Mallorca Olive Press - Issue 79

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A taste of freedom

MALLORCA

Your expat

voice in Spain

Vol. 3 Issue 79 www.theolivepress.es May 1st - May 14th, 2020

This is not Armageddon!

Photos by Allan Binderup

E IV US CL EX IT was a taste of what’s to come for parents and children at the weekend.

Mothers and sons, dads and daughters headed out to take the air, pick wild flowers or stroll on beaches around Palma.

On bikes, scooters, skateboards, roller skates or just

shanks pony, they met and chatted with friends on street corners and in parks, without fear of arrest or a heavy fine.

Even better, from this weekend everyone will be allowed to exercise, as long as social distancing measures are kept.

And, fingers crossed, the weather is meant to play ball!

Bitter sweet

Photos by Jon Clarke

Expat restaurateurs welcome four-step plan to recovery, but fear huge losses despite being able to open again in May

Mother of cancer victim Ashya King tells the Olive Press why she has left the Jehovah’s Witnesses and wants to move back to Spain with her family

See a mother’s moving interview on pages 6-7

UK BASED

TRAVEL INSURANCE for Spanish residents www.globelink.co.uk 96 626 5000 +44 (0) 1353 699082

A WAVE of uncertainty has descended across Mallorca after Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez revealed his four-step de-escalation plan to get life back to ‘a new normal’ after a week of positive COVID-19 results.

As long as the rate of infections continues to drop, restaurant terraces will be allowed to open with a 30% capacity, as well as hotels and other tourist accommodation on May 11.

Some two weeks later, restaurant dining rooms can once again welcome clients, while cinemas, theatres and museums will follow suit, albeit in a limited capacity with strict separation rules.

By Isha Sesay in Palma

However, despite business-owners being told they can potentially resume activity this month, with more restrictions lifted by June, many are feeling wholly dubious about how viable reopening will be without an international market.

Although retaining a healthy all-yearround population, Mallorca relies heavily on tourism and winter incomes are complemented by significant profits over the summer.

The Mallorca Hotel Business Federation and the Hotel Chain Association have branded the government’s plans to reopen establishments as completely ‘unfeasible,’ claiming that it provides a ‘false impression of returning to a new normality.’

“The de-escalation plan has been received with disappointment and astonishment, and shows the profound ignorance of the government towards tourism and business in the Balearic Islands,” said the associations in a joint statement.

Stressing the need to implement protocols such as mass COVID-19 testing, the organisation believes the focus should not be on resuming activity without a client base.

This view was echoed by James Hiscock, a British expat who owns the renowned Son Ametler Hotel in the foothills of the Serra de Tramuntana mountains.

Stating the need to roll out a European health passport, he told the Ol-

ive Press: “The government has not appreciated how much Mallorca relies on tourism and things don’t just spring back to normal even if you allow us to reopen.”

His prognosis for this year is poor and he believes reopening the doors of his hotel will generate more losses than benefits.

For this reason, he has already taken the decision to delay opening until 2021 – a view taken by around half of the hotels, according to the Confederation of Business Associations.

Hiscock believes opening up the island to German tourists could be a catalyst for tourism, however if Germany’s tourism commissioner, Thomas Bareiss’ warning this week that citizens will not travel to Spain this year rings true, the Balearic economy is set to suffer even more.

German tourism represents a significant monetary injection, constituting one third of the international market for the region, with a total of 4.5 million Germans visiting last year and thousands more owning second homes on the island.

Restaurateur Antonio Longobardi, of well-known Ritzi in Portals Nous, is also holding back on reopening, while ports and airports remain closed.

“90% of our clients are from Germany so it doesn’t make sense to reopen without anyone to cater for,” he told the Olive Press.

He also criticised the inflexibility of the ERTE, a temporary layoff of workContinues on Page 4

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www.theolivepress.es

NEWS IN BRIEF Death plunge AN Irish expat has plunged to his death from the eighth floor of a Magaluf apartment block.

The tragic incident took place just after 5am on Wednesday at a complex on Avenida de S’Olivera.

Investigators say the 33-year-old man fell from his balcony onto a roof located on the fifth floor.

Paramedics battled to save the man’s life by performing CPR, however he was pronounced dead a short time later.

The Guardia Civil has launched a probe to clarify how the man fell from such a height An autopsy is also being performed to determine whether he may have consumed alcohol or narcotics before his death.

Jet set AT least 25 private jets have flown from Spain to the UK during the coronavirus lockdown.

Since March 23, another 27 private planes from France and 32 from Germany have also touched down in Britain, according to data from aviation consultancy WingX.

Cough up A MAN has been arrested in Valencia after coughing in a policeman’s face and claiming he had ‘coronavirus’ following a supermarket brawl.

Police were called to the scene in Ruzafa, where a security guard got into an argument when he tried to stop a couple entering together. When police forced him to show them his ID he removed his mask and coughed in their faces saying ‘I have coronavirus’.

The man was taken to a hospital for a test, despite not showing any symptoms.

He has been released on bail pending a court appearance.

NEWS

May 1st - May 14th

Lockdown lust EXCLUSIVE

By Laurence Dollimore and Joshua Parfitt

SEX workers in Spain are still advertising for clients despite the ongoing coronavirus lockdown, the Olive Press can reveal.

They are breaking social distancing rules, while some are openly flaunting the Royal Decree with special ‘COVID-19’ discounts.

The adverts, printed in their dozens in various English newspapers, are ‘illegal’, particularly during the lockdown,

Sex workers are still meeting clients via British newspaper ads despite Spain’s strict coronavirus rules Spain’s National Police confirmed this week.

One advert - offered by a sex worker on the Costa del Sol made reference to her location just metres from a Mercadona supermarket to give punters a cover story, if stopped by police.

While posing as a client, an

Brothel of Europe Spain has been referred to as the ‘Brothel of Europe’ with a 2011 UN report ruling it was the third biggest prostitution Mecca in the world, behind only Thailand and Puerto Rico.

Since it was decriminalised in 1995, it has become a huge industry worth around €24.5 billion and with at least 300,000 workers.

However it has also led to a rise in human trafficking, with women shipped from around the world and forced to work at night.

One 2009 study by TAMPEP (European Network for HIV/STI Prevention and Health Promotion among Migrant Sex Workers), estimated 90% of sex workers in Spain are victims of human trafficking.

An illegal prostitution ring was busted in Andalucia this month, with 12 victims from South America, including a young girl, freed from flats in Jaen and Cordoba.

Prison for politician THE Spokesperson for Podemos Madrid, Isabel Serra Sanchez has been sentenced to 19 months in prison for her intervention in an eviction of a disabled person.

The 30-year-old (right) was found guilty of attacking police and causing minor injuries during the incident in Madrid in 2014.

She has been fined €2,000 and been banned from holding public office for a number of years, but was not found guilty of public disorder, which would have landed her a stiffer sentence.

She claimed it was a ‘dispro-

portionate and unfair sentence’ and added she would continue to fight to prevent evictions of families.

Another Podemos leader Pablo Echenique insisted the police had no evidence she was violent, during the eviction. He insisted she was ‘demonstrating peacefully’.

Olive Press journalist was given a list of prices and services, answering to an advert, headed ‘Blonde - Offer COVID-19: €40,’.

When asked if she was still working despite the lockdown, she replied: “Sometimes and with a discreet person.”

Other adverts continue to offer ‘incalls’ and ‘outcalls’ in ‘private apartments’ despite the country being in its seventh week of lockdown.

The sex adverts in English are continuing to be printed across local English papers in Mallorca too, suggesting there is a nationwide breaking of the rules.

Illegal

Spain has been on a national lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak since March 14.

It has made all non-essential work effectively illegal and punishable under the law.

A spokesman for the Policia Nacional told the Olive Press that people should be aware that prostitution is illegal, whether the country is in lockdown or not.

“We want to clarify that prostitution is illegal in Spain,” he explained, “it does not matter if there is a lockdown or not.

“In Spain we are governed by the Organic Law 10/1995 of the penal code and its updates.”

People generally believe prostitution to be legal in Spain, but the reality is sex workers exist in a legal vacuum wherein the practice has been decriminalised since 1995 but no public laws have been written regarding their legal status.

But while the prostitutes may not be penalised, their clients can be. Although any sex worker caught meeting clients

BREACH: Sex ads flouting COVID-19 rules during the lockdown will also be punished.

One male escort was stopped and fined on his way to meet a client in Barcelona last month.

Another escort based on the Costa del Sol told the Olive Press he has been inundated with requests but has refused to meet with clients due to the coronavirus lockdown.

“I think a lot of sex workers are obeying the rules, but I guess some who have seen their incomes disappear are in desperate situations. It’s not an excuse though, just stay home,” he insisted. The Olive Press has never published sex ads in our 14-year history, while other publications along the Costa Blanca have been cashing in on the murky trade and its suspect tax implications for years.

Paedo breakthrough AUSTRALIAN police have helped link a child sex abuse video to a Spanish paedophile.

The suspect produced explicit videos of a young boy - aged four - to gain access to forums on the dark web.

International cooperation was key to cracking the case: with Europol supporting Spanish police by analysing information received from cops in Queensland.

Europol found that a 2015 video discovered in France may have been filmed in Spain.

Cops worked out that the suspect was also using a social media network where he was in touch with a woman who shared the same surname as the one in the title of the abuse video. They eventually tracked him down to a home in Barcelona, where they seized a large amount of material which they believe could lead to further arrests in Spain.

Fernando Ruiz at Europol’s cybercrime unit insisted: “‘This type of international cooperation during the COVID-19 crisis shows how children are being protected as a priority.

“We encourage everyone to be aware of the dangers to children during this time.”

No minor incident

A DAD has been arrested after dumping his son on the side of a motorway to divert police and flee a roadblock.

The 36-year-old abandoned his child on the hard shoulder of the A-44 in Granada after nearly hitting a Guardia Civil officer. He has been charged with ‘crimes against road safety’ – dangerous driving and driving without a license. He also faces two other charges – the neglect of a child and disobeying a police officer. The bizarre stunt allowed the man to shake off the Guardia Civil officers, who were obliged to help the young child.

Put your trousers on A MAN has been arrested after attacking police who caught him with his pants down taking a poo in a park.

Policia Nacional officers stumbled upon the brazen Spaniard, 62, as he was relieving himself in Palma’s Parc des Estacions, which was off-limits to civilians at the time.

When ordered to stop what he was doing and pull up his trousers, the man set upon agents with his walking stick.

He was then handcuffed and hauled back to the police station, where he was charged with civil disobedience and assault.

Adams trio A TRIO from the same family have been arrested for robbing rural second homes in inland Malaga.

The thieves from Casarabonela took advantage of empty holiday properties not being taken care of during the coronavirus crisis.

Police however, caught the gang after a tip off and caught them red handed.

A range of valuables have now been returned to their owners.

Bad night’s sleep

STRICT: Barcelona police a check courier’s credentials despite the loosening of lockdown coming into force

OVERNIGHT stays in Spain dropped by 61% in March.

The number of nights spent in hotels and other accommodation fell by 8.3 million, on last year’s figures.

It also means that the quarterly drop for the first three months of the year is at 21.6%.

NEWS

www.theolivepress.es

May 1st - May 14th

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Goodbye to the queen of the costa

By Dilip Kuner

FOR 19 years she has been one of Spain’s most loved icons.

Hundreds of thousands of people have gazed at the awe-inspiring sight of the beauty and power of Asmara the Sumatran tigress as she padded round her enclosure at Fuengirola’s Biopark.

But children will no longer be able to press themselves against the glass screen that was all that separated them from the terrifyingyet-beautiful vision of the jungle queen.

At the age of 19 the oldest feline resident of the parc – and third oldest Sumatran Tiger in a worldwide breeding programme – has passed away.

It comes two years after her partner Rokan died and a postmortem has confirmed she did not die of Coronavirus.

She died of a tumour close to her heart, breaking the hearts of her keepers and other park workers.

“She was very impressive and curious and will be badly missed,” said Marta Perez, who works in marketing at Bioparc.

“She needed to be treated with respect and she could be fierce with people she did not know well.”

She herself had several cubs with Rokan, helping save this highly endangered species from extinction.

AN Andalucian photographer has scooped third prize at this year’s World Press Photo contest for his unbelievable shot of Iberian lynxes.

Antonio Pizarro, 47, who works at Diario de Sevilla, captured the moment a pair of the wild cats fled the sound of gunshot near Doñana National Park.

The veteran lensman’s snap, titled The King of Doñana, shows one lynx suspended in mid-air

Snap to it!

as it leaps for safety.

Since 2013 Sevilla-born Pizarro has gone to extraordinary lengths to snap the world’s most endangered feline species. He has even sometimes used a camouflaged semi-underwater bunker so he can remain undetected while being close to the action.

OAP - Old Age Pugilist Battling Ana del Valle - 106 years old - is the second oldest person to survive COVID globally

SHE has survived two world wars and one civil war. Now an amazing centenarian, from Andalucia, has beaten the deadly coronavirus.

106-year-old Ana del Valle, from Ronda, has fought off the illness to the cheers of her family and friends.

The pensioner, who has a good diet and walks daily, got the virus along with 60 other residents at her nursing home in Alcala del Valle.

While a few of them died, she was transferred to another home in La Linea, where she has just been

transferred.

Born in October 1913 she is the oldest survivor of the pandemic in Spain and only just behind 107-year-old Dutch survivor, Cornelia Ras. A farmworker, she had only learnt to read and write at the age of 80, and outlived her husband, who died 24 years ago.

Incredibly, it has emerged she also survived the dreaded Spanish flu at the age of seven.

Her family - that counts four great-

TERRI-TASTY AN EXPAT in San Miguel de Salinas has saved a large terrapin from starvation after stumbling upon the reptile while out walking the dog.

Liverpudlian Lezley Cresswell took the animal home and contacted Elche Wildlife Park, which advised feeding it a pork chop.

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Much to Lezley’s delight, Terry - his newly-adopted name - loved the dish.

“Once I realised how much Terry liked his pork, I couldn’t chop it up quick enough for him!” Elche Wildlife Park has arranged to house Terry once the lockdown ends.

ALIVE AND WELL: Ana with family grandchildren - revealed that she had been discovered ‘collapsed’ under an oak tree, while out fetching milk.“She was found many hours later by her mother with a very high fever,” said her daughter

in law Paqui Sanchez.

Incredibly, she survived that horrific plague that killed millions around the world and has since stayed healthy.

Freedom at last

NEWS

4

May 1st - May 14th

Food for thought

By Isha Sesay

ers, which does not allow for the progressive re-employment of his staff.

He said: “I cannot afford to pay everyone without a sufficient income, so the most sensible decision is to stay closed.”

Edgar Le Roux, who runs a small cafe in Palma, took a more optimistic view and told the Olive Press: “We remain positive in light of the announcement and are looking forward to welcoming back locals, even if it is just on our terrace.”

Taking note of the enormous obstacles ahead, the Association of Hoteliers has asked the government to make Playa de Palma a pilot destination for tourism until the health crisis stabilises.

Claiming that the area has the ideal conditions to safeguard the health of visitors, including its extensive beach and promenade to maintain social distancing, President Jose Antonio Fernandez de Alarcon expressed his commitment to ‘trialling what it would be like to start travelling to Mallorca

until a vaccine is found.’

Alarcon also revealed that the association is coordinating with a host of tourism companies, airlines and tour operators in Germany to reactivate activity in Mallorca.

This runs in parallel with an agreement made between TUI Group and the autonomous government that the Balearic Islands will be the first destination in Spain that the tour operator travels to.

Earlier this week, the Minister of Tourism, Iago Negueruela, held a virtual meeting with senior executives from the German tour operator in which both parties agreed to work together to ensure there is a flow of tourists to the region once the health crisis is overcome.

Negueruela stressed that resuming activity will ‘always be done with the highest level of safety’, and at all times following guidelines laid down by the central government.

He said: “We want the Balearic Islands to become a reference point for safety in Spain as well as in Europe.”

Opinion Page 6

implementation of an outdoor space at a restaurant will reactivate a suffering sector.

“It is clear that once the confinement phase is over and social distancing is applied, open spaces will become a secure area for people,” a CAEB spokesperson said.

According to the World

Health Organisation (WHO), outdoor spaces are proven to be more ‘healthy’ than those indoors, thus posing less risk of contagion.

The intake of vitamin D through sunlight can also help our bodies to ward off illness and infections, with studies suggesting that it can help build resilience to com-

Photos by Allan Binderup

From Page 1

VARIOUS proposals have been put forward to kickstart the restaurant industry postcoronavirus.

Bigger and improved terraces is an idea currently being pushed through municipal town halls by the Business Association of the Balearic Islands (CAEB).

With the aim of safeguarding the health of the general public, the association believes that an extension or

‘Bigger and better’ terraces to kickstart comeback of restaurants in Mallorca

SMILING AGAIN: Traders are delighted to be open again in Santa Catalina

mon colds and influenza.

With this in mind, the CAEB said large restaurant terraces could become a go-to-place for residents to feel safe, boosting local trade.

They would also serve as a key element in luring tourists back to the island for their sun-kissed holidays.

Constrictions

Although the association acknowledges that some establishments may not be able to expand their terraces due to constrictions on space, it said a significant proportion would benefit from an extension.

The proposal is currently making its way through various local authorities with the association hoping for a positive outcome to guarantee the future of the sector.

However, getting the approval may be more difficult in Palma, whose town hall has recently enforced harsh restrictions on the use of outdoor areas in the capital.

A new law to create more space for pedestrians specifying that pavements must have a minimum of 2.5 metres free of any obstructions forced hundreds of restaurants to remove their terraces altogether last year.

An Olive Press campaign launched two years ago to help struggling restaurants falling victim to the scheme.

Friends.

Reset.

Music.

At OD Port Portals we have our own star rating. In fact, we have all the stars of the Mallorca sky and we will enjoy them all together every summer night at OD Sky Bar, on our spacious terrace and at our restaurant On Top. A hotel full of local experiences, music, art, gastronomy, yoga, pre-parties, flea markets, brunches, concerts, Pilates, tardeo, sea, sun and all the stars. A hotel full of life.

Horizon.

Sunset.

Memories.

NEWS

www.theolivepress.es SPAIN has finally revealed the schedule for the daily exercise which will be permitted from May 2 as it prepares to loosen further lockdown restrictions.

Health minister Salvador Illa revealed that adults can leave their homes to walk or perform individual exercise (running, jogging) from 6-10am and from 8-11pm.

One kilometre

People who have carers and the elderly (aged 70 and above) can go outside between 10am and 12pm and 7pm and 8pm.

May 1st - May 14th

Thriller from Illa

By Laurence Dollimore

Children are allowed out – with an adult – between 12pm and 7pm.

The timetables do not apply to municipalities with less than 5,000 people. All people in these towns can do their exercise or daily walk between 6am and 11pm.

Spanish Government finally reveals timetables for exercise, with elderly prioritised For other towns, the timetable has been designed to ensure children do not mix with elderly.

You can only exercise once a day and can have no contact

with others.

You cannot leave your municipality and must stay within a 1km of your home.

Towns have been given permission to create designated

Keys Isl nd to the

Goodbye coronavirus!

WELL that’s what we’d all like to say, and will celebrate when it truly happens with gusto!

I am not normally one wishing to spread fake news, but we do seem to have overcome the worst of it and are coming out the other side.

With a total of 1,879 patients in the Balearic Islands, with 185 deaths, we are the fourth least affected region in Spain, one definite benefit of being a group of small islands with easily defended territories.

News changes daily, but at least we are slowly being permitted to return to some semblance of normality.

With children under 14 being allowed out for the first time at the weekend with a parent, we are informed that by this weekend adults will be allowed out to exercise within 1km of home, for an hour.

There is also news that some restaurants and bars are planning on opening, subject to strong protocol regulations including seating restrictions, hygiene, masks and gloves donned by the staff, and menu QR codes for mobiles, only slightly taking away from the ambience and whole idea of a night out!

Oh boy, times have definitely changed, and there will be some serious adjustments to the infringement on our personal freedoms, but one must adhere to these unprecedented restrictions for the foreseeable future, at least for the safety of the elderly and infirm.

Possible Impact on Real Estate Market in Mallorca and Balearic Islands The restrictions so far certainly keep the real estate agents at home for the most

part, apart from tidying up databases, and only recently the ability to at least go to homes to make videos for any interested parties.

Hiatus

Having had my ear to the ground most agents are saying that enquiries are few and far between apart from for longer rentals and 2021, as well as a slow trickle of lower priced apartments with outdoor space, as predicted.

I don’t see in the short term, enquiries picking up from international buyers.

We still need to see flights resuming and work returning to normal.

I personally believe we will suffer for this year as we all pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off, but the Balearic

areas for exercise if they so wish, to help avoid accumulations of people.

Illa added: “We recommend masks in cases where the safe distance of two metres cannot be maintained.”

The government is to publish a full guide so the public are ‘left with no doubts’ about what they can and can’t do.

By Amanda Butler Real estate agent Amanada Butler looks ahead to brighter days as the Balearic Islands emerge from the worst of the crisis Islands have been a favoured destination for mainland Spain and Europe for decades past and will continue to be so. The strong protection measures of its natural environment, conserving vast stretches of beautiful natural habitat considering the size of the islands, its diversity, culture and wonderful way of life will continue to attract the wealthy, rich and famous from near and far – despite this current hiatus.

Sending best wishes for now. Keep your distance, wash your hands and phones, appreciate your loved ones, keep safe and keep smiling!

Amanda J Butler – an holistic approach to real estate in Mallorca.

MJC Associates - +34 690075169, ajb@mjcassociates.net

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Parklife PALMA de Mallorca has reopened a huge number of its parks in a further relaxation of the COVID-19 lockdown.

Palma City Council today revealed that a total of 44 parks and green areas in the city would be opened up for children to enjoy.

The move follows the Council’s decision to reopen all of its beaches to coincide with the lifting of the coronavirus restrictions.

The 44 parks now open are: Ramon Rotger, Camp Redo, Can Simonet, Reina Sancha de Napols, Son Serra Parera, Mirador del Terreno, sa Quarentena, Establiments Plaza Nova, Son Vich, Jardi del Bisbat, Mirador Joan Miro, Los Leones Gomila and Son Ximelis.

Open

Son Cotoner, Son Dameto Nou, Son Piza, Sagrat Cor, Son Dameto Dalt, Son Puig d’Abaix, Son Puig Torrent, Son Puig Dalt, Arabella-Son Xigala II, Son Martorell, Torre d’en Pau, Can Tarres, Sa Petrolera, Son Perera, Ses Cases de Son Ameteler, s’Hostalets and Ses Sorts.

Ribera Espai Verd, La Femu, Jorge Luis Borges, Can Palou-Facana Martima Fase III, Son PedralsFacana Marítima Fase IV, Krekovic, Aparcament Manacor, Credit Balear, Son Gibert, Mare de Deu de la Victoria, Placa Orson Welles, Sa Fertilitzadora– Son Costa and Son Rullan.

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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 Tough love

THE Spanish government must feel stuck between a rock and a hard place as it attempts to take its country out of the coronavirus lockdown.

Its people are growing weary of being confined to their homes and want to have more freedoms returned, but letting things return to normal too quickly could result in a second and deadlier wave of COVID-19.

Either way, it’s hard for leaders to navigate deescalation plans while maintaining popularity. Luckily, Pedro Sanchez’s government seems to have the health and wellbeing of the Spanish people as its top priority.

Its four phase plan seems initially fair - if a bit short on detail - and is clearly designed by common sense.

The decision to let provinces which have been less impacted by the virus lift restrictions sooner stops unnecessary roadblocks to economic recovery.

Clearly businesses are going to be hurt, with capacity limits set at 30 to 50% until mid-June, but it’s what must be done, initially at least, to prevent a second wave of a disease which has killed nearly 25,000 Spaniards. Let’s hope businesses are supported both during AND after this whole crisis ends.

Sex sells IT is morally reprehensible at best: Pages of sex adverts advertising every kink and quirk under the sun.

But whether prostitution is legal or not and sex workers should be allowed to solicit or not, is irrelevent in the heart of the COVID-19 crisis.

For the current Royal Decrees make it implicitly clear who CAN and who CANNOT work.

And there are very good reasons behind that, however frustrating and painful it is for many workers, particularly self employed autonomos, who are really struggling in this crisis. It is called social distancing - preventing the spread of the disease - which can hardly be possible in the case of a prostitute. So when you find so-called ‘community newspapers’ openly encouraging ‘COVID-19 specials’ from sex workers on their pages, they can hardly be called responsible. They are cashing in on a mucky trade that sails mostly below the margins, particularly right now.

It is time to call out these hypocrites for what they are.

Publisher / Editor

Jon Clarke, jon@theolivepress.es Charlie Smith charlie@theolivepress.es

Joshua Parfitt joshua@theolivepress.es

Laurence Dollimore laurence@theolivepress.es

John Culatto johnc@theolivepress.es

Dimitris Kouimtsidis dimitris@theolivepress.es

Gillian Keller gillian@theolivepress.es

Isha Sesay isha.sesay@hotmail.com

Simon Wade simon@theolivepress.es

Admin Beatriz Sanllehí (+34) 951 273 575 admin@ theolivepress.es

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2012 - 2020

Named the best English language publication in Andalucia by the Rough Guides group.

‘

EXCLUSIVE

By Jon Clarke

‘THEY are holed up at home and terrified this is Armageddon,” says Naghmeh King, her distress unalleviated by the sunshine pouring into her apartment with its idyllic views along the Costa del Sol coastline.

“They think coronavirus is the great plague God prophesied and they will only be saved if their belief in Jehovah is strong enough” adds the 50-year-old mother of Ashya King.

The family made global headlines in 2014 when she and her husband fled Britain for Spain seeking ground-breaking cancer treatment for their youngest son, now 10, sparking an international manhunt leading to their arrest and imprisonment in Madrid.

Six years after that heart-rending saga, Naghmeh is in flight from a new terror: brainwashing.

“They are scared, so scared, and their father is being so strict,” she reveals. “Do this, do that, making them say their prayers before every meal and repeat them after him every night.”

Naghmeh is talking about husband Brett, 56, and their seven children, locked down in the family home in Milton Keynes, that she managed to escape just before the travel ban was enforced.

“I couldn’t deal with it and came at the beginning of March,” she tells the Olive Press at the modest three bedroom apartment in Casares, near Estepona, where she has pinned up photos of her children on the wall and various dictionaries and bibles are strewn on the coffee table.

“I told them I would come and self isolate here, where I will be safe. Brett said he didn’t want me to leave the house, he does not have enough faith that God will protect him. He thinks he will die from the coronavirus. I simply couldn’t take it anymore.”

It is a cautionary tale and moving proof that extreme religion can sometimes break up families.

Talking to the paper to express her ‘disgust’ at the religion she has been trying to leave for years, she claims her husband has been ‘brainwashed’ by the Jehovah’s Witnesses who ‘owe’ her a five-figure sum of money.

More of which later.

Hers is a story that was thrust into the global spotlight when she and husband Brett, from Portsmouth, decided that the cancer treatment their then-fiveyear-old son Ashya was receiving in Southampton was a danger to his life.

Believing he needed the much more benign Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) - which at €70,000 the NHS trust would not fund - they smuggled him out of the hospital and drove onto a ferry from Portsmouth to Europe to prevent him becoming a ward of court.

They planned to make for their holiday home in Malaga where four of their children were born

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May 1st - May 14th

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K

I’VE BROKEN FREE!

BIG FAMILY: Naghmeh King at home in Spain, while (inset) with Brett and her seven children and where they hoped the gen- helped get us out,” she insists. glint in her eye. “He was 24 and we tler Mediterranean climate would “Soon Ashya was getting treat- quickly fell in love and got married a year later.” allow Ashya to recuperate while ment in Prague.” they sought PBT elsewhere.

While her son is slowly improving While her parents were not happy But their departure led to a glob- from the trauma of brain surgery with her decision, wanting her to al outcry with Interpol quickly to remove a tumour, he still has come home to Iran, the pair led a called in to locate them. profound disabilities, she reveals charmed life, with the income Brett was making from his two jobs.

While they attempted to lay low in (see side bar). a hotel in neighbouring Axarquia Now Naghmeh is going through They bought a leafy home in Milton they were not hard to locate, be- another major upheaval in her Keynes, but their happiness was ing nine in number counting the life, having decided to leave the short lived when Brett was jailed for other children, Danny, now 29, church she became involved in falsifying mortgage forms (a ‘white Naveed, 26, Sirus, 20, Yusha, at the age of 20. it is definitively collar crime’, Naghmeh insists) which 14, Matty, 13, and Sion, 8. the time to move on, she is mak- ended up getting him sacked from “Basically, the receptionist found ing an urgent, heart-felt appeal his bank job. out who we were and called the to her husband to leave the re- His term was only a year in the low police,” recalls Naghmeh today. ligion too and join her in Spain security Bedford prison, but it would “Ashya was taken to hospital in with their family, at least the have a long-lasting effect on his life and their relationship, she insists Malaga and we were taken to youngest four. jail. We were kept for three days It is clear she means it and - hav- today. “It was horrible for him and in a police cell in Malaga, then ing known her for six years and he came out all skinny,” she rememprison in Madrid. spoken to her on various occa- bers. “But while there he took a close “It was really, really sions - she and interest in religion…particularly from bad, I never knew I both know it a cell mate who taught him about how the authoriwill be a battle Noah’s ark and the floods. And it was ties worked, they Making them say as tough as the then that he started to say the Lord’s before meals and bed.” took over our life. prayers before one she went Prayer We were charged through with So when a few months after getting out they received the proverbial every meal and Ashya. with child cruelty and I feared losing repeat them after N a g h m e h ’ s knock on the door from a pair of local Ashya for good. I story began Jehovah’s Witnesses, Brett immeditook an interest. was so scared.” him every night when her Ira- ately Thanks to a masnian family “His name was Michael Michaels, a sive response by sent her to do Greek guy, and he gave him a few the UK media - and her A-levels in magazines which Brett found inthe Olive Press, which worked England at the age of 16. Pack- teresting,” recalls Naghmeh. Three closely with them, aiding their ing her off from Tehran to Black- weeks later Michaels returned to perappeal - a petition was raised burn, where she had an uncle, suade Brett to go to the local asking for their release, allowing they hoped she might end up at Kingdom Hall for a meeting. them to be reunited with Ashya.

Cambridge with a career in archi- “I refused to go, I was not interested and kept throwing “An amazing 250,000 people tecture or medicine. demanded that Ashya should “But things all changed when I the magazines out. I told him be given back to us,” continues met Brett, who was a bank man- they were simply brainwashNaghmeh, recalling the emer- ager, in Cambridge, with a sec- ing him.” gency court hearing in Madrid, ond job running a guesthouse But almost inevitably, she filinked up to the High Court in business,” she explains, with a nally got sucked in and while London, where it was agreed they should be allowed to take their son for emergency PBT treatment in Prague.

Ashya King was declared cancer free two years “Our lawyer Juan Isidro, from ago. But the courageous youngster is still proSevilla, was excellent and reaaly foundly disabled and may never fully recover from the trauma of his ordeal, as his mother Naghmeh tells the Olive Press in her own heartfelt words.

“He is OK, he can go up the stairs by himself but he has to sit down to come down the stairs. He can walk a few steps, but often falls. He is still paralysed and has a crossed eye.

“They took a big part of his brain, during the eight hour operation but chemotherapy would have killed him. We were told he would not have sight or hearing after it. His ears would dry out, his eyes would dry out. But they said Proton Beam Therapy would not work on his cancer, and would not fund it. We realised we had to leave, get away from England … the state would have taken him away so we didn’t say anything.

“We couldn’t risk him losing his sight or hearing. It was an intense pressurised time travelling with him in the car. I had to feed him through his nostrils, he could not eat or swallow anything, he couldn’t even drink water, he was totally paralysed. That said, we knew he was making progress, his eyes were opening and shutting, he was moving.

We felt he needed a chance to recuperate.”

On the mend, six years on

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on the border of the A GIANT stand-off ensued this weekend with hundreds of miSpanish enclave of Melilla with Morocco, grants storming the border. a Tangier to Tarifa ferry was In another attempt to enter Europe, three migrants hid themafter held up for two hours on Sunday, watched from the deck of the selves in the motor. Passengers were hauled from their Intershipping ferry, as the Moroccans estimated that 1,800 people hiding place near the blades. It is Mediterranean this year. have already died trying to cross the See our feature on drug- and people-trafficking

s facing a potenoutbreak after a an, 40, displayed of the deadly virus. s Haya hospital unched emergency on Sunday, while sources admitted completely unprean outbreak. s being kept in prolation until results ed. It is feared he the disease on a to Nigeria. out that he has got n we will all get it," worker said, adding ospital is unable to such serious cases.

- who lives in Anterived with a high fewas immediately put tion. m the fever, he did any other recognimptoms such as nauting and bleeding. two other suspected n Spain have turned false alarms over the ight.

See page 20

Save Our Son Malaga EXCLUSIVE: Costa friends reveal Ashya King was diagnosed in Spain, where his family had previously lived for many years

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REUNITED: Ashya King and family (right)

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By Tom Powell and Rob Horgan in Casares and Joe Chivers in the Axarquia TERMINALLY ill Ashya King was diagnosed with a brain tumour in Spain before being rushed back to England for emergency treatment, the Olive Press can reveal.

The seriously-ill British child - whose parents Brett and Naghmeh fled England last week sparking an international manhunt - had been taken to a local clinic after suffering headaches.

“He had been having headaches back in the UK as well so they took him to a doctor who referred him to hospital for a scan, which was when they found out he had just months to live,” said family friend Joseph Lathey, 20, who knows the Kings from Jehovah’s Witness meetings.

The family-of-nine had only just returned to the home they have owned in Casares for the last decade, looking forward to a long summer holiday.

The Olive Press can reveal they have been living on/ off in Spain since buying the beachside apartment 10 Turn to page 4

Find your dream property today!

SPLASH: Front page in 2014 she disliked the endless meetings and the way the ‘elders’ sometimes treated her children, she started to believe that she could save people’s lives and immersed herself in the religion.

The indoctrination continued as the couple launched their own successful property business renovating and selling homes in Milton Keynes, and starting a family.

They ended up buying a trio of homes on the Costa del Sol from the proceeds and finally moved to Spain ‘to learn Spanish and lead a simpler, holier life’, in 1999.

They arrived, via Honduras, with three children in tow, with Brett firstly working as a gardener before landing a cushy job as an estate agent with Kristina Szekely and later Interealty.

Over the next decade they had four more kids - all born in Marbella hospital - and ended up meeting a large group of like-minded families via the various Jehovah’s groups on the coast.

“I sort of put up with it and we had to go to church two or three times a week, we couldn’t celebrate birthdays, or Christmas, Halloween or Easter, and they kept telling us that in the next few years Armageddon would happen and everyone would die,” says Naghmeh.

“They want you to believe that the world is a terrible place. It was a joyless religion and it is no surprise that tens of thousands are leaving it every year,” she adds with a shudder.

After the drama with Ashya they returned to the UK, but life back there made Naghmeh think long and hard about the religion and her role in it.

“I have now completely come out and three years ago I told Brett I wanted to leave. I wrote a letter to the church and told Brett to deliver it. I just feel so angry that we have paid them so much money.

I worked out it is £42,000 and I want it back. They give you books and say they need money for electricity and to advertise, advertise, advertise. I’m writing to them to get it back.”

She continues: “I’m definitely happier now I’ve left, I feel free and have got more time to think and study.

Now I just want my children back. I want them to come over and live with me here in Spain and I have been looking at bigger homes to rent.

“Brett and I have not really discussed it, but I don’t want to go home.

“Brett is fairly brainwashed by it, right now for sure.

“I keep telling him we should sit down and discuss it, not allow other men in a church tell us what to do.

“Brett’s been telling me about divorce, he said if I’m not part of the religion he won’t allow the children to talk to me. It’s illegal.

It is more serious.

“It hasn’t got to the stage of a lawyer, but I am being really firm with him when speaking on the phone.

“I’ve told him I don’t want them to have to pray in the house any more. We can read the bible ourselves and discuss it, of course, but no more brainwashing.”

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The Irresistible Billionaire

H

E’S the world’s sixth-richest person, with an eightbrand empire of 7,200 clothing shops spread across 93 countries.

There isn’t a lot that Zara-founder Amancio Ortega hasn’t conquered, other than his critics, perhaps but internet surfers with too much lockdown time on their hands have noticed a certain prominent left-wing politician reclining on a bench at Spain’s Congress of Deputies. in a black Zara jacket – a brand Ortega founded in 1975.

That man is Pablo Iglesias, the second deputy prime minister and outspoken leader of the antiestablishment Podemos party.

The man who, with fewer clean shirts than a badger, centre-right columnists love to refer to as ‘scruffy’.

The same man who, months ago, criticised Ortega’s donations to the Spanish health system saying: “Spain is not a banana republic nor a dictatorship that depends on some old toff.”

Then in March, Minister of Equality Irene Montero – Iglesias’ wife – was also caught trying to hide the label on her Stradivarius bag beneath an Instagram emoticon.

Gabriel Rufian, the pro-Catalanindependence politician who accused Ortega of thinking he was ‘Batman’ in March, has also been snapped wearing a Zara camelcoloured overcoat this year.

Despite his ‘bad billionaire’ image, overstitched with reports of tax-dodging and east-Asian sweatshops, perhaps Ortega’s incredible contribution to the country’s fight against coronavirus has finally won over his haters?

The 84-year-old textile tycoon began filling the gaps in the COVID-19 battleplan by doing what he does best: making clothes.

Washable, splash-proof, with elasticated sleeves, and in a functional-but-elegant turquoise, the hospital gowns manufactured by Zara have been a lifeline for desperate medical workers.

The first batch of 4,000 was distributed to a hospital in Galicia – Inditex’s homebase – with many thousands more planned after the conglomerate dedicated nine of its 11 Galician factories to strictly PPE production.

It comes after ‘kamikaze’ Galician nurses were featured on the front page of the New York Times on March 30, braving hospitals in homemade protective gear fashioned from bin bags.

While the somewhat red-faced government had to recall 350,000 faulty masks from frontline workers, Ortega has already flown in and distributed three million, along with 1,450 ventilators.

His efficiency is due to a business model built on speed and control.

Ortega founded his empire on two principles – give the customer what they want; and give it to them as fast as possible. To do that, he has ensured he owns his entire supply line.

The same diligence that means Inditex orders are delivered worldwide within 48 hours has seen urgent medical equipment arriving at its Zaragoza hub like clockwork. But there is a different side to Amancio Ortega, behind the logistical behemoth.

A side that perhaps explains why UK textile tycoon Philip Green is awaiting the removal of his knighthood over sexual harassment allegations, while Ortega

How Spain’s richest man has clothed his critics since joining the fight V COVID, writes Josh Parfitt has received 35,000 signatures on a Change.org petition putting him forward for the Premio Princesa de Asturias, Spain’s premier peace prize.

And it’s a side best understood by picking apart the first item of clothing Ortega ever made – a dressing gown.

It wasn’t necessarily the style of the dressing gown that shines a light on his persona - though the Inditex empire is rumoured to have fashion informants plugged into scenes the world over, and restocks its stores twice a week.

No. In 1963, when Ortega created his first fashion distribution network Confecciones GOA, he built it up by answering a massive call for work.

In 1960s La Coruña, thousands of husbands went out to sea to fish, leaving wives at home without a means to win bread.

“The women would do anything for a little money, and they were really good at sewing,” says Xabier R. Blanco, a Galician journalist and co-author of the unofficial biography Amancio Ortega: From Zero to Zara.

The budding tailor began organising sewing cooperatives, mainly producing quilted bathrobes that Ortega distributed under his own business’ name.

At Inditex’s HQ in Arteixo Ortega sat a desk in a corner of a Zara Woman workspace.

One of those women from the 1960s, Mercedes Lopez, has been kept in the family as Inditex’s textile union representative.

Legend places Amancio’s eureka moment back to the 12-year-old boy who watched his mother being denied food at a local shop in

the Galician capital of La Coruña.

The shame this youngest of four brothers felt bore in him the determination to fully furnish his family beyond all financial need – and from there, say his supporters, was born a philanthropic destiny. Comparisons do paint a picture of the largely media-absent Ortega.

For argument’s sake, while Philip Green pays Rod Stewart £750,000 for a 45-minute serenading during a three-day toga party in Cyprus for 200 AirBusflown guests on his 50th birthday, not a single picture of Amancio Ortega was published anywhere until he was 63.

Green owns a £20 million Gulfstream G550 private jet; Ortega hates flying. Green alternates weekdays between plush apartments in central London and Monaco; Ortega still drinks coffee in the neighbourhood where he grew up. While Green is considering the permanent closure of shops in his Arcadia group, Ortega decided not to lay off one single employee in his Spanish workforce of 50,000.

But ever since Inditex put itself at the disposition of Spain’s government, on March 18 there has not been a peep of criticism coming from the Pablo Iglesias front.

Whether that means it’s Zara’s style Iglesias likes, or the business practices of its boss, is unclear. But this means Amancio Ortega has at least achieved an incredible dream: from front-line hospital worker to the chambers of governance, a billionaire has, for once, given his nation the shirts off his own back.

DID YOU KNOW?

Zara’s name was a lucky accident.

Amancio Ortega initially wanted to call his first clothing brand ‘Zorba’ after his and his wife’s favourite film, the Greek-American comedy Zorba the Greek.

It turned out however that a local bar also had used the name. The tradeoff has paid off, however, as Zorba bears close resemblance to a Spanish insult for ‘bitch’ and generally sounds like a naff cleaning tissue.

Zara, meanwhile, has an exotic resemblance to a wellknown name, Sarah, and is easily pronounceable in many of the world’s tongues.

Aside from its flagship store, Zara, Inditex also owns Pull and Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Oysho, Stradivarius, Zara Home and Uterqüe.

The company’s success is built upon small runs of clothes, while relying on customer feedback and trend-spotting, to replenish stores with cutting-edge products.

New styles hit the stores within a matter of days, and 60% of manufacturing happens locally to shorten distribution times.

Ortega’s only official biography, written by long-time friend Covadonga O’Shea, carries the legendary story that epitomises Ortega’s business mindset.

“One day I was in a car and at a traffic light when up pulled a vespino, ridden by a kid with a denim jacket full of badges and patches. I liked it. I saw there was something new, genuine, trendy. Still in the car, I called the head of design and detailed what I was seeing. In two weeks, the jackets were in stores and selling like churros.”

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Spain’s tourism industry unlikely to fully reopen until 1-lockdown the end of the year as initial plans to lift coronavirus restrictions revealed (114,024 visitors) in his 90s in Spain argues he should be allowed 2-toMan break lockdown rules as he’s the only inhabitant in left in his hamlet (36,868) COVID-19: Spain’s Andalucia plans to open shops 3- from May 11 and bars and restaurants from May 25 (30,727) in Spain are impounding Gibraltar-registered 4- Police cars, with some drivers invoiced up to €17,000 in COVID-19 clampdown (28,973) BREAKING: Spain set to allow individual outdoor 5- exercise and walks from May 2 in more loosening of coronavirus restrictions (27,976)

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Unmasked

Major blunder sees hundreds of thousands of faulty masks sent to health workers

OUTDOORS: Families exercise in Barcelona

AT LEAST 1,100 frontline health workers have been forced into self-isolation after Spain’s Ministry of Health distributed ‘faulty’ masks across the nation.

An estimated 350,000 units of the masks fell foul of medical testing, but not before at least 28 staff using them tested positive to COVID-19 at the Hospital de Ourense, in Galicia.

The masks have now been recalled from autonomous regions including Andalucia, Murcia, Madrid, the Comunitat Valenciana, Castilla-La

BID FOR freedoM

A MAN has been arrested for attempting to flee from hospital after test-

Border extension SPAIN has extended temporary travel restrictions for non EU citizens.

The extension will last at least until May 15 and only diplomatic staff and their families, long-term residents, cross-border workers, healthcare professionals and flight personnel are exempt However, this measure still does not apply on the land border with Gibraltar or with Andorra.

Check out our issues online at www.theolivepress.es

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April 17th - April 30th, 2020 Vol. 3 Issue 78 www.theolivepress.es

Photos by Jon Clarke and Mercat

de Santa Catalina

A SEMAN ed cell SANTA an C2020

EASTER SPIRIT: Server at the

Mercat de Santa Catalina (left)

LET US OUT! to the A SPANISH lawyer has complained European Parliament that the country’s coronavirus lockdown rules are illegal. are Jose Ortega believes the rules - which more draconian than other European and countries, such as Germany, the UK Italy - are an infringement of civil liberties. a letThe Valencia-based lawyer has sent ter to the Human Rights sub-committee movedemanding that the basic right of to the ment is added as a modification current state of alarm decree.

“The government has illegally introduced of a very dangerous and disturbing system could suspension of individual rights that be described as a de facto transitional

Lawyer appeals to EU over ‘illegal’ lockdown claims that infringe civil rights and make Spain a ‘de facto dictatorship’

and (above) street cleaners

taking no precautions in Andalucia

Getting you through

plenty Easter may be off, but there is still to look forward to in April, including...

Property tips from real estate expert Amanda Butler see p4

By Dilip Kuner

is dictatorship,” insisted Ortega, whonew best known for his work opposing coastal laws.

LoThe letter received by MEP Leopoldo fopez, who sits on the sub-committee, the cuses on the restrictions to travel and right to basic ‘outdoor activity’, where virus risks of catching or passing on the are low. right “It is an effective suspension of the to free movement,” insisted Ortega.

to the

Lessons from history.

What Spanish flu can teach us about COVID-19

Cooking up a storm in lockdown see p11

Gibraltar Issue 120 for Spanish residents

www.globelink.co.uk

see p14

Terenia Taras Telling it like it is

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Vol. 5, Issue 120 www.theolivepress.es April 15th - April 28th, 2020

SEMANedA SANTA

shutdown in Spain with only

cleaners like this out on the

SHINING LIGHT

By John Culatto

streets working, see report on

Photos by Jon Clarke

ell anc C2020

CLOSED: Easter was a total

page 10

Gibraltar’s

coronavirus restrictions that these measures should not last a minute longer THE success of Gibraltar’s set an example for Europe and Spain than necessary,” said Chief lockdown has been an exMinister Fabian Picardo. ample to the world with cas- recovered from COVID-19 virus in on the same date as three el- suspectedGibraltar, with one “That is why, in Cabinet, we es at an all-time low. casualty later be- are already seeking Despite predictions of a big derly people at the Hillside ing confirmed to have been on appropriate exit to work peak in the middle of this home came close to being negative stratefor coronavirus. gies to lift the restrictions month, there were only 36 declared recovered.

On going active cases on April 13, These figures were tak- down wasto press the lock- imposed as soon as possien from more than 1,500 ministers still active, with ble.” This week could prove with only one in hospital. suggesting that it a turning In contrast, 93 people had COVID-19 test results re- would continue until medi- continue point if figures ceived, with nearly 100 still cal advice suggested other- recovery to show signs of although there are to be processed. wise. fears relaxing restrictions The peak of active “Believe me when I tell you could see a second wave of cases was reached I am committed to ensuring the disease. on April 9 with 63 ongoing at the time, although there were also 60 recovered.

There have been no deaths so far from the TWO locals

Lockdown crackdown

who escaped the lockdown in Gibraltar to go on a drunken spree have been stopped in their tracks by the long arm of the law.

Ian McIntosh, 42, and Lizanne Golt, 37, were arrested for allegedly obstructing police while drunk on Lime Kiln steps.

The RGP were called by residents in the area who said the pair were making too much noise.

When they refused to budge they were told they were breaking COVID-19 social lockdown rules and taken to New Mole House in handcuffs.

Costa Blanca Issue 28 The

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Vol. 2 Issue 28 www.theolivepress.es

Your expat

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April 16 - April 29, 2020

LET US OUT!

Lawyer appeals to EU over ‘illegal’ lockdown claims that infringe civil rights and make Spain a ‘de facto dictatorship’

a total whitewash particularly

A SPANISH lawyer has complained to the European ParBy Dilip Kuner liament that the country’s coronavirus lockdown rules fication to the current state of are illegal.

Jose Ortega believes the rules alarm decree.

- which are more draconian “The government has illegally than other European coun- introduced a very dangerous tries, such as Germany, the UK and disturbing system of susand Italy - are an infringement pension of individual rights that could be described as a of civil liberties.

The Valencia-based lawyer de facto transitional dictatorhas sent a letter to the Human ship,” insisted Ortega, who is Rights sub-committee de- best known for his work opmanding that the basic right of posing new coastal laws. movement is added as a modi- The letter received by MEP

with cleaners like this on our

Leopoldo Lopez, who sits on the sub-committee, focuses on the restrictions to travel and the right to basic ‘outdoor activity’, where risks of catching or passing on the virus are low.

“It is an effective suspension of the right to free movement,” insisted Ortega.

“It is a fundamental right of the individual contained in the European Convention on Human Rights and in other international human rights treaties

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WELL done Olive Press and heroic lawyer Jose Ortega for daring to break the taboo and state the obvious: “Lockdown makes Spain a de facto dictatorship” (in your front page story and his letter to the European Parliament.) .

Ortega’s courageous action is all-too predictably being almost completely ignored by the world’s media. is now not only an Orwellian poOf course Spain LEAVERS: Trio ip - it’s also a notoriously and ctatorsh state/di lice of Brits in Spain dictatorship and arguably a systemically corrupt locked-down lunatic asylum ruled largely by clowns and hypocrites, who - to prove it - have ruled that cigarettes are ‘life-essential’ and therefore exempted tobacconists from the lockdown.

Paul G, Alicante

We all need air

Readers react to the Government to letting people out for exercise

Please Ped Come on Pedro, we all need to get out and have a walk. The over-50s are in need of some type of daily exercise. Please, just an hour, we promise we will keep our distance, we are going stir-crazy. We are going to crack if we are indoors much longer. Just a stroll, that’s all we are asking for. Please.

Stephen Kim Raymond, Marbella

Muppet show What an absolute joke, what muppets for even suggesting that children could only go out to accompany adults to supermarkets etc. Surely a simple walk around the block away from everyone is more beneficial and safer for everyone?

Tom Batley, Santa Catalina

Welcome return to life As a photojournalist, I got to see a lot of the empty streets and worried looks on everyone’s faces these past weeks. So it was a true pleasure to see life return to our streets and beaches. The sound of the children’s laughter and happy faces was a welcome, heart-warming change. As the parks are opening their gates and we are allowed to exercise outside, hope is in the crisp, clean air. I will try to remain hopeful that sometime soon, there will be at least some useful semblance of financial support to Autonomos. For now we have effectively been left out in the cold. And we can’t live on clean air alone.

Allan Binderup, Palma

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HOUSE RULES

ANXIOUS expats breathed a sigh of relief this week after Parliament voted to wrestle back control of the Brexit process in yet another humiliation for Theresa May. The fresh blow for the British me Minister has put the future Priof a million expats in Europe firmly into the hands of MPs, who are expected to vote against a hard Brexit.

It comes after thousands of expats joined a million marchers at a mas-

What drove this expat to cut off his member?

Page 7

Celebrating the end of the Spanish Civil War Page 14

Costa Blanca home is voted best in Europe Page 20

Olive Press reviews Madrid’s hot new hotel Page 26

PROTEST: Puns, pets and expats were all in attendance at the antiBrexit march in London at the weekend

Continues on Page 4

Border battle as nuisance neighbour forced to cut down intrusive cypress trees

EXCLUSIVE

By Joshua Parfitt

AN expat is celebrating after his nuisance neighbour was told to trim a row of ‘intrusive’ trees, following an Olive Press probe.

American expat Gordon Capps, 59, is overjoyed after police confirmed they had ordered his Portuguese neighbour to cut the line of cypress trees to just 1.5 metres in height.

Capps had sought our help after the ‘disturbed’ 30-something neighbour planted a dozen trees alongside his garden fence, threatening to block his stunning views of the Sierra de Bernia y Ferrer.

The 59-year-old film worker said the move was the ‘last straw’ in a bizarre ongoing feud with the neighbour, who he claims recently approa- CONCERNED: Capps points at home of his ‘threatening’ ched him with a rifle on his and armed neighbour who worked as a prop master shoulder. everything about it, except Benissa last March with his “It feels like he’s putting up 12 for CSI Las Vegas, told the that one thing.”

French wife Catherine, a retimiddle fingers at us,” Gordon, Olive Press.

“We love this place, we love Capps, from Los Angeles, red yoga teacher. bought his stunning villa in But things quickly began to

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sive anti-Brexit protest in London at the weekend.

“It was great to be there making history I hope,” said Sue Wilson of Bremain in Spain.

“It is not the first time we have ted with our feet, but it was our voggest ever march contingent,” bishe added.

“It was a sign of commitment that so

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SEMANedA ell SANTA anc C2020

CARRIED AWAY: Easter was

LETTERS

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Masking the pain

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Not effective

It is Spain’s second major blunder after 640,000 rapid coronavirus tests were also found to be faulty last month.

Manufacturer Garry Galaxy Biotechnology does sell the required FFP2 protective masks, but also sells ‘ordinary’ ones that are not effective against viruses.

It is not clear what exactly the Ministry of THE Spanish government has sets the Health intended to purchase. maximum price for surgical masks at 96 Fact-checking website Maldita.es pressed cents.

Maria Jesus Montero, Spain’s Minister of The Minister of Health recommends Finance, on when the contract with Garry their use for public transport and for Galaxy would be made public. work reasons or where the minimum rec- The Minister said her government would ommended distance of two metres can- abide by the rules, but could not name a not be ensured. date when the press can scrutinise the govIt is not compulsory to wear one. ernment’s decision.

Hola and Hallelujah!

Mallorca Issue 78 FREE

ing positive for coronavirus.

The emergency services received a call from medics at a healthcare clinic in Palma, notifying them that a patient had made a run for it after receiving the diagnosis.

Protesting in the centre’s garden, several doctors had tried to persuade the man to come back inside to be transferred to a hospital – an offer that was refused. He has now been transferred to Son Espases Hospital where he has been placed in an isolation unit under police guard in order to receive treatment.

Mancha, Catalunya, Aragon, Galicia and Navarra.

Murcia has taken the most drastic measures by forcing more than 1,100 of its medical workers to self-isolate, while other regions have committed to test everyone who used the masks and move them away from intensive care units (UCIs).

Alarm bells were raised after up to 400,000 masks were sent to regional hospitals on April 7.

Analysis from Spain’s Institute of Work Safety and Hygiene – under the Ministry of Labour – revealed some of the Garry Galaxy-brand masks allowed in penetrative material at levels five times higher than EU regulations.

Official recall was due by April 18, last Friday.

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go awry with his neighbours, who he insists refused to be friendly ‘from the outset’.

Capps, who trained as a paramedic, claims the neighbour’s four dogs barked continually and their owner hid inside the house whenever approached.

Despite calling in the Guardia Civil to investigate and contacting the mayor of Benissa for help, he said the neighbour refused to negotiate a compromise.

A letter to the town hall, seen by the Olive Press, pleaded for help, insisting the man was deliberately threatening them and that he carried a gun.

Gun

As well as asking the town hall to check if he had a licence for the rifle, the September 2018 missive asked if local police could speak to him about his dogs.

Capps claimed he was ‘worried for his life’ and that the neighbour appeared to have ‘mental health issues’.

Another neighbour, Spaniard Jaime Serra Ortola, 43, has also denounced the neighbour for ‘death threats’ against him and his dog.

“I’ve denounced him countless times and the police have twice been round. It’s fair to say he is unhinged,” he told the Olive Press.

The feud began when Capps put up a low bamboo fence to create some privacy from the neighbour who spied on him while swimming, and then reacted furiously, screaming ‘this is war!’

Capps now fears the trees will not only block his view, but the roots could destroy his pool. The Olive Press was unable to speak to the neighbour, despite various visits.

Has anything piqued your interest in this week’s Olive Press? Have your say on the matter by emailing letters@ theolivepress.es or message us on at www.facebook.com/OlivePressNewspaper or Twitter @olivepress

May 1st - May 14th

It’s coming NASA has announced that a huge asteroid narrowly avoided hitting the Earth on April 29, at around 10.56 am, Spanish time.

Well, it actually zipped past at around five million kms away, the space agency’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies announced this week.

It was only last month that it revealed that it had spotted two asteroids, called 1998 OH and the 1998 ORD2, which have a trajectory ‘close to earth’.

Both are classified as ‘Potentially Dangerous Objects’ as they are large enough to cause dramatic global effects, if they hit the earth.

Hottest year on record IT will come as no surprise to anyone who lives in Spain.

2019 was the warmest year in Europe’s history and hotter than 2014, 2015 and 2018, showing the upward trend in recent years.

Since 2000, we have experienced 11 of the 12 warmest years on record.

Last year we had two heat waves, in June and July, which contributed to increased drought and low soil water levels. In Europe the average temperature has risen by 2 degrees since the 19th century.

Daylight robbery I see the government has stopped me working and closed my business, but has STILL taken my full autonomo payment from my bank, along with everyone else I know who is selfemployed. It’s robbery, pure and simple. Something needs to be done as it’s just not right.

You can’t prevent people from earning a living and then just take their self-employment payment, it’s just WRONG! Martin Whyte, Alcudia

Selfish and stupid One of our daughters was due to marry in Mallorca this June and that was sensibly cancelled and will be deferred probably for a year at least. I called the small hotel and its owner, a very pleasant and realistic guy. He said: “Don’t book until next year, we won’t be opening this year” and also mentioned how some bars/restaurants were stupidly trying to sell drinks outside to make money. That is very selfish and stupid, and risks making the Mallorcan lockdown last much longer than expected, further impacting on business all over the island.

T Wells, London

Real world It is disturbing to realise that those living in Mallorca believe restricting their impulsive cafe, bar and ‘club’ habits are more ‘devastating’ to their apparently fragile emotional and physical well-being than a highly contagious and deadly virus. These thoughtless protestors offer further evidence that 14-year-olds should not be allowed out without mature chaperones. Nor their parents for that matter.

Chas, Portals Nous

LA CULTURA

Rotten tomatoes THE world’s biggest tomato festival, Tomatina, is the latest of Spain’s iconic festivals to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

First fell the Fallas of Valencia, then Sevilla’s sensational Semana Santa, then Pamplona’s San Fermin bull-running events.

Tomatina, which always falls on the last Wednesday of August, in Buñol, announced the suspension over ‘safety and responsibility’ concerns.

It is a blow to cancel the festival, which was in its 75th anniversary.

The Tomatina has only been suspended once, in 1957, for political reasons.

In 2015, it was estimated that almost 145,000kg of tomatoes were thrown.

Glory for Gamel

May 1st - May 14th

9

Full works of expat poet Gamel Woolsey set to be released

SHE is one of Spain’s most distinguished expats.

Buried in Malaga’s celebrated English Cemetery, she wrote widely about the country and was known around the world.

Now, the first complete works of her poetry are set to be released.

In perfect timing for the end of the lockdown the Complete Poetic Work of Gamel Woolsey will showcase the many poems she wrote about Andalucia, where she lived for many years.

American Woolsey, from South Carolina, lived with and married fellow expat Gerald Brenan, who is credited with writing some of the key 20th century books on Spain.

She and the Englishman lived in Churriana, near Malaga, in a home that is now a museum to Brenan’s life and works.

The news was announced on World Book Day by the Re-

By Charlie Smith

naissance publishing house that is based out of the Gerald Brenan House.

The collection of the writer’s poems have been translated by long-time expat Carlos Pranger, who is related to Brenan.

Woolsey also penned several acclaimed books, including Death’s Other Kingdom, which was reissued as Malaga Burning, and One Way of Love, which was initially rejected for being ‘too explicit’.

She lived in Andalucia on and off for decades, before dying from cancer in 1968 in the home La Reina de los Ángeles, which was falling into dereliction before the Olive Press launched a campaign to save it in 2007.

In 2014 it finally reopened as a museum and has since hosted

Woody from the trees!

HE is one of the world’s most prolific - and controversial - directors.

Now Woody Allen’s latest movie about Spain is to get an Autumn release.

Set in the Basque region, Rifkin’s Festival centres on a husband and wife’s individual love affairs at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

The movie, starring Elena Anaya, Louis Garrel and Gina Gershon, was made last year.

It comes as Allen recently denied again that he had molested his daughter Dylan Farrow, 34.

He wrote about it in his autobiography Apropos of Nothing, published in March.

In the Nick of time!

IT was set to be one of the most exciting tours of Spain this year.

But now a mini tour of the country and nearby Portugal by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds has been rescheduled for the same time next year.

The Australian/British legends - famous for the theme tune to smash UK drama Peaky Blinders - will be performing in Madrid and Barcelona in May 2021.

All original tickets will remain valid, with additional tickets also on sale.

“When we finally do the shows they will be f***ing mind-blowing,” Cave promised.

T? U O D N DO I STA

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hundreds of conferences, gigs, film screenings and book clubs.

The couple had first moved in in 1934 two years before the Spanish Civil War. They were forced to leave the country for over a decade to return in 1953 against a backdrop of Francoism and great poverty and strife.

Over the years it became a cultural mecca for writers including Ernest Hemingway, Paul Bowles and Bertrand Russell.

Brenan spent most of his life in Spain after first renting a house in the tiny village of Yegen in the Alpujarras region of Granada.

His critically acclaimed account of the Civil War was published in the seminal book, The Spanish Labyrinth.

Net gains

LEGENDS: Cultural partners Gamel Woolsey (top) and Gerald Brenan (left) chronicled 20th century Spain NETFLIX has added 16 million new users during the coronavirus crisis.

The streaming platform had its biggest three month gain in its 13-year history, with shares also soaring by a staggering 31%.

The profits recorded during this

period are €653 million, more than double that in the same period last year.

It is thought to be the media company least impacted by COVID-19, with the business model perfectly set for a population made suddenly housebound.

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PROPERTY

10

May 1st - May 14th

House sales boom Well to February at least the market was really picking up

HOUSE sales in Andalucia increased by 8% in February, compared to the same month last year.

By Dimitris Kouimtsidis

That’s the third highest rise in Spain, behind Aragon which

was at 12.7% and the Balearic Islands which was at 8.2%.

In Spain as a whole however, the increase was only 0.1%.

Bubble trouble

A WAREHOUSE worker in Zaragoza has been rescued after a fire suppression system went off, releasing a five-metre tidal wave of foam.

Fire crews rushed to the scene when no sign of the man could be seen among the bubbles, which swept through the warehouse and out into the street.

Emergency services were alerted at about 4am, but on arrival found it impossible to locate the man. Fortu-

nately the victim had managed to escape from the foam and find a sheltered spot until they reached him.

He was then taken to hospital for a precautionary check up. It is unknown what triggered the fire suppression system.

Concrete gains

Property is a safe house for investors during crisis, writes Adam Neale

OP QUICK Crossword 1

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All solutions are on page 11

A

S financial analysts and market experts debate what shape the postcoronavirus economic recovery may follow, drawing on letters like V, U and W to trace possible trajectories over the coming months and years, there’s one letter pundits are missing from their alphabets: P for property.

Stocks, unit trusts and long-term bonds have traditionally accounted for the lion’s share of many personal investment strategies, attracting the hard-earned savings of most people planning for the future, however uncertain that may be. But savvy investors know the best way to protect a portfolio is to diversify risk, just in case the unthinkable happens.

As COVID-19 is showing, that can occur all too fast. The spread of the pandemic has seen international stock markets suffer knock-on symptoms, with heavy losses sustained by indexes and individual investors.

Property markets have also been affected, as some, including Spain, have been forced to stop doing business for now. But a number of key differences between shares and real estate make the latter a much safer bet over time.

Making the most of leverage While it is hard to find financial institutions willing to let you borrow money to buy shares, you can usually purchase property without personally having most of the asking price in your account. Just ask your bank. Mortgages allow those eligible to finance up to 80% of the cost of a property against its residual value and pay off the interest and outstanding capital over a longer term at historically low interest rates. If you mortgage a property for use as a primary residence or holiday home, you’ll gradually pay off the amount lent and will eventually own your home outright. And if you finance the purchase of investment properties via mortgages, you’ll have the benefit of tenants making payments against

According to data published last week by the Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas (INE), in February, 8,882 home sales were recorded in Spain’s southernmost region.

That put Andalucia second, only behind Valencia as the region with the most sold homes per 100,000 inhabitants.

Throughout the country nationwide, 44,104 houses were sold, of which 35,220 were second hand and 8,784 were new builds.

When it comes down to plots of land (fincas), 34,003 were sold in Andalucia, 10.3% more than February 2019.

In Spain as a whole, that number was 191,497, an increase of 2.3% more farms sold than last year. Meanwhile, there were 35,320 resales across the country, a rise of 1%.

The region with the most foreign buyers was the Canary Islands, with sales up 68%, while Malaga was just above 0% and the Costa Blanca and Barcelona were down 11%.

The Property Insider

by Adam Neale

your loans before ownership, and income, reverts to you.

Hedging against inflation Once the worst of the coronavirus pandemic has passed and economies around the world start to recover, some analysts are forecasting that inflation could spike as, amongst other reasons, rising demand from consumers drives up prices. Bonds are seen as being most at risk from inflationary trends, as the promise of security often obscures low guaranteed returns, impacting investors’ purchasing power over time. Real estate, on the other hand, has proven to be a solid hedge against inflation. Property that provides income from renting can be pegged to market rates so, as rental prices rise, your income follows suit. At the same time, while property values do fluctuate in shortterm cycles, in the longer term, investments in bricks and mortar tend to be worth more than even the best-performing stocks over time.

The real value of real estate Unlike shares and bonds, a property exists in the real world.

That means you can enjoy it personally – as a place to live full-time or spend your holidays and leisure time – or rent it to other people for their use. Either way, you get a guaranteed return from your investment.

And the longer you hold on to it, the more you’re likely to see it appreciate in value. If you’re lucky enough to own a home in Mallorca, Javea, or Marbella, you already know how rewarding an investment in property can be here, in the long-term as well as every day you spend in the sun. If you’re interested in adding real estate to your investment portfolio, contact us for more information.

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FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL

Recently arrived culinary expats give us their latest installment in their castaway cooking collection

F

Having arrived in Spain with nothing but hand luggage five days before the State of Alarm, we moved into our house exactly 12 hours before the lockdown was imposed. This left us with one very brief shopping trip to a Chinese bazaar to purchase everything we needed from pots and pans to bath towels and bedsheets. Hence we have very little in the way of kitchen utensils so have a new

found appreciation for one pot wonders such as this simple Jambalaya.

Originated in the French quarter of New Orleans by Spanish sailors wanting to recreate paella; without access to saffron they used tomatoes supplied by the Italian community. This however is a Cajun Jambalaya hailing from the swamplands of Louisiana and as such it leaves out the tomatoes which

By Yianni and Sophie

Ingredients: ●● 2 tbsp olive oil ●● 3 garlic cloves, whole with skins on ●● 5 large bay leaves ●● 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper ●● 120g longaniza or other smokey sausage, sliced ●● 1 stick of celery, diced ●● 1 onion, diced ●● 2 long thin green peppers, one roughly chopped, one diced ●● 225g long grain rice ●● 750ml chicken stock ●● 1 dash of chilli sauce (optional) ●● Salt and black pepper to taste ●● 50g frozen peas

Method:

nary showdown.

To continue their new series of quarantine recipes for the Olive Press, the pair explore the curious Spanish origins of Jambalaya. Stay tuned for more and check out their blog @nice. olation on Instagram.

Sausage Jambalaya

11

Castaway cooking

Serves 2-3

Put some bang in your banger

OR the last few weeks they have been holed up in Granada following a coronavirus travel nightmare (Into the frying pan, Issue 340, March 16). But now British couple Yianni Papoutsis, 44 and Sophie O’Hara, 26, have turned lockdown into a culi-

May 1st - May 14th

appear in the Creole versions from New Orleans. Please feel free to add some if you’re in a tomatoey mood.

Rice, (ideally long grain), is rice simmered in stock with a few simple spices, a variety of meats and vegetables. It almost always uses some kind of smoked sausage and the backbone of the flavour comes from the ‘holy trinity’ of Cajan cooking: onions, celery and green peppers. You can serve it dry like a paella or add more liquid to make it a soupy stew.

Step 1 Rinse the rice in cold water until the water runs clear then leave to soak in fresh water for at least twenty minutes, up to four hours.

Step 2 Fry the garlic cloves, bay leaves, black pepper and sausage in the oil in a wide frying pan over a medium heat. Brown the sausages remove and set aside.

Step 3 Fry the the peppers, onions and celery until they are a deep golden brown.

Step 4 Drain the rice and add to the pan. Stir until it is all coated in the oil (about one minute).

Step 5 Add the stock together with the chilli sauce (if using) and cooked sausage.

The liquid should just cover everything in the pan, if it doesn’t top it up with more stock, water (or chopped tomatoes for a Creole style Jambalaya).

Stir to combine, add salt and pepper to taste, bring to a boil then turn the heat down low and simmer uncovered for fifteen minutes until almost all of the liquid has disappeared.

Step 6 Sprinkle the peas over the top, straight from the freezer, do not stir it. Cover with a tight fitting lid and leave off the heat for ten to twenty minutes to allow the rice to fluff up. Serve with cold beer, crusty bread and whilst singing ‘Jambalaya’ to the tune Bamboléo by the Gypsy Kings.

We’RE Getting ready for business Restaurateurs and hoteliers are getting creative for COVID-free dining, writes Joshua Parfitt

I

T could be just like having your own private dining room.

A perspex partition surrounding your table for two - bringing total privacy - while a waiter in a N-95 mask serves you with aplomb in white plastic gloves.

It is a small price to pay for the millions of diners, who head out to Spain’s restaurants, cafes and bars each week.

Restaurateurs around Spain are looking at ingenious ways to ensure that diners will be able to eat safely when they are finally allowed to open this season.

It comes as the government has taken tentative steps towards normality with the lockdown being relaxed this week and regional authorities, such as the Junta de Andalucia, looking to allow restaurants to open before the end of May. Despite Spain’s Employment Minister Yolanda Diaz, hinting a fortnight ago that the hospitality and tourism sectors might not open until the end of 2020, many regional authorities are insisting they will ensure this is not the case.

After all, it would be a massive blow for the country’s estimated 300,000 establishments, which are currently locked tight, leaving 1.7 million out of work.

The knock on effect for the economy is huge, with the restaurant sector generating €124 billion a year… or approximately 6.2% of the Spanish economy.

Here are a few ideas and proposals:

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS A Madrid restaurant El Viejo Cafe has already put up custom-built screens (right) designed to protect customers.

“We are trying out several ideas, but obviously they are mere proposals at present as the Ministry of Health will have to approve them,” owner Enrique Abanades, 59, revealed.

He believes while costly, the construction could be easily sponsored by large breweries, with their logos on, as they have with branded parasols, serviettes and beer mats. “We are going through difficult times and the future is not bright, but what we are trying to do is get ahead,” added Abanades, who is also the president of the Leganes hospitality association.

CERTIFICATE OF SAFETY

Jose Luis Yzuel, president of the Hosteleria de Espana association, has other ideas.

His association, which represents 270,000 businesses, has plans for a ‘certificate’ to reassure customers of an establishment’s safety and to ensure tables are kept over two metres apart. Requirements could include ‘thermal cameras’ to screen customers and prevent access to anyone suspected of having a fever, as well as distribution of disinfecting gels, deep-cleaning and mandatory testing of staff. Yzuel added the use of ozone in air conditioning – to kill any airborne viruses – could also be part of the plans.

OP Puzzle solutions Across: 1 Sunset, 6 Oslo, 8 Saved, 9 Paella, 10 Debt, 11 Rural, 12 Aden, 13 Yelp, 14 Crimea, 16 Due, 17 Asp, 19 Balsam, 20 Lull, 23 Ante, 24 Amiss, 26 Eton, 27 Pigged, 28 Kenya, 29 Levy, 30 Remind Down: 2 Unaided, 3 Silence, 4 Tsar, 5 Overseas, 6 Oddly, 7 Libel, 15 Italians, 17 Amalgam, 18 Pattern, 21 Untie, 22 Lanky, 25 Spar

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‘NEW NORMAL’: Plexiglass screens, as seen here at a Madrid restaurant could be future of dining

HOTELS: QUARANTINE IN PARADISE “We want to be the safest hotel in all of Spain,” said Javier Perez Jimenez, the managing director of the VP chain, which includes five-star hotel Plaza Espana Design.

He plans to carry out rapid coronavirus tests on every single customer, which may take place in a makeshift clinic ‘on the ground floor’ or in ‘an ambulance outside’.

If a guest is healthy, they will proceed to reception and receive a welcome pack with personal protection equipment: gloves, face

mask and hand sanitiser gel.

All remote controls will be covered in plastic, and every corner of the room will have dispensers with disinfectant.

Breakfast meanwhile, will be brought in a picnic basket with fruit and yogurt.

Waiters will have to use steam cleaners in between meals.

“We are going to use dispensers as though it were the end of the world. But it will not be the end,” he promised.

FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL Spice up your life 12

May 1st - May 14th

These essential Spanish seasonings will quash your hunger for your favourite British condiments during lockdown

Pimentón (Paprika) it might not be worth it’s weight in gold, but is a rockstar found in Spanish food all the same. It’s what makes chorizo red and what gives the famed Galician octopus dish its characteristic smokey tinge.

Report by

Cristina Hodgson Azafrán

(Saffron) is the world’s most expensive spice and one of the most characteristic in the Spanish cuisine. Nicknamed ‘oro rojo,’ red gold. Cultivating saffron is an extremely labour-intensive crop.

The weight of the spice is worth more than gold. Think of that next time you eat a paella and I can guarantee you will not want to put any Worcester Sauce near it.

M

ISSING your English Mustard, Branston Pickle and a dollop of HP Sauce on your

ibly diverse.

With countless peculiarities in the Spanish menu, surprise yourself by finding your new favourite sauce or plate? realise that, in fact, you Personally, I love a bit of brown have no need for ghastsauce (even though I’m a vege- ly– or fancy, dependtarian). But be warned, you will ing on your the level of not find this much renowned amor patriae– sauces.

British condiment anywhere in Condiments in any cuiinland Spain. sine gives a unique perDon’t even ask for it, no one sonality to each dish. will know what on earth you’re In Mediterranean tertalking about. rain it couldn’t be any But the local other way: shopkeepSaffron, ers, in their Paprika, Spain has willingness to Cayenne 206 Michelin help, will go Pepper and through all Garlic to restaurants, the items in name but a the shop to few. including 11 see if they do By using three-stars indeed stock the freshthis magical est possible condiment, produce, and you will NOT be able to fish, meats and cheesleave until they’ve finished. es, basic ingredients On the coast, some supermar- are left to shine in kets stock HP Sauce, but at Spanish cuisine, needexorbitant prices. ing only a pinch of salt You’ve come to a foreign coun- or just one or two spices for try, why on earth stick to fish seasoning. and chips, mash and green Making the English Mustard peas – or the stuff you put on sometimes referred to as ‘the them? most patriotic of all British The Spanish cuisine is incred- sauces’ seem insignificant

and insepid in comparison.

The simplest of compounds, salt, is however the most paramount to Spanish cuisine.

Where would Spain’s gastronomy and tapas be without their hugely popular cured meats, such as Jamon?

A Spanish chef would rather have his or her child nicknamed ‘feo’ than hear the word ‘sosa’ meaning bland, regarding his culinary arts.

And you would be hard-pressed to find a Spanish recipe that does not have salt in it, but mixed with other natural ingredients such as vegetables, whole grains, olive oil, nuts, fish, eggs, poultry, pulses and meat, the nosh will always be healthy.

But the true joy comes to those hard-

Pimienta de Cayena

(Cayenne Pepper), the smaller the spicier, these sun-dried peppers are incorporated in many local dishes, including the popular ‘pil-pil prawns’ served in a mouthwatering oil, garlic and cayenne pepper sauce. Some die-hard fans of cayenne pepper refer to it as not only a condiment, but a ‘philosophy of life.’ core garlic fans, you will find garlic in every other dish prepared in Spain.

Why bother with horseradish sauce, when you can have a totally natural flavouring which brings out the flavour with a bang to the blandest of foods.

Garlic in Spain is enjoyed in many forms: fried and crunchy with oil, lemon and salt as a salad dressing; spread on bread with some olive oil and is an essential ingredient in many cold

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summer soups like gazpacho, salamorejo, ajoblanco or alioli.

Not that the latter is a soup, rather a thick garlic sauce.

Best NOT to slurp it up, especially if you’re out on the pull.

For those exceptionally brave, or with a fixation on vampires, there is also raw, pickled or smoked garlic.

Spices aside, I best warn of a peculiar beverage that might throw an unsuspecting tourist and even now after over a decade of living in Spain I’m not sure if I like it or not.

Chufa horchata, a plant milk beverage, originating as far back as the 13th-century Valencia, made with soaked, ground, and sweetened tiger nuts usually served with ice.

We promote you on our hugely popu lar Facebook page with 23,000 likes and as many followers

We give you more!

If rice pudding does it for you, be ready to be seduced by this milk beverage that is sweet and creamy, with a smooth texture.

Thankfully Churros make up for the oddity of the foremost ‘desert.’ and you don’t even need to feel bad about consuming so many calories at one go.

As they say, ‘A churro is only a breadstick that dared to dream...’

However Spanish chefs must be doing something right, Spain has 206 Michelin restaurants, including 11 threestar restaurants.

There is a Michelin restaurant in nearly every region and major city of Spain.

When you take out an advertising campaign with the Olive Press, you get a lot more than just the printed newspaper

THE Bank of Spain has estimated that the economy will shrink by up to 14% this year.

The bank claims the economy has shrunk by 4.7% already up to the end of March.

The best case scenario would be a drop of 6.6%, while the worst case scenario could see figures as high as 14%.

That means that there won’t be the perfect rebound – called ‘recovery’ in a V shape – as many

BUSINESS

May 1st - May 14th

No rebound Economy set to shrink by up to 14% this year as unemployment set to rise by 20% pundits had predicted.

Despite initial predictions the economy would recover to the

state it was before the pandemic, it is now thought that the crisis will leave considerable debt and

unemployment levels will soar.

It is believed that unemployment levels will rise between 18% and 22%, without including the workers that have been put on ERTE schemes.

The bank led by Governor Pablo Hernandez de Cos, recIT is as heart-warming as it is clever. ognises that there Jewellery firm TOUS is giving all women is great uncertainty who have given birth during the COVID and admits that circrisis a free gift. cumstances may The Spanish firm has come up with a specause the numbers cial line of gifts which it will hand out to to change. all mums, who have recently given birth.

Some 80% of comIn honour of Mother’s Day, on May 3, the panies around Spain firm made a video starring real women have seen a reducwho have given birth in recent weeks. tion in business, This year marks 100 years since TOUS while only 10% have was founded. seen an increase.

Gem of an idea

13

Take them back SPAIN’S High Court has ordered Ryanair to reinstate 224 members of staff it sacked across Spain.

Judges said the Dublin-based company’s reason for the redundancies – that it was closing four bases – was ‘not good enough’.

Michael O’Leary’s budget airline has been told it needs to reinstate workers ‘in the same working conditions’ with ‘immediate payment of wages not received.’

The travel giant has told its lawyers to launch an appeal.

It comes after the low-cost operator axed its bases at Tenerife, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Girona on January 8 this year.

Ryanair fired workers at these regional sites, although it U-turned in Girona and was accused of ‘pressuring’ employees there to accept pay cuts of up to 25% on new contracts.

The layoffs were in response to the grounding of Boeing 737 MAX planes in the wake of an Ethiopian plane crash, which claimed the lives of 157 people.

In court Ryanair lawyers failed to convince judges that a combination of the Boeing situation and Brexit was enough to get rid of staff.

Liberty Seguros supports the NGO Doctors Without Borders in their work against COVID-19 in Europe, especially in support of the elderly, migrants and homeless people The company has made a donation to Doctors Without Borders to support its professionals who are responding in Europe to the medical needs generated by the pandemic and its consequences. ► Doctors Without Borders provides pandemic management solutions in different crisis committees, such as designing external hospitalisation units to help reduce the hospitals’ congestions.

In other European countries, Doctors Without Borders has focused its efforts on those places where the epidemic is hitting hard, with the most virulence, and among the most vulnerable social groups: the elderly, homeless and immigrants. In this way, its work strategy includes three areas: technical and strategic support and advice to hospitals and health centres; advisory work, training and support in nursing homes and support for vulnerable groups such as the homeless and migrants.

► Doctors Without Borders has focused its efforts on those places where the epidemic is hitting harder and on the most vulnerable social groups: elderly, homeless, and immigrants.

In Spain, their response has focused on advice and support when preparing intervention and decongestion plans of health care structures, thanks to a highly experienced group of professionals.

Liberty is a company that is committed to society and aware of the importance of the support from private companies to the organisations that are leading the management of the COVID-19 health emergency and its consequences. For that reason, the insurer has made various donations to entities operating in Spain, Portugal, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, where it carries out its business operations in Europe.

To this day, Doctors Without Borders in Spain has participated in the evaluation of the response in around 12 hospitals, collaborated in the creation of 22 hospital extensions, which are allowing to decongest emergencies and intensive care rooms, and also facilitating the delivery of medical materials and logistical resources.

Thus, it has donated 250,000 euros to the NGO Doctors Without Borders, with the aim of supporting professionals who are responding in Europe to medical needs. generated by this pandemic, which has mainly hit Italy and Spain and affected 100 other countries throughout the world.

“At Liberty, we want people feel safe. Therefore, as a socially responsible company, we believe that it is our obligation to make an effort to support the professionals who are working day by day to protect people and helping to stop this crisis. We also want to thank them for everything they are doing for our employees, clients, mediators and partners, for our families and for our society at large”, explains Tom McIlduff, CEO of Liberty in Europe.

In addition, with the aim of maximizing their response capacity and reaching the maximum number of health professionals, sociohealth workers, cleaning personnel, structure managers and other professionals, Doctors Without Borders in Spain has developed some tools such as guides, protocols and audiovisual content, which are accessible on a specific website for professionals.

This disease seriously affects the elderly.

Thus, a large part of the efforts of Doctors Without Borders have focused on this vulnerable group and on supporting nursing homes.

So far, more than 100 nursing homes in Spain have already been advised, and they continue to work to reach many more. In Portugal, Doctor Without Borders teams have started to visit nursing homes and supporting authorities and management teams to train staff and establish basic hygiene and prevention of transmission measures. In Italy, they support

To find the location of your nearest broker/agent, please visit www.libertyexpatriates.es. or simply call 91 342 25 49

a network of nursing homes in various cities, to prevent the spread of affected cases.

In France and Belgium, Doctors Without Borders is focused on helping migrants and homeless people. Thus, its teams have been pulled out in some of the emergency shelters established to accommodate people living on the streets during the confinement and in other collective accommodation facilities, providing medical support, assessing health status and identify possible COVID 19 cases.

They also attend general enquiries close to food distribution points, five days a week.

Other Liberty initiatives to support entities that protect people from COVID 19 in Europe In Spain, Liberty has made a donation of 50,000 euros to the Red Cross to help with sending medical supplies to medical professionals and hospital centres in the most affected regions, as well as delivering food and other basic necessities to those in need. It has also contributed by making a donation to the NGO Messengers of Peace, to help with

Easy for Easter

EASYJET has launched its Easter flight dates for next year, a full five months ahead of schedule.

Flights to Spain are on offer for as little as €35 each way for next April.

Alicante and Malaga are among the destinations offered as part of the low cost airline’s Easter deals in 2021.

Easyjet has put on 39,000 flights between March 28 and April 18.

Robert Carey, a spokesperson said: “We know many people’s Easter holiday plans have been disrupted this year.

“So we’ve taken the decision to put our Easter flights for 2021 on sale early so our customers can either book a new break

the distribution of food to soup kitchens for the elderly, and to the Foundation for the Promotion of Development and Integration (FDI).

This aid will go towards carrying out psychomotricity courses to help young people with disabilities – a group that is particularly vulnerable at this moment in time.

In Ireland, donations have also been made to Pieta House and Alone. These charities reach protected characteristic groups that are at specific risk of social exclusion, such as the elderly and people with mental health disorders.

Liberty Seguros has also ensured its help has reached Portugal with a donation to CASA (Centro de Apoio aos Sem Abrigo). CASA is delivering food to people in need in quarantined areas. Also, in our neighbouring country and thanks to another donation made by the insurance company to APAMETAL, 500 protection masks have been produced and delivered to health personnel at the Sao José Hospital in Lisbon.

or, if they are rearranging their travel plans.”

It coomes as English-language newspaper uploaded a story this week saying the budget airline ‘could go bust’ as ‘flights to the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca stay grounded.’

But after a quick call to easyJet, the Olive Press can confirm that is a long way off.

Liquidity

When asked if the story had any merit, a spokesperson simply told this paper: “No.” She added: “We have already said we have enough liquidity to endure even a prolonged grounding of nine months or longer.”

Meanwhile, a general meeting of shareholders has been called for May 22 to vote on founder and rebel shareholder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannous’s resolution to remove the current directors

and pull out of a plane supply deal with Airbus, which has been in place since 2002.

But easyJet says this could put the company at ‘significant financial and operational risk’ as it could bring a dragged out court case and wreck its relationship with a major global supplier.

Sir Stelios, who owns 35% of shares, only needs 50% of shares casting votes.

But his plan was also brought up at the previous shareholder vote and failed to gain traction.

CEO Johan Lundgren says easyJet has almost €3.5 billion in cash after raising capital and cutting costs by grounding fleets. The company says it could survive more than nine months with a grounded fleet.

Investors such as Invesco, Blackrock and Marathon will now be encouraged to counter Sir Stelios ahead of the vote, set to be cast online on May 20.

14

May 1st - May 14th

Med for your head

SPAIN’S Mediterranen diet can help keep your brain in gear, as well as your waistline in the clear, scientists have found.

Frequently lauded by health gurus for its mixture of seafood, vegetables, nuts and olive oil, the Med way of eating can help fight dementia.

A study in the Alzheimer’s and Dementia journal found that people who eat more fish have slower rates of decline in their cognitive functions.

Those with a higher genetic risk of Alzheimer’s, who are carriers of the APOE gene, were found to benefit from this diet, researchers found.

The study, authored by Dr Emily Chew from the National Eye Institute in Maryland, US, comprised two trials of almost 8,000 elderly volunteers.

Participants were sufferers of AMD, an ‘age-related eye condition’, and were tested for their consumption of grains, fish, olive oil and fruit and veg.

HEALTH Death sentence Spain’s high coronavirus death toll owes to its huge obesity problem, warns doctor A SPANISH scientist has warned that obesity could be behind Spain and Italy’s

high coronavirus mortality rates.

Francisco Tinahones, presi-

dent of the Spanish Society for the Study of Obesity (SEEDO), said this could be

The race is on

THE Oxford Vaccine Group has started human trials on its coronavirus vaccine, but Europe is still lagging behind overall.

The main research areas are the US (46% of ongoing projects), Asia (38%), while Australia and Europe are each conducting 18% of current studies.

In terms of cash flow, 72% of vaccine efforts are privately funded, while universities are bankrolling 28% of studies.

Oxford’s ongoing trials for its hAdOx1 nCoV-19 coronavirus vaccine are not set to finish until September.

It is being produced by the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, which produces 1.5 billion doses for various diseases every year.

Around 1,100 people are set to take part in this trial, which is partly funded by the British Government.

why some Meditteranean nations have fared worse than China or South Korea.

He said there was ‘some evidence’ to support this explanation of why COVID-19 claimed the lives of 23,521 in Spain yet less than 5,000 in the two Asian countries put together.

“There are several articles that already clearly show that subjects with obesity are more at risk of dying and needing intensive care, even more so in those who are morbidly obese” he said.

Morbidly obese coronavirus patients – those with a BMI of over 40 – are twice as likely to experience complications and be put on a ventilator as

Never give in!

D

AY 50 of cancer lockdown with my French partner and chef, Joffrey Charles, and the good news is I

am not starving. My oncology appointments have been postponed twice at Costa Del Sol Hospital, Marbella - last November

due to radiotherapy burns and again on April 15th, a casualty of the lockdown. But there is happiness to be found in small things.

There was an extensive search recently for Joffrey’s electric shaver and much joy when he found it lollygagging in the back of a cupboard. He left it lying precariously on top of a cotton bud container and my elbow sent it flying to the floor in pieces. I have learned a lot about my partner under lockdown and one of them is that his hair grows much faster than mine. I am just grateful to have any.

We have remote control wars in our household, I am a news junkie, he loves action movies, comedies and cookery shows.

Inspired

We have managed to compromise but, mon Dieu, after a twohour session with CNN, I discovered he is an ardent capitalist and I am a passionate centrist.

Debates rage heatedly at Casa de Joffrey y Lisa.

Talking about passion, I am keeping busy writing my semi-autobiographical novel, Dirty Burgess.

It’s my Irish nickname in reference to a much-loved Irish movie, The Snapper. I recently sent off the first three chapters, edited 25 times since January. It’s racy but not 50 Shades of Lisa - more Bridget Jones meets Samantha Jones with a touch of Love Story.

Hollywood hasn’t been on speed dial yet but I may be calling my friend and former work colleague there, Bobby Farrelly, who made Dumb & Dumber.

TEAM: Joffrey and Lisa

those who are are a ‘healthy weight’ – those whose BMI is between 19-25.

The risk of morbidly obese patients needing artificial assitance breathing is 86%, while it is 60% for obese people (those with a BMI of 30 or more) and 47% for people who are a ‘healthy weight’.

Tianhones stressed that obese people are likely to experience increased inflamation and have a ‘decreased lung capacity’, which make them more susceptible to COVID-19.

Around 25% of the Spanish population is overweight or obese, with 131,000 deaths attributed to the diseases every year.

Lisa Burgess

Lisa Burgess has been denied vital oncology appointments in COVID-19 lockdown but her chef partner’s kitchen skills have still put a smile on her face

Joffrey offered to help feed frontline workers in Mijas but due to my deficient bone marrow and weak immune system, he is not permitted. We shut down our catering and food delivery business in Mijas quickly due to coronavirus. So now he is offering to help cancer charities using his bi-lingual skills to comfort the French community. More Sky News and Spanish Congress for me, less Trainwreck and Rambo for him.

On the food and cleaning front, things are going swimmingly. I am not allowed in the kitchen or on the deep cleaning. Monsieur is the aficionado of both - no problemo Joffers. His budget cooking under lockdown has been a marvel. One night he rustled up stuffed pork steak with glazed carrots and made-from-scratch onion gravy. The remainder of the pork in the fridge was used the following night for a stir fry pork with noodles and vegetables.

Tonight is spaghetti Napolitano my favorite - with lashings of grated cheese. I could easily eat that three nights in a row. I learned much during my 8-month long chemotherapy last year about foods that boost your immune system so I incorporate 5 vegetables, nuts, or fruits into my diet every day. Joffrey has had to swap his Twix bar for mandarins, Cocacola for fruit smoothies, crisps for pistachio nuts and strawberries for M&M’s. He is allowed his donuts to maintain the entente cordiale. While Joffrey is watching France’s Top Professional Chef, I post a daily tribute to a person or couple I know on my Facebook page and end the night with an inspirational quote, just in case

there is someone up at 4 am feeling desperate. I have been there.

In a world where you can be anything, be kind. I repeat this nightly to myself while gazing longingly at a portrait of my darling departed Irish mother, Ann Burgess.

My biggest challenge this week has been a call to arms from a TV production company in the UK. They are working on a project about Andalucia before lockdown. The aim, when it airs to millions in the UK and Europe, is to attract national and international tourism to our region when the borders reopen. I am assisting for free in finding archive video footage of Andalucia so I have had the enormous task of finding drone pilots, bodegas, travel companies, tourist boards, and more. I have been hung up on a few times but it just made me persist more.

I celebrated with a fruity cava after receiving beautiful archive footage and joined my first, virgin Zoom party in Dulwich, London with my English friends. It was hilarious as we kept talking over each other. Two glasses in, I had

to be put on mute quickly - much like the Zoom UK cabinet! I am planning a Zoom pub quiz for this weekend. I am nominated as the first Magnus Magnusson about the USA so Joffrey beware!

We are also laying the foundations for another Joffrey’s restaurant on the Costa, someday over the rainbow. I know I have at least five operations ahead and I still don’t know if those cancer node buggers have got the better of me.

I am aiming to rise like the Phoenix from the golden ashes with a 20-year-old body, a 52-year-old mind, and a handsome 30-yearold affluent chef on my arm but patience is necessary. Joffrey and I are avidly watching the various projects globally in the race for a vaccine. You can guess France is his pick, mine is the UK’s Oxford University.

France’s Charles De Gaulle once said, ‘Faced with a crisis, the man of character falls back upon himself’ but I am more inspired by Winston Churchill’s rallying call during World War II: ‘Never give up, never give in’. We certainly will not, Sir!

COLUMNISTS

Ey up we’re still stuck

May 1st - May 14th

15

Terenia Taras Telling it like it is

From Monaco to Yorkshire, nothing compares to Mallorca, writes Terenia Taras, as she remains stranded in the UK

W

E’VE been back in the UK now since lockdown kicked in four weeks ago, but are desperate to get back to Mallorca.

We had only spent three weeks there before we had to come back to the UK, but despite the brief amount of time, it is our home!

We made the move to Mallorca after my partner relocated with his job and it was a dream for me as I’d always wanted to live in the sun. I had a brief taste of expat life after I moved to France when my son was four. I decided by the end of our one week holiday to Nice that I loved the way of life there so much, I just didn’t go back!

Despite the fact that I had no job, nowhere to live, was a single mum and didn’t speak French! That’s just the kind of spontaneous girl I am.

Within a week I’d found an apartment, enrolled my son in a playgroup and was job hunting. But there was the crux, it was very difficult to get a job to suit playgroup hours and my STRANDED: Terenia high-school French! and partner Paul But being determined

I eventually got a job working for a PR company in Monaco, which sounds very glam and it was, but I found Monaco a little soulless as most ‘money places’ seem to be.

Within the first year I had to make the hard decision to return to the UK, accepting that I couldn’t sustain life there on a single mum’s salary. I also had the pressing decision of school and whether it was a good idea to start my son in the French system, but it would have been very unfair on him if for whatever reason in the future we couldn’t stay. So, reluctantly I went with the sensible option for once and returned to Leeds!

Like so many parents you put your own dreams on the back- LEEDS: Terenia and her partner Paul like it up in Yorkshire but long to get back to their Mallorca apartment burner. You live where the schools are better, just so your children can have Every day since we’ve been back we’re checking There is so much of the beautiful island we’ve yet the best start. It’s predominantly women who put the flight situation to Mallorca. We already have to explore, new restaurants and bars to discover, their careers on hold, or adapt it to suit school and vouchers courtesy of BA after our flights in May we may even get to see the newly-inhabited dolchildcare. So, having done that, and with my son were cancelled. phins. But most of all we just can’t wait for our reaching 18 and the Mallorca offer on the table, But we know that our lovely apartment in Bendinat long-awaited life in Mallorca to begin! now was the time to live my dream! Which we did, is waiting and when we do get back I cannot wait to very briefly, until coronavirus put the kibosh on it! meet new people and make friends. @tereniataras

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Goat on a hot tin roof

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Vol. 3 Issue 79 www.theolivepress.es May 1st - May 14th, 2020

RECLUSIVE mountain goats have been photographed roaming empty streets and scaling

C VE PI SI U CL EX

Big cojones

Cops, neighbours and Olive Press surprise Costa Blanca expat on her 100th birthday in confinement

CORONAVIRUS may have stopped Peggy Bloomfield from celebrating her 100th birthday in style, but it didn’t stop neighbours and friends from surprising her with sirens and a ‘Feliz Cumpleaños’ sing along outside her Spanish villa.

Last dance

A MAN is under investigation for a serious disobedience after he was filmed dancing ‘Sevillanas’ dressed as a woman in sunglasses in Alicante.

He faces a fine of up to €30,000 for wearing a ‘wig’, a ‘mask’ and ‘women’s clothes’ in an attempt to hide his identity on a Santa Pola street.

But it took agents until just the next day to find out his real identity and charge him.

Daughter Val told the Olive Press a big celebration had been booked at the beachfront bar-garden Saxos, in Moraira, to mark the big day. Her family from the UK were to be there among the 150 guests... until COVID-19 cut the lights! “Everyone was coming over, but now we had to settle with the grandkids on Zoom,” said Val, who moved to Spain with husband, Roger, and mum Peggy from Cambridge in 2005.

“Peggy has so many friends,” added neighbour Shirley Young, who met her 14 years ago in one of Peggy’s many coffee clubs and social circles.

“I wish I could give her a hug!”

Though not the blast Peggy had planned, her

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Plan happy, choose

houses in one inland Sevilla town.

The Iberian Ibex were seen on the roof of this house in Moron de la Frontera.

While not an endangered species, the creatures are quite rare and become more active during spring as plants and food return to the mountainsides.

EXCLUSIVE

By Joshua Parfitt

daughter Val passed the champers around thanking Teulada-Moraira PP leader Raul Llobell for the gift inside a surprise birthday basket (glasses passed around with sanitary precautions).

Personalised balloons and decorations from the expat-run Letters R Us were also hanging outside, as were the Olive Press and camera crew.

Sarah Richardson, a British member of Teulada-Moraira PP, was also given

thanks for organising the attendance of Civil Protection.

The small crowd on site sang a second chorus of Happy Birthday, in English, before ironic shouts of ‘See you down the pub later!’ brought a sparkle of laughter on Peggy’s big day. It was the least – and most – we could all do.

“It’s so very nice of you all, thank you, I really appreciate it. I really do,” Peggy said before neighbours went back to their respective lockdowns.

A DRIVER will be more careful with his words after leaving his parked car in a bus lane and tempting an angry bus driver to ‘hit it if you have the balls’.

He did have ‘cojones’, as they say in Spanish, and proceeded to ram into the back of the stationary white SUV in Valencia.

So big were they that he shunted the car 30 yards down the road before the pair continued to argue. When police arrived the driver of the damaged car claimed he was hit by the 72 bus turning into Calle San Vicente, and had stopped to complete an insurance form. EMT has opened an investigation into the bus driver’s ‘violent behaviour’.