Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Neil and I live in a Shoreditch townhouse, where the kitchen’s in the basement. For a long time, we used to host people upstairs and keep the chaos down below but by now most people who come here know that’s a bit of a show and they’ll muck in. For small dinners, like the menu here, we’ll keep everything downstairs.

We work out menus by going to the butcher’s in the morning, choosing a bit of meat and building a meal out around it. There’s not much planning beyond that, and we tend to cook jumping in on top of each other rather than dividing jobs equally . . . except pasta is always me, and carving the meat is always Neil. A friend once told us we make hosting look easy. There’s no panicking, although, admittedly, quite a lot of swearing. The only time the system doesn’t work is if Neil cooks one thing on the entire menu and it ends up being the dish that everyone compliments. That leaves me fuming.

We’re in the heart of game season at the moment, which is something we should all be eating more of but are a bit scared to approach. Venison, in particular is very easy — you treat it like beef, and all you need to remember is that it’s a lean meat, so you want plenty of butter and maybe some lardons. In terms of game birds, partridge is mid-level when it comes to difficulty — because it’s small it’s most suitable for pan frying, whereas pheasant and poussin you can treat more or less like a chicken, just cooked for less time. You could substitute either here if you’re struggling to get hold of partridge. But do try and get a game bird of some sort, because it makes so much more sense than importing our meat.

Pumpkin soup

1. In a large pan big enough to hold all the diced pumpkin add the olive oil and knob of butter and heat gently.

2. Add the onion and garlic. Cook gently until soft, then add the pumpkin. Season and then stir for a couple of minutes.

3. Cover with the stock, bring to a boil then turn down and simmer until the pumpkin is soft, about 20 minutes.

4. Remove from the heat and blend together using a hand blender until smooth. At this stage, you can store in the fridge until ready to serve.

5. Gently reheat and serve with a dash of olive oil and spoon of crème fraîche.

Welsh rarebit

This is unashamedly the St John recipe, which is truly the best Welsh rarebit in the world.

1. Melt the butter in a pan, stir in the flour, and let this cook together until it smells biscuity but is not browning, about two minutes.

2. Add the mustard powder and cayenne pepper. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce and whisk the Guinness in, then add the cheese gradually over a gentle heat so that it melts into the mix.

3. When it’s all of one consistency, remove from the heat, pour out into a shallow container, and allow to set. It will keep happily in the fridge for a couple of weeks in this state.

4. When ready to serve, take each piece of bread and toast on both sides. Cover one side with the rarebit mixture to about 1cm thick — if you find that it doesn’t spread with ease, press it on with your fingers. Put it on a baking sheet and place under the grill until golden and bubbling.

Beetroot and venison salad

For the vinaigrette

1. Make the vinaigrette by combining the ingredients. Leave to one side.

2. In a pan, add the washed beetroot and cover with cold water. Add the vinegar, salt, sugar and the bay leaf. Bring to the boil, turn down to a simmer and cook until a knife can go through the beetroot easily, about 45 minutes.

3. When cooked, drain, and peel the skin off the beetroot once cool enough to handle but still warm. (If you have plastic gloves it will save you getting red hands.) Cut into inch-sized chunks while still warm and toss into the vinaigrette.

4. When ready to serve, heat a frying pan and add the oil and butter until it starts to foam, then add the seasoned loin and colour evenly, turning as you do.

5. Once it’s evenly coloured, cook the loin for another four minutes in a pan, then remove from the pan and allow to rest.

6. To finish the salad toss the beetroot with the torn radicchio and crushed pickled walnuts. Arrange on a serving dish and place the sliced venison over the salad then serve immediately.

Pan-fried partridge

1. In a pan large enough to hold the partridges, add the oil and butter, and gently heat until the butter starts to bubble and turn golden brown.

2. Season the partridges inside and out.

3. Place into the foaming butter and start to colour all over, starting on the breast side. Move the partridges around to evenly colour the birds. This should take about 10 minutes. (If you have the legs, repeat the same process in a separate pan but cook for 20 minutes, so they are lovely and soft.)

4. Remove the partridges to a deep tray, placing them cavity-side upwards. While the pan is still hot, add a dash of red wine vinegar and mix with the butter then use a spoon to baste inside the cavity with the fats.

5. Rest the partridges for 10 minutes then serve with their cooking juices on the cavolo nero.

Cavolo nero

1. Place a pan of salted water on to boil.

2. Prep the cavolo nero by removing the leaves from the stalks.

3. Place in the boiling water and blanch until cooked, about five minutes. Drain well and allow to cool.

4. When ready to serve, add a spoon of oil and the garlic and bacon to a frying pan and sauté over a medium heat until crispy.

5. Add the cavolo nero and sauté together briefly. Check the seasoning and finish with a touch of black pepper.

Caramelised onion halves

1. Halve the onions across their middles (leave the skins on).

2. Over a medium heat, heat the olive oil and butter together in a frying pan or saucepan large enough to hold the onions in a single layer.

3. When the butter has melted and starts to bubble, season the onions with salt and pepper and add them to the pan, cut side downwards. Allow them to sizzle for three to four minutes, until golden brown, then turn them over so that they are skin-side down.

4. Add five tbs of water and cover the surface of the pan with a piece of baking paper or lid.

5. Turn the heat down to low and cook for 15-20 minutes, removing the covering to turn occasionally and adding a little more butter and water as necessary, until the onions are soft enough that a knife goes through them easily.

Pommes aligot

This cheesy potato dish is a southern French staple and often appears on the menu at The French House, where Neil is head chef. But there is no substitute for tome fraîche, an unsalted fresh cheese, so if you can’t find it, it’s best to serve mashed potatoes instead.

1. Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until very tender.

2. Melt the butter with the rosemary and garlic and set aside.

3. Drain the potatoes well, and allow them to steam for a few minutes.

4. Pass the butter (not the aromatics) into a clean pan, push the potatoes through a sieve, add milk and check seasoning.

5. Add the tome fraîche and heat while stirring vigorously until smooth and stringy. Serve immediately.

Rum-soaked prunes

1. Stir tea and 500ml boiling water in a small bowl; let brew for five minutes.

2. Strain into a medium saucepan.

3. Add the rum and vanilla, if using, and bring to the boil for two minutes.

4. Place prunes in a large bowl; stir in hot syrup. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

5. Store in the fridge.

Vanilla tart

For the pastry

For the custard

1. Preheat your oven to 170C. Cut the cold butter into small pieces and rub into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, salt and lemon zest and mix well.

2. Beat together the egg yolk and whole egg and slowly add to the mixture. Mix until the pastry forms a ball. Do not over-work.

3. Wrap tightly in parchment paper and press down so it forms a flat disc, then refrigerate for two hours.

4. On a lightly floured surface roll the pastry out to about 2mm thick, then use it to line an 18cm tart ring. Press the pastry gently into the sides and prick the base with a fork.

5. Line with parchment paper and add baking beans or rice to cover the base. Bake blind for about 10 minutes or until the pastry is starting to turn golden brown around the edges. Remove the beans (once cool enough to handle) and cook for a further 10 minutes until evenly coloured.

6. Turn the oven down to 130°C.

7. Bring the cream to the boil in a pan with the vanilla.

8. Whisk the yolks and sugar together then add the cream and vanilla and mix well. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve into a jug.

9. Place the empty pastry case in the oven then pour the custard mix right to the brim. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the custard appears set but not too firm. Remove from the oven and grate the nutmeg on top. Allow to cool to room temperature before serving with the prunes.

Angela Hartnett is chef-patron of Cafe Murano and Murano. Neil Borthwick is head chef at The French House

Follow @FTMag to find out about our latest stories first and subscribe to our podcast Life and Art wherever you listen

Rachel Reeves is considering raising UK capital gains tax in her Budget on October 30. By doing so, she would be following in the footsteps of a long line of British chancellors who have changed the rate since it was first introduced by Labour nearly 60 years ago.

What level has UK capital gains tax been historically?

Generally, it has fallen between two opposite poles; higher rates with more generous reliefs and lower rates with few reliefs.

The tax was introduced by the Labour chancellor James Callaghan in 1965 at a flat rate of 30 per cent on gains realised on the disposal of assets. It was created to prevent people converting income into capital gains to avoid paying high rates of income tax.

After a period of high inflation in the 1970s, an “indexation allowance” was introduced in 1982 to avoid the taxation of paper gains from rising prices.

In 1988, the first big reform of CGT was undertaken by Conservative chancellor Nigel Lawson who equalised CGT rates with individuals’ marginal income tax rates — the highest of which was 40 per cent at the time.

However, Lawson’s reforms also introduced generous reliefs, including a rebasing of assets to their market value in 1982, in order to cushion the effect of the rate rise, and introduced reliefs for small business owners on retirement.

Another big reform came in 1998 when Labour chancellor Gordon Brown scrapped indexation relief, arguing it was unnecessary in a low-inflation environment.

Instead, Brown introduced a new system called “taper relief”. This sought to encourage investors to hold assets for longer, particularly shares in businesses, and taxed them at successively lower rates the longer the length of ownership.

When Labour’s Alistair Darling took over from Brown in 2008, he scrapped the relief and instead levied CGT at a single flat rate of 18 per cent for individuals and a 10 per cent rate for some business owners. The latter became known as entrepreneurs’ relief and is now referred to as business asset disposal relief.

Under the Tory-led government coalition with the Liberal Democrats, the chancellor George Osborne raised the CGT rate to 28 per cent for higher-rate taxpayers in 2010.

What has the UK’s policy been more recently?

In 2016, Osborne cut the rate for most assets (apart from carried interest and certain residential property) to 20 per cent for higher-rate taxpayers and 10 per cent for basic-rate taxpayers. Earlier this year, then-chancellor Jeremy Hunt lowered the residential property rate from 28 per cent to 24 per cent.

CGT is currently charged at the rate of either 10 per cent or 18 per cent for basic rate UK taxpayers. For higher or additional rate taxpayers, the rate is either 20 per cent or 24 per cent. Carried interest is charged at 28 per cent.

But since about 2010 the divergence between gains declared and tax paid has widened substantially. Tax experts said this could be due to a number of reasons, such as the stripping out of indexation relief and increases in the annual exemption allowance, which rose from £10,100 in 2010-11 to a peak of £12,300 in 2022-23. It has since been cut to £3,000.

How do other countries tax CGT?

Most countries in the OECD group of wealthy nations have CGT rates significantly lower than their income tax rates — a pattern the UK conforms to.

Across the world CGT is levied in various ways, with specific reliefs and exemptions applied to different types of assets, holding time and transactions.

For instance, the highest tax rate on capital gains in Australia is 45 per cent (the top income tax rate). But the regime also allows for a 50 per cent discount on the gain for assets held for more than 12 months.

The US charges CGT at a headline rate of 20 per cent, however, most pay at 15 per cent if an asset is held longer than 12 months.

Other countries make use of features that were historically part of the UK system, such as France, which has a taper relief for property that is dependent on length of ownership, or Portugal, which has an indexation allowance on property in certain circumstances.

Nordic nations typically have some of the top CGT levies, with Denmark’s rate of 42 per cent among the highest in the world.

Meanwhile, several jurisdictions, including the Bahamas, Belgium, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the UAE, do not charge CGT at all.

“[CGT] is not a huge amount of any country’s tax take,” added Elsa Littlewood, partner at BDO.

What happens when governments raise rates?

Even the rumour of rate rises has been shown to trigger a sell-off of investments or assets, Littlewood said, pointing to official statistics last month that showed that CGT receipts in August were the highest received in that month for several years.

In contrast, when higher rates are actually in place it has tended to result in fewer people selling assets, to avoid paying tax at the higher rate.

John Barnett, chair of the technical policy and oversight committee of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, a professional body, said the Lawson CGT regime “arguably restricted entrepreneurship”.

“It definitely led people to leave the country, go off to Belgium or Portugal, say, to realise gains and then come back. It meant that people hung on to things and didn’t sell them, which was bad for tax receipts and the economy,” he said.

“If you tinker with CGT there’s more chance for behavioural change [from taxpayers],” added Emma Rawson, technical officer for the Association of Taxation Technicians.

And what is the effect of lowering them?

One senior adviser said that generally lower rates have brought in more CGT revenue. “The Lawson period had relatively low CGT paid compared to the Brown period,” they noted.

However, an OECD working paper found that across the OECD the empirical evidence was not so clear-cut. “Changes in the tax rate or anticipated changes have coincided with large increases in capital gains realisations, but realisations quickly fell back to previous levels,” it concluded.

In 2010, Osborne told parliament the Treasury had produced an analysis that showed an optimum CGT rate of 28 per cent.

More recently Conservative officials told the FT a rate of 24 per cent on property was considered the peak of the CGT Laffer curve, the point at which increased taxes will depress economic activity and lead to a lower overall yield.

Some tax experts think that because of these risks Reeves will not seek to raise the rate much higher than it currently stands.

“In the UK’s tenuous situation in a post-Brexit, post-Covid world, it’s a really very challenging policy to be playing around with,” said Daniel Bunn, president and chief executive of the US-based Tax Foundation think-tank.

A TOURIST hotspot in Spain has slammed holidaymakers with fresh restrictions – will you be affected?

Brits dreaming of jetting off to Seville are set to be impacted by the new rules, which will see a clamp down on Airbnb-style accommodation.

3

3

Advertisement

The controversial regulations raised eyebrows as they were announced on Thursday.

It means the number of tourist apartments in each neighbourhood can’t exceed 10 per cent of total homes.

This will significantly impact areas such as Triana, that are already overrun with tourists, where no new licences will be granted.

Urban Planning delegate, Juan de la Rosa, said the move hopes to forge more reconciliation between tourism and disgruntled locals who feel pushed out.

But, the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party hit back and said new rules should have be even “tougher and more ambitious”.

Under the fresh policy, 23,000 licences could still be granted in areas with less tourists.

It comes after government in Barcelona stripped 10,000 tourist flats of their licence to the fury of Airbnb owners.

And, in June, the mayor of the Catalan capital announced a full ban in holiday apartments by November 2028 in an attempt to relieve the city’s housing crisis.

The famous city also revealed there would be an increase on daily tourist charges.

It comes after the cosmopolitan capital previously upped their traveller tax from €2.75 (£2.33) to €3.25 (£2.75) in April.

Brits on Tenerife holidays blasted for turning sunny haven into a ‘tourism ghetto’ amid calls for huge clampdown

By Summer Raemason

FUMING locals have slammed selfish holidaymakers in Tenerife for turning their paradise into a ‘tourism ghetto’.

Advertisement

An influx of “ignorant” visitors has sparked outrage among Canary islands residents, as costs soar and drunken partygoers keep them up all night.

The Covid pandemic saw a boost in tourists arriving to the popular destination, and now locals are revolting in the wake of skyrocketing rent prices and overburdened services.

Some took to the streets with spray paint to sprawl bitter messages outside tourism hotspots which read “your paradise, our misery” and “tourists go home”.

Josua Garcia-Garcia is up in arms about the ongoing ordeal and told the MailOnline it is a “nightmare” when holidaymakers take over the island.

Advertisement

“I only get four hours of sleep every night because of the music and noise, which keeps me up until three in the morning,” explained the 33-year-old bar worker.

The frustrated local called for “stricter rules” to be enforced on “ignorant” tourists to prevent residents from more “suffering”.

“Rents are soaring and people on average salaries cannot afford to live here any more, once they pay their rent they have no money for food,” he continued.

It comes as more AirBnBs crop up across the island, driving residents out, with less properties on the market.

Advertisement

In turn, the price tag on remaining homes is becoming too expensive for those who want to stay.

And, Tenerife is not the only holiday destination struggling with this issue.

Locals in UK coastal resorts such as Devon and Cornwall have also blasted greedy tourists for snapping up second homes.

The issue worsened amid Covid as more Brits chose staycations over travelling abroad.

Advertisement

Last year, Canary Island residents held a protest against the arrival of more holidaymakers.

In what has been dubbed ‘tourismphobia’, they marched the streets holding banners which read “the Canaries are no longer a paradise” and “the Canaries are not for sale”.

Doctor Matías González Hernández, an academic at Las Palmas University, claimed locals faced homelessness.

He said they “can’t afford to rent or buy a house” due to rising inflation and rent prices.

Advertisement

More graffiti in the popular town of Las Palmas reflect this, and read “average salary in Canary Islands is 1,200,” which equates to £1,000.

The academic called on their government for better infrastructure to accommodate growing demands – such as improving roads.

“Right now you get stuck for two hours on the main road,” he said.

Now, holidaymakers will be forced to fork out €4 (£3.39) for city tax from October to enjoy the beauties Barcelona has to offer.

It comes after the city council vowed to promote “quality tourism”, with around 32million holidaymakers arriving per year.

Meanwhile, the shift against holidaymaker accommodation in Seville was sparked after it was revealed rental prices have risen by over 70 per cent in the last 10 years.

The anguish reflects how Tenerife locals felt in recent news when they made headlines for holding anti-tourism protests in the streets.

Residents in idyllic hotspots have slammed holidaymakers for staining important amenities.

Essentials including post offices and village shops were being disposed of to make way for more houses and cafes for tourists.

And, locals are struggling to climb on the property ladder as many houses sit empty, being used as second homes and holiday lets.

In some hotspots this has created a major housing crisis as demand for accommodation and second homes drives house prices sky high.

Road infrastructure and parking systems also often can’t cope with more tourists – leading to traffic chaos and safety concerns.

The issues see younger families leaving the area, in turn making it harder for community members left behind.

It comes as other holiday destinations closer to home have slammed tourists.

Disgruntled locals along the beautiful north Norfolk coast have voiced support for a unbroken 30-mile “wall” in a bid to stop the influx of unwelcome visitors.

Meanwhile, residents living in Anglesey, North Wales, say their lives are being plagued by inconsiderate visitors and ‘greedy’ outsiders snapping up second homes.

Elsewhere in the UK, homeowners of Staithes. the northernmost village in Yorkshire, are frustrated with holiday lets.

And, in Padstow, North Cornwall, glorious golden beaches and picturesque countryside are a hit with tourists – but now its popularity is wreaking havoc with residents.

Anti-tourist measures sweeping hotspots

A WAVE of anti-tourist measures are being implemented across Europe to curb mass tourism in popular holiday hotspots.

Overcrowding has become the main problem in many sunny destinations, with authorities trying to find a solution to keep tourists and locals happy.

Advertisement

Officials have attempted to reduce the impact of holidaymakers by implementing additional taxes on tourists, or banning new hotels.

Earlier this year Venice became the first city in the world to charge an entry fee for holidaymakers after it started charging day-trippers €5 (£4.30) if visiting the historical Italian centre.

It was followed by an area in Barcelona which resorted to removing a well-used bus route from Apple and Google Maps to stop crowds of tourists from using the bus.

 Meanwhile, San Sebastián in the north of Spain, limited the maximum number of people on guided visits to 25 to avoid congestion, noise, nuisance and overcrowding.

Advertisement

The city has already banned the construction of new hotels.

The Spanish government has allowed restaurants to charge customers more for sitting in the shade in Andalucia.

Benidorm has introduced time restrictions, as swimming in the sea between midnight and 7am could cost a whopping £1,000.

The Canary Islands are also considering adopting measures to regulate the number of visitors – and charge tourists a daily tax.

Advertisement

Greece has already enforced a tourist tax during the high season (from March to October) with visitors expected to pay from €1 (£0.86) to €4 (£3.45) per night, depending on the booked accommodation.

Officials in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia want to introduce a fee for travellers to remind people to be courteous during their trips.

3

Even in the off-season there are 450 immaculately turned out members of staff at the Royal Mansour on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast. They pander to the needs of the guests housed in just 55 suites and villas and wear, by my reckoning, 17 distinct styles of uniform.

The butlers have crisp beige suits, the waiters green silk blouses, and the man who drives the luggage cart dazzles in a bright red uniform with matching cap. There are special outfits, mostly in understated colours, for the concierge staff, the engineers, the various ranks of housekeepers, as well as for those who deliver room service.

The mystery is: where are they all hiding? You can stroll along the beautiful sandy beach picking up vibrant-coloured shells, or cycle along the swept paths through the hotel’s lovely manicured gardens, and think yourself virtually alone. A few greeters and gardeners (in their own rustic outfits) are dotted about, but there’s no one shuttling between the lobby and the sand-coloured villas. Even the private butlers appear to be invisible, popping up as if by magic only when their discreet services are required.

It is only later that I solve the riddle of the disappearing staff. Beneath the hotel complex is a secret network of tunnels. Out of sight and out of earshot, members of staff flit along in vehicles beneath the surface, rising in dedicated lifts to deliver champagne and trays of Moroccan sweets, to plump pillows and to arrange the poolside towels just-so. It is not so much upstairs-downstairs as overground-underground.

If it is service fit for a king, that is no coincidence. The hotel is owned by Mohammed VI, Morocco’s monarch since 1999. In 2010 he opened the Royal Mansour in Marrakech — a no-expense-spared celebration of Moroccan craftsmanship, newly built but with swathes of intricate zellij mosaics and traditional hand-sculpted plasterwork. Rather than rooms, its guests stay in their own private riads, arranged in a sort of simulacrum of the medina. Some visitors have found an eeriness in the way the real city’s colour and chaos have been substituted for jasmine-scented silence, but the hotel has been a hit, drawing a string of celebrities and commanding room rates that rarely dip below £1,300 per night.

In April this year a second Royal Mansour opened, a marble-lined tower in the country’s economic and financial hub, Casablanca. And now the royal hotel group has launched its first beach hotel, here at Tamuda Bay. The king is unlikely actually to stay — he has a rather nice beachside pad-cum-palace right next door — but friends and members of his extended family were apparently frequent visitors in the run-up to the official opening last month.

If the movements of the staff are a well-kept secret so, in its way, is Morocco’s Mediterranean coast, at least outside the kingdom. With the Rif mountains arcing in the background, it extends for almost 400km, from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta all the way to the Algerian border in the east.

Though the Atlantic coast, and towns such as Essaouira, Agadir, Oualidia and Taghazout, are better known internationally, the stretch of Mediterranean coastline around the Royal Mansour and the little town of M’diq turns out to be where the country’s jet-set spend their summers, eating the local sardines in beachside restaurants and feeding the wild boars which come down from the wooded hillsides.

By October, when I visit, the king and his retinue have moved on, the boars are gone and the hullabaloo has quelled. Yet the temperature is still a glorious 27 degrees and the sky and ocean — at least during my stay — are improbable shades of uninterrupted blue. Only a three-hour flight from London, plus a 90-minute drive from Tangier airport in the hotel’s electric car, it makes for a viable winter getaway (especially given rates remain far below those of the Marrakech property).

I arrive at night and am golf-carted to my room. The hotel’s complex stretches a good half-mile along a wide private beach of fine sand. In the morning, the ocean is a leisurely 60-second walk away, assuming one is not waylaid by the swimming pool.

A series of low-rise buildings each house between four and eight suites; the seven villas are spread out for seclusion with their beach area further hidden by sand dunes. If walking to the main lobby seems too far, guests can go by golf-cart (courtesy of the man in red) or cycle. Wherever you abandon your bike, it mysteriously winds up next to your suite again, as if delivered by invisible pixies.

Though the decor is opulent, the tile work and woven carpets are in muted, rather soothing, colours. In the day, the light against the crisp lines of the hotel buildings’ walls has a stark, David Hockney quality. As the sun sets, the blues and beiges blur into the ocean, the sand and the purplish night air.

The hotel has multiple restaurants (including one Spanish, one French and one Italian) and a huge spa on two floors offering both therapeutic and hedonistic treatments. Children are welcome. Those aged four to 12 can be deposited in a kids club, almost as tastefully decorated as the adult quarters, where they are entertained, according to the hotel bumf, with calligraphy, music and cooking lessons — and no doubt with video games and cartoons when their parents’ backs are turned.

One day, I take a tour to the nearby walled city of Tétouan, a 25-minute drive away and about 40km south of the Strait of Gibraltar. Home to about 380,000 and a medina that is a Unesco World Heritage Site, it is an unexpected gem. In the second century BC, the region’s first inhabitants traded with Phoenicians and were later colonised by Romans and Berbers, but the city’s modern history began in the 15th century when it was settled by Muslims and Jews from Andalusia. When the last Moriscos were expelled from Spain between 1609 and 1614, many came to Tétouan, which is sometimes known as “Granada’s daughter”. In 1913, it became the capital of the Spanish Protectorate of northern Morocco, which lasted a little over 40 years.

Today it is a pleasant place to walk around, a curious mix of art deco in eye-dazzling white, heavy Andalusian doors and Moroccan riads, with their courtyard gardens. Spanish cafés selling bocadillos and strong black coffee sit side by side with outlets offering sweet cakes and syrupy mint tea. The maze-like medina, with its Jewish and Muslim quarters, is a mini-Marrakech, arguably more interesting because less touristic.

Morocco is starting to market the Mediterranean coast abroad and several grand hotels have opened on this stretch of coastline, including the St Regis and the Ritz-Carlton. But if your idea of luxury is an invisible retinue of underground staff and a monarch as an occasional next door neighbour, then there is probably only one choice.

David Pilling is the FT’s Africa editor

Find out about our latest stories first — follow FTWeekend on Instagram and X, and subscribe to our podcast Life and Art wherever you listen

A MAJOR pizza chain has issued an urgent warning to customers after fears over contaminated popular dips.

The global restaurant company, with more than 450 branches across the UK, was forced to stop serving the much-loved condiments.

1

Papa Johns issued the warning over two products amid health fears and allergy risks.

Their Garlic and Herb Dip, and their Vegan Ranch Dressing were pulled as they may contain traces of peanuts.

A Papa Johns spokesman said: “At Papa Johns, customer safety is our top priority.

“Certain batches of our Garlic and Herb Dip and our Vegan Ranch Dressing may contain traces of peanuts. Our 25g dips are included with pizzas, and we recently introduced a 100g version. If you have a peanut allergy, please do not consume these dips and dispose of them.

“Our Vegan Ranch Dressing, used on products, may also contain traces of peanuts. If you have a peanut allergy, please avoid these items.

“We are working quickly to resolve this issue. In the meantime, we will replace the Garlic and Herb Dip with our Special Garlic Dip, which is unaffected.

“For any questions or concerns, please contact us at info@papajohns.co.uk.

“We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.”

Fellow industry titan, Domino’s, was forced to make the same announcement last month.

Two Domino’s dip flavours are among the recalled items: the Domino’s Garlic & Herb Dip and the Honey & Mustard one.

Domino’s previously urged those with a peanut allergy to dispose of the dips mentioned on the recall alert and avoid consuming them.

The fast-food chain apologised for any concern this may cause and recommended that customers with queries visit their contact form here.

A Domino’s spokesman said: “At Domino’s Pizza, the quality of our products and the safety of our customers is the highest priority, particularly when it comes to allergens.

“We have become aware that some of our Garlic & Herb and Honey & Mustard dip may contain traces of peanut.

“This issue may impact both our 100g ‘Big Dip’ pots and the smaller, 25g, pots we provide with our pizzas.

“If you DO HAVE A PEANUT ALLERGY, please dispose of the dips and do not consume them.

“If you DO NOT have a peanut allergy, no further action is required.”

It comes as the Food Standards Agency has issued a number of alerts for food products containing mustard powder, imported from India, which may have been contaminated with peanuts.

The food watchdog recalled dozens of foods and condiments they had reason to believe might be with peanuts not listed on the label.

Sold under various brand names and across a range of stores, recalled dips, sandwiches and salads contain mustard, which may have traces of peanuts.

“This means these products are a possible health risk for anyone with an allergy to peanuts,” the Food Standard Agency (FSA) said.

“If you have bought any of the above products and have an allergy to peanuts, do not eat them.”

The alert was first issued when the food watchdog urged Brits with peanut allergies to avoid all mustard-containing products while they determined the source of the contamination.

Since then, they have published a full list of 64 products they believe have been contaminated, which was updated yesterday to include the Thiccc Sauce Meat Candy & Thiccc Sauce BBQ Sriracha.

Sold in convenience stores and off-licences, a number of SPAR sandwiches, wraps and pasta salads have been pulled from shelves too.

Other items included on the recent recall alert that may contain traces of peanuts include Fazilas wraps and Clayton Park sandwiches.

Peanut allergies are particularly common, affecting about one in 50 children in the UK, increasing in recent decades, according to Allergy UK.

Rebecca Sudworth, Director of Policy at the FSA, said: “This remains a complex investigation, and we are continuing to work with Food Standards Scotland, relevant businesses, local authorities, and agencies to ensure the necessary measures are in place to protect consumers.

“While our investigations continue our advice remains the same: people with a peanut allergy should continue to avoid consuming all foods that contain or may contain mustard, mustard seeds, mustard powder or mustard flour.

“Our current focus is to ensure all affected products have been withdrawn and recalled.

“Once this has taken place, we are confident we’ll be in a position to remove some of our additional advice for consumers, so they can continue to enjoy food that is safe and trust the product label and information accurately reflects the allergenic content.

“Until this happens it’s very important that people with a peanut allergy continue to avoid any product containing mustard or mustard ingredients.”