I was watching a brilliant charity football match on TV last night. Dave from Villajoyosa had phoned to tell me the Liverpool All Stars were playing Ricky Tomlinson’s All Star legends. The old Liverpool greats included the likes of Dlaglish, Rush, Beardsley, Redknapp, Lawrensen, Hansen, Malby, McManamon, Aldrich and the all stars included Alan Shearer, Teddy Sherringham and showbizz people. This was the Hillsborough Memorial Match and it has to be said the football was of a very high standard. The all-stars assistant manager was Jamie Carragher.

I also watched Question Time when MPs squirmed and fidgeted in front of the audience and TV cameras whilst they tried to justify fiddling their expenses. The main thrust of the questioning seemed to suggest that as the Government are hell-bent on punishing dole cheats then shouldn´t the MPs be treated the same? This is fiddling and on a grand scale. Not many benefit cheats are doing it to the tune of 70, 000 pounds sterling.

The weather looks better today albeit locally. The main Spanish forecast shows lots of rain to the north and then out in the Balearics there´s a strong weather system.

Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday
23° C | 12° C	21° C | 11° C	24° C | 14° C	24° C | 13° C	24° C | 14° C
Scattered Clouds	Clear	Clear	Clear	Scattered Clouds

The exchange rate is as yesterday. The Euro worth 89 pence and the pound sterling worth 1 euro 11.

Here´s our Spanish word for the day

Cierto

(syer’-toh) (adjective) – true, certain, definite, right

• No hay nada de cierto en ello. – There is no truth in it.
• Estabas en lo cierto. – You were in the right.

• ¡Ah! Es cierto. – Oh yes! Of course.
• Por cierto… – By the way…

For more information and examples, visit the SpanishDict.com entry for Cierto.

Let´s get the Spanish News for today
Spanish Press Review
Spain Press Review – Friday May 15 2009
The indictment of Francisco Camps leads most of the papers in Spain today……The paper considers that Rajoy is protecting the regional president despite the indications of crime against him, while the Valencia Socialists have called for the immediate sacking of the regional leader. El País has a front page photo of the two PP men now indicted, Francisco Camps and Ricardo Costa.  El Mundo says that the PP has expressed its ‘complete confidence’ in the President of the Valencia Generalitat. It came after Francisco Camps has been indicted in the Gürtel case on a charge of bribery. The paper says the judge will ask Camps on Tuesday if he paid for his four suits………………………….I sincerely hope that Rajoy´s support has not been misplaces as that would seriously undermine the credibility of the opposition here in Spain.

Case closed against the Mayor of Torrevieja
The Green Party had accused the Mayor after a councillor built an illegal attic………………..The Court in Torrevieja has archived the case against the Mayor of the town, Pedro Ángel Hernández Mateo, who faced charges for allowing the construction of an attic without a licence in the home belonging to family members of the previous Hacienda councillor, Pascual Ortiz Roche…………………..I don´t yet understand this ruling. Do you?

Costa del Sol
Málaga City toughens regulations on dangerous dogs
Owners will be obliged to attend authorized dog training classes to obtain a licence………………………..Owners will also have to take out insurance cover of at least 175,000 €. The dog will them be listed in a municipal catalogue which will also have details of when it is generally taken for a walk, when a muzzle and lead are compulsory.  With all those requirements met a dangerous dog owners licence will be issued for five years, after which it will have to be renewed.  The Málaga Vets College has 60,499 dogs listed in Málaga city, of which 1,452 are dangerous breeds, the most common being the Rottweiler, Pit-bull, Doberman and American Staffordshire Bull Terrier. By the way ferrets are the most popular pet in Málaga, after cats and dogs.

National
Spain steps up U.K. promotion ……………Spain is to step up promotional campaigns in Britain in the light of a 15% fall in reserves for this summer from the British market. ‘A Taste of Spain’ promotions are to be held in open air cultural and gastronomic festivals in Regent Street in London from May 31 to June 3 and also in Edinburgh between July 17 and 19. Musicians, Chefs, Dancers, Spanish horses, artists designers and giant paellas are all on the menu………………………………..If Spain wants to keep British money it must try to make the Brits feel most welcome during their stay……isn´t this called Customer Service?…….It comes in the face of a 15 percent fall in reservations for the summe. However, ………gnacio Vasallo, the Director of the Spanish Tourism Office in London, said the worst numbers were seen in January, with February also poor and March less so, but he noted that Spain had not lost market share from the UK. He also noted that the main destinations of Mallorca, Costa del Sol and Tenerife were seeing numbers similar to last year, and the number of plane seats available was the same as last year.

Spain Sports News
Nadal reaches Madrid quarter finals
He qualified after Kohlschrieber retired injured………………..come on, Rafa!

National
Spain’s car discount scheme launches on Monday
The Madrid region has said it will not be taking part in the scheme………………….he plan is set to run for the next 12 months, and only applies to cars worth less than 30,000 € and when the purchaser hands in another vehicle which is more than ten years old. The idea has been welcomed by the National Association of Car and Lorry Manufacturers, despite the fact they will have to find half of the discount themselves……………….don´t get too excited!

Spanish Oddities
Zaragoza man wants to give a kidney as a thank your for a council house
Gabriel Fuertes went on a 41 day hunger strike to obtain the accommodation

Canarias
Man gives two flats to families in need ……………The families took residence at the start of the month, but news of the generosity has only reached the press now. Both families say they can’t find the words to thank Manuel, the 56 year old widower, for his offer. However in Arrecife alone there are more than 4,000 families who have applied for some form of help from social services. The 56 year old mechanic says the flats were just standing empty…………………………Manuel. You are a star!

Spain Culture News
Could Spain be disqualified from the Eurovision Song Contest
TVE failed to broadcast the second semi-final live, when Spanish residents should have exercised their tele-vote…………………..The Extremadura singer Soraya Arnelas is set to perform last in the final on Saturday night, but Spain is under fire for not broadcasting the second semi-final live on Thursday when viewers here should have taken part in voting. However TVE put an hour’s delay on the show because of the Masters Series tennis, and their live webcast had technical problems. European broadcasting regulations demanded the programme be shown live, and now Spain faces possible charges of fraud……………Does this mean that Tennis was viewed as being more relevant than the Eurovision Song Contest? Could Spain really be banned from this competition? Oh my God!

Costa de Almería
Down’s Syndrome group asked to leave an Almería pub
The group had gone there to celebrate the end of a course………………They say it happened in the early hours of 1st May, when the group of 25-35 year olds were in the pub named by Europa Press as Ay Carmela. They were accompanied by three monitors, and had gone there to celebrate the end of a course they’d just completed on employment. As the place began to fill up, Asalsido say one of the pub’s doormen said to one of the monitors, ‘school hours are over now, the pub is filling up with people so the school must close’……………………These groups are generally very loving and good fun to be with. There are still many who don´t really understand them and this is a question of Education.…..

National
Spanish Cabinet approves major changes to abortion law
The reform proposes to permit unconditional abortion up to 14 weeks at the age of 16

Costa Blanca
Alicante bank robber says recession forced him out of retirement
He is charged with four robberies from this year, after keeping his record clean for the past 30 years…………….The 51 year old Spaniard, named by EFE as B.D.V.O., has been ‘clean’ of crime since 1980, but was identified this year as responsible for three bank robberies which have taken place in Alicante since March. He was captured after a 20-day surveillance operation, but in that time carried out another assault on a local shop, which EFE reports was robbed on Thursday last week……………..Are we supposed to applaud his abstinence?

Costa Blanca
Valencia President indicted in Gürtel corruption case
Francisco Camps is under investigation for allegedly accepting gifts of suits

Costa Tropical
British MP alleged to have used Commons stationery in right of way dispute in Granada
The Daily Telegraph reports that Margaret Moran could face an investigation in the matter………….The Daily Telegraph reports this Thursday that their journalists have located a piece of stationery with the Commons crest which reads, ‘Please note – this road is private & closed. Please remove your motorcycle from our land’. They say it’s written in English and Spanish, in handwriting which is an exact match to the MP’s………………………This sums up New Labour…………….Hypocrites!

National
Spanish King and Queen celebrate 47 years of marriage
The royal couple were joined in marriage in three separate ceremonies in 1962: Catholic, Orthodox and civil……………………Don Juan Carlos and Doña Sofía first met in 1954 on a cruise aboard the ‘Agamemnon’, organised by Queen Frederica of Greece, mother to the 15 year old Princess Sofía. The future king, 16 at the time, was there with other young royals of Europe, but once admitted years later that the young princess did not catch his eye on that occasion. Nor, we’re told, was there a spark at their second meeting in 1959 at the wedding of Elisabeth of Württemberg in Germany. Quoting the Jaime Peñafiel book ‘Portrait of a Marriage’, 20 minutos reports that Juan Carlos was at the time linked to Princess María Gabriela de Saboya, a relationship which reportedly did not please the Spanish head of state, Francisco Franco. The general is said to have thought the princess was too liberal and had too many modern ideas. There were also rumours of a possible engagement between Princess Sofía and Harald of Norway.

Today´s Podcast is on the way……