Madeira News Blog

I supposed I shouldn’t be surprised to find today that there is little ‘normal’ front page news today, just the Spanish royal visit and the Madeira Wine Rally, with the royal couple getting the lion’s share.

(30th July). Main headline today : ‘Filipe Works Out Of The Royal Visit – The visit of the king and queen of Spain starting today on Madeira doesn’t include The Palace of São Lourenço, nor the Forts at Pico and São Tiago, works with a ‘Filipe touch’. Just the old Palace Espiscopal, today the Museum of Sacramental Art, make up the visit. The passing through Madeira is considered historic by the Spanish ambassador in Lisbon, but not so much for the historians. Together with various restrictions caused by the rally, the royal visit is expecting the closure of roads and parking along various parts of the course’. The visit today is seen as important for the exposure of Madeira, but what many might not realise that King Juan Carlos actually lived in Portugal (Cascais), he loves Portugal, speaks fluent Portuguese, and even when in Spain is a frequent visitor to a Portuguese restaurants(s). I am not really clear on the ‘Filipe’ issue, though the monuments mentioned were built in a period of Spanish influence around the time of Filipe II of Spain, something a little sensitive in Spanish-Portuguese history perhaps?

‘Emotion At The End Of The Afternoon – Vinho Madeira gets going at 7h30, with the technical inspections, but the emotion only comes with the super-special on the Avenida do Mar, that starts at 19h30′.  A small timetable then shows that roads in the vicinity are closed from 3pm until 21h45, and gives tomorrow’s route times and road closures. The article then discusses cars and drivers, so not much I can add here in terms of a summary of the article.

Then the Diário did save a small corner for three actual news headlines, one of which is in politics :

‘Electric Cars In 2012 – Inside of 3 years, Madeira will have charging posts for electric vehicles’. Nissan-Renault have already presented the first prototype of an electric car that is to be built in Portugal, but of course it is not much good without ‘juice’. Galp petrol stations and major shopping centres in Funchal will be the first equipped to refuel electric cars, with the buildings of Dolce Vita, Modelo, and Pingo Doce named, along with Galp filling stations. A protocol has been agreed with all parties, which includes 21 regions / cities of Portugal in phase one (until 2010), which includes Funchal but it outside of the timescale of the rest. The initiative will be extended after that. I may be a bit behind with technology, but pulling into a Galp petrol station to refill seems to me something to avoid at all costs. Petrol etc. takes a matter of minutes, but with recharging batteries it is a much longer process, so does one take a sleeping bag or portable hammock? What will the queues be like?

‘Abortions Increase – From 82 in the first 6 months of last year, the number rose to 130 this year, until June. An increase of 58%’. That’s according to data provided to the Diário by the Administrative Office of Health and Social Affairs (IASAÚDE). Likewise the number of consultations about pregnancy terminations was also up from 109 to 159  over the same periods, up 46%. The president of IASAÚDE explains that this could have several meanings. He says that women have more knowledge and confidence on the subject, and are now prepared to turn to the hospital for help, but also admits that there may be other reasons, "which are due to various causes such as economic or social condition of families and women". The abortion law has only been in place less than 2 years, so it is impossible to draw any conclusions. A hospital spokesman said that abortions are now a medical procedure like any other, and are part of the hospital routine in terms of both the consultation and the termination itself.

In other local news:

‘Airport Arrivals To Be Monitored For Gripe A – New arrivals will be checked with a body temperature measuring device’. The regional secretary for Tourism and Transport, Conceição Estudante, explained that the device will permit measurement of the body temperature of passengers landing at Madeira Airport, saying that since the cases for H1N1 swine flu to date were imported "if we identify the situations at the entrance door we reduce the risks and their impact". No start date has been announced, but she said that they are taking the steps for rapid acquisition and installation of the equipment needed.

‘Vinho Madeira With Financial Support From The Republic – The Secretary of State for Tourism makes €100 thousand available for the promotion of the competition’. The idea is to ensure Madeira receives the maximum exposure of the Madeira Wine Rally internationally with TV coverage in over 50 countries. Good idea from Secretary Bernardo Trinidade, who just happens to be Madeiran … strange that it is announced just hours before the event starts though, especially after all that fuss about changing the law to allow tobacco advertising to make up a funding shortfall.

‘More Than 800 Policemen On Duty For The Royal Visit And Madeira Wine Rally – Operation obliges extra controls over traffic movements and parking’. The visit of the King of Spain, added to the requirements to police the rally, is going to stretch the police force here, and the police commissioner has appealed to Madeirans to collaborate, particularly in the areas of Largo do Colégio, Sé, and Rua dos Ferreiros in Funchal.

‘Police Identify Stash Of Cannabis Plants In São Vicente – The investigation led to the arrest of two men’. The two men have been arrested for drug trafficking. Once the police had identified the site where the cannabis was being grown, they staked out the location until they identified the two men. 6 plants were seized with a height of around 70cm. The plants will be analysed in a laboratory and then destroyed. In these hard times perhaps they were just growing them for the hemp to make clothes?

’12 Firemen Extinguish Three Bush Fires -The three fires were in Madalena, Quinta Grande, and Lombo dos Aguiares’. The causes are unknown, but they started yesterday morning. The fire in Lombo destroyed a "vast" area of land, but in all cases no residences were affected. 

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Elaine (O Sol) … Botanical Gardens turtles in July

If found this on a website offering travel tips, and I think it is a type of hostel : “Stay in Madeira for just £3.80 (€4.40) at the Os Manos – Lodging which is offering savings of 40%. The lodgings are situated in the Santana area of the island, which offers some of Madeira’s most dramatic scenery, from the rugged coast to inland mountains. There are eight bedrooms all with satellite TV and en-suite bathrooms”. I find it hard to believe, but has anyone heard of it, tried it, or has anyone ever found anything cheaper?

Don’t forget that news / articles will be posted at various times during the day – Check back regularly and keep yourself up to date.

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(28/29th July). ‘PSD, CDS & MPT Approve Proposal For Constitutional Review – The rest of the opposition abandoned the room at the time of voting’. The document of PSD-M social democrats was approved by its own party, the populars, and earth party yesterday, without objection. The final version which will go to the republic confirms the wish to remove Madeira’s post of Representative to the Republic.

The president of the Legislative Assembly of Madeira (ALM), Miguel Mendonca, highlighted yesterday the productivity of the regional parliament, which ended its work for the Summer. He said that in the last legislative year the assembly met 65 times, and the standing committees around 150 times. Hmmm, two ways of looking at that, firstly did it actually do anything very useful like address the real issues in a time of crisis, or just create and debate politics, and secondly, with an absolute majority that won’t allow anyone to stray from its own party line, and won’t give opposition parties any time or slack, it should theoretically be super productive.

Today (29th) is the last day anyone entitled to vote can make any changes to their voting registration, for example a change of address. All voting records now remain frozen until after the local elections, and anyone registered with an old address will have to vote in the area currently registered.

On to matters of the economy … 

(29th July). Today’s main news headline . ‘Bad Debt Increased 15% – Madeira’s companies don’t pay 2% of the money that they were asked for. They remain owing €93 million’. The companies of Madeira are suffering huge problems, reflected in the fact that bad credit has hit 2% of the money loaned to the companies by the banks, 150% up on the same month in 2008. The article is full of facts and figures about who owes what, both in commercial and domestic loans, and compared to nationally, Madeira is up to it’s neck in debt. However, its not until you get to near the bottom of the article that you find out that the headline figure of 2% of unpaid repayments is actually quite low in terms of Portugal, the worst region being 4.7%, and even the Azores registers 2.6%, and the national average is 3.3%.

The same article covers domestic loans and debt. A study by the Nacional Institute of Statistics reveals that Madeira is the region of Portugal with the highest average debt per head of population in terms of housing loans. At the end of 2008 each Madeiran theoretically owed €9,274. So now you know why Madeira has so many banks, because we love to borrow, we love to borrow more, and when it comes to repayments we are a better bet than most. In 2006 a study showed that the 76 banks in Funchal had a loan to bank ratio of €235 million, the second highest ratio in Portugal. Even Lisbon, that came third, only had a ratio of €171 million per bank branch.

‘Super Sá of São Vicente Starts In September – The new superstore will be completed next year and will employ 30 – 40 people’. Construction work will start in September, taking around 10 months to finish, with completion expected for next July. As well as Sá, there will be 3 shops and a snack bar, and a car park for over 100 cars. The full development will cover over 6,000 square metres in the zona nobre of the town. The new facility will be welcomed by most, but is feared by some small traders who will undoubtedly suffer, as happened after the last new store opened in Santana.

‘So Many Bends And Me Without Brakes’ – That’s the slogan for the rally’. The slogan is for the publicity of the Empresa de Cervejas da Madeira (makers of Coral beer) who are once again sponsors of the Madeira Wine Rally, and this year will be focusing on their alcohol free beer. The event is also sponsored by the TV channel Eurosport, who will be providing daily coverage of the event, as well as it being covered on RTP Madeira.