FTA allows UK mobile operators to offer their customers surcharge‐free mobile roaming in Norway and Iceland by creating a mechanism to cap the rates opera tors charge each other.”

With horror stories of British mo bile phone owners being charged significant amounts for using their phones throughout the European Union, many hope that something will be done to help those visiting or living in larger EU states such as Spain.

Glovo fine

THE popular Spanish home delivery service Glovo which was taken over by German company Delivery Hero last year has been fined a whopping €79 mil lion in respect of breach of Spanish labour laws con cerning some 10,000 riders in Barcelona and Valen cia.

According to the Spanish government, Glovo clas sified these workers as being self‐employed (autónomos) when in fact recent laws made it clear that they should have been given contracts and treated as employees with all of the benefits that would have entailed.

The company has indicated that it will dispute the decision based on the fact that part of the fine cov ers a period prior to the introduction of what is known as the ‘Riders Law’.

Tax the rich

ALREADY preparing for the 2023 budget, Span ish Minister of Finance Maria Jesus Montero ex plained in an interview on the laSexta television channel on Thursday September 22 that she is looking to introduce a temporary wealth tax in 2023 and 2024.

Whilst details are not yet totally formulated and need to be thrashed out with coalition part ners Podemos and then get through the Spanish parliament, she has her eyes set on millionaires and the top 1 per cent of the richest in Spain.

The government considers this to be similar in principle to the planned additional windfall tax es on energy companies.

SMALL STEP: Trying to keep costs low for holidaymakers and travellers.

NOT CHEAP: Scott and Rick modelling some of the clothes.

WHAT on earth is the BBC up to? On Friday I watched the Chancellor an nounce his ‘mini budget’ to the house.

It wasn’t exactly a mini, it was in fact a far‐reaching considerable growth plan to change and improve problematic situations that, due to a whole host of international difficulties and antiquated tax problems, have arisen over the past few years.

With their usual left wing bias the BBC, petrified that the right wing gov ernment they obviously hate, may have come up with possible answers, they contrived to attack the chancel lor’s new objectives with utter frenzy.

Ninety per cent of the business lead ers or politicians they interviewed or included in discussions were against the new directives.

What was even more distressing, and typically BBC, was the fact that all of the concerned ‘ordinary’ citizens they picked to be interviewed on camera, consisted of despairing peo ple living in run down accommoda tion or claiming benefits, and almost unbelievably all white! At the same

Distressing viewing

time they were showing vast num bers of black actors in their adverts, depicting most of them living in luxu rious homes and all participants of contentedly functioning prosperous families.

Just what is going on? This was al most the same anti‐capitalist fanciful rhetoric presented by the Nazi party in the 30s. What these woke leftie traitorous operatives are actually do ing is attempting to make the white majority of UK citizens feel vastly infe rior or substandard. No doubt they are hoping that coupled with all their other two‐ timing efforts, they will be able to convince the majority of UK citizens to vote for the left in the next election.

They are anticipating that when it comes to choosing the next govern ment, the black citizens will vote Labour because it supports them and offers a wonderful and successful fu ture and the white will vote left be cause things are becoming so tough and difficult to cope with they have to elect a different government. It’s ac tually quite clever ‐ they think. What is in fact happening is that 35 million white British citizens are not happy at

all, basically because those who make up the 15 per cent of citizens they have actually welcomed into the country since the 60s, all appear to be receiving more consideration than they are.

Those who are the British majority, with ancestors going back 1,000 years, are purposely being made to feel depressed and despondent about the future. Well I have news for the woke infested lefties, it simply won’t work! The British public is becoming sicker of it by the day.

After your scheming newscasters have piled on even more detrimental adversative right wing ideology over the next couple of years, you will find your left wing politicians will probably come up with the same number of votes as Corbyn and Diane Abbott did in the last election debacle, and my God ‐ you truly do deserve it.

Keep the faith Love Leapy leapylee2002@gmail.com

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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.

NOT WORTH IT

YOU say in Our View (Issue 1942) that some argue that Putin has been pushed into supporting a referendum by NATO. I would go further and say that the leader of the ter rorist state that is Russia was handed a good excuse for its invasion when Zelensky re fused to renounce his ambi tion of leading his country into NATO and when that organi sation undertook to give him its full support...

Now Sweden and Finland, want to join NATO. If we wish to avert a nuclear war these three countries should revert to their neutral status as buffer states between East and West… It’s just not worth it for either side.

George Tunnell

Spot on Nora

I’M a regular visitor to Spain and I’m emailing you to say that I always enjoy reading your Breaking Views articles in the EWN whenever I’m here. They really cheer me up in these uncertain times. Thanks, Nora ‐ well done and keep it up!

Sam Wallace

A royal credit

I WOULD just like to write about the impeccable behav ior of the young royals during recent weeks and how well they have conducted them selves during such an upset ting time in their lives. The whole world watching and they did themselves, their family and the UK proud. Par ents raising spoilt little brats please take note.

S Barry

Refused cash

I AM a retired professor from Cork, Ireland. Each September from 2017, I spend my vacation at Playa Vera. This year I was more than surprised when the new cash machine from Bank inter refused to give me cash

from my euro account with Bank of Ireland. I tried on differ ent days with no results. I could check my bank account but not get cash. Local people with cards had no problem. It seems very stupid to exclude from ser vicing foreign tourists.

D N

OUR VIEW

EXCHANGE RATE SNAGS

THERE used to be a British slang term for 2/6d (12.5p to day) as half a dollar because for decades, the exchange rate between sterling and the US dollar was consistently four to the pound.

Now as sterling has plunged to a record low of almost one to one, imports from the USA will be more expensive although conversely, exports will become cheaper which may benefit the UK economy.

More to the point however is that even though the euro is also suffering against the dollar, it is still relatively strong against sterling and in the past week or so, the ex change rate has dropped from €1.19 or thereabouts to €1.11 to the pound.

Many British pensioners who have chosen to live in Spain will be receiving their state and private pensions in sterling and few have seen any advantage following British government support for energy bills as Spain is not consid ered cold enough to warrant the winter allowance.

With times of inflation, British pensioners are being hit twice as they are having to pay more for food and energy than ever before, but they are receiving less in the way of euros as they convert their pensions.

Add to this, the decision by some UK banks to close ac counts of some of those no longer resident in Britain and the situation gets worse, although many, provided that they are comfortable with the internet, are moving to on line banking with the new companies such as Revolut and others.

Those who still keep UK accounts would be well advised not to transfer funds direct but to use one of the many trust ed international payment companies as they offer much better rates of exchange than the banks.

YEARS OF DECLINE

IN the last 80 years, human achieve ment has exceeded the wildest imagi nation of the post‐war era. Pioneers have discovered and developed inno vations that offer humanity greater op portunities, conveniences and com forts than ever before. In Europe we benefit from advances in technology, science, communications and flexible travel. From personal finance to in stant news, from organ transplants to digital photography, life is easier and more adventurous. So, with all this progress, why are we currently facing so many problems of utmost gravity?

The decline started gradually. The in creasing use of drugs in the 60s, rising crime in the noughties, abuse of social media in the teens.

In recent years, along with climate change, the decline has accelerated alarmingly. In 2016, the UK voted to leave the EU. In 2017, Trump became US President. In 2018, Bolsonaro stepped up the destruction of the rain forests and hence the planet. In 2019, China suppressed Hong Kong. In 2020 the world was hit by Covid; and 2021

saw a rapid increase in cyberattacks. But, in 2022, everything has come to gether. Russia invaded Ukraine, precip itating universal energy, food and dis tribution crises. China threatens Taiwan.

World economies are hit by rampant inflation. Unprecedented heatwaves and floods cause environmental havoc and human tragedy.

In Spain, as in other countries, de cline in standards is accelerating. Limit ed resources and lack of pride in one’s job result in trying to get by with mini mum care and effort. Response from public services, utility companies and even health authorities, already slow,

is getting worse. Incompetence, cor ruption and errors everywhere have in creased with nobody held accountable.

We have declining quality of goods in shops, ranging from sub‐standard food (both fresh and packaged) to poor packaging, lacklustre clothing and un reliable appliances. The service in many shops and bars in Axarquia is al most hostile. A general failure to keep appointments, often with no warning or apology, is utterly selfish.

In the UK, waiting times for ambu lances reached levels ranging from un acceptable to unbelievable.

There are crucial delays in urgent medical and dental treatment, police

reaction, passport and driving test ap plications, response to telephone calls; in airport departures and access to the port of Dover; in the payment of bene fits, compensation and tax refunds.

There also are strikes in numerous sec tors. It is frightening to see people struggling for financial survival and heartbreaking to imagine the hopeless predicament and suffering of people in the absence of a reliable health ser vice.

Such setbacks have always gone in cycles but, after considerable human inconvenience and suffering, the old order has eventually returned.

It has always been the same with na ture ‐ but, no longer. Owing to human interference, the blazing forest fires, the loss of flora and fauna, the barren plantations, dried up rivers and reser voirs all over Europe are symptomatic of a permanent, irreversible danger, that will almost certainly lead to the demise of our planet.

FORGET NEW YEAR - MAKE THAT FRESH START IN SEPTEMBER!

NORAJOHNSON BREAKINGVIEWS

EVER felt that September ‐ and not Jan uary ‐ is the real start of the New Year when, after the long summer break, kids are back at school and adults at work?

And when it comes to New Year’s resolutions, I always make mine in September. There’s less pressure on the diet that never happens, the Jan uary that’s rarely dry and at least the weather’s much nicer!

September always feels like a new beginning because of the change in routine. A time of fresh starts, self‐evaluation and, for travel operators, the inevitable post‐holi day complaints.

Complaints from British tourists about Spain are particularly telling. “Topless

sunbathing should be banned!” moaned one angry wife, “my husband spent all day ogling women.” “The street signs weren’t in English. How can anyone get around?” “The beach was too sandy.” “Local shopkeepers shouldn’t be lazy and close in the afternoons because I of ten needed to buy things during ‘siesta’ time.”

Good grief! What’s up with these guys? I’d be more than happy to wait for shops to open late for some re gional pastries to eat on that sandy beach. Be cause it would mean I WAS having a holiday! (Handsome hunks, an extra bonus!)

Nora Johnson’s criti cally acclaimed psycho logical crime thrillers (www.nora‐johnson.net) all available online in cluding eBooks (€0.99; £0.99), Apple Books, au diobooks, paperbacks at Amazon etc. Profits to Cudeca cancer charity.

Drug abuse leads to an increase in crime and to a declining way of life.

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

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Noraistheauthorofpopularpsychological suspenseandcrimethrillersandafreelancejournalist.

Nora’s latest thriller.

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Euro Weekly News leagues kick off in style

THE Walking Dead 60 began their season in fine style with a 4‐1 away win to new boys Torrox Tornedoes. Tor rox took the lead, but the more experienced Calahonda outfit were soon in level terms, and eventually rounded off the game with the three points.

Tornadoes manager Steve Lynton reflected on the game by saying that he was happy in general with the perfor mance, and that two er rors and the inexperi ence of his fledgling side

cost them. Nerja 50s and 60s kicked off their league campaigns at home to much improved AC Benahavis 50 and 60.

Benahavis has had a su perb pre‐season, and won the 60 game 5‐8 and the 50 game 3‐4, leaving the Parque Vera

no Azul stadium, with maximum points.

Benahavis manager tony Aiello said “pre‐season work paid off, thanks to Nerja who were great hosts.”

El Cañadon travel to Boca Seniors Competa 50 for both teams’ first games of the Euro Weekly Walking Foot ball League 50.

This will be an inter esting one, and a good gauge for both teams, as they enter the league for the first time.

Malaga 60 continue their pre‐season prepa rations against Boca 60s after beating Axarquia outfit Aston Viñuela 5‐1 in a pre‐season game last week. A report on both games will follow in next week’s edition.

For all other walking football news go to walkingfooty.com on Facebook.

Third diagnosis for Bundesliga

TWENTY-EIGHT-YEAR-OLD Hertha Berlin star Jean‐Paul Boetius has become the third Bun desliga player to be diagnosed with a testicular tumour in the last three months.

Following his teammate Marco Richter and Borussia Dortmund’s Sebastien Haller, Jean‐Paul Boetius worryingly became the third Bundesliga player to be diagnosed with a testicular tumour in the last three months.

The German side said on Thursday, September 22: “Jean‐Paul Boetius has been diagnosed with a testicular tumour following the results of a urological test.

“He will be out for the foreseeable future.

“The club will provide further information on Boetius’ recovery in due course. Until then we ask that everyone respects Jean‐Paul’s privacy during his recovery.”

Hertha sporting director Fredi Bobic added: “As tough as it is to hear at first, we are full of hope that Jean‐Paul will be able to recover and return to us as soon as possible.

“He will receive our full support until he re turns. The Hertha family are by his side, and wish him all the best.”

Top left Nerja and Benahavis, top right Malaga 60, bottom Torrox and The Walking Dead 60.