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.

Shame on you!

Yesterday was International Womens' Day.

The St Helena Government proudly posted on its Facebook page about the "many wonderful achievements of St Helenian women and girls" while completely failing to mention that, in St Helena, it is still perfectly legal to pay a woman less for the same job as a man and advertise a job for men only.

Instead of a proud post they should be cowering in a corner in shame.

Smile for the camera!

Words cannot describe how bored I am with postings from Travel Shows.  Facebook and Twitter are infested with them.

I guess the island has to be represented, but do we need to see hundreds of postings showing images of people smiling at the camera with some stand in the background? How does this help us?

Why not give us some useful data: how many people visited the stand? how many said they would actually consider St Helena as a future tourist destination? Then we would know if the budget that pays for these excursions was being well spent, or should it instead be allocated to fixing the roads or improving benefits for the poor and needy.

Look! An iceberg....!

I see SHG says it's "looking into" the allegations against the hospital in Pretoria. Meanwhile another batch of patients left for there on Saturday......

Imagine SHG as Captain of the Titanic. Somebody spots an iceberg dead ahead, and we get this statement: 

"We have received unconfirmed reports of an iceberg dead ahead. We have contacted London and they are sending an Iceberg Expert to review the situation. He will arrive in three weeks and we should have his report in about six months' time. In the meantime the ship will continue at full speed on its present course".

Facebook logic

Facebook just sent me "Add a phone number to your Facebook account. 249 of your friends added a phone number."

Well if 249 friends do it, clearly so should I. What more compelling reason to do something than "because my friends do it".

I'm sure at least 249 of my friends follow some religion, smoke, cheat on their wives/husbands, evade taxes and lie on Government forms (some maybe do all of them!) so clearly I should do all of those too, according to Facebook.

Um.... no. I'll make my own decisions, thank you.

Blow those leaves!

In the before days (i.e. until about five years ago) leaves were swept up by a chap with a broom.  The operation was largely silent and the only energy used was derived from his breakfast.  Took a couple of hours.  You could chat with him while he worked, doubtless making his day brighter and easier to bear.

Nowadays we have modern technology.  Same chap, but now instead of a broom he has a leaf blower.  Powered by fossil fuels and thus adding to the planet’s carbon dioxide content, it makes a noise like a moped struggling to get up Ladder Hill.  No chatting – he has to wear ear defenders, so works in sullen isolation, cut off from the world around him.  And the operation still takes a couple of hours, during which time everybody in the vicinity is disturbed by the noise.  Especially if he starts at 6am.

Could someone please tell me in precisely what way this new technology is an improvement to human life?

Whale Sharks & The Castle of Otranto

Two of the new pages on Saint Helena Island Info.

This is the update announcement:

Whale Sharks are important to St Helena! They were previously discussed with Dolphin Watching but now have a page of their own: http://sainthelenaisland.info/whalesharks.htm.
We'd previously mentioned the mystery of the Castle of Otranto, but now we know more so it has a page of it's own: http://sainthelenaisland.info/otranto.htm.
The latest Wirebird census results are at http://sainthelenaisland.info/wirebird.htm#wirebirdcensus
Did Mattie John lose a plot of land in a card game? It seems the story may be true! Check it out at http://sainthelenaisland.info/characters.htm#mattyjohn
Photos of the finished Rock Rose were released recently. We have these and of the work-in-progress at http://sainthelenaisland.info/savedbuildings.htm#rockrose (and also a few of the work-in-progress at Teutonic Hall).
We have a very detailed map by the Royal Engineers from 1872. So detailed we can only show it in parts! See http://sainthelenaisland.info/maps.htm#historicmaps Excerpts appear where relevant on other pages e.g. http://sainthelenaisland.info/longwood.htm
Our newly discovered and named Seamount is described here: http://sainthelenaisland.info/geology.htm#seamounts