Mallorca 26 January – 1 February 2023 Issue 1960

LICENCE BOOST

SPEAKING exclusively to the Euro Weekly News at an event held by the British Chamber of Commerce in Spain on Tuesday, January 24, British Ambassador to Spain Hugh Elliott said that the next announcement from the embassy on driving licences will be to set the date when a new agreement will come into place.

The British and Spanish governments have been in negotiations over whether UK nationals living in Spain can exchange their driving licences after Brexit or have to take a test like other third party nationals since the of 2020.

Hopes of reaching a swift agreement initially saw extensions on an agreement to al­

PALMA City Council has launched an interactive map of the city, showing notable women from history and their fascinating legacies.

The map, which was launched on Tuesday, January 24 aims to highlight forgotten stories and celebrate Palma’s strong women.

The map will form part of the Palma City Guide which is available for residents and tourists to browse. Project leader, Cristina Llorente explained the map is divided into five different categories with 36 points of interest to visit.

Roaring success

Ministry took place on Tuesday, January 24, and that a date from which UK nationals will be able to exchange their UK licences for a Spanish one will be announced in the following weeks.

He told the EWN: “I’ve been talking only today to the Foreign Ministry about driving licences. The next announcement will be the date.

low Britons to carry on using their UK licences in Spain while an agreement was hashed out.

In 2022 though, these extensions came to an end and the two governments have been negotiating ever since; a source of much difficulty for many expats who been left

without the ability to drive in the meantime.

Now, Hugh Elliott has told the EWN that his most recent meetings with the Foreign

“Right now we are in the final stages.

“I can’t claim that I am as keen to get this through as those who have been unable to drive during negotiations because I haven’t been affected by this in the same way as them, but I am super keen to get over the line, in force, and to allow Brits to drive again.”

Women are selected who have had an impact on Palma or the world on issues including education and science, culture, sport and religion.

Launching the map, the councillor for City Planning and Sustainability, Neus Truyol said, “This map aims to highlight women’s stories who are all too often forgotten and left on the side ­ lines of history.”

She added, “The invisibility of women in history is clear on the streets of Palma. Of the city’s more than 800 streets, only 75 are named after women.”

THE Lions Club in Palma made a roaring start to 2023 with the arrival of two new refrigerated delivery vans. The vans which arrived on Tuesday, January 4 will be used as part of the group’s ‘Comida Para Todos’ foodbank campaign.

The arrival of two refrigerated vans will make the Lions Club in Palma’s food delivery charity services easier.

The group’s Comida Para Todos scheme recently turned 12 years old and sees the Lions Club group carry out food deliveries to those who need them most. Selfless volunteers from the group travel to local supermarkets to collect food donations and perishable items before taking them to members of the community who need support.

Neus Truyol and Cristina Llorente present new interactive map to show important women’s legacies in Palma.

Photo credit: Lions Club Palma (via Facebook)

BRITISH AMBASSADOR: Made the new announcement.

Photo competition

CALLING all budding photographers as ENAIRE announces its 2023 Foundation Photography Competition.

ENAIRE are the Air Navigation Group which manages Palma­Mallorca Airport.

The Photography Award, which is turning 16 this year, recognises original works of an artistic or free subject matter that have not received prizes in any other competition. Every author may submit up to three photographs. The three winning works will become part of the ENAIRE Foundation’s Collection of Contemporary Art.

The first prize is worth €12,000, with €8,000 for second place and €5,000 for the third spot.

The Photography Award is structured into two phases that combine digital and physical formats. Photographs opting for the prize must be presented in digital format from February 3 until March 21 using the registration form that the ENAIRE Foundation has on its website: www.enaire.es

All the information and rules are available on the ENAIRE website and social media sites. A special prize will also be given to the photograph that receives the most votes (likes) from among the 30 candidates.

Walking for a cure

Alcor Week returns

ONE of the biggest events on Manacor’s calendar is back after two years of being postponed due to the pandemic. The Setmana Alcor, or Alcor Week returns from Monday, January 30 until Saturday, February 4.

This year’s event will be extra special as this will be the 20th anniversary of the event, created to celebrate Catalan culture and heritage on the island as well as the life and legacy of the festival’s namesake, Antoni Maria Alcover, an influential 19th and 20th century writer and educational reformer from the town.

BRAVE cancer survivors and generous volunteers are taking on an epic walking challenge in the north of Menorca island over Easter. A group of eight will take on the GR223 ending on Sunday, April 9 to raise money for Cancer Support Mallorca.

The challenge was launched in 2016 by a local resident, Anita Vince who had received a cancer diagnosis and wanted to do something to give

back to her community after Cancer Support Mallorca supported her through her diagnosis.

The walk is now in its eighth year and this year’s event will consist of six days of walking along intense mountain trails on the dry stone GR223 route on the north of the nearby island. The GR223 is also known as the Camí de Cavalls and covers a huge 185 kilometres of distance, main­

ly along mountainous terrain with staggering sea views.

All money raised goes to Mallorca Cancer Support with participants funding their own equipment and accommodation. Last year, the group raised nearly €1,300. Anyone who would like to donate to the group or learn more about their journey can do so at: https://www.facebook.c om/walkmallorca.

This year’s celebrations will consist of traditional literary events as well as the revival of the long­awaited Rondalles Marathon, which will be held on Thursday, February 2. A ‘body percussion’ dance class is also set to be held on Wednesday, February 4.

Organisers of this year’s event from the council invited all local residents and visitors to get involved in activities to mark this monumental date for Manacor and discover more about the town’s lengthy history.

A group of outdoor-lovers take on an epic walking challenge every year to give back to Cancer Support Mallorca who helped Anita Vince with a cancer diagnosis.

Photo credit: Walk the GR221 for Cancer Support Mallorca

NIBS EXTRA

Cycle race

PROFESSIONAL and amateur cyclists rolled out across the island on Wednesday, January 25 for the five day stage race, Challenge Mallorca. With an average stage length of 152 kilometres, the gruelling race covers difficult terrain with five trophies up for grabs.

Bollywood fame

EAGLE­eyed Bollywood fans spotted idyllic spots around Mallorca including Camp de Mar and Cala Llamp in the trailer for Pathaan, the Bollywood blockbuster, (the first filmed in Mallorca). The clip was one of YouTube’s most watched videos last week.

Calvia second

THE national property platform, Idealista revealed the most expensive places to buy property in the country after conducting a study. It placed Mallorca’s Calvia in second place with an average property value of a whopping €1.57 million.

Food fame

MALLORCA’S gastronomic excellence went on show at Madrid’s Fusion Festival, held on Tuesday, January 24. Gourmet local produce prepared with skill by celebrity chefs impressed while the island’s pork main dishes were the star of the show.

Sanction strike

A MALLORCA-BASED business was hit with sanctions by the USA for allegedly sending Iranian­made drones to Russia. The US Treasury has blacklisted iJet Global DMCC, which has an office in Palma de Mallorca for its illicit actions.

Cold snap

MALLORCA hasn’t escaped unscathed from the polar chill which has swept across Spain. Snowfall was reported as low as at sea level on Saturday, January 21. Temperatures dropped across the island with mountainous lows of ­1 degrees Celsius.

Island reconstruction

THE Minister of the Presidency, Felix Bolanos, travelled to La Palma on Friday, January 20, to chair a new Joint Commission for the Reconstruction, Recovery and Support of the island, together with the President of the Canary Islands’ government, Angel Víctor Torres.

The meeting served to take stock of the progress that has been made by all the administrations in the response to the consequences of the volcanic eruption and to continue making progress in the island’s reconstruction policies.

The Spanish government confirmed that it has already mobilised €500 million in aid, which has benefited more than 24,000 people, families

and businesses. Adding the contributions of the government of the Canary Islands and the government of the Cabildo, the figure rises to

On your bike

€670 million which is an unprecedented mobilisation of resources in the Spanish Administration, Bolanos explained.

Last December, the government approved a Royal Decree­Law, which will be validated next week in the Spanish Congress of Deputies, to extend the moratorium on loans, ERTES and unemployment benefits, and to adjust aid for loss of housing so that widows who were usufructuaries, but not owners, of houses affected by the eruption can access them.

CYCLISTS will be pleased to hear a new cycling station has appeared at Carrer de Bartomeu Rossello­Porcel, number 2, Son Espanyolet. This new station becomes the 39th in the district under the Bicipalma initiative.

The councillor of Sustainable Mobility, Francesc Dalmau, visited the new Bicipalma station, on Wednesday, January 25.

The Arts Society pottery event Community care

ON Saturday January 14, Arts Society members and friends joined a ‘Pottery Party’ at La Fiore Art Studio. Twenty intrepid potters produced handbuilt bowls and moulded plates, decorating them beautifully with a glaze which can be applied before firing.

Events Coordinator for the Arts Society, Sarah Collett, said “I was so pleased to have such a good response for this ‘handson’ event and the results were

really impressive.”

The Arts Society not only launches six talks a year with expert speakers but there is a programme of extra events including wine tasting, museum visits, lunches, walking tours and concert visits. Non members may attend the talks for a fee.

Please email mallorca@the artssociety.org for more details on how to join, book in to a talk (if you are a non member) or find out more about events.

Hotelbeds collaboration

PALMA’s Neighbourhood Plan received funds totalling more than €31.4 million in 2022. At a budget review on Tuesday, January 24, Palma City Council said that it is committed to maintaining a high standard of living in the city and improving quality of life for residents.

The mayor of Palma, José Hila explained that the majority of money from the budget had gone towards projects to improve accessibility and sustainability in the city. The mayor highlighted the council’s commitment to spending on areas the community wants to see improvements.

The largest expenses in the budget were on park improvements, street lighting, school facility upgrades, road resurfacing and pavement expansions, and making use of dilapidated and derelict land.

The biggest investment injection went towards road resurfacing and maintenance projects which cost a total of more than €5 million. A further nearly €2 million was used to resurface roads.

A total of €2.5 million was used in projects to improve street lighting and making it more sustainable through the use of LED light bulbs. Authorities say a total of nearly €860,000 was invested in schools, mainly improving outdoor equipment including playgrounds.

HOTELBEDS has collaborated with The Leading Hotels of the World (LHW), expanding its luxury collection across the group’s more than 400 properties.

Hotelbeds are the world’s leading bedbank, redefining accommodation, transfers, activities and car rental products with a global network of travel distributors located in Palma.

The new preferred vendor agreement gives Hotelbeds’ clients access to a significant luxury portfolio for the first time, which offers properties in more than 80 countries worldwide.

In turn, the agreement opens up Hotelbeds’ 195­country distribution system to LHW’s hotels providing a wealth of benefits, including increased revenue streams and its industry­leading ability to ensure rate parity across all of its channels.

“This new agreement opens up The Leading Hotels of the World to our vast roster of booking platforms including 64,000 retail travel agents,” said Paul Anthony, Hotelbeds’ Digital Commercialisation Director.

Dalmau stressed the importance of the public bicycle service being present in this part of the city. “This station is located in the heart of Son Espanyolet, five minutes from the school zone and five minutes from the health centre,” he confirmed.

Over the next few months, Bicipalma plans to add up to 85 stations, enabling the new public bicycle service to reach a further 20 neighbourhoods.

Bicipalma has a total of 930 new bicycles, of which 270 are electric and 660 are mechanical.

The new Bicipalma project has been financed with Next Generation funds from the European Union included in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Fund, and was awarded to the company NextBike for an amount of €2,991,220.

LA PALMA: Minister Felix Bolanos and the President of the Canary Islands, Angel Victor Torres.

Image:

Authorities at Palma City Council say they have nearly doubled the Neighbourhood Plan’s budget since 2020.

Sports tourism success

CALVIA continued to make waves in the tourism industry with an impressive display at the FITUR tourism fair on Wednesday, January 18. A new international tournament was also announced at the fair, thought to bring an additional 1,500 visitors to the region in April.

Although the local tourism industry does not suffer as acutely as other parts of Spain from seasonal restrictions on income thanks to its international status and year­round high temperatures, authorities want to branch out beyond the summer season.

The announcement that the MIFC women’s football tournament will be held in Calvia in April is a welcome boost for the tourism industry during a slightly quieter period, with an additional 1,500 visitors likely to spend the night in the town.

EMT Palma has added a total of 22 new 18­metre buses to its fleet during these first weeks of January.

These vehicles, which increase the fleet’s capacity, are part of the second phase of the fleet renovation, which totals 65 new vehicles. In the first phase, a total of 100 vehicles were renewed.

The councillor of Sustainable Mobility, Francesc Dalmau, stressed that incorporating 18 ­ metre vehicles allows the capacity of the vehi­

More buses

cles to be increased by more than 30 per cent and recalled the advantages they bring to the environment.

“In this second phase of renovation we are continuing our commitment to gas and also to other more pioneering fuels, such as electric and hydrogen buses,” the councillor confirmed.

Spot the Monk

THE Cabrera National Park is set to promote a tracking project of the monk seal to determine the presence of this species in the waters of the archipelago.

Scientific studies of this species will continue in the protected natural area, together with the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA) as part of the ‘Spot the Monk’ project, which over the last year has identified its presence in the waters of Cabrera and Sa Dragonera.

The ‘Spot the Monk’ project, led by Professor Elena Agneses Valsecchi of the University of Milano Bicocca, aims to find out when and where monk seals genetic material is found in the environment.

During 2021, in the framework of this project, water samples have been collected in 135 locations in the Mediterranean, from the Adriatic Sea to the Balearic Islands.

The staff of the Cabrera and Sa Dragonera parks are collaborating with IMEDEA, together with diving centres and rangers from the marine reserves, to take samples in 16 different locations in these two protected natural areas over a period of two months.

The 22 new EMT Palma buses are part of the second phase of the fleet renovation. Once this renovation has been completed, EMT Palma will have renewed up to 165 vehicles since 2015, which means that more than 90 per cent of the vehicles have been renewed.

The second phase of the renovation of the EMT Palma fleet involves the arrival of a total of 65 new vehicles, 44 of which are 18metre gas­powered buses.

Master craftsman

ON Wednesday, January 18, ARCA announced that it had restored the hundred­year­old pews of the church of es Pont d’Inca in Marratxi, thanks to the altruistic work of master craftsman, Raul Fullana Aguirre.

“Although it has not been possible to restore them to their original state and size due to the considerable damage they suffered, their essence has been considerably recovered and these heritage elements have been saved with all the experiences and historical memory that they entail,” the conservation association, ARCA, confirmed.

Last summer, ARCA denounced the abandonment of the some­hundred­year­old benches by the parish of es Pont d’Inca and this public complaint received a quick reaction from the Department of Culture and Heritage.

ARCA added: “The benches were of a classic style for the time, originally made up of two bodies of seats joined with a central separating foot and two closing feet on their sides. They were robust pews and built to last, this is why we were so surprised that they were discarded by the church on the grounds that they had deteriorated due to woodworm.”

Calvia’s tourism industry present some of the town’s varied sporting events at the FITUR tourism fair in Madrid.

Photo credit: Ajuntament de Calvia (via Facebook)

Account sharing ends

STREAMING giant, Netflix is to crack down on account sharing, and in Spain this is expected to have a colossal impact on the company’s fortunes. Figures suggest that more than 60 per cent of users in Spain use shared accounts.

The American company has voiced its opposition to password sharing and intention to change the system for several years now, but a new announcement on Thursday, January 19 said that account sharing will be a thing of the past from the end of the first quarter of 2023.

The measure has been tested on the Latin American market, and saw thousands of people cancel subscriptions. Netflix recognised it was an unpopular measure following the pilot scheme, but is looking for more ways to clamp down on password sharing as they estimate 100 million users watch

through shared accounts globally.

Netflix is also seeking to boost its revenue, and believes a new account model will achieve this.

Approximately 60 per cent of Netflix users in Spain use shared accounts between different users and devices.

Missing after avalanche

TWO Basque mountaineers have been missing since Thursday in Patagonia on the border of Argentina and Chile.

A local news source reported on Saturday, January 21 that a rescue operation had yet to get underway due to weather conditions in the area.

Authorities said with each passing hour the chance of finding them alive reduces with the pair some 3,405 metres above sea level where conditions are said to be very dangerous.

The pair, Iker Bilbao (29) and Amaia Agirre (31) were believed to be descending. But minutes after arriving at the base of Fitz Roy an avalanche of snow buried them before dragging them to the bottom of a crevice.

The peak is understood not to be particularly high but conditions are ‘extremely difficult’ because of the ice.

A third mountaineer Josu Linaza, (31), raised the alarm after managing to save himself.

Families and friends of the mountaineers missing are hopeful that they will have survived the avalanche and can still be rescued.

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Business heavyweights

ON Tuesday, January 24 an event held by the British Chamber of Commerce in Spain with Line Directa at the NH Colon Madrid saw more than 100 business leaders come together from across Spain. Also attended by senior members of Santander’s Madrid office as well as British Ambassador to Spain, Hugh Elliott, the ‘New Year’s Cocktail’ evening was a chance for British and Spanish companies to interact and strengthen bonds between the two powerhouse nations.

Speaking in Spanish, Hugh Elliott thanked attendees for coming and spoke

about the links between the UK and Spain, as well as his plans for an event to mark the King’s coronation on May 6. Representatives of the British Chamber of Commerce in Spain, Linea Directa and Santander also spoke about the positive growth in commerce in the last year before a raffle hosted by ‘William Shakespeare’ and ‘Miguel de Cervantes’ took place.

Hugh Elliott told the Euro

Weekly News: “It's fantastic to be together. We forget quickly and a year ago we couldn’t be together. There are also people here, as well as others, who have developed treatments that have allowed this and we musn’t forget them.

“While we currently have an energy crisis, copst of living problems and an invasion in Ukraine, hearing the buzz here and feeling the energy gives some light to the gloom without underestimating its challenges.”

He added: “There is so much British investment in Spain and loads of Spanish investment in the UK so it’s really really positive.”

“NATURE trails allow visitors to explore the countryside to discover nature and enjoy Spain’s food products,” confirmed the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, when discussing the network of Spain’s nature trails.

He confirmed that nature trails are an option that satisfies many of the current demands for active and sustainable tourism. They allow people to enjoy leisure and promote well-being, they also generate economic activity and business in rural areas.

Nature trails

and Food’s stand at the International Tourism Trade Fair in Madrid 2023 ( FITFUR), where the department held a series of activities to publicise the tourist attractions offered by the Nature Trails and the Foodstuffs of Spain.

Image: Irina Stutz / Shutterstock.com

DISCOVER NATURE: Promoting leisure and well-being.

Luis Planas visited the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries

Firm commitment

SPAIN and France have reaffirmed their firm commitment to energy cooperation.

In the framework of the 27th Spanish-French Summit, held on Thursday, January 19, in Barcelona, Spain and France reaffirmed their firm commitment to cooperation in energy matters.

They paid special attention to the ongoing reform of the European Union’s electricity market and the promotion of interconnections between both countries, in order to increase resilience and security of supply.

Both countries will work on their proposals for reforming the European electricity market so that they converge in a common position with the aim of approving the new model by 2023. They will also study the construction of a new power line between the two countries, taking advantage of the underwater route of the H2med hydro-duct between Barcelona and Marseille.

The minister highlighted the quality and variety of Spanish food and the interest of the public and international tourists generated by the campaign entitled ‘The richest country in the world’.

During his visit to FITUR, Luis Planas also received the Excelencias Award, granted to the Ministry for this campaign to promote Food from Spain.

Chefs for Children

Betty Henderson NEARLY 50 master chefs are coming together to provide cooking classes for sick children in Spain, to help them learn about healthy eating in

a fun way.

The national initiative will be held in the prestigious town of Benahavís in the south of Spain this year, on Monday, April 24.

This year’s edition of the ChefsForChildren initiative is being organised in collaboration with the Fundación Pequeño Deseo. 47 of the nation’s top chefs, many of them Michelin starred chefs will give top class culinary classes to sick children, showing them how to create nutritious but delicious meals in a fun, relaxed setting.

The children will then work alongside the chefs to create a gourmet menu that will then be served at a dinner gala with guests invited by the children at the luxury five star Hotel Anantara Villa Padierna Palace Benahavis Marbella Resort in Benahavis.

The Fundación Pequeño Deseo was created back in 2002 with the aim of making sick children’s wishes come true. Since its creation, they have granted more than 6,000 wishes to children with serious and chronic illnesses.

CULTURE CLUB: William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes.

Credit: EWN

€

million in box office sales for Puss and Boots, the cat from Andalucia.

Credit: Flickr/Juan Millas

HUGH ELLIOTT: The Ambassador spoke at the event.

FOLLOWING the passing of the world’s oldest person that title now belongs to Spaniard Maria Branyas, who is currently 115.

According to a news source on Wednesday, January 18 the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) confirmed the sad passing of Sister André (Lucile

Spaniard is oldest in world

Randon) on Tuesday January 17 at the age of 118.

Branyas, who is a resident of Santa Maria del Tura in Olot, was born on March 4, 1907 in San Francisco after her Catalan family moved there in

1906.

At the age of seven, they returned to Catalonia where she lived through two world wars and the Spanish civil war.

Although she is confined to a wheelchair Branyas is strong, having overcome Covid­19 in 2021.

She even has a Twitter account under the name

of Super Àvia Catalana (@MariaBranyas112) and where a sentence states: ‘Soc vella, molt vella, però no idiota’ (I’m old, very old, but not idiot).

A daughter of a journalist from Pamplona who worked for the American magazine Mercurio, she married Joan Moret a Llagostera doctor in 1931. Maria is 115.

No masks on public transport

A FINAL decision has yet to be taken but it seems masks will no longer being required on public transport in Spain from February.

Local experts are said to have endorsed the removal of face masks on buses, trains and planes but not in health centres. It is understood the delay in making a decision is down to the opening up of China and the lack of solid data from the country’s authorities.

Sources close to the Ministry of Health told a news

there

Air quality

source on Wednesday, January 18 that a decision had already been made to remove the requirement from March. They added that the situation in China had unfortunately delayed any announcement.

Covid­19 is under control in Spain and experts have said that whilst they are supportive of the move, caution was needed until the China situation was clearer.

Organ donation

SPAIN continues to lead global organ donation figures which has helped Spain nearly recover its pre ­ pandemic transplant figures. The country recorded a 13 per cent increase in transplants completed during the last year in figures released on Thursday, January 19. The country has one of the highest organ donor figures in the world with 46.3 donors per million residents, well above the European average of 19.3.

After more than a year of pandemic disruption, organ transplants got back on track in 2022, growing by 13 per cent to 5,383 operations coming close to 2019 figures of 5,449. Approximately 15 transplants were carried out every day in the country. Spain also has an excellent bone marrow register with nearly 500,000 donors available.

Announcing the figures, Minister for Health, Carolina Darias said, “These figures represent a success that is shared by all of society and health professionals and place us in a position of excellence worldwide.”

BARCELONA has now joined AstraZeneca’s ‘Inspiring Cities’ project to raise awareness of the importance of air quality in cities.

On Thursday, January 19, AstraZeneca and Barcelona City Council announced that the city will join the ‘Cities that Inspire’ platform. It is a collaborative initiative that seeks to raise awareness of the importance of air quality in respiratory health.

With this project, the pharmaceutical company, together with leading scientific societies and respiratory patient associations, aims to inspire the development of municipal initiatives to improve air quality.

Barcelona City Council has signed the contract to build a healthy future for all.

This collaborative initiative is part of the 2030 Agenda’s drive for the city and seeks to raise awareness among municipalities, health professionals and the general public about the problem of air quality and its influence on people’s health and quality of life.

The higher the Air Quality Index (AQI) value, the greater the level of air pollution and the greater the health concern.

1is only one operating tin shop left in Spain and is to be found in Madrid.

Betty Henderson

NYC & Madrid

MADRID and New York are making progress on the implementation of a tourism promotion agreement. On Friday, January 20, the second day of the International Tourism Fair (FITFUR) in Madrid, Madrid’s councillor for Tourism, Almudeno Maillo, met with the heads of Marketing and Business Development of New York City.

At the meeting the foundations were laid to strengthen the joint promotion of high­impact tourism and gastronomy, sharing the strengths of both cities in these segments.

New York and Madrid will also collaborate on policies on which both destinations are already working intensively: decentralisation and product diversification. The cities, which have been twinned for 41 years, will also forge closer ties in the cultural and entertainment fields.

Madrid and New York

have a lively and long­lasting friendship that has flourished in recent years as Spain and the United States become more connected than ever. Though their official sis­

ter­city partnership was established in 1982, their relationship began in the early 1900s with the arrival of Spanish sailors at the port of New York.

Air traffic controllers strike

NEW strike action has been called in Spain’s aviation sector. On Wednesday, January 18, air traffic control members of the Usca (Air Traffic Controllers Union) and CC OO voted to go on strike, as reported by a local news source.

Vueling cabin crew members of Stavla are already conducting action, while maintenance technicians at Air Nostrum also called for strikes which were to begin on Monday January 23.

This latest strike will affect the personnel working in the privatised control towers of 16 national airports. Industrial action will take place for 24 hours, every Monday, on January 30, February 6, 13, 20 and 27.

The airport control towers affected will be those in, A Coruña, Alicante­Elche, Castellon, Cuatro Vientos, El Hierro, Fuerteventura, Ibiza, Jerez, Lanzarote, La Palma, Lleida, Murcia, Sabadell, Sevilla, Valencia and Vigo.

As announced by both unions in a statement, a decision has been made because of the ‘failure of the negotiations’, with 162 air traffic control workers involved in the action. They declared that negotiations with the business association APCTA had broken down.

Walking warriors

Betty Henderson

ONE of Mallorca’s most exciting sporting events of the calendar for older people is returning on Thursday, May 18. The Mallorca Walking Football Tournament is back, offering men over 50 and women over 40 a chance to test their football skills while meeting new people from all over the world.

The football tournament promises five days of sporty fun with three disciplines for men’s teams, 50+, 60+ and 70+ and one discipline for women, 40+. Walking football is a slightly more relaxed version of the traditional game.

So far, teams from Switzerland, Belgium, the USA, Spain, France, Germany the Netherlands, Italy and England have been confirmed to be taking part. The event has been organised by the

MALLORCA’S Symphonic Orchestra is warming up for its latest performance. ‘The Per Sempre Etern’, (For Ever More) concert is set to take place on Thursday, February 2, showcasing some of the most iconic symphonies by Wolfgang Mozart. Austrian Musical Director, Leopold Hager will lead a diverse group of international musical talent on the night from the Orquestra Simfònica

Fabulous flamenco

Betty Henderson

PALMA DE MALLORCA is set to be transformed to the narrow, whitewashed streets of Andalucian villages in March, for the Paco de Lucía Flamenco Festival.

organisation in collaboration with

experienced

Council and will be held in Santa Ponsa. The entry fee is €185 per team. www.mallor ca­tournament.com/tournaments/mallorcawalking­football­tournament/.

Classic crescendo

Illes Balears orchestra. Soprano vocalists Serafina Starke and Flore van Meerssche, tenor singer, Simon Yang and bass singer Gabriel Rollinson will also perform solos on the night. The Coral Universitat de les Illes Balears choir, under the direction of Joan Company will sing alongside the lead vocalists.

The concert will be held at the Palma Auditorium at 8pm on the evening. Tickets for the concert start at €30 and are available for purchase from the Palma Auditorium Box Office or online from: https://auditoriumpalma.koo bin.com/index.php?action=P U_evento&Ev_id=2858&id ioma=ES

Award ­ winning flamenco singer, Estrella Morente will take an audience on a journey of music and folklore to her roots in Granada on the opening night on Wednesday, March 1.

The performer, who has been nominated for the prestigious Latin Grammy award will charm an audience with her unique voice at the Teatre Principal in Palma.

The performance which promises to be packed with emotions and quintessential Andalucian passion will include upbeat traditional flamenco hits and heart ­ wrenching ballads for a lost love.

Morente will take to the stage from 8pm on the night in the Sala Gran in the theatre. Tickets start at just €8 and can be purchased from the theatre’s box office or online at: https://www.teatrepri ncipal.com/es/ficha/d etalle/648/estrellamorente/.

The performance will launch the second edition of the flamenco festival which will take place in various venues in the city until Sunday, March 5.

MFE

Calvia

English teams including Nottingham Forest Vets FC will be looking to repeat their domination of the tournament in May.

Photo credit: Mallorca Walking Football Tournament (via Facebook)

British actor missing

A HIKER missing for five days in freezing south Californian San Gabriel Mountains has been revealed to be British actor Julian Sands.

The British actor was named on Thursday, January 19 as the hiker who was reported missing in the San Gabriel Mountains. The 65 ­ year ­ old was last seen on the evening of Friday January 13 in the Baldy Bowl trail area.

At risk from avalanches, and operating in freezing weather, search teams have been scouring the region for more than five days for the married actor.

On Wednesday January 18, drones and helicopters were drafted in due to the ground conditions becoming too treacherous.

Julian’s son Henry has reportedly travelled to join in the search operation. Todd Burleson, the

Credit: Wikipedia By 5of7, CC BY-SA 2.0

Britain’s Got Talent for pets

founder of Alpine Ascents International is also on the scene. His disappearance had been known to family and close friends, but only revealed publicly on Thursday. Sands is known as a keen outdoorsman and has a home in North Hollywood. He has spoken in the past about climbing mountains all over the world and his love of the ‘wonderful outdoor lifestyle’.

Grand Tour series ends

AMAZON won’t be renewing the contracts for Clarkson’s Farm and the Grand Tour when the current series comes to an end according to a US entertainment site.

It is understood that once the current commissions run out Jeremy Clarkson won’t be rehired to do any more work for the video streaming site following his statements in a UK newspaper regarding Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Although there has been no official confirmation from Amazon, however, a virtual press conference on Monday January 16 to promote Clarkson’s Farm was cancelled.

With the fallout from his newspaper column yet to settle down, Clarkson has “fuelled the fire” by writing to Prince Harry only. The couple said that he had failed to address them both in his email, which many believe was a cop ­ out when he should have done the mature thing and picked up the phone.

Clarkson’s current commissions with Amazon will see his show continue into 2024, but privately the company is saying it will no longer use him or his series in the future.

LONDON’S Mayor Saddiq Khan confirmed that London had just got a lot more expensive with the largest hikes in council tax and public transport costs in more than a decade.

Speaking on Wednesday, January 18 Khan said that bus fares will increase by an average of 5.9 per cent whilst council tax bills will rise 9.7 per cent. Tube fares will also increase by 6.7 per cent, although the level of increase is depen­

London costs a whole lot more

dent on the zones travelled. There is more bad news for Londoners with the temporary ban on free travel for the over 60s that was introduced during the pandemic, becoming permanent from Wednesday. That will, ac­

SIMON COWELL is said to be planning a pet version of Britain’s Got Talent after the success of the one ­ off show featuring magicians last month.

A UK news outlet reported on Wednesday, January 18 that Cowell is really keen on animals and in particular dogs.

A source told the newspaper that “Simon has long been a fan of the animal acts on Britain’s Got Talent, so nobody was surprised when the notion of a furry friends special was raised.

“Ultimate Magician proved there’s an appetite for these spectacular showcases, so why not?

There’s a couple of ideas on the table, but the animals are leading the way at the moment.”

Cowell is understood to be looking at ways to keep the format fresh and relevant after 16 years, with the announcement of Bruno Tonioli the first change in the judging line ­ up in nine seasons.

Craig Revel Horwood has said that Tonioli would be the perfect judge for an animal version of the show saying “I think he’d be wonderful to get that energy back on the telly.”

cording to a local news source, raise an extra £40 million a year.

The increase was criticised by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, however, Khan said he was forced by the government to mirror the 5.9 per cent rise in national rail fares and to increase his share of council tax by the maximum allowed. The extra funds raised will be used mainly to fund the Met Police and London Fire Brigade.

JULIAN SANDS: Missing in South Californian mountains.

King Charles’ Coronation

BUCKINGHAM PALACE officials on Friday, January 20, revealed plans for a spectacular concert that will be staged at Windsor Castle on May 7 to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III. The star­studded show will ‘light up’ Britain they insisted.

Mr Blobby auctioned off

FANS of Noel Edmond’s House Party will fondly remember Mr Blobby, the pink and yellow dotted monster who regularly interrupted the show, who is being sold in an online auction.

The rare piece of nostalgia has attracted a lot of interest with bids already having passed £17,000 (€19,400) despite his rather tatty appearance. Photos posted on the auction site show the costume to be well­worn.

Anyone interested in bidding for the costume can do so on Ebay, however, it’s not the one that appeared on the actual TV show. Instead, the auction

lists the item as follows:

“Mr Blobby ­ an original BBC costume from the mid ­ 1990s. This was made by the BBC’s costume supplier for an overseas version of Noel’s House Party. Unfortunately, before it could be delivered the overseas show was cancelled and neither the broadcaster or the BBC’s production team wanted itso it sat in my office until a move meant it came home with me some years ago.”

Why sell Mr Blobby now, well apparently the owner is moving house so the character needs a new home too.

The show will take place one day after Charles is officially crowned as King at Westminster Abbey on May 6. A host of British pop and rock icons will perform to entertain the nation on this incredible royal occasion, according to a news source.

A display titled ‘Lighting Up The Nation’ is planned as a ‘centrepiece’ during the concert. It will feature famous landmarks across the nation being lit up with ‘projections, lasers, drone displays and illuminations’ beamed onto them.

BBC Studios has been tasked with organising the stunning Coronation weekend event, which will be broadcast on BBC One. A public ballot will be held for the public to win one of the available concert tickets.

Windsor Palace.

PRESS EUROPEAN

DENMARK

Price halt

HOUSE prices have fallen at their fastest rate in more than a decade in Denmark, one of the most expensive property markets in Europe. According to Eurostat, in the third quarter of 2022 Denmark's house prices fell by 3.8 per cent.

THE NETHERLANDS

Electrification rise

PASSENGER car sales in the Netherlands decreased in December and in the full year of 2022, but electrification continues to rise, reaching very solid levels. According to EV Volumes' data, 15,757 new plug-in cars were registered in December, which is roughly 32 per cent less than a year ago.

BELGIUM

No smoking

THE number of smokers in Belgium decreased for the second year in a row from 2021 to 2022. According to a survey by the Foundation Against Cancer, 24 per cent of Belgians reported smoking daily or occasionally last year, compared to 29 per cent in 2020 and 27 per cent in 2021.

GERMANY

Tidy turnover

TURNOVER in accommodation and food services in Germany rose by a whopping 47 per cent year on year in 2022 in real terms despite high inflation. The Federal Statistics Office confirmed the news on January 19. “The sector benefited from the easing of pandemic restrictions,” they said.

FRANCE

Top spot

FRANCE regains the top spot as the bloc’s main electricity provider. Following a record year for electricity imports, the relatively mild weather and the relaunch of nuclear reactors, France started 2023 by exporting more electricity to its neighbouring countries than it imports.

NORWAY

Enigmatic history

ARCHAEOLOGISTS in Norway claim to have the world's oldest rune stone with inscriptions up to 2,000 years old that date back to the earliest days of the enigmatic history of runic writing. “They may be the earliest example of words recorded in writing in Scandinavia,” the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo said.

FINLAND

Travel Fair

THE Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs was present at the Matka Nordic Travel Fair, held at Messukeskus in Helsinki from January 19 until 22. The government confirmed that Finns are again interested in travelling abroad after being grounded during the pandemic years.

IRELAND

Brilliant BloodBox

STUDENTS at Sutton Park School in Dublin have been named winners of the 2023 Self Help Africa/Irish Aid Science for Development award. They developed BloodBox, a portable diagnostic device to diagnose diseases including malaria. The device allows blood samples to be tested for disease with 94 per cent accuracy.

ITALY

Italian transfer

HUNGARIAN low-cost airline, Wizz Air, will withdraw its base in Bari, Puglia region, effective February 16. The move was confirmed by Wizz Air in a press release, where it confirmed the two Airbus A320 aircraft will be transferred to their largest bases in the country, Milan/Malpensa and Rome/Fiumicino.

PORTUGAL

Portuguese connection

PORTUGAL'S Infrastructures has set 2025 as the date to finish the section of the new Evora-Elvas railway line, which will connect Badajoz with the Spanish network and put into service a direct Madrid-Lisbon train with a travel time of five hours instead of the current nine hours and two transfers.

UKRAINE

Economic opportunities

THE war may still be ongoing but looking to the future, Dara Khosrowshahi, the CEO of the transportation company Uber, has recently visited Ukraine to imagine how the company might eventually operate after peace is established. His interest lies in the economic opportunities that it might create.

SWEDEN

Cleaning crows

IN exchange for food, wild crows volunteer to pick up cigarette butts from the streets of Sodertalje in Sweden. According to the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation, 62 per cent of all litter is cigarette butts and more than one billion of them are left on the country’s streets each year.

FINANCE

BUSINESS EXTRA

Rice pests

COYPUS, non ­ native otters from South America, are one of Catalonia’s most recent invasive species. They are also causing problems in the traditional rice­growing area of Ampurdan (Girona) where growers asked the regional government to intervene to save this year’s crop.

Less good

THE International Monetary Fund (IMF), believes that 2023 may be better than expected for the global economy, as positive figures ease predictions of worldwide recession. The outlook is less good for Britain, predicted to have the G20’s lowest 2023 growth.

Argos goes

ARGOS will close its 34 stores in Ireland in late June. Recent accounts for its Irish operation showed a pre­tax loss of €13 million in 2022 and the company maintained that the investment required to modernise operations there was inviable.

Tax blow

SPANISH multinational Telefonica’s Peru subsidiary lost its long­running multi­million tax dispute against the government in Lima regarding tax declarations made between 1998 and 2005. The Supreme Court in Madrid ordered the company to pay €790 million compensation, its largest­ever fine.

Royal bounty

KING CHARLES announced that profits from his £1 billion deal leasing six offshore windfarms off different sections of the British coast would be used for the “wider public good.” This follows Charle’s reference to the cost­of­living crisis in his Christmas speech.

STAT OF WEEK €900 million

Bankinter gets there early

LAST year was good for Bankinter, with a pre­tax result of €785 million and a 46 per cent increase.

With a net profit of just over €560 million, a 28 per cent increase on 2021, Madrid ­ based Bankinter reached its 2023 profit target a year early, enabling the bank to overtake its pre ­ pandemic results.

Last year’s showing was especially encouraging, as 2021’s figures still included four months of income from Linea Directa, whose segregation from the bank was announced in 2020. This also converted Bankinter shareholders into the independent, publicly ­ traded insurance company’s shareholders.

Return on Equity (ROE) stood at 12 per cent, compared to 2021’s 9.6 per cent while only 2.1 per cent of Bankinter clients defaulted on loans, despite the worsening economic environment.

“All these figures are amongst the best at European level,” the bank pointed out.

The bank’s Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio, a measure of

FRENCH­OWNED Schneider Electric recently rejected claims that it had acquired the Cambridge software giant Aveva “on the cheap.”

Aveva, which provides software used to design major industrial projects as well as products that assist in running factories, was founded in 1967 and pioneers technology used in industrial design.

Britain’s Business Secretary, Grant Shapps gave the €10 billion deal the go ­ ahead in December when Schneider, which already owned 59 per cent of Schneider, acquired the remaining 41

its solvency rose to 12 per cent, comfortably above the minimum 7.7 per cent requirement that the European Central Bank established for Bankinter in 2023.

The bank’s Spanish investment portfolio increased by just over 5 per cent, six times more than the sector’s average growth, according to Bank of Spain figures an ­

nounced last November. Outside Spain, this rise was still more evident, with a 15 per cent increase in Portuguese investments while lending doubled in Ireland.

As of December 31, 2022, the total assets were €107.5 billion, similar to the previous year’s, with credit investment to customers up by 9 per cent to €74.2 billion.

would indeed be benefitting from a cut­price deal. Originally agreeing to pay £31 (€35.5 a share), representing a 40 per cent premium on Aveva’s then trading price, this was increased to £32.25 (€37) with a 47 per cent premium, precisely to dispel investors’ concerns.

ICONIC British bootmaker Dr Martens announced that unseasonably warm weather had affected sales, prompting the company’s second profit warning in two months.

Problems with US warehousing including a bottleneck at the new Los Angeles distribution centre had also hit profits, together with higher costs and complications arising from strikes at Felixstowe port and Netherlands staff shortages.

It now foresees full­year profits not exceeding £260 million (€297.8 million), amounting to £26 million (€29.8 million) below its original predictions.

Holidays up

PACKAGE holidays and air fares to the UK’s favourite holiday destinations have rocketed, according to consumer association, Which?

A week in a Greek hotel will set you back by 30 per cent more than in 2022, although Spain, Italy and Turkey remain more competitive with rises of around 20 per cent.

Those visiting a second home or preferring to arrange their own holiday over Easter will pay up to 51 per cent more to fly to Spain, although it could cost an extra 71 per cent to travel to Greece.

Which? found that hotel prices have gone up by an average 10 per cent in Europe and 23 per cent for those going further afield.

Extra lessons

isting jobs.

per cent.

A month earlier, Aveva shareholders had okayed the acquisition despite worries that Schneider

The French company paid what chief executive Jean­Pascal Tricoire described as “a very rich premium” for the British company while talking to the UK media at the World Economic Forum in Davos. At the same time he stressed Schneider’s commitment to ex­

Tricoire also batted away misgivings regarding Schneider’s links to China via the company’s joint venture, founded in 2007, with Delixi Electric, a Chinese conglomerate. Opponents to the deal maintained that this could endanger Avevaowned technology.

“Most of what we do is 100 per cent Schneider,” Tricoire insisted. “The digital arm of Avea is operating in China on its own,” he was quoted as saying, suggesting that there would be no change in the current situation.

FORTY­SEVEN per cent of Spanish families are paying for out­ofschool tuition.

Of these, 46 per cent have children attending state­run schools.

This burgeoning market accounts for an annual €1.7 billion, according to the Esade Centre for Economic Policies, which found that parents paid an average of €270 per child.

The same survey revealed that the Community of Madrid spends more than any other region, with an average of €350 per pupil.

No longer restricted to the welloff, the practice has spread to all types of households, with 30 per cent of families saying that they were prepared to cut down on other extras if necessary.

is the amount that Spanish households could save on energy bills by reducing their amount of contracted electricity, as each unneeded kilowatt costs between €2.4 and €5.8 per hour.

BANKINTER: CEO Maria Dolores announced good 2022 results.

JEAN-PASCAL TRICOIRE: Chief Executive of Schneider Electric.

3I Group 1.450,00 1.450,50 1.423,00 176,83K

Abrdn 203,50 203,80 200,80 292,46K

Admiral Group 2.103,0 2.120,0 2.098,0 29,88K

Anglo American 3.573,0 3.615,5 3.573,0 130,63K

Antofagasta 1.727,50 1.753,00 1.727,50 86,14K

Ashtead Group 4.954,0 4.960,0 4.920,0 32,04K

Associated British Foods 1.824,0 1.832,0 1.818,0 64,93K

AstraZeneca 11.288,0 11.444,0 11.288,0 10,13K

Auto Trader Group Plc 577,27 578,20 571,40 149,28K

Aveva 3.219,0 3.231,0 3.219,0 0

Aviva 437,60 439,80 436,40 184,66K

B&M European Value Retail SA434,70 436,40 432,90 21,25K

BAE Systems 849,80 850,60 842,80 414,91K

Barclays 178,34 178,86 177,60 2,09M

Barratt Developments 448,40 449,30 444,90 166,10K

Berkeley 4.201,0 4.209,0 4.185,5 0,40K

BHP Group Ltd 2.773,00 2.808,00 2.776,27 17,99K

BP 478,90 482,75 478,60 2,17M

British American Tobacco 3.103,0 3.120,0 3.100,5 195,42K

British Land Company 436,60 437,30 434,40 74,66K

BT Group 128,05 129,20 126,80 871,08K

Bunzl 2.920,0 2.924,0 2.897,0 21,96K

Burberry Group 2.326,0 2.336,0 2.310,0 108,28K

Carnival 736,8 737,6 724,2 82,67K

Centrica 97,43 98,32 97,40 1,30M

Coca Cola HBC AG 1.906,6 1.925,0 1.904,5 9,52K

Compass 1.911,80 1.911,50 1.891,50 107,60K

CRH 3.607,5 3.632,0 3.601,5 58,68K

Croda Intl 7.047,9 7.060,0 6.926,0 22,74K

DCC 4.465,0 4.470,0 4.434,0 43,49K

Diageo 3.659,5 3.685,5 3.652,5 187,10K

DS Smith 347,20 347,80 344,00 738,48K

EasyJet 441,60 442,70 437,30 146,75K

Experian 2.960,0 2.959,0 2.941,0 4,47K

Ferguson 10.945,0 10.990,0 10.885,0 19,43K

Flutter Entertainment 12.470,0 12.485,0 12.360,0 17,92K

Fresnillo 932,40 937,20 921,80 101,26K

Glencore 568,70 574,80 567,90 3,60M

GSK plc 1.414,48 1.421,80 1.412,40 288,72K

Halma 2.110,9 2.111,0 2.095,0 2,93K

Hargreaves Lansdown 877,40 878,20 861,00 192,64K

Hikma Pharma 1.700,50 1.705,00 1.683,50 7,47K

HSBC 588,50 590,10 587,10 1,57M

IAG 161,02 161,78 160,30 2,11M

Imperial Brands 2.052,00 2.056,00 2.047,00 118,97K

Informa 663,26 666,40 660,20 82,03K

InterContinental 5.618,0 5.640,0 5.580,0 43,04K

Intermediate Capital 1.258,50 1.260,00 1.250,50 10,07K

Intertek 4.299,0 4.310,0 4.277,0 9,20K

ITV 77,62 77,82 76,80 894,47K

J Sainsbury 242,50 243,70 242,20 354,73K

Johnson Matthey 2.141,3 2.151,2 2.141,3 0,49K

Land Securities 699,00 701,40 694,20 91,57K

Legal & General 255,10 255,60 253,60 481,77K

Lloyds Banking 49,09 49,24 49,03 5,42M

London Stock Exchange 7.488,0 7.544,0 7.450,0 29,18K

Melrose Industries 145,15 147,10 145,00 3,85M

Mondi 1.491,50 1.501,00 1.489,50 116,79K

National Grid 1.040,00 1.042,50 1.034,00 230,36K

NatWest Group 295,60 296,30 294,70 667,70K

Next 6.388,0 6.424,0 6.376,0 8,07K

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

Ocado 713,22 719,40 705,20 146,75K

Persimmon 1.382,3 1.390,5 1.378,0 28,00K

Phoenix 625,40 625,80 622,00 46,25K

Prudential 1.300,00 1.317,00 1.286,50 340,20K

Reckitt Benckiser 5.850,0 5.856,0 5.822,0 0,81K

Relx 2.365,00 2.376,00 2.360,00 195,02K

Rentokil 500,40 503,80 499,90 632,45K

Rightmove 566,80 567,60 561,20 202,82K

Rio Tinto PLC 6.207,0 6.269,0 6.200,0 171,37K

Rolls-Royce Holdings 105,46 106,06 104,22 4,49M

Sage 756,20 757,00 749,60 91,56K

Samsung Electronics DRC 1.250,50 1.251,50 1.246,50 1,64K Schroders 468,5 470,5 466,0 167,75K

Scottish Mortgage 741,80 744,80 739,60 614,92K

Segro 829,60 830,80 820,00 96,02K

Severn Trent 2.838,0 2.844,0 2.808,0 64,34K

Shell 2.380,4 2.403,0 2.378,5 833,11K

Smith & Nephew 1.142,00 1.143,50 1.130,00 189,56K

Smiths Group 1.705,84 1.714,50 1.703,00 24,72K

Spirax-Sarco Engineering 11.425,0 11.435,0 11.345,0 4,41K

SSE 1.730,98 1.761,00 1.716,50 558,25K

St. James’s Place 1.237,89 1.239,50 1.227,00 34,98K

Standard Chartered 700,00 706,40 699,00 361,19K

Taylor Wimpey 114,45 114,45 113,05 768,35K

Tesco 249,50 249,60 248,60 526,43K

Tui 187,50 188,11 183,97 241,80K

Unilever 4.065,0 4.084,0 4.050,0 416,45K

United Utilities 1.050,00 1.054,00 1.040,50 67,93K

Vodafone Group PLC 90,65 90,86 90,12 7,83M Whitbread 2.996,0 3.000,0 2.965,0 25,27K WPP 915,80 921,80 913,00 116,04K

3M 118,43 122,29 4,84M

American Express 146,85 148,00 144,20 3,82M

Amgen 262,03 263,52 260,92 2,09M

Apple 135,27 136,25 133,77 57,70M

Boeing 207,09 209,67 204,82 5,76M

Caterpillar 245,75 251,25 244,30 4,88M

Chevron 179,00 179,95 176,16 5,79M

Cisco 46,46 47,05 46,39 18,99M

Coca-Cola 59,72 60,64 59,71 14,82M

Dow 56,60 56,99 55,85 5,00M

Goldman Sachs 350,75 352,16 345,52 3,06M

Home Depot 310,88 321,34 310,63 5,26M

Honeywell 200,66 204,38 200,22 4,53M

IBM 140,62 142,23 139,75 4,80M

Intel 28,42 28,75 28,24 36,63M

J&J 169,53 171,28 168,71 6,90M

JPMorgan 134,75 135,90 133,59 13,03M

McDonald’s 263,58 269,14 263,53 2,81M

Merck&Co 109,90 110,18 108,10 6,75M

Microsoft 231,93 235,52 230,68 28,18M

Nike 124,53 125,44 123,61 5,18M

Procter&Gamble 142,42 146,22 142,24 12,36M

Salesforce Inc 146,41 146,68 143,16 7,01M

The Travelers 184,04 184,42 182,23 1,45M

UnitedHealth 484,36 486,39 477,39 4,41M

Verizon 40,06 40,28 39,47 24,80M

Visa A 220,41 221,52 217,50 4,81M

Walgreens Boots 35,41 35,75 35,35 6,16M

Walmart 138,83 141,52 138,79 5,77M

Walt Disney 99,08 99,45 97,12 10,78M

Most Declined

Olink

Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. -16.95% 1.625M

Sunnova Energy International Inc. -12.65% 6.971M

Enphase Energy, Inc. -10.92% 6.22M

Kuaishou Technology -10.68% 213,741

ChargePoint Holdings, Inc. -10.65% 13.818M

SunPower Corporation -10.44% 5.26M

Sunrun Inc. -10.39% 9.146M

SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. -10.32% 1.767M

Super Micro Computer, Inc. -10.16% 4.91M

Rumble Inc. -9.97% 1.392M

BUSINESS EXTRA

Simple sums

BRITAIN’S chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s use of a cup of coffee to explain rising inflation was ridiculed for maintaining that a coffee now costs ‘almost £3 (€3.4)’. Both economists and consumers pointed out that a medium latte already costs £3.25 (€3.71).

It’s a gas

SPAIN expects to produce 20 per cent of Europe’s green hydrogen by 2030, revealed Enagas. The partly publicly­sector company, which operates and owns the country’s gas grid, also plans to invest €4.8 billion in distributing the renewable gas inside Spain.

Branches pruned

LLOYDS and Halifax has announced future branch closures in England and Wales due to begin in April and continue in June. Lloyds Banking Group which owns both, intends to bring the shutters down on 22 Lloyds and 18 Halifax branches.

Count your blessings

A KPMG report on Spain’s Episcopal Conference revealed that the Church in this country generates an annual €32.5 billion.

Property accounts for most of the wealth, complemented by companies, universities, schools, hospitals and the financial assets of investment funds. Banks like Santander and CaixaBank provide experts with a comprehensive knowledge of the Church’s finances while orders like the Jesuits, Augustinians and Marists usually manage assets via private bankers and fund managers. One of these, Portocolom, recently revealed more than half of the €1 billion financial assets they advise on belongs to religious orders. “Some possess assets amounting to €2 million, but others have more than €50 million,” the source said.

Sweeping statements

Linda Hall

SIR JAMES DYSON dismissed the British government’s approach to the economy and business as “stupid” and “short­sighted.”

Writing recently in the Daily Telegraph, the Dyson tycoon whose estimated fortune of €23 million was initially based on cordless vacuum cleaners, maintained that growth had become a “dirty word” since Rishi Sunak took over as Britain’s prime minister.

Dyson, who was a committed Brexit supporter, claimed that the government believed in its ability to impose “tax upon tax” on companies

under the impression that penalising private industry was one way of winning votes.

“This is as short ­ sighted as it is stupid,” Dyson warned in the Telegraph. “In the global economy, companies will simply choose to transfer jobs and invest elsewhere.”

Sir James also voiced unease at the working­from­home policies introduced when the Covid pandemic was at its height. The government had yet to succeed in convincing employees to return to the workplace after having told them to stay home to prevent infection from spreading and avoid overloading an already

Nice work

overloaded NHS, he said.

The measure had damaged Britain’s work ethic, he insisted, while little had been done to emphasise the importance of face­to­face collaboration, shared culture, mental health, productivity and output. The government had also neglected the training of young, new employees, which Dyson said was vital for the success of both businesses and employees.

Britain was capable of shaking off its “Covid inertia”, he added, but declared that things could be turned round only if fast­growing companies were allowed to thrive there.

TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY ­ ONE Spanish bankers were amongst 1,957 European bankers who earned more than €1 million in 2021.

European Banking Authority figures revealed that the number of highly paid bankers throughout Europe had increased by more than 40 per cent from the 1,383 employees listed in 2020.

It also pointed out that the best­ paid banking jobs have decamped from London to other EU capitals following Brexit, as the EBA statistics logically ex ­

cluded those working in UK. In contrast, before Britain’s EU exit, its bankers were routinely listed amongst Europe’s top earners.

According to the EBA, the increase in Europe’s €1 million ­ plus earners was the result of booming profits from investment banking “together with further relocations of staff after Brexit from the UK to the EU” as well as an overall increase in salary levels.

Seventy per cent of the high earners were employed by banks operating in Spain, France and Italy,

the EBA said.

The single highest ­ paid banker was an unnamed Spaniard who, the EBA disclosed, had earned between €14 and €15 million, describing it as a “significant amount of variable remuneration” corresponding to severance pay.

This was also 466 times more than the country’s average salary.

A further three bank employees, who worked in Spain, France and Germany respectively, each took home between €13 and €14 million in 2021.

HOUSEHOLDS are still trying to cut down on energy bills as Spain and the UK endure another cold snap.

This prompted the Daily Mail’s money experts to examine whether putting on an extra jersey was cheaper than turning up the thermostat when the thermometer plummets.

Assuming that people feel chilly once an indoor temperature drops below the World Health Organisation’s recommended 18 degrees, the investigators found that an extra layer really makes a difference.

Putting on another winter woolly will save a family an annual £250 (€285) at present, they said, adding that this would rise to £300 (€342) after the British government readjusts its energy price guarantee in April.

Wrap up! Interesting bank offer

HOPING to attract more business, CaixaBank will pay 5 per cent interest to clients domiciling monthly salaries that top €2,500.

Some strings are attached, as the offer applies to clients agreeing to pay in their wages to CaixaBank for the first time and will affect the first €5,000 of their bank balance for two years.

Clients earning €2,500 a month or more will also be offered the chance of swapping the interest for a 50 ­ inch television, while those on €1,200 can opt for a 32­ inch LG model.

They will also need to meet other requirements, including three regular standing orders and making three credit card purchases each quarter.

GOVERNMENT CRITIC: Sir James Dyson questioned Rishi Sunak’s policies.

Photo credit: CC/The Royal Society

TOP EARNERS: Spanish bankers are amongst Europe’s best paid.

Photo credit: Pixabay/Wilfried Wende

I HAVE always been convinced that the British sense of humour has been one of our most commendable and enduring assets. Through the horror of two World Wars and all the disasters and conflicts that have beset us over the years, the Brits have always managed to find some way to raise a smile out of even the most tragic circumstances.

The skill of our comedians and cartoonists is such that their humour never sets out to undermine these situations, merely eases their seriousness by lightening the mood and in doing so allows those affected to hopefully surmount their problems more easily.

The British sense of humour, sometimes indefinable and unique, has always been a bit of a mystery to the rest of the world and often something that most foreigners simply can’t get their heads around. Some years ago, I wrote that whatever the terrorist or our enemies can throw at us nothing will ever rob us of our most commendable and enduring gift, our humour. Well I was wrong.

At the time of writing that particular piece we weren’t being strangled by the despicable, destructive, and downright traitorous yolk of the PC brigade. Not content with changing their fellow citizens from a nation that prided and flourished through its policies of oratory freedom into a herd of sheep, watching

Truly disturbing

LEAPY LEE SAYS IT

OTHERS THINK IT

every word they say and almost frightened to open their mouths in case they offend somebody, this utterly superfluous bunch of time and woke wasters have finally managed to turn their attack on one of the most dearly loved jewels of our culture, our purveyors of comedy. Subsequently most comedians are simply not funny anymore.

Jokes that retain reference to classism, ageism, ableism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, xenophobia or Islamophobia are just not allowed on public platforms. For the new breed its ok to repeat appalling swear words, or even undermine white culture, but step out of line against a minority and you can bid your career goodbye.

One TV channel I tune into actually presents (with a large cautionary notice) a wonderful selection of early brilliant British comedy shows. ‘Benny Hill’ ‘Till Death do Us Part’ ‘Hale and Pace’ to

name but a few. Many contain racist humour, but they are glaringly noncontemptuous, simply frivolously humorous.

What I find truly disturbing about this whole PC farce is just how far this Orwellian situation is allowed to go. Another bunch of them have now issued guidelines instructing schools that eightyear­olds be taught that all genders can have periods ­ to avoid... wait for it. ‘Offending girls who identify as boys’! Well, frankly if I had my way, I would prosecute these morons for child abuse. Unfortunately, as a member of a majority, nobody is allowed to listen to me!

Keep the faith Love Leapy leapylee2002@gmail.com expatradioscotland.com Mon. Fri. 1pm till 4.

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Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

The origin of this proverb is uncertain but it is common in many cultures. It is often used to express the importance of teaching someone how to do something, rather than just doing it for them.

OUT IN THE COLD OUR VIEW

THIS week’s freezing temperatures in Spain have reopened the argument for bringing back the Winter Fuel Payment for British expats. The scheme, which offers up to £600 for help with heating bills, was withdrawn for British nationals living outside of the UK in 2015, a move which wasn’t seen as particularly controversial by those in the UK who see the Spain as balmy temperatures all year round.

Those who actually live in Spain know the reality is very different however, with temperatures inland and particularly in the mountains often dipping into the minuses in winter.

Expats who spent tens of years of their lives paying in to the National Insurance system were justifiably angry with the turn of events when the news was announced. Now, plunging temperatures combined with soaring electric costs have brought this issue into the spotlight once again.

Expats are by nature, people who have paid taxes for many years before then asking for very little in return from their governments when they retire, in either health or social care. Given that the number of expats worldwide is estimated at 5.5 million and soon set to have UK voting rights for life though, the British government might like to remember the importance of the looking after of all its citizens, not just the ones living in Britain.

LAUNCHED in 2020 by Sirena and her husband Anssi, the couple had already built a prosperous real­estate chain in the Nordics, and aimed to bring their unique approach to new markets in Spain.

“We always believed that whichever area we got into, we’d shake up the market,” explains Strand Properties co­founder Sirena Kiviranta.

“The property industry seemed it was operating on outdated principles, and we could see many ways to improve things for both buyers and sellers.”

For Sirena, it begins as soon as the potential buyer enters a property. She maintains that in the first five minutes, the critical impression is made:

“We aim to make anyone looking for a new home feel content and comfortable as soon as they walk in. This means showing the property at its advantage, paying attention to the details and perhaps even adding a few stylish finishing touches. But

it’s also about the level of help the agent can offer.”

Sirena made sure that Strand differentiated themselves from other agencies by offering informative materials and strong photography, enabling sellers to present their property in the best possible light, giving buyers a glimpse of how their new homes could look and feel.

Comfort and confidence

The quality­focused approach is paying off, today Strand is one of the fastest­growing real­estate agencies

in Europe. Strand has opened a new office in each year of its existence, and their team includes 50 dedicated and multilingual professionals.

“We know all the best services,” says Sirena, “from cleaners to gardeners, and we can take care of everything. We have our own interior designers, and partner with a number of flooring, furniture and fittings companies to provide our customers with the best possibilities at the best prices.

“It’s the level of service we’d want

for ourselves,” Sirena emphasises. “This is the idea that guides our offering most strongly.”

Helping dreams become reality

Strand has established a reputation as a leader in the field when it comes to representing property, and delivering strong credibility and trust to the proceedings.

With tens of thousands of properties available, Strand is proud to cater to all, and each sale is prioritised with the same respect and dedication. The feeling of committed, knowledgeable service is palpable in every viewing, and every transaction.

Happy landings

Strand’s relationships with its buyers and sellers extend the typical conclusion of a successful purchase.

Acutely aware of the fact that their buyers will often find themselves entering a new locale in a country where they don’t yet speak the language, the company aims to help integrate new arrivals into the community.

“When you come to a new place, you’re lost,” says Sirena, “but when you buy or sell through Strand, you become part of the family. For families with children, for example, it can be a real blessing to be introduced to the local community, but the same applies to anyone. We’re all about making connections between likeminded people to make sure that everyone feels at home.”

Providing a golden membership card to every client, Strand opens up access to a wealth of different amenities. From exclusive parties in collaboration with some of the best restaurants in Marbella to networking get­togethers between business owners over a round of golf, Strand go out of their way to bring people together.

“The property market had been the same for so long,” says Sirena. “It was time for a change, and we are still thinking of more ways to improve the experience for our customers. There is much more to come.”

LeapyLee’sopinionsarehisownandarenotnecessarilyrepresentativeofthoseofthepublishers,advertisersorsponsors.

Helping you navigate the circle of strife

THEY do say that life comes round in cycles, and the team at Neater Heater are inclined to repeat a phrase that Derrick Trotter might say: “It’s Deja­vu all over again, Rodney.”

Neater Heater started life in the last cost of living crisis after the world’s economies were crashed by the banks in 2008. Primarily looking for ways to heat their kids’ bedrooms Richard and Tony had both decided separately on electric heaters.

However, when shopping around they discovered that the ones on offer were either very expensive to buy, but not too expensive to run, or were very cheap to buy but cost a small fortune to run. One thing they all had in common was that they were not very efficient. This story is told in detail on their website www.neater heater.es, but the gist is that through luck they discovered a Norwegian convector heater that they could import at a reasonable cost and was cost effective to run.

It enabled them to heat a room for less money. It is not a magic solution, it is a so lution borne of efficiency and effectiveness. It is like buying a more efficient car when petrol prices go through the roof.

More things holiday hotels still get wrong

NORAJOHNSON BREAKINGVIEWS

SMALL wardrobes that assume all guests wear mini dresses. Insufficient hangers. Safes too small for a laptop in supposedly business hotels.

Hairdryers in the bathroom, not the bedroom. A ‘desk’ which could so easily double as a dressing table if only there were accessible plug sockets and a mirror. And the only mirror with enough light to shave or apply make ­ up above the washbasin. Result?

Ending up with a hernia squeezing between basin and toilet so you can get near enough to see what you’re doing!

Additionally, paperthin walls, made worse by connecting doors so you can hear your neighbours’ every

cough, sneeze, snore and more (oops!). Useless hotel room doors, with little sound insulation so you’re woken at 4am when the party crowd roll back in discussing their evening loudly as they stumble through the deserted corridors. Plus there are invariably insufficient sun loungers ­ you shouldn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to nab one by the pool.

Room service menus consisting only of overpriced stodge drowning in fat, cheese or cream, apart from maybe one or two token veggie items that sound totally unappetising. Try sticking to a post­Christmas diet on that lot...

Nora Johnson’s 11 critically acclaimed psychological crime thrillers (www.norajohnson.net) all available online including eBooks (€0.99; £0.99), Apple Books, audiobooks, paperbacks at Amazon etc. Profits to Cudeca cancer charity.

THE British Benevolent Fund is the charity of last resort ­ it provides financial assistance to those Britons in Spain in dire straits and who have no other recourse. We deal with the worst that life can throw ­ and try with the aid of volunteers to find a solution.

Domestic abuse continues to be a major driver of our cases with women, many in long term relationships taking the step to leave abusive and damaging environments.

One such case involved Anne, a married British lady with four children ­ one day she walked into a police station in her hometown near Malaga and filed a report against her husband of a decade for repeated domestic abuse including multiple physical assaults and rape stretching back many years.

She had endured enoughwhich she had done for the sake of keeping the family together ­ on the day she went to the police the husband had attacked one of the kids ­ that was it. Anne had no money, and no family member could help, but she was determined to protect the children.

The police took action as

heaters from the ferreteria near him, but he wasn’t happy with them. He thought they were defective as his electrics frequently tripped when he was using them. He then called Neater Heater and told them the size of the rooms he wanted heating. Both small bedrooms at 9sqm.

He was provided with two 600 Watt heaters. When fitting these heaters Tony and Richard looked at the small ferreteriabought heaters and saw that they were each 2,200 Watts. In total 4.4 kilowatts. Geoff said that they just about took the edge off the cold. (He also only had a 5kW allowance, so when he put the kettle on the electrics tripped). Anyway, his bedrooms are warmer now, his electrics no longer trip, and he is saving 3.2 kilowatts every hour! In fact, possibly more as Neater Heaters have thermostats to further reduce consumption.

Neater Heater ­ Letting your money go further.

A fresh start

well as alerting social services who in turn alerted the British consulate. Together with the town hall the lady and her children were provided emergency accommodation as well as offer of a longer term protected tenancy apartment.

The BBF was able to help pay for her moving expenses and ensure that utilities were connected and paid for the first three months in addition to paying for some white goods and children’s items. It was enough to give her a new fresh start in a safe environment for her children.

Anne was one of over 30,000 victims of domestic abuse in Spain ­ we are only able to support her and women in similar situations with your support and donations.

Olaf Clayton of BBF.

Every penny makes a difference. If you would like to support our work with a donation please visit our website or contact me olaf.clayton@british benevolentfund.org.

NoraJohnson’sopinionsareherownandarenotnecessarilyrepresentativeofthoseofthepublishers,advertisersorsponsors.

Noraistheauthorofpopularpsychological suspenseandcrimethrillersandafreelancejournalist.

Nora’s latest thriller.

your bills with a Neater Heater. They had a customer ­ let’s call him Geoff. Now Geoff had bought a couple of small oil filled

XWORD LOVERS

I JUST wanted to let you know that the crossword is one of my favourite things to do during the week, I go down to a little bar in the port, order myself a beer and a tapa, bring the dog along with me, enjoy the sun and relax while keeping my brain occupied with the crossword. Sometimes the hubby will come along but he’ll put something in pen rather than pencil and of course it’s wrong! When he does that though he orders me a dessert to make up for it so we can excuse it... sometimes.

Vanessa, Marbella

Great expectations

I TOTALLY agree with Nicole, owning or working in the hospitality industry is a completely different kettle of fish. Having worked in hospitality for years nobody tells you when you first start or probably knows what it is like unless you have done it. The aching legs you get after a shift, trying to keep going and smile while you’ve already done 10 hours and have another two hours at least to go to close. Shout out to all the people that work in hospitality you are angels and deserve more credit.

Sinead, Benidorm

Astonishing generosity

WOW! How incredible is it that Alan Boardman donated €1,000 to Kay Millington’s cause. It is amazing to see the community do what it does and rally around someone who is doing a good deed. I can’t wait to hear more about this. Congratulations young lady and I wish you the best of luck!

Kelly, Fuengirola

Unstoppable

AND that’s just exactly what Siggi Wilzig is, to read such a story and to see how he came from the bottom all the way up to the top is incredible. His book is in my basket just waiting for me to hit buy. Just imagine yourself doing what he did. What he had to go through, it is the most amazing story and I can’t wait to read more about it. Thank you for bringing light to this, he is an inspiration and I think this could help a lot of young people today if they picked up the book too.

Martyn, Costa Blanca South

Loopy Lee

I REALLY despair at the utterly ridiculous right wing comments made week after week by loopy Lee. This time it is the bosses of the trade unions affiliated to the Labour Party and their pay grade, but to say they are using the nurses, ambulance drivers and everyone else on strike as fodder to line their own pockets is absolute rubbish. Yes we all agree that many at the top are overpaid, but why not pick on the ones at the top that are causing the strikes, many hundreds of CEOs pay themselves in excess of 100 times the average British worker (I read recently where the owner of a betting chain pocketed the equivalent

of £600 an hour). Most of these top dogs have no problem donating millions to the Tory party, but can’t find a little extra to pay their employees, it is easily understandable whose side the government is on and why the huge gap in equality is a main reason behind the unrest why these workers are on strike. Union bosses regardless of their income are fully behind the people they are paid to represent not using them as fodder, it’s time loopy Lee living on the back of his one hit wonder for years turned his little arrows in a different direction.

Ramon Osborne, Los Alcazares

Right again

AGAIN you’ve got it right in my view Leapy. Previously you said about some people stating their rights, overlooking that rights go hand in hand with ‘responsibilities’ and with regard to union demands you only have to remember that when ‘steam traction’' finished in September 1968 the unions wanted the ‘firemen to accompany the driver in diesel and electric locomotives, well that’s progressive thinking for you, well said Mr Lee.

Barry & Pauline Reading Algarrobo

Best seller

MORE like can it get any better... and now we’re probably going to get a part two and round two of the Harry waves all over again. I will say though that I am glad that it is more about him this time rather than Meghan. I just think that some things are better left unsaid or for private conversations and not for the world to know. I can never look or think about Elizabeth Arden ever again. So much for my new Christmas presents... grrr.

Bailie, Coin

Truly selfless

I CAN’T believe that these selfless firefighters who fought the Grenfell Tower blaze are suffering such an awful thing like cancer. Not enough is done for these men and women who put their lives out on the line every day. To think they have saved so many lives just to have this happen. I wish them only the best and if they can recover, a very speedy recovery.

Jeff, Manilva

Electric vehicles

I JUST don’t know what to think about them, they don’t make any noise, I never see any charging ports for them and whenever I am in one it doesn’t have the same feeling as a diesel or unleaded car. I’m not surprised that they have been deemed as unsuitable. I don’t think we are ready for them yet; we don’t have the facilities for them, and the charging stations are also known to be very expensive. I think I will stick with my wee diesel, it has done me the world of good and I have had the car for over 10 years now.

Thanks, Tony

RETIREMENT is an exciting stage in life, and some of us enjoy some companionship with our extra free time!

Doggy dental health Pets for retirees

A pet can be the perfect friend to make some new memories with, but how can you choose the perfect pet? Today we’re sharing a list of pets that are ideal for retired people.

Bichón frisé

These affectionate dogs

are well ­ known for their tranquil and obedient nature. Their charm and beauty mean you won’t have a shortage of admirers on walks and their plush coat makes for great hugs. Their small size also makes them perfect dogs for urban living.

Corgi

The late Queen Elizabeth’s favoured breed of

Pawsome holidays

dog, corgis make the perfect pet for retired people. Strong, athletic, and full of beans, corgis need lots of exercise which means plenty of walks, which is perfect if you’re planning for an active retirement.

Persian cat

These majestic cats are elegant to look at and their sweet nature means they make the perfect companion for retirees who plan to spend time around the house. These cats love to sprawl out in a sun­kissed spot and gentle affection.

Fabulous fish

If you are after a lower ­

maintenance pet, fish are an excellent choice. Their vibrant colours and fasci ­

nating movement also makes them an enchanting and calming pet.

Animal allergies

LIFE with allergies to animals can be tricky, especially when pets are added into the equation. Today we’re bringing you some top tips on how you can still be a pet owner and animal lover when living with allergies.

1. Clean environment

PETS are part of the family, and sometimes we want to take our furry friends on holiday with us. Your destination is crucial when travelling with a pet, to keep it happy and healthy, but one town in Malaga was just named the ‘best destination to travel with a pet’ at national tourism fair, Fitur.

The award was given to Fuengirola by pet travel portal, TravelGuau.com which displays the country’s most pet­friendly accommodation and holiday experiences. Other destinations that were also distinguished as pet ­ friendly travel choices include Benidorm, Gran Canaria, Mazarron and Santiago de Compostela.

The town of Fuengirola in Malaga received the 2022 award as the most welcoming destination for pets thanks to animal­friendly initiatives that have been created in the area. The city’s local natural environment is also welcoming for pets with miles of beach to stroll along, waves to splash in and nearby mountains to discover.

Fuengirola has developed a package of pet­friendly schemes in recent years, including a digital guide for visitors bringing their pets which shows useful information about pet­friendly bars, restaurants and hotels, as well as services available for pets.

The town’s other pet­positive schemes were also taken into account in the ranking, including pet rescue schemes and free adoption initiatives.

Most of the allergens from our pets come from their fur and skin cells. Keeping the surfaces in your home clean can help to keep your allergies at bay. Allergy experts recommend using a vacuum cleaner rather than a brush to keep allergens out of the air. Clean pet blankets regularly also as they transmit allergens easily.

2. Clean pet

You can also start at the source by keeping your pet clean! Bathing your pet once a week can stop shed skin cells from entering the air. Consult your vet for

Life with pet allergies can be difficult if you’re an animal lover, but there are some steps you can take to limit your allergic reactions.

pet­appropriate shampoos and soaps.

3. Boundaries

If a member of your household is allergic to your pet, it’s crucial to keep the pet out of their bedroom at the very least.

4. Medical options

If you are an animal lover that suffers from allergies, it could be time to look into antihistamines or other medical options like a nasal spray that will enable you to spend time

CARING for your dog means thinking about all aspects of its health, including teeth. Dogs often eat hard, crunchy foods and maintaining great dental health helps to prevent painful conditions and keep that tail wagging!

1. Teeth brushing

It might sound silly but just like humans, dogs need regular teeth cleaning to keep them strong and healthy. Dogs don’t need daily tooth brushing but as often as possible is recommended. Use a specially developed dog toothpaste and your dog will love having its teeth brushed.

2. Dental dog treats

You can give your dog chewable treats to reduce plaque and tartar build up on the surface of its teeth.

3. Professional cleaning

with furry friends without the constant urge to sneeze.

Taking your dog for teeth cleaning once a year can help your vet to catch any issues and keep your dog smiling.

Photo credit: Diana Boariu

Bichón frisé dogs are the ideal pet for retirees who want some gentle exercise and a loving companion.

Photo credit: Alex Yeung / shutterstock.com

Photo

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BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

Astounding coup Flintoff near to quitting

THE big transfer news on Friday, January 20, was that Arsenal are reportedly hoping to lure Real Madrid star Eduardo Camavinga to the Emirates on loan. The London club’s Spanish coach Mikel Arteta is seeking reinforcements to his midfield for the second half of the season, according to the UK press.

The signing of the young Frenchman would be an astounding coup for the current Premier League leaders if it can be pulled off. Earlier on Friday the Gunners announced the capture of Leandro Trossard from Brighton.

Camavinga has found himself languishing in the pecking order at the Bernabeau behind Federico Valverde, Luka Modric, and Tino Kroos since arriving at the club in a big ­ money move.

He joined in a lastminute move from Ligue 1

outfit Rennes in the 2021 transfer window.

The talented young player would no doubt relish the opportunity of firstteam playing time should he move to England.

In their bid to land a first title since 2003, Arsenal are currently five points clear of their nearest rivals, reigning champions, Manchester City, with a game in hand.

THE Ocean Race started in Alicante on Sunday January 15, where tens of thousands of spectators cheered the boats off on their way to the first stop in Cape Verde.

Aarhus in Denmark is among the eight ‘stop­overs’ in this year’s sailing. Aarhus is the third last stop and the first Danish host city in the 50­year race history.

Between May 29 and June 8, the top ­ tuned racing boats dock in Aarhus.

Ahead lies an extremely de ­

TOP GEAR presenter and former England cricketer Freddie Flintoff is said to be near to quitting the show after suffering ‘psychological trauma’ following an accident in December.

Flintoff was airlifted to hospital after crashing at the show’s test track at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, in what friend Piers Morgan said “a pretty serious crash.”

At the time Morgan told

Race history

manding round­the­world voyage. Two different boat classes compete with five crews in the IMOCA class and six boats in the VO65 class.

The IMOCA class takes the trip

TalkSPORT: “I’m told he’s going to be OK which is great news.

“He’s had surgery and is recovering now and we’ll have to wait and see.”

But now friends have told a news source as reported on Saturday, January 21, that the star is seriously rethinking whether he will return to the series which is currently under investigation by the Health and Safety Executive.

around the world. And the VO65 class takes part in the newly established The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint Cup, which includes the stages Alicante to Capo Verde, Aarhus to The Hague, and The Hague to Genoa.

The hosting of The Ocean Race is a new event highlight for Aarhus to cement the city’s position as an event city of international level.

In connection with the many significant international sailing events, Aarhus has worked closely with Sport Event Denmark.

The BBC said that it is also investigating the accident although a spokesperson for the show said that the correct precautions had been taken.

A statement issued read: “Our primary concern is and has been for the welfare of Freddie ­ as well as the Top Gear team. All health and safety procedures were followed on site and the incident is now being fully investigated, in line with standard policy and practice.”

The show has been involved in accidents before with former presenter Richard Hammond ending up in a coma. Following that accident, more precautions were taken but accidents still do happen given the nature of the show. While December’s accident is not the first for Flintoff since he began working on the programme, it is by far and away the most serious.

Eduardo Camavinga.

Credit: WikipediaBy Fotografías Archimadrid.es

Another Premier manager sacked Ing permanent transfer

FRANK LAMPARD was sacked by Premier League outfit Everton on Monday, January 23. After a dismal first half of the season, the club finds itself languishing just above the relegation zone in 19th spot.

The 44­year­old former England star has been at Goodison Park since replacing Rafa Benitez in late January 2021, having previously been in charge of Chelsea. Lampard performed a small miracle as he steered the Toffees to safety last season when they had looked odds­on to go down to the Championship.

Everton have picked up only one point since the restart after the World Cup, a draw against the reigning champions, Manchester City. They also lost to Manchester United in the FA Cup.

After the 2 ­ 0 defeat at West Ham on Saturday January 21, Lampard’s position really looked untenable. He had a meeting with the club’s majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri and chairman Bill Kenwright. Kevin Thelwell, the club’s director of football, was also present, and it was decided to let the manager go.

A search will now take place to find the next coach but meantime, Leighton Baines ­ who currently looks after the Under 18s ­ will reportedly control the day­to­day matters at Goodison Park, along with Paul Tait, the Under 21 head coach.

WEST HAM have completed the signing of proven Premier League striker Danny Ing on a permanent transfer from Aston Villa.

The England international has joined the Hammers from Aston Villa for an undisclosed fee until the summer of 2025.

All paperwork was submitted ahead of the midday deadline for the player to be eligible for their Premier League fixture against

Everton at London Stadium and the Club expected to receive formal confirmation on January 20.

The 30­year­old, who will wear the number 18 shirt for the Hammers, said: “I’m really excited to join West Ham United.”

Manager David Moyes said: “I’m really pleased to add Danny to the squad.

“We’re looking forward to integrating him into the group, as we go into a busy

period in our season.”

Ings, has 68 Premier League goals to his name in 188 top ­ flight appearances.

After splashing out a cool £25 million (€28.5 million)

on Chris Wood, Premier League high­flyers Newcastle are ready to allow the striker a move out on loan despite only joining the Magpies 12 months ago from Burnley.

Bike stolen ahead of race

ONE of the brightest prospects in cyclocross and on the road, Shirin van Anrooij, has reached out to her social media followers after one of her bikes was stolen ahead of the penultimate round of the 2022­23 UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Benidorm.

Twenty­year­old Shirin van Anrooij, a Baloise Trek Lions rider who also represents Trek­Segafredo during the road season, reached out to her followers on Twitter and Instagram, revealing that the bike was taken from a car park used by her team while she was reconning the Costa Blanca resort’s course, which is making its debut as part of cyclocross’s elite series.

“Important ­ Today my bike was stolen from the parking at the Benidorm World Cup,” she wrote. “Please let me know if you saw it or know something.”

The missing bike, a blue Trek Boone with SRAM Red eTap AXS, was the subject of a forensic investigation last month following rumours that Baloise Trek Lions’ cyclocross riders were racing with shift­brake levers that weren’t current generation SRAM Red.

Despite the theft, Dutch Shirin van Anrooij headed to the race in Benidorm to take on her rivals for ‘cross supremacy Fem van Empel and Puck Pieterse, as well as world champion Marianne Vos ­ off the back of three consecutive wins since the end of December.

WEST HAM: Have signed up striker Danny Ing.