Valencia Olive Press - Issue 12 by Olive Press Newspaper Spain

The

OLIVE PRESS

VALENCIA / COSTA AZAHAR Vol. 1 Issue 12 www.theolivepress.es FREE

Your expat

voice in Spain May 6th - May 19th 2021

Schools paedo call

THE UK’s leading child protection group is calling for Spain to tighten the recruitment process of English teachers. The plea by The Safeguarding Alliance aims to protect the country against a British legal loophole that has allowed potentially hundreds of British paedophiles to find work in Spanish schools. The campaign follows an investigation by the Olive Press that revealed how easy it was for a convicted UK sex offender to change his identity and find work as a teacher in several Madrid schools where he was S - ’RATS NILEHCIM T

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THE START: The first edition

of the Olive Press in 2006

15 YEARS OF FUN

its 15th As the Olive Press reaches of our birthday, we recall a few remember favourite interviews and such a couple of our top readers,(above) as ex-prime minister Rajoy and prime joker Paul Gascoigne...

a school warning after EXCLUSIVE: Private e moved to Spain, convicted British paedophil checks and found dodged criminal record teacher work as an English around Spain INTERNATIONAL schools alert after a British have been put on highone of Madrid’s most man began teaching at after being conexclusive colleges months victed in the UK. after Ben Lewis, Questions have been raisedschool despite be31, was able to work at the register. ing on the UK’s sex offenders that Lewis, The Olive Press has discovered for child sex ofwho is now awaiting trial Madrid V, fences at Centro Penitenciario schools and a TWO managed to hoodwink

NAMES: two different passports

Fiona Govan in Madrid

creating a new idenlanguage academy after tity, using forged documents. the sex offender reFormer colleagues of new name to dodge DANGER: Lewis got teaching post vealed that he created ain order to run sumteacher criminal record checks private classes to 2017 he accepted a job as an English (concertado) secmer camps and teach at a leading semi-private from that receives subsidies young children. to Ben David after ondary school He had changed his name2016 of taking and the state. by by the name Ben David being convicted in June of children in “He was going job after another possessing indecent images then and was offered the a former England. dropped out mid-term,” on As well as being placed be- teacher Natasha Fitzsimons told the Olive colleague the sex offender list and Press. fill the posiing handed a two-year susthey were desperate to thorough as was pended sentence, he the “I think they weren’t as maybe so tion leaving barred from should have been. country or working with they children. had Horrified Yet within weeks he for 18 together at the school moved to Spain and found golive- “We worked work in Zaragoza as a with months, took on private classes together for of the children in au pair to a family ing to the homes of someand ran a summer teaching three young children. the re- extracurricular The following year he be- camp at the school during 2018,” said at located to Madrid and at a Irish colleague, who is filled with horror gan teaching children the access he had to children. well-known language The Olive Press has discovered that the day academy after get- after sentencing in the UK he changed his ting a criminal record name by deed poll from Ben David Lewis check from Zarago- to Ben David, in a process that takes just 15 za police to show he minutes. had no convictions in He then applied for and received a British Spain over the previ- passport in his new name, while he also preof his Israeli ous 12 months. sented a doctored photocopy verified by a Then in December passport stamped and that showed firm non-existent law Rose. his name as Ben David photocopThe Olive Press has seen degree ies of these, plus a teaching Status (QTS) and Qualified Teachingin the name certificates presented ALL AREAS COVERED as certifof Ben David Rose as well icates in his original name. by April 4G UNLIMITED What is amazing is thata teaching 2019 he had applied for INTERNET school in the job at a leading private district that IDEAL FOR upmarket Arturo Soria to the STREAMING TV teaches the British curriculum elite. Madrid’s of children ALSO IPTV, certificate By now he also had a DBS

time at the ...meanwhile, we spend famous home of the world’s most he’s plumber as he announces after becoming a Spanish citizen, €15m to 15 years here and losing his ex-wives...

n Clinic Award Winning Rehabilitatio

Opinion Page 6

Continues on Page

By Fiona Govan in Madrid

that extra check,” she insisted. “The severity and danger this loophole presents to the whole world cannot be underestimated.” An extensive report by The Safeguarding Alliance is being used to lobby the UK parliament for a legal change in the management of sex offenders. It explains how the current system relies on the registered sex offender to notify the police with details of any name change, alongside any change of address and passport information. “Currently the onus lies solely with the offender and although it is an offence to fail to notify, one could argue this is not a deterrent as the offender already has the propensity to commit very serious crimes,” states the report, seen by the Olive Press. Through extensive research and case law The Safeguarding Alliance has identified that offenders are not notifying as required and are continuing to abuse children by changing

their names and obfuscating their identities as seen through the case of Ben Lewis/Rose absconding overseas to continue to abuse.

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Here’s to the next 15! On behalf of all at the British Embassy and Consulates, I want to wish huge congratulations to all at the Olive Press on your 15th anniversary. The English language press plays a vital role in keeping UK nationals in Spain informed. And we very much appreciate your help in getting key messages out to UK nationals here. After an incredibly difficult year for so many of us, including many businesses, it is great to see the Olive Press thriving. We look forward to seeing what the next 15 years bring. BRITISH CONSUL CHARMAINE ARBOUIN

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DANGER: Lewis got teaching post, with help of ‘fake’ papers Opinion Page 6

The deed poLl loophole

AND COASTS

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UPROAR: Beach and virgin Cala protestors in Tarifa de San Pedro (below)

19th 2007

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c u s t o m e r s

The hulking shell set for a 311-room of concrete - once SWATHES of rural mega resort - has Andalucia are in remained an eyesore danger of being concreted over after work was halted by for years after a new planning law the courts. was brought in Bunkers are also being by the regional government. 700-home golf course dug to stop a Green groups including scheme, near EcologisNerja, which will tas en Accion and Greenpeace have ment of one of thesee the developjoined with hundreds Costa del Sol’s final stretches of pristine ciations to fight on of local assocoast. And protesters in fronts opened up a series of new during the COVID digging in to stop Mijas are also crisis. SOON LEGAL?: the law being used to build in woods Algarrobico They are up in arms over the so- one, but TWO the sea at El Chaparral. overlooking called LISTA law new hotels the lockdown - that- passed during beaches in the supposedlyon virgin The first of many planned dozens of previously is set to allow ed natural park of Cabo de protect- took place outside council protests Gata. outlawed proj- The first involves offices in la Cala de Mijas ects to go ahead. a 30-room hotel the green light for It could also this week. In particular, activists near the globally see the controversial Valdevaqueros project about a controversialare outraged famous Bahia de Los Genoveses of hundreds new golf beach, while the course in Nerja, second is for a two- of homes go up on a heavily-protected virgin stand of woodlandas well as a final star hotel close to the pristine in Mijas. Cala Under the beach, near Tarifa. de San Pedro bay They are also furious recently resubmitted about not Protestors fear (pictured above). the new law will also project, backed by TV celebrity now allow the legalization Ana Rosa Quintana, the stunning area of nearby between Bolonia and El Algarro- see a series of hotels getTarifa would bico hotel, Ecologists built. are also worried that built dis- Los Merinos the project for gracefully courses and hundreds oftwo-golf on a virgin es housbeach, near landon UNESCO-protected virgin near Ronda could Carboneras, despite be revived, due to a preme being quashed by the SuCourt. planning mix up. Fairway to hell: See page 6

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IN the United Kingdom a person does not need to follow an official process to start using a new name, but they require a ‘deed poll’ to apply for or to change official documents such as a new passport. This can be done simply and easily online for little or no cost in a process that takes no longer than 15 minutes to process and can even be completed from a prison cell. Under section 84 of the Sexual Offences Act of 2003, an offender must report a name change within three working days to the police, and failure to so is a criminal offence which could result in a term not exceeding five years imprisonment. However, evidence demonstrates that not every registered sex offender will act with honesty and report a change of name as required. The Safeguarding Alliance discovered through Freedom of Information requests to 16 of the UK’s 46 police forces that 913 people with sex offence convictions had gone missing after changing their names without informing the police.

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Within an hour, the team scrambled to Olive Press car, Sammon covered Fuengirola, and his face learning from another remained silent that he was currently builder questioned by the Olive when out at the feria ground. camped He was then bundled Press. into the BMW and taken After a day working to Madrid to nearby, the be fingerprinted Londoner duly arrived in his for extradition. and prepared English-plated cream Moncayo Following campervan. the arrest, father-oftwo Reid said he Parking up, he looked was ‘relieved’ relaxed to see Sammon as he took his dog taken around the feria for a walk “As soon as I saw his away. face ground and the spoke with neighbours. most wanted I feltamong sick,” said Once identified, we called the “I letReid, from Blackpool. Guardia Civil and him hang around pers and so began Crimestop- dren, we took him in my chila tense three- arms with hour waiting game, and at first were noneopen with Reid wiser. the sitting in the car beside us. “But we always thought Sky News crime reporter he was Mar- a bit weird, tin Brunt was soon he’s a there too. never talks about real loner and Eventually, as night his family. and truly fell, an had well “He creeped my family black BMW arrivedunmarked much that I fired him.” out so and two Incredibly, plain clothes detectives police did not take swiftly evidence from any moved in for the his campervan incating his passportarrest, confis- cluding his computer and other Frisking him at theand phone. side of the CONTINUES ON PAGE

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26 de febrero, relativa a la organización Marco 2009/315/JAI del Consejo de entre los Estados miembros, Conforme a lo dispuesto en la Decisión de los registros de antecedentes penales y al contenido del intercambio de información caso, las condenas impuestas por otros el presente certificado incluye, en su sin tratándose de ciudadanos españoles, que tales condenas hayan sido notificadas, en términos mismos los en y los tipos delictivos Estados miembros de la Unión Europea, los tipos delictivos del Estado de condena entre equiparación una te que exista necesariamen nacionales. expedición. su de fecha la del titular interesado/a en El presente certificado refleja la situación

olive INVESTIGATES press

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Bracing for Brexit

EAGLE-EYED Olive Press readers helped snag WORDS AND ain’s most wanted one of BritBy Rob HorganPICS and Spain, just hours fugitives in Laurence Dollimore after he had been named. Following a tip off al to the paper, theCrime Agency, who arrived at suspected paedophile scene after the arrest. Sammon was dragged Matthew “Well done Olive Press and from his thanks campervan in a dramatic to the expat time raid and whisked night- for tipping us off, community this is the reaaway in son we an unmarked police run these campaigns.” Working closely withcar. The informant whendramatic day had started Daniel Reid, we were able to annualCrimestoppers issued its firstly track down list of most wanted fugito Fuengirola, then Sammon tives in Torremolinos on ThursGuardia Civil to arrestcall in the day morning. On the run for two him. Leading to hundreds of press mon - a blackbelt years, Sam- stories around the world and was wanted in the in Jujitsu - on national television, the hunt ing indecent imagesUK for shar- was immediately His seizure came of children. But, it was to on. popular local just 10 hours newspaper after he was named the Olive Press tion Captura and is in Opera- that expat plasterer Reid, 40, recorded arrest in the quickest reached out to, trusting us to SUCCESS: and Spanish police the joint UK ‘do the job properly’. Reid, Reynolds and Horgan, “It was a fantastic operation. In a series of Facebook Brunt mes- as a labourer Steve Reynolds, fromresult,” said sages, he announced and was currently the Nation- mon, that 45, had worked forSam- living in a campervan around him the Mijas and Fuengirola area.

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His take on the Brits jailed for “saving the environment”

AN ecological nightmare, “This hundreds of ancient is a cynical and oaks ap- attempt botched parently stand to create ambience Pulled up for a dead. around the golf course and roproject, they huge golf mac- create space,” rie rows like warline up in ee- geon Kit Hogg.said tree surgraves in the very “I Somme. few of these am sure Many centuries trees will survive. protected It is disbeen sacrificed old, they have gusting.” insatiable desirefor Europe’s Despite ongoing efforts to holiday homes. for golf and stop the work, EU investigaPart of the tions and – crucially – no unrelenting guarantee costafication of they sound the of Andalucia, Los Merinos,water, work at death knell for near Ronda nature conservation continues unchecked. in south- the ern Spain. true price of golf. This is

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Vol. 11 Issue 257

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January 18th - January

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BANGED UP: Sammon bundled into police car and (inset) his campervan

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legends Ferran Adria and Gordon Ramsey. And it was nice to chat to Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera, as well as the only newspaper to be able to pose a couple of questions to Michelle Obama on her visit to Marbella a few years ago. Indeed, the positives far outweigh the negatives and we would prefer to be judged over 50 rather than 15 years. As far as we are concerned we have only just begun.

www.theolivepress.es

14 2014

can The Olive Press fraudster Nigel

and convicted By Tom Powell reveal that back in business using is Jamie Micklethwaite Monte’ Ni- Goldman ‘Howard Del Sol fraudster out COSTA del false name is hiding Spain last year gel GoldmanEnglish country the Goldman fled of fraud, in a classic the false name vicSuzanne Couling amid accusations his partner their wares via leaving behind dozens of milcottage underMonte’. - are peddling account called tims owed a total of €15 ‘Howard del ‘Del Monte’ Ebay Goldman - aka to the busi- a joint Emporium’. the lion. he refused to answer has also returned and selling ‘Bensons While happy office staff told it Village post that he regularly questions, he seemsher two ness of buying and antiques, Olive Press coins, stamps addressed to living with Couling,cats in the collects parcels also ‘sends daughters and two can be revealed. propsix month lease Monte’, and Renting on a Berkshire ‘Del packages’. modest three-bedroom Suzanne in the charming he and many erty. are Kintbury’s and (top) with village of Kintbury, UK bolthole While the pairof conversation, hottest topic seen and ‘keep HIDEOUT: Goldman’s you, with a parking ticket. why he to say to understand if a trafthey are rarelyto themselves’. “I have nothing meeting “I don’t arrested, themselves live nearby but I look forward to down. hasn’t been find him then in Couling’s family fic warden can again,” he called can,” said still happier in Hungerford.secretive man you BRITS are to surely the police reports sugwho wished In fact, the Spain, despite have abanthe neighbour, is seemingly from Del Monte leaving the gesting 90,000 dream. Parking ticket remain anonymous. the village only ever seen doned the expatOlive Press but “Everyone in whatto the post office. disheveled, house to go An exclusivethat more than Press con- His hair washave the mous- knows he’s Goldman, he goes under.” his not When the Olive survey found of our readin his country- he did claimed he ever name fronted himGoldman refused tache some have part of his Goldman, who deleted three quarters since makrecently, is side retreat, the door, instead is now sporting as ers are happier Facebook accountinvestigated of disguise. to come to ing the move. currently being his head out morning, Coulto return millions briefly pokingwindow. The previous in his fistory, see No leaving the for failing his bedroom For the full ing was seento load up their of euros to investors dream on companies. the Olive end to Spanish house at 9am Zafira with nancial told page 4. silver Vauxhall off, possibly Various victims are practically boxes and head Press that theylosing their life sale. to a car boot explained that destitute after schemes, that One neighbourmoved into the savings to his Leading Building on Page 4 Costa Del Sols the day they Continues warden arsince 1996. house, a traffic the couple and Window Specialist, rived and issued

It’s MORE

When it comes to corruption we were the first English newspaper to write about the ERE scandal at the Junta de Andalucia that cost an estimated billion euros to the taxpayers, while we also tackled town hall theft on a local scale on dozens of occasions. Animal cruelty has been a continual bugbear and we have exposed so many evil abusers, as well as the scoundrels who allowed hunters to kill innocent circus lions and tigers at a finca in Extremadura (see below). On a more positive front, it was great to interview everyone from Princess Diana’s ex-lover James Hewett to cooking

maverick Jeremy Griffiths, and Nigel Goldman, a degenerate gold-dealing dirt-bag, who had a restaurant column in a local newspaper, which he used to cover his tracks. We also tackled timeshare crook Toni Muldoon, who certainly deserves a mention for conning thousands of people and eventually went to prison for setting up fake escort websites. Meanwhile, our crime reporting on missing teen Amy Fitzpatrick ‘blew open the case’, to use the words of her grandmother, while our continuing investigation into missing Maddie McCann has yielded exclusive after exclusive, with its frequent links to Spain.

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conviction. long-time visiClifford - a and involved tor to the coast and local events in charities found guilty of - has been of sexual assault, eight counts on mostly on minors. were groomed in At least two being lured the coast, afterof stardom. with promises here with his He is pictured Kenny Lynch showbiz chum Marbella. at a bash in page 2

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olive press

the

young A PAIR of guru Max Clifdophile PR assaulted on the ford sexually have led to his Costa del Sol

Gerente Territorial en ZARAGOZA

ROM its very first issue in 2006 the Olive Press has been campaigning for its community. Whether fighting for the environment or digging into crooks, we have taken some big scalps. Starting from Issue One (see top right) we highlighted the ridiculous plans to build 2000 houses, two golf courses and two hotels on UNESCO-protected land near Ronda, as well as exposed the madness of building a 350-room monstrosity on a virgin beach in Almeria’s Cabo de Gata. Both schemes - Los Merinos, in Ronda, and the Algarrobico hotel, in Almeria - went into reverse after our stories made the UK AND Spanish national newspapers and green groups including Greenpeace and Ecologistas en Accion joined our protests. And then there were the crooks, like Crimestoppers’ Most Wanted Daniel Johnston, a bank robber, and Matthew Sammon, a dangerous paedophile, who we single-handedly tracked down to a village near Sevilla and a car park in Fuengirola. And fraudsters like David ‘the dogman’ Klein, pet transport

Clifford guilty girls pae-

REGISTRO CENTRAL DE DELINCUENTES SEXUALES

“As a result, the effectiveness of important legislation, the Sex Offenders Register, the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme, the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, the DBS are undermined and effectively rendered redundant,” it states. “The case of Ben Lewis/ Rose highlights why Spain should be aware of this very serious safeguarding loophole and should pioneer an international movement to protect its children from those abusers who slip under the radar using the name change loophole,” Konstantas added.

Vol. 15 Issue 365 March - April 2021

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...and our team of long-term writers, recall their decade and a half living in the world’s most exciting country. See pull-out inside.

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Criminal

We reported how Ben Lewis, 31, had changed his name by deed poll, applied for a new British passport, and dodged criminal record checks despite being on the UK’s sex offenders register. Police in Spain issued a statement last week describing Lewis - or Ben David Rose, as he is now known - as ‘a dangerous child sexual predator’. The National Police said that he had used his position as a teacher at private schools in Madrid to gain access to children whom he photographed and filmed. He then disseminated the sick material on paedo forums on the dark web around the world. Emily Konstantas, CEO of The Safeguarding Alliance, applauded the Olive Press for highlighting the issue: “The Ben Lewis case as revealed by the Olive Press highlights this loophole and as shocking as this is, it is nothing new and

unfortunately represents just the tip of the iceberg as to the magnitude of this problem.” She warned: “Whilst the status quo remains in situ this significant and very dangerous safeguarding loophole will continue to pose a threat, not just to UK Nationals, but to the rest of the world putting children and those most vulnerable at risk,” she warned. “There are potentially hundreds - if not thousands - of known sex offenders slipping under the radar in the UK to seek work abroad where they can continue to abuse children,” she continued. “This loophole is arguably the biggest safeguarding scandal the world has ever seen and there is an opportunity for Spain to lead the way in tackling it at a global level,” she said. Her charity wants Spain to introduce the need to present an original birth certificate alongside a passport and criminal record checks that would allow potential employers to unearth a change of identity. “It’s a simple way to provide

EXCLUSIVE: OP splash + +

arrested for abusing at least 36 children.

ión SD:Lzou-Jz3F-aZYs-CcBb es Código Seguro de Verificac $: en https://sede.mjusticia.gob. klmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789Puede verificar este documento JKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghij Seguro de Verificación: ABCDEFGHI Juego de caracteres del Código

Olive Press exclusive investigation leads to child protection plea from United Kingdom charity

THERESA May Britain won’t accepthas vowed half out’ Brexit in a ‘half in, a landmark speech that is likely to have long-lasting effects on Gibraltar and all expats in Spain. The Prime Minister issued a 12-point plan to out of the EU, take Britain ing Street looking with Downsingle market and to scrap EU toms union access.current cusIn the biggest speech month tenure, she of her sixsaid: “To be clear, what I am proposing not mean membership canof the single market.” She added Britain longer give ‘huge would no EU, however she sums’ to the conceded that Parliament will have the final vote on the deal. Maintaining the travel area between common Kingdom and the the United EXCLUSIVE Republic of Ireland is also a priority By Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead the Brexit negotiations. during and Laurence Dollimore However, the border rushed to the vets tar with Spain was of Gibral- A BRITISH expat he died 30 minutes has not men- after later. tioned. finding five of her called in police dogs executed in An X-ray showed a late-night massacre. he also had a in 2004, found the The Guardia Civil five rescue dogs shot shot through the roof of his mouth.bullet are now investigatin their pens on January Control Meanwhile, one ing the horrific attack of Mitchell’s 12 horses 6, the night of was also the Reyes (Three that also “We want to control attacked, Kings). our im- of Illona Mitchell’s horses withleft one Her beloved seven-year-old migration from eye may have to be so savagely that its its eye gouged out. removed. Dizzy, ‘one Vets have of the friendliest May. “We also the EU,” said The detectives been from the environment meet’ and a puppydogs you will ever four-year-old, struggling to treat the importance of recognise the section the brightest Seprona told Mitchell, shot dead at the gatescalled Maisie were he has become named Rocco, because and the best coming too of their pens. here. We it was one of the worst attacks 48, that Meanwhile Coco recognise the contribution Deeply traumatisednervous and skittish. they by the attack they seen and were visibly shocked by had shot in their beds, and Domingo, were thankfully was have made.” it. They have put on with Mitchell believnot seen by her - that extra patrols to keep ing they had cowered daughMay is believed to ter Ella, 11 - Mitchell an eye in their kennels so angry continued: “I am before being killed permit system asfavour a work- night. on the estate at weekends and at that someone would Coco, two, had beenin cold blood. do sometrigger Article 50 byshe looks to “I am thing as disgusting sickened as to March. as this to innocent range between the shot at point-blank animals.” It comes as the House why of Lords would carry out such a cruel someone year-old Domingo eyes, while three- Mitchell, from published data showing and bar- week. was shot through Chester, believes a bor- baric attack on innocent, defenceless side of his face. the tack is linked to the der closure with animals,” she told her recent decision atthe Olive Press this The mother-of-one, above, who They later found put 40% of jobs Spain would to bought Jack, a six-year-old ban hunters from her huge her estate in mountains at risk in Gibraltar. near Granada German Shepherd, having convulsions estate that sits in stunning173-hectare scenery in under a nearby tree, The 32 page-report, the Sierra de Baza. but despite being on Gibraltar governmentbased Continues on Page evidence, estimates 4 10,500 of the Rock’s 26,000 workers Opinion Page 6 Est 1984 crossed the border daily. “A frontier which necessary fluidity lacked the fore put directly atwould thereAntiques, Jewellers risk the jobs of 40% of the Gibraltar For all your & Pawnbrokers force,” said a spokesman. workinsurance needs! A huge variety of May’s speech was over Leave campaigners,cheered by 1 carat diamond jewellery. pushing for a ‘hard’ who are She said:“We do Brexit. not seek to HIGH STREET PRICES: adopt a model already Choose one of our 7,000€+ estepona@ibexinsure.com enjoyed great by other countries. OUR PRICE: 1,500 lens offers or get 30% seek to hold on to We do not 2,000€ bits of memoff selected frames bership as we leave,” Fuengirola UNBEATABLE PRICES “The British people said May. See our ad inside voted for GUARANTEED for details. change. And it is WE BUY, WE PAY ment’s job to deliverthe governfuengirola@ibexinsure.com MORE, WE it.”

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NEWS IN BRIEF Drunk mayor THE Mayor of Llauri (Valencia) has received an eight-month suspension on her licence and a €960 fine after being caught drink-driving through Valencia city while three times over the limit.

Killer caught A MOROCCAN fugitive on the run for allegedly murdering six relatives in his native country in February this year, reportedly during an argument over money, has been arrested in Castellon city.

Deal’s up SIX suspected drug dealers have been taken into custody following the dismantling of five sales points in flats in Valencia city’s seafront Cabanyal neighbourhood.

Rape arrests TWO men have been arrested and remanded in custody for allegedly raping a woman in a house in Castellon city centre at the weekend.

BRUTAL KILLING A VALENCIA man is facing up to 25 years in prison for allegedly beating a friend to death with a hammer after claiming the victim touched him in an intimate manner. Manuel SL, 43 has admitted hitting 66-year-old Horacio Gomez twice in the head with a hammer at the victims home in Ontinyent on July 6, 2019 but claims his death was an accident. The accused claims he killed his friend in a haze of alcohol and drugs after the victim touched his genitals in a suggestive manner telling the court he was taken by surprise as wasn’t aware that his friend was ‘a bit homosexual’. However, a post mortem shows the victim suffered 30 hammer blows to the head and prosecutors claim the accused carried out the murder after an argument over drugs.

Foxy sale A month-old fox has been rescued by the Guardia Civil after it was put up for sale on a Valencia region second-hand goods website. Officers opened an investigation after getting reports that the baby animal was being advertised online for €550. The seller was arrested in Alicante.

CRIME

May 6th - May 19th 2021

Body Found A woman whose body was found dumped in countryside outside Burriana (Castellon) has fueled local fears of a serial killer due to similarities with three other murders in region in the last six months. The body of Johana Andrea A.G, a 41 year old Columbian with a long-term partner and a daughter, was found on the Cami Vell de la Mar, an isolated path surrounded by olive groves on April 22. Police are investigating similarities with the abduction and murder of two other women earlier this year and a third woman who was killed last November, all in the Elche area of neighbouring

Fourth murdered woman fuels fears of serial killer

TRAGIC: Olga Pardo (left) and Florina Gogo Valencia region. Florina Gogos, 19, was found dead on January 30 in a ditch between Silla and Albufera,

Sent down (under) THREE British men have been remanded in custody after a parcel of drugs destined for Australia was intercepted at Alicante-Elche airport. X-ray scanners detected 855 grams of cocaine in the illegal shipment. The Brits were arrested after Guardia Civil officers visited two homes in Altea and Callosa d’en Sarria. The trio, aged in their early thirties, were all denied bail after an Altea court appearance. The house raids uncovered nearly three kilos of cocaine and 34 kilos of marijuana. Specialist drugs equipment was seized along with camouflage materials to try to stop scanners picking up what was inside the illegal parcels. The men’s shipment was discovered during an operation which saw a separate arrest of another parcel sender. A 43-year-old Alicante woman was collared after a UK-bound marijuana shipment was detected at Alicante-Elche airport.

while the body of 43-year-old Olga Pardo was discovered on April 6 in a canal outside nearby Massarrojos. Last November, Alicia Valera, a 45-year-old civil servant was found dead in a shallow water channel 200 metres from her home in La Hoya. The similarities in the cases are striking given that all four women had been strangled and their bodies thrown into ditches. Reports suggest that there were no signs of sexual violence in any of the cases. However, Guardia Civil are yet to publicly link the case insisting that all lines of investigation are open. They are calling on residents not to jump to any conclusions that a serial killer is on the loose until the case is solved.

KNIFEPOINT MUGGING A MAN has been arrested in Castellon city for mugging a passer-by at knifepoint in broad daylight and then threatening to kill the police officers who arrested him. The attack took place on Benicassim Avenue, a busy road near the Hospital General at around lunchtime, when the suspect allegedly pulled a large knife on another man and demanded that he hand over his wallet. The victim managed to escape unhurt and hide in a nearby garage, from where he called 091, according to the police report.

Arrest

Officers identified the assailant and found three large knives that he had attempted to hide as they approached. During his arrest, the suspect repeatedly threatened the police officers in charge of taking him into custody, telling them he was going to murder them and their families. The man, who has a long police history, has been charged with attempted violent robbery and threats against the authorities.

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NEWS I’ll be back

www.theolivepress.es WHETHER it was jealousy, disgruntled staff or unfair competition, Elliott Wright has promised that the arsonists who razed his Costa del Sol restaurant will ‘only make it better’ in the long run. “I’m devastated, but it’s not going to stop me from my plans to have the best restaurant on the coast,” he told the Olive Press this week. “It’s going to be absolutely stunning, a million miles better than anywhere else. “We are working on the dein

May 6th - May 19th 2021

EXCLUSIVE By Jon Clarke

DESTROYED: Olivia’s signs over the next few days. It will be beautiful. The upstairs part in particular is

going to be completely different.” The entrepreneurial Playa

Gin and bear it

PROTESTORS have vowed to carry on the fight after a controversial golf macroproject for an untouched stretch of coast cleared a major hurdle. More than 200 people, including many expats, had gathered at Nerja town hall to oppose the scheme, put forward by the powerful Larios gin family in nearby Maro. They had hoped to stop Nerja

Marbella TV star - who also owns Eduardos in Villamartin, which was originally opend by his late father - had only just recruited a brand new team - including a chef and manager and vowed to fight for a Michelin star when arsonists torched his restaurant in the middle of

PROTEST: 200 gathered

Battle to protect unspoiled coast goes on as Larios family clear major hurdle, writes James Warren mayor Jose Alberto Armijo and his Maro counterpart Encarnacion Moreno, join councillors and unions to let the proposal move to the next stage at a critical planning meeting inside the town hall. While they voted to allow the

NCE upon a time, when the world was young and the Costa del Sol was only just waking from its slumber, I halted on a hilltop somewhere east of Malaga and surveyed the coast, writes David Baird. Bordering an empty, sandy beach, fields of sugar cane stretched to the horizon. Maybe here, I thought, I could buy a piece of land to build my dream house. "Señor," I said, accosting a passing countryman. "Who owns this land?" He gaped at me, amazed at my ignorance. "Lario, hombre, Lario!" He said. "All this belongs to Lario." The name meant nothing to me. But I soon learned that ‘Lario’ was, in fact, the Larios family, one of the richest in Spain. The family owns a great mansion in the centre of Madrid, estates in Albacete — and vast stretches of the Málaga and Granada coast. A statue of the second Marquis de Larios stands in the centre of Málaga near Calle Larios, the most expensive retail street in Andalucia. Travel from Estepona to Motril and you come across various ancient sugar mills that once treated the cane from the family estates.

proposal to progress, as yet no decision has been taken on whether the land will be reclassified for development. Local farmers, who fear losing their land, set up a stall to display the vast array of fruit and vegetables grown on the Maro

allotments that will be lost under the development scheme. “We cannot let this project continue,” said Rafael Yus, of Ecologistas en Acción in front of the gathered crowd. “The project has been born from lies and will destroy an un-

It’s bound to happen Then, when Larios could no longer compete with cheaper sugar from the West Indies, Egypt and Pakistan, along came the tourism boom and the value of Larios’ land multiplied. Tourists proved much more profitable than sugar cane and Larios has since sown innumerable apartment blocks along the empty beach I once viewed. Far removed from this tourist cacophony was the village of Maro, just east of Nerja. There the Larios family still has a mansion, the Virgen de las Maravillas, visited every August for many years by the Marquesa de Larios. Virtually all the land she could see belonged to her family. The ‘colonos’ (or tenant farmers) paid peppercorn rents for small plots of land and shacks and worked for Larios at cane-cutting and sugar-making. Though these local farmers had been there forever, few had paperwork proving their rights. Feudalism was a way of life in Maro. And had been for centuries. No problem...until, back in the 1990s, Larios decided to take over the land so that a

RUZAFA

touched and beautiful stretch of land surrounding Maro.” His group has been joined by Greenpeace in opposing the scheme that will see over 45 hectares of protected land levelled to make way for a luxury hotel, golf course and urbanisation of over 500 villas. “The entire project does not abide by European regulations, and we doubt the legitimacy of the agreement,” ex-mayor Rosa Arrabal, of the PSOE told the Olive Press.

Holes

golf course and hundreds of luxury villas could be built. That provoked a revolt. Angry colonos marched in protest and staged a days-long sit-in inside the famous Nerja cave. Eventually some sort of settlement was reached. Some colonos received compensation for handing over their land, some legalised their arrangement with Larios, some families were torn apart by squabbles between relations. Eventually the project will happen, of course, after all the legal barriers, the red tape etc. have been negotiated. That piece of land is too valuable to leave untouched and Nerja folk are not going to say no to anything that attracts more visitors and ultimately more cash. They’ll argue the vast majority of the town is on their side…insisting of around 20,000 locals how many turned up to voice objections? A few hundred is not enough. The next protest will need to be much bigger.

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the night two weeks ago. The popular celebrity hot spot in La Cala de Mijas was badly damaged in the fire, which began around 5am on April 26. A police investigation is still probing the blaze, which Wright, 41, believes was started by a competitor. “The Guardia Civil told me that is their theory although they can’t say too much,” he revealed this week.

“We are still going to try to stop the final approval of the plan. While they have a majority we are going to ask again for it to be tabled to demand that the legal requirements are met. “I’m hopeful. If we all unite, there are holes in the agreement that they are trying to pass, and these things have to be addressed,” said Arrabal. “We must search for a more sustainable solution,” added Andres Jimenez, from the UPNer party. “We only have to look at other golf projects along the coast to know that they are not a viable tourist model, despite the numbers that Larios SL promises.” Jon Stein, local activist and resident of Maro, said: “The decision today is disappointing, but the fight goes on.”

“They have CCTV of them and they are investigating. “It’s either jealousy, a member of staff I sacked, or competition. I’ve got no enemies and think it’s competition. “Quite a few new restaurants have opened up off the back of my success. Eradicating me then you have 600 people a night going to eat elsewhere. That is a lot of people and a lot of money. The Guardia Civil told me that.” He added: “I just can’t believe the timing just a week after I buried my dad. How could they do that?’ His main problem now is timing to try and get the place up and running before the summer season. The insurance company handling the claim are ‘taking longer’ than hoped and he is juggling a lot of things’. “I’m pulling my hair out and having to juggle a lot of things,” he told the Olive Press. “I was hoping they were going to pay out in two weeks but the insurance is saying 40 days now. “We are also trying to source things from all over the world during this pandemic - trying to get 300 to 400 square metres of tiles quickly is proving difficult.” He meanwhile thanked all the goodwill from expats on the coast and from friends and family back home.

Rebuild

In particular he thanked his former TOWIE colleague James ‘Arg’ Argent who vowed to come over and help him rebuild. “If Arg wants to come out and help he’s more than welcome,” he revealed.”But I’ve seen him labouring before and he’s more of a hindrance than a help. He spends all his time talking to the builders and getting in the way. It would be better for him to come at the end for the relaunch.” It came after Arg appeared on TV show Loose Women in the UK to say he was ‘rooting for him’. He said: “If anyone can turn this around and build Olivia’s back to where it was, it’s Elliott and we’re all rooting for him.”

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NEWS

www.theolivepress.es

NEWS IN BRIEF Fake nurse A FAKE nurse has been arrested in Alfafar (Valencia) for allegedly working at eight nursing homes in the province over the last two years without having any formal training and using a forged university certificate.

Saddle up THE local council of Oropesa del Mar (Castellon) has set up a new bicycle parking point for up to 10 bikes and a tourist information panel at the entrance to the local via verde cycle path.

¿Que? A GUARDIA Civil officer in Castellon’s Vinaros has been reported for refusing to speak the Valencian language to a driver, insisting on using Spanish. The officer has been accused of linguistic discrimination.

Max Vacc SPAIN’S government said it hit its target to vaccinate a total of five million people by May. Some 25% of the population have received at least one jab.

POLICE in Germany are said to be significantly closer to charging paedophile Christian Brueckner with more sex crimes in the month that missing Maddie McCann turns 18. Detectives told the Sunday Times they are ‘within three months’ of formally accusing him of the rape of an Irish expat in Portugal in 2004. Cops in Germany believe he was behind the vicious sex attack on Hazel Bevan, then 20, in 2004.

May 6th - May 19th 2021

Maddie move

Theysay he climbed in and filmed the assault at her apartment in Praia da Rocha, just 25 minutes from where toddler Maddie was snatched in May 2007. The assault was similar in planning and execution to the one on a 71-yearold American in 2005, for which he is currently in prison for seven years.

That attack - which he also filmed took place in the same resort Praia da Luz that Maddie went missing on May 3, 2007. Brueckner, 44, who lived on and off in Portugal and Spain, when not in prison in Germany, spent large amounts of time on the dark web, former friends and colleagues told the Olive Press. He was officially identified as a suspect in the case of Maddie in June last year.

Let us stay!

BRITS living in homes in Spain between three and six months have launched a campaign asking the Spanish government to reconsider the post-Brexit rules. Since the UK left the European Union, thousands of Brits have been forced to choose between either Spain or the UK, or else be limited to only spending 90 days there in a rolling six-month period, in the entire 26-country Schengen zone. Diane Lavender, 70, who has owned a second home in Andalucia for 15 years, said the rules are ‘shambolic’ and ‘unfair’. Originally from Wales, Diane and her husband typically spend up to six

Expats launch campaign to change Brexit rules By Kirsty McKenzie

months of the year in Estepona spread across various visits but said she now feels that their freedom to move between their two homes has ‘been completely taken away’. She added: “It’s bad for everyone. We want to be able to live in our homes without limitations and the Spanish bars and shops rely on Brits to spend their money here in the winter months. It is in everyone’s interest if we can come to a better agreement.

“It’s heartbreaking to see Spain so quiet and so many businesses being forced to close. Andrew Hesselden, who voted Remain, launched the campaign group ‘180 days in Spain’ to help people who have a home in Spain but also want to keep one foot in the UK, agrees. Andrew told the Olive Press: "I think the UK gov probably intended for this to be resolved via many bilateral agreements in the years to come, but in the rush to ‘Get Brexit Done’, it left most of Brexit Undone."

Going nowhere SPAIN’S government has extended a ban on all non-essential travel to Spain from outside the EU and Schengen area for another month. Confirmation of the extension due to the continued coronavirus pandemic was published on Friday in the Official State Gazette (BOE). The extension continues the recommendations by the EU that have been in place since June 30 last year.

Banned

The 40-year-old, who has a home in Mallorca, created the group which now boasts nearly 2000 members across Spain to find a solution for part-year residents.

In addition, the notice confirms a ban on all travellers from those places where dangerous new variants of Covid-19 have been detected. These include India, Brazil, South Africa, Botswana, Comoros, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Peru and Colombia. Under this rule only Spanish citizens or those with residency in Spain are allowed to enter and must quarantine for ten days on arrival. Because of Brexit, citizens from the United Kingdom are now considered third country nationals and must follow the same rules as other non-EU member states.

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Green town

A TINY mountain village in inland Castellon is one of the 10 most environmentally friendly towns in Spain, according to Greenpeace. A study by the ecologist organisation found that Torralba del Pinar, near Teruel (Aragon) and with a population of 69 inhabitants, is one of the municipalities in the country that is making the most effort to protect nature and fight climate change.

Low carbon

Greenpeace found that 99.9% of the surface within the town limits of Torralba del Pinar contributes towards protecting biodiversity, while hardly generating pollution due to having a very low carbon footprint. This is achieved by being one of the few towns that relies on small-scale and sustainable farming methods, making ‘rural Spain’ a key player in solving the current climate crisis in the eyes of Greenpeace.

NEWS AUTHORITIES have launched a fresh appeal for information in the search for British man Mark Palmer, who was last seen in Ontinyent two years ago. The then 32-year-old moved to the inland Valencian town just five months earlier but has been missing since April 27, 2019 when a local friend reported that he had not been seen in 10 days. Despite an extensive search of the local area by local police and emergency services at the time plus forensic analysis of his computer and attempts to track possible movements through local transport hubs, no trace

May 6th - May 19th 2021

FRESH APPEAL Brit mysteriously vanished two years ago from Valencian town By Glenn Wickman

was found of him. Mark’s family travelled over from England to join the

Continuing curfew THE Valencian Community’s curfew will not disappear when the second national State of Alarm ends at 11.59 pm this Sunday. Valencian president, Ximo Puig, said that he wants the restriction to continue but he may need the backing of Valencia’s Supreme Court. The national State of Alarm gave blanket legal approval to Spain’s 17 regions for border closures and curfews without local court challenges. The lifting of the national emergency provisions means that each region will need its highest court to support tough restrictions. The national government though is to rush through a quick change to procedures which would allow the regions a quick appeal to the Supreme Court in Madrid if measures are overturned by regional judges. Ximo Puig said: “I don’t think it is the time yet to get rid of the curfew as it has helped keep infections down.” He nevertheless hinted that the current 10pm start could be pushed back by one or two hours, so long as the low infection rate is maintained.

search at the time of his disappearance and insist that they have not lost hope in finding him alive. However, they lament that the COVID pandemic has prevented them from coming back over to Spain during the last year to continue the search. UK charity Missing People this week launched an appeal to coincide with the two-year anniversary of his mysterious disappearance, providing a telephone number to report any news that might shed some light on the case. The free and confidential phone and text number is 116 000. Palmer was described at the time of his disappearance as being thin, 1.78 metres tall with reddish hair, hazel-coloured eyes and a beard. Contact Missing People on (0044) 0208 392 4521, email supporters@missingpeople.org.uk, website www.missingpeople.org.uk

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NEWS FEATURE

www.theolivepress.es Voted top expat paper in Spain

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

OPINION Lead the way! In a stark warning the UK’s leading victim protection group Safeguarding Alliance have insisted there are thousands of convicted child sex offenders who have slipped under the radar in the UK using legal means to change their name and avoid criminal record checks leaving them free to abuse again. Unfortunately, Spain is proving an attractive destination for these abusers, not just for those qualities we all enjoy; the good climate, great food and improved quality of life but because the recent drive towards bilingual education demands a constant supply of native English teachers not only in schools but for summer camps, au-pairs and private classes. Now we learn that it isn’t enough for schools or education boards to carry out the basic checks required, because a serious failing on the side of the British legal authorities has created a loophole that is ripe for exploitation. Spain isn’t to blame for that lack of joined up thinking on the side of the UK authorities but with one simple step it can instantly make it harder for British paedophiles to slip through the net and find work here. Demanding an original birth certificate alongside a passport and criminal record check will immediately identify someone who has changed their identity, and prove a vital step towards protecting our children from known sex offenders. Spain has already modernised its approach to tackling sex abuse with the introduction last month of Rhodes Law, named after British pianist James Rhodes, which extended the statute of limitations against abusers and makes it easier for victims to report crimes and testify against abusers. Now it has an opportunity to take steps before such crimes are committed and fix a UK failing by making it more difficult for known British abusers to gain employment in schools. Spain, this is your chance to lead the way. Publisher / Editor

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Charity begins in the homeland Migrant who wants Africans to stay at home wins top award in Spain By Graham Keeley in Barcelona

UMPED in the Sahara Desert by traffickers, forced to scavenge for food and drink his own urine to survive, Ousman Umar believed like scores of other African migrants before and since that he was going to die. But against all the odds, after a harrowing five year trek across the continent, he made it from Ghana to Spain where he became a successful entrepreneur with a masters degree from one of the country’s top business schools. He could have been the poster child for the

RECOGNISED: Ousman Umar

African dream of a better life in Europe. But Ousman didn’t want his fellow Africans to go through the same ordeal. So he set up a charity to help them make better lives at home instead of following in his own tortured footsteps.

Looking south

ominique de Pradt (pictured right) could not contain his malice towards Spain. As a diplomat for Napoleon (1808 Peninsula War) he found negotiating with the Spanish frustrating to the point of an impossibility, writes Jack Gaioni. He famously said: “Africa begins at the Pyrenees. It is an error of geography to assign Spain to Europe. Everything is African - its blood, manners, the way of making war, doing business and living life!” He argued that the two entities have ‘mixed too long and confused the race and customs’. Clearly, Dominique did not mean this as a compliment. Now Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, expounded on this sentiment but from a completely different perspective. Sanchez has launched what he called ‘the decade of Spain in Africa’. He met with the president of Ghana, the foreign ministers of Senegal and Kenya, and with the President of the African Development Bank, Sanchez announced an ambitious strategy to build closer economic and institutional ties between Spain and Africa. Calling the initiative the ‘Africa Focus 2023 Plan’, the formal event represents more aggressive support of economic partnerships, environmental issues, educational exchanges and energy development. Sanchez emphasized the fact Spain was receptive to the idea of working with the governments of Africa to stem the tide of perilous migration flows. He said that a ‘lack of opportunities’ was driving people away and that Spanish investments in Africa might help them stay.

Priority Sanchez is serious. Less than 10 days after the March conference, he boarded a plane for Angola and later Senegal – two priority countries in Spain’s efforts of stepping up collaboration with African nations. Sanchez views Angola as offering a great opportunity as that country seeks to diversify its economy from its status as an oil dependent nation. While in Luanda, Sanchez signed ‘agreements of understanding’ designed to strengthen cooperation in agriculture, fisheries, engineering, energy, exports, insurance and banking. The Prime Minister then visited Elecnor - a Spanish energy substation which has a 30 years presence in Angola. His final visit was to the Dom Bosco Selesian School. Run by Spanish clergy, the school is active in promoting literacy, vocational training and care for high-risk youth. Sanchez continued his diplomacy with a visit to the West African coastal nation of Senegal. There, meeting with President Macky Sali, they signed a ‘memorandum of understanding’ to help mitigate migration flows. Calling the issue a ‘circular migration’, the leaders discussed ways to discourage the illegal (and sometimes deadly!) migration into Spain. Simultaneously they addressed ways of improving the organisation of the 71,000 Senegalese who live and work in Spain’s seasonal agricultural industry. Spain and Senegal hope the partnership would create 65,000 jobs in Senegal as well as promote entrepreneurship and vocational training. Sanchez concluded his charm offensive in Angola and Senegal by expressing his hopes that Spain continues as ‘Europe’s southern gateway to Afric’. Given the potential of Africa as the next big market, combined with that continent’s huge energy prospects, we wish Sanchez all the diplomatic luck in the world. Regarding the sentiment that ‘Africa begins at the Pyrenees’? Dominique de Pradt may have been partially riPYRENEES: Is this where Africa starts? ght but for the wrong reasons…

Now that work has won him a prestigious Princess of Girona Award ‘for social projects with innovative and tangible achievement’. "I still cannot believe I won this award,” says Ousman, who set up NASCO Feeding Minds with his brother Banasco Seidu Nuhu to buy computers, support educational projects and give children in Ghana a choice in their own future. “We are an NGO that is only funded by private donations and only functions thanks to our volunteers. “This recognition gives me the strength to keep working every day on this project and to continue helping with education so that no one should ever have to go through what I had to go through. Thank you from the bottom of my heart." The Princess of Girona Foundation praised the charity’s work in ‘building a transformative project which combines education, technology, and alliances and contributes solutions to the migration problem.

Corruption

For a time Ousman worked with rescue charity Proactiva Open Arms but now believes saving migrants from flimsy boats in the sea is not the answer. In his book, Journey to the Land of the Whites, published in Spain, he writes of the beatings and corruption he witnessed during his tortuous trek to Europe. He wishes he had never made the journey but carved out a life in Ghana instead. His remarkable story only came to light when the Canaries became the focus of Europe's migration crisis, where more than 23,000 migrants have poured in since January last year. The son of a witch doctor from a remote village, his mother died during childbirth, leading the elders to condemn him to death for being a 'bad spirit'. Only the intervention of his father saved him. Fleeing his homeland at 13, he trekked through Niger to the Libyan border with a group of around 40 migrants. Traffickers left them at the edge of the Sahara, where many died trying to cross the desert without food or water, eating what they could find and drinking their own urine.

Flimsy boat

After about a month they reached a village in southern Libya where he collapsed and was taken in by locals. Later he found work as a welder but life in that country, too, was tough for a black man. Determined to move on, he saved $2,000 to travel through Algeria to Morocco and Mauritania where he took a flimsy boat to the Canaries. At 18, he made it to Barcelona, the City of Dreams, where he spent two more years living rough, finally finding help from a generous Spanish family. They supported him while he studied for an MBA in business administration at Esade, ranked one of the top schools in Spain, and everything else is history. But he has never forgotten his homeland and regular visits to Ghana through his charity work have only strengthened that bond.

May 6th - May 19th 2021

www.theolivepress.es

Big dig at Franco’s legacy Excavations into the lives of the prisoners who built the Valley of the Fallen give Europe’s last monument to facism a more PC spin

Olive Press We reach readers others can’t

HE Olive Press has been in a continuous state of growth for the past five years - and there’s no secret to our success. We are the only English-language paper dedicated solely to news about Spain. We also hire NCTJ trained journalists who write their own exclusives 38 and know how to source andMENS deliver A OR DENSA? Accused of faking COVID - live on air the most relevant and intriguing A stories for expats. This ethos has to our mind made us the most relevant English language newspaper to expats in Spain. And it seems that we are not alone in thinking this - a whole host of official government organisations have chosen the Olive Press’s six editions to publicise serious issues, which make us the newspaper of record for the expat communities in Spain. The AGE UK government OF PRINT!no less has used our pagTHE to reach Brits in Spain with a campaign of Ies informational adverts aimed at expats. These have been a crucial part of the government’s mission to help Brits deal with Brexit. Now the Diputacion de Malaga has followed suit to OPurge people to register on Puzzle solutions the padron. This is vitally important, not just so local councils can access improved government funding, but also so British expats can abide by Brexit rules and be protected by the UK Spanish agreement. And who is it the Norwegian police turned to when they wanted to put out a call for information? None other than the Olive Press of course. They knew that our newspapers - and website too - have roots deep in the local expat communities of many different nationalities in Spain. The best chance they had of reaching the people they needed was through us. The Government of Gibraltar too has turned to the Olive Press to try to attract, as has the University of Gibraltar in search of new students. And they are not alone - the Junta de Andalucia and local councils such as Benahavis have also recognised the advertising power of the Olive Press in the past few months. All these major governmental organisations have recognised that the Olive Press reaches readers that others can’t - call us to see how we can help you reach new customers too.

COLUMNISTS

March 24th - April 6th 2021

Getting a grip

IT was the last caller that did it. I was into the final three minutes of ‘Viewpoint’, the live radio show that I host every Tuesday that discusses the ‘issues of the day’. In the past four years those have tended to be Brexit, Boris, Trump and of course, coronavirus. Being the man in the middle of Viewpoint is always a white-knuckle ride, because you have no idea of just what the caller will say. As it is a live show, I‘ve developed a sixth sense that starts to tingle if I think they are about to swear or come out with something slanderous, and I am always poised to bring the fader, which controls the volume, down sharply. The caller now waiting on line one had a bit of a reputation for rubbishing the existence of coronavirus, but I had less than 200 seconds before the end of from Giles’s casita the show so I thought ‘What’s SOOTHING: View of the valley and lake ers and hiked up the track shocked laughter as I pulled from the Casita. Exercise is the harm?’ nally shook it off. On the posHe got to the point right away itive side, I managed to catch the fader down, before I could one of the few options that I “You never had coronavirus” he up on a huge stack of reading, be accused of being one of the am allowed these days, and said, “You just had a bad flu for and the cat loved having me liberal elite, lackey of the MSM I was debating the futility of of the three days”. as I tended or fully paid up memberI have it all when I looked back. The Especially around. tested I aware, Illuminati. (Although If you were not Casita and the to feed her when I woke at 5am positive for COVID-19 at the every morning, a practice she heard that the lake looked was and January, snazrobes are beginning of stunning, and has continued since my recovI still live in a unable to return to the radio, ery by singing me the song of zy). suddenly it which I love, for three weeks. her people at some ungodly The weird thing me rebeautiful place made however, was, Although I was fortunate not to hour, demanding breakfast. alise: end up in hospital as several I was so dumbfounded by the that this comand I now also I still live in of my friends did, it still pole- accusation that I had faked ment sent me a beautipeculiar health my I most have back into what axed me in the ful place, my illness that I burst out in call ‘Mabellaise”, way, and I was glad when I fiI have my back fed where I get health back up with my adand I am lucky and opted town to lots of friends who helped everything about it. It normally when I was ill. As the saying happens around this time of goes – This Too Shall Pass. year, and the pandemic has not Nevertheless, I am not putexactly helped. ting that caller on air for a In an effort to clear my mud- while… dled head, I pulled on my train-

RE you a digital doer or a real-life print reader? The OlOLD HACK IN ive Press alternates weekly THE SUN publication of my columns Benny Davis between actual print and ether-controlled messages beamed from Ramblings of an 80-something expat outer space. But if you are one of the 75% of over 65’s who do not are safe access so called digital platforms, you to stretch managed have who those However, in my hands. of accessing digital intheir little grey cells to master the art Mensa achievers who do formation are more likely to be high instead of me. crosswords with a pen, and say, moi, I find reading a real Personally, I am of the Densa brigade.sun, very relaxing, and newspaper, especially while lying in theas an umbrella over the it has the added advantage of acting in. Laptops tend to be face when getting some extra ZZZZ’s on the nose. balance to difficult and uncomfortable

Worship

the God of ethernet culDevotees who worship at the altar of news items quickly ture will also tell you that you can compare or fake news. But before by surfing the net, to establish real that fake news happens you don your wetsuit, may I point outthe rare occasion the unfar less frequently in print, and if on action far more quickly thinkable happens, lawsuits leap into caution on the part of extreme encouraging web, than on the newspaper editors and owners. is available in information instant that understand I Bing, etc. seconds through sites such as Google, doesn’t Call me old fashioned, but that method coming give me the same satisfaction as finally hours, up trumps with answers after spending files and even days, of searching through old reference libraries. article At the moment, I am writing an havabout a serial killer who wrought am oc back in the Victorian era and running barefooted through my enormous collection of information, amassed over countless years as a writer. If I cannot find the answers, I will have to revert to my fail-safe solution, ‘Gertrude,’ grandmother of Amazon’s virtual assistant ‘Alexa.’ Although she answers in a shaky voice with the occasional additional sound me effect of flatulence, she never lets down and fits into my lifestyle far more comfortably than the pre-mentioned Miss Smoothy-Pants.

Terenia Taras

OSLO CONCILIATION BOARD

PAIN’S most controversial monument is on the brink of an image makeover with the families of the prisoners who built General Francisco Franco’s monstrous mausoleum moving centre stage. The Valley of the Fallen, a huge basilica carved out of the living rock on a hillside north of Madrid, was Franco’s final resting place until two years ago when the dictator’s body was unceremoniously exhumed. Constructed by 20,000 political prisoners and conscripts between 1940 and 1959, the families of these slave labourers had to settle on the premises in order to survive the post-war period and a shanty town sprung up. From this month, according to archaeologist Alfredo Gonzalez-Ruibal, the area of the Cuelgamuros Valley 57 kilometres from Madrid where the families’ shacks once stood is to be excavated in a bid to reconstruct their lives. “After I paid my first visit to the Valley of the Fallen in 2007, I realised that putting the focus on the shacks instead of the monument itself would be a way of changing the Francoist narrative,” Gonzalez-Ruibal tells the Olive Press, explaining that as the prisoners’ families would often come from afar to visit, they started to camp close by.

Shacks

Even those visiting from Madrid began to make a home in the Valley of the Fallen as the trip back and forth from the capital during the 1940s and 1950s was hard to do on public transport in one day. “They started building huts, which turned into shacks measuring around 4m2,” says the archaeologist who works for the Spanish National Research Council and will head up a team of 10 on the dig. “They used rubble for the walls and branches for the roofs and probably knew how to build well enough to stop the rain coming in, as they would have been used to building shepherds’ huts. But they would have been freezing in winter.” The curious shanty town that emerged over the years was obliquely accepted by the authorities. The presence of the prisoners’ families provided psychological support, meaning they worked better, were more disciplined and less likely to escape. According to Gonzalez-Ruibal, the prisoners eventually received a food allowance for their families that could be spent at the canteen, while their children would likely have joined the local one-teacher school set up for the ’free’ labourers’ families. Enduring this tough, no-frills existence, without electricity or running water and little light within the shacks, was not done solely out of choice. “You have to take into account that this was Spain in the 1940s and 1950s when many women depended entirely on men to survive,” he says. “But there would also have been a desire to be together.” Lying a stone’s throw from the four settlements or poblados that accommodated the prisoners’ barracks and labourer’s cottages, this community of women and children has often been used by far-right revisionists to depict the Valley of the Fallen as something akin to a holi-

to the ConciliaThe Defendant is ordered to reply stating whethtion Board in writing by 04.05.2021 and accepts er or not the Defendant acknowledges has not been dethe Complainant’s claim. If a replystated time limit, livered prior to the expiry of the on the basis judgment by default can be pronounced of the facts of of the Complainant’s representation the case. address, service will As the Defendant has no known the Courts Act Secbe executed with authority in to reply will be tion 181. The complaint and order when it has been deemed to have been legally servedweeks. posted at the legal venue for four case can be collectThe documents pertaining to the offices at Pilestreed from the Conciliation Board’s documents can be det 19, 0033 Oslo, Norway. Theby the Defendant if sent to a new address supplied the Defendant so requests.

By Heather Galloway in El Escorial

A Sierra Nevada ll about

February

LONG TIME IN COMING: But residents of Mallorca can hopefully soon hit the slopes

2021

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off to finally slopeheaven, You can skiing Andalucia’s Smith writes Charlie is There ILENCE. single peep not a upwards to as I climb the valley through maker. of the meet mymy head out and the I poke window fresh alcable car Nevada’s Sierra hits my lungs. pine airhear it – a sweeping white Then I down the crisp crunch as a snowboarder piste, past below. and whizzes tears through, Another third, all weaving at then a mountainside down the speed. more terriblistering Spanish I’m definitely the three carriage the fied than guys sharing the with me. left behind We have and restaurants the main cosy bars only ski in Pradollano, Andalucia’s town of resort. out at Borreguiles, meWe step some 2,700 which sits sea level. for tres above the basecampruns, This is the Sierra’s the many of range from facil’ ‘muy which black, lagreen-coloured those in pistes to dificil’. belled ‘muy overleaf

Your

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February 26th

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See page 11

- March 11th 2021

Model patient

PICTU EXCL RE USIVE

has had expat centenarian year. A POPULAR jab in her 101st Costa her first COVID based on the Pfizer of the Peggy Bloomfield, her first dose Centre this Blanca, got Medical vaccine at Teulada according to week. raring to go, And she’s now Shirley Young. to get her neighbour Thrilled to bits she told the “She is amazing! I’m feeling great!” the jab and “Lockdown permitting her Olive Press. the Mayor to visit for two hoping to get Her second jab is in be celebratnext birthday.” and Peggy will weeks’ time birthday in April. nurse ing her 101st (far right) shows of Our photograph the first doseshe right Juanjo administering to Peggy, while a visit the vaccine as she received was all smiles champagne and cake when she with balloons, Press reporters her from Olive last year. Peggy receives100th birthday hit the big 100 ALL ROUND: recent to get the following her expat in Spain older, con- CELEBRATIONS (inset right) Is she the oldest COVID jab you know anyone COVID jab? If tact us at newsdesk@theolivepress.es

soon Island could be back in business ban to as UK travelin May be lifted

are only permitted moment Brits abroad. At the work purposes. South Affrom to travel for essential to enter Spain until 6pm on No one is allowed By Kirsty McKenzie UK via air or sea up for an avarica, Brazil or the restrictions. could be gearing in May. take them March 2 under the current MALLORCA in December to its shores and family or numlanche of tourists agents have seen the this to reconnect friendsholiday to remember,” he The ban was first introduced more-transmisfirst detected a UK. Airlines and travel holidays abroad soar out on a long-awaited when scientists the to to its web- sible variant of the virus in its roadmap ber of Brits booking added. originally supposed UK announced Cook said traffic week after the restrictions were the Prime Minishas now been Travel firm Thomas to leave the site doubled in the day after confirmed there Tighton January 19 but the banrestrictions curof lockdown. finally be able end with Ryanair multiple times, 2. UK tourists should from May 17, the govern- ter’s statement, while in bookings. Hancock extended a ‘large surge’ place until March country for holidays on Monday. the had been Health Secretary Matt of rently in ment announcedBoris Johnson revealed 6 However, that the effectiveness travOpinion Page plan for gradu- urged caution, warning Prime Minister whether international of his four-step all somove as part in England, with21. vaccines will dictate June ally lifting restrictions can go ahead. to protect against these new finally lifted by bookings el have cial contact rules easyJet, said than four He said: “We that is a Airlines, including variants, and season were more the same period big challenge.” for the summer compared with that times higher Hancock addedmuch last week. ‘we can be about more relaxed travel’ Confidence destina- international well of the most popular giant if vaccines workSouth Palma was one to the budget holiday against the Brazil month. tions, according August its busiest by chief ex- Africa and easyJet, with was described a ‘much-needed strains.the vaccine The announcement “If Lundgren, as against ecutive, Johan doesn’t work boost in confidence’. seen a pent-up demand then that will more bookings shows them, “We have consistently be much, much this surge in for travel and has been what UK consumers difficult,” he said.govthat this signal for,” he said. and It comes as the have been waiting were up by 630% ernment confirmed at the Holiday bookings while off, it was looking passflights by 337%. may be a little en- idea of vaccine travel “While the summer around the clock to to allow up our flights ports we will be working ready to ramp sure we will be

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21/6/19 13:30

Quick Crossword

9 Date, 10 Stalk, Across: 1 Fuse, 4 Pipeline, 8 Etchings, Ma’am, 16 High-ups, 18 11 Broncos, 13 Hers, 14 Yam, 15 23 Test. Braid, 20 Fuzz, 21 This is it, 22 Deployed,

4 Pant, 5 Pastrami, 6 Down: 2 Up to the minute, 3 Exhales, 15 Marxist, 17 Hazel, Led in, 7 Nationalities, 12 Sympathy, 19 Kind.

SUDOKU

against the The Complainant has filed a complaint Board with a deDefendant with Oslo Conciliation with the addimand for payment of NOK 69751,18 and legal costs. tion of interest at the legal rate

Telling it like it is

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As Complainant: Modhi Finance , Tempo Defendant: Per Einar Tinmsnndvik Banus 45, ES-29600 Marbella

trip Kindle and love nothing more than a T’S great that any newspaper is still to Waterstones (when in the UK) to select being printed in our age of the internet try a new book, preferably hard backed. and it’s something we should always A lot of things have changed since I startto support and maintain. ed my career as a journalist in my early internet Before the birth of the internet, Sunday of twenties. Back then there was no mornings for many people consistedbuy so we used books for factual research, to used when reading the papers. I always I a dictionary or thesaurus, as andwith us a News of the World, not only because required, and we carried pagers worked for the paper, but also, like many instead of mobile phones. in the age people, to catch up on the latest scandal tab- Writing this I feel like I was born because or expose, which the biggest selling of the dinosaur loid in Britain was famous since the internet became for. a global network in the OLIVE poshas PRESS Alongside the News of the technology 1990s, Screws (as it was known) I’d sessed everything. More buy the Sunday Telegraph and more people commufor international news and a nicate solely online, how more high-brow read. teenagers actually SKY HIGH many There’s still something nice use their phone as a teleES newspaper a HOP about reading phone? More people shop with a morning coffee, which online, especially since the was often a prelude to your pandemic, and nearly evworking day or whilst travelery business has migrated ling on the train or tube. But to an online presence. then I’m still one of the die-147 834 So after 20 years in the hards who refused to own952a

100th Edition

being dealt with Extract from complaint currently by Oslo Conciliation Board – Dept. 3 Case No. F2020-012277

to media industry I’m prouder than everthe go full circle and be able to write forvast Olive Press. The newspaper serves communities in Spain and the islands may providing real news, which again left become something from the past if and solely in the hands of unscrupulous self-serving organisations or individuals. the Newspapers should always remain the beacon of truth and shine a light intoI am deepest, darkest corners of the web. proud as a journalist to do my job because I feel it’s crucial to have an independent who and objective group of professionals the share the same goal, which is to hold powers that be to account. still Love him, or loathe him, Piers Morgan I’m champions old school journalism and glad he doesn’t let politicians off lightly because they should be held accountable - although it must be said he has managed to get himself into a little hot water now over Meghan! person’s The media always had the little to rely interest at heart, despite the needsurvive. on advertising to Which is why businesses should support their local, regional and national press, because without the integrity and guardians of the truth being able to continue commercially we may have nothing left but controlled, fake news.

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Gastronomy Gastronomía

DIG: Alfredo Gonzalez-Ruibal, archaeologist and (right) Silvia Navarro beside a memorial to the fallen day camp, Gonzalez-Ruibal explains. “It is true that many of the prisoners considered their time in the Valley of the Fallen as a good period in their lives,” he says. “But these were people who had lived through a civil war and spent time in concentration camps where they were on the verge of dying from hunger. It would have been like going from hell to purgatory.” It has taken Spain a long time to dismantle Europe’s last monument to fascism, which was at one time receiving 500,000 visitors a year, and Franco still casts a shadow. “The Valley of the Fallen and the general integration of Francoism into Spanish society has contributed to the fact that extreme right-wing views are now presented to the public as a reasonable option,” says Gonzalez-Ruibal. As if to illustrate his point, far-right Vox politician Alejandro Velez has just stood up in Extremad-

osE Antonio Marco (pictured), a forward-thinking Republican and mason shot for his beliefs at the age of 30, is among those whose bodies are to be exhumed this month. His execution took place against the cemetery wall in Calatayud, Aragon, in 1936. Afterwards he was buried in an unmarked mass grave nearby before being stealthily trucked to the Valley of the Fallen in April 1959. “On social media, someone said he was probably a thief and a murderer,” his great-niece, Silvia Navarro, 50, tells the Olive Press. “But he was a pacifist; a good man,” insists the president of the Association of Families for the Exhumation of Republicans Buried in the Valley of the Fallen. “He intro duced the eight-hour day to his factory and healthcare for his workers.” What was left of his corpse more than 23 years later would have been ‘dug up carelessly as if it were a field of potatoes’ , says Gonzalez-Ruibal. Franco urgently need ed

ura’s regional parliament to ask for a new statue of Franco to be erected on a roundabout in Badajoz! But at least it looks as though his monstrous mausoleum is to be stripped of its original purpose, as the dig extends to the exhumation of Falangist leader Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera and the remains of Franco’s victims. The 150-metre cross topping the basilica which Franco claimed to have built as a ‘national act of atonement’ crowns a graveyard of 33,838 corpses, 12,410 of which were carted there from 1959 until as late as 1983, many without the permission of the families. Packed into wooden boxes according to their region of origin, they were stored within the hollow walls of the Basilica where Franco lay across from Primo de Rivera until his controversial exhumation in 2019. “Imagine an archive, but instead of books, its boxes of human remains,” says Gonzalez-Ruibal.

Back from the grave

Republican corpses to fulfil his revis ed vision for his magnum opus as a plac e of reconciliation between the two sides of the Spanish Civil War. The long and bitter battle to get Marco and other Republicans out of the Valley started in 2009, taking 60 families through the entire Spanish judicial system and right up to the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg. Of these 60, the Lapeña family was the first to win the right to have the remains of brothers Manuel and Antonio Lapeña returned to them. Five years later, they are still waiting… as are the rest of the fami lies who finally achieved a breakthro ugh three months ago. “It’s a basic human right, no? To hono your dead?” says Navarro, who expla ur ins that there are still six of the victims’ child ren living – now in their late 80s and 90s and losing their memories.

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Olive press1.2.pdf 1 18/02/2021 10:55:36

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LETTERS

Should I come or should I go… Well done!

Dear Olive Press,

page spread the WHAT a wonderful three t issue). A big (las a Ibiz on did ss Olive Pre ! rke Cla well done to Jon ng the same for Would you consider doi San Pedro de Pinatar? three places to I can cer tainly nominate star and even e on to r -sta stay from five the Mediterrang oki rlo a youth hostel ove nean! lliant restaurants There are also some brisea but you must the r ove t that look ou ss food. book, which serve top clasideration. con r you for nks tha ny Ma

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s for your excelEditor’s note: Thank estions on your gg su h wit ail lent em area. od plan and cerIt does sound like a gou that there are tainly I agree with yo s about the San some wonderful thingbe running more Pedro area. We will coming months travel specials in the eled - you never - so keep your eyes pe will visit next! know which area we

Don’t come

WE have years to come of obnoxious Brits - without masks- coming to Spain only to have THEIR good time. They may have had a jab and got a COVID 'passport' but they don’t care about anyone in Spain. Make that anyone at all. That's plainly clear from watching TV. The majority of us expats are left feeling embarrassed by it. Everyone says they feel safer in Spain don't they! Europe must consider its citizens and see if vaccines stop carriers as well as herd protection and the whole world has to be COVID clear for 'normality' to return. We all have rights, and my right is to be protected from COVID in my own district. This is far from over, and certainly one country on its own can't change that fact. Mike Jeffrey, Calahonda (Malaga)

Won’t come HERE in the UK, there's a wave of resentment towards Spain and its government. People here are outraged by Spain's treatment of us following Brexit. Not only towards those Brits who live in Spain but also of the treatment of Gibraltar. Some Spanish politician was pleading for the Brits to return on holiday. Not a chance. Brits are now avoiding Spain and the EU like the plague, preferring places like Turkey and the US. Spain won't see anywhere near the levels of tourism it has been accustomed to as we Brits vote with our feet and take our money somewhere else. Let the poor Spanish have and keep their beaches to themselves. Because hundreds of thousands of Brits won't be coming. Barry Ryan, Warrington (UK)

Wants to go I JUST read your article about how the British COVID strain could be safe enough to permit holidays (All bark, little bite, last issue) for holidays. But I feel that the Spanish rate of vaccination is very slow - everyone in Spain needs to be vaccinated first to avoid more lockdowns before the borders are thrown open. I am a non-resident who got caught up with COVID last year. I booked a flight early last May and then the fights were cancelled and borders closed. I have managed to stay safe over the past year, but at the age of 74 and being on medication I would feel a lot safer after vaccinations. Unfortunately the local health centre does not know how to arrange a vaccine for me as a non-resident. James Mclaughlin, San Isidro (Alicante)

Mask confusion I READ your article on masks for school children (Olive Press Andalucia) and it appears this is only recommended by the Junta de Andalucia, and is not a law, which all schools have to adhere to. If it is not an actual law does this mean the schools have the power to choose which guidelines they enforce? Every parent I have spoken to disagrees with masks being worn in schools and I am interested in getting a petition started to unmask our children but need to find out as much information as possible and I do not speak Spanish so it is making it very hard. If there is anything you or anyone in your office can do to help please let me know. Jodie Grant by email Editor’s note: The Junta de Andalucia sets out the regulations which schools must adhere to within the region’s state schools (which it runs). Any petition should be directed towards them.

Bowled over THANKS for your article about cricket in Spain (Howzatt! All editions). It came as a bit of a surprise to find out that my favourite sport is becoming a bit of a thing in Spain. I shall be keeping an eye open to see if there is a local team I can go and watch. I am afraid I am a bit long in the tooth to participate myself, but I most certainly would like to lend my support where possible. Jack Hobart (Malaga)

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May 6th - May 19th 2021

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LA CULTURA

April 22nd - May 5th 2021

LA CULTURA

Do you have a what’s on? Send your informa tion to newsdesk@theolivepr ess.es

Crap shop

by David Baldacci

By Graham Keeley

at the world’s first caganers shop in Barcelona. Some 530 defecating figures will be on display for sale, to show off their remarkable history and to demonstrate how they are made. “To open a shop is the culmination of nearly 30 years of our career and as a recognition to our parents,” said Marc and Sergi Alos, respectively the sculptor and sales director of Caganer. com, the family-run company which has produced the figures for the past 29 years.

SPAIN’S famous Pamplona bull runs have been scrapped for a second successive year due to the COVID pandemic. The bull runs form the cornerstone of San Fermin festival in July, which draws tourists from around the world. The festival gained international fame from Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises. Prior to last year, the last time it was cancelled was during the Civil War between 1936 and 1939. As well as the morning bull runs and afternoon bullfights, the festival features roundthe-clock singing, dancing and drinking by revellers dressed in white clothes and red neck scarves. There are also religious events in honour of San Fermin. Last year’s cancel-

BROTHERS: Marc and Sergi Alos have set up shop

“We realised that it was necessary to have an establishment like this because until now you could only find the caganers in little stands or at fair at Christmas or in our

Honestly, no bull! lation was also a big financial blow to Pamplona’s bars, restaurants and hotels. Pamplona mayor, Enrique Maya said that staging the event would be ‘very risky due to the low number of vaccinated people and the Navarra region’s high COVID infection rate. Money that was going to be spent on the festival will be diverted to other summer attractions. In February, Navarra’s president, Maria Chivete, said that the event would be called off again, only for Maya to hold out longer before coming to terms with a second-successive cancellation.

Splash the cash

A Gambling Man

A caganer is not just for Christmas THEY are as much a part of Christmas in Catalunya as the pessebre, or nativity scene. Now these curious figures known as caganers - which depict everyone from Boris Johnson, Leo Messi, Joe Biden and even Queen Elizabeth II baring their bottoms to squat down and do their business, will be celebrated the year round

May 6th - May 19th 2021

ONE million Euros is to be spent on the historic Castillo de Sagunto. Spain’s Minister of Culture, Jose Manuel Rodriguez Uribes, announced that the cash will be used to install informative signs and to restore parts of the wall and the Almenara gate, as well as the creation of footpaths. But a €1.1 million visitor centre at the national monument that was ‘completed’ in 2010 remains unused because the electricity has never been connected. While work will be done to smarten up the ancient site, the visitor centre remains empty

It’s 1949 and WWII veteran Aloysius Archer is in need of a fresh start following a stint in prison. After hearing rumours that California is a place where hard working folk can make good money, Aloysius boards a bus towards a new life. On the way he makes a quick stop in Reno where he wins some money and meets secretive aspiring actress Liberty Callaghan. Arriving in Bay Town, California, they can clearly see it isn’t the land of opportunity they had hoped for. Aloysius takes a job with local P.I. Willie Dash and immediately find himself embroiled in a political scandal involving blackmail, brothels, drugs, secrets and lies. A Gambling Man is a modern gumshoe detective story from the master of thrillers and suspense. drugs, secrets and lies. A Gambling Man is a modern gumshoe detective story from the master of thrillers and suspense. €16.90 The Bookshop San Pedro, www.thebookshop.es

factory.” They added: “It will be an oasis for the caganer where all year round there will be figures that we have created. “The caganer is not just something for Christmas. Little by little, we are converting it into a typical souvenir that a tourist can take as a memory of Catalonia,” added the Alos brothers. The new shop is in Calle Banys Nous in Barcelona’s Barrio Gotico, an area which is normally full of tourists. The roots of the caganer tradition are vague but believed to date from around the late 17th century or early 18th century when the fashion at the time in Catalonia was for realism in art, sculpture and literature. and surrounded by rubble and rubbish, When asked about the state of neglect that pressure groups have been denouncing for over a decade, the minister said it is his intention to allocate cash to the centre and to agree on the drafting of a comprehensive plan for the site with the the Generalitat and the town council, in addition to strengthening the relationship of the Roman Theatre with the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music (Inaem) to schedule more shows, among other actions.

Mediterranean Cuisine

Summer nights’ dream Egg...citing Structure THE Parador hotel chain is offering a series of special concert packages during the summer months that promise to combine a musical experience with an overnight day in some of Spain’s emblematic hotels. Imagine attending a concert by one of Spain’s most celebrated musical talents performed beneath the starlit sky. This summer it will be possible to enjoy the Caprichos Musicales series put on by Paradores - the stateowned hotel chain that uses historic buildings or

those with the very best aspects. Music fans can enjoy flamenco from Diego el Cigala on at the parador in Nerja, Andalucia or the exquisite jazz of Andrea Motis beneath the castle walls on a hilltop in Cardona, Catalunya. There’s also Victor Manuel performing in the former monastery that is now the parador in Corias, Asturias, Jorge Drexler in the old castle of Jarandilla, Extremadura, Cbucho Valdes in Toldedo and Buika in Sigüenza.

SOMETHING strange has been cooked up in Orcheta on the Costa Blanca. It’s a giant concrete egg to celebrate the area and the whole of Spain! It’s the creation of Belgian artist and sculptor, Enca Caen, who moved to Orcheta last year. He claims that it is the biggest concrete egg in the world and has been done as a tribute to local residents who have followed the COVID rules.

Enca Caen said: “There have been chocolate eggs that have reached 18 metres with many people working on them but from what I can find, this is a concrete record.” Twenty five kilos of cement were used to craft the structure with Enca helped by his wife Chantal. It’s 5.40 metres tall and it weighs a hefty six tons. Caen is now working on putting a crown on top. “The egg symbolises the unity of Spain, the identity of the Valencian Community, and the history of Orcheta,” he said. It’s not his first concrete egg either, as two years ago he created a 3.4 metre high egg for the village of La Romana.

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LA CULTURA

May 6th - May 19th 2021

Tales of the surreal

EXCLUSIVE: A meeting with the maestro Salvador Dali was simply unforgettable, recalls David Baird

HEY’RE making a new film about one of the 20th cen- whelmed by his extrovert host. tury’s most famous artists, the outrageous Surrealist Dalí was in euphoric mood, leaning back in a cane chair as Salvador Dalí. Like anything associated with Dalí, it celestial music filled the patio. Then, abruptly, the maestro has bizarre aspects. Example: some scenes are being was off, bounding away in his rope-soled sandals. He gestured filmed in Wales, where the painter never set foot. at a phallic-shaped swimming pool, bordered oddly enough by Titled Dalí Land, it stars veteran actor Ben Kingsley (he was adverts for Pirelli tyres. brilliant as Gandhi, so he must be right for the part, right?). “Dalí is going to cover the bottom with sea-urchins,” he inIt relates how a young gallery assistant, played by Ezra Miller, formed us. “Yes, the stinging things, all over the bottom.” helps the ageing Dalí prepare for a big New York show. The Before I could ask why, he was off again and holding up a giartist’s wife, Gala, who was Russian, is portrayed by a German, gantic stuffed serpent. Barbara Sukowa. “Brigitte Bardot gave Dalí this. You like it?” Meanwhile, the Teatro-Museo Dalí in Figueras, up near the Somehow questions did not seem too important any more. French border, attracts more than a million visitors a year, How do you pin down an illusion, an eruption of fireworks, a making it one of the most visited in the world. Dalí is buried in bout of hysteria? Dalí claimed to have had his first hallucinaa crypt beneath the museum’s stage. And one of his creations, tion at the age of three and it was easy to believe. Portrait de Paul Eluard (pictured below) recently He was on the move again, elegant in black-andsold for $22 million, the highest figure ever paid white striped blazer and white trousers, keepfor a Surrealist work. ing up a commentary in a bewildering Dali was Have you got the picture? mix of English, Spanish, Catalan and Years after his death, in 1989, the legend of Sal- convinced I had French. vador Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech lives on. EsHe showed us the spherical Egg Room come all the pecially in my mind. Because I can never forget and pranced on, wagging his cane at the time when I met the man himself. a painting showing a naked woman’s way from China It was way back in the 1970s. I had spent the night back. “You have had the privilege of to see him in my camper van on a beach at Port Lligat on the seeing my wife in the nude. She has a Catalan coast. Just after dawn a Civil Guard patrol perfect back as you can see.” turned up and checked my credentials. When I Dalí and Gala began their relationship asked if they knew where the painter lived, they pointed out a while she was still married to his friend, the Surrealwhitewashed jumble of fishermen’s cottages close by. ist poet Paul Eluard. She left Eluard for Dali and the As a journalist, I had no option: I had to knock on the door. In pair married in 1934. Because of this affair Dali was the entrance hall a massive stuffed bear loomed menacingly. for years shunned by his father and their entire home Next thing I was ushered into the Dalí presence. Dalí looked town in Catalonia. Gala exerted an almost hypnotic his age. He gazed at me wearily, his moustache drooping. No power over Dalí. She persuaded him to buy her a caspyrotechnics, just a tired old man, slumped in his chair. I pre- tle in the village of Púbol, which the painter could not sented my card. enter without her permission. It has now become the “Come back in an hour,” said Dalí. Gala-Dalí Castle House Museum. When I returned, Dalí was sitting on a sunlit patio. And he was Later in the day Gala herself showed up, briefly. She a man transformed! Rejuvenated, effervescent. Even the fa- was elegance itself, but also cold and haughty. She mous moustache had acquired new life. eyed myself and my wife with distaste, asking: “Who “Ah!” he exclaimed. “The man from Shanghai!” are these people?” I realised later that the card was the clincher. It was one I had Dalí claimed that Gala recognised his hysterical used while working in Hong Kong. Dalí was convinced I had laugh for what it was, an indication of inner torment come all the way from China to see him. And soon a butler was and terror. She certainly knew how to convert his art pressing pink champagne on my wife, myself and three other into a money machine. Her mercenary ways became visitors. One of these was Dr. Schiller, a former minister in the notorious, as well as her taste for young lovers, to German government. A mild-mannered fellow, he seemed over- which Dalí turned a blind eye. The urge to cash in led to a huge scandal when it was learned that Dalí had signed hundreds of blank sheets of paper to which fake lithographs were later added. One yarn claims that John Lennon’s partner, Yoko Ono, bought what she thought was a strand of his moustache for $10,000, unaware it was a dry blade of grass from his garden. As we toured the bizarre Dalí hideaway, Dr. Schiller asked the painter to autograph a book of his works. No problem. He quickly penned a sketch on the flyleaf. “Fantastic!” said Dr. Schiller. I could only echo his words, recalling that at 1970s market prices that swift doodle would be worth at least $2,000. And today it could be sold for...who knows how much? For 60 seconds’ work. In his studio we viewed his latest creations. One was a clever arrangement of two patterns which merged when examined from a certain angle. All done with mirrors. “It’s wonderful, stereoscopic,” said Dalí. Asked its title, he paused – but only for a moment – then announced grandly: “Mineral Molecules in the Moment of Becoming One Angel!” Of course. Why hadn’t we thought of that? Later, intruders from the real world turned up, two executives from Playboy just arrived from New York. We met in Dalí’s library, presided over by stuffed swans and an eagle. They clutched a dozen or so colour photos, taken according to the maestro’s directions and due to appear in a special issue of the magazine. “You know the more I think about this project

the more excited I get,” declared the man from Playboy. I saw what he meant when I saw the pictures. Five spectacular models had somehow got entwined, in the nude, with the Bardot serpent and a huge egg in Dalí’s garden. While chatting with the Playboy reps, Dalí suddenly leaped on to a table and adopted an imperious pose. His eyes rolled wildly while his moustache and eyebrows performed a crazy accompaniment.“A photograph! A photograph!” he commanded.

May 6th - May 19th 2021

STRANGE: Dali at home with bear, striking a pose on the table, grooming his moustache and with Playboy photographer Pompeo Posar setting up a shot using his original sketch (bottom).

He was not to be denied. Clearly Dalí had never given up on his early ambition, announced at the age of seven, to be Napoleon. Surrealism has been described as an attempt to rebel against the orderly power of reason, to escape from the life sentence of daily routine. I was going to ask Dalí’s view about this. But the

next time I turned to speak to him he had morphed into somebody in a Chinese mandarin’s mask and a crown. Sheer exhibitionism, right? Or a crazy joke? Or Dalí’s way of retreating from the insane world we imagine is the real one?

GREEN

www.theolivepress.es

Martin Tye asks are you aware that Spain is the Dirty Man of Europe?

Green Matters By Martin Tye

IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD

ANY of you will remember this 1964 farce starring Mickey Rooney and Spencer Tracey. A farce is a comedy in which everything is absurd. Absurdism is even more extreme than a farce. In a farce, everything goes off the rails, but in absurdism, there aren’t any rails to begin with. A living example of this has to be the leaf blower, a device on the list of the top ten most ridiculous inventions of the last century. Brought to market as a hand held version in 1978, this mostly petrol powered contraption, in the hands of the ‘DIY MACHOMAN’ sets the scene to play out this tragic

farce. ‘I blow my rubbish and dirt (not just leaves) off my property onto yours. You then return the favour and blow them back!!!” It doesn’t get more absurd than this does it? These devices plague us all – in urbanisations, on the street, in public places. Nowhere is spared these noisy, polluting, and futile machines. Let me expand: ●● Leaf blowers blast air at 185 mph. They kick up allergens, dust, animal faeces, and other detrimental particulates. ●● They are noisy, obtrusive, and can cause hearing loss (sound emissions are 115 decibels). ●● The overall ecosystem is negatively affected. ●● They create 300 times the amount of pollutants as a street cleaning truck No one picks up the relocated debris they create. The original concept of blowing leaves in autumn is completely flawed. Leave the leaves in situ if possible. They are one ofvaluable things you can do to support pollinators and other invertebrates who need winter cover. Or, use as free mulch. Leaves are a great addition to compost. Whatever happened to the garden rake, the brush, and the pan? Maybe, to add to this farce we should form a movement to throw a cream pie in the face of all those who use them? 100% Certified Green Energy You decide…

Martin Tye is the owner of energy switch company Mariposa Energy. Email him at martin@mariposaenergia.es

CHEAPER ELECTRICITY

May 6th - May 19th 2021

Skybrator! By Fiona Govan

A PIONEERING turbine design promises to reinvent how we harness wind power without the need for giant windmills and blades that harm wildlife. The bladeless curve-topped cylinder can generate energy from vibrations alone and is the brainchild of Madrid based start-up Vortex Bladeless. “We have developed a new wind energy technology specially designed for on-site generation in residential areas, being able to work ongrid, off- grid, or along with regular solar panels or other

‘Phallic’ wind turbine could be future of green energy

generators,” explained David Yañez, the inventor behind the project.

Sustainable crossing SPAIN now has what is claimed to be the world’s first sustainable ‘fast ferry’. The service connects Palma de Mallorca to Denia with a stopover in Ibiza. Costing €90 million, Balearia’s Eleanor Roosevelt is the first ferry of its type in the world, operating with innovative natural gas engines, says the company. Taking just under three years to construct, the ferry is also longer than any other fast ferry in the world and has a capacity for 1,200 passengers and 450 cars. Balearia’s president, Adolfo Utor, explained that ‘sustainability and technology are the differentiating aspects’ of the vessel. Scientific analysis has shown that the ferry will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 85% which is equivalent to the consumption of 8,900 cars each year or some 27,000 trees. The ferry pays tribute to Eleanor Roosevelt, the longest serving First Lady in US history and a gender equality activist and advocate for civil rights, who was also the first president of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

BARCELONA mayor Ada Colau has s1et out the city’s vision for a green future by creating 503 superblocks to cut pollution and prevent hundreds of premature deaths. The blocks are groups of streets where traffic is reduced to close to zero,

Going green with the space given over to pedestrians and play areas. The plan could save hundreds of lives every year and cut air pollution by a quarter if it fully implements the radical superblocks scheme,

Described as an ‘environmentally friendly aerogenerator without blades designed for on-site wind energy generation’ it won the moniker Skybrator on Reddit because of its phallic appearance. The device could be effective from as small as three metres high which could be used on an off grid home to power a fridge, some lights and charge mobile phones harnessing wind power on a small scale in the same way as a home solar panel.

Size matters

“Power grows exponentially with the size of the device,” explained Jorge Piñero, another member of the Vortex team. The design has won the approval of Norway’s state energy company, Equinor, which named Vortex on a list of the 10 most exciting startups in the energy sector. The new designs could provide an alternative way of harnessing green energy in place of traditional wind farms with their giant blades that are known to decimate bird and bat species. according to a report by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health. “Citizens want us to move ahead with this transformation from the demonstrations and the surveys which we have conducted,” Colau told journalists.

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FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL Welcome Bargain back meal THE·Spanish government has announced it will be ready to welcome back British and International holidaymakers this June with a ‘COVID passport’ According to the Secretary of State for Tourism, Fernando Valdes, the digital certificate, which is being set up by the European Union (EU) and which ‘will be fundamental in providing certainty to travellers’, will be operational at the start of this summer.

Virus

Valdes explained that it will be accepted as proof a person had a COVID-19 jab, received a negative test result or recovered from the virus. With a digital vaccination certificate in place, to be pilot tested in May at all of Spain’s 46 airports, the country expects to kick start the recovery of the tourism trade in June. Additionally, Valdes said that Spain was pushing for the UK’s digital vaccine passport to be ‘mutually recognised’ and said he welcomed Boris Johnson’s plans to restart international travel from May 17.

SPAIN is home to one of the cheapest places in the world to enjoy a Michelin-starred meal. For a bargain basement price of just €25 diners can tuck into a three course set menu at Silbario in Vigo (Galicia). For that price you get an aperitif of Puchero de verdinas y setas silvestres (stew of green vegetables and wild mushrooms) then a choice of start-

ers like warm pea and mussel soup or roasted white asparagus with egg and ham. This is followed by Galician veal shank, chanterelles and Robuchon’s style puree or pan-seared palometa and roasted spring onion. To finish off there is a choice of Leche frita, with lemon cream and cinnamon ice cream or crema montada de tetilla with peach and fried sesame seeds.

The restaurant also offers more ambitious menus costing up to €80 - still a bit of a bargain in the rarefied world of Michelin-class dining, with

On the rocks THE home of the founder of the Bacardi drinks empire is to close, another victim of the COVID-19 pandemic. Casa Bacardi in Sitges was the original home of Facundo Bacardi Masso, who left the Catalan city in 1830 to set up the drinks company in Cuba. The website for Casa Bacar-

Coworking and creation centre at rock-bottom prices launched in Valencia city

musicians with masters’ degrees in Music Technology and experience in IT management, video composition, gaming, and a wealth of other interests. “Curiosibot Lab is a multi-space with a coworking section, a creation department for woodwork, 3D printing and laser cutting, and we also have a recording studio,” explains Alayna. “We have different types of membership. People can choose to rent a coworking space for a set period of time, or take out a Makers Membership. We keep our prices much lower than other similar facilities.” The recording studio section is brand new, and could be a godsend for bands and musicians who cannot afford the high prices asked elsewhere.

Alayna explains that the equipment can be booked for anything from one hour to a whole month, at much

cheaper rates than other similar studios. Curiosibot Lab recently welcomed visitors for an Open Day, and Alayna reveals that there are other public events on the cards. “In about two weeks’ time we’re having our first market for local artists to show and sell their work, again keeping prices really low because it can be very expensive for people to display their creations here. “We have also been assisting in the filming, motion-capture and event launch of a music NFT [electronic art] that is holding an event at Insomnia on May 1.” See front page advert

di, which closed on March 28, states that the property will remain shut ‘until further notice’. Since its opening almost ten years ago, Casa Bacardi has been a popular local attraction, but reduced capacity due to COVID-19 makes it untenable to continue as a museum.

Kick off hope

Tuck in to a Michelin-starred menu for just €25

GET CREATIVE! THERE is no shortage of creative talent in the world. From musicians to artists, handcraft artisans and technology wizards, exciting new projects are being launched everywhere, all the time, and who knows where the next cultural revolution will come from? The problem for budding creators, however, tends to be rather more practical: finding an affordable space in which to bring their ground-breaking ideas to fruition. This is where Curiosibot Lab comes in. Located at C/ Denia, 56 in Valencia city’s Russafa area - home to many British expats - Curiosibot Lab is the solution to all your creative needs. It is the brainchild of Alayna and Pier, a couple of lifelong

May 6th - May 19th 2021

chef Alberto Gonzalez (pictured) also serving up media raciones for as little as €14. For the cheapest Michelin restaurant in the world you will have to head up to Northern France. The Hostellerie la Montagne in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises has a set menu at €20, according to Top Dollar website. On the other side of the coin, there are Michelin-starred restaurants in 34 countries, and in five of those nations, you cannot find meals for less than $100 (€84). Other ‘cheap’ restaurants are Edvard’s (Vienna, Austria) and Borkonyha (Budapest, Hungary) also offering a menu under €25.

FOOTBALL fans may be allowed back in to watch the last four matches of the La Liga season. National COVID-19 restrictions are on the verge of being relaxed under plans being considered by the government and the sport’s organising body. A maximum of 5,000 fans would be allowed to watch the games inside the stadiums from this weekend, just before Spain’s state of emergency ends on May 9. If the move is approved by Spain’s government, supporters could return to the stadiums in time for the match between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, which could be a title decider. In contrast to countries like England, Germany and France, where fans have been allowed back into the stadiums in limited numbers at times, Spain has refused to let supporters back in since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Fans will be allowed to attend Euro 2020 games in Sevilla in June after the city was given permission to host these matches.

FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL

T was as spontaneous a trip as you could make. I had never seen the Alhambra despite all my years in Spain and last September, after recovering from a bout of fairly mild COVID, I decided it was now or never. And, for once in a lifetime, there would be no queues and no tourists. I booked a hotel that looked absolutely beautiful online, an entrance for the Alhambra and a train ticket for the next day, and off I went. In the time of Covid, this last-minute plan felt like I was achieving something unbelievable. On the train ride down I received a text message from the hotel saying, ‘Hello Deirdre, we will not be able to be there when you arrive, so we will leave you your keys on the reception desk. Here is the code to enter the front doors of the hotel.’ My train

Trip of a lifetime was arriving at 6pm, so this was hardly off-hours, but why not? The hotel was on the main tourist drag in front of the river with the Alhambra towering above, glowing in late afternoon sunshine. I found the door, entered the code and - beep beep beep - I was in. It was a gorgeous hotel in the old Granada style with exposed wooden beams, a courtyard flowing with vines and plants and wonderfully furnished. And sure enough, no one was there. I mean, not a single person! There was just my name on a card and a key, a map of Granada and another note explaining I had been upgraded to their nicest room, complete with a smiley face. I found my room, on the top floor with views over the Granada rooftops. It had a magnificent tiled bathroom with a decadent bath and

ITH restrictions easing across the UK, people everywhere are desperately waiting to hear when international travel can officially resume. With May 17 earmarked as the date that foreign trips could restart, lockdown-weary Brits are now thinking more and more about jetting away for some time in the sun. While foreign holidays are currently banned by the UK Government, ministers are expected to unveil the new traffic light system on May 7. Countries will be placed on green, amber, or red lists to determine if you need to quarantine or undergo further tests when you're back in the UK. Anyone travelling to countries awarded green list status will not have to isolate when they return. These rules will only affect people travelling from England to places abroad since devolved administrations in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales have the power to set their own timings for the easing of restrictions. While it is still unknown whether Spain will be given the green light, there are certain regions which are likely to be the first ones to welcome foreign visitors thanks to their low COVID-19 infection rates and push for travel corridors and vaccine passport schemes. With travellers desperate to understand what current conditions are in Spain, we thought we would help break it all down. We answer all your most- asked

FIVE STAR TREATMENT: Deirdre enjoyed rooftop views of the Alhambra fro

two huge beds made up with crisp sheets and fluffy blankets. The five star treatment

questions below. Who is allowed into Spain at the moment? Since late October 2020, Spain has been placed under a nationwide State of Emergency with further mobility restrictions and curfews which remain in force. Only citizens and legal residents of the European Union, Schengen states, Andorra, Monaco, The Vatican (Holy See) and San Marino, and those who can demonstrate through documentary evidence an essential need to enter Spain, will be granted entry under current travel restrictions. When will hotels be allowed to open in Spain to holidaymakers? Currently hotels and B&Bs are allowed to be open in Spain and anyone can make a booking, regardless of nationality. That means it’s good news for forward thinking Brits hoping to bag a deal but make sure to speak with them about the accommodation refund policy in case your flights are cancelled or you are prohibited from travelling. When will foreign destination travel be allowed from the UK to Spain? This is the big question. The government has yet to confirm when non-essential travel can resume, and at the moment foreign holidays are still banned. The lockdown roadmap states that the earliest that flights can restart is May 17.

for €33 per night! In normal times this room would easily cost quadruple that price.

Someone had unlocked the rooftop access for me as well and I climbed up the

Travel queries

Are hotels open in Spain and what are the current coronavirus rules on travel, and other questions answered By Kirsty McKenzie

Details are set to be announced soon of a new traffic light system - rating destinations as green, amber or red which will mean what sort of quarantine or restrictions will be required to visit those countries. However, Spain has not yet announced when it will welcome Brits. Currently only those with EU passports or Spanish residency are permitted to enter the country. The good news is however that the country is 'desperate to welcome' UK visitors this summer. Spain's tourism minister Fernando Valdes said: 'I think we will be ready here in Spain. We also think that the vaccination scheme in the UK is going pretty well, so hopefully we'll be seeing this summer the restart of holidays.' He added that certificates enabling holidaymakers to prove they have been vaccinated or recently tested are 'going to help us'. What does the traffic light system mean for English travellers? It is understood that the green, amber, red list won't be unvei-

led until May 7, but insiders have predicted that popular European destinations such as Iceland, Gibraltar, Malta and Portugal could be placed on the green list. At the moment it is thought due to the number of cases throughout Spain, the country is likely to be classified as an amber destination. The traffic light plan will be as follows: Green destinations: passengers will not need to quarantine when they return to England, but must take a pre-departure test, and a PCR test in return. Amber destinations: travellers will have to quarantine for 10 days, as well as taking a pre-departure test and two PCR tests. Red destinations: passengers will have to pay for a 10-day hotel quarantine stay on return, as well as a pre-departure test and two PCR tests. How long can people with apartments in Spain stay for? If you are planning on visiting Spain for longer than a simple summer holiday watch out. Since Brexit, Brits are only allowed to stay in the EU for 90 days out of a 180-day period. Rule-breakers may face fines, deportation and difficulties coming back.

winding stairs to a deck with a 360º view of the city, crowned by the spectacular Alhambra Palace. I enjoyed two days in solitary exploration of the silent city, strolling through the Alhambra’s eerily deserted courtyards like a Queen of Spain. It was a bit lonely of course, having my sunset terrace wine by myself, but be careful what you wish for. One night in a local bar, two welldressed young men from Sevilla regaled me with a raucous rendition of drunken flamenco until the owner yelled at them to shut up. “They don’t like how those of us from Sevilla sing flamenco here in Granada,” one of them slurred, before they both staggered off into the night. The most bizarrely creepy part of the whole trip is that in two days and nights, I never once saw another guest at the hotel, nor any member of staff. No cleaning carts, no jaunty receptionist, no noise at all. Effectively, I had a five floor boutique hotel to myself. On the other hand, the lights weren’t really on at night, when I had to feel my way along the corridor wall using the red emergency exit sign lights to locate my door. Flashes of Jack Nicholson in The Shining sprang to mind. In any normal September, this hotel would be rammed and the ghostly streets outside would be rowdy with revellers into the small hours of the morning. But spookily, returning from the Alhambra, I found someone had actually slipped in and made my bed, which felt even more disconcerting. Where was this person? Late the second night, just as I turned off the lights, I heard the lift whirring. I got

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A hotel with no guests, a ghost chambermaid and the Alhambra all to herself ...Madrid-based American Deirdre Carney’s minibreak to Granada during autumn’s lockdown lull took ‘travelling solo’ to a surreal new level

Mix it up at Jimmys. Whatever you want - Meat, Fish or Vegan. Delicious breakfasts and International tapas including the tastiest vegan selection on the Sol.

om her own private terrace at a bargain price, as she took the chance of a lifetime

up, rechecked my lock and retreated back into bed, staring at my door handle with every sense on alert.

But I heard nothing more. Next morning I left my key on the reception desk and let myself out. On the train

arlier in the year, the UK Treasury published a number of reviews and proposals relating to tax policy, dubbed Tax Day”, aimed at creating a more modern and open tax system in the UK. One such review likely to concern landlords and property owners, was around the tax and allowances of Furnished Holiday Lets (FHLs). These policy changes are a reaction to the increasing number of homeowners using sites like Airbnb to make additional income on their homes. Owners of FHLs receive a number of tax reliefs and allowances, providing that they meet the criteria set by the government. For example, properties that qualify as a FHL are subject to business rates instead of council tax. Business rates are cheaper, as they are deemed to be commercial premises, and the majority of FHLs are also viable for small business rates relief. This means that you could end up paying no rates at all. While this is great for FHL owners, it does, unfortunately, mean that many homeowners try to claim their property as a FHL, even if they don’t meet the criteria to benefit from the relief. Up until now, FHL owners have not been required to prove that they meet these requirements. However, with the number of homeowners claiming FHL tax benefits increasing, HMRC will be asking owners to prove that their property qualifies as a FHL. To qualify as a FHL, your property must be: ●● Based in the UK or in the European Economic Area (EEA) – including Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. All FHL properties in the UK will be treated as one business and all FHL properties in the EEA will be treated as another. ●● Furnished – your property must include sufficient furniture for normal occupation, such as beds, sofas and white goods. ●● Commercially let, i.e. you must intend to make a profit from the rental. Letting a property out of season to cover costs still counts as a commercial let, even if you did not make a profit. As well as the property conditions, there are also 3 key occupancy conditions that must all be met in order to qualify as a FHL. 1. Availability - Your property must be available as a FHL for at least 210 days in a year. You cannot count any days that you live in the property.

home I reflected that my ghostly, guestless hotel experience had made almost as much of an impression

on me as the incredible Alhambra itself. We are living through strange times…

All welcome and pet friendly too. So plant your feet at Jimmys. See you soon.

Tax bombshell 2. Letting - You must let out the property as a FHL for at least 105 days in the year. You cannot count any days that friends or relatives stay in the property for free or for a reduced rate. 3. You also cannot count any lets of more than 31 continuous days. The exception to this would be if something unforeseen happens, such as the holidaymaker either falling ill or having an accident that delays their departure, or they have to extend their holiday due to a delayed flight.

evidence to prove that this is the case. It seems likely that, with the introduction of MTD, you will be required to upload evidence to a digital platform in the near future.

Pattern of occupation

As well as paying business tax rates rather than council tax, FHL owners benefit from being able to:

There is a bit more wiggle room on the 31 day limit. If the total FHL bookings exceeding 31 continuous days is less than 155 days during the year, your property still qualifies as a FHL. If you don’t end up letting your property for at least 105 days, you have two options (known as elections) that can help you reach the occupancy threshold: ●● Averaging election – if you have more than one property and, between them, they average out to over 105 days of commercial let. You get a bit of time to make your averaging election one year from the 31st of January following the tax year. It sounds complicated but, essentially, you can make an averaging election for your 2017/18 tax year up until January 31, 2020. ●● Period of grace election – if you intended to let out your property as a FHL but did not reach 105 days occupancy, HMRC will accept proof that there had been a pattern of FHL activity by looking at previous years, for example. Broadly speaking, if your property is furnished, vacant and advertised as a holiday let for seven months of the year and you let it out for at least three months, it should qualify as a FHL and be eligible for certain tax reductions and allowances. While it’s currently unclear how HMRC will be checking that eligibility requirements have been met, it is important to check whether your property qualifies as a FHL and to collect any and all

Tax changes for Furnished Holiday Lets (FHLs) - what you need to know

What are the tax benefits of FHLs?

●● Claim capital allowances on your property, meaning you can furnish it and deduct the cost from your pre-tax profits. ●● Classify income generated from a FHL property as -relevant earnings- for pension purposes. ●● Split FHL profits equally between yourself and your spouse flexibly for tax purposes – unlike with long-term rental properties where profits are divided based on the official ownership split. ●● Claim certain Capital Gains Tax reliefs when you sell the property, e.g. Business Asset Rollover Relief. What UK FHL owners, living in Spain should do now Firstly be aware of the country that you are a resident in - the UK and Spain have a double taxation agreement, meaning that you shouldn’t pay both UK and Spanish tax on UK property income - however if you are a Spanish resident, you will need to declare your global income to the Spanish authorities. Register for self assessment as a non resident Landlord with HMRC - this means that your tax will not be stopped at source by your letting agent,

and you will be entitled to the £12570 tax free allowance on any UK rental income. You will also be able to claim expenses such as management fees as a tax deductible allowance If you are thinking of buying a property or using a property as a FHL, you should make a clear distinction between your residential or commercial lettings and begin gathering evidence as you go. As well as gathering evidence that your property qualifies as a FHL, you should keep good records relating to your FHL property and the income received. By using a platform like APARI that is tailored to the needs of landlords, you can keep upto-date digital records of your income, expenses and relevant documents preparing you for both the coming evidence requirements as well as MTD. For all the latest information and advice visit

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New developments approaching figures last seen in 2014 THE recovery of the construction sector is gathering pace. Sales of new build homes touched 2014 highs in February with more than 10,000 transactions. More and more buyers are targeting brand new property, which often offers better energy efficiency compared to second-hand properties. This surge in interest in the sector has been reflected by developers, with the 10 biggest in SPANISH house sales in February reached their highest point since the start of the COVID pandemic. Figures from the National Statistics Institute(INE) show that 43,185 transactions were carried out that month. Though it was a 4.3% fall on the previous February, that was the last month of 'normal' trading before pandemic restrictions took

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POPULAR British property programme, A Place In The Sun, has polled thousands of UK holiday home buyers to reveal the most popular areas for Brits to buy abroad. Almost 7,000 house-hunters were questioned during the various lockdowns suffered in the last year. Series producers at Channel 4, said: “We've all been spending a lot more time indoors over the last year, and it's got many of us dreaming about being somewhere warmer and sunnier.” The pandemic has meant that of those buyers, some 30% are more motivated than ever to buy abroad.

Restrictions

Health

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Once travel restrictions allow, almost two-thirds of those surveyed stated a preference for Spain. Some 61% said that that's where they plan to buy, followed by 12% for France and 6% for Portugal. The top destinations in Spain were the Costa Blanca, the Costa del Sol, Almeria and Murcia. Real Estate company TripInvest.com listed the reasons why Brits love Spain. These include transport links, climate, beautiful Blue Flag beaches, affordable properties and a rich cultural heritage.

Spain having about 32,500 new homes available, according to a study by consulting firm Activum. The 32,477 homes currently being marketed are in 375 developments, with Madrid, Barcelona and Malaga the busiest provinces with 74, 60 and 45 developments respectively. Sevilla, Valencia and Vizcaya also saw heightened activity. The Activum report said that another 29 developments will

On the up

effect. Another promising sign in the INE statistics is that the rise in house sales between January and February was the biggest increase between those two months for five years. The January 2021 figures showed a yearly decline of 15.4% as opposed to just 4.3% the following month.

start to be marketed by the top 10 developers in the coming months. In the ranking of developers, Vía Celere accounts for most new projects with 15 new developments slated for Barcelona, Cordoba, Madrid, Malaga, Sevilla and Valencia. It is followed by Amenabar, with 10 future developments; Metrovacesa, with nine; and Aedas Homes, with eight more projects. Malaga is the city with the most new developments planned for the near future, with 14, while Guipuzcoa is the second with eight. These figures only include those planned by the big 10 companies - smaller developers are responsible for many more.

Not so good

THE QUALITY of life in Valencia has plummeted in the last year amid coronavirus chaos. The city has dropped several places in a national league table reviewing the quality of life in 15 spots across Spain. The Spanish Consumers’ and Users’ Organisation (OCU) published a survey after quizzing residents on issues such as mobility, safety, healthcare, sport and education. They asked participants to review quality of life at four different stages: 2015, 2018, early 2020 and during the pandemic. All 15 cities saw standards of living, from sport and culture to health and education, plummet as Spain struggled to grapple with the spread of COVID-19. From 2015 to the start of 2020, Valencia maintained a healthy rating of 75 or above out of 80. But by the end of 2020 Valencia scraped by with a slightly above average ranking of 65 - coming in at number seven on the list.

Although Valencia does not score badly in any specific areas, people who live there are generally less satisfied than residents in Vigo (Galicia), Zaragoza, Bilbao, Valladolid (Castilla y Leon), and Cordoba and Malaga (Andalucia), in that order. Valencia draws in overall satisfaction with Gijon (Asturias), and is followed by Alicante, Sevilla (Andalucia), Las Palmas (Canary Islands), Murcia, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona and Madrid. Meanwhile the Galician city of Vigo was rated highest, with a global quality of life score of 70. “Experts behind the survey said: “The pandemic makes things worse We asked respondents to evaluate the overall quality of life in their city at the time of the survey and at different periods in recent years: in 2015, 2018, early 2020. “The situation before the coronavirus was to some extent stable in many cities, although upward trends are observed.”

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BUSINESS Alright for some 20

Tills keep ringing at Mercadona

THE firm behind Zara has set up a subsidiary company in its home area of Galicia to produce power through plants that use renewable energy sources. The new company will be called Inditex Renovables. It will not sell its power but use it for itself to reduce the reliance on buying in supplies. Inditex has filed an

Zara power application to install three wind turbines at La Coruña’s outer harbour. Reports say that the turbines would produce enough electricity to support the needs of the Inditex group in Spain, as well as powering the port’s facilities.

Jobs slashed

SUPERMARKET chain Mercadona has had a good pandemic. It closed 2020 with a record net turnover of €24.68 BILLION. This was an increase of 5.5% over the €26.932 billion of 2019, with the vast majority of the cash coming from its Spanish operation. The company’s 20 Portuguese stores contributed €186 million.

Record

Despite the record turnover, company boss Juan Roig described the year as ‘hard and complicated’ and pointed out that the company had actually lost market share – half a point to 26.4%. Mercadona also saw a significant increase in costs as it brought in anti-COVID measures. This did not stop the retailer from recording a significant rise in profits which grew 16.75% year-on-year to a

May 6th - May 19th 2021

SUPERMARKET SWEEP: Mercadona profits soared new high of €727 million. And the workforce shared in the good news, with €409 million handed out in bonuses – 20% more than in 2019. Mercadona ended the year with 1,641 supermarkets, after opening 70, 10 of them in Portugal, and closing 65 stores. The company also continued to invest in its online

business, which it started in 2018, with the opening of its new €12 million distribution hub in Madrid, joining its already existing Barcelona and Valencia centres. Online sales totaled €176 million, double the figure of 2019, although still a tiny fraction of turnover. Roig said: “It is in exceptional moments that exceptional people like our staff emerge.”

CAIXABANK has announced it will cut nearly 20% of its workforce across Spain as part of a nation-wide shake up following their merger with Bankia. The Spanish lender is to cut 5,742 jobs and close 1,534 of their 7000 branches across the country. The Madrid branch is set to be hit hardest by the restructuring plan, with union bosses expecting some 1,500 job losses. Valencia is also set to lose around 500 workers while the closure of the Murcia

branches mean some 400 people will be with out work. In total, 18% of the workforce is set to be cut as central services drops 1,611 employees and some 250 jobs across the regional headquarters are cut. Government spokesperson María Jesús Montero defended the shock move and claimed that had it not been for the merger ‘we would be talking about a higher volume of workers’. The state has retained a 16% share in the new megabank.

Guaranteed for three years! WARRANTY periods for all new electrical and digital goods bought in Spain will be extended to three years. The extra year has been approved by the Council of Ministers as part of an update to the General Law for the Defence of Consumers and Users.

Doubled

There are also new regulations on keeping spare parts for products, with the maximum five years now doubled to 10 years. The new laws are expected to take effect in a few weeks.

MOTORS Electrifying news

May 6th - May 19th 2021

Lightning fast

Cash handouts of up to €9,000 to buy an electric vehicle

BUYERS of electric vehicles (EVs) in Spain can claim subsidies of up to €9,000. The Spanish government has approved an €800 million fund up until the end of 2023, which is available now, revealed the Energy Ministry.

ELECTRIC supercar’, the Lotus Evija has been named as ‘The One to Watch’ in Top Gear’s second ever Electric Awards. The all-electric hypercar was recently tested by Top Gear magazine editor Jack Rix on the test track at Lo-

tus HQ in Hethel, Norfolk. Rix called the Evija not just a ‘signpost for the future of the company’ – but labeled it ‘a flagbearer for really fast electric vehicles as a whole’. The Evija, which will go into production later this year, is the world’s most powerful car. It has an output of more than 2,000 PS from its all-electric, all-wheel drive powertrain. It can accelerate from 124mph to 186mph

(200 km/h to 300 km/h) in just three seconds, half the time it takes a Bugatti Chiron to do the same. Rix was driving an Evija prototype restricted to 1,600 PS. “It’s light on its feet, playful with the instant mash of acceleration even a naturally aspirated engine could only fantasise about.”

Fleets Private buyers will be able to claim up to €7,000, with companies buying fleets to use as taxis eligible for more. Vans can attract subsidies of up to €9,000. These incentives follow a government pledge to promote battery production in Spain and push the manufacture of electric vehicles in the country. Volkswagen Group’s SEAT subsidiary plans to team up with power com-

BOOST: Get government cash to buy electric cars By Dilip Kuner

pany Iberdrola to build Spain’s first battery facto-

Seizure threat ELECTRIC scooter owners may have their machines seized by authorities for riding while drunk. Barcelona City Council is studying what legal means there could be to requisition scooters if their owners are convicted of serious or repeated offences. At present if car drivers are stopped by police and a breath test shows they are substantially over the drink-driving limit, then their vehicles can be seized by police. However, if riders of electric scooters are stopped for the same reason, they may face fines but will not lose their machines under current regulations. Authorities want to make punishments the same for all road users, according to La Vanguardia newspaper. Cities around Spain have been considering legislation to control electric scooters and will be watching Barcelona with interest.

ry for EVs. Reyes Maroto, Spain’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, said that the government plans to access EU funds for a public-private consortium. “The project will allow the development of … the necessary infrastructure, installations, and mechanisms to autonomously and competitively manufacture a connected electric vehicle,” Maroto said.

Plan Volkswagen has previously announced its intention to build six EV battery plants across Europe, with three earmarked for the Spain/ Portugal/southern France area. Previously Korean electronics giant LG had announced it was considering a proposal to convert Nissan’s doomed car assembly plant in Barcelona – slated for closure in December 2021 – into a battery factory. The Spanish government has offered direct aid of €600 million towards the €1.6 billion cost of the proposed takeover.

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COLUMNISTS

Swallows fly home Brits starting to sell up and head elsewhere

Lisa Burgess

HE term ‘swallow’ iis used frequently to describe Brits who travel to Spain each year for the warmer weather often for months at a time. Since UK citizens are only allowed to stay in Spain for a total of 90 days out of 180 days many Brits have decided to sell their holiday homes and look elsewhere. Many of my acquaintances have decided to sell up. The first is a couple who have been here for many decades but feel safer going home, taking up Spanish residency for them has tax implications. Another two friends have had a flat in Marbella for several years and could flit back and forth between here and the UK on a whim. Since they cannot do that now they want to sell and find somewhere that welcomes them all year round. I overheard a conversation between two Brits the other day in a cafe. They were laughing and joking about Spain

post-Brexit. They both agreed that the best option was to stay under the radar without a TIE and that the Spanish government will change the laws, they were not bothered at all by the situation. According to the Guardian, Spain has warned British tourists and second homeowners about the restrictions but they have dismissed reports that offenders would be rounded up and deported if they overstay. We must remember that the UK voted for Brexit, not Spain. My friend, Kay Chickie Shaw who has a second home in La Cala de Mijas is unhappy about the situation but she has adjusted by choosing to rent out her place when she cannot be here. I asked her what she thought about people selling up and she commented ‘it will be Spain's economy which suffers and it is very sad’. Maybe the laws will change but only time will tell. I would not count on it in the near future.

May 6th - May 19th 2021

Saying goodbye to a Marbella legend

ARBELLA lost another of its ‘old style’ celebrities with the death of Toni Dalli. While the Italian born singer might have exuded ‘showbiz glamour’, he worked incredibly hard to make it to the top, including stints in the Yorkshire coal mines and steel mills before being discovered singing in working men’s clubs. From then on, it was a meteoric rise in the 50s and 60s, performing in Las Vegas, Carnegie Hall, The Royal Albert Hall, as well as the Ed Sullivan show and even having his own show on national TV in the US at a time when you really did go live into every living room in the country. In a world where celebrity is

IN LOVE: Toni and wife Valerie

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Ciao Toni

STARRY EYED: Toni Dalli with Tommy Steele and Sergio Franchi and (above) in later Marbella days

perhaps a term that is too easily earned, where the weird, wonderful and frequently obviously wounded are paraded for entertainment in Reality TV shows, Toni, as well as other entertainers such as Bruce Forsyth, Ronnie Corbett and Jimmy Tarbuck – a close friend - were the real deal, having paid their dues on the entertainment circuit. Relocating to Spain, Toni enjoyed success in his second career, as he opened a beautiful beachfront restaurant on Marbella’s Golden Mile. It quickly became a ‘must do’ destination and you were more likely to bump into any visiting celebrity at ‘Toni Dalli’s’. Even though he was now a successful restaurateur, there was always an excuse for a little showbiz, which could be anything from a waiter balancing a brandy

glass on his bald head to Toni him becoming a founding giving an impromptu concert. member of the Ferrari OwnAnd if it was your birthday, ers Club of Andalucía. then Toni could not resist giv- Away from the internationing a rendition – in several al success and the showbiz languages. friendships, Toni was a genThe restaurant tradition was uinely popular person, a fact continued by sons Simon, reflected in the hundreds Marco and Nicholas who set of tributes and messages up the hugely that the family popular Dalli’s received from Pasta Factory both the SpanThere was in Puerto Banus ish and internathat quickly betional commualways an came another nities – includexcuse for a celebrity favouing Marbella rite; Sean Conmayor Ángeles little bit of nery had a pasMuñoz– as well showbiz ta dish named as The Variety after him and Club of Great the walls were Britain. adorned with motor racing ‘Another of the old guard has memorabilia signed by visit- left us’, a friend remarked ing F1 drivers including Da- when I told him the news. mon Hill and Martin Brundle. Marbella is a poorer place for Toni’s passion for motorsport, his passing. and of course Ferrari, led to Arrivederci e grazie, Toni.

T seems that exercising at home has become an essential part of survival during this awful pandemic. Unfortunately, all available programmes are aimed at the younger market, nothing for we wrinklies who probably need more urgent attention to our failing limbs and minds than the nubile Gods and Goddesses seen prancing around on your TV screens. So, here is my four-point plan, designed specifically for the 80-something, entitled `Tick-Tock around the clock.' Not a reflection of the current trendy, `TikTok´ Dance WorkOut Programmes, but because at our age, time is ticking away and every day, hour or minute over three score years and twenty is a bonus. So, take a deep breath, get yourself comfy, and here we go. 1. Eyebrow Press-Ups: Loosen up those corona worry lines indented on your forehead by relaxing in your favourite chair, head back, and commence moving your eyebrows up and down for 10 minutes. If they become too heavy, trim them gently back with nail scissors. Careful not to poke your eye out in the process.

Tick-Tock Time 2. Field of Dreams: An early morning exercise. Ladies OLD HAC K IN lie flat on your back on THE SUN the floor, legs apart and Benny Davis cast your mind back to Ramblings of an 80-something expat what this meant to you in your younger days. After one hour reminiscing, attempt to stand up. Note: Please ensure you have your mobile phone or panic button close at hand to call for help if still there at sunset. Gentlemen, same exercise, but lie on your stomach. 3. Finger strengtheners: Hold your hand out, palm up. Close your fist, the raise your index and middle fingers upwards to form a `V´ Hold this ´V´ while raising your lower arm up and down for several minutes. This exercise is also ideal for indicating your thoughts to family asking for open membership to the bank of grandma and grandad. One finger is also acceptable.

OP Puzzle solutions Quick Crossword Across: 7 Rhapsody, 8 Rick, 9 Open up!, 10 On foot, 11 Tires, 12 Anatoly, 14 Ugliest, 16 Spiel, 19 Trivia, 20 Horace, 21 Dank, 22 Lengthen. Down: 1 Whipping cream, 2 Sponge, 3 Loopy, 4 Tycoons, 5 Profit, 6 School teacher, 13 Usually, 15 Invoke, 17 Purity, 18 Shone.

SUDOKU

HEALTH

May 6th - May 19th 2021

Travel ban

Nothing to sneeze at HAY FEVER sufferers are set to suffer an intense pollen season this year, experts say. Despite the use of masks, experts have warned that due to mild winter temperatures, heavy rain and elevated humidity, the pollen counts will be high this spring. So with the weather warming and flowers blooming, bothersome nose and eye symptoms can set in as trees begin to pollinate coinciding with the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and additionally causing some confusion with overlapping symptoms. CONSUM supermarkets are putting a special coating on trolley and shopping basket handles to virtually eliminate COVID-19 risks for customers. The Valencian-based cooperative says that 47,000 units will get the protection over the next few months along with brandnew handles.

SPAIN’S government has extended a ban on all non-essential travel to Spain from outside the EU and Schengen area for another month. Confirmation of the extension due to the continued coronavirus pandemic was published on Friday in the Official State Gazette (BOE). The extension continues the recommendations by the EU that have been in place since June 30 last year. In addition, the notice confirms a ban on all travellers from those places where dangerous new variants of COVID-19 have been detected. These include India, Brazil, South Africa, Botswana, Comoros, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Peru and Colombia. Under this rule only Spanish citizens or those with residency in Spain are allowed to enter and must quarantine for 10

Getting a handle

Some 90% of baskets and trolleys will have been changed across 670 stores by July. Umbrella Zero is a nanotechnological coating with anti-viral properties. Tests

Spain extends coronavirus ban on non-essential travel for those outside EU - including Brits until May 31 By Fiona Govan

days on arrival. Because of Brexit, citizens from the United Kingdom are now considered third country nationals and must follow the same rules as other non-EU member states. This means that only those arriving from the UK who are residents in Spain or have a reason to travel that falls under the exceptions of the ban, such as for work or study, will be allowed to enter. Travellers are advised to check the latest travel advice for Spain on the UK Gov website have shown it to be 99.99% effective and it only needs to be applied once to the handles to give permanent protection. All of the test results have been independently verified by the Carlos III Health Institute in Madrid. Consum is spending €816,500 on the handle changes and adding the protective layer.

before making any plans. The extension of the travel ban on Brits by Spain comes as the UK is preparing to loosen restrictions to allow foreign travel. The British government is currently saying it will lift the ban on foreign holidays for people in England from May 17 as part of the next easing of coronavirus restrictions. Although there are moves by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on coronavirus to ‘maintain curbs on international leisure travel’ beyond that date. Britain is likely to introduce a traffic light system that will distinguish between low risk countries and high risk countries with no quarantine requirements imposed on those returning from ‘green light’ countries. Spain has said it will be ready to welcome international travellers under a vaccine passport type scheme from June, if a deal can be made with the EU and is involved in discussions with the British authorities to make a bilateral agreement.

Think before you post I

DON’T advocate violence in any form but Mike Tyson (pictured) has a point when he said ‘social media made you all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it’. The latest figures show there are 3.78 billion global social media users and as a former addict, I can attest to the fact that using it far less has been thoroughly good for my health. I have found that I have accomplished work faster with added creativity. I am less stressed, getting more sleep and have learnt more about my-

ANTEQUERA hospital has been selected to test Pfizer in children and pregnant women. The Antequera Hospital is one of the five centres selected at national level, and the only one in Andalucia, to participate in a clinical trial to evaluate the Pfizer vaccine in minors and preg-

Why Iron Mike Tyson has a point when it come to social media, writes Lisa Burgess

self. I have sat around less, read more books and challenged my mind with puzzles and quizzes. Heated political debates no longer rage into the early hours. We all have that one friend who seems to have the perfect life on social media but, you know what, they don’t. The more they post the less likely they are to be truly happy. You cannot help making social comparisons with them but you are only seeing a narrow view of their life. David Greenfield, PhD at the University of Connecticut and founder of the Center for Internet & Technology Addiction says that ‘if you are us-

Jab Study nant women. It is a clinical trial, starting in May, that will last 26 months to evaluate the vaccine in children aged six months to 12 years of age and in pregnant women.

ing social media addictively, you have elevated levels of dopamine, so when you stop doing that there is some withdrawal’. The good news is it will only last for a few days.

Quit

It is not necessary to completely quit social media as it certainly has helped me during my health struggles and connects me with my family and friends around the world. A word to the wise though, think before posting - what happens on social media stays up forever!

COVID success THERE are now more people with both doses of the COVID vaccine than patients with reported infections since the pandemic began in the Valencia region. For the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, and just four months after the launch of the vaccination campaign, the number of full inoculations is higher than the official infection count. There are now more than 394,280 valencianos and valencianas fully immunised against the coronavirus, compared to the 389,850 to have tested positive since the beginning of 2020. According to figures published by the regional Health department, an estimated 30,000 more jabs were administered in April than in the previous three months. However, not all three provinces hit the mark equally. While Valencia and Castellon do now have officially more people vaccinated than infected, the situation is not quite the same in Alicante There there are 146,190 and 141,880 fully inoculated residents. The regional breakthrough was reported four months after 81-year-old Batiste Martibeacae the first valenciano to get a jab. Despite the successful advance of the inoculation campaign, the department led by councillor Ana Barcelo warns that the pandemic is far from over. January and February saw the worst figures since the COVID outbreak, with more than 200,000 new infections and 4,000 deaths making those months even worse than spring last year. Health experts insist on the importance of observing all the necessary precautions and obeying the guidelines, especially once the national state of alarm is lifted on May 9, which could lead many to relax their guard before time.

FACEMASKS may no longer be necessary in the Valencia region in September. Healthcare experts revealed that, if the vaccination programme continues as planned and based on evidence from other parts of the world such as the USA, the much-desired herd immunity could be reached just after summer. Each virus has its own benchmarks to be considered under control,

Masks off and in the case of the coronavirus, that limit is set at 70% of the immunised population. Once that magic figure has been reached, restrictions can be dropped and things could get back to normal. And the main – and possibly most desired – change will be the elimination of the obligatory facemask. Current figures show that 23% of residents in the Valencian Community have at least one dose of the jab and 8% have both, including the single-dose Janssen vaccine. This leaves nearly 2.4 million valencianos and valencianas to be inoculated in order to reach 70%, which estimates predict could happen in 18 weeks’ time from now – just after the end of August.

Probe TOLEDO University Hospital has reported the death of a patient due to an alleged bad reaction to the AstraZeneca vaccine. The man, aged 30, was admitted to intensive care suffering from a blood clot, suspected of being caused by the vaccine. He died four days later.

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FINAL WORDS

Sex education THE VOX Party has slammed a sex education class in Mallorca after finding out that children used plasticine to learn about the reproductive organs. The right-wing party took to Twitter to blast the lesson as ‘pornography’.

Swipe right AIs can easily manipulate matters of the heart, say researchers in Spain who were able to trick daters into picking the wrong match with a fake algorithm.

Lap of luxury A SUPERYACHT owned by the Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg arrived in Malaga after sailing from Gibraltar. The 77-metre yacht named Tango will be in the port until Friday when it sets sail to Italy.

VALENCIA / COSTA AZAHAR Vol. 1 Issue 12 www.theolivepress.es FREE

Dick move A MAN defending his girlfriend’s honour ended up needing three stitches after he was bitten on the penis. The 24-year-old victim was attacked when he told off a passerby who had ‘complimented’ his companion. The couple had been walking through the La Puñala district of Elche (Alicante) when they were accosted by a 28-year-old man who was worse for wear. The boyfriend told him off for his comments to his girlfriend, only to become the target for an assault in which the assailant sank his teeth into the victim’s manhood.

Your expat

voice in Spain May 6th - May 19th 2021

My precious!

Expat’s prized ring returned after it was buried under 350,000 tonnes of rubbish

FOUND: From trash to treasure

By Cristina Hodgson

IT makes the task of finding a needle in a haystack sound simple. When Helen Miles (pictured) accidentally threw her prized ring in the bin, it ended up as part of a 350,000 tonne

Freak death

A 59-year-old cyclist died after swallowing a bee when out riding with friends. The man was travelling in the Polinya del Xuquer area of Valencia

Tug of love

when the bee flew into his mouth. The cyclist was stung in his throat and lost consciousness. Paramedics were unable to resuscitate him. It’s believed that he suffered a fatal allergic reaction to the sting.

A COURT is to rule over the custody of a pet dog. When the owners of a white Maltese called Bimba separated they agreed to an ‘out of court’ joint custody arrangement for their daughter. Bimba would go along with the girl to stay with her father on his access days and everything seemed to work well at first. But the relationship between the grown-ups deteriorated with the man being refused access to Bimba in February.

Custody

mound of rubbish. Helen was left devastated when she realised what had happened to the three-colour gold ring she had bought 30 years previously with her first pay packet. That was in 2018, and her initial thoughts were she had lost the jewellery for ever. But hope rekindled for the woman from Casares (Malaga) when the massive Costa del Sol Environmental Complex opened a lost property office the following year. Barely thinking she had a chance that such a tiny item could be found amongst the vast amounts of rubbish that

the waste treatment plant deals with, she nonetheless decided to give it a go. She went online to fill in a form and upload photos of the ring back in March 2019. Now, two years later she has struck gold - and had ‘her precious’ returned. The sparkler now sits once more on Helen’s little finger. “It is a ring that I bought 30 years ago with my first pay packet and it has a lot of sentimental value for me,” she said. “It’s just incredible that such a small piece could have been located amongst the waste from the entire Costa del Sol.”

He was told that the dog actually belonged to his ex-partner’s other daughter and that he could never take her again. The man has now gone to court to get access to the family pet. He says that he paid for all of the dog’s expenses when he lived with his ex-partner. Bimba, though, is officially registered in the woman’s name on its microchip. The man says that is a technicality as she was the one that took the dog to the vet for the procedure. His lawyer claims that his client is suffering ‘serious non-financial damage such is his love for Bimba’.