Madeira News Blog

(10th September). Today’s main news headline : ‘Money Of The Festivals Disappeared -  Restlessness lives in the parish of Água de Pena. Everything because of the ‘theft’ of donations, to the value of €10 thousand, left in a car of a member of the Commission of Festas’. The money was in envelopes inside the car of one of the festa organisers, and was taken early in August. The matter has been kept secret since. The money had been collected from various sites around the parish before the theft, but no one really knows what happened. The Diário managed to speak with the person who had the stolen money in his charge, who was very upset about the matter, but takes the blame and said he intends to ‘regularize’ the situation. The locals are worried. Very recently a grocery store next to the church was robbed, when thieves broke in through the roof and stole €500 and other items. There is a feeling of impunity, and there are those who say that it is not worth complaining to the police.

The sports headline & main photo today : ‘Victory In Bad Game Feeds The Dream – Portugal won in Hungary 1 – 0. Pepe scored the goal that keeps hope alive of qualification for the World Cup. Ronaldo squandered opportunities’. The mood in town last night, despite the result, was sombre. "A weak performance" I heard said several times. Who cares, with all the toughest games out of the way now, and 6 more points for the taking. The problem is we still needs someone else to slip up.

‘Lack Of Agricultural Water Causes Protest – A 20 year old promise yet to be kept takes the population of Penha D’Águia to deliver a signed petition in Santana’. The residents of ‘Eagle Rock’ in Faial are tired of waiting for the 20 year old promise to be fulfilled. A 65 signature petition was raised and delivered to the council in Santana. Signed by residents, family, friends, and land owners in the area, fed up with irrigation problems and being unable to produce crops as they should. "Many times we were waiting for a little rain, but could not grow anything", said one resident. The problem in the area often also affects drinking water. "Sometimes there is no water to drink there", he said, adding that many are the days when only around midnight they get "a drop of water" to quench their thirsts. The councillor responsible was unable to comment as he was on holiday, but the council said that he had no knowledge of the petition, and that as the promise was made so long ago by another ‘team’, the promise it is not the responsibility of the current council in this current mandate.

‘Businessmen’ Blame Government For 7 Year Old bad Debt’. In an episode referred to as "Brides of September", the government is blamed for a €10 thousand debt, or more specifically those responsible for tourism 7 years ago. The event, which only ran three times, involved the making of 7 wedding dresses by 5 guest designers, and the funding for the 7 dresses was a verbal agreement with the person responsible for tourism and culture at that time. One of the wedding dress designers says she spend €1,100 on materials out of her own pocket. The organisers of the event, the Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Madeira, are now facing insolvency, and a decision is expected next week.

‘Nurses In Protest On The 18th – Madeira’s professionals will have a presence in the protest in Lisbon’. The protest next week, at the Ministry of health, is over changes to career paths.

Customs staff are also threatening to strike (in a national action), probably in the week prior to the national elections, over government proposals involving career regulations for staff.

‘Study For Parking Meters In Lugar de Baixo – The council wants more rotation in car parking in the area of bars and restaurants’. No decision has yet been taken, but the intentions already point in this direction. The parking, at least within the range of the restaurants in Lugar de Baixo, Ponta do Sol, is expected to be regulated through the placement of parking meters. The expected action would be taken during the next mandate of the council, with the primary objective of preventing the parking abuse that proliferates in this area, located near the end of the east tunnel, aiming to serve short term parking and facilitate more rotation of clients for nearby businesses. Currently many drivers park there for long periods. A council spokesman said he wants to hear from local business owners before making a decision.

Police are trying to track down a car and driver that ran down a 33 year old man on Sunday near Lugar de Baixo, and fled the scene. The car was a VW Golf, the colour is silver-grey, and it now lacks part of the front grille and the wing mirror on the passenger side. The victim is still in hospital with 4 fractures and other injuries.

UPDATES / POLITICS :

The last of today’s front page headlines : ‘Zaragata’ Takes Police To A Party Gathering’. Police were called to a meeting in Ponta do Sol, arranged to discuss the manning of voting tables in forthcoming elections. The meeting that started at 7 pm yesterday evening, was still going on at 10.30 pm, with two police officers waiting outside. The Diário said "Due to the lateness of the hour, we were unable to ascertain the reasons that motivated the likely ‘disagreement’ between the delegates, and the consequent call to the police". Hardly front page news then is it.

‘Equality Doesn’t Come At The Top Of The Lists – Teachers make up a third of the head-of-list for local elections’. The political parties have little trust in women to preside in the municipal authorities. The local elections scheduled for 11th October will have just 9 women, from around 60 candidates, at the top of the candidate lists submitted by seven parties. The law of parity is there with the aim of ensuring at least a third of candidates are women, by saying that there cannot be more than 2 consecutive same sex candidates on the lists. With 7 parties jostling for the presidency in Madeira’s 11 councils, just 9 women appear as the number one candidate. The PSD social democrats don’t have any, and have not had any in the top spot for the last 33 years. 

After a few tough days on the receiving end of criticism from all directions, president Jardim made an appeal yesterday for separatism from the central state, saying that if we bother you "you may see yourself free of us", because "we also don’t care". I care, and I am sure many tens of thousands more also care. If Uncle Bertie is implying we can survive as a small island without state support, then he is so so wrong.

(23rd May). Firefighters are considering a protest on the streets of Funchal. The professionals do not accept the exclusion of representatives of the class in the structure of civil protection, a situation that only arises on Madeira. The secretary of the association that represents firefighters says that the profession is being devalued, and he has already asked for an audience with the president of the Legislative Assembly of Madeira, a representative from the republic, and the Ombudsman(?). I am not really sure that I understand that clearly, but I presume that they are not considered to be the same level as police, coast guard, national guard and whatever … must be that someone wants to pay them less!

(23rd May). ‘New Colours And Flavours In Downtown Funchal – Cherries are starting to be sold on the city streets’. The fruit stands are erected on Funchal’s streets. Amongst apples, pears, medlars(?) and strawberries, the cherries have now appeared. Between the imported fruit and the fruit of Madeira, the preference of the buyer always returns to the local produce. The prices are actually higher than previously seen, but there are those who cannot resist these fruits, that only come onto the stands just once a year. It’s making my mouth water just looking at that photo!

(22nd May). CONTINUED FROM FRIDAY. A rather odd looking front page news headline in the Diário yesterday, with an image of a hand scribbled notepad : ‘September 2008 … 8,184 + 3,660 (last 8 months) = 11,844 unemployed – The growth of unemployment slowed, but the concern continues to be galloping : in the last 8 months the increase has been 45%. In April, 388 new cases signed-on at the employment office, lifting the total to 12 thousand’. Registered unemployment has risen for 8 consecutive months here, something that has not happened for over 20 years. 27% of the new unemployed have come from the service sector. The only positive note to make is that the rate of new unemployment has slowed down, but still continues upwards, and is the worst region of Portugal apart from the Algarve. In Portugal as a whole, there are now 492,000 people registered unemployed. There is a useful chart here, plotting Madeira’s record and giving national comparisons : MADEIRA UNEMPLOYMENT