The Courier Edition 253

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Friday 30th October 2015 Friday 6th November Friday 8th January 2016

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Costa Community Counts The Cost

ALEX TRELINSKI

A

n Orihuela Costa community wants something done over two properties both of which became bank repossessions years ago and have been costing the community a substantial sum, as they lie empty and unmarketed for sale.

Residents of Playa Flamenca X want the banks to register the buildings enabling them to be put on the market for re-sale, in a scenario which is common

across urbanisations right across the Costa Blanca and Mar Menor areas.

Behind high walls on the Playa Flamenca market road is a luxury villa which was ransacked and vandalised by squatters after the owner disappeared and the bank repossessed it. Electrics and plumbing were ripped out and drains damaged, enabling vermin and cockroaches access via sewers.

It means that people living

nearby have to make sure that their homes are not invaded as well as putting in endless payments for overhanging trees and bushes to be lopped. The community debt on the villa is over five thousand euros and the debt on a quad within the community, also a bank repossession, exceeds four thousand euro.

Community vice-president Norman Brunt told The Courier:-"The combined debt

on these two houses is now approaching ten thousand euro and we could do a lot with that money to improve amenities for all residents who live here. As it is, indirectly, residents are subsidising the banks and that is an appalling situation. What's even more annoying is that we have a person willing to put 200 thousand euros on the table to buy the villa and pay off the debt. He's contacted the bank but has simply been fobbed off."

At the community AGM, residents unanimously agreed to ask its administrator to take all possible action to persuade the banks to release the properties for sale and also to take any possible legal action through the courts. Spain’s banks are said to have at least 100 thousand repossessed residential properties on their books in addition to commercial premises, with the overwhelming majority around the country’s Mediterranean coast.

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Friday 8th January 2016

Polish Family Slain Your Bigger, Bolder, Brighter Courier Telephone 966 921 003

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2015 ended on a tragic note in Torrevieja with the discovery of three bodies of a Polish family (a husband, wife and child) in a fourth floor flat on Calle Ramón Gallud in the city centre. The man, 34-year-old Lukasz Nadolski, strangled his 31year-old wife, Anna,

and then their nine month old daughter, Maja, before hanging himself. There was no recorded history of violence within the family and no clue to a reason behind what happened.

The Guardia Civil entered the rented apartment on Thursday December 31st to make the

Blaze Heroes

g r u e s o m e discovery, after authorities got a call from Anna’s mother, who lives on the Orihuela Costa, to say that she had had no contact with her family since Christmas Eve. Initial speculation ahead of formal investigations

suggested that the tragedy might have occurred up to a week before.

Pictures of the Nadolski family had been posted on Polish-based social network sites aimed

at finding missing people.

A minute’s silence was staged outside Torrevieja’s Town Hall last Friday lunchtime in memory of the victims of the incident led by

Rebajas Time

Advertising Sales 966 921 003 office@thecourier.es

Sally Los Alcazares, Tel. 618 391 491

Myra Torrevieja & North Tel. 618 583 765

Jean Orihuela Costa Tel. 618 898 034

Patrick International Rep 5 Languages Tel. 685 901 265

Writers Alex Trelinski Mark Nolan Jeanette Erath Dave Silver Tony Mayes John McGregor Ivie Davies Nicola Cross

A pensioner was rescued by three Guardia Civil officers after a fire broke out at his home in Torrevieja on New Year’s Day. They were alerted by a local resident who went to the Guardia office in person, with the officers then rushing round to the apartment on Calle Radio Murcia where they saw flames raging and smoke gushing out.

Not knowing whether the house was occupied, officers broke down the door when they got no response

Mayor, José Manuel Dolon, as well as people with banners protesting against gender violence. A three minute tribute was held on Sunday by Valencia Government officials.

and found a 75-year-old The sales season kicked man unconscious on the off in Spain last Saturday sofa, with numerous severe with bargains of up to 70% burns. off to be found on the high Paramedics gave him first street. The bargains will run aid after the three Guardia until the end of February, Civil officers dragged him with typical discounts at the out of the burning building. start of the sales period The pensioner was firstly tending to be around 30% to taken to Torrevieja Hospital, 50%, but can reach 70% or but given the serious nature of his injuries, he was rushed to the burns unit at Alicante General Hospital.

An Algerian man gave two The flat was badly gutted National Police officers the with no reason being given slip when he was about to be for the outbreak. put into a van outside the

80% towards the end.

Packed streets, ever-ringing tills and barely elbow-room were seen in shops across some of Spain's main centres like Madrid and Barcelona last weekend.

Consumer organisations have warned shoppers to be careful of impulse buys and

to ensure retailers stick to the rules. Until just a few years ago, the high-street sales would start on January 7th, once Spain's main present-giving day was over and children were returning to school – but since the start of the financial crisis in late 2007, heavily-slashed price campaigns have started between Christmas and the Three Kings to encourage shoppers to buy as much as possible for their Twelfth Night gifts.

Even more recently, shops have been given the freedom to hold sales whenever they wish rather than solely in summer and postChristmas, meaning end-ofline stock is easier to shift and customers given an incentive to spend yearround.

Quick Footed Torrevieja courthouse. He was being taken to a van to be transferred to an illegal immigrants centre when he

pushed one of the agents to the ground, and ran away whilst still wearing his handcuffs.

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Friday 8th January 2016

The Max Factor

Torrevieja Hospital’s first newborn appeared just 15 seconds into 2016 last Friday morning as Max Lowe made his first appearance at a bonnie three and a half three kilos.

Max’s parents live in Dehesa de Campoamor, with his Russian mum, Elena, and British dad

David, proud to welcome in the perfect start to the new year.

Somewhat surprisingly, Max wasn’t the first baby born in the Valencia region in 2016, with the honour going to Adriano who said hello to his happy parents, at the stroke of midnight at the Alicante University

Hospital. He weighed in at three point one kilos.

The first baby in the Murcia region in 2016 was Miguel Hernández born at twenty past midnight at Arrixaca with a weight of three and a half kilos. His parents Miguel and Cristina live in Molina de Segura.

Crane Enough Residents have complained about an eyesore in the Barrio de La Cruz area of Catral: - namely a crane that has been there for a decade on an uncompleted development.

La Plataforma Defensa de la Huerta says that complaints have been made to Catral council yet nothing has been done with serious concerns about the safety of the rusting crane.

Heaviest air strikes yet strike Yemeni capital Sanaa: residents.

Dispute over Turkish troops throws future of Mosul into question.

Pussy Killer

Year's night across Alicante Province due to over consumption of alcohol and drugs, whilst there were 15 call-out's after violent incidents.

There were six road accidents in the area, and across the whole of the

Pumped Up

Valencia region, police visited 179 places of entertainment with action being planned against 22 owners for safety violations like exceeding the safety capacity or staying open past the permitted hours allowed.

Paris police shoot dead knife-wielding man wearing a fake explosive belt on Charlie Hebdo anniversary.

Iran says a Saudi-led airstrike hit Iranian Embassy in Yemen.

Gunmen fire at Israeli tourists in Cairo, no casualties: security sources.

Done And Dusted

Last week's New Year celebrations passed by in relatively calm fashion across the Costa Blanca according to figures released by the region's emergency services.

Ambulances were called out 64 times on New

Native Americans ask Oregon occupiers to remember the original 'owners'.

A 77-year-old alleged cat murderer is facing a suspended jail sentence after he was photographed in a San Pedro del Pinatar street clubbing the animal to death, because it was apparently disturbing his pigeons. The Guardia Civil were supplied

with the photos and have made the pensioner available to a San Javier judge, who could hand out an 18 month suspended prison term, as well as stopping him from keeping any animals, which would include his prized pigeons.

Animal Magic

Eurozone jobless rate falls to lowest level in over 4 years.

Hungary resists British plans to curb benefits for immigrant workers.

Truck bomb kills 65 at Libyan police training centre.

Iran bans all products from Saudi Arabia after ties cut.

Women in US 'three times more likely to say they're bisexual'.

Hollande urges better ties between French security services.

The cost of filling up your car in Spain has reached the lowest level since 2009, according to a survey by the ABC newspaper. With the average price of diesel costing €0.984 and a litre of unleaded coming in at

€1.149 as of December 22, Spain is experiencing its cheapest prices since 2009.

The cheapest leaded petrol in mainland Spain can be had for €0.978 a litre at a Binéfar petrol station in Huesca. Prices of

petrol and unleaded have gone down 6% and 13.5% respectively since last year. The plummeting prices at the pumps are thanks to the price of Brent Crude oil dropping below $38 a barrel for the first time since 2008.

Rio Safari Elche say they continue to be one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Costa Blanca, with 115 thousand visitors last year, the same figure as for 2014. The park says they are one of the key conservation areas in Spain, and tourists in 2015 were able to enjoy seeing the only family of four white

lions in the country in a special enclosure, plus Nami, a female fur seal who was born in the park last year.

One of the big new attractions for this year will be a family three orangutans from Borneo, who will join those already at Rio Safari under the European Programme of Species Protection (EEP).

Snow makes migrants' journey through Europe even harder.

Marks and Spencer boss Marc Bolland to quit.

Pakistan expels Bangladeshi diplomat amid worsening 'spy' row.

South Korea to resume propaganda broadcasts into North

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Not Very Handy A 31-year-old Slovak handyman is facing 24 years in jail after being accused of robbery and the rape of a 35-year-old female doctor at her Alicante area home. The incident happened in August 2013 in Cabo de las Huertas with the alleged assailant's trial due to start soon at Alicante Provincial Court.

The accused man spent time doing some DIY work in the victim’s house two months earlier, and he faces a string of robbery, violence, and sexual assault charges.

Friday 8th January 2016

Upward Sales Spanish new car sales rose 20.7 percent year-onyear in December, vehicle manufacturers' association Anfac said on Monday, after a 25.4 percent rise in November. Some 88,609 cars were sold in December compared to 73,440 in the same month a year earlier, Anfac said.

Car sales rose by 20.9 percent in 2015 year on year, with 1.034 million vehicles sold last year compared to 855,308 in 2014, the association added.

Rural Robbers

The Pedestrian Plans San Pedro del Pinatar council wants the centre of the town to be a pedestrian-only zone by 2020 as part of the municipality’s urban development plan. The council is looking for money from the European Union’s development fund for the works to happen, which would also include a cycle route to San Javier.

Work is also envisaged on improving the Puntica beach area to boost tourism.

Three Spaniards have been arrested for a string of rural home robberies across the area. The Guardia Civil say that at least 17 properties in areas like San Javier, Almoradi, Catral, Guardamar,

Orihuela, and Santa Pola were plundered with the total value of the stolen property being at least 120 thousand euro. The men were arrested in Alicante, Bigastro, and in the north at Marina Alta.

Refugee Count

Just The Tonic

Prescription charges for state pensioners and their dependants have been scrapped on the Costa Blanca and the rest of the Comunidad Valenciana.

The free prescriptions will benefit just over 400 thousand state pensioners so long as they are earning less than 18 thousand euro a year before tax.

Deputy regional president Mònica Oltra says it is 'not fair' that those on low incomes, particularly the elderly, who have to 'choose between essential medication and being able to afford to eat'. She added that the regional government has put aside 41 mil-

lion euro to cover the shortfall once State pensioners get their regular medicine free of charge.

According to ministry of health figures, a total of 7.9% of residents in the Comunidad Valenciana have stopped taking at least one type of regular medication over the past year because they could not afford to continue – the highest percentage in the whole of Spain.

Oltra waved away criticism from the Partido Popular opposition about the cost of financing the free prescriptions, saying, “Whatever the PP thinks, plenty of PP voters will

also benefit from this and will be very pleased to hear the Valencian government has eliminated an injustice that the national government imposed on them back in 2012 – that of having to choose whether they eat or whether they take their prescription medication.”

“Everyone who qualifies will be able to go to their local pharmacy with their SIP cards and they will find they are not charged for their drugs, but that these will be paid for thanks to an agreement between the Valencia regional government and the College of Pharmacists.”

Taxing Times

Cases Up There was a slight rise in the number of reported animal abuse cases in the Murcia region last year, according to the Guardia Civil's environment branch, Seprona.

The number of people investigated or charged in 2015 were 21, with Seprona saying that they had increased their activity due to the strengthening of the Penal Code in regard to the treatment of animals, which resulted in 30 cases being reported as opposed to 25 in 2014.

Attacker Nabbed

The National Police have arrested a 26-yearold man on charges of rape and attempted murder in Elche. A 22-yearold woman was walking her dog on Calle Redován when she was attacked, but managed to escape by the hitting the man on his head with a rock, before calling for help from passing motorists.

Over three and a half thousand refugees made their way to Spain last year by sea or land, at least half of whom are from Syria, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. Spain's 3,592 incoming migrants, who reach the coasts on rowing boats, small motor boats or even rubber dinghies (with some landings on the Costa Blanca and Costa Calida

last summer), or climb the border fences from Morocco into Ceuta and Melilla, are frequently sub-Saharan Africans for geographical reasons, but an estimated 49% of Europe's total are Syrian, 21% from Afghanistan and 8% from Iraq. The remainder are mainly from Eritrea (4%), Pakistan, Nigeria or Somalia (2%) or Sudan, Gambia, Sénégal and Mali (1%).

Bike Death

A 76-year-old man died instantly on Monday when his moped collided with a car at a roundabout in Rafal.

The scooter rider was

wearing a helmet when the accident happened shortly before 10.00am on the CV911, with the car driver uninjured and passing an alcohol breath test.

The Spanish tax office has published their first-ever list of debtors who owe more than one million euro – and MotoGP star Dani Pedrosa; ex-Real Madrid managers Lorenzo Sanz; and footballer Gabi Milito are amongst the list of shame. Football clubs, some of which are bankrupt, also appear on the debtors' list including Alicante-based Hercules and Real Murcia in addition to Racing Santander and Recreativo Huelva. Most of the list is taken up by companies rather than individuals, and includes the fish and seafood retailer Pescanova; the now-defunct airline

Spain’s dole queues shortened by 354 thousand people in 2015 which is the biggest ever annual fall in unemployment fig-

Spanair; Ciudad Real airport, and the Sevilla-based fashion designers Victorio & Lucchino.

Of the 4,855 entries on the list – who owe a total of 15.6 billion euro in taxes – just 345 are individual people with debts reaching over 700m euro. Property developers and estate agencies bitten hard by the housing market crash and financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 owe the most – top of the list is Reyal Urbis with a tax debt of 378m euro, followed by building firm Nozar which owes 203m euro and developers Grupo PraSA from Córdoba, who owe 101m euro. The country's biggest

Dole Fall

ures, though the country still has one of the biggest jobless rates in the European Union at four million.

liquidation case in history so far – developers MartinsaFadesa, which went bankrupt in 2008 and left partially-built and uninhabited residential complexes all over the country, owes 37.7m euro, and numerous other firms not directly involved with property building or selling but who depend upon these industries for their own trades show up on the list. Some 42% of the money owed, or around 6.5bn euro, relates to companies which have gone out of business and been declared bankrupt, meaning there is little chance of the State being able to claim it back.

Alicante Province saw a nine percent drop in those signing up, with 184 thousand still looking for some kind of employment.

News

Friday 8th January 2016

Watchful Eye The Guardia Civil are to keep an eye on serial road offenders with extra controls. Speeding drivers who have been caught more than once will be under the spotlight in order to keep them off the road unless they mend their ways.

In the first 11 months of 2015, a total of 110,411 drivers were caught and fined for a second or subsequent time breaking the speed limit or committing other offences such as driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

They were caught by traffic police carrying mobile

radars who were patrolling accident blackspots.

Drivers seen speeding and pulled over are automatically tested for drugs and alcohol and their vehicle documents and licence checked.

A total of 1,800 officers on the ground and 12 helicopters are keeping watch over high-risk accident areas and over drivers considered to be likely to commit future offences.

Brit Nicked

One Down

Bulldozers moved in to demolish an abandoned property in Guardamar’s Babylon Beach area last

week. Alicante Province’s Coastal service knocked down the home on Calle Ingeniero Codorniú after last summer Guardamar closed a 640 metre stretch of the beach due to safety reasons, namely the dangerous state of some of the buildings as well as the poor condition of the boardwalk and breakwater structures.

Local residents have long complained about the lack of attention being paid to facilities in the area because of the Coastal Law, and that their part of the municipality has long been ignored.

2015’s Warm End December 2015 was the warmest last month of the year in the Valencian region since 1950, according to figures published by the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET). Average

temperatures were two point three degrees above the normal values for the month, whilst rainfall values were well down, with places like Alicante City recording no rain at all.

Crooks Cheeky Getaway The police were literally at the centre of the action of a Madrid bank robbery last Monday, as two crooks used a National Police car as their getaway vehicle, having discovered the keys were left in the ignition!

That vehicle then collided with a local police car which led to a shootout in which one of the robbers was shot in the leg and subsequently arrested, whilst the other fled.

A British man was arrested outside Alcantarilla in Murcia last week after a routine police stop turned up drugs in his car. The local police at La Raya noticed that the driver (identified by the initials Y.G.) appeared somewhat nervous when asked for his papers and when he failed to produce them, a search of his vehicle uncovered amounts of cocaine and marijuana, as well as 600 euro in cash.

Fuelling Anger Some residents of the San Luis area of Torrevieja say they don't want a new petrol station there, even though the project is at an advanced stage of construction. The nearest service station is at neighbouring La Siesta, with Torrevieja council saying that the development just off the roundabout on the CV-90 road has all the appropriate building licenses. It also hinted strongly that it would be highly unlikely to reject a trading license when the company applies for it, though residents are being encouraged to submit their objections and concerns.

The area is busy with existing commercial activity with the Mercadona supermarket being a focal point along with a large Chinese bazaar, a car wash business, and a car dealership. That's in addition to the businesses at the Lakeside Centre, in addition to a garden centre that opened last year.

Tips Aplenty Spanish security officials say they have received more than 600 anonymous tip-offs in just four weeks over possible Islamic extremists under a new scheme set up to better anticipate the threat of attacks. An Interior Ministry statement said police considered just under half the tip-offs to be of value to security services.

The project launched on December 4th allows people to contact the Intelligence Centre for Terrorism and Organised Crime anonymously through a website, a mobile app or a free telephone hotline. They are monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Over 90 suspected extremists were taken into custody last year.

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Road Death Drop Fatal road accidents fell by 23 percent in Alicante Province during 2015 according to official government figures. 43 people lost their lives in crashes in 2014, as opposed to 33 last year.

Every Little Helps 2016 has kicked off with cheaper electricity, mains and bottled gas, and airport taxes, with train fares and telephone and internet costs having been frozen.

Only the price of postage stamps has gone up, but Spain still enjoys some of the lowest mailing costs in Europe.

Reductions in prices are not significant – electricity has gone down by 0.7% since December or 2.8% since January 2015, and mains gas by 3.3% in the past month or 27.5% in the past year. Butane gas by the bottle now comes in at a maximum of 12.68€, although prices tend to fluctuate according to whether they are collected from the retailer or delivered, and whether they are in heavy orange or lightweight silver-coloured bottles. As for electricity, only the part relating to taxes and charges levied by the is which government, around 60% of the total bill, has gone down.

Airport governing body operate who AENA, Alicante-Elche and San had airports, Javier planned to freeze taxes, but the National Markets Competition and (CNMC) Commission revoked this, and as a result flight taxes have now dropped by 1.9%. Roundtown buses, and trains covered by national rail board RENFE, will not go up in price for the time being, and Spain's main telecommunications giant Telefónica has kept its monthly connection charge to 14.33€ plus IVA for another year after not having increased it since 2013.

Postage stamps will be more expensive now, however – a standard-sized letter or postcard sent to another address in Spain costs 45 cents, having gone up by three cents, and other parcels and letters sent abroad will rise in line with this. Sending an ordinary letter by first-class post within the same country is cheaper in Spain than the European average of 55 cents.

News

Friday 8th January 2016

Happy Holidays!

After the recent spurt of Bank Holidays over the Christmas and New Year period, there are six more national days to enjoy in Spain over the rest of 2016, along with four regional days in Valencia and Murcia, plus two “local” days for individual municipalities.

The list is as follows:March 25th: Good Friday Monday August 15th: Assumption of Mary.

Wednesday October 12th: National Day. Monday November 1st: All Saints’ Day Tuesday December 6th: Constitution Day Thursday December 8th: Immaculate Conception The regional days for the Valencia and Murcia regions

are as follows:Saturday March 19th:Father’s Day/ St Joseph’s Day Thursday March 24th:Maundy Thursday Monday December 26th:St Stephen’s Day Additionally in Valencia, Monday March 28th as Easter Monday is a holiday, whilst the Murcia region celebrates Murcia Day on Thursday June 9th. Valencia Day on October 9th falls on a Sunday this year.

May Day falls on a Sunday this year, and with Christmas Day also on a Sunday in 2016, the Valencia and Murcia regions have decided to declare a Bank Holiday on the following day.

Money Quiz Beckons

The ex-president of Catalunya, Jordi Pujol, has been summoned to appear in court next month over charges of multi-million money-laundering and corruption. Pujol, 85, and his wife Marta Ferrusola, 80 are said to have stashed over 1.8 million euro in Andorra, a tax haven, and are believed to have assets worth over 100 million euro.

Pujol says his father Florenci earned it through the currency black market during the Franco dictator-

ship and that he, Jordi Pujol, inherited it. He insists it did not come from corrupt activities during his 23-year political career.

Judge José de la Mata claims the Pujol clan acted 'like an organised crime gang' and carefully coordinated the money-laundering exercise, including by setting up front companies with Florenci’s eldest son, Jordi, acting as a manager and the 'income' split between him and his siblings and his mother.

Sadist Jailed A pimp has been given 44 years behind bars after branding women he forced to work as prostitutes with a barcode. The leader of the Romanian criminal gang, named only as Iulan T, was convicted by the Supreme Court in Madrid after trafficking women into Spain, where he forced them to work as prostitutes.

In handing down the sentence, the court described the man's behaviour as "horrific", noting the "particular cruelty" he displayed in branding the women with tattoos resembling barcodes. Thirteen others were also sentenced as the gang trafficked women into the

country under the pretence of finding them legitimate jobs, before forcing them to work as prostitutes in Madrid.

The women were subjected to extreme violence, and tattooed with the name of the gang leader and his nickname. In some cases they were also tattooed with the amount of money the gang claimed they owed. Women forced into prostitution said that he had videos of the torture, which he would use to intimidate them and view for his pleasure.

In its ruling, the court stressed the pimp had taken "pleasure in the suffering caused to the victim".

Lynx Link

Hi-tech drones are going to be used in Spain to help save the endangered Iberian Lynx. The animals, whose numbers have recovered to 327 in the wild as opposed to just 94 back in the year 2000, have benefitted from a captive breeding plan. However, they often travel large distances after being released, exposing them to greater risks, particularly from traffic with 21 being killed on roads in 2014.

José Fiscal, Andalucia’s environment chief, says that using the best technology available had already helped the animal’s recov-

ery, but more had to be done. The current system involves a radio operator tuning in to the collars worn by released lynxes. Now, a deal has been signed between a technology consortium and the Andalucian regional government to design an aerial tracking system.

The 20,000 euro agreement with tech companies Enel Green Power and Microsensory will see the development of a prototype specifically designed to follow lynxes fitted with radio markers. “The collar system provided valuable information on the territory

and routes used by individual felines, but the tracking was dependent on the terrain and required daily monitoring by an operator,” Mr Fiscal said.

Lynxes have been released in five different places deemed sufficiently remote in Spain and Portugal over the last twelve months, though there have been a number of cases like that of young male called Kentaro who had roamed nearly 100 kilometres from the place where he was released in Toledo province, having crossed several motorways without being injured.

Wasted Words And Money

Over 375 thousand untouched books have been found stashed away in a warehouse in Ribaroja in the Valencia region, belonging to and printed by previous Valencian regional governments. Around 10 thousand of these are textbooks or legal texts which are now obsolete and will have to be destroyed and their paper recycled. Most are over 30 years old and were printed when Spain was first divided up into 17 autonomouslygoverned regions, with thousands of euro going down the drain.

They sat piled up on 900 pallets in the warehouse, rented from the company Loginser – a partner in Spain's post office service,

Correos – for the past two years at a rental cost of four and a half thousand euro a month with the contract due to end in May. Over two thousand different titles were stacked up with thousands of euro wasted on their production, with 65 thousand cookery books being uncovered.

For the books with content which is still relevant, the left of centre coalition government – elected in May 2015 – has contacted all 542 councils in the Comunidad Valenciana to offer them batches of 60 copies, valued at 1,300 euro each, so their public libraries can stock them. So far, 244 town halls have responded positively.

The regional cabinet team says the 65 thousand recipe

books have an introduction

by María Ángels Ramón-Llin, who was the Partido Popular's agriculture minister at the time of publication.

Around 50 thousand manuals on metalwork and toymaking; 5,700 books about the 1953 Spanish film Welcome, Mr Marshall!, by acclaimed director Luis García Berlanga; 7,500 editions titled Basic statute of public-sector employment, which are now years out of date; and 12,000 regional transport infrastructure maps – now obsolete – are among the publications which have never been out of the packaging that they arrived in from the original printing company and are now set to be recycled.

Dave Silver

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Friday 8th January 2016

A Sideways Look At Steve McQueen

'WELL, did you all have a fantastic Christmas?' asked Andromeda Arkwright, our leader and mentor, when she breezed into the pub the other evening.

It was our first post-festivities gathering and we pubsters were all abuzz with stories of what we'd done during the holidays.

'Xmas was all right, I suppose,' sniffed Indoor Lou. 'Mind you, my wife said that if she had to watch The Great Escape on the telly one more time, she'd go stir crazy.'

Fearful Phil laughed sardonically. 'I had the opposite problem in our house. My missus

adores The Great Escape but she refused to watch it again until we get a bigger television set. I told her I wasn't going to waste my beer money on making Steve McQueen look any larger.

'Anyway, we ended up not watching any TV at all. We just sat there talking to each other.'

Andromeda Arkwright let out a triumphant cry. 'You and your wife indulged in conversation?

Wow, that is fantastic, Phil.

There is nothing like debate and dialogue to stimulate the mind. Pray tell us what you talked about.'

Fearful Phil shrugged. 'The sole subject of our exchange

amounted to my missus telling me that she much preferred to ogle a 40-inch Steve McQueen than a 17-inch one.'

[Incidentally, Angus Lennie, the diminutive actor who played Steve's cellmate in The Great Escape, always reckoned that he was cast in the role because he made McQueen look very tall.]

Dave the barman broke off from counting the meagre collection of coins which had been passed over the bar-top that day. 'The trouble with you lot is that you have no sense of lateral thinking.'

I pointed at Ol' Red Eyes who was stretched out more or

less horizontally asleep on the floor. 'I bet HE does his thinking sideways.'

Dave the barman tutted.

'Dave Silver, you are probably the most obtuse person I have ever known. I didn't mean lateral in that sense.

'Lateral thinking is solving problems through an indirect and creative approach, using reasoning that is not immediately obvious and involving ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic.'

There was an uneasy silence as we pubsters digested what Dave the barman had said -- apart from Daft Barry who was still trying to figure out what the word 'sense' means.

Our leader Andromeda Arkwright, of course, knew full well what Dave the barman was going on about.

She vaulted over the bar and gave mein host a hug. 'That is the best definition of lateral thinking I have ever heard!' she crowed.

'Aw, thanks, luv,' said a blushing Dave the barman.

'Would you like to do that thing you always do when you're pleased about something?'

'Indeed, I shall, Dave,' said Andromeda. She jumped back over the bar, grabbed her handbag, extracted a wad of banknotes and plonked them on the bar. 'Drinks all round!' she cried.

'That's my girl!' exclaimed our deliriously happy barman as he jammed the money into his till and commenced to work the pumps and optics like an

insane one-man band.

Mein host was so ecstatically cock-a-hoop about boosting his takings that I think he forgot to dilute any of the drinks which came our way.

But I was far from being in a good mood. Still smarting at being called obtuse (whatever that word means) I also had no idea what the heck lateral thinking was even though Dave the barman had comprehensively defined the process.

Fag Ash Bill homed in on my discomfort. 'Dave Silver, I am aware of your negativity even from out here,' he called to me from his customary spot on the pavement where he ceaselessly smoked his never-ending supply of cigarettes.

'But however can you tell when I'm feeling gloom-ridden and generally lousy?' I asked Fag Ash Bill as I joined him outside.

'Dunno really,' shrugged my smoke-blanketed friend. 'It's just that you seem to give off a vibration of pessimism, defeatism, anguish and general despondency.'

I stared at Fag Ash Bill with suspicion. 'You haven't been talking to Mrs S about me by any chance?'

Fag Ash Bill sighed and pointed into the pub. 'Look, Dave. If you want to gain some house points in there you need to get on top of this lateral thinking business.'

'So what can I do?' I implored. It occurred to me that I was asking that question quite often these days. I have a theory that as one gets older, one

becomes more desperate about what action to take in certain situations -- or to be more specific, in every situation.

Anyway, pausing only to dimp the dog-ends in each hand and then light up two new ciggies, Bill replied: 'You're going to have to ask Dave the barman to explain the process of lateral thinking in simple terms.'

Mein host was still in splendid mood thanks to Andromeda Arkwright's magnificent roundbuying gesture and he willingly took time out to answer my question.

'Fearful Phil is wittering on about his wife wanting a bigger TV screen when all he has to do is move the sofa nearer to the television set. Problem solved! And that, my troubled friend, is what is known as lateral thinking.'

Now I understood. And now I couldn't wait to put lateral thinking into practice. I didn't have long to wait.

Mrs S was in sour humour when I got home. 'Problem, dear?' I asked, puffed up with my new strategy on how to cope with life's vicissitudes.

'I'll say,' she said. 'Phyllis wants me to go to bingo with her tomorrow lunchtime at the same time as our daughter has invited me round for a gettogether. I don't want to let down either my best friend or my child. So what do I do?'

'No problem!' I declared triumphantly -- and moved our sofa nearer to the television set.

8

Drug Dealers Stopped Spanish police say they have seized three tonnes of cocaine and arrested 12 suspected drugs smugglers from various countries including Britain, the Netherlands and Spain.

The drugs were recovered in the north-western Galicia region, and are thought to have been heading south for a smuggling ring in the southern Costa Del Sol. It is the largest seizure in the region for 17 years, police said.

News

Friday 8th January 2016

Rajoy’s Coalition Call

Spain’s acting prime minister, the Partido Popular leader, Mariano Rajoy, has called for a three-way coalition involving the main opposition Socialist PSOE party and the centrist Ciudadanos party to provide the stability he says is needed to safeguard the economic recovery, after last month’s deadlocked general election.

An administration backed by more than 200 deputies in Spain’s 350-seat parliament is a “possible government” that would allow reforms to continue

and “send a good message about the stability of the country,” Rajoy said in an interview Tuesday with COPE radio.

Both the PSOE and the far-left Podemos parties have said that they will not support the Partido Popular in a parliamentary showdown vote, whilst Ciudadanos have said they would abstain, making it a distinct possibility that Spain will have to go to the polls again, unless the PSOE and Podemos can put together some kind of left of centre coalition.

Tourist Boost

Foreign tourist numbers have shot up in Spain in the past year, with 64.6 million visitors from abroad – nearly one and a half times the country's population – having travelled to Spain between January and November 2015. This translates as a rise of 4.8% on the same 11-month period in 2014, according to the National Statistics Institute FRONTUR survey.

The figures for 2014 coming in at 61.7 million was already a record, but consistent increases in foreign visitor numbers have been seen in the past few years. The majority came

from the UK, with the nearly 15 million Brits visiting Spain representing a 4.1% increase. French tourists were the second-largest national group with just under 11 million, or an increase of 8.9%, followed

by Germans, with nearly 9.9 million – although the latter have declined in number, by 0.8% over 2015. Other tourists who were less seen in 2014 included Russians, with just 900,000 visitors or 33.7% fewer than 2014.

For tourists of all nationalities, the top destination was Catalunya, with over 16.5 million visitors up to

the end of November, with an overwhelming majority coming to Spain by aeroplane – nearly 52 million – but another 11.8 million arrived by road.

Hotels continue to be the most popular choice of accommodation, and were elected by 40.8 million visitors, whilst 9.6 million chose holiday parks, rural guest houses, or other types of commercially-marketed areas such as holiday cottages, caravan parks or camping sites. A total of 14.1 million chose non-commercial accommodation, including their own holiday homes or friends.

News

9

Friday 8th January 2016

All In The Family

All Motor Vehicles Must Be Insured By Law up to €3,005, and your vehicle may be seized and immobilised.

WHY DO I NEED TO INSURE MY CAR IF ITS KEPT IN A PRIVATE GARAGE DO I NEED TO INSURE MY VEHICLE EVEN IF IT’S OFF THE ROAD?

A man was freed last week after spending almost 20 years caged in a three-metre square dovecote in southern Spain. The 59-year-old is believed to have been held in captivity by his brother and sister since 1996, with his siblings claiming his one thousand euro a month pension.

The discovery in the town of Dos Hermanas outside Sevilla was made by the National Police, who arrested the man's 76-year-old brother and 61-year-old sister for unlawful detention and abuse. The older sibling claimed that his brother had psychological problems and was kept confined for his own good.

The man was discovered naked in the tiny room on a filthy mattress next to

which bottles and buckets were laid out for him to go to the toilet.

The National Police made the bizarre find when they brought his 76year-old drunk brother back to his home following complaints of disorderly behaviour. "Once inside the home, the officers spotted a door at the end of a corridor closed with a chain... and padlock," the police said in a statement.

"After asking the man, he said that was where his brother lived, who had mental problems and whom they kept isolated for his security."

His 61-year-old sister also lived in the house and said she kept him fed and cleaned, and “looked after” his one thousand euro monthly pension.

"Due to the strange situ-

ation they were faced with, the agents asked both siblings to open the... door to check the state of their brother," police said.

"Once they went through, they came across another door closed by a wooden beam."

"After going through both doors, they found a crumbling, narrow staircase that went up to a type of dovecote," they added, before discovering the brother in the tiny roofless hovel.

"His health and cleanliness were deplorable and the state of the place was completely insanitary... without access to running water or toilets," police said, describing his living conditions as "inhuman."

The man was taken to hospital, while his two siblings were detained.

Some insurance policies like medical cover are not compulsory, others such as fire protection for your property, are. Your vehicle however, must be insured at all times, even if it’s kept off the road in a garage. The minimum legal compulsory insurance is Civil Liability to cover any damage to or claims from a third party, resulting from your vehicle.

The existing legislation (Royal Decree 8/2004) states that any car that is kept in Spain must be insured. Trailers and other special types of vehicles that weigh less than 750 kg and cannot be driven on Spanish roads are not required to have insurance.

This also means that they cannot be parked on roads or kept on private land.

If you own a vehicle that’s not insured you could face a fixed penalty from €601

The owner of a vehicle has a civil responsibility towards their neighbour and their property. Civil responsibility extends beyond car accidents on Spanish roads. If a vehicle, for example, kept in a communal garage, has a fire due to a short circuit, the owner will be responsible for any resulting damages to third parties. The owner will also be liable for a fixed penalty fine, the amount will depend on the gravity of the situation, the length of time the vehicle has been without insurance, and if this is a repeat offense.

IN WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES IS INSURANCE NOT COMPULSORY? If your vehicle has officially been temporarily or permanently taken out of circulation, for example it has been scrapped, then no insurance is required. If you own a vehicle that is not being used and you wish to avoid paying for insurance,

then you can apply to have it temporarily taken out of circulation. However, to do this the vehicle needs to have passed its MOT. If the MOT has expired, then it must be taken again and passed, before applying.

HOW CAN I AVOID ANY FIXED PENALTY FINES The best option is to ensure you have adequate insurance protection for your vehicle at all times. Once your vehicle complies with Spanish regulations, you can then decide what the future use of your vehicle will be, and whether or not to keep it in circulation or take it out. If you require an insurance policy for your vehicle, you can contact Línea Directa on 902 123 182. They can supply you with a fast and efficient quote for either third party or fully comprehensive insurance.

We hope the information provided in this article is of interest.

If you would like to contact Línea Directa please call 902 123 182 More information on Línea Directa online at www.lineadirecta.com

10

Friday 8th January 2016

Singer Call

Classical singers who fancy taking part in a major concert backed by a professional orchestra are being invited to join the ’In Harmony’ choir under their conductor, Nigel Hopkins.

They will be performing Vivaldi’s Gloria in early May and all serious singers and music lovers are being asked to be a part of the evening on Saturday May 7th at La Zenia’s Cristo Resucitado church.

“I’m not after pinching singers from other excellent local choirs”, said Nigel, “but

I’m giving an opportunity for people to perform at a higher level than may normally be available to them in the area in a one-off performance”.

Rehearsals started last Monday and will continue through to early May, with a three week break in February. Any interested singers should contact Nigel Hopkins on 966 775 976 or at nigelhopkins@hotmail.co.uk as soon as possible to register their interest and also to indicate their voice range.

Hamper Happiness Patricia Rhodes from Quesada got a seasonal boost when she was drawn out as the winner of the bumper hamper and presented with it by fund-raiser Tricia Lee at the Paul Cunningham Nurses charity shop in Quesada. The next charity

event will be a Race Night on Saturday 16th January, at Reflections Bar, San Luis, Torrevieja. Tickets are priced at seven euro, and include a chilli con carne and baked potato meal. To reserve a place, please call 688 387 490

The Rascals Are Ready

Over sixteen hundred euro was raised for local charities by the Rascals showgroup at last month’s Christmas singalong events, with the bulk of the money going to the Torrevieja children’s charity, APANEE, with 200 euro earmarked for a Los Montesinos youngsters organisation.

The Rascals are now launching a membership drive ahead of their spring show, Saturday Night At The Movies. They are looking for on-stage or backstage talent

Local & News

Horse Rescued

A horse so thin he was labelled a “walking skeleton” has been seized from owners living near the San Luis salt lake in Torrevieja, in a joint operation between Torrevieja Council and the Rojales-based Easy Horse Care Rescue Centre.

Centre-co-founder Sue Weeding said the horse had been tethered to a piece of rope beside the salt lakes, which is public land and

who can help them and they’ll be meeting potential new members at Los Montesinos Square on Thursday January 14th between 11am and 3pm; Almoradi Market Square on Saturday January 16th between 10am and 2pm; San Luis Square, Torrevieja between 11am and 3pm on Tuesday January 19th and lastly at La Marina Square on Saturday January 23rd from 10am to 2pm.

For more details, call Ann The Rojales Pantomime on 965 020 096. group are putting the finishing touches for their production of Humpty Dumpty next week which is being staged between Thursday January 14th and Saturday January 16th at the Escuela de Musica y Cultura in Los Montesinos. The Thursday and Friday performances are at 7.30pm, with Saturday

therefore made the legal seizure much easier.

“He’s a male, about 17 years old and just absolutely skeletal, a walking skeleton, but he has shoes on so they were obviously still riding him. He has problems with the joints of all four legs from being overworked,” Sue said.

The horse is now recovering well at the Rescue Centre in Rojales.

Big Fall Expected being staged as a matinee at 2.30pm.

Tickets now available from various outlets priced at seven euros for adults and five euro for children. For more details, contact Mandy: mandyohagan@hotmail.com All the money raised will go to local charities in the Los Montesinos and Rojales areas.

Local & News

Friday 8th January 2016

Come On Down!

The Torrevieja-based ladies Velvetones choir are looking for new members to help banish the winter blues! The group rehearse every Wednesday morning

from 10.00am at the Restaurante El Paraiso, Jardin del Mar, Torrevieja (behind Carrefour and McDonalds). To learn more and to build up your singing

skills as well as boosting your social life, visit their website, www.velvetonesharmonytor revieja.com or call Ena on 965 707 598.

11

Lost At Sea

The Campoverde Theatre Group are putting on an original pantomime next month with a retelling of the story featuring The Owl and The Pussycat who went to sea in beautiful pea green boat. It will be staged be staged at the Casa de Cultura in San Miguel de Salinas on Friday 5th, Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th of February. Tickets can be reserved at Bargain Books in San Miguel or send an email to ctgticketline@gmail.com.

Phone Graham on 629 258 697 or drop into the Blue Lagoon Community Centre (Mon and Weds 2 to 4 pm).

12

Pets

Friday 8th January 2016

Grooming At Home

Top Dogs At Campoverde

The Campoverde Canine Club was formed over 15 years ago and many dog owners (and their pets!) have benefitted from a UK Home Office approved instructor and are delighted about the way they are able to control their best furry friends. A recent seasonal fun day was held at the Polideportivo Sports ground at Pinar de Campoverde, with certificates and trophies being presented at the end of the latest

Obedience and Agility courses.

The Fred Moeken Memorial Trophy, which is awarded each year to the dog which has made the most progress was won by Charlotte Coe and her best friend Kiarra. New courses will start tomorrow on Saturday January 9th, and if you are interested in training your four legged friend. Please contact Roy on 966 762 265 or E-mail:campoverdecanineclub@ outlook .com

Many dog owners prefer to leave haircuts to professional groomers. It’s a job that really takes some know-how and experience to do properly – particularly for dogs with long, continuously growing hair.

But there’s no reason that you can’t become an expert at cutting your dog’s hair, though there may be the occasional comic result along the way! The great thing is that hair grows back, it might take one centimetre per month, but eventually that slightly uneven first attempt will start to look much better!

EQUIPMENT Clippers can be extremely cheap and you can certainly use any style of clippers, rather than having to buy specialised pet clippers. Some are able to be sharpened, which will extend the life of the clippers. When humans use

clippers they usually use plastic guards to clip at a longer length. These tend to snag in longer hair coats so are less useful in pets.

For around the paws and ears, a sharp pair of scissors is useful, as some areas will be fiddly to use with the clippers. Also make sure you have plenty of treats on hand and a good brush.

GETTING READY When you start out, having someone to hold your pet is ideal. Groomers will save their backs by always using an elevated table and may even have an apparatus to hold the dog in place or to clip the collar to. Clipping up on the kitchen table can be a great way to keep your dog from moving, but make sure you put a non-slip mat on the table first.

HOW OFTEN? If your dog has a

continuously growing coat, clipping every six to eight weeks is ideal. If you are able to brush your dog regularly and prevent mats from forming, grooming is not as necessary, but if your dog matts easily you may need to clip the coat short more often. In some ways a longer coat can provide an insulating layer to protect against heat and cold. For dogs that feel the heat however, clipping the belly so your dog can cool down by lying on the ground can help, while still providing protection from the sun.

CLIPPER CARE To keep your clippers clean and running smoothly it is worthwhile investing in some clipper spray to keep the blades clean and lubricated. The spray can also be used if the blades are getting hot while clipping your dog. Keep the

blades sharp; they are more likely to cut if they are blunt. You will need to have them professionally sharpened in the same place that would sharpen knives. After you use your clippers, brush them free from hair with a toothbrush and apply some blade oil or the clipper spray.

DOING IT PROPERLY • If your dog is dirty bathe your dog first, using a shampoo made for pets.

• Once the fur is dry, brush out any snags or mats.

• Use clippers in the direction of hair growth in long smooth strokes.

• Use scissors for touchup and for trimming around extremities: legs, ears and face. • Around the eyes, ensure there is no hair growing over your pet’s eyes that could interfere with vision. If your pet is wiggly, using blunt-tipped, curved scissors helps.

• After brushing give your pet a good brush, or if you haven’t already bathed your pet, give him a bath.

• To clip the paws, brush against the direction of hair growth to push the hair between the toes upwards and cut with the scissors.

You can use the clippers to do the underside of the feet.

TIPS FOR NERVOUS DOGS If your pet is a little nervous about the clippers, get some treats and get him accustomed to the noise of the clippers first. Keep any sessions short and give lots of praise, attention and treats for staying still, even for a short time.

Pets Corner: Can You take in a Homeless Dog or Cat?

BETH Beth is a 7 month old female who is really good with other dogs. Beth will be medium size when fully grown, and she and her sister are being fostered in a home with other cats and dogs and they get on well with both and love being cuddled and are very affectionate. For more on Beth please call PEPA on 650 304 746 or E-mail: p.e.p.a.animalcharity@gmail. com

HEIDI Heidi is an eight kilo Dachshund cross who is around two years old, very affectionate and loves lots of cuddles. She is something of an escape artist so a secure patio/garden would be needed for her! She is fully vaccinated, micro chipped and sterilised and just waiting for a new family to take her home. Please call S.A.T. on 966 710 047 or email info@satanimalrescue.com

LULU Lulu is a lovely sweet girl who was rescued by APAH with her sister and two brothers when they were very small.

Like so many cats and dogs, Lulu is now looking for a new forever home. If you want to adopt a lovely cat or kitten to give them a loving home, there are lots to choose from at APAH. To arrange to visit the Cattery please call 630 422 563.

OLIVER Oliver and his brothers were rescued by APAH when they were tiny puppies.

No one could have guessed they would grow up to be large Great Dane cross dogs! If you are looking to adopt a large dog, they don't come much bigger than the brothers but make sure you and your home can handle them first!

To arrange to meet them call 630 422 563.

OLLIE Ollie is an adorable six month old pup that was found abandoned in the campo along with his sister Mindy.

He is now looking for a forever home with a new family who will love and care for him. Ollie loves to play, and has a lovely disposition.

For more on this adorable boy please phone PEPA on 650 304 746 or email p.e.p.a.animalcharity@gmail. com

TWO PUPS These two stunning pups are three month old German Shepherds and are desperate to find their forever homes in a new adoptive family.

They are both lovely girls and are very friendly. They are both in excellent health and good with other dogs and children.

For more information you can call 645 469 253, or visit the website for more at www.petsinspain.com

Friday 8th January 2016

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14

Friday 8th January 2016

Tony Mayes - About Life

Second Rate Costa

Much has been written in The Courier before Christmas over the appalling lack of essential services on the Orihuela Costa. We featured on our front page the story of money being originally earmarked six years ago by the Valencian regional government to Orihuela Council for a centre housing emergency services, ambulance station, fire station and police station at La Zenia aimed at covering the coastal area. Years later, the government says the money is no longer there after the project ground to a halt after the constructor went bust and only the building’s shell stands as a monument and an indictment to Spain's atrocious administration. Why has this happened? Why is it that the Orihuela Costa gets the Cinderella treatment?

The answer is that we expats only have ourselves to blame, though a hundredplus went to the site last month to stage a protest.

How many of you reading this column have bothered to get yourselves onto the Padron so that you can vote in local elections? How many of you that were on the Padron bothered to pull yourselves out of your sundrenched patios, out of the bars or off the beaches to vote on polling day last year?

How many of you who did

bother to go to your local polling station, discovered that the place you were allocated to vote was three miles away and you then just didn't bother. That was another ploy to further reduce the number of ex-pat votes which could have influenced the eventual outcome. That outcome was the inevitable that people living in the coast are utterly dominated by the councillors in far-away Orihuela City. Their attitude is that if we, the people on the coast don't even bother to vote then why should they bother about us? I'm sure many of them look upon people living on the coast as the rich, owning second homes all around Europe, or the high earners of Madrid coming to the coast for their holidays, and there only to extract taxes to boost the facilities in the city. And they have been most successful at doing just that for years, ignoring the fact that there are more people living along the coast than in the city. All manner of facilities, like wellmaintained parks, theatres, and other public amenities, there to be enjoyed in the city, are absent on the coast.

And far more importantly, we are denied ambulance cover at night, having to wait until a fire engine arrives from Torrevieja and we can't walk into a local police station

after the Playa Flamenca Town Hall closes for the day.

It's typical of Brits, just sleepwalking into a problem and then moaning like hell when things go wrong. Perhaps that's Spaniards are fearing some kind of “foreign” takeover on the Orihuela Costa, but fear in denying essential services will, I believe, only galvanise “foreigners” into action. I understand that moves are afoot to bring pressure through consulates and MEPs to raise the issue in the European Parliament and if this happens it will make Orihuela Council a laughing stock.

Let's hope that basic common sense takes over and Orihuela Council realises it cannot go on depriving over 30 thousand residents of basic life-saving services.

Word has only to get around the countries where future "rich" incomers come from that Spain does not provide basic essential services and that as a consequence lives are at risk and the golden egg of home sales will be lost.

A few weeks ago I gave you a warning to those of you thinking of buying a park home in the UK to be very careful and not to opt to have it on an unprotected site. I told of the anguish we were going through having been stupid enough to have fallen

into the trap of owning a luxury park home on a "holiday" park where the land owner can virtually do as he wishes.

Because the land owner wants to lay a road right under our pitch we have to move and have had to pay for everything - the removal of almost 20,000 pounds worth of decking and all the surrounding facilities, like paths, tool boxes, storage boxes and garden items. It has cost us thousands. He has now had huge oak trees at the back of our lodge removed and the entire area is a sea of mud - if we went there in the past two months we couldn't have stayed there. But we have paid our pitch fee for the entire year no compensation has been forthcoming. The pictures here speak volumes. Once again, take a tip from us, don't fall into a trap on these unprotected sites and stay well away.

One of the saddest stories from the UK over the Christmas period (apart from the misery of all the floods) was to hear that more and more teenage girls are binge drinking and ending up in hospital.

It's a sad indictment that Brits are so stupid as to ruin their lives through drink.

Hospital visits for alcohol poisoning have doubled in the past six years, with the high-

est increase among young girls aged between 15 and 19. It's a common sight to see girls covered in their own vomit, lying in gutters or being ever more abusive with everyone in sight.

Accident and Emergency departments become more like warzones especially at the weekend. Emergency admissions due to the effects of alcohol, such as liver disease, have also risen by more than 50% in nine years to 250,000 a year in England.

Rates were highest in deprived areas and in the north, and among men aged 45-64, the Nuffield Trust revealed. They said their figures were an underestimate of the impact of drinking because they did not include alcohol-fuelled falls and fights, just illnesses such as alcohol poisoning and liver disease. With problems like these it's no wonder that appeals went out to people to try to avoid calling 999 for more minor problems because of fears that A&E departments simply could not cope.

I find it baffling why, despite all the warnings, Brits are stupid enough to drink too much, or take drugs. I can see a time coming when hospitals will say that they will not spend reducing resources on those who follow a lifestyle which damages their bodies, whether it be alcohol, drugs, tobacco, or overeating and becoming obese. Of course people say that the problem is caused by cheap booze, but I cannot accept this argument - it's far cheaper in Spain but we don't see anything like the problem among the young people here. Is it that getting paralytic does not have the glamour here and thus less peer pressure than in the UK among teenagers?

As a young reporter one of the most enjoyable engagements I had to cover was the annual beauty competition, and being a man it's one of the few TV talent shows that still appeals! I only got to cover the local town event -

nothing on the scale of Miss Universe and you would have thought that with all the money and expertise lavished on the event they would have presenters who would at least announce the right winner. It must have been devastating for Miss Columbia, having been announced the winner, to be told seconds later that the twits had made a cockup and she was actually runner up and that she had to hand the crown to Miss Philippines.

It's just as much a cock up as that ref who mistook a ball landing on a player's kisser as a handball and awarded a penalty which was the match decider. How can anyone take football seriously when that sort of thing happens? It could be easily avoided by a quick reference to action replay before the ref awards a penalty. Back to that Miss Universe competition which happened in Las Vegas.

While the event was taking place, a young woman drove her car straight into a crowd of pedestrians, killing or injuring many of them. It was reported to be a deliberate act and not terror related and the woman faces trial. We can only suppose it was yet another very sad person driven to despair. We're hearing so many cases of people not just content to end their own lives but wanting to take other lives along with them. What is wrong with society? One answer to this could be the news that the gap between the amount of wealth owned by the UK's richest and poorest households has grown by a third to £4.9 trillion since 2006.

Between 2012 and 2014, the richest 10 per cent in Britain held assets - a mix of property, cash and pension funds worth just under £5Trillion.

The poorest 10 percent owned just £5.7 million. The gap is even greater in the US, and has the potential to cause dreadful social unrest over the years ahead.

Perhaps that's why the woman chose Las Vegas the magnet for people with too much money - to commit her cruel act.

Friday 8th January 2016

2

Friday 8th January 2016

WOW - Whatson´s Choice I am so very, VERY excited this week, and for two very good reasons. Not only have we got even more pages in our bumper pull-out, we´ve also got a new name. WOW. That’s not just me being excited, that is the name, WOW, it stands for What´s on Where you see. We will be bringing you lots of reviews on things to do when you go out, as well as when you stay in, so you can decide whether to watch the box or venture outside and visit one of the many fascinating places we will be highlighting in our future editions.

The second reason I am excited is below, at the bottom of the page. Go on, have a look. Did you see? I am doubly excited because this week I am sharing space on my page with one

of my own heroes, one I am named after, although we spell our names differently.

I am talking about Watson of course, companion, associate and friend of Sherlock Holmes. Did you watch Sherlock over New Year? I have to admit I did get a little confused at times, but then I also got confused when Moriarty popped up in a film I was watching over Christmas,

Spectre with James Bond.

That was a great film by the way, the opening sequence was amazing, but I´ll not say anything more so as not to spoil it. You should

watch it though, if you haven´t already.

Star Wars has been breaking all records over the Christmas period too and when records are broken, there are always those who lose out. Spectre is now one of those victims.

Just 16 days after it was released, Star Wars: The Force Awakens became the UK's biggest film of 2015, with takings of £94.06m beating Spectre's £93.5m.

Talking of films we will also bring you our pick each week of the best on DVD and in the cinemas, all to help you plan the best entertainment package for yourself, whether you do want to stay in or go out.

Restaurants, recipes and other food news too, you will find it all in your WOW guide.

Countryfile Tops the Weekend Charts Countryfile topped the ratings for BBC One on Sunday, just beating the new adaptation of War and Peace. The drama starring Lily James and James Norton thrilled an average overnight audience of 6.30 million (25.0%) at 9pm on Sunday.

Countryfile appealed to 6.88m (30.6%) at 6.30pm, followed by Still Open All Hours with 6.22m (26.0%) at

7.30pm and Antiques Roadshow with 5.19m (20.4%) at 8pm. Over on ITV, new Game of Thronesstyle series Beowulf: Return to the Badlands attracted 2.32m (9.9%) at 7pm (279,000/1.1% on +1), while Endeavour returned with 4.44m (16.6%) at 8pm (386k/1.8%). Channel 4's Walking the Himalayas amazed 1.72m (6.7%) at 8pm (242k/1.0%), followed

by Deutschland 83 with 1.24m (4.9%) at 9pm (259k/1.5%).

On Saturday, ITV's Ninja Warrior UK returned for its second series with 3.77m (18.0%) at 7pm (246k/1.2%).

Its second episode on Sunday dipped to 2.91m (13.4%) at 6pm (242k/1.1%).

Take Me Out was also back with 3.67m (17.3%) at 8pm on Saturday (363k/1.7%).

The Fall - The End

Filming has begun on the third and final chapter of the battle between Gibson and Spector in Allan Cubitt’s critically acclaimed, psychological thriller The Fall.

Picking up at the moment where the heart-stopping series finale left off in series two, Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan are joined by stellar new cast including Krister Henriksson, Aidan McArdle, Ruth Bradley, Aisling Bea and Richard Coyle as the battle between Detective Superintendent Gibson and Paul Spector reaches its terrifying conclusion in the intense thriller.

At the climax of the last series, audiences were left reeling as Spector, critically injured in a devastating ambush, lay bleeding in the arms of Gibson. Moments before, the intense and single-minded investigator thought she had her man; now, shocked and desperate, she’s losing him. Bringing a killer to book is going to take much more now than simply catching him. In the emotionally charged aftermath of the shooting, Gibson’s personal journey to exact justice for the victims’ families must begin with the blood-soaked fight to keep Spector alive. As The Fall reaches its inexorable conclusion, it’s clear that the rules of this deadly game of cat and mouse are set to shift once again.

Allan Cubitt says: "I've been on a very exciting journey over the last five years with Stella Gibson and Paul Spector - the central characters of The Fall - and I'm thrilled to have recently started filming the third instalment of their macabre, obsessive dance of death. Gillian and Jamie have lived and breathed those characters during that time and I've been incredibly well-served as both writer and director by their stellar performances."

TRELI ON THE TELLY WITH ALEX TRELINSKI

The New Year´s Day outing for Sherlock on BBC 1 really did set the standard for drama for the rest of 2016 in a playful and fun episode seeing the cast transported back to Victorian London for the latest case, but there was an enjoyable twist in the tale. Halfway through the story we saw a bloated Mycroft start talking about modern stuff, and I thought to myself what´s going on? Then we flashed back to the present and realised it was a Sherlock drug-fuelled dream and all related to the re-appearance of Moriarty at the end of the last series. It was so good to get such a spoiler-free surprise, and we were certainly left craving for more at the end of it all, and none the wiser as to whether Moriarty was really dead or alive. It was all a wonderfully executed tease ahead of season four which we'll to wait until 2017 to see, but with such great quality in all aspects of this drama, it will be worth hanging on.

Back in 1972, the BBC

A DRAMATIC NEW YEAR

did a rather turgid (for me anyway) adaptation of the Tolstoy epic War and Peace, which had a promising Welsh actor called Anthony Hopkins as one of the stars. It was a 20 episode long blockbuster hidden on BBC 2, but we now have a quick-fire six part Sunday night prime time series for BBC 1 put together by the excellent TV adaptation guru, Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice anybody?). The location settings, designs, and costumes are terrific

(all helped by American money) and stacks of familiar faces like Lily James, Gillian Anderson, Jim Broadbent, James Norton, and Adrian Edmondson plus from the States, the likes of Paul Dano (perhaps the star as the wet idealist Pierre) and Greta Scacchi, all delivering in a high-grade treat well put together by movie and TV director, Tom Harper. Unmissable.

I was left ever so disappointed by ITV's autumn return to Sunday teatime

drama with Jekyll & Hyde, which after a promising start, just got short on plot and action, and left me not being bothered to watch any more of it. But ITV have not given up the ghost and have slotted in a show that they passionately believe in, so much so that the main cast have all been tied into five year contracts.

We are talking of Beowulf:Return To The Shieldlands, with a twelve part run costing around 17 million quid, and said to

be ITV's most expensiveever drama project. It's all based on the old poem of a warrior who killed demons and monsters, and looks promising based on the first episode, which inevitably is taken up with setting up characters and plots.

That makes it hard to make any kind of definitive judgement especially after Jekyll & Hyde went down the pan, but Kieran Bew looks like a fine Beowulf and a good action/adventure fantasy

show is always welcome. I wish it well in helping fill the void left by the BBC's Last Kingdom.

Sunday really has become THE night for drama with ITV running a new series of Morse prequel Endeavour straight after Beowulf, and Channel Four kicked off their screening of Deutschland 83, a terrific Cold War thriller. This German production tells the tale of a young East German officer who becomes a spy and goes over the Berlin Wall 33 years ago to try to get details of American plans in Europe. If you love The Americans over on ITV Encore, you'll be gripped by this as well, as 2016 has started with a real bang for quality drama.

Waiting in the wings on BBC 2 we have the return of The Fall (Gillian Anderson again), Peaky Blinders and Line of Duty, whilst soon in the US department, Channel Five will bring us the return of The X Files (Gillian Anderson anybody?). Not bad, eh?

Friday 8th January 2016

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Mr Selfridge Returns This Week Friday ITV We open in 1928, nine years after season three, we find Harry Selfridge at the pinnacle of his power and public celebrity – a retail giant at the heart of the roaring twenties. A manabout-town in London and often gambling glamorously abroad, rumours of Harry’s latest fling light up the social circuit at Victor Colleano’s new nightspot, which is bigger and more decadent than ever.

This is a time of rapid change and progress. A time where nothing and nobody wants to stand still and contemplate. Fashions and musical tastes are evolving. It is a new and modern world with the crackle of radio and exciting new technologies. The mood of London is distinctly ‘modern’.

At home, Rosalie now has a daughter, Tatiana, the apple of Harry’s eye.

Harry’s mother Lois is as stoic and supportive as ever. The lively Violette now lives in Paris.

In store, Harry is set to unveil a new monument at the front of the store, the ‘Queen of Time’, an ornate and specially commissioned clock. New Head of Display Freddy Lyons is arranging the big unveiling, and Harry is optimistic about the positive, lasting legacy it repre-

sents.

Mr Grove celebrates his birthday with best friend and colleague Mr Crabb, whilst Miss Mardle’s mysterious absence has clearly left a big hole in Grove’s life. We meet Grove’s eldest daughter, Meryl, who is now nineteen. Vivacious and spirited, Meryl desperately wants to work at Selfridge’s – but Grove isn’t so sure it’s a good idea.

Store favourite Kitty Edwards is keen to show off her and Frank’s luxurious new abode – they’ve gone up in the world, again! She invites sister Connie and George for dinner. We discover that they are now married and divulge some news that gives Kitty some serious food for thought.

Harry’s son and heir to the Selfridge Empire, Gordon, is now happily married to Grace – with two

young sons. We sense that a cool distance between father and son who now runs a slew of provincial department stores owned

by Selfridge’s outside of London. Gordon is irked when Harry stands him up for a routine meeting, but it’s for a very good reason… because Harry unexpectedly receives a very special visitor - Mae. She’s back!

But Mae has returned to London hurt and humiliated.

She reveals that her husband has left her for a younger woman. Her marriage is over. Ever loyal, Harry resolves to help Mae like she helped him when he first came to London. But does she really want to start afresh in London?

Later, at Colleano’s, Harry and Mae are among the privileged crowd that gathers to watch the spectacle: an exhibition-boxing

What To Buy And Why

match between an American and a British champion. Harry meets the man Victor arranged it all with, Jimmy Dillon. A sharp and confident entrepreneur, Jimmy takes a fancy to Mae but gets off on the wrong foot with a slightly defensive Harry. Meanwhile, Harry’s head is turned by the presence of stunning stage sirens the Dolly sisters, Jenny and Rosie – who clearly have their sights set on Harry.

On the day of the unveiling of the ‘Queen of Time’, Harry is unnerved to discover that powerful newspaper magnate Lord Wynnstay might be sitting on some uncomfortable stories about his family - which spells trouble ahead. Outside Selfridge’s, a band plays and the traffic stops for the grand unveiling, but a shocking incident occurs.

Friday BBC Two Cherry Healey enlists the help of top industry experts to get the inside track on the latest products. From cosmetics to clothing, technology to kitchen equipment, Cherry and her team will help save you money by showing you how to shop like a professional.

At the iconic Olympic Park in East London, Cherry enlists the help of Team GB triathlete Lucy Hall and other elite athletes to help decide whether splashing out on an activity tracker is the best way to hit those New Year fitness targets – or can free-to-buy phone apps do exactly the same job?

She also road tests the latest health craze - bullet blenders. Cherry sets up a juice bar in the World famous Copper Box arena and ropes in the London Lions professional basketball team to decide if any of the cheap blenders priced under £50 can blend a drink as smooth as the pricey bestselling options.

Finally, the team conduct the ultimate test by dropping mobile phones from space to find out how well phone cases protect the screen of your phone.

Royal Wives At War

Friday BBC Two It is nearly 80 years since the Abdication Crisis, and this BBC drama documentary, inspired by real events and based on letters, memoirs, biographies and interviews, examines the friction that characterised the relationship between two women: Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and American socialite Wallis Simpson.

After Edward VIII’s abdication in 1936, public confidence in the monarchy had been severely eroded. A popular and charismatic king was suddenly gone, having chosen his twice-divorced mistress over his Crown and country, and instead, the responsibilities of monarchy now rested on the nervous shoulders of his younger brother, King George VI, a man very different from his confident and gregarious brother. This would have

been challenging at any time, but with Hitler driving Europe to the brink of war, the pressure would test the new King to the very limits of physical endurance.

Royal Wives At War returns to the some of the original words and opinions of the two women at the heart of that battle and unravels the story of a frosty relationship between the Queen Mother and Wallis that lasted for decades.

Featuring renowned

actresses Gina McKee (In The Loop, The Borgias) as Wallis Simpson and Emma Davies (Emmerdale, Mosley) as Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, in dramatic reconstructions, and comment from biographers and historians, including Hugo Vickers, Anne Sebba, John Julius Norwich, Lady Colin Campbell, Andrew Morton and Kate Auspitz, this is the story of two formidable women and their royal husbands.

Match of the Day - FA Cup Live

Friday BBC One Football fans are in for a treat on Friday as Gary Lineker introduces live coverage from one of the most notable ties of the FA Cup third round, as League Two Exeter battle it out with Liverpool for a place in the fourth round.

Jurgen Klopp’s men will be looking to improve on last

season’s campaign where they were beaten in the sixth round by Blackburn Rovers, whilst Exeter will be hoping the home crowd can carry them to a giantkilling and a place in the last 16.

The tenstion is bound to make for an exciting game as the two teams battle it out on the pitch, with the studio experts on hand throughout.

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Friday 8th January 1989 07:00 Breakfast 10:15 Rip Off Holiday 11:00 Homes Under the Hammer 12:00 Wanted Down Under 12:45 Close Calls: On Camera 13:15 Bargain Hunt 14:00 BBC News and Weather 14:45 Father Brown 15:30 For What It’s Worth 16:15 Escape to the Country 16:45 James Martin: Home Comforts 17:30 Antiques Road Trip 18:15 Pointless 19:00 BBC News and Weather 20:00 The One Show 20:30 Match of the Day Live Exeter City v Liverpool (Kick-off 20:55pm) Gary Lineker presents coverage of the third-round contest at St James Park, as the League Two side host the seven-time winners of the competition. The sides last met in the 2011/12 campaign, when the Reds recorded a 3-1 win here in the second round of the League Cup en route to lifting the trophy

07:00 Rip Off Holiday 07:45 Homes Under the Hammer 08:45 Close Calls: On Camera 09:15 MasterChef: The Professionals 10:15 Victoria Derbyshire 12:00 News 13:00 The Daily Politics 14:00 Darts: 2016 World Lakeside Championships 17:15 Coast 19:00 It Flog 18:15 Eggheads 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys

Morning Good 07:00 Britain 09:30 Lorraine 10:25 Jeremy Kyle 11:30 This Morning 13:30 Loose Women 14:30 News 15:00 Judge Rinder 16:00 1000 Heartbeats 17:00 Tipping Point 18:00 The Chase 19:00 News

20:00 Celebrity Antiques Road Trip Legendary DJs and Walker Johnnie ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris are the celebrity guests on the hunt for antique treasure

20:30 Coronation Street Carla encourages Roy not to give up

20:00 Emmerdale Victoria tries to get Adam to see sense

21:00 The Martin Lewis Money Show Martin Lewis and Saira Khan offer more money-saving tips, includJohn 21:00 Mastermind Humphrys invites four more ing an antidote to the contenders to answer ques- Christmas season overspend tions in the black chair 21:30 Coronation Street 21:30 What to Buy and Kevin has a suggestion for Why The show asks Anna whether compact cameras should be ditched in favour 22:00 Mr Selfridge It’s of smart phones, and inves1928 and nine years on, tigates whether travelling retail magnate Harry is cosmetics buy abroad to enjoying his time at the could save us money heart of the Roaring

22:00 Royal Wives at War A revealing documentary looking at the abdication cri23:00 BBC News and sis of 1936 through the eyes The of the two women at its very 23:35 Weather Graham Norton Show heart 00:25 Would I Lie to You? 23:00 QI 23:30 Newsnight 00:55 Film - You Again (U) 00:05 Darts 02:55 Hugh’s 02:35 Weather for the War on Waste 03:55 Week Ahead 02:40 BBC Tomorrow’s Food 04:55 This is BBC Two News

Twenties. In store, while about to unveil a new monument he receives a very special visitor - though a later accident places his role at the helm in jeopardy 23:00 News 23:40 Birds of a Feather 00:10 Film - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (PG) 02:10 Jackpot247 04:00 Murder, She Wrote 04:50 ITV Nightscreen

07:00 Countdown 07:45 King of Queens 09:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:00 Frasier 11:30 Undercover Boss USA 12:30 Four in a Bed 13:00 News 13:05 Four in a Bed 15:10 Deal or No Deal 16:10 Countdown 17:00 A Place in the Sun: Winter Sun 18:00 Come Dine with Me 19:00 The Simpsons 19:30 Hollyoaks 20:00 News 21:00 Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast The boys are joined by proper Hollywood royalty as Goldie Hawn drops by to cook her favourite Italian comfort food dish - fettuccine Alfredo - for the entire café 22:00 Amy Asif Kapadia’s poignant and critically acclaimed documentary portrait of singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, the English soul, jazz and R ‘n’ B phenomenon who died tragically before her time.

Kapadia traces her volatile life and artistic success over the 13 years preceding her death 00:35 Rude Tube 02:35 Film - Vampires Suck (12) 04:00 Gadget Man 04:25 You Deserve This House 05:25 Kirstie’s Handmade Treasures 05:35 Deal or No Deal

07:00 Milkshake 10:15 The Wright Stuff 12:10 Cowboy Builders 13:10 News 13:15 Celebrity Big Brother 14:15 Fail Army 14:45 Neighbours 15:15 NCIS 16:15 Film - Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt 18:00 News 18:30 Neighbours 19:00 Can’t Pay? We’ll Take it Away 20:00 Pussies Galore: Love Me, Love My Cats Documentary about fanatical cat lovers, including a woman in California who lives with over 1,000 adopted local strays 21:00 Puppies Make You Laugh Out Loud Clip show featuring sporty pups, scaredy pups, malfunctioning pups, ninja pups and even talking pups 22:00 Celebrity Big Brother - Live Eviction Join Emma Willis as a celebrity housemate fails to make the cut and is evicted from CBB’s vaudeville themed house 23:00 Lip Sync Battle UK 23:30 Celebrity Big Brother 00:05 CBB’s Bit on the Side 01:00 Super Casino 04:10 Celebrity Big Brother 05:25 Fail Army 05:45 House Doctor

08:00 Peter Hurst, 11:00 Dennis Christian, 13:00 Alex Trelinski, 16:00 Andy James, 18:00 Suzy G

DON´T MISS 07:00 The Hot Desk 07:10 The Cube 08:00 Dinner Date 09:05 Emmerdale 10:05 You’ve Been Framed 10:35 Catchphrase 11:20 Dinner Date 12:20 Royal Pains 13:10 Emmerdale 14:15 The Hot Desk 14:30 Film The Lake House (PG) 16:35 Jeremy Kyle 18:50 Take Me Out 20:00 You’ve Been Framed and Famous 21:00 Two and a Half Men 22:00 Film - Shaun of the Dead (15) 00:05 Take Me Out

07:00 Man About the House 07:25 Heartbeat 08:25 Where the Heart is 09:25 The Darling Buds of May 10:30 Judge Judy 11:50 Sherlock Holmes 13:00 Murder, She Wrote 14:00 Heartbeat 15:05 Wild at Heart 16:05 Where the Heart is 17:10 Man About the House 17:40 Rising Damp 18:15 On the Buses 18:50 Heartbeat 19:50 Murder, She Wrote 20:55 Sherlock Holmes 22:00 Long Lost Family 23:00 Law and Order: UK 00:00 Blue Murder 01:40 Film - The Pianist (15)

07:00 Duck Dynasty 07:45 Minder 08:45 The Professionals 09:50 Magnum, PI 10:50 Alias Smith and Jones 11:55 Duck Dynasty 12:55 Pawn Stars 13:50 Minder 14:55 The Professionals 15:55 Magnum, PI 16:55 Alias Smith and Jones 18:00 Minder 19:00 The Professionals 20:00 Pawn Stars 21:00 Counting Cars 22:00 Film - High Plains Drifter (18) 00:10 Film The Krays (18)

Shaun of the Dead

SOAPS

leave him if he doesn’t.

Will Rakesh seize the moment and finally tell his son the truth?

Carla, telling her how he and Cathy have broken up and it’s all his fault. Carla is adamant that Roy shouldn’t give up and must try harder to win her round.

garage wall, Kevin phones the council. Later, Tim and Sally lead Sophie and Kevin to the ginnel and reveal the blank wall where Maddie’s mural used to be. Kevin blames himself, realising the council must have cleaned it off. Sally vows to kick up a fuss. Sophie also clocks the chemistry between Kevin and Anna.

In Emmerdale Victoria is frustrated by Adam’s actions. Can she get through to him that the ramifications could be serious? Moira is also fraught with worry about Adam.

At the same time, Priya urges Rakesh to tell Kirin before it gets any worse and reiterates her threat to

Meanwhile, Lisa is teaching Belle how to drive.

Later, Zak is left thoughtful over the idea that he should pay for Belle to have driving lessons as a way of showing her how much he cares.

In Coronation Street, Roy unburdens himself to

Cathy gathers up Alan and Nessa’s love letters at home, drops them in the bin and sets fire to them.

Roy takes Carla’s words on board and sets off for Cathy’s house, with Nessa in pursuit. A fire has taken hold of the house and Cathy is struggling to breathe, but will Roy and Nessa arrive on time?

Meanwhile, having discovered some graffiti on the

ITV2 22:00 Shaun (Simon Pegg) is a 30-something loser with a dull, easy existence. When he's not working at the electronics store, he lives with his slovenly best friend, Ed (Nick Frost), in a small flat on the outskirts of London. The only unpredictable element in his life is his girlfriend, Liz (Kate Ashfield), who wishes des-

Finally, Nick insists that he, Carla and Robert should sit down to discuss wedding menus, while Tyrone confides in Kevin that they’ve got a date for Hope’s operation but he has fallen behind on his loan repayments.

perately for Shaun to grow up and be a man. When the town is inexplicably overrun with zombies, Shaun must rise to the occasion and protect both Liz and his mother (Penelope Wilton).

In the second episode, Cathy lies semi-conscious in her smoke-filled living room, crying out for help.

As Roy and Nessa let themselves in, they’re engulfed in smoke. Roy orders Nessa to phone the fire brigade as he rescues Cathy from her burning house. Thanking him for saving her life, Cathy collapses in Roy’s arms. Will Roy’s heroics bring the couple back together?

As Cathy is loaded into the ambulance, she bitterly explains to Nessa that she started the fire while burning the offending love letters. Nessa arrives in the pub in a state and tells

Dozens die as plane crashes on motorway A Boeing 737 airplane has crashed onto the M1 motorway near East Midlands airport, killing 46 people. Eighty have survived, of whom ten are seriously injured.

The British Midland flight 092 was forced to crash land after both engines of the brand new aircraft failed.

It slammed into the motorway embankment at 2026 GMT, breaking into three pieces.

Motorists on the M1 had a lucky escape as there were no vehicles in the immediate vicinity at the moment of impact.

The flight to Belfast was forced to divert to East Midlands airport 10 minutes after leaving Heathrow, when one of the plane's two engines caught fire.

As the aircraft began its descent the remaining engine failed too.

Experts said later the chance of suffering such a double engine failure was a hundred million to one.

The plane passed very low over the village of Kegworth, Leicestershire, crashing just a few hundred metres from the safety of the runway, where emergency services were waiting.

The most severely injured were given medical attention immediately, while others were lifted from the twisted fuselage and taken to local hospitals.

Ken about the fire at Cathy’s house. Taking Nessa back to Number 1, Ken suggests they go their separate ways. Will Nessa be able to talk Ken round, or is their relationship over?

In the café, Kevin suggests to Anna that they should bin the singles night and go out with each other. How will Anna respond?

Saturday 9th January

6 07:00 Breakfast 11:00 Saturday Kitchen 12:30 James Martin: Home Comforts 13:00 News 13:10 Football Focus 14:00 Athletics: Great Edinburgh Cross Country 15:30 Darts: 2016 Lakeside World Championships 17:30 Final Score 18:20 Now You See It 18:50 News 19:10 Celebrity Mastermind 19:40 Pointless

07:10 Race to Super Bowl 50 08:00 Film - Jubal (PG) The Film 09:40 Being of Importance Earnest (U) 11:10 Animal Park 12:10 The Natural World 13:00 James Martin: Home Comforts 14:30 Homes Under the Hammer 15:15 Money for Nothing 16:00 Escape to the Country 16:45 For What It’s Worth 17:30 Darts: 2016 World Lakeside Championships 19:00 Flog It 19:30 World’s Sneakiest 20:30 The Voice UK The Animals series returns with more singing action behind the 20:30 Victorian Bakers famous turning chairs. Four bakers experience Superstar coaches william what their profession was and Ricky Wilson return, like during the Victorian era and the series welcomes Army Dad’s pop icon Boy George and 21:30 to decides Mainwaring multi-platinum-selling recruit women into the plasinger Paloma Faith to the toon spinning chair panel 22:00 Live at the Apollo 22:05 Casualty Dixie steps Comics Francesca up as the hero but is left Martinez and Nish Kumar feeling bittersweet 22:45 Insert Name Here 22:55 The National Lottery Comedy panel show about Live 23:05 News 23:25 people with just one thing in Match of the Day: FA Cup common - they all have the Highlights 01:00 Film - The same name Peacemaker (15) 02:55 23:15 00:00 XL QI Film Halloween: Dragons’ Den 01:00 Darts Resurrection (15) 04:20 01:50 Film - Genghis Khan Weather for the Week (PG) 03:55 Film - Captain Ahead 04:25 News Apache (15)

07:00 Fort Boyard Ultimate Challenge 07:25 Pat and Stan 07:35 Dino Dan 08:00 Share a Story 08:05 Sooty 08:15 Super 4 08:30 Scrambled 08:35 Mr Bean 08:55 Horrid Henry 09:10 Nerds and Monsters 09:30 Thunderbirds are Go 10:05 Tom and Jerry 10:25 News 10:30 Murder, She Wrote 11:25 Jeremy Kyle USA 12:20 Jeremy Kyle 13:20 News 13:25 Jeremy Kyle 14:30 Judge Rinder 15:30 The Chase 16:30 Doc Martin 17:30 Martin Lewis Money Show 18:00 Ninja Warrior UK 19:00 News 19:30 You’ve Been Framed

07:15 King of Queens 08:30 Ironman France 09:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:00 The Morning Line 11:00 Film Von Ryan’s Express (PG) 13:20 The World’s Most Famous Train 14:25 Racing: Kempton Park and Wincanton 17:00 Come Dine with Me 19:05 News 19:35 Location, Location, Location

20:30 Britain’s Wildest Weather 2015 Documentary featuring footage of unusual weather conditions in the past year 20:00 Ninja Warrior UK shot by members of the TV’s toughest obstacle public course 22:00 Film - The Hunger 21:00 Take Me Out Paddy Games: Catching Fire McGuinness lines up (12) Katniss Everdeen and another selection of poten- Peeta Mellark become tartial sweethearts for his 30 gets of the Capitol after single women their victory in the 74th Hunger Games sparks a 22:15 The Jonathan Ross rebellion in the Districts of Show Jonathan welcomes Steve Carell and Gordon Panem Ramsay 23:20 News 23:35 Film Sex and the City 2 (15) 02:15 Jackpot247 04:00 Murder, She Wrote 04:50 ITV Nightscreen

00:50 Film - The Day the Earth Stood Still (12) 02:45 Hollyoaks Omnibus 04:50 Phil Spencer: Secret Agent 05:45 Kirstie’s Handmade Treasures

07:00 Milkshake 09:55 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 10:30 The Saturday Show 12:30 Can’t Pay? We’ll Take it Away 14:25 Columbo: How to Dial a Murder 16:00 Film - Columbo: Make Me a Perfect Murder 18:00 Cats Make You Laugh Out Loud 19:00 News 19:05 World War II in Colour 20:05 World War II Battlefield Recovery Following the work of a team dedicated to saving the history of WWII’s Eastern Front before it is lost forever 21:00 Chasing Monsters: Monster Shark Infection Cyril Chauquet seeks out colossal and dangerous underwater creatures in the most remote corners of the planet 22:00 Celebrity Big Brother Highlights of the latest events from inside CBB house 23:00 Jason Manford Live 00:15 Lip Sync Battle UK 00:45 Tattoo Disasters 01:10 Super Casino 04:10 Celebrity Big Brother

14:15 You’ve Been Framed 14:40 Film - The Lake House (PG) 16:45 Film Nanny McPhee (U) 18:45 Film - Jurassic Park (PG) 21:10 Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands 22:15 Take Me Out: The Gossip 23:20 Film - The Fast and the Furious (15) ITV3 13:55 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 15:00 A Touch of Frost 17:00 Columbo 19:00 Lewis 21:00 Foyle’s War 23:00 Agatha Christie’s Marple 00:55 Marchlands ITV4 13:05 Film - Cheyenne Autumn (U) 16:10 Film Rio Bravo (U) 19:00 Storage Wars Texas 19:30 Storage Wars Texas 21:00 Storage Wars 22:00 Film Pale Rider (15)

09:00 Trev Massey, 12:00 Neil Couzins, 15:00 Keith Nicol

Sunday 10th January 07:00 Breakfast 08:25 Match of the Day: FA Cup Highlights 10:00 The Andrew Marr Show 11:00 The Big Questions 12:00 Sunday Politics 13:15 Bargain Hunt 14:00 News 14:15 Songs of Praise 14:50 For What It’s Worth 15:35 Great Barrier Reef with David Attenborough 16:35 Match of the Day Live: Tottenham Hotspur v Leicester City 19:05 News 19:30 Countryfile 20:30 Still Open All Hours Granville plans a double date with Madge and Mavis 21:00 Antiques Roadshow Fiona hears the story of a man who went in search of his biological father after finding letters to his mother from an American soldier 22:00 War and Peace Drama set in Russia in the early 19th century, based on Tolstoy’s novel 23:00 News 23:30 Match of the Day 00:25 Film - Signs (12) 02:05 Masters Snooker Extra 04:05 Weather for the Week Ahead 04:10 News

07:30 Film - City Beneath the Sea (U) 09:00 Monty Don’s Italian Gardens 10:00 Countryfile 11:00 Saturday Kitchen Best Bites 12:30 James Martin: Home Comforts 13:15 Home Martin: James Comforts 14:00 Masters Snooker: 2016 Masters Tournament 18:00 Ski Sunday Darts:2016 18:45 World Lakeside Colin Championships Murray is joined by Bobby George for live coverage of the 39th BDO World Darts Professional Championships in Frimley Green Den Dragons’ 21:00 Series in which budding entrepreneurs pitch business ideas to multimillionaires

07:00 Fort Boyard Ultimate Challenge 07:25 Pat and Stan 07:35 Dino Dan 08:00 Share a Story 08:05 Sooty 08:15 Super 4 08:30 Scrambled 08:35 Mr Bean 08:55 Horrid Henry 09:10 Nerds and Monsters 09:30 Bear Grylls’ Survival School 10:05 The Tom and Jerry Show 10:25 News 10:30 Murder, She Wrote 11:25 Jeremy Kyle 13:35 News 13:50 Jeremy Kyle 14:50 Ninja Warrior UK 15:55 Film - Thunderball (PG) 18:30 News 19:00 Unbelievable Moments Caught on Camera 20:00 Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands Drama series set in Britain’s mythic past and based on the epic poem

21:00 Endeavour The 22:00 My Mediterranean shock death of an artist in a with Adrian Chiles Adrian house fire leaves Oxford gets in touch with his city police baffled Catholic roots in Rome 23:00 News 23:15 Joanna 23:00 Stephen Fry: A Life Lumley’s Trans-Siberian on Screen 00:00 Masters Snooker Highlights 00:50 Adventure 00:15 Rugby 01:15 Film - Disconnect (15) Highlights 02:40 Countryfile 03:35 Jackpot247 04:00 Jeremy Holby City 04:35 This is Kyle USA 04:40 ITV Nightscreen BBC Two

07:15 How I Met Your Mother 07:40 King of Queens 08:30 Everybody Loves Raymond 09:30 Frasier 10:30 Sunday Brunch 13:30 George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces 14:30 Location, Location, Location 15:35 The Simpsons 17:00 Film - 17 Again (12) 19:00 News 19:20 Film - Ice Age: Continental Drift (U) Manny, Diego, and Sid embark upon another adventure after their continent is set adrift 21:00 Walking the Himalayas Levison Wood continues his trek 1700 miles along the length of the Himalayas 22:00 Deutschland 83 Set in 1983, an interesting look back to the height of the cold war, taking place mostly in West Germany, but from an East German perspective. In German 23:00 The 80s: Ten Years That Changed Britain 00:30 Film - Footloose (15) 02:25 Superscrimpers: Waste Not, Want Not

07:00 Milkshake 10:55 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 11:30 Fail Army 11:55 Can’t Pay? We’ll Take it Away 13:50 Film Over Her Dead Body (12) 15:35 Film - The First Wives Club (PG) 17:35 Film - Herbie: Fully Loaded (U) 19:35 News 19:40 Film - Star Trek: (PG) Generations Captain Picard, with the help of supposedly dead Captain Kirk, must stop a madman willing to murder on a planetary scale in order to enter an energy ribbon Big Celebrity 22:00 Brother Highlights of the latest events from inside CBB’s vaudeville themed house. Catch up on all the drama, action, arguments, and friendships and eavesdrop on the latest conversations in the diary room BAFTA The 23:00 Britannia Awards 2015 00:55 Film - The River Wild (12) 02:55 Super Casino 04:10 World’s Most Dangerous Prison

13:55 Take Me Out: The Gossip 15:00 Catchphrase 15:45 Film - Bean (PG) 17:30 Film - The Lost World: Jurassic Park (PG) 20:00 Film - Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (PG) 22:00 Film - Casino Royale (12) 00:55 FHM ITV3 12:50 Columbo 14:50 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 17:00 Agatha Christie’s Marple 19:00 Midsomer Murders 21:00 The Cruise Ship 22:00 Bette Midler: One Night Only 23:00 Wycliffe ITV4 13:10 Film - Kojak: The Marcus Nelson Murders (15) 16:05 Film - Captain Newman, MD 18:45 Film Tobruk (PG) 21:00 Rugby Highlights 22:00 Film - The Keeper (15) 00:05 Film Assassins (15)

09:00 Trev Massey, 12:00 Tony De Love, 15:00 Keith Nicol

Jeanette Erath - Learn Spanish

7

Grappling With Pronouns

¡Hola! ¿Qué tal vuestra Navidad? Espero que fuera bien y ya es el momento seguir adelante y mejorar vuestro español poco a poco, palabra por palabra. I hope you are facing this new year with lots of enthusiasm for Spanish, think back to this time last year, and what did you want to achieve? Did you do it? If not what was the reason? Lack of time or rather lack of ´ganas´ as the Spanish would say, si te faltan las ganas no vas a conseguir nada, ni menos un idioma.

You have to

understand that it´s not easy, if it was everyone would be doing it, but at the end of the day there is no better feeling than having a chat in a language that is not your native one. Take your time to understand and pronounce the words, think about what you´re saying.

We have recently covered the concept of the Spanish language needing a subject and a verb, and then complements to make the sentence more interesting. In English that is pretty much where it ends, but in Spanish

Benidorm is Back!

Monday ITV The comedy drama following the escapades of the staff, holiday-makers and revellers of the Solana resort in Benidorm returns for a new series starting on Monday. Sheron and Billy Dawson check in for some pool-side fun, bringing along their teenage son Rob, young daughter Jodie, and Grandad Eddie, to claim the sun-loungers left vacant following the Garveys' departure from the vacation spot.

Meanwhile, resort boss Joyce Temple-Savage is desperate for new staff, and must choose between efficient, goody two-shoes Amber and the outrageously flirtatious Marcus, and Troy returns to Benidorm with Jacqueline and Kenneth to scatter Donald's ashes in the place he loved best. Julie Graham (Doc Martin, The Bletchley Circle), Steve Edge (Phoenix Nights) and Bobby Knutt (Emmerdale, Heartbeat) join the cast.

it gets more complicated, as they use what are called reflexive verbs and different structures. Some people, when they realise the technicalities of Spanish begin to question their knowledge of English grammar, but don´t worry!

When I use grammar words, I will always explain what they mean in English so you don´t get lost throughout my articles!

I´ll start with verbs which are used with indirect object pronouns, that is: me, you, him, her, it, us and them;

which in Spanish are: me, te, le, nos, os, les. When used in this context the only conjugations we need are the third person singular and plural versions, so let´s pick the verb Gustar – to be pleasing to. We only need gusta and gustan and we use the IO pronoun first, so to say ´I like reading´ we need to say ´me gusta leer´ and to say ´you like cats´ we would say ´te gustan los gatos´, so you see this construction is pretty simple, if what we like is singular we say the third person singular (he/she form)

Derren Brown: Pushed to the Edge

Tuesday Channel 4 The illusionist-showman returns with his most ambitious experiment to date, aiming to persuade an unwitting participant to push another person off a roof, seemingly to their death.

The illusion investigates the powers of social compliance and how authority, peer

pressure or ideology can be used to make people carry out horrific acts. His subject is Chris Kingston, a 29-yearold member of the public who is unaware he's being filmed or manipulated at a distance, and the setting is the gala launch night of a fictitious new charity called Push.

Inside Out returns to BBC One Monday BBC One Inside Out returns to BBC One across England for a new nine-part series, featuring some of the BBC’s very best original local journalism, with news and current affairs alongside investigations and exclusive interviews.

Presenters and reporters, including Angela Rippon, Quentin Wilson and Andy Akinwolere, tell the untold stories of each region’s communities, economies, heritage, history and wildlife, including: Radicalisation - a look at how children are being radi-

calised to join IS online and how they’re keeping their extreme views a secret from their parents Elderly drivers - has a surge in the number of older drivers really made our roads more dangerous?

Sixteen years since the First Gulf War – why are vet-

erans still fighting for recognition of the soldiers that died and were injured in the conflict?

Bomber command – meet the German Jewish refugee who stole his British schoolfriend’s identity to join the RAF and bomb his former homeland.

and if what we like is plural then of course we need the third person plural (they form). Other verbs that follow these rules are ones about feelings, such as hate – odiar, to bore – aburrir, to be sufficient – bastar, to be important to – importer, to (not) suit – caer bien (mal), to be interesting to – interesar, to be loathsome to – dar asco, to bother – molestar, to hate something – disgustar, to appear to – parecer, to be painful – doler (o-ue), to itch – picar, to love something – encantar, to be left over/remain – quedar, to be lacking something – faltar, to be crazy about – volver (oue) loco.

It´s important to remember that the IO pronoun may come at the beginning or end of the sentence, for example, me aburre el coche or el coche me aburre (the car bores me). If you want to put a pronoun or noun at the beginning of a sentence, which is mainly used for emphasis, then we need to use the preposition ´a´ before the noun or pronoun, for example, A Maria le encanta la música, a mi me gusta este libro.

It is possible to use these verbs as well in their ´normal´ forms, however the verb gustar isn´t usually used like that, as instead of ´me gustas tú´ - I like you, we would normally use the verb ´caer bien´ e.g. me caes bien. As

you can see the verbs can be quite complicated to use as a straightforward verb as we have to think about what we are saying and who exactly the subject of the sentence is.

Here are some translations for you and remember to revise the IO pronouns before you have a go: Select the correct form of gustar: me ___________ la comida, le __________________ los libros, te ______________ las pinturas, le ___________________ las verduras. Now select the correct form of ´faltar´: me ________________ el dinero para comprar el sofá, nos ____________________ las palabras que necesitamos, a ella le __________________ cuatro sillas, le ______________ el botón.

Now add the correct form of molestar: me _______________ el ruido, le __________________ los niños, les _______________ las programas de deporte, este canción me _____________________, now put the correct form of parecer: La película me ________________ buena, los autos les ______________ baratos, la casa no nos __________________ cara.

Enjoy using these verbs when possible, make your own phrases up using them and see how you get on. ¡hasta la próxima!

Stargazing Live

BBC Two Brian Cox and Dara O Briain return for another celebration of space and astronomy. This series they’ll be talking to British Astronaut Tim Peake, as he orbits 250 miles above the earth.

In a live video link, Tim will reveal how he’s settling in to life on the International Space Station just one month after his launch into space. Brian and Dara also attempt to make a garden shed fly, as they explore what keeps the ISS in space.

Roving reporter Liz Bonnin will report live from the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, where she’ll be finding out whether comedian John Bishop has the ‘right stuff’. A lifelong astronomy fan, John will be following astronaut Tim Peake’s training programme over three nights, starting with a live, simulated space-walk - underwater. Brian and Dara will be joined in the studio by NASA scientist Carly Howett to enjoy some spectacular new views from the surface of Pluto, as well as exploring some of the biggest planets and stars in the universe.

They’ll also be asking for your help to find new pulsars spinning stars that are heavier than the sun, yet smaller than Manchester. Meanwhile Professor Lucie Green will be on hand to guide you around the night sky and to show you how to photograph the International Space Station.

Monday 11th January

8

1973 07:00 Breakfast 10:15 Rip Off Britain 11:00 Homes Under the Hammer 12:00 Wanted Down Under 12:45 Close Calls: On Camera 13:15 Bargain Hunt 14:00 News 14:45 Father Brown 15:30 For What It’s Worth 16:15 Escape to the Country 16:45 James Martin: Home Comforts 17:30 Antiques Road Trip 18:15 Pointless 19:00 News 20:00 The One Show 20:30 Inside Out 21:00 EastEnders Phil makes a shocking confession 21:30 Can You Stop My Multiple Sclerosis?

Panorama has exclusive access to patients pioneering a crossover cancer treatment that has enabled some MS sufferers with paralysis to regain their movement 22:00 Silent Witness The murder of a well-known anti-fundamentalist Muslim, Amir Aziz, leads the Lyell team to question who would kill this peaceful but outspoken man 23:00 News 23:45 Tracey Ullman’s Show 00:15 Have I Got Old News for You 00:45 The Graham Norton Show 01:30 Masters Snooker Extra 03:30 Weather for the Week Ahead 03:35 News

07:15 Rip Off Britain 08:00 Wanted Down Under 08:45 Close Calls: On Camera 09:15 World’s Sneakiest Animals 10:15 Victoria Derbyshire 12:00 News 13:00 The Daily Politics 14:00 Masters Snooker 19:00 Eggheads 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys 20:00 Celebrity Antiques Road Trip Phil Serrell lends his expertise to fashion designer Wayne Hemingway, while Paul Laidlaw helps out Graham Fellows, in-character as his famous comedy creation John Shuttleworth 21:00 University Challenge Quiz show for students 21:30 Only Connect Quiz show 22:00 Immortal Egypt with Joann Fletcher In one of Saqqara’s last pyramid complexes, Joann uncovers evidence of famine as the young Egyptian state suffered a worsening climate and political upheaval 23:00 Insert Name Here 23:30 Newsnight 00:15 Masters Snooker Highlights 01:05 My Mediterranean with Adrian Chiles 02:05 Stephen Fry: A Life on Screen 03:05 A Grand Night in: The Story of Aardman 04:05 This is BBC Two

07:00 Good Morning Britain 09:30 Lorraine 10:25 Jeremy Kyle 11:30 This Morning 13:30 Loose Women 14:30 News 15:00 Judge Rinder 16:00 1000 Heartbeats 17:00 Tipping Point 18:00 The Chase 19:00 News 20:00 Emmerdale Pete struggles to fight his feelings 20:30 Coronation Street Carla drops a bombshell on Nick 21:00 Griff’s Great Britain Griff Rhys Jones explores the picturesque estuaries of Suffolk and Essex and helps to build a replica of the Mayflower 21:30 Coronation Street Tim sees Kevin and Anna kissing 22:00 Benidorm The Solana welcomes the Dawson family for the first time and Grandad Eddie is already causing trouble when he nearly drowns his own granddaughter.

Hairdresser Troy is welcomed back and says goodbye to Donald as he, Jacqueline and Kenneth scatter the big man’s ashes over his favourite holiday destination 23:00 News 23:40 Saved 00:40 The Chase 01:35 Jackpot247 04:00 Jeremy Kyle 04:50 ITV Nightscreen

07:00 Countdown 07:45 King of Queens 09:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:00 Frasier 11:30 Undercover Boss USA 12:30 Four in a Bed 13:00 News 13:05 Four in a Bed 15:10 Deal or 16:10 No Deal Countdown 17:00 A Place in the Sun: Winter Sun 18:00 Come Dine with Me 19:00 The Simpsons 19:30 Hollyoaks 20:00 News 21:00 How to Lose Weight Well In How to Lose Weight Well, Dr Xand van Tulleken and dietician Hala El-Shafie are on hand as six dieters attempt the most hyped and written about diets on the market today 22:00 The Undateables Finding love can be tricky Add disability to the equation and it can sometimes seem impossible.

This uplifting series returns to follow extraordinary singletons as they look for love 23:00 Crashing 23:35 Tattoo Fixers 00:35 Bodyshockers 01:35 Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners 02:30 Grand Designs 03:25 The Restoration Man 04:25 Phil Spencer: Secret Agent 05:20 Gadget Man 05:45 Deal or No Deal

07:00 Milkshake 10:15 The Wright Stuff 12:10 Cowboy Builders 13:10 News 13:15 Celebrity Big Brother 14:15 Home and Away 14:45 Neighbours 15:15 NCIS 16:15 Film Left to Die 18:00 News 18:30 Neighbours 19:00 Home and Away 19:30 News 20:00 Police Interceptors Dan joins a major manhunt but finds dodgy diesel instead, and Jon wades into a late-night assault involving a pair of TV legends 21:00 Ice Road Truckers An increase in temperature pits the truckers against rapidly thinning ice - and pressures Art into making mistakes that jeopardise his job 22:00 Celebrity Big Brother Highlights of the latest events from inside CBB’s vaudeville themed house 23:00 Gotham 00:00 Celebrity Big Brother’s Bit on the Side 01:00 Celebrity Big Brother: Heroes and Villains 02:00 Casino 04:10 Bargain Loving Brits in the Sun

08:00 Peter Hurst, 11:00 Dennis Christian, 13:00 Alex Trelinski, 16:00 Andy James, 18:00 Suzy G

DON´T MISS 07:00 The Hot Desk 07:10 The Cube 08:00 Dinner Date 09:05 Emmerdale 09:35 Coronation Street 10:35 Catchphrase 11:20 Dinner Date 12:20 Royal Pains 13:10 Emmerdale 13:45 Coronation Street 14:45 Film - Baby Mama (12) 16:45 Jeremy Kyle 18:50 Take Me Out 20:00 You’ve Been Framed 21:00 Two and a Half Men 22:00 Film - 21 Jump Street (15) 00:10 The Keith Lemon Sketch Show

07:00 Movies Now 07:10 Man About the House 07:30 Heartbeat 08:35 Where the Heart is 09:40 The Darling Buds of May 10:45 Judge Judy 12:05 Sherlock Holmes 13:10 Murder, She Wrote 14:10 Heartbeat 15:15 Wild at Heart 16:20 Where the Heart is 17:20 Man About the House 17:55 Rising Damp 18:25 On the Buses 18:55 Heartbeat 20:00 Murder, She Wrote 21:00 Agatha Christie’s Marple 23:00 Law and Order: UK 00:00 Case Sensitive 01:00 Sherlock Holmes

SOAPS

Later, Moira tells Pete that she’s glad she has someone fighting her corner and he’s happy when she suggests they should have a beer together.

Moira gives Pete a peck on the cheek, but Pete can’t resist and kisses her properly on the lips.

In Emmerdale, Pete struggles to fight his feelings for Moira as he supports her through her relationship issues with Cain.

Coming out fighting for his aunt, Pete tells Cain that he should start acting like a husband. Back home, Cain tells Moira about Pete mouthing off and storms out, prompting Moira to throw a mug at the door.

Meanwhile, Rakesh thinks he has lost his son forever, but Priya insists that being truthful with Kirin was the right thing to do.

Adam is determined to find out why there was a mix-up and is stunned to discover that Rakesh was responsible.

In Coronation Street, Carla admits to Michelle

07:00 Duck Dynasty 07:45 Minder 08:45 The Professionals 09:45 Magnum, PI 10:45 Alias Smith and Jones 11:50 Duck Dynasty 12:50 Pawn Stars 13:45 Minder 14:50 The Professionals 15:50 Magnum, PI 16:55 Alias Smith and Jones 18:00 Minder 19:00 The Professionals 20:00 Pawn Stars 21:00 Storage Wars 22:00 Storage Wars Texas 23:00 Film - Ransom (15)

that she is consumed with guilt and is dreading the wedding. Michelle urges her to talk to Nick. Soon afterwards, Carla bites the bullet and tells Nick she can’t marry him.

Meanwhile, Tyrone’s car breaks down. Roy comes to the rescue and drives Tyrone, Fiz and Hope to the hospital. While Hope is wheeled away for her

TRACEY ULLMAN’S SHOW BBC1 23:45 Tracey Ullman’s return to British screens brings with it her unique take on some extraordinary characters living in, or visiting, the busy global hub that is the UK. This episode features a delinquent Dame Judi Dench, a dangerously accident-prone massage

therapist and Sally Preston, the feminist MP whose election pledge to remain topless throughout her term is starting to present challenges.

operation, Tyrone is consumed with money worries. When Tyrone is then short changed by the hospital vending machine, he loses his temper and becomes abusive towards a passing porter. Fiz is horrified, while Roy is concerned.

through the Bistro diary and picks a date for their wedding in March. Nick is thrilled, while Robert is taken aback. Admitting how much she loves Nick, Carla confides in Michelle that she is determined to marry him and make him happy.

In the second episode, a deeply upset Nick wonders if Carla has met someone else, but she assures him that she hasn’t. Telling Carla how much he loves her, Nick begs her to give their relationship a chance. Carla finally agrees.

Determined to make things work, Carla flicks

In Eastenders, Stacey and Arthur are still missing. When Nancy and Tamwar hear a crying baby, they realise that

First Open University degrees awarded The first graduates from the Open University (OU) have been awarded their degrees after two years studying from home.

Out of the 1,000 students who sat the final exams, 867 were successful.

The Open University enrolled its first students in 1971 and has since grown to become the biggest university in the country with more than 40,000 students on its books.

The idea of learning from home was designed to appeal to mature students, but from next year the OU will be opening its doors to 18-year-olds as well.

OU Vice Chancellor, Dr Walter Perry, is delighted with the progress of his students - and insists the degrees which have been awarded are on a par with the best universities in the country. He said: "I always said the one thing we must never do is have a different standard from the standard that pertains throughout Britain. "To give a student a second-rate degree would be dreadful. It's doing damage not doing good." For many people, the OU is offering them a second chance to study.

Dr Perry said: "The qualities of our students are often very different, in the first place they are adult, experienced in life and jobs, not just straight out of school.

They have achieved their degree by the most difficult method of getting a degree yet devised by the wit of man.

Stacey and Arthur are both on the roof of The Vic. When Martin is alerted to the worrying situation, he tries to talk to Stacey alone and convinces her that he will take care of her and Arthur. However, he’s shocked when Stacey tells him that Arthur is not his son - he is the son of God. Martin gains Stacey’s trust by pretending to share her delusion and she hands Arthur over to him. There’s further horror when Stacey slips and nearly falls from the roof, but Martin grabs her just in time.

Tuesday 12th January

9

2001 07:15 Rip Off Britain 08:00 Wanted Down Under 08:45 Close Calls: On Camera 09:15 Thief Trackers 09:45 Caught Red Handed 10:15 Victoria Derbyshire 12:00 News 13:00 The Daily Politics 14:00 Masters Snooker 19:00 Eggheads 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys

23:00 News 23:45 Reggie Yates’ Extreme UK 00:40 Film - A Simple Plan (15) 02:40 Masters Snooker Extra 04:40 Weather for the Week Ahead 04:45 News

23:00 Stargazing: Back to Earth 23:30 Newsnight 00:15 Race to Super Bowl 50 01:05 Masters Snooker The 01:55 Highlights Naked Choir with Gareth Malone 02:55 Doctor in the House 03:50 This is BBC Two

07:00 Countdown 07:45 King of Queens 09:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:00 Frasier 11:30 Undercover Boss USA 12:30 Four in a Bed 13:00 News 13:05 Four in a Bed 15:10 Deal or No Deal 16:10 Countdown 17:00 A Place in the Sun: 20:00 Emmerdale Moira Winter Sun 18:00 Come prepares to face the fall out Dine with Me 19:00 The Simpsons 19:30 Hollyoaks 20:30 The Kyle Files 20:00 News Jeremy returns to the resort of Magaluf to see if its reputation is changing due to 21:00 Tricks of the new regulations the local Restaurant Trade The authorities are trying to team puts British pizzas to implement. Jeremy also the test tracks down and confronts the security guard who pep- 21:30 Travel Man: 48 Hours in Paris Richard per sprayed him last year Ayoade goes hurtling 21:00 Trawlermen Tales through a ruthlessly effiThree-part documentary cient maxi mini-break in series following the Cornish Paris with Mel Giedroyc trawler fishermen of Newlyn and the families 22:00 Derren Brown they leave ashore when Derren aims to persuade they go to sea an unwitting member of the public to push another per22:00 Saved Four-part son off a roof, seemingly to series combining gritty dra- their death matic reconstructions with the vivid and emotional rec- 23:35 Very British ollections of members of Problems 00:35 24 Hours the public whose lives have in A and E 01:30 How to been saved by total Lose Weight Well 02:25 strangers KOTV Boxing Weekly 02:55 Gillette World Sport 23:00 News 23:40 Britain’s 03:20 Ironman France Biggest Adventures with 03:50 Gadget Man 04:20 Bear Grylls 00:40 Double Superscrimpers: Waste Decker Driving School Not, Want Not 04:45 Phil 01:05 Jackpot247 04:00 Jeremy Kyle USA 04:40 Spencer: Secret Agent 05:40 Deal or No Deal ITV Nightscreen

07:00 The Hot Desk 07:10 The Cube 08:00 Dinner Date 09:05 Emmerdale 09:35 Coronation Street 10:35 Catchphrase 11:20 Dinner Date 12:20 Royal Pains 13:10 Emmerdale 13:45 Coronation Street 14:45 Film - The Perfect Man (PG) 16:45 Jeremy Kyle 18:55 Take Me Out 20:00 You’ve Been Framed 21:00 Two and a Half Men 22:00 Mom 23:00 Film - American Pie 2 (15) 01:10 Two and a Half Men 02:05 Safeword

07:00 Man About the House 07:25 Heartbeat 08:25 Where the Heart is 09:30 The Darling Buds of May 10:40 Judge Judy 12:00 Sherlock Holmes 13:05 Murder, She Wrote 14:10 Heartbeat 15:15 Wild at Heart 16:15 Where the Heart is 17:20 Man About the House 17:55 Rising Damp 18:20 On the Buses 18:55 Heartbeat 20:00 Murder, She Wrote 21:00 Midsomer Murders 23:00 Law and Order: UK 00:00 Case Sensitive 01:05 Sherlock Holmes

07:00 Duck Dynasty 07:45 Minder 08:45 The Professionals 09:45 Magnum, PI 10:45 Alias Smith and Jones 11:50 Duck Dynasty 12:50 Pawn Stars 13:50 Minder 14:50 The Professionals 15:50 Magnum, PI 16:55 Alias Smith and Jones 18:00 Minder 19:00 The Professionals 20:00 Pawn Stars 21:00 The Chase Celebrity Special 22:00 Film - The Devil’s Advocate (18) 00:55 Film - The Hitcher (15) 02:35 Ax Men

reminding her that she needs to go out and grab life. In a bar, the girls are having cocktails and Lisa is tipsy. She spots Brian from the factory who offers to buy her a drink. Lisa starts to dance with him, but she becomes stressed when he invites her out to dinner. Rhona realises she is having an angina attack.

up with him and he finally confesses that he was the one driving the car on Christmas Day.

07:00 Breakfast 10:15 Rip Off Britain 11:00 Homes Under the Hammer 12:00 Wanted Down Under 12:45 Close Calls: On Camera 13:15 Bargain Hunt 14:00 News 14:45 Father Brown 15:30 For What It’s Worth 16:15 Escape to the Country 16:45 James Martin: Home Comforts 17:30 Antiques Road Trip 18:15 Pointless 19:00 News 20:00 The One Show

20:00 Celebrity Antiques Road Trip Ade Adepitan swimming and MBE 20:30 EastEnders A famil- Olympic gold medal-winner iar face returns to Albert Mark Foster hit the antiques trail Square

21:00 Holby City Guy’s career goes from strength to strength but at what cost?

22:00 Silent Witness Thomas must put his personal feelings aside as the team track down Begovic before she and her extremist compatriots strike out again. It soon becomes clear that Begovic isn’t working alone and may not have been the one who shot Ryman. In fact, her accomplice may be a man previously assumed dead

SOAPS Emmerdale, Cain

In is thrown when Moira tells him that Pete made a move on her. She says it was a mistake, but Cain is furious when Moira admits that Pete has been there for her when he hasn’t. In the pub, Cain warns Pete to stay away from his wife and Ross guffaws at the idea of his brother making a move on his aunt. Finn despairs to see Pete looking so beaten.

Later, Pete blames himself for the kiss with Moira and thinks that he is no better than Ross. Finn is left deeply worried when Pete says that he just wants out, but what is his plan?

Meanwhile, Chas persuades Lisa to have a liquid lunch with the girls,

21:00 Victorian Bakers Four professional bakers leave their modern businesses behind to bake their way through the Victorian era. The bakers experience first-hand the incredible diversification their forebears underwent in order to stay in business 22:00 Stargazing 2016 Join Professor Brian Cox, Dara O Briain and special guests for the best views in the universe

In Eastenders, When Phil finally goes home, he learns that Sharon has left for the hospital after receiving an urgent call about Dennis. When Phil rushes off to join her, he learns that Dennis has contracted an infection.

Sharon once again vows that she will never forgive Ian for what he has done.

When they later return home, Phil’s guilt catches

07:00 Good Morning Britain 09:30 Lorraine 10:25 Jeremy Kyle 11:30 This Morning 13:30 Loose Women 14:30 News 15:00 Judge Rinder 16:00 1000 Heartbeats 17:00 Tipping Point 18:00 The Chase 19:00 News

Meanwhile, Martin struggles to know what to do when he realises that Stacey’s psychosis is still intense. When Nancy calls to tell him that she has Stacey’s phone, Martin goes to collect it but gets more than he bargained for when Nancy asks questions about the previous night. Martin doesn’t reveal anything, but later when Alfie asks after Stacey, it looks as though Martin may admit the truth.

Also today, Kush and Shabnam’s relationship is at breaking point. He desperately tries to hold onto his wife, but can he persuade her to stay?

07:00 Milkshake 10:15 The Wright Stuff 12:10 Cowboy Builders 13:10 News 13:15 Celebrity Big Brother 14:15 Home and Away 14:45 Neighbours 15:15 NCIS 16:15 Film Stranger in an Amish Town 18:00 News 18:30 Neighbours 19:00 Home and Away 19:30 News 20:00 Puppies Make You Laugh Out Loud Clip show featuring sporty pups, scaredy pups, malfunctioning pups, ninja pups and even talking pups 21:00 Bargain Loving Brits in the Sun Documentary series exploring Brits who moved to Benidorm for sun and a low-cost life 22:00 Celebrity Big Brother Highlights of the latest events from inside CBB’s vaudeville themed house.

23:00 Secret Life of the Family 00:00 Celebrity Big Brother’s Bit on the Side 01:00 Celebrity Big Brother 01:55 Super Casino 04:10 Bus Pass Beauty Queens 05:00 Michaela’s Wild Challenge 05:25 The Great Artists 05:45 House Doctor

08:00 Peter Hurst, 11:00 Dennis Christian, 13:00 Alex Trelinski, 16:00 Andy James, 18:00 Suzy G

Swedish 'Iceman' starts England job The first foreigner to coach the England football team, Sven Goran Eriksson, has flown into the country to begin his new job.

The Swedish coach, known for his calmness under pressure and widely dubbed the Iceman, began in bullish style.

He told journalists at his first news conference that England would qualify for the World Cup next year despite its position at the bottom of its group, below Albania, after two disastrous matches.

He told journalists he was looking forward to starting work, saying, "I realise it is going to be difficult. It is a big job and a big challenge for me which I hope to enjoy."

On the widespread unpopularity of the Football Association's decision to appoint a foreigner to run the national team, Eriksson said: "I will prove my critics wrong with good football and good results."

He acknowledged he was under pressure to deliver, and said he would be "hung" if he failed.

10

CODE CRACKER

DOUBLE CROSS-WORD

Code Cracker is a crossword puzzle with no clues; instead, every letter of the alphabet has been replaced by a number, the same number representing the same letter throughout the puzzle. All you have to do is decide which letter is represented by which number. In this week’s puzzle, 7 represents R and 25 represents Q, when these letters have been entered throughout the puzzle, you should have enough information to start guessing words and discovering other letters.

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

QUICKIE

Across 1 Hates (7) 5 Concentrate (5) 8 Sound made by a cat (5) 9 Function (7) 10 Call for (3) 11 Young sheep (4) 12 Cab (4) 14 Incentive (5) 16 Spring month (5) 18 Sample (5) 19 Go in (5) 21 Border (4) 22 Not at home (4) 25 Sprint (3) 27 Consequence (7) 28 Lead (5)

29 No longer fresh (5) 30 Anguish (7)

Down 1 Moist (4) 2 Jewelled headdress (5) 3 Bicker (8) 4 Verbal (6) 5 Ran away (4) 6 Fancy neckwear (7) 7 Example (8) 13 Very hungry (8) 15 Outsider (8) 17 Boat race meeting (7) 20 Menace (6) 23 Nimble (5) 24 Jest (4) 26 Angled (4)

Last weeks Solution

Across: 1 Split, 4 Dispel, 9 Mundane, 10 Floor, 11 Lost, 12 Service, 13 Due, 14 Rogue, 16 Eject, 18 Dud, 19 Connive, 20 Grow, 23 Aroma, 24 Swagger, 25 Phases, 26 Abyss.

Down: 1 Similar, 2 Links, 3 Trap, 5 Informed, 6 Provide, 7 Large, 8 Cease, 13 Delicate, 15 Gondola, 17 Towards, 18 Dense, 19 Clasp, 21 Rugby, 22 Data.

Scribble Pad

CRYTPIC CLUES Down Across 1 Border in one Italian 1 Academy offer leaves resort (6) one foaming (5) 2 Bend a sound bite (5) 4 Tied up on the heath with 3 Left after outstanding Ed (6) 9 Dynamo meant go mad contest (4) 5 Original toad duet is old (7) 10 Born in the cats’ burial hat (8) places (5) 6 At first Rachael asked my 11 Crazy blow-back (4) mother if nice Graham is 12 It’s exciting, for exam- driving home (7) ple, holding a tongue (7) 7 Wise man is after work 13 Bristle, top bit taken off measure (6) grass (3) 14 Shakespearean flower? 8 Females started walk out, meanwhile everybody (4) 16 Consequently returned negotiated (5) in the name of progress (4) 13 Tale about one cadet 18 Doctor about a lunatic (8) (3) 15 Jumble given at time (7) 20 Make a card game using a broken pencil and 17 Leading by lots of games in a tennis match love (7) dismays (6) 21 Funny ditch (2-2) 24 Take a lot of time to 18 St James’s yacht club muse (5) found in a state (5) 25 Endure good man pro- 19 Understand in depth (6) jecting macho (7) 26 Gymnastic events for 22 A shortage causing a cry of dismay (5) Spielberg, perhaps (6) 27 It can be used to caulk 23 Game for a Venetian a tree, with hesitation (5) traveller (4) STANDARD CLUES 27 Loose rope fibre used as Across caulking (5) 1 Frenzied (5) Down 4 At anchor (6) 1 Resort on the Adriatic 9 Small electric generator coast (6) (7) 2 Shoreline curve (5) 10 Burial chambers (5) 3 Prearranged formal com11 Large hard-shelled seed bat (4) (4) 5 No longer valid or fashion12 Making joyful (7) able (8) 13 Barley bristle (3) 6 Running into head-on (7) 14 County in south-western 7 Medical measure (6) England (4) 8 Adult female person (5) 16 Therefore (4) 13 Short, amusing tale (8) 18 Insane (3) 15 Season’s yield of wine 20 Card game (7) from a vineyard (7) 21 Ditch with a retaining wall 17 Disturbs the balance (6) used to divide land (2-2) 18 Dirty and disorderly (5) 24 Greek Muse of lyric and 19 Nautical measure (6) love poetry (5) 22 Interjection of regret (5) 25 Internal organ (7) 23 Game played on horse26 Film-maker Spielberg (6) back (4) Last weeks Solution Across: 1 Dog star, 4 Duvet, 7 Aback, 9 Villain, 10 Hussars, 11 Truce, 12 Archer, 14 Minted, 18 Coles, 20 Totebag, 22 Camping, 23 Educe, 24 Stork, 25 Rebates.

Down: 1 Drachma, 2 Grabs, 3 Revise, 4 Delft, 5 Viaduct, 6 Tense, 8 Knave, 13 Colombo, 15 Istle, 16 Daggers, 17 Stager, 18 Cocks, 19 Skink, 21 Blunt.

FILL IT IN

Complete the crossword grid by using the given words:

3 letter words Are Egg Ran 4 letter words Abet Agog Airs Alas Aunt Clog Eden Edge Else Erin Even

Ever Idea Idle Idol Knee Ling Mono Onto Paws Pose Puck Ream Rete Rips Seed Sire Sled Slid

Some Teat Test Tree Used Zero Zeta 5 letter words About Amirs Blues Curie Doled Endue Humid Inept Islet

Moors Ogles Orate Reeds Rinse Shear Sings Skits Slide Stoke Studs Talus Traps Trust Wench Yeast 6 letter words

Budget Issuer Loathe Pampas Sacred Scared Wisest Worsen 7 letter words Nursery Outdoor Resells Sessile 8 letter words Armourer Orreries

SPANISH-ENGLISH CROSSWORD

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

Across 1 To parade (8) 4 Fig (4) 7 Costuras (puntadas) (5) 9 Goodbye (5) 11 Pequeño (5) 12 Cisnes (aves) (5) 13 Plata (metal) (6) 15 Más cercano (6) 19 Holy (life, person) (5) 21 Canciones (5) 23 Stamp (postage stamp) (5) 24 Cobertizos (para animales, herramientas) (5) 25 Enfermo (4) 26 Butterfly (insect) (8)

Down 1 Afterwards (7) 2 Focas (animales) (5) 3 Kind (nice) (6) 5 Waves (in sea, lake) (5) 6 Beso (4) 8 Pala (para cavar) (5) 10 Intercambia (sellos, fotos) (5) 14 Pulmones (5) 16 Monday (5) 17 Magazine (journal) (7) 18 Broom (brush) (6) 19 Sacks (bags) (5) 20 Búhos (4) 22 Floor (of room) (5)

11 Across 1 Statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved (6) 5 Large German dirigible airship of the early 20th century, long and cylindrical in shape and with a rigid framework. They were used during the First World War for reconnaissance and bombing and after the war as passenger transports until the 1930s. (8) 9 SI unit of mass, approximately 2.205 lb (8) 10 Large fish-eating bird of prey with long, narrow wings and a white underside and crown (6) 11 Duplicator that transmits an exact copy of a document made by electronic scanning by wire or radio (3,7) 12 Newts in their terrestrial stage of development (4) 13 International humanitarian organisation set up in 1864 at the instigation of

the Swiss philanthropist Henri Dunant that brings relief to victims of war or natural disaster (3,5) 16 Rolling Stones ninth studio album, released in April 1971: ------ Fingers (6) 17 Alcoholic beverage that is distilled rather than fermented (6) 19 Nickname of American frontierswoman and professional scout Martha Jane Canary (1852 –1903): -------- Jane (8) 21 Town in Greater Manchester that is home to the Aviva Premiership professional rugby union club the Sharks (4) 22 Tapering structure hanging like an icicle from the roof of a cave, formed of calcium salts deposited by dripping water (10) 25 Revolutionary who overthrew Cuban president Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and set up a Marxist socialist state: Fidel ------ (6) 26 Tangerines of a hardy loose-skinned variety, origi-

SUDOKU (Very easy)

Quiz Word

nally grown in Japan (8) 27 Tall cap of black fur worn ceremonially by certain troops, such as the Guards in the British army

(8) 28 Lying face upward (6) Down 2 Chief port of Israel, in

the north-west of the country on the Mediterranean coast (5) 3 Stage name of singer, backed by the Hurricanes, who was born in Liverpool in 1938 and originally named Alan Caldwell: Rory ----- (5) 4 Hot wind, often dusty or rainy, blowing from North Africa across the Mediterranean to southern Europe (7) 5 Corpses said to be revived by witchcraft, especially in certain African and Caribbean religions (7) 6 Skill or expertise in a particular activity or field (7) 7 Mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing (9) 8 Picture of a person, especially one sought by the police, reconstructed from typical facial features according to witnesses (9)

14 Long, open, level area, typically beside the sea, along which people may walk for pleasure (9) 15 Person who makes and repairs wooden objects and structures (9) 18 Small area of grass that is thicker or longer than the grass growing around it (7) 19 1977 UK number one hit single by Manhattan Transfer: ------- D'Amour (7) 20 Rough shelters whose roofs have only one slope (4-3) 23 American business magnate and investor who hosts the American version of reality television game show The Apprentice: Donald ----- (5) 24 American novelist and humorist whose bestknown novels include: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885): Mark ----- (5)

SALLY’S SIMPLE SPANISH

VIAJAR EN AVION

Match these words with their Spanish translations then find them in the wordsearch.

(Answers below)

geography QUIZ

ANSEWRS 1. Burma 2. Duluth 3. Mexico 4. China 5. Rotterdam 6. Iraq 7. The Nile 8. San Francisco 9. Congo 10. London Bridge 11.

Boston 12. Asia 13. Uruguay 14. Africa

Last Week’s Solutions Code Cracker Last weeks Quiz Word Solution Across: 1 Starfish, 5 Oscars, 9 Unawares, 10 Ledger, 11 Grenoble, 12 Thrift, 14 Balderdash, 18 Alexandria, 22 Earwig, 23 Paleface, 24 Lisbon, 25 Careless, 26 Oyster, 27 Fantasia.

Down: 1 Snudge, 2 Azalea, 3 Flagon, 4 Steel bands, 6 Shephard, 7 Anglican, 8 Scratchy, 13 Addis Ababa, 15 Waterloo, 16 Neurosis, 17 Camisole, 19 Regent, 20 Daleks, 21 Geisha.

fila

aterrizaje

ida y vuelta

despegue

la azafata

el aeropuerto

llegadas

el avión

pasajero

el mostrador

pista

el pasaporte

salidas

el visado

sobrepeso

equipaje

tripulación

Empareja estas palabras - Match the Spanish and English words You will find the answers at the bottom of the quiz.

1.aduana, 2.aterrizaje,

15.pista, 16.salidas,

(flight), l.arrivals, m.take off,

3.despegue, 4.el aeropuerto,

17.sobrepeso, 18.tripulación

n.the plane, o.the counter/desk,

5.el avión, 6.el mostrador,

a.the air hostess, b.the airport,

p.luggage, q.over weight,

7.el pasaporte, 8.el visado,

c.the passport, d.runway,

r.the queue.

9.equipaje, 10.fila, 11.ida

e.departures, f.the landing,

y vuelta, 12.la azafata,

g.passenger, h.the crew,

13.llegadas, 14.pasajero,

i.the visa, j.customs, k.return

Soduko

Span - Eng

Quizword

Answers: 1j, 2f, 3m, 4b, 5n, 6o, 7c, 8i, 9p, 10r, 11k, 12a, 13l, 14g, 15d, 16e, 17q, 18h.

1. Of Which Country Is Rangoon The Capital?

2. Name the city at the west end of Lake Superior.?

3. In which country would you find the Yucatan peninsula?

4. In which country did acupuncture originate?

5. What city stands on the Maas River?

6. What countries national anthem is Land of Two Rivers?

7. On which River does the City of Cairo stand?

8. What city was Fillmore west in?

9. Until 1971 what was the name of Zaire?

10. Which London Bridge Had A Gate Over It On Which The Heads Of Criminals Were Displayed On Spikes As A Deterrent?

11. Name the capital city of Massachusetts.?

12. In which continent would you find the Yellow River?

13. Montevideo Is The Capital Of Which South American Country?

14. What continent's westernmost point is called Cape Verde?

aduana

Fill It In

12

Wednesday 13th January 2004

07:00 Breakfast 10:15 Rip Off Britain 11:00 Homes Under the Hammer 12:00 Wanted Down Under 12:45 Close Calls: On Camera 13:15 Bargain Hunt 14:00 News and Weather 14:45 Father Brown 15:30 For What It’s Worth 16:15 Escape to the Country 16:45 James Martin: Home Comforts 17:30 Antiques Road Trip 18:15 Pointless 19:00 News and Weather 20:00 The One Show 21:00 Dickensian Will Arthur find the courage to confide in Matthew Pocket before Compeyson continues his plans to be rid of him?

21:30 Would I Lie to You? Rob Brydon hosts the award-winning comedy panel show with David Mitchell and Lee Mack as the team captains 22:00 Great Barrier Reef with David Attenborough David examines what the next few decades may hold for this remarkable ecosystem, and looks at the work of scientists who are trying to preserve the area and the species that inhabit it 23:00 News and Weather 23:45 Match of the Day 01:15 Masters Snooker Extra 03:15 Weather for the Week Ahead 03:20 News

07:00 Rip Off Britain 07:45 Homes Under the Hammer 08:45 Close Calls: On Camera 09:15 Caught Red Handed 09:45 Terry and Mason’s Great Food Trip 10:15 Victoria Derbyshire 12:00 News 12:30 The Daily Politics 14:00 Masters Snooker 19:00 Eggheads 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys 20:00 Celebrity Antiques Road Trip Oz Clarke and Jilly Goolden swap food and drink for antiques on Celebrity Antiques Road Trip 21:00 Trust Me, I’m a Doctor Dr Chris Van Tulleken runs a groundbreaking experiment with the University of Surrey to explore whether changing mealtimes can promote weight loss 22:00 Stargazing Live Brian Cox and Dara O Briain celebrate space and astronomy, with more updates from British astronaut Tim Peake as he tackles his six-month scientific mission 23:00 Russell Howard’s Good News 23:30 Newsnight 00:15 Masters Snooker Highlights 01:05 Immortal Egypt with Joann Fletcher 02:05 Alex Polizzi: Hire Our Heroes 03:05 World’s Weirdest Events 04:05 This is BBC Two

07:00 Good Morning Britain 09:30 Lorraine 10:25 Jeremy Kyle 11:30 This Morning 13:30 Loose Women 14:30 News 15:00 Judge Rinder 16:00 1000 Heartbeats 17:00 Tipping Point 18:00 The Chase 19:00 News 20:00 Emmerdale Zak hopes he has made a breakthrough with Belle 20:30 Coronation Street Fiz discovers Tyrone’s secret 21:00 Midsomer Murders Forest ranger Felicity Ford is blinded by mysterious lights while driving at night in the village of Cooper Hill and the next morning her car is found abandoned at the roadside, followed closely by the discovery of her body. Visiting UFO spotters in the village are convinced aliens are responsible, but as Barnaby and Nelson try to get to the truth, they unearth suspicions, betrayals and long-buried secrets along the way.

Michelle Collins, Steve Evets, Alison Steadman, Steve Oram and Pip Torrens guest star 23:00 News 23:40 The World According to Kenny Everett 00:40 The Kyle Files 01:10 Jackpot247 04:00 Jeremy Kyle USA 04:40 ITV Nightscreen

07:00 Countdown 07:45 King of Queens 09:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:00 Frasier 11:30 Undercover Boss USA 12:30 Four in a Bed 13:00 Channel 4 News Summary 13:05 Four in a Bed 15:10 Deal or No Deal 16:10 Countdown 17:00 A Place in the Sun: Winter Sun 18:00 Come Dine with Me 19:00 The Simpsons 19:30 Hollyoaks 20:00 Channel 4 News and Weather

07:00 Milkshake 10:15 The Wright Stuff 12:10 Cowboy Builders 13:10 News 13:15 Celebrity Big Brother 14:15 Home and Away 14:45 Neighbours 15:15 NCIS 16:15 Film - Too Late to Say Goodbye 18:00 News 18:30 Neighbours 19:00 Home and Away 19:30 News

20:00 Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords Margaret tries to get the £20,000 she is owed from a letting agent, Stavros and Emily try to get their house back from squatters, and Peterborough council find 21:00 Mary Portas: 12 people crammed into a category-one fire hazard Secret Shopper Mary house takes on a hair salon in Kent, Shobie and Co, 21:00 GPs: Behind where staff are at war with Closed Doors When a the owners and swearing patient suffering from chronic vertigo enters his on the shop floor is driving surgery, Dr Laird leaps into customers away action 22:00 24 Hours in A and E 79 year old Carole is rushed to A&E with signs of a stroke. She’s confused and undergoes tests and a CT scan so that doctors can assess what’s happened and how best to treat her

22:00 Celebrity Big Brother Highlights of the latest events from inside CBB’s vaudeville themed house

23:00 I’m an Alcoholic: My Name is 00:00 Celebrity Big Brother’s Bit on the Side 01:00 Britain’s Flashiest Families 01:55 Super Casino 04:10 23:00 Bodyshockers 00:05 Britain’s Bloody Crown The Undateables 01:05 C4’s Future Sounds: Music on 4 01:35 Film - What’s Love Got to Do with It? (18) 08:00 Peter Hurst, 11:00 Dennis Christian, 13:00 03:30 Film - Greenberg Alex Trelinski, 16:00 Andy (15) 05:15 Phil Spencer: James, 18:00 Suzy G Secret Agent

DON´T MISS 07:00 The Hot Desk 07:10 The Cube 08:00 Dinner Date 09:05 Emmerdale 09:35 You’ve Been Framed 10:35 Catchphrase 11:20 Dinner Date 12:20 Royal Pains 13:10 Emmerdale 13:45 You’ve Been Framed 14:15 Film - Sweet November (12) 16:35 Jeremy Kyle 18:50 Take Me Out 20:00 You’ve Been Framed 21:00 Two and a Half Men 22:00 Film Quantum of Solace (12) 00:10 The Keith Lemon Sketch Show

07:00 Man About the House 07:25 Heartbeat 08:25 Where the Heart is 09:30 The Darling Buds of May 10:35 Judge Judy 12:00 Sherlock Holmes 13:05 Murder, She Wrote 14:05 Heartbeat 15:10 Wild at Heart 16:10 Where the Heart is 17:15 Man About the House 17:50 Rising Damp 18:20 On the Buses 18:55 Heartbeat 20:00 Murder, She Wrote 21:00 Paul O’Grady: For The Love of Dogs 22:00 Inside Death Row: Trevor McDonald 23:00 Law and Order: UK 00:00 Wycliffe

SOAPS

ried about Belle’s state of mind, will she use this to her advantage?

Rhona visits Tess at the school and asks her if she would be a referee for their adoption. Tess feels trapped but will she agree?

In Emmerdale,. Belle tells Zak that Lisa had an angina attack and says that only he can put things right. Zak’s torn when Joanie later tells him seeing Lisa could make her worse and he becomes convinced staying away might be the kindest thing to do. Belle, is furious Zak changed his mind and slaps Joanie. Zak is wor-

Nicola admits to Rodney she was devastated about not being able to have more kids and doesn’t feel happy about raising Elliot.

Blissfully unaware, Jimmy becomes sad he lost touch with his other son Carl and decides to call Juliette to see how he’s doing. Juliette later arrives with Carl, telling Jimmy

07:00 Movies Now 07:10 Duck Dynasty 07:55 Minder 08:50 The Professionals 09:55 Magnum, PI 10:55 Alias Smith and Jones 12:00 Duck Dynasty 12:55 Pawn Stars 13:50 Minder 14:55 The Professionals 15:55 Magnum, PI 16:55 Alias Smith and Jones 18:00 Minder 19:00 The Professionals 20:00 Pawn Stars 21:00 Storage Wars Texas 22:00 Benidorm 23:00 Film - Heartbreak Ridge (15) she’s glad he called as she’s been struggling since her partner left and thinks Jimmy could be the answer to her prayers.

Nicola is aghast to see Jimmy has now taken Carl in as well!

In Coronation Street, Pointing out that she has got a terrible cold, Tyrone insists that Fiz stays at home while he visits Hope in hospital. Beth and Kirk

QUANTUM OF SOLACE ITV2 22:00 After an assassination attempt on the life of James Bond’s commander at MI5, Bond heads to Bolivia to track down the villain. All roads lead to shadowy environmentalist Dominic Greene, whose dealings may be more sinister than they appear.

Only Bond stands in Greene’s way, but others at MI5 begin to wonder if

they can still trust 007 or if he is solely motivated by revenge.

Starring: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini and Gemma Arterton

call on Fiz, but they’re interrupted when Ted the elf barges in demanding payment.

Clearly shocked, Fiz promises him that he’ll have his money.

sending Zeedan in his place with the canapés.

Wily Amy calls in the Bistro pretending there’s a problem with the food, which persuades Robert to attend.

When Tyrone returns, Fiz confronts him over Ted’s unpaid bill. Under pressure, Tyrone admits they’re in debt to the tune of nearly £10,000. Fiz reels. As Tyrone explains to Fiz how he just wanted Hope to have the best Christmas ever, how will she react?

With the crowd gathered, Robert arrives and Tracy reveals her new shop sign which leaves Robert stunned!

Meanwhile, at her grand opening party, Tracy frets when Robert fails to show,

Elsewhere, when Cathy tells Roy that his aunty called again, Roy refuses to discuss it. Alex arrives and tells Cathy that he has lost his job, so he asks if he can hang out in the café for the day. Anna confides in Cathy about how

Serial killer found hanged

Shipman

Harold Shipman, the former GP who is believed to have killed more than 200 people, has been found dead in his prison cell.

He was found hanging by a bed sheet strung around the bars of his cell at Wakefield Prison at 0620 GMT. Prison staff tried to revive him but he was pronounced dead at 0810 GMT. Shipman, who hanged himself in his cell on the eve of his 58th birthday, was one of 563 inmates at the jail, regarded as one of the UK's best high-security prisons.

Prison officials have described his death as an "apparent suicide" and added he was taken off suicide watch 18 months ago.

Shipman was on a standard security watch at the West Yorkshire jail at the time of his death.

The Prison Service said Shipman was "showing no signs whatsoever of presuicidal behaviour at all".

The 57-year-old was behaving normally and there was "absolutely no indication" of the events to come, according to a spokeswoman.

Shortly after 1100 GMT, an undertaker's van took Shipman's body from Wakefield prison to the Medico Legal Centre in Sheffield for a post-mortem and formal identification.

Shipman was jailed for life at Preston Crown Court in January 2000 for murdering 15 of his elderly patients.

Roy’s relationship with his mother is rather strained.

Also today, Carla asks Kate and Michelle if they’ll be her bridesmaids.

Finally, Luke reveals to Andy that Jamie has been released on bail and he is worried that he might come looking for Steph, while Tim tells Kevin that he saw him kissing Anna in the back of a taxi.

13

Thursday 14th January

2002 07:00 Breakfast 10:15 Rip Off Britain 11:00 Homes Under the Hammer 12:00 Wanted Down Under 12:45 Close Calls: On Camera 13:15 Bargain Hunt 14:00 News 14:45 Father Brown 15:30 For What It’s Worth 16:15 Escape to the Country 16:45 James Martin: Home Comforts 17:30 Antiques Road Trip 18:15 Pointless 19:00 News 20:00 The One Show 20:30 EastEnders Sharon struggles to come to terms with Phil’s latest admission 21:00 Dickensian Already facing financial ruin, Edward Barbary finds his situation deteriorating when Scrooge demands his loan is repaid 21:30 Room 101 Sir Trevor McDonald, Aisling Bea and David Tennant compete to have their pet hates consigned to Room 101 22:00 Death in Paradise The team enter the shady world of island politics when the outgoing governor of Saint Marie is poisoned at her leaving party 23:00 News 23:45 Question Time 00:45 This Week 01:30 Masters Snooker Extra 03:30 Weather for the Week Ahead 03:35 News

07:15 Rip Off Britain 08:00 Wanted Down Under 08:45 Close Calls: On Camera 09:15 Great British Menu 09:45 Caught Red Handed 10:15 Victoria Derbyshire 12:00 News 13:00 The Daily Politics 14:00 Masters Snooker 19:00 Eggheads 19:30 Great British Railway Journeys 20:00 Masters Snooker Jason Mohammad introduces live coverage from the second quarter final at the 2016 Masters. Matches are the best of 11 frames 21:00 World’s Sneakiest Animals Chris Packham meets a host of animals using devious tactics to win a mate and raise a family 22:00 Stargazing Live Brian Cox and Dara O Briain return for their final night celebrating space and astronomy, with more updates from astronaut Tim Peake 23:00 The Clare Balding Show 23:30 Newsnight 00:15 Masters Snooker Highlights 01:05 Royal Wives at War 02:05 Can You Stop My Multiple Sclerosis? 02:35 Great Barrier Reef with David Attenborough 03:35 Gorilla Family and Me 04:35 This is BBC Two

07:00 Good Morning Britain 09:30 Lorraine 10:25 Jeremy Kyle 11:30 This Morning 13:30 Loose Women 14:30 News 15:00 Judge Rinder 16:00 1000 Heartbeats 17:00 Tipping Point 18:00 The Chase 19:00 News 20:00 Emmerdale Rhona prepares for the adoption interviews 20:30 Tonight Jonathan Maitland reports on how Britain’s rubbish is piling up with some cashstrapped councils cutting the number of waste collections, and even reducing bin sizes 21:00 Emmerdale Aaron lashes out, feeling betrayed 21:30 Birds of a Feather During Darryl’s funeral, Tracey’s house is burgled and the family decide it is up to them to track down their possessions 22:00 Jericho In her desperation to protect her son, Annie unwittingly opens the door for Bamford the railway detective, who could get dangerously close to the secret her family hoped was dead and buried 23:00 News 23:40 The BRITS are Coming 00:40 Trawlermen Tales 01:35 Jackpot247 04:00 Tonight 04:25 ITV Nightscreen

07:00 Countdown 07:45 King of Queens 09:00 Everybody Loves Raymond 10:00 Frasier 11:30 Undercover Boss USA 12:30 Four in a Bed 13:00 News 13:05 Four in a Bed 15:10 Deal or No Deal 16:10 Countdown 17:00 A Place in the Sun: Winter Sun 18:00 Come Dine with Me 19:00 The Simpsons 19:30 Hollyoaks 20:00 News 21:00 Location, Location, Location Kirstie’s with Sam and Michael, who are desperate to own their first home in east London.

Phil’s with Nishita, whose plan involves leaving the rat race for a more holistic lifestyle 22:00 The Restoration Man George Clarke meets a man in Northumberland who bought a Victorian railway station, with the intention of converting it into a family home 23:00 Busting the Drugs Millions: Inside the National Crime Agency 00:05 24 Hours in A and E 01:05 Million Pound Motors 02:05 Embarrassing Bodies 03:00 Gadget Man 03:30 Unreported World 03:55 The Restoration Man 04:50 Phil Spencer: Secret Agent 05:45 Deal or No Deal

07:00 Milkshake 10:15 The Wright Stuff 12:10 Cowboy Builders 13:10 News 13:15 Celebrity Big Brother 14:15 Home and Away 14:45 Neighbours 15:15 NCIS 16:15 Film Final Recourse (18) 18:00 News 18:30 Neighbours 19:00 Home and Away 19:30 News 20:00 Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild Ben meets a former pilot who is now a farmer on the Himalayas in India 21:00 Britain’s Bloody Crown Dan recalls how Henry VI was replaced on the throne by the young Edward IV. But the real story is of the man who masterminded Edward’s victory - England’s most powerful Baron: Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick 22:00 Celebrity Big Brother Highlights of the latest events 23:00 Celebrity Botched Up Bodies 00:00 Celebrity Big Brother’s Bit on the Side 01:00 Super Casino 04:10 Pussies Galore: Love Me, Love My Cats 05:00 Wildlife SOS 05:25 The Great Artists 05:45 House Doctor

08:00 Peter Hurst, 11:00 Dennis Christian, 13:00 Alex Trelinski, 16:00 Andy James, 18:00 Suzy G

DON´T MISS 07:00 The Hot Desk 07:10 The Cube 08:00 Dinner Date 09:05 Emmerdale 09:35 Coronation Street 10:05 You’ve Been Framed 10:35 Catchphrase 11:20 Dinner Date 12:20 Royal Pains 13:10 Emmerdale 13:45 Coronation Street 14:15 The Hot Desk 14:30 Film What a Girl Wants (PG) 16:35 Jeremy Kyle 18:50 Take Me Out 20:00 You’ve Been Framed 21:00 Two and a Half Men 22:00 Film - Hot Fuzz (15) 00:25 Celebrity Juice

SOAPS

In Emmerdale, Aaron gives the social worker a glowing review of Paddy and Rhona. Tess also talks to the social worker, but is unhappy to have been put in this situation.

Tess forces a smile as she calls Paddy, Leo and Rhona the perfect family, but it soon becomes unclear what she is going

07:00 Man About the House 07:25 Heartbeat 08:25 Where the Heart is 09:25 The Darling Buds of May 10:35 Judge Judy 12:00 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 13:05 Murder, She Wrote 14:05 Heartbeat 15:05 Wild at Heart 16:10 Where the Heart is 17:15 Man About the House 17:50 Rising Damp 18:20 On the Buses 18:55 Heartbeat 19:55 Murder, She Wrote 21:00 Doc Martin 22:00 Alexander Armstrong’s Land of the Midnight Sun 23:00 Law and Order: UK 00:00 Blue Murder

07:00 Duck Dynasty 07:45 Minder 08:45 The Professionals 09:45 Magnum, PI 10:50 Alias Smith and Jones 11:55 Duck Dynasty 12:50 Pawn Stars 13:45 Minder 14:50 The Professionals 15:55 Magnum, PI 16:55 Alias Smith and Jones 18:00 Minder 19:00 The Professionals 20:00 Pawn Stars 21:00 The Classic Car Show 22:00 Film High Plains Drifter (18) 00:15 Film - The Devil’s Advocate (18)

DEATH IN PARADISE

to say about them.

Zak about the voices in her head and he is left feeling guilty. She claims that she can’t tell Lisa in case it causes another angina attack.Elsewhere, Bernice tells Kerry that Chrissie will be in charge of the salon when she is away.

charge of the salon. When Chrissie proves that Kerry has been exaggerating her illness, Kerry is pushed into pulling her weight with the workload.

Later, Rhona is confused when she hears a beep coming from Paddy’s coat, as his phone is already on the counter. He lies that his second phone belongs to Aaron, who is baffled when Rhona mentions it.

Paddy hands it to him with a pleading look on his face and knows he has a lot of explaining to do when Aaron warily accepts the phone.

Later, Aaron threatens to tell Rhona that the phone isn’t his, unless Paddy tells him the truth.

Meanwhile, Belle lies to

In the second episode, Aaron is left reeling when Paddy tells him that he’s been having an affair with Tess. Aaron is angry that he is betraying his family, so Paddy lies that he doesn’t love Tess and the adoption will make his life complete.

Meanwhile, Kerry is annoyed that Chrissie is in

BBC1 22:00 The island is rocked when Saint Marie’s governor Caroline Bamber drops dead at her leaving party, with the commissioner standing right next to her.

As DI Goodman and the team try to deduce how she could have been poisoned without their boss noticing any foul play, they

Elsewhere, Belle is delighted to see Zak and Lisa together, but they’re taken aback when she admits that she hasn’t really been hearing voices.

She admits that she just wanted them to talk to

UK declared free of footand-mouth The foot-and-mouth crisis that began almost 11 months ago will officially end at midnight, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has said.

There have been no outbreaks for more than three months - the last recorded case of the fatal and infectious disease was in Cumbria. Also, tests on sheep flocks in Northumberland, where the disease was initially traced, have proved negative.

Farmers have said the decision by Defra gives them new hope for the industry's future.

But it will be several weeks before restrictions on livestock farmers can be lifted, and international clearance for the export trade in animals and animal products will take longer.

Rural Affairs minister Lord Whitty said: "It will be some time, probably months, before our international partners restore our trading status in the European Union and beyond as a fully foot-and-mouth free state."

Nevertheless, the National Farmers' Union says the end of the crisis removes a "long, dark shadow" from the countryside where more than 2,000 cases of foot-and-mouth have been recorded.

find themselves entering the murky world of island politics, where blackmail, threats and corruption seem commonplace fuelled by ongoing tension between the French and British.

Since the first signs of the disease were discovered on 19 February 2001 at an abattoir in Essex, more than four million animals have been slaughtered the majority of them sheep.

each other. Lisa asks Zak to stay for a cup of tea and both he and Belle are chuffed that her actions have brought about a family reunion, but is everything as it seems?

Later, as Sharon drinks alone in the Albert, Phil gives into his own temptation to drink back home.

Ian goes to find Sharon at The Albert and explains his actions, but she’s still furious with Phil and goes home to collect her things.

Phil makes Sharon a desperate offer, before drunkenly taking drastic action and none of his family can stop him.

In Eastenders, Sharon is shocked by Phil’s confession. She immediately rushes to see Ian and demands the truth from him instead. After hearing everything, Sharon slaps Phil.

Meanwhile, Carmel seeks solace at Masood’s, but will she tell him the truth about Arthur’s paternity?

It doesn’t take long before they end up sharing a kiss, which leads to more.

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Friday 8th January 2016

1

What To Drink With Christmas Leftovers

Dessert

White Chocolate Pots

Ingredients Serves: 4 250g white chocolate, 200g Greek yoghurt, 250ml whipping cream, 1 tablespoon white rum, chocolate curls or cocoa powder for decoration.

Directions Prep:3hr › Cook:3min › Ready in: 3hr3min Melt the white chocolate until smooth for a total of 3 minutes in the microwave (stirring occasionally) or over a pan of hot water.

Whip the cream until stiff.

Stir in the melted chocolate.

Add the rum and finally the yoghurt.

Mix until completely blended together and pour into small glass dishes or fancy coffee cups.

Chill for at least 3 hours before serving.

Sprinkle hot chocolate powder or use a peeler to get milk or dark chocolate curls from a solid bar.

Unless the family has drunk you out of house and home, I doubt you’ll be heading out to shop for wine today, but maybe a few tips on what to drink with the leftovers might be helpful. Not a specific match, obviously – that’ll depend on what you’ve got left in the house – but rather the styles of wine that work best with what.

Cold turkey calls for a different kind of wine from the one you served with the Christmas Day bird, the main reason being you won’t have a rich gravy and a multitude of veg to contend with. Bright, fruity, unoaked reds such as beaujolais, pinot noir and Loire reds such as SaumurChampigny work better than complex, oaky ones with cold turkey. So, if you

are putting in a postChristmas online order, the Wine Society’s joyously gluggable Stéphane Aviron Beaujolais Villages 2014 (£7.50; 13% abv) would hit the spot, or pick up a few bottles of Asda’s immensely quaffable Wine Atlas Côtes de Roussillon 2014 (£5.47; 13% abv).

If you’re smothering the turkey in a creamy sauce or making a turkey pot pie, a smooth, dry white such as a chardonnay, chenin blanc or viognier would work best, or even an Italian white such as Tesco Finest Soave Classico Superiore 2013 (£6.25; 13% abv), which has much more to it than the usual supermarket soave. Pinot gris – the richer form of pinot grigio – is also a decent contender here: Aldi’s Freeman’s Bay

Pinot Gris 2014 (13% abv) is great value at £5.69, plus you could also drink that with a Thai turkey curry.

With Indian styles of curry, however, your choice of wine rather depends on the level of heat you’re going for, a korma obviously being more forgiving than a vindaloo. If you’ve got a grüner veltliner to hand, that should cope with most mild to medium curries – try the fresh, crisp, fruity Torley Grüner Veltliner 2014 (£7.79 in larger Waitrose; 11.5% abv), from Hungary.

Otherwise, a riesling or gewürztraminer should do the job. They’d also be my top choice for Yotam’s sweet and sour turkey salad this week.

And never mind leftover turkey, what about leftover wine (in the possibly unlikely event you have any)?

The basic rule is not to cook with anything you wouldn’t be prepared to drink, so not only should the wine you use not be corked, but it will also do little for your stew or pie to pour in the dregs of a half-empty bottle that’s been sitting in your steamy kitchen for the last week.

That said, a dash of your best Christmas Day red poured in at the end of the cooking will lift many a dish a treat.

Food & Drink

The Perfect Fondant Potatoes The extras: Garlic, thyme and bay are the most popular additions, though Schneider keeps it purely potato, and Loubet lobs in some rosemary instead. Having decided very firmly that this is a dish that should let the spud shine, I’m powerless to resist the combination of garlic and butter, while thyme, which Ramsay proudly claims as a “bit of a chef’s secret” which contributes a subtle, very Gallic herbaceousness which also works well.

Rosemary proves overpowering.

The cooking method: There’s a surprising amount of variation in the cooking methods: both Ramsay and Loubet start their fondants on the hob before transferring the dish to the oven, but, like Bourdain’s stove-top version, Ramsay’s take far longer to cook through than his recipe suggests.

(Indeed, Bourdain’s are cooked in such a small amount of stock that they dry out long before they’re done, and I have to keep adding more to stop them welding themselves to the pan.) Such misleading timing may explain why raw fondants

pop up with such puzzling regularity on MasterChef; unless your potatoes are tiny, they’re not going to cook through in a few spoonfuls of stock in 20 minutes. Sorry Anthony, they just aren’t.

4 Charlotte or other waxy potatoes, about 120g each, 1 garlic clove, crushed, 1 sprig of thyme, 150g clarified butter. Peel the potatoes, using the peeler in broad flat strokes to give as many flat planes as possible. Cut in half laterally.

Put the potatoes, flatside down, in a deep, heavy-based frying pan just large enough to hold them in a single layer and add barely enough water to cover them (a few bits sticking out the top are fine), plus the garlic, thyme and clarified butter. Season generously.

Bring to the boil, then bubble over a high heat until the water has evaporated, leaving just the butter, and the potatoes are golden brown on the bottom. Very carefully, using a palette knife, turn over the potatoes and cook for a couple of minutes until browned on the other side. Serve immediately.

The Superfood Of 2016 Black Pudding

One thing you wouldn’t expect when compiling your superfood diet now that January is here would be something you’d find on a fried breakfast.

However, this year you can include black pudding to your new year shopping list as experts reckon it is about to be extremely popular in 2016.

The divisive breakfast staple - traditionally made using pig blood and oatmeal - is actually full of protein, calcium and potassium.

It also enjoys the benefit of being nearly carb free

and packed full of anaemia-preventing iron something lacking in mode r n

diets.

The addition of black pudding to the superfood list will be something of a shock to most, and Darren Beale from

MuscleFood.com is just as surprised.

He said: “Some of the foods have been on the up for a while like avocado oil and maca root, but others like mushrooms and black pudding have been a total surprise to us.

“It’s great to have this new research available to find out the hidden qualities in food and we can’t wait to see how these new trends take off.”

The black pudding surge has already begun in earnest, with one Scottish butchers, famed for their blood sausages, already seeing sales soar.

Shona Macleod, managing director of Charles Macleod Butchers in Stornoway, said: “The shop has just opened again.

“I opened the mail orders and we had about 40 black pudding mail orders to go out today.

“That’s is a lot for the first day open in January.”

Other superfoods set to be huge this year include seaweed, black beans and birch water.

Will you be adding blackpudding to your shopping trolley this year?

Food & Drink

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Friday 8th January 2016

One Batch Of Glazed Ham, Four Different Recipes Roast an enormous joint and gradually turn it into a spicy nasi goreng, restorative eggs benedict Ham is one of the most versatile meats, and good ham can be revelatory in its wonderful deliciousness Unfortunately, mediocrity is more the norm, and for this reason I urge you to seek out the very best you can from farming families with generations of tradition to fall back on.

The main event: Roast glazed ham: Ham really is the perfect festive meat – a proper ham is truly a sight to behold, be it on your Christmas table or year round as your Sunday roast. And even in the largest households it will last for days. Ham has a distinct and wonderful flavour that will happily go with almost anything: cheese, carbs, vegetables, fruits, other meats and even fish. Here’s how to prepare one with a selection of homemade glazes.

How to make chutneys, jams and cordials for Christmas gifts: For the meat 1 cured ham (5-7kg), soaked for a few hours 500ml water Glaze recipe of choice300g fresh pain d’épices breadcrumbs

Honey glaze 100ml water 100ml orange juice 100ml clear honey 100g light muscovado sugar Spice glaze 200ml water 200g dark muscovado sugar 10g fresh ginger 5g cinnamon stick, crushed 5g star anise, crushed 5g cloves, crushed 5g fennel seeds, crushed Treacle glaze 100g light muscovado sugar 100ml treacle 100ml golden syrup 100ml water Citrus glaze 100ml orange juice 100ml lemon juice 100ml lime juice 100ml water 100g light muscovado sugar Apple glaze 200ml apple juice 200ml cider 100ml water 100g light muscovado sugar Raisin glaze 100g seedless raisins 100ml Pedro Ximenez sherry 100ml water

100ml clear honey 100g light muscovado sugar 1 Put all the glaze ingredients into a pan and bring to a simmer, remove from the heat, and blend to a smooth paste. Preheat the oven to

160C/325F/gas mark 3.

2 Roast the ham in a tray containing 300ml water for around 20 minutes.

3 Remove from the oven and peel off the skin. Pour half the glaze recipe over the ham, return it to the

oven and roast for a further 45 minutes per kilo.

4 Halfway through, remove from the oven and pour the other half of the glaze over the top and coat generously with the breadcrumbs.

5 When the time is up, remove from the oven and transfer the ham to a clean dish to rest for 30 minutes.

6 Drain the glaze from the roasting tray, pass it through a fine sieve before serving alongside the ham.

Hangover Cures Put To The Test

2016 a time of bright new horizons. Of endless possibilities and optimism.

Of waking up thinking “I WANT TO DIE”.

Fortunately, ‘tis also the season for companies to market too-good-to-be-true hangover cures, so you can now buy powders, potions and ludicrous meat-based products that spuriously claim to stop you feeling like death warmed up.

Could they be true? Might this be the year that you can tank NYE bubbly and wake up without feeling like

someone’s angle-grinding your cerebral cortex? There was only one way to find out: getting horribly, horribly drunk five nights in a row. The Pulitzer is no doubt in the post.

Ohayo The theory: drink the contents of this squat bottle just before bed and apparently its B-vitamins and electrolytes will see you “wake up happy”. Which is hopefully less euphemistic than it sounds.

The test: 16.5 units (one and two-thirds bottles of

sauvignon blanc).

Mitigating factors: Had eaten an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet eight hours beforehand.

Verdict: This stuff is foul.

It tastes like salty Calpol.

Or rancid Lucozade. I slug back the vile saline gloop before switching off the lights, feeling very pleased at having remembered to do so – this drink’s main flaw being a requirement to exercise your memory at the height of your drunken fecklessness (hence a peel-off label you stick to

your phone as a reminder).

As I drift off, my intestines are thrumming like a tumble-dryer hose. This does not bode well. But the next morning, I actually feel pretty decent – moderately befuddled, granted, but what’s new?

Not bad going given that the night before I’d drunk white wine until blacking out. So, apparently this stuff is pretty damned good. Well, either that or it’s the six-course Chinese buffet I ate for lunch. One of the two. 4/5

Prime The theory: Pour a sachet of powder into water, then drink before boozing (and every four hours during) to fill your body with electrolytes, B vitamins and “a unique amino acid complex that helps your liver remove toxins”.

The test: 18.88 units (Three craft lagers, six double G&Ts).

Mitigating factors: There was a finger buffet.

Verdict: Prior to heading out, I pour the powdery contents of a sachet into a glass of water and wind up with a milky-blue beverage that smells like something you’d scour a bath with.

Skip forward a couple of hours and I’m repeating the experience every four drinks while my baffled friends are asking things like: “Why are you drinking mouthwash?” The next morning my head pounds like techno.

Bright lights shrivel me like a slug under salt. I reread the instructions: “In your possession, you have a life-changing hangoverpreventing supplement,” claims a note from its CEO Marlo Miller. “Sod off, Mr Miller,” I think, with the kind of bitter resentment a truly minging hangover inspires.

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Why Spices Could Make Your New Year Diet Easier January means a collective belt-tightening, which after a greedier December than usual I’m finding easier said than done.

The problem is that after all that delicious piggery, diet food is just a bit dull.

It’s not surprising really – flavour is carried better by foods that have fat or sugar in them, which coat the palate more than unadulterated, less fattening ingredients.

The answer, according to Kalpna Woolf, is to amp up the taste with spice. The former BBC producer has just published Spice Yourself Slim, a book of less-than500-calorie recipes that pack a powerful flavour punch.

Dishes like Middle Eastern Egg Stack, CuminInfused Candy Beetroot and Puy Lentil Salad, Keralan Masala Fish with Spinach and Pomegranate Raita, and Hanoi Hotpot, along with sweet treats including Sticky and Spicy Pineapple and Banana with Cinnamon, sound ridiculously tempting – so it's just as well many serve two or four. For Woolf, cooking “is all about sharing food and not having to eat differently from your

Food & Drink

Friday 8th January 2016

family and friends" - so not sitting miserably in a corner with a salad while everyone else tucks into a roast.

Her mission is to make food that wallops the tastebuds with so much complexity and depth that eaters feel satisfied with smaller portions and less of the naughty triumvirate of fat-sugarcarbs

(and yes, I know that fat is now recognised not to be evil, but double helpings of cream and deep frying on the daily menu won’t keep you svelte).

Skinny spice: how Indian food got healthy As well as counting calories, Woolf is following in a

long tradition of using spices for their positive health benefits. Ayurveda, the 5000 year old Indian medical system, advocates use of a battery of spices, including nutmeg to help you sleep and black pepper to improve brain function. Chinese medicine recommends spices including cinnamon to boost circulation and ging e r

to ease digestion. It also advocates star anise to treat flu – echoed in modern medicine, where an extract of star anise is used to make the anti-viral flu treatment Tamiflu, the drug stockpiled but the Government to treat the threatened epidemic of bird flu back in 2005.

The scientific evidence that spices have beneficial, medicinal qualities is not hard and fast, whatever a quick Google of gushing websites will tell you. But don’t dismiss it. The reality is that it is nigh on impossible to accurately track the diets of the large numbers of disparate people, necessary for what the boffins call “a double blind randomised controlled study” – the gold standard of scientific research. But alongside the anecdotal evidence of centuries of tradition, there are plenty of academic studies that suggest that spices are, indeed good for us, with benefits including lowering blood pressure, fighting diabetes, and fending off

Alzheimer’s Disease.

And even without proof, there’s no arguing with the fact that spice makes simple, healthy food taste fantastic. So bring on the cumin, the coriander and the cardamom: it’s time to spice up January.

Spice of life: Chillies - studies show that chillies act as an appetite suppressant, meaning you’ll eat less, as well as raising the metabolism so you’ll burn fat more quickly.

If spicy-hot food isn’t your thing, try mixing chilli paste with yoghurt for a gentler kick.

Turmeric – There’s lots of evidence that curcumin, a constituent of turmeric, is an effective anti-inflammatory, as well as fighting Alzheimer’s Disease. Add to rice for a vibrant yellow effect or make a “tea” by steeping chopped fresh turmeric root (available from Indian grocers) in hot water.

Cardamom – the essential oil fights inflammation and cancer. Ground cardamom is a shadow of the whole spice, so extracting the sticky black seeds from the papery pods and smash them in a pestle and mortar. Add to sweet dishes like baked bananas or use in a rub for grilled chicken.

Fenugreek – like cinnamon, it has been shown to reduce blood glucose levels particularly beneficial for non-insulin dependent diabetics. Steep a teaspoon of the whole spice in hot water for a tea, or grind and add to a lentil soup.

Cumin – with antibacterial qualities, cumin also seems to improve the ratio of good to bad (HDL to LDL) cholesterol in the blood. Heat the whole seeds in a dry frying pan until fragrant then scatter over roasted vegetable salads for texture and flavour, or mix with tomato puree and garlic for a quick sauce for chicken or lamb.

Easy Prosecco Cocktails

These refreshing prosecco cocktails are perfect for all year round and best of all, you can make them with storecupboard staples.

Lemon Sherbet Fizz A mouthwatering, lipsmacking, tangy citrus froth. Pop one heaped teaspoon of lemon sorbet into the bottom of a tall flute and dash a few drops of lime cordial over it Top up with cold prosecco, stir quickly but gently, garnish with a slim quarter of a lemon slice and serve.

Bloody Buck’s Fizz A new take on a brunch-time classic, and delicious with scrambled eggs and smoked salmon. Squeeze and strain the red juice of one ripe blood orange and pour 50ml into a tall flute.Top up with ice-cold prosecco Optional garnish: a few tiny redcurrants bobbing about on the surface.

English Garden Pour 20ml elderflower cordial and 20ml gin (I like Hendricks for its cucumber and rosewater notes here) into your flute and fill the glass with ice-cold prosecco Decorate with a tiny topsprig of fresh mint.

Canada Flag Fizz The sweetness of maple syrup and the tang of cranberry combine well here - serve in a flute if you prefer but this is meant to be unconventional…

Shake 2 teaspoons of maple syrup over ice with 50ml chilled cranberry juice in a cocktail shaker.

Strain into a tumbler and top up with 100ml cold prosecco. Stir swiftly and serve.

Blushing Bellini This is a lovely rubyred hue and has sweet cassis depths.

Shake 20ml freshly squeezed pomegranate juice, 20ml crème de cassis and 20ml plain vodka with ice in a cocktail shaker and strain into a tall slender glass.

Top up with 100ml chilled prosecco.

Sorrento Sparkle Combines two of Italy’s most popular drinks: the gorgeous lemon liqueur of the Amalfi coast and the fizz of the Veneto.

Bellissimo! Dash 30ml cold limoncello liqueur into a champagne flute and top up with ice-cold prosecco. Dangle a very thin twist of lemon zest over one edge of the glass, if you like.

Green Ginger Fizz I love the flavours of lime, ginger and crisp prosecco together - this is really refreshing.

Pour 25ml ginger syrup from a jar of stem ginger or 25ml ginger wine/ginger liqueur into a Champagne flute and add the juice of half a ripe lime. Top up with icecold prosecco, stir very briefly and garnish with slim, small half-slice of lime.

Food & Drink

Friday 8th January 2016

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Friday 8th January 2016

DVD’S Hitman: Agent 47

The Costa Blanca´s Biggest and Best Live Local radio station - TKO fm - are currently looking for RADIO PRESENTERS to enhance their current rosta.

If you think that you have a voice that people will listen to – and have what it takes to Plan - Produce and Present a structured, informative and entertaining 2 or 3 hour live show within pre set musical guidelines - to a discerning target audience – then get in touch.

You may have had previous experience – or maybe you are just thinking that it is something you would like to do.

Either way – in the first instance send a 2 minute mp3 file showing off your voice and presenting talents and style to tkomedia2015@gmail.com with a brief covering note explaining why you think you should be On Air !

Remember, experience is not required if you are the right person for the job and all applications will be treated in the strictest of confidence – but those without the required mp3 file will not be considered, so get recording. Your radio future is waiting.

BOX OFFICE

TOP 10 Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) Daddy's Home (2015) Joy (2015) Sisters (2015) Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015) Concussion (2015) The Big Short (2015) Point Break (2015) The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015) The Hateful Eight (2015)

Shaun The Sheep The Movie

DIRECTOR Richard Starzack, Mark Burton GENRE Animation, Children SYNOPSIS A sheep plans to take a day off and ends up having an adventure in the Big City RELEASE DATE 06-022015 DURATION 85 min RATING U

Apart from the animals walking on their hind legs and everything being made of Plasticine, the world of Shaun the Sheep the Movie looks startlingly familiar. In their last two films, Arthur Christmas and The Pirates!

In an Adventure with Scientists, Aardman Animations whisked us to the North Pole, the South Seas and through every last cranny and turret of Victorian London, but here, the endlessly cherishable studio comes down to earth with a joyfully silly bump.

Aardman’s latest picture – perhaps the studio’s purest, and most purely charming, since The Wrong Trousers in 1993 – takes place in an instantly recognisable present-day Britain, with the fingerprints and scuff marks intact. It’s a land of market squares and charity shops, bus stations and café lattes, beards, Internet memes and songs by M People. A place

where a farmer can stumble into a hairdressing salon wearing thick glasses, a grass-stained T-shirt and hospital-issue pyjama bottoms and be mistaken for a hipster style icon. A place where the punchline "baabaa-shop quartet" doesn’t even have to be spelt out: once you’ve shown four sheep singing close-harmony a cappella, the audience can be trusted to work it out for themselves. In short: it’s home.

Chances are, you’ll probably also recognise the star.

Shaun’s first screen appearance came in 1995’s A Close Shave, when Wallace and Gromit, the studio’s de facto mascots, rescued him and his flock from being turned into dog food. Since then, the sidekick has eclipsed his saviours: the broadcasting rights to the Shaun the Sheep television series that followed have been sold to 170 countries, while his woolly merchandise gambols off toy shop shelves everywhere from Japan to Qatar. This feature-length version has been certified "Universal" by the BBFC, and seldom has that judgment seemed quite so on the money. There can’t be a child in the world who won’t adore this.

As in the series, there’s no spoken dialogue, with the

voice cast providing nothing more than mutters, bleats, and the occasional woof. And the plot – Shaun and his flock scour The Big City for their suddenly amnesiac farmer – is the kind of thing that could have been comfortably covered in a short.

But like the classic silent features from which the film proudly and openly takes its cue, Shaun the Sheep isn’t a piece of long-form storytelling, but a runaway steamtrain of moments, each one self-contained but coupled to the rest, and barrelling forwards on collective crackpot momentum.

Mark Burton and Richard Starzak, who co-wrote and directed, understand there’s more to silent comedy than not having their characters talk. There’s an effectively perfect scene in a haute cuisine restaurant, in which the sheep try to pass themselves off as human diners of some taste and discernment, that uses looks and gestures – some dazzlingly subtle, others howlingly not so – to tickle the same neglected folds of your brain and gut as similar bits performed by Chaplin, Keaton, and Laurel and Hardy.

This is the kind of stuff that has been, and will be, funny forever – built on eternal human fears and foibles that,

whatever your age, make complete and hilarious sense. When we’re in polite company, none of us wants to be rumbled as a sheep in a dress.

A mountingly surreal sequence in which Bitzer, the no-nonsense farm sheepdog, finds himself in a hospital and is mistaken for a surgeon, matches it for teetering, Jenga-tower daftness, and if the film never quite scales the heights of these two episodes again, it makes repeated, honest goes of it.

What makes all this silliness seem to matter isn’t plot, but weight. Aardman’s characters, lovingly moulded from modelling clay and wool, exist in a place that hand-drawn and CGI animated creations don’t, right on the balancing point between sight and touch. The visible fingerprints on their faces and limbs just make you want to add more of your own.

If The Pirates! was blockbuster Aardman, this feels looser, scrappier, more home-made, though it probably took hours of painstaking labour to make it look that way. The wonder of stopmotion is the mountain of effort required to achieve even the smallest movement.

The charm of Shaun the Sheep is that you don’t notice it for a moment.

new James Bond film SPECTRE, shortly after our hero (Daniel Craig) has done away with a villain in creatively gruesome style during a railway journey across the Sahara.

Of course, everyone in the cinema knows the answer – as, you suspect, does

Madeleine, who, less than 24 hours after meeting cinema’s premier secret agent at a snow-swathed clinic in the Austrian Alps, has jumped continents to Morocco, boarded the Tangier to Marrakesh sleeper, slipped into an ivory cocktail gown, repaired to

the dining car for a Martini and shot a couple of bad guys in the head for good measure. A Bond film’s rules might be predictable, but you can’t help but fall in step. An impossibly glamorous love scene isn’t just a good idea; it’s virtually mandated by the cosmos.

Spectre Review:

This is pure flamboyance from Sam Mendes as the 24th movie of the James Bond franchise combines hold-your-breath action and ghosts of 007 past, says Robbie Collin “What do we do now?” wonders Madeleine Swann, around halfway through the

HITMAN: AGENT 47 centers on an elite assassin who w a s genetically engineered f r o m conception to be the perfect killing machine, and is known only by the last two digits on the barcode tattooed on the back of his neck. Teaming up with a young woman who may hold the secret to overcoming their powerful and clandestine enemies, 47 confronts stunning revelations about his own origins and squares off in an epic battle with his deadliest foe.

Mistress America In MISTRESS AMERICA, Tracy (Lola Kirke) is a lonely college freshman in N e w Yo r k , having neither t h e exciting university experience nor the glamorous metropolitan lifestyle she envisioned.

But when she is taken in by her soon-to-be stepsister, Brooke (Greta Gerwig) – a resident of Times Square and adventurous gal about town – she is rescued from her disappointment and seduced by Brooke's alluringly mad schemes.

Best of Enemies In 1968, ideological opposites William F. Buckley Jr. and Gore Vidal hold a series of riveting, nationally televised debates t h a t usher in a new era of public d i s course and pundit TV.

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Friday 8th January 2016

A New Year For Hello everybody from TKO Teddy and a very Happy New Year to you all, and I hope that the Three Kings brought you exactly what you wanted this week!

I was told by them that I’ve been a very well behaved bear over the last year in giving up a lot of my time visiting loads of nice people right across the area, and so they brought me a box of double-sized jars of honey.

How good is that?

So, I have a nice clean diary ready to go for2016 to put my paw and honey marks in with lots of dates to put in to visit to businesses, charities, and events across the Costa Blanca and Mar Menor. So don’t forget that if you want me to pay you a visit this year, then contact me via Facebook and my special page, TKO Teddy.

My phone number is 664 315 470 or via e-mail tkoteddy@tko.media

90.8fm & 91.9fm Listen Live Tko.fm

Gifts Aplenty The Three Kings had their night of the year on Tuesday as Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar led parades across the area, and handed out presents to all the children. When December comes, all the boys and girls in Spain start to write their letters to Kings, and if they’ve been good, they get presents, and traditions says that if they’ve been bad, they get a piece of coal!

Their Majesties travel by camel and due to the fact that they come from the East, they take a long time to arrive to Spain. Once they got here, they visited all the cities and villages, and lis-

tened to the kids' requests, after a spectacular parade.

The Kings certainly made some spectacular entrances as well, like their arrival by boat at San Pedro del Pinatar to lead the procession. There was also a sea arrival for the Magi in Torrevieja as they landed to a rapturous greeting at the port ahead of their journey to the Plaza de la Constitucion.

Guardamar has a reputation for one of the grandest Three Kings parades in the region, and the Magi certainly got an elevated view of the streets, with one of them having plenty of gold on his float!

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Friday 8th January 2016

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Friday 8th January 2016

RICHARD CAVENDER

Bluemoon Solutions www.bluemoonsolutions.es

BlueMoon Solutions is the computer and IT services company on the Costa Blanca, they provide quality computer services at realistic prices and specialise in working with home users and small businesses.

Richard moved to Spain eight years ago having left his management background behind in the UK and decided to use his IT skills to help home users and small businesses with their PC problems. Now a relaxed 'computer man' he is out and about in the Spanish sun every day, making house and shop calls and using his vast experience and qualifications to (usually) sort out the problem there and then. Computers are his hobby as well as his work so don’t be surprised to get an answer to your email in the early hours!

ADVICE: Bob wanted to know why his computer told him ADVICE: ADVICE: Jose was having issues installing Google Earth it was “cleaning up”

Q

Richard, all through Windows XP until W7 I am used to seeing messages "updating Windows 30%, 50% to !00%" do not switch off computer, but today after using Windows defrag yesterday when I started my PC I had this message "configuring updates" and am used to this but after the screen displayed the message "cleaning computer do not switch off". This was completely new. Can you tell me what it was cleaning? Bob

A

Hi Bob, all perfectly normal and expected, who know what decisions Microsoft make as to whether to show percentages or more “friendly” words but you can bet it was decided by committee! The message referring to cleaning is related to Windows 10 removing any temporary files created to install the update. Oh, just one other thing, you really don’t need to defrag your disk any more, its checked and done automatically for you by the operating system.

Q A

Hello Richard. I'm trying to install Google Earth but this message appeared "Failed to cache the downloaded installer. Error 0x80070020". What can I do? Jose

Hi Jose, try downloading it from here instead… http://earth.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=168344

Update: Thanks Richard, yet another success!

office@bluemoonsolutions.es www.bluemoonsolutions.es Mobile: 655 044 970

Office: 902 906 200

Don’t forget you can follow me on twitter @bluemoonspain Alternatively why don’t you sign up for my newsletter. You can do this by going to:www.bluemoonsolutions.es and fill in the form that is on any page except the front page.

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Health

Friday 8th January 2016

Adding Fluoride To Water Supply May Have No Benefit Critics call for end to scheme to prevent tooth decay in children, saying its effectiveness remains unproved

Water fluoridation has been in place in England for more than 40 years, and now covers about 6 million people. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls adding fluo-

ride to drinking water one of the 10 great public health achievements in the 20th century.

Public Health England (PHE) describes it as “a safe and effective public health

measure” to combat tooth decay in children and, alongside dentists’ groups, has called for it to be implemented more widely.

But health experts are calling for a moratorium on

water fluoridation, claiming that the benefits of such schemes, as opposed to those of topical fluoride (directly applied to the teeth), are unproved.

Furthermore, critics cite studies claiming to have identified a number of possible negative associations of fluoridation, including bone cancer in boys, bladder cancer, hyperthyroidism, hip fractures and lower IQ in children.

Stephen Peckham, director and professor of health policy at Kent University’s centre for health service studies, said: “Water fluoridation was implemented before statistics had been compiled on its safety or effectiveness. It was the only cannon shot they had in their armoury. It gets rolled out, becomes – in England – policy and then

you look for evidence to support it.

“The fat debate [whereby fat used to be the big enemy in food before that was revised] is an example of evidence getting built up to support a theory. It’s a dental health policy that’s got up a head of steam and people have been reluctant to see it criticised.

“You can’t really confidently say that water fluoridation is either safe or effective. There is a problem where the evidence is seen as either totally in favour or totally negative and it’s more murky than that.”

Earlier this year, the Cochrane collaboration, a respected not-for-profit organisation of 14,000 academics, reviewed the evidence but failed to settle the debate.

It said data indicated

fluoridation was effective in reducing tooth decay in children, but that the studies deemed admissible were nearly all pre-1975, and the estimated size of the positive effect was limited by their observational nature, high risk of bias and the applicability of the evidence to current lifestyles.

The experts also found a “significant association” between dental fluorosis (tooth staining) and fluoride level.

PHE said in 2014 it had found that as many as 45% fewer children aged one to four were admitted to hospital for tooth decay in areas where water is fluoridated than in those where it is not, but added that “potential problems with data quality means that this observation should be treated with caution”.

Frequent 999 Callers Cost NHS Millions Of Pounds A Year mbulance “frequent fliers” who make several 999 calls a year are costing the NHS in England millions of pounds, with experts concerned that some patients develop an unhealthy pattern of dependent behaviour on the service.

Though most callers have genuine unmet medical needs – few are malicious or

hoaxers – the scale of the problem becomes evident as hospital A&E departments get to grips with another winter of rising demands on services. Ambulance service leaders and local health commissioners are keen to focus increasingly tight budgets on patients at more imminent risk Among more extreme

cases reported by ambulance services are: A patient who called 999 more than 700 times in two years. The estimated costs to the ambulance service over a year was more than £110,000.

A patient who cost NHS England £10,000 in a month.

A patient who made 238 emergency calls over two months at a cost of nearly £40,000. The London ambulance service says each patient costs on average £7.81 per 999 call. To be further reviewed on the telephone by a clinician costs £64.59, to receive an ambulance and be treated at home is £155.30, and to receive an ambulance and be taken to hospital costs £254.57.

Frequent callers – a term preferred within 999 services to “fliers” – include people with chronic, often multiple conditions, mental health issues, high levels of anxiety, lack of confidence in managing their own problems, and people who feel socially isolated and may be seeking attention..

Frequent callers are defined nationally as people who make more than five calls in a month or 12 in three months, although figures provided by individual ambulance services are sometimes based on different definitions.

NHS clinical commissioning groups and ambulance services across England have embarked on a programme to change that behaviour. An experienced paramedic at the ambulance dispatch centre helps crews on the scene determine whether they should provide advice on the spot, refer the caller to other services or take them to hospital. This person also phones doctors at GP practices to discuss patients’ clinical conditions and support crews in considering alternatives to A&E. What I'm really thinking: the 999 operator. Louise Lumby, a GP involved in the scheme, said some frequent callers were genuinely very ill. She said: “Telling somebody off doesn’t change

behaviour. It is about finding the right service for that patient. I would like to think we have a much better patient journey to care on the back of the fact we have put support in.”

North West ambulance service identified 1,456 frequent callers in 2014-15.

“Some patients are unaware of what else to do, or who to ring for help, and although we cannot always provide the care they require, patients know that we will respond”, it said. “Several patients have unmet care needs, are lonely and may have multiple complex needs that necessitate a multidisciplinary approach to support their health and social care needs appropriately.“

Health Dr M. Mannu

37

Friday 8th January 2016

One In Three UK Doctors Born Abroad, Research Shows Contact@medb.es

Website: www.medb.es

More than 88,000 foreign-trained doctors are registered to work in Britain, including 22,758 from Europe

Britain relies more on foreign doctors than any major EU nation, international research shows.

More than a third of NHS doctors – some 35 per cent were born abroad, the report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reveals.

The figure puts Britain ahead of every other country in the European Union bar Luxembourg, and is three times that of Germany.

Perversely, the UK is also one of the highest exporters of doctors, the report reveals.

Critics attacked “revolving door” immigration policies which meant the UK has spent billions training medics who went abroad, only to rely on overseas labour to plug the gaps left. he UK is also among the most dependent on foreign nurses, the major report dis-

closes.

In total, 21.7pc �of nurses were born abroad – a sharp increase from a decade earlier when the figure was 15.2 per cent. Across the EU, only Luxembourg, Ireland and Estonia are more dependent on nurses from overseas.

The report shows that the UK saw the highest surge in the number of foreign-born doctors, with 34,000 more medics coming here from abroad.

Forty per cent of the growth in doctors and 65 per cent of nurses can be attributed to the import of foreign workers over the period, the OECD found.

In total, 35.4 per cent of doctors working here now were born overseas – compared with just 5 per cent in Italy, 10.7 per cent in Germany and 19.5 per cent in France, the statistics show.

Until June it was not legal for regulators to test the language skills of doctors if they came from within the European Economic Area.

The law was changed after concern over a string of cases, including that of a Nigerian GP who worked in Germany, and killed a British pensioner by giving him a massive dose of painkillers.

Earlier this month research found that hospitals with high numbers of foreignborn nurses get far worse ratings from patients.

The new study found that hospitals with the highest proportion of foreign nurses had the highest levels of patient dissatisfaction, with patients more likely to say they struggled to understand staff, and less likely to feel treated with dignity.

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said more need-

ed to be done to ensure that a heavily reliance on overseas labour did not jeopardise care.

She said: “We have heard from patients on our helpline that there can be real issues with some doctors and nurses from other countries; including problems with com-

munication and a lack of understanding of processes and procedures.

“Trusts and practices must make sure that overseas staff have the necessary support and training to be able to offer patients safe and effective care.”

The report shows the UK

is the second highest exporter of medics, second only to Germany, with 17,000 British doctors now working abroad.

Ms Murphy expressed concern about the number of British doctors choosing to work overseas, after undergoing training costing the taxpayer around £250,000 apiece.

“The debacle of the junior doctor contract negotiations has highlighted the level of discontent that many doctors now feel working in the NHS,” she said. “With services stretched and a shortage of staff, it is vital that the NHS holds onto these doctors.”

India and the Philippines were the largest exporters of doctors and nurses to OECD countries, by a “spectacular” margin, the study found.

The 2007 economic crisis fuelled migration of doctors and nurses from Eastern, Central and Southern Europe.

“They experienced considerable outflows of health workers at the end of the 2000s, most of whom headed for Germany and the United Kingdom,” the report said.

Is Your Joint Pain Worse This Winter?

During the winter months, joint aches and pains are a

common complaint at our clinic. The general assump-

tion is that joint problems are worse in winter due to the

cold and damp weather. And while there is some truth in the assumption, it does not tell the whole story.

Clinical Studies show that people who suffer from joint aches and pain in the winter months have much lower levels of vitamin D than the healthier population.

Although Vitamin D is regarded as a vitamin, in reality, vitamin D is a hormone and a very important one. Vitamin D is well-known for its role in bone and joint development and maintenance. However, what is not well-known is the important role vitamin D plays in regulating the immune system.

Our immune system not only protects us against infections from virus, bacteria and fungi but also pro-

tects us from allergies and autoimmune diseases.

Autoimmune diseases occur when the body starts producing antibodies that attack its tissues, and in our case, the joints and bones. Winter aches and pains occur primarily due to a dysfunctional immune system, which promotes chronic inflammation of the bones, joints and surrounding tissues.

The best source of Vitamin D is sunlight, and studies have shown that the quality of Vitamin D from sunlight is even superior to the best supplements. However, even in Sunnier Regions of Europe such as in Southern Spain, the body may not produce enough vitamin D from the sun as there is little skin exposure to sunlight

because of our winter clothing. Nevertheless, taking Vitamin D supplements may be the only solution for many people, living in colder and less sunny climes such as the UK and Ireland. Many of our patients at MedB clinic who suffer from joint pains mainly in the winter have reported pain relief since starting vitamin D supplements.

The recommended dose of the supplement should be between 4000 and 8,000 IU daily, and liquid vitamin D is preferable to tablets or capsules. You should take a lot less or cut it out completely during the summer season.

For a full body diagnostic scan Call MedB Clinic: 965071745, 966189074

38

Motoring

Friday 8th January 2016

Mercedes-Benz releases first pic of 2016 S-Class Cabriolet

Mercedes-Benz has released the first picture of its luxurious S-Class Cabriolet ahead of its official unveil at the Frankfurt motor show next month.

Pictured with its great grandfather, the S-Class droptop that was sold between 1961 and 1971, the new Cabriolet is set to go on sale in early 2016.

Rumoured to have the

largest ever folding fabric roof fitted to any production car, the Cabriolet is said to mimic the Coupe’s rakish profile with its roof in place.

The soft-top will incorporate a large glass rear window.

Initially, under the bonnet just two petrol engines are expected to be offered — a 335kW/700Nm 4.7-litre twin-turbo V8 that powers the S 500 and an even more

powerful 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8 with 430kW/900Nm that will power the sportier S 63 AMG. Later on the flagship S 65 AMG will arrive with an incredible 463kW/1000Nm generated from its mighty 6.0-litre twin-turbo V12.

As well as the big V12, Mercedes is also primed to offer all-wheel drive as an option on the S 500 for

some markets.

Like the Coupe, the Cabriolet will also come with an advanced suspension that tilts the big SClass into a bend like a motorcycle. The state-ofthe-art air suspension also uses cameras to scan the road ahead to alter the hydraulic dampers for the most comfortable ride possible.

Safety too has been a priority for the new convertible.

As well as what’s thought to be a pair of pyrotechnic roll hoops that pop up in the event of a rollover, the big Mercedes will come with autonomous braking plus semi-autonomous cruise control that can operate the steering and juggle the brakes and throttle up to 200km/h.

It’s not known how Mercedes Australia will price the big convertible when it goes on sale early next year but considering the S-Class Coupe starts from $319,000 for the S 500 and the range-topping V12engined S 65 AMG gives little change from $500,000, the Cabriolet could claim a premium of as much as $30,000 over the Coupe.

2016 Euro Car Of The Year Short List Revealed

From a long list of 40 potential European Cars of the Year, the judges have already binned 33 for not being quite special enough.

The winner will be announced on the eve of March 2016’s Geneva motor show.

Which one should your money be on? One word of warning: the car you might fancy seeing on your drive might not necessarily be the judges’ choice. The current Euro COTY is the Volkswagen Passat. The year before that it was the Peugeot 308. Just saying.

Audi A4 (four stars) Launched in the UK in November, Audi’s fifth-gen junior exec is larger than its predecessor. It offers more space in the heavily updated interior and exterior mods that are resale-pleasingly minor.

BMW 7 Series (four stars) Mercedes’s S-Class has traditionally ruled the full-

size executive class but the new 7 Series could give it a run for its (considerable) money. It has fresh sixcylinder petrol and diesel engines and the new option of a plug-in hybrid.

Jaguar XE (four and a

half stars) If you’re taking on the excellent BMW 3 Series, you’d better be ready.

Kudos to the smallest Jag then for being an entirely worthy competitor courtesy of its aluminium-heavy (and

therefore light) chassis and its new range of Ingenium diesel engines.

Mazda MX-5 (four and a half stars) Living up to an icon is never easy but Mazda has managed it with its latest

two-seater sportster. Most of the desirable MX-5 attributes of user-friendliness and driving purity have migrated across to the new car, which proves that you don't need to lay out big money to have big fun.

Vauxhall Astra (four stars) The last Astra was less than stellar but the new one is a good step forward with more cabin space despite being shorter than its Dad. Engines are more efficient too, the interior layout is much improved and the price is right.

Skoda Superb (four stars) The Superb combines an almost mystically huge cabin with smashing design, a cushy ride and excellent (not to mention cheap to run) engines. Not as daft a name as you might think.

Volvo XC90 (four stars) The latest version of this big Swedish SUV brings a genuinely premium feel to the class and easily outshines the old model.

Based on the platform used in the upcoming Volvo S90 executive car, it can be had in hybrid form offering headline CO2 figures of just 49g/km.

Motoring

39

Friday 8th January 2016

Bad Vibrations As Fiat Denies Design Fault With The 500

2016-Mercedes-Benz-Sclass-Convertible-41.jpg 2016-Mercedes-Benz-Sclass-Convertible42.jpgWhen Spencer Smart bought a brand new Fiat 500 convertible last year he was so pleased that shortly afterwards he told a friend it was the best car he had ever owned. But just a few months later, every time he drove above 40mph, the car’s steering wheel would start to vibrate badly. Soon the whole car was shaking so much when driven at speed that Smart, from Marazion, Cornwall, felt it was “no longer drivable”.

He asked an independent automotive engineer to examine the car which, by now, had 9,000 miles on the clock and was around nine months old.

Its condition, he argued, was neither “reasonable or acceptable” for its age, and said that he believed the problem was an inherent design issue that could not be fixed.

Fiat sent an engineer and compared it with other used 500 convertibles. It declared that the vibrations are a “characteristic” of the model. On that basis, it has refused to release him from

his finance agreement.

Smart says he has test driven other Fiat 500 convertibles – there are 15,000 on Britain’s roads – and while those with low mileage don’t vibrate, it’s at higher mileages the problem emerges.

The freelance marketing consultant says it “can be felt through the structure of the car including the seats, door panels, etc, although my main reference point is obviously the steering”.

It has also left him wondering whether consumer rights legislation in the UK is fit for purpose. The case

shows how difficult it can be for a consumer to get a large manufacturer to deal with you fairly if you think a vehicle has a significant design fault.

This is, however, not the first time Fiat has dismissed a problem with its retrolooking 500. In November 2014 BBC Watchdog revealed that models with the 1.2 litre petrol engine didn’t have sufficient power to get up steep hills. Top Gear’s former Stig was shown unable to get one up a hill in Bristol.

Fiat initially denied there was a problem, but after the

programme it said it would update the software on each one.

Smart bought the car in October 2014 on a finance agreement with Fiat. He paid £5,700 deposit followed by £149 a month for four years.

Six months later, at 6,000 miles, he first noticed the problem. Thinking it was an issue with the wheels he had them repeatedly checked, but the problem only got worse.

“I have driven four 500C convertibles of different ages and mileage at the dealer. The newest, with fewer than 600 miles on the clock, drove perfectly. Two cars with roughly 8,000 miles vibrated much the same as mine. A fourth, older 500C with 26,000 miles, was considerably worse. The Fiat engineer was present when I tried that car and mentioned it before I did.

“It’s such a shame as the car is great in every respect, and if you just drove around town – below 40mph – it wouldn’t be a problem,” he says.

Desperate to get a reasonable outcome he offered to accept a like-for-like

replacement of a same price 500 hard top, but Fiat would only offer a new lease deal on a cheaper model which, he says, would have left him several thousand pounds worse off.

“I’ve spent days dealing with this, as in garage visits, engineer visits, etc – and countless hours on phone calls, emails and general grumbling.

“It wouldn’t be acceptable if a customer bought a new TV that became unwatchable over time because of a design fault. So why should car manufacturers, selling £16,000 products, treat their customers any differently?” he asks.

Fiat declined to respond in regard to the allegations of a manufacturing design fault. It should be noted that few other drivers of this model have complained, publicly, at least.

However, Fiat has agreed to replace his car with a hardtop Fiat Abarth, on the same terms, which is all he wanted in the first place.

“We recognise that Mr Smart is a loyal Fiat customer and are pleased that this issue has been resolved to his satisfaction,” says a spokeswoman.

Top Gear's 'Reasonably Priced Car' Up For Sale On EBay You can follow in the footsteps of Olly Murs and Ron Howard by buying Top Gear's Vauxhall Astra

Top Gear's 'Reasonably Priced Car' will be sold on eBay, giving fans of the show the chance to own the raceready Vauxhall Astra.

The Ellesmere Port-built hatchback is the latest star to leave the hit BBC series, after the departure of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May to a new motoring series on Amazon.

Chris Evans and two asyet-unnamed presenters will fill the gap left by the popular threesome, but the Reasonably Priced Car will not be joining them.

The Vauxhall Astra was taken round the Top Gear track at Dunsfold Park,

Surrey, by a host of A-list celebrities during the most recent series, and comes equipped with a roll cage in case the 'Stars in the Reasonably Priced Car' lost control.

The car, which is being auctioned on eBay to raise money for automotive industry charity, BEN, is not road legal because the airbags have been disabled to make way for the roll cage.

However, it does come with just 2,908 miles on the clock and extras such as a sat-nav system, a leathercovered steering wheel, Bluetooth connectivity and six sprakers. There is also

racing seats and a 17-alloy wheels to give the car a racing feel.

Previous drivers include Olly Murs, who topped the leader board of lap times, Ron Howard, Jimmy Carr, Warwick Davis and singers Brian Johnson, Joss Stone and James Blunt.

“David Main, BEN Chief Executive, said: “We are reliant on the generosity of our supporters to enable us to continue our work helping people who work within the UK automotive industry, so we are very grateful to Vauxhall Motors for this kind donation of a piece of history for a great cause.”

40

Friday 8th January 2016

Changes to Spanish Traffic Laws - 2016

Whilst renewing many of the older traffic laws in order to adapt to the modern world, Spain is also undergoing changes to legislation to meet the requirements of the European Union and help create a standardised road network across the continent.

These changes are constantly being developed and adapted and, although many of them are aimed at creating safer roads, some of them are questionable, although are to become mandatory in the New Year along with others.

One of the changes that

is causing most concern is that of pillion passengers on mopeds. From January, moped riders who qualify for the AM licence for mopeds are permitted to carry passengers, so long as the vehicle is adapted thereof.

This new rule is regardless of the age of the rider. Prior to this change, in Spain children under 18 were not permitted to carry passengers.

The BTP category will be removed from licences and is absorbed within other categories, so there is no longer a special requirement for drivers of emergency vehicles, taxis or

school bus, other than the standard requirements.

So called “Mega-Trucks� up to 60 tonnes in weight and 25.25 metres in length are now permitted on the roads of Spain. This authorises trucks with more than six axles to travel through the road network, although special authority must be obtained so that the impact on road safety can be assessed. The idea is reducing transportation costs and, subsequently, passing savings onto consumers.

Sufferers of sleep apnea will no longer be automati-

cally banned from driving, so long as the medical condition is certifiably under control by a medical professional.

In the event of death from a road traffic incident, the costs associated with medical examinations and autopsies will be covered by the government, which is hoped to provide better investigate resources in the event of a major incident.

There are many other laws set to change which are detailed in the eBook, The New Rules of the Road, available from the website, n332.es/ebook.

New Scam Warning

A warning has been issued regarding a new scam warning that is being spread through social networks around the globe.

The instigator of the scam places a cash note on the windscreen of the car, affixed by the windscreen wipers.

The idea is that once inside the vehicle, the driver will see the note and, thinking that their luck has just come in, exit the car in order to retrieve their booty.

At this point, with the engine still running, the scammer would rush into the vehicle and drive off, leaving the victim holding a note, which is actually a

fake.

Although there are currently no reported cases of this happening in Spain, it is only a matter of time before somebody attempts it, and succeeds.

The advice is always to check around the vehicle before you enter it, not only looking for things placed on your windscreen or back window, but also checking for obvious damage and that your tyres are inflated.

By the way, it is highly unlikely that anybody would leave money for you in this way, so if you do see such an occurrence, don´t build your hopes up and stay alert.

41

Friday 8th January 2016

Road Markings and Lines Road markings are there to serve as a means of separation for traffic, but they also provide the driver with information about the type of road and potential risks ahead.

Continuous White Lines A continuous white line on the road means that no vehicle is allowed to cross that line. A longitudinal mark consisting of two continuous lines has the same meaning. You are not allowed to cross the solid white line for any reason, such as turning into another road or overtaking. The only exception is in order to pass a cyclist, giving the minimum distance, and only when no other vehicles are approaching and only when it is safe to do so.

Stop Line A solid line arranged across the width of one or more lanes indicates that vehicles must not cross that line unless the obligations of the road are complied with. If there is an octagonal “Stop� sign for example, or if the words are written on the road, then the vehicle must stop and give way to traffic on the main road. In the event of the line being located at traffic lights or pedestrian crossings then the obligations of the driver to stop are as per the rules relating to those signs or signals.

In the event of your vehicle being a motorcycle, the rider must put a foot down on the ground in order to ensure that the vehicle has stopped correctly.

lane.

Lane Arrow An arrow within the confines of a lane indicates that every vehicle must follow the direction indicated by the arrow. If your intention is to continue in a direction other than where the arrow points you must instigate the necessary safe procedure to move into the correct lane.

Double arrows, such as those on motorways at junctions, indicate that the lane may be used by vehicle continuing in the direction of the main carriageway, and those preparing to exit.

An arrow at the approach to the end of a lane indicates that another move needs to be correctly initiated in order to leave the lane.

A curved arrow situated between the spaces of the central white lines moving from the left of that line to the right, indicates the approach to a section of road where a continuous white line separates traffic and therefore vehicles such as those overtaking must return to their correct lane as soon as it is safe.

Other Markings The letters P and N indicates the proximity of a level crossing.

Broken White Lines A broken white line is intended to guide the movement of vehicles within lanes and no vehicle should cross that line unless it is necessary and the flow of traffic permits it.

You are permitted to cross the broken white line in order to carry out a manoeuvre such as overtaking, so long as the way is clear, you don´t impede the movement of other vehicles. You must avoid the manoeuvre if you will not have time to return to your lane safely and before any other markings.

Broken white lines are also used to indicate the approach to hazardous areas and locations. In the event of the gap between the lines is shorter than normal, it indicates an area more hazardous than usual. These lines are also often wider.

Broken white lines are also used to indicate a special lane for certain types of vehicles, in this case the lines are significantly wider than in the general case.

Give Way Line A broken line across one or more lanes indicates that, except in unusual circumstances that reduce visibility, no vehicle may cross that line until the way is clear and they have given way to vehicles on the main road. These marking may also be used at crossings, in which case the traffic lights and general rules of the road must also be adhered to.

Other areas may be identified as being for a particular type of vehicle, such as buses or taxis, or priority lanes for vehicles with higher occupancy. Parking may be indicated in some areas by means of working on the road and may indicate restrictions such as being reserved only for use by scooters.

Chevrons An area marked by parallel oblique stripes framed by a continuous line indicate an area where no vehicle is permitted in that zone, except when forced to do so.

An area indicated by parallel oblique stripes framed by a dashed line has the same meaning, although vehicles are permitted to use this area in the event of needing to in order to carry out a manoeuvre that does not represent any danger.

Yellow Zigzags Locations marked with yellow zigzag markings indicate zones where parking is generally prohibited as the area is reserved for special purposes which require the area to be kept clear.

Continuous Yellow Lines

Pedestrian Crossing A series of wide-width lines arranged in parallel to the axis of the road and forming a transverse set to the same band, indicate a pedestrian crossing, where drivers of vehicles must allow pedestrians to cross.

A solid yellow line at the curb or at the edge of the road means that the stopping and parking are prohibited or subject to any temporary restriction, as indicated by signs along the entire length of the line and on the side in which it is located.

Discontinuous Yellow Lines

Cycle Crossing

Double Solid Lines Double solid lines have the same obligation as single lines, in that no vehicle is allowed to cross that line. Double lines are also used on reversible lanes or when traffic flows in both directions.

In the event of one side of the double line being broken, vehicles on that side of the lane are allowed to cross the line if necessary, but vehicles on the side of the lane where the line is solid are not permitted to cross. This does not prevent vehicles which have been carrying out an overtaking manoeuvre to return to their own lane however.

The lines marking the edges of the road and parking areas are not considered longitudinal markings.

A cross consisting of two parallel dashed lines on the roadway indicates a pathway crossing for cyclists.

Cycles may be ridden over crossings designated as for their use. Cycles may NOT be ridden across pedestrian crossings.

Give Way A triangle marked on the roadway indicates the obligation at the next intersection to give way to other vehicles. If the symbol appears within a single lane, the obligations are only for vehicles in that lane.

A broken yellow line on the curb or at the edge of the road means that parking is prohibited or subject to any temporal restriction, as indicated by signs along the entire length of the line and on the side in which it is located.

Yellow Grids A yellow grid indicates an area where vehicles must not stop unless the exit route from the grid is clear and the only thing preventing the vehicle from continuing is oncoming traffic. If you think that your vehicle will stop and block the area marked out by the box junction, you must not enter the area.

Stop The <stop> symbol, marked on the road, indicating the driver required to stop the vehicle at or near the stop line or, if it does not exist, just before the road to which the vehicle is approaching and give way to vehicles on that road. When the symbol is placed within a lane, the obligation only refers to vehicles in that lane.

Speed Limit Sign In the event of a speed limit being printed on the road, usually by means of numbers within a circle, no vehicle may exceed the speed in kilometres per hour. If the figure is located within a lane, the prohibition only applies to that

Blue Line Blue lines indicate areas where parking is permitted, and indicates that, at certain times of day, a fee may be payable.

42

Classifieds

Friday 8th January 2016 ALARMS

CLEANERS

CATERING

HAIRDRESSERS

STRIP A GRAM

REMOVALS

PLUMBER

CAR BREAKERS

DRAINAGE

SECOND HAND

SWIMMING POOL SERVICES

AUTO ELECTRICIAN

SWIMMING POOL SERVICES

SITUATIONS VACANT RADIO COSTA MEDIA needs self-employed salesperson for Torrevieja – Orihuela Costa and surrounding areas. For more info call 685 901 265 or email info@radiocosta.eu

SERVICES Gardening, property maintenance, translations, cheap rates call David 722521654.

CHURCH SERVICES Torrevieja Christian Fellowship at Avenida de las Cortes Valencianas 68, Torrevieja 03183, all welcome to their friendly and lively 10.30 am. Service each Sunday morning.

They will not be holding the Wednesday night meeting at 6.00 pm. For further

SURVEYOR

information and/or directions please telephone 966700391 or visit our website on www.tcf-spain.org.

International Christian Assembly, Calle Pilar de Horadada 5, Torrevieja.

Evangelical non-denominational church. Sunday services 11am. Children's church 11am. House groups in Torrevieja, Los Balcones, San Javier.

Ladies meeting Thursdays 11am.

Craft club.Craft club, Tuesdays, 2pm.

Pastor, Rafael Restrepo.Call 966 799 273 or 660 127 276

TUITION Guitar lessons for beginners, as well as improvers.

Provide an insight into most musical styles. From 10€ per hour. Call Peter Now on 966789612 or 629975378.

QUIZ MASTER Experienced quiz-master /question setter with personality If you would like a quiz master that is interesting and entertaining, questions that are challenging yet not too difficult so as to be ungettable available to host quiz nights in local bars. Tel: 664 838 581.

ALCOHOLICS

43

Friday 8th January 2016 Friday 30th October 2015

Ryder Cup Hero Dies

Christy O'Connor Jnr died suddenly this week in Tenerife at the age of 67. The Irishman helped Europe retain the Ryder Cup at the Belfry in 1989 when his twoiron approach at the last

sealed a singles win over Fred Couples.

O'Connor won four European Tour titles including his Irish Open triumph at Woodbrook in 1975. That victory helped secure a Ryder

Cup spot that year and he played in the competition again 14 years later. The Galway man won two Senior British Open titles and also earned victories on the Champions Tour in the US. His legendary uncle Christy O'Connor Snr, who is now 91, played in 10 Ryder Cups and came close to winning the Open Championship on a couple of occasions.

O'Connor Jnr passed away in his sleep while on holiday with his wife Ann in Tenerife.

He was a controversial omission from the Ryder Cup

team in 1985 after narrowly missing out on automatic selection.

However, European captain Tony Jacklin selected the then 41year-old Irishman as one of his wild card picks in 1989

and the skipper's decision was vindicated by O'Connor's vital singles win over Couples.

His fourth and final European Tour triumph came at the British Masters at

Woburn in 1992 and a successful Senior Tour career followed on both sides of the Atlantic. O'Connor also forged a career as a golf course architect with over 30 projects throughout Europe.

Torry’s English Pocket Rocket!

21-year old Birminghamborn striker Lewis Allen is making all the headlines for CD Torrevieja, having scored five goals in his last four matches with the team’s season showing signs of a dramatic turnaround. Lewis, who lives in Pilar de la

Horadada, is in red hot form and despite being five foot six inches tall, he’s giving defenders throughout the Valencian region a thorough going over, and he’s given The Courier an exclusive glimpse into his career so fair, with hopefully much

Player Of The Year Wayne Rooney has been named England Player of the Year for 2015, retaining the title he won in 2014.

The Manchester United forward earned 37% of the votes cast by members of the England Supporters Club and has now won it four times.

England captain Rooney, 30, scored five goals last year, overtaking Sir Bobby

Charlton as England's record goalscorer during Euro 2016 qualification.

Stoke City goalkeeper Jack Butland was voted Under-21 Player of the Year.

In the vote for the senior player of the year, Spurs striker Harry Kane was runner-up with 30% and Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart in third place with 19%.

more to come!!

"I started playing soccer at a very young age, basically when I started to walk. My brother played football and I would go to every training session and run around the pitch with a ball at my feet. At the age of five, I started playing properly in league football, making a good start and always scoring goals .If I did not score in a game, I would get annoyed with myself!

From around seven, I always played with boys a year older than me as the manager believed I was talented enough to that, getting interest from Midland sides like Stoke, Port Vale and Walsall.

I scored a goal all the way from the half-way line aged eight in the final of a tournament, watched by a Manchester United scout who got me to go on trial there. Everything went well at Old Trafford and they wanted to sign me, but that year was the year I moved out here to Spain, and my life changed.”

“We moved over here in 2004. It it all started because my Aunty moved out here and my dad come over to visit her and he asked us if we wanted to move out to

Spain and we all said yes! I settled in very well at school and there were some English boys that helped me at the start but I learned Spanish very quickly and made many Spanish friends.

I started playing here at my home town side of Pilar de la Horadada and the local Charlton Athletic team, where I scored 99 goals in Alevins and missed out on winning the League against Torrevieja CF.” “Aged 15, I signed for the Elche-based Torrellano Illice who played in the highest league for under-16s, taking on the likes of Valencia and Villarreal. I finished as the league’s top scorer and was voted the best striker. That season was great for me and I was training with the Torrellano Illice first team who were playing in the third division alongside teams like CD Torrevieja.”

“The following year I had trials at Newcastle United but things didn’t work out the way I had hoped, and I was gutted when they said I was a bit too small to be a striker.

I was unhappy and just felt as I wasn’t good enough, but that’s life and I returned to Spain as a 17-year-old.

Fortunately, my current boss at Torrevieja, Pedreno, took me on at UD Horadada and I started playing men’s football at a young age, starting every game the year after. I signed my first three year contract at Elche C.F. playing in the highest league for the under-18’s. After turning 19, I was playing football again with Elche combined with Santa Pola who were in the Preferente group 4 (one below Torry). I also finished top goal scorer in the team and finished the eight highest goal scorer in the league overall, which was very good as I was the youngest striker in the league!”

“I then had a stroke of bad luck trying to get my foot in back in the UK, as the under21’s manager at Brentford said that he wanted to sign me after some trials, but it never happened as they sacked him, and he was my main backer! I just felt that football wasn’t going to be my thing and that I never had any good luck. I felt like giving up but I listened to my girlfriend and my parents telling me to never give up on your dreams, and so I trained harder and harder the following summer, under

I got a call from my old boss, Pedreno, who told me that he wanted to sign me for his new club, CD Torrevieja in the third division. I knew that Torry was a club that has always been close to getting promoted to the 2b division and I thought it was a great opportunity to keep following my dreams to be a professional footballer.”

“At the start of this season, I wasn’t getting picked for the team but I carried on training hard to try to get into the side. I finally got my regular starting spot, but I started playing out on the wing which is not my best position. I had a chat with the manager and asked him to give me a chance playing as the main striker, number nine, and it’s paying off! I have played four games as the centre-forward and netted five goals, and I hope this is the start of even better things to come. I want to score more, and to train even harder to get people to watch and for a full-time professional club to sign me here in Spain. That is my dream and I want to have a big part as well in helping CD Torrevieja achieve all of their goals and aspirations”

Pacquiao’s Last?

Manny Pacquiao has confirmed his showdown with Timothy Bradley in the spring will be his last fight before he hangs up his gloves to concentrate on a political career.

Pacquiao will take on Bradley for a third time on April 9 after losing to his biggest rival Floyd Mayweather in boxing's richest fight in history last May. The Filipino, who has won world and Ring Magazine titles in an unprecedented eight divisions, lost a controversial split decision to

Bradley in 2012, but cruised to a one-sided points victory

in their rematch two years later.

44

Friday 8th January 2016

Ivie Davies on Golf

The World’s Worst That Came Top! The golf club is still swinging into 2016 and it’s good to be back with you. It’s that time of year when your letter you sent to Santa for that new Taylor Made M1 Driver and FJ ICON shoes never got answered or you forgot to give your wife the piece of plastic PIN number and website details.

So you have plenty of time to think about all those oddities in golf just in case you go to the Golf Societies Captains night for The Chase quiz game. So here we go with my trivial discussion question: - Who have been the world’s worst-ever number one ranked players?

The Official World Golf Rankings have been in existence since 1986, and in over a quarter-century, there

have been 19 male golfers to rise to the coveted number one ranking. While some of these — like Tiger Woods, Seve Ballesteros, Greg Norman and Nick Faldo— have been truly worthy of being numero uno, others have been and still are really good, but not what you would call great Tour pros.

Let's take a look at, in my opinion you understand, the five worst golfers to earn the coveted number one ranking.

TOM LEHMAN On the whole, Tom Lehman has had a career that any professional golfer would dream of. He is the only pro to have ever won the Player of the Year award on the Nationwide, PGA and Champions Tours.

Unfortunately, naming him

the worst number one of alltime was rather easy, as he held the spot for just one week in April 1997, after winning the Open Championship in the previous season. In terms of professional victories, Lehman's resume is equally as unimpressive compared to the likes of Woods and Faldo, for example, as he has only won on the PGA Tour five times.

DAVID DUVAL David Duval has quite possibly had the largest fall from grace of any professional golfer this side of John Daly. Unlike Daly, though, Duval hasn't won a single tournament since his early days of dominance on the USPGA Tour. In the late nineties, there was a time when David Duval was golf's hottest asset, and he battled with Tiger Woods for the world number one ranking throughout most of the 1999 season.

Officially, Duval has won 13 times on the PGA Tour, with his signature victory coming at the 2001 Open Championship. It's worth noting that the lanky Floridian did notch ten topten finishes in 16 majors

between 1998 and 2001, but his game tragically fell off a cliff shortly thereafter. There have been many factors attributed to Duval's decline, and while it is sad, the fact remains that he doesn't quite stack up to the rest of the world number one’s.

Notching up just 15 weeks, Duval experienced among the shortest trips at the top spot, and his midcareer journey to Q-School in 2011 makes him the only former number one to hold that dubious distinction.

LEE WESTWOOD It's likely that Lee Westwood's inclusion on this list will strike a chord with many ardent golf fans, but the fact remains that in comparison to many other former number one’s, the Englishman's resume just doesn't add up. Let's start with the fact that Westwood hasn't won any major championships. His best year was 2010, when he notched a T2 at both the Masters and Open Championship, but other than Luke Donald, Westwood is the only world number one to have never won a major.

In terms of total time spent as a world number one,

Westwood again falls in the bottom-tier of his peers, as he held onto the spot for 22 weeks in total, most of them coming in the 2010 off-season.

Of the 16 world number one’s, multi-time major winners Ernie Els and Bernhard Langer have held onto the ranking for fewer weeks than Lee, which tells us that getting the top spot is a matter being in the right place at the right time. There's no denying that Westwood has had a splendid career on the European Tour and a consistent showing in major championships, but these are not the attributes of a world number one.

MARTIN KAYMER Martin Kaymer spent only eight weeks as a world number one, with that time coming directly after his second place finish at the 2011 WGC-Accenture Match Play. Since turning pro in 2005, Kaymer has put together a solid, but not an otherworldly career, winning 10 European Tour tournaments and the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. He also won the Race to Dubai and the European Tour's Golfer of the Year award that year, but his reluctance to play in the USA full-time may have hurt his performance in golf's majors.

In the time since winning the 2010 PGA, Kaymer has missed the cut in four of eight major championships,

failing to make the cut in the two majors after that.

Kaymer currently sits at 27th in the world, IAN WOOSNAM Nicknamed "Woosie," Ian Woosnam is a Welshman known for his solid career on the European Tour in the late eighties. His signature win came at the 1991 Masters, where he won the only major championship of his career, beating José María Olazábal by one stroke. Altogether, Woosnam has 29 wins on the European Tour, just two came on the USPGA Tour.

Woosnam held the spot for a little under a year after he won the '91 Masters, but played rather uninspired golf at that year's remaining majors, finishing out of the top 40 in both the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship.

After losing the number one spot to Fred Couples the following year, Woosnam missed the cut in eight of his next 28 majors, and has failed to finish any better than a T3 at the 2001 Open Championship. There's no doubt that Ian Woosnam was a talented golfer who deserved every award he received, though there have been far better number one’s in the world.

By the way, it is interesting that four UK players have held the number one spot since October 2010 with Lee Westwood’s five month tenure at the top interrupted for eight weeks by Martin Kaymer.

TITTER ON THE TEE

There was this exclusive Golf Club and the Secretary and green keeper did not get on too well, and in fact they despised each other. One day, the course was covered in snow.

Everywhere you looked it was white, but outside the Secretary’s window someone had written his name in the snow. Not with a stick or such but in urine.

Knowing the green keeper like he did he called him into the office, and accused him of the act.

To which the green keeper readily admitted. But he said “If you look closely you will see it’s in your daughter’s hand writing”.

The Courier Sport

Four Is The Number

be fit for this Sunday's key clash with top four placed Ontinyent.

It took a ruthless and exquisite CD Torrevieja less than a quarter of the game to demoralise and knock the stuffing out of their visitors. It started in the most remarkable fashion with an 11th minute free kick inside Torry's own half. With the Acero keeper off his line, Ruben Suarez quickly blazed the ball fully sixty metres, placing it to perfection. Álex back pedalled madly but the execution was precise and the ground exploded with appreciation as the ball rippled the back of the net to set the home team on their way to a fourth consecutive win.

Higon and Allen combined to make it two six minutes later, both sharp as tacks in the box, but both having their snap shots blocked by last ditch clear-

In Case You Missed It…

The FA Cup Friday 8 January 20:55 Exeter City v Liverpool

Saturday 9 January 13:45 Wycombe Wanderers v Aston Villa 16:00 Arsenal v Sunderland 16:00 Birmingham City v Bournemouth 16:00 Brentford v Walsall 16:00 Bury v Bradford City 16:00 Colchester United v Charlton Athletic 16:00 Doncaster Rovers v Stoke City 16:00 Eastleigh v Bolton Wanderers 16:00 Everton v Dagenham and Redbridge 16:00 Hartlepool United v Derby County 16:00 Huddersfield Town v Reading 16:00 Hull City v Brighton and Hove Albion 16:00 Ipswich Town v Portsmouth 16:00 Leeds United v Rotherham United 16:00 Middlesbrough v Burnley 16:00 Newport County v Blackburn Rovers 16:00 Northampton Town v MK Dons 16:00 Norwich City v Manchester City 16:00 Nottingham Forest v Queens Park Rangers 16:00 Peterborough United v Preston North End 16:00 Sheffield Wednesday v Fulham 16:00 Southampton v Crystal Palace 16:00 Watford v Newcastle United 16:00 West Bromwich Albion v Bristol City 16:00 West Ham United v Wolverhampton Wanderers 18:30 Manchester United v Sheffield United

CD TORREVIEJA 4 CD ACERO 0 Torrevieja opened 2016 with their four straight win after banging four goals past bottom side Acero, with fans giving young British player Lewis Allen(Page 43 has a special profile of him) a standing ovation after another magical performance in which he led the line with ferocity, energy and exceptional ability. Scoring in his fourth consecutive match, he led his side to their biggest win of the season and suggested to fans that this season is far from over for Torry.

However, as he limped off with a knee injury following a cynical foul, worries abounded that he might be out of action for a while. A late Sunday night conversation with the lad put those worries aside and Lewis assured supporters that although his knee was still swollen, it was not serious and he was determined to

45

Friday 8th January 2016

ances. Allen took the final dig, again the ball being blocked on the line but this time deflecting off Joselu for a technical own goal.

Allen made no mistake on 21 minutes after fabulous work from Cesar who danced past defenders down the left, looked up before placing a superb cross just where Allen wanted it. The young striker darted forward then glanced the ball high and behind him and well out of reach of Álex in the Acero goal.

Acero got physical in the second period in an attempt to blunt the Torry attack, Allen got the treatment meaning he had to come off with a knee injury. Torry though added a fourth after superb work from Higon and a delightful lob from Quintero, who once more showed he has a real eye for goal and notched his

fourth of the season. Acero usually score on the road, but this was one of the rare times they did not.

However, it took two great saves from Miguel to preserve the clean sheet and move Torry into positive goal difference, nudging the team up into 13th place in the league table.

The totally revitalised and entertaining Torry sit eight points behind play off placed Ontinyent who they play this Sunday at the Vicente Garcia, seeking their fifth consecutive win and closing that gap to five points. Please check the club website (www.clubdeportivotorrevieja.com) for the kick off time, as fans last Sunday requested that winter kick offs should stay at midday (as opposed to 5.00 pm) and the board will decide on this before advising the opposition and the Valencian F.A.

Sunday 10 January 13:00 Oxford United v Swansea City 15:00 Carlisle United v Yeovil Town 15:00 Chelsea v Scunthorpe United 17:00 Tottenham Hotspur v Leicester City TBC Cardiff City v Shrewsbury Town

Scottish FA Cup Friday 8 January 20:30 St. Mirren v Partick Thistle

Saturday 9 January 16:00 Airdrieonians v Dundee United 16:00 Annan Athletic v Hamilton Academical 16:00 Dumbarton v Queen of the South 16:00 Dundee v Falkirk 16:00 Dunfermline Athletic v Ross County 16:00 East Kilbride v Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale 14:30 Linlithgow Rose v Forfar Athletic 16:00 Livingston v Morton 16:00 Motherwell v Cove Rangers 16:00 Raith Rovers v Hibernian 16:00 St. Johnstone v Kilmarnock 16:00 Stirling Albion v Caledonian Thistle 18:30 Heart of Midlothian v Aberdeen

Sunday 10 January 14:00 Rangers v Cowdenbeath 16:15 Stranraer v Celtic

Spanish La Liga Saturday 9 January 16:00 18:15 18:15 20:30 22:05

Barcelona v Granada CF Getafe v Real Betis Sevilla v Athletic Club Real Madrid v Deportivo de La Coruña Levante v Rayo Vallecano

Sunday 10 January 12:00 16:00 18:15 18:15 20:30

Villarreal v Sporting de Gijón Real Sociedad v Valencia CF Eibar v Espanyol Las Palmas v Málaga Celta de Vigo v Atlético de Madrid

Barclays Premier League Tuesday 12 January CD Torrevieja wrapped up 2015 on a winning note with a vital victory at Jove Espanol, making it three wins on the trot, to give them more

breathing space above the relegation zone. The only goal came from the 21-yearold in-form Brit, Lewis Allen after 16 minutes.

Monte Match

CD Montesinos play their first match of 2016 on Sunday as they entertain the league leaders CD Dolores with a 4.00pm kick off. Monte lost their last match of 2015,

one-nil away to Deportivo Orihuela, and are seventh in the table with 24 points from their 14 games, 12 behind Dolores, who have only lost twice this season.

20:45 Aston Villa v Crystal Palace 20:45 Bournemouth v West Ham United 20:45 Newcastle United v Man United

Wednesday 13 January 20:45 Chelsea v West Bromwich Albion 20:45 Manchester City v Everton 20:45 Southampton v Watford 20:45 Stoke City v Norwich City 20:45 Swansea City v Sunderland 21:00 Liverpool v Arsenal 21:00 Tottenham Hotspur v Leicester City

46

Friday 8th January 2016

Rafa’s End VALENCIA 2 REAL MADRID 2

Valencia battled to a dramatic La Liga draw with 10-man Real Madrid at the Mestalla last Sunday, which indirectly sealed the fate of Real manager, Rafa Benitez, with the visitors unable to gain ground on Barcelona who failed to win. Real took the lead via Karim Benzema, but Dani Parejo equalised with a penalty.

Real had Mateo Kovacic sent off for a lunging tackle but looked set for a win when Bale headed home. However, Valencia earned a third point under Gary Neville when Paco Alcacer headed in from close range seconds later, and the home side came close to winning the match in injury time.

Real entertain Deportivo this Saturday night, with new boss Zinedine Zidane in charge.

Barca Draw ESPANYOL 0 BARCELONA 0

Barcelona were frustrated by Espanyol as the La Liga leaders were held last Saturday at the Estadi Cornella-El Prat, which meant that Atletico Madrid went two points clear at the top of the table. Luis Suarez had the best chance of the match when he rounded Pau Lopez in the Espanyol goal shortly after the re-start only to hit the post with the goal at his mercy. Lionel Messi also struck the woodwork with a first-half free-kick in what was a quiet game for the Argentine forward. Barca entertain Granada this Saturday afternoon.

Ilicitanos Held ELCHE 1 REAL MALLORCA 1

Elche had every reason to be grateful to their keeper, Javi Jiminez, for a fine performance that stopped the visitors coming away with three points last Saturday. The first match Segunda League match of 2016 for the Ilicitanos saw an even contest where both teams had chances to win, and perhaps neither of them would have been happy with the draw at the final whistle.

Mallorca looked the more dangerous early on with Jiminez soon pressed into action to produce good saves from Pereira and then Brandon, before Elche's top scorer, Sergio León, netted in the 25th minute, thanks to a telling pass from midfielder Javier Espinosa. Elche then ruled the roost for the remainder of the half, with León going just high with a shot before the interval.

Mallorca came out fighting in the second half with Jiminez busy again, firstly saving from a David Costas free kick, and then stretching to keep out a shot from the busy Mallorca striker, Brandon, who then saw a header beat the keeper, only to hit the post. At the other end, León saw a shot saved by keeper Wallenreuther, before the visitors levelled up matters in fortuitous style as a corner deflected off Elche defender Armando to go into the net, with 25 minutes remaining.

Both sides had chances to seal the deal, with the keepers earning their wages for the remainder of the match, but mid-table Elche had to settle for a draw, as they travel to Valladolid tomorrow afternoon (Saturday) for a 5.00pm kick-off.

In The Line Of Fire

Zinedine Zidane has replaced Rafael Benitez as manager of Real Madrid following the Spaniard's sacking after just seven months in charge. Benitez's last match as boss saw Real twice throw away a lead as they drew 2-2 at Gary Neville's Valencia on Sunday evening, leaving the club four points off leaders Atletico Madrid in La Liga.

Zidane, who made 225 appearances for the club, was managing Real Madrid Castilla, but has now been promoted to manager of the 10-time European champions.

The Frenchman said at the club's press conference on Monday: "I'm going to do everything I can to make the best for this club. It's a very important day for me. What I can tell you is that I will give everything or this club.

Zidane signed a two-and-a-half year deal on Tuesday to become Real Madrid's 13th manager this century, with the club having won just one league title in the previous seven seasons.

Club president Florentino Perez said of Zidane: "He is one of the greatest players of all time. Zidane, you are from this moment, the coach of Real Madrid."

And of Benitez, Perez added: "I would like to make it clear that he is a great professional."

Benitez, 55, took over from Carlo Ancelotti in the summer of 2015 after the Italian was sacked in May, and the former Liverpool boss went unbeaten in his first 14 games in charge.

He also guided Real to the knockout stages of the Champions League, dropping just two points as they topped Group A. But Benitez's low point was Real's humiliating 4-0 defeat by rivals Barcelona in November's Clasico at the Bernabeu, adding to league defeats at Sevilla and Villarreal.

There were widespread reports that Benitez did not get on with some of Real's key players like Cristiano Ronaldo and James Rodriguez.

Disgruntled fans have been whistling Benitez at the Bernabeu in recent months and he also appears to have been blamed for Real's expulsion from the King's Cup last month for fielding an ineligible player.

Job Almost Done

The Courier Sport

LATE LATE

ALL TO PLAY FOR

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BARCELONA 4 ESPANYOL 1

>> Ramiro Funes Mori opened

Prince Ali Forecasts Lionel Messi scored twice as Barcelona came from behind on Wednesday to beat Espanyol, who finished the first leg of their Copa del Rey last-16 tie with nine men.

Felipe Caicedo put the visitors ahead after good play by Marco Asensio. Messi equalised and then put Barca ahead with a fantastic 25-yard, off-the-bar freekick, before setting up Gerard Pique to slide in a third. Espanyol had Hernan Perez sent off for two bookings and Pape Diop for dissent before Neymar hit a brilliant volley.

The second leg is this coming Wednesday.

Fifa presidential candidate Prince Ali of Jordan says it will be a "catastrophe" for world football if he does not succeed Sepp Blatter.

Prince Ali, 40, believes he is the only man standing for the post who can restore the governing body's reputation after numerous corruption scandals.

He said the election on 26 February was Fifa's "last chance to get it right".

Jerome Champagne, Gianni Infantino, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim alKhalifa and Tokyo Sexwale are also standing.

Prince Ali ran against Blatter in the last election in May, but withdrew after losing 133-73 in the first round of voting.

Blatter, president since 1998, subsequently announced his intention to stand down and has since been banned for eight years following an investigation by Fifa's ethics committee.

"It would be a catastrophe for the organisation if things do not go the right way," said Prince Ali.

John McGregor on Sport

47

Friday 8th January 2016

JOY AT STRIKE OF LUK!

EVERTON 2- 1 MANCHESTER CITY

E G A T N ADVA

N O T R EVE

The Latest Sport Headlines CRICKET Stokes could do it again - Bayliss

FOOTBALL Barry 'one of England's best ever'

TENNIS Broady knocked out of ASB Classic

CRICKET Cook rues England dropped catches

>> Aguero and Silver Celebrate Nava’s equalizer

TENNIS Williams & Sharapova out of warm-up events

LIVERPOOL

Diabolical!

the scoring for the Toffees

'Catastrophe' At FIFA Prince Ali is especially keen to secure to support of England's Football Association and the other home nations.

"I think that's critical," he said. "There is a moral aspect to English football and the positions they have taken in the past.

"People around the world respect England and English football in particular. They want to know that England cares about the future of Fifa and that's very critical in how they will go in the future."

Among his proposals, Prince Ali wants to bring in tougher rules on World Cup bidding, similar to those used by the International Olympic Committee.

Swiss prosecutors are investigating the award of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively.

He said: "We don't want to make the same mistakes we had in the past.

As opposed to the arguably-more-sensible Continental leagues, in the foolish fixture frenzy of football-daft Britain, we have Premier League, Capital One Cup and FA Cup games all in one crazy week, on the back of a fixture-filled festive season! Who’s got it right?

Will it show up at Euro 2016 in France this summer?

At grass roots Premier League level, where points mean everything both for the top teams qualifying for Europe, and at the other end those trying to avoid relegation, the British natives are not happy.

Listen to Sam Allardyce, the experienced Sunderland boss accusing the Premier League of devaluing the FA Cup: ‘The League fixture scheduling is diabolical … top-flight clubs have league fixtures the Tuesday and Wednesday after this weekend's thirdround ties….we're flogging the lads. There are more and more injuries every year, but it's ignored by the Premier League.’

Sunderland, second from bottom in the league,

are away to Arsenal in the FA Cup on Saturday before they travel to fellow strugglers Swansea in the Prem the following Wednesday.

Sam continues: ‘If the League decides to put a stupid fixture midweek when they don't bloody need to, then I haven't got much choice than to make changes. If you want us to respect the FA Cup, don't put League fixtures in the midweek just after New Year. Don't give me stick when I change the side at Arsenal. Give the Premier League stick, not the managers.’

Sunderland's game with Swansea was due to be played on Tuesday but was moved back a day because the Welsh side are at Oxfordin the FA Cup on Sunday. Allardyce was aggrieved by the switch because his side play at Spurs in a Saturday lunchtime kick-off on January 16th.

‘Making me play Wednesday and Saturday rather than Tuesday and Saturday is making it harder for me to get League points. With having three successive away

games, we've got around 2,000 miles of travel and the lunchtime kick-off means we've less than three days recovery for Spurs’. Ooh, seriously strong stuff from Sam! There’s some midweek Prem belters next week, straight after the FA Cup. How about Wonderful Wednesday? Man City v Everton, Liverpool v Arsenal, and in a repeat of Saturday’s Cup tie, Spurs home to Leicester again.

Newcastle versus Man United on Tuesday looks a ‘daren’t lose’ for either club and especially their under-fire managers. And then, unbelievably it all kicks off again four days later in another full programme. Barmy, but brilliant entertainment for the fans, where in the most open contest for years, life at the top keeps changing!

Spurs have lately joined the party, their biggest rivals Arsenal, Leicester and Man City are all in the current top four. It looks great from a neutral point of view, anyone can beat anyone – and are! Don’t take your eyes off this one for a moment – it’s all happening!

This year's Hillsborough service 'will be the last'

FOOTBALL Man Utd recall Januzaj from loan

FOOTBALL Everton on top in semifinal tie

RUGBY UNION Morgan joins Cardiff Blues from Bristol

HORSE RACING Racecourse chief's racing ban upheld

RUGBY UNION McFadden receives three-week ban

DARTS Durrant embraces favourite's tag

Supplied by BBC

CUP FEVER! M E R P L L A

S R I A F F A

The tie of the FA Cup third round looks like Tottenham against Leicester, and only a brave or foolish man would be sure of a firm prediction. FA Cup holders, and league leaders Arsenal entertain suffering Sunderland – and big Sam’s Black Cats could use soom loock in t’ Cup. Norwich won last week, but will need all they’ve got going to topple mighty Man City at Carrow Road. However the Blues are palpably beatable with some very debatable results so far in the anyone-beating-anyone Prem season, the Blues latest 2 – 1 defeat to Everton in the League Cup semi-final first leg won’t help. Southampton v Crystal Palace could go either way, Saints are unpredictable at best these days, but the Eagles’ loss last week at home to ex-champions Chelsea means Pardew’s players will want to bounce back to winning ways. Watford v Newcastle looks interesting: on Prem form the Hornets could and should sting the Magpies to death, but McClaren’s men are steeped in FA Cup history – and this is the Cup… Similarly to the Prem, the Championship has matched some of that league’s competitors together. Leading contenders Hull and Brighton face each other, and further down the league Leeds v Rotherham is a steely local affair with big bragging business behind t’ result.

Middlesborough v Burnley is another allChampionship contenders knock-out, and Nottingham Forest v Queens Park Rangers a more modest affair, but which neither will want to lose.

After all the frantic festivities, the New Year breathes new hopes and life to lower teams, clubs packed full of ambitious players young and old with points to prove, and all just itching to show the football world that they deserve more, all thanks to the FA Cup! The big Premier League clubs who aren’t currently doing their hoped-for business (and a few who are) have little to gain playing against ‘inferior’ clubs, the Biggies merely expected to win. But hey, you never, ever know in football: history shows there’s been huge, heroic, historic heydays in the past. This weekend try these potential upsets for size: Wycombe v Aston Villa – nobody in the Prem is doing worse than the pantomime Villains of Brum, and League Two Wycombe, going well in their sixth place will be relishing this one at Adams Park. Can Villa salvage some pride and respect for their teeth-grinding-and-gritting fans?

On Tuesday, Stoke lost 1 -0 in the first leg of the semifinal of the League Cup to Liverpool, but are going

great guns in the Prem: however, a day outing to Doncaster is dripping in danger. Similarly Everton at home to Dagenham and Redbridge looks wonderfully full of David and Goliath potential, especially with the Toffees’ up and down performances of late, but 12 in 12 Lukaku looks lethal, scoring the late winner in Wednesday’s League Cup semi-final 2 – 1 win over Man City. Sixth-placed West Ham, with Payet now back from injury, are home to once-famous Wolves, a team with a proud Cup tradition and at last going well in the Championship.

Here’s a good ‘un: Manchester United v Sheffield United. This very modest injury-ridden Louis van Gaal side is feared by no-one, and Cup specialists Sheffield must fancy their chances of inflicting yet more doom and gloom around worried Old Trafford. West Brom at home to Bristol City should be a home win on paper, but on grass the West Country boys will be free from worry as the clear underdogs.

CARNEIRO’S CAVENDISH’S TARGET HEARING Former Chelsea doctor Eva Carneiro has this week started her hearing into her claim for constructive dismissal against the Stamford Bridge club. Carneiro also has a separate personal legal action against against ex-manager Jose Mourinho, who was sacked last month, for alleged victimisation and discrimination.

Mark Cavendish wants to win the opening stage of the Tour de France; an Olympic track Gold Medal; and a second world road race title in a “full-on” 2016 for the race ace. Wearing the Tour leader’s yellow jersey and being crowned Olympic champion are the only two gaps in his cycling CV in what could be defining year of his career.

Y R E P P I L S

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Y A D N SU Sunday sees a potentially huge banana skin for Premier League Champions Chelsea. Those of us with reasonable memories can still vividly remember Bradford City’s 4 – 2 defeat of the Blues at Stamford Bridge just 12 Mourinho months ago. Now it’s déjà-vu looking with League One side Scunthorpe’s turn this year to journey south, to be cast in the Bradford role this time. Scunthorpe United aka ‘The Iron’ will be well heated up for this one, although Chelsea have improved just lately.

But hey – they needed to, didn’t they, Guus?

THE COURIER No.1 for SPORT! All the action p 44-47