Conservation Area - Build if you can!

I was out yesterday in the Serra de Arrábida, doing a spot of Geocaching (of which more on another occasion) and was amazed to find, up on the top of a hill, apparently new houses. All along the road that crosses the summit are markers defining the limits of plots.

The markers are painted with the red letters "AXL", which everybody south of the Tagus knows stands for António Xavier de Lima, known for being the major landowner ever since the 1974 revolution. How he can possibly have registered the land and a zoning plan in a Conservation Area beats me, but there is definitely construction going on up there. Does Setúbal council know, or just choose not to look?

Another example of the sad culture of getting away with as much as possible...

Rapid Reaction

After the bank raid and hostage situation in Setúbal on Wednesday, TVI's Thursday news stated that the would-be robber produced a gun in the bank at 2.30 p.m. The police were alerted immediately. Half an hour later the PSP arrived, followed soon after by the "rapid reaction team".

Half an hour! How big is Setúbal? It can't take more than 20 minutes to cycle from one side to the other. And if he had shot someone, how long would an ambulance have taken? As I have previously said, it's better not to need the UK level of policing, but this is ridiculous.