my dad had a mid-life crisis and bought a strip club in Marbella

Festival veteran Brett Goldstein is back in Edinburgh to tell the general public all about his time running a strip club in Marbella. It all sounds pretty intriguing, so ThreeWeeks investigated. Well, asked a few questions, anyway.  

TW: Your show has a very interesting theme. Tell us more.
BG: The show is about the time when my dad had a mid-life crisis and bought a strip club in Marbella, instead of a new car, and how I ended up running it. It was a strange time, particularly as none of us had any experience of this sort of world before, and my dad had assumed that all businesses run the same. He had previously run bookshops and assumed it to be a similar practice…  Just instead of selling books, you’re selling dances….  The one thing he did not count on, was that when you open a strip club, no matter how clean you run it, it will attract the underworld. It will bring them right to your door whether you want it or not. The show is very much about this world, and about what happens when you live in this sort of environment for too long. But, you know, funny.

TW: It sounds like the experience you had might have been, well, traumatic, to an extent. Is this show cathartic for you? Where’s the humour?
BG: The experience had its fair share of trauma I suppose, but on the other hand, it was a hell of an adventure and I feel very grateful for having had it. I suppose there was some catharsis in the actual writing of the show; I have been mulling over this story for ten years, so to get it out feels good I think, but at the same time, it also makes me very anxious. There are things I talk about in the show, and people, that may not want to be talked about.  It is why I set up a very strict ‘circle of trust’ at the beginning of every show.  As for the funny, well, look, once you get past the darkness, with a little perspective the whole thing is utterly ridiculous. It’s like a farce. It’s about a series of stupid men who wandered blindly into a fantasy world they had literally no idea about and how they stumbled about causing trouble and destruction and trying not to get killed.  Its like ‘Fawlty Towers’ with tits.

TW: Do you make any general moral judgement about strip clubs, or do you only approach it in the context of its effect on you?
BG: I can only talk about it in relation to my experience. Strip clubs are individual. Some have nicer atmospheres and environments, and some are fucking dark hell holes. I have no moral objection to strip clubs, I completely understand why they exist and what purpose they purport to serve. I did however, find, in my experience, that strip clubs don’t bring a lot of happiness to anybody. They are weirdly conservative places that pretend to be transgressive. In a normal club you can kiss a girl and connect and fall in love (go to Espionage any night of the week) but in a strip club all you can do is watch a made up version of that life. I think it becomes damaging to the psyche after a while. If all you are doing is playing a game, then when is it ever real? I saw too many women corrupted and saddened by the hollowness of it, and too many men turned strange by it. But that was just what I observed…  I’m not the president.

Detectives in Italy saw the snaps of wanted Salvatore D'Avino, 39, and his pregnant lover Brada Hint, 31, in Marbella,

A mafia mobster has been arrested after his girlfriend posted pictures of the couple on Facebook.

Detectives in Italy saw the snaps of wanted Salvatore D'Avino, 39, and his pregnant lover Brada Hint, 31, in Marbella, Spain, and alerted Spanish colleagues, who traced them.

D'Avino, part of the Naples Mafia known as the Camorra, had been on the run for a decade and now faces 20 years in prison.

A police chief said: "He asked how we'd found him after all this time and when we told him he was not at all happy with his girlfriend."

Spain paid lower rates to raise €2.9 billion in a sale of three-month and six-month bonds today.

Spain paid lower rates to raise €2.9 billion in a sale of three-month and six-month bonds today, the country's central bank said.
The treasury raised €805m in three-month bills at an average interest rate of 1.357%, down sharply from the 1.899% paid at a similar auction on July 26, the Bank of Spain said. It raised €2.136 billion in six-month bills, paying an interest rate of 2.187% compared to 2.519% last month.
Demand was three times the amount sold today for the six-month bills and eight times the amount sold for the three-month bills.
The sale confirmed an easing of rates, helped by the intervention of the European Central Bank in the bond markets from August 8 as the euro zone debt crisis threatened to engulf Spain and Italy.

 

Indian tourists want to hurl tomatoes in Spain

Spain is amongst the biggest tourism destinations woldwide, but has never been a popular choice for Indians. However, egged by the popularity of the Hrithik Roshan-Katrina Kaif starrer, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD), tour operator SOTC is marketing a seven-day Spain package, highlighting the La Tomatina festival.
SOTC, the outbound travel brand of Kuoni, claims it is the first Indian travel company to organise a trip to the festival, made popular in India by the movie. La Tomatina or the tomato festival is held in the southern Spanish city of Bunol on the last Wednesday of August. Revellers hurl tomatoes on each other in friendly fights, in a tradition that goes back to 1945.

Kashmira Commissariat, chief operating officer (outbound division) of Kuoni India, said: “There has been a surge in demand (for Spain). We do have several packages to Spain but this is for the first time we have organised an exclusive package to the La Tomatina festival. The response has been good and we have received a lot of inquiries from couples and young people who want adventure and to experience culture.”

That Bollywood movies have fuelled tourism is evident from the fact that SOTC and a Swiss tour company signed an agreement with Yash Raj Films last year. This deal would enable Indian travellers to visit all the locales where Yash Raj movies were filmed, including Chandni, Darr and Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.

“Destinations use the medium of films for promotions and they encourage film shootings. For example, New Zealand shot into prominence after Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai hit. Similarly, Malaysia benefited with the release of Don, starring Shah Rukh Khan. We have seen a demand in travel to these destinations and lately, with a film shot in Spain, we have been getting inquiries for the destination as well,” said Neelu Singh, COO of online portal Ezeego1.com.

However, Thomas Cook’s chief operating officer, Madhav Pai, has a different take. “Movies do have an impact but that is not the sole factor. Connectivity is important. Hindi Films are being shot in Prague, Russia, Estonia and Greece, but those destinations have not become popular. We started promoting group tours to Spain three years ago. Spain has always been included as an added attraction to the regular 15-20 day European tours. It has not been an integral part of the tours because of its geographical location.”

 

Thousands of people, including Catholic priests, have taken to Madrid’s streets to protest against the Pope’s £43million visit to Spain.

Secularists and other groups angry about the cost of the trip joined gay rights activists in demonstrations.

Earlier in the week, 120 clergymen signed a petition criticising the visit on the grounds of the expense to cash-strapped Spain.



Luis Vega, of the Association of Atheists and Thinkers, said: “It’s a private event and is being financed with Spanish people’s money.”

The visit ends on Sunday with mass at Cuatro Vientos airport in the capital.

Police clashed with protesters on Wednesday night and arrested eight people. Eleven were injured.

Meanwhile, chemistry student Jose Perez Bautista, 24, who allegedly planned a gas attack on protesters at the same demonstration, has been released by a judge but is still under investigation.

Spanish police arrest suspected terrorist

SPANISH police have arrested a suspected member of a terrorist group affiliated with al-Qaeda who allegedly ran an internet site that spread propaganda and sought to recruit members to carry out attacks, the Interior Ministry said.

Abdellatif Aoulad Chiba, 37, from Morocco was arrested in La Linea de la Concepcion, a coastal town close to the British colony of Gibraltar on Spain's southwestern tip, a ministry statement said.

Chiba had been expelled from Jordan for suspected terror-related activities, the ministry said, without providing any other details.

The statement said he is a suspected member of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, an offshoot of al-Qaeda that sprang from an Algerian insurgency movement in late 2006.

The ministry said the website - which was not named - also offered training for new members, encouraged terror actions and provided links to statements and media products from the leaders of Islamic terror groups.



The ministry said police were searching Chiba's house after the arrest.

The investigation began after police noticed an increase in the number of people connecting to jihad internet forums to discuss ways of carrying out attacks in the West, the ministry said.

It said international cooperation enabled police to locate Chiba in Spain.

Like other al-Qaeda affiliates, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claims it helped start the popular uprisings now under way around the Arab world. It is believed to be seeking a stronger foothold among opposition groups in the these countries and has released a video aimed at luring new followers for revolt by jihad, or holy war.

 

An advancing sand dune leaves 300 residents of Tarifa cut off.

20 cars have already been buried by the moving Valdevaqueraos dune which has been created by high winds in the area. The sand has now closed the local CA-2325 road.

El Mundo reports that local residents have been calling for a solution to the problem for years, and say they are now trapped, unable to enter of leave the town or the beach.

The paper says the responsibility is always passed between the Ministry for Development, the Ministry for the Environment, and the local Town Hall, while the residents suffer the consequences.

The Town Hall says that it has sent an excavator to the area to clear the road. Mayor Juan Andrés Gil, expressed his concern at the situation. He said he has asked the Demarcación de Costas to draw up a technical report to diagnose what has to be done to solve the problem of the ever westward moving sand dune.

Six homes in an urbanisation in La Cala del Moral were attacked last Friday

Guardia Civil are investigating the burglaries of six homes in the Colinas de Procusan urbanisation at La Cala del Moral, near Rincón de la Victoria in Málaga.

The same gang attacked all the homes, using sleeping gas to put out the occupants. Most people were sleeping with the windows open and the burglars threw gas canisters in through the windows to knock out their victims.

When they woke, complete in most cases with a sore throat, and even vomiting, they found that wallets, and jewellery and other small items of value had gone. Curiously the thieves did not take any of the vehicles in the urbanisation, despite the keys being available to them.

Residents say they are worried, especially for their children.

 

British tourists face holiday chaos as Spanish unions announced two days of strikes that will affect every airport in Spain

British tourists face holiday chaos as Spanish unions announced two days of strikes that will affect every airport in Spain - at the height of summer travel time.

Over 60,000 airport workers - including baggage handlers and grounds staff- at the country's international airports will strike for two days on 18 and 26 August.

Three large unions, CCOO, UGT and USO, announced the strikes, explaining they were being held over handling companies repeatedly breaking industrial agreements with workers.

Spain is still thousands of Britons' top summer holiday destination, and August is one of Spain's busiest times for air travel.

According to the Daily Mail, union bosses are expected to meet this week to discuss providing 'minimum services' to travellers.

Lorca hit by new earth tremors

Worry returned for the residents of the Murcia town of Lorca on Sunday when it was once again hit by earth tremors.

It is almost three months since the double quake on May 11 brought death and havoc to the town, and in the early hours of Sunday the emergency 112 number received 80 calls as the earth moved again.
The largest tremor was 2.5 on the Richter Scale and located just 5kms from the town at 3.32 am. It followed an early 1.6 tremor 12 kilometres away to the south east at 1.24am.

Walls were reported to have moved and lamps vibrated as the tremor hit but there were no reports of any injuries or material damage.

 

Warning as new drug is found in Spain

‘Doves Red’, a synthetic drug which has caused fatal intoxications in other countries, has arrived in Spain.
It’s sold as pills which look like ecstasy and has already been linked to several intoxications and deaths in Europe.

The Energy Control group (energycontrol.org), a project from the Wellbeing and Development Association, which is dedicated to stop the risks of drug use, has said that the drug has been seen in the Madrid region. They say it contains PMMA, an extremely toxic substance which was linked to nine deaths in Denmark last year, resulting from speed with a 5%-10% PPMA content.

They advise against any sale or use given its high toxicity. PPMA has been on the banned substance list in Spain since July 15.

 

Brits abroad were most likely to be arrested in Spain

Brits abroad were most likely to be arrested in Spain last year, with a total of 1,745 detained in the year ending March 2011.

British expats and holidaymakers in Spain were also most likely to need consular assistance.

However, proportionate to visitor numbers, the place Britons were more likely to be arrested was Thailand, according to new figures.


Mayhem: Brits abroad are most likely to be arrested, hospitalised and need consular assistance in Spain

The total number of arrests worldwide reached 5,700 last year, dipping slightly from 6,439 the previous year and 6,919 in 2008-09.

But while the number of arrests fell, the figures released by the Foreign Office show that Britons are getting into other difficulties while on holiday or living abroad.

More Britons required hospital treatment abroad, even though the number of visits fell.

 

TROUBLE HOTSPOTS TOP 20
COUNTRY
CONSULAR ASSISTANCE CASES
ARRESTS
SPAIN
4,971
1,745
US
1,673
1,272
FRANCE
1,283
159
THAILAND
967
200
GREECE
797
112
GERMANY
670
108
CYPRUS
562
150
TURKEY
454
79
AUSTRALIA
443
125
PORTUGAL
418
28
UAE
382
217
ITALY
349
40
INDIA
338
27
EGYPT
322
34
CHINA
309
131
PAKISTAN
245
28
CANADA
234
100
SWITZERLAND
191
10
PHILIPPINES
171
16
SWEDEN
167
85
There was a slight increase in the total number of Britons who died abroad, 5,972 up from 5,930 in 2009-10 and 5,629 in 2008-09.

But despite the risk of expensive medical treatment and repatriation, as many as one in six Britons still travel abroad uninsured.

Furthermore, two-thirds of Britons do not always find out the laws of the country they are visiting before they go, leaving them at risk for such exotic crimes as wearing camouflage in Barbados, wearing a bikini in the streets of Barcelona and making satirical jokes about the Thai royal family.

Should they get caught out, 32 per cent of Britons are not aware that they would be prosecuted under local law if they broke the rules away from home, a poll from the Foreign Office found.

Six per cent thought they would be prosecuted under UK law, 22 per cent believed it would depend on the country they were in and four per cent admitted to not knowing at all.

Minister for Europe David Lidlington said: ‘We work hard to warn British nationals about the consequences of breaking the law abroad so it is really encouraging to see the overall number of cases of arrests and drug arrests falling.

‘Prison conditions in some parts of the world can be very poor, overcrowded and in some cases dangerous, and sentences can be much tougher than in the UK.


There may be trouble: Some 32 per cent of Britons do not know they would be prosecuted under local law if they broke regulations while abroad

‘People are mistaken if they think the Foreign Office can get you out of jail. We can’t, but we will work hard to try and ensure your safety, and that you get a fair trial.’

The countries with the majority of drug arrests included Jamaica, Norway, Argentina, Brazil, Serbia and Peru. The poll of 2,000 UK adults found that 43 per cent of 18-24 year olds knew someone who had taken illegal drugs while abroad.


Kept busy: The Spanish police must have their hands full with 1,745 Britons arrested in Spain last year alone

The number of sexual assaults on Britons abroad rose from 140 to 163, but the number of rapes fell from 132 to 155.

Proportionately Britons were most likely to be sexually assaulted in Egypt, followed by Turkey.

Some 25,969 Britons lost or had their passports stolen last year, a decrease from 27,272 in the previous year.


Not always idyllic: Tourists were most likely to die in the Philippines last year, 84 per cent through natural causes