Not Just a Few Bad Apples
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ISSUE No. 2 AUGUST 2008 Editorial Not just a few bad apples 2 sun, sea and sutures Málaga, Marbella, Ciempozuelos, Telde, Andratx and now Estepona. The corruption scandals roll on, always the cosmetic surgery boom much the same story: the mayor and his or her minions on the take from property developers, with a whisk of 8 their signature converting once worthless land into a repentance and red wine speculator’s el Dorado. Sometimes it seems that, if you want an impenitent tour of rioja to talk to your mayor, you’re more likely to find them in the local nick than in their office at the ayuntamiento. 88 14 mallorcan étude Spain is corrupt, there is no doubt about it. Two years ago, chopin’s holiday from hell when Russia’s President Putin was asked at a European summit what he planned to do about corruption in Russia, he hit back, saying, effectively: “What’s Spain going to do 18 in the zone about theirs?” That hurt, and was a further spur to action as spain kicks the losing habit the high-profile arrests over the past two or three years show. Furthermore, the police are not just going for scapegoats, but rounding up everyone who they believe is in the loop. 24 the coolhunter The clean-up is clearly going to take some time. In 2007, Transparency International, a well respected organisation mango’s fashion tracker that reports on corruption worldwide, ranked Spain 25th 1414 in a table of 170 of the most corrupt nations, below every 28 western European country except Greece and Portugal. photo essay (And by the way, whatever Hamlet thought on the matter, iberian creatures in peril Denmark was ranked the least rotten, Somalia the most.) Although bad news for many on a personal level, the housing 30 beyond the 18th hole slump may be the best thing that could happen to Spain fiestas, festivals, concerts and exhibitions right now. The housing boom of the past five years has been fuelled by drug money, the Russian mafia and the millions made from prostitution. Up until now, the sort of sweeteners 38 la vinoteca these people could offer a modestly-paid local official have more than a wine bar been almost impossible to resist. But the slump has changed all that. The worthless piece of land is still, for the time 24 being, worthless, even with planning permission and maybe 39 rioja renaissance now the dirty money will have to launder itself elsewhere. And Spain, which has been destroying its landscape in a not resting on its laurels greed-driven frenzy of construction, now has a moment to consider just what sort of a country it wants to become. 41 garlic is good for you Stephen Burgen [email protected] enjoy a bite-free summer Publishing Director: Matthew Ager 44 property Editor: Stephen Burgen 3030 a good time to rent out Copy Editor: Michael Bunn Art Director: Georgina Rosquelles 47 Layout and Design: 9 letras news in brief Contributors: Michael Bunn, Ben Curtis, Marina Diez, spanish news round-up Sara Gibbings, José María Sánchez, Joanna Styles, Marta Wendlinger. Photography: Craig Hastings. Cartoon: Oriol Garcia i Quera. Advertising enquiries: [email protected] 51 really spanish Tel.: +34 609 305 155. ten ways of losing your rag Published by: The Times en España c.b. Depósito Legal: SE-3653-2008 Printed by: Gráficas L’Arte s.l. 52 brief encounter Distributor: Iberpress 3838 your legal questions answered Inside Spain 1 SUN, SEA AND SUTURES Package holidays to Spain have taken on a new meaning as increasingly tourists go home not just with a tan but with a changed face or new breasts. Sara Gibbings finds out why it’s boom time for boob jobs 2 Inside Spain ot so long ago, Brits would return The field of plastic surgery encompasses home from their holidays in both reconstructive and cosmetic procedures Spain with a tan and a smile after and should be carried out by a qualified a week sipping beers by the pool specialist. Common reconstructive plastic Nand be told by their friends that they looked surgery includes breast reconstruction brilliant. That doesn’t seem to be enough after a mastectomy, skin grafts to aid burns anymore. These days they are likely to come victims, the correction of bone fractures back with a gastric band, a neater nose or a such as a broken nose or jaw after an pair of shiny new breasts. Medical tourism in accident or the improvement of congenital the Iberian peninsula has taken off in a big deformities such as cleft lip. Cosmetic way and, surprisingly, the British, who used surgeries are considered non-essential to be known for their bad teeth and sagging medical procedures and are, for the most tummies, are among the best customers. part, sought solely for aesthetic reasons. “Medical tourism is when the patient needs Spain has always been a body-conscious or wants to travel abroad for, usually, lower nation but it is only relatively recently that cost and immediate treatment,” says Cristina cosmetic surgery has lost its taboo status Madeira, spokeswoman for Fly 2 Doc, a new and is no longer considered the domain of medical service provider offering personalised desperate housewives and eccentric aristocrats. treatment plans for cosmetic and non- Wearing diamonds as an outward display cosmetic surgeries in Spain and Portugal. of wealth has become passé; these days the Of their 400 annual cosmetic procedures, petit bourgeoisie, with their hybrid cars, fair 70% of their clients are British. “The most trade coffee and children adopted from the popular [operations] are tummy tucks, developing world, sport new cheekbones and breast enlargements and facelifts,” notes gravity-defying boobs as status symbols. While Madeira, “and I have seen a huge increase, gaggles of forty-something wives are unable especially since the beginning of this year.” to produce a frown between them, their Inside Spain 3 husbands are going for full body depilation is set to multiply rapidly. Eileen Knight, it boils down to self-esteem. “I think the (fondly known as back-sack-and-crack) and spokeswoman for Mills & Mills, one of draw of plastic surgery quite often is that if swapping their Kojak cue balls, in favour of the most successful international cosmetic we don’t feel good about ourselves and we flowing locks would make Bon Jovi envious. surgery providers based in Marbella, says the esteem ourselves externally, and if we haven’t Proof of this was at a recent Family Day at company has seen a 50% rise in the number done that through our jobs or success or an upmarket Barcelona school where the of procedures and a four-fold rise in profits status, then we do it by compliments and top prize in the raffle was a free cosmetic in the past two years. Approximately 60% of approval of others.” he says. ourselves.” surgery procedure. Far from thinking this the 70 operations they perform each month “gift” was odd, nobody batted an eyelid. are on British patients. In addition to the Celebrity endorsement of a medical tourism But then again, they probably couldn’t. standard plastic surgeries, Mills & Mills facility is rare as they usually like to keep offer dental procedures and something called quiet about it, but Chelsee Healey is an “Extreme Makeover” (after the TV show) exception. The star of the BBC drama series “Southern Europeans and where you not only get your bits fixed, but get Waterloo Road flew into Mills & Mills last a new wardrobe, hair and make-up to boot. December to get a breast augmentation. Latin Americans tend to In an article in Now! Magazine, the 19- be more flirty and vain, so So why are so many British patients coming year-old proudly displayed her new body to Spain for surgery? On a practical level, and said her low self-esteem and body these kinds of operations it is obvious: plastic surgery treatments confidence issues were now resolved. are rarely covered by either the NHS or are more common, which private health insurance policies so the In general, we have also become lazier. leads to lower prices” choice to pay less, recover in luxurious and Rather than suffering the cabbage soup diet sunny surroundings and avoid the prying and pounding the treadmill at the gym, eyes of friends and family is appealing. we want to look good now. Raúl González With an estimated 400,000 plastic surgeries But what about the underlying reasons, why (not his real name), a Colombian doctor annually, Spain ranks fourth in the world, is a nation that used to pride itself on its living in Spain recently had liposuction. after the USA, Brazil and Argentina. With a intellectual prowess suddenly focused on the “I had a few extra kilos,” he explains, “It’s steadily increasing influx of medical tourists, size of its collective bum? Jonathan Hooker, not a weight-loss procedure but does allow mainly from northern Europe, this number a British therapist based in Barcelona thinks you to get rid of some of the extra fat; it’s 4 Inside Spain a way of moulding the body. I’m relatively during operations, patients may react badly to An unsuccessful surgery does not have to have disciplined when it comes to what I eat but anaesthesia and there is always the possibility such a drastic result. Patients may be unhappy not as regards exercise so it’s a quick solution of human error. One of the most high profile with their new look and feel worse than before. to the problem, even though it’s a painful incidents occurred in Puerto Banús in October Celebrities who have undergone cosmetic operation.” González found it tough going.