Gransnet forums

News & politics

Well done Gibraltar.

(33 Posts)
tanith Fri 19-Mar-21 16:56:33

Just watched Matt Hancock tell the house that Gibraltar is the First Nation in the World to complete its adult vaccination programme, the U.K. government have supplied Gibraltar as it has all its overseas territories with PPE, tests and vaccine.
What a super effort all round, the RAF have been delivering supplies direct to the airport.

I have a slight vested interest as my son and his family live there. I live in hopes of visiting them as soon as it’s allowed.

Sparkling Fri 19-Mar-21 21:48:44

Well done Gibraltar, but I can’t see why anyone would want to stay there more than a few days at most. At the moment with no travel available, I would just love to see the sea.

vegansrock Sat 20-Mar-21 05:23:32

Didn’t Pritti Patel suggest we send asylum seekers to Gibraltar. ? I bet the locals aren’t enthusiastic about that. One of my sons works for a large multinational leisure company that has an office in Gibraltar. They use it for their operations which involve online gambling. It’s to save paying U.K. tax apparently .

outaouais Sat 20-Mar-21 07:20:26

First off, kudos to Gibraltar for managing a full & successful vaccine rollout! People on here have said it's not fair to compare here (the UK) and Gibraltar, given that it's essentially a city-state/micro-nation without the same numbers or logistics to contend with (true), but I say take a win where you can get it. Now, their only concern will be their international arrivals: air, land & sea. I'm prepared to take Tanith's word for it that the UK took responsibility as sole supplier of PPE, tests & vaccines for Gibraltar, but I wonder about the dizzying array of semi-/quasi-autonomous UK overseas territories and Crown dependencies. You can be sure with the Crown dependencies (Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man). I think that's pretty likely for the UK's super-isolated Atlantic properties (St Helena, Ascension, Tristan da Cunha, the Falkland Islands... even not so isolated Bermuda). However, I'm less sure about the Caribbean properties (five territories), as most of them are connected, daily to Miami, as opposed to lengthier logistics from London. And then there's wee, forlorn Pitcairn Island, with its ~50 people, plunked in the vast Pacific, without room for an airport. Out of curiosity, does anyone know whether or not they just got forgotten amidst all this virus anxiety?

NanKate Sat 20-Mar-21 07:58:23

Lemongrove and Opal I’m with you ??

Maggiemaybe Sat 20-Mar-21 08:17:35

Good news, and it must be a relief for you and yours, tanith. smile

outaouais Sat 20-Mar-21 08:28:48

To throw a bone to Varian (as I type that, I can sense hackles rising across Gransnet!), I wonder just how different vaccine rollout would have been had we continued a "one foot in, one foot out" policy with the EU? It's not an unusual state-of-affairs, practiced by principally by three countries (Denmark, the Netherlands, France... &, formerly, the UK), but to small degrees by others. If you grew up in Greenland or Tahiti, you'll probably have an EU country's passport; but, because your territory is semi-autonomous (picking & choosing which EU rules to follow), you'll have a hard time exercising your EU rights there. However, if you move to your "home nation", or visit any EU country, your rights are the same as anyone else's from the EU. France has 12 overseas territories (one uninhabited). Six lie OUTSIDE the EU (including French Polynesia & a Caribbean island), and six lie INSIDE the EU (including a few more Caribbean islands & a sizeable chunk of jungle, 4 times the size of Wales, bordering Brazil (yes, full EU laws in South America)). Had the referenda of the Home Nations and overseas territories been counted separately, England and Wales would've left the EU, while Scotland, Northern Ireland & GIBRALTAR (plus, however UK overseas territories voted, since France shows us you don't have to be "all-in" or "all-out") would have remained. That means English people wouldn't have been subject to EU rules at home, but could've take full benefit to get a job and health coverage in Spain. Under such a scenario, does anyone honestly think the UK's - & especially wee Gibraltar's - vaccine rollout would've been notably handicapped? I think it's probably now time for me to duck and cover, where've Varian flees to, from the fray. smile

varian Sat 20-Mar-21 10:33:23

????