Madeira News Blog

(2nd August). Today’s main news headline . ‘RED FLAG – There are hotels with red flags and beaches with yellow flags because of dirtiness and jellyfish. The ‘Environment’ says that the tests produce good results. The bathers are on dry land’. The people see rubbish that the entities deny exists. Four beaches have already taken down their Blue Flags since the official start of the beach season. There is rubbish in the sea nearly every day, but the Regional Director for the Environment doesn’t know about any cases of pollution in the swimming zones. The fortnightly water test results have been good, with the only bad result being at Praia do Vigário, that doesn’t have a Blue Flag. Four of the twenty Blue Flags awarded this year have already been taken down. That includes the one at Madalena do Mar, that won’t be returning, after the water was found to be cloudy due to discharges from the land. Lido, Calheta (and Madalena) are singled out several times in the article for particular criticism, mentioning pollution coming from hotels, of an unpleasant origin. “As for jellyfish, biologists guarantee that there is no connection between the plague this year and dirty water, but the truth is, that when the sea is dirty, there are more jellyfish, and the those responsible hoist the yellow beach flags to avoid any hassle”. The jellyfish are common in Madeira’s waters, but for many years they have not been seen in such large numbers, with so many bathers stung, and they are the biggest cause of complaint this year. Did I wake up on a different island this morning? For anyone thinking of visiting Madeira this article would be quite off-putting, and I actually left out some of the more specific and unpleasant parts. I can only say from my experience, and I have been in a beautifully clear clean jellyfish free sea this week, that in my opinion there may be some places with problems as reported, but they must be vastly outnumbered by clean safe places round the island. Funchal, through the high concentration of population, hotels, boats etc. is bound to have more problems than elsewhere, but it is is also much better equipped to respond to any reports of pollution very quickly after notification. The very relevant photograph above courtesy of the Diário de Notícias.

‘Cavaco Wants To Bring Princes To Madeira – Joan Carlos said goodbye yesterday to Madeira and is going to encourage Spanish businessmen to invest in the region’. After the kings, the princes. The President of the Republic expressed the wish to see the Spanish princes come to Madeira, and made an invitation to the future king / queen of Spain, Carlos and Letizia, whilst on the golf course designed by Seve Ballesteros. The Spanish king and queen returned home yesterday, finishing their royal visit on Porto Santo, but after Juan Carlos said he would like to return to Madeira. On Porto Santo the beach was empty as people flocked to see the royal visitors. At the airport, because of tight security, the goodbye was witnessed mostly by tourists. The royal walkabout in Funchal earlier was very tight in security terms. Rubbish bins were removed, and mobile phone networks were disconnected in the vicinity. Anyone watching from windows was ordered to close them, and retreat back into the room.

In a separate article : ‘Juan Carlos promises greater business cooperation – The King will present the case for Madeira to businessmen from the private transport sector’. The royal visit has already served to promote Madeira for tourism in Spanish territory, and has also provided publicity for some of the problems of the regions, particularly those related to being a remote island.

‘Young Man Dies In Motorcycle Accident In Campanário’. The 25 year old died yesterday afternoon after coming off of his motorbike in a tunnel on the via rápida at Campanário. He was a natural of Caniço. That’s the ninth road death on Madeira so far this year, with 5 within the last month.

The main front page photo today shows two drivers on top of their car, with champagne, after winning the Wine Rally : ‘Basso Makes It Three In The Vinho Madeira – The Italian driver makes the party in the 5th edition of a rally that lasted until the final special test, because of the pressure of Bruno Magalhães, 2nd placed. Alexandre Camacho secured the final place on the podium’. Basso (and Dotta) have participated here 5 times, and won in three of those. The Madeira team came in a very respectable third. FULL STORY & RESULTS

‘More Generics Sold – The market share of generic medicines on Madeira has already hit around 10%’. The search for the cheaper alternatives increases. Between June 2008 and June 2009, 629,100 packages or bottles of such medicines were sold here. That’s around 10% of the market, up from 572,000 on the same period the year before. The total expenditure on generics was under €7 million, around €1 million less than the year before, due to government forced price cuts. Health professionals are also obliged to tell patients that generic drugs are as effective as the brand names, but they are not obliged to prescribe them.  A new campaign to further the cause has the motto “Don’t you think that being ill already costs enough?”, and will run until October.

Around 50,000 Madeirans have already applied for the Cartão do Cidadão (Citizen’s Card), around 20% of the population. That happened in just one year. The single card replaces the multitude of cards each citizen has for identification, health, tax, social security, and voting.

‘Fires Oblige Alert – The fires in Santa Cruz were under control yesterday, but the area was still under observation’. A team of 20 firefighters spent all day yesterday on surveillance duty in the areas affected by fires since Friday morning. The fire only threatened houses (but not according to RTP national news, that said two houses were quite damaged and had film footage of one), but a warehouse was damaged by the fire. It was eventually confirmed at the end of yesterday that all fires had been extinguished.

There will be restrictions on the via rápida between Funchal and Cancela from tomorrow until the 13th August for roadside repairs. Some exits will also be affected.

(1st August). Today’s main news headline : ‘Accounts Reveal More Performance And More Bad Debts – The accounts for Madeira for 2008 register, in times of crisis, an unexpected record in the rate of performance, as much in the receipts as in the investment plan. But the regional government left around €100 million unpaid’. To be honest, I have little idea of what some of this is about, being full of financial and accounting terms, and abbreviations that I don’t know what they stand for. It says that investment expenditure by the government was up by €133 million on the previous years, to €505.9 million. Capital expenditure was up 31% from 2007, with big increases in the sectors of transport and communication (+162.7%), security and public order (+116.5%), housing and associated services (+25%), agriculture (+14.8%), and education (+7.3%). Meanwhile public investment in the health and tourism / transport sectors were down (-7.9% & -25.7%). Receipts achieved 93% of that budgeted, achieving €298.3 million against an expectation of €317.5 million. Indirect taxes (purchases /IVA /VAT) underachieved by €6 million, being mainly income from alcohol, tobacco, petrol, car tax etc. However, the government did fail to pay around €100 million owed for services and to suppliers.

Aside from the photo of the fire in Gaula, the main front page photo showed the King of Spain being presented with the Gold Medal of the City by the president of Funchal Council : ‘Juan Carlos Condemns Terrorism – The King of Spain made a space yesterday in his visit to Madeira, in a speech in Paços do Concelho of Funchal, to condemn the "savage attacks" in Burgos and in Majorca’. The "despicable" terrorism overshadowed the visit of friends. The king sent a message of support and sympathy to the families of two dead policemen, and stressed the importance of collaboration between Portugal and Spain in the fight against organised crime and terrorism. The president of the Republic of Portugal, on the visit to The Madeira Wine Institute, said that "everyone says that the wine of Porto is the greatest ambassador for Portugal", and having realised his blunder he managed to correct himself and pay homage to Madeira Wine instead. Quite an interesting article actually, with lots of little entertaining snippets. What the newspapers didn’t know of course is that Juanny and Sofe popped over to Rib. Bra. late last night for a few beers with me and a bowl of my homemade ‘paella real’. I can’t reveal much about the conversation for security reasons, but my guests said they preferred Super Bock beer, made in Portugal, to our local Coral beer, and that in just two days they were a little shocked at the prices they were charged for the traditional ‘Balão’ whilst supping in Funchal. On the more important topic of who was the true king of Spain, Juanny admitted that Cristiano Ronaldo probably earned more than him, and maybe even ranked alongside in popularity, but according to the constitution, there could only be one official king and at the moment that was him. However when pushed on the fact that he was not in Spain at the present, he reluctantly admitted that until get he gets home CR737 was unofficially standing in, and in the meantime had free access to the royal wardrobes, a fact that concerned the couple a little. 

The headline from the Madeira Wine Rally, after day two :‘Basso Commands The Pace At The front – The Italian won 8 of the 12 ‘specials’ yesterday. Alex Camacho goes into the final day in 3rd place in the Rali Vinho Madeira’. Today, the places to be are in Ponta do Pargo, Lameiros, Chão da Lagoa, and ‘Paul’. Updates & reports in English :
YAHOO SPORTS
AUTOSPORT

‘Gripe A Necessitates Careful Feeding – Faculty of science for nutrition had produced an ebook on the subject’. In the event of a swine flue epidemic it will be recommended that persons infected remain in their homes, and the Faculty of Nutrition and Food at the University of Porto has produced an ebook (www.dgs.pt) to help us stock and and eat healthily during the time of the infection. The main rules is for simple food, eaten regularly in small quantities, and to keep well hydrated. Stock up with pre-made meals and long life canned food. Drinks with a lot of sugar and alcohol are not recommended. In the pantry you should have bottled and packaged items, canned food, dry foods (a mix of those that can be eaten uncooked, or need to be cooked), and fresh foods that keep well at room temperature. In the fridge / freezer keep meat, fish, poultry, vegetables, fruit, pre-made meals, bread, and dairy products.

(31st July). This was in the Jornal da Madeira, and although it was headlined in the Diário I couldn’t find the story at the time : ‘Diário de Notícias Dismisses 13 Workers – The process has started but the Union of Journalists protests’. The newspaper started the process of dismissal yesterday of the 13 staff, mostly journalists (10). The news shocked those affected badly, especially those that had decades of service at the newspaper. The journalist’s union believe that the proper protocol has not been followed and legal requirements have not been met for an action of ‘collective redundancy’, including starting discussions with those losing their jobs without the trade union representative being informed. In a press release the EDN, that owns the company, said the action was necessary because "the world economy is experiencing a major crisis, crossing all sectors, with particular impact on those in financial, real estate, automotive and media". It goes on to say that EDN have implemented a series of cost cutting measures, but if these turn out to be insufficient to achieve the objectives, then other additional measures will be taken as necessary. A bit worrying to say the least. How a newspaper like the Diário could ever make ends meet was always a mystery to me, but to lose 13 staff, mostly reporters, what are we going to be left with … another Diário da Cidade, full of ads and features, but very light on news?

It wouldn’t take a genius to have predicted today’s headlines … royal visit and Madeira Wine Rally of course. I will do the headline for the rally, but as it is covered in English on Eurosport and with plenty of reports on the internet, I will just do the headline.

(31st July). Today’s main news headline : ‘Maximum Security On The Royal Visit – Not even at the arrival were there the traditional statements to the press. Juan Carlos, Sofia, and Cavaco Silva are already on Madeira, but what one saw most was the presence of the police’. The front page picture shows the king with the president of Portugal just arrived at the airport, surrounded by military police or army troops on inspection. All the cars parked in the VIP zone at the airport were searched regardless who drove them, with everything being opened, and scanned with an explosives detector. The visit that lasts until tomorrow started on a low note for the Diário, seemingly a little upset that the royal arrival was swamped by the police presence, and with the visitors not even making a statement to the waiting press. The article is a blow by blow account of every little detail form landing to dinner to bedtime at Reid’s and the Royal Savoy. The second headline ‘The entourage goes today to the chamber of The Wine Institute, to Monte, and to Cabo Girão’, I didn’t look into.

Madeira Wine Rally : The main picture shows a British Peugeot steaming through Funchal : ‘Meeke Confirms Status -  Leader of IRC wins in Avenida do Mar. Bruno Magalhães was the best Portuguese. Alexandre Camacho the quickest amongst the Madeirans. Today the contestants undertaken 12 special tests’. Many thanks to Tobi for the photos. MORE

‘Specialists Propose Mosquito Vigilance – A team of entomologists working on Madeira say that the possibility of dengue is strong and it is being studied’. The experts from the Medical Entomology Unit of the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (IHMT), have been here for two weeks doing their research on the mosquito Aedes Aegypti, and return home tomorrow. One of the team members said "It is extremely necessary to have a monitoring system, preferably linked to health, with trained specialist teams". 15 people were involved in the study, much of which was fieldwork. Some of the study was focused on the insecticides used to control the mosquito, and that process will have to continue with care, as it is possible the mosquito may develop a resistance after continuous applications. Lots of detail, but this probably says it all "… This is a job that has to be sustained and continued for years, decades or even centuries".

‘DRAC Publish Lost Book – The 16th Century Work Was Discovered By Aurelio Vargas’. The regional directorate of cultural affairs wants to publish this year a lost and rediscovered book ‘Argonáutica Cavalaria’ by a Madeiran author, Tristão Gomes de Castro. The book was rediscovered in Torre do Tombo in Lisbon. The issue is of particular significance and interest, at a national and even international level, as it is an old romance of chivalry of the ‘King Arthur and grail legends’ type. Aurelio Vargas is now back on Madeira, and a thanks to a grant from DRAC, for over a month has been "searching and doing some research on the biography of Tristão Gomes de Castro, who was a major character on the island of Madeira". He was born around 1539 – 1544, and died in 1611.

‘CMF Could Resolve The Problem Of The Minas Gerais Building Through Administrative Possession – The câmara wants the problem resolved by the end of 2009′. Building work was stopped some months ago near the Rotunda do Infante, because the developer built more floors than he had a permit for. But now Funchal council may consider taking ownership, still hoping that such an intervention will not be necessary. "I think the situation will be resolved with the project developer able to restart work, with the project properly licensed and the alterations duly authorized" said a spokesperson at CMF. 

‘Firefighters control fire in the Serrado das Ameixoeiras – Fire consumed barns and threatened some homes’. Santa Cruz fire brigade, with the aid of their colleagues in Machico, managed to control a fire that started about 1pm yesterday, on a steep inclination littered with ‘combustible material’ in Santa da Serra. The houses were protected by the firefighters, but it burned down two barns and an empty annex. Altogether 20 firemen fought the blaze with 7 vehicles involved. A later report at 9.30 last night said that the fire was still active.

Two more villains nabbed for drug trafficking, and 4,010 fixes seized in the process. The traffickers were just 18 and 20 years old. A good week for Madeira’s drug squad!

The Jornal da Madeira yesterday did a feature, prompted by the visit of the King and Queen of Spain, on royal and celebrity visitors, noting that these days the ‘famous’ are not such frequent visitors. In the 19th century there were more famous visitors, because it was believed that the air here had therapeutic value, especially for tuberculosis victims. Here is a quick rundown of the top names : Empress Leopoldina of Austria (1817), Empress Elizabeth, better known as Sissi, of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1860′s), Queen Adelaide of England (1847), a few Mexicans and more Austrians, The last emperor of Austria, Carlos (1922), D. Carlos and Queen Dona Maria Amelia in 1901, D. Carlos and Queen Dona Maria Amelia in 1901, British prime minister Winston Churchill (1950′s), Mrs Franco (the Spanish dictators wife) 1958, Charles Gustav XVI and Queen Silvia of Sweden (1986), prince of Saudi Arabia (1980′s), Pope John Paul II on 12 May 1991, all the presidents of Portugal, opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa in 2000, ex PM of Britain Margaret Thatcher 2001, Queen Silvia of Sweden 2002, Der the blogger 2003, and author / writer John le Carré 2009. Reid’s Hotel claims to have a list of 78 famous guests that have stayed there.