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Issue 538
Win a fabulous Valentine weekend in Benidorm PAGE 24
SOUTH EDITION
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Line rental + 120 minutes FREE to the UK just 13.97 February 5-11 2010
from the RTN Network...p16
Expat calls for ID cards for Brits
New health card officer Rojales Town Hall has a new health card officer to help with all health card and social services related questions. • p8
Readers recipe
READER JIM McEleny shares his favourite recipe for French onion soup, helped along by assistant Artien. • p49
Formula 1 testing
by Louise Clarke
THIS WEEK saw the start of the F1 testing season in Valencia and the crowds turned out to see racing stars such as Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. • p70
Last year’s Medieval Market was a great success
Medieval market weekend
AS REPORTED last week The official inauguration of the Orihuela Medieval Markets takes place at 12:00 today (Friday) outside the Town Hall. The market opens at 10.00 on both the Saturday and Sunday morning and will have more than 350 stalls, 100 more than last year, as well as dozens of fun activities for children and adults alike. Organisers are expecting in excess of 200,000 visitors but have said that there will be ample parking in the vicinity of the market.
A RESIDENT expat has started a petition to get the British government to issue ID cards to British citizens abroad. Andrew Johnson is an author and international Chief Executive who now shares his observations on cultural diversity as a keynote speaker. Andrew has lived in Spain since 2004 and would like the UK government to ensure that expats living in countries that demand photo ID are the first in line for them when they are finally issued later this year. He told RTN: “After ten years running an international business in Belgium, my wife and I moved to Calpe in 2004. So, we’ve carried resident cards for over 15 years and I really believe in the benefit of instant proof of identity. After all I have nothing to hide, so why would I want to make it difficult for anyone in authority to get proof of who I am?” He added: “I recognise the logic of phasing out Residencia cards as some see dis-
crimination in the system. But every Spaniard carries an almost identical national ID card and across most of Europe and North America it is a requirement to carry photo ID at all times.” The new UK ID card system is still in its infancy and has proved controversial. The cards will also include bio data. Andrew commented: “At last the UK is catching up with the world and I think we can expect bio data to be a standard adopted by most regimes in the coming years. Britain is just getting ahead of the game.” He continued: “As my residencia expires next year, I want a recognisable replacement. The laminated miniature copy of a UK passport has no legal value at all. Shops may accept it when presenting a credit card, but not all do; and certainly officials are instructed not to recognise them. The roll out of UK ID cards is starting, so let’s get the expats served in the early stages, instead of leaving us to play catch up as we usually have to.” Continued on page 9