Madeira News Blog

(14th July). Today’s main news headline and picture, showing the man sacked :‘SECO Sacks Director Of The Institute Of Wine – The confusion caused by the announcement about the end for ‘Vinho Seco’ cost Paul Rodrigues his job, and he was sacked by IVBAM. Manuel António signed the legislation that condemned the wine, but it is the director that falls in the aftermath. There are already names for a successor’. He was director of the institute that represented wines, embroidery, and crafts of Madeira, but is no more. The initiative that came in and was withdrawn just a day or two afterwards, was aimed at stopping the production (and drinking) of the popular dry red wine that provides income and pleasure for many, and is generally considered a tipple for those on low incomes and is not bottled and sold because of its low quality. The government backed down, probably fearful of an election backlash. I am sure Confusious must have has something to say on the matter, but I don’t have it to hand … you can only mess with a man so far, and you certainly can’t mess with his favourite and only affordable alcoholic tipple.

‘Man Run Over By Motorbike Died In Ponta do Pargo – The accident caused one death and two people are seriously injured’. The death was confirmed in Amparo, one injured person was taken to Funchal hospital, the other to the health centre at Calheta’. The accident occurred at around 10am yesterday, killing a 55 year old man.

Today’s sports story is : ‘Works Now Started In The Barreiros – Marítimo with the start of the season engaged’. The multimillion scheme to remodel the stadium of the football club has started.

‘Low Visibility Affects Madeira Airport – Planes are being diverted to Porto Santo’. Since 5pm last night (latest report available) 5 planes were diverted to Porto Santo to await better conditions to complete the journey. Two planes were also grounded at Madeira Airport. Fog conditions were starting to improve after 8pm, when a SATA plane was permitted to land.

‘Gripe A Arrived On Madeira And Increases Precautions’. Gripe took a day off on Sunday, but was back in force yesterday with 10 new cases, taking the total to 96 so far for Portugal. One of them is a 15 year old girl on Madeira. "Travel is not prohibited," but we have stepped up our precautions says Maurício Melim, president of the Administration of Health and Social Affairs (IASAÚDE). The girl travelled here last Friday from the UK to pass holidays with her father, and on Saturday sought medical help. She had symptoms in the UK and also sought medical care there, but decided to travel anyway. There is no evidence of the virus being passed on locally yet. The girl is in a stable clinical condition, but those who have had contact with her are taking medication as a precaution. The worst case scenario predicted by the health authorities is that 25% of the population here will be infected, more that 60,000 people on Madeira. The centres equipped to deal with H1N1 swine flu are at : Funchal x 2 (Santo António, and Bom Jesus), one in Porto Santo and seven others scattered across Madeira (Câmara de Lobos, Caniço, Calheta, Ribeira Brava, São Vicente, Santana and Calheta).

(11th June). Today’s main news headline : ‘Works Costing €83 Million Get Thumbs Down From The Auditors – Madeira is one of the regions of Portugal where projects get more attention from the Accounting Tribunal. The ‘fails’ in 2008 hit 15.2% of the contracts put forward by the government and councils of Madeira’. The auditing body refused to ‘pass’ as acceptable expenditure contracts worth €631 million across Portugal, with €83 million of that total here in this region, according to the report for 2008 released this week. Certain types of contracts need pre-approval by the TC (accounting tribunal) before they can proceed, and it seem that either Madeira gets a lot of attention, or the worth or quality of the proposals is low. The report says that most permit refusals  were related to "contracts of a financial nature referred by local authorities" and of "supply to the regional government of Madeira". The TC also includes the case of Machico, where they have found "irregularities in the amount of 19.2 million Euros". According to the report this was because measures were not taken to prevent "illegal practices in the authorization of expenditures and commitments". Nobody likes an audit, but I suspect that this lot are the only thing that stops Uncle Bertie running Madeira as if it were his own back garden.

The main picture today shows a farmer and young boy helping to shear a sheep in a rural location : ‘Dedication Supports Tradition Of The Shearers – The wool of a sheep is not worth more than €0.75 and really no longer has a market’. Young Diogo is 13, and wants to be a shepherd when he finishes school. School for him has not gone well, and he feels more at home with a pair of shearing scissors in hand. He doesn’t yet seem to understand what a dull life it is, with very little reward. The passion for the work is shared by the 80 members of the Association of Cattle Breeders of the Serra do Poiso, who together have around 800 animals to raise, and they do it through like and stubbornness. The wool itself sells for €0.50 per kilo, and a good sheep provides around a kilo and a half, so it is really not worth the effort financially. A lovely story about the lives of the shepherds, but it doesn’t really belong on the front page of a newspaper.

‘Another Disappointment Before The Holidays – Queiroz took the opportunity to try out players in Estonia but the performance (0-0) was again mediocre’. That pretty much sums up last night’s friendly football match as Portugal went  to Estonia.

It’s not in the newspaper yet, but the story has already broken on this blog that Manchester United have accepted an offer for around €90 million for Cristiano Ronaldo. If all terms are agreed, he will be a Real Madrid player by the end of this month.

(10th June). There was an article about more problems with the tendering process for the redevelopment of the Marítimo Stadium (Barreiros, Funchal), a project costing €46.9 million, funded by the Madeira government. A complicated piece, so I didn’t attempt to cover it, but I thought the photo might be of interest as to what the stadium will become, or so I presume.

‘Marítimo Player Accused Of Assaulting His Wife’. Fernando Silva is accused of an assault that happened on Sunday, but denies the charge of domestic violence, saying it was just an argument. His wife took the matter to the police after being taken to hospital by ambulance, with injuries to her face and a fractured leg. It’s quite a shocking story, depending on which side you hear, but the sister of the wife says the drunk footballer punched and kicked her sister, and then fled, returning later with more aggression. And it’s not the first time the wife has been to the police with such a complaint.

A new road inaugurated by President Jardim on Tuesday, has turned a ‘shortcut’ into a decent road, at the cost of €1 million, in Santo da Serra. The street named ‘Caminho Mary Jane Wilson’, is named in tribute to a former British Sister and founder of the Franciscan congregation of our Lady of the Victories. She was well recognized by her work, and through the creation of orphanages and schools. There is also a museum in Funchal (56 – 61 Rua do Carmo) dedicated to her.

‘Tenant Protests Against Eviction Order And Destroys Building’. The tenant, in protest about an eviction order from the courts, decided to vandalise his former residence before returning it to the owner. When the solicitor for enforcement went to the building in Funchal to follow the court order, he was met with a space "transformed into a real dump". Nothing escaped the wrath of the person who destroyed everything he could including structural parts of the property, and the handrail of the stairs, and electricity wiring. It is likely that the owner of the property will prosecute. Watch out if you have a property to rent, as there will be somebody rather undesirable looking for a new home.

Tobi dropped me a line about an invasion of jelly fish. There is nothing yet in the newspaper about it, but they do usually come very year, normally earlier if I recall, and then just disappear again in a few days. Tobi says there are loads at Garajau and also at Lido.