terça-feira, 31 de maio de 2022

Press Preview: Wednesday’s Papers

Travel chaos for holidaymakers at UK airports

Turismo ultrapassa níveis pré-pandemia pela primeira vez em dois anos

 



TURISMO

Turismo ultrapassa níveis pré-pandemia pela primeira vez em dois anos

 

Os estabelecimentos de alojamento turístico em Portugal receberam perto de 2,4 milhões de hóspedes em Abril, responsáveis por mais de seis milhões de dormidas.

 

Rafaela Burd Relvas

31 de Maio de 2022, 12:03

https://www.publico.pt/2022/05/31/economia/noticia/turismo-ultrapassa-niveis-prepandemia-primeira-dois-anos-2008336

 

Pela primeira vez desde o início da pandemia, a actividade turística em Portugal ultrapassou os níveis que se registavam em 2019, graças à mobilização dos turistas nacionais. Em Abril, mês em que se celebrou a Páscoa, o sector do turismo recebeu mais de dois milhões de hóspedes e registou mais de seis milhões de dormidas, números que ficam mais de cinco vezes acima daqueles que eram registados no mesmo mês do ano passado.

 

Os dados, ainda provisórios, foram publicados nesta terça-feira pelo Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE), que dá conta de que, durante o mês de Abril, os estabelecimentos de alojamento turístico em Portugal receberam perto de 2,4 milhões de hóspedes, responsáveis por mais de seis milhões de dormidas, números que correspondem a aumentos superiores a 400% e 500%, respectivamente, em relação ao ano passado.

 

Em Abril do ano passado, recorde-se, Portugal estava a iniciar o levantamento faseado das medidas de confinamento, mas, por esta altura, mantinham-se várias restrições à circulação e a ajuntamentos, razão pela qual o crescimento da actividade turística registado em Abril deste ano é tão acentuado. Mas mesmo em relação ao período antes da pandemia já há um crescimento. O número de hóspedes registado em Abril deste ano corresponde a um aumento de 1,5% face a Abril de 2019, enquanto o número de dormidas subiu 1% em relação a esse mês.

 

“É a primeira vez, desde o início da pandemia, que se registam crescimentos face ao período homólogo anterior à pandemia”, destaca o INE.

 

A justificar esta evolução está o mercado interno, já que, apesar da clara recuperação sentida nos mercados externos, estes mantêm-se em níveis inferiores aos do período pré-pandemia. Ao todo, os hóspedes residentes em Portugal foram responsáveis por 1,93 milhões de dormidas em Abril deste ano, mais 15% do que no mesmo mês do ano passado. Já os não residentes responderam por 4,11 milhões de dormidas no mês em análise, o que ainda corresponde a uma quebra superior a 4% face a 2019.

 

Mesmo em termos acumulados, o sector começa a aproximar-se dos níveis de actividade que eram registados antes da pandemia. Entre Janeiro e Abril deste ano, os estabelecimentos de alojamento turístico registam mais de seis milhões de hóspedes e 14,9 milhões de dormidas, o que corresponde a quedas de cerca de 12%, em ambos os casos, em relação a igual período de 2019.

 

Principais mercados recuperam

Apesar de se manterem abaixo dos níveis de 2019, os mercados externos prolongam a trajectória de recuperação e, em Abril, atingiram os níveis mais elevados desde o início da pandemia, com vários dos principais mercados a atingirem níveis superiores ao pré-pandemia.

 

É esse o caso do Reino Unido, que continua a ser o principal mercado emissor do turismo português, respondendo por perto de um quinto do total de dormidas de não residentes. Em Abril, os britânicos foram responsáveis por mais de 814 mil dormidas em Portugal, um aumento de 1,4% em relação a Abril de 2019.

 

O mesmo movimento é verificado entre os espanhóis, terceiro maior mercado do turismo português, cujas dormidas aumentaram quase 1% em Abril, face ao mesmo mês de 2019. Também as dormidas dos hóspedes vindos dos Países Baixos aumentaram mais de 1% em Abril, em relação ao período pré-pandemia.

 

Em sentido contrário, Alemanha e França, respectivamente o segundo e o quarto maior mercados do sector turístico português, estão em queda. Em Abril, as dormidas dos hóspedes alemães caíram mais de 5% em relação a 2019, enquanto as dos hóspedes franceses recuaram perto de 15%.

 

Ao mesmo tempo, novos países começam a surgir entre os principais mercados do turismo português. O caso mais evidente é o dos Estados Unidos, que, no conjunto dos quatro primeiros meses deste ano, responderam já por mais de 6% do total de dormidas de não residentes em Portugal, claramente acima da proporção que era registada antes da pandemia, em torno de 4,5%. Considerando apenas o mês de Abril deste ano, as dormidas dos hóspedes norte-americanos em Portugal aumentaram mais de 22% em relação a 2019.

 

Madeira lidera crescimento

Na análise por regiões, a Madeira destaca-se com o maior crescimento em Abril, com as dormidas nesta região a aumentarem quase 20% em relação a 2019. Também no Alentejo se regista uma recuperação acelerada, com o número de dormidas a crescer quase 17% em Abril, enquanto no Norte o crescimento é próximo de 10%.

 

Já Lisboa, Açores e Algarve são as regiões mais atrasadas no movimento de recuperação. Na Área Metropolitana de Lisboa, as dormidas registadas em Abril ainda ficaram mais de 2% abaixo dos níveis de 2019, enquanto nos Açores a queda é de quase 5% e no Algarve é próxima de 9%.

 

tp.ocilbup@savler.aleafar

Air travel chaos ‘could get worse’

Proprietários já estão a ser notificados pelos condomínios para encerrarem alojamentos locais

 


Proprietários já estão a ser notificados pelos condomínios para encerrarem alojamentos locais

Rita Neto

30 Maio 2022

https://eco.sapo.pt/2022/05/30/proprietarios-ja-estao-a-ser-notificados-pelos-condominios-para-encerrarem-alojamentos-locais/?fbclid=IwAR2mhh25ZeMU7ehsx0mdlWUV7cr3lsTM6nqtTIecMC-Dp2Et2xgK00hXZyY

 

Depois do acórdão do Supremo, já se registam casos de condomínios a notificarem proprietários de alojamento local e a pedirem o encerramento dos mesmos. ALEP diz que situação causa "receios" no setor.

 

Um mês depois de ter sido conhecido o acórdão do Supremo Tribunal de Justiça, que trava novos alojamentos locais em prédios de habitação, alguns condomínios já estão a tomar medidas. Já há casos de empresários a serem notificados pelos condomínios para encerraram os seus alojamentos locais. Associação que representa o setor diz que o número de casos ainda é baixo, mas que a decisão cria bastante receio.

 

João Lopes (nome fictício) vive na Suíça, mas tem um apartamento na Venda do Pinheiro, em Mafra, que converteu em alojamento local quando saiu do país. “Primeiro pensei em vender, mas desisti e decidi alugar no Airbnb”, conta ao ECO. Já lá vão mais de dois anos desde que entrou na atividade. Depois de ter sido conhecido o acórdão, no final de abril, “o condomínio mandou-me logo um email a perguntar se eu estava a par do acórdão e a dizer que eu estava proibido de alugar” o apartamento para alojamento local.

 

O primeiro pensamento foi se esta decisão tinha algo que ver com eventuais barulhos que os hóspedes fizessem. “Liguei para uma vizinha, porque seria a primeira a dar conta do barulho, mas ela disse que nunca se apercebeu de nada. Então liguei para o condomínio e disseram que não havia barulho, mas que houve alguém que fez queixas de pessoas estranhas a entrarem e saírem do prédio“, explica o empresário.

 

João Lopes falou com a advogada e foi aconselhado a não fazer nada. “Falei com o condomínio e disse-lhes que se quisessem avançar com um processo para o fazerem. Vou acatar o que o tribunal disser. Mas se não avançarem com um processo não vou parar” a atividade, diz.

 

De facto, perante a lei, e mediante estas circunstâncias, os proprietários não têm de cessar a atividade, uma vez que este tipo de comunicações “é algo que, do ponto de vista da lei, não tem qualquer efeito automático“, explica ao ECO Raquel Ribeiro Correia, consultora da Antas da Cunha ECIJA.

 

Se as notificações tiverem uma natureza meramente extra judicial ou, no limite, forem notificações avulsas (…) não têm, por si só, a obrigatoriedade de encerrar a atividade.

Raquel Ribeiro Correia

Consultora da Antas da Cunha ECIJA

 

“Se as comunicações tiverem uma natureza meramente extra judicial ou, no limite, se forem notificações avulsas, com uma simples manifestação de vontade do condomínio de que o condómino cesse a atividade, essas comunicações não implicam, por si só, a obrigatoriedade de encerrar a atividade“, acrescenta. Este tipo de comunicações “não tem qualquer efeito automático. Depende da vontade do proprietário cessar ou não a atividade”.

 

Luísa Monteiro (nome fictício) tem dois apartamentos em Albufeira, ambos destinados a alojamento local. Depois de ser conhecido o acórdão do Supremo Tribunal de Justiça, um dos condomínios onde esta proprietária tem os imóveis mudou de administração, tendo havido uma reunião extraordinária por causa disso. “Mudaram-se alguns regulamentos e ficou falado nessa reunião (mas não em ata) que não se iam aceitar novos alojamentos locais nos prédios”, conta ao ECO. “Quanto aos alojamentos locais já existentes, iriam esperar por novas leis”.

 

Esta proprietária não foi, por enquanto, notificada, mas as intenções daquele condomínio são claras. Uma das razões apontadas durante a reunião de condomínio para o fim do alojamento local naquele prédio foi o facto de haver “pessoas importantes” a morar lá. “Num dos prédios há, pelo menos, cinco apartamentos alugados” em regime de alojamento local e no outro são 12 apartamentos, todos dedicados a esta atividade, nota Luísa Monteiro.

 

Alguns condomínios viram as notícias que foram sendo publicadas e, sem perceberem muito bem, resolveram mandar cartas [aos proprietários de alojamentos locais].

Eduardo Miranda

Presidente da Associação do Alojamento Local em Portugal (ALEP)

 

A Associação do Alojamento Local em Portugal (ALEP) já tem conhecimento de alguns casos semelhantes. “São pontuais, mas são desagradáveis”, diz Eduardo Miranda, ao ECO. “Alguns condomínios viram as notícias que foram sendo publicadas e, sem perceberem muito bem, resolveram mandar cartas” aos condóminos proprietários de alojamentos locais, diz o presidente da associação.

 

Pelas redes sociais, em grupos de alojamento local, há mais relatos. “Está a acontecer o mesmo comigo. Expliquei que tem de haver [uma] queixa. Dizem [os condomínios] que a lei é clara [e que] não pode haver alojamentos locais em prédios e que eles não querem”, escreveu uma proprietária. “Eu tive dois condóminos que exigiram o cancelamento das reservas no verão. Senão pedem uma reunião para proibir [o alojamento local]”, escreveu outro.

 

Acórdão veio “dar colo” às “preocupações” dos condóminos

A consultora da Antas da Cunha diz que “este tipo de iniciativas por parte dos condomínios era expectável”, uma vez que “existem vários condóminos que se sentem lesados/ameaçados do ponto de vista do sossego, segurança, usos das áreas comuns, etc.”. Ao ECO, Raquel Ribeiro Correia nota que “este acórdão acabou por vir dar colo a estas preocupações de uma série de condomínios”.

 

O presidente da ALEP corrobora estas afirmações e nota que “a maior parte dos condomínios” que se está contra o alojamento local “são vizinhos” insatisfeitos. “O maior receio que tínhamos era que este acórdão fosse utilizado pelos condomínios em rixas pessoais ou chantagens. Pode ser uma desavença com o condómino vizinho. E ficar à mercê de humor ou chantagem é sempre uma situação de algum receio“, diz Eduardo Miranda.

 

A jurista Raquel Ribeiro Correia explica que este tipo de notificações por parte dos condomínios “é uma antecâmara do ponto de vista judicial” e “funciona como um ato preparatório de um processo judicial”. Ou seja, os condomínios precisam, efetivamente, de avançar com um processo judicial para encerrarem um alojamento local e, nesses casos, após este novo acórdão, “o desfecho é bastante expectável”. “Aos olhos do Supremo Tribunal de Justiça, essa atividade [alojamento local] é agora ilegal”, afirma.

 

Não acredito [que o condomínio avance para tribunal] porque eles não estão para gastar dinheiro. É capaz de cair no esquecimento.

João Lopes (nome fictício)

Proprietário de um alojamento local

 

Apesar disso, tal como já referiu anteriormente, o presidente da associação não acredita que este acórdão “vá ter essa repercussão”, ao ponto de vários condomínios se revoltarem contra a atividade. João Lopes, proprietário do apartamento na Venda do Pinheiro, pensa o mesmo. “Não acredito [que o condomínio avance para tribunal] porque eles não estão para gastar dinheiro. É capaz de cair no esquecimento”, diz ao ECO. Luísa Monteiro também acredita “que, pelo menos no Algarve, não vai dar em nada”.

 

Situação “pode criar receios no investimento”

De um modo geral, este acórdão vai ter impacto no setor do alojamento local, no turismo e até no investimento imobiliário. “Naturalmente preocupa, porque cria um ambiente de receio, sobretudo nas zonas de praia”, diz o presidente da ALEP, ao ECO. “É mau para as zonas de praia, porque quem vai comprar casa [para alojamento local] fica na dúvida se o registo amanhã é cancelado por iniciativa de algum condomínio“, completa.

 

Eduardo Miranda fala num “ambiente de insegurança desnecessário” para o turismo e para o investimento imobiliário. “Nas zonas de praia, onde o alojamento local era importante para viabilizar economicamente o custo do imóvel, este acórdão é principalmente um travão ao investimento”, diz.

 

Um acórdão do Supremo Tribunal de Justiça, conhecido a 21 de abril e publicado entretanto em Diário da República, veio estabelecer que “no regime da propriedade horizontal, a indicação no título constitutivo de que certa fração se destina a habitação deve ser interpretada no sentido de nela não ser permitida a realização de alojamento local“. O Governo já se pronunciou sobre este acórdão, afirmando que esta decisão “tem um impacto muito significativo no setor”.

Ukraine War: Russia now control three quarters of Severodonetsk

Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 97 of the invasion

 


Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 97 of the invasion

 

EU leaders reach ‘landmark decision’ to back an embargo on almost 90% of Russian oil to the 27-nation bloc by the end of the year

 

Samantha Lock and Martin Belam

Tue 31 May 2022 03.45 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/31/russia-ukraine-war-what-we-know-on-day-97-of-the-invasion

 

  • Ukraine is still in control of some parts of Sievierodonetsk city and its soldiers are fighting slowly advancing Russian troops, but evacuations of civilians are not currently possible, the head of the city’s administration has said. Russians now control “around half” according to reports on national television in Ukraine.
  • Serhiy Haidai, governor of Luhansk, said “The situation is extremely complicated – part of Sievierodonetsk is controlled by the Russians. They cannot move freely through the city – our fighters still remain in the settlement.”
  • EU leaders have backed a partial embargo on Russian oil after late-night talks at a summit in Brussels. The sanctions will immediately impact 75% of Russian oil imports with the aim to ban 90% of all Russian oil imported to Europe by the end of the year, officials said. The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, hailed the deal as a “remarkable achievement” that would place “maximum pressure on Russia to end the war”. The compromise excludes the Druzhba pipeline from the oil embargo and exempts deliveries arriving in Europe by pipeline, after Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán warned halting supplies would wreck his country’s economy.
  • The latest sanctions package also includes removing access to Swift payments for Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank; banning three more Russian state-owned broadcasters; and further sanctions against “individuals responsible for war crimes in Ukraine”.
  • The sanctions on Russia, which ban most imports of its oil, are “not enough” and the pace of sanctions so far has been too slow, a senior official in the Ukrainian president’s office, Ihor Zhovkva, said. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy earlier lamented the delay in EU leaders imposing heavier sanctions against Vladimir Putin. “The pause in agreeing on new sanctions in Europe has been too long,” he said.
  • The European Council added it is ready to grant Ukraine €9bn to aid in its postwar reconstruction. The Council will “continue helping Ukraine with its immediate liquidity needs, together with the G7” European Council President Charles Michel said late on Monday night. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned that Ukraine needed €5bn a month just to maintain basic services and “ … to give Ukraine a fair chance to rise from the ashes”.
  • A Ukrainian court sentenced two captured Russian soldiers to 11-and-a-half years in jail for shelling a town in eastern Ukraine, the second war crimes verdict since the start of Russia’s latest invasion in February.
  • The Russian ministry of defence claims to have shot down an Su-25 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force and destroyed the Ukrainian battery of the Uragan multiple launch rocket system, the battery of the Grad multiple launch rocket system, two ammunition depots, and a fuel depot in overnight operations.
  • The ministry also, without providing evidence, said that it had recovered 152 bodies of Ukrainian fighters from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol that had been booby-trapped with mines “on direct orders from Kyiv” to create a “provocation”.
  • Zelenskiy claims that Russia is blocking the export of 22m tons of grain from Ukraine’s ports and warned it posed a threat of famine. “Russia’s blockade of our exports is destabilising the situation on a global scale,” he said in his latest national address. Zelenskiy added that Russian forces “have already stolen at least half a million tons of grain” and “are now looking for ways to illegally sell it somewhere”.
  • The situation in Donbas remains “extremely difficult”, Zelenskiy said, adding that Russian troops shelled Kharkiv again on Monday. “The territory of our Sumy region was also shelled across the border between Ukraine and Russia,” he said.
  • Russian president Vladimir Putin spoke with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, saying if sanctions were lifted, then Russia could “export significant volumes of fertilisers and agricultural products”.
  • Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Turkey with a military delegation next week on 8 June.
  • Oleg Kryuchkov, who is an advisor to the Russian-appointed government in annexed Crimea, has said that the occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions have switched to using Russian mobile communications and internet networks.
  • A ship loaded with metal has left the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, becoming the first to do so since the besieged Ukrainian city was taken by Russian forces. Ukraine said the shipment amounted to looting.
  • Joe Biden has said the US will not supply Ukraine with long-range rockets capable of reaching Russia. Ukraine has asked for multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) with a range of about 300km (185 miles) to offset Moscow’s increasingly effective use of long-range artillery.
  • France is set to boost military aid to Ukraine. Foreign minister Catherine Colonna said France will “continue to reinforce arms deliveries” while visiting Kyiv on Monday.
  • Belarus will conduct military mobilisation exercises in June and July in the Gomel region, state news agency BelTA reports.
  • Russia will stop supplying gas to the Netherlands as of tomorrow after the government-backed trader GasTerra refused to pay supplier Gazprom in roubles. About 44% of Dutch energy usage is based on gas, but only about 15% of Dutch gas comes from Russia, according to government figures.
  • The Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia has scrapped plans to hold a referendum on joining Russia which had been scheduled for 17 July. The Moscow-controlled enclave’s president Alan Gagloev warned of the “uncertainty of the legal consequences of the issue submitted to a referendum,” according to a report from Agence France-Presse.
  • French journalist, Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, 32, has been killed after an armoured evacuation vehicle in which he was travelling was hit by shrapnel from a Russian shell in the city of Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian and French authorities have said. France has called for an investigation into the reporter’s death as Zelenskiy offered his “sincere condolences” to his colleagues and family.
  • The first alleged case of rape by a Russian soldier has been sent to court, the prosecutor general of Ukraine said. The serviceman will be tried for the alleged murder of the victim’s husband and “sexual violence against his wife”, Iryna Venediktova said.
  • The Eurovision song contest winners Kalush Orchestra auctioned off their trophy to raise money for the Ukrainian army. The band, whose song Stefania was triumphant in Turin earlier this month, said they raised $900,000 (£713,000) by auctioning off the glass microphone and a further $370,000 by raffling off the pink bucket hat frontman Oleh Psiuk wore during the performance.

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In the Senate, Chasing an Ever-Elusive Gun Law Deal

 


NEWS ANALYSIS

In the Senate, Chasing an Ever-Elusive Gun Law Deal

 

After a string of Democratic failures on marquee issues, Senator Chuck Schumer’s decision to give bipartisan gun talks time is a test of the Senate — and of democracy itself.

 


Jonathan Weisman

By Jonathan Weisman

May 30, 2022

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/30/us/politics/senate-guns-democracy.html

 

WASHINGTON — The decision of the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, to try for a negotiated compromise on new gun laws in the wake of the latest pair of mass shootings may prove to be a high-stakes bet on representative democracy itself, made at a time when faith in Congress — and the Senate in particular — is in tatters in both parties.

 

President Biden’s promise on Sunday to the families of the shooting victims in Uvalde, Texas — assuring them that “we will” do something about gun violence — raised the pressure on a Senate in which filibusters and disunity have been the watchwords of the past year.

 

By raising expectations that a bipartisan deal on gun safety, mental health and school security is even possible, Mr. Schumer is intensifying the spotlight — not only on Republicans and whether they will come to the table in good faith, but also on the institution of the Senate and its ability to grapple with a pressing national issue like gun violence, so searing in its trauma and obvious in its impact.

 

On Monday, the government in Canada banned handgun sales and proposed legislation requiring that most owners of “military-style assault weapons” turn over their rifles to a government buyback program.

 

Nothing like that is on the offing in Washington. But even if a compromise means scaling back gun control legislation, it would be worth it, said Senator Christopher S. Murphy of Connecticut, the Democrats’ chief negotiator, to get legislative momentum for more stringent measures and to reassure the parties and their voters that representative democracy can still function.

 

“We need to show Republicans that they can strengthen the background check system in a meaningful way and get politically rewarded for it,” he said in an interview. “That’s why I’m willing to look at things that might be less than what I would like.”

 

The bipartisan group of 10 senators working on the issue was to have a Zoom call on Tuesday to work out a framework for negotiations during the holiday recess, Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, told reporters on Monday. Congress will be back in session June 6.

 

Failure on this — which many Democrats, including Mr. Schumer, concede is likely after a decade of similar efforts have collapsed — would be lumped onto a growing pile of disappointments that have depressed Democratic voter enthusiasm since the party took control of Washington.

 

Among the defeats: a major bill on voting rights and democracy reform, far-reaching legislation on social welfare and climate change, and an effort to guarantee abortion access. Then there are the achievements that are being wiped away because Democrats lack the 60 votes to keep them alive, including the expiration of an expanded child tax credit that dramatically lowered child poverty rates while it was in place and the looming expiration of enlarged health insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.

 

Mr. Murphy said that even on sports talk radio, commentators and callers were talking about the mass shootings — and glumly dismissing the prospects of action. But that does not obviate the urgency.

 

“When people give up on us dealing with the most important and most existential issues, it means they’re giving up on democracy itself,” he said. “And so I think the stakes are high — not just because we’ve got to save lives but also because people’s faith in this whole enterprise is going to disappear if we can’t deliver.”

 

In an evenly divided Senate and facing Republican obstruction, Democrats say they should be commended for their successes on measures like a $1 trillion infrastructure bill and postal reform, which have been discussed for years but never accomplished. More achievements could be coming, such as aiding veterans harmed by open-air “burn pits” in Iraq and Afghanistan and expanding domestic semiconductor manufacturing.

 

But none of that is likely to have the resonance of action on guns — which polls show is supported on both the left and the right. The negotiations also come at a moment when some in both parties are ready to give up on the Senate’s ability to function without major structural changes.

 

Already, some liberals are pressing to expand the Supreme Court and do away with the filibuster, arguing that Senate Republicans’ partisan treatment of nominees has unfairly stacked the court and that compromise with the Republican Party is impossible.

 

Some conservatives have questioned the very bedrock of representative democracy, nominating Republican candidates for the coming midterm elections who have falsely declared the 2020 election stolen and indicated a willingness to warp the outcome of future elections.

 

And in truth, though Americans’ faith in Congress is minute, most do not even know how bad the Senate has become. Without time to watch C-SPAN, few are aware that the world’s supposedly greatest deliberative body has spent most of its time of late churning through confirmations of midlevel executive branch officials and federal judges. Those nominations — once routinely approved unanimously — now take days and must be considered one at a time.

 

Robert Dallek, a historian and biographer of Lyndon B. Johnson, said such sclerosis had ebbed and flowed in the past. Harry S. Truman routinely railed against the “good-for-nothing, do-nothing Congress” that failed to pass legislation to establish federal health insurance, protect civil rights or even stop the lynching of Black Americans in the South.

 

“They are putting democracy in danger because the frustration that comes can lead to civil strife,” Mr. Dallek said. “The nation is terribly divided at the moment.”

 

David W. Blight, a Yale historian and expert on the breakdown of American governance before the Civil War, spoke of the hollowing of the political center in the mid-19th century and, after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, congressional paralysis.

 

A successive string of Southern or pro-Southern presidents, from James K. Polk in 1845 to James Buchanan in 1857, and a Supreme Court stacked with pro-slavery justices left a Northern majority enraged by minority rule.

 

As the nation began tearing apart, lawmakers embarked on ever more desperate searches for compromise, he said, and their failures only accelerated the dissolution.

 

“Today, we don’t have a single issue like slavery but five or six huge issues that we are horribly divided over,” Professor Blight said, ticking off guns, voting rights, abortion, climate change and election administration. “My worry is that we don’t have institutions that can hold us anymore, and that is what happened in the 1850s. The institutions broke down.”

 

A handful of Senate Republicans have indicated a willingness to come to the table on gun safety, perhaps to dust off the failed 2013 legislation by Senators Patrick J. Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, and Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, to strengthen background checks on gun purchasers. Another possible point of negotiation are so-called red flag laws that make it easier for judges and law enforcement to confiscate weapons from people deemed potentially dangerous to themselves or others.

 

“I do believe that we will be looking at ways to improve our background checks,” said Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah. “I’ve been looking at Toomey-Manchin as a piece of legislation and seeing if that would make a difference. And I do believe that red flag laws and states are helpful.”

 

Bipartisan discussions helped produce the infrastructure law that so far might be President Biden’s biggest legislative achievement. But other efforts, such as talks to rewrite the Electoral Count Act of 1887 and to find common ground on voting rights, have produced nothing, despite pronouncements of great optimism.

 

To get to 60 votes on a gun bill, Democrats would need unanimity on their side and 10 Republicans, not the four who began negotiating last week. The worst mass shooting at an elementary school, the massacre in Newtown, Conn., nearly a decade ago, was not enough to break a Republican filibuster. This time, Democrats are being careful not to raise expectations too high that the second-worst slaughter, the death of 19 children in Uvalde, will yield a different result.

 

The ranks of Senate Republicans have grown only more conservative since the carnage in Newtown, and a vast majority of them have not budged in their opposition to any measure that would limit gun access.

 

“To be clear: Using this horror to infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens — before we even know what might have prevented this tragedy — and accusing anyone who disagrees of being complicit in this abhorrent crime is not a solution that will make us safer,” said Senator Bill Hagerty, Republican of Tennessee.

 

Representative Colin Allred, Democrat of Texas, said he understood the need to try negotiations.

 

 

“We know we can pass legislation that will be supported by 88 percent of Americans, for example in the case of background checks, but we need to have 60 votes in the Senate for that to become law,” he said.

 

If it fails, he said, voters will have the last word in November at the ballot box.

 

But many Democrats simply do not believe Republicans are willing to negotiate in good faith, even after the heartbreak of Uvalde. Republicans insist that protecting individual liberty is more important than a collective response to gun violence, then push to criminalize abortion, said Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts.

 

“This is about a set of far-right views that entail using the government aggressively when it advances their agenda and leaving the government behind when that’s what gets them as far as they want to go,” she said, adding, “These are not people of principle.”

 

How this plays out in November’s midterm elections is unknown. With voters most concerned about inflation, gas prices and anger at the ruling party in Washington, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report downgraded the Democrats’ chances of holding the House again on Thursday, predicting a Republican pickup of between 20 and 35 seats.

 

That result would give the Republican Party one of its largest majorities in decades. In turn, Republican leaders would declare a mandate to relax regulations on gun ownership, not tighten them.

 

Those political prospects could inform how willing Republicans will be in the coming days to compromise on gun rights, an issue that has become central to their party.

 

“It’s one thing to say that, regardless of the facts, you should just do something,” said Senator Mike Rounds, Republican of South Dakota. “The question is whether something you would do would actually make a difference.”

 

Jonathan Weisman is a congressional correspondent, veteran Washington journalist and author of the novel “No. 4 Imperial Lane” and the nonfiction book “(((Semitism))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump.” His career in journalism stretches back 30 years. @jonathanweisman

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London Playbook: Now streaming — Battle of the spreadsheets — Pounds and ouches

 


London Playbook: Now streaming — Battle of the spreadsheets — Pounds and ouches

BY ALEX WICKHAM

May 31, 2022 8:03 am

https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/now-streaming-battle-of-the-spreadsheets-pounds-and-ouches/

 

POLITICO London Playbook

By ALEX WICKHAM

 

DRIVING THE DAY

NOW STREAMING: The drip-drip became a trickle, then sometime on Monday afternoon it turned into a steady stream — or even a runnel, a freshet or a rivulet. That’s the general consensus of Conservative MPs watching increasing numbers of their colleagues write letters of no confidence in Boris Johnson’s leadership. With 48 more hours of dangerous clear space before the Platinum Jubilee bank holidays, Westminster is transfixed by the prospect of the prime minister facing a vote on his future as soon as next week, or if not then perhaps after June’s by-elections. The guessing game on the numbers has quickly come to dominate the conversation on Twitter and in SW1 WhatsApp groups, even as most of today’s newspapers splash on the half-term travel chaos that is probably top of many voters’ minds at the moment.

 

Squeaky bum time: Sky beancounter Tom Larkin says there are now 27 Tory MPs calling for the PM to go as soon as possible — that’s up three on Monday, and up 12 since the Sue Gray report was published last week. There are another 12 Tory MPs questioning Johnson’s position, up four on Monday. Remember, the threshold of letters to trigger a confidence vote is 54. It is clear from those figures that the movement yesterday was significant and worrying for No. 10, if not yet proof that they are in mortal danger. Ominously for Downing Street, the Mirror’s Dan Bloom points out that when Theresa May hit her own 48-letter threshold back in 2018, 27 Tory MPs had publicly declared no confidence in her before that date.

 

Who’s flipped? Monday saw former Attorney General Jeremy Wright go over the top citing the “lasting damage” caused to the Tory Party by Partygate … young ‘un Elliot Colburn blamed reports of Downing Street staff being rude to cleaners … Brexiteer Andrew Bridgen submitted the fourth no-confidence letter in a Tory leader of his career, surely a party record (h/t John Stevens).

 

Not quite official … but giving us a nod and a wink were Johnson foe Tom Tugendhat, who told us “I have made my position clear to those who need to hear it” … Cities of London and Westminster MP Nickie Aiken, who helpfully called on Johnson to call a vote of confidence in himself … and Dan Poulter, who said Johnson’s public statements on Partygate “lacked credibility.” Larkin’s spreadsheet has more quotes.

 

If/when: POLITICO’s Esther Webber and Annabelle Dickson capture the mood among Tory MPs in their piece this morning. “Things seem to be moving a bit more quickly than I thought,” said one former minister. “I spent Saturday doing local events and was struck by just how overwhelming opinion seems to be that the PM must resign.” Another MP who is generally supportive of Johnson said of the prospect of a no-confidence vote: “I feel like it is a case of ‘when’ not ‘if’ and only ever closer.” A third MP — a former Cabinet minister — who has not yet submitted a letter said they would do so by the time parliament returned.

 

Is there a pattern? There has been talk that a steady drumbeat of letters has been orchestrated by supporters of leadership hopeful Jeremy Hunt and vengeful allies of May. Looking through the names of those who’ve gone public since Gray it’s not hard to see why — it is true that most of them are either in the One Nation Group of Tory “wets,” or have other similar connections. However it can’t be said that it’s just a plot from one faction or leadership campaign. The Bridgen decision shows No. 10 now has a real battle to stem the flow of letters from multiple fronts, and faces the plausible scenario where the 54 threshold is hit “by accident” rather than due to an orchestrated effort in the next month. As Conservative Home’s Paul Goodman tells the Sun today: “The danger for the PM appears to be a drip, drip, drip, from ALL wings of the party, rather than one organised putsch from one faction.”

 

Battle of the spreadsheets: Global Counsel’s Lead U.K. Political Analyst Joe Armitage has a spreadsheet of his own that is a fascinating indicator of who might be next to send letters. He lists the 39 Conservative MPs most at risk of losing their seats to the Lib Dems at the next election, finding that nine have already submitted letters of no confidence, with many more publicly wavering. By contrast, Armitage finds that the 60 Tory MPs most at risk to Labour are generally much more loyal to Johnson. This essential analysis is compelling and suggests that Johnson’s primary threat currently comes from Lib Dem-facing Tory MPs — though that could soon change if the Tories lose Wakefield on June 23. Expect Tory whips to spend the next weeks offering inducements to those on the Armitage spreadsheets.

 

What’s No. 10 gonna do about it? Johnson was back into negative ratings and bottom of the ConHome Cabinet league table yesterday, and the Sun’s Harry Cole has details of how the PM’s team plans to stop the rot. He reports the PM will do a joint speech with Chancellor Rishi Sunak on the economy with a focus on cutting regulation. “Central to the push for growth will be tearing up the EU’s Solvency II red tape on the insurance market — to allow up to £20 billion to be invested in infrastructure by freed-up firms. While technical, ministers hope it could be a major “big bang” for investment in the City,” Cole writes.

 

And there’s more: Playbook hears No. 10 thinks winning over “Waitrose woman” is fundamental to its strategy to keep Johnson afloat. That’s the mythical middle-class female voter who may not have been a fan of Brexit or gone in for Johnson’s populist red wall appeal, definitely doesn’t look kindly upon Partygate, and might usually vote Tory but is now considering the Lib Dems.

 

Awkward: Sunak’s local Conservative council leader in North Yorkshire, Carl Les, has called for Johnson to step down. “I am very disappointed that the strong majority we had in North Yorkshire has diminished down to a working majority, but only just, and a lot of the comment we were getting on the doorstep was about the impact of Partygate,” he was quoted as saying by the Guardian’s Helen Pidd and Josh Halliday.

 

What if we hit 54? All the excitement of letters and streams has caused some Lobby wise hands to offer a note of caution. In his must-read Sun analysis piece this morning, Harry Cole writes: “The magic number for Boris is 180 in a confidence vote. That is 50 per cent plus one of his 359 Tory MPs. A win would put the leadership question to bed for a year — and likely until after the next election. And the PM is actually in a stronger position than he looks, mainly because he has dished out so many jobs to MPs. There are currently 173 assorted Cabinet members, junior ministers and associated bag-carriers on the Government ‘payroll.’ It is a secret ballot, so some may certainly vote against the PM but they would be voting themselves out of a job. And despite the overlooked and over-the-hill gobbing off at every passing TV camera, there are plenty of loyal backbenchers left — meaning the odds of victory are in No.  10’s favour.”

 

One … hundred and eighty! The Mirror’s Pippa Crerar agrees that the maths is “still in his favour” when it comes to a confidence vote, though notes it is “striking how many Tory MPs are not publicly backing him, even if they’re not yet sacking him.” And Bloomberg’s Kitty Donaldson, who is well-connected with the Conservative Party hierarchy, says: “My understanding is we are not at critical mass just yet. Senior Tories seem relaxed the numbers aren’t there.”

 

How will No. 10 play any vote? The Telegraph’s Ben Riley-Smith and Dominic Penna say all Tory MPs will be contacted by whips in a lobbying drive if the threshold is reached. The FT’s Seb Payne quotes a Johnson ally: “Boris’s argument is simple: he’s never lost a national election … he won London twice, the EU ref and the 2019 election. Do you want to swap him out for someone who has zero track record of winning an election?”

 

When do we find out? Probably not this week, as 1922 committee Chair Graham Brady is unlikely to want to interrupt the Platinum Jubilee. Next week could be a very busy one in British politics. Alternatively, the hype could be unfulfilled once again and we may have to wait until after the June by-elections to do it all again.

 

TODAY IN WESTMINSTER

PARLIAMENT: Not sitting.

 

BACK IN THE REAL WORLD: Most of today’s papers splash on the farcical situation at Britain’s airports as airline bosses come under fire over cuts causing huge delays for holidaying families during half-term — as ministers risk being on the receiving end of yet more public anger. The Times leads on the government blaming airlines for the situation. The Mirror cheerily predicts a “summer of chaos” with hours-long airport queues apparently to continue for months. The Express calls it “carnage.” The Metro says “families are sleeping on airport floors and queuing for up to eight hours.”

 

FUEL DUTY: The Mail splashes on a call for ministers to cut fuel duty further to “save us from the £100 tank of fuel.” Veteran Labour aide Damian McBride responds: “Just to put this headline in some historical context, the splash headline in The Sun on the day after Gordon Brown’s March 2000 Budget was ‘£50 to fill a Mondeo.’ And of course, that went on to become the summer of the fuel protests.”

 

WAR ON WHITEHALL LATEST: The civil service fast stream will be canceled for a year under controversial plans being forced through despite opposition from Leveling Up Secretary Michael Gove, the Telegraph’s Ben Riley-Smith reports. Meanwhile, BBC Newsnight’s Lewis Goodall has got hold of a letter from Rishi Sunak and No. 10 chief of staff Steve Barclay to Cabinet ministers telling them to plan for a headcount reduction of 20 percent — that’s some 91,000 jobs.

 

POUNDS AND OUCHES: No. 10’s big Jubilee crowdpleaser on imperial measurements is having a bit of a bumpy landing. The FT’s Jim Pickard quotes British retailers warning the PM that relabeling products will drive up prices in the middle of the cost of living crisis. And it’s not just the FT — the Telegraph carries the concerns of supermarkets that the policy will increase inflation.

 

AUDIT REFORMS DITCHED: Ministers are watering down plans for an overhaul of audit and boardroom rules, the FT’s Jim Pickard, Michael O’Dwyer and Daniel Thomas report.

 

CHEQ MATE: The head housekeeper at Chequers left her post in 2020 following tensions with Boris and Carrie Johnson, Simon Walters reports in the Times. The story is disputed by a spokesperson.

 

TONIGHT: Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries is announcing the winner of the City of Culture 2025. Tune in to the BBC’s One Show to find out.

 

WHAT LABOUR IS TALKING ABOUT: The opposition is calling for the Office for Budget Responsibility to independently assess whether Rishi Sunak’s cost of living measures will cause inflation to rise. The Guardian’s Aubrey Allegretti has the story.

 

BEERGATE LATEST: Former Labour Chief Whip Nick Brown says Starmer should stand again for the Labour leadership if he has to resign over his Durham beer and curry night. The Mail and Times run Brown’s helpful intervention.

 

BULLYING: Tory staffers tell Sky’s Mhari Aurora they have been pressured not to sign a letter calling for reforms following the Pestminster scandal.

 

CULTURE WARS LATEST: “Trans activists” have hounded Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi off Warwick University campus, according to video posted by the Telegraph.

 

OOPS: Yet another top example of the government’s commitment to online security came in the form of a swiftly deleted Instagram post by Science Minister George Freeman that appeared to show government papers marked “official, sensitive.” (H/t Emilio Casalicchio.)

 

**Get a deep understanding of your field of interest using POLITICO Pro. You’ll have access to the ultimate customizable Pro platform providing you with a detailed overview of what’s happening in your industry. Learn more here.**

 

UKRAINE UPDATE

EU OIL DEAL: EU leaders agreed late last night on a deal to impose sanctions on Russian oil imports, reaching a compromise that placated Hungary and some wary EU capitals while still effectively banning the bulk of Russian oil … by the end of the year. European Council President Charles Michel hailed a deal which he said would cover more than two-thirds of Russian oil imports — but Prime Minister Viktor Orbán posted on Facebook that Hungary would be “exempt” from the oil embargo, underlining the level of compromise needed to get the deal over the line. As per POLITICO’s live blog, Belgian PM Alexander De Croo confirmed the Czech Republic would also be exempt for 18 months. POLITICO’s David Herszenhorn, Jacopo Barigazzi and Barbara Moens have the full story.

 

Elsewhere in diplomacy: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has set out why he is opposed to Swedish and Finnish membership of NATO in an article for the Economist, writing that the two countries have failed to oppose terrorism. He confirms Turkey will block the countries’ membership bids, and also finds time to criticize French President Emmanuel Macron for saying NATO was becoming “brain dead” back in 2019.

 

DIGEST: French journalist Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff was killed in eastern Ukraine after being struck in the neck by a piece of shrapnel, Macron announced yesterday. Leclerc-Imhoff worked for TV channel BFMTV … Russian forces have entered the city of Severodonetsk, as they continue efforts to capture the Donbas region. The BBC’s Quentin Somerville has a tough to read piece from the ground after weeks of devastating shelling … Russia “has to lose” and European leaders should not purse “peace at any cost,” Latvian PM Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš told POLITICO in an interview at the European Council summit … and the U.S. is close to sending the powerful MLRS rocket system to Ukraine, though President Joe Biden said no weapons “that can strike into Russia” will be sent.

 

STATE OF THE UNION

LIGHTS GO OUT AT STORMONT: For the second time this month, the Northern Ireland Assembly failed Monday to elect a speaker because of DUP opposition. POLITICO’s Irish correspondent Shawn Pogatchnik texts in that other parties denounced the DUP during a pre-vote debate that descended into tit-for-tat heckling. But DUP leaders insisted they wouldn’t ease their obstruction before the U.K. government publishes a bill to override parts of the Northern Ireland protocol, a move expected as soon as June 7. One candidate, SDLP MLA Patsy McGlone, received strong backing in a 53-26 vote, but the nays from all 25 DUP members meant the speaker’s chair remains unfilled four weeks after the assembly election.

 

Dark humor: As the day’s caretaker speaker, Alan Chambers, announced the failed motion and prepared to adjourn, the chamber inside the Stormont parliament building was plunged into darkness. The symbolism wasn’t lost on members, who united briefly in laughter. When the lights came back on, a befuddled Chambers quipped, “I can assure you I didn’t touch any buttons!”

 

ANOTHER INDY TOUR: Scottish Constitution and External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson is in Brussels today, as the SNP continues efforts to make friends and curry favor in Europe. In a series of meetings with MEPs, diplomats and officials Robertson will be talking up the value of Scotland’s relationship with the EU — while also making it plain the Scottish government opposes London’s approach to the NI protocol, which Playbook suspects may help the SNP with the friend-making part of the plan. “We are in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, so for the U.K. Government to threaten to breach an international treaty which could spark a disastrous trade war is folly in the extreme,” Robertson said in pre-released remarks.

Moedas propõe que obras na ciclovia da Almirante Reis avancem sem consulta pública

 



MOBILIDADE

Moedas propõe que obras na ciclovia da Almirante Reis avancem sem consulta pública

 

Presidente da autarquia apresentou proposta alternativa à do BE, do Livre e da vereadora independente Paula Marques, que queriam ouvir a população e realizar estudos.

 

Luciano Alvarez

30 de Maio de 2022, 15:01

https://www.publico.pt/2022/05/30/local/noticia/moedas-propoe-obras-ciclovia-almirante-reis-avancem-consulta-publica-2008213

 

Houve um volte face na polémica na ciclovia da lisboeta Av. Almirante Reis. O BE tinha apresentado uma proposta para ouvir a população e realizar estudos sobre o projecto, o que não parava as obras já em curso, mas nesta segunda-feira Carlos Moedas apresentou uma proposta alternativa à dos bloquistas para que as obras avancem, o que, no entender da oposição, faz com que as obras avancem, de facto, mas sem implicar a realização da consulta e dos estudos desejáveis.

 

A proposta do presidente da autarquia, que já afirmou ter ouvido “mais de 600 pessoas”, foi apresentada em reunião extraordinária da Câmara Municipal de Lisboa (CML). Diz see uma “alternativa à Apresentação de um Projecto de Alteração fundamentado para a ciclovia da Av. Almirante Reis, nos termos da proposta” subscrita pelas vereadoras Beatriz Gomes Dias (BE), Paula Marques (independente eleita pela PS) e por Rui Tavares (Livre). “Propomos que a Câmara Municipal delibere dar continuidade à execução dos trabalhos em curso de acordo com o projecto de execução e cronograma anexos”, é escrito.

 

Em comunicado, o BE afirma que Carlos Moedas “apresentou uma proposta para a manutenção das obras de alteração da ciclovia da Almirante Reis sem estudos independentes, sem pareceres e sem consulta pública formal como estava patente na proposta do Bloco, do Livre e da vereadora Paula Marques”.

 

Recorda também que está na Assembleia Municipal de Lisboa “uma petição para a manutenção da ciclovia assinada por 1500 pessoas e que não se conhecem estudos independentes (como o prometido estudo do LNEC) ou mesmo o projecto técnico de alteração da ciclovia, conhecendo-se apenas a planta e cronograma”.

 

A Beatriz Gomes Dias reafirmou que a proposta apresentada “vai ao encontro do consenso atingido na última reunião de câmara, em que se decidiu em questões semelhantes que tinha de ser feita uma consulta pública e estudos independentes”.

 

Em comunicado, os vereadores do PCP revelam que irão apresentar uma proposta para a criação de um Plano Urbano participado para a Avenida Almirante Reis que “integre e valorize uma verdadeira participação pública e actue no conjunto de problemas urbanos, ambientais, sociais através do cruzamento de conhecimentos e recursos.”

 

Esta proposta, acrescentam, irá apresentar “projectos de reabilitação de espaço público numa área de intervenção alargada”, que “valorizem as relações de vizinhança, as acções e dinâmicas locais, as redes ecológicas, os sistemas de mobilidade suave, a acessibilidade universal e o comércio local”. Os comunistas consideram a ciclovia “como parte fundamental deste eixo, e as várias manifestações públicas de moradores e organizações, que exigem um processo de discussão pública mais aberto e qualificado, e ainda que, a realidade urbanística, as áreas de circulação pedonal e cruzamentos estão longe de cumprir os mínimos no que respeita às acessibilidades e que urge dar prioridade ao transporte público e ao transporte de emergência”.

 

Já a vereadora Paula Marques, citada pela Lusa, defendeu que a proposta para a realização de consulta pública “já serviu o propósito” de pensar o que será feito na Almirante Reis “com dados concretos”.

 

Diz, porém, que o documento apresentado por Carlos Moedas “é apenas um desenho sem a necessária fundamentação técnica”, mas que permite concluir que é relevante o aumento do número de bicicletas a circular na avenida e que “não faz sentido avançar com propostas de alteração na ciclovia à pressa” quando já a partir de setembro esta artéria vai ser interrompida com obras do Plano Geral de Drenagem de Lisboa (PGDL).

 

Na proposta de Carlos Moedas é reafirmado que “decorrente do processo de auscultação e dos actuais dados de qualidade ambiental, de ruído e mobilidade, mostra-se necessário libertar o sentido ascendente, promover uma saída fluida do tráfego do centro para a periferia; instalar a ciclovia, bidireccional na faixa descendente, partilhada, não segregada, condicionar o acesso à baixa de tráfego excessivo e, em simultâneo, promover condições de segurança e conforto para os utilizadores”.

 

O presidente da autarquia acrescenta que “foram efectuadas várias visitas de campo, técnicas e temáticas, para discussão e validação da proposta” com diversas entidades, “que contribuíram para a consistência da solução agora proposta”.

 

“Foram igualmente realizados ensaios com a Carris, EMEL e com o Metropolitano de Lisboa para testar diferentes soluções e cenários”, acrescenta.

 

Entre os documentos apresentados por Carlos Moedas estão desenhos e estudos técnicos, inclusive dados sobre o trânsito na Avenida Almirante Reis, a calendarização da intervenção, que prevê a duração de “83,5 dias”, e a estimativa orçamental de construção civil e sinalização, que inclui dois cenários, um que custa 290 mil euros e que prevê a “hidroinjeção para remoção da ciclovia no sentido ascendente, bem como a remoção da sinalização horizontal em ambos os sentidos”, e um outro que tem o preço de cerca de 400 mil euros e sugere a “hidroinjeção de lancil a lancil no sentido ascendente” e a remoção da sinalização horizontal no sentido descendente.

 

Novas regras em Arroios

Na passada sexta-feira foram apresentados os mapas da obra, que revelam que a circulação no Mercado de Arroios, que actualmente se faz no sentido dos ponteiros do relógio, vai ser invertida.

 

Na Rua Carlos Mardel, junto ao mercado de Arroios, o sentido é igualmente invertido, são criados alguns pontos de estacionamento e é retirada a faixa bus. Segundo uma fonte da autarquia, aqui o sentido teve de ser invertido “porque os autocarros não conseguiam fazer a viragem para entrar na Rua Morais Soares”.

 

Até agora, a circulação na Carlos Mardel fazia-se no sentido entre a Morais Soares e a Alameda, mas, no primeiro troço, ou seja, entre a Morais Soares e o Mercado de Arroios, havia uma faixa bus que circulava em sentido contrário aos carros. Esta faixa é agora suprimida e substituída por estacionamento em espinha, tal como existe no outro troço da rua, depois do mercado. Os autocarros continuam assim a circular no mesmo sentido em que já circulavam, mas já sem faixa dedicada e os automóveis passam a dirigir-se também na mesma direcção, na mesma faixa de rodagem.

 

tp.ocilbup@zeravla.onaicul

Varíola-dos-macacos: um silêncio perigoso e moralista

 



OPINIÃO

Varíola-dos-macacos: um silêncio perigoso e moralista

 

Se o surto está neste momento instalado numa determinada comunidade, essa comunidade tem de estar especialmente alerta.

 

João Miguel Tavares

31 de Maio de 2022, 0:35

https://www.publico.pt/2022/05/31/opiniao/opiniao/varioladosmacacos-silencio-perigoso-moralista-2008277

 

Quando os primeiros casos de varíola-dos-macacos surgiram em Portugal, o presidente da Sociedade Portuguesa de Virologia deu uma entrevista ao site da CNN Portugal a explicar o que se estava a passar – e acabou esturricado num incêndio de redes sociais. Vítor Duque declarou que a doença se estava a transmitir “através de contactos íntimos, neste momento entre homens”, e acrescentou: “Pode ser o início de uma epidemia entre os homossexuais que eventualmente se pode alastrar a toda a população.”

 

Note-se que logo após essas declarações o artigo da CNN acrescentava esta frase, que cito integralmente: “O virologista sublinha, no entanto, que o vírus pode atingir qualquer pessoa – homem ou mulher, com qualquer orientação sexual –, mas que, com os dados que há neste momento, tudo indica que tenha tido uma porta de entrada naquela comunidade, e que está a desenvolver-se.” Ninguém quis saber disso. Palavras proibidas haviam sido proferidas, e o pavlovismo woke já estava a salivar.

 

Associações LGBT revoltaram-se; partidos apelaram “contra a estigmatização das pessoas LGBTQIA”; o secretário de Estado Lacerda Sales repetiu o velho mantra “é uma doença de comportamentos de risco e não de grupos de risco”; o Polígrafo poligrafou “Varíola-dos-macacos afecta especialmente homossexuais? A resposta é não”, ainda que seja óbvio para todos que a varíola-dos-macacos está neste momento a afectar especialmente homossexuais masculinos; e o presidente da Sociedade Portuguesa de Virologia, coitado, foi tratado de analfabeto para baixo, quando não de funesto homofóbico.

 

Em lado algum se explica esse estranhíssimo fenómeno de uma doença que não é exclusiva de homens ter, até agora, infectado apenas homens em Portugal

 

Pelo caminho, o mundo embarcou numa das suas actividades favoritas dos últimos tempos, sempre que estão em causa doenças, comportamentos e grupos historicamente discriminados: enxertou à martelada o combate ao preconceito no campo da saúde pública, borrifando-se para a ciência, para a lógica, para a sensatez e, já agora, para um jornalismo informativo, e não de causas.

 

Desde que o tema da varíola-dos-macacos surgiu, o PÚBLICO tem acompanhado o assunto de perto, e ainda há dias noticiou que Portugal é já o país com maior número de casos por milhão de habitantes em todo o mundo. Mas a cada notícia que surge sobre o tema, actualiza-se o número de infectados – 96, neste momento –, informa-se que são todos homens, acrescenta-se que “esta não é, no entanto, uma doença exclusiva de homens”, mas em lado algum – repito: em lado algum – se explica esse estranhíssimo fenómeno de uma doença que não é exclusiva de homens ter, até agora, infectado apenas homens em Portugal.

 

Significa isso que a doença é exclusivamente masculina? Não. Só que o surto parece ter tido origem na comunidade gay e bissexual que frequentou um festival nas Ilhas Canárias, uma sauna em Madrid e outros lugares de encontro gay pela Europa fora. Donde, se o surto está neste momento instalado numa determinada comunidade, essa comunidade tem de estar especialmente alerta – porque o risco de infecção é realmente maior.

 

Esconder este facto com medo da propagação da homofobia é um duplo absurdo. 1) É um absurdo porque o silêncio coloca em perigo os homens que frequentam os espaços que neste momento são mais propícios à propagação da doença. 2) É um absurdo porque o único problema que existe com a promiscuidade sexual é de saúde pública, e não de moral pública – e o silêncio envergonhado confunde uma com a outra. Os gays saíram do armário para agora enfiarmos as doenças lá dentro? Não, obrigado.

 

O autor é colunista do PÚBLICO