Madeira News Blog

Source : Diário de Noticias 29/10/07

Whoops! Sorry, we forgot to tell the locals …

Or was it not as ‘low cost’ as we were led to believe?

Whilst its not reported whether or not TAP and BA are enjoying ‘business as usual’, it appears that the new low cost flights bringing masses of ‘new blood’ to Madeira failed to catch the attention of the locals, as they returned without too much human cargo.

The new flights to Madeira (five in total), come from Dublin, Bristol, Copenhagan, London Stanstead, and Edinburgh.

Air Lingus arrived on Saturday, Easyjet had two flights in yesterday, and ‘Sterling’ one. 

Only around 130 passengers left on the four flights out of Madeira.

The first Easyjet flight arrived with 156 passengers and left with only 13 people (whether this includes the flight crew is unclear at this stage).

The second flight (London) arrived full and left with barely 90.

The ‘Sterling’ flight from Copenhagen brought 180 and left EMPTY! (so how did they manage to fly it back?)

The ‘Aer Lingus’ flight arrived pretty full, around 170, but returned to Dublin with just twenty something passengers. 

Still the good news is … next week they hope to have some tourists to take back

<http://www.madeira4u.com>

Source : Diário de Noticias 29/10/07

It seems that for some parts of Madeira, christmas spending is going to be tight. More for some regions than others, with cuts in the budgets for festivities. In part this is due to restrictions imposed by council financial spending rules.

In Câmara de Lobos, the usual fairground activities in the town are to be pretty much shelved, whilst the street decoration and festivities will carry on as normal, with highlights from the municipal band and some live music events.

In Porto Moniz, the budget cuts will hit the street lighting and decorations, and cuts are also likely to hit Ponta do Sol and Machico, although the latter say they still hope to produce something equivalent to last year, intending to switch on the lights on the 7th December.

Funchal is mentioned in the article, with some details of the highlights given, but with no real suggestion of any budgetary cuts So if one were to conclude that christmas in Madeira is more for tourists than for the Madeirans and the other taxpaying residents, then that can be added to the already long list of financial and social injustices that exist between Funchal and the rest of Madeira.

<<http://www.madeira4u.com>>

Source : Diário de Notícias 28/10/07

It is reported today that over a period stretching from 1997 to October 2007, 119 murders were committed on Madeira, pretty much one a month. A similar level to that found in Porto or Coimbra.

Many of the cases investigated were the result of alchool induced bar fights, which were not normally premeditated, but often involved people who were prone to quarrels and disputes.

The second cause cited, is domestic violence, more usually committed by males, whilst the third is the result of fights between neighbours or families, often related to matters of inheritance, boundary disputes, and rights to water (which is probably a problem fairly exclusive to Madeira).

Very few murders involved firearms, and in most case the deaths were due to a severe beating, or through use of weapons ‘to hand’ such as sticks and stones, with a few garden tools thrown in.

I was somewhat surprised to read these statistics, but having delved through the detailed facts, one should take comfort in the fact that these are not gang crimes, street crimes, or gun crimes, are rarely premeditated, and are very unlikely to affect safety on the street during the day or at night.

Compared to some big cities, I suppose these statistics are pretty insignificant.

http://www.madeira4u.com

Source Diário de Notícias 27/10/2007

For those who enjoyed the just completed Rugby World Cup, there are more rugby treats in store for those lucky enough to live on the island, as the Championship of the Clubs of Europe will be held here next year, bringing around 1500 players.

Between the 19th and 22nd of June, the IXth European Golden Oldies Rugby (râguebi) Festival comes to Madeira, bringing 40 teams, attracted by the venue, facilities, and the costs of staging the contest here. In Portuguese sporting and hosting terms, this is a big and important event.

The European championship for veterans (players must be over 35 years old), isn’t played for any ranking or crowning glory, but at the end there is an important trophy for ‘fair play’.

The games are to be held at five sporting grounds, should include several Portuguese teams, and will be integrated into the celebrations for 500 years of Funchal. 

Great achievement to have attracted this, but if the Rugby World Cup was anything to go by, I can’t see huge local interest, and how 40 teams of over 35 year olds can finish a competition in 4 days or less is beyond me. As an active rugby follower for some years, I suspect this is a bit of a jolly with a few beers thrown in … fair play!

http://www.madeira4u.com

Díario de Notícias 26-10-2007

The Portugueses are the most distrustful people of Western Europe occupying 25th position amongst 26 countries, a recent European study shows. It measured the strength of distrust and the lack of patriotism of the different people who took part in the census. 

This absence of confidence affects the economy and  society in general in all of the countries, the study concluded.

The Portugueses are, on average, the most distrustful Europeans, ahead of the French.  Only Turkey managed to spare Portugal the worst position.

In the other end of the scale, Swedes and Danes trust most in the other people and in its institutions. 

I am rather surprised at this, as being a foreigner, I would expect to be trusted slightly less by the locals, but I have no experience of this. Perhaps it’s just a mainland thing?

www.madeira4u.com

Source : BBC 25/10/2007

Given that in the next few days Easyjet will begin 10 weekly flights to Madeira from Bristol and Stanstead airports in the UK, its an interesting development that now Easyjet have agreed to buy GB Airways, who currently operate the flights between Gatwick and Madeira (under a franchise agreement with British Airways). The franchise will finish in March 2008.

“BA said that the deal between GB Airways and Easyjet was expected to be completed within eight weeks.

During this period flights, will operate as normal. When the deal is completed, passengers can either rebook on Easyjet or will be entitled to a full refund.”

So does that mean that BA will retain the Gatwick – Madeira route using its own fleet, or that that route will be taken on by Easyjet. I think the latter is unlikely, but if you have a ticket booked, you probably need to check.

www.madeira4u.com

Source – Diário de Notícias 20th October, 2007

This doesn’t seem finalised yet, but it seems that CaboTV is about to lose its monopoly on TV services for Madeira.

A company called  TVTEL is set to compete with the existing service with a promotional offer of  7.95 euros for 45 channels (for the first 5,000 customers), after which the normal price will be 12.90 euros per month.

You may see this offer before around before Christmas, as tests have already been carried out with satisfactory results.  TVTEL will also open some premises for support and equipment installation, but initially the sevice will only be available through satellite, with plans to go to cable sometime in the future.

The start up package will cost 80 euros and include a small satellite dish, a receiver and a card.  With the package purchased is seems the dish may be able to receive upto a total of 300 channels.

‘D de N’ reports that currently CaboTV television offers its packages for between 22.99 euros for 44 channels, and  27.99 euros for 66 channels. 

More info on CaboTV on http://www.madeira4u.com/m4u_RI/resources_i_utilities_internet.html