Olive Press Spain - Issue 379

The

OLIVE PRESS

Mijas Costa

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ANDALUCÍA

Vol. 15 Issue 379

www.theolivepress.es

Your expat

voice in Spain

October 6th - October 19th 2021

The box is open

A HOST of Costa gangsters, oligarchs and celebrities have been caught up in a giant offshore tax scandal.

Former king Juan Carlos, football manager Pep Guardiola and singer Miguel Bose, are among the biggest Spanish names stung in the so-called Pandora Papers.

But it is the Italian gangster Raffaele Amato, who was arrested in Malaga, model Claudia Schiffer, who has a home in Mallorca, and Julio Iglesias, who lives in Marbella, that will be of most interest locally.

All of them have been exposed as having offshore accounts alongside at least five Spanish politicians in the giant trove of documents released this week.

In total, around 600 Spaniards are now under scrutiny after being named in the Pandora Papers leak, which was compiled by over a dozen media groups around the globe.

The papers also put the spotlight on Russian oligarchs and godfather Amato, who used offshore companies to amass wealth and assets around Malaga.

A series of well-known expats, such as pop star Shakira and Nobel-Prize Continues on Page 2

2 147 834

HEARTLESS Expat mum and teenage son lose home after courts send legal notices to wrong address despite earlier family court ruling WHEN Victoria Jenkins’ partner Lee did a runner leaving her and their son on the Costa del Sol, she didn’t think life could get any worse.

But the expat family have been evicted after their €320,000 home was sold at auction without their knowledge over an unpaid property tax.

The Essex mum from Chelmsford had moved to Mijas with her partner when their child Samuel was fouryears-old.

But when he left to go on a business trip to Indonesia some years back, she never heard from him again.

Her nightmare got worse when it took an incredible three years of court appearances to win full custody of Samuel, now 14, with a judge finally ruling she could stay in the family home until her son turned 18 in 2026.

“I gave up any hope of child support because Lee simply vanished into thin air, but although our home was in his name, it was paid off and I was assured we could stay in it until my son reached his 18th birthday,” she told The O l i v e Press.

“I just got on with things and tried

EXCLUSIVE

By Fiona Govan

to bring up my son as best I could,” she said.

Then in November 2020, there was a knock at the door and she was given an eviction notice.

“It turns out that my ex had a €4,000 debt of unpaid ground tax with the town hall so they put a forced sale on it and someone bought it at auction for €25,000.”

Sold

Amazed that the house her husband paid €320,000 was sold off for so little, she immediately went to the court to find out how it happened without her knowledge.

“I was told it was a done deal and that this final eviction notice was definitive and that my time to defend it had passed because I had ignored all the previous legal notices.

“I took a private lawyer with me to the court to demand my case file and discovered that all the previous legal notices had been sent to the wrong address.

“My lawyer said I could appeal because of this but a year later and still no one will listen to me. I keep being told that I am too late. But how can

HOMELESS: Victoria and Samuel and (above) the urbanisation they lived on I be too late when I was never informed in the first place?”

She was told that she must vacate the property by October 5 this week, but can launch an appeal in Madrid.

That however will take many months and up to 14 weeks alone just to get a legal aid lawyer assigned to her case.

“The judge said I was out of time and that the eviction must go ahead,” she said, sobbing. “I’m packing up our stuff and have no choice but for us to go and stay on a friend’s sofa.”

And so it came to pass when yesterday the previous court order allowing her to stay in the home was completely ignored with the duo being evicted.

“Two court officials, two police officers, the two new owners, a locksmith and some other guy showed

up, eight in total, all to make sure that we left the premises,” she added, clearly heartbroken.

“I had my stuff packed up and met them at the gate and was told to go to court tomorrow to get the paperwork if I want to launch an appeal. It was horrible,” she added.

She continued: “It’s a total scandal that our home worth €320,000 can be sold off for just €25,000 for the sake of a €4,000 debt without our even being informed.

“But it’s actually inhumane that they are going to make my son homeless.

“His father abandoned us but ALL AREAS COVERED I thought that at least we have a roof over our heads but now 4G UNLIMITED that has been taken despite a court order promising us anINTERNET other five years.

IDEAL FOR “I was never even given the STREAMING TV chance to stand before a judge ALSO IPTV, and argue my case. This is not justice.”

SATELLITE TV The Olive Press was hoping to get some answers on the case tel: (0034) 952 763 840 before we went to press. info@theskydoctor.com

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Opinion Page 6

2

CRIME

www.theolivepress.es

NEWS IN BRIEF Crushing death A 68-YEAR-OLD woman has died after being crushed between a tractor and a trailer while working in Pozo Alcon (Jaen).

Burnt body A BURNT body has been found in the vicinity of the Cartuja stadium (Sevilla).

Smoked out TWO Spaniards, aged 37 and 60 from from Cadiz and Los Barrios, have been arrested while transporting a total of around 80kg of hashish.

Stuck for cash A WOMAN apparently trying to steal cash from a car park ticket machine has been nabbed after she got her hand stuck in the money return slot.

The 44-year-old Ronda woman had to resort to calling for help when she was unable to free her hand.

Eventually police found the trapped would-bethief. When asked what had happened, she came clean and said she was trying to get a few coins.

October 6th - October 19th 2021

Tax rules

Fire justice at last A GARDENER accused of sparking the infamous Barranco Blanco wildfire which devastated 8,000 hectares of land between Coin and Marbella in 2012 will finally go to trial 11 years on.

A court date of January 30, 2023, will see the man, 35, face justice, despite being arrested just a month after the blaze.

The fire, which killed two, was one of the biggest of the last two decades, also destroying virgin land in Mijas, Monda, Alhaurin el Grande and Ojen.

The prosecutor has been charged with arson and two counts of reckless homicide and faces seven years and six months in jail, plus paying compensation of €180,000 to the heirs of the two deceased.

The gardener from Alhaurin el Grande, had started a bonfire on August 30 at the height

From Front

FLASHBACK: The OP front page of the summer heat.

Two German citizens were burned to death and four others, one German and three Belgians, were injured after it flared out of control.

More than 347 private homes, businesses and private housing estates were damaged.

MONK IN CELL Irish gangster remanded in custody by irish court IRISH gangster Gerard ‘The Monk’ Hutch appeared in a Dublin court after the Irish Air Corps laid on a plane to literally bring him to justice.

He was flown back under the tightest security and formally arrested on the runway after the plane touched down.

The 58-year-old was charged with the murder of David Byrne during a boxing match weigh-in at Dublin's Regency Hotel in

Tragic crash A MAN aged 39 died and a 36-year-old woman was seriously injured when their two cars crashed in Granada on Monday night. Police have launched an investigation CAUGHT: Hutch

The perfect Autumn escape!

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February 2016.

Hutch had been detained as he browsed a menu and prepared to order lunch in a restaurant in Fuengirola on Spain’s Costa del Sol. He had been hiding out in a spacious flat in the town’s Plaza de la Constitucion next to the main church in the heart of the busy resort.

David Byrne, was shot dead when a five-strong squad stormed a boxing weigh-in at the hotel. It is thought to have been part of a feud between the Hutch and Kinahan gangs.

Spanish police had lost his trail when he disappeared

from Lanzarote where he had been hiding out for a number of years.

Police finally tracked him down by focusing on known associates in the hope that they would lead them to his bolthole.

Traced

He was finally traced to the apartment allegedly owned by a criminal associate and arrested at a local cafe.

Spanish judges refused two appeals against extradition on a European Arrest Warrant, but said that should he be convicted, he should be returned to Spain to serve his sentence as he has residency here.

Fingers buffet A WOMAN has been arrested in Sevilla after chopping off two of her flatmate’s fingers and eating them.

The 45-year-old woman from Kenya grabbed a knife and sliced off the fingers of her Congolese flatmate, aged 48, and ate them.

But neighbours raised the alarm after hearing the ‘terrible row’ and emergency services arrived just in time to find the woman pinning down the other, who was lying in a pool of blood.

The six-year-old daughter of the perpetrator was in the room at the time.

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winning author Mario Vargas Llosa, appear to have broken tax evasion rules.

The use of off-shore companies is not illegal or by itself evidence of wrongdoing, but the papers show how the super-rich can amass wealth in ways that are not easy for tax agencies to detect.

Spain’s tax agency Hacienda confirmed on Monday it would be closely looking into the data dump comprising more than 11.9 million records.

The latest investigation comes five years after the leak known as the Panama Papers which led to the Spanish tax agency recovering at least €140 million after auditing 244 people.

But the latest haul promises to be even more extensive.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a network of reporters and media organizations, said the latest files are linked to about 35 current and former national leaders, and more than 330 politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories.

Among them are former British prime minister Tony Blair as well as the Spanish politicians, although their names have yet not been released.

€12mn coke bust SPANISH police have been at the heart of a massive international operation that has busted what they describe as the biggest cocaine distribution network in Europe.

They joined forces with seven other countries in the year-long investigation into a Balkan drugs cartel that was ‘flooding Europe with cocaine’.

A series of police raids in Spain and Slovenia have uncovered more than four tonnes of cocaine and €12.6 million in cash.

Criminal

Now criminal reports have been filed against 61 suspects with 13 arrests made in Spain and 10 in Slovenia.

Spanish investigators discovered that the cartel was preparing a major cocaine shipment from South America into Europe in spring of this year.

The investigation gathered pace in March when the leaders of the gang travelled to Spain to prepare for the arrival of the cocaine. One of them – a Montenegrin – had a home on the Costa del Sol where he was watched.

Policia Nacional officers carried out simultaneous raids inValencia, Tarragona, Barcelona and Gerona, making 13 arrests including the two kingpins and a crooked police officer.

In a follow-up action 48 other members of the group were charged in Slovenia for their involvement.

NEWS

www.theolivepress.es

September 8th - September 21st 2021

3

OLIVE PRESS EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

What Charlie did next Charlie Mullins was the Mr Big of plumbing and now has his heart set on becoming the next big musical mogul - watch out Simon Cowell IT used to be that Charlie Mullins was best known for his plumbing. And it’s true to say that the 60-something Londoner first came to international attention for making the blue-collar job sexy in the city, with smart uniforms, liveried vans and a touch of lavatory humour - plumbing-themed number plates (LAV 1, F1USH).

Over 40 years on, he still knows his way around a lavatory.

But after selling the company he founded 42 years ago to a

US-based home services provider in a multimillion pound deal, Charlie tells the Olive Press he’s pleased that he ‘won’t have to clean any more toilets’.

Britain’s richest plumber was in high spirits when we chatted to him from his plush La Cala pad shortly after he sealed the deal to sell Pimlico Plumbers to US company Neighborly, owned by the private equity firm KKR, with his son Scott remaining as CEO and retaining a 10% share in the company.

The press initialTHUMBS ly reported that UP: Good selling off the news for plumbing and Charlie electricals business will have netted him a profit of around £110million, but the holder of the first OBE ever awarded for services to plumbing, tells us it is much higher.

“The lawyers are still working it out but the deal is going to make me much more than those reports claimed,” he says with

FORMER Marbella resident Sean Connery has been named as the people’s favourite James Bond.

As Daniel Craig hands back his licence to kill with the release of No Time to Die and speculation mounts on his replacement, jewellers Angelic Diamonds decided to find out how Craig measured up to his predecessors.

Pretty well, it turned out as he came in at number two. But the top Bond of all time is the man who defined the role - the late Sean Connery. Pierce Brosnan came in ahead of Roger Moore at number three.

Research from data com-

By Kirsty McKenzie

characteristic candour while sunning himself at his home on the Costa del Sol. “The company was always going to be worth more than that. Ballpark I think it will be between £125 to 145million.

“I’m delighted. Pimlico has been my life for the last 40 years, handing it over to my son Scott, I couldn’t be happier, I think they are well set to take it international.

Cowell

“It was getting to the point where I was thinking how we were going to expand it over the next ten year and whether that was something I wanted to do.

Now Scott can build on what I started - and I can focus on other things.”

Namely, becoming Spain’s answer to Simon Cowell. Yes, really.

“I’m going from plumbing to pipes!” he hollers down the phone, cackling madly. “I know common sense and business and I think why not? I’ve always been into my music.”

Indeed tinkering with music management might not be as mad as it sounds. Charlie,

Double 0 top piled from monthly Google searches, Instagram hashtags, and Wikipedia page visits revealed the controversial Scotsman to be top.

Fond for his love of golf in and around Marbella, Connery eventually left Spain in the 1990s, dismayed at the number of new properties being built in the area.

He famously quipped: “These people are not going to see me in my underpants, I am leaving Marbella.”

He may have passed away in 2020, but Connery lives on in the memories of legions of 007 fans.

SUCCESS: He enjoys the good life a council estate lad who left school at 15 with no qualifications, has always been strategic. Friends liken him to a great pool player: as he lines up one shot, he’s making sure he’s set up for the next.

But despite his success and reputation as a ballsy and bullish business tycoon, Charlie is the first one to pull somebody’s chain.

“I can’t even sing in the shower,” he jokes. “But I know talent.

Who knows, maybe this will be the first step at a talent management company along the Costa del Sol.” His first client is Rara, a Cheltenham-born singer who has recorded with the legendary David Bowie producer Tony Visconti. Her songs and vocals have featured on albums including Dean Street Studios, Beach Grooves and Perfect Havoc and Charlie is certain she’s destined for big things.

“I see her at the top of the charts. Her next single Bad Boys is going to be huge.”

Charlie and Rara first became friends after he spotted her on the entertainment circuit on the Costa del Sol, and he said he knew instantly she would become a star.

“There’s always been something about her. I predict she is the next Amy Winehouse.”

Like Rara, Charlie loves being in the limelight - “It’s just good business sense. I worked that

out 30 odd years ago” - with former clients including the Dames (Judy and Helen) Chris Tarrant, Hugh Grant and Joanna Lumley “She did our ads for us,” he says. “Never met her, but I absolutely adore her. My engineers always told me everything and she’s known for being very, very nice.”

Life

Another big move ahead is securing a permanent home in Spain. He’s got his lawyers working on securing him dual citizenship so he - a firm Remainer - can enjoy life on the Costa regardless of what Brexit throws at him. He has his eye on building his property portfolio down the coast. The next stop? “It’s got to be Marbella doesn’t it?”

Charlie is 68 – he’ll be 69 next month - and he isn’t showing any sign of scaling down his professional endeavours. Might he ever retire? “I don’t really understand the concept,” he says.

“I’m very permanently in Spain now and there are plenty of great singers on the Costas. I am just here to give them the right advice and point them in the right direction,” he laughs.

“And have a good time.”

Nothing gets in the way of Charlie having fun, or – you sense – in the way of making millions.

WAGS ON TOP WHEN it comes to WAGS, Barcelona resident Shakira reigns supreme.

The singer, who is married to Spanish footballing legend Gerard Pique, beat off competition from Victoria Beckham and Perrie Edwards to score first place and be named the most successful soccer WAG in the world, scoring 99 out of 100.

The word itself - which stands for footballers’ wives and girlfriends, came to prominence during the mid 2000s when strikers wanted to pose on the cover of Hello! with streaky tans and a Hermes clad spouse.

But WAGS have always been more than arm candy - and now we have the stats to prove it.

The data analysis team at SlotsUp have crunched the numbers to show that the wives and girlfriends of football's most popular players are successful in their own right.

Shakira definitely fits the bill.

The 44-year-old is even more successful than her famous footballer husband with a predicted net worth of €296,399,800 and a social media following of over 122 million.

4

NEWS

www.theolivepress.es

NEWS IN BRIEF What’s in a name OFFICIALS are asking the public to give the La Palma volcano an official name, with three suggestions on the shortlist: Cumbre Vieja, Tajogaite and Jedey.

Anchors up A COMPETITION dubbed ‘the F1 racing of the sailing world’ is visiting Cadiz on October 9 and 10, with catamarans from around the globe taking part in the SailGP contest.

Tough race RONDA’S tough 101km race, run by the army regiment La Legion, is to be held in May 2022, after a two-year hiatus, with runners, cyclists and walkers tackling the ordeal in 24 hours.

Fire aid THE Junta has received 50 tonnes of livestock feed donated by the residents of Almeria’s El Ejido to help farms cope with the aftermath of the Sierra Bermeja wildfire.

FINAL’S week of the European Cricket Championship is in full swing at the Cartama Oval near Malaga.

An England XI qualified thanks to an unbeaten century from skipper Dan Lincoln.

An impressive Italy side that had earlier beaten the Czech Republic took on England, who beat Germany.

And Italy posted an impressive 141 in their 10 overs against England to qualify for finals week.

But England still won with an unbeaten 105 from just 31 balls when Lincoln chased down the total with three balls to spare.

Save our countryside

Final overs!

The 26-year-old, who has played county cricket for Kent, is only the second man to hit a ton in the international T10 format.

Friday is the final day when the round robin competition will come to a head, with all welcome to attend the free event.

Estepona estate agent Tony Reddin has been along several times already.

He told the Olive Press: “It is absolutely fantastic. The standard of cricket is very high and the atmosphere has been phenomenal.”

ACTION: England versus Spain

FLAT WRONG!

FURIOUS residents are calling for moves to clamp down on ‘scam’ estate agents after expats rallied together to share their experiences of the cheating business.

Expats created a Facebook post about OPAU to explain why their trust in the Malaga-based business has collapsed.

Estate agents OPAU, which also has offices in Murcia, Granada, Sevilla, Valencia and Alicante, is accused of lying, dodgy dealing and bringing misery and stress to renters across the south of Spain.

Expat Joyce Su, who first raised the alarm, said she was determined to speak out in a bid to drive out the rogue estate agents.

The former fashion student, who studied in Milan, said OPAU frequently gives misleading information about

Expats slam rental agency that ‘misleads’ prospective tenants at a steep price of €390 EXCLUSIVE

By Kirsty McKenzie

properties, and accused the firm of purposefully taking ‘agency-fees’ from house hunters to line their own pockets.

The 33-year-old said: “If you are looking for flats, please avoid an agency called OPAU. They have many nice flats on Idealista to lure you in, but mostly are not available.”

She went on to accuse the company of ‘playing games’ by not answering phone calls, always being unavailable and sending clients on wild goose chases to find properties.

“You pay an up front €390 agency fee and then sign a contract, which they can’t give you a copy of because they say it’s ‘private for the company’,” she said.

She added they send you viewings spontaneously, but give you little time to get to appointments and don’t send photos.

“As a result, there is a big chance you will be running around to visit some horrible flat which is far from your requirements,” added Su, from Taiwan.

She continued that after the viewing, clients are instructed to call back to the office or send an email and advise whether or not they like the property - but no one ever picks up the phones.

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“The only time you are allowed to call is from 4 to 8pm. 80% of the time all lines are busy and it is impossible to reach them,” she continued.

“If you send an email there is still no response after days, weeks.”

Su claims she is still ‘homeless’ and is determined to get a refund for the agency fee she paid in good faith.

Dozens of expats shared sim-

THE Olive Press has won a victory against ‘evil’ online trolls who have attacked the family of missing Madeleine McCann for the last 14 years.

‘Their aggressive campaign to destroy a new book on the mysterious disappearance and its links to prime suspect Christian Brueckner has taken a hit.’

Their so-called ‘trolling’ tried to discredit the book by Olive Press editor Jon Clarke on Amazon.

Partly spearheaded out of Spain by a retired British detective, the group have long claimed that Kate and Gerry McCann were to blame for the death of their three-yearold daughter, in Praia da Luz, in Portugal, in 2007.

In the alarming attack, the group even set up a specific Facebook page to target the author and his book My Search for Made-

The Olive Press - 6/7/8 October

October 6th - October 19th 2021

ilar experiences, complaining about poor value for money, gazumping, unnecessary delays and failure to communicate.

One, Anna Indricane, said: “After the whole September spent with OPAU looking for a long term apartment, it has been a waste of time and money.”

Tom Stenberg called OPAU a ‘scam’, while Don Simon Bolivar, from Bristol, said: “I’m amazed that they are still in business. There are many warnings about them.”

Sheila Almas said: “We were lucky that we left the ‘nice looking’ office and said we are going to think about it.

But I never got back to them after seeing many posts and stuff about them on the internet.”

The Olive Press has tried to get in touch with OPAU for comment. Their phone was unanswered and no reply has been recieved to an email.

DOZENS of expats have joined angry protests outside Andalucia’s Junta opposing the raft of giant solar farms that threaten the region’s countryside.

The demonstration, organised by Aliente, an umbrella group representing dozens of local protest groups, was opposing plans to swathe numerous areas with photovoltaic panels.

As reported in the Olive Press over recent months, the protests have grown in momentum as communities joined forces to oppose plans for the industrial-size projects.

Destroyed

Protesters argue that areas of outstanding beauty will be destroyed by the solar panels which are planned ‘without proper environmental impact studies’.

Large private energy companies such as Iberdrola and Endesa are creating ‘a new speculative bubble that will exploit our countryside for obscene profit margins’, claimed one protester.

Another, expat Bob James, from Antequera, said: “Why don’t they encourage the instalment of solar panels on the roofs of industrial units, on shopping centres, car parks and train stations to create self-sufficiency instead of massive projects that will destroy the environment with no benefits to local people?”

TROLLED OVER

leine, released last month.

Describing Clarke as a ‘liar’ and ‘disgraced’, they have claimed that he has been in the payroll of the McCanns and could even have worked with MI5 and the British secret services.

It came despite celebrated investigators and crime journalists, including Sky’s Martin Brunt, ITV’s Donal MacIntyre and American author Robbyn Swan praising the book.

Swan, whose research formed the basis of a big Netflix documentary into the case, described it as a ‘Herculean effort’, while Brunt insisted it was ‘tirelessly researched’ and told him ‘a lot’ of new things about the case.

Yet, this didn’t stop an alarming 27% of all reviews giving it just one star, many by ‘reviewers’ who had not even purchased the book.

Each bogus review was dubbed ‘helpful’ by the legion of trolls, further aggravating the situation.

But this week Amazon finally stepped in to tackle the issue.

After removing nearly 20 reviews, a spokesman told the Olive Press the company will now be considering ‘legal action’ against those that violate Centro Plaza 56-57, Avda. Manolete s/n, 29660 Nueva Andalucia Amazon’s policies.

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flagging this to us,” said Dagmar Wickham.

“We’ve looked into this case and removed the abusive reviews.”

She added: “We have clear policies that prohibit abuse of our community features, and we suspend, ban, and take legal action against those who violate these policies.”

Trolls have continually attacked the McCann family since the three-year-old disappeared, on May 3, 2007, while on a family holiday.

One of the McCann trolls, former lawyer Tony Bennett was convicted of his involvement in a series of pamphlets distributed around their home town of Rothley, in Leicestershire.

Blame

Meanwhile an online forum set up by a driving instructor and former military policeman, has dedicated tens of thousands of words to why the McCanns were to blame.

More alarming, is the involvement of a former Deputy superintendent of Nottinghamshire Police, Peter MacLeod, who is still peddling a ‘free e-book’ on why the family are involved from his home in Spain.

A former spokesman of the McCanns Clarence Mitchell said last year that trolls will have to strongly reconsider their position if the new German suspect Brueckner is found guilty.

“Anybody who believes that Kate and Gerry were involved are categorically wrong,” he insisted.

“And sadly if this proves to be the man responsible, then a lot of people on social media will have to take a long hard look at themselves and what they've said over the years.”

See Green and grumpy in the Glastonbury of Spain page 16

NEWS

October 6th October 19th 2021

5

Anyone know Antonio?

Did romantic scribe of long lost Costa love letter finally marry his mystery fiance

THE identity of the mystery sender of a celebrated love letter from half a century ago is getting closer.

The Olive Press has discovered that the soldier - whose missive was found in a rubbish dump, last month - would be 69 today and was called ‘Antonio’.

His poetic letter on worn sepia paper had made headlines around Spain and further afield when it was found by a worker at the municipal recycling plant on the Costa del Sol, on September 2.

It was reported that he had been a 22-year-old soldier doing his military service in Santurce, in Bilbao, at the time of writing in 1974.

But no name was given for him or his fiance, as a number of pages are missing.

In the moving missive he had said he only had to count down ‘19 Sundays’ until he saw his girlfriend again and soon get married.

But that was all assuming her parents - who thought he was ‘a hippie’ - allowed it.

The Olive Press has now visited

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the plant, in Casares, and discovered that the letter was in fact signed by someone called ‘Antonio’ and it was written on April 21, 1974.

“My love, I'm looking forward to (seeing you) and we won’t have any problems other than those of a home,” he writes, adding: “There are times when I imagine the two of us older at home surrounded by children… and we have to have a football team. I’m kidding!"

Keen

He was also keen to dispel an allegation made in a previous letter, where she commented that he looked like he was dressed like a ‘hippie’.

He knows this is not acceptable to her father and insists that he has cut his hair so they can’t call him ‘el melenas’ (long hair).

Indeed, it is clear that his potential future in-laws are not terribly keen on ‘Antonio’ and

LOVE: The letter he goes on to beg his beloved to help him.

"Convince them that I have changed and try to get them to know me… and if, after a while, they still think the same, I'll be the one who retires.”

A spokesman for the plant told the Olive Press that it had been recycled probably this year and came from one of 11 municipalities, from Manilva to Torremolinos.

Charo Marquez insisted the letter was ‘definitely authentic’ adding: “It is a lovely story and would be great to find out if it was a happy ending.”

Does anyone know an ‘Antonio’ around 69 years old on the Costa del Sol or his former fiance? Please contact newsdesk@theolivepress.es

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6

FEATURE

www.theolivepress.es Voted top expat paper in Spain

A campaigning, community newspaper, the Olive Press represents the huge expatriate community in Spain with an estimated readership, including the websites, of more than two million people a month.

OPINION HEARTLESS SYSTEM OUR front page story of the eviction of a mother and her teen boy from their own home over a paltry €4,000 debt shows Spanish bureaucracy – and its legal system- in the worst possible light.

Papers served to the wrong address meant that Victoria Jenkins had no idea that her €320,000 house was at threat over unpaid property taxes.

Her local council then took her to court – without papers ever having been served on her and without her knowledge – and got an order against her.

The house was then sold at auction for the ridiculously low amount of €25,000 and the new owners have secured an eviction notice against Jenkins.

An appeal will be a long drawn-out process, and in the meantime Jenkins and son Samuel will have to rely on friends until they can find a better alternative.

Such a situation can only be described as one thing while, possibly, the letter of the law was followed, it has exposed the legal system as heartless.

BITTER TASTE THE Pandoras Papers leak of records – while proving no criminality – has uncovered the murky world of offshore financing.

From politicians to business magnates, pop stars to footballers, the lid has been lifted on just how many famous names in Spain have stashed wealth overseas.

An investigation is being launched, which for some of those named may be an uncomfortable experience. Even if they have done nothing wrong by the strictest legal definition, some 600 wealthy Spaniards and famous names are now being associated in the same group as tax-dodging oligarchs, gangsters and fraudsters.

In a time when many people have been struggling financially through no fault of their own, the fact people with unimaginable wealth have been hiding it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.

For many years Spain used Gibraltar’s finance industry as a stick to beat the Rock with – largely unfairly.

Well maybe those Spanish commentators should have been looking a little closer to home at its own citizens and residents.

PUBLISHER / EDITOR

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Getting out of Dodge SARAH O’Neill has travelled for most of her adult life and was living in Malawi, Africa, in the three years running up to the referendum.

So to see her country suddenly wrenched from the bulk of Europe

by Brexiteers who had been fed so many lies was extremely upsetting.

“I was devastated by the 2016 result,” explains the 49-year-old charity worker, originally from London.

“I came back to the UK in August 2017, hoping to return to the charity/non-profit sector, but there was nothing.

“No-one knew what was going to come with Brexit, and there was belt-tightening and freezing of employment everywhere.”

A family apartment in Nerja (Malaga) was her one golden opportunity to ‘get out of Dodge’.

“I moved in May 2018 to get all my ducks in a row before the Brexit deadline.

“I learnt Spanish, obtained my residency and swapped my driving license over.”

She continues: “Before Brexit, I came and went as I pleased, and I had plenty of visitors from all over Europe.”

“But then of course, COVID happened, and then the true outcome of a hard Brexit.”

It has certainly not been a bed of roses, she insists, however.

“I have often wondered if I’ve done the right thing. Life here is not easy, and the earnings are much less than the UK, employment is scarce, and the TEFL industry (Teaching English as a First Language) is particularly awful.

“We have sunshine, of course, but I do miss my friends and family.”

Brefugees Simon Wade speaks to the real Brexit leavers, on why they decided to escape to Spain, and whether they have any regrets

B

RITISH expats living in Spain watching events unfold in the UK in recent days may be forgiven for feeling a certain Schadenfreude as critics of the government lay the blame with Brexit.

As British petrol pumps run dry and with the threat of empty shelves

by Christmas, The Olive Press sought out the views of those who made the move to Spain as Brexit loomed.

Hate what the UK has become DAVID Waters doesn’t mince his words. “I hated what the UK had become after the Brexit vote, particularly as we lived in an area where the majority were Brexiters,” the retired policeman explains from his new home in the Canary Islands.

Citing a lack of freedom of movement in Europe and a weak withdrawal agreement, he and his wife Anne

couldn’t ‘wait to get away’.

“We sold up, lock, stock and barrel and moved to Lanzarote” he continues.

While the Lancashire couple couldn’t move until the end of the transition period, they had to get visas which are reviewed every two years until they’re both accepted as permanent residents.

The 64-year-old, who is now writing a blog about

his experiences, adds: “Although it wasn’t an ideal time for us, we thought ‘if not now – when’?”

WORRY FREE LIFE AS A PENSIONER HELEN Singh made the incredibly brave move from Yorkshire to Spain after the Brexit result.

The Remain voter, from Harrogate, took the decision after seeing what was happening to the UK, post-Brexit.

“I always wanted to live in warmer climes, [and] the Brexit result was a decisive moment.”

She eventually moved and gained residency in 2019: “I sold up, moved to Mazarron (Murcia) alone and have never

looked back.”

Now retired and ‘living life to the full,’ she continues: “I would never have had a life as a pensioner in the UK.” “Here I have made friends and can afford a worry free life - I definitely made the right choice.

“I knew I would never go back, it depresses me to see a government that is destroying my country and I cannot forgive them for that.”

FIGHTING FOR YOUR RIGHTS EXCLUSIVE: Expats rights are ‘really important’ to the British government, UK’s Europe Minister tells Fiona Govan

T

HE UK’s Europe Mi- working very closely with nister has told the them and with the Spanish Olive Press how she authorities to work throuhas been liaising gh the details,” she told with expat groups before the Olive Press at the Brisitting down with the Spa- tish embassy. nish government.

“Citizens’ rights continue Wendy Morton met a num- to be really really imporber of campaign groups tant to us,” continued Morin Madrid prior to a series ton, 54, who has been a of key meetings with the Conservative MP in the West MidSpanish government to lands since ‘iron out’ is- ‘Citizens’ rights 2015 and sues that have joined Boris continue to be Johnson’s caemerged under the Brexit binet in Fereally really bruary 2020.

Withdrawal important to Morton acAgreement. knowledged Chief among us’ the ‘challenthe concerns ges of worraised by Bremain in Spain, Brexpats king though bureaucracy’ and EuroCitizens were faced by many expats in continuing problems with Spain and said she would driving licence exchanges be raising issues with the and residency applications Spanish government. being rejected.

“We are working towards “These groups provide a a long-term solution for vital communication chan- the exchange of driving linel with the expat commu- cences,” she said, adding nities in Spain and we are that the deadline had al-

ready been extended to October 31 for those who had registered their intention before the December 30 cut off point last year.

“Whether it is MET: Wendy Morton and Gonzalez-Barba an extension of that dead- ble approach’. line, or a bi-lateral agree- Since Spain introduced ment, this is a live issue the new residency card for that causes concern and Brits in Spain, the TIE, on we are working on the de- July 6 last year, 168,700 tails,” she explained. applications have been reFor those who have had ceived. their residency applica- Spanish authorities report tions rejected by the au- that 2,400 applications thorities and believed they have so far been rejected. met the criteria the minis- The British government ter said: “Our advice is to does not agree with peoseek proper legal advice.” ple being sent notices teBut she did say that she lling them to leave the would be raising the issue country within 15 days. during talks with Spain’s “It does not agree with the Secretary of State for the 15-day time limit and we EU Juan Gonzalez-Barba will be bringing it up with and was working on ‘the the Spanish authorities,” possibility of a more flexi- she said.

October 6th - October 19th 2021

7

BREXIT

A

RECENT poll by a weekly freesheet suggested that over 8 out of 10 expats preferred it to other local rivals!

But with just 300 people questioned for the poll, it is ‘incorrect, misleading... and slippery methodology’ to use the words of a market research specialist.

As a sample of a group, 1% would surely be the bare minimum to get a fair result. And given there are well over 250,000 English-speaking expats on the Costa del Sol that would be 2,500-plus people.

“A total sample of 300 is far too small to be representative of the huge diverse group of expatriates who speak English on the coast,” said an expert, who ran a successful market research company in the UK. “It doesn’t allow for any investigation within the data, the numbers are just too small and I assume they have also cherry picked from the findings to suit their article.”

WANTED FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT ESSEX couple Ian and Eve Honeywood, from Chelmsford already had their ‘small but sufficient property’ that they used as a holiday home, so making the jump wasn’t so huge.

Spain was their escape from long, stressful hours working in supermarket logistics and they always planned to retire here.

“Being here in Frigiliana (Malaga) was our heaven, all our stress was left at the airport,” explains Ian. The 64-year-old knew that when Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Jacob Rees Mogg announced they were backing the leave campaign, it ‘would be riddled with lies’.

“I completely understand why the UK voted out - ‘Leave’ lied and ‘Remain’ had a poor campaign,” he insists.

“On the morning of June 24, 2016, I decided I wanted to leave the UK. “I watched the country deteriorate over a period of time and no longer wanted to live in a place I believed was sinking.

“I wanted to be European and I wanted the freedom to roam, work and live where I wanted ... within weeks we had left the UK.” They quickly settled into the Spanish way of life and gained residency after just a year.

CLIFF James vowed never to return to the UK after leaving for foreign shores following the referendum in 2016.

“The result was a huge shock, like a bereavement,” the 49-year-old from Cambridge explains.

“Overnight, it felt like the country had returned to the Dark Ages of igno-

Desperation

Wife Eve, 61, admits: “I haven’t regretted the move for one single day. We’re the lucky ones as living here before Brexit guaranteed our right to remain.”

“I feel desperately sorry for all those people in the UK that have had a lifelong dream of moving here in retirement now become very complicated, if not impossible.”

She continues: “The rights of the young British people have been taken away and I hope things will change for them in the future.”

Not returning to the Dark Ages rance and hatred.”

He continues: “It was always clear that the basis of the debate was about racism and xenophobia, rather than economics or sovereignty.

“All this nonsense about the colour of passports and ‘taking back control’ was just an excuse to retreat to some feudal ideal of ye olde England, where power is concentrated in the hands of the political classes.”

The former journalist adds: “I had been searching for something better,

somewhere more hopeful and forward-looking, a utopia maybe.”

After travelling for a year, taking in Himalayan temples, peace projects in Israel and Palestine, and serving at refugee camps, he met his future husband, Alvaro, in Buenos Aires.

The pair are now settled in their ‘utopia’ in Fiñana (Almeria), where they run a farm, making olive oil.

His Brexit ‘odyssey’ provided inspiration for his book, Life As A Kite, a political travelogue about leaving the UK because of Brexit and looking back at the country as things went from bad to worse.

Halfway through cancer treatment SHAZ Hopson, from Nottingham, made the leap to Spain despite being halfway through cancer treatment.

The ex-public sector worker made the brave decision as she and her husband, Frank, were so sure it was the right place to live.

“I wasn’t going to let cancer stop me,” the 58-year-old insists. “I was halfway through chemotherapy treatment when we left, and Spain then took over my treatment schedule.

After two major surgeries, ra-

Lies, lies and faulty statistics

diotherapy, immunotherapy and hormone therapy in Spain, she has been classed as ‘cancer free’ since October 2018.

“We knew we wouldn’t be able to do it if we waited until afterwards, so I took early retirement and we moved to Pliego (Murcia) in 2018.”

“Try doing that post-Brexit,” she quips.

Shaz now spends much of her time working as a voluntary counsellor for the MABS cancer charity, and walking her 14-year-old dog, Jess.

New job, new friends!

AMELIA still jokes that she must be the only person in the world to be thankful of COVID. She says she was ‘terrified’ living in England on her own during the pandemic, largely because of the way the UK government handled the crisis.

In contrast, she insists attitudes were so much better in Granada, where her mum Diana lived.

Just as the end of the Withdrawal Agreement was looming, the 30-year-old moved to Spain in August 2020, and started learning the language.

Despite having the support of mum, the lack of available jobs made the move difficult.

But Amelia eventually got all her papers sorted, and now lives and helps run a Dutch bar in Benalmadena on the Costa del Sol. “I have absolutely no regrets, I’m exactly where I’m meant to be,” she exclaims.

“I’ve got new friends. I enjoy my work. We all have fun, we all moan, and it does get stressful.

“Yes, hard work I have never been happier. The quality of living is so different in Spain compared to the UK. “I feel truly blessed to have found an amazing job and live in a beautiful country.”

It’s a sign of desperation when a newspaper uses such desperate and biased information to suit its narrative.

We know you - our readers - prefer a paper with proper journalists, real reporting versus translated content every day of the week. A paper with a clear USP and purpose.

But then you are our loyal readers who for 16 years have been dutifully picking us up every fortnight - and visiting our website every day!

Maybe we’ll ask you on our next distribution day what YOU think - and maybe we’ll ask 3,000 of you, which would be halfway to having a proper sample.

We might even ask you a relevant question about who you prefer online. But we probably don’t need to ask that.

Our rival probably did but didn’t like the answer so buried it!

SPECIAL AUTUMN DISCO UNT

TH E O live Pr es s 50 % sp ec ia l di on lin e is of fe ri ng a sc ou nt fo r th e m on th s to su bs next 3 awar d- w in ni ng cr ib e to its po pu la r, w W ith do ze ns of eb si te . st a do ze n- pl us jo or ie s a day an d w ith it, it is a gu ar ur na lis ts w ri ti ng fo r an to uc h w it h ev te ed way to st ay in er ythi ng th at m at te rs ar ou nd Sp ai n th is Au tu m n.

Co m e an d fi nd ou have so fa r re gi t w hy 20 ,0 00 pe op le st er ed at w w w .th eo live pr es s. es .

The top five most read stories on www.theolivepress.es in the past two weeks are: Charlie Mullings reveals 1- EXCLUSIVE: plans to become spain’s Simon Cowell could eruption of la palma 2- ANALYSIS: volcano trigger a tsunami WATCH: storms hit southern Spain cau3- sing floods that turned streets into rivers admitted for gallstone 4-opBritbutex-footballer loses right leg at scandal hit hospital on spain’s costa Blanca - VOLCANO UPDATE: sulfur dioxide cloud 5spain from the La Palma volcano to hit mainland today as volcano enters more explosive phase

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8

GREEN

www.theolivepress.es

October 6th - October 19th 2021

YOUNGER GENERATIONS ARE PAYING THE PRICE

B

LAH, blah, blah! So said climate activist Greta Thunberg when she castigated politicians as she led climate protests in Milan.

Interestingly, many politicians support her point of view that younger generations are suffering from the results of older generations’ actions.

She added: “Hundreds of millions of you are facing rising seas, failing crops, burning forests, and evermore ferocious storms - daily challenges that lead to lost opportunity. And your future is literally being stolen before your eyes.”

Even Boris Johnson agreed that the protesters have every right to be angry with those who are not doing enough to stop it.

As always senior politicians try to say the right thing. The UK prime minister is currently sensitive to this as he is chairing the COP26 conference next month in Glasgow.

WHAT IS THE COP26 CONFERENCE? The Conference of Parties was established by the United Nations in 1995.

As far as the environment goes, this meeting of world leaders is probably the most important this century. It will have a huge impact on the world’s climate control crisis. It will be held in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12.

Resolutions passed will make major changes in our everyday lives. The world is warming because of fossil fuel emissions caused by humans. The last 10 years have been the warmest since records began in 1850. Extreme weather events have been witnessed around the world heatwaves, floods, forest fires. At this conference, 200 countries are being asked to present their plans to cut emissions by 2030.

Some of the expected announcements could include: • • •

Making a faster switch to electric cars Speeding up the phasing out of coal powered stations Cutting down fewer trees, and planting millions more

Watch out - it will be all over the news. Over

Green

Matters

WALK THE WALK

By Martin Tye

It’s time to stop talking the talk and actually take action 25,000 people are expected in Glasgow and not just the world leaders, negotiators and journalists. Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to be in Scotland’s largest city.

There will be a mountain of talk about climate justice and money.

In a nutshell, the developed countries of the world have proved reluctant thus far to put their hands deep enough in their pockets. Developed countries are responsible for past emissions. Emerging economies experience some of the worst effects. And they have no money.

Huge investment is needed to help countries produce electricity from renewable technologies such as solar and wind. For example, India produces 70% of its electricity requirements from burning coal.

China’s position will be key. Apart from its obvious intentions to rule the world, it is the world’s biggest polluter and has invested heavily in coal powered stations all over the world.

We need to look past Boris’s inevitable posturing and examine the facts.

I, sadly, share the same view of many scientists that we have left it too late to avoid containing temperature increases below the 1.5C agreed by world leaders with the Paris Agreement in 2015.

It’s an old adage, but rings true… ‘No pain,no gain’ Are we prepared to make painful decisions to protect our world for future generations?

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THE sale of fruit and veg in plastic packaging is to be banned in Spain from 2023.

A royal decree is in the process of being passed, which will ban plastic wrappings weighing less than 1.5 kg.

However, there will be some exemptions, including the packaging of food ‘at risk of spoilage when sold in bulk’, which will be put on a list to be drawn up

by AESAN (Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition).

The decree also sets specific targets to reduce the use of plastic

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THE first bird census carried out in Sierra de las Nieves, in Malaga, has confirmed the presence of 82 species.

Declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, this park, in the heart of the Serrania de Ronda mountains, together with nearby Sierra de Grazalema and Los Alcornocales Natural Park, forms part of one of the major birding hotspots in Spain. The most abundant bird species detected was the chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), with 324 specimens, followed by the redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus).

containers and promote reusable ones.

These include halving the number of plastic bottles sold by 2023; making 100% of packaging recyclable by the end of the decade and making 50% of packaging sold in hotels, restaurants and cafés reusable by 2025.

Not everyone is convinced the legislation is the right way forward. Galician chemist Deborah Garcia Bello argues that specialists in materials science should be consulted.

She claims that the change will make the problem of food waste worse.

She said: “Food needs to be preserved and kept safe for the longest time possible, and this is very much dependent on packaging.

Tools

“The new regulations will result in companies opting for packaging made from less sustainable and non-recyclable materials, such as plasticised cartons.”

She advocates using tools such as reusable bags made of raffia, polyester or polyethylene netting, which although plastic can be reused.

Other measures being considered include finding alternatives to plastic bottles and single use plastic cups at events, and encouraging people to bring their own reusable containers to be filled in shops.

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The Olive Press all editions - FP_342x256 - PROMO - October 6th

LETTERS

10 Picture perfect Dear Olive Press,

in 1986 with I FIRST visited Benalmadena a Playa Sol Aloh The at ed stay We nd. frie my e. tim ul derf won a had Hotel and returned to Myself and my husband recently k down the Spain twice and we tried to trac d! So much hotel. But everything had change couldn’t even so that on the first occasion we find it! time, and it We had better luck the next s. orie mem ul derf won k bac t ugh bro the main I remember as a 21-year-old that was very Sol a Play a Aloh road outside the told this road wide. I also remember being went to Portugal. t back then.

It was a wonderful place to visit - but just as eren diff was it This time round a great week lovely. I am happy to say we had August. We in el Hot ch Bea are Am The at in and sunwent to see The Aloha Playa aga then went We e. osit opp ch bathed on the bea to the beautiful marina. about BenalThere is something special holiday visitour e mad ly real it madena and ing there for the day. were any picI really would love it if there Aloha Playa the ut abo tion rma info or s ture to remind Sol from 1986 that we could useday in those holi on e tim our us even more of long gone days.

Rochelle Benson (England)

readers. Do Editor’s note: Over to you that time you from s ure pict any e you hav can share with Rochelle?

October 6th - October 19th 2021

COVID CHOICES We all have choices to make, but we have responsibilities too

AT some point there will be a review of the handling of the pandemic by governments all over the world. However, I want to ask about the here and now. I worked back in the UK for seven months as a nurse in an NHS hospital I am one amongst the majority that has been vaccinated. Life has returned to some kind of normality.

Yet I am becoming increasingly aware of those who have chosen not to be vaccinated. To me it promotes a fear about whom I am associating with.

Who are you sitting next to? How liberal are those who have not been vaccinated in sharing their status with the rest of us?

To be honest I do not care why some people have chosen not to be vaccinated. But what about my choices? How can I make an informed decision with whom I am sitting next to or walking past going to the toilet when in a restaurant or bar?

I would not mind bars and restaurants asking to see a COVID passport. And care workers, in direct contact with elderly, need to be vaccinated or at least inform their clients so that they themselves can provide informed consent.

Christina Dominguez (Via OP website)

Blitzed!

LOOKING at the Opinion column where you mentioned the Blitz spirit on page six of the last edition, it was interesting that you referred to England.

Didn't Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland also suffer the Blitz?

A common misuse in the expat population in Spain but surely not from an editor!

John Price (by email)

Editor’s note: Absolutely correct! Apologies to our Scottish, Welsh and Irish readers, whose cities were also hit by the German bombers. Thanks for keeping us honest, John!

Heartfelt thanks

The family of Simon Parkes who has been missing from Gibraltar for 35 years thanked us for not letting his story fade away.

THANK you for sharing Simon’s story. The family’s dearest wish is to find out what happ If you have any information, plea ened to their son. parkesmissing@gmail.com or the se contact simonRoyal Gibraltar Police or Hampshire Police.

The Simon Parkes family (via

email)

Please help!

MY heart went out to the staff and volunteers of Adana animal rescue group (Like a Horror Movie, last edition Olive Press).

That the terrible fire that approached their centre did not raze the entire place to the ground is thanks to their efforts.

They had the foresight to have cut fire breaks and had an evacuation plan in place – but it still must have been a terrifying ordeal for them all.

Now they are having to pick up the pieces and I urge all readers to put their hands in their pockets and donate – for the sake of the 100 dogs these kind people have rescued.

Diane Jones (Fuengirola)

OP QUICK CROSSWORD Across 7 Dismantle three-ton hoe or face a binary choice (3,2,3,5) 9 Lament (5) 10 Spent (4,3) 11 Mountain pass (3) 12 Hong Kong martial arts actor Jackie --- (4) 14 Means (7) 17 Gold-extracting chemical (7) 19 Cons (4) 22 Mutt’s mitt (3) 24 Toffee-nosed (5-2) 25 Such as a car’s coil spring (5) 26 Haphazard Peers enter run for businesspeople (13)

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Down 1 Vast (6) 2 Small white whale (6) 3 Swiss currency (5) 4 American punk-funk band, the Red Hot --- (6,7) 5 Unhorsed (6) 6 Total savages (6) 8 Duller of the senses (6) 13 “Listen!” (3) 15 Excavated (3) 16 Like Lady Luck (6) 17 Redeemed (6) 18 Keenness of vision (6) 20 Almost (3,3) 21 Form of discrimination (6) 23 Complain (5)

All solutions are on page 21

LA CULTURA

October 6th - October 19th 2021

BOLLYWOOD DREAMS

India’s hottest star heading for Spain this Autumn

Unsettling statue ALMOST imperceptible against the glassy waters of Bilbao’s River Nervion, an eerie human face stares out from the tide.

But the unsettling lifelike head is a new, thought provoking art installation under the Zubi Zuri bridge in the north of Spain.

Contemporary artist Ruben Orozco designed the submerged statue to make people think about humans’ impact on the environment over the

years. The Mexican hyperrealist made the unsettling 120kg figure with a fibreglass figure and the ‘drowning girl’, as she has been dubbed by locals, reveals herself each day as the tide rises and falls.

The enigmatic figure is entitled ‘Bihar’ (‘Tomorrow’ in Basque) is part of a campaign by the BBK Foundation, the charitable arm of Spanish lender Kutxabank.

PUT YOUR HAT IN THE RING BENALMADENA is hopeful that architectural firms will apply in droves for a design competition to rehabilitate the town’s derelict bullring.

It has fallen into a state of disrepair after it was closed by the regional government in 2011 for safety reasons.

The adjoining sports centre has already been revamped, and now the town council wants ideas on how best to give the bullring a new lease of life as part of a scheme to renovate the entire area.

BOLLYWOOD royalty Deepika Padukone will be reportedly jetting into Mallorca to shoot scenes for her upcoming movie Pathan.

A source said that the aim is to make the film, which also stars Shah Rukh, a visual spectacle that no one has seen before, with its director Siddharth Anand going out of his way to achieve this ambitious goal.

Exquisite

“No other Bollywood film has ever shot in these places so audiences, who haven’t been to these expensive and exquisite places, will see them for the first time.

“Visually these settings will add grandeur and lavishness to the film,” the source was quoted as saying.

As well as a 20 day stop on the Balearic island from October 10, the crew is also set to make pit-stops in Cadiz and Vejer De La Frontera.

Born in Copenhagen to badminton player Prakash Padukone, Deepika was raised in Bangalore and

BEAUTY: Deepika Padukone

made her Bollywood debut with Om Shanti Om in 2012 The star is now one of the highest-paid actresses in India with accolades that include three Filmfare Awards and in 2018, she was named as one of the 100 most influential people

in the world by Time.

Alongside her acting career, Padukone is vocal about issues such as feminism and depression, launching the foundation Live Love Laugh to create awareness about mental health in India.

11

Johnny cancelled

HOLLYWOOD star Johnny Depp warned that no-one was safe from ‘cancel culture’ as he collected San Sebastian’s Donostia Award in the face of criticism from women’s groups.

The 58 year-old actor was heckled during a press conference in the northern Spanish city when a recording of exwife Amber Heard was played.

Depp lost a libel battle with British tabloid The Sun that labelled him a ‘wife beater’ last year, when a London court ruled he had repeatedly assaulted his former partner Amber Heard.

Addressing the protest he said: “It’s a very complex situation, this cancel culture, or this instant rush to judgement based on essentially what amounts to polluted air.

“It’s got so far out of hand that I can assure you noone is safe, not one of you, so long as someone is willing to say one thing. It takes one sentence, then there’s no more ground,” he said as he picked up an honorary lifetime achievement prize.

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LA CULTURA LA CULTURA THE MAN WHO MOVED October 6th - October 19th 2021

Wealthy Americans who bought up Spanish treasure

B FRENZY: Arthur Byne

EFORE the Great Depression and the onset of World War II brought them down to Earth, America’s wealthiest individuals showed no signs of restraint while spending their riches.

The treasures of Europe were often the target of this exorbitant spending, as many in America’s wealthy

By Shannon Chaffers

class, such as John D Rockefeller and William Randolph Hearst (pictured inset right), held a distinct fascination in all things European, especially artifacts from its medieval era.

As a result of this fascination, numerous pieces of artwork, manor houses, libraries,

and even monasteries made their way across the Atlantic throughout the early 1900s.

Spain played a particularly prominent role in this trend, as Americans romanticised Spanish culture as particularly authentic, premised on the stereotype that Spain was stuck in a pre-industrial era, untouched by modern technology. This perception, coupled with the

We are open – See you soon!

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fact that many Americans believed they had the right and responsibility to take from other cultures to enrich their own ‘superior’ one, led to a feeding frenzy on Spanish items.

And at the heart of this frenzy stood art dealer Arthur Byne.

Though less well-known than some of his clients, the American’s self-described life mission to bring old works of art from Spain to America earned him both plaudits and scorn among the Spanish society he immersed himself in. So what is the story behind the man who proved integral in fueling this movement of Spanish ar tifacts across the Atlantic?

Born in 1884 in Philadelphia, Byne studied a r c h i te c ture at the University of Pennsylvania.

After graduating, he became a curator at the Hispanic Society of America, a New York based institution dedicated to showcasing Spanish culture.

Byne’s new role

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saw him move to Spain in 1910.

While his initial purpose was to photograph a n d i n d e x Spain’s medieval structures for the society, he began making a name for himself as an authority on Spanish art and architecture. The Spanish government recognised his expertise, granting him the title of Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Alfonso XII in 1927.

Yet Byne was always interested in bringing the works he found back to America, drawing the ire of Spanish historians and journalists. As he aligned himself with those wealthy Americans who sought Spanish works, Byne sold them statues, ironwork, parts of castles and cathedrals, and even a royal carpet.

Perhaps his most notorious act involved orchestrating the purchase, dismantling, and removal of Spain’s St Bernard de Clairvaux and Santa Maria de Ovila monasteries at the behest of his client William Randolph Hearst, a media mogul with a costly affinity for medieval European structures.

Not only were the buildings themselves expensive, so too was the

LA CULTURA MONASTERIES

October 6th - October 19th 2021

13

DISMANTLED: Santa Maria de Ovila and (left) how it looks now

process of bringing them to Ameri- they were then shipped to New ca. In 1926, Hearst purchased the York City.

St. Bernard de ClairThe removal of vaux in the Segovia the monastery province of central prompted local The removal Spain for $35,000. To outcry as villagers prompted ship it across the Attried on multiple lantic, Byne first had occasions to stop local outcry as to build 40 miles of workers from road and 20 miles of villagers tried taking what they railroad. These were viewed as a preused to take the mon- to stop workers cious part of their astery, whose pieces community. Yet were divided into over Byne was able to 10,000 crates, through the country- take advantage of Spain’s cashside and to a Spanish port, where strapped government, who ig-

nored the protests, allowing him to finish the job.

Removing the Santa Maria de Ovila from Trillo in central Spain (purchased for about $100,000) five years later proved even more complicated. In response to Byne’s previous activities, the government had enacted strict historical preservation laws that made the removal of certain Spanish artifacts, including monasteries, illegal.

The rules were weakly enforced, however, as Byne was able to convince the government, still SHIPPED IN: The packaged monastery arrives at a dockyard

struggling economically, that removing the monastery would bring in new jobs. The process indeed required man power, as getting the monastery to a port this time required not only construction of a railroad, but also the development of a pulley-cable system to allow a raft carrying the stones to cross the Tagus River. The parts were then shipped to San Francisco, arriving there in 1931.

Some, including Hearst and Byne, argued that actions like removing these monasteries would help preserve European cultural monuments at a time where many had been neglected or damaged by conflict. But Hearst’s purchasing decisions might more accurately be described as cultural theft for personal gain, given he intended to incorporate the monasteries into his mansions.

Yet even this self-indulgent ambition did not come to fruition. With the advent of the Great Depression, Hearst and many others had to rein in their spending. This meant Hearst gave up his vision of reconstructing the monasteries, and they instead ended up sitting in their respective docks for years.

Rebuilt

It took 26 years for the St Bernard de Clairvaux monastery to see the light of day again, when it was rebuilt in Miami in the hopes it would become a tourist attraction.

On the opposite coast, the Santa Maria de Ovila monastery remained on the San Francisco pier until 2013, when it was partly reconstructed by the New Clairvaux Abbey in California. Meanwhile, the monasteries’ original homes hold only the remains deemed unfit for Hearst’s purposes, serving as a reminder of what was lost.

And for many Spaniards, Byne, who died in a car accident in 1935, might also serve as a

reminder of what the country lost during a time when cultural treasures were uprooted at the

command of the wealthy, even those who lived across the Atlantic Ocean.

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It says: “You are enough”. Matt shares his thoughts and reflections on great feel-good movies, recipes and music while providing reassurance and encouragement that you can get past the bad days.

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14

LA CULTURA

LA CULTURA

Fairytale princess October 6th - October 19th 2021

The story of a humble Malaga girl who became Indian royalty

By Amber Edirisinghe

S

HE started out as a Flamenco dancer from a humble background but became a Maharani when she captured the heart of an Indian Maharaja.

Aged just 16, she was whisked away to Paris to be taught how to become a princess and entered into a life of wealth, privilege and high society as she married into royalty in a story that could form the plot of a Disney extravaganza.

It all began in 1890 when Anita Delgado Briones was born in Malaga. Her family moved to Madrid in search of a better life - one that Anita was to find when she bewitched His Royal Highness the Rajah Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala.

In Madrid, Anita and her sister Victoria were scouted at dance lessons by promoters who dubbed them ‘The Camelia Sisters’ and were famed for their beauty, leading famous artists of the d a y

HANDSOME: The maharajah and Anita in their Indian finery

to ask them to model. Being just 16, Anita declined but she was soon to catch the eye of a Rajah.

The sisters had become regular performers at t h e Central Kursaal, socialising with intellectuals such as Leandro Oroz and Valle-Inclan.

In 1906 many members of Europe’s - and the world’s highest echelons of society came to attend the wedding of King Alfonso XIII and Princess Victoria Eugenia. Among them was the Rajah of Kapurthala.

W h e n A n i t a spotted the fabu-

lously dressed man in a white and In fact the correspondence was blue turban adorned with a pea- so successful that just a week afcock brooch, it was ter the royal wedding love at first sight.

Anita had received The pair were able a letter of proposal Whisked away from the maharajah. to make contact with the help of the into Paris where After quickly accepttellectuals from the ing, she was whisked Kursaal. When they she was taught away to Paris where began their correshe was taught how how to be a spondence, Anita to be a princess was only 16 so proby many govprincess duced ‘very childish’ ernessletters, said Elisa es, who Vazquez de Gey, authoritative bi- showed her etiographer of Anita Delgado. Some quette, horse ridof her letters were intercepted ing and music

by Oroz and Valle-Inclan who felt among other accompelled to ‘help out’ by editing tivities. her writing as it was hilariously ju- Anita and the venile. “It could be said that the m a h a r a j a h maharajah fell in love with the let- were married ters of the best Spanish writers”, for the first says Eliza. time in Paris,

ELEGANT: Portrait of Anita and (inset) in European garb

and then again in Kapurthala in 1908, this time in the Sikh rite.

The maharajah had a lavish palace erected for him, reminiscent of Versailles - because he loved all things French, which is where they established their home. This is where Anita’s true reign as the Maharani of Kapurthala began.

Unlike previous maharanis, Anita was very free-willed. She only wore a sari on official occasions, was frequently in the company of men, painted, hunted, played tennis, and drank.

Anita was also known for her philanthropy during the First World War. She recruited and funded weavers to make clothes in her palace, for the Sikh soldiers on the front lines whose uniforms couldn’t face the cold of Europe.

Life was good and she was popular, but in 1920, the maharani fell very ill. A heart ailment meant she spent a long time recuperating in Kashmir, far from her husband.

As they say, while the cat’s away, the mice will play and the rajah succumbed to temptation.

Several affairs drove a wedge in their marriage. Anita waited until her son Ajit was old enough to be the rightful heir and then they signed a sep-

LA CULTURA

October 6th - October 19th 2021

15

OPULENT: The palace modeled on Versailles which was home to the royal couple in India

aration agreement - they never she lived, the British government divorced - and she returned to would take her to a safer place.

Europe.

For this reason, she She lived in opulence lived through the at her Paris mansion She had many Spanish Civil War in and in Spain, and a small hotel in Britadmirers and the maharajah sent tany, France, and the her a monthly sum Second World War in entertained of money. She had Portugal. many admirers, trav- many important Anita was badly afelled frequently and fected by the death guests entertained many of the maharajah important guests. in 1949. Luckily, he The maharajah’s sole request had generously left her a large was that if a war broke out where pension as well as the title of ma-

harani.

She moved to Madrid in her final years and in 1962 she died of heart disease at the age of 72.

Something so unique about Anita’s life is the amount of documentation on it. According to Elisa ‘she always wrote diaries’.

She even wrote a book, Impresiones de mis viajes por Las Indias, about her travels with her husband.

If anyone led a life worthy of a book, surely it is Malaga’s very own Maharani.

HOLD ON!

‘Making Tax Digital’ for Income Tax scheme delayed until 2024 explains Emilia Carvell

F

OLLOWING an announcement made by HMRC, it has been confirmed that the mandation of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD) has been pushed back to April 2024.

Why has HMRC been delayed?

Whilst there is no single answer to this question, we can shed some light on the reason for the decision, and the factors that have led to the delay.

One of the biggest factors is pressure from accountants and accounting bodies. The accounting industry is understandably concerned about change from one annual tax return submission, to quarterly submissions - because whilst you may only have to submit for a single business, some accountancy practises may be looking at thousands of clients, with multiple self employments (not to mention property income!).

Some accountants are predicting that MTD will require 30% more effort or input per client, and so have requested a longer lead time to prepare their clients, and their practice.

The government have also stated that by pushing back the roll out date for MTD will better support businesses emerging from the pandemic - in a statement from Lucy Frazer, Finance Secretary to the Tre-

asury wrote: “The Government recognises the challenges faced by many UK businesses and their representatives as the country emerges from the pandemic over the last year. In recognition of this and of stakeholder feedback, we will now be introducing MTD for ITSA a year later, in the tax year beginning in April 2024”

So, what does this mean for you?

To be honest, probably not much! Existing Olive Press readers will already know that we think preparation is key, and that hasn’t changed - but now you just have even more time to prepare!

The purpose and functionality of MTD hasn’t changed - from April 2024 you will still be required to keep records digitally and submit quarterly updates for your property income & self employment.

You will still be required to submit your annual Self-Assessment Tax Return for tax years prior to April 2024.

The new penalty system that we wrote about in our previous article still stands but will now come into effect from April 2024.

Are there any benefits to the delay?

As much as it pains us to say, there absolutely is! Although we at APARI are super passionate about all things MTD, we are also completely aware that it is a big change for a huge number of taxpayers!

By pushing back the start date of MTD ITSA to 2024, it means that the pilot scheme can be extended, ensuring that MTD is tried and tested by even more volunteers prior to mandation - any issues or setbacks should be addressed and fixed

by HMRC during this time, meaning that the transition from SA100 to MTD should be as smooth as possible!

It also gives taxpayers longer to get to grips with digital record keeping, and MTD ready software like APARI - if you sign up for free today, then by 2024 you’ll be a digital record keeping expert!

What’s the APARI verdict?

APARI is already MTD ready, so we would of course have been thrilled for MTD to start from April 2023! However we are aiming to use this time to become even better for our users, and work towards making tax doable!

For all the latest information and advise visit www.apari-digital.com

16

LA CULTURA

In a third extract from his book My Search for Madeleine, Olive Press Editor Jon Clarke follows the prime suspect in the Maddie case around Granada

LA CULTURA

October 6th - October 19th 2021

GREEN AND GRUMPY IN THE GLASTONBURY OF SPAIN

I

LONG had a feeling Christian Brueckner - the current prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann mystery - would have links to Orgiva, with its little-checked, free-spirited community of international travellers tucked away in a string of hidden valleys.

The Alpujarras is a region I know well having come across the fledgling Olive Press there in its first few months, while writing a travel article for a British magazine.

An area of stunning natural beauty with fascinating local culture, I had stumbled across Issue 5 of this fine organ, while staying at an earthy guesthouse, just outside of Orgiva.

Set up by a former energy trader, Jason, who was now living off grid and Mark, a grumpy journalist, who had worked for a few years at the Mercury press agency in Liverpool, it had plenty of attitude.

Full of tales of corruption and pleas for the environment, it also turned a spotlight on the drug dealing and criminality the region had started to become known for.

I was so impressed I called the pair for a meeting to see if we might work together on a launch of a separate edition of the paper over in Malaga, which came out in November 2006.

I spent the next year driving backwards and forwards to Orgiva helping them with layout, editing and, ultimately, injecting a dose of commercial acumen.

They may not have been business dynamos, but they certainly knew a lot about the weird mix of expats and Spanish who gravitated towards this inland region.

I quickly learnt about the idiosyncrasies and oddness of Orgiva, and got used to the groups of hippies who whiled away the day sitting by the side of the road, smoking marijuana and drinking from litre bottles of beer and cider.

This intriguing make-up started brewing in the 1970s, but accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s as no less than three distinct new age settlements grew up close to the town, one called Beneficio (meaning ‘Benefits’) with as many as 1,000 residents at certain times of year.

Orgiva became famous for Spain’s number one hippie bash the free Dragon Festival – which plays a part in Brueckner’s story (see inset right) as he attended on various occasions I discovered.

The festival launched in the traveller settlement of Cigarrones in 1997 and ran for well over a decade. With only

THE DRAGON FESTIVAL - AND WHERE HE CONFESSED a vague start and finish date, usually over a weekend in March, punters often arrived a week before and left a week later, if at all.

While largely supportive (at least accepting) of this community, The Olive Press also ran its fair share of stories about the criminals, sex offenders and drug dealers that hid out in these nearby hills.

The majority of residents were not officially registered on the town’s padron, nor did they pay taxes, despite sending their children to the local schools.

Many also used false names. So I knew that finding Michael Tatschl - who was a former housemate and jailmate of Brueckner’s - or someone who knew him, wouldn’t be easy, but at least I had a head start with a photo.

Calling a few contacts en route I discovered that he was better known as ‘Micha’ and that he had returned to live

VAN LIFERS: And a novel way to walk your dog in Tablones

THE Olive Press has established that Christian Brueckner (top left) spent many months living on and off near Orgiva.

He was a frequent visitor to the nearby new age settlements, usually buying or selling drugs, and attended the famous Dragon Festival on various occasions.

It was while attending one of these week-long bashes - staying in his giant Tiffin Allegro (pictured) - that he allegedly confessed that he knew what happened to Madeleine.

“He turned up in this giant winnebago and we all wondered where he had got the money from,” said his former best friend Micha Tatschl. “I now wonder if it came from his involvement in the Maddie case.”

Another former friend Helge Busching tipped off police that Brueckner told him at the festival in 2008 that he was involved in the abduction from Praia da Luz. All three of them had lived and socialised together on the Algarve, before living for years in Granada, the book My Search for Madeleine has established. in Austria some years earlier … but he was friendly and ‘fun to hang out with’. came back most years on holiday. I was He then volunteered that Micha had told he had a girlfriend, Cynthia or ‘Cyn’, lived with an English girlfriend, an artist and used to hang out at the so-called called Emma, for a number of years in Metal Bar on the edge of the town. the nearby village of Tablones.

Despite the strict lockdown in Spain at Excitedly, I headed to Tablones but disthe time, the bar somehow managed to covered nobody knew her at all. It was stay open, providing an unofficial com- a community of properties and smallmunity drop-in centre for holdings, many of them the local traveller comshacks, spread over munity. about 16km square.

The fact he was There was certainly a Frustrated, and melting collection of waifs and naked behind in the 38 degree heat, I strays at the bar and decided to take a closer on the terrace outside, three marijuana look at Micha’s photos many with dogs, when I on Facebook and spotplants didn’t arrived just before lunchted one of him standing time. even register! under a pergola of what Fortunately most of them looked like the porch of a were friendly, as was the home, clearly in southern landlord, who recognised Micha from Spain, with its line of parched hills with his Facebook photos, which is not too two fire breaks as a backdrop. The fact hard when you have a skull and cross- that he was apparently naked standing bones tattoo on your neck, your nipples behind three huge marijuana plants pierced and a girlfriend half your age didn’t even register! (see pic).

Buena suerte, as the Spanish would say The landlord described him however as – by complete chance I looked up and ‘un muy buen tio’, or decent bloke, and saw the exact same line of hills in the

GRANADA PAL: Micha Tatschl and (above) travellers in Tablones distance and, crucially, the same fire breaks.

It turned out I was standing just 200m away from the plot where he lived for many years and, after walking downhill for a minute, I met someone who knew Emma.

It turned out to be Llewelyn Graves, the grandson of I, Claudius and Goodbye to All That writer Robert Graves, who was living in some sort of commune surrounded by vans. I tried to make conversation, knowing quite a lot about his British-born, Spain-based grandfather, who has a museum in Mallorca, where he wrote the seminal books in the 1930s.

Unfortunately Llewelyn was in something of a rush, but he did at least point me in the direction of Emma’s finca.

And joy of joys I was ushered in through the house into the shady back garden porch, where a bottle of cold cider was thrust into my hand.

Sitting alongside another local expat Ben, we started chatting about The Olive Press.

Half an hour later we had ‘Micha’ on the phone and over the next hour he blew the case wide open.

FIND OUT HOW IN MY SEARCH FOR MADELEINE, AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

BUSINESS Teaming up

CHEERS TO THAT!

HEINEKEN’S pints are becoming greener than ever thanks to a new fleet of eco delivery trucks launched in Sevilla.

Specially designed for the most sustainable transport of kegs by Andalucian brand Scoobic, the zero-emission vehicles mean the beers can arrive at bars with a lower CO2 footprint.

The firm has now rolled out a new delivery fleet across the city which slashes the weight of beers by managing to compress eight barrels into a lighter load - meaning they can whoosh through the city’s narrowest streets at a speed of 7km/h.

These zero-emission vehicles have already been spotted handing out Cruzcampo in the bars of the iconic Santa Cruz neighborhood.

The objective is to avoid the emission of more than 21 thousand tons of CO2 each year and to help decongest traffic, reduce noise and visual pollution and create a more pleasant living space.

The new delivery fleet is also set to boost job creation in the city, with the upcoming opening of the Scoobic - Heineken hybrid vehicle factory.

Johnny Depp partners with Spanish film production company to launch new European venture HOLLYWOOD actor Johnny Depp has announced plans to team up with a Spanish partner in a new European film production venture.

The 58-year-old star unveiled plans for IN.2 Film, which will be a UK-based production house, during the 69th edition of the San Sebastian film festival where he received the Donostia award.

LA-based

This will be a sister company to his LA-based Infinitum Nihil which has been behind titles such as Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger and Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows.

The latest partnership involves an international development agreement

MOVIE MOGUL: Depp moves into film production

By Amber Edirisinghe

with Adolfo Blanco´s A Contracorriente Films, a Spanish independent film

A CLASSIC DAY

distribution and production company.

Blanco stated that he is ‘very proud to be working with Johnny Depp, and delighted to try and identify films with the ability to target specific audiences and remain competitive in the market’.

These new projects will add to the company’s ever growing list of titles such as Untouchable and The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared as well as Aquí y allá and Varda

by Agnès.

October 6th - October 19th 2021

Nissan plant rescue CHINA’S Great Wall Motor is set to ride to the rescue of workers at Nissan’s Barcelona plant which is due to shut down in December.

Spanish authorities and Nissan will enter talks with the company with a view to it taking over.

The fate of two smaller production facilities owned by Nissan in the region is also up for discussion, with talks involving Spanish electric motorbike company Silence and local engineering firm QEV Technologies also on the cards. QEV operates as a manufacturing hub for Swedish firms Inzile and Volta.

Around 3,000 workers are presently employed at the three factories, with another 20,000 indirectly relying on the Nissan plants.

PROPERTY OF THE WEEK C EX

L

IT was a classic car lover’s dream.

Vehicle repair specialist Premier Bodyshops celebrated a classic car open day in Estepona Aiden Hammond, the company director, said that the ‘whole street was full of amazing and rare

classics’, many of which were restored by Premier.

The event had an ‘amazing turn out’ that was ‘even better than expected’, with many visitors coming to see the unique vehicles.

All proceeds from the food, drinks and raffle were donated to local animal charity ADANA which was badly damaged in the recent Sierra Bermeja wildfire. The event managed to raise a whopping €1,500.

I US

VE

TH4898

45.000€ Pruna, Seville

Scouting

With the help of producers Alexandra Stone, Jelena Goldbach, Julien Temple and Jeremy Thomas, Depp and Blanco are currently working on a slate of productions set for 2022/2023, featuring films and television series.

Depp and British producers Stephen Deuters and Stephen Malit, will be scouting for filmmaking talent around Europe, to create productions ‘focusing on European sensibility combined with American accessibility’.

17

4 bed, 1 bath Build: 98m2

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Arahal Office +34 952 741 525 info@inlandandalucia.com

Calle de la Villa 14, 29532 Molina, Malaga

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18

PROPERTY

October 6th - October 19th 2021

BRIT SALES WOES

UK share of Spain’s ‘foreign’ property market plunges

It’s no oil painting

WITH a nod to Ronda’s bullfighting tradition and a wink towards Malaga-born artist Picasso, French designer and industrial architect Phillipe Starc has come up with a stunning design for a new olive oil mill.

The first stone for the €11 million project is due to be laid today (Wednesday). The striking design is hoped to become a tourist attraction in its own right and will form part of an ‘olive oil route’ called the LA Organic Experience, which has already been launched.

There are already works by the renowned French designer along the way. LA Organic Experience spokesman said: “It will put the region on the world map of differential and quality tourism based on such a Spanish product as olive oil.

The mill will be located a few kilometres from Ronda, next to the road between Ronda and Campillos, on a 25-hectare estate.

It will be built with recycled materials and state-of-the-art technology and will be focused on the production of organic olive oil but will also have space for cultural and educational events.

SPAIN is inline for a €7.5 billion real estate investment boost in 2022.

This would place it fifth in Europe in the league table of capital investment in the property sector, according to the sixth edition of Knight Frank’s Active Capital report.

IT would seem that the effects of Brexit are starting to bite on the British share of the Spanish property market.

Latest figures show that the number of UK buyers has been dipping in 2021 ever since ‘real Brexit’ brought in new visa requirements.

Prior to the 2016 referendum, Brits made up 25% of the foreign market in Spain according to the Association of Spanish Land Registrars.

But that figure has plunged to just 9.5% by the second quarter of this yea - the lowest level since records began and a long way from the peaks seen in 2007 of around 45%.

Now, the German segment is nearly on a par, with it accounting for 9.04% of the foreignmarket.

Brits still make up the biggest

€7.5 BN CASH BOOST The international real estate consultant pinpoints the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Spain as the top investment destinations in the Europe, Middle East, and

Africa (EMEA) area during the next year in terms of capital volume.

Jorge Sena, a partner and director of the Commercial Area of Knight Frank Spain said that

Prices up RESIDENTIAL property prices in Spain have risen by 4% over the last 12 months, to now stand at an average of €1,813 per square metre.

This is despite summer prices dropping by 0.2%, according to property portal Idealista.

Company spokesman Francisco Iñareta said that the ‘strong demand’ has meant ‘there are many markets where prices are higher than a year ago’ largely because household savings are at historically high levels and mortgages are cheaper than ever before.

Rise

group of fore ign buyers, accounting for 1,296 home sales in Spain in the second quarter of 2021, but long gone are the days when they were accounted for more than twice the sales of any other nationality. the consultants are ‘sure that the year 2022 will consolidate the growth we are witnessing now’.

This is due to Spain being ‘a very attractive country for investment in real estate assets’ and even post-pandemic,’ the Spanish real estate sector is recovering strongly.

In the past dips in British demand were often linked to periods when Sterling was weak but this should not be the case at the moment, with the pound standing up reasonably well this year.

The obvious reason is the extra obstacles put in the way of UK buyers looking for a home in Spain since the start of this year. These do not affect purchasers from EU nations, hence their numbers are holding up pretty well.

High transaction costs in Spain and the possibility of ‘non resident’ taxes may also be having effect.

But this rise has not been applied evenly across Spain. Over the past year 23 provincial capitals have recorded price drops with the biggest dip in Ceuta (-13.7%), whilst prices rose by 4.4% in Palma with the highest rise seen in Huesca (14.2%.)

Spain's priciest capital is San Sebastian (€4,978/ m2), and the cheapest, Lleida (€1,049/m2).

The Balearic Islands were the costliest autonomous region at €3,206/m2, while the most affordable was Castilla La Mancha (€870/m2).

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FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL Boat trip to art

October 6th - October 19th 2021

Massive new gallery on the Isla de Rey features works by Mark Bradford, writes Isha Sesay

The long good chew LOVERS of Spanish nougat ‘turron’ had a treat at Alicante’s Gastronomy Fair 2021 - they had the chance to tuck into the biggest turron bar in the world which measured a massive 56 metres long.

Nougat maker Roberto Pico was in charge of making the monster bar which beat the previous record of 55 metres for the Alicante delicacy.

Pico worked for a week to make the bar which included 270 kilos of almonds, egg whites and honey.

The nougat was cut and offered as a tasting to the public attending the fair.

MODERN modern art gallery masters Hauser & Wirth have opened a 400,000 sqm art centre on Isla del Rey with an opening show of works by acclaimed artist Mark Bradford, In the last two years Isla del Rey’s once-crumbling decommissioned naval hospital, 18th-century outbuildings and 6th-century basilica have been carefully restored by Argentinean architect Luis Laplace, turning the once ghostly ruins into an exhibition space with eight galleries, a shop and restaurant called Cantina.

Outside, landscape designer Piet Oudolf, responsible for the garden at Hauser & Wirth’s Somerset base, creat-

ed a beautiful sculpture trail featuring works by artists such as Franz West, Louise Bourgeois and Eduardo Chillida.

The gallery’s co-founders, Iwan and Manuela Wirth, said they had been ‘utterly captivated by Menorca and specifically Isla del Rey’ which lies a short boat trip from Mahon.

“Our vision has always been to expand the idea of the gallery experience and we believe that this location is a fitting, natural and exciting extension to our centres in Somerset and LA,” said Iwan.

It’s hard to conceive of a more fitting location for an exhibition of new paintings and sculptures

by American artist Mark Bradford, the winner of a MacArthur ‘genius’ grant and who is known for examining the past through his abstract art.

BEAUTIFUL: Magnificent setting On the choice of Bradford for the opening show, which will run until October 30, Manuela said: “Mark knows the Balearic Islands well having

CORDOBA’S autumn patio festival is scheduled to open this October and will feature 16 venues over two weekends.

Residents in the ancient city traditionally throw open their usually private patios and courtyards to show off colourful floral displays to curious tourists.

The event will take place in October on the weekends of 16-17 and 23-24.

The first weekend coincides

lived in Mallorca for a few months in his 20s and his multi-layered nature is a perfect fit given the island setting is in a natural harbour.”

19

SWEET SUCCESS SPANISH beekeepers care for an astonishing 3 million hives, making it the leading EU nation for honey production.

A survey by EU Agriculture designed to show the robustness of each country’s pollinators, which are vital for crops to flourish, revealed the figures for each country.

In total there are 18.9 million hives in the EU, with Spain (2.967 million) beating Romania (2.246 million) for top spot, a long way ahead of Poland (1.766 million) and France (1.751 million).

Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture has been looking to boost the nation’s honey industry by introducing new labelling laws which must show the countries of origin so that 100% Spanish honey can be clearly identified.

Blooming good show with the Fiesta de la Flora (which is celebrated from the 11th to the 21st of the month), an event traditionally related to botanical and floral art.

The second weekend will coincide with the day of Saint Raphael Archangel, patron saint of Cordoba The opening hours to view

the patios are between 11am to 2pm and then from 6.30pm to 8pm.

The 16 venues for the Autumn festival were all winners of the more famous May Courtyards Festival, which has been on Unesco’s list of Intangible Heritage of Humanity since December 2012.

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By Bill Anderson

Nobody’s perfect

I

‘The price of success is to bear the criticism of envy’ - Denis Waitley

HAVE been off the Olive Press radar for a little while, and was reprimanded by the editor Jon Clarke when he came on my radio show recently.

I have no excuse other than the pressure of work. I still have my day to day stuff which these days often is summed up by answering questions online in one form or another.

This has led to me struggling with criticism. Don’t get me wrong, not that I can’t take criticism, but with criticism as a concept, as a driving force, or as a way of life.

Social Media, well, what can I say? It is a cesspit of criticism.

Someone spells a word wrong, and the spelling police jump from behind a bin. Someone writes a ‘must of’ instead of a ‘must have’ and the grammar police are there with their truncheons.

Criticism is the ultimate tool of the impotent. The Spanish political world is driven by criticism. PP criticise PSOE, PSOE criticise PP: and Cuidadanos? Well, it depends on which side of the fence they are sitting on any particular day.

Naive

A number of years ago, I naively tried to make a point that you cannot develop a strategy based on criticism. I got told off by one of the ‘heavyweights’ in the party that I didn’t know what I was talking about. “We have to criticise,” he said, figuratively banging his hand on the table.

To my mind, criticism is an attempt at mind control. Not only are we pointing out the perceived errors of others, but we are telling our readers/listeners what they should think about it.

I would rather present the facts and let the readers make their own mind up. In a recent social media post, someone commented on a rather hideous statue that was erected in Mijas Pueblo.

I merely made the comment that it cost us €80,000 and that was enough. The readers took it from there. It is arrogance to think that we have to tell the readers what to think about it.

I have tried to follow the advice of Marcus Tullius Cicero, who said: “I criticise by creation, not by finding fault.” By doing a job well, you are not exempt from criticism, but that very example highlights the failures of others without you having to say anything.

Yes, I’m sure you have spotted it. This very article is a criticism of criticism. Well, nobody’s perfect.

October 6th - October 19th 2021

‘He lives in a house, a very strange house, in the country…’

I

T seems hard to believe but this month marks my tenth year of living at the Casita del Lago, a converted smallholders’ cottage on the edge of the La Concepcion reservoir.

I use the term ‘converted’ roughly because, being off grid, with intermittent power, floods, no fridge, television or Wi-Fi, plus a fondness for candles, many have remarked that I basically live in the 17th century.

Located in splendid isolation at the bottom of a 1.5km track that hugs the hills and has accounted for the demise of four cars over the past 10 years, life at the Casita has certainly been varied.

I vividly remember my first night when, unused to the sights and sounds of the campo, I was convinced that the rocks falling into the water was the sound of Swamp Thing coming to get me (they were mountain goats prancing along the far bank) and that the blood curdling cry (foxes, as it

turned out) was one of its victims.

When my neighbour’s Boxer trotted down the track and bounced through the open terrace doors, we both howled in fright at the sight of each other and fled to opposite ends of the property.

Shaky

Since that shaky start, however, I have got used to living in the middle of nowhere. Let’s face it. People are more likely to be afraid of a bald and bearded 50-something who lives on his own by a lake. It’s a basic serial killer scenario.

As an aside there are two rules for any DVDs that I watch at the Casita. No horror movies and

nothing that involves a cabin in the woods…

Not to say that I am on my own all the time.

The lake is a popular spot for Russian fishing enthusiasts – who combine late night angling with heroic vodka consumption and

OP Puzzle solutions

Quick Crossword

Across: 7 One or the other, 9 Mourn, 10 Laid out, 11 Col, 12 Chan, 14 Intends, 17 Cyanide, 19 Lags, 22 Paw, 24 Stuck-up, 25 Helix, 26 Entrepreneurs.

Down: 1 Cosmic, 2 Beluga, 3 Franc, 4 Chilli Peppers, 5 Thrown, 6 Brutes, 8 Opiate, 13 Hey!, 15 Dug, 16 Fickle, 17 Cashed, 18 Acuity, 20 All but, 21 Sexism, 23 Whine.

History, adventure and romance.

That’s just the setting.

21

Viva la Casita!

SUDOKU

COLUMNISTS

MIJAS MATTERS

the occasional burst of mournful singing. Followed by more vodka.

There are also the jeep safari tours who promise to show clients the ‘hidden Spain’ or ‘wild Andalucía’, the latter being particularly apt if they rock up at the lake before I have had my second coffee.

And then there are the Sunday visitors, the most memorable of whom was the family that decided to enjoy the peace and tranquillity of the surroundings by bringing a mobile karaoke machine and letting their fouryear-old sing Despacito in a never ending loop.

Despite all of these minor moans, I count myself incredibly lucky to live here. And who knows? Perhaps I will mark my first decade here by sorting out the Wi-Fi!

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22

HEALTH

October 6th October 19th 2021

Making life easier NEW simplified travel rules came into force in the UK on Monday, with the traffic light system replaced by a single red list.

Fully vaccinated travellers arriving from non-red list countries including Spain will no longer have to take a test before flying to the UK. Anyone under 18 who is resident in those countries that have an approved vaccine programme can also travel to the UK without testing.

However, those over 18 who do not have proof of full vaccination will need a pre-departure test and a PCR test on days two and eight after they return, and must self-isolate for 10 days on arrival in the UK. All travellers - except children under five years old - will still have to pay for a PCR test two days after arrival in the UK. And this must be booked in advance of travel to provide a booking code that is required on the Passenger Locator Form.

Cancer test hope

Revolutionary blood test could help early detection of 50 types of cancer

SPANISH eyes are on a revolutionary new blood test that can detect more than 50 types of cancer before symptoms appear.

England’s National Health Service is set to trial the new test by taking blood samples from 140,000 volunteers aged from 50 to 77 at mobile clinics in business parks and other locations.

The potential of the test has been noticed by Spanish newspapers, including ABC and El Mundo, which have published several articles

By Elena Gocmen Rueda

on the subject, highlighting the importance of the project.

"This quick and simple blood test could mark the start of a revolution in cancer detection and treatment here and around the world," said Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of the NHS.

Survival

"We have the best chance of treating it and we can give people the best chance of survival.

So she believes that if this blood test is success-

ful it could ‘play an important role in detecting three-quarters of cancers at an early stage’, when they are easier to treat.

Initial results from the study are expected in 2023 and, if successful, NHS England plans to extend the rollout to a further one million people in 2024 and 2025.

It is expected that the Spanish health service may follow suit if the tests are successful.

Some 300 people die of cancer every day in Spain, according to the consultancy firm Oliver Wyman.

Early detection can drastically improve prognosis.

Smoking ban HEALTH ministers have called for smoking to be banned on terraces and outdoor restaurant seating in Spain.

The Ministry of Health wants the current law to be extended to include outdoor hospitality.

Ministers also want legislation banning smoking in the grounds of schools, hospitals and in playgrounds to come into force permanently.

The prohibition of smoking on terraces and in entrances to public buildings was introduced by most autonomous communities as part of the COVID-19 regulations.

But hospitality workers have said extending the ban would be hugely disproportionate and unfair.

The move has the backing of minister Carolina Darias who said it would denormalise smoking and protect people from the damaging effects of second-hand smoke.

Sad stats

SO far 86,463 people have died from COVID-19 in Spain, according to figures released this week.

Some 4,961,128 people have caught the virus. At the moment around 1,800 new cases are being reported every day.

Melilla stands out as the Autonomous Community with the most cases, with 140 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

It is followed by Catalonia with 100, Ceuta and the Pais Vasco with 96, Cantabria with 91 and Castilla y la Mancha with 92 cases per 100,000.

MARBELLA’S NEW HOT SPOT Be pampered and feel good with a range of relaxing treatments

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Monique, the Swedish owner has certainly attained ‘expert’ status having trained at Axelsons, Stockholm, amongst other famous beauty schools since 2003 and also has managed a SPA in Malmö.

Monique offers personal and effective treatments wrapped in a calm relaxing ‘spa’ experience, at salon prices.

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OLIVE PRESS

REuse REduce REcycle We use recycled paper

Equality protocols

FINAL WORDS

MINISTRY of Equality leader Ilene Montero has proposed a new protocol against sexual harassment in the workplace, targetting inappropriate comments, ‘sexual jokes’ and even looking at people in a suggestive way.

COVID prison EIGHT prisoners at Cordoba jail have tested positive for COVID-19, with seven of then having mild symptoms and one being transferred to Reina Sofia’s Hospital. All of the inmates are vaccinated.

Honest finder A WOMAN in Malaga who found a wallet containing €1,300 cash and two credit cards on the street handed it to police, who have returned it to its 70-year-old Venezuelan owner.

FREE

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Vol. 15 Issue 379

www.theolivepress.es

Your expat

voice in Spain

October 6th - October 19th 2021

Hopping mad Bungling robber loses false leg in botched bankjob find that brave customers and passersby had joined with staff to tackle the robber and during the struggle his artificial leg had fallen off.

Cash This meant any escape plans They had demanded cash he had were scuppered and from the teller, but the alarm all he could do was meekly was raised and police dashed sit down and wait to be arto the scene. They arrived to rested in Friday’s incident.

His accomplice meanwhile fled empty handed SPAIN is officially a nation of potty Spain is the and is still at mouths, with Spaniards using over 2 fifth sweariest large. A fake million swear words online each year, country in the gun was found according to new research. world, while the USA at the scene.

From furious four-letter tirades to came in at number seven, ItA police foul-mouthed phrases, obscenities aly was ranked eighth. Canada spokesman have become more commonplace and the UK rounded out the top 10, said: “At 2pm, than ever. in ninth and tenth place, respectively. a call was Even worse then the Spanish are the It is hardly surprising Spaniards are received reFrench who topped the list of foul- placed so highly on the ‘blue list’ - they porting that a mouthed web surfers. have a whopping 251 different explerobbery was According to research from Preply, tives to choose from. taking place A BANK robber was left without a leg to stand on after his false limb fell off during an attempted hold-up in Alicante.

The 45-year-old Italian may well have been hopping mad after brave customers and staff tussled

with him when he burst into the Sabadell branch with an accomplice brandishing a gun.

BAD LANGUAGE!

in a bank branch of Sabadell located in Plaza America in Alicante.

“The emergency protocol was activated and a device established that frustrated the robbery and culminated in the arrest of one of the perpetrators who was armed with a pistol that was finally determined to be simulated.”

“At least one perpetrator fled from the place, more identification and location management is being carried out by the robbery squad of the Alicante Judicial Police Brigade.”

“The detainee is of Italian nationality, 45 years old and with a previous record.”

Shak attacked

SINGER Shakira was attacked by a pair of marauding wild boars who snatched her bag while she was walking with her eight-year-old son in a park in Barcelona.

The hairy hogs ambushed her and made off with her handbag, before trying to escape with it into the woods.

Shakira let her fans know with an Instagram story. Holding up her bag that was now in tatters she said: “Look at how two wild boar that attacked me in the park have left my bag.”

The singer, who is married to Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique, explained: “They were taking my bag to the woods with my mobile phone in it.”

The 44-year-old Colombian claims she ‘stood up to the wild boar’ to snatch back her bag but unfortunately they still ‘destroyed everything’.

She isn't the first victim of a boar attack, as the pests have managed to overwhelm Barcelona in the past few years, with police receiving over 1,100 calls regarding wild boar attacks in one year alone.