Abel Hechavarria Jardines
Dear Olive Press readers,
The Olive Press Podcast is back for its fourth episode as Walt, Caroline and Jon don the surgical gloves to really get under the skin of the events in the news this month.
You can watch it here. Follow us on YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts and please leave a review if you enjoy the show.
This week the topics are meatier than ever. The team kicks off with the innocuous story of a tourist who was fined for buying fake sunglasses from a street seller. But it trailed on to a whole deeper topic – is the counterfeit goods racket a scourge in Spain? What about the sellers? The poor downtrodden trying to make a living, or a cog in the organised crime machine?
Meanwhile, Gibraltar’s historic deal to remove the border treaty and integrate with the EU comes under the microscope. Is it a surrender or triumph – or a necessary compromise? And what’s it going to mean for people living in Spain? Big changes ahead.
Back in the Costa del Sol, the Mijas donkey taxis were once again in the crosshairs, as is Spain’s attitude towards animal welfare in general. The consensus is that it is improving, yet paradoxically bullfighting is making a comeback in popularity. How to square that circle?
Next the team explores how Jon uncovered shocking scenes of fully salaried and employed workers living in shanty towns in Ibiza because there’s no affordable apartments to rent. The team grapples with what is behind Spain’s housing crisis, and what can perhaps be done to alleviate it.
And finally we touched on Spain’s unseasonably-early June heatwave. Is it just business as usual – Spain’s just hot in the summer? Is it a symptom of human-driven climate change? Or is it a harbinger of a sinister conspiracy to push an unnecessary green agenda on an unwitting public…
It’s all fascinating stuff, have a listen and please subscribe!
The Olive Press podcast is for English-speaking expats in Spain, visiting tourists and curious Spaniards, interested in the clash of cultures, crime, and politics shaping modern Spain.
Hosted by Caroline Lips and joined by Olive Press editor Jon Clarke and digital editor Walt Finch, each week the gang dive into breaking stories, longform investigations, and in-depth interviews with local residents, police, and political figures.
Check it out!
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