Olive Press South & Murcia - Issue 79

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Light at end of the tunnel

THE seven month nightmare be ing suffered by residents of Spain who hold UK driving licences might nearly be over, according to British ambassador Hugh Elliott.

The top diplomat has said that the ‘two outstanding complex issues’ that were still being negotiated be tween the two countries have been resolved.

“We'll now take forward the remain ing steps including legal checks, se curing ministerial approval on both sides – which for Spain, is by the Consejo de Ministros, the Spanish Cabinet – and the necessary treaty processes and formal exchanges,” he added.

Steps

The ambassador was not, however, able to confirm how much longer the remaining steps would take.

Once they are taken people will have ‘six months to exchange your UK li cence for a Spanish one. And during that time, you'll be able to drive us ing your existing valid UK licence,’ said Elliott.

“Once those legal and political ap provals are done, confirmation will be published in the BOE,” Elliott ex plained, in reference to Spain’s Of ficial State Bulletin. “At that point, you will then have six months to ex change your UK licence for a Span ish one. And during that time, you'll be able to drive using your existing valid UK licence.”

He added: ‘I know this hasn't been an easy time for those of you who've been unable to drive but I hope that this lat est news gives you some reassurane.”

RESS

PROPERTY LIFELINE

rural homes

HUNDREDS of thousands of home owners who lived under the threat of having their property demolished have been thrown a lifeline.

New Valencian Community licences have been introduced to help own ers of rural homes built without ap propriate permission prior to 2014 planning laws.

An estimated 350,000 homes con structed on green-belt land in the Valencia region fall into the ‘illegal’ category.

Impact Minimisation Licenses (MIT) can be applied for at local town halls by owners wanting legal recognition of their properties as well as banishing any fears of dem olition.

John Kirby is working for the Va lencian government to explain the changes. He’s lived in Spain for 28 years and worked for Alborache council as a municipal architect.

Kirby told the Olive Press: “The sheer number of illegal homes means that a large part of the region is affected, but MITs will be a real opportunity for change while pro tecting the environment.”

He emphasised that getting an MIT doesn’t automatically mean that your rural home would become le gal, but it does give you some key things.

“The property can be legally lived in and maintained forever, as well as local councils being obliged to

John.

By Alex Trelinski

“In return, home owners must provide guarantees over avoiding pollution to the sub-soil as well as minimising potential flood and fire risks in the area,” he added.

He also pointed out that a property with an MIT li cence would inevitably be easier to sell if and when the time comes.

“MIT licences present a new path towards the social and economic in tegration of expats with in their communities as well as for whole mu nicipalities affected by such properties,” Kirby concluded.

Valencia’s Agency for the Protec tion of the Territory late last year threatened to demolish homes built on unapproved land around the community.

Bulldozers

The authorities threatened to start sending in bulldozers on properties considered illegal from the start of this year, but the new permit re moves that prospect.

It’s a problem that has plagued homeowners across Andalucia, but the region introduced a new law in 2019 that allowed some 327,000 illegally built properties to be environmentally and terri torially adapted.

Under the legislation, homes older than six years and not built on protected or flood risk land were

able to gain assim ilado al regimen de fuera de ordenacion (AFO) status.

It allowed homeowners to access services legally and register their property at the Land Registry. It also allowed some of the many expats, duped into buying what they thought was a normal home, connection to water or electricity. However, it was too late for some homeowners.

Last year, the Olive Press reported the shocking story of Brit Gurney Davey who was forced to knock down his own home in Tolox. The then 67-year-old received the court order despite having built the home by following all the instruc tions of legal advisors.

The Olive Press also followed the dramatic story of an elderly British couple who were forced to live in a

garage since their dream €400,000 villa was demolished 14 years ago. Len and Helen Prior had been liv ing in the garage for four years and a half - they powered it with a gen erator and used bottled water.

Nervous

But after they were finally granted AFO status in 2021, they got access to mains water and electricity. Property owners in the Valencia community nervous about their homes being demolished could see a similar fate with the new MIT li cence, but only if their home was built after 2014.

Gorge-ous... The wonder of Ronda

New law means owners will be able to legalise ‘illegal’

ANGUISH: The Priors watched as their house was torn down

DEFIANT: Gurney demolished his own home

provide the same kind of services as in built-up areas of a munic ipality,” explained

Races bumped

A DOZEN giant speedbumps have been installed on the CV-950 road by La Pedrera reservoir to stop illegal weekend night-time car and motorbike races.

On your bike

A SERIAL bike and scooter thief stealing from outside schools and gyms in San Juan de Alicante has been arrested. The Dutch man, 43, has been charged with 14 counts of theft.

Temp cops

ORIHUELA’S police ranks have been boost ed by the recruitment of 15 ‘temporary’ offi cers until permanent positions can be filled.

Football crazy

A BRAWL between teenage footballers turned nasty in Murcia when a boy produced a knife and stabbed one of the opposing players in the back. The young ster ran off but was ar rested a day later.

THREE scammers defrauded at least 15 people by taking deposits for bogus holiday properties in the Mar Menor area.

The trio, who pocketed around €15,000, have been arrested by the Guardia Civil.

The fraudsters published ads on web sites and social media offering sum mer holiday rentals including photos of the supposed homes to add extra realism to the deception.

Holiday con

Customers were asked to pay deposits and rental insurance to secure their booking. Most of the victims were based in the Murcia region and if they asked to visit the rental property be forehand, they were palmed off with various excuses.

If they requested a deposit refund, the scammers said they had cancelled for

no good reason and refused to return the money.

The fraudsters were based in different districts of Murcia and were located by analysing their social media activity.

Their bank accounts were blocked by the Guardia Civil and all of the stolen money will be refunded to the hoodwinked clients.

The Guardia operation is continuing to see if other people have been duped by the ruse.

Coke lords bust

Police raid financial ‘nerve centre’ in Spain as part of operation to smash Europe-wide ‘super cartel’ triggered by enormous coke bust in Port of Valencia

Impulse excuse

A SACKED Murcia bank manager has lost a bid to get his job back after stealing €8,335, claiming he suffers from an illness that ‘forced’ him into impulse buying.

Judges at a Cartagena court dismissed his claim, saying he had committed a ‘very serious offence’ and that his employer was totally justified in sacking him.

Blazing cars

been smashed two years after a massive coke bust in Valencia set detectives on their trail.

Raids across six countries net ted 49 arrests and 30 tonnes of cocaine, including the pur ported overall boss of the mega operation, British ‘drugpin’ Ryan Hale, thought to be in his early 40s and linked to the Irish Kinahan cartel.

Police arrested six further ‘drug

By Walter Finch

lord kingpins’ - or ‘drugpins’who had joined forces to create a ‘super cartel’, which they or chestrated from Dubai. The busts were part of a mul tinational Europol operation which was triggered when

TWO graffiti ‘artists’ have been arrested in Alicante for using train carriages as canvasses after police rec ognised their distinctive style from previous arrests.

The men, aged 25 and 29, ille gally entered a RENFE train depot several times and did €7,000 of damage.

Spanish police found nearly 700kg of coke in a container in the Port of Valencia in 2020. Although no arrests were made at the time, the bust gave rise to a sprawling investigation involving a number of police agencies across Europe span ning three years that ultimately became Europol’s Operation

Graffiti arrests

One of their works covered 24 square metres and cost €4,800 to wash off. The men have been charged with vandalism and their stock of paint spray cans seized.

Desert Light. The financial ‘nerve centre’ of the criminal out fit was centred around Marbel la, where a po lice raid bagged the alleged head of the group’s €24 million money launder ing operation.

Further raids in Barcelona and Madrid saw another ‘high-val ue target’ arrested, a Bulgarian, along with another Bulgarian and three Spanish citizensincluding a worker at the Port of Barcelona - who collectively oversaw the unloading of co caine into Spanish ports.

Arrests

In total, officers from the Guar dia Civil’s anti-narcotics team UCO (Central Operative Unit) kicked down the doors of 21 homes and businesses and made 15 arrests as part of Oper ation Faukas.

Police netted €500,000 in cash, three loaded guns and a fleet of luxury cars, some worth almost €300,000.

FOUR parked cars were in cinerated and eight others damaged in a Saturday early morning blaze at an open-air car park next to Pilar de la Horadada’s town hall. The fire started in one of the vehicles.

Hidden cash

AN Alicante man was robbed in the street and stripped by two thieves who stole cash he had stashed in his underpants.

The young victim was grabbed by the neck in a stranglehold, hit several times in the face then had his trousers pulled down.

The victim told the Policia Na cional he had no idea what led the robbers to know where he kept his cash.

Three-star success

TWO restaurants in Spain have been upgraded to a maximum ‘three star’ Michelin status in its 2023 guide for Spain and Portugal.

It means 13 eateries on the Iberian Peninsula now have the top Michelin accolade.

Cocina Hermanos Torres in Barcelona gets the top rating for what Michelin says is ‘firing the imagination with ev ery bite’.

Chefs Sergio and Javier Torres - who were recently named in the top 100

Winding down

WHILE many of his Manches ter City team mates are in Qa tar striving to win the football World Cup, star player Erling Haaland is winding down in Marbella.

The 22-year-old Norwegian in ternational - who was born in Leeds where his dad Alfie was a player - has a house in the Costa del Sol city and is taking advantage of the World Cup mid-season break to recharge his batteries there.

He has been spotted out and about enjoying some quality down time - although he would no doubt be much happier to be in Qatar himself.

His Norwegian team failed to reach the finals, with the Neth erlands and Turkey finishing ahead of the Scandinavians.

Best Chefs in the World - have created a ‘magical space’ in which the gastro nomic experience- using the very best seasonal produce - exceeds foodies’ expectations, turning it into a dining extravaganza.

The other new three-star entrant is Atrio in Caceres. Michelin says the ‘ul timate distinction’ goes to it because of its ‘elegant and delicate’ dishes prepared by chef Toño Perez who has ‘shaken up’ local gastronomic tradi tions.

It comes as a welcome boost to the restaurant after it lost €1.6 million worth of wines when thieves plundered its cellar last year.

Deesa (Madrid); Pepe Viera (Serpe, Pontevedra) and El Rincon de Juan Carlos (Tenerife) have all been upgrad ed to two stars.

On the road

Gordon Ramsay spotted filming latest series in Spain

GORDON Ramsay has been spotted filming in one of Mal aga’s more unusual restau rants.

The celebrity chef - who has had 17 Michelin Stars in his career - visited El Tintero to get a taste of a dif ferent way of doing things in the culinary world.

The chiringuito bar) is famous for not having a menu, but instead op erating on a first come first served basis.

Waiters come from the kitch en bringing plates of food and shout ing out what

A new ‘Blanksy’

ed over in drab grey.

The artwork ap peared to be a protest against Russia’s inva sion of Ukraine.

It was an ad aptation of Banksy’s famous Girl with Bal

By

they have. The first customers to stick their hands up get to inspect the dish and decide if they want to buy it or not.

Ramsay was there to film his latest Road Trip show with pals Italian chef Gino D’Acampo and master maitre d’ Fred Sirieix. This series is being shot entirely in Spain, and will explore local culture and gastronomy - particularly seafood.

This is not the first time Ramsay has visited the Costa del Sol. In 2014 he roped in Olive Press editor Jon Clarke to help review La Granada Divino in Gaucin, which was featured in the series Costa del Nightmares.

Amazing

“I love it down here. It’s amaz ing. And what a place Gaucin is!” said the Scottish chef.”

Fashionable Sevilla

The

It is a double boost for the Andalucian capital, which was cho sen to launch the collection at a special fashion show in June.

For the campaign, photographer Laura Sciacovelli took inspi ration from classical art to frame models Chai Maximus, Maryel Uchida, Miriam Sanchez, Eden Joi, Raynara Negrine, Greta Bult mann, Freja Rothmann, and Yunseo Cho in a series of portraits.

Creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri was in spired by costumes associated with flamenco, bullfighting and equestrian arts.

loon series, which first cropped up in Lon don’s Waterloo in 2002 and was recreated in Bethlehem in 2006.

Locals have pointed the finger at the town mayor for ‘senselessly’ destroying the work of art.

Ramsay also paid a visit to Fuengirola in an attempt to revive the Mayfair restaurant, which he changed to Jack’s Kitchen Shack.

Both restaurants have since closed.

CHOSEN DUO

THE European Space Agency has chosen two Spaniards for future space missions, which could include a voyage to Mars.

Pablo Alvarez, 34 and from Leon, has been chosen from the hopefuls by the ESA, as well as Sara Garcia, 33 and also from Leon, as a reserve.

This marks the first time in 30 years that a Spaniard has made the cut for a space mission.

The first and only Spanish astro naut until now was Pedro Duque, who was chosen in 1992.

He later went on to become a Science Minister in the Socialist Party government of Prime Min ister Pedro Sanchez.

Dilip Kuner

A popular ‘Banksy’ artwork stencilled on an underpass near El Ingenio shopping centre in Torre del Mar has been paint

FADE TO GREY: From art to drab

FAMOUS FACE: Ramsay on the Costa del Sol

SEVILLA has been given a world-wide publicity boost in the latest ad campaign by fashion house Dior.

city provided the locations for a photo shoot of the flamen co-inspired Cruise 23 collection.

Francoist deadline

ELCHE council has been given until mid-December to remove a major Francoist symbol in the city.

The order to take down the Cross of the Fallen comes from the Valencian government which will do it themselves if the deadline is not acted on.

The move is part of enforcing the national Law of Democrat ic Memory. The Cross of the Fallen was constructed in 1944 in a square adjoining the city’s Paseo de Germanias.

Elche has also been ordered to change the names of 123 streets - mainly in the Carrus district - dedicated to people who died fighting for Franco. Some com memorative plaques have also been ordered removed.

Fatal drop

AN Almoradi man died at a canning factory after a 400 kilo pallet of tinned goods fell on his head.

The accident happened at the Manuel Mateo Candel cannery at El Mudamiento near Rafal.

The premises are working at 100% capacity at the height of the artichoke canning season. The man, 38, was inside an automated machine when the pallet fell.

Paramedics found him dead when they arrived with the Guardia Civil conducting an investigation into what led up to the accident.

Tourist tax farce

A TOURIST tax has been ap proved by the Valencian par liament but hardly anyone appears willing to enforce it.

Almost every authori ty including Alicante, Benidorm, and Torrevieja have said they will not raise a daily charge on tourist ac commodation.

The plan was watered down from being a region-wide law to giving town halls the option to charge it.

It seems that only Valen cia City is keen on making tourists pay up for the priv ilege of renting holiday ac

By Alex Trelinski

commodation.

The tax will vary between €2 per night for a hotel room down to €0.50 for a campsite stay.

Tourist apartments and cruise ships also come un der the scope of the tax.

The new levy will not come into force until 2024 and will be enacted exactly a year after its details are published in the Valencian Official Gazette.

The tourist tax has long

PATIENT BANNED

A WOMAN has received a fourmonth suspended jail term and a ban from any contact with her doctor after assaulting him at an Orihuela health centre.

The restraining order means she cannot be within 300 metres of the medic and therefore has to go elsewhere for health care. She had asked him to issue a new prescription after stating her previous one was incorrect. He refused and the woman verbally

abused him.

been a source of disagree ment between the socialists in Valencia led by president Ximo Puig and his two leftwing coalition partners -

The tirade escalated into violence where she threw a blood pressure monitor at the doctor but missed. Health centre and hospital staff have reported rising levels of verbal and physical aggression against them. The busiest Orihue la health department centres in Almoradi, Callosa de Segura, and in Orihuela City are now employ ing security guards to stand at the front entrance.

Compromis and Unidas Podemoswho were very keen on intro ducing the levy.

Opposition parties led by the Par tido Popular have prom ised to scrap the measure if they win next year’s regional elections.

The Hosbec hoteliers asso ciation says it may launch a legal challenge on the grounds that no changes have been made to local Treasury Laws to imple ment it.

Costs

A Hosbec spokesperson said: “This is an untimely tax that comes after tour ism suffered during the Covid pandemic and now we have inflation pushing up costs for goods and ser vices.”

It warned the Valencia re gion would lose its com petitiveness to areas like Andalucia, Murcia, and the Canary Islands who don’t have a tourist tax.

TORREVIEJA has unveiled proposals for a big overhaul of the city’s Paseo de la Lib ertad.

This would include vehi cles being fully or partially banned from several streets and the fairground and ‘hip pie’ market sites being moved and ‘'modernised’.

The changes would dove-tail in with the revamp of the ad joining port. Torrevieja may or, Eduardo Dolon, said the aim was to create a multi-use esplanade from the current line of buildings on the prom enade right to the sea.

Some €1.7 million has been allocated to the drafting of the project, which would not start construction for at least a year.

Dolon also suggested that an underground road tunnel could be built under the en tire stretch of the Paseo Vista Alegre- something that could run into millions of euros.

Paseo plans Better area

HIGHLY anticipated work to create a green area and improve drainage in Santa Pola’s Avenida de Salamanca has started.

Flooding after heavy rains will be reduced thanks to the €544,000 project which will be completed by February.

New daily charge for visitors passed but no one wants to collect it

BACK IN SPAIN?

THE prime suspect in the case of missing Lisa Brown, feared murdered in Spain, has escaped from jail in the UK.

The family of the Scottish mum, who vanished in 2015, fear the nautical man could soon be back in Spain.

Dean Woods, aka Simon Cor ner, was on day release from HM Prison Sudbury, in Der byshire, when he absconded and did not return.

The 40-year-old luxury yacht dealer was just two years into a 12-year jail sentence for his involvement in an €9 million cocaine ring.

Woods has long been suspect ed of being behind the disap pearance of his ex-partner Lisa Brown, then 32, seven years

Suspect behind missing Lisa Brown escapes prison amid fears he could be back in Spain

ago.

He was quizzed by Spanish cops after the mother-of-one, from Scotland, failed to collect her eight-year-old son from school in Guadiaro, near Sotogrande, where she lived.

She had been living in Spain since she was 18 and had just started working in Gibraltar for an online betting company when she vanished.

“He is dangerous so if you hear he’s back or see him, make that call to authorities,” Brown's sis ter Helen told the Olive Press.

LUCKY ESCAPE

AN Alicante tram smashed into a car on Monday but the vehicle’s two pas sengers escaped with just a few bruises.

The car - contain ing a mother and her daughter - was struck while crossing the tram line on Calle Baronia de Polop.

The vehicle was dragged along for several metres before the tram stopped.

The mother and child were treated by paramedics before being taken to hospital.

EXCLUSIVE

By Anthony Piovesan

“He’s got friends in the area and it’s a place he knows very well,” she said. “He could return to Gibraltar, La Linea, Sotogrande or Duquesa - he has plenty of friends there who helped him escape Spain in the first place.”

Derbyshire police confirmed Woods’ escape from jail and appealed to the public for any information.

“Woods did not return after a period of day release on No vember 19,” a spokesperson said.

Missing

Officers had been probing Woods, from Liverpool, after Brown went missing in 2015, but couldn’t find him.

They eventually issued a Euro pean Arrest Warrant for him, suspecting that Brown may have been abducted and taken out to sea, possibly en route to Ibiza or Thailand.

The Olive Press revealed at the time that Woods had been living on a boat called, Rosa of London, in La Linea’s Alcaidesa marina.

We established that Brown had

been a ‘regular visitor’ to the boat, while Woods regularly made ‘pleasure cruises’ into the Med with tourists.

Brown had been dating Woods for a few months, after splitting up with her son’s father Tony Tomillero.

Woods - who also uses the alias Simon Corner - was finally arrested at Heathrow Airport in London in April 2018, but weeks later the case against him was archived in Spain.

San Roque Judge Garcia ruled: “This court has serious doubts that Simon Corner is the person responsible for the crimes of homicide or unlawful detention being investigated”.

Woods denied any involvement in Brown’s disappearance and moved back to the UK. However, in October 2018, he was extradited back to Spain af

ter the case was reopened.

Three judges at Cadiz Provin cial Court ordered San Roque court to reopen the case and, in particular, analyse his mobile phone records.

But that probe also petered out, and a few weeks later in November 2018, Woods got involved in a £8 million cocaine operation in Liverpool.

Brown’s sister added her family would ‘stop at nothing’ to get justice for her. “She deserves justice,” she added.

Opinion Page 6

More flights

POPULAR budget airline Easy

Jet announced it will operate a new flight route between Man chester Airport and Murcia’s Corvera Airport in 2023.

Between May 2 and September 26 EasyJet will be putting on four weekly flights between the two cities.

On Tuesdays EasyJet flight EZY2037 will fly from Man chester to Murcia, departing at 2.10pm and 3.25pm.

On Saturdays, EasyJet flight EZY2038 will fly from Mur cia to Manchester, leaving at 6.45pm and 8pm.

Routes

Flights from October onwards were yet to be announced.

The new routes are in addition to Ryanair’s eight weekly flight routes it currently operates be tween the two cities.

It comes after regional author ities in Murcia announced that they would be investing €4 million to open more airport connections with the region next year.

Murcia Minister of Presidency, Tourism, Sport and Culture Marcos Ortuño vowed “to pro mote the transformation of the tourism model of the region and achieve visitors with high spending power throughout the year and throughout the territory.”

In 2022 so far, 787,000 passen gers have passed through Mur cia Airport, recovering 76% of its pre-pandemic traffic.

ON THE RUN: Woods questioned four years ago after Lisa vanished

Justice for Lisa

The pain for the family of missing Scottish mother Lisa Brown, feared murdered in Spain in 2015, must be unimaginable, but it just got worse.

The system designed to get the Brown family justice has failed them.

After five years the prime suspect over her disappearance, Dean Woods, was finally locked up, but not to do with Lisa’s case.

The running theory was that Lisa was killed and taken out to sea, but a judge ruled there was not enough evidence against him.

Woods was instead done for his role in a €9 million cocaine ring.

He was two years into a 12-year sentence at an open prison in the UK when he went out on day release ten days ago, and never returned.

What was someone who was involved in a €9 million cocaine plot doing out on day release, let alone allowed to serve a sentence in an open prison?

He’s back out, while the pain among Lisa’s loved ones quickly turns into a bitter rage, and their anger is justified.

Band aid fix

THE sudden legalisation of ‘illegal’ homes built on Va lencian Community land is a positive move, but it fails to address the real problem.

Why were those homes granted building rights to begin with?

Hundreds of thousands of homeowners, many of them expats, have been duped into buying homes they thought were legal, because the council said so, and they were granted the permission.

Only to then be hit with court orders issued by the region al government which claimed their homes had so-called building irregularities.

It is a classic example of the left hand completely oblivi ous to what the right hand is doing.

The Impact Minimisation Licenses (MIT) in Valencia will now help owners of rural homes, built without appropri ate permission prior to 2014 planning laws, bring their properties into the line of the law.

But it certainly doesn’t help those in the past who have watched on as bulldozers flattened their dream homes.

THE KING AND I

By Simon Hunter

AS anyone watching the most re cent series of The Crown will have been reminded, Queen Elizabeth II famously suffered an annus hor ribilis in 1992 as scandal hit her family and there was a fire at Windsor Castle.

For Spain’s former king Juan Carlos I, 2022 has no doubt been proving to be a terrible year – but for him it’s just the latest in a long line.

Since 2020, Juan Carlos has been living in self-imposed exile in Abu Dhabi, after mounting allegations of financial irregu larities forced him to flee.

His son, King Felipe VI, wanted to get some distance between the Spanish roy al family’s past and present.

But rather than escaping the focus of the public – both in Spain and abroad – Juan Carlos has been a regular fixture in the headlines this year.

First, thanks to an HBO documentary ti tled Saving the King , which laid bare not just his financial dealings over the years but also his many affairs.

And now one of those ex-lovers, Dan ish-German businesswoman Corinna Larsen (who goes by her married name of Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn) is telling her version of their time together

in a kiss-and-tell podcast titled Corinna and the King . Here’s what you need to know about the latest in this ongoing roy al saga.

The revelations

The podcast, which was produced by bestselling authors Tom Wright and Brad ley Hope, is an eight-part series based on extensive interviews with Larsen, as well as journalists who followed the story over the years and other key figures. Episode one explains how the two met and their relationship began; episode two delves into Juan Carlos’s past; epi sode three examines the role of Queen Sofía, who is to this day still married to the self-styled emeritus king; and epi sode four covers the infamous hunting trip in Botswana that sparked a crisis in the royal family.

How they met

“It's a Shakespearean story about power, money, and sex,” explains Larsen in the first episode of the series, during which she tells the story of how the pair were at a hunting trip together at the Duke of Westminster’s property, La Garganta, in the Sierra More na mountains of Castilla-La Mancha and Cordoba, a favoutite hunting retreat of the princes William and Harry.

Tired after a long day, Larsen broke with pro tocol and asked for the king’s permission to leave.

“You're not supposed to retire to bed until the head of state leaves,” she explains. All eyes ended up on her, including the king’s.

How it started

Larsen explains how the king’s phone calls, first about business, became gradually

Expat Guide to voting in Spain’s 2023 elections

WHO WILL BE ABLE TO VOTE?

uary 30 2023. If you have previously voted in the same mu nicipality, your details should be registered already.

For non-EU citizens (such as those from the UK) there is an earlier application deadline of January 15, 2023. Unlike EU residents, you now have to register EVERY four years before voting in the municipal elections. Previous pre-Brexit regis tration does not count.

KEY POINT SUMMARY

4 If you come from a country that has a reciprocal agree ment – for example, the UK – you must register on the electoral roll at the town hall.

4 In order to exercise the right to vote you have to bring along your passport and residency document/TIE card to confirm you are living legally in Spain.

ELECTORAL CENSUS REGISTRATION DEADLINES

The registration deadlines vary depending on whether you are an EU citizen or from a country with a reciprocal agree ment with Spain.

EU citizens can apply between December 1, 2022 and Jan

4 You will need to have held valid residency in Spain for three years at the time of application.

4 You must be registered on the padron of the municipal ity in which you reside.

4 Registration dates and times may vary: Check in ad vance at your local town hall.

In an eight-episode kissand-tell podcast series, Corinna Larsen, the exlover of Spain’s former king, reveals intimate details about their private life, his finances and marriage

more personal and more regular. “It was kind of surreal, because [a relation ship] hadn’t really crossed my mind. But he was very funny and sort of very persistent, but in a humorous way. He’s clearly known as one of the greatest seducers amongst royalty.”

When they share a meal together in a hunt ing lodge near the Zarzuela royal palace, he confesses that his marriage to Queen Sofía is just for show.

The anger of the queen

In episode three, Larsen tells the story of being given a private tour of the Zarzuela palace, having been promised that Sofía was not home.

“Suddenly, Queen Sofia burst into the room. And with a face like thunder,” she explains. “She pointed at me and said, ‘I know who you are!’”

The ‘court of miracles’

Larsen tells of the ‘unusual’ things in Juan Carlos’s life, what she calls the ‘court of mir acles’.

“I would see him coming back from trips and be happy as a five year old, and there’d be bags full of cash.”

Asked about them, the then-king would say: ‘Oh, this is from my friend so and so.’ “He’d say you are so dramatic, you don't under stand how Spain works. And no, clearly I didn't.”

The affairs

Larsen makes clear in the podcast that she demanded Juan Carlos be faithful to her, being aware of previous affairs he had such

as with Barbara Rey, an actress who later claimed she was receiving death threats af ter having broken up with the king.

But, Larsen explains, after the death of her father who she cared for in his dying days, the king had an unpleasant surprise for her: “The king somehow in a conversation men tioned something about me not having been available much during those eight months when my father was in his last stage of can cer. And then he’d been seeing someone else.”

The hunting trip

Then comes Larsen’s account of the infa mous 2012 hunting trip, news of which set Juan Carlos on the path to his 2014 abdi cation.

She and the king were both on the safari to gether, despite having broken up. According to Larsen, the king woke up one morning after a night of heavy drinking and realised he must have had a fall and said he would spend the day in bed.

His medical team, however, thought he had internal bleeding, and he was rushed back to Spain on Larsen’s chartered private jet. Despite the severity of the situation and his condition, the king requested a glass of wine.

Larsen tried to reason with him, but, she ex plains, “he was like, ‘I am the king. I can do whatever I want’. And it was like a petulant child.”

Fallout

The hunting trip alerted the press to the exis tence of Larsen in Juan Carlos’s life, and all hell broke loose – especially given the tough economic times Spaniards are suffering.

Larsen recounts the ‘complete fabrications’ about her in the press, and thinks she knows who is to blame.

“This has the fingerprints of Queen Sofia all over it,” she states, although as the podcast points out, there is no evidence to back up that claim.

Princess Di

In episode five of Corinna and the King, Larsen reveals how Juan Carlos instructed his friends to stage a ‘fake Christmas’ given that he could no longer stand his own family. She also details the threats she claims to have been subjected to by the Spanish secret services, including a book about the death of Princess Diana being left in her apartment.

What’s the damage?

While the podcast heaps yet more shame on the already disgraced emeritus king, the fact that it is available in Spanish and En glish, and has been widely covered in for eign publications such as The Times and The Daily Mail, also does Spain’s reputation few favours.

It paints a picture of an out-of-control mon arch, a press that is turning a blind eye to his antics, and state machinery that swings into action to protect him. And there is no doubt worse to come in the remaining episodes.

“It’s like Spain, oh it's such a nice coun try, go on holiday there, we’ll have some tapas, so fun... It's almost more dangerous because people are completely unaware,” says Corinna Whatever the case, its release is yet anoth er in a long line of embarrassments for the exiled emeritus king.

BEING SOCIABLE

AS the world moves on the Olive Press moves with it.

While proud of our quality print editionnow in five regions and having just won a Google award - we have not been one to rest on our laurels and were quick to notice the impor tance of social media.

With approaching 30,000 followers on Facebook and 9,600 more on Twit ter it’s clear more and more peo ple have been turning to these Olive Press platforms to find trusted news.

Businesses and organisations have also cottoned on to its far reach and have been eager to get on board.

This includes Gibraltar University that has been using our Facebook site to attract new stu dents, knowing we have a wide and young audience on the costas.

Linea Directa has also recognised its reach and effectiveness and conduct ed a campaign solely online, while nu merous other big financial companies have booked sponsored posts.

But the power of social media is best underlined when we team up with businesses for local com petitions.

In the past we offered a two-night stay with sup per at the five-star hotel Kempinsky hotel in Es tepona and the post reached a massive 29,000 people on Facebook - and garnered 982 ‘likes’. The bosses of the hotel were even more delight ed with the 9,000 hits it got online, as well as the incredible 4000-plus entrants for the com petition.

A similar prize with a hotel in Casares got ‘more bookings than an article in the Times’... worth ‘over €10,000’ for the price of a few sponsored posts.

Winning combination

We recognize the power of social media - but also know that it works best with print media in all its guises.

For this reason we have a range of different and highly flexible marketing strategies that can be combined on various platforms for businesses to get a higher profile.

With a website that attracts tens of thousands of unique visitors a day, many thousands of social media followers a week and Spain’s best English language printed newspaper every fortnight, we have a winning platform for your business.

Get in touch at sales@theolivepress.es or call 951 273 575 to see what we can do for you.

PLAYERS: Queen Sofia was furious when she encountered Larsen at the Zarzuela palace

SCANDAL: The king’s hunting trip led to the exposure of his affair with Larsen

Flood alert

Valencia and Sevilla in top three danger zones

WHILE Spain is frequent ly wracked with fires and droughts, there is a third horse man of the apocalypse that stalks the country: flooding.

With climate change, the risk of flooding is increasing and the cost of property damage is also soaring.

Two people are already known to have died in 2022, including a policeman trying to rescue a trapped motorist in Alicante.

In Murcia one man drowned when he was swept from his home by water as he slept on a sofa.

The regions of Spain most at risk of flooding and most sus ceptible to flood damage have been documented in a new re port, with Valencia and Sevilla coming in the top three, just behind Barcelona in first place.

Risk

The report, from Gamma Lo cation Intelligence, combines the risk of flooding with the po tential damage to property that would be suffered to determine which provinces have the most properties at risk and an esti mated cost of flooding.

It is the Mediterranean coast that presents the biggest risk of suffering massive damage.

It is estimated that on average some €17,531,757 of damage to property in the province of Bar celona is caused by floods each year.

Valencian home owners have reason to worry with an average €13,878,134 worth of damage

By Walter Finch

caused annually.

This figure is €12,473,571 in Sevilla and €6,686,007 in Ali cante.

Overall, Spain can expect an av erage annual loss from flooding of nearly €200 million, Canary Islands excluded.

QUACKING NEWS

The

To

of

This

Look at what is going on in Africa and Germany

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS

AFRICA has vast gas reserves. As many countries in the African continent now look to exploit the value of this resource, Euro pean super powers are actually encouraging, supporting, and financing this ‘Dash for Gas’.

As the scramble for gas reaches dizzying heights, due largely to Russia’s atrocious attack on Ukraine, the very important fight to control rising temperatures across the world takes a back seat again.

I fully understand the African countries point of view. Western countries benefitted and pros pered from exploiting dirtier fossil fuels.

Why shouldn’t African countries reap the re wards of exploiting cleaner natural gas?

Everyone knows the answer….to save the envi ronment. Fossil fuels need to be phased out and left in the ground. Africa’s backyard should not become Europe’s forecourt. The ever powerful cabal of fossil fuel companies

along with corrupt elites of Africa have another agenda.

The effects of global warming have been devas tating in parts of Africa, yet still greed triumphs over commonsense.

The developed world has to stand up and fi nance a move to renewables to support emerg ing nations.

There are better ways to reduce poverty and power Africa.

It is hard to argue the case for gas to stay in the ground when many European countries are returning to coal powered electricity production.

GERMANY ENDS RELIANCE ON RUSSIAN GAS

When the lunatic Putin switched off the gas tap to Europe, Germany faced a winter of dis content. Power cuts, industrial decimation and economic disaster loomed.

But now Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz (left) has declared that ‘energy security for this winter is guaranteed’.

Germany’s gas stores are full thanks to frantic and expensive buying in the world markets.

Good news for Germany, bad news for poorer countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, who lack the finances to compete in an overheated market.

Germany’s call to action has been fast and im pressive, even by German standards.

A new floating storage and regasification termi nal has become operational in 200 days. Bureaucracy - the ‘condom on the prick of prog ress’ - was removed. And five more storage facil

ities will become operational next year. It proves that where there is a will there’s a way.

COP 27

I would dearly like to report bundles of good news about the outcome of this years United Nations Conference of Parties (COP). Sadly, the bad news is there’s little good news.

• No reference at all to phasing out fossil fuels.

• Rich countries once again pledged to pay poorer countries for the damage and eco nomic losses caused by climate change…30 years on from huge climate impacts.

• Lots of powerful political rhetoric.

• Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words.

Martin

is

ENVIRONMENTAL officials in Andalucia have released 25 rare marbled ducks into the wild at the Desembocadura del Guadalhorce Natural Park, in Malaga.

bird is considered the most threatened duck species in the whole of Europe.

reverse the risk

extinction, the LIFE Cerceta Pardilla project has undertaken a series of ac tions to reinforce its popula tions, including the release of captive-bred specimens.

year some 146 chicks have hatched and are being released in different wetlands throughout Andalucia.

LEAVE: fossil fuels in the ground

Green Matters By Martin Tye

OLAF SCHOLZ: says energy supplies are secure

AT RISK: map shows the areas most in danger

El rock and roll

WHAT

The 78-year-old has not been shy about espousing his love of every thing Castilian on social media, even posing for a snap in front of Picasso’s Guernica earlier this year during the Rolling Stones’ recent European tour.

They had chosen Madrid as the opener for a tour 10 countries in celebration of the band’s 60th an niversary.

Some 53,000 people flocked to

THE BEATLES

As

The

However,

-

Oddly enough, one of the few attendees at the 1968 gig was footballing

The

IN

Their

IN

THE Beatles came to Barcelo na in July 1965 as part of the band’s first ever vis it to Spain, and stayed at El Avenida Palace hotel where they had access to a special fire exit so as to avoid the main entrance, which was swarmed by

John

The first

The band was mired in internal disputes at the time. Roger Waters had left the band in 1985 and threat ened Gilmour and Mason with legal action if they continued to promote any shows under the Pink Floyd name.

Despite the behind the scenes drama, the gigs were a success. Gilmour lat er included the Barcelona gig among the his top five performances with the

band.

Pink

a bonus it would have been to stroll into Madrid’s Retiro Park and catch sight of a linen-clad Mick Jagger posing in true guiri style in front of the fallen angel statue.

Spain has been jam-packed with international superstars entertaining enthusiastic crowds this year, but the rock and roll legends have been coming for decades. We cast an eye over the lineup

IN 1988, Michael Jackson came to Marbella on his Bad World tour and played to 30,000 fans.

show received many plaudits with the singer making use of a crane to fly over the crowd during his classic Beat It number.

Jackson’s behind-the-scenes requests created more column inches. Chief among them were his de mand for all the plants in his room to be plastic so as not to ‘deprive him of oxygen’, and the accommodation needs of his 150-strong en tourage.

fans, leaving traffic gridlocked.

Lennon allegedly had to exchange his trousers with hotel proprietor Joan Gaspar before the start of the show because his own had been too crumpled and mauled by overly-zealous fans.

May 2016, over 200,000 people watched Coldplay at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis in Barcelona over two nights on what would become one of the highest grossing tours in history.

A Head Full of Dreams tour was at tended by over five million people in total.

ARATHER more intimate gig took place in Mallorca at Sergeant Pepper’s club in Palma featuring a relatively unknown Jimi Hendrix.

an attendee recounted: “Being gen erous, the capacity was at 50% and there were at most 100 people, 50 or 60 of whom were US Marines. It so happens that in those days the American fleet in the Mediterranean was mak

ing landfall in Palma de Mallorca.”

legend George Best.

Jimi Hendrix Experience, who played the concert for free, remained for several days in Mallorca and frequented the Plaza Gomila, also finding time for go-kart races, bullfights –and beach visits, naturally.

July 1988, Pink Floyd embarked on their first full tour since 1977 and played their first ever gigs in Spain.

was at Sarria Stadium Barce lona, and the second took place the following day at the Estadio Vicen te Calderon in Madrid.

the Wanda Metropolitano stadium for the special event, but Spain has quite a history of hosting the biggest names in music.

JIMI HENDRIX

MICK JAGGER

MICHAEL JACKSON

PINK FLOYD

COLDPLAY

DAVID Bowie’s infamous 1987 Glass Spider tour was described as hav ing the largest touring stage set in history. It was Bowie’s first time perform ing in Spain, and he played at the Vicente Calderon Stadium,

supported by The Stranglers. While the tour was panned as overblown and pretentious, it has been credited with paving the way for the integration of music and theatrics that has defined popular music tours ever since.

DAVID BOWIE & THE STRANGLERS

Floyd’s A Momentary Lapse of Rea son tour made $60 million (equal to the combined total made by U2 and Michael Jackson on their tours that year) and be came the highest-grossing tour of the 1980s.

SWEETTOOTH CAPITAL

JIJONA will be the home of a pioneering artisan ice cream research centre - said to be unique in Europe.

The Alicante town already boasts the biggest number of artisan ice cream makers of any Spanish municipality. It’s also famous for producing the seasonal favourite of tur ron, prompting mayor Isabel Lopez to say that ‘we will be the sweetest place in the world’.

The local council has made a free transfer of 2,000 square metres of land to the Nation al Association of Artisan Ice Cream Makers (ANHCEA) to build a new headquarters and ice-cream research centre.

CHEAP AS CHIPS

What to see in Granada

The Alhambra palace complex is Granada’s crowning attrac tion.

Russians welcome

THE number of Russians managing to enter Spain has tripled in the last year in spite of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

FOR those who are struggling to figure out how they can still squeeze in that dash to New York or Bali to hard-pressed budgets, it may be time to look at some budget options.

A new survey has revealed the cheapest travel destinations in Europe, and Andalucia comes out of it exceedingly well.

Travel website Omio has branded Granada as the cheapest holiday destination in Europe for its range of free activities, cheap sightseeing tours from €6 The city’s most

Sounds Nice

been

Michelin star in the new Michelin Guide 2023.

The personal project of local chef Juan Guillamon, the restaurant was praised for its menu ‘imbued with character’ in which the ‘avant-garde and its Murcian roots’ coexist in harmony.

The menu has traditional dishes such as Iberian loin and smoked sardines with sea lettuce vinaigrette, and then there are more sophisticated options like guinea fowl from Las Landas with

By

famous landmark, the Alham bra, is free to enter, although you do have to pay to see its

mushroom duxelle, corn cream and miso, red tuna parpatana.

The tasting menu has been a special smash hit with patrons.

most famous Nasrid palaces and Generalife.

The Andalucian city has doz ens of free activities – 112 to be exact. That includes 10 free museums.

An evening out in the city is a bargain, with 86 bars and nightclubs where beer costs just over €2.

The study also found that Granada has 1,011 free Wifi spots and 143 public drink ing fountains.

A regular bus ticket is one of the cheapest in Europe at €1.40 and acquiring a trav el card reduces the cost to €0.83.

The rankings threw up a few surprises, with tour ism-heavy Bruges coming in second, but Sevilla and Malaga ranked eighth and ninth respectively and Barcelona in eleventh place.

The spectacular Moorish for tress was originally built as a walled citadel and then be came the luxurious residence of the Nasrid emirs.

You can spend several hours marvelling at the opulent Is lamic decoration and ornate horseshoe arches of the Nasrid Palaces, as well as the explo sion of colour in the flower-filled garden of Generalife - the sul tans’ summer residence.

Another of Granada’s most important historic attractions is the Cathedral, an imposing structure of Gothic, Renais sance and Baroque architec ture that took over 180 years to construct.

It remains unfinished as two towers were originally planned for the facade, only one of which has been half-built.

In the evening, take a stroll around the Albaicín neighbour hood, the oldest in Granada.

A labyrinth of winding streets is lined with white-washed houses and the hilly area af fords magnificent views of the Alhambra.

This area is a great place to stop in at a few inexpensive tapas bars for low-cost drinks and free food.

A total of 108,862 Schen gen visas have been issued to Russians by Spain so far this year, an increase that has baf fled many, given that many countries across Europe have closed their borders to Russian citizens entirely - although Spain is not one of them.

Spain might be a popular des tination for Russians direct ly because all its neighbours - including Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Polandnow refuse them entry.

Other reasons speculated could be the increased num ber of Russians trying to leave their country out of opposition to the war or for fear of being conscripted into the army.

Free Ride

SPAIN has just increased its free travel scheme to include long-distance coaches.

As confirmed by the Minister of Transport, Mobility and the Ur ban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez, during an appearance in the Congress of Deputies, long-dis tance buses that are part of the State concession network will be free as of 2023.

Earlier this year, free train tick ets were introduced for short and medium-distance journeys.

Granada named as cheapest destination in Europe

Walter Finch

GOOD DEAL: Granada’s top attraction the Alhambra

& TRAVEL

FRONT ROW SEAT TO

BY the time of the collapse of the Arabic empire in 1485, Ronda had been entertaining foreign vis itors for not far off 1500 years.

One of Spain’s oldest towns, in Roman times it had a thriving wine industry and even its own mint, fittingly its coins bearing a tendril of grapes.

Established in 9BC as a military bastion, it was given the name Arunda’ meaning ‘surrounded by mountains’ and it is easy to see why. Take a pew at any of the monuments dotted around the town and chances are you will see dozens of faraway peaks that literally ring the town, from the National Park of Sierra de las Nieves on one side to the Parque Natural of Grazalema on the other.

Ronda is a true front row seat to history with these nearby moun tains literally swollen with an cient remains.

They include the Roman sister settlement of Acinipo with its wonderful amphitheatre, as well as the ancient salt mines of the Cerro de las Salinas and the his toric wine storage village of Sete nil de las Bodegas.

Then you’ve got the remains of a Roman aqueduct running south of the town, the hidden Arabic baths in the Llano de la Cruz val ley, and the recent discovery of

a Roman grape-treading floor for winemaking near Arriate.

Uncovered at a vineyard, called Morosanto, archaeologists have excavated a sizable 2000-year old wine operation with pipes through which wine was trans ported to vats.

The remarkable find, alongside a 21-metre Roman swimming pool and sauna, means histori ans are now able to definitively link the production of wine in Ronda to 3AD.

No surprise then, that so many writers and historical fig ures have waxed lyrical about Ronda… Austrian writer Rilke dubbed it the ‘City of Dreams’, while Orson Welles relocated to Ronda and immersed himself in bullfighting, later having his ashes scattered at a nearby estate.

Ernest Hemingway’s tome, The Dangerous Summer, is largely about Ronda’s bullfighting dynasty, the

Ordonez family, while in Death in the Afternoon he wrote: “It is where you should go if you ever go to Spain on a honeymoon or ever bolt with anyone. The entire town and as far as you can see in any direction is a romantic back drop.”

It is why Carmen the movie was filmed here and why Madonna insisted she had to film a video around its cob bled streets.

It’s also why Adri an Brody, Anne Hathaway, Bill Gates, Ricky Gervais and Jodie Whittaker have all had recent holidays in the town, while ce lebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay dedicated epi sodes of their TV shows to Ron da.

Celebrity chefs have such a pull to the town that handsome whiz in the kitchen Jean Christophe

Novelli once told me he was moving to Ronda, but after two months was unable to find the right property to buy (he was probably more likely shacking up with a mistress).

And then there is Benito Gomez, a classic blow-in from Catalunya, who has done so well in the town that he now boasts two Michelin stars with his amazing restaurant Bar dal.

But, take my word as a localwho chose this mountain hide out over the bright lights of Mar bella or Malaga some two de cades ago - while it is magical in so many ways, Ronda is also an incredibly tough place to settle.

The extremes of weather (its spiky dry heat in summer and freezing winters thanks to its altitude of 800m) doesn’t suit everyone.

Equally its inward-looking locals, so typical of conservative moun tain types the world over, are not openly friendly and take a while to warm to you.

But there is no denying its land scape, history and architecture.

Few places in Spain have such a wonderful mix of buildings, from the Moorish Pala cio Mondragon to the neoclassical town halls

LEGENDS: Ronda’s 18th century bullring hosted everyone from Orson Welles to Ernest Hemingway

Few mountain towns have a true sense of history, not to mention culinary offerings, writes Jon Clarke

CHAIRMAN JULIO: Ronda’s olde worlde charm couldn’t be bet ter personified than by chairmaker Julio Sanz. Alongside one of his oldest friends, he sits on a wall in the old town, as he has done for decades, weaving his raffia magic

WELL PRESERVED: The 11th century Arabic Baths

Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay filmed TV shows in Ronda

FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL HISTORY

and

And don’t forget the cathedral (once a mosque) as well as the oldest bullring in the country.

Still owned by the Ordonez fam ily, with two fitting statues to to reros Antonio and Cayetano out side, is an excellent introduction to a pastime that goes back 300 years in Ronda.

Built by the godfather of bull fighting Pedro Romero, who fought well into his 80s and was painted by Francisco Goya, it is worthwhile to visit just for its collection of Goya etchings alone.

A must-visit is the 13th century Casa del Rey Moro, which was a highlight of Michelle Obama’s visit to Ronda a few years back.

The former President’s wife even took the 300 slip pery spiral ling steps to reach the bot tom of a

By

understanding of what makes this mountain town so wonderful.

For down at the bottom by the River Guadalevin - with the steep walls of the famous Tajo tower ing above, and rooks and swal lows swooping around - you truly step back in time.

The tunnel was originally carved out by Christian slaves to get wa ter during the reign of Ronda’s Moorish king, Abomelik.

It would have been a wonderful time to be a traveller arriving in Ronda, particularly at the nearby Arabic baths.

The 11th century Banos Arabes

are among the best preserved in Spain and offer the best ex planation of the sophistication of the former Arabic inhabitants, who ruled for an incredible 700 years until the late 15th century around these parts.

A superb demonstration of ur ban planning, the baths sit in atmospheric gardens and have three rooms - hot, cold and tep id - each fed with water from the river outside.

The domed ceilings with their star-shaped air vents were part of a complex astronomical sym bolism so popular in Moorish times. The baths were the main hammam and lay just outside the defensive walls by the main gate to the town from the direc tion of Granada.

A clever virtual reality video, in

GEOGRAPHY: Ronda was founded by the Romans on a steep gorge

DAREDEVIL: Jumping into the Tajo river

from the Arabic baths to the splendid Renaissance mansion the Palacio del Marques de Sal vatierra.

siege tunnel, used as an escape route during times of siege.

navigating the ‘la Mina’ stair case down to the bottom of the gorge, she was really getting a true

both Spanish and English, brings the past back to life and is a must-watch, before continuing your tour up the hill into the old town.

fine move

BARCELONA-based SA Damm, which produces the Estrella Damm brand of beers, has bought its first UK brewery. The firm will take over the Ea gle Brewery in Bedford after strik ing a deal with current owners Carlsberg Marston.

The transfer is expected to be completed by the end of the year. It will be SA Damm’s sec ond brewery outside of Spain.

SA Damm’s executive president Demetrio Carceller Arce said: “This deal will strengthen our position in the UK market and help drive our brand in the UK, a key market for the company’s international growth.”

Estrella Damm beer is currently sold in over 10,000 British bars and restaurants.

FRIENDLY FIRE

A NEW fleet of warships for the British Royal Navy will be partly constructed at the shipyards in Cadiz.

Navantia UK, the British subsidiary of the Spanish public company Navantia, was part of a consortium of shipbuilders which won the coveted £1.6billion (€1.8bil lion) contract to build three crucial support ships for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA).

The Spanish company, along with British partners BMT and Harland&Wolfknown as ‘Team Resolute’ -

OP Puzzle solutions

Quick Crossword

Across: 1 Sceptre, 5 Swede, 9 Motorize, 10 Else, 11 True, 12 Artery, 13 Comet, 15 Mat, 16 Abe, 17 Ionic, 18 Manual, 20 Claw, 23 Turf, 24 Overseer, 25 Pests, 26 Cheddar

Down: 2 Choir, 3 Protect, 4 Rain, 6 Wheat, 7 Deserve, 8 Megaton, 14 Mailbox, 15 Measure, 16 Accused, 19 Unfit, 21 Arena, 22 Mesh

will manufacture the future Fleet Solid Support (FSS) ships, designed to provide munitions, stores and pro visions to the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers, destroyers and frigates while deployed at sea.

Most of the shipbuilding will take place in the same shipyards that produced the Titanic in Belfast, where the three 216-metre-long ships will also be assembled.

But vital com ponents will be built at the Puerto Real shipyard in Ca diz, which has not heard the hiss of a weld er’s blow torch in almost two years.

Designs

Although built to British de signs by BMT, Navantia will bring its program manage ment expertise and transfer some of its skills and tech nology from designing frig ates and submarines for the Spanish navy.

British Defence Minister Ben Wallace said Navantia would ‘bolster technolo gy transfer and key skills from a world-renowned

shipbuilder, crucial in the modernisation of British shipyards’.

Despite being slated to cre ate 1,200 new jobs in Brit ish shipyards, together with another 800 indirect jobs, there has been a predictable backlash within the UK at the government awarding a contract to a foreign ship yard.

Shadow defence minister, Labour’s John Healey called the decision ‘a betrayal of British jobs and British business’.

Train wars

A THIRD train operator has joined Spain’s big battle for customers with Iryo starting a low-cost service between Madrid and Barcelona.

The firm joins French-owned Ouigo and Renfe’s Avlo in offering budget high-speed train journeys.

The end of the long-standing Renfe monopoly in 2021 has seen fares fall by up to half on routes where Ouigo has been competing.

Iryo - run by Italy’s main train operator, Trenitalia, in association with Spain’s Air Nostrum and Globalvia - will have a fleet of 20 red-co loured trains costing €800 million.

The company is now running 16 daily round-trips between Madrid and Barcelona and will roll out a Madrid to Va lencia service on December 16. A Madrid-Cordoba-Se villa/Malaga link followed by Madrid to Alicante trains are slated for 2023.

GBP/EUR exchange rate fluctuates as UK unveils Autumn Statement

THE pound euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate has continued to trade erratically over the past couple of weeks. During this time, we have seen GBP/EUR trade in a range between €1.16 and €1.13.

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING?

Trade in the pound euro exchange rate remained choppy over the past fortnight, with the pairing initially fluctuating in re sponse to some mixed UK data releases and the publication of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s long-awaited Autumn Statement. While Hunt’s tax and spending plans appeared to receive tacit approval from bond markets, his confirmation that the UK is in a recession spooked GBP investors

Sterling then began to grind higher following the release of some upbeat UK retail sales figures, which coincided with posi tive UK economic developments as UK mortgage rates fell and two workers’ unions suspended strike action.

This uptick in GBP exchange rates then accelerated sharply after the Supreme Court ruled that the Scottish government can’t legally hold a second independence referendum without approval from Westminster.

Meanwhile, the euro faced a major setback in mid-November following the news a stray missile had killed two people in in eastern Poland. While cooler heads prevailed and an escala tion between Russia and NATO was avoided, EUR investors raised concerns that the conflict in Ukraine – which has al ready wrought untold damage to the Eurozone economy - is spilling over into the rest of Europe.

Concerns over the war in Ukraine left the euro vulnerable to the pound’s advance over the past week. Although hawkish signals from the European Central Bank (ECB) helped to cush ion the single currency’s losses somewhat.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO LOOK OUT FOR?

Looking ahead, with the UK data calendar looking sparse, any movement in the pound is likely to be linked directly to UK economic and po

litical headlines.

This could see Sterling face an uphill battle as we enter De cember as the outlook for the UK economy grows increasingly bleak. Any news about more businesses in distress could pile more pressure on GBP exchange rates.

In terms of data, the primary focus for EUR investors is likely to be on the Eurozone’s latest CPI release.

November’s inflation release will be key in gauging how ag gressively the ECB is likely to raise interest rates in December.

An above forecast print could stoke expectations for another 75bps increase and bolster the euro in the process.

Otherwise it’s likely the single currency will remain highly sensitive to Ukraine developments, with EUR exchange rates potentially falling if there are signs that the conflict could be escalating further.

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 three-cent gap between €1.16 and €1.13 translates to a €6,000 difference. And the larger the sum, the higher the discrepancy.

Fortunately, there are ways that you can protect against vola tility.

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 ex change 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 updates 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 Di rect branch or give us a call to find out more.

MOJÁCAR

Struggling Cadiz shipyard wins contract to help build new generation of British warships

By Walter Finch

Diabetic move

EIGHT specialist diabetic day care units will open next year in the Valencian Community. The first will be established in February and all of the units will be based within hospitals and medical centres. The list of locations is yet to be an nounced.

Every centre will be staffed by an endocrinologist, a podia trist and a nurse.

The Valencian Communi ty Federation of Diabetics, backed by doctors, have long campaigned for specialist units to be established.

Valencian Health Minister, Miguel Minguez, said: “This will be a great advance in the treatment of diabetes and helping the lives of sufferers.”

THE sperm concentration of European men has halved in just 50 years, according to a new study.

Researchers from the University of Murcia (UMU) participated in a global study which analysed the sperm of men from 53 coun tries around the world during seven years and concluded that there was a decline in

Nursing shortage Sperm crisis

Patient patients

Shorter hospital waiting times but pandemic still bites

THE average waiting time for a hospital operation in Spain is 113 days according to the latest Ministry of Health figures. Its twice-yearly report shows an improvement of 10 days com

Virus spreading

SPANISH hospitals are experiencing an unexpected spike in bronchiolitis cases among children.

The early symptoms of the infection - caused by the respi ratory syncytial virus (hRSV) - are similar to a cold, but can cause difficulty breathing, difficulty eating, wheezing and irritability.

During the week ending November 13 there were 76 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, but the worst affected group by age was chil dren aged four and under, for which the figure was 12 times higher than the rest of the population.

Experts believe that the virus is now spreading widely after it was suppressed by Covid pandemic protection measures such as facemasks and lockdowns.

By Alex Trelinski

pared to June and 57 days less than during the Covid pandem ic in June 2020.

The average wait to see a spe cialist stands at 79 days- 10 days less than December 2021.

Breaking it down to disci plines, the highest number of people(187,404) are waiting to see a trauma surgeon, but the longest delays are 226 days for plastic surgery.

Sergio García Vicente, from the Health Economists Associa tion, believes that waiting times are still being impacted by the pandemic.

He told the El Pais newspaper: “This created a traffic jam that still has repercussions like for ophthalmology where there are almost 160,000 patients wait ing to be seen.

“Many people stayed away be cause of Covid in 2020 and are

entering waiting lists now,” he added.

The Federation of Associations for the Defense of Public Health described the new figures as ‘'intolerable’. It said delays in diagnostic and pre-surgical tests are making the situation worse.

Figures vary dramatically be tween the regions as surgical waiting lists reach 151 days in Aragon compared to just 64 in the Basque Country.

People in Andalucia have the longest wait to see a specialist (107 days) as opposed to just 50 days in the Balearic Islands.

SPAIN is amid a nursing cri sis and needs 95,000 more employees in the field to match the European average, according to an alarming new report.

According to the General Nursing Council, the Covid-19 pandemic, job abandonment, an ageing population and the search for better opportuni ties abroad were all contrib uting factors.

Spain has 625 nurses per 100,000 inhabitants, while the European average stands at 827, according to the data.

In Murcia there were just 463 nurses per 100,000 in habitants, there were 529 in Andalucia and 551 in the Va lencian community.

Within Europe, only Slova kia, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece and Latvia are worse off.

sperm count in men on all continents, and the problem had ‘accelerated’ since 2000. Researchers said this was caused by degra dation of the environment and a stressful pace of living.

FINAL WORDS

REcycle

Sweet surprise

A ROJALES man, 19, has been arrested for selling drugs in sweet wrappers outside a Guardamar school. The teenager tried to run away but was caught by Guardia Civil officers.

Grave affair

THE Department of Health and Ed ucation surveyed 267,000 students in Catalunya between ages 9-18 and found that 8.8% expressed daily desires to die.

Happy meal

TWO men enjoyed a €1,080 slap-up meal at a Maritim district restaurant in Valencia but refused to pay what they owed. They offered just €400 before police came and arrested them for fraud.

Manolo no go

Drum beating face of Spanish football stuck at home

HE’S been Spain’s most fa mous football supporter for more than 40 years, but it looks like Manolo ‘el del bom bo’ won’t be going to the Qa tar World Cup to noisily cheer on his favourite team.

Manuel Caceres Artesero, to give him his real name, is ‘the one with the drum’: the be ret-wearing former bar own

By Simon Hunter

er who has been a pitchside fixture at Spain games for 44 years, and is known for his distinctive beret and large drum (pictured) that he bangs with great enthusiasm to the delight of other fans. Manolo was due to travel to

Catch the pigeon

TWO men have been arrested for stealing 120 racing pigeons worth €100,000 from a Benidorm pigeon club.

The Policia Nacional said the pigeon rustlers - Spaniards aged 20 and 32struck twice in 10 days.

Plain-clothed officers caught the men red-handed walking down an Alicante street with boxes containing some of the pigeons stolen just hours earlier.

Some 74 pigeons were recovered within two

bought him his plane tickets and he’d even purchased a new drum. But then tragedy struck.

‘I’m very sad because I had ev erything sorted out and two days before I left they told me that I have to have a hotel booked,’ he said. At previous tournaments the federation has paid for his accommodation.

Stuck

But for Manolo, all might not be lost.

The Federation has told him that if Spain gets to the semi final of the tournament, they will give him tickets and also pay for his hotel.

HAVING a cuddly guin ea pig, hamster or even rabbit as a pet could land owners with a €10,000 fine if proposals in a new Animal Welfare Law are enacted.

Numerous popular pets face a ban under the reg ulations which aim to protect native flora and fauna.

The new Animal Welfare Law, which is due to come into force by the end of the year, expands the list of prohibited pets to include quite a few furry friends that, for generations, have been common family ad ditions.

Hefty

The proposed list includes rabbits, guinea pigs, ham sters, mice and parakeets, amongst many others, but it needs to be ratified.

It has not been made clear whether people will be al lowed to keep existing pets or face a fine for hanging on to them. Penalties for a ‘minor infraction of the law’ vary between €500 and €10,000.

days as investigations continue to find the remainder of the stolen birds - unless they find their own way home.

Doha to see Spain’s bid to win the World Cup. The Span ish Football Federation had