alcudiapollensa

MALLORCA TODAY - Spanair might suspend activity

2012-01-27T19:38:00.000+01:00

Spanair, the Barcelona-based airline which closed down its Palma operations a couple of years ago because of financial difficulties, is experiencing ever more financial problems. Reports that the airline has applied to the equivalent of the Civil Aviation Authority to suspend activities are confused; the airline suggesting that no official approach to the authority has been made. The latest troubles at Spanair, which was badly affected by the accident at Madrid airport in 2008 when 154 people lost their lives, have been exacerbated because of withdrawal of funding from the Catalonian regional government and Qatar Airlines. The airline is currently operating flights as normal.

MALLORCA TODAY - Record unemployment figures in the Balearics

2012-01-27T18:06:00.000+01:00

2011 ended with the unemployed figure for the Balearics standing at 146,500 people, or 25.2% of the registered workforce. The total number of unemployed in Spain has gone over the five million mark for the first time ever, representing nearly 23% of the workforce, and the number of households in which everyone of working age is unemployed has risen by a staggering 18.6%.

The unemployment figure in the Balearics is probably worse than it seems, as it is one for those who are registered or who are entitled to benefit (if they can get it). It does not include the large number of self-employed who cannot apply for benefit.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 27 January 2012

2012-01-27T09:01:00.002+01:00

A mix of a morning, some cloud around but also sun. A high of 9 degrees at 08:30, but there is the chance of rain later. A weather advice has been issued for strengthening winds for tomorrow.

Afternoon update: The rain has arrived. The high has been 14.9. Things don't look too brilliant for the weekend, getting a fair bit chillier on Sunday.

Are You Being Served? Spanish retailing

2012-01-27T01:33:00.000+01:00

Ten years ago I splashed out 1500 euros on a decent digital camera. Having parted with the cash, the camera soon developed a fault. It turned out to have been just one of those things. The replacement was perfectly ok and served me for several years until it was stolen.

There had been no difficulty in obtaining the replacement from the retailer. I explained that there was a fault. There were no questions, there was no examination of the camera, and no quibbling whatsoever. The sales assistant got a new boxed-up camera and handed it over.

The point of this story is that the camera was bought at and then replaced by the main El Corte Inglés department store in Palma. El Corte Inglés doesn't do cheap. But what it does do is quality and service.

Gripes about service in Mallorca are legitimate, but there are many examples which disprove a widely-held belief that service is universally lousy. El Corte Inglés is one, and it is an example from a sector - retail - that is often damned for its unreliable opening hours and apparent lack of interest in the customer.

A while ago I mentioned the fact that it was hard to think of really world-class Spanish businesses. A correspondent referred to a handful which had escaped my attention, one being the Zara fashion store chain. Being strictly accurate, Zara is just a brand; it is one part of a suite of stores that comprise a company called Inditex. And Inditex has something in common with El Corte Inglés; they both feature in the list of the world's top 50 retailers.

The consultants at Deloitte are a busy bunch. They churn out surveys left, right and centre. Coming hard on the heels of one of Spanish travel agents, Deloitte has issued, in collaboration with Stores media, its 2012 "Global Powers of Retailing" survey.

This ranks, in order of sales, the leading 250 retailers across the globe. Dominating the top 30 are US companies - Wal-Mart is way out on its own at number one, but the UK's Tesco is number three in the world - but just under these real powerhouse companies comes a trio of Spanish retailers. El Corte Inglés is at 47, Inditex is at 49, but beating them both, and therefore Spain's leading retailer, is Mercadona, which is ranked at 42. There is only one other Spanish company in the 250, and that is Eroski (98).

It's when the list is broken down according to style of store that Spanish performance becomes more significant. Mercadona can't really compete with fast-moving consumer goods giants like Wal-Mart and Tesco, but El Corte Inglés is the world's fifth largest diversified retailer (beating Marks and Spencer into sixth place) and Inditex is the fifth largest fashion goods retailer.

The growth of Inditex has been impressive, despite economic conditions. It hasn't relied on acquisition but on expansion into new geographic markets. So well has it been doing that it is likely to overtake two well-known US companies, Kohl's and J.C.Penney, and is not so far behind Macy's, the world's number one fashion retailer.

Zara and Inditex's growth is in keeping with the fact that the most profitable of the retail sectors is fashion, but Inditex's success could also be a cause of competition. The Chinese, now developing quality brands but at lower prices, have been moving in, the likes of Mulaya seeking to take on Zara. But as with El Corte Inglés, a reputation for quality is likely to maintain Zara's strong position. However, where Inditex can expand into foreign markets, so can others.

Of UK (Irish) stores that many an expat has expressed a desire to have in Mallorca, Argos and Primark are names that regularly crop up. Argos would find it difficult, and the fact that at number four in the world's list of so-called hardlines and leisure goods retailers is Amazon.com partly explains why it would. Primark would be a different matter. It has already been successful in moving into mainland Spain and as it is also in Gran Canaria, then why not Mallorca? And it's not just the expats who would be thankful for a Primark. There is a Facebook page called "Queremos un Primark en Palma!" ("queremos" being we want) that has over 4,000 likes.

Analysts have identified over 140 cities in 12 countries that could be ripe for a Primark store. If there were more in Spain, and at least one in Mallorca, then Inditex may just have to watch out.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Miquel Llodrà receives three-year sentence

2012-01-26T19:14:00.000+01:00

The judge in the case of 87-year-old Miquel Llodrà who ran over and killed his wife in Pollensa in 2010 has condemned Llodrà to three years in prison; a jury found him guilty of accidental homicide.

MALLORCA TODAY - Matas Trial: Day Ten

2012-01-26T19:13:00.000+01:00

The evidence, summings-up by defence and prosecution and last words by defendants have come to a conclusion in that part of the caso Palma Arena trial to do with payments that were allegedly made in an irregular fashion to the journalist Antonio Alemany. Jaume Matas' defence lawyer argued that there was an absence of proof and that the prosecution had relied on suspicions and prejudice. Matas declined to make a final statement, as he is entitled to. Alemany did have his word though, accusing the prosecution of insults and making what may well be seen as an important remark regarding the case being unique in the history of grants to the press in Spain. (If nothing else, the case highlights a wholly unsatisfactory system of public money that is given to the press - my comment, not Alemany's.)

MALLORCA TODAY - Holiday home rules to get tougher

2012-01-26T09:15:00.000+01:00

The Balearic Government's draft tourism law would remove the category of the "vivienda vacacional*" by which is meant holiday home for rent (not apartments, which are covered nowhere in the new law or old ones, but standalone or, under the new law in some instances, semi-detached properties). The consequence of this would be that owners would need to declare themselves as tourism businesses or place properties for rent through an agency. At present, holiday homes are often marketed via agencies but many are not and owners do not need to be tourism businesses as such. The draft proposal is causing particular anxiety in Pollensa, which has a large number of holiday homes, and has led the mayor to seek amendment to the law.

* The draft does expressly refer to the elimination of this category and its replacement by something rather vaguely called a "tourism stay".

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 26 January 2012

2012-01-26T08:49:00.001+01:00

A bright morning, calm and a little misty with a high of 7.7 degrees at 08:30. Likely to get cloudy later on and then go pear-shaped from tomorrow with rain, snow on high ground and strong winds kicking in from Saturday. All in all, the next few days look poor but, as pointed out yesterday, this would represent a familiar breakdown in the weather at the end of what are usually good Januarys.

Afternoon update: The brightness and sun of the morning started to go during the afternoon. A high of 15.8, but this may be the best temperature for a time, if the forecast is to be believed.

The Disunited Front Of Mallorca

2012-01-26T00:48:00.000+01:00

Despite Francina Armengol having been slated by a report by her own party that condemned errors she made while president of the Council of Mallorca, she looks odds-on to be the new local leader of PSOE. And in true leadership-in-waiting fashion, she has been engaging in high-level diplomatic discussions with President Bauzá (in that politics in the Balearics can ever be said to be at a high level).

This might give the impression that Francina had initiated these discussions. It would be a false impression. Bauzá has finally deigned to speak to someone from PSOE, and other parties, and explain what the hell he's up to, though you might have thought that they could have figured this out for themselves. But Bauzá appears to have needed to have climbed down from his perch and seek some support from the opposition, given that many within the PP seem intent on deserting him.

Diplomacy to the fore, along with her own leadership aspirations, Francina has called for there to be a united front among the parties in combating the challenges facing the Balearics. This is all good spin-for-public-consumption stuff, but is of course complete rot. PSOE, or rather Armengol, might put on a united-front face, but you can exclude other parties. The PSM socialists, for example, are totally opposed to Bauzá's changes to the language law that would see Catalan disappear as a requirement for public workers. Bauzá has said he won't budge an inch.

Bauzá is placing so much emphasis on the reform of the language law, to the extent that it seems to have become cornerstone legislation of his administration even more than getting the economy right, that he can be seen as being either a strong leader or completely mad. It's a bit of both probably.

There is more than a hint of jealous rivalry about the opposition that Bauzá is encountering within his own party. It is rivalry that stems in part from the fact that he is relatively new to the heights of the PP. He isn't one of the old guard, many of whom have expressed their disquiet with the change to the language law. He is being cast in the role of the André Vilas-Boas of the PP, a young, Chelsea-like manager seeking to mould a team in his own style but coming up against the Terrys and Lampards of the PP dressing-room.

A united front of language will be an impossibility, but what of other government initiatives (such as they are)? There is really only one other, and that is the tourism law. Here, Bauzá has indicated that he might be willing to move. Whether he's told Carlos Delgado, one can't be sure, but the Armengol pow-wow resulted in two things. One was that town hall responsibilities for licences and permissions, which would be threatened under the revised law, would be reconsidered. The other was that he was minded to look again at all-inclusives.

The first of these is something he would do well to stick to his guns on. The town halls don't want to lose power. They should be told to get lost. Reducing their role would lessen bureaucracy, delays and costs. As for all-inclusives, it is intriguing, if nothing else, that Bauzá seems willing to consider them further. But in what way? He hasn't said.

The only provision under the new law that deals with all-inclusives is the ludicrous idea that by stopping tourists taking food and drink off-site this might help local bars and restaurants. It is the only provision in tackling an issue over which the regional government's hands are tied by the demands of tour operators and, to a lesser extent, the hotels themselves.

However, there is something the government could do. It cannot prevent all-inclusives, and nor would it, but it could apply, and in a very strict fashion, standards of service and of quality that would be hard for some hotels to meet. In theory, these standards are already meant to be met, but they clearly are not. The reasons why not are that the investment demanded would be too great and that some hotels would be forced to abandon all-inclusive, thus threatening tour operator relationships and overall tourism competitiveness in Mallorca.

Whether Armengol has any better idea or indeed if Bauzá has any better idea, one would doubt. As is usually the case, politicians can speak of united fronts and of looking again at policies (all-inclusive in this case), but the talk means little, as there is very little they can actually do.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - (Copa del Rey) Real Mallorca 0 (0) : 1 (3) Athletic Bilbao

2012-01-25T21:52:00.001+01:00

Two-nil down from the first leg, Mallorca faced a major challenge to try and get into the Copa del Rey semis. An open first half with Bilbao looking in the early exchanges to bury the tie completely, but Mallorca then coming more into play. With both sides pressing, Mallorca could find no way through Bilbao, throwing Castro on instead of defender Cendrós midway through the second period in an effort to break down the deficit. The introduction had an effect, but an own goal by Ramis sealed the tie after 75 minutes.

Mallorca:
Calatayud; Cendrós (Castro 68), Chico, Ramis, Bigas; Tissone, Joao Victor (Martí 78), Pereira, Alfaro; Álvaro (Victor 58), Hemed

Red: Chico (89)
Yellow: Ramis (90)

Bilbao:
Iraizoz; Iraola, Martínez, Amorebieta, Aurtenetxe; Iturraspe, Ander (Pérez 62); Susaeta, De Marcos, Muniain (Toquero 39); Llorente (San José 84)
Goal: Ramis (75 own goal)
Yellows: Amorebieta, Ander, Toquero, Iraizoz

MALLORCA TODAY - Alcúdia art and science museum in mothballs

2012-01-25T09:04:00.002+01:00

Maria Salom, the president of the Council of Mallorca, has described the project to convert the old power station in Puerto Alcúdia to an arts and science museum as having not been realistic. She criticised previous administrations for not appreciating the budgetary demands of the project which for now seems destined not to happen.

MALLORCA TODAY - Matas Trial: Day Nine

2012-01-25T08:56:00.001+01:00

In the prosecutors' summing-up in the part of the trial to do with the payments to journalist Antonio Alemany, Pedro Horrach expressed his "indignation" at the premeditated nature of the use of public finds made by former president Jaume Matas. He praised Matas as a good accountant (which he originally was) and Alemany as a good journalist but damned their manipulation of public funds and power.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 25 January 2012

2012-01-25T08:40:00.001+01:00

Quite a pleasant morning, still and some sun but chilly from 3.2 to an inland high of 9.8 at 08:30. Should be a decent day, but there is trouble ahead, the snow line now looking as though it will be down as low as 300 metres by Monday. If this change occurs, it is quite typical for a good January to end with cold weather.

Afternoon update: Another fine sunny day but with a chill breeze that doesn't bode that well, given the forecast, though the snow line has now been revised to be 500 metres higher. A high of 15.6 today.

Realising Potential: All-inclusives

2012-01-25T08:33:00.000+01:00

From seven options as to type of holiday, which one would you think would be rated as having most potential in 2012? The magnificent seven are: all-inclusive, singles holidays, adults-only hotels, city breaks, gastronomy/environmental tourism, wellness, sports tourism. Give up? Well, if you are a bar or restaurant owner, you may already have done. The answer is the first: all-inclusive (AI).

Deloitte, in association with "Hosteltur", has conducted its annual survey of Spanish travel agencies, the headliner of which has to do with potential. Rated from very little potential to much potential, AI has so much more potential than the other six that it outstrips the nearest contender in the much potential bracket by a clear 25%.

As those being surveyed are Spanish travel agencies, the clientele to whom they assign all this potential is also Spanish. The finding regarding AI, while hardly that surprising in terms of its attractiveness, is unwelcome news for the complementary offer that has been less affected by a Spanish demand for AI than that from other markets.

A shift in terms of AI's increased potential for the domestic market is easily explained, as the advantage of a set budget that comes with an AI package is as appealing to a Spanish family hammered by recession as it is to a British family (or a German one).

Along with the British and German markets, the domestic tourism market ranks in the top three most important markets for Mallorca. Until now, it has, unlike the other two, been less inclined to go down the AI route. Economics have, however, brought about a change. As far as spend by Spanish tourists in 2012 is concerned, the survey reckons that 94% of the market will seek to spend the same or less. In other words, it is looking for the best value for money. One can argue whether AI always represents this, but for many consumers, it does.

The survey does not signal great news for businesses outside the confines of a hotel complex, and it also doesn't signal particularly great news for the type of niche holiday offer of which Mallorca has had such high hopes for so long. Compared with the 38% much potential of the AI, gastronomy/environment and sports tourism are rated as having only 4% high potential. Indeed, when it comes to sports tourism, the survey suggested that it has little or very little potential.

This finding will come as a blow to resorts where investment is being targeted towards sports tourism; Alcúdia for example, where both the "estación náutica" concept and the "bienestar activo" (active well-being) plan are intended to both raise the reputation of the resort and eat into the negative effect of seasonality.

A survey is of course only a survey, and this is a survey of only one market and one conducted with a population that isn't totally neutral. Like some travel agencies in the UK form part of integrated businesses with airlines and tour operators, so also are some Spanish travel agencies similarly allied. Nevertheless, travel agencies offer as good a barometer as any other part of the tourism industry in indicating where trends are heading. And if the trends of potential are mirrored in other national markets, it is clear enough where they are indeed heading.

What stands out from this survey is that for all that niche attractions, such as sport or gastronomy, are given such prominence, it is the traditional holiday which still holds by far the greatest appeal (and potential for sales by travel agencies). What has changed is that the type of board that is offered is less traditional, i.e. it is all-inclusive.

It is possible to conclude that the holidaymaker, especially at a time when money is tight, goes for the safe option, which means foregoing a holiday that is less traditional. If so, however, and certainly in the short term, investment of the type that hotels are making in wellness facilities (spas, etc.) does not necessarily appear to chime with what the market wants; the survey rates wellness as only having some potential.

But wealthier markets, such as the Russian market, would probably have a different perception of potential or consumer want. Consequently, the investment in spas would be good business as they would facilitate an upgrading of star rating. The four and five-star hotel is increasingly the future for Mallorca, so long, however, as they hold much potential. And for the Russians, far more than the Spanish, this also means all-inclusive.

Nothing will stop the increase in all-inclusive. Nothing. Other than a change in tourist attitude. And this is not going to change.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Real Mallorca won't be sold to Swiss group

2012-01-24T18:19:00.000+01:00

No sooner had it looked as if Real Mallorca might be in the hands of new owners, than the club's directors have broken off discussions with the German-Swiss group which appeared to be willing to part with nine million euros to acquire it. However, as the head of the consortium failed to show up and as the right guarantees were not forthcoming, the club, and certainly not for the first time, has been made to look a bit silly. Compounding the usual confusion that surrounds Mallorca, there is a question regarding the moves of one of its shareholders, the German Utz Classen, who had vetoed his sale of shares; to effect a sale, it would seem that all shareholders have to agree.

MALLORCA TODAY - Matas Trial: Day Eight

2012-01-24T15:29:00.001+01:00

In court yesterday, the prosecutors confirmed that they would be calling for a sentence of eight and a half years for former president Jaume Matas in respect of the charges to do with payments to journalist Antonio Alemany. The prosecutors increased their demand to seven years where Alemany was concerned. This first part of the caso Palma Arena trial is now coming to a climax with summings-up being made this week.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 24 January 2012

2012-01-24T08:58:00.002+01:00

A greyish start this morning, the high 9.5 at 08:30. Things aren't looking too good for the end of the week and weekend with rain and snow on higher ground.

Afternoon update: A reasonable day with a fair amount of sun but not as warm, the high having been 14.8. The outlook does appear threatening for the weekend with rain and high winds.

One Day In Palma

2012-01-24T00:01:00.002+01:00

It is quite some years ago that I lived in a village by the moors above Bingley. Access to the village was by a winding and steep road that became treacherous in winter. There was very little in the village. One shop. One pub. And Harvey Smith's stables.

You will know, if only because of the former building society now bank, that Bingley is near to Bradford, which in turn is near to Leeds. It was only a few miles to Leeds, but it was to my astonishment when a woman in the village shop claimed never to have been to Leeds.

Never having been to London I could understand. Turning it around, why would anyone from London go to Leeds, unless they were a Millwall fan? But to have never made the short journey from Eldwick seemed extraordinary. Or was it?

There are degrees of geographical division and of not crossing the divides. A neighbour (Mallorcan) in Playa de Muro once said to me that he hadn't been to Puerto Pollensa for years. Yet it's only in the next bay.

But worlds are small. For all sorts of people. Mallorcan, British, whoever. In part, the smallness of the worlds is founded on inter-town rivalries and jealousies. Why would someone from Alcúdia want to go to Pollensa, or vice versa? This is not my posing the question. It is how the question has been framed by those for whom the twain of the two towns ne'er meets. Back in Yorkshire, it was the same. Bradford and Leeds never met. The only outsiders who went to Bradford were the lads from Keighley on the look out for a good ruck at a weekend.

Inter-city, inter-town, inter-village rivalries and divisions expand into inter-regional rivalries and divisions. North v. south. Rarely east v. west. Always the north-south divide. Bradford/Leeds and London. North of Mallorca and the south of Mallorca, Palma especially.

From the south, from Palma, the north is the north. It isn't the competitiveness of the individual towns. Not the attempts at one-upmanship nor the inference of one place being "better" than the other. Not the east-west divide in the north. The "Eastenders" of the easterly Alcúdia against the "Dynasty" of the westerly Pollensa. "East End boys and West End girls."

From the north, the south is the south. On a warm isle, the north-south divide is not one of climate. Not north, somewhere years ago and cold, nor south, birth to pleasant lands but dry**. But it is south nevertheless.

I was originally from the south (of England) but lived for some years in the north. The southerly origins were partly London's East End but I lived mostly in the West End. And now I am back in the north, but in neither the East nor the West End of the north. Muro is no-point-of-the-compass land. The town's name means wall, and hard though it once would have been to have imagined becoming walled in by the smallness of a world, there is that feeling, especially when the south calls to make it necessary to scale the wall.

Palma is the airport run, the occasional business run, the occasional officialdom run. It's more often than not a nuisance run. A would-rather-not run. But once there... . In the north you can forget that there are things like shop after shop with this and that. The sales are on. You can't really shop in the north. Not at the prices on display in Palma certainly. Not with the variety definitely.

You can forget the bustle of the city, an existence of life and purpose that in winter is all but absent in the north. The north is not somewhere years ago and cold, but for part of the year it is as cold as death.

You can forget the size and scale, forget landscapes dominated not only by sky. And you can forget that away from a northerly uneventfulness, drama is unfolding. So it was that, by chance, I was passing the court buildings in Palma. It was the end of the session. Alemany walked past me. The grey-long-haired Martorell came out, head bowed. I stopped by the gaggle of photographers and the girl from IB3 with a microphone. He smiled weakly but didn't speak. Jaume Matas. He looked shorter than I remembered him. He had just heard that the prosecution was still pressing for eight and a half years.

One day in Palma. And for a brief moment I realised why the south and not the north.

** "Refugees", Van der Graaf Generator.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 23 January 2012

2012-01-23T08:47:00.001+01:00

Brighter than was being forecast, a reasonable amount of blue sky first thing, a wide variance in local temperatures from 4.8 to an inland high of 11.2 at 08:30. 16 degrees on the cards for later, the forecast for the upcoming weekend is now looking dodgy with snow down as low as 500 metres on Sunday.

Afternoon update: So much for the forecast of cloud for today. Another fine, sunny day with a high of 17.

Bring Me The Head Of Antonio García

2012-01-23T08:39:00.000+01:00

Yes, I know. It was Alfredo García. But poetic licence and all that; the title refers to the Christian name and surname that head the lists of names in Mallorca and the Balearics.

There's something odd about these two names though. Neither is Catalan nor Mallorcan. Both are Spanish. Mallorca and the Balearics defend the languages but they have been overrun by Castellano names. García is followed by Martínez and Fernández. You have to look down the list to get to a Ferrer or a Pons. At a time when town halls are getting uppity about the suggestion that they should put the names of streets or towns into a Spanish form, the objection seems a bit odd when the names of the people have taken on a distinctly Spanish flavour.

This Spanishisation, if I can invent such a word, isn't all that surprising. Only just over 50% of today's population of the Balearics was born on the islands, and among these natives there are plenty who bear Spanish names. There again, it isn't always that clearcut with surnames, owing to the two-surname practice and which one is preferred.

And clearcut the history of surnames has also not been. It required a law in 1998 to actually formalise the right to use the Catalan form of a surname, and the origin of surnames that are identifiably Mallorcan is pretty obscure and complex. Few can probably be considered to be so; the more typical surnames, e.g. Serra, Font, Ferrer, come from Catalonia or other Catalan regions.

It will not be a surprise to learn that María and Catalina top the female list of Christian names. So regular and so prolific are Marías and Catalinas, as are Juans and Antonios, that if you bump into someone in the street whose name you have completely forgotten, there's a strong chance that if you took a punt on María or Juan you would be right.

It's a bit like the old Monty Python Australian sketch. "This is Bruce, this is Bruce, this is Bruce." Or this is how it seems. But there is more diversity of names than you might think. Well, Mohammed is now making a good name for himself at any rate. There is far less rigidity than was once the case where Christian names are concerned, though there is still a rule that names cannot be used that might expose someone to future ridicule. I'm not sure whether there is a system of changing names by deed poll, but even if there were, I would imagine that Facebookdotcom Forwardslash-MountaindewUK might not get approval.

Despite the fact that there isn't the old insistence on Christian names, the Juans, the Antonios, the Miguels, the Marías, the Catalinas and the Antonias remain two a centimo. Conservative naming habits endure, making for a uniformity that seems strangely out of kilter with the modern day. Or perhaps the choice of name is a holding onto tradition where others fall by the wayside.

This uniformity does come with a complication, one caused by the Spanish-Catalan divide. The Juans become Joans. To the unknowing Brit, Juan has changed sex, both in how his name is written and is pronounced. And you can throw in the confusion caused by those from foreign lands, such as myself. I am either Andreu or Andriu, though fortunately hardly ever Andres, as I might otherwise have to also answer to Ursula.

The enduring nature and tradition of Christian names is such that their popularity has not fundamentally been affected since the 1920s, and this despite an altogether more relaxed attitude. Juan, Antonio, Maria, Catalina. There they were at the head of the lists back then. Compare this with the UK. Of the top ten most popular names for boys in 2010, only two - Thomas and George - featured in a 1924 survey. As for girls, Doris, Irene, Joyce, oh and Joan, have all but disappeared.

But to come back to the Spanishisation of local names, if the Catalan radical tendency had its way, it would probably insist that all names were Catalanised. A junta comprising a determinedly Catalan Pep, Pere and Pau would issue the order: bring us the name if not necessarily the head of Antonio García and at least drop the "o" from Antonio.

Perhaps, but in the Peckinpah film, "El Jefe", who demanded the head, was played by an actor whose surname is number three on the Balearics list. Emilio Fernández. In the Spanish-Catalan battle of the names, it is the Spanish who win. Hands and heads down.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Rayo Vallecano 0 : 1 Real Mallorca

2012-01-22T17:53:00.000+01:00

Mallorca away in Madrid at Rayo, a team in a similar position in the league, i.e. towards the bottom. An even first-half, Mallorca, both teams creating opportunities, Ogunjimi showing encouraging signs with a couple of good headers on goal. Ramis, who had an effort with his right foot in the first period, put Mallorca in the lead with a header ten minutes after the break. Rayo, bringing on Perea, for the last ten minutes, looked to force an equaliser, but Mallorca were also still making chances, but there was no addition to the Ramis decider, so three valuable points for Mallorca.

Rayo:
Dani; Tito, Arribas, Labaka (Perea 80), Casado; Fuego, Movilla (Delibasic 66); Piti (Rayco 72), Michu, Trashorras; Tamudo

Yellow: Trashorras (72)

Mallorca:
Aouate; Chico, Nunes, Ramis, Cáceres; Martí (Pina 54), Tissone, Pereira, Castro (Nsue 81); Victor, Ogunjimi (Alfaro 65)
Goal: Ramis (56)
Yellows: Martí (30), Tissone, Chico (77)

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 22 January 2012

2012-01-22T08:31:00.003+01:00

Another fine and sunny morning with a coastal high of 8.5 at 08:30. The forecast has changed a bit and suggests that tomorrow will be cloudy. The rest of the week seems good but a deterioration is likely to occur heading into next weekend.

Afternoon update: 17.8 made this afternoon, so fractionally down on yesterday's high. A wonderful Sunday. Quite appreciable also, thanks to the sunny days, how much longer the days are getting. At 18:00, when it is pretty much totally dark on the shortest days in winter, there is still good light and the sun is only at this time really going down.

A Bigger Splash: Mallorca's gay tourism

2012-01-22T08:22:00.001+01:00

Do you remember the days of Miss World when it was an annual telly feast, Michael Aspel attempting to tease out nuggets of wisdom from Miss Wants To Travel And Have World Peace of whichever country it was? For some reason, the BBC decided it no longer wanted 30 million viewers, and so Miss World went peripatetic, guided as if by a FIFA of global female pageantry, finding its way to different continents and, in the process, giving a major boost to tourism in the city of Sanya in China, which has hosted the contest five times this century.

Beauty contests and tourism. It had never occurred to me that Miss World might be a positive factor in increasing tourism, but then why not? If the Olympics, a World Cup or even Eurovision can be, then so can a beauty parade that is beamed across the globe. Maybe Mallorca should try and get in on the act and put the Palacio de Congresos in Palma (when it's finally built) to some meaningful purpose and stage "beauty with a purpose" (as the Miss World slogan has it).

They may not be Miss World, but there are beauty contests in Mallorca. Angela Flores is the current holder of the Miss Balearics title, and in May the second Mr Gay Mallorca will be held in Cala Rajada. David Vilches was last year's winner and he went forward to the grand final of Mr Gay España in Madrid where he lost out to Mr Gay Murcia.

Not content with hoovering up whatever football prizes may be on offer, Spain has a highly creditable reputation when it comes to the European gay crown, having scooped the Mr Gay Europe award in successive years (2008 and 2009). So, aspirants to the Mallorca title in May will know that greater riches await if they can get through the provincial and national qualifiers.

But what of the tourism angle? Capdepera town hall representatives and the organisers of Mr Gay Mallorca have been at the Fitur tourism trade fair in Madrid, promoting the event in the Cala Rajada resort and explaining that lesbian and gay tourism is one of "quality" and that it adds value to the town. Lesbian and gay people can no doubt feel reassured that they are considered to be "quality"; in other words, they've got a fair amount of spare cash to splash.

Would the event really create more by way of tourism and more by way of tourism from a gay niche market for Cala Rajada? Possibly it might, but Cala Rajada isn't Sanya in China and Mr Gay Mallorca isn't Miss World. Neither have quite the same exposure or recognition. The first contest last year did, after all, attract only eight contestants; it wasn't exactly a massive deal.

In terms of creating awareness of the resort, there is probably some benefit, but a one-off event at the end of May doesn't equate to Cala Rajada becoming or being a gay hotspot. I might be wrong, but I would have thought that gay tourists would prefer somewhere with more of a, how can one put it, gay infrastructure. Palma perhaps, or more obviously Ibiza.

Part of the problem for Cala Rajada and for Mallorca as a whole is one of image. In general terms, Mallorca is looked upon as being essentially a "family" tourism destination. Not exclusively of course, but an alternative type of tourism, that attracted by the club scene, tends to be confined to Palma and to Magalluf. I'm not suggesting that all that gay tourists want are clubs, but clubs certainly are an attraction. And Ibiza has far more of a reputation in this respect than Mallorca and specifically Cala Rajada.

Going after the pink pound or euro is fair enough, but as with attempts to attract other new markets, there is the familiar problem of promotion being geared firmly towards the sun-and-beach family tourist. It is a further example of nibbling away at niche markets without the benefit of having created the appropriate impression in the minds of potential tourists or, in the case of gay tourism to a place such as Cala Rajada, of having the type of offer that might make it appealing for more than one evening in May.

Mr Gay Mallorca may put Cala Rajada momentarily on the gay map, it may make a very minor splash in terms of attracting the quality gay tourist with the cash to splash, but let's be honest, if it were a toss-up between Mr Gay Mallorca and Miss World, which would make the bigger tourism splash?

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - German-Swiss group offers to buy Real Mallorca

2012-01-21T09:44:00.000+01:00

An anonymous Swiss group, headed by a German businessman Stefan Wierig, looks set to purchase Real Mallorca for a total of nine million euros along with guarantees to cover 32 million euros of debt that the club is carrying. The group had previously made a bid for the club in 2009, but it was rejected in favour of the current shareholders. Wierig is planning to come to Mallorca next week in order to try and firm up the purchase.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 21 January 2012

2012-01-21T09:19:00.002+01:00

Sunny morning, a bit misty but looks splendid. Temperatures between 5.4 and 10 degrees at 09:00, climbing to 16 or higher later. The general outlook remains good and with only slight changes in terms of there being more cloud around.

Afternoon update: A cracking day with a coastal high of 17.6 and fractionally warmer inland, Pollensa making 18 degrees.

Buried Treasure: Alcúdia's Roman ports

2012-01-21T00:04:00.000+01:00

It's not every day I guess that if you are a bar, shop, restaurant or home owner, you come to realise that beneath you are hugely significant archaeological remains. If you happen to be one of these owners in Puerto Alcúdia, this is exactly the realisation that will have dawned on you. Part of the port area is built slap bang on top of where the Romans once had a harbour.

It was always known that there had to have been a port. Documentary evidence from mediaeval times spoke of a "great gate" to the Roman port, and older documents mentioned the role that Alcúdia played in maritime trade between the mainlands of Spain and Italy. But where was the "great gate"?

The excavations of the Roman town of Pollentia in Alcúdia old town have been ongoing since the start of the 1950s, and they have always focussed on one area in which there are, among other things, remains of the forum and of the Roman theatre. They have never been broadened out, but it is now clear that Pollentia covered a much larger area. As it was one of the chief settlements of the Romans, it isn't altogether surprising that its size was such that it stretched from one bay to another, from Pollensa Bay to Alcúdia Bay.

In 2007 a fortuitous discovery was made; fortuitous, that is, unless you happened to have been the owner of a plot of land in Puerto Alcúdia who was having the plot cleared to make way for a housing development. Work was suspended, and has been ever since, when pottery was found which was in keeping with that from the Pollentia excavations, the outer limit of which was half a kilometre or more away.
This discovery, together with the theories of a French archaeologist, led the Council of Mallorca in 2010 to commission an aerial reconnaissance of the sea. The discovery suggested that the great gate might be located.

The gate itself has not been found, but nevertheless the findings of the radar survey confirm the existence not just of a wall and jetties in the port of Alcúdia but also the smaller port in the area of Barcarés on the bay of Pollensa. They exist but they are covered up by the sea bed.

In Roman times the sea went inland almost as far as where the Roman theatre is, i.e. roughly a kilometre from the contemporary shoreline. (And it might be noted that in the old town there is the Porta des Moll, i.e. port gate.) Hence, the property owners of Puerto Alcúdia know that they are sitting on what was once a mix of sea and the wetlands of Albufera and the walls of the Roman port.

The owners needn't worry. There won't be any demolition to attempt to recover the old port. Apart from anything else, there isn't any money to do so, and the lack of finance is such that detailed underwater study is unlikely to occur either. The Council of Mallorca, enthusiastic under the previous administration, has shown a distinct lack of interest now that it is run by the austere Partido Popular.

While the confirmation of the two ports is highly significant, the chances of it meaning a great deal are limited. The confirmation has led to suggestions of further boosts to tourism as well as enhancements to Mallorca's Roman heritage, but tourism will, I'm afraid, be singularly unimpressed. Tourists like to see something not to simply know that somewhere under the sea are a couple of jetties and a bit of old wall.

But there might yet be more to see and might yet be some underwater activity. It would all rather depend upon getting round the fact that the sea in the two bays is protected waters and upon private interests, both legitimate and less so.

It is reckoned that there was an awful lot of shipping traffic that passed through Alcúdia from Roman times. And this traffic means that there may be other remains hidden in the sea in the two bays - wrecks and buried treasure. Pots of gold and pieces of eight. Dumas, it seems, may have got the wrong island; it wasn't Monte Cristo after all.

Though investigations of what lies beneath the water are unlikely, there is now a real question as to how far the current land excavations might extend and what these might mean for land that is undeveloped. There is bound to be far more for the archaeologists to unearth. Should it be done though? The excavations at Pollentia have been happening for sixty years. Archaeology can take an awfully long time.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Introduction of new health card criticised

2012-01-20T09:25:00.002+01:00

The introduction of the new Balearics health card, which costs each patient ten euros to renew, has been criticised because of the lack of organisation and processing which requires patients to have to go back and forth from their health centre to their bank in order to pay the charge, returning to the health centre with confirmation and then having to go through the process all over again. (It sounds remarkably like the farcical way in which residency applications are dealt with.) The lack of planning and the swiftness of the introduction of the card without the full system having been implemented correctly is compounded by the fact that the actual cost of the card is a mere 1.46 euros.

MALLORCA TODAY - Matas Trial: Day Seven

2012-01-20T09:25:00.001+01:00

Yesterday in court ... Things were still focussing on the journalist Antonio Alemany and payments to his Agencia Balear de Noticias, evidence from the Hacienda establishing that apart from public bodies the only client that the agency had was Alemany's own website, Libertad Balear, the implication again being that public money had gone to funding this enterprise.

Meanwhile, the Balearic Government has, for the first time ever, actually called for an ex-president, i.e. Jaume Matas, to be sentenced to imprisonment.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 20 January 2012

2012-01-20T08:52:00.001+01:00

Back to being a greyish start with 8 degrees the general temperature at 08:30. Brightening up later with highs into the mid-teens, the outlook for the weekend is for good amounts of sun and the same daily high.

Afternoon update: Quite a bit warmer than had been expected, an afternoon high of 17.6.

If Mallorca's Tourism Was Like Football

2012-01-20T01:51:00.000+01:00

Rather like no one believes the beleaguered football team manager (and a manager is always "beleaguered" when under pressure) when he fronts up before the camera and states that the lads in the dressing-room are all pulling together, so no one believes politicians when they claim that there are no splits or divisions in the ranks.

For once, it isn't the island's great leader, the president, who is beleaguered. It is instead the island's tourism minister, Carlos Delgado. The mercurial, the enigmatic Delgado seems to have lost the dressing-room of the tourism law.

The challenges to the guvnor's authority have been coming in both fast and furious; heavy, two-footed lunges from the defenders of institutional and municipal authority and responsibility. They are all part of the democratic nature of the process of finalising the law, suggests the boss. The lads can have their say, but I'm still the guvnor. We can anticipate a vote of confidence from chairman Bauzá being issued soon from the Consolat de Mar boardroom.

There are no splits in the PP dressing-room, says Delgado. But if not, then where had he been for a few weeks? Had he been diplomatically manoeuvred into the background while all the flak was flying? Not so, unless medical treatment can be considered diplomatic, as at the end of last year he had to go in for an operation on his back. Had someone stabbed him in it?

But what of the gathering at Bellver Castle of the various worthies who have formed Palma's premier league tourism foundation and who chose the castle as the venue to launch it? There was no ashen-faced Delgado to be seen anywhere. Surely this was indeed evidence of a split. Palma's mayor Mateo Isern had thought he was going to turn up, but he didn't.

No, this was also not indicative of any division. The non-appearance was due to getting back on the training ground after that incident with the knife. The guv was hard at work on tactics and moving the players around on his Subbuteo pitch as he figured out how they would all slot in once he had taken account of the democratic nature of the tourism law transfer window period.

Fully restored, manager Delgado has taken himself off to the Spanish tourism championship tournament in Madrid, otherwise known as the Fitur tourism fair. He was there for the presentation of the teams to Crown Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia. But his presence hasn't stopped the murmurings. Joey Bartons of the PP have been tweeting that not all is right in the camp and especially between the guv and the Palma premier league of Isern.

Why might they have fallen out? Could it be that Delgado sees the Palma tourism foundation as a threat to the hegemony of his tourism FA? Sees it as an upstart big-city club creaming off tourism promotion funds from major sponsors when the FA has to get by with promotional scraps from the government?

Not to be outdone, Delgado has unveiled some new players at the Fitur championship. Well, newish. He's been meeting with the Abramoviches of Spanish tourism, the Russian tour operators. And he's planning on a scouting trip to Moscow in March in search of even more faces to add to the Mallorcan and Balearics squad. Aware of what chairman Bauzá has said at Fitur regarding tourism being the locomotive of economic recovery, the guv is looking to pack his side with Russian and Ukrainian midfield dynamos, be they from Lokomotiv Moscow, Dynamo Kiev or wherever. The PP Joey Bartons had better watch out.

Results are all that counts though, and while manager Delgado can count on the Brits and the Germans to be packing the terraces once more this year, he knows that tourism is a game of two halves: the season and the off-season. Can he ever get the lads to perform in the off-season? In summer, when they cross the white line, any divisions in the dressing-room can be set aside.

He hopes that the tourism law might mean a change to the long ball and a longer season, but can he take the lads with him? Chairman Bauzá will be wanting him to, as he has his own divisions to worry about away from the pitch. But if the fans' clamour for Delgado grows so loud he can't ignore them, there's one replacement he won't be offering the job to - the one-time Real Mallorca defender Pastor and currently manager of Manacor. He doesn't need any more heavy, two-footed lunges from defenders to have to contend with.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Confirmation of two Roman ports in Alcúdia

2012-01-19T09:25:00.001+01:00

The theory that there were two ports in Roman Alcúdia (Pollentia) has been confirmed thanks to the aid of aerial radar observation. It is now established that there was a port on the bay of Pollensa (in Barcares) as well as one right slap bang in the modern-day port area of Alcúdia. The theory as to the location of this latter port was given a boost when discoveries were made on a plot of land being prepared for development on the corner of the Coral and Mar i Estany streets (opposite the Coral del Mar hotel) in late 2007. Work on the site has been suspended ever since.

MALLORCA TODAY - Opposition combine against Ullal plan

2012-01-19T09:18:00.001+01:00

The opposition parties on the left in Pollensa together with the UMP party in Puerto Pollensa have now officially combined in opposing the moves of the town hall administration to have the area of Ullal reclassified so that it can be urbanised. (See previous article: The Best Laid Plans, 16 January.)

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 19 January 2012

2012-01-19T08:58:00.001+01:00

A bright, sunny and chilly Mallorcan winter morning, between 3 and 7 degrees at 08:30. The forecast is looking fine through the weekend with highs, like today, at 16.

Afternoon update: A good, sunny day with a high of 15.6.

Hot Air: Environment and energy

2012-01-19T08:53:00.000+01:00

For an island where a colossal amount of hot air is generated in variously discussing or debating and defending or destroying the environment, Mallorca does one environmental thing particularly badly. Energy provision. It is getting better and electricity supply from the mainland will help to reduce the reliance on the emissions-spewing power stations such as that of Es Murterar by the Albufera nature park, but in overall terms of clean energy, Mallorca is far from clean. In fact, it is downright dirty.

The salvation can seem obvious. Island. Plenty of sun and sunny days. Plenty of wind. Plenty of water, in the form of waves. Renewables, to give these alternative sources their generic title. Plenty of all of them, but what do they amount to? In all, Mallorca and the Balearics generate just over 1% of electricity from renewables. Yes, the environment creates a lot of hot air but there is precious little by way of hot or cold air created by the environment's natural resources.

The recent history of developing alternative energy sources has been a shambles. A much-heralded national plan for a green economy has backfired spectacularly. It has driven up the cost of energy and has created little or nothing by way of new sources. Indeed, central-government policy has been such that getting on for fifty separate projects for solar energy on the Balearics have been rejected.

In addition, and ironically given that the failure of the green economy plan has caused prices to rise, the goverment's wish to reduce the consumer's burden means that that part of the renewables industry which dedicates itself to what solar supply there is will get 30% less revenue.

A reason for the failure of renewables lies with the cost-benefit equation. A factor, however, in the cost of renewables is that of scale. And to increase scale demands investment, which has meant a half-hearted commitment.

Though the failure has been primarily that of central government, there are local examples of how half-hearted this is. A scheme whereby grants from the regional government for up to 30% of the cost of installation of renewable energy could be applied for by householders has been short-lived and has not been heavily publicised; the period of eligibility for applying ends on 22 January.

The regional government, though, is planning to raise its renewables game. Sort of. In accordance with a national desire for renewables to comprise 20% of energy sources by 2020, there is going to be an investment of three million euros for developing renewables installations in the Balearics. Three million. It doesn't sound like an awful lot. In fact it sounds like distinctly lukewarm air being generated by a government that wishes to show it has something by way of green credentials but not very many.

Despite the lack of commitment, new initiatives for creating alternative energy sources keep popping up. One of these is not the first thing you might think of when it comes to Mallorca and its renewables. Rather than sun, wind or waves, there are also the forests, and forests mean biomass. Over 11,000 homes could be supplied, or so it is being claimed, with biomass energy.

There are different types of biomass. Crops are one, forest residues are another. But harvesting woody material from forests brings its own potential environmental problem, which is one of ensuring that stocks do not become depleted and that the ecology of the forests isn't harmed fundamentally. There is a further problem in the Balearics, and that is that there hasn't been a forest-management plan as such. This was highlighted in connection with the fires last year. A plan is meant to now be established along with investment in forests. To what extent this plan is being drawn up in a joined-up fashion between government departments for the environment and energy in order to guarantee biomass supply is anyone's guess.

The Balearics have a fair old amount of forest and woodland: a third of the land to be more or less precise. Biomass would form only a part of the islands' energy needs, but it may well help in getting somewhere near to that target of 20%. Much would depend, however, on how it was processed and converted. It could, for instance, be mixed with coal at the power stations and so contribute to a reduction in both cost of electricity and of emissions.

Biomass does have potential but like other renewables whether ultimately there is the will to exploit it is another matter. The experience with solar has not been encouraging other than in encouraging a lot of debate but very little action.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - (Copa del Rey) Athletic Bilbao 2 : 0 Real Mallorca

2012-01-18T21:51:00.000+01:00

Cup quarter-finals time, first leg for Mallorca away in Bilbao and taking the competition more seriously now, fielding pretty much a full-strength side. Following the thrashing of Real Sociedad in the last round and the unlucky and brave match against Real Madrid in the league, Mallorca would have gone into the quarter-final with confidence. In what was a pretty even first half in which Mallorca were outpassing Athletic, the away team were unlucky to go a goal down after 35 minutes: Llorente, the Spanish international, with a header. The introduction of Pérez by Bilbao at half-time had an effect in creating more opportunities and a second goal came through a Muinain header 13 minutes into the period, with Mallorca beginning to show a familiar failing of lack of discipline. Mallorca pressed hard towards the end but couldn't restore some balance to the tie, the second leg of which will be at the Iberostar stadium next Wednesday. Mallorca will know that they can come back, as they did against Real Sociedad, but Bilbao are not Sociedad.

Athletic:
Iraizoz; Iraola (Pérez 45), Martínez, Amorebieta, Aurtenetxe; Iturraspe, Ander (San José 86); Susaeta (Toquero 89), De Marcos, Muniain; Llorente
Goals: Llorente (35), Muniain (58)
Yellows: Llorente (9), Muniain (77)

Mallorca:
Calatayud; Cendrós, Nunes, Ramis, Cáceres; Tissone (Martí 56), Joao Victor, Pereira, Castro (Nsue 66); Victor, Hemed (Alfaro 45)
Yellows: Cendrós (44), Tissone (48), Nunes (54), Pereira (57), Joao Victor (85)

MALLORCA TODAY - Matas Trial: Day Six

2012-01-18T09:06:00.001+01:00

More on how funds from the Matas government were allegedly spent by the journalist Antonio Alemany yesterday at the trial. A car is supposed to have been purchased with public funds and it would seem that the grant which went towards founding Alemany's Agencia Balear de Noticias was used to also fund his own website, Libertad Balear. Indeed, the agency and the website seem to have been more or less one of the same.

Meanwhile, there is some pretty astonishing stuff coming out regarding allegations of how public money to the Duke of Palma's Instituto Nóos went on funding the lifestyle of the Duke and Princess Cristina. It is all getting worse for the couple and is increasingly damaging to the reputation of the Royal Family.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 18 January 2012

2012-01-18T08:53:00.001+01:00

Sun with some cloud about, temperatures between 4 and a high of 8.2 at 08:30. Due to be mainly cloudy today with temperatures in the low to mid teens. Despite the general forecast issued by AEMET yesterday for rain and colder weather coming across from the mainland, there is little in the local information to suggest much of a change over the next few days.

Afternoon update: Very normal and unremarkable day with some sun and some cloud and a high of 14.8. Looking sunnier and a little bit warmer till the weekend.

Making Sense In The Bedlam: Language

2012-01-18T08:45:00.000+01:00

Amidst bedlam the more mundane can suddenly take on potential significance.

It is Muro town on the night of the demons' horror show of Sant Antoni. The square in front of the town hall building and the frighteningly imposing Sant Joan parish church is ablaze, echoing with crashes and bangs, full of demons racing, roaming, spitting fire and letting off their own explosions.

From the safety of the balcony of the town hall various dignitaries and their invited friends look down on the mayhem. Mayor Fornés, who has engaged in some remarkable spats with his local police force, might have spent a moment or two diverting his attention from the demonic proceedings to observe his police in action. He wouldn't have been able to hear them speak, but had he, would he have approved?

A lone police officer was controlling the crowds in the area of the square where we had gathered to have fire rain down on us and to have demons creep up on us. He was constantly insisting that spectators moved onto the square itself or away from the church's forecourt. He was close enough, regularly enough, for it to be possible to hear him speak. And all he spoke was Castellano. Not Catalan, not Mallorquín but Castellano.

Why should this be of any significance? Was it the case perhaps that he didn't speak Catalan? This would be most unlikely. Local police are local, and Muro town, like its neighbour Sa Pobla, is about as Catalan/Mallorquín as you can get, a place of impenetrable dialect and accent that is uttered as though the local potato harvest was being consumed by the speaker.

Whereas the Guardia Civil speak Castellano and Castellano alone, the local police are not bound by rules that equate language with the defence of Spanish nationhood. Indeed, as public servants, they fall into the broad category of worker in Mallorca of which Catalan has been demanded as the language to be used and to be adept in.

It is this requirement, and the challenge to it by the Balearic Government of President Bauzá, that is at the heart of all the kerfuffle that is cracking off regarding the government's wish to remove Catalan as a requirement for those in the public sector.

The police officer, however, may have taken it upon himself to appreciate that a pragmatic approach to doing his crowd-control duties was to communicate in a language that he would know would be understood by all, except that is for the Brits and others who can't do any of the different natives. The night of Sant Antoni is not exactly a case of life or death, but in theory an unwary spectator could go up in flames. Speaking Castellano was not just pragmatic, it was common sense.

It is the pragmatism and common-sense cards that are generally played in the great language debate. Though the use of Castellano forms the basis of the pragmatic argument, what is currently happening in Mallorca is a singular lack of pragmatism and common sense - on behalf of the Balearic Government.

At a similar time as the police officer was organising the Muro crowds, police in Sa Pobla had to intervene to protect President Bauzá from a hostile reception. The boos and jeers that Palma's mayor has had to endure twice because of his own insistence on using Castellano were ringing out in Sa Pobla as well to greet Bauzá. And also at a similar time, the father of the island's Partido Popular, the first president of the Balearics Gabriel Cañellas was saying how little a battle over language was needed. The government should convince not enforce; this, more or less, was what he was saying.

Mayor Fornés may have approved of the police officer's use of Castellano, or he may have disapproved. In Muro, Fornés is a member of a local offshoot of the PP. He will be well aware that in the town itself the predominant tongue is most definitely Mallorquín, yet it is not necessarily so in the town's resort. And so it is with other towns with resorts. The cosmopolitanism of the resorts contrasts with the traditionalism of the towns, and it is the demographic tension even within the boundaries of individual municipalities that exacerbates the language debate.

It is a debate into which pragmatism and common sense find it difficult to intrude. But if there is to be common sense, it might be an idea for the wise words of the PP's grand old man to be acknowledged. The battle is not needed and most certainly not at the moment, because all the battle results in is bedlam.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Government to approve lower airport taxes

2012-01-17T10:04:00.001+01:00

Following a meeting between Isabel Borrego, the national tourism secretary-of-state, and President Bauzá, central government would appear to be moving towards a reduction in airport charges that will help in improving off-season flights. The Balearics and the Canaries are, it would also appear, to receive preferential treatment in this regard. The government prefers this method of incentive to that of subsidies, as it considers them to be discriminatory.

MALLORCA TODAY - Matas Trial: Day Five

2012-01-17T09:53:00.000+01:00

The fifth day of the trial concentrated mainly on the affairs of the journalist Antonio Alemany. His nephew admitted that he was the figurehead in companies formed by Alemany as the journalist did not wish to "figure" in them. Also, it was revealed that Alemany's news service, Agencia Balear de Noticias, which was set up during the Matas period of administration, was funded almost solely with government money, a "maximum" grant of 450,000 euros having been awarded, one that was sanctioned by the head of communication in the government, Joan Martorell, who is also on trial along with Matas and Alemany.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 17 January 2012

2012-01-17T09:33:00.001+01:00

A blowy, partly sunny but damp morning, with rain around. Much warmer though, with a high just over 14 degrees at 09:00. The weather was, in the end, just about kind enough for the fire night, there being the odd bout of rain but nothing that could dampen the events or the fires.

Afternoon update: A good, sunny day, a coastal high of 14.8. The met office suggests that a cold and wet front is moving towards the Balearics, though its own forecasts don't reflect this as yet.

Cleaning Hands: Garzón and the Duke

2012-01-17T09:27:00.000+01:00

There are times when news reports make you sit up and pay particular attention. They do so because something crops up that you hadn't expected or makes you wonder what it has to do with otherwise repetitious news.

So it was with a news item related to the Duke of Palma affair. This is all terribly repetitious as it is a constant diet of evidence being made public that appears to drop the Duke ever deeper into it. But this particular news item referred to an organisation that I hadn't been aware of playing a part in the affair.

It was the headline that caught my eye. It referred to a "denuncia" against Iñaki Urdangarin (the Duke) by Manos Limpias. It was Manos Limpias that I had not expected. What did it have to do with the case against the Duke?

You might well ask what Manos Limpias is. Its full name is Colectivo de Funcionarios Públicos Manos Limpias, a union of public-sector workers that has only a few thousand members. Why should a union be involving itself with Urdangarin?

The denuncia was raised in Valencia and has to do with accusations of fraud against the Duke and his institute and accusations against representatives of the Valencia Generalitat. The court in Palma which is overseeing the case against the Duke has yet to be decide if the Manos Limpias denuncia will be incorporated into its own proceedings.

In the sense that the public authority in Valencia has been implicated, one can see why a public-sector union might become involved. But Manos Limpias is more than a union. Its name means "clean hands", and it works against corruption of different types, hence its name, and devotes a great deal of energy in pursuing cases of corruption and also in issuing denuncias.

On the face of it, this seems all perfectly laudable, but Manos Limpias operates with a very specific agenda, one that is well to the right of the political spectrum. Its founder was a leading light in the National Front, a party that was wound up in the first half of the 1990s and whose politics were as you might expect given its name. The founder, Miguel Bernard Remón, has been honoured by the Francisco Franco National Foundation; yes, that Franco.

Of other of its denuncias, perhaps the most celebrated is that against the judge Baltasar Garzón. The case against Garzón for exceeding his powers and going against the post-Franco amnesty in seeking to order exhumation of graves and to pursue crimes against humanity related to the Civil War and afterwards has largely been the doing of Manos Limpias and the current-day Falange.

Manos Limpias has not, though, issued just one denuncia against Garzón. There have been nineteen since the 1990s. The union says it doesn't have anything against Garzón, but the frequency with which it has denounced him does rather suggest otherwise.

The case against Garzón related to the Franco-era investigation, which is to come to court this month, is political, pure and simple. State prosecutors had rejected charges against Garzón, so the court case, as also with one to do with the so-called caso Gürtel, under which Garzón was pursuing Partido Popular politicians for corruption, is in effect a private prosecution.

The Garzón affair is frankly an embarrassment to Spain. He may have got carried away with his own celebrity and power, but the hounding of Garzón throws up unpleasant questions about the forces of the right and far right within the country and about the lingering legacy of Franco which Garzón sought the opportunity to investigate and which others denied him.

But what of the Duke of Palma? There is no direct link with Garzón, but there is now a common theme of Manos Limpias. The allegations against the Duke are another embarrassment - to the Royal Family - and his wife, Princess Cristina, is being dragged into the affair more and more, Manos Limpias having also called for a tax-office inspection into her links with the Duke's businesses.

There is a real fear that the Royal Family will be discredited as a consequence of what the Duke may or may not have done. And at the head of the Royal Family is King Juan Carlos, the man who rejected Francoism and the man who put a stop to the attempted coup in 1981.

In Spain there is a law of historic memory that is designed to remove the symbols of the Franco period. In Spain, however, there is also a long memory of Franco. Garzón didn't want to let it go, and nor do others want to let it go.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 16 January 2012

2012-01-16T09:26:00.002+01:00

A cold night and early morning, the temperature down to under two degrees in parts. At 09:00, the high is not yet 7 degrees. But it is quite a sunny morning, though with cloud around that, according to the forecast, will build up and bring rain this afternoon and evening.

Afternoon update: Well, not as bad as had been forecast, a high of just under 14, but the rain arrived at about 16:00 in some parts. The skies have become very grey and the wind has picked up.

The Best Laid Plans: Water and tourism

2012-01-16T09:17:00.000+01:00

Plans for everything. Central government has plans, they are passed onto the regions which approve them or alter them, then central government changes and changes its mind, these changes are passed onto the regions which approve or alter the original alterations, but only after months of public consultation, at the end of which they probably don't do anything.

Among all the various plans for this or that, there is one for water resources. It is grandly known as the "Plan Hidrológico". In Mallorca and the Balearics, as with other regions, the plan refers not just to the provision of water but also to areas of water, i.e. the wetlands. As opposed, for instance, to wells and other underground water sources as well as overground reservoirs, it is when the visible wetland environment comes to the fore that plans become that much more complicated, because one plan is likely to conflict with another.

The water plan is out for revised public consultation, the new regional government having got central government to agree to a further consultation that is due to finish at the end of this month. But only recently has the plan been taken much notice of. And this is because the government is minded to change provisions of the plan that were approved almost a year ago and because only now have the impacts of these provisions come to be understood.

One impact would be on parts of Puerto Alcúdia. For those of you not familiar with Puerto Alcúdia's geography, much of the resort is built on reclaimed wetlands, i.e. Albufera. It is the remaining wetlands and the restoration of wetlands which fall under the plan's provisions. The restoration would affect the public swimming-pool and sports centre, the Club Mac hotel complex and the Lidl supermarket; to the extent that some demolition would need to occur.

This is most unlikely to happen. And nor indeed should it, as it would be complete and utter folly. It is unlikely to happen because the new government is less minded to be as environmentally zealous as the former environment minister Gabriel Vicens was. Vicens, in approving the plan last February, spoke of investments running to nearly three thousand million euros up to 2027 that would have turned Mallorca into one vast lake. I exaggerate of course, but the plan's provisions placed conservation over and above other considerations.

This is not to play down the importance of the water plan. It is hugely important, but where the visible water environment and therefore the island's ecology are concerned, it runs up against plans regarding land classification and usage, such as something known as POOT. This is the plan which classifies land that can be used for tourism purposes. And it is in Pollensa where the conflict between the water plan and POOT is being highlighted.

As a further geography lesson for those who don't know, the wetlands of Albufera, i.e. along the bay of Alcúdia, used to once upon a time connect with those along the bay of Pollensa, which are now Albufereta and La Gola and also the area of Ullal in Puerto Pollensa.

This area was earmarked by the previous town hall administration in Pollensa for development. Until, that is, the idea came up against how it was classified. The current town hall wants it to be de-classified under the water plan and then re-classified as POOT land. (I do hope you're following all this.) The government, it would seem, is likely to agree with the town hall, and this has provoked all manner of opposition.

Yet the opposition does not come from the resort's businesses. In the summer of 2010, when businesses led a protest against Pollensa town hall's management of Puerto Pollensa, one of the demands was for more tourism accommodation, and Ullal would be the most likely place for such accommodation to be built.

Opposition comes, not unexpectedly, from opposition parties. In addition to wishing Ullal to remain as a wetland, they claim that the town hall's architect doesn't know what he's talking about in presenting reasons for Ullal's wetland status to be removed and shouldn't even be having his say anyway, as it should be down to an environmental expert.

One can sympathise with both sides in Pollensa, as one can sympathise with the environmental and ecological arguments that would require wetland restoration in Alcúdia, but the proliferation of plans with differing aims, to say nothing of the proliferation of agencies of government and the changes to plans when these agencies themselves change, means that nothing ends up happening. Or if it does, it takes years for any decision to be agreed. The best laid plans ...

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 15 January 2012

2012-01-15T08:43:00.002+01:00

A cloudier start, some blue sky about and temperatures at 08:30 between 4 and 9 degrees. The rain prospects for tomorrow are such that showers now seem inevitable in the afternoon and for the evening's fire events, with highs, similar to today, struggling to 14 at best. The general outlook shows an improvement on Tuesday afternoon and through the week with a further deterioration at the weekend.

Afternoon update: An unremarkable day with a high of only 13.6.

Rebel Yell: Mallorca's Catalan civil war

2012-01-15T02:18:00.000+01:00

Simón Ballester, known also as Simó Tort, was born in Manacor some time in the first half of the fifteenth century. In the middle of that century, Ballester, supported by, among others, chiefs from Muro and Inca, led an uprising against the governor of Mallorca. The revolt failed, he fled to Menorca but in 1457 was returned to Mallorca and was executed.

Antoni Pastor, the mayor of Manacor, will not anticipate being executed. But he faces a sort of political death, if only a political death within the Partido Popular as it currently is. He is threatened with proceedings against him for going against the party line on language policy and having made himself the leader of internal opposition within the party and the principal defender of Catalan within the party - all against the wishes of President Bauzá.

When Ballester led the uprising in the fifteenth century, it was to Palma that he took his revolt. Together with others from the regions of Mallorca, he was at the head of opposition to an "odious" governor, barricaded in Palma.

The war that has broken out in the PP has more than just the similarity of Manacor being the source of the revolt. It is being styled as a war between Palma and the regions. If President Bauzá and his administration had believed that PP-led town halls would acquiesce to changes to law which will downgrade Catalan, he was clearly very much mistaken.

As with Ballester, who could count on Inca to back him, so Inca has rode to Pastor's side. The town's mayor has expressed a "predisposition" to back him but perhaps more significantly so has Cristòfol Soler, still an Inca politician and formerly, for a brief while in the 1990s, a PP president of the Balearics.

Other towns to declare for Pastor are Pollensa and Sa Pobla. In the case of Sa Pobla, arguably the spiritual centre of Catalan in Mallorca and certainly one of the most radically pro-Catalan towns, mayor Biel Serra is unequivocal in his defence of Catalan.

What is emerging in what is becoming a quite extraordinary story is that Mallorca is being mapped according to where support for Pastor resides. Alcúdia might well follow, if only because Miguel Ramis, an ex-mayor, seems himself to be disposed to go along with Pastor. Though close to Bauzá, Ramis is also a political rival, which largely explains why, in the end, the PP's local secretary-general was overlooked for the job as national tourism secretary-of-state. Ramis does still wield a good deal of power in Alcúdia.

But what you have is two of Mallorca's five large towns, Inca and Manacor, coming together, as they did in the fifteenth century. This leaves Calviá, where Carlos Delgado, the main inspiration behind the attack on Catalan, was mayor, as well as Marratxí, where Bauzá was formerly mayor, and Llucmajor. Each of them is PP-led and each of them is a neighbour of Palma. Were they all to declare for Bauzá, you would have an even more extraordinary situation, that really would look like battle lines being drawn.

To add to the extraordinariness are the allies that Pastor can call on. One is the Obra Cultural Balear. This isn't simply an organisation that defends and promotes Catalan, it is in favour of independence for the Catalan lands, of which Mallorca is one. It is an organisation which can itself call on some perhaps unexpected supporters; former president Soler is a member.

Bauzá, who is being accused of empire-building, wishing to destroy Balearics autonomy and of sheer, naked ambition, has got himself one almighty fight. Spokespeople for the party are making conciliatory and diplomatic noises - the language policy is not a crusade against Catalan, it is open for discussion, there won't be any expulsions from the party - but whether Bauzá is inclined to be quite so conciliatory will become clear very soon.

This latest battle of Mallorca might yet just blow over and prove to have been a passing annoyance for the president to have to deal with. Or it might not blow over, even were there to be some accommodation of the challenges to the law that are coming in from all over the island.

Simón Ballester made at least three attempts to attack Palma and rid the island of its odious governor. He didn't succeed and he paid the ultimate price. From his base in Manacor, the rebel leader of the twenty-first century will be wondering if the time is approaching for civil war and for attempting to tear down the walls of Bauzá's empire.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Real Mallorca 1 : 2 Real Madrid

2012-01-14T21:54:00.002+01:00

Mallorca at home to Madrid. No contest?

First half was pretty unremarkable, Madrid having more of the game (not unexpectedly) but making little impression, until ... seven minutes before half-time, Hemed, the often-criticised Hemed headed Mallorca into the lead. Madrid came back, hit the post through a Sergio Ramos header, but it was one-nil at half-time. Mallorca probably should, though, have been two up, as a good shout for a penalty early in the half was turned down.

Mourinho went attacking from the outset of the second-half, bringing on Higuaín, and Madrid increased the pressure on Mallorca who had a goal by Victor ruled out for a dubious offside decision. The equaliser duly came through the sub Higuaín after 70 minutes, and then, six minutes before the end, after huge amounts of pressure, the dream was no more, Callejón putting Madrid ahead.

A good and often rearguard effort by Mallorca, but in the end the quality of Madrid told, as did the decisions of the referee.

Mallorca:
Aouate; Cendrós, Chico, Ramis, Cáceres; Tissone (Alfaro 86), Joao Victor, Pereira, Castro; Victor (Martí 83), Hemed (Ogunjimi 73)
Goal: Hemed (38)
Yellows: Cendrós (56), Tissone (57), Castro (82), Ogunjimi (87)

Madrid:
Casillas; Arbeloa (Kaká 58), Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo (Coentrao 59); Diarra (Higuaín 45), Alonso; Callejón, Özil, Ronaldo; Benzema
Goals: Higuaín (72), Callejón (84)
Yellow: Coentrao (86)

Attendance: 19,557

MALLORCA TODAY - Matas Trial: Day Four

2012-01-14T09:12:00.000+01:00

Evidence from the head of communication in the Antich PSOE government that succeeded that of Jaume Matas suggested yesterday that payments which had been made to the journalist Antonio Alemany for articles were ten times greater than would have been expected. In addition, she and the head of communication in the Matas administration indicated that work appeared not to have been done in return for payments.

In another aspect of the caso Palma Arena that now incorporates the activities of the Instituto Nóos, of which the Duke of Palma was once a director, evidence has been submitted that increasingly looks as though the Duke's wife, Princess Cristina, is becoming implicated. Payments were regularly made to the Duke and the Princess between 2006 and 2008 with invoices raised by the property company that they jointly owned.

MALLORCA TODAY - 87-year-old Pollensa man guilty of accidental homicide

2012-01-14T09:11:00.000+01:00

87-year-old Miquel Llodrà who ran over with his car and killed his wife in Pollensa in 2010 has been found guilty of accidental homicide by a jury in Palma. In their verdict, the jury considered that Llodrà had not intended to kill his wife, who was 36 years younger. Because of his age, it is unlikely that Llodrà will have to serve a prison sentence.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 14 January 2012

2012-01-14T08:35:00.001+01:00

A quite sunny but distinctly chilly morning, with temperatures at 08:30 ranging between 3.5 and 7.5. Cloud is forecast though for today along with a possible high of 15. The forecast for the two days of Sant Antoni (Monday and Tuesday) is looking increasingly poor with a high probability of rain for Monday evening and further rain on Tuesday morning.

Afternoon update: It has remained quite chilly by the coast, mainly sunny but highs of only 13, though it has been a degree or so warmer inland.

The Fall Of King Jaume

2012-01-14T08:27:00.001+01:00

It was in November 2009 when Jaume Matas' world began to cave in. It was the inventory of fixtures and fittings and luxury items at his so-called "palacete" in Palma that exposed the world he inhabited and that the press delighted in itemising. Following a police raid, the world came to know about Jaume's world. Marble bathrooms, oakwood floors, numerous paintings and artworks, any amount of state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment and security systems, 150 or more suits, 50 pairs of shoes. Oh, and a toilet-roll holder, valued at 319 euros.

The inventory might not have been that remarkable had it been the inventory of one of Mallorca's regular filthy rich. But this was the home and the inventory of the former president of the Balearics. Estimates as to the value of the palacete vary, but it was said that some two million euros had been spent on renovations alone.

Jaume is now sitting in front of a judge who will decide his fate: the first of his fates, so many are the charges against him. Old friends are deserting him, coming to agreements with prosecutors in return for leniency and for dropping Jaume ever deeper into the mess of the vanity and folly that led him to a court in Palma.

Jaume. King Jaume V. With his palacete. A home fit for kings. The King of Mallorca and the Balearics who, like old kings of Mallorca, could dispense favours, some of which the prosecutors have shown an interest in, and who ruled with such power that no one seemed able or willing to question him or to question how he came to possess the trappings of such ostentatious wealth.

Among those who didn't question this wealth were the press. They might have wanted to, but they didn't. Nor did they question other aspects of Matas' second administration between 2003 and 2007. According to one of those who has testified at the Matas trial, there were rumours in journalistic circles regarding payments that the Matas government had been making to the journalist who is also on trial with Matas, Antonio Alemany. Rumours, but no more.

With hindsight, one now senses that the press were hinting at the questions that might have been asked when there were reports of the speedy way in which Matas left politics and left Mallorca for a job in the United States after he lost the election in 2007.

It was the election defeat that opened the door to investigations by anti-corruption prosecutors. But the door, again with hindsight, was ajar, if only slightly, even during Matas' time as president. It was the Andratx corruption case, one that involved the former mayor of the town and also a member of the then government, that first caused there to be a knock on the door.

Matas demanded to know of the Spanish national attorney-general why prosecutors were rummaging around in Mallorcan affairs. It didn't get him very far. But this was probably the beginning of what brought Matas and others to the court in Palma. Jaume's kingdom was being invaded, and once he was dethroned and had gone into American exile, the prosecutors' efforts gathered momentum.

In addition to his wealth, Matas also coveted the company of celebrities and of the famous. He sought the kudos of prestigious events and projects, not least the building of the Palma Arena velodrome, which is at the centre of the allegations against him. It is how over twice the budget for the arena came to be spent and who benefited that formed the basis of prosecutor investigations.

In seeking the company of the famous, the Royal Family became embroiled with King Jaume. He has now also been indicted in connection with the investigation of Iñaki Urdangarin, the Duke of Palma and the real King's son-in-law. As part of that investigation, it has been confirmed that an immediate payment of over 300,000 euros to the Duke's institute was agreed to a month before the 2007 election.

The occupation of King Jaume's palacete was when his world started to fall apart, and the palacete will soon no longer be his. It is to be auctioned off as he cannot keep up with interest payments. By the time it is, his fate may have been decided. He continues to protest his innocence, but whatever the outcome of the trial, his vanity has been laid bare. Yet for all this, there are more questions to be asked. And one has to do with relationships with those who didn't do much by way of questioning.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Matas Trial: Day Three

2012-01-13T08:53:00.000+01:00

Former Balearics vice-president Rosa Estarás testified yesterday in the Matas trial and indicated that she believed the ex-president authorised the tendering process that led to payments being made to the journalist and Matas speechwriter Antonio Alemany. She asserted that she would not have asked the president about the matter, as it was one for him and not her. In other developments, a former partner in the PR company Nimbus (its boss Miguel Romero is one of the accused in the case Palma Arena trial), stated that Alemany was paid commissions through the agency for work performed for the government, while the ex-director-general of sport in the Matas government has entered into an agreement with the prosecutors by which he has implicated Matas for having manipulated tenders in respect of the building of the Palma Arena velodrome.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 13 January 2012

2012-01-13T08:32:00.001+01:00

A grey morning but a warmer morning, the high edging towards 11 degrees at 08:30. Cloud today and tomorrow, an improvement on Sunday, a mixture on Monday with the chance of rain (and also on Tuesday) and then more settled.

Afternoon update: A reasonable day. Quite sunny as it turned out, but a high of just 14.4.

Leaders Wanted: PSOE

2012-01-13T08:25:00.000+01:00

If you fancied becoming the leader of the PSOE socialist party in the Balearics, you would be disheartened were you to discover that your local party was laying into you big time and saying that, in effect, you were incompetent. If you are Francina Armengol, ex-president of the Council of Mallorca, the bookies' (now probably former) favourite to replace the one-time president Francesc Antich as the party chief, this is exactly the problem she faces.

Lack of direction, lack of ideological orientation. These are just a couple of the criticisms levelled at the former Council president, to which can be added errors in responding to the economic crisis and no excuses for an electoral hammering. It couldn't get much worse, except if the local grandees were to state unequivocally that they didn't want her to succeed Antich. Indirectly, they have.

PSOE's annihilation at the regional and national elections has created all manner of soul-searching and searching for anyone prepared to step into the fray and lead the party both regionally and nationally. There isn't a shortage of candidates, just that most of them are tarnished with electoral disaster. It's a bit like England's rugby team, post-World Cup. The old guard needs sweeping away and some fresh blood needs introducing to the party's backs and forwards. Unlike England's rugby team, it probably won't happen.

The lack of direction that Armengol is accused of could just as easily apply to the party as a whole in the Balearics. It is nearly eight months since it was thrashed at the regional elections, and it is still no nearer knowing who is meant to be leading it and where it is heading. At a time when the ruling Partido Popular seems intent on ripping itself apart, there is no worthwhile opposition which, were it to be better organised and to be acting as a genuine opposition, could be taking full advantage of Bauzá's linguistic troubles. As it is, the PP is its own opposition.

If Armengol, as seems increasingly likely, doesn't succeed Antich, then the former mayor of Palma, Aina Calvo, comes into the running: another of the old and defeated guard.

Aina is playing a wider game, though. She's thrown her lot in with one of the two main challengers for PSOE's national crown, Carme Chacón, until recently the defence minister in the Zapatero administration. Chacón might well end up being Spain's first female prime minister, and the first female prime minister from Catalonia, to boot. The chances are that she won't be and that the national old guard, in the form of the defeated PSOE candidate in November, Alfredo Rubalcaba, will remain at the head of PSOE.

It is a peculiarity of Spanish politics that there aren't great putsches of party old guards. Were there, then Mariano Rajoy would have disappeared from the scene long ago. Twice defeated, how he came to still be leading the PP into ultimate victory is a genuine mystery. It's a case of better the devil you know probably, even if the devil is as uninspiring as Rajoy. Or Rubalcaba.

Uncle Alfredo, and he does have the demeanour of a benevolent uncle, is conducting a campaign against Chacón similar to that which lost him the national election. He plays the reassuring and well-meaning uncle role at the family gathering but it is one in which he gets forgotten about when the family gets drunk and raucous. And conducting a campaign is rather apt, as Rubalcaba does this thing with hands, which makes him appear as if he is conducting an orchestra or playing the piano.

Nice, benign Uncle Alfredo reckons that Chacón is not, at the moment, a solution to PSOE's future. Which means that he is. But what is the future for PSOE, both nationally and in the Balearics?

Much will rest on how the public respond to the PP's cuts and to what further austerity is in the pipeline. Rajoy promised that there would be no rise in income tax and that he was the chap to get Spain back to work. The promise has already been broken and there is not going to be any getting Spain back to work for the foreseeable future; it will be the opposite. There are simply too many fires that need fighting both on the mainland and in Mallorca.

PSOE could probably just sit on their hands for the next four years and anticipate returning to power through default. Or they could be altogether more progressive. Dump Uncle Alfredo and put a woman in charge. But Aina or Francina for PSOE locally? You would think not, but you would probably think wrong.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 12 January 2012

2012-01-12T09:25:00.001+01:00

A brighter morning. Less cloud and mainly sun. But chilly, temperatures at 09:00 ranging from 5 to 9 degrees. Cloud is due to build up later and to linger tomorrow, though it looks brighter for the weekend but then potentially wet on Monday and Tuesday.

Afternoon update: Pretty much a repeat of yesterday. Pleasant enough but not overly warm, the high having been 14.8.

I'm Mandy, Fly Me

2012-01-12T02:28:00.000+01:00

Do you think we should tell the Spanish that Peter Mandelson has turned up in their government? Or should we just let them find out? You have probably been wondering what Mandy does with himself nowadays. Well, now we know. He's become the Spanish government supremo for tourism (and industry and energy). You can't keep an ambitious politician down, even if ambition requires changing nationality and name. The minister claims to be José Manuel Soria from the Canary Islands. But we know better, don't we, Sr. Mandelson.

There is no end to the lookalikes in Spanish politics. No sooner has Rowan Atkinson given up the premiership or Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has failed to become premier than Richard E. Grant turns up as president of the Balearics and now Mandelson appears. It's alarming, to say the least, that he's been put in charge of the country's tourism and that he has opted for an estate agent to be his tourism right-hand woman. Don't be fooled by all that property law stuff or by the name. It's not I for Isabel, but I for Inmobiliaria Borrego. There again, Mandy knows all about the estate-agency game.

Having managed to weasel his way into the corridors of power in Madrid, what does Sr. Mandelson have to say for himself and for tourism? One thing he isn't saying is that IVA is going to be reduced for tourism businesses. But wasn't this what the new government was going to do? Nope. "This is not the moment," says Mandelson Soria. The delicate deficit situation means no cut to IVA. Presumably no one had noticed this delicate situation before the election.

Another thing he isn't saying is that there are going to be suitcase loads of government money being bundled into the holds of various airlines in return for their agreeing to fly into Spanish air space. "It isn't a good policy to be using public resources in order to pay tourists to come to Spain," he insists. And it wouldn't be a good use of public resources if that was what financial incentives to airlines actually meant. Though, when you think about it, the odd bribe to tourists might not be such a bad form of promotion.

It'll be all that time spent knocking around the European Commission and doing things by the book. Can't be giving out subsidies to airlines in this new era of Spanish public-administration probity. What would Brussels say? Whatever it might or might not say, Mandelson Soria has gone on to say that: "our country (note how he really has become Spanish) has sufficient attractions without there being additional incentives for tourism".

He's quite right of course. In fact, rather than paying tourists, they should pay instead. Like they are going to have to in Catalonia. Or are they? The minister isn't too pleased with the Catalans or with their tourist tax. Everyone has got to do it (tourism) the same way, his way, and the tax threatens to prejudice the "brand" that is Spain. So, he's going to homogenise what the different regions get up to. Soria Law, the Mandelson Mandate. "I'm Mandy, fly me to Spain, but not with the aid of any grants to Ryanair of the sort the Catalans reckon they're going to be making."

This is all rather interesting. The regions are going to have to fall into line with central policy. Sounds a bit familiar, or would do if you had been around in the 1960s, rallying around the glorious brand of Franco's "Spain". Hmm, so the talk about the PP's anti-regionalism has more to it than we might have thought.

The Catalans aren't going to take it lying down though. Oh no. The tourist has to pay the tax because they need the money to pay Ryanair and to pay Bernie Ecclestone. Seriously, they have said that the tax will go towards maintaining the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

But if the regions really are going to have to follow the party line, what of the Balearics? Is Delgado going to be told to stop turning hotels into rock-concert venues? Will there really be condohotels or hotels turned into apartment blocks for sale? Well, what do you think? Of course there will be. Because that's where the Inmobiliaria Borrego comes into the equation. Selling Spain and its tourist resorts by the pound or the ruble or the renminbi or even the euro.

And if there happens to be the slight inconvenience of not being a native getting in the way of buying up the resorts, there's no problem. Anyone need a passport application?

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Limit placed on Ternelles pine-tree numbers in Pollensa

2012-01-11T09:21:00.001+01:00

Pollensa town hall has imposed for the first time a limit of twenty people who can enter the Ternelles finca in Pollensa in order to chop down the pine tree to be used in the traditional tree-climbing event on 17 January. This is in line with limits set on those who can enter the finca for the purposes of walking and is one that is the current agreement with the owners of the finca regarding access.

MALLORCA TODAY - Matas Trial: Day Two

2012-01-11T09:00:00.003+01:00

Highlights of the second day. Antonio Alemany, the journalist accused of receiving government money for work that he didn't do, denied the claim completely and seemed to spend much of the time having a ding-dong with the judge and smiling a great deal. Earlier than expected, Jaume Matas started his appearance and said that the tender process which led to the allegedly irregular contracting of Alemany was not something within his responsibility as president. Matas attributed the contracting to the director of communication Joan Martorell and the head of the PR company Nimbus Miguel Romero and indicated that he believed there was a pact between others of those accused in the trial with the prosecutors to incriminate him.

It is a rest day today. Back on court on Thursday when the star turn will be Rosa Estaras, Matas's one-time second-in-command and now an MEP.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 11 January 2012

2012-01-11T08:59:00.001+01:00

Cloud and sun again this morning and a high of just under ten degrees. It should be clearer though during the day. More cloud is due to be around at the end of the week and rain is very much on the cards for the start of next week.

Afternoon update: A reasonable day but no great shakes temperature-wise with a high just 15 degrees.

Private Information: Tourist offices

2012-01-11T01:11:00.000+01:00

A few years ago a friend (Jake from the Giant Maze) and I came up with an idea for a separate and private tourist information office (in Puerto Alcúdia). Part of the concept would have been to heavily feature technology, for example video display screens, which would have formed a key means of generating revenue from major advertisers.

I am reminded of this idea, which came to nothing as it would have been too expensive and was potentially too risky, when seeing that Palma town hall is considering the privatisation of its tourist information offices.

Palma has set up its own tourism "foundation", in other words a group that comprises various businesses and organisations that will undertake the "365" promotion of the city. An annual budget of 3.6 million euros has been set aside (ten grand a day then). Despite this new source of finance, the town hall is addressing the cost of running its information offices, which would amount to half this budget.

Is privatisation of tourist offices a good idea? It happens elsewhere. For example, Berlin has a privatised tourist information company, in Cornwall they are looking at privatisation and in Adelaide, Australia, there is a privatisation process underway, but it is one that is requiring an independent inquiry to ensure there is no conflict of interest in the sale and that the sale has the correct controls.

Without knowing fully what the state attorney-general in South Australia is concerned about, the fact that he has raised a concern should be enough to induce wariness as to how privatisation might operate in Mallorca.

Palma has in mind that the offices should be able to generate revenue to meet part of their running cost (without being exact) and that to do so, they would cease to be as tourist offices currently are (in theory at any rate) - neutral in matters of promotion.

The tourist offices would, in effect, become like shops, able to sell tickets for various attractions and events which currently they do only occasionally. For example, the offices in Pollensa sell tickets for the music festival, but this is a specifically Pollensa cultural event, one to which the town hall contributes funds. Otherwise, and although tourist offices are full of publicity for this or that, they are supposed to steer clear of indulging in what might seem like direct promotion or favouritism.

From my experience, tourist office staff are pretty professional in this regard. And as an example of how the offices seek to retain neutrality, last summer Pollensa town hall was forced to issue a warning to businesses which have publicity material in the outdoor display units in Puerto Pollensa to stop indulging in a publicity war and interfering with each other's material.

But once the tourist offices are obliged to make money, the rules change. In Palma, one line of revenue would be from restaurant promotion. Whether restaurants would be willing to pay is one issue, but were they to, then a can of worms could potentially be opened.

A problem with making the offices revenue generators is whether, in the pursuit of "sales", their core role of simple information provision would be compromised. If you have ever, like I have, spent time observing what happens at tourist-office desks, you will have come to appreciate that much of the tourist encounter involves questions of the how-do-I-get-to, where-do-I-go-to variety. One office told me that one of its most frequently asked questions was where were the nearest toilets.

The tourist encounter can be repetitious, basic and extremely time-consuming. If tourist office staff have to also sell tickets for this excursion or that attraction, then delays in handling enquiries will increase.

Technology, you would think, could be made to eliminate many of the repetitious and basic enquiries. Possibly so, as also it could be made to handle other information. One town that has been embracing technology is Artà, not a town with a massive tourism industry but one that has adopted the use of audio guides and now also QR (quick response) codes which are photographed with mobiles in order to provide information in five different languages.

Whether the privatised tourist offices in Palma would make use of technology or not, there is an altogether more fundamental question. Where are they? In October, when mayor Mateo Isern was first talking up the Palma 365 promotion campaign, it was being pointed out that Palma's tourist office provision was abysmal by comparison with, for example, Barcelona and even with neighbouring Calvià. They can privatise the offices all they like, but they won't make money if tourists can't find them.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - (Copa del Rey) Real Mallorca 6 (6) : Real Sociedad 1 (3)

2012-01-10T21:48:00.001+01:00

The second leg of the cup tie with Mallorca two-nil down. Mallorca putting out a stronger team than on the road in the first leg and including, for the first time, the great hope, the Belgian striker Marvin Ogunjimi, started brightly, but Sociedad went ahead through an Ifrán header after quarter of an hour. And then ... Castro twice, Hemed and Nunes all within the space of six minutes turned what looked like certain departure for Mallorca into near certainty to progress, as Mallorca took charge of the game. Alfaro with a header made it five soon into the second period, Hemed added another on the quarter hour and the result was certain. Mallorca through to the quarter-finals and for a team that can't score, a remarkable outcome.

Mallorca:
Calatayud; Zuiverloon (Company 45), Nunes, Crespí, Bigas; Pina, Martí, Alfaro, Castro (Tejera 85); Ogunjimi (Nsue 62), Hemed
Goals: Castro (34, 40), Hemed (35, 59), Nunes (37), Alfaro (53)
Yellows: Alfaro (21), Pina (56), Calatayud (73)

Sociedad:
Zubikarai; Estrada, Demidov, Martínez, De la Bella; Elustondo, Mariga (Griezmann 60); Prieto (Aranburu 68), Zurufuza (Agirretxe 68), Vela; Ifrán
Goal: Ifrán (16)

MALLORCA TODAY - Bellevue creditors' agreement

2012-01-10T14:02:00.002+01:00

The immediate future of the Bellevue hotel complex in Puerto Alcúdia and of staff employed at the hotel has been secured. An agreement with creditors regarding some 100 million euros owed by Bellevue's former management company, White Horse, which went into administration following the bankruptcy of its parent company, Marsans, in 2010, has been obtained by the new owners of White Horse and Bellevue, Posibilitum, as part of court proceedings into the affairs of White Horse. What remains to be seen is whether a joint management of the Bellevue site, one that would involve a creditor, Orizonia (Luabay), will be pursued, as has previously been suggested.

MALLORCA TODAY - Pollensa supports Manacor line on language

2012-01-10T09:53:00.001+01:00

Pollensa town hall, governed by a coalition of the Partido Popular and La Lliga, has adopted a similar position to that of Manacor in opposing the draft law on the use of Catalan in public service set out by the Balearic Government, a law that would see Catalan removed as a necessity for working in the public service.

MALLORCA TODAY - Matas Trial: Day One

2012-01-10T09:49:00.000+01:00

Two of those accused along with former Balearics president Jaume Matas, the ex-director of government communication Joan Martorell and the boss of the Nimbus PR agency Miguel Romero have admitted culpability in respect of payments to the journalist Antonio Alemany that were designed to improve the image of the government but which are alleged to have been excessive and incompatible with Alemany both receiving grants from the government and also working for it. The prosecution claims that between them, Matas and Alemany diverted almost half a million euros as part of the arrangement. The admission by Romero and Martorell is a pact with the judge in return for lighter sentences.

While the two have sought to repent, the others accused, Matas, Alemany and two former cabinet chiefs in the Matas administration, Maria Umbert and Dulce Linares, maintain their innocence. Of the defendants, Martorell declared that he had orders from Matas to favour Alemany while Linares stated that she would not have consented to anything of the sort.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 10 January 2012

2012-01-10T09:10:00.002+01:00

Similar to yesterday morning with cloud and some sun this morning. A coastal high of 12.4 with 16 forecast and mainly sunny. Looking ahead, rain now begins to seem probable at the weekend and into next week with snow on the mountains.

Afternoon update: A high of 15 today on what has been a generally sunny day.

Open All Hours (Eventually)

2012-01-10T00:19:00.000+01:00

A Sunday morning. The time is just past half nine. The place is the port area of Alcúdia. I have parked the car and am walking towards a newsagents. On the other side of the road something catches my eye. It is the neon light of a shop. I stop and stare. There are lights on inside the shop and there are also people inside the shop.

What had caused me to do a double-take? Well, look again at the day and the time. And if I tell you that the shop wasn't a shop as such but a hairdressers, then you might begin to understand why I was taken aback. Early on a Sunday in winter, you expect only the newsagents and the odd bar to be open.

Opening hours in Mallorca are virtually a metaphor for a more general Spanish uncompetitiveness. They can seem arbitrary, unreliable and infuriating. The siesta break is the most infuriating aspect of all. In an effort to improve productivity, the national commission for the rationalisation of Spanish working hours has wanted to scrap the siesta. Even if it were to succeed, the chances are the siesta would still be observed, if it suited shopowners to do so.

For all the infuriation, one considers local opening hours with the benefit of an Anglo-Saxon mentality and culture. It isn't the same culture or mentality to that of the Mallorcan and, in turn, the Mallorcan mentality is not the same as that in Catalonia or Madrid.

This mentality was explained by Guy de Forestier in "Beloved Majorcans". Time itself adopts its own definition and so determines attitudes to opening or closing, while the process of selling is one in which the last thing the Mallorcan shopowner or worker appears to wish to do is to actually sell anything. Time may have its own definition in Mallorca, but it has moved on since de Forestier was writing. But not so much that time has come to re-define itself. Except ...

The apparent indifference to the practice of commerce is no longer as obvious as it once might have been. A hairdressing salon open at 9.30 on a Sunday morning is an example of how things have changed, and for hairdressing salons that have been caught in a price and competition war courtesy of franchises and Asian owners, it has become necessary to be more flexible. Nevertheless, it was with genuine surprise that I saw that the salon was open.

Opening hours, in addition to culture and mentality, are a thing of union and business pressures and of government regulation and classification. A micro-management of the retail industry might seem outmoded, but it isn't so long ago that England and Wales endured the wrangle over keeping Sunday special. De-regulation of opening hours, even for the Protestant work ethic-minded Anglo-Saxon (or Celt), has existed for less than 20 years, while in ultra-efficient Germany, liberalisation of opening hours continues to be resisted.

Business pressures (and, unlike Germany, religious pressures are not really a factor) have helped to hold back liberalisation. These are pressures not from large organisations but from small shopowners who fear the consequences of the increased costs of longer opening (assuming that they would open of course). As such, this aspect of the debate is not dissimilar to that which occurred in England. It is one that the regional government in the Balearics is well aware of, but the government is minded to de-regulate, albeit that it has hinted that it would not go so far as Madrid where 24/7 opening is now permissible.

In order to facilitate this, there would need to be a scrapping of the current system of commercial classification as it applies to different towns and indeed parts of towns. In "zones" which are considered to have great tourist "flow", there is nothing to stop most shops staying open all day every day from mid-March to the end of October.

Categorisation by tourist zone means, however, that some parts of Palma can be open and others not. It also means that some towns which are only questionably "tourist", such as Sa Pobla, can be open whereas Santa Margalida town cannot be. But then there is the rest of the year when there is no tourist flow, or maybe there would be this flow if the shops could open. To be honest, I am none too sure that the hairdressers should in fact be open on a Sunday.

De-regulation will occur and open all hours will, more or less, become the norm. But for which shops? Mentality takes a long time to alter, if indeed it ever does.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Matas trial starts today

2012-01-09T09:18:00.000+01:00

The long-awaited trial of former Balearics president Jaume Matas gets underway in Palma today (9 January). The trial is the consequence of the so-called "caso Palma Arena", the building of the velodrome at a cost of 110 million euros and for which contracts were not formalised. The ex-president is charged with embezzlement, perverting the use of influence and falsification of documents. The prosecutors are calling for eight and a half years imprisonment. Others charged include a journalist, Antonio Alemany, also for embezzlement and for fraud. In all, there are five defendants in a trial that is expected to last the whole of the month and for which there are 26 separate items for consideration.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 9 January 2012

2012-01-09T09:17:00.001+01:00

A mix of cloud and sun this morning, the wind direction having shifted to the north and likely to mean more of a breeze. At 09:00, the local maximum is 11 degrees with 15 anticipated for later. The forecast is now beginning to look a bit more unsettled by the weekend.

Afternoon update: A chill wind today and the temperature has struggled, the high having been slightly under 14 degrees.

Shutting The Presses: Local papers in Mallorca

2012-01-09T08:53:00.000+01:00

Reports of the death of the local newspaper have not been greatly exaggerated. It was put into intensive care some years ago and has waited for the seemingly inevitable moment when the life-support system has to be switched off. As with the local newspaper almost anywhere, so it is with the Mallorcan local newspaper, and one of its sources of life support, public money, has been switched off.

Does it matter if newspapers which serve local communities in Mallorca cease to be? In Alcúdia, as an example, its local paper (magazine in fact) stopped quite some while back. Whether it has made any difference to the life of the town is debatable.

Local papers do have a role to play. They add to a sense of local identity and they are a key medium for the dissemination of news that is specifically relevant to individual towns. New media have, however, undermined their function, and the withdrawal of advertising revenue has made most virtually untenable.

Though the papers fulfil an important role in local communities, there are questions regarding them that go beyond the selling of advertising and the impact of the internet and social media. One of them has to do with that source of life support - public money.

Would you be surprised to learn that several million euros of grants were paid to newspaper publishers in the Balearics by the previous government? These grants have been ended by the current government, but the decision has more to do with lack of finance than with what the Balearics Supreme Court once described as the arbitrary nature of grants to the press by the former government.

The press, in theory, is independent. It isn't of course because it often operates according to specific agendas. Whether public money influences these agendas or not, the mere fact of it being made available can create a perception of independence being compromised.

As with papers produced for the island as a whole, so it has also been the case that the local papers have received grants - from the government and the Council of Mallorca, from the directorate for language policy and from town halls. With the partial exception of the latter, these grants have also been withdrawn.

A case can be made for public money to support the press, as it does enable there to be means to provide local media. This is especially so with those local papers that don't operate as businesses as such; some are run as cultural societies. Nevertheless, the same perception can be created; that they might not be genuinely independent.

The recent history of local radio and television in Mallorca has been one in which there have been clear suggestions as to political influence and to stations being in effect political mouthpieces. In the same way, it is hard to not at least think that local papers might have been influenced by, for instance, a generous town hall administration.

If the press is merely a medium by which local issues are reported, then it is only performing part of its job. Journalism falls into three general categories. One, reporting, is factual, or should be, but it can be prone to its own inherent bias, dependent upon the source or the paper's agenda. A second is comment and opinion, while a third is more of the investigative or forensic variety, an expensive form of journalism of which there is almost none in Mallorca.

Of the second category, it is fallacious to believe that comment should be balanced; by definition it isn't. To quote the broadcaster and journalist Jonathan Meades: "fairness (aka balance) is a jurisdictive virtue not a journalistic one". But so long as there exists a relationship of trust with the reader that opinion is that of the author and not one that may have been guided by whatever force, including public money, then the reader can accept the writer's integrity, even if he or she may disagree with the opinion. It's known as the freedom of the press, a concept enshrined in the Spanish constitution and a concept that goes beyond the imposition of censorship; it has to do with independence of thought.

But how free is the press in Mallorca? Parts of it are more so than others, and there are some outstanding and challenging local journalists. Other parts are not, and as much as economic hard times and changing media, a failure of independence, one caused by various influences and pressures and not just public money (now no longer a double-edged sword of influence), is what also closes down the life support, especially when there is life elsewhere - on the internet and in social media.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 8 January 2012

2012-01-08T08:29:00.001+01:00

A clear and bright morning, some cloud but the day seems set to be mostly sunny and getting warmer than the range of temperatures at 08:15, which are as low as 2.3 degrees in the Muro area and as high as almost 10 degrees in Pollensa.

Afternoon update: A splendidly sunny day, not especially warm, with local highs ranging from 15 to 16.3 (which happened to be in the same Muro area that was by far the coldest this morning), but still warm enough on a sheltered terrace to be able to work a sweat up.

Total War: The tourism law

2012-01-08T08:16:00.000+01:00

I hope I can be forgiven for highlighting issues to do with the proposed new tourism law. The reason for doing so is that it is of major importance, and there is now a second reason - the extent to which it threatens to drive a huge wedge between the Mallorcan business community and also between the regional government and the town halls.

Opposition to the law has been pouring in from all quarters. Bars and restaurants, as represented by the business confederation CAEB, have now added their voice to criticisms that the law is a law for the hotels and that it is discriminatory and anti-competitive.

A consequence of the law is that a new term has emerged: "total hotel". The total hotel would be one in which there would be few limits as to what the hotel could provide, and provide, moreover, without the need for obtaining licences and to the general public as well as guests.

The Mallorca Rocks hotel in Magalluf is an example of where the new law may lead. Mallorca Rocks' concerts are open to the general public, and while permission that the hotel was finally granted by the tourism ministry last year was good news, it didn't stop fears being expressed as to the precedent, one that now seems to be enshrined in the tourism law.

Opposition to Mallorca Rocks came from the entertainment sector in Magalluf that saw the hotel as a competitive threat, even though it didn't really amount to one. There wasn't a lot of sympathy for the opposition - well, there wasn't from me, that's for sure - but one can now begin to see that this opposition had some basis over and above other businesses simply trying to put a stop to competition, real or imagined.

The range of activities that hotels might now be able to offer goes way beyond a weekly music concert. It could include anything from discos to religious services, open to anyone. The "total hotel" concept is apt.

This said, as it stands certain activities are already open to the general public. Whether they should be is probably another matter, but evening shows, for instance, most definitely do attract passing trade. What the law would do, however, would be to formalise this. If the result is that even small hotels end up providing all manner of activities, you can understand why businesses outside hotels are none too happy.

That hotels might be able to engage in these activities without going through the rigmarole of obtaining licences is what is getting backs up at town halls. Palma had already expressed its concerns and now Santa Margalida (for which read Can Picafort) has added its opposition. The town halls' anxieties are two-fold. One is that the law will create a two-tier system with hotels the "first-class citizens" of the local tourism industry benefiting to the detriment of other businesses, the "second-class citizens". Secondly, the law would cut out some town hall local planning responsibility.

The town halls could be accused of defending their territory - literally as well as abstractly - and therefore part of the reason for their existence. It could be argued, though, that cutting out town hall bureaucracy would be no bad thing. If they were able to demonstrate that they were genuinely trying to support the "second-class citizens" or had been able to demonstrate this in the past, there might be more sympathy for their position. As it is, there is a feeling that they are trying to cling onto power when it comes to planning.

Whatever the town halls' motivations, it is becoming increasingly evident that the government has got a fight on its hands. Non-hotel business is allying with the town halls in raising strong opposition to the government. While Santa Margalida is not a Partido Popular administration, Palma is, and there are major tourism centres, such as Calvia and Alcúdia, that are also controlled by the PP. If they were to adopt a similar attitude to that of Palma and Santa Margalida, this would open up another front in what is beginning to look like a war that the government is embarking upon. Business, which might be more inclined to support the PP, is similarly being alienated.

The tourism law, for all that it is the government's flagship policy and for all that it has much to commend it, could yet be undone. Or if it isn't, it could yet be, more than battles over language policy, the government's undoing.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Levante 0 : 0 Real Mallorca

2012-01-07T19:55:00.000+01:00

The first round of matches in La Liga after the holiday break found Mallorca away at top four side Levante. An even but largely sterile first half with Mallorca perhaps shading a 45 minutes with few scoring opportunities. Mallorca had Pereira to the fore and proving that he is one of the team's stand-out players this season as the game became more open in the second half with Mallorca creating more chances than Levante. The game ended up goalless, but the away point for and the performance by Mallorca were encouraging.

Levante:
Munúa; López, Ballesteros, Del Horno, Juanfran; Torres (Iborra 85), Farinós; El Zhar (Higón 78), Suárez (Aranda 62), Barkero; Koné
Yellows: López (24), Farinós (67)

Real Mallorca:
Aouate; Cendrós, Chico, Ramis, Bigas; Pina (Martí 59), Tissone; Pereira, Castro (Alfaro 46), Nsue; Victor (Nunes 90)
Yellows: Pina (57), Cendrós (62), Pereira (90+)

MALLORCA TODAY - Hydrology plan could affect Alcúdia and Pollensa

2012-01-07T10:04:00.000+01:00

The so-called Balearic Islands hydrological plan, that was approved by the Council of Mallorca early last year and which is now undergoing public consideration, could potentially have significant ramifications for parts of Puerto Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa. Under the plan, areas of wetland that have been recovered since 1985 would be restored at least to the extent that these areas have been filled in. In Puerto Alcúdia, this could result in public facilities such as the swimming-pool and sports centre being partially demolished. Also affected would be the likes of the Lidl supermarket, only built in 2010, and the Club Mac hotel site. In Puerto Pollensa, an issue has to do with the area of Ullal near to the Pollensa Park hotel, a site for potential development for some time but one blocked because it was classified as wetland. Pollensa town hall wants the Council's plan revised so that the site would be de-classified and become a part of land available for tourism offer. Alcúdia town hall, meantime, is, as might be expected, raising challenges to the plan.

MALLORCA TODAY - Alcúdia Bay "Bienestar Activo" back on

2012-01-07T09:43:00.001+01:00

The promotional campaign to embrace the three resorts of Alcúdia, Muro and Can Picafort on the bay of Alcúdia under the title "Bienestar Activo" (active well-being) is to be revived thanks to an injection of 600,000 euros from the regional government. The original campaign, and it essentially deals with activities like cycling and Nordic walking with the intention of developing more of an off-season tourism, was scaled back under the previous government when central funds were removed.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 7 January 2012

2012-01-07T09:23:00.001+01:00

The wind has died down and yesterday's greyness has been replaced by sun. Local high of a bit over 13 degrees at 09:00, the maximum around 15 later, and that is the mark for the next few days with quite a bit of sun as well.

Afternoon update: A top day again. Sun and a high of just over 17 degrees. Apart from an alert for wind on Monday, there seems to be a settled pattern of fine weather right through the coming week.

Gloves Off: Dissent in the PP

2012-01-07T00:03:00.000+01:00

Not unexpectedly the gloves have come off. The divisions in the Partido Popular in the Balearics have been laid bare by the party's dissenter-in-chief Antoni Pastor. The gathering for a press conference of the mayor of Manacor and leaders from all other parties in the town displayed a most unusual unity of right and left as Pastor led the attack on the linguistic policies of President Bauzá.

It has been coming of course. It's just that it has arrived some eighteen months after the fracture within the party caused by language and attitudes towards regionalism became evident. Pastor insists that his stance, in particular the rejection of the regional government's removal of Catalan speaking as being a pre-requisite for employment in the public sector, is nothing personal and is not aimed at any specific individual. He would say this, though. There are two people at whom this is all aimed: President Bauzá and the architect of the drive to "castellanizar" the Balearics and of anti-regionalism, Carlos Delgado.

On Monday there is to be a meeting in Binissalem of the party's regional directive. Pastor is banking on getting support from important figures within the party, and it is being admitted that the euphoria surrounding the PP's victory at the regional election in May last year has all but evaporated as concern grows regarding Bauzá's leadership.

And leadership could well be the key to the disaffection. If there were to be a leadership challenge to Bauzá, where might it come from? Manacor in all likelihood.

Why, though, is this all coming to the surface now? One reason is that changes to language law run counter to what was once agreed as policy by the PP at a party congress. Delgado, who lost the argument then, is said to be behind a redefinition of the local party's ideology. But why should there be any surprise? It was clear before the regional election that the party was heading in a particular direction, and plenty within the party, including Pastor, were happy enough to stand for election.

To me, none of this comes as a surprise. It was clear in 2010 that there were divisions and that it was simply a matter of time, once the election was won, that they came into the open.

A problem for Pastor and for other dissenters is that there are more important issues that should be concerning the party and therefore the government. Fighting battles over language policy may not sit well with the public who would rather energies were devoted to tackling the economy. There again, the same could be said for Bauzá and Delgado.

The handling of the economy has not been raised by the dissenters, but after some seven months in office, what has Bauzá achieved? Other than to pursue cost-cutting, very little. In terms of stimulating the local economy, the government has put all its eggs into the one basket of tourism law reforms. But, with the obvious exception of the hoteliers, pretty much any organisation that matters, plus the likes of Palma town hall, has voiced objections to the law.

It says something for the democratic process that the law is open to challenges and to suggestions, but it also says something about the draft itself and quite possibly about attitudes towards its architect. It is, after all, Delgado's law. Were the law enjoying something like smooth passage towards being adopted and were there some indication that the government had any other notion as to how to get the economy going, then dissent of a linguistic nature would seem petty.

The lack of economic initiative and the arguments over language notwithstanding, Pastor and those who might support him run a great risk. It is one of being styled as being out of date. Bauzá has himself been styled as conducting an experiment in the Balearics, one that is more in tune with circumstances as they now exist, and one such circumstance is the degree to which regionalism, as it is currently practised, is sustainable.

Furthermore, Bauzá has sought, and largely achieved, a transformation of the PP. He has gone to great lengths to make sure the party is clean and that its image is not tarnished by the corruption of the past. In challenging the new broom, therefore, his opponents run the risk of being associated, even inadvertently, with the past.

Here is the risk for Pastor, therefore. But he obviously considers it a risk worth taking. For Bauzá the stakes are higher. Can he manage to keep his party together?

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 6 January 2012

2012-01-06T09:30:00.002+01:00

A grey morning with full cloud cover. The wind has been strong overnight, but its strength has varied according to area. Over 70 kph at times, the night was also extremely mild; it was still nearly 16 degrees at 03:00. At 09:30 it is down to a high of just over 14. The advice is still out for strong winds for today.

Afternoon update: A blowy old day with gusts over 50kph and with the wind coming in from the north now, the temperatures have been down, a high of 13.6 being the best. The wind is set to ease off tomorrow.

We Three Black And White Kings

2012-01-06T00:57:00.001+01:00

Who remembers "The Black And White Minstrel Show"? I do and I cringe at the memory. For those who don't remember it, I should explain that it involved white male singers "blacking up". The BBC finally axed the show in the late seventies, protests against it having gone on for some ten years.

To be fair to the show, it was one of the last manifestations of a tradition that had existed in variety for many years. Al Jolson was the most famous to wear a black face, but Jolson was anything but racist. Despite Jolson having championed the causes of black entertainers, the very notion of blacking-up and its offensiveness in the current-day was what was played on and captured hilariously in the series "Benidorm". When "Mal Jolson" was performing, the expression of jaw-dropped horror on the face of the character Gavin was priceless.

All this brings me to Three Kings. Historical accuracy, in the sense that the story of the Three Kings is accurate at all, demands that one of the Kings is black. In this respect, the portrayal of the Kings at ceremonies across Mallorca yesterday can claim legitimacy, but the fact that Balthasar gets blacked up is something one finds hard to believe would be tolerated in Britain.

Sensitivity to race issues does have a cultural divide. The Spanish media demonstrates it, for example. Whereas British newspapers would not, unless it were of fundamental relevance, refer to someone's colour, the Spanish press does.

The race thing where Spain is concerned has, for most in Britain and also for Brits who live in Spain, cropped up in the context of sport, most obviously with the abuse aimed at black English footballers. There was also the incident when spectators at the Spanish Grand Prix blacked up in aiming abuse at Lewis Hamilton.

Such incidents have led to assumptions as to racism in Spain, and such incidents haven't exactly gone away. Last year the Brazilian footballer Dani Alves complained that he was regularly abused and called a monkey when playing for Barcelona. It didn't help in downplaying the existence of racism when the US State Department, no less, had to remove a phrase which read "racist prejudices could lead to the arrest of Afro-Americans who travel to Spain" from its website when Michelle Obama visited in 2010.

Sport, meanwhile, has also thrown up the Luis Suárez affair. With all the cultural and linguistic elements that this has given rise to, plus the sheer fanaticism with football, it is not surprising that it has inspired a good deal of comment in Spain. But going by, as an example, comments posted to the website of the sports newspaper "Marca", there is a fair degree of support for the English FA and a fair understanding that different rules apply in England and Britain.

One tires of the "political correctness gone mad" cliché that doubtless would be levelled at any suggestions that the Mallorcans and Spaniards might not indulge in blacking up, but lack of correctness there is and its absence barely seems to register, certainly when it comes to Three Kings. The historical accuracy line would be taken in defence, but if accuracy is needed, then why is it necessary for someone to black up? There are, after all, plenty of coloured people around, and in some towns Balthasar is indeed black.

Perhaps black people would be unconcerned and would go along with a further defence, that the Three Kings are just innocent tradition mainly aimed at children. But maybe the tradition should be considered in an educational context and whether, therefore, blacking up is still appropriate. A Spanish website ("Diario de Mallorca") had an online chat with the Kings; it was a child who asked why Balthasar had to be coloured black. And in furtherance of the tradition, sleeping children can have their cheeks blackened, as though they had been kissed by Balthasar.

It is innocent, but then "The Black And White Minstrel Show" was once considered to be just innocent entertainment. It is an exaggeration to imply that Three Kings is in some way racist. It isn't because it isn't knowingly treated or considered as such. It is also well wide of the mark to suggest that Mallorcans or the Spanish are any more racist than anyone else (I've no reason to believe this, put it that way). The problem, though, as with the Hamilton business having been a "joke", is that what may be deemed culturally innocent can create a wrong impression.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Nautical club developments in Santa Margalida opposed

2012-01-05T09:31:00.003+01:00

Opposition parties and the mayor of Santa Margalida have positioned themselves against any expansion of the nautical club in Son Serra de Marina which would see the number of moorings more than treble. Meanwhile, the town hall is opposing a proposal by the nautical club in Can Picafort that a new club building is created.

MALLORCA TODAY - Legal moves to approve Formula One circuit

2012-01-05T09:31:00.001+01:00

Llucmajor town hall is set to challenge the blocking of the construction of a new race track, one that would be up to Formula One standard. Any work on the new circuit had been stopped by the Council of Mallorca.

MALLORCA TODAY - Pollensa opposition against new councillor

2012-01-05T09:30:00.000+01:00

A decision by Pollensa town hall to appoint a further councillor, at a cost of over 35,000 euros per annum, has been attacked by opposition groups which describe the move as undemocratic (the ruling PP-La Lliga administration functions without a majority) and as having been taken when leaders of certain opposition groups were away for the holiday period.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 5 January 2012

2012-01-05T09:00:00.001+01:00

More cloud about this morning but some sun as well. Should clear to leave bright skies, but there is a weather advice regarding high winds that has now being extended to include the north of the island. Current local high at 08:45 is 12 degrees inland and a maximum of 17 is expected, but for the Kings this evening, it may be a case of holding onto their hats.

Afternoon update: A warm day, the high near to 19 degrees. The wind has been strong but inland more so than by the coast where it has been relatively light or virtually non-existent.

Not Rocket Science: Spain's R&D

2012-01-05T00:38:00.000+01:00

"R&D is an essential factor in improving competitiveness. If Spain wants to continue to grow and generate employment we have to be capable of generating our own knowledge."

These were the words of the then deputy prime minister of Spain in 2007. The new government, as part of its cutbacks, has announced a 7% reduction in expenditure on R&D (usually in Spain referred to as I+D for innovation and development).

At times of economic hardship it is common for businesses to cut back on expenditure that does not have an immediate positive impact on the bottom line; R&D being one of the first things to go as policies of short-termism come to dominate. Short-termism is about all that the Spanish Government is currently concerned with, but to reduce R&D investment is a massive mistake.

Successive governments, both nationally and regionally (in the case of the Balearics) have talked a good talk when it comes to R&D. But talk is about all they have done. A reason for a lack of competitiveness in Spain and the Balearics is that spend devoted to research is well below that of most European countries. In 2006, prior therefore to the words of Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, the former deputy PM, Spain's investment was slightly more than 1% of GDP. Sweden, the European leader, devoted over 3.5%.

Things didn't really improve under the last government, despite a national plan, supported by thirteen national programmes of R&D and five strategic actions plus something called AVANZA2, itself divided into five areas, and umbrella projects suffixed Eureka this, Euro, Inno or Econ that. It is not, therefore, that there is a lack of intent. But intent is one thing, actually doing anything seems to be quite a different matter.

The consequences of the under-investment in research are clear enough. In addition to uncompetitiveness, it results in a lack of economic diversity and a lack of opportunity for those who have the requisite skills and who then decide to take them elsewhere. The Spanish "brain drain" takes talent abroad, and within the country itself it takes it to the traditional centres of industry - Madrid, Catalonia and the Basque Country - and away from regions that can ill afford to lose it, such as the Balearics.

While Spanish and regional governments can be blamed for spending too little, they can also be blamed for failing to address a general culture of innovation. Spain's main research body, the National Research Council, was established in 1939. Its origins are, in this respect, telling, as they come from a time when the government (i.e. Franco's) oversaw all business and economic activity. The country has never really comes to terms with not being led by government and being reliant upon it for both direction and funding.

The first and, as far as I am aware, still the only private business R&D centre in Spain is that of Telefónica. Think what you will about Telefónica, but it is just about Spain's only truly world-class company. When a German neighbour and I were once chatting about Spanish business, the question cropped up as to what "great" companies Spain had. We got as far as Telefónica, and that was it.

There is no comparison with Germany and its high levels of competitiveness. In addition to Germany's world-class companies like Siemens, the bedrock of the German economy is the Mittelstand, the medium-sized engineering business, often privately owned and one imbued with a culture of training and research. I had experience of one such company. It was a world leader in its field and its willingness to invest was impressive.

The culture is of course very different to Spain where, with the property and construction boom having imploded, tourism is, as always, looked to for salvation. And the new tourism secretary of state has pretty much said as much. When there isn't much else, it's hardly surprising though.

The national and regional obsession with tourism, as demonstrated by the amount of attention that is paid to tourism by the media, reflects the fact that there is so little else. The expectation is always that tourism will come good, and it usually does, but in so doing it reinforces the inertia that prevents real progress, as with R&D. Tourism, when you think about it, is, or certainly was, pretty easy. Stick a hotel and a few restaurants up, make the beach look nice and Bob was your uncle and hopefully still is. It isn't rocket science, which is just as well, because Spain and Mallorca simply don't do rocket science.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - (Copa del Rey) Real Sociedad 2 : 0 Real Mallorca

2012-01-04T21:52:00.000+01:00

The first leg of the latest round of the Spanish equivalent of the FA Cup, the Copa del Rey, Mallorca away in San Sebastián at Real Sociedad. The home side had most of the possession in the first half but Mallorca, for once, outpassed an opposition. However, Sociedad went in at half-time one-up, thanks to a header from Aranburu after quarter of an hour. And soon into the second period the lead was extended by Agirretxe. While efforts on goal evened themselves out, a familiar failure to convert scoring opportunities let Mallorca down. A two-nil deficit, the return leg is on 10 January.

Real Sociedad:
Zubikarai; Estrada, Demidov, González, De la Bella; Elustondo, Aranburu (Mariga 81); Prieto, Zurutuza, Griezmann (Vela 72); Agirretxe (Llorente 77)
Goals: Aranburu (16), Agirretxe (54)
Yellows: De la Bella (14), Demidov (67), Zurutuza (74)

Real Mallorca:
Calatayud; Cendrós, Crespí, Ramis, Cáceres; Joao Victor, Martí (Tissone 71); Tejera (Nsue 45), Alfaro, Álvaro; Hemed (Abdón 83)

Yellows: Tejera (11), Cáceres (29), Martí (42), Crespí (56), Nsue (90)

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 4 January 2012

2012-01-04T09:00:00.001+01:00

A cold morning, with temperatures locally ranging between 5 and 8 degrees at 08:30. Clear skies and sunny with negligible breeze, a wind should pick up as will the temperatures; highs of around 16 for later.

Afternoon update: Pretty good day, good amounts of sun, some wind about but a high of 17.2. The wind is due to be a good deal stronger tomorrow with an alert out for the whole of Mallorca with the exception of the north.

The Throwback: Tourism law would be like the '60s

2012-01-04T00:09:00.000+01:00

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, permissiveness, a lack of control and a general disregard for the environment led to tourism-resort developments of the sort that survive today. The Balearic Government's proposed new tourism law, though it envisages resort modernisation, might well fall into the same trap that existed several decades ago. For Mallorca, condemned by some for being "over-constructed", the perception of over-construction could become stronger.

Any number of organisations have been having their say as to the law's proposals, and there is one that perhaps demands being listened to more than others.

Of groups criticised for the excesses of the days of the tourism construction boom, architects had to shoulder some of the blame. Caught up in the permissiveness of a lack of building regulation, architects, like public bodies, hoteliers and others, took the chance of making some good earners and often did so with the same disregard as everyone else. That they are now voicing their concerns about the new law reflects a responsibility that was absent then, even if it means not cashing in to the extent that they might do.

The Official College of Architects in the Balearics (COAIB) believes that the law amounts to a virtual de-regulation of planning, one that will throw Mallorca and the islands back to the sixties and one in favour of one sector of the tourism industry alone - the hotels. And in favouring hotels, the law discriminates against other parts of local society, business and private, which are subject to rigorous planning and environmental procedures and laws. The College has gone so far as to suggest that the new permissiveness would not respect the legal system.

In voicing its criticisms, the College is casting itself in a role of upholder of social responsibility. These criticisms do have extra weight because, though architects clearly stand to benefit from developments, the College doesn't have quite the same self-interest as some other opponents when it comes to the law's proposals. It is placing a professional interest of guardianship above a remunerative one.

As tourism minister Carlos Delgado has alluded to facilitating a relaxation of environmental procedures, it might be interesting were we to hear the views of his governmental colleague in the environment ministry, Gabriel Company. He has, however, maintained his silence.

Company is different to other members of the regional government as he is not a career politician. He was brought into the government as an independent, his background in the agriculture industry making him a good appointment to oversee growth in this sector. But what about other parts of his portfolio?

An independent might, you would think, express an independent point of view. Perhaps he has one, but we don't know. Or perhaps he is in full agreement with Delgado. Either way, the appointment of an independent, while wise in introducing business knowledge for a specific sector to the government, might mean a less strident voice in respect of other sectors, especially when the appointment owes pretty much everything to the government's president who, as has been widely suggested, is heavily influenced by his tourism minister, and not just in matters of tourism.

At a higher political level, that of national government, the appointment of the Mallorcan Isabel Borrego as tourism secretary of state potentially does begin to take on rather more significance, as one digests the criticisms of the architects. Her background in property law and planning has been described as being positive by the Spanish Confederation of Hotels that has emphasised the need to transform mature tourist zones.

The Confederation is of course right, as the hotels in the Balearics and the Balearic Government are also right in seeking to effect resort modernisation, but it is no coincidence that a politician with Borrego's background has been appointed to the tourism role as it is surely also no coincidence that she is from the Balearics.

President Bauzá has applauded her appointment, saying it will allow for projects that will make the Balearics tourism sector more competitive, and the appointment has been styled as a continuation of the role that Joan Mesquida had and as a recognition of the Balearics' importance to national tourism. But, and not for the first time, one looks at the degree to which the Balearics form the test-bed for Partido Popular policies nationally.

The architects have highlighted legal issues in respect of the tourism law. If there are, then they can surely be dealt with. And if there is a national tourism secretary of state, a Balearics deputy, and an expert in property law, then who better could there be to assist?

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 3 January 2012

2012-01-03T09:01:00.001+01:00

A glorious sunny morning after another quite mild night. Local high at 08:45 is 13.4, the temperature is not expected to go much higher today, but there will plenty of sun.

Afternoon update: It has been an almost cloudless day but not particularly warm, highs of around 14.5. Warmer tomorrow and for the rest of the week is how the forecast is looking, with winds picking up later in the week. The arrival of the Three Kings on Thursday evening might well be accompanied by 40kph or more winds and choppy seas for those Kings who come by boat.

In The Pink: Catholic Church and the PP

2012-01-03T08:54:00.000+01:00

Were you aware that in twenty years time half the world's population will be homosexual? This won't be as a consequence of some type of gender modification technique, but as a consequence of a programme set out by the United Nations.

Have I gone mad? No, not me, but the Bishop of Córdoba and Cardinal Antonelli of the Papal Government. In all seriousness, it would appear, the Cardinal has been telling the Bishop that UNESCO has a programme of ideology that will turn 50% of the world gay.

The claim would be hilarious (well, it is hilarious) if it weren't for the fact that the Catholic Church, or at least parts of it, seems to believe this nonsense. The Church has been fighting a losing battle in Spain and its best response is to parrot some complete drivel that the Vatican has dreamt up.

The wholesale global pinking that the UN allegedly has in mind is social-engineering manna from heaven for the Spanish Church as it eyes up its opportunity to reclaim territory lost during the Zapatero administration. With that nice conservative, Sr. Rajoy, now in charge, the Spanish Cardinals will be hoping for a return to the good old days of religious orthodoxy.

Spearheading the campaign is the tough guy of the Spanish Church, Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela, the Archbishop of Madrid, and president of the Episcopal Conference. During his year-end address he laid into the previous government and called on the new one to repeal the socially liberal legislation that Zapatero had presided over.

Zapatero and the Archbishop were not exactly on the best of terms. The former prime minister was the devil incarnate where the Archbishop was concerned, liberalising abortion, permitting same-sex marriage, all the sorts of things designed to bring Spanish and Western Christian civilisation crashing down.

Prior to the election in 2008, the Archbishop and the Church had gone into full propaganda mode on behalf of the Partido Popular. Not that the party was named specifically, but there was no doubt as to where the Church's sympathies didn't lie. Arguably though, the Church's intervention then didn't help the PP, indeed it may well have helped the PP to lose some support, while a similar pro-PP line before the 2011 election was wholly unnecessary given that the election was about one issue and one issue alone - the economy - and that the PP was bound to win in any event.

With the PP restored, the Church now has its opportunity, and the question is to what extent the Rajoy government will backtrack on Zapatero's liberal agenda. Rajoy is, as Rajoy has so far proven to be very adept at, singularly vague as to what he might propose. He has said that there will be a change to the abortion law that the Zapatero administration had brought into line with most of Europe, but he hasn't been specific.

Rajoy himself is cast as a moderate, but rather like a Conservative government in the UK has to bend to the right on the Europe issue, so the PP has its archly conservative element when it comes to socio-religious matters. The "theocons*" of the PP, as they have been described, are likely to bring pressure on Rajoy to undo pretty much everything that Zapatero did, and the Church will be there, egging them on, content in the knowledge that the Vatican, as has historically been the case, sees Spain as the great upholder of Catholicism.

The bizarre beliefs of the Bishop of Córdoba and Cardinal Antonelli are just a part of how the Church would now like the government to be thinking. They are so preposterous that one would hope that a sensible chap such as Rajoy can see through them. The trouble is, though, that Rajoy has not always been particularly sensible. He is, after all, the politician who said that there was no evidence as to global warming because his cousin had told him there wasn't. To base a case on one person's word (who, it just so happens, is related to you) is not really a trait one would hope for in a politician.

The Archbishop, who one could somehow imagine being played by Robert de Niro, as he looks as though he has stepped out of some of de Niro's flims, represents a still powerful force in the land despite it having lost support in recent years. The Church is desperate to reclaim that power and the theocons in the PP could well enable it to.

* "Theocons" was a term first coined by the newspaper "El País".

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Bus routes dropped in Mallorca

2012-01-02T09:30:00.000+01:00

Five bus routes now no longer operate in Mallorca, lack of demand being the reason for their being scrapped. The routes include that between Pollensa and Sa Pobla (Line 342 for which there is no obvious public transport alternative), Son Serra de Marina and Santa Margalida (Line 391) and Muro to Sa Pobla and then Palma (Line 365). In the case of the latter, the train is the obvious alternative, and for those in Son Serra there is an alternative line.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 2 January 2012

2012-01-02T09:06:00.001+01:00

Mostly sunny with some streaks of cloud. Overnight it was mild and the morning is not as chilly as yesterday, a high of 12.7 at 09:00. 17 is the forecast high for today together with more breeze.

Afternoon update: More cloud today but still a good amount of sun. The breeze has got up quite a bit at times, and the high has been 17.4.

London Pride: The Olympics seen from Mallorca

2012-01-02T00:00:00.000+01:00

The New Year in London was brought in with the words of a Belgian. "The city of London" echoed into the fireworked night sky. 2012 had started and so, it appeared, had the Olympics.

That Jacques Rogge should have ushered in the New Year was heartening; Belgium is one of Britain's oldest allies, and Britain right now can do with any it can lay its hands on. Allies or more begrudging friends, it won't matter when the Olympic flame is lit on 27 July, as London and Britain will be able to stand proud in the world for once. Or once again.

I have personal history with the Olympics. East Ham, where my mother's family hailed from, is about two and a half miles from the Olympic Stadium. The much-spoken-of legacy of the Games should not be underestimated. It is the second great rejuvenation of London's East End, the conversion of downtrodden areas into parts of a modern city.

The other bit of history has to do with the Olympic flame. In 1948 my father ran with the Olympic flame through the city of Guildford. My family still have the torch he got to keep. A few months ago some old newsreel cropped up on "The One Show", and there was my father. Not that I saw it and not that I will get to see the transformation of the old East End; well, not this summer anyway.

The '48 Games were the Austerity Games. History is repeating itself, even if current-day austerity comes in a high-tech format and is considerably better-heeled than it was in post-war Britain. It was to be some years after running through Guildford that my father met my mother and some years more before I turned up, so my memory of those Games is confined to old photos. And now, there is something wrong in not being a part of the 2012 Games.

The Olympics in London pose a real question. Not one of justifying the cost but one for those who now live away from Britain. They ask a question of the relationship with "home". This relationship is a strange one. You are as one with it but you are not a part of it. Matters of importance to Britain are no longer so important. Only occasionally do they become so. Cameron's playing of the Little Englander card is one example, if only because it places you, i.e. the Brit in Mallorca, in an unwelcome limelight.

Why should matters of importance to Britain be important any longer? If you are so long out of the country that you can't vote, then they aren't so important, and if you are so long out of the country but no so long that you can still vote, why would you bother? Why, apart from expressing your enfranchisement, should having an influence in an election be of any importance if you no longer live there?

An answer may lie less in a determination to exercise a democratic right than with an enduring identity, one that has not been supplanted by a sense of having gone native. And assumptions are often made that the expat is uninterested in native affairs in Mallorca and Spain. It's an assumption I have often made, but it is one that I increasingly find myself challenging.

Ease of communication thanks to satellite and internet has made it easier to remain rooted in matters of "home", but it has also made it easier, and is making it easier, to discover more about matters of importance in the new home, the expat home. Even those who don't do the native in terms of speaking the language can put stuff from Spanish (or indeed Catalan) websites into Google and get some idea as to what is being said. This is a real positive.

You don't lose your identity, of course you don't, but the issue is to what extent you assume another one, one that is less rooted in matters of "home". There are, though, occasions when "home" is all that matters: sporting occasions, for example. And this year these will mean the Euros and the Olympics, and an Olympic Games staged at "home".

Olympic deniers and those who truly have gone native will pooh-pooh the Games. They are entitled to if they so wish. I for one won't be. "The city of London." "London pride has been handed down to us." I just wish I was going to be there. Old flame has a certain connotation, but in my case, it has a rather different one.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 1 January 2012

2012-01-01T08:33:00.002+01:00

All is quiet on New Years Day. Very calm, the sun is getting up, it's cloudless and cold outside at between 5 and 9 degrees at 08:30. It should be a good day, there is a slight risk of rain, but quite a bit of sun.

Afternoon update: What a fabulous day. Not a cloud in the sky all day (so much for that risk of rain) and warm, with a high of 18 degrees.

The photo is of the bay of Alcúdia from Playa de Muro beach at about three in the afternoon.

The Pain In Spain 2012

2012-01-01T01:22:00.000+01:00

Welcome to 2012. If you live and work in Mallorca, the good news is that you will be paying more income tax. A nice way to bring in the new year.

The announcement by the Spanish Government that income tax will rise is just one of a package of austerity measures. It shouldn't have come as a surprise, except that prior to the election Mariano Rajoy had implied that income tax wouldn't go up. Promises or statements can swiftly be reneged upon and can easily be justified by putting the blame on a situation left behind by the Zapatero administration that was worse than had been expected. It is a wholly disingenuous justification. Voters were idiots if they had really believed taxes wouldn't go up.

The government, in increasing income tax rather than IVA (VAT), argues that this will be less damaging to economic recovery. Who are they trying to kid? Fiscal measures, be they direct or indirect taxation increases, are harmful. At least with keeping direct taxation at the same level, there is theoretically more disposable income. The government's argument is fatuous.

A sensible measure that the government has taken in respect of IVA is not to reduce it for tourism businesses. Again, it is something of a broken promise, but it was a promise that was flawed. Tax receipts from IVA rose in 2011, thanks to a one per cent rise to 8% for tourism businesses. With prospects for tourism in 2012 bright and northern Africa still in turmoil, an IVA reduction would have been unnecessary and a mistake.

The government is faced with an enormous challenge. Of course it is, and it is being realistic in terms of the degree to which it can get the deficit down, but its measures will do little to stimulate recovery. IVA will be reduced for new-property purchase, which may help, but with credit in such short supply, it is mere tinkering.

Spain is pretty much back in recession and Mallorca and the Balearics are as well, despite what the regional government might think. The banks don't think the same and have said so. Tourism, for Mallorca, will be the saviour as it was in 2011, but the island's prospects are otherwise as bleak as they are for the country as a whole.

There must have been consternation in the corridors of Balearics political power when the news came through that central government intended not to extend financing to the islands (along with three other regions) as had been promised. Whether President Bauzá was on the phone to Rajoy demanding to know what was going on we don't know, but the central finance ministry issued a further announcement saying that there had been an error and that no agreement as to a finance cut (elimination in fact) had been arrived at. Again, who are they trying to kid? You don't just make a mistake when it comes to this sort of an announcement, or if you do, it doesn't say much for how joined up central government is.

The swiftness with which the mistake was admitted does suggest that some stern words were had. For Bauzá, so intimately linked to Rajoy, it was news he could have done without, as pressure starts to mount on him and dissent from within his own party increases, the result in part of the closeness both personally and in philosophy between Bauzá and Rajoy. The withdrawal of central finance would also, in all likelihood, have put the kibosh on certain projects in Mallorca; bad PR again for Bauzá who would find it extremely difficult to criticise his PP masters, having so slavishly been prepared to follow them.

Away from the budget, another announcement by central government has a distinct Mallorcan flavour, and that is the appointment of Isabel Borrego as tourism secretary of state. It had been expected that a Mallorcan would be appointed, even if Miquel Ramis had been the front-runner, but is Borrego's appointment as positive as Ramis' might have been? Ramis does have direct experience of tourism, where Borrego doesn't. The government says that this doesn't matter as Borrego's predecessor, Joan Mesquida, also didn't have direct experience. It's a weak argument to say the least.

Various organisations have been quick to support Borrego's appointment, but then they always are; it is known as being diplomatic. The most positive thing that is being said about Borrego is that her background in property and in law is an advantage. An advantage? What for exactly? Or for whom? One guess. Hotels. The worry is that Borrego will be inward-looking in addressing more arcane aspects of tourism, such as the application of various laws as they apply to the industry and to developments, rather than outward-looking in terms of marketing.

So, here we are at the start of 2012. It is going to be a rocky ride this year and unfortunately it hasn't started very encouragingly.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

MALLORCA TODAY - Palma mayor jeered for speaking Castellano

2011-12-31T16:01:00.000+01:00

Palma's mayor Mateo Isern was unable to complete his address at today's Fiesta of the Standard, that celebrates the landing of King Jaume I on Mallorcan soil in 1229, when boos and whistles became too much after he switched from speaking Catalan to Castellano (Castilian Spanish).

MALLORCA TODAY - Muro's treasury department to be investigated

2011-12-31T09:00:00.000+01:00

Further to reports some months ago that audits of town hall finances had revealed that some 10,000 euros were missing, Muro town hall has forwarded information to the local equivalent of the DPP which will investigate an alleged embezzlement centred on the town's treasury.

MALLORCA TODAY - Government error on Balearics financing

2011-12-31T08:49:00.000+01:00

The Spanish finance ministry has been forced to issue a statement saying that there was an error in the announcement yesterday that central financing for the Balearics was to be eliminated. The announcement caused consternation and were it to be the case would place at risk certain projects, such as the continuing construction of Palma's Palacio de Congresos. The ministry now says that the cut to financing has not been approved. Strange that there should have been any announcement therefore.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 31 December 2011

2011-12-31T08:40:00.001+01:00

A cloudier morning but a good enough day in prospect. At 08:30, temperatures range from 10 to a high of 14 in Puerto Pollensa. Lightish breezes at present and a day's maximum of 16 on the cards. Prospect for New Years Day is mostly sunny and perhaps a bit warmer. The week ahead sunny but with strengthening winds.

Afternoon update: A really superb day with the high breaking the 17 mark and with loads of warm sun.

The Day Today (Or Another Day)

2011-12-31T08:30:00.000+01:00

Here's today's quiz question for you? When is Mallorca Day?

Does today's date give you a clue? Well, yes it does, but there again it doesn't. Mallorca Day is today, according to some, but it is also and officially, 12 September. Confused? You've every right to be, as the great debate as to which day should be Mallorca Day is bound up in the mists of time and in the arguments of claimants to both dates.

12 September, in case you are wondering, celebrates the day, in 1276, when King Jaume II took the oath of the granting of the privilege of the Kingdom of Mallorca. If there is to be a Mallorca Day at all, and there has been only since 1997 when the Council of Mallorca decided that 12 September it was to be, this seems a reasonable enough excuse. You might think so, but others would disagree.

Forty-seven years before the oath, Jaume II's father, Jaume I, the Aragon king who came to the rescue of Mallorca, landed at Santa Ponsa on 31 December on his mission (successful, as it was to prove) to drive the forces of Islam from the island. Mallorca Day, therefore, is not 12 September but unofficially 31 December.

Who says so? Primarily, it is various Catalanists, independentists and left-wingers who say so, and you can chuck in some historians, who may or may not be one or all of these things, as well. Were you minded to go searching for information about Mallorca Day on the internet, you would find a website called diadademallorca.cat, which might suggest that it was the official site for the day, except of course it isn't. The domain suffix of "cat" gives the game away, as it is one used predominantly for sites dedicated to Catalan culture and language.

The website does in fact add a bit more confusion to the debate, as 30 December comes into the equation too, so much so that yesterday there was the "traditional demonstration of the Day of Mallorca" in Palma, one of a series of events that start in the middle of December all in aid of the "fiesta of the standard" (which is in fact today) and the parading of Jaume I's Royal Standard.

These events, in different towns across Mallorca, are all run by the Obra Cultural Balear (OCB), the most prominent of the organisations on the island that defends and promotes Catalan culture and language. It is not alone, though, in wishing to change the date of Mallorca Day. The PSM Mallorcan socialists, together with their allies in the general left-wing Bloc, have proposed that Palma town hall adopts 31 December as the official date and gets the Council of Mallorca to make the change.

There is, in the PSM's stance, a touch of good old nationalist rival politics at play. The PSM, nationalists with a left persuasion, take issue with the "imposition" of 12 September back in 1997 by the Council of Mallorca whose then president was Maria Antònia Munar, she of the now defunct nationalists with a right persuasion, the Unió Mallorquina.

This might all seem like a pedantic argument, but historical correctness does have a habit of generating dogmatic attitudes, and such dogma can sometimes become unpleasant.

Last year the object of this unpleasantness was the headquarters building of the OCB anti-Christ, the Círculo Balear, the dogmatically anti-Catalan organisation. It was daubed with graffiti and, true to form, it has been again. What particularly riled Catalanist elements was the decision to the Círculo to take part in the Standard celebration on 31 December, a day very much of Catalanist expression. There was also violence at the 30 December demonstration; four "independentists" who were arrested last year had vowed to return this year.

A question worth asking is whether there is a genuine ground swell of nationalism and desire for independence that the argument over Mallorca Day, the demonstration and the graffiti might suggest. Or is it confined to a vocal but active minority (and there were a mere 1500 demonstrators yesterday evening)? One is inclined to believe that it is the latter, but this year's alternative Mallorca Day has to be considered in the context of moves by the Partido Popular government to promote Castilian over Catalan, moves that don't find universal support and not even within the party itself.

Despite the dogma, there is a very good reason why, assuming there should be a Mallorca Day at all, 31 December should be the date. 1229 was in effect when Mallorca's history began, in the sense that its current-day culture started to be shaped. Prior to then, and most significantly, there was no Catalan language. It took the conquest by an Aragonese king to supplant what was then a version of Latin. 1229 and all that asks questions of current-day attitudes on the right. To deny its significance is historically incorrect, but to accept its significance is to undermine arguments against Catalan.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Index for December 2011

Almond growing, decline in Mallorca's - 6 December 2011
Artisans and authenticity - 9 December 2011
BAFMAs: Mallorcan achievement awards - 15 December 2011
Bars and restaurants to offer other services - 23 December 2011
Campanet, town hall problems in - 5 December 2011
Can Domenech and Can Llobera - 20 December 2011
Castilian and Catalan for town and street names - 29 December 2011
Christmas diary, Leonora Madd's Mallorcan - 25 December 2011, 26 December 2011
Christmas spending - 14 December 2011
Cruise ships and environment - 7 December 2011
Fascinating people in Mallorca - 4 December 2011
French tourism and promotional messages - 17 December 2011
Holiday lets: government gets tough - 3 December 2011
Hotels, modernisation and internet - 11 December 2011
Mallorca Day arguments - 31 December 2011
Mancomunidades, Mallorca's - 30 December 2011
Microsoft and film tourism - 10 December 2011
Oil exploration off the Balearics - 16 December 2011
President Bauzá and party differences - 2 December 2011
PSOE and PP divisions and challenges - 18 December 2011
Rural tourism - 27 December 2011
Sand on beaches, loss of - 28 December 2011
Thomas Cook and African risks - 19 December 2011
Thomson's holiday advert - 1 December 2011
Tourism law reform - 8 December 2011, 13 December 2011
Tourism minister and secretary, new national - 24 December 2011
Tourist tax - 22 December 2011
Trinidad, Mallorca and - 21 December 2011
TV Mallorca, fairs and musicians - 12 December 2011

MALLORCA TODAY - Spanish Government announces income tax rises

2011-12-30T18:44:00.000+01:00

The new government of Mariano Rajoy has today announced that income tax will rise with percentage increases varying according to income. The lowest level, i.e. income below 17,707 euros per annum will, be subject to a rise of 0.75%, that up to 33,007 will be taxed by 2% more and the highest earners, over 300,000 euros will see their tax bills increase by 7%.

Of shorter-term measures, there is to be no increase in the cost of electricity but gas will rise on average by 0.5%.

Another measure, which affects Mallorca in particular, is that central finance for the Balearics is to be eliminated along with that to three other regions, including Catalonia.

MALLORCA TODAY - Mallorcan becomes new Spanish tourism secretary of state

2011-12-30T14:41:00.000+01:00

A Mallorcan has, following much speculation that a politician from the island would be appointed, been made the secretary of state for tourism in the Spanish government, but it is not Miquel Ramis, as had been widely rumoured. Instead, it will be a woman - Isabel Borrego, one of the deputies from the Partido Popular who was voted into Parliament on 20 November. Borrego will be tourism secretary in the ministry for industry, energy and tourism, which is headed by the former president of the Canary Islands, José Manuel Soria.