A cloudier start, some blue sky about and temperatures at 08:30 between 4 and 9 degrees. The rain prospects for tomorrow are such that showers now seem inevitable in the afternoon and for the evening's fire events, with highs, similar to today, struggling to 14 at best. The general outlook shows an improvement on Tuesday afternoon and through the week with a further deterioration at the weekend.
Afternoon update: An unremarkable day with a high of only 13.6.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Rebel Yell: Mallorca's Catalan civil war
Simón Ballester, known also as Simó Tort, was born in Manacor some time in the first half of the fifteenth century. In the middle of that century, Ballester, supported by, among others, chiefs from Muro and Inca, led an uprising against the governor of Mallorca. The revolt failed, he fled to Menorca but in 1457 was returned to Mallorca and was executed.
Antoni Pastor, the mayor of Manacor, will not anticipate being executed. But he faces a sort of political death, if only a political death within the Partido Popular as it currently is. He is threatened with proceedings against him for going against the party line on language policy and having made himself the leader of internal opposition within the party and the principal defender of Catalan within the party - all against the wishes of President Bauzá.
When Ballester led the uprising in the fifteenth century, it was to Palma that he took his revolt. Together with others from the regions of Mallorca, he was at the head of opposition to an "odious" governor, barricaded in Palma.
The war that has broken out in the PP has more than just the similarity of Manacor being the source of the revolt. It is being styled as a war between Palma and the regions. If President Bauzá and his administration had believed that PP-led town halls would acquiesce to changes to law which will downgrade Catalan, he was clearly very much mistaken.
As with Ballester, who could count on Inca to back him, so Inca has rode to Pastor's side. The town's mayor has expressed a "predisposition" to back him but perhaps more significantly so has Cristòfol Soler, still an Inca politician and formerly, for a brief while in the 1990s, a PP president of the Balearics.
Other towns to declare for Pastor are Pollensa and Sa Pobla. In the case of Sa Pobla, arguably the spiritual centre of Catalan in Mallorca and certainly one of the most radically pro-Catalan towns, mayor Biel Serra is unequivocal in his defence of Catalan.
What is emerging in what is becoming a quite extraordinary story is that Mallorca is being mapped according to where support for Pastor resides. Alcúdia might well follow, if only because Miguel Ramis, an ex-mayor, seems himself to be disposed to go along with Pastor. Though close to Bauzá, Ramis is also a political rival, which largely explains why, in the end, the PP's local secretary-general was overlooked for the job as national tourism secretary-of-state. Ramis does still wield a good deal of power in Alcúdia.
But what you have is two of Mallorca's five large towns, Inca and Manacor, coming together, as they did in the fifteenth century. This leaves Calviá, where Carlos Delgado, the main inspiration behind the attack on Catalan, was mayor, as well as Marratxí, where Bauzá was formerly mayor, and Llucmajor. Each of them is PP-led and each of them is a neighbour of Palma. Were they all to declare for Bauzá, you would have an even more extraordinary situation, that really would look like battle lines being drawn.
To add to the extraordinariness are the allies that Pastor can call on. One is the Obra Cultural Balear. This isn't simply an organisation that defends and promotes Catalan, it is in favour of independence for the Catalan lands, of which Mallorca is one. It is an organisation which can itself call on some perhaps unexpected supporters; former president Soler is a member.
Bauzá, who is being accused of empire-building, wishing to destroy Balearics autonomy and of sheer, naked ambition, has got himself one almighty fight. Spokespeople for the party are making conciliatory and diplomatic noises - the language policy is not a crusade against Catalan, it is open for discussion, there won't be any expulsions from the party - but whether Bauzá is inclined to be quite so conciliatory will become clear very soon.
This latest battle of Mallorca might yet just blow over and prove to have been a passing annoyance for the president to have to deal with. Or it might not blow over, even were there to be some accommodation of the challenges to the law that are coming in from all over the island.
Simón Ballester made at least three attempts to attack Palma and rid the island of its odious governor. He didn't succeed and he paid the ultimate price. From his base in Manacor, the rebel leader of the twenty-first century will be wondering if the time is approaching for civil war and for attempting to tear down the walls of Bauzá's empire.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Antoni Pastor, the mayor of Manacor, will not anticipate being executed. But he faces a sort of political death, if only a political death within the Partido Popular as it currently is. He is threatened with proceedings against him for going against the party line on language policy and having made himself the leader of internal opposition within the party and the principal defender of Catalan within the party - all against the wishes of President Bauzá.
When Ballester led the uprising in the fifteenth century, it was to Palma that he took his revolt. Together with others from the regions of Mallorca, he was at the head of opposition to an "odious" governor, barricaded in Palma.
The war that has broken out in the PP has more than just the similarity of Manacor being the source of the revolt. It is being styled as a war between Palma and the regions. If President Bauzá and his administration had believed that PP-led town halls would acquiesce to changes to law which will downgrade Catalan, he was clearly very much mistaken.
As with Ballester, who could count on Inca to back him, so Inca has rode to Pastor's side. The town's mayor has expressed a "predisposition" to back him but perhaps more significantly so has Cristòfol Soler, still an Inca politician and formerly, for a brief while in the 1990s, a PP president of the Balearics.
Other towns to declare for Pastor are Pollensa and Sa Pobla. In the case of Sa Pobla, arguably the spiritual centre of Catalan in Mallorca and certainly one of the most radically pro-Catalan towns, mayor Biel Serra is unequivocal in his defence of Catalan.
What is emerging in what is becoming a quite extraordinary story is that Mallorca is being mapped according to where support for Pastor resides. Alcúdia might well follow, if only because Miguel Ramis, an ex-mayor, seems himself to be disposed to go along with Pastor. Though close to Bauzá, Ramis is also a political rival, which largely explains why, in the end, the PP's local secretary-general was overlooked for the job as national tourism secretary-of-state. Ramis does still wield a good deal of power in Alcúdia.
But what you have is two of Mallorca's five large towns, Inca and Manacor, coming together, as they did in the fifteenth century. This leaves Calviá, where Carlos Delgado, the main inspiration behind the attack on Catalan, was mayor, as well as Marratxí, where Bauzá was formerly mayor, and Llucmajor. Each of them is PP-led and each of them is a neighbour of Palma. Were they all to declare for Bauzá, you would have an even more extraordinary situation, that really would look like battle lines being drawn.
To add to the extraordinariness are the allies that Pastor can call on. One is the Obra Cultural Balear. This isn't simply an organisation that defends and promotes Catalan, it is in favour of independence for the Catalan lands, of which Mallorca is one. It is an organisation which can itself call on some perhaps unexpected supporters; former president Soler is a member.
Bauzá, who is being accused of empire-building, wishing to destroy Balearics autonomy and of sheer, naked ambition, has got himself one almighty fight. Spokespeople for the party are making conciliatory and diplomatic noises - the language policy is not a crusade against Catalan, it is open for discussion, there won't be any expulsions from the party - but whether Bauzá is inclined to be quite so conciliatory will become clear very soon.
This latest battle of Mallorca might yet just blow over and prove to have been a passing annoyance for the president to have to deal with. Or it might not blow over, even were there to be some accommodation of the challenges to the law that are coming in from all over the island.
Simón Ballester made at least three attempts to attack Palma and rid the island of its odious governor. He didn't succeed and he paid the ultimate price. From his base in Manacor, the rebel leader of the twenty-first century will be wondering if the time is approaching for civil war and for attempting to tear down the walls of Bauzá's empire.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Real Mallorca 1 : 2 Real Madrid
Mallorca at home to Madrid. No contest?
First half was pretty unremarkable, Madrid having more of the game (not unexpectedly) but making little impression, until ... seven minutes before half-time, Hemed, the often-criticised Hemed headed Mallorca into the lead. Madrid came back, hit the post through a Sergio Ramos header, but it was one-nil at half-time. Mallorca probably should, though, have been two up, as a good shout for a penalty early in the half was turned down.
Mourinho went attacking from the outset of the second-half, bringing on Higuaín, and Madrid increased the pressure on Mallorca who had a goal by Victor ruled out for a dubious offside decision. The equaliser duly came through the sub Higuaín after 70 minutes, and then, six minutes before the end, after huge amounts of pressure, the dream was no more, Callejón putting Madrid ahead.
A good and often rearguard effort by Mallorca, but in the end the quality of Madrid told, as did the decisions of the referee.
Mallorca:
Aouate; Cendrós, Chico, Ramis, Cáceres; Tissone (Alfaro 86), Joao Victor, Pereira, Castro; Victor (Martí 83), Hemed (Ogunjimi 73)
Goal: Hemed (38)
Yellows: Cendrós (56), Tissone (57), Castro (82), Ogunjimi (87)
Madrid:
Casillas; Arbeloa (Kaká 58), Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo (Coentrao 59); Diarra (Higuaín 45), Alonso; Callejón, Özil, Ronaldo; Benzema
Goals: Higuaín (72), Callejón (84)
Yellow: Coentrao (86)
Attendance: 19,557
First half was pretty unremarkable, Madrid having more of the game (not unexpectedly) but making little impression, until ... seven minutes before half-time, Hemed, the often-criticised Hemed headed Mallorca into the lead. Madrid came back, hit the post through a Sergio Ramos header, but it was one-nil at half-time. Mallorca probably should, though, have been two up, as a good shout for a penalty early in the half was turned down.
Mourinho went attacking from the outset of the second-half, bringing on Higuaín, and Madrid increased the pressure on Mallorca who had a goal by Victor ruled out for a dubious offside decision. The equaliser duly came through the sub Higuaín after 70 minutes, and then, six minutes before the end, after huge amounts of pressure, the dream was no more, Callejón putting Madrid ahead.
A good and often rearguard effort by Mallorca, but in the end the quality of Madrid told, as did the decisions of the referee.
Mallorca:
Aouate; Cendrós, Chico, Ramis, Cáceres; Tissone (Alfaro 86), Joao Victor, Pereira, Castro; Victor (Martí 83), Hemed (Ogunjimi 73)
Goal: Hemed (38)
Yellows: Cendrós (56), Tissone (57), Castro (82), Ogunjimi (87)
Madrid:
Casillas; Arbeloa (Kaká 58), Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo (Coentrao 59); Diarra (Higuaín 45), Alonso; Callejón, Özil, Ronaldo; Benzema
Goals: Higuaín (72), Callejón (84)
Yellow: Coentrao (86)
Attendance: 19,557
MALLORCA TODAY - Matas Trial: Day Four
Evidence from the head of communication in the Antich PSOE government that succeeded that of Jaume Matas suggested yesterday that payments which had been made to the journalist Antonio Alemany for articles were ten times greater than would have been expected. In addition, she and the head of communication in the Matas administration indicated that work appeared not to have been done in return for payments.
In another aspect of the caso Palma Arena that now incorporates the activities of the Instituto Nóos, of which the Duke of Palma was once a director, evidence has been submitted that increasingly looks as though the Duke's wife, Princess Cristina, is becoming implicated. Payments were regularly made to the Duke and the Princess between 2006 and 2008 with invoices raised by the property company that they jointly owned.
In another aspect of the caso Palma Arena that now incorporates the activities of the Instituto Nóos, of which the Duke of Palma was once a director, evidence has been submitted that increasingly looks as though the Duke's wife, Princess Cristina, is becoming implicated. Payments were regularly made to the Duke and the Princess between 2006 and 2008 with invoices raised by the property company that they jointly owned.
MALLORCA TODAY - 87-year-old Pollensa man guilty of accidental homicide
87-year-old Miquel Llodrà who ran over with his car and killed his wife in Pollensa in 2010 has been found guilty of accidental homicide by a jury in Palma. In their verdict, the jury considered that Llodrà had not intended to kill his wife, who was 36 years younger. Because of his age, it is unlikely that Llodrà will have to serve a prison sentence.
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 14 January 2012
A quite sunny but distinctly chilly morning, with temperatures at 08:30 ranging between 3.5 and 7.5. Cloud is forecast though for today along with a possible high of 15. The forecast for the two days of Sant Antoni (Monday and Tuesday) is looking increasingly poor with a high probability of rain for Monday evening and further rain on Tuesday morning.
Afternoon update: It has remained quite chilly by the coast, mainly sunny but highs of only 13, though it has been a degree or so warmer inland.
Afternoon update: It has remained quite chilly by the coast, mainly sunny but highs of only 13, though it has been a degree or so warmer inland.
The Fall Of King Jaume
It was in November 2009 when Jaume Matas' world began to cave in. It was the inventory of fixtures and fittings and luxury items at his so-called "palacete" in Palma that exposed the world he inhabited and that the press delighted in itemising. Following a police raid, the world came to know about Jaume's world. Marble bathrooms, oakwood floors, numerous paintings and artworks, any amount of state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment and security systems, 150 or more suits, 50 pairs of shoes. Oh, and a toilet-roll holder, valued at 319 euros.
The inventory might not have been that remarkable had it been the inventory of one of Mallorca's regular filthy rich. But this was the home and the inventory of the former president of the Balearics. Estimates as to the value of the palacete vary, but it was said that some two million euros had been spent on renovations alone.
Jaume is now sitting in front of a judge who will decide his fate: the first of his fates, so many are the charges against him. Old friends are deserting him, coming to agreements with prosecutors in return for leniency and for dropping Jaume ever deeper into the mess of the vanity and folly that led him to a court in Palma.
Jaume. King Jaume V. With his palacete. A home fit for kings. The King of Mallorca and the Balearics who, like old kings of Mallorca, could dispense favours, some of which the prosecutors have shown an interest in, and who ruled with such power that no one seemed able or willing to question him or to question how he came to possess the trappings of such ostentatious wealth.
Among those who didn't question this wealth were the press. They might have wanted to, but they didn't. Nor did they question other aspects of Matas' second administration between 2003 and 2007. According to one of those who has testified at the Matas trial, there were rumours in journalistic circles regarding payments that the Matas government had been making to the journalist who is also on trial with Matas, Antonio Alemany. Rumours, but no more.
With hindsight, one now senses that the press were hinting at the questions that might have been asked when there were reports of the speedy way in which Matas left politics and left Mallorca for a job in the United States after he lost the election in 2007.
It was the election defeat that opened the door to investigations by anti-corruption prosecutors. But the door, again with hindsight, was ajar, if only slightly, even during Matas' time as president. It was the Andratx corruption case, one that involved the former mayor of the town and also a member of the then government, that first caused there to be a knock on the door.
Matas demanded to know of the Spanish national attorney-general why prosecutors were rummaging around in Mallorcan affairs. It didn't get him very far. But this was probably the beginning of what brought Matas and others to the court in Palma. Jaume's kingdom was being invaded, and once he was dethroned and had gone into American exile, the prosecutors' efforts gathered momentum.
In addition to his wealth, Matas also coveted the company of celebrities and of the famous. He sought the kudos of prestigious events and projects, not least the building of the Palma Arena velodrome, which is at the centre of the allegations against him. It is how over twice the budget for the arena came to be spent and who benefited that formed the basis of prosecutor investigations.
In seeking the company of the famous, the Royal Family became embroiled with King Jaume. He has now also been indicted in connection with the investigation of Iñaki Urdangarin, the Duke of Palma and the real King's son-in-law. As part of that investigation, it has been confirmed that an immediate payment of over 300,000 euros to the Duke's institute was agreed to a month before the 2007 election.
The occupation of King Jaume's palacete was when his world started to fall apart, and the palacete will soon no longer be his. It is to be auctioned off as he cannot keep up with interest payments. By the time it is, his fate may have been decided. He continues to protest his innocence, but whatever the outcome of the trial, his vanity has been laid bare. Yet for all this, there are more questions to be asked. And one has to do with relationships with those who didn't do much by way of questioning.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The inventory might not have been that remarkable had it been the inventory of one of Mallorca's regular filthy rich. But this was the home and the inventory of the former president of the Balearics. Estimates as to the value of the palacete vary, but it was said that some two million euros had been spent on renovations alone.
Jaume is now sitting in front of a judge who will decide his fate: the first of his fates, so many are the charges against him. Old friends are deserting him, coming to agreements with prosecutors in return for leniency and for dropping Jaume ever deeper into the mess of the vanity and folly that led him to a court in Palma.
Jaume. King Jaume V. With his palacete. A home fit for kings. The King of Mallorca and the Balearics who, like old kings of Mallorca, could dispense favours, some of which the prosecutors have shown an interest in, and who ruled with such power that no one seemed able or willing to question him or to question how he came to possess the trappings of such ostentatious wealth.
Among those who didn't question this wealth were the press. They might have wanted to, but they didn't. Nor did they question other aspects of Matas' second administration between 2003 and 2007. According to one of those who has testified at the Matas trial, there were rumours in journalistic circles regarding payments that the Matas government had been making to the journalist who is also on trial with Matas, Antonio Alemany. Rumours, but no more.
With hindsight, one now senses that the press were hinting at the questions that might have been asked when there were reports of the speedy way in which Matas left politics and left Mallorca for a job in the United States after he lost the election in 2007.
It was the election defeat that opened the door to investigations by anti-corruption prosecutors. But the door, again with hindsight, was ajar, if only slightly, even during Matas' time as president. It was the Andratx corruption case, one that involved the former mayor of the town and also a member of the then government, that first caused there to be a knock on the door.
Matas demanded to know of the Spanish national attorney-general why prosecutors were rummaging around in Mallorcan affairs. It didn't get him very far. But this was probably the beginning of what brought Matas and others to the court in Palma. Jaume's kingdom was being invaded, and once he was dethroned and had gone into American exile, the prosecutors' efforts gathered momentum.
In addition to his wealth, Matas also coveted the company of celebrities and of the famous. He sought the kudos of prestigious events and projects, not least the building of the Palma Arena velodrome, which is at the centre of the allegations against him. It is how over twice the budget for the arena came to be spent and who benefited that formed the basis of prosecutor investigations.
In seeking the company of the famous, the Royal Family became embroiled with King Jaume. He has now also been indicted in connection with the investigation of Iñaki Urdangarin, the Duke of Palma and the real King's son-in-law. As part of that investigation, it has been confirmed that an immediate payment of over 300,000 euros to the Duke's institute was agreed to a month before the 2007 election.
The occupation of King Jaume's palacete was when his world started to fall apart, and the palacete will soon no longer be his. It is to be auctioned off as he cannot keep up with interest payments. By the time it is, his fate may have been decided. He continues to protest his innocence, but whatever the outcome of the trial, his vanity has been laid bare. Yet for all this, there are more questions to be asked. And one has to do with relationships with those who didn't do much by way of questioning.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, January 13, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Matas Trial: Day Three
Former Balearics vice-president Rosa Estarás testified yesterday in the Matas trial and indicated that she believed the ex-president authorised the tendering process that led to payments being made to the journalist and Matas speechwriter Antonio Alemany. She asserted that she would not have asked the president about the matter, as it was one for him and not her. In other developments, a former partner in the PR company Nimbus (its boss Miguel Romero is one of the accused in the case Palma Arena trial), stated that Alemany was paid commissions through the agency for work performed for the government, while the ex-director-general of sport in the Matas government has entered into an agreement with the prosecutors by which he has implicated Matas for having manipulated tenders in respect of the building of the Palma Arena velodrome.
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 13 January 2012
A grey morning but a warmer morning, the high edging towards 11 degrees at 08:30. Cloud today and tomorrow, an improvement on Sunday, a mixture on Monday with the chance of rain (and also on Tuesday) and then more settled.
Afternoon update: A reasonable day. Quite sunny as it turned out, but a high of just 14.4.
Afternoon update: A reasonable day. Quite sunny as it turned out, but a high of just 14.4.
Leaders Wanted: PSOE
If you fancied becoming the leader of the PSOE socialist party in the Balearics, you would be disheartened were you to discover that your local party was laying into you big time and saying that, in effect, you were incompetent. If you are Francina Armengol, ex-president of the Council of Mallorca, the bookies' (now probably former) favourite to replace the one-time president Francesc Antich as the party chief, this is exactly the problem she faces.
Lack of direction, lack of ideological orientation. These are just a couple of the criticisms levelled at the former Council president, to which can be added errors in responding to the economic crisis and no excuses for an electoral hammering. It couldn't get much worse, except if the local grandees were to state unequivocally that they didn't want her to succeed Antich. Indirectly, they have.
PSOE's annihilation at the regional and national elections has created all manner of soul-searching and searching for anyone prepared to step into the fray and lead the party both regionally and nationally. There isn't a shortage of candidates, just that most of them are tarnished with electoral disaster. It's a bit like England's rugby team, post-World Cup. The old guard needs sweeping away and some fresh blood needs introducing to the party's backs and forwards. Unlike England's rugby team, it probably won't happen.
The lack of direction that Armengol is accused of could just as easily apply to the party as a whole in the Balearics. It is nearly eight months since it was thrashed at the regional elections, and it is still no nearer knowing who is meant to be leading it and where it is heading. At a time when the ruling Partido Popular seems intent on ripping itself apart, there is no worthwhile opposition which, were it to be better organised and to be acting as a genuine opposition, could be taking full advantage of Bauzá's linguistic troubles. As it is, the PP is its own opposition.
If Armengol, as seems increasingly likely, doesn't succeed Antich, then the former mayor of Palma, Aina Calvo, comes into the running: another of the old and defeated guard.
Aina is playing a wider game, though. She's thrown her lot in with one of the two main challengers for PSOE's national crown, Carme Chacón, until recently the defence minister in the Zapatero administration. Chacón might well end up being Spain's first female prime minister, and the first female prime minister from Catalonia, to boot. The chances are that she won't be and that the national old guard, in the form of the defeated PSOE candidate in November, Alfredo Rubalcaba, will remain at the head of PSOE.
It is a peculiarity of Spanish politics that there aren't great putsches of party old guards. Were there, then Mariano Rajoy would have disappeared from the scene long ago. Twice defeated, how he came to still be leading the PP into ultimate victory is a genuine mystery. It's a case of better the devil you know probably, even if the devil is as uninspiring as Rajoy. Or Rubalcaba.
Uncle Alfredo, and he does have the demeanour of a benevolent uncle, is conducting a campaign against Chacón similar to that which lost him the national election. He plays the reassuring and well-meaning uncle role at the family gathering but it is one in which he gets forgotten about when the family gets drunk and raucous. And conducting a campaign is rather apt, as Rubalcaba does this thing with hands, which makes him appear as if he is conducting an orchestra or playing the piano.
Nice, benign Uncle Alfredo reckons that Chacón is not, at the moment, a solution to PSOE's future. Which means that he is. But what is the future for PSOE, both nationally and in the Balearics?
Much will rest on how the public respond to the PP's cuts and to what further austerity is in the pipeline. Rajoy promised that there would be no rise in income tax and that he was the chap to get Spain back to work. The promise has already been broken and there is not going to be any getting Spain back to work for the foreseeable future; it will be the opposite. There are simply too many fires that need fighting both on the mainland and in Mallorca.
PSOE could probably just sit on their hands for the next four years and anticipate returning to power through default. Or they could be altogether more progressive. Dump Uncle Alfredo and put a woman in charge. But Aina or Francina for PSOE locally? You would think not, but you would probably think wrong.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Lack of direction, lack of ideological orientation. These are just a couple of the criticisms levelled at the former Council president, to which can be added errors in responding to the economic crisis and no excuses for an electoral hammering. It couldn't get much worse, except if the local grandees were to state unequivocally that they didn't want her to succeed Antich. Indirectly, they have.
PSOE's annihilation at the regional and national elections has created all manner of soul-searching and searching for anyone prepared to step into the fray and lead the party both regionally and nationally. There isn't a shortage of candidates, just that most of them are tarnished with electoral disaster. It's a bit like England's rugby team, post-World Cup. The old guard needs sweeping away and some fresh blood needs introducing to the party's backs and forwards. Unlike England's rugby team, it probably won't happen.
The lack of direction that Armengol is accused of could just as easily apply to the party as a whole in the Balearics. It is nearly eight months since it was thrashed at the regional elections, and it is still no nearer knowing who is meant to be leading it and where it is heading. At a time when the ruling Partido Popular seems intent on ripping itself apart, there is no worthwhile opposition which, were it to be better organised and to be acting as a genuine opposition, could be taking full advantage of Bauzá's linguistic troubles. As it is, the PP is its own opposition.
If Armengol, as seems increasingly likely, doesn't succeed Antich, then the former mayor of Palma, Aina Calvo, comes into the running: another of the old and defeated guard.
Aina is playing a wider game, though. She's thrown her lot in with one of the two main challengers for PSOE's national crown, Carme Chacón, until recently the defence minister in the Zapatero administration. Chacón might well end up being Spain's first female prime minister, and the first female prime minister from Catalonia, to boot. The chances are that she won't be and that the national old guard, in the form of the defeated PSOE candidate in November, Alfredo Rubalcaba, will remain at the head of PSOE.
It is a peculiarity of Spanish politics that there aren't great putsches of party old guards. Were there, then Mariano Rajoy would have disappeared from the scene long ago. Twice defeated, how he came to still be leading the PP into ultimate victory is a genuine mystery. It's a case of better the devil you know probably, even if the devil is as uninspiring as Rajoy. Or Rubalcaba.
Uncle Alfredo, and he does have the demeanour of a benevolent uncle, is conducting a campaign against Chacón similar to that which lost him the national election. He plays the reassuring and well-meaning uncle role at the family gathering but it is one in which he gets forgotten about when the family gets drunk and raucous. And conducting a campaign is rather apt, as Rubalcaba does this thing with hands, which makes him appear as if he is conducting an orchestra or playing the piano.
Nice, benign Uncle Alfredo reckons that Chacón is not, at the moment, a solution to PSOE's future. Which means that he is. But what is the future for PSOE, both nationally and in the Balearics?
Much will rest on how the public respond to the PP's cuts and to what further austerity is in the pipeline. Rajoy promised that there would be no rise in income tax and that he was the chap to get Spain back to work. The promise has already been broken and there is not going to be any getting Spain back to work for the foreseeable future; it will be the opposite. There are simply too many fires that need fighting both on the mainland and in Mallorca.
PSOE could probably just sit on their hands for the next four years and anticipate returning to power through default. Or they could be altogether more progressive. Dump Uncle Alfredo and put a woman in charge. But Aina or Francina for PSOE locally? You would think not, but you would probably think wrong.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 12 January 2012
A brighter morning. Less cloud and mainly sun. But chilly, temperatures at 09:00 ranging from 5 to 9 degrees. Cloud is due to build up later and to linger tomorrow, though it looks brighter for the weekend but then potentially wet on Monday and Tuesday.
Afternoon update: Pretty much a repeat of yesterday. Pleasant enough but not overly warm, the high having been 14.8.
Afternoon update: Pretty much a repeat of yesterday. Pleasant enough but not overly warm, the high having been 14.8.
I'm Mandy, Fly Me
Do you think we should tell the Spanish that Peter Mandelson has turned up in their government? Or should we just let them find out? You have probably been wondering what Mandy does with himself nowadays. Well, now we know. He's become the Spanish government supremo for tourism (and industry and energy). You can't keep an ambitious politician down, even if ambition requires changing nationality and name. The minister claims to be José Manuel Soria from the Canary Islands. But we know better, don't we, Sr. Mandelson.
There is no end to the lookalikes in Spanish politics. No sooner has Rowan Atkinson given up the premiership or Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has failed to become premier than Richard E. Grant turns up as president of the Balearics and now Mandelson appears. It's alarming, to say the least, that he's been put in charge of the country's tourism and that he has opted for an estate agent to be his tourism right-hand woman. Don't be fooled by all that property law stuff or by the name. It's not I for Isabel, but I for Inmobiliaria Borrego. There again, Mandy knows all about the estate-agency game.
Having managed to weasel his way into the corridors of power in Madrid, what does Sr. Mandelson have to say for himself and for tourism? One thing he isn't saying is that IVA is going to be reduced for tourism businesses. But wasn't this what the new government was going to do? Nope. "This is not the moment," says Mandelson Soria. The delicate deficit situation means no cut to IVA. Presumably no one had noticed this delicate situation before the election.
Another thing he isn't saying is that there are going to be suitcase loads of government money being bundled into the holds of various airlines in return for their agreeing to fly into Spanish air space. "It isn't a good policy to be using public resources in order to pay tourists to come to Spain," he insists. And it wouldn't be a good use of public resources if that was what financial incentives to airlines actually meant. Though, when you think about it, the odd bribe to tourists might not be such a bad form of promotion.
It'll be all that time spent knocking around the European Commission and doing things by the book. Can't be giving out subsidies to airlines in this new era of Spanish public-administration probity. What would Brussels say? Whatever it might or might not say, Mandelson Soria has gone on to say that: "our country (note how he really has become Spanish) has sufficient attractions without there being additional incentives for tourism".
He's quite right of course. In fact, rather than paying tourists, they should pay instead. Like they are going to have to in Catalonia. Or are they? The minister isn't too pleased with the Catalans or with their tourist tax. Everyone has got to do it (tourism) the same way, his way, and the tax threatens to prejudice the "brand" that is Spain. So, he's going to homogenise what the different regions get up to. Soria Law, the Mandelson Mandate. "I'm Mandy, fly me to Spain, but not with the aid of any grants to Ryanair of the sort the Catalans reckon they're going to be making."
This is all rather interesting. The regions are going to have to fall into line with central policy. Sounds a bit familiar, or would do if you had been around in the 1960s, rallying around the glorious brand of Franco's "Spain". Hmm, so the talk about the PP's anti-regionalism has more to it than we might have thought.
The Catalans aren't going to take it lying down though. Oh no. The tourist has to pay the tax because they need the money to pay Ryanair and to pay Bernie Ecclestone. Seriously, they have said that the tax will go towards maintaining the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.
But if the regions really are going to have to follow the party line, what of the Balearics? Is Delgado going to be told to stop turning hotels into rock-concert venues? Will there really be condohotels or hotels turned into apartment blocks for sale? Well, what do you think? Of course there will be. Because that's where the Inmobiliaria Borrego comes into the equation. Selling Spain and its tourist resorts by the pound or the ruble or the renminbi or even the euro.
And if there happens to be the slight inconvenience of not being a native getting in the way of buying up the resorts, there's no problem. Anyone need a passport application?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
There is no end to the lookalikes in Spanish politics. No sooner has Rowan Atkinson given up the premiership or Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has failed to become premier than Richard E. Grant turns up as president of the Balearics and now Mandelson appears. It's alarming, to say the least, that he's been put in charge of the country's tourism and that he has opted for an estate agent to be his tourism right-hand woman. Don't be fooled by all that property law stuff or by the name. It's not I for Isabel, but I for Inmobiliaria Borrego. There again, Mandy knows all about the estate-agency game.
Having managed to weasel his way into the corridors of power in Madrid, what does Sr. Mandelson have to say for himself and for tourism? One thing he isn't saying is that IVA is going to be reduced for tourism businesses. But wasn't this what the new government was going to do? Nope. "This is not the moment," says Mandelson Soria. The delicate deficit situation means no cut to IVA. Presumably no one had noticed this delicate situation before the election.
Another thing he isn't saying is that there are going to be suitcase loads of government money being bundled into the holds of various airlines in return for their agreeing to fly into Spanish air space. "It isn't a good policy to be using public resources in order to pay tourists to come to Spain," he insists. And it wouldn't be a good use of public resources if that was what financial incentives to airlines actually meant. Though, when you think about it, the odd bribe to tourists might not be such a bad form of promotion.
It'll be all that time spent knocking around the European Commission and doing things by the book. Can't be giving out subsidies to airlines in this new era of Spanish public-administration probity. What would Brussels say? Whatever it might or might not say, Mandelson Soria has gone on to say that: "our country (note how he really has become Spanish) has sufficient attractions without there being additional incentives for tourism".
He's quite right of course. In fact, rather than paying tourists, they should pay instead. Like they are going to have to in Catalonia. Or are they? The minister isn't too pleased with the Catalans or with their tourist tax. Everyone has got to do it (tourism) the same way, his way, and the tax threatens to prejudice the "brand" that is Spain. So, he's going to homogenise what the different regions get up to. Soria Law, the Mandelson Mandate. "I'm Mandy, fly me to Spain, but not with the aid of any grants to Ryanair of the sort the Catalans reckon they're going to be making."
This is all rather interesting. The regions are going to have to fall into line with central policy. Sounds a bit familiar, or would do if you had been around in the 1960s, rallying around the glorious brand of Franco's "Spain". Hmm, so the talk about the PP's anti-regionalism has more to it than we might have thought.
The Catalans aren't going to take it lying down though. Oh no. The tourist has to pay the tax because they need the money to pay Ryanair and to pay Bernie Ecclestone. Seriously, they have said that the tax will go towards maintaining the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.
But if the regions really are going to have to follow the party line, what of the Balearics? Is Delgado going to be told to stop turning hotels into rock-concert venues? Will there really be condohotels or hotels turned into apartment blocks for sale? Well, what do you think? Of course there will be. Because that's where the Inmobiliaria Borrego comes into the equation. Selling Spain and its tourist resorts by the pound or the ruble or the renminbi or even the euro.
And if there happens to be the slight inconvenience of not being a native getting in the way of buying up the resorts, there's no problem. Anyone need a passport application?
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Limit placed on Ternelles pine-tree numbers in Pollensa
Pollensa town hall has imposed for the first time a limit of twenty people who can enter the Ternelles finca in Pollensa in order to chop down the pine tree to be used in the traditional tree-climbing event on 17 January. This is in line with limits set on those who can enter the finca for the purposes of walking and is one that is the current agreement with the owners of the finca regarding access.
MALLORCA TODAY - Matas Trial: Day Two
Highlights of the second day. Antonio Alemany, the journalist accused of receiving government money for work that he didn't do, denied the claim completely and seemed to spend much of the time having a ding-dong with the judge and smiling a great deal. Earlier than expected, Jaume Matas started his appearance and said that the tender process which led to the allegedly irregular contracting of Alemany was not something within his responsibility as president. Matas attributed the contracting to the director of communication Joan Martorell and the head of the PR company Nimbus Miguel Romero and indicated that he believed there was a pact between others of those accused in the trial with the prosecutors to incriminate him.
It is a rest day today. Back on court on Thursday when the star turn will be Rosa Estaras, Matas's one-time second-in-command and now an MEP.
It is a rest day today. Back on court on Thursday when the star turn will be Rosa Estaras, Matas's one-time second-in-command and now an MEP.
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 11 January 2012
Cloud and sun again this morning and a high of just under ten degrees. It should be clearer though during the day. More cloud is due to be around at the end of the week and rain is very much on the cards for the start of next week.
Afternoon update: A reasonable day but no great shakes temperature-wise with a high just 15 degrees.
Afternoon update: A reasonable day but no great shakes temperature-wise with a high just 15 degrees.
Private Information: Tourist offices
A few years ago a friend (Jake from the Giant Maze) and I came up with an idea for a separate and private tourist information office (in Puerto Alcúdia). Part of the concept would have been to heavily feature technology, for example video display screens, which would have formed a key means of generating revenue from major advertisers.
I am reminded of this idea, which came to nothing as it would have been too expensive and was potentially too risky, when seeing that Palma town hall is considering the privatisation of its tourist information offices.
Palma has set up its own tourism "foundation", in other words a group that comprises various businesses and organisations that will undertake the "365" promotion of the city. An annual budget of 3.6 million euros has been set aside (ten grand a day then). Despite this new source of finance, the town hall is addressing the cost of running its information offices, which would amount to half this budget.
Is privatisation of tourist offices a good idea? It happens elsewhere. For example, Berlin has a privatised tourist information company, in Cornwall they are looking at privatisation and in Adelaide, Australia, there is a privatisation process underway, but it is one that is requiring an independent inquiry to ensure there is no conflict of interest in the sale and that the sale has the correct controls.
Without knowing fully what the state attorney-general in South Australia is concerned about, the fact that he has raised a concern should be enough to induce wariness as to how privatisation might operate in Mallorca.
Palma has in mind that the offices should be able to generate revenue to meet part of their running cost (without being exact) and that to do so, they would cease to be as tourist offices currently are (in theory at any rate) - neutral in matters of promotion.
The tourist offices would, in effect, become like shops, able to sell tickets for various attractions and events which currently they do only occasionally. For example, the offices in Pollensa sell tickets for the music festival, but this is a specifically Pollensa cultural event, one to which the town hall contributes funds. Otherwise, and although tourist offices are full of publicity for this or that, they are supposed to steer clear of indulging in what might seem like direct promotion or favouritism.
From my experience, tourist office staff are pretty professional in this regard. And as an example of how the offices seek to retain neutrality, last summer Pollensa town hall was forced to issue a warning to businesses which have publicity material in the outdoor display units in Puerto Pollensa to stop indulging in a publicity war and interfering with each other's material.
But once the tourist offices are obliged to make money, the rules change. In Palma, one line of revenue would be from restaurant promotion. Whether restaurants would be willing to pay is one issue, but were they to, then a can of worms could potentially be opened.
A problem with making the offices revenue generators is whether, in the pursuit of "sales", their core role of simple information provision would be compromised. If you have ever, like I have, spent time observing what happens at tourist-office desks, you will have come to appreciate that much of the tourist encounter involves questions of the how-do-I-get-to, where-do-I-go-to variety. One office told me that one of its most frequently asked questions was where were the nearest toilets.
The tourist encounter can be repetitious, basic and extremely time-consuming. If tourist office staff have to also sell tickets for this excursion or that attraction, then delays in handling enquiries will increase.
Technology, you would think, could be made to eliminate many of the repetitious and basic enquiries. Possibly so, as also it could be made to handle other information. One town that has been embracing technology is Artà, not a town with a massive tourism industry but one that has adopted the use of audio guides and now also QR (quick response) codes which are photographed with mobiles in order to provide information in five different languages.
Whether the privatised tourist offices in Palma would make use of technology or not, there is an altogether more fundamental question. Where are they? In October, when mayor Mateo Isern was first talking up the Palma 365 promotion campaign, it was being pointed out that Palma's tourist office provision was abysmal by comparison with, for example, Barcelona and even with neighbouring Calvià. They can privatise the offices all they like, but they won't make money if tourists can't find them.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
I am reminded of this idea, which came to nothing as it would have been too expensive and was potentially too risky, when seeing that Palma town hall is considering the privatisation of its tourist information offices.
Palma has set up its own tourism "foundation", in other words a group that comprises various businesses and organisations that will undertake the "365" promotion of the city. An annual budget of 3.6 million euros has been set aside (ten grand a day then). Despite this new source of finance, the town hall is addressing the cost of running its information offices, which would amount to half this budget.
Is privatisation of tourist offices a good idea? It happens elsewhere. For example, Berlin has a privatised tourist information company, in Cornwall they are looking at privatisation and in Adelaide, Australia, there is a privatisation process underway, but it is one that is requiring an independent inquiry to ensure there is no conflict of interest in the sale and that the sale has the correct controls.
Without knowing fully what the state attorney-general in South Australia is concerned about, the fact that he has raised a concern should be enough to induce wariness as to how privatisation might operate in Mallorca.
Palma has in mind that the offices should be able to generate revenue to meet part of their running cost (without being exact) and that to do so, they would cease to be as tourist offices currently are (in theory at any rate) - neutral in matters of promotion.
The tourist offices would, in effect, become like shops, able to sell tickets for various attractions and events which currently they do only occasionally. For example, the offices in Pollensa sell tickets for the music festival, but this is a specifically Pollensa cultural event, one to which the town hall contributes funds. Otherwise, and although tourist offices are full of publicity for this or that, they are supposed to steer clear of indulging in what might seem like direct promotion or favouritism.
From my experience, tourist office staff are pretty professional in this regard. And as an example of how the offices seek to retain neutrality, last summer Pollensa town hall was forced to issue a warning to businesses which have publicity material in the outdoor display units in Puerto Pollensa to stop indulging in a publicity war and interfering with each other's material.
But once the tourist offices are obliged to make money, the rules change. In Palma, one line of revenue would be from restaurant promotion. Whether restaurants would be willing to pay is one issue, but were they to, then a can of worms could potentially be opened.
A problem with making the offices revenue generators is whether, in the pursuit of "sales", their core role of simple information provision would be compromised. If you have ever, like I have, spent time observing what happens at tourist-office desks, you will have come to appreciate that much of the tourist encounter involves questions of the how-do-I-get-to, where-do-I-go-to variety. One office told me that one of its most frequently asked questions was where were the nearest toilets.
The tourist encounter can be repetitious, basic and extremely time-consuming. If tourist office staff have to also sell tickets for this excursion or that attraction, then delays in handling enquiries will increase.
Technology, you would think, could be made to eliminate many of the repetitious and basic enquiries. Possibly so, as also it could be made to handle other information. One town that has been embracing technology is Artà, not a town with a massive tourism industry but one that has adopted the use of audio guides and now also QR (quick response) codes which are photographed with mobiles in order to provide information in five different languages.
Whether the privatised tourist offices in Palma would make use of technology or not, there is an altogether more fundamental question. Where are they? In October, when mayor Mateo Isern was first talking up the Palma 365 promotion campaign, it was being pointed out that Palma's tourist office provision was abysmal by comparison with, for example, Barcelona and even with neighbouring Calvià. They can privatise the offices all they like, but they won't make money if tourists can't find them.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - (Copa del Rey) Real Mallorca 6 (6) : Real Sociedad 1 (3)
The second leg of the cup tie with Mallorca two-nil down. Mallorca putting out a stronger team than on the road in the first leg and including, for the first time, the great hope, the Belgian striker Marvin Ogunjimi, started brightly, but Sociedad went ahead through an Ifrán header after quarter of an hour. And then ... Castro twice, Hemed and Nunes all within the space of six minutes turned what looked like certain departure for Mallorca into near certainty to progress, as Mallorca took charge of the game. Alfaro with a header made it five soon into the second period, Hemed added another on the quarter hour and the result was certain. Mallorca through to the quarter-finals and for a team that can't score, a remarkable outcome.
Mallorca:
Calatayud; Zuiverloon (Company 45), Nunes, Crespí, Bigas; Pina, Martí, Alfaro, Castro (Tejera 85); Ogunjimi (Nsue 62), Hemed
Goals: Castro (34, 40), Hemed (35, 59), Nunes (37), Alfaro (53)
Yellows: Alfaro (21), Pina (56), Calatayud (73)
Sociedad:
Zubikarai; Estrada, Demidov, Martínez, De la Bella; Elustondo, Mariga (Griezmann 60); Prieto (Aranburu 68), Zurufuza (Agirretxe 68), Vela; Ifrán
Goal: Ifrán (16)
Mallorca:
Calatayud; Zuiverloon (Company 45), Nunes, Crespí, Bigas; Pina, Martí, Alfaro, Castro (Tejera 85); Ogunjimi (Nsue 62), Hemed
Goals: Castro (34, 40), Hemed (35, 59), Nunes (37), Alfaro (53)
Yellows: Alfaro (21), Pina (56), Calatayud (73)
Sociedad:
Zubikarai; Estrada, Demidov, Martínez, De la Bella; Elustondo, Mariga (Griezmann 60); Prieto (Aranburu 68), Zurufuza (Agirretxe 68), Vela; Ifrán
Goal: Ifrán (16)
MALLORCA TODAY - Bellevue creditors' agreement
The immediate future of the Bellevue hotel complex in Puerto Alcúdia and of staff employed at the hotel has been secured. An agreement with creditors regarding some 100 million euros owed by Bellevue's former management company, White Horse, which went into administration following the bankruptcy of its parent company, Marsans, in 2010, has been obtained by the new owners of White Horse and Bellevue, Posibilitum, as part of court proceedings into the affairs of White Horse. What remains to be seen is whether a joint management of the Bellevue site, one that would involve a creditor, Orizonia (Luabay), will be pursued, as has previously been suggested.
MALLORCA TODAY - Pollensa supports Manacor line on language
Pollensa town hall, governed by a coalition of the Partido Popular and La Lliga, has adopted a similar position to that of Manacor in opposing the draft law on the use of Catalan in public service set out by the Balearic Government, a law that would see Catalan removed as a necessity for working in the public service.
MALLORCA TODAY - Matas Trial: Day One
Two of those accused along with former Balearics president Jaume Matas, the ex-director of government communication Joan Martorell and the boss of the Nimbus PR agency Miguel Romero have admitted culpability in respect of payments to the journalist Antonio Alemany that were designed to improve the image of the government but which are alleged to have been excessive and incompatible with Alemany both receiving grants from the government and also working for it. The prosecution claims that between them, Matas and Alemany diverted almost half a million euros as part of the arrangement. The admission by Romero and Martorell is a pact with the judge in return for lighter sentences.
While the two have sought to repent, the others accused, Matas, Alemany and two former cabinet chiefs in the Matas administration, Maria Umbert and Dulce Linares, maintain their innocence. Of the defendants, Martorell declared that he had orders from Matas to favour Alemany while Linares stated that she would not have consented to anything of the sort.
While the two have sought to repent, the others accused, Matas, Alemany and two former cabinet chiefs in the Matas administration, Maria Umbert and Dulce Linares, maintain their innocence. Of the defendants, Martorell declared that he had orders from Matas to favour Alemany while Linares stated that she would not have consented to anything of the sort.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)