Gibraltar National Day 2012

Wow! Just wow!

Like most of Gibraltar we decided to put patriotism before any fear of terrorist attacks and went to the National Day rally in Casemates Square.

Wandering down Main Street and the pubs were well busy

Gotta wear the right colours

The new (ie Dec 2011) Gib government pledged to bring back the political stance to Gibraltar’s National Day and today they did it in big style.

A zillion UK MPs had been invited to participate which they did. Why would you not? A free jolly to sunny Gib? Of course they would be happy to come and voice their support for Gibraltar’s right to self-determination and retaining British links.

In previous years, the GSD (Gibraltar Social Democrats) had toned down the national day speeches so that it was no more than a banal speech about Gibraltar, awarding children prizes for fancy dress, and giving out medals of honour. Boring.

In Casemates Square today, we heard from Ulster Unionists, Scottish Nationalists, Labour, Liberal and Conservative. Where was the Welsh front I ask?

Anyway, the SNP and the UDP got huge roars of support. Can’t say I agree with Ian Paisley (Jnr)’s stance on homosexuality aka homophobia, but he’s certainly got the art of rhetoric off to a T, just like his old dad.

The Labour MP, Jim Dobbin, Chair of the all party Gib committee, or something like that, didn’t get such a resounding reception.

Maybe that was because Jack Straw fucked it up trying to negotiate joint sovereignty back in 2002.

A bit of history.

The first referendum in Gib was 45 years ago in 1967. Then, there was a later one in 2002 after the secret deals between Straw and Madrid.

International observers
In order to ensure that the referendum was conducted fairly and that its result could not be dismissed, the Government of Gibraltar invited a panel of distinguished observers headed up by Gerald Kaufman, MP.

Their published report confirmed that:
The observers were extremely impressed with the organisation of the referendum and particularly welcome that the role of the observers was integral to the process, as distinct from the more passive role of observers in other elections. The meticulous way in which votes were counted exceeded requirements and went beyond requirements adopted for UK elections

Reactions
Reaction in the Spanish media was hostile, with El País commenting that:
No Spanish Government, neither this one or its predecessors, has done enough to make joint sovereignty or integration with Spain an attractive prospect.

The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ana Palacio described the referendum as “illegal” and “against all the UN resolutions”.

For his part Jack Straw described the decision of the Government of Gibraltar to hold its own referendum on the prospect of shared sovereignty with Spain as “eccentric”.

Final effects
In his evidence to the British Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee in 2008, Jim Murphy MP, Minister of State for Europe, stated:
“The UK Government will never — “never” is a seldom-used word in politics — enter into an agreement on sovereignty without the agreement of the Government of Gibraltar and their people. In fact, we will never even enter into a process without that agreement.

The word “never” sends a substantial and clear commitment and has been used for a purpose. We have delivered that message with confidence to the peoples and the Governments of Gibraltar and Spain. It is a sign of the maturity of our relationship now that that is accepted as the UK’s position.”

Meanwhile today, we heard the word ‘Never’ alot.

The UK would NEVER give up Gibraltar, and Madrid should stop claiming Gib. The next time a Spanish fishing boat came into Gib/British waters it should be apprehended. Very gung-ho. Willing to back it up UK?

And from Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, Gibraltar was not willing to share one grain of sand or one drop of water. Not one drop.

Fabian speaking to Gibraltar

As always, Joe Bossano got a rousing reception too, when Fabian reminded everyone he was the man who introduced National Day 20 years ago.

In 1992, the then Chief Minister of Gibraltar Joe Bossano, travelled to the United Nations to argue for the right to self-determination inspiring the formation of the Self Determination for Gibraltar Group (SDGG). In order to generate popular support for self-determination they held the first National Day at John Mackintosh Square (the Piazza) on 10 September 1992 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the day the 1967 sovereignty referendum was held.

The first National Day was so successful that the avalanche of people that spontaneously turned up could not fit into John Mackintosh Square. The Government then took the responsibility of providing some help organising the event, since it fostered the right to self-determination that the Gibraltarians had been demanding at the United Nations since 1963. Therefore, the Government declared the 10 September a public holiday and in 1993 the venue was changed to the larger Grand Casemates Square.

National identity

The active opposition of the Spanish Government to self-determination combined with the negative posture of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, strengthened the resolution of the vast majority of the Gibraltarians to press ahead for their decolonisation by the year 2000 in accordance with the high principles of the Charter and the target date set by the United Nations to eradicate colonialism.

Instead, the UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, proposed joint sovereignty with Spain, which further intensified the sense of national identity reinforced by the National Day.

The 2002 National Day was closely followed Gibraltar’s second sovereignty referendum in which the proposed plan for shared sovereignty was overwhelmingly rejected by the Gibraltarians.

So there we have it. Gibraltar does not want to be Spanish, and courtesy of Joe Bossano, every year on September 10, we reiterate this message.

The start of the release of 30,000 balloons representing the population of Gibraltar

Personally, I think a nice sign hung on the north face of the Rock, saying ‘Fuck Off, Spain,’ would be a good idea, but perhaps it is too blunt. So we will all keep dancing around the silly political circles.

Watching the fireworks (ours, not from Spain)

However, most people today listened to the speeches and then happily danced away. Or ate out. Or walked home. But had turned out to support Gibraltar.

Walking home – and proud to be British

And to finish with a different sort of patriotism. Congratulations to all the British athletes who took part in the Paralympics, that closed yesterday, and won an astounding 34 gold medals and 120 in total to come third behind China and Russia. Given the respective populations of our countries that was one hell of an achievement.

Some more history:

These games marked the return of the Paralympic movement to its spiritual birthplace: the British village of Stoke Mandeville first hosted the Stoke Mandeville Games, an athletics event for disabled British Second World War veterans, to coincide with the opening of the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.

The Stoke Mandeville Games were the first ever organised sporting event for disabled athletes, and served as a precursor to the modern Paralympic Games. Stoke Mandeville also co-hosted the 1984 Summer Paralympics with Long Island, New York after its original host, the University of Illinois, pulled out due to financial issues.

Anyways, here in Gib, the main post box has been painted red, white and blue, following the Summer Olympics, no gold because we didn’t win gold, but we did have a rhythmic dancer and an umpire participating in the London Olympics.

Red white and blue postbox

London did well with the Olympics and the Paralympics and so did our British athletes. While we celebrate National Day here in Gibraltar today, we also remember and value our Britishness.

More Gibpix either in a slideshow or another post…. slideshow now added

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

All sources: wiki – accurate enough for Olympics and Paralympics, and the snippets of Gib political history.

Gibraltar territorial waters – ‘leave!’

It’s like the cod wars revisited. [Cod wars not Cold War].

That’s for anyone who remembers the dispute between the UK and Iceland over cod fishing rights. Why anyone would fight over tasteless cod is beyond me, but there is no accounting for taste. Haddock wars I could have understood but cod?

So, the territorial waters dispute.

The short version is that, Spain, along with claiming Gibraltar, also claims the waters around it. The UK Gibraltar territorial waters no less.

Now, at this point you have to remember that although Gibraltar runs its own day-to-day business quite merrily, in matters of foreign policy and defence, the UK is in charge.

A little history – Gibraltar was taken by an Anglo-Dutch force in 1704. It was formally ceded to Great Britain in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. For ever. Spain looks for nice little loopholes that say we are not sticking to a 300-year-old treaty and so therefore it should go back to Spain.

One could point out that Spain didn’t exactly stick to the treaty back in the 18th century when it tried – and failed miserably – to invade on three separate occasions.

Now the treaty specified:

the full and entire propriety of the town and castle of Gibraltar, together with the port, fortifications, and forts thereunto belonging … for ever, without any exception or impediment whatsoever.

It didn’t specify territorial waters. Probably because they hadn’t been fully developed as a legal concept by then.

So, onto the territorial waters dispute.

During the first part of the 18th century (and I thought it was recent!) the three mile limit came into practice. The UN changed this to 12 nautical miles (22km) which came into force in 1995. States are entitled, but not compelled, to extend their limit. If there is a nearby country, then they split the difference, technically called a median line.

Who owns this water? Spain, Morocco, or Gib/UK?

Neither the Gib nor the UK govt have said there is any need to extend the current three-mile limit around Gib.

Have a look at the map on this site here about the fishing limits which graphically illustrates the position. Note the HUGE Spanish territorial waters around Ceuta.

So what’s the issue? Well, every now and again, the Spanish like to invade enter Gib/UK territorial waters.

When Sofia stamped her sulky royal foot about not going to Liz’s party because Brit royals shouldn’t be visiting a Brit Overseas Territory, the other reason was because there was a territorial waters dispute ongoing. Well, it’s always going on, but the seas were turning a bit choppy.

A couple of extracts from govt press releases to add the context:

The fact is that after the 1999 agreement, Spanish commercial fishing vessels continued to fish with impunity in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters using methods which were against the law.

and the latest fishing situation from a release last month:

The Chief Minister held a two hour meeting this morning with representatives of Spanish fishermen and councillors from La Linea and Algeciras.

The meeting was conducted in a friendly and constructive atmosphere with both sides making a positive commitment to dialogue as opposed to confrontation.

The Chief Minister explained government policy that the 1999 understanding, between the Spanish fishermen and the previous administration, contravened the laws of Gibraltar and the new GSLP/Liberal administration had already spelt out its views on the subject in its general election manifesto. The Chief Minister also made it clear that the application and enforcement of the law was a matter for the Royal Gibraltar Police.

A lengthy discussion took place on the fishing practices that were allowed by the law and those that were not. The meeting explored a number of potential solutions which included the registration and licensing of fishing boats which use legal methods in the context of the need to continue to protect Gibraltar’s marine environment.

which sounds over-conciliatory to me, but there you go, I’m not the Chief Minister. And it obviously met with no joy because we have a later incident last week.

But first (as I’m doing this chronologically) we have this one:

two large RIBs (which were suspected of being prohibited imports) came round Europa Point towards the Bay and, as they passed, both the RGP and SVA (Spanish customs) commenced a chase. Although RGP Officers repeatedly ordered the occupant of one of the RIBs to stop because he was within British Gibraltar Territorial Waters, they were ignored and obeyed signals from the SVA vessel to go towards them.

As the vessels came alongside, RGP officers successfully managed to tie up one of the RIBs. Two SVA Officers then jumped on board the vessel while another freed the RIB by cutting the RGP line. The RGP vessel also came alongside and RGP Officers boarded to effect the arrest.

At this point, one of the SVA vessels started moving off with two RGP Officers on board.

An argument ensued and one of the three occupants in the second suspect vessel boarded the stopped RIB to try and assist. The RGP Officers on board the suspect RIB drew batons, fearing for their safety. The SVA vessel then started to move towards Algeciras and the RGP Officers returned to the RGP vessel.

Gibraltar Defence Police (GDP) RIBs also arrived to assist the RGP crew but, when the SVA Officers saw this, they released the detained RIB and ordered both suspect vessels to head towards Algeciras. The RGP vessel lost use of an engine, was unable to chase and, despite efforts by the GDP, the Spanish vessel got away. All Gibraltar based boats rendezvoused when the incident was over. The RGP has established that the main incident occurred within British Gibraltar Territorial Waters.

Great co-operation huh for chasing drug smugglers?

But the latest was this one. (Full article over at The Gib Chron).

Six fishing boats from Algeciras decided to come and fish in Gib waters. Spain has said it will use Guardia Civil boats to protect any fishing in our territorial waters but the boats were unaccompanied.

Our boys (and maybe girls) were fast on the scene. A launch from the Gib Defence Police, a boat from the Marine Section of the Royal Gib Police, and a RIB from the RN.

It was all nicey, nicey, and the Spaniards were told they would be breaking Gib law if they fished.

A bit later on, the Guardia Civil turned up. The fishing boats were urged to return to port and off they went.

Whereupon the RN informed the Guardia Civil to clear off:

“This is Gibraltar Navy Ops,” the officer said over the VHF radio.

“You are in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters and I consider you to be violating UNCLOS Article 19 governing the right of innocent passage.”



“Your activities are being recorded and are being reported to a higher national authority.”



“You are to cease your current actions and leave British Gibraltar Territorial Waters immediately.”

There are things to be doing on a Thursday night, and sitting at sea, not fishing is not the one I would choose. And what is the value, if not making a political point and trying to push the UK and Gib?

In fact, as Sofia didn’t have to go to the UK for the party, she could have shared out the saved costs from the royal purse and given that to the fishermen to make up for their lack of a catch in Gib waters.

Thank goodness for our gallant RN. Gib wouldn’t be here without the Royal Navy.

And who would think Gibraltar was such an exciting place?

Always good to see the odd grey ship in the naval dockyard

Bank holiday rainy days

Gibraltar may be a few thousand kilometres away from the UK but we managed a suitably traditional long damp weekend holiday.

What a dutiful British Overseas Territory we are.

Reflection

Although, somewhat differently, we commemorated Workers’ Memorial Day on April 28 with a public holiday on May 30, followed by another holiday on May 1 – Labour Day/International Workers’ Day – hence our long weekend a week ahead of the UK.

I like holidays that are actually celebrated on the day and not bumped forwards or backwards to the nearest Monday.

Regardless of which, it was wet. I took the rare opportunity to take wet photos. And caught a cold. Literally. I am sure the two are not connected as I was wearing my leaking Goretex.

Rainy day faces

Ironically and unintentionally this post continues the theme of the last one….

Unite the Union Gibraltar Branch renew our commitment to, and demand once more, safe and healthy work for all.

Society no-longer finds drink-driving or domestic violence acceptable. It is time for work-related ill-health, injury, and death to also become unacceptable rather than a tragic but accepted part of the world of work.

Unite the Union Gibraltar Branch has declared 28 April 2012 a Day of Action to Defend health and safety. Unite the Union Gibraltar since 2008 have held Workers Memorial Day events and have finally influenced the Gibraltar Government to recognise Workers Memorial Day.
 
Every year we make clear the link between deaths and illness caused by work: most workers do not die of mystery ailments, or in tragic ‘accidents’. But because an employer decided their safety or health wasn’t that important a priority.
 
Unlike those dying in war or major incidents, they are not publicly remembered yet over 2.3 million people are killed by work worldwide each year – more than by wars or AIDS

Can you believe that? What appalling statistics. So, meanwhile as I was saying on the other post about trainees wearing safety gear on site…..

But moving swiftly on, our Chief Minister was busy unveiling a plaque on Workers’ Memorial Day, and sending out an inspiring message to Gibraltarians:

It is now also the GSLP, with our Liberal partners, who are introducing Workers Memorial Day as an annual bank holiday. As the grandson of a man who died in an industrial accident, it has been hugely satisfactory for me to introduce this commemorative holiday as a long weekend at the end of April. I recognise the work of Unite (in particular Gilbert McCarthy and Christian Duo) in raising the profile of this day.

Workers die around the world everyday whilst they labour to earn a living. Just last year a man lost his life working in Gibraltar.

We can therefore never be too careful when it comes to the protection of life in the workplace. That is why I adopt the phrase “remember the dead and fight for the living” which Unite is promoting as part of the events of 28th April co-sponsored by the Government and to which people from across the Community and across the political divide have been invited.

I have heard criticism of the fact that we are declaring a bank holiday to commemorate those who have died at work. Surprisingly, no-one criticised bank holidays given to celebrate royal weddings or winning court cases later lost on appeal. This day is much more poignant, enduring and relevant and I am hugely proud to have been able to declare it a holiday.

Finally, if you are going to take advantage of the fact that this year will be an extra long holiday weekend to go away – wherever you are, spare a thought for the events and sacrifices that give rise to these holidays. Enjoy –but do not forget.

While I may sound sarcastic, I am not. I think those are very valid sentiments, and my sympathies go out to the Chief Minister’s family and everyone else who who knows someone, whether family, or friend, who died at work or through a work-related disease.

I hope Unite’s calls for action are heard and implemented. There is more to workers’ rights than unveiling a plaque, fine words and a public holiday. Hopefully this government will be able to strengthen health and safety for those who work in Gibraltar.

Maybe even clamp down on that odd bit of illegal working that goes on? Cross-border workers trying to earn a pittance. No cover. Risking their lives. And sadly, so are the employers who knowingly take them on as illegal employees.

Unite the Union Gibraltar Branch is calling for:
 
1.        No reduction in the legal protection for workers and the Gibraltarian community on health and safety.   
2.        Those who create risk must be held accountable. 
3.        No freedom from inspections and an increase in inspector number. 
4.        Recognition and support for the role that union safety representatives play. 
5.        More action to prevent occupational diseases. 

Meanwhile some more damp pics from my sick bed and the obligatory slideshow.

Just looking for worms?

An empty and wet Line Wall Road

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Leave your hat on

Don Miguel Rojo, I want to talk to you.
Don Miguel, I hear you’re hiring on men.
Well, I might just be available.
I gotta tell you before you hire me…
I don’t work cheap.

[A Fistful of Dollars]

But trainees do.

So cheap that they don’t have to wear hard hats on a construction site, or the scaffolding they are working on doesn’t need to be netted.

These are government trainees working on a government site, a hospital in fact.

It’s OK, because anyone working around the bottom does wear a hard hat.

The Government can confirm that all Gibraltar Training Centre employees and trainees are provided with the necessary Personal Protective clothing and equipment to satisfy the requirements of the Factories Act. As a training provider, the Centre ensures that all its employees fully comply with current and local Health and Safety Regulations by undertaking an induction period at inception stage and also undertake an independent Health and Safety test in accordance with the guidelines set out by the UK Main Awarding Body.

Moreover, trainees undertaking periods of on-site attachment are inducted on site to familiarise themselves with the site orientation, nature of development works and are instructed to follow the policies set by the Main Contractor. The GHA Project Manager responsible for the KGV refurbishment works carried out a risk assessment and its findings were that there was no need to use debris netting on this particular project. Scaffolding has been predominantly erected as a means of access to assist painters and decorators who are exclusively making use of it to decorate the main facade of the KGV Building. It is therefore not a requirement to include netting as there is no risk of falling debris, objects or heavy tools/equipment. The painting and decorating trainees are working at different heights along the platforms and are protected by overhead scaffold boards and consequently there is no need for the use of safety helmets either.

However, plasterers and bricklayers working around the site in open spaces hacking and making good wall defects at ground floor level are permanently using safety helmets. The Government in general and the Construction Training Centre in particular take this opportunity to reassure the public that it is fully committed to provide a high quality comprehensive range of learning opportunities relevant to the construction and built environment to assist the young generation and raise local standards. Furthermore, there have been no reports for many years of any incidents or near misses on the building sites where trainees have been working.

So, for starters. Scaffold clips? Scaffold tubes? Hit any of those with your head? Poke your eyes out? Anyone who has actually been on scaffolding will know what it is like – and it is very, very easy to bash your head. Or your face.

We don’t need netting because it is too expensive no-one is working above. Really? So there is absolutely no risk of anything falling onto anyone? From anywhere? No decorators using tools?

I wonder if they are wearing hi-vis jackets? Safety boots?

How many sites do you see around Gib that have signs saying?:

No hard hat.

No safety boots.

No job.

Gib government – what are you talking about, seriously?

Twenty years ago as a press officer I wore a hard hat when I went on construction sites. These trainees are not just visiting, they are meant to be working on a site.

This is an appalling way to train young people in a trade – ostensibly – for life.

As for the reference to the Factories Act? This is not the nineteenth century – first factory act in the UK passed in 1802. The UK has specific construction site inspectors within the Health and Safety Executive. Factories are not construction sites.

And – I have read the Gib Government Factories Act – 1956. This is a construction site.
There is an awful lot about colour-washing walls in factories – of which we have a lot in Gibraltar in 2012, 56 years later no less – and matches, and steam boilers, and laundries, and steam pressure, and asbestos and, where is the bit that says you need to wear safety clothing on a construction site in 2012?

We have a new socialist government looking after workers. Or do we?

Here is good scaffolding with good practice being carried out by the workers on site.

Gib Government -
1) You still need to change your press releases, and
2) You may wish to wander around a building site.

Here is Joe Cocker, from Sheffield, Yorkshire, who sang “Leave Your Hat On,” in the 1986 Adrian Lyne film 9½ Weeks during the striptease scene. It was later sung by Tom Jones on the Full Monty. Written by Randy Newman incidentally.

Gay rights in Gib?

Standing in the non-existant bank queue today (Gib not Spain) I glanced at the television screen.

‘Buy a £5 coin for only £5.’ Um, yes? What else would I pay?

Me and a badminton participant in the 1970 something Commonwealth Games rolled our eyes at each other. I learned about his badminton history when we were watching the news together briefly in the queue.

Then I read about the controversy over the adverts on London Transport that have been pulled by Boris Johnson because they are intolerant of homosexuality, or to write rather more slangily, anti-gay.

Link to BBC here and Guardian (better story) here.

This sort of thing is medieval at best, but more accurately pre-historic. This is 2012 and the UK has same-sex civil unions.

Homosexuality is not a disease. And quite frankly, what consenting adults do behind closed doors is neither my business, anyone elses’, and certainly not the business of a church founded in the name of someone who preached tolerance.

If you want to promote your own cause/religion/viewpoint blah blah, it is courteous to point out the advantages of whatever you are espousing. It is offensive and disrespectful to criticise others because their point of view is not yours.

Apparently the churchy group moaned about lack of free speech. Well, there is a difference between free speech and causing offence to others.

Saying that gays have a disease that can be cured is on a par with saying ‘Wogs Go Home!’

I would respectfully suggest that if they can find some advantages for Christian marriages between heterosexual couples they should be promoting that and not slagging off homosexuals.

Here in Gibraltar, we don’t have same-sex civil unions, although last month Chief Minister Fabian Picardo has said the government would support civil partnerships and will publish a command paper on the subject in autumn.

Like his predecessor, Peter Caruana, Picardo has drawn the line at gay marriages. Hmm. We do live in a Roman Catholic country though. Or perhaps that would be one step too far too soon, for what is essentially a conservative place.

For more info on gay rights in Gib, check out this site – Equality Rights GGR.

And back to the beginning, and speaking of queues, here is a quick phone snap that I forgot to include the other day.

Isn’t it great that you can wander into the Post Office in Spain with your birds on your shoulder and no-one bats an eyelid?

Later on, I was at the counter and one of them was next to me happily pecking away at a yellow post-it note on the counter.

I wonder how many rules and regulations exist in the UK these days to stop people taking their birds into a Post Office.

And these people standing in the queue reminded me of one of the best scenes (and best films) I have seen in many years.

And if you have a few minutes to spare you may want to check out some of the other versions where people have performed their own versions, some of them are excellent, especially the Italian wedding scene, which includes the bride running in front of the dancers gathering up ties!!

Scaffold on Saturday

Brings back memories of Lily the Pink?

I was watching the scaffolders on my trip back from the job centre yesterday and was truly amazed at their fluid teamwork. (They are doing it again today so the title of this post isn’t totally inaccurate)

As there are lots of blocks of flats in Gib, there is obviously a lot of scaffolding when the outsides need refurbishment.

I’ve watched scaffolders throwing down the metal clips to each other with serious precision. This lot were passing down the planks (and poles) from one floor to the next – don’t forget none of them can see the one above.

It’s on a slide show as hopefully that conveys the motion.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

And on refurbishment of government housing blocks, this week the Gib government committed to continuing with the programme of refurbishment on the Alameda estate (the one in the slide show). This is probably due to all the whingey residents who keep asking Partner and everyone else on site when their block is going to get done – there are about half a dozen blocks. (Said Partner is the one in white overalls and a red hard hat on the top level (7th) of scaffolding in the photos).

The government has also said:

“Indeed, we will also refurbish Moorish Castle Estate, Glacis Estate and Laguna Estate which were completely neglected by the GSD when they were in Government and where refurbishment is now all the more important,” said Housing Minister Charles Bruzon.

Well they would wouldn’t they? These are not Gibraltar’s most desirable addresses. But they probably do account for that tiny majority that guaranteed success for the GSLP in last December’s election. Pay back time.

Which is probably also why the previous GSD government didn’t bother with those grot estates that needed the work but instead focused on Montagu estate (a lot of owner occupiers, and far more flash), followed by Alameda, probably one where they could have hoped to swing the vote. Trouble with the Alameda estate is, there are an awful lot of older people there, and they actually liked the Good Old Days of Joe Bossano. Tales from the Alameda to follow.

Glacis and Laguna have been crying out for refurbishment for years, so that announcement gets a thumbs up from me. No pix of those as they are, well, grot.

Note: for non Gib readers which is virtually all of you, govt housing is the same as council housing, assisted housing, public housing etc etc, ie cheap subsidised rented housing provided by the govt, which is sometimes bought by the occupiers – but not always. The current rent in Alameda is around £20 a week, so I understand….

Here, is the sign for one of the blocks, extremely well painted I might say. One of the rather more arty bits of work Partner got to do. I think it merits a photo on its own.

The job thing (4) – and stuffed cabbage leaves

It is axiomatic that unless you are extremely rich, you need either an awful lot of savings that bring in some reasonable interest, or you have to work.

Given the current world recession, savings are bringing in very little unless you tie them up for three to five years, and even then, unless you have decent bucks, you won’t get much interest. We aren’t talking the golden days of thousands a year, more like a few miserable hundreds.

So, for those of us without a reasonable income, our priority is work.  Well, I’m getting round to it. I do keep visiting the job centre waiting for that perfect job to appear on exactly the right salary, for which I am ideally qualified.

In the meantime I write blog posts about the work situation in Gibraltar.

Some on the ground gossip. Which may or may not be true.  I repeat it as it was told to me.

1) A tradesperson started work on a building site the other week, and within two days he was gone.  Why?  Not a bad lad, pleasant, reasonable work, good time-keeping.  He lived in Spain.

2) A sub-contractor on a construction site was told there was no more work for his firm.  Why? Yes, that’s right.  He lived across the frontera too.  Contrast that with a different Spanish sub-contractor who had the presence of mind a couple of years ago to set up a legitimate Gibraltar company.  The money still goes to Spain, as he employs Spaniards, but it’s a bit more difficult to throw a Gib company off a job.

3) A couple of people running another business were told to leave that firm (not construction-related in this case).  Apparently they had adequate pensions from elsewhere and had received their jobs through, well, the usual crony networks.  Caveat: this tale is the least reliable as I don’t know how many people it came through before it got to me.

Let’s look at some facts. Or rather a government press release.

The assessment of the employment service is that the persons resident in Gibraltar and seeking employment is in excess of 1300. This is higher than the figure indicated by the GSD during the election campaign when they claimed that providing employment on the minimum wage to everybody who was unemployed would cost £11m, which at an annual cost of £10k per person unemployed, would translate into 1100 unemployed.

This therefore is the real level of unemployment and not the 450-500 persons a month that has been given in the past as the level of unemployment and which led the GSD Government consistently to boast that we had an unemployment level last year of 2% or under. The real figure has been and continues to be in the range of 8-9% of the resident working population, when one includes all the categories of people seeking employment, including those on training schemes, those wait listed and other Gibraltar residents primarily British, Moroccan and other nationalities.

I do think this government is making a sterling effort to tackle local unemployment by trying to ensure that any Gibraltar residents get priority for any vacancy, and that only when they can’t be filled should employers be looking across the border.  But …….

For just about everyone reading this blog, I think I should let you know the minimum wage here is £5.40 and not the £6.08 of the UK.  There’s probably not much in it as they are both crap wages.  Ten thousand pounds a year ain’t enough to get a mortgage.  Nor do you have much left to live on after you have paid £500 a month (minimum) rent in the private sector.  This is why people in Gibraltar live at home until they can get government housing.

What about if you are skilled and qualified?  Well the local construction industry official rate is £7.47 an hour for a skilled craft operative.  That comes in at £284 a week, gross (slightly under £15K pa).  Unless you have allowances in Gib, tax rates are high (initial rate 17%, followed by a hike to 30%). Of course if you have lots of money, naturally you can opt for a lower tax rate, of 20%.

How about if you are a journalist?  Well, the Chron is advertising a post for a trainee qualified reporter.  Hello Chron?  I think when I passed my journalism exams I was no longer a trainee and I became a Senior Reporter (rather than a Junior Reporter).  They are offering a princely £15K too, although they do offer up to £17K, presumably for a very well qualified and experienced trainee reporter.

But, all is not lost.  A PA or an office manager can apparently pull in some £20K.  Social media managers for gaming firms can look at nearly £30K.  And a marketing director who speaks Scandinavian (which Scandinavian language I wondered, not that it mattered) can get £30K plus.

Most of the jobs in the job centre are in the gaming industry.  Either techy ones, or needing a zillion bizarre languages and previous exp of the industry.  These are followed by finance/accountancy/company trust jobs.  For which you need to be an accountant, and ICSA or ITSA or whatever the trust stuff is. There are a couple of lawyers’ jobs.

There are however a lot more jobs ‘available’ this year, than there were last year. I say available because when you send a cv to an email that doesn’t exist, ring a ‘phone number and find out they aren’t dealing with the vacancy, or ring up and find the job has already gone in less than 24 hours, you wonder how much window dressing is going on.

More on jobs in a later post but after all that a little light relief is called for.  A while ago, I read on another blog about the author’s disappointment with the results of stuffed cabbage leaves.  I remembered making them a while ago, so fished (!) out the recipe I’d followed.

It’s from Sarah Maxwell’s Vegetarian Pasta (inspiring name there but I suppose you know what you are getting).

Pasta-stuffed cabbage leaves

Ingredients

Any tiny pasta (I used twists which was all I had in)
Savoy cabbage leaves

Stuffing

Olive oil
Garlic
Tomatoes
Carrot (grated)
Courgette (grated)
Walnuts
Salt and pepper

Sauce

Tin tomatoes
Red wine
Veg stock
Oregano
One chopped onion
Salt and pepper

Method

Cook pasta.  Blanch cabbage leaves.  Make filling ingredients and cool.

Make sauce, cool and zap.

Put filling in leaves, fold into neat parcel, secure with skewers or cocktail things if you need to.  Place in ovenproof dish (I slightly oiled mine) and surround/cover with tomato sauce.

Cook in oven for around 20 mins on 200/400/Gas Mark 6.  Serve any extra sauce separately.

My comments

I didn’t have courgette or walnuts.  I used ground almonds for the nut element (any nuts will do really), and managed without the courgies.

I didn’t have red wine either (!), didn’t feel like adding white, so did without again.  I used mixed herbs instead of oregano, and fresh tomatoes instead of tinned.

It worked well – it must have done – there was none leftover for breakfast :(

The key is in the timing, because you basically have four different elements to cook.   The recipe suggests cooking pasta and cabbage first, but I would probably (if I remember) get the stuffing and sauce going first as they take longer.  Either way, it tasted good, not too filling, and a reasonably balanced main dish.  I served it with a small green salad.

Stuffed cabbage leaves and tomato sauce

Is there hope for the airport?

Time to actually fulfill some of my threats promises.

One of which was writing about the Gib airport (s).

The title, by the way, also refers to um, a photo shot weekly thing, but more of that later.

A while ago, I noticed the new airport shooting up, and quickly snapped some pix of the old building which I think is particularly nice.

Back on ItchyFeet, I wrote briefly about the airport:

Gibraltar is the nearest airport in the world to its city. Coming across the frontier into Gib currently involves driving, cycling, or walking across the airport runway. When planes are due to land/take off, the route across the airport is closed leading to queues and delays.

Crossing the runway

Just so everyone gets the idea of the unique situation here.

Now, the previous government (GSD) in Gib decided to build a new airport at a cost of a very lot of pounds. (Actually it cost 75mill euros – but why in Gib is this price always quoted in euros? I thought we used sterling here? I digress. Back to the expensive plot.)

This was because, apparently, building a new airport would lead to lots more tourists who decide where to go on holiday based on the quality of the airport. There are a handful of flights a day in Gib. Was the cost of millions of pounds for the airport warranted?

The GSLP thought not. But now they are in power, they have to decide what to do with it.

A few more tales about the airport. Apparently on the open day for the public, conveniently held just before the Gib election, unfinished areas were hidden by hoarding.

And the contract for the first two weeks of cleaning the new incomplete airport cost a mere £90,000. I exaggerate. It was £88,281.90. According to the Gib Chron the owners of the firm are two Spanish businessmen. Well, they won’t need to do too much for the rest of the year will they? I could live on £45K a fortnight, even after expenses.

Shame there aren’t any cleaning firms in Gib huh? But wait. There are. So why didn’t they get the tender? Well? Because that is £90,000 that is going out of Gibraltar (less costs) into Spain. Why?

Is there hope for the new airport? Well, it’s pretty. But seriously, do I give a shit? And I would rather the money have been better spent on something that would have helped the vast majority of Gibraltarians. Eg, housing, KGV (mental health), employment for local people etc etc.

I admire the new government for trying to work out the best way to deal with such a white elephant.

So onto hope.

Well Peter Caruana (former chief minister the government, now leader of the GSD opposition) obviously hoped Gib airport was going to be renamed The Peter Caruana Airport.

Hope that someone can retrieve something out of this abyss.

Hope that a Gib cleaning firm might get the contract at some point and not at such a ridiculous price.

A few shots of the airports.

Arrivals at the old airport

Checking in

The roof terrace - looking towards the cloud-covered Rock

The roof terrace - looking towards sunny La Linea

The new airport from the roof terrace

And another take

The new terminal viewed from the (Gib end) of the runway

And.. departures

Onto ‘hope’. The weekly inspirational photo thing from wordpress for those of us who can’t think of anything to post.

In fact, the photo accompanying the new subject over on The Daily Post showed a tree/plant/shrub growing in concrete. I have to say as someone who regularly weeds a concrete path that this photo griped me rather than inspired me. Nothing hopeful about anything growing in concrete – it’s all too easy I tell you.

My thoughts along the hope lines, apart from the above airport comments, were more conventional.

Walking along the beach on at the end of an old year. Wondering what the new year will bring, new hopes, and, the sunshine hoping to break through the clouds – hoping the rain will hold off.

Hope - for good things in the new year, and sunshine to hold off the rain

It rained. But not much.

Our dog. Readers of his blog will know he loves toast, and always hopes there will be some for him.

Hope I can reach

Don’t be silly. Of course he reached the toast. He always gets the toast.

And finally partner. He is an expert skip scavenger and to be fair, we have acquired a number of bikes, four serviceable garden chairs, a load of plants and various other goodies. Here he is excitedly opening up some sort of work bench thing that he had rescued ….

Hope this is going to be a good find

….. Only to discover that it had been thrown out because it was useless.

I think I could do a photo a day on this theme, but I don’t play those games so I shan’t.

Gibraltar Election Result 2011

Always good to be woken up to the sound of chanting in the street as the election results start to be announced.

I went to vote early yesterday morning just after the (12) polling stations opened at 9am.  There were police around, and a queue out of the door and down the street.  I went back home and decided to go in the afternoon.

By about 3.15pm we walked straight in, with only a couple of people in front of us.

There were no polling cards and at the entrance there was a sign saying that you needed to produce an ID card, a passport or a driving licence.

I gave my card to the clerk, she found my name on the register and then read it out, and my address.  Her colleague gave me the ballot sheet and off I went into the booth.

There were three parties – GSD, GSLP Liberal Alliance, and PDP.  Each party fields  up to ten candidates, and 17 are elected to Parliament.

I walked out to put my sheet in the box.  The official in charge of the box keeps the slot covered with a sheet of card with the Gibraltar coat of arms on it.  He checks your folded ballot sheet, and then moves the card aside for you to post your sheet inside the box.  Two  more officials were on duty to make sure everything was carried out correctly.  It was all very professional.

And that was it.  Polling closes at 10pm, and apparently you MUST get the ballot sheet by then.  It’s no good if you are inside the station or in the queue, if you don’t have your sticky hands on the sheet by 10pm – you’ve missed your chance.

Opinion polls had put the GSLP ahead, and so did an exit poll by the GBC with a lead of approximately 8%.

Out of an electorate of 21,712, there were 17,915 voters – a total turn-out of 82.51%.  Not something those of us from the UK are used to at all.  The breakdown is 17,178 people voted in person, 82.28% and there were 835 postal voters, and 737 of those sent votes, 88.26%.

To me that is an impressive turn-out and is to the credit of the people of Gibraltar.  And although it is 1% above the last election in 2007, it is below the ones in 2000 and 1996.  Gibraltarians take their elections seriously.

The count takes place in John Mackintosh Hall, which is a stone’s throw from us, so usually we wake up to all the cheering and clapping.  There were a few bursts of clapping during the night, but nothing to indicate who had won. I woke up a couple of times and had a quick look at the internet to see if there was any indication of the result.

At one point I read on Twitter that it was neck and neck and there would be a recount.  Nerve-racking.  The GSD (Gibraltar Social Democrats) have been in government for four consecutive terms, ie nearly 16 years.  The big question was whether or not the main opposition party the GSLP (Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party) Liberal Alliance, under the new leadership of Fabian Picardo and with their slogan of ‘Time for change’, could oust the complacent GSD under Peter Caruana.

About 6.30am there was more chanting.  We tried to work out what it was. ‘GSLP’ said Partner.  ‘Are you going to go out and have a look?’  Who needs the internet when you can walk out into the street to find out what is happening first hand?

So I pulled on my jacket and boots and skipped outside into the dark.  There were police up and down the street and a small crowd outside JM Hall.  There were lots of flags, GSLP flags.  ‘Have they won?’ I said pointing at the flag. ‘Yes, said a young man with a huge beam on his face. ‘We won.’

GSLP supporters waiting outside John Mack Hall before 7am today

Still there waiting to cheer our new ministers, two hours later, and now daylight

After all the tension - relief

Note:  I’ll add the official statistics later for the votes cast for candidates. (And some of the figures above have been amended after checking the govt press release).

The Gibraltar Government has issued an excellent press release with a statistical breakdown of votes cast by polling station, for each candidate, and a comparison of turnout with previous years.  It’s available here.

But the short and simple stats are as follows:

GSLP/Liberals received 48.8% of the vote

GSD – 46.76%

PDP – 4.36%

In terms of numbers, that is

GSLP/Libs – 85414

GSD – 81721

PDP – 7622

Total votes cast – 174757

That’s a difference of 3693, if I have done my sums correctly.  It is actually not the ‘some 300 voters’ claimed by the on-line Gib Chron.  To extrapolate how many voters made the difference from the votes cast is not, to my mind, responsible journalism.  Not everyone block votes, or necessarily votes for ten candidates.  If they did, there would be ten GSLP/Libs at the top with the same votes cast, followed by ten GSD etc etc. And there would have been 179150 votes cast.  There weren’t.  Even if you divide 3693 by ten, you still end up with 370, aka nearly 400.  Something tells me the Chron isn’t exactly pro-GSLP/Libs.  Or that someone isn’t very good with stats.

Interestingly I nearly quoted the Chron article for my figures, as I was so surprised at their claim of 300 voters making the difference, but I decided to look for the official government stats.  Just as well.

And our new ministers are:

Fabian Raymond Picardo  8781 votes

John Emmanuel Cortes 8706

Joseph John Garcia 8681

Gilbert Horace Licudi 8605

Joseph John Bossano 8598

Charles Arthur Bruzon 8518

Peter Richard Caruana 8515

Neil Francis Costa 8490

Daniel Anthony Feetham 8462

Steven Ernest Linares 8419

Samantha Jane Sacramento 8335

Isobel Marie Ellul-Hammond 8306

Paul John Balban 8281

Damon James Bossino 8281

Edwin Joseph Reyes 8165

James Joseph Netto 8139

Selwyn Matthew Figueras 8099

On a personal note, I think in politics it is always good to have more than two parties, so I commend the PDP for their efforts and think it is a shame they received such a low proportion of the votes cast. Especially as one would expect them to take votes from the GSD.

So am I pleased with the result?  You bet.  Congratulations to our new government and I wish you the very best for the next four years.  On behalf of me, my partner, and all the other people who cast their votes for GSLP candidates.

How do you want to vote?

At some point during the day some noisy van came around blaring something out. Noisy horrid vans.

Oh! Wait! It was a meeting at 8pm in the John Mack Hall to listen to the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party(GSLP)’s political speeches.  Technically it is the GSLP/Liberal Alliance, but as the Liberals have three candidates and the GSLP has seven, it might as well be the GSLP.

We thought about it – and – at 7.40pm we were there.  So was half of Gibraltar.  We found two of the last few seats.

Flags and an expectant audience

First up lots of rousing music – Simply the best – which Gib seems to love.  Flags and singing in abundance.

Simply the best

Showing the flag

I thought I had gone to a polite civilised meeting where one listened to someone expounding political thought.  Perhaps not.  This was full on in your face electioneering. It would be wouldn’t it, with only a couple of weeks to go to the election.

Ten candidates all spouting their stuff.  Of which only ONE was a woman.  But who got the biggest reception?  Who had everyone gone to see? Joe Bossano of course. You can read about him on wiki if you want but anyway, he was still the one everyone wanted to hug at the end of the meeting.

Hug for Joe

Embracing a mate

Comments about the meeting – well a full house and more. John Mack Hall was more than absolutely lleno.  Standing room only.  Saw one of our mates down the front but he was too late for a comfy seat.

Marks out of ten for performance?  Been on the courses obviously.

Most did a mix of english and spanish but mostly english.  Only Joe spoke solely in spanish/llanito – and went on too long.  And yet we all wanted to hear you.  The party can’t ditch you – yet.  As I said, who did they all want to hug at the end?

Joe

Mmmm Joe, you ain’t dead in the water yet.

Oh politics, yes, well, better government housing, no sovereignty deals.

How are you going to provide ‘better’ government housing?  Better quality or even more cheaper crappier stuff?

Just asking.  Really. And a Commonwealth Park?

Now who the fuck is going to pay for all this?? Might I possibly ask? Given the alleged millions of pounds debt incurred by the current GSD?

On which point, there were more than a few jibes about the expensive new airport.  On the lines of ‘Who decides where to go on holiday because there is a super duper new air terminal there?’  Well that’s fair enough and totally accurate.  But if you go on holiday and the airport is crap, maybe you don’t go back.  Having said that, I actually like Gib’s current air terminal, well it isn’t a terminal, it’s just a small building, and there are minimal delays.  It sort of adds to Gib’s uniqueness.

There were, of course, digs about the health and social services record of the current government.  Apparently, there are lots of really great dedicated people in the health service, but the only problem is the awful management.  Hmmm.  Red rag to this former health service manager.  Poor old managers always take the fall.  But it seems it took someone months to get a result from a mammogram.  Now that is bad.  Hello GSLP, please give me a job and I will sort your breast cancer screening services.  After all, if I could do it in the UK for half a million people, what are a few thousand in Gib??

And how can you ever prevent the influx of border workers to the benefit of local people?  Well?  It’s no good moaning about how they have increased.  Tell us what you are going to do to stop them undercutting the local rates.  How you are going to stop firms employing people on the black for less pay and no tax and social?  Huh?  We all know what the score is. Rhetoric is fine, but reality is cheap black labour from across the border and people who live in Gibraltar remain unemployed.

Cycling in Gibraltar is NOT dangerous by the way. The only danger comes from impatient, rude, and selfish motorists/motocyclists/moped drivers.  Instead of criticising the Gib bike scheme as dangerous, why don’t you propose better traffic calming measures?  That would be far more constructive.

But you may get my vote cos you possibly are less worse than the alternative. If they ever turn up at JMH to tell us what they are going to do.