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”.