Editorial:Good citizens

AS I walked to work yesterday morning I passed two cyclists on the pavement, a group of male tourists just in shorts and trainers, I smiled at the “bogus begar” outside the supermarket and thought she was probably making more money than Ido, and I also watched in horror as a lorry driver threw a cigarette butt from his cab window. A normal day in beautiful Palma. But not for long. In fact from next month all these people could be fined 50 euros for “unsocial activity.” The Palma city Council is getting tough but they may find that the majority of “crimes” they want to penalise are so common they will need hundreds of additional officers just to enforce their new “good citizen plan.” It is not a bad idea but completely  impractical. If the plan is enforced properly then the city council will be one of the richest in Spain! In the Playa de Palma, tourists will no longer be allowed to drink a lethal mix of alcohol through a straw from a bucket. Buckets are banned from the beach! But will the city council be taking action against the shops and bars which supply the “bucket package?” I hope so but doubt it. The thing is about Majorca is that there is legislation which covers most things but the problem is that it is seldom enforced. I suspect this new legislation may be quietly forgotten when someone points out that it is not good for tourism. Majorca needs bucket and spade tourism and sadly and quite wrongly that also includes “bucket cocktails.”