Jane Cameron – truly “the special one”

The death of any person is difficult to bear for family and friends, more so, perhaps, if that death was caused by accident and our sympathies go out to all those in the Falklands for whom the festive season has been marred by bereavement.

Red tapers struck down

Dullards we are, one and all. Too busy we are crying and whinging about being choked by red tape that we fail to see small victories and rejoice in them. I refer to a notice in the back pages of the Penguin News of a few weeks ago informing us that we may now import a number of types of fruit without the need for the tedium of a pile of documentation, albeit with a few conditions.

Diddle Deemail

The Diddle Dee Telegraph still works – some would say more effectively than Cable and Wireless - and occasionally brings good news from unexpected quarters. The Beak was cheered last week to discover by this medium that Sharon Halford, as one of the elected members for the Camp in this Council is now emailing all her constituents with regular reports on what she is doing on their behalf. Whether or not Sharon’s reports make riveting reading, the fact that she is sending them is a praiseworthy acknowledgement of her accountability to the people who put her where she is and, incidentally, dispels the belief held by at least one member of the previous assembly that such communication is “elitist.”

Demeaning

With no shortage of rant-worthy issues soaking up The Beak's creative juices of late, it has taken over a week to put finger to keyboard regarding a recent feather-ruffling matter.

The case in question is a brief letter in the Your Questions Answered section (aka the civil servant letters page) of the December 4th Penguin News, asking if it was true that the staff carrying out the business end of the demining operation had never done such work before. It took a couple of minutes for the implications of this question to sink in: Complete novices. Handling 28 year old explosive devices. Could someone really think this was going on? They may as well have asked "Is it true that Bactec will be using the Irish demining technique (hands on ears, one foot stamping)?"

Falkland Islands News Network - Time to bomb it?

Those of us in the Falkland Islands fortunate enough not only to get TV reception, but also to enjoy the varied range of channels offered by KTV, may have come across the satirical news programme, The Daily Show. This programme, which is broadcast by CNN and hosted by Jon Stewart uses a conventional news desk format to take an irreverent and sometimes hilarious look at the stories currently in the news.

Presumably to avoid legal action, but also for the benefit of any idiots who might be watching, the screening of The Daily Show is preceded by a disclaimer which states that the views expressed in the programme are not those of the broadcaster and have not been fully thought out. It also states that the presenter and the reporters featured are not journalists.

Sane regular readers of the Falkland Islands News Network (FINN), if there are any, and particularly anyone who has read an article of December 3rd entitled: Falklands’ Oil –Time to Defuse the Bomb, must surely be wondering why, if in the name of free speech we must permit this kind of incoherent dribble, it cannot also be preceded by a similar disclaimer.

To moderate or not to moderate

It has been gratifying to see the number of comments on the posts so far: some witty, some insightful, some not.  Unfortunately there will always be comments which take it a touch too far (just ask Rosemary Minto) which is why they are moderated on this blog.

Undone by paragraph 12

If like me you have no life and are simply killing time until the grim reaper takes his inevitable swing then you may have found yourself perusing Gazette Supplement number 12 of 2009 which accompanies Gazette number 17. Of course you will have noticed paragraph 12 of the Members’ Remuneration Bill 2009 which basically states that a Councillor may take his/her partner on one overseas trip per term of office at the expense of FIG.

The delusion of choice

Newly arrived residents and visitors to the Falklands could be forgiven for thinking that we enjoy a level of competition and choice in our retail market unusual for such a small population.

The much-publicised opening of the new West Store extension marked another battle in the seemingly endless war for our shopping baskets that FIC and the Chandlery continue to wage against each other. Waitrose, Sainsbury's... Never before have shelves offered so many UK household staples to so few. And yet, why does it feel like there is still an element of "like it or lump it" about food shopping in Stanley? And have things changed that much, really?

The opposition

Submitted by The Beak follower "Rambunctious Penguin"

Having been voted out one might expect a former Councillor to get the hint and disappear into obscurity, at least for a while. It's somewhat tedious therefore to hear Mikey Mike point scoring at public meetings and trying to tell the Councillors what they should be doing via the pages of the Penguin News. I don't think either of these "public appearances" made him look good and they suggest that he has a certain contempt for the process of democracy that said his input wasn't necessary.

Any port in a storm.

The much anticipated first public meeting has been and gone and already there are worrying signs creeping in that this may not be quite the council of action some people expect. Case in point being the port development: Dick Sawle said he'd like to speed things up, whilst at the same time revealing there would be a new advisory committee. He might as well have said he’d like to build the new port single handed….out of cheese.

Severely bogged television

Not wishing to sound like a "Williephile" but old Bill from the West hit the nail on the head at last night's public meeting when talking about the new television system: "back to square one" he was heard to growl.  Quite right too, how can installation costs of £255,000 for Camp and £455,000 for Stanley be justifiable, particularly when all we're buying is just BFBS 1 and 2?

All penguined out.

Graham Bound is quite right to suggest that a new coat-of-arms is long overdue for the Falklands in this week's Penguin News, but one with wildlife? If I see another crest, logo or company name with a penguin or a goose on it, I am going to kick a kitten. It beggars belief that when choosing a company name, so many resort to the predictable postcard images of penguins, seals and the like. One can only imagine what goes through their mind: "Well, the Falklands has a long-standing association with Antarctic explorers and global navigators, we could name our company after one of them to reflect an indefatigable spirit and a willingness to succeed above all” “Ah yes, but King Penguins have the cutest hatchlings ” “That’s settled then, call the registrar general!”

Camp carry on.

Was I the only one surprised to find that two of the three Camp Councillors avoided taking on any camp portfolios, allowing the majority instead to go to a newbie Stanley Councillor? Whilst I am sure the portfolios in question will benefit from Mr Ross's not inconsiderable skills it seems strange that two of the people who apparently believe most strongly in the two constituency system have given an excellent example of why a single constituency would appear to be perfectly acceptable.

Speechifying

I loathe public speaking and rarely practice it, I much prefer to hide behind pen and paper, so perhaps I’m not qualified to pass judgement on others. However, there is many a person doing a job that they aren’t qualified for…

I find it irksome that in Legco, Councillors regularly get up and simply ramble during their adjournment speeches. It’s perhaps insulting to the privileged position that they are in to clearly not prepare for an important moment of their work. If Councillors “just cuff it” in their Legco speeches then how can we expect others in the Islands, in particular the civil service, to take their jobs seriously? I think there is something to the saying that “behaviour breeds behaviour”.