This BBC report elicits the following response, with my emphasis added, from my godmother, Ivy Ellick (OBE, JP, as she would never dream of writing), of Putty Hill, Alarm Forest, Island of St Helena, South Atlantic:
I have lived on St Helena all my life. I have been fortunate in having the opportunity to live and visit a good few countries, but for me St Helena is and will always be home. The last thing I would want to happen is for the peace and tranquillity of the life that I enjoy here disrupted in any way. However, if St Helena does not become accessible by air then our community will certainly dwindle to nothing.
We were promised an airport in 2002. During this time millions of pounds have been spent on various studies - consultants have come and gone in droves, at huge expense. If this isn't a waste on British taxpayers money then I don't know what is. We are not asking for a big international airport as the possibility of tourists queuing to come here is rather slim. All we need is a small airstrip that will enable flights to move between St Helena and Ascension Island.
We have been for over 300 years loyal to the British Crown, our island was used during the time that Britain was developing its trading links with the Far East. Our people have supported the Motherland and fought in the two world wars, the Falklands War, Iraq and Afghanistan - what else have we to do to be treated as other citizens of the United Kingdom?
Oh, well, Auntie Ivy. We need that money to keep RBS afloat, so that it can fund the Kraft takeover of Cadbury.
I'll say that again: RBS - which I own, and which you may very well own, too - is giving Kraft the colossal credit necessary for it to buy Cadbury, contrary to British sovereignty and with all that follows from acquisition by a company ludicrously in debt. Ludicrously in debt, you understand, to you and to me.
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Personally I think St Helena should be sold to a ultra-regligious Christian, right-wing, English-speaking African dictator and you be sent back there to find that your fantasy form of government is actually your worst nightmare, Davud Lundsay.
ReplyDeleteWe need the money. Maybe Bob Mugabe has some Conservative friends to take over and crown himself Emperor of the place.
Since you mention Saint Helena and Coronations, according to some body of MPs, the new Constitution of Saint Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha cannot express that British Overseas Territory's desire "to continue as communities of tolerance, with respect for government and the law, Christian and family values and protection of the environment".
ReplyDeleteAnd according to some body of MPs, the new Constitution of the Cayman Islands cannot now say that that British Overseas Territory is a "God-fearing country based on traditional Christian values, tolerant of other religions and beliefs", nor speak of "a country in which religion finds its expression in moral living and social justice".
So how, according to that body of MPs, can the Coronation Service continue to contain the words, spoken by the Archbishop of Canterbury as he hands the Sword of State to the monarch, "With this sword do justice, stop the growth of iniquity, protect the holy Church of God, help and defend widows and orphans, restore the things that are gone to decay, maintain the things that are restored, punish and reform what is amiss and confirm what is in good order"?
Of course, it cannot. That is the whole point. If being a British Overseas Territory precludes having a specifically Christian basis for the State, then it could not be more obvious what that says about the United Kingdom herself.
One need hardly add that these MPs are a cross-party lot. What's that you say? There is a strong Christian component to the Tory coalition? There used to be. Back when there was also a strong Christian component to the Labour coalition, and a strong Christian component to the Liberal coalition. But these days, don't vote for any of them. Make alternative arrangements.
English-speaking? He does realise that English is the only language spoken in St Helena?
ReplyDeleteObviously not. And they write it a lot better than he does.
ReplyDeleteHe is probably writing from the only non-English-speaking city in these islands (and in that sense, among others, a city less British than Dublin or Cork), and, although I'd have to check, the only city in all the Queen's Realms and Territories where it is impossible to assume that people can at least understand English, whether or not they happen to speak it at home.
No wonder that central government insists on running the place as a colony, without anything like the internal self-government of Saint Helena. Without a common language, any sort of self-government is impossible.
London is, however, permitted the trappings of something rather like the Presidency of a banana republic. To match its Third World wealth disparities and its Third World transport infrastructure, I suppose.