In The Times Literary Supplement, of all high places, there is a blog by Mary Beard who I am told is a Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge and classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement which is called 'What is Gibraltar for?', and having read it, I have concluded that Gibraltar is for showing how ignorant some people are of this Rock of ours.
Would you believe it that, having been here, she calls Gibraltar an island. And that is not all.
She writes: First I hadn't quite realised exactly how tiny it was. What on earth can living here really be like, especially as there are so many people? Do they really, whatever the protestations, operate as a de facto part of Spain? It didn't to be honest look like that, despite the very wide range of polyglot names in the local paper which I picked up, for some enlightenment.
She goes on to say that on the way to the airport from the Spanish side there are NO signs directing you to it at all. Now I had already spotted that Spain can give helpful signs in Arabic on the motorway to the North African ferry, so to have no sign whatsoever to the Gibraltar airport can only be a hostile gesture. Indeed some indications of route would have been extremely useful, as we were stuck for some time in an almighty traffic jam, caused as it turned out by a little plane landing at the airport.
What was most puzzling for her was the official status of the place. "It is a British overseas territory, and it is a member of the EU. So how come I can buy duty free booze? I queried this, saying at the duty free that I was going back to the UK (I dont think the airport, which is pretty damn new, built as a presumably aggressive gesture, actually serves anywhere else) .. was I really entitled to a bottle of Absolut Vodka for 8.50? Yes madam, they said. I thought we were part of the the same country, I queried.... Puzzled look from the shop-man."
She concludes: I left none the wiser, but not particularly planning a return trip.
Please don't, because if you have flown out of Gibraltar and you think it is an island it shows that your powers of observation are weak.
In fact, you don't have to come again to find out that Gibraltar is in the EU, but outside the customs union, which is why you lost no time in buying cheap booze.
It could well be that ignorance about Gibraltar is much wider than we think. If there are people in Britain who find us puzzling, how can we rely on them to provide a helping hand when the Spanish Government increases its hostility against us?
Oh dear, but didn't we think that everyone knew of Gibraltar's great heroics in two world wars helping out the British cause, and how useful we are to British military strategy even today, and how often we get mentioned in the House of Commons...if there are people who cannot make ends meet on the wider picture, what do they know of the details of t he place?
It could well be that our publicity in the UK - by which I mean England - is not that effective as it should be.
Imagine the surprise of people like Ms Beard when she finds out that we are treated as part of the South-west of England for European election purposes.
Where does this lady live?
23-04-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR
Government's May Day events
April 23, 2015
The Government says in a statement that the following is the programme of events for this year's May Day on Friday 1st May.
The entertainment at Grand Casemates Square is being organised by the Gibraltar Cultural Services.
The May Day Celebrations begin at 11am from the Square with a Fun Day to include live music, live performances, a Rock Concert, DJ's and international performer Sam Bailey.
Events forming part of our May Day Celebrations include:
11am to 6pm Fun Day
Jumping Castles, Face Painting, Arts and Crafts Activities and
Disney Characters
11am to 12.30pm Live Performances by Art In Movement, Urban Dance and
Kristian Celecia
2pm to 8.30pm Rock Concert
Featuring Heritage, Superwookie, Another Day, Headwires
and Jet Stream
8.45pm Santos Productions Choir
9.30pm SAM BAILEY
10pm DJ No Limits Entertainment
23-04-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR
Memorial and May Day
April 23, 2015
Unite the Union say that Workers Memorial Day and the May Day Rally will once again be organised this year by the Union.
Workers Memorial Day will be celebrated with a short ceremony at the Lobby of Parliament House on Tuesday 28th April starting at 11.00am whilst the May Day Rally will be organised at Casemates Square on Friday 1st May starting at 12.30pm.
The theme for this year's Workers Memorial Day will be "Removing exposure to hazardous substances in the workplace."
The Rally will be organised jointly with our colleague Union GTA/NASUWT and a number of speeches will be delivered on the day both by local and UK Union Officials, they said.
23-04-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR
Miss Gibraltar contestants draw their numbers
The Mayor, Adolfo Canepa, yesterday hosted a reception at the Fine Arts Gallery in connection with the Miss Gibraltar Pageant 2015.
At the Mayor's Reception this year's seven contestants drew their official numbers for the pageant in the presence of the Mayor and the Minister for Culture, Steven Linares.
The contestants' numbers are as follows:
No 1 Jade Pau
No 2 Bianca Pisharello
No 3 Ashleen Snape
No 4 Hannah Bado
No 5 Melanie Lett
No 6 Adrienne Rumbo
No 7 Natalia Nunez
23-04-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR
Picardo in conflict with GSLP activists over 'Special Representative' appointment
April 23, 2015
Though we all know an election is looming, the date of which is possibly locked away somewhere at 6 Convent Place or may be in the mind of the Chief Minister himself.
But there are signs Gibraltar is developing a form of morning sickness and that presages a particular situation. All indications are that political parties are pregnant with electioneering ideas and bending over backwards and forwards, like a supreme contortionist, in their attempts to win votes.
CM'S New UK Envoy Not Everyone Favourite Choice it Seems
Although it was shocking to many people it seems, when they woke up to discover that Dominique Searle had become the Chief Minister's new UK special representative or envoy, who will be ping-ponging between London and 6 Convent Place and act as a kind of diplomatic filter for the Chief Minister.
In fact the Chief Minister's decision negatively surprised even the most ardent GSLP activist, who could not have imagined the elevation of Searle to such a high position so close to their leader. But of course the Chief Minister does not see political life with the same lens as his grassroots troops.
Questioning the Political Vision Rather Than the Detail?
But on his latest transfer signing, as they say in footballing terms, there's little doubt Mr. Picardo is in conflict with the majority of the middle to lower level echelons of his party. Is it possible, as someone told me "the choice by Mr. Picardo of his special representative was a vision for the future, or was he concentrating on the vision as a whole, rather than the whole detail"?
Anything is possible when it comes too political vision and preferences, there is a saying that goes "Divide and rule, a sound motto. Unite and lead, a better one."
The CM's Responsibility
Every citizen wants to have an efficient and progressive government. Let us then all hope for a better future for the Rock, especially after the elections. Because the long-range political weather forecast for the next 4 or 5 years, already looks to contain masses of uncertainty and darkish clouds for Gibraltar.
The Chief Minister bears and carries the full and ultimate responsibility for whatever happens in the Government. His success or failure will affect all the citizens of Gibraltar, both GSLP/Liberals and GSD supporters alike!
The Chief Minister is an intelligent and shrewd character. He is ultimately responsible, for whatever happens in the Government and Gibraltar as a nation, including the crucial end result, of the Government hoping to win back the public's confidence in local politics in general.
Talking of party leaders, I also include the GSD rocky leadership issue as well, where many who stand behind the blue/yellow flag hope their ship will at last stabilise and sort itself out well before an election date is set.
Trust is Very Flexible in Politics
To talk about the connotations and attributes needed to be a party leader, which appears to be diverse one. Going by surveys carried out in the UK, they in fact make for some quite weird reading. Where 1% of people thought "fomenting hatred" is an undesirable attribute for a party leader; 2.7% thought "undisciplined"; 3.3% "selfishness" and 4.3% "arrogance". Yet, 71.3% thought "untrustworthy" the most undesirable attribute for a political leader.
Now I might be a dumb mutt, but I would have thought that many more people in the UK and I would certainly imagine here in Gibraltar, would find arrogance, selfishness, being undisciplined and fomenting hatred as undesirable attributes?
And frankly, as much as we would like trustworthiness in all our politicians it is one of the attributes that I believe, we are less likely to get. Trust is very flexible in politics; the person you trusted yesterday cannot be trusted today. But in my book, vision and decisiveness are the main ingredients a political party and the nation needs.
But what people do expect, is transparency in a leader, in that respect, the "See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil" concept, does not apply to a leader, because as a Chief Minister or Leader of a Political Party the buck stops with them!
The Pre-Election Season
There's no doubt the funny pre-electoral season is in full swing. People and businesses start setting their decision-making schedules according to whether they believe an election is just round the corner or in 6 or 8 months down the line. I get very informed rationales from friends and strangers, for why this or that date will be chosen. So do my colleagues, so do politicians on both sides of the political fence from the Chief Minister down, I assume.
The pros and the cons for this or that election date are appropriately stressed.
I have been impressed by many of the analyses that are broached. I have learnt a bit from what I have been told, about how intelligent people in high decision-making positions evaluate the political process, and about the factors they think should be taken into account. But in our democracy, based on the British model, the end result is that the Chief Minister decides an election date.
True, I strongly suspect the CM consults a various range of people close to him and to his party, although the ultimate decision remains his.
The Leader of the Opposition as well and most other political actors on the scene have little inherent clues as to how the decision will go, other than what their own knowledge of the political situation might lead them to conclude.
They say a government's first 100 days are enough to tell you what the next electoral battle will look like. Well, if this legislature is anything to go by, it only took 10 days after the last election to work that one out!
What Will the Picardo-Feetham 2015 Political Rumble Resemble?
So will the Picardo-Feetham 2015 political rumble resemble some other famous extraordinary and surprising political contest of the past? Like the UK Major-Kinnock 1992 or Major-Blair 1997 contest? The latter point, could yet locally be an open question?
A Lesson in Not Taking the Electorate For Granted!
Analogies are worth drawing if they help clarify issues. And the following analogy may help clarify, if not give further empathies on what kind of credibility will be at stake in the 2015 Election.
In 1992 for instance, the UK Tories had been in power for over 12 years. People could still remember, faintly, the fragile, squabbling in-fighting Labour government of 1979.
Of course, the Tories were very unpopular, too. But a new Prime Minister, appointed by his own party only 15 months before when Major took over from Margret Thatcher, had undone some of the unpopular things that his own party had done in office. So in 1992, voters saw the election as a contest between a Labour leader they did not fully trust and a Tory leader to whom they wanted to give a chance to put his own stamp on government. Can we draw any parallels there to our own 2011 election result locally?
In fact the 1992 UK general election result has become one of the mysteries of modern day politics. Here was the Conservative Governing Party, which had been in power for 13 years, fighting a campaign at the end of the longest recession for more than 50 years. Unemployment was rising, interest rates were above 10%, house prices had collapsed. The result, when it came on 9 April of that year, was one that nobody, not even the Tories, had expected. The Government received 42.8% of the votes Labour only 35.2%.
On the Kinnock and Major contest. Many commentators suggested that the voters took a slow personal dislike to Mr Kinnock, but warmed to Mr Major. As the Sun put it, 'voters just did not believe Mr Kinnock was fit to run Britain'. John Major scored an unexpectedly comfortable victory over the more charismatic Neil Kinnock.
And there's a glaring lesson for any Political Party or Government in taking the Electorate for Granted.
Which brings us back to the current wave of speculation about the date for the forthcoming general election. I find it less than intriguing. There are national and party reasons for holding elections any time between now and the end of the year. According to your inclination, you can factor in the political, economic and social arguments that might cumulatively justify this, or any other option.
In my opinion, choosing the date for an election centres around two questions, and in the following order: What is best for Gibraltar? What is best for the party? I believe that all political decision makers including the present Chief Minister have followed or I hope will or should follow this path.
At the present state of play, second or third guessing the Chief Minister in his chosen date will hardly get any of us anywhere. Let Fabian Picardo decide, in his own way and in his own terms. As far as the Opposition are concerned, they have declared they are prepared and ready to run, no matter when the election comes.
Beyond this, the decision that voters must take in the coming election, no matter what the pros and cons are about the likely date, concern the ways by which the competing political parties can satisfy the huge, popular wish for some real valid political and parliamentary change, which in many ways many believe, Gibraltar is in need of.
The Opposition needs to show it has the answers to people's concerns. Are they doing their best, to rise to this challenge?
On the other hand, the Alliance in power, as Governing party, must also show that it is changing or improving its own style and performance to fit the ever-changing mood of the people. Is this really happening?
One thing I do know, all actors in the forthcoming political blockbuster, should not take anything for granted, that's for sure!
23-04-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR
RGP to get Freedom of the City
April 23, 2015
The Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, has given notice of his intention, on behalf of the Government, to move a motion which would bestow the Freedom of the City upon the Royal Gibraltar Police. The Leader of the Opposition has been advised of the intention and indicated that the Opposition will support it.
This will mark the start of a process through which all of Gibraltar's emergency services will be awarded the Freedom of the City.
The Chief Minister said: "We have rightly bestowed the Freedom of our City on many individuals some of whom are from outside Gibraltar and who have been responsible for helping us, as a nation, achieve what we have today. Many of those are no longer active in our affairs, but it is right that they should have that recognition.
It is also right that we should recognise the people who provide our emergency services and who ensure we are protected day and night. From the RGP to the Gibraltar Fire & Rescue Service and the other emergency services, we must start a process of recognition and of bestowing this honour on the men and women who are the guardians of our security, safety and physical well-being.
"I want to start with the RGP for two reasons, first because they are often on the front line of a matters affecting the security of our community and secondly because they are the second oldest police force in the world and that too must be recognised by us. I hope and believe this motion and the others I will bring for the other emergency services will pass with the unanimous support of the Parliament, as those upon whom we will be bestowing these honours deserve.
Despite healthy criticism and their own desire to always further improve their performance, the RGP do an excellent job for Gibraltar and all our citizens, whether it is dealing with harrowing cases like that of Boscetti's Steps or in the day to day work they do, very often putting their own safety and security at stake.
The fact that current Commissioner Eddie Yome is presently the President of the European Association of Airports & Seaports Police and Vice President International Association of Airports & Seaports Police shows the exceedingly high calibre of officers in the RGP and the excellent work they do for our Community dealing with both major and minor crime and security matters."
The history of Gibraltar's police force goes back to 1830, when the "Town and Garrison of Gibraltar" became the "Colony of Gibraltar" and its administration passed from the War Office to the relatively new Colonial Office. On the 21st June 1830, a Proclamation was issued which in effect removed the responsibility for policing the Town from the Town Major and the military authorities, and brought it under civilian responsibility.
This proclamation appointed Major James Rowan to the office of Civil Police Magistrate for the Town and Territory of Gibraltar and Mr Henry Morgan as the Director of the Police and Supervisor of Market. Thus, on the 25th June 1830, the Gibraltar Police became operational. It is the oldest Police force in the Commonwealth and the second oldest British Police force.
23-04-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR