Things Can Only Get 23

There are several botanical gardens in Funchal. The best one is Monte Palace Tropical Garden and is most fun if accessed by the cable car. There is a second, shorter cable car journey from there to the simpler Municipal Gardens. The funny thing is that the main cable car ticket office will admit nothing of the existence of the second one. You cannot buy a discounted ticket for both.

I thought about this as I wondered where my daily political writing was going to go today. Once a landslide victory has been won by one party it is tempting to completely ignore the existence of the other main party. It might take them two or three electoral cycles to claw their way back so why bother?

But here’s a thing. We will probably have a centre-left government. A good question would be to look at issues which can be taken out of party politics. What things do we not need to argue about? Is there a way of cleaning up rivers and beaches, for instance, to which no one object? What did the centre-right want to be doing?

I know the outgoing government (surely they’re toast now?) had little to commend them. So it’s a good time to establish a principle. The new government should thank the old government for its service and see if there is anything they were trying to do which can still be delivered. Otherwise we will never develop a long-term vision about anything.

Both gardens and both cable cars and back make a fine day trip. And once you´ve bought a ticket you wont change your mind, easily.