TRIBUTE Joe Garcia - The pen is mightier than the sword

by JOSEPH GARCIA
It has long been said that the pen is mightier than the sword. I have no doubt that when Edward Bulwer-Lytton first wrote this down in 1839 it was almost done with my father in mind.

Those who have been at the receiving end of his incisive and analytical style for over half a century will probably testify to this too. It was sharp, clear and to the point, set out with conviction and backed up by logic and fact. This was the hallmark of the legacy he has left behind in the archives of the local and international press for posterity.
There were a number of traits which shaped his thinking. He had studied engineering in the United Kingdom and worked in the naval dockyard here. This had a double effect. First it exposed him directly to the colonialist attitudes that were prevalent in the Gibraltar of the time. Secondly, while studying, he became London correspondent of the Gibraltar Evening Post and he came to the view that what he really enjoyed was writing not engineering. He went on to edit the newspaper and later to own it.