Writers Cramp

by Dickens

There is one writer for a newspaper in Gibraltar who knows that his pen is favoured at No6 Convent Place. That writer is one of the few who has no need to be afraid to write what he thinks, given that he thinks the same as Mr Caruana on matters of state.

The two most "main stream" and established media in Gibraltar are GBC and the Chronicle.  Both of these have their purse-strings firmly in the whip-hand of the man at Convent Place. 

GBC is now entirely funded out of tax-payer hand-outs.  That means that the man at No6 has tacit control of how much funding is increased, when it is paid over etc. That is a bad situation for a national broadcaster to be in.

The Chronicle has a large PAYE liability to Government.  It has transferred the property it used to rent in the Garrison area to Government, but they have not yet finalised the transfer. 

To make matters worse, the pension fund of the Chronicle is heavily depleted and the only hope is that Government will step in to help.

Again, so much is in the air at the Chronicle that it cannot....... seriously be said that Mr Caruana has no influence on the future of that newspaper.

So it should come as no surprise that the Chronicle is the place where we are treated to the "Collected Essays on Appeasement and Palomeo" by one Francis ("Paco") Oliva.

Interestingly, the tenor of these articles is very much the same as the position that was taken by the Partido para la Autonomia de Gibraltar in the early 80's.  That party was led by J E Triay and, as we all know, the election agent for the PAG was one Peter Richard Caruana.

Champion of a Deal

Mr Caruana, who was once the champion of a deal with Spain would have us all believe that he is now the Champion of a deal with no-one.  Sure.  Of course we believe that Peter.

Yet, almost monthly, a kite is flown by "Paquito" in the Chronicle which reflects on the decisions of Mr Caruana and how wonderful they are given that they are designed to bring about a long term "deal" with our generous and beloved neighbours. 

Mr Oliva's position of influence cannot be understated.  As news editor of the Chronicle he has a major input on what stories are written, how they are presented and - consequently - how people regard the reports contained in our "newspaper of record". 

Are we all sure that we are comfortable with this?  Come on.  Never has a Chief Minister of Gibraltar been mentioned so often on the front page of the Chronicle!  Each month it gets worse.

Moreover, Mr Oliva publishes an irregular - approximately monthly - column in which is widely regarded as reflecting on how everything which relates to appeasement of the Spanish claim is good and everything which may be slightly confrontational is occurring only because Opposition politicians have unconscionably pushed for a fight where there could be peace.

Mr Oliva has the energy to write about this so repeatedly that many now know the introduction, thrust and conclusion of the article simply from reading his by-line.

But politicians outside Gibraltar looking in should not allow themselves to be confused by this and by the absence of a demonstration to the Moratinos visit.  These are not the views of the majority.

Yes Gibraltarians are buying property in Spain as they are entitled to do as Community Citizens.  Yes Gibraltarians are shopping in Spain.  But if push were ever to come to shove it's the Palomos that would find themselves pushed out again.

Post-Teenage Lunacy

Mr Caruana has won not despite his PAG past, but because he has decried his actions as post-teenage lunacy.  He has won elections only after he pro-nounced the Brussels process dead and not whilst he backed it.  Should Paco's dreams ever make their way back into Mr Caruana's lexicon the GSD would be dead in the water.

The problem is therefore not what we are told is being agreed at Tri-partite talks, but what we are not being told...