GibViews

No Postcode Envy

by KEN WESTMORELAND

There’s a line in the song ‘Royals’ by Lorde, which goes: ‘And I’m not proud of my address, in a torn up town, no postcode envy.’ Despite sounding American, she’s from New Zealand, which has ‘postcodes’, not ‘zip codes’ as in the US. ‘ZIP’ was an acronym for ‘Zone Improvement Plan’, or as Elvis once sang: ‘Return to sender, address unknown, no such number, no such zone’.  Read more

The country we have to deal with

When a Spanish Politician is pushed into a corner, he resorts to accusations and verbal abuse. His arrogance and the lack of plasticity of his beliefs, will not allow him to engage with someone who has different views to his i.e. those of the country he represents. To him this might appear as sacrilegious. Sr Borell in a TV interview not only accused his interviewer of being an ignoramus, but told him that next time, he was to ask him the right questions! The man is not after an interview, but a monologue.  Read more

Belize: A Vote for Russian Roulette?

by KEN WESTMORELAND

Years ago, I remarked to a Gibraltarian, ‘Spain lays claim to Gibraltar, Argentina the Falkland Islands, Guatemala Belize, what is it with Spanish-speaking countries?’ to which he replied, ‘I think you mean: “What is it with fascists?”’ I wouldn’t brand them as ‘fascists’, but rather as ‘Hispano-irredentists’, all hankering after long lost territory, if it were theirs to lose.  Read more

Today’s reality

Let’s stop kidding ourselves and face the reality of today‘s society. The claim that foreigners from across the way are taking away jobs from the locals has to be a myth. We are all aware that one of the EU rules was that workers from member states had to be employed locally; whilst I believe the general consensus was that that the jobs should first be offered to locals. Now that we are leaving Europe perhaps we won’t have to adhere to their rules any longer, but nevertheless and despite this, nothing will change much on the work front.  Read more

Bring back the Sterling Area – a British revival?

Opinion - by SIR ANDREW COOK

With more than two years of largely futile in-fighting, agonising and speculating behind it, Britain is set to leave the European Union in two weeks’ time. Those who encouraged this look on uneasily. Recklessly and with false promises, they uncorked the bottle and released the Brexit genie. Meanwhile, the Remainers prepare to flee or brace themselves to face a future at best uncertain, at worst catastrophic.   Read more

THE END OF A STRANGE PAIRING

By KEN WESTMORELAND

In 2014, I voted in elections to the European Parliament as a voter in the South West England constituency, which had included Gibraltar for the past ten years. It was touching to see a familiar name, that of Lyana Armstrong-Emery, on the ballot paper, the only candidate from Gibraltar on a party list, though also surreal, given how little others in the region knew of it, or her.  Read more

What is the UK waiting for

Recognizing that we are at the mercy of Spain if the UK leaves, the question poised to Lord Callanan in the House of Lords recently was, “What are we doing for Gibraltar?” His reply, “I have not heard any detail about that.” Not very reassuring to say the least! Then he went on to say that if the issues put to him, were of such importance to the Government (UK) then surely it; i.e. the UK government; should have been up front and clear, as to precisely what they were offering, and should have considered whether compensation, or something else of that kind might be required.  Read more

What awaits us next

It is expected that the PSOE will lose the forthcoming elections. Sanchez forgot for one moment the promises he had made to the other parties who helped him get into Government. Read more