Costa de Almeria 13 – 19 April 2023 Issue 1971

Golden Leaves: Pioneering expertise and reliability with a human touch

The Euro Weekly News travelled to the company’s modern offices in Javea to meet founder Tony Rowland, chairman Steve Rowland and Chief Executive Officer Barry Floyd, to learn the history of how one of only two regulated companies in Spain came into being and how this historic brand earned its cast‐iron reputation for professionalism, quality and innovation.

FIRST, we met the company’s founder Tony Rowland, an avid fundraiser and bowler. In 1974 (whilst already a highly regarded funeral director in South London) one of his many business ambitions was to build a quality brand that would support and care for the needs of both those who unfortunately passed away whilst abroad and for those who wished to plan their future end of life services in advance. It was no surprise when tour operator Intersun asked Tony to repatriate the body of a holidaymaker who died in Mallorca in 1974. He seized the opportunity, dealing directly with the insurance company, the airline and the other parties involved. So efficient was his service that he was soon responsible bringing all deceased Intersun clients home. His reputation for exemplary and compassionate service soon led to other tour operators like Blue Skies and Saga following suit. Gradually he broadened the company’s area of influence and reputation (inspired by US schemes) by developing and launching a new brand promoting prepaid funeral plans throughout the United Kingdom and abroad.

The humble beginnings of Tony’s creation, Golden Leaves, soon became a thing of the past as it launched itself into the sector. It’s evolution at the vanguard of championing best practice throughout United Kingdom and abroad would see it swiftly grow to be recognised as one of most respected brands in the sector. Its reputation for innovation and ‘client first’ business practices preceded it, as the Golden Leaves brand soon became a symbol of quality, reassurance, and dependable compassionate service to tens of thousands of new customers.

As the decades passed, Golden Leaves secured its place amongst the most respected companies in the United Kingdom and Spain by being the ONLY business to have both its Chairman and Managing Director appointed to serve as directors on the board of the Funeral Planning Authority (the UK regulatory body in place at the time). Eventually, as the Financial Conduct Authority moved to bring Funeral plans under their statutory remit and replace the FPA after instructions from HM Treasury and parliament, Golden Leaves were once again at the forefront of discussion and debate with HM Treasury and the FCA, providing essential detail to assist the creation of the new rule book.

On July 29, 2022, all UK funeral plan providers must be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority to sell or administer a funeral plan, these also include ANY International funeral plans (those sold in Spain) that can also be utilised in the United Kingdom if desired. Golden Leaves is one of only two companies selling FCA regulated funeral plans across the Spanish mainland and both the Canaries and Balearic Islands.

Next we met Golden Leaves’ Chief Executive Officer, Barry Floyd, who has had a long career with the brand having been managing director for nine years before taking the reigns as Chief Executive Officer. Barry steered the business though its lengthy journey from self‐regulation to gaining full Financial Conduct Authority authorisation.

Barry commented: “The last two years have been a truly gruelling experience. Gaining authorisation from the UK’s statutory regulator is a very long, demanding and often extremely challenging process. Requiring many hundreds of hours hard work from the board, the management team and our regulatory lawyers in addition to a huge number of informational and documentary requirements, even to the point of competence and strategy interviews with the FCA interview panel.

“Consequently, only the best past muster and so when you do eventually emerge on the other side with approval, customers can have concrete trust in the fact that you are a quality professional, financially solid and dependable brand.

“Obviously, this is of paramount importance when a customer is deciding to purchase a funeral plan. Primarily as you need to know the company you are buying from will be around to look after you potentially many years into the future.

“It is common knowledge these days that purchasing a plan from a non FCA regulated planning company, leaves you seriously open to losing all of your money.”

Finally, we were also joined by company Chairman Steve Rowland, who sets the company’s ethos and ensures that the executive board operates correctly. However, like Barry, Steve is passionate about the social aspects of the service and being of assistance to those who have lost loved ones with the Rowland Brothers Foundation, which provides free bereavement counselling. Like his father, who has received an MBE for his incredible work raising funds for good causes, he works diligently to ensure that the Company is always customer focused first and that the quality of support is exemplary.

At the end of the day, what could be more reassuring than knowing that a brand like Golden Leaves and its dedicated staff, with decades of experience, will be there to look after you and your loved ones during the most stressful of times?

Emma Quantrill and Tony Rowland

Steve Rowland

Barry Floyd Tony Rowland

CRUISING INTO SUMMER

Betty Henderson

ALMERIA is preparing to welcome the first cruise ship of the summer season, with the ‘Star Flyer’ set to arrive on Saturday, April 15. This year’s packed cruise programme marks the begin‐ning of a thrilling new chapter for the city’s port after several years of pan‐demic disruption.

With a whopping 26 cruise ships scheduled to make a stopover this year, the port is set to see a 85.7 per cent increase in arrivals from last year. The plans mean that a possible 11,143 passengers will arrive on the city’s shores.

The first ship to arrive is ‘Star Flyer’, operated by Star Clippers, which will bring 170 passengers into Almeria for the day on Saturday, April 15. The cruise season runs until Thursday, De‐cember 14, with the last cruise ship to arrive being the ‘Ocean Odyssey’. The

IN an update to last week’s story about a father ‐ son duo who allegedly stole hundreds of euros in Albox, more local residents have come forward with similar stories of being scammed.

Two people have come forward in Albox, saying that they too were scammed by the men. One person shared their story saying, (they) “also rented an apartment of friends of

largest cruise during the season will be the ‘Marella Voyager’, bringing more than 1,900 passengers to the city on Thursday, June 1.

Albox scammers update

mine and never paid the rent or bills, kept saying they are waiting for money and left big bar bills in Mo‐jacar. A friend of mine also lent them €500.” Others al‐lege that the pair conned expats in Turre, in southern Almeria.

Since they left Mojacar,

it is believed that the fa ‐ther has returned to their family home in Greater Manchester in the UK, while the son is allegedly working in a bar in Al ‐bufeira, Portugal. The de ‐nuncia complaints against the pair are only valid in Spain, but word is spread‐

ing in Albufeira about their alleged activities.

Residents in Albox have passed on details about the men to the British car rental company regarding misuse of the vehicle. In a correction to last week’s article, the car used was a Kia Niro.

Almeria will also be the first port of call for nine of the 26 cruises, with the other ships departing from other port cities including Malaga and Ibiza.

The ‘Star Flyer’ by Star Clippers is a modern, small cruise ship offering passengers the tradition and romance of sailing in days gone by. It docks in Almeria on Saturday, April 15.

Photo credit: Star Clippers (via Face -

A Night in the kennels!

ONE of our lovely volunteers, Christine Logan, is becoming a legend at the PAWS‐PATAS shelter for her fundraising an‐tics! For the third year run‐ning, Christine raised money for the wonderful dogs at PAWS ‐ PATAS, this year’s fundraising culminated in Christine spending a night in our kennels with one of our residents, Jamie!

With the final sum totalling €1,600, a huge thank you goes to Christine from the PAWS‐PATAS team!

PAWS‐PATAS mission is to help reduce the number of

stray and abandoned animals in the area by sheltering them, and trying to find them permanent homes. Also to re‐duce dog and cat overpopula‐tion through neutering.

RUNNERS grab your trainers for the 10-kilometre Puerto de Almeria race which is to be held on Sunday April 23.

More than 300 runners have already signed up for this sporting and charity event.

The registration period ends on April 21. Registration can be made through the 10kmpuer todealmeria.com competition website.

Part of the proceeds will go to the charity Manos Unidas which is an organisation that fights against hunger and the causes that provoke it. The race, organised by the Aqueatacamos sports club with the sponsorship of the Port Authority of Almeria, will start at 10.30am

We endeavour not to have to sacrifice any animal in our care that is medically and be‐haviourally sound.

PAWS‐PATAS is run entirely by volunteers and we depend solely on donations from the public and our outlets in Mo‐jacar, Turre and Las Buganvil‐las. We know we can’t re ‐move the problem but with your support we can relieve a lot of unnecessary suffering. For further information re‐garding volunteering, adopt‐ing, fostering, etc please visit our website: www.paws ‐patas.org.

10k fun

and finish at noon. Runners have a maximum time of one and a half hours to finish the race. The start and finish line will be located at the Muelle de Levante of the Port of Almeria, next to the offices of the Capitanía Marítima, with a parking area for participants and accompanying persons in front of the Port Authority building. The bibs will be handed out to registered participants on the day of the race at the Muelle de Levante between 8.30am and 10.00am.

Christine snuggles up.

Nonagram 69

UNFORTUNATELY there was a small error in the Nonagram puzzle in Edition 1969 where the wrong letter was shown in the text and the centre of the puzzle. The correct letter should have been D. Apologies to all those who struggled to find the correct solution.

Charity success

THE first Charity Football Tournament in Huercal‐Overa on April 5 raised a whopping €20,000 for Argar Association for children with cancer. The incredibly suc‐cessful event was attended by around 3,000 people on the El Hornillo pitch.

Bra smuggle

THE High Court of Justice of Andalucia has confirmed a sentence of 19 months in prison for a woman who tried to sneak two bags of cocaine hidden in her bra in‐to the prison of El Acebuche, in Almeria, through a vis‐a‐vis arranged with her part‐ner.

Finding funds

THE town councils of Huer‐cal‐Overa, Almeria, Vera, Cantoria, Macael, Vicar and Nijar will receive a total of €9,536,179 for the refurbish‐ment of publicly owned buildings. Among the pro‐jects selected is the refurbish‐ment of the Plaza de Abastos in Huercal‐Overa.

Court rehab

THE town hall of Vera has been provisionally proposed for €1,534,858 in subsidies, which will be used for the re‐habilitation of the old court‐house building, located in Plaza del Hospital. The plan is to convert the old court‐house into a civic centre.

Unique service

TWI beaches in Roquetas of‐fer a unique service in conti‐nental Europe, they both have special toilets for osto‐mates. In Spain, only one beach in Tenerife offers this service.

Digital way out

Speaking on Monday, April 10, project leaders explained it involves offering workshops that teach the women essen‐tial office and digital skills, al‐lowing these women to bridge the digital divide and access new opportunities.

The project has also been backed by regional employment group, Asempal, who want to offer the women opportunities for housing, employment and social inclusion.

The classes are focused on social, health, training, and le‐gal contexts and aim to help the women take back control

of their own lives and become more independent. The participants are also learning essential office skills

YOUR

EWN

such as typing, as well as how to use computer programmes like Word, Excel, and social media. They are also receiving training on how to complete online administration and how to find jobs using the in‐ternet.

Since the project works with vulnerable women, they have also received classes on how to use the internet safely and avoid sharing private da‐ta.

The project runs until June.

Over 50s fun

ALMERIA offers a wide range of opportunities for sports practice.

VERA and District Lions Club has an‐nounced an exciting collaboration with Ve‐ra Council to provide a venue for several upcoming events. Among the venues is the beautiful Auditorio de Vera building which will host a dazzling Celine Dion trib‐ute organised by the group in October.

In October, the Lions Club will be hosting the world’s premier Celine Dion tribute show, by January Butler. The Celine Dion

Roaring with excitement

tribute act promises to be an unforget‐table experience for all fans of the leg‐endary Canadian singer. Featuring top‐notch musicians and stunning visuals, this show will transport the audience to the Las Vegas strip, where Dion has been a resi‐dent performer for many years.

In addition, Spanish tenor Jesús Hernán‐dez will be making a special appearance, adding his own unique flair to the perfor‐mance. Hernándezʼs voice is sure to com‐plement the tribute act perfectly.

Tickets for the event are €10 from Zoe Rylett at El Emporio de Zoe, Los Gallardos.

Coast connected Swing into action

THE regional government, the Junta de Andalucia un‐veiled the completed Mo‐jacar transport interchange on Avenida de Andalucia in a ceremony last week alongside members of Mo‐jacar Council and the may‐or.

Through the Patronato Municipal de Deportes’ Physical Activity Pro ‐gramme for the Elderly (PMD), those over the 50s can sign up for a new hiking route.

With the aim of get ‐ting to know the Alman‐zora Valley, the PMD has opened registrations for the Sendero de Limaria in Arboleas which will take place on April 16 starting at 8.00an at the door of the Stella Maris School.

FORUM Golf Society is gearing up for an exciting event that is set to make a difference in the fight against prostate cancer. The soci‐ety is proud to announce its upcoming fundraiser day on Friday, April 28 at the Aguilon Golf Course near Pilar de Jaravia.

Anticipation is building up with several local businesses an‐nouncing their backing for the event, but organisers are still seek‐ing sponsors. Businesses are invited to sponsor a hole on the course for €50. By supporting the cause, sponsors will receive pub‐licity on the day, as well as through several Facebook posts before and after the event.

Anyone interested in sponsoring a hole is asked to get in touch via email to: kevin.j.staines@icloud.com to pledge your support.

More details about how to participate in the competition itself are set to be released in the lead‐up to the event. By supporting the event, you’ll be joining a team of passionate individuals who are committed to raising awareness and funds for prostate cancer research. The disease affects millions of men worldwide, and your contribution could help to make a change.

The long‐awaited project was completed on Mon ‐day, April 3 and will pro ‐vide a much‐needed trans‐port link between the coastal site on the Avenida de Andalucia (AL‐6111) and Mojacar’s historic centre. The project was completed by the Ministry for Region‐al Development and covers a 5,607 metres squared plot

The new Mojacar Inter ‐change features four bus stops, as well as an adjoin‐ing waiting room with es ‐sential services including toilets and ticket offices. The building also features a metal canopy next to the bus bays to provide a larger shaded area, guaranteeing

a more comfortable place for passengers to wait for connections. The new bus stops have also been de ‐signed to ensure passenger safety. This project is part of the Ministry for Regional Development’s plans to im‐prove the quality of trans‐port services for passen ‐gers and raising the quality of life for residents in An ‐dalucia.

Registration can be done online or in person at the offices located in the Palacio de los Juegos Mediterraneos.

With a distance of about 12 kilometres, the estimated time to com‐plete the route is about four and a half hours.

Anyone wishing to sign up must do so from 9.00am until 1.00pm, Monday to Friday.

For more information call (+34) 950 332 100.

EWN 13 - 19 April 2023 3 NEWS euroweeklynews.com

BACK in January, Las Adoratri‐ces, a community of nuns in Almeria, launched an inspira‐tional project aimed at help‐ing a group of 25 women who have been victims of gender‐based violence, human traf‐ficking, and prostitution. Since then the project has gone from strength to strength, with many of the women making excellent progress.

Photo credit: Asempal - Confederación Empresarial de la Provincia de Almería (via Facebook)

Chorus for a cause Strong heartbeat Art exhibition

ALMERIA just became a safer city thanks to its first defibrillator station in the city centre! Located on the pedestrian street Aguilar de Campo, near the Mercado Central, the life ‐ saving device was in ‐stalled on Tuesday, April 4 as part of a project to turn Almeria into a ‘Heart‐Safe City’.

The local council held an opening ceremony for the defibrillator which was at‐tended by members of the Andalucian Heart Foundation (FAC). Author‐ities at the ceremony ex ‐plained that it aims to pre‐vent death from sudden cardiac arrest and its part of a policy to increase safety in heavily populat‐ed areas, which has seen defibrillators installed in public buildings across the city. The device includes a DOC defibrillator, instruc‐tions for its safe use and

other first aid equipment. The unit is also connected to emergency services via an active geolocation fea‐ture.

Through the initiative, Almeria wants to encour‐age private companies to follow their lead and be ‐come a more heart ‐ safe city. According to studies, more than 30,000 cardiac arrests are recorded in Spain each year, with a survival rate of just 5 per cent, defibrillators in ‐crease the chances of sur‐vival by up to 90 per cent.

PROVERB OF THE

Betty Henderson

ALL Aloud Community Choir has proudly an‐nounced a charity concert the group is set to put on in support of the Spanish Cancer Chari‐ty, the AECC. The event will take place at the Kubatin Bar at the Hostal Meson in Arboleas on Friday June 9.

The evening will be filled with a varied pro‐gramme of music, including some numbers where the audience will be invited to to partici‐pate! So whether you’re a singer or a spectator, all are invited to enjoy an evening of music that will make a real difference to those in need. Entry to the event will be free, but dona‐tions will be gladly accepted on the evening, with supporters asked to give generously to

this fantastic charity.

The AECC is a vital charity that provides sup‐port and care to all those affected by cancer in the local area. All Aloud Community Choir is proud to lend their voices and support to such a worthy cause. Further details will be released in due course.

Spirit of Semana Santa

ALMERIA’S Semana Santa Holy Week celebrations came to a close on Sunday, April 9 with processions and tradition‐al Catholic activities commem‐orating Jesus’ resurrection from death on Easter Sunday.

A procession, led by the Señor de la Vida and María

Santísima del Triunfo (Resuci‐tado) brotherhood, attracted a massive crowd and was a per‐fect end to a truly spectacular week of festivities. Throughout the week vibrant processions depicted Jesus’ passion and death with intricately designed procession floats, leading up to the resurrection on Easter Sun‐day.

Members of the communi‐ty and visitors excitedly lined the streets as they came to‐gether to witness this incredi‐ble tradition. The weather was perfect, and the streets were

filled with joy and as the pro‐cession travelled through the city.

The mayor of Almeria, Maria del Mar Vazquez, was also present at the event and described the procession as a powerful symbol of hope and faith.

The procession then contin‐ued on to the Plaza de la Cate‐dral, where it received a rous‐ing reception from the crowds. The Semana Santa celebra‐tions may be over for another year, but the memories of this incredible week will live on.

MOJACAR’S Municipal

Art Centre La Fuente has inaugurated an exhibi‐tion by the artist Brigitte Blansaer ‘Bage’, open to the public until April 30.

Bage was born in Ghent and graduated from the art academies of Hasselt and Tongeren. She has had numer‐ous exhibitions in Bel‐gium, participating in the opening of the cultural season in Bree as well as in the Dutch Painting of the Year.

Her work is wrapped in feminine spirituality and power in form and colour, combining her in‐spiration with the entry into the age of Aquarius, which according to ex‐perts will bring with it a new awareness of the human being, coopera‐tion and help for each other, peace and love for our planet and nature.

Brigitte Blansaer ex‐plained she wants to convey her soul and spiri‐tuality through her paint‐ings. The exhibition can be visited free of charge Tuesday to Sunday from 11.00am until 2.00pm.

All Aloud Community Choir is a lively group of singers who perform varied pieces.

Photo credit: Gary Mitchell / All Aloud Community Choir (via Facebook)

WEEK

“The quiet sow eats the food of the grunting one.”

This is a medieval proverb meaning, whilst you’re busy complaining about your lot, someone else will have enjoyed it.

28% of white collar workers’ time is spent dealing with emails.

Champion warms up

Betty Henderson

CYCLING superstar Alejandro Valverde has been spotted in the stunning town of Berja, lo‐cated in the heart of the Sierra de Gádor moun‐tain range!

The Spanish rider, who currently rides for Movistar, visited the area alongside members of Berja Cycling Club on Monday, April 10 to get a first‐hand look at the course for the up‐coming La Indomable race, set to take place on Sunday, April 23.

Alejandro Valverde is one of the most ac‐complished professional cyclists of his genera‐tion, having amassed a remarkable list of achievements throughout his career including winning the UCI Road World Championships in 2018, finishing on the podium of all three

Grand Tours, winning the Spanish national championships five times, and an Olympic

The decorated athlete is set to make his comeback to competitive racing in Berja, riding for the new Movistar Team Gravel Squad after

retiring last year. With the race just around the corner, cycling enthusiasts from around the world are sure to be eagerly anticipating the action‐packed event.

La Indomable, which is part of the UCI Gravel World Series, has put Berja on the global cy‐cling map, with only two races held in Spain.

Market on the rise

ALMERIA’S central market is finally on track to be de‐clared a Site of Cultural In‐terest (BIC) after a 44‐year campaign, according to an announcement given on Friday, April 7.

Built in a unique architec‐tural style, the iron building was the first market in the city and it has been a focal point of commerce and trade in the city, attracting locals and tourists alike. Pri‐or to its completion in 1897,

goods exchanges had taken place at street stalls scat‐tered throughout the city, a custom since the Middle Ages.

The market’s historical and architectural value is being documented by au‐thorities who are preparing a new report to guarantee protection of its historical heritage. Its value as a his‐torical and architectural landmark has not gone un‐noticed, and many have ex‐

pressed their support for the latest initiative to finally grant it the BIC status it de‐serves.

This is the sixth such at‐tempt to declare the build‐ing as a BIC, but previous at‐tempts had not succeeded.

Architects are optimistic that the current efforts will bear fruit, as the preserva‐tion of this 19th ‐ century building would add to the city’s value and encourage more people to visit.

Important win Almeria

UD Almeria triumphed over Valencia with an im‐

portant 2 ‐ 1 victory at home in the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterrá ‐neos.

Almeria’s two goals came from midfielder Gonzalo Melero in the 49th minute and defend ‐er Srdjan Babic in the 58th minute.

Valencia’s forward Samu Castillejo got a goal back in the 61st minute. Almeria is now in 16th position while Valencia sunk into the relegation zone after their defeat.

Almeria has a tough op ‐ponent in their next match facing Atletico Madrid on Sunday, April 16.

Almeria will be happy they secured the win with a difficult couple of fixtures ahead.

They will play Atletico Bilbao, Getafe, and then Real Madrid before the month is over.

Legendary cyclist Alejandro Valverde was spotted warming up for a comeback.

Photo credit: Ayuntamiento de Berja (via Facebook)

Rentals thriving

AIRBNB‐style holiday homes are popping up all over Almeria, especially in Mojacar and Vera making Almeria one of the regions that has the most registered holiday homes and rural ac‐commodation tourist homes. Almost tying with cities like Sevilla, 9,183 holiday rentals have been registered with the Tourism Reg‐istry, 1909 reported being along the coast of Vera and 1,461 in Mojacar.

Other towns seeing a surge in such proper‐ties are Nijar, Pulpi, Carboneras, El Ejido, Cuevas del Almanzora, and Garrucha. The Almeria area is still not dominated by hotels like other coastal towns but attracting many tourists to its beautiful coastline has led to the development of this alternative method. In fact, according to the Registry of the Ministry of Tourism, there

BASKETBALL fans from all over Andalucia, Madrid, and Murcia descended upon Almeria to take part in the 12th Easter Tournament host‐ed by Club Adaba from Sun‐day, April 2 until Wednesday, April 5.

The event was hailed as a major success, bringing more than 1,200 players and 106 teams together for four days

are more holiday rental beds (45,657) than ho‐tel beds (35,000) in the province. They have al‐so seen that people that stay in holiday homes spend more during their stay in the area than those staying in a hotel and the duration of their stay is proportionally longer: five days in comparison to 3.6 days in a hotel.

Bouncing into Easter

of competitive fun. The event also gave the local hospitality a boost with three hotels fully booked and a further 500 rooms reserved for competi‐tors and spectators.

The tournament saw a to‐tal of 168 matches played on basketball courts at the CD El Toyo‐Retamar and the Pala‐

cio de los Juegos Mediterrá‐neos. Participants in the com‐petition hailed from various regions of Spain, including An‐dalucia, Madrid, and Murcia.

The event came to a close on the Wednesday with an awards ceremony at the El Toyo‐Retamar Sports Com‐plex.

MOJACAR: Has many holiday homes.

Photo Credit Wikipedia: Indalomania

Line dancing lifesavers

Betty Henderson

ONE local dancing group is determined to be a force for good in the Albox community. Eleanor and Gilly’s Line Dance Class has supported a variety of causes for the last 15 years in Almeria and recently saved a local scout group from closing!

For more than a decade, this dance class supported the FACE charity. But when they heard that the local Grupo Scout 106 del Saliente was in trouble due to the demise of FACE, they knew they had to step in.

Despite being a small group, Eleanor and Gillu’s Line Dance Class banded together and donated a sixman tent, sleeping bags, and cooking equipment to the

struggling Scouts. Their generosity didn’t end there, the group continues to give financial support to the Scouts. On Monday, April 10, dance leaders presented a cheque worth €178.25 to Scout representative Zoe Egland.

The dance class is the

AFTER nearly a month of closure for repairs, the Almeria to Granada train line is set to reopen on Thursday, April 13. The line which connects the Andalucian cities of Almeria and Granada through Moreda was closed for vital repair work which included the installation of various switches along the tracks to allow trains to switch lines more easily.

The line has been closed since Friday, March 10 to allow construction workers to complete the project more efficiently. The installation of the new switches was completed on Wednes‐day, March 12, allowing the line to reopen the following day. The installation of the four switches has been completed on time. The first

place to be on a Monday afternoon, with a fun and social atmosphere that’s perfect for making new friends and learning the basics of line dancing.

Classes are held in Charlotte’s Bar in Albox from 2pm-3.45pm, for more information call: 950 439 003.

Train line

two were installed under the Camino de Ronda bridge, and the other two give trains access to a parallel line which also runs from Granada to Moreda.

The final step of the project was testing, which was completed with Renfe trains. The improvements are set to boost the quality of the service between Almeria and various other cities, including Madrid, which the city is con‐nected to via Granada. Thanks to the new in‐frastructure, Renfe is set to improve their ser‐vices for passengers.

All year round

SWIMMERS will be encour‐aged to use the Ego out ‐door pool all year round now it has completed the installation of the new re‐tractable cover.

The mayor, Maria del Mar Vazquez, confirmed: “Around 11,000 people from Almeria have access to Ego’s facilities, where, on average, more than 2,000 people pass through every day.”

Its manager has indicat‐ed that “one of our main objectives is to make our customers more comfort ‐able and this new roof, the largest in Spain, will allow them to enjoy more space.”

The manager of Ego, Francis Miras add: “With

the demand for courses, this pool will allow us to double the number of training sessions.

“The installation of the mobile marsh gives us ver‐satility so that it is not just a 50 ‐ metre pool, we have three 25 ‐ metre pools and one 50‐metre pool.”

Miras also emphasised: “With the largest indoor pool in Spain, we are seek‐ing to consolidate the Almeria Sports Destination.

“We believe in this initia‐tive and we will do our bit, we have a quality facility so that clubs from northern Europe can swim here.”

Line dancing ladies present local Scouts with a cheque.

Photo credit: Richard Tolman (via email)

OUTDOOR POOL: Now has a new retractable cover.

Image: Almeria City Council

Spain’s Digital Nomad Visa and tax benefits

You may be able to move to Spain earlier than expected and not have to wait until retirement. The new Digital Nomad Visa enables UK and other nonEU nationals to live and work remotely in Spain, plus provide tax advantages.

The Digital Nomad Visa (DNV) is a key component of Spain’s ‘Start Up Law’. Approved in December, its main objective is to attract and retain investment and talent in Spain.

To qualify for a DNV, you must meet certain criteria, including:

• You work remotely (online) for a company located outside the EU/EEA or perform a maximum 20% of your professional activity for a Spanish based company.

• You have been working for the company for three months and your contract is for one year minimum.

• A clean criminal record.

By Jon Pemberton, Partner, Blevins Franks

• Proof you have €25,000 on deposit (plus €9,441 for each family member joining you) and private medical insurance.

• It is also possible to obtain a visa as an entrepreneur in Spain, if you meet the conditions.

Once approved for this visa your spouse and dependent children can live in Spain with you.

When applying at the Spanish

Consulate in your home country, the visa is initially valid for one year. You then apply for another three years. If you apply directly in Spain as a tourist, the visa covers three years.

Beckham Law beneficial tax regime

Once you are in possession of a DNV, you can apply to be covered by the ‘Beckham Law Regime’. This tax regime has been modified to make it even more attractive.

• You are considered non-tax resident for the year of relocation and following five tax years.

• While your employment income is taxed in Spain, the rate for income up to €600,000 is 24%. After that it’s 47% (which normally applies to income over €300,000). Non-employment income earned outside Spain is not subject to Spanish incomes taxes.

• Your solidarity tax liability will only be on assets located in Spain (and the allowances are very

high).

You can apply to be taxed under this regime if you have not been resident in Spain for the previous five years and are moving to Spain under an employment contract; with a Digital Nomad Visa, or as a director of an entity if you hold less than 25% of its capital.

Entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals are not eligible.

UK taxation

Employment income – if you are non-UK tax resident, only UK source income is taxed there.

Capital gains – while living in Spain under the Digital Nomad Visa, gains made on the sale of shares could potentially be free of capital gains tax in both countries.

Dividends – if the disregarded income treatment applies the UK tax liability is highly reduced or maybe nil. Dividends received from UK companies are not taxable in Spain.

This new visa obviously appeals

to digital nomads who fancy living in Spain for a few years. But it is attractive to UK professionals and businesspeople planning to retire in the coming years. If you are on a high UK salary can work remotely, you may be able to move to Spain under the DNV and pay less income tax under the Beckham regime. Dispose of UK company shares while living in Spain under this visa would save you tax.

Seek advice from a cross-border wealth management firm who understands the intricacies of Spanish and UK taxation and interaction between them.

The tax rates, scope and reliefs may change. Any statements concerning taxation are based upon our understanding of current taxation laws and practices which are subject to change. Tax information has been summarised; an individual should take personalised advice.

Keep up to date on the financial issues that may affect you on the Blevins Franks news page at www.blevinsfranks.com.

Betty Henderson

PREPARE for a night of glitz, glamour, and social fun, all in the name of a great cause! The ‘Black Tie Posh Frock’ dinner dance is set to take place on Friday, April 21, and it promises to be an unmissable evening in aid of local charity, Asprodalba.

From 7.30pm, the doors of the Villa Cadima restau‐rant in Bedar will open to welcome guests with a glass of cava, setting the tone for a night of excitement and indulgence. Guests will be treated to a delicious three‐course meal, featuring gourmet options like prawn cocktail, succulent pork cheek, and more. For dessert there is an equally appetising selection of op‐tions including cheesecake and chocolate coulant.

Once guests are fuelled up, it will be time to hit the dance floor! The event will feature top ‐ class local

Posh frocks

artists like Tony Justice, Mad on Blonde, and DJ Rob Mac from Almeria Radio, providing the perfect soundtrack to dance the night away.

The event is not only a chance to have a great time, but also to give back to the community. Proceeds

raised from the event will go to support Asprodalba, a residential and day centre that provides care for peo‐ple with special needs in the local community.

Tickets for the event cost €35 and can be purchased from Steve Crees: steve. maria.cckl@me.com.

Spring into action

SPRING has arrived in Almeria with a bang, bringing with it a flurry of exciting activities and guided tours. Six lively events have been planned, along with 19 guided tours, to keep locals and visi‐tors entertained throughout April.

Kicking things off was the popular GastroArt festival at the Parque Nicolás Salmerón on Saturday, April 1. On the same day, the ‘I Love Chollo’ commer‐cial campaign brought shoppers into the centre, supporting local businesses.

Other events this month include a vi‐brant planetarium which has been in‐stalled in the Plaza de las Velas, where visitors can explore the world of astron‐omy from 11am ‐ 2pm and 5pm ‐ 8pm each day. Bookworms can also enjoy a book fair on the Rambla de Almeria, which runs from Wednesday, April 26 until Monday, May 1.

To round off the month, Parque

Nicolás Salmerón will host a craft and antique fair on Saturday, April 29, an event where visitors can enjoy the sights, smells and sounds of antique treasures and crafts.

In addition to these activities, 43 guid‐ed tours of the city are scheduled to take place during April, May, and June, allowing locals and guests to discover more in the heart of the city.

Bike bandit busted

POLICE in Almeria have apprehended a notorious bike thief who operated in the region for more than a year. The Guardia Civil finally caught a 44-year-old man on suspicion of stealing half a dozen bicycles on Monday, April 10.

The culprit allegedly targeted bikes in garages and on the streets of Almerimar by waiting for the owners to leave their bikes before taking them. The brazen thief also stole bikes from public bike shelters.

Thanks to the hard work and determina-

tion of the police, two of the stolen bikes have already been returned to their rightful owners. The investigation began after two victims reported bikes missing in 2022, which led to the discovery of the thief’s other crimes. As it turned out, the culprit had a lengthy history of similar offences.

The arrest of the thief means that the community can now rest easy knowing that their bicycles are safe. The Guardia Civil thanked officers for their hard work on the case which led to an arrest.

A black tie dinner will raise vital funds for Asprodalba as they move into their new residential centre which opened on Tuesday, March 30.

Photo credit: Asprodalba (via Facebook)

Authorities unveiled a busy programme to help locals and visitors to make the most of springtime in Almeria.

Photo credit: Ayuntamiento de Almería

Perfect hiking

ARE you looking for the per‐fect hiking trail to enjoy the spring weather? The three towns of La Alpujarra are the ideal route through a beauti‐ful rural setting but with plen‐ty of bars and restaurants along the way to rest and en‐joy the scenery.

The route in its entirety is 12.5 kilometres and runs be‐tween the Sierra Nevada and the Sierra de Gádor. It takes about four and a half hours to complete. The trail passes through the towns of Almóci‐ta, Beires, and Padules. Most

start the trail from Almócita and then head towards Beires from there you can enjoy spectacular views of the An‐darax Valley and the Sierra de Gadór. As you head toward

the final town of Padules you can stop and swim in the pools of Las Canales. The trail is classed as a medium‐level hike and the use of correct footwear is recommended.

THE birth of a Wild African donkey in Tabernas has created hope for the species with just 200 ex ‐amples of this species sur‐viving. His name is ‘Matu‐maini’ and it is Swahili for hope.

The baby donkey is un ‐der the care of the team at the Oasys Mini Holly ‐wood theme park and

Cabo de Gata

THE Cabo de Gata salt lakes show signs of recovery with water now visible throughout much of the wetland. The salt lakes are a natural area that has been modified in order to maintain their state from year to year but recent‐ly it has seen a loss of water in the area.

Although this area is prone to drought and many of the species that live here can adapt to these circumstances, the locals are happy to see more water re‐turn to the area. As the area recovers they have seen the return of flamingos and as they are the visitors that capture the most attention tourists have flocked to the area again to see them.

The Andalucian government invested €1 million to improve the ecosystem of the salt flats. The money will be used for a number of actions related to the nest‐ing conditions of birds among others.

Endangered donkey

zoo. Matumaini weighed 30 kilos when he was born and his birth is fundamen‐tal for the continuation of captive breeding and per‐petuation of this species. This zoo and theme park

also has more than 800 animals of 200 different species and is part of the European Zoos Captive Breeding Programme.

The arrival of this baby wild donkey has been the

cause of ‘immense joy’ for the entire team of veteri‐nary professionals, biolo‐gists, and specialised care‐givers who work every day for the conservation of animals and nature.

HIKING TRAILS: Through beautiful rural settings.

Photo credit Wikipedia: Forviz

SALT LAKES: Water is now visible.

Photo Credit Wikipedia: Martyn Thompson

BABY DONKEY: His name is Matumaini - which means hope.

Photo credit Wikipedia: T.Voekler

IF tongue ‐ in ‐ cheek light hack work is your bag, David Holman‐Hill Waters is your man. Never taking any subject too seriously, his whimsical articles are designed to, and do, amuse and make you chuckle, sometimes out loud.

His first influences on the world of humour came in childhood, listen‐ing to the five ‐ minute readings on the BBC Home Service, prior to Uncle Mac and his Children’s Favourites programme of the late 50s and early 60s.

David was smitten by these humorous readings from the likes of Basil Boothroyd, Dylan Thomas and Alan Coran. These, in turn, led to the joys of Punch magazine and the stories of P G Wodehouse.

The BBC also brought him Hancock and the work of Galton and Simpson and, with a Bakelite earphone snuggled into the pillow, the anarchic influence of the ‘The Goons’. Since then,

Tongue-in-cheek

mies and relatives with his whimsical, self‐indulgent tongue‐in‐cheek takes on life’s absurdities. All to his great delight.

in Almeria three years ago, David has written numer‐ous short humorous essays and is some 50,000 words into his first novel.

British buyers still rule

GOOD news for the Spanish house market as a new report, from leading international property portal Kyero, has re‐vealed that British buyers remain the biggest overseas spenders when it comes to buying property in Spain, three years on from Brexit and despite a 17 per cent fall in enquiries from British buyers last year.

David has not just been tak‐en by the writings of these wonderful humourists, but quill in inky hand, has tried, he says, to emulate their brilliant humour and the delight their work engen‐dered.

Having physically, if not exactly mentally grown up, David has worked in adver‐tising and design, whilst amusing himself and enjoy‐ing annoying his few long‐suffering friends, many ene‐

A Welshman, still pas ‐sionate, despite their rugby team’s current quandary, he has also written, illus‐trated and published a Chil‐dren’s book, ‘Caradog the friendly Welsh Dragon’, a delightfully gentle tale of a friendly Welsh Dragon who, with the help of his Shep‐herd friend, tries to dispel the idea that dragons are fierce and frightening.

Along the way, he en ‐counters a valiant but timo‐rous knight, a bold black‐smith and the even bolder womenfolk of a small Welsh village. Not only a delightful read but an abso‐lute world‐beater. David in‐forms me; at the last count having sold all of 15 copies worldwide!

Since retiring to Arboleas

He has also teamed up with another author, Bernie Albrighton, to spread the word that writing is a won‐derful therapeutic pastime.

Both had been frustrated by their lack of contact and association with other writ‐ers, so taking things into their own hands they start‐ed The Written Word Group for writers of all gen‐res, who currently meet fortnightly on Fridays from 10.00am until 1.00pm at the Hotel Meson in Ar ‐boleas.

David does admit howev‐er that writing tends to be a rather solitary activity, where time evaporates as he enters a world of his own, something he says, to which his long ‐ suffering wife will readily attest.

In an analysis of one of the largest data sets in the industry (consisting of buyers from 194 countries and 154,460 proper‐ties for sale with over 3,000 estate agents) it was found that the British, who have long played a significant role in the Spanish property market, have (just) managed to cling on to their number one spot.

This is despite losing significant ground to German and Dutch buyers since Brexit, but overall the number of interna‐tional property buyers in Spain increased by 80 per cent in 2022 compared to 2019. British buyers continued to make up the largest proportion of overseas property spending in 2022 (12.54 per cent of the total market value).

However, compared to 2019 pre‐Brexit figures, the in‐crease in spending is one of the smallest of all nationalities.

Party on

SPANISH party resorts waging war against boozy Brits have been warned their efforts are “backfiring spectacularly” as demand for trips has since sky‐rocketed.

In what was dubbed the ‘Cos‐ta crackdown’, authorities in Malaga threatened rowdy British stags and hens with huge three figure fines if they stripped naked or brandished a blow‐up p***s in public, while plans were even floated to install noise monitors in rooms.

Tougher rules were intro‐duced in Ibiza and Mallorca, with drinks limits imposed to try and curb drunken behaviour.

They have been part of a

wider EU wide crackdown, which came to prominence when stags and hens from the UK were urged to ‘stay away’ from Amsterdam as part of a major campaign launched by officials in the Dutch capital.

However, the boss of Britain’s leading stag and hen do provider said the only thing the “crusades” had succeeded in is making groups more deter‐mined to party in these destina‐tions ‐ with Brits seemingly un‐deterred by threats from the Spanish authorities.

“Our Amsterdam stag do bookings are up 50 per cent since that campaign launched last week, so clearly the mes‐sage to ‘stay away’ isn’t getting through,” said Matt Mavir, Managing Director of stag and party provider ‘Last Night of Freedom’.

And in the sunny Spanish par‐ty resort of Benalmadena, in Malaga Province, the company reported that bookings have in‐creased by an astonishing 200 per cent since the new rules ‐aimed largely at stags and hens ‐were publicised last June.

“In Magaluf, bookings are up 60 per cent and it seems these rules are having absolutely no impact on people’s desire to party in Spain and the EU.

“That’s why we are seeing unprecedented demand for budget‐friendly Spanish resorts like Benidorm, and even though there are tough rules, that’s un‐likely to put people off partying there,” he concluded.

Novelist, David HolmanHill Waters.

1st Helsinki has the cleanest air of all world cities.

The Expert

WE all have our cultural biases. We can’t help it. We can only view things from our learned experi‐ence. But when we trav‐el, we expand those ex ‐periences and broaden our views ‐ perhaps changing how we see the world. And how oth‐ers see us.

I only understood that clearly when travelling in the Middle East in my 20s. A teenage girl was introduced to me at a luncheon. When she heard I was from Cali ‐fornia, she became ex ‐cited.

“Do you know Madonna?” she asked.

As if I, of the 38 mil ‐lion Americans residing in California, was the

next ‐ door neighbour of Madonna. But now, liv‐ing in rural small ‐ town Galicia, I am experienc ‐ing something similar.

We are well‐travelled, especially in the US. I travelled for work a lot. And we travelled with our children for holidays to nearly every state in the union. So, I know a bit about each of them.

But the US is vast compared to countries in Europe. So big that there are varied cultural pockets where, while English is spoken, there are accents I can barely understand. But my fel‐low Gallegos don’t care.

It seems I am now the go ‐ to person to consult when anyone in the area is travelling to the

US. Mothers, brothers, cousins, friends. It does‐n’t matter. There will be a knock on my door. Someone I recognise will be there with some‐one I don’t recognise. Let the travel consulta ‐tion begin. I almost feel like a medium. Perhaps I should light candles or lay out some tarot cards.

“I see a tall, handsome stranger in your future trip to New York.”

I have begun recycling itineraries, and custom Google maps for these people. Finding I get ex‐cited about their adven‐tures. Remembering my own and doing my part to broaden their hori ‐zons, one Gallego at a time.

Andalucia’s reservoirs low

SPEAKING on Thursday, April 6, Ramón Fernán ‐dez ‐ Pacheco, the minis ‐ter of Sustainability and spokesman for the An ‐dalucian government, said that the data on the levels of the reservoirs in Andalucia cannot be de‐scribed as “anything oth‐er than dramatic” as none of the basins cur ‐rently reaches 30 per cent of their capacity.

“Andalucia today has more than 500 cubic hectometres less than we had the same week last year,” the minister stressed during an insti‐tutional visit to the town hall of Gador in Almería.

He continued: “We have been experiencing a series of months in which it has hardly rained and this has had a series of consequences that we are all noticing. In the agricultural sector, it is more evident, but al‐so in the natural envi ‐

ronments themselves that are suffering from this drought, as well as for industry and tourism.”

Fernández ‐ Pacheco stressed that water is “fundamental” for An ‐dalucia. Given the state of the reservoirs, the re‐sponsible public admin‐istrations can only “in ‐vest, invest and invest in infrastructures that make us more resistant

Ship’s oil spillage

ACCORDING to the group ‘Verdemar Ecologists in Action’, the remains of oil from the ‘OS 35’ ship that has been stranded east of Gibraltar since August 30 last year, are reaching the coast of the Cadiz region of Campo de Gibraltar.

In a statement pub ‐lished on Thursday, April 6, they argued that oil has appeared on beaches in the municipalities of Alge‐ciras and Los Barrios.

to this drought situa ‐tion,” he emphasised, as reported by a news source.

He also referred to cli‐mate change and its ef ‐fects, such as the lack of rain and the high tem ‐peratures that are being recorded in an “unusual way for the time of year.” All of this con ‐tributes to a greater risk of forest fires he pointed out.

“Today there were fre ‐quent oil stains from the Palmones river in Los Bar‐rios to the beach of La Concha, in El Rinconcillo, in Algeciras,” they claimed. “Specifically, these were balls of oil mixed with seawater and oil stains. We believe that the vessel still has the re ‐mains in its holds and oil circuits of hydrocarbons that may come out as a re‐sult of the storm,” they added.

Jose Ignacio Landaluce,

the mayor of Algeciras, confirmed in a statement the arrival of the remains of the spill on the Rincon‐cillo beach and called on Gibraltar to take responsi‐

34% of British households own a dog.

bility for this situation.

Landaluce recalled that he has been warning of the danger of the ship re ‐maining aground. It is a warning that: “the govern‐ments of Spain and Gibral‐tar have ignored,” he in ‐sisted. “These problems are the result of these mis‐takes,” the mayor stressed.

The mayor reported that since early on Thursday morning, work had been carried out to remove the fuel oil deposits that had appeared on the coast.

Killed in collision

A 53-YEAR-OLD Guardia Civil motorcycle officer died on Monday, April 10, after he was involved in a colli‐sion with a vehicle being driven by a British national. The incident occurred at around 11.15am on the CV‐415 near the municipality of Turís in Valencia. Francisco Ramón Montes was on traffic duty ac ‐companied by a sergeant at the time of the crash. The officer with more than 25 years of service was monitoring traffic after the Easter break. An elderly person allegedly made an improper turn which re ‐sulted in the policeman’s motorbike and car having a head‐on collision.

His partner was riding in front, and the deceased officer was behind him. Francisco was reportedly tak‐en by surprise when the driver of the oncoming car crossed a continuous line in the middle of the road. Two off‐duty doctors who were passing by the scene of the accident tried to revive the officer but without success.

Clean-up operation on a beach in Cadiz Province.

Credit: Twitter@Verdemar_EA

RESERVOIRS: Are currently below 30 per cent capacity.

Credit: EMJAY SMITH/Shutterstock.com

SPAIN is the place to be! That’s according to the country’s phenomenal tourism da‐ta for the beginning of 2023. Data re‐leased on Monday, April 3 revealed that the country welcomed a whopping 8.5 million international tourists during the first two months of the year.

The data revealed that Spain smashed last year’s figures by more than 50 per cent. And in a further positive turn, tourists are spending more than ever be‐fore, with a staggering €5.33 billion spent in February alone, beating pre‐pandemic figures.

The Minister for Tourism, Héctor Gómez, is thrilled with the results and predicts that figures for this year’s Sem‐ana Santa will also break records for oc‐cupancy and spending.

In February, 4.3 million international

IN a move considered shock‐ing to many, Spain is funding workshops on ‘sex toys’ and ‘trans identity’ in Latin Ameri‐ca. It was reported on Friday, April 7 that the Spanish Agen‐cy for International Develop‐ment and Cooperation (AE‐CID) is financing workshops covering sexual issues, inclu‐sive language, feminism, and gender ideology, including topics such as the use of sexu‐al toys and transgender iden‐

Tourism triumph

Las Canarias registered the best tourism data in the first two months of 2023, in part due to Tenerife’s world famous February carnival.

tourists arrived in Spain, an incredi‐ble 35.9 per cent increase compared to last year. The visitors spent €1.5 billion more on their trips than in February 2022, a 41 per cent increase.

The UK con ‐tinues to be the top source of in‐ternational tourists, fol‐lowed by France and Germany, but other coun‐tries including the USA, Italy, and Switzerland have also seen signifi‐cant increases in tourist numbers.

Las Canarias remains the most popular destination for tourists, with 1.2 million visitors in February.

Worries over workshops

tity in 10 Latin American coun‐tries.

The Spanish government’s policies of gender and sexual liberation have made waves within its borders. However, perceived attempts by the government to export its poli‐cies on the matter to Spanish‐speaking countries, have

sparked outrage in countries including Honduras.

What many Spaniards find most disturbing is that this practice, promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has now spread to 10 Latin Ameri‐can countries, with funding for workshops on sexual toys, indigenous feminism, and

Holy shift

Betty Henderson

SPAIN is traditionally associ‐ated with a strong Catholic identity, but recent reports show that Catholicism is on the decline in the nation. A report by the Ferrer i Guardia Foundation, re‐leased on Friday, April 7 re‐vealed that a shift in reli‐gious attitudes is underway.

The report found that four out of 10 Spaniards now consider themselves agnostic, atheist, or non‐be‐lievers, while new spirituali‐ties are on the rise. The trend towards atheism be‐gan during the transition to democracy after the end of the dictatorship in 1978.

ple aged between 18 and 35 now saying that they do not believe in God.

‘trans poetry’, among others. The funding comes from tax‐es paid by citizens of the Euro‐pean nation.

The workshops have been offered through the AECID, 18 cultural centres in Latin Amer‐ica and as well as Equatorial Guinea (the only Spanish‐speaking African country).

The pandemic also ap‐pears to have contributed to the rise in non‐belief, as people re‐evaluated their moral and spiritual beliefs during a time of crisis. The younger generation ap‐pears to be leading this shift, with six out of 10 peo‐

However, the rise of non‐belief does not necessarily mean a rejection of spiritu‐ality. Many Spaniards are turning to new spiritual practices and beliefs. As Spain becomes increasingly diverse and open‐minded, it is embracing new ways of understanding the world. The news came at a fasci‐nating time as the religious festivals of Easter, Passover and Ramadan coincide in a rare overlap which only happens three times every century.

Easter processions attract huge crowds.

Photo credit: Hermandad del Baratillo (via Instagram)

Photo credit: Carnaval de Santa Cruz de Tenerife (via Facebook)

Coronation performance

THE American singing and acting legend Bette Midler is reportedly being lined up to make an appearance at King Charles’ Coronation concert on Sunday, May 7. According to a news outlet, the 77‐year‐old star will allegedly fly to Britain to perform for the new monarch at Windsor Castle. She will join a line‐up of top acts, including Take That and Lionel Richie. It has proved a daunting task to acquire some of music’s biggest names for the free show. The Spice Girls, Ed Sheeran, Sir Elton John, Robbie Williams, Adele, and Harry Styles have all reportedly turned down the opportunity for various reasons.

Dragons love Mood Bears

“Although booking performers hasn’t been easy, due to busy schedules and the last‐minute nature of the gig, bosses are quietly confident that a very special event is coming together,” a source told the news outlet.

“Landing a Hollywood star like Bette is a real coup and she will add real old‐school glamour to the line‐up. Bette is delighted to be taking part, she thinks it’s an honour. Organisers are pulling out all the stops to give people a real spectacle, there’ll be something for everyone,” they added. The icon has already appeared in 2009 and again in 2014 at the Royal Variety Performance.

Housing asylum seekers

ON Wednesday April 5, the UK Home Office announced that an accommodation barge in Portland Port, Dorset will be used to reduce intense pres‐sure on the UK’s unsustainable asylum system and cut taxpay‐ers’ costs caused by the major increase in Channel crossings.

Currently hotel accommo‐dation for asylum seekers is costing Britain £6 million (€6.86 million) per day.

The barge, called the Bibby Stockholm, will be moored in

Portland Port and will accom‐modate about 500 single male adults during the time their asylum claims are processed.

The use of vessels to house migrants brings the UK in line with other European countries, for example in the Netherlands where migrants have success‐fully been accommodated on vessels, and Scotland which has also used vessels for Ukrainian refugees.

Last week the government announced that surplus mili‐

tary sites will also be used to accommodate migrants who have entered the UK illegally.

A NEW enterprise has been hailed as a project underpinned by empathy and caused quite a stir on the season finale of Drag‐on’s Den in the UK.

Jo Proud stood in front of the intimidating dragons Deborah Meaden, Sara Davies, Touker Suleyman, Steven Bartlett, and Peter Jones and gave an emo ‐tional pitch while introduc‐ing her Mood Bears.

The Mood Bears were born from Jo Proud’s own struggle with mental health and while these bears were designed with children in mind, they have been known to help even

adults cope with their mental health issues also.

There are currently eight Mood Bears from Happy Bear to Sad Bear, and Ner‐vous Bear to Angry Bear, the main emotions are represented. These bears certainly were emotive as one of the dragons Peter Jones, clearly moved by the project, called on all of the dragons to get behind this ‘movement’ as he de‐scribed it.

He invited all the drag‐ons to invest £4,000 for 5 per cent of the company.

Jo Proud was visibly moved by the reaction and could not believe it when

all five dragons agreed to invest all of the money, £20,000, for 25 per cent of the company between them.

With that amount of ex‐pertise on board, this is a product that is sure to suc‐ceed.

Each Mood Bear has its own colour and a small po‐em to help young and old cope with their emotions beginning ‘With feelings all confused and all in a mud‐dle, each bear is unique and give the best cuddle’.

And really who doesn’t love a bear hug so if you want one visit https://moodbears.com/.

MOOD BEARS: The new project caused quite a stir on Dragon’s Den.

Credit: BBC

36% of British adults are bilingual. That’s over 24 million people.

Headache for The Crown

PRODUCERS of the highly acclaimed and controversial Netflix series The Crown have not succeeded in getting US actress Gillian Anderson to reprise her role as PM Margaret Thatcher, said a news source on Saturday April 8.

Gillian Anderson, 54, was praised for her portrayal of ‘Iron Lady’ Margaret Thatcher, winning an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her part in series four.Anderson’s no‐show has created a headache for Crown producers to rewrite the script after it was planned for Maggie to return in an episode about the

A NATIONWIDE test of the UK’s emergency alert service will take place at 3pm on Sun‐day April 23.

The government said it would only be used in “life‐threatening emergencies”, in‐cluding extreme weather events like the wildfires and flooding seen last year. Mes‐sages will pop up on mobile phones across the UK, along with a sound and vibration that will automatically stop af‐ter 10 seconds. Minister Oliver Dowden said the alert service could one day “be the sound that saves your life.”

golden wedding anniversary of Queen Eliza‐beth and Prince Phillip.

The highly anticipated sixth series has al‐ready come under fire as to how it will han‐dle the death of Princess Diana on August 31, 1997. A spokesperson for the show said, ‘Gillian’s portrayal of Thatcher was met with global critical acclaim and she was a huge as‐set to The Crown ‘It had been hoped she would be able to make an appearance in scenes around the golden wedding but sadly that has not been the case due to scheduling issues.

UK emergency alert

The government has worked with emergency ser‐vices and other entities, includ‐ing the Football Association, to ensure it has minimal impact on major events for the test later in April. It will coincide with some Premier League football matches and the Lon‐don Marathon. The govern‐ment said the test was impor‐tant as it will ensure people can recognise a real alert pro‐viding clear instructions about how to respond in an emer‐

gency. The alerts are expected to be sent very rarely, only when a real threat to life.

89.3bn

Number of times Google is visited per month.

Poland’s pledge

POLAND has pledged to send more fighter jets to Ukraine as the country’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, visited its west‐erly neighbour on Thursday, April 5. During the visit, the Polish President, Andrzej Duda, promised to send his country’s re‐maining fleet of MiG‐29 jets to Ukraine should they be re‐quired, demonstrating Poland’s unwavering support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion. Duda also said that Russia must be punished for war crimes committed in Ukraine.

ABBA guitarist passes away

IT was revealed on Sunday, April 9, that Lasse Wellan‐der, the guitarist who played on some of ABBA’s biggest hit songs, passed away on Friday April 7, at the age of 70. He performed not only on their hits but al‐so during the 1970s and 80s, he was was an integral part of the Swedish band’s huge concert tours.

“It is with indescribable sadness that we have to an‐nounce that our beloved Lasse has fallen asleep. Lasse recently fell ill with what turned out to be can‐cer that had spread, and early on Good Friday he

passed away surrounded by his loved ones,” Lasse’s fam‐ily wrote in a statement paying tribute to him.

“You were a fantastic mu‐sician and humble like few, but above all, you were a wonderful husband, broth‐er, grandmother, and grand‐

father,” they continued, as reported by a news outlet.

When ABBA took to the road for a series of sellout concerts across the world in 1979 and 1980, Lasse ap ‐peared on stage nightly with the legendary mem ‐bers, Benny Andersson, An‐

ni ‐ Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Fältskog, and Björn Ulvaeus. Lasse featured on no less than 24 of the group’s stu‐dio recordings as well as ev‐ery one of their eight al ‐bums. He was also involved with the 2021 album ‘Voy‐ager’.

Deportation delayed

THE temporary reprieve granted to Kathleen Poole, a 74 ‐ year ‐ old British grandmother with Alzheimer’s who was fac‐ing deportation from Swe‐den, has been met with relief from her family and the community.

On hearing the an ‐nouncement of a pause on her deportation order on Thursday, April 5, Kath‐leen’s family have re ‐newed their pleas for a permanent solution to the widow’s residency woes.

Kathleen Poole, who has been living in a care home in Sweden for 10 years, was told to leave the country after her ap‐plication to remain after Brexit was rejected. Al ‐though her removal has been put on hold until a new decision is made, her family remains fearful that the deportation could be ordered at any moment.

Despite being bedrid ‐den, having spent the last decade in a care home,

and having no family in the UK, Kathleen’s appli‐cation was rejected in September 2022. Her family has been left con‐fused by the situation and has been seeking a resolu‐tion for more than a year now.

The family are currently exploring options includ‐ing making a new applica‐tion for a UK passport. Meanwhile, MP Hilary Benn has urged the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, to intervene.

63% of Google searches are on mobile devices.

Betty Henderson

THE UEFA President, Alek‐sander Ceferin, has slammed the door shut on Russia’s involvement in European football compe‐titions until the war in Ukraine is stopped.

The announcement was made as part of a power ‐ful speech given by Ceferin as he was reelected as the chief of UEFA at the UEFA Congress in Lisbon on Wednesday, April 5.

The decision to ban Rus‐sian national and regional teams from UEFA compe ‐titions was made in Febru‐ary 2022 in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine.

The current ban permits Belarusian national football teams and domestic clubs to participate in European tournaments, but their home games must take place on neutral ground, behind closed doors.

However, Ceferin hinted that UEFA could consider banning Belarus from the

2024 European Champi ‐onship if deemed neces ‐sary, but that decision would rest with UEFA’s ex‐ecutive committee.

Ceferin’s comments have come at a time of increas‐ing concern over the im ‐pact of politics on interna‐tional sporting events. The invasion of Ukraine has sparked a widespread boy‐cott of Russian athletes.

Ceferin’s firm stance on Russia sends a clear mes ‐sage that UEFA is willing to

Russia’s red card War crime justice

FRENCH judges ordered three top advisers to the Syrian Presi‐dent Bashar al‐Assad to stand trial for their role in complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes in a court or‐der signed on April 5.

The accused include Ali Mamlouk, head of security in the Ba’ath party, and intelli‐gence officials Jamil Hassan, and Abdel Salam Mahmoud.

French prosecutors believe the trio is responsible for the deaths of Mazzen Dabbagh, a pedagogical adviser at the French school in Damascus,

and his son Patrick, who were arrested in 2013 and subjected to horrific torture that was “so intense that it killed them.”

The trial will be the first in

take a hardline approach towards countries that disregard international law.

France directly directed at the Syrian regime, but not the first in Europe. In January 2022, a German court sentenced a for‐mer Syrian colonel, Anwar Raslan, to life in prison for crimes against humanity.

While the accused are not expected to attend the trial or have lawyers represent them, French judges have taken the unprecedented decision of is‐suing international arrest war‐rants for them. The indictment was described as “historic” by the International Federation for Human Rights.

Catholic clampdown

THE Vatican City accused China of breaking a bi‐lateral pact in an announcement made on April 4 after it appointed a new bishop to Shanghai, the largest Roman Catholic diocese in China.

The Holy See was reportedly informed of the decision to appoint Shen Bin as bishop of Shaghai several days ago, and the news has caused a stir in the Catholic community world‐wide, who fear that the Chinese Communist Party may be trying to exercise greater power

within the church.

Meanwhile, the Vatican has said that the city’s auxiliary bishop, Ma Daqin, should administer the diocese, but he has been under house arrest since 2012 when he publicly rejected the ‘Chi‐nese Catholic Patriotic Association’. However, in a positive step between the Vati‐can and China, both sides have recognised the pope as the supreme leader of the Roman Catholic Church for the first time since the 1950s.

Aleksander Ceferin has been reelected as President of UEFA, where he vows to take a tough stance against Russia.

A French court has launched an investigation.

Photo credit: UEFA (via Facebook)

Photo credit: Rasha Mahmoud Wikimedia Commons

15.92% of all homes bought in Spain last year were bought by foreign investors.

STAT OF WEEK €22.8 billion

was added to the personal fortune of Amancio Ortega, founder and principal shareholder of Inditex last year, thanks to the increased value of shares in parent company Zara.

BUSINESS EXTRA No energy FINANCE

Going down

SPAIN’S Industrial Production Index (IPI) fell by 0.8 per cent in February compared with February 2022. This was 2.2 points lower than in January, the National Statistics Institute (INE) announced on April 5, marking a return to negative year­on­year rates following January’s 1.2 per cent rise.

What goes up

TESCO chairman John Allan told a BBC interviewer that he could not forecast when food prices would peak. He countered claims that Tesco took advantage of higher prices to make bigger profits and said the supermarket chain’s 4p (€0.045 cents) in the pound margin was “slender” compared to other industries.

Time out

UNDER Spain’s recentlypassed Family Law, new parents may now take eight weeks’ leave, confirmed junior Employment Minister Joaquin Perez. Following pressure from the EU, the leave, which can be taken in one block or partially at any time until the child has reached the age of eight, will be paid.

Doing well

BANCO SANTANDER loans increased by 4 per cent so far this year and deposits by 6 per cent, executive chairwoman Ana Botin told shareholders. The bank was seeing a double­digit increase in earnings compared with the same period last year and had gained another million clients, Botin said.

Banks blanked

INSIDERS revealed that 4,000 of the UK’s 5,500 high street bank and building society branches could close between now and late 2024 as the sector refashions its services. Opening hours and, counter services will be drastically reduced and customers encouraged to use in­branch ATMs and machines, they predicted.

Brussels’ Orange alert

THE planned €18.6 billion merger between Orange and MasMovil can expect scrutiny from Brussels.

The European Union’s Competition Commission, headed by Magrethe Vestager, is launching an in­depth investigation that will assess all aspects of the Orange­MasMovil merger.

“The Commission is concerned that the transaction may reduce competition in the retail supply of mobile and fixed broadband services as well as of multiple­play bundles in Spain,” a Commission statement said.

Orange and MasMovil are respectively the second and fourth largest operators both at retail and wholesale level for fixed broadband and mobile services in Spain, the Com­

mission pointed out, citing Telefonica, Vodafone, Orange, and MasMovil.

“There are also several mobile and fixed virtual network operators which use these operators’ infrastructure to offer mobile and fixed telecoms services to their consumers,” the release continued.

The Commission concluded that by

reducing the number of Spain’s network operators, the merger would also eliminate “innovative and significant rivals” which could then lead to higher prices and lower­quality telecom services for customers.

Once merged, Orange and MasMovil would have “the ability and the incentive” to restrict virtual operators’ access to the wholesale mobile network, the Commission said.

“This could reduce the ability of such operators to compete, and in turn lead to higher prices and lower quality of services for end customers in Spain.”

The Competition Commission now has 90 working days, until August 21, to come to a decision.

Long drawn-out privatisation

THE UK government has given itself more time to gradually sell off its holding in NatWest. The rescue of the former Royal Bank of Scotland Group cost the taxpayer approximately £46 billion (€53.4 billion) when the government acquired an 80 per cent stake in 2008.

UK Government Investments (UKGI), which manages the holding on behalf of the Treasury, revealed that the scheme to reduce its NatWest Group holding, announced in mid­2021 and

Worst award

MEMBERS of the consumer group FACUA have chosen CaixaBank as Spain’s Worst Company of the Year in 2022.

In the annual poll that was held between March 15 and 30 this year, 39 per cent of FACUA members put CaixaBank at the top of their list.

CaixaBank won the dubious honour on several counts, which included failing to return all of the excess fee that was erroneously charged on mortgage agreements. Interest on loans was described as “usury”, commissions were condemned as “abusive” while the bank was also criticised for refusing to return sums lost to phishing and smishing scams.

originally due to be completed by mid­August 2023, would continue until 2025. The government’s stake fell from 54.7 per cent to 41.5 per cent between 2021 and 2023.

Doubts have been raised

as to whether the UK government will be able meet its self­imposed 2026 deadline to fully privatise the bank, approximately 18 years after coming to its rescue during the financial crisis.

The government gave no reason for the extension to its trading plan but the decision was made in what has been a turbulent period for large banks, including NatWest, all of which were affected by the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank in March, followed by the

Down to earth

SIR RICHARD BRANSON’S Virgin Orbit filed for bankruptcy protection in the US after last­minute attempts to find funding for the struggling space firm came to nothing.

Its share price dropped 17 per cent to a new record low the same day, valuing the company at less than $60 million (€54.8 million), more than 95 per cent below its $3.5 billion (€3.2 billion) peak in January last year.

In January, when Virgin Orbit unsuccessfully attempted to launch the first­ever satellite from British soil, Branson’s LauncherOne rocket reached space but fell short of reaching its target orbit.

The mission was hailed as a milestone for UK space exploration and was intended to represent a leap forward in converting Britain into a world player, from manufacturing satellites to building rockets and creating spaceports.

THOUSANDS of small UK businesses said they risked bankruptcy now that the government’s energy support scheme has ended.

Companies prepare for huge increases as support for nonhousehold power bills comes to a close and fixed rate deals terminate.

Their combined impact means that bills for many companies could soar by up to 133 per cent, according to Cornwall Insight, which provides energy market intelligence and analysis.

The hospitality industry, still recovering from the pandemic, could be particularly hard­hit, with one publican admitting that he might consider selling his pub to a developer who wants to convert the building into apartments.

forced rescue of Credit Suisse by its Swiss rival, UBS.

“The recent banking sector turmoil has sent shares in NatWest down by more than 10 per cent over the past month,” Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, pointed out to the Guardian. “This complicates the picture for the government which is trying to offload its stake at a time when investors are feeling nervous towards the sector,” she said.

Seat near the top

CAR manufacturer Seat is reaping the benefits of an improved supply of chips.

The Spanish company was particularly affected by the semiconductor shortage because the Volkswagen Group, to which it belongs, had consistently allocated chips to its most profitable firms.

SEAT has now seen its registrations rise 52.1 per cent to 18,040 units during the first quarter of 2023, boosting it to second place behind Toyota with 20,749 registrations. As a result Seat is once again jostling for a top position in the Spanish market after a grim 2022 when its domestic sales fell 30.2 per cent, after enjoying four years as Spain’s most­sold make.

Outside view

SPEAKING recently in Barcelona, Professor Paul De Grauwe from the London School of Economics said the EU was better off since Brexit.

Had the British remained, it would never have been possible to launch the Next Generation Funds introduced to offset the effects of the pandemic, De Grauwe told the Cercle d’Economia business forum.

“Let’s be realistic, the British would have been opposed to it,” he said.

“The reason they were in the EU wasn’t to strengthen it, but to weaken it from inside. That’s been their strategy for centuries.”

Moving off

OKYO PHARMA has applied to delist from the London Stock Exchange. The departure of the pharmaceutical company, which specialises in medication for ocular diseases, was seen in the City as another blow to London’s reputation as an international financial centre. The decision was prompted by the expense of ‘negligible’ trading on the main market, the ophthalmology drug developer told its investors. Okyo also reassured shareholders that the move would not affect its American Okyo Pharma Depositary Shares, which trade on the New Yorkbased Nasdaq exchange.

Magrethe Vestager: Heads the EU’s Competition Commission.

NATWEST: Due to be fully privatised by 2026.

Photo credit: CC/European Parliament Photo credit: Flickr/Emily Alexander

DOW JONES

Picture that

BUSINESS EXTRA A bite of the apple

CINEWORLD will seek new funding as it an ‐nounced having dropped plans to sell its US, UK and Ireland businesses after failing to find a buy‐er. The world’s largest cinema chain said it had struck a $2.26 billion (€1.9) deal with lenders to restructure its sub ‐stantial debt and exit bankruptcy.

Gender gap

SPAIN’S National High Court in Madrid voiced gender discrimination concerns since cabin crew, 94 per cent of whom are female, re ‐ceive lower travel ex ‐penses than pilots. Air Nostrum rejected em ‐ployees’ claims, arguing that the groups were governed by different collective agreements and “did not perform work of equal value.”

APPLE’S principal subsidiary in Ireland, Apple Operations International Ltd, paid €7.7 billion in corporation tax last year.

At the same time, the com‐pany paid out $20.7 billion (€19 billion) in dividends to its California parent company, after reporting more than €63.5 billion in profits, a 2 per cent increase on 2021.

This meant the Cork‐based company and its subsidiaries delivered a daily pre ‐ tax €173.6 million over the 12 months to September 24 last year. Annual revenues rose

by $11.7 billion (€10.72 bil‐lion) to $223 billion (€207.92 billion).

It remains unclear which governments received the Irish company’s taxes, which

Outlook cloudy for many

FEW of Spain’s self‐employed have noticed an improvement in their economic situation.

This was the same or worse than a year ago, they said.

A survey by the Spanish Association of Self‐employed Workers (ATA) found that, compared with the first quarter of 2022, their finances had improved for only 21 per cent of the self‐employed.

It had remained the same for 46 per cent of Spain’s ‘autonomos’ while a further 33 per cent of participants in the poll main‐tained that their situation was now worse. Meanwhile, only 20 per cent believed their business interests would improve in the coming months, while 70 per cent calcu‐lated that it would remain the same or could even deteriorate.

Legitimate decision

amounted to 11 per cent of profits. Ireland charges a 12.5 per cent corporation tax rate, which would have resulted in a bill worth $8.7 billion (€7.9 billion)

Including deferred tax charges, Apple Operations In‐ternational paid a total tax bill of $11 billion (€10.1 bil‐lion) for the period in ques‐tion.

Apple has been present in Ireland since 198, currently employing approximately 56,600 staff, 6,000 of whom are based in Ireland.

In 2020, the European Commission ordered the Cu‐pertino (California) technolo‐gy company to pay a record €13 billion in back taxes to Ireland, on the grounds that it benefited from a sweetheart tax deal.

This amounted to illegal state aid between 2003 and 2014, Brussels said, enabling Apple to pay a maximum tax rate of just 1 per cent and as low as 0.005 per cent in 2014.

THE UK’s largest insurance bro‐ker warned of impending dis‐aster if the industry had to pay claims arising from Russia’s in‐vasion of Ukraine.

The sector was not designed as a ‘backstop’ for the costs of war, David Howden, CEO of the Howden Group, told the Sunday Telegraph. “We’d all go bankrupt,” he maintained. Howden’s comments came as the owners of approximate‐ly 500 commercial aircraft seized by Russia shortly after the invasion prepared to sue Lloyd’s of London insurers who refused to pay out around £8 billion (€9.12 billion).

Their decision not to pay up was legitimate, Howden ar‐gued. War had never been something covered by insur‐ance, he said.

There was not enough capi‐tal in the insurance market to cover the impact of the con‐flict, he said.

“If policies were expanded the government would need to bail out bankrupt insurers,” Howden added.

APPLE: Irish subsidiary made €63.5 billion in 2022

Photo credit: Apple

Too much

RIO TINTO, which has raised its chief executive’s pay by 70 per cent, now faces a rebellion from shareholders at the next meeting. Jakob Stausholm took home £4.8 million (€5.48 billion) in 2022 after the FTSE100 mining giant made record profits on the back of soaring commodity prices.

Going down

SPAIN’S Industrial Production Index (IPI) fell by 0.8 per cent in February compared with February 2022. This was 2.2 points lower than in January, the National Statistics Institute (INE) announced on April 5, marking a return to negative year­onyear rates following January’s 1.2 per cent rise.

Holding on

MORRISONS said that cutting £700 million (€800 million) in costs over the next three years would allow it to reduce prices during the squeeze on consumer spending. The supermarket chain also announced a 0.1 per cent increase in samestore sales during the three months to the end of January.

RIP Josep Pique

JOSEP PIQUE, a Catalan politician, economist and businessman who headed several ministries between 1996 and 2003 during the governments of Jose Maria Aznar, died on April 6 in a Madrid hospital. The former president of Vueling, who was 68, had been suffering from cancer for some time.

Online flatline

UK customers return £7 billion (approximately €8 billion) of internet purchases each year, while more than a fifth of all clothes bought online are sent back. Increased returns owing to the cost of living crisis, were responsible for Boohoo’s 94 per cent slump in pre­tax profits, the retailer said.

It’s a tough job

Linda Hall

FOUR out of five UK companies and organisations still pay male employees more than females.

An analysis of the government’s report on wage inequality by the Guardian found an average pay gap of 9.4 per cent, the same level as in 2017­2018 when employers first had to publish this information.

The public sector’s gap has remained larger at 15.1 per cent compared with 8 per cent in the private sector. Both are similar to last year’s figures, the analysts found.

In practically half of companies and public bodies, males earned at least 10 per cent more than their female counterparts. In contrast, women

earned 10 per cent more than men in only 3 per cent of companies. Meanwhile, new research has found that women wanting to advance their careers must provide more evidence of their skills to reach leadership posts.

Alexandra Niessen­Ruenzi, head of

The next thing

the department of Corporate Governance at the University of Mannheim Business School (UMBS), and PhD candidate, Leah Zimmer, analysed the biographic details of 103,461 male and female directors.

Focusing on observable signals of professional and educational qualifications, plus past professional experience, the investigators established that women were consistently required to provide more observable skill signals. This was because employers found it harder to judge their unobservable qualifications for leadership, including emotional intelligence, communication skills, creativity, critical thinking, and adaptability, they said.

Chatting up Vodafone

BRITISH telecoms group

Vodafone has been approached by potential buyers for the operator’s business in Spain, market sources revealed.

While not officially seeking a sale, Vodafone would allegedly consider an offer if the price were right, added the same sources who were recently quoted in the Spanish media.

The company’s Spanish operation is estimated to be worth around €3.6 billion but although discussions are said to be ongoing it is not a foregone conclusion that these will result in a sale and Vodafone has declined to comment on the rumours.

Between 2018 and 2022, Vodafone saw its Spanish earnings dwindle by 16 per cent to approximately €4.2 billion and the company’s share of the Spanish market has undeniably gradually shrunk as it has had to face competition from Telefonica, Frances Orange and MasMovil.

Vodafone’s former CEO Nick Read, whose departure was announced last December, earlier failed to pull off the mergers and acquisitions that might have produced more competitive players.

Instead the company was completely outma ­

MOSCOW has approved the sale of Inditex’s business operation in Russia to the Daher group, which owns the Dubai Mall shopping centre. The Spanish fashion chain originally announced that the sale would affect 514 shops in Russia which had provided work for more than 9,000 employees. Nevertheless, Inditex explained when presenting its 2022 results

noeuvred when the proposed Orange ­ MasMovil merger was announced in July 2022.

In the meantime, Read’s successor, Margherita Della Valle has downgraded Spain ­ previously one of Vodafone’s principal markets ­ to a smaller group of lesser operations like Ireland or Greece.

Inditex exit

that only 245 shops would finally be affected by the sale, which was announced in October while still awaiting the Russian government’s definitive agreement. Inditex reported that it had lost €840 million on its Russia investment totalling €1.02 billion, with the €183 million difference

REPORTING a record annual profit of £870 million (€994.65 million, Next announced that it expected to raise prices more slowly as inflation eased.

The company’s profits rose by 5.7 per cent in the year that ended on January 31, while its total sales from trading of £5.1 billion (€5.8 billion) were 8.4 per cent up on the previous year.

The clothing and homeware retailer also warned that 2023 would be “very challenging” as its customers coped with the cost of living crisis.

In consequence Next said that sales were forecast to fall by 1.5 per cent, while it also foresaw that profits would drop back.

Real & unreal

corresponding to the sale of its shops via the recentlyauthorised operation.

According to an October 2022 report by the online specialist publication, Retail Detail, the Doher real estate group also owns the Inditex franchise rights in the Middle East and North Africa.

Saga losses multiply

SAGA’S losses soared last year amid stiff competition and regulatory changes affecting its insurance division.

Losses for the firm, which offers insurance, holidays and cruises to the over­50s, shot up to £259.2 million (€296.5 million) for the year that ended in January 2023, compared to £23.5 million (€26.9 million) in January 2022.

During the first six months of 2022 Saga took a £269 million (€307.6 million) good­

will charge after insurance sales dropped in the wake of Financial Conduct Authority rules. These were aimed ‘price walking’ where new customers pay less for the same services.

At the same time Kent­based Saga also reported returning to an underlying pre­tax profit of £21.5 milion (€24.6 million) owing to an upturn in overseas travel, which reduced losses in the firm’s cruise and travel divisions.

DEPARTMENT FOR

WORK AND PENSIONS (DWP) statistics revealed that 8.8 million UK residents earned more than £1,000 (€1,143) a week during the year ending in March 2022.

In real terms the average household income after housing costs was a weekly £565 (€645) ­ approximately £29,500 (€33,722) a year ­ according to the DWP figures.

The department’s statistics also showed that median incomes were 1.2 per cent, or £7 (€8) a week lower in real terms than when these were at their peak in the 12 months ending in March 2020.

More clout

IBERDROLA has sold 78 per cent of its Mexican business interests to one of the country’s publiclyowned companies for €5 billion. The sale follows regulatory problems ­ and what were described as confrontations ­ with Mexico’s president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

The move will give the energy giant more financial clout and fits in with growth plans for networks and renewables in the United States and Europe.

It will also improve debt ratios while strengthening the company’s financial positioning, the group’s Chief Financial Officer, JoseSainz, said.

PAY GAP: Women have to work harder for less.

Photo credit: Pixabay/David Mark

VODAFONE: Share of Spanish market has shrunk.

Photo credit: Vodafone

I’VE never had much respect for politi‐cians. Back in the 60s I witnessed a number of the ‘Old Boys’ club mem‐bers with their trousers down, both metaphorically and in reality. Well I re‐member a prominent London MP rushing up to me at a Chelsea party.

Clad in a string vest and very ques‐tionable Y Fronts, he implored me to ‘take over upstairs’. Apparently the nu‐bile and extremely eminent London agent he was cavorting with had be‐come rather too much for him. I didn’t accept his offer I may add!

Another told me he thought smok‐ing marihuana was ‘such fun!’ No I’m afraid politicians in general have never impressed me much. Boris and Party‐Gate was a mere bagatelle!

There is one overriding problem with the elder male occupants of the Westminster power corridors. The ma‐jority went to public school. These male dominated institutions meant that its students never really learned to mix with the female of the species. Their only experiences with the oppo‐site sex were annual school dances and over bearing Nannies. This accom‐

Seeing the light

panied by the odd fondle of the slightly more promiscuous young ladies from the local ‘St Trinian’s’, left women re‐duced to nothing more than subjects of locker room humour and ribald ban‐ter in the dorms.

The outcome of this attitude, result‐ed in the total absence of respect for those of a gender they considered not only mere objects of sexual titillation, but also intellectually inferior and sub‐sequently had no important standing in the male dominated corridors of their future political ambitions.

Most of these elder statesmen on the benches fall into this category and still consider Westminster nothing more than an extension of their public school education and debating soci‐eties. As attitudes change, and more and more women are elected into the house, (over 50 per cent of the Labour party) these ex‐public schoolboys are slowly becoming the dinosaurs of the political arena.

Frankly, apart from serious offences, consistently raking up ancient knee brushings and somewhat innocuous schoolboys sexist innuendoes is a com‐plete waste of time and energy. (You

listening Ms Rayner!?)

Time to get back to more serious is‐sues, like running the country for ex‐ample! Thank the Lord the Labour Par‐ty has actually seen the light. At least they can use their female membership numbers against the Conservatives mere 24 per cent. Yet another weapon in their armoury of schemes and skull‐duggery to keep the government on the back foot till the next General Elec‐tion!

Picked up a lovely piece of terminol‐ogy in the news this week. ‘Non erotic cognitive distraction’. This is the condi‐tion of ladies having their moment of intense sexual arousal being spoiled by suddenly remembering they didn’t pay the milkman, or something of that ilk. Apparently sufferers of this unfortu‐nate malady are encouraged to ‘stay in the moment’. The moment? Personal‐ly I would recommend a change of partner!

Keep the faith

Love Leapy leapylee2002@gmail.com

LeapyLee’sopinionsarehisownandarenotnecessarilyrepresentativeofthoseofthepublishers,advertisersorsponsors.

STRIKING OUT OUR VIEW

AT the time of writing, up to 60,000 junior doctors across the UK are striking for four days, delaying everything from routine appointments to vital cancer treatment.

Despite the obvious risks to health however, one poll found that 74 per cent of the British public supported the strike. Which begs the question, just how broken is the NHS that we support lives being put in danger ‐ by the very people who have taken an oath to do no harm ‐ to fix it?

It had always generally been accepted that doctors (par‐ticularly at the junior end) are overworked and underpaid. But the heavy weight that the pandemic put on those at the front line coupled with the resulting treatment back‐log and a cost of living crisis seem to have equalled a work environment for doctors that we can no longer accept.

Where did it all go so wrong though? Launched an as‐tonishing 75 years ago, the NHS brought universal health care to a population who, until then, may simply have died from a simple infection or injury because they could not afford to be treated.

The envy of the world for many years, the NHS also in‐spired many other great nations to roll out their own equivalents. We now regard free healthcare as one of the main marks of a civilised country.

Like anything though, a great concept only stays great if it moves with the times. And it’s fair to say that relying on a habitually underpaid, overworked workforce to simply put up and shut up forever is not a long term strategy.

Equally, with an ever growing population how long can we expect the NHS to roll on for without massive change before more wheels start to come off?

Time after time

EXPAND YOUR SPANISH

MANY English speakers and Spanish speakers are unwilling to do today what they can put off tomorrow. Unfairly, the English speakers aren’t accused of suffer‐ing from the Mañana Syndrome which long ‐ time residents, who should know better, assume is an exclusively Spanish affliction.

The Spanish word for this state of affairs ‐ procrastinación ‐ needs no translation, unlike other time‐related phrases, where you meet different concepts, because the word that sounds right for time ‐ tiempo ‐is used mainly in an Einstein (Doctor Who if you prefer) sense, not forgetting music. Hora is the word you’ll need when clock watching:

What time is it?…..¿qué hora es?

What time will you be coming/return‐ing/going?.....¿a qué hora vendrá/volverá/ se irá?

It’s time to go…..es hora de irnos

And about time too!.....¡a buena hora!

Incidentally, I’ve used the polite third‐person versions of verbs when translating You. Not that the second person is impo‐lite as it is used for family, friends and amongst the young whether they have just met or not. If in doubt, go for the for‐

mal version or if your verbs are up to it, use whichever the person you are talking to is using.

Now let’s look at the times (sorry) when you use something else:

I’ve been waiting a long time…..he esta‐do esperando mucho tiempo

It’s been a long time since I saw him/her…..hace tiempo que no le/la veo

There’s no time to spare…..no hay tiem‐po que perder

It’s been such a long time….. ¡cuánto tiempo!

How long (will it take)…..¿cuánto tiem‐po?

On time, timely…..a tiempo

Things usually go in threes so let’s bring in Vez (plural veces) when neither clocks, watches nor waiting are involved:

Take the pills three times a day….tome las tabletas tres veces al dia

This time I’ll wear a coat…..esta vez lle‐varé un abrigo

Sometimes…..algunas veces/de vez en cuando

On an entirely different note, remember that Una mujer embarazada is a pregnant woman.

To convey embarrassment, say instead Me siento incomodo/incomoda/violen ‐to/violenta or when really red‐faced, Me siento avergonzado/avergonzada.

Supporting those in distress

THE British Benevolent Fund was founded over a century ago to provide assistance to Britons in Spain facing extreme financial hardship.

Financial difficulties is some‐thing most people face in their lives and whilst challenging can be overcome with thought and planning. Both of these are al‐most impossible when the per‐son has mental illness where making the right decision is diffi‐cult and where holding down a job is even more so.

In the case of John, a 34‐year‐old single British man who lived in Spain, having moved with his parents from the UK when they retired. His condition was such that social interaction caused distress and he lived in his room and his parents looked after him ‐ he had never worked and re‐lied on his parents for food, lodging and all life’s necessities.

Except that they could not cope ‐ they lived modestly off a small pension and had little to spare for their grown forever at home child who required con‐stant attention ‐ and medica‐tion. Then came Brexit and the realisation that the social service

support, medical cover and local help was at risk as they had nev‐er registered as residents ‐ and were no longer eligible.

They got in touch with a local charity for support to apply be‐latedly which would take some time to process ‐ however they were confident that having been settled here before the deadline date they were still in with a chance.

But in the meantime, the medicine costs were now high and beyond their small means.

The charity ‐ one of many at the Support in Spain website contacted the BBF to see if we could help.

The BBF mission is to support those in distress and with a child with needs we wanted to help. The issue for the BBF is that wherever possible we seek that any funds are used to overcome

a particular challenge ‐ not on‐going support. In this this case all revolved around their chances of being approved ‐ which if they were not would mean an unsustainable situation in Spain.

We agreed to provide a grant to cover the following six months of medicine costs which would be reviewed depending on the outcome of their application.

Thankfully within three they were given the green light and their application was approved meaning that all state support would be available as well as that they would be able to con‐tinue living in Spain.

The BBF can only help with your help. If you would like to support our mission for Britons in distress in Spain, please visit www.britishbenevolentfund.org

Thank you.

Olaf Clayton, Chair BBF.

Olaf Clayton of BBF.

A GOOD giggle could help to lower blood glucose lev‐els following an Easter Egg spree.

Happy medium Laugh it off

Insulin is released to bring these levels down, ex‐plained hormone expert Dr Nicky Keay, and exercise can assist by restoring them following the sugar rush.

“Active mus‐cles demand glucose for energy,” Dr Keay said.

“We use muscles to laugh, and this has a blood glu‐cose ‐ lowering effect,” she added.

A Japanese study carried out by University of Tsukuba’s Dr Keiko Hayashi has also confirmed the im‐portance of laughter.

Volunteers, who includ‐

ed diabetics, ate the same meal. They then watched a 40 ‐ minute lecture, after which their blood glucose levels were tested. The pro‐cess was repeated, but this time they saw a 40‐minute comedy.

“Levels were significantly lower for both groups after the comedy show,” Dr Hayashi found.

Bouncing around

Linda Hall BALANCE diminishes with age and falls are always a lurking danger as people get older.

Not that falls are restrict‐ed to the elderly, as World Health Organisation fig ‐ures show that falling is al‐so the third most common cause of unintentional in‐jury for the 18 ‐ 35 age group.

Fitness experts Juliet and Kelly Starrett recently rec‐ommended skipping as an excellent way to enhance balance. Haven’t picked up a rope since your pre‐teen days? Instead try bouncing which is a modified version of skipping.

With hands resting light‐ly on a countertop, rise up on your toes and quickly bounce up and down 50 times.

There’s no need to lower your heels to the ground each time; just drop them part‐way as you bounce.

SKIPPING: If you haven’t skipped for years, try bouncing

Don’t stop

VITAMIN D is known as the sunshine vitamin, and sunshine is the one thing that we can be sure of getting in Spain.

So do you still need a Vitamin D supplement?

“Yes, especially if you habitually use a sunscreen,” health ex‐perts ‐ including those from Harvard ‐ advised.

Most food contains only minimal amounts of Vitamin D, making it difficult to get the amount that you need from diet alone.

Vitamin D is absent from all natural foods except fish and egg yolks, and even when obtained from food, it must be transformed by the body before it can do any good, they said.

YOU can have too much of a good thing, including sleep.

University of Galway (Ireland) sleep experts analysed information from 5,000 people, half of whom had already ex ‐perienced a stroke.

They found that the stroke risk doubled for participants sleeping more than nine hours a night, compared with those who were getting between seven and nine.

Results also revealed that people who slept less than five hours were three times more likely to suffer a stroke.

It was not clear why too much or too little sleep increased the risk, admitted Dr Christine McCarthy who led the re ‐search, although her team’s findings suggest ‐ed this could indicate other underlying health issues.

Photo credit: Flickr/LongitudeLatitude

Photo credit: Pexels/Andrea Piacquadrio LAUGHTER: Could be the best medicine for blood glucose levels

WHITE spots on the finger‐nails could mean a diet that is insufficient in zinc, calci‐um or iron.

Oysters – if you can man‐age them – are zinc ‐ rich, but zinc is also plentiful in red meat and poultry. Oth‐er good sources are dairy products, beans, nuts, crab, lobster, and whole grains.

Turn to dairy again for calcium, along with seafood, canned fish, dark, leafy green vegetables, cal‐cium ‐ fortified food and fresh or dried figs.

For iron, choose eggs, poultry, shellfish, red meat and offal but vegetarians –and carnivores – will find plenty in nuts, pulses, peas, more of those dark leafy green vegetables and strawberries.

KING’S COLLEGE LONDON researchers have linked snoring and cognitive de ‐cline.

Previous studies had detected a connection but this latest investiga ‐tion with otherwise healthy volunteers who snored heavily has con ‐

BODY NEUTRALITY is the ability to accept the way we look, even if it’s not entirely what we’d prefer.

The term became popu‐lar thanks to Anne Poirier, a body‐ image coach who wrote The Body Joyful. She began using the phrase in 2015 to help

Nailed it

OYSTERS: Rich in zinc, good for the nails.

Snore warning

firmed their suspicions.

Participants wore elec ‐troencephalography skull caps while sleeping to measure their brain waves. Blood oxygen lev ‐

els, heart rate, breathing and eye and leg move ‐ments were tracked, along with cognitive func‐tion.

Those who snored most were less alert and had more difficulty in meeting goals and staying focused, the investigators found.

Be impartial

clients build a healthier, more harmonious rela ‐tionship with food and ex‐ercise.

“Body neutrality priori‐tises the body’s function

and what it can do, rather than its appearance,” she explained. “You don’t have to love or hate it. Just feel neutral towards it.”

Who to believe?

WEEK in, week out we receive conflicting reports regarding the dangers or benefits of alco‐hol. Scientific studies have of‐ten concluded that moderate drinking was better for most

30% Rise in demand for services at plastic surgery clinics in the UK in last two years.

people than not drinking at all.

Some suggested it could even help them live longer. Having analysed 100 different surveys of approximately five million people, US investigators have

now decided that many stud‐ies were flawed. Far from bringing benefits, revised find‐ings warn that women risked premature death if they drank daily two 150‐mls of wine.

Brainstorming

DR DANIEL AMEN, a Cali‐fornia brain specialist, de‐clared that women’s brains are healthier and busier than men’s. This could be why they go to prison 14 times fewer than men, Dr Amen maintained. The spe‐cialist came to this conclu‐

sion after analysing more than 200,000 brain scans to pinpoint key disparities be‐tween men and women.

On the downside, he found that despite their in‐creased brain activity, wom‐en were also more likely to suffer depression than men.

Photo credit: Pixabay RitaE

DAVID WORBOYS THINKING ALOUD

YOU can do it! How many examples have we seen of personal victory over adversity achieved through pure determination and courage? Throughout history, in many dif‐ferent fields, success has been attained against all the odds.

It’s no different in the world of music. Two of the greatest examples are from the un‐likely pairing of Beethoven and Sutherland. Each had to overcome huge obstacles to produce the pinnacle of their art.

Beethoven’s triumph over tragedy and his journey from adversity to eternal glorifica‐tion is one of the most inspiring in history. As a child he was bullied by his drunken father who was his first musical tutor and who beat him and locked him in the cellar when‐ever he made a mistake. From early child‐hood he suffered intestinal problems and was dyslexic ‐ unable to read or write prop‐erly. His beloved mother died a lingering death when he was young. At 24 he devel‐oped a lung infection and then started hear‐ing a buzzing noise in his ears. At 34 he had a fever for several months, abscesses in his jaw and finger and a septic foot.

For the rest of his life, his hearing suffered a gradual deterioration until he became

MUSICAL MIRACLES

ed and overcome so much suffering.

While Maria Callas is regarded as the greater operatic actress, Joan Sutherland was the Voice ‐ the greatest of all coloratura singers. She took bel canto to new heights.

Joan Sutherland, a kind and modest per‐son, was already, in her mid‐20s, performing at Covent Garden, despite suffering severe sinus and dental problems. In addition she had to battle against acute back pain. She then had to take the risk of sinus surgery to clear the nasal passages. She was not a natu‐ral beauty but, despite her back, became strikingly elegant. Apparently, when Fellini was touring Rome seeking attractive female extras for a film, he singled her out in the street.

Despite the setbacks, she wanted to suc‐ceed and she worked on her voice. At Covent Garden in February 1959, she took the music world by storm with her perfor‐mance of ‘Lucia’ and a global superstar emerged. The rest is history.

completely deaf by the time he was 46.

He became lonely and his love affairs were unhappy; he never married nor had children. But, despite this, he could transmit love and joy through music. In his last 10 years, totally deaf, he produced much of the greatest music ever conceived. At the pre‐miere of the monumental Ninth symphony,

PAUSE FOR THOUGHT

TONY

NOBLE

OVER the past few months, I’ve been pon ‐dering my life. It has been long and eventful, I’m sure many of you have done the same. There is a certain time in our lives when we look back at things we could have done better and things we should not have done. I was reminded of the part of St John’s gospel where Nicodemus goes to Jesus by night and asked about entering the Kingdom of God. Jesus replied “I tell you the truth, no ‐ one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he has been born again.” Nicodemus was confused and questioned the answer. How can he be reborn, a question I and many have questioned. It’s not about being reborn in the literal sense but in the spirit. By nature we are unclean we are sinful and constantly need to be washed clean with the waters of God’s forgiveness. We also need to be reborn of the spirit, it means we need to have the spirit of Jesus living

inside us, it means that God’s gra ‐cious love comes and lives in our hearts. There is so much going on in our lives that is routine, and we can all fall into the trap of losing our ‐selves in apathy. We can drift away from God, we just go through the mo‐tions without inner motivation. Age doesn’t define this but the older we get the more it comes into our thoughts. We can lose the meaning of worship, we have the pattern but not the power. We have the rituals but not the faith. One night it may be one of us who are knocking on Jesus’ door and telling him things don’t seem right. He will say “That’s ok, I under ‐stand it happens all the time, you just need to be reborn, you need to expe‐rience rebirth and be born again in the water and spirit.” What better time to be reborn than Easter when our Lord died for us. Amen.

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Beethoven, in the front row, was unable to hear the thunderous applause behind him. He was motioned to turn round to face the rapturous audience.

His only opera, Fidelio, with the emotional depth of its own story of triumph over ad‐versity could only have been conceived and expressed by somebody who has confront‐

Many celebrities have moved upward from difficult beginnings. So have even more who are only known within their immediate circle.

sponsors

Thank the Borgias

LINDA HALL

SPAIN has had three or four popes, depending on whether or not you in ‐clude the antipope Benedict XIII or Papa Luna (1328‐1423), born in Peñis‐cola (Castellon).

Little attention is paid to Damasus I, born around 304AD, whose Spanish parents might or might not have lived in Spain. That leaves the Borgias, Cal‐lixtus III (1378‐1458) and Alexander VI (1431 ‐ 1503) whose family name was Borja.

They were two Valencian boys done good who didn’t have a good press then and whose mention today still brings to mind corruption, ill ‐ gained wealth, poison and incest. Both were born in Xativa and met hostility and distrust in Rome, prompting grumbles that more Valenciano was heard in the Vatican corridors than Latin or Italian.

Ultimately, though, the Italians owe a huge culinary debt to the Borjas be‐cause they took with them the coca which Valencianos will tell you evolved into Italian pizza.

Admitted, the cocas you see in bak‐eries or those that emerge from a home cook’s oven have little in com ‐mon with the cheese ‐ heavy, sauce ‐laden pizzas we have come to expect outside Italy.

Traditional cocas are more austere and the base ‐ which at its best is light and airy but substantial ‐ will be dot ‐ted with sparing amounts of sausage, chorizo, a sardine or an anchovy if you’re lucky, plus modest additions of red and green peppers.

To someone who has never tried one, a word of warning: you will ei ‐ther like or hate it. Naturally, this de‐pends on the part of Spain where you are eating and buying coca, but new‐ly ‐ rich Mediterranean areas haven’t yet forgotten frugality.

Interestingly, Valencianos who emi‐grated to work in Algeria in the 19th and early 20th centuries took their cocas with them. Possibly it was not entirely a coincidence that the first time I ate pizza was in Benidorm in 1972 in a newly ‐ opened Italian restaurant that was owned and run by an Algerian couple.

I think the Borgias would approve of that.

David Worboys’s opinions are his own and are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or

Two incomparable but very different talents in the world of music overcame immense challenges.

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Photo Credits: pinterest and roh.org.com (Royal Opera House)

Property of the week Villa de Los Sueños in La Alfoquia

NEW & EXCLUSIVE LISTING FOR VOSS

HOMES ­ A modern, homely, beautifully maintained three bed, two bath villa with H&C air con, 8m x 3.5m swimming pool, full sized sunroof with conservatory and bbq area on a walled, landscaped low maintenance garden of 510m2. Walking distance to the shops, restaurants, doctors, vets, bakers, banks, bowling green etc in La Alfoquia.

Located on a corner plot with only one neighbour on the edge of a well kept development of villas on the edge of this popular Spanish village. Three mins drive to Zurgena village also with amenities including a Friday street market. Six mins drive to Arboleas and 12 mins drive to Huercal­Overa town with award­winning hospital and numerous shops, restaurants, sporting and leisure facilities etc. The coast at Mojacar, Vera and Garrucha is a 25 to 30 mins drive away.

Villa de Los Sueños is a light and airy, nicely designed villa and is ideal if you like to entertain thanks to the full sized sun roof with conservatory area, built in bbq and all round village and country views.

To the front of the villa is a pedestrian gate with intercom entry into the private, landscaped garden. There is also a sliding gate at the front on to the covered, attractive, imprinted concrete drive way which is large enough for one large car. There is also plenty of safe on road parking. To the left of the drive is a covered seating area and then

comes the large side garden with attractive artificial grass, various plants and fruit trees and a large, quality built wooden summer house with electricity. On this side of the villa are the stairs leading up to the sun roof.

Walking round the rear of the villa is the kidney shaped 8m x 3.5m swimming pool. Attached to the villa at the other side is a useful

Ref. VH2157

€208,500 euros

storage / utility room with doors leading to the rear garden and front drive way.

From the seating area at the front of the villa the front door leads into the hallway. To the right is the third bedroom with fitted wardrobes. This also makes an ideal study.

To the left of the hallway is the living room and dining room with log burning fire. Here glazed, sliding doors lead into the conservatory which makes an ideal second living room / dining room which looks out and takes you out to the garden and pool area. From the conservatory a door also takes you in to the spacious fitted kitchen with new appliances and plenty of worktop and storage space which then takes you back in to the hallway. A passage way leads down to the family shower room, second guest bedroom with built in wardrobes, storage cupboard and main bedroom with fitted wardrobes, ensuite bathroom and glazed doors taking you out to the rear garden and pool area. Voss Homes is a British family­run business with offices in this village of La Alfoquia (Zurgena) and the thriving, market town of Huercal­Overa.

For more information or to arrange a viewing of VH2157 or meeting in our offices please contact Voss Homes on 0034 950 616 827 or email us at enquiries@vosshomesspain.com

NICELY DESIGNED: Great for entertaining and has all round village and country views.

Hello Leapy LETTERS

Further to your article in EWN this week, I presume that you are referring to Shoiba beach. I worked (for my sins) at the National Guard King Khalid Hospital in Jeddah from 1982 to 1984. When we first went to Shoiba as a BSAC dive group it was virgin, totally un‐spoilt. I went back in 1989 when the ragheads had found it and it was disgusting. Nappies, tin cans, rubbish everywhere. Ugh!!

Having said that, the diving in the early days was unbelievable! Probably the best in the world!

I attach some old photos for your interest. It was me who got the bus stuck in the sand!!

Best regards

Max Kite

Dear EWN

Just seen the article you posted about my art exhibition. Very grateful to you, as always. Happy Easter to all at Euro Weekly News.

Regards

Margaret Riordan x

Hi Bill

Bill took great care to avoid mentioning Nicola Sturgeon’s husband’s criminal activity; of course she will deny any knowledge of it and continue to bang on about Scotland’s ‘In‐dependence’.

Leaving Britain and joining the EU is NOT in‐dependence.

Good article about Semana Santa though Bill.

Yours sincerely, Brian Johnston

Benalmadena

Editor , please let me know if you still re‐quire our NIE and address etc in order to make a comment !

Yes I am from Scottish heritage ‐ the John‐ston clan in Dumfries !

Dear EWN

I recently had my teeth whitened by a den‐tist in Fuengirola at a cost of €150. Whilst there was no guarantee that it would be per‐manent. I was very disappointed with the re‐sults. I was advised to eat only white foods and no coloured drinks for three days, which I did. The results were far from white. Just to let people know before they part with any money to get a guarantee. I did go back to complain but was told that at my age what do you expect. I am 83. I should have been told that in the first place and I would not have had it done. I gave since used a toothpaste whitener with better results for €4.00.

Yours, Mary

Dear all,

Lux Mundi Torre del Mar would like to thank you for the excellent coverage you have provided in this week’s issue. Best wishes to you all ,hope you had a good East‐er.

Hi Leapy

Kind regards, Patricia

Rothwell

I am very sorry Leapy but I am going to hold you responsible for the state the world finds itself in.

Over 30 years ago I agreed with everything you said and asked you to take up the chal‐lenge and lead the world to a better future. You refused this challenge when you were ob‐viously the only person that was talking any sense, and making your views known.

I am shocked and bewildered every day by the decisions our world leaders make, and feel so sorry that we are leaving our grandchil‐dren such a catastrophic mess to deal with.

Thank you for agreeing with me on most subjects and it is good to know there is some‐one else out there with some common sense.

Keep up the good work.

Dangerous dogs

Kind regards,

T Wiggins

All these predatory breeds should be banned and current owners identified and told to surrender the dogs to the RSPCA. It’s time to get tough and protect ourselves and our families from people who feel the need to own these animals. Dog licences should be obligatory and priced to ensure that only gen‐uine dog lovers can apply to keep a dog.

Alan

Big game

All endangered species are carefully watched by thousands of scientists, vets, field officers, ecologists, rangers and other professionals. You cannot hunt endangered animals and still get a hunting permit and import permits. The South‐ern Giraffe is the most numerous trophy ‐ there are 30,000 and ranchers can raise as many as the market demands. They are not endan ‐gered. With rhinos, some private rhinos are of‐fered for hunts in order to raise funds for pro‐tecting the rest, while wild rhino hunts are restricted to older males who deny younger, more virile bulls access to the cows.

The whole subject is far too complex and im‐portant to listen to deceptive emotionalism from HSUS/ HSI, an organisation that collects $200 million per year but little of it gets to save the wildlife of Africa.

John Nash

Which will be trashed next?

A RECENT report moves the spotlight on to the fire and rescue services just after the Met was found guilty as charged of institu‐tional racism, misogyny and homophobia in a similarly condemnatory report that showed public confidence in the force at rock bottom.

According to this latest scathing review, there may be ‘predators’ like Wayne Couzens lurking in the fire service’s shad‐ows as the toxic culture uncovered was ‘just the tip of the iceberg’. Examples of this ‘hotbed of racism, misogyny and ho‐mophobia’ included firefighters acting out a rape, expecting women to make tea and viewing racist language as ‘having a laugh’.

A ‘hotbed of racism, misogyny and ho‐mophobia’: seriously? Then we read that ‘some’ examples of unacceptable conduct were found in only 11 of the 44 fire ser‐vices. But, we are assured, this ‘could be’ the ‘tip of an iceberg’. So, no evidence was found in 33 out 44 services.

How on earth is that rampant? More likely it ‘could be’ a report determined to trash the reputation of the entire fire ser‐vice. And yet another lesson in how to de‐

moralise the vast majority of firefighters, police officers etc who are honest and do a hard job very well.

Which British institution is going to be trashed next week? This is getting beyond

ridiculous. There seems to be a growing appetite to label all our public services as racist, homophobic and sexist. Largely, it would seem, from those who like to feel morally superior while sitting safely behind their desks. God forbid they actually get out of their chairs and contemplate putting their own safety at risk for others (remem‐ber Grenfell?). And then they wonder why these services struggle to recruit and retain good people!

Firstly, firefighters do a difficult and dan‐gerous job ‐ nobody doubts this. Nobody says otherwise. Firefighters demonstrate bravery, courage, self sacrifice etc. They can be, and frequently are, saints, but that is not a job requirement. The willingness to run towards a fire when everyone else is running away, and to keep returning until everyone inside has been rescued and the fire extinguished, as well as a technical in‐sight into controlling fires from different sources, are the primary characteristics. We are fortunate that such men and wom‐en exist and put their lives on the line for us. They may not always behave as squeaky‐clean choristers, but they get the job done.

All our public services are being attacked one after another by the same band of people. It has to be stopped. This is a total waste of public money pandering to the politically correct and woke movement. Who next?

First it’s the Met, now it’s the fire and rescue services throughout Britain. Where will other revelations of racism, misogyny and bullying in sordid corners of British so‐ciety be exposed next? The NHS? The Coastguard? The Monarchy?

Good grief, are the justices of self‐righ‐teousness making it their mission to de‐nounce every last British public service as ‘hotbeds’ of bad behaviour? How pro ‐foundly demotivating for the many fine staff members in all our emergency ser‐vices.

How I love being told who to dislike ev‐ery week! Who do I get to hate next week?

Nora Johnson’s 12 critically acclaimed psychological suspense crime thrillers (www.nora‐johnson.net) all available on‐line including eBooks (€0.99; £0.99), Apple Books, audiobooks, paperbacks at Ama‐zon etc. Profits to Cudeca cancer charity.

GO LOCAL

Nora Johnson’s opinions are her own and are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or sponsors.

Nora’s latest thriller.

Noraistheauthorofpopularpsychological suspenseandcrimethrillersandafreelancejournalist.

NORA

Yurt glamping

DISCONNECT: From daily life’s hustle and bustle.

Top tips for camping

SPENDING time in nature, sleeping under the stars, and disconnecting from daily life’s hustle and bustle. If this all sounds idyllic then camping is for you, it is sure to help you destress. To make your trip as stress‐free as possible here are some top tips to help you plan your trip.

1. Research the camp ‐site/destination in advance. Make sure you check the weather forecast, the services available, and regulations and restrictions. For example, camping is not allowed in Spain’s national parks except in high mountains.

2. Don’t over‐pack; if you

are new to camping, try a one‐night trip first and just take the essentials as a trial run.

3. Regardless of the weather forecast or destina‐tion, always bring warm clothes with you. For example a fleece or a windbreaker.

4. Bring the correct footwear. For example, if you are camping in the mountains wear boots that offer protec‐tion and stability.

5. Charge your travel lamp, GPS, mobile phone, and other electronic devices fully before you leave, and make sure to bring a powerpack with you, also fully charged!

Advertising Feature Grupo Platinum Estates

EXPERIENCE the latest trend in glamping with brand new wooden yurts at Daleacres campsite in Kent, England, from Ex ‐perience Freedom.

Set in a pocket of grassy Kentish country ‐side close to sandy beaches in Hythe, the wooden yurts at Daleacres include com ‐fortable rustic double beds and two single beds ‐ one which becomes a sofa ‐ ideal for couples and families, electricity and appliances to help prepare simple break ‐fasts and light snacks during the day.

After a long summer day at the beach or visit‐ing the traditional mar ‐ket town of Hythe, glam‐pers can enjoy a cosy summer ‐ night setting ‐with fairy lights turned on to set the mood and

the fire roaring for some tasty campfire s’mores.

With the campsite’s proximity to Port Lymp ‐ne Wildlife Park, guests fall asleep to the magical sounds of the park ani ‐mals ‐ giraffes, bears, rhi‐nos and more.

During the cooler evenings or autumn

The main attraction

CARAVANNING continues to gain popularity year after year.

The freedom of movement (today beach/morning moun‐tain), without depending on weather conditions, without haste or timetables and in di‐rect contact with nature con‐tinues to be the main attrac‐tions of a sector that is already consolidated in Spain.

months, as the yurts are available until the end of October, a wood ‐ effect electric heater can keep you warm inside for a re‐laxing escape.

To find out more about Experience Freedom or to book, please visit www.experiencefree dom.co.uk

Property of the week

Fabulous Bed and Breakfast

GRUPO PLATINUM presents this fabulous country house which is a very good business opportunity in the Sierra de Los Velez, province of Almeria.

Part of the house has a bed and breakfast activity created in June 2019, possibility to increase the turnover with a strong potential in the form of catering, horse riding, yoga re‐treat, holiday rentals or it can just be a fabu‐lous family home for a family or a business.

For the Bed & Breakfast part of the prop‐erty: On the ground floor:

A large entrance hall serves as a lounge with four sofas. Then a reception room of 27.59 m2 with its wood burner and central heating radiators, in the continuity there are two double bedrooms: Room Cordoba (17,04 m2) and Room Malaga (21,27 m2), both with private bathrooms, ceiling fans and central heating. A closed and fully equipped kitchen, near the kitchen you have a laundry room with a dishwasher, a wash‐

The Spanish Association of the Caravanning Industry and Trade (ASEICAR) estimates that more than 100,000 mo‐torhomes, campers and cara‐vans will travel our roads over Easter in search of beach des‐tinations, especially on the Mediterranean coast and in mountain areas.

Although it was still possi‐ble to find available rental ve‐hicles, 90 per cent of them have been booked for weeks, many of them since the be‐ginning of the year.

In addition to the 8,000 motorhomes and campers in the rental fleet, there will be more than 90,000 owned ve‐hicles, including caravans.

Ref. VLRPDCENT €339,000 euros

COUNTRY HOUSE: With a strong potential for a bed and breakfast business or it can just be a fabulous family home.

ing machine, and low cupboards. Off the kitchen is the breakfast room with tables and chairs and a television with a gas stove.

On the first floor, two bedrooms, Almeria (22,18 m2), a triple room, and Los Velez (30,93 m2), a quadruple room, both with pri‐vate bathrooms, fans, and central heating.

All rooms are closed and secured by doors, each house has an excellent wifi con‐nection.

The main house is owned by the owner:

A large living room with its wood stove that heats the house, in the continuity a well‐equipped kitchen, with many storage spaces, from the kitchen you can access to a terrace, ideal in summer.

On the first floor, three bedrooms, and a bathroom of 9.67 m2 with an Italian shower, toilet, and washbasin. Outside, is a small closed, and secured stone house where the electric meters are located (9kw lithium bat‐teries, 6kw water batteries, inverters, circuit

breakers, 6kw generator).

The house is perfectly autonomous in electricity. Outside there are two pergolas, two terraces, an 8x4 swimming pool, a sta‐ble, a warehouse, and a large car park.

Both houses have been completely reno‐vated in 2019 with a new heating system, electricity, solar panels, swimming pool, ter‐races, pavements, pergola, and entrance doors. The land has almond and olive trees on a surface of 25,000m2.

The sale also includes:- the furniture of the Bed and Breakfast, the licence to operate a Bed and Breakfast in a rural areabookings already made. Facebook page, Space on Airbnb, booking, wonder box, application CHECK-IN SCAN, telephone number, resumption of Wifi connection, alarm system for both houses. Do not hesitate and call the team at Grupo Platinum Estates today to view at 950 466 112.

photo credit Andril Lutsyk

WOODEN YURTS: Experience the latest trend.

Image: Camping & Caravan Club

PETS

Caring for Nellie and Maisie

MANY of our pet owners find trusted pet ‐ sitters through our network be ‐cause the pets love the com‐pany. Nellie and Maisie have dog‐sitter Chloe to care for them while their owner is away on holiday. This collab‐orative arrangement suits ev‐eryone perfectly. If you are planning a trip later this year, register now to find pet‐sit‐ters in time. Even if it’s just a short trip, you’ll know that sometimes you just have to leave pets at home. Young and senior pets in particular benefit from staying in their own home, so they can fol‐low their routines undis ‐turbed. Let us help. Choose Housesitmatch. com for affordable travel, home and pet care. These are the steps to take:

1. Register as a home ‐owner on HouseSitMatch.

com

2. Choose a Premium ac‐count (£89 per year) to en‐sure you can help online when needed

3. Create a profile with photos of your pet and the house

4. Post an advert for the dates when you want to go away. Sitters apply and you choose.

How does it work?

HouseSitMatch can help you find suitable sitters. Join our network for a small an‐nual fee. You get ID checked for safety and then build your advert saying when you are going on holiday. House‐sitters see your advert, they respond and you choose the sitter who’ll care for your pets.

Trustpilot Testimonials ‐

4.9 / 5 Excellent 10 out of 10 for housesit match.com

I have had nothing but good and helpful service from the people who run this site, and my experience has been excellent.

Tristram Cosgrave ‐ Dog and cat owner, Malaga How do you join?

Please register online via our website www.Housesit match.com.

Do you need a housesitter? Get in touch. House-sitting can be a win-win for both parties, free house and petsitting, and the experienced and checked sitters get free accommodation! Register as either housesitter or homeowner with a 50% discount using coupon code 20EWN – an exclusive offer for readers. To find a house pet-sitter go to www.HousesitMatch.com

Turtles perfect pets

IF you are considering the introduction of a new pet or even a child’s first pet, choosing the ideal type of animal is paramount. Turtles tend to be the perfect pets for children, especially as their first pets.

They are an ideal starting point for chil ‐dren as turtles are easy to care for and so chil ‐dren can get involved with the tasks. Another plus point for turtles is their longevity, when cared for a turtle can be part of the family for a very long time.

A typical pet turtle can

Can animals speak

SOME people say the best conversations they have are with their pets, they listen and sympathise with us, but here is the question do they understand us? Can we actually communicate with our pets?

The answer is yes. We communicate with our pets verbally and with facial expressions and gestures. Our pets then answer us with certain postures, and facial expressions, by barking and meowing, etc.. in fact, some animal experts have detected up to 21 dif‐ferent meows! Obviously, we cannot chat with animals in the same way we can with our friends and family, but it has certainly been proven we can understand each other

perfectly. Scientists have completed many studies to show that dogs can follow hu‐man communication. We all know that we can train a dog to follow certain demands like sitting, but a study also found that dogs interpret voices in the same part of their brain as we do. Not only that but it’s been shown that dogs use the left part of their brain to process the meaning of a word and the right side to interpret the tone of voice used also just like us and have been known to master words in the same manner as young human children.

So, feel free to continue chatting with your pets but maybe not in public!

live from 10 to 80 years ‐some have been known to live until 150 years of age!

Many studies show the benefits of children growing up with pets. Children tend to grow up happy, social, and more responsible. Tur ‐tles are a perfect first choice as they are unde ‐manding and will be happy when they are cared for and well ‐ fed. Children can get into a good routine helping to take care of and prepar ‐ing them for possibly more complex pets in the future.

PET SPEAK: Dogs can follow words.

Chloe the dog-sitter loves dogs and here she’s looking after Nellie and Maisie.

BUILDERS

ALMERIA BUILDERS : Fully Legal, Fully Insured, All Work Guaranteed. 659 685 133 www.almeri abuilders.com (253556)

PRIVATE collector will buy your Gold, Rolex & Patek Philippe Watches Tel - 678 716 693 (288662

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET? International Business Licences Available. Part Time. Home Based. Discover More. algar83@gmail.com (303148)

MOBILE homes & static caravans bought, sold and transported. +34 630 055 418 or elsyd7@hotmail. com (302142)

LOCAL ANGLICAN (C of E) church services at Mojacar Los Llanos Del Peral and Alhambra. Communion every Sunday in Mojacar at 11am. Communion at Los Llanos every Sunday except the last Sunday in the month when there will be Prayer and Praise all at 11am. The services that were being held in the South American church Albox have now returned to the chapel and Communion is held on the second Thursday of the month at 11am. Priest in charge Rev Canon Alan Bennet telephone number 680 243 436. For further information, please go to The Anglican Chaplaincy of Costa Almeria and Costa Calida web page. Or contact Tony Noble 950 069 103. (10002)

TURRE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

We meet every Sunday at 10.30. For worship. We believe you’ll find us ‘relaxed’, welcoming’ and ‘informal’. Find us on Turre’s main street, towards the motorway at the far end on the left. To know more contact 617 914 156 (10021)

ROYAL BRITISH LEGION - Why not make this year the year you volunteer? Call and see how you can help either as a caseworker (with full training) or as a Telephone Buddy. We also visit beneficiaries who are housebound or in hospital. If you feel you could support us here in Spain, and you have a Spanish phone number then why not email us for more info tbuddyhhvisits@gmail.com. If you or your partner served or are serving, and you feel you need help or support then contact us using the details on the card, we are here for the small things as well as the big, sometimes talking to someone is the first step to feeling more in control. It can be a personal need or some help with your home or information on what or who to speak to on a medical issue, we help with signposting if we cannot help directly, just call and have a chat with Pam who will try to guide you to where you need to be. If you would like to go to a branch meeting then find your nearest one at, www.britishlegion.org.uk/ counties/spain-north ZURGENA Branch meeting on the first Thursday, Coffee

Morning on the third Thursday and Buffet & Quiz Night on the last Tuesday of the month all at Bar Trinidad, Arboleas, for further details please email zurgenarblchairma n @gmail.com - (253989)

helping you buy, sell or rent your ideal property. Please call 678 002 006 for more information (283824)

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MOTOR INSURANCE

For the most competitive quotes in English call Linea Directa on 952 147 834, you could save as much as 30% and you can transfer your existing no claims bonus. Call Linea Directa on 952 147 834 for motor insurance with a human voice in English from Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm and save money now! (200726)

STAY SAFE! Abbeygate Insurance Call 971 277 455 For your security www.abbeygateinsure.com

ELECTRICAL

ABBOTT ELECTRICS

From a Light Fitting to a Full Rewire. Tel: 950 137 208 / 638 010 691 (301356)

VOSS HOMES are a professional, British family-run Estate Agents with an office in Huercal-Overa town. They specialise in selling and renting properties in the Huercal-Overa, La Alfoquia, Zurgena & Taberno area. Andy, Anna, Jess, Adele, Hannah, Amy & Karen look forward to

MOTORING

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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)

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PROPERTY MAINTENANCE

MISCELLANEOUS

GOLD & SILVER Bought & Sold, Rolex & Patek Philippe Watches Tel – 678 716 693 (288662)

THE FIVE BONE HOTEL, TURRE. Little dogs €7.75, medium dogs €8.50, big dogs €9.25, cats from €7.00 a day. 630 234 556 / the5bonehotelturre@ gmail.com fivebonehotel. com (301372)

Ifyoucanreadit,socan yourclients.Contactus andhaveyourbusiness growat+34951386161

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KNOWLES PLUMBING

No 1 for all plumbing jobs big or small. Central heating, solar hot water and water deposits. Tel: 606 807 797 or 684 143 560 (302581)

SOLAR WIND POWER SOLUTIONS. Over 20 years installation experience. Established 17 years in Spain. Call Phil for competitive prices on 636 261 240 or emai info@sunergyalmeria.com (295779)

PROP FOR RENT WANTED TESTIMONIALS

Lexus ES300h Takumi - driving luxury

ROAD TEST

byMarkSlack

IT takes a lot of time, money and hard work to build a new brand, and many automotive giants have tried and failed over the years. One manufac ‐turer who succeeded is Toyota, with their luxury brand Lexus. Launched in the UK back in 1990 with the LS400, early second hand models with large mileages still fetch sur ‐prisingly good money. It was a car that was never going to set your driving senses alight but used the best quality materials and engineering and was supremely refined.

Although style is very subjective Lexus models have become less conven‐tional in their looks but continue to major on quality and reliability. The ES300 follows that theme with a drive train that’s

smooth, refined and eco ‐nomical, but not one to thrash across a twisting cross country road.

Priced from €45,561/ £40,000 the ES sits just below the largest Lexus offering, the LS, and has just one engine option of a 2.5 ‐ litre four ‐ cylinder petrol/ electric hybrid, mated to a CVT auto matic gear box. It’s a happier engineering union than a lot of CVT and double

Facts at a Glance

• Model: Lexus ES 300h Takumi

clutch transmissions. Changes are smooth and can be encouraged via flappy paddles. There’s a more noticeable rise in engine revs compared to

remain high until the speed catches up. Howev‐er, being a Lexus, every ‐thing remains pretty re ‐fined and quiet.

above a sporting drive. It’s a car that doesn’t par‐ticularly entertain, but is‐n’t designed to in fair ‐ness. The comfort levels

the seats are heated and recline. Other standard fare in the Takumi models includes, in a very long list, a fantastic 17‐speaker audio system, an electric rear sunblind, large multi‐media screen, head ‐ up display, powered tilt and slide sunroof, LED lights with corner ‐ing headlights and a veritable plethora of oth ‐er comfort, con‐venience and safety features. The interior as a whole is a very nice and impres ‐sive place.

• Engine: 2.5-litre, 4-cylinder, petrol-electric hybrid

• Gears: CVT automatic

• Performance:0-100kmh (62mph) 8.9 seconds. • Maximum Speed 180kmh (112mph)

• Economy:5.3l/100km(53.2mpg) combined driving-WLTP

• Emissions:120g/km-WLTP Model tested was UK-specification and equipment levels and prices may vary in other markets.

The ES is at its best as a comfortable cruiser and definitely for drivers who value quality and comfort

DRIVERS of nearly 700,000 cars in Greater London could be liable to pay the ULEZ charge when the zone is ex ‐panded this summer.

DVLA data shows a to ‐tal of 691,559 licensed cars in the whole of Greater London were ei ‐ther petrol cars first reg ‐

feeling of quali‐ty wherever you look. The front seats have heating and cooling along with a substantial array of individual controls even in the rear where

At €64,202 / £56,365 the ES Takumi is‐n’t cheap but it offers a size and level of equip ‐ment that puts others to shame.

If you like your automo‐tive luxury, and want to be wafted along, then the ES should be on your shopping list.

700,000

istered prior to January 2006 or diesel cars regis ‐tered prior to Septem ‐ber 2015 ‐ the key dates for meeting ULEZ stan ‐dards.

This figure rises to

hit

851,065 when counting all non ‐ compliant vehi ‐cles, rather than solely cars.

But the number of drivers affected once the zone expands is likely to be far higher when tak ‐ing into account vehicles entering from bordering counties such as Kent, Hertfordshire and Essex.

Transport for London (TFL) estimates that around 160,000 non ‐compliant cars a day cur ‐rently drive in the area that will become part of the expanded zone later this summer.

Drivers of affected ve ‐hicles who do not pay the £12.50 daily charge will a fine of up to £160.

To help mitigate the impact on drivers and businesses the mayor of London has launched a £110 million scrappage scheme which offers those eligible up to £2,000 towards buying a compliant vehicle.

LUXURY: The interior is a very nice place to be.

Decarb package

MEASURES have been an‐nounced to increase the use of electric vehicles, as well as the production of sustainable avia‐tion fuel in the UK.

The UK government has now launched the £381 million Local Electric Vehicle Infrastruc‐ture (LEVI) fund alongside an additional £15 million for the On‐Street Residential Charging Scheme (ORCS).

Taken together, the funding will support the installation of tens of thousands of new chargers across the country, in‐creasing EV infrastructure in every area and ensuring the UK’s charging network can support the increasing number of EV drivers.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “Transport is one of the most important sectors for achieving net zero by 2050 and so we must accelerate our efforts to decarbonise how people get from A to B while growing our economy and supporting thousands of green jobs. From expanding our charging network to boosting production of cleaner aviation fuel, today’s announcement is a great stride forward.”

FUEL PRICES: Have fallen for the fifth straight month.

Price drop

UK fuel prices fell for the fifth straight month in March with an‐other penny coming off petrol and 4p off diesel, according to data from RAC Fuel Watch.

By the end of the month, a litre of unleaded was 146.5p (down from 147.56p) ‐ a price last seen at the end of January 2022, while diesel was reduced to 162.94p (down from 167.06p) ‐ its cheapest price since early March last year.

This means the price of petrol has fallen nearly 20p from 166p at the start of November, saving drivers almost £11 every time they fill up a 55‐litre family car (£91.3 in November 2022 to £80.57 ‐ March 31, 2023).

Diesel, however, has dropped 27.5p from 190.5p, saving drivers £15 a tank (£104.77 to £89.62).

While the diesel pump price reduction appears dramatic, the RAC believes it should have been far greater as its wholesale price was very similar to petrol for most of March.

In fact, diesel became cheaper than petrol on the wholesale market on March 23 and has stayed that way since.

Corsa in space

SPACE, the final frontier.

With space tourism becom‐ing increasingly likely, it is time to address the mobility needs of extra‐terrestrial exploration and Opel is once again pio‐neering this new era.

The Rüsselsheim‐based brand has just released ad‐vanced information and im‐ages of its new space mobility concept: the Opel Corsa Moon II.

The brand with the Blitz will be the first mobility provider to start to offer tourism on the moon as of mid‐decade, once again sticking to its credo of making innovations accessible to everyone.

Consequently, Opel’s lunar vehicle is based on the Ger‐man brand’s best‐selling bat‐tery‐electric Corsa‐e. The Cor‐sa Moon II is equipped with space‐age technologies to of‐fer the optimum balance be‐tween ride comfort, reliability and moon driving perfor‐mance.

Based on the extensive

knowledge gathered with the 1997 Corsa Moon concept car, the Opel R&D team identified solar energy as one of the best options for powering a lunar vehicle.

Built‐in solar cells efficiently will power the 500‐kWh bat‐tery of the Corsa Moon II in a sustainable way.

The Corsa Moon II can cov‐er up to 7,000 km in the ULTP (Universe‐wide harmonised Light‐duty vehicles Test Proce‐dure) cycle on a single charge of the battery.

SPACE TOURISM: Opel is pioneering this new era.

Image: Stellantis Shutterstock.com

27% of Spanish drivers passed their test on the first attempt.

Spain’s Jon Rahm wins the 2023 Masters in Augusta, Georgia

SPAIN’S Jon Rahm won the 2023 Masters after holding off the challenge of American golfer Brooks Koepka.

Rahm turned things around on the final day of the 2023 Masters at the legendary Augusta National Golf Club to win his first‐ever Masters tournament on Sun‐day, April 9.

American golfer Brooks Koepka led the field by two shots at the start of play. However, 28‐year‐old Rahm stunned his opponent by finishing on 12‐under after carding a three‐under last round of 69 to win by four shots and take the famous green jacket.

Koepka had to settle for second place, tying with the legendary Phil Mickelson. The 52‐year‐old American pulled out all the stops to finish on eight‐under after a stunning seven‐under round of 65. Further down the field, two previous champions, Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed, tied in sixth spot in this 87th edition of the event.

Scottie Scheffler, the defending 2022 Masters champi‐on could only manage a disappointing finish of four un‐der. The highest‐placed player from Great Britain and Northern Ireland was England’s Matt Fitzpatrick, the cur‐rent US Open champion.

Continuing a fine history of producing golfing champi‐ons, Rahm becomes the fourth Spaniard to win the pres‐tigious golf tournament.

Quite fittingly, his victory came on what would have been the birthday of Seve Ballesteros, the two‐time Masters champion in 1980 and 1983.

The other two Spanish golfers to win in Augusta were Sergio Garcia in 2017, and José María Olazábal who was victorious in both 1994 and 1999.

US Masters golf ball auctioned

A GOLF ball used by the legendary golfer Tiger Woods during the US Mas ters in 1997 sold on Sun day, April 9, for $64,124.40 (approx €58,723). During the final round of the tour nament at the world mous Augusta National Golf Club, the American star bogeyed the fifth hole. Woods subsequently gave his ball to Julian Nexsen, who was a nine year ‐ old boy at the time. The player went on to win his historic first major that day, becoming the youngest player in history to win the famous golf tournament. In the process, Woods broke the pre‐vious record held by Jack Nicklaus by racking up a four ‐ day score of 270, 18 under par.

On March 27, Nexsen put the ball up for auction with the Golden Age Auction

house. It started with an initial bid of $500 (approx €457.89) but its price

A spokesperson for the auction house said: “Unless Tiger himself or his caddie Fluff inten ‐tionally saved a ball from this historic final round (which we doubt), this may be the only confirmed golf ball from the final round of Tiger Woods’ first Major Championship victory.”

Many might doubt the authenticity of this ball but the moment when Woods handed it to Mr Nexsen was forever cap ‐tured in print the next day when the Washing ‐ton Times ran it on its front page. It wrote:

“After making his first bogey in 36 holes yester ‐day, Woods stopped on his way to the sixth tee to give a ball to nine‐year ‐ old Julian Nexsen of Greenville, SC.”

TIGER WOODS: His 1997 golf ball sold for €58,723.

Credit: Twitter@MalagaCF_en