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School head sex claims dropped
CLEARED: James Berry AN expat headmaster has had a sex abuse claim against him dropped. Mallorca’s provincial court has archived the case against James Berry. The owner of the King Richard III school in Portals Nous had been arrested after his adult daughter made claims of sexual abuse in March 2016. But an investigation has now discovered that the accusations were false and made in a bid to take over his school. “I lost all sense of time”, explained Berry, who was kept in a police cell for two nights. “I prayed. They were some of the most difficult days of my life.” He explained that his daughter and a couple of other former teachers wanted to run him out of the school and his daughter wanted to headmaster. Numerous parents from the school have spoken out in support for him. One mother said of the daughter’s false accusations, “She wanted to be the director. We believed in him. We never had any doubt”. Despite his ordeal, he will not take any action against his daughter.
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Vol. 1 Issue 20 www.theolivepress.es January 18th - January 31st 2018
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Fiesta! The what, where and when of Mallorca’s most bright and fiery Sant Sebastian festival SEE PAGE 8
Balearics top list of 40 European regions at danger from Brexit By Jed Neill
THE Balearics would be one of Europe’s worst affected areas in a no-deal Brexit. The government has reported its fears in a hard-hitting damage limitation report, compiled by the EU. Half of Spain’s regions fear a serious downturn if the UK left the union without a deal. A total of 8 out of 17 regions have joined a group of 40 European areas warning of serious economic effects. A massive 80% of the Balearic economy relies on tourism and if Brits can no longer afford to travel, it will greatly affect the island’s service industries. “Any change in the freedom of movement will be felt, given that 25% of tourists are from the UK,” read the appeal, compiled by the European Committee of the Regions. The UK is also the second biggest investor in the region after Switzerland. The Canary Islands, which ship 16/06/2017 15:36 a considerable amount of food
Please help us Tourist downturn predicted
TOURIST figures for the Balearics may have peaked. A leading tourist boss fears a gradual decline of visitors due to a recovery in the Turkish and Tunisian markets.“The growth curve of tourism is beginning to change its trajectory,” said RIU hotels boss Carmen Riu. to the UK, have warned that no free trade agreement ‘could destroy’ its economy. Andalucia is also extremely vulnerable to Brexit with a feared drop in tourism as well as trade and investment, plus the issue of the Gibraltar border, which
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She also fears tourists from the mainland will be the largest lost market in 2018, due to the recent rise in tourist tax. Despite the likely drop in tourist numbers, she still fears a ‘problem of saturation’ on the island this summer, due to a lack of control on tourist numbers.
could affect the jobs of 10,000 Spanish workers. The other regions affected would be Valencia, Murcia, Castilla la Mancha and the Basque region, which has 50 companies with offices in the UK.
Catalunya was excluded from giving its opinion after losing its autonomy following the referendum chaos last year. But it will also be badly affected. It is estimated that a hard Brexit will leave a €10 billion hole in EU finances each year, much of
Have your cake… IT is one of the most common sights while boarding planes at Palma airport. Now airline Ryanair has agreed to allow passengers to take a box of ‘ensaimada’ tart on top of their normal hand luggage when flying from Mallorca. This comes despite the airline recently tightening its cabin bag rules, only allowing one
small bag, unless passengers have paid for priority boarding. The centuries-old local delicacy made from pastry and powdered sugar is deemed one of the very few European exceptions. The price of checking in a suitcase has dropped from €35 to €25 with the weight allowance going up from 15 to 20kgs.
which would be spent in Spain. The report, stated that all of the 40 regions would see ‘immediate effects’ on commercial trade and the movement of people and tourists. One British-owned Mallorcan removal company, White & Company, told the Olive Press this week that it was already seeing a fairly substantial net loss of British expats from the island. “We’re definitely moving more back to the UK, than are arriving,” said spokesman Robert Jones. “It's a lot to do with the uncertainty at the moment with the Brexit scenario and the older generation who are anxious about the future generally,” he added.