Morning high (6.25am): 19.5C
Forecast high: 27C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 10 June - Sun, cloud, 30C; 11 June - Sun, cloud, 22C; 12 June - Sun, cloud, 25C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): South 2 to 3 backing Northeast 2 to 4 around midday.
A bank of fluffy cloud first thing. Unlikely to be much by way of cloud later. A pretty warm day to come.
Evening update (20.00): High again of 30.7C (inland).
Thursday, June 09, 2016
Pave Paradise, Put Up A Parking Lot
When Joni Mitchell wrote "Big Yellow Taxi" the world had yet to acquire the environment. It was there right enough but it was regarded with less than due deference. Among the limited cadres of the environmentally aware, who were to form an expeditionary eco-warrior force that Friends of the Earth (founded 1969) and others were to convert into a full-scale army, were the acid heads of Los Angeles' Laurel Canyon.
Joni, one of those residents, penned "Big Yellow Taxi", she has explained, when she saw a vast parking lot edging its way towards green mountains in Hawaii. "It broke my heart, this blight on paradise." Though arguably not one of her finer compositions, the song, courtesy of commercial success and its undisguised sentiment, probably helped to tune environmental perception as well as anything else had up to the point that it was released in 1970.
The line about paving paradise and putting up a parking lot had an alliterative power that spoke of the absurdity of condemning the environment to the voracious appetite of not only the automobile industry. It seems like a world away now, a time when nary a second thought was given to concreting and tarmacking over Mother Nature in order to allow the consumer society to park its car. The line, though, still makes abundant sense. It has survived as a form of eco-slogan, one current in the present.
There is a great deal of talk about cars, their movement and their parking in Mallorca. Cars are the present-day manifestation of Balearisation, the uncontrolled development of the coasts that paved dunes and put up hotel blocks. While hotels continue to attract the ire of the contemporary eco-sound political class in Mallorca (such as Més, the eco-nationalists), cars have been manoeuvred onto the environmentalist front line. Barely a day passes without cars and their associated needs, notably parking, making the news.
Let's consider some cases in point from the paradise island. Cars are to be banned from Palma's old town (unless they belong to residents). Cars being brought to the island by tourists or car-hire firms may or may not be subject to a tax. Cars are to be found creating hazards because of their parking on roads leading to unspoiled beaches (so unspoiled that people go to them in their droves and so therefore in their cars). Cars, because of their pollutant effect, are the reason for considering a special environmental tax on large retail outlets; the car parks are so massive that they form pollution blackspots (or maybe hotspots). Cars, on account of pedestrianisation schemes, are, ironically, being deterred from entering the front line, such as in Puerto Pollensa. Cars are not to be parked (Son Serra de Marina) because they block the view. Cars, back in Palma, are to be eased away from the Paseo Marítimo by removing some parking and some lanes. This is part of the calming of traffic in Palma. The paradise island, also dubbed the island of calm by the Catalonian artist Santiago Rusiñol many a long year ago, is to retrieve a little piece of calm.
The regional government is working on a grand scheme to promote alternatives to cars. Buses, in other words. You might have encountered some of those, the ones which appear to be on unfamiliar terms with the maintenance and service departments. But not all. Some of them are even brand spanking new. And the government would need there to be a great deal of brand spanking new ones if its grand plan is to make any sense: not, one suspects, that it will do.
There is no harm in attempting to alter travel habits, but is the government aware of just how great car ownership is in Mallorca? You would have to assume that it is. Even members of the government have cars and some of them will probably have families whose combined car ownership equates to a small fleet.
The implied demon in all this car talk isn't the local resident, despite his three or four vehicles, it is the visitor and the devil's work of car-hire companies not registered for tax on the island. But it isn't typically a bunch of tourists clogging up approach roads to unspoiled beaches. It's the ones who live here, who, even if there were such a thing as a bus service to unspoiled beaches, wouldn't use it anyway.
But buses need somewhere to park as well, just as they need roads, while the public transport alternative can always fall foul of other eco-interests. Take the rail extension to Alcudia. They could never agree on it because of the competing environmental arguments regarding the proposed routes.
Pave paradise. Parking lots. They wouldn't have given it much thought back when Joni wrote the song. Mallorca hadn't really acquired wealth then. It soon did, and it needed somewhere to park it.
Joni, one of those residents, penned "Big Yellow Taxi", she has explained, when she saw a vast parking lot edging its way towards green mountains in Hawaii. "It broke my heart, this blight on paradise." Though arguably not one of her finer compositions, the song, courtesy of commercial success and its undisguised sentiment, probably helped to tune environmental perception as well as anything else had up to the point that it was released in 1970.
The line about paving paradise and putting up a parking lot had an alliterative power that spoke of the absurdity of condemning the environment to the voracious appetite of not only the automobile industry. It seems like a world away now, a time when nary a second thought was given to concreting and tarmacking over Mother Nature in order to allow the consumer society to park its car. The line, though, still makes abundant sense. It has survived as a form of eco-slogan, one current in the present.
There is a great deal of talk about cars, their movement and their parking in Mallorca. Cars are the present-day manifestation of Balearisation, the uncontrolled development of the coasts that paved dunes and put up hotel blocks. While hotels continue to attract the ire of the contemporary eco-sound political class in Mallorca (such as Més, the eco-nationalists), cars have been manoeuvred onto the environmentalist front line. Barely a day passes without cars and their associated needs, notably parking, making the news.
Let's consider some cases in point from the paradise island. Cars are to be banned from Palma's old town (unless they belong to residents). Cars being brought to the island by tourists or car-hire firms may or may not be subject to a tax. Cars are to be found creating hazards because of their parking on roads leading to unspoiled beaches (so unspoiled that people go to them in their droves and so therefore in their cars). Cars, because of their pollutant effect, are the reason for considering a special environmental tax on large retail outlets; the car parks are so massive that they form pollution blackspots (or maybe hotspots). Cars, on account of pedestrianisation schemes, are, ironically, being deterred from entering the front line, such as in Puerto Pollensa. Cars are not to be parked (Son Serra de Marina) because they block the view. Cars, back in Palma, are to be eased away from the Paseo Marítimo by removing some parking and some lanes. This is part of the calming of traffic in Palma. The paradise island, also dubbed the island of calm by the Catalonian artist Santiago Rusiñol many a long year ago, is to retrieve a little piece of calm.
The regional government is working on a grand scheme to promote alternatives to cars. Buses, in other words. You might have encountered some of those, the ones which appear to be on unfamiliar terms with the maintenance and service departments. But not all. Some of them are even brand spanking new. And the government would need there to be a great deal of brand spanking new ones if its grand plan is to make any sense: not, one suspects, that it will do.
There is no harm in attempting to alter travel habits, but is the government aware of just how great car ownership is in Mallorca? You would have to assume that it is. Even members of the government have cars and some of them will probably have families whose combined car ownership equates to a small fleet.
The implied demon in all this car talk isn't the local resident, despite his three or four vehicles, it is the visitor and the devil's work of car-hire companies not registered for tax on the island. But it isn't typically a bunch of tourists clogging up approach roads to unspoiled beaches. It's the ones who live here, who, even if there were such a thing as a bus service to unspoiled beaches, wouldn't use it anyway.
But buses need somewhere to park as well, just as they need roads, while the public transport alternative can always fall foul of other eco-interests. Take the rail extension to Alcudia. They could never agree on it because of the competing environmental arguments regarding the proposed routes.
Pave paradise. Parking lots. They wouldn't have given it much thought back when Joni wrote the song. Mallorca hadn't really acquired wealth then. It soon did, and it needed somewhere to park it.
Wednesday, June 08, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 8 June 2016
Morning high (6.30am): 18.7C
Forecast high: 27C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 9 June - Sun, cloud, 27C; 10 June - Sun, 27C; 11 June - Sun, cloud, 22C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 1 to 3.
More of the same - plenty of sun. Very light breezes anticipated today, so probably feeling hotter as a consequence.
Evening update (21.00): High of 30.7C.
Forecast high: 27C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 9 June - Sun, cloud, 27C; 10 June - Sun, 27C; 11 June - Sun, cloud, 22C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 1 to 3.
More of the same - plenty of sun. Very light breezes anticipated today, so probably feeling hotter as a consequence.
Evening update (21.00): High of 30.7C.
From Pablo Iglesias To Pablo Iglesias
Two Pablo Iglesias, there are only two Pablo Iglesias. That's almost certainly not right. There must have been hundreds, thousands of Pablo Iglesias. Names come around quite often in Spain, especially from the old school of names that keeps firmly to a list of saints for christening purposes.
But there are two Pablo Iglesias. One was dead well before the other was born. The first had in fact been born in 1850. By one of those further twists of coincidence his native town was Ferrol in Galicia. Forty-two years later, a certain Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde was born in the same town. His brother, Ramón, came along four years afterwards, also in Ferrol. He, Ramón, crashed his hydroplane in Puerto Pollensa in 1938. He died. His brother didn't. Not until 1975 anyway.
Pablo Iglesias the Elder, if one could call him that, would have known little or nothing about the Franco boys. He certainly wouldn't have fraternised with them, had he lived long enough, which he didn't. Pablo the Elder founded PSOE, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. Franco wasn't beyond having those with PSOE affiliation executed. It was as well that Pablo the Elder died when he did. In 1925 when the other dictator was at large, Primo de Rivera.
The other Pablo Iglesias, Pablo the Younger - you'll have heard of him, I think - also founded a political party or maybe movement. He would like to be president (prime minister) of Spain after 26 June. Altogether, We Can change the government of Spain. Podemos. Maybe there's some genealogical link between Elder and Younger, though I'm assuming not. Were there, one fancies Younger would have mentioned it by now. Two peas in a pod, Elder and Younger. The latter a chip off the old block.
There are similarities and dissimilarities between Elder and Younger. The first Pablo was born into poverty. His mother had to beg. He taught himself French and read about French socialism. He was no intellectual but he would have known of the works of Marx and Engels. PSOE, founded in 1879, was to indulge differing philosophies before it was proscribed in 1939, but one - often the dominant one - was to be sympathetic to the Soviet brand of socialism.
Pablo the Younger is from a middle-class Madrid family: mother a lawyer, father a teacher. He himself has been a university professor in political science. He studied, among other places, at Cambridge. The difference in background between Younger and Elder is stark. What links them, other than name, is their roles as founders and political philosophy. Possibly.
Pablo the Younger was expounding on Monday morning the nature of Marx and Engels. They were social democrats, he said, albeit he was laughing and suggesting that there are different ways of interpreting their works. That's The Younger all over. Disarmingly charming at times. The Elder, one fancies, rarely laughed. The Younger was right of course. There were and are alternative spins on the works of Marx and Engels. Lenin abused them is one argument.
He was prompted to make his remark because Podemos has hooked up with the United Left. Its leader, Alberto Garzón, is a communist. The Younger has never claimed to be. Even with the United Left, Podemos would be establishing a "new social democratic space". PSOE, the current-day distant cousins of Pablo the Elder, will be horrified to hear that.
But should they be? What vision of social democracy is this? The mere mention of Marx and Engels makes one wonder what "new" space is being considered. In the new political age, one of (maybe) post-capitalism or even post-politics, it can seem odd to drag the two of them into discussion. The Younger's sidekick, Iñigo Errejón, has said that communists and social democrats are species of the past. There's a new politics around, where Iñigo's concerned, even if its definition isn't always clear or even if it might just seem to have echoes of the nineteenth century, when Pablo the Elder would have found much to interest him.
"The Communist Manifesto", in which Marx and Engels set out the basics of Marxist theory, was published two years before Pablo the Elder was born. 1848. What possible relevance can it have now? Plenty, if one is inclined. After all, religions (and their interpretations) are predicated on very much older theories, and look where that got societies. Look where they still do get societies, for God's (sic) sake.
It would be nice - truly, it would be nice - to believe that Podemos have hit on a new politics, whatever it might be. But how do you make people believe it? Those disinclined to believe, of which there are many. Deep in the consciousness - the intellectual "space", be it social democratic or not - is the narrative of the class struggle and of the competing dictatorships of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.
But there are two Pablo Iglesias. One was dead well before the other was born. The first had in fact been born in 1850. By one of those further twists of coincidence his native town was Ferrol in Galicia. Forty-two years later, a certain Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde was born in the same town. His brother, Ramón, came along four years afterwards, also in Ferrol. He, Ramón, crashed his hydroplane in Puerto Pollensa in 1938. He died. His brother didn't. Not until 1975 anyway.
Pablo Iglesias the Elder, if one could call him that, would have known little or nothing about the Franco boys. He certainly wouldn't have fraternised with them, had he lived long enough, which he didn't. Pablo the Elder founded PSOE, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. Franco wasn't beyond having those with PSOE affiliation executed. It was as well that Pablo the Elder died when he did. In 1925 when the other dictator was at large, Primo de Rivera.
The other Pablo Iglesias, Pablo the Younger - you'll have heard of him, I think - also founded a political party or maybe movement. He would like to be president (prime minister) of Spain after 26 June. Altogether, We Can change the government of Spain. Podemos. Maybe there's some genealogical link between Elder and Younger, though I'm assuming not. Were there, one fancies Younger would have mentioned it by now. Two peas in a pod, Elder and Younger. The latter a chip off the old block.
There are similarities and dissimilarities between Elder and Younger. The first Pablo was born into poverty. His mother had to beg. He taught himself French and read about French socialism. He was no intellectual but he would have known of the works of Marx and Engels. PSOE, founded in 1879, was to indulge differing philosophies before it was proscribed in 1939, but one - often the dominant one - was to be sympathetic to the Soviet brand of socialism.
Pablo the Younger is from a middle-class Madrid family: mother a lawyer, father a teacher. He himself has been a university professor in political science. He studied, among other places, at Cambridge. The difference in background between Younger and Elder is stark. What links them, other than name, is their roles as founders and political philosophy. Possibly.
Pablo the Younger was expounding on Monday morning the nature of Marx and Engels. They were social democrats, he said, albeit he was laughing and suggesting that there are different ways of interpreting their works. That's The Younger all over. Disarmingly charming at times. The Elder, one fancies, rarely laughed. The Younger was right of course. There were and are alternative spins on the works of Marx and Engels. Lenin abused them is one argument.
He was prompted to make his remark because Podemos has hooked up with the United Left. Its leader, Alberto Garzón, is a communist. The Younger has never claimed to be. Even with the United Left, Podemos would be establishing a "new social democratic space". PSOE, the current-day distant cousins of Pablo the Elder, will be horrified to hear that.
But should they be? What vision of social democracy is this? The mere mention of Marx and Engels makes one wonder what "new" space is being considered. In the new political age, one of (maybe) post-capitalism or even post-politics, it can seem odd to drag the two of them into discussion. The Younger's sidekick, Iñigo Errejón, has said that communists and social democrats are species of the past. There's a new politics around, where Iñigo's concerned, even if its definition isn't always clear or even if it might just seem to have echoes of the nineteenth century, when Pablo the Elder would have found much to interest him.
"The Communist Manifesto", in which Marx and Engels set out the basics of Marxist theory, was published two years before Pablo the Elder was born. 1848. What possible relevance can it have now? Plenty, if one is inclined. After all, religions (and their interpretations) are predicated on very much older theories, and look where that got societies. Look where they still do get societies, for God's (sic) sake.
It would be nice - truly, it would be nice - to believe that Podemos have hit on a new politics, whatever it might be. But how do you make people believe it? Those disinclined to believe, of which there are many. Deep in the consciousness - the intellectual "space", be it social democratic or not - is the narrative of the class struggle and of the competing dictatorships of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.
Tuesday, June 07, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 7 June 2016
Morning high (7.15am): 18.3C
Forecast high: 25C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 8 June - Sun, 28C; 9 June - Sun, 24C; 10 June - Sun, 27C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 2 to 3, locally 4 by the evening.
All very fine. May haze over a bit later on, as it did yesterday to a degree. Otherwise sunny.
Evening update (20.45): High of 30.3C (inland).
Forecast high: 25C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 8 June - Sun, 28C; 9 June - Sun, 24C; 10 June - Sun, 27C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 2 to 3, locally 4 by the evening.
All very fine. May haze over a bit later on, as it did yesterday to a degree. Otherwise sunny.
Evening update (20.45): High of 30.3C (inland).
Is Tourist Saturation Such A Negative?
There are many ways of skinning the statistical cat. It depends on the point to be proved and the motives for doing so. The Balearic tourism minister, Biel Barceló, will doubtless approve of what was being proved. It came in a report at the weekend. Mallorca has by far the highest proportion of hotel places per one thousand inhabitants of anywhere in the known tourism world. So high is this proportion that it is almost three times greater than the Canaries, five times greater than the whole of Greece and heading for ten times greater than all of Spain put together. And the point is?
That should be fairly obvious. Mallorca is saturated with tourism in a way that nowhere else is. It has slightly under 233,000 hotel places (which have increased by some 60,000 over the past two decades), representing 306 for every one thousand of those resident on the island. Add on all the various other types of accommodation (estimates/statistics vary) and the total offer is more in the region of 400,000.
Ah yes, you might say, but the Canaries are several islands. Greece has islands and a mainland. How can these be comparable? Well, they're not in direct terms, but if one takes specific islands, then what are the comparisons?
Tenerife attracts more tourism than the other Canary Islands. Its resident population is almost identical to Mallorca's (hovering around the 900,000 mark). It is far more densely populated as it is approximately 55% the size of Mallorca. But its hotel and other official accommodation places are far fewer. This number is around 160,000. Throw in some illegal stuff, and it's roughly a half.
Crete is more than twice the size of Mallorca. Its population is smaller (around 630,000). It has some 87,000 places. A guess might be, therefore, that it has about 100,000 places in all: a quarter of the upper estimate for Mallorca.
So Mallorca is, by comparison, saturated. However, that depends on the definition of saturation. As I have asked previously, what actually might constitute a maximum number of places and so therefore tourists? Or what might be an optimal limit to maintain and grow the island's economy? Does anyone know?
Though intuitively one can accept that there is overcrowding especially in high summer, intuition gets one only so far. The reverse argument, where the likes of Crete or Tenerife are concerned, is that they both have scope for greater development.
But taking whole islands as points of reference doesn't offer an accurate picture. In Mallorca, of the 233,000 places, around 80% of them are concentrated into four zones - Calvia, Playa de Palma and the bays of Alcudia and Cala Millor. A further point I've made before is that there is a strong case for such concentration. It is more efficient environmentally and in terms of resourcing and has been shown to be so in Benidorm. That resort's more or less 73,000 places are almost identical to the regular population and they are in a land area approximately a quarter of the size of Calvia, which has more hotel places than anywhere else in Mallorca (some 60,000). While Calvia's population is smaller (just over 50,000), Benidorm's tourism density in land terms is far higher.
While it is said that it has been the availability of private accommodation that has been contributing to Mallorca's saturation, it is undeniably the case that - for the island as a whole - the base of hotel accommodation greatly exceeds that of other destinations. This is the legacy effect. Resort and hotel development of the early boom years paved the way for ever more development, with most of it confined to the four specific zones.
Is this such a negative, though? From the point of view of efficiency through concentration of hotel places, then not necessarily. But where there is huge inefficiency stems from the fact that all these hotel places (and other accommodation) have been and are used for a limited season. The saturation effect is the consequence of massive development to satisfy a tourism economy which is so clearly imbalanced, which isn't the case in Tenerife and to a lesser extent in Benidorm.
But without this development, where would Mallorca be? The economy is rooted in one product and so therefore dependent on what is, for months of the year, unproductive real estate. Unproductive or not, saturation or not, concentration in specific zones or not, this tourism does have a general benefit that contrasts, for instance, with Tenerife. That island has all-year tourism, but the underlying level of year-round unemployment for a population of much the same size has traditionally been and remains much higher than Mallorca's.
Might it therefore be that this massive supply of accommodation, inefficient though it is, is an asset because of indirect employment? Saturation maybe, but what else is there?
That should be fairly obvious. Mallorca is saturated with tourism in a way that nowhere else is. It has slightly under 233,000 hotel places (which have increased by some 60,000 over the past two decades), representing 306 for every one thousand of those resident on the island. Add on all the various other types of accommodation (estimates/statistics vary) and the total offer is more in the region of 400,000.
Ah yes, you might say, but the Canaries are several islands. Greece has islands and a mainland. How can these be comparable? Well, they're not in direct terms, but if one takes specific islands, then what are the comparisons?
Tenerife attracts more tourism than the other Canary Islands. Its resident population is almost identical to Mallorca's (hovering around the 900,000 mark). It is far more densely populated as it is approximately 55% the size of Mallorca. But its hotel and other official accommodation places are far fewer. This number is around 160,000. Throw in some illegal stuff, and it's roughly a half.
Crete is more than twice the size of Mallorca. Its population is smaller (around 630,000). It has some 87,000 places. A guess might be, therefore, that it has about 100,000 places in all: a quarter of the upper estimate for Mallorca.
So Mallorca is, by comparison, saturated. However, that depends on the definition of saturation. As I have asked previously, what actually might constitute a maximum number of places and so therefore tourists? Or what might be an optimal limit to maintain and grow the island's economy? Does anyone know?
Though intuitively one can accept that there is overcrowding especially in high summer, intuition gets one only so far. The reverse argument, where the likes of Crete or Tenerife are concerned, is that they both have scope for greater development.
But taking whole islands as points of reference doesn't offer an accurate picture. In Mallorca, of the 233,000 places, around 80% of them are concentrated into four zones - Calvia, Playa de Palma and the bays of Alcudia and Cala Millor. A further point I've made before is that there is a strong case for such concentration. It is more efficient environmentally and in terms of resourcing and has been shown to be so in Benidorm. That resort's more or less 73,000 places are almost identical to the regular population and they are in a land area approximately a quarter of the size of Calvia, which has more hotel places than anywhere else in Mallorca (some 60,000). While Calvia's population is smaller (just over 50,000), Benidorm's tourism density in land terms is far higher.
While it is said that it has been the availability of private accommodation that has been contributing to Mallorca's saturation, it is undeniably the case that - for the island as a whole - the base of hotel accommodation greatly exceeds that of other destinations. This is the legacy effect. Resort and hotel development of the early boom years paved the way for ever more development, with most of it confined to the four specific zones.
Is this such a negative, though? From the point of view of efficiency through concentration of hotel places, then not necessarily. But where there is huge inefficiency stems from the fact that all these hotel places (and other accommodation) have been and are used for a limited season. The saturation effect is the consequence of massive development to satisfy a tourism economy which is so clearly imbalanced, which isn't the case in Tenerife and to a lesser extent in Benidorm.
But without this development, where would Mallorca be? The economy is rooted in one product and so therefore dependent on what is, for months of the year, unproductive real estate. Unproductive or not, saturation or not, concentration in specific zones or not, this tourism does have a general benefit that contrasts, for instance, with Tenerife. That island has all-year tourism, but the underlying level of year-round unemployment for a population of much the same size has traditionally been and remains much higher than Mallorca's.
Might it therefore be that this massive supply of accommodation, inefficient though it is, is an asset because of indirect employment? Saturation maybe, but what else is there?
Monday, June 06, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 6 June 2016
Morning high (7.15am): 17.3C
Forecast high: 27C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 7 June - Sun, 25C; 8 June - Sun, 24C; 9 June - Sun, 23C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 to 3, locally East-Southeast 4 in the afternoon.
Another splendid morning and splendid day to come. Summer's definitely here, if not officially.
Evening update (20.15): High of 29.7C.
Forecast high: 27C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 7 June - Sun, 25C; 8 June - Sun, 24C; 9 June - Sun, 23C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 to 3, locally East-Southeast 4 in the afternoon.
Another splendid morning and splendid day to come. Summer's definitely here, if not officially.
Evening update (20.15): High of 29.7C.
The (Spanish) Governmental Ménage à Trois
So, as the big day looms ever closer and the fateful votes will be cast - and I'm talking not of 23-J but of 26-J - the bookies (were there such a thing) are reporting good money going on a threesome forming the next government. Yes, after one failed election and an even greater failure by Pedro Sánchez to oust Super Mariano, 26-J looks destined to unite Pedro and Mazza. Possibly.
Pedro and Albert, Ant and Dec of PSOE and the C's, are still determined to continue their unconvincing double act and make it even less convincing by inviting Mazza into the political celebrity jungle. Or maybe it's the other way round. Or maybe Super Mariano won't be there at all. That's something else the bookies are laying odds on. Which is hardly surprising. Through all the faffing around after last December's election, it was clear to everyone, except Mariano, that if only he had stepped aside, the grand coalition could have been formed.
As we know, however, Mariano doesn't believe that he has a natural successor. Super Mariano would rule forever if he had his way. But the time is now coming when he will have to give way to an unnatural successor. Who might it be? The bookies are reckoning on the Dancing Queen, María Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría Antón Etc.
None of this will of course go down well with the advocates of governments of change and progressive politics. How would either Ant or Dec be able to spin a cosying up to the PP as representing change or progression? Only if Mariano goes, but even then they would be barely credible. For Ant, meantime, the possibility exists that if PSOE gets a further stuffing, he might no longer be around in any event. I'm a failed politician, get me out of here.
The likelihood of this coalition ménage à trois stems not from any genuine belief among the three parties that it is what any of them wants but from Pedro's fear (or the fear of any successor to him) that he could well find himself forced into being a number two behind Pablo. Podemos have been talking up Iglesias as being the next president, and it most certainly would be president. None of this Anglicised prime minister lark. Pablo, a prime minister serving a Bourbon king? You have to be joking. President it would be.
There is a further reason to believe that there will be this three-in-a-bed liaison. The citizens. They won't accept any more arsing around. They won't want a December election to sort out the mess of 26-J. Something will have to give. And Super Mariano is what will have to give. He can't be like Arsène Wenger, arsing around forever and ever ... .
Pedro and Albert, Ant and Dec of PSOE and the C's, are still determined to continue their unconvincing double act and make it even less convincing by inviting Mazza into the political celebrity jungle. Or maybe it's the other way round. Or maybe Super Mariano won't be there at all. That's something else the bookies are laying odds on. Which is hardly surprising. Through all the faffing around after last December's election, it was clear to everyone, except Mariano, that if only he had stepped aside, the grand coalition could have been formed.
As we know, however, Mariano doesn't believe that he has a natural successor. Super Mariano would rule forever if he had his way. But the time is now coming when he will have to give way to an unnatural successor. Who might it be? The bookies are reckoning on the Dancing Queen, María Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría Antón Etc.
None of this will of course go down well with the advocates of governments of change and progressive politics. How would either Ant or Dec be able to spin a cosying up to the PP as representing change or progression? Only if Mariano goes, but even then they would be barely credible. For Ant, meantime, the possibility exists that if PSOE gets a further stuffing, he might no longer be around in any event. I'm a failed politician, get me out of here.
The likelihood of this coalition ménage à trois stems not from any genuine belief among the three parties that it is what any of them wants but from Pedro's fear (or the fear of any successor to him) that he could well find himself forced into being a number two behind Pablo. Podemos have been talking up Iglesias as being the next president, and it most certainly would be president. None of this Anglicised prime minister lark. Pablo, a prime minister serving a Bourbon king? You have to be joking. President it would be.
There is a further reason to believe that there will be this three-in-a-bed liaison. The citizens. They won't accept any more arsing around. They won't want a December election to sort out the mess of 26-J. Something will have to give. And Super Mariano is what will have to give. He can't be like Arsène Wenger, arsing around forever and ever ... .
Sunday, June 05, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 5 June 2016
Morning high (7.08am): 17.7C
Forecast high: 24C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 6 June - Sun, 28C; 7 June - Sun, 22C; 8 June - Sun, 24C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East-Northeast 2 to 3.
Fab morning and a fab day to come. Fab outlook for the week.
Evening update (20.15): High of 26.6C.
Forecast high: 24C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 6 June - Sun, 28C; 7 June - Sun, 22C; 8 June - Sun, 24C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East-Northeast 2 to 3.
Fab morning and a fab day to come. Fab outlook for the week.
Evening update (20.15): High of 26.6C.
The Lost Beach Of The Small Huts
Curiously enough, there wasn't a complete and detailed national topographic map, i.e. one which showed precisely what constituted different places, e.g. municipalities. Under orders from the Geographic and Cadastral Institute, three municipalities had to sit down and figure out exactly where their boundaries were and who owned what. These municipalities were Alcudia, Muro and Sa Pobla. It was the latter of these which lost its beach.
Anyone familiar with the current-day geography of Mallorca will know that Sa Pobla is firmly a municipality in Mallorca's interior. So how did it ever come to have a beach? Well, it all had to do with Albufera. A great part of this wetland used to be within Sa Pobla. Nowadays only a relatively small part, well back from the sea, is in the municipality. And as a consequence of this one-time municipal "ownership", Sa Pobla in essence reached as far as the bay of Alcudia.
What happened in 1954 is hard to accurately pin down, but it has been said that Sa Pobla did not negotiate well and also failed to have any vision of the future. Beach tourism had yet to come to the bay of Alcudia (except for the original Club Med tents in 1950), so the town hall could possibly have been excused its lack of foresight. There was horse-trading mainly between Sa Pobla and Muro, and Sa Pobla believed it had got a good deal by grabbing interior land that had been Muro's. But by way of compensation, it lost what was effectively its beach.
The arrangement that now exists on the bay of Alcudia is that the boundary limit of Muro (and so Playa de Muro) is at the Camí Can Blau. This is a road that cuts inland from the main beach road. From this boundary line going eastwards is the first "sector" of Playa de Muro. This sector ends where the grand canal of Albufera enters the sea. This sector is what used to be Sa Pobla's beach.
The agreement of 1954 did in fact bring to an end a squabble that had existed between Alcudia, Sa Pobla and Muro for at least three centuries. Muro had always been the one to lose out when it came to its ownership of Albufera. The irony will now not be lost on the people of Sa Pobla: that Muro has become wealthy because of what is generally a high quality beach tourism. While Sa Pobla has had to rely on its traditional agriculture, Muro was able to diversify economically, thanks to the decision of 1954 which gave it a couple of kilometres of beach that it wouldn't have otherwise had.
One can find evidence of nostalgia for that old beach. The writer Miquel López Crespí, born in Sa Pobla in 1946, recalls the summer of 1954. The agreement had been signed in May of that year but had yet to take effect. It was the last summer that the people of Sa Pobla would go to their beach and put up what were makeshift small huts for the summer. They called it "Ses Casetes". This was unlike the Ses Casetes further along the bay where Playa de Muro meets Can Picafort, which is still very much there and consists of (mostly) one-time church-owned cottages.
The Sa Pobla Ses Casetes was like a shanty town, but it had its own bar, Figuera. Some fifty families used to go and take over the beach each summer. After 1954 they could of course still go to the beach but they couldn't install their temporary huts.
Miquel López Crespí, reflecting on the loss of the beach and then of the great changes that occurred because of tourism, has written: "Nothing now remains of that full moon in August at Bar Figuera when the owner, Jaume, would sing some of the old songs, accompanying himself with his peasant ximbomba."
* Photo of the canal where it enters the sea in Playa de Muro. To the left, from the Esperanza, is what was once the Sa Pobla beach.
Saturday, June 04, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 4 June 2016
Morning high (7.20am): 15.7C
Forecast high: 25C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 5 June - Sun, cloud, 24C; 6 June - Sun, cloud, 24C; 7 June - Sun, cloud, 22C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): South 2 to 4 backing East around midday.
Sunny morning with bits of fluffy cloud around. Sunny day to come; fluffy cloud probably.
Evening update (20.15): High of 29.1C.
Forecast high: 25C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 5 June - Sun, cloud, 24C; 6 June - Sun, cloud, 24C; 7 June - Sun, cloud, 22C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): South 2 to 4 backing East around midday.
Sunny morning with bits of fluffy cloud around. Sunny day to come; fluffy cloud probably.
Evening update (20.15): High of 29.1C.
All Quiet On The Tourist Tax Front
Something rather curious has happened. It's gone quiet on a tourism front. Can it be that the island is serenely basking in the glow of an apparently record season? (I use the word apparently for those who would take issue with the "record".) Or might it be the calm before the storm?
If it is possible to gauge holidaymaker opinion - British holidaymaker opinion - in as wide a way as possible, there are few more likely options for doing so than Trip Advisor. But what does one find? Over the past fortnight or so, there has been barely any mention of the tourist tax on its Mallorca forum. How much will it cost for such and such a hotel? That's about the size of it.
When the news about the tax broke - just before Easter, though it took a bit of time to really filter through - there was a fair outburst of indignation. The legality was questioned. Tour operators were being held responsible (when they were not). People weren't going to pay.
Now, however, there is very little being said. It's not as if the tax is as much of an unknown as it was. Tour operators have been advising clients. It has had a good airing in the British media. There will, one would have to assume, still be holidaymakers arriving on 1 July who will be blissfully ignorant until being given the bill. But is it the case that the news has mostly sunk in and people are accepting the situation?
Your guess on that will be as good as mine. It could yet be that all hell is let loose on 1 July, but if one refers again to Trip Advisor, what commenting there has been more recently is not as negative as it was. The greater concern seems to be with the overall cost of holidays to Mallorca. The tax will add to this, but holidaymakers aren't stupid. In fact they are amongst the canniest of consumers, and they know their prices, all of which can be checked very rapidly for various destinations. And it is perhaps interesting to note that it isn't always the obvious competitor destinations which are considered - Greece, Costa del Sol, Benidorm, Croatia, for example. The Caribbean and Mexico come under the spotlight as well.
What they know is that prices of holidays have been going up, given a boost by all the demand for Mallorca and the Balearics, the reasons for which we are very familiar with. The tax may just prove to be the moderately thin end of an increasingly large wedge - the money paid out for the holiday in the first place. Wherever the tax will be placed in the holidaymaker's price calculations and budgeting, the potentially bigger issue is ever-increasing pressure on that budgeting from the initial cost.
It has often been argued that holidays are an example of price inelasticity, i.e. changing the price (upwards) has comparatively little or no impact. Perhaps so, but if the cost were to consistently rise well above inflation, cost-of-living rates and salary percentage increases, the inelastic theory may well be open to question.
The 2016 season we know is secure, but what about 2017, 2018 ... ? A clue, however, lies with investment. This isn't undertaken with a one or two-year horizon in mind; not when it stretches into the millions. And the investment coming into Mallorca for hotels only shows signs of abating if politicians get in the way. Otherwise, the likes of Starwood are lining up their own vast wedges for investment, and what is interesting with this is that it isn't for the top end of the market.
Of the few to have been having a say about the tourist tax in recent days, one has been Gabriel Barceló. Not to be confused with the tourism minister, Biel Barceló, he is the co-founder of the Barceló hotel group. In a television interview the other day he said that tourism, the driver of the economy in the Balearics, was being "abused" and that the tax was "unjust" in being directed against the tourism sector.
He also had a pop at the regional government and the town hall for Palma for attitudes towards tourism: wanting to control numbers and so on. He could not understand why they would do this when "100% of the Balearic population benefits from the tourism sector".
If it is possible to gauge holidaymaker opinion - British holidaymaker opinion - in as wide a way as possible, there are few more likely options for doing so than Trip Advisor. But what does one find? Over the past fortnight or so, there has been barely any mention of the tourist tax on its Mallorca forum. How much will it cost for such and such a hotel? That's about the size of it.
When the news about the tax broke - just before Easter, though it took a bit of time to really filter through - there was a fair outburst of indignation. The legality was questioned. Tour operators were being held responsible (when they were not). People weren't going to pay.
Now, however, there is very little being said. It's not as if the tax is as much of an unknown as it was. Tour operators have been advising clients. It has had a good airing in the British media. There will, one would have to assume, still be holidaymakers arriving on 1 July who will be blissfully ignorant until being given the bill. But is it the case that the news has mostly sunk in and people are accepting the situation?
Your guess on that will be as good as mine. It could yet be that all hell is let loose on 1 July, but if one refers again to Trip Advisor, what commenting there has been more recently is not as negative as it was. The greater concern seems to be with the overall cost of holidays to Mallorca. The tax will add to this, but holidaymakers aren't stupid. In fact they are amongst the canniest of consumers, and they know their prices, all of which can be checked very rapidly for various destinations. And it is perhaps interesting to note that it isn't always the obvious competitor destinations which are considered - Greece, Costa del Sol, Benidorm, Croatia, for example. The Caribbean and Mexico come under the spotlight as well.
What they know is that prices of holidays have been going up, given a boost by all the demand for Mallorca and the Balearics, the reasons for which we are very familiar with. The tax may just prove to be the moderately thin end of an increasingly large wedge - the money paid out for the holiday in the first place. Wherever the tax will be placed in the holidaymaker's price calculations and budgeting, the potentially bigger issue is ever-increasing pressure on that budgeting from the initial cost.
It has often been argued that holidays are an example of price inelasticity, i.e. changing the price (upwards) has comparatively little or no impact. Perhaps so, but if the cost were to consistently rise well above inflation, cost-of-living rates and salary percentage increases, the inelastic theory may well be open to question.
The 2016 season we know is secure, but what about 2017, 2018 ... ? A clue, however, lies with investment. This isn't undertaken with a one or two-year horizon in mind; not when it stretches into the millions. And the investment coming into Mallorca for hotels only shows signs of abating if politicians get in the way. Otherwise, the likes of Starwood are lining up their own vast wedges for investment, and what is interesting with this is that it isn't for the top end of the market.
Of the few to have been having a say about the tourist tax in recent days, one has been Gabriel Barceló. Not to be confused with the tourism minister, Biel Barceló, he is the co-founder of the Barceló hotel group. In a television interview the other day he said that tourism, the driver of the economy in the Balearics, was being "abused" and that the tax was "unjust" in being directed against the tourism sector.
He also had a pop at the regional government and the town hall for Palma for attitudes towards tourism: wanting to control numbers and so on. He could not understand why they would do this when "100% of the Balearic population benefits from the tourism sector".
Friday, June 03, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 3 June 2016
Morning high (6.50am): 15.7C
Forecast high: 28C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 4 June - Sun, cloud, 25C; 5 June - Sun, cloud, 21C; 6 June - Sun, cloud, 23C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East 3 to 4 veering South by the evening.
A pretty warm day awaits, and the cloudy conditions that had been forecast for today seem less likely. Weekend outlook - fine and sunny.
Evening update (20.30): Very fine. High of 30.6C.
Forecast high: 28C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 4 June - Sun, cloud, 25C; 5 June - Sun, cloud, 21C; 6 June - Sun, cloud, 23C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East 3 to 4 veering South by the evening.
A pretty warm day awaits, and the cloudy conditions that had been forecast for today seem less likely. Weekend outlook - fine and sunny.
Evening update (20.30): Very fine. High of 30.6C.
Reclaiming The Past: Mallorca's War Graves
The reclamation of the disappeared during the Civil War and the Francoist dictatorship on the islands. It's something of a mouthful for the name of a law, but the mouthful is worth it. I'm not convinced that I have the translation absolutely right, as I struggle with the Spanish "recuperación" which is the original word (or rather "recuperació" to be linguistically correct in a Catalan style). Recuperation - restore to health - that doesn't seem right. Recovery? Possibly so in as much as what will be recovered. But reclamation seems to possess greater strength and moral correctness: a reclaiming of what was lost. Lives in this instance.
This is what had been proposed as the war graves (my words) act, though even this was stripped back to the titular barest bones (and I really don't mean a pun) of just "pits". The change to the title reflects a rare occurrence. Often cited, too often cited to be genuinely credible, consensus has nonetheless prevailed. And for once it is genuine enough. So it should be. Genuine, that is. One is talking about people who were murdered. That shouldn't be forgotten.
It had been the Partido Popular (and Ciudadanos) who had proposed the changed title. By doing so the law would appear less one solely driven by Republican sentiment. There would be a recognition that there were two sides and that two sides were capable of atrocity. Inclusion of "the Civil War" permits a nuance of the bipartisan: the two parties to the dreadful events of the second half of the 1930s. The insertion of "the Francoist dictatorship" enables the political right to observe its own revulsion. There may still exist - not may, do - Francoists on the political right, but the contemporary right has for the most part come to terms with the need to distance itself. And generally, it does so with sincerity.
The Balearic political parties stated their views. With consensus sought, found and delivered, there was a lack of stridency. The views were conciliatory. Margalida Capellà, the Més parliamentary deputy who was the chief sponsor of the bill, spoke of issues on which you cannot win, only convince. It was a day of celebration but also the saddest day in the parliament's history. Miquel Jerez for the PP said that the law will serve to "reclaim" the forgotten victims, to remind us of humanity and of memory that is life.
It was Maria Antònia Oliver of the association Memòria de Mallorca, which has been pressing the case for the exhumation of mass graves, who expressed things the best. "The approval of the law through the consent of all parties is a sign of democratic normalisation. This is not a political issue but one of humanity." Amen.
Someone of course did have to go and spoil it. Baltasar Picornell of Podemos displayed a Republican flag. Why? Why do that? The Republican sentiment is and was lost on no one. Why resort to symbolism at a moment of reconciliation?
But is this what it is? Reconciliation? Not as such. There has never been such a thing. It's partly why the Civil War still hangs over Mallorca and Spain: a cloud on the past which officialdom attempted to erase through, for example, the amnesty (aka amnesia). No, this was and is a belated recognition. It will be styled as one by the right, but the law's title facilitates a recognition by the left as well. Consensus as opposed to reconciliation. As it is with the insertion into the text of the adjective "possible". Possible crimes against humanity. This replaced the definitive. There had been no possibility, only certainty. One can never, at the distance of some eighty years, always be certain.
We are of course only weeks away from the eightieth anniversary of the start of the Civil War. A law to permit the exhumation of graves, to provide closure for the families of the disappeared, to raise the "possibility" of pursuing crimes against humanity is as close as there will be to any form of celebration. Just as apposite, if not more, is the thirty-ninth anniversary of the Amnesty Law. The UN has been pressing for Spain to meet obligations on crimes against humanity. The Balearics have now done so. There is no statute of limitations under international law.
Yet while the Balearic parliament, with mostly commendable dignity, has been enacting legislation, in Palma we have had the ongoing controversy of the Feixina monument. A dignified solution for this had been made six years ago: a monument to all victims. Now, the stridency of the left (and the right) is in contrast to the considered reflections of parliament.
Symbols like the monument cannot be ignored. It is perhaps too easy to overlook how deep the feelings remain among some: the genuine ones as opposed to the outraged expressions of politicians. It is for this reason that the monument should be debated with greater dignity. The war graves act offers consensus and a form of reconciliation that have come about through empathetic discussion. Baltasar Picornell says that it is a "big step to closing wounds". Quite so. The monument, on the other hand, is re-opening them.
This is what had been proposed as the war graves (my words) act, though even this was stripped back to the titular barest bones (and I really don't mean a pun) of just "pits". The change to the title reflects a rare occurrence. Often cited, too often cited to be genuinely credible, consensus has nonetheless prevailed. And for once it is genuine enough. So it should be. Genuine, that is. One is talking about people who were murdered. That shouldn't be forgotten.
It had been the Partido Popular (and Ciudadanos) who had proposed the changed title. By doing so the law would appear less one solely driven by Republican sentiment. There would be a recognition that there were two sides and that two sides were capable of atrocity. Inclusion of "the Civil War" permits a nuance of the bipartisan: the two parties to the dreadful events of the second half of the 1930s. The insertion of "the Francoist dictatorship" enables the political right to observe its own revulsion. There may still exist - not may, do - Francoists on the political right, but the contemporary right has for the most part come to terms with the need to distance itself. And generally, it does so with sincerity.
The Balearic political parties stated their views. With consensus sought, found and delivered, there was a lack of stridency. The views were conciliatory. Margalida Capellà, the Més parliamentary deputy who was the chief sponsor of the bill, spoke of issues on which you cannot win, only convince. It was a day of celebration but also the saddest day in the parliament's history. Miquel Jerez for the PP said that the law will serve to "reclaim" the forgotten victims, to remind us of humanity and of memory that is life.
It was Maria Antònia Oliver of the association Memòria de Mallorca, which has been pressing the case for the exhumation of mass graves, who expressed things the best. "The approval of the law through the consent of all parties is a sign of democratic normalisation. This is not a political issue but one of humanity." Amen.
Someone of course did have to go and spoil it. Baltasar Picornell of Podemos displayed a Republican flag. Why? Why do that? The Republican sentiment is and was lost on no one. Why resort to symbolism at a moment of reconciliation?
But is this what it is? Reconciliation? Not as such. There has never been such a thing. It's partly why the Civil War still hangs over Mallorca and Spain: a cloud on the past which officialdom attempted to erase through, for example, the amnesty (aka amnesia). No, this was and is a belated recognition. It will be styled as one by the right, but the law's title facilitates a recognition by the left as well. Consensus as opposed to reconciliation. As it is with the insertion into the text of the adjective "possible". Possible crimes against humanity. This replaced the definitive. There had been no possibility, only certainty. One can never, at the distance of some eighty years, always be certain.
We are of course only weeks away from the eightieth anniversary of the start of the Civil War. A law to permit the exhumation of graves, to provide closure for the families of the disappeared, to raise the "possibility" of pursuing crimes against humanity is as close as there will be to any form of celebration. Just as apposite, if not more, is the thirty-ninth anniversary of the Amnesty Law. The UN has been pressing for Spain to meet obligations on crimes against humanity. The Balearics have now done so. There is no statute of limitations under international law.
Yet while the Balearic parliament, with mostly commendable dignity, has been enacting legislation, in Palma we have had the ongoing controversy of the Feixina monument. A dignified solution for this had been made six years ago: a monument to all victims. Now, the stridency of the left (and the right) is in contrast to the considered reflections of parliament.
Symbols like the monument cannot be ignored. It is perhaps too easy to overlook how deep the feelings remain among some: the genuine ones as opposed to the outraged expressions of politicians. It is for this reason that the monument should be debated with greater dignity. The war graves act offers consensus and a form of reconciliation that have come about through empathetic discussion. Baltasar Picornell says that it is a "big step to closing wounds". Quite so. The monument, on the other hand, is re-opening them.
Thursday, June 02, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 2 June 2016
Morning high (7.09am): 14.7C
Forecast high: 24C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 3 June - Cloud, sun, 27C; 4 June - Sun, cloud, 24C; 5 June - Sun, cloud, 21C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 to 3, locally Northeast 4 in the afternoon.
Sunny, fresh morning. And sun all the way, we are led to believe. Tomorrow may be rather cloudy, though there seems to be no risk of a shower.
Evening update (21.00): High of 27C. A good day.
Forecast high: 24C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 3 June - Cloud, sun, 27C; 4 June - Sun, cloud, 24C; 5 June - Sun, cloud, 21C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 to 3, locally Northeast 4 in the afternoon.
Sunny, fresh morning. And sun all the way, we are led to believe. Tomorrow may be rather cloudy, though there seems to be no risk of a shower.
Evening update (21.00): High of 27C. A good day.
Exasperation: Too Many Authorities
Toni Mir is the mayor of Alcudia. In my dealings with him, he has always come across as being very straightforward: straight to the point, no nonsense. It may be because of this that he can get slightly exasperated. When things get in the way that deviate from the point, it can be understandable.
It was a meeting on Tuesday to consider a new bridge that has been built. Businesses are up in arms because they say it will take trade from them; they being located on the Bellevue half of the Avenida Pedro Mas y Reus, more popularly known as The Mile (other names can also apply).
The source of the exasperation was an agency which, despite it having a Balearic delegation, is a long way distant: the Costas Authority. The very mention of the Costas has at times been something to send even the most mild-mannered into a fit of rage. Or to make the strongest tremble.
It is a curious fact that in Alcudia the powers of the Costas stretch inland. Because the City of Lakes (and Albufera) are linked by canals to the sea, there is land influenced by the sea: the Costas' domain. These powers have been such, however, that the authority has done little or nothing for the City of Lakes down the now getting on for fifty years of its existence. When it was finally shaken out of its torpor a couple of years ago, it decided to install some new bridges: they were long overdue.
It could all be of course that because Madrid is a long way away there was going to be some issue with these bridges. And there is: one bridge in particular. The Costas, benevolent with its one million plus investment, came up with the plan and went ahead without consultation. You've been hounding us for investment for years, so don't complain now that the investment has been forthcoming. That might seem like the attitude. For Toni Mir it's a case of a division of government taking too little account of local needs. Exasperation.
It's a story though that is commonplace. For Alcudia it just so happens that the town hall is affected by the Costas more than in other coastal resorts. They all are in one way or another, as they are affected by other divisions of government. Alcudia has to concern itself with the Balearic Ports Authority: the port is a state-run port. Other ports come under a different ports authority. There is talk of making the two work together in the future. And surely not before time.
Town halls can generally be thought to know what's best for their resorts, for their beaches and facilities. Decentralised government is such that the town halls do have a good deal of responsibility but they are also bound by the regulations of others. There do of course need to be these regulations, but it is the multiplicity of regulation in the hands of different parts of government, the at-times contradictory nature of this regulation and the sheer difficulty of knowing where the buck actually stops (if at all) that can and does generate exasperation.
Here's perhaps the craziest one of all. In Manacor. The problem of overcrowding on the unspoiled beach of Cala Varques is nothing new: it has existed for years. The town hall decided to take the matter into its own hands last summer and seek to prevent cars being parked on the approach road to the cove. All this achieved was to create a new problem, one of parking on the main road: Tráfico had a field day with parking tickets.
This year, the town hall (a different administration to the one in power last summer, as it was thrown out after a vote of no confidence) has set about trying to establish some lines of responsibility for Cala Varques. Lines of responsibility? How many can there possibly be? And that is precisely the issue. The town hall has had to engage an external company to fathom them all out and to arrive at a definitive "plan of uses" for the beach, the roads, parking and what have you. This company has had to consider: the town hall and so therefore also the local police; the National Police, which is centred in Manacor; the Guardia Civil with its traffic function; the Council of Mallorca; the regional government; and, yes, the Costas Authority. It's no wonder that there can be exasperation when taking all this lot into account. The town hall can be grateful that there isn't a port at Cala Varques; it's had enough of an issue in this regard with Porto Cristo.
It's a story repeated to varying degrees around the coast of Mallorca. So many authorities, so many regulations, too little action. And when action is taken, it causes its own exasperation. There's a bridge in Alcudia doing just that.
It was a meeting on Tuesday to consider a new bridge that has been built. Businesses are up in arms because they say it will take trade from them; they being located on the Bellevue half of the Avenida Pedro Mas y Reus, more popularly known as The Mile (other names can also apply).
The source of the exasperation was an agency which, despite it having a Balearic delegation, is a long way distant: the Costas Authority. The very mention of the Costas has at times been something to send even the most mild-mannered into a fit of rage. Or to make the strongest tremble.
It is a curious fact that in Alcudia the powers of the Costas stretch inland. Because the City of Lakes (and Albufera) are linked by canals to the sea, there is land influenced by the sea: the Costas' domain. These powers have been such, however, that the authority has done little or nothing for the City of Lakes down the now getting on for fifty years of its existence. When it was finally shaken out of its torpor a couple of years ago, it decided to install some new bridges: they were long overdue.
It could all be of course that because Madrid is a long way away there was going to be some issue with these bridges. And there is: one bridge in particular. The Costas, benevolent with its one million plus investment, came up with the plan and went ahead without consultation. You've been hounding us for investment for years, so don't complain now that the investment has been forthcoming. That might seem like the attitude. For Toni Mir it's a case of a division of government taking too little account of local needs. Exasperation.
It's a story though that is commonplace. For Alcudia it just so happens that the town hall is affected by the Costas more than in other coastal resorts. They all are in one way or another, as they are affected by other divisions of government. Alcudia has to concern itself with the Balearic Ports Authority: the port is a state-run port. Other ports come under a different ports authority. There is talk of making the two work together in the future. And surely not before time.
Town halls can generally be thought to know what's best for their resorts, for their beaches and facilities. Decentralised government is such that the town halls do have a good deal of responsibility but they are also bound by the regulations of others. There do of course need to be these regulations, but it is the multiplicity of regulation in the hands of different parts of government, the at-times contradictory nature of this regulation and the sheer difficulty of knowing where the buck actually stops (if at all) that can and does generate exasperation.
Here's perhaps the craziest one of all. In Manacor. The problem of overcrowding on the unspoiled beach of Cala Varques is nothing new: it has existed for years. The town hall decided to take the matter into its own hands last summer and seek to prevent cars being parked on the approach road to the cove. All this achieved was to create a new problem, one of parking on the main road: Tráfico had a field day with parking tickets.
This year, the town hall (a different administration to the one in power last summer, as it was thrown out after a vote of no confidence) has set about trying to establish some lines of responsibility for Cala Varques. Lines of responsibility? How many can there possibly be? And that is precisely the issue. The town hall has had to engage an external company to fathom them all out and to arrive at a definitive "plan of uses" for the beach, the roads, parking and what have you. This company has had to consider: the town hall and so therefore also the local police; the National Police, which is centred in Manacor; the Guardia Civil with its traffic function; the Council of Mallorca; the regional government; and, yes, the Costas Authority. It's no wonder that there can be exasperation when taking all this lot into account. The town hall can be grateful that there isn't a port at Cala Varques; it's had enough of an issue in this regard with Porto Cristo.
It's a story repeated to varying degrees around the coast of Mallorca. So many authorities, so many regulations, too little action. And when action is taken, it causes its own exasperation. There's a bridge in Alcudia doing just that.
Wednesday, June 01, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 1 June 2016
Morning high (7.00am): 15.6C
Forecast high: 25C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 2 June - Sun, 25C; 3 June - Sun, cloud, 23C; 4 June - Sun, cloud, 25C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West 3 to 4 veering North during the morning.
Fine morning and should remain decent all day and so no sound of a thunder like yesterday.
Evening update (20.30): Good day. High of 25.8C.
Forecast high: 25C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 2 June - Sun, 25C; 3 June - Sun, cloud, 23C; 4 June - Sun, cloud, 25C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West 3 to 4 veering North during the morning.
Fine morning and should remain decent all day and so no sound of a thunder like yesterday.
Evening update (20.30): Good day. High of 25.8C.
Out Of Whack: Mallorcan society
These have been a depressing few days. The church's charity, Caritas, spoke of the chronic poverty that afflicts part of Mallorcan society. The town hall in Palma has increased the amount it spends on economic aid to people of the city. Average income levels in the Balearics as a whole are well below what they were some eight years ago.
The latter, it needs pointing out, were 2014 figures, but whether there would be much difference some eighteen months on might be questionable. The experience in Palma would suggest not, albeit there is a caveat in that the town hall has expanded the scope for the aid it hands out.
What is particularly depressing is the fact that there is meant to be an economic recovery. To counter the poverty and incomes' reports have been those which point to what is pretty much a boom time on the high streets (if there were such things). Retail has not known any better times for the past fourteen years. Astonishing. Meanwhile, the price of property goes up, and Ibiza Town can claim to be the most expensive place in Spain. Incredible.
Ignore the depressing reports, adopt an I'm All Right Jack approach and things are astonishing and incredible. But those reports shouldn't be ignored. Things aren't right. They are far from being right. The unions are referring to a structural crisis. The economic one may have passed (for many) but it has left behind a widening imbalance, a major disequilibrium. Maybe it can be possible to begin to appreciate why the Partido Popular, having presided over austerity-turning-riches, is unpopular enough for the electorate to give the likes of Podemos houseroom, even if some of this electorate has previously voted PP. It isn't just corruption. It's the pocket. And the pocket has been picked.
But not for everyone of course. Want to know something else astonishing and incredible? There are 636 owners of more than 32,000 properties in the Balearics: that's fifty each. These aren't banks, these are real people (or real people's companies). In the past ten years the single ownership of multiple properties - from six to ten, from eleven to twenty-five, from twenty-six to fifty - has gone up by roughly 60%.
This, in no small part, has come about because the property market bubble burst so dramatically (albeit not at the top end). Lower-priced property, and lots of it, was available. But it still required someone with a good deal of spare cash to go on a property-buying spree. The time to cash in may have arrived.
The property market, you have the impression (and there seems to be evidence every day to support this), is totally out of whack. (Or rather it's very much in whack if you happen to be among the acquisitive class.) You can never accuse Balearic teachers of missing a good opportunity to indulge in a spot of propaganda, but the image of tented accommodation for one of its membership in Ibiza might be more than just agitation. The problems with rented accommodation on that island appear to be worse than in Mallorca, and they're bad enough as it is here.
The regional government is alarmed at the growing disparity, at the problems with housing and at the level of incomes. But it cannot force onto the market what the market won't accept. It can try, as with its idea of linking hotel star ratings to the "quality" of employment, but this stems at least in part from a political agenda that enjoys casting the hotels in the role of the baddie. Yes, they may only offer contracts for a set number of months, but check out some of the earnings: they aren't as bad as they are made out to be. Not when compared, for example, with the similarly low-paid retail sector.
But to come back to retailing and the current boom in sales. How does this square with incomes in general being so modest and having failed to recover to pre-crisis levels? Does one trust the figure for average income, one of just under eleven grand a year? Who is it that is making all the purchases of household goods that weren't being made even a year ago? The owners of those multiple properties? Foreign owners? Those who are kitting out properties with IKEA stuff and posting them onto Airbnb?
Whatever the answers to these, there is unease - fuelled to a degree by politicians on a mission - caused by the seemingly widening gap in society. Recessions, a sort of maxim goes, are economic occasions when advantages can be sought and gained. Property appears to be one of them. Allied to this is the fall in incomes and the unions' structural crisis afflicting the middle as well as working class. And then there's the chronic poverty.
Thankfully, the sun shines. But it hides the clouds.
The latter, it needs pointing out, were 2014 figures, but whether there would be much difference some eighteen months on might be questionable. The experience in Palma would suggest not, albeit there is a caveat in that the town hall has expanded the scope for the aid it hands out.
What is particularly depressing is the fact that there is meant to be an economic recovery. To counter the poverty and incomes' reports have been those which point to what is pretty much a boom time on the high streets (if there were such things). Retail has not known any better times for the past fourteen years. Astonishing. Meanwhile, the price of property goes up, and Ibiza Town can claim to be the most expensive place in Spain. Incredible.
Ignore the depressing reports, adopt an I'm All Right Jack approach and things are astonishing and incredible. But those reports shouldn't be ignored. Things aren't right. They are far from being right. The unions are referring to a structural crisis. The economic one may have passed (for many) but it has left behind a widening imbalance, a major disequilibrium. Maybe it can be possible to begin to appreciate why the Partido Popular, having presided over austerity-turning-riches, is unpopular enough for the electorate to give the likes of Podemos houseroom, even if some of this electorate has previously voted PP. It isn't just corruption. It's the pocket. And the pocket has been picked.
But not for everyone of course. Want to know something else astonishing and incredible? There are 636 owners of more than 32,000 properties in the Balearics: that's fifty each. These aren't banks, these are real people (or real people's companies). In the past ten years the single ownership of multiple properties - from six to ten, from eleven to twenty-five, from twenty-six to fifty - has gone up by roughly 60%.
This, in no small part, has come about because the property market bubble burst so dramatically (albeit not at the top end). Lower-priced property, and lots of it, was available. But it still required someone with a good deal of spare cash to go on a property-buying spree. The time to cash in may have arrived.
The property market, you have the impression (and there seems to be evidence every day to support this), is totally out of whack. (Or rather it's very much in whack if you happen to be among the acquisitive class.) You can never accuse Balearic teachers of missing a good opportunity to indulge in a spot of propaganda, but the image of tented accommodation for one of its membership in Ibiza might be more than just agitation. The problems with rented accommodation on that island appear to be worse than in Mallorca, and they're bad enough as it is here.
The regional government is alarmed at the growing disparity, at the problems with housing and at the level of incomes. But it cannot force onto the market what the market won't accept. It can try, as with its idea of linking hotel star ratings to the "quality" of employment, but this stems at least in part from a political agenda that enjoys casting the hotels in the role of the baddie. Yes, they may only offer contracts for a set number of months, but check out some of the earnings: they aren't as bad as they are made out to be. Not when compared, for example, with the similarly low-paid retail sector.
But to come back to retailing and the current boom in sales. How does this square with incomes in general being so modest and having failed to recover to pre-crisis levels? Does one trust the figure for average income, one of just under eleven grand a year? Who is it that is making all the purchases of household goods that weren't being made even a year ago? The owners of those multiple properties? Foreign owners? Those who are kitting out properties with IKEA stuff and posting them onto Airbnb?
Whatever the answers to these, there is unease - fuelled to a degree by politicians on a mission - caused by the seemingly widening gap in society. Recessions, a sort of maxim goes, are economic occasions when advantages can be sought and gained. Property appears to be one of them. Allied to this is the fall in incomes and the unions' structural crisis afflicting the middle as well as working class. And then there's the chronic poverty.
Thankfully, the sun shines. But it hides the clouds.
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 31 May 2016
Morning high (7.16am): 16.5C
Forecast high: 23C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 1 June - Sun, cloud, 23C; 2 June - Sun, 21C; 3 June - Sun, cloud, 24C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North 2 to 3 veering East in the afternoon.
Bright morning. The risk of a shower today seems to have diminished, so good sun all day. Rest of the week into the weekend looks decent: sunny and moderate temperatures.
Evening update (20.30): Well that didn't quite work out. High of 26.3C but there was some weather somewhere, thunder rumbling at one point and some dark cloud hovering.
Forecast high: 23C; UV: 8
Three-day forecast: 1 June - Sun, cloud, 23C; 2 June - Sun, 21C; 3 June - Sun, cloud, 24C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North 2 to 3 veering East in the afternoon.
Bright morning. The risk of a shower today seems to have diminished, so good sun all day. Rest of the week into the weekend looks decent: sunny and moderate temperatures.
Evening update (20.30): Well that didn't quite work out. High of 26.3C but there was some weather somewhere, thunder rumbling at one point and some dark cloud hovering.
Airport Co-Management Is Flying Again
In late August 2006 the then president of the Balearics, Jaume Matas, met José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Spanish prime minister. The location was the VIP lounge at Palma's Son Sant Joan airport. Zapatero had stopped to have a meeting with Matas before going on to the Marivent Palace, where he was to be received by King Juan Carlos. The choice of the airport lounge was more than just a simple convenience. It was also symbolic. Matas wanted to talk to Zapatero about airport management.
Almost eighteen months previously, Matas had participated in a form of summit. The outcome of this, named after the setting, was the Murcia Declaration. It consisted of common areas of interest between the five Spanish regions in the Mediterranean Basin: Andalusia, Catalonia, Murcia, Valencia and the Balearics. Those who took part were three Partido Popular presidents - Matas and those of Murcia and Valencia - and the leaders of the PP in Andalusia and Catalonia. A key item on their agenda and which was to be included in that declaration had to do with airport management.
At the meeting with Zapatero, the former prime minister promised to study the Matas proposals. Matas himself believed that the meeting had been very positive. Here, it was believed at the time, was movement towards co-management of Balearic airports: private and public co-management, with the public element being the regional government.
The significance of the Zapatero meeting should not be lost on those who are today calling for airport co-management. This had been a PP regional president asking a PSOE prime minister. The roles are currently reversed: there is a PSOE regional president and a PP premier.
Nothing was to come of the meeting. Zapatero, returned for a second time as premier, was to run into the storm of economic crisis. As his government sought to spend its way out of what he initially denied was a crisis, Spain's financial situation deteriorated. One of the solutions was to consider privatisation. The national airports' network, Aena, was to eventually go under the hammer: 49% of it at any rate. It created a public-private arrangement but not one that Matas and others (the Canaries had also been interested) had sought. Regional governments were to not get their wishes in having a share of their airports' pies.
Airport co-management is back on the agenda. In truth it hasn't been off it for many years. The Bauzá PP regime never seriously spoke about it, but the Matas PP administration had, as also had the PSOE-led governments of Francesc Antich. The talk now, where the regional government is concerned, runs up against a sizable obstacle the Rajoy government, which has never shown any interest in co-management, only in the Aena privatisation.
Francina Armengol was in Madrid last week. For some observers it was clear what her main objective had been: less one of showing support for Pedro Sánchez and more one of again pressing the case for airport co-management. She may have had a greater priority, but a Sánchez PSOE-led government, it would be hoped in the Balearics, would be even more amenable than Zapatero's had once seemed to have been.
In April the Balearic parliament passed a motion calling for co-management. It was supported by all parties, as was a statement demanding that the current 51% state shareholding in Aena should not be reduced. Where the parties disagreed, with the PP and Ciudadanos doing the disagreeing, was a further statement calling for the national government to consider reversing the privatisation of Aena.
A month earlier, the government in the Canary Islands had been paving the way for a legal challenge to force co-management of the airports on those islands. It had already unsuccessfully sought to block the partial privatisation of Aena in the courts.
Going back to the time of last December's general election, the Congress lead candidate for Més, Antoni Verger, had been calling for a reversal of the privatisation. A representative of Balearic nationalism, he was coming from a similar perspective as the government in Canaries: it is run by the Coalición Canaria, also nationalist but not, unlike Més, left-wing.
Co-management is not and has not been solely an ambition of the left. Different parts of the political spectrum, especially in the two archipelagos - Balearics and Canaries - have seen the potential value and not only in terms of possible revenue. Verger, who has now found himself back in the frame as a potential Congress deputy, believes that it would bring advantages, such as a reduction in wintertime airport tariffs.
The co-management debate is very much alive again. As part of a new economic regime for the Balearics, to which Sánchez in particular might be well disposed, it's time might be coming. But what might it mean for Aena shareholders whose returns have been soaring?
Footnote: Of course, where Matas and the airports were concerned, knowing what we now know ...
Index for May 2016
Ada Colau and tourism - 5 May 2016
Airport co-management - 31 May 2016
Attitudes towards tourism - 25 May 2016
Blue Flags in Mallorca - 10 May 2016
Cities of Mallorca - 15 May 2016
Cruise ships - 7 May 2016, 24 May 2016
Cycling and anger - 2 May 2016
Drunken tourists - 3 May 2016
Family tourism - 6 May 2016
Holiday rentals regulation - 21 May 2016
Hotel places' limits - 28 May 2016
Lawyers and Nóos trial - 23 May 2016
Mallorca and Western Mediterranean islands - 12 May 2016
Mining in Mallorca - 1 May 2016
Overcrowding in Mallorca - 17 May 2016
Place names - 13 May 2016, 20 May 2016
Podemos, Balearics, general election - 9 May 2016, 11 May 2016, 16 May 2016, 18 May 2016. 30 May 2016
Retailer employment and salaries - 26 May 2016
Sant Joan Pelós, Pollensa - 29 May 2016
Sobirania per a les Illes - 27 May 2016
Soller Es Firó - 8 May 2016
Spain election and the Balearics - 4 May 2016, 22 May 2016
Tax cases: Cuéntame cómo pasó - 19 May 2016
Tourist cars: ban? - 14 May 2016
Almost eighteen months previously, Matas had participated in a form of summit. The outcome of this, named after the setting, was the Murcia Declaration. It consisted of common areas of interest between the five Spanish regions in the Mediterranean Basin: Andalusia, Catalonia, Murcia, Valencia and the Balearics. Those who took part were three Partido Popular presidents - Matas and those of Murcia and Valencia - and the leaders of the PP in Andalusia and Catalonia. A key item on their agenda and which was to be included in that declaration had to do with airport management.
At the meeting with Zapatero, the former prime minister promised to study the Matas proposals. Matas himself believed that the meeting had been very positive. Here, it was believed at the time, was movement towards co-management of Balearic airports: private and public co-management, with the public element being the regional government.
The significance of the Zapatero meeting should not be lost on those who are today calling for airport co-management. This had been a PP regional president asking a PSOE prime minister. The roles are currently reversed: there is a PSOE regional president and a PP premier.
Nothing was to come of the meeting. Zapatero, returned for a second time as premier, was to run into the storm of economic crisis. As his government sought to spend its way out of what he initially denied was a crisis, Spain's financial situation deteriorated. One of the solutions was to consider privatisation. The national airports' network, Aena, was to eventually go under the hammer: 49% of it at any rate. It created a public-private arrangement but not one that Matas and others (the Canaries had also been interested) had sought. Regional governments were to not get their wishes in having a share of their airports' pies.
Airport co-management is back on the agenda. In truth it hasn't been off it for many years. The Bauzá PP regime never seriously spoke about it, but the Matas PP administration had, as also had the PSOE-led governments of Francesc Antich. The talk now, where the regional government is concerned, runs up against a sizable obstacle the Rajoy government, which has never shown any interest in co-management, only in the Aena privatisation.
Francina Armengol was in Madrid last week. For some observers it was clear what her main objective had been: less one of showing support for Pedro Sánchez and more one of again pressing the case for airport co-management. She may have had a greater priority, but a Sánchez PSOE-led government, it would be hoped in the Balearics, would be even more amenable than Zapatero's had once seemed to have been.
In April the Balearic parliament passed a motion calling for co-management. It was supported by all parties, as was a statement demanding that the current 51% state shareholding in Aena should not be reduced. Where the parties disagreed, with the PP and Ciudadanos doing the disagreeing, was a further statement calling for the national government to consider reversing the privatisation of Aena.
A month earlier, the government in the Canary Islands had been paving the way for a legal challenge to force co-management of the airports on those islands. It had already unsuccessfully sought to block the partial privatisation of Aena in the courts.
Going back to the time of last December's general election, the Congress lead candidate for Més, Antoni Verger, had been calling for a reversal of the privatisation. A representative of Balearic nationalism, he was coming from a similar perspective as the government in Canaries: it is run by the Coalición Canaria, also nationalist but not, unlike Més, left-wing.
Co-management is not and has not been solely an ambition of the left. Different parts of the political spectrum, especially in the two archipelagos - Balearics and Canaries - have seen the potential value and not only in terms of possible revenue. Verger, who has now found himself back in the frame as a potential Congress deputy, believes that it would bring advantages, such as a reduction in wintertime airport tariffs.
The co-management debate is very much alive again. As part of a new economic regime for the Balearics, to which Sánchez in particular might be well disposed, it's time might be coming. But what might it mean for Aena shareholders whose returns have been soaring?
Footnote: Of course, where Matas and the airports were concerned, knowing what we now know ...
Index for May 2016
Ada Colau and tourism - 5 May 2016
Airport co-management - 31 May 2016
Attitudes towards tourism - 25 May 2016
Blue Flags in Mallorca - 10 May 2016
Cities of Mallorca - 15 May 2016
Cruise ships - 7 May 2016, 24 May 2016
Cycling and anger - 2 May 2016
Drunken tourists - 3 May 2016
Family tourism - 6 May 2016
Holiday rentals regulation - 21 May 2016
Hotel places' limits - 28 May 2016
Lawyers and Nóos trial - 23 May 2016
Mallorca and Western Mediterranean islands - 12 May 2016
Mining in Mallorca - 1 May 2016
Overcrowding in Mallorca - 17 May 2016
Place names - 13 May 2016, 20 May 2016
Podemos, Balearics, general election - 9 May 2016, 11 May 2016, 16 May 2016, 18 May 2016. 30 May 2016
Retailer employment and salaries - 26 May 2016
Sant Joan Pelós, Pollensa - 29 May 2016
Sobirania per a les Illes - 27 May 2016
Soller Es Firó - 8 May 2016
Spain election and the Balearics - 4 May 2016, 22 May 2016
Tax cases: Cuéntame cómo pasó - 19 May 2016
Tourist cars: ban? - 14 May 2016
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
