Magalluf, black payments and an election: the past week in Majorca

Thanks all round
Magalluf seems to have received various new looks in the recent past and yet another one was being hailed on Thursday. There was an "open doors" session in the resort, principally designed, or so it appeared, to show President Armengol around. She thanked everyone - the town hall, Meliá and her own government - for all that was being done and called on the private sector to plough ever more investment into Magalluf in order to make it "a point of reference for foreign tourism". Business, town hall and other representatives were out in force, one photograph of the occasion capturing one of these who looked as if he was praying.

Two days later, and the president was thanking some others: the media and their "excellent work". This was the occasion of the annual Christmas drinks' get-together with the press, which probably requires more than a couple of glasses of cava to go easy on any "expectations" not being lived up to (to paraphrase what the president had to say). Cabinet members were lined up to also hear Vice-President Barceló compare the government (or possibly himself) to Star Wars. "The force awakens," he suggested.

No more payments in black
Government expectations for the new year include getting tough on black payments for the sale of property and various other things, such as cars and boats. On Wednesday, finance minister, Catalina Cladera, was reported as saying that there would be toughness on the payment of the tourist tax as well and intimated that the number of inspectors will be increased once it is in place. Meanwhile, the professionals which look after the likes of property sales and tax issues - tax experts, notaries, lawyers - were asking for a "total rationalisation" and "simplification" of the tax system, while indicating that there was a public impression of "brutal" tax burden.

Where's the rain?
The regional delegate of the national met office, Aemet, was giving the latest end-of-season, start-of-new-season report on the weather in Friday's edition. Winter will be "slightly warmer than usual", we learned, while we discovered - to no one's astonishment - that highs in December had been above the average. We also found that there had been almost no rain through December (which was very much below average), the lack of rain having been announced three days earlier (also by Aemet). Majorca's rainfall was 50% lower than what it should be for the current "hydrological year", which apparently began on 1 October.

Despite the dry weather, Aemet was able to say that rainfalls in certain months of this year had compensated for their lack in others.

The election
Last week was one during which national affairs tended to dominate. The polling stations are open today for Spain's general election. The final opinion polls ahead of the election were issued last weekend, and our Tuesday front page announced that Spain was, on the evidence of one poll (and of all others), "heading for coalition government", assuming the parties can arrive at anything vaguely amicable. The prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, was reported on Thursday as saying that he "would consider" a pact in order to "assure a stable government".

We are about to find out if the opinion polls have been correct and just who might be in pole position to form the next government.