06/12/2001 00:00
TW
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The success of Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone clearly demonstrates once again the need for an English language cinema in Palma. The Diary of Bridget Jones and Billy Elliot were two other classic examples of how the English-speaking community is willing to support films in their own language. It is in some ways rather strange how the cinema still manages to hold its own in the world of Digital satellite television and the DVD and video. Granted that these are all modern films which had still not been released outside cinemas during the dates they were shown in Palma but still the attraction of the cinema remains as great as it has always been...probably even more. Judging by the success of these three films you don't have to be Sir Richard Branson to realise that there is a market in the Balearics for English languages films. This naturally reaches it peaks during the early and late summer months. Palma, and other outlying areas, are lucky to have a large number of cinemas and I would like to see them dedicate just one of their screens to a block-buster in English or even German. I am sure it would be a success. I know that most of the people living on the island should speak enough Spanish to be able to go to the cinema, but unfortunately this is not the case, making the need for English films even greater.

The future is looking bright with the opening of Festival Park next year, which is promising to show films in English and also there is the dear trusted Renoir and now the Rialto. Let us hope that films in English will soon become a reality. I am sure that they would receive the necessary support from the community.

Jason Moore

Which party is this?

“The party I joined was full of nice old people; today it is full of nasty old people.” Which British political party could the author of these words possibly be referring to? There's a clue in his next sentence: “Their hatred of gays, blacks, successful women and the European Union is as extraordinary as it is offensive, but they cannot be reasoned with.” Nick Kent may not be a household name in the Conservative Party but he was campaign manager of Kenneth Clarke's bid for the Conservative leadership and he is chief executive of the centrist Conservative Mainstream group which espouses One Nation Toryism. His opinions on the nature of today's Conservative Party were aired in a long article in yesterday's Guardian newspaper. They can be summed up in his view that “No 300'000 adults, other than the membership of the Tory party, would have chosen Duncan Smith over Clarke”. Obviously, he is biased, but he does make an interesting point when he likens the Conservatives' choice of Mr Smith to the Labour activists' ideological preference for Michael Foot over Denis Healey as their leader in 1981. He prophecies that Smith will meet a fate similar to Foot's. Mr Kent's article signals that although Conservative party discord may have been damped down for the duration of the ”war” it is still active and could break into the open at any moment. There seems little likelihood that the Conservatives will be able to provide the robust opposition to the Labour government which is so urgently needed in the national interest.

Monitor