Madeira News Blog

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Samantha (sent in by Karen) … "a picture my niece took of a lizard on our terrace grabbing a biscuit". Great pic, and it looks like he bit off a bit  more than he could chew there Karen. I am also told they like crisps. It’s no wonder some of them look so darn fat.

"During last year’s Trans-Atlantic cruise on board the Celebrity Summit, we enjoyed a fantastic day on the friendly beautiful island of Madeira. When we visited last year we really did not expect to ever have a chance to return to this remote and exotic island, but our upcoming cruise will bring us there again for a second chance to take in the unique scenery and culture of the island". NICE STORY

Madeira for £198 -Seven nights at Dom Pedro Garajau, from London Gatwick, are available for £198 with breakfast included. The same holiday is available from Bristol airport for £217. BEAT THAT

Road stretch linked to ER101 closed starting from 19th October – First stage of the road variant of Madalena do Mar forces the diversion of traffic to alternative routes. The first stage of construction starts this month, and will see the closure of the road between Madalena do Mar and Arco da Calheta. The alternative routes will be through Caminho do Torreão, and the Regional Roads 222 and 225. The first phase works will continue until 30th November. The company ‘Estradas Via Expresso da Madeira’ has appealed to road users for understanding.

Another case of Gripe A was confirmed in the last week on Madeira, taking the total since day one to 41. 8 further cases tested proved negative.

Study in Ponta do Sol – Elderly have show obesity and do little physical exercise. The research was developed by two nurses, as part of a master’s degree with a specialization in Community Nursing. The elderly of Ponta do Sol have high body mass indexes and low patterns of exercise. These are the main conclusions of a study conducted by two nurses, as part of a master’s degree with a specialization in Community Nursing. Kids certainly, old people too, and also those in-between. The Der observation study over 6 years supports these nurses, and extends the obesity theory to all age groups on Madeira. Madeira is getting fat, and doing my politically correct bit, not everyone of course. Jeez, I go to the gym nearly every day of the week, and often in the hour and a half I am there I don’t see another soul. The poor gym instructor is practically champing at the dumbbells out of boredom.

MADS brings ‘Sound of Music’ to the Theatre Baltazar Dias – Musical premiered last night. The adventure of Maria and the Von Trapp family took to the stage last night at 9 pm, courtesy of the Madeira Amateur Dramatic Society. The musical will run every day until 23rd October, with sessions at 9 pm on weekdays, 4 pm on Saturdays, and 6 pm on Sundays. Tickets cost between €15 and €25. I wish them well, but at that price that’s killed off the chance of most of the population here making a family visit then. Lets hope the tourists have a bit of dosh these days.

The big big big game tonight is on TVI channel 4 at 7.45 pm. Portugal take on Malta in the final group game in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. Win, and Portugal go to the play-off games. Don’t win, and god only knows. If you don’t watch it, you should be able to work out the result if you stick your head out of your window at around 9.40 pm.

A couple of headline news stories from today’s front page :

PSP Officer leaving because of Jardim – The police officer from the continent working on Madeira felt offended with the presidential ´bocas’ and has already requested a transfer. Referring to Jardim’s unpleasant attacks on the police for not taking his side in various election campaign protests.

Sé closed for lunch hour annoys the faithful – It is impossible to contemplate the image / icon of Fátima between the hours of midday and 3 pm. Sé cathedral, hosting the touring statue of Fátima for a few days before it moves on, takes a 3 hour lunch break depriving the faithful of a visit. So Madeira’s clergy get 3 hours for lunch eh? Mind you I don’t blame them for locking the cathedral whilst they lunch. The statue is very beautiful, but in a dream I had last night, a French tourist said to her husband, inside Sé, "take a picture of me with that nice statue, lurve". She then put her arm around the Fátima in a pose, when a bit of holy dust was passing her nose … I can’t continue the story, it just hurts too much, but the final word from the French tourist after her massive sneeze was ooooops! and then a very large dustpan and brush was needed.

Some of the top stories from yesterday’s Diário provided by Elaine :

Câmara de Lobos school not performing very well. Carmo Basic and Secondary School  in Câmara de Lobos was the worst average public school and both public schools in Ponta do Sol also fared badly. Jamie Moniz High School did well, fifth at mathematics and always has good sciences teaching. The best ten schools are privately run, five in Lisbon.

Sanitation pipe on the old bridge over the river in Ribeira Brava spoils the landscape. Although not classified as a historically important monument, the old bridge is a focal spot in the village. A sanitation pipe has been affixed to the outside and to make matters worse, painted dark red. The archaeologist Elvio Sousa says it is ‘insensitive’ to the cultural heritage and wants DRAC to intervene. But Joao Silva from DRAC (Cultural Heritage Department) says it is a local decision and mainly an aesthetic problem as the bridge has not been historically classified. —-Der, does it look as bad as it sounds?

I can’t believe that this story had a whole page in yesterday’s printed edition Elaine, and why the fuss now as it has been there for ages? It’s not attractive, I agree, but it certainly doesn’t enter into my list of the ‘Top Ten Eyesores of Ribeira Brava’. Number one on that list remains and always will be those two dreadful mounds of concrete dumped in the sea in the name of coastal protection.

Reminder that next Sunday is the XXXVI Regional Meeting of Regional Bands of Madeira in Ribeira Brava. Starting at 16.00 with more than 24 bands. Closes at 20.00 with the Wind Orchestra and Xarabanda.

Crisis redirects help to self-construction of houses rather than building of social housing. Plots of land owned by public authorities are to be used in the regime of ‘surface rights’ for families to construct their own homes. This is a more flexible option for families with some financial capability, especially in rural areas. It was used for self-build houses in Feiteirinhas in Caniçal. This method is not usually used as single houses take up a lot of space and there is little council land available to be disposed of in this way. It is also an option as construction companies cannot obtain bank loans to build affordable social housing, and as such was used in Porto Santo. Plots will be available in Figueirinhas and Feiteirinhas.

Logs fall from a truck onto the road in Calheta. This happened on Monday afternoon on the roundabout to the expressway towards Ponta do Sol. It probably occurred as the logs were not safely fastened and some rolled a few yards down a slight slope. They had to be recovered by a specialist tractor.

‘Yards’ Elaine? What would they be?

‘Treacherous’ grid on the Rua 5 de Outobro left for a month.

Post-Election News:

No change in the PSD team in Funchal. Miguel Albuquerque says he will not change the winning team. Speculations after Jardim’s ‘reflection’ speech yesterday as to whether he will continue after 2011.

Difficult times in Santa Cruz. Jose Gonçalves has a difficult time ahead as although the PSD won with 41.88% of the vote, the JPP won 32% and both parties have three members on the board. The leader of the JPP, Filipe Sousa says there can be no partnership as the two parties had different election programs. PS have one councillor so have a casting-vote when there is a tie between the two main parties.

In the Diário printed edition yesterday they published a table showing the position of the PSD, JPP, and PS on 5 major issues in Santa Cruz, and the only one they all agreed on was the construction of a Biomass plant. However, between the JPP and PS, there were no issues they disagreed on, although a couple were ‘to be discussed’. I see a pattern forming … Der

On the same point, a story on the Diário front page today says that the PSD at are already looking at mid-term elections in Santa Cruz to try and resolve it’s power problems there. Not had time to read it yet, but no doubt some dirty tricks involved here.

Race for leader of the Socialist Party in Madeira. Victor Freitas has entered the race. His candidacy is supported by former Secretary General Jaime Leandro. He says they need to woo back deserted voters, gain both internal and external credibility and show they can lead rather than just be an opposition party. He has previously had a dispute with the former president of the PS, Jacinto Serrâo, who resigned and took office in Lisbon. Jacinto Serrâo is also thought to run for the leadership.

The importance of gardens as niche tourism. The Madeiran Raimundo Quintal will be speaking at the II International Seminar on Tourism and Territory Planning at Lisbon University. Mike Robinson, Director of the Centre for Tourism and Culture, University of Leeds, will also be speaking.

‘Mercado de Oportunidades’. 48 stalls, mainly clothing, footwear and household items. 23 – 29 October, Avenida Arriaga, Funchal.

French travel agents and journalists very keen on Madeira. Hope to bring over more French than originally expected, and a second weekly flight might be announced by the end of the year. The initiative cost over 300,000 Euros, and the French market is the fourth most important. The contract with the airline Aigle Azur is for three years. —-So did the ‘charm offensive’ pay-off? We will find out over the next 3 years. They are hoping to bring in an extra French tourists 9000 a year.

Climate is warmer. In July, August and September, the average air temperatures in Madeira were above the average between 1971 and 2000, and there was less rain. Porto Santo weather was nearer the normal averages.

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(30th September). Today’s main news headline, pictured with a ‘landscape’ swamped with political posters : ‘Complaints And Threats In The Start Of The Campaign – The election campaign for the local elections started yesterday, marked by incidents from the national elections. The region of São Vicente has already made complaints to the police, about vandalising of posters, and offences by text message’. Election posters belonging to the PS-M socialists were vandalised in the parish of Boaventura, the location where the candidate lives. In addition anonymous SMS text messages have been sent by mobile phone, of an unpleasant nature, being slanderous and blackmailing, to party member(s). "This is a clear act of [bad]intention and with that of course one can not remain indifferent. When it is a moustache, some drawings, these are cases that are not serious. But this is completely different. The entire structure of the sign was destroyed", said the president of PS-M. Asked who might be behind these vindictive actions, the PS top-of-the-list to the local authority in São Vicente says it is "in the eyes of those who want to see. But I’d rather not comment further on this matter. I will let the police investigate". In the 2005 elections similar things happened to property relating to candidates, and the car of the president of PS-M was set alight.

‘Cavaco Silva Adds More Fuel To The Fire’. ‘President of the Republic Accuses Prominent Socialist Leaders Of Manipulation – Cavaco Silva believes that they tried to stick it on the PSD’. Silva made a 10 minute broadcast to the nation last night over the shocking affair of his office being ‘bugged’. He accused "prominent personalities of the party in government" of manipulation, and trying to stick it [the blame] on the national president of the PSD, in order to divert attention during the elections. 

‘ERC Accuses Lack Of Balanced Reporting’. The Regulatory Authority for Social Communication (ERC) issued yesterday a statement outlining the main points of a decision on a complaint made by the PS-M socialists against the newspaper Jornal da Madeira. At issue was the supplement ‘autárquicas2009′ and the fact that in publishing this material, it just referred to the position of the PSD social democrat câmaras, omitting the views of opposition parties. The ERC decided that there was, in that supplement of  J da M, "a blatant violation of the duties of pluralism". The complaint of PS-M alerted to the fact that during the pre-campaign for the elections, the behaviour of the newspaper was detrimental to candidates of the opposition parties. The ERC concluded that "the lack of pluralism in the information provided leads to a serious breach of the principle of equality and impartiality, contributing for the benefit of certain political forces over others". The recommendation of the ERC, which summarizes the deliberations, should be published by the J da M. This ERC sounds like a toothless watchdog to me, if there is no further action taken other the publication of it’s findings. Still, on the positive side, had it given the Jornal a massive fine, who would end up paying it … us taxpayers of course.

‘Câmara ‘obliges’ some to give up school by not paying for student transport – In Câmara de Lobos parents have to pay between 15 and 90 Euros for each child to study’. It is an accusation from the CDU communist party that parents are having to take their children out of school because they don’t have the money to pay for school transport. A CDU spokesman says that the council is one that has "turned its back on education, on the crisis, and on parents that have children studying".

(29th September). The last of today’s headlines : ‘Half [of the ?] Regional Commission Asks Congress – The petition was delivered last week. But the leader Gouveia himself had the idea’. The PS-M socialist leader João Carlos Gouveia has pre-empted critics about the poor showing on Madeira in the elections, and 28 members of the Regional Commission of the Socialist Party last week signed a document asking the chairman of this body to urgently schedule a Congress meeting, with elections to choose new party leader. The initiative was not disclosed, as it was not considered appropriate, being in full campaign for the elections. Various other candidates are discussed. Well, the last two election results already proved what a shambles the PS-M are, and with 2 out of 3 seats lost in the Assembly in Portugal on Sunday, is the hope now that this news will improve matters for the local elections on 11th October? Is the logic there that people are more likely to vote for a PS with a unknown future leader than a poor current leader?

‘Madeira will submit the proposed amendment to the Law of Regional Finance – Jardim counts on the new composition of the parliament and coherence of the parties for the adoption of the revision’. President Jardim announced yesterday that the amendments, proposed by the PSD-M social democrats will be submitted to the Assembly of the Republic. Jardim says that the current law has choked Madeira’s state funding. He was of course hoping that his own PSD party would be be in government, as he had already reached agreement on what would happen, but he will now have to bank on a reduced majority government being out-voted.

The local election campaigns officially restarted today. The PSD-M noise car has already passed my house at least 4 times today.

‘Albuquerque Beats Jardim – Albuquerque has an advantage of nearly 4,000 votes compared to the leader of the PSD-M’. Within 15 days the social democrats will get to know who is worth more in Funchal, the PSD-M president of the câmara or the PSD-M president of Madeira. The two will not be competing head to head, but the comparison of results between legislative (national) and local elections is compulsory, and the same has happened in previous regional elections. Miguel Albuquerque’s support for re-election to Funchal council will have more meaning than ever before, as he is the pretender to the throne of Alberto João Jardim, who is rumoured to be bowing out in 2011. In Sunday’s election Jardim achieved 25,511 votes in Funchal, as top-of-the-list for a seat in the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal, or 43.7% of the vote, a fairly low achievement, whereas four years ago, Albuquerque managed 29,395, or 50.3% of the Funchal vote. What a useless comparison, with people not only voting for different people, but for different things. What would be more useful and entertaining is to give them both a pistol, and have a crack of dawn winner-takes-all duel, on top of a grassy knoll (a contingency plan, just in case they both miss). Not wishing to be politically incorrect (before the blog snipers come along), it would of course all be in fun using paint ball pistols.

The high level of abstention in Funchal is a bit of a concern in Funchal. One of the reasons is explained in today’s Diário : "As reported, Portugal has a huge number of voters who are unable to vote. Because they are dead, or because they live in a foreign country". The latter case gives us some cause for forgiveness, as ballot papers get lost and delayed when sent abroad, as happened in Venezuela at the weekend, but as for the dead voters, do they really have excuses, if so I would like to hear them. And there was me thinking, that in this terminal stage of life, one automatically qualified for an important position in the PSD-M, so does that in fact mean that our current rulers do still have some blood movement in their veins, or is that just afterlife twitching we see?

‘In the series ‘Through Madeira’ : ‘Porto Moniz : ‘People’s tribunals’ still decide’. Residents discuss life in the towns two cafes. They analyse and pass ‘sentences’. The Portuguese Justice System doesn’t know, but in the region of Porto Moniz, two courts exist (‘Relação’ & ‘Supremo’), curiously both quite near the town hall. It is in these two places that the common life and politics of the town are discussed, and ‘sentences’ given out. They article says that if the president of the câmara kept his office window open he would be able to hear what was being said from his desk. The  power of the ‘Supremo’ is sufficient to change the political scene in the area, and the Diário hints that if the outgoing câmara president might have listened more closely, he would still be around to serve another political mandate next month (another Jardim ‘casualty’). The two courts fall into the categories of regular and supreme, and there is a protocol between the two. Rui Nelson, is one of the youngest ‘judges’ of the ‘Relação : "When we do not agree on a certain subject, we take the matter to the Supremo", he said. The Diário, having hyped up the story, then takes it back to reality, a powerless discussion forum … but is it?

OK, lets get the politics out of the way first.

(28th September). Today’s main news headline : ‘PS Win With Relative Majority – Votes determined in all 4,260 parishes of Portugal’. The socialist party won the legislative elections with a relative majority of 36.56%, managing 96 seats in the Assembly of the Republic. The PSD social democrats obtained 29.09% (78 seats), CDS-PP 10% (21), BE Left Block 9.85% (16), and PCP 7.88% (15). 60.6% of the 9,227,314 eligible voters voted.

‘PSD Obtain 48.16% Of The Votes On Madeira – PSD, PS and CDS-PP have elected representatives in the Assembly of the Republic’. The Social Democrats of Jardim won 48.16% (66,194 votes), The PS socialists had a late surge to achieve 19.51% (26,822) and the CDS-PP 11.09% (15,244). The PSD took 4 of the 6 seats in Lisbon, the other two parties took one each. In the last elections in 2005, the PSD and PS shared those seats with 3 each. Abstention on Madeira finished up at 45.48%, 1.68% of the votes were spoiled, and 1.13% blank.

"The country has gone crazy and the nation is sick" – president Jardim commented in this manner on the electoral result’. Alberto João Jardim said today that the results of the national legislative elections show that "Portugal is inside a nightmare" and that "the country has gone crazy and the nation is sick." The leader of the PSD-M, and winning head-of-list to the Lisbon Parliament, commented on the PS win at a national level with a lack of enthusiasm. He blamed the result partly on those who failed to vote. "Portugal is now in a nightmare. There is something wrong in this country. After there were four years of governance by Sócrates, and all the trouble in which the prime minister of a country was renowned for being involved, there is a result that still gives him a relative majority, although less than the number of abstentions nationally, this means that the country gone crazy", said Jardim. "The situation in Portugal is very serious, and it is the Portuguese that in part that contribute to the situation. Each country has what it deserves, but in the case of Madeira we are worried that we are involved in this picture of a nightmare", he continued. Despite the election result, Jardim said that the national leader of the PSD, Manuela Ferreira Leite, "is in a position to lead the campaign for municipal elections" that start today. El Bertie finished by offering his heartiest congratulations to the Socialist Party for a well fought victory, saying to prime minister José Sócrates that he was looking forward to yet another productive mandate in Portugal, and that Madeira was rooting for another strong period of mutual cooperation at government level … and then I woke up.

UPDATE :

If the election results from Madeira yesterday were applied in the local elections here in two weeks time, PSD-M would win in 53 out of the 54 parish elections, and would continue to rule in all 11 câmaras (councils). Only the freguesia (Parish) would have escaped the social democrat’s clutches.

The full results nationally and in detail for Madeira can be seen in the Diário special pull out supplement today HERE

(27th September). Today’s main news headline ‘Abuse Of Minors At Home – Growing with an abuser : it is the drama of children at the mercy of close relatives that exercise the crimes in the secrecy of their homes. But also there are false accusations in cases of litigious divorce’. Sub headline : ‘When the enemy lives inside the house’. There are dozens of cases of sexual abuse of children every year in the Family Court. The abuser is nearly always a relative or neighbour. Most of the victims are girls aged between 7 and 12, with the abusers being men. A father, stepfather, an uncle or neighbour, but the story is always terrible and scars for life. On Madeira the cases exposed mostly involve children in unstructured and poor families, although it happens in all the social classes. I don’t want to read the article any further, but I am sure that gives a gist of the problem, albeit probably unwanted. I have heard the matter talked about, and even know a victim (who is definitely scarred), and back then it was almost a part of life for some. At least now some of these cases do get exposed, and there is something the kids can do, that’s if they have the courage to face the consequences.

‘Elevator Of Fajã Fell With 17 People On Board – A cable came loose and two people were injured after a 50 metre fall, until the the safety [brake?] mechanism was activated’. The two injured foreigners were taken to hospital, with one said to be "serious", after the accident in Fajã dos Padres. The lift was on the way up when the cable ‘came loose’. Both tourists were released from hospital later, one suffered an exposed fracture to a hand, the other with chest pains. How terrifying! That lift is the one west of Cabo Girão, and the total height of the glass lift ride according to one source I found is 250 metres, one of the highest in Europe. I contemplated going on it a few years ago, but chickened out having arrived there.

‘Line Continues In Order To Narrow The Street – Câmara de Lobo tries to avoid returning €2.1 million to the EU’. One white line that saves the council €2m, but it is not yet certain the solution found by the council will be accepted by Europe. This story has been batted around for months and months, but it may be that finally it is resolved. EU funding was granted for a agricultural road in Limoeiro, a road that should be around 4 metres wide. The council then built a road 5.5 metres wide, that did not qualify for the funding, and it had to be returned, as the council decided it was out of the question to narrow the road. Some bright spark then had the idea of making a 1.5 metre strip down one side, and reserving the lane for pedestrians, a sort of pavement. The remaining road is then 4 metres, and therefore qualifies. Well that’s the theory, but the road isn’t then really wide enough for two cars to pass, so one will end up driving on the ‘pavement’. If the European bureaucrats were stupid enough to be conned out of XXX’s of millions for other scams and white elephants by Madeira, no doubt this will be another con to add to the list. As you may have gathered, and I am taking the side of the taxpayer on this one, as clearly the original application was a con … does that look like a farm track in the photo?

‘Medicines Are More Expensive In Portugal – Electronic prescriptions will save the state €55 million a year’. More than half the medicines sold in Portugal and Madeira have a higher price than in other countries in southern Europe. It is estimated that 61% of medicines are more expensive here than in France, Spain, Italy and Greece. However, the good news is that we receive a good service in our 63 pharmacies. An ageing population means that our pharmacies are going to get busier in the future years. The new electronic prescription system mentioned cannot be introduced yet, as the law needs to be changed for data protection purposes. Can’t argue about the service in the pharmacies that I have used, it has always been excellent, despite the language difficulties I used to have. I even took a stray dog into my local chemist once, and they dealt with her very efficiently, although they didn’t offer any assistance in administering the treatment. I propose a round of applause for our excellent pharmacists at 5 pm this afternoon, anyone joining me?

For those who were miffed or inconvenienced during the TAP strike, and feel a grudge toward the airline, this might sway ones opinion. The pilots already earn an average of €8,600 a month, and are looking for a rise to take them to €9,600.

‘DECO Fail Fresh And Frozen Duck – Serious lapses in hygiene and storage result in a poor classification of the product’. 12 types of pre-packaged and frozen were tested, and found to be defective, mainly through lack of freshness in the innards. All the fresh and frozen products were failed as "unacceptable" by the consumer defence organisation.

A 59 year old man has died from his injuries in hospital. It seems that he fell 10 metres off a wall in Tendeira in Caniço.

‘Super São Roque And Sá Lead In The Low Prices – A study by DECO [consumer protection] analysed 70,000 prices for 181 products throughout Portugal’. Super São Roque and the Sá supermarkets in Santa Cruz, Ribeira Brava and São Martinho came out top on Madeira. One ‘basket’ contained 100 products for those who liked branded products, the other ‘basket’ contained 81 items for low budget customers. Santa Cruz Sá came out overall top, with São Roque in equal second place, but offers the cheapest shopping in Funchal. As for the most expensive, amongst others are the Pingo Doces in Anadia (Funchal) and Dolce Vita, and one of the Modelo stores came out badly as well. The analysis of data collected by DECO show that the savings in your shopping cart can reach €940 [a year?] without having to travel long distances and without cutting the list of products required. I am very surprised that my local Hiper Sá scored so highly. I will have to start going there again and see what the difference is after I switched last year. Anyway, that may be my last blog money saving tip, and may you save €€€’s until the next survey next year.

The ferry company Naveira Armas, that operates the services between Madeira and Portugal, is to put itself forward as a candidate to operate a ferry service for the Azores.

Marítimo lost 2 – 1 at home against Naval yesterday : ‘New Setback Intensifies Challenge For Carvalhal’.

‘Day To Choose Representatives – 260 thousand Madeiran voters elect today the six deputies that will represent Madeira in Lisbon. There are 12 parties and movements in total running in the legislative elections’. Another article I am going to skip, as it’s just churning over old ground. The c.250 ‘urns’ in 52 parishes opened at 8 am today. They will close at 7 pm, and the first projections are expected an hour later.

‘European experts monitor elections on Madeira – Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe come to see if the elections are ‘clean’. Two observers from the OSCE are here to make sure that there is no monkey business going on. The observers are from Armenia and Bosnia, and have already made contact with the party leaders, candidates, representatives of the state, and journalists. The politicians and parties have also been forbidden from doing any campaigning or carry out any activities relating to the local elections on 11th October, until tomorrow that is.

Something I didn’t realise until now, that if there should be a change of government after today, it should be able to begin it’s functions at the end of October. However, the Assembly of the Republic cannot be dissolved until March 2010.

I can’t believe I have managed to get through the complete Diário today before midday, less than 3 hours. All the reporters must be out on election duty. Looks like I will have a bit of free time to skulk around the local polling stations this afternoon and mingle with the crowds. I may have a look at the Jornal later on, but there again maybe not.