OK, so if we’ve been keeping up with the latest news we know that there have been some errors in calculation down at Sevillana and it’s likely that we’ve been overcharged for power used at the end of last year. We have also been informed that we are going to get our money back without even having to lift the telephone or stand in a queue to complain. What’s more we’ve been warned that our next bill could be wrong as well. Explanations have been provided and hopefully a solution as well.
But even all this information could not have prepared the Marbella couple for their bill for 169,000 euros. The poor woman was lucky she only suffered palpitations rather than a full blown heart attack. (more…)
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Have you read the interview with Antonio Barrientos
Doesn’t he sound like an innocent victim? But then if he is an innocent victim where does that leave the police, the public prosecutors and the judge who investigated and brought charges? And what about the current mayor David Valadez who apparently agreed with everything Barrientos did as mayor and now accuses him too?
There is obviously a lot more to this than has been made public to date. There must be things that Barrientos failed to mention to his interviewer. Plus the details of the investigation and the accusations are still being kept secret by the court. However what I can deduce is that there is a fine line between what is legitimate practice and what is corrupt practice in local authorities. And when slightly corrupt practice has been accepted as the norm in so many places for so long the line becomes even more blurred. How many others could quite feasibly be thrown into jail if the police were sent in to search their offices?
As a reader points out on this website, it would be nice if at least one mayor was found innocent; that would restore a bit of credibility in local politicians.
Answer the readers’ poll on the home page and let us know what you think.
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Another three Africans have lost their lives this week trying to reach the Canary Islands by boat. They had been at sea for ten days squashed into a wooden vessel with more than 70 others.
Migrants are still risking their lives trying to reach Europe in the hope of a better life. They come with a dream; this is probably their only chance of a new opportunity in a land where people work to earn a decent living, have a decent roof over their heads and provide a decent meal for themselves and thir families.
Has anyone told them that unemployment is soaring in Spain? That times are hard? That homes are being repossessed? That queues at the soup kitchens are getting longer?
I doubt it, but even if they had then I don’t think it would dissuade them from pursuing their dream. Where they come from there is little work, what there is pays barely enough to put food on the table and if they lose their jobs there is no unemployment benefit. There are few soup kitchens serving free three course meals…
The economy may be suffering in Europe, the papers are telling us that this is the worst recession since I don’t know when, but we are far from the point of risking our lives in order to escape poverty. We might not be as wealthy as we were five years ago, we might have to start making economical homemade stews instead of eating out… but we’ll survive.
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Seventeen year old Marta del Castillo went missing practically from outside her front door last Saturday evening in Seville. The clock has stopped for another family. A void has opened up in a neighbourhood where the only talk in the streets, normally full of cheerful chatter, is to ask if there’s any news.
Someone somewhere knows whether Marta was taken against her will or whether she said goodbye to her friend, pretended to go home and instead ran away in the other direction. Apparently the first option seems more likely but I’m sure her family are holding their breath for a phone call to say “I’m sorry I was silly, I’m on my way home”. If only.
Yesterday the parents of murdered five year old Mari Luz went to see Marta’s family to give them their support. The Seville family spokesperson, Javier Casanova, said that it had helped to talk to people who have already been through their torment. But if I was Marta’s mother I’m sure that suddenly being put in the same boat as parents whose daughter had been abducted and killed would make matters worse.
We can only hope they find her soon.
Filed under: General by Rachel Haynes
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It was cold at the end of last week, very cold. So cold that it snowed in much of Spain, causing disruptions left, right and centre. And the greatest disruption of all was at Madrid’s Barajas Airport which closed for around five hours last Friday.
Those of us familiar at all with public transport in the UK showed no surprise. Airports close when it snows in winter; trains are cancelled when there are leaves on the line in autumn; passengers are left stranded – it happens. But it doesn’t normally happen in Madrid and chaos reigned throughout the weekend and beyond.
The big question: whose fault was it? The opposition blamed the government, more specifically the Minister of Development, Magdalena Álvarez. She responded by pointing out that the weathermen had only forecasted a little bit of snow, and blamed Iberia for much of the chaos. (more…)
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The Kings holiday is over and after more than two weeks of more days off than on we have suddenly come down to earth with a bump. The same thing has happened in the headlines as now more political and social news is creeping in to replace the holiday reports of gender violence and road tragedies.
This week’s snow may have brought much of northern Spain to a standstill but the way to the Basque High Court is clear as this week has seen the start of one of the highest profile trials in some time. Sitting on the accuseds’ bench are none other than the present Lehendakari (the Basque President), Juan José Ibarretxe, and the Basque Socialist leader and future Lehendakari candidate Patxi López, along with fellow Socialist Ricardo Ares. What are the charges? They are accused of meeting with members of the banned political party Batasuna (the political wing of ETA) during the unsuccessful peace process of 2006. Sitting alongside them on Thursday were five alleged members of Batasuna they apparently held talks with. (more…)
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Judge Baltasar Garzón has pulled out of his ambitious and controversial investigation whose ultimate aim was to obtain a court sentence that convicted the Franco regime of the abduction and murder of thousands of innocent people. If nothing else it would have brought something of a sense of justice to the relatives of those who still appear on record as having been sentenced to death for rebellion or treason when perhaps their only crime was to believe in an idea. (more…)
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Don’t we all love it when a politician is caught saying something totally out of order when they think they are out of reach of the microphones? It brightens up everyone’s day; gives us all a brief fly-on-the-wall feeling. The latest slip up of this kind happened this last weekend when the opposition leader Mariano Rajoy was heard telling Javier Arenas that on Sunday he had to go to the “coñazo” of a military parade. Of course as with all juicy snippets like this it loses everything in translation but what he said implied that he sees the traditional October 12th parade as a bit of a drag – one of those political obligations he could quite well do without.
(more…)
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If anything of any importance happens in the world over the next few weeks it is in danger of going unnoticed by everyone except those with time to study all the brief news items hidden at the back of the international sections of their daily newspapers. Pages and pages of the Spanish press have already been devoted to the US election campaign and things are only just starting to hot up. It seems ironic that the average citizen in a little country such as this is being fed so much information about an election in a foreign land where much of the population does not know or care where and what Spain is. OK so the outcome could have global implications - but only the Americans, not renowned for their knowledge of the rest of the world, get to vote.
There has been a minor incident in the campaign, however, that has added a little spice to the news reports in this country: Spain got a mention! (more…)
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In the aftermath of Wednesday’s air crash in Barajas there is little to be said except for expressing our deepest sympathy with those mourning the 153 victims and words of encouragement for those lying in hospital beds. However after this sort of tragedy it doesn’t take long for the experts to remind us that flying is still the safest form of transport and that the same number of people can die on the roads of Spain in just two weekends. These words are not much consolation for the victims and their families but necessary all the same. (more…)
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