ISSUE NO. 1591 31 Dec 2015 - 6 Jan 2016 YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COMMALLORCA

Liberty will be in the air thisweek across Palma as Mallor-cans celebrate the conquest ofIslamic Mallorca over sevencenturies ago, while Balearicseparatists prepare for their an-nual demonstration for inde-pendence from Spain.

On Thursday December 31the Festa de lEstendard (Ban-ner Festival), one of Europesoldest folk festivals dating backto the 13th century, will be heldin honour of the Christian Cata-lan King Jaume I, who liberatedMallorca from the Moors in

1229. Proud Mallorcans of allpolitical persuasions will gatherat Cort Square to witness thehistoric ceremony of the layingof the Royal Standard of theConquest of Mallorca.

There will be a mass held inthe cathedral followed by thetraditional recitation of the Col-cada, a poem written by PereAlcantara in 1861, while iconicfolk figures, music, and danceswill accompany the festive pa-rade.

This evening, December 30,a traditional pro-separatist rallywill descend upon Palma, asdemonstrators demand full au-

tonomy for the Balearic Islandsunder the umbrella of the widerCatalan nation.

Platform 31, a diverse coali-tion of left-wing nationalistgroups and unions, will organ-ise the rally which will begin at6pm from the Passeig des Bornand march to Plaa BisbeBerenguer de Palou. Known as31D, the political rally began in1986 and has attracted tens ofthousands in the past. Key de-mands are the recognition ofthe Balearics as part of theCatalan family, self-determina-tion, and the protection of theCatalan language and culture.

In recent years the rally hasattracted more fervour and con-troversy as the Popular Party(PP) political hegemony acrossthe islands has sparked a waveof protest and anti-austeritysentiment.

The PP also cut legal protec-tions for Catalan in 2012 ignit-ing the largest protest to datethat year. Recent rallies haveseen a sea of Esteladas (Catalanflags) waving in the air andcalls to move the official re-gional holiday (Diada de Mal-lorca) from September 12 toDecember 31 in honour ofJaumes triumph.

EWN

by Matthew Elliott

The only one, 6 editions, 52 weeks a year

Freedom season

NEWS31 December 2015 - 6 january 2016 / Mallorca www.euroweeklynews.comEWN2

HAVING fun turned to tragedy over Christ-mas this year in Palma when a young man,26, died of his injuries after a fight turnedbloody on Christmas Day morning.

The young Colombian man had been outwith his girlfriend in the Gomila area of

Palma on Christmas Eve when, at around7am the following morning, he got into afight with someone. As more people insidethe club joined in, the two were thrown outof the bar and the attacker, another Colom-bian, said to be quite drunk, apparentlybroke a glass bottle and cut the youngmans throat, severing the carotid artery.

The young man was taken to hospital butdied from his injuries two days later, onSunday (December 27). Although his sus-pected attacker was arrested immediatelyafter the tragedy, the judge released him onSaturday due to insufficient evidence withthe man claiming he hadnt even left homeon Christmas Eve. Investigations continue.

EX-MAYOR of Palma, MateuIsern, and his wife were in-jured last week when a vehicleskipped a stop sign and hit themotorbike Isern was drivingwith his wife as passenger.

The accident occurred onthe old Bunyola road and bothsuffered various fractures. Af-ter four days in hospital, theywere allowed home last week-end.

Two injured inbike madness

MALLORCA airport, SonSant Joan, has seen recordnumbers of passengers theseChristmas holidays. Informa-tion shows that from Decem-ber 24 until January 7, Palma

airport will see 496,372 pas-sengers pass through the doorson 3,415 programmed flights.

The busiest days foreseenwill be January 2 and 3 with280 flights programmed.

Airport activity

LOCAL NEWS A Christmas Day tragedyYOUNG man was taken to hospital but died from his injuries two days later

GOMILA IN PALMA: Was the scene of a fight where a young Colombian man died.

By Glynis German

SOME 1,300 locals will enjoy a special holiday on the is-land this Christmas without going too far from home. Num-bers released by local government show bookings in one ofthe 18 mountain hostels available are at 43 per cent.

Hostels on the Pedra en Sec route (dry stone walks) willaccommodate 1,147 hikers.

Mountain refuge

3NEWS 31 December 2015 - 6 January 2016 / Mallorcawww.euroweeklynews.com EWN

Hospital heroesSaved the dayA WASHING machinecaught fire last Sunday atSon Latzer hospital but wasquickly extinguished andcaused no serious damageor injuries. Staff werepraised for their rapid re-sponse in attending to theincident.

Climber hurtFlown to hospitalA 25-YEAR-OLD womanwas injured last Saturdaywhen she fell six metreswhilst climbing Sa Gubia inBunyola. Emergency med-ical services attended to heron site and she was trans-ported by helicopter to SonEspases hospital.

Toy story Solidarity shownALCUDIA residentsshowed solidarity by deliv-ering presents to a localbusiness last week to be do-nated to local charity As-panob. The business, Quiro-Mass, donated their servicesfor every present deliveredthus providing a win-winsituation for many!

Just a plant Not worth smokingA WOMAN discovered abag of marihuana last week-end in the Sa Vileta area ofPalma and rang the police.It seems the bag containedroots and leaves of theCannabis Sativa plant butnothing worth smoking.

Three arrested Over police assaultTHREE Dominicans arrest-ed on Christmas Day for as-saulting police officers werereleased the following day.The police had been calledto intervene in a fight whichhad broken out in the JoanMir area of Gomila be-tween some 40 people.

Big spendersIn BalearesBALEARIC residentsspend an average 1,511 onfood every year, being theeighth community in Spainwhich spends more than theaverage Spaniard. It wasconfirmed the averageamount spent on food is1,482.

THE discovery of a body lastweek during the course of afire was found to be murder.

Esperanza Ferrutxe Frau,45, had been beaten aroundthe head, strangled and a firestarted to divert attention

from her murder. The fireservices had been called to afire in a building in the EsForti area of Palma and oncethere, discovered the body.

A 25-year-old man was ar-rested and is now in prison

without bail having con-fessed to the murder, startingthe fire and robbery.

Apparently, the accusedhad lived in the buildingwhere the incident occurred,some years ago, and knew

the woman, owner of thebuilding, from those times.

Although he had gone tolive on the mainland sometime ago, his grandmothercontinued to live in thebuilding and just before

Christmas, the young manhad come to stay with her.

Neighbours in the areawere in shock and saddenedby the death of Esperanza,said to be a hard-workingwoman.

Violent robbery results in murder

FEATURED NEWS

Bethlehem Light of PeaceA CANDLE is lit at the eternal flame and placed in a special lantern

EVERY year, a child from Upper Aus-tria goes to the Church of the Nativityin Bethlehem where Jesus Christ is tra-ditionally believed to have been bornand a candle is lit at the eternal flameand placed in a special lantern.

Many local people, including scoutsand guides from Palestine and Israel,accompany the ORF Peace Light toTel Aviv airport from where it is flownto Austria and is distributed at a ser-vice of dedication to delegations fromacross Europe and North America whotake it back, with a message of Peace,to their own countries for use at ecu-menical services throughout the Conti-nent.

The campaign was originally organ-ised by the Austrian Broadcasting

Company ORF (Linz) in 1986 and waspart of a large charitable relief missionLight into Darkness, for children inneed in Austria and abroad with scoutsand guides involved in its distribution.

When Austria joined the European

Union in 1995, the Austrian Memberof the European Parliament Paul Rbiginitiated the tradition to bring thePeace Light of Bethlehem to Stras-bourg to hand the flame over to theCouncil of Europe, the European Par-liament and the city itself.

Since 1986, Austrian Airlines hasbeen responsible for transporting thelight of peace from Tel Aviv to Viennaand since 2000 it has also delivered itto New York from where it is sent viaScouts and Guides to Canada andLatin America, with one lantern beingdelivered to Ground Zero in NewYork.

Once the light arrives in each receiv-ing country, a multitude of candles arelit and distributed by Scouts andGuides to various destinations andsupporters of the peace concept.

By John Smith

ETERNAL FLAME: At the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

For me it is quiteclear, you have to helpwhen others need help

regardless of where theycome from.

Peace Babies

Jelly Babies were launched in1918 in Sheffield, UK as PeaceBabies to mark the end of WorldWar I. Production was suspendedduring World War II due towartime shortages. Since1953they were relaunched as Jelly Ba-bies and would make a good ac-companiment to the flame.

Renamed in 1953

Niklas Dumhart the 10-year-old AustrianLight of Peace child.

69is the number of church bells

that rang in Bethlehem onDecember 5 this year to

mark the start of peace cele-brations in the lead up to

Christmas. Quote of the Week

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Sport 54, 56

31 December 2015 - 6 January 2016 / Mallorca

TWO days without beingable to shop proved to betoo much for the hundredsof people who took to theshops last Sunday.

Both Christmas Day andBoxing Day saw everythingclosed in Mallorca, causingwithdrawal symptoms forthose addicted to shopping.

Spain has experienced thesame development of con-sumerism as Britain, albeitat a later date. The last twodecades have turned whatwas a traditional religiousevent into a consumers par-adise, namely Christmas.

The dates for Christmasthis year meant that Sundaywas the f i rs t day when

shoppers were able to gettheir f ix , a l though whenshops opened in the morn-ing, there were more staffthan there were shoppers.

By the afternoon howev-er, this had changed withfamilies out in force enjoy-ing some special offers tobe found.

Local businesses havehad to compete with the gi-ants, such as Carrefour andAl Campo, but all predictthat the New Year s saleswill be good.

Some businesses took ad-vantage of the dates and of-fered discounts on manyitems, but the majority ofdiscounts will be found af-ter the Three Kings havebeen on January 6.

SPAIN has experienced the same development of consumerism as Britain

Christmas is now aconsumers paradiseBy Glynis German

SHOPS CLOSED: On Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

AT the risk of extreme understatement,2015 has been an eventful year. Ratherthan bring you the usual rundown ofglobal trends and excitements, wethought our readers might appreciate

some of the local highlights that theircommunity has experienced over thepast year. The following pages will bedevoted to a recap of some of what weconsidered to be the defining tales that

2015 brought to our papers. Some wereof immense local significance, whileothers have touched all of our hearts, wehope you find time for both reflectionand joy in this trip down memory lane.

EWNs 2015 - A year in review

FREE WiFi will soon makelazing on Palmas beaches all the

more enjoyable, thanks to anagreement between the BalearicPort Authorities and PalmasTourism Foundation 365.

The free internet connectionwill cover the stretch of coastbetween the Can Pere Antonibeach and Dique del Oeste,including the docks at Pelaires,the Paseo Maritimo promenadeand the Moll Vell area.

The new service, which will beimplemented in several phases,will add to the one alreadyoperational at Platja de Palma,which was enthusiasticallyreceived by the public.

The initiative was introducedat a meeting held by the TourismFoundation Board, which tookplace in Es Baluard and was

presided over by the mayor,Mateo Isern.

In addition, the budget for theorganisation was decided, with anincrease of 10 per cent, a total of6.1 million allocated for 2015.

The foundation will continueto energise and promote tourismprogrammes, which have beenincreased by 32 per cent in 2014.

5A REVIEW OF 2015 www.euroweeklynews.com EWN31 December 2015 - 6 January 2016 / Mallorca

THE Balearic Taxi Associationis willing to offer cab rides at1.50 per passenger in an effortto alleviate the lack of demandduring the winter months.

The proposal was submittedto Palma Council. The taxiswould cover some of the sameroutes of the EMT public buses

in Palma and pick uppassengers at the samedesignated stops until all theseats are taken.

Every passenger would becharged 1.50 regardless ofwhere they are going. The taxidrivers had originally asked fora single 3 price, but lateraccepted cutting it in half.

The service, however, wouldonly be provided betweenNovember and April.

No other city in the worldoffers a similar service as far asI know, said Head of theBalearic Taxi AssociationAntonio Bauza.

For the time being, PalmaCouncil is reluctant to adopt theproposal because it could be adirect competition to EMTbuses.

Its not about competition,but about offering people abetter service, said Bauza.

Taking a taxi couldcost just 1.50

CAB RIDES: Cheap rate between November and April.

JANUARY

January 8 Issue 1540

MOST people on the is-lands prefer getting giftsfrom the Three Kingsrather than Santa Claus.

Four out of five peopleborn on the Balearic Is-lands 98 per cent saidthey would rather get theirgifts on January 6 and noton December 25, and 64per cent said they plannedto go the Three Kings Pa-rade, held on January 5 allover Spain, according to asurvey conducted byDaWanda.es.

The study looked at2,500 Spaniards between18 and 60 years of age.More than half of respon-dents (54 per cent) saidthey slept like a baby thenight before the arrival ofthe Three Kings.

Three Kingsmore popularthan Santa

Beach WiFi extendedFEB

RUARY

February 5, Issue 1544.

PALMA has been announced asthe most expensive Spanish cityto live in by website Numbeo. Numbeo is the worlds largest

database of user-contributed dataabout cities and countries cost ofliving, housing indicators, trafficand crime, amongst other lifestyle

conditions. The website has compared data

from eight different Spanish citiesand concluded that Palma deMallorca was the most expensive,followed by Alicante and Madrid.

The two cheapest cities wereSevilla and Malaga.

Palma life is pricey CAPITAL CITY: The most expensive in Spain.

THE Platja de Muro beach hasbeen chosen by TripAdvisor

users as the seventh best beach inSpain.

The Platja de Muro is a 5.2-kilometre beach, characterised byits fine, white sand and stretchesof vegetation. A noteworthy areais Es Comu, a part of the beachincluded in SAlbufera NaturalPark.

The beach has several qualitycertifications, such as the Euro-pean Union Blue Flag, whichguarantees its perfect conditionsin terms of environmental respectand facility maintenance and oneof the most advanced safety andrescue services in Spain.

Muro beach voted7th best in Spain

A REVIEW OF 201531 December 2015 - 6 January 2016 / Mallorca www.euroweeklynews.comEWN6

MARCH

March 5, Issue 1548.

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A NEW tool in the BalearicIslands, the first of its kindin Europe, is hoped to pre-dict the arrival of jellyfishon the islands beaches, re-ducing the effect on bathers.

Environmental and Agri-cultural delegate Biel Com-pany announced that thenew tool detected the pres-ence of jellyfish in 799 cas-

es from a total of 17,507 in-spections carried out sincelast summer.

Results of daily inspec-tions at five marine reserveareas and on 120 beachesare added to a databasewhich the tool wil l use tocreate forecasts for particu-lar areas or t imes of yearand even create maps of ar-

eas where the creatures tendto gather.

The tool has a doublegoal: to reduce the effects ofjellyfish on bathers and alsoto help scientists understandthe links between environ-mental conditions and theappearance of jellyfish andallow a prediction system tobe put into place.

Detecting jellyfishbefore they arrive

PLATJA DE MURO: Has a great variety of services.

PIONEERING: A new system to predict the arrival of jellyfish.

7A REVIEW OF 2015 www.euroweeklynews.com EWN31 December 2015 - 6 January 2016 / Mallorca

A PETITION to ban car-riages pulled by horses inPalma de Mallorca has al-ready been signed by morethan 87,800 people.

It was launched onChange.org by Luis Moreira,a Palma resident, after thedeath of a horse in front ofPalma Cathedral.

For the past few years,

numerous incidents have oc-curred regarding these car-riages, for instance, drivershitting [the horses] due toimpatience, the death of ani-mals after suffering heat-stroke or excessively longworking hours, reads thepetition. It has sparked an in-ternational response, espe-cially in Germany.

Horse carriage petitiongains massive support

TOURIST DRAW: The Galeras Rojas carriages in Palma.

APRIL

April 23 Issue 1555.

A REVIEW OF 201531 December 2015 - 6 January 2016 / Mallorca www.euroweeklynews.comEWN10

Monsters of theseas set to dock

THE two biggest cruiseships in the world, the Al-lure and Quantum of theSeas, will arrive at Palmasport this month.

The Quantum docks inthe citys port on May 12,while the Allure will arrivein Palma on May 25.

The first of the two giantcruise liners features a

moving crane, suspended90 metres above the ship,which gives a 360-degreeview, an ice rink and the

first ever bumper car at-traction on a ship.

It weighs 188,666 tonnesand is 347 metres in length.

LARGE SCALE: View of the Allure of the Seas.

MAY

May 7, Issue 1557.

Two of the worlds biggest liners set for Palma

important element of protectingand growing your wealth, yetmany people do not have aninvestment plan in place, or haveneglected one they set up yearsago.

You may have built up aportfolio of shares and funds overthe years, without reallyconsidering how they worktogether or whether they suit youraims. Consider the principles forsuccessful investing below.

Your appetite for risk

Obtain a clear and objectiveassessment of your appetite forrisk, or your portfolio will not besuitable for you.

Match your risk profile tothe optimum portfolio Make sureyour investment portfolio matchesyour attitude to risk.

Diversification It is criticalto ensure your investments aresuitably diversified, so you are notover-exposed to any given assettype, country, sector or stock.

Yearly review Your portfoliocan shift away from the onedesigned to match your riskprofile and objectives, and yourcircumstances may have changed.

Tax planningGet advice to make sure your

investments and wealth arearranged in the best, most up-to-date way to limit your taxliabilities. Choose someone whois well-versed in the nuances ofboth Spanish and British taxation.The right tax-efficientarrangement can keep most of

your investments in one place andhelp you legitimately avoid payingtoo much tax.

Estate planningThe first step is to establish your

goals: Who would you like to

benefit from your estate? Do you want them to have

control over the money or not? How quickly would they

need to be able to access themoney?

What impact will tax have? Would you like to try and

avoid probate on some of yourassets?

You then need to obtainspecialist advice to ensure thatyour estate planning is specificallyset up to achieve your wishes foryour heirs.

The new EU successionregulation allows you to choosebetween Spanish or UK successionlaw to apply to your estate ondeath. You need to ensure yourwill is up to date for your wishes,

or your estate may be distributedaccording to the restrictiveSpanish law.

The EU succession regulationdoes not allow you to opt out ofSpanish succession tax, which canbe costly in certain circumstances.This is due on death if the assetbeing inherited is located in Spainor if the recipient is resident inSpain. Tax is paid by eachrecipient, not by the estate, andthe rate depends on therelationship between thebenefactor and the recipient.

Whether it is investments,pensions or tax planning, seekspecialist advice to ensure you dowhat works best for your personalsituation. Use an adviser who canguide you on all these aspects andprovide holistic solutions so youcan enjoy a healthy, wealthy 2016and beyond.

To keep in touch with the latestdevelopments in the offshore world,check out the latest news on ourwebsite www.blevinsfranks.com.

The New Year is an excellent time tocarry out a wealth-review to makesure your money is working as wellas it can for you.

Spending a little time now willhelp you preserve your wealth overthe long term to meet your financialobjectives. Are you up to date withthe latest developments in Spain andinternationally that affect you? Doyou have a considered, strategic taxand wealth management plan inplace? Has there been any change inyour circumstances since you lastreviewed your affairs?

Once you have assessed yourinvestments, tax planning,succession planning and pensions,you will then be able to discuss anynecessary adjustments with yourfinancial adviser.

Savings and investmentsAre you sure your investments,

and the mix of them, is suitable foryour life in Spain and for yourcircumstances, needs, time horizonand risk tolerance? This is such an

11FINANCE 31 December 2015 - 6 January 2016/ Mallorcawww.euroweeklynews.com EWN

By Simon King, Partner,

Blevins Franks

New Year Financial Planning Review

A REVIEW OF 201531 December 2015 - 6 January 2016 / Mallorca www.euroweeklynews.comEWN12

THE Balearic Islands areleading the rest of Spain outof recession with the biggestdrop in the jobless rate in thecountry.

Driving the recovery inthe jobs market has been theconstruction sector with 14.9per cent more people payinginto the social security sys-tem. The hotel industryworkforce grew by 6.2 percent in terms of new con-

tracts with the industrygrowing by 4.6 per cent.

The Balearics saw thehighest month-on-month de-crease in the unemploymentrate in Spain and was secondon the list year-on-year.

The total number of out-of-work residents registered

at the regions EmploymentService Office (SOIB) de-creased in May by 7,924people, which represents an11.87 per cent reduction onApril, according to the Em-ployment and Social Securi-ty Ministry.

The number of jobless in

the Balearic Islands totals58,832 people, the fewestsince May 2009. The year-to-year unemployment fig-ures fell by 9,005, or 13.27per cent.

This means that there havenow been 31 consecutivemonths of reductions.

JUNE

EWN

midday sun.

Biker hurt Remains in hospital A 60-YEAR-OLD motor-cyclist was badly hurt af-ter being involved in anaccident on the Biniali-Binissalem road. He wastaken to the Son Espaseshospital where he remainshospitalised.

Car dumped Dangerous parking

GUARDIA CIVIL policeofficers are searching forthe driver of a car thatwas abandoned in a laneof the Inca motorway.The vehicle was found byambulance staff that be-gan signalling warningsto other drivers.

Child injuredRan over in SineuA FIVE-YEAR-OLD boyis in a critical conditionafter being run over by acar near the sports centrein Sineu. The incidenttook place at around6.50pm and the victimwas taken to Son Espaseshospital.

the making of this fiestaBABY-JUMPING in Burgos during the feast of Corpus Christi

FROM the early 1600s, every yearduring the feast of Corpus Christi, thesmall Spanish town of Castrillo deMurcia in Burgos is where babies layi th t t d il j th

place in the Baby Jumping Festival ofEl Colacho.

Mattresses are laid end to end withthe babies carefully positioned in aline, (doting mothers close to hand,take note!). Then, local men dressedas devils in red and yellow suits pro-

d t j th b b li

By Steve Walsh

BABY LINE: Devils jump over the infants. Beer on tap

Regardless of complaints from dri-vers, residents and caterers, BeerBikes are proving a great success inMadrid, with an estimated 500 usersper week touring Atocha andCibeles on the multi-tandem vehi-l f t 18 l ith b

500 users per week

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June 4, Issue 1561.

Leading the way toeconomic recovery

BALEARICS: Top the list for the biggest fall in unemployment.

THE Mallorca Hoteliers Feder-ation and regional governmenthave begun talks on tourismpolicies which will be put inplace during this term of office.

Talk of plans to chargetourists a new tax already hasthem at odds.

Vice-President and Council-lor for Innovation, Investigationand Tourism, Biel Barcelo, saidthe aim is to talk with all sectorsso that the so-called ecotasacan come into effect.

The law which will apply tothe tax will soon be drawn up. Itaims to minimalise the effectwhich tourism has on the envi-

ronment and would be chargedto all visiting tourists. At a sug-gested 1 per nights stay in ahotel or tourist apartment, some15 billion could be receivedevery year. This, the new gov-ernment has said, would be tosolve problems with rubbish,water and energy, and improvethe management of protectednatural areas.

The plan is for it to becharged in hotels and touristapartments if there is no way ofdoing so at airports and ports, orto add it to the price of ticketsand package tours.

The president of the Hote-liers Federation, Inmaculada deBenito, says that this will affectcompetitiveness and if it doesgo ahead, has asked for it not tocome into effect next year, asprices are already almost agreedwith tour operators for 2016.

Barcelo has said that so far,no dates had been set to bringthe tax into effect and that talkswill be held with all affectedparties so they can work on ittogether.

Controversy overtalk of tourist tax

JULY

EWN

during Operation Neronhas now been arrested.

Multiple crashThree cars involved

AN accident involving threevehicles at kilometre 40 ofthe Palma-Alcudia roadnear sa Pobla resulted infour people being injured.Several ambulances attend-ed the scene to attend to thecasualties.

Violent attackMan taken into custody

A MAN was arrested inPalma for allegedly hittinghis girlfriend in the streetand attempting to attackthe police when they weretaking him into custody.He claimed they had beat-en him.

Sent to prisonNegligent manslaughter

A BUILDER has been sen-tenced to a year and a halfin prison for negligentmanslaughter for the deathof a worker, 39, followingan eight-metre fall in 2008,on Son Rossinyol IndustrialEstate in Palma. gather in the Praza do Obradoiro to view the traditional fireworks and a

di l j t d t th f d f

By Dilip Kuner

San FerminIn total, 20,500 runners took part inthe San Fermin running of the bullsthis year. In 2014, two out of everyth t ki t f

Running of the bulls

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July 16, Issue 1567.

THE worlds most populartourist destination is Mallor-ca, according to websiteHotelBeds.

The island is even morepopular than destinations likeDisney World in Orlando,and is followed in popularityin Spain by Barcelona, Tener-ife, Benidorm and the Costadel Sol.

Mallorca is full to over-flowing with tourists in ho-tels and apartments. In June,the National Institute of Sta-tistics (INE) confirmed thatholiday lets on the islandreached the highest occu-

pancy levels in Spain. Theislands favourite destina-tions are Alcudia andCalvia, and it appears thattourism is due to continuealong the same lines at leastuntil the end of September, amonth which is seeing fig-ures rise each year.

The British, German,French and Italian marketsare providing Mallorca with

even more visitors than inother years, and growthwithin the Spanish market isat around 15 per cent.HotelBeds concludes that

the amount of activitiesavailable to tourists is alsorising to keep up with de-mand.

The site has a database of75,000 hotels in 180 coun-tries.

13A REVIEW OF 2015 www.euroweeklynews.com EWN31 December 2015 - 6 January 2016 / Mallorca

Summer salesare looking up

FORTY-EIGHT per cent ofshop owners in Mallorca saythey have sold more in the firsttwo weeks of this years sum-mer sales than over the sameperiod last year.

Five per cent claims to havesold the same, according to theUnion for Small and MediumBusinesses (PIMECO).

Twenty per cent say they ex-pected the sales to go better,while 40 per cent thought they

would be worse.Sixty per cent said that the

sales had met their expectationswhile 40 per cent said they had

not. Almost 50 per cent blamedthis on the lack of customersand 51 per cent blamed it on thelack of desire to buy.

SHOP SALES: Many had sold more goods this yearcompared to last year.

JULY

EWN

Joint culturesExhibition of worksAN exhibition of the worksof seven Mallorcan and sev-en Moroccan artists is beingheld at Felanitx Casa de laCultura. It will then travel toSantanyi, Manacor, Vi-lafranca and Sant Lloren be-fore heading to Fez in Mo-rocco.

Hot daysYellow alertMALLORCA remains onyellow alert for high tem-peratures according to theState MeteorologicalAgency, AEMET, whichhas warned of temperaturesof 36C and above in thecoming days.

46m profitsHighest takings

AIR EUROPA is theBalearic company with thehighest business takings,with more than 1.54 bil-lion in 2013, and profits ofmore than 46 million. Thesecond highest was for Hal-con Viajes, with 863 mil-lion, and losses of 12 mil-lion.

in the River SellaTHE worlds largest canoeing race is a UNESCO World Heritage Event

of river and admiring the beautifull d th Whil th

By Carol Irving

ON YOUR MARKS: More than 1,000 canoeists take part in the race.

On the pillBADIA del Valles in Barcelona hascome up with a new way to controlthe pigeon population. From now

til D b th bi d ill b

Birth control for pigeons

39 128July 23, Issue 1568.

AUGUST

EWN

No parkingFines will be issued

MANACOR Town Hallhas banned parking on theaccess road to Cala Var-ques beach. Parking isbanned on both sides of theroad, and once it is consid-ered everyone knows this,fines of up to 200 will beissued.

Mystery fallMan diesA MAN, 48, died afterfalling from the old fire-mens tower on Son Castel-lo Industrial Estate in Pal-ma. It is not known why heclimbed the tower at just af-ter midnight. Paramedics,Local Police and firemen at-tended the scene.

Fire ban No burning refuseALL authorisations toburn garden or agricultur-al refuse were annulledby the Balearic Nature In-stitute (Ibanat) earlier thisweek due to the high tem-peratures expected allover the island, it was an-nounced on Twitter.

stunning beach horse racesAUGUST sees this Cadiz coastline become track for ancient event

racing taking root in Madrid, San Sebas-ti d S ill th t d ll

By Carol Irving

REMARKABLE RACES: Take place over six days this month.

Shock tacticsCATALUAS police force, theMossos dEsquadra, will be pro-vided with between 130 and 140T l t i b th d f

Tasers to be brought in

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August 6, Issue 1570.

Worlds top destination

A REVIEW OF 201531 December 2015 - 6 January 2016 / Mallorca www.euroweeklynews.comEWN14

34.19 PER CENT of self-employed workers are women

Balearic Island sisters aredoing it for themselves

THE economic empowerment of womenacross the world is one of the most remark-able revolutions of the past 50 years.

This is echoed by the latest figures whichreveal that almost 34.2 per cent of self-em-ployed workers in the Balearic Islands arewomen.

The national average is 34 per cent of the total

of 1.7 million self-employed workers in Spain,according to a survey.

The sector with most self-employed women ishealthcare, with 72 per cent of the total.

Women account for 63 per cent of hairdressersand 54 per cent in the education sector, but only 7per cent in transport and 15 per cent in the agri-cultural sector.

SEPTEM

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EWN

No parkingFines will be issued

MANACOR Town Hallhas banned parking on theaccess road to Cala Var-ques beach. Parking isbanned on both sides of theroad, and once it is consid-ered everyone knows this,fines of up to 200 will beissued.

Mystery fallMan diesA MAN, 48, died afterfalling from the old fire-mens tower on Son Castel-lo Industrial Estate in Pal-ma. It is not known why heclimbed the tower at just af-ter midnight. Paramedics,Local Police and firemen at-tended the scene.

Fire ban No burning refuseALL authorisations toburn garden or agricultur-al refuse were annulledby the Balearic Nature In-stitute (Ibanat) earlier thisweek due to the high tem-peratures expected allover the island, it was an-nounced on Twitter.

stunning beach horse racesAUGUST sees this Cadiz coastline become track for ancient event

racing taking root in Madrid, San Sebas-ti d S ill th t d ll

By Carol Irving

REMARKABLE RACES: Take place over six days this month.

Shock tacticsCATALUAS police force, theMossos dEsquadra, will be pro-vided with between 130 and 140T l t i b th d f

Tasers to be brought in

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Sept 3, Issue 1574.

SELF-EMPLOYED: Women account for 54 per cent in the education sector.

THE Balearic Government hasformally requested the centralgovernment and the EU to stopplans to drill for oil around theislands.

The regional governmentwants requests from companieswhich have already beenpresented to be rejected and anyplans to drill around the BalearicIslands suspended.

The councillor for the

Presidency, Marc Pons, made therequest, saying that the BalearicIslands want to remain at thehead of their game in the tourismindustry, meaning that they needto find clean sources of energyand efficient technologies.

This occurred during hisspeech at a conference regardingBlue Growth held in Brussels.

Blue Growth is the long termstrategy to support sustainable

growth in the marine andmaritime sectors as a whole. It isthe maritime contribution toachieving the goals of the Europe2020 strategy for smart,sustainable and inclusive growth.

Pons said that we can hardlyspeak of blue growth whenthere is a threat to theenvironment, to society and tothe Balearic economy in theshape of oil drilling.

Regional governmentplan to stop drillingCOUNCILLOR said they want any requests which have al-ready been presented to be rejected

A REVIEW OF 201531 December 2015 - 6 January 2016 / Mallorca www.euroweeklynews.comEWN16

THE three left-wing parties inthe Balearic Islands Parlia-ment (PSOE, Mes andPodemos) have committed toban bullfighting in the region.

The animal rights organisa-tions that launched the Mallor-ca Sin Sangre (Mallorca With-out Blood) campaign,announced that the three par-ties are to put forward aproposition in the Balearicchamber to modify the laws

that allow bullfighting events.After many months of real

effort and being able to make24 towns declare themselvesanti-bullfighting and animal-friendly, as well as the supportof 135,000 people and also fig-ures from culture, fashion, cin-

ema and sport, the MallorcaSense Sang campaign is aboutto achieve its goal, said theassociation Anima Naturalis.

Head of the association,Guillermo Amengual, said thisachievement was historicand celebrated that, in a few

days, bullfighting will just bea bad memory for the islands.

However, the parties insist-ed that there is no specific datefor the legal modificationwhich will eradicate bullfight-ing, which is to be included inthe animal well-being law.

ANIMAL well-being law to cover traditional sport when it is passed

Bullfights will soon be abad memory says group

PROTESTERS: Anti-bullfighting groups have found support from left-wing parties.

OCTOB

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October 8 Issue 1579.

MALLORCA Island Councilhas permanently put an end toimporting refuse to be inciner-ated at the Son Reus plant.

This will keep some 120,000tonnes of rubbish from Italyand Ireland from arriving on theisland.

She said the final decision issupported by legal and financialreports and is approved by theBalearic Regional Government.

Meanwhile, the conservativePartido Popular (PP) councillor,Catalina Soller, argued that the

only reason why fees for pro-cessing refuse on the island can

remain the same next year isthanks to the money made fromimporting rubbish for incinera-tion.

Soller was formerly the headof the environmental depart-ment and said only 20,000tonnes of rubbish will be pre-vented from arriving, not120,000 as the Consell report-ed. This is because 100,000tonnes which were due to arrivefrom Rome had still not beengiven the go-ahead by the Ital-ian Government.

LESS WASTE: 120,000 tonnes fewer will be processed.

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November 19, Issue 1585.

The last of the rubbish imports

THE Balearic government,represented by the Directorsof Environmental Education,Environmental Quality andWaste, Sebasti Sans, andEnergy and Climate Change,Juan Groizard, attended theUnited Nations climate sum-mit (COP21) in Paris thisweek.

The summit, which endstomorrow, started on Novem-

ber 30 with negotiators from195 countries gathering to tryto reach a deal aimed at re-ducing global carbon emis-sions and limiting globalwarming to 2C.

The Mallorcan govern-ment representatives formedpart of the Spanish centralgovernment delegation andwere kept informed on a dai-ly basis about the state of ne-

gotiations taking place in theFrench capital.

They were there to renewthe local governments clearcommitment for the islandsto be using 100 per cent re-newable energy and to befree from greenhouse gasemissions by the year 2050.

The government also con-firmed its duty that theMediterranean remains freefrom oil exploration too.

The Minister of Planning,Energy and Mobility, JoanBoned said we must actnow to achieve this objectiveand implement a strategy tocombat climate changewhich is needed immediate-ly.

Tomorrow is the last dayof the COP21 conference -let us hope that the future ofthe planet is secure.

SATURDAY December 5 cele-brates International VolunteerDay, a day when volunteeringis celebrated in all its glory withspecial tribute paid to thoseworking tirelessly all over theworld.

The Balearic Volunteers Plat-form (Plataforma del Voluntari-ado de les Illes Balears) will beat the entrance to the Parc deLes Estacions in Palma from11am till 6pm on Saturdaywhere they shall have an infor-mation tent and lots of activi-

ties. The platform recognisessome 30 organisations in the

Balearics relying on some7,000 volunteers.

At midday a concert will beperformed by Proyecto Hombreand at 1pm there will be aworkshop on Nordic walkingorganised by PREDIF, which isthe Spanish organisation repre-senting people with physicaldisabilities and working to pro-mote equal opportunity whilstimproving the quality of life forthose with physical restrictions.

There will be a talk by thevolunteer association, DIMECuenta con Nosotros, who or-ganise volunteers to visit pa-tients and their families at thetwo palliative care units in Pal-ma General Hospital and JuanMarch Hospital near Bunyola.

Throughout the event therewill be world cafe workshopsheld where one joins a conver-sation at one table and certainquestions are posed about vol-unteering resulting in interest-ing conversations.

A REVIEW OF 201531 December 2015 - 6 January 2016 / Mallorca www.euroweeklynews.comEWN18

DECEM

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December 3, Issue 1587.

A day to celebratevolunteers worldwide

CLIMATE change summit is nearly at an end

Paris talks hope for apositive outcome

COP21 CONFERENCE: Let us hope the future of the planet is secure.

19NEWS 31 December 2015 - 6 January 2016 / Mallorcawww.euroweeklynews.com EWN

RUSSIAN-BORN KamillaIsmailova stunned the judgesat the Junior Eurovision 2015singing Mirror for San Mari-no, and receiving the tiny for-mer Soviet Bloc countrysfirst-ever douze points. Dueto the strength of the Russianvotes, she managed secondplace.

Oil for IndiaRUSSIA and India are report-ed to have signed multipleagreements enabling coopera-tion on matters such as energy,the military, technology andeconomy. As a part of this,Vladimir Putin has said Russiawill supply 10 million tons ofoil annually to India for thenext decade.

Border bicyclebanTHE Finnish border patrol ser-vice has banned cyclists fromcrossing the border with Rus-sia on a bicycle. The borderpatrol service said that themeasure was introduced be-cause riding bicycles in thewinter is a threat to cycliststhemselves and other partici-pants of road traffic.

Nuclear NewYearTASS have reported that Rus-sia and Iran plan to begin con-struction of Iranian nuclear

power plants within weeks, ac-cording to Behrouz Kamalvan-di, a spokesman of the AtomicEnergy Organisation of Iran.He added, We wish to startthe job as soon as possible af-ter the New Year holidays.

Big investmentTWO months after the law onthe Free Port of Vladivostokentered into force, Russias FarEast Development Corporationhas announced it has signed 16agreements with businesses

wishing to invest to the tune of164.4 billion roubles (2.13billion)

GDP downACCORDING to Dow Jones& Company, Russias econo-my dropped in November aftera brief recovery. Russias GDPfell 4 per cent in November,bringing the annual decline forthe January-November periodto 3.7 per cent, and with fallingoil prices is likely to contractfurther in 2016.

RUSSIAN PRESS

Toughenup onTurkey

PRIME MINISTERDmitry Medvedev, speakingat a cabinet meeting thisweek said, Russia will be tak-ing new restrictive measuresagainst Turkey, in re-sponse to the unfriendlyactions seen recently.Although we dontplan on completely end-ing cooperation withTurkey, unfriendlyactions need anequivalent re-sponse, hesaid.

Star in the makingDUE to number of votes, came in second place

KAMILLA ISMAILOVA: Stunned the judges.

A REVIEW OF 201531 December 2015 - 6 January 2016 / Mallorca www.euroweeklynews.comEWN20

YOUR voice is important to usHERE at the Euro Weekly News (EWN) we are confident we produce an excellentnewspaper as well as the best English-language internet news site in Spain, but we alsoknow we should never rest on our laurels.

Our dedicated team is always willing to listen to our readers. Your views are important

to us, so early in 2015 we asked our readers what they thought of the EWN. With a winningprize for the best comments of an iPad mini being given away in each of our six regionswe asked: If you were in charge of the EWN for a day, what is the one thing you woulddo to make it even better than it is?

AlmeriaMurphy Stevens, from Arboleas, was thewinning entry for the Almeria region.The 18-year-old Motocross fan said: Iwouldnt make any changes to thecompany because it is perfect as it is.

Murphy, who is out and about on hisbike constantly, has worked for AlmeriaHomes for the past 18 months but isthinking about returning to the UK tocontinue his studies, so his iPad willprove invaluable.

Costa del Sol Eveline Kleyngeld, from Estepona, tookhome the prize for the Costa del Sol. Shelikes the puzzles section. I always turnto them first, so that gave me the idea thatthe index was very important, so I couldfind them easily. Then I look at the news,there is always so much to read.

Costa Blanca North

Over in Javea on the Costa Blanca North,Brian Moreland showed his humourwhen asked what he would do if he waseditor for a day. He quipped:Immediately sack myself as Id beuseless.

Looking forward to checking out theiPad, he said it was the first thing hedever won, apart from a turkey we wononce on Christmas Eve!

AxarquaMarcel Van den Huevel from Nerjassuggestion was to do with team work,something we all recognise as vital at

EWN: Its all about motivating yourworkforce, you need everyone to go towork with a smile and job satisfaction isincredibly important, he said.

Building a family atmosphere helpswith communication, which is veryimportant for any company, but inparticular for a newspaper where it isvital that the readers get what they want information.

I have always liked working for happycompanies and I think that as the EuroWeekly News is the best English-languagenewspaper available, they need to makesure that everyone who works there ispositive, upbeat and happy in theirwork.

Costa Blanca SouthJoyce Gallagher from Catral would liketo see recipes in the paper. I always readthe paper but I am a keen cook and thereare no recipes, so I thought that was ashame and would invite people to send intheir favourite recipes.

MallorcaCongratulations to John Griffiths fromMallorca, who was forthright in hisanswer: I would not change anything asI think that you have got things right. MrGriffiths, 66 years old, had been comingto Mallorca for 38 years, but retired toSon Ferrer 14 years ago.

His parents had an apartment inPeguera so he had many opportunities tovisit Mallorca over the years while he

was working for a foreign royalfamily.

e knew we could relyon our readers tocome up with some

ideas, and we were not to bedisappointed with a bulging(virtual) postbag. On this pagewe give just a selection of thecomments we received, plus around up of the (previously an-nounced) winners of the iPadminis.

We have read every singleone of the comments and takennote of some of the commonsuggestions as well as takingaction.

A recurring theme was theneed to increase our local newscontent and be an even biggerpart of the community. It

would be great to see faces fromthe EWN around more and per-haps have a local office, saidJoan Adams from the CostaBlanca.

We have taken such com-ments to heart and are openingthree more local offices now,and a total of six by Easter,showing we are firmly at theheart of the community. FromMarbella to Mojacar, Albox toBenissa, Benidorm to Mallorca,Benalmadena to Albir and Beni-jofar, we will have your localarea covered guaranteed.

Moira Bartle from Caleta deVelez (Malaga) raised a subjectechoed by several readers whenshe said: Ensure that forthcom-

ing events be published in ad-vance so readers can participateand enjoy, and not report afterthe event.

She was annoyed she missedan event that happened at3.30pm on the day of publica-tion and she read about it thatevening, thus missing it.

This is a very valid point,which the whole editorial teamhas taken on board. We pledgeto strive to print as many up-coming events as possible,although for reasons of spacewe cannot always do so.

Bill Mullaney, from AlicanteProvince, would like to seesome travel features. He said:Id include travel features on

some interesting places in Spainto visit.

This is something that wehave thought about and are de-lighted to have persuaded travelwriter Kevin Pilley to startcontributing.

Although he will be writingabout some Spanish destina-tions, we took it a stage furtherand he will give witty and infor-mative reports from spots allround the world.

Robert Walford from Cam-poverde (Alicante) came upwith an excellent suggestion,shared by several readers. Hesaid: I would bring in a featurecalled Parish Pump News bring-ing input from correspondents

of local news and items of inter-est from their village or town.We thought it was such a goodidea that we are actively recruit-ing volunteer local correspon-dents to report on their patch,and are inviting Mr Walford tobe one of our first correspon-dents.

If you would like to have a gothen email us at newsdesk@euroweeklynews.com.

Other ideas included increas-ing the number of distributionpoints, something we havedone.

Should you have any troublefinding a copy of the EWN dropus a line at distribution@euroweeklynews.com.

W

Our winners

CONGRATULATIONS!Our winning editorsfor the day.

From left to right: Murphy Stevens, Eveline Kleyngeld, Brian Moreland, Marcel Van den Huevel, Joyce Gallagher and John Griffiths.

Let our business make your business the best business in town

Watch out, watch out, there is an EWN office about in your neighbourhood!Marbella Benalmadena Albox Mojacar Benijofar Benidorm Albir Benissa Mallorca

By John Smith

SPANISH Banks and HSBC haveagreed in principale to continue tosupport Abengoa by lending furtherfunds which will allow it to pay De-cember wages.

However, they expect the stricken

company to put up shares in its USsubsidiary Abengoa Yield by way ofcollateral.

Although this support will only car-ry it through until the middle of Janu-ary, it gives the company somebreathing space in which to review itssituation and to allow the banks to

consider their positions if, as appearslikely, there is no white knight onthe horizon to rescue the companyand protect their investment.

It appears the lawyers representingboth Abengoa and the rescuing bankwill be paid up to 40 million by thecompany.

PLANS: To reduce price differences between regions.

LONDON - FTSE 100 DOW JONES NASDAQ+0.22% -0.29% -0.04%CLOSING PRICES DECEMBER 28

IBEX 35 -0.07%

THE Spanish department store ElCorte Ingles has launched a new on-line rapid delivery operation in orderto try to combat Amazon, which isseeing a steady rise in its businesswithin Spain.

The new service from El Corte In-gles offers two-hour delivery on aseries of items in six of the largestSpanish cities, with categories in-cluding, computers, and cosmetics.

By John SmithALTHOUGH the Devil maywear Prada, people in Asiaseem to have turned theirbacks on the Italian designerbrand, and profits for the ninemonths to October 2015dropped by an alarming 26.4per cent to 235 million, com-pared to 319 million for thesame period last year.

Whilst the company is not

exactly facing hard times, theyare clearly worried, especiallyas for the last quarter profit fellby 38 per cent. In accordancewith tradition, the companywill be looking to cut costs.

Prada also apparently plansto reduce price differences be-tween different regions, to dis-courage tourists from travel-ling to countries where someitems may be cheaper.

Prada sales aresuffering in Asia

AnotherOrtegapurchaseAMANCIO ORTEGA, own-er of Inditex, has extended hisreal estate empire by purchas-ing the historic and protectedHaughwout building in NewYork, just off Broadway at acost of 133 million.

This increases his holdingsin property which includesiconic buildings in London,Madrid and Miami.

Electoralgoodies JUST before the countrywent to the voting stations,the Spanish Governmentannounced that in January,the cost of electricity wouldfall by 0.7 per cent and nat-ural gas by 3 per cent.

Minister Jose Maria Las-salle confirmed that if re-elected and the economicclimate was right, his gov-ernment would reduce someIVA rates to 10 per cent.

IT has been revealed that Starbucks UK, which isan arm of the worlds largest coffee chains, hasstuck to its word and has started to pay significantamounts of tax after averaging just over 500,000(700,000) per year over a period of 14 years.

Stung by widespread criticism and possiblysuffering from a customer backlash from its lackof payment, it has seen a jump in profits and haspaid 8 million (11 million) in the past 12months.

Starbucks finally pay up

is the amount of money that a consor-tium of Spanish banks is prepared to

lend to Abengoa to allow it to keep go-ing until mid-January.

Quote of the WeekNpower failed its customers. Not only have its billing and complaintprocedures been chaotic, it treated its customers poorly, which is

unacceptable. Dermot Nolan CEO of Ofgem on fine of 26 million

CLOSING PRICES DECEMBER 28CLOSING PRICES DECEMBER 28CLOSING PRICES DECEMBER 28

113M

Competitorfor Amazon

SPANISH banks and HSBC have agreed to lend further funds

A temporary reprieve for Abengoa

BUSINESS EXTRA

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FINANCEbusiness & legal

21Mallorca EWN31 December 2015 - 6 January 2016

A EURO WEEKLY NEWS 6 PAGE SPECIAL SECTION // WWW.EWNBUSINESS.COMSTAT OF WEEK $57 million (52.5 million) is the record value of box office takings on the opening day of Star WarsThe Force Awakens in the USA.

MM 3M 151.19 +0.03 +0.02% 848.4KAXP American Express 70.16 +0.19 +0.27% 2.0MAAPL Apple 108.03 -0.58 -0.53% 13.6MBA Boeing 143.53 -0.53 -0.37% 1.2MCAT Caterpillar 69.38 -0.51 -0.73% 2.3MCVX Chevron 92.05 -1.76 -1.88% 5.0MCSCO Cisco 27.38 -0.02 -0.07% 8.2MKO Coca-Cola 43.54 -0.13 -0.30% 3.0MDIS Disney 105.86 +0.30 +0.28% 4.4MDD E I du Pont de Nemours and Co 66.40 +0.37 +0.56% 1.6MXOM Exxon Mobil 79.33 -0.86 -1.07% 5.8MGE General Electric 30.83 -0.12 -0.39% 13.5MGS Goldman Sachs 182.47 -0.48 -0.26% 1.1MHD Home Depot 132.90 -0.21 -0.16% 1.5MIBM IBM 138.25 -0.29 -0.21% 1.5MINTC Intel 34.98 -0.02 -0.06% 5.9MJNJ Johnson & Johnson 103.72 +0.23 +0.22% 2.5MJPM JPMorgan Chase 66.60 -0.13 -0.19% 4.5MMCD McDonald's 118.57 -0.23 -0.19% 1.7MMRK Merck 52.85 -0.13 -0.25% 3.0MMSFT Microsoft 55.67 -0.15 -0.27% 9.6MNKE Nike 63.18 -1.18 -1.83% 13.9MPFE Pfizer 32.62 +0.06 +0.18% 7.9MPG Procter & Gamble 79.79 -0.13 -0.16% 2.5MTRV Travelers Companies Inc 113.27 +0.06 +0.05% 507.3KUTX United Technologies 96.30 0.00 0.00% 1.4MUNH UnitedHealth 118.34 -0.35 -0.29% 900.1KVZ Verizon 46.71 -0.24 -0.51% 4.3MV Visa 78.26 -0.30 -0.38% 2.2MWMT Wal-Mart 60.83 -0.26 -0.43% 2.5M

Kleinwort Benson Elite PCC Ltd

Johnson Matthey 2,711.50 -30.00 -1.10 5,600.40Kingfisher 328.65 -0.90 -0.27 7,707.24Land Securities Group 1,186.00 4.00 0.34 9,344.22Legal & General Group 269.40 1.50 0.56 15,914.26Lloyds Banking Group ORD 73.50 -0.15 -0.20 52,566.76London Stock Exchange Grp 2,701.00 -7.00 -0.26 9,407.83Merlin Entertainments 450.00 3.00 0.67 4,531.45Marks & Spencer Group 452.25 6.40 1.43 7,367.74Mondi 1,358.00 24.00 1.80 6,482.14National Grid 933.20 -4.50 -0.48 34,920.50Next 7,200.00 -40.00 -0.55 11,037.47Old Mutual 181.70 2.60 1.45 8,822.75Provident Financial 3,283.00 16.00 0.49 4,824.49Prudential 1,540.00 -0.50 -0.03 39,606.04Persimmon 1,974.50 -12.00 -0.60 6,084.86Pearson 768.00 0.50 0.07 6,295.71Reckitt Benckiser Group 6,217.00 21.00 0.34 44,319.62Royal Bank of Scotland Group 305.00 0.50 0.16 19,584.92Royal Dutch Shell 1,557.00 6.00 0.39 60,405.01Royal Dutch Shell 1,571.00 6.50 0.42 38,180.22RELX 1,180.00 -2.00 -0.17 13,282.57Rio Tinto 2,006.50 -8.00 -0.40 28,338.52Royal Mail 448.55 1.10 0.25 4,489.00Rolls-Royce Group 594.75 4.50 0.76 10,856.90Randgold Resources 4,233.50 -13.00 -0.31 3,956.16RSA Insurance Group 430.95 -1.20 -0.28 4,393.41SABMiller 4,075.00 30.00 0.74 65,382.61Sainsbury (J) 265.95 0.40 0.15 5,109.65Schroders 2,961.00 -7.00 -0.24 6,708.35Sage Group (The) 596.25 -4.00 -0.67 6,464.39Shire 4,609.00 39.00 0.85 27,038.49Sky 1,099.50 -8.00 -0.72 19,029.52Standard Life 394.75 2.80 0.71 7,727.09Smiths Group 958.75 -1.50 -0.16 3,789.86Smith & Nephew 1,173.50 2.00 0.17 10,473.32Sports Direct International 563.75 3.50 0.62 3,357.39SSE 1,529.00 17.00 1.12 15,054.88Standard Chartered 589.00 5.40 0.93 14,858.21St James's Place 997.25 3.50 0.35 5,186.80Severn Trent 2,173.00 6.00 0.28 5,159.17Travis Perkins 1,969.50 7.00 0.36 4,897.01Tesco 150.98 -2.00 -1.31 12,440.71TUI AG 1,230.50 -4.00 -0.32 7,238.68Taylor Wimpey 197.85 -2.10 -1.05 6,484.15Unilever 2,891.00 8.00 0.28 37,002.13United Utilities Group 936.75 -0.50 -0.05 6,389.29Vodafone Group 216.65 1.05 0.49 57,161.39Wolseley 3,690.00 -281.05 -7.60 9,611.70Worldpay Group Ord 3p Wi 300.90 -1.50 -0.50 N/AWPP Group 1,540.00 -10.00 -0.65 20,205.03Whitbread 4,440.00 34.00 0.77 8,007.43

Most AdvancedResource America, Inc. $ 4.61 1.01 28.06%Allied Motion Technologies, Inc. $ 27.27 5.76 26.78%Auris Medical Holding AG $ 4.17 0.8012 23.78%Vanguard Natural Resources LLC $ 10.82 1.7301 19.03%Hovnanian Enterprises Inc $ 5.3458 0.5959 12.55%Memorial Production Partners LP $ 3.08 0.34 12.41%Legacy Reserves LP $ 6.36 0.70 12.37%Vanguard Natural Resources LLC $ 10.12 1.0501 11.58%Legacy Reserves LP $ 6.20 0.63 11.31%Vanguard Natural Resources LLC $ 10.84 1.04 10.61%Auburn National Bancorporation, Inc. $ 30.3899 2.8876 10.50%Most DeclinedSpanish Broadcasting System, Inc. $ 3.01 0.3693 10.93%Northeast Community Bancorp, Inc. $ 6.93 0.56 7.48%WAVE Life Sciences Ltd. $ 16.39 1.30 7.35%Dawson Geophysical Company $ 3.80 0.27 6.63%BioSpecifics Technologies Corp $ 43.08 2.98 6.47%Ocera Therapeutics, Inc. $ 3.47 0.24 6.47%Central Garden & Pet Company $ 13.65 0.88 6.06%Bassett Furniture Industries, Incorporated $ 23.65 1.44 5.74%Amaya Inc. $ 12.63 0.73 5.46%Intersections, Inc. $ 2.60 0.15 5.45%Central Garden & Pet Company $ 13.35 0.75 5.32%

CCOMPANYOMPANY PPRICERICE((PP)) CCHANGEHANGE((PP)) % C% CHGHG.. NNETET VVOLOL

DOW JONESCLOSING PRICES DECEMBER 28

Anglo American 328.05 4.70 1.45 4,532.84Associated British Foods 3,339.00 21.00 0.63 26,267.75Admiral Group 1,639.50 -7.00 -0.43 4,594.12Aberdeen Asset Management 290.00 -2.30 -0.79 3,873.63Ashtead Group 1,112.00 -7.00 -0.62 5,647.52Antofagasta 462.60 -0.50 -0.11 4,565.50ARM Holdings 1,038.00 -6.00 -0.57 14,695.37Aviva 519.25 0.00 0.00 20,997.43AstraZeneca 4,540.00 27.00 0.60 57,028.15BAE Systems 497.30 -1.60 -0.32 15,785.19Babcock International Group 1,023.00 -103.00 -10.10 5,142.81Barclays 221.65 -0.60 -0.27 37,287.25British American Tobacco 3,781.00 35.50 0.95 69,823.03Barratt Developments 616.00 0.00 0.00 6,131.99BG Group 987.75 -1.60 -0.16 33,745.48Berkeley Group Holdings 3,626.50 -65.00 -1.77 5,026.25British Land Co 793.50 4.00 0.51 8,058.29BHP Billiton 776.50 -1.60 -0.21 16,434.03Bunzl 1,864.50 8.00 0.43 6,239.13BP 365.95 5.55 1.54 65,898.56Burberry Group 1,205.00 8.20 0.68 5,386.93BT Group 467.25 -1.45 -0.31 39,428.49Coca-Cola HBC 1,470.50 -12.00 -0.81 5,418.53Carnival 3,800.00 8.00 0.21 8,196.54Centrica 218.20 1.40 0.65 10,784.79Compass Group 1,162.50 -3.00 -0.26 19,310.87Capita Group (The) 1,218.00 11.00 0.91 8,048.84CRH 1,947.50 0.00 0.00 15,982.50Dixons Carphone 497.70 0.00 0.00 5,730.82DCC 5,485.00 -15.00 -0.27 4,971.09Diageo 1,855.00 3.50 0.19 46,593.54Direct Line Insurance Group 410.70 1.70 0.42 6,135.00Experian 1,203.50 6.00 0.50 11,841.35easyJet 1,721.00 -3.00 -0.17 6,847.87Fresnillo 715.50 3.00 0.42 5,250.37GKN 305.85 -2.70 -0.88 5,074.36Glencore 92.48 -0.69 -0.74 13,578.29GlaxoSmithKline 1,376.00 6.00 0.44 66,667.05Hikma Pharmaceuticals 2,252.50 7.00 0.31 4,462.87Hargreaves Lansdown 1,482.00 1.00 0.07 7,024.66Hammerson 604.00 3.00 0.50 4,721.55HSBC Holdings 541.30 0.40 0.07 105,546.98International Consolidated Air 602.50 5.50 0.92 12,185.02InterContinental Hotels Group 2,634.50 -11.00 -0.42 6,250.023i Group 478.80 4.50 0.95 4,622.11Imperial Tobacco Group 3,543.50 0.00 0.00 33,914.52Intu Properties 321.05 2.10 0.66 4,236.63Inmarsat 1,125.50 12.00 1.07 5,026.25Intertek Group 2,791.50 12.00 0.43 4,482.63ITV 275.00 0.00 0.00 11,069.88

CCOMPANYOMPANY PPRICERICE((PP)) CCHANGEHANGE((PP)) % C% CHGHG.. NNETET VVOLOL

COMPANY PRICE CHANGE NET / %

US dollar....................................................................1.09713Japan yen ................................................................132.302Switzerland franc ................................................1.08428Denmark kroner....................................................7.46313Norway kroner .....................................................9.53425

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FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL31 December 2015 - 6 January 2016 / Mallorca www.euroweeklynews.comEWN22

EWN24 FINANCE, BUSINESS & LEGAL

US raisesinterestrateAS widely forecast, the USFederal Reserve raised interestrates by 0.25 percentagepoints on December 16, whichwas its first increase since2006.

This move takes the rangeof rates banks offer to lend toeach other overnight known asthe Federal Funds rate to be-tween 0.25 and 0.5 per cent,although this still allows thebanks to charge much higherrates to business and con-sumer customers whilst onlypaying very small amounts ofinterest on funds invested.

The move is likely to affecteconomies throughout theworld, such as Brazil whichhas been benefiting from thefact that although its economyis risky, investors were receiv-ing better rates of interest thanoffered in the US, and cannow expect to see a flood offunds leaving the country.

By John Smith

IT has been an incredibly busyyear for takeovers in the drug sec-tor, with the latest announced be-ing GlaxoSmithKline taking overHIV drug development assets fromBristol-Myers Squibb for $1.4 bil-lion (1.3 billion).

According to financial softwarecompany Dealogic, which assistsin many of these takeovers, globaldeals in the pharmaceutical indus-try have reached $677.5 bill ion

(625 bi l l ion) which is an in-crease of 64 per cent over 2014and is much greater than the GrossDomestic Product (GDP) of manycountries around the world.

At the same time, 32-year-oldMartin Shkreli, former hedge fundmanager turned CEO of TuringPharmaceuticals and said to be themost hated man in America, wasarrested on securi t ies f raudcharges.

Shkreli, described by the Feder-al Bureau of Investigation (FBI) asbeing responsible for a trifecta oflies, deceit and greed, is accusedof running a Ponzi scheme.

He is , however, perhaps bestknown for increasing the price ofDaraprim, the HIV drug marketedby the company he took over bymore than 5,000 per cent.

Shkreli did reduce the price ofthe drug s l ight ly af ter massprotests but then complained thathe should have actually chargedmore than his original price.

By John Smith

ALTHOUGH the Davies Commis-sion concluded in July of this yearthat a third runway at Heathrow wasprobably the best option for expan-sion of flights in and out of London,the government announced in De-cember that a decision had beenpostponed until the summer of 2016whilst further analysis is to be under-taken.

Transport Secretary PatrickMcLoughlin said that there was aclear case for airport expansionbut its vitally important we get thedecision right so that it will benefitgenerations to come.

This lack of decision has angereda number of British industry leaders,none more so than Willie Walsh, thechief executive of IAG, which ownsBritish Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberiaand Vueling, and has its registeredoffice in Madrid.

He has now warned the govern-ment that if it does not make a deci-sion about a third runway atHeathrow soon, then he will look to

expand his business in either Irelandor Spain where the other airlines arebased.

Any decision to expand the busi-ness in that manner will be to the ob-vious detriment of the British econo-my and to the benefit of the Irishand/or Spanish economies.

Writing in the Daily Mail he didnot mince his words, saying: Werea small island, and this Governmentlooks set to make us even smaller onthe world stage. Our leaders bestridethe world saying the UK is open forbusiness, but their actions do notmatch the rhetoric.

If the Government continues todither over a new runway, then Illmove my business elsewhere. Wenow have airlines in Dublin andMadrid, and can expand our businessthere, supporting the strengtheningIrish and Spanish economies.

BA considers taking off to Spain

Phot

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31 December 2015 - 6 January 2016/Mallorca www.euroweeklynews.com

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Takeovers continue in thepharmaceuticals sector

GlaxoSmithKlineto take over HIV

drug develop-ment assets from

Bristol-MyersSquibb for $1.4

bn

DRUG GIANT: GlaxoSmithKline headquarters UK.

AIRLINE BOSS: WillieWalsh at the controlsof a flight simulator.

27OPINION & COMMENT 31 December 2015 - 6 January 2016 / Mallorcawww.euroweeklynews.com EWN

AND so this is Christmas and what thehell have we done? What weve done, is tobring hundreds of thousands of individualsinto our society who not only couldntgive a damn, but are totally alien to thewhole Christian celebration.

Instead of the normal warm feelings ofunity and goodwill, we have now managedto introduce into our midst a bunch ofaliens, most of whom would prefer to seethe whole event banned altogether. Andyou can feel it. Something is missing.

Great chunks of our towns and cities arenot only ignoring the whole joyous occa-sion, but are no doubt decrying it. And stillthey arrive in droves.

Yet another section of our western cul-ture and lifestyle is being eroded by immi-grants, many of whom are at best coward-ly deserters and at worst Islamic terrorists

infil tering our society with a view tospreading death and destruction among us.

Slowly but surely the Islamic extremistsare bringing more and more gloom intoour existence. Flying used to be great fun.

How many can remember when the planereached cruising height the pilots wouldopen the door and invite all and sundry in-to the cockpit for a magical treat?

The whole travelling experience is now

a security-blighted nightmare. Tubes, bus-es, even music concerts and sporting occa-sions, are overshadowed by the possibilitythat some of its attendees may never seetheir loved ones again. Is this what ourforefathers gave life and limb for? Weveinsulted their memories.

In our complacency, we have wasted theprecious sacrifices they gave to ensure wewould live in a democracy, not afraid tospeak out, free and safe from danger in thesanctuary of our homelands.

Our leaders have betrayed them all .And for those of you who stil l feel weshould let all these people in regardless,Ive just read a report of 52 tonnes of armsand ammunition, found by the Greek bor-der control in imported containers meantto be holding furniture to make life bear-able and ease the discomfort of therefugees.

Well I hope this offends all of them.Happy Christmas

Keep the faithLove Leapy. Leapylee2002@gmail.com.

What the hell have we done?

LEAPY LEE SAYS IT

OTHERS THINK IT

WEVE brought people into our society who are totally alien to the Christian celebration

TRAVELLING EXPERIENCE: The whole thing is now a security-blighted nightmare.

OPINION & COMMENT31 December 2015 - 6 January 2016 / Mallorca www.euroweeklynews.comEWN28

SHOULD these jot t ings reachyour home internet base, beforeChristmas Day, then sincere goodwishes for the day, to you andyours.

If received later, very best wish-es for 2016!

I enjoyed your splendid articleon Enoch Powell MBE. In 1968,prior to my attending a speech tobe given by Enoch Powell , a tBirminghams Rag Market build-ing, long now demolished, I decid-ed to visit the Burlington Hotel,just off New Street, to firstly makeuse of the rather excellent toilets(too much information, I know)and then to take a dr ink at theBurlington lounge.

Taking my beer to a windowseat, it was something of a shockto find that my companion on thecouch was the great man himself.There appeared to be no securitypersonnel in attendance, or per-haps it was their professionalismat work!

Mr Powell at once stood and in-troduced himself. I explained thatI would be meeting him again inabout two hours, and was lookingforward to his speech. We talkedof his upbringing in Stetchford,and shared thoughts of how wesaw the United Kingdom in the fu-ture. I felt privileged to spend justover 30 minutes in his company, amemory I will never forget.

Very best regards sir.

Robert & Marie Barnes.Campoverde, Costa Blanca.

Bottle topsfind new homeI JUST cant believe how influen-tial the Euro Weekly News mustbe. When I contacted you las tweek about what to do with thebottle tops and ring pulls that hadbeen col lected, I didnt expectsuch a fantastic response.

Within just five hours of the lat-est Costa del Sol edition appear-ing, I had received a cal l f romyour head office saying somebodywanted to contact me and whenwe spoke she confirmed that she

would collect them before Christ-mas, which will now mean I cannavigate through my living roomwithout tripping over the boxes orbags.

This has certainly encouragedme to keep on col lect ing, buthopefully I can pass them on tothe charity every month or so.

Anne Lee, Coin, Malaga

Failure tocomplyDEAR Sir,

In 2013 the PP Government inMadrid passed the Law of Trans-parency, Access to Informationand Good Governance, perhaps inresponse to the wave of corruptionscandals involving both main par-ties.

This law required that local au-thorities at all levels publish ontheir website all information relat-ing to their financial affairs, suchas the levels of debt, full budget

information, cost of public ser-vices , detai ls of publ ic works,contracts and also full disclosureof councillors assets and salariespaid to elected members of thecouncil.

Most local authorities, whatevertheir political complexion, havevoted for this. . . So why not Es-tepona? Over the past year opposi-tion PSOE councillors have askedin vain for this information to bemade public.

Frustrated by the lack of re-sponse, the PSOE opposi t iongroup, headed by Counci l lorManuela Benitez, has formally de-nounced the Estepona local gov-ernment for its failure to complywith this law.

Since coming into office in May2011 the PP has undoubtedly madeimprovements to the town. So whythe failure to provide the citizensof Estepona with information as toexactly what is being done withtheir tax money?

It just doesnt make sense, espe-cially as this law was a measure

which was passed by their owngovernment.

YoursMary Page

Cancelada, Estepona

Expatriatevoting rightsFOR sure, we as expats, having nomore property in our homeland,who live all year round and paytaxes in Spain, would need to beable to vote in the national elec-tions, especially if we dont voteanymore in our homeland.

Its here in Spain that we willendure the decisions not only ofthe pol i t ics of our town, but aswell the general decisions takenby the main government.

Let us vote please!Thank you!

MichelineVia the website

Decimation ofAsturias IF they ever find the people whostarted these fires (I understandthere were about 150), they shouldbe tried for manslaughter.

I am surprised there haventbeen more reports on the decima-tion of Asturias by arson - its anational disgrace.

AnnieVia the website

La SiestaworriesDEAR Sir,

It is now 10 years since work inan area of La Siesta was left in aterrible state with rubbish just al-lowed to rot . Myself and myneighbours have wri t ten to thetown hall but without any positiveresponse.

This is particularly upsettingwhen you consider that the localcouncil has been promoting thefact that it is spending millions ofeuros on bui lding a park at LaSiesta, yet does nothing to removethis eyesore.

There were workers in the areaearlier this year but they disap-peared as the funds ran out, andwe are still left with an area thatnot only looks bad but could at-tract vermin and fly tippers.

Hopeful ly, when I re turn toSpain from my annual holiday inHolland, I can start to work withEuro Weekly News to try to applypressure for this issue to be re-solved.

Fred de Jong, La Siesta

The views expressed and opinions given in Letters are not necessarily those of the EWN publishers. They accept no responsibility for accuracy of information, errors, omissions or statements, and reject claimsarising out of any action that a company or individual may take on the basis of information contained therein.

LETTERS Letters for Your Say should be emailed to yoursay@euroweeklynews.com or make your comments straight on our website: www.euroweeklynews.com

All letters, whether by email or post,should carry the writers postal address,

NIE and contact number though only thename and town will be published.

Letters may also be edited. Readers who have missed earlier corre-

spondence can see all letters posted on:

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Photographs for possible publication should be sent by email with a full caption to: photonews@euroweeklynews.com

WHEN YOU WRITE

YOUR PAPER - YOUR VOICE - YOUR OPINION

I DONT expect you to agree withme 100 per cent but there is noavoiding the fact that by definition

we are immigrants.While I agree many are coming in to take advan-

tage of our benefit system, there are also those es-caping war, famine and other hardships in theirown country.

When it comes to sponging we need to look nofurther than our own doorstep in the UK. Not onlyworking class layabouts but politicians, peoplefiddling expenses and people with more moneythey can spend in several lifetimes avoiding tax.

We all use Amazon, Starbucks and McDonaldsetc, all of whom reputedly avoid paying tax in UK.By doing so we encourage the practice because itsuits our needs.

Ian via the website on Enoch Powellby Leapy Lee

Thirty minutes in his companyis a memory Ill never forget

We need to look no furtherthan our own doorstep

Enoch Powell MBE.Ph

oto

Cred

it Al

lan

War

ren

Wik

imed

ia.

31DECEMBER

01JANUARY

02JANUARY

03JANUARY

04JANUARY

05JANUARY

06JANUARY

8:00pm Celebrity Mastermind

8:30pm Roald Dahl's Esio Trot

10:00pm BBC News10:15pm Mrs. Brown's Boys

D'Movie11:45pm The Graham Norton

Show12:30am Bryan Adams Rocks

Big Ben Live

7:05pm BBC News7:20pm BBC London News7:30pm EastEnders8:00pm Billionaire Boy9:00pm EastEnders9:30pm Dickensian10:00pm Sherlock11:30pm Mrs. Brown's Boys12:10am BBC News12:25am BBC London News12:35am Adele at the BBC

4:50pm Flog It!5:50pm World's Sneakiest Animals6:50pm The Odd Life of Timothy Green8:30pm University Challenge9:00pm Gareth Malone's Great Choir Reunion10:00pm The Sapphires11:35pm Live at the Apollo12:10am Jools's Annual Hootenanny

2015

5:30pm Downton Abbey7:30pm ITV News London7:45pm ITV Evening News8:00pm Emmerdale9:00pm Coronation Street9:30pm Panda Babies10:35pm Birds of a Feather11:05pm Piers Morgan's Life

Stories12:05am The Nation's Favourite

Bond Song

TV LISTING31 December 2015 - 6 January 2016 / Mallorca www.euroweeklynews.comEWN30

FRIDAY

THURSDAY

6:50pm The Archbishop of Canterbury's New Year Message

6:55pm The Terminal9:00pm University Challenge9:30pm The Many Faces of

Ronnie Corbett10:30pm The One Ronnie11:20pm Catch Me If You Can1:30am Shadow of a Doubt3:15am Top Gear

12:15pm Inspector Gadget1:55pm Channel 4 Racing4:35pm The Golden Compass6:50pm Channel 4 News7:00pm Tangled9:00pm Jamie and Jimmy's

Friday Night Feast12:00am Rude Tube2:10am Damien: Omen II4:00am Friday Night Dinner4:25am You Deserve This

3:45pm Dracula: Dead and Loving It

5:30pm Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes

8:00pm World's Strongest Man Final 2015

9:00pm Christmas with the Double Acts

10:00pm An Audience with Ken Dodd

11:00am Sporting Triumphs12:00pm Sporting Triumphs1:00pm Sporting Triumphs2:00pm Sporting Triumphs3:00pm Sporting Triumphs3:30pm Football8:30pm World Darts

Championship12:00am Sporting Triumphs12:15am Sporting Triumphs12:30am Football Gold

8:30pm Coronation Street9:00pm Gino's Italian

Escape: Islands in the Sun

9:30pm Coronation Street10:00pm The Big Quiz11:00pm ITV News11:15pm The Jonathan Ross

Show12:20am American Pie: The

Wedding

7:00pm Bruce's Hall of Fame with Alexander Armstrong

8:10pm Iron Man 310:10pm Casualty11:00pm The National

Lottery Live11:10pm BBC News11:30pm Match of the Day2:35am Weather for the Week

Ahead

SATURDAY5:30pm Darts6:40pm Natural World7:40pm Flog It!8:40pm The Many Faces of

Ronnie Corbett9:40pm Dad's Army10:10pm Leningrad and the

Orchestra That Defied Hitler

11:40pm QI XL12:25am Darts

12:40pm Thunderbirds2:30pm Channel 4 Racing5:00pm Channel 4 News5:20pm The Simpsons5:50pm Mission: Impossible7:50pm Mission: Impossible II10:00pm The World's Greatest

Spy Movies11:35pm Tinker Tailor Soldier

Spy2:00am Marley

7:10pm World War II in Colour8:00pm Ben Fogle in Winter

Wonderland9:00pm Building the Ice

Hotel9:55pm 5 News Weekend10:00pm Football League

Tonight11:30pm 20 Moments That

Rocked Talent Shows12:55am Access

11:00am Soccer A.M.1:00pm Scottish

Premiership3:45pm Pro 12 Rugby6:00pm Ford Saturday Night

Football9:00pm World Darts

Championship12:30am SNF: Match Choice2:00am SNF: Match Choice3:30am SNF: Match Choice

9:30am Thunderbirds are Go10:00am The Tom and Jerry

Show10:15am The Tom and Jerry

Show10:25am Murder, She Wrote11:15am The Jeremy Kyle

Show12:20pm The Jeremy Kyle

Show1:20pm ITV News and Weather

7:20pm BBC London News7:30pm Countryfile8:30pm Still Open All Hours9:00pm Antiques Roadshow10:00pm War and Peace11:00pm BBC News11:20pm BBC London News11:30pm Match of the Day 212:35am The Road2:15am Weather for the

Week Ahead

SUNDAY8:00pm The Millionaire's Gift

Guide9:00pm Dragons' Den10:00pm My Mediterranean

with Adrian Chiles11:00pm Charlie Brooker's

End of Year Review 2015

12:00am Abz on the Christmas Farm

12:30am Darts

2:25pm The Simpsons2:55pm Jungle 2 Jungle4:55pm A Monster in Paris6:40pm Channel 4 News7:00pm Fantastic Four9:00pm Walking the

Himalayas10:00pm Deutschland 8311:00pm Gogglebox12:30am The Rich Kids of

Instagram

3:30pm The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep

5:35pm 5 News Weekend5:45pm Snow White7:25pm Cinderella9:00pm Legally Blonde11:00pm Most Shocking

Celebrity Moments 20151:40am Super Casino4:10am World's Strongest

Man 2015

11:30am Goals on Sunday1:30pm Ford Super Sunday4:30pm Ford Super Sunday7:30pm World Darts

Championship10:30pm Sporting Triumphs10:45pm Sporting Triumphs12:25am Cricket

7:00pm Ninja Warrior UK8:00pm Beowulf: Return to

the Shieldlands9:00pm Endeavour11:00pm ITV News and

Weather11:20pm Joanna Lumley's

Trans-Siberian Adventure

12:20am Rugby Highlights

8:00pm The One Show8:30pm Celebrity

Mastermind9:00pm EastEnders9:30pm A Question of Sport10:00pm Silent Witness11:00pm BBC News at Ten11:25pm BBC London News11:35pm Mrs. Brown's Boys12:45am The Graham Norton

Show

MONDAY7:30pm Great British Railway

Journeys8:00pm Celebrity Antiques

Road Trip9:00pm University Challenge9:30pm Only Connect10:00pm Immortal Egypt with

Joann Fletcher11:00pm Insert Name Here11:30pm Newsnight12:15am Darts

7:00pm The Simpsons7:30pm Hollyoaks8:00pm Channel 4 News9:00pm Food Unwrapped

Diet Special10:00pm The Undateables11:00pm Rich Kids Go

Shopping12:05am Tattoo Fixers1:10am What Britain Bought

in 2015

7:00pm Can't Pay? We'll Take it Away!

7:55pm 5 News Tonight8:00pm Police Interceptors9:00pm Sinkholes: Buried

Alive10:00pm World's Toughest

Prison11:00pm 14 Years on Death

Row12:00am The Next Three Days

6:00pm Fantasy Football Club Hlts 21 (Tony Adams Special)

6:30pm Soccer A.M. - The Best Bits

7:30pm Football's Greatest8:00pm Boys of9:30pm Ford Mnf: 1966

Special11:00pm Boys of12:30am Football's Greatest

7:00pm ITV News London7:30pm ITV Evening News8:00pm Emmerdale8:30pm Coronation Street9:00pm Griff's Great Britain9:30pm Coronation Street10:00pm When Ant and Dec

Met the Prince11:30pm ITV News12:10am Emergency! Trains v

Weather

8:30pm EastEnders9:00pm Holby City10:00pm Silent Witness11:00pm BBC News at Ten11:25pm BBC London News11:35pm Reggie Yates'

Extreme UK12:35am Stacey Dooley

Investigates1:35am Weather for the Week

Ahead

TUESDAY7:30pm Great British Railway

Journeys8:00pm Celebrity Antiques

Road Trip9:00pm Victorian Bakers10:00pm You Make Me Feel

Like Dancing11:00pm Mock the Week11:30pm Newsnight12:15am Race to Super Bowl 50

7:00pm The Simpsons7:30pm Hollyoaks8:00pm Channel 4 News9:00pm Tricks of the

Restaurant Trade9:30pm Travel Man: 48

Hours in Vienna10:00pm Big Fat Quiz of

Everything12:05am 24 Hours in A and E

7:55pm 5 News Tonight8:00pm Cats Make You

Laugh Out Loud9:00pm Bargain Loving Brits

in the Sun10:00pm Celebrity Big Brother12:00am Celebrity Big

Brother's Bit on the Side

1:00am Celebrity Big Brother2:00am Super Casino

6:00pm Fantasy Football Club Hlts 21 (Tony Adams Special)

6:30pm Soccer A.M. - The Best Bits

7:30pm Barclays Premier League Review

8:30pm Football11:15pm To be Announced11:45pm Football Gold12:00am La Liga World 2015

8:00pm Emmerdale8:30pm The Kyle Files9:00pm Trawlermen Tales10:00pm Saved11:00pm ITV News at Ten and

Weather11:40pm Britain's Biggest

Adventures with Bear Grylls

12:45am Double Decker Driving School

6:15pm Pointless7:00pm BBC News at Six7:30pm BBC London News8:00pm The One Show9:00pm EastEnders9:30pm Dickensian10:00pm Great Barrier Reef

with David Attenborough11:00pm BBC News at Ten11:25pm BBC London News11:35pm A Question of Sport12:05am The Truth About Calories

WEDNESDAY7:30pm Great British Railway

Journeys8:00pm Celebrity Antiques

Road Trip9:00pm Trust Me, I'm a Doctor10:00pm Three Days of Terror:

The Charlie Hebdo Attacks

11:00pm Russell Howard's Good News

11:30pm Newsnight12:15am Darts

4:10pm Countdown5:00pm A Place in the Sun:

Winter Sun6:00pm Come Dine with Me7:00pm The Simpsons7:30pm Hollyoaks8:00pm Channel 4 News9:00pm Mary Portas: Secret

Shopper10:00pm 24 Hours in A and E11:00pm Bodyshockers12:05am The Undateables

6:30pm Neighbours7:00pm Can't Pay? We'll Take

it Away!7:55pm 5 News Tonight8:00pm Nightmare Tenants,

Slum Landlords9:00pm GPs: Behind Closed

Doors10:00pm Celebrity Big Brother11:00pm Bus Pass Beauty

Queens12:00am Capital One Cup

7:30pm Capital One Cup Highlights

8:30pm Football11:15pm The Mavericks11:45pm Football Gold12:00am Sky Sports Originals

Cantona: Return of the King

12:30am Premier League Legends

1:00am Capital One Cup Highlights

7:30pm ITV Evening News8:00pm Emmerdale8:30pm Coronation Street9:00pm Midsomer Murders11:00pm ITV News at Ten

and Weather11:40pm Joanna Lumley: Elvis

and Me12:40am The Kyle Files1:10am Jackpot2474:00am The Jeremy Kyle

Show USA

2:30pm Football Gold2:45pm Football Gold3:00pm La Liga Goals3:55pm Football6:00pm World Darts Championship10:00pm Fight Night Review

of 201512:00am SPFL Round Up12:30am Barclays Premier

League World

7:00pm Loch Lomond: A Year in the Wild

7:50pm World's Strongest Man 2015

9:00pm Ben Fogle in Winter Wonderland

10:00pm Britain's Best Loved Double Acts

12:55am Most Shocking Christmas TV Moments

6:35pm Hollyoaks7:35pm Celebrity Couples

Come Dine with Me8:30pm TFI Friday: New Year

Special10:00pm Alan Carr's New

Year Specstacular12:10am 8 Out of 10 Cats1:10am Big Fat Quiz of the

Year3:10am Catastrophe

JANUARYJIHADISTS claim that Spain

was originally theirs, convenientlyforgetting that the Romans werehere first. Thankfully Italy has sofar refrained from claiming territor-ial rights. Edition 1542

FEBRUARYTHE Partido Popular (PP) should

examine its unswerving loyalty toits high-ranking politicians linkedto scandals. Double standards areself-indulgence in an election year.Edition 1548

MARCHIM here to give explanations,

not affection, Finance ministerCristobal Montoro said. I ts anoxymoron, but thats one sincerepolitician. Edition 1553

APRILPODEMOS regional election

candidates were democratically-chosen by party members, yet onlytwo are women. Is gender equality

less important to voters than politi-cal leaders believe? Edition 1556

MAYARTUR MAS, who wants to

guide Catalua towards indepen-dence, routinely forgets thatCatalan nationalism does not auto-matically entail separatism.

Edition 1561

JUNEVOTERS demand exemplary be-

haviour from those they elect .Once politicians are in office theymust be Caesars wife, not Cleopa-tra. Edition 1564

JULYPODEMOS second-in-charge

Iigo Erejon called Greeces no to

austeri ty vote a tr iumph fordemocracy in the birthplace ofdemocracy. Fitting, then, that thiswill be only a Pyrrhic victory. Edi-tion 1567

AUGUSTNATIONAL MPs claimed 2.6

million in travel expenses betweenJanuary and July. The parliament

chamber usually looks empty sohow do they manage to spend thatmuch getting there? Editon 1572

SEPTEMBERCHURCHILL said that to jaw-

jaw is always better than to war-war. Sixty-one years later Spainspresident, Mariano Rajoy and ArturMas could give that a try. Edition1577

OCTOBERCIUDADANOS are creeping up

on the PP and PSOE in the opinionpolls. Appropriately the generalelection is set for December 20 andthe pantomime season with its cryof Hes behind you! Edition 1582

NOVEMBERDOES being a paid-up PP or

PSOE member impair a judges im-partiality? Opinions and prejudicesare a mindset, not a standing orderat the bank. Edition 1586

DECEMBERSIXTY-FOUR per cent of Cata-

lans prefer EU membership to in-dependence. And Artur Mas, whowants to be president of an inde-pendent Catalua, gets no for ananswer time after time but wontlisten. Edition 1587

Cassandra NashA weekly look- and not entirely impartial reaction - to the Spanish political scene

The best of Cassandra Nash

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