MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 14 October 2014

Stefanos

Morning high (6.00am): 19.5C
Forecast high: 25C; UV: 4
Three-day forecast: 15 October - Sun, cloud, 26C; 16 October - Sun, 25C; 17 October - Sun, 26C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Southwest 4 increasing 5 at intervals, veering and easing Northwest 3 to 4 by the afternoon. Rain and storm possible from the morning.

Alerts out for rain today, the forecast suggesting there could be showers at any time during the day. Storm also possible. Clearing tomorrow, and the rest of the week looks fine.

Evening update (18.45): A high of 22.3C, so quite a bit down on what it has been. Mostly cloudy all day with some rain but not heavy.

No Frills Excursions

The Middle of Nowhere: Mallorca's middle

The village of Meriden in the West Midlands may only have a population that is slightly greater than 2,500, but the good folk of this village used to be able to boast something that no other folk in England could. They lived in the geographic centre of England. Then one morning not very long ago, the Meriden folk woke up and found that their sleepy village (one assumes it is sleepy, as cliché tradition demands that a village is) was no longer the centre of the English universe. The centre had been moved some eleven miles away. What's more it was no longer in the non-traditional county of the West Midlands but in an altogether more traditional county, Leicestershire. Boffins at the Ordnance Survey had determined that a field at Lindley Hall Farm in Fenny Drayton, Leicestershire was the geographic centre. How the good folk of Meriden must have wept and feared for their property values. And what were they going to do with the memorial which declares Meriden centrality?

There have been other pretenders to the centrist crown of England. Morton in Derbyshire is one such place, but there can now no longer be any debate or rival claims. Fenny Drayton it is. And just as the Ordnance Survey has decided that a field in the middle of nowhere is the English middle, so the Universitat de les Illes Balears, Eptisa (a company which undertakes map-making on behalf of the islands) and the National Centre for Geographic Information have all agreed that Mallorca's geographic centre is also in the middle of nowhere - in the common woods (Sa Comuna) of Lloret de Vistalegre.

The good folk of Lloret - the "lloritans" - can now, once and for all, thumb their noses at the pretenders in the next pueblo. Sineu, often and erroneously referred to as being the geographic centre, can now only claim to be slightly off-centre, and as a consequence many a website is going to have to update its information, which will be more than slightly inconvenient. There was an advantage to the Sineu middleness for the touristically-minded promotion. It has certain attractions - its well-known market, its church dome designed by Joaquín Pavía y Birmingham, its one-time Palace of the Kings of Mallorca. Lloret, on the other hand, doesn't have any of these. Only a 1.74 metre high stone in some woods. Here lies the centre of Mallorca; it doesn't say.

At least this geo-centricity affords Lloret a claim to fame that it previously hasn't had. It places the village firmly on the map, where it has always been, but which hasn't been sufficient to entice anyone to go there. Being in the middle of things might be deemed advantageous but not necessarily in Mallorca. The middle is the middle of nowhere, regardless of whether it's in the middle of a wood or not.

However, now that Lloret can point to the authority of the university and its partners and so to its enviable location, will there be a surge of tourist interest? Surely any self-respecting tourists would wish to beat a path of an off-the-beaten path variety in order to take selfies next to the stone of Mallorcan middledom; wouldn't they? Well, possibly. Just as possibly tourists to England will wish to trample across the fields of Fenny Drayton and stand with a beaming smile next to an old railway sleeper that has been stuck in the ground along with a sign replete with the cross of St. George which states that the Ordnance Survey defined the spot as the geographical centre in 2002 (it took eleven years for this definition to be officially marked). The owner of the farm is, remarkably enough, called Farmer. Stephen Farmer believes that the sleeper (which in fact is 150 metres from the exact spot, which is in a field) could become a tourist attraction. As visitors go to Land's End to have their photos taken with the famous sign, then why wouldn't they want to come to Fenny Drayton and do likewise? But then Land's End does have some additional appeal. Firstly, it is land's end and secondly, there's a ruddy great ocean next to it. 

Still, councillors at the Borough of Hinckley and Bosworth live in hope of new-found tourism riches. So should the leaders of Lloret be shouting the geographic centre from the tourism rooftops? Maybe, but there will always be those who reject the sudden appearance of inquisitive tourists because they might cause harm to the common and its flora and fauna, while the town hall has bemoaned the fact that it already costs 3.6 million euros to pay for rubbish collection (a cost shared with other town halls). The chances are, therefore, that the stone marking the geographic centre will remain unmolested. In the middle of nowhere.

For photo of the Lloret stone, go to: http://ultimahora.es/mallorca/noticias/part-forana/2014/135350/piedra-metros-reivindica-centro-geografico-mallorca-lloret.html

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 13 October 2014

Stefanos

Morning high (6.30am): 20C
Forecast high: 27C; UV: 4
Three-day forecast: 14 October - Cloud, rain, 25C; 15 October - Cloud, sun, 22C; 16 October - Sun, 25C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Southwest 4 to 5 but with alert for force 7 on occasions.

A good enough day in prospect, though possibly quite breezy at times. Tomorrow there is an alert out for rain, the cloud lingering until Wednesday and then clearing for the remainder of the week.

Evening update (18.30): A day of mostly very bright sunlight, the stiff breezes blowing away any autumnal haze. A high of 27C, so bang on the forecast.

No Frills Excursions

Mavis's Kiss: Corrie in Mallorca

Forty years ago television history was made. Mavis Riley had her first on-screen kiss. She had looked longingly into the eyes of Pedro, who worked in a nightclub and who had looked equally longingly into Mavis's innocent peepers. The merest peck and ... roll the credits.

Mavis disappearing for a little stroll with her Latin love that "went a little further" than she had intended was a huge shock to the nation, as it also was to Rita. What time had Mavis got in last night, enquired Rita. Mavis was unsure. She was dewy-eyed and quiffy in a way that Hugh Laurie's George was to be many years later after a night out with Stephen Fry's Melchett in "Blackadder Goes Forth". But while Mavis discovering a holiday romance was sufficiently outrageous that it should have raised questions in parliament, there was no such shock attached to either Rita or Bet's flings.

Rita and Mavis had been on the beach, Rita's sides-scooped-out swimsuit daringly lowered so that she was sunbathing topless front down. They were lying on lilos the size and weight of orthopaedic mattresses. No sooner had Rita unclipped the back of her swimsuit than a comedy Spaniard came hovering. He was to next be seen in  "Are You Being Served, The Movie" set on the Costa Plonka and had adopted a moustache and hairstyle borrowed from Peter Wyngarde's Jason King. Bet, meantime, was being sucked in by an alleged property tycoon. Stephen Yardley was rehearsing the slimeball routine that he was to later perfect in "Howards' Way", a soap so maligned within the BBC that it was known as "Gerrybuilt" after its producer Gerard Glaister.

This was of course the occasion when most of the female cast of "Coronation Street" took a holiday in Mallorca. They had been part of Betty Turpin's "Spot the Ball" syndicate. There they all were: Mavis, Rita, Bet, Betty, Emily, Annie, Hilda and Deirdre. And what priceless moments there were. The 1974 era was captured by Hilda playing the castanets and bellowing out "Y Viva España" (which was a UK hit in 1974). There was Annie Walker's snobbishness. "The Anglo-Saxon epidermis is so delicate," she told the suffering Emily. Annie didn't have to endure problems of sunburn on account of her being an "English rose with a touch of exotic ancestry".

They were staying at the so-called Hotel Playa in Palmanova. We know it was Palmanova (for purposes of the script) because when Hilda's washing was blown away, Bet shouted at her that she didn't want to let her Stan know that she'd been throwing her knickers all over Palmanova. They were a highly diverse group of characters, to say the least. Deirdre was the youthful sex interest under the watchful eye of Annie. Deirdre was going to get married to Billy Walker, which in the end she didn't, thus making Billy the only male cast member who Deirdre didn't marry. Bet was the older, more mature sex interest, falling hopelessly head over heels for a conman, as was her wont. Emily was, as always, the studious one. How many l's are there in Valldemossa, she asked. Hilda, surprisingly perhaps, knew the answer.

While the eight ladies of the Street were off in Palmanova, back in Weatherfield the only females left were Minnie Caldwell, Kathy Staff's Vera Hopkins and mother-in-law and daughter, and Blanche, Deirdre's mother. "I'm a lazy slut at heart," she admitted to lecherous Len Fairclough, one of the men left behind along with Ken and Ray (who were to both have Deirdre in common), Billy, Stan, Ernest Bishop and Jerry Booth.

The contrast between Weatherfield and Mallorca was striking; the drudgery, mundanity and greyness of the former dripping from the just-out-of bed Jerry sniffing heavily as he prepared the newspapers at Rita's shop. But then the contrast was meant to be striking. It was also very accurate. This was Britain in 1974, the year of the Three-Day Week, a four-week miners' strike and a time when parts of Manchester were rundown and neglected as was the case with so many other British cities and large towns. Though Len could remark that it was a "millionaires' playground", Mallorca was the escape for the working-class, just as the British Workers' Travel Association had envisaged over three decades before. In 1974 it was still comparatively new and fresh, even if it had acquired an image of naffness that was to take years to shake off. And in a sense the "Coronation Street" episodes contributed to that image where a more high-brow, middle-class audience might have been concerned.

The episodes form a period piece not just of "Coronation Street" as it was but also of Mallorca and its place in British society and culture. There was really only one destination that could have been chosen. And that was Mallorca.

Photo: http://coronationstreetupdates.blogspot.com.es/2010/11/50-years-of-corrie-in-50-days-1974.html

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 12 October 2014

Stefanos

Morning high (7.30am): 22C
Forecast high: 28C; UV: 4
Three-day forecast: 13 October - Sun, cloud, 27C; 14 October - Sun, shower, 23C; 15 October - Sun, shower, 22C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Southeast 3 to 4 occasionally 5 veering Southwest from midday.

A cloudy start. Will be sun during the day but also cloud and just the possibility of a shower later. The next two to three days suggest a similar mix.

Evening update (19.45): A high of 30.1C. Good amounts of sun but often quite hazy sun. Hazy, lazy sun; it's that time of the year.

No Frills Excursions

TIL Death Us Do Part

Why is anyone talking about TIL any longer? Has it gone unnoticed that the schools of the island have been thrown back to simpler pre-acronym times, that the senyera is being hung metaphorically if not physically from science blocks and that the youth of Mallorca are rejoicing in the mediaevalist purity of the ancients of Catalanism. Oh my Berenguer, my Llull, my Jaume I of times gone by. TIL is dead, long live the Catalan grammar of Pompeu Fabra. PSOE's Cosme Bonet announced that the TIL decree was a zombie decree. The Walking Dead of a decree. Empty-eyed PP sorts (the few who genuinely support TIL) are vainly insisting that the unworkable trinity of languages is still somehow operable, when more than a hundred schools suggest that it isn't. At the head of the not-quite-yet-dead is José Ramón, and what on earth is happening to him? Where has all that hair come from? Is he going for a mullet or is he, as I had suggested some months ago, aiming for the ponytail look with which to confront the devil of Podemos? Or is he finally morphing into his distant ancestor in Transylvania? Blood sucker turned Mood Hoover, vacuuming all the good mood out of the PP?

Contrast the Bauzá dishevelled look with that of Nuria. Each morning she rises for her appointment with the stylist before taking herself off for a trip around the pueblos or for a meeting with gauche student representatives. Bauzá's Batwoman, who only has a few months to save TIL Gotham City from falling into the hands of the jokers and riddlers of PSOE and Podemos. Her mission (if she should have chosen to have accepted it, which she of course did) is that of the impossible charm offensive. Is she bothered that TIL is a walking dead of a decree? Of course she isn't. That she might even contemplate a tour of the pueblos in order to convert recalcitrant PP mayors to the dogma of TIL sets her well apart from José Ramón. Mayors across the isle are desperately seeking ways of ensuring that he doesn't get within 50 kilometres of their municipalities in pre-election times (difficult given the size of Mallorca, admittedly).

So why don't the mayors just get rid of him? Send in the men in grey suits or even one with a brown suit, his chum Matty Isern. Is it because there is no one to replace him? Not so. Not since Nuria claimed the education throne. A tough job? Not a bit of it. Puts her firmly in the party and public eye. She is, so sources explained last week, "very smart", "extremely ambitious" and seemingly not afraid to put the boot in or to get the knife out. Sounds as though she would be ideal for the backstabbers party. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the next leader of the PP. Nuria Riera.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 11 October 2014

Stefanos

Morning high (7.30am): 18.5C
Forecast high: 29C; UV: 4
Three-day forecast: 12 October - Sun, cloud, 30C; 13 October - Sun, cloud, 24C; 14 October - Sun, shower, 24C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 to 3 increasing South 3 to 4 by the afternoon.

Light cloud around at the start of what will be another fine and mainly sunny day. Staying good into tomorrow but there is just a slight risk of a shower on Sunday afternoon, with the risk of showers increasing going into next week.

Evening update (19.15): A high of 28.9C. Clouded over now after a good day.

No Frills Excursions

Riding Around In Circles: Mallorca's velodromes

One hundred years ago, on 18 October, 1914, a velodrome was opened in Llucmajor; not just opened, it was also blessed. It was a track from another forgotten part of the island's history. Like bullrings which long ago disappeared, so there were also cycling circuits and they reflected a wider history, that of cycling itself.

1869 is the year when, it might be said, cycling started in Mallorca. A banker named Ernesto Canut bought a bike in France, brought it over to the island and from that year on the sight of bikes on the roads of Palma became increasingly common. As far as sport was concerned, associations were being formed from the end of the 1880s. In 1892 the first race took place in Felanitx. The following year, the first Balearics cycling championship took place, but it is 1903 which stands out as a year of major importance in the history of Mallorcan cycling, for it was in that year that the El Tirador velodrome was opened. It had been the ambition of a cycling club called Veloç Sport Balear. The first stone had been laid at the end of 1898 and on 10 August, 1903, it was finally inaugurated during Palma's annual fiestas.

El Tirador is, or rather was, the most celebrated velodrome in Mallorca, but it wasn't the first. Veloç Sport Balear had considered sharing a velodrome operated by the appropriately named Cercle Ciclista. This was Son Espanyolet, and it had been inaugurated in 1893, though Felanitx, where that 1892 race had taken place, was the first of all. The year after El Tirador opened it staged the Spanish championship, and there was talk of trying to attract the world championship, but that failed to materialise. Out on the roads cycling was becoming ever more popular, and 1913 was to be another landmark year for cycling as a sport; the first Volta a Mallorca (Tour of Mallorca) was held.

El Tirador is considered to be Spain's oldest velodrome still in existence. One says in existence, but it actually closed in 1973. It's difficult to identify quite how many velodromes there ever were on Mallorca. In 1975 a new one opened in Algaida. Reporting this inauguration, "El Mundo Deportivo" noted the famous velodromes which had gone - Felanitx, Son Espanyolet and El Tirador - but it also referred to former tracks in Arta and Manacor. In addition to the new velodrome in Algaida, the report went on, were tracks in "Pollensa, Sineu, Vilafranca, Santa Maria, etc.".

Cycling and velodromes have of course moved on since then. Veloç Sport Balear, a club which is still going, harbours ambitions of reviving El Tirador. Or did. In 2007 along came the Palma Arena velodrome, the grandest of them all. As for Llucmajor's velodrome, it had only a relatively short life. In the 1930s the land was sold off.

Photo: El Tirador on the day it opened. From http://www.arabalears.cat/opinio/blogs/

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 10 October 2014

Stefanos

Morning high (6.15am): 20C
Forecast high: 29C; UV: 4
Three-day forecast: 11 October - Sun, 29C; 12 October - Sun, cloud, 29C; 13 October - Sun, shower, 24C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Southwest 3 to 4.

Some light cloud visible in the still night sky, and there may be some light cloud around during the day. Otherwise sunny, and with southerlies still dominating, warm air giving higher than normal temperatures. The weekend's outlook is good.

Evening update (18.45): A high of 30.7C, and so the heat continues. Cloudier at times today though.

No Frills Excursions

Transhotel's Collapse

The website for the Madrid-based Group Transhotel is still up but the company, one of Spain's leading tourist services concerns, a global organisation specialising in online reservations, is to file for bankruptcy. Coming on the back of the collapse of Marsans and Orizonia, Transhotel's failure represents a severe blow to the Spanish travel industry and to its credibility.

This diminishing reputation has not been helped by the way in which Transhotel has conducted itself over the past few months. Last December its employees had been informed by its owners that the company was in financial difficulty. At the Fitur travel fair in Madrid early this year there had been a protest at the Transhotel stand led by various hoteliers with which it was associated. The response was to announce that the sale of the company to Springwater, the Swiss-based investment concern, was imminent. It wasn't. There was a memorandum of understanding with Springwater, but the investment company later announced that it had no interest in making the purchase.

Prior to the statement to employees in December, Transhotel had been in discussions with another reservations company, Hotusa. These discussions broke down but Hotusa were approached again once Springwater's lack of interest became apparent. In August further announcements were made. One said that there was an agreement in principle for the sale of shares to Hotusa; another that Hotusa had actually bought the company. A few days ago any agreement was no more. Transhotel's owners wanted far more than Hotusa were prepared to pay. Transhotel, despite boasting on its website that it has "the latest technology", was considered to have systems that were all but obsolete, something which had deterred Hotusa originally.

Debts that Transhotel have outstanding to hotels are said to be in the region of 30 million euros, though the total debts may be almost double this amount. Travel agencies may also be affected though their exposure through pre-paid bookings is considered to be low. The company's 500 or so employees, left this time to apparently hear the bad news via the media, are also quite clearly affected.

There is some potentially bright news in that Hotusa, despite not going ahead with the purchase, has offered to take over Transhotel reservations. Questions are being raised, however, as to why Transhotel was continuing to accept reservations when it was planning to file for bankruptcy. The company has been given a period of administration for three months, extendable to four, to try and secure its viability and to negotiate with its creditors.

The fallout from this failure will be good news for Hotusa and other reservations companies such as Hotelbeds, but it is bad news for the industry, which is currently having to watch on while legal proceedings involving Marsans are being publicised and made known to an international audience which can only have its faith in the Spanish industry undermined further by the failure of such a well-known brand name.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 9 October 2014

Stefanos

Morning high (6.30am): 19C
Forecast high: 30C; UV: 5
Three-day forecast: 10 October - Sun, 30C; 11 October - Sun, 26C; 12 October - Sun, shower, 28C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): South and Southwest 3 to 4.

A bright moon suggesting a clear sky before the sun comes up, and another fine day in prospect. Looking ahead to next week, the current run of good weather appears as though it may be replaced by more unsettled conditions.

Evening update (19.15): A high of 30.3C. Yes, this is October!

No Frills Excursions

The Seven-Year Window That Closed

There is a misconception that Mallorca's tourism boom of the early 1960s was all the product of central commands from the Franco regime. This view overlooks the roles played by the island's entrepreneurs and foreign tour operators and investors and the way in which they either ignored or worked around official policies of the Franco administration or of other governments, the UK's for instance. Nevertheless, it is true that there was a great deal of central control and so there was, as a consequence, a vacuum that was created when the regime ended and while Spain and Mallorca initially struggled to make sense of what would be its new democratic era.

This tourism vacuum was abhorred immediately, though. It was easily enough filled because Mallorca had a ready-made tourism government-in-waiting, the Fomento del Turismo, aka the Mallorca Tourist Board, which in truth had acted in this quasi-governmental fashion for some years. What changed, though, was the nature of official governmental command, and so the board assumed a role which belied its essentially private make-up. This was a board with an eclectic mix: businesspeople, tourist entrepreneurs, engineers, artists, journalists, they all featured.

In the mid-1970s the island's tourism had to contend with the repercussions of the end of the regime and the effects of the oil crisis. This gave rise to a reassessment, included in which was the consideration of an over-dependence on foreign tour operators and of, for the first time, the effects of tourism on the environment. What emerged was a Mallorcan tourism industry which sought to take charge of its own destiny and not have it determined by others.

This might have provoked a parochial attitude but it didn't, and a reason why it didn't was the fact that local business was so intimately involved with the island's tourism organisation and that this business was complemented by those from that eclectic mix at the board whose world view was, generally speaking, just that - world, rather than insular. In addition, other organisations came into being, such as the Mallorcan hoteliers federation and what was known as the Balearics Co-operative Federation. Both these bodies were founded in 1977 and they both went a long way to eradicating what had been a fragmented tourism industry which had lacked a sense of unity.

In January 1979 a week-long event took place which defined this era. It was the first Congress of Mallorca's Tourism. It was an event conducted in an open and democratic manner and one which brought together pretty much any organisation, association or individual who mattered to the island's tourism industry. It set out areas for co-ordinated effort going forward, one of which was tourism promotion.

The congress was the clearest example of what occurred during the roughly seven-year period between the end of the Franco regime and the establishment of regional government in the Balearics. It was a period during which the tourism industry, no longer shackled by an overbearing regime, was able to think for itself and to move the island's tourism forward. It did of course need government, but it was government to deal with technicalities of land approvals, of infrastructure, of employment law. It was a period during which, by and large, tourism was driven by the tourism industry as a whole and not by government.

With regional government came the regional tourism ministry. Initially, the ministry was able to draw on what had been achieved during that seven-year period. Its minister was a man with a tourism background, Jaume Cladera, but he couldn't prevent what happened. The ministry grew like topsy, grabbing responsibilities for all aspects of tourism, littering itself with civil servants and ultimately turning in on itself, adhering to parochial visions of tourism through the eyes of the Mallorcan and not through the eyes of the wider world. 

Two things have made me make the observations above. One was the article about how Croatia has managed within the space of only a few months to have a 365-day-a-year campaign up and running. The other was a recent appreciation of how tourism promotion tends to work, the tortuous path it must follow within the regional government and the "touristically-correct" way in which it is supposed to be presented. 

The window of the seven-year period during which the industry took charge was slammed shut. The centralised constraints until 1975 were to be replaced by decentralised constraints of bloated and self-serving administrations with blinkers on. The window of co-operation was lost for all time. It could not now be revived because of domineering industry interests. We are left with the ministry, therefore. But it could do worse than to look back to that seven-year window and ask itself whether tourism shouldn't be run in a more businesslike fashion.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 8 October 2014

Stefanos

Morning high (7.00am): 21C
Forecast high: 29C; UV: 5
Three-day forecast: 9 October - Sun, 29C; 10 October - Sun, 27C; 11 October - Sun, 26C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): South and Southwest 2 to 4.

Another very acceptable October day in store with southerlies predominating at present and continuing to push warm air up. Staying fine for the rest of the week.

Evening update (19.45): Another very warm day. A high of 30.7C.

No Frills Excursions

Spraying The Caterpillars

Those of us who live on Mallorca or who visit the island in the late winter will be only too well aware of the processionary caterpillar. We look up at pine trees and see the nests, we look down and see the trails of caterpillars marching in connected formation in search of soil in which they can bury themselves, pupate and start the whole cycle of moth to caterpillar all over again. We are only too well aware of the skin irritations the caterpillars can cause or of the deaths of pets which might take too great an interest in them. We may be less aware of the harm that the larvae cause to pine trees and other conifer species. They can severely defoliate the trees, thus weakening them and leaving them prone to attack by other pests, by diseases or by environmental conditions.

There are an awful lot of pine trees on Mallorca, and so there are an awful lot of caterpillars. There are ways and means of tackling the pest, but one means - that of chemical spraying - has come in for severe criticism. The regional government's environment ministry is to undertake widespread spraying from the air during this month and during November.

The chemical that will be used is the diflubenzuron pesticide, known also by its brand name, Dimilin. This is a pesticide whose use has proved controversial and not just in the Balearics. For example, in the US state of New Jersey in 2007 environmental groups managed to overturn a decision by the state's department of agriculture to use Dimilin to tackle what was an emergency brought about by a sudden rise in the gypsy moth population. For over twenty years, New Jersey had used a biological pesticide called Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t.). The agriculture department considered this to be inadequate in tackling the emergency, despite the department itself admitting that B.t. afforded good protection for foliage and other species and for control of the gypsy moth population.

Opposition to the use of Dimilin was based on different factors. One, it was unclear whether it would in fact be any more effective than B.t. Two, it could kill other insects. Three, it could have a harmful effect on bird life. Four, it could introduce toxicity for water life. Five, one of its elements was, in all probability, a class B2 human carcinogen. Six, Dimilin was also a hormone disruptor that could harmfully affect both human and animal endocrine systems, in other words the way in which hormones are secreted into the body's circulatory system.

In New Jersey they had stopped using a different pesticide in 1985 because of its potentially harmful human effects. In Mallorca the use of Dimilin was banned by the first Antich PSOE-led government of 1999-2003. It hasn't been used in Mallorca since. Instead, the biological pesticide B.t. has been used. Now, the regional government is changing tack, and there is an outcry from environmental groups and certain political parties.

According to a spokesperson for the Més political grouping, the so-called "Company campaign" (named after the minister for both the environment and agriculture) will, through the use of Dimilin, be more expensive than alternatives and have a greater environmental impact. The cost of the spraying, some two million euros, has not been budgeted for, leading to questions over the awarding of a contract for the spraying. The environmentalist group GOB has attacked the use of Dimilin, noting a regional environmental sustainability report which says that it is not recommended for large-scale spraying on account of its indiscriminate effects; the government plans to spray more than 24,000 hectares of pine forest on Mallorca.

GOB has submitted a written report to the European Commission, drawing attention to a possible breach of a directive on the conservation of natural habitats and flora and fauna and to the regional government environment ministry going against its own sustainability report. GOB notes that the directive requires there to be an impact assessment of the use of pesticides. It further notes that there has been no such impact assessment in respect of Mallorca or indeed the other three Balearic Islands, where pine forests will also be sprayed.

The university in Palma has entered the controversy by concluding that Dimilin does not affect other insects, while it has been noted that there was limited use of Dimilin in Ibiza in 2010, permission for this having been given by the then environment minister, Gabriel Vicens, a member of the PSM Mallorcan socialists, who are part of what is now the Més grouping.

So, what do we conclude? Are Dimilin's potentially harmful effects being exaggerated? In New Jersey it seems they took them seriously enough. In Mallorca, however, they are deemed less serious. And who would bet against there being the trails of caterpillars next March, Dimilin or no Dimilin?

Photo: http://mallorcaphotoblog.com/2011/03/08/the-processionary-caterpillar/

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 7 October 2014

Stefanos

Morning high (6.00am): 18C
Forecast high: 29C; UV: 5
Three-day forecast: 8 October - Sun, 29C; 9 October - Sun, 27C; 10 October - Sun, 27C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): South and Southwest 3 to 4 increasing 5 at intervals.

In a spell of fine weather at the moment, some breeziness easing the humidity which is typical for the autumn. Sunny for the rest of the week, though there may be a change at the weekend.

Evening update (19.30): Very warm. A high of 30.4C.

No Frills Excursions

365 In A Croatian Style

You are about to read a promotional feature for Croatia. I have, therefore, to apologise in advance for any offence that this might cause, but as, for the purposes of research and appreciation of what the competition does, I am one of 1,323,186 people who - as of 6 October - like the "Love Croatia" Facebook page, I feel it is only right to share with you the promotion for what is a key competitor to Mallorca.

Since the start of October, this Facebook page has added a video for the island of Hvar and eight other posts replete with spectacular photography that has been supplied officially and by visitors both direct to the page and through a linked Instagram page. What does one get from these nine posts alone? Well, for example, if you are looking for what to do in October, you can link to the official website which will tell you about Croatia 365, all-year round Croatia. This tells you that the country is "rich in natural beauty and well-preserved cultural heritage, specifically by its diversity". It goes on to inform you that you can "take a ride by bike where, long ago, Roman legions walked". You can check out destinations for culture, biking, outdoor, health and wellness, meetings and incentives and wine and gastronomy.

With a different post, you could have supplied your own words to complete the following: "Visiting Croatia was ...". I gave up checking the hundreds of comments after the first loads of "magical", "dream", "heaven on earth" and what have you, some of them with further photos.

The first post for October was another one to remind you about the possibilities which exist all year, a link to "Croatia 365, Experience Croatia all year round". This project, "Croatia 365", was launched in the summer by the country's tourism ministry. The purpose of the project is, naturally enough, to bring tourists in "once the summer sun has gone". The focus of the project is the six elements I list above - culture, biking, etc. - and in addition to improving facilities and activities in order to meet the project's objectives, there will be (and now is) an intensive marketing campaign, as might be noted through the "Love Croatia" Facebook page. As part of this project, twenty-two destinations within the country have guaranteed that at least 50% of all tourism and restaurant facilities will stay open.

One can't directly compare Croatia with Mallorca for one obvious reason - Croatia is a country - yet in terms of tourism, it wasn't at one time so dissimilar in that it was a part of a larger country. Yugoslavia, though it never created or really craved mass tourism, was in the 1950s far more open than Spain was to foreign tourists. So there was a long history of tourism development for Croatia to draw on once it became independent and once the wars that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia ceased.

At one stage in the late 1980s, total tourist arrivals to Croatia were over ten million per annum. At their lowest, in 1992, they were a little over two million. There was a hell of a lot of recovery and catch-up to be done, and it took until 2006 for the ten million barrier to be broken again. Between 2011 and 2013, the growth was significant; three million more tourists within the space of three years. The annual total is now over 14 million (roughly what the Balearics as a whole receive).

Croatia is a vastly bigger place than Mallorca, so again a direct comparison between the two is questionable. However, the Mallorcan tourism industry recognises Croatia for what it is: a direct competitor. And if you look at what the Croatia 365 project wants to achieve, you will find that it is remarkably similar to what Mallorca covets by way of all-year tourism; culture, cycling, meetings, they're the same.

There is a very meaningful comparison between the two when it comes to promotion. Mallorca's direct competitor on the Adriatic has its official Facebook page, churning out daily posts with recommendations, photos, videos and visitor comments and feedback. This is linked to the official website where there is of course a great deal more information. And Croatia now has a 365 campaign. Launched only three months ago, it is taking off thanks to social media in a way that a 365 campaign in Mallorca is not and has not. Palma's.

The foundation that oversees Palma 365 is to pay 48,000 euros apiece to a UK and a German PR company. The main purpose is for these PR companies to get press coverage. Which is all well and good, but has it gone unnoticed that there are different media out there? 1,323,186 people. Croatia, where 365 means 365 or where at least there is "an intensive marketing campaign". Who's playing catch-up now?

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 6 October 2014

Stefanos

Morning high (7.15am): 18C
Forecast high: 28C; UV: 5
Three-day forecast: 7 October - Sun, 29C; 8 October - Sun, 27C; 9 October - Sun, 27C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 increasing Southeast 3 to 4 during the morning.

Distinctly fresher morning, clearish skies heading towards sunrise and a mainly fine and sunny day to come. The forecast for the week is good - plenty of sun and quite hot.

Evening update (20.45): A high of 27.9C. Pleasant day.

No Frills Excursions

We Can Collapse Governments

Two opinion polls were published at the weekend. They were opinion polls that would have wrecked any hopes that Mariano Rajoy or José Ramón Bauzá would have had for a nice, pleasant Sunday. The Partido Popular both nationally and in the Balearics are heading for the exits next year.

The poll by the Balearics Institute for Social Studies on behalf of "Ultima Hora" confirms previous recent surveys which suggest that in May next year the PP would lose eight seats in the Balearic parliament. Down to 27 from the current 35, it would lose its overall majority (30 seats are needed for a majority). Its percentage of the vote would slip by around 9% and though this would still make it the most voted-for party (37%), it would be unable to form a government without the support of other parties, and it would be most unlikely to attract sufficient support, if any.

A startling aspect of this poll is not so much the losses that the PP would suffer but those that PSOE would experience. The main opposition party, it stands to lose three seats (or two if one takes a Formentera coalition branch to be a shoo-in). The even more startling aspect is the party which would be taking seats from both of them - Podemos ("we can"). It might win as many as ten seats. Win not gain, because of course there was no Podemos at the last election.

It might have been possible to have dismissed Podemos's performance at the European elections earlier this year as a one-off kicking for the main parties. In which case that would have been to have underestimated Podemos. It has come from nowhere but it isn't about to suddenly disappear. It holds the key to the elections next year.

In the Balearics the opinion poll gives the PP little or no hope of finding coalition partners. El Pi, the party which emerged from the discredited and defunct Unió Mallorquina, might get one seat. The UPyD also might get one seat, but for it to ally with the PP, despite its centrist tendencies, would go against much of its reason for being, which was to challenge the two main parties.

And this, the challenge to the main parties, is one of the key reasons why Podemos came into existence. It is populist in a way that is far removed from the UPyD; about as far removed as its political agenda. But it, as with the UPyD, has to face the reality of what it has created. If it is to serve any purpose as a political organisation, it has to be prepared to work with the main parties, which almost certainly wouldn't mean the PP. Therefore, it only has one option - PSOE. If there were to be a coalition between PSOE and Podemos, it would be a coalition which would be expected to bring along the Més leftist grouping as well. Between them, they would just about scrape together a majority.

In terms of government, Podemos is a totally unknown quantity. As such, therefore, its very popularity brings with it an enormous amount of uncertainty. It is not used to the games of government; indeed, it is these very games that it rejects. What happens or might happen if it were to enter a coalition, in which it would get some top positions by virtue of its number of seats, but then discovers that it has disagreements?

There has to be a real danger that a coalition could be thrown into chaos or could collapse. We will discover over the next weeks and months just how much common ground Francina Armengol of PSOE can find with the Balearics wing of Podemos, assuming she can find any. But the attitude of Podemos and its supporters towards PSOE can be seen in the findings of the Metroscopia poll that was published in "El País". They are overwhelmingly negative with regard to PSOE's new national leader, Pedro Sánchez.

And if there might be chaos in the Balearics, what about nationally? The decline in support for the PP has crumbled, according to the Metroscopia poll. PSOE's support is about the same as it was in 2011. Podemos, on the other hand, has a level of support not far behind that of the PP. This is not a poll which estimates how the vote might go nationally but it is a survey which indicates where sentiment lies, and it is sentiment which could yet create as uncertain a pattern in national government as it could in the Balearics.

Rajoy, with some better news about the economy and with the promise of tax-giveaways, has more time than Bauzá in the Balearics to potentially turn things around. Bauzá has nothing to give away, only himself. The Balearics PP might conceivably hold on next spring, if and only if there was a different leader.

MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 5 October 2014

Stefanos

Morning high (7.00am): 18.5C
Forecast high: 25C; UV: 5
Three-day forecast: 6 October - Sun, cloud, 27C; 7 October - Sun, 26C; 8 October - Sun, 27C.

Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North 2 to 3. Rain possible from the morning on.

Skies seem mostly clear early on, but there are alerts in place for rain and storms for today. There should, though, also be a good amount of sun. Into next week, especially from Tuesday, the forecast looks very decent: sunny and quite hot.

Evening update (19.00): A storm came in this morning. Heavy in Puerto Pollensa but less so elsewhere. Sun started to re-emerge in the afternoon.

No Frills Excursions

Mallorca And The Mountain Of Gold

A mountain of gold. From a distant land known as Madrid, Cristobel the Fairy Godfather waved his magic wand and a spell was cast that flew over the sea as though it were a burnishing trail left by a mythical airplane borne by the wings of angels. The spell touched the highest peaks of the blessed islands of the Balearics and burst like the most benign and glorious fireworks, gold cascading down the valleys, across the plains and to the waters of sapphires. Mont Oro, for it was he, Cristobel the Gold Mountain of All The Treasures of Hispania, spake unto the entranced peoples of the blessed isles. "You shall all go to the Ball (de Bot). You shall all forever more wear glass slippers rather than flip-flops." And the peoples were most grateful.

Well, in a parallel universe the people and politicians of the Balearics might indeed be grateful, but last week there were hordes of ingrates stomping their feet and demanding more. Cristóbal Montoro, Spain's finance minister, had been doing his annual sums. Some for them, some more for them, a bit less for them, and he plucked numbers out of the air and called them the allocations by regions of the state budget. Overlooking the small matter of an 87% increase in the allocation for the Balearics, far from everyone was happy, the discontent coming about because, regardless of this act of central government generosity, the Balearics will still get less per head of population from the national pot than mostly every other region of Spain.

Cheesed off various politicos and businesspeople might be by the miserly sum of 138.4 million euros, but they might remember that there was a time, not so long ago, when the Balearics did much more nicely thank you from the budget. in 2007, as an example, the allocation was 218 million euros, and if one goes back over the years, it will be discovered that, though the amount fluctuated, the Balearics usually did reasonably well. These budget allocations are for what are essentially strategic investments. The lion's share of the Balearics budget is for airports and ports with agriculture and the environment taking up most of the rest.

More investment could doubtless come in handy, but it has to be taken into account that there are eighteen other regions or communities holding out the begging bowl. One of them, Andalusia, despite it being a hotbed of socialism, regularly benefits from Madrid's largesse. It is a comparatively poor region. It is also big. Another, Catalonia (you might have heard of this region, it has been agitating for more for centuries), is also big. It isn't poor but last year it got clobbered by the Rajoy government. 25% down, something else which added to the Mas attack on the Constitution. In 2015, the budget will be up again, as indeed it will be in Galicia (the home region of Rajoy, oh and of Franco as well).

Politics probably do play a part in the budgets, but in truth these allocations are very small beer when compared with what the regions get through the redistribution of tax revenues. This is the principal source of the regions' finances, and it is something for which the Balearics have a very legitimate gripe. The people of the Balearics get back from Madrid around 300 million euros less than they put in.