Cascais motorway roadworks

How can Brisa justify charging to use the A5 motorway beyond Carcavelos? Doesn't the toll paid imply some minimum level of service?

Portugal Telecom - get real

Got a call from Portugal Telecom at the office today. "Can we do a telephone survey of customer satisfaction. It only takes half an hour"! They have got to be joking! 30 minutes to help PT improve its monopoly! Maybe I have nothing better to do during working hours.

We only use them because, until recently, we couldn't get fixed line rental from anywhere else and now it's major hassle to change.

As you would expect from a fixed line operator, the quality of service is fine, but monopoly power comes to the fore when they price that service.

This monopoly serves nobody but the Board of Directors and their politician masters.

Formula One Farce

Just when F1 was starting to get interesting again, Michelin causes this disaster.

I'd given up watching F1 due to years of Ferrari domination, and was just getting back into it. Don't the teams have contractual obligations? As a sponsor, I'd be seriously angry. Somebody should expect to be sued - hopefully Michelin.

Though not a Ferrari fan, I can't help but support their position. Imagine the reaction of the other teams if the tyre problem was Bridgestone's.

Congratulations to Tiago Monteiro. It's good to see dedication pay off, even in these circumstances.

Lusoponte and Via Verde

Once again, Lusoponte has changed the toll booths on the 25 Abril bridge that accept Via Verde, keeping customers guessing as to the best one to use. Why can't they put their differences with Via Verde aside, in the interests of customer service?

Surely the advantageous VAT rate Lusoponte has on its tolls is more than sufficient to make up for the loss involved in paying Via Verde for its service.

Victor Constâncio, Governor of the Bank of Portugal, forecasts 2005 deficit of 6.83% of GDP

He is to thank for finally getting me angry enough about something to start a blog.

Has he no shame? How can he justify not resigning after presenting that report? What did he do at work under the previous PSD government?

Irrespective of the real size of the deficit, either he's incompetent or shown to be completely lacking independence. He should go, or be pushed!