Seven Days

A woman to hate?
To be accused of “ruining the image of Magalluf” must be a heavy burden to bear but Deidre Kelly, aka White Dee, seemed untroubled by it in the two-page interview she gave to Frank Leavers in Wednesday’s Bulletin. “I’m not a bad person I’m just doing my best” she told him as he talked to her about her reputation in Britain as “the woman who many people love to hate”.
Within a matter of months Dee has been changed from a person living a difficult life with two children on benefits for depression into a TV personality familiar to millions from her appearances in the UK Channel 4 documentary series Benefit Street. Her presence in Magalluf followed an all-expenses-paid invitation from the company which runs the local Eastenders bar and her visit has also brought photographers from the UK press to track her activities while here.
The hatred of Dee is felt by those who see her as symbol of benefit beneficiaries who live a comfortable life off the state without working.
Frank Leavers put it to her bluntly: “ Dee, has it ever crossed your mind that the enemies of working class people are using you, fairly or unfairly, as a  stick with which to beat all those on benefits?” Her reply -- “I don’t know, Frank...there is nothing I can do about it anyway, all I can say is that what you see with me is what you get...I really don’t care what people think of me, as long as my children  love me and my friends understand me.”
    Given Dee’s “woman to hate” reputation in the UK Frank Leavers was  somewhat surprised at the keen and friendly interest that passers-by the Eastenders bar showed as he talked with her. A line formed to take her photograph and young men and women from the UK praised her as a “bloody legend and always tells them the way it is, we love her”.
 A rather different reaction came from the twelve Bulletin readers whose Facebook opinions were mainly negative: “Why give a sponger publicity...Who is reporting her to the benefits office...?She was on our plane and didn’t look depressed to me...she’s the underbelly of society and represents the worst of benefit culture...you may be getting the impression that this is not your most popular interview and that readers have little to learn from it.” However one positive view said this: “She seems a perfectly legitimate subject for a news story. I hope people have taken time to read the article. Frank’s done a good job.”

Portaloos at Port Andraitx
“Show some respect” said Humphrey Carter in a Viewpoint on Thursday when commenting on the latest development in the growing controversy over cyclist tourism. A headline put it clearly: “Tension mounting in the Port of Andraitx over cyclists urinating in public.” Bus loads of cyclists from Can Picafort and Alcudia are arriving at the Port of Andraitx to start their day on Majorca’s roads but after an hour in the bus they first need to relieve themselves and use whatever wall or bush will do. Local residents are angry and by Thursday the town council had put a couple of portaloos of the kind often seen on building sites for the convenience of the cyclists. Police were in attendance and a few tickets were written and fines imposed. Whether these measures will be sufficient is not clear but at least they provided the Bulletin with another headline , “The battle of Portaloo...”
The Council of Majorca which is responsible for local roads announced that it is preparing leaflets in several languages explaining local traffic laws. The Council is also spending nine million euros on improving the condition of the island’s roads which, according to the President of the Council, Maria Salom, are being used by about 700,000 vehicles and 150,000 cyclists. (A leaflet of the kind being prepared by the Council is long overdue and should include answers to simple questions such as: can cyclists ride the wrong way down one-way streets? and “are cyclists required to observe traffic lights? R.F.)  
        
Not-inclusive attractions    
As a relatively small island it is inevitable that on Majorca one thing leads to another. The stir of concern over all-inclusive holidays soon raised old issues such as private apartment lettings and even the tourist tax which many thought  dead and buried was revived  by the PSOE party in Calvia.
Two Letters to the Editor, one rather angry and the other “more in sorrow than anger” deplored  the limits placed on apartment letting which in their authors’ experiences once brought many people to Majorca who spent money here in bars, restaurants and shops and preferred to look after themselves rather than stay in hotels. Both letters came to the same conclusion: “In my opinion the hotel industry and their influence over the government is the downfall of this country” and “When will the Majorcan authorities come to their senses and realise the damage they are doing to the island?
A more positive note was struck by Andrew Ede in an article about the “complementary offer” of all those “non-hotel attractions” on Majorca which help to make a vacation more interesting and enjoyable. A new organisation, “Confederacion de Patronales Touristicas Balears” has been formed to bring together those providing such tourist attractions; its first president is Antonio Gonzales who is director of the Palma Aquarium which is itself an excellent example of the “complementary offer”.
The article recognised that many other groups already represent particular tourism interests but Andrew Ede said the new combined organisation should become a “major power block to rival that of the hotel lobby”.

In Brief
For the second time the Balearic High Court overruled an agreement made by the Council of Majorca to permit the building of a hotel at Sa Rapita overlooking the unspoiled beach of Es Trenc. The Court ruled that a modification of the Majorcan land plan would be necessary for such permission. The Balearic Minister for tourism, Jaime Martinez, said the government would respect the Court’s decision. Many protests had taken place against the hotel proposal by environmental organisations and opposition parties.

Ninety-six teams from thirty countries assembled in Santa Ponsa at the third Mallorca Football Tournament  for male and female police and security personnel. Calvia’s minister for tourism said the event would generate about one million euros for the local economy

The Balearics have the largest fleet of recreational nautical craft in Spain, accounting for almost twelve per cent of the national market, according to the National Association of Nautical Businesses.