The Chief Minister and the Financial Secretary have presented the family of the late Sir Joshua Hassan with the first copy of the new £100 note which commemorates his birth.

The note is the first ever £100 sterling banknote to be produced in polymer, as well as Gibraltar's first sterling banknote to be produced in this material.

The government says the note will have a smoother feel than traditional banknote paper but it will be more durable and will stay cleaner for longer.

Mr Picardo says the new polymer banknotes are at the cutting edge of banknote design and the security features are second to none.

To read the complete article, see:
First Sir Joshua Hassan £100 polymer banknote presented to family (www.gbc.gi/news/first-sir-joshua-hassan-100-polymer-banknote-presented-family-33011)

Sir Joshua Hassan, Gibraltar's first Chief Minister, dominated the life of the Rock throughout a political career that spanned 40 years. With his encouragement, Gibraltarians, who for nearly three centuries had passively fulfilled their role as loyal servants of the British garrison, developed a proud sense of identity and a desire for emancipation that continues to cause headaches both in Whitehall and in Madrid.

He was the first Gibraltarian leader to assert that only the inhabitants of the Rock had the right to decide their future. He was, in that sense, in the mould of a number of leaders throughout the British Empire who contributed to tbe process of post-war decolonisation. One of the last steps in that process took place in Hong Kong on the day he died.

Twice in the 1960s, Hassan - regarded as a radical if not a revolutionary - led petitioners from the Rock to testify in New York before the United Nations Committee on Decolonisation, insisting that the vast majority of his compatriots wanted to remain British. In 1967 he put his principle to the test with a referendum on the colony's future. The public's verdict was overwhelming - 12,138 votes in favour of remaining with Britain, and only 44 votes against.

David Pickup writes:

To read the complete article, see:
Obituary: Sir Joshua Hassan (www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-sir-joshua-hassan-1248542.html)