Budget 2022: ‘CASSANDRA’ HASSAN HYPERVENTILATES ON HYPE

IN MY OPINION by F. OLIVA

Marlene Hassan-Nahon’s latest torrent of haphazard, stale political occurrences shows two definite things about the leader of Together Gibraltar. A prodigious capacity to regurgitate obsolete anti-capitalist, high taxation slogans, and a solid claim to the title of ‘Cassandra’, prophetess of doom who predicts misfortune at every turn. 

Her deferred Budget contribution is a startling compendium where contradictory statements bordering on the politically schizophrenic, betray a position devoid of profound thought or basic knowledge of public finances, taxes or even how our economy works. The liberal sprinkling of Paolo Coelho type platitudes and commonplaces makes it all even more indigestible.
We have an economic model creaking at the seams she exclaims, with Gibraltar on the verge of collapse. With a Gross Domestic Product of £2.59b, full employment, and pre-Covid successive yearly economic performances that have delivered a quality of life that many across Europe can only dream of, such wild assertions can best be described as confused. No need it seems, to allow the truth to get in the way of a self-serving ideological rant. It is unsurprising that Government and others have accused her of scaremongering.
Her two lines of attack in typical populist style refer to the key debate on overspending and the measures required to control it, and the protection of “the needy”, a manipulative device she uses to stir people’s emotions; both merit close examination.

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26-07-22 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR