I can be one of the first to put on my womens’ liberation hat, but at times things that at first could appear to be chauvinistic, do actually just make me smile! I read an article recently about the outrage a driving school in Zaragoza had provoked, by openly charging women 30% more for a course of driving lessons. This did sound outrageous until I read their defence, It seems that women require on average 50% more lessons to complete the course.

OK it isn’t really a defence but it IS quite funny. Of course they shouldn’t have based their charging on the sex of the applicant, but should have charged extra for the extra lessons, but I had to smile at their over simplistic, but rather practical approach. The National Confederation of Driving Schools has described this differential as ‘something straight out of the last century’, but I think the fact that they even thought they could get away with this, does suggest that Spain is maybe a little behind the UK, at least in terms of political correctness!

Maybe sometimes however we do all get too up in arms about discrimination. I was happy to accept lower gym fees a few years ago on the basis that I was a woman. The owner of this private gym was very open about his desire to attract more women to his gym. He said it ‘improved the atmosphere!’ and was good for business. I could quite understand why and readily accepted his offer, and I didn’t feel the slightest bit hypocritical or guilty.

Sorry, am still laughing at this one from thinkSPAIN.

“A British woman was saved by her ankle on Saturday after falling from a landing in Tenerife whilst having sex with her husband, and getting her foot caught in the banisters below.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning, when the couple were having sex in the stairwell of an apartment block in Adeje on the island of Tenerife.

As she fell, the woman got one of her feet caught in the banisters a floor below, where she ended up hanging by her ankle until emergency workers could free her.

Her fall was stopped somewhat abruptly when her right ankle got caught between two bars of a banister several metres below where the amorous encounter had begun. As a result of the sudden break in her fall, the woman was left hanging upside down, stark naked, just inches from the ground whilst her husband tried to get help.”

Via Original Source

Oh dear what can I say!

Almost twice as many women in Spain as men suffer from amaxophobia or phobia of driving or riding as a passenger in cars, trains or other vehicles.

According to a survey done by the Mapfre Foundation’s Institute for Road Safety, 8.5 million people in Spain – 33% of all those who have a driving licence – admit to being scared of driving in certain circumstances, including bad weather, heavy traffic, nighttime driving and journeys they’ve never done before.

The majority of those affected are women over 40, who have either suffered or witnessed a serious accident. Many of those affected have had their driving licence for more than 15 years, don’t drive very often and admit that they panicked at the thought of having to take the wheel just a few years after passing their test.

More on the thinkSPAIN site

One to keep all the men happy as well, as well as us girls that like a bit of home comfort during our expat years.

Department store chain John Lewis is planning to extend its home-delivery service to nearly 30 countries popular with British expats.

A spokesman said that the first phase of the project will see deliveries made available to 11 European countries, including Germany, France, Denmark and Ireland. This is expected to be completed in June. In August and September, delivery will be extended to another 17 countries, including further-afield destinations such as the US and Australia.

Unlike its grocery arm Waitrose, however, John Lewis claims that it has no plans to open stores overseas. Waitrose already has a number of stores operating under franchise agreements in the Middle East and last month opened its first wholly-owned store outside of the UK in Jersey.

More on the Telegraph Site

One issue high on every expats priority list when moving to live in Spain, when they have children, is the quality of the education that they will receive so the news that a new scheme will allow overseas schools to be accredited by the British Government for the first time will surely be pleaseing to note.

Diana Johnson, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools, said: “We believe these arrangements will allow parents access to good quality, comparable and consistent school inspection reports that will set out the extent to which participating British institutions overseas measure up to a rigorous set of standards rooted in the British education system.

The European Union, currently headed by Spain, has activated its Emergency crisis management system on account of the earthquake that shook Haiti on Tuesday, as told by French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Pierre Lellouche, in an informal meeting of European affairs ministers.

Besides this, the Spanish national radio said on Wednesday that Spain will be sending 40 disaster relief experts consisting of fire fighters, police, emergency services members and trained dogs along with Secretary of State for Latin America Juan Pablo de Laiglesia and foreign ministry officials to help the natives of the quake stricken island. Another plane consisting of surgeons, medical equipments and field hospitals will follow on Thursday.

In addition to 3 million Euros announced already by the European Union, another three million Euros and a plan to send 150 tonnes of humanitarian aid has also been announced. Spanish Foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos has also affirmed the set up and usage of a humanitarian Base in Panama to help in the proper distribution of the aid sent.

Original Source – Spanish News

In April 2010 Spain will start to close down the remainder of the Analogue Television frequencies, as their version of Freeview becomes the standard throughout the land. Along with the UK and the rest of the EU, it’s the start of a five-year plan to clean up the airwaves to make more use of wavebands for mobile and internet communication. The move to ‘Freeview’ in Spain will not concern most expats as many only watch UK Television although there are many Dual Language channels and movies in English broadcast on Freeview too!

Expats may be more concerned to hear that 2010 shall see more regulation of the radio waves. The EU plan is that in 2015 (at the latest) Radio station frequencies will be reallocated to free up and reorganise the airwaves. Details have yet to be announced as to how this will take place but it will also affect such institutions as the BBC and Independent radio around the United Kingdom. The UK has one of the most regulated Telecommunication bodies in all of Europe, in part because the BBC are funded through Tax-payers money. Since the 1960’s and the eventual closure of such icons as Radio Caroline and Radio London followed by the introduction of Radio One in 1967, UK Pirate stations have been few and far between.

Spain’s telecom policy has been more hands off. As Western Europe’s newest democracy, a very softly-softly approach to regulating the airwaves has been evident, in part because the automatons communities control licences rather than national government.

New Laws regarding radio stations introduced for 2010.

With the start of the New Year comes with it the ‘State Radio Communications Agency’ who have been tasked to evaluate and close down up to 3,000 illegal radio stations throughout Spain. Almost all Radio in Spain is commercial, relying on advertising and sponsorship to pay its way. In some regions of Spain, especially the major cities and along the Coast, illegal ‘Pirate’ stations outnumber the legal frequencies by two, sometimes three to one. Thus, those that are legal have been complaining to the Government for years of their loss in revenue and wanting action to be taken.

Although the English language stations do compete for revenue from the Spanish stations, as expat business centres are unlikely to advertise with a Spanish media group, some of the local stations around the Costa Blanca have been operating without the correct business licences and may face closure sooner rather than later, mainly because they interfere with and impact the revenue potential of the Spanish Broadcasters as areas they where once heard have been taken over by English stations!

Central Government has said it is to draw up a map of Spanish radio, which will allow a cleaning up of the FM band followed by the quick and firm closure of those broadcasters who lack the correct permissions! This new State Radio Communications Agency is to be set up before June 1 and then given the task of controlling the radio spectrum. Its creation is part of the AERC, Spanish Association of Commercial Radio and includes such heavyweights as SER, Onda Cero, Cope and Punto Radio. They have already presented a list of broadcasters they consider to be outside the law including 482 on the Canaries, 387 in Andalucía, 338 in the Valencia region, 183 in Cataluña, 144 in Madrid and 143 in the Basque Country. In addition there are many so-called Municipal Radios that are breaking the law as they are run by companies and not by the local Town Hall!

In defence of the dozen or more English stations on the Costa Blanca most, if not all pay Spanish taxes, pay royalties, pay their staffing fees and have been inspected by local royalty agencies. The illegal operators complain that no new concessions for licences have been made available and that many of them have submitted applications for licences but have not heard back from the commission.

Only time will tell if these new regulations will mark the end of some of our most popular stations. One argument against this move is that in closing down 3,000 stations, upwards of 30,000 people could find themselves out of work, putting further strain on Spain’s pressurised social services system.

Original Source – Spanish News

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the UK police’s use of stop and search powers granted under terrorism legislation is illegal.

The case was brought by two people who were stopped and searched under the Terrorism Act of 2000 while on their way to an arms fair.

The law grants police the power to search anyone regardless of suspicion. A senior police officer can grant the power for a defined area; this must then be confirmed by the secretary of state within 48 hours.

Since the law was passed in February 2001 there has been a rolling programme of applications and authorisations for the whole of the Metropolitan Police area all of the time.

The court objected on several grounds. It found the searches interfered with the right to a private life and that, unlike airline passengers, people had in no way consented to be searched. It found a lack of basic safeguards in use of the powers – no minister has ever objected or sought to change the terms of such an order.

The court was not impressed with the independent reviewer who has complained since May 2006 that the law is being over-used.

Finally the court objected to the lack of any controls on the individual police officers – they only have to say they had a hunch rather than show reasonable grounds for a search.

In summary the Court found the powers “were neither sufficiently circumscribed nor subject to adequate legal safeguards against abuse”.

The court also found from statistics that black and Asian people “were disproportionately affected by the powers”.

Between 2004 and 2008 total searches recorded went up from 33,177 to 117,278.

Kevin Gillan, a 32-year old student and Pennie Quinton, a 38-year old reporter and photographer, were on their way to a demonstration at an arms fair being held in Docklands when they were stopped.

The two applicants share €33,850 in costs and expenses.

The verdict is another blow for the Home Office which has had its wrists slapped over the DNA database, prisoners’ rights to privacy in recent months.

Policing and Security Minister David Hanson MP said: ”Stop and search under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 is an important tool in a package of measures in the ongoing fight against terrorism.

”I am disappointed with the ECHR ruling in this case as we won all other challenges in the UK courts, including at the House of Lords. We are considering the judgment and will seek to appeal.”

Original Source – The Register

Portugal’s parliament has passed a law to legalise same-sex marriage, but rejected proposals to allow homosexual couples to adopt.

The bill was approved with the support of the governing Socialist Party and other parties further to the left.

Prime Minister Jose Socrates opened the debate with an appeal to back the law, saying it would put right an injustice that had caused unnecessary pain.

The law has been fiercely opposed by conservatives in the Catholic country.

If the law is ratified by President Anibal Cavaco Silva, it could come into effect in April – just a month before a visit to Portugal by Pope Benedict XVI, a staunch opponent of gay marriage.

The bill’s ratification would make Portugal the sixth country in Europe to allow same-sex marriages after Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Norway.

Many other countries have introduced civil partnerships, which give lesbian and gay couples some of the rights of married heterosexuals.

Original Source – BBC

The RRP of a pint of Guinness will rise by 10p to £3.03 on 1 February, producer Diageo has announced.

In further grim tidings for drinkers, brewer AB InBev – which counts Beck’s, Budweiser, Staropramen and Stella Artois on its roster of brews – “will increase the wholesale price of all its drinks products by an average of 4p a pint” on the same date.

Stuart MacFarlane, president of AB InBev UK, told The Publican: “In keeping with standard industry practice we review our pricing at the start of each year.

“Within the context of continuing difficult market conditions and a challenging economic climate, AB InBev UK will be applying a price increase equivalent to an average of 4p a pint to the wholesale price of beer with effect from 1st February 2010.”

The same day will see Heineken UK hike beer and cider by 4p and 5p, respectively, while Carlsberg and Molson Coors “have yet to reveal details of any price increases”.

The news comes as the government’s health committee has suggested a minimum alcohol retail price of 50p per unit – an attempt to stop supermarkets punting cheap booze and fuelling the UK’s binge-drinking epidemic.

This minimum would, the report suggests, save 3,000 lives a year while helping to boost the UK’s pub trade.

Tony Brookes, managing director of North East-based pub company Head of Steam, enthused to The Publican: “This is good news. I totally believe in minimum pricing. Without doubt it is the supermarkets causing the binge-drinking problems and they need their knuckles wrapped.” [sic]

However, the report also notes that three-quarters of the industry’s sales depend on “hazardous and harmful” drinkers. If people could be persuaded to “drink responsibly”, pub sales would crash by 40 per cent, it concludes.

Original Source – The Register