Olive Press Mallorca Issue 165

BREXIT U-TURN HOPE

AN exciting plan to reform the EU by France and Germany could see the UK rejoin as an ‘EU lite’ member.

The logical move would see the removal of onerous restrictions on the movement of Brits in Europe.

Under the change, Britain would get ‘associate membership’ of the bloc and regain frictionless access to the single market.

In exchange, the UK would need to accept certain obligations, including paying into the EU budget and allow freedom of movement.

Such a development could spell the end of the loathed visa restrictions imposed on Brits and second-home owners in Spain.

Under current post-Brexit rules, UK residents are limited to spending no more than three months out of every six in Spain and the rest of the Schengen zone.

Relationship

The rule has been exceptionally unpopular both with Brits forced to stay at home and Spaniards who have lost out on their business.

The news emerged as Labour leader Keir Starmer expressed the need to strengthen the relationship between the UK and France during a meeting with President Macron this week.

Starmer's vision of closer ties with Europe is likely to be a vote winner in next year’s general election.

The British public have firmly turned their backs on Brexit, according to polls, with a clear majority (56%) insisting it was a mistake against just 32% still in favour.

The report, commissioned by Germany and France, will be top of the agenda at the summit of the European Political Community - including the UK - in Granada next month.

Up until now both the Tories and Labour had trod extremely carefully over their Brexit positions ahead of the general election.

Despite the Liberal Democrat Party strongly supporting a reverse, they have ruled out any form of associate membership of the EU.

Friends or foes?

FAR RIGHT BOLTHOLE

REVEALED: Tommy Robinson’s luxury €1.6m villa where he filmed far-right podcasts is owned by billionaire boss of Jaeger, Peacocks and Austin Reed

AN investigation is underway into how Tommy Robinson accessed a stunning Spanish villa owned by a British billionaire to film his extreme far-right podcasts, the Olive Press can reveal.

The former leader of the far right English Defence League (EDL) has been using the €5,000-a-month property of fashion tycoon Philip Day to promote a series of US and British extremists.

Videos filmed at the €1.6 million villa show Robinson - real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon - chatting with a string of white nationalist leaders and racists.

They include Gavin McInnes, the founder of white nationalist group ‘the Proud Boys’, which helped lead the shocking 2021 assault on America’s Capitol building.

He also hosted Laura Loomer, an avowed Islamophobe so extreme that even former president Donald Trump was forced to distance himself from her.

Other controversial figures are former Sikh EDL leader Guramit Singh Kalirai, rapper Young Spray and bare knuckle fighter Danny Christie.

The hate-filled podcasts contain many homophobic, misogynistic and anti-Islamic statements, including referring to the Prophet Mohammed as a ‘paedophile’ and ‘rapist’.

In one, Robinson supports notorious misogynist Andrew Tate, currently

facing

EXCLUSIVE

By Walter Finch & Laurence Dollimore in L’Albir

trafficking and rape in Romania.

The villa in L’Albir, on the Costa Blanca, boasts six bedrooms and seven bathrooms, a swimming pool and a state-of-the-art security system.

According to public data from the Spanish land registry, the property is owned by EWM INVESTCO LIMITED, linked to British tycoon Day, 56, through his ownership of The Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group.

The impresario - who owns a string of high street names including Peacocks, Jaeger and Austin Reed - denies any involvement in the podcasts.

There is no suggestion the Stockport-born businessman, estimated to be worth €1.3 billion, had any knowledge of Robinson using the villa, nor that he has any links with him.

When contacted by the Olive Press, a spokesman said Day was ‘shocked’ and ‘furious’ that one of his properties was being used by Robinson.

“[The management company] will take immediate action if they find that Robinson still has any access at all,” he said.

“They’re very grateful you’ve raised

this and very keen to ensure it’s dealt with firmly and won't happen again.”

But Neil Bennett of Maitland PR later explained he had been ‘misinformed’ and Day ‘is unaware of the situation’.

“[Day] has no control or say over the company, which is managed by a professional team and owns multiple properties,” he added.

But when later pressed, he finally admitted Day’s management company takes the allegations ‘very seriously’ and the team are ‘investigating the matter.’ Day, who is believed to reside between Switzerland and Dubai, is known to own a number of properties and businesses in L'Albir.

Curiously, L’Albir is the same Alicante resort where Hitler-loving neo-Nazi Kris ‘Charlie Big Potatoes’ Kearney lived before being extradited back to the UK to be imprisoned on terrorism charges last year.

Robinson, infamous for his anti-immigrant views, has also been hiding out in the area after breaking a High Court injunction in the UK for airing defamatory claims in his film Silenced The controversial documentary could land him behind bars again after he previously had stretches

for assault, mortgage fraud, travelling on false documents and contempt of court.

Several British expats said they have seen Robinson around in recent weeks and he is still believed to be staying in the area thanks to an Irish

passport.

It is thought that a network of sympathisers and direct online donations have been supporting his lifestyle. He posts frequent social media photos of his workouts and was even recently pictured posing for selfies with a young fan on Benidorm’s notorious party strip.

He also tucked into an ice cream in L'Albir with Loomer, who was tipped to join Trump’s campaign team until background checks revealed she had branded herself a 'proud Islamophobe'.

Over 40 members of the Proud Boys have been charged for their role in the insurrection to overturn the US elections on January 6, 2021, with four receiving jail sentences so far, one as long as 18 years.

Have you met Yaxley or Kearney? What do you think of them? Email newsdesk@theolivepress.es

MANSION: Owned by impresario Philip Day (inset) used for far-right podcasts (bottom)

EXTREME PALS: Robinson (right) and McInnes

LEADERS: Starmer and Macron

charges of human

Mile high ban

THE 23-year-old Brit who went viral having sex in the toilets of an Easyjet flight to Ibiza has been banned from flying with the airline ever again.

Sky high

THE Royal Air Force’s famed Red Arrows are heading to Menorca to put on their customary display of aerial derring-do on Tuesday morning.

Horror story

A MOTHER and son duo were arrested for torturing and murdering a teenage boy in Alicante and sending pictures to his family in Algeria with the intent to extort €30,000.

Backfired

SPAIN’S ‘only yes means yes’ law has seen the prison sentence reduced of Angel Boza, one of the convicted gang rapists in the notorious ‘Wolf Pack’ case.

German giant raising hell

A GIANT Hells Angels biker described as ‘dangerous’ has been arrested in Ibiza for drugs offences. The two-metre-tall German, who has been living on the island since 2022, was arrested while eating at a port-side restaurant.

The 37-year-old is wanted by the German authorities for trafficking cocaine and other drugs and could face a 15-year-prison sentence.

A Guardia spokesman told the Olive Press the suspect ‘did not resist’, adding:

“Hells Angel gangs are particularly strong in Germany.

“They are known for drug trafficking operations and we know he is dangerous.”

PLANE RAGE

Crazed passenger strips off and causes carnage and attacks staff at Palma airport after missing flight

INCREDIBLE scenes unfolded at Palma airport yesterday when a passenger went on a violent rampage because he had missed his early morning flight.

The bare-chested man attacked Ryanair staff who were still at the gate, before turning on other passengers. Remarkable video footage showed him throwing trolleys, luggage and other items, after missing his flight to the Canary Islands.

At one point, he seized a laptop and hurled it against a wall, repeating

By Walter Finch

the act with a chair and then a printer. Moments earlier, he had physically assaulted a Ryanair ground staff member. Within moments, six security personnel from private security company Trablisa rushed to the scene. They were confronted by the enraged man destroying anything he could get his hands on and threatening staff.

The out-of-control man then went into the women’s bathroom and came out with a shard of glass

which he used to threaten anyone who came near him. He even turned it upon himself, carving wounds in his chest and abdomen until security managed to tackle and restrain him. He was subsequently taken away for medical attention and then to the Guardia Civil's headquarters to be processed.

PRISON CELL FOR BULLRING PROTEST

AN animal-rights protester was pounced on by matadors and police after storming a bullring in Mallorca - before being held in a prison cell overnight.

Peter Janssen, 38, of activist group Vegan Strike, was filmed jumping into the ring in Inca.

The Dutchman removed his t-shirt to reveal anti-bullfighting slogans, before trying to hug the bull.

However he was swiftly tackled by matadors and armed police, before be-

SALE

ing led away. His move was backed by the Mallorca Against Bullfighting (MAB) group, which had attempted to stop the fight.

A petition of 18,000-plus signatures was supported by celebrities including After Life actor Peter Egan, BBC presenter Chris Packham and Hollywood actor Joseph Fiennes.

A fellow campaigner told the Olive Press:

“He was dragged away and got a pasting.

“A group of men kick the s**t out of him

outside, he had to go to hospital.”

Natasha Retzmann, founder of MAB, said: “When I heard that bullfighting would be returning to Mallorca in 2019, I was stunned. “So many people had worked so hard to ban this cruel form of ‘entertainment’ from the island.” She added: “I find the idea of making an animal suffer physically or mentally for the pleasure of a minority of bloodthirsty spectators inexcusable.”

A BRITISH tourist was beaten unconscious by a gang of thieves targeting foreigners on Arenal’s beaches.

Two of the gang were arrested when plain clothes officers spotted the attack taking place.

The gang had initially stalked the tourist on e-scooters before attacking him when he sat on the beach.

The horrific attack first saw them sneak up and grab him by the neck, before putting him in a chokehold. Meanwhile two other youths ran up and also started to attack him, knocking him out, then stole his bag containing money, a mobile phone, and other belongings.

Luckily police stepped in and detained two of the attackers and managed to get the man’s belongings for him at the hospital, where he was taken for emergency treatment. The investigation is ongoing, and police hope to catch the rest of the gang.

Gang stalking tourists Brit assault

AN Englishman has been arrested after allegedly assaulting his British partner at a hotel in Mallorca.

The middle aged man attacked her in Manacor at the couple’s hotel.

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Black mark

HOLLYWOOD legend Natalie Portman has spoken out in support of the Spanish women’s football team.

The Oscar-winner - who part owns Los Angeles soccer team Angel City - slammed the way the controversial kiss by disgraced Luis Rubiales had sullied their amazing World Cup win.

“I wish the players could just focus on the sport,” she insisted. “Unfortunately they have had to be political inherently, as we have seen at the last two World Cups.

“The US were fighting for equal pay at the same time they were winning the World Cup (last time),” continued the Black Swan star.

Rubiales finally resigned last week, and faced his first day in court over sexual assault. Meanwhile, the Spanish women’s team are still refusing to play until various demands are met over management and pay.

RETURNING PUNTER

SHE told them she’d be back… and Michelle Obama returned on a recent stopover in the capital.

The former First Lady, 59, had lunch at Madrid’s Murillo Cafe Bistro, near the Prado Museum, during a two-week holiday in Spain. She was visiting the city after spending a week in Mallorca with her friend and former ambassador Jaime Costos and his partner, Michael Smith.

It was certainly a big surprise when she

rocked up at the Madrid eatery, which posted on social media that it was a ‘great honour’ to play host to Obama again.

In Mallorca she was spotted out eating in Flanigans, as well as enjoying sunset cocktails on the rooftop of Hotel Sant Francesc in Palma. They also had dinner at Restaurant El Camino, with Costos sharing a snapshot of the menu and two bottles of fine Spanish wine on social media.

It was Obama’s fifth holiday in Spain since 2016.

WARRIOR PRINCESS

The tiny tender serving a tech billionaire and a trio

of other

currently on show in Spain

By Cristina Hodgson Wayfind

FOR most people the 67-metre boat would be a giant gin-palace of extraordinary luxury. But for Bill Gates the 21-knot vessel is actually just a tender to his bigger yacht, the Aqua Based in Malaga port, the

WALK THE WALK

boats

Bill’s bathtub boat

cruising the Med.

It is certainly anything but shabby and comfortably sleeps a crew of 18 with room for 12 lucky guests. The vessel also boasts a helipad doubling as a pickleball court, a sport that combines paddle, tennis, badminton, and table tennis. It is also being used to trans-

er, is being used to provide fuel, supplies, spare parts, maintenance staff and smaller recreational boats for Aqua, which is currently port everything from jet skis to scuba diving gear. The tech mogul’s main yacht, Aqua, measures in at 112 metres and is the world's first hydrogen-powered superyacht,

sleeping 14 guests. It’s a busy month for Malaga port, with a trio of other mega-yachts also in situ.

They include Tatoosh, owned by the family of Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, and worth around €90 million. The five-deck vessel stretches over 92 metres and counts on its own cinema, helicopter pad and even a lobster tank. The megayacht Octopus meanwhile is currently the world’s eighth largest yacht, sold for a whopping €235 million to Swedish pharma billionaire Roger Samuelsson. It has its own basketball court and two submarines, plus other ancillary boats. It hosts up to 26 guests and

SOME of the longest legs in fashion, appropriately, turned up to shimmy down the longest catwalk in Europe. At 300 metres long, Pasarela Larios, in Malaga, was a real sight to behold for up to 30,000 visitors at the weekend.

Over two nights hundreds of models strutted a range of new designs from designers including Livia Montecarlo, Bananamoon, Agatha Ruiz de la Prada and Vertize Gala. The shows were the highlight of Malaga Fashion Week, which was returning for its 12th year.

is crewed by a giant staff of 63 people. The Zenobia, owned by Saudi billionaire Wafic Said, is also currently docked in Malaga. Worth €40 million, it boasts a variety of amenities, including a gym, a pool, a cinema, and a library.

LEONOR de Borbon has had anything but an easy ride since enrolling at the General Military Academy in Zaragoza on September 5 - despite being the future Queen of Spain.

Spain’s royal household has released photos of the 17-year-old undergoing a gruelling bootcamp along with an in-take of young cadets.

The pictures show the Princess of Asturias smeared with mud and camouflage paint, wielding a G-36 assault rifle. She is also seen treading water in full kit and even crawling under barbed wire. Others capture the young royal relaxed and smiling alongside her comrades-inarms. Some of the skills she is learning include navigating through open terrain (left), marching long distances with a 20-kilogram equipment load and live-fire exercises with rifles and pistols. She will mark her passing out parade with a flag swearing ceremony with 600 other cadets on October 7. Then King Felipe’s eldest daughter will get ready to start her second year of military education.

GATES’ BOATS: The hydrogen-powered Aqua has its own 67m tender Wayfinder (below left)

Terror on the tarmac

TWO planes collided at Palma Airport after the wing of a passenger jet hit the horizontal stabiliser of another.

An Air Europa plane that had just landed struck an aircraft of the German airline Condor that was waiting for permission to take off.

Both planes needed immediate urgent repairs and needed replacements. There were no reported injuries.

Tragic end

TWO bodies found floating in the waters off Manacor have been confirmed as a missing German father and son.

The 50-year-old and teenager, 19, disappeared while sailing their boat - the Makan Angin - between Menorca and Mallorca.

Rice to meet you

A JAPANESE chef has ducked in to slice up the competition at the World Paella Day Cup.

Kohei Hatashita came first, serving up an incredible version of the Valencian dish featuring orange duck rice with leeks. He beat 10 chefs from around the world to scoop the prestigious prize, which was launched in 2018.

The aim of the competition is to recognise the many international interpretations of the dish. With eight million annual searches it is the 4th most important dish on the planet.

Olive Press appeal raises hundreds for expat mother being turfed out of her home

A BRITISH mother who is being ‘unfairly’ evicted from her home is ‘forever grateful’ after the expat community raised hundreds of euros to help with her legal costs.

Kate Langshaw, 44, has been branded a squatter by her Spanish landlord despite not missing a rent payment for seven years. The single parent, her seven-year-old son Lucas and their dog Orri now face being left on the streets after being given just weeks to move out.

Following an Olive Press appeal, €600 has so far

By Laurence Dollimore

been donated to Kate’s cause, but it is likely she will need much more.

“I want to thank everyone who has donated, it really means the world,” Kate told the Olive Press.

“I know money is tight for everyone right now so every euro donated is very much appreciated.”

Kate has found a new apartment on the Costa Blanca but still desperately needs funds to help with the deposit and moving costs - as well as legal bills which could total more than €30,000.

Kate began renting her twobed villa in Javea, in 2017, but unbeknown to her, the landlord passed over the deeds to her son in 2019.

Last year, the son tried to ‘bully’ Kate to pay him instead of the mum with an increase of €200 more a month, despite her having a

fixed contract in place until 2026. When this failed, he instead took her to court, claiming she was a ‘squatter’ because she had no contract with him - despite proving she had paid rent since 2017. His case failed in Denia court in May , but he took an appeal to the courts in Alicante, and, extraordi -

FESTIVE FOUL UP

A SENIOR politician in Menorca is facing calls to resign after throwing a birthday party for her daughter at a protected tourist site.

Marta Febrer is alleged to have invited 65 parents and children to the Lazareto de Mao, a public building dating from 1793. Resignation calls have now come in for the PP politician, who was in charge of sustainable projects on the island council.

The eighth birthday party utilised site staff to decorate the event.

Febrer has since claimed she organised the party as a ‘pilot’ aimed at potentially opening it for such events for the public.

Skyfall

A GERMAN holidaymaker has miraculously survived a three-metre fall after smashing through the skylight of a villa he was renting in Playas del Muro.

The 35-year-old suffered a 60cm cut on his back and a 40cm slash to his abdomen, losing a large amount of blood. The tourist is said to have not seen the glass panel because it was covered by artificial grass.

Cop bashing

narily, the decision was reversed in July making the latest rental contract void. Worse, he is now suing Kate for backdated rent which totals over €30,000.

To help Kate look for ‘kate langshaw’ on Go Fund Me

Who did this to Anne?

THE body of a young woman found dumped by a zebra crossing in Spain has been identified as a 21-year-old expat.

Anne Mathea Morken, from Norway, moved to Malaga only a year ago before being found strewn across the road near the entrance of an apartment building in Torremolinos.

A popular student and keen skier, from Ringebu, near Lillehammer, she was found dead showing signs of being asphyxiated, confirmed Spanish police.

Her family, who have now been notified of her death, are demanding answers over her mysterious death.

She was discovered by a group of young people at around 1.30am on September 13 and had been dead for around 10 hours.

It means the woman, who lived in Malaga city, must have been dumped there following her death.

While her name has not yet been officially revealed in Spain, it was confirmed by authorities in Norway.

The final autopsy is awaiting a toxicology report before the exact cause of death can be

EXCLUSIVE

By Dilip Kuner & Laurence Dollimore

determined. Homicide detectives believe she likely suffered a violent death, however it is not ruled out that she could have drowned due to an ‘allergic reaction to a substance.’

Her body was found in a side street off Benyamina avenue, which runs down to the beach.

The Norwegian serious crime unit, Kripos, has been assisting in the investigation, having flown in from Oslo over the last few days.

The Norwegian embassy in Madrid and the Seamen's Church, in Fuengirola, has been assisting the family. Meanwhile, the death has triggered an outpouring of mourning in her home village.

Active

Director of the local school, Havard Gangsas, told VG: “We feel very much for the family. This is a deeply tragic event, and we are all very sad.”

The local youth centre opened for a special memorial ses-

sion from 6pm last night. According to local reports, Anne was active in the Ringebu-Fåvang Ski Club in her youth and participated, among other things, in the NM relay in 2018. She studied sports at Gausdal upper secondary school, before working part time at a local delicatessen. She fell in love with Spain when spending a semester here in 2022, while training to be a personal trainer at Norwegian private school Active Education, in nearby Fuengirola. Manager Ola Furseth described the news as ‘very sad’ adding his thoughts ‘go out to the next of kin’. He added he hopes the Spanish police, with assistance from Kripos, can help clarify the cause of the death.

ATTACKS on police officers in the Balearics are at their highest in 16 years, with approximately 500 incidents reported last year.

The Spanish Police Confederation (CEP) blamed the numbers on a loss of respect for authority.

It added ‘attacking a police officer is apparently almost cost-free’ as ‘hardly anyone ends up in prison.’

The police are said to have obtained surveillance videos and interviewed witnesses in the area at the time.

They are still awaiting the autopsy report and do not wish to comment on the cause of death for the time being. Her body was allegedly found without any identification, although her handbag was believed to have been found on the street next to her.

Photo courtesy of facebook

SEX ASSAULT RISE AMONG MINORS

SPAIN is suffering an ‘alarming’ rise in the number of sexual assaults carried out by minors.

The number of cases has doubled between 2017 and 2022. There were 451 attacks in 2017, which rose by 116% to 974 in 2022.

The public ministry added that the causes for the phenomenon are ‘complex’, and that ‘diverse factors’ are behind it.

Brand approval

Balearic clinic stands by ‘longtime friend’ Russell Brand amid allegations of rape

EXCLUSIVE

By Laurence Dollimore

RUSSELL Brand visited a rehab centre in Spain and told addicts to ‘admit their f****d up behaviour’ and apologise.

The under-fire comedian, 48, gave a talk at the Ibiza Calm clinic back in 2018, following the release of his book Recovery: Freedom

from Our Addictions. It comes as years of alleged sexual assaults surfaced against the comedian in the UK and America.

So far multiple women have come forward to accuse the Essex-born star, who has dated a string of famous singers and models.

The Olive Press is attempting to establish

Paedo priest probe

SPANISH prosecutors have called for a thorough investigation into child sex abuse cases within the Catholic Church.

It comes after an in-depth investigation by El Pais, unearthed 1,021 alleged abusers and, so far, 2,190 victims.

In at least 75 cases, bishops or their superiors have covered up, silenced or concealed cases of abuse.

Yet, incredibly no Spanish bishop has ever been charged with the crimes. The Prosecutor General began its investigations into the abuse back in January 2022, after El Pais handed over a dossier of its findings. It eventually instructed prosecutors across the country to coordinate and collate the 68 open cases.

An internal report by the Spanish Episcopal Conference – the institution composed of all the bishops in Spain – is expected to be released in several weeks.

The ombudsman is also continuing to carry out an investigation into these cases after being commissioned to do so by lawmakers in Spain’s Congress.

if he may have committed any crimes in Spain. We understand he has been on holiday here on various occasions and he was certainly in the Balearics five years ago peddling his bizarre 12step recovery programme. Among the strange list he recommend -

ed to readers of his book was one: “Watch out for f****d up thinking and behaviour and be honest when it happens.”

A furious employee at the clinic told the Olive Press this week the current allegations facing the presenter amount to a ‘witch hunt’, refusing to comment further. At the time of his visit, a press release described Brand as a ‘long-time friend’ and said he had ‘attended a meeting and delivered an inspirational talk to clients’. It added he had shared his

OLDIES

A THIRD of the 208,000 Brits with TIE ID cards fall into the over 65 age bracket. The official stats also raise concern as approximately 211,000 Britons and their family members, who were previously registered as EU citizens, have yet to make the transition from an NIE to the coveted TIE.

The TIE card is the golden ticket, granting expats access to the majority of rights enjoyed by EU citizens.

Post-Brexit, these rights are no longer customarily permitted to the majority of Brits, who are citizens of ‘third countries’ - no different to Americans or Japanese.

Only Brits who can prove they were legal residents in Spain before January 1, 2021 - and have been so continuously - are eligible for a TIE card.

‘unique blend of honesty, humour, wisdom and advice’. The actor, who divorced Katy Perry in 2012, is facing assault allegations from at least four women which allegedly occurred between 2006 and 2013. He is also accused of controlling, abusive and predatory behaviour, following a joint investigation by The Times and Channel 4. In a video posted online, Brand strongly denied the claims, insisting all of his relationships have been ‘consensual’.

Growth spurt

SPAIN’S population swelled by an impressive half a million people over the last year in a boom driven almost entirely by foreigners. Spanish nationals accounted for a paltry 3% (13,524) of the 537,611 people surge between July 2022 and July 2023. The foreign-born population in Spain has now reached 6.34 million, making up 13% of the country’s 47.8 million inhabitants.

WITCH HUNT?: But Brand is accused of rape and sexual assault

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.

Voted top expat paper in Spain OPINION

Justice for Anne!

THE circumstances surrounding the death of young Norwegian expat Anne Mathea Morken are truly harrowing. The 21-year-old moved to Spain just one year ago and like many of us, instantly fell in love with the lifestyle. But somehow, this young, popular student ended up dead and dumped on the side of the road, with signs of asphyxiation.

If she was murdered, as Spanish police seem to believe, it adds to what is sure to be a record year for the number of women killed at the hands of men - the majority by their partners.

Spanish police must work fast to uncover the truth of what really happened to Anne, and most importantly, the identity of the coward/s who left her lifeless body by the side of a road.

It is vital they move quickly so we don’t get bogged down in yet another long and drawn out case, such as that of Marta Castillo, in Sevilla, or Agnese Klavina, in Marbella. Our sympathies go out to this young woman’s family and pray they get rapid answers to what happened to their tragic daughter on the Costa del Crime.

Who’s the puppet master?

TOMMY Robinson always seems to get a strong reaction, whatever he is up to, but in the case of his Spanish podcast, the Englishman is actually the sideshow. The activities of Robinson, a chancer and grifter at best, pail among the gallery of villains who turned up to the pleasant climes of Phillip Day’s luxury Costa Blanca villa. Former Proud Boys leader Gavin McInnes led a militia group that tried to overthrow democracy in the USA. Meanwhile, Republican primary candidate Laura Loomer dreams of a world in which Muslims are downtrodden, marginalised and discriminated against. The operation to bring all these people over to Spain, and put them in a plush villa was slick, well-organised and well-funded.

Which begs the question: Who is pulling the strings? The Olive Press does not believe it is Phillip Day for a moment, but someone is orchestrating far-right figures to connect, organise and unite.

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FLIPPING LUCKY?

EXCLUSIVE:

airport

LEGENDARY crime boss John Gilligan, 71, avoided prison for trafficking marijuana in flip flops and gun possession after cutting a deal with Spanish prosecutors this month.

The Irish mafia don - suspected of ordering the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin - did a plea bargain earning him a lenient 22-month suspended sentence with a fine of just €14,000.

The gang leader moved to Torrevieja on the Costa Blanca following a failed assassination plot against him in 2014. He had just served a 17-year stretch over a long drug smuggling operation that netted him €35 million. But, while one might have expected the grandfather to settle down quietly and live the easy life on the costas, things turned out rather differently.

In an extract from a book, The Gilligan Tapes, exclusively serialised in the Olive Press, he recalls to author Jason O’Toole how his move to Alicante was plagued by Spanish bureaucracy after being caught with a suitcase stashed with tens of thousands of euros.

By Jason O’Toole

John Gilligan miraculously managed to maintain a relatively low profile between 2014 and 2018 – no mean feat for a criminal once considered public enemy number one.

He escaped lightly, with only the occasional screaming tabloid headline about him being down on his luck and hiding in England.

The only other time Gilligan’s name popped up during this five-year time frame was when it was alleged that he had threatened an English solicitor during a heated discussion over money.

But, apart from these two episodes, things were relatively quiet for him on the Costa

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WOLF AT I

T is the reviled monster of European folklore that gobbles up girls in red hoods and blows down the houses of little piggies. But the reality is that wolves, which seldom attack humans, have long been hunted and even faced near-extinction in Spain in Numbers had dwindled to the mere hundreds by 1980 thanks to a deliberate eradication policy through poisoning, until protections were put in place.

Now the fate of the wolf is once again in the balance after the winds blowing in from Brussels have indicated that their protected is coming under review.

la von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, recently declared resurgent wolf populations ‘a real danger for livestock and potentially also for humans’. The news will come as music to the ears of Spanish farmers and hunting federations, which have faced a total ban on killing wolves since 2021.

Hunting them was permitted with quotas north of the River Duero until the prohibition south of the river was extended to the entire country. Despite fierce opposition from those who view wolves as a nuisance or even a pest, the conservationists

won out thanks to fears that the population had still not recovered sufficiently.

Today the Royal Spanish Hunting Federation blames ravenous wolf packs for the loss

of 10,000 heads of livestock a year, with over half coming in Castilla y Leon.

Farmers have reported finding entire flocks of sheep massacred in overnight blood baths, leaving them traumatised and with a substantial fi nancial loss to bear.

Yet, in the 2021 census, Spain was found to be home to a population of just 2,500 Ibe rian wolves spread across 297 packs, 90% of which roamed north of the Duero, including in Galicia and Asturias.

Combined with the population in Portu gal, the Iberian wolf represents the largest population in Europe.

However, it also represents the most deadly, according to Professor Krzysztof Schmidt from the Mammal Research Institute in Poland. In the post-war years, some nine cases of a wolf killing a human have been recorded across Europe, and they all occurred in Spain. Most of the victims were unattended children, picked off by wolves in scenes reminiscent of a Grimm fairy tale.

Yet those attacks occurred in the 1950s and 1960s, during a different time when Spain was a more rural and agrarian society. This period marked the prelude to the wolf population reaching its most precarious state, before bouncing back slowly after protections

At home with a mafia kingpin, whose new life planned for Spain was - like most expatsanything but plain sailing, not helped by €21,000 cash seizure at the

Blanca, where Gilligan had relocated. Away from the eagle eyes of

GUIN AND YANG: Pulling pints in Torrevieja’s Judge’s Chambers and (above) his arrest

the Gardai and the Irish media, Gilligan had grand notions about getting back into his old business: smuggling hash.

It was clearly one of the reasons why he picked the drug-infested city of Torrevieja, but Gilligan also went over there because his daughter Tracey had resided in that city for many years. She offered to put him up while he got back on his feet.

At the time, Tracey still owned a bar called (appropriately) The Judge’s Chambers. Most bar receipts would simply thank you for your business, but the one at her bar couldn’t resist a quip with ‘The Jury’s still out’ printed on the bill.

According to Gilligan, it all went south for him when he put together enough

friend Sharon, 61.

The then 66-year-old was suddenly catapulted back into the limelight when arrested with a suitcase full of money at Belfast International Airport in October 2019.

Where did it all go wrong this time?

During a series of interviews at his home in Torrevieja, Gilligan told me: “I was coming back to Spain. I had €8,000 to bring back with me. But a man owed me money for over three years.

I spoke to him the day before I

“‘Would you have the money what you owe me?’ I asked.

“‘I will have. I’m borrowing money off a sister of mine. She’s coming into a good few quid,’ he said. ‘Can you bring it over

“I asked for the money because I was going to rent a place for 12 months [in Spain]. “I was staying at my daughter’s and I promised her I’d only stay a few weeks.

“I’d been talking to an estate agent and he said, ‘You can’t get a place because of who you are.

“You’re high profile and you have no bank account in Spain and you have no NIE [Foreign Identity Number]. You will need 12 months

HOWL AT THE TRUTH

Facts about wolves

up front in advance.’

“I said okay. He showed me three properties. I picked one. I said to myself, ‘When I go back with the €8,000 I’ll give it to him. Then when I get some more money I’ll give it to him and see if I can talk him into letting me have the property.’

“I got up the morning I was leaving. I got some breakfast and showered and cleaned up. “My niece came and said, ‘Uncle John, a man’s after knocking at the door. And he said, there’s your €14,000.’

“So, I now had €22,000. I went to the North because there was no flight in Dublin. The flights in Northern Ireland were really cheap.

“I had the money in my suitcase. I didn’t get stopped by the customs, but when I was boarding the flight the woman [at the desk] said to me, ‘You’re not on this flight.’

“‘There’s me boarding pass,’ I said. ‘Oh,’ she said, ‘I think you’ll be taken off it.’

“And then she called the customs man and said, ‘Is this the man that you want to see?’

“And he said, ‘John Gilligan?’ I said yeah. ‘You got any money?’ I could’ve taken a chance, but I didn’t want to tell any lies.

“‘I have about €1,000 in me pocket, but I have €21,000 in the suitcase.’ ‘Where’s your suitcase?’ he said. ‘It’s on board. It’s for rent. I’ve the papers with it in me suitcase for the rental.’ “‘Come with us,’ he said.

“He was after saying to one customs officer, ‘Go down and get his case, right.’

BUSY SUMMER!

THE Olive Press has once again proven itself as THE paper to read for expats living in Spain.

A slew of our exclusive stories have featured in the national newspapers back home this summer, including the Telegraph, Daily Mail and the Sun.

Unlike our rivals, we have reporters on the ground undertaking investigations and chasing the big stories of the day.

Our coverage of the drama surrounding ousted football boss Luis Rubiales, for example, garnered two consecutive days' leads in the Telegraph, one on page 3, as well as a trio in the Sun.

It came as our reporter camped out in Motril for four days to cover all the latest angles, that included tracking down the Costa Tropical villa (above), where Rubiales allegedly held orgies paid for by the Spanish FA.

But it’s the heartfelt - and much needed - stories from the expat community that best provide unrivalled content to our readers.

Take the heartwarming story of paralysed Aaron Salter (left), who celebrated having a ‘miracle’ baby via IVF treatment with his beautiful Spanish partner Estrella.

It was picked up by both the Sun and Mirror

And then there was the unbelievable and ongoing story of single mother Kate Langshaw who has been mercilessly evicted by her landlord - who branded her a squatter despite having paid seven years of rent.

Now the Sun has followed up the story her ongoing battle just got that bit stronger.

were put in place in the 1970s.

Even so, the Iberian wolf was recently declared extinct in Andalucia, as zero sightings have been reported in a decade.

In 2021 the Spanish government announced its wolf recovery plan to try and get wolf numbers up 18% to 350 packs.

This plan will now run head first into the EC’s plans to potentially introduce ‘flexibility’ into their protection status. Thus goes the tumultuous existence of the wolf in Spain.

1. Their effect on humans: Wolves usually pose no threat to humans. They are cautious animals and will avoid humans unless provoked. They neither see us as a threat nor as prey.

2. Subspecies of wolf: There are around 30 subspecies of wolves around the world. Grey and black wolves are the most common. The subspecies that live in Spain include the Iberian wolf and the Eurasian wolf.

3. What do they eat:

Wolves are pack hunters and predominantly feed on herbivores. Due to being pack hunters, they are able to successfully kill and consume much larger animals such as moose, deer, and wild boar. In Spain the packs are smaller meaning they typically hunt smaller animals, such as deer, ibex, rabbits and, even, fish. They are even known to eat apples, pears, figs and berries. Similarly to dogs, wolves will also eat grass, but mainly to induce sickness.

4. Depredation of livestock:

The hunting of livestock is a severe problem for farmers. Domesticated animals are easy targets as they are used to being cared for by humans and cannot defend themselves well. In 2021 over 1,500 wolf attacks took place in Castilla y Leon alone.

5. What diseases they spread:

Diseases are easily transmitted between wolves and humans. Gastrointestinal parasites have been found in 57-100% of the native iberian wolf. Research shows that leishmania has also been found in 46% of wolves in Spain. It causes anaemia, fever and an enlargement of the spleen and liver.

6. Extinction of wolves

The number of species of wolf has declined dramatically, with the Sicilian wolf and Japanese wolf becoming extinct in recent years, along with 14 others. The iberian wolf has an estimated 2,500 individuals in the peninsular.

“I only walked three minutes across the floor. So, by the time we got across the room the case was coming through the door – so they already had it. So, I was delighted I told the truth.

“‘Am I getting on the plane?’

“And he said no. A couple of customs officers said: ‘We think you’ll be getting your money back. Our boss has just gone to make another phone call to the Criminal Assets Bureau.

“It’s them guys that’s picking on you. It’s them guys who want you locked up and the money taken off you. But you didn’t hear that from us.’

What happened next?

“They brought me to a police station and then brought me to court and got me held in custody. The maximum sentence for that was six months in prison. You got 50 per cent remission off. It should be only three months inside.

But I was in prison for five-and-a- half months. I applied for bail 10 or 15 times.”

The Gilligan Tapes – by Jason O’Toole is out now from Merrion Press, available from online booksellers and as a Kindle ebook.

Even the Spanish press have been hot on our tails, with Diario Sur following up our incredible story of an 80-year-old expat (right) who was run over at least four times by his neighbour. The story was also run in the Sun, Daily Mail and Mirror back home.

And there’s a reason expats trust us with their stories, thanks to our team of NCTJtrained journalists who have had years of experience working in Fleet Street before making the move to Spain.

If you have a story you think needs telling, don’t hesitate to contact us at tips@theolivepress.es

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

1- OPINION: Luis Rubiales comes from a long tradition of Andalucian entitlement and impunity

2- EXC: British single mother, 44, is branded a 'squatter' by her Spanish landlord and faces eviction despite paying rent for SEVEN years

3-

Watch: Man arrested in Madrid after sexually assaulting a female reporter live on Spanish TV

4- Is Spain due a mammoth earthquake? What the Morocco disaster means for neighbouring Andalucia

5- Bill Gates' mega yacht docks in Spain’s Malaga Port

UP CLOSE: Journalist Jason O’Toole (left) grilled Gilligan

RAVENOUS: Wolves kill 10,000 farm animals a year in Spain

‘There’s me boarding pass,’ I said. ‘Oh,’ she said, ‘I think you’ll be taken off it.’

LA CULTURA

Romp in the Hay

ONE of the world’s most prestigious celebrations of literature came to the Spanish heartland last week with the arrival of the Hay Festival.

The town of Segovia was abuzz with the British staple of the literary calendar kicking off its three-day book bonanza with a series of talks, workshops and exhibitions. The gathering drew authors from diverse backgrounds, including Anglo-Saxon, Latin American, Spanish, and other literary traditions, to talk about their works and literature in general.

The former Roman aqueduct town hosted a kaleidoscope of well-known figures including Andrea Marcolongo, Marta Robles and Félix Valdivieso.

PHILANDERING PICASSO

Womanising artist defended by grandson in BBC TV series

LEGENDARY Spanish painter Pablo Piccaso’s penchant for women will be featured in a new BBC TV documentary series, Picasso: The Beauty and the Beast Malaga-born Picasso, who died in 1973, was regarded as painting some of the finest masterpieces of the 20th century but many branded him as a notorious womaniser. He once said that ‘there are

SEVILLA UNIVERSITY experts say modern technology has enabled them to find evidence of a giant Roman circus at the site of the ancient city of Italica in Santiponce.

Work using geo-radar and electrical topography allowed scientists to pinpoint the location after pre-

By Alex Trelinski

only two kinds of womengoddesses and doormats’. Decades later those comments are regarded as sexist and misogynistic and the documentary describes his personal life as ‘full of contradictions’. But his grandson has defended Picasso saying that wom-

Circus discovery

sites turned out to be wrong.

The giant stadium would have occupied over eight hectares - equating to eight football fields - east of Italica, with an 80,000 spectator capacity. Researchers found part of the building floor which they suggest would have had a maximum length of 532 metres and a width of between 140 metres and 155 metres from where chariot races would start. The events would then take place around a circular track in the stadium.

The circus foundation stand was made

GODDESSES AND DOORMATS:

en that got close to him knew beforehand what he was like. Olivier Widmaier Picasso says that his grandmother, Marie-Therese Walter, al-

out of a 30 metre wide concrete slab with a depth of six meters.

Detection techniques used a device that injected electrical currents into the ground which measured the resistance generated by the underlying structures, which allowed digital mapping of buildings detected in the subsoil. With the results obtained so far, the next step will be a formal archaeological excavation of the site.

The existence of a circus in Italica would complete a trio of major buildings discovered in the old city along with the Augustan theatre and the Adrianeo amphitheatre.

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Kinky collection

THE enigmatic world of renowned German photographer Helmut Newton is set to take centre stage in an upcoming exhibition to be held in Galicia. Titled ‘Fact & Fiction’, it promises to delve deep into the life and work of the late photographer, celebrated for his daring and provocative fashion imagery, as well as his sensually charged portraits that earned him the moniker, ‘The King of Kink.’

The event, which launches on November 16, will be a grand celebration of Newton's iconic works, featuring masterpieces like his famed ‘Big Nudes’ series.

ways recalled the excitement of being with him – even though he had abandoned her just after the birth of their daughter, Maya.

“She still described him as wonderfully terrible,” Olivier said “In a way, she was talking about him as if they were still together.”

Picasso was already married to a former ballerina when he first spotted Walter outside a Paris gallery in 1927 and they became lovers despite a 28-year age gap.

Inevitably, Picasso moved to somebody else, but grandson Olivier said: “My grandfather had love stories with each woman and no one was forced to do anything.”

Visitors can also expect to see his striking portraits of 20th century luminaries such as Margaret Thatcher, David Bowie, and Yves Saint Laurent.

BREAKDOWN KIT

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PIC CREDIT: HELMUT NEWTON FOUNDATION

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A CHANGE OF SEASONS

DAYS of quiet and brightness. And a rich yellow light that floods the valley.

Now more than ever is the moment for forest walks and meditative gazings at distant views – always keeping an eye on the fading light.

I eat the year’s very last fresh tomato out of a bowl and genuinely feel a long chapter has come to a close. October: my birthday month. Even more conducive than other months, then, to ruminative contemplation of past and future and the moment that sits, delicately poised, between both: the present.

A dark misty morning, dripping with the rainfall I missed during the night, and there’s a good autumn sogginess in the air. Everything I sowed before the rains has come up, the rye in brave little shoots powering skyward, the fine green stubble like an adolescent’s first growth of beard.

The leaves are still green on the oaks. It’s as though, after the long heats and drought when some of them shed their foliage in a foreshadowing of autumn, they’ve decided they’ll cling on to their remaining leaves a little longer. Can trees feel relief? Sometimes when I’m watering I hear, or imagine I hear, tiny creaks, subsonic squeaks of enjoyment, as the plant relaxes and unfurls.

The temperature crept downwards. There were days of constant rain, sultry and grey and dripping. A change in the light, as the days shortened, and sometimes a luscious, peachy gold in the evening sun, which came in slanting over the

October is a month of change for Spain, when the heat of the summer subsides into Autumn vegetables, fruits and seed husks, writes Paul

in an excerpt from his book Hidden Valley

brow of the hill. Heavy dews in the early dawn, and that rank late-summer smell of organic matter wetted and dried out and wetted again by the morning’s moisture.

A new set of tasks hove into view –like the rescue of things needing to be kept dry that would be spoiled by a rainstorm. Into the kitchen came bagfuls of seed pods in all their variety of shapes and sizes. Some, like parsley, were so fine they were a dusty powder. Others were spiky burrs (chard and spinach) or curious flat flying saucers (parsnips). Melons and courgettes were left to dry into a yellowish husk and broken into for the seeds, which were still attached to tough skeins of dry flesh. All of this, pods and stalks, was piled up on the kitchen table.

I found that, this way, anyone sitting at the table would almost unthinkingly set to work, albeit with a glass of wine beside them.

It was a guarantee of continuance, and also a source of comfort, to have the seeds neatly stored in their jars labelled with the variety and year.

It was all very well to buy

Richardson

commercial seed in packets but our home-produced seeds had an inbuilt advantage, apart from costing nothing: as year followed year the varieties we planted became better and better adapted to the terroir, preserving this improved adaptability in their DNA.

CANNELLINI AND PEANUT BUTTER

Chickpeas, white cannellini beans and black-eyed peas all did well on this sandy, acidic soil, and it was around now, as the plants withered and the dry pods rattled, that we began the work of threshing. It was a matter of pushing the dead plants into jute sacks and trampling them to release the pulses from their pods. Few things gave me a keener sense of fulfilment than seeing the rows of big jars on the top shelf of the produce rack, packed with pulses in their variegated textures and colours. Chickpeas made fabulous protein-rich stews and hummus, while the black-eyed peas were best cooked and cold in a hearty salad with tomatoes, onion, green pepper, all in tiny pieces and seasoned with a good strong vinaigrette. Our first harvest of cannellini beans took me back to a dish I used to make in

my student years, slow-cooking the pearl-white beans with rosemary and garlic as a creamy accompaniment to roast lamb. The other big October crop was peanuts, and these became one of my foremost specialities. I was fascinated by the plant’s bizarre lifecycle, the neat yellow flowers that droop down and bury themselves in the soil to form the familiar peanut pod, and enjoyed pulling up the whole plant, roots and all, to find the mass of pods fully formed and caked with dark earth like tiny potatoes. More work ensued, the plants being tied into stooks and hung from the rafters in an upper room where heating pipes kept the atmosphere bone dry. The pay-off was our homemade peanut butter, which was in another league from the shopbought kind.

The fruits of the season in their autumnal tones of deep red, deep yellow, deep orange: always that depth of long-ripened colour. We tended to ignore the quince tree, giving it neither manure nor attention, for what was the point, when it never failed to give us more quinces than we had any real use for? For months the fruits were green and hard and had no discernible scent, but after the rains they swelled up and the tree would be hung with gorgeous yellow orbs covered with a soft white fluff and giving off a penetrating fragrance.

Cauldrons of quince paste and quince jelly plopped and bubbled, filling the whole house with the warm smell of caramel. I took to slipping a quince into the roasting pan along with

good in a crumble, and I tried baking them like apples with a core of brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins: not bad.

CANCER BATTLERS

We had read somewhere that pomegranate juice was full of natural antioxidants and reputed to stave off prostate cancer.

On an untended farmstead nearby we found an ancient pomegranate tree growing beside a well, and took cuttings for a new plantation of a dozen trees on its own small terrace down by the stream.

For a year or two the plants grew strongly, in October of the third year they were already small trees and I was surprised by the first great shiny baubles turning from green to red like traffic lights, and by the end of year three the pomegranates piled up on the kitchen table demanding to be dealt with – a clear case of ‘be careful what you wish for’. Below the deep cracks in their thick skins, glittering rubies could be glimpsed.

For a week each year our evening routine was removing the jewel-like seeds, correctly known as arils, and crushing them in an old Soviet-era lemon-squeezer I had bought in a street market in Uzbekistan. We regaled ourselves with big glasses of cold fresh pomegranate juice, feeling the threat of cancer recede very slightly with every gulp. But then what? Now dosed up with juice, we sprinkled the rubies on autumn salads of rocket and frisée, made bright-coloured fruit jellies with them, and steeped them with our own wine vinegar in a big Kilner jar, watching the brown liquid slowly turn a garnet red.

WEATHER CHANGES YOUR WORLD

Proust says somewhere that a change of weather can change your whole world. True. Everything feels different. The forest breathes, the odours fresh, nose-wrinkling. I dodged the rain yesterday afternoon – it was a mere half-hour break between successive storms – to head down the track to where the stream comes down through high walls.

I could hear it long before I saw it: a roar of falling water. Still brown-tinted from all the

leaf-mulch and dirt it picked up in its wake. The water surging over the stepping stones. I watched and listened for a good while, wondering at this sound and fury. All of that summer and post-summer anxiety seems long gone. No chance of a wildfire now – the land is sodden. The water with which I’ve rinsed out the pig bucket, normally kept to water each thirsty almond tree in turn, I now cheerfully chuck out on the ground

TIME OF PLENTY: And at Paul’s Extremadura finca its quinces in droves and seeds

A source of comfort, to have the seeds neatly stored in their jars

CONSERVES: So much produce goes into jars, while (right) pomegranates

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LETTERS

Reckless riders

E-SCOOTERS are a menace. The riders don’t comply with the rules of the road, don’t wear helmets and go too fast. Many still ride on the pavements, especially in Pilar de la Horadada in Alicante. One almost hit us this week. They think it’s funny, too. We need a better police presence. Now rental e-scooters are appearing everywhere on roads, too.

Thelma Dance

September

21st - October 4th 2023

Who’s to blame?

JUST for context: an average of 3.1 people are killed every day by cars on Spain's roads. Scooters are less dangerous, but there isn't really a safe place to ride them, and plenty of them are being ridden recklessly. Ban the reckless riders, not the scooters in the same way we do with cars.

Oliver Neilson

I ABSOLUTELY love the Olive Press! There is so much more to actually read, it’s interesting and it far outweighs the other freebie newspapers. I loved the article on high temperatures throughout August, really identified with it and found it both funny and scary too. The sun nosing round the windows, looking for a way in, sitting in darkened rooms and the melted brain effect!

I’ve been here over 20 years but have struggled with the heat myself this year. When speaking to some people recently, I was moaning about the heat, they looked at me blankly and uttered something like ‘that is why we came here’. I am sure that they are fairly new to

SINS OF THE FATHER!

MY god, talk about the sins of the father! Give Rubiales a break! Children and women are beaten in Spain every day. Spain has a history of violence and murder of spouses etc. Meanwhile, this guy kissed someone in a very emotional moment! Big deal. All the glory of the match lost due to everyone jumping on the bandwagon. What hypocrites!

Lynda Martin

OP Puzzle solutions

Quick Crossword

Spain and still in their honeymoon period, in which this country can do no wrong, including with the weather. It was a well written, absorbing article.

Congratulations!

Marie Ryan, Oliva

Mosquito heaven

SORDID AND SEEDY

I READ with great frustration the situation regarding the tiger mosquito and how we can deter these pests by not allowing any standing water.

It’s absolutely laughable that the disgraceful state of the water gullies along all our service roads are choked with weeds and tumbleweed.

They never get removed and when it rains the water is held for weeks.

And of course any flood water from torrential rain can’t flow away.

Lynn Reeves

Across: 1 Bath, 4 Visible, 8 Demister, 9 Sour, 10 Stops, 11 Newsman, 13 Kiln, 15 Act, 16 Seed, 17 Insects, 19 Calve, 22 Grid, 23 Abortion, 24 Saddens, 25 Dram.

Down: 2 Alert, 3 Hairpin, 4 Veto, 5 Serpents, 6 Basis, 7 Educate, 12 Rag trade, 14 Innards, 16 Started, 18 Ended, 20 Viola, 21 Moss.

One OP fan enjoyed our serialisation of travel writer Paul Richardson’s new book, Hidden Valley, and his creative if macabre description of the August heat

LIQUID CULTURE

PEDRO XIMENEZ wines, produced from a grape grown in the Andalucian municipality of Montilla, are in line to be named an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO.

The mayor of the town, Rafael Llamas, has announced that he is applying for the recognition as the production process makes Pedro Ximenez unique.

The intensely sweet, dark dessert sherries could be given the designation in about three years. It will, however, be the regional government of Andalucia that will have to file the actual application, being the only authority with the power to do so. The process of making Pedro Ximenez wines involves drying grapes under an intensely hot sun, which concentrates the sweetness of the fruit. The result is a thick black liquid tasting of raisins and molasses, which is fortified and then aged in barrels in a process known as solera.

ASS-TRONOMICAL EVENT

AFTER being recovered in 2022, a curious tradition is back again this year to entertain the locals of towns in the Valencian community. Originating in Benidorm in 2014, ‘La caga del burro’ returned last Sunday with a prize of €1,000. The tradition consists of dividing a

piece of land into multiple numbered plots - mirroring a game board. Attendees can then place bets on which numbered plot the donkey will deposit its excrement. It can take hours for the donkey to defecate, so many visitors will leave to grab a bite to eat and return.

Tasty congress

THE Basque Country is rightly known for its exquisite cuisine, and this October foodies from all over the world will have yet another excuse to make a visit there. The San Sebastian Gastronomika culinary event will be celebrating its 25th anniversary, and will be held in the Kursaal Congress Centre from October 9 to 11.

Booming tourism

SPAIN’s tourism sector has just closed a record summer season, with an average occupation rate of 93%.

In some destinations, the rate was as high as 100%.

According to data from travel website ebooking.com, much of this success is due to Spaniards opting to visit domestic destinations this summer rather than travel abroad.

Star Spanish chef Ferran Adria to be honoured at 25th edition of Gastronimika culinary congress

By Simon Hunter

The anniversary will not just reflect on the past accomplishments of the event but also the role it has played

The figures also come despite a serious hike in prices, with accommodation costs up 15% across the country, with last minute deals as much as 30% higher than a year ago.

According to ebooking.com, the price rise is down to increased demand and the high inflation that has been suffered in Spain since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Among the most popular destinations for domestic tourists are Andalucia, Catalunya and Valencia.

‘in shaping the narrative of global cuisine’, according to the organisers. As part of the celebrations, three illustrious figures from the culinary world will be honoured for their contributions.

Star Spanish chef Ferran Adria, best known for his El Bulli restaurant in Roses on the Costa Brava, will be given the Homage Award. The Gueridon de Oro, meanwhile, will be bestowed on British wine critic, journalist and wine writer Jancis Robinson, and the Pau Alborna y Torras

Charging ahead

RYANAIR has lodged a formal appeal against plans by Spain’s airport operator Aena to end a five year freeze on airport charges. The cap was introduced by Aena in 2021 to aid the post-Covid recovery of tourism and employment. Ryanair has called on the Council of Ministers and competition regulator, the CNMC, to ‘protect passengers and local economies by ensuring Aena continues to respect the 2021 ruling’.

“This is a brazen attempt to ignore the law,” said RyanAir CEO Eddie Wilson.

Sports eats

HONOUR: Star chef Ferran Adria

our Rafael Garcia Santos, who has writing a number of books and has also been a pioneer of gastronomy congresses in Spain. Also in attendance will be other stars of the world of food including US-based Spanish chef Jose Andres, and Rasmus Munk and Rene

SPORT icons Rafael Nadal and Cristiano Ronaldo will open their new restaurant in Valencia today (Friday).

Part of the Tatel family. It is part of the global expansion of the Mabel Hospitality Group, with other restaurants located in Ibiza and Madrid. It will make nods to local cuisine with dishes like the classic

NEW QUEEN OF THE SOUTH

Global warming is turning Galicia’s Rias Baixas coastline into the next big holiday destination in Spain, writes Elsa Ibanez

SPAIN’S classical summer destinations are shifting. Climate change is taking care of that.

While the south will remain Spain’s veritable queen in winter, the northwest corner of the country is set to become one of the most attractive summer holiday destinations in Europe over the next few years.

Locals and holidaymakers in Galicia agree and the stats seem to bear it out: It’s raining less and the average temperatures are up a little.

Such has been the enthusiasm for Galicia in the last few summers that not only are Spanish nationals opting to spend their holidays there, but more and more international tourists are getting in on the know. It’s a big region with various stretches of coastline and plenty of big breaking waves.

For the best trip you’ll need to narrow down the area you visit as the roads are windy and the distances (like much of Spain) are surprisingly big.

A more than manageable area for a week or two’s trip is the Rias Baixas, the five southernmost estuaries of Galicia that carve into the peninsula from the Atlantic, just north of Portugal.

These estuaries are also protected by a group of islands (including Cíes, Ons and Sálvora) and away from the open sea, the waters are a haven of peace, alongside Caribbean-white sandy beaches and rolling unspoilt green hills.

We started our adventure in Vilanova de Arousa, where many of Spain’s most infamous narcos were plying their trade during the 70s and 80s.

The town itself has little to see, but the house museum of the famous Spanish writer Valle Inclan is a highlight and definitely worth a look in. The main reason to visit is to take the narrow walkway from the middle of its fishing port which leads directly to one of the most beautiful beaches in Europe.

Playa del Terron is a true gem and being heavily protected there is only one chiringuito: Namare Beach Club, which is a must for lunch or

supper.

The sunsets, in particular, will blow you away, while the posey Ibiza/Marbella scene and attitudes (not to mention prices and luxury brands) are thankfully absent. Even better, everything is authentic and unfussy (and that’s the people as well as the food). Vilanova de Arosa has another treasure - The Island of Arousa, which is only accessible across a bridge and leading to a small village with a port and a few small, unpretentious chiringuitos that dot its wonderful beaches. I recommend Camaxiñas Beach and its beach bar, Carpe Diem. The island is perfect for long walks and bicycle rides and one place to head for is the beach bar, O Faro, on the western side with its extraordinary views over the bay and beach, Area da Secada.

The typical dishes you will find everywhere are two types of scallops - zamburiñas y volanderias. The zamburiñas are finer and gain in texture and flavour. They have only one ‘ear’ in comparison with volandeiras. So don’t be fooled when asking for zamburiñas!

only the locals who know the best ones.

The deep-rooted seafaring tradition of the Rias Baixas means that the gastronomy is based on traditionally home-cooked fresh fish, oysters, mussels, cockles and incredible xoubas (sardine pie).

Handmade with soft wheat flour and no additives, since 2017

For foodies, you’ll also love the furanchos, private homes that, a few years ago, obtained permission from the local government to sell each year’s wine vintages.

Over time, these furanchos have become unofficial, off-theradar restaurants and it’s really

The excellent award-winning Galician bread is always present. Nothing like the frozen, sticky baguettes found in much of Spain, it is usually darker with a crunchy crust and variable hardness. Handmade with soft wheat flour and no additives, since 2017, it has had its own unique DO protection status and is considered the best bread in Spain. Next up is the Rias Baixas capital of Pontevedra, one of the most underrated cities in Galicia. Its historic center looks like something out of a fairy tale and takes you back in time in its old town. Pontevedra is best visited on foot. It is full of beautiful historical houses, pazos (palaces) and long covered arcades wherever you go.

It is an experience to stroll through the evocative streets full of bars and small stores that keep leading to new, more beautiful squares, full of granite buildings, showing off the region’s celtic roots.

Another place not to be missed is Cambados - a town that offers a very particular mix not easily matched anywhere else in the world.

In equal parts it’s a small, monumen -

tal town, a coastal village, and the starting point of the probably best white wine route in the world, where the famous Albarino grape emerged at the end of the 1990s. Its cobbled streets and stone houses, particularly its central square, Plaza de Ferfiñan, are considered one of the most beautiful in Galicia. Its seafaring spirit resides in the emblematic neighborhood of San Tomé. This neighborhood has managed to preserve all its essence

and fishing traditions and from here you will spot hundreds of floating platforms (bateas) for the cultivation of mussels and scallops. In addition, and to add a twist, Cambados is known as the capital of Albarino wine.

It is the starting point of the official Albarino Wine Route and is home to 22 wineries belonging to the Denomination of Origin DO Rias Baixas. The perfect place to raise your glass and toast!

UNSPOILT: The Isla de Arousa is accessed by a bridge

LITTLE VISITED:

Charming Pontevedra and (left) a classic granary or horreo

A WARNING has been issued by the European Union in Spain over a shipment of olives exported from Morocco contains high levels of an unauthorised pesticide. A border check was carried out on the olives that were being imported into Spain, which discovered the pesticide chlorpyrifos, and the risk level was set at serious by the European authorities.

Pesticides

According to the Pesticide Action Network, which works to ‘end reliance on hazardous pesticides’, chlorpyrifos is known for its damaging effects on the human nervous system. Its risks are particularly high for children, as it can affect their neurological development.

BORDER CONTROL

MORE than 50 million people who travelled to Spain during the Covid-19 pandemic used the government’s health app to try to control the spread of the disease.

Ministry of Health data revealed that 52,709,223 travellers - or 94.12% of people who arrived in Spain during the pandemic - used the Spain Travel Health (SpTH) application.

The system was launched in April 2020, in a bid to control how many people with coronavirus were coming through the borders, and try to relieve demand in Spanish hospitals.

In a statement issued, the Spanish government said the data showed that the system protected public health and guaranteed the safe resumption of the economy.

“SpTH’s success is reflected in the degree of traveler satisfaction and the low level of litigation it has generated since only four claims were registered,” it read.

The government also noted that the app was launched in record time as countries scrambled to respond to the global health crisis as it unfolded.

Bad contact

A YOUNGSTER from Cartagena has taken to TikTok to warn against the incorrect use of contact lenses. In her video, she explains how she ‘nearly lost an eye’.

Using the nickname @hardkkkkk, she explains in the video how she has been using contacts since the age of 13, but problems only started recently.

“Sleeping with them in,” she explained to another user, when asked what caused the issues.

“When I worked split shifts I would take a siesta with the lenses in and then go back to work.”

She also reported not changing the cleaning fluid regularly for the lenses or even substituting it with water.

Dangerous patients

THE number of assaults on doctors in Spain increased by 38% in 2022, according to the Spanish Medical Association (OMC).

The worrying figures reveal that medical professional associations received a total of 843 complaints for physical and verbal assaults last year, almost 40% more than in 2021.

The report shows that the largest number of these incidents (27%) took place in hospitals, while 17% of them occurred in emergency rooms.

Regarding the cause of the assaults, almost two thirds (64.3%) are linked to anger over waiting times.

While 24.9% of them are associated with the bad management of the GP or hospital and another 11.7% with covid-19 protocols. Within Spain, the regions where this problem is most serious are Cantabria, Catalunya, Ceuta and Melilla, as they register over five assaults in every 1,000 doctors.

PLEASE JAIL ME

A 60-YEAR-OLD cancer sufferer has asked to be sent to jail despite having done nothing wrong because, he says, he is afraid of ‘being alone’ given his state of health.

In prison, he claims, he would have companions who could ‘attend to him and assist him’.

As well as having cancer, Justo Marquez from Granada also suffers heart problems, depression and anxiety, according. His poor state of health has seen him referred to mental health services on a number of occasions, but he has been repeatedly told to visit his GP.

As a result he says that he feels he has been left ‘destitute’ by the social and health services.

“I can’t find any help anywhere and going into jail is an idea that I had,” he

West Nile fears

SPAIN is seeing a surge in tiger mosquitos carrying the West Nile Virus (WNV), experts have warned.

Tests carried out by the Junta de Andalucia between September 4 and 8 revealed the circulation of the disease among mosquito populations in Vejer de la Frontera, Jerez de la Frontera and Tarifa.

The study set up some 27 traps in the provinces of Sevilla, Cadiz, Huelva and Cordoba, 23 of which did not detect the disease.

The report insisted that people take appropriate measures to avoid bitesincluding nets and repellant spray - particularly when tiger mosquitos are most active - just before dawn and immediately after sunset.

By Simon Hunter

said. “But I don’t want to commit any crime.”

He added that he was ‘desperate’ to find a solution to his problem and to no longer be ‘alone 24 hours a day’.

He actually turned up at the Alhaurin de la Torre penitentiary to request he be let in. He was carrying a sign that read: “I want to go to jail.”

He has made clear that he will continue to protest at the doors of the prison until his situation is resolved. Marquez, a father of five, also managed to speak to the prison warden, who said that he would not be able to enter the penitentiary on a voluntary basis. He previously spent two years in jail when he was a younger man on drugs-related charges, but claims that he has been clean for more than three decades.

Cyst alarm

ALARM has been raised over a popular French deodorant sold in Spain as a number of users have reported the appearance of cysts in their armpits.

The French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) has ordered the removal of Nuud deodorants from all shops after the detection of ‘cysts in the armpits of different users of the product’. French authorities have reported that the cysts could be the result of clogged skin pores caused by various

fatty ingredients in the deodorant.

The ANSM has further revealed that a number of people have also suffered from infections that had to be treated with antibiotics. But in Spain, the deodorant can still be bought, yet consumers are advised not to do so. In addition, the health institution is asking those buyers that spot a cyst after using the deodorant to ‘see a doctor immediately.’

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Lonely cancer patient asks to be sent to be prison because he is tired of being alone

Five-finger discount

SPANISH supermarkets have followed the UK’s suit in giving formerly affordable items such as Spain’s much-cherished olive oil security tags to deter rampant shoplifters.

Bear stunner

A BROWN bear stunned locals in Castilla y Leon by getting its head stuck in a plastic drum. Experts had the perilous job of removing it before it starved to death.

Cultural crime

TOURISTS to Barcelona have been complaining that the much-admired gothic cathedral has been plastered with a giant flashing advert selling mobile phones.

O P LIVE RESS The

SAND WEDGE

Women golfers tee off bringing €300m gift for sandy southern Spain

A STAGGERING 82,000 tickets have already been sold for this month’s Solheim Cup, appearing for the first time in Spain.

The world’s top women’s golf tournament is set to sprinkle a healthy €300m on the Costa del Sol when it takes place this weekend.

Held at Finca Cortesin, in Casares, from September 22 to 24 it will see the best players

from Europe and the United States do battle.

Billed as the women’s version of the Ryder Cup, teams consist of 12 players each, with a total of 28 matches to be played. There are eight foursomes and eight four-ball games on the first two days, and then 12 singles games on the last day.

“It’s going to be an unforgettable show and its impact has already been noted at all levels,”

A WATER company employee could have hit the jackpot after unearthing a 2,500 year-old gold necklace on the job.

Sergio Marciandi found the Iron Age artefact concealed among rocks in Cavandi, Asturias.

Now he has been praised by the regional government for immediately calling in archaeologists rather than attempting to pocket the valuable jewellery.

said Andalucia tourist chief Arturo Bernal. The US team holds the world

Honest worker

It means scientists can now undertake a full study of the site to put the find into context. Since the find, the authorities have already discovered a second ancient necklace, with a specialist team being assembled to examine the site further.

Follow the leader

AN ultralight aircraft is guiding endangered Alpine birds on a 2000-km journey to their new home in Andalucia. The Northern Bald Ibises, from Austria, had disappeared from Europe centuries ago, with the only surviving populations in Morocco and Syria.

The Eremita project however, has worked hard to establish new populations in Europe, with Austria, Germany and Switzerland being the main beneficiaries.

ranking advantage, with an average score of 24.42 compared to Europe's 42.58.

The home side, however, has an overwhelming advantage with more experience and momentum, winning four of the last six cups. “I can't remember another time, another year, where so many Americans and Europeans were winning leading up to the Solheim Cup," US assistant captain Angela Stanford said. “I can't remember a time where it just felt like all year long it was back and forth.”

The project is now hoping to re-establish their migration route to Andalucia after a successful scheme led to the establishment of wild colonies in Tuscany in Italy. The young birds follow the ultralight for two or three migrations before they have learned their own way.

WE’RE BACK: Ibis

PIC CREDIT: fincacortesin.com

CREDIT: Waldrappteam Naturschutz & Forschung