I've just read a comment on the BBC website on the self-congratulatory nature of the French love of their own culture. I want to make sure it's understood that I am a Francophile, and deeply regret the fact that this year, I am unlikely to visit France, currently my favourite place on the planet. But I have a cynical streak, and struggle to accept over-sentimentality and unnecessary hyperbole. Hence my inability to relate to many things thrown across the Atlantic from the US. But I couldn't help compare, as I browsed through the article, the similar attitude that exists in Gibraltar - also one of my favourite places on the planet.
In any healthy society, there is, or should be, as much analysis and criticism of government, society, institutions, corporations and so on, as there should be recognition and praise, where praise is due. While there are some, not very well-circulated and poorly printed publications which make a heroic attempt at putting events and actions into context and giving critical political analysis, the majority of the magazines based in Gibraltar - I name them not, but they are glossy and generally picked up at various locations for free - revel in a great deal of mutual back-slapping. Reading these, you tend to get the impression that government ministers (in those profile interviews designed to make them sound as beautiful as their airbrushed images) are hard-working committed individuals determined to serve the public that voted for them; that business men/women are all hugely competent, highly-regarded interntionally, well-heeled, altruistic individuals whose very existence enhances Gibraltar's life and status. Indeed, keep reading these, and nothing in Gibraltar is short of bloody marvellous.
Perhaps I'm a jaded old cynic. Life here is good for many. For most, it is better than in many places in the world. But all this nauseating obsequiousness that is such a feature of Gibraltarian public life can obscure the fact that there is a huge amount of progress and work to be done in order to really improve life in Gibraltar, for, no less than, the most important of people, the native Gibraltarians.
Let me cite a few examples: employment legislation is bordering on archaic and makes a mockery of government stated intentions to support the family; equal rights legislation is appallingly poor; the health service needs a desperate shake up to get it operating effectively; customer service in most organisations is bordering on deplorable; the streets are in poor state and filthy; our heritage sites and public places, viewed daily by tourists are neglected; there are not sufficient open air, free play areas for children; the waters and the air are none too clean; there are issues to look at such as child abuse, neglect of mentally ill people, elderly care, which needs upgrading, and let's not start on a discussion of the desperate need for a coherent housing strategy - the current one is lurking somewhere in the nineteenth century.
None of this means that Gibraltar is a dreadful place, not that we don't have some great things going for us. But we need good, old-fashioned cynicism and criticism, and for this to take place in the public arena. We also need public figures who don't hide inadequacies but who work towards improving things for all of us, and not just for the high net worth individuals the glossies love to gloat about. And all the time there isn't a really effective forum for public debate, I shall keep bleating here.
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