The other day, a group of people gathered near the Cathedral. They stood on steps and unfurled a banner. With a hashtag, it said in translation "without limits there is no future". The "limits" was in red, suggesting a red stop sign, the "future" was in green - the way forward, so long as the red is applied.
What were they wanting limits to? It should be obvious. It's been a theme for several weeks. Tourist numbers. "Massification" of tourism and uncontrolled urbanising put basic resources at risk - water, the countryside, the ecosystems.
Who are these people? By Sunday morning, the blog - www.senselimitsnohihafutur.com - had 600 supporters. Teachers, farmers, activists, professors, psychologists, gardeners, doctors, nurses, engineers, salespeople, architects, unionists, lawyers, social workers, painters, dry-stone workers. On and on. Among the 600 some names stood out. Margalida Ramis, spokesperson for the environmentalists GOB; Jaume Adrover, farmer and spokesperson for another environmentalist group, Terraferida; Laura Camargo, university professor and parliamentary deputy for Podemos; Caterina Amengual, environmentalist (but also the government's director for biodiversity); Ivan Murray, geographer and now no longer undertaking a government-sponsored study related to tourism sustainability; Celestí Alomar, former minister of tourism.
Of these, Alomar is perhaps the most interesting. He was the tourism minister who introduced the original ecotax. Writing in July last year, so at a time when the newly elected regional government was just beginning to talk about a revived ecotax, he considered the circumstances that had led the first PSOE-headed government of Francesc Antich to contemplate and to implement the ecotax.
He said that at that time there was fierce international competition for sun-and-beach tourism. It was competition predicated (and not just in Mallorca) on the medium to low end of the market. As a consequence, it was hard to penetrate a more demanding tourism market. Further consequences were seasonality, a loss of identity and a dependence on large international tour operators. It was evident, he argued, that at the start of the new millennium there had to be a strengthening of the Mallorcan tourist product against a coming price war.
The government, therefore, looked to redefine the model of "mass" tourism. More value added to traditional sun-and-beach; diversification of tourist products; an emphasis on sustainability rather than the short-term; action against the consumption of resources; environmental conservation; a smoothing of the flow of tourists.
Above all, and here is maybe the most revealing of all his observations, was that social support was needed in order to reverse a trend by which tourism was being ever more rejected by the resident population. This trend had been brought about by "massification" and the burden being placed on the environment.
In 2001, Alomar famously, or infamously, said that in a few years the "Ballermann" (Arenal) would no longer exist. Package holidaymakers should only make up 20% of all tourists. Instead, there should be independent travellers, golfers, culture-seekers, nature lovers. It was these comments that enraged many Germans. They were no longer wanted by Mallorca.
The ecotax was finally introduced in time for the start of the 2002 season. History is easily rewritten. The ecotax failed because the Partido Popular came to power the following spring and scrapped it (it actually ceased to be at the end of the 2003 season). The tax may have been detested in some quarters, but the slump in tourism in 2002 was principally because of a marked fall in German tourism: the market enraged by Alomar's comments. By 2003, that German tourism had all but recovered.
No one can say what might have happened had the old ecotax remained in place. The revival that occurred in 2003 could well have been an indication. Or it may not have been. But inherent to its introduction, and one can detect this from Alomar's observations, was a reduction in tourist numbers. It's debatable if there would have been one as a consequence of the ecotax, even if he believed that it was a means of disengaging from a price war.
His thoughts about the original ecotax from some seventeen years ago show that little is new. Much of what was thought then is being said now. The current and additional dynamics are well-known, and one of them is the nature of the political narrative. It is unsurprising to see several Podemos names in addition to Laura Camargo on the list. The narrative gives succour to "movements". And some names on the list will be taking part in the two days of activism in Palma later this week.
Alomar had, in 1999, hoped to reverse a trend towards the rejection of tourism. He has now put his name to one of the movements fostered by the current narrative. On Saturday, the activists will hold an "anti-tourist" route starting from Es Baluard. People are invited to go along "dressed as a foreigner".
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Monday, September 19, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 19 September 2016
Morning high (7.13am): 18.7C
Forecast high: 27C; UV: 6
Three-day forecast: 20 September - Cloud, sun, 27C; 21 September - Cloud, sun, 25C; 22 September - Cloud, sun, 26C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 to 3.
Due to be quite cloudy for much of the day. Still pretty warm though. Forecast remaining consistent for the week - possibility of rain from tomorrow to Friday at least.
Evening update (20.00): High of 29.6C.
Forecast high: 27C; UV: 6
Three-day forecast: 20 September - Cloud, sun, 27C; 21 September - Cloud, sun, 25C; 22 September - Cloud, sun, 26C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 to 3.
Due to be quite cloudy for much of the day. Still pretty warm though. Forecast remaining consistent for the week - possibility of rain from tomorrow to Friday at least.
Evening update (20.00): High of 29.6C.
Anarchists Say No To Cruises
And what might these "incentives" be? Pilar couldn't say, and besides they wouldn't be available until 2018 at the earliest, as schedules have already been firmed up for next year at least. Whatever they might be, Pilar wants to avoid there being repeats of situations where eight ships arrive at the same time. But wasn't it a midweek day when there was all that fuss about the number of ships in May? And is it my imagination, or are Sundays often quite light when it comes to ships? Still, if the government can ensure there are no ships at the weekend, then no one needs worry any longer about whether the shops are open or not.
The cruise thousands who may or may not descend on the capital this coming Friday and Saturday had better take note and ensure that they avoid the Plaça del Pes de la Palla. Which is where precisely? Near to the Sant Francesc basilica, that's where, and so not far from the Cathedral. And why should they avoid this square? Anarchists, that's why.
During last week there was an announcement of two days of whatever taking place in the square. Anarchists, left-wingers and environmental organisations will be having what appear to be conferences under the theme of, more or less, the city is for those who live there, not for those who visit it.
Tourism is a scourge, suggest the anarchists, and they seem to reserve particular contempt for the "invasion" by Nordic countries, some sort of current-day Viking re-enactment that is leading to the Nordics buying up all available property.
So, cruise passengers beware, especially those from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and presumably also Finland. Don't venture to that particular square or indeed to other parts of the city that will be part of an "anti-tourist route".
Sunday, September 18, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 18 September 2016
Morning high (7.28am): 15.9C
Forecast high: 25C; UV: 6
Three-day forecast: 19 September - Sun, cloud, 27C; 20 September - Cloud, sun, 27C; 21 September - Cloud, sun, 26C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 4 to 5 easing East 3. Swells to two metres. Rain about.
Some rain during the night. More likely this morning and then brightening up later. Outlook for the week is unsettled - fine tomorrow and cloudy with occasional rain for the following days.
Evening update (20.00): Nothing much of this rain. Some sun, quite a lot of cloud. High of 24.9C, but it depended where.
Forecast high: 25C; UV: 6
Three-day forecast: 19 September - Sun, cloud, 27C; 20 September - Cloud, sun, 27C; 21 September - Cloud, sun, 26C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 4 to 5 easing East 3. Swells to two metres. Rain about.
Some rain during the night. More likely this morning and then brightening up later. Outlook for the week is unsettled - fine tomorrow and cloudy with occasional rain for the following days.
Evening update (20.00): Nothing much of this rain. Some sun, quite a lot of cloud. High of 24.9C, but it depended where.
Mallorca's Roman Link To Catalonia
One day, two thousand, one hundred and thirty-nine years ago, the people of Mallorca woke up and discovered that the island had been occupied by the Romans. The mission under Quinto Cecilio Metello had been ordered by the Roman senate, and so in 123BC Mallorca entered its Roman era.
When actually in 123BC did this occupation occur? As we now move beyond the middle of September, it is feasible that it happened a few days ago 2,139 years in the past. Bearing in mind that calendars were not quite as they are now, it has nevertheless been suggested that the best time for sailing to Mallorca from Rome was considered to have been between the end of July and the middle of September. Perhaps somehow, someone can establish that it was 12 September, and so this would give a further reason to retain that date as Mallorca Day.
The arrival of the Romans wouldn't have come as a complete surprise to the Talayotic period Mallorcans. It wasn't as though there wasn't contact prior to 123BC. Indeed, it might be asked why it took the Romans so long to formally take the island (and Menorca) over. They had long taken charge of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica and had established themselves on the Iberian peninsula around one hundred years previously.
There were perhaps two principal reasons. The Gymnesian islands of Mallorca and Menorca don't appear to have been looked upon as having had much going for them. What comparatively little there was wouldn't have equated to a great deal in terms of any fiscal returns that the Romans (or anyone else) might have wished for. Mallorca was poor, so much so that it isn't totally clear how payments were ever made to the Ibizans, who operated the economic powerhouse in the archipelago back in those days.
Trade there most certainly was, though, between Ibiza and Mallorca, even if it was mostly one way. Pigs were one source of export, there was also wine and there were mules, but otherwise it has been suggested that remuneration was made through the export of men, and the slingshot warriors of the island in particular, whose skills were certainly highly prized.
The trade with Ibiza had existed for centuries before the Romans took over. A principal Punic site in Mallorca is the islet of Na Guardis near Colonia Sant Jordi which operated as a type of factory, and it dates from around the start of the fourth century BC. But evidence from Mallorca's Talayotic sites indicates that the trade was older, at least two centuries older.
Ibiza had come under the control of the Phoenicians when a port was established in 654BC. It was later to be under Carthage, the former Phoenician city state (Rome's name for Carthaginians was Poeni, which was derived from Poenici, an earlier form of Punici and so a reference to the founding of Carthage by Phoenician settlers). The extent of Phoenician-Carthaginian influence on Mallorca, however, has been somewhat exaggerated. There was some, but the principal link was the trading one with Punic Ibiza.
A second reason, therefore, for hypothesising why the Romans were as late as they were in colonising Mallorca probably has to do with the fact that Carthage didn't fall until 146BC. With this, the Romans established dominance in the region and acquired far greater naval skills. There was no one to oppose them taking over Mallorca, though in truth there never really had been.
There was by 123BC a great deal of strategic sense in having control of the Gymnesian islands. (Ibiza was federated to Rome.) There was also the convenience of having a stopping point on the way to Hispania and to Hispania Citerior in particular. This was the eastern part of modern Spain, with the Roman administration centred on Tarragona in Catalonia. In 123BC, for administrative purposes, Mallorca came under the orbit of Hispania Citerior. It was therefore run from Catalonia.
In all the discussion of Roman times in Mallorca and of events centuries later with the Catalan invasion of the thirteenth century and indeed today's Catalan-oriented politics, it is easy to overlook that 2,139 years ago Mallorca not only became Roman it also became, if only administratively, a part of what was to become Catalonia.
When actually in 123BC did this occupation occur? As we now move beyond the middle of September, it is feasible that it happened a few days ago 2,139 years in the past. Bearing in mind that calendars were not quite as they are now, it has nevertheless been suggested that the best time for sailing to Mallorca from Rome was considered to have been between the end of July and the middle of September. Perhaps somehow, someone can establish that it was 12 September, and so this would give a further reason to retain that date as Mallorca Day.
The arrival of the Romans wouldn't have come as a complete surprise to the Talayotic period Mallorcans. It wasn't as though there wasn't contact prior to 123BC. Indeed, it might be asked why it took the Romans so long to formally take the island (and Menorca) over. They had long taken charge of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica and had established themselves on the Iberian peninsula around one hundred years previously.
There were perhaps two principal reasons. The Gymnesian islands of Mallorca and Menorca don't appear to have been looked upon as having had much going for them. What comparatively little there was wouldn't have equated to a great deal in terms of any fiscal returns that the Romans (or anyone else) might have wished for. Mallorca was poor, so much so that it isn't totally clear how payments were ever made to the Ibizans, who operated the economic powerhouse in the archipelago back in those days.
Trade there most certainly was, though, between Ibiza and Mallorca, even if it was mostly one way. Pigs were one source of export, there was also wine and there were mules, but otherwise it has been suggested that remuneration was made through the export of men, and the slingshot warriors of the island in particular, whose skills were certainly highly prized.
The trade with Ibiza had existed for centuries before the Romans took over. A principal Punic site in Mallorca is the islet of Na Guardis near Colonia Sant Jordi which operated as a type of factory, and it dates from around the start of the fourth century BC. But evidence from Mallorca's Talayotic sites indicates that the trade was older, at least two centuries older.
Ibiza had come under the control of the Phoenicians when a port was established in 654BC. It was later to be under Carthage, the former Phoenician city state (Rome's name for Carthaginians was Poeni, which was derived from Poenici, an earlier form of Punici and so a reference to the founding of Carthage by Phoenician settlers). The extent of Phoenician-Carthaginian influence on Mallorca, however, has been somewhat exaggerated. There was some, but the principal link was the trading one with Punic Ibiza.
A second reason, therefore, for hypothesising why the Romans were as late as they were in colonising Mallorca probably has to do with the fact that Carthage didn't fall until 146BC. With this, the Romans established dominance in the region and acquired far greater naval skills. There was no one to oppose them taking over Mallorca, though in truth there never really had been.
There was by 123BC a great deal of strategic sense in having control of the Gymnesian islands. (Ibiza was federated to Rome.) There was also the convenience of having a stopping point on the way to Hispania and to Hispania Citerior in particular. This was the eastern part of modern Spain, with the Roman administration centred on Tarragona in Catalonia. In 123BC, for administrative purposes, Mallorca came under the orbit of Hispania Citerior. It was therefore run from Catalonia.
In all the discussion of Roman times in Mallorca and of events centuries later with the Catalan invasion of the thirteenth century and indeed today's Catalan-oriented politics, it is easy to overlook that 2,139 years ago Mallorca not only became Roman it also became, if only administratively, a part of what was to become Catalonia.
Saturday, September 17, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 17 September 2016
Morning high (6.33am): 17.9C
Forecast high: 26C; UV: 6
Three-day forecast: 18 September - Sun, rain, 24C; 19 September - Sun, cloud, 26C; 20 September - Cloud, 26C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Southwest 3 to 4 veering Northwest during the morning and increasing Northeast 5 to 6 in the afternoon. Rain and storm expected.
Starting out well enough but there is an alert for heavy rain. Likelihood of more rain tomorrow.
Evening update (20.00): None of the rain that was promised. Quite a lot of cloud. Some sunny spells. High of 27.6C.
Forecast high: 26C; UV: 6
Three-day forecast: 18 September - Sun, rain, 24C; 19 September - Sun, cloud, 26C; 20 September - Cloud, 26C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Southwest 3 to 4 veering Northwest during the morning and increasing Northeast 5 to 6 in the afternoon. Rain and storm expected.
Starting out well enough but there is an alert for heavy rain. Likelihood of more rain tomorrow.
Evening update (20.00): None of the rain that was promised. Quite a lot of cloud. Some sunny spells. High of 27.6C.
Promoting Culture: Where's The Strategy?
Having dismissed the suggestion by Podemos that no money should be spent on tourism promotion, the regional government has come up with a new line of funding. It is going to promote cultural tourism. One presumes that even Podemos can't disagree with this. Or can it? Hordes of tourists will now be overwhelming obscure museums on the island, adding further to the myth of tourist saturation.
What a curious business this is. It is one which demands that the press is invited to witness an official signing ceremony. A "protocol" has been established between two ministries - tourism and culture - and from this there is an agreement. Signed, sealed, delivered by Biel Barceló and Ruth Mateu. It was as if they were signing a peace treaty.
PR nonsense. Why can't representatives from two ministries just sit round a table without making a ballyhoo about spending up to 600 grand on "internationalising" the culture of the islands via a "tourism strategy"? It's nice to know that there is a strategy. At least in theory. Why also does this protocol only run until the end of next year? What's the thinking with that? It must be strategic.
Barceló says that the only season that the government wishes to promote is the winter season: a misleading concept as it refers to more than winter. Such a statement is presumably designed to alleviate the fears of Podemos and the summer saturation propagandists (of whom, of course, Barceló is one). But there is nothing new behind this statement. Winter tourism has been the chief beneficiary of government promotional spend ever since Carlos Delgado and the Partido Popular took the knife to this spend. The austerity policies of José Ramón Bauzá decreed that promotional investment should be cut dramatically, and it was. Delgado and his then sidekick, Jaime Martínez, were going to be focusing on the winter.
The budget for promotion is miserly. What investment there is (around three to four million) goes towards travel fairs, forums and blogger and fam trips. It isn't as if summer is totally neglected, however. Much of the business done at the major travel fairs is for the summer. The government is party to only so much of this. Otherwise they are occasions for business to talk to business, though at present there is very little actual need for summer discussions.
Tour operators from the UK, Germany and Scandinavia are hoovering up hotels and hotel places with such rapidity that their Spanish counterparts are being left with scraps to fight over. If and when it is announced that domestic tourism to Mallorca next year is in decline, this won't be for lack of demand. It will be due to supply. However, the domestic market might not decline. Why not? Because it is finding alternatives. Which market is one of the most significant in driving demand for holiday rentals? The Spanish. Here's one reason for so-called saturation. And which market finds it easiest to come with its cars and clog up the roads? The Spanish.
Promotion for the summer isn't necessary at the moment. This isn't to say that there shouldn't be any. Even at times of summer tourism bonanza, it is important to keep the name out there and in the "front of mind" of the tourist punter. This doesn't require vast sums. Some well-conceived social media initiatives can achieve this. What do we get from the tourism ministry in this regard? Nothing.
The Balearic Tourism Agency (ATB), responsible for promotion, is a peculiar institution. In its former guise - Ibatur - it was at the heart of the corruption scandals that engulfed the Unió Mallorquina. Renamed, it has since then given an impression of ineffectualness. The only director to have ever made strong public statements about the need for and power of social networks was Mar Guerrero. She resigned because the job wasn't as had been said on the tin. Funding was cut off. This was almost six years ago.
So now we come to this latest initiative, to which the ATB is a party. And what will this "strategy" for cultural tourism entail? One aspect is getting more producers to come and film on the islands. Fine, but strategy demands that there is a structure, for which there has to be the right financial mix. Both Barceló and Mateu admit that there aren't the tax incentives for filming as there are in other parts of Spain. So they are coming up with a "strategy" without knowing if they have the wherewithal to implement it, while only having an agreement for fifteen months. Can anyone explain the sense of this?
What a curious business this is. It is one which demands that the press is invited to witness an official signing ceremony. A "protocol" has been established between two ministries - tourism and culture - and from this there is an agreement. Signed, sealed, delivered by Biel Barceló and Ruth Mateu. It was as if they were signing a peace treaty.
PR nonsense. Why can't representatives from two ministries just sit round a table without making a ballyhoo about spending up to 600 grand on "internationalising" the culture of the islands via a "tourism strategy"? It's nice to know that there is a strategy. At least in theory. Why also does this protocol only run until the end of next year? What's the thinking with that? It must be strategic.
Barceló says that the only season that the government wishes to promote is the winter season: a misleading concept as it refers to more than winter. Such a statement is presumably designed to alleviate the fears of Podemos and the summer saturation propagandists (of whom, of course, Barceló is one). But there is nothing new behind this statement. Winter tourism has been the chief beneficiary of government promotional spend ever since Carlos Delgado and the Partido Popular took the knife to this spend. The austerity policies of José Ramón Bauzá decreed that promotional investment should be cut dramatically, and it was. Delgado and his then sidekick, Jaime Martínez, were going to be focusing on the winter.
The budget for promotion is miserly. What investment there is (around three to four million) goes towards travel fairs, forums and blogger and fam trips. It isn't as if summer is totally neglected, however. Much of the business done at the major travel fairs is for the summer. The government is party to only so much of this. Otherwise they are occasions for business to talk to business, though at present there is very little actual need for summer discussions.
Tour operators from the UK, Germany and Scandinavia are hoovering up hotels and hotel places with such rapidity that their Spanish counterparts are being left with scraps to fight over. If and when it is announced that domestic tourism to Mallorca next year is in decline, this won't be for lack of demand. It will be due to supply. However, the domestic market might not decline. Why not? Because it is finding alternatives. Which market is one of the most significant in driving demand for holiday rentals? The Spanish. Here's one reason for so-called saturation. And which market finds it easiest to come with its cars and clog up the roads? The Spanish.
Promotion for the summer isn't necessary at the moment. This isn't to say that there shouldn't be any. Even at times of summer tourism bonanza, it is important to keep the name out there and in the "front of mind" of the tourist punter. This doesn't require vast sums. Some well-conceived social media initiatives can achieve this. What do we get from the tourism ministry in this regard? Nothing.
The Balearic Tourism Agency (ATB), responsible for promotion, is a peculiar institution. In its former guise - Ibatur - it was at the heart of the corruption scandals that engulfed the Unió Mallorquina. Renamed, it has since then given an impression of ineffectualness. The only director to have ever made strong public statements about the need for and power of social networks was Mar Guerrero. She resigned because the job wasn't as had been said on the tin. Funding was cut off. This was almost six years ago.
So now we come to this latest initiative, to which the ATB is a party. And what will this "strategy" for cultural tourism entail? One aspect is getting more producers to come and film on the islands. Fine, but strategy demands that there is a structure, for which there has to be the right financial mix. Both Barceló and Mateu admit that there aren't the tax incentives for filming as there are in other parts of Spain. So they are coming up with a "strategy" without knowing if they have the wherewithal to implement it, while only having an agreement for fifteen months. Can anyone explain the sense of this?
Friday, September 16, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 16 September 2016
Morning high (6.53am): 19.2C
Forecast high: 28C; UV: 6
Three-day forecast: 17 September - Rain, sun, 26C; 18 September - Sun, rain, 24C; 19 September - Sun, cloud, 26C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West 3 veering Northwest 4 during the morning, occasionally 5.
Decent enough day on the cards, but tomorrow looks as if it's going to be wet with rain possibly lingering into Sunday.
Evening update (20.15): Clouded up somewhat late on. Good enough otherwise. High of 27.9C. Looks like rain tomorrow.
Forecast high: 28C; UV: 6
Three-day forecast: 17 September - Rain, sun, 26C; 18 September - Sun, rain, 24C; 19 September - Sun, cloud, 26C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West 3 veering Northwest 4 during the morning, occasionally 5.
Decent enough day on the cards, but tomorrow looks as if it's going to be wet with rain possibly lingering into Sunday.
Evening update (20.15): Clouded up somewhat late on. Good enough otherwise. High of 27.9C. Looks like rain tomorrow.
Matas And The Scandals That Won't Go Away
So, Jaume Matas may escape a further term in prison if he spills the beans. He would know that he potentially faces a far longer stretch than the nine months he spent in Segovia prison for peddling influence in arranging illegal payments to a journalistic cheerleader. The Son Espases Hospital affair eclipses even the Palma Arena case in terms of the money that was involved in the project. The cost of the contract is almost incidental, however. The links to alleged illegal funding of the Partido Popular are most certainly not.
Reaction from politicians with parties other than the PP (from which little or nothing is being heard) ranges from the phlegmatic to the apoplectic. While all this reaction suggests that Matas shouldn't avoid doing time, there is an acceptance that Matas holds a key - possibly the key - to revealing the secrets of this funding. These politicians won't know exactly what Matas knows. They will be capable of hazarding shrewd guesses, but the knowledge resides with the justice system and the anti-corruption prosecution service in particular.
While Matas was in prison, he appeared by videoconference link at a hearing into Son Espases. This was the bizarre occasion when his head was bandaged. He apparently had an ear infirmity and was therefore unable to hear the questions being put to him. Before he left prison, he was visited by the chief anti-corruption prosecutor, Pedro Horrach. It was said at the time that he exercised his right not to say anything. It now appears that things were rather different and that Matas was all ears. The origin of a deal to spill the beans was during that meeting with Horrach.
Why is Son Espases so important, and important enough for the national anti-corruption prosecution service to back the regional service and so Horrach's deal? It has everything to do with funding of the PP and with work on a remodelling of its headquarters building in the calle Génova in Madrid. The allegation is that the award of the contract for the construction of Son Espases was rigged in favour of the company OHL, the president of which is Juan Miguel Villar Mir, a long-ago minister of finance (in the period immediately after Franco's death) and the recipient of a marquis title from the former king in 2011.
The charge is that it was Matas who rigged the award. In the end, OHL didn't get the contract. This was after suspicions about the contract appeared in the press. Matas intervened and the award ultimately went to the rival consortium. But Matas, it is said, didn't act independently. He was under instruction from the PP nationally.
A famous envelope containing instructions that the tender board was to follow has been referred to often during investigations. The then health minister, Aina Castillo, has testified that she was given this envelope - without knowing its contents - to be passed on. Matas was the one who gave her the envelope, but he - the allegation is - was given it by the formal national treasurer of the PP, Alvaro Lapuerta. Matas, it is understood, is prepared to state this in court.
OHL and Villar Mir come into the story because Luis Barcenas, another former treasurer, has testified that Villar Mir was a major funder of the PP. He gave the party a significant sum - 300,000 euros - for its 2011 election campaign, but he has also come under investigation for payments in cash amounting to two million euros. An implication is that he paid for work at the headquarters.
Barcenas is also crucial to this whole affair. The infamous "B" accounts which he supposedly operated - undeclared income and payments - have been the subject of investigation by the national high court. A judge, Pablo Ruz, concluded eighteen months ago that the PP had used this "B" system between 1990 and 2008. Both Barcenas and Lapuerta were cited by the judge. Moreover, the judge said that according to Barcenas's accounts, Villar Mir had delivered over half a million euros between 2004 and 2008.
Whatever the rights or wrongs of Matas avoiding prison, the revelation that he might do comes at a bad time for the PP. While Matas was involved in corruption from several years go - it is now nine years since his second and final period as Balearic president ended - there are more up-to-date scandals surrounding the party, not least in Valencia, where Rita Barberá, the former mayor of Valencia, is facing allegations of money laundering that relate to the time just before the elections in spring 2015.
The additional backdrop of course is the ongoing uncertainty with the national government. A reason for this uncertainty has been the rise of Podemos and Ciudadanos, both of them taking firm aim against corruption. The PP's moral authority for government takes a constant battering. Matas, and what he might have to say, diminishes that authority ever more.
Reaction from politicians with parties other than the PP (from which little or nothing is being heard) ranges from the phlegmatic to the apoplectic. While all this reaction suggests that Matas shouldn't avoid doing time, there is an acceptance that Matas holds a key - possibly the key - to revealing the secrets of this funding. These politicians won't know exactly what Matas knows. They will be capable of hazarding shrewd guesses, but the knowledge resides with the justice system and the anti-corruption prosecution service in particular.
While Matas was in prison, he appeared by videoconference link at a hearing into Son Espases. This was the bizarre occasion when his head was bandaged. He apparently had an ear infirmity and was therefore unable to hear the questions being put to him. Before he left prison, he was visited by the chief anti-corruption prosecutor, Pedro Horrach. It was said at the time that he exercised his right not to say anything. It now appears that things were rather different and that Matas was all ears. The origin of a deal to spill the beans was during that meeting with Horrach.
Why is Son Espases so important, and important enough for the national anti-corruption prosecution service to back the regional service and so Horrach's deal? It has everything to do with funding of the PP and with work on a remodelling of its headquarters building in the calle Génova in Madrid. The allegation is that the award of the contract for the construction of Son Espases was rigged in favour of the company OHL, the president of which is Juan Miguel Villar Mir, a long-ago minister of finance (in the period immediately after Franco's death) and the recipient of a marquis title from the former king in 2011.
The charge is that it was Matas who rigged the award. In the end, OHL didn't get the contract. This was after suspicions about the contract appeared in the press. Matas intervened and the award ultimately went to the rival consortium. But Matas, it is said, didn't act independently. He was under instruction from the PP nationally.
A famous envelope containing instructions that the tender board was to follow has been referred to often during investigations. The then health minister, Aina Castillo, has testified that she was given this envelope - without knowing its contents - to be passed on. Matas was the one who gave her the envelope, but he - the allegation is - was given it by the formal national treasurer of the PP, Alvaro Lapuerta. Matas, it is understood, is prepared to state this in court.
OHL and Villar Mir come into the story because Luis Barcenas, another former treasurer, has testified that Villar Mir was a major funder of the PP. He gave the party a significant sum - 300,000 euros - for its 2011 election campaign, but he has also come under investigation for payments in cash amounting to two million euros. An implication is that he paid for work at the headquarters.
Barcenas is also crucial to this whole affair. The infamous "B" accounts which he supposedly operated - undeclared income and payments - have been the subject of investigation by the national high court. A judge, Pablo Ruz, concluded eighteen months ago that the PP had used this "B" system between 1990 and 2008. Both Barcenas and Lapuerta were cited by the judge. Moreover, the judge said that according to Barcenas's accounts, Villar Mir had delivered over half a million euros between 2004 and 2008.
Whatever the rights or wrongs of Matas avoiding prison, the revelation that he might do comes at a bad time for the PP. While Matas was involved in corruption from several years go - it is now nine years since his second and final period as Balearic president ended - there are more up-to-date scandals surrounding the party, not least in Valencia, where Rita Barberá, the former mayor of Valencia, is facing allegations of money laundering that relate to the time just before the elections in spring 2015.
The additional backdrop of course is the ongoing uncertainty with the national government. A reason for this uncertainty has been the rise of Podemos and Ciudadanos, both of them taking firm aim against corruption. The PP's moral authority for government takes a constant battering. Matas, and what he might have to say, diminishes that authority ever more.
Thursday, September 15, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 15 September 2016
Morning high (7.00am): 18.4C
Forecast high: 29C; UV: 6
Three-day forecast: 16 September - Sun, cloud, 27C; 17 September - Sun, cloud, 26C; 18 September - Rain, 25C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West 2 to 3 veering East 3 around midday.
Clear enough early on but set to cloud over. Prospect of some rainy weather over the weekend increasing.
Evening update (22.45): High of 29C - bang on the forecast money.
Forecast high: 29C; UV: 6
Three-day forecast: 16 September - Sun, cloud, 27C; 17 September - Sun, cloud, 26C; 18 September - Rain, 25C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West 2 to 3 veering East 3 around midday.
Clear enough early on but set to cloud over. Prospect of some rainy weather over the weekend increasing.
Evening update (22.45): High of 29C - bang on the forecast money.
The Lost Soul Of Mallorca
For three days from tomorrow, the Hotel Formentor becomes the location for high literary culture. They're holding the ninth annual Formentor Conversations. They'll be conversing about ghosts and lost souls in purgatory over the weekend.
They also hand out an award. The Formentor Prize for Literature is going this year to the Italian author Roberto Calasso, whose oeuvre is characterised as considering the relationship between myth and the emergence of modern consciousness. His work will feature during the conversations. Works by other authors will include those by the likes of Dickens ("A Christmas Carol"), Henry James, Oscar Wilde and Edgar Allan Poe.
Low brow this gathering most certainly is not, while its surroundings are those of the distinctly high brow: the hotel itself, at which you could have parted with up to 1,000 euros a couple of weeks ago to see the American violinist Hilary Hahn; the nearby La Fortalesa, which will forever now be known as Roper's house; the Villa Cortina, the object of much controversy, now seemingly being made legal so that the one-time executive president of Repsol can live in it.
Literary tradition runs deep in Mallorca, albeit for the casual observer of the island it may as well not exist. Language, let's be blunt, doesn't help in this regard. This is a tradition that has generally not gone and will not go beyond borders. But it is there nevertheless, and Formentor plays its role. Arguably the most famous Mallorcan poem took a pine from Formentor and made it highly representative of the Mallorca School of poets: Miquel Costa i Llobera's "El pi de Formentor", written in 1875.
Costa i Llobera died in 1922. He was witness therefore to the early days of Mallorca's tourism that grew in the years of the twentieth century prior to the Civil War. This was a tourism that was essentially high brow. It had to be in those days - travel was for the wealthy, and in its touristic version it was predominantly for the culture-seeker and the cultured, notwithstanding the occasional Bohemians. The Formentor Conversations are, therefore, like an echo of those distant days, not least because the founder of the hotel, the Argentine poet Adan Diehl, looked upon his building as a haven for the artistic and literary minded.
The Conversations, with their allusion to that past, are an example of the striking contrasts of this island. This is civilised Mallorca, one of culture, refinement and no small amount of money. In a touristic sense it is the complete opposite of the conversations held about Magalluf. Yet that allusion to the past and to what supplanted it when mass tourism started makes even more stark the extent to which Mallorca was transformed by its "industrial revolution".
There are all sorts of examples of the ways in which societies have undergone immense change over a comparatively short period of time - parts of the Middle East, for instance - and in Mallorca's case this transformation has occurred over the period of only two generations. It is an experience that has been lived by many and one that can perhaps be all too easily overlooked.
When researchers recently asked about current-day opinions regarding tourism - a survey in light of "saturation" - it was notable that the older generation felt the saturation sensation most acutely. Notable but not surprising. Here is a generation which, as an example, can recall how at the end of the 1950s Can Picafort had a couple of small hotels, a series of tracks made from sand, and a row of dunes. Now, it is a resort of high-density urbanisation. There aren't the dunes. They were flattened.
It was this process of "Balearisation" - the unprecedented development of the coasts - which contributed to Mallorca's one-time reputation. A further process of gentrification has shifted that reputation dramatically, but this makes it also easy to overlook how Mallorca was once shorthand for naffness.
The Formentor Conversations are an extreme and somewhat obscure manifestation of the extension to this gentrification, a desire to attempt to reclaim some essence of former times. There are things that cannot be reclaimed - the dunes that were built on, for example - but others can be. And one is a degree of civility. A further one is a spot of respect.
There is a tendency to argue that Mallorca should be grateful for the legacy bestowed upon it by mass tourism. There is gratitude, but here is a word that can disguise a patronising demand for servility. In the global economy, tourism no longer works as it once did, with the destination and its people expected to lump whatever was thrown at them.
Mallorca has a right to decide for itself, and within the context of current debates regarding saturation and sustainability, it may well do. Consequences of Balearisation will remain, but the lost soul of its purgatory can be reclaimed.
They also hand out an award. The Formentor Prize for Literature is going this year to the Italian author Roberto Calasso, whose oeuvre is characterised as considering the relationship between myth and the emergence of modern consciousness. His work will feature during the conversations. Works by other authors will include those by the likes of Dickens ("A Christmas Carol"), Henry James, Oscar Wilde and Edgar Allan Poe.
Low brow this gathering most certainly is not, while its surroundings are those of the distinctly high brow: the hotel itself, at which you could have parted with up to 1,000 euros a couple of weeks ago to see the American violinist Hilary Hahn; the nearby La Fortalesa, which will forever now be known as Roper's house; the Villa Cortina, the object of much controversy, now seemingly being made legal so that the one-time executive president of Repsol can live in it.
Literary tradition runs deep in Mallorca, albeit for the casual observer of the island it may as well not exist. Language, let's be blunt, doesn't help in this regard. This is a tradition that has generally not gone and will not go beyond borders. But it is there nevertheless, and Formentor plays its role. Arguably the most famous Mallorcan poem took a pine from Formentor and made it highly representative of the Mallorca School of poets: Miquel Costa i Llobera's "El pi de Formentor", written in 1875.
Costa i Llobera died in 1922. He was witness therefore to the early days of Mallorca's tourism that grew in the years of the twentieth century prior to the Civil War. This was a tourism that was essentially high brow. It had to be in those days - travel was for the wealthy, and in its touristic version it was predominantly for the culture-seeker and the cultured, notwithstanding the occasional Bohemians. The Formentor Conversations are, therefore, like an echo of those distant days, not least because the founder of the hotel, the Argentine poet Adan Diehl, looked upon his building as a haven for the artistic and literary minded.
The Conversations, with their allusion to that past, are an example of the striking contrasts of this island. This is civilised Mallorca, one of culture, refinement and no small amount of money. In a touristic sense it is the complete opposite of the conversations held about Magalluf. Yet that allusion to the past and to what supplanted it when mass tourism started makes even more stark the extent to which Mallorca was transformed by its "industrial revolution".
There are all sorts of examples of the ways in which societies have undergone immense change over a comparatively short period of time - parts of the Middle East, for instance - and in Mallorca's case this transformation has occurred over the period of only two generations. It is an experience that has been lived by many and one that can perhaps be all too easily overlooked.
When researchers recently asked about current-day opinions regarding tourism - a survey in light of "saturation" - it was notable that the older generation felt the saturation sensation most acutely. Notable but not surprising. Here is a generation which, as an example, can recall how at the end of the 1950s Can Picafort had a couple of small hotels, a series of tracks made from sand, and a row of dunes. Now, it is a resort of high-density urbanisation. There aren't the dunes. They were flattened.
It was this process of "Balearisation" - the unprecedented development of the coasts - which contributed to Mallorca's one-time reputation. A further process of gentrification has shifted that reputation dramatically, but this makes it also easy to overlook how Mallorca was once shorthand for naffness.
The Formentor Conversations are an extreme and somewhat obscure manifestation of the extension to this gentrification, a desire to attempt to reclaim some essence of former times. There are things that cannot be reclaimed - the dunes that were built on, for example - but others can be. And one is a degree of civility. A further one is a spot of respect.
There is a tendency to argue that Mallorca should be grateful for the legacy bestowed upon it by mass tourism. There is gratitude, but here is a word that can disguise a patronising demand for servility. In the global economy, tourism no longer works as it once did, with the destination and its people expected to lump whatever was thrown at them.
Mallorca has a right to decide for itself, and within the context of current debates regarding saturation and sustainability, it may well do. Consequences of Balearisation will remain, but the lost soul of its purgatory can be reclaimed.
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 14 September 2016
Morning high (6.35am): 22.8C
Forecast high: 28C; UV: 6
Three-day forecast: 15 September - Sun, cloud, 27C; 16 September - Sun, cloud, 28C; 17 September - Cloud, 27C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West 4 to 5.
Maritime forecast suggesting possible storm early on, though nothing for land. Due to be cloudy later in the day.
Evening update (21.00): High of 30.9C. Cooling off notably later. Windy. Change is afoot.
Forecast high: 28C; UV: 6
Three-day forecast: 15 September - Sun, cloud, 27C; 16 September - Sun, cloud, 28C; 17 September - Cloud, 27C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West 4 to 5.
Maritime forecast suggesting possible storm early on, though nothing for land. Due to be cloudy later in the day.
Evening update (21.00): High of 30.9C. Cooling off notably later. Windy. Change is afoot.
The Balearic Government's Football Logo
These sorts of explanation, replete with reference to the brand, are applicable in the business world. Logos can be big business and attract big dollars (or any other currency). I have some recollection, for example, about Wolff Olins once getting an absolute stack for coming up with a new-look British Airways logo.
The world's leading logos are highly recognisable. Take Apple for example. Or Nike. While recognisable and memorable, it's a matter of conjecture as to what they actually "say" about the brand or company. The same can be said for Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Google. They are very, very well-known, but do they mean anything to the average punter other than being instantly recognisable?
Marketing speak is what explains to us the purpose of the logo. And businesses are, in essence, all about marketing. The logo is thus essential, because marketing has deemed it to be so, regardless of how meaningful or not it might actually be. So we get the whole deal with logos where businesses are concerned. But what about governments?
One of those very well-known logos, Google, was to whom I turned to enquire of it the purpose of government logos. After three pages didn't reveal any obvious answer, I gave up, stopping only to check out Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Helpfully in English, it explained that the logo was to "enhance the ministry’s corporate governance and to bring about a change in the staff’s mindset, by returning to the original purpose of the government services on health, labour and welfare that meet the public expectations".
Here, at any rate, was some clue as to purpose, if only in the Japanese health ministry.
My reason for asking Google was that, and you are almost certainly unaware of the fact, the Balearic government has a new logo. You will be reassured to learn that this didn't cost top dollar (euro). Only 9,000 euros have been handed over to a Mallorcan designer Lluis Llabrés, of whom we learn that he has worked with "foreign" governments and chef extraordinaire Ferrà Adriá. And what has he come up with? Well, it's a shield, similar to one that has hitherto featured but in a sort of reddy-mauve colour with a diagonal white stripe. Underneath this is "Govern Illes Balears" in a suitably minimalist typeface and then a further stripe but in that mauve colour (I think red-violet might be what a swatch would tell us).
To be honest it looks like something that would be on a football shirt. There is in fact a vague resemblance to Stoke City's badge without any reference to "The Potters", which is probably just as well.
Why, you might ask, has the government felt the necessity for it have a new logo? You will not be surprised to learn that one reason is because the previous one dates from the time of disgraced ex-president Jaume Matas. (One wonders how much that cost, but let's not go there.) Otherwise, there is a practical reason. The Matas version with more heraldic-style shield was multi-coloured. The new one will mean savings on printing costs, which is fair enough.
But then we get to the guff. Greater sustainability might be afforded through less strain being placed on printers' inks, but what do we make of the two colours - the red-violet one and what is basically black - being colours "sustainable and extracted from fruits cultivated on the islands"? Eh? Perhaps this is a reference to certain types of fig. Otherwise, who can say.
Moreover, the new design is "much closer and more open to the citizenship", and the citizens - in an era of digital communications - will be better able to understand it. Perhaps the citizens will be, but the Partido Popular isn't convinced. Why is the government spending nine grand on a new logo when it has vowed that a key objective has been the "rescue" of the citizens? This was a question from the PP's Marga Prohens, who was clearly unaware that this rescue is partly being aided by a logo that is more understandable to them.
But then the PP also wanted to know why it looks like the logo of the Generalitat de Catalunya, which in a way it does, except for the shape, which is football-club shield-shaped.
Will the citizens now all identify with this logo? Will it explain the attributes of the government? Will it encourage loyalty? How can one possibly say? What is the purpose of a government logo? Only the Japanese seem to know.
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 13 September 2016
Morning high (6.03am): 20.7C
Forecast high: 30C; UV: 6
Three-day forecast: 14 September - Sun, cloud, 29C; 15 September - Sun, cloud, 26C; 16 September - Sun, cloud, 27C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East-Southeast 2 to 3 increasing 4 around midday.
Another warm day coming, but note how the UV is now dropping. The earlier forecast for rain tomorrow seems far less likely. There is a change on the way, though, with lower temperatures from Thursday.
Evening update (19.45): A high of 32C.
Forecast high: 30C; UV: 6
Three-day forecast: 14 September - Sun, cloud, 29C; 15 September - Sun, cloud, 26C; 16 September - Sun, cloud, 27C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East-Southeast 2 to 3 increasing 4 around midday.
Another warm day coming, but note how the UV is now dropping. The earlier forecast for rain tomorrow seems far less likely. There is a change on the way, though, with lower temperatures from Thursday.
Evening update (19.45): A high of 32C.
Too Much, Too Little: Cabrera's Organisation
When the Cabrera National Park was declared in 1991, a trust was established in line with national law. The trust exists to guarantee the integrity of the park, which consists also of the smaller Conills island and a series of islets as well as the surrounding sea. The president of the trust is appointed by the national government, with the environment and fisheries ministry making the proposal. There are representatives from national ministries other than environment. The development ministry is involved through transport, communications and public works. The education ministry has a role, so does tourism. And then there is the ministry of defence. Cabrera has belonged to it since 1916.
Also on the trust are three representatives of the Balearic government, one apiece from the Council of Mallorca, Palma town hall, the University of the Balearic Islands, the fishermen's brotherhood and the national institute of oceanography. There are two more - both from conservation associations.
This trust, with its diverse representation, is to be presented with a damning report from analysts. It is based on a simple technique - a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. From what has been so far revealed of this report, there is a great deal to do with the weaknesses. Together they generate key threats - the risk posed to the park's reputation and its entire marine area.
There will be those shifting uneasily in their chairs when this report hits the table for discussion. The trust may not have operational responsibility, but it does oversee the organisation. The main question from the revealing of all the weaknesses is: what organisation? And from this stems further questions regarding efficiency and effectiveness of management, cooperation and coordination, lines of communication and centres for decision-making.
The analysis has highlighted a total mess of organisational structure, and that is because the structure is, like the trust, diverse. Its component parts comprise: the regional government, which through the environment ministry has overall responsibility for the park; government agencies and companies; Palma town hall. On top of these there is the ministry of defence, because it owns Cabrera, and Ses Salines town hall.
Administratively, Cabrera belongs to Palma. Despite the distance, it is classified as falling under the Palma municipality. Yet, let's consider what happened in February this year when the regional environment minister, Vicenç Vidal, made an announcement at the Cabrera information centre. The institute for natural areas (Ibanat), which is one of the government's agencies active in the park, was to invest just over 225,000 euros for certain infrastructure improvements. Who was to receive this money? Palma? Yes, but only some 130,000 euros. The rest was going to Ses Salines.
This division of investment made some sense in that Ses Salines was to receive aid for information signage, a cycle park and the tarmacking of a rural road: Colonia Sant Jordi is the main port that serves Cabrera. Well, it made some sense, but then it also made very little. Which is essentially the thrust of the report. There are simply too many administrations involved with Cabrera. The organisation is such that no one seems to be clear who does what or why. And when it comes to the provision of money, the budget has declined markedly since the regional government assumed control of the park some five years ago.
The report's findings hint at Cabrera being symptomatic of organisational confusion, inefficiency and ineffectiveness that affect Mallorca's coastal areas. They may not specifically be noted in the organisation or the trust, but there are yet further administrations who have their say, such as the national Costas Authority and the regional Ports Illes Balears (Colonia Sant Jordi's port is under its control).
How often do we hear of issues that stem from the involvement of all these different bodies? Cala Varques in Manacor has been a classic example, and there the Guardia Civil and National Police are adding to a mix of regional government, Council of Mallorca, town hall and Costas. There are other cases. Take Alcudia, for instance. Depending on which part of the municipality one is talking about, the town hall is involved with - and usually at loggerheads with - the Balearic Ports Authority and the Costas Authority. But then it also has to deal with the Council of Mallorca (main roads), Ports Illes Balears for its small ports of Barcares and Bonaire, the regional government, e.g. with the laying of electricity cables, and both the government and the Council of Mallorca when it comes to decisions regarding land use.
The upshot of all this is that it can be and has been that nothing gets done, while there are inbuilt mechanisms for conflict. And Cabrera appears to be one of the worst cases. A national park and an apparent symbol of everything environmentally righteous in the Balearics, and it is failed by the disorganisation created by too many organisations.
Also on the trust are three representatives of the Balearic government, one apiece from the Council of Mallorca, Palma town hall, the University of the Balearic Islands, the fishermen's brotherhood and the national institute of oceanography. There are two more - both from conservation associations.
This trust, with its diverse representation, is to be presented with a damning report from analysts. It is based on a simple technique - a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. From what has been so far revealed of this report, there is a great deal to do with the weaknesses. Together they generate key threats - the risk posed to the park's reputation and its entire marine area.
There will be those shifting uneasily in their chairs when this report hits the table for discussion. The trust may not have operational responsibility, but it does oversee the organisation. The main question from the revealing of all the weaknesses is: what organisation? And from this stems further questions regarding efficiency and effectiveness of management, cooperation and coordination, lines of communication and centres for decision-making.
The analysis has highlighted a total mess of organisational structure, and that is because the structure is, like the trust, diverse. Its component parts comprise: the regional government, which through the environment ministry has overall responsibility for the park; government agencies and companies; Palma town hall. On top of these there is the ministry of defence, because it owns Cabrera, and Ses Salines town hall.
Administratively, Cabrera belongs to Palma. Despite the distance, it is classified as falling under the Palma municipality. Yet, let's consider what happened in February this year when the regional environment minister, Vicenç Vidal, made an announcement at the Cabrera information centre. The institute for natural areas (Ibanat), which is one of the government's agencies active in the park, was to invest just over 225,000 euros for certain infrastructure improvements. Who was to receive this money? Palma? Yes, but only some 130,000 euros. The rest was going to Ses Salines.
This division of investment made some sense in that Ses Salines was to receive aid for information signage, a cycle park and the tarmacking of a rural road: Colonia Sant Jordi is the main port that serves Cabrera. Well, it made some sense, but then it also made very little. Which is essentially the thrust of the report. There are simply too many administrations involved with Cabrera. The organisation is such that no one seems to be clear who does what or why. And when it comes to the provision of money, the budget has declined markedly since the regional government assumed control of the park some five years ago.
The report's findings hint at Cabrera being symptomatic of organisational confusion, inefficiency and ineffectiveness that affect Mallorca's coastal areas. They may not specifically be noted in the organisation or the trust, but there are yet further administrations who have their say, such as the national Costas Authority and the regional Ports Illes Balears (Colonia Sant Jordi's port is under its control).
How often do we hear of issues that stem from the involvement of all these different bodies? Cala Varques in Manacor has been a classic example, and there the Guardia Civil and National Police are adding to a mix of regional government, Council of Mallorca, town hall and Costas. There are other cases. Take Alcudia, for instance. Depending on which part of the municipality one is talking about, the town hall is involved with - and usually at loggerheads with - the Balearic Ports Authority and the Costas Authority. But then it also has to deal with the Council of Mallorca (main roads), Ports Illes Balears for its small ports of Barcares and Bonaire, the regional government, e.g. with the laying of electricity cables, and both the government and the Council of Mallorca when it comes to decisions regarding land use.
The upshot of all this is that it can be and has been that nothing gets done, while there are inbuilt mechanisms for conflict. And Cabrera appears to be one of the worst cases. A national park and an apparent symbol of everything environmentally righteous in the Balearics, and it is failed by the disorganisation created by too many organisations.
Monday, September 12, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 12 September 2016
Morning high (6.30am): 21.2C
Forecast high: 30C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 13 September - Sun, cloud, 30C; 14 September - Sun, cloud, 28C; 15 September - Sun, cloud, 28C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East 2 to 3.
Still pretty hot today and tomorrow. Although the forecast temperatures from Wednesday are high, the Aemet agency says that there is likely to be a notable fall from midweek. We'll see.
Evening update (20.00): High of 31.9C.
Forecast high: 30C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 13 September - Sun, cloud, 30C; 14 September - Sun, cloud, 28C; 15 September - Sun, cloud, 28C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): East 2 to 3.
Still pretty hot today and tomorrow. Although the forecast temperatures from Wednesday are high, the Aemet agency says that there is likely to be a notable fall from midweek. We'll see.
Evening update (20.00): High of 31.9C.
Is The Pope A Mallorquinista?
There was some funny old stuff cracking off last week. Take the visit of Real Mallorca bigwigs to Rome and an apparent attempt to sign up the Pope beyond the transfer window. The Holy Father declined the temptation to decamp to the Son Moix and end Mallorca's goal drought, but instead was delighted to receive a Mallorca shirt to add to the vast range that adorns the bar at the Vatican. Or this, one assumed, was the purpose of the gift. What else would a Pope do with such a shirt? Wear it in bed? There must be such a bar, therefore, to which the visiting priesthood are invited to make use of the Vatican's Sky dish, sample the ample selection of international beers and add football shirts from many nations.
Or was there an alternative purpose to this visit by the Real Mallorca delegation? Was the shirt part of a secret mission on behalf of the island's diocese to seek papal forgiveness for the naughty bishop and to allow him to continue to bless the club's less than spectacular fortunes? Were Monti and Maheta thus despatched in the knowledge, courtesy of the diocese, that the Pope does like his football? He must do. He is Argentinian after all. Alas, the sacrificial offer of the shirt ended in failure. The naughty bishop was defenestrated. Not literally thrown out of the window, but packed off to play with the reserves in Valencia.
While Monti and Maheta were engaged in mission impossible, a performance artist no one had ever heard of was making a statement. The message went something like the Balearics are on the point of sinking into the Med under the sheer weight of accumulated tourist numbers and environmental groups berating tourists at every available opportunity. The stats office needs to start producing figures to show the ratio of environmental organisations/agitators per head of tourist population; it must be edging towards one to one by now. There's saturation for you.
Anyway, whoever this artist chappy was - Hugo was in fact his name - he determined that the performance required the symbolic use of vast beach towels, which didn't look anything like beach towels. More like sheets, of the type some lookies prefer. It was all to do with saturation by tourists, as if anyone was not already aware that there supposedly is such a saturation. We are saturated by saturation statements, so Hugo inadvertently added to the saturation. Such was the power of his message, from what one could divine, that there was no one there to witness his performance apart from the odd press photographer. So much, therefore, for beach saturation: El Molinar beach at any rate. He really should have nipped along the coast to Arenal and spread his sheets out there.
It did occur to me to wonder if he had permission from the Costas Authority to engage in such occupation of a part of the beach in the style of superyacht louts taking over Cabrera. He probably didn't need it, given that the space occupied was no greater than that taken up by a typical Mallorcan extended family which invades a beach on a Sunday. But had he, it would have been very doubtful that any environmentalists would have denounced him.
Ultimately, though, Hugo betrayed a certain lack of appreciation as to what full-on beach saturation by tourists (also known as Mallorcan residents) looks like. Beach towels there are, but they are obscured by the contents of Toys 'R' Us, some of Ikea, the entire crisps section in Eroski and most of the nearest vendor of inflatable dinosaurs. And getting all that lot on to a beach is what one could describe as a real performance.
Or was there an alternative purpose to this visit by the Real Mallorca delegation? Was the shirt part of a secret mission on behalf of the island's diocese to seek papal forgiveness for the naughty bishop and to allow him to continue to bless the club's less than spectacular fortunes? Were Monti and Maheta thus despatched in the knowledge, courtesy of the diocese, that the Pope does like his football? He must do. He is Argentinian after all. Alas, the sacrificial offer of the shirt ended in failure. The naughty bishop was defenestrated. Not literally thrown out of the window, but packed off to play with the reserves in Valencia.
While Monti and Maheta were engaged in mission impossible, a performance artist no one had ever heard of was making a statement. The message went something like the Balearics are on the point of sinking into the Med under the sheer weight of accumulated tourist numbers and environmental groups berating tourists at every available opportunity. The stats office needs to start producing figures to show the ratio of environmental organisations/agitators per head of tourist population; it must be edging towards one to one by now. There's saturation for you.
Anyway, whoever this artist chappy was - Hugo was in fact his name - he determined that the performance required the symbolic use of vast beach towels, which didn't look anything like beach towels. More like sheets, of the type some lookies prefer. It was all to do with saturation by tourists, as if anyone was not already aware that there supposedly is such a saturation. We are saturated by saturation statements, so Hugo inadvertently added to the saturation. Such was the power of his message, from what one could divine, that there was no one there to witness his performance apart from the odd press photographer. So much, therefore, for beach saturation: El Molinar beach at any rate. He really should have nipped along the coast to Arenal and spread his sheets out there.
It did occur to me to wonder if he had permission from the Costas Authority to engage in such occupation of a part of the beach in the style of superyacht louts taking over Cabrera. He probably didn't need it, given that the space occupied was no greater than that taken up by a typical Mallorcan extended family which invades a beach on a Sunday. But had he, it would have been very doubtful that any environmentalists would have denounced him.
Ultimately, though, Hugo betrayed a certain lack of appreciation as to what full-on beach saturation by tourists (also known as Mallorcan residents) looks like. Beach towels there are, but they are obscured by the contents of Toys 'R' Us, some of Ikea, the entire crisps section in Eroski and most of the nearest vendor of inflatable dinosaurs. And getting all that lot on to a beach is what one could describe as a real performance.
Sunday, September 11, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 11 September 2016
Morning high (6.20am): 20.8C
Forecast high: 29C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 12 September - Sun, 29C; 13 September - Sun, cloud, 29C; 14 September - Sun, rain, 28C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North-Northeast 2 to 3 occasionally 4.
Should be a better day and so sunnier. From Wednesday it appears as though there may be some rain about.
Evening update (19.00): High of 31.8C.
Forecast high: 29C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 12 September - Sun, 29C; 13 September - Sun, cloud, 29C; 14 September - Sun, rain, 28C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North-Northeast 2 to 3 occasionally 4.
Should be a better day and so sunnier. From Wednesday it appears as though there may be some rain about.
Evening update (19.00): High of 31.8C.
The Legend And Meanings Of 12 September
Pilgrims from across Mallorca will have been arriving in Lluc from around seven this morning. The "pujada a Lluc a peu de la Part Forana" - the climb by foot to Lluc from the "foreign part" (anywhere but Palma) of Mallorca - coincides with the celebrations for Our Lady of Lluc on 12 September. It is a walk not to be confused with the one from Güell in Palma that takes place in August. The September pilgrimage has been going for an awful lot longer because of the celebrations for Our Lady. The Güell walk does, though, have some time significance in that 10 August is the date when, in 1884, the image of the Virgin and of the baby Jesus received official papal coronation.
The legend of the image - La Moreneta, the Black Madonna - is one of Mallorca's most famed legends. The story of the shepherd boy Lukas - Lluc in Catalan (not the reason why the place Lluc is called Lluc) - and the discovery of the statue has been told many, many times. That the discovery was made in or around 1250 lends itself to there being the legend. A tale from centuries ago (there was in fact no documented evidence of if until the fifteenth century), it is probably no more than a tale, though the existence of the original chapel or hermitage of the Virgin of Lluc - the product of the discovery of the image - is documented from roughly the same time: a procurator, Jaume de Marina, recorded the chapel in October 1268.
The pilgrimage nowadays benefits from decent enough roads. It's a slog - as suggested by the "pujada" - but at least the terrain is negotiable. What must it have been like in the thirteenth century? The current-day pilgrimage does at least retain the essence of what it was then and has remained - done on foot; donkeys also proved useful back in the day.
There is a coincidence where the date is concerned. Jaume II of Mallorca's coronation was on 12 September, 1276. This event was when he issued rights and privileges to the island, and it took place at the church of Santa Eulalia in Palma. Or was it a coincidence? The origin of the liturgical feast of Our Lady of Lluc being on 12 September appears uncertain, but it would appear that Jaume II - described as someone with intense Marian devotion (i.e. to the Virgin) - made clear this devotion during his coronation.
The point about this is that nowadays there is a distinction made when it comes to 12 September: a distinction between the secular and the religious, despite the fact that the two, historically, may well be bound together. The day of Mallorca, falling as it does on 12 September, is an invention of the late 1990s. The rationale was the coronation and the granting of privileges - the secular meaning of 12 September. It owes nothing to the religious, yet Our Lady of Lluc is Mallorca's patron saint.
The debate that is currently ongoing regarding Mallorca Day stems from the fact that not everyone is convinced that 12 September, 1276 is the epitome of "Mallorcaness". Alternative dates have been suggested, but nowhere in this debate do the religious and spiritual intrude. Swapping the justification for 12 September from the secular - the coronation - to the religious (the feast day) appears a non-starter.
For the political world (much of it anyway), it is important to be separate from the church. And there are very good and legitimate reasons why this should be. Some politicians, though, make a display of spurning religion and notable celebrations, even if they are rooted deeply in local traditions. The mayor of Pollensa, for instance, declined to attend the moving ceremony of Good Friday this year. He was within his rights to do so, but for all its religious symbolism it is also a symbol of tradition, anticipated as much by the faithful as it is by the non-believers. When it comes to the pilgrimage to Lluc (and the one in August), how many participants are genuinely religious? It isn't an imperative.
So, should there be a recognition of the dual meaning of 12 September and to therefore reinforce Mallorca Day? The politicians probably wouldn't allow it, but they might want to trace things back and see the origins of their secularism. They might also discover that it was 12 September in 1229 when the first main battle (Porto Pi) took place between Jaume I's forces and those of the occupying Muslims. Thus commenced the process for everything Catalan (secular and religious) that is present-day Mallorca.
The legend of the image - La Moreneta, the Black Madonna - is one of Mallorca's most famed legends. The story of the shepherd boy Lukas - Lluc in Catalan (not the reason why the place Lluc is called Lluc) - and the discovery of the statue has been told many, many times. That the discovery was made in or around 1250 lends itself to there being the legend. A tale from centuries ago (there was in fact no documented evidence of if until the fifteenth century), it is probably no more than a tale, though the existence of the original chapel or hermitage of the Virgin of Lluc - the product of the discovery of the image - is documented from roughly the same time: a procurator, Jaume de Marina, recorded the chapel in October 1268.
The pilgrimage nowadays benefits from decent enough roads. It's a slog - as suggested by the "pujada" - but at least the terrain is negotiable. What must it have been like in the thirteenth century? The current-day pilgrimage does at least retain the essence of what it was then and has remained - done on foot; donkeys also proved useful back in the day.
There is a coincidence where the date is concerned. Jaume II of Mallorca's coronation was on 12 September, 1276. This event was when he issued rights and privileges to the island, and it took place at the church of Santa Eulalia in Palma. Or was it a coincidence? The origin of the liturgical feast of Our Lady of Lluc being on 12 September appears uncertain, but it would appear that Jaume II - described as someone with intense Marian devotion (i.e. to the Virgin) - made clear this devotion during his coronation.
The point about this is that nowadays there is a distinction made when it comes to 12 September: a distinction between the secular and the religious, despite the fact that the two, historically, may well be bound together. The day of Mallorca, falling as it does on 12 September, is an invention of the late 1990s. The rationale was the coronation and the granting of privileges - the secular meaning of 12 September. It owes nothing to the religious, yet Our Lady of Lluc is Mallorca's patron saint.
The debate that is currently ongoing regarding Mallorca Day stems from the fact that not everyone is convinced that 12 September, 1276 is the epitome of "Mallorcaness". Alternative dates have been suggested, but nowhere in this debate do the religious and spiritual intrude. Swapping the justification for 12 September from the secular - the coronation - to the religious (the feast day) appears a non-starter.
For the political world (much of it anyway), it is important to be separate from the church. And there are very good and legitimate reasons why this should be. Some politicians, though, make a display of spurning religion and notable celebrations, even if they are rooted deeply in local traditions. The mayor of Pollensa, for instance, declined to attend the moving ceremony of Good Friday this year. He was within his rights to do so, but for all its religious symbolism it is also a symbol of tradition, anticipated as much by the faithful as it is by the non-believers. When it comes to the pilgrimage to Lluc (and the one in August), how many participants are genuinely religious? It isn't an imperative.
So, should there be a recognition of the dual meaning of 12 September and to therefore reinforce Mallorca Day? The politicians probably wouldn't allow it, but they might want to trace things back and see the origins of their secularism. They might also discover that it was 12 September in 1229 when the first main battle (Porto Pi) took place between Jaume I's forces and those of the occupying Muslims. Thus commenced the process for everything Catalan (secular and religious) that is present-day Mallorca.
Saturday, September 10, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 10 September 2016
Morning high (6.00am): 22.7C
Forecast high: 28C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 11 September - Sun, cloud, 29C; 12 September - Sun, cloud, 29C; 13 September - Sun, cloud, 30C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 2 to 4 occasionally Variable. Rain or storm from midday.
Yellow alerts for rain and storm today, so we will see what materialises. Generally cloudy whatever. Tomorrow should be fine.
Evening update (19.30): Somewhere must have got a soaking, but not here. Thunder rumbled at different times, but there was only some light rain this morning. A good deal of cloud otherwise. High of 30.3C.
Forecast high: 28C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 11 September - Sun, cloud, 29C; 12 September - Sun, cloud, 29C; 13 September - Sun, cloud, 30C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 2 to 4 occasionally Variable. Rain or storm from midday.
Yellow alerts for rain and storm today, so we will see what materialises. Generally cloudy whatever. Tomorrow should be fine.
Evening update (19.30): Somewhere must have got a soaking, but not here. Thunder rumbled at different times, but there was only some light rain this morning. A good deal of cloud otherwise. High of 30.3C.
How Do You Set A Ceiling On Tourist Places?
The battle for Balearic holiday rentals has been well and truly engaged, tourism minister Biel Barceló of Més surrounded by all sides. The hoteliers we have known about for years. Right out in the open now have emerged Podemos and Aptur, the holiday rentals' association. Nothing that either of these have said is fundamentally new, but both are stepping up the pressure on Barceló.
To take Podemos, the parties of government, of which it is one, met this week to consider their "agreements" for government. Tourism was top of the agenda. At least there were some conciliatory noises from Podemos. Having accused the actual government (PSOE and Més) and so therefore Barceló in particular of policy "improvisation" (a euphemism for saying that the government has failed to get on top of tourist "saturation"), there was an acceptance that holiday rentals' legislation is not straightforward. Hallelujah, the penny had dropped. Podemos, seemingly always in a hurry to legislate, would have pressurised Barceló into total improvisation, had holiday rentals' draft legislation been rushed in by the end of August (which had been the original intention).
Fundamental to whatever legislation is enacted is the principle of a ceiling on tourist places. Podemos wants a lowering of numbers; Més, Barceló and PSOE don't see that as plausible. But through legislation they believe they can create a limit to the total number of tourist places. It's going to be fascinating to see how they intend to set this and what the limit might be. Determining it is pretty much anyone's guess.
There are, however, individuals who can assist in removing the guesswork, which is why the government has commissioned two studies. One of these, for indicators of the sustainability of tourism in the Balearics, has lost its chief expert. Dr. Ivan Murray of the University of the Balearic Islands, says that other commitments will not allow him the time to undertake the study. Perhaps so, or maybe he prefers not to be caught in any political crossfire. Whatever the reasons, the government can ill afford to lose good thinkers. There needs to be objectivity rather than political dogma.
Where Aptur is concerned, it has been banging the drum for liberalisation for ages and regularly producing its own studies to back this up. It came out this week with what appeared to be a startling statistic: that the "illegal" supply of holiday accommodation in the Balearics represents over 11% of GDP. It is possible to calculate GDP in different ways and, in the case of tourism, to assign to it a GDP impact that is highly indirect as well as direct, but this was an astonishing claim nonetheless. What was the basis for it? National statistics, funnily enough.
There is confusion regarding the number of properties and of places that represent holiday rentals - legal and illegal - in the Balearics. Aptur did attempt to clear this up. There are almost 46,000 properties, of which under a third are regulated (i.e. registered as legal holiday accommodation). The illegal remainder - 31,500 - provide 126,000 places. The conclusion one draws, therefore, is that there are around 180,000 places - legal and illegal - in the private accommodation sector.
Notwithstanding any more property and places to be added courtesy of Airbnb and others, might this 180,000 be taken as the "ceiling", assuming that they were all legalisable (a big assumption)? It is here that being certain of the statistics becomes tricky. For example, what is the total number of hotel places?
According to the regional government's figures for August 2015, when occupancy is at is highest and so "saturation" is at its greatest, there were 344,445 places in the Balearics: 250,000 of them were in Majorca. On 10 August last year, the total population of the Balearics topped the two million mark for the first time, a figure that will have been repeated this year. However, the regular Balearic population is 1.1 million. Add some 530,000 from Aptur and hotel numbers, and how does one account for the remaining approximately 400,000? They can't all be itinerant workers. One can add numbers for "extra-hotel" accommodation, such as camping in Ibiza, and also numbers for relatives and friends, but the discrepancy still requires some explaining. Therefore, before any ceiling is set, there has to be rigorous certainty that the numbers are accurate and beyond question. At present, there isn't this certainty, and perversely the tourist tax may add to it. Does the system of hotelier self-assessment for making tax returns not carry with it an inherent tendency to under-estimate the number of places? Podemos, for one, thinks that it does.
Aptur's economic argument is on the face of it compelling. The association may also be correct in arguing that private accommodation supply is not the cause of "saturation", and the uncertainty of the statistics as outlined above might reinforce this. However, it is being extremely naive (and simplistic) in brushing off any potential for saturation by saying there need to be improvements to road infrastructure, public transport and water supplies.
The battle for holiday rentals' legislation is fully engaged. Like the battle for the tourist tax and the arguments over "purposes" (remember the old folks' homes?) and distribution of revenue by island, respectively raised by Més and Podemos, it is one that will have many a skirmish along the way.
To take Podemos, the parties of government, of which it is one, met this week to consider their "agreements" for government. Tourism was top of the agenda. At least there were some conciliatory noises from Podemos. Having accused the actual government (PSOE and Més) and so therefore Barceló in particular of policy "improvisation" (a euphemism for saying that the government has failed to get on top of tourist "saturation"), there was an acceptance that holiday rentals' legislation is not straightforward. Hallelujah, the penny had dropped. Podemos, seemingly always in a hurry to legislate, would have pressurised Barceló into total improvisation, had holiday rentals' draft legislation been rushed in by the end of August (which had been the original intention).
Fundamental to whatever legislation is enacted is the principle of a ceiling on tourist places. Podemos wants a lowering of numbers; Més, Barceló and PSOE don't see that as plausible. But through legislation they believe they can create a limit to the total number of tourist places. It's going to be fascinating to see how they intend to set this and what the limit might be. Determining it is pretty much anyone's guess.
There are, however, individuals who can assist in removing the guesswork, which is why the government has commissioned two studies. One of these, for indicators of the sustainability of tourism in the Balearics, has lost its chief expert. Dr. Ivan Murray of the University of the Balearic Islands, says that other commitments will not allow him the time to undertake the study. Perhaps so, or maybe he prefers not to be caught in any political crossfire. Whatever the reasons, the government can ill afford to lose good thinkers. There needs to be objectivity rather than political dogma.
Where Aptur is concerned, it has been banging the drum for liberalisation for ages and regularly producing its own studies to back this up. It came out this week with what appeared to be a startling statistic: that the "illegal" supply of holiday accommodation in the Balearics represents over 11% of GDP. It is possible to calculate GDP in different ways and, in the case of tourism, to assign to it a GDP impact that is highly indirect as well as direct, but this was an astonishing claim nonetheless. What was the basis for it? National statistics, funnily enough.
There is confusion regarding the number of properties and of places that represent holiday rentals - legal and illegal - in the Balearics. Aptur did attempt to clear this up. There are almost 46,000 properties, of which under a third are regulated (i.e. registered as legal holiday accommodation). The illegal remainder - 31,500 - provide 126,000 places. The conclusion one draws, therefore, is that there are around 180,000 places - legal and illegal - in the private accommodation sector.
Notwithstanding any more property and places to be added courtesy of Airbnb and others, might this 180,000 be taken as the "ceiling", assuming that they were all legalisable (a big assumption)? It is here that being certain of the statistics becomes tricky. For example, what is the total number of hotel places?
According to the regional government's figures for August 2015, when occupancy is at is highest and so "saturation" is at its greatest, there were 344,445 places in the Balearics: 250,000 of them were in Majorca. On 10 August last year, the total population of the Balearics topped the two million mark for the first time, a figure that will have been repeated this year. However, the regular Balearic population is 1.1 million. Add some 530,000 from Aptur and hotel numbers, and how does one account for the remaining approximately 400,000? They can't all be itinerant workers. One can add numbers for "extra-hotel" accommodation, such as camping in Ibiza, and also numbers for relatives and friends, but the discrepancy still requires some explaining. Therefore, before any ceiling is set, there has to be rigorous certainty that the numbers are accurate and beyond question. At present, there isn't this certainty, and perversely the tourist tax may add to it. Does the system of hotelier self-assessment for making tax returns not carry with it an inherent tendency to under-estimate the number of places? Podemos, for one, thinks that it does.
Aptur's economic argument is on the face of it compelling. The association may also be correct in arguing that private accommodation supply is not the cause of "saturation", and the uncertainty of the statistics as outlined above might reinforce this. However, it is being extremely naive (and simplistic) in brushing off any potential for saturation by saying there need to be improvements to road infrastructure, public transport and water supplies.
The battle for holiday rentals' legislation is fully engaged. Like the battle for the tourist tax and the arguments over "purposes" (remember the old folks' homes?) and distribution of revenue by island, respectively raised by Més and Podemos, it is one that will have many a skirmish along the way.
Friday, September 09, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 9 September 2016
Morning high (6.07am): 20.8C
Forecast high: 29C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 10 September - Sun, rain, 29C; 11 September - Sun, cloud, 29C; 12 September - Sun, cloud, 29C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West-Northwest 2 to 3 veering North through the morning and East in the afternoon.
More sun and some cloud today, quite hot. Tomorrow, there may well be a storm.
Evening update (20.00): High of 31.1C. It was quite cloudy, tomorrow more so: alerts for rain and storm.
Forecast high: 29C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 10 September - Sun, rain, 29C; 11 September - Sun, cloud, 29C; 12 September - Sun, cloud, 29C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): West-Northwest 2 to 3 veering North through the morning and East in the afternoon.
More sun and some cloud today, quite hot. Tomorrow, there may well be a storm.
Evening update (20.00): High of 31.1C. It was quite cloudy, tomorrow more so: alerts for rain and storm.
Customising Character: Architectural Harmony
Palma town hall is on a mission. You can't accuse the current administration of sitting on its hands. It has zeal in its hearts and announces it at every available opportunity. While there is a great deal of zealous bluster - just what is it with Aurora Jhardi and terraces - not all of what emanates from the town hall is fanatical nonsense. Take the announcement of a "landscaping plan" to bring some order and "dignity" to shopping streets and to shops themselves. The principle should be applauded, though how universal this will be has to be open to question. Getting rid of tatty facades and things that stick out from shop fronts might be easy and sensible for the old part of the city, but Playa de Palma?
The Cort talks the good talk of applying measures to all neighbourhoods, but there is more than just a slight suspicion that the administration sees very little further than the imminent surroundings of the privileged location of the town hall edifice: the old part of the city, in other words. Playa de Palma appears to have an alternative existence; it is a universe unoccupied by the town hall. At least the administration has been generous enough to stump up fifteen grand of "urgent" funding to replace rubbish containers that some malcontents appear to take delight in setting fire to.
Municipal-wide ordinance, which is to be the case with the "landscaping plan", takes no account of municipal diversity. While not advocating a charter for unbridled tattiness, it does seem to me as if the town hall believes that what is good for the old part is good for everywhere else. It doesn't necessarily follow that it is. This all-city approach is to be rolled out from the primary purpose of the plan, which is to establish order in the old part, where there is heritage in terms of architecture, appearance and atmosphere to be preserved.
There are other areas of Palma with heritage to be maintained. Es Molinar is a case in point. Here is somewhere with the feel and look of traditional seaside. It is a curio of a village appended to the city, but one that has been subjected to an architectural vandalism, made possible through unthinking permissiveness at the planning department (or possibly through something else; you can never be sure). Antoni Noguera, the mayor-in-waiting with his urban planning and "model of the city" responsibilities, tackles his brief with plenty of heart and sometimes with his head. He is absolutely right to insist that what goes on in Es Molinar should now be in line with its traditional architecture.
Sympathetic, in harmony, these should be the overriding objectives for developments of whatever sort in whichever location, whether Palma or elsewhere. Undoing the wrongs of the past and even the recent past, as is the case with Es Molinar, is largely impossible, but restorative measures can be applied; discipline can be introduced.
There are examples across Mallorca where a lack of discipline has been allowed to detract from urban centres and residential areas. In some instances, these collide. Puerto Pollensa is an example. The absence of discipline has given rise, away from the front line, to unlovely architectural competition. Puerto Pollensa is far from being the only example, but as with other resort areas it doesn't come under any sort of protected status that would allow development to at least attempt to create some harmony rather than the result, which is one by which nothing fits.
Applying a set of standards across a municipality as a whole, which is what Palma wishes to do, fails to appreciate that component parts of municipalities have their own specific needs. Rather than one size fits all, there should be (should have been) a customised approach through which character is established or maintained. This goes deeper than wide areas, such as resorts, it applies also to specific urbanisations. I can think of one in Playa de Muro.
The urbanisation grew, architecturally, almost by chance rather than by design, but sympathy was created by style of building and, as importantly, the use of colours - those of Mallorca's land, sky and sea. Blues, yellows, oranges, terra cottas have now been invaded by the fad for blocks of neutrals. Architectural faddism would doubtless argue that this type of new build is more efficient. But when the resulting construction consists of a wall almost totally of glass that, in summer, will face the full force of the sun, one would need to query such an argument.
Palma is right to wish to preserve appearance in its old centre, just as other municipalities have regulations to retain the traditional look of their old towns. Away from these protected areas, though, there is a free-for-all. Discipline should be imposed. Architect and developer whim should not be allowed to dictate and detract.
The Cort talks the good talk of applying measures to all neighbourhoods, but there is more than just a slight suspicion that the administration sees very little further than the imminent surroundings of the privileged location of the town hall edifice: the old part of the city, in other words. Playa de Palma appears to have an alternative existence; it is a universe unoccupied by the town hall. At least the administration has been generous enough to stump up fifteen grand of "urgent" funding to replace rubbish containers that some malcontents appear to take delight in setting fire to.
Municipal-wide ordinance, which is to be the case with the "landscaping plan", takes no account of municipal diversity. While not advocating a charter for unbridled tattiness, it does seem to me as if the town hall believes that what is good for the old part is good for everywhere else. It doesn't necessarily follow that it is. This all-city approach is to be rolled out from the primary purpose of the plan, which is to establish order in the old part, where there is heritage in terms of architecture, appearance and atmosphere to be preserved.
There are other areas of Palma with heritage to be maintained. Es Molinar is a case in point. Here is somewhere with the feel and look of traditional seaside. It is a curio of a village appended to the city, but one that has been subjected to an architectural vandalism, made possible through unthinking permissiveness at the planning department (or possibly through something else; you can never be sure). Antoni Noguera, the mayor-in-waiting with his urban planning and "model of the city" responsibilities, tackles his brief with plenty of heart and sometimes with his head. He is absolutely right to insist that what goes on in Es Molinar should now be in line with its traditional architecture.
Sympathetic, in harmony, these should be the overriding objectives for developments of whatever sort in whichever location, whether Palma or elsewhere. Undoing the wrongs of the past and even the recent past, as is the case with Es Molinar, is largely impossible, but restorative measures can be applied; discipline can be introduced.
There are examples across Mallorca where a lack of discipline has been allowed to detract from urban centres and residential areas. In some instances, these collide. Puerto Pollensa is an example. The absence of discipline has given rise, away from the front line, to unlovely architectural competition. Puerto Pollensa is far from being the only example, but as with other resort areas it doesn't come under any sort of protected status that would allow development to at least attempt to create some harmony rather than the result, which is one by which nothing fits.
Applying a set of standards across a municipality as a whole, which is what Palma wishes to do, fails to appreciate that component parts of municipalities have their own specific needs. Rather than one size fits all, there should be (should have been) a customised approach through which character is established or maintained. This goes deeper than wide areas, such as resorts, it applies also to specific urbanisations. I can think of one in Playa de Muro.
The urbanisation grew, architecturally, almost by chance rather than by design, but sympathy was created by style of building and, as importantly, the use of colours - those of Mallorca's land, sky and sea. Blues, yellows, oranges, terra cottas have now been invaded by the fad for blocks of neutrals. Architectural faddism would doubtless argue that this type of new build is more efficient. But when the resulting construction consists of a wall almost totally of glass that, in summer, will face the full force of the sun, one would need to query such an argument.
Palma is right to wish to preserve appearance in its old centre, just as other municipalities have regulations to retain the traditional look of their old towns. Away from these protected areas, though, there is a free-for-all. Discipline should be imposed. Architect and developer whim should not be allowed to dictate and detract.
Thursday, September 08, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 8 September 2016
Morning high (5.31am): 20.8C
Forecast high: 28C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 9 September - Sun, cloud, 29C; 10 September - Sun, cloud, 29C; 11 September - Sun, cloud, 30C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 to 3 increasing Northeast 3 to 4 towards midday.
Cooler night, thankfully. Another warm day ahead. Could do, in general, with there being more breeze. All good though for celebrating the Virgin Mary's birthday.
Evening update (20.15): High of 30C. Quite cloudy at times.
Forecast high: 28C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 9 September - Sun, cloud, 29C; 10 September - Sun, cloud, 29C; 11 September - Sun, cloud, 30C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 to 3 increasing Northeast 3 to 4 towards midday.
Cooler night, thankfully. Another warm day ahead. Could do, in general, with there being more breeze. All good though for celebrating the Virgin Mary's birthday.
Evening update (20.15): High of 30C. Quite cloudy at times.
The Brave New World Of Virtual Tourism
Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" was published in 1932. It has been variously defined as a work of science fiction and of dystopian fiction. Huxley's dystopia was an ideal state (a utopia) gone wrong; its realities were those that readers would wish not to encounter. But in order to have credibility with the reader, those realities needed to be plausible. Huxley's vision was not something of pure sociopolitical science-fiction fantasy. It was wedded to its time. The "feelies" were one such aspect. At a time when "talkies" were still comparatively new, Huxley broadened the definition of sensory entertainment. He invented a form of virtual reality.
The BBC's website currently features an article in which Philip Ball discusses the notion that we all live inside a gigantic computer simulation. We are, therefore, only virtually real, as is everything around us. The idea isn't as mad as it sounds; not if you read Ball's article anyway. It does of course sound like "The Matrix", of which Huxley would doubtless have approved. Here is a dystopian vision of a reality that isn't real. Virtual.
There are scientists who are prepared to consider this theory and so therefore of super-intelligent beings who created a virtual world. The notion becomes less fanciful courtesy of quantum physics, while there are technological developments (and potential ones) that further reduce the fancifulness.
Ball observes: "Who is to say that before long we will not be able to create computational agents – virtual beings – that show signs of consciousness? Advances in understanding and mapping the brain, as well as the vast computational resources promised by quantum computing, make this more likely by the day. If we ever reach that stage, we will be running huge numbers of simulations. They will vastly outnumber the one 'real' world around us."
In the same year as Huxley's novel was published, Werner Heisenberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for the creation of quantum mechanics. But that was 1932. This is now a world in which quantum computing makes virtual reality ever more all-embracing.
Three years ago I wrote an article entitled Let's All Meet Up In The Year 2030. This featured RepBots - robotic reps - and a "tourist integrated televisualisation system". A tourist could "mind set" this system into intelligent and interactive sunglasses and be free to go wherever he or she wanted to. That was three years ago. At the time I envisaged the tourist still going to a resort before experiencing virtual reality. Now, I'm less sure that he or she would need to.
A recent article by Andrés Romero ("Hosteltur", 21 August) looked at virtual reality and at its use to transmit emotions to capture potential tourist clients. While he was looking at the use of virtual reality as a means of marketing, he referred to key elements which might suggest a different type of future. These included sensory reality, a means by which someone can position him or herself in a virtual world. Huxley's feelies and notion of sensory entertainment have moved a long way since 1932.
The further the technology develops, the more imaginable become the simulations that Philip Ball refers to. Is it so farfetched to conceive of tourism virtual reality, maybe not by 2030 but at some point, removing the necessity to travel? This might seem like a dystopian view of tourism in the future, but would it be? The environmental benefits alone would be vast if physically tourists did not need to travel.
This would, on the face of it, destroy tourism economies and the travel industry, but as Romero points out a further key facet for the application of virtual reality is interactivity, by which the virtual world affords authenticity. The total tourism experience could be maintained therefore - there would still be travel, there would still be staff in hotels, owners of bars. Transactions would be retained. All through simulation. And so economies would remain. Tour operators would become super programmers of holiday experiences, the providers of the matrix. Sensory immersion, something else Romero cites, would enable the feeling of heat, the chill of the sea, the taste of the tapas.
All this may sound totally off-the-wall, but there is a further reason to consider why virtual tourism might one day exist. The threat is here in the present, but as technology advances in benign ways, so it does in more disturbing fashion and makes threats ever greater. Terrorism is the most obvious. A virtual world could remove that. The super programmers would see to it.
Huxley conceived his simple virtual reality of the "feelies" within a context of the day that was understandable to readers. Virtual reality of today is very much less understandable, though in comparatively basic ways - video games for example - it is perfectly understandable. And quantum computing might one day make it the reality. If it isn't already.
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160901-we-might-live-in-a-computer-program-but-it-may-not-matter
http://www.hosteltur.com/117649_realidad-virtual-revolucion-marketing-contenidos.html
The BBC's website currently features an article in which Philip Ball discusses the notion that we all live inside a gigantic computer simulation. We are, therefore, only virtually real, as is everything around us. The idea isn't as mad as it sounds; not if you read Ball's article anyway. It does of course sound like "The Matrix", of which Huxley would doubtless have approved. Here is a dystopian vision of a reality that isn't real. Virtual.
There are scientists who are prepared to consider this theory and so therefore of super-intelligent beings who created a virtual world. The notion becomes less fanciful courtesy of quantum physics, while there are technological developments (and potential ones) that further reduce the fancifulness.
Ball observes: "Who is to say that before long we will not be able to create computational agents – virtual beings – that show signs of consciousness? Advances in understanding and mapping the brain, as well as the vast computational resources promised by quantum computing, make this more likely by the day. If we ever reach that stage, we will be running huge numbers of simulations. They will vastly outnumber the one 'real' world around us."
In the same year as Huxley's novel was published, Werner Heisenberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for the creation of quantum mechanics. But that was 1932. This is now a world in which quantum computing makes virtual reality ever more all-embracing.
Three years ago I wrote an article entitled Let's All Meet Up In The Year 2030. This featured RepBots - robotic reps - and a "tourist integrated televisualisation system". A tourist could "mind set" this system into intelligent and interactive sunglasses and be free to go wherever he or she wanted to. That was three years ago. At the time I envisaged the tourist still going to a resort before experiencing virtual reality. Now, I'm less sure that he or she would need to.
A recent article by Andrés Romero ("Hosteltur", 21 August) looked at virtual reality and at its use to transmit emotions to capture potential tourist clients. While he was looking at the use of virtual reality as a means of marketing, he referred to key elements which might suggest a different type of future. These included sensory reality, a means by which someone can position him or herself in a virtual world. Huxley's feelies and notion of sensory entertainment have moved a long way since 1932.
The further the technology develops, the more imaginable become the simulations that Philip Ball refers to. Is it so farfetched to conceive of tourism virtual reality, maybe not by 2030 but at some point, removing the necessity to travel? This might seem like a dystopian view of tourism in the future, but would it be? The environmental benefits alone would be vast if physically tourists did not need to travel.
This would, on the face of it, destroy tourism economies and the travel industry, but as Romero points out a further key facet for the application of virtual reality is interactivity, by which the virtual world affords authenticity. The total tourism experience could be maintained therefore - there would still be travel, there would still be staff in hotels, owners of bars. Transactions would be retained. All through simulation. And so economies would remain. Tour operators would become super programmers of holiday experiences, the providers of the matrix. Sensory immersion, something else Romero cites, would enable the feeling of heat, the chill of the sea, the taste of the tapas.
All this may sound totally off-the-wall, but there is a further reason to consider why virtual tourism might one day exist. The threat is here in the present, but as technology advances in benign ways, so it does in more disturbing fashion and makes threats ever greater. Terrorism is the most obvious. A virtual world could remove that. The super programmers would see to it.
Huxley conceived his simple virtual reality of the "feelies" within a context of the day that was understandable to readers. Virtual reality of today is very much less understandable, though in comparatively basic ways - video games for example - it is perfectly understandable. And quantum computing might one day make it the reality. If it isn't already.
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160901-we-might-live-in-a-computer-program-but-it-may-not-matter
http://www.hosteltur.com/117649_realidad-virtual-revolucion-marketing-contenidos.html
Wednesday, September 07, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 7 September 2016
Morning high (5.52am): 24.4C
Forecast high: 29C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 8 September - Sun, cloud, 28C; 9 September - Sun, cloud, 29C; 10 September - Sun, cloud, 29C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North-Northeast 3 to 4.
Another very warm night - "tropical", as the local met office describes it. Certainly no sign as yet of a September storm and cooling-off. Beginning to be like September 2014 all over again, when it was punishing until around the final third of the month.
Evening update (20.00): High of 30.9C.
Forecast high: 29C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 8 September - Sun, cloud, 28C; 9 September - Sun, cloud, 29C; 10 September - Sun, cloud, 29C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North-Northeast 3 to 4.
Another very warm night - "tropical", as the local met office describes it. Certainly no sign as yet of a September storm and cooling-off. Beginning to be like September 2014 all over again, when it was punishing until around the final third of the month.
Evening update (20.00): High of 30.9C.
The Vandals Of The Sea
There are statements which are made that come back to bite those who make them. In the case of Margarita Dahlberg, the president of the Balearic association of nautical businesses and industries, it bit rather more suddenly than is usually the case. No sooner had she declared, apropos the abundance of superyachts, that "the quality of waters, coves and anchorage in the Balearics is unbeatable" than this quality was in some way responsible for the takeover of a beach by the users of superyachts.
I make no apology for quoting her again - it merits being repeated for the right and the wrong reasons - or for looking at the superyacht issue again. Coming towards the end of what has been a weird summer for Mallorca during which regular tourists have at times appeared to have been excoriated for no better reason than being here, we now have a very different take on the saturation/sustainability theme.
An element of the regular tourist class is lambasted for essentially not having any class. Or a great deal of money, if any. This class without quality, variously characterised as drunk and/or with no interest beyond the confines of a low-grade all-inclusive, needs eradicating. Not my words; those of politicians. By eliminating inferior hotels, the class without quality will disappear. This is the logic of the argument, albeit one could challenge the logic.
The superyacht brings with it a totally different class of tourist. Loaded, it splashes out on hiring a yacht and rampages through Palma stores buying everything in sight. Joy is unconfined. This is quality tourism par excellence. More, please.
Just as the lower end of the tourist food chain does not deserve to be castigated as a whole and branded as being without quality, so the upper end does not merit being styled as being filthy rich and not giving a monkey's. But both lower and upper share something in common. Within their ranks they have some vandalistic and anti-social tendencies, but the lower end will not share with its upper counterpart the vandalism at sea: it can't afford a yacht.
The nautical industry, or more accurately nautical tourism, does a great deal of good, but it harbours within its midst those elements who show a total lack of regard for their environment: not land, except where certain beaches are concerned, but sea and what is unseen that lies on the seabed.
It would be nice to believe that recreational users of the sea - and commercial providers of recreational use - would be highly responsible. One would hope that those based here, who live here would understand the need for responsibility and what possible damage that can be caused; one hopes, though the practice might not always follow. Increasingly, there are measures to help marine conservation. The reserves are a positive development. They have assisted with bringing about a more controlled environment for diving and fishing, while the latest government legislation should with any luck deter party boats from entering reserves.
But whatever is done, there are those who thumb their noses or who are simply plain ignorant. Among them might be included pirate charter operators or those boat owners whose lack of responsibility leads to rubbish being tossed into the sea.
The reserves are important for the posidonia sea grass, but they can't all be policed effectively and nor can other waters. Posidonia is all around the Balearics. It can't all be spared the unthinking intervention of man and in particular man's anchors. It is here we come back to Margarita Dahlberg's potentially unfortunate words. One of the greatest acts of marine vandalism is that caused by anchors. They rip the sea grass away. It dies. Or if it recovers, this can take years.
The enormous sea grass meadow between Ibiza and Formentera that was discovered some ten years ago is said to be the largest "living" organism in the world. It could have been there for at least one hundred millennia. Within three years, researchers were suggesting that parts of this meadow had been reduced by almost a half. No one is currently sure of its status.
The principal culprit is the anchor. With superyachts an anchor can weigh getting up to a quarter of a ton, and then there are the chains. There are great numbers of vessels operating between Ibiza and Formentera, just as there are in other parts of the Balearics. Not all are of course superyachts, but lighter anchors can and do also cause harm.
Here's a different saturation and an aspect of quality tourism, vandalising the marine environment. The killing of sea grass is not some environmentalist's scare-mongering, and with the loss goes the posidonia's mitigating effects on CO2 and its role in protecting the coasts from erosion. This brand of quality tourism is contributing to an unseen environmental disaster. Where's sustainability when you need it?
I make no apology for quoting her again - it merits being repeated for the right and the wrong reasons - or for looking at the superyacht issue again. Coming towards the end of what has been a weird summer for Mallorca during which regular tourists have at times appeared to have been excoriated for no better reason than being here, we now have a very different take on the saturation/sustainability theme.
An element of the regular tourist class is lambasted for essentially not having any class. Or a great deal of money, if any. This class without quality, variously characterised as drunk and/or with no interest beyond the confines of a low-grade all-inclusive, needs eradicating. Not my words; those of politicians. By eliminating inferior hotels, the class without quality will disappear. This is the logic of the argument, albeit one could challenge the logic.
The superyacht brings with it a totally different class of tourist. Loaded, it splashes out on hiring a yacht and rampages through Palma stores buying everything in sight. Joy is unconfined. This is quality tourism par excellence. More, please.
Just as the lower end of the tourist food chain does not deserve to be castigated as a whole and branded as being without quality, so the upper end does not merit being styled as being filthy rich and not giving a monkey's. But both lower and upper share something in common. Within their ranks they have some vandalistic and anti-social tendencies, but the lower end will not share with its upper counterpart the vandalism at sea: it can't afford a yacht.
The nautical industry, or more accurately nautical tourism, does a great deal of good, but it harbours within its midst those elements who show a total lack of regard for their environment: not land, except where certain beaches are concerned, but sea and what is unseen that lies on the seabed.
It would be nice to believe that recreational users of the sea - and commercial providers of recreational use - would be highly responsible. One would hope that those based here, who live here would understand the need for responsibility and what possible damage that can be caused; one hopes, though the practice might not always follow. Increasingly, there are measures to help marine conservation. The reserves are a positive development. They have assisted with bringing about a more controlled environment for diving and fishing, while the latest government legislation should with any luck deter party boats from entering reserves.
But whatever is done, there are those who thumb their noses or who are simply plain ignorant. Among them might be included pirate charter operators or those boat owners whose lack of responsibility leads to rubbish being tossed into the sea.
The reserves are important for the posidonia sea grass, but they can't all be policed effectively and nor can other waters. Posidonia is all around the Balearics. It can't all be spared the unthinking intervention of man and in particular man's anchors. It is here we come back to Margarita Dahlberg's potentially unfortunate words. One of the greatest acts of marine vandalism is that caused by anchors. They rip the sea grass away. It dies. Or if it recovers, this can take years.
The enormous sea grass meadow between Ibiza and Formentera that was discovered some ten years ago is said to be the largest "living" organism in the world. It could have been there for at least one hundred millennia. Within three years, researchers were suggesting that parts of this meadow had been reduced by almost a half. No one is currently sure of its status.
The principal culprit is the anchor. With superyachts an anchor can weigh getting up to a quarter of a ton, and then there are the chains. There are great numbers of vessels operating between Ibiza and Formentera, just as there are in other parts of the Balearics. Not all are of course superyachts, but lighter anchors can and do also cause harm.
Here's a different saturation and an aspect of quality tourism, vandalising the marine environment. The killing of sea grass is not some environmentalist's scare-mongering, and with the loss goes the posidonia's mitigating effects on CO2 and its role in protecting the coasts from erosion. This brand of quality tourism is contributing to an unseen environmental disaster. Where's sustainability when you need it?
Tuesday, September 06, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 6 September 2016
Morning high (6.28am): 23.9C
Forecast high: 30C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 7 September - Sun, 29C; 8 September - Sun, cloud, 28C; 9 September - Sun, cloud, 29C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North 4 to 5 easing 2 to 3 by late afternoon.
Well, see how hot it gets today. The outlook for the rest of the week is for highs around 30, though in practice these can be two to three degrees more than the forecast.
Evening update (19.30): Cooler. High of 32.2C.
Forecast high: 30C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 7 September - Sun, 29C; 8 September - Sun, cloud, 28C; 9 September - Sun, cloud, 29C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North 4 to 5 easing 2 to 3 by late afternoon.
Well, see how hot it gets today. The outlook for the rest of the week is for highs around 30, though in practice these can be two to three degrees more than the forecast.
Evening update (19.30): Cooler. High of 32.2C.
Armengol And The Attic
Attic conversions, as means of acquiring additional living-space, used to be problematic. They still can be. The actual task of renovating the space can demand a certain design ingenuity, depending on the features of the space and the building, and attention to fundamental issues of ventilation, insulation and energy efficiency.
The attic shot to popularity when degraded areas were earmarked for redevelopment. It was to become symbolic of renewal and of gentrification, while areas that were not downtrodden were to also acquire this architectural fad. The attic became the habitat of the pop or film star, one to be highlighted on celebrity pages.
When old urban areas are going through property boom times, the attic - seemingly desirous above all other floors - can attract a hefty price. Palma has such an urban area. Its gentrification has given rise to the boutique hotel and to the redevelopment of residential accommodation. Among the attics of old Palma, one in particular is attracting a great deal of attention. Not because of its actual design virtue but because of who hasn't bought it - Francina Armengol, president of the Balearics.
The attic in question is in a property on Sant Crist street. It is conveniently located for, among other things, the headquarters of the Tax Agency in the Balearics, the Council of Mallorca, of which Francina was once also president, and the Consolat de Mar, the regional government's HQ. The attic, and presidential involvement or not with it, is causing a stink. It needs noting that Armengol hasn't bought it and so therefore doesn't live there, despite its convenient location. So what's all the fuss about?
The storm has been generated by "El Mundo", which has been on the case of Armengol and especially her partner for some while. He, Joan Nadal, is described variously as an entrepreneur, property developer and gardener. He doesn't necessarily engage in mowing any lawns, but he has business interests related to the controversial Villa Cortina in Formentor (its gardens) and to Son Vida. A company of his acquired the property in Sant Crist for two million euros, which would probably have been the last anyone really heard about it had it not been for a presidential signature to buy the whole attic for a price roughly a quarter of what is now the market price.
There are in fact now two separate attic dwellings. They have a combined price of just under four million euros. In early 2013, Armengol and her partner entered into a pre-purchase agreement for 1.25 million. This was backed up with a deposit of a mere 6,000 euros. In the end, the purchase didn't go through, and since the newspaper brought all this into the open, there have been alternative explanations. The presidential one, not that she has directly spoken about it, is that it wasn't in the end to her liking. Her partner's lawyers suggest that it was to "avoid controversy".
Much is being made of the similarities with a property close by that was bought by disgraced former president Jaume Matas. It had a price of just under one million euros. Armengol once said of this that it was "difficult to understand" how Matas was able to fund such a purchase and attacked it for its "ostentation". While Matas and indeed the property in question have been occupying the thoughts of investigating judge José Castro, there is no suggestion of anything illegal with the attic. Political opponents, including Podemos, a partner in government, are having something of a field day, but David Abril of Més is one to have stated that the attic is not comparable with the Matas "palacete". He sees nothing illegal, but he does see, as do others in Més as well as Podemos and probably some in PSOE, a need for greater clarification.
The Partido Popular insists that Armengol lied about having had any involvement with the attic and about the credit to be made available for its purchase from Sa Nostra, albeit that Sa Nostra has, since 2010, been almost a symbolic part of BMN into which it was integrated. Armengol, says PP spokesperson Marga Prohens, has lost all "credibility" because of this.
Sa Nostra features more widely. It apparently loaned Armengol's partner's company - one for the development of the Sant Crist property - 6.8 million euros, while it is seemingly a common link with other business interests that Joan Nadal has. Podemos and Ciudadanos, meanwhile, have been pressing for a commission to be established to investigate the restructuring of Sa Nostra, hinting at benefits to political parties. PSOE had itself been calling for an investigation when it was in opposition but is now reluctant for there to be one.
Although the purchase of the attic didn't go ahead, the affair is awkward for Armengol. Perhaps above all else, for a socialist president, there is the "ostentation" charge she levelled at Matas. That is now haunting her.
The attic shot to popularity when degraded areas were earmarked for redevelopment. It was to become symbolic of renewal and of gentrification, while areas that were not downtrodden were to also acquire this architectural fad. The attic became the habitat of the pop or film star, one to be highlighted on celebrity pages.
When old urban areas are going through property boom times, the attic - seemingly desirous above all other floors - can attract a hefty price. Palma has such an urban area. Its gentrification has given rise to the boutique hotel and to the redevelopment of residential accommodation. Among the attics of old Palma, one in particular is attracting a great deal of attention. Not because of its actual design virtue but because of who hasn't bought it - Francina Armengol, president of the Balearics.
The attic in question is in a property on Sant Crist street. It is conveniently located for, among other things, the headquarters of the Tax Agency in the Balearics, the Council of Mallorca, of which Francina was once also president, and the Consolat de Mar, the regional government's HQ. The attic, and presidential involvement or not with it, is causing a stink. It needs noting that Armengol hasn't bought it and so therefore doesn't live there, despite its convenient location. So what's all the fuss about?
The storm has been generated by "El Mundo", which has been on the case of Armengol and especially her partner for some while. He, Joan Nadal, is described variously as an entrepreneur, property developer and gardener. He doesn't necessarily engage in mowing any lawns, but he has business interests related to the controversial Villa Cortina in Formentor (its gardens) and to Son Vida. A company of his acquired the property in Sant Crist for two million euros, which would probably have been the last anyone really heard about it had it not been for a presidential signature to buy the whole attic for a price roughly a quarter of what is now the market price.
There are in fact now two separate attic dwellings. They have a combined price of just under four million euros. In early 2013, Armengol and her partner entered into a pre-purchase agreement for 1.25 million. This was backed up with a deposit of a mere 6,000 euros. In the end, the purchase didn't go through, and since the newspaper brought all this into the open, there have been alternative explanations. The presidential one, not that she has directly spoken about it, is that it wasn't in the end to her liking. Her partner's lawyers suggest that it was to "avoid controversy".
Much is being made of the similarities with a property close by that was bought by disgraced former president Jaume Matas. It had a price of just under one million euros. Armengol once said of this that it was "difficult to understand" how Matas was able to fund such a purchase and attacked it for its "ostentation". While Matas and indeed the property in question have been occupying the thoughts of investigating judge José Castro, there is no suggestion of anything illegal with the attic. Political opponents, including Podemos, a partner in government, are having something of a field day, but David Abril of Més is one to have stated that the attic is not comparable with the Matas "palacete". He sees nothing illegal, but he does see, as do others in Més as well as Podemos and probably some in PSOE, a need for greater clarification.
The Partido Popular insists that Armengol lied about having had any involvement with the attic and about the credit to be made available for its purchase from Sa Nostra, albeit that Sa Nostra has, since 2010, been almost a symbolic part of BMN into which it was integrated. Armengol, says PP spokesperson Marga Prohens, has lost all "credibility" because of this.
Sa Nostra features more widely. It apparently loaned Armengol's partner's company - one for the development of the Sant Crist property - 6.8 million euros, while it is seemingly a common link with other business interests that Joan Nadal has. Podemos and Ciudadanos, meanwhile, have been pressing for a commission to be established to investigate the restructuring of Sa Nostra, hinting at benefits to political parties. PSOE had itself been calling for an investigation when it was in opposition but is now reluctant for there to be one.
Although the purchase of the attic didn't go ahead, the affair is awkward for Armengol. Perhaps above all else, for a socialist president, there is the "ostentation" charge she levelled at Matas. That is now haunting her.
Monday, September 05, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 5 September 2016
Morning high (6.32am): 23.9C
Forecast high: 32C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 6 September - Sun, 30C; 7 September - Sun, cloud, 28C; 8 September - Sun, 28C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 3 to 4.
Very warm overnight. Another hot one today, though not as ferocious as yesterday: the southerly air being replaced by northerly.
Evening update (19.00): Not as hot as yesterday, but hot enough. High of 34.4C.
Forecast high: 32C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 6 September - Sun, 30C; 7 September - Sun, cloud, 28C; 8 September - Sun, 28C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Northeast 3 to 4.
Very warm overnight. Another hot one today, though not as ferocious as yesterday: the southerly air being replaced by northerly.
Evening update (19.00): Not as hot as yesterday, but hot enough. High of 34.4C.
The Coconuts Of Congress
Well done, Mariano. Bravo, Pedro. Congratulations, Albert. Hats off, Pablo. The boys done great. Here's to Election Number Three. The Guinness Book of World Records awaits. The most consecutive elections to not return a government. Democracy doesn't get any better.
At least you can say that Mariano got closer than Pedro did. The 180 that beat his 170 was vastly more impressive than the stuffing that Sánchez had incurred after Election Number One. And we were, as previously, rewarded with the rich entertainment that are the investiture debate(s) and voting. Given that the results are known before both votes in the space of two days, the only point to these exercises is that they give lesser-known politicos the chance to shine (?) in the public's full and nonplussed glare.
Thus we were regaled once more by the likes of Gabriel Rufián, of whom one would never say that he can bore for Spain because The Ruffian is as Catalonia independentist as it gets. He instead bores, at great length, for Catalonia. Drone, we almost fell asleep. Amidst his (two) tedious monotone monologues delivered to a less than enthralled Congress and public gallery (they did all fall asleep), The Ruffian mooted that Sánchez might wish to be "brave" and support an independence referendum, thus implying that next time round his band of republican commies would give Pedro the impetus to cross the investiture finishing-line (assuming, that is, the King ever invites him again; "experts" are in something of a tiz as to how repeat attempts at investiture work).
Pigs, as they didn't say in Congress, might fly. Poor, poor Pedro. Stuck between a rock and a rockier place, never sure which is the rockier. Is it Mariano or is it Iglesias (with The Ruffian hanging onto Podemos's coat tails)? Pablo upbraided Sánchez for his indecisiveness, thereby insisting that the rock of Podemos is softer than that of the PP. The softest spot of all would be Albert and his citizens Ciudadanos. But what does the future now hold for Rivera? Who can he now turn to and offer a "pact". PSOE - failed. PP - failed. Podemos? Not bloody likely, and the feeling would be entirely mutual.
We can all look forward to more sessions like this week's. They will be some time in March next year, just as they were in March this year. "Experts" are looking at ways of avoiding having to go to the polls on Christmas Day, and the same "experts" are acutely aware that there are the small matters of the regional elections in Galicia and the Basque Country looming on the autumnal horizon that will complicate matters (both on 25 September).
To return, though, to Congress and the sterile debates and even less fertile votes, these gargantuan displays of democratic self-indulgence afford those who would otherwise never utter a word to do just that. One word and one word only, albeit that it is the same one word in the space of two days. Sí or no. No or sí. All 350 of them are called one by one, up they pop like jacks in their boxes, announce their sí or no and sit down again. The experienced ones, like for example the PP's Dolly Cospedal, achieve this feat with the minimum of fuss and not a single betrayal of embarrassed or self-congratulatory body language. Up, sí, down. Seamless.
The anonymous inhabitants of Congress, recognising their one second of fame, do this with, variously, a flourish, a strident boom of sí or no (mainly those in the no camp), an awkward smile when they resume their seats, an expelling of air that betrays their stage fright, or a turn to a mate and a slap on the back and the sharing of a "well done, Juan, you got the right word out".
Congress is arranged like an enormous fairground attraction, the heads of its members barely visible above the terraced banks of seating. Like coconuts on shies, perhaps there is an alternative means of deciding investiture votes. Taking pot shots and seeing how many heads can be hit. Alas, this will not be so, meaning that they will reconvene to go through the same meaningless procedure in six or so months time, the main question being who they might not vote for then. In pursuit of real democracy, there should be a rotation of party leaders seeking investiture. Let Albert have a go next time, then Pablo, even The Ruffian. It won't make any difference who it is.
At least you can say that Mariano got closer than Pedro did. The 180 that beat his 170 was vastly more impressive than the stuffing that Sánchez had incurred after Election Number One. And we were, as previously, rewarded with the rich entertainment that are the investiture debate(s) and voting. Given that the results are known before both votes in the space of two days, the only point to these exercises is that they give lesser-known politicos the chance to shine (?) in the public's full and nonplussed glare.
Thus we were regaled once more by the likes of Gabriel Rufián, of whom one would never say that he can bore for Spain because The Ruffian is as Catalonia independentist as it gets. He instead bores, at great length, for Catalonia. Drone, we almost fell asleep. Amidst his (two) tedious monotone monologues delivered to a less than enthralled Congress and public gallery (they did all fall asleep), The Ruffian mooted that Sánchez might wish to be "brave" and support an independence referendum, thus implying that next time round his band of republican commies would give Pedro the impetus to cross the investiture finishing-line (assuming, that is, the King ever invites him again; "experts" are in something of a tiz as to how repeat attempts at investiture work).
Pigs, as they didn't say in Congress, might fly. Poor, poor Pedro. Stuck between a rock and a rockier place, never sure which is the rockier. Is it Mariano or is it Iglesias (with The Ruffian hanging onto Podemos's coat tails)? Pablo upbraided Sánchez for his indecisiveness, thereby insisting that the rock of Podemos is softer than that of the PP. The softest spot of all would be Albert and his citizens Ciudadanos. But what does the future now hold for Rivera? Who can he now turn to and offer a "pact". PSOE - failed. PP - failed. Podemos? Not bloody likely, and the feeling would be entirely mutual.
We can all look forward to more sessions like this week's. They will be some time in March next year, just as they were in March this year. "Experts" are looking at ways of avoiding having to go to the polls on Christmas Day, and the same "experts" are acutely aware that there are the small matters of the regional elections in Galicia and the Basque Country looming on the autumnal horizon that will complicate matters (both on 25 September).
To return, though, to Congress and the sterile debates and even less fertile votes, these gargantuan displays of democratic self-indulgence afford those who would otherwise never utter a word to do just that. One word and one word only, albeit that it is the same one word in the space of two days. Sí or no. No or sí. All 350 of them are called one by one, up they pop like jacks in their boxes, announce their sí or no and sit down again. The experienced ones, like for example the PP's Dolly Cospedal, achieve this feat with the minimum of fuss and not a single betrayal of embarrassed or self-congratulatory body language. Up, sí, down. Seamless.
The anonymous inhabitants of Congress, recognising their one second of fame, do this with, variously, a flourish, a strident boom of sí or no (mainly those in the no camp), an awkward smile when they resume their seats, an expelling of air that betrays their stage fright, or a turn to a mate and a slap on the back and the sharing of a "well done, Juan, you got the right word out".
Congress is arranged like an enormous fairground attraction, the heads of its members barely visible above the terraced banks of seating. Like coconuts on shies, perhaps there is an alternative means of deciding investiture votes. Taking pot shots and seeing how many heads can be hit. Alas, this will not be so, meaning that they will reconvene to go through the same meaningless procedure in six or so months time, the main question being who they might not vote for then. In pursuit of real democracy, there should be a rotation of party leaders seeking investiture. Let Albert have a go next time, then Pablo, even The Ruffian. It won't make any difference who it is.
Sunday, September 04, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 4 September 2016
Morning high (6.04am): 21.7C
Forecast high: 34C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 5 September - Sun, cloud, 31C; 6 September - Sun, cloud, 29C; 7 September - Sun, cloud, 28C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Southwest 3 veering Northeast 2 to 3 by the late afternoon.
An alert in place for high temperatures today. Cooling off a bit tomorrow and then some more on Tuesday.
Evening update (19.30): Uncomfortable. High of 37C.
Forecast high: 34C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 5 September - Sun, cloud, 31C; 6 September - Sun, cloud, 29C; 7 September - Sun, cloud, 28C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Southwest 3 veering Northeast 2 to 3 by the late afternoon.
An alert in place for high temperatures today. Cooling off a bit tomorrow and then some more on Tuesday.
Evening update (19.30): Uncomfortable. High of 37C.
Breaking Pots: Games And La Beata
I am reminded of a game I played many a long year ago (when a child) at a birthday party. As far as I can recall, it was the only time I ever encountered the game. It had been, therefore, a novelty. The name of the game was (and no doubt still is) Are You There, Moriarty? Who Moriarty was I had no idea - I'm assuming, rightly or wrongly, that he had something to do with Sherlock Holmes' archenemy - and in the game he was your opponent. Blindfolded, and without going into too much detail, you basically tried to belt your opponent with a rolled-up newspaper.
This memory of a blindfolded game comes flooding back because of pots, which might also be termed jars or pitchers. All of an earthenware variety, these pots are central to a children's game in which the player is blindfolded, spun around a few times and given a cane (certainly something more robust than a rolled-up newspaper) with which to try and break a pot that is hanging from some cord.
This is a very popular game among others that crop up at Mallorcan fiestas under the general heading of, well, popular games. Rather than enquiring after the whereabouts of Moriarty, other players seek to assist the prospective pot-breaker by shouting instructions - right, left, back, forward and so on.
Where this game came from is anyone's guess, so a guess has been made. This has it that it originated from mediaeval China and was imported to Venice by that Venetian traveller extraordinaire of the period, Marco Polo. (And before you say that Polo never went to China, scholars have ripped to shreds the theory that he didn't.) So, Polo brought the game back and it was adapted to Lent celebrations. Given trading relations between Venice, other Italian ports and Spain, it made its way across the water. It was to develop into one of the final acts of Carnival, similar in a sense to the burying of the sardine in marking the onset of the abstinence of Lent. Break a pot and out would fall something tasty. Nowadays the pots have sweets.
Pot-breaking is therefore a common theme of fiestas. In its children's game guise it isn't violent, but it takes on a whole different significance on the first Sunday of every September. Pots aren't just broken, they are smashed. Force is involved, though blindfolds are not. Indeed, and somewhat unusually, no masks are involved. The demons of Santa Margalida are identifiable, and it is they who engage in a great deal of pot-smashing.
The legend of Santa Catalina Tomàs - La Beata - is enshrined in an old folk song. It is a song which tells of Catalina taking food to poor labourers (sometimes stated as farmers) and being confronted by an envious demon who grabs the pot, jar (or pitcher) with the food in it and smashes it, only for Catalina to pick up the pieces and to deliver a feast that was even tastier than it would have been. La Beata of the procession of the first Sunday each September defies demonic pot-smashing, while couples from the town likewise are undeterred by the demons who snatch their pots and give them a good smashing.
The procession, which the Bishop of Mallorca attempted to at least modify if not ban outright in 1849 because the whole occasion was felt to be disobedient to God, attracts vast numbers. Although it is now far better known, especially among tourists, than was once the case, even some thirty years ago it was attracting, according to a local publication, more than ten thousand people. It is not termed the "most representative" Mallorcan procession for nothing. They've been calling it this for decades.
There was never any association between the saint and the town. She wasn't born there (she came from Valldemossa) and she didn't enter a convent there (that was in Palma). Quite why Santa Margalida came to have the association is something of a mystery. However, it was evidently the case that some one hundred years after she died in 1574, the town felt a particularly strong devotion towards her. In 1687 the town hall advanced "ten Mallorcan pounds" to the cause for her to be beatified. (This didn't occur until 1792.) And somewhere along the line came the folk song and thus the legend of the pot-smashing.
This memory of a blindfolded game comes flooding back because of pots, which might also be termed jars or pitchers. All of an earthenware variety, these pots are central to a children's game in which the player is blindfolded, spun around a few times and given a cane (certainly something more robust than a rolled-up newspaper) with which to try and break a pot that is hanging from some cord.
This is a very popular game among others that crop up at Mallorcan fiestas under the general heading of, well, popular games. Rather than enquiring after the whereabouts of Moriarty, other players seek to assist the prospective pot-breaker by shouting instructions - right, left, back, forward and so on.
Where this game came from is anyone's guess, so a guess has been made. This has it that it originated from mediaeval China and was imported to Venice by that Venetian traveller extraordinaire of the period, Marco Polo. (And before you say that Polo never went to China, scholars have ripped to shreds the theory that he didn't.) So, Polo brought the game back and it was adapted to Lent celebrations. Given trading relations between Venice, other Italian ports and Spain, it made its way across the water. It was to develop into one of the final acts of Carnival, similar in a sense to the burying of the sardine in marking the onset of the abstinence of Lent. Break a pot and out would fall something tasty. Nowadays the pots have sweets.
Pot-breaking is therefore a common theme of fiestas. In its children's game guise it isn't violent, but it takes on a whole different significance on the first Sunday of every September. Pots aren't just broken, they are smashed. Force is involved, though blindfolds are not. Indeed, and somewhat unusually, no masks are involved. The demons of Santa Margalida are identifiable, and it is they who engage in a great deal of pot-smashing.
The legend of Santa Catalina Tomàs - La Beata - is enshrined in an old folk song. It is a song which tells of Catalina taking food to poor labourers (sometimes stated as farmers) and being confronted by an envious demon who grabs the pot, jar (or pitcher) with the food in it and smashes it, only for Catalina to pick up the pieces and to deliver a feast that was even tastier than it would have been. La Beata of the procession of the first Sunday each September defies demonic pot-smashing, while couples from the town likewise are undeterred by the demons who snatch their pots and give them a good smashing.
The procession, which the Bishop of Mallorca attempted to at least modify if not ban outright in 1849 because the whole occasion was felt to be disobedient to God, attracts vast numbers. Although it is now far better known, especially among tourists, than was once the case, even some thirty years ago it was attracting, according to a local publication, more than ten thousand people. It is not termed the "most representative" Mallorcan procession for nothing. They've been calling it this for decades.
There was never any association between the saint and the town. She wasn't born there (she came from Valldemossa) and she didn't enter a convent there (that was in Palma). Quite why Santa Margalida came to have the association is something of a mystery. However, it was evidently the case that some one hundred years after she died in 1574, the town felt a particularly strong devotion towards her. In 1687 the town hall advanced "ten Mallorcan pounds" to the cause for her to be beatified. (This didn't occur until 1792.) And somewhere along the line came the folk song and thus the legend of the pot-smashing.
Saturday, September 03, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 3 September 2016
Morning high (6.10am): 21.2C
Forecast high: 30C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 4 September - Sun, 34C; 5 September - Sun, cloud, 30C; 6 September - Sun, cloud, 28C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 to 3 tending to East 3.
Hot weekend.
Evening update (19.30): High of 34.7C.
Forecast high: 30C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 4 September - Sun, 34C; 5 September - Sun, cloud, 30C; 6 September - Sun, cloud, 28C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): Variable 2 to 3 tending to East 3.
Hot weekend.
Evening update (19.30): High of 34.7C.
Do The Basques Offer A Clue To Balearic Holiday Rentals Legislation?
A new law on holiday rentals came into effect in the Basque Country on Wednesday. This is a region of Spain which, while it isn't recognised as being among the leaders for sun-and-beach tourism, does of course attract this market. San Sebastian, for example, can lay claim to being one of the finest resorts anywhere in Spain. It is also a region with city-break tourism in Bilbao as well as San Sebastian. There are coastal villages. There is surfing. There is gastronomy. Tourism is not unimportant, even if it is a tourism largely shunned by northern Europeans fearful that the Atlantic might not offer as benign sun-and-beach conditions as the Mediterranean.
Despite this, there has been a boom in accommodation. It's a familiar story to that of the Balearics, to Barcelona and the Costa Brava, to the Costa del Sol and to the Canaries. The debates and arguments in the Balearics over so-called saturation, partly brought about by the dramatic increase in private holiday accommodation, might make these islands seem unique. They are not. They share similar concerns with other regions, and as the Balearic tourism ministry undertakes the task of drafting holiday rentals legislation, it might wish to take a look at what the Basques have come up with, as there is one very significant aspect to their legislation.
The Basques have removed the loophole of the national urban leasing law (aka the tenancy act). Where accommodation is for tourist purposes it will be regulated only by the regional tourism legislation. As in the Balearics, it is clear when tourist purposes apply, even if there is no marketing that says so. The Basques are putting a stop to that.
But might this this legislative move be subject to possible legal challenge on the grounds of it being unconstitutional? The Basques are working around a national law after all. However, it has become increasingly obvious that the urban leasing law is a nonsense in that it creates confusion as well as what can amount to blatant fraud. There is a tax consideration to be factored in over and above income tax and VAT. San Sebastian, as noted last week, is looking at introducing a tourist tax. This couldn't be applied if property, by definition of a legal loophole, cannot be classified as being touristic.
Any challenge on constitutional grounds may fail in any event because when the national government devolved responsibilities for tourist accommodation regulation to the Spanish regions, this came with the urban leasing law attached. Or with its possible regional amendment. Biel Barceló has identified the leasing law as a major complication when it comes to effective regulation of private holiday accommodation. He would do well to get on the phone and speak to his Basque counterpart - only in Spanish, though.
The Basque law also has a language aspect. It is one which Barceló might be interested in (to the horror of many in the Balearic tourism industry). When it comes to classification of accommodation - star ratings for hotels and other systems for non-hotel accommodation - a weighting is to be given to the knowledge of Basque among staff, notably the frontline staff (hotel receptions, for instance). For Basque, substitute Catalan? The regional government here has said that it won't be compelling the private sector to employ Catalan speakers, but this might not stop it trying to take a leaf out of the Basques' book.
Despite this, there has been a boom in accommodation. It's a familiar story to that of the Balearics, to Barcelona and the Costa Brava, to the Costa del Sol and to the Canaries. The debates and arguments in the Balearics over so-called saturation, partly brought about by the dramatic increase in private holiday accommodation, might make these islands seem unique. They are not. They share similar concerns with other regions, and as the Balearic tourism ministry undertakes the task of drafting holiday rentals legislation, it might wish to take a look at what the Basques have come up with, as there is one very significant aspect to their legislation.
The Basques have removed the loophole of the national urban leasing law (aka the tenancy act). Where accommodation is for tourist purposes it will be regulated only by the regional tourism legislation. As in the Balearics, it is clear when tourist purposes apply, even if there is no marketing that says so. The Basques are putting a stop to that.
But might this this legislative move be subject to possible legal challenge on the grounds of it being unconstitutional? The Basques are working around a national law after all. However, it has become increasingly obvious that the urban leasing law is a nonsense in that it creates confusion as well as what can amount to blatant fraud. There is a tax consideration to be factored in over and above income tax and VAT. San Sebastian, as noted last week, is looking at introducing a tourist tax. This couldn't be applied if property, by definition of a legal loophole, cannot be classified as being touristic.
Any challenge on constitutional grounds may fail in any event because when the national government devolved responsibilities for tourist accommodation regulation to the Spanish regions, this came with the urban leasing law attached. Or with its possible regional amendment. Biel Barceló has identified the leasing law as a major complication when it comes to effective regulation of private holiday accommodation. He would do well to get on the phone and speak to his Basque counterpart - only in Spanish, though.
The Basque law also has a language aspect. It is one which Barceló might be interested in (to the horror of many in the Balearic tourism industry). When it comes to classification of accommodation - star ratings for hotels and other systems for non-hotel accommodation - a weighting is to be given to the knowledge of Basque among staff, notably the frontline staff (hotel receptions, for instance). For Basque, substitute Catalan? The regional government here has said that it won't be compelling the private sector to employ Catalan speakers, but this might not stop it trying to take a leaf out of the Basques' book.
Friday, September 02, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 2 September 2016
Morning high (6.30am): 21.7C
Forecast high: 30C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 3 September - Sun, 30C; 4 September - Sun, cloud, 32C; 5 September - Sun, cloud, 29C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North-Northeast 2 to 3 occasionally 4 in the afternoon.
Temperature's going back up, the hotels are at 100% occupancy - a September of riches.
Evening update (19.45): High of 33.6C.
Forecast high: 30C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 3 September - Sun, 30C; 4 September - Sun, cloud, 32C; 5 September - Sun, cloud, 29C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North-Northeast 2 to 3 occasionally 4 in the afternoon.
Temperature's going back up, the hotels are at 100% occupancy - a September of riches.
Evening update (19.45): High of 33.6C.
A New Fair In Town
There's a new fair today. It's in Inca, a town known for its autumn fairs, for the daddy of all Mallorca's fairs - Dijous Bo - and for the revived Dijous Gros of early May. It's a town also known for its market, the Thursday market especially. Inca would like to be more firmly on the tourist map, but it struggles to find a place. For most tourists, the Thursday market is the only touristic game in this town of leather and footwear - there's a museum dedicated to both, to which no one much goes. Otherwise, it's off the beaten motorway heading towards Alcudia or in the other direction to Palma. It's easily bypassed.
Next weekend, Inca will be where most of the pilgrims undertaking the "part forana" walk to Lluc arrive prior to setting off on the pilgrimage at four in the morning. Proximity to the mountains as opposed to being in the mountains makes the town the start point, a place to be left. In tourism terms, the walk means little or nothing. There's no real reason why it should. It is after all, and as the name suggests, a walk for the part forana, for people in the sticks of Mallorca; no one else.
Dijous Bo is a fair which, on account of its mediaeval antiquity and sheer scale, attracts attention like no other (in Mallorca, that is). November doesn't perhaps help, but when has it ever been a tourist attraction? Is there any real reason why it should be? It's more like a massive social gathering on which all quarters of the island descend in order to admire pigs in pens and canaries in cages. A massive gathering, it's a massive market, more massive than the normal massive market of a Thursday, one which itself has received its share of criticism for the sameyness of its stalls and the proliferation of exotic tat.
To counteract this criticism, efforts have been made to promote the wares of the artisan class. Mallorca has become an island nation of potters and purveyors of home-made chutneys/jams with indigenous (or other) ingredients plucked from the island land. The artisan has his or her place at all fairs, markets or fiestas (they can overlap and be indistinguishable). He or she is ubiquitous as are the mainstays of local gastronomy. The new Inca Friday fair will have both. Fried sobrassada in a llonguet loaf will be topping the culinary bill. Add mustard or ketchup and it could be like a German or British hot-dog, except of course that it is artisan and thus charcuterie apart.
Mayor Virgilio Moreno says that the fair is all about providing an additional element to the summer programme in the town. Dubbed "Divendres a la fresca", its combination of artisan craft and tapas is to be an annual occasion going under this name, a late summer add-on to feature on the same calendar as the spring and autumn Dijous of Gros and Bo. If you - be you resident or tourist - were unaware of today's fair, you are now aware. I've done my bit in promoting it. What has the town hall done?
Inca is a prime example of seeking to acquire an "alternative" tourist but of not seeming to know how to go about it and of not appearing to know if it really wants it or not. It's not as though there haven't been ambitions. Most certainly not. But some ambitions can be over-ambitious. The footwear industry, it has been reckoned, offers an opportunity to attract Japanese tourists, as the Japanese love footwear (this was Inca speaking, not me). There is more than just one problem with this, and you don't need me to tell you what. Suffice to say Inca is unlikely to become akin to Brontë Country with signage in Japanese.
The sad thing is that today's fair is part of what is a highly vibrant summer programme in the town. Jazz, classics, all manner of events at the showground at the General Luque Quarter (there's more ubiquity there on Sunday - a Holi colours festival). Inca has a lot going for it, but who ever truly finds out about it? What real incentive is there to go, when the resorts offer their entertainment and restaurants?
Inca, although not central to the island's tourism, does rather sum up a general impression of treatment of fairs and fiestas. Who are they for? What does Mallorca want from them? Who knows about them? Sure, there are the well-known events, but there are a hell of lot of others for every Moors and Christians battle.
This is all in sharp contrast to what has just happened in Valencia. The "Tomatina" of Buñol is, says the mayor, the most international fiesta in Spain, with 60% of participants coming from overseas, including Japan. Buñol knows what it wants from its fiesta. In Mallorca ... ?
Next weekend, Inca will be where most of the pilgrims undertaking the "part forana" walk to Lluc arrive prior to setting off on the pilgrimage at four in the morning. Proximity to the mountains as opposed to being in the mountains makes the town the start point, a place to be left. In tourism terms, the walk means little or nothing. There's no real reason why it should. It is after all, and as the name suggests, a walk for the part forana, for people in the sticks of Mallorca; no one else.
Dijous Bo is a fair which, on account of its mediaeval antiquity and sheer scale, attracts attention like no other (in Mallorca, that is). November doesn't perhaps help, but when has it ever been a tourist attraction? Is there any real reason why it should be? It's more like a massive social gathering on which all quarters of the island descend in order to admire pigs in pens and canaries in cages. A massive gathering, it's a massive market, more massive than the normal massive market of a Thursday, one which itself has received its share of criticism for the sameyness of its stalls and the proliferation of exotic tat.
To counteract this criticism, efforts have been made to promote the wares of the artisan class. Mallorca has become an island nation of potters and purveyors of home-made chutneys/jams with indigenous (or other) ingredients plucked from the island land. The artisan has his or her place at all fairs, markets or fiestas (they can overlap and be indistinguishable). He or she is ubiquitous as are the mainstays of local gastronomy. The new Inca Friday fair will have both. Fried sobrassada in a llonguet loaf will be topping the culinary bill. Add mustard or ketchup and it could be like a German or British hot-dog, except of course that it is artisan and thus charcuterie apart.
Mayor Virgilio Moreno says that the fair is all about providing an additional element to the summer programme in the town. Dubbed "Divendres a la fresca", its combination of artisan craft and tapas is to be an annual occasion going under this name, a late summer add-on to feature on the same calendar as the spring and autumn Dijous of Gros and Bo. If you - be you resident or tourist - were unaware of today's fair, you are now aware. I've done my bit in promoting it. What has the town hall done?
Inca is a prime example of seeking to acquire an "alternative" tourist but of not seeming to know how to go about it and of not appearing to know if it really wants it or not. It's not as though there haven't been ambitions. Most certainly not. But some ambitions can be over-ambitious. The footwear industry, it has been reckoned, offers an opportunity to attract Japanese tourists, as the Japanese love footwear (this was Inca speaking, not me). There is more than just one problem with this, and you don't need me to tell you what. Suffice to say Inca is unlikely to become akin to Brontë Country with signage in Japanese.
The sad thing is that today's fair is part of what is a highly vibrant summer programme in the town. Jazz, classics, all manner of events at the showground at the General Luque Quarter (there's more ubiquity there on Sunday - a Holi colours festival). Inca has a lot going for it, but who ever truly finds out about it? What real incentive is there to go, when the resorts offer their entertainment and restaurants?
Inca, although not central to the island's tourism, does rather sum up a general impression of treatment of fairs and fiestas. Who are they for? What does Mallorca want from them? Who knows about them? Sure, there are the well-known events, but there are a hell of lot of others for every Moors and Christians battle.
This is all in sharp contrast to what has just happened in Valencia. The "Tomatina" of Buñol is, says the mayor, the most international fiesta in Spain, with 60% of participants coming from overseas, including Japan. Buñol knows what it wants from its fiesta. In Mallorca ... ?
Thursday, September 01, 2016
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 1 September 2016
Morning high (6.55am): 21.4C
Forecast high: 29C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 2 September - Sun, 29C; 3 September - Sun, 29C; 4 September - Sun, 31C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North-Northeast 2 to 3 occasionally 4 in the afternoon.
First of September. Soon be Christmas. No sign of summer letting up. Due to get hotter later in the weekend.
Evening update (20.30): High of 32.1C.
Forecast high: 29C; UV: 7
Three-day forecast: 2 September - Sun, 29C; 3 September - Sun, 29C; 4 September - Sun, 31C.
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays to 20.00): North-Northeast 2 to 3 occasionally 4 in the afternoon.
First of September. Soon be Christmas. No sign of summer letting up. Due to get hotter later in the weekend.
Evening update (20.30): High of 32.1C.
Podemos And The Battle Of Tourism
Terraferida is an association that only now is starting to make its name known. It was Terraferida who first drew attention to the spill of faecal water in Albufera a couple of weeks ago. Its name has been attached to images on social media of the "invasion" of Cabrera beach by superyacht users. Its blog would appear to have started in April last year. Since then it has posted almost sixty items - articles about land, roads, biodiversity, tourism and - the largest category - "denuncia". As part of this latter category, in June it complained about the "occupation" of Es Caló in Betlem and the activities of a tourist boat taking visitors to the coves of the Llevant Nature Park.
It's all worthy stuff. All well-informed and researched. As is its publication for Mallorca, Summer 2016. Entitled "Tot Inclòs", the strap line reads "damage and consequences of tourism in our islands". There are features about land, about "political protection" for "grand capitalists" in the Balearics, about holiday rentals, about resources, about impacts ("climate suicide", for instance). You can probably get an idea, therefore, where it is coming from. If you still need more explanation, then you can find, inter alia, a graphic with election posters. Under "vota" are the faces of Gabriel Escarrer senior (Meliá), Carmen Riu (Riu Hotels & Resorts), Miquel Fluxa (Iberostar) together with the amounts they are said to be worth - each a dollar billionaire.
In a broad sense, therefore, Terraferida is an environmentalist group. For an island considered to be "saturated" by tourists, there seems an equivalent risk of Mallorca being overwhelmed by the number of groups and associations lining up to confront tourism and the consequences of tourism. There are familiar targets for Terraferida in "Tot Inclòs" - all that occupancy of beaches of whatever sort, roads jammed with cars, land colonised for polo fields. On and on it goes.
Terraferida has had another boost to its growing reputation. "Tot Inclòs" formed the basis of an assault by Podemos on the regional government's tourism policies earlier this week. Laura Camargo and Carlos Saura, respectively the parliamentary spokesperson for Podemos and a parliamentary deputy, railed against tourism minister Biel Barceló and others. "The government is on a party boat looking at a wonderful reality that doesn't correspond with the truth." Tourism success, Saura remarked, only generates more social poverty from the majority and greater wealth for a few - the grand hoteliers - at a cost to the environment and to land.
Podemos, one feels, are working themselves up for the mother of all confrontations with their so-called partners in the "government for change" following the summer break. One battleground will be the legislation for holiday rentals, an issue that greatly confuses the left. It is a democratic right for someone, for a family to earn extra income from a property. Thus spake Toni Reus of Més some time ago. The implication of his words was that there should be a sort of free-for-all. His domain - Santa Margalida so therefore Can Picafort - would indeed be saturated.
Since he said this, his party has moved into government. The realities are rather different. Podemos are correct in this regard. Camargo, however, somewhat echoes what Reus had to say. There is a difference between renting out to make ends meet and a form of property speculation with the sole aim of making vast profits from rentals. Camargo wants a review of the tourist tax, arguing that the "objective estimation" for self-assessment of what is to be paid means that hotels do not reveal exact numbers of places. And these places - tourist places of all kinds - need to be subject to limits.
The Podemos rhetoric, not confined to tourism matters, marks the opening exchanges in the confrontation to come, one being heightened by the struggles that each of the three partners in the pact have politically. Podemos see themselves, with some justification, as the main power in the pact, and there is a great deal of mileage to be had from the tourism debate. They accuse Barceló and the government of improvisation and complacency when faced by the "gravity" that is tourist saturation. They take issue with President Armengol, Pilar Costa and Cosme Bonet (all PSOE) for seeking to downplay the "saturation" argument and the call for limits. PSOE are fearful of such talk and rhetoric, yet Podemos are cranking it up, fearful of nothing it would seem.
But what do they want from tourism? It wouldn't be surprising to learn that Terraferida and Podemos are more or less one and the same. The Terraferida agenda finds absolutely nothing good about tourism - this, at any rate, is the impression given - and it is an impression which Podemos convey. Their tourism "guru" once spoke about sun-and-beach tourism being obsolete. What do they want from tourism? What do they actually know about tourism?
It's all worthy stuff. All well-informed and researched. As is its publication for Mallorca, Summer 2016. Entitled "Tot Inclòs", the strap line reads "damage and consequences of tourism in our islands". There are features about land, about "political protection" for "grand capitalists" in the Balearics, about holiday rentals, about resources, about impacts ("climate suicide", for instance). You can probably get an idea, therefore, where it is coming from. If you still need more explanation, then you can find, inter alia, a graphic with election posters. Under "vota" are the faces of Gabriel Escarrer senior (Meliá), Carmen Riu (Riu Hotels & Resorts), Miquel Fluxa (Iberostar) together with the amounts they are said to be worth - each a dollar billionaire.
In a broad sense, therefore, Terraferida is an environmentalist group. For an island considered to be "saturated" by tourists, there seems an equivalent risk of Mallorca being overwhelmed by the number of groups and associations lining up to confront tourism and the consequences of tourism. There are familiar targets for Terraferida in "Tot Inclòs" - all that occupancy of beaches of whatever sort, roads jammed with cars, land colonised for polo fields. On and on it goes.
Terraferida has had another boost to its growing reputation. "Tot Inclòs" formed the basis of an assault by Podemos on the regional government's tourism policies earlier this week. Laura Camargo and Carlos Saura, respectively the parliamentary spokesperson for Podemos and a parliamentary deputy, railed against tourism minister Biel Barceló and others. "The government is on a party boat looking at a wonderful reality that doesn't correspond with the truth." Tourism success, Saura remarked, only generates more social poverty from the majority and greater wealth for a few - the grand hoteliers - at a cost to the environment and to land.
Podemos, one feels, are working themselves up for the mother of all confrontations with their so-called partners in the "government for change" following the summer break. One battleground will be the legislation for holiday rentals, an issue that greatly confuses the left. It is a democratic right for someone, for a family to earn extra income from a property. Thus spake Toni Reus of Més some time ago. The implication of his words was that there should be a sort of free-for-all. His domain - Santa Margalida so therefore Can Picafort - would indeed be saturated.
Since he said this, his party has moved into government. The realities are rather different. Podemos are correct in this regard. Camargo, however, somewhat echoes what Reus had to say. There is a difference between renting out to make ends meet and a form of property speculation with the sole aim of making vast profits from rentals. Camargo wants a review of the tourist tax, arguing that the "objective estimation" for self-assessment of what is to be paid means that hotels do not reveal exact numbers of places. And these places - tourist places of all kinds - need to be subject to limits.
The Podemos rhetoric, not confined to tourism matters, marks the opening exchanges in the confrontation to come, one being heightened by the struggles that each of the three partners in the pact have politically. Podemos see themselves, with some justification, as the main power in the pact, and there is a great deal of mileage to be had from the tourism debate. They accuse Barceló and the government of improvisation and complacency when faced by the "gravity" that is tourist saturation. They take issue with President Armengol, Pilar Costa and Cosme Bonet (all PSOE) for seeking to downplay the "saturation" argument and the call for limits. PSOE are fearful of such talk and rhetoric, yet Podemos are cranking it up, fearful of nothing it would seem.
But what do they want from tourism? It wouldn't be surprising to learn that Terraferida and Podemos are more or less one and the same. The Terraferida agenda finds absolutely nothing good about tourism - this, at any rate, is the impression given - and it is an impression which Podemos convey. Their tourism "guru" once spoke about sun-and-beach tourism being obsolete. What do they want from tourism? What do they actually know about tourism?
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