Mallorca 24 - 30 November 2022 Issue 1951

SPORTY FUNDING

SPORTS fans in Mal lorca will be pleased to hear that sports will receive a nice payout in the 2023 budget.

The councillor for Sports, Francisco Ducros, presented the budget of the Municipal Sports In stitute for 2023 on Monday, November 21 which will amount to €30,111,034.

The main invest ments planned for 2023 are the future municipal athletics track (€8 million), the remodelling of the Mare de Deu de Lluc football pitch (€835,000), the Palau d’Esports de Son Moix (€490,000) and funds for invest ment and mainte nance of municipal sports facilities (€400,000).

Aid, subsidies and sponsorships for sports clubs and women’s sports have increased by 10 per cent and a new line of sponsorship will be created for nonprofit sports clubs.

HUGE SUCCESS

THE Christmas market held on Saturday, November 19, was a huge success with over 30 stalls, not only from the Calanova Cancer Charity Shop, but an array of stalls selling all kinds of produce. From beautiful bunches of flowers with petals made from soap, cannabis oils and creams to amazing Christmas cakes and muffins by Shirley the famous cake lady, there really was something for everyone to enjoy.

Calanova Cancer raised an amazing €2,000.

People were certainly getting in the Christmas spirit bringing lots of new wrapped toys for the chil dren’s cancer charity AS PANOB.

Izzy Newman sang at the market and, as al ways, sang so beautifully and had people up danc ing.

The wonderful food of

Nova Mar Restaurant was outstanding, as was their generosity in do nating their terraces and tables for this first­time Christmas Cancer Event which will become an

annual event.

The organisers would like to thank everyone who came along, all those who donated and every one who worked hard to make the day so great!

Charity stalls.

Image: Calanova Cancer

IT has been a few years since Gordon Cox organised one of the Car Club rallies and it was worth the wait! Gordon organised the rally with the help of Chris Blunt called The Crows Fly Again Rally on Sunday, November 20.

The meeting point to both start and finish the rally was at Las Rias Baixas restaurant close to Festival Park for a 64km rally. There were a to tal of 35 people participating and 19 cars of various sorts.

Everyone enjoyed catch ing up before collecting the Tulip route instructions. One

Crows Fly Again Active ageing

PALMA’S Active Ageing Programme has been dis tinguished as one of the best local actions by the Spanish Network of Healthy Cities.

The councillor for Tourism, Health and Con sumer Affairs, Elena Navar ro, expressed her satisfac tion with the award. “It is a source of satisfaction that

member, Gaston is no fan of the Tulip route which was made even more difficult due to the fact that he was travelling on his own, but he did it with a smile as always! The route took the Car Club to Bunyola where there was a small problem for the later starters as the fire brigade had shut the road the group wanted to take due to a fallen tree from the bad weather the day before. Some made it through and enjoyed driving the full rally route, others had to find an alternative way.

this programme, which will reach 400 people over the age of 60 in Palma, has re ceived a nationwide distinc tion for promoting healthy lifestyles,” she said.

She added: “We are pleased that this pro gramme has received this state recognition; it is a programme that is proving very successful due to the proximity of the target population and the collab oration between entities and institutions in the neighbourhoods where it is implemented.”

The concept of Active Ageing is defined as the process of optimising op portunities for health, par ticipation and security in order to enhance the quali ty of life as people age and aims to extend healthy life expectancy and quality of life for all people as they age, including those who are frail, disabled and in need of care.

CLASSIC CARS: Everyone enjoyed catching up.

Image: Classic Car Club

Pretty prices

THE reformation of Palma’s Paseo Mallorca is already starting to push property prices up and foreign in vestors are showing a great deal of interest in front-line apartments. Presently, the cheapest property with sea views is €295,000, but most are in the region of €400,000.

Population boom

THE population of the Balearics is projected to in crease by 300,000 over the next 15 years but sociologist, Professor David Abril, states there are trends that point to a loss of population in the long term. A lower birth rate is one, while immigration may well decline.

Storm Denise

AFTER a wet and chilly week end, the week started with dreadful weather in Mallorca. The whole island was hit with a yellow alert for rain, storms, strong gusts of wind and rough seas. Storm Denise hit Palma with gusts of winds of 100 kilometres per hour.

Wind trouble

A MAN who broke wind a bit noisily in a bar offended a chap who, by way of revenge, later bit off part of his ear. The piece of ear was put in ice, and later sewn back on at the Son Espases Hospital.

Christmas spirit

IT was a rainy Saturday evening on November 19 but the weather couldn’t dampen the Christmas spirits. Crowds turned up for the official switching-on of the Christmas lights in Palma of which 90 per cent are new additions.

Porsche prang

IN the early hours of the morning on Saturday, November 19, a Porsche crashed into a set of traffic lights in Porto Pi, Palma. For tunately, the driver faired better than the car and was only slightly injured. The acci dent is currently under inves tigation.

MANACOR Town Council wants drinkable tap water to be available to every household in the city.

The mayor of Manacor, Miquel Oliver, went to the facilities of the Manacor Service Company (SAM) in the agri-food industrial es tate on Monday, Novem ber 22, where the new in frastructure will be located.

The water available for supply to the city of Mana cor is currently not suit able for human consump tion due to the high concentration of nitrates, with values well above the limits required by health regulations.

This new infrastructure

ON Monday, November 21, Calvia Town Hall signed a collaboration agreement with SOS Animal to allow them to use municipal sites to carry out their good work.

The councillor for Youth and Citizen Participation, Marga Plomer, pointed out: “Animal welfare has always been a priority for Calvia Town Hall. I can only thank the tireless work and sensitivity shown by SOS Animal and all the entities

Water on tap

Tap wateShutterstock.com/ r.classen

get of €3,808,730 and a completion period of eight months. It is estimated that by 2024 drinking wa ter from the tap will reach all the households in the centre of Manacor.

On its way

THE construction of the Llevant train will begin in 2023, with the tender and start of works on the Manacor urban tramway and coordination meet ings have already begun between the govern ment and the Manacor Town Council.

will remedy the situation that has existed since the 1980s when the water

supply service was set up. The drinking water treatment plant has a bud

Animal pact

that work every day for the animals.

“With this agreement, SOS Animal will be able to make use of municipal premises to continue work ing for animals in need.”

The non-profit organisa tion founded in 1995 with headquarters in Calvia was started with the sole pur pose to defend animal

rights. It carries out differ ent activities of protection, collection, care and atten tion to abandoned ani mals.

It has been collaborating

Ciao

MANACOR is gaining popularity and is now featuring in a number of Italian publications that specialise in travel.

The new infrastructure will be constructed on the site of the SAM’s water supply. The process will be divided into three lines in order to adapt to the pop ulation’s demand and to be able to alternate lines for maintenance and con servation.

with the town hall in terms of animal protection pro jects, as well as through talks in the primary educa tion schools of the munici pality to raise awareness amongst students in the treatment and care that animals should receive in the human environment.

The full route estab lished foresees the sign ing of an agreement be tween Manacor Town Council and the Regional Ministry of Mobility and Habitat to formalise the different works that are being carried out to resell the passage of the train from Llevant to Manacor.

The agreement in cludes the creation of a Monitoring Commission in which both institutions will work together to reach a consensus on the project and thereby make progress on the re opening of the Llevant train.

FINE diners will be pleased to hear that a Mallorcan restaurant has been awarded the honour of the Michelin Star. Added to the others already received, Mallorca is now the proud owner of a total of 11 stars.

On Tuesday, November 22 at the Palacio de Congresos in Toledo, chef, Javier Hoebeeck of Fusion 19 in Playa de Muro, became the latest proud owner.

One Michelin Star is awarded to restaurants using top­quality ingredients, where dishes with distinct flavours are prepared to a consistently high standard. Two Michelin Stars are awarded when the personality and talent of the chef are evident in their expertly craft ed dishes; their food is refined and inspired.

According to the Michelin Guide 2022, there were 226 Michelin­starred restaurants in Spain.

The content related to the town of Manacor is the result of the press conference that the councillor of Tourism, Maria Antonia Truyols, offered last October at the Interactive Multi media Centre of Tures pana in Rome. The event was part of the Sant Domingo Cultural Association’s trip to Rome.

Guida viaggi, Lo Strillo, Primapress, Master Viag gi, Fogli e viaggi, Identity style, L’Agenzia di viaggi Magazine and Taccuino di Viaggio have dedicated articles focused on the cultural and natural her itage of Manacor.

Maria Antonia Truyols presented the geography,

history, heritage and cul ture of the town of Man acor to a group of Italian journalists specialising in tourism. She was accom panied by the head of the Interactive Multimedia Centre, Maite Marin, and the director of the Span ish Tourist Office, Gonza lo Ceballos.

The recovery of this Manacor-Arta railway corridor is part of the Mo bility Master Plan ap proved in 2019, which envisaged that this rail way infrastructure would re-establish the historic connection between the towns of the region, while at the same time providing an opportunity to link up with the coastal areas that also needed to improve their connectivi ty.

WATER

Michelin Star.

Environmental talks

THE latest edition of the ANEPMA (National Associa tion of Public Environmental Companies) Environ mental Technical Conference was held in Palma on November 22, 23 and 24.

ANEPMA brings together 51 public companies that manage municipal, provincial or regional environ mental services, especially those related to waste management and the road network.

It also has 38 collaborating companies, mainly com panies in the same sector. The annual conferences are the most important meeting point for the sector in Spain.

At the event, 400 technicians and representatives of local institutions from 14 autonomous communi ties and more than 35 companies from the sector met at the Palma Conference Centre. The event has had an economic impact in Palma of around €700,000.

The aim of the conference was to present and de bate the main technical innovations in the field of en vironmental management.

Round table discussions and presentations dealt with a range of technical and topical issues such as waste collection systems, to ethical management and corporate social responsibility.

Local Police Day

THE annual Calvia Local Police Day celebration has resumed after a twoyear break due to the Covid­19 pandemic.

On Friday, November 18, the mayor, Alfonso

Rodriguez Bada, congrat ulated all the distin guished police officers and made a public recog nition of the police ac tions that were carried out during a season with

Clever youngsters

A BRILLIANT job well done by the students from Sant Josep Obrer School who have won the first prize in the PalmaActiva Competition for Student En trepreneurial Projects.

The prize consists of €2,300 worth of technological equipment for the students and €1,000 for the school. Their winning project is a social network for animal lovers.

The competition has now reached its 10th anniver sary and is a competition of business ideas for schools in which a business idea is analysed for a business plan.

The main aim of the competition is to collect and disseminate the entrepreneurial culture among the students of Palma’s schools.

The students have taken part in competitions at the Sant Josep Obrer and Escola EDIB schools.

These centres have presented seven projects to the final phase of the competition.

The councillor for Economic Promotion and Employ ment, Jordi Vila confirmed: “This competition aims to stimulate the position in the network of business ini tiatives, improve the training of future entrepreneurs and promote entrepreneurial culture in Palma.”

very high tourist activity.

The mayor congratu lated the Calvia Local Po lice as a group but also pointed out the impor tance of congratulating individuals.

He said: “Citizens think of the police as a guaran tor of their safety and coexistence. In a munici pality where we receive more than a million tourists a year, this is of great value as a public service. Calvia knows that it has a good Local Police force.”

The councillor of the Local Police, Nati Frances, highlighted the good work carried out that has resulted, for ex ample, in the success of the tourist season and in its key role in the fight against drunkenness tourism.

She congratulated the Government Delegation on the support that Local Police has received from the Guardia Civil this year, which has in creased its presence in the area.

Fancy a dip?

GOING for a dip in the new swimming pool at l’Aigua Dol ca will soon be a reality as the May or of Palma, Jose Hila, has con firmed that the works are pro gressing smoothly.

The works are currently 15 per cent complete.

The forecast is that during the first and second quarters of 2023 the structure will be finished; during the second and third quarters, the facilities will be built and, finally, during the last quarter of 2023 the new municipal infrastructure will be finished.

The proposed opening of the fa cilities is set for the beginning of 2024.

The president of the Consell de Mallorca, Catalina Cladera, congratu lated Palma Town Hall “for recover ing an emblematic space in the city which will provide Palma with a new, sustainable and energy­efficient public sports in frastructure.”

CONGRATULATIONS: To all the distinguished police officers of Calvia.

Image: Calvia City Council

Ahead of expectations

PALMA DE MALLORCA’S airport is flying high and is expecting the pre­Covid19 traffic recovery to hap pen sooner than antici pated.

The Spanish Airports and Air Navigation group (AENA) expect to recover the pre­pandemic traffic levels in 2024 (about 275 million passengers), ahead of the initial esti mate. The number of trav ellers in its network in

Spain is expected to be a whopping 300 million by the end of the period cov ered by the Plan.

This recovery is already underway and is taking place across the AENA network without the op erational problems severely impacting other European airports where the recovery figures are lower.

AENA’s CEO, Maurici Lu cena, confirmed: “This

growing traffic will be managed at the quality levels that have success fully been delivered throughout the challeng ing summer of 2022.

“Spain’s recovery has been more robust than at our European peers’ Air ports. Any disruption we have suffered has partial ly been driven by the op erational problems suf fered in the European sector.”

ON the occasion of the European Waste Preven tion Week, which takes place from November 19 until November 27, Calvia Town Hall has launched a series of actions to, as ex plained by the councillor of the Environment and Ecological Transition, Rafel Sedano, “raise pub lic awareness on the sus tainable management of resources and recycling, with one of the focuses

Waste reduction

placed on textile materi als.”

The European initiative has planned a week to publicise recycling strate gies, promote sustainable actions and change daily behaviour in terms of consumption and waste, amongst others.

Waste reduction is an emergency for the Euro

pean Union. Household waste has doubled in weight since 1970 and stayed at a high level for 15 years. In 2018, 492 kg of municipal waste was generated per person in the EU Member States. This waste is the result of non­sustainable modes of production and consump tion.

Thankful for Thanksgiving

POPULAR American holiday Thanksgiving is becoming in creasingly fashionable across Europe too, both with US ex pats and those who just want to get involved in the festive fun.

This year it is celebrated on Thursday, November 24 and the day has a fascinating his tory.

In the United States,

Thanksgiving history is al most always traced back to 1621 and the event is commonly known as the First Thanksgiving. It was celebrated by the Pilgrim Fathers, a group of European settlers of the Plymouth Colony, which is today part of the state of Massachusetts.

The Pilgrims were celebrat ing their first harvest in the

New World and marked the occasion with a lavish three­day feast, which was attended by both Pil grims and Native Americans. It is believed that the Pilgrims

were influenced by similar practices in Europe.

In the aftermath, many oth er colonies set aside specific days for giving thanks to God for their blessings. A procla mation from George Wash ington in 1789 led to Thanks giving becoming a national celebration and it was made into a federal holiday, on the fourth Thursday of Novem ber, by Abraham Lincoln in 1863.

Today, in the United States, the Thanksgiving celebration largely centres around eating a large meal, which almost al ways includes turkey. Other traditional foods eaten on Thanksgiving include pump kin pie, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce.

Typically, Americans will spend the day with their fami ly or a group of friends and give thanks for the things they feel fortunate to have in their lives.

This sometimes has a reli gious element, with many people attending religious ser vices or saying a prayer before eating their meal.

While Spain itself does not celebrate Thanksgiving, there are an incredible 38,812 American expats living in the country, sparking a rise in the number of businesses and in dividuals finding their own way to mark this special day.

Roast turkey is traditional.

Pumpkins are popular too.

Pies Shutterstock.com/ Oksana Mizina

Anti-corruption agency

Betty Henderson

A MAJOR international organisation hosted its General Assembly in Madrid from November 15 to 17.

The GLOBE network (Global Operational Net work of Anti­Corruption Law Enforcement Au thorities) brought to gether more than 120 professionals in the field for the crucial interna tional event.

Madrid played host as the conference was held

outside of Vienna for the first time in its history. Spain also currently holds presidency of the organisation through its Guardia Civil, National Police and Antifraud Ser vice, and will hold this role for the next three years.

The GLOBE network was created in 2021 by a United Nations agency to fight the scourge of cor ruption, as a network of corruption experts that investigate possible cas

es of corruption and fraud. To date, 125 agen cies from 69 countries have signed up to the network.

During the conference, a Plenary meeting was attended by more than 170 experts, discussing current and future cor ruption threats faced by member states.

THE Spanish Data Protec tion Agency (Agencia Es pañola de Protección de Datos), on November 19, has fined a courier firm €70,000 for delivering a parcel to a neighbour of the addressee, absent from his home, without his consent.

The claimant had placed an order over the Internet which, due to his absence, was delivered to one of his neighbours,

No one home

without prior notice and, therefore, without his ex press consent.

The owner of the pack age originally filed a claim against the online seller, which the court rejected, and so he lodged an ap peal, accusing the deliv ery company of breaching his personal data rights.

Finding in his favour,

Licence agreement

HUGH ELLIOTT, British Ambassador to Spain, announced some positive news for British expats in Spain and the Balearics affected by the driving li cence headache, which left many Spanish residents from the UK unable to drive in the country, unless they sat a driving test.

The ambassador said on Friday, November 18: “Today we have made a significant step forward. You may recall that we have been in discus sions with the Spanish for some

weeks over two outstanding, complex issues.

“I’m pleased to be able to tell you that we have now reached an agree ment on those two points.

“So we will now take forward the remaining steps including legal checks, securing ministerial approval on both sides, and the necessary treaty processes and formal ex changes.”

While no exact time frame has been given, it appears that it is just bu

Train operator launches

THE red­coloured Iryo passenger trains belong ing to Spain’s third high­speed train network company will begin their commercial opera tion on Friday, November 25.

With an investment of €800 million made in this new enterprise, they join Renfe’s AVE and Ouigo convoys, along with the low­cost brand operator AVLO, in offering competitive rail travel to passengers in Spain, according to a national news outlet. Unlike AVLO and Ouigo, which took eight and 17 months, respectively,

the AEPD held that the courier company had transferred the com plainant’s data to a third party without his con sent, which entails a breach of the principles of integrity and confidential ity in the General Data Protection Act and fined the courier a total of €70,000.

A significant step forward.

reaucracy that stands in the way of li cences being exchanged.

Once sorted, British residents in Spain will have another six­month grace period to exchange their licence for a Spanish one, in which time they can continue to use a valid UK licence.

In protest

to reach their second destination of Valencia, Iryo will do so almost immediately on Decem ber 16. They then plan to continue inaugurat ing more connections throughout the country in 2023. Iryo plans to arrive in the Andalucian cities of Sevilla, Malaga, Antequera, and Cor doba, on March 31. Alicante on June 2, 2023.

Spain’s newest train operator said its pro posal is complementary to the current one: “of high quality, with competitive prices, and a suf ficient number of frequencies.”

A HUGE protest in Madrid saw at least 200,000 people take to the streets to de mand improvements to the public healthcare system and defend it against privatisa tion.

The protest on Sunday November 13 was organised by health unions and work ers, community groups and left­wing political parties.

Protestors expressed their concerns at increasing pri vatisation of the public healthcare system and its re structuring by the regional government. Some medical professionals in the region are already on strike over the new model for healthcare, with 5,000 GPs expected to join them.

The restructuring of the public health system in Madrid has been criticised for the heavy workload it gives doctors, and lack of pa tient­oriented care it gives.

Madrid’s regional rightwing government dismissed the protest calling it ‘a re sounding failure’, also accus ing left­wing political parties of taking advantage of fears about changes to the system.

Shutterstock.com/mundissima

More than 170 experts in anti-corruption attended the GLOBE network’s Plenary in Madrid.

Photo credit: GLOBE network (by email)

The cost of living longer

BY making the lifestyle choice to retire in Spain, you’ll want to make the most of what the coun try has to offer, hopefully well in to the future. This may be longer than you expect. Thanks to medi cal advances and a better quality of life, people are generally living longer than before.

Living to a ripe old age does sound appealing, provided we are healthy enough. There are, howev er, implications at both personal and government levels, with the key issue being: can we afford it?

The longer we live, the longer we need our savings to last. For peace of mind, assess whether your re sources are on track to last through out your lifetime.

Income and inflation

The inflation levels we have seen this year are certainly an eye-opener on how it can impact our monthly living costs, but even low levels, compounded year after year, will re duce how far a fixed income will

By Cathal Rochford, Partner, Blevins Franks

stretch in the future.

Say, for example, you spend €5,000 a month. Assuming an in flation rate of 3% a year, in 10 years’ time you could need €6,720 a month to maintain the same spending, and €9,030 in 20 years. Your capital and income would need to grow by the same amount to maintain the same standard of living.

Making your savings and in vestments last

Many retirees favour safer invest ments like bank deposits in their later years. But with a potential 30 years or more to fund in retirement, this can be a risky strategy.

British expatriates also need to factor in exchange rate risk. If you receive income in pounds while spending euros daily, depending on currency movements you may find your money does not go as far.

By following some key invest ment principles and taking special ist guidance you can invest your capital to give it the opportunity to keep pace with inflation, while keeping risk to a comfortable level. Start by establishing your risk pro file then carefully build a well-diver sified portfolio to suit your circum stances, needs and objectives.

A taxing problem – not just for governments

Rising life expectancy is expen sive for governments. The higher

the proportion of older people, the greater the costs of services like state pensions and healthcare – and with fewer taxpayers to fund it. The solution usually lies in pen sion or healthcare reforms and tax increases to finance these escalating expenses.

Higher taxation can be a threat to your financial security in retirement as it also erodes income. Person alised tax planning is vital to make use of available opportunities so you do not pay more tax than nec essary.

With many arrangements you can combine your tax and invest ment planning in one exercise, al lowing you to tackle the twin threats of tax and inflation.

Getting the most from your pensions

Pensions are often the key to fi nancial security in retirement. Care fully weigh the pros and cons of all your options. Consider your in come needs, investment options

and risk, currency risk, tax implica tions and what happens on death.

There may be ways to make pen sion funds go further, but take reg ulated advice to avoid pension scams and establish the best ap proach for your objectives and cir cumstances.

Leaving wealth behind

Estate planning is complex –more so for expatriates who have to consider the inheritance regime of two countries and how they inter act, and navigate foreign inheri tance taxes and succession laws. Spain, for example, imposes forced heirship. If your family includes children from previous marriages, be particularly careful to ensure ev eryone benefits in accordance with your wishes.

Whatever your stage of life, good financial planning can help you af ford the lifestyle you want, for as long as you need, so you can focus on enjoying your retirement in Spain.

With great sadness

THE great Latin American singer Pablo Milanés passed away in Madrid in the early hours of Tuesday, Novem ber 22.

A statement on the singer, songwriter and teacher’s social media pages said: “With great pain and sadness, we regret to in form that the teacher Pablo Milanés has died this morn ing of November 22 in Madrid.

“We deeply appreciate all the expressions of affection and support, to all his family

and friends, in these difficult times. It will remain eternal ly in our memory,” wields a statement released on the artist’s social networks.”

The 79­year­old Cuban born musician died after be ing hospitalised suffering

Top pizza

SPAIN’S Grosso Napoletano pizza chain has been named as the third best in the world by ‘The Top 50 Artisan Pizza Chains 2022.’

The award announced on Monday, November 21 at an awards ceremony in Madrid, sees the chain join the top Ital ian pizza makers from around the world in the top 10.

The pizzas were ranked by judges from across the world who all take an active interest in the traditional food from Napoli, Italy.

Among the items that go into the decision to choose the best pizza are presentation, preparation, customer service and the quality of the products.

Da Michele, the Amalfi Coast based chain took top spot followed by France’s Big Mamma Group. Da Michele, the his toric Neapolitan brand created by the Condurro family, has been producing pizzas for more than 150 years and has now expanded as far afield as Japan, England, Spain, the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Germany.

Almost everyone loves a good pizza, and it seems the place to go in Spain is Grosso Napoletano, who have been named as the third best pizza chain in the world.

from a type of blood cancer, with his health having dete riorated badly over the last three months.

According to a national news outlet, Milanés moved to Madrid after failing to re ceive treatment for the ill ness in his home country.

Milanés, two­time Gram my winner and a recipient of the statuette for musical excellence was dueto hit the road with several shows scheduled.

The great Latin American singer will long be remem bered for his love songs like ‘Yolanda’, ‘El breve espacio’ or ‘Ámame como soy’, which combined Latin music with other genres that cov ered jazz, rumba, bolero or others.

ON Thursday November 17 the Spanish Supreme court found a Facebook user liable for failing to delete offensive comments published by third parties on his public profile, since he had the tools and control to enable him to do so.

The Court of Appeal had found that the comments were not sufficiently offen sive or serious to infringe the subject’s ‘right to honour’.

However, the Supreme Court decided that the own er of the profile, despite not having made the comments himself, could not simply dis regard what is published on

High and dry

‘DROUGHT alert’ water restric tions will be imposed this week on Barcelona and the surrounding áreas due to a drought alert.

Speaking with reporters on, Tuesday, November 22, Patri cia Plaja, the spokeswoman for the regional government of Catalonia, announced that the city of Barcelona and sur rounding areas will be placed under a ‘drought alert’ from Friday November 25.

Other parts of Catalonia in the northeastern region of Spain have already had water use restrictions imposed upon them. Due to the ongoing ef fects of the drought, the filling of swimming pools is prohibit ed. Factories, farmers, and live stock breeders have also been forced to cut down on the amount of water they use.

“Months of little rain has forced us to take new deci sions in order to minimise the consequences of this drought. Catalonia will face longer and more intense periods of drought,” explained Plaja.

Water rationing for domes tic use will not be imposed though, as reported by a na tional news outlet.

Around 7.7 million people will be affected by Friday’s alert, equivalent to 60 per cent of the total population of Cat alonia.

According to AEMET, the State Meteorological Agency, reservoirs in Spain currently contain just 32.5 per cent of their capacity.

Since records began in 1961, 2022 has been the fourth­dri est year ever, with this Octo ber the hottest on record.

Facebook fine

This means that if some one posts offensive com ments on your page, you are now under a duty of reactive diligence and care that obliges you to delete them immediately, otherwise you will be held liable for the damage caused.

Order of merit

SPANISH chef Jose Andres has been awarded Ukraine’s Order Of Merit, by president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for his work with the World Central Kitchen (WCK).

Andres is on the front line of the war in Ukraine working with the WCK and as a reward for his unmis takable courage and en deavour, he was on, Tues day, November 22, awarded the Order of Merit by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

During the conflict, Jose found himself constantly in danger of being blown up by Russian missiles. He has had some pretty close calls as he moved be tween the different re gions setting up kitchens to feed the starving, often homeless, Ukrainian popu lation.

his profile by other users be cause, according to the judges, he was responsible for not deleting the com ments from his public profile once he saw them.

The Supreme Court found that the user should have taken action to protect the victims of the comments and ordered the Facebook user to pay compensation of €3,000.

Jose has kept the world up­to­date with the situa tion in Ukraine with regu lar posts on his Twitter profile. This afternoon he wrote: “Long way to go but Kherson city is slowly getting the aid of other agencies. Supermarkets are opening slowly… but not money! We are al ready in many villages around Kherson too… wa ter too! With no electricity hot meals are necessary in some locations!”

GO LOCAL

WHEN YOU GO SHOPPING GO LOCAL!

Account holder responsible for undeleted comments.

Shutterstock.com/ Chinnapong

Singer, Pablo Milanés.

Everyone needs a Marie Carmen

BUYING a home in Spain is different from the US. Here, it is nor mal for the house to come completely fur nished. Great, if you are moving from overseas and have nothing but suitcases.

Not so great if you have lived here and fur nished an apartment before buying your for ever home.

When we moved to our house, we were un aware that when our moving vans arrived from our apartment in Valencia that they would be unloading our personal furniture into a fully furnished home. Surprise! There was no room for it in the house. Luckily, a superhero would arrive at the

scene in the nick of time.

Our new neighbour, Marie Carmen, popped over to welcome us with a wheelbarrow full of vegetables from her garden.

She swiftly diagnosed the problem and got on her mobile phone. A man arrived in a lorry pulling a trailer. Then she worked magic, or ganising the movers, the trailer guy, and me.

Via sign language, Google translate and my broken español, Marie Carmen, with whom we had been acquainted for less than an hour, whipped us all into shape, extracting the furniture we didn’t want into the trailer, while marshalling the movers to unload our furniture into the house

and the overflow into the barn.

It took a few hours. Afterwards, Marie Car men smiled then left. As we sat on our sofa, Jeff shook his head.

“How did all that just happen?” he asked, amazed.

I had no answer. All I know is that everyone needs a Marie Carmen.

Do you know a Marie Carmen?

Has someone in Spain done you a good turn?

Say thank you by nominating them for Age in Spain’s Good Neighbour Award.

The winner will re ceive a formal letter of recognition from the UK Ambassador to Spain... and enjoy a celebration dinner for two. To nomi nate someone, click on www.ageinspain.org

Joint effort

A SPANISH and British ship building consor tium has won a £1.6 billion contract to build three supply vessels for the UK Navy.

Announced by Ben Wallace the Minister of Defence on Wednesday, November 16, the contract has special significance given Brexit and the sensitivity of defence contracts.

Navantia’s British subsidiary will complete the work in partnership with Harland & Wolff and BMT, and is said to include the technolo gy transfer of the latest in digital equipment.

The ships will be second only to the aircraft

carriers in length measuring some 216 me tres each and will be built in the Harland & Wolff shipyards in Belfast (Northern Ireland) and those of Appledore (west of the United Kingdom).

Key work will also be undertaken in the Navantia shipyard in Puerto Real in Cadiz, however the integration of the ships and their systems will take place entirely in Belfast.

The three ships, on which work will begin in 2025, will supply supplies and ammunition to Royal Navy ships deployed on missions.

Peter McLaren­Kennedy

DESTROYER: Three new vessels are to be built for the UK Navy.

Credit Navantia website

• November 24, 12am, Fool House, Shamrock, Palma Mallorca

• November 25, 11pm - 2am, Layonline, Shamrock, Palma Mallorca

• November 25, 11.45pm, MamaKin, Hogan’s Live Music, Sports Bar & Restaurant, Palma Mallorca

• November 26, 7pm - 12am, Malasana and Old Noise, Shamrock, Palma Mallorca

• November 26, 11.45pm, MamaKin, Hogan’s Live Music, Sports Bar & Restaurant, Palma Mallorca

• November 26, 9pm - 11pm Jigger Band, Three Lions Pub, Palma Mallorca

• November 26, 8pm Mallorca Live Nights, 2022, Quique Gonzalez, Sala Es Gremi, Palma Mallorca

• November 27, 12am, Jaime y Pep, Open mic and jam, Shamrock, Palma Mallorca

Gaudi’s unknown works

ART fans will be delighted to hear of the Gaudí i les Quaranta Hores exhibition where it will be possible to see the discovery of three unknown works by Antoni Gaudi.

The councillor for Cul ture and Social Welfare, Antoni Noguera, ex plained about the discov ery of the two unknown works by Antoni Gaudi in the monastery of Santa Elisabet (better known as Sant Jeroni) in Palma.

In addition to these two works, there is a tapestry that belonged to the col lection of Guillem Puigserver Munar and which undoubtedly formed part of the same project.

Pere Terrasa, conserva tor and restorer of cultural assets, was making an in ventory of the convent’s collection and identified two tapestries in the shrine which differed from the rest of the collection. The third tapestry was dis

covered in a private collec tion. The authentication of the three tapestries was accredited to Historian Maria Gargante.

The discovery can be seen at Can Balaguer Cul tural Centre which will be open from November 25 until February 28.

Voulez-Vous

ABBA is one of the world­renowned musical groups that contributed to the music and style of the 70s and 80s.

Their catchy melodies and unique style has brought magic into the lives of many of us, and they will be remembered for generations to come thanks to the inclusion of their most popular songs in film soundtracks, musicals, tributes and compilations published over the years.

ABBA The New Experience continues to spread the greatest ABBA hits with a talented musical stage show. Performing songs with the same quality, ele gance and magic with which the Swedish group con quered, and continues to conquer, the charts.

With more than six years of professional career, ABBA The New Experience has performed at presti gious events and venues.

Grab your dancing shoes and see the magic at The Trui Teatre, Cami Son Rapinya, 29, 07013 Palma. The Musical extravaganza is on December 9 at 9.00pm.

For more information go to the website trui teatre.es or call (+34) 971 783 279.

Fans of Egypt are in for a treat

EGYPTOLOGY fans are in for a treat as they can now en joy a macro exhibition to celebrate two important events in the development of the science of Egyptolo gy: 200 years since the deci pherment of the hiero glyphic language thanks to the Rosetta Stone, and 100 years since the discovery of the tomb of Pharaoh Tu tankhamun.

The exhibition also in cludes several recreations and dioramas of Egyptian tombs, videos, workshops and guided tours for schools and groups inter ested in this fascinating civilisation.

The exhibition ‘Treasures of Egypt’ is curated by Javier Vilar, who has made regular trips and study ex peditions to the land of the Pharaohs for more than two decades and has given courses and lectures on the subject in Spain, Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.

He confirmed: “After decades of teaching the his tory, language, art and reli gion of Ancient Egypt, it is a pleasure for me to present this didactic and experien tial exhibition in Mallorca, which I hope will arouse the interest and curiosity of visitors.”

The exhibition is held at the Centre for History and Military Culture of the Balearic Islands on Calle San Miguel 69, Palma, and will be open to visitors until January 7 next year.

For more information vis it www.fundacion sophia.com.

Image: Merydolla/Shutterstock.com

Historical fun

ART fans are in for a treat when they visit the small mu seum of Mallorca.

The collection of arts at the Museum has grown ex traordinarily and is divided into different sections: ar chaeology, ethnography, fine arts and decorative and in dustrial arts. The Museum is a scientific and cultural centre that aims to satisfy the research, educational and leisure needs of different types of users. It is also a place open to scientific research, study and consultation, learn ing, exploration, discovery and enjoyment, all related to the history, art and culture of the island of Mallorca.

Palma City Council acquired the building in 1971, it was gifted to the state so that the Museum of Mallorca could be installed there, at that time and since its cre ation it has been housed in the Casa de Cultura. The first rooms were opened to the public in 1976.

The museum is located at Calle de la Portella, 5. Palma (07001). For further information email museudemallor ca@dgcultur.caib.es or call (+34) 971 597 995.

Arty award

CCA are delighted to announce its collaboration with Untitled Art, as part of the newly launched initiative Untitled Art Prizes.

Through the CCA Andratx Artist­in­Residence Prize 2022, one participating artist of this year’s fair will be invited to stay at the renowned CCA Andratx as an Artist­in­Residence, in 2023. For more than 20 years, CCA Andratx has been wel coming artists from all around the world.

In its studios located in the core of the World Heritage Site Sierra de Tramuntana, artists find a unique space of retreat that allows them to cre ate at the island’s own rhythm and nature.

Thanks to the commitment towards culture and exchange of the local community, the artist recipient of this prize will be invited to stay for a one­month long stay at the studios at no cost. Transport costs will also be fully funded.

For information visit www.ccandratx.eu/exhi bitions/untitled­art­prize

Christmas fair fun

WITH Christmas just around the corner thoughts of Christmas gifts might cross your mind. Why not head down to Palma’s Christmas and Epiphany Fair (Fira de Nadal i Reis) which has now opened its doors and will remain open until January 6 from 10.00am until 9.00pm.

This year there will be a total of 194 stalls, which is 62 more than last year.

The increase is possible thanks to the completion of the Covid­19 health measures, which have made it possible to increase the space occupied with more booths, recovering the distribution of be fore the pandemic. In some

places, such as the Placa Major, the number of stalls has in creased from 14 in 2021 to the current 50.

The aim of the Fair is to main tain Christmas traditions and pro mote crafts, especially those products that bring originality and uniqueness, or that have spe cial value from an environmental, social and solidarity point of view.

As usual, the markets on the Rambla, via Roma, Placa d’Es panya and Placa de la Porta Pinta da will sell ceramics, leather, en gravings, jewellery, metalwork, textiles, art, as well as food prod ucts and much much more!

Unearthing Egypt.

MPs can now claim Christmas parties on their expenses fol lowing new guidance from the Independent Parliamen tary Standards Authority (IP SA). The advice issued on Tuesday, November 22 said that MPs can cover the cost of food and drink on their ex penses for the first time, but that they cannot claim the cost of any alcohol.

The cost of festive decora tions can also be claimed for both parliamentary and con

Xmas paid

stituency offices.

IPSA also said that MPs should be mindful of the cost of living crises and that claims: “should represent value for money, especially in the cur rent economic climate.”

Speaking on behalf of the the Taxpayers Alliance, John O’Connell said: “MPs who want Christmas bashes

should foot the bill them selves.”

The news that MPs’ Christ mas parties can be claimed on expenses will not go down well with the country’s elec torate who have all had to tighten their belts and scale down their Christmas festivi ties under the current govern ment.

Local skill base

IMMIGRATION Minister

Robert Jenrick has told UK business that they should be training locals and not look ing to foreign talent to plug skills gaps.

Speaking at the Confeder ation of British Industry (CBI) on Monday, November 21, Jenrick said that there are more than five million un employed people in the UK and that businesses should be looking to provide them

with the skills rather than im porting people who already have them.

Tony Danker, the CBI Di rector General, had called on government to allow for businesses to attract the tal ent they need to grow their businesses, making refer ence to the more than one million vacancies currently advertised.

But Jenrick said the gov ernment did not agree with

the need to attract skills from abroad and that they are committed to reducing net migration and that busi ness needed to do more to build the local skills base.

In principal businesses agreed with the immigration minister, however many will say that either a lack of more fundamental skills and moti vation amongst the unem ployed make the task easier said than done.

Celebrity round up

AFTER two weeks in the jungle the contestants are just coming to terms with their new way of life, and as things settle down the evic tions start with the viewers deciding who they want to stay in camp. Three celebri ties have already been evict ed with Loose Women pre senter and journalist Charlene White the first to go. It came to light that se cretly, the campmates were all terrified of being the first to leave. This was not be cause of the shame of going first, but due to the fact that nobody could stand the hu miliation of leaving before Matt Hancock.

The public had voted Matt to do six consecutive trials as the show entered its second week. He was so successful though that even tually the viewers stopped choosing him.

The prize for the biggest failure so far must surely go to DJ Chris Moyles. He came

out of the ‘Boiling Point’ trial with only one star, although he had collected two but dropped one of them and lost it.

Mike and Jill totally smashed the show’s famous disgusting drinking chal lenge, collecting all the stars by downing everything that was served to them. Mike even said one of the mix tures tasted nice!

Sleeping in the comfort able beds inside the RV has caused a lot of headaches. Firstly, Charlene refused to share with Matt, claiming that a big spider had scared

her. It was later revealed that she felt it went against her principles to sleep in the same space as the politician.

Sue and Mike were next to be given the luxury ac commodation. After one night, Sue could not stand Mike’s snoring and chose to sleep outside instead.

Television presenter Scar lette was the second celeb to be evicted from the jun gle. She was followed out on Monday, November 21, by Coronation Street actress Sue. When Ant and Dec in formed her that she was leaving, she was delighted.

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I’M A CELEBRITY: At the ‘Speak Uneasy Trial’.

Calvia Mallorca

CALVIA, located on the beautiful island of Mallor ca, is one of the most pop ular destinations for tourists and expatriates to want to either move to or visit for holidays due to its warm climate, stunning white sand beaches, sparkling crystal­clear sea, historical value, and abun dance of amenities.

With various beaches to visit all throughout Calvia and more than 10 beaches having been awarded and flying the blue flag for quality from the Founda tion for Environmental Ed ucation.

The beach is the perfect place to go to relax and en joy the sun, sand, and sea while you are visiting.

Go for a walk around the town and experience Calvia in its traditional way. With many of the buildings dating back to the 17th century, the homes are a delightful ochre colour and are wellknown to the area. The Cruz del Descubrimiento is a beautiful monument to visit with top­class views of the coast surrounding you.

Spend time at the port, with the luxurious yachts

and boats coming in and out of the harbour, take the day to people watch and shop.

The adventures in Calvia are endless with the perfect spot for hiking on the CR1 Peguera­Cap An dritxol Trail. With the trail for all abilities, take the af ternoon and enjoy what Calvia’s mountains and coasts have to offer. With ideal spots along the coast for snorkelling, enjoy the wildlife and seas, see if you can spot some of the fish from Finding Nemo while snorkelling and discovering the bays.

Another top spot to visit to get your heart rate go ing is Jungle Parc Mallorca. A tree­top adventure park with zip lines and climbs for an unforgettable and once­in­a­lifetime experi ence in Calvia. A perfect date or family daytime ac tivity to keep everyone in high spirits.

With various delicious

rants and exciting clubs, there is no shortage on what to do in the evenings. One of the best clubs to visit while you are in Calvia is Nikki Beach, this trend setter club has incredible food, glorious views, the most comfortable cabana beds and day beds to en joy throughout your stay.

The best restaurants to visit all depend on your taste and what you are hungry for. If tapas, seafood or a real homecooked meal is on your mind here are just a few of the best restaurants to go to while staying in Calvia.

Many bars also serve creative cocktails and tasty small plates, with nights of live music as the sun is set ting on the terrace. This is a must­do while in Calvia.

ENJOY everything you are looking for in Calvia, with the added bonus of discount vouchers in your favourite es tablishments!

People over 16 years of age can easily apply for discounts at establishments such as restaurants, hairdressers, beauty salons and much more through the winter months ­ even do your Christ mas shopping and receive discounts!

The campaign aims to sup port small local businesses in Calvia and is a fantastic eco nomic effort from the town halls.

Sound good? Here is all you need to know about this amazing campaign!

• How does it work and where do I get the vouch ers?

Every resident in Calvia can purchase four ‘bonos’ each from the town hall web site at a cost of €10, with a value of €20. Check the web page comercio.calvia.com for information, but the scheme has now been launched.

• How do I get my vouch ers?

To get the vouchers, regis ter in the Calvia marketplace website comercio.calvia. com, buy the voucher for €10 and exchange it for a value of €20 in shops that accept vouchers.

To apply, you will need to be a resident of Calvia munici pality and input your ID into the website.

• Where can I use my vouchers?

Many types of establish

Get your shopping discounts in Calvia!!

ments will be involved in the campaign, including veteri nary clinics, health and beau ty shops, cafes, book shops, restaurants, opticians, retail shops, bars and more.

You can find out which shops are taking part by checking on the Calvia mar ketplace website, here in the Euro Weekly News, and es tablishments will also display a fuchsia ‘C’ sticker on their door.

• How do I redeem my vouchers?

To make things easier, no physical vouchers will be is sued, so you will not need to download or print anything. The voucher will be a QR code that will be shown at

participating establish ments.

For example, if you get a pedicure costing €20 you will give the business one vouch er, and you will have just paid €10!!!

If you go out for a meal at a participating restaurant and it costs €25, pay with a voucher plus €5, which means the meal has only cost you €15!!

If your neighbour or friend is a resident of Calvia and doesn’t use their vouchers, simply apply with their ID and

use them yourself to enjoy the discount!!

These vouchers are limited so make sure you keep checking on the Calvia mar ketplace website to see how many are still available. The vouchers will usually be avail able until January ­ February next year.

Head to the website com ercio.calvia.com, and click on the image to choose your lan guage. We will also be print ing some of the businesses in volved each week in the paper!

One of the most popular destinations for tourists.

MEHRAN KARIMI NASSERI, the inspiration behind iconic 2004 Spielberg film ‘The Ter minal’ has passed away at Charles de Gaulle airport. The Iranian man who claimed to be British, died of a heart at tack in the airport on Saturday November 12 after previously living there for 18 years.

Nasseri was stranded there from 1988 until 2006 due to

Sad news

residency issues. After spend ing time in a homeless shelter, he recently returned to the airport, where he died.

Nasseri lived a fascinating life, born to a doctor father who worked at the Anglo­Ira

nian Oil Company in the Irani an province of Khuzestan. Up on his father’s death, Nasseri was informed that his real mother was Scottish.

He travelled to Britain where he studied a degree at the University of Bradford, participating in a protest against the Shah, causing his Iranian citizenship to be re voked.

After throwing away his cit izenship papers, he became stuck in limbo at the Parisian airport until 2006. His plight inspired a multitude of art work.

Airspace support

AN agreement was reached on Monday, November 21, that the German Air Force would provide Eurofighter jets to patrol Polish airspace. The deal was announced by Christine Lambrecht, the head of the German De fence Ministry, on its official Twitter profile.

She pointed out that Poland is a friend and ally, and, as a neighbour of Ukraine: “is not particularly protected. Together with my Polish colleague Mariusz Blaszczak, we agreed to send Patriot missile systems to Poland and support the defence of the Polish airspace with Eurofighter fighters.”

On Tuesday November 15, two rockets fell on the Polish village of Przewodow in the Lublin Voivodeship, as a result of which, two peo ple were killed.

Kiev immediately blamed Russia for what happened, although it subsequently came to light that the mis

siles that fell on Polish soil were in fact fired at incom ing Russian missiles by the Ukrainian defence forces.

The incident was allegedly written off as an ‘accident’ by the US and its western al lies.

Golden jubilee

QUEEN MARGRETHE II of Denmark marked 50 years on the throne with a special programme of celebrations starting with a ceremony at the capital’s city hall on Sat urday November 12.

The 82­year­old stood on the city hall balcony to greet a crowd of around 1,500 who had gathered to enjoy the joyous celebrations, de spite the recent contro versy which has divided the family.

The Queen’s Septem ber decision to strip four of her grandchildren of their royal titles from 2023 was widely seen as

a snub towards her 53year­old son, Prince Joachim and his four children.

The unprecedented decision led to bitter ness and hurt, including the Prince and his family taking to the press to air their views.

The family appeared to put their recent divi sions behind them dur ing the weekend’s cele brations however, putting on a united front. Prince Joachim and his wife, Princess Marie were both in at tendance at the parade suggesting an end to the public rift.

Iranian Mehran Karimi Nasseri who inspired hit film ‘The Ter minal’ starring Tom Hanks died at a Paris airport.

Photo credit: Tom Hanks (via Instagram)

INTERVIEW with aspiring comedian Lucy Amans who arrived on the Costa del Sol just six years ago.

Having decided that she needed a fresh start, Lucy was persuaded by a friend to spend Christmas and the New Year on the Costa del Sol and literally within a matter of days, she found herself a job in Gibraltar and a place to live.

She is still in the same job but has lived in a number of different towns along the coast be fore finally settling on Es tepona.

Lucy said “Whilst I en joy working in Gibraltar, I don’t think I want to live there as it is a bit confin ing and I just love living in Spain and enjoying the way of life.”

When asked what made her decide that she wanted to become a co median, Lucy explained that she had always been a bit of a joker at school and made people laugh, but had some problems with self­confidence so

Raising a laugh

Their first event took place at the Louie Louie club in Estepona and was a sell out which encour aged them to keep going and they ran a total of four shows in 2019 before the pandemic brought ev erything to a halt.

Not daunted however as soon as it was consid ered safe and comedians could travel over from the UK, it was ‘game on’ again and Lucy even joined in for number of shows.

the Rock has welcomed Alan Carr, Jimmy Carr, Russell Kane and Sara Millican and Lucy went to all four shows not only to have a laugh, but to study the comedian’s different techniques.

As she has become more confident, she has travelled back to the UK to take part in stand­up shows and plans to take part in the Brighton and Edinburgh fringe next year.

never saw herself getting up in front of an audi ence.

That all changed how ever when she attended a one­off comedy event in Torremolinos before the pandemic and started chatting to British come dian Nik Coppin who was also running a special

course to help people be come stand­up comedi ans.

“The comedy course with Nik was absolutely fantastic. In just two days I went from a quivering anxious on­stage mess to a confident new stand­up at the final showcase. Some people even

laughed!

“Nik and I became great friends and I sug gested to him that there was a definite hunger for regular English comedy here on the coast and if he could organise the co medians, I would find venues and cover front of house.”

By now they have ex panded to take in differ ent parts of the Costa del Sol and are holding shows every three months at three or four Spanish venues as well as Gibral tar.

There seems to be a re al hunger for British com edy in Gibraltar as apart from their regular shows,

“My comedy is based on my life, it’s rather selfdeprecating but not in a sad way and so far, it has been well­received and because the audience at the shows tend to return regularly, I’ve not had to cope with any heckling, although I have a few put downs ready just in case.”

Although Lucy won’t be performing in the Decem ber shows, she will be there on the door ready to meet and greet so visit https://www.facebook.co m/standupcomedyspain / for details of the forth coming shows.

Lucy Amans on stage at Louie Louie Estepona.

Credit: Lucy Amans

PRESS EUROPEAN

DENMARK

World Cup

EVEN though Denmark is taking part in the World Cup Finals in Qatar, there will be no official Danish presence as the politicians are still trying to form a government and the Royal Family has decided to watch the matches at home.

THE NETHERLANDS

Not funny

LAUGHING GAS (Nitrous Oxide) has become the high of choice of young Dutch partygoers, but it will become much more difficult to obtain from the start of 2023 as possession, trade and production of the drug (except for medical reasons) will become illegal.

BELGIUM

Robot treatment

STUDENTS at the Vrije Universiteit in Brussels have designed a prototype robot to help treat patients who need physiotherapy. With a shortage of technicians and a tireless robot that can adjust to patients’ needs, this could be a major breakthrough in recovery treatment.

GERMANY

Gassed up

THE European gas storage association GIE said that natural gas storage facilities in Germany have reached full capacity as the country has been building its reserves in order to ensure that there is sufficient to see it through the winter after Russia cut deliveries.

FRANCE

Bullfighting ban

SPAIN is not the only European country that allows fatal bullfighting and on Thursday November 24, French MPs will for the first time consider a total ban on bullfighting, although followers and young matadors in the south are campaigning against any ban.

NORWAY

Rainy days

HEAVY rain is heralding good news for Norwegian consumers and business as reservoirs are filling up much more quickly than expected and as the bulk of Norway’s electricity comes from hydro-electric plants, prices this winter are likely to be much lower than expected.

FINLAND

No entry

A GERMAN man riding a bicycle and without a passport or visa was stopped trying to cycle into Russia by Finnish border officials, but he was so determined that he jettisoned his bike and tried to walk though a forest before being caught and arrested.

IRELAND

Trade deal

THE much-heralded trade deal between the European Union and Canada may not be ratified as the Republic’s Supreme Court has ruled in support of Green Party politician Patrick Costello that it breaches the Irish constitution, although there may be a loophole to allow it.

ITALY

Tree saved

A 200-YEAR-OLD tree which was due to be sent to the Vatican for Christmas had a reprieve as no environmental impact study had been carried out and it wasn’t actually situated within the boundary of the council that wanted to chop it down.

PORTUGAL

Cheap gas

WITH Spain about to cut the cost of bottled gas, there will be even more reason for Portuguese residents who live near the border to cross over to buy their gas, which is currently approximately half the price of that charged in Portugal.

UKRAINE

Banksy surprise

SECRETATIVE Street Artist Banksy who is believed to originate from Bristol has not only never revealed his identity, and rarely admits to where he is working, has now admitted that seven murals in Ukraine are his work with one possibly showing Putin.

SWEDEN

Grammy awards

THE decision by Sweden’s most successful pop group ABBA to reform and release a set of songs, 40 years after their last studio album, has not only topped up their bank balances, but has seen them nominated for three Grammy Awards including Best Single and Album.

Zara strike FINANCE

BUSINESS EXTRA

Exchange approved

EVEN though there has been something of a hiatus in the val ue and trading in cryptocurren cy recently, Bitstamp, a Luxem bourg­based cryptocurrency exchange, has gained a virtual asset service provider registra tion in Spain and can now offer crypto­to­fiat and electronic wallet custody services here.

Great value

TRAVEL website Omio has ranked the hundred best desti nations in Europe for travellers on a budget based on number of free attractions, affordability of local transport, food and drink prices, free WiFi and even water fountains. The city of Granada with its large student population was Spain’s winner.

Excise duty

CAR manufacturers were disap pointed with the announce ment that with effect from 2025, British drivers who pur chase electric vehicles will have to pay vehicle excise duty which they believe will discourage drivers to go electric, even though the government wants to phase out petrol and diesel.

Football benefit

THE Spanish economy could re ceive a massive boost if the na tional football team does well at the World Cup Finals in Qatar. Reports suggest that many Spaniards, male and fe male, who support the team enjoy doing this in company, so bars and restaurants will bene fit.

Retail sales

ACCORDING to the Office for National Statistics, retail sales volumes in the UK are estimat ed to have risen by 0.6 per cent in October 2022 following a fall of 1.5 per cent in September, but are still lower than both last year and 2019 pre pandemic.

STAT OF WEEK £1.8 billion

In sports money talks

THE British government recog nises in sports money talks and is therefore taking action to try to protect fans’ access to the biggest global attractions.

As technology expands, so it is having to review its policy con cerning free­to­air ‘listed events’ rules as they affect public ser vice broadcasters (PSBs), includ ing the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

They are currently protected as far as broadcast TV is con cerned, so that viewers may have access to the biggest sport ing events which include 13 dif ferent tournaments including Football, Olympics, Paralympics, Horse Racing, Wimbledon and Rugby.

As more people tune in via catch­up and streaming services to watch sport, the review will assess whether including digital rights can ensure as many peo ple as possible can continue to access events.

Currently if, for example, the Olympic 100m final was broad cast live in the middle of the

night on the BBC, but all stream ing and catch­up rights were sold to a different broadcaster and kept behind a paywall, a wide audience may not be able to watch this important event.

Digital Infrastructure Minister Julia Lopez said: “As we saw during the Women’s Euros and with the FIFA World Cup just around the corner, we know that enjoying blockbuster sporting events together means

so much to many people.

“Everyone should be able to watch these incredible moments of national unity, no matter how they choose to tune in.

“As viewing habits shift on line, it is right that we review our rules and consider whether updates are needed to ensure our brilliant public service broadcasters can continue to bring major events to the public at no extra cost.”

South Korea charm offensive

SPANISH President Pe dro Sánchez held a sec ond meeting this year with Samsung execu tives, this time during his official visit to South Ko rea on Thursday Novem ber 17.

This follows a meeting held in Madrid on August 31 as Sánchez wants help to grow the new tech in dustry in Spain, whilst Samsung has not only the technology, but looks to receive a sizeable chunk of the European Recov ery Funds allocated to technology.

After visiting the facto ry in Pyeongtaek with Minister for Industry and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, he held a meeting with

Samsung executives be fore getting ready for an other meeting the fol lowing day, this time with the CEO of the com pany, Lee Jae­Yong.

During the meeting, Sánchez highlighted the government’s “ambitious strategy” to turn Spain into a relevant player in

the semiconductor value chain through: a wide range of incentives and aid, attractive financing mechanisms, an ecosys tem in rapid growth, and the ability to attract tal ent and highly qualified personnel.

He dangled the carrot that Spain is going to al

locate €12 billion which includes €9 billion of pub lic money for manufac turing facilities and re minded his hosts that some large companies such as Cisco have al ready announced their investment plans in Spain, with new chip de sign centres.

Later during his first day in South Korea he paid a visit to the facili ties of the future Cer vantes Institute in Seoul, which is intended to facil itate closer links between the two countries and closed the 14th meeting of the Spain­Korea Tri bune, an event organised by Casa Asia and the Ko rea Foundation.

FOR years Spain’s international fashion giant Inditex appears to have had good industrial relations with its employees, but this is likely to change, with one union calling for a Black Friday strike.

There are actually three unions in negotiations over pay and all want to see shop workers gain substantial increases in order to bring them on par with those working in Inditex’s offices and dis tribution centres.

On November 17, the unions confirmed no agreement had been reached, and the smallest, the CIG which represents the 1,000 shop assistants who work in A Coruna is calling for the Black Friday strike.

No Deliveroo

THE sudden closure of Deliveroo in Australia saw around 120 staff and 15,000 riders out of work and an estimated 12,000 restaurants unable to make deliveries.

Although one of the reasons for closure was due to new federal laws concerning the rights of workers, many fear that the cur rent financial crisis worldwide will see other food and grocery deliv ery companies closing down in Europe.

In addition, as competition re duces, so global organisations such as Uber Eats may be tempt ed to up their prices which will in turn have a financial impact upon restaurants and consumers.

Prison dragons

SEVERAL local entrepreneurs and ex­offenders with their own busi nesses stood in as ‘Dragons’ at HMP Thorn Cross, in Cheshire where prisoners were invited to pitch for start ­up funding once re leased.

Proposals that were put before the attendees included a graphic design consultancy and personal fitness business and the en trepreneurs chose which business should receive the first prize of £400, with runners up receiving £300.

The money will be transferred to the prisoners by Entrepreneurs Unlocked, an organisation that is dedicated to help prisoners to stay on the straight and narrow following release.

is the amount that 27 million households in the UK shared in October in the first month of the government’s reduction of energy bills.

Credit: Andrew Parsons No 10 Downing Street flickr

WATCHING SPORT: The thrill of international football.

Credit: Pedro Sánchez Twitter

NEW TECH: A less than informal meeting with Samsung.

3I Group 1.308,50 1.313,00 1.299,50 117,96K

Abrdn 204,20 204,50 201,20 1,46M

Admiral Group 2.059,0 2.077,0 2.055,0 97,17K

Anglo American 3.124,5 3.132,0 3.078,0 338,15K

Antofagasta 1.306,00 1.309,50 1.288,50 134,58K

Ashtead Group 4.969,0 5.004,0 4.930,0 64,75K

Associated British Foods 1.500,0 1.525,0 1.495,5 29,14K

AstraZeneca 11.038,0 11.078,0 10.938,0 204,65K

Auto Trader Group Plc 564,80 566,60 560,20 303,43K

Aveva 3.167,0 3.169,0 3.162,0 628,62K

Aviva 454,80 455,10 452,40 883,79K

B&M European Value Retail SA403,60 411,30 400,80 531,73K

BAE Systems 783,94 785,60 771,40 743,71K

Barclays 158,40 158,46 157,32 3,40M

Barratt Developments 400,10 401,90 395,90 535,54K

Berkeley 3.751,0 3.751,0 3.692,0 17,64K

BHP Group Ltd 2.418,50 2.435,00 2.395,50 259,71K

BP 469,95 477,60 468,85 8,07M

British American Tobacco 3.342,0 3.343,5 3.296,0 185,42K

British Land Company 412,80 412,90 405,20 406,46K

BT Group 122,91 123,20 120,70 1,38M

Bunzl 3.045,0 3.048,0 3.007,0 182,45K

Burberry Group 2.099,0 2.113,0 2.075,0 48,46K

Carnival 700,8 711,6 697,6 132,46K

Centrica 94,20 94,52 93,12 2,12M

Coca Cola HBC AG 1.990,0 1.990,0 1.974,0 37,99K

Compass 1.824,00 1.831,00 1.769,00 546,35K

CRH 3.302,0 3.325,5 3.283,0 57,08K

Croda Intl 6.810,0 6.916,0 6.768,0 32,07K

DCC 4.315,0 4.339,0 4.299,0 16,29K

Diageo 3.690,5 3.692,0 3.669,5 267,00K

DS Smith 303,40 307,70 301,70 583,99K

EasyJet 375,20 385,30 371,40 871,22K

Experian 2.880,0 2.890,2 2.859,0 17,97K

Ferguson 9.684,0 9.794,0 9.630,0 85,02K

Flutter Entertainment 11.450,0 11.535,0 11.350,0 0,56K

Fresnillo 867,80 871,00 857,20 113,90K

Glencore 499,95 500,40 491,80 7,52M

GSK plc 1.386,40 1.387,20 1.368,60 668,75K

Halma 2.185,0 2.207,0 2.162,0 114,33K

Hargreaves Lansdown 826,80 837,80 814,60 234,69K

Hikma Pharma 1.428,00 1.438,00 1.427,00 4,07K

HSBC 485,40 485,55 478,10 2,65M

IAG 129,62 130,84 129,22 3,02M

Imperial Brands 2.149,50 2.151,00 2.116,00 271,53K

Informa 593,60 595,40 591,40 264,15K

InterContinental 4.763,0 4.787,0 4.685,0 65,36K

Intermediate Capital 1.191,00 1.206,00 1.177,00 225,58K

Intertek 3.894,0 3.911,0 3.863,0 28,97K

ITV 73,80 74,40 73,10 1,31M

J Sainsbury 215,80 217,10 215,10 507,49K

Johnson Matthey 2.001,0 2.052,0 1.996,5 32,23K

Land Securities 630,40 631,60 619,60 173,05K

Legal & General 260,80 261,30 258,50 1,91M

Lloyds Banking 45,66 45,81 45,32 17,72M

London Stock Exchange 8.056,0 8.108,0 8.048,0 43,29K

Melrose Industries 127,00 130,40 127,40 187,72K

Mondi 1.554,50 1.568,50 1.541,50 101,03K

National Grid 1.025,00 1.030,00 1.015,00 558,97K

NatWest Group 258,40 259,40 257,50 1,38M

Next 5.654,0 5.676,0 5.622,0 41,45K

Norilskiy Nikel ADR 9,10 9,10 9,10 0

Ocado 623,78 671,40 620,20 555,74K

Persimmon 1.295,5 1.306,5 1.283,0 184,13K

Phoenix 598,20 598,40 590,40 250,13K

Prudential 957,60 967,00 947,80 674,60K

Reckitt Benckiser 5.846,7 5.852,5 5.824,9 17,29K

Relx 2.309,82 2.310,00 2.272,00 421,16K

Rentokil 538,40 538,80 531,40 338,50K

Rightmove 539,20 543,20 534,60 369,60K

Rio Tinto PLC 5.319,0 5.328,0 5.263,0 342,12K

Rolls-Royce Holdings 84,39 85,90 83,45 5,17M

Sage 808,20 809,00 796,80 345,62K

Samsung Electronics DRC 1.120,50 1.128,00 1.115,00 2,73K

Schroders 458,9 462,0 455,3 293,22K

Scottish Mortgage 782,18 792,20 782,40 439,68K

Segro 831,40 835,80 822,80 378,96K

Severn Trent 2.738,0 2.756,0 2.721,0 85,04K

Shell 2.328,0 2.351,0 2.310,5 1,43M

Smith & Nephew 1.065,50 1.067,50 1.061,00 139,61K

Smiths Group 1.584,50 1.584,50 1.567,50 196,32K

Spirax-Sarco Engineering 11.315,0 11.400,0 11.165,0 14,10K SSE 1.691,50 1.717,24 1.681,50 45,22K

St. James’s Place 1.180,50 1.186,00 1.169,50 76,71K

Standard Chartered 583,00 584,40 577,60 511,42K

Taylor Wimpey 103,55 104,05 102,40 2,77M

Tesco 230,60 231,60 229,70 1,27M

Tui 139,25 142,50 138,00 941,88K

Unilever 4.085,0 4.085,0 4.034,0 362,18K

United Utilities 1.030,50 1.035,00 1.014,00 167,56K

Vodafone Group PLC 97,43 97,98 96,88 12,47M

Whitbread 2.514,0 2.524,0 2.483,0 48,35K WPP 864,60 868,40 861,60 627,10K

3M 126,76 128,34 3,15M

American Express 152,50 153,76 150,94 2,63M

Amgen 287,29 288,73 284,43 2,37M

Apple 151,29 152,70 149,97 74,33M

Boeing 173,89 175,19 171,53 4,68M

Caterpillar 231,43 231,84 227,63 2,80M

Chevron 182,99 183,41 179,65 7,64M

Cisco 47,79 48,04 46,86 30,76M

Coca-Cola 61,14 61,37 60,80 10,38M

Dow 50,07 50,52 49,36 3,75M

Goldman Sachs 379,20 382,83 377,39 2,37M

Home Depot 313,18 316,00 310,26 3,55M

Honeywell 214,53 217,35 213,16 2,97M

IBM 147,64 148,31 145,94 4,66M

Intel 29,87 30,26 29,61 26,84M

J&J 176,20 176,64 174,62 6,47M

JPMorgan 133,84 134,67 132,28 9,42M

McDonald’s 273,37 275,10 272,12 2,69M

Merck&Co 104,23 104,60 102,63 11,55M

Microsoft 241,22 243,74 239,03 27,49M

Nike 105,42 107,72 104,17 5,37M

Procter&Gamble 142,57 142,76 141,27 5,63M

Salesforce Inc 148,04 152,32 145,65 7,50M

The Travelers 184,56 185,87 183,24 1,47M

UnitedHealth 530,00 532,99 519,46 3,52M

Verizon 38,55 38,77 38,29 17,55M

Visa A 210,80 214,17 209,74 5,52M

Walgreens Boots 39,75 40,95 39,26 6,94M

Walmart 150,23 150,24 148,77 6,30M

Walt Disney 91,80 93,16 90,91 9,82M

Most Advanced

Most Declined

Farfetch Limited -11.27% 31.601M

Vertex, Inc. -10.12% 902,388

BellRing Brands, Inc. -9.55% 2.866M

Weibo Corporation -9.43% 934,625

360 DigiTech, Inc. -8.74% 1.224M

Trupanion, Inc. -8.41% 818,062

GDS Holdings Limited -8.19% 1.558M

Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. -7.85% 15.283M

Tencent Holdings Limited -7.46% 4.215M

BUSINESS EXTRA

Recovery Fund

THE Spanish government has formally requested the third tranche of the Recov ery and Resilience Fund to talling €6 billion from the European Union thanks, it says, to the fact that it has fulfilled 23 milestones and six objectives set by the EU earlier this year.

Arena saved

FOLLOWING the collapse of the WASPS Rugby Union Club which moved to Coventry in 2014, the via bility of the Coventry Build ing Society Arena which is also home to Coventry City Football Club came into question, but it has now been purchased by Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group.

Bulgaria beckons

SOME 80 Spanish compa nies have created bases in Bulgaria, investing €800 million and employing 3,000 staff according to Economy and Industry Minister Nikola Stoyanov, who chaired a special breakfast meeting and briefing for Spanish fi nanciers in Bulgarian capi tal Sofia on November 17.

No Saturday delivery

HAVING recorded a £219 million operating loss in the first six months of 2022, the Royal Mail which created the concept of the penny post with almost same day delivery, now wants to save money by stopping Saturday postal deliveries. It still intends to deliver parcels six days a week, but has to obtain government permission to change its delivery sched ules. With strikes on the horizon and likely opposi tion to the change from publishers who aim to have many of their maga zine subscriptions arriving on a Saturday, the priva tised Royal Mail may find losses increasing.

UK autumn statement

JEREMY HUNT is going to hit the British public in the pocket as he announced his cuts and increases in tax for many, on Thursday November 17.

As first glance, it doesn’t seem to be quite as drastic as first anticipated and for pension ers the good news is that the triple lock will remain in place for next year, meaning that state pensions will rise by 10.1 per cent in April 2023.

He admitted that the UK has entered into recession and vows that his actions will help to make this as short and painless as possible, although many will still find themselves hit where it hurts most, in their pockets.

He announced a freeze on income tax thresholds, meaning millions of people will pay more in tax as their wages rise and Labour declared this a stealth tax as it doesn’t hurt immediately, but will affect tax payers in the coming years.

Unlike the previous, short­lived Chancellor, he is not going to protect the general public completely from rises in energy bills although there will still be some support, but expect to pay an additional £500 per year from April.

Highest earners who had earlier this year expected the 45 per cent top rate of tax to be scrapped, will not only have pay it, but at a new threshold of £125,140 rather than £150,000, although bankers will be able to benefit from big bonusses.

Benefits and tax credits will stay in line with inflation at 10.1 per cent and there will

be extra payments of £900 for those on means­tested benefits, £300 for pensioner households and £150 for those on disability benefits.

The windfall tax on the big energy compa nies will increase from 25 to 35 per cent, al though it seems likely that if they plough their profits back in to new energy or new ex ploration, they will be able to avoid some or all of that tax.

Generally speaking, the majority of budgets previously agreed with government depart ments will remain, but as inflation will dra matically increase their costs, there is effec tively a reduction in the value of the budgets and in the case of overseas aid, this will re

Raising prices

TELEFONICA has announced that it will increase Movistar prices with effect from Jan uary 1 following an earlier announcement by Avatel and Vodafone.

There will be no change in the special offer rates that consumers may have been signed up for until the agreed period ends, nor will there be an increase on O2 tariffs.

Basically, it is using the op portunity allowed to in crease prices due to the cost­of­living crisis which has meant that overall operat ing costs have risen sharply, so its action are not in breach of any Spanish regu lations.

Indeed, it argues that the average price increase of 6.8 per cent is less than the cur rent inflation rate and de spite the fact that clients will not be receiving any addi

tional benefits on services to offset the cost, the company insists that it offers good val ue for money.

Each package will poten tially see a different rise, with some as low as 5.6 per cent and some will be much higher than the average, so the company has undertak en to contact each customer over the coming weeks to outline the new charges.

Many customers of the

two largest internet and mo bile telephony suppliers be lieve that a price rise would be much more acceptable if the companies involved of fered a better service and as communications companies made it easier, especially for expats, to communicate.

As technology takes great leaps and bounds forwards, these giant organisations still seem unable to cut through their endemic bureaucracy.

main reduced until such time as the country can afford to pay more.

One area that he continues to support, (against the wishes of some members of the Tory Party) is the HS2 high speed rail project which has already cost £100 billion and con tinues to be a drain on the country’s re sources with an estimated £7 billion a year until the end of the decade being spent on it.

Following his statement, the Office for Bud get Responsibility (OBR) (which had been ig nored under the Truss administration) re leased its latest forecasts for the UK economy and government spending.

It believes that continued soaring prices will reduce consumer’s disposable income and taking into account inflation it will be the most significant drop since official records be gan.

In summary, the OBR expects hard times ahead, suggesting that GDP will continue to shrink by around 1.4 per cent next year which will see the national debt climbing by an un expected £400 billion boosted by the need to support up to 500,000 newly unemployed.

Things are expected to get worse before they get better with increased reduction in GDP in 2024 and 2025.

Only time will tell how effective the Chancel lor’s plans may be, but all could change dra matically if the Russian invasion of Ukraine ei ther intensifies and brings in NATO or if an acceptable settlement is found which helps to bring down energy and basic food prices.

Clucked off

CAUSED in part by Avian Flu and also because some farmers are finding it too expensive to continue, there appears to be a short age of fresh eggs in the UK.

Already Asda and Lidl are said to be rationing the number of boxes of eggs customers can buy and Sainsbury’s which normal ly only sells British eggs has confirmed that it is currently import ing some from Italy and they are labelled as such.

Therese Coffey, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, told the BBC that some supply chains get eggs from particular farmers, “But across the country we still have nearly 40 million roosting hens. As a consequence, I’m not concerned about the overall supply.”

Buyoyant tourism

THE

Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, said on Thursday November 17 “this data is very positive, since one in three new jobs in October was generated in the tourism sector, which demonstrates the decisive contribution of this in dustry to the recovery of the economy and employment in our country.”

In addition, there are 22,441 more foreign workers than the previous month, bringing the increase in this group across all industries to 155,445 and the total to 2,462,109.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt leaves for Parliament.

Credit: HM Treasury flickr

Spanish tourism sector closed October with 2,543,749 workers registered with the government which was the best month ever and almost 110,000 more than in October 2019 before the pandemic caused lockdowns.

NEW CHARGES: Supporting sport at customer cost.

Credit: Movistar Spain Twitter

LEAPY

LEE SAYS IT

OTHERS THINK IT

SOMETIMES I think I’ve lost track of the plot. (I can hear a number of readers chortling with glee!) Most of you will know only too well what my opinions are regarding the face less committee of individuals who in my opinion run the planet from their secret domains of power.

What I actually fail to understand is why they are allowing a minority in the UK to run slipshod over the public arena under allegations that they are not given the same impor tance as the majority, a ridiculous summation.

All the power happy leaders re quire, is to keep the citizens perma nently worried and on edge. This of course maintains them rushing about and fearful as to their actual survival, which categorically holds them under control.

I have always actually maintained the Saudis are very highly placed in the world hierarchy scheme of things.

The eight years I spent there was certainly an eye opener in my opin ions as to who actually runs world

On the edge

affairs. One rumour that abounded was that when slavery was out lawed in 1962 they built a large town in the middle of the desert to accommodate the relinquished slaves. A few years later they bombed it out of existence; prob lem solved.

Could never prove it of course, but I was very friendly with a Saudi pilot who enjoyed a drink!

I was also proven exactly correct when I wrote that the murder of Ja mal Khashoggi in Turkey’s Saudi embassy would result in so­called perpetrators standing private trial and disappearing into a mid­east haze; which is precisely what oc curred.

It was publically announced that five were sentenced to death (later pardoned of course) the Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, professed to know nothing about it (ha).

All the so­called perps were im prisoned and, when all the scandal died down, were secretly released and now live lives of luxury with

the promised millions they subse quently discovered in their bank ac counts.

And that my friends is how our world is governed today. Those who have more money than they ever dreamed of have won that race. The only success left for them to achieve is power and the faceless mob knows exactly how to attain it.

If anyone gets too close, assassi nation awaits, even if it doesn’t look like it. Dr Kelly, Stephen Ward are cases in point.

Even I occasionaly glance over my shoulder!

Keep the Faith. Love bLeapy. Leapylee2002@gmail.com. Expatradioscotland.com Mon Fri. 1pm till 4.

NOT SO BEAUTIFUL OUR VIEW

ALTHOUGH football is probably the most popular sport in the world, not everyone will be glued to the TV over the next few weeks as the World Cup Finals unfold in Qatar.

What used to be referred to as the ‘beautiful game’ has be come tarnished over the past couple of decades with money gushing into the sport and top officials accused of either giv ing or taking bribes.

Rather than alternate between Europe and South America as was the case in the past, it makes sense to ensure that the finals do take place in different parts of the world and the suc cess of South Africa as well as Japan and South Korea speak for themselves.

There is a real interest in football in the Middle East as well as huge amounts of money from there sunk into clubs around Europe, but the decision to choose Qatar for this year’s finals is questionable. It is already clear that the country just can’t cope physically or emotionally with the World Cup and is already breaking its agreements with, for example, the decision to ban sponsor Budweiser from selling beer at matches. Accommodation for fans in overpriced, noisy con tainers is also not helping to highlight the positive aspect of attending the matches.

Whilst figures such as David Beckham and Robbie Williams are criticised for taking Qatari money, it should be noted that organisations such as the BBC and Sky have no obvious com punction about sending teams of commentators there and broadcasting the matches.

Hopefully England, Spain and Wales do well as the hospi tality industry in particular will benefit from showing their team’s matches.

LeapyLee’sopinionsarehisownandarenotnecessarilyrepresentativeofthoseofthepublishers,advertisersorsponsors.

Efficient, effective and economical

OVER many years Neater Heaters have be come the first choice of many expats living in Spain.

Behind our stylish Scandinavian designs are a modern state­of­the­art convector heater that can match any on the market for econo my and efficiency, and beats all the serious competition hands down on price.

The real secret of these heaters is the com puter­age technology in the form of extruded aluminium in the construction of the heating element. This material and the design creates a huge surface area for heat transfer, which means more air can be heated for less cost.

Neater Heaters use convection principles and are designed so that the electricity you put into the heater is converted to heat as cheaply as possible. When you turn on the heater the element warms up rapidly and heats the air around it, this air rises and draws more cold air into the heater. Be cause the element is extremely efficient and is designed to have a huge surface area, a

large quantity of air is heated very quickly. If your room has the correct sized heater it will take about 20 minutes to warm up from cold, after which the heater eases off and works at about two thirds capacity, (de

that will suit anyone, from the BEHA, (Blue tooth option or Wi­Fi option) and the NEO Wi­Fi, so that you can control your heaters easily via a Wi­Fi app but still being able to control them manually if preferred, or the trendy original style Neo with digital controls and a choice of colours and if you are limited for wall space, then available for purchase are factory designed feet to enable the heater to be freestanding.

However, a few years ago we went one stage further and added the Turkish made Vi go heater. This heater shares the design tech nology and ethos of the current Neater Heaters, but it has two differences: The Vigo comes with a carrying handle, wall bracket, and feet included in the price; The larger Vigo models take up less wall space and go up to 2.5kw. They also have a digital display that in dicates the reduced wattage that the heater regulates once the room has reached desired temperature, thus saving more money through reduced running costs.

Run rabbit run rabbit

LINDA HALL

I CAN’T eat rabbit, and not only because we once had a rabbit called Harry whose full name was Harry Houdini because he was an escape artist.

As it happens, Harry, whom we loved dearly, turned out to be Harriet. But Harry or Harriet ­ he or she ­ is only one of the reasons I don’t eat rabbit.

The other is that it doesn’t taste of much.

My grandmother made us in credible rabbit stew that tasted of a lot of things and since the Spanish ate, and still eat, a lot of rabbit I was looking forward to ‘conejo con tomate frito’.

It arrived, heavy with fried tomato sauce and industrial quantities of garlic, plus half a severed head, still with its poor little buckteeth. After that intro duction, rabbit was usually off the menu and once we had Harry, eating it was unthinkable.

To tell the truth Harry eventual

ly caused us a great deal of trou ble because we lived in an apart ment at the time.

He (we still believed she was a he) had the run of the terrace but soon became bored and started to shimmy under the partition to go next door and eat Maria Luisa’s plants. She was a good friend, but over the year and a half that Harry lived with us she became less affable and more frosty.

A solution was soon found. An other neighbour, Lucia, had a smallholding up in Callosa.

Harry, she promised would have fresh air, wide open spaces and a natural death.

So off to Callosa he went, where he soon revealed himself as a she, ruling the roost in the corral, living happily ever after with many suitors and lots of ba bies.

We won’t go into details about the offspring though, as I’m well aware that they probably ended up at the table, no doubt accom panied by lots of garlic and to mate frito.

and economical, but as you would expect from a Scandinavian product, they are ex tremely stylish and practical. There is a model

Letters should be emailed to yoursay@euroweeklynews.com or make your comments on our website: 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.

GOD HELP US

TROUBLED , confused, clueless are just three words associated with dis orientated. Has your columnist Loopy Lee com pletely lost the plot? The current chaos in the UK that everyone knows is down to the mismanage ment of the Tory Party over 12 years of austerity with no economic growth, not to mention the dam age done by Johnson’s dis astrous Brexit deal and the recent Truss bombshell, yet his misguided ideology it is all the fault of the Labour Party and just re cently according to his lat est rants it is also down to the BBC, god help us.

Ramon Osborne Los Alcazares

Spot on

Just read your article in this week’s EWN which was abso lutely spot on as usual .

Best wishes, Brian

Supporter speaks out

You should be ashamed of yourselves for printing the ar ticle about Celtic supporters. They have a fantastic reputa tion throughout the world. Ask the city of Sevilla, 80,000 fans were there for the UEFA Cup final. Yes they left trash but not one arrest. I am not condoning leaving rubbish, but come on it is hardly trash ing the place. Celtic fans have an amazing reputation!

G McPhillips

Blue badge petition

Thank you Euro Weekly News for your petition relating to the issue of blue badges. I appreciate that this is another tan gled mess relating to Brexit and it may not be simple to resolve, but once again it is the UK expat community suffer ing. Many people with poor mobility are living a restricted life, parking close to hospitals and shops can be near on im possible. The beach is a no go, especially on weekends as it is so busy all the parking spaces are taken, although there al ways seems to be blue badge bays available and when you cannot walk far, the idea of a day at the beach is just a dream. I totally under stand why expats are moving back to the UK.

B Byrnes

Still ranting

Having picked up your paper whilst staying here for a month, I was im pressed to see how infor mative and interesting it was and the insight it af fords into the local expat culture. And then I read the rant by Loopy, sorry, Leapy Lee. I found his ar ticle chilling and it made me question what type of narrow­minded bigots live here. Please remove such politically extreme

commentary from your paper. He is clearly uned ucated and taints your otherwise useful and helpful paper, which should surely aim to be inclusive to unite all ex pats.

Diana Harrington

Voicing how I feel

I am 75 years young and have been coming to the Costa del Sol for over 30 years. I have read your newspaper for sev eral years while visiting Spain and online and I cannot help but agree with the comments made by Mr Lee. I live in Bat tersea and have seen my community change so much over the last few years, unfortunately not in a good way. The Na tional Health system is totally overstretched, my wife has been waiting for knee surgery for over 15 months and after having a fall waited for an am bulance for eight hours.

The police take hours, if not days, to respond when you report a crime and when they do come they make you feel like you are wasting their time. Our community is growing with immigrants who stretch the re sources, which I have paid into the system for over 50 years for. Thank you Leapy for voicing how I feel.

N Harman

New star rating system

CAMPING lovers are in for a treat as Mur cia has introduced a new system to manage the quality of its campsites. Local authori ties voted through a motion at the end of last month that will allow campers to rate campsites using a star­rating system.

Most outdoors lovers will have had a negative experience at a campsite at some point in their lives, whether the facilities weren’t up to scratch, or it was too noisy. But now, campers planning trips to Murcia can rest assured that the campsite they choose meets a rigorous criteria.

The President of the Murcia Camping As sociation, Alfonso Morenilla, explained that the new regulations were “necessary”, to

have some control over the quality of tourists’ experiences in the region. Morenil la also highlighted the industry’s capacity to provide for winter tourists seeking sunny escapes, due to the warm weather and constantly increasing places on campsites.

The rating system will also offer different categories for different types of camping, such as glamping. The new system will im prove accessibility for campers, as it re quires campsite owners to offer access to parking spaces, toilets and other facilities in addition to a basic pitch space.

Many in the camping industry have praised the development, hoping that it will be rolled out more widely across the coun try.

AS the weather gets cooler, many of us will be missing the feeling of camping, but still wanting an outdoors holiday. Caravanning is the perfect blend of camping and staying in a hotel. Here we share some top tips from caravanning lovers so you can get the most out of your trip away.

1. Plan your stay

First of all, find the right site. If you have a caravan, check that you can pitch up there and if you are staying in a cara van that is already there, check what amenities it offers, does it have a stove?

The good, the bad and the bonkers

NORAJOHNSON BREAKINGVIEWS

more profound in sectors including the NHS, HMRC, DWP, local govern ment, banks etc, where the failure to do your job results in a very poor or non­existent service to the public.

Cyclotourism more popular

THE camping sector of the tourism industry experienced a boom during the pandemic, as people chose to opt for a holiday closer to home. Since then, the camping sector has been continually adapting to attract more tourists. One way it has been adapting is by promoting active and out doors tourism to attract sus tainably­minded tourists and offer new experiences.

So­called ‘cyclotourism’ has been increasing in popularity throughout Spain, and partic ularly in the north of the country. The trend sees cy

Cyclists carry equipment in panniers on their bikes.

clists carry their camping equipment in panniers on the sides of their bikes and set up camp when they arrive at a campsite. Campsites throughout the country have been adapting to provide better services for cycling campers. This is partic

ularly the case in Navarra where 17 out of 22 campsites in one area have created cy cling centres which feature bike cleaning and repair facili ties, as well as nearby cycling routes, to see the best of the area. These campsites are leading the national response to cycling tourism, a branch of the market that is increasing in size. Campsite owners have been taking inspiration from pioneering projects in Nordic countries, who are emerging as a crucial audience for cy cling and camping tourism in Spain.

Perfect caravanning

Or a shower? Also research the activities that the site offers and its location ahead of time so you can enjoy the time away.

2. Pack the right things With a caravanning trip, you can pack fewer things in your car than a camping trip. You don’t need to bring sleeping bags or sleeping mats, or a stove, but

other camping essentials such as a head torch, camping chairs and outdoor cloth ing will still be useful during your trip.

3. Relax and enjoy your stay

Thousands of people throughout the world love caravanning, you have joined a great community, so find out what the fuss is all about and enjoy your stay!

SALLY UNDERWOOD POLITICAL ANIMAL

THE latest social media trend is ‘quiet quitting’, or doing the bare minimum in your job.

Two different view points seem to exist: those who believe quiet quitting is taking a step back from burnout (in which case it’s a posi tive thing) and those who think it’s checking out from your employ ment responsibilities (in which case, it’s, well, skiving).

Nothing new. There’s always been a mix of hard workers and shirk ers. Only now we have social media to make it a ‘trend’.

I get it completely when you’re in market ing or similar roles. However, the con sequences of quiet quitting are much

When your failure to do a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay has a signifi cant impact on others, that’s unfair on colleagues and makes life even harder for those need ing those services. Lit tle wonder things are so bad in the UK.

Everything is blamed on understaffing and underfunding (which both exist) but nobody accepts the creeping lack of application which also affects those services...

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OF all the jobs around, being an MP may eas ily be the one most likely to prompt the ques tion, “why in the name of god would anyone do it?”

Of the top reasons why this is an odd, frus trating and ultimately often futile job (most political careers don’t end because some thing’s gone right after all) the first has got to be that of its very nature, it’s a job where every four years you have to beseech roughly 30,000 people simply to let you stick around.

Apart from that, being an MP presents you with the somewhat unique opportunity to be hated simultaneously by the press, the general public, your opponents, everyone living within a five­mile radius of your home, and even your own colleagues. Add to that the fact that if you do ever climb the greasy pole to a ministerial position you’re often thrust, from the first mo ment of appointment, into leading the gov ernment on a topic you know almost nothing about ­ and then having to repeatedly talk about that very topic, in detail, live on TV with someone with the approximate sympathy of a rottweiler (this is of course unfair to rottweil ers, which are very affectionate animals). All this while, inevitably, a number of your col leagues will be trying to grab your job.

Why do it?

Yes, it’s difficult to work out why anyone would actually want to be an MP even if it was handed to them; let alone spend years actively campaigning to do it. But yet.

Despite its inarguable weirdness, it’s also dif ficult to imagine another career that presents quite the same level of genuinely awe­inspir ing opportunity.

The chance to help people on both a local level as well as on a national or international level by changing a law that improves thou sands of lives (the Clean Air Act, National Mini mum Wage Act and NHS spring most obvi ously to mind). The chance to be a part of the tipping point that moves the world forward (the 1967 law to decriminalise homosexuality, for example, was only narrowly voted in by 57 votes). The chance to be a tiny part of history.

That’s got to take some beating.

Perhaps occasionally then, instead of spending so much energy trying to trip each other up, our elected representatives would like to remind us of this very unique privilege.

It certainly couldn’t hurt bridging the (cur rently vast) gap between the electorate and politicians in an increasingly cynical world. And you never know ­ it might even inspire the very next person to do something truly great.

Sally’sopinionsareherownandarenotnecessarilyrepresentativeofthoseofthepublishers,advertisersorsponsors.

NoraJohnson’sopinionsareherownandarenotnecessarilyrepresentativeofthoseofthepublishers,advertisersorsponsors.

Noraistheauthorofpopularpsychological suspenseandcrimethrillersandafreelancejournalist.

Nora’s latest thriller.

Betty Henderson

Photo

Caravanning is a perfect winter alternative to camping, even in Spain!

DAVID WORBOYS THINKING ALOUD

IF you want to win the Eu romillions lottery, stick with the same numbers every week. It demands less strain on the memory. And remem ber that, if your chosen num bers are 1­2­3­4 and 5, you have the same chance of win ning as with any other selec tion of the five numbers from 1 to 50. Similarly, if you sub mit the same numbers that won over €100 million last time ­ still the same chance. The odds are 1 in 140 million. Winning the jackpot is less likely than Donald Trump be ing appointed principal con ductor of the Berlin Philhar monic.

These statistics demonstrate the unlikelihood of winning, but people do win it, so we persevere, many of us week after week until we die. Gen erally, if we keep doing the same thing and meet with no

FAT CHANCE!

believe and imagine that we have already won. Jesus said: “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.” It is beyond most of us to believe with all our heart, with all our mind and with all our soul, but we have wit nessed the results of people who have achieved ‘miracles’ through faith. And in most cas es they have also chosen to make changes ­ to do certain things differently or to use the mind differently.

likely to be able to control de velopments.

We have come to accept that the mind can shape our destiny and that if we visualise something clearly enough it will come to fruition ­ al though not necessarily imme diately. The best example is the use of the mind to com municate with our immune system and thus control and improve the physical health of our bodies.

success, we need to change something, but the lottery is different because it does not depend on our own efforts. I see no point in changing the five numbers I have used for seven years ­ because they could be the next combination to win. But I have to believe I

God speed

THE British Benevolent Fund receives many applications for financial help from British na tionals in Spain. Many in des perate situations.

A life in the sun for some, be comes a nightmare trap with seemingly no way out for all too many. This is particularly so for the many Britons who retire to Spain in the hope of exchanging the damp cold north for the warm balms of the Med.

For those who come unpre pared for the many hidden as pects of day to day living this can be a rude awakening.

We were alerted to a couple in their early 70s. He had worked in the Post Office and she in a school. They had known Spain from many family holidays over the years and had decided that this would be the perfect place to settle down af ter a long life of daily grind ­ in addition their children and grandchildren could visit in the holidays ­ it all made sense.

They sold their house and with the proceeds bought a property in Alicante Province and planned to live off their

modest pension and some savings.

On arrival in 2017 they did their paper work and registered for both NIE and padron.

Within a short time however things started to go wrongwith the first heavy rain they discovered the roof was unfit for purpose and had to re placed.

In 2019 she slipped and broke her hip. The replacement surgery caused additional trau ma in addition to the expense.

Both their medical situations deteriorated and they entered lockdown in March 2020 in an overwhelming sense of isola tion and vulnerability.

Their electricity was cut off in June 2021.

A house in the sun was now a house without light to see, nor warmth in the winter or cool air in the summer ­ and no hot food.

One day he went to the bank to draw some money.

To his horror his bank had without his knowledge paid the

am going to win ­ one day.

There are three cases in which it will never happen. The first is when we don’t buy a ticket and the second is if we lose the ticket. The third is if we don’t sincerely believe we have a chance.

More accurately, we need to

Just one example concerns diet. It is no good expecting to become healthier if we contin ue eating, drinking and living in the manner that brought us to our present condition. If we want to lose weight, get rid of an illness or generally feel good, we seek advice, do the research and proceed accord ingly. Only then is the mind

Many people have become wealthy not by dwelling on how to achieve it but by pic turing the wealth and its trap pings as if they already have it. Once their mind is resolved, a strategy comes to them.

Leaving sedition behind

CASSANDRA NASH

year’s house insurance causing the account to be overdrawn and demands for repayment.

Neither utilities nor bank lis tened to plea for a repayment plan.

In June of this year, they made the decision to leavehowever difficult that would be ­ and that’s when the BBF got involved.

We were able to put them in touch with a partner charity, one of many that are listed in https://www.supportinspain.in fo/ a vital resource supported the British Embassy.

We cleared their utility ar rears. The lights went back on in June ­ one year in the dark.

They are in the process of selling their house and return ing to the UK.

God speed.

For more information about the British Benevolent Fund contact olaf.clayton@british benevolentfund.org

SPAIN’S government, headed by Pe dro Sanchez, intends to eliminate sedition from the country’s Penal Code.

Instead it will be redefined as ‘ag gravated public disorder’ carrying a maximum sentence of between five and 15 years.

We all know about sedition: think Guy Fawkes. Nevertheless, more than five centuries later sedition earned prison terms of between nine and 13 years for the men and women respon sible for declaring Catalonia’s ex tremely short­lived republic on Octo ber 27 in 2017.

That it was a farce doomed to end in tears was obvious from the shell shocked faces of the regional presi dent, Carles Puigmont and vice­presi dent Oriol Junqueras. The independent republic never did get off the ground, and Puigdemont made a run for it a couple of days later, selfexiling himself in Waterloo (Belgium), of all places.

Junqueras and eight others who re mained received prison sentences of between nine and 13 years.

They were pardoned in June 2021, a move not to everybody’s liking, espe cially the Partido Popular and Vox. As opposition parties, they oppose on principle any legislation not their own, but their mistrust of eradicating sedi tion is ideological and visceral.

Sanchez has insisted that with or without sedition, his government is no more receptive to Catalan indepen dence than previously, but did say that he hoped this would herald dia logue and understanding.

That won’t be out of the question with Pere Aragones, Catalonia’s re gional president whose party, Esquer ra Republicana de Catalunya (Republi can Left of Catalonia), is less radical than it sounds and has eased up on in dependence demands.

The same can’t be said of Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia), re motely controlled from Waterloo by Carles Puigdemont.

Will he return to Spain to face the music once he can’t be accused of sedition but will still face gaol? Proba bly not. He dismissed the modification as a publicity stunt, doubtless because he prefers a comfy billet bankrolled by wealthy separatists. Even if it’s called Waterloo.

Olaf Clayton of BBF.

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

There’s a fat chance of winning the lottery if we lose the ticket.

Photo

Keeping snug

WINTER is nearly upon us, and that means making some changes for our pets too, to keep them warm. Pets feel the cold too, and it is crucial to keep them feeling comfortable as your home is their home too. Here we share some advice from pet lovers on how to keep your pets cosy during the winter.

• Blankets

Blankets are an excellent option to keep your dog or cat warm during the colder months. Lots of pet companies offer blankets in plenty of shapes and sizes, so you’re sure to find something that is perfect for your dog or cat’s size. Blankets can protect your uphol stery from claw marks and fur as well as keeping your four­legged friend cosy.

• Sleeping arrangements

If your pet normally sleeps out doors, or if you have a pet like a rab bit, ensure that its pen is protected from wind and has extra bedding to

keep their paws warm. During the coldest weather, bringing your pet’s enclosure into a conservatory or porch could be perfect to keep them warm.

• Insulation

Check for draughts in the area

Friends with benefits

Fishy friends

KEEPING fish as pets can be ideal. Fish are very clean pets, and are also very quiet, instead bring ing a feeling of calm to your home. Fish might not require as much of your attention as other pets, but it is still essen tial to invest time in car ing for your fish. Here we share some top tips from fish owners on how to care for your fish.

• Do some research

Before rushing out to buy a new pet, make sure to research the breed of fish, its needs, food likes and dislikes. There are some fish that don’t like to be alone in a tank, and there are others which

can’t be together.

• Prepare a space

As well as buying a tank, you will also need to prepare it for habita tion. Gabriela Gúzman, a pet expert, recommends cycling water in a tank for a month before introduc ing your new fish. The water temperature is also crucial, and depends on the breed of fish. The tank must have a thermo stat as well as a filter to protect the fishes’ health.

• Decorate the tank

In addition to a filter, adding some natural or artificial plants, a cave, some stones or sand can improve your fishes’ well being.

WE often hear that hav ing a pet has lots of ben efits for owners. It is cer tainly true that pets are an immediate source of joy in our lives, making us laugh, cheering us up when we are upset, and always being there for us. Here we share some scientifically proven ways that pets improve our lives.

• Mental health Pets, particularly cats and dogs are known to boost our mood and well­being. Having a fur ry friend to cuddle can ease feelings of stress. Research has found that playing with a dog or cat raises levels of dopamine and sero tonin, helping to reduce stress.

• Pets and children

Growing up with pets also has several benefits for children. Pets are great companions for children to play with and

talk to. Having a pet can also encourage children to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors. Hav ing a pet can also give children more responsi bility to care for its well being and essential needs.

• Health benefits

Having a pet can also keep us healthy. A pet like a dog needs lots of exercise and walks, while even the most do mestic pets enjoy time outside, which gets us outdoors. Taking your dog for a walk can also help you to take a break from a busy lifestyle.

where your pet sleeps. It is easy to miss draughts from the bottom of doorframes and windows in the rooms we don’t sleep in. Protect your pet by keeping them away from cold draughts.

STAY WARM: Stock up on extra blankets to keep your pet cosy during winter nights.

Photo credit: Pixel-Shot / shutterstock.com

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Leading the way

Betty Henderson

SPAIN is set to be the biggest manu facturer of electric cars in Europe by 2030. The country currently takes sec ond place, after Germany, but leads over other manufacturing hubs includ ing France and the UK. A new report by Inonvev made the remarkable pro jection alongside some other predic tions for the industry.

Spain will become a pioneer in the electric car industry thanks to mega investments from electric car manu facturers, such as the Stellantis group. The company currently has three elec tric plants in the country for the pro duction of Citroën, Peugeot, and Toy ota cars. Mercedes­Benz, Ford and Volkswagen are other motoring giants whose investment in the country will propel Spain to first place in European figures.

Spain’s production of electric vehi cles is set to reach 1,640,000 units by 2030. The factors driving this trend in clude the low costs of labour and wide availability of energy from renewable

sources.

The transition will make Spain a leader in electric vehicle production in time for the European Union’s re quirement for all new vehicles sold to be electric in 2035.

In the statistics, Spain will be fol lowed by Germany with 1,208,000 units produced and France with 827,000 units produced per year. However, Tesla is yet to announce the extent of its plans to expand its Ger man plant, which could affect the rest of the standings.

Micro motoring

A FASCINATING electric car that doesn’t require a typical driving licence is set to arrive in Spain. The miniature Italian car, Microlino will be available from next year thanks to a deal with one of Spain’s largest importers.

Sustainable urban mobility is a market that car brands are increasingly trying to capture and the Microlino represents an attempt by an Italian man ufacturer to do just that.

The Microlino is a miniature urban vehicle designed for use in narrow European streets. The small car can be driven by anyone over the age of 16 with a special li cence. The model will rival other microcars already re leased by brands including Dacia and Citroën.

The car sports an amusing exterior, including a front door that opens vertically and covers the entire front of the car. Described as a ‘bubble

car’, the unique vehicle fea tures two seats for a driver and one passenger.

The car also has an impres

sive electric range of 230km on one charge, which allows drivers to commute between cities where desired.

Spain could become Europe’s largest producer of electric vehicles by 2030

ROAD TEST

byMarkSlack

WITH so many marques owned by single corpo rate entities, it’s per haps no surprise that economics dictate a certain common ality. So Skoda’s Enyaq shares it’s underpin nings with the VW ID range and in particu lar the ID.4. However, there are some subtle but noticeable differences that set the two apart on the style front.

The all­electric Enyaq is big, very big, so one of the first proper all­elec tric, all­consuming family vehicles. With even the entry level model claim ing up to 246 miles of range, and from my week it’s pretty close to achiev able given the right cir cumstances, this is one of the most useable EVs I have tried. It’s also one of the more affordable, al

Skoda Enyaq - a star EV

Facts at a Glance

Model: Skoda Enyaq iV60 Loft

control, dual zone cli mate con trol and both light and rain sen sors.

Engine: 58 kwh electric developing 179PS

Gears: Automatic Price: €44,819/£38,970

Performance: 0-100 kph (62 mph) 8.4 seconds/Maxi mum Speed 159 kph (99 mph)

Economy: 395km/246 miles combined range6.4km/4 miles per kwh - WLTP

Emissions: 0 g/km

expensive compared to petrol powered equiva lents.

With five trim levels, two power options and all­wheel­drive on offer, there’s no shortage of choice. Prices start from €44,819/£38,970, other battery options and trims can push the final price north of €56k/£50k for

is eye­catching without the usual aggressive style that seems to abound these days.

The entry level Loft spec comes with 58kwh battery, that 246­mile range and a decent array of standard kit from Blue tooth, navigation and WiFi hotspot through to key less stop/start, cruise

The Enyaq is an imposing vehicle that lacks some of the styling oddities that have previ ously beset EV designs. It also has an impressive in terior, with my test car having swathes of cloth across the facia rather than the usual plastic. Quite how durable this would prove I don’t know but it makes an impact.

One of the first things you notice about the inte rior is the space, the sheer amount of it, from

Model tested was UK-specification and equipment levels and prices may vary in other markets.

legroom to height to load area.

On the road the Enyaq is typically EV quiet with wind and tyre noise very well insulated. It’s com fortable too and on a 200mile journey we emerged with range to spare (no charging required), quite comfortable and relaxed.

It also rides well, soaking up the worst excesses of

our potholed tarmac, and the handling is decent rather than exceptional.

To be fair it’s not the type of car you would buy for excitement.

The Enyaq is genuinely useable in range terms alone, as a whole package it’s a winning EV choice. It’s only let down only by the still poor EV infras tructure in the UK.

Porsche’s latest venture

Betty Henderson

THE luxury car market is set for a major boost, in the form of the Porsche Macan. The German car manufacturer recently re vealed details of its newest electric SUV which is set to hit the market in 2024.

The car will use Volk swagen’s Premium Plat form Electric system which forms the basis for a range of electric vehi cles.

Drivers will enjoy a smooth but powerful ride in the Macan with two electric motors that reach a mega 450kW of power.

Certain details are still yet to be released includ ing the car’s driving range on one charge, but a simi lar car, the Audi A6 claims to have a whopping range of 700km using a similar sized battery and electric system. This range is also much higher than most diesel and petrol vehicles.

The car’s 0­100 kph is

also currently unknown, but going by past mea sures, it is likely to be high. The Porsche Taycan Turbo S can hit 100kph in under three seconds!

The Macan is also thought to have another

special feature, in the form of a unique battery feature. The car can re portedly boost the charg ing speed of slower charg ers by splitting its volt hardware into two units to charge faster.

Photo credit: theendup / shutterstock.com

LUXURY BRAND: Porsche has been testing its latest electric SUV before it hits the market in 2024.

THE ENYAQ: As a package, it’s a winning EV choice.

COVENTRY CITY Football Club has agreed a sale that will see the club debt free and local businessman Doug King the majority shareholder.

The deal announced on Wednesday, November 16 sees the money owed to HM Revenue & Customs cleared, along with all other debts.

As well as clearing the debts and removing the transfer em bargo, the new ownership will allow the club to make a formal bid for the CBS Arena. The sta dium is on the market after the owners, Wasps Rugby Club, went into administration this month.

Debt free club

ENGLAND comfortably started their World Cup campaign on Monday November 21, with an easy win against Iran, beating them 6­2.

England’s win saw Jude Bellingham, aged just 19, kicking the team’s campaign off with their first goal, while Raheem Sterling scored his first­ever World Cup goal.

Bukayo Saka was on fire as he scored two goals, while Marcus Rashford found the back of the net seconds after he was subbed onto the pitch.

Bellingham scored in the 35th minute,

followed by Saka, who hit the back of the net at 43 minutes, before Raheem Ster ling nipped a third in just before stoppage time.

In the second half, Saka netted a sec ond goal at 62 minutes, while Iran bagged their first after Mehdi Taremi got the ball past keeper Jordan Pickford just three minutes later.

England didn’t flinch as Rashford scored the team’s fifth at minute 71 after

Credit Twitter

If successful that would see Coventry City again playing their home games in the city.

King, the CEO of Yelo Enter prises in Stratford­upon­Avon, said: “It is no secret Coventry City FC has faced challenges in recent years. Working together we want to deliver a new start, beginning with securing our home in Coventry. We know fans, and others across the re gion, want long­term security and the guarantee of playing football in our city. This is critical to our ambition.”

Long suffering fans of Coven try City will be delighted that a sale has been agreed.

Huge relief

NOVAK DJOKOVIC has won his sixth ATP tour final in Turin, Italy on Sunday November 20, without drop ping a set, beating Norwegian Casper Raud 7­5, 6­3.

Djokovic said winning a record­equalling sixth ATP Tour Finals title was a “deeply satisfying” ending to his troubled year.

Djokovic has now matched Roger Federer’s record of six titles in the year­ending tournament for the top ranked players. He picked up a staggering $4,740,300 (€4,614,516) in prize money the biggest ever prize in tennis.

just three touches of the ball after he came on the pitch.

But that wasn’t enough for the hungry side ­ Jack Greelish made it six in the 90th minute, as 10 minutes of stoppage time loomed, which brought a VAR review and successful penalty for Iran ­ a second for Taremi.

The England team are now preparing for their next match against the USA on Friday November 25.

The 35­year­old Serb, the oldest player to win the fi nals, ended in style after a season in which he missed two majors because of his vaccine status.

“It feels deeply satisfying and, at the same time, a huge relief because of the circum stances that I have been through this year, situations earlier this year, of course, with Australia,” he said adding “We don’t need to go back. We know what hap pened.”

Fabio Tavares, Coventry City.

Novak wins sixth ATP Tour Final.