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voice in Spain
March 24th
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2021
365 www.theolivepress.es
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THE START:
The first edition
of the Olive
Press in 2006
15 YEARS OF FUN
its 15th Press reaches As the Olive recall a few of our birthday, we and remember such favourite interviews top readers,(above) a couple of our minister Rajoy as ex-prime Paul Gascoigne... and prime joker
a warning after Private school moved to Spain, EXCLUSIVE: and found British paedophile convicted record checks dodged criminal English teacher in Madrid work as an
Spain Fiona Govan schools around after a British INTERNATIONAL idenmost on high alert creating a new of Madrid’s have been put teaching at one after being con- language academy after post man began teaching redocuments. months Lewis got tity, using forged of the sex offender exclusive colleges teacher UK. colleagues name to dodge DANGER: after Ben Lewis, victed in the sumbe- Formerthat he created a new a job as an English secbeen raised he accepted in order to run (concertado)from school despite vealed Questions have semi-private record checks private classes to 2017 to work at the register. at a leading that receives subsidies 31, was able and teach sex offenders Lewis, criminal ing on the UK’s has discovered that sex of- mer camps after ondary school by for child young children. his name to Ben David and the state. name Ben David The Olive Press another awaiting trial of taking changed Madrid V, going by the who is now a He hadconvicted in June 2016of children in “He was was offered the job aftera former Penitenciario schools and being then and fences at Centro mid-term,” the Olive indecent images hoodwink TWO dropped out told possessing managed to England. placed on teacher Natasha Fitzsimons As well as beinglist and be- colleague to fill the posiPress. the sex offender a two-year susthey were desperate as thorough as ing handed he was “I think maybe they weren’t so pended sentence, leaving the tion have been. barred fromworking with they should country or Horrified school for 18 children. weeks he had at the Yet within together goand found worked together moved to Spain as a live- “We on private classes children for months, took of some of the work in Zaragoza summer a family with ing to the homesteaching and ran a said the in au pair tochildren. extracurricularschool during 2018,” horror at three young with year he recamp at the who is filled The following and bea Irish colleague, located to Madrid had to children. that the day children at the access he his has discovered gan teaching language Olive Press in the UK he changed well-known get- The Lewis Ben David NAMES: two academy afterrecord after sentencing deed poll from that takes just 15 different passports ting a criminalZarago- name by in a process check from show he to Ben David, a British za police to in minutes. applied for and received also preHe then his new name, while he Israeli had no convictions his the previpassport in Spain over photocopy of by a sented a doctoredstamped and verified ous 12 months. showed December passport Then in law firm that non-existentBen David Rose. his name as has seen photocopdegree The Olive Press plus a teaching ies of these, Teaching Status (QTS) the name and Qualified presented in certificates Rose as well as certifCOVERED of Ben Davidoriginal name. ALL AREAS April icates in his is that by a teaching What is amazing applied for 4G UNLIMITED 2019 he had private school in the job at a leading Soria district that INTERNET to the upmarket Arturo IDEAL FOR British curriculum TV teaches the elite. STREAMING children of Madrid’s had a DBS certificate ALSO IPTV, By now he also 6 TV SATELLITE Opinion Page
at the we spend time ...meanwhile,world’s most famous home of thehe announces he’s plumber as Spanish citizen, after becoming a and losing €15m to 15 years here his ex-wives...
OP splash EXCLUSIVE: + + Clinic
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- April 2021 Vol. 15 Issue 365 March
Getting things done
in 2006 ROM its very first issue been camthe Olive Press has paigning for its community.environWhether fighting for the we have crooks, ment or digging into taken some big scalps. (see top right) has Starting from Issue One plans to A decade and a half of campaigning we highlighted the ridiculous the Olive Press golf courses scored some big wins for build 2000 houses, two and two hotels on UNESCO-protected well as exposed land near Ronda, as a 350-room we were legends Ferran Adria the madness of building When it comes to corruption beach in Almeand Nigel the first English newspaper to write and Gordon Ramsey. monstrosity on a virgin maverick Jeremy Griffiths, it was nice to chat at the Junta ria’s Cabo de Gata. in Ron- Goldman, a degenerate gold-dealing about the ERE scandal an estimated AndCiudadanos leader column to Both schemes - Los Merinos, who had a restaurant used to de Andalucia that cost hotel, in Almewhile we Albert Rivera, as well he da, and the Algarrobicoafter our stories dirt-bag, billion euros to the taxpayers, in a local newspaper, which theft on a local as the only newspaper ria - went into reverse also tackled town hall a national cover his tracks. to be able to pose crook Toni of occasions. made the UK AND Spanish groups includ- We also tackled timesharedeserves a scale on dozenshas been a continual couple of questions to newspapers and green cruelty en Ac- Muldoon, who certainly of peo- Animal and we have exposed so many Michelle Obama on her ing Greenpeace and Ecologistas bugbear a few mention for conning thousands cion joined our protests.the crooks, like ple and eventually went to prison for evil abusers, as well as the scoundrels visit to Marbella innocent years ago. And then there were Wanted Daniel setting up fake escort websites. allowed hunters to kill on who lions and tigers at a finca in Ex- Indeed, the positives Crimestoppers’ Most circus and Matthew Meanwhile, our crime reporting far outweigh the negJohnston, a bank robber, paedophile, missing teen Amy Fitzpatrick ‘blew open tremadura (see below). atives and we would Sammon, a dangeroustracked down the case’, to use the words of her grand- On a more positive front, it was great Di- prefer to be judged who we single-handedlyand a car park mother, while our continuing investiga- to interview everyone from Princess McCann has ana’s ex-lover James Hewett to cooking over 50 rather than to a village near Sevilla tion into missing Maddie with its 15 years. in Fuengirola. ‘the dogman’ yielded exclusive after exclusive, As far as we are conAnd fraudsters like David frequent links to Spain. cerned we have only Klein, pet transport just begun.
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Here’s to the next 15!
ConsulaBritish Embassy and On behalf of all at the huge congratulations to all to wish annivertes, I want Olive Press on your 15th at the sary. press The English language UK plays a vital role in keepingAnd nationals in Spain informed. your we very much appreciate help in getting key messages out to UK nationals here. After an incredibly difficult us, inyear for so many of cluding many businesses, Olive it is great to see the look Press thriving. We forward to seeing what the next 15 years bring.
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for there is an opportunity the way in tackhe photographed and filmed. the sick Spain to lead level,” she said. By Fiona Govan He then disseminated on ling it at a global Spain to inin Madrid wants material on paedo forums the world. Her charity an po- the dark web around CEO of troduce the need to present loophole that has allowed British Emily Konstantas, Alliance, original birth certificate alongtentially hundreds of in The Safeguarding Press for side a passport and criminal paedophiles to find work applauded the Olive checks that would allow the issue: “The record employers to unearth Spanish schools. an in- highlighting The campaign follows Press Ben Lewis case as revealed by potential change of identity. vestigation by the Olive it was the Olive Press highlights this a to provide as “It’s a simple way that revealed how easy loophole and as shockingand that extra check,” she insisted. new for a convicted UK sex offender severity and danger this find this is, it is nothing represents just “The to change his identity and presents to the whole several unfortunately work as a teacher in he was the tip of the iceberg as to the loophole cannot be underestimatworld where schools problem.” this Madrid least 36 magnitude of“Whilst the status ed.” arrested for abusing at report by The She warned: signif- An extensive children. quo remains in situ this safe- Safeguarding Alliance is being icant and very dangerous lobby the UK parliato used continin the Criminal guarding loophole will to ment for a legal change 31, ue to pose a threat, not just of management of sex offenders. We reported how Ben Lewis, Nationals, but to the rest how the current by deed had changed his name British UK world putting children and It explains on the registered poll, applied for a newcriminal the most vulnerable at risk,” system relies to notify the pothose sex offender passport, and dodged on she warned. of any name hun- lice with details record checks despite being “There are potentially - of change, alongside any change the UK’s sex offenders register. infora state- dreds - if not thousands of address and passport Police in Spain issued Lew- known sex offenders slipping UK to mation. ment last week describing as he is under the radar in the they “Currently the onus lies solely is - or Ben David Rose, and although work abroad where now known - as ‘a dangerous seek continue to abuse chil- with the offender notify, it is an offence to fail to a dechild sexual predator’. that he can she continued. this is not The National Police saida teach- dren,” loophole is arguably the one could argueoffender already had used his position as Madrid “This safeguarding scandal terrent as the to commit er at private schools in whom biggest seen and has the propensity ever has world the to gain access to children
THE DEED POLL LOOPHOLE
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MINISTERIO DE JUSTICIA
SD:Lzou-Jz3F-aZYs-CcBb de Verificación klmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789-$: Código Seguro
VE OLIVE PRESS EXCLUSI to investigation leads from child protection plea United Kingdom charity
protecTHE UK’s leading childSpain to tion group is calling for process tighten the recruitment of English teachers. The plea by The Safeguarding the Alliance aims to protect legal country against a British
THE SKY DOCTOR
May 5th - May 18th 2021
offence which could failure to so is a criminal five years imprisperson does not need IN the United Kingdom a to start using a new result in a term not exceeding onment. to follow an official process ‘deed poll’ to apply for However, evidence demonstrates that not every name, but they require a such as a new act with honesty and registered sex offender willas required. or to change official documents report a change of name discovered through passport. and easily online for This can be done simply that takes no longer The Safeguarding Alliance requests to 16 of the little or no cost in a process and can even be Freedom of Information 913 people with sex UK’s 46 police forces that gone missing after than 15 minutes to process cell. had completed from a prison Sexual Offences Act of offence convictions without informing the Under section 84 of the report a name change changing their names police. 2003, an offender must to the police, and within three working days
DE REGISTRO CENTRAL SEXUALES DELINCUENTES
Gerente Territorial
en https://sede.mjusticia.gob.es ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghij este documento Verificación: Seguro de Puede verificar del Código Juego de caracteres
voice in Spain
ss.es Vol. 15 Issue 368 www.theolivepre
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X
Mijas Costa
en ZARAGOZA
Sexuales, de Delincuentes del Registro Central la Base de Datos de la fecha, consultada Que, en el día relativa a: información penal NO CONSTA nº 22807454 ROSE con Pasaporte D./Dª BEN DAVID a la organización de febrero, relativa Consejo de 26 Estados miembros, 2009/315/JAI del penales entre los por otros Decisión Marco de antecedentes dispuesto en la las condenas impuestas de los registros sin Conforme a lo de información incluye, en su caso, hayan sido notificadas, del intercambio el presente certificado y al contenido en que tales condenas tipos delictivos ciudadanos españoles, en los mismos términos de condena y los tratándose de delictivos del Estado de la Unión Europea, entre los tipos Estados miembros una equiparación que exista necesariamente su expedición. nacionales. en la fecha de del titular interesado/a refleja la situación El presente certificado de agosto de 2017 Zaragoza a 29
CERTIFICA:
DANGER: Lewis gothelp teaching post, with of ‘fake’ papers the very serious crimes,” states Press. report, seen by the Olive and Through extensive research Allicase law The Safeguarding offendance has identified thatrequired ers are not notifying as chiland are continuing to abuse names dren by changing their and obfuscating their identities of Ben as seen through the case overLewis/Rose absconding seas to continue to abuse. Pagina 1 de 1
Ref: 00003143792/2017
Signature Not
Verified
Documento firmado
electrónicamente
Undermined
“As a result, the effectiveness the of important legislation, the Sex Offenders Register, Child Sex Offender Disclosure Violence Scheme, the Domestic DBS are Disclosure Scheme, the renundermined and effectively dered redundant,” it states. “The case of Ben Lewis/Rose be highlights why Spain should safeaware of this very seriousshould guarding loophole and movepioneer an international from ment to protect its childrenunder those abusers who slip change the radar using the name loophole,” Konstantas added.
Olive Press campaign demands urgent action to restore driving rights to thousands
Opinion Page 6
Continues on page 2
Bureaucracy
The Olive Press’ very own salesperson Tina Brace has also become a victim, despite living here for 24 years. “A combination of Spain’s infamous bureaucracy and impenetrable laws has left far too many people prejudiced,” said Olive Press editor Jon Clarke. “We intend to put pressure on the powers that be in both the UK and Spain to try and get this rule changed.” The problem came about after years of discussions regarding the right for British expats to swap their licences over to Spanish See page 5 ones. It started after a Brexit
Tel: 952 147 834 TM
t o
c o n d i t i o n s .
U T R U
THE Olive Press is launching a campaign to demand a U-turn in draconian new rules stopping thousands of British expats from driving in Spain. We have been sparked into action after hearing dozens of horror stories involving long-term residents around the country. Most were shunted into the hard shoulder after receiving poor advice from lawyers and gestors. They include pensioners, who have lived here for decades, employees of blue chip companies and even British lawyers, who were unable to get clear advice.
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In for life A BRITISH paedophile who the Olive Press revealed had changed his name by deed poll to forge legal documents to find work as a teacher in Spain has been sentenced to 138 years in prison by a court in Madrid. Ben David Rose was handed the jail term after being found guilty of producing child pornography involving 36 children after lying his way Estepona into one of OLIVE Madrid’s PRESS m o s t prestiSCHOOLS g i o u s PAEDO private LL CA schools. + + The case raised serious s a f e guarding concerns after it emerged FLASHBACK: Our exclusive he had been convicted for similar crimes in the UK and placed on the sex offenders register before moving to Spain where he found work as an au pair and then as an English teacher in several schools in the capital. The 32-year-old had in 2016 been convicted of sex crimes against children while running a summer camp in the UK when he used the name he was born with Ben David Lewis. In an investigation carried out by
Vol. 5 Issue 132
Your
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OLIVE PRESS
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MALLORCA
E n d s
3 1 / 1 2 / 1 9 .
21/6/19 13:30
EXCLUSIVE By George Mathias
transition period begun in January 2020. The apparently straightforward exchange was made more complicated however, due to the confusing rules, which varied by region… and of course the pandemic. While some expats were able to simply turn up and swap their licence others were bogged down by paperwork issues. A series of three extensions to give expats more time came to an end on April 30.
Marbella lawyer Mark Wilkins, from ROS Abogados, came unstuck after believing that common sense would prevail, as it has in many other EU countries. While he was able to transfer his licence in the nick of time, his wife was left out in the cold and can no longer legally drive here. So angry was the lawyer, who moved here from Surrey a few years ago, that he has had direct contact with UK transport secretary Grant Shapps over the debacle. He told the Olive Press: “It’s excellent you are doing this campaign which I fully support.
“I have great respect for your paper and its campaigning, but you will need the help of your friends at the embassy to push this through. Go on and kick ‘em!” He does however, remain fairly optimistic and during his conversations with Shapps he was told the problem would be ‘resolved shortly’ and that talks were ‘reasonably advanced’.
Imminent
“They seem to have their legs under the table,” he said, but insisted that no deal was ‘imminent’. “I feel a bit impotent and not sure what else I can do,” he added. The British Embassy meanwhile remained upbeat. “We are hopeful that an agreement will be reached in the coming weeks and remain fully committed to making this happen,” said a spokesperson. Home delivery She insisted it was untrue that the Spanish authoriServicio a domicilio ties had dynamited a deal because the UK refused to Set Meal give access to its vehicle da19.95€ tabase to chase up holidaydrink makers with unpaid fines. included The Foreign Commonwealth and Development C/.Fabrica, 5 Bajos, Office, which is responsiSanta Catalina, Palma ble for the gaffe, refused to (+34) 971 592 535 comment. Avenida de la Playa, No4, Palmanova, Calviá (+34) 971 68 04 94
See Page 5 Opinion Page 6
2
CRIME
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NEWS IN BRIEF Don’t go fish ALL octopus fishing is now banned in Mallorca for 60 days to try and replenish the dwindling population of the extremely popular seafood on the island.
Sikcos nicked TWO Brazilian men have been arrested for raping a Swiss woman in Magaluf last Friday night after convincing the drunken woman to get in their car for a lift where they violated her.
Pin up AUSTRALIAN supermodel Elle MacPherson arrived in Palma yesterday morning to attend a VIP gala at Son Amar organised by local real estate tycoon Marcel Remus.
Paedo prof A PALMA school teacher, aged 38, has been arrested for sexually harassing six female students online, in one instance asking a 15-yearold girl the size of her breasts via Instagram.
June 3rd - June 16th 2022
VIOLENT ARRIVAL
Fags blaze
A BRITISH tourist with an underlying psychological condition had to be restrained at Palma Airport after attacking and biting police officers at passport control. The 20-year-old female was drunk and had apparently not been taking her medication. The woman was very aggressive and tried to push to the front. She then assaulted police who had told her to calm down.
POLICE have arrested 13 tourists after they set fire to a bar terrace with cigarette butts. The Germans were partying on a hotel balcony and were spotted tossing alcohol onto the s’Arenal de Llucmajor bar’s awning followed by lit cigarettes. Soon after, residents reported hearing an explosion. The bar was closed at the time and flames quickly spread with large plumes of smoke seen over a wide area. Two people needed treatment for smoke inhalation.
AN ALLEGED mafia boss has been released on bail from prison. Bashkim Osmani (pictured) was arrested in February at a hotel he owns in Croatia and was extradited to Spain, where he has now been released from Palma prison after paying bail of €400,000. The conditions of the bail include his passport having been confiscated, and having to report to court twice a month. Osmani was put behind bars following Operation Casino, a huge international operation involving 600
Let out ‘Mafia boss’ at centre of €30m probe is out of prison By Kimberly Mannion
officers centred on money laundering and drug trafficking. It involved both Policia Nacional and Guardia Civil, along with the FBI and several European police forces. A total of 18
A GROUP of German tourists have been jailed for six months, suspended for three years, for attacking jet-ski instructors and fellow holiday makers after being told to stop swigging vodka. The three men, aged 20, 23, and 24 will also have to pay €315 each in compensation for injuries caused, as well as paying for damage caused to two jet skis. The incident unfolded in August last year on El Arenal beach when one of them was told by the instructors to pay
properties were raided in Mallorca and Formentera, with €200,000 in cash and €40,000 in cryptocurrencies seized, along with several luxury watches. The criminal network,
Jet-louts attention and stop drinking. The trio started punching and spitting at the instructors, one of whom was thrown into the sea, as well as other tourists. One of the culprits also shouted towards the instructors: “Sons of bitches, I’ll kill your mother. When I come back from having killed her, I’ll kill you too.”
which he was allegedly head of, moved large amounts of cocaine between Europe and South America according to the investigation. The alleged mafia man came to Mallorca in 1999 and bought the Ritzi de Portals restaurant in Portals Nous, in Calvia, which was then under a different name.
Criminal
A five million euro building was then commissioned to be built by the accused before Guardia Civil opened an investigation into him and his alleged criminal organisation in 2018. Osmani is suspected of laundering €30 million over more than a decade.
PAEDO VICTORY From front
the Olive Press last year, it emerged that within days of being handed a suspended sentence and placed on the sex offenders list he changed his name by deed poll from Ben Lewis to Ben David, applied for a new passport and fled to Spain. With a new name and passport he was able to pass criminal record checks which he used alongside doctored education diplomas to gain employment, first at a well known English academy, followed by a teaching role at a bilingual concertado and finally at an expensive British syllabus private school in Madrid’s upmarket Arturo Soria, where he was arrested in June, 2020. Police were tipped off to the presence of a ‘dangerous sexual predator’ working in Madrid schools after an investigation by police in Australia into the online sexual exploitation of children identified that someone in Madrid was making and distributing images.
Naked
In a trial that began in early May the court heard how the defendant who used the name ‘Ben David’ and ‘Ben David Rose’ first gained employment as an au pair caring for three young children in Zaragoza. He photographed the children naked, photoshopped images of his own genitals into the shot, and posted them on the dark web. He also took sexual photographs of some 30 students under his care at a private school in Madrid, often by ‘upskirting’ – secretly filming up their skirts – and uploading them onto the child porn sites.
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Smoking!
THE Red Hot Chili Peppers are playing the first gig of their new tour in Sevilla. They will take to La Cartuja stage on Saturday, the first venue of a new tour that will see them visit 32 cities. Their second stop will be at Estadi Olimpic in Barcelona on June 7. The group is expected to perform classic hits like ‘Under the Bridge’ and ‘Californication’ as well as new tracks from their forthcoming album. All Spain gigs will feature warm up shows from US rapper A$ap Rocky and funk-rocker Thundercat.
Obama to visit
FORMER US President Barack Obama will be visiting Spain - but if you want to take part in a Q&A session with him it will cost you a cool €1,990. He will participate in the Digital Enterprise Show 2022 (DES 2022) in Malaga from June 14-16. The 44th US President will hold a question and answer session, but the only way to take part is to buy a three day ‘Honour Pass’ for just under €2,000. Obama is no stranger to Spain. He toured the country as a young man and has since visited several times, with wife Michelle and his daughters staying in Marbella and Mallorca.
YOU WHAT?: Pricey!
HOLA MADRID!
England stars herald a bumper summer EXCLUSIVE By Dilip Kuner
SHAKIRA has lost her appeal to dismiss charges that she defrauded Spain’s tax office of €14 million and will face trial, a court has ruled. The 45-year-old singer is alleged to have failed to pay taxes on income earned between 2012 and 2014 when the tax office claims she was living in Spain. But the Colombian pop star‘s legal team claims she only moved permanently to Spain in 2015
STARS: Jack Grealish (left) and Kyle Walker with (inset left) Jordan Pockford and HarryMaguire happy to see them, saying: “They’re coming thick and fast now. Harry and Kyle and Jordan is out for a couple of weeks with his family. I hope to get a round of golf in with them too.” Meanwhile, fellow England star - and team mate of Kyle Walker at champions Manchester City - Jack Grealish arrived in Ibiza.
Shak tax date
and has paid tax here ever since. The prosecutor’s office could ask for a prison sentence as well as a substantial fine but no court date has yet been set. Shakira has been in a relationship with FC Barcelona player Gerard Pique since 2011 and the pair have two children.
The England international was in a jovial mood during the celebrations, with instagram footage from his teammates showing him in a somewhat inebriated state and speaking with a hoarse voice. He was photographed alongside Gary Lineker’s younger brother Wayne at O Beach Ibiza, which the 58-year-old owns and is known to be a celeb hotspot. The England stars are not the only ones expected to arrive in Spain on the back of a post-pandemic surge in tourism. Radford said: “We’re trading 25 to 30% up in sales over the winter months. It’s been the best start to a year ever for us - and it beats 2019. “Business is really, really good. La Sala Beach is so far 40% up on our best year. We had over 10,000 pre-reservations before we even opened at the beach.”
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Chilling to cool
THE Rolling Stones arrived in true rock n roll style in Madrid, touching down in their very own branded plane ahead of the start of their European tour. Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Ronnie Wood stepped out of their private jet emblazoned with the iconic tongue sticking out of a pair of lips logo. The trio waved and laughed as they made their way down the staircase of the jet and onto a red carpet. This will be the first European tour since the death of the band’s legendary drummer Charlie Watts, who died last August at the age of 80.
BACK OF THE NET!
SPAIN scores with the sporty set and it looks like it’s gameon for another outbreak of footy fever this summer. Barely had the season ended then English football stars had hopped on a plane and headed for the Costa del Sol and the Baleares. England stars Kyle Walker, Harry Maguire and Jordan Pickford arrived at favourite watering hole La Sala in Puerto Banus to finally let their hair down after a long season of kicking a ball around. La Sala boss Ian Radford was
June 3rd - June 16th 2022
HE has long been an acting icon but now at the age of 84 Sir Anthony Hopkins is set to become a fashion icon. The double Oscar and four-time BAFTA winner has been unveiled as the ‘face’ of Spanish brand Loewe in a new campaign. The Welsh superstar, who played cannibal killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, Lambs, modelled for celebrity photographer Juergen Teller. Actors, artists, singers, athletes, and models have been portrayed in different locations, both indoors and outdoors. But the one that stands out the most is Hopkins. Here, he poses in a long black coat, gold appliques, an eye-catching T-shirt printed with multicoloured donuts, and is pointing at a brown leather XL bag. It's all a far cry from the prison garb he wore as Lecter - from chilling to cool!
Off again SPAIN’S former King Juan Carlos returned to exile in Abu Dhabi after meeting with son King Felipe VI in Madrid. He came expecting ‘hugs’ but what happened behind closed doors at Zarzuela Palace between him and his son King Felipe VI remains private. It was the first time father and son - the old monarch and the King he abdicated for - have met face to face since he went into self-imposed exile in 2020.
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Missed flights UK passengers travelling to Palma experienced flight delays of up to two hours, with at least two flights being cancelled. The UK government has blamed airlines for not having enough staff for such a high number of holiday-makers. There were 162 scheduled flights to and from Palma airport on Tuesday, leading to long queues at both check-in desks and arrivals.
Blame
The airlines claimed they have struggled to find new staff, blaming the UK government for a lack of help received as the post Covid bounce continues. The situation also affected passengers landing in Spain, creating long queues at passport controls as well as for buses and taxis. Budget airline EasyJet cancelled 42 flights from Gatwick airport on Tuesday, affecting over 600 passengers.
A BRITISH teenager was seriously injured after surviving a fall from the fourth-floor balcony of his Mallorca hotel. The man, 19, was said to be ‘very drunk’ after arriving back via taxi to the BQ Belvedere Hotel in San Agusti, Palma at around 3.00am. He travelled back alone and shortly after entering his room, he went to the
June 3rd - June 16th 2022
Balcony plunge balcony and fell from a height of over 10 metres. He miraculously survived the fall but suffered multiple fractures including a broken leg. Paramedics stabilised him before he was taken to Son Espases Hospital. His condition was described as ‘serious’.
NO HELP By Simon Wade
was rushed to Torrevieja hospital on the Costa Blanca with his residencia documents and his SIP card. But despite suffering from agonising pain in his back and right arm the former signwriter was ‘abandoned’ for 13 hours, sit-
SMOKING has been banned in The Misericordia Gardens and the Balearic stadium in Palma. The move has been pushed for by the Spanish Association Against Cancer in the Balearics in collaboration with the Council of Mallorca and the Atletico de Baleares football team. The ban will start when the new football season begins in August alongside
ting in a wheelchair. “I was in agony, they knew that, but they did nothing - I was so let down by them,” he told the Olive Press. Finally, after waiting until midnight he was taken back home in San Fulgencio by a friend. The following day his local GP in La Marina insisted he needed to go back for x-rays.
Super stub a health campaign to remind people about the health problems associated with smoking. According to the Association’s data, there are traces of tobacco smoke in almost every public area, including public areas designed for children.
A NORWEGIAN teenager may be paralysed for life after jumping into the shallow end of a Magaluf beach club swimming pool. The accident happened at 1.30am at the Ocean’s Beach club on Calle Charles Sasson after he had been out drinking with friends.
Neck
Expat pensioner sat in agony for 20 hours waiting for treatment at troubled hospital AN EXPAT octogenarian discharged himself from a costa hospital TWICE after sitting a total of 20 hours waiting for attention. Brain Snell, 84, had suffered a fall on his way back home from the UK and then collapsed while with friends the following day. The widower, from London,
Horror dive
After typing out a letter headed ‘urgent’ he was sent back to A&E. But it made no difference and after sitting in another wheelchair for seven hours, he decided to go home in a taxi. “Despite having everything I needed, why did they leave me for so long?” he asked After a week of self-medication, the pain has only just subsided. It is far from the first time we have reported on poor treatment at Torrevieja hospital. Shocking care routines and huge queues have already resulted in one death and an unnecessary leg amputation, according to readers. The hospital refused to comment.
The 19-year-old fractured his spinal cord and broke his neck after diving into water that was barely halfa-metre deep. He also suffered a serious head injury and was taken to the ICU of Son Espases Hospital in Palma. His family have been told that the man may never walk again.
MAY DAY MAY DAY IT is official. May 21 was the hottest day in May since records began. The mercury soared to above 40ºC in many parts of inland Spain as a mass of hot air drifted in from the Sahara. The temperature was up to 15ºC above the seasonal average.
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ony and Mandy Heaton both left well-paid jobs in the East Midlands to buy a house in Quesada, Alicante, in August 2020 during the transition period. They were approved for residency in the second week of November, but the post Brexit backlog meant they could not get an appointment to apply for permanent residency until February with their cards only arriving in April.
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Odd one out!
To make matters worse, Mandy, who had just secured a job as a chef 10 kilometres away, could not take up her position as she was unable to commute. She even purchased an electric bike and planned on cycling 30 minutes, but by the time it arrived, they had given the job to someone else. “We are running down our savings and we now cannot afford the money it would cost for us to learn to drive and pass our test. We might have to abandon our plans and move back to the UK”, the upset couple explained.
Thousands make demands
IN REVERSE
Brits in Spain launch petition to call for driving licence recognition
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Margaret and Eric Wilkinson, who spend six months a year in Oliva on the Costa Blanca, wanted to make sure they were doing everything by the book. The pensioners, from Leeds, hired a lawyer to help them swap their licence and submitted their applications in September 2020, during the Brexit Transition period. They were told they had to register their intention to swap their licences by December 31 2020. However their lawyer incorrectly insisted they could not register their intention to swap their licences as the system would not accept NIE numbers, only TIE numbers. “Obviously we accepted this as fact so as a result did not register by the deadline,” said Margaret, who retired in 2011. This is the crux of the issue - advice given varied widely depending on the region and in many cases different rules were arbitrarily applied.
They then obtained a medical certificate to demonstrate they were fit to drive from a clinic in Guardamar, which assured them everything was in place. “We were told everything would be fine, but we could not get an appointment with the DGT.’ They were then told the only way to solve it was to drive to Elche DGT, but when they got there they were refused entry as they did not have an appointment. “We are being held to ransom by those at the top,” Tony, a former engineer, said.
THOUSANDS of people have signed a petition calling for the Spanish government to recognise British driving licences. The recently-launched document has so far got 2,500 people demanding action.
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It comes after the Spanish government refused to extend a transition deal to swap licences for a fourth time. It meant that from May 1, Brits who have been in Spain for longer than six months are no lon-
DEAD END STREET
OLIVE PRESS sales rep Tina Brace has been driven to distraction by the new ‘draconian’ rules that have stopped her from driving in Spain. Brace, who has lived in Malaga for 24 years, had been hearing ‘continually conflicting news’ about what she needed to do to get a new Spanish licence. As well as talking to a lawyer and a gestor, she sought advice from the British embassy. “I was continually being told that an agreement
ger allowed to legally drive here on a British licence. Instead they must pass the Spanish driving test, an ordeal that has left thousands of expats without a means to drive a car. The petition, titled ‘Seek to ne-
was in place like the other European countries. It made perfect sense and so I stayed optimistic,” she explains. “Then out of the blue as the third deadline approached I was told by friends I had to pay for a medical certificate in order to swap my licence over. Then a month later I was told it wasn’t necessary, but when I scrambled to get things done on time it was too late.” She adds: “As a field saleswoman, I can now only speak to clients over the phone. I’m down to shanks’s pony!”
gotiate mutual recognition of UK and Spanish driving licences’ was launched by a group of anonymous expats.“There are many factors which affected expats' ability to register their intent to exchange their UK licence prior to the December 2020 deadline imposed as a result of Brexit,” explains the petition. “Please help expats who are stuck in Spain and need to be able to drive to access shops, doctors, and hospitals.” The petition can be signed at petition.parliament.uk. Online petitions require 10,000 signatures for an official response from the UK government while 100,000 signatures guarantees it is considered for debate in Parliament.
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STUCK IN FIRST GEAR
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June 3rd - June 16th 2022
MOST European countries are happy to allow Brits to swap their driving licences for domestic ones. And curiously, France - which normally takes a hardline against ‘le rosbif’ - has one of the most lenient rules in place. Here, the Olive Press takes a look at the map: In France if your UK licence was issued before January 1, 2021 then it is recognised in France for as long as it is valid. In Greece if you hold a valid UK licence you can drive around without ANY restrictions. In Germany, Austria and Cyprus you can swap for the local counterpart without taking a test within six months. In Iceland, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Belgium, and Switzerland you can drive with your licence, but are advised to swap ‘as soon as possible’. Negotiations between Italy and the UK have been less smooth. Currently residents can drive using their UK licence until the end of the year, however they must take an Italian driving test within that time to swap it. Similar to Spain, both the UK and Italian governments continue to negotiate long-term arrangements for exchanging driving licences without needing to take a test.
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A campaigning, community newspaper, the Olive Press represents the huge expatriate community in Spain with an estimated readership, including the websites, of more than two million people a month.
OPINION Horsepower to the people IT’S time to kick the mandarins into gear! The grey-shirted ghosts of Whitehall (and Madrid) need to pay heed to the shameless way they have again sold thousands of expats down the river! As if dealing with the shambles of Brexit was not enough. We are now, yet again, in the front line of the problems being caused by Boris and co’s disastrous withdrawal agreement. But when the man in charge is Grant Shapps, is it any wonder that talks have stalled this badly? The tricky Transport Minister once ran businesses under the pseudonyms ‘Michael Green’ and ‘Corinne Stockheath’ to avoid declaring income outside of his job as an MP. He was also exposed as having spent significant time editing his very own Wikipedia page. But this is not just Shapps’ failure. Spain must also take the blame. The very fact that it’s the only country, apart from Italy, forcing expats into the hard shoulder, says everything. When even the French are being more favourable to us Brits, you know something, somewhere, has gone badly wrong. The Olive Press is taking a stand and saluting the 95% of European countries who are letting common sense prevail. We hope you will join our campaign and support it. And just like previous campaigns to act on drink spiking, protecting our coasts or the mountains from golf developers, we will not give up. With the backing of you, our readers, who pour tens of millions into the Spanish economy every year, we believe this is a fight we can win. Send us your thoughts at newsdesk@theolivepress.es and, of course, sign the petition at petition.parliament.uk PUBLISHER / EDITOR
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AGE OF THE SUPERFIRE W As temperatures rise and we enter fire season, Sorrel Downer looks back at the 10 most dramatic blazes
ITH a drought and unseasonal high temperatures, no wonder AEMET (the Met Office) has been issuing extreme fire risk warnings. Spain has an average of 11,700 forest fires a year. Small ones are nature’s way of clearing out dead vegetation and making way for the new, but a lot of these are big. In fact, the number of large blazes (anything spreading
Riotinto Mines (Huelva) July 27, 2004 The worst fire in Andalucia in 20 years, started with two bins set alight on the hottest day of the year, and raged through 30,000 hectares of pine, oak and cork forest. A married couple from Sevilla died trying to escape when their car got stuck in a ditch. A man was arrested on suspicion of arson but released.
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over 500 hectares) has increased 20% in the last decade. Nearly half the municipalities in Spain are within High Risk Zones for fires, though most fires aren’t where you’d expect them to be, in the hot, dry south, but in the northwest: Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the provinces of Leon and Zamora account for nearly 60% of fires and 86% of the area affected.
Nine hikers from Madrid had a barbecue in the picnic area near the prehistoric Cueva de Casares then left to swim in the river. The wind reignited the embers and fire spread through the surrounding dry scrubland at speeds up to 121/km
Tejeda (Las Palmas) - July, 2007 To persuade his boss that fires were always a risk therefore his summer season contract should be extended, a forest ranger stopped his car en route to work, took out his matches and started an inferno that destroyed 19,200 hectares. Judged stupid rather than mentally ill, the arsonist was sentenced to eight months in prison. "I didn’t want to cause this catastrophe,” he said, “it just got out of hand".
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Sometimes the cause is natural, for example, the molten lava spewed by the Cumbre Vieja volcano in La Palma, or lightning, responsible for three in 100 fires. But 95% of the time wildfires are caused by humans making a mistake as they go about their business in extreme weather and a tinder-dry landscape, and occasionally, on purpose. Here are 10 of the worst fires in Spain this century.
Riba de Saelices (Guadalajara) - July 16, 2005 hour, destroying 12,800 hectares. Eleven firefighters – the youngest just 22 – died, just metres away from safety, trapped behind a wall of flames when the wind switched direction.
Horta de Sant Joan, Tarragona - July 21 2009 The fire destroyed over 1000 hectares of the Els Ports Natural Park but it was also one of Spain’s worst this century in terms of human cost: Five firefighters from the Grupo de Actuaciones Forestales died fighting the blaze. A sixth, Josep Pallas, suffered serious burns, but, incredibly, later returned to work for the fire service. The cause wasn’t lightning, as first supposed, but two men who had lit a bonfire.
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EXTREME SURVIVOR Earth’s oldest living species gets a helping hand
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ITH three eyes, hundreds of legs, and elongated antennae, these critters are not going to win any beauty contests. Yet they are fascinating organisms. In fact, they are the oldest living species on planet earth – 300 million years old (you read that correctly) – out-surviving dinosaurs, mammoths, and mastodons by a long chalk. Known in everyday vernacular as Tadpole Shrimp and scientifically as ‘Triops cancriformis’, these are extreme survivors. Throughout their 300-million-year history, the Triops’ skeletal structure has remained unchanged. Today’s tadpoles are virtually indistinguishable from their distant ancestors. They can survive floods and droughts, boiling water and ice and are found in
the Arctic as well as geothermal waters. They can survive Hiroshima-type radiation because their eggs are able to go dormant for centuries until more favourable conditions resume. Uniquely, triops build ‘egg banks’ enabling their population to persist through bad times. And experiments have shown that the tadpoles can even survive in space!
Poison
They can self-fertilize as they possess both testes and ovaries. First described by Charles Darwin, this reproductive mode has the advantage of allowing a single individual to perpetuate the population. But all is not well with these crustaceans. In spite of the remarkable survivability of the species, there has been a progressive disappearance of the tadpole shrimp. Declining habitat, landscape changes, poisons and pesticides, and climate change have all drastically modified their populations. However, recent research by Valencian scientists dedicated to saving the tadpole shows there is hope. Valencian bodies, in concert with universities, have taken an active role in protecting and preserving the population of
Triops. The Valencian Ministry of Climate Emergency and Ecological Transition has begun breeding them in laboratories and rebuilding new populations in local protected areas. They have achieved success in the Natural Park of the Sierra de Espadan (Castellon) and in Albufera National Park near El Palmar, Valencia. In parallel, local university students have received international recognition for their research. Student scientists at the Santa Maria Vila-Real School won national acclaim for their study entitled Triops Cancriformis: How to survive Climate Change. Their project received a medal at the prestigious Science Genius Olympiad in New York. Meanwhile, student scientists at the University of Valencia, working with the Valencian
June 3rd - June 16th 2022
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BEHIND THE COSTA DEL CRIME
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Tejeda (Las Palmas) - September 20, 2017
Corte de Pallás & Andilla (Valencia) - June 28, 2012
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Two men chose a 40-degree day to install solar panels at a casa de campo. A welding spark
plus strong wind combined to whip up an inferno that destroyed 30,000 hectares, affected a dozen communities, and resulted in the death of a fire services helicopter pilot. In this one incident, half a million tons of CO2 was released into the atmosphere – the amount produced by 380,000 cars in a year. The next day, in Andilla, 100km to the north, a farmer who had allegedly been burning stubble, started a fire that devastated a further 22,500 hectares. .
Wildlife Service, have developed a ‘thermal insulator’ and provided further evidence that the species has survived due to the incredible resistance of its eggs. Collectively, as a result of these efforts, Triops – the bizarre-looking tadpole – will soon be a protected species, incorporated into the official Valencian Catalogue of Threatened Fauna Species. Given the threat to today’s habitat and climate, the need to pursue and understand the attributes of an extreme survivor is paramount. Carl Sagan once famously said, ‘extinction is the rule, survival is the exception’. Given the work done by the Valencian scientific community, let’s hope that the tadpole shrimp, can challenge Sagan’s theory – at least for the next 300 million years.
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Started by a shepherd burning brush to clear a grazing area in the old, traditional – but illegal in summer – way. Rain helped bring the blaze under control after four days, but not before thousands had been evacuated and a Swedish woman, Carin Brigitta Ostman had died.
Galicia and Portugal - October 5, 2017 Not a single fire, but an apocalyptic cluster of fires that jumped and reignited and covered a total of 300,000 hectares on either side of the border in the space of a week. Experts say dry, hurricane force winds pushed in by tropical front Ophelia made a bad situation a disaster. In total, 49 people died.
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Valleseco (Gran Canaria) August 10, 2019
Navalacruz (Avila) August 14, 2021
A badly maintained power line rubbing against a pine tree at the bottom of a forested ravine caused a fire that lasted 40 days, destroyed 10,000 hectares and resulted in 10,000 people being evacuated. Though not categorised as a sixth generation fire, this inferno created its own weather system, with swirling winds and a column of cloud visible from space.
A motorcyclist saw smoke coming from a vehicle on the Avila-Cordoba road, and flagged the driver down. But the engine was on fire, the grass on the verge caught and, propelled by 70km gusts, a wall of flames rushed across 22,000 hectares of farmland and forest, all dried out after a heatwave of 38-degree days, to become the worst fire in the history of Castilla y Leon.
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RESSED up like spokesmen for ETA - or a pair of armed robbers - the Olive Press has been getting behind the scenes of Spain’s crack National Police detectives this week. At an unknown, unmarked HQ on the Costa del Sol the team of 30 investigators go about their business in secret and with stealth. Getting new orders from Madrid every month and with the group constantly changing means they are among the hardest to corrupt in Europe. Their success rate is staggering and there are only four such teams in all of Spain, we discovered. The Olive Press has been helping to tell their story in a new crime series on Amazon due out this Autumn. Our team of journalists, including Jorge Hinojosa (pictured), are also interviewing their counterparts at the Guardia Civil, as well as grilling a series of politicians this month. All thanks to our knowledge and contacts on the infamous Costa del Crime, where we have been based for nearly two decades. The exciting commission from one of the world’s biggest TV streaming companies comes hot on the heels of various jobs for Sky TV, the BBC and Times Radio over recent weeks. And that’s not to mention a key role for editor Jon Clarke in a recent Sat1 German TV documentary on the Madeleine McCann case.
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SIERRA BERMEJA (MALAGA) - SEPTEMBER 8, 2021 This was the first sixth generation fire to be registered in Spain. Linked to climate change, superfires – as they’re known – are extremely explosive, high speed and erratic. It burned through 10,000 hectares in the mountains above the Costa del Sol, caused 3000 people
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to be evacuated, and cost the life of firefighter Carlos Martinez Haro. Investiga-
tors suspect it was started with a flammable liquid in three places.
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S skilled and courage firefighters are, the ous as Spain’s creasingly dangero y face an inwith the advent of us challenge the superfire. Even more effort is be tion, into making Spaining put into prevenpersuading people no more fireproof, and t to be idiots. Do you part, and keep vigilant. r FOR FIRE EMERGENC
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Crying wolf A BID to overturn Spain’s wolf hunting ban by Spain’s conservative opposition party has been rejected by parliament. The Popular Party (PP), supported by several farming organisations, were seeking to repeal a law that came into force last September designating wolves as a protected species.
Welfare
The issue has become the latest battleground in Spain’s continuing animal welfare debate with farmers claiming wolves are a menace that cause immeasurable damage to farmers’ livelihoods while naturalists say they are a vital part of the ecosystem. Thanks in a large part to restrictions on hunting Spain and Portugal are now thought to be home to about 3,000 wolves, the largest lupine population in Europe, according to data from Ecologists in Action, a conservation group.
June 3rd - June 16th 2022
MEATY DEMO By Alex Trelinski
GREENPEACE protestors dressed staged a protest at the headquarters of Murcia-based meat company El Pozo. Around 20 environmentalists struck at different areas of the firm’s Alhama de Murcia complex. Protestors blocked off access to the main building and displayed banners opposing macro-farming and demanding a five-year moratorium on such farming. Group members changed one of the company slogans from ‘El Pozo for the environment’ to ‘El Pozo kills the environment’. A Greenpeace statement said
Greenpeace target El Pozo over nitrate pollution
the protest was about ‘exposing a company which benefits the most in Spain from the destructive business of macro-farms’. The lobby group has called for a meeting with El Pozo bosses. They want them to ‘develop a plan to reduce the number of exploited animals’ as the only ‘effective way to reduce the brand’s brutal environmental impact’. Greenpeace claims nitrates from El Pozo’s macro-farms are contaminating drinking water supplies in surround-
ing towns and villages. An investigation last year suggested that slurry from pig farms was a key factor in polluting the Mar Menor lagoon with excess nitrates. Consumer Affairs minister, Alberto Garzon, angered farmers and meat produc-
ers at the start of the year by saying meat production from large farms is ‘causing the end of Spain’. El Pozo in 2018 was among the top 40 richest companies in Spain and one of the 25 main meat producers in the world, according to Greenpeace.
Hot and cold SPAIN will impose limits on air-conditioning in public buildings this summer in a bid to slash its energy bill as prices soar. Civil servants will have to endure a minimum temperature of 27ºC during the hottest months under measures published in a government decree. In winter, offices will not be heated above a maximum of 19ºC. The plan is part of an EU-wide effort to reduce dependence on Russian energy designed to reduce Spain’s central administration’s energy usage by 25%.
Cigarettes don’t just poison smokers - they poison the environment too I’VE never understood smoking. My father died when I was 14 of throat cancer caused by smoking. I could not see what was big, clever, or attractive about poisoning yourself. I accept the freedom of choice argument. If you want to adversely affect your health, all well and good. However, polluting the environment is not acceptable. Some 4.5 trillion cigarettes are discarded every year worldwide. That’s 4,500,000,000,000. That’s a lot of noughts! They are the most littered item on Earth. According to the World Health Organisation, tobacco waste contains up to 7,000 toxic chemicals. The plastic in the filters takes up to 10
A BUTT TIME
Green
years to biodegrade. Commonly found in the bodies of dead fish and seabirds, they can also be lethal to freshwater and marine species. A BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR CATALUNYA In a bid to reduce pollution, smoking will be banned on all of Barcelona’s beaches from next month. The Spanish government is also planning to make it illegal to smoke on the outside terraces of bars and restaurants, and at open-air sports venues. Their next initiative is pure genius. Catalunya will introduce cigarette butt recycling as a source of income. The Catalan government is planning to pay €4 to people who hand over a pack’s worth of cigarette butts at nominated recycling points. WIN WIN This initiative could become a source of income for homeless people. Sreets and beaches will become cleaner. The stroke of genius is that all of this will be funded by raising the tax on every cigarette sold by 20 cents. The environment wins, and people
SAY NO: For the sake of the environment are deterred from smoking as the cost of a packet of cigarettes will almost double. This isn’t about revenue generation. It’s to reduce the environmental impact of these filthy fag ends. The Spanish government is introducing a law that will prohibit the sale of plastic cotton buds, cutlery, and plastic straws. Cigarette butts are not yet covered by law, so this is a great initiative. Why should the minority pollute the majority? (19.7% of Spaniards smoke on a daily basis).
Martin Tye is the owner of energy switch company Mariposa Energy. +34 638145664 ( Spain Phone ) Email him at martin@mariposaenergia.es
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LA CULTURA FAKING IT
Goya’s return
SPAIN’S Goya Awards for film will return to Sevilla next year, it has been announced. Considered by many in Spain as their country’s equivalent of the American Academy Awards, the 38th Goya Awards will be held in Sevilla at the start of 2023. It will be the second time the ceremony has been held in the Andalucian capital, the first being in 2019. The last time the awards were held in the city was only the second time in their history that they had been held outside Madrid, after having been held in Barcelona in the year 2000. Andalucia also got another turn when Malaga hosted in 2020, while this year’s awards were held in Valencia. President of the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain, which runs the Goya Awards, Mariano Barroso commended “the Andalusian city’s commitment to Spanish and European cinema and culture”.
WITH the coming of the internet came an explosion of ‘fake news’ but a new exhibition shows that there is nothing new about it. The exhibition at the National Library of Spain (BNE) in Madrid shows that fake news was a thing hundreds of years before former US President Donald Trump popularised the phrase during his 2016 election campaign. And the fake news even pre-dated newspapers, with crazy tales of mermaids and
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children with horns, printed on single sheets of paper. The BNE holds a valuable collection of old documents littered with propaganda from the 16th and 17th centuries encompassing around 4,000 documents from Spain as well as other European cities and Spanish colonial cities. Many of the stories fall into the same categories covered by modern journalism: pol-
THIS summer Mallorca’s beaches will welcome a free open air cinema. Cinema Lliure will debut on beaches in capital Palma, as well as the towns of Andratx in the southwest and Pollenca in the north of the Balearic island. Admission is free and open to anyone who wants to join the beach screening with no reservation required. A total of six films will be shown a c r o s s the variou beaches, with one subtitled in English. Life was that will
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Dodgy tales on show in new exhibition
By Kimberly Mannion
Has-bean itics, war, religious events and sporting events like bull fights, the latter of course being in 16th century Span-
Mallorca’s beach cinema be played in Spanish with English subtitles on Tamarells beach in Pollenca on Thursday, June 30, and on Can Pastilla beach in Palma on Saturday, July 2. The film follows two Spanish women from different generations who meet in a hospital in Belgium and form an unlikely friendship. Several short films shot on the island will also be screened before each movie, as well as films by Mallorca´s film students.
OP QUICK CROSSWORD 1
June 3rd - June 16th 2022
ish fashion. The types of propaganda found in this early journalism is perhaps more obviously false than the fake news of today. Popular stories during the ‘Golden Age’ included appearances of monsters, mermaids, giants and talking fish.
Enemies
Institutions like the Church were among the first in society to recognise the power of the printed word with military tales or cases of non-believers printed under the words ‘enemies of the church’. Elsewhere in Spanish printed media at the time, popular falsehoods included military victories which did not actually happen.
TRADITIONAL Valencian paella is under threat from global warming, warn researchers, who fear one of the key ingredients is nearing extinction as temperatures rise. The essential elements of a paella are rice, water,olive oil, saffron, tomato, flat green beans, chicken, rabbit and a variety of lima bean known as garrafon in Spanish.
Threat
It is the latter that researchers believe is at threat from rising temperatures making too warm to grow the bean variety in that part of Spain. Lead researcher on the project, Mario X. Ruiz, explained: “Our research identifies the most fragile varieties (of bean) in the face of the effects of climate change, so conserving them is a priority.”
We are open – See you soon! Across 7 Operatic lyrics (8) 8 Torn clothing (4) 9 Seal round a ship’s propeller shaft (5) 10 Restaurant practice desired by waiters (7) 12 Heroes matter when allocated a saint (6,6) 14 Coordinated sequences of chess moves (12) 16 Use up (7) 18 Gold, silver or bronze award (5) 20 Comes together (4) 21 Brought about (8)
The Costa de la Luz’s most emblematic restaurant and hotel. In the stunning white town of Vejer de la Frontera.
Down 1 Venetian bridge (6) 2 Margaret Thatcher’s birthplace (8) 3 Label of incorporation (3) 4 Bluebottle (9) 5 Support (4) 6 Items for a meeting (6) 11 Essex town between Bishop’s Stortford and Colchester (9) 13 Lofty place (8) 14 Masticated (6) 15 Approached (6) 17 “--- we forget” (Kipling, “Recessional”) (4) 19 Company’s top money manager (1,1,1)
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BUSINESS Food gloom June 3rd June 16th 2022
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Pockets hit by €200 a year and more price hikes to come
ANNUAL food costs are expected to rise by an average €200 per family in Spain this year according to an Allianz Food Inflation survey. The yearly food spend is projected to go up to €2,300 due to rising prices but the study says further hikes are likely. Food costs in Spain are lower than the EU average, which comes in €200 higher per annum at €2,500. Increases in fuel, electricity, and fertiliser costs caused firstly by the Covid-19 pandemic and then the war in Ukraine, are seen as the main contributory factors to the price hikes.
Events in the Ukraine have affected the supply of basic foods such as wheat and sunflower oil, with prices going up for alternative sources. The Allianz report warns the situation could get much worse as current food prices are not rising at the same proportion as increases in raw material costs over the
BIO FLIGHTS BIOFUEL produced in Spain has been used to power long haul flights from Madrid to the United States. Iberia flew its first long haul flight using the eco-friendly fuel from Madrid to Washington, and will fly two more this week to San Francisco and Dallas. The biofuel is produced at the Repsol refinery in Bilbao, Basque Country. The more environmental fuel means that these three flights will emit 125 tons less CO2 than they otherwise would have.
past 18 months. It warns that food and beverage producers in the EU have already increased their prices by an average of 14% since the beginning of 2021.
Pasta
In supermarkets, the most significant price increases have been for oils (+53 %), flour (+28%) and pasta (+19%). The average of a full food shopping trip though has only gone up by 6% as retailers have absorbed around 50% of price hikes to consumers. Allianz warns that high inflation coupled with reduced sales will add pressure to the profitability of businesses, which will probably work its way into a further 'increase in consumer prices'.
Dear Jennifer:
ENJOY YOUR TRIP! Make sure you have peace of mind when you make travel plans
H
OW wonderful that people can travel again. Let’s hope this carries on and we don’t have a return to the restrictions and paperwork. Hopefully there will be a lot more appreciation and realisation of what we had before Covid. I am delighted to inform you that we are working with a very successful travel insurance provider and we at Jennifer Cunningham Insurance can give you a no obligation quotation if you are a resident in Spain, with single trip and annual cover to meet your needs. Single Trip Travel Insurance is for up to 180 Days, (31 days maximum for over 65’s), available up to age 79 and there are discounts for Couples & Families. Annual Multi-Trip Travel Insurance has a choice of 17, 32, 45, 90 Days, with three levels of Cover up to age 79, and discounts for Couples & Families With three levels of cover to choose from – Silver, Gold and Platinum, with varying levels of sums insured depending upon your travel needs, you have the choice to fit the insurance to your travel requirements Our standard travel insurance also includes cancellation, medical and repatriation, Personal Accident, baggage and personal effects, money, cards and documents. There are additional cover options, the most popular of which are: • Covid-19 – This optional extension is useful if you wish to be covered for Covid-19 before and whilst on a trip. • Winter Sports – if you are participating in winter sports whilst on holiday. • Pre-Existing medical Conditions - Europesure does not cover all pre-existing medical conditions, however, there are many conditions that are covered. It is not necessary to complete a medical questionnaire. Contact us and we can provide more information. My advice to you is to go nowhere without insurance and to find out more, and have everything explained to you fully, contact one of the offices.
CONTACT US AND WE CAN PROVIDE MORE INFORMATION. MY ADVICE TO YOU IS TO GO NOWHERE WITHOUT INSURANCE AND TO FIND OUT MORE, AND HAVE EVERYTHING EXPLAINED TO YOU FULLY, CONTACT ONE OF THE OFFICES. FOR MORE INFORMATION OR A QUOTATION, TELEPHONE ONE OF MY OFFICES, EMAIL INFOR@JENNIFERCUNNINGHAM.NET OR VISIT THE WEBSITE, WWW.JENNIFERCUNNINGHAM.NET.
STILL VOLATILE GBP/EUR exchange rates fluctuates on recession fears, ECB rate hike bets
THE Pound Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate continued to trade in a wide range through the second half of May as fears of a UK recession were stoked following a dramatic surge in UK inflation. Elsewhere a hawkish shift by the European Central Bank (ECB) has also infused volatility into the pairing. This has seen the pairing trade in a range of between €1.16 and €1.18. WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING? The past couple of weeks have seen the GBP/EUR exchange rate continue to trade unevenly, with the pairing fluctuating in response to mixed UK data and signals from the ECB that it will soon begin tightening its monetary policy. In terms of UK data, the pound found itself coming under considerable pressure after the UK’s consumer price index revealed domestic inflation soared to 9% in April. The surge exacerbated concerns over the UK’s cost of living crisis and revived recession fears. A surprisingly upbeat retail sales reading and Bank of England (BoE) rate hike bets helped the pound to quickly bounce back, before a worrying drop in the latest UK services PMI then erased a good portion of these gains. Meanwhile, a more hawkish tilt from the ECB has helped to underpin the euro through the second half of May, with ECB President Christine Lagarde signalling the bank is likely to start raising interest rates in July. This has helped to offset heightened tensions over the war in Ukraine, with Russia’s threats against Finland for applying to join NATO stoking fears the conflict could spread to other parts of Europe. What do you need to look out for? Looking ahead, it seems safe to assume that the pound will remain highly sensitive to negative UK data as this would likely feed into recession fears. Any more signals that consumer spending is faltering could leave GBP exchange rates vulnera-
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ble to significant pressure. For EUR investors the focus is likely to be on the ECB. Markets will be looking for additional hints as to how aggressively the bank will look to tighten its monetary policy. Expect to see the euro strengthen if ECB policymakers grow increasingly hawkish. Meanwhile the war in Ukraine will no doubt continue to impact the GBP/EUR exchange rate. While the euro is likely to be more sensitive to any developments, any risk-off flows could weigh on Sterling sentiment. PROTECTING AGAINST VOLATILITY This kind of volatility can cause some nasty surprises if you need to transfer money overseas. On a £200,000 transfer, that twocent gap between €1.18 and €1.20 translates to a €4000 difference. And the larger the sum, the higher the discrepancy. Fortunately, there are ways that you can protect against volatility. Specialist currency brokers, such as Currencies Direct, offer different tools to help you navigate the ups and downs of the currency market. For instance, you can use a forward contract to secure an exchange rate for up to a year. This way, you won’t lose out if the market moves against you. Services like rate alerts and daily upJune 2nd - June 15ths make it easy to keep track of what’s going on in the forex world so that you can make informed decisions. And with Currencies Direct you’ll have a dedicated account manager there to provide guidance and support whenever you need them. At Currencies Direct we’re here to talk currency whenever you need us, so get in touch if you want to know more about the latest news or how it could impact your currency transfers. Since 1996 we’ve helped more than 325,000 customers with their currency transfers, just pop into your local Currencies Direct branch or give us a call to find out more.
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PROPERTY
Rags and riches
PEOPLE living in the south of Spain are more at risk of poverty than those in the north, a new study has confirmed. Spain’s poorest towns are all located in the south of the country according to the latest data from Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) Researchers discovered that, apart from Madrid, Spain’s richest towns were all located in the northern half of the country, while its poorest were almost all in the south. Four out of five towns with the highest average salary are located in the Madrid Community, topped by Pozuelo de Alarcon where the average annual salary is €26,367. The upmarket commuter town of Sant Cugat outside Barcelona is also in the top five.
Lowest
The poorest municipalities on the peninsula are Nijar and Vicar in Almeria, Los Palacios and Villafranca in Sevilla, Barbate in Cadiz and Alhaurin el Grande in Malaga. Meanwhile those with the lowest rate of unemployment were Pozuelo de Alarcon in Madrid (6,2%), Sant Cugat del Valles in Barcelona (6,4%), Las Rozas in Madrid (7,1%), and Donostia/San Sebastian in the Basque Country (7,8%).
June 3rd - June 16th 2022
MURCIA’S La Manga is to receive a bumper investment from a developer. La Manga Properties is putting up €3.5 million for a new housing and shopping centre project in the exclusive resort. The investment will see the creation of an estate called El Boulevard, comprising two villas, five apartments and a new shopping centre. Manuel Lopez Gilabert, project manager of La Manga Club Properties said: “This development is for buyers who want it all: a privileged location, shopping and dining options, and an impressive contemporary home with the quality guarantee of La Manga Club Properties. The community offers spectacular views over the northern area of the Calblanque park”. It is thought the project will create around 120 jobs. La Manga was recently deceased TV star Dennis
MONEY FOR LA MANGA Waterman’s home where he was frequently seen on the golf greens. Future tenants will be granted access to the state-of-theart amenities of the entire complex, which has three golf courses, tennis courts, eight soccer pitches and a private beach. “Those who prefer independent villas and private pools will delight in Las Acacias. Buyers looking for exclusive use apartments with large terraces and sea views will find their ideal property in Las Orquídeas. And from now on, those who want a commercial space, a furnished apartment to rent for part of the year or an independent villa, have El Boulevard,” said Lopez.
Impressive figures
Home sales soar to same rate as 2007 property boom
HOME property sales in Spain soared to their highest March level since 2007 according to official figures. The National Statistics Institute (INE) reported 59,272 registered sales in March 2022, with twothirds of the deals coming in Andalucia. The latest figure shows a 25.6% year-on-year rise and a 10.5% increase on February's total. It’s the 13th consecutive monthly rise in home sales in Spain and the best figures since the height of the property bubble. It’s also the fifth time that the 50,000 monthly mark has been passed since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic over two years ago. The highest number of transactions came in Anda-
SPANISH architects have created a Google maps style platform displaying the accessibility of housing across the world. The group from the Superior Council of the Associations of Architects of Spain (CSCAE) has invented the tool which utilises 4,000 financial, urban context and development indicators to rank how accessible housing is in cities across the world. The indicators correspond to barriers hindering accessibility to housing such as mismatch between building of houses and demand, pol-
POPULAR: The Costa del Sol in Andalucia By Alex Trelinski
lucia, accounting for 39,846 sales, followed by the Valencian Community and Cata-
Easy access
icies and regulations, and finance. The tool uses data from major international organisations including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Health Organisation. It has never before been possible to view all this information in one place, making the Spanish architects’ creation the first of its kind in housing analysis.
ESTUCO INTERIORS
lunya. The main concern is the reduced supply of raw materials for new builds, which took up just 19.4% of the March 2022 sales total. One reason for the rise in sales is that during the pandemic lockdown people cut spending and now have the savings to buy a home rather than rent.
Solid
Fotocasa property portal spokesperson, Maria Matos, said: “Home sales continue to be very solid as the sector continues its recovery.”
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FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL
June 3rd - June 16th 2022
FLIGHT THREAT
PLANS have been unveiled for the largest artificial beach in Europe. Permission has been given to create a giant water park with 25,000 square metres of pools surrounded by 15,000 square metres of sandy beach in Alovera in Guadalajara province. The beach will include water slides, zip lines, as well as a sailing school, watersports, beach volleyball courts and chiringuitos. The project has been drawn up by Grupo Rayet with a budget of €15.6million and if it all goes ahead as planned, it should be open in time for summer 2023. While the local town hall is poised to approve the project which has met environmental regulations, there is much local opposition. Ecologistas en Accion has criticised the project over what it said was ‘unsustainable water management’, saying it will use treated drinking water and need emptying every five years. One of the most frequent complaints by those who live in Madrid is its distance from the coast.
RYANAIR flights across Europe could be disrupted by strikes this summer over cabin crew working conditions. Spain’s USO and SITCPLA unions have joined forces with counterparts in Belgium, France, Italy, and Portugal to coordinate protest action. They argue the budget Irish airline has not listened to demands first
DEMANDS: Ryanair staff want Michael O’Leary to agree By Kimberly Mannion
made four years ago to improve work contracts for cabin crews. One-day walkouts in September 2018 led to some conces-
sions, but unions now want more substantial changes. They say European strikes will be called this summer if no progress is made. Union demands include the application of basic non-negotiable worker rights and to
recognise the right of staff to organise as union members to participate in collective bargaining. The unions say Ryanair has lost court cases over the way it employs people but governments have been slow to take action.
Water
OP Puzzle solutions
Criticisms range from cabin crew having to work without access to water on planes, poorly prepared payrolls and a lack of transparency over job transfers and promotions, which unions claim is used as a form of pressure on staff to accept worse employment conditions. Ryanair employs 6,000 people in Spain.
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Much more than four stars.
Big Apple direct THE first direct flight from New York to Mallorca will land on the island today (Friday). Fully booked, the United Airlines flight will land at Palma Airport after a journey of eight hours and five minutes from Newark Airport. The direct flight route between the Mallorcan capital and the Big Apple has a 90% occupancy rate booked for the month of June.
SUDOKU
Beach bum
Travel chaos in store after strike call by Ryanair staff
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Friends.
Bookings
There are more bookings for travellers heading to the US from the Balearic island than the other way around, however. President of the Business Association of Balearic Travel Agencies (AVIBA), Xisco Mullet, says this is down to the wealth of destinations on offer to travellers from New York making competition in attracting American visitors extremely difficult. The majority of passengers coming from New York are going to Palma to embark on a Royal Caribbean cruise, which uses Palma as a base. Three flights per week are scheduled each way between Palma and New York from June until October. Planes from Palma will set off to the States on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and back the other way on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday.
Good life.
Reset.
Comfort.
At Ocean Drive Port Portals we have our own star rating. Because, we like the stars of the Majorcan sky, the stars that form the lights of the harbour or the star service provided by each member of our team.
Music.
A hotel that maximises the destination to it's full potential, thanks to it's excellent location. It offers great local experiences at any moment. With art, design, relaxation and comfort. A hotel full of life.
Sunset.
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FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL
June 3rd - June 16th 2022
CULTURE IN THE OPEN AIR Poble Espanyol, Barcelona The Spanish Village museum at Montjuic in Barcelona is unique in that it combines architectural styles from all over Spain. The exhibition feels like a pleasant stroll through a quintessential Spanish town, but being a museum, offers the opportunity to learn about Spanish architecture at the same time. The Spanish Village was built in 1929 for the World Fair being held in Barcelona, but has been kept to this day thanks to its popularity with tourists and locals alike. Montjuic Hill, where the museum is located, can be reached by cable car, allowing gorgeous views of the Catalan capital to be enjoyed.
Museo Vostell Malpartida, Extremadura
Discover 5 of the best ‘roofless’ museums to visit, with Kimberley Mannion
Museums are a great way to spend a rainy day in winter, but there is no reason the cultural immersion and chance to learn something new cannot be enjoyed in summer. To get the best of both worlds - the summer weather and the museum experience - here is a list of 5 of Spain’s top outdoor museums for days out during the summer holidays.
To save yourself reading the roughly 800 page beacon of Spanish culture and Spain’s best selling novel of all time, visit the Don Quixote mural project in the book’s setting of rural La Mancha. The project involved 12 international street artists and was also a major social inclusion project, with 450 people with disabilities involved. The colourful murals depict scenes from Don Quixote making for a cultural tour around the region.
Valley of the Fallen, Madrid Located in the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range north of Madrid, the Valley of the Fallen is a striking monument that dominates the landscape, commemorating all the Spaniards who died in the bloody civil war. Approximately 40,000 soldiers, interestingly both Republican and Nationalist, are buried at the site. It also has a basilica to visit, and being wrapped in the beautiful surroundings of the Sierra makes a wonderful trip from Madrid.
This museum’s car sculptures will make you feel like you are flying along famed US road Route 66 with the windows rolled down, rather than an open air museum in Extremadura. The collection also encompasses a section inspired by trendy retro Berlin. Founded in 1976 by Hispano-German Wolf Vostell, the towering sculptures of modern art can be admired walking around the museum’s park.
Titanes Project Don Quixote Murals, Castilla-La Mancha
Fundacion Montemedio is a haven for lovers of both art and nature located in Vejer de la Frontera, a stunning white moorish town slightly off the traditional tourist trail, and well worth paying a visit on its own. The outdoor museum combines contemporary art with nature in perfect harmony, and is also dog friendly. The most popular attraction is the Impression of the Sky, a striking white ellipse structure inspired by the contrast between the rainy and dry months of the Andalucian town.
Fundacion Montemedio, Cadiz
HEALTH
June 3rd June 16th 2022
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Alarm raised
Ticking time bomb THE number of people admitted to hospital with lyme disease has tripled in the past 15 years. The National Association of Environmental Health Companies announced the worrying findings in a newsletter from the Lyme monitoring group at the National Epidemiology Centre at the Carlos III Health Institute. The illness is spread by ticks and usually causes an expanding red rash as well as fever, headaches and tiredness.
Pains
If untreated, the disease can cause the loss of the ability to move one or both sides of the face, joint pains, severe headaches and joint swelling. Ticks are found in vegetation where there is dense wildlife with most people contacting the disease after visits to rural areas.
Monkeypox worries grow as more cases found
GLOBAL health officials have sounded the alarm over rising cases in Europe and elsewhere of monkeypox, a type of viral infection more common to west and central Africa. The first cases in Europe were detected in the UK with Spain now accounting for more cases than anywhere else, although cases have now been identified across Europe, the US, Canada, Israel, and Australia. The number of monkeypox cases in Spain rose over the weekend by 22 confirmed cases to 120.
By Fiona Govan
Spain now has the most cases in Europe followed by the United Kingdom with 106 and neighbouring Portugal where 74 cases have been confirmed. The majority of cases within Spain have been detected in Madrid and are linked to an
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outbreak traced to a gay sauna in the capital. One woman has tested positive but all other cases confirmed in Spain are among men. Another spike in cases is believed to stem from a Pride festival on Gran Canaria in Spain’s Canary Islands.
Close contact
Although most of the known cases in Europe have been among men who have sex with men, experts are emphasising that it can be spread by any close bodily contact. Spain’s LGBTQ community has expressed fears that the recent outbreaks of monkeypox could lead to an increase in homophobic sentiment based on misunderstandings of the disease. Although the recent outbreak has affected men mostly involved in sexual relations with other men, it is not defined as a ‘sexually transmitted virus’
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s e s s a l g 1 r 2 fo € 9 6 from
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Cannot be used with any other offers. Second pair from the same or lower price range, and to the same prescription. Both pairs include standard 1.5 single-vision lenses (or 1.6 for 199€ Rimless range). Varifocal/bifocal: pay for lenses in first pair only. One pair with free sun and UV tint – usually 40€. Excludes SuperDrive, SuperDigital varifocals, SuperReaders 1-2-3 occupational lenses and safety eyewear. Additional charge – Extra Options. Specsavers España Franchisor S.L. (with VAT number B84536291 and registered office in Pradillo Street 5 Ground floor, 28002, Madrid, Spain) is responsible for this offer.
Olive Press Mallorca– 170mm x 256mm – Colour
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June 3rd
We use recycled paper
No pain no game
FINAL WORDS
MALAGA’S maternity hospital has begun using virtual reality technology to help distract kids in their own virtual world while they are being administered drugs intravenously.
Worth a try SPAIN has lodged a formal appeal against being thrown out of the 2023 Rugby World Cup for fielding an ineligible player in two qualifying matches.
Spaced out A TEAM of Basque engineers has received funding from the European Space Agency to develop a concept that will attempt to convert the CO2 on Mars into methane for rocket fuel.
OLIVE PRESS
The
REuse REduce REcycle
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MALLORCA
Vol. 5 Issue 132
Your expat
voice in Spain
www.theolivepress.es June 3rd - June 16th 2022
POETIC JUSTICE
Eurovision comeuppance for Spain 54 years after rigged vote THE UK has been accused of robbing Spain of second place at Eurovision thanks to a dodgy algorithm. After six countries voted for each other in the semi-finals of the contest in a pact, the organisers opted to scrap their votes and instead use an algorithm. Had this algorithm not been used, a report by the BBC says, Spain would have pipped the UK to second. Some may see this as a long awaited reckoning for Spain as
Sad ending
in 1968 Massiel famously beat English crooner Cliff Richard and his classic Congratulations with her somewhat repetitive La, La, La. It was later revealed the singer had a helping hand by none other than Spanish dictator Francisco Franco who had rigged the competition. He reportedly had the competition fixed to improve Spain’s image abroad, buying television programmes from European neighbours in exchange
54 YEARS LATER: Cliff’s revenge on Chanel for ‘douze points’ on the night Charlotte McDonald a Euroof the contest which was held vision reporter, told BBC Rain London’s Royal Albert Hall dio 4’s More or Less: “If I was Spanish, I would certainly be claiming that Spain beat the UK. I think it would have been a really big scandal if Ukraine hadn’t blown everyone away HAMSTERS which have been in contact with suspected caswith an extraordinary audies of monkeypox will have to quarantine in Andalucia ence vote.” The Junta has confirmed that the furry creatures will have to The contest, normally a disstay behind bars in isolation to stop the spread of the virus. mal failure for the British, was The region’s health advisor Jesus Aguirre explained that deturned on its head as Sam Ryspite being named monkeypox, other animals such as squirder’s Space Man outstripped rels - and hamsters - can also transmit this virus. And their is Chanel’s ‘SloMo’ by seven a high chance of humans passing the disease on to their pets. points to come in second.
Hamsters jailed
A HUMPBACK whale who made international headlines after being freed from illegal netting off Mallorca has died off the Valencia coast. The 12-metre long whale was spotted in difficulty in shallow waters off Tavernes de la Valldigna beach. It eventually washed up on Friday, with Valencia's Fundacion Oceanografic planning an autopsy to determine what caused it to die. The whale was originally saved by divers after getting entangled in illegal fishnets two kilometres off Cala Millor in Mallorca. Experts said it swam to the Valencia coast with several cuts on its dorsal fin and was 'extremely weak' before it eventually died.
Too slow F1 driver Sebastian Vettel was in a race of a different kind when he unsuccesfully tried to chase down thieves who had snatched his bag. The four-time world champion hopped on an electric scooter and weaved through the streets of Barcelona after his possessions were grabbed.