Olive Press Gibraltar Issue 193

International Women’s Day

...HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED!

P LIVE RESS The O GIBRALTAR

BITCON

A KIDNAPPING of two expats foiled by Spanish police last year is linked to an enormous crypto currency scandal set to rock the country, the Olive Press can reveal.

The incredible drama which saw the couple held for several hours took place after hundreds of investors feared they had lost as much as €70 million in the ‘crypto scam’.

The snatching of Russian Pavel Sidirov and his wife in June was initially treated by police as routine extortion, as we reported at the time.

The couple had been kidnapped outside their villa in El Campello, Alicante, by two bogus cops flashing fake Guardia Civil badges and a Russian woman acting as an interpreter. They were bundled into a car, stripped and the wife was tied up and used as a hostage.

The gang then threatened both their lives if they did not hand over the codes to a crypto wallet containing millions.

Tech guru Sidirov cleverly bought time by telling the gang that the codes were distributed in 12 separate houses that they would have to go to

EXCLUSIVE: Kidnap, crypto and the Russians: The multimillion-euro scandal that may have defrauded hundreds in Spain and Gibraltar

By Walter Finch

individually to fetch.

And in one of them - with his wife still bound and gagged in the boot of the car - Sidirov was able to call his lawyer for help.

The lawyer alerted the police, who were quickly on the scene to catch the kidnappers.

Police arrested six people, including a retired Guardia Civil officer, while the alleged ringleader, Carlos Garrido (pictured), handed himself in in the ensuing days to deny he was a criminal.

Scheme

Insisting he wasn’t a criminal, he claimed the scheme was a minor matter and he was merely representing a group of investors trying to recover €2 million ‘owed to them’ by Sidirov. While it seemed to be the end of the matter, the Olive Press can reveal today that the kidnapping is just a small part of a much bigger scandal that is set to engulf the already beleaguered crypto industry.

The kidnapping is linked to a Gibraltar-linked crypto firm that has become immersed in a murky world of trading

failures.

According to well placed sources, hundreds of frantic investors are now scrambling to recover their funds from the trading platform Globix, which at its peak had almost €150 million under management.

Over the last few months it has gradually become clear to investors, based in Gibraltar and Spain, that Globix has allegedly lost as much as two thirds of this enormous sum.

And in a bizarre twist, the Olive Press can reveal that the remaining €40 million is apparently in the hands of a shady IT firm based in Ukraine. It happened after Sidirov activated a mechanism during his kidnap that sent the codes to Globix’s partners in Kyiv. An independent investigation by a well known Gibraltar financial company told investors they had been struggling to get any money back from Ukraine. It added the CEO of the Kyiv-based firm had ‘not been forthcoming’ in his efforts to return the money and was ‘now under arrest’.

A statement issued to investors in January, seen by the Olive Press, reads: “The police have been contacted, as has the Ministry (of Finance) and collectively we are hopeful that they will ensure the process is completed satisfactorily.” It added: “We have the Ukrainian special police involved and they have arrested three individuals. They are looking for a fourth individual. These people hold the data that is needed to facilitate the final transfer.”

While this has been hard to independently verify, Globix’ website has not been functioning since November, when a statement was put up reading: ‘We will not be taking on any more accounts’.

When contacted by the Olive Press for comment, the alleged boss of Globix dismissed all the allegations against him and his

WOMEN had a packed discussion at the Garrison Library on how to increase their role in society.

The talk, led by Minister for Equality Samantha Sacramento, was to set the scene for today’s International Women’s Day.

The focus of the discussion was, ‘Where are the women of Gibraltar?’, talking about the historical facts that influence women’s participation in everyday life.

Sacramento is currently the only woman in Gibraltar’s government.

The fireside chat started with presentations to the audience before speeches from leading women.

Dr Jennifer Ballantine Perera, Director of the Gibraltar Garrison Library, talked about the cultural norms that keep women from advancing in society.

Ministry of Equality Policy Development Officer Marlene Dalli then spoke about how women were under-represented and its impact on the social order.

After the speeches, the women moved on to an open discussion on the topics at hand.

“This has been a wonderfully inclusive gathering and such a good way to kick start future International Women’s Day events this month,” Ballantine Perera said.

“The aim is to bring about change through a greater understanding of how we as a society feel about these important questions.”

Sacramento said she was impressed by the ‘huge appetite for these discussions’ as the event was over-subscribed.

She revealed that she had planned to launch a series of these fireside chats before COVID-19 hit so she was enthusiastic to pick up on the idea.

“This is the first of a series of fireside chats which will serve to keep the conversation going but, more importantly, will inform the ongoing work we undertake at the Ministry of Equality.”

‘Embrace Equity’ is the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day.

DISPARITIES in pay between men and women in Andalucia vary by over 15% depending on province.

While the gap is just 12.5% in Almeria, it rises to as much as 28.3% in Huelva.

And while the difference in salary in Malaga (19.8%) is close to the national average of 20.05% it means men make €20,003 per year, while women get €15,992.

The most alarming statistic however, is that across Spain the pay gap appears to be widening, with the Gestha union claiming it grew by €120 between 2020 and 2021.

From Franco’s 50’s pamphlet on how to be a ‘good wife’ to femaleonly bookshops and a trio of woman at the top Spanish firms...

Cave success

MINISTER for Heritage John Cortes said he was ‘very happy with the progress’ of the Gorham’s Cave World Heritage Site at a local UNESCO advisory forum.

Civil stars

THE Gibraltar government rewarded public servants for their work and dedication in a ceremony designed to increase morale and honour excellence.

Women cops

LOCAL women police officers met Gibraltar’s Minister for Justice before they left for a Women in Policing Conference in the UK.

Nursery time

GIBRALTAR’S department of education invited parents and carers to apply for their children to enrol at nursery and reception places in the 2023/24 academic year.

A CUSTOMS drugs dog sniffed out two kilos of hash in the back of a car coming across the frontier into Gibraltar.

Customs officers challenged the La Linea man in the vehicle lane of the frontier, and when they smelled the hash, brought out the drugs dog.

HASH HOUND CARRIER

The canine then did the rest, quickly locating the cannabis resin in the luggage compartment of the vehicle. Customs officers then arrested the man.

A court sentenced J.R.V., 45, to three months in prison for possession and possession with intent to supply the hash, which had a street value of around £10,000.

Brothel creeper

Corruption scandal blows up for Socialist party over a hookers and kickbacks scheme

A LEADING politician went to a brothel on the day his party issued a firm condemnation of prostitution in Parliament.

PSOE deputy Juan Fuentes - or ‘Tito Berni’ as he is often known - visited Club Sombras, in Madrid, after a night out with clients, spending €150 on gin & tonics alone.

The Canary Islands politician has now become the focus of a kickbacks-for-favours scandal

that has already cost him his role as a politician in the Congress of Deputies.

The so-called ‘Mediator’ case is now probing the scandal in which he and other figuresincluding a Guardia Civil boss - are accused of running a network taking bribes for political favours.

The group is accused of spending money on sex parties involving drugs, alcohol and pros-

A FORMER Interior Minister is facing 15 years in prison for sanctioning a police spying operation on a PP party treasurer.

Jorge Fernandez Diaz, 72, faces the charges under Operation Kitchen set up to probe his involvement into the complex espionage case that has rocked Spain’s PP party.

The former minister in Mariano Rajoy’s cabinet between 2011 to 2016 is accused of setting up an irregular police network to spy on Luis Barcenas, while he was being held in prison.

titutes, in return for favourable rulings or lucrative contracts. So far 12 people are being investigated, including at least seven businessmen.

The case came to light when a series of arrests were carried out in the Canary Islands and mainland Spain, including Fuentes (right). The network is alleged to have handed businesses public contracts in exchange for kick-

Theheat is on

Barcenas, who himself got 33 years prison in the Gurtel kickbacks-for-contracts scandal, had been hiding numerous documents that linked many former colleagues. The aim of Diaz’s operation was to seize and destroy this compromising material. He is facing charges of misuse of €60,000 of public funds, concealment of a crime and privacy offences.

Behind bars

MAGISTRATES imprisoned a Gibraltar man for eight weeks after he drunkenly attacked his partner.

Ian McIntosh, 45, of Alameda Estate, pleaded guilty to Common Assault and Disorderly Conduct. The attack occurred on February 5, when McIntosh had been drinking heavily at his partner’s flat.

At around 5.30pm he started to scream at her but when she shouted back, ‘he struck her on the side of the neck,’ the court heard.

Brutal attack

backs, as well as bribing firms in the farming sector in exchange for positive inspections. It also ensured that those involved would receive payments from European

Union funding.

Compromising photos of Fuentes with hookers have been published in the press, causing an outrage in the run up to International Women’s Day.

Fuentes trip to Club Sombras came as his boss, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez condemned prostitution to coincide with International Day Against Sexual Exploitation and the Trafficking of Women and Children in September 2020.

Police also launched a campaign that day targeting men who pay for sex.

A Tenerife court is now tasked to probe the scandal.

THE Supreme Court has locked up a man who hit a woman so hard with a takeaway container he knocked out her front teeth for two years.

Anthony Gilbert, 47, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment after he locked her up in a home and took away her mobile phone to stop her calling for help.

The domestic abuse unfolded at around 10pm on April 29 last year, the court heard. Gilbert first smashed out the woman’s front teeth with the takeaway container.

Gilbert let her out but not before following her to the bus stop and stealing her phone.

BROADWAY PICASSO

STAR of innumerable Hollywood movies Antonio Banderas has revealed that he is starting negotiations with several Broadway companies about staging a musical in English about Pablo Picasso.

If the negotiations materialise, Banderas aims for the world premiere to be held at the Soho Theatre in Malaga, the city where Picasso was born 141 years ago.

The 62-year-old, Oscar-nominated actor is busier than ever, having recently completed 240 performances of the hit musical company, in which he starred and directed.

THE PRICE OF SILENCE

Husband of King’s sister wants

€25,000 a month maintenance in divorce settlement

THE former Duke of Palma - and jailbird - Inaki Urdangarin is reportedly asking for €25,000 a month from his soon to be ex-wife, the Infanta Cristina.

The two split by ‘mutual agreement’ just days after photos were published of him with another woman.

Although they announced they were to be divorced in January 2022, negotiations over a final settlement have dragged on.

Now Lecturas magazine has claimed that the settlement for the divorce - which is expected to come through in April - will include the monthly €25,000, with a

By Dilip Kuner

clause stipulating neither he nor his extended family talk about the marriage.

Infanta Cristina (57) and Urdangarin (55) have been married since 1997 and have four children. At present, Cristina is said to pay all the family expenses as well as €6,000 a month to Urdangarin. The final blow to their marriage was when a magazine published pics of Urdangarin with female co-worker Ainhoa Armentia (44) during a stroll in the south of France, close to where he and his wife have a holiday home.

HAPPIER TIMES: The couple at their wedding

Urdangarin later admitted that 'these are things that happen'.

The then Duke of Palma, was jailed for five years and 10 months for corruption in 2018. However, in June 2020, he was allowed out due to good behaviour and converted his

Christian concert

PAUL Jones, lead singer of The Manfreds (formerly Manfred Mann) is heading to Spain - and you can see him free.

Together with his wife, former actress Fiona Hendley-Jones, who starred in ITV’s Widows, they will appear at the Centro Alfa & Omega in Denia on April 29 at 7pm. Fiona gave up acting to tour as a Christian speaker and together with Paul will sing and also give their Christian testimony.

She and Jones both became Christians after being invited by Cliff Richard to a large-scale evangelistic event led by Luis Palau in the early 1980s.

sentence to community work. The former Olympic handball player used his royal connections to win public contracts related to sports. He then overcharged for events before hiding the money

abroad.

He was convicted of using his Mallorca-based foundation to siphon off €6 million between 2004 and 2006.

Cristina was acquitted of aiding her husband at a trial in 2017 and ordered to pay a €265,000 fine as she benefited from her husband's racket. King Felipe stripped them of their titles of the Duke and Duchess of Palma after the scandal broke.

Allegations

The couple moved to Geneva with their four children after the first allegations surfaced in 2012.

Unlike her brother, King Felipe, she has not renounced her father’s inheritance, so when the former King Juan Carlos dies, she stands to inherit a fortune.

ONE ‘revenge song’ by Shakira just wasn’t enough. The Colombian superstar has just released a second aimed squarely at her ex, former Catalan footballer Gerard Pique.

She has teamed up with fellow Colombian Karol G to record TQG with the song also taking a potshot at Karol’s ex rapper Anuel AA.

The song’s title stands for ‘Te Quede Grande’, a phrase also used in Session 53, the first diss song, which was recorded with Argentine producer Bizarrap, and can be roughly translated as ‘I was too big for you’.

It turned into a world-wide smash racking up more than 350 million views on YouTube and became the moststreamed Latin song on Spotify.

FOUR Iberian lynxes have been released into the wild in the Sierra Arana region of Granada as part of a breeding program aimed at conserving the endangered species. The four wild cats, Trev elez and Tenebrio, two male Iberian lynxes and Tai and Tali, two females are now settling into their new territory.

After 40 years of ab sence of the Iberian lynx in the area, this is the second release in the Sierra Arana region in two months.

LEADERS of Gibraltar along with government staff held a one minute’s silence to mark the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Garcia and Governor of Gibraltar David Steel bowed their heads to mark the tens of thousands of war casualties.

The Gibraltar Governor marked the occasion with a tweet of a photo taken from his Convent terrace.

Crypto con

company as ‘lies’.

The Gibraltarian, who lists himself on LinkedIn as a ‘crypto mining broker’, said: “I’m not allowed to speak about that at the moment. Sorry.”

He added: “Basically someone is shit stirring and if you have any evidence send it to me. On top of that it’s still ‘secreto sumario’ at Alicante court so you should talk to the court.”

According to his CV he attended the Tambov University, in Russia, before setting up ‘a crypto mining farm in Russia in conjunction with a Russian team’.

EMERGENCY services locked down Rosia Bay, called in explosives experts and dispatched a patrol boat to a bomb scare.

A passer-by had spotted a ‘suspicious box with wires’ floating in the water

Bomb scare

and reported a possible bomb to the RGP.

“Police officers immediately deployed to Rosia Bay and asked for a few fishermen to leave the jetty before closing off the area to the public,” the RGP said.

“HM Customs boat Seeker was also dispatched to the area to prevent any vessels from entering the Bay.”

At the same time, officers in the Control Room alerted the Royal Gibraltar Regiment’s Bomb Disposal Team, the Ambulance Service, Gibraltar Fire and Rescue and the Royal Navy.

BOMB?: Divers sent in

Navy divers then entered the western bay and brought the object onto dry land. It turned out to be an old boiler.

Ukraine silence Housing the poor

A HOUSING group in Gibraltar has pressed for more government rented homes after showing a minister the ‘appalling conditions’ some residents have to live in.

Action for Housing showed

Minister for Housing Steven Linares around five private flats and one government apartment

Minister shown deplorable home conditions many forced to live in

so he could see for himself the plight of poor residents.

The group has long campaigned for more rented accommodation for the poorest in society, especially among

Cheap as chips

RENFE has announced its low-cost high-speed train to Andalucia from June.

Avlo trains will link Madrid with Cordoba, Sevilla and Malaga and will have stops at Ciudad Real, Puertollano, Puente Genil and Antequera.

Initially, there will be four Avlo trains: two between Madrid and Sevilla and two between Madrid and Malaga.

local residents from the Moroccan community.

Linares was accompanied on the visit by Gibraltar’s Principal Housing Officer.

They saw for themselves the cramped homes ridden with humidity and poor hygiene.

“What they observed was only a snapshot of a much wider reality and a situation which should not exist in a financially prosperous place like Gibraltar,” Action for Housing said. It added that the government should ‘provide more homes for rental’ for people in precarious situations.

“Without these extra numbers

E X P L O R I N G

by Pancho Campo

of flats, some of the people we visited, as well as others in the same predicament, will pass away (as has happened in the past) without having been able to enjoy a decent home in their twilight years.”

Appetite for gender equality

GIBRALTAR’S Minister for Equality spoke of the ‘appetite’ for gender equality at the British Forces own International Women’s Day forum.

Commander British Forces Gibraltar Tom Guy held the forum at the Officers’ Mess on the British Territory.

Minister for Equality Samantha Sacramento was accompanied by women from the civilian and military worlds at the podium. She spoke about ‘challenging the negative stereotypes and the unconscious bias’ against women.

“This event has focused specifically on raising the profile and visibility of leading women in their respective fields,” Sacramento added.

Vandals

GRAFFITI on Andalucian trains last year cost a total of €413,000. In addition to the cost, there were delays caused by the removal of the trains for their restoration.

Special Guests:

Keith Bensusan Gibraltar Botanic Garden

Carlos Moro Matarromera Family Wineries

Hon John Cortes Minister for the Environment

Dr Awantha Dissanayake University of Gibraltar

Get insured

RESIDENTS are being reminded that they need to take out private medical insurance cover – even for emergencies – when they visit Spain.

This is the situation since December 31, 2020 so even life-saving surgery would need to be paid for by those needing treatment.

It is one of the many consequences of Brexit, which has removed an important safety net for Gibraltar’s population.

Before that date there had been reciprocal healthcare arrangements with the EU.

The Gibraltar Health Authority (GHA) said that it was answering recent questions on the topic.

“Residents of Gibraltar should ensure that they have appropriate travel insurance with medical cover each time they go to Spain.”

This is the case even if local people go over just for a shopping trip or a meal, the GHA added.

BRITISH NAZI EXTREMIST PLEADS GUILTY

A RACIST British extremist who lived between Alicante and Marbella has admitted he shared a stash of terrorist documents on social media. Kristofer Kearney, 38, confirmed to the Old Bailey that he had shared the files that encouraged far-right terror attacks.

Known as ‘Charlie Big Potatoes’, the Liverpool man was extradited

from Spain in September.

As well as sharing the manifestos of nazi killers Anders Breivik and Brenton Tarrant, who killed 128 people between them, he ran a social media site called ‘ Fascist Fitness ’ out of Spain.

The Olive Press monitored him for a year, as he travelled between a villa in Albir, in Alicante, and Marbella.

Green overhaul

A PLAN to improve cycling and walking paths around Europort have been given the green light from Gibraltar’s planning commission.

CUSTOMS in Gibraltar have charged a man for allegedly laundering over £22 million from undeclared tobacco sales between 2015 and 2019.

Authorities arrested Rajesh Shivkishore Shukla, 62, of Montagu Gardens, the sole director of Riverwall Ltd in August 2020. Prosecutors have now charged him with six offences under the Tobacco Act 1997.

The charges followed a long investigation that included

PEOPLE are being warned that if they are heading from Gibraltar to catch an international flight from a Spanish airport, then they should get their passports stamped. The Borders and Coastguard Agency was responding to reports that Policia Nacional officers were stamping residents’ passports at the frontier.

The government said it understands that ‘Gibraltar red ID card holders should not be stamped’.

Passports, however, do require a stamp if

BIG BUCKS

Man charged over £22 million money laundering case

By John Culatto

searches of his shop and home where authorities seized large amounts of cash.

“The investigation revealed

Stamping out

residents ‘are travelling for onward travel outside Spain’.

The Government said travellers should expressly ask for the stamp at the Gibraltar frontier with Spain if they are catching a flight from Malaga airport, for example.

“It is their responsibility to get a stamp,” the government insisted.

a large turnover of sales of tobacco which were largely inconsistent with the declarations made to the Income Tax Office,” Gibraltar’s Customs said.

“Therefore, the cash seized is alleged to form part of the proceeds from criminal activity.” Another charge relates to £61,816 of undeclared cash found in his possession. He is alleged to have evaded tax on £1,187,075 and sold more than the legal limit of 200 cigarettes at one time to the same person.

Prosecutors charged Rohit Shukla, 32, of Montagu Gardens with ‘possession of approximately £17,219 of unde-

clared income in different currencies’, the statement said. The case has been adjourned until March 17.

The project – part of the Gibraltar Active Travel Strategy – will make Europort Avenue, Europort Road and Euro City Passage a one-way traffic system.

It includes landscaped gardens and a two-way bicycle lane.

At the same time, it will create pick-up and dropoff zones for the new schools in the area.

It is based on the UK’s Living Streets project that aims to plant trees for shade in a pleasing landscape that helps people walk or cycle to school safely.

Voted top expat paper in Spain OPINION

Respecting women

AS we mark International Women’s Day it is important to remember that gender discrimination is still rife in our community.

Whether it is the women who are beaten up by their partners or paid less than men to do more in the workplace, society has to wake up and smell the coffee.

We are lucky enough in Gibraltar that thanks to Minister for Equality Samantha Sacramento’s leadership, we finally have fit-for-purpose domestic abuse laws.

Police have arrested more cowardly male attackers in recent months than ever before.

It must be a relief for women on the Rock that male violence is no longer considered a hushed family issue that must be covered up to protect the good name of the patriarch.

But there are more subtle issues for Gibraltar to unravel.

That is why the International Women’s Day (IWD) global organising committee has this event labelled as #EmbraceEquity.

On its website, it encourages women to embrace themselves as a symbol of this will ‘to forge harmony and unity’.

But what else can we do at a personal level to accept and embrace women on the Rock?

A few things come to mind.

Stop expecting women to behave in a certain way is probably the most obvious.

The gender binary is strong in Gibraltar and women are told to smile, wear makeup and be picturesque for men. But they should only really do that if it makes them feel good in a social unit – not because of external pressure.

Men can also play their own part by not sexually objectifying women.

That means not wolf-whistling at women on the street or silencing their opinions in person.

Women have a growing role to play in society and empathy is the first step towards equity.

Only men can take that step themselves, by not accepting this behaviour from their friends and allowing women to speak up.

PUBLISHER / EDITOR

Jon Clarke, jon@theolivepress.es

Dilip Kuner dilip@theolivepress.es

Anthony Piovesan anthony@theolivepress.es

Jo Chipchase jo@theolivepress.es

John Culatto

WE NEED GUARDIAN ANGELS!

The Olive Press takes a trip into Spain’s Suicide Triangle as Alcala la Real, in Jaen, launches a new approach to the problem

THE attractive mountain town of Alcala la Real is topped by a Crusader castle and cascades down a steep hillside, connecting the Guadalquivir Valley with the Granada plains.

Known for its world music festival, Etnosur, the Jaen province market town has a healthy expat population and a rich historical past that stretches back to Roman times. But sadly, today, it also has a darker claim to fame: it is the suicide capital of Spain, and part of the notorious ‘suicide triangle’, formed with Priego de Cordoba and Iznajar, both in neighbouring Cordoba.

With just over 20,000 residents, Alcala has an alarmingly-high suicide rate of 21 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to the national average of 8.45 and the world average of nine.

Only Lugo and Zamora in Spain’s depopulated north (and barren Alentejo, across the border in Portugal) come close.

Spain, in general, is considered a high-risk country for suicides, with an alarming 11 people a day taking their lives, while over 50% of provinces have above average suicide rates.

In Alcala, this is felt acutely: the town has dealt with 300 suicides in the last three decades –the last one being an 18-year-old boy, who was found dead on Christmas Eve.

Statistics show that 75% of actual suicides involve men and 25% women. However, with attempted suicides, 60-70% involve women and the main age brackets are 15 to 34-year-olds and those over 65.

So, what is causing such suicidal tendencies in Alcala, a town that - on the surface - seems to have a lot in its favour?

By Jo Chipchase

tumn (29%) as it gets colder and the nights draw in.

Recent problems, including the long six-year recession and the pressures of the Covid pandemic, which strained people’s finances and mental health, have affected Andalucia’s suicide triangle.

Another key factor is the loneliness felt by single or widowed people, professional stress in a year when more Spanish companies folded than ever before (2022), causing unemployment. Youth depression is also a significant problem in Spain.

volved and be guardian angels of those you see with a lost look or lowered head. We will only get out of the stigma by taking care of each other…. And breaking the pattern.”

They are strong words, but will it work?

Although the will to stop suicide exists, there are still plenty of problems. Statistics show that only 20% of suicidal people approach primary care services in the days before their attempt, using such services such as Spain’s 061 number.

Simon Hunter simon@theolivepress.es

Alex Trelinski alex@theolivepress.es

Cristina Hodgson cristina@theolivepress.es

Research suggests that living in remote, mountain areas can fuel suicide rates – partly because of the topography.

Historically, many people feel isolated and trapped in Alcala, and have had difficulty socialising.

This is a common factor in Jaen, Granada and Cordoba, as well as parts of inland Malaga and particularly isolated inland regions of Valencia and Castellon.

A recent 2022 survey in Catalunya on the emotional state of adolescents, with 270,000 students aged 12-18, found that 43.4% had experienced suicidal thoughts, while over 40% had ‘hoped not to wake up in the morning’, and 26.8% had self-harmed.

The data is higher than in previous studies, which is alarming.

So what is being done?

ADMIN Sandra Aviles Diaz (+34) 951 273 575 admin@ theolivepress.es

This is where intervention and professional emotional support can save lives, by pointing out alternative courses of action.

But many people don’t reach out and resources aren’t always sufficiently provisioned. The facts are that Andalucia’s mental health services are overstretched - with long waiting lists – and the pandemic made this worse. Treating depression can be handled slowly and badly.

The Olive Press spoke to one expat grandmother, whose adult daughter had a ‘suicidal episode’, as she calls it, last year.

There also appears to be a domino effect, with people influenced by their peer group. And as suicide is a stigmatised topic, people don’t always seek help.

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A spokesperson from farmacia Fernando Castenada who has studied the issue, told the Olive Press: “ Historically, this has been a traditional area planted with olive groves. The scenery is not very diverse, people frequently marry within their own families, many hardly ever leave the area, and it has very hot summers. The suicide tendency could also be passed down genetically.”

Weather is certainly found to influence suicides, with the colder, darker weather having a bad influence.

A 2021 study in Cordoba showed that women's suicides coincide more with higher wind speeds (a problem that has afflicted Tarifa, one of the windiest places in Europe) and occur more frequently in Spring (46%), while men’s attempts are higher in au-

Aware that the town must tackle its suicide problem head-on, Alcala has now joined the European Alliance Against Depression (EAAD). Funded by the European Commission and launched in Germany in 2004, it links family doctors, mental health specialists, pharmacists, social workers, police, and community volunteers, so they can identify potential suicidal tendencies.

Andalucia’s Minister of Health, Catalina García, signed up Alcala in October, insisting that ‘mental health awareness should be a government objective’, including care for vulnerable adolescents.

To aid this new approach, Alcala’s mayor, Antonio Marino, has teamed up with Benedicto Crespo, an eminent professor of psychiatry at the University of Sevilla.

The director of the Virgen del Rocio Hospital explained that if specialists could ‘detect depression in time, they would be able to prevent suicide’.

A summer course on mental health in childhood and adolescence is now being developed and a local poster cam-

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paign is soon to be launched. Nearby, in Priego, a ‘Suicide Prevention Committee’ has been set up.

“We are thankful for this project as we know it’s a taboo subject that we must overcome and face with determination,” explained the mayor last year.

“The whole of society must get in-

“The help is practically non-existent,” explained the British expat, based in Granada. “My daughter put her head through a rope and stood on a chair. This tipped over and she blanked out and broke her jaw, bit her tongue, and was covered in blood.”

She continued: “We managed to get there just in time and rushed her to ‘Urgencias’, where she was referred to the public psychiatrist, who was a waste of time.

“They either have pills and sedation, or you must volunteer to be a mental inpatient.

“After several weeks, an ambulance finally took my daughter to a mental health ward, which was tiny and non-segregated.

“While there, she formed a relationship with a male inmate, who later turned up uninvited at my home. People are assessed, prescribed, and released with no proper backup. No-one is then keeping an eye out for them.”

There’s also a tendency for busy doctors to simply prescribe antidepressants instead of therapy.

Perhaps what is needed is a national approach, with more mental health provision and intervention, like the one that Alcala is pioneering.

Spain is currently working on its proposed Mental Health Law, that aims to increase the current six psychologists and eight psychiatrists per 100,000 inhabitants to 18 of each as well as 23 specialist nurses. This is grinding through the legislative process. It would be a success story well worth trumpeting around Spain. We will wait and see.

FIGHT BACK: The battle has begun against suicide in Alcala

International Women’s Day

HEALTHY WAGE

THERE are 250% more news stories about men than women, according to a new study.

The report by Spanish firm, Llorente & Cuenca, also reveals that women feature 21% less in the headlines.

Under represented OUR BRILLIANCE IS IN OUR DIVERSITY

Moreover, when women do appear in articles there is often an explicit mention of their gender and family and their sex is more prominent than their identity.

“An example would be; ‘A woman could be the new president of the US’ rather than ‘Kamala Harris is a strong candidate for presidency’,” a spokesman explained, adding that there is a bias, which makes women invisible and anonymous.

Grim stats

THE average woman in Spain earns 20% less than men and half of them have suffered abuse at work.

What’s more, The burden of care and unpaid work falls mainly on women while companies close the doors to management positions.

According to the Spanish National Institute of Statistics, the average salary for men in Spain is €26,369 whereas for women it is €21,682. Moreover, 93,6% of people who work part-time to take care of children and the elderly are women.

And the Ministry of Equality states that 57.3% of women have suffered gender violence and 13.2% have suffered sexual violence.

AWOMAN’S place is in the home. And the boardroom. In fact, it is anywhere she damn pleases, particularly in this day and age in Spain. But as another old adage goes, a woman’s work is never done. And there is no doubt, we often have to fight twice as hard to get the pay we deserve and speak twice as loud to have our voices heard in the workplace.

You’d be hard pressed to find a woman, even in 2023, who hasn’t been called ‘darling’, ‘sweetheart’ or ‘gorgeous’ in the office, and even boardroom.

And sadly, that’s getting off lightly. Complaining about these kinds of ‘compliments’ often isn’t worth your breath, since it’ll most likely be brushed off by colleagues as a ‘bit of banter.’

A working woman now knows she has to pick her battles, and unfortunately a daily scuffle with balding dinosaurs over terms of endearment - or endowment - has to be sidelined for more pressing matters such as pay, fair treatment and basic respect.

AN UNFAIR PORTRAYAL

WOMEN don’t take their kids to school in heels carrying a box of washing powder.

A recent study has found that 94% of women don’t identify with portrayals of themselves in advertising campaigns.

The questionnaire of 2000 women who were shown 20,000 adverts from 17 sectors, found they totally disagreed with the way they are used in adverts. Indeed, according to the study by Havas Media, while women make up 88% of consumer decisions, an alarming 6% feel properly represented.

Meanwhile 40% of ads are ‘sexist’ according to the Association of Users’ Communication (AUC).

Sometimes it’s a case of ‘sneaky sexism’ - a woman pouring detergent into the machine for example - while at other times it's overt. In the UK an NHS stay at home Covid ad (right) caused so much outrage, it had to be removed. It portrayed a woman at home with the kids, mopping, while ironing with a baby in her arms. Meanwhile, her husband sat on the sofa.

Please reward women equally, insists Madrid-based expat journalist Fiona Govan

It is both exhausting and astonishing that in 2023 women still have to fight for the bare minimum. Take equal pay. It is fairly straightforward in principle: creating equality of opportunity for all, irrespective of gender, race, religion or sexual orientation. But somehow some of the biggest brains in business still struggle to grasp the concept. As we face another economic downturn in the wake of coronavirus and as the Ukraine war starts to ramp up again it is clearer than ever that our old systems are failing us at every turn.

It is time to challenge the status quo and do away with outdated modes of working - and women need to be helping to usher in the new dawn. Women are just as productive and determined as their male counterparts, and businesses need to recognise this. And not just because of quotas but to build better businesses and a better future for everyone.

EQUALITY: But not in UK homes according to NHS

Speaking of the future, one that continues to pay women less than men or discriminates against anyone is a discredit to us all.

Businesses should of course be making gender equality and equal pay a key foundation of success. It is the right thing to do.

Indeed it is a shame that in 2021 the Spanish Government felt they had no choice but to intervene to ensure that women in the country are given the same pay as men. Now businesses have to share what they are doing, because they can’t be trusted to do the right thing.

Just look at women in healthcare. Research last year found that Spain was one of the best places to be a female health professional in Europe, ranking eighth, while its doctors and nurses are ranked among the top three in Europe.

A cause for celebration? Hardly. Female doctors and nurses here are earning an average of €10,000 less

than their male counterparts (see Healthy wage, above right).

And for those who brand the fight for equal pay as propaganda coming from ‘male-hating feminists’, remember we’re sticking it to the man, not men. Our brilliance is in our diversity. Recognise it. Celebrate it. Reward it. And reward it equally. That’s just good business sense.

FOR women looking to embark on a demanding career in the health sector, making sure they earn a fair amount for their hard work could be a driving factor in deciding where to relocate.

Spain has been named one of the top countries for women in health care, according to new data by Lenstore. The country, at ninth position, was found to offer some of the best opportunities in Europe.

This is down to a number of factors including average working hours, yearly salary, holiday allowance and the number of women in the industry. But upon closer inspection of the Lenstore study, Spain and the rest of Europe have a long way to go until equality is achieved.

In Spain the average female pay for health professionals stands at €29,800 lower than the €39,616 average annual salary for men.

Meanwhile in France, which was ranked as the best country in Europe to be a female healthcare professional, women still make an average of €7,000 a year less than their male counterparts. The UK came in sixth place overall, with average female pay at £30,059, lower than the £43,953 average annual salary for men.

Inpower

SPAIN has far more female parliamentary representation than the average in European countries.

The 252 women sitting in Spain’s upper and lower houses represent 42.4% of seats, compared to a European average of 31.1% and a global share of 26.6%.

The figures, collated by analysts IPU Parline, reveal that in Europe the most represented countries for women are Iceland (47.6%), Andorra, Sweden (both 46.4%) Norway (46.2%), Finland (45.5%), Denmark (43.6%) Belgium (42.7%) and North Macedonia (42.5%).

This puts Spain at ninth in Europe and 22nd in the world.

The country with the most female parliamentarians by share is Rwanda (61.3%) followed by Cuba (53.4%) and Nicaragua (51.7%).

The UK is 48th world-wide with 34.5% of its parliamentarians being women.

International Women’s Day

Painful period law

SPAIN has become one of the most forward-thinking countries in Europe after granting women who suffer from especially painful periods (dysmenorrhoea) up to three days paid leave per month.

The legislation on ‘menstrual leave’ - which can be extended to five in severe cases - is the first of its kind in Europe and takes into account the financial pressure that period poverty imposes on women.

While debate about period poverty typically relates to hygiene products, women who struggle with dysmenorrhoea are also disadvantaged by being unable to take sick leave and instead resort to unpaid leave or using up holiday.

WELCOME

Ana Botin, CEO, Banco Santander

THE fourth generation of the Botin family in the CEO role, Ana Botin (Santander, 1960) came well-prepared, first studying economics and working at JP Morgan in New York. After taking over from her father, she helped the bank evolve into one of the world’s leading financial institutions. She served as the first female president of the European Banking Federation, and outside her nine-to-five job, she’s involved with her foundation (Fundacion CyD) which encourages university graduates to apply their know-how to social and economic development in Spain.

Belen Frau Global communications manager, IKEA

STARTING on the shop floor of a local branch of IKEA in the Basque country in 2004, armed only with an allen key, she worked her way up. And how! Frau (Bilbao, 1974) became the first female CEO of Ikea in Spain in 2011, and four years later got responsibility for the company in seven countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the UK, Switzerland – and even Sweden! Now she has global control of ‘the message’ –and has even found time to have three children.

WOMEN ON TOP

They get everywhere, powerful women. Here in Spain, they’re in politics doing important things like running the country’s economy and defence – and even Madrid city. They occupy leading roles in every field from science and academia to the arts and publishing, from the National Cancer Research Centre to El Pais

PROVING Spanish women have the grit and tenacity to get to the top, whatever the obstacles, there’s Basque climber Edurne Pasaban, the first female mountaineer in the world to climb all 8000m peaks (13 of the 14 without oxygen). To celebrate Women’s Day, here’s a shout-out for five of the most powerful and influential businesswomen in the land. Some have had an easier ascent than others.

LAW A STORY OF

SPAIN’s recent anti-discrimination legislation has been welcomed by independent UN experts.

The provision of equal parenthood rights for lesbian mothers, a ban on genital mutilation for intersex children, and measures to end ‘conversion therapy’ perpetrated against LGTBI people are some of the features of the new law.

It also ensures access to assisted reproduction techniques for all women and has made Spain the first country in Europe to introduce menstrual leave (see above).

“The history of feminism is a story of persistence in the face of social injustice,” the experts - who are unpaid commentators to the United Nations - said.

Spain became a pioneer in women’s rights following

death of its machismo dictator, writes Jo Chipchase

WHILE men and women are treated equally by law, many women still report sexist behaviour and ‘machista’ attitudes. Some of the most outmoded atti -

tudes hark back to the Franco era when, in 1939, the dictator (left) removed any powers women had gained. Women were forced to be stay-home mothers and housewives, with no legal right to work,

Disciplineand fearless determination

SHE learnt early that to get ahead in business in Spain she had to be fearlessly determined, a quality she has in spades thanks to her time in the Royal Air Force.

It was during her time in the British RAF that she learnt not to accept excuses or lies, as well as gaining an iron discipline.

“Being in the RAF was one of the happiest times in my life and where I had discipline instilled in me,” she tells the Olive Press “As a result I don’t stand for any nonsense, but that also means people know where they stand with me, which is very important in business.” It was still anything but easy for her to set up

They are the key things a

ican company, Liberty Insurance, designing special packages for the expat market and has built up a reputation as a hugely successful expat businesswoman.

own property, or get divorced. Worse, they could even go to prison for adultery, although their straying husbands weren’t punished, in contrast.

One remarkable pamphlet from the 1950s on how to be ‘a good wife’ insisted you needed to keep the house spotless, the children clean, and dinner on the table. Since Franco died in 1975, feminists have made rapid progress and as Spain developed as a democracy, women’s rights started to match those of other European countries.

needs to

on in business in Spain, explains expat Jennifer Cunningham

her insurance business on the costas three decades ago, when women were not taken seriously in business.

“I was a widow, surviving on a meagre widow’s pension and so the only way I could start up was to re-mortgage my home, borrow money and make it work,” she recalls, from her home in Javea, on the Costa Blanca.

“I had problems finding a bank who would support me and I remember the first time I presented my business plan to get a loan, the bank manager wouldn’t address me directly but kept looking towards the male friend I had brought with me.

“At the beginning they didn’t want to take me on and they felt sure that I would fail,” she reveals. “My style of selling was completely new to them, the culture here in Spain was so different.”

“As an entrepreneur I had to take risks and convince those who had the financial backing of huge institutions behind them to take a risk on me, but I proved myself and in the end, those very same people looked to me to lead strategy and even asked me to teach them how to do it.”

Today Jennifer Cunningham Insurance has seven offices in Spain (including one in the Canaries) and thousands of expat customers. While an incredible success story - not just for a woman, but also as an expat - she however, is most proud of the fact that she leads a team of over 20 women across her offices.

She leads a team of over 20 women across her seven offices

“I had to point out that it was me who was borrowing the money, that I was the business owner and when they didn’t take me seriously, I walked out and went somewhere else.”

She eventually found a sympathetic bank manager, a man who has supported her ever since her first venture, and who she has stayed with as he moved across different banks.

She then began working with a giant Amer-

“It isn’t a policy to only employ women, it just turns out that they are the ones that have thrived,” she explains.

“Applications are open to everyone and we have employed men and I try to keep a balance in the teams, but it’s the women that seem to be most successful in this business and the ones that stay on for years and years, while the men just don’t seem to keep up.”

For more info visit www.jennifercunningham. net or www.paulcunninghamnurses.com

The ‘husband’s permission rule’ was abolished in 1975, the adultery law went in 1978, and divorce was legalised in 1981.

Finally in 1987, it was ruled that a rape victim didn’t have to prove they had fought the man back, while in 2004, the government introduced the ‘Integrated Law’, which funded the Government Delegation of Violence Against Women and finally a nationwide pact in 2017.

Pioneer

“Spain is a pioneer in terms of laws that ensure equality, compared to other countries worldwide,” insists Carmen Quintanilla of women’s rural association AFAMMER.

“Until the elaboration of the 2017 State Pact, never before had a government been so committed to the eradication of gender violence.”

By 2019, Congress had the most female members in its history (and one of the highest in the world and top in Europe) with 166 female deputies, taking 47.4% of seats.

However, a backslide occurred in 2020 when the far-right Voxnow Spain’s third largest political party - claimed that the gender violence law favours women and should be replaced with a family violence law. Vox also has made

How

the

woman

get

IRON DISCIPLINE: The RAF taught Jennifer well

Sandra Garcia-Sanjuan

Founder & Director, Starlite Group

CELEBRITY broker and friend to the stars, Garcia-Sanjuan (Tenerife, 1972) organises one of Europe’s best – and longest–annual festivals, a task which involves charm and logistics. Offering two solid months of world-class nightly concerts, previous performers at Marbella’s Starlite Festival have included Tony Bennett, The Beach Boys, and Ricky Martin (Rod Stewart, Norah Jones and the Gypsy Kings are on the bill this summer). Starlite has spawned fashion, food and film divisions, and Garcia–Sanjuan also set up Quiero Trabajo which helps women at risk of social exclusion prepare for interviews and careers.

Juana

Roig, CEO, Mercadona Tech

NO doubt, being the daughter of the Spanish billionaire businessman Juan Roig Alfonso, president of Mercadona, didn’t hurt when she went through the interview process. But credit where credit’s due, after turning her attention to the supermarket chain’s under-performing e-commerce division, online billing increased 190% in a year. Apparently she told her father the website was ‘shit’. Five years on, it generates €540 million in sales. Born in 1984, the youngest of four daughters, she is touted as a potential successor.

CHANGE

some questionable statements about women’s working roles. And when it comes to the workplace itself, the proportion of women in managerial positions remains around a third of that of men with the numbers dropping even further as careers progress. There is work

HOW TO BE A ‘GOOD WIFE’:

to do and Spanish women earn around 10% (about €6,000) less per year than men and occupy more than 70% of part-time contracts. Of

A 1950’s pamphlet

these women, 46% affirm they are part-time because they care for dependents or cannot afford childcare services.

WHEN chemistry graduate Robina (Valladolid, 1965) joined Vitoria’s Michelin factory in 1988, she was the only woman there. Now she’s the first female boss for Iberia, responsible for a €2.6 billion turnover and 7,300 employees – most of whom (despite her sterling example) are men. ‘It is difficult for us to find women to fill mechanical positions,’ she says, blaming childhood stereotyping that leads to the notion there are things that girls just don’t do.

GO-GO FRANCO

CARNIVAL organisers who warned participating floats against playing sexist songs during their parades have been likened to officials from the Franco era.

Those taking part in the amazing orgy of fancy dress, street parades and pageantry were told they could lose their public subsidies if they played songs on a proscribed list.

The festival, held each February, is a huge event in the community that inspires young and old, but there have long been accusations that it harbours a dark side that seems to revel in chauvinism.

Accordingly, in recent years there has been a groundswell of public support to combat this by town halls in Catalunya.

Reading between the lines

Nothing can show how far women’s rights have moved forward from the female author censorship of the Franco era, than to have an all female bookshop in the heart of the capital.

GLASS CEILINGS

Winning women the vote had opposition from a surprising source, writes Dilip Kuner

THE UK has Emmiline Pankhurst, Spain has Clara Campoamor when it comes to icons of women’s suffrage.

Born in Madrid, Campoamor was one of the first women to enter Parliament in Spain and had a long history of feminism and campaigning for universal suffrage.

During the 1931 elections women could not vote but they could stand to be MPs. Campoamor and fellow lawyer Victoria Kent were the only two women elected.

Their work on the Constitutional Committee helped to enshrine the principle that women had the same rights as men in the Spanish Constitution of 1931with one glaring disagreement.

Malaga-born Kent, as a member of the Radical Socialist Republican Party, felt that it was too soon to allow women the vote.

Far left thought at the time was that women tended to be too conservative and in thrall to the Catholic Church and so would most likely vote right wing.

Campoamor, a member of the Radical Party, saw it as a human rights issue and was instrumental in achieving suffrage for women in time for the 1933 elections after ‘winning’ a debate with Kent.

Campoamor and Kent had already shown herself to

LAWYER: Kent was one of the first female MPs

be an inspiration to women. They were the first two female members of the Madrid Law Association having both broken a glass ceiling by entering university to study law.

Campoamor went into exile during the Civil War and died in Lausanne (Switzerland) in 1972 at the age of 82.

Kent too was exiled and died in New York aged 96 in 1987.

But some have argued that the issue has been muddied by the difficulty in determining which lyrics are actually denigrating to women and which are merely ‘sexy’.

And efforts to root out offending songs harkens back to the censorious days of Franco, according to one organiser.

The song ‘SloMo’, sung by Spanish star Chanel (pictured above), has been flagged as problematic, even though the singer claims to be committed to the cause of gender equality.

The Catalan town of Calafell, along the beach road where hundreds of dancers and floats were getting ready for Carnival, found itself at the centre of the debate.

Sexist

According to Pere Nin, a float organiser, each town has its own list of banned songs, and beforehand, the floats have to give the town the names of the songs it wants to play.

Nin was one of the original organisers who helped draw up the rules against sexist lyrics back in 2019.

“It’s one thing if a song is obviously sexist,” he said. “It’s another when a song has a line or a word that might offend.”

Another much-loved song, ‘Suavemente’, by Elvis Crespo, has also been banned, causing people to question the whole project.

Dancer Sara Coam said there is no room for macho music that objectifies women, while her friend Marta Tamayo said it is more complicated. “If people would stop listening, the artists would stop writing sexist lyrics,” she said.

DJ Miguel Aguila, who was also on hand, said he is against the bans altogether.

Even instigator Pere Nin is having his doubts, being old enough to remember the dark days of Franco.

“It’s starting to remind me of other periods we’d rather not remember,” he said.

Maria de la Paz Robina Managing director of Michelin Spain

RIGHTS CAMPAIGNER: Campoamor

Food price inflation is big news, with rising costs putting a strain on household budgets and driving an increase in food poverty. Is the Spanish government about to subsidise our groceries – and will it help? asks Jo

Chipchase

FIRST the good news: In Spain, at least, we can still find the food we want to buy. Over in the UK, a shortage of both home-grown and imported fruit and vegetables has led to supermarket rationing, in some places. This has been accompanied by a slew of news stories with the UK government claiming it’s the ‘bad weather in Spain’ – much to the amusement of the media here.

As a spokesman for FEPEX, the Spanish federation of exporters, clarified: ‘There are no problems exporting to any countries in the EU’. Quite simply, higher production costs, the UK’s own farming policies and, particularly, Brexit, have caused the problem.

And those higher production costs are also affecting us in Spain. So, while food items are not being rationed here, they are increasingly unaffordable to many people.

To help struggling consumers, Spain’s Unidas Podemos party recently proposed a discount of 14.4% on a set of 20 basic food items. This is similar, in principle, to the 20 centimos per litre discount that applied at petrol stations between April and December.

And now, hot off the press, Spain’s Minister for Agriculture, Luis Planas, assures us that Spain has “the capacity” to introduce measures such as those being implemented in France, where a 2e price cap is being put on basic products.

The Carrefour supermarket chain will offer shoppers in its 5,945 French stores a basket of 200 basic products for under 2e, from March 15 to June 15.

A constant crisis

Planas previously wasn’t so keen on the subsidy idea, saying that inflation has now finally ‘reached a ceiling’ – despite the prices remaining as high as ever.

He pointed out that the government has already introduced VAT (IVA) reductions on certain foods. On January 1, VAT was cut from 4% to 0% on basic items, including bread, milk, eggs, cheese, fruit, vegetables, and cereals. Tax on oil and pasta also fell from 10% to 5%.

However, these foods remain expensive throughout the nation.

According to a recent study by web portal, Trading Economics, Spain’s food cost 15.5% more in January than January 2022 (the rise is even higher in the UK at 17.1%) A weekly food shop that cost €200 a year ago in Spain now costs €231.

What exactly has risen?

Data from Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) confirms that the price of staple foods has reached historic highs.

Around 30 different foods are 10% more expensive than a year ago, including dairy products, such as cheese (22.1%), yoghurt (25.1%), and milk (37.5%).

And it’s really bad news if you like a fry-up: olive oil has risen by 35.2% and eggs by 29.8%.

Meanwhile, rice has increased 21.7%, pasta 19%, bread 15.4%, and breakfast cereals by 11.4%. Vegetables are up by more than 10%.

Maybe it really is time to turn vegetarian: chicken and turkey are up by 15.1%, pork by 13.8% and beef, 13.2%. Frozen fish has increased 13.2% and shellfish, 13.4%.

Why is this so bad?

People with lower incomes, and already stretched families, are disproportionately affected by food price inflation.

FOOD PRICE CRISIS

FEEDING THE MASSES

ON International Women’s Day there are some sobering statistics out there.

Despite decades of fighting, the gender pay gap is still a huge unresolved issue with Spanish women getting paid around 20% less than men.

In politics, the country fares better - the 252 women sitting in Spain’s upper and lower houses represent 42.4% of seats.

But when it comes to business, just 36% of management positions are held by women, according to a report, Women in Business 2022, by Grant Thornton. And some professions remain almost closed to women. Six times more men, for example, work in the Science and Technology industry than women, while a far higher proportion work in cleaning and admin work. But there is one profession that has long em braced women workersthe media.

And we at the Olive Press are no exception with a workforce split almost ex actly 50-50 between men and women.

Some parents told the Olive Press that goods previously considered ‘normal’ have effectively become ‘luxuries’.

Anna Langdon, a British expat, based in Granada, explained: “I’m feeding four people on a pension meant for one, and it is more of a struggle than before.

“As I’ve raised six kids on homemade soups and home-grown food with little money for decades, I was relatively prepared for the crisis. However, even staple foods have increased in price, like butter and cheese, and we’ve had to use less and less and our portion sizes have shrunk a lot.”

She added: “The price increase in pet food is difficult and as I’ve got two cats and an elderly dog it’s sometimes cheaper to buy offal and rice.”

Meanwhile, Lenka, a Romanian mother of three, based in Orgiva, explained that she is having to cook something hearty that ‘ideally lasts for two or three days’.

“For example, a whole cooked chicken can be used to make soup the second day,” she said.

However, many working parents rely on shop-bought snacks, and the cost of these has multiplied.

“I know of a case where the snack a child takes to school each day has gone up by 300%, affecting the parent’s buying behaviour,” explained Lucy Hayes Logan, who runs her own advice agency, Tus Alpujarras.

“The impact can be huge for those on a set wage, one-salary households, the self-employed and people recovering from the financial losses caused by Covid.”

“The proposed 14% discount idea is a great idea, but how will it be funded? What are the food items and why those 20? Which brands? I’ve seen reduced items in supermarkets that look attractive, but the discounts are on selected lines, and often there are less-known brands that are still cheaper.”

Will a discount help most consumers?

Unless all foodstuffs are reduced, a basket of 20 goods won’t help everyone. For example, it’s unlikely to include pet food, which has seen huge rises, with a 20kg sack of cereal going from €11 to €18 to 20.

Leonie Crane, owner of the Camac health

food shop, in Orgiva, raises different concerns. “Smaller outlets need money from their sales to restock. How long will the 14% reimbursement from the government take to arrive?”

Cepsa petrol station boss, Joaquin Rodriguez, said: “When the government discount scheme for fuel ended, motorists rushed to fill their tanks, then returned to the same buying behaviour as before.” Cepsa now applies its own 12% discount with a loyalty card.

How to save money?

Whether or not the government decides to deduct 14.4% from certain food items, consumers can save money by being savvy. For starters, download the store loyalty apps: both Lidl and Dia have apps giving access to discount coupons, while Consum runs a savings scheme (the Mundo Consum card) where members can recoup a percentage of their monthly spend, delivered as an in-app voucher.

When in store, seek own-brand goods that cost less than, for example, imported British goods. Also look for discounts of the day, and multi-buy offers.

If all else fails, start planting your own vegetables and keep goats and chickens, and return to the centuries-old traditions of rural Spain. It’s not like we’re short of rural space.

Writers Jo Chipchase (above) and Cristina Hodgson (right), sub editor Sorrel Downer (below) and web and tech guru, Kate Langshaw (bottom), are just four of the highly-skilled professionals on our team. They bring a wealth of knowledge, talent and intelligence to the Olive Press, and pass it on to younger members of staffwhether male or female.

More impor

tantly, they provide an inspiration to girlsmaybe still at schoolthat if they want to enter the world of media and journalism there is a well-beaten trail open to them.

And the Olive Press is always on the lookout for good staff - so give us a call!

The top five most read stories on www.theolivepress.es in the past two weeks are:

1- Leave tourism alone: Spanish tourism boss demands compensation for economic blow from EU’s new Brit-hitting tourist tax

2- Minister in Spain laughs off accusations that government is legalising bestiality

3- Spain wakes up to threat the new EU’s new ETIAS tourist tax poses to its British tourism

4-

New evidence emerges in murder case of high profile Brit killer Kenneth Noye

5- Spain’s golden visa under threat

Get in touch today at sales@theolivepress.es or call us at 00 34 951273575 for more info

Dear Jennifer:

FOR THE BETTER!

What makes Jennifer Cunningham Insurances so different?

AGOOD question and I can offer you a number of answers.

I started my company nearly 30 years ago, working from home and developing the business slowly over a number of years. Once established, I employed staff and rented a large office in Javea port, where I am still to this day. How life has changed for me, and for the better. I realised when I moved to Spain, that there was very little help available and what was available was normally in Spanish.

There was no private health insurance, no funeral plans and no insurance dedicated to the Expat, and little customer service.

I started the business selling health insurance for a British company, along with funeral plans. Having lost my husband in Spain, I realised how difficult it was to arrange a funeral and the costs were enormous.

Being very disciplined myself (probably due to my time in the Air Force), I have a strong work ethic. I used to work from home during the day, and I would go out early evenings making home visits until I was busy enough to take someone on to help me. From those early days when I worked tirelessly, I built my company and now have 7 offices. I demand from my excellent and loyal staff that they treat all my clients with respect, courtesy and honesty and offer them the best service that is possible.

I pride myself that the after sales service is the best, a service very rare in Spain. I have a Claims Administrator and a dedicated Renewal department, who will make sure that as your circumstances change, your policies can change with you and you are fully aware of your coverage.

So these are just some of the reasons why we are so special. We are more than just a voice on the phone, offering good, old fashioned service. Not always the cheapest, but the best, working with Liberty Seguros and ASSSA healthcare, who both provide special Expat policies and are the best in the market.

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR A QUOTATION, PLEASE CALL ONE OF MY OFFICES, EMAIL INFO@JENNIFERCUNNINGHAM.NET OR VISIT THE WEBSITE WWW.JENNIFERCUNNINGHAM.NET

OP QUICK CROSSWORD

A FINANCIAL watchdog has cut down to just one point what Gibraltar needs to do to set it free from the tax haven grey list.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) put the British overseas territory under the microscope for regulatory sanctions and final confiscations in June 2022.

It set Gibraltar’s government an action plan for its agencies to make the changes to its financial system to carry out by May 2023.

The Rock’s authorities sent an update report in December 2022.

Now, FATF is asking Gibraltar to freeze or seize more suspicious ac-

Bad money

counts to take Gib off the grey list..

The task force reported the Rock is ‘now using a range of effective, proportionate, and dissuasive sanctions’ for money laundering and terror financing.

“Gibraltar should continue to show that it is able to pursue more final confiscation judgments commensurate with the risk and context of Gibraltar,” the FATF told the government. The government will present a new report to the FATF in May 2023.

If successful, the FATF will be able to remove Gibraltar from the grey list of territories.

“Gibraltar continues to work closely with the FATF and is proud of the relationship that it has with this international standard setting body,” the government said.

“Government commends the good work of its Regulatory Authorities and Law Enforcement agencies as they work to meet the requirements of the Action Plan.”

The FATF office is located at the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) HQ in Paris, France.

BAD MOVE

THE proposed departure of Spanish construction conglomerate Ferrovial to the Netherlands for ‘a better business environment’ has set off a firestorm of finger pointing in Madrid. Ferrovial, which is part owner of Heathrow airport and generated almost 90% of its revenues from outside Spain last year, said it views the Netherlands as having a more stable legal framework.

The infrastructure company also sees potential for lower financing costs due

Recriminations in Madrid over Ferrovial’s move to the Netherlands

to the country's ‘AAA’ credit rating - as opposed to Spain’s A rating. A government spokesperson slammed the move of Spain's 13th biggest company by market capitalisation as ‘ungrateful’ and ‘not in line with the effort that the country has made in terms of investments’.

Economy Minister Nadia Calviño also voiced her disapproval, saying the decision ‘seems to go against the interest and image of our country’, adding that she had called Ferrovial's Chief Executive Rafael del Pino (pictured) - who owns 20% of the €19bn company - to convey her opposition.

By Walter Finch

Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez reminded del Pino that ‘the nation is not just about building wealth, it's about being supportive, lending a helping hand, and particularly, when your country needs you.’

Reverse

Ferrovial plans involve a reverse merger, with its wholly-owned Dutch subsidiary Ferrovial International SE (FISE) absorbing it to be listed in Spain, the Netherlands, and later the

SOARING COSTS

INFLATION is still stalking the Spanish economy as the latest data puts the price increases on February last year at an annual rate of 6.1%. This represents a faster pace than the 5.9% increase recorded in January and is above the 5.7% forecast by analysts polled by international news agency Reuters Spain had previously managed to rein in inflation during the second half of 2022, registering the lowest figure in the eurozone by the end of the year.

However, Spain's price index has now risen for two consecutive months in annual terms, largely due to higher electricity and food and drink prices.

United States.

Ferrovial said that the proposed headquarters shift to the Netherlands would need to secure shareholder approval and would aim to complete the move in the second or third quarter of 2023.

POSITIVE TREND

UNEMPLOYMENT in Spain rose by just 0.1% in February compared to a month earlier, according to Labour Ministry figures. The increase was 2,618 people, leaving a total of 2.91 million people out of work in the lowest February figure since 2008.

Compared to a year earlier, unemployment fell by 200,669 - a 6.45% reduction.

18

MERGER ON

All solutions are on page 14

SPAIN’S Air Nostrum has been given the green light for a merger with Ireland's CityJet to form Europe's largest regional airline. It's the second time that European Com mission permission has been granted after a 2019 go-ahead was suspended due to the Covid pandemic. A new holding company will be formed with both brands being maintained across a fleet of 70 aircraft - 48 of which belong to Air Nostrum. The economic model is similar to that of the IAG group established after the merger of

British Airways and Iberia. Air Nostrum also operates as an Iberia franchisee for regional flights. Around 2,000 people will be employed by the new combined firm including maintenance and support services.

LA CULTURA

BOOSTING CREATIVITY

Chiclana memorial

SPAIN’S defence minister met with Gibraltar’s own John Cortes at a memorial to the Battle of La Barrosa in 1811.

The president of the Cadiz provincial council Juan Carlos Ruiz Boix invited the Minister for Heritage to Chiclana de la Frontera.

The event recalled the famous battle where British troops based in Gibraltar defeated two French divisions during the Napoleonic siege of Cadiz. Despite their heroism, the attack failed to break the siege of the city.

Historians have put this failure down to the Spanish general Manuel la Pena who was later court-martialed for not backing the allied offensive.

Night art

THE Prado Museum in Madrid is now opening its doors on a Saturday evening, as part of a new project called ‘The Prado at Night’.

The public are able to visit a selection of different galleries inside the trove of artworks on the first Saturday of each month from 8.30pm to 11.30pm.

The aim is to ‘connect more closely with all sectors of the public’, according to the museum. The project will also include musical events, and is being sponsored by Samsung. Entry will be free of charge from 8.30pm onward, until all of the available spaces are full. Access will end at 11pm.

‘The Prado at Night’ will run on the following dates: March 4; April 1; May 6; June 3; July 1; and August 5. The museum is the most-visited in Madrid, and racked up more than 2.4 million visitors in 2022.

A UK author, illustrator and publisher led a course to boost 40 children’s creative skills during the mid-term break.

Accord Literary and The Rock Retreat organised the Young Writers’ Workshop over three days at John Mackintosh Hall teaching the students the building blocks of storytelling.

UK-based illustrator Eleanor Taylor Dobbs, author Frances Moloney and publisher Sarah Odedina led the workshop.

Other experts from around the world imparted their knowledge via video call.

The 40 children learnt about ‘storytelling, illustrating and discussing ideas on how to develop a plot and characters’, a Ministry of Culture spokesman said.

They will now use these skills in the Young Writ-

ers’ Competition.

“Organisers welcomed contributions from writers, poets, song-writers, illustrators, animators and archivists from all over the world to give the young people the broadest possible experience,” said the spokesman.

“The group was energised and excited to meet the speakers and to hear their stories and learn about the creative process, using these experiences when developing their own ideas.”

They also connected with other students in Ghana and Bermuda via video call.

Minister for Education and Culture John Cortes visited the event.

He said: “It was wonderful to see the engagement of these children, and their enthusiasm for writing, illustrating and books in general.

PASSION: 40 kids took part in the event

“This is precisely what we need to achieve in order to develop our Gibraltarian Literature and for our young people to derive the benefits that books bring.”

High point

GIBRALTAR’S own international playwright and a full cast of local actors put on their first ever play in London at a theatre where Ian McKellen regularly performs.

Julian Felice called the moment Blue Whale staged at the Space theatre as ‘the highest point of my career as a playwright’. His Dramatis Personae drama company performed on a stage graced by McKellen and soprano Marie McLaughlin in

Rock drama company takes to the London stage

By John Culatto

the past.

Gibraltar’s Ministry of Culture supported the production. It marketed Blue Whale as ‘a dark comedy of love and despair in an online world’. The plot of the story speaks of Lewis, a 30-year-old who goes

through a number of challenges to try to court an online date called Tash. The title is a reference to the suicide game played by teenagers that spread from Russia to the Ukraine and the US. It involved 50 challenges with the last one being a call to suicide. Even though Dramatis Personae has taken part in festivals in the UK as well as Gibraltar, it is the first time they have performed on a London stage.

Idea

Felice added to the idea after reading an article on strategies men use to attract women and those who teach them.

“I'm very interested in how people behave and the relationships between them”, he said.

“I think almost all the time we are playing a role, especially when we meet someone new. “It is a mask that we put on and, over time, when we are more comfortable with that person, we start being ourselves.” Felice has won several prizes on the Rock for his productions.

Old timer

A 23,000-year-old human genome has been uncovered on the outskirts of Granada and is one of the oldest ever recorded. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology extracted DNA from human remains found in a cave.

He has done some Llanito comedy but also tackled serious issues about teenage life in his plotlines.

Sam Bush plays Lewis in the production, Natalia Bonavia (pictured) acts out the part of his internet lover Tash while Chris Ablitt plays Lewis’ friend Karl.

The research confirms that the southern tip of Spain provided a key refuge for humans when much of Europe was covered by ice 20,000 years ago and cave-dwelling humans would shield from these freezing conditions in rocky caverns. The DNA has been linked to a 35,000-year-old individual from Belgium discovered in 2016.

THE prestigious Latin Grammy awards are coming to Spain this November in a three-year deal - the first time they are being held outside the United States.

The announcement was made in Sevilla but the specific dates and the host city were not named, though Sevilla appears to be the front-runner.

The Latin Grammys were first held in Los Angeles in 2000.

Last year, they took place in Las Vegas, where Spanish artist Rosalíia (right) won best album for ‘Motomami’. Andalucia president, Juan Manuel Morena Bonilla, met with the Latin Recording Academy CEO, Manuel Abud. Both parties described the deal as 'historic' and 'unprecedented'.

HOLY: Synagogue used as disco in Utrera

Prayers answered

AFTER two years of searching, archaeologists have finally had their prayers answered and uncovered a rare medieval synagogue in the basement of a disco. The 14th century building in Utrera (Sevilla) has also been used as a hospital, restaurant and home for abandoned children down the years.

It is just one of a precious handful of medieval synagogues to have survived the aftermath of the expulsion of Spain’s Jews in 1492.

In his 1604 history of Utrera, Rodrigo Caro, a local priest, historian and poet, described an area of the city centre as it had been in earlier centuries, saying: “In that place, there were only foreign and Jewish people who had their synagogue where the Hospital de la Misericordia now stands”.

Medieval

Utrera mayor Jose Maria Villalobos said it was ‘now scientifically certain that we’re standing in a medieval synagogue right now’.

“Until now there were only four such buildings in all of Spain - two in Toledo, one in Segovia and one in Cordoba,” he said.

“This is an exceptional building that’s been part of Utrera and part of its inhabitants’ lives for 700 years.

“This building was born in the 1300s and has made it all the way to the 21st century.”

One of the key reasons for its survival was that the site was always in use for one purpose or another. The building could be opened for public visits in parallel with archaeologists continuing to excavate the site. The next phase of the project will look to see if there was a rabbi’s house nearby, or a religious school.

VISIT: The Prado

LA CULTURA

COMEBACK KINGS

Revived Gibraltarian band Taxi roars back onto centre stage with EP of new material on the way 10 years on from last LP

THE future is bright for the revived Gibraltarian band ‘Taxi’ that rocked the Sunborn Hotel during four nights at the start of their rebirth this year. Frontman Dylan Ferro says that a new EP is on the way after he started writing new material throughout the last year.

Surprisingly, in an exclusive interview, he reveals that ‘Taxi’ will now be releasing the new EP under the band’s old name ‘Melon Diesel’. He tells the Olive Press that the pandemic was the main reason for the return to the centre-stage.

“A lot changed after Covid and I suppose we valued all that we had done in the past and decided that it might be time to revive it again,” Ferro tells the Olive Press.

By John Culatto

the right moment to do so.”

Another reason for the decision to tour was the existing large fan base in Spain.

“It’s exactly why we’re seeking to tour this year,” Ferro says. “We know there is a demand for it and we want to cater for our fans.”

Singles and EP this year

Band on the Rock planning big things in the coming months

“In a way i never left the touring scene because I myself have been playing live every past year other than the year of the pandemic, but the rest of the band had not been touring.

“I think that after 10 years since our last album together, it just felt like

For now, a revived Melon Diesel are aiming to make an EP from material Ferro has been writing for the last year.

The different songs will be released as singles throughout 2023, with the first one going out in three or four months.

They will continue to sing about ‘what’s going on around us’, about being human beings that ‘experience similar things’, he says.

“We’ve even had people telling us that some of our songs have helped them overcome certain struggles in their lives.” he continues.

“That’s something very satisfactory for us.

“A guy once said that our song ‘Tu Oportunidad’ had saved him from suicide.

“It’s these kind of stories that inspire us to keep writing music.” But Ferro tells fans to get ready for a surprising twist in the band’s musical journey.

“These last few years have been a learning curve with the search of a different musical direction and finding a place where I and the band felt comfortable,” he said.

“Hopefully people will like what we are doing and the place we are at now.”

What will stay the same will be the core of the band members.

“Three out of five remain of the original Melon Diesel lineup – Danny Bugeja, Dani Fa and myself,” Ferro says.

“Robert Perez has been on and off for the last 15 years and we recently added Jon Freddy Garzon, an amazing virtuoso drummer.

“This will be the new Melon Diesel lineup for this year.

“We are very happy where the band is now – it’s sounding great.”

‘Soundtrack to people’s lives’

The band kicked off the year with four sold-out shows at the Sunborn Hotel in Ocean Village, a homecoming Ferro enjoyed immensely.

“Playing in front of the local crowd

is always one of the best audiences to play to, if not the best,” the charismatic frontman tells

OP Puzzle solutions

Quick Crossword

Across: 6 Fair, 7 Slavery, 8 Van Buren, 9 Glee, 10 Sales, 11 Tribute, 13 Tenancy, 15 Build, 17 Loci, 19 Northern, 20 Academy, 21 Oats

Down: 1 Database, 2 Problematical, 3 Banner, 4 Neighbourhood, 5 Tyke, 7 Surf, 11 Toy, 12 Tolerate, 14 Convex, 16 Grey, 18 Oval

the Olive Press.

“People sing throughout the shows non-stop.”

He enjoys the fact that their music has transcended the first genera-

tion that started to listen to them 24 years ago.

“I believe we have become a sort of soundtrack to people’s lives with our long spanning career,” Ferro reveals.

“Now we get to see our first fans coming in with their sons and daughters who in turn have also become fans of the band as their parents once did years ago.”

Tour

With an extensive tour planned for this year, he is already starting to dream big with the possibility of more chart success on the way. But he is adamant that even if their comeback brings them back into the musical spotlight, the band will keep their feet on the ground.

“By all means the theme of fame can sometimes accompany this and might be a problem for some artists, but not us,” Ferro says.

“We have always dealt with this well and managed to properly keep success separate from our personal lives.”

TALENT: Dylan Ferro says a new EP is on the way

DREAM BIG: Melon Diesel are planning on extensive tour this year

MASKS OFF

PEOPLE seeing doctors in the Primary Care Centre will still have to wear masks but not in non-clinical areas of the hospital, authorities have said.

The Gibraltar Health Authority (GHA) rang the changes after it said ‘levels of winter viruses, including influenza and COVID-19, circulating in Gibraltar’s population have now decreased’.

“Masks will continue to be required in clinical areas and will be offered to patients and visitors,” the GHA said. “The GHA strongly encourages those who have weakened immune systems to continue to wear masks when attending St Bernard’s Hospital.”

Restrictions

The latest hospital moves to relax mask restrictions come after Gibraltar weathered the pandemic storm over winter. Its highly vaccinated population has recorded no serious rise in cases apart from a small uptick after the Christmas festivities.

A sizable outbreak of 13 cases at elderly people’s homes in early January was the biggest drama of the winter. The GHA is still urging people to ‘avoid visiting the hospital or ERS with symptoms of a cold, flu, diarrhoea or vomiting’.

Square eyes

Kids spend nearly five hours a day looking at screens at the expense of their health

SPANISH children spend 294 minutes per day on screens during weekends, according to an alarming new study.

The 2022 PASOS Study on Physical Activity, Sedentarism, Lifestyles and Obesity in Spanish Youth followed a previous study from 2019, which tracks obesity incidence rates and other health indicators among Spanish children.

The study found more children were being sedentary during weekends, with Spanish young ones spending on average 294 minutes per day

By Anthony Piovesan

on screens.

The findings also noted a decrease in healthy eating habits between 2019 to 2022, measured in Spain by adherence to Mediterranean diets.

It found that one in three children aged eight to 16 years are overweight or obese at some stage. As part of a broader look at wellbeing, the study found 40% of girls of the same age felt worried or unhappy.

Bad medicine

HUNDREDS of medicines used to treat colds or flu are under review in Spain due to a potential risk of brain diseases.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) put the medications containing pseudoephedrine under review last week. About 30 are marketed in Spain, these include the wellknown Termalgil, Gelocatil, Influenza with Pseudoephedrine, Frenadol Descongestivo and Cinfatos

The agency’s safety committee targeted the products due to a risk of developing brain diseases where there is a reduced blood supply to the brain, which can cause serious and life-threatening complications in some cases.

Spain leads all countries of the European Union in obesity, with four out of 10 girls and boys living with obesity or deemed overweight. Obesity has also doubled in girls and adolescents in the past 20 years.

Obesity

Spanish president Pedro Sanchez, High Commissioner against Child Poverty Ernesto Gasco and co-founder of the Gasol Foundation, Pau Gasol, have presented a plan to reduce childhood obesity by 25% by 2030.

The National Strategic Plan for the Reduction of Childhood

Obesity has more than 200 measures that will follow six key steps; promote physical activity and sports, promote

World care

GIBRALTAR’S Care Agency has raised over £5,000 for the Red Cross Turkey and Syria Appeal since February 8. The Care Agency’s Events Committee, with the support of all its different departments, staff and general public raised the cash to support relief efforts of the powerful earthquake.

Care Agency CEO Carlos Banderas said he was ‘delighted’ to announce that the effort had raised a total of £5,354. Different teams within the Care Agency raised the money in different ways.

For example, Jasmine Viagas from Jagrathi Yoga held her own yoga sessions to raise much needed cash.

healthy eating, promote emotional well-being and adequate rest, promote healthy lifestyles, protect children’s health and create a cultural shift towards healthy lifestyles.

ESCAPING THE WEB OF PHOBIAS

In a debut column on the issues expats face settling in Spain, our mental health insider looks at the pandemic and its long term mental health impacts

ALL of us can remember the difficult days of the pandemic and lockdowns in southern Spain and Gibraltar.

Our ability to do the daily things we did, like walk outdoors, go to work and meet other human beings, were all curtailed.

However, while many talked about the ‘loss’ of these basic elements we take for granted, few talked about or reflected on the mental health impacts of the pandemic, which for some have been much longer term.

The fact is the pandemic did one thing for many people: It showed that the normality of life can be disrupted and not all of the things in life are under our control.

For some, this lack of control may have spiralled into thoughts about other facets of life, creating anxieties and fears that played into long-standing phobias and feelings of being ‘out of control’.

Minister for Health and Care Albert Isola, said: “I am in admiration towards the genuine vocational care values the professionals at The Care Agency demonstrate who have gone beyond their work to support this appeal.”

THE GURU’

them is fundamental to understanding them and taking away their grip.

Furthermore, the longer these fears manifest, the greater the web of phobias that can disrupt the lives of those affected will grow.

At the root of it, phobias related to anxiety are an overactive and highly developed internalised scanning process for those who suffer from them.

They may cause people to constantly live in a state of seeing the world as risky, because of an event or series of events that happened to them in the past.

Therapeutic

Exploring those roots, understanding them and accepting that life can move on and be enjoyable again is part of the therapeutic journey. Many have already done just this, but most have not.

Costa, Málaga, 29630, Spain +34 952 90 65 81 benalmadena@currenciesdirect.com

For younger people, the significant disruption to their lives may well have had deeper and more consequential impacts, given the formative nature of their years.

Some may well have felt that the world is a daunting and threatening place, particularly as their experience would be of people masked up worrying about unseen germs and the fear of death. Imagine that in the psyche of young people.

Many are still left in a state of anxiety, which may have morphed into other fears. Which is why containment of these fears and working through the root causes of

Therapy is no laughing matter, as they say. It can and has significantly changed the lives of millions of people for the better. Over the centuries, one of the reasons why mental health issues were probably lower in frequency than they are today, is because we relied on talking to others. Our basic survival depended on being part of a family or a pack of people. This meant communication, care and support.

Counselling is a form of that and there is no doubt it is the start of the healing process for many.

The ‘Counselling Guru’ is a fully-qualified UK-trained therapist, who can be contacted on Whatsapp on +34 66 46 66 252 or by e-mail on info@counselling4anxiety.eu

Happy birthday

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Time’s up

AN antiques repairman in Benidorm has been arrested after refusing to return two vintage clocks valued at €5,000 to their owner. One of the clocks dated back to 1823.

Serial thief

A SERIAL shop robber in Valencia has finally been jailed after more than 100 arrests. The man, 45, racked up 12 arrests in the same month but kept getting bailed.

Roof fool

TWO men, 23 and 41, have been charged with reckless driving after one of them sat on a car roof while travelling on a Castellon province highway.

Offside!

Cadiz FC want league suspended over goal that shouldn’t have been

THE referee’s decision is finalexcept, that is, if you are Cadiz CF.

The relegation strugglers are demanding that Spain’s top tier league, La Liga, be suspended while their complaint over an offside goal is investigated. They had been playing against Elche, with Cadiz ahead 1-0 in a crucial relegation six pointer

By Dilip Kuner

when Elche scored an equaliser with nine minutes remaining.

Ezequiel Ponce’s goal was allowed on a VAR review but further replays showed that the player was in fact offside. Outraged by the decisionwhich meant the match ended

New heights

PEOPLE in Spain could soon receive their packages by drones, if plans for an ambitious new postal service take off.

Correos has announced a scheme to trial the delivery of parcels in any Spanish city with remote controlled flying drones.

as a 1-1 draw - Cadiz called for the match to be replayed from the moment of the controversial goal, with the score readjusted to 1-0. Now, two months

The pilot will be complemented by an air control platform that geolocates all the connected drones in real time.

Correos will pair up with Telefonica to test the usage of the 5G-connected drones to deliver packages to ‘virtually any urban environment’.

later, they have released a statement saying that they have reported the matter to the TAD sports tribunal. And, they add, they are calling for La Liga to be suspended by TAD until the tribunal has made a decision. It is highly unlikely that the game will be replayed, given that FIFA regula-

tions clearly state that the referee’s decision is final.

However, Arsenal famously volunteered to replay their FA Cup clash with Sheffield United after a controversial winner, with then manager Arsene Wenger saying they did not want to win ‘by cheating’. Arsenal won the rematch 2-1. Cadiz are currently one place above the relegation positions on 26 points, while Elche look doomed, sitting rock bottom with just 12 points.

MARIA Branyas Morera, the world’s oldest person, has just celebrated her 116th birthday on March 4.

The US-born Catalan only assumed the Guinness World Record title in January, but she has now moved closer to the title of oldest person to have ever lived.

But she still has a way to go.

Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment was 122 years and 164 days old when she died in 1997 - the oldest confirmed age ever recorded.

Ana María Vela Rubio is the oldest Spaniard ever. She was 116 years, 47 days old when she died in 2017.

Bar attraction

ANDALUCIA’S second smallest village has received over 100 applicants to open the only bar in town. This followed the town hall’s call for hopeful entrepreneurs to head up the establishment for only €20 per month in a bid to avoid further loss of population. Cumbres de Enmedio in Huelva has a population of 59.

ON CAMERA: The moment when Ponce (right) was caught offside