TILTING AT WINDMILLS

STINKER MURDOCH – AND GOODBYE, FOR NOW

2011-07-15T13:33:00.000+02:00

To start at the end this is my 600 th Tilting at Windmills blog. Hence it seems a good place as any to say goodbye, for now. I have enjoyed my time tilting at the numerous windmills out there but for the next couple of months I have to tilt at others in real life.

My Gibraltar Viewpoint column will still appear on a weekly basis and Looking to the Left updated as and when my features appear in The Morning Star. You will find the links on the right hand of this page.

For now I leave you with Richard ‘Stinker’ Murdoch. He was born in 1907 and died in 1990 during which period he became a household name as a radio comedian as well as a film and TV actor.

He went to Charterhouse School, where a ‘Stinker’ almost certainly existed in the dorm. Whilst at Pembroke College, Cambridge he joined the Footlights. His big radio break came with the BBC comedy programme Band Wagon that ran from 1938 to 1940. He was part of a double act with Arthur Askey and it is from there he acquired his ‘Stinker’ handle. During World War II he served in the RAF.

Amongst his many roles he appeared with Kenneth Horne in BBC Radio’s Much Binding In The Marsh (1944-54), The Men from the Ministry (1962 – 77) and even appeared in the first TV series of Blackadder. His final TV appearance came a few months after his death in an episode of Rumpole of the Bailey where he played Uncle Tom, the senior briefless barrister in chambers.

When I rejoin you the name “Stinker” may have been added to two other members of that clan. Richard would have been appalled, like the rest of us, by the antics of Rupert and James but whilst he was a loveable, much admired character they certainly are not.

See you soon!

PLOD OF THE YARD

2011-07-14T19:37:00.000+02:00

I am sure that many readers have been glued to their seats in front of the TV in recent days as the revelations about Murdoch’s iffy empire poured in and his bid for BSkyB unravelled.

However one man actually made me fall out of my seat. He was Andy Hayman who incredibly was a former Met assistant commissioner and was in overall charge of the 2006 investigation.

He was up before the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee and one of the MPs, Lorraine Fullbrook, described him as a “dodgy geezer”. Which is ironic as the chairman of the committee, the senior Labour MP Keith Vaz, has had his collar felt numerous times by the House of Commons authorities. As of yet Hayman is as straight as a dye till he’s ever found to be bent as a cork screw.

Hayman’s problem is he is a Cockney. Well many of us were born in the “Smoke” but few of us sound like extras playing small time crooks in an episode of Arthur Daley’s Minder.

Within months of leaving the force Hayman took a job with The Times, one of Murdoch’s upmarket organs. Not only did he see nothing wrong with this given the fact the Met have been investigating News International one has to wonder how if Hayman “can’t talk proper” he manages to write.

He told the committee his boyhood dream was to be either a journalist or a copper. A dream for him, a nightmare for both professions!

He also admitted he had enjoyed dinners with News International staff despite conducting an investigation into their behaviour although he wasn’t quite sure when the dinners took place. “It could look bad,” he admitted, “It does look bad.”

Hayman even had the nerve to mock the former Labour Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott’s complaints about phone-hacking saying he’d eat his words if the claims were true. I would have thought the verbally challenged Hayman and Prescott had much in common and as Prescott’s claims have been shown to be true we all await Plod of the Yard’s paper eating feat. I guess we have to wait for him to extract his ‘daisy roots’ from his mouth first.

There are allegations that police officers had been bribed and all those appearing before the Committee were asked if they had accepted any iffy cash. The previous two officers replied firmly they had not. Hayman lost his cool: “Good God!” he yelled, “I'm not letting her get away with it! I can’t believe you asked that!” She, the doughty Lorraine Fullbrook had, and his response suggested this man doth protest too much!

Having watched Hayman before the committee it would be easy to image him as a DI down the local nick. What is as shocking as the Murdoch revelations is that Plod of the Yard was one of the Met’s most senior officers. Pot Pourri! As Del Boy would say!

DON’T PANIC! DON’T PANIC!

2011-07-12T12:32:00.000+02:00

Viewers of British television of a certain age will remember well Lance Corporal Jones in the BBC comedy series about the Home Guard – Dad’s Army. One of his catchphrases was “Don’t Panic!” which he shouted repeatedly whilst doing just that.

Jones would have felt at home in Almaraz in Cáceres last Friday when the nuclear alarm was broadcast over loudspeakers. The town is close to a nuclear power station which the Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear (CSN) says has two reactors.

One of the reactors is currently out of use as it is being refuelled. The CSN stated the other reactor is fully operational with no problems in its security. It is investigating why the warning system to alert people that there has been a technical breakdown had been activated and whether it was intentional.

The Dirección General de Protección Civil which is part of the Ministry of the Interior has sent officials to study the cause of the activation of the loud speaker alarm. Apparently the system can only be activated manually and it is not yet known whether that was deliberate, human error or an electrical fault.

Mayor Sabina Hernández she would be unhappy to learn that the sounding of the alarm had been an act of sabotage. She added the alarm had caused widespread panic in Almaraz and a large number of people had to be treated at the health centre for shock.

She has called in the Guardia Civil to track down the culprit or culprits. If caught Lance Corporal Jones other catchphrase “They don’t like it up ‘em” would seem to suggest a suitable punishment.

TIME RUNNING OUT FOR PSOE

2011-07-07T12:58:00.000+02:00

If an opinion poll published by El País on Sunday is correct then PSOE have a mountain to climb to win the general election whoever leads the party. The soundings indicate the Partido Popular have an over 14 per cent lead as Spaniards react with anger to the high levels of unemployment and the financial crisis.

The poll by Metroscopia says 44.7 per cent of those questioned intend to vote for Mariano Rajoy’s PP. PSOE currently led by the prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero with Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba waiting to take over, limps behind on 30.4.

These finds give the PP a 0.5 per cent increase in support over the last month. However in the real life elections – municipal and regional – on May 22 the PP’s lead was just over 10 per cent.

At the last general election in 2008 PSOE had a lead over the PP of 3.6 per cent. This gave Zapatero his second mandate and second victory over Rajoy. Rajoy may be third time lucky but Zapatero will remain undefeated as he will have left the political stage by then.

However the Spain of 2012 will be very different from that in 2008. The economy no longer has the highest growth in the Euro zone. The property bubble has truly burst and unemployment stands at a massive 21 per cent – double the European average. Hence it is no surprise that support for PSOE has tumbled by 13.3 per cent whilst the PP have seen a 4.6 per cent growth.

Perhaps the most depressing fact for PSOE is there seems to be no Rubalcaba bounce in the offing. On July 9 the current first vice president of the government and hard line minister of the interior officially is anointed as the successor to Zapatero. His likely accession has been known for two months but support for PSOE has dropped by 1.3 per cent over that period. In addition 88 per cent of Spaniards believe the PP will form the next government.

Rubalcaba is famous for his hangdog look and the poll readings are likely to add another crease to his face. The fact that he has gone unchallenged to the top job is probably because all the other heavyweights know the writing is on the wall. They don’t want to go down in history as the candidate who led PSOE to a historically heavy defeat. Mind you if Rubalcaba can pull off a miracle recovery...

SPEAKING UP FOR CHARLES

2011-06-30T18:49:00.000+02:00

Although I was a monarchist at the time of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation – I was easily bought by thoughts of a street party – I am now a Republican.

OK I am a benign republican who is happy to see the Queen see out her days on the throne. Then I would bung the remaining members of the Royal Family a million quid each and leave them to their own devices.

All the palaces and assets would become State property and I am sure the tourists would still flock, especially as they would then have access (for an admittance fee) to the various residences.

Perhaps somewhere like St James’ Palace would then become the home of the president. Just who would be president remains to be seen but it would be a symbolic post. As the majority of the world uses this model I see no reason why Britain shouldn’t. I am sure Ireland would lend us Mary Robinson for a term whilst we get used to the idea.

So given that scenario you may wonder why today I am speaking up for Prince Charles. It’s simply this - this week’s headline story has been he has seen his taxpayer funding increase by nearly 18 percent. This is at a time when Her Majesty’s subjects were tightening their belts due to harsh austerity measures.

The heir to the throne’s income from the British government rose 17.9 percent from £1.66 million in 2009-10 to £1.96 million in the past year, according to his official accounts.

However much of the funds covered travel costs with Charles and his wife Camilla travelling 34,000 miles to and from official engagements, including more than 14,000 miles on overseas trips.

Paddy Harverson, Charles’s spokesperson, who may also be the person responsible for putting his toothpaste on his brush, stated: “Spending on royal travel is decided by the government, not the prince. This is because the government determines where members of the royal family go on official overseas visits.”

Quite so. If the British Government decides to send Prince Charles off on trips on its behalf the money should come from Foreign Office funds and not be loaded on to the Royal Family’s account.

Hapless Charles comes in for enough stick as it is, much deservedly so, but beating him with a bat when he is representing Britain simply isn’t cricket.

A SWEET CLIMAX

2011-06-26T13:37:00.000+02:00

Each Saturday when I buy La Opinión de Málaga I receive a free copy of Interviú.

It is an interesting magazine combining hard core porn with hard nosed investigative reporting.

There is a section entitled “Nuevo Periodismo” which gives some of the more bizarre headlines of recent weeks.

One in the latest edition from La Flecha reads: “Una mujer tiene orgasmos cada vez que come dulces.”

Not sure that is headline worthy. I reach a similar state after eating a Crema Catalana. I am sure others enjoy equally sweet experiences!

I knew a woman who caught a bus each day after work in London’s Victoria to the Old Kent Road. She insisted she always experienced orgasms en route. Whether it was the throb of the diesel engine, the bumps in the road or a secret device I know not.

However if you have ever travelled on a London bus and seen a person smile it is a rare occurence indeed. Certainly worth a headline whatever the cause!

BLOODY HELL!

2011-06-22T19:27:00.000+02:00

Over a four hour period yesterday evening and into this morning I was in the emergency unit of the local hospital.

Blood was pouring from my mouth like a macabre gargoyle and having been first to the nearest health centre, only to find the two doctors on duty were out on call, I went to the hospital.

As I entered with a bloody towel round my mouth I was immediately ushered in so see a doctor who told me my blood pressure was through the roof and convinced herself that I had said I had a bad heart. I don’t but it is difficult to talk with a mouth full of blood and I nearly had a heart attack when I found out.

Having had two different mouth washes over half an hour the flow of blood began to ease finally halting after around an hour and a half. It started again when I laughed out loud so I refused to speak or smile from there on. I was kept in whilst they did some tests; to make sure the bleeding didn’t restart and so they could check my blood pressure again.

When I was called back in around two in the morning the consulting room floor was covered in blood, not mine, and a person with a mop and bucket arrived to clean up whilst the doctor went through my test results.

They re-did the blood pressure test. I explained my pressure was usually normal but I had been very tense because of the blood and rushing around –convinced I was bleeding to death if the truth were known.

I added I was still rather tense what with a woman being rushed in to give birth, an old woman in a wheel chair crying out in pain, an old man also in a wheelchair as silent as the grave, various women clutching parts of their anatomy, a young man rushed off to trauma, various family members gathering to peer and poke at a loved one - all of whom had at one time or another been gathered around me that night in the emergency waiting room.

I was solemnly told my blood pressure was now just slightly higher than it should be but – normal for a man of my age!

It was as I left I passed a small room in to which had been seemingly crammed all the people who had shared the waiting room of the emergency unit with me. It was a bizarre scene of which Goya would have been proud. I stared in disbelief at them as they stared back at me with blank faces. I decided the time to discuss hallucinations with the doctor had passed and went home to sleep – which I did very well.

However in the morning I couldn’t help wondering over what I had seen.

Bloody hell indeed.

EVERY TIME A WHALE PASSES THROUGH THE STRAIT A BABY DIES

2011-06-17T19:33:00.000+02:00

For over eighteen months I have been writing about the cases of the missing babies that were first announced in La Línea de la Concepción in November 2009 but which have since been reported throughout Spain. Indeed there are now 105 “denuncias” in the Campo de Gibraltar alone.

In La Línea the missing babies were largely all born either in the former municipal hospital or two private clinics in the town. The mothers were told their babies had died shortly after birth but the suspicion of many of these families is their babies were sold or offered up to adoptive families.

The cases in the Campo de Gibraltar have been taken over by the Algeciras prosecutor who in turn has ordered the National Police to investigate. The majority of the reports of the missing babies relate to the 60s and 70s although some extend in to the 1980s.

On Tuesday afternoon the San José cemetery closed its gates after a La Línea judge ordered three of the niches to be opened. At around 17.00, with the judge, a judicial secretary, forensic police and members of the specialised and violent crime squad in attendance, the exhumations started. The parents of the babies involved were only informed hours before the niches were opened and the mobile phones of the cemetery employees were impounded so no photographs could be taken.

The final resting places opened belonged to a baby that allegedly died in 1971 and two who passed away in 1988. In the first case the remains were supposedly buried but seven years later the parents decided to place their son in a niche. It was then the parents discovered the cemetery had not registered their child’s burial and in the place of a certificate for the moving of a tomb they were given one for interment. In the two 1988 cases the remains are in the cemetery but the families believe their own new born babies were sold or offered for adoption.

Now we are approaching the moment of truth in these specific cases. The remains from each tomb were placed in a separate cardboard box. In one tomb there was just dust, in the case of the baby from 1971 some suspicious bones and in the third bone fragments. These will now be analysed by the forensic scientists and if human remains then DNA tested to see if they match with their alleged family members.

Many of the mothers who gave birth and believe their babies were stolen did not have the support of a family around them because they had come to La Línea from another part of Spain looking for work, often in Gibraltar. However the story of Francisco del Valle, whose son supposedly died on July 7 1971, is pitiful to modern day ears.

Their baby died just two hours after it was born. The matron told them what had happened and said they were not to worry as they were young and could have more children. It was then explained to them that every time a whale passed through the Strait of Gibraltar a baby died, and that is what had happened in their case.

Del Valle says because of their ignorance and the epoch in which they then lived – the Franco dictatorship - they said nothing. However he was shocked to find the coffin supposedly bearing the body of his son weighed virtually nothing. Now the DNA of the pieces of bone will be matched with that of his wife and the truth will finally be known.

SPAIN’S CRIPPLING PERSONAL DEBT

2011-06-17T13:22:00.000+02:00

The European Commission has looked at the Spanish economy and suggested higher taxes and more activity to generate jobs but it totally overlooks the private debt built up by businesses and families during the euphoric years between 1996 and 2007.

The economic crisis amongst the banks has closed off the credit lines. Also the foreign investment in to the property market has ceased with the bursting of that market’s bulb.

Without internal demand Spain can only grow by exporting. However to export to Germany which is the leader of European growth this country would have to improve its competitiveness. As Spain cannot devalue its currency the pressure is on to reform structures with the cutting of workers’ rights and the real threat that there will be a regression in the standards of people’s lives.

In to this scene comes the 15-M democracy movement that insists that politics cannot be dictated by the markets. It is calling for “popular sovereignty” and “economic sovereignty” What does it serve to vote if the government is in the hands of the markets and banks, it asks?

According to Professor Emiliano Carluccio: “the debt in the private sector grew greater than in other developed countries” over this period. Now the crisis in Spain is not the public debt.

The level of debt of the central government, the autonomous regions and the town halls is more than 60 per cent of GDP, the wealth that Spain generates each year. Surprisingly this is less than the European average of 80 per cent or the rest of the major European countries.

However whilst the various arms of the State have accumulated debts of 639,767 million euros the debt level amongst Spanish families dwarfs that total. Private debt stands at 886,460 million euros, 38.6 per cent more than all the State debt. (Curiously as I posted this blog Reuters issued an article highlighting the growth in Spain’s public debt but saying nothing of the private total).

To be added to the family debts are those of businesses which come in at 1.2 billion euros more. This means that the debt in private hands is a massive 189 per cent of GDP.

Another problem faced by Spain is the size of its external debt. Japan (200 per cent), Italy (117) and Belgium (101) all have far greater levels of public debt than Spain. However that money is owed to the nation’s nationals whereas in Spain the majority of the debts are international.

In the case of Spain the exterior debt (the majority of it private) is equivalent to 170 per cent of GDP. In hard figures it means that Spain has to pay back to the rest of the world 1.87 billion euros. That is because during the good years Spain was importing two thirds of the financial resources demanded by its businesses and families.

GADAFI OWNS HALF OF SERRANÍA VILLAGE

2011-06-16T17:53:00.000+02:00

The Libyan leader Muamar Gadafi is the owner of half the land in Pujerra and a third of that in Júzcar in the Serranía de Ronda. This has been confirmed by the mayors of both municipalities, Francisco Macías and David Fernández respectively. They say they have no information on the companies involved.

A finca of 7,200 hectares is owned by the Libyan State. In the deeds appear the names of the Libyan Foreign Bank - the Banco Exterior Libio and extends over five municipalities: Benahavís, Estepona, Igualeja, Júzcar and Pujerra.

It is in the latter two municipalities that the Libyan ownership has not been known by the residents or that Gadafi has owned much of their land for many years. Initially these lands were owned by the Unión Resinera Español and later purchased by the Libyan bank.

In the case of Pujerra Gadafi owns some 1,000 hectares although the mayor believes it could be higher as nobody is any too sure who owns what. As the land mass of Pujerra is 2,400 hectares Macias observes the Libyan leader could have around half. The holding runs from La Venta de Tía to Los Baños de la Corcha on the boundary with Benahavís.

Macias says that some years ago directors of the Libyan bank arrived in the village to talk about building 400 luxury homes in the municipality “but they disappeared and since then we have not heard from them.”

A similar situation exists in Júzcar where Libya has acquired 1,384 of the 3,400 hectares in the municipality. Mayor David Fernández says he has been in office for four years and never during that time has there been any contact with the owners. Again the finca runs from La Resinera to the boundary with Benahavís.

In both cases the land acquired by the Libyan bank is principally pine forest and mountainous. At the start of the year a 60 kms long wire fence was placed around the land. However both mayors say the land is used for hunting.

Curiously around seven years ago some land owners in the area were approached by foreign investors who wanted to buy their lands with chestnut plantations for sums far above the market value. All turned the offers down as the lands have been passed from father to sons over generations and the chestnut crop is one of the main sources of income for families in the area.

I have written about Gadafi’s land holding in Benahavís before – the inland municipality where Michelle Obama and her daughter holidayed last summer. I have also highlighted the fact that the Libyan dictator has numerous other investments in Spain including a petroleum company with numerous forecourts and banks.

That oil rich Gadafi and his family should have investments in Spain is hardly surprising. They have them in the USA and throughout Europe. What is a surprise is that the Spanish Government has seemingly done nothing to impound or embargo them.

PEPINOS DE ALMERÍA RULE, OK!

2011-06-08T20:19:00.000+02:00

The 25 deaths in Germany and 2,600 illnesses there and also in other European countries from the E.coli outbreak are tragic. Yet so too are the huge losses suffered by the farming community in Andalucía from Spanish cucumbers being blamed for the E.coli – and then the accusations being withdrawn too late to save the crops or jobs. Now the EU is offering 210 million euros in compensation but it is Germany and not Europeans that should pick up the Spanish bill. Many communities will suffer severe hardship. Around me are farmers and smallholders who grow the crops in their fields and serve them to their families without any ill effects whatsoever. I have never stopped eating their produce and if you have the chance to buy a product produced in Andalucía do. You won’t regret it!

A friend “ML” posted this recently on her Facebook page:

“SE HA DETECTADO EN ESPAÑA SALCHICHAS ALEMANAS INFECTADAS X UNA BACTERIA Q PUEDE CAUSAR LA MUERTE, LA CERVEZA ALEMANA TIENE RASTROS D ORINA HUMANA. LOS SUPERMERCADOS ALEMANES (ER LÍ) ESTÁN LLENOS D RATAS. ¿ACUSAMOS 1º Y NOS DISCULPAMOS DESPUES?.¡¡¡COMO ESTAMOS TAN BIEN OTRO PROBLEMA MÁS A LOS ANDALUCES !!! POR FAVOR YA ESTA BIEN, COPIA ESTO EN TU MURO SI QUIERES Q A LA MERCKEL LE METAN 1 PEPINO X EL JAHR”

SPAIN’S MISSING 285,685 MILLION PESETAS

2011-06-08T16:48:00.000+02:00

Spaniards are holding on to their old pesetas. The Bank of Spain believes that there are 1,717 millions of euros worth of pesetas that have not been changed in to the new currency.

In the old currency that equates to 285,685 million pesetas. Of that total the central bank says 904 million euros are held in notes and 813 million euros in coins.

In April the Bank of Spain changed a million euros or 166 million pesetas in to the new currency. All those transactions were for notes. During 2010 Spaniards changed a total of 3,328 million pesetas for which they received some 20 million euros. The 2010 figures is a nine per cent drop on the previous year when 3,660 million pesetas were handed in.

Now when Spain changed from the peseta to the euro on January 1 1999 all the money in our bank accounts automatically switched. Those of us who had some cash took it to the bank to change but obviously many people didn’t. Indeed it wasn’t till 2002 that the peseta was finally phased out.

Without a doubt I have somewhere some peseta coins which I never bothered to change as does virtually every other household in Spain. This goes to make up a part of the total. Other sums have simply been lost or forgotten about. I remember when I bought an old ruin the builder who was to convert it busily searched through the canes that covered the ceiling as this was apparently a favourite hiding place to conceal notes from house thieves. Other canes no doubt still hold their booty.

However in this time of economic crisis every Spaniard is keen to lay their hands on any cash that is going. Hence the large bulk of the unchanged sums must be “black” money. To change it means admitting you have it to the Bank of Spain and in turn the tax authority. Large amounts will set the alarm bells ringing whilst large amounts that have been sat on for years will have those bells positively jangling. So we can expect the majority of the missing millions of pesetas to remain missing for evermore – unless of course the peseta makes a return should the euro fall.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROCK

2011-06-03T20:20:00.000+02:00

I have been in and around Gibraltar for 20 years so when the Gibraltar Tourist Board recently asked me would I like to go on a tour to see some sides of the Rock perhaps I wasn’t aware of, what was my reaction?

For the answer to that question you have to go 1,000 miles north to my native London. As a child I walked every part of the city, West End, Westminster – you name it, I went there. Yet if you speak to the average Londoner whilst they rattle off the names of all the historic sites and attractions, they will then look guilty and say: “actually I have never been to the Tower of London”. Hence my immediate response to the GTB’s kind offer was an enthusiastic yes!

There are numerous ways to arrive on the Rock but probably the three main groups who visit Gibraltar are: tourists from the Costa del Sol who come by coach on a day trip; residents or holidaymakers who come by car and those who fly in and stay at one of the Rock’s hotels.

If you ask the majority of them what did they see their answer will be the airport because you have to cross the runway to get in or out, Main Street plus Casemates Square, the Cathedrals, the Trafalgar Museum, many will have done the Rock tour and seen the various tunnels dating from the years of siege and World War II, been out in the bay to see the dolphins plus of course visited Gibraltar’s famous apes or rather macaques.

I have done all these things numerous times myself often in the company of visiting friends and family. I have also been round the back streets and harbours but I didn’t realise until Gail took me on the tour the numerous places I have missed or was simply not aware of.

Gail is a former Miss Gibraltar and also a very fine artist yet at heart she is a Gibraltarian with a great pride in her Rock; the fact she works for the tourist board is almost incidental. I have yet to meet a Gibraltarian who wasn’t an ambassador for the Rock. We drove around for nearly four hours so what I saw would fill a book rather than an article. Here I will list just some highlights.

Devil’s Tower Road is not the most glamorous place on the Rock. It is an industrial zone which is now being beautified which may mean that in years to come the cave behind the buildings will become more accessible. It was here in 1848 at Forbes’ Quay they discovered the ancient skull of a woman. Eight years later in Germany they discovered an identical skull from the same period. That is now universally known as Neanderthal man but the world should really be talking about Gibraltar woman.

A non-Gibraltarian would never think of Gibraltar as a beach destination. It is a giant rock with harbours and the odd patch of sand over by the Caleta Hotel. The reality is very different with a splendid Eastern Beach but many others hidden away. Actually they are simple to find – you ask the tourist office.

When you used to drive along the eastern side of the Rock you passed an engineering marvel. The catchments literally caught the rain and it ran down the huge corrugated sheets into reservoirs in the Rock. Now they have gone but what is left is even more extraordinary. Once when the Med was land locked it was a desert and the winds blew the sand against the Rock face. The result was a huge sand dune now many millions of years old but which remains intact and newly planted with native species. Incidentally the Rock of Gibraltar is Jurassic limestone dating back some 200 million years but what you see is inverted because in the seismic activity it was turned upside down before the Atlantic roared in and created the Mediterranean.

Everybody knows that Gibraltar is British having been ceded by Spain in perpetuity by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Prior to it being under Spanish rule it became part of the Muslim empire in the seventh century – its name Gibraltar coming from the Arabic Jebel Tarik – Tarik’s Rock. It was named after the Berber chief Tarik Ibn Zeyad who took if for the Moors. So logically there is British Colonial, Spanish and Moorish architecture to be seen. However apart from the Greeks, Visigoths, Phoenicians and Romans all passing through the modern day people of Gibraltar also come from Genoa, Malta, Portugal and numerous other places and that influence can be seen in the houses and buildings of the Rock, especially those in the myriad of side streets.

Queensway Quay has long been popular with tourists but there are now many other marinas in Gibraltar. Perhaps the pride of place goes to Ocean View with its stunning development of top of the market apartments which hide the harbour. Apart from a 24-hour casino it is packed with bars and restaurants on pontoons – some with live music. It is the first port of call for Gibraltarians on a Friday night. The weekend starts here.

I think for me the highlight of the visit was the new King’s Bastion Leisure Centre. The King’s Bastion is a key part of Gibraltar’s heritage because it was from here that the Spanish siege was finally defeated. So expect an old fort inside the thick stone walls of which are displays of its historic past. However in the centre is a totally new glass building with a bowling alley, cinemas, ice rink, gym, kids and adults disco, a restaurant, snack bar, pool tables, internet centre plus much more. Security is a top priority so Gibraltar’s youngsters (and young at heart) can relax and enjoy themselves in complete safety.

I have merely scratched the surface of the Rock here because there is much more to see and do. However whether you spend a day on the Rock or visit for longer please do contact the Gibraltar Tourist Board. Their main office is in Casemates Square but there are others at the border, cruise terminal, coach park and so on. If you don’t you’ll still see the Rock but you’ll miss out on so much of the Gibraltar experience. Like the ghost of the nun at the Governor’s official residence – The Convent. Ask the tourist office, they’ll tell you all about her tragic story.

Gibraltar Tourist Board

(The pictures of the Gibraltar aerial view and the King’s Bastion are the copyright of Gail Francis Tiron. To see more of her work visit her website at www.gailfrancistiron.com)

HE DIED LEANING AGAINST THE WALL

2011-06-02T10:49:00.000+02:00

I have written a number of articles about the desperate plight of the homeless in La Línea. The town hall is bankrupt and cannot pay its workers on time so what hope is there for those with nothing?

I have also written about Mary Finlay who lives in San Roque. She was so moved by the appalling situation in the border town that each Wednesday she and a team take hot drinks, food and clothing to these people sheltered in doorways, the old bunkers and abandoned buildings.

When I first wrote about her work and gave her contact details in various local publications a number of readers contacted Mary to offer their help. No real surprise there because that is what by nature good people do.

This weekend the tragic news of the death of Galeote reached me. He was one of the homeless of La Línea who died leaning against a wall outside the day centre in broad daylight.

Mary told me: “Poor man he was the first that we ever came across the first night we started, so pleasant, eloquent, and extremely grateful for contact.

After a few weeks he said that he had decided to try and gain admittance to a centre because not only was he crippled with arthritis after so many winters out of doors he felt completely isolated from people and was in need of that warmth which we hopefully were showing him. He was taking tablets prescribed by the doctor to stop drinking to enable him to gain admittance.

“A few weeks ago he had to be taken by the volunteers to the emergency department of La Línea hospital because he looked as if he was dying of pneumonia, he had a few days respite and then was put out on the street again, swigging back medicine for his cough but he was never well again; apparently it wasn’t pneumonia but the effects of very heavy heroin addiction.

“On Wednesday, he was standing outside the day centre and after asking after him, he told one of the centre’s users that he didn't feel well, but not to call an ambulance, next thing she knew a lot of foamy saliva was coming out of his mouth. She rushed in to say that poor Galeote was dying but they thought it was the effect of tablets and nothing to worry about. But that was how it happened, he was actually standing leaning against the wall when he died.”

Mary went on to add: “A few weeks ago he completely shaved his head and beard off, I think he knew he wasn’t going to be around much longer.”

My final word goes to Por Un Mundo Más Justo who sent me an email detailing much of the same story. He touchingly writes: “Espero y creo firmemente que nuestro amigo Galeote ha pasado de ser de un P.S.H (Persona Sin Hogar) a un A.C.H (Ángel Con Hogar).”

Amen to that.

(Photograph shows one of La Línea’s WWII bunkers where the homeless shelter)

A WHOLE NEW MEANING TO SOCCER VIOLENCE

2011-05-30T19:35:00.000+02:00

Violence flared in the plaza de Cataluña in Barcelona in the early hours of Friday morning as riot police moved in to clear the city’s major square of “los indignados” who since May 15 have been protesting against political corruption in Spain and calling for major changes to Spanish society.

The reason for the confrontations in which 120 people were injured was not political but soccer related. On Saturday night Barcelona played Manchester United in the European Champions League final at Wembley and the plaza had to be cleared so that giant TV screens could be erected for the crowds to watch the game. The ensuing battle between baton wielding police and the peaceful demonstrators gave a whole new meaning to soccer violence.

At the time the police moved in around 200 people were sleeping in the plaza as they have been for the previous two weeks. Soon another 1,000 protestors came to the square to attempt to prevent the officers from removing the protestors. The authorities said they just wanted to clean the square ahead of preparing it for the soccer match after which “los indignados” were welcome to return. Return they did for by mid-after over 9,000 people were said to be in the plaza. Now Jueces para la Democracía has called for an investigation to hold to account those officers of the Mossos d´Escuadra and the Guardia Urbana who attacked the protestors.

Meanwhile in Madrid the Movimiento 15-M who have occupied the Puerta del Sol said on Sunday they are to maintain their camp but it will undergo some restructuring. They announced the decision after the centre right Partido Popular ruled Comunidad de Madrid called on the Ministry of the Interior to remove the protestors as they were infringing the State of Law and had prevented the free movement of people. Curiously the PP had raised no objections to the protests in the run up to the recent elections in which they gave the ruling PSOE a bloody nose!

It is expected the protest zone will be reduced in size so as not to inconvenience local residents and businesses. However the assemblies in Málaga, Sevilla, Bilbao, Barcelona and Valencia have vowed to carry on whilst others such as in Toledo have opted to dismantle theirs.

EAT AND WORK, EAT AND PLAY, EAT AND BE ENTERTAINED

2011-05-25T18:28:00.000+02:00

The international chains serving fast food appear to be bucking the trend in Spain’s catering sector brought about by the economic crisis. Whilst restaurant and bar owners along with their employees are suffering from the downturn the fast food businesses are seeing constant growth. Indeed turnover grew by five per cent last year to 2.600 million euros.

The big battle is between Burger King and McDonald’s who between them account for 97 per cent of the hamburger market. That battle is pretty evenly matched with not just the quantity of food taken in to account but also the number of outlets.

Andalucía is the second autonomous region after Madrid with the largest number of fast food outlets. Overall there are 177 of these restaurants but Burger King rules with 98 compared with McDonald’s 71.

The dominance of Burger King is also seen in Málaga province. Burger King has 35 outlets mostly located in the major commercial centres. In contrast McDonald’s has 20 spread amongst the holiday resort towns of the Costa del Sol.

It is not just the international names and the power of their advertising that has allowed these chains to prosper in hard economic times. Both sell known products at keen prices in comfortable and a familiar environment.

Indeed in 2010 McDonald’s invested 14 million euros in giving a facelift to its 88 stores introducing a new colour scheme and furnishings. Burger King has responded with a futuristic 20/20 design and divided its restaurants in to Whopper Bar and BK Dessert Bar zones.

Each chain is also working to win customers with added attractions. For example Burger King has now added children’s play areas to most of its restaurants. In contrast McDonald’s is offering free Wi-Fi to its customers. Eat and work, eat and play, eat and be entertained is the order of the day.

The overall figures for the fast food business in Spain make interesting reading. There are 3,940 such establishments which is a 2.2per cent increase on 2009 with the total market worth 2,610 million euros. Of that Burger King, McDonald’s and other hamburger chains account for 1,300 million euros, a rise of 4.8 per cent.

Down by slightly more (4.9 percent) are pizza sales at 540 million euros, bocadillerías account for 455 million euros (up 3.4) and others such as tacos and hot dogs bring in 315 million euros, a rise of 3.3per cent. Of the total 2,610 million euros turnover, 2,285 million (up 3.4 percent) is through counter sales whilst home delivery stands at 325 million, a drop of 5.2 per cent.

PUBLIC DOCTORS AND PRIVATE COMFORT

2011-05-23T14:14:00.000+02:00

I was curious to read the findings of a survey as to how the people of Andalucía view their public and private health services. Four out of ten people with private insurance would still opt to go to a SAS public hospital if they had a serious illness because they prefer to be treated by doctors and nurses in the health service. In contrast three out of ten of those with insurance would opt for a private hospital or clinic.

The results come from a study carried out by the Asociación de Empresas Sanitarias de Prestación Asistencial de Andalucía (Aespaa) with a grant from the Andalucía ministry of health. It was carried out amongst 925 users of the Aliad private health service in 17 private centres in Málaga, Sevilla, Almería, Granada, Córdoba and Granada.

Of the patients questioned 45.9 per cent use the private health service more frequently than the public, 37.8 per cent opt for public whilst 14.6 per cent use both equally.

However if the patients were faced with a serious illness then 41.5 per cent would go to the public hospital, 31.1 per cent to the private whereas 22.1 per cent were undecided which they’d use.

Aespaa says the findings show that the majority of insured users of the health system would switch between one and the other. However when it came to choosing one over the other in cases of serious illness there was a higher confidence in the medical staff and facilities of the health service.

In contrast the comforts of the private hospitals and clinics were more highly valued than the often shared hospital rooms of the public sector. On this point alone 85.6 per cent would opt for private treatment both on the comfort factor and the speed with which they would be seen.

The most loyal users of the health service in Andalucía according to the survey are to be found in Cádiz province where less than 5 per cent would go private. This is at complete odds with other provinces where the figure is between 55 and 65 per cent. Bucking the trend in the opposite direction is Málaga province where 71 per cent would opt for private treatment over the SAS.

In 2006 I was both registered with the health service and had private insurance. When I was taken in to hospital in an emergency it was to the SAS hospital in La Línea. I was more than happy with the care and treatment I received from the health service specialists and nursing staff both during my stay and subsequent after care. However after five days in a shared room, during which time my mobile phone was stolen, I did consider using my insurance to switch to a private hospital although in the event I was released so it did not become an issue.

In 2003 my then partner was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She had private insurance but had both health service and private treatment. Her insurance company is part of a UK group but whilst it covered hospitals, doctors, cancer specialists, radiotherapy and chemotherapy there were some expensive oddities. For instance the insurance covered her chemo but not connecting it to her arm that she had to pay for herself. To connect her to the chemo could cost between 50 and 150 euros per session depending on what was required. In her case it was 75 euros, or at least 300 euros a month. If the SAS hospital prescribed her medicine it was with a prescription, hence the morphine came free. Yet during her last chemo session the clinic gave me a prescription for a series of injections the cost of which was 400 euros for just five days supply.

For my part I have cancelled my private insurance and opted to go with the health service which has served me well. One key reason is that if I have private insurance, whilst I could enjoy more comfortable care, I could equally be caught in the trap of having to find huge amounts of cash for drugs or say a chemo link at a time when I could least afford it. Now more and more health service hospitals are being built with single rooms for patients the comfort issue should also be less of a concern.

However I am gratified to see Andalucía’s health service doctors and nurses so highly rated by those with private insurance – they certainly have never let me down.

FIT TO BE KING

2011-05-17T18:56:00.000+02:00

As fears over the state of health of the Spanish monarch, King Juan Carlos, continue to hit the headlines the Spanish people have indicated their support for his son and his suitability to inherit the crown.

In a survey 79 per cent said they think the Príncipe de Asturias has the support and social legitimacy to succeed the king and 86 per cent, including 71 per cent of Izquierda Unida voters, say he will be prepared to eventually take on the functions of the head of state. The IU traditionally supports a republic rather than a monarchy.

The survey ‘Pulso de España 2010” was carried out by the Fundación José Ortega y Gassat and Gregorio Marañon. It also showed that 69 per cent of those who voted IU at the last general election back the prince as the legitimate heir to his father.

The report was drawn up between September 24 and November 5 of last year with 5,000 people questioned. It showed that the majority of Spaniards preferred a parliamentary monarch as the best system of government for the country. However support for this is on the decline with over a two year period support dropping from 72 to 57 per cent whilst those supporting a republic have grown from 11 to 35 per cent.

By age group 78 per cent of those below 35 years supports the view Prince Felipe should be king, those over 55 give him 74 per cent support but it is the 35 to 54 age group that boosts his standing with 83 per cent.

On a scale of 10 an average of 6.7 approve of how Prince Felipe performs his role. That rises to 7.3 amongst Partido Popular voters, dips to 6.8 for supporters of PSOE and collapses to 4.9 amongst the far left of Izquierda Unida.

On two key questions the support from PSOE and PP voters is very close. Asked if he has the social support to be king PSOE support is 83 per cent with the PP on 79 and asked if he is adequately prepared for the job of head of state 89 per cent of PSOE voters say yes to 88 in the PP.

Should Spain be a republic rather than a monarchy? Those who voted IU in 2008 back a republic with 81 per cent, but that slips to 40 per cent amongst socialists and just 15 per cent of the centre right PP.

King Juan Carlos has ruled over Spain for 35 years and 7.3 of his fellow country folk say he has done a good job. That number rises to 7.5 amongst PSOE voters, jumps again to 7.8 for the PP but slips to 5.5 for the IU.

Finally 74 per cent of those questioned think the monarchy is firmly consolidated in the country, 56 per cent consider it has brought stability and serenity to public life but 65 per cent say whilst it has been useful in overseeing the transition to democracy its importance is gradually declining.

It would be interesting to know how the people of Britain view Prince Charles’ readiness to inherit the crown or whether his future “subjects” believe it should skip a generation and pass to his son. In this modern age do Britons want a fuddy duddy as monarch or would they prefer William and Kate? Prince Felipe faces no such challenge as he is comparatively young and his daughter has some years to go before she would be of age to become Queen.

WILLIAM AND KATE JET OFF ON HONEYMOON

2011-05-10T15:15:00.000+02:00

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, or William and Kate to the British public, have jetted off on their delayed honeymoon.

It is understood Clarence House was informed the luxury and private property in Abbottabad had now been vacated by the previous tenant. It took several days for the house to be cleared up but all was now ready.

William and Kate are keen to protect their privacy especially during their honeymoon. The owner of the house stressed the Pakistani Government had been unaware of the previous tenant’s tenure and the US Government had searched high and low for him for years without success. The royal couple will be perfectly safe.

Rumours that William (who is an RAF pilot) will fly Kate to and from the house in its walled compound by helicopter have been denied.

HIGH EARNER IN CHEAP SANDALS

2011-05-10T11:42:00.000+02:00

If you were asked to guess who is the highest paid politician in Spain the chances are you would have answered – the prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. However you would have been very wrong indeed.

The top earner is María Dolores de Cospedal and she is not even a member of the ruling socialist party. Yet according to her tax return she earned 223,598 euros in 2010, which is seven per cent less than the year before when she banked over 240,000 euros.

Her declaration means she earns three times as much as Zapatero – the premier only has his 78,184 euros official salary to live off. Cospedal’s tax return was published in the Diario Oficial de Castilla – La Mancha where she occupies a seat, is secretary general of the opposition Partido Popular and is bidding to be president of her home region.

In 2009 when she earned 240,737 euros her three main sources of income were from the Senate, the PP and her three year period with the State lawyer’s office.

However whilst Cospedal is a glamorous high earner she is seemingly a frugal spender. On the day the election campaign was launched last week in Castilla – La Mancha she was seen at a small market at Villanueva de los Infantes buying for herself a five euros pair of sandals.

Obviously a sure footed politician!

OPEN THE MISSING BABIES’ TOMBS

2011-05-03T17:50:00.000+02:00

As according to the Gospels Christ’s tomb was found open on Easter Sunday so the timing of the families who babies were allegedly stolen at birth in demanding just before Easter to have their niches opened is spot on.

For over a year I have written about the missing babies first from La Línea but then throughout Cádiz province and wider Spain. Their parents fear they were taken from them at birth and handed over to an adopted family.

The cases largely date from the 1960s and 1970s and the initial reports centred on La Línea’s former municipal hospital and two nursing homes. At least one of these babies, now a grown man, has links to Gibraltar.

Whilst the cases in La Línea were quickly taken up by the Algeciras prosecutor and handed over to the National Police for investigation the Cádiz prosecutor has been slower to act. The majority of cases in the provincial capital relate to the Zamacola nursing home which stood on the site of the present Punta Europa Hospital.

Anadir, the association that represents many of the families who fear their babies or brothers and sisters were stolen for adoption, has collected over 2,000 signatures to demand that the Cádiz investigation is speeded up. After a meeting of 300 members in Chiclana a protest has been called for May 4 when its delegate in Andalucía, Chary Herrera, will meet the Cádiz prosecutor to make two demands.

The first and most fundamental is that an order be issued to open the niches that are supposed to contain the remains of the babies that died in Cádiz hospitals. The majority from the Zamacola are interred at the San José de Cádiz cemetery.

Of course this is not possible for all the families. When Cristina Díaz Carrasco first hit the Spanish national headlines over the alleged death at birth of her brother in La Línea’s hospital in 1967 it was discovered there was no record of his birth, death or interment and his supposed grave had disappeared. When a family in Algeciras opened the niche of their baby son who is said to have died in La Línea hospital after the family were involved in a car crash it was found to contain just a t-shirt. To open a grave at any time is a traumatic experience for those involved - for the grieving families it could be very traumatic indeed.

Anadir also wants the prosecutor to establish a free DNA bank in the province so that the remains found can be tested against surviving family members. Whilst some tombs could be empty it is suspected that in some cases the healthy baby was substituted for another that died and given to that family, probably purchased. In that case the tombs could contain the remains of the baby from the adoptive family.

If the Cádiz prosecutor agrees to these demands then the province will become the pioneer and this example will almost certainly be followed throughout Andalucía. In Sevilla, Granada and Huelva there are other cases coming to light and there too signatures are being collected for action.

The number of suspected cases in La Línea and wider Cádiz now is in the region of 300 although those that have been formulated in to official reports stand at about half of this total.

THE DORKS OF YORK

2011-05-02T13:54:00.000+02:00

When God handed out the beauty gene many of us were in the other room.

I certainly count myself in that group.

However we accepted our limitations and learnt how to make the best of what we have.

Some of us have aged gracefully and others such as me, less so.

Which brings me to the Dorks of York.

When I logged on to Yahoo the day after the Royal Wedding I was greeted by a fright!

It was Princess Eugenie and Beatrice with their father the Duke of York.

Sadly at best the princesses look like their dad in a dress. Drag artists.

At the Royal Wedding – well I was simply lost for words. A right royal mess. Fame and fortune does not bring with it good taste.

The Dorks of York.

BROWNED OFF: AS OTHERS SEE US

2011-04-27T10:17:00.000+02:00

As I recently scanned the Spanish ‘Voto en Blanco’ blog I was curious to find that “Mr Gordon Brown” was one of its subjects. British voters have their own views of the man who was their premier till just a year ago. So I was interested to see how, ‘Ligur’, who penned this piece viewed him from afar.

In an article entitled “Large armchairs for great failures” ‘Ligur’described Gordon thus – “the ex English premier, has passed into history as a true disaster, with actions and omissions of the colour blind or an individual with crossed laterality. Consequences: slowness and stubbornness amongst others.

“He neither saw the crisis nor were his measures immediate, which caused a meltdown of English banking, which hastily passed into the hands of the State in frightening proportions. The State remains the owner of much of the English major banks, who were not purchased by nor have the participation of Spain’s Santander. In the first elections they gave him his settlement. He went correctly but politicians rarely assume their failures and they go home to hope that an editor will commission their memoirs.”

After dwelling on the future for the next 100 years being in Africa ‘Ligur’ goes on to address the IMF where Brown has been touted as a possible president causing much heated debate in the UK.

‘Ligur’ is of the view that the political class in general and especially in Brussels receive “the surreal and corrupt” because its politicians and senior officials are supported including placing “the surplus failed and burned out” in well-paid jobs at international level.

He continues: “Mr. David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, has spoken clearly about his predecessor stating “he is not the appropriate person to lead the IMF since he never admitted the UK had a debt problem”. Fortunately, for Mr Brown to receive that post, which reported has a salary of 270,000 pounds (350,000 Euros) a year, the British Government would have to nominate him which clearly the coalition has no intention of doing.

‘Ligur’ then addresses his fellow Spaniards: “It is not that the antics and intrigues of the House of Commons that waken me from this dream but it is the similarities… Because his (Brown’s) Spanish counterpart Zapatero has more or less the same merits.” He believes a retired Zapatero, who leaves office next March, could be bound for the World Bank. So, asks ‘Ligur’, if the opposition Partido Popular leader, Mariano Rajoy, replaces him after the 2012 elections will he back Zapatero’s appointment?

Brown and Zapatero are both failed premiers. Their respective socialist parties are more popular than they. Some might argue the IMF and World Bank deserves them. The question is, do we?

IT IS THE BLOODY BUSINESS...

2011-04-25T19:17:00.000+02:00

Kyrgyzstan’s parliament wanted to exorcise evil spirits from the chamber after a string of violent incidents.

Earlier this month politicians arranged an armed show down in a row over corruption. Ten handguns and an AK47 were seized by police in the building.

So what did they do to stop the bloody violence that included the ousting of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev last year?

They ritually slaughtered seven sheep in the parliament building.

Bloody hell!

(It is the bloody business that informs – Shakespeare’s Macbeth)

LAS REVELACIONES DE ONAKRA, EL ESCRIBA DE DIOS

2011-04-19T19:23:00.000+02:00

Being Easter week perhaps it is appropriate that I turn for a while to the words of God. Well actually the words are those of my esteemed colleague Francisco Rubiales Moreno – who is certainly closer to God than me.

Regular readers of my blog will know that from time to time I have featured threads of thoughts from his excellent Voto En Blanco website – see banner at side for the link – and very recently he laid the basis for a trilogy of articles I wrote on political corruption in Spain compared with Gibraltar.

Apart from having spent many years as an international correspondent for the Efe news agency, advised the UN and held the post in charge of communications for Expo 92 in Sevilla Francisco has also previously published three books Democracia Secuestrada; Políticos, los Nuevos Amos y Periodistas Sometidos, los perros del poder.

His new book – Las Revelaciones de Onakra, el escriba de Dios – is a marked change for this previous volumes which were essays on political thought.

I am told because I am yet to read it that this book is an original narrative, inspired by an ancient Italian manuscript, containing mysterious revelations about the arrival of the first angels on earth, their relationships with living species on the planet, the origins of human intelligence and the beginning of the death struggle between good and evil that will dominate the human existence, from the beginning until the end of time.

Within the pages you will find the secret of human history is the fight against evil and man is not anything other than an ally of God in this crucial battle. Although the book is not a political essay, it contains convincing and evocative impetus on the fight against the unjust, a shocking condemnation of oppression and an epic hymn to freedom, which, together with life, is the great gift of God to man, the only created species possessing freedom fully.

After its launch the book was the most sold on Bubok. If I have wetted your appetite then read it for yourself – you can order signed copies on the Voto en Blanco website.

GADDAFI’S SPANISH EMPIRE REMAINS INTACT

2011-04-19T11:10:00.000+02:00

It is well over a month since the UN passed the resolution freezing all the assets of Gaddafi and the Libyan regime around the world. Spain initially backed the NATO action but last week made it clear it would not increase its military activity regarding the no-fly zone. Now it has also emerged that apart from putting administrators in to Aresbank the financial interests of Gaddafi and his family remain untouched in Spain.

It was on February 26 that the UN Security Council passed resolution 1970 under which all the assets of Gaddafi, his wife and four sons were to be frozen wherever in the world they may be. On March 17 there was a further resolution which extended the freeze to seven senior military officers and members of the secret service. The only exception was they could access money for their legal defence should they be brought to trial.

Amongst the entities named by the UN was the Libyan Foreign Bank which was founded in 1972 and is deemed to be under the control of Gaddafi, his family and was a potential major source of funds for the regime. This bank came under the Central Bank of Libya, also named by the UN. It is in the name of the Libyan Foreign Bank that in 1995 the four parcels of land known as La Resinera in Benahavís were registered. On these lands Gaddafi intends to construct 2,000 homes. The finca covers 70 million square metres between Benahavís, Júcar and Pujera and should have been embargoed if the UN’s orders had been followed.

Both the UN and EU have issued directives that Gaddafi’s assets should be blocked. However the lands of La Resinera have no charges or other matters registered against them. The Spanish Government insists that therefore only a court can embargo them hence the Fiscalía General del Estado would have to apply to the Audiencia Nacional to freeze the lands to comply with the UN resolution.

Clearly, for whatever reason, Spain has no wish to do this and a game of buck passing is in progress with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs instating it is a matter for Hacienda, the Interior Ministry and the Bank of Spain. The Bank of Spain says it is not its responsibility to block or investigate Gaddafi’s funds and the Ministry of Justice points the finger back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The sole action taken was on March 16 when the Ministry of the Economy appointed three judicial administrators to Aresbank – the only Spanish bank controlled by the Libyan regime. Indeed the Libyan Foreign Bank has a 99.86 controlling interest and with the administrators Aresbank can function normally within the restrictions imposed by the EU. Apart from the land in Benahavís the Libyan banks through Spain also control other interests including a hotel in Panama.

Another familiar name to those on the roads of Andalucía, Cataluña and the Comunidad Valenciana is Tamoil. This network of 35 petrol stations was formed in 1991 and employs around 100 people in Spain. Its HQ is in Barcelona; it turns over around 200 million euros a year and is a subsidiary of Tamoil in Italy where it has 2,000 service stations and a refinery. It in turn is the commercial arm of Oilinvest based in Holland which was created in the 1980s with 450 million euros of capital. It appears the National Oil Corporation, Libya’s main petroleum company, controls 35 per cent of this group. The UN says these businesses are under the control of Gaddafi but no action has been taken against them.

However the financial fingers of Gaddafi spread right around the world. Libyan funds make up 26 per cent of the British Arab Commercial Bank which amongst its other interests is involved with the Financial Times and Juventus football club in Turin in Italy. Over 500 million US dollars are said to be tied up in US banks, Gaddafi controls Canadian Verenix Oil, has interests in the Belgian-German bank Fortis, in Italy has 2.6 per cent of Unicredit and 2 per cent of Finmeccanica – that country’s major arms manufacturer.

3D PORN: IN YOUR FACE

2011-04-16T19:23:00.000+02:00

I am not a great cinema goer but I have been to see a few recent 3D movies.

Apart from the inconvenience of having to wear a pair of glasses for the duration I must admit it does bring the action right in to your face.

That might be all well and good for Gulliver’s Travels but do you want the body parts shown in an erotic movie poking your eye out. I think not!

In Hong Kong they have just premiered the first 3B erotic movie.

“3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy” is in Cantonese but since when have viewers of such films listened to the words. It cost nearly four million US dollars to make by a company called One Dollar Production –obviously not.

By all accounts the film is based on a Chinese erotic book from the XVII century. The 3D effect means the actors and actresses are just centimetres away from you. Could be far too close for comfort.

Apparently the majority of viewers have been women – a marked change from the dirty raincoat brigade associated with Britain’s cheap porno cinemas.

One of the film goers said: “I want to see how they produced porno in 3D on a giant screen.”

The erotic film is attracting a lot of interest and could well be heading this way.

I think I will give it a miss.

The thought of sweaty body parts poking about in my popcorn is not my idea of a good night out.

CEUTA & MELILLA: AL QAEDA WARNS OF EASTER ATTACKS

2011-04-12T16:26:00.000+02:00

There is much consternation amongst the operatives of the Spanish intelligence services as they study a message from Atahadi – an Al Qaeda linked group.

It warns of terror attacks on both Ceuta and Melilla next week – Semana Santa – when Easter processions traditionally take to the streets of Spain’s North African enclaves.

The message is addressed to Muslims living in Ceuta and Melilla and tells them the attacks will be launched in markets and other popular gathering areas. Of course whilst the processions are taking place thousands of people are on the streets participating or watching the spectacle. Atahadi no doubt considers these to be a Christian affront on Islamic soil.

There are several elements to the message that concern the intelligence officers. Al Qaeda and Atahadi messages are usually in Arabic but this one has been posted in Spanish. Why the change and who wrote it for them?

In addition both Spain and Morocco want to know is the threat a device to stir up divisions between both nations over the enclaves – which Morocco claims – or are they a real threat, perhaps both?

Al Qaeda includes in its message allegations that the Moroccan and Spanish secret services have been working together with the objective of promoting a Jewish – Moroccan agenda. In response both Spain and Morocco have accused these Islamic activists of trying to destabilise relations between the two countries.

Back in November I wrote about the potential of Al Qaeda infiltrating and working with the Frente Polisario in the Western Sahara. The then view of a number of think tanks and experts in both the USA and France was this was a possibility, which if it happened would be a drastic and dangerous change in the Maghreb.

At the time Al Qaeda was not a major force in the Maghreb. Its activities were confined to areas of Mali and Mauritania where it has staged a number of kidnappings – perhaps because it is short of funds. Naturally if it were to team up with an armed force such at the Frente Polisario that limited influence would be greatly increased.

However whilst Al Qaeda is still on the sidelines it has been gaining in influence in the Maghreb in recent weeks. Al Qaeda or those sympathetic to it seem to be playing some part in the rebels fight in Libya. In addition it has been reported that Morocco has withdraw troops from the Western Sahara to bolster security at home due to the pro-democracy protests. If that is the case then Al Qaeda could certainly have slipped in to the region.

Morocco takes a very tough stance on Al Qaeda related groups so it is doubtful Atahadi could stage a major attack in Ceuta and Melilla where the Guardia Civil and National Police will also be on a high state of alert. Yet it is also possible so it will be an anxious Easter week for both communities.

Even if the threats prove to be a hoax Atahadi knows it has Spain’s intelligence service worried that it has at least one operative who writes fluent Spanish; it has achieved its objective of creating mistrust in the Christian and Muslim communities and it’s actions will be supported by those Moroccans who want a more active campaign to remove Spain from its enclaves.

DEMENTED PROSPERO, BLOGS & iPHONES

2011-04-08T20:02:00.000+02:00

Regular readers of this blog will know that every week I meet with Prospero to chew the cud over breakfast. Being busy journalists (stop sniggering) the day is never exact but meet we do.

On our last encounter no sooner had I sat down at the table than Prospero entered the bar and pointing at me accusingly shouted – “You’ve changed!”

Now true Prospero is a cantankerous old sod at the best of times and that day obviously wasn’t one of them. He is older than me but sadly no wiser. So what had incurred his ire?

Well before I could find out he wavered his finger at me in what I have to say was an aggressive manner – probably his Argentinean blood – and yelled at me again “You’ve bloody changed!”

Being a reasonable soul I kept my cool and quickly ran through the things I may have changed in my life. My sex – hardly. My style – what style? My hair – difficult. My religion – no I’m still confused. My politics – even more so. My socks – don’t go there!

Eventually when I had calmed him down and laid a breakfast before him between chomping on his mollete con jamón y tomate washed down with gulps of coffee – he said yet again – now almost in tears – “You’ve bloody changed!”

As he wept on my shoulder he revealed the reason for his agitation was that I have changed the style of this blog page. I explained that indeed I had because I had received not complaints rather suggestions from users of iPhones that the white reversed out of black was difficult to read.

This confused the old fart even more. First he refused to believe I have any readers (on that he is probably right) and secondly – what’s an iPhone?

I ordered him another coffee.

OH BALLS, YVETTE! NOT OLD NICK!

2011-04-08T17:45:00.000+02:00

I have been doing some research into Laura Norder.

I thought it would be interesting to find out the Labour Party’s thinking on certain issues and as Yvette Cooper is the Shadow Home Secretary I Googled her name.

Her own website came up which told me nothing I didn’t know already.

So I checked out Facebook and found Fans of Yvette Cooper.

Well the page looks official enough. It has her biog and a link to her own website. However it appears poor Yvette has only three friends.

Now don’t get me wrong it is not the number I refer to. Many of us would be happy to have three friends. For a politician I would imagine such a high number is a rarity.

No my only issue with Yvette is the company she keeps. As you probably know Yvette Cooper is also Mrs Balls – easy to see why she kept her maiden name. Husband is Shadow Chancellor Ed – recently described by the prime minister as the most annoying man in the House of Commons. When you consider what riff-raff reside there that’s no mean achievement.

So I accept that Mrs Balls might find friends hard to come by – but is Nick Griffin really one of her three friends?

Nick Griffin is I am sure you know the leader of the odious BNP – Britain’s far right gang.

Click on Nick’s ‘Activities and Interests’ on his Facebook page and you find listed: Gordon Brown, Labour Party, The Labour Party, Kerry McCarthy MP Twitter Tsar, Ed Balls, Ed Balls, Peter Mandelson. Curiously Yvette’s husband features twice so she is in good company.

How does that old saying go – a person is known by the company he or she keeps.

Indeed! I think its time Yvette reviewed her Facebook friends. Remove Old Nick and you might even get a few more!

ZAPATERO WILL NOT STAND AGAIN

2011-04-05T16:24:00.000+02:00

Whatever happens at the next Spanish general election in March 2012 the country will find itself led by a new prime minister. On Saturday José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announced at a PSOE conference that he would not be a candidate at the polls.

The move was widely anticipated and so Zapatero draws a close on what will be his two terms as premier. The next prime minister could be Mariano Rajoy whose Partido Popular currently lead in the polls. Who will lead PSOE has yet to be decided.

Although the PP is riding high in the polls, largely because of the financial crisis, Rajoy will be a nervous man. He took over the leadership of the party from outgoing premier José María Aznar in 2004 and seemed favourite to win until the March 11 bombs in Madrid and the anger over the Iraq War railroaded his campaign. H was defeated at the polls just three days later.

Now PSOE will look for a new leader who will probably close the gap on the PP. The problem for Rajoy is he is not popular in the country and various polls have shown that even Zapatero was more liked on a personal basis. So could Rajoy and his party be robbed of the crown yet again?

The process to decide who faces him in 2012 will not start till after the town hall and some regional government elections on May 22. Zapatero said he was announcing his decision now to dispel any uncertainty but there would be no immediate campaigning for his job as everybody would be concentrating on the local and autonomous elections (not in Andalucía until 2012).

It is likely the committee to run the election for his successor will meet on May 28 and the process will be completed during the summer. However whoever emerges as the winner will be the leader in waiting as Zapatero is adamant he will lead the government till the end of its term.

So who will be the new leader? Two names are currently in the frame. The first, and probably favourite, is Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, the new strong man of the government and first deputy premier. He is also the minister of the interior and has been at the heart of the battle again ETA. His likely challenger is also battle hardened. She is Carme Chacón, the first female defence minister and one who is rated as having made a success of the job.

Rubalcaba is considered by many as the only candidate capable of taking on the PP and winning. According to the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas poll Rubalcaba is the mostly highly rated member of the government but is intriguingly followed by Chacón in second place. The other question is – are the socialists and wider Spain ready for a female party leader and hence potential prime minister?

I blogged about Rubalcaba when he first showed in the opinion polls that he would be more popular than Zapatero dubbing his emergence as PSOE’s Gordon Brown moment. Rather than bottle it as the Labour Party in the UK did (to David Miliband’s cost) the Spanish socialists have set the beleaguered Zapatero aside and will go in to the general election with a new leader at the helm. Their hope now will be to win outright or at least win sufficient seats to form a coalition.

IN THE MEANTIME WE’LL BOMB LIBYA

2011-03-31T20:18:00.000+02:00

There can be few people in the world who would embrace Gaddafi (well apart from the US, British, Spanish, Italian and other leading politicians plus royalty who did so in recent years) but I feel uneasy about the current military action in Libya.

I agree the people of Benghazi should be saved but then so too should the people of Zimbabwe, the Congo, Sudan, Israel, Gaza and many other places in the world too numerous to mention who have come under fire and been slaughtered whilst the world stood by.

Indeed many of these are not past events but current. Zimbabwe is about to have another violent election but by all accounts has still found time to send “troops” to aid Gaddafi in his fight.

We do not even know who we are saving in the rebel part of Libya. Hilary Clinton admits the US hasn’t got a clue. Yet she wants to arm them in the same manner as the US did in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq in years gone by. Then, years later, the US is amazed when the barrels are aimed at them by the very same people who they thought were on their side.

So why was the British Government so keen to intervene? To cover up for the botched attempts to evacuate its nationals? To divert attention from the real economic crisis facing the British people? Cameron may want to be a world leader – but please sort the mess out at home first.

US Republicans were angry because Obama didn’t rush in to Libya straight away. Now they are furious because he has taken action. The madness is worthy of a scenario involving Gaddafi.

Either the world intervenes to stop carnage or its stands by. You can’t step into oil States such as Libya and Iraq and stand by idly in Zimbabwe and countless other African and Arab nations.

There is no good carnage and bad carnage only carnage.

The West backed numerous despots because they ruled in the West’s national interest. Now the people of these countries want to be governed in their own interests not those of Washington, London, Paris or Rome.

The fact is the Western governments haven’t a clue whether they are coming or going – but in the meantime they’ll bomb Libya.

WE’RE SAVING YOU BECAUSE YOU HAVE OIL

2011-03-29T18:54:00.000+02:00

Eight years ago Madrid and wider Spain witnessed major demonstrations against the country’s involvement in the war in Iraq. Last Saturday the protestors returned to the streets of the nation’s capital this time to denounce Spain’s support of the military intervention in Libya.

Behind the banner “No a la Guerra” the marchers included the Izquierda Unida MP, Gaspar Llamazares, actors Alberto San Juan, Guillermo Toldeo and Juan Diego Botto plus the singer Germán Coppini. They were joined by other leading figures from the world of politics and culture.

The organisers say the purpose of the march was to bring thousands of people out on to the street with a twin message – no to foreign military intervention in Libya – and – no to the Muamar Gaddafi dictatorship.

Julio Rodríguez Bueno, president of Paz Ahora, one of the pacifist organisers of the demonstration considers that the foreign military intervention is the support for a campaign of lies. He compared it with the action against Saddam Hussein who was accused of having weapons of mass destruction and being a supporter of Al Qaeda.

From another viewpoint the IU’s social movement organizer, Fran Pérez, believes the conflict in Libya is “a war for petroleum”. He added the aim was to ferment civil war so that military intervention could be used in an imperialist project to dominate natural resources.

Indeed the people of Libya are lucky they have oil on their side. This saw the USA and western nations scuttling in to save them whilst those in Egypt, Bahrain, Syria and Yemen are left to fend for themselves as their countries are as dry as the desert sands.

One pundit observed nations do not back causes they only intervene when their national interests and/or vital resource supplies are threatened.

Let the people of Benghazi give thanks nor for Sarkozy but liquid gold!

PAY BACK TIME FOR THE IRA

2011-03-26T11:11:00.000+01:00

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has talked of revenge against NATO nations for the no-fly zone and military operations currently being carried out against his regime in Libya under the UN motion.

Of course Gaddafi has his hands full on his own turf without being able to plan outrages in Britain or France. However that is not to say his surrogates will not do his work for him.

British Intelligence has for long stated the major threat in the UK comes not from Muslim inspired terrorism but rogue elements amongst Irish Republican groups. These members of the IRA and INLA do not accept the peace agreement and power sharing accords and are carrying on the fight long abandoned by their brothers and sisters in arms and Sinn Fein.

To see just how an important role Libya played in arming the IRA we have to go back to 1986 when Gaddafi resumed supplying arms to the Republican terror organisation because Britain assisted the USA in the bombing of Tripoli. Sound familiar?

In fact the first arms delivery was discovered back in 1973 when the Claudia was intercepted with guns and ammunition off the Irish coast. Experts say the most significant weapon supplied by Gaddafi to the IRA was Semtex which was used to create landmines for attacks against British soldiers in Northern Ireland. Before Libya’s intervention the IRA was fighting a modern war with ancient weapons.

At the time of the decommissioning of the IRA’s weapons it was estimated the organisation still held 2.5 tonnes of Semtex with a shelf life of another 20 years. Some of that would have gone, perhaps the vast majority, but enough may remain for dissident Republicans to plant another bomb in London in support of their aims and as a thank you to their embattled arms supplier. Even if the Semtex has gone they are not short of a bomb or two.

As I was writing this British Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke, was being interviewed by The Guardian. In the interview he said the dictator could stage another Lockerbie-style terrorist attack: “The British people have reason to remember the curse of Gaddafi - Gaddafi back in power, the old Gaddafi looking for revenge, we have a real interest in preventing that...”

Clarke is envisaging an attack should Gaddafi survive in Libya. I am suggesting it may come before that.

IN A MANOR OF SPEAKING

2011-03-24T19:01:00.000+01:00

A few weeks ago I took a drive around Nueva Andalucía in Marbella for old time’s sake. I passed what had been a restaurant owned by those with criminal connections in London. Just up the road was a bar where then recently released English criminals used to call in for breakfast. Over a two week period the American owner told me they had been very friendly, never offered to pay for their food and he never liked to ask. All of this was within a stroll of Mad Frankie Fraser’s old manor.

Of course British criminal gangs have always been involved in turf wars or acts of revenge but these used to take place in their own back yards. In recent years Nueva Andalucía has become the preserve of Britons with criminal connections. There have been a number of shootings, some deadly, in what the National Police call the “settling of accounts” largely amongst drug traffickers.

The latest of these cases was the Thursday of last week just before 15.15 when the 091 emergency room of the local police in Marbella received a call to say there had been a shooting in the calle del Califa. A number of shots were discharged and a person injured.

When officers arrived there was no injured man to be found but eyewitnesses informed them the shooting had indeed taken place with the victim shot in the leg. It is understood the gunman arrived on the back of a motorbike; had got off and shot the victim as he talked with another man in the street. The gunman was then driven off at speed whilst the injured man was taken away in a four wheel drive vehicle.

Police searched the scene and found two spent cartridges which corresponded with the number of shots heard. However there was no sign of blood and no hospital or health centre had treated anybody for gunshot wounds.

From speaking to witnesses police say they are sure those involved were British. Tragically this is nothing new for Nueva Andalucía where one of the more serious shootings was in December 2009 when a Briton was shot three times, with one bullet entering his head.

However the worst case was back in December 2004 when gunmen shot and killed a 7-year-old boy and a 36-year-old hairdresser outside the Andalucía Plaza Hotel. Also injured in the hail of bullets were three other people. This case probably did not involve Britons although one of the gunmen spoke in English.

The tragic events took place at 17.30 on a Saturday afternoon when three heavily armed men got out of an Audi car parked outside the hotel leaving a fourth man at the wheel. They walked to a BMW parked outside the Cosmo hairdressers, which is part of the hotel building, and fired at a man sitting in the passenger seat. Eyewitnesses then say that the trio ran to the entrance of the hotel and one of the men fired a hail of bullets inside. The men were armed with automatic rifles and reports state that police found over 100 spent shells at the scene of the shooting.

Killed in the outrage was the 36-year-old Italian male owner of the hairdressers. Slain too was a seven-year-old boy from Sevilla who was on a short holiday to Marbella. He was waiting in the interior of the hotel for members of his family when around 6 bullets hit him in the abdomen. His aunt and another family member were amongst those injured.

After the shooting, an Algerian-born French businessman, without any known previous convictions, went to Marbella National Police station and told officers that he believed that he was the target of the killers. The businessman is involved in the exclusive fashions industry and commutes between Paris and Marbella. He was in the hairdressers at the time of the shooting.

He claims that he did not know the identity of the four men but they appeared to be looking for a second man after shooting his colleague sitting in the BMW. The injured man, who also has no previous convictions, has been described as the Frenchman’s friend and bodyguard. A pistol was found beneath the BMW car and officers have arrested him in his hospital bed on charges of alleged possession of an illicit firearm.

Today the Costa del Sol is a shooting gallery for rival gangsters. British criminals there are a plenty plus various Italian mafias, Russians, Eastern Europeans and bad guys and girls from other nations. The only difference is now the Spanish police work closely with their counterparts in these countries. Hence if you turn a corner and face a man or woman with a gun they are just as likely to be from the police as a gang member.

IT’S NO CIRCUS

2011-03-21T18:17:00.001+01:00

I have been reading a press notice from the Colectivo Andaluz Contra el Maltrato Animal which protests that the Andalucía government is breaking its own law governing the use of animals in circuses.

The action group says it has made official complaints against all circuses that have animals as they visit Andalucía. The denouncements have been lodged with the region’s ministries of agriculture and fisheries as well as the environment along with the government offices in each province yet it is claimed the action has been taken without any success.

The circuses still use animals for fun and entertainment. However the Ley de Protección de los Animales passed in November 24, 2003, in article four prohibits the use of animals in exhibitions, circuses, publicity, popular fiestas and other activities which allow the animal to incur suffering, pain or unnatural treatment. Other provisions underscore these provisions and also lay down strict procedures for how animals must be housed, cared for and transported.

Fair enough! I have nothing against circuses as long as they don’t use animals.

However just let us rewind here. The Colectivo Andaluz Contra el Maltrato Animal says the 2003 law prohibits the use of animals in exhibitions, circuses, publicity, popular fiestas and other activities which allow the animal to incur suffering, pain or unnatural treatment.

Now popular fiestas would no doubt include the ‘fiesta nacional’ – the bullfight – and such events where the bull or young calf isn’t killed but is chased through the street, wrestled to the ground in a plaza de toros or has baskets of fire attached to its horns – for the fun of the public.

If I read this law correctly - in Andalucía all these are illegal. So it is not just circuses the regional government should be acting against (but isn’t) but its own law says bullfights should be banned too. Or am I missing something here?

DEADLY WASTE

2011-03-17T12:27:00.000+01:00

I am a great aficionado of the detective novels of Donna Leon. They are set in Venice, revolve around the Commissario Brunetti and the last one I read was ‘About Face’.

I will quote from the sleeve notes: “Brunetti is visited by Carabinieri Maggior Filippo Guarino from the nearby city of Marghera. As part of a wider investigation into Mafia takeovers of businesses in the region, Guarino wants information about the owner of a trucking company who was found murdered in his office. He believes the man’s death is connected to the illegal transportation of refuse – and more sinister material – in his company’s trucks.”

Indeed he is. I won’t give any more of the story away in case you wish to read it but the origin of this waste is Naples.

So this week I was rather taken aback when I read the Andalucía environment ministry has rejected a formal request presented by two Italian companies to transfer 30,000 tonnes of rubbish from the city of - Naples - to the waste dump in Jerez de la Frontera in Cádiz province.

The minister for the environment, José Juan Díaz Trillo, confirmed on February 18 that his department had received the formal request from the two companies. The ministry had been assured the waste contained no dangerous materials.

However the ministry rejected the request and on Saturday Trillo stated: “The Andalucía government from the start has made it clear and has taken a firm position that it would not allow this type of rubbish in the community.”

EU law prohibits the treatment of dangerous waste or that with special characteristics outside of the country of its origin. In this instance the waste is said not to be hazardous but Trillo believes it is for the Italians to handle their own waste and not Jerez or Andalucía.

I am sure the waste is what the Italians say it was – but you can’t help wondering. Perhaps another case for Commissario Brunetti!

(Photo: rubbish on a street in Naples)

LIBYA HIT BY TSUNAMI

2011-03-14T19:27:00.000+01:00

For nearly two months our daily news headlines have been led by the push for democracy in Arab nations.

More recently the news has been dominated by Libya with TV stations having reporters on the frontline, in Tripoli and in neighbouring nations.

None-the-less there has been space in every hour for other international and national news, sport, weather and comment.

Not any more. As soon as the earthquake and tsunami struck in Japan all other news ceased to exist.

I wake up every day to Sky News and seemingly the only news in the world is Japan. I wouldn’t mind if the content of the programmes was informative but invariably it is repeating what it told me the hour before and the day before.

I accept the events in Japan are terrible – the worst earthquake and tsunami ever.

Yet to behave as if all other news had ceased is simply ridiculous.

I suspect that come the next TV awards Sky News will receive a gong for its coverage in Japan.

In the meantime Libya’s struggle goes on as it does in other Arab nations but Sky News and other TV stations have enforced their own news blackout – censorship far more effective than anything Gadafi or the other despots could have imposed.

The tsunami has not only swept away thousands of people but also sensible news coverage.

Both are major tragedies.

MY BOAT IS BIGGER THAN YOUR BOAT

2011-03-14T12:03:00.000+01:00

Spain’s minister of the interior, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, recently officially received the new Guardia Civil patrol boat, the Río Segura, in the port of the Bay of Cádiz. It is the largest vessel to be acquired by the maritime service of the Guardia Civil. It will largely be assigned to service on the high seas in the fight against drug trafficking and illegal immigration.

This is the continuation of a process started in 2007 when the first two ocean going vessels were acquired by the Guardia Civil – the Río Tajo and the Río Miño. These are now also backed up by reconnaissance aircraft.

The Río Segura is 73 metres long, weighs 2,100 tonnes and can be on patrol for 60 days. It has a crew of 39 people but in the case of a rescue on the high seas can take on board another 80. It also has a tele-medicine system on board.

The ministry of the interior also announced a new Guardia Civil unit with its HQ in Cádiz’s port that will serve the Strait area and will use the Río Miño with 32 crew starting operations in April.

Now the first thing that has to be said about the Río Tajo and Río Miño and the new super patrol vessel the Río Segura with relation to Gibraltar is that the British Government is fully aware of their existence. The first two have taken part in a number of international drug operations working with SOCA – the UK’s organized crime agency. Indeed it is likely that the Royal Gibraltar Police either through SOCA or links with the Spanish law agencies have also been involved. Hence in the future all three patrol boats will work with the British police and security agencies in the international war against drugs and people trafficking.

So what is the Gibraltar perspective on this? First it is the RGP and the local port and customs agencies to decide what size of vessels they need to perform their duties in the waters surrounding the Rock. In the end it is a political decision whether they receive these resources or not but it should be a professional request for the equipment to meet the task. So what do they need, have they asked for it, have they received it?

Secondly the waters around Gibraltar are British so it is for London and not No 6 to decide whether the patrol boats used by the Royal Navy are up to the job or whether more fire power is required.

Certainly in Rubalcaba’s statements no mention was made of Gibraltar or its waters in relation to the Segura, Tajo or Miño. That is not to say one or more will not appear around Gibraltar either in the course of its duties or as a perceived incursion in to Britain’s territorial waters.

When those incursions occur then the Gibraltar Government of the day should speak out openly to denounce the violation of its waters – and let both London and Madrid know of its anger. However it is for Britain to take action – yet it has to be realised that the days of sending a gun boat, even if Britain still had one, have long since gone.

The British police agencies work closely with the ministry of the interior as well as the Guardia Civil and Policía Nacional. Hence the British Government should make plain that whilst the Segura, Tajo and Miño work on the high seas with SOCA to combat international crime it is not acceptable for the same vessels, or their smaller versions, to violate Britain’s international recognized territorial waters around Gibraltar. Cooperation works two ways.

WAIT THERE SON WHILE I GO TO THE BROTHEL

2011-03-11T14:02:00.000+01:00

Now here’s a strange tale. A 39-year-old man was recently arrested by police in Madrid after he left his son in his car whilst he visited a brothel in Fuenlabrada.

The father has been charged of abandoning a minor. It is alleged he left his son for over an hour whilst he went to the ‘club de alterne’ nearby.

The crying and calls of the youngster locked inside the vehicle were heard by a man who was out running as he passed by. He alerted the National Police who sent a patrol.

It was around 21.00 when officers arrived at the scene. The doors of the car were locked, the windows closed and the street temperature was three degrees centigrade.

Officers asked the boy through the windows if he knew where his father was? The boy told them he said he’d be gone for just five minutes but hadn’t returned and he was cold. The police visited nearby businesses finally arriving at the brothel where the father was with a woman.

The man, who has previous convictions, was arrested and taken to the police HQ. After appearing in court he was released on bail but ordered to present himself to the police every two weeks.

I’ve heard of a child being left outside a pub in England whilst the father or mother or indeed both downed drinks inside – but a brothel! Words fail me!

FINE GIRL, YOU ARE!

2011-03-08T10:38:00.001+01:00

When I was young, yes that long ago, I could be heard in many a folk club, pint of stout in hand, crooning along with the best of them to Irish folk songs.

Indeed I even had a copy of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem song book. In the privacy of my own home I would strum along on my guitar to Republican airs.

“Right proudly high over Dublin Town they hung out the flag of war

'Twas better to die 'neath an Irish sky than at Suvla or Sud-El-Bar

And from the plains of Royal Meath strong men came hurrying through

While Britannia's Huns, with their long range guns sailed in through the foggy dew”

You get the gist.

So why am I telling you this?

Well the Republic of Ireland has just had a general election. As I lived in Dublin for some years, have close Irish roots, indeed my son was born in Churchtown and hence is a son of the Liffey - I have been taking a keen interest in the results.

I have also been spellbound at the knots news presenters have got themselves into trying to pronounce the names of Ireland’s political parties.

At the end of verses in a number of Clancy Brother songs they would shout – Fine Girl, You Are! Apparently Fine Girl is now the major party in the Irish Government.

Of course Fianna Fáil has long considered itself the natural party of government in the Republic. And here perhaps the news readers haven’t got it totally wrong. The proud party of Éamon De Valera was nearly wiped out – hence pronouncing Fianna Fáil as fail may be more than appropriate.

Fine Girl You Are, Indeed!

(For the record Fine Gael secured 76 seats (+25) and will be in coalition with Labour 37 (+17) whilst Fianna Fáil have 20, down 58. Sinn Fein and other parties won 33 seats.)

RACISTS AREN’T TALENTED

2011-03-07T11:17:00.000+01:00

Some years ago I was involved with an amateur theatre which had its own bar area. After rehearsals or performances actors with a modicum of talent who had taken to the stage started drinking sessions which ended in behaviour that was totally unacceptable. They were tolerated, even lauded by some, because they’re “artists” – so we have to indulge them. Of course if a paying customer to the theatre had behaved in such a manner they would have been thrown out on their ear – and quite rightly too.

This came to mind when I saw remarks by Beatriz de Orleans. She in case you didn’t know – and I didn’t – is the director of communications for Dior in Spain.

In an interview with Concha García Campoy she has leapt to the defence of the fashion house’s sacked designer John Galliano. She purrs that “he is a genius”, we have to “respect his talent” and “we have all been very drunk some day”.

Of course for the majority of woman and mankind the work of fashion designers like Galliano passes us by. Our budget only allows us to by off the peg sensible clothes. For many millions they are so poor they live in rags. Those of us who do see his bizarre creations dismiss them as frippery.

What Beatriz and those of her ilk fail to recognise is that a person who sits on a bar stool and loudly voices anti-Semitic insults and broadcasts his admiration for Hitler isn’t a tortured talented genius – he or she is a racist.

It is not the drink or drugs or a combination of both that puts these words into his or her mouth it just gives them the Dutch courage to speak what they believe openly.

Hitler was probably a handy man to have around the house if you wanted the front room decorated. However the vast majority of us wouldn’t give him or Galliano house room.

Whether Beatriz de Orleans would, is of course, another matter.

A WEEK IS A LONG TIME...

2011-03-03T16:45:00.000+01:00

It was Harold Wilson who gave us the phrase “A week is a long time in politics” – and in the case of what is happening in the Middle East and North Africa that is certainly true.

In January I visited the UK to write an article about Sky News and to attend the Fabian Society New Year Conference where Ed Miliband was to speak. Also pencilled in to my diary was a meeting with Sir Teddy Taylor, the former MP for Southend East.

As I caught a minor bug I went ahead with the Sky and Fabian dates but cancelled my meeting with Sir Teddy along with a couple others.

I wanted to chat with Sir Teddy about Gadafi because he had travelled to Libya on a couple of occasions to meet him. My interest was to learn what he made of the leader of that nation and to discuss his views on the Lockerbie bombing – especially as Sir Teddy is from Glasgow. It was mid-January and nobody had foreseen what would happen just weeks later. At that point Gadafi and Libya were on the rehabilitation list!

Reading Sir Teddy’s words in his autobiography Teddy Boy Blue now makes strange reading. I quote:

“If we endeavouring to solve the many problems facing the Middle East my belief is that we would make more progress if we treated the various nations with dignity and respect.

“Another good example of this is my experiences in Libya. I paid a visit there at a time when Mr. Gadaffi (sic throughout) appeared to have no friends in the world and when I was advised that it would be dangerous to travel there. However, as so often before, I found that the foreign office assessment of nations was not too accurate. I visited Mr Gadaffi on my first visit there and several times thereafter. During my first visit he agreed to cancel the provision he had made for the supply of weapons to the IRA and to many other terrorist groups in the world. These massive changes in policy have been maintained.

“The main feature for me on my visit to Libya was to see the actual country itself and the services provided to the community. Of course there is always the danger of being misled, but I can only say that as a person who has no financial or other interests in nations like Libya ...my assessment was that they had many positive features which sadly are not communicated to our people. My experience in the world is that those countries which the West approves of are often the most horrible nations for people to live in whilst those they disapprove of are often liberal and exciting nations which people seem happy to live in.”

It would be interesting to know how Sir Teddy feels about these impressions now.

As I say – a week is a long time in politics!

OK, HE’S BRITISH

2011-03-01T19:02:00.001+01:00

Gibraltar is a small community, some 30,000 souls all told. That includes Gibraltarians, Britons and other nationalities that have made the Rock their home.

So on the international stage it is not surprising to find there are only two Gibraltarians who have found fame and fortune. One is the singer Albert Hammond and the other the fashion designer John Galliano.

Now whilst Hammond was born in London his parents are Gibraltarian having been evacuated during World War II. So Hammond is technically English but was brought up in Gibraltar. His hit records include: "It Never Rains in Southern California", "The Free Electric Band”,"I Don't Wanna Die in an Air Disaster", "I'm a Train” and "Down by the River".

The problem is both Hammond and Galliano are claimed by the British media to be British. Hence Galliano is a British fashion designer although he was born in Gibraltar, has a Gibraltarian father and Spanish mother, but was raised in England.

Normally I go out of my way to correct both being labelled British, but I now make an exception.

Over recent days Galliano has been suspended then sacked by Paris fashion house Dior, first for making anti-Semitic remarks whilst drunk in a bar in the city. Then having been caught on video, drunk, in the same bar months earlier saying he loved Hitler and again mouthing anti-Semitic sentiments including references to people being gassed.

Whilst this in itself was despicable behaviour it also blackens the name of Gibraltar – a community where people of Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu and other faiths and none – all live in peaceful co-existence and harmony.

So Albert Hammond is Gibraltarian, ok – but you are right Galliano is British!

ESCAPE TO GIBRALTAR & JIMENA MEMORIES

2011-02-23T18:18:00.000+01:00

February 23 1981 marked a significant day in Spanish history. It was the day the fledgling democracy of Spain was almost brought to its knees by the attempted coup in which the Guardia Civil Lieutenant Coronel Antonio Tejero marched in to the Spanish parliament, confronted the MPs and fired shots in the chamber.

It seems like a historical event now but was just 30 years ago. What took place is all the more significant now given the events taking place in the Arab world as nation after nation attempts to break the shackles of dictatorship (albeit in some cases by a sovereign and his extended family) and embrace democracy.

In the event apart from the events in Madrid with support from Valencia the coup fell flat on its face with a significant role in its downfall being played by King Juan Carlos I. However it is clear from statements made on the anniversary that those on the left and the unions feared for their very lives.

One of those, Antonio Herrera, now in charge of the health section of the CC.OO union told how shortly after Tejero had stormed Congress and the coup was underway he left one of Málaga’s hospitals. He saw youths wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the Spanish flag. He went with union colleagues to the Nadiuska restaurant in Gibralfaro and then to the Cádiz road. It was there that the Communist MP, Paco Vázquez, offered to take him to Gibraltar. He declined and says that later friends in the police told him at the time they knew exactly where to find each and every one of them. However what seems certain is that if the coup had succeeded many on the left and in the unions would have sought refuge in Gibraltar.

Final word goes to José Carracao who is now a senator in Spain’s upper house with special responsibility for Gibraltar and cross border relations. So what are his memories of February 23 1981? He told me: “I was the mayor of Jimena de la Frontera. That afternoon I had called a routine council meeting. A friend informed me of the news. I listened to the radio. That confirmed it. I was worried for the MPs detained. You cannot hide something of such major concern and who knew how things would develop in Jimena. Once the King spoke on TV at 01.30 on February 24 I knew the coup would not succeed. It would have been highly regrettable if our country, Latin and bloodied, had returned to the old ways. The behaviour of the people in the defence of democracy was exemplary.”

Footnote: Antonio Tejero is still alive. He was sentenced to 30 years in jail but in 1993 was given open regime status. He lives in Madrid but has a holiday apartment on the Costa del Sol in Torre Del Mar. He has refused to speak of the events of February 23 1981.

HOPE AND OPTIMISM

2011-02-22T19:34:00.000+01:00

As we watch the events unfold in Libya in horror we should not forget the more peaceful push for change that preceded it. The bloodbath in that nation should not deflect from what has gone before in Tunisia, Egypt and Bahrain. Tony Murphy, who has family in Cairo and Bahrain, writes:

“There has been a high level of anxiety in our family over the last month or so because I have a sister who lives in Cairo and a brother who lives in Bahrain.

“My sister is married to an American diplomat and has lived in Egypt for about 12 years. She has 3 grown up children (the youngest is 24) who also live in Cairo. My brother in Bahrain works for an American company and has been there for about 7 years.

“It was somewhat worrying when it became impossible to contact my sister by any means for about a week. But as systems were restored I was relieved to talk to her and find that they were all ok.

“Despite the turmoil they never felt threatened or in any danger. According to my sister a couple of tanks rolled down their street one day and the police guard outside their building disappeared. Other than that the worst problems they had to face were that the supermarket was running out of food and the cash machines were running out of money.

“While all this was going on in Egypt there were already rumblings in Bahrain which gained a huge momentum once Mubarak stepped down.

“Throughout their experiences neither encountered any anti western sentiment. My brother mingled freely with the protesters in Manama last weekend and took photographs. My sister goes alone to the shops or the bank without fear. The atmosphere in both countries is at times almost carnival like. In Bahrain there are many women among the protesters and dozens of children.

“Tunisia's uprising has provoked an irreversible wave that is sweeping across the Middle East and North Africa with an enthusiasm and euphoria that has gripped the ex pat community as well as the citizens. Neither of my siblings is planning to leave their homes and continue to see their futures there with hope and optimism.”

Photographs copyright Tony Murphy.

SPAIN’S STATE PROSECUTOR ORDERS INVESTIGATION INTO EACH MISSING BABY

2011-02-22T13:27:00.000+01:00

Spain’s Fiscalía General del Estado has upped the ante in the investigation into the cases of the missing babies. Although such reports are now widespread they started in La Línea and at least one case there could have links to Gibraltar.

The State Prosecutor’s office has sent orders to all prosecutors in the country ordering them to investigate all the official reports on the cases of stolen babies that have currently been presented before them. The office of Cándido Conde-Pumpido has instructed the 17 senior prosecutors in the autonomous communities as well as the 50 provincial prosecutors to open official proceedings to ascertain if the cases are relevant to the penal code.

The action by Cándido Conde-Pumpido comes months after the Cádiz prosecutor and the prosecutor responsible for the Campo de Gibraltar in Algeciras took steps to order a judicial investigation which were the first in Spain.

Since last October the judicial police in Algeciras have been taking statements from those making official declarations, largely in La Línea. In the border town the number has been placed at around 50 but not all have made ‘denuncias’. The National Police HQ in Cádiz city has now followed suit and is also handling some cases involving the Campo de Gibraltar which have come under its territorial jurisdiction.

After the province of Cádiz other prosecutors in Málaga, Sevilla, Granada and Valencia now have opened investigations. It is understood there have also been a cascade of reports of missing babies largely occurring during the Franco era from various points in Spain. The province of Cádiz has to date the largest number of cases with 30 currently in the hands of the prosecutors.

Families believe they were the victims of an organised network that operated in public and private hospitals from the 1950s to the 1990s – although cases after the Franco era are in the minority. The babies, now adults, were all officially registered as dead within hours of their birth.

There are numerous cases in which the births, deaths and burials were never recorded, of empty or non-existent graves, contradictory medical reports, even testimonies from medical staff admitting the newly born babies were stolen and sold to other families who paid for them.

The State Prosecutor has voiced the belief that the robberies of newly born babies was not organised at a national level but was carried out by various networks in different points of the country. It was this argument that was used at the end of January to reject a collective denuncia from the Asociación Nacional de Afectados por Adopciones Irregulares (Anadir) made before the State Prosecutor’s own office listing 261 documented cases.

Hence the State Prosecutor has now asked the various prosecutors offices as regional and provincial level to work to a unified criteria in investigating the cases of missing babies without infringing on their autonomy to act.

None-the-less the scandal over Spain’s missing babies may be far greater that the State Prosecutor is willing to admit. It is reported Judge Baltasar Garzón has estimated that during the post war period of the Franco dictatorship a staggering 30,000 babies were re-allocated in this way. Garzón has reached that conclusion by gleaning facts and figures from various studies.

It has also been reported that 200,000 pesetas was the price of acquiring such a baby in the 1960s. In his book – Mala gente que camina – Benjamín Prado says that in Spain people think “such things only happened in Argentina or Chile which had much shorter dictatorships. The courts do not want to investigate in case the same thing happened here.”

SIMONE SET TO GO ON HUNGER STRIKE IN ROME

2011-02-21T18:22:00.000+01:00

Out of cruelty and tragedy comes injustice and a pending hunger strike.

On Saturday the Prodean Bahía de Cádiz, Cora-Animal and The Bright Eyes Society animal welfare groups held a demonstration in the Plaza de San Juan de Dios in Cádiz. It was in support of Simone Rigui and his girlfriend Isabel, who have been sentenced to jail for four and a half years and four years respectively.

Simone is charged with having tried to attack the mayor of Cádiz, Teófila Martínez, and Isabel with hitting councillor Carmen Obregón in 2007 at a demonstration against El Refugio kennels and dog pound in Puerto Real. Its owners were accused of allowing animals to die in agonising circumstances by using a paralysing drug which was cheaper to administer than the normal way of euthanizing them.

The couple had lost their three dogs, which were being temporarily boarded at the kennels. The case against the management of El Refugio is being tried by the courts, but in the meantime the animal welfare groups insist that the prison sentences imposed on Simone and Isabel are unfair and are politically motivated.

The president of Prodean Bahía de Cádiz, Francisco Molina, says the sentences will ruin the lives of two people for an alleged attack which hundreds of other people present at the scene did not see.

Simone, who is Italian, is due to start on Tuesday of this week, a hunger strike in Rome in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in protest at his sentence.

Curious isn’t it. Simone was immediately detained and jailed after the supposed attack before being released. He has now been sentenced to jail along with his girlfriend. Yet the case against the El Refugio owners, the real criminals in this case, drags on and on over four years after the events.

There is sometimes a lot to be said for an eye for an eye justice. Perhaps if the owners are eventually found guilty rather than the usual judicial slap on the wrist they can be injected with the same paralysing drug as the unfortunate animals.

(The above photo is of Holly – the only one of the three dogs of Simone and Isabel whose body was found. Vitto and Maggy were never recovered. The autopsy on Holly was crucial in bringing the legal case against the owners of El Refugio. There are more photos and information on the Prodean website: www.prodean.com)

GIBRALTAR CAN BENEFIT FROM TURMOIL IN BAHRAIN

2011-02-19T10:43:00.000+01:00

First it was Tunisia, then Egypt and now Bahrain. The difference with Bahrain is that whilst Egypt was on the experts’ list of Arab nations who could topple the Gulf State was not. Not only that whilst other States in the region obtain their wealth from oil, Bahrain doesn’t, it is largely a business centre.

On Thursday Britain’s Foreign Secretary, William Hague, told the House of Commons, he is advising British nationals to avoid all but essential travel around Bahrain and to stay away from the protests.

Hague condemned the clashes between anti-government protesters and riot police in Pearl Square and called on the authorities there to “exercise restraint.” At least four people have died during the demonstrations.

The airport Manama is still open as normal but the Foreign Secretary is promising to keep the situation under review.

William Hague said he’d spoken to the Foreign Minister of Bahrain and conveyed his concern about the level of violence, stressing the need for peaceful action to address the concerns of protesters.

The demonstrators want to force the ruling Sunni monarchy to give up its control of central government, with the country’s majority Shia claiming they face discrimination because they are effectively blocked from key roles in public service and the military.

Meanwhile neighbouring Oman has raised the minimum wage for nationals working in the private sector from $364 to $520, in the response to protests sparked by the unemployment and poverty in Arab countries.

The state news agency ONA reported the cabinet had “decided to raise the minimum wages for national workers in the private sector to 200 riyals per month” on the orders of Sultan Qaboos.

This begs the question how can you run an international financial and business centre when foreign nationals are advised to avoid your country, when there are tanks and blood on the streets, and when everyone fears the contagion could spread to every nation in the region. The answer in short is you can’t.

So could this unrest benefit Gibraltar? Despite the political nonsense between Britain – Spain and Gibraltar, which after all has been going on for 300 years – the Rock as its name suggests is a pillar of stability in a troubled world. Not only that but it has a world respected financial, investment and legal centre.

I asked my man in the pinstripe suit who walks the Rock’s fiscal corridors of power how he saw the situation. He told me: “I think that the unrest in Bahrain could benefit Gibraltar quite substantially.” But, yes there was a ‘but’ to his views, for he continued: “only if Gibraltar makes a real effort to engage energetically in identifying and pursuing this business at both a high level and also on the ground.”

So yes Gibraltar can benefit from this uncertain world and boost its standing as a world financial centre in to the bargain – but – only if it is up to the challenge.

It is Gibraltar’s moment of truth.

SPAIN’S CHICKEN AND EGG MOMENT

2011-02-16T17:45:00.000+01:00

In good times people are happy, they start homes and there is a beneficial knock-on effect for the economy. However the financial crisis has put paid to that. Easy credit for purchasing property has dried up as too have the building projects.

In 2008 some 450,000 new homes were started in Spain. Josep Oliver, the senior professor of applied economy at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, predicts that in the coming seven or eight years the figure will be between 140,000 and 160,000. This was the average figure in the country in the 1970s.

He lays the blame on the economy, unemployment, lack of financial resources and the credit required for a couple to start a new life together. The professor also believes that the generation now aged between 35 and 40 will have been the last to have been produced during a period of high birth rate (the 1970s).

So as the birth rate falls there will be less young people to start homes and families in the future. This will have repercussions on internal demand and private consumption which will be reflected in the nation’s economic growth.

In short for the economy to be reborn, babies have to be born. A true chicken and egg situation!

EGYPT’S WARNING FOR SPAIN

2011-02-14T19:22:00.000+01:00

The Partido Popular’s vice president of communication, Esteban González Pons, put the cat amongst the pigeons at the weekend when talking about the departure of Egypt’s president Hosni Mubarak.

He said the protests in Egypt served to demonstrate to Spaniards: “fed up with unemployment, of the crisis, of the crisis of values social and political and of the institutional depression that when the people want to they can rise up – and the Spanish people want to.”

Pons was speaking at the presentation of the party’s candidates in municipalities of over 20,000 people in Valencia. However his statement brought a swift response from Gaspar Zarrías, the Secretary of State on political matters.

Zarrías said it was an “embarrassment” to compare Spain with Egypt. He added that the people of Egypt are now winning the liberty that the people of Spain have had since 1977 – democracy and the right to live in dignity. He stressed that Spanish people were free and that democracy shines everywhere. Zarrías added that González Pons spoke on occasions “outrageously” and this was one of them.

Indeed! There are plenty of criticisms you can lay at Spain’s door but to compare it with the situation in Egypt is not only ridiculous, it cheapens the fight of the people of that country and in short makes González Pons appear a fool.

Spain’s people are free to demonstrate and in May this year they can vote out their town halls and in March next year their national and regional governments –in free and fair elections. Spaniards enjoy freedom of speech and no longer fear the midnight knock at the door – as Egyptians have done till now –a fear which in Spain only died along with Franco.

Of course González Pons is of a centre-right party – elements of which still hanker after the days of Franco. Amongst their ranks they would admire the strict Mubarak-style regime supported by the military.

It’s the Egypt of old that should serve as a warning and reminder to Spaniards!

OH VANITY!

2011-02-09T15:36:00.000+01:00

In the summer of 1992 I attended a dinner held on the large outdoor patio of a restaurant in Mijas. Photographs were taken, one from the terrace above, which looked down on the table where I had been sat. I was rather puzzled as the gentleman sitting in my place had, how should I put this, thinning hair in the centre of his head.

Wind forward to last week and I attended a seminar on the safety systems at the CEPSA refinery in San Roque organised by the Asociación Prensa del Campo de Gibraltar.

As we listened to the engineers and environmental experts two photographs were taken. One above shows us all in wrapt attention. The other taken from behind me shows a gentleman with a bald spot in the centre of his head. This photograph I have destroyed.

Now dear reader you can help me here for I am at a loss as to how this spectre appears in my place – every 19 years! The next sighting should be in 2030. Any suggestions?

THE PRICE OF HUMILIATION AND RAPE: 1,800 EUROS

2011-02-02T19:15:00.000+01:00

The wives, mothers and sisters of the “rojos” during the Spanish Civil War had their heads shaved, were insulted and humiliated. In the majority of cases it was not anonymous members of Franco’s forces that committed these outrages but their neighbours who up till then they had considered their friends.

In Andalucía the provinces of Cádiz, Sevilla and Huelva saw these acts carried out first, they were repeated later in Málaga and Almería. Now the regional government has carried out a measure to recognise these humiliated women.

These dreadful acts were all performed in public places – the plazas, markets or even in the churches of villages and towns – locations where people gathered in large numbers. The women had their head shaved, were placed on the backs of donkeys and paraded in front of their neighbours.

As a result they were marked and indeed scared for life. Hence the Andalucía government has decided to pay compensation of 1,800 euros in recognition of the moral damage they incurred - to those that are still alive to tell the tale that is.

January 13 marked the day when those women who suffered in this way had to make themselves known to the authorities. In the event 106 have had their applications accepted. The vice counsellor of the Andalucía Government and Justice Ministry, José Antonio Gómez Periñán, said he had received well over 200 applications but not all of these had met with the required conditions.

All the women who have survived had to be able to demonstrate they were victims of this abuse with photographic or documentary proof. They also had to be currently living in Andalucía. Around 27 lived outside of the region and over 100 have died and it was their families that presented their applications.

They all, says Gómez Periñán, received a document that expressed the regional government’s regret for the physical, verbal and moral violence they had suffered.

The years when the most number of these acts took place were between the start of the Civil War in 1936 and 1950. Gómez Periñán says society is in debt to these women – they are the victims of the repression but up till now they have received nothing.

Often the women would be required to work for free for the very people who had murdered their men folk. They were also made to clean churches and often were raped. Although 106 will now be compensated the Asociación Andaluza de Memoria Histórica y Justicia believes there are many more.

Needless to say organisations on the right in Spain have called this action a pre-election gimmick. As they are the political heirs of those who committed these outrages there is little surprise in that. However given that a socialist government has been in power in Andalucía for so long one can only wonder why these suffering women were not honoured earlier.

What leaves me befuddled is the sum of 1,800 euros. Did some civil servant in Sevilla think this up as suitable compensation? What is 1,800 euros – around 1,500 pounds or perhaps more dollars? It hardly fights the crimes these women and mere girls were made to suffer and who have been marked out in their communities ever since.

There is no adequate sum to repay them – and it certainly isn’t 1,800 euros.

A POLITICAL TRAGEDY

2011-01-30T19:04:00.000+01:00

In my previous blog I wrote about the murder of 13-year-old girl, María Esther Jimenéz, in a small village I know well.

By a tragic coincidence a 28-year-old José María Caracuel also died in the village I call home just days later.

His death is the subject of an investigation and given the wild rumours and differing versions of events that are circulating it is best to leave any comment on that to after it has been concluded.

What is fact is that José María went to the health centre on the Friday afternoon to complain about the swelling in his leg. He was sent home with instructions by the duty doctor. Next day, the Saturday morning, he returned to the health centre still in great pain. The same doctor was on duty but was called away on an emergency. Before he could return José María died of a blood clot on his leg.

For any 28-year-old to die in such a fashion is a tragedy but especially when he was, I believe, the only person in his large family bringing in a salary.

On the Monday his funeral was held in the village’s cemetery but afterwards his family and friends gathered at the health centre in what can only be described as an ugly demonstration. Their anger and pain is understandable but cries of “assassins” aimed at the health centre staff were totally unacceptable and an assault on the building was only prevented by the presence of the Guardia Civil and local police.

Two other people at the demonstration were the mayor and one of his henchman councillors. I am reliably told by a journalist I trust that when the mayor saw the Europa Sur photographer and reporter he made himself scarce. Indeed he does not feature in the press photos.

Now it so happens that the mayor and his councillor for health had only a week or so before this tragedy met with the health authority to voice their fears over such a tragedy happening. They want an additional doctor as when, as in this instance, a medic is called away on an emergency there is no one on duty at the health centre. So in dreadful circumstances their fears had been proved true.

However, whilst to his credit the mayor attends the majority of funerals of his residents, his place at the health centre should not have been standing with the family but urging the crowd to disperse because the staff are bearing the brunt of the lack of personnel and need support not labelling assassins!

Yet this May there are elections for the town hall. The administration has been firmly PSOE but with the party’s slump nationally the PP, PA and IU all hope to win power or more seats. There is a lot at stake politically which brings us back to José María.

Whilst his family and friends have every right to vent their anger and protest the banners that have since appeared and the petitions in bars all bear the mark of political activists rather than the bereaved. It would seem politicians are at work and hope to benefit from José María’s death.

Meanwhile many in the village are rallying to the side of the doctor who has served them reliably for years. He knows he has enemies but till now didn’t realise just how many friends. The truth in the end will out and justice will be done. Whether another doctor is posted to the health centre remains to be seen. In the meantime those with political ambitions perform their own tragedy.

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT

2011-01-28T16:43:00.001+01:00

Reporting on the news means that death and tragedy are all part of the daily menu.

Frequently it is gangland killing – the settling of accounts – as the Spanish police refer to it. More often than not these shootings involve British criminals operating on the Costa del Sol.

This week was rather different. I was writing about the disappearance of a 13-year old girl, María Esther Jimenéz, who was found dead 24 hours later having been bludgeoned to death with a brick. Her body was discovered by a fireman searching for her in the pump house of a swimming pool.

As my deadline was not to later this week I let the dust settle before going to the scene.

It turns out the girl I knew by sight. She lived next door to the car workshop I use and on a street I frequently park in.

The pool pump house is across the garden wall from the daughter of my one time neighbour who lives with her husband and two young children just yards from where the girl met her death.

She lived in a small village and during her last evening from sitting with friends in the bus shelter, to asking a bar for a drink of water, to finally meeting her death at the hands of her assassin – she was never more than four minutes from her front door.

The village was promised an arrest or arrests within days. If only life was that simple. It will take time. Meanwhile there is a child killer on the loose in their midsts and they fear for their youngsters.

On this occasion because I know the village, know the people, knew the girl by sight, use the pizza restaurant where she planned to celebrate her birthday and the place where she perished - it is not a news story – it is a shared tragedy.

Far too close for comfort!

MENTALLY ILL SLEEPING ROUGH ON LA LÍNEA’S STREETS

2011-01-25T17:08:00.001+01:00

I have written a couple of articles in recent months about the plight of homeless people in La Línea who are forced to sleep at nights on the town’s streets. Just over two weeks ago in the Costa del Sol News and Panorama I featured a British resident of San Roque, Mary Finlay, who is organising feeding trips to these unfortunates once a week – I will return to her work later in this article. However I start off with the disclosure that at least two of those sleeping rough are mentally ill.

Their case has been highlighted by the Plataforma Los Parados – the action group speaking for the ten thousand plus jobless in the border town. They have written to the Andalucía Ombudsman over the men’s plight.

They say that because of the economic crisis these people with mental health problems have no roofs over their heads hence they are sleeping outside in the winter cold and rain. One of these is 43-year-old Juan Medina López who has been abandoned since before Christmas and is receiving no psychiatric help or social assistance nor can he or the others be attended to at other municipal centres.

They told the Ombudsman that between Monday and Friday the men are invited for a meal and a shower at the Centro CEA but at night they are left to their own devices. Incredibly unless they are attended to by an Andalucía health service professional they cannot be given a bed in any of the refuges for the “sin techos” – and no such person has been near them.

They action group expressed its anger that these men have been abandoned by the very authorities that make such a pretence of caring for the homeless and mentally ill. The Plataforma says it is only thanks to local residents that they have clothes, blankets, food and hot drinks as they pass the nights living rough on the streets.

Indeed Mary Finlay told me: “I know one of those chaps, never lifts his head or acknowledges our presence, but at least the food goes and he uses the blanket. I will make sure to leave him some good clothing. It is so pathetic, he always takes his shoes off to sleep in the bunker, trying to maintain standards.”

J J Uceda also informed me that it’s hoped that Juan Medina López may be given shelter in a home in San Roque from the end of this month. He added: “The problem with mentally ill patients is that they can be dangerous because of their illnesses and there is no law to oblige them to enter a centre.”

In my article on the project started by Mary Finlay I appealed to any readers who could help to please do so – and people on the Costa del Sol and in Gibraltar generously responded. For your solidarity Mary, her team and the abandoned people of La Línea’s send their heartfelt thanks.

THE CURSE OF EMIGRATION RETURNS

2011-01-24T17:11:00.000+01:00

In my village many of what are today elderly men left their homes in the 1950s to work in Germany. They still speak some German to this day and they or their widows have sent to them a monthly pension from Germany.

There are photos of my street with my neighbours’ children playing, their mothers gathered together but no men in sight because they were a 1,000 miles away. True they sent home money but the children were raised without a father.

These men, labourers and agricultural workers, were part of the great migration from Spain in search of work. Now in 2011 it would appear the exercise is about to be repeated except this time jobless but qualified young Spaniards would be making the trip instead of sons of the soil.

The move has been revealed in the magazine Der Spiegel. The aim is to partially solve the German deficiency in young professionals especially those who have been left jobless by the Spanish economic crash.

According to Der Spiegel the subject will be high on the agenda of the German-Spanish summit to be held in Madrid on February 3 to be attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish Premier José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. It will form a bilateral labour agreement between the two countries. It is not only Spain that will benefit but other nations in the south and the east of Europe which are suffering from the debt crisis and unemployment.

It is understood that young qualified Spaniards and Portuguese are the preferred candidates by Germany because of the ease of movement between the EU countries.

Studies have suggested that Germany needs between 500,000 and 800,000 new qualified workers. The key areas are engineering and telecommunications both seen as important growth sectors for its economy.

Germany is the leading economy in Europe and grew by 3.6 per cent in 2010 with predictions of 2.3per cent for this year. Hand in hand with this growth it has seen its own jobless levels gradually reduce.

The good news is that those Spanish graduates will at last be offered well paid and secure jobs. The bad news is that Spain will loose a generation of those it has educated to university level and who are highly skilled – who once gone – will be very difficult to lure back. Once again families will be broken up and again the curse of emigration will return to the Iberian Peninsula.

OLIVE, I’M BACK!

2011-01-18T19:39:00.000+01:00

I have left you in peace for the last week or so – be grateful because now I’m back and once again the blogs start. Whilst I was in London I took a close look at the new Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband. Of him I will write in the near future but for now just let me say he is less slick than Blair or Cameron but all the more impressive for that!

Since my return I have been catching up on my reading including the Ley del Olivar which aims to maintain Andalucía as a world leader in the olive sector.

Now I have always associated olive oil with France, Spain, Italy, Greece – I guess all the Med countries. However I was rather surprised to learn that currently the olive accounts for 24 per cent of the value of the agricultural production in Andalucía.

It is the principal activity in over 300 municipalities in the region and generates over 22 million work days a year and there are 250,000 families dependent on the income derived from olive growing.

Some 1.5 million hectares of land in Andalucía are dedicated to growing olive trees. That is 60 per cent of the total in Spain and 30 per cent of that in European.

Andalucía produces 40 per cent of all the olive oil in the world and 20 per cent of the eating olives. Of those totals 21 per cent of the oil is exported and seven per cent of the olives.

The Andalucía minister for agriculture and fisheries, Clara Aguilera, says the new law will recognise the “unique place in Europe” of the region’s olive sector. It will set out the strategic role in plays in creating wealth and employment, its social cohesion role and its high value to the environment.

I will leave you to contemplate those impressive facts as you munch an olive with a glass of wine and prepare to cook a meal with olive oil. Or maybe like me you also like your morning toast with olive oil and of course tomato. Enough food for thought there for us all.

REAL LIFE JOKE FROM LEPE

2011-01-10T18:14:00.000+01:00

Britons will be all too familiar with the Irish joke which pokes fun at the members of the nation across the water. Of course they tell the same jokes in Ireland except they are called Kerry jokes, aimed at folks from the western county. Many nations throughout the world have a similar vehicle for ‘taking the innocent Michael’ and without a doubt the Spanish equivalent is the Lepe joke – but the joke has turned to reality.

Lepe is a town in the province of Huelva in Andalucía and last Thursday night a man broke in to a bar. It is not known what time the robbery occurred but it was discovered by the owners when they opened up on Friday morning.

He stole from the premises a number of Serrano hams but no cash or other items. The thief is the subject of a find and capture warrant and the police, like the Canadian Mounties of old, are confident of getting their man. This is because in his hurry to flee he left behind his DNI identity card and his mobile phone – so the police know who he is, where he lives, where he works, where he banks, what car he owns - indeed everything there is to know about him. Only in Lepe!

POLITICAL TURNCOATS OFF THE HOOK

2011-01-05T13:32:00.000+01:00

On the Monday after Christmas the Partido Popular formally broke the anti political turncoat pact with PSOE meaning that politicians deemed of committing such acts could be accepted as candidates in the forthcoming elections.

In Andalucía this will affect El Puerto de Santa María, Jabugo, Chiclana de la Frontera, Alcaucín, Estepona, Ronda, Cañete de los Torres, Yunquera, Mengibar, Bollullos del Condado, Sierra de Yeguas, Jabalquinto, Morelabor and Genalguacil. However there are also numerous cases in the regions of Aragón, Asturias, the Canary Islands, Cantabría, Castilla y Leon, Castilla – La Mancha, Cataluña, Galicia, Madrid and Valencia.

The agreement was meant to stop a politician or a group of same from standing and being elected for one party then switching allegiance after he, she or they were elected. A commission of experts was set up to determine whether a politician or politicians had become turncoats and the pact was aimed at preventing their adopted party from accepting them as future candidates.

Perhaps the most extreme example of this can be found in Ronda. At the last election the mayor Antonio Marín had led his eight councillors from the Partido Andalucista to victory as the largest party and continued its coalition with the Partido Popular.

Months later Marín broke the accord with the PP and joined in coalition with PSOE instead. Then he and his eight fellow PA councillors resigned from their party, now sit as non-aligned councillors but have all become members of PSOE.

This has left the Partido Andalucista without any councillors at the town hall when it was elected as the largest group by the voters. The commission on political turncoats deemed Marín and his eight PA councillors all to be guilty. However the breaking of the pact means he will now almost certainly lead PSOE into the next municipal election.

It should also be noted that before he left the PA for socialist PSOE Marín had declared an interest in throwing in his lot with his then coalition partners the centre right Partido Popular. The move fell through because the PP was not keen to have him. This May the voters of Ronda will have the final say!

EL MEJOR RABO DE TORO EN ESPAÑA

2010-12-31T15:00:00.000+01:00

Oxtail stew is a well known dish in Britain. However my mother never cooked it, I have never been served it by friends nor have I eaten in a restaurant where it was on the menu. Hence I never ate it.

All of that change when I came to Spain, where in Andalucía at least, it is cooked in many a home and is a common item on menus from the best restaurants to country ventas. Indeed I am now an aficionado of rabo de toro or cola de toro and search high and low for the best in Andalucía and wider Spain.

The best I had tasted was in a venta just outside San Pedro de Alcántara on the road to Ronda. It was a magnificent dish which I ate often but the owners would never tell me the recipe other than to say anis was a vital ingredient. The venta still exists but I won’t tell you the name for it was sold over a decade ago and sadly the superb rabo de toro was not part of the deal.

Over the years I have eaten many rabo or cola de toro sadly good at best more often than not poor – some a disaster. Many of these were in restaurants in the town of Ronda which claims rabo de toro as a signature dish. This is largely because the town of the Tajo sees itself as the home of the modern bullfight with the oldest bullring in the country. However the bullfights only occur at the Plaza Real Maestranza de Caballeria de Ronda over the Pedro Romero feria and the number of bulls slain would not keep a busy restaurant in tails for more than a day or so. So the rabo or cola comes not from the ring but the slaughterhouse.

Now if you had asked me up till this week where you could find a truly magnificent rabo de toro I would have said only at the Venta San Juan in the Genal Valley between Algatocín and Jubrique. It is consistently a delightful feast with a rich sauce that is sublime.

So what has changed? Well on Thursday I ate at the famous Jerez restaurant – Gaitan. Cola de toro a la Jerezana was on the menu and what a treat it was – but was it better that the Venta San Juan?

The meat in both restaurants is excellent, softly just clinging to the bone. The Venta San Juan has a rich country sauce – again the owner would not tell me the ingredients – it’s a secret she said –but red wine plays a major part. In contrast Gaitan has a much clearer, more sophisticated sauce created from the wines (Sherries) of Jerez. It was not an easy decision but I have to say I now think Gaitan serves the best cola de toro in Spain with the Venta San Juan following closely on its hooves.

However I am happy to be proved wrong so will continue my search but for now I toast the Restaurante Gaitan and its talented kitchen for – el mejor rabo de toro en España.

THE PIRATE WHO WOULD BE MAYOR

2010-12-28T12:22:00.000+01:00

The Córdoba businessman, Rafael Gómez, is bidding to be the next mayor of the city at the 2011 municipal elections in May. Córdoba, as many readers will know, was once the capital of the Caliphate of Córdoba and al-Andalus from where the Muslim rulers reigned over much of Spain. It was home to the Great Mosque (now the cathedral) and housed the largest library in the world with some experts saying it contained one million volumes.

A distinguished historic past – but what of Rafael Gómez, the man who would rule this ancient provincial capital? Well amongst his companies was Arenal 2000, which collapsed leaving many property developments in financial chaos and with it the lives of those who hard purchased homes or were in the process of doing so. He also owned the Tivoli World entertainment park and the Xanit hospital in Benalmádena on the Costa del Sol before being forced to sell them.

Rafael Gómez is more widely known by his nickname, Sandokán. Perhaps appropriately Sandokán was a pirate, Emilio Salgari to be exact, who operated out of Malaysia. Gómez took on the name because of his resemblance to the actor Kabir Bedi who played the part in the popular TV series in the 1970s.

So whilst Gómez’s business empire is a disaster zone that seemingly does not bar him from being the number one citizen in his home city. However one major hurdle he will have to overcome before he becomes mayor - it is not with the voters but the courts. He is one of those implicated in the Malaya corruption case – the largest in Spanish history - currently being tried in Málaga and involves his dealings with Marbella town hall and its then head of town planning Juan Antonio Roca.

It is unlikely that the Malaya trial will be concluded before next May. If Gómez was found guilty the prosecutor is demanding an 18 months jail term plus a 1.2 million euros fine. However as the prison sentence is under 24 months he would not serve it but could he still be mayor?

If he does get to stand then Sandokán will be the candidate for mayor of the Union Córdobesa which aims to win a majority on the city council. Gómez says he has been waiting for this opportunity for 20 years and if elected promises that tackling unemployment and affordable housing will be his two main priorities.

However the three parties on Córdoba council – far left Izquierda Unida, centre right Partido Popular and socialist PSOE – have been scathing over Sandokán announcement. Current mayor, Andrés Ocaña, of the IU says economic crises throw up candidates who through some magic formula say they have a solution to everybody’s problems. He also spoke of the Costa del Sol which had independent candidates such as Gómez who had not found solutions but had only increased the municipality’s problems.

Ocaña went on to liken Gómez with the now deceased mayor of Marbella, Jesús Gil, who brought the one time jet set resort to its knees. Of course it was under Gil’s mandate that the Malaya town planning corruption scam took place for which Sandokán is in the dock.

So will Sandokán become mayor? Only in Spain you might mutter!

A MUSLIM’S BEEF OVER PORK

2010-12-22T16:35:00.001+01:00

In recent months some strange stories have emerged from La Línea what with the antics of the mayor Alejandro Sánchez - who wanted to impose a toll to enter or leave Gibraltar - but the latest to hit the headlines is a true story of our times.

Now pork is high on the political agenda in the USA where the term applies to add-ons to various bills from the Senate and Congress. These give financial benefit to organisations, businesses or the authorities in the Districts or States which the Congressperson or Senator represents. Whilst many Americans object to this practice I have yet to hear of a Muslim, American or otherwise, taking offence to the term pork.

So let us go to the Menéndez Tolosa school in La Línea where a teacher was trying to demonstrate various forms of weather and climate to his class. As an example he referred to the cold climate to be found in Trevélez in Granada province. Now Trevélez is famed for its cured hams which are dried and cured in the cold mountain air.

It was at this point that a Muslim pupil in the class stood up and asked the teacher not to talk about hams as it was offensive to his religion. Your first reaction may have been the same as mine, a wry smile, then dismissing the interruption as ridiculous.

Ridiculous it may be but at the end of school day the pupil went home and told his parents what had happened. They have now reported the teacher making an official legal complaint against him for amongst other things racism and xenophobia.

The CC.OO union’s educational representative in the Campo de Gibraltar, Sebastián Alcón, is upset that a teacher with a 20-year career behind him should be dragged over the coals in such a manner. Not surprisingly the teacher is said to be fed up with the situation.

However the family is intent on receiving its pound of flesh – although presumably not pork. They say the official complaint is being processed and they are awaiting an apology. They have also asked for a change of school for their son to avoid “more problems” and have also accused the teacher of calling their son “useless” and telling him to “go back to your own country.”

The case will rest with the prosecutor who handles cases involving minors. It remains to be seen whether the prosecutor takes further action or decides to leave the matter to hang out to dry like a ham in the mountain air of Trevélez.

(I should add that in recent days the Muslim association in the Campo de Gibraltar has stated that there is no problem with pork being mentioned before Muslims or by Muslims - they are simply, like Jews, not allowed to eat it!)

PICARDO’S CHALLENGE - And will there be a challenge to Picardo?

2010-12-20T18:45:00.000+01:00

There are no certainties in politics. When I started writing my Gibraltar Viewpoint column back in 1993 it was in the last years of the Bossano Government. The chief minister Peter Caruana first won power back in 1996 so when the election is held next year many of the first time voters will only have been aware of his GSD administrations.

If you’d asked me back then who were likely future chief ministers I would have said Keith Azopardi and Peter Montegriffo – indeed their days may yet come. Despite his recent horrific injuries at the hands of a knifeman Daniel Feetham may still aspire to and achieve the top job in Gibraltar politics. In contrast Fabian Picardo’s arrival as a potential leader of the GSLP and hence after the next election the Rock’s Chief Minister is by contrast a recent affair.

Joe Bossano has stated both to the electorate and his party that he will not lead the GSLP in to the next election. If that is the case then a new man or woman must be at the helm by the time the GSLP goes to the polls. The seeming front runner is Fabian Picardo – yet politics has a habit of seeing the front runner fall at the last fence.

If I asked you early this year who would be leading the British Labour Party after the defeat of Gordon Brown I wonder how many would have come up with the name Ed Miliband. Certainly not his brother David - the former foreign secretary and heir apparent.

Currently the opinion polls show wide spread support for Fabian Picardo as the next GSLP leader and a coalition co-led by Dr Joseph Garcia would offer a strong challenge to the GSD and an exciting alternative for the voters. It worries the GSD as can be clearly seen by their attempts to rubbish it this early in the game.

So why did Fabian Picardo throw his hat in to the ring? He explained: “I decided to say publicly that I felt I was ready to stand when Joe Bossano confirmed last year to the AGM that he would not be seeking the post of leader this year when the post is due for re-election. I have had only encouragement since then from members of the party and its executive and a vicious response from my political opponents who have not passed up any rumour in an attempt to denigrate my candidature.”

So is he looking to step in to the job or fight off an opponent or opponents in an election?

“I don’t believe in coronations and would very much welcome a contest for the leadership of the GSLP.”

The problem for observers like me is it is difficult to see where the challenge would come from. One name that has been mentioned in the past is Gilbert Lucudi although of late he has slipped out of the public eye and down the opinion poll ratings. However his hat could still be in the ring. Lucudi told me: “Under the GSLP constitution, the leader has to stand down every two years. We did not have the election of a leader at our AGM at the beginning of this year. This means that there will be a leadership election in the New Year. Our constitution requires that this be the case. I have not yet decided whether I will be putting my name forward for this leadership election.”

Joe Bossano has been a colossus on the Gibraltar political stage and of course was the founding father of the GSLP so I asked Picardo how he thought this transition should be handled. He told me: “I have no doubt that whoever becomes the next leader of the GSLP will be respectful of the contribution that Joe Bossano has made and I know will continue to make to the GSLP and to Gibraltar generally.

“Not even Mr Bossano’s detractors can deny the massive contribution he has made already and will make in a new GSLP/Liberal administration as we put our common energy and fresh ideas at the disposal of the people of Gibraltar. The "transition" will be no more than a generational evolution at the top of the party that will consolidate its policies for another generation.”

(The above appeared in the Monday December 20 edition of Panorama).

EXPLAIN THIS TO ME!

2010-12-18T10:55:00.000+01:00

There is widespread chaos in the UK on Saturday. It has snowed so roads and airports are closed – trains are disrupted.

This is a major problem because apparently it’s the big get away weekend with many Britons heading for foreign climes for Christmas and the New Year.

Many of these will be going skiing or to snow resorts.

So explain this to me!

How come Britain is snowed in whilst the ski resorts of France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and even Spain – which have serious snow – are operating normally?

The roads are open. Trains are running. Flights are landing. People are a-skiing.

As for me - “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones we used to know!”

OF ANDALUZ, GEORDIE AND ESTUARY ENGLISH

2010-12-15T18:58:00.001+01:00

When I arrived in Spain with my BBC language course safely installed in my brain I was horrified to find that the staff in my local shop seemed to be speaking a different tongue altogether.

My first thought was the BBC had palmed me off with Mexican Spanish but of course they hadn’t it was good Castilian. The problem was I was in Andalucía where they slash the ends of their words – you can add to the confusion the numerous village accents and slang.

So the news that a 37-year-old man who was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and now lives in London has landed a job as a Geordie dialect translator did bring a smile to my face.

Geordie is the patois spoken in England’s North East and as baffling as Andaluz to anybody from outside those regions. King’s College graduate Paul Davy will now decipher Geordie for clients of a London translation company.

By coincidence on the same day as I heard about our Geordie Boy (Alan Price – Jarrow Song - 1974) there was a letter in the Daily Telegraph about a range of Christmas Cards for the Essex town of Colchester with the greeting in Welsh! They were not selling very well!

Today the lingua franca in Essex is Estuary English although if you delve in to the small rural villages you will find accents and phrases that would be a foreign tongue to Dagenham man and woman.

As we say in Newcastle: Ye knaa what ah mean leik.

VINCE CABLE MUST RESIGN

2010-12-08T18:34:00.000+01:00

During the height of the economic crisis when Britain’s Labour government was in power the Lib Dem spokesperson on financial affairs, Vince Cable, earned himself a lot of praise because of his sage advice and stance during those troubled times.

When the general election neared and a coalition between the Lib Dems and either the Conservatives or Labour seemed a possibility Cable was spoken of as a Chancellor of the Exchequer in waiting.

Well the Conservatives won the most seats, the Lib Dems agreed a coalition and Prime Minister David Cameron was not prepared to sacrifice his close friend George Osborne so Vince Cable ended up as Business Secretary instead.

Now this week the House of Commons will vote on the coalition bill to increase students’ university fees. The bill was drawn up by Vince Cable’s department but he’s flip flopped – first he said he would abstain when it came to a vote, then said he’d back the bill, then opted to abstain again and God only knows what he will do on the day.

Of course the one thing he should do is resign. If you are the head of the ministry that is bringing forward the controversial university fees bill and you do not support it one hundred percent – you resign.

Vince Cable is now damned by both sides. Those who support the bill cannot back a minister who brings to the parliament legislation that he is reluctant to vote for. Those who oppose the bill were told by Cable during the election campaign that he would not support an increase in student fees – he lied to them because he has.

Therefore he has no option but to resign. He has no credibility left.

Ah, but wait a minute, he’s a Lib Dem minister – so let’s be frank honour for him doesn’t come in to it! The last time the Liberals were in government there was hardly a car on the road so a ministerial limo is not to be given up lightly.

MOROCCO MARCHES AGAINST SPANISH CENTRE-RIGHT

2010-12-01T17:06:00.000+01:00

Hundreds of thousands of Moroccans marched on Sunday in Casablanca to protest against criticism by Spain’s Partido Popular of alleged human rights abuses in the disputed Western Sahara. Waving Moroccan flags and banners, the protesters led by Prime Minister Abbas el Fassi chanted: “Popular Party, enemy of Morocco.”

I say hundreds of thousands, one report I read said three million. If there is a demonstration in Spain the organisers may say 5,000 took part, the National Police 3,000 and the local police 1,500.The truth lies between the highest and lowest figure. There certainly was a major demonstration in Casablanca – as to how many were there – well your guess is as good as mine.

I have reflected on this for a couple of days because the protest wasn’t against Spain or the Spanish government but the Partido Popular. The curious thing here is that the PP is not the Spanish party of government but is the opposition. I can’t think off hand of any other mass protest against a non-ruling party. However opinion polls point to the centre-right party triumphing in the March 2012 general election – not only in Madrid but perhaps also in the regional government in Andalucía, the nearest part of Spain to Morocco.

In statements over recent months the PP has made it clear that if it wins the 2012 general election in will be much tougher with its neighbour across the Strait of Gibraltar. It has accused the PSOE government of weakness towards Rabat, is angry over the EU accord with Morocco that will hit Andalucía agriculture and fisheries and has been outspoken in its support of the security forces in Ceuta and Melilla – the two enclaves that Morocco views as occupied territories.

Indeed in August the former Spanish PP premier, José María Aznar, broke off from his holiday in Marbella to visit the Melilla border where tensions were running high between the enclave and Moroccans. Morocco had accused the National Police and Guardia Civil of acting in a racist manner towards its citizens and a food import blockade had been imposed. Needless to say the visit of the strutting Aznar did nothing to calm these troubled waters. That was left to the Spanish monarch who has close ties with his Moroccan counterpart.

Now we have to add to that mix the Western Sahara which is normally the sole preserve of the left. The PP took part in a rally in Madrid last month alongside socialist, far-left and trade union groups to denounce Morocco for allegedly abusing human rights in Western Sahara. PP activists were also present in Valencia last week to show their support for Saharan refugees who had first locked themselves in the PSOE HQ as they are furious over the socialist government’s inaction on the issue. When evicted they staged an on-going protest in the street outside.

So on reflection it is no surprise that Fassi’s Istiqlal party and 15 other political groups issued a joint statement attacking the PP for its “unbridled activism against Morocco.” They argued the party had swayed last week’s vote of European lawmakers in favour of a United Nations-backed probe into violence in the former Spanish colony.

Moroccan security forces and pro-independence protesters clashed on November 8 in the disputed territory, which was annexed by Morocco in 1975 after Spain withdrew from its former colony. Several members of the security forces and civilians are reported to have died. The violence, amongst the worst in years, prompted the Polisario Front which wants independence for the territory to call for an independent UN investigation.

With the centre-right is in the ascendancy in Spain you can expect tensions with Morocco and the British colony of Gibraltar to increase if the Partido Popular comes to power. It is also a depressing prospect for socialists, the far-left and the unions in Spain because whilst the country has suffered in the economic crisis under the socialist government the medicine to come will be far bitterer under Mariano Rajoy’s PP than it ever was under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's PSOE.

IS THE FRENTE POLISARIO A TARGET FOR AL QAEDA?

2010-11-29T18:22:00.000+01:00

I am grateful to my esteemed colleague Francisco Rubiales for pointing me to reports that the Frente Polisario in the Western Sahara may have been targeted by Al Qaeda.

Francisco, apart from being a much respected journalist, was the EFE correspondent in Cuba, Central America and Italy as well as being an advisor to the UN. Currently he also writes the very interesting Voto en Blanco blog.

Francisco reports that because of the frustration the Frente Polisario is suffering in its campaign for independence for the Western Sahara from Morocco and the lack of support from major nations it could be driven in to the hands of Al Qaeda.

Apparently some experts and think tanks dedicated to world politics in the USA and France have been discussing this possibility which if it happened would be a drastic and dangerous change in the Maghreb. It would also increase the instability in that part of the world that is of great strategic value.

Currently Al Qaeda is not a major force in the Maghreb. Its activities are confined to areas of Mali and Mauritania where it has staged a number of kidnappings – perhaps because it is short of funds. Naturally if it were to team up with an armed force such at the Frente Polisario that limited influence would be greatly increased.

Francisco says that many sectors of the Polisario and the people of the Western Sahara are now calling for a restarting of the armed struggle against Morocco. If it was a conventional war then Morocco would easily outnumber its opponents however if it because a conflict for which Al Qaeda is famed – guerrilla attacks, kidnappings and major strikes to attract the attention of the rich countries then the results could be terrible for Morocco.

Movements amongst Saharan veterans and reservists have already been detected. They have experience of past conflicts which would be invaluable in a renewed armed conflict with Morocco. Experts place the strength of the Polisario at around 70,000 – insignificant in a conventional war but scary if used in insurgency and guerrilla warfare.

The Polisario representative in Spain, Bucharaya Beyun, has declared before the media they have weapons and combatants sufficient for a war and many sections of the population in the Western Sahara are putting pressure on the organization to return to fighting Morocco.

Up till now the people of the Western Sahara have placed their hopes with the UN and the good offices of Spain and the USA to resolve the conflict. However if Morocco continues with its campaign of repression against El Aaiún and refuses to agree to a negotiated solution which allows for the self-determination of the Western Saharan people then the outcome could be terrible indeed.

Interestingly Abdeslam Maghraoui, a political science professor at Duke University who specializing in terrorism in North Africa, says there isn’t any indication that Morocco is a strategic priority for the Al Qaeda. According to the professor it has two minor networks in the country: the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group responsible for the 2003 Casablanca attacks and the 2004 metro bombings in Madrid; and the Salafiya al Jihadiya, which operates in medium-sized Moroccan towns.

However it appears Abdeslam Maghraoui agrees with the assessment of Francisco because he has stated that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb might find non-ideological support among disenchanted Sahrawi militants in Tindouf who don’t see an end to the dispute over the Saharan region.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IS A MALE PROBLEM

2010-11-25T11:10:00.000+01:00

Today, November 25, is the international day against domestic violence.

My view on this is very simple: I have zero tolerance for anybody, male or female, who inflicts violence on their partner or ex-partner. I believe men have a special responsibility to take a stand against this blight to our society. In the majority of cases, not all but the majority, it is men who inflict the violence. Hence it is the men in society who have to put a stop to it.

I live in Andalucía and according to the regional government there are 73 reports of domestic violence every day. The data formed a report for region’s parliament which shows there were 26,838 such complaints last year. This figure amounts to a 7.8 increase over 2008.

In 2009 the courts in Andalucía issued 5,287 protection orders. The Andalucía minister of equality and social welfare, Micaela Navarro, says it is vital that women in this situation report their cases so that help and assistance can be given.

The ministry has also published the provisional figures that show 15 women have died in Andalucía so far this year from domestic violence – more than the total in 2009. At the time of writing there have been 63 deaths in wider Spain.

Since the laws to offer the sufferers of domestic violence protection the nation has been stunned by the number of cases and the violent deaths. Ironically whilst such violence has always existed it has been behind closed doors. Now the suffers come forward and all too often their partners react by killing them. The laws have simple not kept up with developments. In many cases the problems have been caused by the laws that are meant to offer protection. Nor are these crimes restricted to the young or middle aged – what has surprised me more than anything is the cases involving men and women in their 70s or 80s.

It is true that many of the deaths from domestic violence involve immigrants to the country. In many areas the number of cases of abuse involving non-Spaniards exceeds those of nationals. In Algeciras there is a major problem with Moroccans who form a large immigrant group – on the Costa del Sol I am ashamed to say that Britons and Northern Europeans feature highly in the number of court cases.

It is not a Spanish problem it is an international problem hence the holding of this special day. Yet in essence it is a male problem and so we men have to solve it.

VALENCIA BECOMES FOCUS OF WESTERN SAHARA PROTESTS

2010-11-24T10:33:00.000+01:00

It was two weeks ago on Tuesday that the Frente Polisario press agency, SPS, alerted the world to what was taking place at the Gdeim Izizk protest camp close to the Western Saharan capital of El Aauín. We are not sure precisely what happened, how many were killed, injured or disappeared because it would be wrong to merely rely on the word of the SPS and Morocco has banned all Spanish journalists, politicians, Euro MPs and international observers from going to see.

This Tuesday in the early hours of the morning I received a message Guillermo O William. He said that as he wrote four Policía Nacional vans had arrived at the PSOE office in Valencia at 24.10. They had sealed the windows and cries could be heard from the 16 protestors inside. He added the police wanted to silence the activists who had been holding a peaceful sit-in protest in the PSPV office (PSPV is PSOE in Valencia).

Moving in at the dead of night is a usual Policía Nacional tactic. Many years ago I saw squads of baton waving officers clearing hundreds of Moroccan cars blocking the road to Algeciras port. The cars packed with families of Moroccans travelling home for the summer holidays from their jobs in Northern Europe had been kept out in the boiling sun all day as they waited for a ferry home. Many had collapsed in the heat, some died, so they protested by blocking the road. After the events of that year a new system of moving the million of Moroccans through was introduced that treats them in a civilized manner.

Since the current crisis erupted in the Western Sahara refugees from the region have been holding a series of weekly protests outside the Moroccan Consulate in Valencia. The Tuesday demo was the fifth and then the protestors marched to the PSPV-PSOE office to team up with the Western Saharans who had previously occupied the building and were not encamped outside.

The PSOE office protest was against the “silence” of the socialist government in Madrid both over what was happening in the Western Sahara and Morocco’s embargo on media, political and observer visits. The spokesperson for the activists, Nadira Mohamed, said there were now 150 protesting at the doors to the socialist’s office with a heavy police presence.

Mohamed explained the weekly protest at the consulate has the objective of “denouncing the constant violation of the human rights that Morocco is carrying out in the Western Sahara.” Now to this has been added anger at the “passivity” of the Spanish Government before the “violence” of the Moroccan army on the Saharan people that came to a head “with the assault on the Gdeim Izizk camp on November 8.”

Whilst the SPS has warned of civil war in the Western Sahara it is PSOE in Spain which is being torn apart over the issue. Activists are at angry odds with their government. There is widespread dissatisfaction with Madrid’s response to the dismantling of the ‘Campamento Dignidad’. Whilst many party members are openly challenging José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and his new foreign minister, Trinidad Jímenez, the party baron’s are also unhappy but have confined their anger to mumbling under their breath.

More open with its protests is Izquierda Socilista that is demanding the government responds with “determined action” making a “firm and explicit condemnation” of the actions of Morocco since 1975 when the dying Franco regime withdrew hastily from its former colony. Zapatero has tried to defend the actions of his government but the ante is being upped by the centre-right Partido Popular.

The PP is no friend of Morocco and has stated that should it come to government in 2012 it will deal with its neighbour across the Strait of Gibraltar in a firm manner. This would include agriculture and fishing policy but especially in its defence of the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla – which Morocco views as occupied territories.

The Western Sahara and support for the Frente Polisario has been a touch stone for socialists and those on the far left in Spain and wider Europe. Hence it is ironic that the PP is now able to use this issue to drive another nail in to PSOE’s electoral coffin and at the same time to put pressure on Morocco’s monarch and government.

LAUGH? THEY COULD DIE!

2010-11-22T19:16:00.000+01:00

The Polisario Front has spoken of its dismay at the lack of support from the Spanish premier, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, which it described as “minimal”. It also accused him of having “little interest” in the situation in the Western Sahara capital of El Aaiún, after the violent dismantling of the protest camp at Gdeim Izik on November 8.

In statements to Saharan journalists the prime minister of the self proclaimed RASD government, Abdelkader Taleb Omat, considers that Zapatero had ignored in his declaration at the NATO summit in Lisbon the serious situation existing at El Aaiún under Morocco’s control.

Taleb Omat spoke of his surprise that the Spanish government had not demanded an urgent independent international investigation as to why Morocco will not lift its blockade on the free access to the region of Spanish journalists and international observers to the Western Sahara. He added this would save lives and would protect the Saharans from the Moroccan policy to exterminate them.

The RASD premier also deplored the fact that Zapatero did not raise fundamental questions on a referendum for self-determination and the respect for human rights.

Now you’d probably rightly say what’s to laugh about in that? The answer is of course nothing especially as we have no idea just how many have died, been seriously injured or have disappeared. If the situation wasn’t so serious the humour would be in the political fall-out in Spain.

The Western Sahara was a Spanish colony and was literally dumped in to the hands of Morocco and Mauritania in the dying days of the Franco regime. Now the centre right opposition Partido Popular is turning up the heat on Zapatero and intends to raise the subject in the Spanish Upper House, the Senate. The PP says it will condemn “the serious violation of human rights” on the part of Morocco in the Western Sahara. It also wants Spain to return to its former position of openly supporting the decolonisation process.

PP Senator Alejandro Muñoz Alonso has presented a motion that calls on the government “to condemn the serious violations of human rights that have been produced” and also the controls that have impeded press freedom and the activities of professionals in the media. The PP also wants the mandate of Minurso, the UN force in the region, to be changed to give it competence over human rights to allow it to stop the violence.

Of course support for the Polisario Front in Spain and elsewhere has always been the fiefdom of the centre left and far left. Izquierda Unida has been outspoken over the disaster that is taking place in the Western Sahara but the PSOE government seems intent on pretending it simply isn’t happening. This has caused outrage amongst many PSOE activists who are pressing their government to change it stance. They are engaged in a series of demos, sit ins and protests – not against Morocco but their own government in Madrid.

As the old saying goes – laugh – I could cry but in the meantime the people of the Western Sahara are dying!

WE ARE WHAT WE EAT ... BUT DO WE CARE HOW WE KILL IT?

2010-11-18T18:58:00.000+01:00

My esteemed colleague Brian Reyes earns his daily crust reporting on the news for the Gibraltar Chronicle. He is also a talented photographer and keen foodie. He has a blog – My Mediterranean Diet – which is both engaging and interesting.

Brian recently penned a series of articles first dealing with a bullfight in Algeciras and then following it up with articles on the meat as a dish. I suspect we have both bought our ‘toro de lidia’ from the same butcher in the Algeciras market and what surprised me was that beef from a prized bull is only fit for the stewing pot.

Now Brian’s first article with a graphic description and photos of the killing of his future meal has caused outrage amongst some readers of the Dscriber website that is based in the USA. I certainly think his piece has been amongst the most read and has certainly drawn probably the most comments, the majority highly critical.

Maybe Brian was brave or naive in writing the series and I do not intend to enter the fraught argument here for or against bullfighting. The only comment I will make is to those who doubt the bravery of the matador. Stand beside one of these bulls as I have and tell me he is a coward. You do not enter a field where these beasts graze or pass by one on foot if it has escaped – the chances are it will try to kill you!

The majority of the bulls that enter the ring have been bred on farms where they have roamed free and been extremely well cared for except for their final day or so. No other animal comes to the table via the ‘fiesta nacional’ but is the process they go through any less humane? I somewhat doubt it.

Anybody living in rural Spain will have come across the ‘matanza’ where the family pig is tied live to a frame, has its throat cut and then bleeds to death. The blood is used for morcilla and over the next day or so every part of the pig will be butchered and prepared in to some dish or another. It will then feed the family for many months to come. Before you point and say here is another example of cruel Spain of course the same method of slaughter is used by the Jews and Muslims as part of their dietary laws.

I have driven behind a big truck as dawn breaks as it brings in live chickens to the factory where I believe they are gassed. Some break free – the odd one escapes, others are run over by a following vehicle, some break their legs and wings and land in a bloody heap on the tarmac.

Cattle, pigs and sheep who rarely enjoy the lifestyle of the bullring bull are crowded in to trucks then shipped off to the abattoir for a humane death. They say it is quick and painless. Sorry but it isn’t.

Of course we could choose to eat fish which are pulled from the sea in giant nets and then drown – gasping for water in the air of the trawler's deck.

Now all of this is a good argument for not eating meat or fish but I do both as do the majority of people and I have no intension of changing. For when I sit down at my table or in a restaurant I eat the tasty dish that is set before me and do not give a thought on how the creature got there. Yet also I am not so foolish as to believe it was a painless end for the animal or fish concerned. We are what we eat – but the majority don’t care how we kill it!

Brian’s blog: http://www.mymediterraneandiet.net/

WHERE ARE THE BORBÓN MILLIONS?

2010-11-17T14:08:00.000+01:00

A row has erupted in the Spanish lower house of parliament, Congress, over the money to finance the royal household and the supposed wealth of the monarch – King Juan Carlos.

It took place during the debate to approve the State Budget for 2011. The MP for Esquerra Republicana, Joan Tardá (Joan is a male name in Catalan by the way), wants the monarch to have his funding allocation reduced by 15 per cent in line with government cuts and for the monarch to receive the same salary as the Spanish premier, José Luis Rodrízguez Zapatero. In addition any short fall in the monies required by the royal household says Tardá should come from the monarch’s own wealth.

The Republican left would always dispute the need to fund the monarch and the royal family but the issue takes on an added bite at this time of economic crisis when millions of Spaniards are on the dole queue. Shouldn’t the king and his family be setting an example to the nation the ER would ask?

The socialist PSOE government and the centre right Partido Popular opposition – the latter being staunch monarchists – dismiss the ER’s arguments. They say if the party is not happy with the way the royal household is paid or its standing in the country then it should seek to change the Spanish Constitution but adds – it would be outvoted.

The two main parties also point out that the allocation of funding in the State budget is for the financing of the overall Royal Household and not money given to the king.

In addition PSOE and the PP point out that the Spanish monarch comes cheap at the price. The cost of maintaining the nation’s head of state and the Casa Real costs each Spaniard just 18 céntimos a year. In contrast each German pays 35 céntimos to pay for its president, the Greek head of State comes at the cost of 52 céntimos, Sarkozy costs every French person 1.64 euros to maintain the Elysée Palace and the Italian president chews up 1.80 euros of the people’s pasta.

That may be so but the Esquerra Republicana is angry that the Spanish Parliament refuses to control the spending of the Casa Real. In addition it begs the question what has happened to the Borbón millions? According to Forbes magazine Juan Carlos de Borbón has a personal wealth of 1,790 million euros, which if that is true, should be more than enough to keep him and his family in the manner to which they are accustomed without the 18 céntimos from each of his fellow country people.

Of course the same argument could be used in the case of the British Royal Family. However until that nation gets the celebrations for William and Kate’s wedding out of its system it will be a question that no loyal subject would dare ask.

(Joan Tardá was in trouble in December 2008 when he called out “¡Viva la Republica, muerte al Borbón!” – “death to the Borbón”. The ERC later explained he was not calling for the death of the king but it was a traditional phrase dating back to the War of Succession against Felipe V.)

ACT NOW TO HELP THE PEOPLE OF THE WESTERN SAHARA

2010-11-12T18:59:00.000+01:00

If you have been following the news over the last week you are probably aware of the desperate situation that exists in the Western Sahara. The Moroccan army has been violently dismantling the protest camp at Agdaym Izik. Many of those living there have fled in to the desert or the town of El Aaiún. The people of the Western Sahara are being persecuted by gangs of Moroccan settlers, encouraged by the Moroccan Government with support from the army.

Please help by acting now!

As a matter of urgency please send a letter to your Euro MP or Euro MPs asking that the European Parliament demands that the Moroccan Government immediately ceases its violent campaign and honours the human rights of the people of the Western Sahara. (Readers in the USA and elsewhere please contact your elected officials) Send a letter in your own words – it is far more productive that just adding your signature to a letter which had been signed by hundreds of other people.

The people of the Western Sahara need your help!

WESTERN SAHARAN HOMES IN FLAMES

http://lookingtotheleft.blogspot.com/2010/11/western-saharan-homes-in-flames.html

Como sabréis, recientemente el ejército de Marruecos des mantel violentamente el campamento saharaui de protesta de Agdaym Izik. Muchas de las personas que permanecían allí han huido por el desierto y la mayoría han vuelto a la ciudad de El Aaiún. La población saharaui está siendo perseguida por cuadrillas de colonos armados y agitados por el gobierno marroquí y el ejército de ocupación.

Estamos lanzando una acción de presión al Parlamento Europeo para que se haga cargo de la responsabilidad que le corresponde y se posicione, intentando de este modo que se detenga la violación de los derechos humanos en el Sáhara Occidental. Mandar tu propio correo personal pidiendo a los/las representantes de tu país en el europarlamento que actúen. El objetivo de la acción es que cada persona envíe un correo personal, no "copiando y pegando" textos, sino con sus propias palabras (mucho más efectivo que recibir el mismo texto 100 veces).

Ayúdanos a parar esta barbarie.

THE T-SHIRT IN AN EMPTY TOMB

2010-11-12T16:34:00.000+01:00

Over the last year I have reported on the missing babies of La Línea. These were babies who supposedly died shortly after birth in the municipal hospital or two private hospitals in the border town in the 1960s and 1970s. Their burial was said to have been taken care of by the hospitals but now there is no trace of them in official records or at the cemetery. It is suspected they are amongst – Franco’s babies – of whom Judge Baltasar Garzón believes there were 30,000 during the dictatorship. Babies who their mother’s were told had died but were in fact passed to adoptive parents. The Algeciras prosecutor has taken up the cases in La Línea and recently called in the National Police to investigate. To those files can now be added the disturbing case of the Algeciras mother who opened her child’s tomb to find it empty except for just a t-shirt.

It was back in 1972 that María Rodríguez was travelling with her husband and five children in a car when they were involved in an accident. They were all taken to La Línea hospital as the collision took place within the boundaries of San Roque which is served by that medical centre. In the car with María and her husband were their children aged nine, seven, five and four years plus their baby boy. None except the father had been seriously hurt.

María and her husband were later transferred to hospital in Algeciras and were told their children would follow them as their injuries were light. However when her sister went to La Línea hospital the next day she was told the baby had died.

Apparently the baby was entered in a niche in Algeciras cemetery but María never knew who had paid for the funeral. She says her daughter has always wondered whether he died or not because the baby was perfectly healthy. On the death certificate the child was named as José María with the cause of death stated as a fracture of the skull with massive damage to the brain. Yet the accident report of the time said all the family had been only slightly injured even though María’s husband subsequently died.

In 1992 she decided to have the remains of her son moved to the same niche as her husband. However when they opened his tomb it was empty except for a t-shirt. She says it was a yellow t-shirt which she has kept to this day as she has nothing else of her baby son –no casket, no remains.

That year was a traumatic one for María for when José María would have been 20 and eligible for his military service she received notice of his call up. She said she burst in to tears because how it was possible they called him up after he supposedly had been dead for 20 years?

It was recently with the news of all the families with the missing babies in La Línea that María decided to contact the others involved. She is also going to testify before the Algeciras prosecutor. María has visited the Archivo Histórico de La Línea that records all the admissions to La Línea hospital in that period. There is no record of any member of her family having been treated there.

A desperate story which leaves María’s with just one wish: “I want to know if my son died or if he is alive.”

THE “FRIKIS” ARE WHAT MAKES THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

2010-11-09T15:50:00.000+01:00

The Spanish State television channel, RTVE, wants no unpleasant surprises in the artists or song for next year’s Eurovision Song Contest. It intends to select a separate artist and song - the formula last followed in 2007 – to keep out the “frikis”.

I think the very sober and staid RTVE is missing the point here. The “frikis” is what the Eurovision Song Contest is all about. The Gay community holds party nights around the show as it is broadcast but they’ll soon be gone if it becomes a “friki” free zone.

The corporation has started a casting process to seek the artist or artists to represent the nation. RTVE is establishing a new filter that will select the candidates, a responsibility which has largely in recent years rested in the hands of the public. Obviously Madrid feels they can no longer be trusted!

Now the public will only enter the process in the second phase once the unworthy artists have been weeded out. There will be a television vote in conjunction with a professional jury.

It has been the selection of “frikis” performers that has caused RTVE to act. Amongst these are my favourite Chikilicuatre plus Antonio El Gato, Chimo Bayo, John Cobra and Karmele Marchante.

Whether the chosen safe artists will avoid the dreaded “nil point” from the international juries during the Song Contest itself remains to be seen. But sorry – no “frikis” – and it will be “nil point” from me.

NO GAY TIMES AHEAD

2010-11-04T18:39:00.000+01:00

Currently Spain’s centre right Partido Popular has a clear lead over the PSOE administration in the opinion polls and would govern with a clear majority. However the general election is not expected before March 2012 and a week let alone 17 months is a long time in politics.

None the less if as predicted the PP takes power then the country is in for a profound culture shock. Since Zapatero’s socialist government came to power it has followed an extremely liberal agenda upsetting those on the right and the Catholic Church along the way. Now the president of the Partido Popular, Mariano Rajoy, has signalled he intends to pull Spain back to the straight and narrow.

In an interview with El País on Sunday Rajoy said that he is considering annulling the law that allows Gay marriages should his party win the next general election although the measure has been approved by the Constitutional Court.

Rajoy pointed out his party had appealed before the court in 2005 to have the law rejected. It recognised homosexual marriages along with the normal adoption, pension and inheritance rights bestowed on heterosexual marriages for same sex couples. He added that he believed the legislation distorted the social and legal institution of marriage.

The law that puts homosexual and lesbian couples on the same footing as heterosexuals was introduced by the socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. It was opposed by various conservative sectors headed by the Catholic Church yet opinion polls at the time suggested the measure was supported by the majority of Spaniards.

Rajoy said if he became premier he would listen to the Constitutional court and to the people but made it clear he did not favour Gay marriages and believed them to be unconstitutional.

Asked by El País would he repeal the law if the highest Spanish court insisted it was legal Rajoy answered “no”. However it is clear that if the PP takes power not only would Gay marriages be under the spotlight but Rajoy’s government would also revisit the new abortion law which it believes does not sufficiently protect the right to life.

Rajoy told the newspaper: “I am absolutely in disagreement with two things: first, that a girl of 16 years can have an abortion without the knowledge of her parents; and second, I am against how they treat the right to life in this law because it allows total liberty in the first 14 weeks.”

WAYNE ROONEY SYNDROME

2010-11-01T18:14:00.002+01:00

A third of Spanish men have admitted to having used a prostitute.

Presumably not the same one!

TRINIDAD JIMÉNEZ RIDICULED FOR NOT SPEAKING ENGLISH

2010-10-25T19:16:00.002+02:00

Just days into the job and Trinidad Jiménez, Spain’s new foreign minister, is coming under flack in the Spanish press because she apparently doesn’t speak English.

I find this very amusing as nobody questions whether a British Foreign Secretary speaks French, Spanish, German or any other tongue. Whether David Miliband did or William Hague does has never been an issue – being British means you presume people on the international stage speak your language.

French used to be the language of diplomacy and by all accounts Miguel Ángel Moratinos spoke it well and could get by in English. Indeed it was said that Zapatero left much of the international liaison to his foreign minister because he is not gifted in the language department.

Poor Trinidad - there have even been those in Spain who have questioned whether she could speak Castilian having tagged her as pure Andaluz in accent and phraseology.

What is sure is that when she sits down with the chief minister of Gibraltar she will have no problem communicating as he of course like all Gibraltarians speaks Spanish. I have even heard it whispered he too has an Andaluz accent. William Hague can always rely on Caruana to translate for him when the three meet – which opens up the possibilities of all kinds of mischief if the chief minister was to twist what Trini was saying – and visa versa. As if!

It has been suggested by one publication that Trinidad Jiménez is an example of Peter’s Law – that a person is promoted until they reach their level of incompetence. It goes on to say that many of those in Zapatero’s government weren’t sufficiently qualified for the job.

I am curious that the Spanish media believes it foreign ministers and indeed premiers should be able to speak English, especially given that Spanish has long overtaken French as the second international language after English excluding Chinese.

However Zapatero was ridiculed for having gone to the Davos Conference in January where he had to have a translator at his elbow to translate what was said in English – the international language of all the politicians and business leaders gathered there. Indeed not only was Zapatero ridiculed it was said Spain had been humiliated.

It is obvious that the media have been digging in to Trini’s past as El Confidencial Digital has unearthed the fact that she twice suspended taking the exam to be admitted to the diplomatic school in 1986 and 1988. Well whether that is fact or fiction has yet to be established – but the minister’s press team have so far remained silent on the matter.

Previous blog on Jiménez and her Andaluz accent:

http://tiltingatwindmillsblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/contempt-for-andaluz-accent.html

PS: the government reshuffle also saw the exit from the ministerial ranks of Bibiana Aído. I wrote about her in February when she allocated over 26,000 euros to a project designed to explore the delights of a woman’s clitoris. I was tempted to say that now she is no longer a minister she will have time to put her own finger on it. Prospero, who is older and wiser than me said I shouldn’t, so I won’t!

http://tiltingatwindmillsblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/bibiana-puts-her-finger-on-it.html

BOSSANO CAN’T BE THE ELECTION ISSUE

2010-10-20T19:16:00.002+02:00

In Panorama on Monday Joe Garcia gave a fine forensic analysis as to why the chief minister might be opting for calling an election either before Christmas or shortly afterwards. Caruana is a wily fox and he would indeed be mad if the options laid out in that article were not being considered by him and his fellow GSD members.

Over the last year I have discussed the pending GSLP leadership change with members of the party. I have been assured that it will happen in the early part of next year so the new leader can be installed before a general election at the end of the year. But what if Caruana goes early I keep asking? To date I have yet to receive a satisfactory reply.

Joe Bossano signalled at the last election he would not contest another as leader and I believe him. However if the chief minister announced an election now the GSLP would be in turmoil. It would either have to have an internal election before turning its attention to the general election, a new leader could be shoe horned in – hardly an ideal solution - or Joe would carry on at the helm to after the election and then stand down, sometime.

Whenever the election is called the main issue should be the stewardship of Gibraltar’s affairs by the GSD since 1996. The public if the opinion polls can be believed had had enough of Caruana and the GSD and want a new government. The GSLP – Liberal alliance led by Fabian Picardo and Dr Joseph Garcia would offer the Rock a young yet experienced partnership. Equally another parliamentarian such as Gilbert Licudi could win the GSLP crown but the offering to the voters would be the same. If the GSLP went outside its MPs then we would have to see who was chosen to lead.

If it is Picardo or Licudi partnering Garcia then Caruana and the GSD would have their work cut out. The electorate has presumed that Bossano would be yesterday’s man by polling day so when asked who they would vote for have factored in his departure yet they still opted for the GSLP – Liberal coalition.

Bossano becomes an election issue if the chief minister moves quickly and leave the GSLP in turmoil with him still at the helm. Then Bossano and not the GSD’s record will be under the spotlight and that could prove fatal for the opposition coalition. I can see no reason why the GSLP cannot elect a new leader now - but if need be Bossano could lead the parliamentary team until the new man or woman has his or her feet under the table.

The GSD’s record in government has to be the issue and the attempts by the chief minister to wrap himself in the flag should fail miserably. First the GSLP and Liberals have been more outspoken than he in defending Gibraltar’s independence from Spain. In addition Caruana’s whole period in office has been dedicated to seeking accommodation with Spain through the Córdoba process and Trilaterals – that initiative now lies in ruins so trying to out Bossano Bossano won’t work.

Turning the heat on the Bossano issue would also deflect from the major problems within the GSD. Should Caruana run again or not? Will Montegriffo return? How many of the present government team will stand? Then there is the Feetham factor but that would take a whole article on its own.

(The above article appeared on October 20, 2010 in Panorama).

SEÑOR MORATINOS: DID YOU ASK ABOUT JORGE AND JUAN?

2010-10-19T20:01:00.003+02:00

Last Friday the Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, travelled to Morocco to meet with his counterpart Taib Fasi Fihri. The visit came two months after the incidents at the border between Melilla and Morocco which heightened tensions between the two countries.

Moratinos and Fasi Fihri held a working dinner to discuss the events of August in Melilla. A spokesperson said that following this encounter they had been able to smooth over their differences.

At the time Morocco accused the National Police on border duty of racist attitudes and violence against its nationals, a claim that Madrid strongly denied. The troubled waters were not smoothed when the former PP premier, José María Aznar, broke off from his Marbella holiday to go to the frontier in support of the National Police and Guardia Civil.

Last month Moratinos saw Fasi Fihri at the UN in New York when they discussed a bilateral conference to be held in Morocco early next year. This was days after the Spanish premier, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, had also been at the UN and met with Morocco’s King Mohamed VI in another effort to restore relations.

Fine! Morocco lays claim to the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla so tensions will always be present. In addition Spain seems to pussy foot around Morocco over the rights of the people of the Western Sahara having abandoned the territory in the dying days of Franco. But what about Jorge and Juan?

The two men from Los Barrios have been detained in Morocco since June 5 when a Moroccan patrol came to their aid after they drifted close to its shoreline in bad weather. They were first held for having entered the country without the required paperwork then found themselves on trial for drug trafficking and sentenced to three years in jail plus a hefty fine.

The Spanish consul in Tangier agrees there is no evidence to link the two to the drugs. The Spanish coast guard knew the identity of the owner of the Jet Ski that was found near the hashish but refused to hand over the information to the Moroccan court – because it would break the disclosure of information laws. The Andalucía ombudsman described the rejection of their appeal as an “outrage” and the politicians and people of the municipality – Los Barrios – are united in believing in their innocence and demanding their release. Perhaps crucially the ombudsman, José Chamizo, suspects the arrest and jailing of Jorge and Juan is politically motivated!

So I ask again the question – did Señor Moratinos raise the issue of Jorge and Juan with Taib Fasi Fihri?

The indications are he didn’t – which is a crime in itself!

THE PURPLE WINDMILLS OF YOUR MIND

2010-10-15T19:11:00.003+02:00

A reader in France sent me this email:

“Scientists have been researching how best to deter insects from being attracted to wind turbines, because they in their turn attract birds and bats. It appears that too many are flying into the blades and dying. Search has now shown that insects are attracted by different colours; they prefer yellow, then the white of the turbines, but are almost totally indifferent to purple.

So how would Sancho explain these purple giants to Don Quixote?”

Hmmm – a difficult one this. We all know that Cervantes' book is definitely not purple prose because he wrote in black and white.

So I think one would have to sing him part of the chorus of that wonderful song “The Windmills of Your Mind” (Les moulins de mon cœur). The music was by Michel Legrand with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. For those of you old enough to remember it was part of the soundtrack of the 1968 movie The Thomas Crown Affair. Noel Harrison (Rex’s boy) sung the lyrics which won an Oscar in 1969.

The lines go:

When you knew that it was over
Were you suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning
To the color of her hair?

That should do the trick.

But, “hey” you cry – “the colour was purple!”

How true – but surely Dulcinea del Toboso was punk!

FROM CATHOLIC TO SECULAR

2010-10-14T19:05:00.001+02:00

When I was young, which I admit was long ago, Spain was considered one of the most devout Catholic countries in Europe. Franco was at the height of his power and as church and state were intertwined no doubt devotion to the Church of Roman was one way of showing your equal devotion to the Caudillo – the chief.

In the intervening years, especially since democracy was introduced, there has been a major shift from dominance by the church to a more secular society. True Spaniards still show great devotion to the Semana Santa processions at Easter and to the celebrations for their local patron saint but they have little to do with organised religion.

Now according to data issued by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) there has been a major shift in how Spaniards get married. In 2009 more people tied the knot in a civil ceremony rather than the Catholic Church.

Last year 94,993 weddings were civil compared with 80,174 officiated in a church. In 2008 the church held 99,104 wedding services (19 per cent more than last year) whilst the civil total was 94,170. In 2009 there were also785 services involving “other rites” which is inline with previous years.

Since 2000 the number of civil weddings each year has increased whilst at the same time the number of church services have collapsed. In that year there were 163,636 church weddings whilst those carried out by judges, mayors, councillors and authorized people stood at just 52,255.

The senior professor of Sociology and professor of investigation of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientifícas, María de los Angeles Durán, says the explanation is the general process of secularization in Spain and the effects of the economic crisis.

Indeed the state of the economy may have speeded up the trend to secularization but whilst it is true that the Catholic Church is the major religion in Spain it is equally true that Spaniards are no longer devout Catholics.

LOS BARRIOS VOWS TO FIGHT TO FREE JORGE AND JUAN

2010-10-12T13:39:00.000+02:00

On Monday evening the people of Los Barrios gathered at the town’s cinema to form an action group to work for the release of Jorge Cano and Juan José Ramirez Ruíz.

On October 5 an appeal court in Tangier confirmed their three year jail sentence for drug trafficking plus a fine of 170,000 euros. The Andalucía Ombudsman José Chamizo called the court’s decision an “outrage” as there was no evidence against the pair. He added there was also evidence proving their innocence and suggested the conviction was politically motivated.

The Plataforma Cívica de “Libertad para Jorge y Juan José” has been set up by the residents of Los Barrios with the specific purpose of achieving their release and return home. The pair have been held since June 5 when their boat was rescued by a Moroccan patrol after they had got lost whilst fishing in fog and drifted to the North African country’s shoreline.

The group will organize and co-ordinate all actions and demonstrations on behalf of Jorge and Juan and ensure their legality. They will lobby the Spanish government as well as all competent authorities and diplomats to step in and secure the release of the pair.

In their manifesto the action group states: “the members of the civic collective…maintain our absolute and total confidence in the innocence of Jorge and Juan José, we have no doubt as to their honesty and the honour of both.” It also stresses they are not linked with any political or other interest group they just want their family, friends, neighbours freed.

Every day people are arrested on drugs charges especially in the Campo de Gibraltar. some come from Los Barrios, La Línea, Algeciras, San Roque, Tarifa, Castellar and Jimena, but the administrations or residents never rally to their support.

In stark contrast the full council of Los Barrios passed a motion declaring their innocence, the mayor and all party spokespeople travelled to Tangier to show their solidarity but most telling is the support of the people of the municipality who now will fight to have Jorge and Juan José freed.

THEY SEEK HIM HERE...And no I’m not Karina Pau’s father

2010-10-08T14:50:00.004+02:00

Great excitement in Jimena de la Frontera on Thursday morning. Just 30 minutes before this photograph of the popular Cuenca bar was taken the former mayor of Marbella, Julián Muñoz, was sitting outside sipping coffee. Within minutes a TV crew from Antena Tres had descended on Jimena trying to catch a sighting of Muñoz with his girlfriend Karina Pau who lives in the municipality and interview them.

Suddenly Muñoz disappeared, where to only he and Karina knows. Karina’s parents are Gibraltarian and recently Muñoz applied to the court to be allowed to visit them on the Rock on a monthly basis. Not surprisingly as Muñoz is currently in the dock in Málaga in the Malaya corruption trial – the largest of its kind in Spanish history - the judge refused to let him leave Spain.

Muñoz is alleged to have received 162,000 euros from the Malaya mastermind, Juan Antonio Roca, who was Marbella’s director of town planning. However the former mayor is also standing trial on a case linked to Malaya. It involves the famous singer Isabel Pantoja, who was his one time lover plus his former wife Mayte Zaldívar.

The case revolves around the time Muñoz was mayor of Marbella and the anti-corruption prosecutor accuses him of having siphoned off over 3.5 million euros of municipal funds for his own use. First he used his then wife, Mayte Zaldívar, to help launder this cash and once she was dumped the task fell to his then lover, Isabel Pantoja. It is alleged that Pantoja utilised the money to acquire an apartment in the Guadalpín Hotel and her house in Marbella, Mi Gitana.

If found guilty Isabel Pantoja faces three and a half years in jail plus a fine of 3.68 million euros. Julián Muñoz could be sent away for seven and a half years and have to hand over 7.6 million euros. His ex-wife Mayte Zaldívar would be handed a three and a half year prison term and a fine of 2.6 million euros. They each have to pay this money in to court ahead of the trial.

Given the large number of court convictions that are staking up against him it is no surprise that Muñoz is taking time out to enjoy a coffee in convivial surrounds whilst he can. There was one surprise yesterday. As I took a photograph of the Antena Tres cameraman I realised he was filming me. I later heard from my fellow journalist in Jimena, Alberto Bullrich, that they had rushed up to him demanding to know – “was I Karina Pau’s father?” Well you know that I am not, but hush, and let me enjoy my 5 minutes of Spanish TV notoriety.

JORGE AND JUAN VERDICT AN “OUTRAGE”

2010-10-06T16:33:00.002+02:00

Since early June I have been reporting on the plight of José Cano and Juan José Ramírez, two Los Barrios men who have been held in Morocco on drug’s charges.

Now the Tangier appeal court has confirmed the three year jail term which brought an immediate response from the Andalucía Ombudsman. He described the sentence as “unjust” and called on the Spanish government to act in this “outrage”.

That may well now be the case. Senator José Carracao, who is a friend of one of the family’s said last month that the Spanish government was acting prudently as it was a judicial and not a political matter.

However he stressed that the Spanish Ambassador to Morocco and the Consul in Tanger were working to ensure justice for the men. Now their appeal has failed it is likely that the ministry for foreign affairs and its counterpart for the interior, who have kept a watching brief, will become more involved.

On June 5 the two men had gone fishing off Tarifa with Jorge’s son, David. They got lost in the fog, strayed to near the Moroccan shoreline, called the Spanish coastguard for help but were detained by a patrol from Morocco.

Initially they were held for entering Morocco without the necessary paperwork and David was sent home. Then as a consignment of eight bales of hashish was found in the area of their rescue along with a Jet Ski they were charged with drug trafficking and sentence to three years in jail plus a fine.

The Andalucía Ombudsman, José Chamizo, called the sentence “unjust” and said they had proof of the innocence of Jorge and Juan. He said the men’s defence lawyers had given the court the name of the person who owned the Jet Ski that had been transporting the hashish. Initially the Spanish Coast Guard had refused to give this information to the Moroccan court as it said it would break the data protection act.

Chamizo is certain that the sentence of the court is a reprisal by Morocco for what it sees as the unjust sentences handed down to its citizens in Spain. Indeed the arrest came at a time of heightened tensions between the two countries over the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. Chamizo said the appeal court’s decision could only worsen relations between the two nations.

The Ombudsman also criticized the Spanish Government for its inaction over the arrest and trial of Jorge Cano and Juan José Ramírez. However if Senator Carracao is correct that could now see a dramatic change. Certainly the people of Los Barrios are in no doubt over the innocence of their two fellow ‘barreños’. The council has passed a motion supporting them, the mayor and political leaders of all parties have travelled to Tangier to show their solidarity and the people of the municipality have held a 2,000 strong protest. This action will now intensify until the men are set free.

LABOUR’S NEXT LEADERSHIP CONTEST

2010-10-04T18:33:00.002+02:00

In his respected blog ahead of the result being declared in the UK Labour Party leadership election Iain Dale wrote: “I am still at a bit off a loss to explain the reason why the Labour leadership contest has bored most people rigid - even those who have taken part in it. Most of my Labour friends say it has inspired no one and been a total letdown. The only explanation I can think of is that Labour is now in the position the Tories were in 1997 - no one’s really interested in what they’ve got to say.”

Few would disagree with that view but what happened after the result was announced with Ed Miliband defeating the New Labour favourite, his brother David – who then quit frontline politics, for now - was certainly exciting stuff. Bored rigid we weren’t.

Now all eyes turn to the next Labour Leadership contest – not in the UK but in Gibraltar. For in 2011 the leader of the GSLP, Joe Bossano, is due to stand down ahead of the general election with a new man (or possibly woman if one comes forward) leading the troops and their allies in the Liberal Party in to battle with the governing GSD.

The GSLP is a Gibraltarian animal yet its very roots are within the British Labour movement. The party was formed by Joe Bossano who had been a member of the old Labour Party in London before returning to the Rock and leading the TGWU. The actual creation of the GSLP took place with the guidance of a stalwart of the Labour Co-operative movement in London, Alf Lomas. Joe Bossano became leader of the GSLP, led the party in to the 1978 election, has been at the helm ever since and chief minister twice.

In his recent speech the chief minister, Peter Caruana, snipped at the coming leadership changes in the GSLP. Caruana is no fool; you do not get to be leader of your party over such a long term and win four consecutive elections, if you are not surefooted and rule with a rod of iron.

The GSLP is vulnerable to criticism over the long tenure of Bossano and that is something the outgoing leader and the party will have to address as the next election nears. However Caruana’s lampooning of Bossano has as much to do with deflecting questioning of the future stewardship of his own GSD as that of the GSLP. In addition his targeting of Fabian Picardo disguises the fact that the potential heir to the GSLP throne has inflicted a bloody nose or two on the chief minister in their battles across the floor of Gibraltar’s parliament.

Caruana is probably also wrong in his view that the new leader of the GSLP, if he or she won the election, would be a mere proxy for Bossano as chief minister. That may or may not be the intention of Bossano but once you step down the balance of power shifts and in its place would be a young double team of the new GSLP boss and Joe Garcia, the Liberal leader. Unlike the UK where the coalition rocks this relationship is tried and tested. Hence if Picardo wins the crown it would be very solid because both he and Garcia are from the same root stock.

I will refrain here from suggesting Fabian Picardo will be the next leader of the GSLP because as with Gordon Brown (1994) and David Miliband it was a case of heir today, gone tomorrow. There are other politicians in the GSLP parliamentary group and the wider party who might also throw their hats in to the ring and I think it is important that they should.

I believe the GSLP should have a leadership contest rather that an election by acclaim for two reasons. First the new leader would be strengthened by being the choice of the majority of the party rather than being the only anointed kid on the block. Second it is important that he or she shows they can win an election albeit an internal one.

Yet the chief minister is right in one aspect – it is vital that the GSLP under its new leadership redefines what it stands for –staying true to its founding principles but a new look socialist party for a new generation.

(Photo: Joe Bossano and Fabian Picardo at UN)

(Above article appeared in Panorama on September 4 2010)

OCTOBER 5 – DATE WITH DESTINY

2010-09-30T13:26:00.001+02:00

On September 28 the Tangier court that convicted the “Tangier Two”, Jorge Cano and Juan José Ruiz, met to consider the appeal against their drug trafficking conviction.

Whilst the court upheld the previous verdict it also admitted new evidence and will give its definitive ruling on October 5. Key to that decision making will be a report from the Spanish Coastguard – Salvamento Marítimo – which knows the identity of the owner of a Jet Ski that is key to this case. However the organisation would not initially release the information to the Moroccan judge because it insisted it would infringe the data protection act.

The case of the two men from Los Barrios has been covered here before but to recap they went fishing off Tarifa on June 5. In thick fog they drifted to the Moroccan coast and when they found they had no fuel radioed the Salvamento Marítimo for help. It was a Moroccan patrol boat that appeared on the scene and took the two men and Jorge’s son, David, in to detention as they had entered Morocco without paperwork.

David was duly released and it was thought the two men would follow him in days but then the Moroccan authorities said they had found eight bales of hashish close to where they were rescued along with the Jet Ski. Despite there being no evidence to link them with the drugs they were arrested, tried and found guilty largely because the Salvamento Marítimo would not release the information to the court on the Jet Ski’s owner, even though it had spoken to this person after it had broken down.

There has been a huge show of support in Los Barrios for the two men. The mayor and political spokespersons for all the political parties at the town hall travelled to Tangier to visit Jorge and Juan to show solidarity. The council passed a unanimous motion declaring its belief in their innocence and over 2,000 people gathered on the steps of Los Barrios town hall on September 20 to call for the men’s release. The Spanish ambassador to Morocco has been busy on Jorge and Juan’s behalf along with the Spanish consul in Tangier. Senator José Carracao, who is a friend of one of the families, told me the ministries of the interior and foreign affairs in Madrid have kept a watching brief although they point out prudence is the watchword as it is a judicial and not a political matter.

So now Jorge, Juan and Los Barrios wait for October 5 – their date with destiny. It is to be hoped that justice will finally be done. The good news is that the court, whilst confirming the original sentence on the basis of the evidence it had, will not lose face by overturning it having considered the new submissions. In Morocco saving face is important especially with regards to Spain which explains the softly, softly approach of that country’s politicians.

SPAIN’S LARGEST CORRUPTION TRIAL IS UNDERWAY

2010-09-28T19:13:00.001+02:00

On Monday September 27 the Malaya corruption case centred on Marbella town hall was brought before the Málaga provincial court. It was over four years ago that the first arrests hit the head lines and in the dock will be 95 people in Spain’s largest corruption case in the history of the nation. Indeed a special annex has been built on to the Palacio de Justicia based on that used in Madrid for the “March 11 2004” terrorism trial.

The man said to be the mastermind behind this massive town planning scam is Juan Antonio Roca. He was the director of planning at Marbella town hall and the prosecution will attempt to prove that mayors, councillors, officials and businessmen were all involved in his web of corruption.

It is estimated by investigators that Roca personally received over 33 million euros between 2002 and 2006 from his illicit deals. He had been in the post since 1992, brought in by the late disgraced mayor Jesús Gil, and was there to his arrest in March 2006.

The 33 million euros is said to have come in payments to Roca from property developers over that four year period. Many of them will be alongside him in the dock. Five million of this total was passed on by Roca to various councillors at Marbella town hall.

Of those said to have benefitted most from his largesse the former mayor, Marisol Yagüe, received 1.8 million euros – the largest amount handed out. Former mayor Julián Muñoz is alleged to have received 162,000 euros whilst the deputy mayors Isabel García Marcos and Carlos Fernández pocketed lesser sums.

However whilst Roca is known to have received 33 million euros from property developers the prosecutor believes he had the opportunity to misappropriate another 200 million euros from1997 to 2005. In reality the true total will probably never be known. He money laundered vast amounts of cash to hide their origin and in the process bought estates, a boat, an aircraft, a helicopter, hotels, houses and works of art.

Missing from the dock will be three people. The aforementioned deputy mayor Carlos Fernández was walking the Camino de Santiago when the first arrests were carried out – and kept on walking. He is said to have entered Argentina on his own passport with Tunisia and Chile as his most likely resting places. Former councillor Francisco Javier Lendínez was last spotted in Tarifa and is believed to have fled to Portugal or Morocco. Finally the more shadowy figures of José Manuel Llorca Rodríguez who is also said to be involved in the Ballena Blanca money laundering case and the Fórum Filatélico stamp investment scam. Nothing is known of his whereabouts.

A quick guide to the story so far:

March 29 2006 – The town hall was raided with 21 people including Roca were arrested.

June 27 2006 – Judge Torres ordered a second wave of arrests with 31 detained.

November 13 2006 – The last major arrests with 11 held including the former wife of Julián Muñoz, Mayte Zaldivar and her brother.

May 1 2007 – Arrest of the famous singer Isabel Pantoja, the former lover of Julián Muñoz who now faces a separate money laundering trial.

March 29 2008 – Judge Pérez releases Roca from jail after two years of preventive detention which caused a huge row as he demands his job back at Marbella town hall.

April 23 2008 – a high court judge reactivates the Saqueo 1 case and sends Roca back to jail.

March 4 2009 – Pérez processes the case against 20 people and enlarges the charges against Roca and Muñoz.

October 15 2009 – The first pre-trial hearings are held.

September 27 2010 – The trial proper starts.

MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN

2010-09-24T19:19:00.001+02:00

I am not a great film fan. I rarely go to the cinema. When I do I hope the seats are uncomfortable so I won’t nod off. I snored through Lawrence of Arabia in London's West End -probably the best thing. Yet with every rule there is an exception or a number of exceptions.

For instance I have seen Cabaret twice in the cinema and numerous times on TV. I saw Clockwork Orange four times, once in French in Paris. Yet the record of my viewing has to be Mad Dogs and Englishman – the film of Joe Cocker’s tour. I don’t know how often I saw it, but it was usually with the Wend in tow, and included at least one late night showing at the cinema in Surbiton in Surrey. So keen I was.

Although the film revolved around the Joe Cocker tour the star for me was singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist Leon Russell. He’d previously written Delta Lady which was a hit for Cocker in 1969.I revered Leon Russell bought his ‘Leon Russell’ album with ‘A song for you’ and also 1972 album ‘Carney’ which featured the number ‘This Masquerade’.

Now here’s the thing. In the film Mad Dogs and Englishmen Russell wore a top hat and had silvery grey hair. The same on his album covers. Hence as a trendy young man about Chelsea (and Swiss Cottage) I presumed he was an old timer hanging on.

So today I thought I had better check him out to see when he passed away. Well it was a pleasant surprise to find he is still with us but a might shock to learn he is only seven years older than me. Seven years! And whilst yes I did have premature designer grey hair (thanks again to the Wend and the all-star hairdresser Winston) he seemed to be wearing less well than me at the time.

Over the years Leon Russell has worked with the who’s who of musicians and singers Joe Cocker, The Carpenters, Jerry Lee Lewis, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Eric Clapton, The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Willie Nelson, Badfinger, Frank Sinatra, The Band, Glen Campbell and The Rolling Stones to name but a few.

Last year Leon Russell wrote songs with Elton John and Bernie Taupin which was recorded in February and will be released about now. I will buy it!

But, come on, seven years!

SING ALONG WITH THE WORM GANG!

2010-09-22T10:50:00.002+02:00

I hope to bring a smile to your face although this is a very serious subject. Actually it is James Machin who will wiggle your facial muscles and not me.

I first met James many moons ago at GBC, Gibraltar’s broadcaster, when he was producing a series of science films for schools.

Some years later and I met James again when he arranged to send me some information on “peak oil” which he was promoting on the Costa del Sol and in Gibraltar. At that time “peak oil” was a potty theory promoted by batty environmentalists of which James was proud to be one.

Times have indeed moved on and “peak oil” is one of the current buzz phrase used by financial analysts and politicians. “Peak oil” has gone from being an ecologists’ rant to the mainstream of political and economic thought and has been joined by “Peak food” and no doubt “Peak water” is lurking in the wings.

James has also been behind the movement to form Transition Towns in Spain creating with members of Ecologistas en Acción “Estepona – Ciudad de Transición’.

Now James has a new and rather exciting project the YouTube Channel Win, Win TV. He told me: “I launched a YouTube channel recently that is promoting “Transition” and is featuring Coín in Málaga province. It is also offering participatory food growing projects - primarily to city dwellers. The first project - Working with a Worm Gang is up.”

Indeed it is and if you are up for it – click here! I promise you will smile!

If you are interested in learning more about the important Transition Towns project which will become a main steam political theme in the future you can visit the UK website – click here

LIBERTAD JUANJO Y JORGE

2010-09-21T18:43:00.002+02:00

At 7.30 on Monday evening over one thousand people gathered outside Los Barrios town hall to show their support for two local men, Jorge Cano and Juan José Ramírez – who face three years in jail in Morocco on drugs charges. The mayor, councillors and residents all insist they are innocent.

I have reported previously on the “Tangier Two” who went fishing with Jorge’s young son,
David, off Tarifa on June 5 but in thick fog they found themselves instead metres from the Morocco coast with little fuel. They called the Spanish coast guard for help but were detained by a Moroccan patrol.

At first they were detained for having entered Morocco in an irregular manner – without passports – but later as bales of drugs and a jet ski were found in the area they were accused of trafficking.

There is no evidence to link them with the drugs and the Spanish coast guard knows the identity of the Jet Ski owner but will not release the information to the Moroccan court as it would break the data protection act.

Los Barrios council passed a motion voicing their unreserved support for Jorge and Juan on July 30 and the mayor and spokespersons of all the parties visited them in Tangier on September 9 to show solidarity and to review their case.

However Monday was the day when the people of Los Barrios came on to the streets to declare their belief in Jorge and Juan’s innocence and to plead for their release. Their court appeal is to be heard on September 28 and the Spanish consul hopes their lawyer will be able to reveal to the court the identity of the Jet Ski owner.

The Spanish ambassador to Morocco has been carefully watching the case and has been working in conjunction with the consul in Tangier. Their efforts have prevented Jorge and Juan from being held in prison until after their appeal hearing.

It is also known that the Spanish Foreign Minister and Minister for the Interior have been kept fully informed of developments. However as Senator José Carracao, who knows one of the family’s involved, stressed to me prudence was the watchword as it is a judicial and not a political matter.

There is a Facebook page, which can be found at: Libertad para Jorge y Juan, through which residents of Los Barrios have been showing their support. Now everybody awaits September 28, with their hoped for acquittal, especially as an agency of the Spanish Government could prove their innocence.

CANCER IS NOT GOING AWAY

2010-09-20T19:23:00.002+02:00

Spain will have 250,000 cases of cancer in 2020 which is almost 30 percent more than the 200,000 existing level. The data comes from the Agencia Internacional de Investigación en Cáncer that says the blame will lie at the door of an ever increasing unhealthy lifestyle.

The scientific co-ordinator of the national cancer strategy unit at the ministry of health who is also the director of Plan Oncológico in Cataluña, Josep Borrás, has projected a rise of 15 per cent across Europe bringing the level to 3.7 million cases in the next ten years.

In Spain 150,000 men and 92,140 women will suffer from cancer with 2,023,969 men and 1,660,214 women suffers across Europe. Experts say that prostate cancer will be the main disease suffered by men replacing lung cancer although its rate is increasing amongst women.

The reasons for the increase in cancer rates will be due to smoking, the lack of a balanced diet and insufficient physical exercise.

I doubt whether any reader of this blog has not been touched by the pain of cancer in some way. If these findings are right then cancer is not only refusing to go away but also is on the increase. I guess if we stop smoking, eat correctly and exercise then we could buck the trend. Yet cancer seemingly doesn’t discriminate between the outwardly healthy and couch potatoes – at least not in my experience. Our one hope is that whilst cancer cases may be on the rise so too should the number of people who contract this disease yet survive. That is the one statistic Josep Borrás didn’t give us – the statistic of hope.

A LINENSE VIEW

2010-09-17T12:16:00.006+02:00

Yesterday in Panorama I gave my prospective of the damage inflicted on cross border relations by the malicious scheme by the mayor of La Línea, Alejandro Sánchez, to impose a toll on vehicles leaving Gibraltar and entering his municipality.

It was a viewpoint garnered from Gibraltarians but I believe it is also important to listen to the views of somebody living across the border in La Línea. Hence today I bring you the thoughts of Juan José Uceda Gil who although Spanish and living in La Línea has worked in Gibraltar for many years. He is also the spokesperson for many community groups in the border town including the Spanish workers (ASCTEG) on the Rock. Here he expresses his own personal view.

I asked him what damage did he think had been done to cross border relations by the toll fiasco? He replied:

“I have to say David that the majority of people know it was a political move, of the same kind that the political leader of the PP in Algeciras, Sr Landaluce is always attacking Gibraltar in the media on the themes of the patrols, the jurisdiction of the waters, pollution from the bunkering tankers, the nuclear submarines even though there are none, the airport because he wants it to be Spanish. Always this is very unjust it is the same with the mayor of La Línea who has re-opened wounds that were almost closed from when Franco sealed the border.

“Of course on both sides of the border there are extreme patriots who say these things in bad temper or “mala leche” yearning for times past and to harm relations.

“I do not agree personally with the views and the encounters of the CC.OO and UGT unions with Caruana and the Gib union, they have held a political meeting which has more to do with the need for support for the general strike on September 29 than any long term commitment.

“Also they have forgotten the other side – the Spanish workers in Gibraltar who are suffering psychologically because of the origins of the toll row.

“It has prejudiced the commercial relations that the same mayor initiated some months ago with industry and commerce in Gibraltar and with Mr Caruana when Sr Sánchez said to the unemployed of La Línea that thanks to his meetings in Gibraltar they are now negotiating to generate employment on various projects for the “third age” and others which because of professional secrecy he could not reveal.

“In the end the people of good faith in La Línea and Gibraltar above all, must forget what has happened, but Gibraltar has the pain of the closure of the border and it will take many years until all this is cured. You cannot simply erase what our mayor has done.

“The fact is that the majority people who live in La Línea are against what he wants to do.

“Alejandro took a week before we met to discuss the toll proposal. The meeting produced nothing productive because he had a blind spot as far as the toll is concerned and he wouldn’t withdraw the idea and apologise to the people of Gibraltar. I told him his proposal would create conflict to the point where the government’s delegate would have to intervene and he hoped the national media would depict him as the ‘linease’ hero.

“The PP high command in Madrid with members who are anti British and for the Spanish flag in Gibraltar insist to Alejandro that he continues with the toll because this opens the way for these people who are followers of the dictator and now there is proof that some people in the military have sanctioned it and the press says that the military does not want an accord based on the government’s policy towards Gibraltar.

“We are now preparing leaflets, posters and petitions which we shall be using from 7.30 this morning (Friday) in Gibraltar to advise that on Tuesday September 21 we have a demonstration at the border, without blocking it, by the statue of the Spanish worker from16.00 to 19.00 and if there are enough supporters we will go from their to the town hall.

“On Friday afternoon ASCTEG has its second meeting to form a group or action group against the toll and we have invited all the political parties (except for the PP obviously), community groups and the unemployed to join us.

“Mi opinión y lo que vida día a día.”

(The above article was published in Panorama on Friday September 17)