13/08/2014 00:00
TW
0

Unlicensed lettings
Dear Sir,
In recent weeks your paper has published several letters regarding illegal holiday lets. The general tone of these letters is that such lets provide an affordable service to those wishing to avoid the cost of a hotel. However, as many of these lets are made available via the internet and not subject to any real control they often result in ill disciplined renters who overpopulate the flat that they have rented and have no concern for the neighbourhood, acting as badly as they wish, in the certainty that they can go home after a week and may never return. The communities affected also have to pay for the damage these drunken revellers do with no effective recourse to the perpetrators.
There is no valid argument for turning a blind eye to illegal renting activities as they open the door to huge abuse. It is with good reason that residential communities are protected by the law from the excesses of Magalluf and Majorca would do well to discourage such activity rather than encourage it. After 30 years of a crime free zone we have had three burglaries this year alone. Whereas I am not attributing these burglaries to holiday renters, uncontrolled access to communities allows in many undesirable elements.
Sincerely yours,
Carrol
Cala Vinas

Dear Sir,
Hugh Ash (Majorca Daily Bulletin,  10 August, 2014) doesn’t believe that Israel’s so-called ‘defence’ of its citizens serves as a recruiting sergeant for Muslim extremism. Surely 9/11, the 2004 Madrid bombings and the 2005 London bombings would never have happened if America and the West had ‘obliged’ Israel to accept the two state solution before the turn of the century?
Those of us who have lived and worked in the Arab world know that if the Palestinian problem had been solved, Bin Laden would still be alive, working in his father’s construction business and the extremist groups which Al-Qaeda gave birth to, would not now be threatening to conquer Europe. Every Israeli atrocity in Gaza serves to swell the ranks of the jihadists. In their blind support for Israel our leaders are promoting the radicalisation, not just of the Arab world, but of all the people of Africa and Asia. Thanks to defenders of the status quo in Palestine (like Mr Ash) we risk being blown out of the skies every time we board an international flight. As a first step towards a solution, although I admit that it is probably too late now, Israel should be held to account for its war crimes in Gaza and the West should put as much effort into establishing severe sanctions against Israel, as they have done in promoting sanctions against Russia.
Yours faithfully,
George Tunnell

Spain to probe Gibraltar cigarette smuggling ...
Dear Sir,
“Spain to probe Gibraltar cigarette smuggling”, because it causes losses to Spain’s tax collector, - oh really?
How many years have Spain being enjoying the profits on the vast tobacco sales to British tourists smuggling them back to the UK?
No probes required then were there?
Regards,
Steve
Palmanova