Madeira News Blog

Today’s Photo Thanks to Migratory Bird … The beginning of the end – the SAVOY hotel sign going down.

Eurozone confirms inflation return – Price rises in the eurozone confirm a recovering economy. November’s eurozone annual inflation figure was the first positive rate for seven months, figures have confirmed. The European Union’s Eurostat body said consumer prices in the eurozone in the year to November rose by 0.5%. The positive figure, which was slightly down on an initial estimate of 0.6%, was widely expected by economists. But the return to price rises – which is largely because of a rise in energy costs – is being seen as welcome news for the European Central Bank. It suggests the currency bloc may be able to avoid falling into deflation without employing yet more stimulus measures. BBC FULL ARTICLE

Portugal port’s image changed to attract younger fans – While a bottle of port may still be brought out at Christmas, the days of it being a regular tipple for most seem to be long gone. Humphrey Hawksley travelled to northern Portugal to see how an image overhaul is affecting the region’s historic port trade. Paul Symington walks through his hillside vineyard, at ease with the land. With his steps, confident on the damp, sloping ground, he cuts a figure not unlike a Roman centurion. The vineyards of northern Portugal have changed little since Roman times. He stops to talk to his men pruning the vines.

He confers with his cassero – or farm manager. He consults his young viticulturist about the quality of the soil. Then he casts his eyes over the estate, where mist obscures the view of the Douro River below. "The Romans dressed differently, of course. And you wouldn’t have driven there," he said. "But apart from that, what you see in these vineyards hasn’t changed since Roman times." MORE FROM BBC NEWS

Many thanks to Paul (Paul do Mar) for that article and link.

Once again, the weather seems to be the main focus of interest for readers. Don’t forget there is a weather forecast site on the link to the right, that someone told me was one of the best websites. A wet and windy week, on and off, and more to come, but at least in my town it has stayed warm. We lost a lot of our Xmas light decorations in town on Wednesday due to strong winds, but the council has now put some more up, so I suppose that’s a good sign. I feel sorry for local traders, who were looking forward to a bumper year end, and must be bitterly disappointed. Saturday night was a wash-out again, and town was just so quiet. If the financial squeeze hadn’t already killed of the trade for the bars and restaurants, then the bad weather must have made sure of the matter. For me there was another factor, a religious factor, namely the Missa do Parte, that is held at 6 am during 9 days leading up to Christmas. A few bangs at 5 am is a nuisance, but I think it was Friday there must have been more than 50 (mega-banger size), and as a result I have lost 3 or more hours sleep a night for several nights running. I am sure I can’t be the only one who is tired as a result, and my brain has been operating a half capacity as a result. Thankfully I don’t have to drive anywhere, as I wouldn’t be very confident and alert being so tired. That to me may be another factor affecting night trade in town … everyone is too knackered to go out! I seriously think there is a safety risk in depriving people of sleep over a sustained period. I have had a couple of drenchings too, not the end of the world, but it’s a hard job getting anything dried out afterwards. I do actually own an umbrella, but at night, after a beer or two, I am liable to forget it. Also I have had it 33 years, and it’s still in great condition, so I particularly keen to keep it that way as it was present. Anyone beat that? So I just take a chance, and as it’s too warm to wear a coat, I get drenched now and again. Must take the rough with the smooth. Going back to the traders in town, I had already mentioned that Wednesday gale force winds had caused some damage. On Friday, talking to one bar owner, he said that earlier in the day all his outside furniture had blown away and much of it was damaged. Now that well recognised promenade bar has new red chairs to add to the collection of orange table and chairs.

Presépios are top of the agenda at the moment. We have two very large ones in Ribeira Brava, the latest one taking up most of the space in the fruit market courtyard. I notice that once again they have included live hens in the display, cooped up in cages. Still at least they are dry and presumably well fed. Unlike the ducks on the river here, who for several days now have been living on tiny islands barely safe from a very wild current on a pretty swollen river. I have already emptied my freezer of bread, and most of it has floated off down the river, as I attempted to throw it onto these little high points in the river, each crammed full of ducks. Of course the river bed has now been cleaned out by the river flow, and there is no natural feed in the water, and probably won’t be for at least several weeks. If anyone has any leftovers or bread they can spare, please save it for the ducks here if you can. They also like dried sweet corn (92c for 2kg in the pets section in Hiper Sã). They are going to have a long tough Winter by the looks of things. Just going back to presépios, there was a feature on TVI news yesterday, with two featured. One was in the Azores in a location of what looked like hot springs, so it looked quite spectacular as the steam swirled around. Another, on the continent, was a ‘live nativity scene’, with real people in costumes doing real things. Unfortunately the most important character, the baby Jesus, was not represented, as apparently he has been hit by swine flu. Bonito all the same.

We had a free bandolim concert yesterday in the São Bento church, with a 15 piece orchestra, joined later on by another mixed orchestra. Not quite a full house, but pretty close for an excellent performance of Christmas carols and other music, none of which I recognised except for the ‘Cornetto’ song, sadly lacking a serenading gondolier.

The weekend’s football : Both of our teams played yesterday afternoon. Marítimo visited bottom-of-the-table Setúbal and lost 3 – 2, and Nacional hosted Académica winning 4 – 3, retaking 4th place in the league table.

Weather disruption : The Porto Santo Line cancelled yesterday’s ferry crossing again due to high winds and rough seas. The whole of this week is in doubt for the crossing on the Lobo Marinho for the same reason, although Christmas day may see improved conditions.

The Aida Luna cruise ship also tried to berth in Funchal, but failed and gave up. It will stay around Funchal, and travel on to La Palma tomorrow. According to one Diário reader it was only given the assistance of one tug boat, while HMS Gloucester was given two, and managed to dock.

6 flights were also cancelled, and there were a number of diversions to Lisbon and Porto Santo and general delays, and some flights turned back to their origin. Madeira airport returned to full operation at 3 pm yesterday afternoon.

The cause of the problems, the weather, saw Madeira placed on Orange Alert again, lasting through Sunday and Monday. With gusts of wind expected up to 120 km / hour, in high places. Warnings have again been issued about travelling on foot or by car in mountainous areas and exposed places.

I just remembered that today is the shortest day of the year. Nice to know that the lighter evenings are on their way back again, but it’s also the first day of Winter of course.

Today’s news headlines from the front page of the Diário de Notícias :

Funchal sees ships once again – Bad weather diverts 3 cruise ships and prevents another docking. 6,250 visiting tourists have been lost as a result of the bad weather. Yesterday saw 6+ metre waves in Funchal Port, making ship manoeuvres very difficult, not helped with 90+ km / hour wind gusts. The AIDAluna had a very sick passenger on board, and had to wait for over a hour for the tugboat to ‘run the cable’. But after 3 attempts to make the necessary manoeuvres the berthing effort was abandoned. The sick passenger will now have to disembark in the Canary Islands. Today the port will have just two visiting cruise ships, rather than the 4 scheduled. The losses in tourist revenue are estimated at €0.5 million.

Operator distances British tourists from Madeira. The collapse of the Scottish company Globespan, and it’s tour operator / airline Flyglobespan, has meant that there will be 300 less visitors here from Scotland over Christmas and New Year. 22 stranded customers are being flown back to Manchester UK today, from where they will have to find alternative transport to return to their homes in Scotland.

Rat control programme causes row between government and council – Directorate for Agriculture regrets the lack of care by local authorities. The President of Machico denies recklessness.

Today’s main news headline : Madeira imports 9 thousand cars per year – The "car park" increased 26% in just 3 years. There are actually 131 thousand vehicles in the region. There are 26% more vehicles on the island than there were 3 years ago, with 27,500 of all types being imported during that short term. The information is provided by the Institute of Insurance of Portugal, with a small margin of error because there are many vehicles here without insurance policies, either on the dealers stands or because the owner has defaulted. More detailed information on the types and spread of vehicles here CAR STATISTICS

90% of schools without security at the gate – The Secretary for Education guarantees that private security exists in sensitive schools.  The Diário visited 12 1º cycle schools (children 6 to 10 years) and found some of them with the gates open and without security, whilst the children were in classes. Are they safe they asked? The answer was not that simple, with schools in ‘more complicated zones’, around 10% of the total, having private security at the gate. The regional secretary says there is no immediate danger, nor complaints from parents, in a statistical environment made up of 25 million entrances and exits every year. Some schools rather than have private security, prefer to lock the school building during lessons. That way anyone who needs access can enter the premises but needs to ring the doorbell to obtain attention.

The main sports / football story and front page photo today : The fog supported the rain of goals – Nacional wins game with five parts and closes the year in 4th place. A 4 – 3 win for our lads finishes the league fixtures for the year. The new year opens with a visit to Benfica. Yesterday’s game, high up in the Choupana, was interrupted 3 times with thick fog, but the fog seemed to favour Nacional and not their opponents. Amongst the 1,227 supporters were shivering bare-chested students, who saw the game start 26 minutes late, and stopped at 57, 78, and 79 minutes, in one of the longest games in football history. Man of the match was again local hero Rúben Micael, who is not expected back at the Choupana after the new year transfer window  opens, and he said his goodbye’s to the crowd. "Another king who disappears amid the fog …" says the Diário. Sad that he will be going, and a big blow to the Nacional squad. Strange that for such a great local hero the Diário sports team still haven’t worked out how his name is spelt. Normally it varies between Ruben and Rúben, but today it is Reuben.

Marítimo slips up in Setúbal and falls to 9th place.

Benfica win the classic. In the most anticipated match of the season, the ‘classic’, finished Benfica 1 Porto 0, with lots of controversy on and off the pitch as usual.

If anyone else can oblige with the translation of any of the ‘blank’ or sparsely filled headlines, or other news stories, here is the link Thank you in anticipation.

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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. Please don’t send in automatic translations (like Google translator) without checking them through and correcting them first, thanks.

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.

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TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Elaine … Cristo Rei statue at Garajau. Anyone know how high this statue is? If someone can give me an answer, I will tell you why I am curious. Fair enough?

TAP, Portugal’s favourite airline are offering their customers with loyalty cards (air miles accounts) a special deal. ‘Air mile’ bookings can be made for half the normal exchange on a limited number of 300,000 seats, to all destinations (I think!). You can also send / receive ‘air miles’ through other loyalty card customers to make up a usable balance, without any charge.

Brazil – After 18 days, 20 hours and 16 minutes of singlehanded sailing from Funchal on his little 21 foot boat, Frenchman Thomas Ruyant crossed the finish line in Salvador de Bahia today to become winner of the Mini Transat race. Though he had a tear in his eye, Ruyant arrived at the Marina de Bahia with a huge smile on his face, saying: "It was a great feeling when I crossed the finish line. A great moment of happiness". SOMEONE PLEASE GET ME A BEER

Whilst I have no desire to increase the business of any specific hotels, a magazine called DESIGN SCENE has done a photo feature on The Vine in Funchal. Very impressive, if not a little strange. Looking at that first photo though, I think the cleaner needs a little bit of refresher training.

"Claes Feder, who has died in the Algarve at the age of 81, will be remembered for his love of classic ships, the excellence of his work as an architect and the warmth of his personality as a bon viveur. His lifelong association with Portugal and all things nautical began on the island of Madeira where he was born. His father was Danish, his mother Swedish. He was 17 before he first went to Scandinavia at the end of World War II". His claim to fame must be unique, but you don’t find out until the penultimate paragraph that he produced detailed plans for a five-star hotel and conference centre within a full-scale replica of the Titanic, but I have no idea whether it was built or not. RIP

Tobi, the blog cuisine expert, has revealed his cherished and secret chutney recipes, yielding to pressure from readers from readers who don’t like the prices and chutneys available here. Pear today, and Mango will follow tomorrow. Thanks Tobi!

PEAR CHUTNEY
225g shallots (I just used onions)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove crushed
1kg pears (any kind but not too ripe) Cored, peeled, and roughly chopped
175g muscovado sugar
100g raisins
10 cloves
350ml red wine vinegar
jars for storing

Chop onions and heat olive oil in a pan, add onions and garlic and cook for 5 mins until soft, add the pears, sugar, raisins, vinegar and cloves, and bring to the boil, then let simmer rapidly for 30-40 mins, stirring from time to time, until pear is tender and 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 treated myself to a Jacuzzi yesterday, in a private facility in Ribeira Brava, where it is reserved for an hour. All very nice, and I came out well refreshed and massaged, and full of beans. It wasn’t until I was almost dressed that I noticed ‘Rules of the Jacuzzi’ on the changing room wall. 1. Users must bring a towel, wear flip-flops and bathing costume. 2. Users must shower before entering the Jacuzzi, and 3. Users must not urinate in the Jacuzzi. I hadn’t contemplated that last possibility in the least, and had I done so I don’t think I would have even entered the water. Is it really necessary to post such a rule on the wall, giving the impression that it was a possibility? Looking in the mirror this morning I seem to be a little jaundiced … probably my overactive imagination. 

This weekends football : Marítimo host Paços de Ferreira on Sunday at 4 pm (not on TV), whilst the big game, in my opinion, is on Monday at 8.15 pm, when Nacional visit Benfica. Nacional are likely favourites to get a big thrashing, as the hosts are knocking in more goals than Uncle Bertie was doing pre-election inaugurations. On SportTV1.

Have a great weekend! (and don’t forget to turn your clocks back an hour tonight).

Low inflation is the biggest threat. Luis Campos e Cunha, a University Professor in Economics and former Finance Minister warns that Portugal has a lower inflation rate than the euro zone and if this trend continues, deflation might occur. This will cause increased labour costs, decreased competitiveness of certain firms and higher unemployment. In addition to the impact of the euro, this is because of poor fiscal policies and poor savings of the Portuguese which led to reduced production and marketing of tradable goods. The trade deficit has worsened in the last twelve years. A more restrained fiscal policy is needed as enough has not been saved, as in other countries. This means cancelling or postponing large public investments. Banks might experience bad loans, families will have less to spend and social problems will have to be solved in the short term. In contrast, the Chairman of the Order of Economists thinks that 2010 will be a transitional year as there are ‘unsafe signs of recovery’. He says state investments are necessary for economic recovery. The economic crisis is thought to be good for globalization and technological innovation. Jardim said that unemployment is the greatest challenge and should be the priority of governments, employers and workers, who need more commitment and productivity. He said that the money borrowed by Madeira for his expansionist policies has four conditions; to be used exclusively for investment, to control inflation, payment of salaries and expenditure on health and education and debt must remain at levels renegotiable.

In Portugal, according to the increased number of calls to the telephone helpline, the crisis has increased suicidal ideas in the population outside the usual risk group of age 30-40 years. This is due to unemployment and they think it is only temporary. In Portugal, the elderly are more at risk, whereas in Madeira and the Azores, it is the opposite, young people commit suicide more. It is thought that the poverty rate in Portugal could be as high as 40%.

The Portuguese League Against Aids has reduced donations from companies due to the crisis and  received more requests for help. They celebrate 20 years in 2010 and plan campaigns to fight discrimination and for prevention in the elderly and women.

Casas do Povo desperate for €1.5 million. The Regional Government has been slow to sign protocols with the institutions and money for 2009 has not reached them. They are beginning to make preparations for Christmas and having difficulties paying suppliers, e.g. rent, phone bills and wages.

Government stops work authorized by Funchal Council. A private access was to be built covering over 20 metres of the Ribeiro da Nora. Concern is that the work will cause flooding in other areas. This ribeiro has a history of flooding houses in Rua de Santa Maria and there is increased risk due to decreased drainage in the area.

Company responsible for oil spill in Ribeiro das Freitas in Garajau identified. Due to an accidental rupture of a pipe. The company will pay for the ongoing clean up and the degree of negligence will be investigated for a fine. The slick was discovered on 7 October and has polluted a long stretch of the stream which takes storm water from Cancela Industrial Park and surrounding areas. The oil has entered the sea in the nature reserve by the beach at Garajau.

Simulated rescue exercise at the cable car. Combined firefighters from Funchal and Câmara de Lobos late yesterday afternoon simulated the rescue of passengers trapped inside the cabins of the cable car because of mechanical failure/cable damage. Mountain rescue teams had the job of trying to rescue a trapped couple between Tabaiba and Pena. They had to climb the towers and slide along the cables.

235 businesses sign a petition against Chinese megastores. ACIM, Association of Commerce and Industry of Machico, has sent a petition to the Regional Government and 11 other entities. 185 of the signatures are from ACIM members and the remaining 50 are owners of mini-markets, clothes shops, hardware stores and others in the city centre. Cafe and bar owners did not sign. The petition has gone to the Vice-president of the Regional Government, other government agencies and the Immigration Department. The petition has 11 points that specify a series of problems that will occur, ‘the Chinese stores have commercially, economically and socially a very negative impact on Machico, with consequences across the whole local society’. They are worried that there will be bankruptcies of small businesses, unemployment with resulting financial implications on banking, food, school fees and housing. ACIM want to know why such a large store is sanctioned in the city centre rather than away from it and why only after the local elections.

Statistics given: Machico has a population of 12,000. There are 100 small and medium  sized enterprises employing 250 workers. Recently, 3 restaurants, bank branches and accounting firms closed. Already 6 Chinese stores in Machico. With the new stores, they will cover 5,500 square metres in comparison to Maxmat (one of the largest stores) which covers 1,400 square metres.

The Dom Pedro hotel chain has just been licensed by Machico Municipality to build a new unit. They will either extend the present hotel or build holiday apartments. Hotel Dom Pedro Baia Club is a four-star hotel with 218 rooms. The other hotel in Madeira is Hotel Dom Pedro in Garajau, which is three-stars and has 282 rooms. Authorization has also been given by the council for tourist apartments in Água de Pena with a viewpoint overlooking Machico valley, which have also been allowed by the airport as the land is within its security zones.

TAP blames Easyjet for its reduction in Madeira – Lisbon flights. An average of 8% decrease in passenger numbers since January and 10% less in September. Its flights from Lisbon and Porto to Brazil are important as it is the largest carrier of passengers between European airports and Brazil. The market to Caracas has fallen and one of the six weekly flights might have to be cancelled. No surprise that Easyjet get the blame, for me at least. That was the whole idea of the government of Portugal in liberalisation of the airways, to stop the TAP monopoly, and the exploitation of passengers between Madeira and the mainland. Then along came SATA from the Azores, at last some competition we thought, but what did they do? They got straight into bed with TAP, sharing planes (code sharing) and merging the customer loyalty programmes. But our tourism people saw through the scam and the continuing high prices, and called in Easyjet, who have brought down the prices on the Lisbon – Madeira route considerably, though I think those losses are now being recouped from the other Easyjet Madeira routes. Bernardo Trindade was the man responsible for the changes in the airways, our own man from Madeira in the Assembly of the Republic, and also Secretary of State for Tourism in the last government term. Poor old Bernie hasn’t received his phone call yet, so we don’t know if he will continue in the new government or not. I certainly hope so, as I thought he did a really good job for Madeira … maybe just too good a job perhaps, if you know what I mean. Der

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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.
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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.

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(17th August). The last story from today’s front page : ‘The Daily Expense That Jardim Is Said To Pay On Porto Santo Wouldn’t Be Enough To Pay For Camping – The houses with tennis and sea access are cheaper than a little tent’. This story comes up every year, the issue of the politicians and the rich and famous who get taxpayer subsidised holidays on Porto Santo, and I for sure know we have already covered the story here at least once already this year. But it’s on the front page again. Anyway, the two houses owned by the ‘Presidency of the Government’, on Porto Santo, one of which is currently rented by President Jardim on holiday there, cost €10 per day, a price at which "Alberto João Jardim wouldn’t be able to manage to erect a tent for two people in the camping park", according to the Diário. The two houses are under the direct administration of the Presidency, so it sets the prices, and manages the bookings, for the members of the Executive and their families. Jardim is also accompanied by family, and two police officers for security purposes. Meanwhile a few hundred metres away lies the ‘Parque de Campismo’, where according to the price list on the website, a payment of €10 would not allow a couple to spend the night there, and based on the dimensions of Jardim and his entourage (without police) he would have to pay €11.60 a day. For that, unlike the government houses, there would be no hot water. The Diário then takes it’s inquiry to the hotels, where it concludes that one could not find a room there in high season for less than €50. The two holiday houses have been used by Jardim and the Executive for almost the last 30 years, and nothing else like this exists in all of Portugal, with politicians in other walks having to fund their own holidays in full. The Diário concludes that during the last 20 years that Jardim has saved himself around €50,000, enough to buy a top of the range car.

‘PS Recovers Posters – The re-candidature of Emanuel Câmara uses the election posters of 2005′. The socialist party candidate is the same one from four years ago in Porto Moniz, and the election posters appearing in the streets are a little yellowed with age, but reusable. The date ’2005′ that showed back then has had to be cut out (bottom left corner), but the candidate says he is following the 3 ‘R’ rule, for recycle, reduce, and reuse, as part of his ‘green credentials’. Sources close to the politician however say that is not the main reason, it is a shortage of funds for political advertising and also the late announcement of candidacy that are responsible. Just as well he was already grey haired then, and there is no truth in the rumours that that until a week ago the man had a full beard and moustache set, and now keeps walking into lampposts. Too subtle … sorry!

I could have got 4 ‘Câmaras’ in that headline, but was stuck for space : Câmara runs for Câmara, but doesn’t need a film in the câmara of the câmara.

A quick look at matters of the economy : 

’100 largest companies: Best practices – Healthy environment. Producing energy using wind and water from the drains of Quinta do Lorde, that wants to be the model environment’. It is a controversial project that the company SA is developing in Caniçal, being Quinta do Lorde. Why build 49 buildings in an area of natural park with huge impacts, although paradoxically it was taken as an example of good environmental practice. The president of the company Ricardo Sousa says that the project invested in the "implementation of an eco-resort, a sustainable tourism community, self sufficient in energy and water, part of a strategy for restating Madeira as a (green?) tourist destination’. The construction is "based on exploiting renewable energy resources and high energy efficiency in the buildings and equipment, a strategy that gives high standards of comfort with lower energy consumption, minimising the environmental impacts". The project is even installing a desalination unit, capable of producing 100 cubic metres of drinking water a day from sea water. A waste water treatment plant will also be installed, to process all the sewerage, then to be used for keeping the gardens green. Three wind generators and an area of solar panels will be used to generate energy. Much more in facts and figures :
Sousa is the majority (84%) shareholder of the company of 100 shareholders.
The total project costs are around €100 million, or which €4 million came from state incentives.
The cheapest house will cost €1.2 million, whilst apartments will start at €380,000.
The total project covers 163,750 square metres of natural park land.
‘White man speaks with forked tongue’ is what springs to mind, but regardless, some wealthy folks who don’t give two figs about the environment, or who are persuaded by said ‘forked tongue’ that they are actually doing a good thing, will buy. To those people I say that when you are sat on your very comfortable loo in the morning generating electricity and fresh water, just remember that old adage ‘what goes around comes around’, and then go and make a nice cup of tea and hope they got the plumbing right.

(16th August). The last story from yesterday’s front page : ‘Businessman Loses €5 Million Due To Popular Actions – Miguel Viveiros moves forward with his new project of gravel in Machico after a difficult financial phase resulting from, according to the businessman, of popular actions that stopped him continuing three works during two years’. The ‘self made man’ stopped works in Santana, Machico, and Caniçal, and was forced to rethink his plans without losing sight of his investments. The €5 million lost was due to three court actions, and that figure didn’t include interest and bank charges, or lost revenue and opportunities, and not to mention the two hundred people put out of work. I have no idea if the legal actions were frivolous or not.

(15th August). ‘Inflation Rate For Portugal And Ireland Is The lowest In Europe’. In the 12 months until July 2009, both countries registered annual inflation of just 0.5%.

‘Producers Challenge Price Of Milk – farmers complain that they receive the same today as 20 years ago’. As most of our milk here is imported, I guess it’s relevant. Community directives combined with the effects of the crisis have left milk producers (but not the cows) complaining about what they are paid. "The European Union has decided to end the production quotas for milk at the worst time, in the height of the crisis" says the president of the association of young farmers in Porto. Now supply exceeds demand. He says the situation will resolve itself, as the producers become insolvent and go out of business, resulting in a shortage of supply, and then the price rises follow. It’s been quite noticeable here the price swings for milk sold on Madeira. Up until about two years ago I was paying 45c a litre carton, then up until a year ago I was paying 75 to 80c, but now you can get milk as cheap as 39c a litre.