Olive Press Valencia - Issue 36 by Olive Press Newspaper Spain

The

OLIVE PRESS

VALENCIA / COSTA AZAHAR FREE Vol. 2 Issue 36 www.theolivepress.es PLANS for a Valencian tourist tax have been slammed by a business group, saying it would keep Brits away. The levy, which is awaiting approval by the Valencian parliament, would introduce an accommodation surcharge of up to €2 per day. Once it becomes law, there would be a yearlong moratorium before it is introduced. But the good news is that it would be down to each individual municipality to decide whether or not it wants to impose the tax - and they do not seem keen on the idea. No councils, including Alicante and

Your expat

voice in Spain

The real story behind the new Colin Firth blockbuster

April 21st - May 4th 2022

See page 6

A tax a day keeps Brits away Benidorm, have declared themselves as willing to boost local coffers by using the levy. That still hasn't stopped strong concerns being voiced over the tax. President of the Facpyme federation, Carlos Baño, said UK media coverage of the tax proposal could deter British tourists from coming to the region. “This situation must be corrected, because tourism and Alicante Province do not deserve this bad publicity as

a result of a bad decision. It must be said loud and clear.” Valencian president, Ximo Puig said that the ‘tourist tax is not going to be implemented in practically any city in the Valencian Community’. Nevertheless, Puig, as PSPV socialist leader bowed to pressure from his left-wing coalition partners, Compromis and Podemos, to go ahead with the measure.

WORRY: Tourism bosses want to keep UK tourists onside

VODKA SOUR

Expat businessman and his vodka firm named on US sanctions list for key links to Irish mafia

REWARD OF UP TO

FOR INFORMATION LEADING TO THE FINANCIAL DISRUPTION OF THE

THE expat boss of a wellknown costa drinks company has been named as a key member of one of Europe’s biggest mafia gangs. John Morrisey and his company Nero Vodka have been placed on a US Treasury department sanctions list for their association with the Kinahan crime cartel. The American government has placed sanctions on him, alongside other key associates of the Irish gang, who lived for many years in Spain. As well as Christy Kinahan Snr, Daniel Kinahan and Christopher Kinahan Jnr, the US has also put Morrisey and Bernard Clancy on its list. They, along with Ian Dixon and Sean McGovern, are said to be a key part of the Kinahan gang, who owned a string of gyms, restaurants

FOR INFORMA THE ON OF CRIMINAL KINAHAN ORGANIZATION OR THE ARREST AND/OR TION LEADING TO THE FINANCIAL DISRUPTI TO THE FINANCIAL DISRUPTI KINAHAN CRIMINAL ORGANIZ ON OF THE FOR INFORMATION LEADING CONVICTION OF ATION OR THE ARREST AND/OR ATION OR THE ARREST AND/OR KINAHAN CRIMINAL ORGANIZ ION OF CONVICTION OF CONVICT

Chri stop her Vinc ent Kina han , Jr. Joseph Kinahan Chri stop her Kina hanDaniel SUBMIT TIPS VIA E-MAIL TO

SUBMIT TIPS VIA E-MAIL TO

KinahanTCOTips@dea.gov

HIGH PROFILE: Morrissey and wife Nicola in the local press (left) and (above) the US goverment wanted posters and other businesses on the Costa del Sol, before moving to Dubai a few years ago. Their ‘interests’ were thought to reach along the Spanish costas. While the gang still has an important influence here, its leaders started decamping to the Middle East after rival gangster Gary Hutch was killed near Marbella in 2015, leading to a bloody gang feud. But ‘Johnny’ Morrissey, 62, stayed put to help run his high-profile drinks business Nero Vodka, which is owned on paper by his wife Nicola. Based in Spain for two decades, he

Discover Discover hassle-free hassle-free currency transfers with our currency currencies column transfers on page 15 Portals Nous,

+34 960 07181, 130 841 Mallorca.

had moved from Ireland where the country’s Criminal Assets Bureau dealt a hammer blow to his business there, seizing €630,000 in cash and property.

Enforcer

Now he looks set to come under a similar microscope here, with the US describing him as ‘having worked for the Kinahan Organised Crime Gang (KOCG) for several years’. The US Treasury claims he is involved in smuggling, money laundering and other key aspects of the Kinahan op-

Open every day Closed Monday

eration, including as ‘an enforcer’. The high-end vodka brand is sold at The sanctions mean he and his part- many costa beach clubs and is even ner Nicola, who are regularly seen available in El Corte Ingles after on the costas party circuits, face the Morrissey fronted a massive publicisame economic sanctions as the gang ty campaign over the past few years, bosses. with events attracting many wellTheir Nero Drinks Company Ltd, reg- known members of Spain’s expat soistered in Glasgow, has specifically ciety. been put on the list of companies that He was regularly seen splashed across face sanctions, alongside two others, newspaper pages and was a recent a sports company, Hoopoe guest at the Marbella Film Festival. Sports, and a marketing company, Ducashew Trading. THE sanctions mean any US asse ts held by those named must be frozen and reported to the In effect, US citizens are banned US treasury. with the named people and their from doing business companies – anywhere in the world. This extends to non-US citizens US, or just transiting through. who are resident in the It almost certainly means that they will now be blacklisted by most other Western countries , who are expected to follow suit. Explaining the unprecedented move, US Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financia Nelson said: “The group smuggle l Intelligence, Brian cluding cocaine, to Europe, and s deadly narcotics, inlicit economy through its role is a threat to the entire in international money laundering. “Criminal groups like the KOCG nerable in society and bring drugprey on the most vulolence, including murder, to the -related crime and vicountries in which they operate. “The Treasury is proud to have coordinated so closely with our international counterparts ment will continue to use every , and the US governdismantle these criminal networksavailable resource to Among the radical moves, the .” US Treasury has even listed the home addresses and pass port numbers of all people on the list, including two addresses for the Kinahans in Spain.

reservas:

963 51 49 94

reservas@palaciodelabellota.com www.palaciodelabellota.com C/Mosent Femades, 7 CP. 46002 VALENCIA

THE GOING GETS TOUGH...

CRIME

www.theolivepress.es

NEWS IN BRIEF Travelling thieves FOUR thieves who took catalytic converters from cars across Spain have been arrested in the Valencia region of Elche after police checkpoints stopped the gang’s car and found nine stolen units inside it.

Less waiting VALENCIA hospital waiting lists have reached their lowest level since the start of the pandemic, standing at 88 days in March compared to 142 days a year earlier.

Green aid GRANTS totalling €450,000 will be dished out in 50 Alicante Province towns and cities to restore land used as illegal dump sites and increase climate change initiatives.

Safety first VALENCIAN authorities have given the green light for the installation of new pedestrian crossings regulated by traffic lights in the districts of Campanar, Algiros, l'Eixample, l'Olivereta, Patraix, and Saidia.

AFTER a night out on the tiles a man was so scared at what his wife’s reaction would be that he stabbed himself to get an alibi. The 60-year-old from San Juan de Alicante was found unconscious at 5.45am on Monday in an apartment block elevator. Blood poured out of his chest but he regained consciousness after being

April 21st - May 4th 2022

IN FEAR OF HER INDOORS TikTok preacher

treated by medics. The man initially told police that after the elevator door opened, a young man dressed in black had pounced on him and stabbed him in the chest with a knife. But after he was treated at hospital po-

Stuff of dreams

lice became suspicious of his story. He then admitted to making up the assault because he would be in trouble with his family for spending money socialising. He has been charged with reporting a fake crime.

Boasted

Massive collection of stuffed animals worth €29m uncovered THE Guardia Civil is investigating the owner of a private taxidermy collection with more than 1,000 animals, including some that are protected or extinct species. The collection is valued at €29 million and its owner is said to be a prominent Valen-

By Alex Trelinski

A self-styled preacher who posted TikTok videos claiming he could cure people of Covid-19 has been arrested after skipping a 17-year prison sentence for sexually abusing two children. Manuel Navarro Perez lived in Alicante and carried out over a dozen sexual assaults on a girl, 12, and a boy, 7, in 2015. A relative regularly let him babysit the youngsters who tried to resist but were beaten into submitting to his vile demands.

HIDEOUT: Valencian businessman’s treasue trove

square meters in Betera. cian businessman. He is being The entrepreneur claims he probed for smuggling and en- inherited most of the animals vironmental crimes. from his father. He has not Officers identified 1,090 been arrested and the Guarstuffed animals in a warehouse dia Civil is trying to establish covering more than 50,000 where the animals came from and whether any docuA Finnish tourist aged 25 had mentation ex€10,665 charged on two stolen ists to justify bank cards after being rendered untheir possesconscious by a spiked drink and pill the street to find his cards gone. sion. The manager and an employat an Alicante brothel. If no proof He had started to feel unwell after ee of the ‘hostess’ club, and two of ownership just one drink and took a pill given taxi drivers who allowed access can be providto him by a hostess. The next thing to their bank card terminals have ed, the items he remembered was waking up on been arrested. will be split between mu-

Night to forget

seums in Madrid and Valencia. Species of cheetah, leopard, polar bear, rhinoceros and tiger, along with nearly 200 ivory elephant tusks, were among the extensive collection. Some 450 of the animals are considered to be protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Among the collection was at least one Scimitar oryx, which was declared extinct in 2000. The nearly extinct Bengal tiger and addax, which is a white antelope, are also among the collection.

He fled from Alicante Province but was caught when a woman boasted on TikTok that she had a new boyfriend and posted footage of them together. Videos also showed Navarro Perez preaching evangelical messages of his ability to heal people, including Covid-19 sufferers. Claims included how he went to hospital intensive care units and touched people on the chest or head 'with the hand of God' to cure them. His postings attracted around 5,000 followers including that of the Policia Nacional. The girlfriend had family in the Basque Country and was eventually tracked down to a house in Alava.

NEWS

www.theolivepress.es

April 21st - May 4th 2022

Looking back at anger

Cross to bear

BAD boy of Britpop Liam Gallagher has apologised after tweeting a death threast to Atletico Madrid player Stefan Savic following their Champions League game with Manchester City. The match between city - who Gallagher supports - and Atletico ended with a pitchside brawl that spilled into the dressing rooms tunnel. Savic - who played 12 times for city but is now an Atletico player - was seen to grab Jack Grealish by the hair and headbutt Raheem Sterling. This was too much to bear for Gallagher who tweeted: “Stefan Savic this is a threat if I come across you ya goofy looking C**T your dead MCFC” [sic]. He has since deleted the tweet and apologised, saying he had let his fans down - so maybe has mellowed over the years.

Hear all about it! EXCLUSIVE: In-depth podcast by TV investigator and Olive Press will blow open the Madeleine McCann case TV INVESTIGATOR Donal MacIntyre has teamed up with the Olive Press for a hard-hitting probe into the case of missing Madeleine McCann. The Irish investigative journalist joined forces with editor

Jon Clarke for an in-depth cold case review of the snatch of the toddler, which is approaching its 15th anniversary. In the podcast, Madeleine McCann: The Chief Suspect, the pair explore the complicated and harrowing disappearance of Maddie, who would be 18 today. The former BBC and ITV presenter turned to Clarke, whose new book My Search for Madeleine is the most comprehensive study of the case and its prime suspect to date. “It’s amazing the depths Jon has gone to to try and solve the mystery,” said MacIntyre, 55, who has visited Portugal many times in connection to the case.

BACK HOME SPAIN’S Princess Leonor flew home to spend Easter with her family after completing her second term at UWC Atlantic College in Wales. The heiress to the throne will not return to her boarding school until April 24 but her trip home won’t just be rest and relaxation. She accompanied her parents King Felipe and Queen Letizia on an official visit to meet Ukrainian refugees at a centre in Pozuelo de Alarcon, just outside the capital. And this week she will make a solo appearance at an event held at a secondary school in Leganes that is designed to warn teenagers about the dangers lurking online.

LIBERTYCASHBACK

HARD TALK: Clarke (left), MacIntyre (right) and team

“There was so much that came out that really points to the current main suspect. It’s so shocking how poor the original Portuguese investigation was. You have to wonder why.” The pair spent hours exploring the likelihood that German Christian Brueckner snatched the toddler while she was on holiday with her doctor parents in Portugal on May 3, 2007. They track his movements around Europe and along the Algarve that month and discuss his dozens of previous crimes, many in Portugal. In particular, they analyse the likelihood that the convicted paedophile and rapist broke in and took the three-year-old to sell to a child trafficking network. They also discuss the shambolic police investigation and Clarke’s recent high-level liaisons with Germany’s crack BKA detectives, who are expected to charge Brueckner this year.

Until 25th April L A ST CHANCE!

They explore a number of recent trips Clarke has made to northern Portugal and three other crimes involving children and the rape of an Irish tourist. Available on Spotify, Apple and other streaming platforms from April 22, the moving eight-part podcast, part of the wider Murdered, Missing, Unsolved series, looks at dozens of characters linked to the case.

Mystery

“With the Portuguese statute of limitations ending this year, it is now only in the hands of the Germans.” Clarke, who was the first national newspaper journalist on the scene in 2007, added: “I really enjoyed doing the series with Donal, who knows how to ask the right questions. “I really hope the German police can finally pull it all together this year and charge Brueckner.”

€60

CASH BACK on each new car, home and life policy FOR EXISTING CUSTOMER S

€30

CASH BACK

on the 1st policy & €60 onwards FOR NEW CUSTOMER S

Simple things that can make customers feel great

ACTOR Antonio Banderas returned to take a leading role in Easter processions in his home city of Malaga. The 61-year-old Zorro star was pictured with his girlfriend investment banker Nicole Kimpel, 40, as he prepared to join the Malaga brotherhood of Maria Santisima de Lagrimas y Favores during processions on Palm Sunday and on Monday. The actor often returns to join in Semana Santa celebrations with the cofradia that he has been linked to since childhood to take part in the traditional marches. Banderas joins the penitents dressed in long gowns as they shuffle through the streets transporting heavy wooden floats carrying religious statues to the sound of mournful drumbeat and wafting incense.

DIOR MIO! THE iconic haute couture brand Dior has chosen Sevilla’s Plaza de España as the spectacular setting to launch its Cruise 2023 collection this summer. The collection designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri, who has been the brand’s creative director since 2016, will be revealed on June 16 on a catwalk in the most famous plaza in the Andalucian capital. The ties between Dior and Andalucia were forged in the 1950s and were strengthened with ‘journeys that led to evocatively named silhouettes dreamed up by Monsieur Dior and his successors’, said the fashion house. “It will be a unique event that will show the excellence of Andalucian crafts and culture through the creativity of local artists and artisans.”

And many extra benefits, such as: Courtesy car for up to 45 days OR €35/day for taxi Optional pest control service and legal defence for illegal occupation Renewal of Life policies up to the age of 80 and new contracts up to the age of 70

preferred expat insurer

Visit your agent or call 91 342 25 49 Cashback promotion valid for policies issued and in force between 24th of February and 25th April 2022 inclusive. Policies must be paid by direct debit. Applies to new car, home and life policies only. Not for renewals or replacements. Conditions and minimum premiums will be applied in all cases. Visit our website libertyexpatriates.es or ask your broker/agent for full details.

OLIVE PRESS ALL EDITIONS - PROMO 1 - 90 X 256 - APRIL 20, 2022

NEWS

THE town of Benimamet in Valencia has nowhere to bury its dead. It means that the town will be unable to offer any more niches unless there is new investment or exhumations. The town has an aging population and burial land is sparse. The City Council of Valencia is obliged to have a number of spaces available in all its municipal cemeteries, but does not have to guarantee burial in a specific one. There are other publicly owned cemeteries in six of its neighbourhoods: Benimamet, Campanar, Cabanyal, Palmar, Grau and Massarrojos. On Monday, it was revealed that the Benimamet cemetery had to refuse to grant a local family a burial space. The PP has denounced the council for what it says is a ‘severe lack of foresight’.

VALENCIA is in advanced negotiations to become a centre of tennis’ Davis Cup over the next five years. The deal would see the city following in Malaga’s footsteps, hosting early knockout rounds over the first few years of the deal before ultimately hosting the final by the end of the five year period. Valencia will host the group stages of this year's tournament along with Glasgow, Hamburg and Bologna. An agreement for Valencia would see the Cup

SALT IN THE WOUNDS

Mijas Costa

FREE

Coffee machine, furniture and even a cement mixer: Brits robbed by neighbours after demolition of costa home * O f f e r

12 13 14

15 17

Vol. 15 Issue 391

www.theolivepress.es

The rules for rural home hunting, see our guide

APRIL 2022

on page XII

Life in the shade

THE enclave been described of Zagaleta has often most exclusive as ‘southern Europe’s It’s one of Spain’s most And when youplace to live’. on behind the expensive count on the ties, captains celebrihigh tech fences places to live. But of industry and, global dictators now, the a giant palace. few know what of La Zagaleta, Olive Press Property spaces, that’s no who stalk its privileged goes the second member gated community surprise. The multi-million takes a peekwhere Putin is said to own the of the family,” agent. price tags certainly rity is ‘its number that claims that secu- “Our adds follow suit, as perimeter shielding, “It’s real royal Indeed, security one priority’. course, which does its incredible golf detection tems and security is of so of the locals golf and the attitudes routines will sys- around 240 homes people allowedhas just a few hundred tance that after a late-nightmuch impor- most attempts are to match,” thwart tinued. year, an incident last to play… and have so far there’s its intriguing been snobby, “It’s ultra exclusive he conwhich explains to attack properties, built. then sioned Israeli company was commisand so why way more than “Most to build a new recent links Russian dictator to ‘high tech electric’ 100 times lower thanthe incident rate is lion homes go for around the Chelsea or 7 to 8 mil- Cheshire set. owns a property Vladamir Putin, who fence. euros,” explains in other residential complexes,” “Owners put Expected to one British agent, who has sold The giant 2000 there. 10,000 euros become the The estate washe claimed. there over the a number of properties club bar so they can always behind the originally called the Rock of the sqm palace, known as sive in Spain, it will runmost expen- Baraka’ last year. “And or cigar when and owned by ‘La even doubled around the counts on its King (or Roca del Rey) 900-hectare estate that they want and get a drink in price over some have literally crawling own private vineyard, vis, between Marbella sits in Benaha- lionaire Saudi arms disgraced bil- years.” the place is the last few licopter pad and with Aston Martins, he- of the Serrania and the foothills Khashoggi, who was dealer, Adnan All and DB4s and But it’s the threebowling alley. surrounded said to have held de some of the by deep woodland, Thesedays, theMcClarens.” floors underground “The residents are Ronda. that has got company parties at theworld’s most debauched they have either sea or being charged eyebrows raised euros each in mountain views galeta is run by Ignacio behind Zahunting lodge (or both), while 5,000 Europe’s security two Perez Diaz, afin the equestrian there is also ter his father died and defence among pay for it,” reveals installments to help 1970s. As revealed a private According two years ago. Today it is center and a source. by the Olive elite. to its last available month, it counts Press last not exactly happy about it.” “They are which was the clubhouse of the resort, a second one on the golf course, with in It comes after 2019, its immediate way. acquired by a accounts on armed guards and has a deep group of in- The amazing course, said holding company Zagaleta Miguel NavarroHead of security Jose vestors in 1989 led by Andalucian bunker monitoring the best in Spain, to be one of Straits of Gibraltar International er, Enrique boasted last year UK Inc is 24/7. And this the his team have a that from Huelva. Perez Flores, who bank- members, which only counts on 250 based in Panama, while ‘maximum response in a time of two is because only tities, came owners three minutes home- Alto Soto Properties SA andother encan join. The giant estate to any alert’. SA, are based Campo approximately was then divided into “The price for membership in Switzerland. 420 plots, of 120,000 euros and then it’s alone is See pages which year II and III 10,000 a for the lead member and 7,000 for more on the properties to find out Zagaleta available in

Your expat

voice in Spain

www.theolivepress.e s April 6th - April 19th 2022

f o r

n e w

c u s t o m e r s

EXCLUSIVE by George Mathias

had long dreamed of their place in the sun. So when the opportunity the dreamy Torrox plot of buying came up, they jumped at the opportunity. However, Villa Arco Iris (meaning ‘rainbow’) has proved to be anything but its DEVASTATED: Janet and David, as home is demolished namesake and rather than a pot on a plot of land into the of gold it has left treat sizable rethem hundreds of year. they valued at €500,000 last thousands of eu- But just one year after buying ros out of pocket. it, they The couple had that discovered it was illegal. And fallen for the age- Someis where their nightmare began. old trick of trust- 9.01amtwo decades later at exactly on April 5, 2022, a town ing local trades- bulldozer hall men in southern rampage started on a 40-minute to bring it down to rubble. Spain. Their They had Court countless pleas to Malaga to reconsider, even including been as- a request to give up the property to sured by Ukrainian refugees, were all in vain. b u i l d i n g The authorities were adamant firm Ner- should not have been built andthat it See pages 23 & 31 tor nevthat er had they would Despitethe correct permission. be able to pressure enlisting lawyers and local group SOHA nothing could develop a be done. small shack To add insult to injury, the cost of the

BEFORE: The couple’s dream home Arcos Iris

Tel: 952 147 834 TM

o n l y .

S u b j e c t

t o

c o n d i t i o n s .

E n d s

3 1 / 1 2 / 1 9 .

21/6/19 13:30

demolition work will the couple - to the tunebe charged to of €24,000. Now the plot, formerly setting for the Hartshorn’san idyllic family friends to spend and their mers, has been reduced long sumto a derelict building site.

“It is very distressing and a big part of our life’s work has been turned to rubble,” David told the Olive Press, last night.

Life

“We have put all our life this work, and now it savings into is all going to be taken away.” He continued: “It beggars belief how this can happen. with certain Spanish Consultation contractors is a downfall from the beginning. They

bend the truth.” On Monday morning, David, accompanied by daughter Adelle, 46, who had flown over from moral support, finally England for accepted the fate of their beloved home. The only legal part of the house is an uninhabitable 20-square-metre annexe. This was spared by the team but it will come as demolition little consolation to the Hartshorn’s, been forced to move in who have with friends nearby and who will leave the country for good on May 6. The case echoes that of en Prior in Almeria whoLen and Helwatched as Opinion Page 6

THE SKY + DOCTOR + ALL AREAS COVERED

4G UNLIMITED INTERNET

IDEAL FOR STREAMING TV ALSO IPTV, SATELLITE TV

Continues on Page

EXCLUSIVE By George Mathias

were FOUR ladders, a cement mixer, boxes of crockery, two tables, two chairs, a pressure washer, EIGHT sun loungers, and even a coffee machine. The shameless group even stripped all the fruit from their orange and lemon trees. Fortunately, their expat friend managed to take photos of the thieves to send to the Hartshorns

Across 1 Tag for an out-of-town railway station (7) 5 Bumpkins (5) 9 What the retina’s cones detect (6) 10 Deadeye Annie --- (6) 11 Creeps (6) 12 Oxfordshire power station town, with a railway museum (6) 13 Pivotal (3) 14 Starry-eyed (4) 15 It might be frozen in unfriendly welcomes (4) 17 Chihuahua’s bark (3) 19 Fallacious (6) 21 Cash in Kolkata (6) 23 Cheerless (6) 24 Lifers rampage on aeroplanes (6) 25 Hard as granite (5) 26 Beef (7)

2 Future oak (5) 3 Practical skill (4-3) 4 Threatened (2,4) 6 Netanyahu’s party (5) 7 Became extinct (4,3) 8 Far from chic (5) 14 He looks down in the mouth (7) 16 Publishing brand (7) 17 Loud cries (5) 18 Like better (6) 20 Toga sporter (5) 22 Sandwich and Derby, for example (5)

All solutions are on page 14

See our currencies Discover column hassle-free on currency page 40 transfers

tel: (0034) 952 763 840 info@theskydoctor.c om www.theskydoctor.c om

Down

OP SUDOKU

v a l i d

TheOlivePress-256x170-HOME02.indd

with a strong base in Spain, with Malaga set to host the final in both 2022 and 2023. By next year, the final of the event will have been hosted in Spain for four years in a row. Glasgow and Montecarlo are also vying to host the Davis Cup in the coming years, but an announcement is expected in the Spanish city’s favour as soon as this week.

two decades it had been the dream retirement home couple David and Janet of British The four-bedroom villa Hartshorn. above the Costa del Sol in the hills hallmarks of the perfect had all the rainy, cold north-west escape from England. The retired publicans from Cheshire,

952 147 834

Cup of cheer

WITH some 74,500 visitors, Valencia’s oceanarium L’Oceanografic had Rainbow’s end visitor numbers just 3% below pre-pandemic figures. The same period in 2019 saw 77,000 tourists visit over Easter. According to the oceanarium, domestic tourists from elsewhere in Spain accounted for 57% of visitors. Foreign visitors accounted for 27%, plus 16% locals from the Valencian Community. The centre is running a campaign on turtles, redoubling efforts to raise awareness about the threats and dangers that they face in the natural environment, and highlighting the problem of dumping plastic in the sea. OLIVE PRESS

Property

Discover the favourite villages of Spain’s top architects inside our Property magazine

ANDALUCÍA

But no gold for British couple as their dream home is bulldozed in another sad chapter in Spain’s planning history FOR

OP QUICK CROSSWORD 1

Going swimmingly €12.7m

A BRITISH couple whose house was demolished after a long legal battle have been robbed by their neighbours. David and Janet Hartshorn were already devastated after they saw their retirement dream on the Costa del Sol smashed to smithereens. But that very same day, neighbours in Torrox used their misfortune to scour through the wreckage and rob the couple of anything that had survived in a part of the house they can still use. “Talk about kicking a man while he’s down,” David told the Olive Press. The looting was discovered by Tom, a friend of the Hartshorns, who popped over to look at the site in the afternoon of the demolition. He was astonished to see the neighbours filling the boot of their cars with whatever they could get their hands on. Among the items stolen

best mag Spain’s English property in

Not coffin’ up

April 21st - May 4th 2022

www.theolivepress.es

The

SP18206EN - Front page

Ewn adverts v2.indd

Portals Nous, 07181, Mallorca.

14/02/2020 23:25

ON FILM: Looters descended on the scene

who rushed down to the property. Staying in a local hotel, they arrived just in time to see a van loaded with their things being driven away by a neighbour. The theft was reported to the Guardia Civil who made a detailed inventory of the missing items and interviewed the locals who had been caught red-handed in the photos. One of the neighbours actually denied being there until he was shown the image of himself and admitted the theft. He was told that if all the stolen items were returned then the charges would be dropped. Sure enough, when Janet and David returned to the site the following day

most of the belongings had been miraculously returned. A note left by one of the thieves said they would replace an expensive Karcher power hose with a new one, presumably as it had already been sold. It rounds a fortnight of hell for the Hartshorns, whose dream move to Spain has become a nightmare.

Persecuted

“I’m being persecuted,” David continued. “We used to think we had a good community here, but now we are not so sure.” His wife added: “Maybe the world is telling us it’s time to get out of here.” Opinion Page 6

CASH POLICE BRITS trying to enter Spain from Gibraltar are being forced to prove they have a ‘valid reason’ and enough cash to spend, according to multiple reports. Now the Gib government has raised concerns over the reports that Spanish police were refusing entry to British tourists. Policia Nacional officers at the border were demanding nonEU nationals, including British passport holders, provide evidence of onward travel and hotel reservations in Spain before allowing them to cross, according to several people on social media. One British holidaymaker who crossed into Spain on Tuesday said all British holidaymakers were also being asked to show proof of funds for the duration of their stay in Spain. “At the border we had to prove we had €100 per day per person for the duration of our stay,” Julie Quartermaine told the Olive Press on Tuesday. “The woman officer was apologetic but said she had to see enough for the 10 days we planned to be in Spain either in cash or in a bank account. “I had to pull up my online banking on my phone and show I had at least two grand to cover me and my husband,” she said. The couple flew into Gibraltar on the early flight from London Heathrow to spend 10 days at their holiday home up the coast in Manilva. “It was quite a shock and God knows what would have happened if we couldn’t show we had the funds,” added Julie, from Sutton in Surrey. “There was a man ahead of us in the queue emptying out his wallet to show he had the cash.”

Stringent

It appeared that the border guards had suddenly started to apply the more stringent Schengen entry requirements that came into place with Brexit for Brits travelling to Europe through an external border. However, such rules are suspended at Gibraltar’s border with Spain while negotiations for a post-Brexit agreement regarding the future of the Rock are ongoing. Opinion Page 6

Driven to distraction THE British Embassy in Madrid has requested yet another extension to the deadline on the validity of British driving licences for expats in Spain. At present the deadline is April 30, but the embassy isnists that negotiations for a permanent solution are still ongoing. It posted on its Brits in Spain page on Facebook, to say it recognises the anxiety the situation is causing. “We have asked Spain for an extension that will give us enough time to reach a final agreement and avoid a further cliff edge in the future,” the post said. However, it warned that there is no guarantee of a successful resolution and warned British residents who haven’t yet got a licence to prepare for the worst case scenario, which means taking the Spanish driving test.

Early campers AN open air Neanderthal campsite dating back around 120,000 years has been discovered. Archaeologists from Alicante and Valencia universities along with colleagues from Bilbao and Montpellier, made the find in Los Aljezares Natural Park. Most discoveries over the past 150 years in Spain and Portugal relating to the Middle Paleolithic age when Neanderthals lived, have been in caves.

Uncovered

Very little information has been uncovered over outdoor behavioural and settlement patterns revolving around camps. University of Valencia professor, Aleix Eixea, said: “This is one of the few examples of this kind in the Iberian Peninsula and the only one in the Valencian region in which two archaeological levels have been documented in their original position.”

952 147 834

TheOlivePress-256x342-MP0122.indd 1

25/1/22 16:49

NEWS FEATURE

www.theolivepress.es Voted top expat paper in Spain

A campaigning, community newspaper, the Olive Press represents the huge expatriate community in Spain with an estimated readership, including the websites, of more than two million people a month.

OPINION Love thy neighbour WE’D like to believe that in times of great adversity, one simple act can restore our faith in humanity. That the worst situations often bring out the best in people. That when the going gets tough, communities pull together and neighbours set aside their petty differences and help each other out. So it is particularly galling to report on such despicable behaviour shown towards the British expat couple who had the misfortune of falling foul of planning regulations in Torrox. Not only did they have to suffer the horror of watching their dream home being smashed to smithereens but within hours vulture neighbours were picking over the bones of the wreckage and stealing anything of value. Another example of poor neighbourliness is being witnessed at the border of Spain with Gibraltar. Border officials have suddenly decided to break an agreement to observe the status quo while a post-Brexit agreement is thrashed out, and suddenly impose stringent border checks on those hapless holidaymakers heading to the Costa del Sol. Those who can’t meet Schengen entry conditions and show accommodation plans and proof of funds aren’t being allowed in. It might be a fit of pique on the side of the Spanish annoyed at the arrival of nuclear subs in Gibraltar, but it’s holidaymakers who want to spend their money in Spain that are being stopped. With a bigger Putin shaped common enemy lurking on the edge of Europe, isn’t it time we stopped making life difficult for our neighbours and pulled together to help each other out? PUBLISHER / EDITOR

Jon Clarke, jon@theolivepress.es Dilip Kuner dilip@theolivepress.es

Fiona Govan fiona@theolivepress.es

Kirsty McKenzie kirsty@theolivepress.es

Alex Trelinski alex@theolivepress.es

Simon Wade simon@theolivepress.es

Cristina Hodgson cristina@theolivepress.es

Elena Goçmen Rueda elena@theolivepress.es

Joshua Parfitt joshua@theolivepress.es

OFFICE MANAGER Héctor Santaella (+34) 658 750 424 accounts@ theolivepress.es

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

DISTRIBUTION ENQUIRIES (+34) 951 273 575 distribution@ theolivepress.es

NEWSDESK: 0034 951 273 575 For all sales and advertising enquiries please contact 951 27 35 75 HEAD OFFICE

Carretera Nacional 340, km 144.5, Calle Espinosa 1, Edificio cc El Duque, planta primera, 29692, Sabinillas, Manilva Deposito Legal MA 1351-2020

AWARDS

2016 - 2020 Best expat paper in Spain

2020 Google News Initiative gives the Olive Press a substantial grant.

2012 - 2022 Best English language publication in Andalucia

SECRETS FROM THE GRAVE A British tomb in a far-flung corner of Spain helps explain how the Allies beat Hitler

‘

By Fiona Govan

IF I should die, think only this of me: There’s some corner of a foreign field that is for ever England,” wrote Rupert Brooke in his seminal poem, The Soldier, published during the First World War. They are fitting words for a new film that tells the strange story behind a grave that

lies in a forgotten corner of southwest Spain. The movie, Operation Mincemeat, starring Colin Firth and Matthew MacFadyen, is about the death - and crucially the body - of a British man, credited with changing the course of the Second World War. His grave can be found in the corner of the Catholic cemetery of La Soledad just outside the city of Huelva. Marked with the name ‘Major William Martin’, it contains a corpse that was found by fisherman during the height of the global conflict in April 1943. However, the true identity of the body was known by only a few behind Operation Mincemeat, an PUT TO REST: Glyndwr Michael is buried under audacious plan by Britthe fake identity of Major William Martin ish Intelligence to hood-

wink Hitler. It involved planting the corpse of a fictitious major, a supposed victim of a plane crash, along with his briefcase full of fake secrets off the Spanish coast with the knowledge that the Franco regime would share any intelligence with the Germans. Papers contained within the case chained to the major’s belt contained documents that were designed to persuade Hitler that the Allies were imminently set to invade Greece and Sardinia. And making him believe it would mean diverting Axis forces away from the Allies real target in Sicily. It was a cunning plan and the corpse was

Where’s our Headspace? Is Spain doing enough to deal with a rising problem exacerbated by the pandemic and now the anxiety caused by war? Jo Chipchase takes a look

ITH the Ukraine conflict following hot on the heels of the Covid pandemic, it’s natural that many people are feeling

stressed. Complaints such as anxiety and depression are becoming more widespread and people, particularly children, are wondering what they can do to alleviate the issues. In the face of rising cases, are Spain’s mental health services up to the job?

Worrying statistics Madrid’s Complutense University found an alarming increase in depressive symptoms from the pandemic last year. It found that up to 3% of the adult population was suffering from mental health issues, while 6.9% had anxiety. In particular, younger people are getting worse depression, while women are more anxious. UNICEF believes children have it the hardest. In its ‘State of the World's Children 2021’ report, it estimates 13% of those aged 10 to 19 have mental health disorders. And in 50% of cases, these disorders begin before the age of 14. In Spain, one in ten over15s are affected and the internet hasn’t helped our anxiety levels. Just as anti-vax videos did the rounds in 2021, in 2022, the world can watch the Ukraine conflict through videos uploaded to social networks, with poor filters against misinformation. Too many people have seen the footage of dead bodies, explosions, and other frightening scenes, because they spent too long on social media and not on the

more reliable mainstream media. It is little wonder then that a professor of psychological science at the University of California, Roxane Cohen insists mental health is influenced by how much social media a person consumes and how graphic the content is.

Spain’s incoming mental health law With mental health on a downward spiral, Spain proposed a new law called ‘Ley de Salud Mental’ at the end of last year. This aims to increase access to relevant services, reduce suicide rates, and destigmatise mental health issues, with €2.5m budgeted to spend on information campaigns. The country also aims to create special clinics for young people. And it’s about time as currently for each 100,000 inhabitants, mental healthcare provision is limited to just 10 psychiatrists, 6 psychologists and 7.5 specialist nurses. Health bodies, including the AEESME believes this should be at least 30 specialist nurses per 100,000 people.

Primitive treatments Treatments in Spain tend to be pretty primitive. Mental health services in most of Andalucia and Valencia are extremely limited, consisting of extremely few psychiatric clinics. Most clinics merely dole out pills for ‘de-

PILLS: There are concerns doctors oversubscribe antidepressants

pression’ - with little actual attempt at diagnosis. One Olive Press reader, based in Lanjaron, revealed that her daughter was merely issued pills when she faked a suicide attempt. “She was then prescribed more pills, instead of dealing with the symptoms of her disorder,” she explained. And when her daughter’s mental health worsened, so did the treatment. “Eventually, she was committed to our hospital's psychiatric unit, which can only accommodate around 10 patients. No treatment was offered, other than being highly sedated. I saw men and women locked up together in a very small ward,” she recalled. “One guy had his groin taped up with gaffer tape - presumably to prevent him exposing himself to fellow patients. It was like something from the days of Charles Dickens – shuffling, muttering, dosedup patients wandering about and largely ignored by the staff, except when they were forcibly made to take showers. The whole ward was like a prison - locks and bolts everywhere and restricted visiting. “After eight days, they said my daughter was being released - although nothing had been done to diagnose or alleviate her condition. She came out unable to even dress herself and certainly no better.”

April 21st - May 4th 2022

www.theolivepress.es

THREE MUSKETEERS: Jorge (left), Elena and George

Young Blood

MEET THE OP TEAM

The new generation of hot young journalists that are taking the Olive Press to new heights

W SILVER SCREEN: The cunning scheme has been immortalised in Operation Mincemeat

transported by submarine to just off the coast of Huelva, where British intelligence knew a particularly active German spy, Adolf Clauss, was based.

They knew he would almost certainly be handed the bogus secret documents. And all went exactly according to plan with the Allies soon mounting a successful invasion of southern Europe with minimal loss of life thanks to the diversion. But the mystery as to the true identity of the grave was not revealed until years later. When the MI5 secret files were declassified in 1996 it emerged that Major William Martin was actually a homeless alcoholic Welshman, Glyndwr Michael, who died in London after eating poisoned bread. His body had been removed from St Pancras Hospital morgue, dressed up in the Royal Marine uniform of a major and trans-

80-YEAR TRIBUTE

A raft of pills Maggie Greg, a Cadiz resident who suffers from borderline personality disorder, says: “I've been using the mental health system for a long time. It depends on who you get in terms of therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Many will quickly put you on pills without spending long enough to obtain a correct diagnosis. Also, they will give you strong meds, such as Xanax, if you suggest them yourself,” she explained. “I was offered Lithium after being seen just four times for under 30 minutes each time, for a condition that was misdiagnosed. Fortunately, I turned it down. I’ve been on Xanax for over eight years now. A UK doctor told me they would not have prescribed it, as better drugs have been available for some time.”

Go private or online There are a few good counsellors out there in the private sector, but they are hard to find and the best are very busy. Meanwhile you might try an online website like Betterhelp, which offers registered counsellors for €50 to 70 a week. Many people find the cost of the private sector prohibitive, and are stuck with the public system, which remains under-resourced and has a long waiting list.

ported on ice to Spain. Incredibly, it wasn’t until 25 years ago, in 1997, that his name was added to the inscription of the grave. But today visitors to the obscure graveyard near Huelva can find the tombstone acknowledging the posthumous heroism and the real identity of the man within. ‘Glyndwr Michael served as Major William Martin, RM’ it reads. While the well-tended grave receives the occasional curious visitor, the story will now reach a wider audience with this month’s release of Operation Mincemeat also starring Kelly Macdonald and Penelope Wilton.

Local expat campaigners hope interest generated by the new film will lead to greater promotion of the area and preservation of the tombs of other Allied heroes buried there. For in the British Cemetery adjacent to the final resting place of Glyndwr Michael lie two other neglected graves of war heroes, their headstones overgrown with weeds. Both are Allied airmen who died when their plane, a Bristol Beaufighter, went down near Gibraleon on April 19, 1942. Royal Australian Air Force pilot Sergeant Geoffrey Lennox Avern, 27, and 21-year-old RAF wireless operator Sgt Philip Bernard Crossan lost their lives. “Out of respect for them my wife and I have decided to lay flowers on their graves on April 19, 80 years after they met thei deaths,” local resident Christopher r untimely Wright told the Olive Press. The British expat is also in cont with both the Australian and Britiact embassy to urge them to take actiosh n to restore the cemetery. “Action is needed now to ensure these two young airmen are not that forgotten,” he added. “In the meantime a small group of unteers are clearing up some of thevolundergrowth and generally tidying up the area around the graves and entrance to the cemetery.” Anyone wishing to join can email chris pher.wright@hotmail.co.uk for furthtoer details.

ITH an average age of 25, Elena Gocmen, Jorge Hinojosa, and George Mathias are the new blood of the Olive Press. Elena joined the team a year ago, graduating from Madrid University where she studied journalism before returning to her Andalucian roots. Bilingual thanks to an upbringing around Marbella, she already has an impressive portfolio under her belt, including everything from the investigation of a headless body found near Granada to an appeal for a donkey sanctuary. Not content with chasing stories on the Costa del Sol, she has now taken on an additional role as a designer. Jorge joined the team fresh from Spain’s press agency Efe after graduating from the UK’s Chester University with an MA in international journalism. He brings his investigative nous to the paper which has already seen him probe a sex cult in Castellon and a giant villa owned by President Putin near Marbella. Never off the phone, he enjoys a classic bit of ‘gumshoe reporting’ getting out and about knocking on doors. Finally George joined the team from London, having cut his teeth at local paper the Basingstoke Gazette before working for the Mirror group. His passion for journalism zoomed when he spent a week following the court hearing of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange for the Press Association. And in just three months he has written on an expat retirement home bulldozed, gangsters being brought to justice in Mallorca and the European Cricket League. Together, the terrific trio are proof that journalism is far from a dying industry and say seeking out stories, holding people to account, and just generally making mischief is more rewarding than ever.

The top five most read stories on www.theolivepress.es in the past two weeks are: stops women going for an abortion 1- Spain being hassled by pro-life protestors outside clinics couple lose legal battle as bulldozers 2- British flatten retirement home in southern Spain the Semana Santa hats conical and 3- Why areare they linked to the KKK never buy pre-cut fruit and 4- Why youvegshould at supermarkets in Spain holidays in Spain 2021: Full list of 5- Bank dates for every autonomous community

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

GREEN

www.theolivepress.es

PORT ADRIANO in Mallorca is set to have Spain’s first wave power station. The local authorities have signed an agreement with Swedish/Israeli company Eco Wave Power (EWP) for the potential construction of a two MW plant at the picturesque harbour. Port Adriano will hand over a suitable location to EWP for

April 21st - May 4th 2022

MAKING A SPLASH Spain’s first wave power project planned for Mallorca 20 years, while the company will be responsible for securing planning permission and licences as well as building the

power plant. Although this would be the first wave power plant in Spain, EWP installed a 5MW

plant in Gibraltar in 2016. At the time Eco Wave Power co-founder David Leb told the Olive Press: “People have been

By Dilip Kuner

talking about wave energy for a while - not only the ability to make electricity

United Nations call for action MUST be heeded

HE human race never learns. Why? Are we stupid, ambivalent, or just downright lazy? Read on and you decide. My vote is for all three. When you know that something is wrong and not tackled with positive action, then this seems the most likely answer. And so it is with the inexcusable way we continue to damage our environment. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientists say ‘It’s now or never’ to limit global warming. This key United Nations body urges ‘rapid, deep and immediate’ cuts in CO2 emissions. If we don’t stop the upward trend of harmful emissions within the next three years we will all suffer the impacts of inaction. The IPCC has published its guidance on what the world can do to avoid an extremely dangerous future. “Some governments and business leaders are saying one thing - but doing another. Simply put THEY ARE LYING. And the results will be catastrophic,” said UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres this month. Key data from the IPCC report prompted this fiery reaction. Top of the list was that even if all the policies to cut carbon emissions that governments had put in place by the end of 2020 were fully implemented, the world would still warm by 3.2*C this century. THIS SPELLS DISASTER ACROSS THE GLOBE. It really is NOW OR NEVER. If we chose never (and political rhetoric counts as never) we will witness : ● Increased droughts leading to large scale famine ● Unprecedented heatwaves ● Terrifying storms ● Widespread water shortages ● Abnormal flooding ● Extensive fires across habited areas ● Loss of inhabited islands ● Massive destruction to our ecosystem

IT’S NOW OR NEVER

I have never heard such an alarming call for action from the UN. Both governments and us as individuals need to act. Why do governments not grasp the nettle and allocate the funding that is required to tackle this problem? It costs more to rectify the damage than prevent it. Lack of available funding, commitment and resolve create problems that are resolvable. Wind and solar only supply 10% of the world’s electricity. Why? A lack of funding. Farmers do not use green fertilisers. Why? A lack of funding. Massive changes are needed to change transport, industry, production, consumption patterns and the way we treat nature. Again, why? A lack of funding. New technologies are required urgently to remove CO2 directly from the atmosphere. Why has it not been implemented? You guessed it……a lack of funding. When we need more forests, why are we allowing deforestation to continue? We have to reduce our demands on electricity. As the world’s economies rebounded from the Covid-19 pandemic, demand for energy soared. Research shows that the growth in the need for electricity last year was the equivalent of adding a new India to the world’s grid. Maybe we should accept it as a race taking two steps back before we push forward again. Rapidly increase the use of renewables, cut our consumption habits (and also stick two fingers up to Putin’s oil and gas). How can a ‘civilised Europe’ continue to fund Putin’s war machine by purchasing oil and gas from Russia? Sacrifices need to be made. We just need GOVERNMENTS TO HAVE THE BALLS TO ACT.

Green

Matters

By Martin Tye

Buoyed

TAKE NOTICE: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres

SHINING EXAMPLES

There are some countries leading by example.The Netherlands, where the sun doesn’t shine nearly as much as in Spain, has moved a 10th of its electricity demand from fossil fuels to renewable sources in the past two years. Vietnam tripled its solar production in less than one year thanks to attractive government subsidies. Denmark, whose ability to produce electricity from the sun is less than the UK’s, now produces more than 50% of its electricity from wind and solar. So it can be done. Just so long as we don’t allow governments to be stupid, ambivalent or lazy.

PROGRESS: Vietnam has tripled solar production

Martin Tye is the owner of energy switch company Mariposa Energy. +34 638145664 ( Spain Phone ) Email him at martin@mariposaenergia.es

Reduce your energy bill Switch to our 100%

Green Energy

from ocean waves, but to make it commercially viable. “That was only just in theory, but now we actually have something that is working.” Fellow EWP Power founder Inna Braverman added: “According to the World Energy Council you can provide twice the amount of electricity that the world is using now through wave power.” “There was a time when wave energy became popular in the 70s when there was a problem with oil and there was a lot of pollution that came to public attention. “But most of the wave companies back then, and even now, were offshore and very expensive, so investors got a bad taste in their mouth.” However, Gibraltar’s new wave energy buoys are easily accessible, with no need for divers or long trips out to sea. The New project in Mallorca will follow similar principles.

Stubbed out BARCELONA’S beaches will become ‘no-smoking’ areas from this summer. The permanent ban on lighting up follows a successful pilot on four beaches in the Catalan capital last year. The City Council has devised a two-phase plan ahead of the smoking ban across 10 beaches covering five kilometres. Until June, the authority will undertake a campaign to tell people about the health and environmental advantages of having smoke-free beaches with no more cigarette butts left in the sand. The ban will come into force from July with law-breakers getting an on-the-spot €30 fine.

100% Certified Green Energy

Generate your own electricity

Solar PV Panels

Simply send us a recent bill & we will calculate how much you can save.

Save even more money with our solar PV panel installations!

Get a quote today

+34 951 120 830 | gogreen@mariposaenergia.es | www.mariposaenergia.es

MALAGA - THE TECH HUB OF THE MED

A special focus on:

www.theolivepress.es

APRIL 2022

Digital nomad’s dream SIGHTS OF MALAGA: The Christmas lights, superyachts overshadowed by the cathedral and fabulous seafront have been joined by the tech park

Malaga has reinvented itself as one of the key R&D and tech sectors in southern Europe, discovers Sorrel Downer

UALITY of life, 320 days of sunshine and superb sea views. Then add in good flight connections, affordable housing, and a rich cultural heritage, rooted in the Romans and Phoenicians and it’s no wonder Malaga is attracting dozens of global businesses each year. But the city’s rapid transformation into one of the key tech hubs of the Mediterranean over the last decade also owes a lot to coordinated teamwork, talent, and planning. Andalucia’s key port city benefits from having a

concerted strategy and long term plan, explains Marc Sanderson of the Foreign Direct Investment office (FDI), ‘and the stability of the mayor guiding the city’. He adds: “The strategy has been to diversify the economy so Malaga is not overly dependent on tourism; not that we want to diminish tourism but to balance it with clean industries. “A direct investment department is unique for a city of this size but Mayor Francisco de la Torre was visionary and wanted to promote the city as a tech destination at this level. “Now, after 10 years, the message is resonating globally.”

Last year saw the start of a boom, and an influx of big global tech corporations choosing Malaga as the location for research, development and innovation (R+D+I) centres. While most parts of Spain and other parts of Europe struggled with the pandemic, Malaga’s population grew by over 17,000 people between January 2020 and July 2021… and digital nomads and remote workers form a significant part of that total. “The pandemic added a paradigm shift by proving remote working was feasible,” continues Sanderson, an erudite American, who’s lived in the bustling coastal city

for over two decades. “Businesses became a lot more flexible with their employees, and saw they were happier and more productive by doing it. They began looking for low-cost locations where quality of life was higher, and allows talented people to live in desirable places. “Malaga ticks all the boxes. Citigroup’s recent decision to open a hub here is because they want their analysts to have a good worklife balance. That is a perfect example of the corporate mindset. “While others were suffering we got a boost from the pandemic,” concludes the bilingual father-oftwo. “But we’ve been working hard and it’s finally paying off. Luck is when preparation and opportuniContinues on Page 10

www.theolivepress.es

Málaga TechPark;

From Front

TECH COMPANY BOOM ty meet. And Malaga is extremely prepared.” It was certainly a golden 2021 for Malaga, beginning in February when Google announced it would be building a Centre of Excellence for Cybersecurity in the city as part of a €530m investment to support the country’s digital transformation. In May, Vodafone chose Malaga over a shortlist of eight other European cities for a €225m European R+D Centre dedicated to ‘Edge Computing, Open RAN and the Internet of Things’. It prompted Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to tweet: “We

are progressing to become a focal point for attracting talent, a benchmark in innovation and digital transformation. Congratulations to Malaga, which has been working in this industry for many years to achieve this.” And the global tech firms kept coming. The Swedish wireless data solutions company Westermo recently chose the city for its first office in Spain, while Derivco from the Isle of Man has arrived to provide support to international partners in the online gaming sector. Then there is venture capitalist company Startup Wise Guys, which launched a business accelerator program for video game and virtual reality startups at Polo Digital Malaga.

And, in an agreement brokered by the EU-China Science and Technology Committee Association, a leading Chinese sustainability company will open an R+D centre in Malaga TechPark dedicated to renewable energy, ‘robotics 4.0’, the develop-

ment of car batteries and recharging points for electric vehicles. The strong public-private collaboration and mutual support within the Malaga Valley area and ecosystem is a major factor for most of these firms. International companies are aided by the office of FDI, which not only promotes the city as a business destination, but provides wide ranging services during the evaluation and setting up period, and maintains contact with regular events to help the international community stay connected. Meanwhile, BIC Euronova offers specialised technical consultancy, financial advice and assistance with logistics and Promalaga helps to foster startups and companies choosing to locate in the specific TechPark area itself.

MALAGA TECHPARK While Google is due to open its centre on the Paseo de Farola, the majority of tech companies, including DEKRA, Oracle, Ericsson, Siemens, Accenture, Huawei, Orange, Bombardier, and Globant, are concentrated in Malaga’s TechPark, on the city’s western fringes. There are currently 624 companies in residence, 62 of them international, many in the AI, blockchain, big data and aeronautics sectors. Between them, they employ over 22,200 people and last year turned over collectively a staggering €2.3bn. The park, formerly known as the Parque Tecnologico de Andalucia, first opened for business in 1992. The past six years have been extremely busy; and now growth is

Explosion of jobs Ikea joins the tech revolution as interest in Malaga ‘skyrockets’, writes Jon Clarke

“

MALAGA is set to explode with jobs,” next few years… and ‘not just in the city, believes the city’s Ikea manager Linus all the way up the coast to Marbella and Frejd. Estepona’. Describing the area as a ‘new silicon His company - now celebrating its 15th valley’ he continues: “Something is defi- year in the city - is also taking a direct nitely cooking and all the ingredients are role in nurturing the expansion through its here for the pot to start boiling.” membership of a new initiative called ‘the In particular he cites the excellent in- Talent Lab’. frastructure, but also the fast-growing “We are one of the main collaborators university and explains how Forbes and and are taking 50 local students to help Bloomberg have recently listthem discover themselves,” ed Malaga as among the top he explains proudly, adding cities in the world to relocate that his management team A hive of for work. will be helping them devel“The interest has sky-rocketop their talents and discover activity with ed and it is not just for the leadership and branding. 600 staff from weather that so many compa“Ultimately we are helping nies are relocating here,” he them build their employabilidesigners to tells the Olive Press during a ty… ready to take jobs in the technicians behind-the-scenes tour of new companies relocating the Swedish giant’s nerve here. There will be hundreds centre, near Malaga airport. of them in a few years,” in“We have a unique situation and can be- sists the father-of-two, 38, from Sweden. come one of the hotspots in Europe. Com- They will certainly enjoy spending time at pared to the big global cities where there the iconic furniture giant that is now rollis a war for talent and you can’t recruit ing out micro-stores up along the Costa unless you pay ten times over salary. Here del Sol, including click and collect and we have as much as 47% youth unemploy- plan and order points at La Canada and ment so there is a big labour pool. And Granada’s Nevada centre. “We are also good, skilled young talent too.” looking at Ronda, Estepona, Nerja and So impressed is he with the way the town Jaen,” he adds. hall is handling the development that he A hive of activity, with up to 600 staff, sees thousands of new jobs being created ranging from designers to accountants in the tech and research sector over the and technical staff, the Malaga store is

JOBS EXPLOSION: Ikea manager Linus Frejd is optimistic for the future

one of the busiest in Spain expecting to turn over €150 million this year. It is set to be a big year for the Swedish giant, which is planning ‘a year of celebration’ to celebrate its 15th year serving the local market. There are 25 stores in Spain and over 450 giant stories globally, although a couple have recently closed in Russia understandably.

On ice “We’ve put all 14 stores in Russia on ice for now but are keeping the staff,” explains Linus, who actually worked in Russia (St. Petersburg) for a couple of years, before joining the ‘expansion team’ in Ukraine. But his move to Malaga two years ago was

his best yet, with his wife Melina getting a job at a smaller furniture company in Mijas and his two boys, 9 and 5, happy at a good local school. “It was a dream come true and we always wanted to move here. It’s such a beautiful area and great for living and working,” he says. A well travelled man, who studied interior design at college in Sydney, he insists on wearing the store’s trademark yellow uniform and also helping out in every different department as much as he can in line with Ikea’s dislike of ‘hierarchies’. “I know my way around a screwdriver,” he jokes. “And I’ve always been interested in marketing, branding and design so I guess I ended up at the perfect job.”

APRIL 2022

GOLDEN: Global tech firms continue to set up in Malaga

snowballing: in the first half of 2021 alone, the TechPark received more than 30 new applications for space from companies from as far and wide as Germany, Finland and Sweden – as well as from Barcelona and Madrid. Expansion plans are underway and the park sits just 12km from Malaga airport and 13km from the ables and alternative energy. The park also has close links with city centre. Sustainability, once a vague goal, its near neighbour Malaga Univeris a mainstream requirement for sity (UMA) and many of its resourclarge businesses with one-third es are open to the park’s compaof Europe’s largest public companies – including the IT and bionies pledging to reach net zero technology facilities at the groundby 2050. Companies locating to breaking Supercomputing and Bioinnovation Centhe TechPark have a tre. UMA research chance of exceeding that goal: the park is No need to look findings are shared via the Research Rethe headquarters of far for data sults Transfer Office the Spanish smart (RRTO) located on city industry and the engineers, AI the TechPark site. ‘eCityMalaga’ project aims to make it and blockchain the first sustainable TALENT experts urban space in the POOL country by 2027. More than 20 international tech companies have so The rapidly-growing university far joined this initiative, including plays a vital role in Malaga’s ecoAccenture, DEKRA, Bettergy, and nomic development, turning out Lynka. The initiative not only en- graduates with future-facing in-deables companies to pursue their mand skills. own goals, but generates new The idea is that companies like business opportunities for innova- Vodafone (which plans to create tors working in the fields of renew- 600 R+D jobs) won’t need to look

Nomad numbers

● MalagaTech is also known and signposted as Parque Tecnologico de Andalucia (PTA) ● Location: 13km from centre, 12km from airport, 7km from the UMA university ● 624 companies with a 2021 turnover of €2.3 billion ● 62 foreign companies from 19 ● 22,238 employees from 30 coucountries ntries ● More than 150 startups are bas ● The site features 410,000m2 ed at the park of gardens, with nine restaurants,buildings in 900,000m2 of a helicopter landing pad and a sports centre ● Employee accommodation is under construction

far for data engineers, cloud developers, AI and blockchain experts. Skill transfers go both ways: Malaga’s newly-arrived top tech giants are committed to sharing their own expertise. Google will provide training and workshops in cybersecurity; Telefónica has partnered with the city hall to open ‘42 Malaga’, a non-traditional 24hr a day programming school; while Vodafone is partnering with universities, vocational schools, and local institutions to create an ses hou of n visio a have ll you’ ces are innovation hub around its new up Think of ‘smart cities’ and chan s farm cal verti cles, self-driving vehi centre. r with CO2-sucking algae walls, othe to ns ectio p for 1000km/hr conn This is multiplying its impact the side of offices, and a hyperloo and fostering ‘activity within but destinations. yet, e ther be not ht mig ter, City Clus the city and the digital ecoMalaga, capital of Spain’s Smart ‘zero with omy econ lar to create a circu system that has been develplans are underway for the city 7’. oped in recent years,’ explains ies waste and zero emissions by 202 pan com the 21 international tech Vodafone Spain CEO Colman the Malaga City council, Endesa and ced oun ann ntly rece far so ect proj Deegan. collaborating in the eCityMalaga . The pioneering National Digemy actions they ’ll be taking this year acad omy econ is to get a circular ital Content Hub, opened in ies Among the highlights, the city pan com accumulated so far on how 2017, is another centre with e dedicated to sharing knowledge reus and t men age man te was tion, and a big, transformative impact. can tackle climate change, pollu Full of the latest technologies and recycle resources. com gy ener l loca shared use: The first in 3D animation, virtual realiing There’s an emphasis on local and park in photovoltaic plants installed ty and graphic design, the aim munities will be introduced, with cles. vehi tric elec for ts poin ging areas and char of this coworking and training to is ice serv ling poo cara Meanwhile, facility is to build up Malaga’s s river EV-d non at be launched aimed media and entertainment tion. pollu to reduce congestion and sector, become the industry r Recycling and waste will be bette driver of digital content in logi ‘eco -stop one with d manage Spain. areas with multiple

Everything begins with an E

cal islands’ – containers allowing waste to be sorted at the point of disposal. Finally the city will begin monitoring the pollution emissions and energy efficiency of over 200 buildings across the municipality so that tech teams can find ways to improve them.

SUPPORT FOR START-UPS The city ranked third in Spain for emerging high-potential startups in 2021, according to a report by El Referente, backed by Deloitte and Sabadell bank.

Malaga has already produced notable successes, among them indie App Store alternatives to Google and Apple, Uptodown, image bank Freepik (acquired last year for over €250m) by EQT, and football app BeSoccer, which employs 200, and last year turned over €10m. The next wave of startups is well supported by the city’s network of 13 business incubators. To ensure local entrepreneurs think global, international expertise is provided at the Green Ray building, and the new Malaga startup ecosystem database platform powered by Dealroom, connects bright prospects with potential partners and investors around the world.

VISIBILITY A busy calendar of international conferences, forums and events showcasing success stories cements Malaga’s position as a tech hub. The Trade Fair and Congress Centre alone hosts more than 20 events a year, including Transfiere: the European Meeting on Science, Technology and Innovation and the GreenCities Forum of Urban Intelligence, and will be hosting the Digital Enterprise Show, billed as the world’s leading digital transformation event, this summer (June 14-16). “Some 30 or 40 years and millions of euros have been spent promoting Malaga as a tourism destination,” concludes Sanderson. “Promoting Malaga as a tech destination is just in the infancy stage and look at what we’ve already achieved.”

UPCOMING TECH EVENTS AT MALAGA TRADE FAIR AND CONFERENCE CENTRE (FYCMA) APRIL 27-29 J on the Beach [jonthebeach.com] (Day 1, April 27, will be held at Polo Digital Content Malaga) MAY 11-12 AOTEC, the National Association of Telecom and Internet Services Operators technology fair JUNE 14-16 Digital Enterprise Show (DES) JUNE 20-21 CM Malaga - Culture & Museums International Tech Forum JULY 22-24 Gamepolis - video game festival SEPT 10 eCongress Malaga SEPT 21-22 GreenCities - Urban Intelligence and Sustainability Forum SEPT 21-22 S-Moving - Forum of Intelligent, Autonomous and Connected Vehicles SEPT 29-30 Smart Agrifood Summit OCT 8 TEDxMalaga NOV 2-3 Talent Women NOV 29-DEC 1 Rail Live 2022 DEC 1-4 Mobile Week Malaga

LA CULTURA

Lust for life

VETERAN rocker Iggy Pop has announced his first European tour dates in years, playing Valencia’s Diversity Festival on July 21. Christina Aguilera and the Black Eyed Peas will also perform at the festival. Announcing the news, The Stooges frontman, who celebrates his 75th birthday today, said: “I’ve waited several years, but I’m back in Europe.” It is his first gig in Valencia in over a decade and marks his first tour in six years. The Valencia gig is one of nine tour dates announced in Spain which also include appearances at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound festival, the Kursaal auditorium in San Sebastian, and the Royal Coliseum Theatre of Carlos III. Famed for performing shirtless, The Passenger singer has cemented his place in rock history by being inducted into the hall of fame in 2010.

April 21st - May 4th 2022

SUMMER OF ROCK

Big names billed for music festivals all across Spain this summer HUNDREDS of music acts are set to descend on Spain this summer at a series of long-overdue music festivals. The Olive Press previously reported on a host of big names including Jamiroquai, Muse, Stereophonics, and Paulo Nutin coming to Malaga this year as part of Big Festival, which will take place on Sacaba beach on September 8, 9 and 10. The festival is running alongside a new initiative called Andalucia Live, with a programme of concerts that

will take place in the weeks prior to the festival in different Andalucian provinces. But it’s not just Malaga seeing an influx of musicians to see in the summer. In Valencia, the Festival de las Arts will see Spanish indie-pop band Love of Lesbian and pop group Lori Meyers headline on June 3 and 4. The festival describes itself as a ‘festival with soul, that seeks to support the city of Valencia by promoting its spaces and its artists. All the artistic expres-

ON STAGE: Spanish rockers Love of Lesbian sions and cultural movements are welcome.’ Elsewhere in Malaga Fuengirola’s Metal Paradise festival returns to Spain in Fuengirola on July 15 to 16. The festival will see German veteran metal band Helloween whose latest album Bottom Row reached number one in the charts. They will be joined by Swedish band Sabaton and In Flames, Norway’s Emperor and Steel Panther from the US as well as British band Cradle of Filth. The Rock & Beer festival also comes to Malaga city later this month and will feature David Lerman, bass player from Spanish hard-rockers Extremoduro on April 23. and Alfredo Piedrafita, frontman of Basque rock supremos Barricada on May 14.

Ballet good A PRESTIGIOUS ballet company in Spain has taken in five Ukrainian dancers who had to flee Kyiv. Kateryna Chupina, Yelyzaveta Semenenko, Anastasiia Hurska, Aleksandra Berozkyna and Marina Lastovyna, were part of the Kyiv-based National Opera Ballet of Ukraine. But they found their professional careers stalled as the Russian invasion forced the closure of their company. They got in touch with The Spanish National Dance Company (CND), which decided to help.

10% OFF

Only for OLIVE PRESS READERS with code

OLIVEPRESS10 CALL US NOW!

W W W. S O L A RT E . E S C.COMERCIAL EL OSITO 46183 L’ ELIANA, VALENCIA TLF 623 399 444

C.COMERCIAL ALZAMORA 03802 ALCOY, ALICANTE TLF 638 477 438

FOOD, DRINK & TRAVEL

April 21st May 4th 2022

ISLE OF THE TIMES

Paseo Maritimo de la Patacona n 14, 46120, Alboraya, Valencia I T. 96 372 40 95 I 618 356 043 I info@casapatacona.com

THE Canary island of La Gomera has been ranked on The Times' list of the 15 best destinations for winter sun. The second smallest island in the archipelago off West Africa was named in seventh spot by the prestigious British newspaper and appears among destinations in the Caribbean, southeast Asia and South America. La Gomera was declared a Biosphere Reserve in 2012, while its Garajonay National Park, a densely forested are in the centre of the island was the first place in the Canary Islands to win Unesco World Heritage status in 1986.

AN Alicante City tourist app has notched up over 100,000 downloads since being launched in May last year. The Passporter app allows easy access to information about attractions and services for tourists visiting the city, Details appear in English, French, and Spanish, and can be obtained through a traditional website or downloaded onto a smartphone.

Canary Island of La Gomera has been ranked among best destinations for winter sun The park is misty and humid and home to rare laurel forests and many subtropical plant species. The island is also famous for its steep craggy cliffs towering over small coves where crystal-clear waters meet soft volcanic sand. Three beaches on the island have earned Blue Flag certificates while tourists are also attracted to the wide range of activities available from diving to hiking and a warm climate that makes it a popular destination at any time of the year. According to the newspaper, Christopher Columbus was so seduced by it in 1492 that he delayed his seminal

voyage to discover America by a month while exploring this lesser-known Canary Island.

Blue flag

“Some 370 kilometres of trails wind through the misty ravines of the Garajonay National Park showcase palm groves and three black-sand beaches with Blue Flag status for cleanliness,” sates The Times in its entry on La Gomera. “The views of Tenerife's volcano, Mount Teide, are magnificent, and you can visit the house where Columbus stayed, and to which he returned twice.”

Bottling out FOR years campaigners have been calling for Spain to make it a legal obligation to provide free tap water on demand at bars and restaurants. While the rule was in place in some of Spain’s regions it wasn’t compulsory in all of them. Until now. The new legal requirement came into force across the country this month. The law states that bars and restaurants must provide free tap water, a measure that has been brought in with the hope of reducing plastic consumption by cutting down on the sale of single use containers of bottled water.

Become a live-in carer in the UK

BARCELONA, Malaga, Alicante and Palma were the most popular Easter destinations in Spain, according to new research. Jetcost, a travel metasearch engine for finding flights, hotels and car hire, claims that the Catalan capital was the most searched city by French, Italian and Portuguese tourists. Alicante was preferred by Brits, while Germans chose Palma, while Malaga was the most popular destination among those travelling from the Netherlands. Spain was the most sought after holiday destination ahead of Italy and Portugal this Easter.

Start your journey as a live-in carer today! Earn up to £750 per week

Opportunities for those with the right to work in the UK and those looking for sponsorship

Apply online helpinghands.co.uk/jobs

Flexible work patterns. Perfect work/life balance

To find out more, please email spanishrecruitment@helpinghands.co.uk

OP Puzzle solutions Quick Crossword Across: 1 Parkway, 5 Clods, 9 Colour, 10 Oakley, 11 Inches, 12 Didcot, 13 Key, 14 Dewy, 15 Mitt, 17 Yip, 19 Untrue, 21 Rupees, 23 Dismal, 24 Fliers, 25 Stony, 26 Protest Down: 2 Acorn, 3 Know-how, 4 At risk, 6 Likud, 7 Died out, 8 Dowdy, 14 Dentist, 16 Imprint, 17 Yells, 18 Prefer, 20 Roman, 22 Earls

Content

Almost a hundred hotels, tourist apartments, museums and co-working centres in the city have Passporter displays with a QR code. The code is also available at tourist information offices and at Spanish language schools for foreigners. The site is managed by Alicante's Tourist Board which has provided all the content. Suggested tours and popular locations are included along with a local events calendar as well as a rundown of restaurants and shopping areas. The Passporter app also generates tracking measurement links for each tourist destination using access data from specific points. The Tourist Board can then see which attractions and venues are the most popular, and which QR scan locations are most frequently used.

Easter attractions

SUDOKU

Enjoy Mediterranean cuisine in a beautiful environment

Passporter success

BUSINESS No cash Zara April 21st May 4th 2022

Counting the cost

SPAIN lost €155 billion in tourist revenue due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the National Statistics Institute(INE). In 2020 and 2021, just under 120 million foreign travellers did not go to Spanish tourist areas according to the INE. That accounted for a €130 billion drop in foreign spending. The biggest fall in overseas arrivals were among UK visitors over two years of the pandemic, with a drop of 28.6 million followed by Germans (14.7 million fewer) and France (12.6 million less). Especially tough UK restrictions and border closures played a part in deflating British visitors, which at times fell behind those of France. In the regions, Catalunya had the biggest fall of visitors over two years, with a 29.1 million drop, followed by the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands. An additional 12.5 million absentees are predicted this year by the government compared to 2019.

Fashion chain’s brand new flagship store will mean no more queuing at the till

SPANISH fashion brand Zara has opened its biggest store in the world and it’s like stepping into the future. The textile giant’s flagship store opened its doors in Madrid’s Plaza de España this month to much anticipation and huge fanfare. Offering 7,700 square metres of retail space spread over four floors floodlit with natural light and gleaming white floors, it has the look of a modernist gallery but the innovation goes further than mere appearance.

NEARLY 100,000 people flocked to Barcelona for food fairs Alimentaria and Hostelco. Labeled the most important food fairs in Spain, they were held at the same time at the city’s fair ground. Some 23% of visitors were from abroad, coming from 149 countries, many of whom were looking for buying opportunities. The twin fairs are seen as hugely import-

FLAGSHIP: Step into the future

Shoppers can avoid long queues for the changing rooms by reserving a slot online, clothes can be tried on virtually using the latest technology and forget those lengthy lines at the till. A new system allows customers to scan clothes as they go, to pay online and exit through

Food for thought ant to the country’s food and hospitality sectors and have an estimated economic impact of €180 million. Highlights of the fairs included a pavilion where ecological and organic products were showcased and where more than 120 Spanish companies were represented.

an alarmed self-check out point that smooths out the entire shopping process. Those sticklers for tradition can still shop in the usual way, by perusing items on the rail, trying them on physically and paying at a till staffed by a human. The store, which is the first grand opening since Marta Ortega took over as CEO of Intedex, also showcases new product lines including a lingerie section, cosmetics department and sporting line. It is part of a wider commercial strategy that will see many of the high street shops closed across Spain and more emphasis placed on online sales. Moreover, Inditex boasts that their flagship Zara store sets a new standard in sustainability using ‘some of the most advanced environmental eco-efficient systems and qualifies for the BREEAM seal, a European certificate for sustainable construction’.

CASTING DOUBT T

War in Ukraine continues to infuse volatility in GBP/EUR, writes FX specialist Peter Loveday

Events in Ukraine have largely driven movement in the GBP/EUR exchange rate in the past couple of weeks, resulting in some dramatic swings in the pairing. This has been particularly notable in the euro, due to the Eurozone’s sensitivity to any economic fallout from the war. EUR exchange rates rocketed higher at the end of March amidst reports of ‘constructive’ progress in Ukraine-Russia peace talks. However, the euro also immediately relinquished these gains after evidence emerged of alleged atrocities committed by Russian troops in the Ukrainian town of Bucha and other areas in the North of the country. This cast doubts over the peace process and prompted the West to impose new sanctions on Russia. Also undermining the euro was the European Central Bank’s (ECB) latest interest rate decision, with EUR investors disappointed by ECB President Christine Lagarde’s insistence that the bank’s asset purchase programme will not conclude before the third quarter. Fears of a prolonged war have also taken their toll on the pound in recent weeks as GBP investors fear this could exacerbate the UK’s cost-of-living crisis. The squeeze in household incomes has also been highlighted by the latest UK economic releases as inflation soared to a new 30-year high while wage growth continued to lag.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO LOOK OUT FOR?

It seems safe to assume the GBP/EUR exchange rate will continue to trade with a high degree of volatility as the war in Ukraine continues. Fears of a massive new Russian offensive in the east of Ukraine could subdue the euro in the

EARN UP TO

£1,064 PER WEEK! You could be earning up to £1,064 a week plus night call supplements and travel expenses, with many other benefits including flexible working, double rates of pay for Bank Holidays and inclusive accommodation (whilst on assignment). You will also receive our complimentary in-house training package from our award-winning training centre worth over £200, along with 3 nights free accommodation in one of our beautiful carer houses whilst you complete your training. We have immediate and ongoing work available, so if you are available within the next three months please don’t delay, apply via our website today: www.consultuscare.com/recruitment-page/ Alternatively, please call 01732 355 231 to speak to one of our Care Consultants.

WANT TO SAVE TIME AND MONEY ON YOUR CURRENCY TRANSFERS? CALL, EMAIL OR VISIT US IN BRANCH! VALENCIA Consulat del Mar 5, Bajo izquierdo, Valencia, 46005

HE Pound Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate has traded erratically over the past couple of weeks as events in Ukraine infused the pairing with considerable volatility. This has seen the pairing trade in a range of between €1.17 and €1.20.

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING?

LIVE-IN CARERS

valencia@currenciesdirect.com +34 960 130 841 near-term. Elsewhere we will see the focus on the Bank of England (BoE). The bank is expected to deliver another rate hike in May as domestic inflation continues to surge. However, the focus is likely to be on the BoE’s forward guidance as GBP investors seek to gauge policymakers’ appetite for further rate hikes. Could a more dovish outlook from the BoE pile pressure on the pound?

JAVEA

PROTECTING AGAINST VOLATILITY

javea@currenciesdirect.com

This kind of volatility can cause some nasty surprises if you need to transfer money overseas. On a £200,000 transfer, that two-cent gap between €1.18 and €1.20 translates to a €4000 difference. And the larger the sum, the higher the discrepancy. Fortunately, there are ways that you can protect against volatility. Specialist currency brokers, such as Currencies Direct, offer different tools to help you navigate the ups and downs of the currency market. For instance, you can use a forward contract to secure an exchange rate for up to a year. This way, you won’t lose out if the market moves against you. Services like rate alerts and daily 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 Direct branch or give us a call to find out more.

Discover hassle-fre currency transfers

Block 5, Local 2A, Avenida de la Libertat, Playa Arenal, Jávea, Alicante, 03730

+34 966 265 072 MORAIRA

Carretera Moraira, Calpe 5, Edificio Benidorm, Local 7, Moraira, Alicante, 03724 moraira@currenciesdirect.com +34 966 265 072

The

OLIVE PRESS

REuse REduce REcycle We use recycled paper

Underwater cops

FINAL WORDS

POLICE in Sanlucar de Barrameda in Cadiz were left embarrassed after they drove onto a beach and got stuck fast in mud before the tide came in leaving the vehicle submerged.

Niche crime A THIEF aged 35 who stole €20,000 worth of brass ornaments from cemeteries in Elda and Petrer only netted €200 from scrapyards before he was nicked. All the stolen goods have been returned.

Big spenders ACCORDING to official stats tourists from the UAE, Philippines and China are the biggest spenders in Spain, while Italians, Poles and Argentinians are the most stingy.

VALENCIA / COSTA AZAHAR FREE Vol. 2 Issue 36 www.theolivepress.es

Your

Cock up!

expat

voice in Spain April 21st - May 4th 2022

SPLIFFER DOGS

Spanish dogs dabbling in recreational drugs after storm DOGS on the Costa del Sol have been scoffing hash and getting high thanks to fallout from storm Ciril. According to Borja Hoz, a vet in Marbella, dogs have been inadvertently consuming hashish that has been washed up on the beach. The storm destroyed beaches, businesses, and promenades but now it seems not

By Cristina Hodgson

even canines are safe as the remains of bales of hash that traffickers throw overboard when caught by police have been swept onto the shore. According to Hoz, the drug’s strong smell attracts the hounds, leading to serious symptoms and even death if

ARE the old ways the best? Barcelona’s city council is hoping to find out by bringing in a flock of sheep and goats to keep undergrowth down in a bid to prevent forest fires in a natural park. A total of 290 of the animals have been introuced – along with two shepherds and four dogs – in a pilot scheme in the Barcelona section of the Collserola

eaten. It was Hoz himself who alerted the police about the

CHEW ON THIS Natural Park. It has an area of 84.65 square kilometres and is on the outskirts of Bthe city. City bosses hope that the ruminants will do what they do best and munch their way through overgrown grass and herbs to keep fire breaks in the massive park clear and effective. The flock will be active in the mountainous part of the district of Horta-Guinardo, above the neighbourhoods of Font del Gos and Montbau.

beached dope after going for a walk with his pooch along the popular shore of Dunas de Artola. Since then, several dogs, including an eight-monthold border collie, have been admitted to veterinary care after consuming the drug.

Extreme

Hoz says symptoms usually start one or two hours after consumption which include vomiting, shivering and disorientation. In extreme cases of poisoning dogs may even convulse.

PACKING for a holiday on the sunshine isle of Mallorca is pretty straightforward. Swimsuit? Check. Sunglasses? Check. Gigantic blow-up pink penis? Check. A pair of tourists arriving at Palma airport for an Easter break provoked much merriment when they inadvertently walked into the background of a live news bulletin carrying the unusual piece of luggage.

Huge

While the journalist, Lluis Mestres, reported on the huge numbers of tourists expected to fly into Palma at the start of Semana Santa, the two women could be seen emerging through the arrivals gate with one casually carrying the pink plastic phallus under her arm. The image was broadcast on the busy lunchtime slot of the Telediario news programme on Spain’s state broadcaster TVE.