Brit gang caught Surprise surge

SPAIN’S economy has showed its resilience by defying economists’ expectations with a growth of 5.5 per cent during the last year, in spite of the cost of living and inflation crises and the war in Ukraine. Figures released on Friday, January 27 even improved on the government’s own targets.

Spain’s economic growth in 2022 hit 5.5 per cent, a figure well above the government’s own forecast of 4.4 per cent, the Bank of Spain’s prediction of 4.6 per cent growth and the IMF’s expectation of a 5.2 per cent growth. Spain’s GDP rose by 10.1 per cent from 2021.

The figure echoes growth in 2021, signalling that the country continues in the right direction after the economy tanked in 2020, shrinking 11.3 per cent due to the global pandemic.

The report spells good news for the country’s socialist government which has recently faced political turmoil with protests against President, Pedro Sánchez threatening to undermine support for the government in the upcoming local elections in May. The elections will show the direction the country is headed in before the next general elections scheduled for December of this year.

THE brains behind The Written Word Group and author of The Old Man of Tiritiri Matangi, Berni Albrighton, has shared an insight into her inspirations.

“On a warm summer evening in 2008, I was nearing 50 and had been married to my husband, Steve, for 20 years. We sat playing music, drinking wine and having an intense conversation about life.”

One of us asked: “Will we always live here in the UK?”

It was the catalyst for events that saw the author leave her home, husband, teenage son and dog to take up a managerial position in Auckland, New Zealand.

Berni added: “Steve and my son agreed that I would go and lay the foundations of a new life for us, they would follow in a few months. No one knew the timing could be