Yes, I wasn't impressed either.

In another life I ran entertainment venues similar to those shown on the BBC clip from Magaluf, in a location even busier than Magaluf. To compete with others it was necessary to lower the standards, and prices constantly until the levels got pretty low, but not anywhere near those diabolical Magaluf levels.

Sex acts in public are against Spanish law, and against the laws of most countries, and I would never have allowed those ‘blow jobs’ in my places and would have been closed down anyway had I tried.

I’m all for youngsters enjoying their young lives but, for their sake, there need to be restrictions. I’m surprised they didn’t have Rolf Harris as the DJ, although I thought I saw Gary Glitter among the crowd.

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Honestly, it's not the sex that concerns me so much. The place is crazy, but that's exactly what attracts the crowds. About €1bil per year in total annual revenues, I'm told.

No, what bothers me is that people are getting robbed, hurt, and even dying - largely due to lack of security, which is in truth is a result of lack of will to fund it.

So if I were queen of Magaluf, rather than turn it into a police state, I'd first charge all bars & hotels a tax to fund a much stronger security force. No, not armed nazi police, but lightly armed security personnel with basic policing training and lifesaving skills. Hundreds of them - roaming the streets all night.

Their role would be to stop fights, escalations and keep things from getting out of control, and assisting people who've had too much. Regular police would be standing by, but called in only when something serious takes place.

I'd also establish small "refuges" around the area with basic personnel lightly trained in alcohol and drug first-aid, where people who can no longer fend for themselves can be take to be sobered up, and if serious, ambulances can be called in. I'd also make it mandatory that bars must refuse to serve anyone who appears dangerously drunk, and should be handed over to security to take to the nearest refuge.

Prostitution will always exist, so rather than ban it, I'd establish legal means of opening (regulated) bordels and expressly prohibit street prostitution, therefore removing the means for thieves veiled as prostitutes to openly rob people on the streets, and facilitating police to arrest anyone who does..

I would require all hotels or hi-rise bars to install effective means to prevent anyone from climbing, falling, or jumping from balconies.

Lastly, I would declare Magaluf a special zone where these things are permitted, just to ensure it doesn't spread to the rest of the island, which would frankly, be a tragedy.

No doubt all these costs would be passed on to the visitors and would be met with a lot of opposition from local businesses. But Magaluf is already so cheap, I doubt the additional costs would make much difference to the party animals, and frankly, I'd bet a lot of those party animals would greatly appreciate knowing they can go nuts in a much safer environment, and the place would probably become even more of a "must go" destination.

The Reeperbahn in Hamburg or the Las Vegas strip have properly controlled sex far superior to the dangerous rubbish in Magaluf, and visitors are protected from those diabolical touts featured in the Magaluf BBC documentary.

In Hamburg, Las Vegas, Benidorm, London and any other places where sex is sold to visitors who visit for that reason, the trade is controlled. If the Magaluf rabble appeared on the Reeperbahn, they wouldn’t get more than a few yards and the lot of them would be arrested, along with the touts and club owners.

How on earth did the Spanish authorities allow such behaviour in the first place? I suspect it might be the usual Spanish malaise of three separate and inefficient police forces and a corrupt political system existing on bribes. Isn’t the Duke of Palma up on corruption charges?

Agree. If you watch the last few minutes of the BBC documentary, the police say it's a combination of lack of facilitating law enabling them to arrest, and mostly, funding. They can't have the entire police force at attention in Magaluf all night long.

And that interview with the mayor... he didn't strike me as the most upright citizen in the neighbourhood, and was dodging the questions right and left. Hey, isn't that a nice new Rolex? On a Mayor's salary?

And you're right - even the red light district in Amsterdam is amongst the safest places in the city. Why can't they sort that? It's worth pointing out that street prostitution is absolutely prohibited there and in most of the other similar places. It reduces street crime substantially. Why not Maga?

Plus, there are too few regs placed on the bars or the hotels. Watching the documentary, I couldn't help but wonder why the city hasn't required the hotels to secure the balconies, or how the bars can continue to pump alcohol into already dangerously drunken party animals with complete impunity. Elsewhere, this would constitute criminal negligence, but apparently not here. I don't get it.

But on the other hand, some of the rhetoric that's being discussed now is effectively banning everything imaginable and turning it into a little nazi police state, which wouldn't help anyone either.

*sigh*

The perennial problem for reforming liberals, do we have to sink to the level of our youngsters gobbling each other in public to prove our liberal credentials?

When I get to thinking about that, I put my tick in the Conservative box again. But I don’t want to vote for a little Nazi state either.

This is an aside, an emotional one. I watched a Scottish lady medal winner in Glasgow receive her medal and they played the Scottish national anthem.

It reduced the lady medal winner to tears and I could feel my eyes clouding over. I spent my teenage years in that cold country up yonder. I fell in love there, my first daughter was born there. I had so many fights up there it made me dizzy.

Sorry for the drift.

Is what happens in some Magaluf bars really any different from what goes on in many seedy gay bars all over the country?

Or many seedy straight bars all over the country? Just asking, I don't go in seedy bars anywhere if I can help it.

I think Madridboy is gay hence the adjective 'gay' he wasn't being homophobic

I am gay and I've yet to see people performing sex acts in straight bars......MANY gay bars on the other hand have "dark rooms" specifically for this although it's not uncommon to see this kind of thing when going to a toilet.
Wonder what the reaction would have been if it'd been a gay bar where this was filmed.

I wasn't thinking he was, I was taking a guess that similar stuff happens in sleazy places everywhere.

Apparently the club has been closed and a fine of 54,000 euros imposed.

News: the latest news from across Ireland including crime, politics, education, health and world news - Irish Mirror

Excellent news IMO.