Jobs for the Boys

Another free lunch for Pedro Santana Lopes. It makes me sick!

Palácio Sottomayor

It's chilly in Lisbon this morning, quite appropriate for the day when the power-hungry members of the opposition will bring down the Governament, for entirely selfish reasons.

Strangely the huge flag in my previous post is not flying today.

So here's a photo of something else, an office complex that renovated a splendid palace, now occupied by Barclays, PwC and a hotel.

Tourism Begins at Home

It's a long time since I've been able to wander around the city where I work.

So this may become a photoblog for a while, since current events have become dominated by players who don't deserve the attention they demand.

No apologies for the quality of the photos, I am posting from my phone.

Bravo Mr Sócrates

A great performance in his press conference, providing plausible explanations for his behaviour, pointing his finger at those who put political expediency above the national interest and defying the opposition to come forward with alternative proposals. A spirited, even agressive performance, of the kind that is sadly missing in Portuguese politics.

The reactions from the opposition parties are lame, picking at minor details to try to discredit the whole, politics of the lowest level.

I never thought I'd say it, because the guy gives me the creeps, but "Bravo!"

I Want to Be a Political Commentator

Looking round at the many jobs that I may be qualified to do, I happened upon a brilliant TV performance on Sunday night.

The egregious Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa receives a hefty fee for appearing weekly to make comments so obvious I would be embarrassed to present them. This week, why José Sócrates had to go to Berlin to explain the Portuguese economic situation. "Because Germany is the dominant economic power in Europe"! Brilliant! Where would we be without Marcelo?

If anyone needs another boffin to take a fee for no added value, I'm available...

Busy life, being unemployed

After many years where the norm was to get home and switch off my brain, unemployment brings a new challenge. Thanks to the internet, contacts can be made at any time, via emails that will be read when the recipient gets to the office in the morning. I find myself remembering contacts and opportunities at any time, day or night.

So being unemployed actually increases the time spent thinking about work! Let's see what happens when I move on to the next phase - self-employment...

First Day of Freedom

Walking from court appearance (as plaintiff) to shopping to job interview to property seminar, I couldn't resist snapping this with my phone.

It was a good way to spend the first day after 13 years of routine employment.

More will follow...

Sport TV Golfe

Its nice of the Sport TV guys to dedicate a whole channel to the golfing nuts among us. When they presented the channel on Friday, they said that it would be free to Sport TV subscribers until the end of February. I wait to see what will happen then.

They were a little unlucky in their first day, with the Bob Hope Classic, bought from the Golf Channel, unplayable due to heavy rain in the American desert. American golf broadcasting is frustrating at the best of times, with an excruciating ratio of adverts to live action, so watching repeats of the little golf that had been possible was awful. On the other hand, the Abu Dhabi tournament made good watching, despite having to view it live and the highlights only a few hours later.

As it happens, I am quite happy to pay for 12 months of Sport TV subscription just to watch the four Major tournaments. They added to that last year with the FedEx Cup playoffs. I watch virtually no football, except sometimes the Champions' League matches and gave up on Formula 1 long ago. So we'll see if they expect me to pay more to watch non-stop golf, because that would be a little optimistic. If I can subscribe to only the golf, that will be the way to go.

Rewarding Incompetence

It is quite unbelievable that anybody, especially a supposedly intelligent economist such as Cavaco Silva, might even consider that Pedro Santana Lopes should have his invaluable services to the country recognised by the award of an official honour.

His time as mayor of Figueira da Foz and Lisbon was characterised by public works carried out but not paid for, leaving both cities in a financial mess, then he moved on to be the shortest serving Prime Minister since 1981 years, dismissed because his government was unable to ensure the stability necessary for it to function properly.

Well known for being entitled to a full state pension at 49 since years as a member of parliament count double, his self-interest is beyond doubt, as seen in the last council elections in Lisbon, where he only reluctantly took up his place as an opposition councillor, stating that he would be concentrating on working for Lisbon alongside his professional activities as a lawyer.

All in all, another confirmation that to get on in life competence is far less important than political connections.

Afonso de Albuquerque

The biography of Afonso de Albuquerque by the English historian Elaine Sanceau is impressive for two reasons.

Firstly becasue it tells the story of a larger-than-life figure who had to battle all the time he was in India to dominate a vast area of sea and coast with only a handful of men and ships, beset by political intrigues from within and without. His achievements in conquering costal cities, persuading local warlords that he represented a major international power to obtain their cooperation to build fortresses and charge taxes, while all the time having to contend with disloyal subordinates, jealous of his position and authority, are worthy of such a dedicated work of research and presentation.

Secondly, the extracts of text and facsimilies of original documents reveal the huge amount of painstaking work that must have gone into decoding and cataloging hundreds, if not thousands of documents to produce this definitive biography. That rigour occasionally results in a rather dry read, but our difficulties pale into insignificance if we consider the author's task.

A fascinating biography of a truly great man.