All of the people, all of the time

Don't you just love it when you read a SHG Press Release that begins "SHG is disappointed ....."

It always reminds me of my old headmaster. He would be "disappointed" that boys had been caught smoking. Disappointed that only twelve had got into Oxford/Cambridge. Disappointed that somebody had burned down the school hall. Etc. Etc. He was never "angry" because that would have involved him leaving his high place of superiority and descending to our level. Instead he remained aloof.  Just as SHG tries to do.  SHG should not be patronising the people of St Helena, it should be listening to what we have to say and engaging positively.

SHG was "disappointed" that the Sentinel "misunderstood" the "facts" about coffee plants, according to their press statement.  One wonders how it will react when it reads this week's edition which proves that the information the Sentinel used in its story came by email from SHG!  More 'disappointment', or just plain "Oh, shit, we f@$£ed up, we'd better say nothing at all"?  An apology would of course be out of the question because that would involve admitting they got something wrong.  SHG believes it, and everything it does, is axiomatically correct and reality must be adjusted around it.

It will be fascinating to read the results of the recent "What do you think of SHG Information" survey.  Everybody knows that what they publish is crap, but I'm sure the results will show that 105% of respondents believe SHG's information to be reliable, trustworthy and completely accurate (just like when 100% of the people of Iraq voted for Saddam Hussein).  I'm sure it will turn out that there will have been many "spoilt" submission papers; spoilt with errors like not ticking "the best" for every box which meant they had to be disqualified.

Who do they think they are fooling?  Certainly not me or any of the other people of St Helena.

Until we get some reality from SHG the gap between Government and People will continue to widen.