(28th June). Today’s main news headline : ‘Gold Pays Debts And Medicines – The crisis obliges the sale of objects of value. This business brings foreign companies to Madeira’. The few jewellers who buy second hand gold have registered an increase in demand for their services in recent months. The customers are usually older people, affected by financial problems, that are forced to dispose of valuables to pay debts and even for medicines. On the other hand, these same jewellers are selling less and less items to the public, and what they do sell is more silver, and smaller items, and they rely more on repair work to generate their income. The law prevents them buying gold from those aged under 18 years, and what they do buy has to be recorded and reported to the police, along with the identification details of the seller. The gold items by law cannot be resold, and they have to be sent away where they are used to create new pieces. Recently the Madeira market has been attracting attention from businesses in London, who come here especially to buy valuable jewellery items, paying cash on the spot. Jewellers here have suspicions about these dealers, and whether they report their purchases to the police, pay their taxes, and there are fears expressed about whether these companies are buying stolen jewellery.
In a related news story : ‘Police Catch Jewellery Thief’. Police enquiries after a burglary in Camacha led to the interception of an individual, who eventually admitted to stealing items of gold. He confessed to selling some to one such British company ‘Road Show EU’. The police visited the hotel where the company had set up, and managed to identify and retrieve the stolen jewellery. The recovered items are now with the court whilst ownership is being confirmed. The burglar, as well as facing charges for the break in and theft, is also now subject to a criminal complaint by the British company for selling them the items for €4,000.
It was on the front page, but I am surprised that this one didn’t get the the lead story : ‘Government And Bank Cover-up Bankruptcy of JM – Despite of the subsidies and loans, the Jornal has negative equity of €32.6 million’. Talking about the government owned newspaper Journal da Madeira of course, under the spotlight recently for receiving subsidies from public money and government favours. Anyway the government owned company is bankrupt. It reports losses every year, and in 2008 reported another €3.9 million loss. A company is technically insolvent when the equity is worth equal to or less than half of the company capital, to put it in breach of article 35 of the Code of Commercial Companies, but it needs a creditor to take action to progress this, something the lending bank didn’t do. I have mixed feelings on the matter, as two newspapers are better than one for sure, whatever the circumstances of its ownership and management, and I don’t think the other freebie newspaper offers very much. It is not clear whether the JM is still trading, I will see if there is a newspaper published tomorrow. The website is still there with today’s news, but funnily enough I didn’t see this story amongst the headlines.
Germany won the Atlantic Festival fireworks display, that finished last night. This photo comes from the JM website, the first time I have ever used one. So, if this photo disappears from this blog page, we will know the JM website is no more.
"The folks try everything to flee from the weight of the hoe" – The youngsters in Faial run off to avoid unemployment and agriculture. The Diário’s featured village this week. A familiar story, in an agricultural location, with hardly any young people left. Many people have moved out, either to Funchal, or emigrated. However, unlike other parts of Madeira, Faial has no need to debate issues such as drug abuse and insecurity, with peace and long seasons. Full of untapped potential, the items of discussion at the moment are the construction of a cable car to connect the river and Penha d’Águia, and the construction of a fishing port.
‘Works Of 40 Artists In The Fort Of São Tiago’. The exhibition in Funchal called ‘Preâmbulo’ opens on the 10th of July. It brings together works of sculpture, painting, drawing, engraving, and photography.
(27th June). ‘Pregnancy As A Means Of Escape – In the first 3 months of this year 39 youngsters gave birth in the hospital’. Social and economic difficulties, disinformation, unstructured families and abandonment. These are some of the problems that affect many young women who become pregnant. Madeira continues to have the highest rate of adolescent parents in Portugal. In Funchal hospital, from 2006 to 2007 the increase was around 100%, levelling off in 2008 (85,168,156) in young mothers aged between 13 and 19. Reports of the professionals suggest that in some cases ‘accidents’ happen, where the mother doesn’t take precautions, wanting to become pregnant to obtain government handouts and get away from other commitments.
Also front page yesterday but in the entertainment section : ‘Myths : The dead that bring business to life’. With a picture showing James Dean, John Lennon, and yes you’ve already guessed … Michael Jackson … looking very pale I must point out. I can’t be bothered to even check, but for sure there has been a massive surge in purchases of all things Michael Jackson in the last days or so. Poor old Farrah Fawcett hardly gets a mention these days.
If you are a customer of the restaurant ‘Summertime’ on the Estrada Monumental in Funchal, next time you go there be sure to leave a nice tip. According to one employee who works there, the 15 staff have not been paid properly for a year.
(28th June). ‘Lizards Attack Cagarras – The discovery may have an impact on bird conservation projects on Madeira’. The lagartixas (lizards) weighing between 3 and 13 grams attack the eggs and the young of the Cagarras (known in English as Cory’s Shearwater). It was not known until now that the lizard was a predator of this strange bird that makes a most peculiar noise at it flies around Madeira at night. The lizards are capable of decimating the bird population, says the article, which has been accepted for publication in the American magazine ‘Waterbirds’, and was based on observations made on the Madeiran island of Selvagem Grande, which lies north of the Canary Islands. The naturalist who wrote the article said they were trying to work out why there were young birds lying around dead, and then observed lizards surrounding a new-born weighing around 70 grams before attacking, whilst the adults birds seemed ineffective in protecting their young, much to the surprise of the researcher. The lizards are probably attracted by the very strong odour present after the eggs have hatched. At last! I have discovered what these birds are after years of ignorance. Anyone I have asked comes up with a different answer, and I even saw one close up one night and it looked like a duck (my neighbours then christened them Der’s Ducks). They only ever appear here at night, and fly around at great speed making the most peculiar noise. 
