Vociferous over trivial matters, but silent over giant development

Dear Sir,

Faced with a proposal for a giant development on Top of the Rock within the Nature Reserve I am astonished at the silence of both the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society (who have over the years been vociferous over far more trivial matters) and the Gibraltar Heritage Trust – who admittedly were also silent on the defacing of a historic building Inces’ Hall.  Read more

Local landlords and old buildings

Dear Sir,

I havn't been in Gibraltar for that long, but I have heard about local landlords getting away with matters which in the UK would cause havoc and headlines.  Read more

ABORTION for and against

I recently heard two very good arguments put forward by three women that were talking about the abortion issue in Gibraltar. An issue that was raised in 2018 and will no doubt become an election issue this year. Read more

An entitled generation

I am a child of a past era; but that does not mean that my values are out of zinc with today’s world, or less important. Nor am I making any comparisons in order that those values of today either appear to be wrong, or less worthy. I am simply stating my case; one which I feel should be taken into consideration and given some serious thought to.  Read more

Silent submarines keep popping up in my life

In my early student days with the MOD, I ended up at the naval base and dockyard at Chatham, and among other activities, I spent a year in the main drawing office there which included a top security area where drawings were prepared for modifications to the submarine fleet. 

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Shameful way how refurbishing is being done

Dear Sir,

I am writing on behalf of the tenants of Bishop Canilla House, which is being refurbished by the main contractor Bovis Koala.  Read more

How tragic for us and the UK

Dare I say that in Brussels, despite the front set up by Junker and Tusk, the member states are huddling round the queen bee in her hive, more out of fear of the unknown than simple camaraderie.  Read more

What the world witnesses about Spain is a shadow play

It’s interesting how, when Spanish environmental groups like Agaden, Verdemar and Greenpeace, present a document to do with finding ways to mitigate, what they consider to be dire environmental situations affecting the Bay of Gibraltar, they always relate the lack of attention given to this, to disagreements between Spain, the UK and Gibraltar. Read more

Ironic that it is the EU which is behind clampdowns on piracy or 'card-sharing'

Dear Sir,

Well, at the risk of saying 'I told you so', I told you so.

After years of listening to howls of outrage and whataboutery when I questioned the legality of Sky and other channels being available in Gibraltar, and at little or no cost compared to the UK, there are now outpourings of misplaced entitlement after Sky channels had to be removed by U-Mee and GibFibreSpeed, with one man interviewed on GBC saying: 'We've had it so long, why did they have to do this? That's what gets me angry!'  Read more

What kind of world are we living in?

I heard over the festive season; as passers-by were briefly interviewed on TV as to whether they did their Christmas shopping in stores or on the Internet; one woman say that she had no time to go shopping, so she preferred to buy online and have it brought to her doorstep. Read more

Agency workers in the public service

Dear Sirs,

I refer to the ongoing debate on the exploitation of agency workers within the public service. I use the term public service advisably because while there are approximately 32 agency workers in the Civil Service, there are hundreds in the wider public service (e.g. the care agency and other Government agencies and authorities). That is worth bearing in mind when the Government commits itself to tackle the problem within the Civil Service but remains silent in respect of the wider public service.  Read more

Employment agencies

Dear Sir,

Firstly, I would make it clear that I do not belong to any political party. The opinions expressed are my own.

This is in reference the employment agencies that have been established in Gibraltar.  Read more

Moaning about the Main Street cycle path

GILL ON GIB

I am the first one to moan about the cycle path in Main Street. Not because I’m anti cyclist nor do I have a problem with bikes, its pedestrians and cyclists together that I squirm at, predicting a serious accident.  Read more

Are we all in an advanced state of political and moral decay?

When authoritarian solutions become increasingly popular in countries like Spain, it’s the result of great discontent which has helped bring the far right influence into politics; whose ideology is very foreign to ours and can end up affecting our trajectory. Embedded in the same system and subjected to the same pressures, political parties in Spain are squeezing and warping political life. But much the same is happening in the UK; with promises unkempt; lies veiled in truths; talk of gloom and doom; all of which can push the ordinary man in the street into a corner; where he finds himself in a quandary and worse still, sees himself unable to find a way out. It feels as if we are all in an advanced state of political and moral decay.  Read more

Poor New Year honours

It has been a poor New Year honours awards for Gibraltar. In fact, only one award could truly be regarded as a Queen's honour award.

An official statement about the awards said: "Her Majesty The Queen has granted the following National Honours..."  Read more

As the New Year dawns

Carmen Gomez Diary

Come the New Year, it’s a time to plan for the year ahead. In the life of this small nation of ours, I would like to think that we not only leave behind us certain negative attitudes which have troubled us incessantly; but be resolute in our resolve to demand that the UK give us clear and concise answers to our questions.  Read more

Take what’s ours while we still can

Mark Twain once said that “There was but one solitary thing about the past worth remembering and that was the fact that it is past and can’t be restored.” This is something we would like Spanish citizens, but more so its politicians, to think about for a while, digest, and then come to the conclusion, that in the same way that they can’t change many things about their country because they are part of their culture; likewise, they can’t possibly change our ways, because that too is part of our culture. Read more

We really have little choice

It was in 2011, that the then Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister said that Spain could not stop the arrival of submarines in Gibraltar, but that Britain as a partner and ally, could adopt a more constructive and cooperative attitude. Spain, a country that has never worried at paralyzing the community to protect her position over Gibraltar on air liberalization; external frontiers control etc; argued what right we had to export bilateral problems to a multilateral organization such as NATO, where decisions had to be taken unanimously; this after they themselves had brought the proceedings on maritime and air routes to and from Gibraltar.  Read more