While the Spanish Government's measures to tackle the economy's status - now officially deemed to be Basket Case by all leading ratings agencies - have naturally grabbed the headlines, the government is up to something else that is likely to have far more profound and long-lasting an impact than the savage but hopefully more short-term adjustments to tax, unemployment benefit and the rest.
Almost unnoticed, and it helps that there have been the new round of austerity measures to bury the news, is the passage of the draft new Coasts Law. Reform of this law, and it has been on the statute book since 1988, had been widely anticipated. Some of the changes in the draft are to be welcomed, e.g. they should go some way to allay fears or address issues regarding properties on coastal land that were bought in good faith but which turned out to be illegal, but others are unlikely to be welcome. One can already hear the revs of the environmentalists' solar-powered battle bus as it gets itself into gear in order to object in the strongest possible terms.
The 1988 act was brought in with one overarching aim, which was to set a time limit on righting the wrongs of coastal development. In theory 30 years, but in practice 60, the law envisaged coastal areas returning to something like their natural state thanks to the elimination of some buildings (by the end of the time limit) and the prevention of more. The 30-year limit, which would expire in 2018, was the base period for which owners of property illegally constructed on what was deemed public land. In most cases, it has been or would have been extended to 60 years.
The law has, however, not been applied with total practicality, with total fairness or with total consistency. Indeed, in certain instances, it took until relatively recently for it to even be invoked. This was the case in Mallorca three years ago when the Costas Authority (part of the national environment ministry) was going around establishing new demarcations of land, based on the authority of the 1988 act. This, the sheer inertia that has accompanied the act, has been but one problem with it. There have been many others, far too many to mention, but fundamentally, the act did not stop further coastal developments, as those owners who have either experienced demolition or been threatened with it will know to their cost.
What the act couldn't prevent was corrupt behaviour, both that of constructors and of local authorities, to say nothing of some legal and real-estate "professionals". But the act also created something of a monster, and that was - and still is - the Costas Authority. As much as anything else, it has been interpretations and definitions made by the authority, together with a zeal bordering on the fanatical, that have brought the law into some disrepute. An example was the sudden appearance, three years ago, of the Costas in Alcúdia and Playa de Muro and their insistence that all manner of properties or constructions of some description did or could contravene the principle of being influenced by the sea. This principle is one which determines, or can do, if land is in the public domain.
Quite clearly, there has been an awful lot of construction since 1988 that would fall foul of the law, whether it is because the land is public domain or whether it breaches other usually held principles of buildings having to be more than 100 metres from the shoreline and of guaranteeing public access to beaches. In practice, the law was often ignored, and ignored not necessarily through ignorance but quite deliberately. The reform of the Coasts Law, badly needed, in effect will grant an amnesty (it doesn't say this, but this is pretty much what it will amount to). Owners will now be able to sell properties, which they can't at present, and the time limit is to be extended to 75 years. In so extending this limit, the government is basically abandoning the fundamental principle of the 1988 act. It is fudging the whole issue, and by 2063, the coasts of Mallorca and of other parts of Spain will probably have taken on a different appearance in any event, courtesy of the impact of climate change, erosion and rising sea levels.
The environmentalists fear a new free-for-all in coastal construction. They may be right to be fearful, but only up to a point. There is to be a distinction between "natural" beaches and coastlines and "urban" ones. There will be greater flexibility to build on the latter, but this in itself introduces another potential for different interpretation.
The government argues that the new law has to be more open to the demands of tourism, hence, for example, current limits on the size of beach bars being raised significantly. The government has a point, but there again one criticism of Mallorca from tourists has been the over-construction that has already occurred. Whether it is right to be more liberal or not, one thing is for sure, and that is that the Costas Authority will not be as zealous as it previously has been. And this will be no bad thing.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Friday, July 13, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Balearics coach drivers strike of 21/22 July is off
The strike of coach drivers in Mallorca and the Balearics that had been planned for 21 and 22 July has been called off. The strike, which would have affected transfer coaches to and from airports as well as excursions, has been avoided thanks to an agreement by which salaries will rise by a base level of 1% with a further 1% for overtime. The calling-off of the strike ends uncertainties regarding flights, which could have been disrupted because of an inability to move passengers.
MALLORCA TODAY - Spanish rise in value added tax to take effect on 1 September
Initially the Spanish Government had signalled that the rises in IVA (value added tax) could take effect as early as today, then it was likely to be Sunday or Monday. Now it won't be until 1 September. As part of the increase, however, certain products, currently at the reduced 8% rate of IVA, will attract the new standard rate of 21% (up from 18%). These will include the likes of spectacles, funerals, hairdressers, cinema and even discos. The new reduced rate of 10% will still apply to tourism services, e.g. hotels, restaurants, transport, while the super-reduced rate of 4% will continue to apply without any increase to certain basic foodstuffs and books and newspapers. This super-reduced rate will, however, no longer apply, as from 2013, to house purchase, and this will rise to 10%.
Of other measures announced by the government, two are likely to threaten more industrial action - liberalisation of transport services and privatisation of ports and airports.
Of other measures announced by the government, two are likely to threaten more industrial action - liberalisation of transport services and privatisation of ports and airports.
MALLORCA TODAY - Cala Rajada ferry route to Menorca ceases
The port of Alcúdia is set to benefit from the ending of operations by the ferry service to Ciutadella in Menorca from Cala Rajada. The shipping line concerned had entered voluntary bankruptcy but had been operating under a different name until recently.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Mallorca's taxi drivers will support strike on 1 August
The 24-hour national stoppage by taxi drivers will be supported by drivers in Palma. The strike is all about deregulation that, the taxi drivers federation fears, would lead to a free for all in competition from so-called vehicles with drivers for leasing.
More on this story. Taxi driver associations in other parts of Mallorca do now look as though they will support the action as well. One further gripe that the taxis have is with another form of deregulation which will let hotels operate their own services to and from the airport, a move that also rankles with bus services on Mallorca.
More on this story. Taxi driver associations in other parts of Mallorca do now look as though they will support the action as well. One further gripe that the taxis have is with another form of deregulation which will let hotels operate their own services to and from the airport, a move that also rankles with bus services on Mallorca.
MALLORCA TODAY - Coach drivers unions to try again today at arbitration
Talks that went on late into the night at the Balearics arbitration service to try and resolve the dispute that will cause a strike of coach drivers on 21 and 22 July are to resume this morning. Discussions were broken off last night as unions said that the two sides had come to a dead end.
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 13 July 2012
Not the cloud of yesterday, a bright, sunny and quite fresh morning, temperatures ranging from 18.7 to 21.6 in the local area at 07.45. Forecast to be quite hot later - up to 32 - and with a southerly also forecast, this may be accurate, as the temperatures have not reached the predicted ones over the past few days. Weekend - partially cloudy and in the high 20s.
Afternoon update: That old southerly has indeed been a-blowing, bringing in much warmer weather. A high of 31.4C, and rather strangely it has been a high pretty much across the local area, both inland and on the coast, whereas there are normally differences not just between the coast and the interior but also between resorts.
Afternoon update: That old southerly has indeed been a-blowing, bringing in much warmer weather. A high of 31.4C, and rather strangely it has been a high pretty much across the local area, both inland and on the coast, whereas there are normally differences not just between the coast and the interior but also between resorts.
Empire Of The Sun: Balearics poverty
The Spanish word "miseria" can have different meanings. Whichever one you take, they amount to much the same thing. Misery, wretchedness, poverty; they are indistinguishable.
The latest survey of poverty makes the Balearics the fourth poorest region of Spain or, if you prefer your translation, the region which, after the Canaries, Extremadura and Andalucía, is the fourth most miserable and the fourth most wretched. Such a conclusion doesn't do much for all the paradise island guff. It also doesn't do much for the poor who are about to be slammed with a rise in the cost of living because of the increase in IVA. To put this rise in some sort of context, it is estimated that it will cost each household a bit over 700 euros more a year. This in a country where the minimum salary is under 700 (it is in fact around 640 euros per month).
The poverty statistics for the Balearics are bad enough, but if you take them for Spain as a whole, then they are even worse. Spain has the highest index of poverty in the whole of the European Union. And this is a country that is meant to be among the world's richest countries, if only determined by IMF figures for GDP. Yet it isn't surprising. I drew a comparison yesterday with the French minimum salary. This comparison, and comparisons with other European countries, together with their respective general rates of value added tax, are being widely made. There is a very good reason why. Rajoy in his address on Black Wednesday had the brass neck to say that the French rate of VAT was higher than Spain's. Yes, it is, but it won't be once the 21% rate comes in, but more pertinent is the comparative level of income. It is typical for politicians to be economic with their facts, and Rajoy is certainly no different.
The misery and additional poverty that the Spanish Government is about to inflict on the Balearics (and the nation) are not matched by the demeanour of these politicians. The PSOE party locally has gone on Facebook to show a photo of an Italian politician in tears when the announcement had to be made of cuts. It is compared with a truly abhorrent, horrible photo of Rajoy being applauded by members of his cabinet after his address on Wednesday. How dare they? They should hang their heads in shame. Italian politicians could empathise with the misery by being miserable. The Spanish ones can't. They are a disgrace.
In addition to the survey on poverty, another report has been issued. This one calculates that one in four people in the Balearics is at the risk of poverty, a figure that has risen by around 20,000 people in three years. And while this risk increases, the aid, what little there is because Spain isn't particularly generous anyway, is being cut. It is said that the cut to unemployment benefit, another element of the Black Wednesday announcement which Rajoy's cronies were so determined to applaud, will hit the Balearics harder than anywhere because of the dependence upon tourism and therefore the high level of seasonal employment (and unemployment).
The Balearics may not be the worst affected, but if not, this will be because either the Canaries or Andalucía is more affected. Two other regions with the highest levels of poverty, misery and wretchedness.
Yet, how can this all be, some will ask. The wonderful weather, the wonderful lifestyle, the wonderful people, the wonderful ... . Oh, do shut up. It is no coincidence that the Balearics, the Canaries and the region that is home to the Costa del Sol have such high levels of poverty. Each is dependent upon tourism and each employs people on low wages who are finding it increasingly difficult to even obtain employment contracts long enough to enable them to qualify for benefit.
The paradise island line is a facade, a statement of unreality. It is one trotted out by ignorant or smug expatriates who have not the faintest idea. Or one used by visitors who are similarly ignorant. They at least can be excused.
It is the facade, the superficiality of beach lifestyle, of the yacht club, of the golf club, of the doing lunch, of the doing dinner. It is one behind which many can shield themselves. Yet it is a facade that is showing signs of cracking. The Empire of the Sun on the paradise island may not be subject to anything as dramatic as an invasion force turning a world of smug aloofness and parties upside down, but the sun is lowering. It is not going down and never will, but no empire ever lasted.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The latest survey of poverty makes the Balearics the fourth poorest region of Spain or, if you prefer your translation, the region which, after the Canaries, Extremadura and Andalucía, is the fourth most miserable and the fourth most wretched. Such a conclusion doesn't do much for all the paradise island guff. It also doesn't do much for the poor who are about to be slammed with a rise in the cost of living because of the increase in IVA. To put this rise in some sort of context, it is estimated that it will cost each household a bit over 700 euros more a year. This in a country where the minimum salary is under 700 (it is in fact around 640 euros per month).
The poverty statistics for the Balearics are bad enough, but if you take them for Spain as a whole, then they are even worse. Spain has the highest index of poverty in the whole of the European Union. And this is a country that is meant to be among the world's richest countries, if only determined by IMF figures for GDP. Yet it isn't surprising. I drew a comparison yesterday with the French minimum salary. This comparison, and comparisons with other European countries, together with their respective general rates of value added tax, are being widely made. There is a very good reason why. Rajoy in his address on Black Wednesday had the brass neck to say that the French rate of VAT was higher than Spain's. Yes, it is, but it won't be once the 21% rate comes in, but more pertinent is the comparative level of income. It is typical for politicians to be economic with their facts, and Rajoy is certainly no different.
The misery and additional poverty that the Spanish Government is about to inflict on the Balearics (and the nation) are not matched by the demeanour of these politicians. The PSOE party locally has gone on Facebook to show a photo of an Italian politician in tears when the announcement had to be made of cuts. It is compared with a truly abhorrent, horrible photo of Rajoy being applauded by members of his cabinet after his address on Wednesday. How dare they? They should hang their heads in shame. Italian politicians could empathise with the misery by being miserable. The Spanish ones can't. They are a disgrace.
In addition to the survey on poverty, another report has been issued. This one calculates that one in four people in the Balearics is at the risk of poverty, a figure that has risen by around 20,000 people in three years. And while this risk increases, the aid, what little there is because Spain isn't particularly generous anyway, is being cut. It is said that the cut to unemployment benefit, another element of the Black Wednesday announcement which Rajoy's cronies were so determined to applaud, will hit the Balearics harder than anywhere because of the dependence upon tourism and therefore the high level of seasonal employment (and unemployment).
The Balearics may not be the worst affected, but if not, this will be because either the Canaries or Andalucía is more affected. Two other regions with the highest levels of poverty, misery and wretchedness.
Yet, how can this all be, some will ask. The wonderful weather, the wonderful lifestyle, the wonderful people, the wonderful ... . Oh, do shut up. It is no coincidence that the Balearics, the Canaries and the region that is home to the Costa del Sol have such high levels of poverty. Each is dependent upon tourism and each employs people on low wages who are finding it increasingly difficult to even obtain employment contracts long enough to enable them to qualify for benefit.
The paradise island line is a facade, a statement of unreality. It is one trotted out by ignorant or smug expatriates who have not the faintest idea. Or one used by visitors who are similarly ignorant. They at least can be excused.
It is the facade, the superficiality of beach lifestyle, of the yacht club, of the golf club, of the doing lunch, of the doing dinner. It is one behind which many can shield themselves. Yet it is a facade that is showing signs of cracking. The Empire of the Sun on the paradise island may not be subject to anything as dramatic as an invasion force turning a world of smug aloofness and parties upside down, but the sun is lowering. It is not going down and never will, but no empire ever lasted.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Now the taxi drivers plan to strike
Coming on top of the potential disruption in the transport sector because of strikes there is now the possibility that on 1 August taxis might be thin on the ground. The national transport committee's taxi section has called for the 24-hour strike - across Spain and therefore including Mallorca - in protest at planned deregulation of the sector.
MALLORCA TODAY - Balearics coach drivers unions go to arbitration
The four unions at the centre of the threatened strike by coach drivers in the Balearics on 21 and 22 July are to meet today with operators at the Balearics arbitration tribunal. Hope is being expressed that following the calling off strikes by doctors and hotel workers (the latter resolved via arbitration), there could be a similarly successful outcome to this mediation.
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 12 July 2012
23.6C is the local high at 08.00 on a partially cloudy morning. Tomorrow there is likely to be a shift to a southerly, so pushing temperatures over the 30 mark. Today's highs into the upper 20s.
Afternoon update: It got increasingly cloudier this morning but blue skies returned later on a day with comparatively low temperatures - a high of only 24.4C.
Afternoon update: It got increasingly cloudier this morning but blue skies returned later on a day with comparatively low temperatures - a high of only 24.4C.
Black Wednesday: The Spanish VAT increase
I realise that it is an unlikely scenario, but were Mariano Rajoy to come to your front door brandishing an invoice, what would you say to him? And be careful, because if you insult him, you might find that he scurries off and does you for impugning his honour, in the style of the Balearics El Presidente Bauzá ("inútil", "fascista", etc, in the words of union boss and serial insulter Lorenzo Bravo).
For a kick off, you would probably say that the IVA (VAT) he's charging you is going to have to be 18%. "You can date the invoice for before the increase comes in, Mariano (Sunday or Monday). That way, you can make it 18% and not 21%." "Yes, but there's the European Union and the IMF to satisfy. It's got to be later and at 21%." "Sorry, Mariano, either you make it 18% or you can bugger off."
There will be an awful lot of Marianos who discover that whatever invoices they should be raising for this quarter are suddenly being dated in the first week or so of July. Which assumes, of course, that IVA is even being applied; a big assumption. And the assumption will be even greater once the increase comes in. Three more points of IVA to pay. You've got to be joking.
But more fundamentally, the invoice that Mariano comes to the door with would not need IVA being applied. Not because it's being done black, whatever it is, but because there wouldn't be anything in the column for the base amount. You can't charge IVA, be it 18 or 21%, on zero. And zero, which is being generous, is about all that Rajoy's efforts since coming into office are worth.
Poor old Rajoy, you wouldn't wish his problems on your worst enemy, though worst enemy is precisely what Rajoy has become for many people. To the reprehensible and economically dubious use of taxation that isn't progressive, a move designed to lose him even more of his rapidly dwindling number of friends, he has the miners protesting in Madrid, the public workers unions threatening strikes as early as this month and all the other unions looking forward to yet another general strike.
To make things really ducky for Rajoy, he has the Europeans telling him that the Bank of Spain should be granted far more powers. There would be one bright note if this were to happen. He could get rid of at least one of the various of his ministers who seem to all do the same financial/economic/make-numbers-up tasks. As he's getting rid of other bodies in the public service, he may as well shed a minister or several. No one would notice, much as they wouldn't notice if Rajoy were to suddenly disappear in a puff of smoke left behind by the economics of slash and burn.
On top of all this little lot, Rajoy has to contend with the fury of the tourism sector. Let's just remind ourselves, shall we. Which political party, before the last national election, promised to cut the tourist rate of IVA? It wasn't PSOE, so it must have been ... . So it was. It was the Partido Popular and a prime minister who also made a pledge to tackle unemployment. And what better way to do this than hit consumers harder, meaning less of the disposable and therefore less spend, less business and fewer jobs. Or what better way than to load a greater tax burden on the so-called motor of the economy, the tourism sector, thus meaning higher prices, less spend, less business and fewer jobs. (I may question the morality of there being a reduced rate for the tourism sector when mostly everyone else is being slammed with 21%, but in the absence of any other signs of life in the economy, it is just about justifiable.) What better way than to increase IVA in a nation where the minimum salary is half of that in France, so meaning less spend, less business and fewer jobs.
Poor old Rajoy. His apologists will argue that he was sold a complete pup when he became prime minister. It is no argument. He wanted the job, but he should have come clean and said that there was precious little that he could actually do. Except bowing to the demands of the EU.
Originally, it was said the IVA increase would happen tomorrow, Friday the thirteenth. But don't worry about walking under ladders or black cats crossing your paths, because the 21% ton weight is going to fall from the ladder onto you anyway and the cat's about to piss on you. What an absolute bloody mess.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
For a kick off, you would probably say that the IVA (VAT) he's charging you is going to have to be 18%. "You can date the invoice for before the increase comes in, Mariano (Sunday or Monday). That way, you can make it 18% and not 21%." "Yes, but there's the European Union and the IMF to satisfy. It's got to be later and at 21%." "Sorry, Mariano, either you make it 18% or you can bugger off."
There will be an awful lot of Marianos who discover that whatever invoices they should be raising for this quarter are suddenly being dated in the first week or so of July. Which assumes, of course, that IVA is even being applied; a big assumption. And the assumption will be even greater once the increase comes in. Three more points of IVA to pay. You've got to be joking.
But more fundamentally, the invoice that Mariano comes to the door with would not need IVA being applied. Not because it's being done black, whatever it is, but because there wouldn't be anything in the column for the base amount. You can't charge IVA, be it 18 or 21%, on zero. And zero, which is being generous, is about all that Rajoy's efforts since coming into office are worth.
Poor old Rajoy, you wouldn't wish his problems on your worst enemy, though worst enemy is precisely what Rajoy has become for many people. To the reprehensible and economically dubious use of taxation that isn't progressive, a move designed to lose him even more of his rapidly dwindling number of friends, he has the miners protesting in Madrid, the public workers unions threatening strikes as early as this month and all the other unions looking forward to yet another general strike.
To make things really ducky for Rajoy, he has the Europeans telling him that the Bank of Spain should be granted far more powers. There would be one bright note if this were to happen. He could get rid of at least one of the various of his ministers who seem to all do the same financial/economic/make-numbers-up tasks. As he's getting rid of other bodies in the public service, he may as well shed a minister or several. No one would notice, much as they wouldn't notice if Rajoy were to suddenly disappear in a puff of smoke left behind by the economics of slash and burn.
On top of all this little lot, Rajoy has to contend with the fury of the tourism sector. Let's just remind ourselves, shall we. Which political party, before the last national election, promised to cut the tourist rate of IVA? It wasn't PSOE, so it must have been ... . So it was. It was the Partido Popular and a prime minister who also made a pledge to tackle unemployment. And what better way to do this than hit consumers harder, meaning less of the disposable and therefore less spend, less business and fewer jobs. Or what better way than to load a greater tax burden on the so-called motor of the economy, the tourism sector, thus meaning higher prices, less spend, less business and fewer jobs. (I may question the morality of there being a reduced rate for the tourism sector when mostly everyone else is being slammed with 21%, but in the absence of any other signs of life in the economy, it is just about justifiable.) What better way than to increase IVA in a nation where the minimum salary is half of that in France, so meaning less spend, less business and fewer jobs.
Poor old Rajoy. His apologists will argue that he was sold a complete pup when he became prime minister. It is no argument. He wanted the job, but he should have come clean and said that there was precious little that he could actually do. Except bowing to the demands of the EU.
Originally, it was said the IVA increase would happen tomorrow, Friday the thirteenth. But don't worry about walking under ladders or black cats crossing your paths, because the 21% ton weight is going to fall from the ladder onto you anyway and the cat's about to piss on you. What an absolute bloody mess.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - John Hirst trial hears about lavish spending
The continuing trial of John Hirst, who has admitted his involvement in a Ponzi scheme that affected many British expats in Calvià, has heard about his lavish lifestyle, including spending more than ninety thousand pounds on his wedding in Las Vegas.
See more: Huddersfield Daily Examiner
See more: Huddersfield Daily Examiner
MALLORCA TODAY - General rate of IVA in Spain to increase to 21%
Mariano Rajoy has announced the latest round of austerity measures. The general rate of IVA (VAT) is set to rise to 21% from 18%, while the reduced rate for the likes of tourist services will increase from 8% to 10%. The lowest rate for basic necessities (though this does include newspapers) will stay at 4%.
The increases in IVA will come into effect on Friday, 13 July*.
Other measures include a rise in tobacco duty, the elimination of Christmas bonuses for public employees and the scrapping of the deduction on property purchase.
Reactions to the measures: The main unions are looking at calling another general strike. The hotels in the Balearics have called the rise in IVA to 10% a "lethal error". President Bauzá in the Balearics has described the measures as being essential.
* Now being said that the increases will come in on Sunday, 15 or Monday, 16 July.
The increases in IVA will come into effect on Friday, 13 July*.
Other measures include a rise in tobacco duty, the elimination of Christmas bonuses for public employees and the scrapping of the deduction on property purchase.
Reactions to the measures: The main unions are looking at calling another general strike. The hotels in the Balearics have called the rise in IVA to 10% a "lethal error". President Bauzá in the Balearics has described the measures as being essential.
* Now being said that the increases will come in on Sunday, 15 or Monday, 16 July.
MALLORCA TODAY - Changes to Pollensa's Moors and Christians election campaign
You really wouldn't think that the system of campaigning for who gets to play Joan Mas and Dragut at the annual Moors and Christians battle in Pollensa would arouse much by the way of controversy, but there have been complaints in previous years about the length of the campaign and the amount of election literature that gets stuffed distributed. The town hall has, therefore, decided that campaigning will take place only on the day of the election (20 July).
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 11 July 2012
Cloudy, like the forecast had said that it would be, a steamy 25.1C the local high at 08.00. The humidity levels are high at 89%. The cloud should start to shift later.
Afternoon update: Turned out to be far sunnier than had been forecast. A muggy high of 26.5C.
Afternoon update: Turned out to be far sunnier than had been forecast. A muggy high of 26.5C.
The Wheels Go Round: Sports tourism
There's going to be an international fair and forum of tourism and sport in Palma in October. It will be held at the Palma Arena.
I leave these two sentences hanging, and wonder if you can detect anything slightly disconcerting about them. If you can't, well I can. Not for one moment am I suggesting anything untoward when it comes to these October events, but if you put sports forums in Mallorca and the Palma Arena together, you can, were you to so wish, come up with Iñaki Urdangarin, the Duke of Palma. As part of the "caso Palma Arena" corruption investigation, mainly to do with former president Jaume Matas and the money that was spent in the name of the arena, Urdangarin's involvement in the whole affair came initially when it was revealed that his organisation had been issuing the government with invoices relating to international sports forums.
Let's just say that the irony, if that's the right word but probably isn't, of there being a new sports forum and, moreover, being held at the Palma Arena is not lost. Not lost on me, anyway.
The forum, so tourism and sports minister Carlos Delgado says, will form part of the government's strategy in improving tourist products. President Bauzá, accompanying Delgado at the announcement of the forum, adds that, thanks to a benign climate, excellent sports facilities and numerous air links with Europe, sport will lead to all-year tourism. You can't knock his optimism.
One can, I suppose, nit-pick and suggest that the climate isn't always benign. There are more grounds for nit-picking in respect of the numerous air links. When they operate, fine, but when they don't, less fine. One shouldn't nit-pick where the sports facilities are concerned. Mallorca does do these pretty well, and it isn't only the facilities; it is the natural and road environment, hence why Wiggins & Co make the island their base.
One can also nit-pick when it comes to the assertion that, thanks to this forum and fair no doubt, Mallorca will suddenly be blessed with hotels that are all full in winter with sporting types. There already is all-year tourism thanks to sport. Just. The key issue is not that there will be all-year tourism but how much. If Delgado or Bauzá could put a figure on this, then I'm sure we would all be immensely grateful. But then, maybe we have to wait until they have all forumed away in October. Then we'll know. Or not.
As is usually the case with any discussion regarding winter tourism, there is more than a touch of the we've-been-here-before about it all: been here before, many, many times. The mention of Urdangarin is relevant. His forums and anything else it was that he was meant to have been doing in the name of marketing Mallorcan sport and sports tourism hark back to the dark days of Matas' presidency. Several years on and things haven't moved on. Indeed, one might say that they've gone backwards. Back to the future in arranging another forum.
The recent history of attempting to tackle seasonality through sports tourism hasn't been that positive. One initiative, in one resort (Puerto Alcúdia), that of the dreadfully marketed "estación náutica" concept, was meant to extend the season by making it a stipulation of the resort being branded as an estación náutica that certain facilities as well as hotel accommodation had to be open. And has it? Erm, I don't think so. But even if it had, this extension would still have excluded the really fallow months of December, January and February, the latter made more bearable in a sports tourism manner by the arrival of the cyclists.
The truth is that the politicians go round and round like the circular wheels of a bike in vain attempts at cracking the all-year conundrum, forever spinning the rest of us some promise of the new, when new it ain't. And if they really wanted to show solidarity with out-of-season tourism and give a boost to one of those other unlikely saviours of the winter season, conference tourism, why don't they hold the fair and forum in November and not in October, given that October is still in-season and November isn't? Well, why do you think?
An international fair in Mallorca in November. Numerous air links. I'll let these two non-sentences hang, and let you work out what is wrong about them.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
I leave these two sentences hanging, and wonder if you can detect anything slightly disconcerting about them. If you can't, well I can. Not for one moment am I suggesting anything untoward when it comes to these October events, but if you put sports forums in Mallorca and the Palma Arena together, you can, were you to so wish, come up with Iñaki Urdangarin, the Duke of Palma. As part of the "caso Palma Arena" corruption investigation, mainly to do with former president Jaume Matas and the money that was spent in the name of the arena, Urdangarin's involvement in the whole affair came initially when it was revealed that his organisation had been issuing the government with invoices relating to international sports forums.
Let's just say that the irony, if that's the right word but probably isn't, of there being a new sports forum and, moreover, being held at the Palma Arena is not lost. Not lost on me, anyway.
The forum, so tourism and sports minister Carlos Delgado says, will form part of the government's strategy in improving tourist products. President Bauzá, accompanying Delgado at the announcement of the forum, adds that, thanks to a benign climate, excellent sports facilities and numerous air links with Europe, sport will lead to all-year tourism. You can't knock his optimism.
One can, I suppose, nit-pick and suggest that the climate isn't always benign. There are more grounds for nit-picking in respect of the numerous air links. When they operate, fine, but when they don't, less fine. One shouldn't nit-pick where the sports facilities are concerned. Mallorca does do these pretty well, and it isn't only the facilities; it is the natural and road environment, hence why Wiggins & Co make the island their base.
One can also nit-pick when it comes to the assertion that, thanks to this forum and fair no doubt, Mallorca will suddenly be blessed with hotels that are all full in winter with sporting types. There already is all-year tourism thanks to sport. Just. The key issue is not that there will be all-year tourism but how much. If Delgado or Bauzá could put a figure on this, then I'm sure we would all be immensely grateful. But then, maybe we have to wait until they have all forumed away in October. Then we'll know. Or not.
As is usually the case with any discussion regarding winter tourism, there is more than a touch of the we've-been-here-before about it all: been here before, many, many times. The mention of Urdangarin is relevant. His forums and anything else it was that he was meant to have been doing in the name of marketing Mallorcan sport and sports tourism hark back to the dark days of Matas' presidency. Several years on and things haven't moved on. Indeed, one might say that they've gone backwards. Back to the future in arranging another forum.
The recent history of attempting to tackle seasonality through sports tourism hasn't been that positive. One initiative, in one resort (Puerto Alcúdia), that of the dreadfully marketed "estación náutica" concept, was meant to extend the season by making it a stipulation of the resort being branded as an estación náutica that certain facilities as well as hotel accommodation had to be open. And has it? Erm, I don't think so. But even if it had, this extension would still have excluded the really fallow months of December, January and February, the latter made more bearable in a sports tourism manner by the arrival of the cyclists.
The truth is that the politicians go round and round like the circular wheels of a bike in vain attempts at cracking the all-year conundrum, forever spinning the rest of us some promise of the new, when new it ain't. And if they really wanted to show solidarity with out-of-season tourism and give a boost to one of those other unlikely saviours of the winter season, conference tourism, why don't they hold the fair and forum in November and not in October, given that October is still in-season and November isn't? Well, why do you think?
An international fair in Mallorca in November. Numerous air links. I'll let these two non-sentences hang, and let you work out what is wrong about them.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Hostelry workers' strike of 20 July is off
Some good news on the industrial disputes' front. The planned strike by workers in the hostelry sector that had been due to take place on 20 July has been called off after an agreement was reached through the arbitration service with regard to wage levels. This agreement does not affect the planned strike by coach drivers on 21 and 22 July, but it may influence things if the coach drivers' unions were prepared to also submit to arbitration.
MALLORCA TODAY - Supreme Court sides with 80% service level for coach strike
The Balearics Supreme Court has accepted an appeal by the islands' transport federation that an agreement in September 2010 whereby 20% was the minimum level during the general strike then was far too low. It has sided with a demand made last year by the government for an 80% level during the coach drivers' strike in August 2011.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Sa Pobla Jazz Festival 2012 goes ahead
The Sa Pobla Jazz Festival, threatened by a lack of town hall funding with not happening this year, is to go ahead. Local businesses have combined to ensure that the festival happens, though the concerts will not, unlike previously, be free. There will be an entrance charge of three euros.
Programme in English at: http://wotzupnorth.blogspot.com
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Programme in English at: http://wotzupnorth.blogspot.com
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Control of moorings in bay of Pollensa sought
Pollensa town hall is to request that the Costas Authority allows it to take control of moorings across Pollensa bay from the fort to Llenaire as a means of generating revenue from the boats that come into the bay during the summer and also of avoiding the harm caused to the Posidonia sea grass from anchoring. It is looking at the use of floating platforms and at the contracting of a private company to manage the influx of boats.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 10 July 2012
A mainly fine, sunny morning, some haze inland and a local top of 24.7C by 07.30. Warm temperatures heading towards the higher 20s later on. Tomorrow is now forecast to be predominantly cloudy.
Afternoon update: Warmer than the past few days, a high of 28.4C. Still forecast to be cloudy tomorrow and muggy.
Afternoon update: Warmer than the past few days, a high of 28.4C. Still forecast to be cloudy tomorrow and muggy.
Symphony For The Absent
How many of you can say you've had a symphony named after you? Very few, I'd wager. To be eponymous in a symphonic way is a fair old honour, rather like having one's appellation attached to a newly discovered sexually transmitted disease or a boson. New symphonies are, I guess, rather less common than bosons (and presumably, there are enough bosons floating around for everyone on the planet to have millions named after them and not just Professor Higgs), but like models of car, symphonies tend to be given numbers rather than names: the 323i Overture, or some such.
Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, is quite a famous chap. There again, so is David Beckham. Unlike Becks though, Norman has given his name to a symphony (or maybe there is a Beckham Symphony, just that I've never heard of it). Not the Norman Symphony but the Foster's Symphony, and it was unveiled, if one can say that a symphony can be unveiled, on the opening night of the Pollensa Festival.
This is all fair enough, and as Norman Foster is well regarded enough in Spanish circles to have been awarded the Prince of Asturias Award, for a Spanish (Mallorcan) composer to have fostered a symphony also seems fair enough. Despite the prestigiousness, it would appear that it was all rather lost on senior politicians in Mallorca. Perhaps they mistook the name of the symphony for a sponsorship deal, though given that the regional government touts for private-sector support from wherever it can, you would have thought that all the political glitterati would have been flocking to Pollensa. Maybe this was why none of them turned up; when they realised it wasn't a symphony in the name of an Australian lager but some builder chap, they realised they had other engagements.
It is pretty poor form, though, that the regional government couldn't send at least one emissary to greet the world-famous architect. So thin on the ground were the politicos that Lord Foster had to make do with Pollensa's mayor and his number two, the lovely Malena. The absence of the island's rulers has not gone unnoticed, and criticism has been forthcoming, as also has criticism for the fact that music critics were shunted into a part of the Sant Domingo cloister where they couldn't see very well.
I could have been one of these music critics in that I could have taken advantage of an open freebie invitation to pitch up at any of the festival's events, but as I am not a music critic (not of the classical genre, at any rate), then this would have been a case of taking freeloading a bit too far. It's just as well. My review would probably have been along the more-enjoyment-from-watching-paint-dry variety line, but then I am a Philistine. What little I have been able to see and hear of the grand occasion is rather illuminating, however. Not the music, but all the empty seats in the front rows. Perhaps they had been reserved for members of the Balearic Government.
The criticism of the non-attendance is valid. Disrespect might be stretching it, but Norman Foster is an important figure, important enough for him to have received the honour from Crown-Prince Felipe. Perhaps the politicos are reserving a trip to the festival if Queen Sofia attends, which she often does, but it wasn't only Lord Foster who was being neglected, it was the composer and the artistic director of the festival, Joan Valent, and Lord Foster's wife, Elena Ochoa, who is a pretty serious name in her own right. Her involvement in the arts, which extends to a gallery in Madrid and to her having founded the Ivory Press and launched the highly regarded "C International Photo Magazine", made her as significant an attendee as her husband, given the broader arts basis of this year's festival.
There was some bad blood between the town hall and the government following last year's funding debacle for the festival, but it had seemed as though things had moved on, and moved on in the right direction with the government's involvement shifting from the tourism ministry to the culture ministry, and the government had been represented at the festival's press launch. It is a bit of a mystery, therefore, why no member of the government was there to greet Lord Foster.
It should have been an occasion on which to at least show some official support for the festival, but no, the government blew it. When Valent composes further symphonies, it is unlikely he will name any after Balearics politicians.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, is quite a famous chap. There again, so is David Beckham. Unlike Becks though, Norman has given his name to a symphony (or maybe there is a Beckham Symphony, just that I've never heard of it). Not the Norman Symphony but the Foster's Symphony, and it was unveiled, if one can say that a symphony can be unveiled, on the opening night of the Pollensa Festival.
This is all fair enough, and as Norman Foster is well regarded enough in Spanish circles to have been awarded the Prince of Asturias Award, for a Spanish (Mallorcan) composer to have fostered a symphony also seems fair enough. Despite the prestigiousness, it would appear that it was all rather lost on senior politicians in Mallorca. Perhaps they mistook the name of the symphony for a sponsorship deal, though given that the regional government touts for private-sector support from wherever it can, you would have thought that all the political glitterati would have been flocking to Pollensa. Maybe this was why none of them turned up; when they realised it wasn't a symphony in the name of an Australian lager but some builder chap, they realised they had other engagements.
It is pretty poor form, though, that the regional government couldn't send at least one emissary to greet the world-famous architect. So thin on the ground were the politicos that Lord Foster had to make do with Pollensa's mayor and his number two, the lovely Malena. The absence of the island's rulers has not gone unnoticed, and criticism has been forthcoming, as also has criticism for the fact that music critics were shunted into a part of the Sant Domingo cloister where they couldn't see very well.
I could have been one of these music critics in that I could have taken advantage of an open freebie invitation to pitch up at any of the festival's events, but as I am not a music critic (not of the classical genre, at any rate), then this would have been a case of taking freeloading a bit too far. It's just as well. My review would probably have been along the more-enjoyment-from-watching-paint-dry variety line, but then I am a Philistine. What little I have been able to see and hear of the grand occasion is rather illuminating, however. Not the music, but all the empty seats in the front rows. Perhaps they had been reserved for members of the Balearic Government.
The criticism of the non-attendance is valid. Disrespect might be stretching it, but Norman Foster is an important figure, important enough for him to have received the honour from Crown-Prince Felipe. Perhaps the politicos are reserving a trip to the festival if Queen Sofia attends, which she often does, but it wasn't only Lord Foster who was being neglected, it was the composer and the artistic director of the festival, Joan Valent, and Lord Foster's wife, Elena Ochoa, who is a pretty serious name in her own right. Her involvement in the arts, which extends to a gallery in Madrid and to her having founded the Ivory Press and launched the highly regarded "C International Photo Magazine", made her as significant an attendee as her husband, given the broader arts basis of this year's festival.
There was some bad blood between the town hall and the government following last year's funding debacle for the festival, but it had seemed as though things had moved on, and moved on in the right direction with the government's involvement shifting from the tourism ministry to the culture ministry, and the government had been represented at the festival's press launch. It is a bit of a mystery, therefore, why no member of the government was there to greet Lord Foster.
It should have been an occasion on which to at least show some official support for the festival, but no, the government blew it. When Valent composes further symphonies, it is unlikely he will name any after Balearics politicians.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, July 09, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Bauzá says there will be no increase in tourist IVA rate
Following a meeting with Cristóbal Montoro, the national government treasury minister, Balearics President José Ramón Bauzá says that there will be no increase in the tourist rate of IVA (VAT) from 8%.
MALLORCA TODAY - Puerto Pollensa's parking meters
Must be a slow news period if the story of the blue parking zones and parking meters returning to Puerto Pollensa can feature. There again, it does seem to have taken longer to get it all finished than was expected. The blue zones will apply until October, and the green zones for residents, as previously reported, will not be introduced until next year.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 9 July 2012
Cloudy morning, 23.8C at 08.30. Meant to clear up and produce totally blue skies with highs towards the 30s. The forecast for the week is for sun and up to 30C.
Afternoon update: The cloud lingered until the afternoon and once it went the temperature moved up, giving a day's high (inland) of 27.2C; cooler on the coasts, as is usual.
Afternoon update: The cloud lingered until the afternoon and once it went the temperature moved up, giving a day's high (inland) of 27.2C; cooler on the coasts, as is usual.
Who Wants To Be A Mallorcan Citizen?
There is a test of UK citizenship, courtesy of "The Guardian". It is in fact more a test of British history, so being a degree historian and keen to see if I could remember anything from the factoids with which I was bombarded at school or from Eric Evans' lectures on the Great Reform Act while at university, I duly took the plunge. Not bad as it turned out. 13 out of 15. I slipped up on when English laws were first imposed on the Welsh and the type of skilled workers who didn't come to England in large numbers from Europe in the Middle Ages. I feel I can be excused these errors. Like all of you, I would have thought that the English laws would have been in the wake of Owain Glyndwr, while the real boom in canal building, and therefore demand for canal builders (so I reckoned) was a product of the Industrial Revolution. Still, I feel suitably British, or UKish, as a result of my 13 correct answers.
I imagine that anyone from, for sake of argument Uzbekistan, who was to undergo such a test wouldn't have a clue as to answers to most of these questions and nor would they care. (I'm assuming that the relationship between England and Wales in Tudor times is not high up on the Uzbek school curriculum.) An altogether more relevant test would feature a multiple choice to name the judges on "X Factor" or Premier League football stadia which haven't been named after Middle Eastern airlines.
I feel sorry for all the Uzbeks lining up with their passport application forms and being subjected to such irrelevant questions as who were the people who worked the land under the feudal system. It's not as though most Brits, except by luck, would come up with the right answers. Were I to take the test to a local Bar Brit and subject the owners and punters to the test, I doubt that the results would be terribly convincing. So unconvincing would they be that passport control in Palma airport would be fully entitled to confiscate passports.
The test is like a bar quiz night and, as with bar quizzes wherever they might be, bickering as to the answers would reduce the whole exercise to an argument and probably a fist fight. It's unlikely you would get past question one - which countries make up "Great Britain"? - without there being a huge row, as in the significance of "Great" (once having ruled the waves versus simply big).
On the assumption that many a Brit attempting travel from Mallorca would be rendered stateless by the withdrawal of their passports, might they be able to apply for a Mallorcan citizenship? Well, there is clearly one problem with this, i.e. Mallorca isn't a state, but were it to be, what would comprise its citizenship test?
I had thought to set you all a test, but then all you would do would be to go onto Google and produce results that would suggest you were all called Miquel Cifre (like 90% of Mallorcans are; males that is, the females are Cati), so instead I shall merely raise some possibilities, to which you are more than welcome to add your own.
There would have to be some history in this test, there's no getting away from it, and so who better to feature than Ramon Llull. And he was? If you live in Mallorca and you don't know, then forget the citizenship. He is only the single most important person in Mallorca's history, except possibly King Jaume I. And why was Jaume important?
But such historical questions are, as in the UK, of only limited relevance. Far more relevant are those baffling ones to do with the modern day - How is it that there are so many looky-looky men? Are there such things as rules regarding how you negotiate a roundabout, and if so what are they? Are there such things as rules for pedestrians crossing a road, regardless of whether it's a pedestrian crossing or not? Are there such things as rules for unaccompanied dogs crossing roads? Is it obligatory to have to be able to shout when you speak in Mallorca?
Being able to answer any of these may entitle you to Mallorcan citizenship. However, there is a further slight problem, which is that, with the exception of the last question (the answer to which is yes), no Mallorcan would know the answer or even have thought of the question in the first place. My advice, therefore, is stick to the UK citizenship but be sure to brush up on your knowledge of the feudal system.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
I imagine that anyone from, for sake of argument Uzbekistan, who was to undergo such a test wouldn't have a clue as to answers to most of these questions and nor would they care. (I'm assuming that the relationship between England and Wales in Tudor times is not high up on the Uzbek school curriculum.) An altogether more relevant test would feature a multiple choice to name the judges on "X Factor" or Premier League football stadia which haven't been named after Middle Eastern airlines.
I feel sorry for all the Uzbeks lining up with their passport application forms and being subjected to such irrelevant questions as who were the people who worked the land under the feudal system. It's not as though most Brits, except by luck, would come up with the right answers. Were I to take the test to a local Bar Brit and subject the owners and punters to the test, I doubt that the results would be terribly convincing. So unconvincing would they be that passport control in Palma airport would be fully entitled to confiscate passports.
The test is like a bar quiz night and, as with bar quizzes wherever they might be, bickering as to the answers would reduce the whole exercise to an argument and probably a fist fight. It's unlikely you would get past question one - which countries make up "Great Britain"? - without there being a huge row, as in the significance of "Great" (once having ruled the waves versus simply big).
On the assumption that many a Brit attempting travel from Mallorca would be rendered stateless by the withdrawal of their passports, might they be able to apply for a Mallorcan citizenship? Well, there is clearly one problem with this, i.e. Mallorca isn't a state, but were it to be, what would comprise its citizenship test?
I had thought to set you all a test, but then all you would do would be to go onto Google and produce results that would suggest you were all called Miquel Cifre (like 90% of Mallorcans are; males that is, the females are Cati), so instead I shall merely raise some possibilities, to which you are more than welcome to add your own.
There would have to be some history in this test, there's no getting away from it, and so who better to feature than Ramon Llull. And he was? If you live in Mallorca and you don't know, then forget the citizenship. He is only the single most important person in Mallorca's history, except possibly King Jaume I. And why was Jaume important?
But such historical questions are, as in the UK, of only limited relevance. Far more relevant are those baffling ones to do with the modern day - How is it that there are so many looky-looky men? Are there such things as rules regarding how you negotiate a roundabout, and if so what are they? Are there such things as rules for pedestrians crossing a road, regardless of whether it's a pedestrian crossing or not? Are there such things as rules for unaccompanied dogs crossing roads? Is it obligatory to have to be able to shout when you speak in Mallorca?
Being able to answer any of these may entitle you to Mallorcan citizenship. However, there is a further slight problem, which is that, with the exception of the last question (the answer to which is yes), no Mallorcan would know the answer or even have thought of the question in the first place. My advice, therefore, is stick to the UK citizenship but be sure to brush up on your knowledge of the feudal system.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Sunday, July 08, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Strikes in the Balearics - Update information 8 July 2012
As of today, 8 July, there are three industrial actions due to take place in Mallorca and the Balearics in the next couple of weeks which may affect tourists while on holiday or disrupt travel arrangements.
Hostelry workers' strike. This is scheduled for 20 July and would affect workers in hotels and in restaurants. The dispute is over pay and conditions. The current status with the dispute is that a further meeting of the arbitration tribunal is scheduled for Tuesday, 10 July to see if a resolution can be found.
Transunión public transport bus drivers. Transunión operates some public transport services, most obviously in Pollensa. Drivers are due to strike on 16 and 17 July over non-payment of salaries, the result of Transunión having not received subsidies owed by the regional government.
Coach drivers' strike. This is separate to the Transunión dispute, though the company will also be caught up in this action as it is a major operator of coach services. This strike is due to take place on 21 and 22 July and is also over pay and conditions. There is, at present, no news of any attempt by the arbitration service to intervene, though this cannot be ruled out and may well depend upon the outcome of the hostelry workers' arbitration. The action would have greater impact than the others in that it would affect transfers to and from airports and ports as well as excursions. Tour operator coach services and private operators would both be affected.
In addition to transfers, the strike, if it goes ahead, could well disrupt flights. Without the means to move passengers, airlines may be forced to cancel. There are, as yet however, no notices coming from the airlines to this effect and nor are there any notices from ABTA, the Foreign Office or tour operators. It should be emphasised that the strike could be called off.
Alternatives to transfer coaches are limited. There are of course taxi services as well as public bus services, but both would be stretched way beyond an ability to cope were there were to be no transfer coaches or only limited numbers.
If you are scheduled to travel to or from Mallorca or the other Balearic Islands on 21 and 22 July, you should keep in regular contact with your tour operator or agent and/or airline. For anyone who has made a booking with a transfer agency, you should also keep regular contact with it in order to check the current situation.
Further information, as and when available, will be posted to this blog and to Twitter @alcudiapollensa
Hostelry workers' strike. This is scheduled for 20 July and would affect workers in hotels and in restaurants. The dispute is over pay and conditions. The current status with the dispute is that a further meeting of the arbitration tribunal is scheduled for Tuesday, 10 July to see if a resolution can be found.
Transunión public transport bus drivers. Transunión operates some public transport services, most obviously in Pollensa. Drivers are due to strike on 16 and 17 July over non-payment of salaries, the result of Transunión having not received subsidies owed by the regional government.
Coach drivers' strike. This is separate to the Transunión dispute, though the company will also be caught up in this action as it is a major operator of coach services. This strike is due to take place on 21 and 22 July and is also over pay and conditions. There is, at present, no news of any attempt by the arbitration service to intervene, though this cannot be ruled out and may well depend upon the outcome of the hostelry workers' arbitration. The action would have greater impact than the others in that it would affect transfers to and from airports and ports as well as excursions. Tour operator coach services and private operators would both be affected.
In addition to transfers, the strike, if it goes ahead, could well disrupt flights. Without the means to move passengers, airlines may be forced to cancel. There are, as yet however, no notices coming from the airlines to this effect and nor are there any notices from ABTA, the Foreign Office or tour operators. It should be emphasised that the strike could be called off.
Alternatives to transfer coaches are limited. There are of course taxi services as well as public bus services, but both would be stretched way beyond an ability to cope were there were to be no transfer coaches or only limited numbers.
If you are scheduled to travel to or from Mallorca or the other Balearic Islands on 21 and 22 July, you should keep in regular contact with your tour operator or agent and/or airline. For anyone who has made a booking with a transfer agency, you should also keep regular contact with it in order to check the current situation.
Further information, as and when available, will be posted to this blog and to Twitter @alcudiapollensa
MALLORCA TODAY - Yet another British balcony fall in Magalluf
The report of the fall from a balcony at a hotel in Magalluf of a 17-year-old British tourist says it all and describes what is often the pattern: tourist arrives, gets drunk and then falls from balcony. Very often these incidents do occur only hours after arrival in Mallorca. The tourist's fall was not fatal but could have been. The police say that alcohol is wreaking havoc in resorts such as Magalluf.
Meanwhile, this may not be the most responsible thing ever done, given all the publicity regarding balcony diving, but at least the Kaiser Chiefs' Ricky Wilson's jump into the pool at Ibiza Rocks was from a low balcony and the pool was right below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evRutehxMeI
See more: Ultima Hora
Meanwhile, this may not be the most responsible thing ever done, given all the publicity regarding balcony diving, but at least the Kaiser Chiefs' Ricky Wilson's jump into the pool at Ibiza Rocks was from a low balcony and the pool was right below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evRutehxMeI
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 8 July 2012
Hazy look to the morning, a humid high of 23.3C locally. Should be getting up to the 30 mark later, but the past couple of days suggest not. Tomorrow may be somewhat cloudy, the rest of the week looking clear and warm with temperatures in the upper 20s or higher.
Afternoon update: Not surprisingly, the highs have been lower than the forecast suggested. The best has been 26.3C inland and 25.8C on the coast. The weather is currently in one of those patterns that means it's not glorious blue skies but partially hazy with unspectacular temperatures.
Afternoon update: Not surprisingly, the highs have been lower than the forecast suggested. The best has been 26.3C inland and 25.8C on the coast. The weather is currently in one of those patterns that means it's not glorious blue skies but partially hazy with unspectacular temperatures.
Out Of Sight: Public toilets
"The loo, the bog, the crapper, the pit, the dunny. Powder my nose, point Percy at the porcelain, visit the little boys’ room.
The toilet is an institution in British and Anglo-Saxon consciousness. Different parts of Britain offer different motifs for the place and the act, as do different parts of the US and Australia. The toilet, for all that it represents, at its base level, merely defecation and micturition, is democracy in action, or perhaps in motion. It is a symbol of equality, founded on bodily function. The toilet, especially the public toilet, is ingrained in British culture and British psyche. The late Marcus Merriman, an ebullient history professor at my university, wrote about the public toilet. More noted for his work on Mary Queen of Scots, this Anglophile American was nonetheless impressed enough by the English (and British) affinity with the public loo and its architecture to direct research into such a study. And rightly so. Though the magnificent glazed tiling of, for instance, London’s old Victorian stations has been widely vandalised by the arrival of sanitised whitewash and aluminium, the WC remains a visible sign of a history of public hygiene. But more than just a symbol, the public loo is a Briton’s right. Even if no relief is consciously required, a public toilet suddenly evokes a brain-to-bladder-or-bowel reaction that demands one “just nips to the loo”.
In Mallorca, there is no such heritage. If a national emblem of Great Britain were to be a public privy, the Mallorcan equivalent would be a tree or a wooded place, adorned preferably with an abundance of dock leaves. Or alternatively, it would be a bar or restaurant.
Need a public loo in Mallorca? Generally impossible. List three of the most frequent questions asked of tourist information offices, and among them will be “where’s the loo?”. The absence causes disorientation for the British tourist, used to getting a spatial bearing through the location of the nearest lav. For some, the non-availability is a sign of backwardness. Forget the preserved and restored historical monuments, the well-constructed and attractive marinas and promenades. These are nought in terms of achievement when set against the lack of a public pisser."
I wrote the foregoing five years ago, but felt it germane to reproduce it in honour of Palma town hall's debate as to the establishment of public lavs. It was the bit about preserved and restored historical monuments that I was reminded of when it emerged that the Association for the Revitalisation of Historic Centres had lobbied the town hall to ensure that any public lavs wouldn't actually be public. The association does not want the sight of WCs vulgarising or banalising old parts of Palma, and nor does the organisation overseeing Palma's grandiose 365 tourism plan.
As a consequence of this lobbying and of the ongoing debate, the town hall has decided to drop the idea of there being loos very obviously dotted around the city. Instead, the council is looking at the idea of housing loos in car parks. There will be loos, just that you won't be bumping into one as you make your way, for example, to the Cathedral's entrance. No vulgar toilets for us please, we're Mallorcan.
The conspicuous absence of the public loo raises the question as to why it is so rare in Mallorca. The reasons, one suspects, lie with hygiene issues in the past and also with the abundant supply of bars and cafés. It may well have been the case that bars were expected to double up as public loos, regardless of whether someone desperate for a leak bought anything, but it is no longer the case that bars willingly allow anyone to wander in off the street in order to make a pit-stop without also forking out for a drink that will demand that the same person has to then make a further bar pit-stop and go through the whole rigmarole again.
Some public loos have appeared in the past few years. One such is on the promenade in Puerto Alcúdia. While hackles are raised in Puerto Pollensa about the unsightliness of wooden cabins for nautical businesses to sell their services, no one much objected to the sudden appearance of some wooden loos in Alcúdia. When they were first put up, I did take a look inside the gents. I didn't actually go in, and nor did I need to. Had I needed to, I wouldn't have done. One trusts it doesn't have quite the same whiff that it used to have.
The merits of a public lavatory are no longer determined by their architectural design. The merits are purely to do with whether they are kept in sanitary conditions. One presumes that Palma town hall will ensure that they are, whichever car parks they end up in. The lobby against them being publicly visible was reasonable enough. The Brits may have been brought up with the public loo in highly visible locations, but there is much to be said for the fact that the loo, while not out of mind, should be out of sight.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The toilet is an institution in British and Anglo-Saxon consciousness. Different parts of Britain offer different motifs for the place and the act, as do different parts of the US and Australia. The toilet, for all that it represents, at its base level, merely defecation and micturition, is democracy in action, or perhaps in motion. It is a symbol of equality, founded on bodily function. The toilet, especially the public toilet, is ingrained in British culture and British psyche. The late Marcus Merriman, an ebullient history professor at my university, wrote about the public toilet. More noted for his work on Mary Queen of Scots, this Anglophile American was nonetheless impressed enough by the English (and British) affinity with the public loo and its architecture to direct research into such a study. And rightly so. Though the magnificent glazed tiling of, for instance, London’s old Victorian stations has been widely vandalised by the arrival of sanitised whitewash and aluminium, the WC remains a visible sign of a history of public hygiene. But more than just a symbol, the public loo is a Briton’s right. Even if no relief is consciously required, a public toilet suddenly evokes a brain-to-bladder-or-bowel reaction that demands one “just nips to the loo”.
In Mallorca, there is no such heritage. If a national emblem of Great Britain were to be a public privy, the Mallorcan equivalent would be a tree or a wooded place, adorned preferably with an abundance of dock leaves. Or alternatively, it would be a bar or restaurant.
Need a public loo in Mallorca? Generally impossible. List three of the most frequent questions asked of tourist information offices, and among them will be “where’s the loo?”. The absence causes disorientation for the British tourist, used to getting a spatial bearing through the location of the nearest lav. For some, the non-availability is a sign of backwardness. Forget the preserved and restored historical monuments, the well-constructed and attractive marinas and promenades. These are nought in terms of achievement when set against the lack of a public pisser."
I wrote the foregoing five years ago, but felt it germane to reproduce it in honour of Palma town hall's debate as to the establishment of public lavs. It was the bit about preserved and restored historical monuments that I was reminded of when it emerged that the Association for the Revitalisation of Historic Centres had lobbied the town hall to ensure that any public lavs wouldn't actually be public. The association does not want the sight of WCs vulgarising or banalising old parts of Palma, and nor does the organisation overseeing Palma's grandiose 365 tourism plan.
As a consequence of this lobbying and of the ongoing debate, the town hall has decided to drop the idea of there being loos very obviously dotted around the city. Instead, the council is looking at the idea of housing loos in car parks. There will be loos, just that you won't be bumping into one as you make your way, for example, to the Cathedral's entrance. No vulgar toilets for us please, we're Mallorcan.
The conspicuous absence of the public loo raises the question as to why it is so rare in Mallorca. The reasons, one suspects, lie with hygiene issues in the past and also with the abundant supply of bars and cafés. It may well have been the case that bars were expected to double up as public loos, regardless of whether someone desperate for a leak bought anything, but it is no longer the case that bars willingly allow anyone to wander in off the street in order to make a pit-stop without also forking out for a drink that will demand that the same person has to then make a further bar pit-stop and go through the whole rigmarole again.
Some public loos have appeared in the past few years. One such is on the promenade in Puerto Alcúdia. While hackles are raised in Puerto Pollensa about the unsightliness of wooden cabins for nautical businesses to sell their services, no one much objected to the sudden appearance of some wooden loos in Alcúdia. When they were first put up, I did take a look inside the gents. I didn't actually go in, and nor did I need to. Had I needed to, I wouldn't have done. One trusts it doesn't have quite the same whiff that it used to have.
The merits of a public lavatory are no longer determined by their architectural design. The merits are purely to do with whether they are kept in sanitary conditions. One presumes that Palma town hall will ensure that they are, whichever car parks they end up in. The lobby against them being publicly visible was reasonable enough. The Brits may have been brought up with the public loo in highly visible locations, but there is much to be said for the fact that the loo, while not out of mind, should be out of sight.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, July 07, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Norman Foster snubbed at Pollensa Festival
Sir Norman Foster, the British architect, after whom a new symphony to launch this year's Pollensa Festival was named, was not greeted by any members of the regional government when he appeared to hear the symphony at Pollensa's Sant Domingo yesterday. And as for the performance itself, well, if the video is anything to go by, it wasn't exactly packed. Maybe it's just because the expensive seats are at the front or maybe the festival is, after all, an exercise in elitism that has less than broad appeal: http://ultimahora.es/mallorca/video/sinfonia-foster-festival-pollen-a.html
See more: El Mundo
See more: El Mundo
MALLORCA TODAY - Opposition concerns over Sa Pobla rail line
The rumours regarding the possible closure of the rail line from Inca to Sa Pobla have provoked opposition parties into expressing their concerns at the possibility and at the deterioration in service on the line. Rather than closure, these parties have called for the possible extension to Alcúdia to be reconsidered.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Manacor loses all its blue flags
While Pollensa has attracted most of the publicity regarding the loss of blue flags for its beaches, spare a thought for Manacor. In 2009, the town had a total of ten blue flags (way more than Pollensa has ever had or could have), but now it hasn't got any.
There has been a case of low water quality and other cases of a lack of services, but there is also the fact that demands made on some really quite small beaches are considered to be ridiculous by the town hall.
And one has to agree. The whole blue flag system has got completely out of hand. People should ignore it and maybe it might go away and take its self-important bureaucratic insistence with it.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
There has been a case of low water quality and other cases of a lack of services, but there is also the fact that demands made on some really quite small beaches are considered to be ridiculous by the town hall.
And one has to agree. The whole blue flag system has got completely out of hand. People should ignore it and maybe it might go away and take its self-important bureaucratic insistence with it.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Different method for tackling the palm beetle
The spraying of palm trees to try and kill off the destructive palm beetle is often not as effective as it might be because of the wind. An expert has come up with an alternative method which essentially impregnates trees and which is said to be less expensive as well.
One might add that this method would probably be better for everyone's health. The spraying of the trees can certainly provoke some negative respiratory reaction.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
One might add that this method would probably be better for everyone's health. The spraying of the trees can certainly provoke some negative respiratory reaction.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Garcia votes against PP in Alcúdia
Carme Garcia, the so-called "turncoat" who sided with the Partido Popular after last year's elections and so left the PSM Mallorcan socialists, has voted against the PP on a number of issues, meaning that the mayor's party has failed to get its way on, for example, supporting the regional government over its health policies. Garcia did side with the PP at yesterday's meeting in order that support was given to the solar-energy plant in Alcúdia.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 7 July 2012
Apart from a spot of cloud above the mountains, clear skies and temperatures the area between 19.3C and 22.4C at 08.15. Expected to be warmer than yesterday's mild high of just below 25 degrees, with southerly air producing values of 30 - perhaps. Very high humidity in parts early on (up to 96%).
Afternoon update: The forecast was not accurate. Coastal high of 25.5C, a bit higher inland.
Afternoon update: The forecast was not accurate. Coastal high of 25.5C, a bit higher inland.
All The Nice Girls Love A Sailor
Hetty King was her name. In 1909 Hetty took the world of the music hall by storm and all the nice girls loved a sailor, primarily because a sailor had a pocketful of cash and a parrot in a cage. Quite what the parrot had to do with anything, I'm not sure. Be this as it may, back in Hetty's day, the loving of a sailor probably didn't usually extend to his going downstairs on a first date, or on any date come to that.
The Virgen del Carmen fiesta in Puerto Pollensa will this year feature a sailors' party. All the nice and not so nice girls will have the chance to love a sailor as will, one supposes, all the nice boys. But Hetty would never have sung about such things, while the chances of there being a genuine virgin over the age of consent at the Virgen fiesta would be pretty slim, one imagines. Not that it follows that a nice girl has, by definition, to be a virgin, though presumably Hetty would have preferred this to be the case.
While sexual behaviour has changed over the past 103 years, so has music. Thankfully, there is no longer the music hall. As Alexei Sayle once put it - "Friends often ask me, 'Lex, why's there no music hall any longer?', and I tell them, 'because it was crap' ". Yet fiesta music still retains some semblance of the traditional. And in a Mallorcan stylie, this means men with bagpipe things and whistley things and a brass band. Yes really, 'appen, the brass band.
Far less traditional are the fiesta DJs. These come in different guises. Regrettably, there are some who seem to think that they are the Hairy Cornflake or Ooh, Gary Davies, as they insist on going all retro and dragging out your favourite discs of the '70s (of which, let's be honest, there can be very few). Better news comes in the form of the current-day DJ, mashing-up, sound clashing, making one hell of a racket and applying so much bass that a tsunami in the nearby bay is threatened.
Better news musically, but not better news if you happen to want a good night's sleep and are anywhere in the vicinity of the sailors' party that will last until five in the morning.
This party, revived this year, was a previous tradition of Virgen del Carmen. Its new incarnation, going as a sailor, is simply a thematic device; the party itself is not new. And staging a party that goes on all night slap bang in the middle of a town is also not new or original. Most places in Mallorca indulge in such parties at least once a year; more often, if you are really lucky or unlucky, depending on your point of view, your age probably, your need for sleep or your need to be up at six o'clock to go to work.
The thing with these parties is that there appears to be a view that everyone welcomes them and will want to join in. Current-day DJs might mean that not everyone does. While I happen to think they are a great idea, I also don't happen to live anywhere near where one occurs. I still might think they were a great idea if I did, but then I might also not think they were.
While the night parties are common enough across Mallorca at fiesta time, there has been an increase in the trouble that they attract. Excessive drinking, anti-social behaviour, e.g. taking a leak in the square, and violence have dogged some. Pollensa town has experienced problems and so, most obviously, has Sa Pobla; the Districte 54 party has been dropped again this year, mainly for cost reasons, but it led to all manner of incidents last year having been banned by the previous town hall administration because of the potential ASBO-ism.
Holding an all-night party in an urban setting, be it the town square or wherever, is bound not to meet with everyone's approval. One can argue that, well, it is just one night, but in Pollensa, for example, it isn't. Or hasn't been. There is just the slight hint of double standards about such parties in that there is so much insistence otherwise on limiting noise, or at least trying to.
These misgivings notwithstanding, they are a good thing. They are a real expression of a Mallorcan summer, and the island would be a worse place without them. Noise is an inevitable by-product of summer and especially of a summer where tourism is so central and where the fiesta is also so central.
All the nice girls will love a sailor, come next Saturday night. One hopes that they will still be loving the sailor when he has had more than his fair share of rum and when he starts to think about getting the parrot out of the cage.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The Virgen del Carmen fiesta in Puerto Pollensa will this year feature a sailors' party. All the nice and not so nice girls will have the chance to love a sailor as will, one supposes, all the nice boys. But Hetty would never have sung about such things, while the chances of there being a genuine virgin over the age of consent at the Virgen fiesta would be pretty slim, one imagines. Not that it follows that a nice girl has, by definition, to be a virgin, though presumably Hetty would have preferred this to be the case.
While sexual behaviour has changed over the past 103 years, so has music. Thankfully, there is no longer the music hall. As Alexei Sayle once put it - "Friends often ask me, 'Lex, why's there no music hall any longer?', and I tell them, 'because it was crap' ". Yet fiesta music still retains some semblance of the traditional. And in a Mallorcan stylie, this means men with bagpipe things and whistley things and a brass band. Yes really, 'appen, the brass band.
Far less traditional are the fiesta DJs. These come in different guises. Regrettably, there are some who seem to think that they are the Hairy Cornflake or Ooh, Gary Davies, as they insist on going all retro and dragging out your favourite discs of the '70s (of which, let's be honest, there can be very few). Better news comes in the form of the current-day DJ, mashing-up, sound clashing, making one hell of a racket and applying so much bass that a tsunami in the nearby bay is threatened.
Better news musically, but not better news if you happen to want a good night's sleep and are anywhere in the vicinity of the sailors' party that will last until five in the morning.
This party, revived this year, was a previous tradition of Virgen del Carmen. Its new incarnation, going as a sailor, is simply a thematic device; the party itself is not new. And staging a party that goes on all night slap bang in the middle of a town is also not new or original. Most places in Mallorca indulge in such parties at least once a year; more often, if you are really lucky or unlucky, depending on your point of view, your age probably, your need for sleep or your need to be up at six o'clock to go to work.
The thing with these parties is that there appears to be a view that everyone welcomes them and will want to join in. Current-day DJs might mean that not everyone does. While I happen to think they are a great idea, I also don't happen to live anywhere near where one occurs. I still might think they were a great idea if I did, but then I might also not think they were.
While the night parties are common enough across Mallorca at fiesta time, there has been an increase in the trouble that they attract. Excessive drinking, anti-social behaviour, e.g. taking a leak in the square, and violence have dogged some. Pollensa town has experienced problems and so, most obviously, has Sa Pobla; the Districte 54 party has been dropped again this year, mainly for cost reasons, but it led to all manner of incidents last year having been banned by the previous town hall administration because of the potential ASBO-ism.
Holding an all-night party in an urban setting, be it the town square or wherever, is bound not to meet with everyone's approval. One can argue that, well, it is just one night, but in Pollensa, for example, it isn't. Or hasn't been. There is just the slight hint of double standards about such parties in that there is so much insistence otherwise on limiting noise, or at least trying to.
These misgivings notwithstanding, they are a good thing. They are a real expression of a Mallorcan summer, and the island would be a worse place without them. Noise is an inevitable by-product of summer and especially of a summer where tourism is so central and where the fiesta is also so central.
All the nice girls will love a sailor, come next Saturday night. One hopes that they will still be loving the sailor when he has had more than his fair share of rum and when he starts to think about getting the parrot out of the cage.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, July 06, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Castro: the first political casualty of the Balearic Government?
Balearic health minister Carmen Castro has resigned, citing personal reasons. They often are personal reasons, but the resignation comes a few days after an insistence that there wouldn't be any reshuffling of the cabinet and amidst ongoing problems with the local health service, such as the doctors' dispute, now partially resolved, as well as the various cuts to services. Is Castro more a casualty of the government's policies? Whatever, her resignation leaves a PP-run government without a female member of its cabinet for the first time. She is being replaced by Antoni Mesquida, brother of Joan, the former minister of finance in the Balearics with PSOE and national tourism minister.
MALLORCA TODAY - Alcúdia solar energy plant gets the go-ahead
At long last a plan to create a photovoltaic solar energy plant in Alcúdia - in the ash fields by the power station - has been given the go-ahead. The plant that could serve up to almost 90,000 people will require an investment of around 100 million euros.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Balearics in recession
According to the Centre for Economic Research, the Balearics are in recession. The report from the centre, which conflicts with the official government line, shows negative growth of 0.3% in the first quarter this year and an additional decline of 0.5% in the second quarter. While factors such as a moribund construction industry are obvious contributors, less obvious has been what is described as "weaknesses" in the tourism sector which are also contributing to the lack of growth. The tourism sector is always looked upon as being key to economic stimulation and vital to growth.
MALLORCA TODAY - Hope on agreement in hotel workers' dispute
The intervention of the Balearics arbitration tribunal has led to hope that the planned strike by hostelry workers on 20 July will be avoided. Though negotiations are said to remain "difficult", noises from the tribunal suggest that today could see a breakthrough. The workers have been demanding an increase in salaries of almost 3% rather than the 0.5% that has been on the table and have been rejecting mooted changes to working hours. Meanwhile, there is no word as yet of any movement on the planned strike by coach drivers set to take place on 21 and 22 July.
MALLORCA TODAY - Doctors' strike in the Balearics is called off
A strike by doctors in the public health service, due to have been staged today and to then have been indefinite, has been averted. The doctors (and other health workers) have responded positively to a proposal by the regional government that there be a new law that will deal with the issue of additional salaries paid to doctors since 2008 but which the government had been demanding were repaid and which had been at the heart of the dispute.
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 6 July 2012
Cloud around again this morning, some if getting towards being on the heavy side. Should all clear away and leave blue skies later this morning, with temperatures up towards 30 degrees; the local best at 08.15 is 23.2C.
Afternoon update: The forecast highs for today were way out. 24.9C has been the top, a quite fresh breeze making things really very pleasant.
Afternoon update: The forecast highs for today were way out. 24.9C has been the top, a quite fresh breeze making things really very pleasant.
Mallorca's Greatest Business?
Palma's Palacio de Congresos, which had been a white elephant in the making for all manner of reasons, does seem to be on track to be opened some time in summer next year. One of the reasons for its potential elephantine status was that no one could be found to manage it. The first tender process earlier this year was so successful that it produced not a single applicant. There was interest from four companies, but the interest was not sufficient to overcome the conditions attached.
The new tender process requires a payment of eight million euros, down by three and a half million from the first tender. This, together with changes to the fixed income from the site, has produced one interested party and one only - Meliá Hotels International.
The fact that a revised and less onerous tender has still only managed to produce one bidder does make one wonder about the attractiveness of the convention centre to a contractor. Meliá, though, has been prepared to submit a bid, and the administrative board must be extraordinarily grateful. Without a company to run the Palacio, it might well indeed have turned into the white elephant it had looked like being. It isn't an exaggeration to suggest that Meliá has come to the rescue.
The past few months have been very good for Meliá, and the company has been able to bask in some positive publicity. Its Magalluf project, already bearing fruit, has produced the opening of the Sol Wave House hotel at precisely the same time as the announcement of its bid to manage the Palacio. Timing, one guesses, is everything in business.
The Magalluf project, though it attracts support from only under half the population (as reported in the Gadeso opinion survey the other day), does nevertheless attract greater support than other hotel-based developments on the island. In broader terms, i.e. those not confined to local public opinion, the project has received widespread backing.
Meliá is riding a wave of good news. Though I questioned the importance of determinants of social responsibility to the end-consumer, there was Meliá at the top of the list of socially responsible hotel chains, according to the recent report from Nebrija University. This served as just one further indication of how good a company Meliá is, and one can perhaps detect a sense of responsibility in it being willing to bid to run the Palacio.
There again, companies don't operate along purely philanthropic lines. Management of the convention centre has to come with a strong business motive, so one presumes that Meliá sees one. I remain to be convinced by the Palacio, but then I am not a Meliá senior executive.
Mallorca has some very fine companies and to single one out for particular praise isn't necessarily fair to these other companies, but were we at the end of 2012 and were I to nominate my Mallorcan business of the year, then it would be difficult to make a case for it not being Meliá.
This is a company which isn't only successful in Mallorca. It is a global business and one of the world's most important hotel chains. However, despite the promise of riches in overseas markets, Meliá remains committed to its home island and is demonstrating that commitment several times over.
With this success do, though, come the negatives, and a most obvious one is that public opinion. The Magalluf project aside, this opinion is less than positive when it comes to hotel chains such as Meliá being so apparently the beneficiaries of the new Balearic tourism law. From this, one can conclude that there is some disquiet in so much power residing with the hotels.
For all the misgivings, a Mallorca without Meliá and other world-class hotel chains would be a different place. No bad thing, some might say, but they would be wrong. In addition to the contribution to Mallorca, the island can glow in the light of the international prestige that comes from hotel chains which have been as prominent as they have been in tourism and other developments overseas. The world's tourism has been and is to no small extent "made in Mallorca".
The tender for the Palacio envisages the management lasting for 40 years, which is an awfully long time when you consider that 40 years ago Mallorca was still very much coming to terms with its new tourism industry. 40 years hence, who knows what Mallorca will be like? Despite the uncertainties, Meliá would seem to planning on still being around, remaining committed and being a company of which Mallorca should be proud.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The new tender process requires a payment of eight million euros, down by three and a half million from the first tender. This, together with changes to the fixed income from the site, has produced one interested party and one only - Meliá Hotels International.
The fact that a revised and less onerous tender has still only managed to produce one bidder does make one wonder about the attractiveness of the convention centre to a contractor. Meliá, though, has been prepared to submit a bid, and the administrative board must be extraordinarily grateful. Without a company to run the Palacio, it might well indeed have turned into the white elephant it had looked like being. It isn't an exaggeration to suggest that Meliá has come to the rescue.
The past few months have been very good for Meliá, and the company has been able to bask in some positive publicity. Its Magalluf project, already bearing fruit, has produced the opening of the Sol Wave House hotel at precisely the same time as the announcement of its bid to manage the Palacio. Timing, one guesses, is everything in business.
The Magalluf project, though it attracts support from only under half the population (as reported in the Gadeso opinion survey the other day), does nevertheless attract greater support than other hotel-based developments on the island. In broader terms, i.e. those not confined to local public opinion, the project has received widespread backing.
Meliá is riding a wave of good news. Though I questioned the importance of determinants of social responsibility to the end-consumer, there was Meliá at the top of the list of socially responsible hotel chains, according to the recent report from Nebrija University. This served as just one further indication of how good a company Meliá is, and one can perhaps detect a sense of responsibility in it being willing to bid to run the Palacio.
There again, companies don't operate along purely philanthropic lines. Management of the convention centre has to come with a strong business motive, so one presumes that Meliá sees one. I remain to be convinced by the Palacio, but then I am not a Meliá senior executive.
Mallorca has some very fine companies and to single one out for particular praise isn't necessarily fair to these other companies, but were we at the end of 2012 and were I to nominate my Mallorcan business of the year, then it would be difficult to make a case for it not being Meliá.
This is a company which isn't only successful in Mallorca. It is a global business and one of the world's most important hotel chains. However, despite the promise of riches in overseas markets, Meliá remains committed to its home island and is demonstrating that commitment several times over.
With this success do, though, come the negatives, and a most obvious one is that public opinion. The Magalluf project aside, this opinion is less than positive when it comes to hotel chains such as Meliá being so apparently the beneficiaries of the new Balearic tourism law. From this, one can conclude that there is some disquiet in so much power residing with the hotels.
For all the misgivings, a Mallorca without Meliá and other world-class hotel chains would be a different place. No bad thing, some might say, but they would be wrong. In addition to the contribution to Mallorca, the island can glow in the light of the international prestige that comes from hotel chains which have been as prominent as they have been in tourism and other developments overseas. The world's tourism has been and is to no small extent "made in Mallorca".
The tender for the Palacio envisages the management lasting for 40 years, which is an awfully long time when you consider that 40 years ago Mallorca was still very much coming to terms with its new tourism industry. 40 years hence, who knows what Mallorca will be like? Despite the uncertainties, Meliá would seem to planning on still being around, remaining committed and being a company of which Mallorca should be proud.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, July 05, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - A flag flies in Cala San Vicente
Amusing notice here about a Spanish flag having been put up on Cala Molins beach in Cala San Vicente. Firstly, it isn't the blue flag that it might have been and secondly, as with the raising of the Spanish flag at Son Real, it has raised the hackles of the Catalan left.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 5 July 2012
A fair amount of lightish cloud this morning with a local high of 23.3C by 08.45. An outside chance of a spot rain but otherwise sunny and temperatures to around the 30 mark.
Afternoon update: A day's high of 28C, any threat of rain did not materialise, so mostly good sun all day. Looking ahead to the weekend, temperatures set to rise and mainly clear skies.
Afternoon update: A day's high of 28C, any threat of rain did not materialise, so mostly good sun all day. Looking ahead to the weekend, temperatures set to rise and mainly clear skies.
Chaos Theory: Normal service resumed
Once upon a time, one supposes, Mallorca's businesses and economy may well have operated under conditions of chaos. Or maybe they didn't. The enduring image of Johnny Foreigner, especially southern European, Mediterranean Johnny Foreigner, is that he is Manuel, forever the butt of a joke and forever getting a kick in the butt from an agitated, manic, stiff-upper-lip, northern-European sort like Basil, while the enduring image of the Johnny Foreigner southern European, Mediterranean businessowner is that of Keith Allen's slothful and violent Hotel Bastardo proprietor in "A Fistful of Travellers' Cheques". Whatever the truth of this past image, events appear to be conspiring to revive it. The current theory of chaos in Mallorca is one of normal service having been resumed, or about to be.
The agitated northern-European sort is himself about to enter a state of heightened agitation combined with indignation, disbelief and prejudice confirmation. "Don't they know there's a recession!?" Well actually, yes they probably do, which may have something to do with the "long hot summer of discontent" (please forgive this cliché of hyperbole) that is now more or less upon us.
I'm not here to defend striking workers when it comes to wanting more money or fewer hours. They should know there's a recession on, and they're bloody lucky to have a job, but there is one line of defence, one that I have every sympathy with: those who are meant to be leading Mallorca and Spain in these times of crisis, now about to become times of chaos. When you are a Mallorcan or Spanish worker lumbered with the political leaders they have, then striking seems the least worst option.
Let's just sum up where we are on the strike front. The doctors in the public health service may or may not be striking, but either way they are distinctly hacked off because of cuts and the ham-fisted way in which the regional government has gone about trying to reclaim money that has been paid to them since 2008. The teachers are threatening to strike from the start of the next school year because class sizes will become too large. More immediately, we have the hotel and wider hostelry sector about to down cutlery and wine glasses on 20 July, and we have the coach drivers about to stop ferrying tourists to and from the airport or taking them on excursions on 21 and 22 July. Both these actions may be extended. To add to this jolly little mix, we also have the bus drivers of the public transport services operated by Transunión; they are planning on striking on 16 and 17 July.
When you've not been paid for three months, which is apparently the case with the Transunión drivers, then there is a legitimate grievance. And the reason for not being paid is because the company hasn't been paid - by government. It has been a similar story with, for example, workers in old people's homes.
All of these actions, including that of Transunión, might, just might, be avoided were there anything like a real sense of political leadership or attempt by political leaders to engender sympathy for their position and to get the disenchanted workforce to rally behind them at a time of genuine crisis. But there is no attempt and there is no sympathy, because leaders such as Rajoy don't command it.
He doesn't help his cause by being so anonymous and invisible. He is most definitely not a leader for such trying times. And in the Balearics, you have a similarly unsympathetic character as Bauzá, one who also abrogates the messenger role - to the unfortunate Rafael Bosch.
What you have, rather than attempting to appeal to workers' better instincts for the common good, is a government in the Balearics which seeks to use the law to investigate a previous health minister for having agreed to pay doctors the money that the government now wants back (and which seems to have been just some sort of bluster as no more has been heard of it) and which has a president who is also seeking legal redress because his honour has apparently been impugned by the leader of the UGT union. While Lorenzo Bravo has used various insults, one that has been cited, that of "inútil" (useless), is not much of an insult.
Regardless of stronger insults, the president should simply dismiss them and tell Bravo to grow up. But no, it seems easier to get prosecutors involved rather than tackle the genuine issues that confront Mallorca. These are the politics of the playground and they are the politics that make me feel sympathy for all the strikers.
There is a further chaos theory, and that is that the political leadership wants the strikes. Rajoy implied that he knew he would get a general strike, and so he did. But he personally did nothing to avert it. Nothing through his own lack of leadership. And in Bauzá, he seems to have the perfect accomplice.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The agitated northern-European sort is himself about to enter a state of heightened agitation combined with indignation, disbelief and prejudice confirmation. "Don't they know there's a recession!?" Well actually, yes they probably do, which may have something to do with the "long hot summer of discontent" (please forgive this cliché of hyperbole) that is now more or less upon us.
I'm not here to defend striking workers when it comes to wanting more money or fewer hours. They should know there's a recession on, and they're bloody lucky to have a job, but there is one line of defence, one that I have every sympathy with: those who are meant to be leading Mallorca and Spain in these times of crisis, now about to become times of chaos. When you are a Mallorcan or Spanish worker lumbered with the political leaders they have, then striking seems the least worst option.
Let's just sum up where we are on the strike front. The doctors in the public health service may or may not be striking, but either way they are distinctly hacked off because of cuts and the ham-fisted way in which the regional government has gone about trying to reclaim money that has been paid to them since 2008. The teachers are threatening to strike from the start of the next school year because class sizes will become too large. More immediately, we have the hotel and wider hostelry sector about to down cutlery and wine glasses on 20 July, and we have the coach drivers about to stop ferrying tourists to and from the airport or taking them on excursions on 21 and 22 July. Both these actions may be extended. To add to this jolly little mix, we also have the bus drivers of the public transport services operated by Transunión; they are planning on striking on 16 and 17 July.
When you've not been paid for three months, which is apparently the case with the Transunión drivers, then there is a legitimate grievance. And the reason for not being paid is because the company hasn't been paid - by government. It has been a similar story with, for example, workers in old people's homes.
All of these actions, including that of Transunión, might, just might, be avoided were there anything like a real sense of political leadership or attempt by political leaders to engender sympathy for their position and to get the disenchanted workforce to rally behind them at a time of genuine crisis. But there is no attempt and there is no sympathy, because leaders such as Rajoy don't command it.
He doesn't help his cause by being so anonymous and invisible. He is most definitely not a leader for such trying times. And in the Balearics, you have a similarly unsympathetic character as Bauzá, one who also abrogates the messenger role - to the unfortunate Rafael Bosch.
What you have, rather than attempting to appeal to workers' better instincts for the common good, is a government in the Balearics which seeks to use the law to investigate a previous health minister for having agreed to pay doctors the money that the government now wants back (and which seems to have been just some sort of bluster as no more has been heard of it) and which has a president who is also seeking legal redress because his honour has apparently been impugned by the leader of the UGT union. While Lorenzo Bravo has used various insults, one that has been cited, that of "inútil" (useless), is not much of an insult.
Regardless of stronger insults, the president should simply dismiss them and tell Bravo to grow up. But no, it seems easier to get prosecutors involved rather than tackle the genuine issues that confront Mallorca. These are the politics of the playground and they are the politics that make me feel sympathy for all the strikers.
There is a further chaos theory, and that is that the political leadership wants the strikes. Rajoy implied that he knew he would get a general strike, and so he did. But he personally did nothing to avert it. Nothing through his own lack of leadership. And in Bauzá, he seems to have the perfect accomplice.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Wednesday, July 04, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Investor who lost 350,000 gives evidence in Hirst trial
The ongoing trial at Bradford Crown Court of John Hirst, charged with running an illegal Ponzi investment scheme based in Calvià, has heard from yacht captain Richard Bale who has said that he invested over 540,000 pounds in the scheme, for which he received under 200,000.
See more: Huddersfield Daily Examiner
See more: Huddersfield Daily Examiner
MALLORCA TODAY - Transunión bus drivers to strike on 16 and 17 July
Yet more potential chaos in the Balearics transport system. Employees of Transunión, one of the largest bus and coach operators, are to strike on 16 and 17 July on account of their being owed three months wages. This strike will be of those engaged in the public transport system and is therefore in addition to the wider strike on 21 and 22 July by workers in the private system (for transfers and excursions). Transunión operates the bus services in Pollensa.
See more: El Mundo
See more: El Mundo
MALLORCA TODAY - Pollentia excavations focus on Byzantine walls
The ongoing excavations at the Pollentia Roman town in Alcúdia will focus for the next month on the forum and on dating more precisely the creation of Byzantine walls. The excavations are as much a victim of reduced resources as many other things in Mallorca, but the next month's activities are intended to make swifter progress than normal. Those in charge of the excavations are still hopeful of assistance from workers supplied through the unemployment office and subsidised by the Council of Mallorca.
See more: El Mundo
See more: El Mundo
MALLORCA TODAY - Half a million tourists to be affected by July's strikes
British and German travel agency organisations are saying that up to 500,000 tourists could be affected by the two strikes planned for later this month - that in the hostelry sector (20 July) and that of coach drivers on 21 and 22 July. The drivers' strike could become indefinite, meaning that there would be repeats, if agreement is not found as a consequence of the threatened strike. Meanwhile, another strike - that of doctors which is due to start on 6 July - looks as though it will be called off.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Inca drops its bullfight through lack of money
Inca town hall, forced to make savage cuts to budgets for its patron saints fiestas at the end of this month, has decided to ditch the bullfight. With a budget of only 40,000 euros this year, town hall is relying on private finance to assist in staging events at the fiestas.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Respect demanded from ports authority in Pollensa
Following yesterday's news regarding the ongoing spat between Pollensa town hall and the ports authority, the PSM party has called on the town's mayor to get the authority to show the town some respect.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Public spirit campaign in Pollensa
Pollensa town hall has launched a public spirit campaign as part of its cleaning services in the municipality, one designed to tackle anti-social behaviour that harms the town's image, e.g. dog fouling.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Town hall maintenance of Son Real necropolis
Santa Margalida town hall, tired of the apparent inability of a combination of regional government, island council and Costas Authority to look after the ancient necropolis at Son Real, has arranged for work to start which it will fund. An archaeologist will oversee work to restore stones affected by the sea and visitors.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 4 July 2012
Happy Independence Day to all American followers of northern Mallorca's weather. A morning best of 22C at 08.15 with sun and some haze. Barbecue and firework conditions good for later in the day, though the southerly may pick up and push the temperature back into 30-degree territory.
Afternoon update: Cranking up again. The predominant southerly has produced a day's high of 31.4C.
Afternoon update: Cranking up again. The predominant southerly has produced a day's high of 31.4C.
Sponsored By TUI: Spanish tax policy
Who are the real powers in the lands? Prime Minister Rajoy and his government nationally, President Bauzá and his regional government in the Balearics, other presidents and other governments in other Spanish regions? The answer is none of these. Not if TUI wields its influence.
When TUI or the hotels speak, governments sit up and take note. When the European Union and the IMF urge the Spanish Government to bump up the rate of IVA (VAT), they neglect the fact that this is not a decision for the government. This, at any rate, is how one might style the opposition of TUI and the tourism sector to an increase in IVA that might see the current reduced rate for the tourism sector scrapped. If the government buckles under pressure from tour operators based in other countries, then the game is pretty much up; its impotence is revealed and its role is diminished. Welcome to the Kingdom of Spain, sponsored by TUI.
There is a sour deliciousness about a German company wishing to direct Spanish financial policy when the German Government is doing the same thing, albeit that the policies differ. Spain is now reduced to an argument between German commerce and German politics. What a strange world we live in.
TUI is threatening (and to say threat is not being hyperbolic) to reduce its operations in Spain if the rate of IVA goes up to 18%, the current general rate of IVA. Companies do from time to time issue certain "hints" to all sorts of governments if they don't do what they want them to. The British Government was once warned of the dire consequences of not joining the euro by Japanese car manufacturers. Mostly everyone seems to now have forgotten about this, as there were no dire consequences.
But then the Spanish tourism industry isn't quite like the British motor industry. It is the motor of the economy, as governments nationally and regionally keep reminding us, which the motor industry in Britain wasn't. Woe betide, therefore, any government that wants to get the economy motoring but which ignores the protests of a company so firmly in the driving-seat as TUI is.
TUI does have a point. Of course it does. And its point, though it isn't necessarily stating this, is that an economies, including that of the Balearics, with varying levels of dependence upon tourism cannot be revived if starved of the consumer's euro because of a rise in tax, and a whopping one at that in the case of the tourist rate going up from 8% to 18%.
It isn't just TUI which has a point. The Spanish hostelry federation has put the job losses that would result at 130,000 (9% of all those employed), the fall in consumption at up to 8%, and the loss to gross value added of 6,000 million euros. These losses would come on top of accumulated losses of 20% in the wider hostelry sector since economic crisis took hold.
The impact at the bar or restaurant coalface is not difficult to figure out. Whereas the previous one-point rise from 7% had little effect and could be swallowed by businesses if they wished to, a 10% rise couldn't be without harming even more the bottom line. For a dish costing five euros, for example, the price would increase by 50 cents. This may not sound a lot but multiply it by demand for meals out and then it starts to become so. Reduced spending by tourists is already a fact. Spending would be reduced further. And in Catalonia, where the tourist tax is due to be introduced, they must be having kittens at the thought of an IVA rise.
When you look at potential losses and when you hear the threats from the likes of TUI, you would have to think that the Spanish Government would need its head examining were it to go ahead. However, is it morally right that one sector, tourism, should be given special consideration when most of the rest of the economy isn't? The consumer has experienced increases in prices as it is and may well yet be faced with a rise in the general rate of IVA, thus compounding the effects of rising prices (petrol, gas, electricity, food etc.).
Whether morally right or not, the economic rightness of increasing IVA is being subject to ever more questioning. And so it should be. Austerity economics are being given a hard time because their chances of bringing about recovery or growth are extremely limited, certainly in the short to medium term. But austerity economics are being imposed on Spain, so indirect taxation bears the brunt, as does therefore the consumer. The question, where tourism is concerned, is who has the greater say. The austerity politicians of Europe or Europe's leading tour operator.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
When TUI or the hotels speak, governments sit up and take note. When the European Union and the IMF urge the Spanish Government to bump up the rate of IVA (VAT), they neglect the fact that this is not a decision for the government. This, at any rate, is how one might style the opposition of TUI and the tourism sector to an increase in IVA that might see the current reduced rate for the tourism sector scrapped. If the government buckles under pressure from tour operators based in other countries, then the game is pretty much up; its impotence is revealed and its role is diminished. Welcome to the Kingdom of Spain, sponsored by TUI.
There is a sour deliciousness about a German company wishing to direct Spanish financial policy when the German Government is doing the same thing, albeit that the policies differ. Spain is now reduced to an argument between German commerce and German politics. What a strange world we live in.
TUI is threatening (and to say threat is not being hyperbolic) to reduce its operations in Spain if the rate of IVA goes up to 18%, the current general rate of IVA. Companies do from time to time issue certain "hints" to all sorts of governments if they don't do what they want them to. The British Government was once warned of the dire consequences of not joining the euro by Japanese car manufacturers. Mostly everyone seems to now have forgotten about this, as there were no dire consequences.
But then the Spanish tourism industry isn't quite like the British motor industry. It is the motor of the economy, as governments nationally and regionally keep reminding us, which the motor industry in Britain wasn't. Woe betide, therefore, any government that wants to get the economy motoring but which ignores the protests of a company so firmly in the driving-seat as TUI is.
TUI does have a point. Of course it does. And its point, though it isn't necessarily stating this, is that an economies, including that of the Balearics, with varying levels of dependence upon tourism cannot be revived if starved of the consumer's euro because of a rise in tax, and a whopping one at that in the case of the tourist rate going up from 8% to 18%.
It isn't just TUI which has a point. The Spanish hostelry federation has put the job losses that would result at 130,000 (9% of all those employed), the fall in consumption at up to 8%, and the loss to gross value added of 6,000 million euros. These losses would come on top of accumulated losses of 20% in the wider hostelry sector since economic crisis took hold.
The impact at the bar or restaurant coalface is not difficult to figure out. Whereas the previous one-point rise from 7% had little effect and could be swallowed by businesses if they wished to, a 10% rise couldn't be without harming even more the bottom line. For a dish costing five euros, for example, the price would increase by 50 cents. This may not sound a lot but multiply it by demand for meals out and then it starts to become so. Reduced spending by tourists is already a fact. Spending would be reduced further. And in Catalonia, where the tourist tax is due to be introduced, they must be having kittens at the thought of an IVA rise.
When you look at potential losses and when you hear the threats from the likes of TUI, you would have to think that the Spanish Government would need its head examining were it to go ahead. However, is it morally right that one sector, tourism, should be given special consideration when most of the rest of the economy isn't? The consumer has experienced increases in prices as it is and may well yet be faced with a rise in the general rate of IVA, thus compounding the effects of rising prices (petrol, gas, electricity, food etc.).
Whether morally right or not, the economic rightness of increasing IVA is being subject to ever more questioning. And so it should be. Austerity economics are being given a hard time because their chances of bringing about recovery or growth are extremely limited, certainly in the short to medium term. But austerity economics are being imposed on Spain, so indirect taxation bears the brunt, as does therefore the consumer. The question, where tourism is concerned, is who has the greater say. The austerity politicians of Europe or Europe's leading tour operator.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, July 03, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Irishman dies after Santa Ponsa balcony fall
A young Irishman, variously described as being 19 or 24 years old but named as Daniel Kenny, has died after falling this morning from an eighth-floor balcony at the Verdemar Apartments in Santa Ponsa. It is understood that the fall is not being attributed to balcony-diving, and investigations are ongoing.
MALLORCA TODAY - TUI issues threat over proposed IVA increase
TUI has indicated that it will revise its operations into Spain (i.e. reduce them) if the national government goes ahead with an increase in the rate of IVA (VAT) that would bring what is currently a reduced rate for the tourism sector of 8% in line with the general rate of 18%.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Power outage stops trains for three hours
A collapse in the electricity supply system to train and underground services operating out of Palma caused chaos yesterday, the outage lasting for over three hours in the later afternoon and into the early evening. Buses couldn't cope with demand from stranded passengers.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Pollensa continues its spat with the ports authority
First it was the sheds or whatever they are that were put up without consultation by the ports authority by Puerto Pollensa's marina parking area, now it's the bits of garden that the authority is meant to look after that is getting Pollensa town hall in a tizz. The town hall has taken on the garden maintenance because the authority isn't doing what it should.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - La Victoria: Match report
At times, news really isn't news in Mallorca; it is basically a repetition of the previous year with a few words changed. So it is with the fiestas, and that of La Victoria, largely ignored by anyone other than diehard local Mallorcans but probably more authentic than most, gets its annual match report, this year's word changes including references to a cold northerly that meant people left early.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 3 July 2012
Local temperatures varying between 16.3 and 22.7C on a fresh, sunny morning. May be getting up to 30 later but then may be not. Similar weather for the rest of the week; bits of cloud, mainly sun, quite warm - that's weather in Mallorca in July.
Afternoon update: A high of 26.9C on a mainly sunny day but with some occasional cloud.
Afternoon update: A high of 26.9C on a mainly sunny day but with some occasional cloud.
The Greatest League In The World
So when it really mattered, Spain dispensed with the fannying around. Perhaps it was incisiveness brought about by the mumblings of criticism, or by the recent memory of an Italian side that had matched up during the group stage, or by the fact that until the final Spain had simply been prepared to go through the motions, aware of their superiority and content to keep the best for the last. Whatever the reason, in this Olympic year Spain played with the gods. The Italians were mortals and other teams were condemned to a life in the underworld.
Paco and Manu didn't disrupt broadcast communications. Their manic shouting was quietened by that to which they were bearing witness. "¡Somos campeones!" You could forgive them this combination of their one eyes in forming a commentating "we". They were, they are champions; Spain, that is. There was no singing and not even a burst of the greatest musical horror known to sports events the world over, Queen's "We Are The Champions".
What will it change, though? Very little where the boys with the Three Lions are concerned probably. The very insistence on the continuing invoking of Skinner and Baddiel, now formally translated it would appear to the national team, makes ever more apparent the limitations of a lionhearted spirit, inadequate when confronted with the feline lusciousness of the stroking of a football. The lionhearts dance a bump and grind of heavy boots hoofing on the turf and hoofing the ball, while the Spanish are fleet of foot, a flamenco meets salsa, a movement of joyous inhibition. Finally, and in the final at any rate.
In a few weeks The Greatest League In The World will start up again. Back will come the misplaced pass, the inability to control, the stuttering motion. The replica shirts will fill with Bar Brit beer, and from their mouths will come the encouragements to "go on, my son" and to "get it up there" and the admonishments to "stop fannying around". A Spanish team can fanny around, content in the knowledge of superior ability. A Premier League team can fanny around, only if it's called Arsenal.
For the English or British observer, be he or she tourist or resident and sometimes unacquainted with footballing nuance, Spain's success and the resultant celebration were the stuff of the patronising or the plasticity of temporarily having gone native. The regular English football fan, however, and this fan in a replica shirt on tour takes on more brutish an Englishness than at home, will still extol the virtues of, say, a Stevie G. Like Garth Crooks has. The team of the competition, in Garthland, includes Stevie G, yet Gerrard is no creative genius. He should be a component of a midfield rather than its focal point, a David Platt to Gazza.
Rare exceptions apart, e.g. Glenn Hoddle's youthful Owen-Beckham team, England have failed to produce sides that can stand comparison with European sophistication since the days of New Order and Pavarotti. But initially in 1990, it wasn't so. I was in a bar in southern France for the England-Ireland match. The half-time analysis said it all. In one word. "Primitif." It was primitive, dire and embarrassing. But then what happened? The players took the initiative. So much for English players only being capable of 4-4-2. They changed to a sweeper system, and Mark Wright became one of the players of the competition.
That was a team of players blessed with an openness, one that had taken them abroad or would do so. Lineker, Waddle, Platt. Gazza probably never learned much while at Lazio, but they were all of an era before the money, selfishness and "excitement" of The Greatest League In The World put an end to players broadening their horizons (Owen and Beckham being exceptions) and put an end to England ever being capable of being more than eternal quarter-finalists.
Hang on, though, will say the replica shirts of Bar Brits. There's Jack Wilshere. To the Three Lions' rescue will come a new fake Messiah, like the Second Coming of the one-time young Joe Cole. Alas, poor Wilshere.
Past apostles of The Greatest League In The World have goggled at Bar Brit's Sky while England have suffered their ritual humiliations. But had the channel changed during one previous championship, they would have seen a game from a different tournament. It was played in Cala Millor. Between Spain and Germany. The ball never went above head height because had it, it would have been penalised. The movement, the passing and the control were all exemplary. The pitch was small and so were the players. They were 12 years old.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Paco and Manu didn't disrupt broadcast communications. Their manic shouting was quietened by that to which they were bearing witness. "¡Somos campeones!" You could forgive them this combination of their one eyes in forming a commentating "we". They were, they are champions; Spain, that is. There was no singing and not even a burst of the greatest musical horror known to sports events the world over, Queen's "We Are The Champions".
What will it change, though? Very little where the boys with the Three Lions are concerned probably. The very insistence on the continuing invoking of Skinner and Baddiel, now formally translated it would appear to the national team, makes ever more apparent the limitations of a lionhearted spirit, inadequate when confronted with the feline lusciousness of the stroking of a football. The lionhearts dance a bump and grind of heavy boots hoofing on the turf and hoofing the ball, while the Spanish are fleet of foot, a flamenco meets salsa, a movement of joyous inhibition. Finally, and in the final at any rate.
In a few weeks The Greatest League In The World will start up again. Back will come the misplaced pass, the inability to control, the stuttering motion. The replica shirts will fill with Bar Brit beer, and from their mouths will come the encouragements to "go on, my son" and to "get it up there" and the admonishments to "stop fannying around". A Spanish team can fanny around, content in the knowledge of superior ability. A Premier League team can fanny around, only if it's called Arsenal.
For the English or British observer, be he or she tourist or resident and sometimes unacquainted with footballing nuance, Spain's success and the resultant celebration were the stuff of the patronising or the plasticity of temporarily having gone native. The regular English football fan, however, and this fan in a replica shirt on tour takes on more brutish an Englishness than at home, will still extol the virtues of, say, a Stevie G. Like Garth Crooks has. The team of the competition, in Garthland, includes Stevie G, yet Gerrard is no creative genius. He should be a component of a midfield rather than its focal point, a David Platt to Gazza.
Rare exceptions apart, e.g. Glenn Hoddle's youthful Owen-Beckham team, England have failed to produce sides that can stand comparison with European sophistication since the days of New Order and Pavarotti. But initially in 1990, it wasn't so. I was in a bar in southern France for the England-Ireland match. The half-time analysis said it all. In one word. "Primitif." It was primitive, dire and embarrassing. But then what happened? The players took the initiative. So much for English players only being capable of 4-4-2. They changed to a sweeper system, and Mark Wright became one of the players of the competition.
That was a team of players blessed with an openness, one that had taken them abroad or would do so. Lineker, Waddle, Platt. Gazza probably never learned much while at Lazio, but they were all of an era before the money, selfishness and "excitement" of The Greatest League In The World put an end to players broadening their horizons (Owen and Beckham being exceptions) and put an end to England ever being capable of being more than eternal quarter-finalists.
Hang on, though, will say the replica shirts of Bar Brits. There's Jack Wilshere. To the Three Lions' rescue will come a new fake Messiah, like the Second Coming of the one-time young Joe Cole. Alas, poor Wilshere.
Past apostles of The Greatest League In The World have goggled at Bar Brit's Sky while England have suffered their ritual humiliations. But had the channel changed during one previous championship, they would have seen a game from a different tournament. It was played in Cala Millor. Between Spain and Germany. The ball never went above head height because had it, it would have been penalised. The movement, the passing and the control were all exemplary. The pitch was small and so were the players. They were 12 years old.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, July 02, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Town hall takes on swimming-pool electricity cost
Well, Pollensa town hall had already taken on the cost of electricity supply to the Puerto Pollensa swimming-pool - it did so last year when the electricity was cut off because the concessionaire hadn't paid the bills - but now the town hall has formally settled its contract with the company, which means that it will pay the bills. This helps to explain, one imagines, why the pool has been closed again, apparently to save costs during the school holidays.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Military base reclassification causes concern
Despite the town hall insisting that any building on the military base in Puerto Pollensa would have to meet with planning laws, opposition groups, reacting to the reclassification of the base by the national government which would mean that higher buildings could be developed, say that the base has ignored such laws in the past. The reclassification has raised once again the issue of civilian access to the base.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Alcúdia giants defy the bad weather
Funny photo with the link here. The Alcúdia giants had waterproofs on when they took part in yesterday's climb to La Victoria as part of the fiestas of Mare de Déu de la Victoria.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 2 July 2012
A bright, sunny morn, everything is good in a Mallorcan world, Spain have won the Euros, economic crisis will therefore come to an end and rivers will flow with jobs. Or maybe not. And as a consequence of yesterday's rain ... there are flies, which you never encounter during summer, unless it does rain. 20.5C is your best temperature at 08.00, moving towards the upper 20s later, and the outlook is fine and warming up again.
Yesterday's weather did cause some incidents but mainly in the south of the island, with winds getting up and bringing down trees and there being reports of a tornado, though the met office says that there was no tornado as such.
Afternoon update: A high of only 25C on a day that has been mostly sunny but with some cloud as well. Very much fresher than had been the case.
Yesterday's weather did cause some incidents but mainly in the south of the island, with winds getting up and bringing down trees and there being reports of a tornado, though the met office says that there was no tornado as such.
Afternoon update: A high of only 25C on a day that has been mostly sunny but with some cloud as well. Very much fresher than had been the case.
Messing With Nature: Tourism opinions
You wouldn't necessarily expect the general public to be in total agreement with the policies of politicians, and in Mallorca and the Balearics, the general public is most certainly out of step with what politicians are up to. We hear a great deal about language, education and health and the discontent that governmental policies have aroused with regard to each, but what of the most important industry - tourism? What does the general public think about this and what does it think about how the regional government is handling it?
As part of the ongoing surveys of public opinion conducted by the Mallorca-based research organisation Gadeso, tourism is the latest subject to be researched. Most of the findings are unsurprising in that one would fully anticipate certain responses, but though not surprising, some demonstrate a clear difference between public and government as well as disquiet.
It most certainly isn't surprising that 99.2% of people in the Balearics believe that there is an excessive level of seasonality when it comes to tourism. The only surprise is that 0.8% don't believe there is, but the finding is interesting. An accusation levelled at Mallorcans (and one dare says at people of the other islands) is that they are quite happy for there to be only a limited tourism season, i.e. the summer, and that they would rather the winter were reserved for them and them alone. 99.2% of people would suggest that this accusation (a perception and a false one at that) is wholly unwarranted.
It is when, however, the survey gets to issues being dealt with by the regional government and its new tourism law that things get more interesting. Take, for example, the go-ahead that has been given to four new projects. Only one of these, the redevelopment in Magalluf, gets anything like support and even then it is only 41%. Another, that planned for Sa Ràpita near Es Trenc beach, is rejected by 73%, a mere 15% being in favour of the development.
This opposition to the Sa Ràpita complex reflects another finding, that the one measure to enjoy a significant level of majority support in terms of the improvement of the tourism product in Mallorca, is the protection of the environment and natural heritage. 75% of people make this the single most important issue, way ahead of hotel conversion or redevelopment of mature tourist resorts (both aspects of government policy). Remarkably perhaps, given all the talk of alternatives to sun and beach, only a quarter of the general public consider diversification of the tourism product to be important.
This latter discovery does in fact link in with environmental protection and also with a recent addition to the tourism law, namely that the government is to permit the creation of new golf courses with hotels (except in Ibiza). This goes against previous blocks on the development of new courses and certainly against the building of hotels to accompany them. As such, this amendment to the tourism law raises yet again a big question mark over what might happen with the Son Bosc finca in Muro where the planned golf course (work on which is still suspended) has never included provision for a hotel, yet where the developers are a group of hotels.
On the tourism law itself (and one should point out that it still going through parliament and hasn't yet finally been approved), only 32% of people believe that it is positive. 43% think it is negative and is aimed at benefiting the hoteliers, and there is no real dispute that it does benefit the hotels. But a 25% don't know is a significant number and may reflect the fact that the law has indeed yet to be passed or that it isn't as simple as saying it will be positive or negative. The best conclusion one might draw, where the government is concerned, is that public opinion is fairly neutral on the matter of the new law.
The government probably won't take much notice of the survey, but it should. The attitude towards environmental and natural heritage protection is strong, and it is an attitude that can be seen as chiming with attitudes towards other governmental policies. The overwhelming rejection of the free selection of language in education and therefore the huge majority of parents who want Catalan as the language in which their children should be taught is a case in point. The Partido Popular government is running a great risk in meddling with Mallorcan and Balearic culture, and the language and the natural environment are two key components in this culture.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
As part of the ongoing surveys of public opinion conducted by the Mallorca-based research organisation Gadeso, tourism is the latest subject to be researched. Most of the findings are unsurprising in that one would fully anticipate certain responses, but though not surprising, some demonstrate a clear difference between public and government as well as disquiet.
It most certainly isn't surprising that 99.2% of people in the Balearics believe that there is an excessive level of seasonality when it comes to tourism. The only surprise is that 0.8% don't believe there is, but the finding is interesting. An accusation levelled at Mallorcans (and one dare says at people of the other islands) is that they are quite happy for there to be only a limited tourism season, i.e. the summer, and that they would rather the winter were reserved for them and them alone. 99.2% of people would suggest that this accusation (a perception and a false one at that) is wholly unwarranted.
It is when, however, the survey gets to issues being dealt with by the regional government and its new tourism law that things get more interesting. Take, for example, the go-ahead that has been given to four new projects. Only one of these, the redevelopment in Magalluf, gets anything like support and even then it is only 41%. Another, that planned for Sa Ràpita near Es Trenc beach, is rejected by 73%, a mere 15% being in favour of the development.
This opposition to the Sa Ràpita complex reflects another finding, that the one measure to enjoy a significant level of majority support in terms of the improvement of the tourism product in Mallorca, is the protection of the environment and natural heritage. 75% of people make this the single most important issue, way ahead of hotel conversion or redevelopment of mature tourist resorts (both aspects of government policy). Remarkably perhaps, given all the talk of alternatives to sun and beach, only a quarter of the general public consider diversification of the tourism product to be important.
This latter discovery does in fact link in with environmental protection and also with a recent addition to the tourism law, namely that the government is to permit the creation of new golf courses with hotels (except in Ibiza). This goes against previous blocks on the development of new courses and certainly against the building of hotels to accompany them. As such, this amendment to the tourism law raises yet again a big question mark over what might happen with the Son Bosc finca in Muro where the planned golf course (work on which is still suspended) has never included provision for a hotel, yet where the developers are a group of hotels.
On the tourism law itself (and one should point out that it still going through parliament and hasn't yet finally been approved), only 32% of people believe that it is positive. 43% think it is negative and is aimed at benefiting the hoteliers, and there is no real dispute that it does benefit the hotels. But a 25% don't know is a significant number and may reflect the fact that the law has indeed yet to be passed or that it isn't as simple as saying it will be positive or negative. The best conclusion one might draw, where the government is concerned, is that public opinion is fairly neutral on the matter of the new law.
The government probably won't take much notice of the survey, but it should. The attitude towards environmental and natural heritage protection is strong, and it is an attitude that can be seen as chiming with attitudes towards other governmental policies. The overwhelming rejection of the free selection of language in education and therefore the huge majority of parents who want Catalan as the language in which their children should be taught is a case in point. The Partido Popular government is running a great risk in meddling with Mallorcan and Balearic culture, and the language and the natural environment are two key components in this culture.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Sunday, July 01, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Change to military base building classification
The Spanish Government has approved a change to the classification of the military base in Puerto Pollensa which until now has limited the height of buildings on the base. By lowering the classification, the government is in effect accepting that the base's operations are no longer considered to be category A in terms of strategic importance. There has been no request as such for building on the base and were there to be, it would still have to be submitted for authorisation under terms of local planning law.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Pollensa calls for scrapping of wildlife refuge tax
Pollensa town hall has agreed unanimously to call on the Council of Mallorca to remove a tax by which so-called wildlife refuges are registered as refuges and are therefore areas where hunting is prohibited so as to protect the wildlife. The town hall considers the tax to be unjust and discriminatory.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Allegations of nepotism in Muro
The ruling coalition in Muro has been accused by the Entesa party of irregularities with new contracts for personnel which favour families from this coalition. These contracts relate, for example, to cleaning services and the tourist office in Playa de Muro. Mayor Martí Fornes denies the accusations.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 1 July 2012
A cloudy morning as predicted with the odd spot of rain. Humid with a local high of 24.9C at 08.00, remaining cloudy with the risk of rain, and clearing towards evening. Highs down on previous days. The forecast looks fine again from tomorrow.
Afternoon update: A very different day. Some sun but mainly cloud. A shower and some thunder. A day's high in the area of 27.6C but down to just over 20C in parts at times this afternoon.
Afternoon update: A very different day. Some sun but mainly cloud. A shower and some thunder. A day's high in the area of 27.6C but down to just over 20C in parts at times this afternoon.
For Sale - Mediterranean Island, Out Of Hand
There are times when I feel that I and the world's leading economists are operating from very much the same hymn sheet or textbook. Here's one very good example of how my own economic solutions tie in with those who are paid vast amounts of money, while I'm not. I once suggested that incentives should be given to tourists, i.e. they should be paid (bribed, if you prefer) to come to Mallorca.
Nouriel Roubini is something of the Übermensch of economics. He forecast with worrying accuracy, and was therefore ignored, the crisis that started in 2008. Since having been vindicated, he has become the economist everyone wants to be seen with, despite a nickname of Doctor Doom. I also forecast the crisis, but in a different way. I once wrote a story, which I got bored with and never finished, in which I anticipated an economic war in Europe, the result of a collapse of the banking system.
Anyway, Roubini, who has had enough of all the austerity malarkey, has borrowed my idea and developed it into the notion of the German Government giving every German household a one thousand euro voucher that can only be spent in a crisis-hit southern European country, e.g. Spain, and e.g. therefore in Mallorca. I'm delighted that Dr. Roubini has had the sense to follow my suggestion, and I'm happy to send him only a modest invoice in recognition of the idea by way of settlement.
Given the astronomical sums normally tossed around by governments, handing over a thousand notes to some 30 million households, or however many it might be, is small beer, or a small Pilsner lager to the Germans. Where I fear, however, that Dr. Roubini may not be entirely clear in his thinking is in knowing how the 1,000 euros would be spent. If most of it ended up in TUI's pockets, and most it probably would, then I don't know if Spain or Mallorca would benefit greatly, and not directly anyway.
But were it to go to TUI, then why not just get TUI to hand over a load of cash to the Balearic Government. "Here, we're the sort of middleman in this act of German governmental benevolence, and we'll cut you in to the tune of 50%," or something along these lines.
As it is clear that the Germans, and a very few other economies (e.g. the Russians) are the only ones that have got any money, perhaps we should simply revisit the old idea of Germany (or some other country) offering to buy up parts of Spain, such as Mallorca. Was there really ever a group of German businessmen who were prepared to buy Mallorca all those years ago? Or is the story just an urban myth? Someone should be on the phone to them, if there really was and if they are still knocking around.
If not German businessmen, then there is always eBay. The attempt to sell Belgium in 2007 was a thoroughly laudable idea. There was only a reserve of 14 million dollars when eBay stopped the fun and took the item down, but who knows what might have been offered. Mind you, any potential purchaser was advised that they would be in for some 300 billion dollars of national debt and would only be buying secondhand. Where Mallorca's concerned, there would be debt and the island wouldn't be bought secondhand but out of hand.
There is, though, much to commend purchase by overseas investors, be they national governments or businesses. If Germany stepped in and bought up Mallorca, then Utz Claassen, just as an example, would get his wish of German football fans watching Real Mallorca, but in the Bundesliga rather than La Liga. The Arabs coveted parts of Spain and Mallorca many centuries ago, so now is maybe the time to invite them back in, and they wouldn't need to radically alter some town names - Alcúdia, Binissalem, for example, still have their Arabic roots.
Tough economic times demand some original thinking. Dr. Roubini and I are to the fore in having such original and radical thoughts. It's just a shame that no one will pay any attention. Mind you, they didn't pay any attention to Dr. Roubini before, but looked what happened. So ...
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Nouriel Roubini is something of the Übermensch of economics. He forecast with worrying accuracy, and was therefore ignored, the crisis that started in 2008. Since having been vindicated, he has become the economist everyone wants to be seen with, despite a nickname of Doctor Doom. I also forecast the crisis, but in a different way. I once wrote a story, which I got bored with and never finished, in which I anticipated an economic war in Europe, the result of a collapse of the banking system.
Anyway, Roubini, who has had enough of all the austerity malarkey, has borrowed my idea and developed it into the notion of the German Government giving every German household a one thousand euro voucher that can only be spent in a crisis-hit southern European country, e.g. Spain, and e.g. therefore in Mallorca. I'm delighted that Dr. Roubini has had the sense to follow my suggestion, and I'm happy to send him only a modest invoice in recognition of the idea by way of settlement.
Given the astronomical sums normally tossed around by governments, handing over a thousand notes to some 30 million households, or however many it might be, is small beer, or a small Pilsner lager to the Germans. Where I fear, however, that Dr. Roubini may not be entirely clear in his thinking is in knowing how the 1,000 euros would be spent. If most of it ended up in TUI's pockets, and most it probably would, then I don't know if Spain or Mallorca would benefit greatly, and not directly anyway.
But were it to go to TUI, then why not just get TUI to hand over a load of cash to the Balearic Government. "Here, we're the sort of middleman in this act of German governmental benevolence, and we'll cut you in to the tune of 50%," or something along these lines.
As it is clear that the Germans, and a very few other economies (e.g. the Russians) are the only ones that have got any money, perhaps we should simply revisit the old idea of Germany (or some other country) offering to buy up parts of Spain, such as Mallorca. Was there really ever a group of German businessmen who were prepared to buy Mallorca all those years ago? Or is the story just an urban myth? Someone should be on the phone to them, if there really was and if they are still knocking around.
If not German businessmen, then there is always eBay. The attempt to sell Belgium in 2007 was a thoroughly laudable idea. There was only a reserve of 14 million dollars when eBay stopped the fun and took the item down, but who knows what might have been offered. Mind you, any potential purchaser was advised that they would be in for some 300 billion dollars of national debt and would only be buying secondhand. Where Mallorca's concerned, there would be debt and the island wouldn't be bought secondhand but out of hand.
There is, though, much to commend purchase by overseas investors, be they national governments or businesses. If Germany stepped in and bought up Mallorca, then Utz Claassen, just as an example, would get his wish of German football fans watching Real Mallorca, but in the Bundesliga rather than La Liga. The Arabs coveted parts of Spain and Mallorca many centuries ago, so now is maybe the time to invite them back in, and they wouldn't need to radically alter some town names - Alcúdia, Binissalem, for example, still have their Arabic roots.
Tough economic times demand some original thinking. Dr. Roubini and I are to the fore in having such original and radical thoughts. It's just a shame that no one will pay any attention. Mind you, they didn't pay any attention to Dr. Roubini before, but looked what happened. So ...
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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