I'm not entirely sure how it all happened so fast, but 2014
is half done already and here I am writing the August column.
It's the time when many of us are thinking about relaxing with
families and friends, either at home or further afield. As my aim
in this column is to match the season, I intended to pen a relaxed
piece – lazy days on the beach, piña colada in hand.
I'm sure you get the picture. But then, "events, dear boy,
events".
My reverie was rudely interrupted by that strangest of seasonal
phenomena – the Gibraltar Budget. Not for us a statement in
chilly November or a lengthy speech in March. No, we have to wait
until the start of the holiday season. As I pen this piece, the
financial statement has just been issued and debated in parliament.
We are also approaching the point of time in the electoral cycle
where politics becomes a dominant factor – as if it ever
really goes away here in Gibraltar – and the horse-trading
between government and opposition is to
