Up next in 10
Squatter Nightmare, The Dark Underbelly of Barcelona & Morrissey’s Valencia Meltdown | Ep. 14
Mar 30, 2026
What’s happening on the streets of Spain this month? In Episode 14 of the "The Rest Is Spain" Podcast, we peel back the curtain on the top headlines from March 2026.
Inside this Episode:
* Squatter Hell: The shocking story of an Australian retiree battling to reclaim his home from an "okupa." Is the law doing enough to protect owners?
* Barcelona’s Dark Underbelly: Beyond the tourism, Barcelona is facing a surge in crime. We discuss the latest safety concerns and the tragic disappearance of James Gracey.
* The Bull Running Crisis: More deaths on the cobbles have reignited the fierce national debate over Spain’s most controversial tradition.
* Morrissey Silenced by Las Fallas: In a bizarre turn of events, the indie icon canceled his Valencia gig, claiming the thunderous noise of Las Fallas made sleeping before the show impossible.
----------------------------------------
🗞️ ABOUT THE OLIVE PRESS
The Olive Press is Spain’s premier English-language newspaper, known for its hard-hitting investigative journalism and local community focus.
Follow the full stories at:https://www.theolivepress.es/
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0:00
Welcome to the Rest is Fame podcast by
0:02
Olive Press brought to you by Stacial
0:05
Expat Travel Insurance. I'm here with
0:07
John and Walt to talk about the stories
0:09
that are important this week for expats
0:12
in Spain.
0:12
>> So guys, if you enjoy the rest of Spain
0:15
podcast and you want to know about
0:16
what's going on for expats in Spain, on
0:18
the Costels, on the Costas, now in
0:20
Barcelona, please give us a subscribe
0:22
because this is what we need to keep the
0:24
podcast going, keep delivering you guys
0:26
the news that interests you and you know
0:27
keeps you entertained and keeps you
0:29
hooked. Please give us a like and a
0:30
subscribe.
0:31
>> Hi John. Hi Walt. How you doing?
0:33
>> Hey Caroline. All good. Buenos Diaz. How
0:36
are you
0:37
>> Yeah, very good. Thank you. Although I
0:39
was a bit upset actually reading the
0:41
front page news this week about the
0:43
squatter and and how awful it is and how
0:47
because of the law here, this poor guy
0:49
is having to pay the squatter's
0:51
livelihood really and it can't get him
0:53
out. So John, tell us a bit more about
0:54
this. Yeah, that's our brand new
0:57
national edition which is uh working its
0:59
way up to Walt. I think it's arriving
1:01
tomorrow in Barcelona and um it's
1:03
arriving at 11 well was arriving at
1:04
11:00 this morning in Madrid. So, we've
1:07
got I think 14 or 15 drops initially in
1:09
Madrid. So, everyone will be reading the
1:11
paper hopefully in the capital later
1:13
this afternoon over a cup of coffee. Um
1:15
yeah, you're right. It's uh it's a very
1:17
very um sad and a and truly poignant
1:20
front page for us because it's kind of
1:22
everyone's dream, isn't it? That you
1:24
come here and you move to a lovely white
1:26
village somewhere, you you have that you
1:28
come on holiday maybe and you have such
1:30
a nice time, you know, you go out
1:31
walking, you see the blue skies, you
1:33
enjoy the local customs. This is what
1:35
exactly what this Australian guy Robert
1:37
um did back in the 1970s where he came
1:40
on a long holiday here uh ended up in
1:43
fact came on on a short holiday of about
1:44
two weeks and ended up staying for an
1:45
entire year. I loved it so much in Ander
1:48
Luthia uh in Jimea that uh he he kind of
1:52
went back to Australia, got a career as
1:54
an architect, built up an architecture
1:56
firm in Melbourne, ended up building 20
1:59
schools and uh churches actually uh he
2:02
designed had a very good reputation and
2:04
finally hit his sort of 70s and thought
2:07
I want to retire to Spain. So he moved
2:10
here 5 years ago, bought himself this
2:12
beautiful estate out in Jimea de la
2:14
Fronta, not far in Kadis, not far from
2:17
Gibralta in the mountains. I think it's
2:19
about 100 hectares. Um, and it's a big
2:22
white pile, you know, sort of typical
2:24
farmhouse, beautiful views. Thought
2:27
everything was going to be great and uh
2:28
then thought, what do I do with this all
2:30
this land? Um decided that uh he needed
2:34
to farm it some way. And lo and behold,
2:36
one of his near neighbors was a goat
2:38
herd. And uh this chap had his his goats
2:41
floating around. He said, "Well, would
2:42
you like to kind of use our lamb? Would
2:44
you like to maybe put your goats in one
2:45
of my uh one of my barns and possibly,
2:48
you know, milk them here and, you know,
2:50
start a milking business, you know, or
2:52
de or develop your milking business?" To
2:54
which the squatter, sorry, squatter, the
2:56
goat, I should say, said yes, please.
2:58
And moved in and that was that. He never
3:01
paid a penny from the first moment that
3:03
he moved in. his goats roamed around,
3:06
did very well, his milk sold very well.
3:09
This guy paid nothing. Nothing at all.
3:11
Gave him no money. No money from the
3:13
milk that he made. And when when Robert
3:16
decided that, you know, he needed to
3:18
sort of move forward and do something
3:19
about it. And the guy just ignored him.
3:21
And it just went from bad to worse. And
3:24
you know how these things happen. And
3:25
before he knew it, he was in the courts.
3:27
The police were getting involved. The
3:29
squatter actually threatened him,
3:32
attacked him. Um he so bad actually he
3:35
moved out of the farm next door and
3:37
moved into the village. Had to get
3:38
himself a place in the village. He was
3:39
so scared of this guy. Even got himself
3:41
a bodyguard because he was so terrified
3:43
of um of of the repercussions and what
3:45
this guy might do. And um you know it's
3:48
actually it was actually uh our kind of
3:50
CTO Keith who runs a podcast for us in
3:52
the background that spotted the story on
3:55
social media and I think it was on a on
3:56
a Facebook page and he uh gave it to to
3:59
the news team and two of our journalists
4:01
um Mave and Karissa went up and saw him
4:05
last month and just said what a sad
4:07
story this lovely lovely lovely guy who
4:09
was here for all the right reasons who
4:11
was you know has just been totally
4:13
stitched up. Now, we're going to take a
4:15
quick break from talking about the news
4:17
to hear from our sponsor.
4:20
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4:21
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expat is a tide agent of Ergo Seor De.
4:48
He's actually won a court case. Uh he's,
4:50
you know, he's paying the guy's
4:51
electricity. He's paying everything for
4:53
this bloke to live there with his goats,
4:55
but he's won a court case to get the guy
4:57
kicked out, but he can't get him out. He
4:59
just
4:59
>> Why is that then, John? So, why can't we
5:01
get him out even with the law behind
5:03
him?
5:04
>> Because Because the law here doesn't
5:06
make sense. It's there's some sort of
5:08
protection going on with the laws. I
5:10
think Walt understands it better than
5:11
me, but the squatting laws in Spain just
5:13
simply don't work. Um, do they Walt? I
5:16
mean, what he's having a real problem
5:18
getting the guy out. It's dragging on
5:20
and it just never seems to end for this
5:22
poor guy. So, we're hoping that our
5:23
front page may help. But maybe
5:25
>> I mean, with these kinds of situations,
5:27
I think you got two types of squatting.
5:29
You've got the squatting where you break
5:30
into an empty home, and there's a
5:32
squatting where you break into an
5:34
occupied home and like kick out the uh
5:37
the occupants.
5:39
>> Wow. This would be I don't know. I think
5:40
one's easier to deal with than the
5:42
other. But then there's always other
5:44
circumstances. For example, if you're
5:46
vulnerable, if you've got pregnant
5:47
people, children, you're not allowed to
5:49
kick these people out of the street. A
5:50
lot of people know how to play the
5:52
system. But I don't know the specifics
5:54
of why. Yeah. If if in the end the court
5:56
says, "Right, you're on the right and
5:58
these guys on the wrong, why it's not
5:59
enforced and the guy's kicked out." I
6:01
would have no clue why that is.
6:02
>> Yeah. Yeah. Well, apparently there was
6:03
an enforcement notice given to him and
6:05
he has to move out, but apparently he's
6:08
got 6 months to do it and he was also
6:11
ordered to pay the electricity, but in
6:12
fact, the electricity company came and
6:14
turned off the electricity. Guy straight
6:16
back on again and he's not allowed to,
6:18
for example, cut he he has to keep
6:20
paying the electricity while it's on and
6:21
he has to keep paying the water for this
6:23
guy as well.
6:25
>> Yeah.
6:26
>> Has this guy said anything? Has the the
6:28
squatter has he spoken in court or
6:30
spoken to us any of our journalists? Has
6:32
he given any possible explanation for
6:35
why he's doing all this?
6:36
>> We we've approached him by email. We He
6:38
was there. In fact, when the girls were
6:39
up there, he came past and was very
6:41
threatening, drove very slowly and
6:42
stared at them, and they were they were
6:44
kind of pretty freaked out by this guy.
6:46
Um, we've tried to contact him and speak
6:47
to him and ask him what he's doing. But,
6:50
you know, the courts are clearly on
6:51
Robert's sides. The police are on
6:53
Robert's side. But as in so many cases
6:56
here in Spain, I I know I've got
6:57
actually a friend in Rhonda who's got an
6:59
estate agency and he has a little house
7:01
in a village just outside Rhonda and
7:04
it's been squatted now by actually by
7:05
expats by British expats. Moved into it.
7:08
>> In one month of moving in, they
7:10
complained that the roof was leaking and
7:11
it was wet and damp and they weren't
7:13
going to pay the rent anymore. They paid
7:14
one month deposit, one month rent, and
7:16
didn't pay another penny. That was three
7:18
years ago. He's been through the courts.
7:21
He's done everything. But unfortunately,
7:22
this is a mother and her daughter. The
7:24
daughter's got issues. This is they say,
7:26
I won't name names, but they say that um
7:29
they're vulnerable. And I think in 2020
7:32
or 21 after COVID, it was decided that
7:34
there couldn't be any evictions in Spain
7:36
due to due to people being vulnerable
7:39
and during COVID when they've they
7:40
feared that so many people were going to
7:42
be thrown out of places. So, this couple
7:45
and this woman works actually. She's an
7:47
artist and I've seen she's selling, she
7:49
wanders around, she's selling her art,
7:51
her daughter's working and meanwhile my
7:53
friend just can't get them out and you
7:54
know he he's been caught three times.
7:56
>> Well, one of the biggest stories we've
7:58
did on done on the on the website in the
8:00
last couple of weeks has been a story
8:02
talking exactly about what you just
8:03
said, John, which is these co era
8:05
protections, keep protecting tenants,
8:06
meaning you can't kick them out. All
8:08
these things, they haven't happened yet,
8:09
but they're going to happen supposedly
8:11
that they're going to um end these
8:13
protections in the next coming weeks or
8:15
months. And it's expected what we've
8:18
what that phrase that we used was to
8:19
trigger a tsunami of evictions. So it
8:22
might be beneficial to your friend in
8:23
Ronda once once these protections are
8:25
taken away. It make it much easier for
8:27
him to get these people out of his
8:29
little house. So So as I understand it,
8:31
there was the law was appealed about a
8:35
year ago, right? And um for some reason
8:38
the the the the Congress voted to to
8:40
overrule it and to shut down this
8:42
special protection, but it still had to
8:45
be appealed again or some for some
8:46
reason. So I I believe it actually now
8:49
it's finally going to be scrapped,
8:50
right? And there are going to people are
8:52
going to actually finally have to leave
8:53
these properties they've been spotting,
8:54
right?
8:55
>> It seems so. It seems so. But like until
8:57
it becomes a fact, it's never
8:59
guaranteed.
9:00
>> Well, that would be interesting to see.
9:01
I think with with squatters, I think
9:03
it's generally that prevention is better
9:05
than the cure, you know. So, you know,
9:08
everyone needs to make sure that they're
9:09
protecting their property, all of that
9:11
kind of stuff. Um, but it's very scary.
9:13
>> Is it It's 72 hours, isn't it? I think
9:15
if you if someone So, if you go away on
9:17
holiday, someone breaks in or or gets
9:19
into your property, you've got to report
9:21
them within 72 hours, haven't you, to
9:23
the local police. And I'm not even sure
9:25
if it's the actual nationals or guardia.
9:27
And if you don't do that, say you report
9:29
after 4 days, it's too late. Then you
9:31
have to go through a whole court
9:32
procedure. So if you do it within 3
9:34
days, you can get an emergency very fast
9:37
rapid eviction, which I think can be a
9:39
matter of week or two weeks or maybe
9:41
immediate. If it not,
9:43
>> then you have the entire process which
9:45
will be minimum minimum six months.
9:47
>> And the the smart squatters, they
9:49
produce a forged copy of a contract or a
9:51
lease or um some kind of an agreement
9:53
showing that you have a rightful have
9:55
the right to be in the house. And even
9:57
though it's a nonsense, it takes time to
9:59
prove that. And therefore, you 48 hour
10:02
72hour limit.
10:03
>> Yeah. Well, I mean,
10:06
>> these are gangs who actually do this,
10:07
who go around, find properties that are
10:09
semi- empty, and basically then sell on
10:11
the keys, don't they? So, they they
10:13
often have 20, 30, 40 properties.
10:15
>> Big mafia that's been doing this. We
10:16
covered it a few places, especially in
10:18
LA County. Um, it's a tricky one because
10:21
you can't you see you find the people in
10:22
the buildings in the houses. So, you you
10:24
target them as the villains, but there's
10:26
people behind the scenes that you don't
10:27
really get to see pulling the strings.
10:29
Yeah.
10:29
>> And they're the real masterminds.
10:31
>> And that guy in Alakante, who's banned
10:33
from Alakante, who who's behind 488
10:36
different
10:37
>> uh properties that were squatted, right?
10:39
Um, he he's not allowed to go into
10:41
Alakante at all. I'm not even sure it's
10:42
the city or the province, but he's
10:44
behind so many of these these cases.
10:47
>> And you should be in jail. He just
10:48
laughs. He just He's not He's not been
10:50
to prison and he just laughs and he has
10:52
been fine, but he
10:54
>> shocking. So, moving on. Um, talking of
10:58
where you live and not feeling
11:00
comfortable where you are, what's your
11:02
story, Walt, you've been talking about
11:04
these dangerous neighborhoods in
11:05
Barcelona. So, tell us more about that.
11:08
>> Yeah, it connects actually quite nicely
11:09
to the squatting issue because um we did
11:11
a story this week, last week about the
11:14
most dangerous neighborhoods in Spain.
11:17
It's from a 20 2024 um survey, so it's
11:20
not super recent, but the the number two
11:24
neighborhood in all of Spain was El
11:26
Raval in Barcelona,
11:28
>> which for many people will be quite a
11:30
well-known bario. I think number one was
11:33
one in in Sevilla, which I'd never heard
11:35
of. And I think
11:36
>> Yeah,
11:37
Vivendas. It's really famous. It's
11:39
amazing. It's unbelievable. Very near
11:41
the center. And it it's actually it's
11:44
completely lawless. We've done quite a
11:45
bit on it over the years.
11:46
>> Really?
11:47
>> Wow.
11:48
>> Well, the one in Barcelona Revel. So, I
11:51
used to live there 10 years ago, a bit
11:52
more. And to be honest, I had a very
11:54
nice time there. But if you I live
11:56
there's certain areas where it's fine
11:58
and there's nice bars and restaurants,
12:00
but if you take one little wrong turn
12:03
meandering down the wrong street,
12:05
>> you're going to be on a street full of
12:07
guys looking to rob you. If you go a
12:09
little bit further,
12:10
>> you in like the prostitution street
12:12
where they might rob you as well, but
12:14
they'll try and sell you sex. And if you
12:17
pull out your phone or, you know, do
12:19
anything, they'll start throwing bottles
12:20
at you and shouting at you. And then you
12:23
get past that, then there's another
12:25
street. Um, if you go along there, it
12:28
goes towards the Rambler and then they
12:29
might try and pick your pocket.
12:31
>> You're not selling it. Um, you know,
12:34
>> it does have its charms, but we've been
12:35
saying that um because of this, it's
12:37
right in the heart of Barcelona. You
12:38
couldn't really get better position. It
12:40
does have lots of cool bars and places
12:42
to hang out. It's very lively, but
12:44
because there's a big chance that you'll
12:46
be living on a street with lots of um
12:48
drug flats, prices are amazingly low
12:51
considering it's Barcelona, which has a
12:52
housing crisis, very acute housing
12:54
crisis. So, for some people, it's like,
12:56
oh, can I live with drug dealers and
12:57
drug users in exchange for a cheap flat
13:00
in the middle of Barcelona?
13:01
like a tradeoff.
13:03
>> It's trade-off. Yeah. And one thing I
13:05
can tell you actually, if the the this
13:08
class of people in Barcelona that do the
13:10
the muggings and and the stabbings and
13:12
the generally crappy behavior, if they
13:15
know you're in the barrier that you're
13:17
living there, and they recognize your
13:19
face, they leave you alone. And maybe
13:20
even they're nice to you. They help you.
13:21
If if you get robbed, they'll help you
13:23
get your bag or your purse or your
13:25
wallet pack.
13:26
>> Nice.
13:27
>> True. Completely true. I lived next to
13:29
some uh when we first moved here, we
13:30
lived next to some crack addict
13:31
neighbors. And while they initially
13:33
stole a few things, after a I don't know
13:36
year, they were we were their best
13:37
friends and they looked after us all the
13:38
time. They'd always warn us if any was
13:40
around and they'd always So, we haven't
13:42
had any problems for for years after
13:43
that.
13:44
>> Yes. So, it kind of works as a
13:45
double-edged sword, but it's not really
13:46
one you want to play with. But then in
13:48
Barcelona, there's also another
13:49
neighborhood called Barcelonetta, which
13:51
is like kind of fishing village that's
13:54
it's part of the city connects to the
13:56
beachfront. the main the main most
13:58
popular beach in Barcelona where all the
13:59
tourists go. So all the local people go
14:01
to beaches up and down the coast cuz
14:03
they know that the tourist beaches are
14:04
going to be full of tourists, but more
14:06
importantly full of thieves and you
14:07
can't relax and leave your stuff. You
14:09
can't even
14:10
>> you can't even leave your stuff there
14:12
when you're next to it. Like going into
14:14
the sea and leaving your stuff
14:15
unattended is absolutely impossible.
14:18
>> Is it really that bad? I didn't realize
14:19
it was that bad all the time here. You
14:21
have um it's Yeah. Well, where where you
14:24
are down south when I was living in
14:25
Estapona, I would do that all the time
14:26
and it was nice and sometimes I kind of
14:27
do it as a a test. I would leave
14:30
something not that pilot and then um
14:32
nothing ever got stolen. Like it's
14:33
really nice down south and it's a
14:35
completely different dynamic to to
14:37
Catalunia to be honest. So in
14:39
Barcelonetta Beach um it's it's pretty
14:42
bad. But we recently got an uh got in
14:45
touch well a journalist got in touch
14:47
with us offering us a story from her
14:49
very wellressearched investigation into
14:51
these kind of underworld of this town.
14:53
Well, this this neighborhood in
14:54
Barcelona called La Barceloneta and um
14:57
it deals a lot with the racial the
15:00
ethnic gangs and how a lot of the
15:01
underworld is divided up by um ethnicity
15:05
or country. So, you've got the
15:06
Pakistanis and the Moroccans and they
15:08
some of them sell drugs, some of them
15:09
sell something else, some of them carry
15:11
knives, some are violent. Um, and it's a
15:14
fascinating look into this underworld
15:16
and it does lead us on very nicely to um
15:19
one of the biggest stories happening
15:20
right now. Hopefully, by the time this
15:23
podcast is released, the problem or the
15:25
situation will have been resolved. But
15:27
it was on Monday night, uh, which would
15:30
be the 16th of March, so the night
15:33
before St. Patrick's Day. So, it wasn't
15:34
St. Patrick's Day. There's a young
15:36
American guy called James Gracie, 20
15:40
years old, who went to a nightclub in
15:41
Barcelona down by the beachfront in this
15:44
area next to um Barcelonetta. It's in
15:46
the Port Olympic area if you want to
15:48
know. There's two towers, very iconic
15:50
towers in Barcelona. So, it's very
15:52
famous for night life and um it's also
15:54
pretty bad for um thieves and sort of
15:58
undesirabs who hang around looking to
16:01
rob people and pinch your handbag or
16:03
pick your pocket.
16:05
And this guy, James Gracie, he
16:08
disappeared on the night out and he was
16:11
last seen at 3:00 a.m. I think his
16:13
friends went home and he stayed behind.
16:16
Um, and the key thing for me when I read
16:19
the reports that he was missing is that
16:20
he was wearing a gold chain with a
16:22
rhinestone cross like crucifix. Um,
16:26
which knowing the city as I do and
16:28
knowing that area would have been an
16:30
absolute magnet for these these street
16:32
thieves that operate in the area.
16:34
>> Really,
16:35
>> there's a bit of mystery as to really
16:36
what happened because the police have
16:38
his phone and there unconfirmed reports
16:41
that they found his phone when they
16:43
arrested some guys for unrelated
16:44
reasons.
16:46
That's interesting, isn't it? I mean, is
16:48
that connected to to Levi Davis? That
16:51
weird story we did last year or the year
16:53
before last. We did a lot of
16:54
investigation into it.
16:55
>> Now, we're going to take a quick break
16:57
from talking about the news to hear from
16:59
our sponsor
17:00
>> at Real Siguros Expatriots. We are
17:03
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17:17
Reali
17:18
>> Siguros
17:19
Davis was um a British rugby player who
17:23
came to Barcelona on a night out. Well,
17:26
it's very mysterious. He came to
17:27
Barcelona from a ferry. Didn't have his
17:29
wallet or his passport. Some very
17:31
strange behavior in that.
17:33
>> Yeah.
17:33
>> And he was seen on CCTV, visiting a few
17:36
bars along the Rambler, one of the main
17:37
strips. Not a very nice to be honest
17:40
part of the town. And then he
17:41
disappears. And um I think This case is
17:44
a couple of years old, but the last
17:46
thing I knew they were looking for his
17:48
body in the port in or like the um the
17:50
main industrial port of the uh the city
17:53
>> and that has had a bad ending. We don't
17:55
think they found a body, but he's been
17:56
declared dead.
17:57
>> Well, there are claims they claim that
17:59
he was um maybe snatched by one of the
18:01
kind of gangs, maybe a male prostitution
18:03
gang even. There's a lot of rumors that
18:05
he was involved in drugs and he was in a
18:07
beforehand that he that he may have been
18:09
linked these drug gangs and
18:11
>> he was a rugby guy, musly guy that was
18:13
apparently gay or bisexual and he yeah
18:16
he did get himself mixed up in some of
18:18
this CD underworld. Actually Barcelona
18:20
separately does have a reputation for um
18:22
a CD gay underworld of like chemex and
18:26
and things which is different story but
18:28
that that exists as well. professional
18:29
professional rugby player, professional
18:31
rugby league player. And he was actually
18:32
on t British TV on Love Island or or
18:36
Temptation Island, one of those kind of
18:37
programs.
18:38
>> Yeah.
18:38
>> Yeah. He he was a big fish and and and
18:41
it was a really we did a lot of digging
18:42
into that story actually.
18:44
>> Yeah. He disappeared and they think,
18:45
yeah, maybe he was snatched. Maybe he
18:46
messed with the wrong people or maybe
18:47
there is some, you know, underground
18:49
network of um of like gay forced
18:53
prostitution. No one got to the bottom
18:55
of it, but it's a really dark dark story
18:58
that didn't have a nice ending.
19:00
>> And going back to this guy Gracie, James
19:02
Gracie, I mean, people are just praying
19:04
that it's not anything on that scale.
19:07
He's been missing now for 2 and 1/2
19:08
days,
19:09
>> okay?
19:10
>> Which is quite a long time. If there's a
19:11
crazy bender, which does happen in
19:13
Barcelona, that's normally he'd wake up
19:15
by now and go home.
19:17
>> He doesn't have his phone. He might have
19:19
his wallet. That's not been confirmed as
19:20
far as I know.
19:21
>> He's a big guy. is sort of 6' something
19:25
athletic guy plays um American football.
19:27
>> Was he on holiday or was he living there
19:29
in the city?
19:29
>> Yeah, so he comes he's a University of
19:31
Alabama student. So I guess I'm not sure
19:33
he's from Alabama, but that's where he
19:34
studies. And he was in Barcelona on
19:37
holiday as a tourist staring staying in
19:39
an Airbnb for spring break.
19:42
>> So these kinds of disasters often
19:45
>> follow Americans on on spring break.
19:48
Wow.
19:48
>> At the moment, nothing is really known.
19:50
The police haven't um said anything they
19:52
never do, but the family members have
19:55
sort of leaked stuff to to on social
19:58
media. So, there's it's all a bit
20:01
>> Can we set up an interview with the
20:03
family?
20:04
>> We're trying to we're trying. I think
20:05
they've got a lot of um US exposure.
20:07
It's been on Fox News and few other big
20:09
media outlets.
20:10
>> Um I have pitched us as the English
20:12
language news in in Barcelona. Um
20:15
>> we'll see. We'll see. I think they're
20:17
very overwhelmed. I think the father and
20:18
the mother have flown in as well and um
20:22
>> we should be able to track them down. I
20:23
imagine
20:23
>> we talked to Levi's mom. We said see if
20:25
we can dig out phone number for Levi
20:27
Davis's mom because she was speaking to
20:28
the police very closely in that case and
20:31
was very frustrated that they had some
20:33
good leads but the police weren't
20:34
dealing with it and she she got some
20:37
great tip offs that connected her son to
20:39
this sort of strange underbelly this
20:40
weird
20:41
>> you know sort of gay sex underbelly of
20:44
the city. You always get the suspicion
20:46
that the police aren't pursuing every
20:48
lead as diligently as they should. And
20:51
especially sadly to say if it's a Brit
20:53
in Spain getting into trouble, they
20:56
don't either if they don't not
20:58
interested in in pursuing it that
21:00
diligently or they don't understand all
21:02
the cultural linguistic differences. But
21:04
you do get the sense that these these
21:06
are cases not investigated as well as
21:08
they should be.
21:09
If it was a guy from Ander Luthia from
21:11
Kadis who'd gone there for spring break,
21:14
you guarantee they would be digging
21:15
they'd be all over it.
21:17
>> Yeah, could be. So, um, so his photos
21:21
been circulated, you know, let's hope
21:23
that there some leads come in from that.
21:26
>> Yeah,
21:26
>> this is really shocking. Um, and then
21:29
let's move on to the next story, which
21:31
is another sad one. So, there's been a
21:33
death from a bull running already in
21:35
2026. So John, tell us a bit more about
21:38
this topic.
21:39
>> Yeah, I mean it's a topic that we've
21:41
we've explored in the paper this issue.
21:43
It's it's our big six seven. It's a kind
21:45
of talking piece. It's an in-depth
21:46
feature looking at not bull fighting but
21:49
actually bull running. And uh you'll see
21:51
on the wall behind me some some pictures
21:52
from Pamplona. Quite a quite a valuable
21:55
interesting collection of pictures that
21:57
I acquired from a guy didn't want them
21:59
anymore. And they're actually quite
22:00
historic and and and are based towards a
22:02
book that was written in the 70s by a
22:04
guy called James Mitcher. the drifters.
22:07
And this is something that Spain goes
22:09
back to the 15th century in Spain and it
22:11
started in Pamplona. And the idea is
22:13
that you run with bulls as a bravery
22:16
thing. And that every
22:18
>> every time the bulls were taken into the
22:20
town in Pamplona to go to the market or
22:21
a bull fight, they were taken through
22:23
the town the first thing in the morning.
22:25
And and what happened was traditionally
22:28
people spotted the bulls being rushed
22:29
through the town. Thought that' be fun.
22:30
Let's run with them. Let's show up at
22:32
how brave we are. And so people started
22:33
to run with the bulls as it were. That's
22:35
that's how San Famine as it's known
22:37
Pamplona got to be known as now
22:40
something in Spanish culture decided
22:43
that this was something that they were
22:44
going to spread out around the whole of
22:46
the country and is not a region in the
22:48
whole of Spain even in Catalunia where I
22:50
think they ban bull fighting but they
22:51
still have bull festivals
22:54
>> as Valencia will will confirm this where
22:57
um they they basically take bulls out in
23:00
the street and they run them around and
23:02
uh people try and get out get out of
23:04
their way. They try and tease them and
23:06
almost inevitably that evening they get
23:08
either get chopped at the bull at a bull
23:10
fight or they get chopped anyway and
23:12
then eaten hopefully.
23:13
>> It's um something that that believe it
23:16
or not this is the most shocking thing.
23:18
We looked into this that in on
23:19
Valentine's Day this year in a place
23:21
called Suda D Rodigo in uh in Salamanca
23:24
province, a 71-year-old guy was just
23:28
standing in the way of a ball in one of
23:29
these things and got gored and died and
23:31
he was died within a minute of getting
23:32
to the hospital. You know, massively
23:34
ruptured
23:35
>> Valentine's Day 71year-old. We looked
23:37
into it. One of the journalists at work,
23:39
Rachel, had a decided um she would have
23:42
a good dig into it. We discovered that
23:44
23 people died in TW 2022 from these
23:48
fairly innocuous bull festivals. These
23:51
little festivals in these mostly in
23:52
these towns. None of them died big
23:53
festivals that we've all heard of. They
23:55
all died in small towns. And then it
23:57
turns out that almost every year a dozen
24:00
or more people can die at these
24:01
festivals. And we're talking about
24:02
hundreds and hundreds of people dying
24:05
every, you know, over the last decade or
24:07
two from these just running down a
24:10
little side street by basically trying
24:13
to show their bravery in a little tiny
24:15
village somewhere that you know and and
24:17
and they range from 12year-old kids who
24:20
didn't die but got really badly injured
24:21
to an 18-year-old who died, 17year-old
24:24
who died, you know, you go through the
24:27
list of it and you think this is
24:28
extraordinary. Why on earth? And
24:30
actually Sudad Rodrigo the town hall
24:33
when they announced a press release the
24:35
next day to say the 71year-old guy had
24:37
died said in the press release we can
24:39
say proudly that nobody's died in this
24:42
festival since 1986.
24:45
Okay.
24:48
I mean, doesn't excuse it because we
24:50
also saw that 50 people normally get
24:52
taken to hospital during Pamplona's
24:54
running of the balls and there's not
24:55
statistics on how many people get taken
24:57
to hospital who may be crippled or
24:59
broken their backs or whatever from this
25:00
sort of thing.
25:01
>> And it makes you wonder what is it what
25:03
is it about the Spanish that they love
25:04
this thing so much that they're so
25:06
passionate about
25:08
>> being with bulls and and and doing it.
25:10
And we're trying to we did a feature
25:12
that wasn't really didn't really explore
25:14
why it sort of explained it. I feel
25:16
there's a second part of this feature to
25:18
be written about what is it about the
25:19
Spanish psyche and that the population
25:21
the culture that that that allows them
25:23
or wants lets them and I wouldn't want
25:25
to stop it because it's their festival.
25:27
It's in their culture but it's it's so
25:29
unusual isn't it that that would happen
25:31
and people
25:32
>> what they're praying for. Do you think
25:33
they're stupid? What do you what do you
25:35
guys think? O takes takes balls to do
25:38
these things.
25:39
>> Does he call it coonics?
25:41
>> Yeah, it certainly does.
25:42
>> But it doesn't mean you're smart. You
25:44
know, doesn't two things are not
25:45
mutually exclusive.
25:46
>> Would you do it? Would you take
25:48
>> I've done San film in um
25:51
>> Did you run? Did you run? W
25:53
>> did run. But um
25:54
>> you did. Well done.
25:56
>> It happened so fast and they once they
25:58
passed you, it's gone. So it was over
26:01
>> in in I don't know.
26:03
>> How old were you? How drunk were you?
26:05
Good questions, John. Um, this will be
26:07
2013 putting me smackbang 30 and it was
26:12
one of those 6 a.m. running like the
26:14
first running of the day.
26:16
>> The tradition is that you drink all
26:17
night and party all night and then run
26:19
with the bulls when you've not very
26:20
compus and at least if something bad
26:22
happens, you probably won't feel the
26:24
pain immediately. But um so I I have
26:27
done it but I mean it is it is so
26:29
dangerous and reminds me of a story we
26:31
did just last September
26:34
where um if you look on social media
26:37
you've always got videos of these bulls.
26:39
So it's not like necessarily San Famine,
26:41
but like the ones that you're talking
26:42
about, John, in Valencia, little towns
26:44
PBLO you never heard of.
26:45
>> And crazy scenarios with like these thin
26:48
matchstick fences trying to separate
26:50
crowds of people from a raging bull and
26:54
doesn't always go wrong, but sometimes
26:55
it does. Or people are inside the um the
26:57
arena, they're pulling the bull's tail,
26:59
and between a few people, they distract
27:00
it. So it doesn't get anyone, but you
27:02
know, one day it does get someone. And
27:04
there was this one story that it's um
27:06
it's very grim and it's on our website
27:08
if anyone wants to look it up in the
27:10
town of Ubrique in Karith in like the
27:13
mountains of de Kith mountains nice
27:15
little town of about 2,000 people and
27:18
they're doing the running through these
27:19
the the wall the streets of the village
27:21
and there's not many streets in the
27:22
village and the guy's filming up from
27:24
the roof so he's nice and safe smart guy
27:27
and there's a few people dotted in the
27:29
street and then there's a bull coming
27:30
down and everyone's kind of nonchalantly
27:33
getting out the way. And these three
27:35
guys, they tried to um pull themselves
27:37
up on the bars of a window. And the two
27:40
on either side pull themselves up nice
27:42
and high, but not that high that the
27:43
ball couldn't got them. But
27:45
unfortunately for the guy in the middle,
27:46
I mean, I think he was a man 61 or 60 or
27:49
so, he couldn't get himself up. So, he's
27:52
he's pulling himself up, but he's just
27:53
30 30 cmters above the ground. And it's
27:56
um catastrophe, you can see it happening
27:58
coming. The bull clips his legs so he
28:02
falls down onto the floor. Everyone else
28:05
by now is scared. It's happened so fast.
28:07
Everyone's now scurryed to safety apart
28:09
from this one guy who's on his back and
28:11
the bull gores him against the floor and
28:13
then gores him into a door and um
28:17
>> yeah shoes are flying off and in the
28:19
video we've had to pixelate all this cuz
28:21
it's very very graphic but he gets ged
28:23
into a doorway and there's a person
28:25
standing in that doorway
28:27
>> and it's one of the worst things you can
28:30
see
28:30
>> you know close the door
28:33
>> it's something that that is so it's
28:35
ingrained in their sort of psyche And
28:37
actually a friend of ours, Rob, right at
28:39
the beginning of the olive press back in
28:41
2007,
28:42
>> went and ran did this actually in a
28:44
village called Gausine in in in the cost
28:46
just in land soul
28:48
>> and he was taking pictures of um this
28:51
bull running around in Gaus do it once a
28:53
year and suddenly the bull turned and
28:55
went for him and it caught him and it
28:57
took him and he and there's this amazing
28:58
video which we we had at the time which
29:00
didn't obviously back in the day we
29:02
didn't have ability to put it on our
29:03
website but we got photographs of him
29:05
being tossed in the air And then the
29:07
aftermath was his two broken ribs,
29:09
scratches, cuts, and he's standing
29:11
there. He's sitting there in his chair
29:13
like I mean he was in absolute agony and
29:15
he was like well we interviewed him and
29:16
he's like look you know the bull's got
29:19
its chance to get its own it own
29:23
thinking don't you film me.
29:25
>> It's like now you know how these bull
29:27
fighters fear you know how they you know
29:29
that the bravery that they need. He said
29:31
it was just terrifying you know being
29:33
thrown in the air like a ragd doll.
29:35
>> Interesting. interesting part of Spanish
29:37
culture. Um but yeah, so you know um
29:40
moving on from that story, uh there's
29:43
just one more that I want to
29:44
>> talking about miser misery.
29:45
>> You talk about misery. Yeah. So Morrisy,
29:48
what's going on? He
29:49
>> misery Morrisy.
29:52
>> What do you make of it, Caroline? I
29:53
mean, what what
29:55
>> you know some of you know what they're
29:57
like? Well, he kind of eventually Yeah.
29:59
Go on, John. Explain.
30:00
>> Yeah. So So Morrisy's doing his European
30:03
tour. I think he does it every other
30:04
year, every third year. and he's meant
30:06
to be playing three shows in Spain. The
30:09
first show he's arriving from Milan, I
30:12
think, and uh it's in Valencia. Of
30:14
course, no one told him that it was
30:15
during the FIAS festival. Oh, he
30:17
probably could have worked it out,
30:18
>> but he was meant to be playing live in
30:20
that amazing city of life and sciences,
30:22
that beautiful building that I actually
30:23
once saw the cure there once years ago.
30:25
Brilliant, brilliant venue, lovely
30:26
place.
30:27
>> And um so it turns out that uh it was so
30:30
noisy during the fire that night by his
30:33
hotel where he had a five-star hotel.
30:35
didn't have good earplugs and he was
30:36
kept up all night due to the bangs. He
30:39
said it was the most traumatic night of
30:41
his life and he'll never get over it, he
30:44
says. And as a result, uh he decided he
30:47
couldn't play the concert the next night
30:48
and uh refused to play for the 1500 fans
30:51
who'd paid 50 or 100 euros presumably
30:54
for a ticket.
30:55
>> Well, let's not forget when you can't
30:57
sleep, it's not great. But equally, you
31:01
know, he has a responsibility as an
31:02
artist, doesn't he, to, you know,
31:04
>> he's got a huge responsibility. All
31:06
those people throw that down. But then
31:07
you think,
31:08
>> you say 1,500 paying 100 a pop. Is that
31:12
15,000?
31:14
150,000? I can't do the maths.
31:15
>> Someone's got to pay that.
31:16
>> Someone's got to pay a refund. So, I
31:19
don't know. I think these shows have
31:20
insurance.
31:21
>> So, the insurance for, you know, someone
31:23
like Morrisy, the premium must be out of
31:25
this roof. But in the end, who's going
31:27
to pay that?
31:28
>> Yeah. Yeah, if he'd broken his leg or he
31:29
was seriously ill or something, then
31:31
then you'd kind of get it. But not
31:32
getting a couple of hours sleep when you
31:34
can have sleep the night after the after
31:36
the concert, you presumably make it up,
31:38
it's just not acceptable, is it?
31:40
>> No, it's not.
31:41
>> No,
31:45
>> I think what was our I think our
31:46
headline was Heaven knows he's miserable
31:48
now.
31:49
>> Yeah, he is.
31:51
>> He did but he did play the next two
31:53
nights as it happens. one in Seville, I
31:56
think, and one in Bill Bau, or whatever
31:57
it was.
31:59
>> Well done, Morris doing the second two
32:01
gigs.
32:02
>> And he canled quite a few gigs in
32:03
America last year, and he's done it
32:04
before in Europe, apparently. So, he's
32:06
>> he's got four. Yeah,
32:07
>> he's quite a sensitive chap is is
32:09
Morrisy.
32:10
>> Yeah. Gosh. Okay. Well, great week for
32:13
the news. Um, let's hope that, you know,
32:16
the missing guy gets found and look
32:19
forward to the next podcast. Thanks,
32:21
guys.
32:22
>> Thank you very much. See you next time.
32:24
>> Bye.
32:25
>> Bye.
32:30
Um,
32:30
>> don't forget to subscribe to The Rest of
32:32
Spain on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple
32:36
Podcasts.