Unemployment rockets, No Oscars for Madeira, Rapid response police, & other snippets

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Sarah … who had her photos in within a couple of hours. These ‘orange ladies’ may be making a political statement, or perhaps they just like oranges?

Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 24/2/2009

There are conflicting weekly reports about the unemployment situation on Madeira, depending on who provides the statistics, but this article comes up with a staggering statistic. It alleges that since December unemployment has increased by 6.8%, and by 12.4% since January last year. In a headcount, that represents 630 more unemployed from one month to the next, and 1,100 over a year. The current unemployed figure is 9,932, although trade unions report numbers well over that. Over a year, the number of job vacancies has dropped 44%. These figures come from the Instituto de Emprego e Formação Profissional (IEFP) (institute of employment).

Aside from that not a big news day, but I will persevere a little longer …

‘Oscars far from the Madeirans’ : Aside from lamenting the lack of Madeiran Oscar winners, the Diário seems a little peeved that the winning film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, or in Portugal ‘Who wants to be billionaire?’ has not yet arrived on Madeira, despite hitting the continent on 5th February.

The Marítimo manager, Lori Sandri, has been sacked along with his assistant after a meeting with the club president on Monday. An ex-manager of Sporting Braga is favoured to take over. No reasons given for the sacking, as Marítimo are in a comfortable 7th place in the league, just 3 points away from the European placings. I bet President Bertie had a hand in it though, as there is nothing he hates more than to see his favourite team trailing behind Nacional.

The Diário sent a reporter out with one of the three ‘Rapid Response Teams’ that are part of the Public Security Police. The teams each have 9 officers, and have been in place since 2004, but the three teams are unable to provide 24 hour coverage, being two teams short. Unlike the normal police, the team works across the island, concentrating on ‘problem areas’. A decision is awaited on whether to set up two more teams.

The other story is about the nervousness of the social democrat politicians in Santa Cruz, where President Jardim has left his people hanging in terms of election candidates for 2009. The other concern is the lack of public works in the area, presumably seen as an important factor in winning votes from the local electorate, as election years are famous for a flood of inaugurations.

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Anyone join in or watch the ‘trapalhão’ parade yesterday? Any good? I watched an hour or so on TV, and was very impressed with some of the entries, quite a few of which were protests (against Bertie, the cable car at Rabaçal etc.). Many thanks to those who sent in photos.

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