Euro Weekly News - Costa Blanca North 24 - 30 December 2015 Issue 1590 by Euro Weekly News Media S.A.

ISSUE NO. 1590

24 - 30 December 2015

COSTA BLANCA NORTH YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION

EWN The only one, 6 editions, 52 weeks a year

Deadlock as the system shatters NO overall majority for any party

By Linda Hall Some of the politicians representing Alicante Province in the national parliament in Madrid are familiar faces. One of them belongs to Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo (pictured centre), Foreign Minister in Rajoyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s previous government. He headed the list of candidates for the Partido Popular (PP) in Alicante, which was the most-voted-for party in the

province and will send 11 MPs to Madrid. The party scooped 71,000 more votes than in Mayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s municipal and regional elections but the outlook is less than rosy for Margallo and his

fellow MPs. Nationwide the PP has lost almost half of its seats, the majority to brand-new parties Podemos and Ciudadanos

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LOCAL NEWS

False information A PROSTHETIC from privatised Denia Hospital costs 139 per cent more than one from state-run Gandia Hospital and 108 per cent more than Villajoyosa, revealed health work-

ers’ union, Sindicat Salut. Denia Hospital defended the high cost, claiming it offers medical services requiring expensive prosthetics and criticised the union for its ‘biased’ leak.

Negotiation and dialogue now key From Front Page who have never been present in the national parliament. In Alicante Province the Podemos-Compromis alliance is hot on the PP’s heels with three MPs in the national parliament. The PSOE socialists have another three while Ciudadanos has two. Practically the same story

played out in every Spanish region except Cataluña and the Basque Region where Podemos was most-voted-for. No party has an overall majority and without interparty alliances, the PP cannot form a government. Negotiation and dialogue were noticeably absent during the last legislature but are now the only option to calling another election early next year.

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River park for Alicante towns now viable project FIRST phase in Campello which would include gardens and an underpass GCampello town hallemma

By Linda Hall THE River Monnegre could become a park. The Mancomunidad Alacanti - six municipalities in the Alicante area - first debated the plan in 2009. This is now viable, thanks to the upriver water treatment plant which has encouraged the return of vegetation and ducks as well as fish to prey on the mosquitoes that would otherwise plague the area. The project would begin in Campello where the river acquires the name of Rio Seco and reaches the sea. This section would include gardens extending from the TRAM track and Avenida Jaume I in Campello with an underpass beneath the railway line. Paths planted with native trees, shrubs and flowers would follow the river to San Juan and Muchamiel. This initial phase would conclude in the Moli Nou in Muchamiel where the first of the river’s three small dams is located.

RIVER SECO: Revamp is on the cards.

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24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North E W N

Isabel Allende

A Christmas message from the EWN directors A WONDERFUL thing about Christmas is that it’s compulsory, like the British rain, and we all go through it together. This year the EWN family implores you to remember that word. Together. We urge you to help us bring back the true meaning of Christmas - the spirit of giving, not getting. Let us abandon meaningless materialism, rekindle the flame of charity in our hearts, and remember that without community, we can never speak of character. This is why this Christmas, as part of the Euro Weekly News 2016 Giving While Living campaign we will be donating to a wide variety of worthy causes on behalf of you, our readers. We believe that these different charities do such invaluable work in their local communities that through them, together, we can make a lasting difference. We will be kicking off our campaign with a thousand euro donation to the Asociacion de Padres Serrania de Churriana who assist parents of disabled children, working especially hard at this emotional time of year. We will be donating to Make a Smile to help with their invaluable assistance to orphaned and suffering children; MABS, one of the leading charities in Spain dedicated to supporting those with cancer; Sam Bayley who has done incredible work for those with mental health issues; MACS who support and raise funds for medical treatment for people with cancer and related problems; and Palma Pictures who have produced a wonderful short film to help raise money for food-banks. A donation will be made to 3C’s Care Agency, an agency devoted to helping senior members of the community in their time of need. On a personal note we will also provide help to a family in Axarquia, where the children unexpectedly lost their father in February. We stress that all of these charities and endeavours are fully transparent and we know with certainty that any money or goods provided will go straight to those in need. These donations are spread across all six of the areas where EWN is distributed, providing you, the readers, with the only national paper with six local editions written by expats for the expat community. Christmas is the time of year we can be truly human, it is a tonic for the soul, a state of mind. This Christmas we urge you to remember the forgotten, the lonely, the lost, and the hungry. Take round some food for a neighbour you know may be having an especially tough time of it this year. Wake up early and lend a helping hand at one of the many soup kitchens which are the anchors keeping many afloat. Be a friend in need, a shoulder to cry on, a consoling voice amid all the fanfare and noise. Remember that you too have felt the pangs of despair, and that someone close to you will be feeling them now. Remember that we came to Spain because we wanted to do things differently, so let’s be different this Christmas and renew our faith in our community for we are only as strong as the weakest among us. Therefore with all this in mind, we would humbly like to offer our sincerest wishes to all of our readers, and our valued clients, without you none of this would be possible.

A Very Merry Christmas from everyone at the

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INDEX News 1 - 36

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Bustling Benidorm Indoor Market STALLHOLDERS report that business is indeed booming BUSINESS is booming for the Indoor market at the most magical time of the year. The EWN’s Lynda Ormston took a stroll around the bustling market and spoke to some of the merchants to ask them how the season’s trade was shaping up. From Jenny’s Fashion to the Gift Factory, from Changing Lives to Salvadors, everyone is having a great year.

CUSTOMERS: Are looking for last-minute bargains.

Theme park wins Best Expats experience Attraction award airport delays TERRA MITICA has won the Best Attraction award for its white knuckle ride Synkope. The ride is a giant swinging disc rotating at 90km/h that takes you 35m into the air at 120 degrees as the rotating pendulum swings. Not for the faint hearted, the ride was built for the park in 2004, and has to be experienced to be believed!

THE great Christmas escape saw passengers experiencing delays of up to an hour at Alicante-Elche airport. There were several Benidorm expats amongst them returning home for the holidays, said Euro Weekly News reader and regular market customer Alicia Bruce once she had boarded. Although the start of the Christmas campaign had seen a large influx of passengers, it was launched without any major problems AENA said, apart from the few initial delays of around an hour. Christmas is expected to be almost as busy as summer for the airport, the airports operator said.

The market is very busy with the Christmas customers looking for those last-minute bargains. “The replies from the stallholders I spoke to confirmed that business is indeed booming, and they all report that sales are up. They would also like to wish their customers and the EWN readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.”

Benidorm, especially the IMSERSO Spanish pensioners. The average expenditure per person on Christmas Lottery was €50 in 2014, two euros more than the previous year and four euros more than in 2012. The draw for the Christmas lottery consists of 160 series of 100,000 tickets each. The total values of prizes will be €2,240 million, according to data from State Lotteries. The first prize is worth €4 million per set (equivalent to a prize of €20,000 per euro played), the second has a prize of €1.25 million euros per set (€6,250 per euro played), and third prize is a cash prize of €500,000 per set (€2,500 per euro played). The draw for 2015 will be the third year that the Treasury will retain 25 per cent of the prizes of over €2,500.

New apartment Holidaymakers blocks are planned contribute to TWO new apartment blocks are planned for Villajoyosa in Benidorm. increase in the Avenida TN Real Estate Group has purchased the plot. permission, however, has not yet been sale of lottery Planning applied for. Pablo Serna, director of TM, said: “For now we have just bought the plot, but have tickets in the scheduled meetings with the town hall for building permits this month.” town The two towers have been given the name

SALES of lottery tickets are up, and holidaymakers like to buy tickets whilst they’re in

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NEWS

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Scarlet fever in El Campello OUTBREAK at the CEIP Rafael Altamira school By Keith Baker ON Friday December 11, several cases of scarlet fever were discovered at the CEIP Rafael Altamira school. Staff took immediate action, in tandem with the Ministry of Health and the government team, through the Councillor for Education Maria Carmen de Lamo. Standard protocols for viral outbreaks were established. Scarlet fever is an infectious disease caused by a streptococcus whose symptoms are similar to those of a

cold, such as fever, sore throat, nausea and swollen tonsils. It is considered a mild disease but can cause side-effects if not treated promptly with antibiotics. Faced with this disease, early intervention is critical. Therefore the protocol, which has already been implemented at the school, the health centre and with health authorities, states that parents who detect these symptoms should attend the clinic where they can be treated with an antibiotic that cures the disease in three days and

prevents spread to other children. If left untreated the patient or carrier of the virus can transmit the disease for three weeks. This disease is spread mainly through saliva, and preventative measures include frequent hand-washing with soap and not sharing eating utensils, glasses, cups, etc. The Ministry of Health has enabled the protocols to disinfect classrooms and around the school where infected students may have been. The centre has now returned to normal.

Getting people back into work

NEW START: Workers and councillors gather for the signing of contracts. THE town council in Altea has helped eight people into employment, thanks to a joint plan with the Delegation of Alicante, with whom they will share the cost. The contracts will last for three months.

Mayor of Altea, James Llinares, met with all eight of them for the signing of the contracts, as well as to let them know the areas in which they will be working. The meeting was also attend-

ed by the Councillor for Social Welfare, Veronica Lopez, Mayor of Infrastructure, Roque Ferrer, Councillor for Tourism, Alvado Anna, and Councillor for the Environment, Beatrice Nomdedeu.

EWN

Benidorm social housing block to have repairs THE block, Plaza Prelate A Bayona de Benidorm, which is over 50 years old, needs repairs to the roof. Residents report significant damp due to its poor condition. The councillor for Social Welfare for Benidorm, Angela Llorca, said she is seeking to allocate a budget to repair the roof in 2016.

The building also has other significant issues, particularly in the common areas. Ll or ca sai d t hey wer e al r eady i n t he process of awarding the contract to fix these problems. The presence of rats is another issue which is being investigated.

Asbestos in school to be removed ASBESTOS is due to be removed from the gym and dining area at the Vasco Nunez de Baloa school in Benidorm. There will also be repairs made to the foundations of a pillar, which, although not structural, do need attention. The uninhabited home of the concierge

will be demolished. Although the date for the start of the work has not yet been disclosed, the Minister of Education, Vicent Marza, said the school is functioning normally, and that the work was being given the appropriate priority.

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NEWS EXTRA

Wayside flower A ROSE belonging to Europe’s oldest species was spotted growing on the side of the CV-795 in Bañeres. Named ‘rosa gallica’ it has also been found near the Marina Alta coast.

A-70 fire A CAR caught fire just before entering the San Juan tunnel on the A-70 motorway. Despite the severity of the blaze which entirely destroyed the engine, the driver suffered no injuries.

Protection MEMBERS of an Alcoy City Hall employment scheme cleared a secondary firebreak in the wooded Barxell to protect this area as well as the Baradello residential zone from forest fire.

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It’s not all plain sailing for Costa Blanca yacht clubs UNTIL now concessions were put out to tender and renewals were negotiable By Linda Hall CONCESSIONS to run 12 of the region’s 56 yacht clubs are up for renewal. Until now concessions were put out to tender and renewals were negotiatable for a non-profit body already running a club. The old system is changing with all concessions put out to tender, causing consternation in the majority of yacht clubs involved. Their worries are shared by their local town halls, regardless of politics. This is the case in Denia where the club would have to make the winning bid to retain concession explained Jaime Portoles, president of the Real Club Nautico. The new arrangement would force the club to function like a private marina “forgetting about sport and promoting the town,” he maintained. Although the club’s concession does not expire for 14 years, it would be necessary to cease sporting activities, the three sailing schools and swimming pool activities, he explained. These cost around €500,000 a year and unless the Generalitat relents, the club would need to eliminate them and save up to bid for renewal.

Donan Raven

YACHT CLUBS: Licence renewals are no longer automatic. The regional government has relented to some extent and announced that only existing yacht clubs or sporting bodies that comply with official requirements may put in bids. This will guarantee that the Generalitat can oversee the operations and social objectives in the ports that come under its control, an official communiqué said. “The Generalitat’s principal objective is to design

the best possible model for the Valencian Community’s leisure ports,” it continued. “Intense dialogue and negotiations have been held over the past few weeks not only with the Asociacion de Clubs Nauticos but also the town halls involved.” The Generalitat emphasised that it went hand-inhand with the region’s town halls and inhabitants in order to draft conditions appropriate to each case.

NEWS

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Three doctors accused of negligence PATIENT died of peritonitis following a gall-bladder operation By Gemma Quinn A COURT has charged three doctors with the crime of homicide by professional recklessness, in connection with the death of a patient who had

his gall-bladder removed at Alicante General Hospital in July 2013. The victim, who was 46, died 48 hours after surgery from an infection that caused peritonitis. He had been sent home the morning after the op-

TALKING BUSINESS: Entrepreneurs presented their business models.

Businessmen gather for meeting in Alfaz del Pi SIXTY entrepreneurs from the province of Alicante attended Sha Wellness Clinic for a meeting organised by Jovempa Marina Baixa and Alfaz del Pi’s Department of Local Development, in collaboration with Coempa. Three companies from the municipality - Sha Wellness

Clinic, D’Origin Coffee Roasters and Bodegas Enrique Mendoza - presented their business models, three cases of business success that can be referenced by good management. In addition, Councillor for Local Development, Vicente Soler, presented the Winter Sun City project, which combines

culinary, hospitality, commercial, sporting and cultural environmental matters. The day ended with a reception in which they could enjoy healthy snacks from Sha Wellness Clinic, washed down with the wines of Bodegas Enrique Mendoza and coffee from D’Origin Coffee Roasters.

Christmas Carol Concert held by Masons of Deportiva Lodge LAST week, members of Deportiva Lodge Number 83 held a Candlelight Christmas Carol Concert in aid of local charities. The evening was fully booked and enjoyed by more than 50 Masons and their guests at restaurant Le Gourmand in Javea. The evening started with a glass of mulled wine as old friends caught up with each other and prepared for a night of songs, wine and good food. Carol-singing started early led by Worshipful Master Glyn Walters and Charity Steward Darrell Clayton, the well-known local DJ and entertainer. Appetites being stimulated by song, the guests made their way to the restaurant for dinner. At each interval between

courses more carols were sung, becoming louder and more enthusiastic with each rendition. Towards the end of the evening a charity raffle was held culminating in several happy guests going home with prizes, all of which were donated by the Masons. The star prize, a Christmas Hamper, was won by local lawyer Angel Poveda. Over the past year, Deportiva Lodge has helped numerous charities including Raquel Paya special needs school, MABS, Denia HELP and Javea Volunteer Bomberos and has raised over €4,700 in the process. Many more events are planned for next year and details can be obtained from Glyn, Darrell or any member of the lodge.

eration. A forensic report ruled that the patient should have been subjected to a more thorough pre-operative study with diagnostic tests such as an MRI to assess the risks of the operation, especially when he was an outpatient and had a biliary

stent implanted in 2012, which is designed to hold the bile duct open. This was found in two pieces and out of place when the post-mortem was performed. The doctors deny the accusations.

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NEWS EXTRA

At last A 44-YEAR-OLD man sought for 19 months by five courts was arrested in Castellon. He was wanted for breaking and entering in Benidorm, Valencia, Villareal, Castellon and Teruel.

Yearly date CALPE’S mayor Cesar Sanchez and councillor Ana Sala shared the Asociacion de Amas de Casas’ traditional Christmas lunch attended by more than 100 members of the local housewives’ association .

Bike race LA NUCIA Town Hall’s Sports department and the La Nucia Cycling club are organising the town’s first Children’s Mountain Bike Race on January 3. It will be ridden over different distances according to age.

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Drugs alert as holidays begin ‘DON’T experiment with your Christmas’ warning given in recently launched campaign By Linda Hall AT least 350 new designer drugs have appeared in recent years. One hundred were detected in 2013 alone and according to the regional Health department’s director general Rafael Sotoca, they are “20 times more dangerous than those we were familiar with in the past.” Sotoca and Vicente Pizcueta, president of the non-government organisation Controla Club, recently launched a joint campaign aimed at the young entitled “Don’t experiment with your Christmas.” Controla Club’s members participate in, or are involved with, the entertainment, leisure and fashion industry. The group promotes social responsibility with prevention and awareness programmes as well as drug dependency information aimed at users of discos, clubs, pubs, concerts and nightlife in general. The club has more than 75,000 young members from all over Spain. Most will be going out at night between three and five times over the Christmas period and many might not turn away from the opportunity of trying new kinds of diversions, Sotoca and

Photo DEA public domain.

WARNING: Some of what will be around at Christmas. Pizcueta admitted. Because of this, both emphasised the dangers of the new drugs that are around. “Changing just one molecule converts them into new substances that are much more dangerous and have serious consequences,” they warned. Once drugs are transformed into unknown substances

they are outside the law “until someone starts making money out them,” Pizcueta added. “We are concerned all year round but now consumption will peak. “Illegal substances with no medical history that are not registered with the World Health Organisation will appear and disappear. Their composition is un-

known and so are the materials they are cut with.” It was obvious that these are not the drugs that people are familiar with and whose side effects are known, the Club Controla president added. “That’s why we must react before they become habitual,” Pizcueta said.

NEWS

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NEWS EXTRA

€83m win A WINNING EuroMillions ticket was bought in Alfaz del Pi. The owner stands to receive more than €83 million. According to State Lotteries, the ticket is worth €83,228,800.

British tourists gives Benidorm a boost

The Valleys Bridge Club Christmas Lunch

HOTEL industry records best occupancy figures since 2003

New hotel The company of a French businessman has obtained a certificate to develop a hotel business. The company is headed up by the son of Roch Tabarot.

Schools plea VILLAJOYOSA has sent a letter to the Ministry of Education concerning the state of the infrastructure in the municipality. Regional Secretary for Education Miguel Soler called on various localities, including Villajoyosa, to compile a list of priority projects for the schools of Valencia.

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EVER-POPULAR: More British tourists visited Benidorm in the past fortnight. THE hotel industry reports that room occupancy was up to 65 per cent for the first half of December. That’s the best figure recorded since 2003. It is also 3.5 per cent higher than 2014.

Britons played their part, with 6 per cent more arriving than during the same period last year. In fact, they account for 35 per cent of foreign tourists who have visited Benidorm over the past 15 days.

There are several issues that have contributed to the increase. The strength of the pound, cheaper flights and uncertainty over other destinations due to international conflicts, all play a part.

THE Valleys International Bridge and Social Club held its Christmas Lunch at El Cid restaurant in Benidoleig this week. Members and guests enjoyed an excellent meal delightfully served by Taz and Bamboo, and the whole group gave them and Chef a fully deserved round of applause. The main purpose of the occasion was to present the winners of the President’s Cup with the trophy. This pleasant duty was undertaken by President Sylvia Hollender to the winners Liz and Roy Saunders, who were triumphant once again. The Valleys Club play friendly Duplicate Bridge every Thursday at El Cid and guests are made welcome. If you are interested, ring Sylvia on 965 058 499.

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NEWS

Repairs to Cumbre del Sol postboxes LETTERS are still fundamental By Linda Hall BENITACHELL Town Hall is changing the locks on 66 postboxes in the Cumbre del Sol urbanisation. It will also repair the doors on 29 boxes. All are situated in the urbanisation’s Lirios and Adelfas zones, and the town hall will paint and make

any necessary repairs to the shelters where they are located. The local council is committed to investing in improvements to services for the urbanisation, said Dirk Rheindorff, Councillor for Citizens’ Participation and Residents. “Many foreign residents

are retired and correspond by post with their families. Letters are still a fundamental means of communication for them,” he said. Lost keys, broken doors and vandalised postboxes are principal problems, although they also deteriorate owing to their closeness to the sea and the inevitable salt in the air.

Much needed repairs for country road

PLAN: Repair and resurface the Moli del Quisi road. BENISSA will ask the Diputacion Provincial Council for €59,962 to repair and resurface the Moli del Quisi road. All political parties on the local council voted in favour of the motion, which will bring improvements to a much-used road that gives access to properties occupied

year-round. It also links Benimarraig and Quisi, two of the town’s important rural areas. The Diputacion cash will also allow definitive repairs to the road, which sustained substantial damage during the torrential rains of 2007.

There will be notable absences in the Three Kings’ parade VALENCIA City Hall is allegedly making radical changes to the Three Kings’ procession on January 5. Balthazar, Melchior and Gaspar traditionally bring Spanish children their presents that night, and their arrival is celebrated with a parade in almost every municipality in Spain. Valencia’s procession is es-

pecially splendid and still promises to be spectacular, although regional Spanish newspaper Las Provincias claimed there will be notable absences. There will be no live animals but the changes mostly affect the procession’s biblical aspects. There will be no float depicting the Annunciation and al-

though the float with the shepherds, much reduced in number, remains, the angel sending them to Bethlehem has been banished, as have the Prophets. The biggest surprise, according to Las Provincias, is the absence of St Joseph from the Nativity scene in the inn, which will show only the Virgin and Child.

NEWS

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NEWS EXTRA VILLAJOYOSA’s Department of Agriculture is to organise a contest for the best pumpkin. The initiative is part of a plan to promote and support local farmers. “The contest signifies the importance of agriculture to our town.” commented Pedro Alemany of the council.

January sale

Grant helps THE town of Teulada has received a grant for €14,157 to part-fund the hiring of six unemployed people for three months. The aid is part of the Joint Employment Plan of the Valencian government.

Fewer people affected by job losses in 2015

Best pump

THE Help shop of Denia and Marina Alta will be giving a discount of 50 per cent on clothes, hats, bags and shoes from January 11 to January 30.

EWN

CAMPAIGN: ‘One toy equals one smile’ in Benidorm.

Toy campaign LIBRARIES collecting toys for disadvantaged children By Keith Baker BENIDORM libraries have been collecting toys over the past four weeks for their ‘One toy equals one smile’ Christmas campaign. Charities will distribute the toys that have

been donated by library users for needy children. The campaign has brought together a total of 263 charities, which will distribute the toys to the disadvantaged children throughout the town.

MORE than 6,500 people were affected by job losses in the Valencia Region in the first 10 months of the year. A total of 6,783 workers were laid off in the region, 59.4 per cent less than in the same period of 2014. In the whole of Spain, the number of workers affected by job layoffs (ERE plan) in the first 10 months was 81,856 people, 50,004 less than in the same period of 2014, representing a decrease of 37.9 per cent according to the Ministry of Employment and Social Security. Of the total affected, 49,955 workers were subject to suspension of contract, 33.1 per cent less than in the first ten months of 2014, while 20,049 entered redun-

dancies, representing a decrease of 34.2 per cent. An additional 11,852 workers saw their hours cut, 55.7 per cent less than in the same period of 2014. The number of companies that adopted measures to regulate employment between January and October was 4,828, a decrease of 47.4 per cent. The amount of workers affected by collective redundancies, suspension of contract and reduced working hours fell in 15 regions, with the largest declines for Castilla-La Mancha (75.6 per cent), La Rioja (63.6 per cent), Valencia (59.4 per cent), Andalucia (57.8 per cent) and the Basque Country (54.6 per cent).

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A helping hand for those in need By Sam Croft THE Christmas season is here and many of us are already stuffing ourselves full of turkey, red wine, and Quality Street chocolates. But it’s important not to forget that there are people out there with nothing at all to eat during the holidays. We have compiled a list of soup kitchens in different parts of the south of Spain. All of these services are free and open year-round, but keep in mind that some of them have specific requirements or ask for specific documentation, so it’s best to have a quick check before you go. In Costa Blanca: La Sal de la Tierra, Alicante: Located on Calle Alcala Galiano, 85. Serves lunch from 1:30pm-2pm from Monday to Friday. In Almeria: La Milagrosa, Almeria: Lo-

cated on Calle Alcalde Muñoz, 18. Serves lunch from 11:30am-1pm Monday to Saturday. In Mallorca: Palma de Mallorca: On Calle Felicia Fuster, 3. Lunch served between 1pm and 2pm. In Malaga and on the Costa del Sol: Alberque Municipal Gongora, Malaga: Open 24 hours a day. Those in need can go and have an interview with a social worker. Located on Calle Donoso Cortes, 2. Angeles Malagueños de la noche, Malaga: Open daily and featuring breakfast from 8am to 9am, lunch from 1:30pm2:30pm, and dinner from 7pm8pm. Located in the Plaza de la Religiosa Felipense Dolores Marquez. Emaus: Emaus is a chain of soup kitchens open from 9pm3pm Monday to Saturday and including holidays. There are

four locations in the Malaga Province: In Torremolinos, on Calle Cruz, 5, in Estepona on Calle El Naranjo, in VelezMalaga on Calle Esperanza, 15, and in Antequera on Calle Cordoba, 29. There are also two locations in the Granada Province: In Guadix on Calle Puerta Alta, 12, and in Baza on Calle Anta, 16. Remember if you are feeling depressed or lonely this Christmas, if you ever feel that things are getting out of control or there is just too much, or if you have an emergency you need to talk to someone about, you are not alone. You can call Samaritans in Spain on a freephone number open 24 hours a day, including Christmas, with a team of experts ready and willing to help you. The freephone number is 900 525 100 and all calls will be in confidence.

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Don’t forget to attend the memory course A WORKSHOP designed to “exercise and stimulate cognitive skills, keep the mind active and increase personal autonomy,” is being organised in Alfaz del Pi. This is the third consecutive year the course has been held for adults. The course is aimed at all those who are interested in preventing the deterioration of memory and wish to acquire tools to increase their cognitive abilities and mental skills. “The programme offers a series of exercises aimed at working on aspects such as language, memory, attention, concentration, visual and auditory processing and executive

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He’s behind you! IT’S panto time again in Alcalali

functions,” said Councillor Marisa Cortes. The workshop takes place on Mondays at the pensioners’ centre, and Wednesdays at the community centre in Albir. Mayor Vicente Arques commented: “It’s a fun and dynamic way in which aspects such as attention, perception, intelligence, learning and memory through various exercises help exercise the mind.” The course is highly valued by attendees, as tools are provided to improve memory and retention of information, whilst encouraging working together in groups, self-esteem and creativity. GETTING READY: Careline Theatre members. By Keith Baker ALADDIN will be performed at the Alcalali Theatre in January, with the proceeds being given, as always, to charity. The Careline Theatre is a charitable association which has no personal gain. It was formed more than 15 years ago and has raised a great deal of money for various charities throughout the Marina Alta. The opening night for the annual pantomime features ‘Party at the Panto’ and is specifically dedicated to fundraising. This year’s beneficiaries

are the Careline suite at Fontilles Assisted Living Accommodation, Help of Denia and Marina Alta, and Jalon Valley Help. In addition, the children from Denia Las Rotas care home will be attending on the first night. Performances take place between January 1417 inclusive, and start at 8pm. There will also be matinee performances on January 16 and 17 at 3pm. Tickets for adults cost €12, children (under 10) €8. A discount of 10 per cent is available on purchases of 10+ prepaid adult tickets. Call the box office on 652 294 750 or email carelineboxoffice@gmail.com.

Jobs initiative finds 9 people jobs in Alfaz THE town of Alfaz del Pi has employed nine jobless people

through the Joint Employment Plan - a programme jointly

funded by local, provincial and regional administrations. The overall cost of the contract amounts to €42,500, of which Alfaz del Pi will assume 50 per cent (€21,000). The councils of Alicante and Valencia will split the remainder equally between them. The scheme is aimed at those people who have been out of work for a long time, are under 25 or over 45, and registered as unemployed. The contracts are for three months.

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NEWS EXTRA

Pay up VILLENA will introduce a bylaw to withdraw licences from stallholders at the open-air market who are in arrears with payments. The town hall is now owed a total of €240,000.

Multilingual THE Generalitat intends students to leave university speaking English and another foreign language as well as co-official Spanish and Valenciano, said the director general for Linguistic Policies.

Cut price PRICES for previously-occupied homes in the Marina Alta fell during November, the property sector reported. The greatest fall was in Vergel and Ondara where prices dropped by 11.7 and 8 per cent respectively.

www.euroweeklynews.com

Gandia church bell shatters skylight INSPECTED each year and any necessary repairs carried out By Linda Hall THE clapper on the largest bell at Gandia’s Colegiata church fell and shattered the skylight on a side chapel. Although the clapper made a hole in the glass it did not fall to the ground and a subsequent examination suggested that it had dropped because it was rusted with age. The bell, known as the Great Bell, is the biggest in the 16th century Colegiata church and weighs almost two tons, but was not being used at the time when it fell. Nevertheless church sources pointed out that it could not be a coincidence that the bell had been rung the previous day, heralding the start of the Jubilee Year of Mercy announced by Pope Francis. Three of the Colegiata’s bells, including the damaged Great Bell, were restored by a Valencian firm in 2009 which has inspected them each year since then and carried out any necessary repairs.

GANDIA: The 16th century Colegiata church.

NEWS

Savings on lighting

Photo Joanbanjo.

BENIDORM Town hall saved €180,000 on lighting the resort’s streets and municipal buildings. Jose Ramon Gonzalez de Zarate, councillor for Public Works, explained that these savings were made possible by the consultants called in at the end of 2014 as well as the town hall’s own technical experts. “Steps were also taken to rationalise consumption,” he added. Energy-saving programmes had contributed by reducing light pollution and installing LED systems. The town hall intends to plough the €180,000 back into measures that will bring further savings in 2016. This is preferable to adding the surplus to the town hall kitty, the councillor said. A €207, 900 lighting plan is to be implemented before the end of this month or in the New Year at the latest.

E W N 24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

Villajoyosa town council meets with residents of La Cala THE residents of La Cala met recently with the Mayor of Villajoyosa, Andreu Verdu, Councillor of Environment, Parks and Gardens, Pedro Alemany, and Coun-

cillor for Planning and Public Security Jaime Ramis, to discuss their concerns about the area. The meeting was attended by approximately 60 neighbours, in-

cluding members of the Independent Association of Residents of La Cala. The list of issues shared by participants included the need to further the bus route, improve the playground, control the issue of dogs, improve the parks and gardens, and extend the policing arrangements. The mayor spoke of the actions being carried out in the bay since he was elected in May. He said the issues would be noted, and announced that in 2016 a new contract for the maintenance of parks and gardens would be awarded.

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NEWS

Altea hosts the second Conference of Health and Social Work THE event brought together 223 social workers

CONFERENCE: Was held in the social centre in Altea.

By Keith Baker THE social centre in Altea was the location for the second Conference of Health and Social Work, entitled ‘Proposals to modernise and improve the quality of comprehensive care’. The event brought together 223 social workers, 180 of whom were from the Valencian Community. The conference was inaugurated by the Director General of Health Care of the Department of Universal Health, Rafael Sotoca, the Council-

lor for Health and Social Welfare of Altea, Veronica Lopez, and the Manager of the Health Area of the Marina Baixa, Rosa Louis. Veronica Lopez stressed: “The objective of this conference is the improvement and modernisation of the quality and comprehensive care to patients, to address both the treatment and prevention of disease, from a social perspective.” She added: “We are very grateful to the Department of Health of the Marina Baixa Altea for hosting this conference.”

Benidorm wins award for glass recycling BENIDORM was the fastest growing recycler of glass between July and September 2015, according to Ecovidrio, a non-profit organisation that

is responsible for managing the recycling of glass packaging waste in Spain. The company has installed a total of 357 igloos to collect

glass packaging waste in the town. They recovered 34 per cent more than the previous year.

E W N 24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

NEWS EXTRA

Safe home TRAMS between Alicante City and Benidorm, San Juan and San Vicente ran until 3am last weekend. The service was extended so that employees attending Christmas parties did not need to drive home.

Exam time LIKE many others at present, Bañeres municipal library is extending its hours. The extra twoand-a-half hours each day and Saturday mornings will enable local students to revise for next term’s university exams.

Old resident PALAEONTOLOGISTS discovered the remains of a hitherto-unknown type of dinosaur that lived 125 million years ago in Morella (Castellon). They have named it Morelladon Beltrani.

www.euroweeklynews.com

Big chains must close on a Sunday in Maisonnave NEW decision will not affect smaller shops By Linda Hall ALICANTE City’s large stores which are situated in Avenida Maisonnave must close on Sundays and National holidays. Apart from the 10 annual fiesta days authorised by the regional government, the Maisonnave stores, including two El Corte Ingles centres, must remain closed although smaller shops can still trade. The three-party local government proposed the Sunday closing to assist smaller businesses, and applied to the Generalitat for permission to enforce th e ru lin g , e x p la in ed munic ipa l spokesman Natxo Bellido. The decision to reduce the perimeter of the designated ‘Major tourist area’ where Sunday and National holiday opening is permitted, was made last October. This now includes popular shopping areas like Calle Canalejas, Calvo Sotelo, the Rambla, Esplanade and the Old

ALICANTE CITY: Upper sector of Avenida Maisonnave. Quarter but excludes the big chains. The regional government has now ratified the city hall proposal and instead of taking the usual three months to respond, replied within six weeks, prompting Alicante mayor Gabriel

NEWS

Shoddy goods with big labels

Photo William Helsen.

Echavarri to applaud its rapidity. The new r ul i ng wi l l be enf or ced from January 17 since the first two Sundays of the New Year enter into the 10 days permitted for Sundays and national holidays.

POLICE continue their crackdown on fake designer goods in Benidorm. In their latest swoop they seized 699 handbags, wallets and belts in the open-air ‘mercadillo.’ After learning that fakes were on sale at the market, investigations led police to three stallholders whose vehicles were full of shoddy items with designer logos. When neither of the three could produce invoices and documentation demonstrating the origin of the goods they were arrested and charged with intellectual property crimes. Two of the detainees had police records for similar offences but all were released with charges and will later be brought up before the courts.

NEWS

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NEWS EXTRA

Students raise funds LAST Thursday, Javea XIC students joined other schools to raise funds for Todos Juntos Javea. Everyone had an enjoyable evening singing carols, drinking hot chocolate and spreading the Christmas spirit in the Old Town.

Food gifts ALICANTE Brotherhood of Christ of the Sea has held its annual campaign to collect food for charities at the Santa Maria Basilica.

Bonfire logo THE Hogueras Bonfire Federation in Alicante has announced a contest to create a new look for the celebrations which will be used as brand recognition and to promote the Hogueras. Rules can be found at www.hogueras.org

24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

EWN

Alicante wants to be the place to dress the bride and groom PROMOTING the bridalwear business to boost retail trade in the provincial capital By Gemma Quinn IT is the area known for brides. Between Paseo de Soto and the Rambla in Alicante are concentrated 50 establishments dedicated to weddings from bridal dresses and grooms’ attire to photographers and florists. It is a renowned and almost unique area and now, through the Chamber of Commerce, it is proposed to relaunch the trade of the area bringing it to the forefront and making it better-known for those looking to tie the knot. A business directory has been published in Spanish and English listing 39 of these establishments and will be distributed in tourist offices, clinics, gyms, restaurants and further afield in a bid to attract brides from across the province. The council is also considering exporting this trade initiative to Madrid as it was detected that 17 per cent of customers who shop at these stores

TYING THE KNOT: The area is known for brides.

come from the Spanish capital. “They come attracted by the big names in bridal fashion which are known throughout Spain,” said Pedro de Gea, advisor to the Department of Commerce. The Chamber of Commerce said: “The project is part of the plan to boost the retail trade of the Ministry of Economy through European funds,” while promoting and supporting the so-called urban commercial routes. This promotional action will be completed by external advertising media, like billboards and banners, plus online through social networks and web pages. According to data provided by the Department of Commerce, fashion and accessories stores located in the heart of the city of Alicante, specifically in the area between Avenidas Federico Soto, Doctor Gadea, Benito Perez Galdos and Rambla, are expected to close the year with revenue of €73 million.

E W N 24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

Big plans for Alicante cemetery ALICANTE City Council intends to provide the cemetery with sufficient space for the next 75 years. There will be a pet cemetery, a garden of remembrance for ashes, as well as a section for Jewish and Islamic burials. These will be included in the first phase of extensions, announced City Planning councillor Miguel Angel Pavon. The second stage envisages a chapel of rest and a municipal crematorium “constructed well away from private homes,” Pavon stressed. This is the third time the extensions - first proposed 10 years ago - have been modified. Pavon avoided mentioning dates, although compulsory purchase orders have been issued for 40 per cent of the necessary land.

www.euroweeklynews.com

Dog park plans for Alfaz del Pi

NEWS

Police and Guardia Civil mount a joint operation

ALSO hope to find homes for dogs now living in shelters Credit: thenoodleator.

By Linda Hall A L FA Z D E L P I c o u ld soon have two parks where dogs can run free. The town hall’s Health department is studying the possibility of setting aside a plot of land in the town centre and another in Albir, said the town’s mayor Vicente Arques. The announcement was ma d e d u rin g a re c e nt meeting with representatives from the Alfaz dogowners’ association, APPA. “ We a re lo o k in g in to which municipally-owned plots would be of suitable size as well as easily acc e s s ib le, ” A rq u es e xplained. A P PA als o s u g g e s te d

FUTURE PLANS: Hopes for ‘dogs allowed’ beach as well as parks. that the local government c ould s e t a s ide a c ove w he re dogs w ould be allowed, a suggestion tha t w a s w e ll-re c e ive d by the H e a lth de pa rtment. The association, which was created in 2014 and now ha s 60 me mbe rs , aims to encourage owners not to abandon or ill-treat their dogs. A PPA ha s a ls o introduced a dog-training and

socialisation programme w hic h w ill c ontinue throughout the c oming year. It will be organising a Canine Festival and Adoption Campaign which will be held next March. “We hope to find home s for dogs now living in shelters or w ith fos te re rs w hile raising public awareness about abandoning pets,” said APPA president Francisco Lledo.

APART from special operations and emergencies, the National Police and Guardia Civil do not usually mount joint operations. Cities and towns with a population of more than 20,000 are policed by the National Police and those that are smaller by the Guardia Civil.

They were providing the type of protection that is essential for living in freedom.

Nevertheless, the two forces collaborated recently in an operation covering Villena and Novelda in the Alto and Medio Vinalopo areas. Both carried out random checks on local roads and accesses and exits to the motorway. The object of the exercise was to pursue and prevent

crime over a wide radius in the shortest possible time. The operation began at 10am and lasted three hours, during which time officers from both forces inspected dozens of cars, checking that their documentation was in order and ensuring that neither drivers nor passengers were wanted for pending prosecutions. Officers were also looking for drugs, firearms, explosives and the proceeds of robberies. By the time 1pm arrived the National Police and Guardia Civil had confiscated small amounts of drugs and located an Asian who was living illegally in Spain. Officers included members of the National Police’s Immigration unit and Guardia Civil dog-handlers from the Canine unit. Reactions from the public on seeing both of the forces working in tandem were very positive, a spokesman said afterwards: “They were providing the type of protection that is essential for living in freedom,” he added.

E W N 24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

www.euroweeklynews.com

NEWS

Unacceptable terms of Jucar water transfer HALTED as there was no mention of domestic water sources credit: by Iglesia en Valladolid

By Linda Hall MEMBERS of the Junta Central de Usuarios del Trasvase Jucar-Vinalopo have dug their heels in. The Junta Central, or central committee, which supervises the Jucar water transfer refused to sign an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture committing them to a deal that makes no mention of domestic water. This could only come from the Cortes de Pallas reservoir which would need infrastructure finalised costing €60 million. Users of the Jucar water and agricultural growers in the Marina Baja, Alicante and Vinalopo areas have formed a commission that intends to continue negotiating. “We’re in a hurry because we know what is at stake for the province and we shall negotiate with the new government,” said a Junta spokesman. “We have an obligation towards growers who are going through a very difficult time and it is necessary to include the sources.” Strong pressure from inside the Junta

ISABEL TEJERINA: Minister of Agriculture in last government. Central as well as mediators outside it forced a turnaround. Committee president Andres Martinez signed a protocol setting out the terms of the water transfer with the then minister of Agriculture Isabel Tejerina, and the president of the Confederacion del

Jucar, Maria Angeles Ureña but this has come to nothing following protests. The terms must now be reviewed ‘without haste’ as these practically excluded all Marina Baja towns which currently receive water from the Taibilla reservoir.

E W N 24 - 30 December 2015/ Costa Blanca North

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NEWS FROM OUR FIVE OTHER REGIONS

COSTA DEL SOL

Programme to use waste from beer PROJECT aims to put an end to environmental issues which production presents ALMERIA University is leading a European Research programme, Greenbiorefinery, to turn the waste from producing beer into nutrients for animal food or fertiliser. Five other research centres from Spain, Colombia and Argentina are a ls o t aki ng par t i n t he pr oj ect which aims to put an end to the environmental issues which beer production presents. The waste would be treated with microalgae to produce biomass and other products so that there are no CO2 emissions. It takes about 20 litres of water to make just one litre of beer.

RESEARCH PROGRAMME: To find more uses for beer.

COSTA BLANCA SOUTH

MALLORCA

AXARQUÍA

COSTA DE ALMERÍA

Cemetery expansion Anniversary party

Centre closed

Swedish sound

THE new cemetery in Alicante will include an enclosure for the Muslim and Jewish community. The areas are part of the expansion plans for the cemetery to ensure the needs of burials are met for the next 75 years.

THE municipal group of PP and New Generations in Nerja have criticised the closing of the Youth Information Centre located on Calle Cristo during the month of December. The centre was also closed in August and September.

THE ‘Abba Show Live, Dancing Queen Tour’ was held in El Eijdo. The group from Slovenia which includes live music and a huge likeness with the original artists lasted two hours. The group has performed more than 2,000 concerts.

New football pitch

Full schedule

TORROX Mayor Oscar Medina has announced that in 2016 he will move ahead with the construction of a football pitch in El Morche. He said that Torrox Town Council is going to allocate €1.8 million to build the football pitch in the industrial area of Santa Rosa.

EL EJIDO Town Hall has made a programme of more than 120 leisure, cultural, sports and social events which will be held over the Christmas period. There will be more security measures at the Three Wise Men parade.

Christmas cheer TRAMS between Alicante City and Benidorm, San Juan and San Vicente ran until 3am last weekend. The service was extended so employees attending Christmas parties did not need to drive home.

Multilingual uni THE Generalitat intends students to leave university speaking English and another foreign language as well as coofficial Spanish and Valenciano, said the director general for Linguistic Policies.

Growing artichoke NEW facilities have been opened for the collection and distribution of the Vega Baja artichoke, with growers calling for a ‘designation of origin mark for the crop,’ which is a growing market.

Stolen copper THIEVES removed copper cabling totaling 41.9 kilometres from the Valencian Community’s railways during 2015, revealed Spain’s track operator Adif. Only Cataluña has lost more.

THE Es Garrover Foundation in Inca celebrated their 10th anniversary with a party in the cultural centre, Fàbrica Ramis of Inca last week. The foundation works for the social and employment integration of people with mental health problems.

Men arrested THE Guardia Civil arrested four men suspected of robberies in Magaluf and Palma Nova. It is believed they might also be the perpetrators of other crimes under investigation. The same men were arrested for similar offences earlier this year.

Santa Claus in Inca ONCE again Inca enjoyed the special visit of Papá Noel last weekend with hundreds of children lining the streets in the centre of the town. The children were then able to deliver their letters to Santa in the main square.

Former prior accused FORMER prior of Lluc monastery, Antoni Vallespir, has been accused of sexual abuse, supposed to have occurred in 2012. His lawyer, Jaime Campaner, requested that the accused not be judged socially before the investigation is completed.

NEWS

Rural theft reduced THE Sub delegate of the Malaga Government, Miguel Briones, said that there has been a 37.2 per cent decrease in criminal offences in rural areas of the province in the last two years.

Torrox breakwater THE Ferrara Beach, in Torrox-Costa, will finally stop suffering the predation from the rough weather that comes in from the east. For more than three decades storms have often left this strip of the Axarquia beach practically without sand. Now, Construcciones Tejera SA of Almeria has been given the goahead to construct a semi-submerged breakwater in the eastern zone of the beach.

For more local news from our five other regions see www.euroweeklynews.com

Rooftop drama A MAN was injured on December 19 when he fell through the roof of an industrial warehouse in Marbella. The man had climbed onto the roof in an Elviria industrial estate to retrieve a ball, Emergency Services reported.

Local shops BENALMADENA’S Commerce councillor Ana Scherman announced last week that the town would be running a campaign to encourage Christmas shopping in local commercial areas. “The campaign, which includes posters and radio advertising, will promote the advantage of the wide range of shops in the area and easy parking,” she said.

Estepona fire TWO people needed treatment after inhaling smoke at a fire in a home in Estepona on December 19. The fire broke out at about 5pm in a first floor flat on Calle Terraza.

Fuengirola accessibility

THE Miras family, led by Antonio, 93, once again set up a large Nativity Scene in the Patio de Luces of Almeria Provincial Government and is open until January 5. The figures are made by hand.

THE works of improving the accessibility in the Sol y Sol Pasaje de Fuengirola, in the area of the Plaza de la Hispanidad, have concluded, according to the local councillor of Works and Infrastructures, Jose Sanchez, after carrying out an assessment visit.

Christmas market

Rat control

THERE was a great response to the Christmas Market held in Gador to raise funds for the Spanish Association Against Cancer. It has been held in the town for the past 20 years.

BENALMADENA Health councillor Alicia Laddaga has been on an inspection visit to the Fidelio animal refuge, which as reported by EWN last week had been suffering from an invasion of rats coming from the bullring, and found that the problem had indeed been solved.

Nativity scene

Golf school A STATE Golf School is due to open in El Toyo in February, according to the councillor for Tourism and Sport, Francisco Javier Fernandez.

EWN top for all the news from Spain.

NEWS

24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

www.euroweeklynews.com

RUSSIAN P RESS

Shopping for souvenirs DURING meetings in Moscow

JOHN KERRY: Met with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. US Secretary of State John Kerry went shopping for souvenirs on December 15 during meetings in Moscow to meet with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. They discussed a wide range of important issues, including the Syrian crisis and the current situation in Ukraine.

Trump fan RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has commended Donald Trump for wanting to strengthen relations with Moscow and described him as the “absolute front-runner in the presidential race.” However, with the same breath, Putin said he was ready to work with whoever becomes the next US president.

Olympic dope probe THE World Anti-Doping Agency has arranged to pay a visit to Russia on January 10 for a meeting with the Russian Olympic Committee after all top executives of the Russian Anti-Dop-

Trade deals CHINA and Russia signed more than 30 trade deals - including one regarding Russian oil giant Rosneft and China Petrochemical Corpthat - covering the financial, energy, high-tech and manufacturing sectors, following a meeting between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in Beijing on Thursday, December 17.

ing Agency resigned in light of accusations of covering up doping by Russia’s leading athletes last week.

Investing in high streets RUSSIAN company Sistema Capital Partners, the real estate private equity platform launched earlier this month, has led a consortium acquisition of a portfolio of German high street retail properties for a total of €125 million.

“Cancerous NATO” A SPEAKER of lower house of Russia’s parliament Sergei Naryshkin wants the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to dissolve, calling it “a cancerous tumour for the whole European continent,” while meeting with members of the Serbian parliament. NATO could be dissolved in several stages, Naryshkin explained.

EWN

E W N 24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

www.euroweeklynews.com

GERMAN

Airline profits SWEDEN: Airline SAS has reported a return to profitability sending its shares flying on the Stockholm stock exchange. SAS said net profit was 956 million kroner (€102 million) in the 12 months to October.

Top searches SWEDEN: Google has revealed what Swedish people searched for the most during 2015, with everything from ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ to the ‘worst pizza in history’ making the top 10. Murdered teenager Lisa Holm was the most searched-for person.

Crisis stabilising SWEDEN: The Prime Minsiter has said he believes the refugee crisis in Sweden is stabilising and that he has high hopes that those granted asylum will have the “best opportunity” to start a new life.

No white Christmas WARMEST December in 70 years A WHITE Christmas is highly unlikely in the UK this year as weather forecasters are predicting the warmest December in 70 years caused by bands of tropical air from the Atlantic coming in from the south west.

Stripping ninja A MAN claiming disability living allowance saying he struggles to get out of bed, has been caught out by investigators who discovered he was working as a dancer called ‘the stripping ninja’ at parties across the UK.

Shopping savings A WOMAN from Leicestershire has got herself £574 (€790) worth of Christmas goods for less than £5 thanks to saving up coupons, supermarket points and money-back promotions throughout the year.

BRITISH PRESS

Hover board concerns

Many millionaires

Bath time

DENMARK has been named the world’s fourth best country to live in after leaping six places in the UN’s annual human development report. Denmark is only beaten by Norway, Australia and Switzerland.

Best country NORWAY has been ranked the world’s best country to live in for the 12th year in a row by the UN development programme.

THE birth rate in Germany has risen to a quartercentury high. It was apparent in August that a mini baby boom was under way, when the government released figures showing that 715,000 babies were born in 2014, 33,000 more than in 2013.

Military fight

THE UK now has over 600,000 property millionaires, with property valued at £1 million or more rising by 14 per cent.

DENMARK is on track to reduce carbon emissions by 40 per cent by 2020 according to new statistics, putting its new right-wing government on track to hit the national target it recently abandoned.

Fourth best

Birth rate

SONNENFINSTERNIS, or solar eclipse, was the most searched term on Google in Germany this year ahead of ‘plane crash’around the time of the Germanwings tragedy and ‘Paris’ after November’s terror attacks.

TRADING Standards said 15,000 of the 17,000 hover boards examined since October 15 had been seized. It comes as leading UK retailers such as Argos and Amazon.co.uk are recalling products following cases of them catching fire and for having a non-compliant UK plug.

On track

DENMARK: A Danish comedian who posted a photo of himself naked in the bath with his two year-old daughter, has hit back at criticism saying “a father in the bath with his daughter is not paedophilia.”

PRESS

Google search

credit 360b / Shutterstock.com

PRESS

1000 Words / Shutterstock.com)

EUROPEAN PRESS SCANDINAVIAN

NEWS

THE German military has joined attacks on Daesh for the first time, after the German government voted to take part in the international military campaign against the radical jihadist group.

Rabbit breeder A 10-YEAR-OLD Bavarian boy has been crowned Europe’s Youth Rabbit Breeding Champion. Breeding rabbits is in the family; his father was youth champion and his grandfather has won a range of titles.

Top team AMSTERDAM: Planning to ban from the city next year as they are seen as a nuisance.

Beer bikes tourist attractions A PETITION was signed by 6,500 people earlier this year AMSTERDAM is planning to ban the ‘beer bike’ tourist attraction from the city next year. The beer bikes are mobile bars mainly pedalled by tourists and widely seen as a nuisance by locals. A petition against the beer bikes earlier this year was signed by 6,500 people.

Not Dutch ALMOST half of the Moroccans and Turks living in the Netherlands said they do not feel Dutch and youngsters in par-

DUTCH PRESS ticular feel alienated, according to a new report.

Caring supermarket STAFF in two branches of supermarket chain Albert Heijn in The Hague are

taking part in a project to ‘keep an eye’ on elderly clients and if they appear lonely will ask them if they would like a chat with a care volunteer in the store.

Sports champ WORLD champion sprinter Dafne Schippers, 23, has been named as Dutch sportswoman of the year, the first athlete to take the title since1992. She won the 200 metres gold medal in the world championships in Beijing this year.

FIGURES show Borussia Dortmund draw bigger crowds than any other football team in the world. In the 2014/15 season, despite finishing in seventh in the league, Dortmund had an average of crowd of 80,410 at its matches.

Cash grab POLICE are searching for a gang who used a rocket launcher to rob a truck transporting money in Dortmund. They reportedly blocked the truck on the road and used an angle grinder to open the truck’s back door and steal the money inside.

FINANCE

Costa Blanca North

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UK unemployment rate still dropping THE number of people out of work fell to 5.2 per cent By John Smith IN figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) it was shown that the UK unemployment rate fell to 5.2 per cent in the three months to October. This was the lowest jobless rate since the three-

is the number of job vacancies in the UK jobs market at the end of October 2015, and is the highest level recorded since in 2001.

OFFICE: Company headquarters in Madrid.

Coca-Cola workers turn back clock By John Smith WORKERS in the Coca-Cola factory in Fuenlabrada Madrid will work to rule on December 21 and 28 in support of their demands. According to a union spokesman, Juan Carlos Asenjo, they will work manually as they did 50 years ago with no use of machinery. As the Coca-Cola compa-

month period to January 2006, and compared to 6 per cent unemployment just one year ago. There were 31.3 million people in work, 505,000 more than a year ago, and the number of people out of work fell by 110,000 to 1.71 million between August and October.

It’s a great day for film making in this country and it clearly shows the force is with us,’ said George Osborne on the day of its premier about the fact that the latest Star Wars movie was filmed in Britain.

Photo Credit Luis Garcia Wikimedia

Quote of the Week

747,000

ny targets its Christmas advertising at the ‘good old days’, this appears to be a most appropriate if somewhat ironic action by the workers. There have been a number of disputes with workers at this plant over the years, and also with the Madrid Council which refused to allow the company to film a commercial.

BUSINESS EXTRA

Fake toys and games WITH the publication of a list by the EU of the member states which see the greatest number of sales of counterfeit toys and games, Spain is near the top, beaten only by Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary and Romania. According to the report, the purchase of these fakes costs Spanish industry nearly €170 million a year.

App from La Caixa LA CAIXA BANK has launched a new app allowing payment via a mobile phone, similar to those available in the UK. Apart from making payments, it will be possible for customers to check their accounts and to view their balances.

Opera singer tax evasion charges DUE to her illness, Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballe was allowed to attend a hearing concerning tax evasion via video from her home, and without any press attendance at the court. She accepted that she had avoided paying over

€40 million is the amount in bank accounts which have laid dormant in Switzerland since 1955, and if not claimed within the next 12 months it will revert to the State.

STAT OF WEEK

business & legal

EWN

€500,000 of tax in 2010 by registering her domicile as Andorra, even though she was living in Barcelona and was fined €240,000. She was also sentenced to six months in jail, which will effectively act as a suspended sentence.

The figures released also detail the number of foreigners working in the UK, and the number of EU citizens working increased by 324,000 to 2.02 million, whereas workers who were neither EU nationals or Britons were stable at 1.2 million.

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Boy predicts bankruptcy PEPE BALTA, a secondary school student from Barcelona had to produce an economic project for his school in 2014, and chose Abengoa as the company to review. In his 18-page paper on the company, he apparently pointed out major problems with the company’s financial position and wrote “If it does not act soon, there is a strong risk Abengoa will go into bankruptcy.”

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PRICE(P) CHANGE(P) COMPANY Anglo American 285.98 7.33 Associated British Foods 3,291.50 -35.50 Admiral Group 1,645.50 -9.50 Aberdeen Asset Management 289.70 2.40 Ashtead Group 1,104.50 -5.50 Antofagasta 420.25 3.95 ARM Holdings 1,032.00 13.00 Aviva 507.50 3.50 AstraZeneca 4,411.50 40.00 BAE Systems 494.15 1.65 Babcock International Group 980.75 4.25 Barclays 218.75 1.15 British American Tobacco 3,689.50 23.00 Barratt Developments 608.50 4.50 BG Group 919.20 11.20 Berkeley Group Holdings 3,591.00 37.00 British Land Co 792.00 9.00 BHP Billiton 724.40 7.20 Bunzl 1,850.00 9.00 BP 340.68 1.38 Burberry Group 1,201.00 13.00 BT Group 459.55 1.25 Coca-Cola HBC 1,501.00 1.00 Carnival 3,695.00 47.00 Centrica 212.10 0.10 Compass Group 1,141.50 9.50 Capita Group (The) 1,185.50 2.50 CRH 1,922.00 14.00 Dixons Carphone 480.20 3.10 DCC 5,532.50 32.50 Diageo 1,818.00 10.50 Direct Line Insurance Group 405.00 0.20 Experian 1,163.50 -2.50 easyJet 1,706.50 20.50 Fresnillo 663.25 4.25 GKN 295.85 -0.35 Glencore 83.32 2.46 GlaxoSmithKline 1,337.00 3.00 Hikma Pharmaceuticals 2,203.00 11.00 Hargreaves Lansdown 1,473.00 6.00 Hammerson 600.00 5.50 HSBC Holdings 530.95 1.75 International Consolidated Air 588.75 0.25 InterContinental Hotels Group 2,553.50 30.50 3i Group 469.95 3.25 Imperial Tobacco Group 3,486.75 23.75 Intu Properties 315.80 1.70 Inmarsat 1,108.00 1.00 Intertek Group 2,714.50 -0.50 ITV 274.40 10.60

% CHG. NET VOL 2.63 3,906.22 -1.07 26,339.00 -0.57 4,619.24 0.84 3,807.37 -0.50 5,587.12 0.95 4,104.12 1.28 14,343.47 0.69 20,390.57 0.92 55,240.09 0.34 15,582.70 0.44 4,923.48 0.53 36,498.90 0.63 68,350.32 0.75 6,012.53 1.23 31,009.92 1.04 4,856.80 1.15 7,991.94 1.00 15,147.78 0.49 6,168.77 0.41 62,040.46 1.09 5,284.62 0.27 38,211.21 0.07 5,465.90 1.29 7,885.28 0.05 10,546.01 0.84 18,796.14 0.21 7,856.25 0.73 15,670.41 0.65 5,493.62 0.59 4,852.00 0.58 45,449.44 0.05 6,072.00 -0.21 11,525.06 1.22 6,696.93 0.64 4,856.13 -0.12 4,881.54 3.04 11,794.40 0.22 64,915.21 0.50 4,359.45 0.41 6,958.25 0.93 4,662.73 0.33 103,263.93 0.04 12,001.48 1.21 5,957.24 0.70 4,538.48 0.69 33,144.06 0.54 4,155.92 0.09 4,981.29 -0.02 4,380.97 4.02 10,619.03

COMPANY PRICE(P) CHANGE(P) Johnson Matthey 2,645.50 26.50 Kingfisher 326.85 2.85 Land Securities Group 1,181.00 10.00 Legal & General Group 263.15 1.35 Lloyds Banking Group ORD 71.77 0.73 London Stock Exchange Grp 2,710.00 12.00 Merlin Entertainments 440.65 -0.85 Marks & Spencer Group 452.45 1.05 Mondi 1,338.00 14.00 National Grid 920.10 5.70 Next 7,255.00 -20.00 Old Mutual 174.40 2.60 Provident Financial 3,285.00 45.00 Prudential 1,497.25 8.25 Persimmon 1,961.00 16.00 Pearson 754.50 6.00 Reckitt Benckiser Group 6,150.00 22.00 Royal Bank of Scotland Group 295.80 1.80 Royal Dutch Shell 1,458.75 -4.75 Royal Dutch Shell 1,466.00 -3.00 Reed Elsevier 1,167.00 8.00 Rio Tinto 1,885.00 22.50 Royal Mail 443.40 0.40 Rolls-Royce Group 574.00 -2.50 Randgold Resources 4,045.00 14.00 RSA Insurance Group 428.55 0.45 SABMiller 4,057.00 8.50 Sainsbury (J) 256.45 1.25 Schroders 2,929.50 19.50 Sage Group (The) 590.75 0.75 Shire 4,403.50 -16.50 Sky 1,088.50 8.50 Standard Life 377.40 3.00 Smiths Group 930.50 6.50 Smith & Nephew 1,160.50 -11.50 Sports Direct International 568.50 -1.50 SSE 1,486.00 1.00 Standard Chartered 554.75 3.15 St James's Place 978.25 4.75 Severn Trent 2,130.00 -1.00 Travis Perkins 1,938.00 11.00 Tesco 145.50 2.05 TUI AG 1,224.00 12.00 Taylor Wimpey 197.05 1.45 Unilever 2,839.25 18.25 United Utilities Group 918.50 4.00 Vodafone Group 212.18 0.88 Wolseley 3,668.00 17.00 WORLDPAY GROUP PLC ORD 3P297.85 -0.15 WPP Group 1,521.50 11.50 Whitbread 4,411.00 20.00

% CHG. 1.01 0.88 0.85 0.52 1.03 0.44 -0.19 0.23 1.06 0.62 -0.27 1.51 1.39 0.55 0.82 0.80 0.36 0.61 -0.32 -0.20 0.69 1.21 0.09 -0.43 0.35 0.11 0.21 0.49 0.67 0.13 -0.37 0.79 0.80 0.70 -0.98 -0.26 0.07 0.57 0.49 -0.05 0.57 1.43 0.99 0.74 0.65 0.44 0.42 0.47 -0.05 0.76 0.46

NET VOL 5,366.80 7,553.38 9,257.26 15,557.70 50,703.90 9,369.63 4,475.69 7,440.26 6,428.73 34,209.67 11,121.55 8,463.14 4,761.30 38,281.98 5,962.24 6,139.86 43,769.65 18,922.00 56,997.25 35,849.63 13,024.11 26,200.30 4,430.00 10,599.50 3,754.06 4,352.74 65,439.18 4,902.20 6,577.25 6,356.65 26,151.01 18,565.39 7,372.63 3,647.74 10,482.27 3,411.25 14,747.03 14,043.50 5,087.50 5,068.78 4,794.99 11,671.81 7,109.63 6,363.77 36,206.39 6,235.87 56,021.34 9,494.68 N/A 19,709.04 7,980.17

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US dollar ..................................................................1.08546 Japan yen..................................................................131.787 Switzerland franc.................................................1.07979 Denmark kroner.....................................................7.46110 Norway kroner......................................................9.52742 currenciesdirect.com/moraira • Tel: +34 966 265 072

DOW JONES C LOSING P RICES D ECEMBER 21

COMPANY MMM 3M AXP American Express AAPL Apple BA Boeing CAT Caterpillar CVX Chevron CSCO Cisco KO Coca-Cola DIS Disney DD E I du Pont de Nemours and Co XOM Exxon Mobil GE General Electric GS Goldman Sachs HD Home Depot IBM IBM INTC Intel JNJ Johnson & Johnson JPM JPMorgan Chase MCD McDonald's MRK Merck MSFT Microsoft NKE Nike PFE Pfizer PG Procter & Gamble TRV Travelers Companies Inc UTX United Technologies UNH UnitedHealth VZ Verizon V Visa WMT Wal-Mart

PRICE CHANGE %CHANGE VOLUME 146.92 -1.93 -1.30% 5.7M 67.87 -1.70 -2.44% 17.9M 106.03 -2.95 -2.71% 96.5M 139.58 -5.98 -4.11% 10.0M 65.11 +0.21 +0.32% 13.5M 89.81 -0.73 -0.81% 20.2M 26.27 -0.45 -1.68% 36.7M 42.50 -0.99 -2.28% 24.6M 107.72 -4.29 -3.83% 28.4M 63.40 -1.83 -2.81% 14.3M 77.28 -0.68 -0.87% 28.8M 30.28 -0.27 -0.88% 83.1M 175.49 -7.12 -3.90% 6.7M 130.29 -1.06 -0.81% 9.8M 134.90 -1.85 -1.35% 10.0M 33.87 -1.04 -2.99% 41.3M 101.95 -1.69 -1.63% 15.0M 64.40 -1.88 -2.84% 23.8M 116.66 -0.84 -0.71% 11.2M 51.64 -1.02 -1.94% 21.1M 54.13 -1.57 -2.82% 84.7M 128.52 -1.70 -1.31% 6.9M 31.99 -0.34 -1.05% 66.6M 78.13 -2.16 -2.69% 21.3M 110.13 -3.14 -2.77% 5.1M 92.34 -1.53 -1.63% 8.7M 115.82 -3.40 -2.85% 7.6M 45.56 -0.54 -1.17% 31.6M 76.32 -2.37 -3.01% 16.3M 58.85 -0.13 -0.22% 16.3M

NASDAQ C LOSING P RICES D ECEMBER 21

COMPANY

PRICE

CHANGE NET / %

Most Advanced $ 10.36 $ 13.50 $ 3.64 $5 $ 7.45 $ 10 $ 3.14 $ 8.66 $ 12.20 $ 5.60 $ 15.20

2.01 ▲ 24.07% 2.50 ▲ 22.73% 0.65 ▲ 21.74% 0.74 ▲ 17.37% 1.03 ▲ 16.04% 1.34 ▲ 15.47% 0.39 ▲ 14.18% 1.04 ▲ 13.65% 1.43 ▲ 13.28% 0.63 ▲ 12.68% 1.70 ▲ 12.59%

$ 7.21 $ 4.42 $ 4.05 $ 8.62 $ 15.42 $ 13.73 $ 30.38 $ 81.96 $ 3.15 $ 68.4268 $ 22.66

2.22 ▼ 23.54% 1.11 ▼ 20.07% 0.53 ▼ 11.57% 0.97 ▼ 10.11% 1.704 ▼ 9.95% 1.51 ▼ 9.91% 3.28 ▼ 9.74% 8.64 ▼ 9.54% 0.30 ▼ 8.70% 6.2212 ▼ 8.33% 2.02 ▼ 8.18%

Vanguard Natural Resources LLC ReWalk Robotics Ltd Nexvet Biopharma plc Empire Resorts, Inc. Daily 2X VIX ST ETN Velocityshares Golar LNG Partners LP Kopin Corporation InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. TerraForm Global, Inc. Providence and Worcester Railroad Company

Most Declined Mirna Therapeutics, Inc. Acacia Research Corporation Hovnanian Enterprises Inc Etsy, Inc. CIM Commercial Trust Corporation YRC Worldwide, Inc. GLOBAL BLOOD THERAPEUTICS, INC. Core-Mark Holding Company, Inc. Zions Bancorporation 3X Inverse Silver ETN Velocityshares Werner Enterprises, Inc.

E W N 24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

www.euroweeklynews.com

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

Great results for fishing industry Photo Credit Mark Yuill Shutterstock

By Steve Walsh AT the annual EU Fisheries and Agricultural Council meeting in Brussels, which has just finished, British fishermen received some very good news about quota increases according to Fisheries Minister George Eustice, who called the latest agreement a ‘great result’. The actual quota increases were: The English Channel: Plaice 100 per cent. The North Sea: Cod 15 per cent and haddock 47 per cent. The Celtic Sea: Hake 20 per cent. The Western Channel: Sole 15 per cent. A number of quotas remained the same and there were cuts of 55 per cent in Irish Sea sole and 9 per cent in Bristol Channel plaice, but with the increases and the number of days UK fishermen can be at sea remaining the same as for 2015, the industry was generally pleased with the results. Mr Eustice said: “I entered these discussions with the firm belief that

BRITISH FISHERMEN: Received some very good news about quota increases at an EU meeting in Brussels.

any decisions need to support a profitable fishing industry, sustainable fish stocks and a healthy marine environment, and the significant quota increases we’ve achieved for iconic species like North Sea cod demonstrates the success of this approach. “We still have more to do to reach maximum sustainable yield (MSY) for all quota species by 2020, and to deliver the full discard ban by 2019, but already fishermen are benefitting from the action we’ve taken in recent years to recover stocks. “By fighting for the fishing industry, and making a clear case for the need for more sustainable fishing, we have got a good deal and shown we can get what we need in Europe.”

Amazon allocated plot in Barcelona for € 30 million

THE companies that own Domino’s Pizza in Australia and the UK have agreed to set up a joint venture operation to buy Germany’s biggest pizza chain. Joey’s Pizza has 212 stores across Germany with annual sales of €143 million, and the country is the world’s fourthbiggest pizza market with the purchase worth around €78 million. The joint venture will be two-thirds owned by the Australian company, with the remainder owned by the UK Domino’s Pizza Group, which already operates in Germany. Profit margins on pizzas are known to be very high as they are simply cooked dough with relatively inexpensive toppings, so as long as the market remains firm, this should generate significant income for the companies involved.

THE Catalan Land Institute (Incasol) announced that it has allocated a 150,808 m2 plot of land known as Mas Blau II, to Amazon for which it will charge €30 million. “The land is located a few minutes from the El Prat airport in one of the most important economic

Photo Credit Steve Jurvetson flickr

Domino’s aim to dominate

This acknowledges our commitment to the Catalan and Spanish economies.

and industrial areas of Barcelona,” said a statement. Amazon will be allowed to build up to three storeys high. The statement continued: “The main permitted use is logistics, along with the ‘complementary’ offices, shops and restaurants.” In response Amazon said in a carefully-worded statement: “We are

JEFF BEZOS: The founder of Amazon.

pleased that Incasol has awarded Amazon with a plot in El Prat de Llobregat to keep expanding our European Fulfilment Network, and acknowledges our long-term commitment with the Catalan and Spanish economies through continued investment and job creation. Legal due diligence is currently ongoing and thus we cannot comment any further at the moment.” In the meantime, Amazon UK has warned all customers about possible exploding hoverboards. In an email, the firm told buyers of these hot Christmas sellers that if they have purchased hover boards with ‘noncompliant UK plugs’, that they should dispose of them safely and they will receive a refund. This has been prompted after Trading Standards seized 15,000 unsafe boards being brought into the UK, many of which had faulty cables, chargers or plugs that could catch fire or explode.

FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

www.euroweeklynews.com

24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

EWN

US chemical giants Dow and DuPont in merger agreement THE rush of American companies to take others over or to merge continues apace. The latest announcement comes from the two US chemical behemoths Dow Chemical and DuPont, with the merged company expected to be called DowDuPont worth an estimated $130 billion (â&#x201A;Ź119 billion). It appears that as both companies are worth roughly the same amount of money and this will be a share deal, there are significant tax advantages for each company and their investors. As this type of deal is almost unheard of it will attract a great deal of interest from fiscal authorities as well as tax advisers. Assuming the merger is allowed, it is planned that the new company will be owned equally by existing shareholders in the two companies. Three new companies will then be created within two years of the merger, and these new companies should be con-

Credit RevalationDirect Wikimedia

By John Smith

sidered as being tax free entities. Shareholders are hoping to save $3 billion (â&#x201A;Ź2.75 billion) per annum. In addition, DuPont has announced that it plans to cut about 10 per cent of its staff. Some cynics have commented on the fact that as the US tries to climb out of its financial crisis, US conglomerates appear to be doing all that they can to avoid paying taxes, which are the backbone of any economy.

Both companies are worth roughly the same amount and this will be a share deal.

DUPONT: Headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware.

With both companies having reasonable sized operations in Spain, it will also be interesting to see if their merger has any knock-on effect on the Spanish economy, especially if jobs are to be lost or head offices merged.

OPINION & COMMENT

www.euroweeklynews.com

24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

EWN

Enoch Powell was never a racist credito Allan warren on Wikimedia commons

MERELY a realist, he was of course absolutely correct LEAPY LEE SAYS IT

OTHERS THINK IT “WHOLE areas, towns and parts of towns across England will be occupied by sections of the immigrant and immigrant descendant’s population. It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre. “They will find their wives unable to obtain hospital beds in childbirth. Their children unable to obtain school places. Their homes and neighbourhoods changed beyond recognition. Their plans and prospects for the future defeated for reasons they cannot comprehend; and in pursuance of a decision by default on which they were never consulted, they will find themselves made strangers in their own country,” - Enoch Powell, 1965. This highly intelligent politician was subsequently hounded out of mainstream politics by his peers, who scoffed his vision and warnings of the future. Under accusations

ENOCH POWELL: Intelligent politician who was hounded out of mainstream politics. of racism, he was soon banished to a lonely position in Northern Ireland. There, out of sight and hearing, his brilliant mind was wasted in the mire of violence and political strife that was engulfing

Ireland at that time. I personally remember him utterly destroying David Frost in a TV interview. At one point Frost asked him why he was against black people. Powell’s answer was that he had never discriminated

against someone because of their colour and challenged Frost to cite one occasion when he had actually done so. A blustering Frost couldn’t come up with one example. The fact of the matter was that Powell was never a racist, merely a realist. He was of course absolutely correct and we are now experiencing most of the situations he warned of all those years ago. The words of a Don McLean song come to mind. ‘They did not listen, they’re not listening still, perhaps they never will.’ In fairness, they do finally seem to be listening. Unfortunately they’re about 40 years too late. I’ve been called a few things in my time but the missive I received this week just about took the whole tin. This ‘gentleman’ referred to me as follows. Uneducated. Purile. Lickspittle. Forelock tugger. Knee bender. Quisling. Halfwit. Moron. Wow! Sticks and stones Señor. Sticks and stones! Keep the faith Love Leapy Leapylee2002@gmail.com

E W N 24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

10:00am David Suchet: In the Footsteps of St Paul 11:00am On Angel Wings 11:30am The Santa Clause 1:00pm Bargain Hunt 2:00pm BBC News at One 2:10pm BBC London News 2:20pm Snow Chick: A Penguin's Tale 3:20pm A Christmas Carol 4:50pm Finding Nemo 6:20pm Harry Hill in Professor Branestawm Returns 7:20pm BBC News 7:30pm BBC London News 7:40pm Celebrity Mastermind 8:10pm Pointless Celebrities Christmas Special 9:00pm Would I Lie to You at Christmas 9:30pm EastEnders 10:05pm Peter Kay: 20 Years of Funny 11:05pm Walliams and Friends 11:45pm Not Going Out 12:30am BBC News 12:45am Midnight Mass From St George's Cathedral, Southwark

7:20am Homes Under the Hammer 8:20am Home Comforts at Christmas 9:05am This Wild Life 9:35am Great British Menu 10:05am Bedknobs and Broomsticks 12:00pm The Hairy Bikers' Northern Exposure 1:00pm Natural World 2:00pm Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit 3:45pm Perry and Croft: Made in Britain 4:15pm Snow Wolf Family and Me 5:15pm Snow Wolf Family and Me 6:15pm Carols from King's 7:30pm To the Manor Born 8:00pm Dad's Army 8:30pm University Challenge 9:00pm MasterChef: The Professionals 10:00pm The Great History Quiz: The Tudors 11:00pm The Scandalous Lady W 12:30am Dial M for Murder 2:10am Simply Nigella

7:00am Good Morning Britain 9:30am Lorraine 10:25am Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas 11:25am Pick Me! 12:25pm Back to the Future Part II 2:30pm ITV Lunchtime News 2:45pm Small Soldiers 4:50pm National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 6:40pm All Star Mr and Mrs 7:45pm ITV Evening News 8:00pm Emmerdale 9:00pm Coronation Street 9:30pm The Abba Christmas Party 10:45pm Through the Keyhole 11:45pm ITV News 12:00am Christmas Carols on ITV 1:00am Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure 2:40am Murder, She Wrote 3:30am The Jeremy Kyle Show USA 4:15am ITV Nightscreen Text-based information service.

7:00am The Hot Desk 7:10am 1000 Heartbeats for Text Santa 8:00am Emmerdale 8:30am Coronation Street 9:00am Keep it in the Family Christmas Special 10:00am Santa Baby 11:55am Beethoven's Christmas Adventure 1:45pm Emmerdale 2:15pm Coronation Street 2:45pm Merry Christmas Mr Bean 3:20pm You've Been Framed! 4:20pm All Star Family Fortunes 5:20pm Catchphrase 6:25pm The Polar Express 8:25pm The Nightmare Before Christmas 10:00pm Casino Royale 12:55am Celebrity Juice 1:55am Through the Keyhole 3:00am Release the Hounds 3:55am Release the Hounds 4:45am The Office Xmas Party 5:30am Educating Joey Essex

8:00pm Merry Madagascar 8:20pm Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa 9:40pm Kung Fu Panda 2 11:00pm EastEnders 11:35pm Him and Her 12:05am Family Guy 12:30am Family Guy 12:50am Family Guy 1:10am Family Guy 1:35am Family Guy 1:55am American Dad! 2:20am American Dad! 2:40am Bad Education 3:10am Murder in Successville 3:40am Murder in Successville

9:00pm All Aboard! The Sleigh Ride 11:00pm Top of the Pops 12:00am Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? 12:45am Britain's Most Dangerous Songs: Listen to the Banned 1:45am Top of the Pops 2:45am Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?

7:00am Judge Judy 7:20am The Royal 8:10am Goodnight Mister Tom 10:15am Inspector Morse 12:35pm Foyle's War 2:40pm Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory 4:45pm Agatha Christie's Marple 6:50pm Mamma Mia! 9:00pm Lewis 11:00pm Endeavour Crime drama series about the young Detective Constable Endeavour Morse. 1:00am Agatha Christie's Marple 3:00am The Secret of My Succe$s Comedy about an affable young man from the country who travels to New York. 4:50am Rising Damp Classic sitcom about a miserly landlord. 5:15am Wycliffe Drama series about a Cornish police detective.

www.euroweeklynews.com

7:15am Small Animal Hospital 8:00am The Big Bang Theory 8:20am The Big Bang Theory 8:40am The Snowman 9:05am Father Christmas 9:35am The Simpsons 10:10am Animals United 11:55am Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who 1:30pm Stuart Little 3:10pm Channel 4 News 3:15pm It's a Wonderful Life 5:55pm The Snowman 6:25pm The Snowman and the Snowdog 7:00pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Jamie's Night Before Christmas 9:00pm My Crazy Christmas Lights 10:00pm 8 Out of 10 Cats 11:00pm Rude Tube 12:00am Gogglebox 1:00am The Inbetweeners 1:35am The Inbetweeners 2:05am The Inbetweeners 2:30am The Inbetweeners 3:00am Man Down 3:30am Man Down 3:55am Man Down 4:25am Embarrassing Bodies 5:20am Benchmark

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Tommy Cooper The Professionals Minder Alias Smith and Jones American comedy drama series about two likeable outlaws. British Superbike Championship Review Show James Whitham reviews the MCE British Superbike Championship of 2015. The Professionals Action-packed drama series about two criminalintelligence agents. Everything or Nothing: The Untold Stories of 007 Nevada Smith The Green Berets The Chase: Christmas Special Fifth Gear A Dangerous Man Rambo III The Interpreter

8:15am 8:30am 8:45am 8:55am 9:05am 9:10am 9:20am 9:35am 9:50am 10:00am 10:10am 10:30am 11:30am 3:45pm 6:20pm 8:00pm 8:55pm

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THURSDAY TV

Bob the Builder Thomas and Friends Noddy in Toyland Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom Milkshake! Bop Box Peppa Pig Wanda and the Alien Paw Patrol Bananas in Pajamas Toot the Tiny Tugboat The Mr. Men Show The Real Face of Santa Claus Gone with the Wind The Dam Busters Scrooge Christmas Makes You Laugh Out Loud Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly: Ol' Blue Eyes is Back Happy Holidays with Bing and Frank Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special Christmas with the Double Acts Morecambe and Wise Live! 1973

7:00am How I Met Your Mother 7:20am Ivor the Invisible 7:50am Charmed 8:40am Charmed 9:30am Hollyoaks 10:00am Lost and Found 10:35am The Bear 11:10am How I Met Your Mother 11:40am How I Met Your Mother 12:05pm Charmed 1:00pm Charmed 2:00pm How I Met Your Mother 2:30pm How I Met Your Mother 3:00pm The Big Bang Theory 6:00pm How I Met Your Mother 6:30pm How I Met Your Mother 7:00pm The Big Bang Theory 7:30pm The Big Bang Theory 8:00pm Hollyoaks 8:30pm The Big Bang Theory 9:00pm The Big Bang Theory 9:30pm The Big Bang Theory 10:00pm Taken 11:50pm The Big Bang Theory 12:20am The Big Bang Theory 12:50am Rude Tube

8:00am WWE SmackDown! 9:00am Premier League 9:30am Premier League 100 Club 10:00am Football Gold 10:30am Premier League 11:00am Football Gold 12:00pm Premier League 100 Club 12:30pm Premier League 1:00pm Football Gold 1:30pm Premier League 100 Club 2:00pm Football Gold 3:00pm Premier League 3:30pm Premier League 100 Club 4:00pm Premier League 4:30pm Premier League 100 Club 5:00pm Premier League 5:30pm Premier League 100 Club 6:00pm Football Gold 6:15pm Football Gold 6:30pm Barclays Premier League World 7:00pm Premier League 7:30pm Football Gold 8:00pm NFL 12:00am NFL: Dwight Freeney Interview 12:25am NFL Highlights 1:25am NFL Hard Knocks

Wild Wild West Die Hard Die Hard 2 Cloverfield Jupiter Ascending The Terminator Cloverfield Jupiter Ascending The Terminator Die Hard Die Hard 2

8:35am The Marine 4: Moving Target 10:15am Chappie 12:20pm Cinderella 2:10pm The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water 3:45pm Dino Time 5:15pm Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb 7:00pm Cinderella 9:00pm Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb 11:00pm Chappie 1:15am The Marine 4: Moving Target 3:00am Bad Asses on the Bayou Two ageing vigilantes team up and head to Louisiana to track down a kidnapped friend. 4:30am Avengers: Age of Ultron Special 5:00am Dino Time Three kids travel back in time to the age of the dinosaurs.

7:00am Sporting Rivalries 7:30am Sporting Rivalries 8:00am Gary Newbon Interviews Carl Lewis 9:00am Time of Our Lives 10:00am Sporting Greats 12:00pm Time of Our Lives 1:00pm Sporting Rivalries 1:30pm Sporting Rivalries 2:00pm Time of Our Lives 3:00pm Dream Team Programming 2015 3:30pm Dream Team Programming 2015 4:00pm Dream Team Programming 2015 4:30pm Dream Team Programming 2015 6:00pm WWE Raw 8:00pm Premier League 8:30pm Premier League 100 Club 9:00pm Premier League 9:30pm Premier League 100 Club 10:00pm Premier League 10:30pm Premier League 100 Club 11:00pm La Liga Show 2015 11:30pm Barclays Premier League World 12:00am Football Gold

7:00am Revenge of the Pink Panther 8:50am Three Amigos! 10:45am Horrible Bosses 2 12:45pm Trainwreck Sky Movies Special 1:00pm Superbad 3:05pm The Best Man Holiday 5:10pm Trading Places 7:10pm Father of the Bride 9:00pm Horrible Bosses 2 11:00pm Superbad 1:00am South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut 2:35am Trading Places 4:35am Grudge Match

E W N 24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

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7:25am 7:50am 8:00am 8:15am 8:45am 9:10am 9:25am 10:25am 12:30pm 2:35pm 3:45pm 4:00pm 4:10pm 5:10pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 7:15pm 7:45pm 8:45pm 9:45pm 11:45pm 12:45am 1:00am

Breakfast Shrek the Halls The Clangers Danger Mouse Christmas Day Service Live From Bath Abbey The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted BBC News at One Top of the Pops The Queen's Christmas Broadcast 2015 Brave BBC News Stick Man Doctor Who Strictly Come Dancing Call the Midwife EastEnders Mrs. Brown's Boys Michael Mcintyre's Big Christmas Show BBC News Love Came Down at Christmas

7:00am The Road to El Dorado 8:20am Natural World 9:20am Herbie Rides Again 10:45am The Cat in the Hat 12:00pm Carols from King's 1:15pm Climbed Every Mountain - The Story Behind The Sound of Music 2:15pm The Good Life 2:45pm Frankenweenie 4:05pm Tim Rice - A Life in Song 5:35pm Romeo and Juliet 7:20pm The Queen's Christmas Broadcast 2015 7:30pm World's Sneakiest Animals 8:30pm Dad's Army 9:00pm The Two Ronnies Christmas Show 9:50pm Darcey's Ballet Heroes 10:50pm QI 11:20pm We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story 12:20am Gambit 1:40am The Trouble with Harry

Sooty Oddbods Dino Dan Horrid Henry Chowder Almost Naked Animals Weekend at Christmas Santa Claus Happy Feet Text Santa ITV Lunchtime News HM the Queen Cameraman to the Queen Countrywise Winter Wonderland Paul O'Grady: For The Love of Dogs ITV Evening News You've Been Framed! Emmerdale Coronation Street Downton Abbey Our Cilla ITV News Dr. No

7:00am Christmas Bonkers Guinness World Records 7:25am Emmerdale 8:25am Coronation Street 8:55am Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas 9:55am You've Been Framed! 11:15am Catchphrase 12:15pm Merry Christmas Mr Bean 12:50pm Mr. Bean 1:25pm Emmerdale 2:25pm Coronation Street 3:00pm The Polar Express 4:55pm E.T. The ExtraTerrestrial 7:15pm The Lost World: Jurassic Park 9:45pm Quantum of Solace 11:55pm The Bourne Supremacy 2:05am Celebrity Juice 3:00am Release the Hounds 3:55am Tricked 4:45am Educating Joey Essex 5:35am Totally Bonkers Guinness World Records

8:00pm The Gruffalo's Child 8:30pm Toy Story 9:45pm How to Train Your Dragon 11:15pm Live at the Apollo 12:00am EastEnders 1:00am American Dad! 1:25am American Dad! 1:45am Family Guy 2:10am Family Guy 2:30am Family Guy 2:55am Family Guy 3:15am Uncle 3:45am Uncle 4:15am Uncle 4:45am Sunny D

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7:45am 8:05am 8:30am 9:00am 10:40am 11:10am 11:40am 12:15pm 12:40pm 1:10pm 1:40pm 2:15pm 2:45pm 4:25pm 4:35pm

8:00pm The Quizeum Christmas Special 8:30pm Carlos Acosta's Carmen: The Farewell Performance 9:45pm The Titfield Thunderbolt 11:05pm Top of the Pops 1:00am Detectorists Christmas Special

7:00am Movies Now 7:10am George and Mildred 7:35am Carry on Don't Lose Your Head 9:30am Carry on Cruising 11:20am Carry on at Your Convenience 1:15pm Carry on Loving 3:05pm Carry on Cowboy 5:05pm Carry on Jack 7:00pm Carry on Screaming 9:00pm Carry on Camping 10:50pm Carry on Cleo 12:45am The Baby and the Battleship 2:40am Rising Damp 3:10am George and Mildred 3:40am George and Mildred A special Christmas episode from 1979. 4:05am ITV3 Nightscreen Text-based information service. 4:15am Emmerdale Omnibus Ashley tells Laurel everything. David arranges a drop-off for Val's ring.

4:45pm 6:45pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 12:00am 1:05am 2:05am

Prep and Landing Prep and Landing The Bear A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas Toy Story Toons Father Christmas The Snowman The Snowman and the Snowdog The Muppet Christmas Carol Channel 4 News Alternative Christmas Message Scrooged Home Alone 2: Lost in New York Gogglesprogs Alan Carr: Chatty Man 8 Out of 10 Cats Very British Problems at Christmas Ferris Bueller's Day Off

7:15am The Big Match Revisited 8:05am The Professionals 9:10am Minder 10:15am Alias Smith and Jones 11:20am Goodwood Cars of the Future - Road 12:25pm Goodwood Cars of the Future 1:25pm Tim Vine's Punslinger 2:50pm Every Which Way But Loose 5:10pm Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment 6:55pm The Great Outdoors 8:45pm Cannonball Run II 11:00pm National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 1:05am The Big Lebowski 3:20am Goodwood Festival of Speed 4:10am ITV4 Nightscreen 4:20am Minder 5:10am Minder Comedy drama series about the shady dealings of a loveable rogue.

8:45am Thomas and Friends 8:55am Noddy in Toyland 9:10am Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom 9:20am Peppa Pig 9:35am Paw Patrol 10:00am Bananas in Pajamas 10:15am Toot the Tiny Tugboat 10:25am The Mr. Men Show 10:35am Toby's Travelling Circus 10:50am Andre Rieu's Christmas Spectacular 11:50am Scrooge 2:05pm Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 4:10pm The Wizard of Oz 6:10pm Michael Buble's Christmas 2015 7:05pm Britain's Favourite Christmas Songs 9:50pm Chas and Dave's Xmas Knees-Up 10:40pm Britain's Favourite Abba Songs 12:05am Sinatra at 100 - An All-Star Grammy Concert 2:25am ABBA: Live in Concert

8:50am Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 10:45am The Maze Runner 12:45pm Guardians of the Galaxy 3:00pm Lucy 4:45pm The Maze Runner 6:45pm Guardians of the Galaxy 9:00pm The Matrix 11:20pm Lucy 1:00am The Equalizer

8:35am 10:10am 11:45am 1:30pm 3:30pm 5:25pm 7:25pm 9:00pm 10:45pm 12:45am

Doctor Dolittle The Simpsons Movie Bad Neighbours The 40 Year Old Virgin Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason The Goonies The Simpsons Movie Bad Neighbours The 40 Year Old Virgin Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

7:00am 8:55am 9:30am 10:00am 10:30am 11:00am 11:30am 12:00pm 12:30pm 2:30pm 3:00pm 3:30pm 4:00pm 4:30pm 5:00pm 5:30pm 6:00pm

7:00pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:05pm 9:35pm 10:00pm 10:30pm 11:30pm 12:00am

Rude(Ish) Tube Suburgatory The Mindy Project The Mindy Project Melissa and Joey Melissa and Joey Baby Daddy Baby Daddy Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules Prep and Landing Prep and Landing Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Secret Life of Children at Christmas Frozen at Christmas The Snowman The Snowman and the Snowdog The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Inbetweeners The Inbetweeners

7:00am Dino Time 8:30am Cinderella 10:30am Exodus: Gods and Kings 1:15pm Big Hero 6 3:00pm Frozen Fever 3:15pm Cinderella 5:15pm Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb 7:00pm Frozen Fever 7:15pm Big Hero 6 9:00pm Exodus: Gods and Kings 11:35pm Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb 1:20am The Marine 4: Moving Target 3:05am Bad Asses on the Bayou Two ageing vigilantes team up and head to Louisiana to track down a kidnapped friend. 4:35am Avengers: Age of Ultron Special 5:05am Dino Time

FRIDAY TV

10:00am La Liga Goles y Goles y Goles 11:00am Soccer AM Christmas Special 12:00pm Ronaldo Special 12:30pm Barcelona's Strikeforce Special 1:00pm Best of Gillette Soccer Saturday 2:30pm Ronaldo Special 3:00pm Barcelona's Strikeforce Special 3:30pm La Liga Goles y Goles y Goles 4:30pm Sky Sports Originals - Cantona: Return of the King 5:00pm Soccer AM Christmas Special 6:00pm Sky Sports Originals - Cantona: Return of the King 7:00pm Ronaldo Special 7:30pm Barcelona's Strikeforce Special 8:00pm La Liga Goles y Goles y Goles 9:00pm Soccer AM Christmas Special 10:00pm Christmas Cricket Special 11:00pm Cricket

9:00am Ashes Zone: Aussie Legends 9:30am 200th Test: Behind the Scenes 10:00am Ashes Regained: Cook's Redemption 12:00pm Shane Warne: Living the Dream 1:30pm Ashes Zone: Aussie Legends 2:00pm Sky Sports Originals 3:00pm Ashes Zone: Aussie Legends 3:30pm 200th Test: Behind the Scenes 4:00pm Ashes Regained: Cook's Redemption 6:00pm Shane Warne: Living the Dream 7:30pm Ashes Zone: Aussie Legends 8:00pm Ashes Regained: Cook's Redemption 10:00pm 200th Test: Behind the Scenes 10:30pm Pace Like Fire: The West Indies 11:00pm Shane Warne: Living the Dream 12:30am Cricket

OPINION & COMMENT

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24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

EWN

Grim reality as Snow White’s seven ‘dwarfs’ are given the heigh-ho... PANTO bosses in Leicester are replacing them with ‘friends’ Nora Johnson

Breaking Views Nora is the author of popular psychological suspense and crime thrillers and a freelance journalist. To comment on any of the issues raised in her column, go to www.euroweeklynews.com/3.0.15/nora-johnson

“ONCE upon a time in the middle of winter, when the flakes of snow were falling like feathers from the sky, a queen sat at a window sewing . . .” Thus begins the tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Unless you live in Leicester, where this year the pantomime is Snow White. Just Snow White. A Christmas panto where she’ll have ‘friends’, possibly seven, but definitely no dwarfs. ‘Dwarf,’ a spokesman for the venue explained to a local paper, ‘is not a term that people feel comfortable with.’ Hmm. So, politically-correct panto bosses have given Snow White’s seven ‘dwarfs’ the heigh-ho... by replacing them with ‘friends’. This is the result

LONELY: No dwarfs for Snow White in Leicester this year. of daft, left-wing political correctness, and the people of Leicester have every right to feel short changed. Is no one going to stand up for all those in society who are vertically challenged? And what about the Christmas concert, when children were ordered to change the traditional lyrics of the Christmas song about the little donkey said to have carried the pregnant Mary

to Bethlehem because they were ‘too religious’. Instead of ‘Little donkey, carry Mary’, the youngsters were told to sing ‘carry Lucy’ for fear of offending non-Christians. Next, we’ll have the race for the first Church of England vicar to tell some tiny toddlers Santa doesn’t exist, and the first local council to erect in the town square an edgy ‘seasonal, inclu-

brand it a ‘winter concert’, which will not feature any religious songs. He’s also, reportedly, not allowing two mothers to teach Christmas carols to the children during lunch breaks. This in Italy, a primarily Roman Catholic country! Ah, with all this talk of political corPAISAN HOMHUAN / Shutterstock.com rectness, it’s already beginning to feel like Christmas. And a sure sign that Santa’s already having his sive, celebratory installation’ instead of sleigh valeted at Kwik Fit. Happy baby Jesus in his crib. Christmas! All this amid news that an Italian Nora Johnson’s thrillers ‘Landscape headmaster has banned Christmas conof Lies’, ‘Retribution’, ‘Soul Stealer’, certs and carols in his school near Mi‘The De Clerambault Code’ lan in the name of multiculturalism. He (www.nora-johnson.com) available triggered protests from parents and from Amazon in paperback/eBook media flak by opting to postpone the (€0.89;£0.79) and iBookstore. All annual Christmas concert for primary profits to Cudeca charity. school pupils until January, and re-

E W N 24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

7:00am Breakfast 11:00am Saturday Kitchen 12:30pm Home Comforts at Christmas 1:15pm BBC News 1:25pm Football Focus 2:00pm Comic Relief 2015: Thanks a Billion! 3:00pm Wallace and Gromit: A Grand Day Out 3:25pm A Grand Night in: The Story of Aardman 4:25pm Puss in Boots 5:45pm The Croods 7:10pm The Farmer's Llamas 7:40pm BBC News 7:50pm BBC London News 8:00pm Dickensian 8:30pm EastEnders 9:00pm Still Open All Hours 9:30pm Dickensian 10:00pm And Then There Were None 11:00pm BBC News 11:20pm The National Lottery Live 11:30pm Match of the Day 1:05am The Guardian

7:00am Race to Super Bowl 50 7:50am Flog It! 8:35am Tom Thumb 10:05am Hotel for Dogs 11:35am Ten Pieces II 12:35pm G-Force 2:00pm Natural World 3:00pm Attenborough's Paradise Birds 4:00pm Bedtime Stories 5:30pm Final Score 6:30pm Don't Panic! The Dad's Army Story 7:20pm We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story 8:20pm Dad's Army 9:00pm Top Gear 10:00pm A Gert Lush Christmas 11:00pm Abz on the Christmas Farm 11:30pm Backchat Looks Back 12:15am Kinky Boots 2:00am Marnie 4:05am Imagine... 5:40am This is BBC Two Highlights of programmes on BBC Two.

8:25am 8:40am 8:50am 9:00am

7:00am Emmerdale Omnibus 10:00am Coronation Street Omnibus 12:55pm Space Jam 2:40pm Happy Feet 4:45pm Emmerdale 5:50pm Coronation Street 6:55pm You've Been Framed! 7:25pm Minion Madness Shorts 7:40pm Despicable Me 9:30pm Skyfall 12:20am The Bourne Ultimatum 2:35am Unseen Celebrity Juice Tit Bits 3:15am Release the Hounds 4:10am Reality Bites 4:45am Viral Tap 5:20am The Almost Impossible Gameshow Action-packed game show with hilarious commentary from Irish comedy duo The Rubberbandits.

9:30am 10:00am 10:15am 10:25am 11:25am 11:55am 2:05pm 2:20pm 4:40pm 6:40pm 7:00pm

8:00pm 9:00pm 11:05pm 12:10am

Super 4 Mr. Bean Mr. Bean The Aquabats! Super Show! Thunderbirds are Go The Tom and Jerry Show The Tom and Jerry Show Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas You've Been Framed! Back to the Future Part III ITV News and Weather Jurassic Park Midsomer Murders ITV News and Weather The Nation's Favourite Disney Song Surprise Surprise Peter and Wendy The Jonathan Ross Show ITV News and Weather

8:00pm 9:00pm 10:30pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 12:00am 12:45am 1:05am 1:30am 1:50am 2:10am 2:30am 3:00am 3:30am 4:00am

Doctor Who Toy Story 2 Live at the Apollo EastEnders Russell Howard's Good News Family Guy Family Guy Family Guy Family Guy Family Guy Family Guy Uncle Uncle Uncle Don't Tell the Bride

10:00pm Natural World 10:50pm Dancing Cranes of Sweden 11:00pm Big Hits: TOTP 1964 to 1975 12:30am A Very British Map: The Ordnance Survey Story 1:30am John Denver: Country Boy 2:30am Natural World

7:00am 7:10am 7:35am 9:45am 11:35am 1:35pm 3:20pm 5:15pm 7:00pm 9:00pm 10:30pm 12:35am 2:50am

4:40am

5:35am

Movies Now Rising Damp Santa Claus Carry on Jack Carry on Cowboy On the Buses Mutiny on the Buses Holiday on the Buses Housewife 49 The Nation's Favourite Elvis Song Agatha Christie's Marple Inspector Morse Inspector Morse Another investigation for Colin Dexter's laconic detective. Wycliffe Detective drama series. Where the Heart is Drama series following the lives of community nurses in a small Yorkshire town.

www.euroweeklynews.com

7:15am Ramona and Beezus 9:00am The Morning Line 10:00am The Big Bang Theory 10:30am The Big Bang Theory 11:00am The Big Bang Theory 11:25am The Simpsons 11:55am The Simpsons 12:25pm Fantastic Mr. Fox 2:10pm Channel 4 Racing 4:30pm Home Alone 3 6:25pm Channel 4 News 6:35pm The Secret Life of Children at Christmas 7:30pm Britain's Favourite Children's Book 9:00pm Inside Lego at Christmas 10:00pm Big Fat Quiz of the Year 12:05am Rude Tube 1:10am Alan Carr: Chatty Man 3:05am Rude Tube 4:00am Hollyoaks Omnibus When Reenie receives an unexpected letter she is forced to face secrets from the past.

7:00am 7:10am 7:55am 8:45am 9:45am 10:45am 11:50am 12:15pm 12:45pm 1:10pm 1:35pm

2:40pm

5:20pm

8:10pm 10:00pm 12:00am 2:40am 5:00am 5:20am

Goals of the 70's Ax Men Ax Men Ax Men The Professionals Bundesliga Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Fifth Gear Tiff Needell and Vicki B. Henderson present the motor magazine show. Ice Cold in Alex Classic British war movie. The Green Berets A guts-and-glory salute to US troops in the Vietnam War. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Beetlejuice The Boat That Rocked Tin Cup ITV4 Nightscreen Goodwood Revival

8:10am 8:15am 8:25am 8:40am 8:50am 9:05am 9:25am 9:45am 9:55am 10:10am 12:10pm

1:10pm 4:15pm 6:05pm 8:05pm 9:05pm 10:00pm 11:30pm

1:30am

Milkshake Monkey Make Way for Noddy Paw Patrol Little Princess Pip Ahoy! Blaze and the Monster Machines Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom Wanda and the Alien Toby's Travelling Circus The Saturday Show The Dog Rescuers Christmas Special with Alan Davies The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe Diana One Chance Christmas Makes You Laugh Out Loud Chas and Dave's Xmas Knees-Up Football League Tonight Most Shocking Christmas TV Moments Can't Pay? We'll Take it Away!

7:00am Batman Begins 9:30am Captain America: The Winter Soldier 11:45am Spider-Man 2:00pm Spider-Man 2 4:15pm Spider-Man 3 6:45pm Spider-Man 9:00pm Spider-Man 2 11:15pm Spider-Man 3 1:40am Edge of Tomorrow 3:50am Batman Begins

7:20am The Trail of the Pink Panther 9:00am Johnny English 10:30am Arthur 12:10pm Arthur 2: On the Rocks 2:05pm Calendar Girls 3:55pm The Full Monty 5:30pm Johnny English 7:00pm Four Weddings and a Funeral 9:00pm Calendar Girls 11:00pm Ali G Indahouse 12:35am Borat

7:00am Made in Chelsea 8:00am Olive, the Other Reindeer 8:45am Famous Fred 9:20am Ivor the Invisible 9:55am Father Christmas 10:30am Prep and Landing 10:55am Prep and Landing 11:25am Frozen at Christmas 12:30pm Animals United 2:20pm Rude(Ish) Tube Shorts 2:30pm The Big Bang Theory 3:00pm The Big Bang Theory 3:30pm The Big Bang Theory 4:00pm The Big Bang Theory 4:30pm The Big Bang Theory 5:00pm The Big Bang Theory 5:30pm The Big Bang Theory 6:00pm The Big Bang Theory 6:30pm The Snowman 7:05pm The Snowman and the Snowdog 7:35pm The Twilight Saga: Eclipse 10:00pm The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 12:20am Gogglebox 1:25am Gogglebox 2:30am The Inbetweeners

7:00am Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb 8:45am Cinderella Lavish, live-action retelling of the classic fairytale. Fantasy drama. 10:40am Big Hero 6 A robotics prodigy helps form a superhero team to combat a masked villain. 12:25pm Exodus: Gods and Kings 3:00pm Avengers: Age of Ultron 5:30pm Big Hero 6 7:15pm Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb 9:00pm Avengers: Age of Ultron 11:25pm Exodus: Gods and Kings 2:00am I Origins 3:55am The Marine 4: Moving Target 5:30am Dino Time

SATURDAY TV

7:00am 7:15am 7:30am 7:45am 8:00am 8:30am 9:00am 9:30am 10:00am 11:00am 1:00pm 1:30pm 4:00pm 6:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 11:00pm 12:30am 2:00am 3:30am 4:00am 4:30am

Football Gold Football Gold Football Gold Football Gold Premier League Barclays Premier League Review Game Changers Barclays Premier League Review The Fantasy Football Club Soccer A.M. Jamie Vardy- Record Breaker Football Fight Night Review of 2015 Football Jamie Vardy- Record Breaker Fight Night Review of 2015 SNF: Match Choice SNF: Match Choice SNF: Match Choice Sky Sports Boxing Gold 2013 Sky Sports Boxing Gold 2013 Sky Sports Boxing Gold 2013

7:00am Cricket 8:00am Cricket's Greatest 8:30am Cricket 5:00pm Cricket 6:00pm Cricket's Greatest 6:30pm Cricket's Greatest 7:00pm World Darts Championship 11:00pm Cricket Specials A look back on five decades of the very best in fast bowling. 11:30pm Cricket Specials 12:00am Cricket Specials A look back on five decades of the very best in fast bowling. 12:30am Cricket

E W N 24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

7:00am 8:40am 10:15am 11:35am 1:00pm 2:00pm 2:15pm 2:50pm 5:05pm 7:05pm 7:20pm 7:30pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:15pm

11:25pm 12:00am

1:00am 2:35am 2:40am

7:25am 7:35am 8:00am 8:10am 8:25am 8:35am 9:00am 9:25am 10:25am 10:55am 11:40am 2:30pm 2:45pm 4:35pm 6:30pm 6:45pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:30pm 9:30pm 11:30pm 11:45pm 12:45am

Breakfast Match of the Day Flushed Away Megamind Bargain Hunt BBC News Songs of Praise Mary Poppins Oz: The Great and Powerful BBC News BBC London News Countryfile Dickensian Still Open All Hours Dickensian And Then There Were None BBC News BBC London News The latest news, sport and weather from London. Catherine Tate's Nan Miranda Hart - My What I Call Live Show Ghost Town Weather for the Week Ahead BBC News

7:20am Big Dreams Small Spaces 8:20am Countryfile 9:15am A Man for All Seasons 11:15am Saturday Kitchen Best Bites 12:45pm The Hairy Bikers and Lorraine Pascale 1:45pm A Culture Show Special 2:45pm The Cockleshell Heroes 4:20pm The Heroes of Telemark 6:25pm Porridge 7:10pm Deep Impact 9:00pm Dragons' Den 10:00pm Gorilla Family and Me 11:00pm U2 - iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE - Live In Paris 1:15am Telstar: The Joe Meek Story 3:10am Countryfile 4:05am Holby City 5:05am Cue the Queen: Celebrating the Christmas Speech

Pat and Stan Dino Dan Share a Story Sooty Super 4 Mr. Bean The Aquabats! Super Show! Weekend at Christmas Countrywise Celebrity Squares Superman ITV News and Weather Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium Midsomer Murders ITV News London ITV News and Weather You've Been Framed! Jekyll and Hyde Jekyll and Hyde Harry Price: Ghost Hunter ITV News and Weather Through the Keyhole Rugby Highlights

7:00am Alesha Dixon: The Hot Desk 7:10am Totally Bonkers Guinness World Records 7:30am Emmerdale Omnibus 10:45am Coronation Street Omnibus 1:50pm Catchphrase 2:50pm You've Been Framed! 3:50pm Beethoven 5:35pm The Lost World: Jurassic Park 8:05pm Uncle Buck 10:00pm Bridget Jones's Diary 12:00am Scary Movie 5 1:45am Release the Hounds 2:45am Pampered Pooches: Hollywood 3:35am The Almost Impossible Gameshow 4:25am Animal Practice 4:50am The Cube 5:40am Totally Bonkers Guinness World Records

8:00pm First Flight 8:10pm Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit 9:30pm Kung Fu Panda 10:50pm Great Movie Mistakes 11:00pm Family Guy 11:25pm Family Guy 11:45pm American Dad! 12:10am American Dad! 12:30am Family Guy 12:55am Family Guy 1:15am Family Guy 1:35am Russell Howard's Good News

9:00pm Westminster Abbey 10:00pm Gypsy: Live From the Savoy Theatre 12:20am ABBA at the BBC 1:20am Agnetha: Abba and After 2:20am When Albums Ruled the World 3:50am Westminster Abbey 4:50am This is BBC Four

7:00am 7:25am 8:05am 8:35am 10:40am 12:25pm 2:15pm 4:10pm 6:25pm 7:25pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:30pm 10:40pm 11:45pm

1:20am 4:00am 4:15am

In Loving Memory Fresh Fields Rising Damp Agatha Christie's Marple On the Buses Blue Murder at St. Trinian's The Pure Hell of St. Trinian's Santa Claus Rosemary and Thyme Paul O'Grady: For The Love of Dogs Paul O'Grady: For The Love of Dogs The One and Only Cilla Cilla's Surprise Surprise Unseen It'll be Alright on the Night Corrie: The Road to Coronation Street Chaplin ITV3 Nightscreen Emmerdale Omnibus

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7:05am 8:40am 10:20am 1:20pm 1:45pm 2:10pm 4:35pm 6:55pm 7:00pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:10pm 12:10am 2:05am 2:35am 3:00am 3:25am 3:55am

5:35am

7:00am 7:05am 7:30am 8:15am 9:05am 10:05am 11:05am 12:05pm 12:35pm 1:00pm 3:05pm 5:25pm 7:10pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 1:10am 3:00am

4:45am

5:10am

SUNDAY TV

Flicka 2 Paws Sunday Brunch The Simpsons The Simpsons Channel 4 Racing Hugo Channel 4 News Celebrity Fifteen to One Million Pound Motors Walking the Himalayas Homeland 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown The Inbetweeners 2 The Inbetweeners The Inbetweeners The Inbetweeners The Inbetweeners That Touch of Mink Cary Grant and Doris Day star in Delbert Mann's delightful, frothy comedyromance. Benchmark

8:40am Little Princess 8:55am Pip Ahoy! 9:10am Blaze and the Monster Machines 9:40am Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom 9:55am Wanda and the Alien 10:10am Toby's Travelling Circus 10:25am Jelly Jamm 10:35am LazyTown 11:00am The Mr. Men Show 11:15am Football League Tonight 12:45pm Cromwell 3:25pm The Searchers 5:45pm Escape to Victory 8:00pm World's Strongest Man 2015 8:55pm 5 News Weekend 9:00pm On Benefits: Cashing in for Christmas 10:00pm Most Shocking Celebrity Moments 2015 12:55am Autopsy: The Last Hours of Robin Williams 1:55am Super Casino 4:10am A Primary School Nativity

7:00am Olive, the Other Reindeer 7:50am Little Wolf's Book of Badness 8:20am Famous Fred 8:50am Ivor the Invisible 9:20am Father Christmas 9:55am The Snowman 10:30am The Snowman and the Snowdog 11:00am Hollyoaks Omnibus 1:30pm Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules 3:35pm The Big Bang Theory 4:00pm The Big Bang Theory 4:30pm The Big Bang Theory 5:00pm The Big Bang Theory 5:30pm The Big Bang Theory 6:00pm The Big Bang Theory 6:30pm The Big Bang Theory 7:00pm The Big Bang Theory 7:30pm The Big Bang Theory 8:00pm The Big Bang Theory 8:30pm The Big Bang Theory 9:00pm The Big Bang Theory 9:30pm The Big Bang Theory 10:00pm The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 12:20am Tattoo Fixers 1:25am Rude Tube

7:00am SNF: Match Choice 8:30am SNF: Match Choice 10:00am The Sunday Supplement 11:30am Goals on Sunday 1:30pm Premier League 2:00pm Premier League 2:30pm Football 5:15pm Football 8:00pm World Darts Championship 12:00am Football League Goals 1:00am Goals on Sunday 2:00am The Sunday Supplement 3:30am Football Gold 3:45am Football Gold 4:00am Football Gold 4:15am Football Gold 4:30am Football Gold 4:45am Football Gold 5:00am Premier League 5:30am Premier League Series profiling some of the greatest players to grace the Barclays Premier League.

Football's Greatest Tommy Cooper Ax Men Ax Men Fifth Gear Shed and Buried Shed and Buried Storage Wars New York Storage Wars New York The 'Burbs Every Which Way But Loose The Great Outdoors Police Academy 6: City Under Siege Legacy! The 2015 Rugby World Cup Rugby Highlights Dirty Harry Coogan's Bluff British Touring Car Championship 2015 Review Tommy Cooper Comedy and magic from comedian Tommy Coope The Professionals

8:50am Babylon A.D. 10:30am Transformers: Age of Extinction 1:15pm Jupiter Ascending 3:30pm Taken 3 5:30pm Babylon A.D. 7:15pm Transformers: Age of Extinction 10:00pm Jupiter Ascending 12:15am Taken 3 2:15am The Equalizer

7:00am Avengers: Age of Ultron Special 7:30am Big Hero 6 9:15am Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb 11:00am Exodus: Gods and Kings 1:45pm Avengers: Age of Ultron 4:15pm Big Hero 6 A robotics prodigy helps form a superhero team to combat a masked villain. 6:00pm Exodus: Gods and Kings 8:45pm Frozen Fever 9:00pm Avengers: Age of Ultron The Avengers reassemble in order to take down terrifying new enemy Ultron. 11:30pm Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb 1:15am I Origins

7:00am Cricket Day two of the second Test between Australia and West Indies at the MCG. 8:00am Cricket's Greatest 8:30am Cricket 5:00pm Cricket 5:30pm Cricket's Greatest 6:00pm Cricket's Greatest 6:30pm NFL A game from the NFL. 10:00pm NFL A game from the NFL. 2:00am NFL The Pittsburgh Steelers head to the Baltimore Ravens' M&T Bank Stadium. 5:30am Football Gold A chance to relive some classic matches from English football's top flight. 5:45am Football Gold

7:10am The Monster Squad 8:40am Crocodile Dundee 10:25am The Grand Budapest Hotel 12:10pm 27 Dresses 2:05pm The Waterboy 3:40pm Crocodile Dundee 5:25pm Crocodile Dundee II 7:20pm Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles 9:00pm The Grand Budapest Hotel 10:45pm Let's be Cops 12:35am Road Trip: Beer Pong 2:15am Stir Crazy 4:10am Kenny

FEATURE

24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

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Dear clients, friends & readers, TO celebrate the Festive Season of Christmas and the New Year, we would like to show you our appreciation for your trust in Pellicer & Heredia, for bringing us your business and for allowing us to give you Peace of Mind by inviting you to some special Brut

Reserve Cava with cookies at the wonderful Patisserie ‘CHOCOLAT’ in Alicante, Avenida de la Constitucion, 16 Alicante, from December 15 to January 7, 2016. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and Good Health and Peace for the New Year.

With warmest thoughts from Ignacio Pellicer, Pedro Heredia and their team at Pellicer & Heredia. Always at your service for your Peace of Mind. 965 480 737 / 606 056 282 • info@pellicerheredia.com

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E W N 24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

10:00am Bee Movie 11:20am Old Jack's Boat: Storm in a Teacup 12:00pm Bolt 1:30pm Bargain Hunt 2:10pm BBC News at One 2:25pm BBC London News 2:30pm Father Brown 3:20pm Cool Runnings 4:55pm The Gruffalo 5:25pm Madagascar 6:45pm Pointless 7:30pm BBC News at Six 7:45pm BBC London News 8:00pm Celebrity Mastermind 8:30pm Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death 9:00pm EastEnders 9:30pm Miranda 10:05pm And Then There Were None 11:05pm BBC News 11:20pm BBC London News 11:30pm Match of the Day 1:00am Lewis Hamilton: Making History - F1 2015 Review 2:00am Weather for the Week Ahead

7:15am Homes Under the Hammer 8:15am Escape to the Continent 8:45am This Wild Life 9:15am This Wild Life 9:45am Ivanhoe 11:30am The Hairy Bikers' Northern Exposure 12:30pm The Great Pottery Throw Down 1:30pm Les Dawson Talking Comedy 2:00pm The Bear Family and Me 3:00pm Coast 4:00pm Atlantic: The Wildest Ocean on Earth 5:00pm Flog It! 5:30pm Final Score 6:30pm The Clare Balding Show 7:00pm What Women Want 9:00pm University Challenge 9:30pm Only Connect 10:00pm Behind the Candelabra 11:50pm Two Doors Down 12:50am Dragons' Den 1:50am The Apprentice 3:50am Doctor Who

9:00am The Tom and Jerry Show 9:25am Almost Naked Animals 9:55am Horrid Henry 10:25am Dickinson's Real Deal 11:30am Judge Rinder 12:30pm Who's Doing the Dishes? 1:30pm Catchphrase 2:15pm ITV Lunchtime News 2:30pm Our Cilla 3:30pm Surprise Surprise 4:30pm Midsomer Murders 6:30pm Hedgehog Hotel 7:25pm ITV News London 7:45pm ITV Evening News 8:00pm Emmerdale 8:30pm Coronation Street 9:00pm Countrywise 9:30pm Coronation Street 10:00pm John Bishop's Gorilla Adventure 11:00pm ITV News at Ten and Weather 11:15pm The Holiday 1:45am Jackpot247 4:00am The Jeremy Kyle Show

7:00am 7:10am 8:00am 9:00am 10:00am

11:00am 1:10pm 3:00pm 4:45pm

5:45pm 6:45pm 10:00pm 12:55am 2:00am 3:00am 3:50am 4:25am 4:50am

5:40am

The Hot Desk Emmerdale Coronation Street Britain's Got More Talent The Almost Impossible Gameshow Arthur and the Great Adventure Beethoven's 2nd The Flintstones The Nation's Favourite Disney Song Catchphrase The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Casino Royale Celebrity Juice Release the Hounds Release the Hounds Reality Bites Animal Practice The Almost Impossible Gameshow Totally Bonkers Guinness World Records

8:00pm The Borrowers 9:30pm Kung Fu Panda 2 10:50pm Great Movie Mistakes 11:00pm EastEnders 11:30pm Bad Education 12:00am American Dad! 12:25am American Dad! 12:45am Family Guy 1:10am Family Guy 1:30am Killer Magic 2:00am Killer Magic 2:30am Killer Magic 3:00am Killer Magic 3:30am Killer Magic 4:00am Killer Magic

8:00pm Doctor Who 8:30pm Doctor Who 9:00pm Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2015: How to Survive in Space 10:00pm Michael Palin's Quest for Artemisia 11:00pm Sammy Davis Jr: The Kid in the Middle 12:00am Papillon

7:00am George and Mildred 7:25am Wycliffe 8:20am Heidi 10:30am Heidi 12:35pm Inspector Morse 2:40pm Sparkling Cyanide 4:40pm Forever Young Romantic drama. 6:40pm Inspector Morse 9:00pm Foyle's War 11:00pm Endeavour Crime drama series about the young Detective Constable Endeavour Morse. 1:00am Agatha Christie's Marple 3:05am Inspector Morse 4:55am A Touch of Frost Frost has to try and put an end to a series of brutal attacks on senior citizens on his patch.

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7:10am Small Animal Hospital 7:50am See Spot Run 9:35am The Big Bang Theory 10:05am The Big Bang Theory 10:35am The Big Bang Theory 11:05am Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer 12:50pm The Simpsons 1:15pm The Simpsons 1:45pm The Simpsons 2:15pm Marmaduke 3:55pm Stuart Little 2 5:25pm Mirror Mirror 7:30pm Channel 4 News 7:35pm Hollyoaks 8:05pm A Frozen Christmas 9:00pm The World's Most Expensive Food 10:00pm Gogglebox 11:35pm Tattoo Fixers The Tattoo Fixers return to revamp more embarrassing, offensive and awful body art. 12:40am David Blaine 1:50am The Omen 3:45am The China Syndrome 5:45am Benchmark

8:55am Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom 9:10am Peppa Pig 9:25am Paw Patrol 9:45am Bananas in Pajamas 9:55am Milkshake! Bop Box 10:00am Toot the Tiny Tugboat 10:10am Toby's Travelling Circus 10:20am Wanda and the Alien 10:35am The Mr. Men Show 10:50am World's Strongest Man 2015 11:50am An American in Paris 2:00pm Anchors Aweigh 4:55pm High Society 7:00pm Loch Lomond: A Year in the Wild 7:55pm World's Strongest Man 2015 8:50pm 5 News 9:00pm Building the Ice Hotel 10:00pm The Frank Sinatra Story 11:00pm Sinatra Live in New York 12:00am Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly: Ol' Blue Eyes is Back

7:00am Goals of the 90s 7:10am The Big Match Revisited 7:55am Tommy Cooper 8:25am The Professionals 9:25am Minder 10:35am Storage Wars Texas 11:00am Storage Wars 11:30am Storage Wars Texas 12:00pm Storage Wars 12:30pm Storage Wars Texas 12:55pm Storage Wars 1:25pm Storage Wars Texas 1:50pm Storage Wars 2:20pm Storage Wars Texas 2:50pm Storage Wars 3:15pm The Land That Time Forgot 5:10pm Spartacus 9:00pm Cannonball Run II 11:10pm Death Wish 5: The Face of Death 1:05am Rugby Highlights 2:10am Rumble in the Bronx 3:55am Ax Men 4:45am Nitro Circus 5:05am ITV4 Nightscreen 5:20am The Cycle Show

7:00am Into the Storm 8:35am Twister 10:30am Mission: Impossible III 12:40pm The Matrix 3:00pm The Terminator 5:00pm Predator 7:00pm Predator 2 9:00pm The Matrix 11:30pm The Terminator 1:30am Mission: Impossible III

7:35am Romy and Michele's High School Reunion 9:10am Patch Adams 11:10am The Interview 1:15pm Little Miss Sunshine 3:05pm Shanghai Noon 5:00pm Shanghai Knights 6:55pm Pretty Woman 9:00pm The Interview 11:05pm Bad Santa 12:50am City Slickers 2:50am Sex Ed 4:30am The Love Guru

7:00am 7:25am 7:45am 8:30am 9:30am 10:35am 11:00am 11:35am 12:00pm 1:00pm 2:00pm 2:30pm 3:00pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:00am 12:30am 1:00am 3:05am

Rude(Ish) Tube Rude(Ish) Tube Charmed Charmed Hollyoaks Bad(Ish) Robots Troy Rude(Ish) Tube Charmed Charmed How I Met Your Mother How I Met Your Mother The Big Bang Theory How I Met Your Mother How I Met Your Mother The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Hollyoaks Toy Story of Terror The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Made in Chelsea Scream Queens The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Rude Tube Made in Chelsea

7:00am Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb 8:45am Big Hero 6 10:30am Exodus: Gods and Kings 1:05pm Avengers: Age of Ultron 3:30pm Big Hero 6 5:15pm Cinderella 7:15pm Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb 9:00pm Exodus: Gods and Kings 11:35pm Avengers: Age of Ultron The Avengers reassemble in order to take down terrifying new enemy Ultron. 2:00am I Origins 3:55am The Marine 4: Moving Target 5:30am Dino Time Three kids travel back in time to the age of the dinosaurs.

MONDAY TV

7:00am Goals on Sunday 8:00am Football Gold 8:15am Football Gold 8:30am Football Gold 8:45am Football Gold 9:00am Goals on Sunday 10:00am Football Gold 10:15am Football Gold 10:30am Football Gold 10:45am Football Gold 11:00am Premier League 11:30am Premier League 12:00pm Premier League 12:30pm Goals on Sunday 1:30pm Football 4:00pm Gillette Soccer Special 6:00pm FL72 8:30pm World Darts Championship 12:30am Football Gold 12:45am Football Gold 1:00am NFL 2:00am NFL 5:30am NFL A profile of New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin.

7:00am Cricket 8:00am Cricket Day three of the first Test between South Africa and England at Kingsmead in Durban. 5:00pm Cricket 6:00pm Cricket 7:00pm Cricket 8:00pm Cricket 9:00pm Cricket 10:00pm Cricket 11:00pm Cricket's Greatest Series profiling some of the greatest cricketers of all time. 11:30pm Cricket Day three of the second Test between Australia and West Indies at the MCG. 12:30am Cricket Day four of the second Test between Australia and West Indies at the MCG.

OPINION & COMMENT

24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

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EWN

Stromare

Spare a thought for the events of December 20, 1973 Cassandra Nash A weekly look - and not entirely impartial reaction to the Spanish political scene

AS Spain digests its Christmas Eve dinner and politicians digest the election results, spare a thought for December 20, 1973. That was when the car of Spain’s Prime Minister Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco was blown up in Calle Claudio Coello in Madrid. He was returning home after Mass as he did each morning in his official car, a black Dodge, and his unvarying routine made him an easy target. The attack was carried out by ETA’s five-strong Txikia commando and took more than a year to set up. The choice of Carrero Blanco

SANTOÑA (CANTABRIA): The monument to Carrero Blanco in his birthplace.

was an obvious one, he had been a close adviser to Franco since 1941, when he came to the dictator’s notice after writing a report advising against entering the Second World War on the side of the fascist Axis. The admiral was made a minister in 1951, became Deputy Prime Minister in 1967. He was named Prime Minister six months before his assassination. The aging dictator, who boasted that all loose ends were ‘tied up and well tied up,’ trusted that on his death Carrero Blanco would ensure that the Movimiento, Spain’s only political organisation, survived after Prince Juan Carlos was proclaimed King. So what was in Franco’s mind when he began his Christmas speech that year with the phrase: ‘No hay mal que por bien no venga?’ Using the equivalent of

‘It’s an ill wind that blows no good’ generated inevitable conspiracy theories. How could the ETA commando spend a year in Madrid setting up the plot to kill Carrero Blanco without detection? Why did Henry Kissinger, the US Secretary of State, visit Madrid two days previously? Better still, Carlos Arias Navarro, the former Interior Minister who replaced Carrero Blanco as Prime Minister, was nominally in charge of providing him with protection, and should have uncovered the plot, it was suggested. Two years later, Franco was dead and Arias Navarro would be in office for only a few months more. He was replaced by Adolfo Suarez who, together with Juan Carlos I, steered Spain to democracy. But that’s another story.

Exhibition in Madrid brings to life first and final voyage of the Titanic ONE hundred years ago on 10 April 1915 the newly built Titanic transatlantic liner left Southampton for New York on its maiden voyage. Four days later at around midnight it was struck by an iceberg in mid Atlantic and within three hours sank with the loss of almost 1500 lives in what is one of the world’s greatest maritime disasters. The tragedy has always captured the imagination of writers and filmmakers. Numerous films and documentaries have been produced analysing the reasons and decisions, which led to the loss of what was deemed an unsinkable ship as well as the personal stories of the passengers and crew on board. In what is an unforgettable step back in time, the story of the Titanic is now a major exhibition currently on display in Madrid. It is presented as a journey through the interior of the liner, recreating its cabins, lounges, restaurants and radio room. There are over 200 unique objects on display including photos, letters and personal items belonging to passengers and crew and

DOOMED: The ‘unsinkable’ Titanic was struck by an iceberg. technical information into the building of what was the largest ship ever built. Visitors can also participate in the scientific and cultural programme of activities and lectures relating to the Titanic, which was discovered in 1985.

The Titanic was designed to carry nearly three thousand passengers and crew. Its commander was the experienced Edward Smith. Being a maiden voyage there were many personalities on board travelling first class including

the ship’s owner and several prominent and wealthy American families. In contrast hundreds of European emigrants seeking a new life in America were crammed below in the cabins. Built by Harland and Wolff in

Belfast, the Titanic was owned by White Star Lines. Designed with three classes, totally segregated, as well as storage space large enough to transport motor vehicles, the ship was considered unsinkable with watertight compartments and doors. However a lack of strict regulations meant it carried lifeboats for only half the number of passengers on board. The Marconi wireless operators were not always operational and problems with communication meant the SS Californian, which was the nearest other ship did not react in time and the Cunard liner, Carpathia was also late in reaching the liner to pick up survivors. The exhibition is organised by Musealia a Spanish company, which creates and organises interactive theme exhibitions for family entertainment. The Titanic experience runs until 6 March 2016 at the Fernan Gomez Centro Cultural de la Villa in the Plaza Colon in Madrid. www.titanic.eu titanic@musealia.net

E W N 24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

8:30am 10:00am 11:20am 1:00pm 1:45pm 2:00pm 2:10pm 3:00pm 5:00pm 5:25pm 6:45pm 7:30pm 7:45pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:15pm 11:30pm 11:40pm 12:10am 12:40am 1:10am

7:00am 7:15am 7:25am 7:40am 8:00am 9:30am 10:25am 11:30am 12:30pm 1:30pm 1:45pm 3:30pm 5:30pm 7:30pm 7:45pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 11:10pm 11:25pm 1:05am 4:00am

Match of the Day Shark Tale Cars 2 Bargain Hunt BBC News at One BBC London News Father Brown National Treasure The Gruffalo's Child Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Pointless BBC News at Six BBC London News Celebrity Mastermind EastEnders Holby City David Beckham: For the Love of the Game BBC News BBC London News Peter Kay's Car Share Mrs. Brown's Boys Boomers Weather for the Week Ahead

8:45am This Wild Life 9:15am An Island Parish: Falklands 9:45am Show Boat 11:30am The Hairy Bikers' Northern Exposure 12:30pm The Great Pottery Throw Down 1:30pm Peter Sellers Talking Comedy 2:00pm The Bear Family and Me 3:00pm Coast 4:00pm Atlantic: The Wildest Ocean on Earth 5:00pm Flog It! 5:55pm Natural World 6:55pm Finding Neverland 8:30pm University Challenge 9:00pm Gareth Malone's Great Choir Reunion 10:00pm Stephen Fry: A Life on Screen 11:00pm QI 11:30pm Albert Nobbs 1:15am Race to Super Bowl 50 2:05am Top Gear

Dino Dan Dino Dan Sooty Super 4 Good Morning Britain Lorraine Dickinson's Real Deal Who's Doing the Dishes? Pick Me! ITV Lunchtime News Evan Almighty Midsomer Murders The Queen ITV News London ITV Evening News Emmerdale The Amazing SpiderMan ITV News American Pie Jackpot247 The Jeremy Kyle Show USA

7:00am 7:10am 7:55am 8:25am 9:20am 10:25am

11:25am 1:20pm 1:55pm 2:20pm 2:55pm 4:00pm 5:05pm 6:10pm 7:10pm 8:15pm 10:00pm 12:55am

The Hot Desk The Cube Emmerdale Coronation Street Britain's Got More Talent The Almost Impossible Gameshow The Little Vampire Emmerdale Coronation Street Coronation Street The Jeremy Kyle Show The Jeremy Kyle Show The Jeremy Kyle Show Catchphrase You've Been Framed! Liar Liar The Shawshank Redemption Celebrity Juice

8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm 12:00am 12:25am 12:45am 1:05am 1:30am 1:50am 2:20am

Top Gear Don't Tell the Bride Don't Tell the Bride EastEnders Russell Howard's Good News Family Guy Family Guy American Dad! Family Guy Family Guy Top Coppers Top Coppers

9:00pm Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2015: How to Survive in Space 10:00pm Roy Orbison: One of the Lonely Ones 11:00pm Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night 12:00am The Richest Songs in the World

7:00am 7:25am 7:45am 8:50am 10:55am 12:55pm 2:55pm 4:50pm 6:40pm 9:00pm 11:00pm

1:00am

3:00am

On the Buses Judge Judy Wycliffe Inspector Morse Sparkling Cyanide Hidden Treasure Carry on at Your Convenience Carry on Camping Inspector Morse Foyle's War Endeavour Crime drama series about the young Detective Constable Endeavour Morse. Lewis Feature-length drama following on from the Inspector Morse series. Inspector Morse Drama series featuring Colin Dexter's laconic detective.

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7:05am Small Animal Hospital 7:45am Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts 9:15am The Big Bang Theory 9:45am The Big Bang Theory 10:10am The Big Bang Theory 10:40am The Simpsons 11:10am The Simpsons 11:40am Captain Ron 1:40pm New in Town 3:30pm Coraline 5:35pm Gulliver's Travels 7:10pm Channel 4 News 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Inside Lego at Christmas 9:00pm The Supervet at Christmas 10:00pm 8 Out of 10 Cats 11:00pm Big Fat Quiz of the Year 1:05am Kingdom of Heaven 3:30am Peep Show

7:00am The Big Match Revisited 7:50am Tommy Cooper 8:15am The Professionals 9:15am Minder 10:25am Alias Smith and Jones 11:30am Silverstone Classic 2015 12:30pm Goodwood Revival 1:30pm The Professionals 2:35pm Gunsmoke 4:15pm Death of a Gunfighter 6:10pm The Rawhide Years 8:00pm Pawn Stars 8:30pm Pawn Stars 9:00pm The Chase: Celebrity Special 10:00pm Waterworld 12:40am A Dangerous Man 2:35am The Fog 4:10am Minder

8:10am 8:25am 8:35am 8:50am 9:05am 9:15am 9:25am 9:35am 9:50am 10:05am 11:05am 12:35pm 1:30pm 3:15pm 5:40pm 7:10pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:45pm 2:15am

Bob the Builder Thomas and Friends Noddy in Toyland Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom Peppa Pig Peppa Pig Paw Patrol Bananas in Pajamas Toot the Tiny Tugboat World's Strongest Man 2015 Football League Tonight Ice Road Truckers Carry on Nurse The Dam Busters What the Dambusters Did Next Loch Lomond: A Year in the Wild World's Strongest Man 2015 Snowtrapped Flowers in the Attic Erin Brockovich Super Casino

12:15pm The Top Ten Show 2015 12:30pm Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen 3:00pm 3.10 to Yuma 5:10pm The Goonies 7:10pm The Patriot 10:00pm Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

11:30am The Other Woman 1:30pm Night at the Museum 3:25pm Me, Myself and Irene 5:25pm Daddy Day Care 7:00pm Blended 9:00pm The Other Woman 10:50pm There's Something About Mary 12:50am Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny

TUESDAY TV

Bad(Ish) Robots Troy Charmed Hollyoaks Rude(Ish) Tube Bad(Ish) Robots Troy Lost and Found Charmed Charmed How I Met Your Mother How I Met Your Mother The Big Bang Theory How I Met Your Mother How I Met Your Mother The Big Bang Theory Hollyoaks Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas The Big Bang Theory Tattoo Fixers Tripped The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory

7:00am Football Gold 8:00am Soccer A.M. - The Best Bits 9:00am Big Bash League 12:30pm Pace Like Fire 1:00pm Adam Gilchrist Masterclass 1:30pm SPFL Round Up 2:00pm World Darts Championship 6:00pm Premier League 6:30pm SPFL Round Up 7:00pm Fantasy Football Club Highlights 7:30pm Football League Goals 8:30pm Football 11:00pm Football League Goals 12:00am Sky Sports Originals: The Sir Alex Ferguson Interview 12:30am Sky Sports Originals - Cantona: Return of the King 1:00am Football's Greatest II 1:30am Football's Greatest II 2:00am Football League Goals

8:50am Avengers: Age of Ultron 11:15am Big Hero 6 1:00pm Exodus: Gods and Kings 3:35pm Cinderella 5:30pm Big Hero 6 7:15pm Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb 9:00pm Avengers: Age of Ultron The Avengers reassemble in order to take down terrifying new enemy Ultron. 11:25pm Exodus: Gods and Kings 2:00am I Origins 3:55am The Marine 4: Moving Target 5:30am Dino Time

8:00am Cricket 5:00pm Cricket Day four of the second Test between Australia and West Indies at the MCG. 6:00pm Cricket Day four of the first Test between South Africa and England at Kingsmead in Durban. 7:00pm Cricket 8:00pm World Darts Championship The evening session on day eleven of the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace. 12:00am Sporting Greats A look back on the career of boxing legend Sugar Ray Robinson.

7:00am 7:20am 7:45am 9:35am 10:05am 10:30am 11:00am 11:30am 12:00pm 1:00pm 2:00pm 2:30pm 3:00pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:50pm 12:25am

E W N 24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

7:00am Breakfast 10:00am The Princess and the Frog 11:30am Chicken Run 12:50pm Bargain Hunt 1:50pm BBC News at One 2:05pm BBC London News 2:10pm Father Brown 3:00pm National Treasure: Book of Secrets 4:55pm Room on the Broom 5:20pm Monsters, Inc. 6:45pm Pointless 7:30pm BBC News at Six 7:45pm BBC London News 8:00pm Celebrity Mastermind 8:30pm A Question of Sport 9:00pm Antiques Roadshow 10:00pm Great Barrier Reef with David Attenborough 11:00pm BBC News at Ten 11:15pm BBC London News 11:25pm Catherine Tate's Nan 11:55pm Mrs. Brown's Boys 12:35am Comic Relief 2015: Thanks a Billion! 1:35am Weather for the Week Ahead

7:20am Homes Under the Hammer 8:20am This Wild Life 8:50am Terry and Mason's Great Food Trip 9:20am Waterloo 11:30am The Hairy Bikers' Northern Exposure 12:30pm The Great Pottery Throw Down 1:30pm The Two Ronnies Talking Comedy 2:00pm The Bear Family and Me 3:00pm Coast 4:00pm Atlantic: The Wildest Ocean on Earth 5:00pm Flog It! 5:50pm Natural World 6:50pm Alice in Wonderland 8:30pm University Challenge 9:00pm Top Gear 10:00pm Charlie Brooker's End of Year Review 2015 11:00pm A Gert Lush Christmas 12:00am Mock the Week 12:30am Backchat Looks Back 1:15am The Shipping News 3:00am Behind the Candelabra

7:00am 7:25am 7:40am 8:00am

7:00am 7:10am 7:35am 8:25am 8:50am

9:30am 10:25am 11:30am 12:30pm 1:30pm

3:20pm 3:35pm 5:30pm 6:30pm 7:30pm 7:45pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:15pm 1:10am

Dino Dan Sooty Super 4 Good Morning Britain Lorraine Dickinson's Real Deal Judge Rinder Who's Doing the Dishes? Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory ITV Lunchtime News Midsomer Murders Dinosaur Britain Paul O'Grady: For The Love of Dogs ITV News London ITV Evening News Emmerdale Coronation Street Big Star's Little Star It'll be Alright on the Night ITV News at Ten and Weather American Pie 2 Jackpot247

9:50am

10:55am 12:50pm 1:50pm 2:20pm 3:25pm 4:35pm 5:40pm 6:45pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:00am 1:45am 2:45am 3:40am

The Hot Desk You've Been Framed! The Cube Emmerdale Britain's Got More Talent The Almost Impossible Gameshow Horrid Henry: The Movie You've Been Framed! Emmerdale The Jeremy Kyle Show The Jeremy Kyle Show The Jeremy Kyle Show Catchphrase The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Luke Kempner's Impression of 2015 Celebrity Juice Scary Movie 5 Luke Kempner's Impression of 2015 Release the Hounds Viral Tap

8:00pm Top Gear 9:00pm Toy Story 10:15pm Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time 12:05am Family Guy 12:25am Family Guy 12:50am American Dad! 1:10am American Dad! 1:30am Russell Howard's Good News 2:00am Him and Her 2:30am Him and Her 3:00am Him and Her 3:30am Him and Her 4:00am Him and Her 4:30am Him and Her

8:30pm Tomorrow's World 9:00pm Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2015: How to Survive in Space 10:00pm The Real Star of Bethlehem: A Sky at Night Christmas Special 11:00pm Vertigo

7:00am Movies Now 7:10am Swallows and Amazons 8:50am Rising Damp 9:25am A Christmas Carol 10:55am Carry on Loving 12:50pm Agatha Christie's Marple 2:55pm Carry on Cleo 4:50pm Carry on Cruising 6:40pm Inspector Morse 9:00pm Doc Martin The peace of Portwenn is disturbed when a hoard of twitchers descend on the village. 11:00pm Endeavour Crime drama series about the young Detective Constable Endeavour Morse. 1:00am Chaplin 3:45am A Christmas Carol A modern take on Charles Dickens's classic novel.

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7:00am Everybody Loves Raymond 7:25am Small Animal Hospital 8:10am The Love Bug 10:15am The Big Bang Theory 11:10am The Simpsons 11:40am The Phantom 1:40pm Chalet Girl 3:35pm Freaky Friday 5:35pm Sunshine on Leith 7:20pm Channel 4 News 7:30pm Hollyoaks 8:00pm Gogglesprogs 9:00pm What Britain Bought in 2015 10:00pm 24 Hours in A and E 11:00pm The Millionaire Party Planner 12:05am Fast Five 2:30am Rude Tube 3:25am Friday Night Dinner 4:20am Friday Night Dinner The family are distraught when Grandma gets engaged to Mr Morris, her horrible 85-year-old boyfriend. 4:50am Gadget Man

7:00am The Big Match Revisited 7:50am Tommy Cooper 8:15am The Professionals 9:15am Minder 10:20am Alias Smith and Jones 11:25am Everything or Nothing: The Untold Stories of 007 1:25pm Destry 3:20pm The Far Country 5:20pm Nevada Smith 8:00pm Pawn Stars 8:30pm Pawn Stars 9:00pm Fifth Gear 10:00pm Magnum Force 12:30am Public Enemies 3:15am Beetlejuice 4:50am ITV4 Nightscreen 4:55am Tommy Cooper Comedy and magic from legendary Tommy Cooper. 5:20am Ax Men Series following the work of North American lumberjacks as they risk their lives to cut timber.

8:05am 8:20am 8:30am 8:45am 9:00am 9:15am 9:35am 9:50am 10:00am 10:15am 10:25am 11:25am 1:10pm 2:55pm 5:05pm 7:10pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:50pm 2:10am 4:10am 5:00am 5:25am

Little Princess Bob the Builder Thomas and Friends Noddy in Toyland Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom Peppa Pig Paw Patrol Bananas in Pajamas Toot the Tiny Tugboat Wanda and the Alien World's Strongest Man 2015 Carry on Constable Carry on Spying Annie Get Your Gun Calamity Jane Loch Lomond: A Year in the Wild World's Strongest Man 2015 Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Snow Big Driver Needful Things Super Casino On Benefits: Cashing in for Christmas Michaela's Wild Challenge Divine Designs

11:30am Clash of the Titans 1:30pm Babylon A.D. 3:15pm The Top Ten Show 2015 3:30pm 300: Rise of an Empire 5:30pm Clash of the Titans 7:30pm Noah 10:00pm Babylon A.D. 11:45pm 300: Rise of an Empire 1:45am Anaconda

10:35am 12:20pm 2:10pm 4:00pm 5:40pm

7:20pm 9:00pm 11:00pm 12:45am

Boat Trip Last Vegas Never Been Kissed Balls of Fury Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Austin Powers in Goldmember Last Vegas Sex Tape Boat Trip

7:00am 7:20am 7:45am 8:35am 9:30am 10:00am 10:30am 11:00am 11:30am

WEDNESDAY TV

Bad(Ish) Robots Troy Charmed Charmed Hollyoaks Rude(Ish) Tube Bad(Ish) Robots Troy Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas Charmed Charmed How I Met Your Mother How I Met Your Mother The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory How I Met Your Mother How I Met Your Mother The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theory Hollyoaks Johnny English Reborn Supernatural Supernatural

7:00am Football League Goals 8:00am Game Changers 8:30am Fantasy Football Club Highlights 9:00am Big Bash League 12:30pm Pace Like Fire 1:00pm Adam Gilchrist Masterclass 1:30pm Fantasy Football Club Highlights 2:00pm Football League Goals 3:00pm Football Gold 3:15pm Football Gold 3:25pm Fantasy Football Club Highlights 3:55pm Football 6:00pm Premier League 6:30pm Pl 100: Robbie Fowler 7:00pm Premier League 7:30pm Pl 100: Steven Gerrard 8:00pm Football 11:15pm Football 11:30pm Football Gold 11:45pm Premier League 12:15am Football Gold 12:30am Premier League 100 Club 1:00am Ford Football Special

7:00am Frozen Fever 7:15am Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb 9:00am Dino Time 10:30am Exodus: Gods and Kings 1:05pm Frozen Fever 1:20pm Avengers: Age of Ultron 3:45pm Big Hero 6 5:30pm Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb 7:15pm Big Hero 6 9:00pm Avengers: Age of Ultron The Avengers reassemble in order to take down terrifying new enemy Ultron. 11:30pm Exodus: Gods and Kings 2:05am I Origins 3:55am The Marine 4: Moving Target 5:30am Dino Time

7:00am Cricket Day five of the second Test between Australia and West Indies at the MCG. 8:00am Cricket Day five of the first Test between South Africa and England at Kingsmead, Durban. 5:00pm Cricket Day five of the second Test between Australia and West Indies at the MCG. 6:00pm Football Rayo Vallecano meet Atletico Madrid in La Liga at Campo de Futbol de Vallecas. 8:25pm Football A match from Spain's La Liga. 10:30pm Barcelona's Strike Force 11:00pm ODI Cricket

12:00pm 1:00pm 2:00pm 2:30pm 3:00pm 3:30pm 4:00pm 4:30pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 11:05pm 12:00am

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Famous quote

This week

MADDOCKS’ VIEW ON LIFE

‘

The term ‘serious actor’ is kind of an oxymoron, isn’t it? Like ‘Republican party’ or ‘airplane food.’ Johnny Depp

in history 1 - 1st Christmas, according to calendar-maker Dionysus Exiguus 352 - 1st definite date Christmas was celebrated on Dec 25th 640 - John IV begins his reign as Catholic Pope 1066 - Duke William of Normandy (‘William the Conqueror’) crowned king of England 1170 - Assassination inside Canterbury Cathedral of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury 1492 - Christopher Columbus’ flagship the Santa María runs aground and sinks on Hispaniola 1568 - Uprising of Moriscos in Granada 1741 - Astronomer Anders Celsius introduces Centigrade temperature scale 1758 - Return of Halley’s comet 1st sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch 1777 - Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook 1818 - Christmas carol ‘Silent Night’ composed by Franz Xaver Gruber is first sung at St Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf, Austria 1893 - Henry Ford completes his first useful petrol fuelled engine 1914 - Legendary ‘Christmas Truce’ takes place on the battlefields of WWI between British and German troops. Instead of fighting, soldiers exchange gifts and play football. 1922 - BBC broadcasts first British radio play ‘The Truth about Father Christmas’ 1927 - Stalin’s faction wins All-Union Congress in USSR, Trotsky expelled 1963 - Walt Disney’s ‘The Sword in the Stone’ is released 1966 - Jimi Hendrix writes ‘Purple Haze’ backstage at the Upper Cut Club 1968 - Frank Sinatra 1st records ‘My Way’ with lyrics were written by Paul Anka 1975 - Eldrick Tont ‘Tiger’ Woods, was born in Cypress, California.

Women’s wit

‘

If I make a fool of myself, who cares? I’m not frightened by anyone’s perception of me. Angelina Jolie

World of English

‘

If lawyers are disbarred, and clergymen defrocked, does it not follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged and drycleaners depressed?

“ MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL - AND YOU THERE - ALL ALONE! “

Costa Blanca

weather

Kakuro

for next 7 days

TODAY

Fill all the empty squares using the numbers 1 to 9, so that the sum of each horizontal block equals the ‘clue’ on its left, and the sum of each vertical block equals the clue on its top. No number may be used in the same block more than once.

TOMORROW

JAVEA

DENIA JAVEA

DENIA

CALPE CALPE ALTEA ALTEA BENIDORM BENIDORM

ALICANTE

TORREVIEJA

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION ORIHUELA

ORIHUELA

Fri Sat Sun -

Benidorm

CLOUDY MAX 18C, MIN 10C MAX MIN

18 9 S 18 11 Cl 17 9 C

Mon - 18 9 Cl Tues - 19 10 S Wed - 18 11 S

CLEAR MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

19 10 S 19 10 Cl 19 9 C

MAX 19C, MIN 11C Mon - 19 11 S Tues - 19 11 S Wed - 18 11 S

Fri Sat Sun -

16 8 C 16 8 S 17 9 C S Sun,

19 9 C 19 10 Cl 17 10 Cl

MAX MIN

Mon - 19 9 C Tues - 19 12 Cl Wed - 19 9 C

Madrid

CLOUDY MAX 17C, MIN 9C MAX MIN

MAX MIN

Mon - 16 9 C Tues - 16 9 C Wed - 17 10 Cl Cl Clear,

TODAY:

Fog,

18 11 S 18 10 C 18 10 C

TODAY:

CLOUDY MAX 19C, MIN 7C MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

19 8 C 18 7 Cl 18 7 C

CLOUDY MAX 15C, MIN 2C

16 2 S 15 4 C 14 3 C C Cloudy,

TODAY:

MAX MIN

Mon - 14 4 C Tues - 15 5 C Wed - 15 4 C

MAX MIN

Mon - 19 9 C Tues - 18 8 C Wed - 19 8 C

Sh Showers,

CLOUDY MAX 20C, MIN 7C MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

20 8 S 19 9 C 19 7 C Sn Snow,

UK NATIONAL LOTTERY

UK THUNDERBALL

IRISH LOTTO

Saturday December 19

EURO MILLIONS

LA PRIMITIVA

EL GORDO DE LA PRIMITIVA

MAX MIN

Mon - 18 11 C Tues - 19 11 Cl Wed - 18 11 C

Murcia

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

Mallorca

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

CLEAR MAX 18C, MIN 9C

TODAY:

MAX MIN

Mon - 18 11 S Tues - 19 12 S Wed - 18 12 S

CLEAR MAX 19C, MIN 9C

TODAY:

MAX MIN

Barcelona TODAY:

18 11 S 17 12 C 18 11 C

Bilbao

Almeria TODAY:

MAX MIN

Fri Sat Sun -

Malaga

CLOUDY MAX 18C, MIN 11C

TODAY:

MAX MIN

Mon - 20 7 S Tues - 21 8 S Wed - 21 9 S Th Thunder

LOTTERY

Alicante TODAY:

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Friday December 18

9 27

Saturday December 19

Sunday December 20

22 22

BONUS BALL

THUNDERBALL

BONUS BALL

LUCKY STARS

REINTEGRO

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Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, and Distributed by Paramount Pictures. Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, and Alec Baldwin. This time: Tom Cruise (Ethan Hunt) finds himself on the run from the CIA as his team takes on their most impossible mission yet, eradicating the Syndicate - an International rogue organisation as highly skilled as they are committed to destroying the IMF.

Javier Arenas, December 28, Politician. Javier Arenas is a Spanish politician who has held a senior position in the PP for many years under both Prime Ministers and is a past president of the party.

Barry Chuckle, December 24, Comedian, 71 British comedian who with his brother Paul forms the duo, the Chuckle Brothers whose act is aimed at children but is secretly watched by adults as well. Jorgie Porter, December 25, Actress, 28 Originally known as an actress in Hollyoaks, Jorgina Alexandra Porter has become a celebrity at large appearing in a number of TV reality shows, culminating in I’m a Celebrity in 2015. She said after that she ‘fancied’ former dragon contestant Duncan Bannatyne. Martin Cooper, December 26, Inventor, 87 Entrepreneur and inventor known for his work with the Motorola Company in the USA. He is credited with inventing the first mobile phone in the 1970s. Salman Khan, December 27, Actor, 50 Indian film actor, producer and television personality who has had huge success with a string of Bollywood hits. He is said to be one of the most popular and commercially successful actors of Hindi cinema. Ted Danson, December 29, Actor, 68 Best known for his role as bartender, Sam Malone on the television show, Cheers, he has had other starring roles in TV and film over a long career. Jeff Lynne, December 30, Musician, 68 Singer with the Move and founder of Electric Light Orchestra as well as member of the Traveling Wilburys alongside Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty.

Funagram

Just Joking

Unscramble the name of a famous film often shown on TV at Christmas time (four words): ALLOW UNDER FIFTIES

Two cannibals are eating dinner and one says to the other, “I hate my mother-in-law.” The other replies, “Well, just eat your noodles, then.”

Unscramble the name of a single that was a UK number one at Christmas time (three words): IT MENTIONED WALES FUNAGRAM SOLUTION: IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, MISTLETOE AND WINE

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Hexagram

The purpose of the Hexagram puzzle is to place the 19 six-letter words into the 19 cells. The letters at the edges of interlocking cells MUST BE THE SAME. The letters in the words must be written CLOCKWISE. The word in cell 10 (DANCER) and one letter in four other cells are given as clues.

ATTEST BANTER CAMERA CHEERY CHEESE DANCER (10) DISTAL EARTHY EFFORT ELDEST

GAMBOL HEATER PANDER RETINA RETURN SCURRY SERENE VORTEX YEARLY

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION 1 Creaky 2 Chalet 3 Strain 4 Shrift 5 Letter 6 Careen 7 Closer 8 Events 9 Hollow 10 Centre 11 Quaver 12 Billet 13 Astute 14 Lingua 15 Russet 16 Sulfur 17 Beaten 18 Strict 19 Chaste

PISCES (February 20 - March 20) One thing is certain, when you come through this week’s restless planetary antics, you won’t be totally the same Piscean who walked in. ARIES (March 21 - April 20) Education, media, creative and social connections are given star merit. The solar eclipse in your own sign bursts with vitality and success, more so for an array of bold moves, replacements and makeovers covering your personal affairs. TAURUS (April 21 - May 21) Stand by for a week of whoosh and whirl. More importantly, try to avoid getting tongue-tied or dogmatic on Tuesday and Friday. Promising potentials appear, especially if you spruce up your competitive streak. GEMINI (May 22 - June 21) Throughout this fortunate week,

CAPRICORN

(December 22 - January 20)

Hard-working, enterprising and selfsacrificing are just some of the words that describe your zodiac sign. It will be these qualities that count. Friday will boost your powers of persuasion, but you won’t have too much to complain about if you follow this lucky trend into next week’s encouraging tide. whatever else you decide, refuse to discard your hopes and wishes. As a Gemini, you like to have two strings to your bow of life, which gives you an alternative option, especially if the going gets tough.

EURO WEEKLY’S SPACE FOR YOU TO TAKE A BREA

12-Star Quiz TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS All the questions or answers contain an ‘item’ mentioned in the song The Twelve Days of Christmas 1. Rosie was a 1968 UK top 10 hit single for which English busker/one-man band? 2. What name is often applied to politicians who advocate peaceful or conciliatory policies, especially in foreign affairs? 3. In which allegorical and dystopian novella, first published in 1945, are the hens among the first to rebel against a large Berkshire boar named Napoleon? 4. Which British sitcom, originally broadcast on BBC One from 1989 to 1998, then revived on ITV in 2014, starred Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph? 5. Endemic to Colombia, the gold-ringed tanager is a species of what? 6. Which British 1978 adventure film about a group of mercenaries in Africa, starred Richard Burton as Colonel Allen Faulkner, Roger Moore as Lieutenant Shawn Fynn, Richard Harris as Captain Rafer Janders and Hardy Krüger as Lieutenant Pieter Coetzee? 7. With which sport would you principally associate the Sydney Swans? 8. According to the nursery rhyme Sing a Song of Sixpence, where was the maid and what was she doing? 9. Which group of ladies were ‘in the mood for dancing’ in 1980? 10. What colour are the benches (seats) in the UK House of Lords? 11. What was the name of Doctor Who’s travelling companion played by actress Billy Piper? 12. Which famous actress used ‘thespian words’ to tell a group of street drummers to be quiet while still dressed in her stage costume as Queen Elizabeth II outside the Gielgud Theatre in London in May 2013? Not a lot of people know that… every year since 1984, a group of economists at PNC Wealth Management have figured out how much it would cost to actually buy all the things on the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ list.

YOUR STARS AQUARIUS (January 21 - February 19) Eager Mars meets affluent Jupiter and enriches your financial forecast. It might show a foretaste of money to come, or on-stream benefits. If you intend to make alterations to your personal and home interests, you'll cope with both offbeat and upbeat activities.

TIME

VIRGO (August 24 - September 23) Even if the opposite to what you want happens, it could prove useful. One clue to this week’s planetary crossword puzzle is ‘What word could also mean success?’ Check it out, and make it work for you. LIBRA (September 24 - October 23) The solar eclipse in your opposite sign of Aries intensifies your willpower. Before you say ‘go,’ find out where you stand. It might pay you to leave things be for a little longer to see if things begin to change.

CANCER (June 22 - July 23) A vivid star pattern portends a frantic personal and social diary. Ensure that any tight planning is carefully handled, especially if you hope to fit in everything you would like to say. Don’t allow Monday or Wednesday’s tensions to spoil opportunities for settling something important.

SCORPIO (October 24 - November 22) The planets mobilise your streak of Scorpio daring, but don't stretch your limits. Your most effective weapon against personal and work-related pitfalls is your ability to be objective. Your desire to make specific situations and conversations work needs to be combined with your faith that they will work. Even if a different approach is required, try it and see.

LEO (July 24 - August 23) Pave the way for any ambitious schemes you may have, rather than actually starting them. With your ruler the Sun eclipsing your kindred fire sign, determined Aries, you are now more likely to get the support and affection you need from the powers that be or someone who thinks the world of you. Loosen up on Tuesday and Thursday.

SAGITTARIUS (November 23 - December 21) The main gist of the solar eclipse in fiery Aries and the link between plucky Mars and your ruler friendly Jupiter will stir surprises. Whether you create the right atmosphere all round depends on how you interpret other people’s views. Stick to crisp, simple but sensitively tuned answers, then no one can accuse you of not trying.

1. DON PARTRIDGE, 2. DOVES, 3. ANIMAL FARM, 4. BIRDS OF A FEATHER, 5. BIRD, 6. THE WILD GEESE, 7. AUSTRALIAN RULES FOOTBALL, 8. IN THE GARDEN HANGING OUT THE CLOTHES, 9. NOLAN SISTERS/THE NOLANS, 10. RED, 11. ROSE TYLER, 12. Dame HELEN MIRREN

Nonagram How many English words of four letters or more can you make from the nine letters in our Nonagram puzzle? Each letter may be used only once (unless the letter appears twice). Each word MUST CONTAIN THE CENTRE LETTER (in this case H) and there must be AT LEAST ONE NINE LETTER WORD. Plurals, vulgarities or proper nouns are not allowed.

TARGET: Average: 8 Good: 10 Very good: 14 Excellent: 18

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION dirt doty moot mort omit riot root rort tidy tiro tori torr trim trio trod troy tyro dirty droit motor rooty rotor toroid torrid DORMITORY

25 Adele BUCKING the trend of downloading music, released on 20 November 2015, 25 hit the ground running at number one in more than 20 markets and broke firstweek sales records in many countries, including the United Kingdom and United States. In the US, the album sold 3.38 million copies in its first week of release, Nielsen SoundScan have said that 25 is the biggest seller since they began tracking point-of-sale music purchases in 1991.

AK, BE INFORMED AND ENJOY A CHALLENGE

Crossword

Enjoy filling in the following puzzles and check the answers in next week’s edition

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTIONS

CRYPTIC

Quick

Cryptic

Across: 1 Silver, 4 Pagans, 9 Haste, 10 Amnesia, 11 Mischief, 12 Bait, 14 Serene, 16 Deters, 19 Rash, 20 Atheists, 23 Grimace, 24 Agree, 25 Yields, 26 Detest.

Across 1 Something chewed, filled with brilliant yellow sauce (7) 5 Brad’s worried about poets (5) 8 Euphoria apparent when a family member loses his head (7) 9 Boy gets the French serving spoon (5) 10 Wash thoroughly inside disc rubber (5) 11 A gentle style getting stylish (7) 12 Cedar’s nuts are divine (6) 14 Get the hang of being a teacher (6) 17 A very old bounder, old fruit! (7) 19 Saint gets everything to come to a standstill (5) 22 Many young men have nothing inside them (5) 23 Report about art near building (7) 24 American money, it’s said, has a nice smell (5) 25 Wine cartels are corrupt (7)

Down: 1 Schemes, 2 Lists, 3 Elephant, 5 Arno, 6 Assuage, 7 Scant, 8 Hades, 13 Serenade, 15 Respite, 17 Suspect, 18 Steel, 19 Rugby, 21 Serve, 22 Rand.

QUICK Across:

Down 1 Mating game? (5) 2 There’s a step, but you’ll have to look hard by the sound of it (5) 3 Being friendly, I blame a manager (7) 4 One may waltz about in European river (6) 5 Beautiful French girl is involved in libel legislation (5) 6 Brilliant at drain moving (7)

Code Breaker

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7 Guard rank surrounding lieutenant (7) 12 Small charts for the horses (7) 13 Capone is in work producing a hymn (7) 15 European nation curtailing an American test (7) 16 Tooth can return for an alcoholic drink (6) 18 Possession as fixed (5) 20 Come to a vigil (5) 21 Fifty seek mixed vegetables (5)

Each number in the Code Breaker grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. In this week’s puzzle, 11 represents F and 25 represents T, so fill in F every time the figure 11 appears and T every time the figure 25 appears. Now, using your knowledge of the English language, work out which letters should go in the missing squares. As you discover the letters, fill in other squares with the same number in the main grid and the control grid.

Across 7 Ceremonial procession (6) 8 Concepts (6) 9 In this place (4) 10 Action of bringing something into existence (8) 11 Very small distance or space (7) 13 Deal with (5) 15 Beam (5) 17 Arrives at (7) 20 Arrange systematically (8) 21 Precipitation falling from clouds in the form of ice crystals (4) 23 Coned shaped utensil (6) 24 Moves on ice in a gliding fashion (6)

Down 1 Cook with dry heat (4) 2 Ships of the desert (6) 3 Round stone fruits with juicy yellow flesh (7) 4 Acknowledged as a supposition (5) 5 More substantial (6) 6 Citrus drink (8) 12 Funny (8) 14 Let go free (7) 16 Gains knowledge or skills (6) 18 Nonchalant (6) 19 Written accounts of money owed (5) 22 Domesticated bovine animals as a group (4)

1 Hose, 3 Dreadful, 9 Shrinks, 10 Heals, 11 Improvements, 13 Accent, 15 Rescue, 17 Nevertheless, 20 Alike, 21 Betting, 22 Entitled, 23 Asks. Down: 1 Hospital, 2 Scrap, 4 Rested, 5 Achievements, 6 Frantic, 7 Last, 8 Announcement, 12 Messages, 14 Chemist, 16 Stable, 18 Exits, 19 Make.

ENGLISHSPANISH Across:

English - Spanish The clues are mixed, some clues are in Spanish and some are in English.

1 Shops, 3 Fresa, 7 Rosada, 9 Agua, 10 Calabacin, 13 Aula, 14 Anchoa, 16 Abrir, 17 Adios. Down: 1 Sure, 2 Pea, 4 English, 5 Abad, 6 Cambiar, 8 Smaller, 11 Paja, 12 Ears, 15 Cod.

CODE BREAKER

Across 1 Trineo (4) 2 Manger (7) 6 Abeto (3) 7 Bread (3) 8 Vixen (5) 9 Flor de pascua (10) 13 Regalo (4) 14 Nuevo (3)

Down 1 Dormir (5) 2 Premios (6) 3 Espíritu (6) 4 Berry (4) 5 Temprano (5) 6 Diversión (3) 10 Gold (3) 11 Duende (3) 12 Hostería (3)

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TOP 10

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary

TO accompany the release of the new Star Wars film: The Force Awakens, the definitive guide to the characters, droids, aliens, and creatures of Star Wars: The Force Awakens™. Beautiful photography and clear, authoritative text by Lucas film insider Pablo Hidalgo names and explains all the details of costumes, weapons, and accessories. It also includes three exclusive, specially commissioned cutaway models produced by Industrial Light and Magic model maker John Goodson. A must for all Star Wars Fans. books@euroweeklynews.com

WHETHER you’re doing that last minute shopping, trimming the tree, or heading out to a Christmas party, you’re bound to be bopping along to the perfect soundtrack that will get you in the festive spirit. But which ones are the best? There’s so many to choose from. When it comes to deciding what’s going to have you rocking around the Christmas tree at, ‘the most wonderful time of the year’, it’s the oldies that are the goodies.

2. All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey The super-sexy Mariah Carey, with a vocal range so high it’s a good chance she can converse with bats, wrote and produced this song herself, and released it just in time for Christmas 1994. It was an instant hit and has since become what Rolling Stone calls ‘Holiday Standard.’ It has since reportedly earned more than €45 million in royalties. 3. Fairytale Of New York by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl Quite possibly one of the best Christmas songs ever made! Yes, Shane MacGowan is totally out of tune, and yes he looks like he just fell out of bed in 1987, with an empty bottle of supermarket cider, but it works! It kind of reminds you of granddad getting a bit tipsy after crimble dinner and trying to sing. If a Christmas pudding could sing, this is what it would sound like. 4. Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt The sexiest Christmas song ever written. Eartha Kitt purrs more than sings in this 1953 yuletide hit including the classic line: ‘been an awful good girl’ with an eyebrow raised. Now a firm festive favourite, the song is about a high priced

App of the Week Facebook for Windows Phone Even though not actually made by Facebook, the official Facebook app for Windows Phone is finally out of beta. If you were using the beta app before this release, that app will keep getting updates, but this new ‘official’ release will be more stable. To be honest, this app still isn’t perfect it’s missing simple things like the ability to reply to a specific comment in a thread.

Play on Words

1. White Christmas by Bing Crosby First performed on Christmas Day, 1941 White Christmas was written by Irving Berlin while reminiscing about an oldfashioned Christmas setting. the Guinness book of Records states that the version sung by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single of all time, with estimated sales in excess of 100 million copies worldwide.

Sudoku

KNIGHTXMAS

TIM

WHITE CHRISTMAS: Best-selling single of all time. fantasy Christmas list to Santa. 5. Winter Wonderland by Doris Day The 1964 version by Doris Day is the firm winner for many; however, others see it as a little sweet, whereas Perry Como’s version is more robust. This song conjures the Christmas of all our dreams, one of snowflakes falling gently on our eyelids, curling up in front of crackling log fires and romance. 6. The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole You can practically smell the roasting chestnuts before the intro ends. This Christmas Song is smoother than ironed silk and more than deserves its place among the best Christmas songs of all time. Written in 1945 by Mel Torme, it’s regarded by BMI as the most-performed Christmas song ever. 7. Merry Christmas Everybody by Slade Personally, this one and Wizzard’s hit sum up Christmas memories perfectly. In 1973, Top of the Pops was at its height, the whole family for dinner and not a

worry in the world. But I guess that’s just a generation thing, however! As Noddy tells us, ‘it’s Chriiisssstmaaaaas.’ 8. Driving Home For Christmas by Chris Rea If you’ve ever lived half a country away from your family and have packed up the car with presents to head home for Christmas through the snow, the ice and the M25, you must appreciate at least the spirit of this 1986 song. 9. Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms Chances are this 1957 stalwart either makes you think of Lethal Weapon or Mean Girls. Either way, it’s an ear worm. The song’s title and some of its lyrics are a parody of the old Christmas standards… Long may they reign! 10. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday by Wizzard Definitely a must on anybody’s list, this 1973 blockbuster has to be one of the best Christmas songs of all time. The crazy Roy Wood and his loony costume were the epitome of a fun-filled Christmas holiday, and probably always will be.

Boggled How many English words can you find in the Boggled grid, according to the following rules? The letters must be adjoining in a ‘chain’. They can be adjacent horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Words must contain at least four letters and may include singular and plural or other derived forms. No letter may be used more than once within a single word, unless it appears twice. No vulgarities or proper nouns are permitted.

TARGET: Average: 27 Good: 35 Very good: 51 Excellent: 62

SCORING: 4 letters: 1 point • 5 letters: 2 points 6 letters: 3 points • 7 letters: 4 points 8 or more letters: 11 points

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION sixth sift sifts dish fish fist fists foist foists fiat stem stir staid stair stamen test tent tents sent oats titan tans tang tame tames tamest nest nests naifs name aids aria arias atria attest ants ante amen astir mesh maid maids mats matte mans manse mane manes mange mast gnat gnats gent gents gems gums raid ratio trait traits trio sitar said sans sane sanest sang same smug star strait fats fang fair fame fames fast fume

Word Ladder WARM

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

Fill the grid so that every row, every column and every 3X3 box contains the digits 1-9. There’s no maths involved. You solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic.

Christmas songs

EURO WEEKLY’S SPACE FOR YOU TO TAKE A BREAK, BE INFORMED AND ENJOY A CHALLENGE

Answers:Tiny Tim, The night before Christmas.

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TIME OUT

HOME BACK

Move from the start word (WARM) to the end word (HOME) in the same number of steps as there are rungs on the Word Ladder. You must only change one letter at a time.

WARM WORM WORE WOVE (TORE) HOVE (TOME) HOME

OPINION & COMMENT

LETTERS

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YOUR PAPER - YOUR VOICE - YOUR OPINION

Letters for Your Say should be emailed to yoursay@euroweeklynews.com or make your comments straight on our website: www.euroweeklynews.com

Personal experience leads to a different conclusion I REPLY to a recently published letter from Ron, ‘Ungodly ways’. First of all the commandment is‘Thou shalt do no murder, thou shall not kill in his name,’ is nonsense. Jesus Christ died rather than call on ‘Twelve Legions of Angels’ or “If my kingdom was of this world my disciples would fight, but my kingdom is not of this world.” Pre-Darwin, it was only natural to try to explain our existence. Although his theory is seriously flawed, he leaves us with life as a random and temporary burst between aeons of nothingness. Personal experience leads me to a different conclusion. D R Griffiths, Orihuela Costa, Alicante

Photographs for possible publication should be sent by email with a full caption to: photonews@euroweeklynews.com

Overflowing with bottle-tops

Good and bad in every nation

Ban the hawkers! AS a newcomer to Spain, I would like to pass comment on the roaming hawkers who enter the restaurants to try and sell their merchandise. It is frustrating, to say the least, to try and enjoy a meal, whilst the hawkers continually interrupt the tables. I have seen them work as a team, warning all the other streetsellers in advance of approaching police officers and then giving the all-clear once the threat has passed. They actually laugh at them once they have gone! I have also witnessed some Germans having a meal being called racists because they bought nothing from a hawker. The goods being sold are of an inferior quality and some of them are plain junk. If this practice could be halted, on a continuous basis and restaurant owners prevented their entry, we, as paying guests, would stay longer and enjoy the experience, thus spending more. By the way, we are enjoying Spain, immensely!!! Michael Agliotti, Torrox Costa

people before formulating policies, not making bad and unpopular decisions and later conning the electorate into voting for them ‘or else’. Geoff Brooks, Via website

AS a good, caring, and charitable member of the community here on the Costa del Sol, when I was told that the collecting of bottle-tops and ring-pulls from cans would raise money for charity, I started in earnest. Pretty soon all my friends and family (thinking it was a wonderful idea) began giving me all the ring-pulls and bottle-tops they could find. Well! That was a while ago, and now my house is full to the brim with shiny can rings and multi-coloured plastic. I have thousands of them and no idea how to give them to charity. The breeding collection is bursting out of the doors. Can somebody please tell me who to call for collection? Anne Lee, Coin, Malaga

Science has lost its way

Burning waste peril

GOOD article, Nora. S c ie n ce to d a y s e e ms to ha ve lost its way because no-one can come out and say it IS so. Everything is listed as ‘may’, ‘could’, ‘possibly’ and the like. Scientists today never take the time to be absolutely sure of their test results. And if it isn’t pure lies, it’s conjecture. Roy Peters, Via website

RE: Floods and droughts to hit Spain The first easy action to be taken in the Comunidad Valenciana, Costa Blanca, is STOP burning waste in the open air! Why not make compost or recycle the green waste instead of burning it, polluting the atmosphere with toxic gases and poisoning all the inhabitants and millions of tourists? They even burn next to hospi-

tals, schools, etc... they are, like many others, not aware of the toxic gases produced by these burnings. Berger Micheline, Via website

Tactical voting THE establishment encouraging tactical voting in order to cling on to power at any cost will not keep them in their ‘bubble’ forever, either in France or the UK. They must start to listen to the

WITH reference to Leapy Lee’s writings, before we all get carried away with Islamophobia, let us consider the recent comments of a British soldier who lost his leg during a roadside bomb explosion near Basra. He says on FaceBook and reported by the BBC….. “Yes a Muslim blew me up and I lost a leg. “A Muslim man lost his arm that day, wearing a British uniform. “A Muslim medic was in the helicopter that took me from the field. “A Muslim surgeon performed the surgery that saved my life. “A Muslim nurse was part of the team that helped me on my return to UK. “A Muslim taxi driver gave me a free ride, when I went for my first beer with my dad, after I came home.” Also read Muhammed Ali’s comments condemning so-called Islamic jihadists. There are good and bad in every nation and religion. The bad ones will lose eventually, they always do, history has proven this. Leo, Via website

WHEN YOU WRITE All letters, whether by email or post, should carry the writer’s postal address, NIE and contact number though only the name and town will be published. Letters may also be edited. Readers who have missed earlier correspondence can see all letters posted on:

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HEALTH BEAUTY

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Exciting times for Clinica Dental el Puerto EXPERIENCED team has been serving the residents of Javea for some 20 years NO ONE likes having to go to the dentist, so what can be done to make the experience less of a trauma? Chris Connor, of Clinica Dental el Puerto in Javea, has plenty to say on the matter. He took over earlier in the year as principal dentist, having moved from the south of England where he ran his own successful practice for many years. Now very much part of the team at Clinica Dental, which has been serving the residents of Javea for some 20 years, Chris has his heart set on enhancing the services the practice offers even further. Whereas it used to be necessary for patients to be referred outside the practice for implants, for example, there is now an in-house surgeon who comes down from Valencia, so patients can come to the familiar surroundings of their dentist rather than having to travel miles for the treatment. Chris stresses this is not only more convenient for patients, but less stressful too. The air-conditioned surgery is state-of-theart, with oral cameras and digital x-ray technology enabling the patients to be shown exactly what issues they have. Chris’ client mix reflects the local population

ENVIRONMENT: Smart, modern, but essentially friendly. in terms of variety, with the British making up 65 to 70 per cent. The Spanish make up perhaps 20 per cent, with the remainder being Dutch, German, French, Russian and Polish. The practice has the language skills to make everyone feel relaxed and well catered for. Adult orthodontics represent an area of

growth, with clear braces becoming increasingly popular, and is often combined with bleaching, smile design and veneers. Facial aesthetics will soon be available too, to complement cosmetic dentistry so that wrinkles can be addressed, as well as issues more traditionally seen as the dentist’s area of expertise.

Periodontology, or the treatment of gums, is an area which Chris believes is very important, but often neglected. He takes a preventative approach to their treatment and stresses that the teeth rely on the gums! Nervous about going to the dentist? The staff at Clinica Dental understand for many people this is a big issue, and they have practical techniques designed to make the experience as stress free as possible. Chris stresses that theirs is not a production line. They take as much time as the patient needs. Chris is well aware that his patients have to consider the financial implications of his treatments, and is therefore looking at introducing dental plans, so that people have a safety net financially, and for the more costly procedures zero per cent finance will be available. So Chris isn’t one to stand still. His objective of offering his patients what they want, as well as what they need, in a smart, modern, but essentially friendly environment has already been realised, but it won’t end there as 2016 promises to be an exciting time at Clinica Dental! To contact Clinica Dental el Puerto call 966 461 143 or visit www.clinicadentalelpuerto.com.

E W N 24 -30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

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Manufacturers under fire for misleading public PAINKILLER manufacturers have been accused of misleading consumers by selling pills that claim to tackle different ailments, but actually all have the same active ingredients. The case was brought to public attention when the maker of Nurofen was ordered by an Australian court to stop selling pills that claim to help certain ailments but are chemically identical.

Many brands use similar tactics, all being paracetamol or ibuprofen based, but then being marketed to target certain pain such as back or joint pain or migraines. Which? said research showed many products had the same active ingredients ‘despite vastly different marketing, packaging and pricing.’ The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is now investigating whether a Nurofen Express advert was misleading as it implied the product directly targets head muscles. There are three types of painkillers available to buy over the counter. Ibuprofen is one of the most common painkillers and is the active ingredient in Nurofen. It is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs) and works well when the pain is accompanied by inflammation. Paracetamol is more commonly used to treat ailments such as headaches and toothaches, and it can also help bring down a temperature. Aspirin has a similar anti-inflammatory effect to ibuprofen, but is not as effective as a painkiller. It also carried a risk of side effects such as stomach bleeding, but it is often recom-

Functional foods SPANISH researchers claim to have developed a way of incorporating vitamin C into sausage. A gro Te c h re s e a rc he rs from the Centro Empresarial de la Rioja have developed a micro-encapsulation technique, which allows to introduce supplemental vita min C in ra w c ure d sausage, and they believe it ope ns the door to ge tting more vitamin rich foods. Encapsulation techniques allow active ingredients that provide health benefits to be introduced to the food, w hic h ma ke s func tiona l foods.

HEALTH & BEAUTY

Ask The Doctor

Brought to you by Helicopteros Sanitarios.

Arthritis issues

SPECIALIST: Doctor Luis Perez Belmonte. AS the cold weather is on its way, which often seems to worsen arthritis issues, we decided to ask the doctor about that this week. What is arthritis and when does it usually appear? Arthritis is the term we give to inflammation of the joints. Not all joint pain has to be arthritis; in fact, most joint pain is due to other causes which are not really arthritis. The reasons it can appear are varied and it can be caused by many things ranging from autoimmune inflammatory conditions, systemic illnesses to trauma, etc, therefore the moment it appears depends on the type of arthritis. Joint pain can be influenced by weather changes, diet, exercise and other factors meaning it can worsen in the winter. What are the most common symptoms? Arthritis causes joint pain along with swelling in the joints and surrounding areas which can lead to redness, increased temperature, stiffness and is also sometimes related to fevers and a general feeling of being unwell. It can affect any

joint in the body. How is it diagnosed? Diagnosis is initially reached by examining the patient’s medical history and listening to a specialist. This is followed by blood tests, x-rays of the affected joint and sometimes analysis of liquid from within the joint although this depends on the area and whether it is safe to draw off liquid. Are there any good treatments? The usual treatment involves resting of the joint and use of anti-inflammatory medications to reduce the pain. Sometimes the joint can be injected with medication and in severe cases surgery is an option. What about diet? Diet is important for almost all ailments. In this case it is of importance especially for those who suffer secondary arthritis due to gout. These patients should avoid products high in uric acid such as red meat, seafood and alcohol. Is exercise helpful? Exercise should be avoided while the pain is at its worst but added gradually to daily life as swelling reduces.

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STAFF enjoyed a wonderful show of singing and dancing put on by the children thanks to all who contributed to making this y e a r ’s C h r i s t m a s r a f f l e such a huge success: sponsors who so generously donated cash or prizes, all those who bought raffle tickets, staff who collected prizes, sold raffle tickets and wrapped presents. A list of winning raffle tickets is now on display in the window of the Original Charity Shop on Avenida Fontana, in the Library in Javea Park and on website www.charity shoplibrary.com. The management wishes all staff and clients a happy festive season and a h a p p y, h e a l t h y a n d p r o s perous New Year for 2016 and look forward to welcoming them again soon in the shop and library.

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The Original Charity Shop and Library help Santa deliver DECEMBER 16 was a very exciting day for the children at the Raquel Paya School in Denia as they awaited the arrival of Papa Noel and his helpers. This year Santa and the staff of The Original Charity Shop and Library were beautifully entertained and enjoyed a wonderful show of singing and dancing put on by the children. After the show the excitement reached fever pitch because it was time for Santa to open his heavy bag and present each child with his or her very special gift. It was a delightful occasion, full of joy and the magic of Christmas. The Original Charity Shop and Library wished to send its most sincere

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Enchanting Cinderella FAMILIES enjoyed a revamped version of Cinderella with a modern touch at the Auditorium of Teulada and Moraira. Extraordinary scenery and choreography dazzled the audience. The actors sang original songs and wore more than 35 costumes in all. The show was produced by Eventime Theatre. Their next performance ‘El Circo Gran Fele, con Orinoco’ is on Jan 10.

E W N 24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

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The Force Awak

A NEW adventure featuring the original trilogy’s triad has now By Steve Walsh BEING fortunate enough and of a certain age - to be in the cinema queues back in 1977 when Star Wars A New Hope first erupted onto the big screen enthralling Sci-fi fans all over the world, and being a ‘First Weekender’ and devout fan whose love of the Star Wars saga has been dwindled over the years with each successive tepid episode of the ‘prequel’ trilogy, I purchased my tickets and waited in line with an apprehensive renewed hope! I should have had faith in the force! I wasn’t disappointed. Beyond all expectation I found myself riveted to my seat within 15 minutes undergoing emotions lost to me since the 1970’s. Has JJ Abrams succeeded? You’d better believe it! But how did he do it? Well, It would be virtually impossible take a look at JJ Abrams’ challenge in breathing life

STAR WARS: Enthralls Sci-fi fans all over the world. back into the Star Wars franchise without comparing it to either the original trilogy or the prequel trilogy, since Abrams obviously made The Force Awakens with both of them blatantly in his face… And rightly so! So let’s compare: The Force Awakens is a stunning, loving homage to the original

trilogy, and does everything correct in the same ways that the original ‘Holy Trinity’ films did things correct. And in doing so, avoids all of the grind, drudgery, woodenness and struggle for story in the prequel films. It clearly and unreservedly sets out to establish itself as a nostalgic throwback to what made the adventure story so great and lovable in the first place, and my word does it succeed.

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kens

w been unleashed Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is set three decades after the fall of the Empire and the death of Vader, where the story of Luke Skywalker continues. Having turned his back on teaching the ways of the Force after his young Jedi students were destroyed, Skywalker has vanished, and in doing so has become a mythical figure to others in the galaxy. Being sought by members of the Resistance, and by a new dark force, The First Order, finding Skywalker is imperative. So a new adventure featuring the original trilogyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s triad, joined by new heroes and villains, has now been unleashed. How could it possibly live up to the original? The series, created in 1977 by director George Lucas about young Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and space pirate Han Solo battling the Dark Side of the Force, is considered by a few to be the greatest piece of cinematic art ever created, by many to be the best Sci-fi story ever told, and by most to have fallen asleep with the prequels, has now awoken, been reborn, and is most certainly, A New Hope!

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Christmas Carols on the beach in Albir By Keith Baker THE anchor monument in Albir was the location chosen by the Costa Blanca Anglican Church to hold a Carol service. Dozens of people joined with the mayor of International residents, Marisa Cortes to sing a variety of Carols in English. The Albir Church Anglican Chaplaincy is part of European Diocese of the Church of England, which covers several municipalities in the provinces of Valencia and Alicante. It has eight churches from Denia to El Campello. The churches welcome both longstay residents and holiday makers alike. The event was deemed to be a success and is expected to be repeated next year.

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Looking after plants over Christmas MANY people are busy with festive preparations, but don’t forget the plants need care too Dick Handscombe

Gardening Corner By Spain’s best known expatriate gardening author living in Spain for 25 years.

AT this time of year many expats are busy with the preparations and enjoyment of two weeks of Spanish-style festivities stretching from Nochebuena (Christmas Eve), to Los Reyes (The Three Kings), with the Año Nuevo (The New Year) in the middle, but at the same time there are three sets of plants that need some care. Firstly, those plants in window boxes or pots to cheer up the front of the house. Typically these are poinsettias, cyclamens, mini roses, mini Christmas trees, crotons, kalenchoes, azaleas, chrysanthemums, pansies and violas. Many of these will have been

TIPS: On how to care for your house and garden plants. grown in hot houses and until a few days before delivery to garden centres were used to almost continuous tray or drip feeding.

So plant all of these in a moisture retaining compost mix and water them once or twice a week to keep the compost

damp, especially if they are placed where they will receive sun for most of the day. If you have a box of the very

useful TerraCottem water retaining soil/compost improvement gel make use of it. Secondly, visit the greenhouse and/or cold frame every few days as these can get warm on sunny days and cuttings and seedlings can dry out. Also sprinkle around a few ecological snail pellets because snails look for winter shelter, and just one snail can cause havoc eating the leaves of favourite cuttings. Thirdly, emergent seedlings in the vegetable garden may

still have shallow roots so don’t let these dry out. Fourthly, newly purchased house plants, especially flowering ones, will need watching and timely watering. These will often have been used to a hot house with a high humidity but although living spaces in the house will be warm from log stoves or central heating the air will be dry with little humidity. Check the dampness of compost every two days and if it is starting to dry out give the plant a watering and spray the leaves with a fine jet water sprayer. Christmas gifts may be any of the plants listed earlier plus bulbs. These are best placed on a regularly used covered terrace and if brought inside, restrict the hours in a hot room. Lastly, if tender potted plants have been kept on open or covered terraces, or around the front porch for a Christmas effect, do now give them protection from the possibility of freezing winds and heavy frost during January, February and early March. Happy year end best wishes to all our readers and do keep all those plants alive. © Dick Handscombe www.gardenspain.com December 2015.

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24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

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Advertising feature

Air conditioning experts COOL SOLUTIONS offer reliable, convenient and professional servicing for your home units or your car COOL SOLUTIONS was established in 2006 and has recently been taken over by Werner Verdonck after the original owner retired. Specialists in air conditioning, Cool Solutions offer installation, maintenance, servicing, re-gassing and repair services for residential air conditioning units and for vehicles, providing a convenient and flexible service. They come to you to re-gas your vehicle’s unit, so there is no need for clients to take it and leave it at a garage, the process normally only takes about an hour. When it comes to home air conditioning Werner stresses it is critical they are properly maintained. “It is not enough to just clean the filters, they need to be thoroughly maintained and this provides huge benefits and savings in the long run. A well maintained air conditioning unit will last longer, deliver good quality air and avoid costly electricity bills. If they are not maintained correctly

Saving your basil WILTING supermarket basil on the windowsill is one of life’s great consistencies, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Few realise that a pot of basil is not one plant but actually a tight gathering of around 20 odd seedlings, which makes it look full and vibrant. Ultimately, however, the seedlings will start to fight one another for space and nutrients, soon leaving them all wilting in an apt metaphor for the human race. To solve this puzzle, take out the clump of plants and divide into four, weed out the weakest seedlings and keep just five strong ones per clump. Plant each of the four clumps in their own individual pot with a soil-based potting mix. Generously dowse them in water, and leave them in a prime spot in the sunlight and reap the rewards later.

COOL SOLUTIONS: Provide a convenient and flexible service for all your air conditioning needs. the internal units build up mould and dirt, which affects the air you breathe and means the machine has to work harder, affecting the longevity. The extra pressure also means gas will escape, which is both bad for the environment and costly in the long run as they will need to be re-gassed more frequently,” says Werner. Cool Solutions recommend ma-

chines should be serviced at least once a year, but the process usually only takes a few hours and they will be as good as new. The €20 cost will be saved many times over on electricity bills alone. For those who have air conditioning installed in their home, and for those who rent out their properties during the summer months, including

rental agencies, Cool Solutions have launched a new product which is aimed at ensuring air conditioning does not end up costing a fortune. Of particular interest to rental properties, the new EcoSense product ensures air conditioners are only active while people are actually home. A combination that senses movement and body heat, they close the ma-

chines down using the proper shut down procedure when nobody is home. This avoids air conditioning being left on all day, a regular occurrence with rental properties. They also go a long way to prolonging the life of the machines as many are not manufactured to work so hard. With night and day modes they are a reliable, efficient and extremely cost-effective solution. Cool Solutions are an exclusive agent for the system throughout the Marina Alta region ranging from Denia to Benidorm. The company is based in Moraira, Alicante and offer sales of all reputable makes of air conditioning systems, including Mitsubishi, Daikin and Panasonic. Werner speaks five languages including English, Spanish, German and Dutch. To contact them call 965 744 722, mobile 606 409 240 email info@coolsol.es or visit the website www.coolsol.es.

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OPINION & COMMENT

The magic of the Thursford Christmas Spectacular

OUR VIEW Credit Elliott Brown flickr

THE ambience is pure enchantment and it simply has to be experienced first-hand Colin Bird A weekly look Each week, Colin brings his slightly off-thewall view of the world to the pages of EWN in his own irreverent style.

EVEN under a leaden sky on a December day, the vast flatness of the Norfolk countryside is inescapable. Someone once wrote that the Norfolk dialect was a language encapsulated in its landscape, with long vowels and wide horizons, summing up the county and its people. Norfolk is familiar to us during the summer months, with its endless skies and fantastic light so beloved by painters, who are as numerous as the wild fowl in the coastal wetlands. But what could possibly entice someone here on such a bleak winter’s day? Seven miles beyond Fakenham and almost without warn-

YEARLY EVENT: It is perhaps Christmas’ best kept secret. ing to the unwary, we turn into a country lane, indicating Thursford village. With barely room for two vehicles to pass and with no street lighting, this surely is heading into the back of beyond. The only clue to the uniniti-

ated that something interesting lies ahead, is the procession of car tail lights and a discernible glow in the sky. Then after a bare half mile we enter a massive floodlit car park where fluorescently clad stewards are busily directing

the flow of cars and coaches. Enter the magical world of the Thursford Christmas Spectacular. To most people, the name Thursford will elicit looks of incomprehension, and yet during November and De-

cember almost 130,000 regularly attend this event with many returning year after year. It is perhaps Christmas’ best kept secret and yet paradoxically, the biggest and most spectacular of all Christmas shows. It would take more space than I have available to adequately describe this spectacle. The ambience is pure enchantment and it simply has to be experienced first-hand. Not all the content is necessarily pure Yuletide, but the genius of John Cushing, Thursford’s producer and director, is to tie the whole package together with a festive ribbon and deliver a wonderfully balanced and awesome Christmas feast of a show. Everyone should witness this Christmas masterpiece once before they die. Do it soon, you are not looking well!

The letter ‘i’ inspires confidence THERE is a sudden torrent of companies using the letter to name their products

WE have all become used to the iProducts produced and marketed by Apple and indeed, they have spread all over the world so there is probably no country except perhaps North Korea where residents can’t buy at least one of their ubiquitous products. What is interesting is the number of companies who are adopting the ‘i’ as part of their business name. You can now find iStorage, iFurnishing and just the other day, the iFilmmaker festival in Marbella. What does the ‘i’ stand for? There are a number of theories, one of which goes back to the launch of the iMac in 1998, when Steve Jobs explained: “iMac comes from the marriage of the excitement of the Internet with the simplicity of Macintosh. Even though this is a full-blooded Macintosh, we are targeting this for the number one use that consumers tell us they want a

Credit John Karakatsanis flickr

By John Smith

APPLE: The new iPhone 6 plus.

ENERGY: Solar panels.

Mixed messages SOMETIMES life can be quite confusing and the actions of politicians and major companies throughout the world seem to add to that. No sooner has Britain confirmed its agreement to the Climate Change Compact in Paris, than the government has drastically cut subsidies to homeowners who wish to install solar panels in an effort to reduce pollution. The power producers certainly appeared to have plenty of economic strength, when they persuaded the Spanish Government to introduce new taxes on those using solar power, as they were worried about reduced profits. Moving on and despite the glut of crude oil on the market and its undeniable effect on the climate, the British Parliament has just voted to allow fracking for shale gas 1,200m below national parks and other protected sites. Fracking is not totally safe as enormous amounts of water are used, and the water is contaminated by the layers of earth it is pumped through as well as the fracking chemicals. Brazil has banned WhatsApp as it allows poorer people to make free calls without having to sign up for expensive contracts. It is surely coincidental that the current President of the Chamber of Deputies has been identified as a lobbyist for the telecommunications industry. In the USA, companies are almost fighting to merge so they can avoid tax, or at least delay paying it whilst paid lobbyists in Washington appear to be accepted as part of the political landscape.

computer for, which is to get on the Internet, simply and fast. And that is what this product is targeted for. “The letter ‘i’ also means some other things to us. We are a personal computer company, and although this product is born to network, it also is a beautiful stand-alone product. We are targeting it also for education. They want to buy these. And it is perfect for most of the things they do in instruction. It is perfect for finding tremendous sources of information over the Internet. And we hope as you see the product it will inspire us all to make even better products in the future.” The ‘i’ continued to be used and a freelance copywriter Vinnie Chieco is credited with coming up with the word iPod, based on his viewing of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey which contained a reference to a pod. When the lawyers at Apple went to register the name, they discovered that another company, also involved with the internet owned it but was prepared to sell it Now we on. want to Now it is clear that the simple addition hear your views. of an ‘i’ in front of any products seems to inspire confidence and recogniYOUR PAPER - YOUR VOICE tion in a customer’s mind although - YOUR OPINION perhaps we will see a time when the www.euroweeklynews.com letter ‘i’ itself becomes protected.

PETS PAGE

Costa Blanca North

24 - 30 December 2015

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INTRODUCE changes to pet’s routine gradually

Listen to David on TRE every Saturday 10am to 11am Costa del Sol (Gibraltar/Sotogrande) 98.7fm (San Roque to Calahonda) 91.9fm (Calahonda to Motril) 88.9, Costa Calida 92.7fm Costa Blanca (Torrevieja to Elche) 105.1fm (Elche to Calpe) 88.2fm, (Calpe to Gandia & Ibiza) 104.6fm, (Denia to Valencia) 95.3fm Mallorca 103.9fm

GRADUALLY introduce changes in your dog’s routine as soon as you know a baby is on the way. If a dog does not connect the changes with the baby’s arrival, it has less reason to be jealous. Here are a few changes to introduce. 1. Your dog should not be the centre of attention at all times, and should not sit on your lap (if at all), only when invited by you. 2. Get your dog used to being away from you, sometimes in another room, or an indoor kennel, never in the nursery. 3. Take a refresher course at a training

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school, and think about practice walks with the pram, it can be trickier than it sounds! 4. Check with your vet about canine hygiene and worming. When your baby is born your dog may be left for hours while you are in hospital, or upset by the excitement if you are at home. Arrange for someone the dog knows to look after and walk them. It is an old wives’ tale that letting your dog drink breast milk or play with dirty nappies will help your dog and baby to become friends, but sending home a blanket that the baby has slept on may help your dog to get used to the baby’s scent. When you come home let someone else hold your baby while you greet your dog, introduce them later when he is calm. Do not try to keep your dog and baby completely apart, you won’t be able to keep it up! Teach them both to interact calmly and gently, no licking by the dog or grabbing by the child. Never ever leave dogs alone with babies or young children. Shut your dog out of the room or pop the baby in a secure playpen. This applies every time you use the bathroom, answer the door or phone, or have a meal.

The benefits of having families as pet-sitters To find a pet-sitter go to www.HousesitMatch.com or call Lamia on +44 (0)1865 521508 WHEN choosing a pet-sitter it goes without saying that you need to look for experience, and someone who is affectionate and will cherish your animals. But does it have to be just one pet-sitter? Have you considered hosting a pet-friendly family who have experience pet-sitting? There are advantages. Originally from Canada, Makai and his parents started travelling the world about nine months ago. Both parents have portable careers and decided to pack up and find a way to

make an extended adventure as a family. The way they make this affordable is by house-sitting and pet-sitting as they go from place to place. Makai is good with animals and the family now have nearly a year’s experience of caring for all kinds of domesticated pets. Their favourite house-sitting assignment was to care for two small dogs on the Costa Almeria, and they were only a five-minute walk from the beach. What an ideal introduction to life in Spain!

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Top tips for buying your Knowing the sweet spot dream home abroad By Matthew Elliott BUYING a home in the sun is a dream for many Brits, especially at this time of year when the nights are long and the rain never seems to let up. But before rushing into a decision and snapping up what seems like a terrific bargain, consider the following advice. Find a good estate agent. Estate agents rarely feature in dreams but a reputable agent makes all the difference, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the area. Check with locals, lawyers and architects for recommendations.

Photo by remi mboku, wikipedia

BEFORE snapping up a terrific bargain, there are certain things to consider

PROPERTY ABROAD: Buying a home in the sun is a dream come true for many people.

Set a realistic budget. Expect hidden costs and additional taxes and fees, including fees just to find out what fees you’ll pay. Non-residents may also be expected to stump up a larger deposit than anticipated. Find a good lawyer. Recruiting a lawyer you can trust will go a long way towards your peace of mind. British consulates will typically provide a list of approved lawyers, but make sure you’re clued up on the processes regardless. Check the property. People buying abroad are often swamped with time constraints and immediately blown away by the space and beauty homes abroad can offer. Make sure you know as much as you would were you buying a property at home. This also means researching the building companies behind the home or development through references, and advice to ensure the value won’t decrease due to future legal troubles.

GIVEN that the time is right for investment in Spanish property, the next question would be, what type will be the most profitable? Real estate investment in Spain at the moment is sweet. Shops, homes, offices and garages, any of the areas on the market offer yields above the majority of the financial products offered by banks. In fact, the figures can double in comparison with, in the worst case, government bonds to 10 years, according to the latest report published by idealista. The retail unit seems to be sweeter than most according to the survey, offering a gross

return of 7.5 per cent. And office blocks or space provide a yield of 6.8 per cent, while garages have been stabilised at 4.6 per cent. With regards and in contrast with housing, buy to rent properties return gross profit figures of 3.6 per cent. However, although these profits would seem to be very attractive, they are generalised figures and do not take into account regional variations or taxation criteria. When investing in Spanish property, it is essential to know the ‘in’s and out’s’ of taxation issues so as not to have any surprises at a later date.

Spain an attractive property investment ACCORDING to the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm CBRE, Spain was the sixth most attractive destination in the world for real estate investors in the first half of 2015, securing €8.5 billion of investment. The news places Spain in excellent company, behind

only the USA, UK, Australia, Germany and Japan. Real estate investment in Spain was 144 per cent more than that in Italy, and double that of The Netherlands. Spain has now jumped 10 places on the reputable list, having occupied 16th place in 2013, and, with experts

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24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

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Rental revolution to hit UK NEXT year is set to see Build to Rent developments really kick off in the UK, as the American inspired concept targets the lucrative British market following success in Germany and the Netherlands. Industry experts suggest that the move could herald a transformation of the British rental sector into a more service-based industry, which will improve living standards and offer greater transparency. Nine million people currently rent homes in the UK, and the vast majority do so through the traditional paradigm of privately held rental properties. Build to Rent, on the other hand, would see large purpose-built developments managed by specialist companies and rented out to private tenants. A key selling point for these companies will be the poor maintenance standards typically offered by individual

Credit: MA-Arquitectos.

SECTOR will become more service-based landlords, with rights and responsibilities often shrouded in mystery and the source of much discontent. Build to Rent properties would include a clear mandate of responsibilities and services offered which should, experts suggest, be of major value to tenants. Investment in Build to Rent schemes is big business in the US, attracting over $110 billion (€101 billion) last year alone. In Germany, €340 million was invested in the first quarter of 2015, while the Netherlands has seen a 189 per cent increase year on year in the sector. Around €41 billion of institutional investment is thought to be earmarked for the industry in the UK, and all signs indicate a rental revolution in the coming years. BUILD TO RENT: Experts say developments will really kick off in the UK.

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PROPERTY

We have to recognise traditions MANY nationalities are buying their homes in Spain, it’s important to acknowledge the different customs John Graham The property expert

CHRISTMAS! It’s time to celebrate and let’s be honest nobody does it better than the Spanish. It’s a Catholic country with many cultural and religious traditions and Christmas in Spain is a wonderful experience of religious tradition and modern celebrations. In addition to the religious celebrations in Spain this Christmas, we can also enjoy other traditional celebrations such as the Dutch Sinterklaus who arrived on December 5, and we all know that Santa Claus will arrive on December 25. You probably have a decorated Christmas tree in your home in Spain, and we have to thank Ger-

CHRISTMAS: Nobody does it better than the Spanish. many for introducing the ‘Christbaun’ in the 16th century. If you are from the UK you need to thank Queen Victoria for introducing the custom of having a Christmas tree in your home. As you hang up your Christmas stocking, spare a thought for the patron saint of children St

Nicholas, a Greek, who started the tradition. Don’t forget Boxing Day, a great sporting day, you can thank the UK for this tradition but Spain does not yet have Boxing Day on the Christmas calendar. Let’s not forget the Christmas turkey, made immortal by

Scrooge’s gift to the Cratchit family in Charles Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol’. What’s all this got to do with owning a property in Spain, I hear you say, well if you work in the property industry I think it’s important to recognise that people from all over northern Europe, and from around the world have different customs and traditions, and they are buying their permanent home or holiday home here in Spain. So although property buyers are all different and originate from different countries, they do have one very important point in common, their dream to own a home in Spain. The number of non-Spanish buyers is growing, especially over the past two years and official figures show an almost continuous monthly increase in property sales on the Costas and Balearics. I have received many Christmas

cards and electronic cards from my customers who have decided to buy a property in Spain in 2016, and it’s my job is to find exactly what they are looking for. My customers are a mix of nationalities and they are all looking for completely different types of properties in completely different locations in Spain. So 2016 should be another year of record-breaking property sales on the Costas and the Balearics. Buyers with different customs and traditions are looking forward to buying their dream home in Spain, and enjoy celebrating Christmas in Spain next year. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. If you want to sell your property or are looking to buy a property in 2016 please contact me. John Graham. Fellow of The Architecture & Surveyors Institute. International Property Expert Gk.ipad@me.com

OPINION & COMMENT

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LEGALLY SPEAKING

Alcohol and drugs tests out in force AS part of a new series, we answer some common driving questions, kindly provided by members of the Guardia Civil based in Torrevieja, Costa Blanca, who set up the N332 website and Facebook page to help break down barriers.

BEST ADVICE: Zero consumption before getting behind the wheel. ALCOHOL and drugs tests out in force this week Throughout this week in the run up to Christmas, there will be a focus on one of the main contributors to road traffic incidents, alcohol and drugs. The Guardia Civil will be out in force with plans to conduct at least 25,000 alcohol and drugs tests each day. The main goal is to detect and deal with habitual offenders, who get behind the wheel on a regular basis whilst having consumed alcohol or drugs. The latest figures extracted from the most recent data available suggests that there may be around 12,000 drivers who meet this continually dangerous criteria. So far this year, more than 84,000 drivers have tested positive, risking not only their

own but the lives of many innocent victims, who all too often leave the scene of the carnage facing a life dealing with serious injuries and, on numerous occasions, leaving the friends and families of loved ones having to deal with their death. According to the annual report of the National Institute of Toxicology, 39.09 per cent of deceased drivers displayed the presence of alcohol or drugs in their blood. The figure rises to 40 per cent when pedestrians are analysed. Even the smallest amount of alcohol or drugs can affect driving ability and so, despite Spain having considerably lower maximum limits than countries such as the UK, the best advice is always zero consumption before getting behind the wheel.

For more news and articles visit www.n332.es or search N332 on Facebook.

Can they lock fire doors? I LIVE in an apartment complex of more than 200 units on nine floors. There are eight entrances with elevators and stairwells to the roof and underground parking areas. There are no notices of an evacuation plan and by order of the President, all fire doors to the roof and to parking areas are permanently locked. If you want something changed in your Community, put the issue on the formal Agenda for the AGM, discuss it, and vote on it. In the case of locked fire exits, we find a con-

An exit to the pool area is also locked after 11pm to prevent use of the pool by holidaymakers. This leaves only one exit door for 27 or 36 apartments. Our Administrators have raised my safety concerns with the President but he is adamant the fire exits are locked at all times. Is there an alternative course of action? L.T. (Costa Blanca)

David Searl You and the Law in Spain

flict between safety and security.

A locked exit is useless in an emergency but too many doors can allow access to unwanted persons. You may find that local building regulations require the doors to be open.

Send your questions for David Searl through lawyers Ubeda-Retana & Associates in Fuengirola at Ask@lawtaxspain.com, or call 952 667 090.

24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

EWN

Why on earth are toll roads odd amounts? Mike Senker

In my opinion Views of a Grumpy Old Man I DECIDED to go to Gibraltar to watch the snooker of which I’m a great fan. I set off on my journey and as I got on to the road down to the delightful A7, which used to be the N340, I remembered someone once said to me it was the most dangerous road in Europe. My reply was: “How? It’s a pretty straight road! The raving lunatics that use it are the danger.” The lorry drivers that sit up your rear end because you are not going as fast as they want. Plus the morons that pull out of the slip roads at 20 kilometres an hour. This is the road which used to have a speed limit of 120. That got changed to 80, for some reason to do with making people save fuel and lives. They did this by putting new stickers of the 80 speed limit on the existing road signs and then, pretty quickly, changed them back! In some areas they couldn’t peel the new stickers off so then had to put new ones, all very confusing and a waste of money!

Anyway, I’m going on my merry way and then in front of me is the sight that is the bane of most driver’s lives here, the four abreast cyclists! They are all lycraed up as if they are on the Tour de France but, seriously, why four abreast? I do my normal cursing and sit behind them for two miles until I can get past. I finally get on the main road and decide to go on the toll road. I love that road. It’s like having your own personal highway and the reason it’s always empty is because most of the time the toll charge is ridiculously high, and you never know how much it’s going to be from one week to the next. Of course, I make the mistake of going through the wrong bit. The bit that you have to put the exact coins in and, of course I don’t have the exact amount. So the €3.10 toll now costs me €4! For someone like me that is a shopaholic money waster, paying 90 cents more is like being robbed at gunpoint!! Why on earth is it an odd amount? Why can’t it be €3 or €4? If anyone knows, please let me know at mikesenker@gmail.com. Actually, let me know what makes you grumpy and we can compare notes! In the meantime I’m going to try and have an ungrumpy Christmas and, if I don’t, you’ll be hearing all about it!

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SPONSORED BY

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That Zonda, really! It’s like a lion in orange dungarees. Kind of fierce, but ridiculous all at the same time.

Some might say...

Saying goodbye to a legend

CAR: An iconic offroader.

ONE of the most recognised vehicles By Steve Walsh A ONE-OF-A-KIND Land Rover Defender sold for a record £400,000 (€549,224) at a prestigious charity auction at Bonhams, from which all proceeds are being donated to Land Rover’s humanitarian and conservation partners. This is thought to be the most valuable production Land Rover ever to be sold at auction. As the world bids a fond farewell to the classic Land Rover Defender, fans of the

iconic offroader are clicking like mad to see a new film celebrating one of the world’s most recognisable vehicles. The film was commissioned to celebrate the global automotive icon and to promote the charity auction of the Defender 2,000,000, which took place at Bonhams headquarters in London on December 16, where it sold for £400,000 (€549,224). The film is called ‘From production to auction, the Defender 2,000,000 journey’, and marks the event as Land Rover ambassadors and well-known

fans of Defender visited the Solihull production line to help build the Defender 2,000,000. Funds from the sale of this vehicle will be going to Land Rover supported charities, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Born Free Foundation. FOND FAREWELL: To the Land Rover Defender.

You can see the film by following this link: http://www.landrover.com/above-and-beyond/celebrate-defender/2-million-vehicles.html

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MOTORING

AUCTION: Car is expected to generate a small fortune.

‘One careful lady owner’ RARE 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona found in barn KEEPING the illusive ‘barn find’ romance alive, a real gem has been found in Al-

abama, USA, and is now expected to generate a small fortune at auction in January. She doesn’t look much after nearly a half century in an old barn, but nevertheless, there are great expectations for the old girl. The valuation price of the car is estimated at between $150,000 and $180,000 (more than €150,000). The reason for the high cost is that there were only about 500 of these monsters

produced, of which only a small minority have been kept running. The car is a Dodge Charger Daytona, the special version which was produced in 1968-69. As the name suggests, the car was designed to have a great career on American racetracks, but despite the streamlined design and the huge wing, it failed to beat Ford in the end, who took the NASCAR title both years.

It still has the original Dodge 440 Magnum V8 engine, and according to the clock, it had only done about 33,000 kilometres before it was stored and forgotten about in the mid-1970s. According to the auction house Mecum, the car was originally bought by a local judge in Alabama, who gave it to his wife. One careful lady owner eh! Don’t you just love those ‘barn find’ stories?

Mercedes launch stunning Cabriolet EVEN with it being remarkably mild for the time of year,

the weather isn’t exactly idyllic for open-top motoring. Odd then that Mercedes should decide now to launch its stunning new AMG S65 Cabriolet. The new Mercedes-AMG S65 Cabriolet packs the largest engine available through AMG. The 6.0-litre, 12-cylinder engine is good for 631 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque, all of which is sent,

very quickly indeed, to the rear wheels by way of a seven-speed automatic transmission. Not that you have efficiency in mind after reading that sentence, but you’ll be happy to know that the engine comes equipped with stopstart technology to spare a small amount of fuel. So, by owning this car you will be helping the environment as well!

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SPORT

José departs, Foxes top dogs, United booed off, Test returns ACTION-PACKED line-up of sport for the festive period Tony Matthews International Sports A former player and now the world’s most prolific author of football books with almost 150 published since 1975, Tony is also the sports correspondent for Spectrum Radio and lives on La Pilica in the Sierra Cabrera Mountains overlooking Turre. Costa de Almeria

TRADITIONALLY over the Christmas period, millions of supporters attend various sporting events – and 2015 will be no different to any other year with football, cricket, rugby and horse racing among the many pastimes which will be well attended from now until the end of the month. FOOTBALL – Over the festive season, there are full programmes of Premiership, Championship, Leagues 1 and 2, Scottish and Conference football matches. • On Boxing Day, PL leaders Leicester visit Liverpool before taking on Manchester City who start their holiday fixtures with a home game against lowly

WORLD CLUB CUP CHAMPIONS: Fifth trophy for Barcelona.

Sunderland. • High-placed Arsenal travel to Southampton and then play in-form Bournemouth at The Emirates; Manchester United (booed off after losing at home to Norwich last Saturday) go to Stoke before welcoming Chelsea, who sacked José Mourinho last Thursday, seven months after winning the title, and placed former boss Guus Hiddink in temporary charge. The reigning champions start the festive season with a home game against in-form Watford who walloped Liverpool 3-0 last Sunday. • Bottom club Aston Villa play West Ham (H) and Norwich (A), Newcastle entertain Everton and then visit WBA while Sunderland also have to play at Anfield. • The top Championship games on December 26/28 are firstly Blackburn v leaders Middlesbrough, Brentford-Brighton (whose record 21-match unbeaten run ended last weekend), Derby-Fulham and Hull-

Burnley, followed by Brighton-Ipswich, LeedsDerby, MiddlesbroughSheffield Wednesday and PNE-Hull. In Leagues 1 and 2, the top matches are Bradford City-Burton, Coventry-Port Vale, OxfordExeter and WalsallPeterborough, while in Scotland it’s Hearts-Celtic, Rangers-Hibs and AnnanClyde. • Tottenham Hotspur will have a new ground by August 2018. The capacity will be 61,080 (bigger than The Emirates) and will cost £400m, with another £275m being spent on adjoining facilities, including 600 flats, a museum, medical centre, numerous shops and restaurants. • Barcelona won their fifth trophy of 2015 by lifting the World Club Cup, defeating River Plate 3-0 in Yokohama. • Ex-Fulham star, Coventry City manager, football innovator and BBC Match of the Day presenter Jimmy Hill has

died aged 87. He gave me a trial with Sky Blues in the mid-1960s. RIP CRICKET – The first Test between South Africa and England starts in Durban on Boxing Day… the second Test between Australia and the West Indies will commence in Melbourne… and New Zealand face Sri Lanka in Christchurch. RUGBY UNION – Dylan Hartley will captain England in the 2016 Six Nations tournament and over the holiday period, the top Aviva PL games are Exeter-Sale and Leicester-Newcastle, followed by Bath-Worcester, Harle-quins-Gloucester and Wasps-Saracens. TENNIS - Andy Murray, who is retaining Amelie Mauresmo as his coach, may pull out of the Australian Open in Melbourne next month, if his wife goes into premature labour. Heather Watson has split with her coach Diego Veronelli and Roger Federer will partner Martina Hingis in the mixed doubles at the Rio Olympics

INSPIRING: Andy Murray voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year. next summer. HORSE RACING – My tips for the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park on Boxing Day are Silviniaco Conti and Cue Card with Don Poli the outsider CONGRATULATIONS – Last Sunday Andy Murray was crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year; Team of the Year was GB’s Davis Cup tennis squad; gymnast Ellie Downie was Young Sports Personality for 2015; Kiwi rugby star Dan Carter took the ‘Overseas’ top prize; NI’s soccer boss Michael O’Neill was Coach of the Year and jockey Tony McCoy was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Other awards went to Damien Lindsay (unsung hero) and young Bailey Matthews (Helen Rollason award winner). CHRISTMAS FOOTBALL FACTS • In 1955, Numancia and Lugo drew 6-6 here in Spain. • Lee Holmes was 15 when he made his debut for Derby in 2002. • Newcastle scored 16 goals against Merseyside clubs in 1933, beating Everton 7-3 and Liverpool 9-2. • In 1927, Luton led Northampton 5-0 at halftime in a League game; final score Luton 5 Northampton 6. • In 1962, Oldham beat Southport 11-0 - the biggest ever Fourth Division win. • 20,851 fans saw the last League game played on Christmas Day when Blackpool beat Blackburn 42 in 1965. • Leicester were bottom of the PL 12 months ago; now they’re top! And with that I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas

SPORT

24 - 30 December 2015 / Costa Blanca North

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Xmas fun day at Javea Green JOHN PITTAWAY had a bright idea to have a pre-Christmas bowls day at Javea, with the three Northern League teams in battle against each other. So in glorious sunshine, 54 bowlers dressed in red, white and blue, played three games of six ends each to see who were the ‘Best’ NL team in the Club. Leading the way this season have been Opals, but unfortunately the wheels came off and they only managed 12 points out of a possible 36. That left the door open for our strongest squad Quartz, but they also failed to impress and only amassed 18 points. Therefore; Onyx triumphed with an excellent 24 points. Three Onyx teams mustered three wins out of three, Phil Woodhead, Tony Hesketh-Field, Alan Stephens; Ritva McAuliffe, Maggie Richardson, John North; Heather Stephens, Dave Greenhalgh, Jill Nobbs; with the last

NORTHERN LEAGUE: Three teams went to battle with each other.

three winning the prize for best performers with a shot difference of plus 17. At the other end of the scale, a prize was also won by Jane Baron, Jim Fletcher and Chris Evans for losing all three

matches with a shot difference of minus 22. A fabulous lunch was then served to all players and the ever popular ‘stand up sit down’ bingo was played and the €50 prize won by Maggie Richardson.

The International League 2015 THE FINAL round, round nine of the league was celebrated at Villaitana golf on Sunday 19, December. The weather on the day was ideal for playing golf and all 10 teams took to the course with gusto. With the title already decided the placings were yet to be finalised. Four teams were challenging for second and third and the computations and possible play-offs left the tournament director with a slight headache. San Miguel Golf Society had it in their own hands to take runner-up spot and they were triumphant with a very close match result of 2½ to 1½ win against The Tigers. The Falcons now had to win their last game to be sure of a third place finish, again they had a convincing win. With the probability of the formation of a second division, the teams in the lower end of the table were fighting to remain in the top division. The actual separation point has not yet been determined and each team was trying to gain the maximum points total to secure their coveted place in the division. Again, as was the case last year, the final positions were separated by a solitary point. The Tigers were crowned champions under the guidance of their manager Denis McCormack with 15 points. Second came San Miguel Golf Society, captained by Barry Roehig on 14 points and The Falcons claimed third place with 13 points captained by Loagan Nayager. All competing teams received a present of a

THE TIGERS: Were crowned champions.

Federation polo plus a sleeve of golf balls. Each of the winning teams received a commemorative plaque and Denis, the triumphant manager, received the annual perpetual league trophy.

The league has grown from six teams last year to 10 this year and with further interest it is expected that 16 teams may take part in 2016. Contact johnobrienalicante@gmail.com or 615 466 398.

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Dylan Hartley will captain England in the 2016 Six Nations tournament. He was dropped from the World Cup after being banned for a head-butt.

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Costa Blanca’s best guide to local sport

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Orba Warblers Golf Society enjoy Turkey Trot ALL MAJOR competitions completed for the 2015 season, now time for some real fun, the eagerly awaited Turkey Trot at Oliva Nova. The three clubs and a putter Stableford competition got underway with the traditional mince pies and tot of brandy at the first tee. A strong field of 32 season-

ally dressed Warblers set off on their quest to become the Turkey Trot Champion for 2015 on a beautiful morning that turned into a wonderful sunny December afternoon. A well-presented course now almost fully recovered from the bad weather produced some good scores considering they had only three clubs and a putter. In 12th place was Barbara Pollitt ( 29pts), 11th place went to Margaret Hoare (30pts), in 10th place Roy Booth (31pts), with 9th place going to Michael Taylor (31pts). In 8th spot came Chris Williamson (31pts), Steve Robo was 7th (32pts), Sylvia Mortensen took 6th place (32pts), with 5th

OLIVA NOVA MEMBERS: Enjoyed a wonderful sunny December afternoon. place going to Derek Gray (33pts). Sally Marsden took

4th spot (33pts), as the three French hens and a bottle of

port went to David Corcoran on 33pts for third place, while

two turtle doves and a bottle of brandy went to Steve Smith also on 33pts for the runner’s up spot. Top of the pear tree with the partridge and taking the Christmas Hamper home was our Handicap Secretary Sheila Dindar on 37pts. A good fun day out was followed by chicken and chips at the ‘Chicken Shack’ where the best Christmas Hat contest was decided. In a very close run contest the ‘clapometer’ never lies, and by the narrowest of margins the prize was awarded to Sylvia. The next game for the Orba Warblers will be on Wednesday January 6, 2016 at Oliva Nova for a Stableford Competition.