"Funchal is the prime spot for overseas property buyers; the capital enjoys sunnier and drier weather than the rest of the island and has all the amenities expected in a cosmopolitan city plus the international airport close". The usual BS from a property company, and if you have up to €429k spare, by all means read it, but I wouldn’t bother. ‘Healthy’ tourists prefer holiday homes to hotels

"When the leste blows – the wind that comes from the Sahara – the thermometer may rise to about 33ºC. But that does not happen often and, on this little Portuguese island, situated far out in the wide Atlantic, you can assume the temperatures will rarely rise above a pleasantly warm 24°. You may prefer to sleep with a blanket, but you won’t roast in the mid-day sun". HELLO MAGAZINE ON QUINTAS

Carlos Carvalhal, the ex Marítimo manager, who was sacked a few weeks ago after a pretty poor start to the new football season, has been appointed as the new boss of one of the biggest Portuguese teams. Sporting gave him the job after Paulo Bento resigned last week. Just shows that poor performance doesn’t stop one going up in the world … the world of football that is.

Yesterday’s top news stories thanks to Elaine again :

More details about the emergency exercise at the airport on Wednesday. On Wednesday at 00.30 there will be a full-scale exercise to test the Emergency Plan. The scenario has been set for this year. A bus with 32 passengers for a flight to Lisbon looses control and will hit the right wing of an aircraft, while 52 passengers are disembarking by foot and another 91 remain in transit on the plane. In the mean time, 109 passengers are boarding. The flight originated in Lisbon and is going to Caracas. The bus also collides with a refuelling vehicle, causing a spill of about 3,000 litres of gasoline which catches fire. As a result of the accident, there are 328 casualties – 13 dead, 10 seriously injured priority I, 20 seriously injured priority II, 10 slightly injured and 178 uninjured. In addition, 6 passengers go missing because they panic and flee, and 80 passengers have to be evacuated from the airport. The scenario is chosen by the probability of occurrence and to test equipment which the emergency services might be unfamiliar with using, for example to deal with a fuel spillage into the sea. As such, the Administration of the Harbours and Control of the Maritime Area will be present. This operation involves dozens of regional entities and about 160 extras, in addition to observers and assessors, and will last four or five hours. I thought these emergency exercises were supposed to have an element of surprise, but it seems that if all this was published in the newspaper beforehand everyone involved can have everything planned and prepared to the last detail … I’ll be home for tea honey! Der

5 neonatal deaths in Madeira in 2008. This was one less than 2007. There are decreases in both neonatal and perinatal deaths in the region. Nationally the infant mortality rate decline to 3.3/1000 live births and the neonatal rate decline to 2.5/1000 live births.

300 people on the waiting list for smoking cessation therapy. 45% of the 900 people attending for anti-smoking therapy at the Bom Jesus Health Centre since February 2005 stopped smoking. This is above the 20% national rate and 35% international rate due to more intensive therapy but there is a waiting list of 300 people and the treatment is not subsidized by the state. There are priority cases, for example people with lung problems, heart diseases and relatives of people who have quit smoking. There is a multidisciplinary team consisting of a doctor, nurse, psychologist and nutritionist. It is more successful as there are more consultations, between 16 and 18, and a person calls the user every day to try to motivate them. The main reason for failure is the cost of the medications which are not subsidized and range from 70 to 100 Euros. It would be cheaper to subsidize them than the health service treating resulting diseases, usually occurring 28 years after starting smoking. Since the tobacco advertising law was enforced in 2008, there has been a 5% decrease in tobacco sales and a decrease in the number of men smoking but an increase in female smokers.

CMF wants to encourage renovation of buildings. Funchal Council want to revise the municipal tax again in another initiative to encourage private investment in the renovation of houses. There is already a 50% reduction for residential use and exemption if the use will be for tourism. The mayor Miguel Albuquerque said that in recent years there had been a housing boom in the city centre. Therefore the council must make an effort to ensure affordable social housing in these areas such as in Cruzes and Alegria, and not introduce discrimination in terms of residents in the historic centre. He was speaking at the inauguration of a restored building in the Rua do Bispo, which includes six apartments, seven offices and three commercial spaces, and cost 1 million Euros to renovate, keeping the original facades and main features. (Shown in photo)

64 year old man arrested for sexual abuse against a child. Arrested on Friday for an alleged sexual abuse of a female child, up to the age of 13 years but no age specified. The offence occurred in Funchal and there is no family relationship between the man and the child. The man is prohibited from approaching children and could face up to eight years in prison. In March, a 17 year old was arrested on suspicion of rape of a 50 year old man and is in custody in prison.

An accident victim is seeking witnesses. The woman has fractures to both feet and one knee after a head-on collision last Friday in the Meia Legua tunnel in Ribeira Brava. A blue Fiat Panda was reversing inside the tunnel and she had to swerve to avoid it and collided with a van travelling in the opposite direction. There are several witnesses but no known registration number of the Fiat which left the scene, so any information should be passed on to the police.

Fine issued by GNR taken to the European Court. An emigrant from Madeira living in Luxembourg has refused to pay a 175 Euros fine issued by the GNR in Ponta do Sol in October and says he will take the case to Brussels. He was penalized for driving a car registered abroad that had exceeded the time limit of 183 days of exemption from taxation. He said he did not violate the law as the car had been in the region that same year but with another owner. "The car was mine but I sold it to my mother and thus the period of 183 returns to zero." The GNR said they might interpret the law in one way, and the Customs differently.

Airport receives 200 pieces from the private collection of Joao Carlos Abreu. The collection of  ‘Angels and Boys Choir’ will be on display at the Arrivals Area from 20 December and throughout the Christmas period. These figurines are made of clay, ceramic, cardboard and metal and many were collected in Portugal and Italy as well as other countries.

President of the RTP in lightning discreet visit. The President of the Radio and Television of Portugal, Guilherme Costa, had a lightning visit to Funchal yesterday, previously unannounced and was not available to speak to journalists. The leaders of RTP-M also declined to comment. The workers of RTP-M were stunned as they had expected a formal meeting on Thursday to discuss the replacement for the retiring director and the future plan for equipping the regional centre. It is only known that the president talked at length with the retiring director, Leonel Freitas.

The 2010 budget depends on bank loans. The Regional Government will formally ask the State to amend the debt limit so it can go to the banks for loans to finance the Regional public investment. This revenue is needed to avoid an increase in unemployment and keep the economy going through wages and spending. It is difficult to cut current expenditure without affecting the quality of life of the population, for example health and education account for 75%. The current expenditure will be maintained by tax revenues and transfers from the State. Some investment finance should be available from the EU but the regional component has to be funded and Madeira has no money for this. Without bank loans the situation will be dire, the Regional Government cannot invest, major corporations will collapse and unemployment will soar. The Regional Government will have to depend on support at Lisbon of the PSD and CDS. The review of the Regional Finance Law introduces a new concept of the debt limit and possibly allows the State to endorse loans. The Regional debt to suppliers could surpass 150 million Euros by the end of this year and the Regional Government needs a new way of settling such debts as from June next year, the EU requires Member States to pay suppliers within 30 days. The PCP have delivered a package of 39 measures to cut ‘megalomaniac projects’ to the Regional Secretary of Planning and Finance. These are in economic and social areas to be included in the Budget next year. Jardim has already put the brakes on promises the Government made in some municipalities but some projects cannot be postponed, for example the new hospital in Madeira and a new small hospital in Porto Santo.

‘Estelinha’ and the conflict over the chapel. ‘Estelinha’ – popular name for Estela Pereira Ferreira – a 73 year old resident of Campanário who holds the keys to and receives the money from the promises for the Capela de Nossa Senhora do Bom Despacho (Chapel of Our Lady of Good Order). She has done so for more than 40 years on behalf of the local population. Several parish priests have been in the region but none have been able to clarify the ‘jurisdiction’ over the private chapel which belonged to Conde Canavial. There have been bitter exchanges and suspicions between ‘Estelinha’ and some priests, disagreements over public/pulpit money. In 2004, the priest and the diocese refused a baptism in the chapel, other times there have been weddings, Masses and christenings. Now the Mass is limited to festive seasons and the priest has to ask ‘Estelinha’ to open the door. ‘Estelinha’ says she has the permission of the owner to manage the chapel and has a ‘commission’ to pay for the upkeep made from received money and the ‘gold’ of Our Lady given by Conde Canavial. With conflict over the ownership of this property over the past 15 years, this ‘commission’ is not enough for the people to legally claim ownership of the chapel. Also conflicts over payment for repair work and the door and the roof were restored with the ‘commission’, not by the parish. The chapel is in a magnificent setting with a beautiful view and it is worth tourists asking to see inside. It was founded in 1672 and restored in 1762. In 2007, the Regional Government classified it as a monument of public interest and with this classification, it is in an area for special protection.

Unemployment decreases in the third quarter. Unemployment fell 0.2% over the second quarter of 2009. It stood at 7.9% in the third quarter of 2009. The national unemployment rate grew 0.7% to 9.8%.

Christmas shopping hours proposal. The union SITAM handed a proposal to the CMF that commercial areas close on Sundays and public holidays and at 20.00 in the week before Christmas. This is defended by a lack of consumers.

Consultations in the hospital increased 5.9% in the first halves of the years 2008 and 2009. Consultations at Health Centres also increased by 8.4%. Almada Cardosa of SESARAM stresses that the increased efficiency proves that the staff are not dissatisfied with the new management. "There is a great motivation and increased production with the same conditions." —- No strikes then?

PSD support new fisheries policy. The PSD Parliamentary Group wants Madeira, as an outermost region, to be treated differently by the European Parliament and they need a new fisheries policy for Madeira. The fishing vessels need upgrading to compete with the major industrialized countries and the large industrial vessels. They need to discuss with the MEP their concerns about levels of stocks of many species, not just the black scabbard fish. Also need to be able to manage stocks when there are future imbalances. The new fishing port at Câmara de Lobos will become a reality in 2011. It will be the largest fishing port in the region and the infrastructure will include the Regional Directorate of Fisheries, the auction and all the infrastructure related to the port.

Link to Canhas will be realized, Calheta Health Centre earlier. The link to Canhas in Ponta do Sol will be completed but the forecast is not until 2012. Jardim said that as the work is so complex and deadlines changed, he might not be able to inaugurate it. The Centre for Health and Social Security at Calheta will be completed earlier than expected as the project will begin immediately and not in 2010.

Headlines from the front page of today’s newspaper … feel free to add more ‘meat’ to the stories :

Offences of Jardim reduce PSP Madeira – Political accusations and mainland issued during the [election] campaign result in ‘lows’. The repercussions of President Jardim’s behaviour and accusations of a police force controlled from Lisbon. Some officers have requested transfers, cheesed off with Jardim’s behaviour and attitude toward the police.

Today’s top news headline : Expenditure in the port divides opinions – The project is to provide facilities to embark and disembark in the comfort of covered passageways. But the investment of €3 million is not peaceful between the shipping agents, because the equipment will not be 100% functional.  This is about the installation of walkway equipment that will be used to embark and disembark some passengers arriving by ship (ferry or cruise), similar to the facilities used for planes, where a moveable corridor is moved into place to allow passengers to enter or leave the ship through a moveable corridor mechanism, as shown.

European Popular Party [PPE] brings 500 to Madeira – The assistant secretary general of the PPE is in the region preparing a meeting for October 2010. The PPE is the major ‘family’ of Euro MPs in the European Parliament, with nearly 300 inside the group. The event, scheduled for 13th – 15th of October 2010 will see a congress held here under the theme of ‘study days’. The event is likely to be one of the major events of the year, with around 500 people expected to attend, representing the 27 member states of Europe.

Festival of ‘Tunas’ livens up Funchal in December. With no specifics about this as I haven’t read the article yet, if you get the chance you should get along to witness this, as it is worthwhile. The ‘Tunas’ are bands from the universities of Madeira and Portugal, and the ones I have seen have always been all girls or all boys, normally up to around 20 in a group, but regardless have been really entertaining. Whilst other students may spend their spare time ‘down the pub’, these students put their effort into music and entertainment. What is different is the ‘extra’ entertainment they provide, often quite challenging and athletic, and I would imagine also very tiring.

War today on the road to South Africa – The atmosphere in Bosnia continues to be hostile to Portugal on the decisive day for entry to the World Cup. In South Africa, where Ronaldo already shines, the Portuguese community sees it’s pride in check. The second leg of the playoff between Bosnia and Portugal is tonight, on TVI (channel 4) at 7.45 pm. It’s do or die time, and the 1 – 0 home game lead has to be protected, or it’s no visit to South Africa for the World Cup Finals next year, and a big disappointment for the three Madeiran players likely to be in the squad.

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If you can, please contribute something Madeira related. A funny story or good or bad experience, a news item, or a story from a Madeira newspaper, a photo or video, a teaser, news of a bargain flight or item in a supermarket. Please help keep this blog going … without user contributions it won’t survive. 

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions and photos / videos.

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Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

If you post a comment and are not registered on this site (free), your comment will be moderated, so please do not waste time with spam postings.  If you register, your comment will be posted automatically. If you register, your email address will not be passed to any other party … promise!

Please send any topical or Madeira related photos or videos to blog@madeira4u.com to appear on this blog. Photos may take a while to appear, depending on the number waiting. Please don’t send copyrighted material.

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Madeira News Blog © 2007 – 2009 All Rights Reserved

This weekends football : Both our teams are in action on Sunday, and both unusually on TV (SportTV1). Nacional host Setúbal at 6 pm, and Marítimo visit Sporting, kick off at 8.15 pm. The big game of the weekend is today between Braga and Benfica, the two top sides in the Liga Sagres.

Deputies (MPs) in the regional assembly are not interested in being vaccinated – The vaccination plan against Gripe A is underway, and the MPs are included in the priority groups. The move started yesterday on Madeira, but our politicians showed little interest. Some through fear, others because they did not see why that MPs should be in a priority vaccination group, and of course they are under no obligation. The article showed that in almost all the parties, that there was no intention to be vaccinated, except a PSD social democrat who said she was going to consult her doctor first. Well of course if you are a PSD member, you have to consult someone, as decision making skills are not one of the key requirements  to represent your party and the electorate, as Uncle Bertie decides everything. Blog writers it seems do not come within the priority groups, but do I care … I still have 1.5 litres of © Toranja Poncha © chilling in the fridge, and that should keep the swine flu away for at least two nights. 

Madeira studies new areas for fishing for the black espada fish – The regional secretary for the environment and natural resources presented the project ‘MARPROF’. Due to the reduction in the catch of the fish new fishing zones are being sought. The project MARPROF (I won’t bore you with what it stands for) has the objective of investigating marine biodiversity, and coming up with ways to develop the fishing sector of the archipelagos of Madeira, the Azores, and the Canary Islands. Shrimps and deep water crabs are other species sought that that have economic potential for Madeira. So that’s the environmental solution for overfishing is it, go and overfish elsewhere. I think I could manage without espada for a couple of years to let the stocks recuperate.

PSD-M presents proposal for a law that creates a pension supplement worth €65 – Supplement is compensation for the costs of insularity. The social democrats of Madeira will present the proposal, that will give Madeira’s pensioners the extra 65 Eurobucks monthly, in the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal. If approved it will benefit 30,000 pensioners through old age, disability, or social reasons. Hmmmmmmm, I smell a rat here. Should the AR approve the proposal, and I can’t really see that being on an island affects pensioners more than anyone else working or living here, then there would be a uproar that everyone else deserves the same, here, on the Azores, and maybe on the mainland too. No this is a political dagger, knowing that the idea will be rejected, giving more ammo for the PSD-M against the PS socialist government.

Petrol prices take a bit of a hike on Monday with a 2.c rise per litre. Diesel will rise by 1.c.

Have a great weekend !

Many thanks to Elaine for her contribution from yesterday’s news :

26th Chestnut Festival at Nun’s Valley this weekend. Begins Saturday afternoon at 18.00 with traditional games, a fashion show at 20.00 and animation between 21.00 and 23.00 with Enio Fernandes. The main event is Sunday. The exhibition opens at 09.00 and mass in the Parish Church at 11.30. At 12.00 there is the official opening with the parade at 12.30. Tradition folklore groups start performing at 14.00 and a ‘Miss Chestnut 2009′ competition from 19.30 to 22.00 then entertainment continuing throughout the night. —- No ‘Mr Chestnut 2009′! Perhaps they should have a Miss Chest and a Mr. Nuts Elaine? Der

Madeira exports hospital waste. The Region is sole shareholder of Valor Ambiente which refuses to allow hospital waste to be incinerated at Meia Serra. Refusal is on the grounds that the consortium who built the incinerator and equipped it did not meet the requirements specified. The hospital waste was incinerated there for a year but caused environmental concerns. It is now incinerated in Spain at a cost of €1.2 million a year. The cost of exportation and incineration is being charged to the consortium who built Meia Serra, who are challenging this in court. The Region still owes €18 million for the construction of Meia Serra and €5 million operating costs. At Meia Serra, it costs 1.15 Euros / kg and transportation costs of  €0.08. Exportation to Spain, the cost is estimated by the Diário to be 1.23 Euros / kg.

Diário also complaining that animal waste is not being incinerated but entering landfill instead. At present, the amount is 40 tons a month, which is not an environmental hazard but could be in future due to soil contamination. The amount of clinical and animal by-products increased 74% last year, and the courts are normally slow to settle disputes.

First seal cub to be born in 2009. Population of seals (Monachus monachus) in the region is now 39. On the 25th October, the rangers at the Desertas Islands observed the first cub of the year. The colony has at least seven breeding females and the majority of births occur in October and November, so they are hoping for more. The conservation project was begun in 1988, with three main guidelines: monitoring, protection and education. Monitoring is increased at this time of year to identify the mothers, observe the behaviour of the animals during the breeding season and be attentive to the emergence of new individuals. The local seal population is increasing, whereas worldwide the number of seals is decreasing and its range too. The world population is 500.

Madeiran immigrants in England struggling. Some have been going through financial difficulties, to the point of being obliged to seek help of the Portuguese Sports Centre and Cultural Club in London to eat. The situation has worsened with unemployment associated with the economic crisis. The problem was felt most strongly at the beginning of this year but the situation is gradually improving due to economic recovery in England and increased employment. People usually only temporarily ask for help until they can get a new job.  There are also social problems like alcoholism, drug addiction and mental health problems. There is one person who is unemployed and homeless who goes to the club everyday to eat. They have paid three times for him to return to Madeira but he keeps returning, over the past two years. Even with the crisis, it is always easier to get work in London than Portugal. The main requirement for employment is a good command of English, which has improved during the past few years. The club helps the immigrants to integrate, especially new arrivals.

Landslide in Colmeal blocks road in Nun’s Valley. Firemen form Câmara de Lobos had to unblock the road to allow the bus to pass yesterday afternoon, an operation which took an hour. Landslides are common in this region and difficult to prevent due to a nearby high escarpment which is difficult to reinforce.

Second false distress alarm. Maritime Police and SANAS yesterday morning responded to a distress flare in the bay of Funchal. This flare was fired during training carried out by the Regional Directorate of Fisheries. The Port of Funchal had authorized the training but the location was not as expected, hence the Port Captain decided to launch a rescue.

SANAS has acquired a Mobicall system that will allow a fast and reliable communication to avoid wasting valuable time in responding to a rescue alert. The investment was 10,000 Euros.

Trial between Jardim and Carlos Pereira in 2010. Reported yesterday that Pereira is suing Jardim for 35,000 Euros. At today’s hearing, it was decided that there is a case to answer and due to the Court’s agenda, it will be in mid-2010.

Still  lack of fuel on Porto Santo. Lack of petrol and diesel causing problems especially for public transport, tourism and rent-a-car sectors. It is worse at the weekends resulting in queues of cars and motorbikes at the city centre filling station. GALP is the only supplier and they say they are unaware of the problems and it is the petrol station managers who are liable.

Madeira is studying new fishing areas for Black Scabbard fish. Due to the reduced fishing haul, the Secretariat for the Environment and Natural Resources is looking for new fishing areas. Want to innovate and develop the fishing industry of the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands. Shrimp and crab are other species with economic potential in Madeira. Whoops a bit of duplication there, sorry Elaine, but your piece has a photo. Der

PSD introduce a draft bill to increase benefits by 65 Euros a month. If approved by Parliament, to be included in the State Budget 2011. Will help 30,000 people receiving benefits for old age, incapacity or social benefit. Whoops again!

Man died after fall from the fifth floor.  Occurred on Friday afternoon. He was 53 years old and fell from the fifth floor of a building located in the Praça da ACIF, at the rear of the Loja da Cidadão. He was a civil engineer and married with three children. The PSP and Judicial Police are investigating the circumstances.

Prison guards denounce ‘malaise’ in the Prison of Funchal. Malaise, poor management of human resources, lack of dialogue and respect of their status experienced by prison guards. The blame is aimed at the Director of the Prison, Fernando Santos, by the President of the Prison Guards Union. —– There have been strikes recently.

Moviflor opens new store in Funchal. Will open to the public on Saturday at 10.00 until 22.00 with opening offers this weekend. 2,600 square metres of furnishings and decorations. Located at the Caminho de Santa Quiteria next to Madeira Shopping and the previous shop in Funchal is closed for renovations.

Regional Plan for the Homeless 2009 – 2011. It is the adoption of a document entered into the objective of ‘Promotion of Social Inclusion and Prevention of Social Exclusion’. The plan intends to identify people living on the street, the issues why they are there and then integrate them into society with dignity. The plan is being implemented by the Regional Secretariat for Social Affairs, private institutions, parishes and municipalities. 35 people are already identified as homeless, scattered around the Farmer’s Market, Rua Dr. Fernao Ornelas and the Building 2000. They are to be reintegrated back into their family or if none, into institutions.

Fuel prices increase from Monday (midnight 2 November). Unleaded petrol up from 1.187 to 1.202  Euros and diesel 0.950 Euros a litre.

A quick look at today’s front page of the Diário :

Christmas anticipated to sell despite of the debt situation – The requests for help grow from families struggling with their commitments. Of 531 cases that went to the Consumer Defence entity, 160 are are about financial overcommitment. But still the race for Christmas shopping is underway.

In football : Draw of FC Porto livens the game (tonight) between the league leaders – Belenenses stall the champions. Poor first half by Porto, but dominated most of the second half, and were unlucky to end up with a 1 – 1 draw. Braga and Benfica play today for first place. 9.15 pm on SportTV1. Chelsea come to see Rúben Micael. Whilst I hope Nacional can hang on to Micael for as long as possible this season, for sure he will  be sold fairly soon, and what better buyers could there be than Chelsea, famous for paying stupid prices for average players.

There come the witches with a weekend of partying for Madeira. A creepy Halloween for all tastes. No evidence of witches and monsters yet in my town, and Halloween here it is still a hit and miss event, and sometimes passes by totally unnoticed. I saw a full page advert in yesterday’s Diário for Hiper Sã in São Martinho (I think), and it was all for Halloween products at incredible prices, and I reckon to get fully kitted up for a scary appearance you wouldn’t have gotten much change from €50. The Chinese perhaps haven’t got wind of this yet, but when the new megastore opens in Machico, they should be able to slash the price of future Halloweens, as after all most of the junk that people buy probably originates in China anyway.

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If you can, please contribute something Madeira related. A funny story or good or bad experience, a news item, or a story from a Madeira newspaper, a photo or video, a teaser, news of a bargain flight or item in a supermarket. Please help keep this blog going … without user contributions it won’t survive. 

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions or comments and photos / videos, or if you can contribute regularly, I can give you a special account that allows you to create your own blog postings.
—————————————————————————————————————————————–

Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

If you post a comment and are not registered on this site (free), your comment will be moderated, so please do not waste time with spam postings.  If you register, your comment will be posted automatically. If you register, your email address will not be passed to any other party … promise!

Please send any topical or Madeira related photos or videos to blog@madeira4u.com to appear on this blog. Photos may take a while to appear, depending on the number waiting. Please don’t send copyrighted material.

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Madeira News Blog © 2007 – 2009 All Rights Reserved

You know, I was lying in bed the other night thinking to myself about Gaula. What’s Gaula all about I was thinking? Who lives there, and aside from a slightly irregular political profile, what does it have different to offer I thought? Well of course I didn’t have all the answers I needed, and added it to my mental list of places to visit. Well you can imagine my surprise to wake up the next morning and find an excellent article and lots of great photos all put together by a blog reader … all about Gaula … the premier is coming soon.

Babymoon on the beautiful Island of Madeira -  Babymoon has done a nice review of Madeira on her blog, but somehow I think she may also be a shareholder in a certain hotel. BABYMOON

I asked yesterday how high is the statue of Cristo Rei in Garajau, and the consensus ranged between 20 and 150 metres, and although I have never seen it I would guess that a lower estimate is nearer the mark . The reason I asked was to do with the story during the week, where the PND new Democrats had put forward a motion in the regional assembly to erect a statue of Uncle Bertie overlooking the port of Funchal. It wasn’t mentioned until a couple of days later that the statue proposed would be 50 metres high. The Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world (pictured), was believed to have been one of the tallest statues of its day at 30 metres, but as the picture shows it was rather a trim statue. With Uncle Bertie’s body mass, at 50 metres it would have been a colossus indeed, and a deterrent to cruise ships coming into port, not just though any physical danger, but also likely to frighten the kids and adults alike. The PSD of president Jardim rejected the proposal, and I think I would have voted with them on this occasion, given the opportunity. But had the proposal been approved I think it might have looked something like this.

MANGO CHUTNEY – Tobi’s ex-secret recipe :
2 onions
2 garlic cloves
5 fresh mangoes
2 pears (sometimes i leave these out)
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
300 ml cider vinegar
175 g light muscovado sugar
1 tsp dried crushed chilli
pinch of allspice, salt, cumin, paprika, (don’t worry if you not got all these.)

Chop onions and heat olive oil in a pan, add onions and garlic and cook for 5 mins until soft, add the mangos, sugar, raisins, vinegar and cloves, and bring to the boil, then let simmer rapidly for 30-40 mins, stirring from time to time, until the mangos are tender and the liquid has evaporated. While doing this get your jars ready, I get mine hot in an oven for say 5 mins, with the lids off, but heat the lids as well, as this is just to kill germs, then place the HOT chutney in the jars and put the lids on, when they cool, the lid will pop down making it vacuum tight. Store in the cupboard for at least 2 weeks before eating, once opened it keeps in the fridge for 3 months. I have also placed in plastic tubs in the freezer, as it freezes very well, I love it with curry , or a tub of pringles …. Many thanks Tobi, it smells delicious

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Making a will within the EU : This piece was very kindly submitted by Sheila … many thanks.

Further to the comments about wills, the Portugal News had an interesting piece yesterday.

The European Commission has just proposed the simplification of cross-border inheritance rights. The new rules, if implemented, will allow people living abroad to choose to have the terms of their wills carried out in accordance with the laws of their own country.

At present, the laws of the country, where the deceased lived, apply to the entire estate, even if that includes property or assets in another EU country.

The new rules would allow a single authority (either in the country of residence or of origin) to deal with the whole estate. That would end contradictory rulings by courts, in several EU countries, relating to the same estate.

The Commission also proposes to create a special certificate to enable heirs and administrators of wills to prove their status in a particular country of the EU. At the moment, European countries sometimes refuse to recognise each other’s inheritance documents.

Around 450,000 of the inheritances dealt with in the EU every year have an international element. The total value of such estates is an estimated 120 billion Euros a year. Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot said that the proposed legislation would make inheritance laws more certain and flexible. He said: "It is imperative that citizens and legal practitioners are able to understand and, to a certain extent, choose the rules applicable to assets in a will, wherever they may be located". The new rules will not affect inheritance taxes, which will continue to be administered under national law.

Hopefully that clarifies things a bit but, if you are still in doubt, you might like to do what my husband and I have done – find a good Madeiran, English-speaking lawyer! Good luck.

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Many thanks again to Elaine for Saturday’s top news stories :

Reminder XXIV Regional Meeting of the Tunas and Mandolin Orchestras in Câmara de Lobos Saturday and Sunday. 16 groups in the Casa da Cultura. Sunday from 16.00.

Apprehension about the new Nursing Director. There was turbulence when the clinical directors were replaced at the hospital, now they think the focus will be on nursing. The previous Nursing Director had resigned for ‘personal reasons’, although few believe that was the real reason, and the successor has now been appointed. The President of the Union for Nurses says the managers change what is working well instead of restructuring regional emergency services or implementation of a regional network of continuing care. The Order of Nurses says they will act if changes mean the legality and safety of patients and respect for all professionals are affected. Focus is thought to be put particularly on the elderly and the Department of Dialysis, as the newly expanded  department will be operational next January. The hospital for continuing care, João de Almada is overcrowded and there needs to be more care for the elderly at the primary health care level (health centres). There is also  a long waiting list for residential homes and not enough money available.

Mackerel fishing fleet reduced. The fleet will be reduced to three when two boats are taken out of service next year. Weak demand, low prices, limitations in the Madeiran market and the only canning factory has closed means that profits are low. Last year’s taxable income was 1,800 Euros. One fisherman will join another company and the other will work with his brother. The EU aims to reduce the quotas (to 15% less fish) in the Atlantic and North Sea next year. For Madeira, it means a reduction from 1,280 to 1,088 tons but they only catch an average of 400 tons. The fishermen reckon there is enough mackerel and horse mackerel locally, especially as there is no Spanish competition. A Marine Biologist said it would be different if the quotas were reduced for the Black Scabbard fish as they are presently catching near the EU quota.

Madeira wine promoted in Japan. Madeira wine from five companies will be promoted to importers, journalists and wine experts. Over the past three years, the Japanese market has been the fourth largest export market for Madeiran wine. In 2008, 205,283.70 litres were exported representing a gross income of 1.0092.786,88 Euros. ——-This time, 0.70 litres has crept into the figure.

Judges are not independent. The President of the Association of Public Prosecutors admitted that the judges are not independent and impartial due to the size of the island and strong political and media scrutiny. They have to do more to resist pressure.

EU recommends that road tunnels are made safer. Smoke emissions in tunnels and car parks and fatal accidents in Europe mean that the present tunnels need to be modified. How does one make a tunnel safer exactly? Perhaps we could knock down the part that actually defines it as a tunnel, i.e. the rock? As our tunnels already have escape routes, cameras, ventilation, lighting, emergency services and equipment and whatever, one struggles to thing what more could be done. Ahh, I know … how about we close them to cars! Der

Diocese has new church paid by the Government. The new church in Feiteiras, São Vicente cost €1.5 million. The parish community raised 120,000 Euros for restoration of art works and interior furnishings. The building was started in 2003 and represents an inverted ship, a reference to St. Peter’s boat.

More than 1,000 crimes against children. In the first half of this year, there were over 1,000 cases of violation of the rights of children and young people, but the numbers have decreased since last year. Of the 1,097 cases, there were 300 cases of neglect, followed by ‘deviant behaviour, psychological abuse, physical abuse and emotional abuse’. The social workers and outreach workers were praised at the forum, especially those working in Câmara de Lobos and Nogueira, Camacha. The most cases occurred in Funchal, then Santa Cruz, Machico and Câmara de Lobos.

SANAS assistance quadruples. The lifeguards have dealt with three assistances every hour, four times those registered in 2005, due to a growth in the number of bathing areas. 36% of the help required is given to children, especially wounds. The elderly were vulnerable to drowning due to loss of consciousness. Cases of sunstroke increased, mainly  in adults and adolescents. The most cases of death were in Calheta and the Lido. 37 drownings last Summer, more than half  by exhaustion and three cases required resuscitation. There are over 130 lifeguards on 21 beaches. There were definitely no deaths by drowning this Summer from Madeira’s beaches, so I think there must be some national statistics mixed in here, but I can’t find the original article to check. Der

Portela to Ribeiro Frio levada walk still partially closed. Will remain so until next March. There are notices at Portela advising how much of the walk can be undertaken.

New hospital still has no guaranteed funding. Initial investment of  €150 million needed. According to the D. Notícias, but not confirmed, Jardim has been in talks with the Mello Healthcare Group who have investments in hospitals in Portugal and Spain. They say that in the short-term, they will be unable to make investments so it will not be for another 3 to 5 years. Two other private groups are interested in building the new hospital of around 662 beds. Private hospitals are 14% cheaper to construct and operate than public sector ones due to tight control of costs and efficiencies.

——-In contrast:

Barreiros stadium to be completed on time. Redevelopment will be finished by December 2010 and in time for the Schools Sports in May 2010. Contracts should be signed within a month. —-No mention of the cost. Questions asked at the pre-elections time why this is more important than the hospital. Jardim’s involvement? €45 million of taxpayers money is being used to fund the Marítimo stadium redevelopment. Der

12,625 unemployed (8%). September last year, the number was 8,184. 68%  received Jobseeker’s Allowance, 5% Social Integration Income and 8.9% were looking for their first job. 70% were short-term employed and 30% had been registered unemployed for more than one year.

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If you can, please contribute something Madeira related. A funny story or good or bad experience, a news item, or a story from a Madeira newspaper, a photo or video, a teaser, news of a bargain flight or item in a supermarket. Please help keep this blog going … without user contributions it won’t survive. 

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions or comments and photos / videos, or if you can contribute regularly, I can give you a special account that allows you to create your own blog postings.
—————————————————————————————————————————————–

Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

If you post a comment and are not registered on this site (free), your comment will be moderated, so please do not waste time with spam postings.  If you register, your comment will be posted automatically. If you register, your email address will not be passed to any other party … promise!

Please send any topical or Madeira related photos or videos to blog@madeira4u.com to appear on this blog. Photos may take a while to appear, depending on the number waiting. Please don’t send copyrighted material.

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Madeira News Blog © 2007 – 2009 All Rights Reserved

"The summer time bite has gone, but what a great season it was for Madeira. There were at least 10 fish pushing GRANDER status caught by the boats this season. This is VERY much a no kill fishery and they take great pride in that". ONE FOR THE FISHERMEN

Man killed in Bairro da Nogueira – Police investigate a homicide that occurred Wednesday night. A man of 33 years died after suffering a violent blow to the head, and the reason may be "excessive self-defence". The police are investigating a crime of murder that occurred late on Wednesday, after 10 pm, in the neighbourhood of Nogueira, in Camacha. Two men, aged 33 and 29 years, one armed with a knife, engaged in mutual aggression that occurred in Rua do Vimioso, at the housing estate, but the tragic outcome actually happened in the house of the alleged murderer. The victim who suffered the blow to the head, was struck by an object like a bat or baton, and succumbed to his injuries.

The Diário today has on the front page a health feature, warning that we on Madeira have bad eating habits :

Too much fat through cakes, meat and chocolate – Too much sugar through drinks and sweets in general – Too much salt added to meals, and in processed food purchased – Not eating breakfast – Excess of alcoholic drinks – Excessive meals (with a picture showing a very full English breakfast). The good news is that page 4 of the Diário give suggestions for healthier eating, especially timed for world healthy eating day, but I suspect that the real information is only in the printed edition, and not online, I will check tonight. I don’t know what is the matter with these ‘health experts’. They say you should always eat breakfast, and then say that an English breakfast is not healthy. They say you should drink alcohol in moderation, and then tell you that a weeks alcohol allocation in one night is not right. It’s all so confusing, and fried muesli on a Saturday morning just doesn’t do the trick.

Many thanks to Elaine for the rest of yesterday’s news :

Mistake acknowledged by the Diário in yesterday’s lottery story. Only half of the winning stakes were sold in the shop cited. The owner said the remaining portions were distributed to the ‘Loja do Cafe’ in Machico.

Teachers still waiting. Recently, there have been repeated complaints that teachers have not had their evaluations, necessary for career progression. Unlike the Azores and the Mainland, the teachers in Madeira have not been able to have their grades and salaries changed since 2005, resulting in some loosing an increase of 200 Euros per month, which is usually linked to length of service. The two teacher’s unions met with the Regional Secretary of Education who promised the evaluations would begin again and money backdated, but no date was given for the Government to meet to agree on a new evaluation model.

90% of the firemen in Santana enrolled in the Union. More discontent. There are anonymous complaints (for fear of retaliation) to the newspaper that there are not enough firefighters and the training is  insufficient. The Commander in Santana is unhappy that the staff have chosen to publically complain and refutes their allegations, saying "he never neglected the safety of the population."  The union have met the management but still worry about the mountainous terrain, number of population and tourists served, especially Pico Ruivo visitors, increased traffic due to new access roads and that there are insufficient men to cover.

Pedro receives a wheelchair. After two years of being confined to his parent’s house, 22-year old Pedro, who has profound cerebral palsy, received a specially-adapted wheelchair. 4,600 Euros was raised for the wheelchair through activities of the Jardim Escola Joao de Deus in Nazaré, where the wheelchair was presented at a ceremony on Wednesday. The Special Education and Rehabilitation Services care for 184 children and adults with physical disabilities, 18 of whom are institutionalized.

Dirty, smelly but happy.  Description of the mood yesterday afternoon of 350 new University of Madeira students who are having a week of ‘freshmen’ activities. The traditional parade was between the campuses and the port, for the baptism in the bay. This was helpful to wash off the ‘desserts’ (eggs, flour, ketchup, any smelly food) thrown at them by veterans. It was voluntary and attended by the majority of new students who found it enjoyable. According to the Diário de Cidade, there was no shortage of alcohol.

TUI hold the Holly awards ceremony in Funchal this year. Instead of Germany, the tour operator has decided to relocate the ceremony to the countries of the winners. It is on October 21st. at the Museum Quinta das Cruzes, as both the museum and gardens are important tourist areas. As well as the Pestana chain and Porto Bay receiving awards, the Albergaria Dias has been ranked the top position by the German customers of TUI.

Madeira on the route of scientific-themed cruises. The expeditionary ship, the ‘National Geographic Explorer’ with 80, mainly American, tourists docked on Thursday and leaves on Friday at 16.00. It is the first time this type of ship has arrived so  it will be greeted with a reception aboard for the passengers and the Ships Enthusiast’s Club members. There is a team of scientists on board to advise the tourists and it arrived from Lisbon and will go to the Canary Islands, Cape Verde and then Brazil. It has had permission to anchor by the Deserta Grande island so passengers can disembark to visit the nature reserve.

Catches of the black scabbard fish plummet again. In the first seven months of this year, there were 505 tonnes less than normal auctioned. February to April were the worst months and in the first six months, the fishermen’s income dropped by 23% or 896,000 Euros. In July, the catch dropped by 16%, a loss of 58,000 Euros. The reduction in catch is both due to reduced stocks and size of fish. They are now having to go further out to sea, between 600 and 800 miles from Madeira, thus increasing their fuel bill.

In contrast, the tuna fish catch has increased by 341 tonnes to 1841 tonnes.  The best months have been May and June.

Madeira asks for special treatment of the outermost territories. At the Conference of the Presidents of the Outermost Territories, in the Canary Islands, the Vice President of the Madeiran Government stated that when Brussels evaluated these regions for aid, they under-evaluated the compensation the EU should allow in the Common Agricultural Policy after 2013, especially with ongoing international negotiations on the banana. The regions also have had unequal treatment in transport policy and the chairman of the meeting insists that the EC President, Jose Barroso, asks for specific support for the regions which is needed to counteract the effect of the economic crisis.

Open Day at the Centre for Floriculture on Saturday. Lugar de Baixo in Ponta do Sol. To raise awareness of subtropical plant cultivation.

Madeira Wine Tasting at the Portuguese Embassies in Paris and London. Five Madeira Wine companies took part, aimed at promoting the wines to journalists, retailers, distributors and chefs. The English market in 2008 was the second largest for export, consuming 242,919.50 litres and a turnover of 1,447,092.98 Euros. I wonder where the half litre went … was that you Martin? Der

PSP Police give safety advice to elderly in Santa Cruz. Organised by the Casa do Povo de Santa Cruz. Thought necessary as an increased number of older people, more living alone and scams. They were instructed to break old habits, like leaving a door key under the mat or leaving the door wide open when visiting neighbours. Advice was also; to have a telephone ready for emergencies, not to open the door to strangers or sign proposals that come from them, have a door-chain fitted, strengthen entry points and have adequate lighting. Also be suspicious in the street of certain approaches when going out to obtain money.

Harrods will sell gold bars. According to the Diário Digital, Harrods in London will now sell gold bars and coins. They will also buy back the gold at any time at the market price. "Harrods is known for its innovation and first class service. It’s our formula for success" the store said in a statement.

The Diário has published details of the Apple Festival in Camacha which starts tonight.

Program – XXIV Apple Festival
Friday, October 16
14 hours – Decorate the stage – schools of the 1st Cycle of Camacha
20 hours – Animation and Karaoke with DJ Silva
Saturday, October 17
16 hours – Beginning of the manufacture and sale of cider apple Camacha
17 hours – Official – Entities visit stands
17.15 – Group of Pilgrimages Old Rochão
20 hours – Group of Pilgrimages and Traditions of Camacha
20:45 – Folk Dance Group of the House of People’s Camacha
21.30 – Banda Parish of St. Lawrence
22:30 – Conjunto Musical ‘New Wave’
Sunday, October 18
12 hours – Beginning of the manufacture and sale of cider apple Camacha
17 hours – Folklore Group of Rochão
18 hours – Folklore Group of Good Hope
18:30 – Grupo Folklore Juvenile Camacha
19 hours – avenged
20 hours – Duo Musical ‘Wave Duo’
22 hours – Musical Group of the Magi

—————————————————————————————————————————————–
If you can, please contribute something Madeira related. A funny story or experience, a news item, or a story from a Madeira newspaper, a photo or video, a teaser, news of a bargain flight or item in a supermarket. Please help keep this blog going … without user contributions it won’t survive. 

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions or comments and photos / videos, or if you can contribute regularly, I can give you a special account that allows you to create your own blog postings.
—————————————————————————————————————————————–

Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

If you post a comment and are not registered on this site (free), your comment will be moderated, so please do not waste time with spam postings.  If you register, your comment will be posted automatically. If you register, your email address will not be passed to any other party … promise!

Please send any topical or Madeira related photos or videos to blog@madeira4u.com to appear on this blog. Photos may take a while to appear, depending on the number waiting. Please don’t send copyrighted material.

The headline news & other snippets reviewed here on the blog are mainly from the Diário de Notícias of Madeira, although news from any source is used and welcome.

The blogs in the ‘uncategorised’ category come from the old madeira4u blog.

IF YOU NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE, TRY THE MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE ‘USEFUL LINKS’ & ‘TIPS & HELP’

Madeira News Blog © 2007 – 2009 All Rights Reserved

(8th September). ‘Illegal Fishing With Nets Spreads In Various Zones – The commander of Zona Marítima da Madeira reveals that this year already 9 prosecutions have been instigated because of illegal fishing’. Illegal fishing with nets is "regular practice" in the Region he says. In Porto Moniz this particularly happens, however, Cândido Coelho, commander of ZMM says there are more areas where this is going on. At Porto Moniz the fishing takes place at night to avoid detection, and huge nets are used to maximise the catch. One man who came forward to expose the situation, is a diver in the waters around Porto Moniz, and says that he and his fellow divers have noticed a reduction in the number of fish, causing resentment amongst the local fishermen, but they don’t denounce the activity for fear of reprisals. Cândido Coelho explains that fishing with nets is prohibited along the coast and when done by small boats, and considers this kind of practice "very worrying", because it is a "type of fishing that is quite devastating for some species". Anyone aware of such activity is requested to notify the Maritime Police. 11 cases were prosecuted last year, with 9 more so far this year.

‘Constitutional Tribunal Devastates São Vicente’. I can’t find the story behind this headline at present, but will fill in the gaps when / if I do.

‘Quay of Santa Cruz without rules – Boats block access while the cars abuse the parking’. Users of the quay complain about the behaviour of others who block access, and drivers who use the pier as a permanent parking place. It is impossible to embark or disembark by boat says one complainant. The council were unable to offer any explanation for the situation.

‘Theatre United In The Art Centre – A group of youths from the cast of ‘The Burning City’ – play premieres on Friday’. The show in the Centro das Artes Casa das Mudas will have 5 showings until Monday. The project involves a group of young people who follow an interest in the art of Talma(?). A percentage of the money raised goes to research in medicine, sponsored by the Portuguese League Against Cancer.

An infant school in Câmara de Lobos was the only school in Portugal recognised in a European competition which attracted 1,600 entries. The school was amongst the 10 winners for producing a film about a Spring day in Europe. It’s more of a short slideshow actually, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one or two adults had a hand in the production. I liked it. RIBEIRO DE ALFORRA You need to select Portugal in the country list, and then the picture 4th along on the second row.

‘Columbus ‘lands’ Again On Porto Santo – The Columbus festival runs from 10th to 12th September’. The three day festival promises to liven up Porto Santo, starting on Thursday. The ‘coming ashore’ of Christopher Columbus and the parade are the high points of the festival, with a medieval fair, and a stand with typical cakes of the island for the first time. The Regional Secretary for Tourism invests around €108,000 in the event in the hope of attracting many tourists to Porto Santo. The hotel occupancy rate is hoped to exceed 50%. Can you believe €108,000 is spent, but I suppose it’s loose change up to what is spent in Funchal. Anyway if they have to revive Chris every year, that can’t be cheap.

A police search in Bairro da Palmeira, in Câmara de Lobos at the weekend resulted in 4 arrests and 1,200 heroin fixes being seized. Also over the period, there were 33 road accidents causing 7 serious injuries, and 16 arrests for drink driving.

Iran’s table tennis champ Noshad Alamiyan has won the men’s individual title at the 13th Madeira International Open MADEIRA OPEN

Politics

‘Funchal can ask for more than €43 million – The debt capacity of the local authority was confirmed by the Directorate-General’. The Directorate-General of the local authorities informed Funchal Council that its borrowing capacity for 2009 amounts to €43.5 million. The decision has confirmed the authority as a good credit risk in good financial shape, according to a social democrat counsellor. Funchal is one of the few câmaras in Portugal that has managed to maintain a significant credit rating.

Today’s main news headline : ‘PSD Stifles Opposition – Yesterday, in various gatherings on Madeira, some parties of opposition were prevented from participating in meetings of delegates for the appointment of staff for the voting tables used in the elections. The police were called to intervene in Calheta’. The social democrats were under fire again, when they left opposition politicians shut outside of various parish councils (Juntas de Freguesia), as they then chose the staff who would man the voting tables during the national elections later this month. The meetings had been scheduled for 7 pm yesterday, and in many cases took just a few minutes, catching opposition delegates by surprise. In one case a socialist delegate says he arrived 3 minutes late to find the selection process all over. That delegate in Estreito da Calheta called the police, and the matter will be reported to the National Elections Commission (CNE).

The main front page photo today is a rather bland view of President Jardim and the national leader of the PSD getting into a car : ‘Lifts’ And Insult Embarrass Leader Of The PSD – She came on a party campaign but left in a vehicle of the regional government. She denied the lift, as she did with the ‘asphyxiation’, and even went to an inauguration that wasn’t on the schedule’. President Jardim is accused of misleading his political boss, by taking her to two inaugurations in tiny Furna (Ribeira Brava), when her plan was to spend her time out on the streets. She knew she was going to Tabua to honour a counsellor with over 60 years of party service, but was unaware of Jardim’s other plans after that. That situation was confirmed by a party spokesman, who referred to the agenda that had been sent by email. As regarding the ‘lift’ in an official government vehicle, Ferreira Leite strongly denied this earlier in the day, but Jardim insisted in taking her back to the airport, and almost forced her to enter the official presidency car.

‘Manuela Ferreira Leite Guarantees To Change The Regional Finance Law If Her Party Wins The Elections Of 27th September – Leader of the PSD says that she didn’t find democratic asphyxiation on Madeira’. At the side of Alberto João Jardim yesterday morning she wandered through the streets of Funchal. In a time of pre-election campaign Manuela Ferreira Leite stressed that she could not miss a visit to Madeira, a region she says is "a bastion of unmovable PSD". It is her first visit to Madeira  since becoming leader of the social democrats. She also said that she did not feel that there is a choking democracy, contrary to what happens on the mainland. A view shared by president Jardim, who accused journalists and some politicians of not respecting the rights of local people. Of course they are both right, as democracy only happens on election day here. so how can it be choked on the other days. I did nip out late afternoon, hoping to have a word with Manuela on her visit to Ribeira Brava, and I waited an hour and a half for an exclusive interview, but she didn’t turn up. I gave up when I heard on the radio that she was unexpectedly visiting the high zones of Ribeira Brava. The democratic ‘asphyxiation’ issue was created by the socialist party, after president Jardim refused to take part in pre-election cross party political debates.

In yet another headline story related to the visit of the PSD leader, the Diário again made a big deal out of the fact that an official car of the Presidency of the Government of Madeira was used to give Ferreira Leite a lift to the airport, when her visit was for party political matters, as well as her involvement in two inaugurations which should of course be politically unbiased. It says that opposition parties see the matters as a scandal, and accuse her of double standards, and the matters have even attracted national attention. Comments are reproduced from several party spokesmen on the matter, and none very complementary. How anyone can still be shocked by the behaviour of Uncle Bertie, who it seems was the instigator of both matters of complaint? If he hadn’t done those things I would have been more surprised. I think she must be embarrassed by the matters though, as on the continent, rules such as those broken, are expected to be followed.

‘PS Lead But Without Absolute Majority’. A poll carried out by the Morning Post newspaper in Portugal, gives the PS socialists a lead in the race for power, in the national elections due to be held on 27th September. The results are PS 34.5%, PSD 28.9%, BE Left Block 10%, and CDU communists 7.8%.

UPDATE :

(In desperation, trying to get away from politics) From today’s Jornal da Madeira :

‘Porto Santo will have €7.2 million for water – Government will improve the irrigation for agriculture’. The Regional Secretary for the Environment and Natural Resources said yesterday that up until the end of the current political mandate, there is €7.3m destined for Porto Santo, aimed in the main at improving agricultural water supplies, but also to include drinking water supply and waste water management. The response capacity for water needs will be for 30,000 people, far far more than the resident population.

‘More Fish (Long Bill) And Tourists / Fishermen – August has more customers, but it doesn’t hide the crisis facing the industry’. "The business is no longer what it was. Customers are fewer in number, hence the month of August has around 30% less than the same period last year. However, it is noted that demand is much better than that of early-season (June), because in that month the (boat) charters fell almost 50%". So says Pedro Gonçalves of the company NAUTISANTOS, Ltd. "Yet we have had charters almost every day, which is always good" he says, referring to a mini recovery for his big game fishing business. There are many long bill fish this season says another businessman in the sector, saying that warmer seas are bringing them in closer to shore. Madeira is known as one of the best places in the world for this type of fishing, and in 2008 430 Blue Marlin catches were made, 12 of them weighing over 1,000 pounds (454 kgs). One other attractive feature is that from port to the best fishing zones is very short, needing just 5 minutes to be able to start fishing. In other European big game fishing locations the travelling is usually an hour or more.

‘New Tourist Office In Rossio’. The deal has been done, but the official announcement won’t be until September. The Regional Secretary of Tourism and Transport has already signed the lease with a company for the use of a space that will be between the Rossio and Praça do Comércio, in downtown Lisbon. The old office for Madeira Tourism in Portugal closed suddenly some months ago.

‘Hotels On Madeira And The Algarve Maintain Staffing Levels – The main hotel groups say that demand is sufficiently good to maintain jobs’. The regions most affected by rising unemployment in July were the Algarve and Madeira, according to the Institute of Employment and Vocational Training, but the hotels say they have maintained the employment levels from previous years. Figures released in July showed that unemployment had increased over a year by 50.3% on Madeira, and 104.2% in the Algarve. The Pestana Group, with 10 hotels here and 8 in the Algarve, says it has kept the same number of workers, and taken on temporary workers. Vila Galé group, also operating in both locations, also said it had not cut back on staff. It just shows the profits they used to make in the good old days then, if they can maintain the same overheads with much reduced revenue.

(26th August). ‘Salary Bank Accounts* Save Up To 240 Euros Per Year – "As a rule, they are free of maintenance costs (bank charges) or do not charge an annual fee for the cards". This applies especially if managed through the Internet, says a study by DECO, the Portuguese Association for Consumer Protection. The study covered 19 banks, of which 6 claimed to provide an "account for citizens with low incomes", i.e. providing a minimum level of banking services. DECO is challenging the Ministry of Finance to create a citizen’s account, accessible to any customer, with reduced maintenance costs and a free debit card. Deco also notes that some transactions can be carried out at multibanco (ATM) machines for less than it would cost on the telephone or at the bank counter. The full report is due to be published next month. It is my understanding that a conta-ordenado*, is for people working and having salaries paid in, but I think it is the same account that I have for example, with nothing being paid in on a regular basis, but is subject to no bank charges as long as a minimum balance is maintained, but I am not 100% certain, and it may vary with different banks.

‘Ferpinta Compensates Saviotti Over the hotel ‘Vila Baleira’. This was on the front page, but related to a contractual dispute between the owners and operating company of the hotel ‘D. Pedro Porto Santo’ aka ‘Vila Baleira’. The 10 year contract agreed in 1997 was terminated early for breach of trust, when the owners concluded that the management company were unable to manage the unit properly, with chaotic accounting, poor management, and other problems cited. Also mentioned are crimes of violation of correspondence and telecommunications, theft, computer fraud and sabotage, and unfair competition. It’s a long article with compensation of tens of millions of Euros being demanded, with counterclaims, appeals, and all sorts of corporate nastiness. This latest hearing resulted in the hotel owners being awarded €130,000 in compensation.

‘Number One Of 600 Hotels Worldwide – Jardim Atlântico adds environmental awards from international operators’. The hotel in Prazeres achieved yet a further award last week to recognise its performance in environmental sustainability. The latest award was from ‘Thomas Cook Northern Europe’, representing Scandinavia, for the ‘Best Ecological Hotel’. The hotel already hold 5 environmental compliance certificates, including ISO 14001, and now has 25 individual awards. The hotel also promotes environmental work outside of its own grounds, including reforestation of the Natural Park of Madeira, where 3,700 trees were planted using not only it’s own staff, but also involving hotel guests, who show great interest in such initiatives.

(5th July). ‘Summer Could Recover The Poor First Six Months – The regional secretary for tourism says that hotel bookings are pointing towards 90% occupancy’. She said while in Lisbon last week that the indications are good for this Summer in tourism, for the period between 15th July and 15th September, with some hotels, not all, with high levels of reservations. Much of the trade is coming from Portugal. "April and May were were good months" she said, and in June the numbers were similar to last year. In the first four and a half months tourists numbers and revenues were down between 10 and 15%, with hotels registering a 59% occupancy rate.

‘Madeira Leads With A Blue Marlin Of 351 Kilos – It is in a strong position to win the 25th world coarse fishing championship’. With just a few hours to go until the contest is completed in different time zones worldwide, Madeira is in front. The fish was caught by the team on the boat ‘Hawk Eye. UPDATE 6th July : The Madeira team was eventually thwarted, and lost the ‘winner takes all’ €400,000 prize, when in the last hours of the competition a Blue Marlin weighing 392 kilos was caught off Bermuda.

‘TAP Loses Over 100,00 Passengers Just In May – The negative trend has continued since January’. Compared to May last year, Portugal’s favourite airline lost 105,000 passengers, a reduction of 12.3%. The company blames the situation on a reduction in demand in the European and North Atlantic markets.

(3rd July). ‘Ryanair Opens Operating Base In Porto – The company says that the airport charges have discouraged connections with Madeira’. The Irish budget airline says it is interested in starting a domestic route between Porto and Madeira, and is keeping in touch with national and regional airport authorities. A spokesman for the company said that there are two criteria necessary for Ryanair to consider a new airport connection, being a fast turnaround time for ‘handling’ (able to despatch an aircraft 30 minutes after landing), and operating costs that fit into the companies business model. Ryanair’s 33rd base costing €100 million in Porto is expected to be up and running in September

‘Creches – The Fair Price – New regulation of social action creates discontent. Madeira government already makes adjustments’. The Department of Education and Culture is reviewing day-care costs for youngsters, and making changes in the 6 payment scales, and introducing more levels. New national rules have just reduced the number of levels from 10 to 6, and as these levels link to the amount of family allowance received by the child’s parents, new bands are being introduced to ensure the charges are fair to all and take into account the ability to pay.

The parish of São Roque celebrates this week-end the festival of the Holy Sacrament, a festival with great tradition in the area. The celebrations for Santíssimo Sacramento go through to Sunday evening. Meanwhile the parish of Jardim da Serra celebrates its 13th birthday today.

Today sees the 25th World Coarse Fishing Championship, again with the focus on the Blue Marlin. 8 teams are involved here, and the competition lasts throughout today for a prize of €400,000. The inscription cost $2,140. The competition is held at various locations worldwide, linked to that particular time zone. The first fish that qualifies will have to weigh over 226 kilos, and after that the biggest at the end of the timescales wins. Competitors are kept informed of catches elsewhere by SMS, fax, radio, or email. Last year the winning catch was a Blue Marlin weighing 351 kilos caught near Hawaii. Madeira has won the competition 3 times.

‘Shooting In Canhas Causes Serious Injury – A man aged 51 was hit in the face with a shot from a shotgun’. The victim is in a serious condition after the incident that happened in Fajã e Eiras yesterday at around 1.30am, and will be given plastic surgery. The gunman fled the scene, and the reason for the shooting is still unknown.

‘Traditional Bread Will Have Exemption’. A new law being formed in parliament to reduce the amount of salt used in making bread, will give exemption to bread considered to be ‘traditional products’, and they will not need to meet the maximum permitted salt content of 14 grams per kilo. The health initiative to reduce and inform people on salt intake will use a system of fines to enforce compliance. Individuals will be fined €500 to €3,500, and companies €750 to €5,000 for non compliance once the new law is introduced, which should be in the next 12 months.

‘Jardim Says That The Pinho Case Seems A Thing Of "Kids That Make Rude Gestures – In the Madeira assembly one makes jokes and satire but always in a way that wouldn’t lead to resignation". The Diário obviously thought it was a highlight of the day, the story of the politician who made devils horns with his fingers in the Portuguese assembly and ended up forced to resign. Jardim wouldn’t comment directly on the case, saying that he saw it on TV, and said he thought it must be ‘education day in the assembly of the republic’.

There is a second article on the matter (front page) : ‘Jardim Much Worse Than Pinho – Gestures and insults in the Madeira assembly never lead to resignations’. The picture accompanying the inside article shows Jardim making a sign to someone in the ALM with his hand, which implies ‘robber’.

‘Losses of the Journal da Madeira amounted to €33 million – Jardim rubbishes the auditors report’. President Jardim said that the audit report that virtually declares the JM insolvent means nothing, when comparing such a debt with other media organisations in TV and radio in order to spread the propaganda of the socialist government’. The report issued yesterday said the government owned company JM accumulated losses of €33 million in 2007. The report advises the exit of the regional government from the Jornal, and casts doubts over a verbal agreement with the newspapers distributors. This is not related to the report a few days ago that said the the Jornal was insolvent / bankrupt, but as the Jornal da Madeira is still being published, it looks like our taxes are still going that way for some time to come.

‘Ponte do Bazar do Povo Closed To Traffic From 29th June – Restoration works on the bridge are going to affect traffic in some streets in the centre of Funchal’. Also referred to as the ‘Ponte do Bettencourt’ the repair work will affect traffic on the bridge itself, Rua do Bettencourt, and the left lanes on the streets 5 de Outubro and 31 de Janeiro, in the vicinity of the bridge. and also part of Avenida de Arriaga. The works are due to be complete by 12th of September.

The hospital technicians strike, scheduled for today and tomorrow, was cancelled at the last moment, when the Ministry for Health in Portugal arranged two meetings to discuss the career grievances of the workers.

"The Best Tuneiro In Europe". The arrival of the new tuna fishing boat ‘Progresso Futuro’ is the main topic of conversation in Caniçal. The crew was preparing itself for the inaugural voyage yesterday. The boat was due to sail yesterday afternoon with its 20 crew members to catch bait for tuna fishing. The vessel is equipped with the "best technology" of navigation, telecommunications and sonar. It has everything it needs to stay at sea for around 30 days, and will be capable of storing up to 150 tons of fish.

(24th June). ‘Saltwater Pools To Be Ready in July’. The swimming pools in Câmara de Lobos will be ready for use at the start of July, because the schools have not yet finished for Summer. The two pools near the beach are currently empty, the showers have no water, and the service facilities are still closed. The complex built in 2004 was supposed to be open all year long.

‘Bar Invites Students To Drink Buckets Of Alcohol’. The promotion of ‘buckets’ of beer, whisky and vodka at the Yacht Bar at the Marina in Funchal (ex Balloon Bar), aimed particularly at students, is generating some criticism, especially from the head of the Anti-Alcohol Association. "It is a real attempt to shame, and is a genuine invitation for tragedy and alcoholic coma of our young people, and not only that". The ‘offer’ is being publicised through emails, and a poster says that starting on the 26th June, customers will be able to drink alcohol from half litre buckets. That day happens to be the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Trafficking. The bar manager justifies the promotion by saying it happens all the time on the continent, especially directed at students. It had upset a lot of Diário readers too, with 7 comments received by midday yesterday. I for one will be boycotting the bar until it mends it’s ways.

(25th June). ‘PSD Clear-Out Only Hits Humberto’. It made the front page, but all it says is that Humberto Vasconcelos, the current president of the council of São Vicente, is the only head to roll, with the rest of the social democrats in that region remaining as candidates in the forthcoming elections.

João Carlos Gouveia, the leader of the socialist party of Madeira, is unwanted by his party as a failed leader, and was probably thinking he had no political friends. But his closest allies now have materialised from an unexpected quarter … the social democrats. The Diário reports "In the last few parliamentary sessions, there have been many compliments aimed at the president of the socialists, by several social democrat politicians".

(24th June). ‘The Machine Of PSD-M Dismisses President – Nelson Martins was pushed out of the leadership of the party in Tabua’. Quite a big front page headline for this, as the political commission of the social democrats in Tabua is going to elect a new leader. Martins is judged to be undynamic and uninterested, and frequently unavailable. Quite a long article, but do you really want to read it? … no I thought not.

The election dates are to be agreed with all political parties nationally today, but won’t be published until the end of June. Yeah, I can just imagine the parties keeping that quiet for another 5 days.

The president of the Câmara (council) of Porto Moniz is the latest victim of President Jardim of Madeira. It has been confirmed that Gabriel Farinha will not be put forward as a social democrat candidate in the forthcoming elections, probably being replaced by Valter Correia, currently president of the parish council of Seixal. This is an important decision for Jardim, as in the last elections the PSD-M candidate won with just 40 more votes than the socialist candidate.

The problems in the health service with recent changes and low staff morale were recognised by the socialist party a long time ago, and 5 months ago they asked for a meeting with the administration of the regional health service, under the wing of the social democrat politician Jardim Ramos. 5 months on, still no answer.

(17th June). Tuesday’s heavy rain caused many collisions, accidents, and breakdowns on the major roads, resulting in traffic congestion all along the via rápida. One accident at night involved 3 vehicles colliding, with a woman taken to hospital, but released in the morning.

A number of complaints have been made about the state of the pond in the Municipal Gardens in Funchal. Aside from being dirty, there is insufficient oxygen in the water, and the fish are dying.

Registrations are open for the Summer Course "We speak and write Portuguese", a free intensive course for an elementary level of Portuguese as a Foreign Language. Classes begin on 2 July and finish on the 31st. The main objective of this elementary level course is learning the Portuguese language and improving the language skills of students, and it is open to foreigners. The course is organised by the Departamento de Estudos Romanísticos, but I have no more information nor have any idea where this is, but if somebody is interested and finds out and lets me know I will post the information here.

Around 11,000 laptop computers are due to be delivered to Madeira by the 15th July, to be distributed to junior school children. Many children will receive them free, whilst better off families will have to pay some contribution.

The traditional craft of embroidery on Madeira is under threat, because of new rules on Social Security contributions. Company contributions will increase from 10 to 20.3%, and individuals will pay 9% instead of 2.3%. Many companies in this sector have already closed in recent years.

‘Madeira Beats Record – A new European record has been established in coarse fishing’. A 30kg Spearfish was caught a mile off the coast of Ponta da Cruz. The previous record had stood for 22 years. Nice photo of the dead fish, who got the hook caught in its eye causing serious injury, and had to be killed rather than released. I bet that fact will be omitted from the record books.

The population of Funchal helped most of the opposition parties in Sunday’s European elections, with most of them achieving their best results in the capital. Whilst throughout Madeira all parties had their ups and downs, the PSD-M social democrats, whose Madeiran candidate lives in Funchal, had a relatively poor result in percentage terms, although slightly better than in 2004 in the same elections. PSD-M achieved its best results in Calheta, Faial, and Ilha, all around the 68-74% mark. Their worst results came in Funchal, Machico, and Caniço with 43-46%. In Achada da Cruz, CDS, PCP,BE, and MPT failed to obtain a single vote. With an overall abstention in voting of almost 60%, it is also worth noting that in addition Madeirans submitted 2,521 blank voting forms on Sunday, and 2,896 spoiled ballot papers, altogether 5.2% of the total, and ‘invalid votes’ actually ranked between BE (Left Block) and MPT (Earth Party). Quite a few spoiled ballot papers carried comments about the previous MEP for PSD, Sérgio Marques, who was dismissed from re-election by President Jardim after he commented about the poor positioning of the Madeira candidate on the national PSD party candidate nomination list.

The absence of the PND (New Democrats) in Sunday’s elections distorts analysis somewhat, but if Sunday’s results were applied to the current regional assembly, then the PSD would lose 5 seats still keeping an overall majority, with more seats for the PS, CDS (Christian Democrats), and the communists. The PSD-M achieved 64% of the regional election vote in 2007, but that worked out at 52.5% on Sunday.

’46 Breaches Detected In Offshore – An inspection by CMVM included financial companies with businesses on Madeira’. Referring to the ‘free Zone’ of Madeira, a tax advantaged rather than an offshore operation, for foreign companies wishing to trade on advantageous terms by setting up businesses based on Madeira. An inspection of Free Zone activities by the Commission of Security Markets (CMVM) and the Bank of Portugal, has identified over recent years 46 serious breaches of regulations, that have resulted in fines. Some of the infringements related to money laundering and the granting of credit to entities in off-limit locations. Another 28 violations are mentioned, but (yet?) no charges followed. There has been quite a bit of press coverage recently about a dislike in Portugal of Madeira’s ‘offshore’ arrangements, and there are moves afoot from various quarters aimed at forcing the shut-down of the Free Zone here.

‘Owners Of Cargo Ships Lose €2.6 million’. In the first 22 weeks of this year, there were 2,500 less shipping containers transported, and a 12% reduction in containers coming from the continent to Madeira. The 6 companies that do the ‘Madeira Run’, have transported only 19,000 containers, as opposed to the 22,500 in the same period last year (These are the large stackable metal or GRP containers that measure 20 or 40 feet). An economist explains that because these are small companies with more flexibility, it is easier to cope with the reduction in cargo, and survive the competition from the large companies.

Madeira will have a new fishing boat in the next few days. The €3 million investment in the ‘Progresso Futuro’ was supported by the Madeira government. It was built in Mondego / Figueira da Foz, and is designed for Tuna fishing. It weights 261 tons, is 32 metres long, and can travel at up to 12 knots. It can carry up to 150 tons of Tuna fish well preserved to keep it fresh, and will create jobs for up to 20 people.

‘TAP and IATA Join In Pioneering Project – The program calls for voluntary passenger compensation for CO2 emissions’. The Portuguese flagship airline and IATA (International Air Transport Association) launched the initiative last week to mark World Environment Day, to compensate for emissions of carbon dioxide based on the pollution created from aircraft fuel. The initiative is the first in the world, which has developed a comprehensive program for the air transport industry, offering projects with high credibility and transparency. The CEO of TAP said "TAP is firmly committed to respecting the environment and observes its responsibility towards society, using all possible resources and energies, in order to preserve the environment and protect our planet". The facility is available on the TAP website, for customers making reservations, to opt for a payment to offset CO2 that their journey creates. I am certainly aware of other such schemes, so what makes this ‘pioneering’ I am not sure. Perhaps TAP should continue it’s track record of losing customers luggage at the departure airport, that must save a fortune in fuel costs each year.

The 5 star Tivoli Madeira Hotel is offering discounts to customers on stays of more than 3 days in November and December, to mark it’s 10th year of operation. The discounts will in the form of vouchers that can be used on services and purchases in the hotel.

(7th June). ‘TACV Launches Scheduled Flight São Vicente to Madeira – The new direct link will be weekly on Thursday between 16th July and 10th September’. The Cape / Cabo Verde airline will fly from the island of São Vicente, leaving São Pedro Airport. The service is not expected to be extended beyond the date given, though consideration will be given to moving from a scheduled to charter service. The plane used will be either a Boeing 757-200 or a 737-300. Blandy Travel, the tour operator based on Madeira has already given news of a package holiday using the new service, with a 7 night 4 star half board package from €930. The article suggests that it may actually be cheaper to go to Lisbon, with a package booking from there!

Maybe even Reid’s Palace Hotel is feeling the financial pinch like the others, as it announces that on Saturdays during the Summer, it will be open to the Madeiran community, without the need to be a hotel resident, all at a "very interesting price". As well as access to the swimming pool, restaurant, and live music, on Saturday nights one can watch the Atlantic Festival fireworks from a very good viewpoint. This is just one of the actions announced by the management, who not only wants to create a more dynamic program for its guests, but also open the doors of the hotel to the local population. Great initiative, and I am sure making more money in hard times has nothing to do with it!

So why has Madeira taken this path? One of the reasons for opening up to sponsoring by tobacco companies is the reduction of public support, by around €12 thousand. Last year the Madeira Government supported the Madeira Wine Rally with around €650 thousand, but this year, through a Regional Legislative Decree was only able to stump up €638 thousand. So the government failed to find €12,000 through it’s own legislation, such a small amount in such a big budget, and legislated again to allow the rally organisers to raise the €12,000 shortfall through tobacco advertising. Words fail me!

‘Tomorrow is the world no smoking day : a moment to regret the growing vulnerability of youths gripped by the mortal addiction’. I am going to skip this tobacco story, as I think here on Madeira the story has been superseded by idiot politicians, who clearly don’t think that health is a relevant issue.

Following the earlier story about masses of surplus Tuna coming to Madeira from the Azores : ‘Tuna Unloaded Without Inspection – It has been a year abundant with tuna coming from the Azores’. From January until now, 800 tons of tuna have been brought here from the Azores, double that in 2008. The Madeiran boats that fish out there come back here to unload tons. In Caniçal, the fish is unloaded and sold, but it is now suggested that it was time for this operation to be subject to an inspection by a veterinarian, to assure the quality of the tuna to the consumer. On departure from the Azores, the fish is fresh and of high quality. However, the long journey across to Madeira is bound to result in some degradation to the fish, and unlike Funchal, there is no inspection regime in Caniçal. The fish is sold at €2.20 per kilo in port here, whereas in the Azores it would fetch €1 per kilo from the cannery. The previous article suggests that the Azores fishermen were bringing the catch to Madeira, but now it seems Madeira fishermen are also travelling to the Azores.

‘Quinta Do Terreiro da Luta Has A New Owner – The Cable Car Company of Madeira Wants To Push Forward The Return Of The Train’. The mansion and grounds in Monte have been purchased by the company ‘Teleférico da Madeira’, an investment aimed at moving forward a project for a train in Monte, but without any definite guarantees. If the train project does not go ahead, it will become a tourist attraction that will show the quinta in its own era of 1912, the year of construction, as a romantic setting, and a reference to matters botanical, historical, and of leisure at that time. It will also be a ‘Tea House’. The grounds comprise 5,000 square metres of gardens, and several outbuildings. The doors may open to the public in July, with restoration work and reworking of the gardens being left until later. The company ‘Teleférico da Madeira’ is a consortium company with 5 major shareholders, who are : Etermar 55%, EEM (Madeira’s electricity company) 20%, Horários do Funchal (bus company) 15%, Somagescont / Jaime Ramos (president of Madeira’s parliament) 5%, and Blandy SGPS 5%. I am not going to suggest that anything untoward is going on in this ‘maybe / maybe not’ investment, but there is one name in the shareholders list that would suggest to me that there is much more ‘maybe’ than ‘maybe not’ involved.

‘Neighbourhood Policing Comes To The Zones Of Sé And Monte – The Police also announce that night time police checks in Funchal are to be increased’. It has already happened in Santo António and São Martinho, and the PSP commissioner said that the reinforcements "will work exclusively patrolling on foot" thus allowing permanent contact with the local population. He also said that new measures would continue to be developed to prevent deviant behaviour, including prostitution. Operation ‘STOP’ will also be intensified in Funchal, particularly to target drink drivers.

(29th May). ‘Madeira Consuming Tuna From The Azores – The Azores are having a really good month for tuna fishing, but the problem is they eat little tuna’. A harvest "extraordinaire" of bigeye (species of tuna) is forcing the Azorean fishermen to market their fish in Madeira, where this species is "more valued" when sold fresh, and there are more guarantees of demand. "In the first fifteen days of May there were so many fish, and no capacity to absorb them in the Azores market, so our boats went off to Madeira, where the fish is more valuable", said Hélio Neves, President of the Producers Association for Tuna and Similar Things of the Azores (APASA). The catch has been high, "close to 200 tonnes this month alone" on the same boats that throughout the season last year, captured only between 180 and 220 tonnes. "In times of exceptionally high catches in a short space of time there is a difficulty in disposing of fresh tuna for sale in (the Azores), so the alternative is to go to Madeira" said the president. Hmmm! It’s probably a bit late for my somewhat ecologically friendly suggestion … just fish for what you need and leave the rest of the tuna to breed further, and then next season you will have a bumper harvest once again (or is someone going to tell me that tuna migrate to other waters?)

It’s the second Blue Marlin Fishing Championship in June (12th – 14th), and a record participation is expected. The Spanish are expected to field 10 boats, with others from Madeira, Portugal, The Azores, England, Germany, and the United States. The base and support will be provided at the Porto de Recreio da Calheta. RECORD ATTENDANCE IS GUARANTEED – either the record highest or the record lowest, as it’s only the second edition of the contest. OK, I admit it could also be the equal highest / lowest, before someone pulls me up.