Today will see the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo talk openly and to the public about the state of Gibraltar's finances. Is this the transparency that they promised and how much detail will they go in to? After last week's announcement about Govt fining other government departments we have to wonder what it is that we are going to hear today...
Apparently the CM will be appearing on GBC exclusively, so all eyes on them to see what he says. Not sure why we can't go too??? I suppose life isn't always fair, so we will bring you as much info during the event as we can, working on the basis that GBC's coverage is solid... Which I'm sure it will be.
I read an article yesterday in the local press stating that half a million British school children they are unhappy with their lives. The new study conducted by The Good childhood report 2012 goes on to say that one in eleven youngsters (9%) aged between eight and fifteen have a low well-being at any given time.
With that in mind I want to take you back many years, when I was aged between nine and fifteen years and where happiness was putting firecrackers in dog excrement lighting the fuse and hoping that you where fast enough to get out of the fallout zone, where happiness was building a giant catapult out of old wooden drinks pallets that could launch a rotten melon 50 meters.
I never thought I would be writing about the youth of today, but they do seem a miserable bunch, almost adult in their demeanour worrying about adult stuff. Demanding everything that poor Mum and Dad cannot afford.
Locally I see kids with mobiles, laptops Xboxes TV in their own room. Everything single thing, that stops them from being children. All this technology creates a barrier between the children and their parents, kids don’t need parents (Other than to feed their gadget habits) they have high-speed broadband and 478 friends on Facebook.
After the Chief Minister’s appearance on Canal Sur the Opposition was very quick issue a condemnation of what was said, in this case by saying;
“We condemn him for saying that the financial accounts of the Gibraltar Government under the GSD were false. This scandalous statement is wholly untrue and hugely damaging to Gibraltar’s reputation. Mr. Picardo must now immediately either retract his statement or publicly provide details of his scandalous allegation.”
So who is really telling the truth about our country’s finances? I am putting the Government and Opposition on the spot; less rhetoric and show me the books. I want evidence, and I want it yesterday. It is my right as a voter to demand this.
Today is Friday The 13th. Many will go through the day not giving the day any more thought than what choice of underpants to wear; but for some Friday the 13th will induce a fear so strong that they would not even consider getting out of bed, or even travelling, Costing business’s millions.
Friggatriskaidekaphobia as it is known, is a relatively new superstition, at least in human terms, as we have always held a fear for almost everything. (I used to know a fully-grown man that would run at the sight of wire wool)
The first recorded reference to Friday the 13th being unlucky according to my brief research, in the English language, occurs in Henry Sutherlands Edwards 1869 biography of Gioacchino Rossini, with no reference prior to that.
The Government are going through their manifesto like guano through a goose, making sure they are ticking all the boxes, to be seen, being Government.
It is almost like some kind of obsession a “bucket list” if you will, to be rectifying everything the previous administration screwed up or as the previous administration would have you believe, didn’t.
Now I am all for change, but I am certain that there has to be a pace to any change. Benjamin Franklin once said, “Take time for all things: For great haste makes great waste”.
We have already seen evidence of haste when the GSD declared the new airport opened and ready when that was not the case (I do personally agree we needed a new airport, but that’s another story).
In the modern world, we need to start seeing results yesterday. We need the instant fix and be dammed with the consequences. I am a staunch believer in the quality of a product but quality has a price it requires time.
