YOUR LETTERS

SO, Top Gear's presence in Majorca was a positive thing, was it? If you're an expat and you were anywhere near Jeremy Clarkson, I don't think so.
When it was first announced that the programme was coming here, I wrote on my blog: “It will be thronged with expats desperate to try and ingratiate themselves with the Top Gear trio. I would advise caution. Clarkson's vitriol will doubtless extend to mostly all expats. If I were you, I'd avoid the Top Gear-ists like the plague. Not that I don't like Clarkson; quite the opposite. Anyone who has seen fit to punch Piers Morgan is fine by me. One trusts that the programme will show some suitably pleasant landscapes and be a rather more positive representation of Majorca than some Chardonnay who has vomited over a nurse in Muro hospital A&E. (But) if you think Clarkson might go easy on the local expattery, do be warned: remember he once said that anyone who had moved to Spain had held up a post office.” And, what do you know, he hasn't gone easy. All expats, wherever you may be (except the US), are drunks and failures. That's Jeremy's message. So, next time, don't bother pandering to his celebrity when he turns up on the island or bother making such a ballyhoo or forking out money for a VIP pass or whatever. It will only result in ridicule. I, for one, am glad I stayed as far away as possible from the rally. At least I didn't pay good money or waste any time in return for being bracketed in Clarkson's mass character assassination.

If you missed it, here is a flavour of the piece from his column in The Sunday Times (you can always go to the paper's website it if you want to read the whole thing): ‘There they were, in their chips and footie bars with their desperate eyes and their booze-ruined noses, regaling everyone with their stuck-record views on life back in Blighty. ‘“Don't know how you can live in Britain. Bloody weather. Bloody Muslims. Bloody Brown,” and then, after a wistful pause, “. . . you don't have a copy of today's Telegraph do you?”' Good old Jezza. Gets paid to come and do a bit of driving and then slags off an entire community. Nice work if you can get it. But we should have seen this coming, because that is how it is with Clarkson. We should have known that he would take the opportunity to use his Majorca trip for some expat-baiting, because he's got form in that area. And the awful part is that we should also have known that the result would be worryingly accurate and very funny.

Kind regards,

Andrew Ede,

Muro

Dear Sir

RECENT correspondence has highlighted the major price differential of new cars in the UK and Spain.
It seems that the price-gap is actually WIDENING as UK dealers are slashing new car prices in an effort to get the market moving again. Just one example is Saab – main dealers are reducing new car prices by over £7'000. This means you can buy an entry-level 9-3 convertible for just £15'995 or you can source the same in Spain for €39'100 – the same car in the UK is just 40% you pay in Spain. I would rather buy a RHD new car for a 60% discount. It is relative simple to buy a car for export in the UK (VAT free) – drive it on temporary trade plates to Spain, then pay the VAT (IVA) in Spain (using help from specialists who advertise in this publication – unless you know the system well). The internet makes searching simple, I quickly found the site “www.saab-deals.co.uk” plus many others. If you look hard enough, you will find UK dealers who can source left hand drive vehicles.

Legal note: It is perfectly OK to register a RHD motor car here and drive on Spanish plates. You CANNOT register RHD commercial vehicles in Spain however (unless Spanish law has changed recently that I am not aware of).

Mark Masters,

Andratx

Dear Sir

WHILST the leftie, nationalistic, tree hugging Balearic Consell de Govern are busily passing laws to make it obligatory to speak Catalan to be employed in the public sector, the island's inhabitants obviously do not support the xenophobic politicians' zeal.

Recently a highly controversial programme on abortion on the local Majorcan channel, IB3, in prime time, had a piffling audience of 2.1%, the lowest of all available channels at the time.

Yet another example of “the bloc” being out of step with not only the electorate but reality! John Rule

Sol de Mallorca