The Courier Week 1 by TKO Media

Edition 01

www.thecouriers.es

Friday, 25th February, 2011

PICTURE OF THE WEEK

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SPANIARDS FIND SMOKING BAN A DRAG While most countries have begrudgingly accepted the smoking bans that have swept through Europe and the United States, often with even the smokers themselves admitting that they prefer things with the ban, as their clothes don't smell when they get home, the Spanish press has been full of stories of the Spanish getting quite a bee in their bonnet about the change. I guess old habits die hard, and Spaniards are some of the heaviest smokers in Europe. There’s been a demonstration in Valencia and a protest in Palencia. Bars say customers are staying away

because they can't smoke, and others are saying that customers are doing a runner without paying when they go out to smoke, which is odd, considering people eat and drink outside of restaurants and bars in Spain whenever the sun shines. Meanwhile, one ingenious bar came up with a smoking van to beat the smoking ban, in which smokers can escape the cold winds and sit in the bar’s white van to have a puff. Less amusing is the nightclub that is charging customers to go outside to smoke. If you have any amusing anecdotes of local bars’ reactions to the smoking ban we would love to hear them.

Writers Dave Bull Malcolm Palmer Mick Hardy Spike Paul Payne Sally Bengtsson Tony Mayes Jake Monroe Dan Smith Photographer Mark Welton

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PROPA’ GRAMMA Publication Published by Rainbow Media, S.L. Depósito legal A - 132 - 2011 The Courier, its publishers, members of staff and its agents do not accept responsibility for claims by advertisers nor can it be held responsible for any errors in advertisements which are reproduced from poor artwork, low quality electronic data or inadequate instructions for text or other layout features. Further no responsibility is accepted for any loss or damage caused by an error, inaccuracy or non-appearance of any advertisement, although all advertisements produced are checked prior to insertion. We regret that we cannot accept responsibility for more than ONE incorrect insertion and that no re-publication will be granted in the case of typographical or minor changes which do not affect the value of the advertisement. E&OE. NO PART OF THIS NEWSPAPER MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT THE WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE PUBLISHERS.

Those of us who fall into the world of hi-tech should take note of the importance of correct grammar. You may have noticed that many who text messages & email, have forgotten the "art" of capitalization. Capitalization is the difference between helping your Uncle Jack off a horse and helping your uncle jack off a horse. You are welcome. I know you appreciate this reminder.

Monday Sunny High Temperature: 16°C RealFeel: 16°C

Today Plenty of sunshine High Temperature: 18°C RealFeel: 20°C

Saturday Partly Cloudy High Temperature: 22°C RealFeel: 21°C

Sunday Partly Cloudy High Temperature: 23°C RealFeel: 22°C

Tuesday Sunny High Temperature: 14°C RealFeel: 16°C

Wednesday Sunny High Temperature: 14°C RealFeel: 14°C

Thursday Sunshine & Rain High Temperature: 16°C RealFeel: 14°C

Friday, 25th February, 2011

AND NOW FOR

SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT…

By Dave Bull You may have this newspaper in your hands only a short while before it finds itself underneath the budgie…but before that happens allow me to welcome you to The Courier…and our promise to be different in the way we report, present publish and, in how we look after our advertisers.

We don’t sell insurance, telephone lines, mobiles, internet or houses. We do news. Pure and simple. Whether it comes from abroad or locally, we’ll be bringing you the top stories in our own unique way and, we’ll endeavour to put a smile on your face while we do it. That’s not to say we’ll exclude bad news, far from it – all news will be included in The Courier, so long as it’s interesting! Having said all that, we will try and look at the positive side of things rather than being a doom and gloom ‘paper (you know who

they are…). And there is tons of good news to report about on life in Spain for those who live in, holiday on or just read about the Costa Blanca on the web. For example in this ‘crisis’ did you know that exports of goods and services from Spain increased from 9.4% to 10.5% in the fourth quarter of 2010, while imports also increased although to a lesser measure, going from 5 to 5.3%, according to data published today by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) – so that’s good news for jobs and the economy and another green shoot is the announcement last week that the number of companies created in Spain increased by 2.2 per cent in 2010, after three consecutive years of decline – that’s almost 80,000 companies started in one year, more than went bust last year. Spain's economy has been handed a boost after US casino operator Las Vegas Sands revealed plans to build a €15bn Iberian gambling hub that could create as many as 180,000 jobs. The Nevada-based casino operator said it was in talks with local authorities in Madrid and Barcelona about building a Vegas-style strip that could cost €10bn to €15bn but generate billions in revenue and indirectly more jobs too. Spain's government approved tough new rules last week that’ll make sure that they can’t misbehave again and that will begin to bring confidence back into the finance world – in other words they’ll start lending us money again. And even British Premier, David Cameron, has embraced the ideal of worker co-operatives after witnessing the remarkable Mondragon Corporacion in northern Spain which with its global operations is already thriving in the world market. The Basque group is probably best known for products such as Orbea bikes that won gold at the Beijing Olympics and it is the world’s biggest co-op with 85,000 worker-owners. Not bad eh? Although I gather they don’t sell cheese or tights in the same store like the UK one… Another local boost is the creation of the ‘Zenia Boulevard’ which already has units filled with marques such as, Alcampo, Decathlon and also Leroy Merlin will be gracing its floors. Currently being built just off the AP7 motorway access at La Zenia, the complex will look similar to the Habaneras Centre in Torrevieja and will have 80,000 square metres of retail floor space as part of the 150 retail units that will be available at this impressive complex.

NEW FLOWERS FOUND IN SPAIN Climate is ripe for evolving species

Jake Monroe They say nature is full of surprises, and the latest is the discovery of two new flowers in Spain. Researchers have discovered Taraxacum decastroi and Taraxacum lacianense, two dandelions from the Pyrenees and the Cordillera Cantábrica mountain range, respectively. This finding confirms Spain's privileged position as a hotbed of biodiversity. "It's hard to find new species now in Spain. It depends on the complexity of the group of plants you study", explained Antonio Galán de Mera, lead author of the study and a researcher in the Department of Biology (Botany) at the San Pablo-CEU University in Madrid. According to the

study, which has been published in Annales Botanici Fennici, it has been no easy task to identify these two new plants. "We had to compare them with numerous examples from Europe (above all in Spain and Portugal), which were lent to us from the

collections of other colleagues", says Galán de Mera. Taraxacum decastroi and Taraxacum lacianense are plants with long leaves and little pollen, because they reproduce by means of seeds without fertilisation. They also have "fairly characteristic" fruits with little ornamentation, "which differentiates them from other species in the Peninsula", the scientist adds. In Spain, "it is impossible to pinpoint" the number of new plants that still remain to be discovered "although genus studies can always throw up surprises", says the researcher, who is currently studying another "probable" new species in the province of Madrid related with a forest group. The team has also found another in Portugal, Segovia and Asturias.

Friday, 25th February, 2011

“MAD” FRANKIE’S SAYS GRANDSON WE THINK HIDING ON THE YOU COSTA BLANCA DESERVE US!

It’s taken quite a while to put a team together as good as the one we have here at The Courier. A team of people who take a lot of pride in their work and won’t settle for anything less than the best, and that’s what we intend to give you, the reader and the advertiser. We’ll always try to give you what you want on these pages, obviously, as the saying goes, ‘you can’t please all the people all of the time’ but each and every one of us here at The Courier, from our account managers to the people who write, photograph and put the ‘paper together, are determined to please most of you most of the time by giving you a newspaper that you can really look forward to! In short we aim to be proud of what we produce. Our pages will not become covered in a forest of adverts, we have a certain amount of space for adverts and dedicated editorial pages and spaces that won’t be invaded. If we do that we won’t be any different to many other publications, and if there is one thing can be assured of we ARE different! Refreshingly so! Read on and enjoy…

British Police have released the identities of 10 suspected criminals believed to be hiding out on the 'Costa del Crime', of Spain. Investigators want the public to help them trace the fugitives thought to be on the run in sunny Iberia. Among those on the latest 'most wanted' list are men suspected of murder, child sex offences, kidnapping, robbery and drug smuggling. They include a string of highprofile British gangland figures linked to organised crime, murder and violence. One is Anthony Fraser, 39, of London, who is the grandson of 'mad' Frankie Fraser. He is wanted over a plot to smuggle two tonnes of cannabis, hidden in a lorry of frozen chicken, into Britain from Holland in March 2009. Fraser is alleged to have gone on the run after £5million worth of cannabis was discovered in the storage

STOP PRESS The latest Crimestoppers crusade has already posted its first success. Everardus Wijtvliet was arrested on Monday night, less than 24 hours after the launch of the new crusade. The 39-year-old Dutchman was one of ten 'most-wanted' criminals, thought to be in Spain, who were named in the press convention for the latest Crimestoppers crusade, a joint

unit in Grays, Essex. Five men were arrested and later jailed for a total of 40 years in a trial at Southwark Crown Court. Ken Gallagher, head of European Operations for the Serious Organised Crime Agency, said, 'We have many ways of tracking down wanted offenders, but where they drop off our radar we ask the public to help. Fraser's grandfather Mad' Frankie, 87, was a feared member of the Richardson gang, south London rivals of the Krays during the 1960s. But he attended the funeral service for Reggie Kray at St. Matthew's Church in Bethnal Green in East London in October 2000. The 'oldschool' gangster was known for ripping out the teeth of his victims without using anaesthetic. Anthony Fraser is described as of average height, with green eyes and scars on his left brow and right hand. operation to and from police sources in Spain and the UK and the high-profile crimefighting charity. His arrest came on Monday night after someone in the Canary Islands recognised him from his photograph in the Crimestoppers poster and gave details of his whereabouts. Wijtvliet is wanted in the UK on drug offences and was arrested in 2009 on charges of organising the transportation of cocaine and heroin.

Another of the suspects is Eriberto Jimenez Melo, 33, of Stamford Hill, north London, who has been jailed for 25 years in his absence for conspiracy to supply cocaine. He is also known by the nicknames Nando and Eric. Melo, who was born in the Dominican Republic, was responsible for handling female drug mules. He is described as 5ft 10ins, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. Details of all 10 men will be posted by Crimestoppers on a 'most wanted' website targeting the region. The Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) and the Spanish police authorities are also involved in the move, codenamed Operation Captura. Several waves of appeals, first launched in October 2006, have led to the arrest of 38 suspects out of 50 appeals. Anyone with information

about those named by Crimestoppers should call 0800 555 111 in the UK or 900 555 111 in Spain. Details of the wanted men will be posted on www.crimestoppers-uk.org

Friday, 25th February, 2011

SPAIN IN THE DOCK

EU takes Spain to Court over free medication for expat pensioners

Spain may soon find itself in the dock - facing a judge...who is a pensioner..

By Dave Bull After months of bitter arguments and protests from foreigners the Commission decided that Spanish rules are not in line with EU law as they discriminate against pensioners from other EU Member States when residing for a short period in Spain. According to European law, (if you really want to know - the social security legislation Regulation 883/2004), pensioners temporarily residing in another Member State can make use of their European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) to get any necessary

healthcare under the same rules as pensioners who are insured under the sickness insurance scheme of the visiting Member State. Under Spanish law, pensioners can get medication for free which is why pensioners from other EU Member States should equally have an access to free medication when living here in Spain temporarily. Stubbornly though, the Spanish authorities refuse to give free medication to EU pensioners because the European Health Insurance Card does not indicate that they are pensioners, although this being in spain plenty of paperwork does, including their passport. But Spain, always the bottle neck when it comes to enforcing

EU laws, requires EU pensioners to present another document issued by their national social security services certifying in Spanish that they are in receipt of a state pension. In the Commission’s opinion the refusal of the Spanish authorities is going against the social security regulations laid down by the EU and discriminates against EU pensioners temporarily residing in Spain. Moreover, the requirement to present a supplementary document is contrary to the idea of the European Health Insurance Card, which is supposed to make things simple and reduce the amount of red tape for insured persons when they need health care during a short or temporary stay in another Member State.

WATTS GOING ON? Spain slashes solar energy subsidies By Sally Bengtsson

Spain has invested heavily in ‘clean’ energy

The Spanish Government has officially cut its subsidies to the solar power industries by 30% in a move that is expected to save the government about $970 million, but lead to a reduction in consumers changing to this ecological alternative. The decision has caused an angry reaction among investors in the country’s solar projects, who argue that the cut could cause loan defaults that would exacerbate the problems facing many European banks. But investors should have seen this coming. Last year the Spanish government pulled back on its subsidies and placed a cap on the amount of solar power that would be subsidized. Companies like Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. (NYSE: YGE), LDK Solar Co. (NYSE: LDK), and JA Solar Holdings Co. (NASDAQ: JASO) saw revenues and prof-

its fall as a result of the government’s decision. As Spain continues to try to get out of its financial predicament, it only makes sense that the government would try to cut subsidies on solar power projects. The country’s subsidies caused a boom in solar construction that now gives the country some 3,200 megawatts of solar capacity, more than six times the amount the government had planned on by the end of 2010, according to The Wall Street Journal. What has made investors really nervous is Spain’s intention to apply the cuts to existing plants built before 2008 as well as planned new ones. In 2008, electricity generated by solar PV plants was subsidized by the government’s feed-in tariff to the tune of $589 per megawatt-hour. And that subsidy had been approved for 25 years. No wonder investors and solar PV makers made a beeline for Spain. Most solar PV makers, includ-

ing First Solar Corp. (NASDAQ: FSLR), as well as the Chinese makers already noted, had scaled back on their plans for Spain. SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWRA) signed a deal last summer to build a 9.1 megawatt solar PV plant in Spain. The potential hit to investors could be devastating according to a London money manager cited by the Financial Times. The manager notes that much of the capital for constructing the plants came from pension funds and that it “would be extremely detrimental for global pension fund money” if Spain goes through with its planned subsidy cuts. It’s very likely that the Spanish government will negotiate some accommodation with investors, if for no other reason than to avoid an endless string of lawsuits. Solar PV makers have already changed their focus to the US and China, so they stand to be hurt less by the subsidy loss.

Friday, 25th February, 2011

NO BIG FAT GYPSY WEDDING Did you know you can legally get married in Spain at the age of 14? Well you can, but perhaps not for much longer. The young age is still acceptable among gypsies, who may be angry to find out that the government is considering increasing the minimum age from 14 to 16, in line with United Nations guidelines. A committee of experts working on a draft child-protection law is in charge of tackling the issue, though its conclusions have not yet been handed to the Ministry. Health Minister Leire Pajín confirmed that the raise takes into account the fact that at 16 youngsters “can take decisions about their body in certain health provisions without consulting their parents.” Spain’s abortion law allows women aged 16 or 17 to decide alone whether to terminate a pregnancy, although they have to inform one of their parents, who must accompany them to the clinic. And the morning after pill can now be sold to youngsters aged 14 without parental consent.

‘JOINT’ CHIEF OF STAFF? Dave Bull

The Spanish Supreme Court has confirmed that an officer of the Brigade of the Legion (Brileg) based in Viator (Almería)has been given a sentence of six months in prison for assaulting a junior soldier who was on standby and who refused to roll him a cannabis cigarette, a joint. When the poor squaddie said no to the unusual, and illegal, request the officer slapped the young man and threw a cigarette in his face. He had earlier also refused a request from his superior to go shopping for alcohol and, for his boss, it was the final straw when he refused to roll the officer a joint. The ruling in the High Court ratified the sentence imposed by the Second Military Tribunal for the crime of abuse of authority in the form of abuse to a junior without causing serious injury. It had earlier dismissed an appeal filed by the defence and The incident occurred during manoeuvres in Viator early one morning when the

young legionnaire, who was on patrol duty, was ordered to a nearby store for alcohol. When he refused, the corporal told him to roll him a joint, something the victim again refused to do and it was at this time that the defendant responded by giving a slap him in the face. He then ordered the soldier to start doing pushups on the floor. The Legionnaire had done as asked and finished the exercises but was not allowed to then get up with the ‘brave’ corporal giving him another blow in the face while shouting, "Who ordered you up?" Continuing to demand that the squaddie supply him with a rolled spliff the defendant gave the victim a piece of hashish and cigarette papers. Finally, he did as he was told and rolled the joint. But when he told his officer he had no lighter, the officer threw a cigarette he was smoking at him. As a result of the beatings, the victim suffered injuries to his mouth.

Friday, 25th February, 2011

A FIGHT TO THE DEATH R

ight, let get this straight from the start…I detest it and no matter how many times people tell me ‘it’s part of their culture’ or it’s ‘been going on for centuries’ I will never agree with it. In fact I’ll do what I can to prevent it if at all possible. Bull fighting; cruel, sick and cruel again. And madam (she who wrote so viciously last time I published something condemning bullfighting - scary), the fact that it’s been going on for years doesn’t justify it. Stoning is a weekly pastime in Afghanistan that they’ve enjoyed every weekend for centuries too, but you wouldn’t condone that …or would you…? And to say that we live here as guests and it’s their country so we shouldn’t therefore interfere… well, I’m sorry but if you think that – you’re mad and probably French. The amount of times that people have tried to persuade me to go in the ‘interests of’ culture, art, history or the cheap burgers afterwards I’ve lost count…but it’s a lot. I should go and experience the atmosphere before it’s banned by the ‘do-gooders’ apparently, just once…but I won’t. Like I don’t wish to experience Christians fighting lions nor watch bears against dogs, neither do I wish to watch (and therefore support) something so barbaric that the Catalunians had the balls to ban just recently. And before someone writes in and tells me that the type of bulls used in bull fights wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the bullfighting then I say good! I’m not sure exactly what difference it will make to my life if the ‘Toro Bravo’ doesn’t happen to be munching grass during the week before a good stabbing at the weekend followed by lunch, for which he makes the menu and not the guest list… I won’t go, never will and will argue the ‘culture’ of a bloke dressed in tights and armed to the teeth ‘fighting’ a bull who is just starting to enjoy the effects of the bovine equivalent of Prozac. But if you are one of those who wishes to experience a real bull fight ‘just once’ why not get in the ring yourself and have a go at stabbing an animal?...that’s unless, of course, he’s already sent you into row Z…

(…so long as the bull loses)

A bloke dressed in tights fighting a bull on the bovine equivalent of Prozac.

PROBLEM? THONG GONE START WINING I’m not the most graceful of folk and being six foot three I tend to be a bit clumsy too, as the nice (little) lady in my local Chinese bazar will testify seeing as I sent her counter display flying into her lap when I turned around and my rucksack hit it the other day. Still I’d bought a carrier- bag full of stuff so she must have been satisfied with the two euros I spent. I’d bought batteries to put in my voice recorder, seeing as I was re-entering the newspaper world, and immediately went home to try it out. No good. Apparently, I found out later, hitting it hard on the kitchen worktop was not one of the recommended ways to repair it. Neither was shouting (or swearing) at it, which I can understand as it just laid there (slightly chipped) afterwards…and wouldn’t work. Having read the manual as a last resort (I’m a bloke, it’s what we do) the little red light still refused to illuminate. Fed up and determined to return the piece of junk to the shop I sat myself down, and managed to fix the problem after all – I had a glass or two of Rioja and somehow it didn’t matter anymore.

TIP OF THE WEEK Just found out (I’m sure you probably know already) that it’s not a good idea to put washing up liquid in the washing machine…you get a lot of bubbles, and I mean a lot, although the dogs seemed to enjoy it.

BEAR BACK RIDING

A new law was passed in the EU parliament last week that will change the view somewhat on our beaches this summer. Apparently exhibitionists that like to wear a thong and think they look like Kate Moss, but actually resemble her namesake Stirling more closely, will now be banned from the sand. Actually I just made all that up…we can live in hope though…

I WANT MY TOY!

Sorry ladies but it’s just not fair. Why is it that when women buy a magazine they’ll have the choice of a free sunhat? Or maybe sandals, a summer bag, make up, sunglasses – I could go on. While us blokes are lucky if we get a pencil. Take a look in your local newsagent and you’ll see what I’m on about. While the ladies get something either useful or

essential, we have a prezzie that a Victorian chimney lad would turn his nose up at. I want a gadget or something. It doesn’t even need to be very good or last long as I ’ l l either break it or lose it anyway but I still want something. The fact that women buy about fifteen thousand more magazines than men should indicate the answer I suppose…still not fair though.

I gave my son’s friend a lift on my motorbike the other day, mistake. Because, nice as he is, he’s not the smallest bloke in the world. In fact he’s huge, around six foot three tall, weighing in somewhere between Orson Welles and Hattie Jacques, and that sort of load on a bike can be a bit dodgy. So dodgy in fact that I could barely get around corners without falling off as his weight shifted from side to side. The only comparison I can make would involve taking your bike to the North Pole and shooting a polar bear. Then having (somehow) managed to get said bear on the back of the bike – possibly with its paws hanging over your shoulders – you then try to negotiate the streets of Monaco…

Friday, 25th February, 2011

By Sally Bengtsson Back in the sixties, when Spaniards emigrated to pastures new to escape the desperate poverty their country was experiencing, they found jobs as waiters, builders and fruit pickers in countries as far afield as the UK, Germany, Mexico and Argentina. Many made a new life in their adopted countries and settled into a comfortable existence. When they retired the sunshine of their youth beckoned them back to their birthplaces, and many returned to live out

the remainder of their days in warmer climes. And with a booming economy, family members followed suit, bringing grandchildren to settle in their grandparents’ country. However, now that the economy has spiralled back down to negative figures, and empty houses litter the sun-filled coastal resorts, emigration seems a tempting way out of a life of scrimping and saving, trying to make ends meet. And with neighbouring countries crying out for young graduates to come and work in their growing economies, the race is on to be picked for a new life in countries like Germany

or Norway. Spaniards who have just graduated from a degree in medicine are being offered an indefinite contract to work as residents while specialising in their preferred field, in Germany. The offer can be seen on the webpage of the Medical School of Alicante. The proposal is tempting. The modern clinic which is advertising for trainee doctors is situated north of Württemberg, amongst fields and countryside, and has 250 beds. It is a children’s hospital, for youngsters aged from 6 months to 12 years old. The pay offered is the standard pay that Germans

would receive, and the advert states that “if this offer doesn’t fulfil all your requirements we can look for a placement for you in another hospital”. The number of Spaniards from Alicante who are choosing to emigrate is on the up. Last year 1,481 Spaniards from the province packed their bags and left. This is five times higher than in previous years. Other countries they are emigrating to are Switzerland and Norway. The most sought after professions in other countries are investigation, biology, engineering, architecture and computer expertise. Many of

the applicants have used up their two years of dole money and are being forced to look elsewhere for a job. The region of Murcia is in a similar situation, with the lowest number of job prospects for university graduates in the country. However, graduates are more likely to find a job than those without a degree. 9.8% graduates are out of work compared to the national average of 20.3%. This is mainly due to the fact that a large majority of graduates are working as waiters or in manual labour just to be able to feed their family.

DON'T JUST SIT THERE! Friday, 11th February, 2011

Cameron's 'Big Society' means helping others not just yourself. By Tony Mayes David Cameron's idea for a "big society" in Britain is just what the country needs. What a pity it is that the idea has been hijacked by those trying to make political capital out of it and claim it's all a ploy to help much-needed spending cuts. Basically Cameron's "big society" plan is to encourage people to get off their fat backsides and start thinking of others for the first time in their lives, instead of themselves. It's a complete reversal of the Thatcher era in which people were encouraged to look after number one. No such thing as society, I think was the theme. How wrong that message was, it just created a generation of selfish people and it's going to take a massive effort to get the British public to take a U turn. But turn they must if Britain is going to be a place worth living in. Cameron's invitation is for the public to get involved in basic community work - helping out with charities, looking after those less able themselves and making life more pleasant for all. Back has come the protests that it can't be done without money from the Government. Utter rubbish. It doesn't need money to help out in a charity shop, do a bit of shopping for a neighbour, or spend a few hours a week as a carer.

Here in Spain as in Britain, people can do so much more to help society and the community. There are plenty of charity groups here needing volunteers. And just look around, there is hardly a street where there is no dog mess, simply because thoughtless, lazy people can't be bothered to clean up after their pets. Councils here provide bins and plastic bags for the waste, and provide some pleasant open spaces to enjoy, but you have to watch where you put your feet. Whole areas are quickly turned into dog toilets, riddled with disease. Despite the best efforts of councils to clean up, people drop litter and leave empty cans and bottles everywhere. Why have we become so lazy, thoughtless and bone idle. The Brits have done their level best to ruin their own country and now, it seems, they're hell bent on spoiling this part of Spain too. Cameron's "big society" basically stems from the concept of being a good neighbour - being aware of the needs of others and also not doing anything which hurts others. We have forgotten what being a good person is. The majority of ex-pats here are retired and know what society once was. We have a responsibility to set a good example - how about starting now. Turning to an even more heady matter, and that's the disaster happening right now a few hundred miles away the other side of the Mediterranean and across the Middle East. One Muslim

country after another is being thrown into turmoil as people revolt against dictatorial regimes, oppression, poverty, unemployment, rising prices, lack of opportunities, or sectarian conflict. What it has shown is how sickening some of the countrys' leaders around the world really are, caring nothing about the loss of life in their desperate attempts to cling to power. Equally sickening is the news that America has been spending billions to bolster these barbaric regimes for its own interests. Hundreds have already died. As I write this I learned that a Christian priest has had his throat cut in Tunis. The situation is explosive and we in affluent Europe are not immune. We are at the brink of having thousands upon thousands of people arriving on these shores seeking an escape from persecution and danger. It's a situation which has come at the very worst time. A resulting invasion of immigrants and a probable oil price spiral could so easy throw Europe back into recession. In the UK it could also be the trigger for another rise in inflation and spur trade unions to seek bigger pay rises. That would prompt the Bank of England to raise interest rates and hit millions of home owners with mortgages. We're living through dangerous and very troubled times - so important therefore for everyone to do their bit to ease tensions and help one another.

Friday, 25th February, 2011

THEY WON’T GAG US! By Spike

Don’t mention: 'Chinese whispers', 'black magic', 'brown bread', and 'Indian summer' or you could be in trouble in PC mad Britain…Spike is on the case Farquhar has spent her life helping others — first as a nurse, then running a branch of St John Ambulance, a job she performed with distinction for more than 20 years. When she retired, she took up voluntary work with the armed services charity Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) in Wiltshire. But today, the ‘thoroughly decent’ Mrs Farquhar (the words of her colleagues) is a near-broken woman after being publicly vilified and humiliated over a comment that most of us use often – especially us here at the newspaper and magazine. What happened to her is not just a personal tragedy for Mrs Farquhar, but also an indictment of the kind of society Britain has become, where the culture of political correctness rules and common sense is ignored. This ridiculous situation began at a Scout hut in the village of Potterne Wick, near Devizes, where Mrs Farquhar lives with husband, Ian, 68, and where she has been

a ‘pillar of the community’ for many years. However, in August last year Mrs Farquhar’s group, Wiltshire Involvement Network (WIN), got together and at the end of the meeting, Mrs Farquhar noted that gossip about NHS changes had been spreading within the health service, remarking: ‘You cannot help the jungle drums.’ The phrase, as everyone knows, is a commonly used expression similar to ‘rumour mill’ or ‘grapevine’ and also the name of our sister magazine that has been running for 7 years. But…almost before Mrs Farquhar had finished her sentence, a voice from the public gallery shouted: ‘You can’t say that.’ The voice belonged to alleged serial complainer Sonia Carr. Mrs Carr, 50, a veteran equality campaigner, has claimed the remark was racist! And even though Anna Farquhar did not think she had said anything wriong, racially or otherwise, she apologised out and thought that was that. Oh no. One month went by, then two, then three. And then on November 17, 13 weeks after the meeting in the Scout hut, report landed on Mrs Farquhar’s desk with the sinister sounding title 'Complaint Investigator’s Report'. – ten pages long too. This is what it said: ‘The comment [jungle drums],’ it informed her, ‘was inappropriate and caused offence.’ Underneath, written in capital letters, were the words: COMPLAINT UPHELD. Her colleagues had ‘failed to challenge’ her statement: COMPLAINT UPHELD. There was a ‘clear lack of understanding of equality and diversity issues’ among the group: COMPLAINT UPHELD. Incredibly, the only person who wasn’t interviewed during the process was Anna Farquhar herself or anyone on the 20strong committee who were present on the day. Except one. the one colleague who agreed with Sonia Carr. The sentence read: ‘The complainant (Sonia Carr) explained that she suffered real pain and was emotionally upset by the comment made and this has had an impact on her health and her family.’ This would be the same Sonia Carr who stayed behind for sandwiches after the ‘insult’. In December, after the complaint against the watchdog was upheld, Anna sent a response to the authority ‘rejecting any notion of racism concerning the term “jungle drums”’ and cited ‘its wide usage as a company name’, giving as an example the Jungle Drums marketing consultancy in Dorset, whose previous clients include the Metropolitan Police. The council ignored the evidence. Mrs Farquhar wanted to know what grounds there were for Sonia

Carr’s claim that she suffered ‘real pain’, ‘emotional upset’ and adverse effects on her ‘health and family’. The council did not tell her. colleagues say that Anna has ‘visibly aged’ over the past six months and at county hall, councillors said they were furious about the way the authority has behaved and would be calling for a public inquiry. Public inquiry…? They should just line them up, take aim…and start firing some common sense into them! By the way, we have also written to the council involved and sent them a copy of our sister magazine Jungle Drums…hope we haven’t offended them…much.

NUN KICKED OFF FACEBOOK OVER HABIT 'Sister Internet' spent too much time networking By Spike

JC not PC - Sisters are doing it for themselves...

A Spanish nun who lived the last 35 years in seclusion has been kicked out of the religious order where after spending too much time on the social networking site Facebook. María Jesús Galán, dubbed 'Sister Internet', had over 600 Facebook 'friends' at the time of her excommunication although none of them was believed to be Him. María was given the nickname by her fellow nuns and had to announce on her Facebook page that she had been asked to leave the convent after disagreements over her online activities. The 54-year old techy, who lists her hobbies as "reading, music, art, and making friends" now has fan pages with thousands of supporters from around the globe calling for her to be

allowed back into the order. A computer was first brought onto the premises of the 14th century Santo Domingo el Real convent in Toledo; central Spain 10 years ago after the Mother Superior was persuaded it would lessen the need for nuns to enter the outside world. It enabled the nuns to do things such as banking online and saved them having to make trips into the city, explained Sister Maria, who entered as a novice (nun not Facebooker…) at the age of 21. However, she quickly saw the possibilities and soon began digitising the archives contained within the convent's ancient walls and making them accessible to the world…oh and talking to all her mates when she should have been working…lucky we don’t do that here, eh Mr Editor?

Friday, 25th February, 2011

YOU WANT CHIPS WITH CAT? Flaws in pet micro - chip system revealed By Spike

As most of us know, the Spanish law states that all pets must be micro-chipped and most people believe that a micro-chip in their family pet provides them with peace of mind. And should their pet become lost most believe they will be able to have it returned quickly once it is found. However, there is fly in the ointment…there are many flaws in the pet microchip system. When someone finds a stray pet they take it to a vet clinic for it to be checked for a microchip. If it has a chip the vet will then get on to RIVIA chip registration company in Valencia and this is where the system starts to fail, you see RIVIA will only receive telephone enquiries from 11am to 1.30 pm on weekdays and they are closed from 1.30pm each Friday until 11am the following Monday. This means that you won’t be able to get hold of them outside these times so you either have another few anxious days waiting until you get a call, or that St Bernard stray you found is staying for the weekend! But even then RIVIA won’t be calling you if they identify the ani-

mal’s owners, the only thing the staff at RIVIA will do is tell the vet is that they will try to telephone the owner to inform them that their pet is lost (as if they didn’t know already) and which vet and clinic informed them. T h e problem then is that often the owner’s telephone number on the RIVIA database is not correct. We have also found out that if for any reason the RIVIA staff member does not get through to the pet owner on the telephone they frequently do not call the vet back to inform them of this. All is not lost perhaps as there is one other method that a registered vet can adopt to try to locate the owner of a lost or stray pet that has a microchip. During the vet clinic opening hours a vet can use the Internet to contact RIVIA.

Great!...however, the only information that a vet will be able to see after entering a microchip number is…the telephone number on record. On many occasions a pet owner is not traced at the critical time when their pet needs to be reclaimed because for one reason or another they cannot be contacted on the telephone. I spoke to Mark Lewis, Councillor for animals in San Fulgencio who told

me, ‘In my experience less than 50% of enquiries made via the microchip registration system result in a successful call with a pet owner. What happens to a pet when an owner cannot be contacted; rarely will vet clinics retain a stray dog or cat overnight and so, in most municipalities, their family pet is taken away from the area to some unknown location or to the municipal pound.’ Mark and his colleagues have now set up a new system of pet registration in San Fulgencio municipality which will see a metal tag being issued to a pet owner that registers their pet on the Town Hall Pet Register. On one side the metal tag has stamped on it the registration number in the register and on the other side the telephone number of the local police. The Town Hall Pet Register has on it all the contact information about the owner of the pet. When a registered stray pet is found with the tag we will be able to trace the owner through the registration number 24 hours a day and arrange for the pet to be returned quickly to the owner. Said Mark, ‘I recommend that all pet owners that have their pet located within San Fulgencio municipality register their pet on the pet register. Even if they have not received a letter from the Town Hall informing them about the new registration procedure they can still register their pet by bringing to the Town Hall the original and a copy of; the pet passport, the owner’s passport and the micro-chip registration document or plastic card. Staff in the Town Hall will assist people that need help in completing the application form.’ All applications to register a pet will cost fifteen euros per pet and is a once in a lifetime fee. For more information and to receive an application form visit this web site: www.lamarina.info. Let’s hope other town halls think alike and...er…follow their lead….? Sorry.

iCONFESS

How about a virtual priest on your phone? By Dave Bull

In an effort to keep up with its flock the Church has gone some way to embrace new technology and to reach out to the faithful. Earlier this month an iPhone and iPad app was launched that allows Roman Catholics to make their confession to a "virtual priest". The new iPhone application, aimed at helping Catholics through confession, suggests phrases users can tell a priest. The "Confession: A Roman Catholic App", which went on

sale through Apple's iTunes website for 1.19€ this month, offers "a personalised examination of conscience for each user" and asks penitents to list sins they have committed. However, the church has been a bit geeky for a while with previous Catholic apps for mobile phones covering everything from the calendar of the liturgical year to guides for priests on celebrating the Mass. And in Spain those without the time or energy to traipse to the country's most famous pilgrimage sites, such as the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, can

now use the internet to light a virtual candle at the foot of their favourite shrine. The armchair pilgrims are invited to pay a euro for the privilege and can also send text offerings by mobile phone. And Pope Benedict XVI himself has encouraged priests to get involved in at least one aspect of online ministry, whether blogs, podcasts or something else. That’s all ok…but if you’ve got a dodgy signal, do you start shouting your confession while in Iceland…? ‘No Father…I said, ‘’I’ve MUCKED up…’’’

Friday, 25th February, 2011

IS YOUR MOBILE A ‘COOL TOOL’?

Your mobile phone is more than a phone, a camera, a diary, and more – it’ll also save your life!

By Dave bull According to a report in a British magazine our mobile phones can be a life saver in more ways than one. Whether they all work or just some of them, we’ll leave that up to our readers to try

and hopefully you’ll report back to us. If it works let us know and we’ll see if these really are cool tools or another waste of paper… Ok so your first emergency (to simulate of course) is that you need help. Apparently (remember we haven’t checked this) the emergency number worldwide for all mobile phones is 112 and if you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network like (so in Spain that’s the

bathroom…) and there is an emergency, dial 112 and your mobile will search any existing network in your area to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly they say

that 112 can be dialled even if the keypad is locked. This works on all phones worldwide and is free...allegedly. Now you’ve got granddad out of the toilet with the help of those nice firemen you realise that in all the excitement that you’ve locked your keys in the car. However, unlike granddads pants, all is not lost. Does your car have remote keyless entry? If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their mobile phone from your mobile. Then hold your phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. TaDah! Your car will unlock. Apparently. And of course, distance is no object. Even if you are thousands of miles away, if you can reach someone who has the other 'remote' for your car, you can unlock the doors. Next you need the mobile phone but the battery is nearly

dead, but according to the boffins all mobile phones have hidden battery power. I did try this and couldn’t get it to work on my phone but have a go maybe you can get it working on yours. To activate the hidden power they say that you have to press the keys *3370# (remember the asterisk). Do this when the phone is almost dead and apparently your mobile will restart in a special way with this new reserve and the screen will show a 50% increase in battery life! This reserve will get re-charged when you charge your mobile next time. Apparently the secret is in the fine print in most phone manuals – now

where did I put it? But now you’ve made your call someone has stolen it…did you know that there is a way to disable a stolen mobile phone? First check your mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 # and a 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset and they recommend that you write it down and keep it somewhere safe. Then if your phone ever gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code, they will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally use-

less. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. This is also said to be in the fine print of most mobile phone manuals. It was created for the very purpose of trying to prevent phones from being stolen. So you’ve had a bad day and head to the cash point to get some money to hit the wine rack at the local supermercado. But you find a robber has targeted you…what do you do? Well according to the experts, if you should ever be forced by a robber to withdraw money from a cash machine, you can notify the police by entering

your PIN # in reverse. For example, if your pin number is 1234, then you would put in 4321. The bank system recognises that your PIN number is backwards from the card you placed in the machine. The machine will still give you the money you requested, but unknown to the robber, the police will be immediately dispatched to the location. They go on to say that all cash machines carry this emergency sequencer by law and was apparently recently broadcast by Crime Stoppers but it is seldom used because people just don't know about it. By the way, I didn’t try this one either…have a nice day!

Friday, 25th February, 2011

EIGHT TORREVIEJA A TASTE OF ‘RIO’ COUNCILLORS COULD IN SANTIAGO DE LA RIBERA BE DECIDED BY By Jake Monroe FOREIGN VOTERS

By Sally Bengtsson Municipal elections will take place in Spain on 22 May 2011. EU citizens, who are residents in Spain and aged 18 or over on the day of an election, are entitled to vote. To vote, you must be registered on the padrón and have explicitly expressed a wish to vote in municipal elections by signing on the electoral roll (censo electoral). Those people who have already registered to vote, and still live in Spain, keep their voting status, and do not need to re-register. The Electoral Census Office should have sent a letter by post to people who are registered on the padrón but who have not previously registered to vote.

This year the value of the foreign vote is especially high in Alicante, and could sway the outcome one way or the other in 19 of the 28 municipalities in the region. In ten municipalities the number of foreign voters is higher than the minimum number of votes necessary to win a councillor seat. In Torrevieja, for example, there are 6,536 foreigners on the electoral register. A councillor needs a minimum of 820 votes to be elected, so the foreigners could actually vote eight councillors into the Town Hall. This is also the case in Orihuela Costa, Calpe, Xabia, Teulada, La Nucia, San Fulgencio, Benidorm, Rojales and Denia. In Alicante there are 2,754 foreigners on the electoral roll but these are not enough to reach the 4,250 votes required to elect a councillor here.

Carnival season is fast approaching and one of the best in the area looks set to be better than ever. Santiago de la Ribera will turn into a mini Rio de Janeiro as exotic dancers, colourful costumes, dragons and feather fill the main road on Sunday March 13th. The procession will set off from the beach at about 4.30pm, and make its way up to the LIDL roundabout, before turning back to celebrate in the marquee. The festivities begin on March 5th, with the election of the carnival queen in the carnival marquee next to the beach. On Sunday March 6th the Carnival princess will be chosen, and on the Tuesday evening there will be a masked ball. The “chirigotas” in which various groups compete to sing the funniest songs, usually relating to local politics and well known personalities, will entertain the crowds on Thursday 10th March, then two days later the popular carnival will take place, in which everyone can dress up as whatever or whoever they llike, and dance the night away in the marquee. There are prizes for the best costumes!

Friday, 25th February, 2011

THE WORLD’S BEST PLAYERS ARE HERE!

Alicante’s Primera Liga team Hercules need your support if they are to continue to entertain the like of Messi & Co

DOUBLE CELEBRATION

ou quite probably know your Greek Legends better than I can dredge from my distant memories of school, but said gent had a bit of a fight on his hands, as I remember it. So too does Alicante’s premier football club – AND THEY NEED YOUR SUPPORT! It is by no means unusual to hear English spoken in the stands, but the more, the merrier. And, in general, the class of football served up in the capacious Rico Perez, added to the healthy parochial attitude of the fans, merits your attendance. The Courier will be doing all it can to report on the Club’s progress in the coming seasons, but the immediate priority is staying in the mega-competitive Primera liga, so that clubs of the calibre of Real Madrid and Barcelona, Sevilla and Valencia, will continue to fill the stadium. As I write, they are in twelfth position, mid-table, but perilously close to the ‘drop-zone.’ Away form, after that stunning win at Barcelona what seems like a century ago, has been abysmal, but Hercules are feared – rightly – by all visitors to the Rico Perez, where they have proved hard to beat. Manager Esteban Vigo has encouraged an attacking style, with the clever Tote and workmanlike Tiago Gomes supporting the goal-scoring skills of French World Champion David Trezeguet, and Uruguayan Nelson Valdez. Back from a long, long, absence through injury is playmaker Farinós, who scored a remarkable goal against Zaragoza in the last home game, whilst solid defence is provided by another Frenchman, Pamarot, Abraham Paz, Paco Peña and Cortés. The speed on the flanks of young Kiko, and, when he is recovered from illness, Dutchman Royston Drenthe, can be vital. Of the rest, many have worked hard, and none harder than Andalucian goalkeeper Calatayud, who has so often saved the day. So rally round the province’s only top-flight club, and get along on match days – then you’ll be able to read about what you’ve seen in these pages.

SLOW TOWN! By Sally Bengtsson

It's a double celebration this week as the Courier Newspaper launches, Quesada Autos are also pleased to announce that after two years of servicing the Quesada and surrounding area they are expanding their British Mechanical services, by now offering an in-house tyre service, the helpful friendly boys at Quesada Autos are there for you and your vehicle,

WHY NOT SAY ‘WELL DONE’

Let me say here that I have never yet had a conversation with her but it’s time to stick up for a fellow colleague who has been on the wrong end of poor journalism in the local press lately. Louise Clarke has come in for some stick for leaving her role at a local newspaper and taking a better paid job at the town hall in Orihuela. Appointed by current Mayor Monica Lorente as press officer she is perfectly qualified for the role and has the ability and contacts to do a very good job, not only for the town hall but also for the residents of the region. It’s a shame then that her ex-rivals in the newspaper world cant congratulate her on a job well done over the years and wish her good luck in the new role. But then that wouldn’t be ‘news’ would it…?

with back up if you need a mobile tyre service, Ray is on hand from Total Mobile Tyres. So whether you need a pre ITV, servicing, diagnostics, auto electrician, air-con re-gas at only 30 euro, headlamp cleaning at just 15 euro to just general help and advice on anything motoring, then pop in to Quesada Autos, left before the arches, near the mini golf.

GRAN ALACANT TRAIN DERAILED

In Gran Alacant last week the tourist train was derailed when it skidded on that wonderful stuff they use on the roads out here for white lines. Possibly with less grip than Teflon, the white paint that they use here makes local roads extremely hazardous when wet. I should know, being a biker I have to be careful when and where I use my brakes…or I’m off, again. Anyway back to the train and no big drama really, a grua was brought in to straighten the jack-knifed train and after a quick inspection it was back on the rails (you know what I mean).

Spain’s highway authority, is investigating the possibility of imposing a 30km/h speed limit on all single-lane two-way streets in urban areas, regardless of whether there is a speedlimit sign or not. The aim of the measure, proposed by the Spanish Municipalities and Provinces Federation, is to reduce accidents by 50 percent, reduce the number of fatal accidents within towns, as well as reduce pollution. “At 70km/h nobody is saved; at 50, 50 percent are saved and at 30, 95 percent are saved,” said DGT director Pere Navarro. In 2009, 269 people were killed in road accidents in Spain — 46 percent of them in cities. The Environment Ministry in January requested shock measures to combat pollution in big cities, directed at reducing the contamination caused by urban traffic. Regional and local governments have been facing a growing backlash against their inaction over pollution levels in Spain’s major cities, which in the case of Madrid have regularly exceeded EU legal limits over the past decade. In Barcelona, recent high pollution levels forced Artur Mas’ new Catalan regional government to postpone its promised revocation of an 80km/h limit on city approach roads.

Friday, 25th February, 2011

SEARCH ON FOR BRIT BURIED IN SIERRA NEVADA AVALANCHE By Sally Bengtsson A Yorkshire man is being searched for after he was caught in one of the biggest avalanches on record in Spain’s Sierra Nevada mountain range near Granada. John Hogbin, 42, originally from York, was with two fellow mountaineers when the avalanche struck at 1.30pm on Sunday to the west of a ski resort above the city of Granada. The chances of finding Mr Hogbin alive are dire, a Guardia Civil source said last Monday, before the search was called off for the night. Mr Hogbin is a widower with a

young son. The two other men, both 43 and believed to be Spanish, survived. They were able to climb out from under the snow on their own and suffered only minor injuries. Over 130 soldiers have taken part in the search. The battalion of 133 soldiers, backed by four sniffer dogs and 21 vehicles, arrived on Monday and will remain in the area until Friday, the ministry said in a statement. The company that runs the ski resort, Cetursa, had warned that heavy rain on Saturday night after huge snowfall earlier in the week, meant there was a "very high" risk of an avalanche.

SPAIN SLOW TO REACT TO RECORDING PIRACY By Jake Monroe

The worldwide recording industry reserved a special chapter for Spain in its latest annual study of digital music and piracy. It emerged as the country with the greatest proportion of internet users who use sites that distribute music illegally: 45 percent. The figure places it above Brazil, with 44 percent, and well over the European average of 23 percent. One consequence has been the plummeting of Spanish music sales by 21 percent over the past year, said the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) report. New artists are suffering most as the big firms focus on established names, it added. The IFPI’s Frances Moore regretted Spain’s slowness to react with anti-piracy measures. “We have great difficulties getting the Spanish government to support our proposals,” she said.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION FINALLY DECREASES

By Jake Monroe

A total of 3,632 illegal immigrants reached the Spanish coasts in 2010, a 50-percent reduction from 2009 figures and the lowest in the last decade, said Interior Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba during the presentation of a report on the government’s fight against illegal immigration.

Rubalcaba said this drop was due to the fact that the boats were fewer and smaller than last year — 338 vessels compared with 413 in 2009 — but also to improved cooperation with African governments and the Civil Guard’s surveillance service, which patrols Spain’s southern coast. “This is a very good figure, comparatively speaking,” said Rubalcaba, adding that the most spectacular drop occurred in the Canary Islands, where illegal arrivals fell 90 percent, from 2,246 in 2009 to 196 in 2010. The overall drop was 32 percent, a figure made possible through cooperation with Algeria and Morocco. Of all OECD nations Spain has seen the sharpest drop in immigration because of the economic crisis, a 2010 report shows. Immigration 2010 said that the “predictable” drop was due to “the deterioration of the economy.

Friday, 25th February, 2011

ON THE PULL?

THE COURIER PUB & GRUB AWARDS 2011 Is your local any good? Better than the rest? Or perhaps the landlord/lady treat their customers better than anyone else? Have they raised a load of cash for charity or do they provide the best grub at a good price? We want to know because in August we will be holding The Courier pub & Grub awards for the region and we need you the reader to nominate your local…but only if they deserve it of course. The six categories are: Bar of the year Barman/woman of the year Landlord/lady of the year Best Value for money bar Best brekky Tastiest grub/Chef of the year

the next year! So come on, who’s hot out t h e r e ? Who’s cooking with gas and making your

We’ll be accepting nominations from now until the first of July and then our judges (who will have assessed each of the nominations) will announce the final five nominees in each category and invite them to attend the very first Courier Pub & Grub Awards. The winners on the night will get a trophy, a prize and a load of publicity plus the right to brag for at least

meal or drink and that little bit more enjoyable? We can accept nominations by email only and you MUST state your reasons for your choice and remember, the more you tell us the more chance we have of making an informed decision come the day. Contact us at office@thecourier.es and lets find out just who is pulling a good pint or two out there!

DO YOU REMEMBER…? Radio Caroline Esso Blue Paraffin Paper Aeroplanes Fyfe Robertson Ban the Bomb badges Coffee shops with jukeboxes Home milk delivery in glass bottles Inkwells on your desk in class

By Alan Gilchrist Everyone loves remembering trivia about the past so I thought I would devise an ongoing quiz that (almost) everyone can join in. For the younger ones / those young at heart just say the words to your partners or parents, or to someone in a pub and watch their faces light up. Then just sit back and listen to their stories about what it meant to them!

Count all the ones that you remember- not the ones you were told about by your parents! The Woodentops Twizzel Blackjacks Twink Hair products Car 54 TV Programme Monopoly with wooden pieces Tide Washing powder Glass lemonade bottles Sweetie cigarettes

Murray Mints Newsreels before the main film Telephones with the thick cords Peashooters Snuff Dr Finlay’s casebook Sunday Night at the London Palladium 45 and 78 RPM records Green Shield Stamps Cliff Michelmore Nit Nurse “Don’t say brown say Hovis”

Metal ice trays Blue flashbulbs for cameras 8 Track car stereos Carnation Condensed milk Roller skate keys Cork popguns Nut Brown Ale Spud Guns Toy dogs with nodding heads on the back windows of cars Eagle Newspapers Wagon Train The corner shop scales Gibbs S R Toothpaste Wash tub wringers Using hand signals for cars without turn signals Leg clips for bicycles without chain guards Match box and Dinky toys

Strings on mittens Spangles Old English Esso Petrol Tigers Tails Tricycles Jelly Veal Birdie song Gas Street Lamps Bubble cars Mr Pastry Judy and Bunty Magazines Arthur Askey Salt and shake crisps

Pre-fabs

If you remembered 0-10 = You're still young If you remembered 10-25 = You are getting older If you remembered 25-40 = Don't tell your age If you remembered 40 - 60 = You're older than everyone !

Friday, 25th February, 2011

FRAUD ABROAD UK AFTER COSTA BENEFIT CHEATS Sally Bengtsson

Another crackdown has been launched by the British government on UK benefit cheats who live abroad. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has joined forces with overseas counterparts to target the countries where the most cases take place. The DWP said the highest instances of fraud was recorded by people living in Spain,

Pakistan, the US and Bangladesh. Scams include people not declaring they have moved abroad or claiming for relatives who have died. Others examples were of people working while abroad, having unreported assets such as property, savings or even yachts, or exaggerating a level of disability. Claimants are told to notify the DWP if they go abroad as it could affect entitlement to benefits. UK fraud investigators work with overseas organisations such as land reg-

istries, as well as the Foreign Office and British banks, to track down the cheats. Welfare reform minister Lord Freud said "abroad fraud" cost the taxpayer about £66m last year. He said the rate of fraud was rising as more people chose to live overseas: "We are on an uphill curve. The money should be going to the people who need it most and not lining the pockets of criminals sunning themselves overseas."

The government has recently launched a hotline in Portugal for people to report benefit crime, adding to an existing service available in Spain. One benefit cheat living in Granada, Spain, was recently caught after a hotline call. She had claimed more than £10,000 income support and child tax credits since 2006 despite living with a partner abroad. She later pleaded guilty in court and was ordered to complete community service and to repay the money.

AND IN THE UK:

IRON MAIDEN'S FORMER FRONTMAN EXPOSED AS BENEFITS CHEAT BY MUSIC VIDEOS It appears that former lead singer of heavy metal rock band Iron Maiden is facing jail after he was exposed as a benefit cheat by posting his music videos - on YouTube. Heavy metal legend Paul Andrews, 52 – better known and idolised by millions worldwide as frontman Paul Di'Anno - admitted swindling taxpayers out of more than £45,000. He pocketed Government hand-outs by claiming he suffered nerve damage to his back that prevented him from working.

Friday, 25th February, 2011

KICKING OFF! How Elche's shoe industry is fighting back against cheap imports By Spike

ith the influx of Chinese expats into Spain offering cheap goods at even cheaper prices (although their food is definitely value for money – generally) comes a threat to one of the oldest industries in the region, and more importantly, one of the largest employers – the shoe makers. For years good quality footwear has been designed and manufactured (more often than not by hand) in and around the city of Elche, but now from the ease comes footwear and workers that are cheaper – so cheap that we found one Chinese footwear company in Elche that paid 1€ per hour! The Spanish can’t compete with that, come to that either can anyone in the shoemaking capitals of the world including, Milan, Paris and Wellington… so what’s to be done and how are the Spanish companies continuing to trade when our oriental friends are working for virtually nothing and therefore able to undercut everyone else? We took a trip to the heart of the Spanish shoe industry, Elche, to find out. Salvador Artesano is a relatively new addition to the industry having been formed in 1966, when Salvador him-

self made the shoes, but these days the business is run by his children and is proactive. As I’m sure you’ll have seen, they have advertising all over the region in various languages inviting people to their factory shop near Carrefour on the Crevillente road. It was for this reason we wanted to go along and see how they are fighting back against the cheap imports, and the cut-price products that are made here in Spain. Employing over eighty people on the 6000m2 site Salvador Artesano is a

fairly large company selling between five to six hundred pairs of shoes each day in the summer. Most of the employees have worked there for a long time and know the family, and understand that in the current crisis work together will help the business see it through. And that is exactly what they now do, helping the company diversify and offer not only a larger range of shoes (including some of the major sports and footwear brands) but also into other products such as accessories, suitcases and even hats.

Another clever move has seen the company begin to stock ‘large’ sizes for those people who have trouble finding, what is known as, ‘big’ sizes here in Spain. My son takes a size 49 and until now unless I wanted to take out a mortgage and get him Nike trainers there were not a lot of options. Another move to generate business has seen the factory open its doors (windows actually) so that purchasers can view the shoes being made down below and a discount card scheme to encourage customers to return.

It’s clear to see that Salvador Artesano have invested heavily in fighting for their piece of the ‘shoe cake’ from the cheap alternatives and it seems that consumers are not always convinced by an attractive price tag. Pepe Monito Bolero who was looking to buy some boots told us, ‘it’s not just about price for me, I like to know that what I buy will last and I won’t get that by buying cheap’. Another customer, Joyce Harton from Almoradi who’d just spent the best part of two hundred euros on footwear, told us, ‘I like to think that I’m giving something back by buying from the Spanish – if I bought Chinese the profit would probably go out of the country’. That could be true and it highlights another, connected, problem for the Spanish shoemakers, tax. While they have to fork out, like the rest of us, every three months and keep the taxman in grey suits the Chinese arrive with an unfair advantage, they don’t have to pay any for five years. So along with cheap labour, cheap raw materials and a huge workforce the Chinese can also keep their prices down because they get an exemption. However, let’s not go down the route of blaming the Chinese for that. Nor should we blame them because many Chinese businesses change their focus after five years to begin the tax exemption period again – another five years.

Friday, 25th February, 2011 Why the Spanish government thought it’d be a good idea to allow this trade deal to go through is a question many Spanish businesses are now asking for it is the home-grown businesses that are struggling to pay the taxman, the IVA bill, the accountants and the bank commissions while, seemingly, their competitors can work tax (and hassle) free for at least five years after arriving here. Marketing Manager at Salvador Artesano, Julian Mendez Lopez, took us on a guided tour and showed us around the huge site while explaining how his role has changed in recent years. ‘not so long ago we had just our brand a few others but now we have taken on brands such as Levi, Mustang and Patrick in an effort to give the customer just what they want. The other products we now sell including, suitcases, hats and the like means that when customers

give them a good product.’ And that would seem to be the answer; giving the customers what they want, but at a price they can afford. Quality doesn’t always come cheap and its always tempting to cut costs and go for the cheaper option but as Julian says, ‘you will get what you pay for at the end of the day’. Very true and from what I can see, the Spanish shoe industry (what I’ve seen of it) will be strong fight for its share and wont lay down and

come and look at the shoes we make - they also spend their money on something else too.’ Julian went on to say that although they now have many, many different line,

shoes remain, by far, the top seller. But it is not just a case of Julian getting people ‘through the door’ as that would not be enough to support the company. ‘Nowadays we also export (to fourteen countries at present) which was never a consideration in the past. It’s also a natural part of growing the business but it has become all the more important with the competition coming from place like China and India where the labour costs alone can be so much less’. We now have to be very active and aggressive in the market to remain competitive, and we do. Salvador Artesano is still going strong and always will be because at the end of the day customers will return if we

get trodden all over. As for the tax-breaks? I know it doesn’t seem fair, but as I said we can’t blame the Chinese businesses for taking advantage of the deal – we would wouldn’t we? No, I’m afraid the blame lies squarely at the size tens of Mr Zapatero and co, and they should be fighting tooth and nail to help these home-grown businesses but I fear it’s too late for him to notice, or care, as he’ll be ‘walking’ soon enough.

Friday, 25th February, 2011

KIDS ARE WRITE ON!

We hear all the bad things about how the youth have lost the ‘values’ we had – or more accurately in my opinion – the ones we had forced upon us by our parents, anyway, I’ll let them off…but don’t worry about the youngsters of today because from what we’ve seen, the future is in more than capable hands. Why? Well on the

fifteen of February I was invited along to present the prizes to a group of children who had entered a writing competition in Jungle Drums. The theme that myself and teacher, Suzanne Manners came up with was in the form of a question. ‘What one thing would you add to your school? And it can be anything you want,

that’s anything you want that’s legal of course kids.’ They didn’t let us down, the standard was incredible and the imagination…well their parents should either be very proud, or worry. The winner, Olivia Jane Topp, at the age of just ten years old, blew us away with the story below, enjoy it, we certainly did.

The Unknown World of Seasons By Olivia Jane Topp Age 10 At the top of the school there’s a room that teachers don’t know about. To get there you need to pass the secondary block. Then an old wooden door in the shape of a giant beetle will appear at the end of the corridor. Go through it and then you will be in the Unknown World of Seasons (only children can enter). When you enter you will see things from spring, like humongous golden yellow Daffodils and Dandelions, gigantic shimmering flower Mantises and colossal green houses filled with brightly coloured butterflies. You can ride on enormous grasshoppers that will fly you up into the air and allow you to smell the flowers. The flowers smell like sweet honey straight from a bee hive. When you see the bare trees of winter you will enter Winter Wonderland. You can see snowy, white icebergs, furry Polar Bears, black penguins, little baby seals and huge igloos. You can ride on polar bears, feed penguins, play with seals, sit in igloos and sail on icebergs. You can also go fishing and ski down immense mountains covered in snow. When you walk on to the bright yellow sand you know you are in summer. You can see deep blue sea, lots of colourful umbrellas, extra long towels and a shop which sells sail boats. You can ride on the sail boats, play in the sand and lie on the towels under large umbrellas. When you see trees with orange, yellow and red leaves you know you are in autumn. You can see lots of leaves on the floor and the temperature is getting colder. When you leave autumn a door will appear. Walk through it and you will find yourself back where you started.

Friday, 25th February, 2011

SO WHO ARE WE…? Let me start by saying that here at The Courier we don’t do phone tapping, sell you insurance or telephone lines, nor houses come to that. We’re a newspaper and we’ll stick to what we do best, presenting the news to you in the best possible way. We are all Woking harder, but for less, in the current climate and we at The Courier believe there is a huge demand for a ‘different’ newspaper by expats, and one that can offer an option for businesses to get their message across in the most economical

way. That’s why we’ve assembled a team, what we believe to be, the very best around. We’ll report news where, and when, it happens and we’ll be offering REAL news by REAL reporters who have been around newspapers for a long time. Plus with the help of colleagues in the media whom we have met over the years, here in Spain and abroad, we’ll give you the very best in opinion and stories form wherever the news is happening By putting together the most experienced production team in newspapers on the Costa Blanca The Courier will provide top quality reporting, photog-

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raphy and features by people who REALLY know what they are doing. Have a read of the bios on this page and you’ll get an idea of the wealth of experience of our team, and of course, in some cases, of the help needed… SAVE MONEY NOW! Jungle Drums Magazine customers are already making the most of the reduced costs of advertising in both the magazine and The Courier which is saving many of them the fortune that they used to pay by advertising elsewhere too.

If you’re in business and looking to get your message across through TWO of the most popular publications on the Coast why not give us a ring and find out just how much you could save by switching to Jungle Drums and The Courier. The numbers or email are all listed in this magazine so give us a call – and start saving! Our sales team have all been dealing with advertisers in newspapers for years (Spain and UK) and can always find a solution for business advertising needs – and, very importantly, one that works for your business and your pocket!

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Friday, 25th February, 2011

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Friday, 25th February, 2011

DARTS CHAMP CHECKS OUT IN GA World darts quarter finalist Stephen ‘The Bullet’ Bunting paid a visit to Gran Alacant recently – helping to raise a tidy amount of cash for the Maureen Keeler charity fund which raises money for the Elche Hospital oncology unit. Maureen who has recently been treated herself for the horrible disease was there along with Stephen to make people dig deep for the cause. Stephen’s role, however, was a little more challenging as he took on all-comers (sober or not) in a marathon round of darts. I think it’s safe to say that not many got the better of the professional who was gracious in victory…every time. The event held at Bar Sioux and Sponsored by Sol Builders included a raffle and ‘the Bullet’, Stephen, after seven hours and 50-odd matches, must have been tired…or bladdered, or both.

THERE IS JUSTICE, AFTER ALL The owner of a bar in Alicante has been prohibited from running his establishment for a year, when the accusation that he denied service to some Downe’s Syndrome clients was upheld by the local justices. Alicante is mentioned, once again, as one of the cities involved in a network of child pornography monsters – some twelve arrests having been made throughout the country. Socialists have demanded three years of prison and a hefty fine for Francisco Camps, reigning President of the Valencian Community, proved to have been involved in the socalled ‘Caso Gürtel’ – a nasty corruption scam. The three suits he has admitted to receiving (not the kind of thing you’d buy in Carrefour!) appear to be the tip of a Titanic-scale iceberg.

ROJALES MAN NOT A BRIGHT SPARK

When police saw a cable running from a lamppost into the hillside, they thought they had a lead. They did, it was an extension lead. They got suspicious and followed it all the way over a rocky drop along a property and into a cave house. They nabbed the culprit and recognised him immediately. this was the second time they had caught him doing exactly the same thing in just a few months. Having only just finished being dealt with from the first offence, ‘brains’ came home and did it again. Officers told us, laughing, that they couldn’t believe someone can be that daft…they should visit the parliament. Anyway, said crook was charged and taken to the Guardia Civil barracks where he was last seen heading for the fuse box, wonder if his name’s Watts…?

GO TO PAGE 28 FOR...

Friday, 25th February, 2011

TUNED IN TO SAFER DRIVING Most drivers turn up the car stereo to make their car journeys more entertaining, but having a little sing song to your favourite music in the car may actually reduce your chances of having an accident. Whether you listen to relaxing music or tunes to perk you up, what you listen to in the car has a direct effect on your mood. As a result, 84 per cent of motorists questioned in a survey by Sainsbury's Car Insurance believe listening to music helps them to relax when driving. Half believe that music helps them to concentrate on the road and 65 per cent also said music helps them to stay awake while driving. Worryingly, however, the findings also show that in a minority of cases music can result in more dangerous driving habits. Around nine per cent of motorists confessed to being distracted while listening to music when driving - that equates to about 2.9 million drivers out there on the roads - and 14 per Play cent said they tended to drive faster while six per cent admitted to driving more aggressively. Lucy Hunter, Sainsbury's car insurance manager, says, "Many motorists clearly enjoy listening to music when they drive, but it's important to recognise the effect it has on your driving and

Similarly, consider switching to something soothing if you're beginning to feel a little irate." The impact of music on your driving habits can be linked to the genre you listen to and your age. Ten per cent of motorists aged 35 and under, who tend to listen to pop, rock, hip hop or dance, said music made them drive more aggressively and 22 per cent said it made them go faster. However, 84 per cent of motorists aged 45 and over, the majority of whom listen to classical music, said it helped them to relax when driving. Drivers in the northeast of England are most likely to be adversely effected by listening to music while driving, with 34 per cent saying it affected their driving in a negative way, while only 24 per cent of motorists in the southeast of England admitted the same. In terms of the most popular music to listen to when driving, classical and general pop are joint top, each enjoyed by 13 per cent of motorists. Rock is second (11 per cent) followed by country and western (5 per cent). A on the way - m further 17 per cent of motorists enjoy usic helps drive rs to relax. everything from hip hop and dance to easy listening and jazz. Surprisingly, pick the biggest group of music loving your music accordingly. "It may well be tempting to listen to music to perk yourself up, motorists, 31 per cent of people, are not at all fussed which type but our advice if you feel tired is to pull over and have a break. of music is played and are happy to listen to anything.

WHAT’S THAT ALL ABOUT THEN? CAR REGISTRATION PLATES IN SPAIN

Before the current system, which has been going ten years or so vehicles used to have a number plate that began with the letter of the city where the car was registered, i.e. ‘A’ for Alicante or the two letters of ‘MU’ from Murcia. The latest system is all-together different and now vehicle registration plates in Spain use the format nnnn LLL, I’ll explain… nnnn is a number from 0000 to 9999 and LLL is a "counter" comprising three letters, which goes up after the number reaches 9999. Here in Spain they don’t use the vowels A, E, I, O and U, nor Q (which can be easily confused with O) and the special Spanish letter Ñ. But don’t worry as the remaining letters mean that there are 203 possible three-letter combinations (from BBB to ZZZ), which means a total of 80 million registration numbers are possible in this system. This format, introduced on 18 September 2000 and is used nationwide meaning that just by looking at the registration there is no way of knowing where the vehicle was registered. What the letter combination does do is give a rough idea of when the vehicle was

registered, but is less reliable for determining its age, as imported second-hand vehicles are registered in the same way as new models. As we know, you can bring over your ten year old Skoda and get a registration on it the same (almost of course) as a brand new car. The three-letter combinations reached the H series (beginning HBB) at the end of December 2010 and Trafico tell us that at the current rate (approximately 5 "big" series per decade) the system should last until around 2040. The plates themselves must be white with black characters, front and back, with a blue strip on the left containing the 12 stars of the flag of Europe and the country identifier E (for España) and nowadays this strip is compulsory. The plates are usually the rectangular shape that we see on all cars but there are some special shapes too depending on the vehicle and some cars have a narrower plate (such as at the back of the SEAT 600). There are other plates with different background colours for trailers and the so-called "touristic plates", provisory plates that allow

foreigners to use a vehicle bought in Spain before registering it in their country. The trailer plates begin with the prefix R signifying ‘remolque’, which is the Spanish word for trailer, caravan or literally "on tow" while the tourist plates begin with the prefix P signifying provisional, usually issued to vehicles for export or until the registration process has been completed. They are sometimes seen on manufacturer's prototypes and yet another series exists for historic vehicles with the prefix H followed by four numbers and four letters, making a nine digit plate which I imagine could be interesting trying to get it to fit onto some historic vehicles. City plates Mopeds and microcars with cylinders under 50 cc were not required to have a national plate and town and city administration tax them and issued their own yellow plates. Oh, and finally… They are specially designed to be read by cameras so be careful… although the ones at Alicante airport seem to have a mind of their own.

Friday, 25th February, 2011

DEALING WITH COURIER REVIEWS WIND WHILE DRIVING TOP TEN Cheap to Buy & Cheap to Run

(We mean outside of the car…)

This week some nifty run-arounds that’ll get you where you want to go and not be too hurtful to your wallet or purse.

Citroen C4 New price range €12,136 - €20,295 Used price range €2,191 - €12,180 Unique styling inside and out, well equipped, comfortable, innovative features Chevrolet Matiz (05-09) New price range €5,995 - €9,335 Used price range €1,614 - €4,630 Good fuel economy, easy to drive around town, small dimensions make it a doddle to park Daihatsu Charade Hatchback (03-07) New price range €5,995 - €7,720 Used price range €940 - €3,157 Very comfy, cheap, well equipped. Fiat Panda (04 on) New price range €8,155 - €11,995 Used price range €1,514 - €6,120 Easy and fun to drive, great value, cheeky looks, well-built interior Ford Ka (96-08) New price range €6,495 - €10,595 Used price range €268 - €5,195 Still looks good, cheap to run, nimble around town, fun to drive Hyundai Amica (06-09) Five-year warranty cover, economical, more room than you would think New price range €4,995 - €7,435 Used price range €2,197 - €5,260 Mitsubishi Colt (04 on) New price range €9,304 - €11,754 Used price range €1,850 - €6,467 Comfortable and safe to drive, good value, good rear space

Have you noticed the strong winds lately, especially when driving along the N332 – La Marina to Santa Pola can be particularly hazardous at times so we thought we’d ask the experts? Lesley Hayes from the RAC in the UK handily (for us) has a home on the Costa so we sat down for a coffee… oh, and I took some notes too (see below). Driving in strong winds can be as dangerous as driving on ice, snow and rain as not only do high winds affect your own vehicle, it can cause other vehicles, road signs or other debris to be blown into your path and wind can be particularly dangerous because it isn’t a steady condition, it can and will change direction quickly with sudden gusts which can often take drivers unaware. As always with severe weather conditions, the best advice is to avoid travel wherever possible but as we all know it can sometimes be unavoidable. So if you are going to be driving in windy weather, the first thing to remember is it is important to stay as in control of the vehicle as possible. This means using two hands on the wheel at all times to control the direction of the car and rectify ‘drifting’ in sudden gusts. Keep your windows closed – an open window allows wind into the car and

can greatly reduce the control a driver has over the car. Reducing your speed will increase the amount of control you have in windy conditions as a faster car is more difficult to control (lighter) especially if you are forced to brake suddenly. Other road users Once again anticipation is important when driving in strong wind. Be particularly careful when driving near motorcyclists and cyclists and large trucks that can easily be pushed into the middle of the road as larger vehicles, in particular high-sided Lorries are prone to be blown across the road or, in severe weather, even blown over. The sides of these Lorries act like a sail, making them difficult to control on exposed roads. The size of larger vehicles can also create turbulence in strong winds, affecting cars and other vehicles around them. Finally, and one that people often don’t think about, be aware of debris on the road because in high winds, things can be blown around particularly in towns; wheelie bins, dustbin lids and other debris can appear from nowhere and cause you to swerve to avoid them. Fallen branches, road signs and debris from other vehicles could also cause problems. Take care

Honda Jazz (02-08) New price range €9,025 - €13,710 Used price range €1,622 - €8,596 Excellent practicality, good rear passenger space, frugal engines, cheap to run Suzuki Swift Hatchback (05 on) New price range €9,591 - €12,123 Used price range €3,196 - €8,407 Good value and well equipped, great fun to drive, distinctive styling, economical diesel available, roomy cabin Toyota Yaris Hatchback (06 on) New price range €10,730 - €15,625 Used price range €3,540 - €10,701 Spacious, economical, well equipped, has sliding rear bench

Friday, 25th February, 2011

TKO MEDIA GROUP ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT PETER ANDRE HAS BEEN CONFIRMED TO PERFORM 2 CONCERTS IN SPAIN. THE FIRST ON THE 20TH JULY AT THE BENIDORM BULLRING. TKO FM ARE ONE OF THE MAIN SPONSORS OF THIS EVENT SO THIS MEANS THAT TKO LISTENERS CAN PURCHASE PRE-SALE TICKETS DIRECT FROM US AT A REDUCED COST BEFORE THEY GO ON SALE THROUGH TICKETMASTER. TICKETS WILL GO ON SALE FROM TUESDAY 1ST OF MARCH WHERE YOU WILL HAVE A 4 WEEK WINDOW TO RESERVE YOURS. DEMAND WILL BE HIGH SO DON’T HANG AROUND. IN ORDER PURCHASE TICKETS PLEASE LISTEN TO TKO FM 91.9 – 89.9 - 87.7 OR VISIT TKOFM.COM DEATAILS WIL ALSO BE LISTED ON WWW.TORREVIEJA.CO.UK ……………………………………………………………………………… …………… TO CELEBRATE TKO’S 7 BIRTHDAY ON THE 1ST OF MARCH WE HAVE RESERVED A PAIR OF TICKETS TO GIVE TO ONE LUCKY LISTENER. YOU NEED TO LISTEN OUT FOR THE PETER ANDRE TRIGGER TRACK, THIS WILL BE PLAYED AT SOME POINT THROUGH THE DAY. ONCE HEARD YOU NEED TO TEXT THE TKO STUDIO 667 287 588

WIN A MEAL FOR TWO INCLUDING WINE AT QUESADA FISH AND CHIPS. Find the keyword and listen to Chris Ashley between 14.00 and 18.00 on TKO Gold, on Monday to enter. Chris will ask you to text or email in the keyword. The winner and this week´s answers will then be announced. 1 Which band had a hit with 3am Eternal? They also went under the bizarre name of Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu! 2 Which Bangles single featured the line “Close your eyes, give me your hand, darling. Do You feel my heart beating”? 3 This 70s vocal group had a hit with the song, which was also featured in a Coca Cola advert, I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing. 4 Which band came out of the ashes of Joy Division? 5 Who had a hit in 2010 with We No Speak Americano? 6 Name the country singing sister of Lisa Minelli 7 Who had a hit with There’s Nothing Like This in 1991? 8 Which artist had a big hit with Young Girl and his backing band was The Union Gap? 9 We Close Our Eyes was big hit for this 80s duo.. 10 Who was lead singer with Echo & The Bunnymen? 11 Who was lead singer with Scottish Indie band, Big Country?

TKO Gold Artist Of The Week Stevie Nicks

This week we feature one of the most enchanting and talented female singer/songwriters of our generation. Having been a major contributor to the stellar success of super group, Fleetwood Mac, with, then partner, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie has since enjoyed great success and acclaim with her solo work. Collectively she has recorded over 40 top 50 hits, to date. Fleetwood Mac must be one of the most popular and listened to bands of the 20th century and no small part of their success was down to Stevie’s very distinctive and powerful voice. With Buckingham’s writing skills and Stevie’s contributions they really did deserve their place in the history books of modern music. Her life and career have not been without trial or controversy, however, as she faced addictions to cocaine and prescription medicines, before finally managing to lay her demons to rest some years ago. This and the pressures of band life and personal problems , at one point, threatened to end a very successful career. This month Stevie releases her first original album for 10 years; a collaboration with Dave Stewart. “I haven’t been this excited about anything I’ve done since 1981 and the album Bella Donna….. It’s thrilling, because I’ve found a writing partner,” says Nicks. “I never thought that would happen, because I’ve never been into sharing songs.” The new album, In Your Dreams, is exactly what you would expect from her. Beautiful and, at times, haunting lyrics on a bed of ethereal, yet contemporary tunes. Her first single, Secret Love is a wall of pure musical beauty and, although it was written and demo-ed for the Bella Donna album, has only just been brought to life. If you are a Fleetwood Mac or Stevie Nicks fan, this album is a must for your collection. She doesn’t disappoint, on any level.

Friday, 25th February, 2011

CODE CRACKER Code Cracker is a crossword puzzle with no clues. Instead, every letter of the alphabet has been replaced by a number, the same number representing the same letter throughout the puzzle. All you have to do is decide which letter is represented by which number. In this week's puzzle, 21 represents D and 10 represents Z, when these letters have been entered throughout the puzzle, you should have enough information to start guessing words and discovering other letters.

QUICKIE

Across 1 Celebrities (5) 4 Labels (5) 7 Interpret (9) 8 Traded (4) 10 Concise (5) 12 Frightened (6) 13 Second-hand (4) 16 Prehistoric (9) 18 Inflexible (5) 19 Boundaries (5)

Down 1 Bags (5) 2 Insect (3) 3 Chair (4) 4 Unhappiness (6) 5 Booklovers (7) 6 Look for (4) 9 Departure (7) 11 Deprived of (6) 12 Wonderful (5) 14 Sketches (5) 15 Taste (4) 17 Ovum (3)

Last weeks Solution Scribble Pad Across: 1 Stars, 4 Marks, 7 Translate, 8 Sold, 10 Brief, 12 Scared, 13 Used, 16 Primitive, 18 Rigid, 19 Edges. Down: 1 Sacks, 2 Ant, 3 Seat, 4 Misery, 5 Readers, 6 Seek, 9 Leaving, 11 Denied, 12 Super, 14 Draws, 15 Bite, 17 Egg.

DOUBLE CROSS-WORD Solve the Double Cross-Word puzzle using either the standard or cryptic clues, the answers are exactly the same.

CRYTPIC CLUES Across 1 Safety first pilots arrange handguns (7) 5 Tolerates furry animals? (5) 8 The right fish and the means to catch them (5) 9 Refrain from crab's tainted meat (7) 10 Formal declaration from meanest abstainer around (9) 12 Poorly, don't begin prison (3) 13 Croaky hack's heard (6) 14 Skirt around a hundred deceptions (6) 17 Allow rent (3) 18 Confectionery and dessert coming before the joint (9) 20 Starts a very early run after getting Evening Standard (7) 21 Any about to depart may create suffering (5) 23 Start looking after the machine (5) 24 Ghost commanding a form of respect (7)

Down 1 Place amorous romance is started initially? (5) 2 Institute legal proceedings against Johnny Cash's boy (3) 3 Yes, sort out bed occupants (7) 4 Petrified sacred ruins (6) 5 Get placed in position and attacked on all sides (5) 6 Woman losing head after another fall (9) 7 Records that could be hits (7) 11 Flat cocktail meant trap (9) 13 Bit of luggage of long ago in the vestibule (7) 15 Some camera traced the hectic daily round (3,4) 16 Depression about church ship (6) 18 Heads turn in the gloom (5) 19 Say! It's time for Herb (5) 22 Elsewhere in the boutique (3)

STANDARD CLUES Across 1 Firearms (7) 5 Tolerates (5) 8 Staggers (5) 9 Go without (7) 10 Declaration (9) 12 Feel unwell (3) 13 Croaky (6) 14 Swindles (6) 17 Allow (3) 18 Confectionery (9) 20 Arithmetic mean (7) 21 Pain (5) 23 Shaping machine (5) 24 Apparition (7)

Down 1 French capital (5) 2 Take legal action (3) 3 Marine molluscs (7) 4 Frightened (6) 5 Snowed under (5) 6 Landslide (9) 7 Bachelors (7) 11 Accommodation (9) 13 Kitbag (7) 15 Exhausting routine (3,4) 16 Alcove (6) 18 Gloom (5) 19 Aromatic plant (5) 22 Absent (3)

Last weeks Solution Scribble Pad Across: 1 Pistols, 5 Bears, 8 Reels, 9 Abstain, 10 Statement, 12 Ail, 13 Hoarse, 14 Tricks, 17 Let, 18 Sweetmeat, 20 Average, 21 Agony, 23 Lathe, 24 Spectre. Down: 1 Paris, 2 Sue, 3 Oysters, 4 Scared, 5 Beset, 6 Avalanche, 7 Singles, 11 Apartment, 13 Holdall, 15 Rat race, 16 Recess, 18 Shade, 19 Thyme, 22 Out.

FILL IT IN Complete the crossword grid by using the given words:

3 letter words Key Led Oil Rob 4 letter words Area Cams Come Core Knew Lone Mars Mere

Oral Rang Sees Send Sews Tree 5 letter words Above Alien Awoke Greys Litre Never Posts

Still Tower Trees 6 letter words Adults Easels Petals Sleeps Tasted Trucks 7 letter words Letters Plaster

SPANISH-ENGLISH CROSSWORD Improve your Spanish - clues in Spanish, answers in English or vice versa.

Across 1 Sorpresa (8) 7 Shandy (5) 8 Seguro (9) 9 That (3) 10 Cicatriz (4) 11 Blankets (6) 13 German (6) 14 Keys (typewriter/piano) (6) 17 Escamas (6) 18 Bolsas (4) 20 As (naipes) (3) 22 Housewife (3,2,4) 23 Semillas (5) 24 Fútbol (8)

Scribble Pad

Down 1 Velas (náutico) (5) 2 Rescue (7) 3 Strange (4) 4 Paths (6) 5 Pasteles (5) 6 Padres (7) 7 Centros (7) 12 Bedsheets (7) 13 Applause (7) 15 Call (7) 16 Sin (religious) (6) 17 Siete (5) 19 Caracol (5) 21 Cinturón (4)

Friday, 25th February, 2011 Across 7 Wheat, maize, and rye are all examples of what? (6) 8 What is the name of the flowering spike of trees such as willow and hazel? (6) 10 What name is given to a qualified accountant who inspects the accounting records and practices of a business? (7) 11 John Millington, were the first names of which Irish dramatist, whose best know work was The Playboy of the Western World? (5) 12 By what abbreviation was the education authority for the 12 inner London boroughs from 1965 until its abolition in 1990 usually known? (4) 13 On which river does the northernmost town in England, Berwick stand upon? (5) 17 By what nickname is the singer Gordon Sumner usually known? (5) 18 What name is normally given to a payment transfer from one bank account to another instigated by the payer and not the payee? (4) 22 What is the name of the most famous of Greek fable tellers, who lived in the sixth century BC? (5) 23 What type of triangle has three sides of different lengths? (7) 24 What is the surname of the actress who starred in the films Carrie and Coal Miner’s Daughter? (6) 25 What adjective means ‘of or relating to cats’? (6)

Quiz Word

Down 1 In Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, what is the name of the wife of Mark Antony? (7) 2 What was the surname of the English poet and literary critic who was Poet Laureate from 1913 to 1930? (7)

SUDOKU

3 Daddy Cool and Boy From New York City were both hits for which British doo-wop group? (5) 4 Which biennial plant with white flowers and aromatic leaves is used as a culinary herb and for garnishing food? (7) 5 Which American mammal of the weasel family squirts a fine spray of foulsmelling irritant liquid when threatened? (5) 6 Which parts of the body are protected by the patellae? (5) 9 What is the name of the platform for a lookout at or near the top of a mast? (5,4) 14 Which king, who ruled England 1135 to 1154, was the grandson of William the Conqueror? (7) 15 First performed in 1805, what is the title of Beethoven’s only opera? (7) 16 Which American actress starred with Dudley Moore in the 1979 film 10? (2,5) 19 What name is normally given to ‘an area of low-lying land that is flooded in wet seasons or at high tide’? (5) 20 By what name is the gold statuette that is awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences usually known? (5) 21 What sort of creature can be either a dromedary or a Bactrian? (5)

SALLY’S SIMPLE SPANISH Every week we’ll be covering a different topic to help readers enlarge their Spanish vocabulary. This week we start with: FRUTAS Y VERDURAS Find the fruit and vegetables in the wordsearch

There are four friends (Adam, Elizabeth, Peter, Sally) and each has a balloon. From the clues below can you match each of them with their age and balloon? The kids are aged 5, 6, 7 and 8 and one of them has a blue balloon. 1. The six year old girl has a green balloon. 2. Adam has a red balloon and is older than Peter. 3. Elizabeth is 5 years old but her balloon isn't yellow.

NAME

AGE

BALLOON

Elizabeth is 5 years old (clue 3), so Sally is 6 and has a green balloon (clue 1). Adam has a red balloon and is 8, so Peter is 7 (2 and above). Elizabeth doesn't have a yellow balloon (3), so blue. By elimination, Peter's balloon is yellow.

Last Week’s Solutions Scribble Pad Code Cracker Last weeks Quiz Wordsolution Across: 7 Cereal, 8 Catkin, 10 Auditor, 11 Synge, 12 ILEA, 13 Tweed, 17 Sting, 18 Giro, 22 Aesop, 23 Scalene, 24 Spacek, 25 Feline. Down: 1 Octavia, 2 Bridges, 3 Darts, 4 Parsley, 5 Skunk, 6 Knees, 9 Crow's Nest, 14 Stephen, 15 Fidelio, 16 Bo Derek, 19 Marsh, 20 Oscar, 21 Camel.

ON UB A B A S L A Y E L S OP CI A N UA I C OA OS NA

P A MA A L I U QD MH OI S T NP A H WA NR GE V P Z N

J WB X RF P N A CUA GUE L P HRL E B RO P A OB I NCE NA HC ORI A A A L H J NE M OJ MC Z A GL A MD T

MANZANA NARANJA PERA MELON UVA MELOCOTON CIRUELA ZANAHORIA CHIRIVIA PATATA PEPINO APIO AJO

ESPINACAS CEBOLLA PIMIENTO GUISANTES COL LIMON PUERRO CALABAZA MORA FRAMBUESA ARANDANO GROSELLA CHILE

Match the English and Spanish names of fruit and vegetables. You will find the answers at the bottom of the page. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

MANZANA NARANJA PERA MELON UVA MELOCOTON CIRUELA ZANAHORIA CHIRIVIA PATATA

Soduko

a. pear b. peach c. apple d. plum e. parsnip f. orange g. grape h. melon i. cucumber j. cauliflower

11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

PEPINO APIO AJO ESPINACAS CEBOLLA PIMIENTO GUISANTES COL LIMON PUERRO

Span - Eng

k. carrot l. lemon m. leek n. garlic o. potato p. peas q. celery r. pepper s. spinach t. blackcurrant

Quizword

21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26.

CALABAZA u. pumpkin FRAMBUESA v. cranberry ARANDANO w.raspberry GROSELLA x. chilli CHILE y. Strawberry FRESA z. Onion

Answers: 1c, 2f, 3a, 4h, 5g, 6b, 7d, 8k, 9e, 10o, 11i, 12q, 13n, 14s, 15z, 16r, 17p, 18j, 19l, 20m, 21u, 22w, 23v, 24t, 25x, 26y.

Kidz Corner

ME L OC OT Z HP HA S E N OMI L A Z A T CS E T N Z V CI RUE P CUE T OI A I H Z MC U A R MI K OF L P A I RS R L L A NE I Z E R MT D N V S S E P A A T OX L K DT N R B O L WC A G WN G Z T A

Fill It In

Friday, 25th February, 2011

Horoscopes Dear Tia Maria. Last year I found out that my husband was having an affair. We went through some terrible times but he assured me that it was over and it was me he wanted to be with. After 20 years of marriage and 2 children together I decided to give him another chance and since then I have to admit that he has tried really hard. But I am still finding it difficult to trust him and I know that many times I treat him unreasonably. I´m scared that he will start to look elsewhere again or even go back to his other girlfriend, who is still here in Spain. How can I forget about it and move on with our marriage?

DO I TRUST HIM AGAIN?

Thanks Carly La Marina Tia Maria says: Hi Carly It sounds like you have been through a very traumatic time and obviously it has affected your relationship with your husband in a negative way. I think you will have to accept that you will never forget what has happened in the past, but you will hopefully be able to forgive his behaviour and and not let it affect the future. In life we have to remember that we cannot change our past, only learn from it. Do you and your husband communicate properly? Do you know the reasons he sought an affair in

the first place? Are there fundamental problems in the marriage that seriously need addressing? Counselling might be a good idea if you really don´t know the answer to these questions and he is

willing to support you in this. Infidelity is a very hurtful and traumatic issue for the wronged party but many couples do move on from it and even become stronger as a result. Maybe you should

focus more on yourself and your own needs, let him know how you feel, but in a calm and measured way, not in anger and bringing up old issues but simply explaining your understandable anxieties and asking for his help. If he is really committed to you he will do anything to make you happy and will understand the difficulties you are having. Please don´t blame yourself for the way you are feeling, anyone would feel the same. Concentrate on your own selfworth and remember he is with you because he wants to be there.,He made a mistake because he is a human being and unfortunately we don´t always do the right thing but it sounds like he is genuinely sorry and I strongly feel that better communication between you would help in this matter. We would all like to be able to wave a magic wand and solve our problems easily but of course this is not how life works. Sometimes it can help to take yourself out of a situation and imagine this is a good friend telling you about this problem. What advice would you give? Often we are kinder to other people than we are to ourselves and the answer to a problem is much easier to see clearly. Take the advice that you would give that friend, Good luck with it.

HI-TECH HELP FOR VIOLENCE VICTIMS

By Pandora Aries March 21 - April 19 This should be a glorious week. Last week brought you a variety of opportunities and a few changes, especially in the career area, but this week is better.

Taurus April 20 - May 20 This week the angels carefully gather up all the twinkling stars in the sky, put them all in a silk bag, and sprinkle them out into your life

Gemini May 21 - June 20 This is a great week for you. With four heavenly bodies - Neptune, Mars, the Sun, and new moon - touring Aquarius, the sign that loves you, you're holding all aces.

Cancer June 21 - July 22 Lots of change is taking place in your horoscope, and the very best has to do with your brilliant career aspects. From now through June 4, get ready for a number of lucky career breaks.

Leo July 23 - August 22 You seem ready to join forces with someone special, and that's unusual for you. Leo tends to like to be in charge and control the flow, but suddenly you'll be willing to form a partnership that is equal to you in every sense.

Virgo August 23 - September 22 If there is one part of life that gives you enormous satisfaction, it's feeling fully prepared and absorbed in a fascinating project. This week, you will be polishing one assignment until it gleams, and later you will feel rightly proud that you made it the very best it can be.

Libra September 23 - October 22 What a terrific week! You have been walking through heavy snow recently (metaphorically) What all Libras need, including you, is a happy week filled with a few lucky breaks and a sprinkling of lots of fun. Here it comes, dear Libra

Scorpio October 23 - November 21 With four heavenly bodies, including Neptune, Mars, the Sun, and new moon, all in Aquarius, filling your solar fourth house of home and family, you will be thinking about how to make your home more comfortable and cosy.

Sagittarius November 22 - December 21 This is a strong and sturdy week that will allow you to make exceptional progress. sure to get your spirit soaring.

Maria Dolores is 40 and has short hair and an expressionless face, and a wry sense of humour no doubt left over from her recent domestic violence problems. She takes an object from her handbag which is a little bigger than a mobile phone but much heavier, and without a keypad. "Here it is," she displays a mixture of pride and anxiety as she shows the GPS device that has stayed with her at all times since last June. If the battery goes flat, the assailant attempts to remove the tag or tries to enter the victim's space an alarm rings. She explained that the first time it started ringing she was on her way to the court in Albacete where she was living with Juan and their two children when the assault occurred. "My whole body started shaking," after that she says the police called rang and they told her he was 700 metres away, with the name of the street. she stayed connected until she reached the police station.

Capricorn December 22 - January 19 This will be a big financial week. You will have Neptune, Mars, the Sun, and new moon setting the pace, and it's an excellent time to be doing business.

Aquarius January 20 - February 18 The past few months might have been all right, although perhaps a bit lack-lustre, but February will be simply beautiful for you. It comes all wrapped in a big blue box and tied with a big red bow.

Pisces February 19 - March 20 February 22 through March 31 will be one of your most critical times of 2011 and also the most successful. Be ready to launch all that is important to you, dear Pisces.

Friday, 25th February, 2011

WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ON THE TELLY..? FILM

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 8:10pm Film4 Perky romantic comedy starring Nia Vardalos - who also adapted the story from her own one-woman stage show - and John Corbett. The unheralded success story of 2002, this perky, lowbudget romantic comedy - adapted by Nia Vardalos from her autobiographical one-woman stage show accumulated over $240m in the US alone. Vardalos stars as a frumpy waitress at her Greek family's restaurant who goes against her father's traditionalist views when she finds a new job, gets a confidenceboosting makeover and hooks handsome American teacher John Corbett (of Sex and the City fame). While the happy couple-to-be - who share charming screen chemistry - are played relatively straight, Vardalos's in-your-face relatives are a source of buoyant comic vitality. Although there are no real surprises on the way to the fairy-tale (if rather chaotic) ending, the whole enterprise is swept along with unforced affection, humour and exuberance. Incidentally, it was co-produced by Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson (of Greek parentage herself).

Coronation Street Monday 28 February 8:30pm - 9:00pm ITV1 London Steve admits to a horrified Becky that he told the Alahans he was responsible for looting their shop. Eileen confronts Owen about the missing paperwork, and Carla pins her hopes on Maria boosting business when Frank takes a shine to her at the factory. Elsewhere, David reveals his new girlfriend Candy will be arriving on Friday.

SPORT Match of the Day Live: League Cup Final 8:00pm BBC1, BBC1 HD Arsenal v Birmingham City (Kick-off 4.00pm). Gary Lineker presents coverage from Wembley Stadium, where the winners of the first major trophy of the season are decided. Arsenal start as strong favourites to win their first silverware since they lifted the FA Cup in the 2004/05 campaign, having already defeated the Blues home and away in the Premier League this term. However, Alex McLeish's men demonstrated their resolve when overcoming Aston Villa and West Ham United in the previous two rounds and will be desperate to produce an upset. With commentary by Guy Mowbray and Mark Lawrenson, and analysis by Alan Hansen, Lee Dixon and Alan Shearer. Subsequent programmes subject to change.

FACTUAL Horizon: Are We Still Evolving? Tuesday 01 March 10:00pm - 11:00pm BBC2 Alice Roberts investigates whether, thanks to advances in technology and medicine, mankind has managed to break free from the process of evolution. Following a trail of clues from ancient human remains, she examines the physiology of people living in some of the most inhospitable parts of the planet, and challenges the frontiers of genetic research by speculating on what the future has in store for homo sapiens.

Friday, 25th February, 2011

Friday 25th February

00:35 Dirty Pretty Things 02:15 How to Blow a Fortune: Panorama 02:45 Countryfile 03:40 Antiques Roadshow 04:40 Save My Holiday 05:25 BBC News 05:30 HARDtalk 06:00 The World Today 06:30 World Business Report 07:00 Breakfast 10:15 Heir Hunters 11:00 Homes Under the Hammer 12:00 Wreck or Ready? 12:30 Cash in the Attic 13:15 Bargain Hunt 14:00 BBC News; Weather 14:30 Regional News and Weather 14:45 Doctors 15:15 Escape to the Country 16:00 BBC News; Weather 16:05 Deadly 60 16:35 Bear Behaving Badly 17:00 Dani’s House 17:30 Tracy Beaker Returns 18:00 Newsround 18:15 Weakest Link 19:00 BBC News 19:30 Regional News Programmes 20:00 The One Show 20:30 BBC News; Regional News 20:30 Deadly 60 on a Mission 21:00 EastEnders 21:30 QI 22:00 New Tricks 23:00 BBC News 23:25 Regional News and Weather 23:35 The Graham Norton Show BBC2 01:20 The Culture Show 02:20 BBC News 02:30 ABC World News with Diane Sawyer 03:00 BBC News 03:30 The Record 04:00 BBC News 04:30 Our World: The Gulf - Armed and Dangerous

05:00 Schools: Languages & Travel Ma France 3 and 4 07:00 Harry and Toto 07:10 Everything’s Rosie 07:20 Dirtgirlworld 07:35 Jakers! 08:00 Barney’s Latin America 08:25 Newsround 08:30 Muddle Earth 08:40 Eliot Kid 08:50 Lockie Leonard 09:15 Dennis and Gnasher 09:30 LazyTown 09:55 Numberjacks 10:10 The Koala Brothers 10:25 Big Barn Farm 10:40 Big & Small 10:55 Guess with Jess 11:05 Postman Pat: SDS 11:20 Pingu 11:25 64 Zoo Lane 11:40 Chuggington: Badge Quest 11:50 Waybuloo 12:10 In the Night Garden 12:40 Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella 14:00 Due South 14:45 To Buy or Not to Buy 15:30 Living Dangerously 16:00 Wanted Down Under 16:45 Flog It! Ten of the Best 17:30 Perfection 18:15 Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 19:00 Eggheads 19:30 My Life in Books 20:00 Forget the Oscars, Here Are the

Kermodes 20:30 An Island Parish 21:00 Mastermind 21:30 Britain from Above 22:00 Hidden Treasures of Australian Art 23:00 Fast and Loose 23:30 Newsnight ITV 00:20 Send in the Dogs 01:15 The Zone 03:20 Spartacus 04:45 ITV Nightscreen 06:30 TV Morning News 07:00 Daybreak 09:30 Lorraine 10:25 The Jeremy Kyle Show 11:30 This Morning 13:30 Loose Women 14:30 TV News and Weather 15:00 House Gift 16:00 Dickinson’s Real Deal 16:59 Weather 17:00 Midsomer Murders 18:00 The Chase 19:00 Meridian Tonight 19:00 Weather 19:30 ITV News and Weather 20:00 Emmerdale 20:30 Coronation Street 21:00 Children’s Hospital 21:30 Coronation Street 22:00 Benidorm 23:00 ITV News at Ten and Weather 23:30 Meridian Tonight and Weather

BENIDORM The award-winning sitcom about British holidaymakers at a Spanish resort returns with the first episode of the brand new fourth series, which features guest appearances by Cilla Black and Denise Walsh.

23:35 The Cube CHANNEL 4 00:05 Big Fat Gypsy Weddings 01:10 CTRL MX 01:40 4Play: Crystal Fighters 01:55 4Play: Caitlin Rose 02:05 Arthur’s Hell on High Water 03:00 Will My Crash Diet Kill Me? 03:55 The Bed 04:20 Dispatches: The Truth About Hospital Food 05:15 Without a Trace 06:00 Wogan’s Perfect Recall 06:25 Countdown 07:10 The Treacle People 07:20 The Hoobs 07:45 The Hoobs 08:10 Freshly Squeezed 08:40 Everybody Loves Raymond 09:00 Frasier 09:30 According to Jim 10:00 Supernanny USA 10:55 The Good Wife 11:55 Gok’s Clothes Roadshow 13:00 Channel 4 News Summary 13:05 Jamie at Home 13:30 Bless This House 15:10 Cookery School 16:10 Countdown 16:55 Deal or No Deal 18:00 Come Dine with Me 18:30 Coach Trip 19:00 The Simpsons 19:30 Hollyoaks 20:00 Channel 4 News

20:25 4thought.tv 20:30 Teen Horse Whisperers 21:00 Relocation: Phil Down Under 22:00 Embarrassing Bodies 23:00 Friday Night Dinner 23:30 Lee Evans: Big - Live at the O2 CHANNEL 5 00:55 Cops in Crisis 01:15 SuperCasino 05:05 Divine Designs 05:30 Great Scientists 05:55 Rough Guide to Beaches 06:10 Wildlife SOS 06:35 House Doctor 07:00 Thomas & Friends 07:10 Roary the Racing Car 07:20 The Adventures of Bottle Top Bill and His Best Friend Corky 07:35 Elmo’s World 07:50 Milkshake! Music Box 07:55 Peppa Pig 08:00 Little Princess 08:15 The Mr Men Show 08:30 Thomas & Friends 08:45 Make Way for Noddy 09:00 Fifi and the Flowertots 09:15 Peppa Pig 09:25 Milkshake! Show Songs 09:30 Roary the Racing Car 09:40 Hana’s Helpline 09:50 The WotWots 10:00 Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom 10:15 The Wright Stuff 12:00 The Vanessa Show 12:45 CSI: NY 13:40 Five News 13:45 Street Market Chefs 14:45 Neighbours 15:15 Home and Away 15:50 Rough Guide to Weekend Breaks 16:05 Sorority Wars 18:00 Five News at 5 18:30 Neighbours 19:00 Home and Away 20:00 Five News at 7 20:30 Vets in Action 20:30 Five News Update 21:00 Ice Road Truckers 21:00 Five News at 9 22:00 The Mentalist 23:00 Law & Order 23:55 NCIS

Friday, 25th February, 2011

Saturday 26th February 00:20 The National Lottery Friday Night Draws 00:30 High Crimes 00:30 Weatherview 02:25 South Riding 03:25 The Chinese Are Coming 04:25 Horizon: The Secret World of Pain 05:25 Rip Off Britain 05:55 Talking Books 06:00 BBC News 07:00 Breakfast 11:00 Saturday Kitchen Live 12:30 Raymond Blanc’s Kitchen Secrets 13:00 “BBC News; Regional News and Weather” 13:15 Football Focus 14:00 My Family 14:30 Outtake TV 15:00 Live Six Nations Rugby Union 17:25 “BBC News; Regional News and Weather” 17:35 Live Six Nations Rugby Union 20:00 Let’s Dance for Comic Relief 21:20 The National Lottery: Secret Fortune 22:10 Casualty 23:00 “BBC News; Weather” 23:20 Match of the Day BBC2 00:00 The Review Show 00:00 Weather 00:50 ICC Cricket World Cup Highlights 01:50 Shadow of the Vampire 03:10 BBC News 03:30 The Record Review 04:00 BBC News

04:30 Click 04:45 Newswatch 05:00 BBC News 05:30 Talking Books 05:55 Close 07:00 Harry and Toto 07:10 Zigby 07:20 Dirtgirlworld 07:35 Jakers! 08:00 Basil and Barney’s Game Show 08:30 Arthur 08:30 Leon 09:00 Richard Hammond’s Blast Lab 09:30 Project Parent 10:00 Dick & Dom’s Funny Business 11:00 Trapped Ever After 11:25 OOglies 11:45 Copycats 12:15 My Life: Stammer School 12:45 MOTD Kickabout 13:00 Priceless Antiques Roadshow 13:10 Escape to the Country 14:10 Mr Deeds Goes to Town 16:00 Into the West 17:30 Final Score 18:15 Madagascar 19:15 Flog It! 20:00 Dad’s Army 20:30 An Audience with Ken Dodd 21:30 Arena: Ken Dodd - Happiness

22:30 Faulks on Fiction 23:30 The Tudors ITV 00:35 Take Me Out 01:40 The Zone 03:40 In Plain Sight 04:30 ITV Nightscreen 06:30 ITV Morning News 07:00 Mini CITV 08:25 CITV 10:25 Coronation Street 12:45 This Morning: Saturday 13:45 Monk 14:45 ITV News and Weather 14:49 Weather 14:50 Thunderbirds 16:30 Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi 19:00 Meridian News and Weather 19:15 ITV News and Weather 19:30 New You’ve Been Framed! 20:00 Harry Hill’s TV Burp 20:30 Ant & Dec’s Push the Button 21:45 Take Me Out 23:00 Tomorrow Never Dies CHANNEL 4

LET´S DANCE FOR COMIC RELIEF Katie Price, Marcus Brigstocke, Joe Swash and Waterloo Road's Philip Martin Brown are getting ready to don their dancing shoes and take on their other competitors for this year's Let's Dance for... Comic Relief.

00:35 10 O’Clock Live 01:40 CTRL MX 02:10 4Play: Boxer Rebellion 02:20 My Name Is Earl 03:05 Modern Toss 03:30 Powwow Highway 05:00 Brothers & Sisters 05:45 Great British Brands 06:00 Wogan’s Perfect Recall 06:25 Countdown 07:10 The Hoobs 08:00 Brain Cell: The Intelligent Sport UK Challenge 08:25 Freesports on 4 08:55 The Morning Line 09:50 Friends 10:25 JLS: Stars and Strikes 11:25 Glee 12:25 T4 at the NME Awards 2011 13:15 Friends 13:50 The Big Bang Theory 14:50 Channel 4 Racing 16:50 The Secret Supper Club 17:20 Come Dine with Me Extra Portions 19:25 The Political Slot 19:30 Channel 4 News 19:55 4thought.tv 20:00 River Cottage Every Day 21:00 The Real King’s Speech

22:00 Mission: Impossible III CHANNEL 5 00:55 Cops in Crisis 01:15 SuperCasino 04:55 Motorsport Mundial 05:20 Royal Navy Caribbean Patrol 06:10 Wildlife SOS 06:35 House Doctor 07:00 Peppa Pig 07:05 Roary the Racing Car 07:15 Fifi and the Flowertots 07:25 Fireman Sam 07:40 Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends 07:50 The Beeps 08:00 Mio Mao 08:05 Chiro 08:15 Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs 08:25 Castle Farm 08:30 Make Way for Noddy 08:45 Igam Ogam 09:00 Little Princess 09:15 The Adventures of Bottle Top Bill and His Best Friend Corky 09:30 Play! 09:45 Rupert Bear 10:00 Olivia 10:15 The Mr Men Show 10:30 The Milkshake! Show 11:00 UEFA Europa League Highlights 12:05 How Do They Do It? 12:35 The Gadget Show 13:40 Superman 16:15 Jane Doe: Eye of the Beholder 18:00 Patch Adams 20:05 Five News 20:10 NCIS 21:00 CSI: Grissom’s Greatest 22:00 CSI: Miami 23:00 CSI: NY

Friday, 25th February, 2011

Sunday 27th February 00:30 The Football League Show 00:30 Weatherview 01:55 Reporters 02:00 BBC News 02:30 The Bottom Line 03:00 BBC News 03:30 HARDtalk 04:00 BBC News 04:30 Our World 05:00 BBC News 05:30 Click 06:00 BBC News 06:30 The Record Europe 07:00 Breakfast 08:50 Match of the Day 10:00 The Andrew Marr Show 11:00 The Big Questions 12:00 Country Tracks 13:00 The Politics Show 14:05 EastEnders 16:00 Match of the Day Live: League Cup Final 19:30 “BBC News; Regional News and Weather” 20:00 Countryfile 21:00 Antiques Roadshow 22:00 South Riding 23:00 “BBC News; Regional News and Weather” 23:25 Outcasts BBC2 00:20 Nurse Jackie 00:45 ICC Cricket World Cup Highlights 01:45 The Heart of Me 03:20 Close

07:00 Harry and Toto 07:10 Zigby 07:20 Dirtgirlworld 07:35 Jakers! 08:00 Basil and Barney’s Game Show 08:30 Arthur 09:00 Richard Hammond’s Blast Lab 09:30 Gimme a Break 10:00 Dick & Dom Go Wild 10:30 Cop School 11:00 Something for the Weekend 12:30 Film 2011 with Claudia Winkleman 13:00 Escape to the Country 14:00 I Know Where I’m Going! 15:30 Live Six Nations Rugby Union 18:00 Songs of Praise 18:35 Coast 21:00 Top Gear 22:00 Toughest Place to Be a Midwife 23:00 Match of the Day 2 ITV

03:30 Swingtown 04:15 ITV Nightscreen 06:30 ITV Morning News 07:00 Mini CITV 08:25 CITV 10:25 May the Best House Win 11:25 The Biggest Loser 12:30 This Morning: Sunday 13:30 Dinner Date 14:30 ITV News and Weather 14:45 Columbo: Any Old Port in a Storm 16:45 Midsomer Murders 18:50 News and Weather 19:05 ITV News and Weather 19:20 Harry Hill’s TV Burp 19:50 Dancing on Ice 21:30 Wild at Heart 22:30 Dancing on Ice: The Skate Off 23:00 That Sunday Night Show 23:30 ITV News and Weather 23:45 I Was There When the Beatles Played the Cavern

03:50 Coming Up: I Don’t Care 04:15 Brothers & Sisters 05:00 Privileged 06:25 Countdown 07:10 The Treacle People 07:20 The Hoobs 07:45 FIS World Snowboarding Championships 08:15 That Paralympic Show 08:40 Friends 09:40 Hollyoaks 12:10 Friends 12:50 Glee 13:50 The Simpsons 14:50 Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals 17:25 Deal or No Deal 18:25 Time Team 19:30 Channel 4 News 19:55 4thought.tv 20:00 Come Dine with Me 21:00 The People’s Supermarket 22:00 The Promise CHANNEL 5

00:05 TV News and Weather 00:19 Meridian Weather 00:20 Tomorrow Never Dies 01:25 The Zone

CHANNEL 4 00:20 The NME Awards 2011 01:45 Natural Born Killers

DANCING ON ICE Skating superstars Torvill and Dean kick off the show with a stunning opening routine before the remaining celebrities take to the ice. This week the theme is Ice World Tour in which every performance is inspired by a dance from around the world.

00:00 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation 01:00 SuperCasino 05:00 Cowboy Builders

05:50 Meals in Moments 06:00 Hana’s Helpline 06:10 The Milkshake! Show 06:35 Thomas & Friends 06:45 Roary the Racing Car 07:00 Peppa Pig 07:05 Roary the Racing Car 07:15 Fifi and the Flowertots 07:25 Fireman Sam 07:40 Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends 07:50 The Beeps 08:00 Mio Mao 08:10 Chiro 08:15 Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs 08:25 Milkshake! Show Songs 08:30 Make Way for Noddy 08:40 Igam Ogam 09:00 Little Princess 09:10 The Adventures of Bottle Top Bill and His Best Friend Corky 09:30 Family! 09:40 Rupert Bear 09:55 Olivia 10:15 The Mr Men Show 10:30 The Milkshake! Show 11:00 Starlight: For the Children 11:30 Street Market Chefs 12:00 Stansted: The Inside Story 13:00 Cowboy Builders 14:00 Ice Road Truckers 15:05 Apache Drums 16:25 Five News 16:35 Father Hood 18:25 Superman II 21:00 Royal Navy Caribbean Patrol 22:00 Hancock 23:50 Maximum Risk

Friday, 25th February, 2011

Monday 28th February

00:25 Reggie Perrin 00:55 Lead Balloon 02:00 Faulks on Fiction 03:00 Holby City 04:00 Sheila Hancock Brushes Up: The Art of Watercolours 05:00 Save My Holiday 05:45 HARDtalk 06:00 The World Today 06:30 World Business Report 07:00 Breakfast 10:15 Heir Hunters 11:00 Homes Under the Hammer 12:00 Wreck or Ready? 12:30 Cash in the Attic 13:15 Bargain Hunt 14:00 “BBC News; Weather” 14:30 Regional News and Weather 14:45 Doctors 15:15 Escape to the Country 16:00 “BBC News; Weather; Regional News” 16:05 Deadly 60 16:35 Deadly 60 Bite Size 16:40 Deadly Art 17:00 The Big Performance 17:30 Blue Peter 17:55 Life on the Front Line: Newsround Special 18:15 Weakest Link 19:00 BBC News 19:30 Regional News Programmes 20:00 The One Show 20:30 Inside Out 21:00 EastEnders 21:30 Classroom Warriors - Panorama 22:00 Crimewatch 23:00 BBC News 23:25 Regional News and Weather BBC 2 00:00 The League Cup Show 00:45 CC Cricket World Cup Highlights 01:45 In This World 03:15 BBC News 03:30 Dateline Europe

04:00 BBC News 04:30 The Record Europe 05:00 BBC News 05:30 HARDtalk 05:45 The Super League Show 06:15 Close 07:00 Harry and Toto 07:10 Zigby 07:20 Dirtgirlworld 07:35 Jakers! 08:00 Barney’s Latin America 08:25 Newsround 08:30 Muddle Earth 08:40 Eliot Kid 09:00 Paradise Cafe 09:30 LazyTown 09:55 Numberjacks 10:10 The Koala Brothers 10:25 Big Barn Farm 10:40 Little Human Planet 10:45 Big & Small 10:55 3rd & Bird 11:05 Postman Pat: SDS 11:20 Pingu 11:25 64 Zoo Lane 11:45 Waybuloo 12:05 In the Night Garden 12:35 Meerkat Manor 13:00 Daily Politics 13:30 GMT with George Alagiah 14:00 Due South 14:45 To Buy or Not to Buy 15:30 Nature’s Top 40 16:00 Wanted Down Under 16:45 Flog It! Ten of the Best 17:30 Cash in the Celebrity Attic

18:15 Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 19:00 Eggheads 19:30 My Life in Books 20:00 Top Gear 21:00 University Challenge 21:30 Raymond Blanc’s Kitchen Secrets 22:00 When Teenage Meets Old Age 23:00 Never Mind the Buzzcocks 23:30 Newsnight ITV 00:45 remiership Rugby Union 01:40 The Zone 03:00 Mystery Men 05:00 ITV Nightscreen 06:30 ITV Morning News 07:00 Daybreak 09:30 Lorraine 10:25 The Jeremy Kyle Show 11:30 This Morning 13:30 Loose Women 14:30 ITV News and Weather 15:00 House Gift 16:00 Dickinson’s Real Deal 16:59 Weather 17:00 Midsomer Murders 18:00 The Chase 19:00 Weather 19:30 ITV News and Weather 20:00 Emmerdale 20:30 Coronation Street 21:00 The Lakes 21:30 Coronation Street

TOP GEAR Jeremy Clarkson gets behind the wheel of a Jaguar XJ and races against the rotation of the Earth. James May travels to America to drive Nasa's latest Space Exploration Vehicle, and Richard Hammond tests two of the most famous supercars of the 1980s - the Porsche 959 and the Ferrari F40. Last in the series.

22:00 The Biggest Loser 23:00 ITV News at Ten and Weather 23:30 Tonight and Weather 23:35 New Homes from Hell 2009

20:55 4thought.tv 21:00 Dispatches: Secret NHS Diaries 22:00 One Born Every Minute 23:00 The Full Monty

CHANNEL 4

CHANNEL 5

00:10 Alan Carr: Chatty Man 01:15 Tina: What’s Love Got to Do with It 03:15 The Family 04:10 Wedding House 05:05 Without a Trace 05:55 Wogan’s Perfect Recall 06:20 Countdown 07:05 Sali Mali 07:10 The Hoobs 08:05 Freshly Squeezed 08:30 Everybody Loves Raymond 09:00 Frasier 09:30 According to Jim 10:00 Supernanny USA 10:55 The Good Wife 11:55 Relocation: Phil Down Under 13:00 Channel 4 News Summary 13:05 River Cottage Bites 13:15 The TV Book Club 13:45 The Mark of Zorro 15:10 Cookery School 16:10 Countdown 16:55 Deal or No Deal 18:00 Come Dine with Me 18:30 Coach Trip 19:00 The Simpsons 19:30 Hollyoaks 20:00 Channel 4 News

01:40 SuperCasino 05:00 Divine Designs 05:50 Meals in Moments 06:00 Hana’s Helpline 06:10 The Milkshake! Show 06:35 Thomas & Friends 06:45 Roary the Racing Car 07:00 Thomas & Friends 07:10 Roary the Racing Car 07:20 The Adventures of Bottle Top Bill and His Best Friend Corky 07:35 Elmo’s World 07:50 Peppa Pig 07:55 Little Princess 08:10 Funky Town 08:15 The Mr Men Show 08:30 Thomas & Friends 08:45 Make Way for Noddy 09:00 Fifi and the Flowertots 09:15 Peppa Pig 09:25 Mio Mao 09:30 Roary the Racing Car 09:40 Hana’s Helpline 09:50 The WotWots 10:00 Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom 10:15 The Wright Stuff 12:00 The Vanessa Show 12:45 House 13:40 Five News 13:45 Build a New Life in the Country 14:45 Neighbours 15:15 Home and Away 15:45 Animal Rescue Squad 16:05 Monte Walsh 18:00 Five News at 5 18:30 Neighbours 19:00 Home and Away 19:25 OK! TV 20:00 Five News at 7 20:30 How Do They Do It? 21:00 The Gadget Show 22:00 Royal Navy Caribbean Patrol 23:00 Ultraviolet

Friday, 25th February, 2011

Tuesday 1st March 00:05 Crimewatch Update 00:15 Late Kick Off 00:45 The Graham Norton Show 01:35 The Apprentice USA 03:05 Silk 04:05 Imagine 04:55 Life in a Cottage Garden with Carol Klein 05:25 BBC News 05:30 HARDtalk 06:00 The World Today 06:30 World Business Report 07:00 Breakfast 10:15 Heir Hunters 11:00 Homes Under the Hammer 12:00 Wreck or Ready? 12:30 Cash in the Attic 13:15 Bargain Hunt 14:00 “BBC News; Weather” 14:30 Regional News and Weather 14:45 Doctors 15:15 Escape to the Country 16:00 “BBC News; Weather; Regional News” 16:05 Deadly 60 16:35 Deadly 60 Bite Size 16:40 Deadly Art 17:00 Dead Gorgeous 17:30 Blue Peter 17:55 Shaun the Sheep 18:00 Newsround 18:15 Weakest Link 19:00 BBC News 19:30 Regional News Programmes 20:00 The One Show 20:30 EastEnders 21:00 Holby City 22:00 Silk 23:00 BBC News 23:25 Regional News and Weather 23:35 Neighbourhood Watched BBC 2 00:20 ICC Cricket World Cup Highlights 01:20 An Island Parish 01:50 BBC World News America 02:00 BBC News 02:30 ABC World News with Diane Sawyer 03:00 BBC News

03:30 The Record 04:00 BBC News 04:30 The Bottom Line 04:55 Adventures Abroad 05:25 Telling Tales 06:20 Being Chinese 07:00 Harry and Toto 07:10 Zigby 07:20 Dirtgirlworld 07:35 Jakers! 08:00 Barney’s Latin America 08:25 Newsround 08:30 Muddle Earth 08:30 Bernard 08:40 Eliot Kid 09:00 Paradise Cafe 09:30 LazyTown 09:55 Numberjacks 10:10 The Koala Brothers 10:25 Big Barn Farm 10:40 Little Human Planet 10:45 Big & Small 10:55 3rd & Bird 11:05 Postman Pat: SDS 11:20 Pingu 11:25 64 Zoo Lane 11:45 Waybuloo 12:05 In the Night Garden 12:35 Meerkat Manor 13:00 Daily Politics 13:30 GMT with George Alagiah 14:00 Due South 14:45 To Buy or Not to Buy 15:30 Nature’s Top 40 16:00 Wanted Down Under 16:45 Flog It! Ten of the Best 17:30 Cash in the Celebrity Attic 18:15 Put Your Money Where Your

Mouth Is 19:00 Eggheads 19:30 My Life in Books 20:00 Natural World 21:00 A Farmer’s Life for Me 22:00 Horizon: Are We Still Evolving? 23:00 How TV Ruined Your Life 23:30 Newsnight ITV 00:35 That Sunday Night Show 01:05 Grimefighters 01:30 The Zone 03:35 UEFA Champions League Weekly 04:00 The Jeremy Kyle Show 04:55 ITV Nightscreen 06:30 ITV Morning News 07:00 Daybreak 09:30 Lorraine 10:25 The Jeremy Kyle Show 11:30 This Morning 13:30 Loose Women 14:30 ITV News and Weather 15:00 House Gift 16:00 Dickinson’s Real Deal 16:59 Meridian Weather 17:00 Midsomer Murders 18:00 The Chase 19:00 Tonight 19:30 ITV News and Weather 20:00 Emmerdale 20:30 Grimefighters 21:00 Lion Country 22:00 Leah’s Dream 23:00 ITV News at Ten and Weather 23:30 Tonight and Weather

EMMERDALE Jackson gets his new wheelchair, which Hazel hopes will give him a new level of independence. Cain's behaviour only succeeds in driving Charity and Jai closer together, Nicola is horrified when the police tell her the blood found in the van was Jimmy's, and Adam agrees to help out at Home Farm.

23:35 The River Wild CHANNEL 4 00:45 Beady Eye: Live from Abbey Road 01:20 Intros: CocknBullKid 01:35 Manic Street Preachers: One Last Shot at Mass Communication 02:05 Child Genius: Five Years On 03:00 Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day 03:55 Codex 04:50 The Bible: A History 05:45 A Film from My Parish: Six Farms 05:55 Brothers & Sisters 06:40 Wogan’s Perfect Recall 07:10 Sali Mali 07:15 The Treacle People 07:25 The Hoobs 08:15 Freshly Squeezed 08:40 Everybody Loves Raymond 09:05 Frasier 09:35 According to Jim 10:05 Supernanny USA 11:00 The Good Wife 11:55 A Place in the Sun: Home or Away 13:00 Channel 4 News Summary 13:05 River Cottage Bites 13:20 The True Story of Jesse James 15:10 Cookery School 16:10 Countdown 16:55 Deal or No Deal 18:00 Come Dine with Me 18:30 Coach Trip 19:00 The Simpsons 19:30 Hollyoaks

20:00 Channel 4 News 20:55 4thought.tv 21:00 Gok’s Clothes Roadshow 22:00 Heston’s Mission Impossible 23:00 Shameless Channel 5 00:50 Ultimate Fighting Championship 01:50 SuperCasino 05:05 Divine Designs 05:30 Great Scientists 05:55 Rough Guide to Cities 06:10 Wildlife SOS 06:35 House Doctor 07:00 Thomas & Friends 07:10 Roary the Racing Car 07:20 The Adventures of Bottle Top Bill and His Best Friend Corky 07:35 Elmo’s World 07:50 Peppa Pig 07:55 Little Princess 08:10 Funky Town 08:15 The Mr Men Show 08:30 Thomas & Friends 08:40 Chiro 08:45 Make Way for Noddy 09:00 Fifi and the Flowertots 09:10 Milkshake! Show Songs 09:15 Peppa Pig 09:25 Mio Mao 09:30 Roary the Racing Car 09:40 Hana’s Helpline 09:50 The WotWots 10:00 Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom 10:15 The Wright Stuff 12:00 The Vanessa Show 12:45 House 13:40 Five News 13:45 Build a New Life in the Country 14:45 Neighbours 15:15 Home and Away 15:50 Animal Rescue Squad 16:05 The Family Recipe 16:15 More Sex and the Single Mom 18:00 Five News at 5 18:30 Neighbours 19:00 Home and Away 19:25 OK! TV 20:00 Five News at 7 20:30 Extraordinary Dogs 21:00 Stansted: The Inside Story 22:00 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation 23:00 CSI: Miami 23:55 CSI: NY

Friday, 25th February, 2011

Wednesday 2nd March 00:20 Girls Behind Bars 00:20 Weatherview 01:25 See Hear 01:55 Human Planet 02:55 Imagine 04:05 Being Ronnie Corbett 05:05 BBC News 05:30 HARDtalk 06:00 The World Today 06:30 World Business Report 07:00 Breakfast 10:15 Heir Hunters 11:00 Homes Under the Hammer 12:00 Wreck or Ready? 12:30 Cash in the Attic 13:15 Bargain Hunt 14:00 “BBC News; Weather” 14:30 Regional News and Weather 14:45 Doctors 15:15 Escape to the Country 16:00 “BBC News; Weather; Regional News” 16:05 Deadly 60 16:35 Deadly 60 Bite Size 16:40 Deadly Art 17:00 Trade Your Way to the USA 17:30 MI High 18:00 Newsround 18:15 Weakest Link 19:00 BBC News 19:30 Regional News Programmes 20:00 The One Show 20:30 The Boat that Guy Built 21:00 Waterloo Road 22:00 MasterChef 23:00 BBC News 23:25 Regional News and Weather 23:45 Film 2011 with Claudia Winkleman BBC 2 00:20 ICC Cricket World Cup Highlights 01:20 BBC News 01:30 BBC World News America 02:00 BBC News 02:30 ABC World News with Diane Sawyer 03:00 BBC News

03:30 Hard Talk 04:00 BBC News 04:30 Reporters 05:00 Schools: Democracy in Action A Divided Europe and Immigration 06:00 Democracy in Action - Who Has the Power? 07:00 Finley the Fire Engine 07:10 Zigby 07:20 Dirtgirlworld 07:35 Jakers! 08:00 Barney’s Latin America 08:25 Newsround 08:30 Muddle Earth 08:40 Eliot Kid 09:00 Paradise Cafe 09:30 LazyTown 09:55 Numberjacks 10:10 The Koala Brothers 10:25 Big Barn Farm 10:40 Little Human Planet 10:45 Big & Small 10:55 3rd & Bird 11:05 Postman Pat: SDS 11:20 Pingu 11:25 64 Zoo Lane 11:40 Waybuloo 12:00 In the Night Garden 12:30 Daily Politics 14:00 See Hear 14:30 Hairy Bikers Short 14:45 To Buy or Not to Buy 15:30 Nature’s Top 40 16:00 Wanted Down Under 16:45 Flog It! Ten of the Best 17:30 Cash in the Celebrity Attic 18:15 Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

19:00 Eggheads 19:30 My Life in Books 20:00 Escape to the Country 21:00 Attenborough and the Giant Egg 22:00 A History of Ancient Britain 23:00 ICC Cricket World Cup Highlights 23:30 Newsnight ITV 01:35 The Zone 03:40 Crossing Jordan 04:25 ITV Nightscreen 06:30 ITV Morning News 07:00 Daybreak 09:30 Lorraine 10:25 The Jeremy Kyle Show 11:30 This Morning 13:30 Loose Women 14:30 ITV News and Weather 14:55 News and Weather 15:00 House Gift 16:00 Dickinson’s Real Deal 16:59 Weather 17:00 Midsomer Murders 18:00 The Chase 19:00 Tonight 19:30 ITV News and Weather 20:00 Emmerdale 20:30 Live FA Cup Football 23:00 ITV News at Ten and Weather 23:30 Meridian Tonight and Weather 23:35 Mercury Rising CHANNEL 4 00:05 The Big C

JAMIE’S DREAM SCHOOL New series. Jamie Oliver brings together scientist Robert Winston, historian David Starkey, TV personality Rolf Harris, journalist Alastair Campbell, actor Simon Callow, musician Jazzie B and Olympic gold medallist Daley Thompson to see if they can persuade 20 teenagers with few qualifications to give education a second chance.

00:40 Facejacker 01:15 UK & Ireland Poker Tour 02:15 FIM Superbike World Championship 02:40 Bull Run 03:05 Freesports on 4 03:30 FIS World Snowboarding Championships 04:00 KOTV Boxing Weekly 04:25 Powerboating 04:55 ITU Triathlon World Cup Magazine 05:45 The Track and Field Show 06:15 Brief Encounters of the Sporting Mind: Rally Driving 06:25 Bear Grylls: Born Survivor 07:15 The Treacle People 07:25 The Hoobs 08:15 Freshly Squeezed 08:40 Everybody Loves Raymond 09:05 Frasier 09:35 According to Jim 10:05 Supernanny USA 11:00 The Good Wife 11:55 Country House Rescue 13:00 Channel 4 News Summary 13:05 Heaven Can Wait 15:10 Cookery School 16:10 Countdown 16:55 Deal or No Deal 18:00 Come Dine with Me 18:30 Coach Trip 19:00 The Simpsons 19:30 Hollyoaks 20:00 Channel 4 News 20:55 4thought.tv 21:00 Beauty and the Beast: Ugly Face of Prejudice

22:00 Jamie’s Dream School 23:00 The Model Agency CHANNEL 5 00:55 Law & Order 01:50 SuperCasino 05:00 Your Sport 05:10 Brian Sewell’s Grand Tour 05:55 Rough Guide to Eco Escapes 06:10 Wildlife SOS 06:35 House Doctor 07:00 Thomas & Friends 07:10 Roary the Racing Car 07:20 The Adventures of Bottle Top Bill and His Best Friend Corky 07:35 Elmo’s World 07:50 Peppa Pig 07:55 Little Princess 08:10 Funky Town 08:15 The Mr Men Show 08:30 Thomas & Friends 08:40 Chiro 08:45 Make Way for Noddy 09:00 Fifi and the Flowertots 09:10 Milkshake! Show Songs 09:15 Peppa Pig 09:20 Peppa Pig 09:25 Mio Mao 09:30 Roary the Racing Car 09:40 Hana’s Helpline 09:50 The WotWots 10:00 Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom 10:15 The Wright Stuff 12:00 The Vanessa Show 12:45 House 13:40 Five News 13:45 Build a New Life in the Country 14:45 Neighbours 15:15 Home and Away 15:50 Extraordinary Dogs 16:20 Abducted 18:00 Five News at 5 18:00 Weather 18:30 Neighbours 19:00 Home and Away 19:25 OK! TV 20:00 Five News at 7 20:30 Starlight: For the Children 20:30 Five News Update 21:00 Cowboy Builders 22:00 NCIS 23:00 Greatest TV Weddings

Friday, 25th February, 2011

Thursday 3rd March 00:25 Poltergeist 00:25 Weatherview 02:20 Country Tracks 03:20 Stephen Fry and the Great American Oil Spill 04:20 BP: $30bn Blowout - A Money Programme Special 05:20 BBC News 05:30 How to Blow a Fortune: Panorama 06:00 The World Today 06:30 World Business Report 07:00 Breakfast 10:15 Heir Hunters 11:00 Homes Under the Hammer 12:00 Wreck or Ready? 12:30 Cash in the Attic 13:15 Bargain Hunt 14:00 “BBC News; Weather” 14:30 Regional News and Weather 14:45 Doctors 15:15 Escape to the Country 16:00 “BBC News; Weather; Regional News” 16:05 Deadly 60 16:35 Deadly 60 Bite Size 16:40 Deadly Art 17:00 Prank Patrol 17:30 Richard Hammond’s Blast Lab: The Experiments 18:00 Newsround 18:15 Weakest Link 19:00 BBC News 19:30 Regional News Programmes 20:00 The One Show 20:30 EastEnders 21:00 Human Planet 22:00 Famous, Rich & in the Slums with Comic Relief 23:00 BBC News 23:25 Regional News and Weather 23:35 Question Time BBC 2 00:20 Fast and Loose 00:50 Timeshift: The Golden Age of Coach Travel 01:50 BBC World News America

02:00 BBC News 02:30 ABC World News with Diane Sawyer 03:00 BBC News 03:30 HARDtalk 04:00 BBC News 04:30 Click 05:00 Class Clips: Creative and Media - Performing Arts 06:00 Class Clips: Creative and Media - Art and Design 07:00 Finley the Fire Engine 07:10 Zigby 07:20 Dirtgirlworld 07:35 Jakers! 08:00 Barney’s Latin America 08:25 Newsround 08:30 Muddle Earth 08:40 Eliot Kid 09:00 Paradise Cafe 09:30 LazyTown 09:55 Numberjacks 10:10 The Koala Brothers 10:25 Big Barn Farm 10:40 Little Human Planet 10:45 Big & Small 10:55 3rd & Bird 11:05 Postman Pat: SDS 11:20 Pingu 11:25 64 Zoo Lane 11:25 Chuggington: Badge Quest 11:45 Waybuloo 12:05 In the Night Garden 12:35 Meerkat Manor 13:00 Daily Politics 13:30 GMT with George Alagiah 14:00 Due South

14:45 To Buy or Not to Buy 15:30 Nature’s Top 40 16:00 Wanted Down Under 16:45 Flog It! Ten of the Best 17:30 Cash in the Celebrity Attic 18:15 Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 19:00 Eggheads 19:30 My Life in Books 20:00 The Culture Show 21:00 The Hairy Bikers: Mums Know Best 22:00 The Spice Trail 23:00 Mock the Week 23:30 Newsnight ITV 01:35 The Zone 03:40 The Cowboy Way 05:25 ITV Nightscreen 06:30 ITV Morning News 07:00 Daybreak 09:30 Lorraine 10:25 The Jeremy Kyle Show 11:30 This Morning 13:30 Loose Women 14:30 ITV News and Weather 14:55 Meridian News and Weather 15:00 House Gift 16:00 Dickinson’s Real Deal 16:59 Meridian Weather 17:00 Midsomer Murders 18:00 The Chase 19:00 Tonight 19:30 ITV News and Weather 20:00 Emmerdale

THE SPICE TRAIL Kate Humble visits Morocco and Spain to uncover the story of saffron, the world's most expensive spice. She joins a farmer and his family in the Atlas Mountains as they harvest their crop, and meets a man who tests the DNA to make sure the substance is genuine. Kate also heads to Paplanta in Mexico to learn about the history of vanilla, which was discovered by famous conquistador Hernan Cortes.

20:30 The Great Tax Gap: Tonight 21:00 Emmerdale 21:30 Coronation Street 22:00 Marchlands 23:00 ITV News at Ten and Weather 23:30 Tonight and Weather 23:35 Benidorm

19:00 The Simpsons 19:30 Hollyoaks 20:00 Channel 4 News 20:55 4thought.tv 21:00 Relocation, Relocation 22:00 Love Thy Neighbour 23:00 10 O’Clock Live

CHANNEL 4

CHANNEL 5

00:05 Shameless 01:10 Sounds from the Cities 01:40 The Album Chart Show Spotlight 01:55 Crash Bang Wallow 02:00 2046 04:10 High Anxiety 05:45 Without a Trace 06:30 Countdown 07:15 The Treacle People 07:25 The Hoobs 08:15 Freshly Squeezed 08:40 Everybody Loves Raymond 09:05 Frasier 09:35 According to Jim 10:05 Supernanny USA 11:00 The Good Wife 11:55 The Restoration Man 13:00 Channel 4 News Summary 13:05 Brief Encounters of the Sporting Mind: Ultimate Frisbee 13:10 The Hunters 15:10 Cookery School 16:10 Countdown 16:55 Deal or No Deal 18:00 Come Dine with Me 18:30 Coach Trip

01:00 Poker 02:05 SuperCasino 05:00 Your Sport 05:10 Brian Sewell’s Grand Tour 05:55 Rough Guide to Weekend Breaks 06:10 Wildlife SOS 06:35 House Doctor 07:00 Thomas & Friends 07:10 Roary the Racing Car 07:20 The Adventures of Bottle Top Bill and His Best Friend Corky 07:35 Elmo’s World 07:50 Peppa Pig 07:55 Little Princess 08:10 Funky Town 08:15 The Mr Men Show 08:30 Thomas & Friends 08:45 Make Way for Noddy 09:00 Fifi and the Flowertots 09:15 Peppa Pig 09:30 Roary the Racing Car 09:40 Hana’s Helpline 09:50 The WotWots 10:00 Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom 10:15 The Wright Stuff 12:00 The Vanessa Show 12:45 House 13:40 Five News 13:45 Build a New Life in the Country 14:45 Neighbours 15:15 Home and Away 15:50 Extraordinary Dogs 16:20 Murder without Conviction 18:00 Five News at 5 18:30 Neighbours 19:00 Home and Away 19:25 OK! TV 20:00 Five News at 7 20:30 Monkey Life 21:00 Jaws: The True Story 22:00 Pistol Whipped

Friday, 25th February, 2011

SPORT ON THE BOX All the top sport on TV in your Good News ‘paper

Saturday 26th February Swansea City v Leeds United npower Championship Sky Sports 2 (13:30-16:00) Sky Sports HD2 (13:30-16:00)

Monday 28th February Stoke City v West Bromwich Albion Barclays Premier League Sky Sports 1 (20:30-23:00) Sky Sports HD1 (20:30-23:00)

Sunday 27th February West Ham United v Liverpool Barclays Premier League Sky Sports 1 (14:00-16:30) Sky Sports HD1 (14:00-16:30) Arsenal v Birmingham City Carling Cup Final Sky Sports 1 (16:30-18:30) Sky Sports HD1 (16:30-18:30) BBC1 (16:00-19:30)

LONG BALLS

Here in Spain, Real Madrid are intent on extending José Mourinho’s incredible record of not losing a home game in nine years. They had little trouble in overcoming Levante 2-0, whilst leaders by five points Barcelona made heavy weather of putting down a lively Athletic Bilbao side, whose young star, Muniain, looks destined for great things. In ‘the other league’ of eighteen clubs, no real pattern emerges, an example being Osasuna’s 4-0 thrashing of previously tough cookies Español. In the second division, early leaders Betis now can’t find a point, and aare slipping out of contention, whilst Celta and Rayo Vallecano march on, though the latter may soon be in queer street following their owners’ (food giant Rumasa) announcement of

Tuesday 1st March Everton v Reading FA Cup ESPN (20:00-23:00) Wednesday 2nd March Villarreal v Hercules Spanish La Liga Sky Sports 2 (19:30-22:00) Sky Sports HD2 (19:30-22:00)

A personal view of the World of football

hard times. In England the cup produced its usual crop of cranky results, with Arsenal facing a dodgy replay against Orient at Brisbane Road, whilst a depleted Manchester United eleven only just squeezed past non-league Crawley. Ancelotti’s superstars, Chelski, got dumped out on that daftest of finishes (penalties) by Everton, but otherwise it was business as usual. Roma parted company with boss Rainieri, after recent poor displays, and Milan stay in the lead after a narrow win over Chievo, Robinho and Pato finding the net. Lille stay in front on France, whilst Besiktas, with none other than Guti wearing the armband, gave a shock home defeat to leaders Fehnerbace.

The Champions’ League is now back in action, with Barça coming unstuck in the Emirates, but whether Arsenal can repeat the business in the nou Camp on the 8th remains to be seen. Spurs did their stuff in Italy with a great win. Valencia look a bad bet in their return leg, trailing 1-2 to Raul’s Schalke, and this week saw the turn of Real Madrid who grabbed a point away to Lyon while Chelsea found some form to beat Copeenhagen away. As we went to print Manchester United took to the pitch in Marseille. But no report on the week’s football would be complete without mention of the retirement of the legendary Ronaldo, whose legendary career brought him to Barcelona and Real Madrid, where his goal-scoring feats delighted everyone interested in the game.

Friday, 25th February, 2011

SPORTS ROUND-UP

on Wednesday 23rd through till Sunday 27th when the Final will take place. Each of the top 64 players in the world are scheduled to play with the seeds based on the Official World Golf Ranking. Who will come out on top the top ten ranked players are below with a comment on their record in this event? This event is one of the very few match play events that the players play on tour so they have to keeping winning to be there at the weekend. In last year’s event Ian Pouter beat Paul Casey 4&2. This year Ian is not even ranked in the top ten for this year’s event being No12. from the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club at Dove Mountain. 1 Lee WESTWOOD Ten starts here and the Englishman never gotten past the second round

With Mick Hardy from Kidease Rugby Union This weekend the six nations gets back in to action with the big match being England against France at Twickenham. With both sides unbeaten this will be the one to watch this weekend. France coach Marc Lievremont has now stoked the fire ahead of the match against Saturday by saying he does not like the "English". Both teams have 100% records after two games and their meeting will be vital in deciding the Six Nations champions. "We don't like them [the English] and it's better to say that than be hypocritical," said Lievremont. "We respect them - well in my case at least I do. But you couldn't say we have the slightest thing in common." So let’s stand by and wait for the fireworks, I am sure Johno will have something to say about it. Fixtures and kick off times below. RBS Six Nations Sat 26th Feb 15.30 Italy vs. Wales Sat 26th Feb 18.00 England vs. France Sun 27th Feb 16.00 Scotland vs. Ireland

Formula1 and Moto GP For all you petrol-heads here in Spain we will be following both these events throughout the season. Start Dates for your diaries Formula 1 in Bahrain on 13th March - Postponed Moto GP in Qatar on 20th March Also throughout the season we will be running a fantasy league on both events please follow link below to log on to site. http://www.ff1.co.uk/ You can enter a team into the F1 league or the Motto GP league or you can enter both. The league names are below F1 league is The Courier Moto GP is The Courier GP Come along and join and follow the fun for the season of high speed please see above for the opening dates of the season

Cricket World Cup 2011 The 2011 world cup started this week in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka with six weeks of nonstop action. England are in group B along with West Indies, South Africa and India being their main rivals. We will be following the action here each week in The Courier. Will there be any shocks as countries like Holland, Canada, Kenya and Ireland in with the big guns? England’s games this coming week are as Follows Feb 27th vs. India 10am March 2nd Vs. Ireland 10am. To follow all the action and keep up to date log on to the following web site. http://cricket.yahoo.com/

Golf This week top tournament is the Accenture Match play Championship from Arizona USA The field is set for the first World Golf Championships event of 2011, the Accenture Match Play Championship. The event starts

2 Martin KAYMER PGA champ is among top four seeds for second straight year 3 Tiger WOODS Tough to know what to expect from three-time winner 4 Phil MICKELSON Has only advanced past third round once in 10 starts 5 Graeme McDOWELL As he showed in last year's Ryder Cup, he's tough as nails in this format 6 Paul CASEY Runner-up last two years; no surprise he's one of the favourite. 7 Rory McILROY Will be making first stateside appearance of the year here 8 Steve STRICKER Since winning in 2002, his Match Play record is an unimpressive 3-5 9 Luke DONALD Has never lost in first round; has never won in third round 10 Jim FURYK FedEx Cup champion has career Match Play record of 9-10 European tour This now takes a break for 3 weeks and returns on the 17th March with the Sicilian Open in Italy Ladies Tour This weekend the LPGA move on to Singapore for the HSBC Women’s Champions with current world number one Yani Tseng hot favourite after winning the opening event of the season last weekend in Thailand and she also won the first two European Ladies events in Australia with the Australian Open and Masters European Ladies tour After the first three events down under the ladies do not play again until that start in Europe on the 31st March in Morocco In the coming weeks we will be looking at the best courses to play at the best prices and also reviewing the courses on the Costa Blanca.

Friday, 25th February, 2011

ELCHE GET A GRIP AT LAST

BY DAN SMITH Behind the grand facade of Elche´s impressive stadium "Estadio Martinez Valero" lies a club with a proud history, giant killing achievements over some of Spain´s elite clubs all but echo around the impressive stands with its rows of empty seats. Today, the hard core supporters’ angry chant is for a change of board directors after what many call gross mismanagement. Whether that is true though, depends on who you listen to. A life-line was thrown to the club 18 months ago when Basque business man Juan Carlos Ramirez became the main shareholder, investing around 6 million euros in the club. However, but with Elche´s debt standing around 21€ million many were unsure about his involvement. At a recent home game angry fans protested both before and after the match, complaining about his interest in the recent sale of the clubs three best players, Ghanaian Wakaso Muburak (Villarreal), Argentinean keeper Willy Caballero (Malaga) and last year’s top second division scorer, Jorge Molina (Betis). Fans criticism of Ramirez heightened with the 2.5€ million sale of Molina to the Sevillian club - the money Elche are yet still to bank as the postdated cheques failed to clear. The transfer of Ghanaian Wakaso was, according to the club, for disciplinary reasons and two weeks ago the club provoked more discord in the ranks with the announcement that fan favourite, ‘keeper Willy Caballero, was to depart for Malaga, the fee many thought to be well below his value. Maybe there is some light at the end of the tunnel; last week club president for the last six years José Sepulcre announced to the media the long awaited news that the club had finally signed a 14 million euro bank guarantee. The guarantee or "aval" given by the Valencian Government will allow the club to negotiate a bank loan in order to pay off debts. Owing over 7 million in tax, Seguridad Social payments and over 4 months due to players and staff in wages, many supporters see the loan as a step backwards as in reality the club will go further into debt. President Sepulcre explained to the press last week that being up to date with the Spanish tax authority’s means that TV revenue and other league cash will now be at the disposal of the club enabling the club to control its day to day spending. Elche´s footballing form hasn´t provided any release from the stress for the board of directors either. Early season wins gave way to ambitions, with talk of promotion or a playoff spot but as with

all things football a down turn in form was just around the corner and just before the Christmas break a six point gap between them and a playoff spot, emerged. Hopefully, two weeks ago a corner was turned when Elche travelled to high-flyers Betis, a game important for many reasons, 4 regular first team players sanctioned or injured, keeper captain Willy Caballero recently transferred and the now the infamous 2.5€ million of rubber cheques to be thrown back across the board room table at half time. What transpired that Sunday

evening in front of 35.000 hostile Betis supporters was remarkable. Reserve keeper Jaime Jiménez, who for the last two and a half years sat patiently waiting for his opportunity, made no mistake in proclaiming that ex-keeper Caballero could soon be forgotten. A penalty save and a heroic team performance meant Elche would take home three valuable points in a 4 - 1 win when many pundits had written them off. Now Elche were on a high with backdated wages soon to be paid and things starting to click into place.

CONTINUED FROM BACK PAGE Abel Aguilar and Rodriguez each saw yellow cards during this period of play, both incurring unhelpful suspensions. Fabiano fired his free kick over the Hercules bar, then Negredo’s header saw a similar result. Cortés was next to see a yellow card when he hauled down the rapid Capel, but, as the first half drew to a close, Farinós’ free kick brought the Sevilla keeper out to punch clear. Reflecting on the first period, it was easy to see why Hercules’ dismal scoring record continues, as Trezeguet strives away without getting a half-decent pass. When the second half began, Calatayud was soon in action, saving from Rakitic, but, on 53 minutes, Hercules at last had a shot on target, when Cristian put Tiago Gomes through. His low shot was saved by the keeper. It was, however, Thomert who threatened most, racing down the left. Esteban Vigo brought on – belatedly – Kiko, taking off Tiago Gomes, after 62 minutes. His changes are, to say the least, predictable in their timing, and his

manipulation of the squad leaves something to be desired. The youngster’s speed was instantly apparent, when he was able to cross just beyond Trezeguet’s reach, but a minute later, he found the striker, whose shot was tipped around the post by the Sevilla keeper. Bad luck, that! Freddy Kanoute came on for Fabiano, then, on 69 minutes, Calatayud was obliged to make a fine save from Negredo. The ineffective Portillo was introduced to replace Cristian, then Kiko again crossed well, for Trezeguet to fire wide of the near post. With eight minutes left, Vigo brought on Tote – was he being punished for some misdemeanour? – for Thomert, who had been the best of Hercules’ forwards. Extra time saw the visitors force two successive corners, coming painfully close to that precious equaliser, without which our heroes slid perilously close to the relegation zone, results elsewhere not helping at all. The next fixture is a home match with mid-table Getafe – there are no easy matches, but this one looks winnable, and they do need to take three points from games of this type.

Friday, 25th February, 2011

TOTE LITTLE TOO LATE!

By Malcolm Palmer

Just to make sure they couldn’t blame the conditions, a pleasant evening with a temperature of 18º greeted the teams in Sevilla’s great Sanchez Pizjuan stadium, no more than half full for the visit of the Alicante side. For reasons best known to himself, manager Esteban Vigo had left Tote on the bench, and without the thrusting Valdez, it looked as if David Trezeguet would be ploughing a lonely furrow up front. Cristian, who has long deserved a start, was, very oddly, preferred on the wing, when he is really an inside forward (in old-fashioned terms). Hercules started powerfully, Thomert showing his paces on the wing, twice crossing just out of Trezeguet’s reach, then finding himself offside when Farinós’ long ball pinpointed him. Behind the French flanker, Romanian Pulhac was looking sound, but an early notice was provided by international striker Negredo, when his looping shot beat Calatayud, only to rebound from the crossbar. Again the burly forward broke clear, but shot tamely at the keeper, but, with 20 minutes gone, a beautiful move by Sevilla saw Rakitic clear on the edge of the area. He made no mistake, though Calatayud might have done better. 1-0. Hercules were giving the ball away alarmingly in midfield, but still managed to have more than their share of possession, and again Thomert got in a good cross after half an hour, to no avail. The final pass just wasn’t getting through an efficient home defence.

Continued on page 47

SEVILLA 1 – HERCULES 0