A Farewell To Lisbon

It’s not just the weather: the other week, the rain lashed down across Lisbon, out came the umbrellas, and tourists took cover under a gloomy dark sky. Yet here was a capital, and a wider country, that gave the impression of being more at ease with itself, happier, and more optimistic than the UK.

View over Lisbon from O Miradouro da Nossa Senhora do Monte in Graça

As I settled into my seat and the Intercidades rumbled across The Bridge on its way south, the question kept asking itself: what brings that difference? Is it something easily quantified? What follows shows why much of what we are fed by our print and broadcast media, so much of that informed by bad faith actors, means that countries like Britain get it badly wrong.

It’s Not About Low Taxes Portugal levies taxes on almost everything; one example is IVA, or what we call VAT. Exemption? You jest. Bottle of still mineral water? 13% on that. Legal services? That’ll be the top rate of 23%. Everything in your supermarket shop takes a hit. VAT is a highly effective tax raiser. There are also local taxes, like on your hotel bill - €2 pppn.

They Remember Life Without Democracy Less than half a century ago, this was a totalitarian dictatorship. The fear of arrest, imprisonment or worse was real, as was the censor’s red pen. Pretence of democracy was a sham: the Estado Novo knew how to get the poll result it wanted, and always got it.

Praça do Comércio, seen from O Arco da Rua Augusta

Politics Is Taken Seriously The transport minister suggesting that Lisbon’s new airport will be across the river at Montijo, before being slapped down by the PM, was a major political event. The health minister resigning over the state of the SNS (roughly equivalent of the NHS) was moreso. Politicians are more in touch with reality and tend not to lie for kicks. Membership of the EU is not seriously challenged. A proportional voting system helps.

There Is No Monarchy Portugal became a Republic on the 5th of October 1910. There is a President, but his is an elective office, with real powers, like being able to dismiss a Government and call new elections. Sure, the press gave wall to wall coverage to the death of Isabel II, as they called Brenda, and also Carlos III, but they don’t want one of their own, thanks.

Home Ownership Need Not Mean Houses Most people, especially in cities like Lisbon, live in apartments, some of which are Very Exclusive Indeed. Many less well off people rent, and as The Big City is increasingly pricy, they live in areas like the south side of the river, commuting often by ferry. Cacilhas to Cais do Sodré, and Barreiro to Terreiro do Paço, are routes that move serious numbers of people across the water. Every day.

Catamaran Fernando Namora about to depart the Terreiro do Paço ferry terminal for Barreiro

History Is Not Optional England, in particular, serves up a highly selective subset of the country’s history; many bad faith actors misinterpret it while denouncing those who advocate for a fuller understanding of what was done in their country’s name. In Portugal, every town has a street commemorating April 25, October 5 and December 1, alongside figures from the age of discovery to the 20th Century. Being knowledgeable about history is not difficult. It’s all around you, good, bad and indifferent.

Cities And Towns Look Cared For Outside London, even within it, the impression of post-2010 neglect is inescapable. Not so in big city and small town Portugal: yes, there is broken infrastructure (the Lisbon Metro has a grim record here), but green spaces are mowed, squares swept, litter picked. The constant grind of austerity has been eased. But not in the UK.

People Interact Congregating at cafés, meeting for dinner, conversing over a bifana, that most Portuguese of fast food (or, yes, while enjoying the ubiquitous Pasteis de Nata), just talking to one another on a train journey - while so many in the UK shut themselves away, don’t move outside their own crowd. Maybe the weather does have something to do with that one.

Part of the start-up scene: the LX Factory in Alcântara

There Is No Delusion Of Empire The increasingly desperate and pointless colonial wars died with the expiry of the Estado Novo; former colonies became independent; most are happy with the place of Portugal on the world stage, as a medium sized country within the European Union.

Migrants Are Welcomed Sure, there are fringe politicians peddling hate, but successive Governments in Lisbon have known the value of inward migration. Hence the city being a magnet for digital nomads and start-ups. When the first plane load of refugees from Ukraine arrived, the President was first up the aircraft’s steps to welcome them personally.

There Is No Rupert Murdoch Here As with many European countries, the malign influence of the Murdoch Mafiosi is absent, so none of Rupe’s troops sticking their bugles in, telling the voters who to support, who they should like, and who they should hate. And no subsidiary of Associated Newspapers either. Trust in the written press in 2019 was 58% in Portugal; in the UK it was 15%. Media bad faith actors have poisoned the English speaking world.

Portugal, and other European countries, have much from which the UK could learn. But the largest part of the UK - England - will not listen. Sad, really.

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