Latest news and stories about opinion in Portugal for expats and residents.
In this opinion piece, Arlindo Oliveira highlights that Portugal shows the largest discrepancy between perceived corruption (high) and corruption measured by direct personal experience (low). The article analyses how this perception–experience gap affects public trust and the policy debate, and argues for targeted communication and policy responses to reconcile public perception with measured realities.
In this analytical opinion piece Miguel Esteves Cardoso contends that our bodies often cope and recover on their own. He examines tendencies to overreact and overmedicalise everyday symptoms, arguing for measured self-care, patience and perspective—an approach especially pertinent to expatriates adjusting to different health norms.
Everyone has excellent suggestions for how to fill our free time. And we, stupidly, give in. Down with the occupiers! Go bother Camões! A column by Miguel Esteves Cardoso
There are now Platonic-style preachers who, in order to ingratiate themselves with their audience, adopt the habit of the ignorant; and instead of teaching, they doubt. Chronicle by Rogério Casanova
A section of a newspaper or publication where readers' letters are published.
It is true. Being a conservative is a lot of work, for the old Lampedusa reason that one must change many things in order to stay the same. A column by Miguel Esteves Cardoso.
With time — that is, after many years of letting ourselves be governed by the haste of others — one realises that it is not work that dignifies or destroys us. A column by Miguel Esteves Cardoso.
With the time for shorts having arrived, I notice that there are compatriots who prefer to continue marching in long trousers rather than show the ugly legs they were born with. A chronicle by Miguel Esteves Cardoso.
It takes time for children to realise that their parents are also human.
Not appearing to be an extroverted person, Pope Leo XIV conveys something tender and affectionate.
It takes courage to stand out. A chronicle by Inês Meneses
If something is worth paying attention to, it is worth paying no attention to anything else. That is why reading a book is better: because you are not doing anything else. A column by Miguel Esteves Cardoso.
In a future marked by social distancing and artificial intelligence, performing arts such as opera and ballet will remain alive and will have the advantage of being bastions of authenticity. Opinion by Pedro Adão e Silva
Rice relies heavily on water. It was grown in rainwater and deserves to be cooked in rainwater. A column by Miguel Esteves Cardoso.
Isn't it a greater compliment to say that cats increase the happiness of those who were already happy, or decrease the sadness of those who were already sad, than to say that one could not live without them? A column by Miguel Esteves Cardoso.
The time of having colours for boys and colours for girls is long gone, thanks to common sense and having eyes in one's head. A column by Miguel Esteves Cardoso.
Instead of looking for signs of Spring — which are so numerous that one does not need to be Sherlock Holmes — I will spend the final days tracking down the signs of Winter that have still managed to survive. A column by Miguel Esteves Cardoso.
It is the nightmare of producers of fillers, prosthetics, extensions, makeup, and other disguises: having their own youth turn against them. A chronicle by Miguel Esteves Cardoso.
We are so afraid of what others think, so insecure, and have such a desire to always be highly desired, that we end up crushing our own soul. A column by Miguel Esteves Cardoso.
Our little head is a small thing – despite us always singing about the unexplored magnificence of the brain – and it needs all the help it can get. Chronicle by Miguel Esteves Cardoso
I had to look it up on the internet — always a good sign — where the Webster’s website defines a 'failson' as an incompetent son of a wealthy father who only gets by because of who his father is. A column by Miguel Esteves Cardoso.
We used new oak to create sweet notes, soften tannins and 'dress up' the wine to rapidly trigger dopamine in the brain. So much so that what should have been music turned into noise. Opinion by Catarina Cunha
Do the clouds realise the harm they're causing? Can't they go and rain somewhere else? It's not as if there aren't places on the planet that need water. Column by Miguel Esteves Cardoso.
In 1994, when in Portugal politicians who lied and insulted were still obliged to resign, and there wasn't the farce there is today surrounding wine, I went to Vila Grande. Column by Pedro Garcias
It will never be known to what extent some victims of domestic violence may be influenced by this rhetoric and inadvertently find themselves affected. Column by Liliana Carona
We say that good things never return, that we should use our longing to appreciate the luck of having lived those moments. But they do return. Column by Miguel Esteves Cardoso
The greater risk is not that technology will think for us. It's that we give up thinking about it. Opinion piece by Pedro Patacho
Seguro and Ventura defended their respective territories well. But one is larger than the other, and it does not appear that the debate produced any significant change to the boundary between them. Opinion by Francisco Mendes da Silva
Some offences cannot be treated merely as individual expression, as they involve historical processes of dehumanisation and demand ethical responsibility. Opinion by José Luís Landeira.
The real question is not about banning or not banning, or about whether to use AI. The paradox is an old one: knowledge is not transmitted, it is constructed. That construction takes place from the inside out. Column by Filipa M. Ribeiro
