Mallorca 4 – 10 May 2023 Issue 1974

Boat show success

LAST week’s edition of the Palma International Boat Show was another resounding success.

Up to 96 per cent of exhibitors have already expressed their desire to return next year accord ‐ing to organisers, who al‐so reveal that atten ‐dance equalled last year’s figures with more than 32,000 visitors passing through the fair over the weekend.

“Palma International Boat Show has become an essential commercial event for the nautical companies involved, as can be seen from the fig ‐ures of the survey car ‐ried out by the organis ‐ers among the exhibitors,” declared a press release published by the organisation.

“This high rate of loyal‐ty is proof of the success of the event that closed its doors last Sunday in Palma’s Moll Vell.”

This year’s show fea ‐tured 271 participating companies and more than 600 boats on dis ‐play, in a fairground of more than 81,000 square meters.

Environmentally friendly boats and nauti ‐cal equipment were also the protagonists, as well as innovation in the nau ‐tical sector thanks to the Yachting Ventures Inno ‐vation Corner.

The fair also once again hosted the Palma Superyacht Village, a section specially de ‐signed for boats over 24 metres in length, as well as an area specialising in boat repair and mainte ‐nance.

LOVE ISLAND LOVERS

WINNERS of Love Island UK 2022, Ekin‐Su Cülcüloğlu and Davide Sanclimenti enjoyed a quick trip to Mallorca last weekend with the highlight being a very special date night.

The couple were guests at the first night of ‘Exhibit Air’, the new evening show at The House of Son Amar.

Ekin‐Su and Davide were treated to an amazing show of

music, dance, aerial acts, and feats of acrobatic daring.

The finale featured an acro‐bat flying over the heads of the audience as she was thrown from the aisle to the stage and the show has been described as ‘Las Vegas meets Spain’ as it presents world class show stopping variety acts with the passion and elegance of fla‐menco.

The House of Son Amar is al‐so the home for a wide variety of inside and outside events and a family show called Ojala which launched in 2021.

Later Davide and Ekin‐Su went on to Social, a boutique club in Palma which is famous on the island for its late nights and DJs.

What a great weekend for the Love Island lovers!

Best in the world

MALLORCA has been chosen as one of the best holiday destinations in the world by a leading international luxury tourism and lifestyle publication.

Condé Nast Traveler places the island among the nine top destinations on the 27th edition of its yearly Hot List for 2023, drawn up between the magazine’s

seven publications throughout the world.

“The Spanish island that best reflects Mediterranean hedonism continues to perfect its roadmap towards present and future luxury, focused on exclusivity, sus‐tainability and exquisite service,” reads the Mallorca entry on the Condé Nast Traveler website.

EXHIBIT AIR: An amazing new show.

Ekin-Su and Davide.

Credit: Phoenix Media Mallorca

Credit: Phoenix Media Mallorca

INVESTIGATORS at the Balearic Islands University are using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse past epidemics to predict future outbreaks.

The scientists are working jointly with colleagues from Catalonia Open University to check massive amounts of archive data referring to cholera, the plague and Span‐ish flu from 1918.

Their overall aim is to de‐velop new prediction tools and evaluate the long‐term consequences of epidemics.

Before the first cases of Covid became public, an AI‐based algorithm developed by a Canadian company had reportedly already detected

Learning from the past

the existence of a new virus that was spreading quickly through the Chinese city of Wuhan.

The Balearic and Catalan in‐vestigators hope to replicate this tool to anticipate future epidemics.

“We know there will be more cases in the future, but we don’t know what they will be like,” declared investiga‐tion leader Joana Maria Pu‐jadas.

“Social sciences, and specif‐ically historical demographics, are vital to make advances in

the prediction and the fight against epidemics and to as‐sess their consequences,” added Dr Pujadas.

The project is expected to

Illegal holiday let clampdown

STAFF from the Balearic Islands University (UIB) will carry out questionnaires to uncover illegal tourism lets in Palma.

Their aim is to visit up to 20,000 suspicious multifamily properties to locate an estimated 500 offenders to help the inspectors employed by the Island Council.

The UIB team will use geolocation software to collaborate with the Sustainable Tourism department of the Consell to clamp down on illegal holiday rentals in a scheme that was previously carried out successfully in Ibiza.

The aim is to find out whether multifamily apartment blocks have residents all year round or if they are used for unlicensed holi‐day lets, targeting neighbourhoods where the most advertisements from platforms such as Airbnb or Expedia have been detected.

The UIB staff will visit suspicious properties

THE economy of the Balearic Islands grew by more than 6 per cent in January and Febru‐ary.

According to regional Em‐ployment, Tourism and Eco‐nomic Model councillor Iago Negueruela, the figure is “bet‐ter than expected,” although

up to five times if necessary, combing the city centre and informing the inspection service when an offending property has been verified.

According to the Consell, up to 26 illegal tourist rentals were uncovered in just four days of inspections in Palma over Easter, with fines of up to €240,000 issued for offenders.

Economy boost

he admits that it should be taken with a pinch of salt as the increase is compared to

Palma at one click

PALMA Council this week launched a new mobile phone app enabling users to access local information and carry out town hall procedures with just a couple of clicks.

MobiPalma is now available to download at the Google Playstore and the Apple App Store and is cur‐rently in a pilot stage, with new functions to be added in the future.

The new platform has been designed taking into ac‐count the procedures most frequently required by citi‐zens, such as generating a residence certificate, obtain‐ing an appointment or paying fines online.

It also enables users to access the local culture diary and municipal information, as well as encouraging citi‐zen participation by offering the possibility of notifying incidents and attaching images.

take up to three years to complete and the results will then be published in all the major international scientific journals.

All set for the summer

THE high‐risk campaign for forest fires kicked off in Mallorca this week with 350 firefighters on call for the summer season.

As of this Monday it is strictly forbidden to start fires at distances of less than 50 metres from for‐est areas, and to do so be‐tween 50 and 500 metres requires an authorisation from the authorities.

the first two months of 2022, when certain restrictions due to Covid were still in place.

The councillor predicted that the percentage of growth will gradually drop through‐out the year, with initial esti‐mates placing the year‐end figure closer to 3.9 per cent.

With the results for March still pending, Sr Iago reported that the global growth per‐centage for the first quarter of the year could sit at more than 4 per cent above the re‐gion’s gross domestic product (GDP) from before the pan‐demic.

Regarding GDP per capita, the councillor predicted an in‐crease of 2.8 per cent this year ‐ a 1.1 per cent growth with regards to 2019.

The service sector, including tourism activity, was responsi‐ble for the largest fraction of the growth percentage over the first two months of the year with 7 per cent.

Balearic Islands Envi‐ronment councillor Miquel Mir officially pre‐sented the launch of this year’s campaign that will last until October 15, warning that the greatest concerns are the previ‐sions of large numbers of visitors and the accumu‐lated biomass in the is‐lands’ forest and moun‐tain areas.

Sr Mir asked residents to “be extremely cautious and avoid carelessness,” with last weekend already registering unseasonably high temperatures.

The councillor also ex‐plained that storm Juliette in fact had a beneficial ef‐fect in this regard, as wa‐ter supplies were topped up and the ground is not as dry in Mallorca as in mainland Spain going into the summer.

Up to 29 forest fires have broken out in Mal‐lorca already this year, al‐though the vast majority were extinguished after affecting less than one hectare.

Science department of the Balearic Islands University.

TOURISM LETS: Many are illegal.

Image by TK Kurikawa/Shutterstock

Inside the Coronation

THIS first weekend in May will be full of royal celebrations as King Charles is set to be crowned alongside the Queen Consort at a grand ceremony in Westminster Abbey.

The long weekend will be filled with cele‐brations, from street parties to concerts, as King Charles becomes the oldest new monarch in history. Code‐named Operation Golden Orb, plans for the much‐anticipated event have been released over the past few months.

Starting on May 6 at 11am, the Coronation Service will kick off a weekend full of events following their Majesties’ crowning in the Abbey in London, in a service that will be con‐ducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The King’s Coronation will include many of the ceremonies that were seen in the late Queen’s service, such as anointing with con‐secrated oil, the delivery of the orb, the pledge to be “Defender of the Faith”, and the enthroning itself.

It is understood that the anointing will not be shown on television and is set to be hid‐den from the public, as it was for the late

Queen’s coronation in 1953.

During the ceremony, the King will be asked if he will govern the UK and the Com‐monwealth with law and justice, and if he will keep Christianity alive in the country.

He will sit in the Coronation Chair, also known as Edward’s Chair, holding the sovereign’s sceptre and rod to symbolise his power over the nation, as well as the sovereign’s orb to represent the Christian world.

After the Archbishop has anointed, blessed, and consecrated Charles, the crown of St Edward will be placed on his head, crowning him as King Charles III.

Countdown to Coronation

FOLLOWING the death of the Queen on September 8, 2022, King Charles became the king of the United Kingdom and the Com monwealth Realms. Born on November 14, 1948, at Bucking‐ham Palace, he is the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Charles attended several schools during his childhood, in‐cluding Hill House School in London and Gordonstoun School in Scotland. He later

King’s Coronation: Where to watch

KING CHARLES III and Camilla will be crowned on Saturday, May 6. Before and after the Coronation service at Westminster Abbey in London, there will be ceremonial processions which will be aired live on national television, ra‐dio, and online, as well as exhibited on giant screens at locations around the country.

If you are planning on tuning in to the King’s coronation on television, here are all the details you need about channels and timings so you don’t miss a moment of this major historical event!

On Sky News, Coronation day coverage will kick off at 6am on Saturday, May 6. Live coverage will also be available to view on BBC and BBC iPlayer throughout the day, with mirroring coverage also available on ITV.

Although exact timings may change, the official ceremony is set to start at 11am at Westminster Abbey, with broadcasters’ promising live footage from multiple angles to give you a front‐row seat, complete with a running live commentary.

Those outside of the UK can watch the events and coverage on CNN, NBC, Fox News and other major US stations, as well as YouTube live streams and live TV subscriptions such as Hulu + Live TV, DIRECTV, Sling TV and FuboTV.

studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he gained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1970 and a Mas‐ter of Arts degree in 1975.

Charles has been in ‐volved in public life for many years and has taken an active interest in a wide range of issues, such as envi‐ronmental sustainability, ar‐chitecture, and education.

He has also served as the patron or president of numerous charita‐ble organisations including The Prince’s Wool Project, START, and The Cambrian Mountain Initiative.

In 1981, Charles married Lady Diana Spencer, who became known as Princess Diana. They had sons William and Harry before their divorce in 1996 and she died in 1997. Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005, and she is now known as the Duchess of Cornwall.

Throughout his life, Charles has been known for his advocacy for environmen‐tal sustainability and for his interest in tra‐ditional architecture. He has written sev‐eral books on these subjects, including ‘A Vision of Britain: A Personal View of Ar‐chitecture’ and ‘Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our World’.

As king, Charles is expected to contin‐ue his advocacy for these causes while carrying out his duties as head of state.

The Coronation Concert

THE day after the King’s Coronation, on Sunday, May 7, viewers can watch the Coronation Concert live on BBC and iPlayer. Taking place on the East Lawn of Windsor Castle, exact timings are yet to be announced but the concert is set to start at 8pm and coverage is likely to start earlier in the lead‐up to the event.

The star‐studded musical show will feature perfor‐mances from Take That, Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, Ital‐ian opera star Andrea Bocelli and Welsh singer Sir Bryn Terfel, amongst others. There will also be a perfor ‐mance from the Coronation Choir ‐ a group of amateur singers and community choirs made up of refugees and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

‘Paddington’ and ‘Downton Abbey’ star, Hugh Bonneville will host the gig.

King Charles set to be crowned.

TAKE THAT: Just one of many performers taking part.

Charles married Camilla in 2005.

Image –Official Take That Facebook page

Image –The Royal Family Facebook page

Scouts kicked out

THE Mallorca boy scouts are being forced to leave their home of the last three decades in Alcudia as the religious order that owns the land is planning to sell it.

For more than 30 years, the Scouts had been based in Gatamoix, an old farming colony histor‐ically occupied by work ‐ers on the Albufera lake.

Gatamoix was estab ‐lished in 1876 by British businessman Henry Robert Waring for the

New Majorca Land Com ‐pany to house its em ‐ployees.

The Escolapios religious order took over owner ‐ship of the site in 1975, eventually reaching an agreement with the Fun ‐dación Maria Ferret to home the island’s Scouts group.

But the order has in ‐formed the foundation that they have to vacate the premises before the end of June as the own ‐ers have new plans for

PROVERB OF THE

the site.

Spokespeople for the foundation report that they approached several public administrations to explore the possibility of buying the land to con ‐tinue offering the service to the Scouts, as it was impossible for them to pay the €900,000 at which the site has been valued.

Sadly, their requests were unsuccessful and they will now have to search for a new home.

ALGAIDA Council has announced an invest‐ment of €147,500 in 17 municipal improve‐ment projects chosen by residents.

The funds were allocated to this year’s ‘par‐ticipatory budget’ plan, where residents can vote on a series of proposals on which to spend part of the municipal funds and which was implemented in 2014.

The participation process resulted in seven proposals for Algaida itself, four for Pina and six for Randa, with the highest percentage of the budget allocated to the latter with €60,500 to be spent on improvements.

According to the Algaida Town Hall, the suggestions that received the most votes in all three areas shared the same basic objective ‐to create more shaded spots.

As a result, the children’s playground in Pina, Plaça Son Romaguera in Randa and CEIP Pare Bartomeu Pou college in Algaida will soon offer more shaded areas, with the latter

THE Spanish Hotel Technolo‐gy Institute (ITH) has drawn up a report on good practices for sustainability.

It refers to environmental, economic and social sustain‐ability and explains that the economy is currently under‐going an intense process of transformation.

The report has identified six aspects of environmental sus‐tainability, namely energy, fu‐els, water, waste, lighting and noise, encouraging switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources such as solar panels on roofs, reusing grey water from showers and sinks for flushing toilets, and cutting

Have your say

also to be improved with more green areas. Other winning proposals included creating new bicycle parking spaces in Algaida, improv‐ing car parking facilities in Randa, pedestrian‐izing Plaza Pina, improving street lighting and installing benches on Plaza Sitjar, among oth‐ers.

Sustainable hotels

down on light and noise pollu‐tion.

Many establishments in Mallorca have begun abiding by these guidelines, including the HM Palma Blanc that opened last year and was built with a series of features to maximises sustainability, including a system to reuse

grey water.

With regards to social sus‐tainability, the report refers to another five areas ‐ support for local culture, decent work, participation, social actions and corporate transparency.

The study points out that the company must “be famil‐iar with and integrate the lo‐cal community in its activity” and that the tourism sector must offer a “healthy environ‐ment with favourable condi‐tions for its employees.”

Supplies dry up

FRESH fruit and vegetables could become very expensive in Mallorca over the coming weeks due to the severe drought conditions affecting most of mainland Spain.

Prices have been increasing gradually due to the com‐bined effects of inflation and higher production costs due to the war in Ukraine, with analysts predicting that the trend will continue even further unless it rains soon in areas such as Catalonia and Andalucia.

If production on the mainland is reduced due to the lack of rain, prices in the Balearic Islands are expected to increase even further as stocks will be much smaller. Although the Balearic Islands have so far not been too affected by the lack of rainfall, this April was the driest since records began.

Pare Bartomeu college in Algaida.

Image by Jorge Bailén/CEIP Pare Bartomeu Pou

WEEK

“A fool and his money are soon parted.”

Means that a foolish person spends money too quickly on unimportant things. The phrase was used by poet Thomas Tusser in a poem he wrote called Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry in 1557.

53% of British tablet owners use an Apple iPad.

THE Mallorca food sector is in urgent need of workers. The lack of available staff is said to be particularly serious regarding butchers, fish‐mongers and greengrocers. The entire food processing and distribution network is affected, from small shops to large supermarkets, as well as restaurants and hotels.

Analysts point out that the situation is made worse by the lack of specialist training pro‐grammes for these trades in the Balearic Is‐lands, and a team led by the Mallorca Chamber of Commerce this week travelled to Barcelona to meet with their counterparts at Mercabarna to study their training model with views to im‐

plement it in Mallorca.

The vice‐president of the Chamber and presi‐dent of its training department, Josep Lluís Aguiló, explains that companies have tradition‐ally been responsible for the training of their own workers, but that demand has spiralled and the only available vocational training (For‐mación Profesional, or FP in Spanish) centres available on the island are for catering, and they are ‘packed’.

Unlike other sectors, the food industry has not had the public support required to create a real training programme like the one in Barcelona, says Sr Aguiló.

THE implementation of hi ‐ low beds in hotel rooms will reduce the physical strain of cham ‐bermaids by up to 30 per cent, a new study has re ‐vealed.

According to research published by the Melià Hotels group, the adapt ‐able beds that must now be fitted in all hotels in the Balearic Islands by law under the new tourism legislation, will make life a lot easier for the ‘kellys’, as hotel room cleaners are known in Spanish.

In addition, they will re‐duce the time each bed takes to be made by 12 per cent, thus further helping to alleviate their workload.

The results of the study were presented last week in an event attended by regional Tourism and Em‐ployment councillor Iago Negueruela, who also an‐nounced the imminent creation of a centre for innovation in ergonomics specialising in the hospi ‐tality sector.

Sr Negueruela also re ‐vealed that up to 600 ho ‐tels in the Balearic Islands have already requested government grants to in ‐stall the new hi‐low beds, which as part of the first

stage of the implementa ‐tion process starting on May 1 must account for 30 per cent of beds at five ‐ star hotels and 25 per cent for four ‐ star Su ‐perior establishments.

Help is at hand

THE Balearic Women’s Institute (Ibdona) is extending its 24‐hour telephone service for victims of gender violence by offering legal advice from 9am to 2pm, Monday to Friday.

An easier life Staff needed

A legal technician, specialised in gender violence, will answer all calls and messages requiring more detailed and technical in‐formation or advice. The Ibdona service is aimed at women who are victims of any form of gender violence, ie violence within the couple, sexual violence, economic violence, people trafficking, prostitution and sexual exploitation of adolescents, among oth‐ers. Advice offered by the legal expert will include information on criminal, civil and administrative issues.

“The aim is to provide information at all times for women who are the victims of gender violence so they can find answers and feel that they have professionals at their side,” declared a spokesperson for the Balearic Islands Government.

The 24‐hour service attended more than 5,800 calls last year, an increase of over 10 per cent compared to 2021.

Ibdona can be contacted by calling 971 178 989 or messaging 639 837 476. Also visit ibdona.caib.es and follow ‘Institut Balear de la Dona’ on Facebook.

Image by Ibdona/Facebook

Incentives for rentals

HOMEOWNERS who rent out their proper‐ties in Mallorca will be able to claim incen‐tives in exchange for reducing or freezing the rent they charge tenants under the new national housing law approved by the Spanish government last week.

The legislation will entitle the Balearic Is‐lands government to place a cap on monthly rental prices, declare ‘stressed ar‐eas’ and lower the category of ‘large own‐ers’ from 10 properties to five.

But the measure that is expected to have the greatest effect on the rental market is the introduction of tax incentives for own‐ers who rent out their empty properties.

The measure will mostly benefit owners with less than five properties located in ‘stressed areas’, ie those with the worst shortage of housing to let, although in or‐der to claim these grants they will be re‐

Environmental project

THE regional government has approved a grant of 200,000 for a project en ‐couraging resilience against climate change in the north of Africa.

quired to freeze or reduce the rent. Regional president Francina Armengol hopes that the measure will convince many proprietors to place their empty homes on the market and change holidays lets for long‐term rentals, in a bid to solve the chronic housing shortage on the is‐lands.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Re ‐sources (IUCN) is working with social organisations in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia to boost sustain ‐ability and rural develop ‐ment on the southern coast of the Mediter ‐ranean.

More specifically, the project aims to support initiatives for biodiversity and ecosystem conserva ‐tion, sustainable manage‐ment of natural resources and adaptation to climate change through the fund‐

CLIMATE CHANGE: A grant has been approved.

ing of non ‐ governmental organisations or NGOs.

It is part of the Cooper ‐ation Strategy for Global Transformation in the Mediterranean 2023 ‐2026.

The IUCN is an interna ‐tional association estab ‐lished in 1948 as the first

Plans will go ahead

PALMA’S new General Town Management Plan (PGOU) was approved this week.

This effectively means that plans for new urbanisations and developments that were still pending can now be pro‐cessed.

Among the projects un ‐blocked by the approval of the PGOU are the develop‐ments planned in Cas Pastors, Can Fontet and Son Ximelis, as well as the new develop‐ment of Ses Fontanelles, which reconverts the com‐mercial classification of the

area into residential and in‐cludes the new buildings on the main street, moving them away from the floodable part of the wetland area.

The PGOU is only the first part of the municipal develop‐ment plan to be approved, with the Detailed Manage‐ment Plan (POD) still pending.

This triggered complaints from the opposition parties at Palma Town Hall, who warned that the partial ap‐proval will lead to ‘chaos’ and delays in approving develop‐ment licences.

Holidays on wheels

TOURIST rental websites have begun offering caravans next to the beach in Mallorca for the summer season.

Ciutat Jardi and Cala Blava are the main sites where parked motorhomes and car‐avans are being offered as an alternative to hotels and tourist accommodation.

The vehicles include beds, toilets, showers, kitchens with basic kitchenware and workspaces, and are adver‐tised as ideal for holidaymak‐ers who just need some ‐where to sleep.

Prices start as low as €113 a night for minimum stays of at

least three nights, while oth‐ers are offered just for overnight stays for less than €90.

Advantages include being literally right on the beach and just a short walk away from basic services such as laundrettes, supermarkets and bicycle rental establish‐ments.

The trend follows on from increasing numbers of tempo‐rary and long‐term workers, and even residents, being forced to live in these vehicles due to the high cost of hous‐ing and the lack of property to let on the island.

global environmental union of governments and civil society organisa‐tions with the common goal of protecting nature, fostering international co‐operation and providing scientific knowledge and tools to guide conserva ‐tion action.

Restrictions

THE traffic authorities have announced plans to install barriers, security cameras and number plate readers during the access restrictions for pri‐vate cars on the road to Formentor lighthouse this summer.

Restrictions begin on June 1 and will continue until September 30, and the aim is to prevent the traffic problems that were reported last year, when residents and bus drivers encountered tail‐backs and were forced to carry out dangerous ma‐noeuvres to pass other vehicles.

The DGT authorities will install two automatic barriers on the Ma‐2210 towards the lighthouse on kilometres 2 and 8.8, as well as other intelli‐gent transport systems such as messaging pan‐els, number plate read‐ers, roadside gauging sta‐tions and traffic surveillance cameras. Teams of informers will be stationed by the barriers from 10am to 10.30pm every day to of‐fer information and ad‐vice to drivers.

Finally, the shuttle bus service launched in previ‐ous years will return.

RENTALS: Incentives offered.

Image by the Balearic Islands Government

Image by Shisu_ka/Shutterstock

Taxi ‘pirate’ battle continues

AIRPORT managing body

AENA, the Balearic Is ‐lands government, taxi drivers and other trans ‐port professionals have joined forces to urge Pal ‐ma Town Hall to take measures to end the on ‐going problem with ‘pi ‐rate’ drivers at Son San Joan airport.

All parties took part in a joint meeting under the banner of the Commis ‐sion on Intrusion in Trans‐port presided by regional Mobility councillor Josep Marí.

Speaking after the

meeting, Sr Marí reported that all affected parties agreed that “without the involvement of the Local Police it is impossible to stop the pirates.”

cil needs to establish a permanent police station at the airport to solve the problem of unlicensed drivers acting as unofficial taxis at the airport Ar ‐rivals terminal.

The regional councillor also announced the launch of a new inspec ‐tion plan this year be ‐tween April to October to clamp down on the ‘pirates’, with inspectors checking permits on 120

THE Balearic Islands government this week made a surprising announcement that it will auction 50 rafts and 24 engines left behind by immigrants arriving at Cabrera National Park over recent months.

The items have been declared abandoned by the Govern, which is the first step before auctioning them off or destroying them.

The vast majority of the vessels were inter‐cepted by the Guardia Civil as they ap‐proached the Mallorca coast with immigrants on board. Anyone interested in acquiring the rafts can attend the auction that Ports de les Illes Balears will organise in the coming

different days, including weekends and bank holi ‐days at different times, in an effort to discour ‐age unlicensed taxi ser ‐vices.

The situation took a turn for the worse this week when taxi drivers called a temporary strike on Monday (May 1) after an argument with an unli‐censed driver outside the airport ended in physical violence.

Raft sale

months. The boats are between five and six metres in length, two of which are inflatable and the other two have inboard engines, but most are said to be beyond repair.

What may be of more use are the 24 out‐board motors located next to the boats, which include Yamaha, Suzuki, Tohatsu and Everunde 40 and 25 horsepower models.

The accumulation of these boats has be‐come a serious problem at the Parque Na‐cional de Cabrera.

Crypto scam arrest

A MAN has been ar ‐rested in Palma on suspicion of being be‐hind an international organisation that swindled more than €100 million out of over 3,000 people all over the world with fake cryptocurrencies.

The suspect was de‐tained as part of an operation by the Guardia Civil in the Balearic Islands and the Basque Country following requests by police forces in several countries.

The Spanish authori‐ties traced a series of money transfers made by crypto investors and located the recipi‐ent at a company based in Palma. The funds were then re ‐portedly transferred to other countries out‐side the EU.

Police investigators also discovered that the members of the organisation targeted potential victims through aggressive marketing strategies on well ‐ known web ‐sites, cold calling and text messages and ad‐verts in newspapers, among other chan ‐nels, promising risk ‐free investments with high returns.

The gang then al ‐legedly drew up con ‐tracts with investors of between €250 and €1,000 in exchange for non ‐ existent cryp ‐tocurrencies, creating fake websites with graphs and charts sup‐posedly showing the evolution of the in ‐vestments.

The suspects then reportedly continued contacting the victims to encourage them to invest more money and requesting more funds to pay for taxes and other expenses.

The assembled entities insisted that Palma Coun‐

ONGOING PROBLEM: Taxis at Palma airport.

Image by Artesia Wells/Shutterstock

Managing migration

Betty Henderson

IN an unprecedented move, the government of the United States announced a plan to send mi‐grants to third countries including Spain and Canada. The plan was announced on Thursday, April 27, as part of the country’s efforts to man‐age the flow of immigrants into the country.

The migrants’ applications for residency will be processed through legal processing centres set up in South and Central American countries including Colombia and Guatemala.

The move comes as the US seeks to reduce

SPANISH authorities sum‐moned the Russian Ambas‐sador to Spain on Friday, April 28 over a controversial tweet.

A tweet from the Russian embassy insinuated that Spain has troops deployed in Ukraine, something the Span‐ish government vehemently denies. Just days after present‐ing his credentials to the Span‐ish king, the new Russian am‐bassador, Yuri Klimenko, found himself in hot water with the Spanish government.

The tweet showed individu‐als wearing military gear speaking in Spanish, followed by a clip of the Spanish Minis‐

the number of migrants crossing the border with Mexico, with the suspension of Title 42, a contro‐versial policy allowing authorities to expel mi‐grants without first hearing their cases.

According to a statement by the Department of State and Homeland Security, the measures will be implemented in close coordination with regional partners including the governments of Canada, Spain, Colombia and Guatemala.

Under the plan, migrants will be evaluated at processing centres where they will be given ac‐cess to legal pathways for migration.

Twitter tension

ter of Defence, Margarita Rob‐les. The montage insinuated that Spain was playing an ac‐tive role in the Ukrainian con‐

Irritating foreigners

A BIT like wasps around a jam pot, the British me‐dia is buzzing with sto ‐ries about a so‐called se‐cret Spanish word for irritating foreigners which is Guiri.

This writer has owned a property in Spain for more than 20 years and neighbours have been calling him a Guiri for all that time, when they can’t think of anything more appropriate.

flict, a claim that the Spanish government has denied.

In response, the Spanish For‐eign Minister demanded that the embassy remove the post, which they did. The ambas‐sador was subsequently sum‐moned where he received a warning.

Despite this incident, Spain continues to play an active role in supporting Ukraine. The country has already provided tanks, missiles, and other sup‐plies and plans to train more Ukrainian troops soon.

To the Spanish it im ‐mediately explains something about the person who may like to think of themselves as ei‐ther an expat or a holi ‐day maker, but in fact is a just a foreigner.

It isn’t always insult ‐ing, just describes who the person is and is prob‐ably less offensive than the British word Dago or Chilean word Godo (and there is another but that

is too rude to repeat in a family newspaper) to a Spaniard.

There are at least two songs which spell out the meaning of the word, Guiris (go home) by La Maquineria del Fango and Guiris by Los Ra ‐tones, but if you are British or Irish, don’t worry, it’s aimed at any foreigner who gets into a Spaniard’s sights.

So emotive is the word

that various Spanish newspapers have picked up on the ‘storm in a tea cup’ as can be seen from an article in La Van ‐guardia.

In this woke atmo ‐sphere we live in today, ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me’ may no longer be the case, but at least we stiff upper lip Guiris can learn to live with it.

A bit of Spanish humour, Banksy it isn’t!

Credit: Dusty Dingo CC

48% of Britons wouldn’t go to space even if safety was guaranteed.

Jane’s Walk

Queen and cartoons

THE Queen tribute act Sym‐phonic Rhapsody of Queen will grace the stage of the Sala Magna at Palma Audito‐rium on Saturday May 6 at 8pm to present their new show ‘A kind of magic’ After wowing audiences in Madrid and Barcelona with sell‐out crowds, monopolising prime‐time television shows and closing news pro ‐grammes on national televi‐sion, it is back with a new pro‐duction, a new stage show and a great desire to captivate audiences more than ever. A number of international singers backed up by a power‐ful rock band will perform a selection of the British leg‐

ends’ greatest hits accompa‐nied by a spectacular stage show and visual display for over two hours of Queen magic.

Saturday will see another major show in Mallorca, as the Power Up Orchestra takes to the stage of the Trui Teatre at 9pm with an all‐new show.

Power Up Orchestra is the number one band performing the theme tunes and sound‐tracks of all the most popular videogames, anime series and cartoons. All the classics and the latest novelties in a unique and unforgettable concert.

Visit auditoriumpalma.com and truiteatre.es for tickets and further information.

THE eighth edition of the ‘Jane’s Walk’ will take place on the weekend of May 6 and 7, encourag ‐ing participants to reflect on how they perceive neighbourhoods with a critical spirit based around the issue of urban planning.

It is free to sign up and no registration is re ‐quired. To attend simply be at the starting point at the time indicated for each route.

Routes include ‘Gentri‐fied Canamunt’ (May 5 at 5.30pm in the Plaça Ma‐jor), ‘The view of Jane Ja‐cobs and the feminist city’ (May 5 at 6pm. The meeting point is above the Pont des Tren and the tour will end at the Can Alonso centre about

an hour and a half later), ‘The richness of Son Vida’ (May 6 at 9am at the Ho‐tel Son Vida. It will end at the Son Vida golf restau‐rant approximately three hours later), and ‘Walk along Carrer Cotlliure’ (May 6 at 10am in Plaça París. It will end at the

Font de la Vila and will cover one of the future civic hotspots of the city and all its hidden histo ‐ry).

For further information visit ‘Jane’s Walk Palma’ on Facebook and janeswalkpalma.word press.com

Fundación Rana fundraiser

FUNDACIÓN RANA is hold‐ing their traditional fund‐raising dinner on Friday May 5.

The event will take place at 7pm at Finca Son Mir (Camí Vell de Sineu, Km. 7,250, Palma), offer ‐ing guests a glittering night inspired by the par ‐ties of the 70s, with se ‐quined dresses and disco

Pollença Wine Fair

THIS weekend sees the 20th edition of Pollença Wine Fair. It takes place in the Claustre de Sant Domingo on Satur‐day and Sunday May 6 and 7. In this edition, 39 Mallorca wineries and a selection of bodegas from the DO Montsant (in the Priorat region of Catalonia) will be represented. In addition to sampling a selection of the finest wines from both regions, visitors will be able to enjoy a piano con‐cert outside the Claustre by Lluís Capdevila at 8.30pm on Fri‐day May 5 with a complimentary glass of wine for all spec‐tators, and a talk by chemistry professor Reyes Gonzalo in the main hall of the yacht club at 8pm on Tuesday May 9. Pollença Wine Fair has been organised by the town hall since 2004 and is aimed at wine and viticulture fans from all over Mallorca.

MANACOR is gearing up for the second edition of ‘Man‐afreak’, the fair dedicated to comics, anime, science fiction and fantasy that last year filled the city centre with people from all over the island.

Manafreak returns on Saturday May 6 with dou‐ble the number of activities and surface area from last year, with events and stalls set up in Plaça del Convent, Claustre de Sant Vicenç Fer‐rer, Plaça dels Pares Creus, Font i Roig, Carrer Major and Carrer Muntaner.

Highlights will include an identical, life‐size reproduc‐tion of the car used in the film Ghostbusters. There will also be an exhibition and demonstration of virtu‐al reality games and driving simulators for high‐speed cars and other sports.

music, to dance the night away.

On this occasion, chef Marc Fosch will be in charge of preparing the menu which, washed down with wines from Bodegas José L. Ferrer and Freixenet cava, will delight the 228 guests, friends and companies invited to the event and who every year collaborate to make the proceeds of the evening as extraordinary as the cause that moti ‐vates the event: the pre ‐vention of sexual abuse in children and adolescents, as well as offering psycho‐logical therapy for adults who were victims in their childhood.

The evening will be even more unforgettable for those who win some of the spectacular prizes pro‐vided by our collaborators and there will also be the option to win works by Talía Lehavi, Hans von Schröder, Ernesto Ro ‐dríguez and Margarita Mas in the auction after the dinner.

Visit fundacionrana.org for more information.

Events will also include an archery demonstration, a digital shooting simulator, demonstrations of remote‐controlled cars at different levels, a children’s train with a capacity for 32 people. For further information visit artsmallorca.com (available in English).

Europe Day in Palmanova

EUROPE DAY returns to Palmanova this weekend.

The 18th edition of the event will be held on Sun‐day, May 7 in Palmanova from 10am to 9pm.

Europe Day will feature a craft market with stalls all along the Paseo del Mar and Avenida de la Playa plus live music and free games and activities for chil‐dren on the Paseo including bouncy castles, a ball pool and a labyrinth to promote psychomotricity.

Up to 11 bands and mu‐sicians will take to the stage throughout the day.

Europe Day is a popular festivity organised by Calvia Town Hall in collaboration with volunteers of various nationalities and local asso‐ciations including interna‐tional community organisa‐tions and animal rights groups.

Come along and join in the fun!

Image by Auditorium Palma

Image by Jane’s Walk Palma/Facebook

VARIOUS ROUTES: Based around urban planning.

A glittering night ahead.

A KIND OF MAGIC: Will stage a new show.

RICHARD LEWINGTON, Chairman of the Madrid branch of Conservatives

Abroad ‐ the international wing of the British Con ‐servative Party, has been confirmed as a candidate in the upcoming munici ‐pal elections in Oñati, Guipuzkoa in the Basque Country on Sunday, May 28.

This marks a historic moment as Lewington will be the first British cit‐izen to run for office in Spain’s autonomous Basque Country.

The 41 ‐ year ‐ old, origi ‐nally from Southend on Sea, Essex, is a former

Chris King

A British first

cultural understanding, and supporting the town’s candidacy for UN ‐ESCO world heritage sta ‐tus.

90/180 Days

nurse who moved to Spain in 2007 where he lived in Oñati and worked as a freelance correspon ‐dent and English teacher.

Lewington’s platform focuses on supporting ru‐ral businesses, enhancing public services for young people, promoting cross ‐

“I am extremely proud to be part of Ricardo Guisado Balanzategui’s list and to be running for office in Oñati as a candi ‐date for the Partido Popu‐lar. As someone who has lived and worked in the town, I believe that Oñati has the potential to be a model for other towns in the region,” he said.

A CAMPAIGN called ‘180 Days in Spain’ has been launched with the aim of en‐suring that every British per‐son living in Spain (whether full‐year or part‐year) has their pre‐Brexit rights as an EU Citizen properly protected and ring‐fenced.

In addition, it hopes to im‐prove and equalise the rights of all British visitors to Spain so that they get the same ac‐cess after Brexit that Spanish people do in the UK today.

MORE than 50 records were report‐edly broken on Thursday, April 27, ac‐cording to the weather experts at eltiempo.es, as temperatures more typical of July hit Spain. They af ‐firmed that this phenomenon has a recurrence period of once every 150 or 200 years. Cordoba experienced 38.8ºC on Thursday while the mer ‐cury reached 37.8º in Sevilla, break‐ing all temperature records to date in the process. Meteorologist Mar

More than 50 records broken

Gómez explained at a press confer ‐ence that these high values occurred as the result of stability on the sur ‐face due to an anticyclone. This in ‐hibits the formation of clouds and prevents the development of rain, which subsequently gives rise to high temperatures with clear skies. It also produces a high rate of solar radiation and a very high or extreme

risk of fire in a large part of the Span‐ish mainland and the Balearic Islands she warned.

In Jerez de la Frontera, which has collected weather data since 1946, its old record was beaten by more than one degree. Records for very high minimum temperatures have also been smashed in places such as the airports of Zaragoza and Lugo.

As explained to Euro Weekly News in a statement from Andrew Hesselden, the Campaign Director and founder, the organisers of ‘180 Days in Spain’ are asking for some very simple require‐ments. Firstly, they want Brits who were living in Spain before Brexit ‐ whether living in the country for all or part of the year ‐ to receive equal treatment. Secondly, they are asking for the equal treat‐ment of British visitors to Spain, in the same way that

Spanish visitors to the UK re‐ceive. There are lots of ways that politicians could achieve these outcomes said Mr Hes‐selden, who hopes that the conversations being generat‐ed by the campaign are prov‐ing beneficial to British and European citizens every‐where. The campaign al‐ready has over 6,000 mem‐bers and continues to grow. Its Campaign Director col‐laborates and coordinates with other similar campaigns in France, Italy, Greece, Ger‐many and Cyprus as well as running a similar Europe‐wide campaign. Together these all account for a further 6,000 members.

“We already know that certain regions of Spain and France want to eliminate the 90‐in‐180‐day problem that Brexit has exacerbated, Mr Hesselden ‐ who has a home in Mallorca ‐ explained.

Visit https://www.face book.com/groups/180daysin spain to find out more.

Richard Lewington outside Oñati Town Hall.

Credit: Conservatives Abroad

BIRD fans will be pleased to hear that the Hanuman Plover has been reinstated as a species in its own right, after spending almost a century classed as a subspecies.

Plovers are a family of shore‐birds that live all over the world, except for the very poles. They feed on inverte‐brates, but otherwise have a range of different habitats and lifestyle.

In the 1930s, the ‘diminutive Kentish Plover’, Charadrius See‐bohmi, was merged into the Kentish Plover Charadrius Alexandrinus, as both species were considered to be the same.

Now a team of scientists, in‐cluding co‐author of the study and Principal Curator in Charge of Birds at the Natural History Museum, Dr Alex Bond, have

Splendid species

concluded that enough differ‐ences do in fact exist between the two to elevate it back to the status of full species and given it the name of Hanuman plover.

Dr Alex Bond confirmed: “Over a century ago, these

Winner is new panellist

birds were considered to be their own species, so it’s not that these plovers have changed. Instead, it’s our un‐derstanding of what a species is, and how much variation is suitable to differentiate one, that is different.”

The UK in bloom

BLOSSOM Week is inspired by the Japanese tradition of Hanami, the popular custom where people of all ages get together to enjoy the transient beauty of cherry blossom.

Blossom Week has been designed as a natural peak to the campaign when the majority of the country will have some sort of blossom in bloom ‐ from blackthorn and cher‐ry, to apple and pear.

The National Trust hopes to encourage people across the UK to get outside to enjoy the fleeting beauty of this spring phenomenon either in their own gardens or local parks.

Andy Jasper, Head of Gardens and Parklands at the Na‐tional Trust said: “We are at the epicentre of a truly magnifi‐cent show of blossom.”

To encourage the public to visit their local parks and gar‐dens and share their best blossom moments, the conserva‐tion charity is further hosting a blossom picture competi‐tion.

Social media users can share their favourite nature shots using the hashtag #BlossomWatchComp for a chance to win a year’s worth of holidays with the National Trust (worth £6,000). The competition will run until May 12.

ON Tuesday April 25 the pro‐ducers of Loose Women an‐nounced a new panellist for the ITV programme.

The Strictly Come Dancing winner, Rose Ayling‐Ellis was a panellist in a special which marked Deaf Awareness Week on Wednesday May 3.

The appearance was a one‐off and Rose appeared with fellow Loose Women, Nadia Sawalha, Jane Moore, and Kaye Adams, who also had hearing difficulties and wears a hear‐ing aid.

Those watching the show were able to read subtitles and there was to be a fully ac‐

cessible recording of the pro‐gramme available on ITVX with subtitles and an ‘in vi‐sion signer.’

The special programme is collaborating with the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, Sign Health and the Deaf Collective. The show’s audience was made up of members of the deaf commu‐nity.

Rose Ayling‐Ellis has always spoken out about her experiences as a deaf person, and she has campaigned to have British Sign Lan‐guage (BSL) become legally recognised in Eng‐land, Scotland and Wales.

Prince William in documentary

A NEW documentary is to be screened as it follows the day‐to‐day life of Prince William.

The ITV series which focuses on Prince William and his work around the UK will be in stark contrast to the much‐criticised Prince Harry documentary, which gained notoriety for his and his wife’s axe‐grinding rhetoric.

Labelled as a fly‐on‐the‐wall documentary the heir to the

throne will be joined by a cam‐era crew as he promotes his homelessness initiative around the country.

Insiders say it will give view‐ers the most honest and inti‐mate depiction of the future king and his family.

“This is pretty extraordinary; it’s never been done before,” said a TV spokesperson. “Gen‐erally, access to senior royals is very limited and totally con‐

trolled, but William clearly wants to change that.

“He’s keen to highlight his work, particularly on a home‐less project which was a sub‐ject very close to his mother’s heart, and to connect with the public on a new level.”

The new series will give a positive slant on the work done by Britain’s royals after the negativity that William’s brother Harry generated.

13.6% of Spain’s population goes to church every Sunday.

Rose Ayling-Ellis.

PRESS EUROPEAN

DENMARK

Viking treasure

METAL detectorists discovered a hoard of Viking silver near the ruins of the Viking castle Fyrkat, in Hobro, North Denmark. Their find contained over 300 items which included Danish, German and Arab coins, dating back to the 900s, when King Harald ‘Bluetooth’ united Denmark and Norway.

THE NETHERLANDS

Flower quandary

THE Netherlands account for 80 per cent of the EU’s flower exports and 60 per cent of global flower production, including those sent to Russia. Dutch growers said that flowers were not affected by sanctions but admitted they were faced with the dilemma of whether to stop exports on moral grounds.

BELGIUM

Fizz fuss

BELGIAN Customs officers crushed 2,352 cans of Miller High Life bearing the ‘Champagne of Beers’ slogan. The US shipment en route to another country was intercepted and destroyed in Antwerp after the French authorities issued a formal complaint regarding the infringement of Champagne’s protected status.

GERMANY

Chips are down

GERMANY could limit the export of the chemicals that are used to manufacture semiconductors as the government attempts to reduce its economic exposure to China, Bloomber said. Chemical companies Merck and BASF, who would be affected if exports were curbed, declined to comment.

FRANCE

Porn rules

FRANCE’S audiovisual and digital communications regulator Arcom could receive new powers to block websites not complying with age verification regulations. Under modified rules, Arcom would not require judicial approval to force telecoms operators and search engines to block access to Pornhub or YouPorn

NORWAY

Oslo fight

ASYLUM-SEEKER Andrey Medvedev, a Wagner mercenary who crossed into Norway from Russia in January, pleaded guilty to fighting outside an Oslo bar and carrying an air gun in public. He felt very ashamed, Medvedev said, but denied assaulting police officers in the Norwegian capital.

FINLAND

Snakes alive

ADDERS, Finland’s only dangerous snakes, will become a protected species in June. In future, people will no longer be permitted to kill them without reasonable cause or disturb them in their natural habitats, although Turku Animal Protection Association’s president, Britt-Marie Juup, foresaw “heated discussions.”

IRELAND

Too good

IRELAND has one of the highest rates of overqualification in the EU, according to newly released Eurostat data. Just under 29 per cent of the country’s employees were working in occupations not requiring a third-level degree despite having one, making the country's workforce the EU’s most educated.

ITALY

Free pill

ITALY will make free contraception medication available to women of all ages, a move applauded by women’s rights activists nationwide but condemned by anti-abortion advocates. The Pricing and Reimbursement Committee of AIFA, the Italian Medicines Agency now awaits approval from the agency’s board of directors.

PORTUGAL Stony broke

FORMER Banco Espirito Santo (BES) bank boss Ricardo Salgado, out on €3 million bail since 2014, owes more than €30,000 in court costs, which his defence team claims he cannot pay as his assets were impounded by the state. The costs mounted up in unsuccessful appeals to the Constitutional Court.

UKRAINE Looking ahead

UKRAINE lost a third of its economic output in 2022 as eight million people fell into poverty, creating a 15-year setback in poverty reduction goals. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development pledged that when the time came for reconstruction “people will be there, human capital will be there.”

SWEDEN

New fashion

DRUG busts involving designer drug 3-CMC increased dramatically in Sweden after gaining a foothold during the pandemic, the country’s media said. Between 2019 and 2022 Swedish Customs and the police seized quantities ranging from four to 104 kilos, saying 3-CMC was now more common than cocaine.

FINANCE

STAT OF WEEK €1.164 billion

was the amount of telecom company Orange España’s turnover during the first three months of this year, a 2.8 per increase on the same period in 2021.

BUSINESS EXTRA Telefonica’s Virgin

Coffee break

PRET A MANGER is increasing the cost of its monthly sub ‐scription service by a fifth to £30 (€33.9) for a daily five cof‐fees but will give a 10 per cent discount on food and snacks alongside free drinks. The sandwich chain warned that the “inflationary challenge” was ever‐present.

Payback time

RENTING state‐owned Sareb’s 50,000 properties at afford‐able prices will repay taxpay‐ers’ money, Spain’s Economy Minister Nadia Calviño, said. She added that after taking control of Spain’s “bad bank” the government’s “good man‐agement” was returning to so‐ciety its contribution to the 2011 bank bailout.

Takeover bid

MEDICA GROUP is the latest London‐listed business target‐ed by private equity buyers following IK Partners’ £269 million (€303.7 million) bid for the teleradiology provider. Medica’s board advised share‐holders to vote for the deal, saying this would allow in ‐vestors to recognise the busi‐ness’s growth potential.

New post

GERMAN‐BORN Miguel Angel Lopez Borrego, who has Span‐ish nationality, replaces Marti‐na Merz as CEO of the German group ThyssenKrupp on June 1. Lopez Borrego, who is 58, and currently interim CEO of Norma Group, is a former di‐rector of Siemens Spain and a member of the Siemens Gamesa board.

Desert song

UMAR KAMANI, former CEO of the PrettyLittleThing fast‐fashion chain, sold 30,000 square feet (2,787 square me‐tres) of undeveloped sand in Dubai that cost him £6.42 mil‐lion (€7.3 million) for more than £27 million (€30.5 mil‐lion). Kamani’s buyer is be ‐lieved to be a member of the Saudi royal family.

Lifeline needed for landline

Linda Hall

TALKTALK, Virgin Media and SSE have been accused of overcharging landline‐only customers by almost €219 million (approximately €247.3 million).

Almost 600,000 UK landline‐only customers were charged ‘excessive’ prices since 2009, maintained Fideres, which specialises in providing industry expertise for financial markets’ dis‐putes.

The consultancy, which also aims to identify corporate wrongdoing, found that TalkTalk ‐ and the now‐merged Virgin Media and SSE ‐ have between them overcharged consumers when their prices were compared with those of their rivals. Fideres pointed out that as well as a pricing abuse that possibly breached competition rules, the three

companies were also infringing equali‐ty laws since two‐thirds of customers with landline‐only deals were aged 65 or older.

In 2017, Ofcom published research showing that landline customers were getting ‘poor value for money’.

Providers had increased line rental charges by 25 and 49 per cent since 2009 even though the underlying wholesale cost of providing a landline service had fallen by 26 per cent.

As a result, BT, which accounts for about 80 per cent of the UK’s 2.9 mil‐lion landline‐only clients, cut charges by around 37 per cent, reversing the in‐creases by returning pricing to 2009 levels in real‐terms.

Ofcom said in 2017 that it expected other providers to follow suit as did the Post Office, unlike Virgin Media and TalkTalk. If providers rolled back their prices to match the 2009 levels, Talk‐Talk’s customers would have saved £103 million (€116.3 million) and Virgin Media and SSE’s customers £48 million (€54.2 millon), Fideres calculated.

Airports group flies high

AENA reported a net profit of €133.6 million for the first quarter of 2023, compared with losses of €41.7 million during the same period in 2022.

The total number of pas‐sengers in Spain, Luton and airports in northeast Brazil recovered 100 per cent of their pre‐pandemic levels, state‐owned Aena an‐nounced on April 26.

Traffic volume at Aena’s Spanish airports reached 53.6 million in the first three months of the year, a 41.6

Barça deal

FC BARCELONA finally secured funds for the Espai Barça pro‐ject which includes renovating the Camp Nou stadium.

The club has now signed a €1.45 billion agreement with 20 investors, although this is €50 million less than it original‐ly hoped for.

It has taken the club almost two months to obtain suffi‐cient financial backing to start work at the Camp Nou ground. Setbacks that coincided with club president Joan Laporta’s funding mission included the scandal over Barça’s payments to football referee José María Enríquez Negreira and the hike in interest rates, followed the Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse banking crises.

per cent increase on the same period last year and 1.6 per cent higher than dur‐ing the first quarter of 2019.

Commercial sales showed a 12 per cent improvement on their pre‐pandemic lev‐

els,. Total consolidated rev‐enue for the first quarter of 2023 increased to €1.03 bil‐lion, 34.3 per cent up on the first quarter of 2022. Aeronautical revenue of €523 million was 26 per cent

Salmon tax

THE price of Norway’s farmed salmon could rise by up to 10 per cent, industry insiders warned.

Norway produces more than 1.5 million tons of salmon each year and the Oslo gov‐ernment now intends to slap a 35 per cent tax on their profits.

As a result, consumer prices are expected to rise by as much as 10 per cent or even more.

“We all know it is coming,” said Lance Forman, owner of London‐based H Forman and Sons, which supplies leading restau‐rants and Harrods.

After fossil fuels, salmon farming is the country’s largest source of national income. It is also very lucrative, with operating prof‐it margins of around 45 per cent.

Despite the salmon farmers’ efforts, the Norwegian parliament is expected to ap‐prove the measure in the coming weeks.

TELEFONICA has strengthened its position in the UK with a partner‐ship between its strategic digital business subsidiary, Tech&I, and Virgin Media 02 Business.

Virgin’s customers can now be supported by Telefonica Tech’s cloud team of professional and managed services. Based in the UK this company currently employs more than 1,000 technology pro‐fessionals following its takeover of CancomUK&I and Incremental.

This will enable Virgin Media O2 Business to offer enhanced ser‐vices to medium and large organi‐sations. These will range from local authorities wanting to unify data and processes, healthcare providers migrating sensitive data to the cloud and retailers looking to evolve e‐commerce opportunities in the cloud.

higher than in 2022 while commercial revenue ‐ again surpassing 2019 levels ‐reached €337.9 million, 40.1 per cent more than during the first three months of 2022. “The performance of commercial activity in the first quarter of the year is noteworthy, where pre‐pan‐demic activity levels im‐proved markedly,” Aena said. Aena’s gross operating result between January and March of this year rose to €368.6 million, representing growth of 153.2 per cent.

Light fantastic

NATIONAL POWER, owner of the Drax power station in Selby (York‐shire), reported its highest ever an‐nual profits.

Shareholders in the FTSE 250 company can look forward to a £150 million (€169 million) wind‐fall, thanks to record electricity prices following the Russian inva‐sion of Ukraine.

This had helped to increase the group’s annual profits for 2022 to £731 million (€824.7 million), up from £398 million (€499 million) in 2021.

Drax also announced that in the meantime it was putting on hold its much ‐ debated £50 million (€56.4 million) carbon capture pro‐ject, as it awaited details from the government regarding a possible subsidy.

Turned off

NETFLIX lost more than one million Spanish viewers in the first quarter of this year, consultancy company Kantar found.

Vetoing shared accounts was re‐sponsible for the plunge and the future looks even bleaker now that 10 per cent of current subscribers plan to leave Netflix within the next three months.

“Losing some users was to be expected,” said Mayte Gonzalez, from Kantar’s Worldpanel division. “But losing more than one mil‐lion in so little time has major con‐sequences for Netflix and will influ‐ence its decision to continue with this measure worldwide.”

Loud and clear

MARSHALL GROUP is more likely to increase its commitment to Britain than leave, its new owners said.

The family‐owned amplifiers firm was bought by Swedish com‐pany, Zound Industries, which makes Bluetooth speakers, in a deal that valued the combined group at £325 million (€367 mil‐lion).

All Marshall brands were ac‐quired by Zound, for an undis‐closed amount.

“We will preserve and probably enhance our UK presence even more, because it is so important to who we are,” said Jeremy de Mail‐lard, who heads the new business.

LANDLINES: Users tend to be over 65.

AENA HEADQUARTERS: Spain’s airports group makes a profit.

Photo credit: Pexels/Rodnae Productions

Photo credit: CC/Gemmarz

DOW JONES

Family affair

SPAIN’S National High Court in Madrid is investigating Santiago Alarco, the former brother‐in‐law of ex‐Cabinet minister Rodrigo Rato, for hiding money abroad. Alar‐co has been summonsed to give evidence on May 24 to answer charges of money laundering and creating a fi‐nancial network to keep cash out of the reach of Spain’s tax authorities.

Deaf ears

HSBC’s biggest sharehold‐er said that it was “ex ‐tremely disappointed” in the bank’s refusal to con‐sider splitting up and sepa‐rating its Asia business, criticising its inflexibility to‐wards restructuring pro‐posals. Ping An Asset Man‐agement, which has an 8 per cent holding in the banking giant, would pre‐fer to see a separate Hong‐listed business headquar‐tered in Asia.

PM’S own goal

GERRY MURPHY, chairman of luxury retailer Burberry described axing VAT ‐ free shopping for foreign visi ‐tors as a “spectacular” own goal.

“It makes the UK the least attractive shopping destina‐tion in Europe,” Murphy added.

The criticism came after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s visit to a Business Connect meeting in London when he was quizzed about the measure introduced while he was Chancellor.

The Burberry boss told

the prime minister that it appeared “somewhat per‐verse” that the VAT refund

for tourists was removed on the day the UK left the sin‐gle market.

Powering up profits

IBERDROLA made a €1.48 billion net profit in the first quarter of 2023.

This was more than 40 per cent up on the same period last year, which coincid‐ed with the start of the Ukraine war.

Thanks to improvements in Spain and the UK, the group reported a marked in‐crease in results despite the new 1.2 per cent windfall tax applied to energy com‐

panies’ net turnover. This increased the group’s total tax bill by €200 million this quarter compared with the first three months of 2021. It has also been paid in full, announced Iber‐drola, although payments have increased by 102.2 per cent to €1.18 billion this quarter, compared to €583 million in 2021.

Ocado relocates

“Leaving the EU has had a significant effect on trade,” Murphy said, claiming that the UK was experiencing “by far” the weakest recov‐ery from the pandemic compared with other major economies.

A group of business lead‐ers has now called for the reintroduction of tax‐free shopping for overseas tourists.

In a letter to the UK’s Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, retail, hospitality and tourism chiefs maintained that reinstating the VAT concession would benefit both businesses and the taxpayer.

Tax‐free shopping would bring a multi‐billion‐pound boost to the economy, they argued.

“The cost of 20 per cent VAT refunds would be out‐weighed by the enormous benefits of encouraging more visitors to Britain,” they said.

IN a move that will affect ap‐proximately 2,300 employ‐ees, Ocado plans to close its oldest distribution centre in Hatfield (Hertfordshire) later this year.

This centre accounts for a fifth of the online grocer’s weekly customer orders each week, but sources ex‐plained that Ocado now in‐tends to shift towards robot‐ic warehouses, transferring to a new state ‐ of ‐ the ‐ art warehouse in Luton.

Logo no-go

LIDL won its legal standoff against Tesco.

A High Court judge found in favour of the German‐owned chain which accused Tesco of “riding on its coat tails” by pro‐moting its Clubcard deals with a similar blue and yellow logo.

Mrs Justice Joanna Smith made the ruling late last month after an earlier hearing between the two supermarket giants.

BURBERRY: Chairman Gerry Murphy lamented end of taxfree shopping for tourists.

Photo credit: CC/Ashauk1

Euro

EUR/GBP: Unchanged at £0.88

EUR/USD: Up from $1.07 to $1.09

Easing concerns over Europe’s banking sector initially helped the euro to firm at end of March, before these gains were swiftly eased by a weaker-than-expected Eurozone inflation print.

Hawkish comments from a European Central Bank (ECB) policymaker, put a spring back in the single currency’s step at the start of April, before rally sputtered out in the face of fresh tensions between Russia and Europe as Finland formally joined NATO.

The euro continued to waver into mid-April as a disappointing Eurozone retail sales reading was offset and the single currency’s negative correlation with the US dollar infused volatility into EUR exchange rates.

A stronger-than-expected Eurozone services PMI then lent support to the euro toward the end of April.

While the ECB’s next interest rate

BUSINESS EXTRA

Scot-free

P&O Ferries believe that the possibility of a fine arising from the 2022 mass sacking of 786 em‐ployees was “remote.”

The Dubai ‐ owned ferry operator’s annual report maintained that sacking its entire UK‐based crew without the prior consul‐tation required by UK law was a “solution to gaining essential opera‐tional flexibility.

Good result

BARCELONA‐BASED con‐struction company FCC, controlled by Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, earned €97 million in the first three months of this year, 14 per cent more than 2021’s first quarter. Revenue increased by 21.2 per cent to €2.03 billion thanks to in ‐creased activity and dou‐ble‐digit growth in most business areas.

Currency outlook: US dollar slumps amid fading Fed rate hike bets, Euro underpinned by ECB interest rate speculation

decision will undoubtedly be the main focus for EUR investors over the coming month, the potential start of Ukraine’s long-rumoured spring offensive could also inject some volatility into the euro.

Pound

GBP/EUR: Unchanged at €1.13

GBP/USD: Up from $1.22 to $1.24

The pound wavered over the past month as mixed UK economic data and a fluctuating market mood left the currency to trade without a strong directional bias.

At the end of March Sterling zigzagged in response to hawkish comments from Bank of England (BoE) Governor Andrew Bailey and a cautious market mood.

Thin trading conditions due to the long Easter weekend then left the pound trapped in a narrow range at the start of April. Before GBP exchange rates stumbled after UK growth was revised lower in the first quarter.

The pound then spiked on the back of the UK’s latest consumer

price index after reporting domestic inflation remained in double digits in March.

The hotter-than-expected inflation print cement expectations for a May rate hike from the BoE, while also prompting some analysts to speculate rates could rise as high as 5 per cent by the end of 2023.

Looking ahead, the BoE’s May policy meeting could trigger a sharp appreciation in the pound if the bank signals it needs to take more action to bring inflation under control.

US Dollar

USD/GBP: Down from $0.81 to $0.80

USD/EUR: Down from €0.92 to €0.91

The US dollar trended broadly lower over the past month as an improving market mood sapped the appeal of the safe-haven currency. USD was supressed as we entered April, as USD investors were split on whether the Federal Reserve would pursue another rate hike in May.

The US dollar continued to be

pressured through the first couple of weeks in April, as some upbeat US data releases helped to reinforce the cheery market mood. While a weaker-than-expected core PCE price index saw the odds of a May rate hike fall as low as 40 per cent.

USD exchange rates then struck new multi-month lows in mid-April after a dramatic cooling of US inflation and dovish minutes from the Fed’s last policy meeting further undermined rate hike bets.

However, the US dollar was quick to rebound from its worst levels after a worrying decline in US retail sales spooked markets and revived safehaven demand. While increased confidence in a May rate hike also supported USD.

Looking ahead, the direction of the US dollar over the next month will largely depend on the Fed’s forward ward guidance following its next rate decision. If the US central bank signals it might be done with its current hiking cycle, USD exchange rates may plunge.

THE

and Markets Authority (CMA) has blocked the sale of Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty to Microsoft.

The CMA halted the $69 billion (€63.2 billion) deal - the biggest deal ever in gaming - on the grounds this would hinder competition in cloud gaming.

The regulator said on April 26 that Microsoft’s pledge to allow leading cloud gaming platforms to access Activision’s multibillion-dollar Call of Duty franchise had not allayed its concerns.

The company remained fully committed to the acquisition and would appeal the decision, Microsoft president Brad Smith announced in a statement. Activision in turn said it would “work aggressively” with Microsoft to reverse the CMA’s decision.

“This was not the news we wanted,” Activision’s CEO Bobby Kotick told staff, “but it is far from the final word on this deal,” he added.

“We will reassess our growth plans for the UK,” the company said in a separate statement. “Global innovators large and small will take note that, despite all its rhetoric, the UK is clearly closed for business.”

CMA won’t play

ACTIVISION-MICROSOFT:

To date this was the biggest deal between technology companies that the CMA has blocked and its stance was interpreted by insiders as proof

Out of pocket

ASSOCIATIONS representing recruitment firms called for changes to existing legislation. The lower end of the supply chain of temporary workers faced unfair financial pressure, the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo UK) and APSCo OutSource maintained.

Payment was often required between seven and 28 days of timesheet submissions, while end clients enjoyed payment terms of between 30 and 60 days, they pointed out. This meant the middle-supplier was out of pocket for an increasing length of time which was unsustainable in the current climate, causing undue financial strain on small and medium-sized businesses. They routinely footed the initial bill for large numbers of contractors without rapid reimbursement, Melanie Forbes, APSCo OutSource’s managing director explained.

that the UK watchdog was ready to take on Big Tech.

It is now up to Brussels to reach a decision by May 22 on the Activision deal.

Tax breaks for all

ALL religions in Spain can now enjoy the same tax breaks.

The government has reached an agreement with the Orthodox Church, the Buddhist Union, Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses who between them account for 1.3 million followers. Of these, one million belong to the Orthodox Church, half of whom are Romanian.

They will be exempt from paying IBI rates on properties that are used for worship and will no longer be liable for Corporation Tax. This will put them on an equal footing with the Catholic Church, the Federation of Evangelical Religious Entities, the Federation of Jewish Communities and the Islamic Commission.

They are now asking for an extension of Payment Practices and Performance regulations to reduce financial pressures.

MERCADONA continues to modify its growth strategy inside Spain.

The supermarket chain, with 1,637 stores here, is slowing down acquisition of premises and land for new branches. Instead it is switching to renting.

By the close of the 2022 financial year, it had allocated €76 million - almost 40 per cent less than in 2021 - for new stores, according to Mercadona’s annual accounts submitted to Spain’s Mercantile Registry.

The chain has tripled the number of its supermarkets since 2000, although Mercadona’s president and principal shareholder Juan Roig said when presenting the 2022 results last March, that the company planned to stop at 1,700 inside Spain.

APRIL: Stronger-than expected Eurozone services PMI lent support to the euro.

UK’s Competition

Deal could hinder cloud gaming, CMA said.

Photo credit: Pexels-jeshoots

OTHERS THINK IT

ONE of the real problems with the social media is that it allows the woke snowflakes and utter ec ‐centrics to seek each other out. Whereas, at one time someone with totally off the wall ideas would hardly come across any like‐minded individuals, they can now contact each other at the touch of a button. It stands to reason if you can air your views to millions, you are go ‐ing to find more supporters than standing on a street corner handing out leaflets.

Although there seems to be a pos‐itive glut of gaggle heads these days, there are in fact no more than they ever were, they are just a bit more linked up that’s all. Solo indi‐viduals have now been turned into ‘minority groups’, a part of the flavour that seems to get all the preferential treatment these days!

These latest ensembles are a glar‐ing example. Drunk with the power of getting national media coverage, they are now advocating that not only wolf whistling, but ANY praise by a male of the species, including

One-track

reference to articles of dress or at ‐tire be classed as a misogynistic hate crime. I suppose praise from a female is ok? We’ll be a bit careful lady, the woman admiring your hat at Ascot could be a gender bender; another load of codswallop dreamed up by these people.

To be honest I’m surprised most of ‘em even have the courage to walk out of their own front doors. They seem to have totally one‐track minds and, because they all appear to share complexes of utter inade ‐quacy, are completely unable to ac‐cept, or even listen to any other points of view.

One example is their ongoing in ‐sistence that babies, and young chil‐dren who show a tendency to play with toys or enjoy dressing up and indulging in the games of their op ‐posite sex, should be immediately and relentlessly encouraged to grow up in that sexual gender.

This was actually shot down by one eminent psychiatrist who, on examination of a young boy who had displayed a great deal of inter‐

FLYING HIGH OUR VIEW

est in feminine toys etc, discovered he had in fact a younger sister, who suffered a debilitating illness. This had led to the parents showing her more attention.

In the little boy’s mind he inter ‐preted this as favouritism toward girls. The lad thought that if he act‐ed more like a girl, he would attract the same attention as his sister. It had nothing to do with his gender whatsoever! This example also ex ‐poses some of the dangers present‐ed to children of same sex parents. Another ‘offspring impression ‐able’ situation I was actually wit ‐nessing as far back as the 60s. Not ‐ting Hill where I spent my youth experienced many progressions, in‐cluding a multitude of gay influence and of course the first of the Win ‐drush immigrants. I actually caught a lot of it many moons ago. And frankly have never been too happy to see how it’s all panned out. Keep the faith.

Love Leapy leapylee2002@gmail.com expatradioscotland.com Mon. Fri.

How to report an abandoned car on the street or community

CONSULAR MATTERS

IT is still quite common to see cars, vans, or motorcycles that are completely dete‐riorated, covered in dust, and with de‐flated tyres occupying a parking space. In fact, the Spanish traffic authorities (DGT) estimates that there are about 20,000 abandoned cars in private facilities (abandoned cars in garages, in a commu‐nity of owners, in workshops...) and that around 50,000 vehicles are abandoned each year. This can result in a hefty fine for the owner, as their obligation is to deregister it and remove it from the obli‐gation, as indicated by the Law.

Until now, you could only request the removal of the vehicle if it was on the public road. However, with the Spanish VEH 2022/26 instruction, you can also request it if the vehicle is abandoned in a community of owners, in a shopping centre, in a workshop, in a private zones, etc. In each case, the time to file the

complaint is different. In a private area, it must be proven that the vehicle has been abandoned for a minimum of two months. In a public parking lot, at least six months must elapse to report aban‐donment.

You can report an abandoned car to your town hall by phone, internet, or in person.

It may happen that you go on a trip for a period exceeding one month or any other circumstance that prevents you from moving the car and someone has reported it. To prove that the vehicle is not abandoned, you will have to provide the valid vehicle documentation, with the latest ITV passed, car’s insurance, and payment of taxes. You will also have to pay the fine and the expenses of the crane and deposit before you can take it away.

For more from our columnists please scan this QR Code

Marisa Moreno Castillo Consul for Denmark and Senior Lawyer at Just Law Solicitors. www.justlawsolicitors.com • contact@justlawsolicitors.com

LAST weekend, we reported on our website, news of a massive fight onboard a plane travelling from Norway to Alicante in Spain. It appears that the fight was fuelled by the drunken behaviour of a number of passengers and when it arrived in Spain, no fewer than 15 people, all said to be Norwegian were arrested.

There was an unprecedented number of views of the stories and almost 100 readers felt that it would be help‐ful to make comments, for which we are grateful.

As often happens, some people simply read the title without taking in the content and rushed to blame boozy Brits abroad but on this occasion, they were completely wrong. It rather looks as if these idiots who are used to paying high prices for alcohol in their home country might have been taking advantage of cheaper in‐flight booze and overdid it!

No excuse and probably 50 per cent of the comments are calling for a ban on alcohol sales on all flights, 25 per cent want to see tougher checks before passengers are allowed on board or automatic travel bans if they are convicted of misbehaving on a flight. Roughly a quarter feel that it’s unfair to stop those who drink in modera‐tion from being allowed a beer or glass of wine to help them relax after the flight takes off but all want to see flight attendants try to refuse sales to drunks.

That may be easier said than done as the attendants themselves could leave themselves open to verbal abuse or physical attack, but it is clear that something needs to be done to ensure that the majority of trav‐ellers can enjoy (subject to leg room) their flight in peace.

LeapyLee’sopinionsarehisownandarenotnecessarilyrepresentativeofthoseofthepublishers,advertisersorsponsors.

CORONATION QUICHE DOESN’T DESERVE ONLINE ROASTING

NORAJOHNSON BREAKINGVIEWS

FOR some people, Coronation Quiche with its spinach and broad bean filling may seem a bit unexciting and unglam‐orous for such a grand occasion this weekend. On the other hand, it’s part of just the type of nostalgic, comfort food that’s currently enjoying a revival. Or maybe it’s to do with the UK being hit with strikes in multiple areas? Peo‐ple in the UK struggling on a daily basis with the increased cost of living and higher food prices, inflation and interest rates, let alone China flexing its muscles and war in Ukraine continuing to dis ‐rupt world trade. Who doesn’t remem‐ber the 70s, say, with nostalgia ‐ a time of relative peace and calmness?

And foods from that period inevitably bring back memories. Who made it. Who you ate it with. What your life was like at that point in time...

For me, it’s onion soup served in one of those made‐for‐purpose bowls with a little handle. Or perhaps cheese fondue ‐ wine, kirsch, bread. Anything smoth ‐

ered in bubbling hot melted cheese! What else? Prawn cocktail, steak Diane, peach Melba or butterscotch Angel De‐light with chopped banana and Bird’s Eye Dream Topping (eaten straight from the bowl given half a chance…)

Or toad in the hole, shepherd’s pie,

Mediterranean diet Mark II

LINDA HALL

SOME years back, a friend who hadn’t been here long grumbled that she’d put on weight thanks to the Mediter‐ranean diet.

Hardly surprising, because eating Mediterranean Spain’s food doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re follow ‐ing its rules. In fact you’ll usually be eating, and doubtless enjoying it very much, a Spanglish diet, which is noto‐rious for adding kilos you’d rather lose.

As I found when living in the rural outskirts of Altea my neighbours – el‐derly people who knew nothing other than the Mediterranean diet ‐ ate what they produced.

That meant killing it too.

We lived in the bottom half of a rambling house, some of it new, some of it probably a couple of centuries old. Each Friday Marcela, our landlady who lived on the top half, would se ‐lect a rabbit from the corral and kill it in a process that I was careful not to witness but couldn’t avoid overhear ‐ing.

It was brutal but rapid and in no

time at all, she’d skinned and gutted it, ready for the Sunday paella.

Pigeons, chickens, even turkeys at Christmas, met the same fate but who was I to shiver in disgust? Not when I bought the remains of dead animals that had lived in miserable conditions and were bred purely to satisfy the appetites of supermarket customers.

A couple of my neighbours were al‐so directly linked to the fish they ate and one day shortly after we’d moved in, Marcela’s cousin Teresa appeared with some mackerel so fresh that they shone.

Did I want any, Marcela asked me. As it happened, I didn’t as I’d bought fish that morning, which also hap ‐pened to be mackerel. Obviously there’d been a good catch the night before.

“Teresa often brings me some,” she said.

“I suppose she had some left over,” I remarked.

Marcela looked at me sternly. “Oh no. These aren’t leftovers. We share what we have.”

And there spoke someone who knew what the Mediterranean diet re‐ally meant.

lemon meringue pie and Arctic Roll ‐cake AND ice ‐ cream in one pudding. What more could you want? And as for snacks, what about jelly cubes eaten straight from the packet? Squashed fly biscuits (Garibaldi, weren’t they?). Or Wagon Wheels ‐ though should be re ‐named Trolley Castors thanks to shrink‐flation.

After all that, who’d feel nostalgic for Quinoa salad?

And as for the height of sophistication in my youth: Vesta Chow Mein with crispy noodles! Or oeufs Mornay ‐ a ‘posh’ starter. A boiled egg cut in half and smothered in a dodgy ‘sauce’ that invariably tasted like salad cream with a bit of wilted mint sprinkled over it. Also avocado vinaigrette ‐ half a rock hard or ridiculously mushy avocado with bitter vinaigrette filling the hole. And, in the more upmarket restaurants, a couple of sad ‐ looking prawns floating around in the liquid.

Actually, Delia Smith was way ahead of her time and her recipes are still in ‐credibly reliable crowd pleasers. They’ll surely long outlive the dreadful recipes you regularly come across these days where the ‘chef’ believes you can chuck anything together and just camouflage

the tasteless result with chilli. Yuk!

But frankly, I’ve never understood this ‘comeback’ thing. If something is good, it’s good. End of. Do you stop eat‐ing a certain food (like the humble quiche), drinking a certain drink, watch‐ing a certain movie or reading a certain book (a suspense or crime thriller, like me?) because somebody else tells you it’s outdated, and that’s the thing to do?

Do you throw away all your clothes or shoes every year when some magazine tells you: ‘They’re so last season!’? (Clue: it’s a business ‐ that’s their job.) There’s absolutely nothing wrong with trying new things and being experimen‐tal, but it’s good to have the classics locked away too. After all, it’s the clas‐sics that are your gold standard for comparing quality.

So, in brief, all I’m saying is: Give Quiche a Chance...

Nora Johnson’s 12 critically acclaimed psychological suspense crime thrillers (www.nora ‐ johnson.net) all available online including eBooks (€0.99; £0.99), Apple Books, audiobooks, paperbacks at Amazon etc. Profits to Cudeca cancer charity.

We help to find solutions

THE British Benevolent Fund has over a century of providing emergency financial relief for Britons in Spain who have no other recourse ‐ to find solu‐tions for people who are in a desperate situation and who see no way out.

Money can’t by love but it can be an enabler for people who have found themselves in difficulties. Many of these cas‐es are triggered by illnesses, breakdown in relationships, loss of jobs and bereavement.

Into that mix comes Brexit, which for some Britons who have been living in Spain mean that if they are not resident un‐der the terms of the withdraw‐al agreement, they have to face the prospect of being classed as illegally staying in Spain. If that wasn’t enough ‐for vulnerable people ‐ many of whom are advanced in years means that they no longer have the access to Spanish state support and healthcare that they might have been eligible for before.

Which means some difficult decisions for those that need

care, housing, and support to return to the UK where many have not lived for years if not decades. Many are under the illusion that they will be auto‐matically entitled to UK bene‐fits including crucially access to housing. The UK’s welcome for returning vulnerable Britons is far from what extends to other nationalities. The Habitual Res‐idency Test means that a re‐turning British national may have to wait for up to three months before they can be eli‐gible. The BBF will help those who have no other resources, and we are increasingly being asked to help them in the UK whilst their applications are processed. These are people who have long lost touch with their networks at home and could face homelessness on ar‐rival without our support.

One such is Tom, a 60‐year‐old Briton who left the UK nearly 40 years ago and has been told by his local authority he can only apply for housing and other benefits when he ar‐rives. He has multiple medical issues which need continual treatment as well as aggres‐sive MS which will mean per‐manent disability ‐ he needs to get home for treatment ‐ but the Habitual Residence Test means he will have to over‐come an enormous hurdle with no income, savings or re‐sources.

We can only help people like Tom with your support ‐ if you would like to help him and others with a donation, please visit our website www.british benevolentfund.org. Thank you for any help you can give.

Olaf Clayton, Chair BBF

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

Nora’s latest thriller.

Noraistheauthorofpopularpsychological suspenseandcrimethrillersandafreelancejournalist.

Olaf Clayton of BBF.

Insurance help LETTERS

May I suggest that Gwendeline Ott ‐ley contact Staysure Insurance as they have no upper age limit. We have used them for many years and many trips around the World and find them excellent.

Regards

Same problem

Terry and Shirley

In reply to your correspondent Gwen ‐doline Ottley in edition April 27 to May 3, re lack of travel insurance for older expats, can I say that we have the same problem. My partner is almost 90 and is probably fitter than most 60 ‐ year ‐ olds in that there is nothing whatsoever wrong with him. Like Gwendoline, we like to travel, but contact insurance companies and they don’t ask anything about health, just your age. This is not fair, I wish some of them would realise this.

Last Christmas and New Year, we went on a Caribbean cruise, the only way to do this was that we booked through a British travel agent (but their office is in La Zenia) and because there is nothing wrong with us, we were able to take advantage of their insurance for €139 each (+€35 for Covid cover). This compared with the £1,400 wanted by another company. We have never claimed in 50 years of use.

We want to take a Danube cruise next spring, which was cancelled twice due to Covid, but it will depend on whether or not we can get insurance. Companies are missing a trick here.

So no help to the lady, but she has a lot of sympathy. We would like to know if she does eventually manage to get covered.

Kind regards,

Diana Wiltshire and Patrice Satur

Hello Leapy

We look forward to your candid com ‐ments in your column in EWN each week. We mostly tend to be in accord with you, although occasionally not so, but then that makes for good discus ‐sion between ourselves and friends.

Whilst trawling through family photo‐graphic archives and memorabilia this week ‐ end, my wife (Su) came across an amusing, relevant item. In a faded copy of the mag Fabulous’208, dated 21st December 1968 that she had unearthed from the piles of stored stuff, she was featured as a model in an article titled ‘Right Gear for a Rave Up!’. (During the late 60s and 70s she was a DJ on P&O liners and had modelling and promo ‐tion work.)

But, over the page in FabTalk, there was a piece about you ‐ ¡Leapy banked on it¡. Attached is a scanned copy ‐even though it mentions your damaged Cadillac, I thought you might like to see it.

Please keep up your comments and views in your articles ‐ someone’s got to voice it before the wokes take over the world!!

Kind regards ‐ David M‐S

Bull dies

I read about the fighting bull that plunged to its death from a bridge dur ‐ing the Bou de les Penyes festivities in Ontinyent, Valencia. This is extreme an‐imal cruelty. These people are of no benefit to this planet. They’re relics of a medieval mindset. Pure evil at work here. They bring shame on their coun ‐try. It needs to stop.

Deborah Hall

Housing market

Spain has more space and a diverse landscape, however, one point to high ‐light is if the 90 ‐ day rule is not ad ‐dressed, this will have a significant im ‐pact on tourism and potential home ownership with properties tied to ser ‐vice charges. Time will tell… Mark

Stars in Barcelona

After seeing that the Obamas, and Steven Spielberg and his wife were spotted in Barcelona, does Spain want these Warmongers in the country? Is Spain a bit white for the Obamas? Just saying, because of Michelle complain ‐ing. Have we forgiven Obama for forc ‐ing USA nuke ships in our harbours? Obama go home.

Michael Fisher

PETS

Dogsitter will mind your pets

A DOG-SITTER is a compan‐ion as well as a pet minder to your pets. It is good to find someone who will play with your pets, as well as look after them. Housesitmatch can help you find such a dog‐sitter and companion at very little cost.

If you’re planning a trip reg‐ister now to find pet‐sitters in time.

Whether your trip is short or long, you’ll know that sometimes you must leave pets at home.

Young and senior pets in particular benefit from staying at home, so they can follow their routines undisturbed. Join our pet and house‐sitting network, and the sitters come for free!

Choose Housesitmatch. com for affordable travel, home and pet care. These are the steps to take:

1. Register as a homeowner on HouseSitMatch. com

2. Choose a Premium ac‐count (£89 per year) to ensure you can help online when needed

3. Create a profile with pho‐tos of your pet and the house

4. Post an advert for the dates when you want to go

away. Sitters apply and you choose.

How does it work?

HouseSitMatch can help you find suitable sitters. Join our network for a small annu‐al fee. You get ID checked for safety and then build your ad‐vert saying when you are go‐ing on holiday. House‐sitters see your advert, they respond and you choose the sitter who’ll care for your pets.

Trustpilot Testimonials – 4.9

/ 5 Excellent 10 out of 10 for housesit match.com

I have had nothing but good and helpful service from the people who run this site, and my experience has been ex‐cellent. Tristram Cosgrave ‐Dog and cat owner, Malaga How do you join?

Please register online via our website www.Housesit match.com.

Need a pet or house-sitter? Get in touch. House-sitting can be a win-win for both parties, free house and petsitting, and the experienced and checked sitters get free accommodation! Register as either house-sitter or homeowner with a 20% discount using coupon code 20EWN – Reader exclusive offer. To find a house pet-sitter go to www.HousesitMatch.com

Heatstroke symptoms

DURING a heatwave

our pets can suffer from heat stroke as their bodies haven’t had time to adapt and get accustomed to the

high temperature. Keep an eye out for some of the following symp ‐toms: are they breath ‐ing heavier than usual or snoring, do they

seems anxious or worked up, are their gums bright red and shiny, does their skin feel hot to touch and are they drooling more than usual, unable to eat or ill?

If your pet shows these symptoms move them to a cool shady area and apply luke ‐warm or cool water to their hair and paws but make sure the water is not freezing as that can make them feel worse.

If the symptoms persist take them to the vet.

TRAVELLING with pets can be difficult but so many ferry companies now have pet‐friendly cabins.

At the moment, the fol‐lowing companies in Spain offer well‐equipped pet ‐ friendly cabins: Baleària, Naviera Armas, Trasmediterránea, Grandi Navi Veloci, and FRS.

These cabins are thor‐oughly cleaned to ensure maximum safety for pas‐sengers and pets and are usually equipped with linoleum floors, anti ‐odour mats, pet pillows, and drinking troughs and can usually accommodate up to two small animals.

On board some vessels there are outdoor walking areas and designated play areas. Trasmediterránea and some other ferry companies are equipped

ACCORDING to a recent study of 2,066 adults from Generation Z (adults aged between 18 and 26 years old) prioritise their pets over their partners and chil‐dren when buying a home.

This study showed that Gen Z pet owners would consider moving if their home no longer worked for their pets even if this did not suit their partners.

The study also showed that 60 per cent of Gen Z house hunters are prioritis‐ing fenced‐in outdoor space for their pets whereas be‐fore an office or a children’s playroom would have been top of the list.

Fifty‐five per cent of Gen Z pet owners said a pet ‐friendly home was more im‐

with first aid kits for pets and they also provide a 24/7 vet hotline.

Some of these ferry companies offer some useful tips on how to trav‐el with your pet. They rec‐ommend you bring famil‐iar items to help keep your pets calm on board.

It is essential to bring your own disposable bags, gloves, and cleaning prod‐ucts to clean after your

pet. You will also need to bring your own dog food and treats. Depending on the breed and behaviour of your pet they may be required to wear a muzzle on board. They also rec‐ommend checking out the EU guidelines for travel‐ling with pets to find out about what documents are needed and more in‐formation about border crossing with pets.

Pet-friendly GEN Z Pets

portant than a child‐friendly home. Gen Z adults are putting off parenthood choosing to start a family later in life but not pet par‐enthood. Thirteen per cent even admitted they would prefer to share the master

bedroom with their pet in‐stead of their partners!

Real Estate agencies have stated they have already begun to see these deci ‐sions impacting the market with pet‐friendly properties more in demand.

Ferries with pet-friendly cabins.

A dogsitter is also a companion to your pets.

BUY & SELL

PRIVATE collector will buy your Gold, Rolex & Patek Philippe Watches Tel - 678 716 693 (288662)

DRIVING SCHOOL

LEARN TO DRIVE IN MA LLORCA . Scottish Driving Instructor now qualified to teach in Mallorca. Classes in English or Spanish. Obtain your Spanish licence easier or have refresher lessons and get behind that wheel. Interested? Call 648 133 929 (293102)

FOR SALE/WANTED

WANTED Gold, Silver, Rolex & Patek Philippe Watches Tel - 678 716 693 (288662)

INSURANCE

STAY SAFE! Abbeygate Insurance Call 971 277 455 For your security www.abbeygateinsure. com

MISCELLANEOUS

GOLD & SILVER Bought & Sold, Rolex & Patek Philippe Watches Tel - 678 716 693

MOTORING

WE ARE currently the market leader in our country in the sale of direct car, motorbike, home and company fleet insurance. Since we started out in 1995, our philosophy has always been to offer an excellent service with the best prices in the market. For the most competitive quotes in English, call Linea Directa on 952 147 834. (200726)

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Male/Female viagra, cialis, kamagra jelly, mixed trial packs available, all areas mail order. 604 385 476. viagra4you19@gmail.com

OTHERS REMOVALS/STORAGE

29 If you can read it, so can your clients. Contact us and have your business grow at + 34 951 386 161

FED UP PAYING TOO MUCH FOR YOUR MOBILE PHONE CALLS? THEN CONTACT TELITEC TODAY. CALLS TO SPAIN 7C PER MINUTE INCLUDING MOBILES. CALLS TO UK 5.3C PER MINUTE. NO MONTHLY FEES, NO CONTRACT. WWW.TELITEC.COM TEL: 902 889 070 (2001)

MOTORING

MINI CLUBMAN bows out with FINAL EDITION

ROAD TEST

byMarkSlack

IN 1969, the first Mini Clubman rewrote the rule book. It was an in ‐stant hit in the 1970’s automo ‐tive mar ‐ket with its long wheel ‐base, ex ‐tended shooting‐brake body, and character istic split doors at the rear.

Reimagined by BMW in 2007, the first modern MI‐NI Clubman delivered a contemporary interpreta‐tion; rear passenger seats were accessed through a rear hinged door, and un‐fortunately for the UK on‐ly on the right hand side of the car. With the third gen‐eration in 2015, the Club ‐

in length offering more space and two full ‐ size rear doors. Today, the MI‐NI Clubman Final Edition is a globally limited run of 1,969 units ‐ paying homage to the launch year of the original car.

Powered by a Cooper S engine that delivers 178 hp the Final Edition has a sin‐gle specification with a choice of three exterior

paint colours ‐ Enigmatic Black, Nanuq White or Melting Silver. Shimmer Copper details can be found on the surrounds and upper third of the radiator grille crossbar, side scuttles and Cooper ‘S’ blade on the rear.

The 18” Final Edition two‐tone alloy wheels are finished in a tinted clear

Pothole problems

RAC patrols went to the rescue of 10,076 UK drivers who had fallen foul of potholes in the first three months of the year, a 39 per cent increase on the same period a year ago, new break ‐down data shows.

Damaged shock absorbers, broken suspension springs and distorted wheels ‐ issues most likely caused by poor road surfaces ‐ accounted for more call‐outs than in any other three‐month period since January to March 2021.

In addition, the number of pothole ‐related breakdowns more than dou ‐bled from the 4,915 seen in the fourth

quarter of 2022.

The RAC also saw a 14 per cent spike in wheel changes compared to the same period last year.

RAC roads spokesman, Simon Williams, said: “The high number of call ‐ outs our patrols have attended in the first three months of the year ‐ and the enormous increase compared to a year ago ‐ is nothing short of scan ‐dalous.

“Drivers are telling us that the UK’s local roads are in a worse state than ever and it’s hard to disagree looking at some of the craters that litter so many of our carriageways.”

lacquer to give a copper hue, while exclusive ‘Final Edition’ lettering on the rear and ‘1 of 1969’ badge on the C ‐ pillar side com ‐pletes the exterior.

The interior features door sill trims embellished with ‘Final Edition’ lettering which are also found on the lower spoke of the Nappa leather steering wheel. Leather sports seats

‐ finished exclusively in leather ‐ offer sewn‐in edi‐tion‐specific badging, seat heating and adjustable thigh support. Anthracite‐coloured Piquet fabric in ‐serts, and blue contrast

stitching further comple ‐ment the seat design. It’s a well worked mix of materi‐als and design. There’s also a Panoramic Glass Sunroof and rear privacy glass.

A dark dashboard trim is accentuated by trim strips finished in Sage Green and Shimmer Copper. On the passenger side, the trim is decorat ‐ed with a ‘1 of 1969’ badge which is also found on the floor mats. Graphic let ‐tering on the mod ‐el’s key cap com ‐pletes the design. Based on the Ex ‐clusive trim, the Club‐man Final Edition of ‐fers a high level of specification, including an 8.8” touch display with MI‐NI Navigation System, Ap‐ple CarPlay and a Digital Dashboard.

Also offered is Comfort Access, Reversing Camera, Parking Assistant including Front Park Distance Con ‐trol and Harmon Kardon Surround Sound.

The MINI Clubman Final Edition is available to or ‐der now and is priced at £37,000.

Kia comfort

THE Kia EV9 claims to of ‐fer superior cabin com ‐fort even in the most ex ‐treme conditions.

In the development process, Kia vehicles are tested in extreme heat and cold to ensure ‐among other things ‐their heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are up to the challenge.

The thermal system of the all ‐ new Kia EV9 in ‐cludes a heat pump, cli ‐mate control system, and defrost and de ‐ icing fea ‐tures.

In addition, a new, us ‐er ‐ friendly climate con ‐trol panel and improved roof vents offer cus ‐tomers maximum com ‐fort and convenience.

Engineers tested these features in wide ‐ ranging environments such as northern Sweden and southern Spain to ensure maximum performance and efficiency, even in

extreme ambient tem ‐peratures.

“The all ‐ new Kia EV9

12.1% of total market share of electric vehicles is in Europe

proves customers don’t have to make sacrifices to be sustainable,” said Richard Peiler, Group Manager HVAC & PT Cooling at Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Centre.

“With these high ‐ tech features, the EV9 sets new standards in the e ‐SUV segment, delivering all the comfort and con ‐venience of a modern SUV with none of the emissions at the tailpipe.”

KIA EV9: The vehicles are tested in extreme cold.

POOR SURFACES: Local roads are in a worse state than ever in the UK.

Image: Kia

Image: tcareob72 Shutterstock.com

Soccer Saturday icon quits Sky Sports

BROADCASTING icon Jeff Stelling has announced his inten tion to leave Sky Sports when the current football season comes to an end. The 68 year ‐ old has been at the helm of ‘Soccer Saturday’ for the best part of three decades.

When he joined in 1994 the show was originally called ‘Sports Saturday’. Speaking with Sky Sports on Saturday, April 29, he said: “I’ve been at Sky for more than 30 years and loved every moment of my time as part of the Soccer Saturday team.”

He continued: “It is now the right time to move on and give Sky Sports viewers a break from my relentless rants, bad gags and over‐ the ‐ top cel ‐ebrations of Hartlepool United goals. It’s been a lot of fun ‐ for me at least!”

This is the presenter’s second time of announcing his departure. He ini ‐tially decided to quit at the end of last season before returning for an ‐other spell fronting the popular weekly football show. No replace ‐

Goals return Manchester City to the top

ment has been named yet by Sky

“It is groundhog day, it is that time of the year, every year, where I announce I am leaving Sky Sports and Gillette Soccer Saturday. But this time it is true,” Stelling concluded.

Jeff was unhappy with a decision made by Sky back in August 2020 when his co ‐ presen ‐ters were fired. Former foot‐ballers Matt Le Tissier, Charlie Nicholas, and Phil Thompson were re ‐moved by the broadcaster as part of a revamp. He described the move as: “one of my saddest days ever at Sky Sports.”

He lost another pal at the end of last season when the ever ‐ popular Chris Kamara quit as a pundit on the show. The former football star re ‐vealed that he had been diagnosed with a speech apraxia disorder.

In a statement at the time, Chris said: “My long career at Sky Sports has never felt like work. I’ve spent 24 terrific years at Sky, and leave with the best of memories.”

MANCHESTER CITY moved back to the top of the Pre‐mier League after a victory over Fulham at Craven Cot‐tage.

Manchester City returned to the top of the English Pre‐mier League on Sunday after‐noon, April 30. Pep Guardio‐la’s men travelled down to Craven Cottage in London to face Fulham knowing that a win would take them above Arsenal.

It was Erling Haaland who inevitably opened the scor‐ing. The Norwegian jugger‐naut buried the resulting third ‐minute penalty after Tim Ream fouled Julian Al ‐varez inside the box.

As a result, the formidable striker became the first play‐er in English top‐flight foot‐ball since Aston Villa’s Tom ‘Pongo’ Waring back in 1931 to bag 50 goals in one cam‐paign.

The goal also brought Haa‐land level with Newcastle’s Andy Cole and Blackburn’s Alan Shearer for the most Premier League goals scored in one season. As it stands,

goals apiece, but, City’s man still has the rest of this campaign to go yet.

If the fans thought that this was going to be another match totally controlled by City, they were stunned after 15 minutes. Fulham surged forward and a stunning strike from Carlos Vinicius left Eder‐son for dead after being teed up by Harry Wilson.

England star Jack Grealish had an opportunity to put his team in front after 27 min‐utes but his shot was tipped onto the bar by Leno. After 36 minutes, Argentinian striker Julain Alvarez did ex‐

actly what Guardi ola bought him for as he smashed a shot home from outside the box for 1‐2.

Grealish tweeted after the game: “Great result at a tough place to go! Away sup‐port was Juliiiiii wow what a finish.”

Sunday’s win moved Manchester City a point clear of Mikel Arteta’s side and they played one game less than Arsenal. The Gunners had been perched at the top since mid‐February but un‐der the current circum ‐stances, it would seem odds‐on that City will retain their crown.

Man City beat Fulham.

Credit: bodrumsurf/Shutterstock.com

Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling.

Credit: Twitter@JeffStelling

Leeds to sack Gracia

LEEDS UNITED’S problems continued at the week‐end when they lost 4‐1 to Bournemouth. Javi Gra‐cia’s team are without a win since April 4 when they beat Nottingham Forest at home. Leeds are 17th in the Premier League, above the relegation zone on goal difference only, with four games left this season. It won’t come as a surprise that there are reports that they will sack manager Javi Gracia and they are in talks with Sam Allardyce as his re‐placement.

Gracia was appointed in February as Jesse Marsch’s successor but has won only three games out of 11. Leeds are now reportedly looking to the ex ‐ Bolton, West Ham, and Everton manager to work his survival magic for one of the toughest rel‐egation battle run ‐ ins. Leeds are due to face league leaders Manchester City on Saturday, then third‐place Newcastle followed by West Ham and then finally they will face Tottenham Hotspur at Elland Road to finish the campaign.

There are also rumours that the Leeds United Director of Football Victor Orta is also set to leave the club. Whatever they do they need to act fast as they need a reaction and the players need a boost with fans tired of the lacklustre perfor ‐mances. Will ‘Big Sam’ Allardyce be the one to re‐vive their fighting spirit?

Perez wins Azerbaijan GP

MAX VERSTAPPEN’S lead at the top of the F1 driver’s table was cut to six points after Red Bull’s Sergio Perez won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.

Red Bull driver Sergio Perez took the chequered flag in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku on Sunday afternoon, April 30. This was the Mexican’s second victory of the season and cuts the gap at the top of the driver’s table to just six points.

His teammate and current champi‐onship leader Max Verstappen had to settle for second place on the podium at the fast street circuit. The Dutch world champion was unable to catch Pérez who stretched his lead to three seconds as the race entered the final laps.

Charles Leclerc started this fourth For‐mula One race of the season in pole posi‐tion but quickly found himself being over‐taken by both Red Bulls.

The Frenchman managed to keep the Ferrari in third place despite constant pressure from Fernando Alonso in the As‐ton Martin who crossed the line just eight‐tenths behind him.

A safety car was deployed on lap 10 af‐ter Nyck de Vries shunted his Alpha Tauri into the wall at Turn 5. This allowed the rest of the field to bunch up with Perez taking advantage of the situation to pit. His decisive move saw the Mexican exit the pits ahead of the pack after the safety

car was removed.

Carlos Sainz brought the second Ferrari over the finishing line in fifth, followed by Lewis Hamilton. The Brit tried his best to pass the Spanish driver but his Mercedes simply could not find the extra power, even under DRS.

Lance Stroll clinched another impres‐sive finish in the Aston Martin to romp home in seventh position. George Rus‐sell failed to capitalise on some excellent qualifying sessions and finished in eighth.

The McLaren of Lando Norris took ninth with Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda

rounding out the Top 10.

An incident in the pit lane on the final lap involving the Alpine of Esteban Ocon could have ended badly. As he headed towards his garage for a tyre change, the Frenchman was confronted by a group of FIA officials and photographers crowded in the pit lane.

They had allegedly been mistakenly al‐lowed into the zone when it was still closed off while the race was still ongoing. An investigation was conducted by race stewards who apparently instructed the officials that this should never happen again.

SECOND VICTORY: Red Bull’s Sergio Perez after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.