#Guernsey

My son James had some holiday to use. Neither of us had been to Guernsey before. There were cheap flights available from Southampton so we went for it for a short break. The flight takes less than 45 (35) minutes depending on the wind strength/direction.

James or I didn't know much about Guernsey. Like many people he wasn't exactly sure where the Channel Islands were and immediately thought as we were flying close to France we were going to a foreign country - passports to the ready! The Isle of Wight is regularly mixed up with the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. 

Anyway here is a bit about Guernsey :

• Guernsey is NOT part of the UK (although some aspects like defence and international relations are managed by the UK). It is a British Crown Dependency.
• We refer to the Channel Islands as if they are a constitutional or political unit. They are not. Jersey has its own and separate relationship with the UK.
• The Guernsey Crown Dependency includes the other inhabited channel islands of Alderney, Sark and Herm.
• They are referred to as Bailiwicks.
• The Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey are not members of the Commonwealth and surprisingly have never been members of the EU. 

GEOGRAPHY/TOPOGRAPHY

As we live on the Isle of Wight it is natural we draw comparisons with Guernsey.

I have compiled a chart :

SIZE - IOW 150 sq miles - Guernsey 30 sq miles ( Jersey 44 sq miles)

Therefore the IOW is 5 times larger than Guernsey (a surprise to me).

POPULATIONS APPROX - IOW  150K  Guernsey 75K (Jersey 110k)

Therefore while Guernsey has roughly half the population of the IOW they are living on a much smaller Island.

MY IMPRESSIONS

• I hired a car at the airport and as part of the process were advised of some of the quirks of driving on Guernsey. The main one is there is an island wide maximum speed limit of 35 mph and in many places it is less than that. We were told the roads were busy and they operate a box junction system where cars leave alternately.
• The speed limit is not an issue - there is nowhere where you can drive at more than 35 miles an hour. Roads are windey, undulating and narrow. While most roads will take 2 cars wing mirrors are in constant danger! There is no scope to overtake. The roads are very busy - almost always a train of small cars moving around in orderly fashion like they are on rails. Unlike in Jersey there are very few ostentatious powerful cars - there really is no point - and virtually no lorries. Driving is easy and non threatening. There is no scope for the boy racer.
• Surprisingly and I have to say disappointingly Guernsey is built up. Virtually every road has ribbon housing development on both sides with no gaps.
• The houses are nice - well maintained - and often behind high walls. However my over riding feeling of Guernsey is it is claustrophobic. On most roads there is a pedestrian path on one side - but because of the road width and constant traffic it is not a place to walk or choose to ride a bike in my opinion.
• What sets Guernsey apart is it does have a beautiful coastline and much of it remains unspoilt and uncommercialized. There are undoubtedly fine coastal walks with lovely beaches.
• Of the coast - Guernsey experiences some of the biggest tides in the world - up to 33 ft - 10 m. Much of the coast is rocky and tide rips between the small islands can be up to 12 knots. It is therefore a formidable challenge for sailors but as we have heard in news recently - with disputes over fishing rights - the waters are rich particularly for crab and lobster.
• Guernsey is famous for its Guernsey cows - and for horticulture - flowers and tomatoes. However I have to say there was not much evidence of agriculture although of course it exists. The main earners for Guernsey now is financial services and tourism. The large population - much of it retired - inevitably generates jobs for the locals and taxation revenues (which I guess is the whole point of the housing development).
• Like Jersey - Guernsey has attractive tax arrangements in place. However Jersey feels much more wealthy - much bigger grander houses - more ostentatious. Guernsey appears modest - tidy - safe - gentle.
• While I cannot claim to have interacted that much with the locals - the feeling I have that while they are civil enough they largely keep themselves to themselves. Several locals referred to how Guernsey has changed - how it has become overdeveloped - over populated. One house knocked down and 10 built in its place! Obviously and understandably they resent it.
• Guernsey like Jersey - does operate a 2 tier property market. Some properties are designated as only for qualifying locals. They are cheaper than the ones that can be bought by outsiders.
• Like most islands - most goods have to be imported from the mainland - there are additional costs involved and Guernsey is not cheap.

My overall thought is while Guernsey is safe and pleasant, has a beautiful coastline and a favourable climate, it has been over developed and feels claustrophobic. It is a shame. Just about everywhere is under pressure from property developers and population growth. I regularly raise objections to planning applications on the IOW - but Guernsey has gone too far - lets hope it can be avoided here. (it must have some impact on the tourism trade.)

Having said that James and I had a real fun time - a good little winter break. I am glad we went. 

Here are a few mob photos - mainly of the coast - which I enjoyed most.

Alderney left Jersey right

Jersey - massive tides going through there.

It was very windy - especially on the flight home

St Peter Port

The Albion - since 1780 - according to the Guinness Book of records is the closest pub to a church in the British Isles

James having a lunchtime snack

Our favourite pub St Peter Port

A night out at the Doghouse. The Beatles having been hiding away in Guernsey!

For the record xxx

#NazaninZaghari-Ratcliffe & Insulate Britain protests

Like many of you I have recently read about these 2 protests - Richard Ratcliffe's hunger strike and Insulate Britain disruptive blocking behaviour. Both have been highly critical of the British Government and their protests essentially directed at Boris Johnson and his cabinet and calling for their further action. 

This is how I see it :

I suspect Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe is innocent but I do not definitely know she is. Clearly her husband and their supporters believe she is. It is not difficult to believe she is being used by the regime in Tehran to gain political leverage over GB and as such is being very badly treated. I understand she is not the only one.

Insulate Britain is an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion. They are focused on "saving the planet" by direct action. They have caused major and costly disruption particularly around London and have ludicrously claimed stopping ambulances getting to hospital is justified.

In my mind both protests suffer from the same fundamental problem. They are protesting against the wrong people.

Clearly in the Ratcliffe case it is not the British Government who are at fault - it is the Iranians. It is the Iranians that have imprisoned her to gain leverage and publicity. Criticism and protest should be directed against them.

With Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion - Britain is and remains one of the most effective and committed nations to working to address climate change. There are many many countries lagging behind - not least China. Why are they not protesting outside the embassies of the nations who are the major polluters and who are dragging their feet in addressing global warming.

The answer :

Because GB is a easy target for them.

GB is tolerant.

We respect freedom of speech and the right to protest.

We are indulgent of protestors. We give them a voice.

Protestors are safe - unlike in most counties our police to not resort to violent behaviour - even in the face of extreme provocation.

The outcome - when people like Richard Ratcliffe or environmental protestors feel they need to do something they typically (and understandably) take the safe option. Have a go at our Government and or the British people. We will take it. We will not react. Our perverse government hating mainstream media will indulge them of course.

With regard Mr Ratcliffe he is well meaning. He is hurt. He is desperate. Every sympathy for him. But the British government are not at fault. They cannot concede to Iran's tactic. They cannot pay a £400m ransom. Where would it end? Mr Ratcliffe is inadvertently playing into Iran's game. He is sadly helping Iran with their cynical and cruel strategies. They will take a win from him trying to embarrass the British government. I understand it is hard for him to risk upsetting Iran for fear of an even more draconian sentence for his wife. But the fact is Iran are the aggressors here not the British government / specifically the Foreign Office. Iran want to make this a big issue and it obviously suits them to see the British government being criticised by their own. Mr Ratcliffe is potentially providing Iran with more leverage to exploit his wife's detention.

I have much less sympathy for the environmental protesters. Unlike Mr Ratcliffe whose protests were peaceful the direct action taken by Insulate Britain / Extinction Rebellion caused a great deal of stress, inconvenience and cost and in some instances they actually caused danger to the general public. They are in reality largely trying to preach to the converted here. They have no exceptional insight. In my view it is more about making themselves feel good - feel significant rather than actually achieving anything useful. In fact what they have achieved is alienation - they have damaged the cause of the environmental lobbyists by their unreasonable behaviour.

As I have said the UK has a green agenda at government level and the people are mainly backing the measures being implemented including insulating homes. If these protesters are committed to saving the planet they should focus on the most significant polluters and it is not the UK. Protest against China for instance - but be prepared for pushback. Protesters know this which why they continue to focus on the likes of a warm and cuddly UK - we will indulge them.

Just a bit of background :    

Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe is an Iranian-British dual citizen who has been detained in Iran since 3 April 2016. In early September 2016, she was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of "plotting to topple the Iranian government". She was temporarily released on 17 March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, while being monitored.

The prosecutor general of Tehran stated in October 2017 that Zaghari-Ratcliffe was being held for running "a BBC Persian online journalism course which was aimed at recruiting and training people to spread propaganda against Iran".On  7 March 2021, her original sentence ended, but she was scheduled to face a second set of charges on 14 March. On 26 April, she was found guilty of propaganda activities against the government and sentenced to one year in prison.On 16 October, her appeal was rejected by the Iranian court.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe has always denied the spying charges against her, and her husband maintains that his wife "was imprisoned as leverage for a debt owed by the UK over its failure to deliver tanks to Iran in 1979."

Richard Ratcliffe to end hunger strike for wife Nazanin after 21 days

Husband of detained Iranian-British national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe ends latest attempt to force UK government to act

Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of the detained Iranian-British dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, is to end his hunger strike after 21 days.

Ratcliffe said he had told his wife he would end the protest on Saturday and that he would later be visiting hospital for a full check-up.

He told his supporters on the Free Nazanin Twitter account: “Today I have promised Nazanin to end the hunger strike. Gabriella needs two parents. Thank you all for your overwhelming care these past three weeks.

Boris Johnson’s betrayal of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe shows us who he really is

Jonathan Freedland

Read more

“The last act of the hunger strike will be our patchwork event in front of the Foreign Office at 13.30, then I will be going to the hospital for a full check-up. Thank you for keeping our family in the light.”

Ratcliffe told the PA news agency his job was to “keep going”, adding: “We probably hoped we’d get a breakthrough doing this. We haven’t yet. I didn’t want to go out in an ambulance. I want to walk out with my head held high.” He also criticised Boris Johnson for his “telling” absence in talking to him during the protest.

His strike ended as a patchwork was due to be unveiled, made from all the patches that supporters have been sending throughout his time camped outside the Foreign Office.

Ratcliffe began the demonstration outside the Foreign Office, in central London, last month and endured almost three weeks in his latest attempt to force action from the UK government to bring his wife home.

He was joined at a vigil on Friday by his seven-year-old daughter, Gabriella, and supporters, who gathered in a show of solidarity. But allies had started to raise concerns for his health and expressed fears that he could permanently damage himself.

Earlier on Saturday, the Labour MP Tulip Siddiq called for Johnson to visit her constituent “in solidarity”. She tweeted: “It has been three weeks since Richard Ratcliffe last ate any food. In that time, not a single government minister has visited his camp outside the Foreign Office in solidarity.

“Will the prime minister take five minutes out of his day to visit my constituent today?”

Speaking on Thursday, Ratcliffe said: “I think there’s a basic medical limit on how long you do a hunger strike for. I made a promise to Nazanin, I made a promise to my family, Mum in particular, and to the family doctors, that I won’t take it too far.

“But yeah, I don’t think we walk away head held high feeling like it’s all been sorted.”

The Middle East minister, James Cleverly, met Ratcliffe this week to discuss the current situation regarding his wife’s detention in Iran, where she has been held since 2016 – more than 2,000 days.

After the meeting, Ratcliffe said he had been left feeling “deflated”, adding: “If I’m honest, it felt like, you know, perfectly nice, sincere, caring, everyone in the room was caring. But you know we’re still stuck in the same status quo.

“We’re still stuck in the same problems that led us to end up on hunger strike.”

Throughout his near-three-week protest, he has been calling for the British government to pay a £400m debt to Tehran, dating back to the 1970s. The British debt is acknowledged as a precondition for the release of Zaghari-Ratcliffe, as well as other detainees.

Insulate Britain

A series of protests by the group Insulate Britain involving traffic obstruction began on 13 September 2021.The group has blockaded the M25 and other motorways in the United Kingdom, as well as roads in London and the Port of Dover.

The protesters demand that the government insulate all social housing in the UK by 2025 and retrofit all homes with insulation by 2030. They have drawn condemnation from figures within the government.

Insulate Britain is an environmental activist group, formed by people involved in the global environmental movement Extinction Rebellion.The group began hosting both online and in-person events in July 2021, also raising money for direct action. They use civil disobedience as a tactic.

Opinion polling conducted by YouGov from 5–6 October 2021 found that 72% of those surveyed opposed the protesters' actions, with 18% supporting the actions, and 10% that did not know.

#Madeira

I am recently back from a short break. It is the first time I have been to the island of Madeira.

You might already know it. I didn't. I knew it had a reputation for flowers and was situated somewhere in the sun this side of the Atlantic but not much more. The reason it cropped up was covid - somewhere to at last get away to that was on the green list. Madeira is an autonomous Portuguese island and while mainland Portugal including the Canaries was on the amber list - Madeira was green. 

So where actually is it? Well - 250 miles north of the Canaries - and 320 miles west of Morocco. It is part of an archipelago and the biggest island. Madeira is about 35 miles long and 14 miles wide (so maybe a 1/3rd bigger than the Isle of Wight - and has a surprisingly big population - now 250000. It has a mountain ridge that extends along the centre of the Island which rises to 6109 ft at its highest point - over 1500 ft higher than Ben Nevis - the UK's highest mountain.

The geology is fascinating.

Madeira is at the top of a massive volcano that rises about 20000 feet from the Atlantic seabed. It is part of the massive undersea Tore Mountain Range. Most of the activity ended 700000 years ago and erosion has now shaped the landscape.  

While in the time available I did not see much of the landscape it is easy to get an idea of it. As you approach on the plane the view is predominantly black (volcanic) craggy mountains. The airport is on a narrow coastal strip. Immediately you see the terrain is extremely hilly - with most of the properties built on slopes - often severe ones. It is quite a sight. The road to Funchal from the airport runs through a number of  substantial tunnels - alpine style. The taxi driver said before they were built the journey would have taken 2 hours. It now takes 20 minutes.

Anyway in no particular order here are a few odds and ends that come to mind about Madeira :

• Madeira is not a brash place - it is not a party destination. Indeed it is popular with people retiring and looking for a quiet lifestyle.
• It is well maintained - clean and gentle. The south particularly has a mild maritime climate and plants thrive. the gardens and parks are a feature. We visited the Jardine Botanico - high above Funchal (by cable car). The gardens have international renown.
• Although the topography is much different Funchal reminded me of Singapore ie quiet, ordered - tidy - even manicured. 
• While the tourism trade is very well established there is only one natural beach - Praia Formosa - basalt rock and black volcanic sand. Apparently there are two others but they were created by sand imported from the Sahara.
• As Madeira is at the top of a 20000 ft mountain the islands sides are typically sheer - hence few beaches. The water gets deep very quickly and it has some of the highest sea cliffs in the world at 580m. Probably the reason it is a popular stop for the cruise ships.
• There is a distinct difference between the southern coast and the northern coast in terms of climate. If you want late season sun - head south. Temperatures obviously change as you move from sea level rapidly up to 6000ft. Allows for many different types of plants to grow in a short space.
• Although there is plenty of sea fish etc now available Madeiran waters are not good for fishing because of the great depth of water. Consequently much is imported from the Portuguese mainland. Similarly foodstuffs. As a result Madeira is not a giveaway price wise.
• Their main fish and their traditional dish is Scabbard fish - often served with bananas (that grow well). Scabbard fish are ugly brutes - jet black - big teeth - a type of eel. Not everyone's cup of tea based on looks but they eat well. 

Madeira's signature dish - Scabbard fish with banana

• Madeiran people seem typically short in stature. I suspect this is diet related. It is the case in China and India - the younger people are taller - because of improved diets. I think a lot of Madeiran's leave to work abroad. I sat next to a lady on the plane that has worked in London for 45 years - but maintains and island home and tries to return twice a year. 
• Property prices are increasing - many flats being built. Madeira did well dealing with covid - easy to control entry etc - and consequently it seems older people especially have seen the sense and merit of an island life - especially with the climate and the prettyness. Madeira feels really safe.
• But beware. Madeira as I have said is very steep almost everywhere except the limited coastal strip. A hard place to live if you rely on walking. Roads while well surfaced are narrow and windey. Precipitous edges. Bus services are good it seems.
• Madeira wine goes very well with Madeira cake. I was especially taken with Madeira wine - compares really well against sherry and port. It might become a xmas tipple. Poncha - the local  spirit made of sugar cane and fortified by honey is strong and sweet. Not for me. Ghastly stuff - like medicine.
• There is much left to explore on Madeira. It is famous for its Levada walks and hikes. Levadas are narrow canals or water courses that bring water down off the mountains. Many have paths set beside them and make up a network of walks that range from easy to challenging. 

As an option for late season sun Madeira offers a lot. We were especially lucky with the weather - late October and unbroken 26/27 degrees. Showers can be a feature however so probably not as safe a bet as the Canaries 250 miles south but I am going to go again. It is lovely place and only 3.30 hrs away.

Here are a few photos from my new mob camera 

Great for sunsets. 540m cliffs.

Funchal lovely parks

Funchal

Cable car up to the Botanic gardens above Funchal

Scabbard fish from the deep