‘Ik heb een koper voor je’, schreeuwt de makelaar opgewonden door de telefoon als we op een zonnige najaarsmiddag vanuit São João do Estoril over de N6 naar Lissabon terugrijden. Een koel briesje glijdt de open ramen van de hoogbejaarde Landcruiser binnen.‘Jullie moeten wel binnen 24 uur beslissen want de kopers hebben ook andere appartementen […]
Six months after the first Covid case was detected in Portugal, a new set of coronavirus related rules is underway as from September 15, when the entire country will most likely return to a State of Calamity, leaving the lighter State of Alert, in place since June. The decision is taken because of the significant […]
New research predicts the European population to fall more sharply than previously expected; from 450 million today to 310 million by the end of the century. The reason is a further decline in the fertility rate – the average number of children per woman. Many variables have an effect of the fertility rate such as […]
One of the best ways to launder money is to buy a bank Cross-border journalistic investigation has uncovered an enormous corruption case orchestrated by Africa’s richest woman Isabel dos Santos, the first daughter of Angola’s former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos and known in her home country as ‘the Princess’. The Angolan government claims that […]
Government takes majority shares in TAP and Efacec in midst of pandemic The minority government of António Costa saved this month two strategic companies, securing thousands of jobs. It bailed out flagship airline TAP and nationalised Efacec, the technological company – with over 2500 highly qualified employees and activities in more than 60 countries – […]
‘From now on, every time we – black women – look at the steps of the Parliament, we will not see each other with buckets and mops to clean – we are inside and have a voice ’ (Romualda Fernandes, MP) A hundred protesters marched on Saturday the 27th of June through downtown Lisbon shouting […]
‘The street is not a choice – we want houses’ Once upon a pre-Covid time, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa promised that he would personally see to it, that all 400 homeless in the capital got off the street in 2023. Since the new virus hijacked the country’s economy very little has changed. In fact, […]
Before the pandemic, the Portuguese economy grew at a faster pace than the eurozone and the country ranked 28 on the list of wealthiest nations, despite its low rates in advanced education (50% of the population has only primary education; the highest percentage in Europe!) and average income (807 euro/month). When the Chinese president Xi […]
‘As long as there is Covid , there will be no normal life’ (António Costa) Portugal’s State of Emergency has changed into a State of Calamity as from the beginning of May and with approximately 100 deaths per million inhabitants. This implicates that ‘the future depends on the efforts of every single citizen to make […]
‘We can say anything, language has no limits’ – Georg Steiner. Saudade is a unique word in Portuguese that has no direct translation in English. It means something like a melancholic or nostalgic desire for a person, place or event far away, either in space or time.Esperto is another example. On the ball, brainy, smart, […]