Olive Press Newspaper - Issue 202

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Expats’ voices are more likely than ever to cast the deciding vote in the 2015 local and general elections. So make sure you have you say. See Page 9

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The original and only English-language investigative newspaper in Andalucía

Vol. 10 Issue 202 www.theolivepress.es

December 11th- December 23rd 2014

Dadnapped!

Let HiFX help you reach your destination. www.hifx.co.uk

OLIVE PRESS – Earpiece 11th & 25th December

British man calls in police in bid to get his father back to the UK AN expat is locked in a legal battle with his Spanish exwife over his mentally-ill father.

Caterer David Terry has flown over from England to demand Dolores ‘Lola’ Manzanares releases his father from her care.

He claims his 87-year-old dad, Dennis Terry, is being treated like a ‘prisoner’, while Manzanares is spending all of his money.

He has now filed an official police denuncia in Antequera in a desperate bid to return his father to England.

“She took my father out of spite. We had a messy divorce and she believes I should pay the price, it is as simple as that,” said Terry, 51, from Portsmouth.

“She has sold his flat in Antequera and I have no idea where the money has gone. I hope the police can help.”

Manzanares, 48, however claims that banqueting manager Terry is ‘bitter’, ‘bank-

Corruption is ‘fabric’ of the country

EXCLUSIVE

By Rob Horgan rupt’ and has ‘only ever been after his father’s money’.

She became Dennis Terry’s legal representative in 2011, taking over his power of attorney, as his state of mind deteriorated.

She added that all of the money from the sale of his property went into his own bank account.

However, in a letter sent to his son in October, this year, Dennis - who has dementia claims he is penniless.

He wrote: “I don’t know how on earth I can see you again, as I have no money.

“I have no bank account in my name, my pension goes straight to her and I don’t see how I will ever get any of it back.”

Claiming to be ‘writing on his knees in the middle of the night’, the letter was delivered by a British friend, Irene Cle-

CARER OR CARELESS?: Manzanares has power of attorney over Dennis Terry and (right) her ex-husband David Terry all, who was renting a room at Press. “Dennis told me the zanares lady forced him to write the who works Manzanares’ property. as a court However, according to Man- letter.” zanares the letter was con- She continued: “David aban- interpretcocted in a deal between Cle- doned his father for years. er for British exWhen he was still of sound pats - claims David is trying all and son David.

“The letter is a complete mind in 2012, he stood up in to ‘tarnish her reputation’. sham,” she told the Olive court in Benalmadena and “He is simply hoping to pay said he loved his son very off his own debts with his famuch but he wanted to stay ther’s cash,” she said. with me.”

Dennis’ carer, Iain Treptow, In the same hearing he sub- meanwhile told the Olive mitted a ‘statement of wish- Press that Dennis is ‘well es’, seen by the Olive Press, and happy’ living with Mancentury – symbolise ferin which he declared that he zanares. tility and bring good luck wanted to continue living He said: “Dennis has never for the year ahead, parwith her. stopped caring about his son, ticularly in Catalunya.

He added that he had ‘no in- he still loves him very much tention of returning to the UK but he is happy living where Find out more about or living in a care home’. he is and I see no reason why Christmas customs in While his son now insists his that should change.”

Spain on page 19 wishes have changed, ManSee Doing it for Dad: Page 6

Poo-demos

CRAP PR: How you know you’ve made it in politics

IT might not seem, at first glance, to be the biggest honour at Christmas.

But, controversial leader of Spain’s fast-growing political party Podemos, will no doubt be thrilled having been immortalised taking a dump.

Pablo Iglesias has joined the ranks of celebrities and world leaders made into a caganer – a ceramic statuette meant for Christmas nativity scenes.

The defecating figurines – popular since the 18th

FATE: Urdangarin faces 19 years behind bars

CORRUPTION remains ‘ingrained in the fabric of Spain’s make-up’, despite recent efforts to clean up the country’s image.

Spain is one of Europe’s most corrupt countries and the problem is not improving, according to a poll by Transparency International (TI).

“Corruption is structural and systematic in Spain. It doesn’t belong to one party, a government or a province. It is part of the fabric of different levels of society,” said TI director Alejandro Salas.

Prison

The news comes in the same week as health minister Ana Mato resigned after benefitting from illegal payments and it was announced that the Duke of Palma Inaki Urdangarin faces over 19 years in prison for embezzling public funds.

New anti-corruption measures announced by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy this month have not stopped the rise of massive anti-corruption party Podemos.

A ‘show-of-strength’ demonstration planned for January 31, in Madrid, looks set to cement support for the party.

Political News: Page 9

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AN 81-year-old man who killed two cats in Estepona will be able to work with animals in just eight months.

The pensioner, identified by the courts as F.O.P, threw the cats onto the floor before dumping their bodies in a street bin.

The man has been suspended from working or trading in any animal-related industry until July 2015 and was given a two month suspended prison sentence.

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Apolo Zaidin parone e in the British The prob launched after egedly the age ion ish was abused from Francis, - one all Agnese, detent , victim, e to Pope d him Illegal been seen since est three ce of lla’s urage . ort of 13, wrot not lice arr disappearan turn enco of Marbe She has her clothes, passp who in the police in Spain s be- Po the man, r the h mayorvanished despite nal possession in to go to ove wit phoned teacher, in home perso red out we and He later ar-old her share. o was the night she reach her ing at since apolo lucia e.” now a 24-ye bald, wh im on body could Catholic n n and has conon, Joak afto the polic the Nueva Anda men, ‘one king, on it adof perso d pso r, lf steps ste oz’s h-loo on beha PP mayo out portee the investigati Now three les Mun the arrests came eviOlive Presse gised the and Britishave been been Whil ied to the ch. ‘secret’, polic y been stocky sources, conBroberg, e scoured CCTV t, marr d that he had night. shorts’, with ‘iltinues in reveal that es and Chur rding to apparentl the resor mitte wearing and charged girlter polic Acco were said to have havse on the around club itself. they have sources hed six hous with Agnehome with my arrested tion’. r Ange sed on bail. are dence from priests young boys that d not Agnese, have searc as the night Police na- relea rding to mayo went still from othlegal deten cars. few as well vinced with them woul ed me a if I could “I d at 3am while National Acco several talk of links with s and a While to confirm ages, “They show ing sex e is the out- friencousin Niclato Aqwa Mist. initials, and asked women. is that refusing nd Ther or, even the CCTVa bald man seen be a sin.been alleged that two 42, my s went on in at arou - er missing erg, and certa ify living ts other club tionalities has Brob is ident It been club,” 10 pries left the What met anoth ini30, had side the Olive Press. group of urs They after Agnese Page 2 Agnese, ella since May, 5am Turn to told the d that rumo Marb ng here on a three p on the his inup in He adde the town ofload of er girl. her a WhatsAp movi 4 on Page “I sent but it never cameno- tially sweeping were ‘a Continues Saturdayered, and when volvement agent, bulls**t’. the estate erg is as deliv Brob However Lars r whose fathe

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POLICE have discovered €87,000 buried in an orchard in Alhaurin de la Torre.

Police linked the cash to an organised criminal group carrying out home robberies in the area.

CRIME NEWS

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THE mystery surrounding missing expat Agnese Klavina, 30, has finally been thrust into the limelight.

Following our front page last issue her disappearance in Marbella made the Daily Mail (see right).

Meanwhile public dissent at the ‘secrecy order’ surrounding three arrests - two of them said to be Britons - is growing louder.

Members of a Facebook group publicising her last hours at Aqwa Mist nightclub in Puerto Banus are now openly demanding answers from the police and town hall.

“It’s time people around Marbella

put a stop to all of this and the ones that know what happened come out and talk,” posted her sister.

Puerto Banus resident Natalie Kern added: “We are told that the authorities don’t want any publicity as it’s bad for the image of Marbella. I’m sorry but f**k the image of Marbella. This is someone’s daughter, sister and partner.”

Meanwhile a meeting involving Interpol and the chief of Malaga police is planned this month to discuss her disappearance, and that of other missing girls on the Costa del Sol.

Hashtag: Free hash for all ‘Like catching flies,’ as over 70 people face up to four years in prison for scooping marijuana packets out of the sea

HASH HAUL: Bundles of marijuana scooped from the sea and (inset) busquimanos

IT looked like a typical British day at the seaside with men paddling gingerly in the water, their trousers rolled up to their knees.

But this was no ordinary beach knees up… it was the day after a terrible storm left thousands of packets of hashish floating onto the shore on the Costa de la Luz. Soon the message was out via social media and men, wom-

By Imogen Calderwood en and even families arrived from as far afield as Sevilla and Malaga to fish the packets out of the water.

Billed as ‘free hash for all’, the so-called ‘busquimanos’ (beachcombers) arrived by mid morning to scoop up an estimated 2,000 kilos of hashish.

Manhunt for British gangster wanted for Spain murder A MANHUNT is underway for a British gangster wanted in connection to a gruesome murder in Spain.

Paul John Scott, 32, is the prime suspect in the horrific killing of 25-yearold Brit Francis Brennan, whose body washed up on a beach in a plastic bag in April.

Brennan, also from Liverpool, had been on the run in Spain ahead of sentencing for an attack on a fellow gangster when he disappeared.

He was kidnapped in broad daylight in Alicante by men disguised as police officers in January.

Scott (right), said to be the perpetrator, is also believed to be behind a plot to smuggle 40 tonnes of cocaine into the UK from South America inside tins of fish and wooden pellets.

So far 24 members of his gang have been jailed for more than 250 years.

Greg McKenna of the National Crime Agency said: “Paul Scott is the last man in our investigation and also wanted for questioning in relation to the murder of Brennan.

“If you have information on his whereabouts, please contact the NCA or Crimestoppers anonymously.”

The haul ended up in the water after strong winds (on November 28; the day of the Malaga tornado) capsized three smuggler boats in heavy waves en route to Spain from Morocco.

As well as leading to two deaths and the arrest of over a dozen smugglers, police confirmed the arrests of over 70 people for possession of the drugs fished out of the sea.

“It has been a crazy week,” said a spokesperson for the Guardia Civil. “It was like catching flies, they were everywhere.

“There were some ridiculous situations. Like a boy pretending to fish with a fishing rod with no bait on it and two bundles of hash hidden under his bucket. Who was he trying to fool?”

Madness

He continued: “This is collective madness and these kids should stop acting like idiots. I hope everyone will now learn a lesson.”

The unprecedented number of beachcombers are now facing lengthy prison sentences, according to Cadiz drugs prosecutor, Ana Villagomez.

“This is unheard of,” said Villagomez. “There is no precedent for it, but it is a serious crime, and they are looking at anything from one to fourand-a-half years.

“It is the same as anyone who has been caught with a large quantity of drugs.”

www.theolivepress.es

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NEWS

Made in Marbs NEXT BIG THINGS: Cassie Anne Rowan, Natalie Denning-Richardson, Hollie Rolla and Felicity-Faye Kidel

GOSSIP, sex and public bust-ups… it can only be Marbella.

Sick of playing second fiddle as The Only Way is Essex’s summer spinoff, the glitzy resort is launching its own reality TV show.

Puppy love

Expats slither along a storm drain to rescue a dog and her six puppies

RUBBERED UP: Iglesias

Heroes wear condoms!

IF you want to be Enrique Iglesias’ hero, you better enjoy safe sex and have a condom to hand.

The Spanish heartthrob - renowned for his support of extra-small condoms - has opened up about sex education following World Aids Day on December 1.

Speaking at MTV’s European Music Awards, Iglesias came out in support for safe sex campaigns in Spain’s schools.

He said: “I think young kids should take sex education seriously and just have safe sex, all the time.

“My sex education was pretty good, I would never have dreamed about having unprotected sex.”

The pop sensation is currently on tour with American rapper Pitbull.

Drama

EXCLUSIVE

By Rob Horgan TWO heroic expats crawled down a storm drain to rescue seven stranded pooches after they were thrown out of a car by their owner.

Brit Gill Swain and South African Lee Kimber crawled on their stomachs through the muddy drain for 40 metres to save the distressed dogs.

After a painstaking threehour rescue operation, six pointer/labrador cross puppies and their mother were successfully recovered.

Swain, who works at Cat and Dog World in Alhaurin el Grande, said: “It was horrible. Snails were crunching under our bodies as we shuffled along the drain, the smell was unbearable.

Enticingly billed as ‘Sex and the City meets TOWIE’, it will follow the biggest players in Marbella’s social scene – and the nail-biting drama that ensues.

Lime Pictures, the production company behind UK reality TV show Geordie Shore, filmed a pilot episode after falling in love with the town’s largerthan-life characters.

The characters set to be crowned the next Sam Faiers, include life coach Hollie Rolla and celebrity stylist Zahra Anderson.

RESCUE SQUAD: Hero Lee Kimber after saving rescued puppies (right) “But I am so glad we did it. a passer by spotted the dogs slime and goodness knows With all the rain we have being thrown from a car. what else by the end of it, but had, the puppies would have She said: “It was quite scary it was worth it to get the dogs drowned down there.” in the drain. I didn’t realise out.”

Kimber, 43, got involved in how far along we had crawled If you are interested in rethe rescue after S.O.S Ani- until we reached the dogs and homing the dogs, contact mals Spain appealed for a I turned around.

S.O.S Animals on 635 987 ‘small person’ to step in, after “We were covered in mud, 680

Are you the next Michael Caine?

Lads’ mag model Natalie Denning-Richardson, beautician Cassie Anne Rowan and owner of Marbella Dress Company, Felicity Faye Kidd complete the initial all-female cast.

If the pilot is a success, filming will begin next summer, with the series airing soon after.

The Olive Press simply cannot wait to watch the drama unfold… honestly.

1000s of Helium Balloons

Candles, banners, party poppers, pinatas, themed party goods

Greetings Cards for Every Occasion

THEATRE group Salon Varieties is casting for a revival of Deathtrap, the longest running comedy-thriller on Broadway.

Adapted into a film starring Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve and Dyan Cannon, this ‘play within a play’ is sheer mastery of plot twists.

There are three male roles available, for actors aged from 20 to 70, and three female roles, between 45 and 70.

Auditions will be held on December 13 in the Chekhov Suite at the Salon Varieties Theatre in Fuengirola, between 122pm.

Audition pieces can be collected from the box office from December 6.

Contact Hayward Elliott on 722 383 199 for more information

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Love smells sweet for Banderas HOLLYWOOD star Antonio Banderas has revealed he is ‘happy’ with new girlfriend Nicole Kimpel, but taking things ‘cautiously’.

“We are in the process of getting to know each other,” he said.

“She is shy and doesn’t have anything to do with my work, which is no bad thing.”

Kimpel, a Dutch investment consultant, began dating Banderas discreetly after his 19-year marriage to Melanie Griffiths came to an end earlier this year.

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the olive press - December 11 - December 23 2014

NEWS IN BRIEF At last THE mayor of Tolox, Juan Vera, is to officially step down after receiving two prion sentences for planning irregularities, totalling two and a half years.

Up and away!

BENALMADENA residents who are registered on the Padron can now ride for free on the cable car on the last Saturday of every month, except January and February.

Old folk SPANIARDS have a longer life expectancy than their European neighbours, according to a European Commission report.

Tourist trap A WORLD tourism conference on how to attract holiday-makers all year round will be held in Torremolinos in June.

Break-through A MARBELLA scientist has won a €15,000 research grant for her project to find cheap, environmentally-friendly materials for creating new technologies.

EXCLUSIVE

By Imogen Calderwood A RIDING school for disabled children and more than 40 homes could be seized in a ‘land grab’ scheme.

The owners of the 40-year-old school have now joined with dozens of other expats and Spanish locals to fight the new urban plan for the hillside area of Churriana, near Malaga.

Under the urban scheme thousands of euros are being sought from the owners inside the 260,000 km2 area.

Each homeowner must pay up to €23,000 per 1,000m2 of land that they own.

The money will be put towards infrastructure costs for the project, that will see 470 new homes being built.

Failure to pay could lead to the town hall seizing homes, fear residents.

“If we can’t afford it, they will take our property and sell it to raise the money,” Briton Sally Harrison, 63, told the Olive Press at a meeting of nearly 60 homeowners.

Her family has been ordered to pay €200,000 in order to keep two homes and their neigh-

NEWS

www.theolivepress.es

Battle ready

Homes and disabled riding school set to be seized under ‘outrageous land grab’ plan to build homes

DESPERATE: Churriana families bouring Hipica Internacional riding school, that they have owned since the 1980s.

“It has to be against human rights that they can make you pay that much money for an

Roads to ruin A DRAMATIC increase in the number of road deaths in Malaga province has led the Junta to assess the region’s road safety.

Torrential storms have been blamed for five deaths in just five days last week.

A 52-year-old man plummeted 200 metres after losing control of his vehicle in the Montes de Malaga, while two others died in accidents in Alhaurin el Grande and Velez Malaga.

A married couple were also killed when they crashed into a ravine in the Velez Malaga area.

infrastructure that you don’t want and can’t afford,” said Harrison, owner of Axarquia Properties.

She insists they cannot afford to pay to keep their 12,000 m² estate and insists they will be forced to shut the school, one of the leading disabled riding facilities in Spain.

“If we are forced to leave our home there will be no-one here to fight for the school and the whole enterprise will be doomed,” she added.

The so-called plan partial includes three new roads going straight through the middle of Harrison’s finca, which is home to hundreds of protected Algarrobo trees and countless wildlife.

The residents are currently in the process of getting the environment department on board to help protect the area.

“But all these processes take so long and we have such a limited time to get our appeal together,” continued Harrison.

Another homeowner Swedish-born Gigi Sunderman Lorichs, 68, said: “A lot of the owners are elderly, who live humbly on their pensions.

“There’s no way they can afford the money. We came to the countryside to live in peace but that now seems impossible.”

Sergio Brenes, the PSOE Councillor for Urbanismo in Malaga, who also attended the residents’ meeting, said: “If I was one of the owners on this hill, I would be doing everything I could to fight the decision.”

The PP boss of Urbanismo at the town hall, Francisco Pomares – who has not yet met with the residents’ group – insisted he was unable to halt the scheme.

However he has said the town hall will attempt to ‘release the homeowners from having to pay the charges’.

The residents now have just three months to appeal against the decisions of the town hall.

Missing teen comes home

A DESPERATE search for a missing 16-year-old girl who disappeared from Marbella on Saturday ended happily on Monday.

Following a Facebook appeal for information, Zaira Duran de Leon returned home after 48 hours.

Zaira, who was last seen at Buddha club, was not in contact with family or friends in that time.

But on Monday night her mother announced that she returned home safely. “Thank you everyone for your help,” she wrote.

Zaira posted that she was fine and well.

So last century!

POLICE in Malaga are wearing bulletproof vests that are more than 20 years old.

The National Union of Police denounced the ‘expired’ clothing which dates back as far as 1993, following last week’s fatal shooting of a police officer in Vigo, northern Spain.

The union complained of a shortage of adequate safety equipment which is putting officers’ at risk.

www.theolivepress.es

the olive press - December 11 - December 23 2014

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www.theolivepress.es

the olive press - December 11 - December 23 2014

OPINION Praying for change IT is a solemn and strange scene to behold.

Priests lying flat on the floor of Granada Cathedral, begging forgiveness for the sex abuse sins of the Catholic church.

But it is a necessary scene, very necessary, for this institution has been a fertile breeding ground for paedophiles, undoubtedly exacerbated by rules against sex and marriage.

Having said that, we cannot tar all priests with the same brush, for it is individuals to blame, not a religion.

It is now up to the Catholic Church to be open and honest about these scandals, to join in the fight for justice, rather than covering it up.

Doing it for Dad! THE curious case of Dennis Terry and his squabbling son and former daughter-in-law would leave the hardiest of crime fiction detective in a tizzy.

Mysterious letters, damning allegations and a family dispute to boot, all collide in a tale that would leave a certain Senior Poirot jumping off the train.

Who is telling the truth and who is telling porkies is hard to tell… but one thing is for sure, something is fishy in Antequera.

Bumbling blunders RIDLEY Scott sure has an odd way of defending his allegedly racist casting choices.

Surely referring to non-Caucasian actors as ‘Mohamad so-and-so from such-and-such’ isn’t the best way to prove you aren’t intolerant?

Then again, maybe he is just being brutally honest about his industry and its consumers…

Protect Andalucia TOWN halls have the power to change the face of Andalucia, and it seems as though they are pushing this power to the limit.

With Junta plans to reopen mining facilities across the region, and on a smaller scale the Malaga Town Hall making an alleged ‘land grab’ in Churriana, this problem is becoming clearer by the day.

Those entrusted with protecting the natural heritage of Andalucia need to take a moment to think about how best to do that, not just about how much money they can milk from the land.

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On their knees The Spanish church is in freefall after a scandal exposed a sinister paedophile sect, praying on youngsters. Are its days of influence numbered, asks Jacqueline Fanchini and Tom Powell

“THE truth is the truth, and we must not hide it,” the Pope ruled, just days before a judge in Granada filed preliminary charges against three priests and a religious teacher for the sexual abuse of a former altar boy.

With up to a dozen more under investigation - and new victims coming out by the week - it has been dubbed the ‘gravest sexual abuse scandal’ in the history of the Catholic church in Spain.

The gravity of the situation certainly became apparent, with Pope Francis himself feeling the need to step into the scandal, after a victim contacted him personally.

Since the court launched its investigation a fortnight ago, at least one more victim has gone public with a similar litany of abuses. There are believed to be many more victims.

Either way, the scandal has now led to the most extraordinarily unprecedented display of humility from religious men, who normally like to pontificate from on high.

In a bizarre picture opportunity, the Archbishop of Granada and other clerics prostrated themselves at the city’s cathedral during Mass, ‘asking forgiveness for the sins of the Church, for all of the scandals that have, or might have, occurred among us’.

The solemn scene raised yet more damning questions for an institution facing allegations that constitute an appalling perversion of power.

Catholicism and its age-old traditions are as much ingrained in the fabric of Spain as flamenco and bullfighting.

The most famous Catholic pilgrimage in the world leads to its doorstep, at the venerated door of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia.

Other famous pilgrimages go to

Covadonga in Asturias and El Guardia Civil and denounce his Rocio in Huelva. abusers, to ensure a full invesBut just as Spain’s corridors of tigation would take place. political power have been be- The Pope commented that the smirched by corruption, its ecu- news had caused him ‘great menical institutions are being pain’. stained by scandals that may Since the turn of the millenium, never be wiped clean.

Spain’s Catholic Church - where And while Spain’s priests are religious leaders not allowed stand firm in the to have wives face of accusaand demands tions that have celibacy - has rocked the world, lurched from it will be hard for one embarthe Church to fully rassing crisis regain its respect. to the next.

The facts are that When Pope the Spanish are Francis analready losing nounced his their faith. The zero-tolerance national average policy towards attendance of abuse in May, Mass in 2010 was IN PAIN: Pope Francis hopes were 14.4% but many raised that a priests have hinted that the fig- corner had been turned. ure is now much lower.

“I commit myself not to tolerAnd is it any wonder with the ate harm done to a minor by suspicion that priests up and any individual, whether a cleric down the country may be in- or not,” he announced to the volved in paedophilia. world.

The current ‘altar boy case’ But Pope Francis himself has has thrown Spain into the cen- been accused of covering up tre of a global debate on the sex abuse scandals in the past, Church’s internal handling of while he was a cardinal in Arabuse allegations. gentina.

This specific probe was And with each new skeleton launched after Pope Francis that emerges from the closet, personally received a letter trust in the church diminishes. from a young man claiming to In December 2007, a bishop have been abused by a ring of in Tenerife provoked widepriests in Granada from the spread anger over his disturbage of 13 onwards. ing comments about children The group allegedly drew boys in the Church who ‘want to be into their sphere of influence by abused’. taking them on as altar boys or Bishop Bernardo Alvarez said: ‘assistants’ before molesting “There are 13-year-olds who them. are under age and who are The alleged victim had tried to perfectly in agreement with it confide in Granada’s own Cath- and wanting it, and if you are olic investigation section but careless they will even provoke was repeatedly ignored. you.”

However, in a personal tele- Three years later, Cordoba’s phone call to the man, now a Catholic order was publicly 24-year-old teacher, Pope Fran- embroiled in a sexual abuse cis encouraged him to go to the scandal, when a priest, Brother

Manolo, respected for his charity work, was ordered to stay away from the Francis of Assisi Centre he once ran, and from its residents.

But clerical sexual abuse has not been confined to young boys working within church portals. In June this year, a Moroccan maid accused a priest in Madrid of exploiting her for four years. He allegedly abused her sexually and subjected her to psychological and physical torture.

Four years ago, another priest was found to have 21,000 indecent images of children on a computer at his church in Castellon. There are many more examples.

As the murky underbelly of child sex abuse is exposed on a global scale, people are beginning to stereotype so-called celibate priests as paedophiles.

Moreover, clerical sex abuse victims estimate that the reported cases barely scratch the surface of a pandemic within Spain.

It is not hard to see why the global attitude towards the clergy has changed from one of respect to ridicule.

Despite the Pope estimating that only 2% of clerics could be paedophiles, Catholic priests have sadly become synonymous with child abuse.

There is even a video game called Vatican Quest which portrays the previous Pope, Benedict XVI, as a pimp for paedophile cardinals.

But arguably the biggest church scandal of all did take place in Spain.

From 1939 until the 1990s, an incredible 300,000 babies were stolen from their parents at birth and sold through the Catholic adoption network to childless couples with money and the right connections.

As the Olive Press has reported

www.theolivepress.es the olive press - December 11

13 - November 26 2014 7 7 the olive press - Novemberwww.theolivepress.es

- December 23 2014

The numbers 73.1% of Spain or 34,496,250

people - consider themselves Catholic

215,880 - the numHOLY SIN: At Granada Cathedral and baby-stealing nun Maria Valbuena (left) and Archbishop of Granada (right)

on many occasions, mothers a candlelit float of the Virgin were told that their babies had Mary to the cathedral. died at birth, sometimes even But they do it in Sevilla and Malaga… and even in staunch being shown a frozen corpse.

In fact, 15% of the adoptions C o m m u n i s t / S o c i a l i s t - r u n in Spain between 1960 and towns like Cordoba, Arriate and 1989 are believed to have Casares. been ‘stolen babies’, figures The institutionalisation of Catholicism in government, the that beggar belief.

More than 2,000 cases have law and society as a whole, been filed through the Spanish is undoubtedly part of the courts, while many victims con- problem.In schools, Catholic education is tinue to search compulsory, for the mother while most they never met; The Church is now children still or, in other losing touch with take comcases, the child they thought many of those who munion in had died at used to attend Mass Andalucia.

When one birth. regularly expat’s child Nonetheless, ‘opted out’ the Catholic Church has continued to play of religious education in her an integral part in Spanish life, school in a communist run viltypified by the solemn Semana lage near Ronda, last year, she Santa celebrations which see ended up sitting on the floor of huge numbers of worshippers the headmaster’s office, readspilling into the streets to watch ing a book.

Victims have had nowhere to turn the processional thrones.

It is impossible to envisage in a country so indoctrinated and 2 million people lining the trusting that many cannot equate streets of Birmingham at night their venerated pillars of the comto watch a brotherhood carry munity with paedophilia.

And despite a Vatican announcement this year that, between 2004 and 2013, it struck off 850 paedophile priests, groups representing victims argue that it is nowhere near enough.

But the facts are the Church is now losing touch with many of those who used to attend Mass regularly, due to its outdated stances on abortion, gay marriage and contraception.

Worse, it has been sullied by the actions of individuals who seek to exploit it for their own perverted gains.

Of course, there are many genuine priests who play a valuable role in Spanish society, those caring shepherds who help their flock to endure the trials and tragedies of everyday life.The real horror is that some of the very same people in whom many still place their trust turn out to be the greatest sinners of all.

Faith in the Church has been rocked to its foundations. The sweet scent of incense has been tainted with the acrid reek of hypocrisy.

ber of pilgrims who walked to Santiago de Compostela in 2013

200% - the increase in divorces over the last two years 301,330

- people baptised in 2010

60,927 - people who work within the Catholic church

5,675 - Catholic charity centres

2,857,621 - people

who have been helped by those centres

1.2 billion

- the number of Catholics in the world

2,000 years - the age of the Roman Catholic church

8

the olive press - December 11 - December 24 2014

N E P O H N2O8TW

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- December 23 2014

POLITICAL NEWSthe olive press - Novemberwww.theolivepress.es 13 - November 26 2014 9

‘Black money’ PP campaign was completely illegal

Adapt and survive

MONTY Python member Terry Gilliam (right) has entered the corruption debate.

The director, who is set to begin filming The Man who killed Don Quixote in January in the Canary Islands, said: “In recent years you have learned to live beside corruption as if it were completely normal. It’s very interesting to see how you’ve adapted.”

He was however pessimis-

tic about the rise of anti-corruption party Podemos, saying: “They know what they are fighting against, but nothing more. It’s easy to break things, it is complicated and hard to build them.”

CORRU

Eye on PTION

YOUR CHANCE FOR CHANGE

Don’t lose your vote, December 30 is the cut off date to vote in next year’s big elections

THE race to the 2015 local, regional and national elections has already begun... and expat votes could hold the key to success.

But to have your say in your local town hall or the Junta elections you must be registered to vote, with the December 30 deadline getting

Sick of kickbacks HEALTH minister Ana Mato has resigned after a judge accused her of benefiting from illegal payments from a ‘kickback’ scandal.

She was summoned to court over her alleged involvement in the Valencia ‘Gurtel’ scandal, which involved illegal party donations - or ‘kickbacks’ from a ring of businessmen seeking lucrative contracts.

Investigating judge Pablo Ruz announced he believes Mato ‘personally profited’ from the alleged corruption of her exhusband Jesus Sepulveda, the former PP mayor of Madrid suburb Pozuelo de Alarcon.

While she has not been named as an official suspect, Mato will have to sit in the dock during hearings.

ever closer.

To vote, you must be 18 or over and registered both on the padron - town hall register - and on the voting register.

It’s a simple process and your vote could make a big difference wherever you live.

Registration can be made via mail or online, but the best way is to go in person to your town hall.

Briton Guy McCrow, from Marbella’s Beach House restaurant, is taking a leading role in the drive to get expats ready to vote in his town.

“With elections coming up, it is in the best interest of expats to vote,” said McCrow.

“This matters to expats as

it affects their lives on the coast.”

A second excellent reason to be registered on the padron is that the funding for each town’s infrastructure is based on the number of inhabitants.

Taking Marbella, as an example, the population is officially 140,000, while in reality it is more like 270,000.

This means the town is only receiving a fraction of the infrastructure funding that it is entitled to.

BLACK money, gifts and bribes… the way the PP party ran a political campaign in Alicante has been fully laid bare.

According to a former campaign director, PP bigwigs splashed the cash - quite literally - to ensure that its candidate in the city got into power.

Exceeding the legal limits by up to 20 times, the PP spent €450,000 on an ‘aggressive advertising campaign’ for mayor Luis Diaz Alperi in 2007.

But now former advertising director Enrique Ruiz, of agency ER Backspin, has admitted to taking hundreds of thousands of euros in undeclared €500 notes.

Officially only invoicing

€21,000 for his campaign he was given the cash from a variety of sources and on various occasions.

“We put up more than 150 billboards in Alicante, paid for radio adverts, newspaper adverts and a special 12-page booklet which we circulated around Alicante,” he said.

Key councillors were also given jewellery and watches and taken to private parties on yachts in Ibiza.

The glitzy marketing campaign was ordered a month prior to the election after an opinion poll revealed Alperi was going to lose his seat.

Against the odds Alperi claimed his fourth mayoral win after receiving over 63,000 votes.

Face off!

OUT with the old and in with the new as the leftist IU party presents its own handsome candidate to rival the PSOE’s strapping secretary general. Economist Alberto Garzon (left) is expected to become the party’s new leader and set to rival the PSOE’s new leader Pedro Sanchez (right), dubbed ‘El Guapo’ (the handsome one). With the rise of Podemos and its young politicians it seems that other parties are looking to elect charismatic new heads that will appeal to a new generation of voters.

The PP however are sticking with good old Rajoy - at least for now.

the olive press - December 11 10 www.theolivepress.es www.theolivepress.es

KEEP IN CONTACT IN SPAIN - December 23 2014

Gibraltar NEWS

the olive press - December 11 -www.theolivepress.es December 24 2014 10

AND ABROAD! Under

attack!

400 MIN 500 MB FOR ONLY

GIBRALTAR’S rescue services were put through their paces with a disaster exercise at the British enclave’s airport.

More than 100 soldiers and drama students were drafted in to act as injured passengers in an airline accident.

The public were warned they would hear sirens and see fire engines, ambulances and police vehicles racing between the airport and St Bernard’s Hospital.

However, several locals clearly missed the memo and took to social media to air their confusion.

Resident Alex Carvana said: “What’s with all the traffic? Are we under attack.”

The two hour exercise prompted rumours of everything from UFOs landing on the Rock to a terrorist attack at the airport.

NEWS IN BRIEF Young rockers A YOUTH forum has been launched to give a voice to all young people on the Rock. To join contact Rebecca Figueras on rebecca. figueras.gys@gibtelecom. net or call 200 786 17

Feeling arty?

BUDDING Picassos – from Year 9 up to 24 years old – can enter the Rock’s annual art competition. Deadline for entries is February 20 at 6pm. Contact culture.info@culture.gov. gi or call 200 672 36

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THE OLIVE PRESS – 344mm x 126mm

11th December

A ROW over Gibraltar Airport has brought the EU plan for greener flight paths to a standstill.

The Single European Sky initiative hopes to merge national air ‘corridors’ into transnational ‘blocks’. This would create shorter flight paths and cut costs and carbon dioxide emissions.

However, Spain wants Gibraltar Airport excluded from the EU aviation law, until a dispute over the isthmus – the narrow strip of land that connects Gibraltar to Spain – is resolved.

“There is absolutely no reason at all for Gibraltar to be excluded from continuing to participate in these measures,” said Robert Goodwill, British under-secretary of THE 23-year-old Miss Gibraltar’s team won the ‘tug of war’ in the world pageant’s sports elimination round.

But despite the action, there was still time for a quick snap in front of the London Eye with some of the other 130 contestants.

state for transport.

According to Britain, Spain agreed to stop seeking the exclusion of Gibraltar Airport from EU aviation measures under a 2006 agreement between London, Madrid and Gibraltar.

However, Ana Pastor Julian, Spain’s minister of public works and transport, described Gibraltar Airport as ‘illegally occupied by the United Kingdom’.

Spain insists the isthmus is distinct to other territorial rows, as according to Spanish diplomatic sources, it was not included in the treaty ceding Gibraltar to Britain in 1713.

Until the argument is resolved, the airspace reform proposals cannot go ahead.

Catching London’s eye

December 18, 9.30pm

Bingo at the Admiral Casino, in aid of Calpe House. Tickets £10, available from Anita on 560 540 00

Missing man appeal POLICE are appealing for information r e garding a missi n g Spani s h m a n w h o works in Gibraltar.

Antonio Velasco Rodriguez, 34, lives in Sotogrande but commutes daily to work at Amaya Gaming in Europort.

He last made contact with his family by phone on the morning of November 19.

He has not been seen since he failed to turn up at work the next day.

Colleague Donna Harris told the Olive Press: “He is such a lovely tranquil person that I can’t imagine he has fallen into a wrong crowd.”

Rodriguez is about 1.75m tall, of slim build, with brown eyes and short brown hair.

Anyone with information contact: newsdesk@theolivepress.es or call Gibraltar Police Control Room on +350 200 72500

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the olive press - November 13 12 12 www.theolivepress.es

AXARQUIA

12 - November 26 2014

Decemberwww.theolivepress.es 11 - December 23 2014

No date for the prom

Promenade plans axed in Nerja and Benagalbon

By Joe Chivers A PROMENADE planned for Nerja’s Playazo beach has been rejected by the council, along with another in Torre de Benagalbon.

Expats have backed the decision to axe the plans, which were drawn up by the Spanish Ministry of the Environment.

The development of the large, sandy Playazo beach was rejected due to funding issues.

The municipality would have had to contribute €2 million towards the €8.6 million project, a cost which councillor for the environment, Nieves Atencia, called ‘unacceptable’.

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Bumper fundraiser AN indoor market in Torrox raised €233 for cancer charity Cudeca, with €170 coming from a raffle organised by expat Rachael Henderson.

Quake shake A MINOR earthquake, measuring 3.2 on the Richter scale, was felt in Velez-Malaga on November 26.

Rincon riches REJECTED: Playazo beach remains promenade-free Speaking to the Olive Press, long-time expat Charlie Bond said: “They’d just be getting

Axarquia en pastel AN international group of artists have a treat for all lovers of pastel art.

Pastels International, led

by British artist Heather Gail Harman are staging an exhibition at the Alcaucin Arts Centre from December 15-January 2.

A private viewing on December 12 will be attended by the Mayors of Alcaucin

News IN BRIEF

and Heather’s hometown, Canillas de Aceituno.

into more debt, it’s unnecessary in the current economic climate.”

“Plus the boatyards give a service to a lot of people, and if they built the promenade there would be nowhere else to store them,” he added.

The Rio Seco, which flows out at the beach, would present a further obstruction.

Meanwhile, in Torre de Benagalbon, which falls under the control of Rincon de la Victoria, the promenade project has been met with opposition from both residents and the local government.

There have been calls for a promenade that would not not change the existing environment so much.

RINCON de la Victoria boasts the highest average income of any sizeable town in Malaga province, surpassing Marbella. The town’s average income was listed as €22,290.

Recognising ‘Our Lady’ NERJA Town Hall is to request that a historic 18th century chapel in the town centre be listed as a significant part of local culture.

The town wants the Junta to list the Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows as a site of cultural interest, the second such request in the town.

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13

GREEN NEWS

December 11 - December 23 2014

Aquatic art: underwater museum to get locals ‘loving the planet’ SPAIN is holding its breath for the launch of its first underwater museum.

British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor – who has designed similar installations in Grenada and Mexico – aims to inspire people to ‘love the planet more’ at his proposed site in the Canary Islands. His cement artworks, many of which are

modelled on local people, are designed to attract plant life and colonies of sea creatures and evolve over time.

The Museo Atlantico, in Lanzarote – funded by the local government – will take two years and at least €700,000 to complete. Some 2% of the museum’s revenues will go towards ecological research.

Mining plan blasted

By Jacqueline Fanchini

A STORM of protest has greeted plans to turn 250,000 hectares of virgin land into quarries or mines.

The mayor of Alhaurin de la Torre insists the Junta could be about to commit ‘serious crimes’ if it authorises the projects.

Now his town hall has been joined by two local parties Electores and Equo, to launch a concerted plan to fight the schemes.

In total, 18,000 hectares of Malaga province are in danger of being exploited for mining, including a huge chunk of the Sierra de Mijas.

It comes after Junta president Susana Diaz called for a radical loosening of the law, which would allow 367 new quarries and mines to be dug around Andalucia.

While the majority are in

Groups up in arms after Junta announces ‘scandalous’ plans to open new mines across Andalucia

REOPENED: Could former Mijas mine be reopened under new plans

Huelva, some are in the Sierra de Mijas, despite the area being slated to become a natural park and a vital green corridor for Malaga province.

“Those responsible at the

Junta could commit serious crimes if they authorise new quarries. It is scandalous,” said Joaquin Vilanova, mayor of Alhaurín de la Torre.

Town hall spokesman Julian Mancebo added: “There would be serious ecological damage and more mining poses a clear risk to people’s health.”

However, the Junta sees

growth in the mining sector as a vital way to bring investment into Andalucia and create jobs.

Mancebo does not agree: “The proposal is typical of a growth model based on unlimited exploitation of resources, which doesn’t take into account the consequences on health, safety and the environment.”

Green mile

GREENPEACE activists are facing the longest jail sentences ever handed out to the group in Spain.

The 16 activists and a pho-

Oil SOS MORE than 200 people created a human SOS to protest oil drilling off the Canary Islands last week.

Protesters massed on the beaches of Fuerteventura to oppose the government’s decision to allow fracking and oil exploration.

Repsol has begun exploratory drilling about 50 kilometres off the island.

A protest flotilla – made up of sailboats, kayaks and dinghies – will head to the drilling site as soon as weather permits.

Environmental groups including Greenpeace and the WWF, as well as the local government, have campaigned against drilling in the region.

The Spanish Navy recently impounded Greenpeace’s protest boat the Arctic Sunrise and was involved in an incident which left four Greenpeace activists injured.

tojournalist working for Agence France-Press, Pedro Armestre, face up to three years in jail for their part in a nuclear plant protest.

They are charged with public order offences and injuring two security guards during a break-in at Spain’s most powerful nuclear plant, Cofrentes, in 2011.

The protest group could be fined €357,000 at the Valencia trial.

“This trial aims to blindfold the person who wants to show what is happening,” said Armestre, 42, who reported on the protest.

After breaking into the Iberdrola-run plant – which produces 5% of the country’s electricity – activists painted ‘Nuclear danger’ in giant letters on a cooling tower.

Prosecutors allege that one guard was injured by an electric saw in clashes with the activists, while the second received head injuries.

The defendants insist the guard was injured by the barbed wire fence, not by a saw.

Greenpeace’s defence insists that Spain’s constitution grants concerned citizens the right to protect the environment.

14 thewww.theolivepress.es olive press - December 11 - December 23 2014 www.olivepress.es

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Dear OP, THE woman arrested for stealing a dog is a prime example of what is wrong with our society (Expat held for freeing abused dog, issue 201). Law enforcement officials condone animal cruelty, yet when someone tries to help an animal, they are quick to punish them.

This is a real problem, and the only way we are going to fix it is to force our lawmakers to pass harsher laws to punish animal cruelty and to force law enforcement chiefs to do their jobs and punish ALL criminals.

Leave Pat Waterhouse alone and go after the real monster here – the owner who neglected their dog.

Now THAT is a crime!

True offence I WAS shocked to read the story of Pat Waterhouse (Expat held for freeing abused dog, issue 201). I would have done exactly the same thing. I am an animal lover and it saddens me that people do not care for their animals. These animals did not choose to be with the demons who took them in.

People like Pat and myself do what we can to give these dogs the chance in life they deserve.

I pray for this to turn out well and that the law sees the true

olive press - December 11 - December 23 2014 the olivethe press - November 13 - November 26 2014 www.theolivepress.es

Costa del Sex

A real monster

Diana Deville, Alora

LETTERS

Licence to fish

DOES this brothel use the name ‘happy’ because it’s town hall approved?

This sign is at the roundabout approaching Centro Plaza in Nueva Andalucia. It’s been there for more than a month now. Well, welcome to the Costa del Sex...

First the calling card infestation – which the town hall said it knows nothing about – and now huge signs which can be seen on the AP7. Some things in good, old ‘happy’ Marbella never change.

Robert Williams, Marbella

offence; that the ‘owner’ kept his dog chained up living off stale bread for two years.

K Bilden, Fuengirola

In touch DUE to my husband’s increasing infirmity and age, we recently (reluctantly) returned to be nearer our family in England after 20 very happy years in Spain.

We know we made the right decision, but how we miss Spain: the lovely people,

The Sabinillas Bookshop

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laid-back lifestyle and feeling much younger than our years – not to mention the climate.

So a million thanks to the Olive Press online (www.theolivepress.es) for keeping us in close touch with you all.

You are the best online Spanish expat newspaper by far – full of news, easy to negotiate, and keeping us in touch with ‘our other home’.

Cynthia & John Blantern, England

Pope hope IT is heartening to see Pope Francis encourage a victim of clergy sexual abuse to file civil charges with the police (Three Granada priests arrested in child sex abuse investigation, OP online).

To refer all allegations of clergy sexual abuse is essential, so the police can investigate and prosecute. If the Pope demands that church members refer all allegations to the police for investigation, I will have more hope for an honest and transparent Catholic church.

Only then will there will be a greater chance of justice for the victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Dr Rosemary Eileen McHugh, Granada

On track RUNNING trams is like running anything else: it needs people in charge who know what they’re doing (Return of the trams, issue 201).

I see no reason that they can’t be run profitably in VelezMalaga. They are far less polluting than other forms of transport and lots of people can be transported economically, but – and it’s a big but – they absolutely need to be run by experts!

Let’s see what happens this time.

David Smith, Nerja

Be aware MY dog and I were beaten in Lanjarón this year by a neighbour just like your story (Savage attack, issue 200).

My pregnant dog was scared when a youth jumped unexpectedly over a wall. She bit his left thigh with her teeth but no medical care was needed.

The boy’s brother-in-law was nearby and decided to take revenge by kicking my other dog in the face just as I knelt to fix the other’s collar.

While the authorities took legal action against him, but he never showed up or apologised for the incident.

My advice is to always be aware.

Name withheld, Lanjaron

IT isn’t easy to get a Spanish fishing licence, as Phillip Wiggal’s letter last issue stated, but I managed it in 2011.

You must take your UK licence to the British Consulate in Malaga to have it verified and then take the certificate up one floor to the Spanish Environment Agency.

You will need: civil responsibility insurance Piscador, town hall registration, NIE number and passport.

You will have to go to the bank to pay a small fee before they issue a temporary paper licence. Your plastic Tarjeta de Identificacion will be sent through the post at a later date.

If you are over 65, the licence is free but you will need to show your sescentacinco card.

Sounds simple? Well... a completely different licence is required to fish in the sea!

Raymond Sedgwick, Alhaurin El Grande

Tongue-tied BRITS assume that English is the European lingua franca for good reason. It is after all, the globally-preferred language.

What’s the point in learning another language if it isn’t necessary? That’s not laziness, it’s pragmatism. There are plenty more relevant and useful things to be learnt instead.

I used to work for a German bank where the official internal language was English. I often found myself in meetings as the only non-German and even though I speak German, they insisted on sticking to the company rules, taking the minutes and action points in English.

Lestyn Robert, Almeria

Trendsetters I WANT to say a big thank you for sharing the news of our efforts to improve the sustainability of our hotels.

At Fuerte hotels we are very proud to be leading the way in having an economical and sustainable tourism industry in Spain.

Carlo, Marbella

Letters should be emailed to letters@theolivepress.es. The writer’s name and address should be provided. Opinions are not necessarily those of the Editor.

CROSSMOT 46

Across 1 Links (7) * 5 Puff (5) * 8 Suppressing (2,9,2) * 9 Without (3) * 10 Highway (9) * 12 Pasa (6) * 13 Esfera (6) * 15 Immediate (9) * 16 Goma (3) * 18 Starve (5,2, 6) * 20 Remainder (5) * 21 Duchas (7).

Down 1 They (5) * 2 Nurses (3, 10) * 3 Ability (9) * 4 Saw (6) * 5 Esquí (3) * 6 Gingerbread (3, 2, 8) * 7 Funcionar (7) * 11 Explored (9) * 12 Nadador (7) * 14 Camellos (6) * 17 Se encuentra (5) * 19 River (3).

L = 199

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what’s on

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enalmadena.

December 12, from 6pm ‘Light a light’ with Cudeca. Tributes and dedications to loved ones, with carols, a raffle and cakes, at Cudeca Hospice. Visit www. cudeca-eventos.org

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onda. December 12 Graduation for students of Marbella Design Academy, with an expo and fashion show. Including canapes and music. Call 952 457 090 for bookings.

AXARQUIA

the olive press - October 30 - November 12 2014

HOLLYWOOD director Ridley Scott has blamed Spanish tax rebates for allegedly racist casting in his forthcoming Biblical epic.

British-born Scott – director of Gladiator, Alien and Blade Runner – has come under fire for casting just white actors in the leading roles of the soon-to-be released Exodus: Gods and Kings.

A social media campaign has accused the makers of ‘whitewashing’ the Exodus story and of ‘cinematic colonialism’.

Batman actor Christian Bale plays Moses, alongside the Australian Joel Edgerton as Pharaoh Ramses II, John Turturro – of Oh Brother, Where art Thou? – as Pharaoh Seti I and Sigourney Weaver as his wife.

Scott insisted the lack of Middle Eastern actors in major roles

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the olive press - December 11 - December 23 2014

Blame in Spain... was dictated by financial concerns.

“I can’t mount a film of this budget, where I have to rely on tax rebates in Spain, and say that my lead actor is Mohamad so-andso from such-and-such,” Scott told Variety magazine.

“I’m just not going to get it financed. So the question doesn’t even come up.”

Spain offers a tax rebate to foreign film crews of just 15% – lower than many other EU countries.

France, Hungary and Lithuania all offer rebates of 20%, the UK and Malta offer 25%, while in Ireland film crews can claim rebates of up to 32% from 2015.

TaXXX-rated porn

TAX hikes have forced a Spanish theatre company to take extreme measures.

The Madrid-based company, Primas de Riesgo – or Risk Premium – have begun peddling pornography instead of tickets to cut their taxes.

Pornography – subject to just 4% tax – is considerably more tax-friendly than live performances, taxed at a massive 21%.

Austerity measures led the PP to drastically cut subsidies for the cultural sector, pushing tax prices on tickets sales from 8% to its current level.

“It’s scandalous when cultural heritage is being taxed at 21% and porn at only 4%,” said the group’s 33-year-old director Karina Garantiva.

“Something is wrong.”

The group now sells back is-

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uengirola. December 15, 8pm Christmas carol concert with the International Music Society choir. Tickets €6, including a drink and a tapa. Call 952 474 840 or email luxmundif@gmail.com

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alaga. December 13, 11am-8pm Charity market for Unidos contra el cancer, on Calle Alcazabilla.

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uengirola. December 19-23 and January 2-5, 8pm, Sundays at 7pm Salon Varieties Christmas panto, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Matinees on December 20 and January 3 and 5, at 3pm.

Call 952 474 542 or book online at www.salonvarietiestheatre.com

At last

A PORTRAIT of Spain’s royal family has finally been unveiled, at Madrid’s royal palace, after a 20-year wait.

Artist Antonio Lopez joked that the delay was ‘probably excessive’.

Budding Picasso

ARTIST: Nena Jacques AN expat artist is launching her debut solo exhibition in La Cala de Mijas.

Nena Jacques, who has lived in Mijas Costa for nine years, has previously exhibited locally as well as in Bahrain – her former home – but this will be the first to exclusively feature her work.

The exhibition of 20 paintings will open at the Hotel Carmen on the evening of December 13, and will run until January 10.

“I get immense pleasure from people seeing and appreciating my work,” said Nena.

Entrance is free.

Theatre company sells sex mags in austerity protest

BEATING THE SYSTEM: Primas de Riesgo

The art of war SPAIN’S civil war inspired a whole generation of writers and poets, but the involvement of British artists is less widely-known.

But now a new exhibition in the UK, entitled Conscience and Conflict: British Artists and the Spanish Civil War, casts a light on artists’ reactions to the war.

The exhibition – which juxtaposes never-seen works alongside world-famous loans – includes pieces from photographs to landscapes, from bloodied sketches to campaign posters.

Held at Pallant House in Chichester, the exhibition runs until February 15.

For more information, visit www.pallant.org.uk or call 0044 2143 774 557.

FACE OFF: Edward Burra’s The Watcher (1937)

Quest for Queen’s jewels AN maritime treasure hunter has launched a search for the Queen of Spain’s sunken jewels.

The elusive treasure – which includes a heart crafted from 130 pearls, a 74-carat emerald ring and a rosary made of pure coral the size of marbles – is submerged off the Florida coast.

Archaeologist Robert Marx, 79, is searching for the treasure in the lead up to the 300th anniversary of the sinking of Don Juan Esteban de Ubilla’s Spanish fleet in 1715.

Of the 12-ship fleet – which was carrying more than 3.5 million pesos in treasure – 11 were sunk in a violent hurricane while sailing from Havana to Spain.

King Philip V had ordered the jewels to be brought to Spain for the Duchess of Parma, Elizabeth Farnese.

Despite the loss of the crown jewels, however, Elizabeth went on to bear Philip seven children.

sues of the magazine Gente Libre – Free People – for €16, with a free theatre ticket thrown in.

This campaign is intended to save money on taxes and to ‘start a discussion about this paradox’.

The group has ‘given away’ 180 tickets for its current production of El Magico Prodigioso, a 17th century drama by Pedro Calderon de la Barca.

A Catalan company has used similar tactics, selling carrots – taxed at 4% – for €13 each with a free theatre ticket thrown in.

Spain’s finance minister Cristobal Montoro has said that the government is trying to lower cultural tax, adding: “We need to be left alone so we can work. We’re taking it step by step.”

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DISGUISED: Chris’ home at one with the country

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www.theolivepress.es

the olive press - November 13 - November 26 2014

HE desire to add beauty to building is not universal in the Alpujarra, where function and cost is king. However, by odd chance, we happened upon two like-minded souls, a handsome young couple called Simon and Victoria, who not only shared our aesthetic vision of optimising the simple beauty of the landscape but carried it several steps further.

They had just married when they arrived in our lives, and were on honeymoon, having chosen rather unaccountably to spend it camping in the desert of Almería. On one night and one night only in the last thousand years has it snowed in the desert of Almería, and it happened to be the very night that Simon and Vicky pitched their tent. The snow flurried in, driven by a howling gale through the flaps of their flimsy tent, nearly freezing them to death.

So they came to stay for a few days to thaw out and, in the inevitable way of these things, ended up living with us for 18 months.

Simon is a brilliant draughtsman, designer and constructor, and always has to have some project to amuse him. One day, about a month into their stay, he sidled up to me when Ana was out of hearing. ‘Have you ever given any thought to the idea of green rooves for El Valero?’ he asked.

‘Scarcely a day passes, Simon, scarcely a day.

Tell me more.’ I was all ears, and for an hour or more we retired into deep confabulation.

Simon’s green roof seemed a logical step for us.

Already the walls of the house are so covered

the olive press - December 11 - December 23 2014

The green, green rooves of home

Chris Stewart launches yet another hare-brained scheme that just might work at his home in the Alpujarra, in the third installment from his latest book The Last Days of the Bus Club in ivy and wisteria that the sun barely touches them at all in summer, and this makes a spectacular difference to the temperature inside the house. With an extra layer of vegetation on the roof, we would be cool in summer and warm in winter – as cucumbers and toast – for no running cost at all.

The dyed-in-the-wool Manolo took a little more convincing than Ana. When we broke the news to him, he grinned his broadest grin and looked from Ana to me and then back to Ana, waiting to see who would crack first and admit that we were ‘taking his hair’, as the Spanish have it.

‘You want to put grass on the roof?’ he repeated incredulously and waited. ‘You mean grass …

QUITE by chance, Ana had come across a superlative poultry website on the Internet and jotted down the address. We booted up her horrible old computer and launched ourselves into the World Wide Web. They had every sort of chicken and fowl you could dream of.

There were photos of them and descriptions of their qualities and advantages, and, lo and behold, in some cases, they even had them starring in their own videos. We could audition our chickens online.

First we decided to check out the Andalusian Blue. It was represented in a five-minute video clip. We clicked the right arrow and waited with excitement for the film to upload. Ah yes,

on the roof?’, he tried again, but still we simply agreed that this was indeed the plan. For days he continued his bewildered refrain of ‘Grass … on the roof?’, breaking off into a chuckle and HANGING GARDENS: The rooves shake of the head. create a canopy from below The first thing we had to do was to properly waterproof and reinforce all the rooves in quesThe fact that Domingo hadn’t actually derided tion by covering them in a layer of steel-meshour scheme with the green rooves, and had even reinforced concrete, then a welded layer of lent a hand, brought a change of heart in ManoPVC. This detracted somewhat from our green lo, who soon made tentative comments that he credentials, as PVC is hardly an ecologically thought the scheme, though harebrained, might sound material, but one must be pragmatic. On just stand a chance of success. top of the PVC went another layer of waterproof The insulation and waterproofing layers were concrete, then a special felt and on top of all complete. Now it was time to that a layer that looked like plasplant the roof with drought- and ‘You want to put tic eggboxes. The eggboxes were heat-resistant plants. This was covered with fine filter cloth and Ana’s scheme and was inspired grass on the then a deep layer of soil mixed by her finding a spectacularly roof?’ he repeated with balls of arlita. beautiful succulent in the semiincredulously and desert of Almería. How any plant Arlita is exploded balls of clay, like sugarpuffs: they’re waterwaited. ‘You mean could survive such conditions retentive and excellent for grow- grass … on the roof?’ seemed little short of miracuing plants, but their main advanlous. Ana then cast about for othtage is that they lighten the load. er plants that might thrive in the With unadulterated soil you run the risk, when taxing conditions of a flat roof in the Andalucian it rains, of the roof becoming waterlogged, summer. They included Mesembrianthemum, the weight being too much for the supporting Carpobrotus, Crassula and a whole lot of others beams, and the whole shebang crashing into that I still don’t know the names of. the room below.

The green roof is a thing of great beauty and The arlita came all the way from Barcelona and ought to last us a lifetime. As Manolo is now fond Domingo came down to the river to ferry the of pointing out to all-comers, ‘El techo verde es lo sacks across on his tractor. suyo’ – ‘A green roof is the way to go.’

Virtual chickens there it was, a real stonker of a chicken. It was standing on some beaten earth near a cornfield. We watched as it stared in a desultory manner at the camera and then turned its head to look to the left for a while. Then, getting bored with that, it looked to the right. There was an atmospheric soundtrack that consisted of some water dripping and crickets doing their stuff. After a while the chicken decided to look straight ahead again, giving us an excellent view of its beak.

I looked at Ana, then back at the screen. The chicken was still looking straight ahead. Ana then looked at me. I was looking at the screen. I was still enjoying the video, although I had to admit that it was a bit short on action. You sort of felt that something was going to come along and grab the chicken, a scenario with which we were only too horribly familiar, but one which you couldn’t help feel would add something to the plot. Nothing came along to grab the chicken, though. It shifted its weight and looked down at the ground, a bit bashfully, I thought.

‘Christ, it’s like watching an Ingmar Bergman film,’ I said.

‘Ssh,’ Ana admonished. ‘I think some-

thing’s happening.’

The chicken looked up again and twitched. There were a few wisps of dried grass on the ground. I believe the chicken was thinking about pecking them. Occasionally they shifted a little as some infinitesimal zephyr passed. The chicken looked down at them again. I looked at Ana again. I like Ana; I’ve lived with her for a long time. It was a hot evening and she was wearing one of those strappy little tops. I was starting to get bored with the film and just a little amorous.

I slipped my arm round her shoulders.

She turned and frowned at me.

‘Look,’ she said. ‘We’re supposed to be choosing chickens. What do you think of the Andalusian Blue?’

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the olive press - December 11 - December 23 2014

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OST of us are familiar with the expression: ‘Those who cannot remember past history are condemned to repeat it’. The same man who is credited with that famous quote also said: ‘History is a pack of lies about events that never happened, told by people who weren’t there…’ To be sure, these sayings are perplexing and bewildering contradictions. But such was the life of the incredible man who penned those sayings. His name was George Santayana and his connection to Spain and the Spanish character tells a much larger story.

Let’s consider the man and his enigmatic life…

He was born (1863) Jorge Augustine Ruiz de Santayana in Madrid, and spent his early childhood in nearby Avila. He was a bright, precocious child and wrote his first novel, Un Matrimonio, aged eight. The following year, his family moved to Boston, USA. The language barrier was never a problem for young George (he preferred ‘George’ to ‘Jorge’), as he soon spoke perfect English in school but continued speaking Spanish at home. He excelled in his studies, was very popular, and participated in many social activities.

At 18, he entered Harvard University where he drew cartoons and edited the popular satirical magazine, The Harvard Lampoon. He founded the literary journal The Harvard Monthly, was president of The Philosophical Club, and acted in campus theatrical groups. After graduating and getting a PhD, he stayed on as a professor at Harvard, perhaps America’s most prestigious university. Many of his students - T.S.Eliot, Robert Frost, Gertrude Stein, Walter Lippmann, William James - became world-famous in their own right.

www.theolivepress.es

Santayana said it!

The sayings of the late, great Spanish philosopher, George Santayana, are an inspiration in these troubled times, writes Jack Gaioni Santayana’s covered a vast notoriety spectrum of suband popularject matter. He ity extended wrote a wide range well beyond ack s orner of plays, poetry the confines and philosophical of Harvard, treatises. His novels became besthowever. He became a central figsellers and book-of-the-month Club ure in an era known as The Classifavourites. His novel, The Last Purical American Philosophy Movement. tan, was nominated for the Pulitzer Surprisingly, at the apex of his acaPrize and in February 1936, he was demic prowess, he left America and on the cover of Time Magazine as as possible’.

Harvard, never to return - not out of the man of his generation. Yet in He was an avowed pacifist yet he animosity but because he found the spite of his real-time fame, Santaadmitted there were such things as American gospel of work, progress yana consciously avoided the spotnecessary ‘chivalrous wars’. During and individualism to be excessive. light and was unthe Spanish Civil War, Santana left Harvard after 40 years impressed with his he saw Franco as exbecause for him academia had be“All conditions are new-found wealth. cessively autocratic, come ‘a world of partisan heat over ‘Wisdom comes bearable and wisdom and the opposing false issues that nurtured trivial and from disillusion- is simply making the Republicans as ‘traginarrow scholarship’. ment’, he claimed. cally naïve’. He was best of whatever is In 1912, he moved to Oxford where, He was a complex horrified at the Cathothrust upon us.” free from ‘academic confinement’ man who was able lic Church’s strident (his words), he found the time to appreciate the doctrine, yet he visited to travel throughout Europe as a virtues of both sides a church nearly every ‘traveling scholar and a wandering of many perspectives. He loved day to pray to his own God. ‘The observer’. His circle of friends (e.g.

America and Spain but claimed, ‘I Bible is literature not dogma,’ he Bertrand Russell, Ezra Pound) was have a certain fond attachment to often claimed. impressive and many encouraged my native lands but my love of them Santayana loved the chaos of Italhim to write in different genres that is manifested by living there as little ian culture yet hoped (for a time,

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INSPIRATION: George Santayana

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anyway) that the fascist Mussolini would get trains to run on time.

George Santayana died in Rome in 1951. He is buried in a Spanish expatriate cemetery, as per his wish.

He retained Spanish citizenship throughout his life and credited his ‘Spanishness’ for his unique ability to embrace the ‘interval between birth and death’. He once said: “All true Spaniards know that all conditions are bearable and wisdom is simply the gift of making the best of whatever is thrust upon us.”

In these troubled times of La Crisis, these words hold particular resonance for our Spanish friends, and for those of us who embrace Spanish culture. Rest in peace, George.

www.theolivepress.es the olive press - November 13 19

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Christmas Special

- November 26 2014

Miracles in Malaga... ...Jingle bells in Gibraltar

BREATH-TAKING: The Christmas lights in Malaga never fail to disappoint

SANTA has rung in the festive season in Gibraltar, with the help of his trusty elf Gloria and Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

The quartet paraded the length of The Promenade at Ocean Village, while scattering sweets for children, before lighting up the four-metre Christmas tree.

Meanwhile the Governor’s Meadow School Choir set the scene with a selection of favourite carols.

Childline volunteers were on hand selling raffle tickets – with prizes including iPad minis, hampers and vouchers – for the draw on December 22 at O’Reilly’s.

Santa then spent the next two hours meeting children in his grotto, with complimentary pizza and tapas, mulled wine, hot chocolate and a chocolate yule log on offer.

Christmas menus and other festive delights will be available in Ocean Village throughout December, with a surprise special event planned for GBC Open Day.

❆

SantalaCsala laus TM

is coming to...

p

u

e

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t

o

b

a

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u

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❆

Sunday 14th and 21st December - 2pm till 3pm

Reservations recommended 95 281 4145 ● reservations@LaSalaBanus.com ● www.LaSalaBanus.com

Local issue 49:The Local Issue 5 05/11/14 10:36 Page 72

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20 - December 23 2014

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Christmas

the olive press - December 11- December 24 2014

Santa’s list for adults Sourcing the perfect present can be more frantic than festive.

But Santa’s little helpers at the Olive Press are here to help

Snow tim The Sierra Nevada is the only Spanish ski resort with decent snow

Must buys 5. Take the chill off in bed with a cute hottie.

Yes, of course we mean Treat your pet-own- a hot water bottle! Price: 1. ing pals to a portrait of their furry friends this year. Price: from €70.

Available online at www. pet-portraitart.com

€10. Available on Amazon.

Stocking 2.

For sporting style, fillers look to a pair of Rossignol detachable roller- 1. Socks can be cool blades. And these boots too! And you certainly are made for walking too.

Simply slip off the blades and you have a cool set of winter footwear. Price €35. Buy online at www. rossignol.com

3.

Why not add a backing track to your loved one’s bathtime with Kohler’s wireless shower head/speaker.

Beats singin’ in the rain! Price: €80. Available on Amazon.

4.

Murdock’s beardgrooming kit could be a

Please mention The Local when responding to advertisements Page 72

won’t be putting your foot in it if they’re a pair of super-soft bamboo socks.

Price: from €5. Buy online from www.thesockshop. com.

2.

It may be winter now but happy sun-filled days

will soon be here again, so delight your friends with 2015’s must-have beach toy. The Aerobie Pro Ring will revolutionise your feelings about frisbees forever. Price: €8.

Available on Amazon.

neat gift to help maintain winsome whiskers at home. Price: €100. Buy online at murdocklondon.com

T’S still early days in the ski season, but the Sierra Nevada has already kicked off with more than 45km of piste open for business.

A massive €3.1 million invest-

ment – courtesy of the Andalucia tourist board and the Cetursa Sierra Nevada – has been put towards making the resort more family-friendly.

Established in its role as the

The Curtain & Bedding Company

Funky soul brother WHEN it comes to chic places to eat and drink, Nueva Andalucia has the pick of the bunch… and nowhere tops Funky Tapas.

The brainchild of long-established restaurateur Garry Waite, the sophisticated eaterie has been a hit since opening in 2013.

With creative tapas and a huge wine selection, Funky Tapas has everything the 21st century diner could dream of.

Waite is also full of praise for his ‘young, enthusiastic staff’ and their inspired, inventive

I

WINTER GIFT: The Three Kings Sierra Nevada slopes, as ever skiers and snowboarders are

cocktail menu.

Funky Tapas is just one of Waite’s many ventures in a 25-year stay on the coast.

Another culinary success is Nueva Campana, a formal dining experience with a comfortable elegance, complete with log fire to ease the chill of winter months.

Serving Mediterranean and traditional dishes, Nueva Campana is open daily (except Tuesdays) and with its resident pianist, it’s no wonder that this place is a firm favourite for locals and tourists.

Curtains Poles & Tracks • Bespoke Blinds Ready Made & Made to Measure Beds & Bedding • Duvets • Throws Mattresses & Pillow Protectors Bath Mats • Towels

Christmas in the mountains

THERE is no beating the comfy warmth of a Molino del Puente room gazing out at the magical Ronda countryside this Christmas.

With a wood-burning stove in the top-notch restaurant, La Cascada, it is the perfect place to beat the winter chill.

Just ten minutes away from the beautiful town of Ronda and an hour from the coast, it is ideally located.

Run by seasoned hoteliers and restaurateurs Ian and Elaine Love, it is the perfect base for walking, bird-watching and horse riding.

There are still rooms available over Christmas, and on the day itself pianist Alf Bowman will be performing live to add an extra sparkle to the delicious food and great ambience.

FREE consultation and measuring service, Marbella to Gibraltar (including inland areas) Calle Bolivia 20, Jardines de Sabinillas, Manilva. email: thecurtainandbeddingco@hotmail.com

tel: 952 897 477 www.CurtainandBeddingShop.com

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Special 2014 2014

the olive press - December 11- December 24 2014

me!

Santa’s list for kids

We can’t leave Santa scratching his beard over what to buy. So we had a sneak peek at their wishlists just to help him…

Must buys 1. Scooters are everywhere at the moment.

But they’re also on the list of dangerous toys, so get relatives to chip in with knee pads and a crash helmet. Price: scooters from €50. Buy online at www.elcorteingles.es

2. with

Surprise the kids a visit from their favourite character. My Party Perfect offers visits from Santa and his elf, Minnie and Mickey, Elsa from Frozen, and many more. Price: €15 per child for 40 mins. Contact Tel: 674 696 096 or email mypartyperfect@ gmail.com

isting lifts, will make sure that skiers can enjoy all the fresh snowfall.

Even better, the price for a ski pass will remain the same for the fourth consecutive season.

Kleenex commercials WHAT is Christmas without a tear-jerking TV advert?

This year the series of spots for Spain’s festive lottery – popularly known as El Gordo (the fat one) – take the lump-in-your-throat pride of place.

Under the slogan ‘El mayor premio es compartirlo’ – the best prize is sharing it – each advert tells a story about how the lottery affects ordinary people.

One ad follows a man who forgot to buy his usual lottery ticket, only to find his numbers have won the top prize. But there’s a surprise in store when he pops in for coffee ...

Another follows a woman who finds her dead parents’ ‘bucket list’ of things they would do if they hit the jackpot, while another follows a couple who decide to get married all over

Bus boost

AS Santa readies his sleigh for another year, Malaga is bolstering its own public transport service for the Christmas period.

Bus users in the city will be happy to hear that an additional 40 vehicles have been added to the city’s fleet to meet the extra demand from Christmas shoppers and winter sunshine holiday-makers.

A total of 250 buses will now operate in the city until January 6, catering for an expected 175,000 journeys.

5.

No Christmas is complete without the clas-

sic game of Twister. And when the kids have gone to bed, mum and dad can have a sneaky go themselves! Price: €22.99.

Available on Amazon.

Stocking fillers 1.Trompos - spinning tops - are the latest retro

playground craze. And with different performance levels there are lots to collect. Price: from €3.50 to €9. Buy online at Girls like to shoot www.juguetes-infantiles. foam arrows as much as es boys and they can target their beaus (sorry, This ‘Sewing School’ bows) at whomsoever book is packed full of they please with the Nerf sewing projects that are Rebelle Heartbreaker. perfect for children. Price: Price: €22. Available on €15. Available on AmaAmazon. zon.

2.

4.

Get creative over the holidays and make a spruce spring home for your feathered friends

again, after failing to win.

Traditionally held on December 22, the Loteria de Navidad will hand out an incredible €2.2 billion this year.

Now the world’s largest lottery, El Gordo has become a cultural institution in Spain since its launch in the 19th century, with more than 30 million hopefuls entering the prize draw.

Most customers also hedge their bets by buying a ticket in the New Year El Nino lottery, drawn on Three King’s Day (January 6) and which hands out €560 million in prize money.

This year state gambling agency, Selae, paid advertising firm Leo Burnett €840,000 to produce the series of emotional adverts.

SPECIAL LAST MINUTE XMAS OFFERS

with a paint-your-own birdhouse set, going ‘cheep’!

Price: €7. Buy online at www.eurekakids.com

3.

will trudge up the this Christmas while already on the pistes sunniest ski resort in Europe, the Sierra Nevada is also the first of Spain’s resorts to start the season.

And three new lifts, as well as the full renovation of two ex-

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XMAS EVE Dinner, bed &breakfast €150 per couple

XMAS DAY Traditional festive lunch, luxury accommodation with breakfast €190 per couple

Tel: 952 874 164 or visit www.hotelmolinodelpuente.com 5 mins from Ronda on the A374 Ronda/Sevilla Road

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Christmas Special

www.theolivepress.es

Festive reads the olive press - December 11- December 24 2014

The Christmas holidays are the perfect excuse for curling up with a good book in front of the fire - yes, even in Spain!

ADD a nice hot cuppa and merry carols in the background and you’ll soon be infused with that warm yuletide glow.

The Olive Press sought out Stephen Davies from the Sabinillas Bookshop and Mike Cowburn from Bookworld in Puerto Banus to tell us what books are flying off the shelves this season.

Here’s their pick of Christmas best-sellers that are bound to please:

For Adults Jamie Oliver – Jamie’s Comfort Food Jamie Oliver’s latest literary concoction is the perfect winter warmer - cosy cuisine that gives you a calorific cuddle. Whether you’re nostalgic, under-the weather or just feeling a bit naughty, Jamie’s restorative recipes from all over the world are the perfect pick-me-up.

Omar Allibhoy - Tapas Revolution Dubbed ‘the Antonio Banderas of cooking’ by Hell’s Kitchen hero Gordon Ramsay, Allibhoy has picked out 120 classic rec-

settle the score in any family argument involving recordbreaking feats and bizarre achievements. Packed with tantalising titbits, cool pictures and astounding statistics, it’s the per fect antidote to an overdose of TV and social networking.

ipes designed to spread a taste of Spanish alegria abroad.

The Madrileno chef goes back to basics with easy-to-make traditional recipes that work every time.

Stephen Fry – More Fool Me The witty raconteur and inveterate poster of Tweets shines a light into his hedonistic past to reveal some of the darker secrets of his rise to fame. Fry delves into excerpts and anecdotes from diaries he kept during the 1980s and 90s en route to becoming one of Britain’s ‘national treasures’.

Lynda Bellingham - There’s Something I’ve Been Dying To Tell You Diagnosed with cancer in 2013, Britain’s well-loved ‘Oxo Mum’ kept her life private almost to the end before deciding to write this inspirational

Get active this Christmas

FOR a Christmas getaway with a difference head to the Molino Cuatro Paradas, in the Serrania de Ronda.

Owner Briton Philip Cornes, a self-professed ‘walking fanatic’ from Somerset, is offering three-day active breaks over the festive period, which include hiking and mountain biking.

The exclusive rural hotel – which has just 11 bedrooms – is nestled in the heart of the Serrania, just 10km from Ronda.

Philip – who also runs a walking website www.walkandalucia.com – is always on hand to offer advice on getting the best out of the spectacular surrounding countryside.

For more information, visit www.molino4paradas.com, email info@molino4paradas.com or call 952 167 129, or 628 920 632.

Visit Deja vu for a taste of Christmas CHRISTMAS Day is coming, and with it comes the inevitable annual panic for presents.

But this year you can avoid the last-minute Christmas Eve dash and take advantage of the eclectic mix of old and new at vintage shop Déjà vu, in Jimena de la Frontera.

Just 35 minutes from the coast, the shop is perfectly located – off the Plaza del Constitucion – and has quirky and traditional goods to suit every budget. With everything from sofas to dining tables, and lamps to trinkets – and everything in between – owner Jill Honess has stocked her shelves to satisfy any taste. A

handmade dolls house takes pride of place on the shop’s Christmas list, and a choice selection of clothes is also available, as well as limited edition prints and original paintings. And Jill and comanager Mary Lewis promise that if there is something special you want they will do everything they can to track it down from their plethora of items in storage. Déjà vu is also able to arrange home delivery within Spain or abroad for items too large to take home.

Call 636 730 542, or visit the Déjà vu Facebook page for more information.

memoir. She shares the poignant realities of cancer and reveals how her family came to terms with tragedy.

Sophia Loren – Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: My life With a career that spans nearly 70 years, Italy’s most revered actress takes us on a journey through her not-always charmed life. Loren, 80 this year, spills the beans on her 17-day prison stay and her love letter from American heartthrob Cary Grant, among other juicy stories.

For Children Guinness World Records 2015 This compilation annual will

Ripley’s Believe It or Not! 2015 The ultimate collection of all that is strange and shocking, Ripley’s explores the world’s weirdest activities and individuals. Nature’s wonderlands, skateboarding mice, popping eyes and a man who has eaten 25,000 light bulbs are just some of the mind-boggling true stories on offer.

Jeff Kinney – Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul The ninth book in this popular series, Greg Heffley’s latest adventures unfold during a road trip with his family – one they won’t soon forget. Their holiday turns into an obstacle course as they face crazed seagulls, gas station bathrooms, fender benders and a runaway pig.

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24

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Licenced to let

The Pro p Insi erty d by Ad er am

Nea

le

Andalucia’s new holiday rental laws come into force in the New Year AT the start of next year, the Junta aims to pass new legislation to regulate the shortterm rental market, raising standards for tourists and requiring owners to register apartments and declare earnings.

Since 2012, changes to regional laws regarding residential tenancies have given rise to a legal vacuum in the holiday-home rentals market in Andalucia, leaving owners wondering about the legality of their situation and holidaymakers at risk of letting substandard accommodation with no straightforward right of recourse.

Now, the Junta’s new regulations ‘will be an important instrument to promote a large part of tourism activity that, at present, is carried out in a clandestine way, off the books’, according to the regional secretary for tourism and commerce, Rafael Rodríguez.

Hotel owners have long lobbied for such a law to fight against what they see as unfair competition from private individuals who own properties that tourists want to rent, but who do not have to meet

NEW RULES: Junta hopes to regulate short-term rentals the same standards, or pay the year. Together, they accounted same taxes, as hospitality pro- for over 696,000 beds and fessionals. more than 6.8 million overAccording to data released at nights, a 4% rise over 2012. the end of November by the Adolfo Martos, a partner in the leading online holiday rental Costa del Sol law firm GAM website, HomeAway, the pri- Abogados, says the new law will vate rentals market was worth affect residential properties nearly €2 million in Andalu- rented to tourists on a regular cia over the last three years, basis (for a minimum of one including spending in the re- calendar month and no more gion’s bars, restaurants and than three months a year) and shops by the millions of tourists that have been advertised via who visit every year. any means – such as website Data from Spain’s National listings or through travel agents Statistics Institute showed and other tourism-related busithere were almost 78,500 nesses. apartments rented for short- Properties used by visitors withterm periods to holidaymak- out money changing hands, for ers across Andalucia in 2013, example by family members 5.7% more than the previous and friends, and those in ru-

ral areas (as per articles 47 and 48 of the Tourism Law of Andalucia) are exempt from the new law, while groups of three or more properties located in the same complex or building, and belonging to the same owner, will be regulated by separate rules governing ‘apartamentos turisticos’ (tourism apartments).

Adolfo notes that, apart from the obligation for owners to register such properties with the Junta, they will have to meet minimum standards of comfort and will be subject to checks by regional government inspectors. Money earned from rentals will have to be declared as part of the owner’s income, with annual payments for residents and quarterly payments for nonresidents of any taxes due.

With the risk of court orders and fines of between €2,001 and €18,000 for those who do not comply with the proposed legislation, Adolfo recommends that, if you do own property you regularly rent out to visitors, you either ensure you meet all the requirements or you take a break from holiday rentals for more than four weeks a year.

Terra Meridiana. 77 Calle Caridad, 29680 Estepona. Tel: +34 951 318480. Office Mob: +34 678 452109 Email: info@terrameridiana.com. http://www.terrameridiana.com

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the olive press - December 11 - December 24 2014

Building for a boom

UK construction giant Taylor Wimpey has BIG plans for Marbella next year as the homes market rallies, exclusive by Rob Horgan

CONSTRUCTION giant Taylor Wimpey is banking on a boom in Andalucia’s property market next year, with plans for a multi-million euro housing project in Marbella, the Olive Press can exclusively reveal.

The celebrated UK real estate developer has set its sights on the chic holiday playground after seeing renewed interest from foreign investors.

The proposed Marbella development for 48 luxury homes, priced from €400,000 to €650,000, will further add to Taylor Wimpey’s growing Spanish portfolio, which already stands at more than 2,500 homes.

The Spanish division of the London Stock Exchange-listed company has been building on the Costa del Sol since 1958.

Only last month, the company secured a licence to build 60 homes worth €7.7 million in Mijas, having shown its intentions to expand earlier this year when it unveiled a €12 million development in Estepona in April.

“It is a good time for us to develop in Andalucia,” Ignacio Osle, Regional Director for Taylor Wimpey in Andalucia, told the Olive Press.

Luxury link-up

LUXURY Marbella real estate specialist Diana Morales Properties is teaming up with leading independent global property consultancy Knight Frank LLP. With more than 25 years experience, DM Properties has been appointed as Knight Frank’s Marbella associate.

DM Properties was selected due to its reputation for quality, integrity and service.

Knight Frank – with a global reach across 52 countries – offers ties to some of the most prestigious international luxury real estate brands.

FORWARD-THINKING: Ignacio Osle “Even in the crisis years we kept on developing homes on the Costa del Sol. Now that the economy is recovering and there is a bigger demand, it is time to push even harder.”

After successfully securing a licence to build at the luxury La Cala Golf resort in Mijas, Osle said the company is now focused on making its mark in Marbella, where overseas buyers will be the key market.

“We have always relied on foreign investment, 95% of our buyers come from abroad,” said Osle.

“We have always had a lot of interest from Brits looking for a second home, but now we are seeing an increased demand from Scandinavians and Russians too.”

Happy new year

Cheers!

THE big names in business on the coast are toasting the rise of the property market.

No more so than currency giants Moneycorp and HiFX who have both thrown their festive bashes, celebrating with the best and brightest of the expat community.

Celebrating its 11th anniversary on the Costa del Sol, Moneycorp entertained 200 guests at Max Beach in Riviera.

While HiFX raised the roof in Nueva Andalucia, complete with Christmas tree, baubles and Hooch.

HAPPY: New HiFX Marbella boss Jose Ivar-Lopez

• Litigation and tax specialist (resident and non-resident) • Property conveyancing • Spanish investment and inheritance tax International Lawyers & Investment Professionals Tel: (0034) 951 29 52 60 Fax: (0034) 951 29 51 68 Legal Property Solutions SL Avenida de Cibeles Nº1, Urbanización Arenal Golf, Fase 2, Bloque 2, Portal 3, Bajo B, 29639 Benalmádena, Málaga We speak English / Parle français / Wir sprechen Deutsch

info@legalpropertysolutions.com www.legalpropertysolutions.com

- December 23 2014 2525

RISING mortgage sales are heralding a new year housing boom, according to finance experts on the coast.

Tancrede de Pola, senior broker for The Finance Bureau, has experienced a surge of mortgage sales this November, ending his best year since the crisis began with a bang.

“This whole year has been the best since 2007, without a doubt,” British-born de Pola told the Olive Press.

“The market has absolutely come back. This year has been the best for numbers of clients, revenues, and transaction value as well.”

Before the crisis, the Estepona-based company’s average mortgage amount was around €350,000. That crashed to around €150,000.

“But now it is right back up again, which basically means that people are buying much more expensive properties again,” continued de Pola.

And the firm, which has been running for 12 years, has experienced a significant diversification in their client base.

Pre-crisis, around 95% of clients were British, but that has now fallen to around 30%.

The rest of the client base is now very broad: Belgium, Holland, France and Germany.

“This year in particular I’ve had a lot of clients from the Middle East,” added de Pola.

“We’re in a sweet spot at the moment, because we have got to that point now where the prices are still low but the demand is picking up.

“There’s always a time lag between demand and the prices going up, but I reckon that things are looking very good for the new year.”

26

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the olive press - December 11 - December 23 201427 27 the olive press - December 11 - December 23 2014

Justice under fire A LANDMARK case against a European bank in Luxembourg has been lost by hundreds of expats after they were given just five days to prepare their case.

The group of pensioners are now being forced to appeal after only one of their four lawyers was able to attend the last minute hearing against Landsbanki Luxembourg last month.

EXCLUSIVE

By Imogen Calderwood

Corruption claims as expats’ case against Landsbanki is rejected after being given just a five day window to prepare their case

They claim to have been ‘tricked’ after investigators looking into the mis-selling of an equity release scheme suddenly ordered the case to court in Luxembourg on November 4.

They were at the same time handed a 2,500 page defence

document to decipher.

The one lawyer able to attend the hearing insisted he was unable to mount the case due to the court’s ‘impossible time constraints’.

It came after the Luxembourg Court of Appeal announced in July that it had launched

AGONY ANT

YOUR LEGAL PROBLEMS ADDRESSED BY ANTONIO FLORES

Big defeat for Marbella mayor ‘FORUM shopping’ - to use some legal jargon - is the practice of getting your case heard in the place you think is most likely to come up with a favourable judgement.

After my legal practice revealed that the mayor of Marbella had bought an alleged €3 million tax evasion product from Luxembourg, she decided to file a complaint against me.

Rather than take the case to court, how-

ever, she went to the Spanish Law Society, and jurisdiction that she apparently thought was more ‘claimantfriendly’ to her case. But this was not to be.

The Law Society deemed itself an inappropriate place to air disputes between lawyers and private individuals and closed the case.

A little victory for us... but a big defeat for the Marbella mayor.

Email Antonio at aflores@lawbird.es

a ground-breaking criminal investigation into the now defunct bank.

In particular it was to probe its administrator Yvette Hamilius for fraud and money-laundering.

Hamilius, a lawyer, is allegedly a good friend of new EU president Jean Claude Juncker - and was ‘mentored’ by him, claim the bank’s victims.

“We cannot believe how little time they gave us to prepare our case,” said German expat Dagmar Werner, 73, who lives in Competa.

“Luxembourg does everything it can to stop us fighting Landsbanki. We feel so angry and helpless.”

Victim association president Michael McInnes added: “There is no justice available

Mayor’s case struck out THE Mayor of Marbella’s attempt to have a well-known lawyer struck off by the Malaga Law Society has been rejected.

Mayor Maria Angeles Munoz accused lawyer Antonio Flores, of Lawbird, of ‘professional misconduct’ after he spoke to the press regarding her alleged failure to properly declare assets abroad.

Munoz insisted that Flores was the main source in media reports concerning her alleged undeclared assets.

But the Law Society of Malaga has ruled that there were no irregularities in Flores’ actions.

Flores maintains that Munoz and her Swedish husband Lars Broberg purchased a ‘tax evasion’ product from the Swiss Nordea Bank in 2010.

He claimed that the €3.1 million equity release mortgage taken out by the couple, via their company Crasel SL, is set up to avoid the 34% inheritance tax.

Concerns were first raised about Munoz’s foreign dealings by a group established by Flores – the Equity Release Victims Association (ERVA) – made up of expats who have lost millions of euros through Nordea bank.

See Big defeat for Marbella mayor (left).

because of the ‘closed shop’ policy of the Luxembourg judiciary.”

The former Oxford-based politician, now living in Marbella, added: “All that we witness in Luxembourg is corruption and abuse of power on an unprecedented level for a country in the heart of Europe.”

He continued that of the 200plus expats ‘defrauded’ by the bank in Spain, some 33 have already died, many from ‘stress-related’ illnesses.

Bust

The group were sold the equity product, many via Costa del Sol based financial advisor Allan Graydon & Associates, despite the bank not being registered or licenced as an investment bank in Spain.

When the bank went bust in 2008, investors were told they were in the bank’s debt and if they did not pay, their homes would be seized.

Meanwhile, an Icelandic investigation into the affairs of the mother company Landsbanki Iceland has seen the former CEO Sigurjon Arnason sentenced to 12 months in jail.

28

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BUSINESS IN BRIEF

Ho Chi Minh money THE government has pledged €3.4 million in funding for the construction of a fifth metro line in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Spanish investors are developing 13 projects there.

Olive boom PORTUGUESE olive oil company Sovena has purchased nearly 500km of countryside near Cordoba to plant a million olive trees, employing 80 people.

Sacre Bleu!

FRENCH private equity firm Ardian SARL has paid €146 million for a 65% stake in Spanish toll-road operator Tunels Barcelona e Cadi.

Mad for it!!

STORE group El Corte Ingles has paid €136 million for a coveted plot in Madrid, beating five other bidders including railway firm Adif.

olive press - October 11 30November23 122014 2014 thethe olive press - December - December

Road to Riches, by Richard Alexander

The Autumn Statement – what’s new?

C

HANCELLOR George Osborne has delivered his Autumn Statement in the House of Commons – his last before next year’s general election.

Chancellors, at this time, have a habit of making give-away changes to woo voters while the opposition ‘cry foul’. However, they are all as guilty as each other, which prompts the question: where do their best interests really lie?

As for Osborne’s message itself, the biggest surprise lies in the changes to Stamp Duty and Land Tax – implemented with effect from midnight on December 3.

The only flexibility was for people who had exchanged contracts on the sale of their house but were not due to complete before December 4 – they can opt for either the old rate or the new rate.

The changes boil down to this – property sales under £937,500 will have a lower SDLT bill, whereas sales in excess of this amount attract a higher rate.

In political terms, this means that 98% of house sales will have a lower tax, with only the top 2% paying more. A hit back against the proposed ‘Mansion Tax’ perhaps?

The UK economy in general looks to be in better shape and while progress solving the deficit may have fallen short in this term of government, progress has been made.

Growth forecasts look encouraging, although

there is still some pain to come.

Capital Gains Tax is the other key area with implications for non-UK-resident expats with property at home. From April 2015, the tax will be extended to nonresidents selling residential property in the UK. The actual rate of tax will be either 18% or 28%, the same rates that apply to residents.

The rate payable will be determined by the overall tax position of the individual. There is some good news if this change affects you – the gain to be assessed will be the increase in value from April 2015 and not before.

Just before the euphoria sets in however, don’t forget that if you are a tax resident in Spain, you will still need to declare the gain for tax purposes, but you should be able to offset any tax paid in the UK against the Spanish liability.

There are also some areas of the Statutory Residence Test that are being tightened up, with some of these rules best described as tortuous!

If you travel a lot and wish to claim that you are non-UK resident, the best advice is to keep a diary of all your travels and retain travel documents and boarding passes, as the onus is on the individual to prove their claim and not HMRC.

Richard Alexander Financial Planning Limited is an appointed representative of L J Financial Planning Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. Contact him at Richard@ra-fp.com

Number crunching Bankia produced rigged accounts to sell stocks to investors

STATE-owned lender Bankia has produced a series of error-strewn accounts to the judge ruling over the bank’s corruption probe.

The accounts relate back to the year 2011 - the year Bankia listed its shares - and according to a court report, they ‘do not comply with Bank of Spain norms’.

The lender reportedly used the rigged accounts to market and sell its stocks to investors.

The report slammed ‘the figures in their entirety’ claiming they presented a completely ‘inaccurate image’.

The report goes on to criticise ‘the awful quality of credit-risk monitoring’ and suggested Bankia’s auditor, Deloitte LLP, ‘should have detected the errors’ at the time.

Hundreds of thousands of small investors lost money after Bankia needed a massive bailout in 2012.

The investigation follows on the back of the ‘magic cards’

Two recent Supreme Court decisions in passengers favour makes claiming simpler

expenses scandal which saw 86 former Bankia and Caja Madrid staff - including senior politicians and royal staff - accused of using tax free company credit cards.

Teleprobe PROBED: Orange’s takeover bid ORANGE’S €3.4 billion bid for Jazztel is to be probed by EU antitrust regulators amid fears the deal would lead to higher prices for customers.

By getting the deal Orange – France’s largest mobile company – would have its market share in Spain pushed far ahead of rival Vodafone.

The European Commission is undertaking an in-depth inquiry into how the merger would affect customers’ broadband and mobile service options.

“Both companies are important competitive forces with a stronger influence on the competitive dynamics in these markets than suggested by their market shares,” said a statement from the Commission.

Spain’s antitrust authorities have requested to take over the review, which is to be decided upon by April 24, but such requests from other countries have been denied.

Pirate crackdown POLICE have shut down two of Spain’s leading ‘pirate’ video streaming sites.

Complaints from 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, Disney, Universal, Paramount and Sony led to the crackdown on peliculaspepito.com and seriespepito.com, which saw a combined 2.5 million visits per month.

Two men were arrested by police for questioning.

Spain has built a reputation for being lenient on copyright infringement, but tougher lines are set to be taken in the new year.

X Sick note 30 The Olive Press’

OP

monthly youth and education section

38 57

treme

Cost of teachers’ ‘sickies’ lowering standards in Spanish schools,

by Rob Horgan

TEACHERS in Malaga are battling through illness as they cannot afford to take a day off.

As a result Spanish children are ‘put at risk of infection’ and receive a ‘diminished education’.

Spain’s teachers lose 50% of their day’s MIJAS Town Hall is putting its young pay during the people to work and getting its children first three days healthy with a new scheme to encourage of absence, walking to school. even if they Each school in the Step by Step prohave a doctor’s gramme will have specific routes with note. stops where children can join their moniBetween days tored walking group. four-20 of Thanks to the Emple@Joven job creation absence their programme 22 young monitors were rewages are cut cruited and trained to escort pupils until by 25%. Only the end of April when their contracts run after 21 conout. secutive days “The children who participate in this proof illness does gramme will be picked up each morning a teacher reat the established stop nearest their home ceive full sick and will be led to the door of the school,” pay. said education councillor Lourdes Burgos.

Ramoni Ruiz, Children will wear lanyards carrying their president of school’s name, route number and an identhe Teachtification number as they keep fit while ing in Malaga reducing traffic and pollution. union, said:

30 the olive press - December 11 - December 23

On your feet!

OUTRAGED: Ramoni Ruiz “What is happening is an outrage. Teachers work with children and adolescents and are exposed to disease on a daily basis.

“This rule creates distrust in the sector and gives our education system a bad image.”

She added that teachers ‘feel their dignity has been trampled on’ and as a union they would be ‘fighting’ to change the law.

Ruiz also criticised the time it takes to get substitute teachers into Malaga’s schools – currently an average of 10 days. Ruiz wants to see this cut to 48 hours.

British School of Marbella headteacher Miss Kirkham tells of big days out

PUPILS in Year Two had a roaring time when they visited Marbella’s fire station.

The school trip saw our bright sparks learn all about the daily routine of firemen and have a ride in a fire engine – something which proved popular with the female helpers too, for some reason!

Alongside learning fire safety tips, the pupils also asked the firemen questions such as: ‘How do you get cats down from trees’; ‘How do you put fires out’ and ‘What did the Spanish fireman call his two sons?’ To which the answer is, of course, “Jose and Jose B”.

Well... I may have made that last one up, but our youngsters definitely showed they were ‘on fire’ when it came to excellent behaviour and interviewing skills.

Back at school the safety-conscious pupils also dished out some fire-safety tips to members of staff including the dinner ladies.

Removing less palatable options from the lunch menu due to their highly combustible nature was overruled, however.

At BSM we also marked the

SAFETY FIRST: Students sample fireman life

All fired up

centenary of the start of World War One with a special assembly.

We watched a news report from the ‘Big Smoke’ about the ceramic poppies surrounding the Tower of London and had a debate on why we should remember the fallen soldiers of previous wars.

This was followed by a one-minute silence as the entire school reflected on what it must have been like for people during World War One.

Although, quite how Miss Potter kept the pre-nursery children quiet for an entire minute I’ll never know. She deserves a medal herself!

But, as you can imagine, this time of year is anything but quiet in a school, as the Christmas countdown has begun.

So hold on to your party hats as the tree is going up, the classrooms are being decorated and the BSM Christmas Fair is imminent!

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ish, Arabic, French, Chinese and German respectively as the top five most economic vital languages. Unfortunately, the BBC reports(2013) that there is an “alarming shortage” of Britons who are able to speak these foreign languages.

The importance of learning Spanish was stressed by the new UK ambassador to Spain and Andorra, Simon Manley. He is very positive about the continued potential for business for British immigrants in Spain but states that “looking at what we would expect from people moving to the UK, I would encourage British people living in Spain to learn Spanish.”(The Local, 2013) Shelteroffshore.com warns that “breaking into the Spanish market is hard unless you are absolutely fluent in Spanish – and even then being accepted by the Spanish business community can take years.”

British immigrants aren’t as happy

Learning Spanish is important for U.S. Americans

According to the Telegraph (Dec 2014), Spanish statistics show the number of British expats alone dropped sharply by 23% to 297, 229. Further research (The Independent April, 2014), conducted byDr. David Bartram,has shown that those who moved to Spain for the sunny skies have ended up less happy than those who stayed up in the grey skies.

Of course British immigrants aren’t the only ones with the need to learn Spanish. The United States is becoming the new hot bed for Hispanic culture growth. It’s estimated that by 2050 the U.S. will be the largest Spanish speaking country in the world with somewhere around 130 million…that’s one in three Americans!

Language and culture are to blame in part Learning Spanish is good foreverybody According to the Independent,Dr. Bartram, from Leicester University, discovered that the possible reasons for the lack of happiness include the inability to fit in with a new culture, language and society. Of course, leaving their former home behind has also been complicated by the economic crisis, shrinking job market and unemployment rates. Dr. Bartram suggests that British immigrants “felt excluded from workplace banter and local community networks because of a British reluctance to learn foreign language and integrate.

Reporting on the effects of the crisis, The Telegraph (2012)relayed that “Many Britons fail to learn Spanish or to assimilate, so that the community becomes dependent on itself – to its cost.”

South and Central America have emerged as a hotbed for economic growth with many opportunities within Spain and abroad.

However, learning Spanish is good for many reasons beyond business. For children, being bilingual has been proven to increase intelligence. Learning Spanish as a parent of an expat kid can encourage your child and facilitate integration into the local culture and social scene. It’s also good for adult’s mental health.

Costa Blanca News reported (2011) findings that by learning a foreign language it could put back the first signs of dementia by at least five years. Expats in Spain have an advantage of being able to fight off Alzheimer’s simply by regularly engaging in the local tongue!

Kids are doing better than their parents

Pueblo Español offers an immersion alternative

The good news is that Euro Weekly News (2014) recently reported that expat kids are doing better with integrating into Spanish life. According to a recent study by ObraSocial ‘La Caixa’ of 7,000 children between ages 12 and 17 over three quarters (78.4%) didn’t experience problems associated with dropping out of school, leaving home, unemployment or going to prison.The survey found that child expats “feel much more accepted by Spanish society than their parents do, and find it straight forward to mix with local children, especially as the pick up the language faster.”

A Spanish company, Diverbo, is helping with this. Its new, gamechanging approach to language learning and Spanish immersion is a program called Pueblo Español (translated: “Spanish Village”). This different learning method has been turning heads and opening ears and mouths for over a decade. Located in a Medieval village in the heart of Spain (La Alberca, Salamanca), Pueblo Español offers a 1-to-1 ratio with native Spanish speakers to help you withover 100 hours of Spanish interaction in the course of an 8-day week!

Learning Spanish is important for Britons

How Pueblo Español is different

The British Council officially stated in 2013 that Spanish is the most important language to learn for the UK. It ranked Span-

Learning as an adult is more difficult. The mind is already compartmentalized. Adults tend to struggle with “how” the lan-

guage works, with its vocabulary and grammar rules…all summarized in nice lists. This would be very efficient, of course, if only using a language wasn’t so, well, social in nature. Pueblo Español returns to the method with which we learn when we are younger – by maximizing the level of learning and absorption through sheer hours of immersion….blended however with plenty of intrigue and laughs.

Class vs. immersion Vincent McGough, who moved from Liverpool in 2006 and now manages condominiums in his Spanish town, felt comfortable with his grammarbut was lacking conversation practice. Alreadyfamiliar with Diverbo’s English program, he says, “I had attended Pueblo Ingles a few times and I saw for myself the advances made in a short period bythe Spanish students. I have found that going to acourse for two hours a week or two does not give ou the same exposure to the language.”After doing a Pueblo Español program he says, “I found a great improvement in my listening ability, and speaking Spanish at meetings with Spanish people who spoke no English.”

Pueblo Español immersion results Christopher Carnrick, a U.S. expat who depends on his Spanish for his culinary business in Malaga, really noticed a difference.

“I have been able to integrate to a much deeper level since PE. We use only local businesses. We have developed many more business contacts who may have been a little mistrustful before, but after ‘chatting’ and using some of the phrases learned…we have been able to increase our business contacts and improve our bottom line!”

Chrissie Turnbull, from London and resident in Malaga since 2005, claims the Pueblo Español immersion experience is “head and shoulders above other Spanish learning environments. At the end of the week at PE, I was actually thinking and dreaming in Spanish. Something seems to take place in the brain after a few days of total immersion which “turbo charges” one’s ability to learn and comprehend.”

If you would like to learn Spanish through immersion, Pueblo Español offers programs throughout the year, including spots just opened for Spring and Summer 2015!

Go to: www.intensivespanishinspain.com OR call 913-913-400.

If you are interested in being a volunteer to help teach conversational English with Pueblo Inglés, please contact: volunteers@diverbo.com

Christopher, or Cristobal as his friends call him, adds: “Personally, opportunities have opened since learning Spanish. Our community is including us more. We have been invited out to the country to help press grapes for wine and lunch with locals. The locals tease with us, joke with us, cry with us and have called us “familia” … THIS is what changed this from being our residence to being our home. The Spanish will say, ‘They don’t care about Spain and they don’t care about us.’ So when you try just a tiny bit the Spaniards, shower you with acceptance, trust and opportunities to experience the things that made us want to move to this wonderful country.”

Christopher sums it up well: “A home doesn’t just ‘happen’ you have to MAKE it a home. It takes workand dedication. Part of making this a new home, was to learn their customs and about the local people, and most importantly their language. Even a small attempt at speaking Spanish opens DOORS AND WINDOWS that I never dreamed could be opened!”

32

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ACTORS WANTED to take part in a new production at a theatre in Marbella.

Rehearsals start in January. Send your details to

THE MOBILITY WIZARD. The only company in southern Spain that specialises in repairing and maintaining mobility scooters, power chairs and mobility products. Authorised repair agents for most European manufacturers.

Most repairs carried out at your place of residence, batteries analysed and replaced if needed, tyres supplied and fitted. Summer’s coming, has your mobility scooter been serviced lately? Full service and inspection at your home for just €60. Large selection of mobility scooters available for sale and rent, no deposit required and free delivery.

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I can see perfectly well, why should I have an eye test?

Leighton Griffiths from Specsavers Marbella explains

RATHER than answer a series of questions, this month I want to address one important point in depth, as too many people fail to have regular eye tests.

Many problems with the eyes have no symptoms, so you should have a check up with your optometrist every two years. More frequent checks are advised for the over 60s or those with a family history of

IN THE KNOW: Griffiths

35the olive press - December 11

- December 23 2014 35 35

the olive press - December 11 - December 23 2014 glaucoma or a condition such as diabetes, for they are more at risk of certain eye diseases.

While many people know that a routine eye test can identify sight-related illnesses such as glaucoma and cataracts, it is less known that the same eye test could help identify signs of serious medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and brain tumours.

Recent advances in technology, such as digital retinal photography, are helping to identify changes that might be associated with certain eye conditions. If an eye test does reveal something, the optician will refer you directly to your hospital or general practitioner for further medical examination. Effective treatment relies on an early diagnosis, so it’s vital to

have a regular eye test – even if everything seems OK. There are Specsavers stores in Fuengirola and Marbella and digital retinal photography is included in eye tests as standard. To book an eye test or find your nearest store visit specsavers.es

Inspiration strikes FAMOUS sportsmen and politicians are coming to Marbella to give inspirational advice.

The American College is hosting the motivational conference – inspired by the nephew of Chrand Management boss Pancho Campo, who is suffering from cancer aged just 24.

Davis Cup champion Emilio Sanchez Vicario, Wimbledon champion Manolo Santana and advisor to Barack Obama Juan Verde, will give advice for dealing with stress, disease, the recession and life’s other challenges.

The event at the Teatro Goya on December 17, takes place at 5.30pm in English and 8pm in Spanish.

To reserve your seat and for donations please visit www.beinspired2015. com or go to El Corte In-

NHS trusts turning to nonEnglish speaking nurses to fill posts

Lost for words on the wards SPANISH nurses are being snapped up by the NHS despite not speaking sufficient English.

NHS trusts are ignoring the language barrier to lure nurses from Spain and Portugal with the promise that their salaries will be doubled for doing a third less work.

Increased numbers of recruitment fairs in Spain and Portugal has lead to nurses with

low or non-existent levels of English being employed in the UK. Critics claim the ‘inevitable language barrier’ between staff and patients could have ‘catastrophic consequences’ and will ‘put patients at risk’.

The chief executive of the UK’s Patients Association, Katherine Murphy, said: “The professional qualifications of overseas nurses are not in doubt.

“But there can sometimes be communication difficulties which increases the chances of something going wrong or patients receiving less than optimal care.”

NHS trusts have turned to European countries in recent years to fill the country’s 20,000 full-time posts.

Spain and Portugal have become the most popular destinations as the recession has created a huge pool of lowpaid and unemployed nurses.

Snipped off MADRID’S regional health chief was given the boot on Thursday after having made one too many controversial comments about his handling of the Ebola crisis.

Javier Rodriguez has repeatedly been critical about Spain’s first Ebola victim, Teresa Romero, insinuating she had lied about how she caught the disease and doubting her professional abilities saying that ‘you don’t need a master’s degree to learn how to put on a protective suit’.

His many gaffes and stabs at Romero have prompted her husband to launch legal proceedings against Rodriguez.

50% OFF ALL DESIGNER FRAMES with single vision lenses from 129€ 64,50€

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Remember, all our glasses come with a scratch-resistant treatment. But hurry – the sale ends on 7 January.

FREE EYE TEST when you buy a complete pair of glasses

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Marbella 952 863 332 Avda. Ricardo Soriano 12 Fuengirola 952 467 837 Avda. Ramón y Cajal 6 1.5 scratch-resistant single vision lenses selected. Other lenses and Extra Options available at an additional charge. Cannot be used with other offers. One pair of complete glasses only. Excludes reglazes, contact lens products, non-prescription sunglasses and safety eyewear.

Offer ends 7 January 2015. ©2014 Specsavers. All rights reserved. *FREE PARKING: With every purchase at Specsavers Opticas in Marbella and Fuengirola we will refund you one hours’ worth of parking, equivalent to 2€. Ends 31 December. See in store for full details.

11th December / 22nd December

the olive press - November December 11 13 -- December November23 262014 2014 3737

www.theolivepress.es FOOD & DRINK with DINING SECRETS of ANDALUCIA.com

To the rescue!

By Jacqueline Fanchini

SPAIN’S former super-judge Baltasar Garzon has come to the rescue of one of Andalucia’s most famous flamenco venues.

Garzon, famous for his global campaigning legal battles, has stepped in to advise the bosses of institution La Carboneria, after it was slapped with a closure order.

The former judge, who heads controversial Wikileaks boss Julian Assange’s legal team, was in the venue, when police arrived with a month-long shutdown demand.

Spain’s former superjudge Baltasar Garzon wades in to save flamenco institution

He immediately stepped in demanding to see the paperwork and vowed to help with the court case.

The iconic venue has been accused of hosting musical events without a licence, and has been fined €2,000.

Although it only holds a basic bar licence, the venue is famous among locals and tourists for its concerts and

flamenco shows.

Owner Francisco Lira said: “It is incomprehensible that such a dynamically sociocultural place that handles all art forms with great care can suffer such punishment.

“We don’t count ourselves as a performance venue because none of the music here is amplified.

“Here, we only read, recite

LORD OF THE DANCE: Saviour Garzon and sing in acoustic.”

A petition on website change.org to immediately reopen La Carboneria - launched by a former Cordoba University professor - had reached more than 12,000 signatures.

Lady goes Gaga for paella Om-let-

RENOWNED for her outrageous outfits and over-the -top dance moves, Lady Gaga showed a more down-to-earth side - and displayed some serious foodie credentials - while

EXCLUSIVE staying in Marbella.

Eschewing the resort’s more luxury fine dining options, the pop princess’s favourite

Recipe for success A BUDDING Jamie Oliver looks to have been uncovered in Churriana.

Pablo Gonzalez Mantero, 24, beat off competition from more than 2,000 budding cooks to be crowned Malaga’s Young Chef of the Year.

Mantero claimed the top gong thanks to his Strudel Secret, made up of Iberian pate and caramelized goat cheese.

Mantero was awarded a Taste of Malaga diploma as part of his prize and he will now compete for next year’s senior competition.

down

restaurant on the Costa del Sol turned out to be the highly unpretentious Paellas y mas.

Currently ranked at 19 on TORTILLA chefs have been TripAdvisor’s list of 922 Mar- left feeling flat as a pancake, bella restaurants, Paellas y as Guinness World Record mas specialises in home-style chiefs squashed their record-breaking dreams.

Spanish cooking.

Gaga ordered a take-away Chefs in Vitoria fed 10,000 paella to her hotel while on a people with their gigantic omelette but their recordshort break in the resort.

The restaurant later tweeted: breaking attempt was dis“Paellas y mas restaurant missed because the tortilla Marbella wishes you safe was prepared by ‘precooktravels. We hope you and ing portions which were asyour team enjoyed our deli- sembled like a puzzle’.

The attempt was made in cious dishes last evening.”

Gaga, who is now rehearsing August under the supervia US tour with jazz legend sion of tortilla prize-winner Tony Bennett, once caused a Senen Gonzalez, using a issue 48:The Local Issue 5 15/09/14 10:29 Page 39 1,600kg of potasensation with a dress madeLocalmassive toes. of meat.

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38

CONGRATULATIONS! HUNDREDS of hopefuls entered our competition to win a stay at stunning Finca Buenvino in Huelva, but now the winners can be announced.

Congratulations to Hilda Scott, 80, from Mijas, who has won a luxury stay at the Finca, in Aracena.

British-born Hilda, who has been living in Spain for nearly 30 years, told the Olive Press: “What a lovely surprise to win! As I am

an avid cook it will be wonderful to sample the delights of the Finca Buenvino and see the lovely natural park.”

Suzie Elliott, from Torrox, and Mark Wardell, from Benalmadena, can also start celebrating, as they have each won a copy of the Buenvino Cookbook.

If you weren’t lucky enough to win this time, keep an eye out for more Olive Press competitions in future.

BIG WINNER: Hilda Scott

Winter warmers from the Finca Rabo de toro serrano Mountainstyle oxtail Serves 6-8 60g (2oz) pork dripping, or lard, plus more for the croutons 1 oxtail, cut up by the butcher 125g (4½oz) carrots, finely chopped 175g (6oz) sweet white onions, finely chopped 40g (1½oz) plain flour 1 litre (1¾ pints) dry white wine herbs (oregano, thyme and bay) tied together in a bouquet garni salt and freshly-ground black pepper 250g (9oz) salted tocino, cubed, or tacos de jamón

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British-born Jeannie and Sam Chesterton are living the dream on their finca in the Sierra de Aracena... Here, the Olive Press offers some hearty recipes to warm your cockles in the third and final instalment of The Buenvino Cookbook (the drier pieces of a ham which are used for flavouring), or diced bacon if you can’t get either of these 250g (9oz) salchichón or saucisson sec, cut into 3cm (generous 1in) slices 450g (1lb) fresh chestnuts, peeled (see page 130), or vacuum-packed peeled chestnuts 1 celery stick, finely chopped 2 slices of brown bread, cubed Note: It’s an easy dish to prepare, but also one for a long weekend in the country since it’s best to cook the oxtail, leave it in the fridge overnight to gain flavour, then remove the solidified fat the following day before adding the final touches.

Day 1 Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4.

Heat the pork dripping in a heavy-based pan that has a lid, add the pieces of oxtail and brown gently over a medium heat, turning.

Add the carrots and onions and, when fairly browned, sprinkle in the flour, stir well and cook together for a few minutes, allowing the mixture to take on some colour.

Add the wine little by little, stirring to amalgamate the gravy, then add the bouquet garni and season. Bring to the boil,

HEARTY: Oxtail is a real winter warmer cover and put in the oven for three hours.

Cover, cool and refrigerate.

Day 2 Fry the tocino or tacos de jamón and the sausages very gently in their own fat for about two minutes.

Cook the chestnuts in lightly salted water with the celery for 20 minutes, then drain.

Remove the fat from the top of the oxtail stew and reheat the stew gently. Place it in a serving dish with the celery, chestnuts,

tocino or tacos de jamón and sausages.

Meanwhile, fry the bread in more pork dripping until golden and crispy.

Serve with the oxtail.

Crema de chocolate con romero Rosemary and chocolate creams Serves 6-12, depending on portion sizes 250ml (9fl oz) white wine (we use a light Huelva wine, or a dry Oloroso sherry from Gonzalez Byass for a stronger flavour) 250g (9oz) granulated or caster sugar juice of ½ lemon 1 sprig of rosemary, plus 6 small sprig tops to serve 600ml (1 pint) double cream 150g (5½oz) best-quality dark (70% cocoa solids) chocolate, grated 4 blanched almonds, finely chopped (optional) Pour the wine into a heavybased pan and add the sugar,

lemon juice and sprig of rosemary.

Stir over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved completely. Remove all the rosemary from the pan (strain through a sieve if necessary), then stir in the cream.

Cook over a gentle heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens.

Add the chocolate, stirring until com- SUMPTUOUS: Fruity chocolate creams pletely melted.

Bring to the boil, then refee cups or 12 espresso cups. duce the heat and simmer Cover with cling film and refriggently for erate until set. about 20 minutes, until the Decorate each cup with a mixture is dark and thick, stirsprig top of rosemary and a ring often. Cool until tepid. sprinkling of chopped blanched Pour into six ceramic cofalmonds, if you like.

FOOD & DRINK with DINING SECRETS of ANDALUCIA.com

39

Christmas spirit T

HE one sure-fire way to bag a kiss under the mistletoe this winter is to combine a little Christmas spirit with a lot of flavour… in a glass, with a little umbrella perhaps.

It’s that time of year to delve into the liquor cupboard and drag out those spirits that sit unused for the other 11 months.

Add a little zing with some seasonal Spanish flavour and you’ll be in for a very ‘merry’ Christmas indeed… or a recipe for a new year hangover. Chin chin!

The red Rudolph Pour 200ml of vodka and 200ml of Cointreau into a jug, add 600 ml of cranberry juice and 400ml of orange juice.

Add the peel from two limes and serve over crushed ice.

frothy. Gradually add 200g of sugar, ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract and ¼ teaspoon of ground nutmeg. Turn the mixer off and stir in 500ml whipping cream, the same of milk, 175ml brandy and 75ml rum.

Chill before serving and garnish with sprinkled nutmeg and a cinnamon stick.

Snowball

FESTIVE FUN: DIY eggnog is the way to a loved one’s heart

Christmas cosmo

nished with lime zest.

Mix 500ml vodka with an equal amount of ginger wine in a jug.

Stir in a litre of cranberry juice, the juice of five limes and some sliced stem ginger. Serve gar-

Refrigerate all the liquids so they are very cold. Beat six eggs in a mixer until they are

Elfs’ eggnog

Orange alert SPAIN is producing too many oranges and with this year’s harvest expected to reach 3,400 million tonnes the fruit’s price might become quite appealing.

About 50% of the citrus is going to be exported though, with France as the main destination (485,400 tonnes) closely followed by Germany (436,860 tonnes).

It’s a lemon-ster!

THIS amazingly large lemon was spotted in Ronda by tour group Toma Tours, which specialises in offbeat Andalucian explorations.

You would need a significant amount of gin or a whole lot of drizzle cake to make the most of this beauty.

Pour 200ml of Advocaat into a large jug, add 100ml of lime cordial and 100ml of sherry.

Mix and add 200ml of lemonade. Serve over ice in a tall glass.

Amaretto Amor Mix 400ml Disaranno with 600ml orange juice and two 75cl bottles of sparkling wine in a big jug. Serve up with a strip of orange peel in each glass.

Mulled over Boil 100g of light muscovado sugar in a pan with one star anise, one cinnamon stick, four cloves and 150ml water. Simmer for two minutes, then pour into a large jug. Add a sliced lemon and two clementines, along with 150ml of Cointreau and 750ml of red wine. Serve warm.

40

Columnists

40 40

the olive press - December 11- December 24 2014

Farewell, old fiend

A love-hate relationship is finally over for good

I

T’S over. Finally. I’ve taken a deep breath and let go of a long term relationship that was causing me nothing but distress and despair.

If you’re a regular reader of this column, you’ll know that my Freelander has been somewhat of a fixture. Normally in the pantomime villain role when it broke down when I had some important business to attend to.

“When she was good she was very very good, but when she was bad she was horrid” is a pretty apt eulogy for the Land Rover, which I christened Tallulah after notorious American actress Tallulah Bankhead – a famously bitchy star.

For the past couple of weeks, normally on my ‘paper round’ delivering the Olive Press, I noticed an increasing number of creaks and groans. Most, admittedly, were from me lug-

END OF AN ERA: The Freelander has finally gone ging the damn things around...

More than a few, however, were coming from the rear of Tallulah (stop sniggering at the back).

Belinda Beckett, aka The Mistress of Sizzle, returns to her hunter-gatherer roots

E

VERY year, after the first rains of autumn, mushrooms sprout up on restaurant menus throughout the Campo de Gibraltar. Nutty brown boletus, trumpetshaped chanterelles and many others.

So delicious drizzled with garlic butter, stirred into venison stews; or – in the inventive kitchen of Al-Andalus in my village of Los Barrios – whipped up with sugar and eggs into a sweet mushroom flan!

Every year, we talk of returning to our Neanderthal roots to hunt and gather our own.

Or maybe it’s the sherry. But this year, we decided to walk our talk.

So last Saturday morning, while you were still in bed, we were rattling through the mist-drenched foothills of Los Alcornocales, Europe’s largest cork forest, on a mission to uncover the mysteries of mycology!

Why? For no other reason than the fated George Mallory had for climbing Everest: because it’s there, on our doorstep.

Our own Everest is no less challenging. The field-to-table foraging trend is very ‘now’ but you could easily end up as yesterday’s news. Only this autumn, a woman from Gerona dropped dead after eating the wrong mushroom: amanita phalloides, the dreaded death cap. If it doesn’t kill you, it could condemn you to a life on dialysis.

“You’ll be alright if you go with Jesus,” said the owner of AlAndalus, meaning his son (pronounced Heysoos). He’s savvy about setas but his biblical name was a comforting extra insurance!

A guide with expert local knowledge is essential if you don’t want to risk catching a stray bullet, as there are private hunting estates everywhere. You’ll also need a 4x4, a stout pair of boots and a stick. Forget the ro-

Leaving an art exhibition a few nights later, there was a tremendous ‘BANG!’. Now I may not have the engineering bril-

liance of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, but I deduced that all was not well.

A trip to the mechanic revealed that both the chassis and the subframe had broken. Top man that my mechanic is he advised me to scrap the car – unless I wanted to have my legs sheared off neatly beneath the knees as the chassis went one way and the frame the other.

That might just sting a bit...

Luckily I was able to borrow my (long suffering) father’s car. A piece of Teutonic technology that has never had anything go wrong with it for as long as he has had it.

I am offering no prizes for what happened on the first day that I had it, as I went to fire the car up in the driveway at the Casita. Suffice to say that Murphy’s law must have been particularly strong that day. The only relief that I can take from that Sunday morning before I managed to coax the Grua (tow truck) to start the BMW up was that there were no CCTV cameras to record my Basil Fawlty style meltdown!

Mushroom tripping

FUN GUY: Belinda takes a mushroom trip with Jesus mance, the trug and the pixie outfit.

Being the end of November, we were only expecting a few end-of-season cast-offs. Wrong! If you climb above the cloud line, there’s enough moisture in the air to keep fungi flourishing until the end of May! First, catch your mushroom. They’re shy! They peep from behind trees and lurk under fallen leaves on the forest floor.

I trod on the best specimens. “There’s a magnificent boletus just by your left foot, Belinda.”

Splat. Boletus! It’s a good swear-word if you’re with the kids...

There are subtle differences between the gastronomic species and the kind that give you everything from gastroen-

teritis to organ failure. There are 750 varieties of Russula, a game of Russula Roulette!

Some smell like rotting flesh, some look like storybook toadstools, others emerge from egg-shaped corms like the damned souls in a Hieronymus Bosch painting, or thrust out phallicshaped tips like flashers in raincoats.

There’s a wise saying in Spain: ‘Mushrooms are like women – for every good one you find six bad ones’.

Like men would be a better rule of thumb. You’d know instinctively not to touch the ones with white spots and red tips...

Maybe we were too selective. Our morning’s haul yielded only five-anda-half specimens (one half-chewed by some woodland creature). But, we put our faith in Jesus and ate the lot, lightly sautéed in butter.

Clearly, we lived to tell the tale – and it’s one to tick off the Beckett list – but I’ll let you into a secret.

The ones at Al-Andalus taste far better!

DESPITE a worldwide reputation for their ‘red hot blood’, the Spaniards are seriously lagging in the Mile High Club stakes.

A revealing survey from travel website lastminute.com shows that just 4% of Spaniards have got it on in the air, compared to European champions the French, with 27%.

Even the stereotypically prudish Brits managed to scrape together a solid 11%.

But the Spanish weren’t the only Latino lovers sitting pretty at the bottom, as just 6% of Italians could claim a place in the club.

Balls up

the

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Man dressed as Neo-Nazi mauled by lions in zoo

December 11- December 23, 2014

A NEO-NAZI has been mauled by lions after jumping into their enclosure at Barcelona Zoo. Dressed in military uniform the man, named in

PARTY TRICK: Benito salutes

UNDER FIRE: Angel Villar FIFA vice president Angel Maria Villar is to be investigated as part of the corruption probe into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

The Spaniard is among five FIFA delegates who have been identified as ‘under investigation’, including German legend Franz Beckenbauer and Belgian Michel D’Hooghe.

Spanish acquisition

Paw performance A BULLDOG named after Mussolini has learned some very politically-minded tricks.

Benito raises his paw in a fascist salute when his owner says Arriba Espana, the slogan of General Franco’s Nationalist supporters during the Spanish Civil War. He also plays dead when he hears mention of Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias, in a 13-second YouTube video that has gone viral.

Wearing a Spanish flag necktie, Benito rolls on his back when his right-wing owners says ‘the pony-tailed one is coming’, a reference to the leader of the anti-corruption party Podemos.

Iglesias fortunately saw the funny side, brushing aside Benito’s antics, which have been seen over a million times on YouTube.

“The owner must be a right fascist, but this dog is great,” he tweeted to his 688,000 followers. “I laughed a lot.”

By Imogen Calderwood

local reports as Justo Jose, breached the enclosure and was almost instantly dragged into the pit by a lioness.

She was joined by two other lions who proceeded to sink their teeth into the hapless attention-seeker.

Covered in scratches and bite marks, the 45-year-old was rescued after around 30 minutes by firefighters using hoses to quell the animals.

He was taken to hospital where he remains in a ‘serious but not life-threatening’ condition.

Arrested

No stranger to publicity stunts, Jose was arrested in November after draping banners covered in swastikas over Gaudi’s Casa Mila building in an anti-abortion protest.

While it is not yet known whether the incident at Barcelona Zoo was another of his demonstrations, firefighters insist it could not have been an accident.

Chief firefighter in Barcelona, Hector Carmona, said: “The security system makes it impossible for a person to fall into the enclosure.”

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End of the line A COCAINE laboratory has been shut down by police in Nijar, Almeria, with 12 people arrested.

Holy smoke

HOOLIGANS: Deportivo’s Riazor Blues

Ultra violence clampdown FOOTBALL hooligans, or ‘ultras’, are being targeted by the Spanish government following the death of a Deportivo La Coruna fan in Madrid.

The body of Francisco Javier Romero Taboada, 43, was pulled from the Manzanares river after Deportivo ultras clashed with fans from Atletico Madrid, Rayo Vallecano and Alcorcon last month in an ‘organised street battle’.

The government now plans to draw up a list of ultra groups to expel them from stadiums and set a time frame to carry it out.

“We want to eliminate these radical elements from the places where football is played. They have no place either inside or outside stadiums.”

Real Madrid and Barcelona have already barred ultras from attending games.

CIGARETTE sales in Spain have fallen by 47% in five years, according to the Finance Ministry, due to stricter anti-smoking laws, increased taxes and reduced consumer spending power.

Energy fail SPAIN’S climate change policies are damaging its renewable energy sector with the 2015 Climate Change Performance Index ranking it as 28th in the world - eight places lower than last year.

Naked protest ANIMAL activists staged a naked protest in Barcelona, baring their bodies and covering them with fake blood to demonstrate against the killing of animals for their fur.

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Implants & Aesthetics GERMANY’S star midfielder Marco Reus (above) is learning Spanish ahead of a proposed move to La Liga.

The Borussia Dortmund playmaker had been linked with a host of Premier League sides including Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United.

However, it now appears that a switch to either Real Madrid or Barcelona is on the cards as Bayern Munich continue their stranglehold on the Bundesliga title.

Reus has netted 69 times in 166 appearances for Dortmund and previous club Borussia Monchengladbach.

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FINAL WORDS

Prepare for lift off… or not