IN BRIEF

Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister, Jose Manuel Albares, said that Spain and the UK are close to a deal in settling the post-Brexit status of Gibraltar.

The status of Gibraltar and the policing of the border with Spain has been a point of contention since the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016.

The peninsula was excluded from the exit deal reached between UK and EU.

More than 400 people walked alongside the Virgen de la Fuensanta de Rebate, together with the mayor of Pilar de la Horadada, JosÈ MarÌa PÈrez, and several councillors, who distributed medals of the patron saint, the work of the sculptor S·nchez Lozano.

The procession was followed by the Huapango brass band, as they moved through the village, ending with a song dedicated to the Virgin written and sung by Pilar LÛpez, sung by herself, along with several women, in front of the small church.

Following a short presentation by DarÌo

Quesada, delegate of culture, everyone was presented with a copy of the book ìRebate; 500 years history (1522-2022)" published by the Pilar de la Horadada Council. Its author, MarÌa GarcÌa Samper, gave a brief history of Rebate, which was once the nerve centre of the area, for several centuries providing services to the population.

The mayor and the delegate for culture also handed out forty-one awards to all those who had provided information to the author of the book, with the mayor concluding by thanking the author and all the collaborators, highlighting in particular the Van Iseghem Van Heden

Songs lie to us, and we are willing accomplices. In the film Carousel, the Rodgers and Hammerstein ballad "You'll Never Walk Alone" claims that "at the end of the storm there's a golden sky and the sweet silver song of a lark." Rather than, say, rivers flooding their banks, widespread power cuts, and looting. They must have had a different day (or storm) in mind.

Incidentally, what do moths do during power cuts, with no light bulbs to flock to, are they reduced to flapping their wings at the headlights of passing cars?

Songwriters are simply following the tried-and-true path whereby song lyrics offer us comforting untruths. I mean, "the corn is as high as an elephant's eye"? Are we talking baby elephants here? Are there even elephants in Oklahoma? Or should I say, Oklahoma!

Some songs are deliberately created to tug at one's heartstrings -"How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?" -- or to boost one's patriotism -- national anthems -- or to confirm one's prejudices -"There is Nothin' Like A Dame." (Never refer to a woman as a dame unless she has been ennobled.) Other lies we are asked to swallow include such unlikely statements as, "I got plenty of nothing, and nothing's plenty for me." I have less trouble believing Abba when they tell us "it's always sunny, in a rich man's world."

Frequently, musical declarations are negative -- "I never promised you a rose garden... along with the sunshine there's gotta be a little rain sometime." Abba please note. And sometimes the promises are tantalisingly vague: "Do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell? Let me whisper in your ear..." In 1965 Barry McGuire's most negative statement of all was that we were on 'The Eve of Destruction.' You should never predict the end of the world, because you are almost sure to be wrong, and if you are right there's no one left to congratulate you.

Occasionally, it is the singer who doesn't want to deal with the truth. "Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies," requests Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac. Billy Joel, though, advises honesty, while warning us that "If you look for truthfulness, you might just as well be blind."

Not only song lyrics cheat. The Eagles bemoan the fact that "There ain't no way to hide your lyin' eyes, and your smile is a thin disguise." A woman may smile, and smile, and be a villain, as Hamlet almost said.

Most songs that feature those oft-used words 'forever' or 'always' contain promises that are not keepable, and consequently are in fact lies.

The song 'Forever and a Day' by the Dave Clark Five really pushes the envelope in that respect, and Willie Nelson's version of 'You Were Always On My Mind' perhaps harks back to a time when Willie's mind wasn't 89 years old.

Even as a mere stripling of 76, nowadays I can't hear the words "I never saw the sun shining so bright," without thinking of skin damage and drought. But I do wish you all -- metaphorically at least -- "Blue skies, nothing but blue skies from now on." And that's no lie.

According to S&P Global Ratings, property prices in Spain are likely to fall during 2023, as well as in most of Europe, due to interest rate hikes by central banks.

The agency predicts that Spain will experience one of the most intense house price decreases among European countries, with a decrease of 2.5%.

Airlines including Ryanair, Iberia, and Air Europa have different baggage rules in Spain.

Many travellers choose to only carry hand luggage due to the hassle and expense of checking in a suitcase.

However, this could be a costly mistake as several popular carriers have now warned that the price of tickets will be going up this year while there have also been changes in hand luggage allowances.

The president of the central Spanish region of Castile and Leon, Alfonso Fernandez Manueco, has denied an announcement made by a member of his cabinet that doctors must give women the opportunity to listen to the heartbeats of foetuses before any abortion procedure.

He emphasised that "neither doctors nor pregnant women will be forced to do anything."

The Spanish offices of the Big Four accounting firms (PwC, KPMG, EY and Deloitte) were visited by government inspectors in November as part of an investigation into potentially abusive practices. The inspections were in response to bad publicity over employees being made to work at least 12 hours a day.

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