When Catalonia originally drafted provisions for its tourist tax, the tariffs were higher than those which were eventually implemented. The government had initially spoken of revenues in the region of 100 million euros per annum being raised. This was before tariffs were scaled back. It accepted arguments that rates were too high and too universal. Down came the rates and down also came the number of nights for which it would be applied - to a maximum of seven. In addition, out went any charge for under-16s. The total revenues raised in 2013 and 2014 were, therefore, significantly lower than had initially been envisaged: 38.5 million and 41 million, respectively.
Catalonia's volume of annual tourism is roughly 50% greater than the Balearics. Despite this lower volume, some numbers that have been mentioned regarding a new Balearic tax bear similarity to that which was tossed around with the old eco-tax - approximately 80 million euros a year. On this basis, the Balearic tax would need to be at least double that of Catalonia's; more in fact because of the different volumes.
Catalonia's tax caused some discussion but it was never that fierce. Perhaps this was because the government took the view that more modest rates were appropriate and sufficient. Whatever the reason, Catalonia never lost the PR battle because a PR battle never really ensued. And now, despite the tax, tourism performance has improved. More visitors go to Catalonia than ever before. The tax has had no discernible negative impact.
A point I have made previously regarding a Balearic tax is that it involves Mallorca. Well, obviously it does, but Mallorca is a magnet for international media - both wishing to praise and condemn - in a way that Catalonia is not. The Costa Brava was every bit at the front of the mass tourism movement as Mallorca was, it is still every bit as attractive to visitors from the prime markets of the UK and Germany as it was, yet it does not inspire the same interest. Mallorca is Mallorca: in turn, a jewel and victim of its own success where the media is concerned. If Mallorca has a tax, it will be pounced on, slated, ripped apart amidst insinuations of rip-off. And if it is a tax at a higher rate than Catalonia's, which it would have to be in order to achieve the revenue targets that have been mentioned, it would be compared with Catalonia's in order to reinforce the rip-off point: Mallorca is just plain greedy.
In principle I am not against a tourist tax, so long as it is clear why there might be one. Catalonia was always clear why it wanted one - it is a commercial tax, a scheme designed, in essence, to extract money from tourists who pay for Catalonia to try and attract more tourists. This justification is a reason why I do find it surprising that there hasn't been more of a furore. Why should tourists fund tourism promotion? I can think of no moral reason why they should. But where does morality come into the equation either in Catalonia or elsewhere? The strength of an argument that Mallorca would suffer competitively is lessened by the fact that competitors have taxes: Catalonia is one; France, Bulgaria and Croatia are others; Turkey has its tourist visa; various cities across Europe have taxes; Greece will up its accommodation VAT rate significantly, a tourist tax by another name.
Just because other destinations have a tax isn't a justification for Mallorca. Yet this is how it might appear. PSOE have linked the issue of the tax to a redefinition of financing from Madrid, a process that will not fundamentally alter unless there is a change of government. However, there is already an indication that the PP government has agreed to up direct investment funding significantly (a separate issue to the financing through tax redistribution): it would be in the order of what a tourist tax might actually raise. If this comes about, a tourist tax might then take on a punitive appearance.
If there is to be a tourist tax, it should be symbolic as much as fiscal, a means of tourist involvement, a means not of lessening tourist loyalty but of strengthening it. A tax should be a statement of tourist appreciation of what Mallorca offers. It should not be onerous, certainly no higher than Catalonia's, but it should be "sold" through a grand campaign to explain its purpose. In this, I am inclined to agree with the environmentalists GOB that it should be reserved for the environment, as emotionally this is an easier sell than, say, tourism promotion. Harness social media, flood hotels, airports and ports with publicity, invite tourist suggestions as to use, make tourists part of the tax process not simply contributors. Allow them to be participants. The "new politics" is all about participation, so why not extend this to the island's visitors?
Friday, July 17, 2015
Thursday, July 16, 2015
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 16 July 2015
Stefanos
Morning high (6.00am): 22C
Forecast high: 32C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 17 July - Sun, 30C; 18 July - Sun, 30C; 19 July - Sun, 31C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East-Southeast 3, locally 4.
And on it goes. No, that met office prediction of a drop in temperature today was wrong.
Evening update (19.45): Coastal high, 32.2C; Inland high, 33.7C. The met office now reckon a cold front is coming from the northwest and that there will be lower temperatures from tomorrow. We'll see.
No Frills Excursions
Too Many Tourists On Tourist Island
When Monty Python discovered that there were too many Whickers on Whicker Island, the principal problem of this Whicker massification was that there were no longer enough people to interview. By contrast, Mallorca doesn't suffer from any shortage of tourists who might be interviewed, if only by the clipboard-wielding surveyors of the Egatur tourist spend statistical gathering, while there are masses of investigators and politicians eager to dissect the consequences of the abundance of human raw material that is processed by a voracious tourism industry.
Mallorca, it is reasonable to suggest, is tourist island: not the only such island but a fairly significant one in the league table of tourist islands in the sun. It lives by tourism. It would not die by tourism - or its absence - but it would be placed under constant attention in intensive care were tourism to flee its shores. Fortunately, for Mallorca and for politicians, there is and will be no need for saline and glucose drips to be attached to the veins of economic lifeblood. Which is why politicians can indulge themselves in experimentation. Too many tourists on tourist island? Let's get rid of some then.
The least one can say about the government of change in the Balearics is that it is willing to engage in debate. In this new era of dialogue, it really couldn't do anything else. But even with such a spirit of interlocution, are there political red lines in the sands of Mallorca over which ever more tourists must not cross? Is there, or should there be, a limit on tourist numbers?
In theory, limits should be self-defining. They are only as great as the ability to move human traffic and to accommodate it, but as airport privatisation demands ever increasing volume to satisfy the investment returns of shareholders and as the collaborative economy revolution makes available a glut of private properties (to say nothing also of new palaces of four star plus or five star variety), limits cease to be self-defining: the boundaries are constantly exceeded.
Tourism on tourist island is not, and we all know this, evenly distributed. Massification is a summer phenomenon and the smoothing of distribution in order to counteract the economically debilitating factor of seasonality is and will remain a pipe dream. Mallorca comes under massive attack, especially in high summer. As is now traditional, towards the end of this year the statistics gatherers will reveal the day on which - during August - Mallorca reached its maximum population level. You can expect that a new record will be set this summer.
Geographically, tourist island benefits from distribution. South, north, east and even parts of the west (in the mountains) accommodate this spread, albeit that Calvia, Palma and the bays of Alcúdia and Cala Millor are where the spread is at its most disproportionate. There has, though, been tourist island creep. Interior tourism and some additional coastal development have gobbled up land previously not registered according to the tourism accommodation quotas (the oddly acronymed POOT). Yes, quotas do exist. Limits are in fact defined, but they are limits which exist to be extended.
Tourism creep should be advantageous, but the "Benidorm Effect" has, counter-intuitively, established that environmental and resource-efficient righteousness comes from density and concentration: it is less expensive and less demanding of resources to have tourism massification in specific areas.
What is the thinking behind the debate sparked off by Biel Barceló, the new tourism minister, with its echoes in Barcelona and the moratorium on licences for hotel development? Is it purely the environment? No, it also has to do with the intangible of quality of life made tangible via a reduction in numbers but an elevation of often elusive and often disrespectful "quality". It has to do with, rightly however, an acknowledgement that there is a significant tourism base which contributes little but extracts much. It also has to do with the quest for the grail of a new economic model, one that will result in improved pay and conditions for those who remain in the tourism industry and from a diversification of the economy. Such a theory might, however, take an inordinately long time to become practice.
This is not new thinking, though. Celesti Alomar, the tourism minister who oversaw the introduction of the original eco-tax, once spoke about bringing an end to mass tourism, or at least reducing mass tourism. The tax was not the means to that end, however. And nor will it now be. Alomar appeared to be on some form of misguided crusade. Barceló isn't. In a strange way, he is a son of Carlos Delgado: the Partido Popular tourism minister also spoke of tourist reduction through a greater concentration on the higher end of the market.
Are there too many tourists? Possibly so. But if there are, you sure as hell need to know how you will replace them.
Mallorca, it is reasonable to suggest, is tourist island: not the only such island but a fairly significant one in the league table of tourist islands in the sun. It lives by tourism. It would not die by tourism - or its absence - but it would be placed under constant attention in intensive care were tourism to flee its shores. Fortunately, for Mallorca and for politicians, there is and will be no need for saline and glucose drips to be attached to the veins of economic lifeblood. Which is why politicians can indulge themselves in experimentation. Too many tourists on tourist island? Let's get rid of some then.
The least one can say about the government of change in the Balearics is that it is willing to engage in debate. In this new era of dialogue, it really couldn't do anything else. But even with such a spirit of interlocution, are there political red lines in the sands of Mallorca over which ever more tourists must not cross? Is there, or should there be, a limit on tourist numbers?
In theory, limits should be self-defining. They are only as great as the ability to move human traffic and to accommodate it, but as airport privatisation demands ever increasing volume to satisfy the investment returns of shareholders and as the collaborative economy revolution makes available a glut of private properties (to say nothing also of new palaces of four star plus or five star variety), limits cease to be self-defining: the boundaries are constantly exceeded.
Tourism on tourist island is not, and we all know this, evenly distributed. Massification is a summer phenomenon and the smoothing of distribution in order to counteract the economically debilitating factor of seasonality is and will remain a pipe dream. Mallorca comes under massive attack, especially in high summer. As is now traditional, towards the end of this year the statistics gatherers will reveal the day on which - during August - Mallorca reached its maximum population level. You can expect that a new record will be set this summer.
Geographically, tourist island benefits from distribution. South, north, east and even parts of the west (in the mountains) accommodate this spread, albeit that Calvia, Palma and the bays of Alcúdia and Cala Millor are where the spread is at its most disproportionate. There has, though, been tourist island creep. Interior tourism and some additional coastal development have gobbled up land previously not registered according to the tourism accommodation quotas (the oddly acronymed POOT). Yes, quotas do exist. Limits are in fact defined, but they are limits which exist to be extended.
Tourism creep should be advantageous, but the "Benidorm Effect" has, counter-intuitively, established that environmental and resource-efficient righteousness comes from density and concentration: it is less expensive and less demanding of resources to have tourism massification in specific areas.
What is the thinking behind the debate sparked off by Biel Barceló, the new tourism minister, with its echoes in Barcelona and the moratorium on licences for hotel development? Is it purely the environment? No, it also has to do with the intangible of quality of life made tangible via a reduction in numbers but an elevation of often elusive and often disrespectful "quality". It has to do with, rightly however, an acknowledgement that there is a significant tourism base which contributes little but extracts much. It also has to do with the quest for the grail of a new economic model, one that will result in improved pay and conditions for those who remain in the tourism industry and from a diversification of the economy. Such a theory might, however, take an inordinately long time to become practice.
This is not new thinking, though. Celesti Alomar, the tourism minister who oversaw the introduction of the original eco-tax, once spoke about bringing an end to mass tourism, or at least reducing mass tourism. The tax was not the means to that end, however. And nor will it now be. Alomar appeared to be on some form of misguided crusade. Barceló isn't. In a strange way, he is a son of Carlos Delgado: the Partido Popular tourism minister also spoke of tourist reduction through a greater concentration on the higher end of the market.
Are there too many tourists? Possibly so. But if there are, you sure as hell need to know how you will replace them.
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 15 July 2015
Stefanos
Morning high (6.00am): 23.5C
Forecast high: 31C; UV: 10
Three-day forecast: 16 July - Sun, 32C; 17 July - Sun, 29C; 18 July - Sun, 29C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North 2 to 3 occasionally Northeast 4 during the afternoon.
Though sun prevails, there may be some light cloud at times. Still no sign of the dip in temperature that the met office had forecast for Thursday.
Evening update (20.30): Coastal high, 31.5C; Inland high, 33.7C.
No Frills Excursions
Rise To The Occasion: In-store music
Eroski's a strange old shop. Not just one. They all seem to be at it. I mean, when were they transported back in time to the days of ooh, Gary Davies and converted into 1980s' radio stations circa the era of Gary or Bruno or Simon Bates? What will they do next? Have the shoppers weeping in the aisles not because they've run out of stock but because of "Our Tune"?
There aren't actually any what were once called disc jockeys as such (they're now presenters, a job title with far greater gravitas), but you never know. Wasn't Chris Moyles discovered as the in-house DJ at Top Shop in Leeds or something like that? And look what happened to him. What has happened to him?
There has to be some method to the Eroski 1980s music madness, though I am blowed if I know what it is, why it is and who's responsible. What thought process is applied in order to come up with Climie Fisher's "Rise to the Occasion" while one is helpfully trying to explain the intricacies of weighing your own fruit and veg to a disorientated British tourist, rendered even more disconcerted by straining to recall what the song is and so completely incapable of taking instruction. "Look, see that picture. It's an apple. And its number is?" A complete waste of time.
There is, as with most things shopping, a psychology to all this, but what it is in Eroski's case is anyone's guess. I posed myself this very conundrum the other morning when attempting to figure out the point of Tears for Fears' "Advice for the Young at Heart". A pleasant tune, but was it having any discernible influence? Apart from making me tarry longer, simply because it is a pleasant tune and I wanted to listen to it, then no. The same Gouda slices as usual were launched into the bottom of the new, extra-deep, extra-non-customer-friendly trolley thing they've introduced, bouncing off the familiar iceberg lettuce, bunch of green bananas and bottle of moderately priced vino tinto. Was I inclined to draw on the inspiration of the music of the two largest egos known to the history of popular music - Roland and Curt - and indulge in an impulse purchase? Was this the thinking? Well no. Besides, who actually makes impulse buys in supermarkets? Oh, it's Tears for Fears, I must acquire that toaster or half a ton of mangoes.
There again, tarrying may have something to do with it. Find yourself propelled back to a nostalgic time when men turned themselves into wimpish extras from "Star Wars" (as with, for example, A Flock of Seagulls), and you are motivated to lurk and linger (possibly), and the longer the lingering, the greater the embarrassment that you aren't actually buying anything: only listening to the music. Oh well, might as well get some toilet rolls: you can never have too many anyway.
Yes, there is a great deal of psychology, and some of it which isn't total Horlicks (not that Eroski sells this). For example, it has been found that playing classical music can induce a tendency to spend more (this was from a study in a wine store): all to do with an implication of sophistication. Some of it does make sense. No music at all, and the store is unwelcoming. Hence, you would spend less because you want to get out quicker, though not as quick as if thrash metal was being played at high volume.
But while accepting there is this psychology, I still struggle to understand it in the Eroski context. Why 1980s music? Why all English? It has occurred to me that maybe the music is not for the shoppers but is to make shopworkers' lives more agreeable, but then wouldn't they benefit from selections by Enrique Iglesias and other Spanish hitsters? Probably not, as all Spanish hitsters sound exactly like Enrique and only have one song between them.
No, I don't get it and indeed I'm inclined to believe that it has nothing whatsoever to do with shopper behaviour or making workers' days more pleasant than the constant grind of having to ask for "Tarjeta Eroski" and try to flog you an almond cake or deodorant that's on special offer. It's all to do, I suspect, with DJs. Not Gary Davies or Bruno Brookes, but the DJs down the local fiesta, the ones who insist on putting DJ in front of their names just in case you hadn't realised they were DJs. (No self-respecting "producer" with a USB stick and a Mac armed to the hard-drive gunwales with mixing software would pitch up at, say, Magalluf's BH with DJ in front of his name.) No, the fiesta DJs are in thrall to Climie Fisher and the 1980s. It is from them that Eroski has taken the lead. Or is it the other way round?
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 14 July 2015
Stefanos
Morning high (6.45am): 23C
Forecast high: 31C; UV: 10
Three-day forecast: 15 July - Sun, 31C; 16 July - Sun, 32C; 17 July - Sun, 29C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West 2 to 3 veering North-Northeast 3 to 4 around midday.
Well, according to Aemet, the national met office, things are supposed to cool down for a few days from Thursday (i.e. until Sunday when the heatwave will return). Looking at the forecast, it doesn't look as though there's going to be much in the way of cooling down.
Evening update (20.00): Coastal high, 32.7C; Inland high, 34.1C.
No Frills Excursions
Why Does Mallorca Not Love Flamenco?
When Paco de Lucía passed away in February last year, the association between Mallorca and the world's greatest exponent of the flamenco guitar died with him. A few years before his death, but already a resident of the island, he became the last in a line of celebrity faces that the regional tourism ministry felt might help with promotion. Famous though he undoubtedly was, the choice seemed a little odd, though not perhaps any odder than there having been a German model (Claudia Schiffer) or a Russian tennis player (Anna Kournikova) as faces of Mallorca. Nevertheless, what did a flamenco musician have to do with Mallorca or the Balearics? Flamenco isn't Mallorcan music.
When de Lucía decided to uproot and move to Mallorca, he did so because he was looking for somewhere to enjoy peace and quiet. In Toledo, where he had been living in a six-storey mansion, he had tired of Japanese tourists flashing their cameras at the impressive gate. His house had been featured in tourist guides and on tourist routes.
Toledo lies not so far south of Madrid, a city which, despite being a fair old distance from the birthplace of flamenco in de Lucía's native Andalusia, was and is a centre of the flamenco tradition. It is said that Barcelona is also such a centre, which might seem a little surprising. Flamenco is synonymous with Spanish culture, even if it is a culture largely of Andalusia and of the capital: when Madrid was being promoted for the 2020 Olympic Games, the video featured flamenco strongly.
Away from Toledo, away from Madrid, de Lucía was able to enjoy the quiet life he craved. He would go with his family to the occasional village fiesta. He might play. But he had no interest in drawing attention to himself. He was content with being part of a community, mingling with the local people, unmolested by them.
That someone of his fame was able to achieve this says much for his humility, but what did it say of flamenco? Of course he was famous, enormously famous, a global superstar. He had been able to pack the main hall at Palma's auditorium in late 2010, but otherwise, what was the island's relationship with this music, with this tradition?
Take yourselves back to the days of early mass tourism in Mallorca, and there was a culture to be promoted which was pretty much mandated from Manuel Fraga's ministry for information and tourism. It wasn't a Mallorcan culture but a Spanish one. From the ubiquitousness of souvenirs to the bullfight to the music, it was Spanishness that was for sale, and flamenco was one of the products.
Flamenco had suffered badly because of the Civil War and its aftermath, not because it was proscribed but mainly because it was being lost amidst the poverty in Andalusia. It wasn't until 1956, when a "cante jondo" contest was held in Cordoba, that its revival started. The Franco regime was to cotton on to its renewed popularity as a tourism money spinner, and what was good for the Costa del Sol was also good for the Costa Brava and Mallorca.
Come forward fifty years to the current day, and flamenco in Mallorca, while it still has its place in the tourism scene, is a quite different beast. It is everywhere in its more serious guises - its music and its dance. Consult what's on pages, and you will find, especially in summer, flamenco seasons, flamenco nights, flamenco as part of music festivals (those of a classical nature), flamenco and dinner events. Mallorca appears to be almost drowning under the sheer weight of flamenco, further bolstered by Andalusian cultural fairs that have sprung up in many a town.
Yet despite all these events appearing in what's on listings, despite there being a significant Andalusian population in Mallorca, promoters of flamenco are bemoaning the fact that it simply isn't capturing the general public's imagination. They attribute this partly to a lack of promotional visibility, but how can this be? As I say, flamenco seems to be everywhere, and be it somewhere like the Embat beach chiringuito at Es Trenc or the Santanyi International Music Festival, promotion seems anything other than invisible.
Flamenco in a different, more of-the-moment guise - flamenco chill - is undoubtedly popular, but this genre differs quite significantly from more traditional flamenco and in one very important way: the singing, which is all but absent. There are various forms of singing, such as the "cante jondo", but it has to be said that it is an acquired taste. Vocally, flamenco can grate.
Is this a reason for not capturing the public's imagination? Maybe it is. Or maybe it is a memory of how traditional Mallorcan music was sidelined by the Spanishness of early tourism. And maybe, quite simply, because it isn't Mallorcan music.
When de Lucía decided to uproot and move to Mallorca, he did so because he was looking for somewhere to enjoy peace and quiet. In Toledo, where he had been living in a six-storey mansion, he had tired of Japanese tourists flashing their cameras at the impressive gate. His house had been featured in tourist guides and on tourist routes.
Toledo lies not so far south of Madrid, a city which, despite being a fair old distance from the birthplace of flamenco in de Lucía's native Andalusia, was and is a centre of the flamenco tradition. It is said that Barcelona is also such a centre, which might seem a little surprising. Flamenco is synonymous with Spanish culture, even if it is a culture largely of Andalusia and of the capital: when Madrid was being promoted for the 2020 Olympic Games, the video featured flamenco strongly.
Away from Toledo, away from Madrid, de Lucía was able to enjoy the quiet life he craved. He would go with his family to the occasional village fiesta. He might play. But he had no interest in drawing attention to himself. He was content with being part of a community, mingling with the local people, unmolested by them.
That someone of his fame was able to achieve this says much for his humility, but what did it say of flamenco? Of course he was famous, enormously famous, a global superstar. He had been able to pack the main hall at Palma's auditorium in late 2010, but otherwise, what was the island's relationship with this music, with this tradition?
Take yourselves back to the days of early mass tourism in Mallorca, and there was a culture to be promoted which was pretty much mandated from Manuel Fraga's ministry for information and tourism. It wasn't a Mallorcan culture but a Spanish one. From the ubiquitousness of souvenirs to the bullfight to the music, it was Spanishness that was for sale, and flamenco was one of the products.
Flamenco had suffered badly because of the Civil War and its aftermath, not because it was proscribed but mainly because it was being lost amidst the poverty in Andalusia. It wasn't until 1956, when a "cante jondo" contest was held in Cordoba, that its revival started. The Franco regime was to cotton on to its renewed popularity as a tourism money spinner, and what was good for the Costa del Sol was also good for the Costa Brava and Mallorca.
Come forward fifty years to the current day, and flamenco in Mallorca, while it still has its place in the tourism scene, is a quite different beast. It is everywhere in its more serious guises - its music and its dance. Consult what's on pages, and you will find, especially in summer, flamenco seasons, flamenco nights, flamenco as part of music festivals (those of a classical nature), flamenco and dinner events. Mallorca appears to be almost drowning under the sheer weight of flamenco, further bolstered by Andalusian cultural fairs that have sprung up in many a town.
Yet despite all these events appearing in what's on listings, despite there being a significant Andalusian population in Mallorca, promoters of flamenco are bemoaning the fact that it simply isn't capturing the general public's imagination. They attribute this partly to a lack of promotional visibility, but how can this be? As I say, flamenco seems to be everywhere, and be it somewhere like the Embat beach chiringuito at Es Trenc or the Santanyi International Music Festival, promotion seems anything other than invisible.
Flamenco in a different, more of-the-moment guise - flamenco chill - is undoubtedly popular, but this genre differs quite significantly from more traditional flamenco and in one very important way: the singing, which is all but absent. There are various forms of singing, such as the "cante jondo", but it has to be said that it is an acquired taste. Vocally, flamenco can grate.
Is this a reason for not capturing the public's imagination? Maybe it is. Or maybe it is a memory of how traditional Mallorcan music was sidelined by the Spanishness of early tourism. And maybe, quite simply, because it isn't Mallorcan music.
Monday, July 13, 2015
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 13 July 2015
Stefanos
Morning high (6.15am): 22C
Forecast high: 31C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 14 July - Sun, 32C; 15 July - Sun, 30C; 16 July - Sun, 32C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East-Northeast 2 to 4.
And still it keeps coming - sun, that is, along with hot temperatures and moderate breezes. General outlook: no change.
Evening update (20.00): Coastal high, 31.6C; Inland high, 33.4C.
No Frills Excursions
Days Of The Seagull
"When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea." Last week was a good week for seagulls. Take, for example, poor old Henry "Blowers" Blofeld, a man who single-handedly has done more for pigeon and seagull life than any other commentator in the history of sport. And what happens? Having been prosaic in his admiration of seagulls at the Swalec in between Joe Root putting Mad Mitch to the sword, he steps out of the stadium and Jonathan Livingston promptly deposits his lunch over him from a great height.
Metaphorically speaking, they were waving their hankies at Palma's dockside to wish José Ramón bon voyage, he having been splattered upon from a less than great height, before they - thankful for his departure - turned their attention to a celebratory sardine barbecue. Bye, bye, Bauzá. Off to Madrid you go. The seagulls followed the trawler with its forlorn traveller but could dine out on no more than the scraps of a political career shredded and cast to the seven seas. Would Eric Cantona play JR in the story of his rise and fall? Doubtful. Eric is a man of social conscience and besides JR never aimed a karate kick at anyone, not even Mateo Isern. The pathos might appeal to Eric though. Sent into exile in the senate where former presidents of the Balearics go to be forgotten: José Ramón and Francesc Antich, politically divided but united in their memories of failure.
The denouement, the final act of airbrushing, save for the seat in the corner of the senate chamber, was the Partido Popular's conference in Madrid. JR had hoped to go there still able to puff his chest out as regional leader, to be able to announce to the party faithful that it had been he who had turned the Balearics into the motor of Spanish economic regeneration. He wasn't allowed to. Yes, he did say this at a forum but not at the main event. PP high command didn't want him anywhere near the stage. They were aware of the pestilence that had left the Balearic PP enervated, rudderless, flapping around like seagulls desperately hunting for a temporary leader on which they could swoop, spying one who would then hurriedly bury himself in the sand. No one seems to want the job, not even the regional secretary-general, Miquel Vidal, to whom high command afforded the honour of centre stage rather than Bauzá.
Consequently, JR was not able to join in the celebrations at the great unveiling. When all else fails and it has, except for the bribery of tax cuts, it's time for a new logo. Revival for the PP prior to the general election comes in the form of less seagull than previously. Ever since the party was formed in the late 1980s, it has symbolically soared but dive-bombed like a seagull, floated on the thermals of alternating fortunes. Now, the seagull has been deprived of the tips of its wings next to the word "populares", which is admittedly better than "unpopulares", but experts on such matters consider the new look a "disaster". Apart from anything else, the two colliding Ps are of a typography very similar to the P of Podemos.
The new logo would have been of minimal interest to JR. Madrid had tried to avoid his humiliation and they succeeded only in heaping more on to him. His Carnival is over. Like the sardine of Shrove Tuesday, he has been buried and consigned to the eternity of a Lent in the senate. His political fasting has begun.
Metaphorically speaking, they were waving their hankies at Palma's dockside to wish José Ramón bon voyage, he having been splattered upon from a less than great height, before they - thankful for his departure - turned their attention to a celebratory sardine barbecue. Bye, bye, Bauzá. Off to Madrid you go. The seagulls followed the trawler with its forlorn traveller but could dine out on no more than the scraps of a political career shredded and cast to the seven seas. Would Eric Cantona play JR in the story of his rise and fall? Doubtful. Eric is a man of social conscience and besides JR never aimed a karate kick at anyone, not even Mateo Isern. The pathos might appeal to Eric though. Sent into exile in the senate where former presidents of the Balearics go to be forgotten: José Ramón and Francesc Antich, politically divided but united in their memories of failure.
The denouement, the final act of airbrushing, save for the seat in the corner of the senate chamber, was the Partido Popular's conference in Madrid. JR had hoped to go there still able to puff his chest out as regional leader, to be able to announce to the party faithful that it had been he who had turned the Balearics into the motor of Spanish economic regeneration. He wasn't allowed to. Yes, he did say this at a forum but not at the main event. PP high command didn't want him anywhere near the stage. They were aware of the pestilence that had left the Balearic PP enervated, rudderless, flapping around like seagulls desperately hunting for a temporary leader on which they could swoop, spying one who would then hurriedly bury himself in the sand. No one seems to want the job, not even the regional secretary-general, Miquel Vidal, to whom high command afforded the honour of centre stage rather than Bauzá.
Consequently, JR was not able to join in the celebrations at the great unveiling. When all else fails and it has, except for the bribery of tax cuts, it's time for a new logo. Revival for the PP prior to the general election comes in the form of less seagull than previously. Ever since the party was formed in the late 1980s, it has symbolically soared but dive-bombed like a seagull, floated on the thermals of alternating fortunes. Now, the seagull has been deprived of the tips of its wings next to the word "populares", which is admittedly better than "unpopulares", but experts on such matters consider the new look a "disaster". Apart from anything else, the two colliding Ps are of a typography very similar to the P of Podemos.
The new logo would have been of minimal interest to JR. Madrid had tried to avoid his humiliation and they succeeded only in heaping more on to him. His Carnival is over. Like the sardine of Shrove Tuesday, he has been buried and consigned to the eternity of a Lent in the senate. His political fasting has begun.
Sunday, July 12, 2015
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 12 July 2015
Stefanos
Morning high (6.00am): 22C
Forecast high: 31C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 13 July - Sun, 31C; 14 July - Sun, 31C; 15 July - Sun, 30C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 to 3.
31, 31, 31; Sun, Sun, Sun. No more needs saying.
Evening update (21.15): Coastal high, 30.9C; Inland high, 32.5C.
No Frills Excursions
Fiesta Time: Uapidubi!
It is comforting to know that there are these troupes. Fiestas haven't always been as diverse as they now are in providing entertainment, attractions and activities for all members of the family. Nowadays though, you can't go near a fiesta without being confronted by a clown, an enormous array of inflatable bouncing things and entire squares given over to an "aquatic festival", the climax to which is the now almost obligatory foam party. Kids, in fiesta terms, have never had it as good, and they aren't presented solely with opportunities of a totally unserious nature. There are kiddies' workshops for making them good recycling citizens, workshops for absolutely everything. And then there is tradition, as in, for example, demons. Yes, there are even kiddies' gangs of demons, learning the art of creeping around menacingly and then terrifying the life out of you. Which all sounds like a recipe for later-life disaster but which, exposed to the island's culture from an early age, is probably the exact opposite.
Uapidubi, it's probably fair to say, don't conform to any known tradition, though as an act this foursome, typically kitted out in different coloured, silken boiler suits with accompanying hats, specialise in bringing popular songs from the Balearics to its mini audience. Dances, games and songs, the Uapis (as they are known for short) keep the little ones amused and entertained for an hour or so while parents can indulge in more adult fiesta pastimes: those involving a bar, for example.
Cucorba is probably the better known if not the best known of the kiddies' groups. And they have also been around for a fair old while: since 1977 in fact, when the troupe was formed in Muro. There are now Cucorba DVDs, a Cucorba book, Cucorba songs and a bunch of awards in recognition of their cultural contribution. In 1988, for instance, they received one from the regional government "in recognition of their extraordinary work in the promotion and development of the Catalan language and culture of the Balearic Islands". Then, in 2002, came perhaps the grandest honour - the Ramon Llull prize "for 25 years of dedication to children's theatre ... always in Catalan". So, even with kiddies' entertainment groups, or perhaps most importantly because of them, the politics of language seem never to be too far from the surface.
The omnipotence at fiesta time of the "animación infantíl" does probably owe quite a deal to Cucorba. Such a galaxy of entertainment didn't used to be on show, but now fiestas can almost seem as if one of their principal reasons for existence is so that children can sing songs in Catalan and smear each other with foam.
If one is, however, looking for the origins of children's involvement in fiestas, then one can go back to the Crown of Aragon where a tradition of children's participation came to rival that of the heartland of Spanish religiosity, Santiago de Compostela. As a consequence, when Jaume I conquered Majorca in 1229, this tradition was to become established. In Jaume's "llibre dels fets" (book of deeds), there is mention of how children were part of ceremonies that were part political, part religious but in which children symbolised the purity of the word of God; and Jaume was under the impression, as kings tended to be back then, that he was from divine origins. There was later, by the end of the fourteenth century, a system by which municipalities in Mallorca had to have elections for seven-year-olds to participate in certain fiesta activities. (This was in fact a law for Mallorca of 1384.) This notion of election might be said to still exist with, for instance, the election of La Beata in Santa Margalida, which takes place this evening, albeit the "girls" are now older.
Anyway, so much for the past and back to the present. Uapidubi won't be worrying too much about what happened six or seven hundred years ago. They'll be entertaining in Puerto Pollensa's church square. Fiesta time: Uapidubi!
* Photo: Uapidubi from www.uapidubi.blogspot.com.es
Saturday, July 11, 2015
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 11 July 2015
Stefanos
Morning high (6.00am): 22.5C
Forecast high: 29C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 12 July - Sun, 31C; 13 July - Sun, 30C; 14 July - Sun, 30C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 2 to 3 occasionally 4.
And more of the same. Perhaps a degree or so cooler today. Absolutely no sign of any change to the hot and sunny conditions.
Evening update (23.00): Coastal high, 30.3C; Inland high, 31.4C.
No Frills Excursions
Tourist Tax On Hold?
Those fearful that a tourist tax is about to be suddenly applied need not be too alarmed. This, at least, is the implication of what Balearic vice-president and tourism minister Biel Barceló is saying. He first wants to introduce proper regulation to the non-hotel accommodation sector before such a tax is introduced.
There is a great deal of sense in this. Firstly, such regulation would go some way to ameliorating hoteliers' concerns that it will be they who bear the brunt of a tax: under its previous incarnation, they bore all the brunt. Secondly, if more properties come to be registered, then the regional government will be able to raise greater revenue from the tax. This would mirror the situation in Catalonia, where a more permissive regime in terms of which types of property could be registered as private holiday accommodation was driven at least in part by a desire to maximise revenue.
Essentially, therefore, two of the great controversies of Balearic tourism will coalesce and form one massive controversy. The hoteliers, while they might be reassured of a determination on behalf of Barceló to be as inclusive as possible when it comes to the application of the tax, will not take kindly to a system which may establish a register of holiday accommodation that they have, for years, sought to prevent.
In practical terms, as far as tourist tax implementation is concerned, if it is to be dependent upon the registration factor, then this will now occur some way down the line. Legislation for accommodation regulation will take time, and even greater time will be needed for it to be into effect. Property owners, one would imagine, would be given a reasonable period of grace in order to comply with whatever this legislation might entail, and if it were to also include a quality system - akin to Catalonia's - which identifies the standard of accommodation and its services, then this would add further time.
The heat being generated by both issues has been increasing in line with the temperatures of high summer. Exceltur, a body which represents some pretty exclusive hotelier interests, has been going full frontal with its propaganda against private accommodation. While some of what it and its researchers - Ernst & Young among them - have to say is perfectly legitimate, but the animosity towards alternative accommodation and especially P2P services such as Airbnb doesn't do it total credit, and there is research which takes issue with its apocalyptic (for hoteliers) vision. Still, Exceltur does accept the need for proper regulation and a further need to eliminate the confusion that surrounds private accommodation rental, something that is heightened by the lack of standardised regulation across Spain as a whole.
Exceltur's latest broadside is to report that Palma has the highest level of illegal rental in the country, something exacerbated by the sheer lack of inspectors. In this regard its report is not wrong and it exposes one of the great fault lines in governmental desires (those of the previous government) to get tough. The new government faces exactly the same issue, and whether it is regulation on private accommodation, tougher standards for all-inclusives or whatever, the sheer impossibility - on cost grounds - for there to be an army of inspectors will always render much legislation all but redundant.
Given this, it is more urgent than ever to introduce some pragmatism to legislation. By reducing through more sensible regulation the amount of accommodation deemed to be illegal, then the accommodation which remains genuinely illegal would be easier to monitor: all things being relative.
Barceló will have doubtless taken note of opinions expressed by mayors of some of Mallorca's principal tourism municipalities - Alcúdia, Andratx, Santanyi among them - who advocate new forms of regulation for apartments. He would do well to sit down with these mayors and counsel their views. It is no longer the case that certain towns, e.g. Pollensa, have a disproportionately high amount of private accommodation: P2P and economic crisis have widened the supply across all towns.
Arriving at something like satisfactory regulation will not be straightforward, making a delay to the introduction of a tourist tax potentially even longer. And one hopes that as and when regulation is drawn up it isn't as woolly as the thinking currently being applied to the tourist tax and how it would be collected. Basically, the government doesn't know what sort of mechanism would be best and whether it might have to rely on the agreements of authorities like AENA in order for the tax to be levied on arrival, a mechanism which, for a variety of reasons, would in any event be undesirable.
There is a great deal of sense in this. Firstly, such regulation would go some way to ameliorating hoteliers' concerns that it will be they who bear the brunt of a tax: under its previous incarnation, they bore all the brunt. Secondly, if more properties come to be registered, then the regional government will be able to raise greater revenue from the tax. This would mirror the situation in Catalonia, where a more permissive regime in terms of which types of property could be registered as private holiday accommodation was driven at least in part by a desire to maximise revenue.
Essentially, therefore, two of the great controversies of Balearic tourism will coalesce and form one massive controversy. The hoteliers, while they might be reassured of a determination on behalf of Barceló to be as inclusive as possible when it comes to the application of the tax, will not take kindly to a system which may establish a register of holiday accommodation that they have, for years, sought to prevent.
In practical terms, as far as tourist tax implementation is concerned, if it is to be dependent upon the registration factor, then this will now occur some way down the line. Legislation for accommodation regulation will take time, and even greater time will be needed for it to be into effect. Property owners, one would imagine, would be given a reasonable period of grace in order to comply with whatever this legislation might entail, and if it were to also include a quality system - akin to Catalonia's - which identifies the standard of accommodation and its services, then this would add further time.
The heat being generated by both issues has been increasing in line with the temperatures of high summer. Exceltur, a body which represents some pretty exclusive hotelier interests, has been going full frontal with its propaganda against private accommodation. While some of what it and its researchers - Ernst & Young among them - have to say is perfectly legitimate, but the animosity towards alternative accommodation and especially P2P services such as Airbnb doesn't do it total credit, and there is research which takes issue with its apocalyptic (for hoteliers) vision. Still, Exceltur does accept the need for proper regulation and a further need to eliminate the confusion that surrounds private accommodation rental, something that is heightened by the lack of standardised regulation across Spain as a whole.
Exceltur's latest broadside is to report that Palma has the highest level of illegal rental in the country, something exacerbated by the sheer lack of inspectors. In this regard its report is not wrong and it exposes one of the great fault lines in governmental desires (those of the previous government) to get tough. The new government faces exactly the same issue, and whether it is regulation on private accommodation, tougher standards for all-inclusives or whatever, the sheer impossibility - on cost grounds - for there to be an army of inspectors will always render much legislation all but redundant.
Given this, it is more urgent than ever to introduce some pragmatism to legislation. By reducing through more sensible regulation the amount of accommodation deemed to be illegal, then the accommodation which remains genuinely illegal would be easier to monitor: all things being relative.
Barceló will have doubtless taken note of opinions expressed by mayors of some of Mallorca's principal tourism municipalities - Alcúdia, Andratx, Santanyi among them - who advocate new forms of regulation for apartments. He would do well to sit down with these mayors and counsel their views. It is no longer the case that certain towns, e.g. Pollensa, have a disproportionately high amount of private accommodation: P2P and economic crisis have widened the supply across all towns.
Arriving at something like satisfactory regulation will not be straightforward, making a delay to the introduction of a tourist tax potentially even longer. And one hopes that as and when regulation is drawn up it isn't as woolly as the thinking currently being applied to the tourist tax and how it would be collected. Basically, the government doesn't know what sort of mechanism would be best and whether it might have to rely on the agreements of authorities like AENA in order for the tax to be levied on arrival, a mechanism which, for a variety of reasons, would in any event be undesirable.
Friday, July 10, 2015
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 10 July 2015
Stefanos
Morning high (6.30am): 22C
Forecast high: 31C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 11 July - Sun, 30C; 12 July - Sun, 29C; 13 July - Sun, 31C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northwest 3 veering Northeast 3 to 4 during the morning.
The cloud of yesterday morning is not around, so a clear-skied day expected. And a fairly hot one, breezes shifting around with some southerly possible later in the day.
Evening update (20.15): Coastal high, 30.7C; Inland high, 32.2C. Good day, reasonable little breeze. Pleasant.
No Frills Excursions
Family Relations Are Good For Your Health
Well, it was hardly unexpected. For new members of the regional government, there was the potential pitfall facing the health minister, Patricia Gómez. And blow me, she has tripped up in precisely the fashion that had been suggested. It is, therefore, wholly to have been expected that the Partido Popular - minus a leader but being represented in parliament by the presentable Marga Prohens - should shout nepotistic foul. When you, as newly made health minister, go and appoint your husband as director-general of the IB-Salut health service, then you should anticipate that some flak might come your way. The surprising thing is that there isn't more of it.
Juli, otherwise known as Julio, Fuster is Mr. Gómez. He had been in the running for the health minister's job, but the missus got it instead: it would have been less likely that she, had Juli secured the ministerial post, would have got the IB-Salut post. Marga has described the appointment as "unacceptable", "neither transparent nor good government" and "an insult to the intelligence". She might also have added that it looks like a bit of a carve-up.
President Armengol insists that there are now two people who are "professionally magnificent and exceptional" in terms of their CVs in situ at health. Patricia, meanwhile, does not consider there to be any conflict in the appointment when the "director-general has a brilliant professional career" which rises above his personal background.
I'm not for one moment doubting that either of them is anything other than professionally magnificent and exceptional, but no conflict? Come on, of course there is. Marga's accusation of lack of transparency might be said to not hold much water when Fuster's name is there for all to see on the government's website, but the allusion she makes to transparency is perfectly understandable. What were the criteria for the appointment and who else had been in the running? Anyone?
But even assuming that Fuster matched the criteria perfectly (which I'm sure he does) and was a superior candidate to others, Marga's transparency charge cuts deep into what we believed we would now be getting from governments. Open ones, free of suspicions; transparent ones with no hints of anything conducted behind closed doors. Transparency is code for being against corruption, of which there is absolutely no suggestion in this instance, and I'm most definitely not saying there is, but in the murkiness of all that brought Podemos (and now others) to the conclusion that the time was right for a "new politics", there often lay allegations of nepotism, of favouritism, of "amiguismo": more than just allegations; they were fact.
It was nepotism and cronyism that went a good way to bringing Spain to its knees. This was because of the appointments to boards of banks - mainly smallish, local savings banks - of those with no banking experience and seemingly no ability to ensure good governance or to not succumb to the occasional temptation.
There is no reason, let me stress again, for believing that the appointment has been made for anything other than perfectly sound professional reasons, but the merits of Fuster are not, in the current climate, what matter above all else. What does matter is perception. If the public (and opposition) perceive negativity because of a suspicion of nepotism, then I'm terribly sorry, Patricia, but there is conflict.
When, during the lifetime of the previous administration, the tourism minister Carlos Delgado appointed his girlfriend (later his wife) to a post as adviser to the ministry (on a salary of some 50,000 euros), PSOE and Més demanded that he resign. Carlos defended the appointment, saying that Lourdes, the girlfriend, was highly qualified for the role (something to do with communication at the ministry) as she was a journalist and spoke five languages. No doubt she was perfectly qualified, and the PP leadership at the time didn't, despite Bauzá's mission to preside over a government minus any hints of sleaze, see anything amiss, until the story blew up in the leadership's and Delgado's faces: he was forced to withdraw the appointment.
The circumstances may be different, but is the principle not the same? And where, one has to ask, are Podemos in all this? As they seem to have poked their noses into mostly all parts of the new government's organisation, does Fuster's appointment not strike them as being maybe contradictory to what they avow?
Fuster is eminently suited to the post. He was previously the IB-Salut director during the first PSOE-led government from 1999. So yes, he's surely the right man and, yes, the health service will be in good hands. But. The new politics. What's changed? Ada Colau in Barcelona has appointed her husband to her team. The co-ordinator at the Madrid mayor's office is the husband of the niece of Manuela Carmena (the new mayor). Podemos types both.
Juli, otherwise known as Julio, Fuster is Mr. Gómez. He had been in the running for the health minister's job, but the missus got it instead: it would have been less likely that she, had Juli secured the ministerial post, would have got the IB-Salut post. Marga has described the appointment as "unacceptable", "neither transparent nor good government" and "an insult to the intelligence". She might also have added that it looks like a bit of a carve-up.
President Armengol insists that there are now two people who are "professionally magnificent and exceptional" in terms of their CVs in situ at health. Patricia, meanwhile, does not consider there to be any conflict in the appointment when the "director-general has a brilliant professional career" which rises above his personal background.
I'm not for one moment doubting that either of them is anything other than professionally magnificent and exceptional, but no conflict? Come on, of course there is. Marga's accusation of lack of transparency might be said to not hold much water when Fuster's name is there for all to see on the government's website, but the allusion she makes to transparency is perfectly understandable. What were the criteria for the appointment and who else had been in the running? Anyone?
But even assuming that Fuster matched the criteria perfectly (which I'm sure he does) and was a superior candidate to others, Marga's transparency charge cuts deep into what we believed we would now be getting from governments. Open ones, free of suspicions; transparent ones with no hints of anything conducted behind closed doors. Transparency is code for being against corruption, of which there is absolutely no suggestion in this instance, and I'm most definitely not saying there is, but in the murkiness of all that brought Podemos (and now others) to the conclusion that the time was right for a "new politics", there often lay allegations of nepotism, of favouritism, of "amiguismo": more than just allegations; they were fact.
It was nepotism and cronyism that went a good way to bringing Spain to its knees. This was because of the appointments to boards of banks - mainly smallish, local savings banks - of those with no banking experience and seemingly no ability to ensure good governance or to not succumb to the occasional temptation.
There is no reason, let me stress again, for believing that the appointment has been made for anything other than perfectly sound professional reasons, but the merits of Fuster are not, in the current climate, what matter above all else. What does matter is perception. If the public (and opposition) perceive negativity because of a suspicion of nepotism, then I'm terribly sorry, Patricia, but there is conflict.
When, during the lifetime of the previous administration, the tourism minister Carlos Delgado appointed his girlfriend (later his wife) to a post as adviser to the ministry (on a salary of some 50,000 euros), PSOE and Més demanded that he resign. Carlos defended the appointment, saying that Lourdes, the girlfriend, was highly qualified for the role (something to do with communication at the ministry) as she was a journalist and spoke five languages. No doubt she was perfectly qualified, and the PP leadership at the time didn't, despite Bauzá's mission to preside over a government minus any hints of sleaze, see anything amiss, until the story blew up in the leadership's and Delgado's faces: he was forced to withdraw the appointment.
The circumstances may be different, but is the principle not the same? And where, one has to ask, are Podemos in all this? As they seem to have poked their noses into mostly all parts of the new government's organisation, does Fuster's appointment not strike them as being maybe contradictory to what they avow?
Fuster is eminently suited to the post. He was previously the IB-Salut director during the first PSOE-led government from 1999. So yes, he's surely the right man and, yes, the health service will be in good hands. But. The new politics. What's changed? Ada Colau in Barcelona has appointed her husband to her team. The co-ordinator at the Madrid mayor's office is the husband of the niece of Manuela Carmena (the new mayor). Podemos types both.
Thursday, July 09, 2015
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 9 July 2015
Stefanos
Morning high (6.30am): 23C
Forecast high: 29C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 10 July - Sun, 30C; 11 July - Sun, 29C; 12 July - Sun, 30C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 4 to 5 backing North 3 to 4 around midday. Swells to two metres.
Settling into a pattern of more typical temperatures with the northerlies giving a degree of freshness, particularly by the coasts. Rather turbulent out at sea, especially across the channel towards Menorca.
Evening update (19.30): Coastal high, 28.2C; Inland high, 30,2C. Some cloud for much of the day as well as plenty of sun.
No Frills Excursions
A Summer In Mallorca: Heat and novels
According to one particular website, the highest temperature ever recorded in Spain was in Murcia on 29 July 1876. It was 47.8C. After this is another high in Murcia, a slightly lower 47.2C on 4 July 1994. Then come Badajoz in Extremadura on 26 June 1864 with 47C and three positively shivering recordings of only 46.6C at Moron de la Frontera (Seville) on 19 July 1967 and on 23 July 1995 in both Cordoba and Seville. Palma, which for the purposes of these records appears to mean the whole of the Balearics, is quite a long way off the pace: 40.6C at Son Sant Joan airport on 30 July 1983.
You do have to be careful with these records though. The Murcia 1876 temperature is considered unreliable as indeed are ones which have been pretty well discarded from meteorological history - the 51C and 50C of Seville in 1876 and 1881. The Murcia 1994 temperature, however, is reliable. Officially, it is the highest temperature ever recorded: 116.9 in old Fahrenheit money. It is important in the context of Mallorca's weather, too. At the time of that particular ultra-heatwave, the highest temperature in Mallorca was registered, and it was 44.2C in Muro: the Palma high eleven years before didn't even come close.
When the temperatures get as high as they do, though not as high as 1994, they are treated as unusual events and so evidence of something or other. They may indeed be evidence of something or other, or they may just be relatively common. Those unreliable highs back in the nineteenth century will have had some basis in meteorological fact and they would have doubtless coincided with exceptionally high temperatures in Mallorca, though what these might have been is not possible to say as there are no records.
As I write this, the thermometer not far away inland is - according to AEMET - nudging the 40 mark. It nudged it and passed it three years ago at roughly the same time of year. Evidence of something or other. Which may just be that this summer will bear a great deal of similarity to that of 2003: Spain's hottest in terms of duration if not specific records. For almost three months, nighttime temperatures didn't fall below 20C, while daytime highs were not under 30C. If this summer does turn out to be a virtual mirror of 2003, then expect an almighty great storm as 31 August becomes 1 September, which is what happened that year.
It would be nice, mainly because I have a like of unearthing less than well known anniversaries, to be able to apply an anniversary to this summer's weather, but there isn't one which suggests itself. Instead, and because the high temperatures will inspire some to wax lyrically or more likely in clichéd terms, there is a summer literary anniversary which should be remembered. The year in question was forty years ago, so 1975. It was the year when a novel appeared entitled "A Summer in Mallorca". Or more accurately, it was "Un estiu a Mallorca", as its author was Majorcan, and his name was Llorenç Villalonga.
For the uninitiated, Villalonga is generally regarded as Mallorca's greatest novelist. As such, and because he was mightily influenced by the likes of Proust, he wasn't the sort to be inclined to pay overly much attention to the accuracies or otherwise of weather records (which had, by the time he wrote the novel, been systematically kept for some years by then). Instead, he devoted an entire novel - his last - to what was in essence an ironic refuting of George Sand's "A Winter in Mallorca", or "Un hiver à Majorque", given that she was French.
It's a curious novel in which Sand herself is referred to and blended with an of-the-times female writer, a character called Sílvia Ocampo, whose resemblance to the real Sílvina Ocampo (note the distinguishing "n") is only passing, other than that the character is a writer.
Villalonga based his novel forty years before he wrote it, and so the Mallorca of his summer wasn't vastly different to how it would have been had Sand spent a summer rather than a winter in Mallorca: a hundred years hadn't really changed Mallorca fundamentally.
It would have been more instructive, for those of us in contemporary tourism times, had the novel been based in 1975, but then it couldn't have been because in effect Villalonga was placing Sand in 1935, a time when more aristocratic women were still to the fore, which wasn't the case by 1975. So his summer in Mallorca is only partially (very partially) a reflection of a Mallorcan summer as it now is, and so, as with other aspects of modern Mallorca, there is a great work about the summer waiting to be written. Until such time, we'll have to content ourselves with descriptions of how hot it is.
You do have to be careful with these records though. The Murcia 1876 temperature is considered unreliable as indeed are ones which have been pretty well discarded from meteorological history - the 51C and 50C of Seville in 1876 and 1881. The Murcia 1994 temperature, however, is reliable. Officially, it is the highest temperature ever recorded: 116.9 in old Fahrenheit money. It is important in the context of Mallorca's weather, too. At the time of that particular ultra-heatwave, the highest temperature in Mallorca was registered, and it was 44.2C in Muro: the Palma high eleven years before didn't even come close.
When the temperatures get as high as they do, though not as high as 1994, they are treated as unusual events and so evidence of something or other. They may indeed be evidence of something or other, or they may just be relatively common. Those unreliable highs back in the nineteenth century will have had some basis in meteorological fact and they would have doubtless coincided with exceptionally high temperatures in Mallorca, though what these might have been is not possible to say as there are no records.
As I write this, the thermometer not far away inland is - according to AEMET - nudging the 40 mark. It nudged it and passed it three years ago at roughly the same time of year. Evidence of something or other. Which may just be that this summer will bear a great deal of similarity to that of 2003: Spain's hottest in terms of duration if not specific records. For almost three months, nighttime temperatures didn't fall below 20C, while daytime highs were not under 30C. If this summer does turn out to be a virtual mirror of 2003, then expect an almighty great storm as 31 August becomes 1 September, which is what happened that year.
It would be nice, mainly because I have a like of unearthing less than well known anniversaries, to be able to apply an anniversary to this summer's weather, but there isn't one which suggests itself. Instead, and because the high temperatures will inspire some to wax lyrically or more likely in clichéd terms, there is a summer literary anniversary which should be remembered. The year in question was forty years ago, so 1975. It was the year when a novel appeared entitled "A Summer in Mallorca". Or more accurately, it was "Un estiu a Mallorca", as its author was Majorcan, and his name was Llorenç Villalonga.
For the uninitiated, Villalonga is generally regarded as Mallorca's greatest novelist. As such, and because he was mightily influenced by the likes of Proust, he wasn't the sort to be inclined to pay overly much attention to the accuracies or otherwise of weather records (which had, by the time he wrote the novel, been systematically kept for some years by then). Instead, he devoted an entire novel - his last - to what was in essence an ironic refuting of George Sand's "A Winter in Mallorca", or "Un hiver à Majorque", given that she was French.
It's a curious novel in which Sand herself is referred to and blended with an of-the-times female writer, a character called Sílvia Ocampo, whose resemblance to the real Sílvina Ocampo (note the distinguishing "n") is only passing, other than that the character is a writer.
Villalonga based his novel forty years before he wrote it, and so the Mallorca of his summer wasn't vastly different to how it would have been had Sand spent a summer rather than a winter in Mallorca: a hundred years hadn't really changed Mallorca fundamentally.
It would have been more instructive, for those of us in contemporary tourism times, had the novel been based in 1975, but then it couldn't have been because in effect Villalonga was placing Sand in 1935, a time when more aristocratic women were still to the fore, which wasn't the case by 1975. So his summer in Mallorca is only partially (very partially) a reflection of a Mallorcan summer as it now is, and so, as with other aspects of modern Mallorca, there is a great work about the summer waiting to be written. Until such time, we'll have to content ourselves with descriptions of how hot it is.
Wednesday, July 08, 2015
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 8 July 2015
Stefanos
Morning high (6.30am): 23.5C
Forecast high: 30C; UV: 10
Three-day forecast: 9 July - Sun, 28C; 10 July - Sun, 29C; 11 July - Sun, 29C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East 2 backing Northeast 4 during the morning.
Due to be fresher today - all things being relative - but the suffocating southerly air is being replaced by northerly, so not as hot.
Evening update: Coastal high: 29.3C; Inland high: 32.5C.
No Frills Excursions
Armengol: The First One Hundred Days
Certain numbers carry significance for the suspicious and the commemoratively inclined. 111 is English cricket's number of suspicion: its Nelson. 666 is the Devil's number or the number of the beast from Chapter 13 - unlucky for some - of the Book of Revelation. 100 isn't associated with superstition or bad luck, but it has acquired a mythical status in politics. The first 100 days. Why the fascination with 100? For a kick-off, it's a nice round number. It is not 111. It's also reasonably short in temporal terms. 666 would be far too long, even if - with many a governmental administration - its beastliness would offer a more insightful analysis of performance.
Judging when 100 days start is a ritual of its own. In Mallorca, thanks to the procrastinatory nature of installing a new government, it isn't immediately obvious which day is day one, or day zero if you prefer. However, with reasonable certainty, we can take 3, as in 3 July, to be the day of commencement, the day when Francina Armengol held her first cabinet meeting and announced that it was Day Zero for the symbols of Bauzáism: out went the Law of Symbols, trashed was trilingualism (TIL).
On this basis, we can assume that 11 October will commemorate the first 100 days of Armengolism, a useful day as it will be a Sunday and so afford newspapers the opportunity to bulk up their weekend copy with First One Hundred Days specials. It is further useful in that the day after is Spain's National Day, the Day of Hispanidad (Spanishness). Travel agents will be especially happy because of the "puente" weekend, but how happy will others be? How much Spanishness might by then have been dispensed with?
There again, travel agents might have reason to be less than happy. Might the first 100 days witness the arrival of the eco-tax, the 666 devil's work of the horned demon of tourism vice-presidency Biel Barceló? He has said that he will work from the outset for a tourist tax.
Surprisingly, a survey - by the Mallorcan research organisation Gadeso - has found that only a slight majority (51%) of businesses in the tourism sector reject the idea of the tourist tax. Admittedly, only 23% actually agree with it, leaving a further 26% undecided, but one might have anticipated there being greater hostility towards it. Barceló might just be able to take some reassurance from the finding.
It is being said that the tourist tax will be the key legislative item for this government. Possibly it will be, though its passage through parliament shouldn't detain deputies too long, unless PSOE get cold feet, in which case the Més pact (and Podemos support) will collapse rapidly. PSOE's feet will stay warm, especially if Barceló is true to the implication of what he says and seeks to establish at least the legislative framework within the first 100 days. Armengol couldn't afford a falling-out so soon.
What else, apart from the tax, will the specials of Sunday, 11 October be obsessing over? There are already clear signs and not just the abandonment of TIL and the Law of Symbols. One has to do with land, a subject which is vitally important to Mallorca yet which tends to be overlooked in favour of the headline-grabbing of controversies such as the eco-tax. So important is that, even more so than education and language, it is subject to constant political revision which creates the legalistic chaos which surrounds rules on land, on its categorisation and on its use.
Armengol has indicated that another piece of Bauzá legislation - the Ley de Suelo (Land Law) - will be repealed in removing the amnesty that was applied by this law to predominantly rural properties that had been illegally built and which were more than eight years old. The law may, for many, have appeared to have been overly generous, but the fact that so many properties were involved (some 20 odd thousand if I remember rightly) did require some form of pragmatic resolution of their status. Now, the likelihood is that in addition to ever more confusion, the courts will come into their own in arbitrating between two opposing pieces of legislation.
This is an example of Mallorca's politics at its absolute worst. Continuity in legislation is rarely sustained, but when it comes to land, the disruptive legislative tendency causes constant uncertainty. Hence, all the endless cases that do indeed end up in courts. And into this mix comes what may be one of the most important changes during the first 100 days, the confirmation of far greater responsibilities for the Council of Mallorca and so its redefinition of the Mallorca Territorial Plan with all the implications this has for tourism, among other things.
Land law, tourist tax, Catalan linguistic immersion. The first one hundred days will be busy days. Just as well that no one's superstitious.
Judging when 100 days start is a ritual of its own. In Mallorca, thanks to the procrastinatory nature of installing a new government, it isn't immediately obvious which day is day one, or day zero if you prefer. However, with reasonable certainty, we can take 3, as in 3 July, to be the day of commencement, the day when Francina Armengol held her first cabinet meeting and announced that it was Day Zero for the symbols of Bauzáism: out went the Law of Symbols, trashed was trilingualism (TIL).
On this basis, we can assume that 11 October will commemorate the first 100 days of Armengolism, a useful day as it will be a Sunday and so afford newspapers the opportunity to bulk up their weekend copy with First One Hundred Days specials. It is further useful in that the day after is Spain's National Day, the Day of Hispanidad (Spanishness). Travel agents will be especially happy because of the "puente" weekend, but how happy will others be? How much Spanishness might by then have been dispensed with?
There again, travel agents might have reason to be less than happy. Might the first 100 days witness the arrival of the eco-tax, the 666 devil's work of the horned demon of tourism vice-presidency Biel Barceló? He has said that he will work from the outset for a tourist tax.
Surprisingly, a survey - by the Mallorcan research organisation Gadeso - has found that only a slight majority (51%) of businesses in the tourism sector reject the idea of the tourist tax. Admittedly, only 23% actually agree with it, leaving a further 26% undecided, but one might have anticipated there being greater hostility towards it. Barceló might just be able to take some reassurance from the finding.
It is being said that the tourist tax will be the key legislative item for this government. Possibly it will be, though its passage through parliament shouldn't detain deputies too long, unless PSOE get cold feet, in which case the Més pact (and Podemos support) will collapse rapidly. PSOE's feet will stay warm, especially if Barceló is true to the implication of what he says and seeks to establish at least the legislative framework within the first 100 days. Armengol couldn't afford a falling-out so soon.
What else, apart from the tax, will the specials of Sunday, 11 October be obsessing over? There are already clear signs and not just the abandonment of TIL and the Law of Symbols. One has to do with land, a subject which is vitally important to Mallorca yet which tends to be overlooked in favour of the headline-grabbing of controversies such as the eco-tax. So important is that, even more so than education and language, it is subject to constant political revision which creates the legalistic chaos which surrounds rules on land, on its categorisation and on its use.
Armengol has indicated that another piece of Bauzá legislation - the Ley de Suelo (Land Law) - will be repealed in removing the amnesty that was applied by this law to predominantly rural properties that had been illegally built and which were more than eight years old. The law may, for many, have appeared to have been overly generous, but the fact that so many properties were involved (some 20 odd thousand if I remember rightly) did require some form of pragmatic resolution of their status. Now, the likelihood is that in addition to ever more confusion, the courts will come into their own in arbitrating between two opposing pieces of legislation.
This is an example of Mallorca's politics at its absolute worst. Continuity in legislation is rarely sustained, but when it comes to land, the disruptive legislative tendency causes constant uncertainty. Hence, all the endless cases that do indeed end up in courts. And into this mix comes what may be one of the most important changes during the first 100 days, the confirmation of far greater responsibilities for the Council of Mallorca and so its redefinition of the Mallorca Territorial Plan with all the implications this has for tourism, among other things.
Land law, tourist tax, Catalan linguistic immersion. The first one hundred days will be busy days. Just as well that no one's superstitious.
Tuesday, July 07, 2015
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 7 July 2015
Stefanos
Morning high (6.30am): 23C
Forecast high: 38C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 8 July - Sun, 29C; 9 July - Sun, 27C; 10 July - Sun, 30C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): South 2 to 3 increasing 3 to 4 during the morning.
Southerly breeze followed by virtually no breeze is probably why today is likely to be especially baking. Amber alert with highs set to be at or over the 100F mark.
Evening update (19.45): Coastal high: 37.4C; Inland high: 39.2C.
No Frills Excursions
Christopher And Simon: Fiestas in July
As the deep heat of summer takes over, the fiestas' season moves on from Saint Peter as one of the chief saintly focal points to Saint Christopher. Maybe some thought should be given to his being made the patron saint of Mallorca's tourists. He is, after all, the saint of travellers, while he has saintly responsibilities for a specific aspect of tourism - driving. The car-rental agencies of Mallorca should offer replicas of Saint Christopher medallions to their clients on Friday this week.
10 July is the day of Saint Christopher, otherwise known in Catalan as Sant Cristòfol, a saint around whom there is some historical confusion. Was he martyred as a result of his death during the reign of Emperor Decius or Emperor Maximinus Dacian? Was he in fact also Saint Menas? Does his name of Christ bearer imply someone more of mythical origin than factual? It is often the way with saints. Doubts surround their stories.
Despite Saint Christopher being one of the better-known saints, he isn't universally celebrated by the Catholic Church. His place in the liturgy was removed in 1970, as it was felt that he was not to be fully in the Roman tradition. Being dropped from the liturgy doesn't, however, prevent his commemoration where it has long been a tradition - the Church is flexible in such matters. In Mallorca, there has been such a tradition, and so Cristòfol is the featured saint this week in Arenal and the tiny village of Biniali, some eight kilometres outside Binissalem but actually in the municipality of Sencelles.
This unassuming village and its fiestas have, curiously enough, created something of a flashpoint in past years. Its night parties, of which there are two this week, attract many visitors from outside the village and one of them has been the occasion for a spot of bother between youth and forces of the law. In fact, it was a minor clash between some members of the Arran sort-of-revolutionary group with plod. Things are now calmer, however. If you go to Biniali, you certainly won't miss the fiestas, as there isn't exactly a great deal to the village (couple of bars, a tabacs and not a lot besides), but in terms of Mallorcan small community rural authenticity, it doesn't get a lot more authentic than Biniali, except perhaps when the night parties are in full swing.
The day of Sant Cristòfol does require an explanation. His feast day isn't 10 July, which is when it is celebrated locally and elsewhere in Spain. It is in fact 25 July, but Christopher was shunted to 10 July because otherwise he would have clashed with one of the most important, if not the most important, of all Spanish saints, James the Apostle, aka Sant Jaume in Catalan.
More widely celebrated than Christopher is the Virgin or Mother of God of Carmel, known locally as the Virgen del Carmen. The fiestas' title is often abbreviated to simply the Carmen (or Carme) fiestas. Her day is 16 July, but her fiestas tend to be movable, so that the main days fall over a weekend. There are several places in Mallorca which recognise her - Cala Bona, Cala Figuera, Cala Ratjada, Capdellà in Calvia, Porto Cristo, Portol in Marratxi, Puerto Pollensa.
Her story is one that owes almost everything to an English saint by the name of Simon Stock. Simon, who was around from the mid-twelfth century to the mid-thirteenth, joined the Carmelite Order and in 1251, so the story goes, he had a vision of several invocations of the Virgin Mary. And the date when he had the vision was 16 July: hence, the fiestas.
Another saint muscling in on the fiestas' act is Santa Margalida (Margaret of Antioch). She, like Christopher, has a questionable backstory. Indeed, it is even more unlikely than Christopher's as it involved being swallowed by Satan masquerading as a dragon and surviving. Anyway, she lived long enough to, for instance, give her name to an entire town, as in Santa Margalida, and they'll be having a demons' fire-run in her honour this Saturday.
Other saints looming on the July fiestas' horizon or already present include Victoria (not female) in Campanet, plus of course Praxedis, the unknown patron of Petra, and the biggy - good old Saint James, who is all over the place - Alcudia, Calvia, Sa Pobla, to name but three.
10 July is the day of Saint Christopher, otherwise known in Catalan as Sant Cristòfol, a saint around whom there is some historical confusion. Was he martyred as a result of his death during the reign of Emperor Decius or Emperor Maximinus Dacian? Was he in fact also Saint Menas? Does his name of Christ bearer imply someone more of mythical origin than factual? It is often the way with saints. Doubts surround their stories.
Despite Saint Christopher being one of the better-known saints, he isn't universally celebrated by the Catholic Church. His place in the liturgy was removed in 1970, as it was felt that he was not to be fully in the Roman tradition. Being dropped from the liturgy doesn't, however, prevent his commemoration where it has long been a tradition - the Church is flexible in such matters. In Mallorca, there has been such a tradition, and so Cristòfol is the featured saint this week in Arenal and the tiny village of Biniali, some eight kilometres outside Binissalem but actually in the municipality of Sencelles.
This unassuming village and its fiestas have, curiously enough, created something of a flashpoint in past years. Its night parties, of which there are two this week, attract many visitors from outside the village and one of them has been the occasion for a spot of bother between youth and forces of the law. In fact, it was a minor clash between some members of the Arran sort-of-revolutionary group with plod. Things are now calmer, however. If you go to Biniali, you certainly won't miss the fiestas, as there isn't exactly a great deal to the village (couple of bars, a tabacs and not a lot besides), but in terms of Mallorcan small community rural authenticity, it doesn't get a lot more authentic than Biniali, except perhaps when the night parties are in full swing.
The day of Sant Cristòfol does require an explanation. His feast day isn't 10 July, which is when it is celebrated locally and elsewhere in Spain. It is in fact 25 July, but Christopher was shunted to 10 July because otherwise he would have clashed with one of the most important, if not the most important, of all Spanish saints, James the Apostle, aka Sant Jaume in Catalan.
More widely celebrated than Christopher is the Virgin or Mother of God of Carmel, known locally as the Virgen del Carmen. The fiestas' title is often abbreviated to simply the Carmen (or Carme) fiestas. Her day is 16 July, but her fiestas tend to be movable, so that the main days fall over a weekend. There are several places in Mallorca which recognise her - Cala Bona, Cala Figuera, Cala Ratjada, Capdellà in Calvia, Porto Cristo, Portol in Marratxi, Puerto Pollensa.
Her story is one that owes almost everything to an English saint by the name of Simon Stock. Simon, who was around from the mid-twelfth century to the mid-thirteenth, joined the Carmelite Order and in 1251, so the story goes, he had a vision of several invocations of the Virgin Mary. And the date when he had the vision was 16 July: hence, the fiestas.
Another saint muscling in on the fiestas' act is Santa Margalida (Margaret of Antioch). She, like Christopher, has a questionable backstory. Indeed, it is even more unlikely than Christopher's as it involved being swallowed by Satan masquerading as a dragon and surviving. Anyway, she lived long enough to, for instance, give her name to an entire town, as in Santa Margalida, and they'll be having a demons' fire-run in her honour this Saturday.
Other saints looming on the July fiestas' horizon or already present include Victoria (not female) in Campanet, plus of course Praxedis, the unknown patron of Petra, and the biggy - good old Saint James, who is all over the place - Alcudia, Calvia, Sa Pobla, to name but three.
Monday, July 06, 2015
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 6 July 2015
Stefanos
Morning high (7.00am): 24C
Forecast high: 34C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 7 July - Sun, 37C; 8 July - Sun, 28C; 9 July - Sun, 27C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 to 3 increasing East 3 to 4 by midday.
Getting hotter by the look of the forecast, though due to cool down somewhat from Wednesday.
Evening update (20.15): Coastal high, 35.9C; inland high, 37.9C. Amber alert for tomorrow for high temperatures.
No Frills Excursions
Lessons Of The Magus: Cinema tourism
Now, before you start thinking this is something dreamt up by the new lot, the idea goes back to the time of the previous lot, though it doesn't seem to have a great deal to do with either lot as such, as the culture department appears to exist in a vacuum of splendidly non-political isolation. So, no need for the department to run the cinema routes concept up the flagpole with the new lot and create an old-lot, new-lot polemic of flagpole proportions: oddly enough, Calvia would appear not to have a councillor with responsibility for culture as such.
"Calvia es Cine" is a concept that has been knocking around for a few months now and would seem to have been inspired, at least in part, by this year being the fiftieth anniversary of the film "Trampa bajo el sol". No, I confess I hadn't either: or its French title "Train d'Enfer". Calvia can, though, boast some better-known films, one of which had a location not so far from the flagpole of Palmanova. The beach featured in "The Damned United"; well it did, according to one source. But wasn't it Santa Ponsa? "Calvia es Cine" would doubtless know.
If the link with the Cloughie film isn't that strong - filming only took a couple of days - it is much stronger with the cove that was declared the first nudist beach in Calvia. Yes, the route would take tourists to the Playa del Mago, aka Playa Portals Vells II, where some might need to avert their eyes. The cinema's association with this cove is so strong that it was renamed after a film that was partly shot there in 1967 - "The Magus". Starring Michael Caine, Anthony Quinn and Candice Bergen, it was a box-office and critical disaster. Caine said of it that it was one of the worst films he was ever involved with as no one had a clue what it was all about. Still, even rotten tomatoes can carry some cachet and have a beach named after them.
More successful was "Evil Under The Sun", a Peter Ustinov as Poirot, Agatha Christie romp. And Calvia's claim to fame here is? Cala d'en Monjo near to Paguera. But then there are several locations which can claim some fame, none of which are in Calvia - Cala Deya, Cala en Feliu in Formentor, Cala Blanca and Sant Elm in Andratx, the Raixa estate in Bunyola and, above all, the island of Sa Dragonera. And joining "The Damned United" in more recent years, there was "The Inbetweeners Movie", which had some location scenes shot during - if I recall rightly - a fairly miserable March in Magalluf a few years ago. The film wasn't of course set in Mallorca but in Crete.
To these silver-screen triumphs and bombs need to be added the name of Errol Flynn, who never made a film in Mallorca, merely drank it. But then Illetes wasn't and isn't Magalluf. Hence, a plaque to his heroic alcohol consumption would be something of a high point of the touristic cinema route.
In theory, it's not a bad idea. Cinema can bestow great benefits on tourism, but only so long as films are clearly identifiable with locations, which typically means more than a few minutes' footage here or there. When Calvia's head of culture, Catalina Caldentey, refers to the tourism advantages that have come New Zealand's way because of "Lord of the Rings", she isn't wrong, but here we are talking something of a totally different nature and magnitude to Timothy Spall and Michael Sheen arguing for a short while off the Calvia coastline.
Mallorca, and not only Calvia, has a habit of periodically being in thrall to the cinema industry. Its celebrity-obsessed heritage allows it to fall at the feet of Hollywood, even if it doesn't cough up the 150 grand it should have to the producers of "Cloud Atlas". Mallorca can't be held responsible for total turkeys, though "The Magus" should have provided ample warning, but it can be responsible for thinking that there is some advantage to be gained from glimpses of Sa Calobra or wherever amid movie mayhem that many would rather forget. There is no advantage, unless the world can readily identify locations. Otherwise, they are just locations, lost in the swirl of post-production and lost forever because the movie turns out to be a stinker.
Sunday, July 05, 2015
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 5 July 2015
Stefanos
Morning high (6.00am): 24.5C
Forecast high: 35C; UV: 10
Three-day forecast: 6 July - Sun, 35C; 7 July - Sun, 35C; 8 July - Sun, 28C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Southeast 2 to 4 occasionally East 3 to 4 during the afternoon.
Another hot one in store, yesterday's highs having been 36.3 inland and 32.7 on the coast, and curiously enough it was hotter around six and seven in the evening than it had been in mid-afternoon. The heatwave does look as though it will ease by Wednesday.
Evening update (23.00): Coastal high: 35.3C. Inland high: 37.5C.
No Frills Excursions
Choral Music And The Torrent de Pareis
For visitors to Valldemossa, the name of Josep Coll Bardolet will be a familiar one. This painter, originally from the province of Gerona in Catalonia, lived in Valldemossa from 1944. He died in 2007 but two years before his death the foundation which bears his name was constituted. It is the Fundación Cultural Coll Bardolet.
In 1963 he hit on the idea of making part of the landscape of the Tramuntana mountains where he lived come alive in a different way to his paintings. He wanted to create a symbiosis between that landscape and music. The landscape he chose was one of the most remarkable even for this remarkable part of Mallorca. It was the Torrent de Pareis in Sa Calobra. The following year the first choral concert was held in Sa Calobra. It is now in its fifty-second year.
Choral work was a minority interest but one that Coll Bardolet wished to expand, and by linking it to this natural area - declared a natural monument in 2003 - he was to give choral work the opportunity to indeed flourish. It can, today, appear strange that the interest was as minority as it was, when pretty well any town can boast its own choir, or more than one, and when some have acquired particularly strong reputations - Sa Pobla's for instance, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last year. But as with mostly all of Mallorca's cultural history, the politics can never be ignored: these politics have helped to shape or undermine the culture.
In the Mallorcan context, the politics of culture are linked inextricably to language, and where choirs are concerned, language was important in their development. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Balearics had been one of only three regions of Spain where a choral tradition - other than church choirs - had begun to be established. But this interest in the Balearics was nothing compared with that of Catalonia and, to a lesser extent, Valencia. Choirs, therefore, were far more of a Catalan phenomenon than Castellano, Basque or Galician. Despite this, towards the end of the century, choirs in Mallorca were in need of fresh impetus, and it was to come from the composer Antoni Noguera. He it was who brought about a genuine choral movement in Catalan. In 1897 he founded the Capella de Manacor and this swiftly inspired the forming of choirs in, for example, Llucmajor, Pollensa and Porreres.
Further upheaval was of course to come, which is why, in 1963, Coll had his ambition to revive a choral tradition that had been pushed into the background. Initially, the concert was an intimate affair to which his friends and acquaintances of would come. When the Capella Mallorquina choir, founded in 1966, became involved from 1968, the by then annual concerts were to enjoy increasing success as awareness of them grew. In 1972 the Capella Mallorquina was received as an "Obra Social" by Sa Nostra bank, at which point the concert began to be financed indirectly by the bank: the association with Obra Social Sa Nostra continues to this day through the Fundación Caixa de Baleares, it having taken on responsibility for the concert organisation in 1984.
The Capella Mallorquina was joined by the Camerata Sa Nostra (the chamber orchestra which bears the bank's name) and the concerts would occasionally also feature the choir from Lluc. Over the years the concerts have broadened their appeal while still retaining the essence of choral work. Among groups which have taken part are The Swingle Singers and the Bronzeville American Gospel choir.
The popularity of the concert is now such that for its fiftieth anniversary in 2013, some 4,000 people came to hear the group Cap Pela (not the same as Capella Mallorquina) and the choir of the Balearics University. And so we come to this year's concert, which is being held this afternoon There will be two acts - the women's choir Minuet, which was formed by the Bunyola School of Music nearly ten years ago, and Le Carromato, a group of four musicians who combine the music of swing, jazz, bossa nova and even Irish folk with a special brand of visual humour. Minuet perform music with a very wide range - from traditional Mallorcan to spiritual and to Leonard Bernstein and Lennon and McCartney.
Both are first-class acts, but then this would be expected for a first-class occasion as this concert, one with the fabulous setting of the Torrent de Pareis and one that is a tribute to Josep Coll Bardolet, whose idea it was all those years ago.
In 1963 he hit on the idea of making part of the landscape of the Tramuntana mountains where he lived come alive in a different way to his paintings. He wanted to create a symbiosis between that landscape and music. The landscape he chose was one of the most remarkable even for this remarkable part of Mallorca. It was the Torrent de Pareis in Sa Calobra. The following year the first choral concert was held in Sa Calobra. It is now in its fifty-second year.
Choral work was a minority interest but one that Coll Bardolet wished to expand, and by linking it to this natural area - declared a natural monument in 2003 - he was to give choral work the opportunity to indeed flourish. It can, today, appear strange that the interest was as minority as it was, when pretty well any town can boast its own choir, or more than one, and when some have acquired particularly strong reputations - Sa Pobla's for instance, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last year. But as with mostly all of Mallorca's cultural history, the politics can never be ignored: these politics have helped to shape or undermine the culture.
In the Mallorcan context, the politics of culture are linked inextricably to language, and where choirs are concerned, language was important in their development. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Balearics had been one of only three regions of Spain where a choral tradition - other than church choirs - had begun to be established. But this interest in the Balearics was nothing compared with that of Catalonia and, to a lesser extent, Valencia. Choirs, therefore, were far more of a Catalan phenomenon than Castellano, Basque or Galician. Despite this, towards the end of the century, choirs in Mallorca were in need of fresh impetus, and it was to come from the composer Antoni Noguera. He it was who brought about a genuine choral movement in Catalan. In 1897 he founded the Capella de Manacor and this swiftly inspired the forming of choirs in, for example, Llucmajor, Pollensa and Porreres.
Further upheaval was of course to come, which is why, in 1963, Coll had his ambition to revive a choral tradition that had been pushed into the background. Initially, the concert was an intimate affair to which his friends and acquaintances of would come. When the Capella Mallorquina choir, founded in 1966, became involved from 1968, the by then annual concerts were to enjoy increasing success as awareness of them grew. In 1972 the Capella Mallorquina was received as an "Obra Social" by Sa Nostra bank, at which point the concert began to be financed indirectly by the bank: the association with Obra Social Sa Nostra continues to this day through the Fundación Caixa de Baleares, it having taken on responsibility for the concert organisation in 1984.
The Capella Mallorquina was joined by the Camerata Sa Nostra (the chamber orchestra which bears the bank's name) and the concerts would occasionally also feature the choir from Lluc. Over the years the concerts have broadened their appeal while still retaining the essence of choral work. Among groups which have taken part are The Swingle Singers and the Bronzeville American Gospel choir.
The popularity of the concert is now such that for its fiftieth anniversary in 2013, some 4,000 people came to hear the group Cap Pela (not the same as Capella Mallorquina) and the choir of the Balearics University. And so we come to this year's concert, which is being held this afternoon There will be two acts - the women's choir Minuet, which was formed by the Bunyola School of Music nearly ten years ago, and Le Carromato, a group of four musicians who combine the music of swing, jazz, bossa nova and even Irish folk with a special brand of visual humour. Minuet perform music with a very wide range - from traditional Mallorcan to spiritual and to Leonard Bernstein and Lennon and McCartney.
Both are first-class acts, but then this would be expected for a first-class occasion as this concert, one with the fabulous setting of the Torrent de Pareis and one that is a tribute to Josep Coll Bardolet, whose idea it was all those years ago.
Saturday, July 04, 2015
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 4 July 2015
Stefanos
Morning high (5.45am): 24.5C
Forecast high: 34C; UV: 10
Three-day forecast: 5 July - Sun, 34C; 6 July - Sun, 32C; 7 July - Sun, 34C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East 3 to 4.
Fairly simple really, another roaster ahead. Outlook - temperatures might get a bit lower by the middle of next week, i.e. highs of 30 or 31 and not 35.
No Frills Excursions
The Understandable Exaggerations Of Alcúdia
It did of course make an eye-grabbing headline. "Businesspeople on Dollar Street fear that the area is the new Punta Ballena." This is the headline in translation, as the article was in "Ultima Hora". You could tell that the origin was Spanish, as very few Brits, save for some veterans, now ever refer to Alcúdia's Mile as Dollar Street. Apart from anything else, such as the alternative names that have been acquired over the years, the street ceased to be lined with dollars many years ago.
The headline was an exaggeration. Some of the views expressed by the "businesspeople" were exaggerations. Because Magalluf now has a stronger police presence, the excesses of tourism may be replanted along the Mile. It might make for good copy, but this is not how tourism works, while an allusion to Punta Ballena has become a form of shorthand for any example of bad-behaviour tourism.
Nevertheless, the reference was understandable. Far less understandable was the fact that a very similar article - in English and not in "The Bulletin" - appeared elsewhere without explaining what the businesspeople were referring to. Or perhaps it is understandable when there is a lack of appreciation of the issue and when the only source of information seemed to be an article which, in its body text, didn't explicitly refer to it either.
It was the sub-heading of the "Ultima Hora" piece which offered the explanation. All-inclusives were one, but then we've known about these for years. The other was "estudiantes": students. When the English article spoke, as the original had, of noise, drinking, disturbances from 4pm to 8pm and then again from half eleven until two in the morning (themselves not completely accurate because the disturbances, in effect, last all night and up to seven in the morning), it failed to mention the students. Consequently, it is quite possible - probable in fact - that an uninformed reader would see Punta Ballena and disturbances, put two and two together and come up with the five of British youth out on the lash and on the rampage. The conclusion would be totally wrong. The correct one is Spanish students, those who have taken over a great part of Bellevue for the past two weeks and who have turned the area into a living hell.
Misreporting is one thing, another is the apparent shortsightedness and resignation of others. To give an example. According to one source, the hell of the students is "not a community issue", as in the community of one of the residential apartment buildings most affected. How can it not be a community issue, and not just the community in its administrative sense as applied to a building? It is a community issue for the whole area: the businesspeople might have been exaggerating with their Punta Ballena references but these were, as I say, understandable.
There again, what is community? I'm damned if I know, because I witness precious little of it, just as I witness, hear and read other expressions of shortsightedness and resignation. "Oh well, that's how it is." "It's business." "There'll be backhanders." All the usual shrug-of-the-shoulder nonsense that comes from people of different nationalities - Spanish and others. Yes, it is business, but there are limits, and when blatant disregard to a fundamental of Spanish life, enshrined in the Constitution and laws, that of "co-existence", is practised through the organisation and marketing of holidays to a specific sector which itself shows total disregard to this principle, then limits need to be imposed.
This resignation is, I accept, also understandable, but perhaps there needs to be greater awareness of what - in political terms - is happening at present. Podemos, rather than be berated, should be applauded if only because they have shaken administrations into realising who it is they act on behalf of. Communities. Proper ones. Town halls, regional government, even businesses know that the goalposts have been moved. They are under scrutiny like never before. Transparency, participation, dialogue: these are not mere slogans any longer. But they will be if people fail to act on the opportunity that has been presented.
It has been quite encouraging to see how Alcúdia town hall - the mayor, Toni Mir, and the local police - have reacted to the students' affair. Mir had already acted swiftly in putting a stop to Red Electrica digging during the summer on account of the God awful racket. He was on to things the day after a meeting I had with him. Subsequently, the police responded rapidly to what was akin to a riot at two o'clock one morning, one that was partly caused because the organisers had failed to adhere to a measure that the town hall and police had insisted upon. But the police can only do so much. To help them, sources of their need to intervene have to be eradicated, which is where the "community" comes in. I'm not holding my breath, though, because the shortsightedness and resignation will doubtless prevail, leading to constant muttered complaints and the perpetuation of inaction that is the consequence of an inability and unwillingness to act and to be seen to act for the greater good of more than just selfishness. Punta Ballena? Maybe.
The headline was an exaggeration. Some of the views expressed by the "businesspeople" were exaggerations. Because Magalluf now has a stronger police presence, the excesses of tourism may be replanted along the Mile. It might make for good copy, but this is not how tourism works, while an allusion to Punta Ballena has become a form of shorthand for any example of bad-behaviour tourism.
Nevertheless, the reference was understandable. Far less understandable was the fact that a very similar article - in English and not in "The Bulletin" - appeared elsewhere without explaining what the businesspeople were referring to. Or perhaps it is understandable when there is a lack of appreciation of the issue and when the only source of information seemed to be an article which, in its body text, didn't explicitly refer to it either.
It was the sub-heading of the "Ultima Hora" piece which offered the explanation. All-inclusives were one, but then we've known about these for years. The other was "estudiantes": students. When the English article spoke, as the original had, of noise, drinking, disturbances from 4pm to 8pm and then again from half eleven until two in the morning (themselves not completely accurate because the disturbances, in effect, last all night and up to seven in the morning), it failed to mention the students. Consequently, it is quite possible - probable in fact - that an uninformed reader would see Punta Ballena and disturbances, put two and two together and come up with the five of British youth out on the lash and on the rampage. The conclusion would be totally wrong. The correct one is Spanish students, those who have taken over a great part of Bellevue for the past two weeks and who have turned the area into a living hell.
Misreporting is one thing, another is the apparent shortsightedness and resignation of others. To give an example. According to one source, the hell of the students is "not a community issue", as in the community of one of the residential apartment buildings most affected. How can it not be a community issue, and not just the community in its administrative sense as applied to a building? It is a community issue for the whole area: the businesspeople might have been exaggerating with their Punta Ballena references but these were, as I say, understandable.
There again, what is community? I'm damned if I know, because I witness precious little of it, just as I witness, hear and read other expressions of shortsightedness and resignation. "Oh well, that's how it is." "It's business." "There'll be backhanders." All the usual shrug-of-the-shoulder nonsense that comes from people of different nationalities - Spanish and others. Yes, it is business, but there are limits, and when blatant disregard to a fundamental of Spanish life, enshrined in the Constitution and laws, that of "co-existence", is practised through the organisation and marketing of holidays to a specific sector which itself shows total disregard to this principle, then limits need to be imposed.
This resignation is, I accept, also understandable, but perhaps there needs to be greater awareness of what - in political terms - is happening at present. Podemos, rather than be berated, should be applauded if only because they have shaken administrations into realising who it is they act on behalf of. Communities. Proper ones. Town halls, regional government, even businesses know that the goalposts have been moved. They are under scrutiny like never before. Transparency, participation, dialogue: these are not mere slogans any longer. But they will be if people fail to act on the opportunity that has been presented.
It has been quite encouraging to see how Alcúdia town hall - the mayor, Toni Mir, and the local police - have reacted to the students' affair. Mir had already acted swiftly in putting a stop to Red Electrica digging during the summer on account of the God awful racket. He was on to things the day after a meeting I had with him. Subsequently, the police responded rapidly to what was akin to a riot at two o'clock one morning, one that was partly caused because the organisers had failed to adhere to a measure that the town hall and police had insisted upon. But the police can only do so much. To help them, sources of their need to intervene have to be eradicated, which is where the "community" comes in. I'm not holding my breath, though, because the shortsightedness and resignation will doubtless prevail, leading to constant muttered complaints and the perpetuation of inaction that is the consequence of an inability and unwillingness to act and to be seen to act for the greater good of more than just selfishness. Punta Ballena? Maybe.
Friday, July 03, 2015
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 3 July 2015
Stefanos
Morning high (6.30am): 26C
Forecast high: 33C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 4 July - Sun, 33C; 5 July - Sun, 31C; 6 July - Sun, 33C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East-Southeast 3 to 4.
Some cloud pushed in yesterday evening but unlikely to be lingering this morning. Remaining sunny and hot.
Evening update (20.00): High of 35.3C.
No Frills Excursions
A Hundred Years Of Flying: Salvador Hedilla
It wasn't of course always like this. Before the jet plane was being used to any great degree, it couldn't have been like this, and the last one hundred years can - almost - be divided into two halves of airport transport: pre-jet and post-jet. And of the pre-jet, there are the very earliest of years when there were no passengers as such, only the occasional joy rider.
In October last year, I wrote about the first plane that was ever seen in Mallorca. Having been brought in kit form and assembled, it flew on 28 June, 1910 at the Balearic Hippodrome in Pont d'Inca. Julien Mamet made two flights in his Blériot XI monoplane. There were meant to have been three, but the plane crashed during the second flight. Mamet was relatively unscathed,, but he packed up his plane (what was left of it) and never came back.
There were to be other magnificent men in less than magnificent flying machines who came to Mallorca and offered short trips in their planes, but before they came, there was an event on 2 July, 1916 that was every bit as historic as Mamet's unfortunate appearance six years earlier, one that I mentioned only in passing in the previous article. On that day, they gathered near the beach of Can Pere Antoni by Portixol and waited. Eventually he arrived. He, in a monoplane that he had himself designed. He was Salvador Hedilla. He was making the first ever air crossing from Barcelona. But when he did arrive, he didn't land where he was supposed to. They had gathered to watch him touch down, but he overshot. Instead, he ended up in a field in Son Sunyer, i.e. a fair way down the coast near to what is now Arenal. Nevertheless, the 20,000 or so who had turned up to greet him cheered him with enthusiasm, albeit he wouldn't have been able to hear them from that distance. So impressive was the feat, though, that he was awarded the Mediterranean Cup, a gold trophy from King Alfonso XIII.
Hedilla was originally from Cantabria. When he was seventeen, he emigrated to Argentina and worked for a railway company. It was here that he began to develop an interest in mechanics. He was to establish the first ever bicycle repair shop in Buenos Aires and then discovered motor bikes. In 1903, he established a land speed record of an average of 120 kilometres per hour during an eighty kilometre test.
It was a sense of daring and adventure which led him to want to fly. So, in 1913, he sold up in Argentina and headed back to Europe, enrolling in a school of aviation in Molineaux in France.
Like Mamet he gave exhibitions. And also like Mamet they could sometimes end in failure. In October of 1913 he planned to show his skills in Santander, only for the first flight in his Morane-Borel monoplane to crash. Though he was able to make several successful exhibition flights, the plane was distinctly unreliable. A new one, a Morane-Saulnier, wasn't an awful lot better. On its maiden flight in March 1914 it crashed and was totally destroyed. Hedilla, remarkably, was unharmed. Undeterred, in 1915 he went to Cuba and took part in various air shows there. He was then employed as a pilot and designer and as the director of the Catalan School of Aviation in Barcelona. It was in the workshop of Pujol and Cornabella where he supervised the building of the plane that would take him to Mallorca.
Though the one-hundredth anniversary isn't, strictly speaking, until next year, they're celebrating the start of the one-hundredth year nevertheless. Hedilla is going to have a park named after him, and his monument, currently at the airport, is due to be moved nearer to where he landed.
What a difference a hundred years make. Hedilla could have witnessed this difference, but that wasn't to be. A year later his plane crashed near Barcelona and he was killed. He was 35.
Thursday, July 02, 2015
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 2 July 2015
Stefanos
Morning high (6.30am): 27C
Forecast high: 34C; UV: 10
Three-day forecast: 3 July - Sun, 34C; 4 July - Sun, 32C; 5 July - Sun, 32C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Southeast 3 to 4.
Note the early morning temperature. Alert for high temperatures again today. It was said that the heatwave was dying down and that it would return by the weekend. All things are relative.
Evening update (20.00): High of 35C but a decent breeze.
No Frills Excursions
Con Ustedes, Los Beatles: 50 years ago
This was the set list. 1. "Twist And Shout". 2. "She's A Woman". 3. "I'm A Loser". 4. "Can't Buy Me Love". 5. "Baby's In Black". 6. "I Wanna Be Your Man". 7. "A Hard Day's Night". 8. "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby". 9. "Rock And Roll Music". 10. "I Feel Fine". 11. "Ticket To Ride". 12. "Long Tall Sally".
When this set list had been played in other European cities, the songs would not have been heard above the screams. This was the set list for the first performance of The Beatles in Spain. The day was 2 July, 1965. The place was the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas in Madrid. There was to be only one other concert in Spain, the next day at the bullring in Barcelona.
It is said that the atmosphere and the sound were better in Barcelona, but neither concert was like it would have been in cities in countries that were not living under the repressive instincts of the Franco regime. At 10pm on the night of 2 July, the introduction was made - "señoras y señores con ustedes, Los Beatles". "Ustedes" summed it up: the formal form of you. The arena was only half full. Potential attendees had been deterred by concerns of police surveillance and bans by their parents. There was another reason for the low attendance: The Beatles weren't anything like as well known as they were in, say, Germany, France or Sweden. For a kick-off, their records couldn't be openly bought. Radio disc jockeys of the time had to go to London to acquire them.
Before the concerts, it was reckoned that, at most, 3,500 copies of Beatles' albums were owned across Spain. A Beatles' album in the UK would clear one million copies. This was one reason why Brian Epstein was reluctant to have the "boys" play Spain. He couldn't see there was any business advantage. Yet, of those 3,500 copies, some 2,000 were acquired by people who probably didn't even have a record-player; there were only 1,500 registered sales at that time. It was this fact that promoter Francisco Bermúdez used in persuading Epstein. If people would buy records even if they didn't have the means to play them indicated a demand, to which could be added the "underground" of listening to what were meant to have been forbidden foreign radio stations.
Bermúdez had stuck his neck out in bringing The Beatles to Spain, and the promotion was certainly not plain sailing: not anything like it. A further reason for low sales was that tickets and posters were seized by the authorities which had sought to prevent the concerts going ahead. They were only released a week ahead of the Madrid concert, the regime having had a change of heart and the interior ministry having finally given permission. To have banned the concerts, the regime concluded, could have provoked a diplomatic row with Britain: the members of The Beatles had just been named in The Queen's birthday honours list.
Bermúdez also had to contend with fierce criticism from the Catholic Church and almost all the press. Threats to morality, threats of revolutionary thought, threats of "riots", threats to the regime and to "Spanishness". It is remarkable, given all the background, that the concerts ever went ahead.
John, Paul, George and Ringo arrived at Madrid airport at twenty to six on the afternoon of 1 July. Wild scenes of their arrival at other airports were not replicated, though somehow some 200 fans had managed to congregate to greet them, despite the heavy police presence. They stayed at the Hotel Fénix - now the Gran Mellá Fénix - in suites 123, 223, 323 and 423. There were no parties, no real going out, though it is said that Brian went to the Bourbon club, one of the few with a "gay" ambience. They did receive one notable visitor, though: the bullfighter El Cordobés, who wanted his photo taken with them. There were other photos to pose for. One that seems amazing now was with two officers from the Guardia Civil: John and Paul are saluting them.
The press coverage featured one double-page spread under the headline: "Los Beatles, Inhibición". There is a photo of two or three girls running with a banner which says "love you", another of five or six people dancing, a further one of The Beatles performing, John with the Cordoban hat that he wore throughout the concert. It lasted barely an hour and that was pretty much that, save for moving on to Barcelona for the second performance. It was, except for three concerts during a mini-tour of Germany the next summer, the last time The Beatles performed in Europe.
Last night at the Gran Mellá Fénix a special fiftieth anniversary occasion would have cost up to 1,425 euros. In 1965, the concert cost as little as 75 pesetas.
Wednesday, July 01, 2015
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 1 July 2015
Stefanos
Morning high (6.00am): 22.5C
Forecast high: 34C; UV: 9
Three-day forecast: 2 July - Sun, 34C; 3 July - Sun, 31C; 4 July - Sun, 32C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Southeast 3 to 4 occasionally East-Northeast.
Absolutely no sign of any change - sun and high temperatures into the 30s for several days yet.
Evening update (20.15): High of 33.8C.
No Frills Excursions
The Structure Of Tourism
Joan Mesquida is a name with which some of you will be familiar. He was national secretary-of-state for tourism from 2008 to 2011. Prior to this he was the director-general for the National Police and the Guardia Civil. He has a new task: director-general of "strategic projects" at Calvia town hall. Chief among these projects will be cleaning up the image of Magalluf.
If anyone is qualified for this mission nigh on impossible, Mesquida might well be the person. His ambitions to promote policies to improve the resort's image are ones for which he should receive the support of all. And if his one-time association with the two police bodies might assist in solving problems with the so-called prostitutes, then all the better.
He may not get wholehearted and unanimous support though. Not politically anyway. Hopes that he might trip up will be gleefully gloated over if he does. Mesquida is entering the danger zone of local tourism politics - one filled with traps and point-scoring. It has happened already. The new PSOE-led administration has already fallen foul of the sniping of the vanquished. Why hadn't it enforced new policies immediately? How long is immediate? Even the best intention for hitting the ground running takes time to effect, and it has been a bit rich for the PP, which hit the ground several times in falling flat on its face, to indulge in bitching. Sore losers? You bet.
Mesquida, the new mayor Alfonso Rodríguez and his partners in the coalition, do, despite the troubles that continue to afflict Magalluf, inherit a situation better than that which Manu Onieva took on in 2011. The improvements, though, owe precious little to the town hall, other than there being a template of ordinance. Rodríguez and his administration will be judged on how effectively this is enforced. Truly strategic elements of projects that Mesquida will undertake are still more likely to come from the vision of the private sector and not the council chamber.
But, and taking a broader view than simply dwelling - once again - on Magalluf, "strategic" should feature far more strongly than it does in the policies of local governments. Politicians might claim that this is the case but it rarely is and even where there is some evidence of joined-up strategy, it can be undermined because of political changes to administrations, just it can also be given insufficient importance in structures of these administrations. Calvia now has an assistant mayor with responsibilities for tourism, commerce and industry. Combining the three might make some sense, but even more sensible would be to have just one responsibility - tourism.
In Palma there is now the curious situation whereby tourism has in effect been relegated in the structure. From having had the council's number two, Alvaro Gijón, with the tourism portfolio, it is now wrapped up with commerce and employment and with a councillor who will not actually sit on the council's governing board. Mayor José Hila says that this will make no difference, but as Palma seeks to build on tourism gains that Gijón helped to bring about, one can only hope that he is right. Putting limits on boutique hotels is not an encouraging start.
The regional government, by contrast, looks as if it will be placing tourism where it should be: at the top of the structure. The fear of God may be put into some if indeed Biel Barceló combines the vice-presidency with tourism, but organisationally the move is a sensible one. But there is or should be more to it than drawing the organisation chart. Tourism isn't the be all and end all, but its importance is such - a contention I have made for some years - that it should be perceived in such a way that all other government activities support it. If decisions are to be made regarding health, environment, education, whatever, they should be made with an appreciation of how they impact tourism.
Not every municipality in Mallorca is dominated by tourism but all of them share a responsibility for it. In those municipalities where tourism does dominate - Calvia for example - then the town hall structure should reflect this. And had such a structure been established and engrained, there would now be far less need for Joan Mesquida and his "strategic projects". In business there is a maxim that structure should follow strategy and not the other way round. For too long, the structure has been allowed to rule and so strategically tourism has not been given the prominence it should have. And who knows, if this greater prominence had applied over the many years in Magalluf, there might be even less need for Mesquida to clean up the image. There would still be bitching between parties, but it would be strategic bitching and not tactical bitching, such as with the need for the tactical deployment of more police.
If anyone is qualified for this mission nigh on impossible, Mesquida might well be the person. His ambitions to promote policies to improve the resort's image are ones for which he should receive the support of all. And if his one-time association with the two police bodies might assist in solving problems with the so-called prostitutes, then all the better.
He may not get wholehearted and unanimous support though. Not politically anyway. Hopes that he might trip up will be gleefully gloated over if he does. Mesquida is entering the danger zone of local tourism politics - one filled with traps and point-scoring. It has happened already. The new PSOE-led administration has already fallen foul of the sniping of the vanquished. Why hadn't it enforced new policies immediately? How long is immediate? Even the best intention for hitting the ground running takes time to effect, and it has been a bit rich for the PP, which hit the ground several times in falling flat on its face, to indulge in bitching. Sore losers? You bet.
Mesquida, the new mayor Alfonso Rodríguez and his partners in the coalition, do, despite the troubles that continue to afflict Magalluf, inherit a situation better than that which Manu Onieva took on in 2011. The improvements, though, owe precious little to the town hall, other than there being a template of ordinance. Rodríguez and his administration will be judged on how effectively this is enforced. Truly strategic elements of projects that Mesquida will undertake are still more likely to come from the vision of the private sector and not the council chamber.
But, and taking a broader view than simply dwelling - once again - on Magalluf, "strategic" should feature far more strongly than it does in the policies of local governments. Politicians might claim that this is the case but it rarely is and even where there is some evidence of joined-up strategy, it can be undermined because of political changes to administrations, just it can also be given insufficient importance in structures of these administrations. Calvia now has an assistant mayor with responsibilities for tourism, commerce and industry. Combining the three might make some sense, but even more sensible would be to have just one responsibility - tourism.
In Palma there is now the curious situation whereby tourism has in effect been relegated in the structure. From having had the council's number two, Alvaro Gijón, with the tourism portfolio, it is now wrapped up with commerce and employment and with a councillor who will not actually sit on the council's governing board. Mayor José Hila says that this will make no difference, but as Palma seeks to build on tourism gains that Gijón helped to bring about, one can only hope that he is right. Putting limits on boutique hotels is not an encouraging start.
The regional government, by contrast, looks as if it will be placing tourism where it should be: at the top of the structure. The fear of God may be put into some if indeed Biel Barceló combines the vice-presidency with tourism, but organisationally the move is a sensible one. But there is or should be more to it than drawing the organisation chart. Tourism isn't the be all and end all, but its importance is such - a contention I have made for some years - that it should be perceived in such a way that all other government activities support it. If decisions are to be made regarding health, environment, education, whatever, they should be made with an appreciation of how they impact tourism.
Not every municipality in Mallorca is dominated by tourism but all of them share a responsibility for it. In those municipalities where tourism does dominate - Calvia for example - then the town hall structure should reflect this. And had such a structure been established and engrained, there would now be far less need for Joan Mesquida and his "strategic projects". In business there is a maxim that structure should follow strategy and not the other way round. For too long, the structure has been allowed to rule and so strategically tourism has not been given the prominence it should have. And who knows, if this greater prominence had applied over the many years in Magalluf, there might be even less need for Mesquida to clean up the image. There would still be bitching between parties, but it would be strategic bitching and not tactical bitching, such as with the need for the tactical deployment of more police.
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