The evacuation proved the turning point for Gibraltarians who realised just how well ordinary people lived in other more developed areas and how they desired those comforts and rights themselves.

This is the opinion of Gladys Bensusan Brooking, who was evacuated to Jamaica herself at the age of four, learning about the feeling of being displaced to a foreign country but at the same time what there was to aspire to.

"It was over there in London that the evacuees saw that everyone had their showers, baths and toilets even in wartime, realising all the good things we were missing out on," said Bensusan. "From the end of the evacuation to nowadays is the time when I think Gibraltarians have lived best and that was the start of all civil rights and even financial parity which have greatly increased our well-being.

"While the evacuation opened our eyes, the closure of the frontier had a uniting effect, only on its opening again seeing people normalising themselves in treating their home as their own rather than part of the community we had in the 70s."

She is glad that the Moroccans are finally getting the citizenship and recognition of how they came to our rescue during the closed frontier days: "They deserve it, having been the ones who helped us so it is also right that the ones that were born here have their rights and we can return that favour."

Hard at work

Bensusan said that the youth were much better educated now than the youth of her time: "The schools are much better as is the corresponding freedom which we never had in our time, being able to go out so late and not return until the early hours. While now they go out at nearly 1am, when I was young that was when we had to be back at home, although I acknowledge that in my youth things weren't as easy as they are now, as the children now have a lot more money in their pockets.

"The women wouldn't work partly because the men didn't let us, always insisting they were supposed to maintain the family, unlike nowadays where all women get to work so early in their lives."

When it came to that maternal role she was aware that there was far less to feed her family back then, remarking, with a chuckle, that "nowadays we don't have to wait for Christmas to eat a chicken because we can eat it everyday".

Apart from that basic right to work a woman is finally able to choose what husband she has, and would no longer have to lump it if the relationship didn't work.

"Before women would be embarrassed to tell their parents that they wanted to separate while nowadays one out of every two or three marriages splits up," said Bensusan. "The few women that were allowed to work then had to come home and wash up, which in that time was far more primitive.

"The difference between then and now is like between night and day, as you had no washing machines but instead had a wooden cleaning rack using accumulated rainwater rather than running water."

Keeping clean

She described how she was fortunate enough to have a water fountain 20 yards from her door where she could fill her bath or 'tinaja' to have drinking and cooking water for a whole day or two. The days were regulated so that all the families in each block could wash in the patio or terrace two days per week, a far cry from all the electrical appliances we have at our disposal these days.

"Far from dishwashers and spin driers, in our block at Flat Bastion Road there was one toilet for five neighbours," recalled Bensusan. "Then I got married and moved to Main Street where I didn't have a shower until 1971 which is why when I went to the Montagu Bathing Pavilion it was a real pleasure to return home fully showered and clean. That's so different to nowadays where we may have so many toilets and showers in each dwelling."

The increased economic disparity between us and the surrounding Campo region is also something that has not changed much, as she believes that there are now more people working in Gibraltar every day than there was before the frontier was closed. "There have always been things we didn't want to do in the workplace and for this the Spanish have been there to work for us," she added.

25-08-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR

GSD put unelected spokesman at the head of the party's power desperation, says Govt

August 25, 2015

It is clear that the GSD have still to learn the simple lesson that people in glass houses should not throw stones, says the Government.

The party's latest statement on the power station smacks of complete desperation and ignores their own questionable behaviour on the same subject when they were in office.

The GSD Government firstly abandoned the question of power generation and supply for nearly a decade during their time in office, despite a number of reports which indicated that both Waterport Power Station and the electricity distribution network were on their last legs.

When they finally came round to the idea of replacing the creaking power station, they did so in a manner which was secretive and far from transparent with very little public debate and even less information placed in the public domain.

STACKS AND COST SKY HIGH!

The Government adds: It will be recalled that it was only AFTER the GSLP/Liberals came into office that we discovered that the reality of the height of the stacks at Lathbury had been concealed from the electorate. Indeed, they even had plans to increase the cost of electricity to the consumer by over 100% over a period of time and went to an election saying nothing about it.

It is also worth noting that the power station at Lathbury Barracks did not even go before the Development and Planning Commission.

This Government, in sharp contrast, has made more information available on the subject than ever before and continues to do so. The award of the tender was announced and the Environmental

Impact Assessment was made available on-line for everybody to look at.

UNELECTED

"It is also rather odd that the issue continues to be fronted by an unelected spokesperson who is answerable to no one instead of by the Shadow Minister for the Environment who is paid by the taxpayer to do precisely that job, the Govenment points out.

The latest elected member of the GSD to join the exodus is Selwyn Figueras, who has confirmed he will not be standing with the GSD.

25-08-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR

Margallo says incursions will continue, so what is the UK waiting for?

August 25, 2015

The Spanish foreign minister Sr Margallo has come out defiantly, saying that the Spanish incursions will continue 'because the waters are Spanish'. This begs the question: What is Britain waiting for?

Everybody knows that the waters are NOT Spanish, and there is sufficient evidence to prove that the waters are British.

A Spanish defence journalist who has a blog interviewed Margallo who confirms that "the incursions in all the waters surrounding Gibraltar will continue as the waters are Spanish."

He also said that all the other measures taken against Gibraltar will continue as they are having a positive effect for Spain.

So whether right or wrong, the current Spanish attitude is to continue with their anachonistic anti-Gibraltar policies.

WRONG ROYAL VISIT...

In another interview, Margallo is quoted as having said that he is in favour of a visit to the Rock by the "Spanish King and Queen", which seems an odd thing to say because no one in Gibraltar is asking for the Spanish monarchs to visit the Rock.

What the public here is calling for is that The Queen visits Gibraltar, as the 10,000 signatures recently collected go to show.

It could well be that either Margallo or the interviewer, or both, have got it all messed up...

He is further quoted to have said that he would ''not be taken for a ride'' even though Spain and the United Kingdom are partners in alliances, which appears he has an inferiority complex when it comes to Gibraltar.

Meanhile, he complains that Gibraltar should be such a prosperous place, which explains why he wants to destroy it. Rather than take a negative position, he ought to come to Gibraltar on a course on how to be successful and prosperous, poor soul.

25-08-15 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR