The week that was

That video - a coincidence?

W ell, there’s no doubting the week’s most entertaining story. And where else could this entertainment have come from than everyone’s favourite resort? Magalluf, the resort gift which keeps on giving, with the giving being given its own particularly heady mix this week. My, what fun. Will tiqueteros in the resort now acquire new titles? PFs rather than PRs. Public fellations. Not of course that the lady in question was a PR. Or maybe she was. Frankly, who cares? There again, an awful lot of people did care, some of them finally. Outrage, disgust. Everyone had their say. Much of it was sanctimonious twaddle, though.
Thanks to the highly respected reality-show performer, Jay Gardner from Geordie Shore, we learned from the suitably over-the-top British press (”horrifying footage”, said The Mirror; never knowingly prone to hyperbole or exaggeration) that the so-called game had taken place some weeks ago. Jay had just said no to the offer of being number 25. Good for him. He was spotted in the video, which was why the press was so keen to speak to him.
 Normally, his contribution would have been of no interest whatsoever, but there is something interesting about it. Has anyone stopped to ask why the video became public when it did? Has anyone stopped to ask if there was a particular reason for it emerging when it did? Note what Jay Gardner said. Some weeks ago.
At roughly the same time as the video started to make its viral presence noted on social networks, the pharmacist and the architect (President Bauzá and tourism minister Martínez) were in Magalluf to see for themselves how the resort is being transformed. This in itself was given rather curious treatment. Magalluf is going up-market. Yes, well I think we know this and have done ever since Meliá announced its project in 2011. We have had the up-market transformation shoved down our throats, so to speak and in the spirit of the week. But are we to conclude that the video’s appearance was totally coincidental?
 Perhaps it was, but the timing does raise a question or two. Was it some sort of spoiling tactic, deliberately designed to take the gloss of the Bauzá Maga walkabout and to make the point that there are other issues with which he might care to concern himself? While there are investigations in Magalluf as to the incident, there might also be some into the provenance of the video’s arrival on the internet.
Just as a footnote to all this, how do you suppose your average Brit tourist lad (and even some ladettes) would have reacted to the story splashed all over their soaraway Sun. They would have been wetting themselves with laughter. “Wicked.” “Sick.” And before you think that they might be expressing disapproval, sick means - more or less - the opposite to something in bad taste. Meanwhile, back in Britain, bookings to Maga would doubtless have been soaring.

Castro v. Horrach - round two

R ather more important than BJs in Magalluf was the latest round of the Duelling Banjos of the Majorcan legal establishment, the face-off between Judge Castro and Pedro Horrach, the anti-corruption prosecutor who might, probably will, ensure the Deliverance of the Infanta Cristina. In fact, neither Castro nor Horrach was particularly evident during the week. The rest of the legal establishment was, however, and most of it was gunning for Horrach. The standing committee of the General Council of the Judiciary expressed its concerns with what Horrach had been implying, namely that Castro’s impartiality has been compromised. It has the power to take action against Horrach but it declined to do so. It went on to add that questioning the judge’s independence and objectivity does not “strengthen public confidence in the justice system”.
Gabriel Fiol, spokesperson for Judges for Democracy in the Balearics, and a judge from the High Court in the Balearics, was less equivocal than his learned friends on the standing committee. He believed that the personal attacks on Castro were evidence that Horrach was under instruction to protect the Infanta. So, Judge Fiol was expressing a similar view to that which Horrach had been making about Castro, except that he was suggesting that it was Horrach who was not impartial. For him to imply that Horrach is taking orders is a pretty serious thing to imply.
The almighty row that has broken out in legal circles does nothing at all for that public confidence in the justice system. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned, which is that no one involved in proceedings, be he or she judge, prosecutor or defender, should be allowed to make public pronouncements. But that is how it is, and the consequence of the row, one begins to think, can only compromise the course of potential justice. How can Castro now continue with his case against the Infanta? With all the legal argument as baggage to the affair, it would seem impossible.
Meanwhile, the lawyer for former Balearics president Jaume Matas, who faces all manner of charges as a result of Castro’s investigations into him (which were what led Castro to the Infanta and her husband, Iñaki Urdangarin, in the first place), called for the lifting of charges against his client, saying that he had not committed any criminal offence. The timing of this demand is surely also not a coincidence. With Castro being accused of partiality, now is the time to strike, you would think, and question his impartiality in respect of Matas. There is, however, one important difference where Matas is concerned, and that is that Horrach does not disagree with Castro. But even with judge and prosecutor agreeing, if there is now so much ill-feeling, how easy could it be for the two to share a courtroom, be it the stage for the Infanta or Matas? There is an uneasy sense that Castro is being hung out to dry, that he is the new Baltasar Garzón. Who honestly could blame him if he decided he might as well retire (which he could) and say sod the lot of you?

Nadal - loser and winner

F or once, there was consensus between parties of different political complexions last week. The PP, PSOE and Més at the Council of Majorca all ratified an agreement to award Rafael Nadal the title of “illustrious son” of Majorca. The award will be given to him on 12 September, Majorca Day, and will be in recognition of his “excellence”, “honesty”, and role as a worldwide “ambassador” for Majorca. (The words in inverted commas are quoted from what the Council’s president Maria Salom had to say.) The announcement of the award, nice though it is, might just have been better timed. As it was being made, in south-west London, it was 7-6, 5-7, 7-6, 6-3 to Kyrgios.