The Foreign Office Is Recruiting!

If you fancy popping over to meet TheEye in one of the sunnier bits of the old Empire then put your name down for this job with the Foreign Office...

Research Analyst for Gibraltar, The British Indian Ocean Territory, and the Caribbean Overseas Territories and Bermuda

"The role is business critical and has been exempted from the civil service recruitment freeze.

The salary range for this role is £32,784 - £55,782 per annum, depending on skills, and experience.This sum will be consolidated and pensionable."

Just remember, we're all in this together!

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Question Time LiveBlog 24th November 2011

Question Time tonight comes from Bath in Somerset.

David Dimbleby is joined by the splendid Daniel Hannan MEP, Chris Huhne (who may or may not be driving there; the CPS can't decide), a person called Liz Kendall who is apparently Shadow Minister for Old People, the Sainsbury's CEO Justin King and notorious self-publicist and Wikipedia front-man Jimmy Wales.

It's a 10:30pm kick off. You know where to be. And how much alcohol to bring.

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Gunners Prayer

No apologies for being terribly parochial!

Let us remember all Gunners, who cherishing our brotherhood, glorying in our good name, when the call came followed the the path of duty and self-sacrifice and laid down their lives for their Sovereign and country in many lands, faithful unto death in the service of the Guns.

Amen!

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Armistice Day 2011

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A man who has nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance at being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

John Stuart Mill

Across the United Kingdom right now there is a sharp division between two groups marching behind very different banners. Those of us, whether in uniform or not, who stand in defence of liberty versus those who seek to destroy it.

We should be thankful, especially on this anniversary, that our freedom is defended, first and foremost, by the current generation of our Armed Forces, and also by the clear majority of those at home who support them. On Armistice Day we remember and honour those whom, for generations, have sought to defend us.

At no time in history has the contrast between those who support freedom, and those who want to tear it down, been so striking.

Despite this contrast, we stand proud and free because our Army, the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the RAF have stood bravely in harm's way - now and for generations past. These men and women have heeded the call to serve others before self, and have sacrificed accordingly. For their steadfast devotion to duty, honour and country, we offer our humble gratitude and heartfelt thanks.

Lest We Forget

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11/11/11 Is....Corduroy Appreciation Day

To be filed under Things You May Not Have Known: there is a Corduroy Appreciation Club.

Founded by a man named Miles Rohan for the purpose of (obviously) appreciating corduroy, The Corduroy Appreciation Club finds itself approaching a very important date, as they write on their website,

"The Most Important Date In History: 111111" - also known as, "The date which most closely resembles Corduroy, EVER."

There are lots of events planned, including an Annual Grand 111111 Meeting to be held at the Desmond Tutu Center on 10th Avenue, New York, at which members in attendance will be required to wear three items of corduroy rather than the usual two. You won't be surprised to know that tickets are sold out.

For a while the Club was seeking a child born on November 11, 2000, who will turn 11 this year.

"That child is the messiah of corduroy," said Miles Rohan, founder of the 4,000-member club, which was started as a half-joke in 2005. "We liken it to finding the Dalai Lama."

Only a half-joke? Oh FFS

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Question Time LiveBlog 10th November 2011

Question Time tonight comes from Newcastle upon Tyne.

On the panel we have Nadine Dorries,  the Sec of State for Scotland and LibDem Michael Moore, the Shadow Chief Sec to the Treasury Rachel Reeves, neurobiologist Professor Colin Blakemore and Stephen Pollard, editor of the Jewish Chronicle.

Could be an interesting one this week.

TheEye is able to join the Two Davids...Vance and (hopefully) Mosque...in the Moderators balcony tonight, so we all look forward to seeing you at 10:30pm!

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Countdown To Armistice Day

Stumbled across this today and it seemed fitting to post it a few days before Armistice Day.

Royal Proclamation, Buckingham Palace, 7th November 1919:

"To all my people,

Tuesday next, November 11, is the first anniversary of the Armistice, which stayed the world-wide carnage of the four preceding years and marked the victory of Right and Freedom.

I believe that my people in every part of the Empire fervently wish to perpetuate the memory of that Great Deliverance, and of those who laid down their lives to achieve it. To afford an opportunity for the universal express of this feeling it is my desire and hope that at the hour when the Armistice came into force, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, there may be, for the brief space of two minutes, a complete suspension of all our normal activities.

During that time, except in the rare cases where this may be impractical, all work, all sound, and all locomotion should cease, so that, in perfect stillness, the thoughts of every one may be concentrated on reverent remembrance of the Glorious Dead. No elaborate organisation appears to be necessary.

At a given signal, which can be easily arranged to suit the circumstances of each locality, I believe that we shall all gladly interrupt our business and pleasure, whatever it may be, and unite in this simple service of Silence and Remembrance"

GEORGE R.I.

Here in Gibraltar and as was the case last year, the Ceremony of Remembrance will be held at the British War Memorial on Line Wall Road, opposite City Hall, at noon.

The Governor, in his capacity as representative of the Queen of Gibraltar, will lead the service and he will read the Bidding. This is followed by the observance of the Two Minutes silence, the beginning and end of which is signalled by a saluting gun. The Last Post will be sounded, after which wreaths are laid, and an inter-denominational service held. The Ceremony concludes with the sounding of Reveille and the singing of the National Anthem.

TheEye will be there, and hopes to see some local blog readers in attendance too.

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Parish News: General Election!

*sigh* As if TheEye didn't have enough to do at the moment.

As widely and inaccurately speculated about in the local media, Gibraltar's Chief Minister Peter Caruana has this afternoon finally called a General Election for the 8th December. He is hoping to be re-elected for a fifth consecutive term in office although, after being in power for the last 16 years, he has made it clear that, were he to be successful, this would be his last election.

Under Caruana, Gibraltar has become something of an on-line Las Vegas in Europe. About 20 online betting companies, including all the big British names, now operate in the shadow of the Rock, employing about 2,000 people – about one in every eight workers.

Note: Most of the text here is lifted from an anonymous post on the excellent PoliticalBetting.com. TheEye will write a replacement tomorrow, but it's a damn good summary plus it gets the post up here quickly.

Gibraltar remains a British Overseas Territory, but under the 2006 constitution, the Rock gained its own sovereignty on all matters except Defence and International Relations. Since 1989 it has become one of the key players in the world of international on-line gambling. 

‘Gibraltar is a minute speck on the globe,’ said Freddie Ballester of the territory’s Betting and Gaming Association. ‘But when it comes to internet gaming, it is probably the most important jurisdiction in the world.’ 

Caruana, the leader of the Gibraltar Social Democrat Party, is the darling of the centre-right vote and on the surface he seems to have a cast-iron case for re-election. Economic activity in Gibraltar has been largely unaffected by the world downturn and many of Caruana’s recent policies are obvious vote-winners both for individuals and for businesses. The Rock has low rates of incomes and corporate tax, zero income tax on pensions, no inheritance tax, no capital gains tax, full financial support for university students, and many more fiscal benefits. 

But, despite such vote-winning policies, a recent opinion poll, run jointly by the Chronicle, the main local newspaper, and the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation, tipped a ‘landslide’ victory for Fabian Picardo, the newly-elected leader of the Opposition. In April of this year, Picardo, a young lawyer, succeeded Joe Bossano as leader of the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party which, in an alliance with the Liberal party, forms the Opposition. Bossano, a socialist of the old school, was the Chief Minister from 1988 – 1996 and he will forever be linked with his failure to stop the industrial-scale smuggling of tobacco into Spain, an activity which badly tarnished Gibraltar’s reputation. 

‘We’ve told the public that, if elected, our first order of business will be to reform the way that government in Gibraltar is done and then to make it truly open and transparent,’ said Picardo. Interestingly, the Chronicle/GBC poll highlighted the voters’ main concern as being ‘Caruana’s autocratic style of leadership’ rather than ‘Housing’ which has traditionally been the main concern on a Rock where building land is in extremely short supply.

TheEye will be out on the campaign trail as usual. Last time around was a nailbiter when the GSD only scraped over the winning post by a few thousand votes. This one promised to be...squeakier...

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Question Time LiveBlog 3rd November 2011

Question Time tonight comes from Westminster Hall.

On the panel tonight we have Home Secretary Theresa May, Ed "Blinky" Balls, sanctimonious old bat Shirley Williams, Peter Hitchens and vegan, 'poet', Green Party nutter and Animal Liberation Front terrorist supporting Benjamin Zephaniah.

Nice.

TheEye is able to join the Two Davids...Vance and Mosque...in the Moderators balcony tonight, so we all look forward to seeing you at 10:30pm!

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