THE BEST FINANCE NEWS ON PAGES 14 - 17 Issue No. 1916
24 - 30 March 2022
DON’T FORGET to go forward one hour at 2am on Sunday
World Water Day THE Department of Envi‐ ronmental Sustainability from the Rincon de la Victoria Town Council has announced a new workshop to mark the occasion of World Water Day as part of the annual Environmental Education Programme called ‘More Sustainability, More Life’. A series of family‐ori‐ ented activities will take place from 11am to 2pm on Saturday March 26 next to the Rincon Tourist Office. Prior regis‐ tration in the activities is not required. Children will have the opportunity to take part in the cre‐ ation of a large mural by adding a sticker in the shape of a drop of water and to learn about ways to save water. “The idea is to carry out a workshop where children can learn in a fun way,” said the mayor of Rincon, Francisco Sala‐ do. “We are fully commit‐ ted to our environment and nature,” he added, and went on to highlight the importance of such awareness‐raising initia‐ tives. The councillor for Envi‐ ronmental Sustainability, Borja Ortiz, added: “With small daily actions, we can help to conserve this re‐ source that is currently so precious and scarce. Using water correctly is every‐ one’s responsibility.”
AXARQUIA - COSTA TROPICAL • WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM
REFUGEES ARRIVE
FREE • GRATIS
Patronal festival FROM March 17 to 20, La Herradura had its yearly patronal festival in honour of San Jose for the first time since the start of the pandemic. The festivities ended on Sunday March 20 with a concert by Chema Rivas followed by a party en‐ livened by the group Alalba. The deputy mayor of La Herradura, Juan Jose Ruiz Joya, said: “We are very happy because there has been a huge amount of participation in everything that was organised by the town council, both at the Day Fair and the Night Fair, and in all the activities that were planned for children, youth and adults.” The patronal festival is usually accompanied by rain, but this year it arrived in the middle of the Chema Rivas concert as the festival came to an end, so it had little impact on the rest of the activities, he added.
REFUGEE FAMILIES: Have been provided with medium-term accommodation.
WITH the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, the local Ukraini‐ an community in Nerja are desperately looking for medium‐term accom‐ modation providers to help offer housing for refugee families that have arrived in the Nerja, Tor‐ rox and Frigiliana areas for three months plus. They are also seeking sponsors who can offer fi‐ nancial support, no mat‐ ter how little, to help refugees and their host families with costs. On Friday, March 18, the local Ukrainian Com‐ munity, led by Viktor Zolotukhin, arranged for two buses to transport 57 refugees to Nerja. The refugees were tak‐ en to Casa Arts and hotel Las Piedras, both near Viñuela, where they re‐
ceived amazing care from the local community for four days. Emotions were high, with many of the refugees overwhelmed with ex‐ haustion, relief, happiness and, above all, gratitude to the local community. On Sunday and Mon‐ day, March 21, the fami‐ lies were moved to the area where within 10 days, 13 host families had come forward to offer ei‐ ther shared or individual accommodation. The time‐frame that the accommodation is available for ranges from two weeks to three months. The families are now starting the process of try‐ ing to piece together some kind of normality while getting used to new
surroundings in a new country. They are being regis‐ tered both in the health and administrative sys‐ tems and it is hoped that the children will soon be in school. Many business‐ es and clubs have offered support or free services. To offer financial sup‐ port or much‐needed ac‐ commodation, please email Gareth Arnold at: help.ukraine.nerja@gmail .com
CHEMA RIVAS: The festivities ended with a concert.
2 EWN
www.euroweeklynews.com
24 - 30 March 2022
NEWS
Torrox Vista Petanca Group THE two Torrox Petanca groups have now amalgamated and the new club is called Torrox Vista Petanca Club. All those who have ever thought about playing Petanca are encouraged to go and give it a try. The group welcomes new members and plays on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings on the Petanca pistes near the El Pino camping site from 10.30am. There are
three games, with coffee after the sec‐ ond game. The club recently ran its first competi‐ tion, Fox and Hounds, in which 21 members took part. Everyone played nine games. The winner was Chris Hudd, with eight wins and +25 points. The ladies’ runner‐up was Rose Dawes, with seven wins and +35 points. The men’s runner‐up was Mike Parsons,
Nursery school registration NURSERIES: Enrolment begins on Friday, April 1.
THE enrolment process for munici‐ pal nursery schools in Almuñecar be‐ gins on Friday, April 1 and will contin‐ ue until May 3. Children born between 2020 and 2022 are eligible. Applications can be collected from any of the municipal nursery schools between 10.30am and 12.00pm from Monday to Friday. They are al‐ so available at the Social Services Centre in the neighbourhood of La Paloma and at the Nursery School Coordination Office. Call 958 616 129
for more information. Almuñecar currently has six municipal nursery schools, five in Almuñecar and one in La Herradura. All of them have a telephone number where families can contact them: Al‐Andalus: 659 447 957 La Herradura: 659 619 273 Reina Sofia: 958 699 463 La Carrera: 958 883 119/676 119 126 Torrecuevas: 958 880 826 Los Marinos: 958 883 195
with eight wins and +24 points. The group wishes to congratulate the winners and thank everyone who took part. They also wish to thank Keith Bourne and Martin Cook for organising the competition and buying a new trophy and the prizes, and Paul Quinn, the new Social Secretary, who organised a lovely meal for after the competition.
First employment office RINCON DE LA VICTORIA will have the first Andalu‐ cian Employment Service office in the municipality. An extraordinary plenary session of the Rincon Town Hall held on Friday March 18 approved the transfer of land to the Junta de Andalucia for its construction. The new facilities will be located in the central area of Huerta Julian, next to the future health centre, which will be the second one in Rincon. Mayor Francisco Salado, said that the location had been selected because it was easily reached by public transport and there was plenty of parking space. “Our aim is to continue increasing resources and services, offering modern infrastructures that pre‐ vent our residents from having to travel to other mu‐ nicipalities,” he said, highlighting “the important work that this government team has been doing to respond to long‐standing demands from the resi‐ dents of the municipality.”
LAND TRANSFER: For the construction work.
NEWS
www.euroweeklynews.com
NIBS EXTRA Velez tourism THE municipality of Velez‐ Malaga has been participat‐ ing since Tuesday, March 22, under the umbrella of APTA and the Costa del Sol, in the International Tourism Fair BTL 2022 in Lisbon, where it will be presented as a top‐ level tourist destination for the Portuguese traveller.
Nerja Brotherhood ON March 22, the deputy mayor of Nerja, Francisco Arce, accompanied by the councillor for Popular Tradi‐ tions, Elena Galvez, attended the inauguration of the new Governing Board of the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Virgin of Carmen, patron saint of sailors. The act took place in the Church of El Sal‐ vador after mass.
Rincon on film THE caves of Rincon de la Vic‐ toria have been visited by a filming crew for the Malaga Film Festival to promote the municipality at the Lisbon Tourism Fair, as well as being included in the cinemato‐ graphic tourist guide of Spain for the German‐speaking public.
Mobile ICUs THE Ministry of Health and Families has put into opera‐ tion a new fleet of mobile ICUs for the Health Emergen‐ cy Centre 061, consisting of 21 new vehicles for health emergency care in Andalu‐ cia. The 061 has reduced by more than half the time re‐ quired to start up these units, received in December.
Refugees welcomed THE mayor of Torrox wel‐ comed a family of Ukrainian refugees who have fled from the war. The family, Valenti‐ na and her two daughters, Oleksandra and Olena, as well as the latter’s little girl, Marharyta Sushchenko, who is only eight years old, have been taken in by a family and will receive help from Social Welfare and the Red Cross.
24 - 30 March 2022
Lux Mundi upcoming events
LUX MUNDI Ecumenical Centre in Torre del Mar continues to have Spanish practice groups from Monday to Thursday, Craft group on Mondays, Art group on Wednesdays and coffee morning on Fridays. The shop is open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 11am to 1pm. Donations in good condition are always welcome. On April 7, there will be a special excursion to Gibraltar. In addition to the usual shopping, Lux Mundi is offering an extra minibus tour up to the Rock of Gibraltar Nature Reserve. This is for only eight people and includes the four main places of interest on the Rock as well
3
Cancer Care Foundation
GIBRALTAR: A special excursion including shopping.
as an entrance ticket to the Skywalk. The Centre will be closed for Easter on April 13, 14 and 15. On April 21, there will be an excursion to the beautiful Priego de Cordoba, where there will be
free time to visit the many tourist attractions including the Fuente del Rey Park, Barrio de la Villa, and St Aurora Chapel. For further information, contact the Centre on 952 543 334 or at luxmundi@ lux-mundi.org.
Sustainable Tourism Plan
THE Nerja Town Council has begun to develop a new Sustainable Tourism Plan that will allow it to apply for grants from the National Plan for Recovery, Transformation and Resilience of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism. The grants, with a minimum investment of €5 million, would be used to finance projects that aim to develop a new tourism model that fits well with the urban and social environment of the municipality. This was announced by the mayor of Nerja, José Alberto Armijo, after meetings held on Tuesday, March 15 with the councillors of Tourism, Environment, Economy and Finance and European Resources, as well as other representatives from the tourism sector and experts in sustainable tourism, who were able to share their vision and ideas. An online survey has been made available to the public on the municipal website and social networks so that they can express their opinions and concerns about the local tourism industry.
EWN
NERJA: Can apply for grants to finance improvements.
Children’s literature conference ON March 25, the Centre of Contemporary Art in Velez‐Mála‐ ga will host the first Conference of Authors of Children’s and Young Adult Literature. More than 25 authors of both literary genres will participate in the initiative. The Conference is part of the Bookeron Project, which was created with the aim of bringing attention to the literature produced by authors from the province of Malaga. The councillor for Culture, Cynthia García, stressed the im‐ portance of initiatives that promote reading and local culture and that “make Velez‐Malaga a point of reference.” The promoter of the Bookeron project, Maite de la Cámara, said that the aim of the cultural event is “to give visibility and recognition to these authors so that their books are available in public libraries, schools, bookshops and other cultural spaces where they can be promoted.” Just some of the authors taking part include Antonio Gómez Yebra, Belén Sánchez Vigo, Carmen Ramos, Paloma Rivas, Is‐ mael Fernández, Alicia Acosta, Susana Rico, Antonio Montoro, Ana Ruiz Luque, José Andrés Delgado, Rocío Clavero, Candela Mesa, Elena López, María Díaz and Svetlana Kalachnik.
DO YOU HAVE NEWS FOR US?
Email: newsdesk@euroweeklynews.com or call 951 38 61 61 and ask for the EWN news team.
CUDECA: Received a grant of €30,000.
ON March 16, the Social Welfare Department of Rin‐ con de la Victoria awarded a grant of €30,000 to the Cancer Care Foundation (CUDECA), which has cared for a total of 73 patients in the municipality over the last year and 723 since the service began. CUDECA has various programmes that provide per‐ sonalised and continuous care to patients, both in their own homes and at the CUDECA facilities. CUDE‐ CA’s teams are made up of doctors, nurses, psycholo‐ gists, social workers and physiotherapists who spe‐ cialise in palliative care and respond to each patient’s needs on an individual basis. The second deputy mayor and councillor for Social Welfare of the Rincon Town Council, Elena Aguilar, thanked CUDECA for its “enormous effort and work over 20 years of service in the municipality.” The head of Institutional Relations and CSR of CUDECA, Aurea Peralta, thanked the Social Welfare department for its constant support and the grant that will allow them to “provide the best palliative care to the citizens of Rincon de la Victoria.”
and finally... AXARQUIA Hospital Refurbishment. The reform and energy rehabilitation works have been completed at the Axarquia Hos‐ pital, which was visited by the manager of the East Malaga‐ Axarquia Health Area, Miguel Moreno, on Thursday March 17. The refurbishment works involved an investment of €1,519,627 and were partly financed by the ERDF funds. Until now, the Axarquia Hospital had retained a large part of the original industrial installations from its inauguration in July 1985. They included air conditioning units that served the entire building, including critical areas such as operating theatres and the ICU, and frequent breakdowns meant that it was often nec‐ essary to rent air conditioning units from elsewhere, especially during the summer. Just some of the new installations at the hospital are seven air conditioning units, seven LED lamps for operating theatres, insulated pipes, energy meters, photovoltaic energy panels, a coat of reflective paint on the roof to reduce the temperature and energy management software.
4 EWN
www.euroweeklynews.com
24 - 30 March 2022
U-turn on electricity A PROPOSAL to cap the cost of electricity has been scrapped by the Spanish and Portuguese Min‐ isters of the Environment. On Friday March 18, Teresa Ribera, the Minister of the Envi‐ ronment, along with her Por‐ tuguese counterpart, Joao Matos Fernandes, announced a joint proposal aimed at capping elec‐ tricity prices. Their plan was to set a limit of €180/MWh, which was to be presented to the European Com‐ mission. The idea has now been aban‐ doned due to a lack of support from other EU member states. It is unclear what new measures, if any, can be proposed to the EU. Aelec, the employers’ association of the large electric utilities, has demanded government inter‐ vention.
Road to rail A NEW €120 million scheme to encourage freight traffic in Spain to shift from road to sustainable rail trans‐ port has been ap‐ proved. The scheme, which will run until June 2026, aims to promote rail as a more environ‐ mentally friendly means of transporta‐ tion, as well as con‐ tributing to the green‐ ing of rail transport. The support will take the form of di‐ rect grants to com‐ pensate freight com‐ panies for the cost difference between
road and rail trans‐ port based on the ac‐ tual volumes of freight shifted from road to rail transport The EU’s Margrethe Vestager said on Monday March 21: “The €120 million scheme approved to‐ day will contribute to improving the com‐ petitiveness and greening of rail freight transport in Spain. It will also support the shift from road to rail, in line with the objec‐ tives of the European Green Deal, while lim‐ iting possible distor‐ tions of competition.”
NEWS
Solely on Boris’s orders A SENIOR official at the For‐ eign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has become the second whistleblower to come for‐ ward over the Afghanistan evacuations. According to Josie Stewart, it was “widespread knowledge” that the decision to evacuate Pen Farthing’s animals “came from the prime minis‐ ter.” Raphael Marshall previ‐ ously blew the whistle on the issue and said that it was the PM who made the decision on Nowzad. Stew‐ art now claims that the for‐ eign affairs select commit‐ tee has been lied to by civil servants. Stewart said on March 21: “I have tried to imagine
but cannot conceive of any way this could have been an honest mistake. I feel a strong sense of moral in‐ jury for having been part of something so badly man‐ aged and so focused on managing reputational risk and political fallout rather than the actual crisis and associated human tragedy. “From what I heard and
saw, Nowzad staff were in‐ cluded as a late addition only in response to this ‘PM decision’. This occurred against the previous judgement of offi‐ cials. I do not find it credi‐ ble that Philip Barton, or those who drafted his let‐ ter dated January 17, 2022, would not have been aware of this.”
and finally... HORRIFIED by the images emerging from Ukraine, profession‐ al tennis player and philanthropist Roger Federer said on Fri‐ day March 18 that he was donating $500,000 (€451,000) for Ukrainian children harmed by the war. He said having children makes you even more aware of how terrible the situation in Ukraine is.
NEWS
www.euroweeklynews.com
24 - 30 March 2022
EWN
5
Platinum pub hours Hero dog at work
TO celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend, pubs will be allowed to stay open an extra two hours. The government has con‐ firmed that pubs in England and Wales will be given a two‐hour licensing exten‐ sion and boozers will be able to serve drinks until 1am during the Jubilee weekend. The Platinum Ju‐ bilee celebrations will mark
70 years on the throne for Queen Elizabeth. The exten‐ sion will apply on June 2, 3 and 4. The opening hours have been extended to al‐ low people to “celebrate the longest‐reigning monarch in the United King‐ dom,” Home Office minister Kit Malthouse said on Mon‐ day March 21. An impact assessment is being put to‐ gether to go along with the
extension order. To mark the occasion, London will host a Platinum Jubilee Pageant. The event will fea‐ ture acts from across the UK and the Commonwealth. It is expected that more than 5,000 people will be in‐ volved in the pageant’s per‐ formances which will fea‐ ture music, circus acts, theatre shows and street arts.
Plane crash in China
A BOEING 737 nosedived into the ground on Monday March 21 killing all 132 people on board and, according to flight data, was travelling at 560kph when it hit the ground. The accident, which crashed into a mountainous area in southern China, looks set to be the country’s most deadly plane crash for decades. The plane of route from the city of Kunming to Guangzhou plunged into a thick forest of bamboo on a hillside in Guanxi province. Flight MU5735 left the south‐western city of Kunming at 1.11pm and had been due
Heathrow chaos FURIOUS Heathrow pas‐ sengers have slammed the “worst‐ever” pass‐ port control queues with claims they faced a “mile‐long” line on Tues‐ day March 22. Passengers took to so‐ cial media to share pho‐ tos of hundreds of peo‐ ple waiting at Terminal 5. Conservative Lord and Defra minister Richard Benyon tweeted: “In a queue about a quarter of a mile long at Heathrow. No one telling us about what the problem is. No staff on hand at all. I am embarrassed that for so many this is the first ex‐ perience of the UK.” One traveller com‐ mented: “What’s with passport control at T5 this morning? Ridiculous. At least one hour wait.” Another frustrated passenger said: “Arrival lines at Heathrow at least a mile long.”
BOEING 737: Plunged to the ground.
to land at Guanzhou at 3.05pm. Accord‐ ing to data from FlightRadar24, the six‐ year‐old Boeing 737‐800 was last tracked at 2.22pm. The Civil Aviation Administra‐ tion of China (CAAC) said the aircraft, with 123 passengers and nine crew aboard, had lost contact over the city of Wuzhou.
David Searl
LEGAL EXPERT: Passed away peacefully on March 18.
FINANCE guru and legal expert David Searl has died at the age of 82. David had a regular column in the Euro Weekly News, Legally Speaking, where each week he answered readers’ enquiries on legal matters. A US citizen, David made a life for himself on the Costa del Sol. Jesper Sander Pedersen, President of the Costa Press Club, said: “If you are not already aware, David Searl, one of the first members of the Costa Press Club, passed away peacefully on Friday March 18 at the age of 82. “David Searl, a US citizen, settled on the Costa del Sol in the mid‐70s and was until his death one of the Costa del Sol’s most important writers of articles and books focusing on legal substance. He was the lead writer on law for the acclaimed month‐ ly magazine, Lookout, and continued on the same track in other English‐language media,” he added. David leaves his wife, Mary, two sons, Ben and Daniel, and three grandchildren.
A JACK RUSSELL terrier has become a hero in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. His name is Patron and he is in charge of sniffing out and detecting mines and explosives laid by Rus‐ sian troops. Dressed in a tiny mili‐ tary vest, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service (DSNS) have hailed him as a vital member of their team. Patron has already helped deactivate more than 90 explosive de‐ vices, the DSNS said on Saturday March 19. “By the way, he likes cheese a lot, so our boys are taking advantage of the occasion and are p a m p e r i n g h i m , t o l o‐ cate the mines and ex‐ plosives,” they added. There are believed to be more than 750 dogs working in mine detec‐ tion programmes in some 23 countries.
PATRON: Has helped deactivate more than 90 explosives.
Hipra vaccine HIPRA laboratories are hoping to put the first Spanish Covid‐19 vaccine on the market in June. Carles Fabrega, director of the company’s Human Health divi‐ sion said they hope to get the green light from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in May or early June. Hipra would then enter the industrial manufacturing phase which, after months of preparing the antigen, would last just over two weeks. According to Fabrega, researchers are currently evaluating the vaccine’s ‘safety and tolerability’ before presenting the final doc‐ umentation to EMA. Some 3,000 volunteers have worked in the Hipra laboratories in Girona and research carried out in different hospitals in Spain with some 2,500 people has already been completed.
6 EWN
www.euroweeklynews.com
24 - 30 March 2022
Madeleine investigation THE 11‐year investigation by Scotland Yard into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann may come to an end this year. In May 2011, four years after she vanished, the Operation Grange inquiry was launched. Its funding is set to run out on March 31 but the file could be re‐ opened if significant new evidence comes to light. A request has been sub‐ mitted to the Home Of‐ fice by the Metropolitan Police asking for a final grant. If approved, that would carry the inquiry on to the end of Septem‐ ber and bring the total ex‐ penditure on the investi‐ gation to approximately £13 million. May 3 will be the 15th anniversary of Madeleine vanishing in 2007 from a holiday apartment in Pra‐ ia da Luz on Portugal’s Al‐ garve. She was just three years old at the time.
NASA debut NASA has debuted its new Space Launch Sys‐ tem with the giant rocket taken down to the pad at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida to conduct a dummy countdown. NASA has plans to send a test rocket around the moon later this year ahead of plans to send a manned mission within the next five to seven years. The enormous rocket, almost 100 metres tall, is designed to be much more powerful than the Apollo vehicles of the late 1960s and 1970s with the ability to travel beyond the moon as well as to carry significantly more equipment. The rollout on Friday March 18 gave NASA the first opportunity to see the rocket and all its different elements fully stacked together. The rocket was moved on a massive mobile
AN American company, Citizen Brick, has produced a Volodymyr Zelensky Lego fig‐ urine that has so far raised more than €130,000 for victims of the war in Ukraine. The company, which overprints Lego and other figurines, sold the miniature Ze‐ lenskys for €90 each along with Molotov cocktails in the Ukrainian colours for €9. Funds raised were donated to Direct Relief and other charities and the toys are
ROCKET: Was moved on a massive mobile launcher.
launcher that is over 120 metres high and weighs more than 5,000 tons.
Lego Zelensky now sold out. Lego, whose figurines were used and who wishes to remain apolitical, said on Thursday March 17: “This initiative has absolutely nothing to do with the Lego Group. It’s the work of an independent retailer which has no connection to the company.”
NEWS
Hocus pocus A 71-YEAR-OLD who became the UK’s first official witch af‐ ter being given permission by Inland Revenue to use the term on her tax return, has filed her first return including in‐ come and expenses for potions and spells. Cassandra Latham‐Jones was given what is believed to be unique approval to register as a self‐employed ‘village witch’. That registration allows her as a self‐employed ‘witch’ to write off certain tax‐deductible expenses including ingredi‐ ents for potions. Latham‐Jones has been a witch and official wise‐woman for the village of St Buryan in Cornwall for more than 30 years. The trained nurse and qualified counsel‐ lor offers services including tarot card reading, rituals, sea magic, dark arts, spells and wart charming. In addition, she carries out other duties such as counselling and community services. She says she became a witch after meeting fellow witches and maintains she is “no different from anyone else in the service industry” but with “slightly unusual expenses.” “They told me I needed to register with the Inland Rev‐ enue, so that’s what I did. It turns out I was a bit of a pioneer because no one has done it before,” she said on Sunday March 20.
and finally... WHEN most of us are getting shorter, one old lady has bucked the trend as the Eiffel Tower grows by six me‐ tres. On Tuesday March 15 a new digital radio antenna was attached to the top of the Paris monument, raising the height of the steel structure to 330 metres. The new antenna, a DAB+ (digital audio) was airlifted onto its peak by helicopter, in a delicate operation.
NEWS
www.euroweeklynews.com
24 - 30 March 2022
Terror threat lowered
THE Northern Ireland‐re‐ lated terrorism threat level has been lowered from se‐ vere to substantial. It is the first time the threat level has changed in 12 years. Substantial means that a
terrorist attack is likely and might well occur without further warning. The deci‐ sion to change the threat level has been taken by MI5, independently of gov‐ ernment ministers.
Lost boys found
TWO young brothers who became lost in the Amazon jungle during the rainy season have been found after nearly four weeks. The indigenous boys aged six and eight, got lost trying to catch small birds on February 18. Glauco and Gleison Ferreira were taken to hospital with malnutrition, but it is believed that they will make a full recovery. Hundreds of residents spent weeks looking for the two boys, who disappeared at the worst possible time of year with the rains making walking and searching difficult in the muddy and murky conditions. The search was called off on February 24 but eventu‐ ally a man cutting wood found them on March 18 just six kilometres from the village of Palmeira, where the boys live in the Lago Capana protected land reserve.
STATS
90%
About 90% of all people live in the Northern Hemisphere.
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, said: “This is the first time the threat level in Northern Ireland has changed since 2010 and shows the significant progress that Northern Ire‐ land has made, and contin‐ ues to make, towards a more peaceful, more pros‐ perous and safer society. “It is a testament to the ongoing commitment to protecting the peace pro‐ cess and tackling Northern Ireland‐related terrorism, and the tremendous ef‐ forts of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and MI5 for their hard‐won gains over the past decade. “However, it is not a time for complacency. There is still a minority who wish to cause harm in Northern Ireland. As ever, the public should remain vigilant and report any concerns they may have to the police,” he added on March 22.
EWN
7
Priests and nuns
THE number of Catholic priests and nuns in Spain is in steady decline, ac‐ cording to the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE). Members of the priesthood fell by 12.3 per cent and the number of nuns has decreased by 19.8 per cent since 2015. During the same peri‐ od the number of work‐ ing monasteries fell by 109. The issue for the
CATHOLIC CHURCH: The numbers are falling.
church is twofold. The number of priests and nuns retiring or dying is increasing while the number of people join‐ ing seminaries is falling.
In 2019, there were 1,203 seminary students but only 1,028 signed up for the current academic year, the CEE said on Sunday March 20.
Professional diesel bonus IN an attempt to bring to an end Spain’s lorry driver strike, the government has approved a €500 million package to subsidise diesel for ‘professional use’. Following a meeting with the National Committee for Road Transport (CNTC), which does not represent striking lorry drivers, on March 18, the Minister of Trans‐ port, Raquel Sanchez, said: “We have fo‐ cused on effective and efficient measures.
That they follow the structure of what has been adopted in other countries. A bonus in the price of professional diesel, so that it has a real and effective impact on carriers.” The nationwide transport strike is organ‐ ised by the Platform in Defence of the Na‐ tional and International Road Freight Trans‐ port Sector. This entity is not a part of the CNTC, the only body the government has agreed to meet with.
8 EWN
www.euroweeklynews.com
24 - 30 March 2022
Caribbean tour ROYALS William and Kate have launched a Caribbean charm offen‐ sive on a tour to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge landed in Belize on Saturday, March 19, but the start of the trip was disrupted by a small group of protesters. Around 20 people at‐ tended a protest at a ca‐ cao farm. Prince William is the Patron of the Flora and Fauna International charity which owns the farm’s land. The protesters said the land is
ancestral so belongs to the public and is not “Crown land”. The couple’s itinerary was changed as a result.
However, the rest of the tour proceeded as planned with a radiant Kate being dubbed “the belle of Belize.”
Ghastly Madeley GMB fans want ‘ghastly’ presenter Richard Madeley ‘permanently’ replaced and instead want Martin Lewis to take over the role. Madeley was absent on Monday March 21 and Lewis filled in for him, to the delight of many view‐ ers. One viewer wrote on so‐
cial media: “I can’t watch Mon‐Wed when ghastly, tactless, Toryboy Richard Madeley is on. He’s got no depth of knowledge and is unwatchable. The other two have empathy and in‐ teresting backgrounds.” Madeley has admitted to alienating fans before: “I re‐ member once, on a perfect summer’s morning I was walking along the cliff near our house in Cornwall and as I came round a bend in the path, I saw this large man coming towards me. He said, ‘I just want you to know that everything you’ve ever done, every‐ thing you’ve ever said, ev‐ erything you ever will say or do, I loathe and despise.”
NEWS
Arnie calls for peace F I L M s t a r a n d e x ‐ C a l i‐ fornia Governor, Arnold Schwarzeneg‐ ger, has taken to social media to make an im‐ passioned plea to Rus‐ sian troops in Ukraine warning them to not be like his father. Schwarzenegger’s fa‐ ther fought for the Nazis in the Second World War leaving him broken physically and mentally, according to the Austrian‐born ac‐ tor. In a video message posted on Thursday March 17, the 74‐year‐ old spoke of his “affec‐ tion and respect” for the Russian people ev‐ er since meeting his hero bodybuilder Yuri Petrovich Vlasov at the young age of 14. Urging them to learn from the plight of his Austrian father, he said there are “moments like this that are so
Respect for the Russians.
wrong and then we have to speak up.” In a direct message to Russian troops in Ukraine, he warned: “ Ev e r y b u l l e t y o u shoot, you shoot a brother or sister.”
Red Nose Day DESPITE rising living costs and the after effects of the pandemic, the British have once again opened their wallets and purses as Red Nose Day raised £42 million (€51 million) for charity. By contrast £55 mil‐ lion (€65 million) was raised in 2021. Some of the funds raised will benefit organisations providing aid to those affected by the war in Ukraine. Broadcast from the BBC studios in Salford for the first time, the show included a star studded line‐up with comedy sketches by Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, Matt Lucas and David Walliams. A number of stars had to pull out of the show due to Covid‐19 including host Zoe Ball, Kylie Minogue and Joel Dommett. Other famous faces joining the fundraising event included Tom Holland, Courteney Cox, Lulu, Paul Rudd, Chris Kamara, Vic Reeves, Jeff Goldblum, Clive Myrie, Jamie Dornan and Gordon Ramsay.
Leona Lewis pregnant SINGER Leona Lewis is expecting her first child with her husband Dennis Jauch and the couple is said to be “over the moon.” Leona came to fame in 2006 when she won X Factor. Speaking before the couple wed Lewis revealed: “We’re so ready to do this. Dennis is the most kind, consider‐ ate person I’ve ever met. He’s been my rock through my crazy ups and downs and everything I’ve gone through in my life.” She later described the pair’s Buddhist wedding ceremony as “just the most beautiful day, full of love.” “It was so special to be able to bring to‐ gether everyone we love. There were a
THE annual World’s Happiest Countries sur‐ vey has ranked Finland as the world’s happiest country for the fifth year in a row Its neighbours Den‐ mark, Norway, Sweden and Iceland also score well on healthy life ex‐ pectancy, GDP per capita, social support in times of trouble, low corruption and high so‐
SINGER: Expecting her first child.
lot of tears. The room already had so much good energy and having all the love in there was really powerful,” she added.
Finnish bliss cial trust, generosity in a community where people look after each other and freedom to make key life deci‐ sions. Spain ranks 29th and the UK ranks 17th. Both Ukraine and Russia are in the bot‐ tom half of the table
and Afghanistan takes bottom place. Jan‐Emmanuel De Neve, the report’s edi‐ tor, said: “The rankings are a stark reminder of the material and imma‐ terial damage that war does to its many vic‐ tims.”
NEWS
www.euroweeklynews.com
24 - 30 March 2022
EWN
9
Health help Sharon Osbourne show SHARON OSBOURNE will front her own prime time current affairs panel show, The Talk, on TalkTV. The new show will see Sharon team up with her
ON ARRIVAL: Refugees will undergo simple tests.
UKRAINIAN refugees en‐ tering Spain will not have to fill out the Spain Travel Health security document to prove that they have been vaccinated against Covid‐19, the Ministry of Health announced on Fri‐ day, March 18. They will however have to undergo a symptom check on arrival by sea or air, and those not already jabbed will be adminis‐ tered the vaccine. The measures were giv‐ en the green light by the Public Health Commission ‘given the exceptional situ‐
ation that Ukraine is expe‐ riencing’. Each refugee “will be of‐ fered vaccines according to age and risk condition, and in the case of children and adolescents, vaccina‐ tion against diphtheria, tetanus, polio, whooping cough, and Haemophilus influenza B,” the Ministry added. Special attention will be paid to pregnant women, or people in a sit‐ uation of vulnerability. Across Spain, 5,500 hospi‐ tal beds have been made available for refugees, of which 1,184 are paediatric.
The Queen is hiring THE Queen is hiring for a Buckingham Palace makeover and for the right applicant £30,000 could be on offer. Her Majesty is looking for a painter and decorator to help complete a makeover at her iconic London address. The Palace has more than 700 rooms and the decorator will be responsi‐ ble for adding ‘decorative finishes’. The deadline for the full‐ time position is Saturday April 3. The Buckingham Palace renovation is ex‐ pected to cost £369 million. The makeover is contro‐
Historic aid allocation SPAIN will allocate a total of €31 million for humanitari‐ an aid, of which €23 million will go to Ukraine and €8 million to other countries in the region through a com‐ prehensive emergency hu‐ manitarian response pack‐ age. The allocation, the largest in Spanish history and chan‐ nelled through the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, will respond to appeals from the United Nations and other international or‐ ganisations in the shape of an extraordinary call for hu‐ manitarian action grants for NGOs, as well as the provi‐ sion of an emergency hospi‐ tal for possible deployment in border countries. After the first shipment of more than 20 tons of medicines, equipment and medical supplies to Poland on March 2, a convoy of 30 tons of humanitarian aid was sent to Moldova and a second shipment of medicines and medical sup‐
plies to Ukraine, in coordi‐ nation with the Ministry of Health, worth almost €1 million. More direct assis‐
tance is envisaged as the needs of Ukraine and neigh‐ bouring countries become clearer.
More tourism jobs THE number of affiliated workers linked to tourism activi‐ ties increased by 305,246 workers in February, reaching a total of 2,309,687, according to figures released by Tures‐ pana. At the end of last month, those employed in tourism ac‐ counted for 11.7 per cent of the total number of employ‐ ees in the national economy and the year‐on‐year growth trend in the number of affiliates that began in June last year continued, reaching a year‐on‐year rate of 15.2 per cent. “The good employment figures in the tourism sector show that the protection plan rolled out by the govern‐ ment to protect businesses and workers, as well as the health management of the pandemic, have proved effec‐ tive and have allowed us to maintain and also generate new jobs in a key sector of our economy,” said the Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto on Thurs‐ day March 17.
STATS
1
good friend, Piers Morgan, who has his own show, Piers Morgan Uncensored, on the channel. Rebekah Brooks, Chief Ex‐ ecutive of News UK, the
A human loses about 1 million skin cells per day.
versial though as more than 100,000 people have signed a position saying that the Royal family should cough up the cash for the refurb. The advert reads: “It’s adding the decorative fin‐ ishes, for people to appre‐ ciate for years to come. Working in such uniquely historic environments means you’ll have the op‐ portunity to expand your existing skills. “You’ll regularly handle specialist wall coverings, sign‐writing and use spe‐ cialist paint finishes, such as marbling and gilding,” it adds.
company responsible for launching TalkTV, said: “Sharon has built a unique and hugely successful me‐ dia career, combining strong views and opinion with a lot of warmth and fun. Her unbounding energy will make her show com‐ pelling viewing, and we are delighted to give her a new home at TalkTV.” Sharon will welcome five famous faces onto her show for one hour each weeknight to debate topics including crime, politics,
Teaming up with Piers.
health, and entertainment. The show will air later this spring. “I’m excited to be working with News UK, the panel, and my good friend Piers. Watch this space for some exciting and lively de‐ bates,” Sharon said on March 17.
and finally...
DINO’S IN THE SAND is the new sand festival in Belgium’s Mid‐ delkerkse which will run from July 1 to September 11 this year. In 2021, there were more than 100,000 visitors who turned up to the first festival of its kind in the town and organisers were staggered by the response. This year, it’s moving to a new loca‐ tion on the beach at the Arthur De Greefplein to try to ensure that residents are not inconvenienced by the number of peo‐ ple who turn up and with 6,000 tons of sculpting sand available there should be plenty of exhibits to be viewed.
10 EWN
www.euroweeklynews.com
24 - 30 March 2022
THE UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) has announced a major shake‐up to the basket of goods used to calculate infla‐ tion. The ONS said that lifestyles and patterns of expenditure have changed because of the Covid‐19 pandemic and its impact on work‐ ing practices with a shift away from work wear to exercise gear, as more and more
Suits you sir
people work from home and more and more people look to a healthier lifestyle. Disappearing from the basket are men’s suits to be replaced by blazers and jackets, and appearing in the basket are sports
bras. Sam Beckett, the head of economic statistics at the ONS, said: “The impact of the pandemic is still evident in our shop‐ ping habits. With many people still working from home, demand for more formal
Fur free Europe
AN initiative called Fur Free Eu‐ rope, which is looking to ban fur production across the EU, is un‐ der consideration and can now begin collecting campaign signa‐ tures. The initiative also asks for a ban on placing fur and products con‐ taining it on the EU market, ac‐ cording to a statement from the European Commission. The Com‐ mmision said on March 16: “The European Citizens’ Initiative fulfils the formal conditions and as such considers that it is legally admissi‐ ble.” Following registration, if a Euro‐ pean Citizens’ Initiative, which was introduced with the Lisbon
NO MORE: A ban on fur is now under consideration.
Treaty as an agenda‐setting tool in the hands of citizens, receives one million signatures of support within one year ‐ from at least seven different member states ‐
the Commission will have to react. The Commission can decide to take the request forward or not, but it will be required to explain its reasoning.
NEWS
clothing has continued to decrease. “So, men’s suits disappear from the bas‐ ket and are replaced with a formal jacket or blazer. Last year’s lockdown living saw an increase in the number of us working out and exercising. That has continued into 2022 with the addition of the sports bra in‐ to the basket reflecting greater spending on sports clothing,” he added on March 15.
Transatlantic dialogues BRITAIN and America are set to launch a series of new transat‐ lantic dialogues to deepen mu‐ tual trade and investment ties. The first dialogue was to take place in Baltimore, Mary‐ land, on March 21‐22 with the second to take place in the UK later in spring. The events will bring together government ministers, senior officials, trade unions, businesses and civil society from both sides to discuss ways the UK and US can work together. International Trade Secretary Anne‐Marie Trevelyan said: “The US is our biggest trading partner. Our thriving relation‐ ship already delivers so much for our economies, businesses
and people. Now, more than ever, we recognise the power of deepening trade ties with like‐minded allies around the world. “This new UK‐US dialogue is a symbol of our ambition to work even closer with busi‐ nesses and workers to pro‐ mote innovation, inclusive eco‐ nomic growth and support jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. “These events are a huge op‐ portunity to make it even easi‐ er, quicker and more cost‐ef‐ fective to do trans‐Atlantic trade, but also to tackle the most pressing challenges we face like congested supply chains and climate change,” she added on March 16.
Increased interest rates
THE Bank of England’s Mone‐ tary Policy Committee has voted in favour of increasing the interest rate from 0.5 per cent 0.75 per cent. With the ongoing war in Ukraine, fur‐ ther increases could be seen this year. Eight members of the com‐ mittee voted in favour of the move on Thursday March 17. Minutes from the Monetary Policy Committee meeting said: “Given the current tight‐ ness of the labour market, continuing signs of robust do‐
Bank of England decision.
mestic cost and price pres‐ sures, and the risk that those pressures would persist, most members of the Committee judged that a 0.25 percentage point increase in Bank Rate was warranted at this meet‐ ing.
“UK activity had been some‐ what stronger than had been expected at the time of the February Report and there had been indications that the cur‐ rent tightening in the labour market might not reverse di‐ rection as quickly as had been expected. “The effects of Russia’s inva‐ sion of Ukraine would likely ac‐ centuate both the peak in in‐ flation and the adverse impact on activity by intensifying the squeeze on household in‐ comes,” the minutes added.
Improving energy efficiency THE government in Madrid has agreed to distribute €170 million to Spain’s au‐ tonomous regions to improve energy effi‐ ciency and the circular economy in compa‐ nies in the tourism sector. The Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, said on March 16 that the funds come from the Next Genera‐ tion EU programme and will contribute to reducing energy costs and the carbon foot‐ print. The government expects that this
€170 million will be able to finance more than 2,600 actions in the accommodation sector, helping to improve efficiency and re‐ duce consumption in the face of soaring electricity prices. Minister Maroto said that the investment is in addition to the €570 million fund for im‐ proving tourism competitiveness, which will finance actions to improve energy and light‐ ing in tourist establishments, and to develop the circular economy.
NEWS
www.euroweeklynews.com
24 - 30 March 2022
Major supply crunch
Portable battery A BRITISH company has launched what it believes is a world first, a portable electric vehicle battery pack that will allow drivers to recharge their car wherever they are. Essentially a spare battery in a suitcase, the battery pack will fit in the average car’s boot for use when needed. The ZipCharge Go, which will be available for delivery early
2023, was designed like a rolling suitcase and is intended to provide a backup when a charging point is not available. According to research con‐ ducted in the UK more than a third of the population would not consider an electric vehicle because of concerns about keeping it charged. The unit us‐ es state of the art bi‐directional charging that allows the bat‐
SUITCASE SIZED: Will fit in the average car boot.
tery to be fully charged within one hour providing extra mileage of roughly 32 to 65 kilometres depending on the car.
Reception centres open SPAIN has opened four reception centres for Ukrainian refugees, including a centre in Ali‐ cante. The Minister for Inclusion, Jose Luis Escriva, said the government is committed to a “rapid deployment of Reception and Referral Cen‐ tres in Madrid, Barcelona, Alicante and Mala‐ ga to facilitate the care of displaced persons and offer emergency shelter to those who need it. “We have strengthened our reception net‐ work, in coordination with other public ad‐ ministrations and third sector entities, and with a new family reception programme. Spain has been one of the fastest European countries to transpose this directive and also one of those that has adopted it most exten‐
sively, as we have extended the subjective scope of application to groups that we consid‐ er should also be protected,” he said. The reception centres are multifunctional. “Firstly, they receive displaced persons from Ukraine and give them an initial orientation. Secondly, they enable the completion of work and residence permit procedures within 24 hours and finally, they decide on the refer‐ ral of those in need to the most suitable places available, following in‐depth inter‐ views,” Escriva said. “For this reason, the creation of these Re‐ ception, Care and Referral Centres makes it possible to centralise all these functions in a single place, facilitating the care of displaced persons,” he added on March 15.
Amazon Prime
AMAZON has been accused of intentionally making it harder to quit Prime. The company is alleged to have launched a project code‐named ‘Iliad’ to bam‐ boozle Prime users with questions and offers before they could eventually get to the web page where they could end their subscription. Figures included in leaked documents show that cancel‐ lations dropped by up to 14 per cent with fewer mem‐ bers navigating through to the final cancellation page. Whilst the initial project is no longer in use, a version of the original is still active to‐ day. Multiple complaints have been filed in a number of countries asking for investiga‐ tions to be opened into Ama‐ zon Prime’s cancellation pro‐ cess. Amazon denies any wrong‐ doing. Jamil Ghani, Vice‐Presi‐ dent of Amazon Prime said: “Customer transparency and
trust are top priorities for us. “By design we make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up for and to cancel their Prime membership. We
continually listen to customer feedback and look for ways to improve the customer ex‐ perience,” he added on March 15.
Ukrainian drivers
UKRAINIAN refugees’ driving licences will be valid in Spain for at least one year, the government announced on Tuesday, March 15. The new measure was approved by the Director Gen‐ eral of Traffic, Pere Navarro, and is a “response to the ex‐ traordinary and exceptional nature of the situation creat‐ ed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the magnitude of the massive influx of displaced persons.” Under the new rules Spain recognises the “validity of the Ukrainian driving licence to drive in Spain for a period of one year after obtaining temporary protection, as long as the driving licence is valid and the holder is of the age required in Spain to obtain an equivalent Spanish li‐ cence.” Ukrainian licence holders will also be able to swap their driving licences for a Spanish licence if they choose to.
STATS
38
EWN 11
The largest snowflake ever recorded was 38cm across.
IN the face of the emerg‐ ing global energy crisis triggered by Russia’s in‐ vasion of Ukraine, practi‐ cal actions by govern‐ ments and citizens could achieve significant re‐ ductions in oil demand in a matter of months, re‐ ducing the risk of a ma‐ jor supply crunch, ac‐ cording to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The IEA’s 10‐point plan for achieving this in‐ cludes reducing speed limits on highways by at least 10kph, as well as in‐ troducing ‘car‐free Sun‐ days’ in cities. They also want to promote car sharing and restrict ac‐ cess by car to large cities based on licence plate numbers. Teleworking at least three days a week would save some 400,000 barrels, including the ef‐ fect of reducing the im‐ pact of using car air con‐ ditioners in summer.
If all 10 measures were adopted, it would lower oil demand by 2.7 million
barrels a day within four months, the IEA said on Friday, March 18.
Green drones
THE Royal Air Force (RAF) has launched its first successful drone using an alternative to fossil fuel. Under Project Vermeer, the RAF flew a four‐metre drone with synthetic fuel. Synthetic kerosene is entirely fossil fuel‐free, made by mixing raw materi‐ als with high sugar levels, such as food waste, with bacteria to create an oil substance that is then converted into aviation fuel using chemicals and heat. Air Vice Marshal Lincoln Taylor said: “The RAF needs to ensure that we are at the forefront of tech‐ nology to safeguard our own resilience and operational capa‐ bility, whilst minimising our damage to the environment. “Fuel scarcity and cost will only ever increase in its impact on our operations and synthetic fuels for our aircraft are one po‐ tential solution to this situation as we look to secure the objec‐ tives of the next generation RAF of tomorrow,” he added on Wednesday March 16. As the process does not require large‐ scale infrastructure, synthetic kerosene can be made any‐ where, making it an attractive option for military deployments around the world.
STATS
87
The longest time between two twins being born is 87 days.
12 EWN
www.euroweeklynews.com
24 - 30 March 2022
EUROPEAN PRESS
Password sharing EUROPEAN PRESS NETFLIX is cracking down on password sharing and users could soon be charged extra for sharing passwords outside of their household. Netflix features include sep‐ arate profiles and multiple streams on its standard and premium platforms, but some people are sharing ac‐ counts between households, to the company’s financial detriment.
Includes separate profiles.
The streaming company said in a statement on March 16: “For the last year we’ve been working on ways to en‐ able members who share out‐
side their household to do so easily and securely, while also paying a bit more.” According to Netflix, the first option is to add an extra member at a reduced cost. The other is to transfer a pro‐ file to a new account. Netflix added that they will be testing out the new fea‐ tures in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru before “making changes anywhere else in the world.”
Inclusive Britain
THE British Government has published its land‐ mark Inclusive Britain strategy to tackle racial and ethnic disparities and ensure fairness across the UK. Inclusive Britain was developed in response to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Dispari‐ ties’ independent report which made 24 rec‐ ommendations to tackle ethnic disparities. Minister of State for Equalities Kemi Bade‐ noch said: “I strongly believe that Britain is the fairest and most open‐minded country in the world, but there is more we can do to foster in‐ clusion and enable everyone to reach their full potential.
“We are building trust through improving po‐ lice scrutiny, promoting fairness in the work‐ place with new evidence‐based resources that work, tackling serious youth violence which dis‐ proportionately affects certain communities, and fostering inclusion by designing a new Model History Curriculum telling the story of the making of modern Britain. “The causes behind racial disparities are com‐ plex and often misunderstood. Our new strate‐ gy is about action, not rhetoric and will help cre‐ ate a country where a person’s race, social or ethnic background is no barrier to achieving their ambitions,” he added on March 17.
DENMARK
Little Mermaid
No smoking
COPENHAGEN’S iconic statue of The Little Mermaid became an unexpected casualty of the Russian invasion of Ukraine when on Sunday, March 13, it was sprayed with the letter Z (currently recognised as support for Russia) followed by an equal sign and a swastika.
INTENT on eliminating the culture of smoking from Denmark, the government intends to ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone born in 2010 and after, so that eventually it will become a smoke free country, although recreational cannabis smoking is illegal there but still takes place.
THE NETHERLANDS New epidemic
Blaming Russia
NOW that the country seems to have learnt how to keep Covid-19 more or less under control, Holland is now officially in the grip of a flu epidemic, with the number of people diagnosed with the disease ‘rapidly increasing’, according to national health institute RIVM.
BOTH The Netherlands and Australian governments have announced that they are taking legal action against the Russian government as they present arguments to the International Civil Aviation Organisation blaming Russia for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 caused by rebels firing a Russian supplied missile.
BELGIUM In tune
Shrimp champion
ABOUT 100 violinists, mainly children, with the youngest being four years of age, took part in a mobile concert in the streets of Antwerp to support Ukraine and to raise money for the victims of the Russian invasion on Saturday March 12.
THE Royal Order of Horse Shrimp Fishers has chosen self-styled ‘shrimp town’ Oostduinkerke as the site for the first Belgian shrimp peeling championship which is due to be held on June 26, with participants expected from across Belgium and even France where the world championship is held.
GERMANY Inaugural flight
Chip boom
FOR historical reasons, there were never many flights between Berlin and the USA due to the problems with East Germany and all flights stopped in March 2020, but on March 28 2022, United Airlines will start its first flight from Berlin BER Airport to Newark in New Jersey.
ALTHOUGH it’s not a short-term solution, US micro chip manufacturer Intel said that it is to invest €17 billion in building a new site in Magdeburg by 2027, possibly influenced by financial support as well as a huge requirement from German automobile manufacturers.
FRANCE Secrets revealed
Corsican autonomy
AS workers prepare to rebuild the spire of Notre Dame damaged in the 2019 fire, the cathedral is revealing new secrets, including several previously unknown tombs and a human shaped sarcophagus made of lead, which archaeologists believe dates back to the 14th century.
WORRIED by an insurgence of violent nationalism on the island of Corsica, birthplace of Napoleon, the French government has finally announced that it may be prepared to discuss some form of autonomy for the island in the event that it is returned to power following the upcoming elections.
NORWAY NATO chief
Bomb shelters
NATO’s popular Norwegian secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg has been the subject of some controversy as he was recruited to become Governor of the Bank of Norway, but now he is reportedly being urged to extend his stay at NATO after October 1.
A LAW requires that all Norwegian bomb shelters should be ready for use within 72 hours of an alert, but due to the end of the Cold War the majority have been used as storage and there is only space for half of the population.
FINANCE BUSINESS EXTRA Madrid investment ALLIANZ Real Estate has made its second PRS (private rental sector) investment in Spain with the ac‐ quisition of nine prime residential buildings in the Chamartín district of Madrid for €185 million, follow‐ ing its first investment in Barcelona and Madrid last year.
In administration SHIRTMAKER TM Lewin has been forced to call in UK administrators for the second time in less than two years, as more people work from home and therefore don’t need so much formal wear. Hav‐ ing closed its 150 shops, it em‐ ployed 50 staff for its online only business.
New name IN order to promote its commit‐ ment to renewable energy, Ence Energia a subsidiary of Spanish pulp producer and energy group Ence has changed its name to Magnon Green Energy, the group announced on Wednesday March 16 and will introduce a new, self‐ explanatory logo.
Chef wars TV celebrity chef Gino D’Acampo will be the avatar face of a new cooking‐themed play‐to‐earn game Big Town Chef and he is looking for investors in the game which will allow players to pro‐ duce their own fresh vegetables, trade virtual ingredients and com‐ pete in cook‐off battles.
Air Europa THE on/off sale of Air Europa to IAG is back on again as a new agree‐ ment is in place between IAG sub‐ sidiary Iberia and the airline owned by Globalia. In return for a seven‐ year unsecured loan of €100 million to Globalia (subject to approval from its current lenders), Iberia will have the exclusive rights to negoti‐ ate an agreement to purchase dur‐ ing the coming 12 months. If at the end of the loan period, it is not re‐ paid in full then IAG will be entitled to take a 20 per cent share of Air Europa. In addition, in the event that a bid comes in from any other airline, IAG will have preference if it matches the offer.
www.euroweeklynews.com • 24 - 30 March 2022
14
STAT OF WEEK
£807 million
was the reported turnover made by UK pub chain Wetherspoons for the last six months of trading to January 31 which resulted in a £13 million loss.
P&O Ferries sack 800 staff THURSDAY March 17 was a day of turmoil at P&O Ferries after it was revealed that the company would be making major redundancies fol‐ lowed by an announcement that its 800 sailing staff would be losing their jobs with immediate effect. Early on that day, all sailings were suspended ahead of a major an‐ nouncement from the company as rumours circulated that the compa‐ ny, which has 20 ships, would be go‐ ing into liquidation, although this was denied by the company. According to the British press, a P&O Ferries spokesperson said: “We have made a £100 million (€119 mil‐ lion) loss year on year, which has been covered by our parent DP World. This is not sustainable. Our survival is dependent on making swift and significant changes now. Without these changes there is no future for P&O Ferries.
“These circumstances have result‐ ed in a very difficult but necessary decision, which was only taken after seriously considering all the avail‐ able options. “As part of the process we are starting today, we are providing 800 seafarers with immediate severance notices and will be compensating them for this lack of advance notice with enhanced compensation pack‐ ages.” Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “I am very concerned about the news from P&O Ferries this morning and we will be speaking to the company today to understand the impact on workers and passen‐ gers. “Important to note other opera‐ tors continue to run cross Channel routes, so passengers and goods can flow, but I am working with the Kent Resilience Forum to min‐
imise disruption.” It is understood that the company will initially be using agency staff to reinstate its services within the next week or so and will be recruiting for‐ eign sailors to secure its long‐term future. After the announcement of the redundancies, the Nautilus union chief said: “The news that P&O Fer‐ ries is sacking the crew across its en‐ tire UK fleet is a betrayal of British workers. It is nothing short of scan‐ dalous given that this Dubai owned company received millions of pounds of British taxpayer’s money during the pandemic. “There was no consultation and no notice given by P&O. Be assured the full resources of Nautilus Inter‐ national stand ready to act in de‐ fence of our members. We believe it is in our members’ best interests to stay onboard until further notice.”
What is a Green Funeral Plan? IF you are a lover of nature and conscious of the environ‐ ment, consider a Green Funeral Plan with Golden Leaves. A Golden Leaves Green Funeral Plan can be paid for with a one‐off sum or in monthly instalments for a fixed term period of up to five years, making it an environmen‐ tally friendly, as well and financially friendly, option. A Green Funeral Plan with Golden Leaves can include options for natural and biodegradable coffins made of sustainable materials including wood, willow and wool. There is also an option for a Reflections coffin, which can be personalised with a design or image of your choosing. There are three categories that you can choose from: the Glade, Meadow or Woodland. Each of these Green Funeral Plans differs in the level of services provided by the funeral director, the number of vehicles required and the style of coffin selected.
GREEN: Options for natural or biodegradable coffins.
To speak to the friendly team at Golden Leaves or to find out more, email enquiries@goldenleaves.com today. A SERIES of new laws concerning road transport of goods went through the Spanish Parliament without any votes against on Thursday March 17. This decree was first debated last year but clearly came to prominence due to the road haulier’s strike which is beginning to have some ef‐ fect and was championed by Minis‐ ter of Transport Raquel Sánchez. Although the strike is not support‐ ed by the main driver’s unions, there are still a significant number of inde‐
Hauliers strike pendent drivers who are deter‐ mined to cause disruption so that their demand for a reduction in fuel costs is acted on. The new laws will make it easier for lorry drivers to work in as much as they will not be required to load and unload lorries, nor will they
have to stick to agreed prices if fuel costs increase prior to the work be‐ ing undertaken. Until such time as there is a posi‐ tive reduction in fuel prices howev‐ er it seems unlikely that the hauliers will be placated and will continue to travel in convoy to
Finnish cooperation THE Finnish Government is keep‐ ing a close watch on the Spanish recovery plan which focuses on green and digital transitions and has made it one of the biggest re‐ cipients of the EU recovery pack‐ age. Thanks to this and the fact that Finland is heading on a similar path, the Minister for Develop‐ ment Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari, accompanied by a business delegation, visited Madrid from March 20 to 23 to promote cooperation between Spain and Finland. During the four‐day visit, he met with a number of different Spanish ministers and introduced them to the 14 Finnish companies travel‐ ling with him which have expertise in different kinds of digital solu‐ tions.
Another food concept THE successful UK arm of Dallas based Wingstop which has more than 1,700 locations worldwide, announced on Thursday March 17 that it now has its eyes set on the Spanish market. It plans to open four ‘ghost kitchens’ in Madrid, the first two as early as March 31 to offer a de‐ livery only service in Spain’s capital city before intending to expand across the country opening restau‐ rants through a franchise model. “We are excited to bring the flavour of Wingstop to Spain ini‐ tially, leveraging a delivery‐only method. By embracing our en‐ trepreneurial spirit, in just 12 weeks from planning to execu‐ tion, we’re getting Wingstop in front of consumers in Madrid,” said Wingstop Vice President EMEA, Lisa Paton. slow traffic generally. After reports of intimidation of drivers who are continuing to work, the government has announced that it plans to mobilise 23,000 police offi‐ cers in order to ensure driver’s safety and to break up jams. The matter of reviewing fuel prices for hauliers which is apparent‐ ly being considered by the govern‐ ment will be the deciding factor as to whether the strike continues for any length of time.
16 EWN
www.euroweeklynews.com
24 - 30 March 2022
FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR MONEY WITH US
LONDON - FTSE 100
See our advert on previous page
C LOSING P RICES M ARCH 21
COMPANY PRICE(P) CHANGE(P) 3I Group 1.359,00 1.366,00 Abrdn 206,70 209,40 Admiral Group 2.594,5 2.614,0 Anglo American 3.790,5 3.804,5 Antofagasta 1.689,00 1.693,50 Ashtead Group 5.482,0 5.520,0 Associated British Foods 1.751,5 1.755,5 AstraZeneca 9.560,0 9.569,3 Auto Trader Group Plc 680,60 682,00 Avast 571,00 572,20 Aveva 2.549,0 2.611,0 Aviva 427,40 428,20 B&M European Value Retail SA582,20 583,20 BAE Systems 722,04 733,60 Bank VTB DRC 0,010 0,010 Barclays 171,10 172,18 Barratt Developments 570,00 570,20 Berkeley 4.128,0 4.145,0 BHP Billiton Ltd 2.645,67 2.651,50 BP 371,40 371,60 British American Tobacco 3.173,5 3.197,0 British Land Company 518,00 520,80 BT Group 180,05 180,20 Bunzl 2.880,0 2.885,0 Burberry Group 1.737,0 1.740,5 Carnival 1.337,8 1.347,0 Centrica 79,85 79,90 Coca Cola HBC AG 1.708,0 1.737,5 Compass 1.703,50 1.709,50 CRH 3.441,0 3.470,0 Croda Intl 7.558,0 7.594,0 DCC 5.884,0 5.892,0 Diageo 3.735,0 3.744,5 DS Smith 335,60 340,40 EasyJet 525,60 542,00 Experian 3.050,0 3.063,0 Ferguson 11.075,0 11.075,0 Flutter Entertainment 9.354,0 9.570,0 Fresnillo 732,20 745,00 GlaxoSmithKline 1.609,00 1.610,91 Glencore 489,80 492,55 Halma 2.521,4 2.543,0 Hargreaves Lansdown 1.043,00 1.051,00 Hikma Pharma 2.066,00 2.082,00 HSBC 501,00 503,50 IAG 140,94 142,44 Imperial Brands 1.604,50 1.617,00 Informa 591,80 597,00 InterContinental 5.260,0 5.278,0
% CHG. 1.350,50 206,50 2.570,0 3.666,5 1.636,50 5.462,0 1.740,0 9.506,7 674,40 569,00 2.521,0 422,40 578,20 720,00 0,010 170,56 560,60 4.096,0 2.599,50 363,50 3.166,5 516,60 178,35 2.868,0 1.700,0 1.328,4 78,62 1.693,5 1.693,00 3.428,0 7.496,0 5.862,0 3.726,0 334,10 522,20 3.038,0 11.000,0 9.328,0 730,00 1.602,80 480,55 2.510,0 1.028,00 2.053,00 498,50 139,70 1.601,50 589,40 5.214,0
NET VOL 90,89K 394,34K 44,86K 391,74K 183,96K 50,59K 52,12K 11,52K 269,36K 101,04K 48,45K 577,18K 84,62K 1,60M 0 4,60M 502,14K 35,95K 374,85K 7,03M 352,95K 158,73K 1,35M 21,56K 116,63K 61,65K 1,74M 104,42K 229,35K 264,50K 23,24K 10,69K 263,51K 289,47K 721,37K 111,32K 20,12K 30,44K 101,39K 95,85K 4,24M 37,52K 118,95K 61,88K 3,27M 3,63M 206,73K 558,31K 30,21K
COMPANY
PRICE(P)
Intermediate Capital Intertek ITV J Sainsbury Johnson Matthey Land Securities Legal & General Lloyds Banking London Stock Exchange Meggitt Melrose Industries Mondi National Grid NatWest Group Next Norilskiy Nikel ADR Ocado Persimmon Phoenix Prudential Reckitt Benckiser Relx Rentokil Rightmove Rio Tinto PLC Rolls-Royce Holdings Rosneft DRC Sage Samsung Electronics DRC Sberbank Schroders Scottish Mortgage Segro Severn Trent Shell Smith & Nephew Smiths Group Spirax-Sarco Engineering SSE St. James’s Place Standard Chartered Taylor Wimpey Tesco Tui Unilever United Utilities Vodafone Group PLC Whitbread WPP
1.739,50 5.148,0 84,00 264,40 1.921,5 767,40 274,81 49,05 7.940,0 761,60 131,60 1.540,50 1.136,11 216,80 6.478,0 1,89 1.142,00 2.270,0 638,30 1.087,50 5.833,0 2.308,00 511,00 676,20 5.721,0 93,47 0,60 698,80 1.436,50 0,0453 3.262,0 1.013,00 1.325,50 2.961,0 1.992,8 1.257,36 1.508,50 12.815,6 1.684,50 1.474,00 508,00 145,18 278,74 236,40 3.447,9 1.088,70 128,18 2.786,0 1.079,00
CHANGE(P)
% CHG.
NET VOL
1.763,00 5.168,0 85,00 265,40 1.927,0 770,60 277,60 49,53 8.100,0 765,00 133,15 1.565,00 1.138,80 218,60 6.504,0 1,89 1.198,50 2.302,0 642,00 1.107,00 5.892,0 2.314,00 512,60 679,60 5.731,0 93,95 0,60 708,00 1.440,00 0,0453 3.279,0 1.014,50 1.331,50 2.969,0 1.998,0 1.267,00 1.510,50 13.025,0 1.694,50 1.484,50 510,40 145,95 279,55 238,10 3.451,0 1.093,00 128,22 2.809,0 1.087,00
1.735,50 5.122,0 83,74 262,60 1.904,5 764,40 274,50 48,91 7.896,0 761,00 130,75 1.538,00 1.129,00 214,40 6.446,0 1,89 1.142,00 2.259,0 636,80 1.067,50 5.832,0 2.295,00 507,80 672,79 5.572,0 92,76 0,60 697,40 1.425,50 0,0453 3.245,0 1.000,00 1.321,00 2.933,0 1.954,2 1.251,50 1.494,50 12.810,0 1.678,50 1.466,00 503,60 144,30 277,60 229,80 3.404,0 1.083,00 127,10 2.779,0 1.067,00
31,47K 19,93K 1,44M 258,30K 55,88K 125,87K 1,27M 30,41M 66,66K 74,86K 907,64K 69,14K 352,12K 3,81M 19,92K 0 230,83K 123,55K 234,38K 523,35K 67,82K 420,18K 384,50K 19,98K 339,33K 7,37M 0 101,33K 3,06K 0 54,40K 905,99K 239,31K 36,78K 1,75M 200,98K 97,83K 6,11K 217,06K 108,99K 179,25K 1,23M 1,24M 1,26M 482,11K 120,95K 6,87M 31,80K 655,15K
1.18982
0.84105
Units per €
US dollar (USD) ........................................1.0960 Japan yen (JPY)........................................131.89 Switzerland franc (CHF) ...........................1.0302 Denmark kroner (DKK) .............................7.4415 Norway kroner (NOK) ...............................9.6671
currenciesdirect.com/marbella • Tel: +34 952 906 581 THE ABOVE TABLE USES THE CURRENT INTERBANK EXCHANGE RATES, WHICH AREN’T REPRESENTATIVE OF THE RATE WE OFFER
DOW JONES C LOSING P RICES M ARCH 21
COMPANY 3M American Express Amgen Apple Boeing Caterpillar Chevron Cisco Coca-Cola Dow Goldman Sachs Home Depot Honeywell IBM Intel J&J JPMorgan McDonald’s Merck&Co Microsoft Nike Procter&Gamble Salesforce.com The Travelers UnitedHealth Verizon Visa A Walgreens Boots Walmart Walt Disney
PRICE 148,32 190,72 236,25 163,98 192,83 220,91 161,73 55,97 60,10 62,39 345,38 340,74 194,72 128,76 47,45 174,84 140,10 238,92 79,11 300,43 131,24 150,15 218,80 180,31 506,12 50,80 219,11 47,36 145,44 140,30
CHANGE 148,45 191,00 236,40 164,48 193,38 221,70 161,73 56,42 60,30 63,43 346,77 340,74 194,92 128,93 47,60 177,00 140,85 239,19 79,74 301,00 131,46 150,87 219,58 180,48 510,68 52,29 219,26 47,45 145,57 140,73
CHANGE% VOLUME(M) 145,22 7,88M 184,84 8,71M 232,75 7,62M 159,76 123,96M 190,10 12,81M 218,00 4,10M 158,78 23,18M 55,54 51,72M 59,71 30,08M 61,81 9,51M 337,30 5,74M 332,30 9,39M 189,80 8,73M 126,37 7,46M 46,35 46,13M 173,66 13,78M 138,46 23,06M 235,99 5,31M 78,63 21,04M 292,73 43,07M 126,70 10,27M 148,24 15,54M 208,30 12,17M 177,27 3,94M 501,56 5,04M 50,80 70,17M 210,29 14,57M 46,47 11,36M 144,11 10,39M 138,30 11,20M M - MILLION DOLLARS
NASDAQ C LOSING P RICES M ARCH 21
COMPANY
CHANGE NET / %
VOLUME
+73.55% +59.77% +54.90% +54.21% +52.42% +50.28% +42.04% +41.40% +39.86% +38.05% +36.29%
11.09M 412.01M 34.97M 301.72K 134.69K 23.00M 70.00M 1.30M 4.80M 2.10M 2.60M
-37.75% -31.63% -28.95% -26.94% +-25.00% -22.78% -22.50% -22.32% -20.75% -20.69% -18.13%
87.80K 2.77M 4.02M 2.63M 23.37K 1.81M 5.74M 973.09K 964.77K 286.04K 656.35K
Most Advanced BEST Didi Global Zhihu Connect Biopharma Holdings Rezolute Redbox Entertainment StoneCo 36Kr Holdings Lizhi Redbox Entertainment 111 Inc
Most Declined Bt Brands Neptune Wellness Solutions Nymox Pharmaceutical Bright Scholar A Immuron Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holding Ambac BigBearai Holdings HTG Molecular Diagnostics Surrozen OpGen
FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL
www.euroweeklynews.com
Inditex profits up again
Credit: Inditex
PROFITS INCREASE: Óscar García Maceiras and Pablo Isla revealed the figures.
THE Inditex bandwagon just keeps rolling on and 2021 final figures have re‐ turned to pre‐pandemic levels with turnover of €27.72 billion, up 35.8 per cent on the previous year. As net profit increased by 193 per cent to €3.24 bil‐ lion, executive chairman, Pablo Isla, said on Wednes‐ day March 16 that, “after two years of pandemic, this set of results demonstrates the incredible ability to adapt to any circumstances that characterises all the people who work here, borne from their commit‐ ment and talent.” The group’s CEO, Óscar García Maceiras, singled out “the leadership demon‐ strated by the company on the digital transformation front in recent years, this places us in an unrivalled position to offer an excep‐ tional level of engagement with our quality and sus‐ tainable fashion.”
Although the bulk of rev‐ enue is still generated in‐ store, online sales reached €7.5 billion, accounting for 25.5 per cent of total sales, reinforcing the company as a global leader in ecom‐ merce. Despite all of its invest‐ ments in stock, stores, staff, distribution centres and on‐ line development, the group’s net cash stood at a record €9.3 billion at year‐ end, having increased by 24 per cent during the year. The company outper‐ formed its sustainability targets for 2021, specifically for the use of renewable energy ‐ accounting for 91 per cent of total consump‐ tion. It opened 226 stores in 40 markets during the year and on January 31, 2022, employed 165,042, up from 144,116 the previous year, with more than 80 per cent of the contracts being per‐ manent and there is no
Sales down UK grocery supplier Ocado has reported a slump in sales in the three months to the end of February 2022. It believes that there are three main reasons, first‐ ly more people were returning to work and there‐ fore were not ordering so much for home delivery. Secondly, ever‐increasing prices have made them consider their spend and thirdly because they were able to return to bars and restaurants as restrictions were eased, they were spending more outside of the house. Although not dramatic, sales dropped 5.7 per cent to £574.7 million and the company is now reducing its annual growth sales forecast to around 10 per cent.
gender pay gap with three times more women than men employed.
BUSINESS EXTRA Sanctions ON March 14, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke on the phone to his Spanish counter‐ part José Manuel Al‐ bares Bueno about the situation in Ukraine and made it clear that China does not support the in‐ vasion, nor should it be affected in any way by sanctions brought against Russia.
Inflation continues AT the same time as raising the base interest rate to 0.75 per cent on Thursday March 17, the Bank of England warned that due to the ongoing situation in the Ukraine and the rise in energy costs it expects inflation to jump to 8 per cent or more.
Primark online ALTHOUGH it has held out for years, the hugely popular low priced Pri‐ mark clothing store is to ‘bite the bullet’ and of‐ fer an online service due reportedly to a drop in sales during the pan‐ demic and aggressive marketing from Chinese competitor Shein.
24 - 30 March 2022
EWN 17
18 EWN
www.euroweeklynews.com
24 - 30 March 2022
LEAPY LEE SAYS IT OTHERS THINK IT “WHOEVER controls the media controls the mind,” observed 60s’ icon and The Doors’ front man Jim Morrison. He wasn’t alone in this observation of course. Many, even William Shakespeare, have voiced similar sentiments. Malcom X once reflected: “The Media is the most powerful entity on earth; they can make the innocent guilty and the guilty innocent ‐ that’s power.” These realities naturally haven’t escaped the leaders of both sides of this horrendous conflict in the Ukraine. Putin’s methods are painfully obvious; shut down all the media sources that disagree with the government ‐ job done. Ukraine’s approach has been a touch more subtle. Of course, when your country is being destroyed by a monstrous regime and the bodies of innocent civilians litter the streets, the truth is there for all to witness. That said, President Zelensky’s showbiz acumen is standing him in good stead. His simple green t‐shirt, which he wears for all his interviews and TV appearances, is no accident and has subsequently become an iconic symbol of his country’s struggle with Russian oppression. The picture of a citizen
Media
punching the front of a tank convoy has been widely distributed around the world. What I am not trying to do here is undermine the pure horror and horrendous criminal actions of the monster that is Putin or the tragic suffering of the Ukrainian people. What I am endeavouring to do is show how very important it is for the media to report all events in an unbiased and truthful way. This is actually why the press hated Donald Trump. By his use of direct social media, he cut out these middle men and, to their absolute chagrin, virtually castrated their power of public manipulation in one fell swoop. What is glaringly omitted from the reports of the West’s media are the true reasons Putin felt threatened by the Ukraine. There are in fact quite a number. The country is highly disposed to far right extremism. Its neo‐Nazi leanings have been well chronicled and if you looked closely at a recently released picture of a female Ukrainian soldier, which was quickly taken down, you would have
clearly seen the Nazi Black Sun symbol on the front of her uniform. Large numbers of their citizens belong to these fascist groups and they are highly trained, which is why they are doing such a remarkable job holding off the might of the Russian army. These groups pose a very real threat to all defenders of human rights, LGBT activists and left‐wing feminists. They are also anti‐sematic white supremacists. Putin is indisputably correct. Living next door to one of Europe’s largest armies, with all its Nazi ideology, should indeed give him cause for concern, particularly if they are allowed to join NATO. His method of dealing with it is of course unacceptable. Keep the faith Love Leapy Leapylee2002@gmail.com. Expatradioscotland.com Monday‐Friday, 1pm to 4pm. To read more articles from our columnists and to have your say in the comments go to www.euroweeklynews.com
Leapy Lee’s opinions are his own and are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or sponsors.
FEATURE
TV & Film Review by Laura Kemp
Bad Vegan documentary
THE four‐part documen‐ tary series Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives on Netflix follows the criminal case of Sarma Melngailis, co‐founder of celebrity‐ favourite restaurant Pure Food and Wine and the ‘it’ girl of New York’s early 2000s vegan food scene. This series has a minus‐ cule 28 per cent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, however, I think it deserves much higher than this. Vegan superchef Sarma Melngailis opened her pop‐ ular NY restaurant Pure Food and Wine before meeting a man online who promised, through a bizarre sequence of gaslighting and brainwashing, to make her beloved dog Leon immor‐ tal. Very similar to Netflix’s The Tinder Swindler, Sarma and her mother end up handing over millions of dollars to Anthony Strangis, aka Shane Fox, who called himself a black ops special‐ ist. The story is told by Sarma herself and her former
members of staff, and we hear first‐hand how Strangis made her believe he was part of some sort of alternate spiritual world where ethereal beings are watching their every move and can somehow make Sarma’s dog immortal ‐ leading to the couple disap‐ pearing on the run for months. We find that Sarma isn’t Strangis’ only victim and that he previously attempt‐ ed to convince his ex‐wife to poison their child with salt. Told in her own words, his ex‐wife is startling proof that Sarma hadn’t gone completely mad in believing Strangis and also highlights how it can be so easy for abusers to hide their mo‐ tives and convince others. The story is a frightening look at manipulation, brain‐ washing and psychological abuse. Sarma is a likeable person whose staff adored her until she met Stringis and lost her sense of self and ultimately her success‐ ful business.
FEATURE
www.euroweeklynews.com
24 - 30 March 2022
EWN 19
OUR PASSION FOR PETS DURING THE PANDEMIC nonverbal cues, which doesn’t indicate word recognition, let alone comprehen‐ sion. But what about guide dogs? Guide dog assessment is first done at six or seven weeks based on character traits. Then they go through first level training for about 15 months with a foster family before being assessed if they meet guide dog character and fitness requirements which are VERY tough. Finally, there’s a minimum of 20 standard commands they must master. How about a dog for PM? There’s no competition from any party. They’d win best in show, paws down!
NORA JOHNSON BREAKING VIEWS Nora is the author of popular psychological suspense and crime thrillers and a freelance journalist. To comment on any of the issues raised in her column, go to www.euroweeklynews.com/3.0.15/nora-johnson
AFTER another week of unremittingly grim news, here’s something a bit lighter: dogs have learnt to respond to human verbal and nonverbal cues and under‐ stand 200+ words and phrases. A fact doubtless of particular interest to all new dog owners during the pandemic. Well, my dog has a vocabulary of 200+ words, responding to ‘walk’ ‘walk’ ‘walk’ even when said in 200 different ways each time. (There are expats who, after decades of living in their chosen country, understand fewer than 200 words of its language!). When she wouldn’t stop fol‐ lowing me around the house if she heard the word ‘walk’, I started spelling it in‐ stead. She then learnt to spell (she’s al‐ ready an expert at lip reading). I’ve resorted to Spanish or French. But I think she cottoned on to the intonation so I now say ‘perambulation’. She hasn’t cot‐ Nora Johnson’s opinions
UNDERSTANDING: How about a dog for PM - there’s no competition from any party.
Nora Johnson’s psychological crime thrillers ‘The Sentinel’, ‘No Safe Place’, ‘Be‐ trayal’, ‘The Girl in the Woods’, ‘The Girl in the Red Dress’, ‘No Way Back’, ‘Landscape of Lies’, ‘Retribution’, ‘Soul Stealer’, ‘The De Clerambault Code’ (www.nora‐johnson.net) available online as eBook (€0.99; £0.99), Ap‐ ple Books, paperback and audiobook. All profits to Costa del Sol Cudeca cancer chari‐ ty.
toned on to that yet... Now, it’s all very well to talk about dogs And of course, all dogs can count. Just and intelligence, but my cat, bless him, can try taking three biscuits from the tin and understand several languages and to show only giving them two. In fact, my dog can his superiority chooses not to engage with solve quadratic equations though her any of them. But have you ever seen a cat To read more articles from our columnists spelling is admittedly poor. I blame the sniffer, cat for the blind or police cat van? and to have your say in the comments go state of our modern education system. Or Critics claim dogs are simply ‘respond‐ to www.euroweeklynews.com Brexit. ing’ to their owner’s tone of voice and are her own and are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or sponsors.
Advertising Feature
GREAT SAVINGS ARE ON OFFER AGAIN THERE are many things that make you feel great, but when it comes to living the dream in Spain you need an insurer that brings you peace of mind for the unexpect‐ ed. Liberty Seguros, the expat’s pre‐ ferred insurer in Spain, offers peace of mind with its wide range of products that care for both your family and your assets, whilst pro‐ viding all the necessary tools to keep you feeling safe and secure. What’s more, Liberty Seguros looks to always make things that bit better with fantastic offers for both existing and new customers, helping them to ensure they can live their very best lives. From now up until April 25, 2022, existing clients who take out a new Car, Home or Life policy with Liberty Seguros will receive €60 Cashback with each new Life, Home or Car policy that they take out. New clients can make great sav‐ ings too, with €30 Cashback on
CASHBACK: Fantastic offers for both existing and new customers.
their first Life, Home or Car poli‐ cies, and €60 Cashback on subse‐ quent new policies thereafter*. Plus, these policies come with even more benefits than ever be‐ fore! There are many advantages of relying on a reputable insurer such as Liberty Seguros. You can get a
courtesy car ‐ even for vehicle breakdown ‐ as standard, or €35 per day to cover taxi and travel ex‐ penses with Liberty Seguros Car Policies. With Home Policies, LLib‐ erty Seguros offers optional pest control services and legal defence for illegal occupation, amongst many other benefits. This is of par‐
ticular importance if your home in Spain is a second home and you’re concerned about being an ideal target for squatters, because Liber‐ ty Seguros is the only insurer that offers you complete legal defence, offering up to €6,100 to cover legal costs for eviction proceedings. When it comes to Life policies, with Liberty Seguros the upper age limit for death cover has been ex‐ tended to 70 years of age, whilst the upper age limit for renewals has been extended to 80 years of age. What’s more, Life cover with Liberty Seguros now boasts a wide range of additional new extra op‐ tions too. For example, you can take out extended cover for repatriation to any country; and, if you have chil‐
dren under the age of 18, benefi‐ ciaries can receive double the in‐ sured capital in the event of death of both spouses in the same acci‐ dent. Furthermore, this is without having to take out an additional policy either. Liberty Seguros really does have you covered and always has your real needs in mind! This includes a 24/7 freephone number for both roadside assistance and emergen‐ cy home assistance with English‐ speaking operators. For more information on Car, Home or Life policies and to find out about all the great benefits of taking out insurance with Liberty Seguros, simply call or visit one of the more than 300 qualified expa‐ triate brokers and agents. They are available to provide friendly and expert advice, in your language, about the best covers and options to suit your specific needs whilst in Spain. * Conditions and minimum pre‐ miums will be applied.
To find the location of your nearest broker/agent, simply visit www.libertyexpatriates.es. or call 913 422 549.
THURSDAY 24/03 FRIDAY 25/03 SATURDAY 26/03
4:00pm 4:45pm 5:30pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 4:00pm 4:45pm 5:30pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 5:15pm 5:45pm 6:30pm 7:10pm 7:20pm 7:25pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:45pm 9:35pm 10:15pm
MONDAY 28/03
SUNDAY 27/03
6:20pm 6:28pm 6:30pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:20pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:25pm
WEDNESDAY 30/03
TUESDAY 29/03
11:30pm 4:45pm 5:30pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 8:50pm 9:35pm 10:00pm 5:30pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm
Escape to the Country The Repair Shop Bridge of Lies Pointless BBC News at Six; Weather BBC London News; Weather The One Show EastEnders Dragons' Den The Apprentice
5:15pm
Escape to the Country The Repair Shop Bridge of Lies Pointless BBC News at Six; Weather BBC London News; Weather The One Show A Question of Sport MasterChef MasterChef
6:15pm 7:00pm
Garden Rescue Bridge of Lies Superman & Lois BBC News BBC London News; Weather Weather Celebrity Mastermind The Wall Pointless Celebrities Casualty Killing Eve
11:30am
BBC London News; Weather Weather Countryfile Extraordinary Portraits Antiques Roadshow Dynasties II Peaky Blinders BBC News BBC London News; Weather
12:30pm
BBC London News; Weather The One Show EastEnders Clean It, Fix It We Are England Beyond Reasonable Doubt BBC News at Ten BBC London News; Weather Weather
3:15pm 4:00pm 4:30pm
The Repair Shop Bridge of Lies Pointless BBC News at Six; Weather BBC London News; Weather The One Show EastEnders Holby City The Bidding Room MasterChef
4:00pm 4:30pm
Bridge of Lies Pointless BBC News at Six; Weather BBC London News; Weather The One Show EastEnders MasterChef Interior Design Masters with Alan Carr
4:00pm 4:30pm
6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm
7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 11:30pm
12:30pm 3:00pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 7:30pm 8:30pm 9:05pm 9:35pm
1:00pm 2:00pm 3:00pm 5:00pm 7:45pm 8:15pm 9:00pm
5:15pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm
5:15pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm
5:15pm 6:15pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm
The Sweet Makers: A Georgian Treat Flog It! Richard Osman's House of Games Lightning Doctors Rick Stein's Cornwall Great British Menu Hospital The Apprentice: You're Hired
8:00pm
Fred Dibnah's Age of Steam Canal Boat Diaries Michael Wood's Story of England Green Book Manchester by the Sea Skint: Hannah Skint: Regeneration Canal Boat Diaries Fred Dibnah's Age of Steam
3:00pm 4:00pm 4:59pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:30pm 9:30pm
Flog It! Richard Osman's House of Games Lightning MOTDx Inside Culture with Mary Beard Gardeners' World Earth's Great Rivers II Live at the Apollo: Access All Areas Newsnight
8:00pm 8:30pm 8:55pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:25am 1:25am 2:25am 2:55am 3:25am
Dusty Dusty Pop Go the Sixties TOTP: 1992 TOTP: 1992 Elton John: Uncensored Amazing Grace Elton John: Electric Prom Classic Soul at the BBC TOTP: 1992 TOTP: 1992 Dusty
3:00pm 4:00pm 4:59pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm
Interior Design Masters with Alan Carr Live Women's Six Nations Great British Menu Great British Menu Live Challenge Cup Rugby League Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets of Orkney Dad's Army Aretha Franklin: Respect Elton John at the BBC
8:00pm 9:00pm
The Normans Arctic with Bruce Parry Hidden Photograph Wogan: The Best Of Yes, Prime Minister Keeping Up Appearances Arctic with Bruce Parry
12:40pm 1:40pm 1:59pm 2:00pm
Marcus Wareing's Tales from a Kitchen Garden Great British Menu Earth's Great Rivers II Figure Skating World Championships Live Challenge Cup Rugby League Saving Lives at Sea Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy The Speedshop
8:55pm
Secret Knowledge: Stradivarius and Me Max Richter's Sleep Skint: Heart of Glass Skint: The Taking of Balgrayhill Street Skint: Unicorn What Do Artists Do All Day? The Sound of TV with Neil Brand The Wonder of Animals
3:00pm 3:04pm 3:05pm 4:05pm 5:00pm 7:00pm
Street Auction The Heights The Customer is Always Right Monkey Planet Flog It! Richard Osman's House of Games Lightning Doctors Rick Stein's Cornwall Mastermind
8:00pm
The Heights The Customer is Always Right Monkey Planet Flog It! Richard Osman's House of Games Lightning Doctors Rick Stein's Cornwall Great British Menu: The Finals
8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 9:30pm 10:00pm 11:00pm
The Heights The Customer is Always Right Monkey Planet Flog It! Richard Osman's House of Games Lightning Doctors Rick Stein's Cornwall Your Body Uncovered with Kate Garraway
8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm
8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 12:00am 2:15am 2:30am 2:45am 3:15am
10:00pm 11:00pm 12:45am 1:30am 3:00am 3:30am
9:25pm 11:00pm 11:15pm 11:30pm 11:45pm 12:15am 1:15am
8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm
12:00am
12:10am 1:40am 2:10am 2:40am
10:00pm 11:00pm 12:15am 1:15am 1:45am
6:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm
10:00pm 11:00pm
Countdown A Place in the Sun A New Life in the Sun Four in a Bed Fame in the Family The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Perfect House, Secret Location Extraordinary Escapes First Dates
Dickinson's Real Deal Lingo ITV London Weather Tipping Point The Chase ITV News London ITV Evening News Emmerdale Coronation Street Grantchester ITV News at Ten and Weather
3:10pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm
Countdown A Place in the Sun A New Life in the Sun Four in a Bed Fame in the Family The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Unreported World Grayson's Art Club Gogglebox The Last Leg
3:15pm
Simply Raymond Blanc ITV News and Weather ITV London Weather ITV Racing: Live from Doncaster Tipping Point: Best Ever Finals The Chase: Celebrity Special ITV News and Weather ITV News London Celebrity Catchphrase
11:25am 1:25pm
Dragonheart Couples Come Dine with Me Four in a Bed Grand Designs Location, Location, Location Matt Baker: Our Farm in the Dales Channel 4 News Chernobyl: The New Evidence
3:30pm 4:30pm
6:30pm 7:00pm 8:00pm
Channel 4 News One and Six Zeros Britain's Most Expensive Houses Edward VIII: Britain's Traitor King Falklands War: The Untold Story Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Highlights Chernobyl: The New Evidence
3:10pm 4:10pm
7:30pm 7:45pm 8:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm
ITV News and Weather ITV London Weather The Pet Show The Masked Singer US Mamma Mia! Tipping Point: Best Ever Finals ITV News and Weather ITV News London Dancing on Ice The Ipcress File ITV News and Weather
Fred Dibnah's Age of Steam Villages by the Sea Neanderthals: Meet Your Ancestors The Golden Age of Steam Railways Ian Hislop's Stiff Upper Lip: An Emotional History of Britain Tails You Win: The Science of Chance
2:30pm 2:55pm 3:00pm 4:00pm 4:59pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm
ITV Lunchtime News ITV News London Dickinson's Real Deal Lingo ITV London Weather Tipping Point The Chase ITV News London ITV Evening News Emmerdale Coronation Street Holding
12:35pm 1:30pm 3:10pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm
Undercover Boss USA Steph's Packed Lunch Countdown A Place in the Sun A New Life in the Sun Four in a Bed Fame in the Family The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News 24 Hours in A&E Rescue: Extreme Medics
3:15pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:55pm 9:00pm 9:58pm 10:00pm
Steam Days Villages by the Sea Keeping Up Appearances Yes, Prime Minister Gods of Snooker Up the Junction: The Wednesday Play The British Garden: Life and Death on Your Lawn Steam Days Villages by the Sea Gods of Snooker
3:00pm 4:00pm 4:59pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 11:00pm
Dickinson's Real Deal Lingo ITV London Weather Tipping Point The Chase ITV News London ITV Evening News Emmerdale Concert for Ukraine ITV News at Ten and Weather ITV News London
12:35pm 1:30pm 3:10pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm
Undercover Boss USA Steph's Packed Lunch Countdown A Place in the Sun A New Life in the Sun Four in a Bed Fame in the Family The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer
2:10pm 2:15pm 2:45pm 3:15pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm
Steam Days Villages by the Sea Secret Life of Farm Animals Putin, Russia and the West The Earth Is Blue as an Orange: Storyville Dog Tales: The Making of Man's Best Friend Steam Days Villages by the Sea
3:00pm 4:00pm 4:59pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:30pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 10:30pm
Dickinson's Real Deal Lingo ITV London Weather Tipping Point The Chase ITV News London ITV Evening News Emmerdale Coronation Street Kate & Koji Bradley Walsh and Son: Breaking Dad
12:35pm 1:30pm 3:10pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm
Undercover Boss USA Steph's Packed Lunch Countdown A Place in the Sun A New Life in the Sun Four in a Bed Fame in the Family The Simpsons Hollyoaks Channel 4 News Kirstie and Phil's Love it or List it
10:00pm
5:00pm 5:30pm 6:30pm 6:45pm 7:00pm
11:30pm
Dickinson's Real Deal Lingo ITV London Weather Tipping Point The Chase ITV News London ITV Evening News Emmerdale Cost of Living: What You Need to Know - Tonight Joanna Lumley's Great Cities of the World
3:10pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 6:30pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 9:00pm
2:25pm 4:55pm 5:55pm 7:00pm 8:00pm 8:30pm
9:00pm 10:00pm 11:30pm 2:00am
5 News at 5 Neighbours Eggheads A Country Life for Half the Price 5 News Update Cornwall: A Year by the Sea 5 News Update Murder My Sweetheart: The Killing of Delores McCrea
1:30pm
Mystery 101: Killer Timing Filthy House SOS 5 News at 5 Neighbours Eggheads World's Most Scenic River Journeys 5 News Update Submarine: Life Under the Waves 5 News Update
2:30pm 4:30pm
Little Voice Entertainment News on 5 Little Voice The Poseidon Adventure 5 News Update The Poseidon Adventure 5 News Weekend Jane McDonald's Yorkshire Hi-De-Hi!: All the Laughs & More
8:00am
Dante's Peak Entertainment News on 5 Dante's Peak Lara Croft: Tomb Raider 5 News Update Lara Croft: Tomb Raider When All Inclusive Holidays Go Horribly Wrong Happy Campers: Brits on Holiday
12:00am
The Stepmother Filthy House SOS 5 News at 5 Neighbours Eggheads Police Interceptors 5 News Update Traffic Cops 5 News Update Wakefield: Inside the Supermax Casualty 24/7
11:00am 12:00pm 1:00pm 2:00pm 3:00pm 4:00pm
9:00am
8:55pm
5 News Lunchtime Home and Away Neighbours Too Close To Home Filthy House SOS 5 News at 5 Neighbours Eggheads Dream Kitchens and Bathrooms with Mark Millar 5 News Update
2:10pm 2:15pm 2:45pm 3:15pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:55pm 9:00pm 9:58pm
5 News Lunchtime Home and Away Neighbours The Lakehouse Murder Filthy House SOS 5 News at 5 Neighbours Eggheads The Gadget Show 5 News Update Police Interceptors 5 News Update
9:00am
8:55pm 9:00pm 9:58pm 10:00pm
5:00pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 7:30pm 8:00pm 8:55pm 9:00pm 9:58pm
4:35pm 5:25pm 6:25pm 6:30pm 7:40pm 7:45pm 8:45pm
4:15pm 5:20pm 6:25pm 6:30pm 7:30pm
9:00pm
11:15pm
3:00pm 3:30pm 7:00pm 8:00pm 11:30pm 1:00am
5:15pm 5:45pm 7:10pm 8:10pm 8:20pm 8:30pm
10:00am 2:30pm 5:30pm 9:30pm 12:00am
7:00am 11:00am 12:00pm 12:30pm 3:45pm 6:00pm 10:00pm 1:00am
8:00pm 8:30pm 8:40pm 10:45pm 11:00pm
11:00am 12:00pm 3:30pm 4:00pm 8:00pm 11:30pm
10:00am 11:00am 12:00pm 3:50pm 8:00pm 1:00am 2:00am
Live European Tour Golf Sky Sports News Live World Golf Championships Sky Sports News Live World Cup Qualifier Live World Golf Championships Live ICC Women's World Cup Live Formula 1 Live Formula 2 Championship Legends of F1 Live Formula 1 The F1 Show My Icon: Michael Holding My Icon: Chris Hughton Live International Under-21 Football Good Morning Sports Fans Live European Tour Golf Live World Golf Championships Live International Football Live Fight Night Live ICC Women's World Cup Live ICC Women's World Cup Live ICC Women's World Cup Sky Sports News Sky Sports News Live WSL Live WSL Live Formula 1 Live World Golf Championships Live LPGA Tour Golf The Football Show The Football Show The Football Show Sky Sports News Sky Sports News Live Indian Premier League Sky Sports News My Icon: Casey Stoney Live Irish Football My Icon: Chris Powell Sky Sports News Good Morning Sports Fans The Football Show Live One-Day International Cricket Sky Sports News Live Indian Premier League Live International Football Live ICC Women's World Cup Good Morning Sports Fans Good Morning Sports Fans The Football Show Live Ladies European Tour Golf Live Indian Premier League Sky Sports News Live: Total Access Sky Sports News
The schedules for the television programme pages are provided by an external company: we regret that any changes or errors are not the responsibility of Euro Weekly News.
FEATURE
www.euroweeklynews.com
24 - 30 March 2022
EWN 21
What story are you telling yourself?
ROBERT SHALLIS WHAT would you choose if you were promised guaranteed success in anything you decided to do? What story would you want to write about yourself in years to come looking back on life’s journey? Well, you can most certainly be the author of your life and begin writing and creating your own story right now. Many of us instead of allowing things to happen ‘for’ us, we simply allow things to happen ‘to’ us with the sentiment of ‘well, that’s just life, I guess’. To allow things to happen for us it’s important to understand that we are more in control of our lives than we think. Our outcomes in life are often a consequence of what we think we are capable of achiev‐ ing and can therefore project us for‐ ward or for the most part, hold us back. It is all too easy to blame external circumstances to justify why we are not where we want to be in life
which for many gives a certain level of acceptance, albeit, coupled with a sense of discomfort and dissatis‐ faction and can leave us with that all too familiar thought of ‘what if?’ When we understand that we have more power and influ‐ ence over our lives than we think, it becomes exciting as we then we begin to under‐ stand that we can create our own story and let go of the belief that it’s everyone else’s fault or something further stopping us from getting from where we are to where we want to be. When you begin to change one area or aspect in your life, other areas start to shift too which is uplifting and creates the momentum you need So, how do you start to rewrite
your story? Firstly, let go of all previous nega‐ tive assumptions you may have had before, turn the page and start a fresh chapter of your book. Get your pen ready!
Secondly, it’s helpful to under‐ stand that when we face an in‐ evitable challenge or problem, it can be productive to simply reframe it. Deciding that it’s not a dead end, it’s just part of the journey and by ask‐ ing ourselves what lessons can be learnt from it will enable progress by seeing it for what it really is. Elevat‐ ing ourselves and fo‐ cusing on the vision and outcome we desire rather than the per‐ ceived problems in get‐ ting there gives us more focus and drive. Thirdly, having a plan. Plans will help close the gap from the dream to the reality by way of taking action steps towards it. Rather than
YOUR STORY: Be creative, but above all, be true to yourself.
feeling overwhelmed, taking some small steps will help create the path and generate a steady progressive realisation toward the end result. Focusing less on the how and more on the amazing possibilities that lie ahead is a more engaging way to think. So, what story will you create, what action will you take to get there. You are your own author, what will you write? One of my fondest quotes is; “When writing the story of your life, don’t let anyone else hold the pen.” There will of course be people who will influence, help and sup‐ port you but ultimately, it is your story, it is your journey, it is your pen, so, be creative but above all, be true to yourself. www.robshallis.com (Certified professional life coach)
To read more articles from our columnists and to have your say in the comments go to www.euroweeklynews.com
Robert Shallis’ opinions are his own and are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or sponsors.
Advertising Feature
Your internet needs met with Televideonet TELEVIDEONET provides pay as you go fast and reliable WiFi services and pay as you go television services for various nationalities, covering the Axarquia areas of Frigiliana, Nerja, Maro, Torrox and El Morche, as well as Almuñecar, la Herradura and Motril. Televideonet has a local internet network with which they provide WiFi connection services both in rural areas where cable does not reach and in urban areas where this type of service is required only on a temporary basis. F rom as little as €18 per month, Televideonet can provide you with fast and reliable WiFi with no landline or contract required, making it much easier to only pay for what you need to use. Their personalised and friendly service, which has been running for 27 years, sets them apart from other providers in the area. Televideonet has
TELEVIDEONET: Offers different rates for each of their customers’ specific needs.
a loyal customer base because they put their clients first and keep in direct contact, making sure needs are always met and the best service is provided. With their system, you don’t need a contract or permanence, you pay for the periods you need, choosing the tariff that best suits your requirements. With 13 years of experience in the internet sector and more than 30 years in the telecommunications sector, Televideonet offers different rates for each of their customers’ specific needs as well as technical support and management. After 27 years based on Calle Los Huertos, Nerja, Televideonet now provides their services remotely and the team are always available for you to contact via phone, email, Facebook and their website for all of your television and WiFi needs.
Contact Televideonet today on (0034) 682 294 420 / (0034) 607 876 198, at info@televideonet.com or take a look at their website www.televideonet.com and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Televideo-215731725256486/. Televideonet are available Monday to Friday from 9:30am to 2pm and 14.30pm to 8pm and 10am to 2pm on Saturdays.
22 EWN
www.euroweeklynews.com
24 - 30 March 2022
NEWS
SELF-ADVANCEMENT
DAVID WORBOYS THINKING ALOUD OVER the years, there have been hundreds of best‐selling publications exhorting us to discover our best po‐ tential and inner strength through self‐examination. The influence of these classic works has resulted in an increasing recogni‐ tion of life’s opportunities and our place in the universe. Dale Carnegie’s ‘How to win Friends and influence People’ of 1936, Napoleon Hill (‘Think and Grow Rich’, 1937), Norman Vin‐ cent Peale (‘The Power of Positive Thinking’, 1952) and Eckhart Tolle (‘The Power of Now’, 1997) have all shown us the way to achieve differ‐ ent interpretations of success. Carnegie shows us how to relate to our fellow beings for the greater good of all of us. “A stranger is a friend you have not got to know yet.” Hill focus‐ es on achieving material wealth and, along with it, a richness in character. Whereas Peale demonstrates that the way we think and believe deter‐ mines our achievements, Tolle ex‐ plains how we miss the point of our
Have they read ‘How to win friends and influence people’?
existence (the present moment) by dwelling in excessive reflection on the past and worrying about the future. They are all saying we can call on our minds to believe we can achieve anything. The mind controls the body and its immune system. Self‐belief enables us to overcome illnesses, set‐ backs, grief and remorse. We are encouraged to love and believe in ourselves as we nurture our bodies, minds and spirits. But self‐
love means being grateful for who we are; it does not mean regarding ourselves as superior to other people. We are, after all, connected to all oth‐ er beings as individual parts of the universal energy. We are all incarnated here for a maximum of 120 years, temporary custodians of all we possess and of all our knowledge, experiences and rela‐ tionships. All this will evaporate when the Grim Reaper calls time. Eventual‐
ly, the human body (our temporary encasement), will quickly succumb to the flames or the worms and will eventually cease to exist. But energy is indestructible. In meditation we can feel the ener‐ gy within our inner body and through it we can sense how our spirit will sur‐ vive beyond mortality. This is very comforting. In the past I have witnessed two very odd forms of parental incentivi‐
sation. Many years ago, in a crowded shopping centre, a mother was heard screaming at her eight‐year‐old son “I told you to come here, you stupid bastard!” What kind of a self‐image is she hoping to cultivate in this young lad? And what does it say about her own past moral standards? More recently, I heard another woman, in a pub, conscious of her son’s need for re‐ fined table manners, advising him to “wipe your mouth, you grubby little bugger.” Hmmm! Most of those of us who seek im‐ provement need motivation, whether through books, yoga, Tai‐ Chi, religion or role models. Children, especially, need positive guidance and encouragement to become the best they can be. The future is in their hands. To read more articles from our columnists and to have your say in the comments go to www.euroweeklynews.com
David Worboys’s opinions are his own and are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or sponsors.
CLAIRE GORDON FINDING BALANCE IN AN UNEVEN WORLD AS I have mentioned be‐ fore, I have a hard time understanding why a group of people who are willing to stand up for what they believe in and
Change starts now push to try to make the world a better place for the people in it, are la‐ belled as overly sensi‐ tive and weak. While I know that the
reason it is done by peo‐ ple holding the power is to keep the ones asking the questions in their place, why the ordinary person on the street parrots the same rhetoric is something I have a harder time with. As times change and the world evolves, lots of the forward move‐ ment is for the better. As people learn more about themselves and others, the momentum moves to create under‐ standing and empathy, but only if people let it and let down their guard. For the large majority of our existence on this planet, ignorance of the world as a whole was in‐ evitable. There were on‐ ly so many ways that communications could
be made outside of peo‐ ple’s own small spheres, and that varied informa‐ tion could be shared be‐ tween diverse sections of humanity. As knowl‐ edge becomes more and more widely available, ignorance is increasingly a choice and it is one a lot of people make. Instead of opening up to things that may chal‐ lenge their opinion or view of the world, peo‐ ple shy away or stay stuck repeating past mistakes. Instead of hearing out something that may make them feel uncomfortable, but that will ultimately help them grow and improve everyone’s experience, they place their heads in the sand and hide away from new things. This is cowardly snowflake be‐
haviour. Standing up, being willing to learn from others, and making your voice heard when you are fighting against a corrupt system is not. I don’t think the new generation and the peo‐ ple who have accepted them and their causes are sensitive at all. I think they have been able to look at the infor‐ mation that is available to them, understood that this is a world and a system that is only made to benefit very few people at the cost of everyone else, and have decided that enough is enough. A lot of what people have grown up with that has been normalised is actually toxic, trauma‐ tising, and perpetuates injustice.
The world is changing and people are pushing for a better experience. As Wales brings in a smacking ban this week, there are already cries of “it never did me any harm” ringing through the halls. I beg to differ. If people can in one breath condemn teach‐ ing children about their bodily autonomy and then talk about allowing people to continue physically abusing their children in the next, something has gone wrong somewhere. Just because you had to live through it doesn’t mean it should be carried on. It should stop here be‐ cause we know better now, so we can do bet‐ ter, for all of us. This sentiment goes for much more than just smacking. To read more articles from our columnists and to have your say in the comments go to www.euroweeklynews.com
Claire Gordon’s opinions are her own and are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or sponsors.
EW YOUR PAPER - YOUR VOICE - YOUR OPINION Letters should be emailed to yoursay@euroweeklynews.com or make your comments on our website: www.euroweeklynews.com Views expressed and opinions given are not necessarily those of the EWN publishers. No responsibility is accepted for accuracy of information, errors, omissions or statements.
EVERYONE IS CONCERNED ABOUT THE WAR… Dear Editor, Readers are aware of Vladimir Putin’s satanic genocide in the Ukraine and the people there have three options: 1) Fight to the death 2) Flee if possible 3) Surrender and be carted off to death camps in Siberia Russian people watch State Television and do not know the reality of the war, plus their sons are sent to die in the Ukraine, fighting courageous men defending their own country. We in the west are doing the best we can, but are limited due to the risk of Nuclear War! God bless the Ukraine and their families. Yours sincerely, Brian
Such kindness This week I was introduced via a friend here in Mallorca to another aspect of this terrible war. A guy from Romania called Ovi. Ovi has a job, a home, family and is just a normal guy, like most of us, doing normal daily things, just as we do. Ovi is proof of the flip side of this war and of the kindness of humanity at its greatest. On Saturday he borrowed a friend’s minibus at 3am and drove six hours to the Moldova/ Ukraine border to collect our family fleeing Odessa, three generations of women, children and grandparents. Once he had the family loaded into the minibus, he drove three hours to his
THE WAR: It is not the people’s fault and they do not deserve it.
uncle’s home where he took the family in. They received food, showers and a warm, safe place to stay for two nights. Finally Ovi drove them two hours to the nearest airport where we had arranged flights to Barcelona and onwards to Mallorca. All he asked was money for fuel! Ovi is a hero, he doesn’t need a gun, he helps fellow humans, neighbours, people who have lost EVERYTHING, people he doesn’t even know. A true inspiration and someone that has touched the hearts of all the refugees he is helping and all of us in Mallorca. Ovi and his family are helping lots of families every week. Ovi is not alone of course and whilst we sit comfortably in our dwellings on our calm, safe island we should remember the world has a lot of people like Ovi and maybe, just maybe we could all strive to be more like them!
LORRY DRIVERS’ STRIKE ONE effect of any perceived crisis such as the lorry drivers’ strike is people flocking to supermarkets to stock up with what they consider to be necessities. There have been reports in Andalucia in particular of empty shelves and a lack of some items such as fresh fruit and even toilet paper. There seems to have been a groundswell of support on social media for those drivers who are taking action, although using your lorry to travel at slow speeds whilst using precious and expensive diesel to complain about the cost of it does seem a little counter-productive. The Spanish government has taken note however and met with the National Committee for Road Transport (CNTC) with the intention of reaching a deal to end the strike. It appears likely that some €500 million in support by way of a
CORRECTIONS
From our Facebook
Can you imagine that? A world that actually cares about neighbours, friends and even strangers from another country in desperate need. God bless our new friend Ovi and all the people caring for the refugees who don’t deserve this war. We will take our whole family into our home now too, until a longer term solution can be found, we just need to find people like Ovi here in Mallorca willing to help resettle the refugees and make them feel safe and welcome. This war is not their fault, they did not deserve this and neither did any of the everyday people of Europe. None of them wanted to leave their homes and lives. I’ve never met Ovi, I hope one day I shall. But for sure, I will never forget his kindness to my family. Sincerely, Martin
OUR VIEW
discount on diesel for ‘professional drivers’ is on the table. The only problem is that the CNTC does not appear to have any control over the striking drivers, so a deal between a government that won’t speak to the drivers and an organisation that doesn’t represent them is somewhat suspect. Still, we can hope that things are resolved quickly so that our friends in the hospitality industry, which is vital to the economy, don’t find themselves unable to serve hungry and thirsty customers on top of their ever-increasing costs caused by inflation. Meanwhile, consumers continue to get the short end of the stick as diesel prices won’t be cut for them and they still have to cope with dayto-day price increases in so many areas.
REFUGEES: Should people be paid to offer them a home?
Debi Pye I do think the Ukrainians need help, it’s just terrible what is happening to them. I also think something needs to be done about the homeless in the UK. I’m currently doing 50 miles in March for Shelter. It upsets me how many people in the UK who are homeless and get no help from the government. Thank god for homeless charities and good hearted citizens.
Lynne Hayward Unfortunately most people inc pensioners barely have enough to live on themselves.
Joanna Æ May People can’t afford to live with everything going up, of course they will need funding and £350 is not a lot really considering the amount it would cost to put them in a hotel. I do have compassion for these people as they are genuinely fleeing from war.
Beathe Olsen Wright £350/m is far more economical than scrambling to find them accommodation elsewhere. I just think that doing this should state ‘person in need’ and include any homeless/war veteran/ other refugee.
Valerie Hatcher How can you give money to them when you didn’t give it to the Veterans.
Edward Leto Is the same offered to families taking in any homeless person/ family or is the offer just for taking in Ukrainians?
At the EWN, we pride ourselves that reports are accurate and fair. If we do slip up, we promise to set the record straight in a clear, no-nonsense manner. To ask for an inaccuracy to be corrected. Email: editorial@euroweeklynews.com
www.euroweeklynews.com • 24 - 30 March 2022
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SPONSOR GO TO WWW.LINEADIRECTA.COM
25
TIME OUT
ia Victor
e Hayle
Q Emma
TIME OUT
26
www.euroweeklynews.com • 24 - 30 March 2022
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SPONSOR GO TO WWW.LINEADIRECTA.COM
www.euroweeklynews.com • 24 - 30 March 2022
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SPONSOR GO TO WWW.LINEADIRECTA.COM
27
TIME OUT
TIME OUT
28
www.euroweeklynews.com • 24 - 30 March 2022
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SPONSOR GO TO WWW.LINEADIRECTA.COM
IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO WAIT UNTIL NEXT WEEK GO TO WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM FOR THIS WEEK’S ANSWERS
www.euroweeklynews.com • 24 - 30 March 2022
SPONSORED BY
29
PETS
Getting out and about? Planning a trip or two? IT’S been rather quiet for us for a year or so, but many peo‐ ple are beginning to make plans again for travel. Are you? If you are planning a trip lat‐ er this year register now to find pet‐sitters. Even if it’s just a short trip, you’ll know that you simply can’t travel with some pets. Young and senior pets in particular benefit from staying in their own home, so they can follow their routines undis‐ turbed. Let us help. Take a moment to plan ahead for pet and house‐sit‐ ters, whether your trips are al‐ ready in the diary or a firm idea. Now is the time to get ready. We will help you as much as we can. Our philoso‐ phy is that we are all in this to‐ gether. These are the steps to take: 1. Register as a homeown‐
er on HouseSitMatch.com 2. Choose a Premium ac‐ count (£89 per year) to ensure you can help online when needed 3. Create a profile with photos of your pet and the house 4. Post a house‐sit advert stating your plans for next year’s holiday Covid permitting Do you need a pet‐sitter in 2022? Then get started right now. How does it work? HouseSitMatch can help you find suitable sitters. Join our network for a small annual fee. You get ID checked for safety and then build your advert say‐ ing when you are going on holi‐ day. House‐sitters see your ad‐ vert, they respond and you choose the sitter who’ll care for your pets. Trustpilot Testimonials ‐ 4.8
Not all pets can come with us on holiday - find sitters with Housesitmatch.
/ 5 Excellent rating (New Trustpilot rating scale) Here’s what members have said about us ‐ HouseSitMatch found us a perfect house‐sitter… HouseSitMatch found us a perfect house‐sitter while we were away in Canada and we were delighted with the care and attention that HouseSit Match took in helping us find the right person. Ros Morris ‐ Dog owner How do you join? Please register online via our website www.Housesit match.com ‐ Choose a membership plan ‐ Please note prices go up soon so sign up now on sub‐ scription to secure these prices: • Standard (DIY option) = £69 pa • Premium (with support at each step) = £89 pa
Do you need a house-sitter? Get in touch. House-sitting can be a win-win for both parties, free house and pet-sitting, and the experienced and checked sitters get free accommodation! Register as either house-sitter or homeowner with a 50 per cent discount using coupon code SUPER50 - an exclusive offer for readers. To find a house or pet-sitter go to www.HouseSitMatch.com
How smart is your pet? DOGS are much more intelligent than cats, according to a new study in the scientific journal ‘Frontiers in Neu‐ roanatomy.’ Dogs apparently have 530 million cortical neurons, the brain cells which are linked to intelligence, while cats only have 250 million. One of the scientists who conducted the study, Dr Suzana Herculano‐Houzel, developed the method used to accurately determine the number of neurons in dif‐ ferent brains and used it to discern how smart some animals actually are. She revealed the research suggests that dogs are able to process more complicated thought procedures and live a more varied, flexible life than cats. The study also looked at a wide range of animals such as lions, hyenas, mongooses and bears. It was assumed that meat‐eating mammals would have more cortical neurons compared to plant‐eating mammals with the same sized brain, as hunting re‐ quires more intelligence. However, it turned out that the bigger the brain did not necessarily mean the smarter the animal as bears were revealed to have roughly the same amount of cortical neurons as cats even though they have much bigger brains. Scientists came to the conclusion this was because brains take up a lot of energy, so brawnier animals can’t afford to expend any extra energy needed by muscles.
IF you have a cat you will know that they simply hate to be bathed. Any attempt to do so might lead to a real cat fight at home. This leads any cat owner to the ques‐ tion of how to clean your dirty muggins after a night out on the prowl. Cats are actually very clean animals. With their rough tongue, they can
Avoiding cat fights spend up to more than four hours a day licking and preening every corner of their fur to remove dirt and entangled hair. In addition to their person‐ al grooming, a good option is
BATH TIME: Cats are actually very clean animals.
to use dry shampoo. You simply brush the foam into the cat’s fur to give it a good clean. Household baby wipes are another alternative. Simply rub them over your cat as
though you were stroking it. This way, your cat can actu‐ ally come to enjoy this inter‐ action. Don’t forget to pay atten‐ tion to your cat’s eyes, ears and mouth.
CLASSIFIEDS AWNINGS
CARS FOR SALE
BUY & SELL PRIVATE collector will buy your Gold, Rolex & Patek Philippe Watches Tel – 678 716 693 (288662) If you can read it, so can your clients. Contact us and have your business grow at + 34 951 386 161
INSURANCE
community continuing to help people find their way back to God. Sunday Service 11.00am Prayer Meetings Wednesdays 11.00am Pasaje San Miguel, Nerja, 29780 Email: info@ nlcnerja.com Website: www . n l c n e r j a . c o m Facebook: www.facebook. com/nlcnerja CHARITY Shop Pocapecunia we need things for the house/kitchen, decoration, vases, plates, cups, saucers, kitchen tools, paintings, pottery pots and pans etc Prolongacion Avd. Rodgriguez Acosta, Nr the Parador Roundabout, opposite café Trébol, Nerja
BLINDS SOLAR BLINDS ES Ideal for large glazed areas to reflect heat / glare and stop furniture fading and still keep the view. SAVE HEAT IN THE WINTER to improve your living environment. ian@solarshadetinting.com Tel Ian 958 496 571 / 644 546 176 (287972)
30
CHURCH SERVICES CHARITY NEW LIFE CHURCH, whether you live in Nerja or are visiting our area, we would be delighted to welcome you to New Life Church. Our meetings are characterised by uplifting songs, relevant sermons and a modern but reverent service. During this time of uncertainty, God’s word reminds us that the Gospel shines brightest in times of darkness. We are a Bible based Church
THE ANGLICAN Chaplaincy of Nerja & Almunecar. Every Sunday there is a Holy Communion service at midday in San Miguel church in Nerja. Every Wednesday morning at 9.30 we have an online ‘Zoom’ HC service - please contact Fr Nigel with an e-mail address if you would like to join us. Priest in Charge, Father Nigel Thomas. Tel: Church House - 951 815736, Mobile: 608 695 756, e-mail: cofenerja@ gmail.com.
24 - 30 March 2022 • www.euroweeklynews.com SPONSORED BY
FOR SALE/WANTED WANTED Gold, Silver, Rolex & Patek Philippe Watches Tel – 678 716 693 (288662)
INSURANCE STAY SAFE! Abbeygate Insurance Call 971 277 455 For your security www.abbeygateinsure.com (2887610)
INVESTMENT OPP.
SITUATIONS VACANT
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
DISTRIBUTION DRIVERS wanted for Costa del Sol and Costa Tropical. One day per week. Must be legal to work in Spain, have own transport, know the areas and be reliable. Please send CV with covering letter to Martyn by email mab021262@ gmail.com (292475)
FED UP PAYING TOO MUCH FOR YOUR MOBILE PHONE CALLS? THEN CONTACT TELITEC TODAY. CALLS TO SPAIN 7C PER MINUTE INCLUDING MOBILES. CALLS TO UK 5.3C PER MINUTE. NO MONTHLY FEES, NO CONTRACT. WWW.TELITEC.COM TEL: 902 889 070 (2001)
WINDOW TINTING
SOLAR ENERGY
12% PA Fixed Rate Return. UK Commercial Property. Low entry level. Tel: 965 020 402 (294803)
MISCELLANEOUS GOLD & SILVER Bought & Sold, Rolex & Patek Philippe Watches Tel – 678 716 693 (288662)
MOTORING
SOLAR BLINDS ES Ideal for Large Glazed Areas To Reflect Heat / Glare And Stop Furniture Fading And Still Keep The View. Save Heat in The Winter To Improve Your Living Environment. ian@solarshadetin ting.com Tel Ian 958 496 571 / 644 546 176 (258409)
TESTIMONIALS
FOR SALE WE ARE currently the market leader in our country in the sale of direct car, motorbike, home and company fleet insurance. Since we started out in 1995, our philosophy has always been to offer an excellent service with the best prices in the market. For the most competitive quotes in English, call Linea Directa on 952 147 834. (200726)
NAUTICAL INTERNATIONAL SKIPPER LICENCE, VHF/DSC-Radio or Radar Courses held in English individual or small groups starts soon. 626 245 098 (295374)
PROPERTY TO LET TORRE del Mar. Rent 1 room with bathroom. 35€/day. 693 996 352 (FU 2571) If you can read it, so can your clients. Contact us and have your business grow at + 34 951 386 161
MOBILE SERVICE. ITV Legal. Solar Reflective tint for glass curtains, balconies, yachts. Stop fading, heat & glare. 958 496 571 – 644 546 176 ian@solar shadetinting.com (287972)
XXX RELAXATION Please note that in Spain there is NO legislation banning adverts in this section. Neither regional nor national governments are able to pass such a law due to rules governing freedom of publication and printing. READERS OF A SENSITIVE DISPOSITION MAY FIND SOME OF THE ADVERTISEMENTS IN THIS SECTION OFFENSIVE
XXX VARIOUS www.costaswing.com, the number one website to meet like-minded singles/ couples for fun and friendship MALE /Female viagra, cialis, kamagra jelly all areas. Mixed trial packs available. Delivery or mail order available 604 385 476. viagra4you19@gmail.com
TESTIMONIALS
XXX
RELAXATION
MOTORING
www.euroweeklynews.com
ROAD TEST by Mark Slack WITH so much integration of plat‐ forms carmakers are increasingly looking at differentiating their products from the competition, and within large groups like Volk‐ swagen Audi it is arguably even more important. SEAT has pro‐ gressed this idea with the Cupra range. Originally Cupra were the sports orientated models within the SEAT line‐up but the name is now a brand in its own right, hav‐ ing dropped the SEAT name, with a complete Cupra range. While some are very obvi‐ ously SEAT models the Spanish carmaker has produced one model that doesn’t exist with‐ in its sister brand. The For‐ mentor! It’s attached to a rather splendid car, and de‐ spite the fact that even the largest engine in the range is on‐ ly 2.0‐litres it sounds fantastic on start‐up. Although this is ‘manufac‐ tured’ sound it does add to the ap‐ peal and make it feel something special. With a top power output of 305 bhp the performance lives up to the soundtrack. Prices start from €34,426 (£28,895) and much of the kit in the top‐of‐the‐line versions finds
24 - 30 March 2022
Cupra Formentor Premium Performance
Facts at a Glance Model: CUPRA Formentor 2.0 TSI VZ3 310PS 4Drive DSG Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbocharged petrol Gears: 7-speed automatic with all-wheel-drive Performance: 0-100 kph (62 mph) Petrol 4.9 secs Maximum Speed Petrol 249 kph (155 mph) Economy: Petrol 8.6 l/100km (32.8 mpg) WLTP Emissions: 193 g/km WLTP Model tested was UK-specification and equipment levels and prices may vary in other markets.
An impressive machine.
its way into the lead‐in models too. There’s a 12” touchscreen, full LED lighting, auto‐dimming rear view mirror, cornering lights, wireless phone charging, adaptive cruise control and keyless entry and start. The engine line‐up starts with a 1.5 TSi, 147 bhp, through to the
EWN 31
2.0‐litre 305 bhp mentioned earli‐ er. There are manual and auto‐ matic transmission choices, all‐ wheel‐drive and petrol/electric hybrids. As ever, especially with VAG products, there is rather too much digitalisation, and a conse‐ quent lack of buttons, but familiar‐ ity would over time make life easi‐ er. That apart it’s a very nice place to be with, in my top line model, extremely comfortable seats and an impressive build quality and the general feel of this being an up‐ market car. At €52,691 (£44,225) it may seem expensive, but look at some of the rivals and it be‐ gins to look competitive. De‐ spite the lack of a premium badge it has the advantage of being something different to the usual premium crowd. On the road it handles extremely well for such a large machine, with sports suspen‐ sion and four‐wheel‐drive that’s perhaps not surprising, and the ride is comfortably firm compared to similar sports models within the VAG stable. This is an impressive machine and for my money the pick of the Cupra range, being a very individu‐ al model rather than a bespoke, or tailored, picked straight from the pages of the SEAT catalogue.
SPORT
32
24 - 30 March 2022
to read more visit www.euroweeklynews.com
NEW CAPTAIN AT THE HELM OF EVENTFUL F1 WALKING FOOTBALL REFEREES SEASON OPENER
K E I T H D O U G H T Y has taken over the reins of the walking football ref‐ erees association. Keith who is an ex‐FA league and cup referee brings a multitude of experience to the role and after a successful recruitment drive by walkingfooty. com, he explained his big plans: “Walking Football is a unique small‐sided ball game which is becoming ever more popular since its inception back in 2011.” As the sport continues to grow in Spain, the Iberian Walking Football Referee’s association has been set up with its main aim to ‘Recruit, Train, Mentor’ and generally improve the standard of refereeing across the peninsular and is fully af‐ filiated to the Walking Football Association of Iberia. We have training courses coming up in May/June 2022 so if you are interested in becom‐ ing a Walking Football Referee, go to the IWFRA website. https://www.iberian walkingfootballrefer eesassociation.org/ Malaga Walking Foot‐
SWEDEN: Ian Salt with his England teammates.
RECRUITMENT DRIVE: Referees take centre stage. ball Club hosted ‘Big Bob’s pub quiz’ At the Harp and Shamrock, Fuengirola at the week‐ end. The event raised a much needed €202 for Suspirios de Quatro
Patas animal shelter in Mijas Costa. Bobby Smith, star of Bargain loving Brits in the Sun who was the quiz master said, “I’m delight‐ ed to be able to help in
REFEREE: Keith Doughty. this small way.” Covid continues to be a concern, and the league is progressing in a steady way, with the emphasis always on the health and well‐being of supporters. Ian Salt from Malaga WFC has returned after helping England win in a four‐country tournament in Sweden. Ian said, “It was a great experience and one I hope to re‐ peat.” Current league leaders the Walking Dead have charity events in aid of Prostate Cancer UK, they have signed shirts from West Ham and Spurs. For more informa‐ tion visit their Facebook page, https://www.face book.com/walkingfoot ballcostadelsol/. More on this next week.
A NEW season of Formula One racing kicked off on Sunday, March 20, with the Bahrain Grand Prix. Located in the heart of the Sakhir desert, the Bahrain International Circuit certain‐ ly threw up an entertaining start to the 2022 F1 calendar. Charles LeClerc had qualified in pole position, and after going car‐to‐car with reigning world champion Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, the Frenchman drove his Ferrari to victory. Incredibly, this was the Italian team’s first win since 2019. With only three laps remaining, the Dutchman dramatically retired from the race with a ‘reliability failure’. This allowed the other Ferrari driver, Spain’s Carlos Sainz, to move up to second, giving the legendary Scuderia an incredible one‐two on the podium. Drama continued into the final lap, as Sergio Perez spun off the circuit with Lewis Hamilton hard on his tail. This crowned an awful start for Red Bull with neither of their drivers finishing the first race of the season. Hamilton took the third spot, but his Mercedes never looked to be in the running really, with both cars lacking the required pace. Having said that, Mercedes’ new boy, George Russell, clinched a glorious fourth position in his debut for the team. LeClerc held his nerve to claim that elusive win for Ferrari, saying after the race, “It’s incredible to be back at the top,” while his teammate Sainz added, “Ferrari is back and it’s prop‐ erly back.” There were some awesome results by various drivers and teams. Haas, last season’s slowest car, gained a fifth placing thanks to Kevin Magnussen. Finland'’ Valtteri Bottas shone as well, bringing his Alfa Romeo home in sixth. Zhou Guanyu, in the other Alfa Romeo also romped home in tenth in his debut.
WIN: For Charles LeClerc.