Editor's Blog Oct 7th 2011
Editor's Blog Oct 7th 2011
This week, the news has ranged from our tiny little plot as far as the U.N, where no doubt the GSLP politicians enjoyed their small jaunt via the Labour Party conference.
The Chief Minister has also been out and about at the Conferences, holding his party’s ‘parties’. It was pleasing, at least, to see Fabian Picardo tweeting he was ‘glad to be home’ a mere couple of hours after landing. The cynics may doubtless feel it’s election year but if his biggest punt at a vote is a tweet about being glad to be back, then Peter can stop spending now and join Facebook.
Big news, this week was the release of the details from the port explosion, carefully wrapped up as a denial of fault by the company; announcing the welders had no ‘hot works’ permits for that specific task and therefore were working unauthorised.
This announcement crept just ahead of our Deputy CM’s announcement about the report being released to the public. Is this a new brand of open Government?
Maybe the reality is that they are out of the frame for this stick-up and are happy to see the dogs die. Later, the welding subcontractors offered a counter denial that permission had actually been given. This investigation will no doubt prove of interest to the morbid as well as the insurers.
The GBC/Chronicle poll revealed shock news to all but the GSLP-faithful. Fabian Picardo himself said to me a few weeks ago; the GSLP membership numbers had increased dramatically while most of us still thought the election was going to be a close call.
History may well repeat itself in light of this particular poll, but if the mood on the street is anything to go by it probably won’t. Whether he has overestimated the publics’ support for the GSD or lack of support for the GSLP I cannot say. As far as the election goes, the Facebook Group most likely to have the answer is Gibraltar Politics not least because moderator Bryan Zammit has little truck with abuse and party politicking, preferring a strongly debated forum, which cuts to the core without the to-and-fro other forums are party to.
On this, the feeling is a late November election, probably (from my own source) on the 24th or perhaps 7 days later on the 1stDecember.
Finally, a few moans about Main Street this week. I captured a dog turd nestled in the corner of Parliament Lane and Main Street on my way to the office at 8.30 in the morning. Dog owners often spout how caring they are but, it seems, not as caring as they should be.
Coupled with that; my photo is of Main Street today (Friday) at 10.30 am bustling with tourists and shoppers alike while our waste management teams, delivery vans, gibtelecom vans and uncle Tom Cobbly, drive down the road, making us all scupper away in fear. Do your work in the early hours and leave pedestrian zones to the pedestrians! I actually overheard one tourist saying to her husband “Well it looks like its pedestrianised but it isn’t really?”
Enjoy the Weekend
Ed.
