MondayTHE environmental impact statement into oil field development was not very encouraging. Of course you all must, as always, respond to the public consultation as you see fit, but bothering to have an EIS for this project feels fundamentally dishonest. Sure sure, there are mitigations, nibbling at the edges. But what were Navitas ever going to say that could possibly distract from the inescapable fact that it’s an oil field?What does anyone think the environmental impact is going to be? Yes, hang on, I’ve just checked all the world news for the last few decades, and it turns out it’s not great. My suggestion for the impact statement would have been a photo of someone in the year 2040 running around with their hair on fire because they accidentally stepped into the sunlight.Equally, the recent quote from MLA Roberts: “…everything would be put in place to make sure it was...

THE King Edward Memorial Hospital in the Falkland Islands will undergo an in-depth inspection in November, its first for over a decade. “In theory, you should never go that long without an inspection,” said Director of Health and Social Services, John Woollacott. “Even though there is no statutory or legal requirement for us to have inspections here, we don’t have the regulatory environment like that, it is still the right thing to do.”In 2019/2020 there were a number of condition reports that were commissioned which looked at the infrastructure of the hospital, to help inform the redevelopment of the building, not the quality of the clinical service. The MOD have also conducted assurance inspections.“An inspection should be a useful tool,” said Mr Woolacott. “It recognises what you are doing well, so you can keep doing it well, and where are your weaknesses and how you might address those.” Mr Woolacott...

MondayYou know, I was looking at this Starlink business, and I’m not entirely onboard, because the internet is rubbish and ruins everything.We perfected technology at about the stage where we had VHS and books, but not everyone was forced to have a phone and a laptop to be able to perform the basic functions of a civil society. If you wanted to buy something you went to a shop. If you wanted to talk to a friend you rang, and if they weren’t home you tried again two weeks later.Movie nights meant going to the video rental place for an eighties action movie, and not the respectable ones that starred Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. You watched movies headlined by Chuck Norris and Michael Dudikoff and Cynthia Rothrock, and it made you a better person.Sundays were for the chart show on Radio One, and you sat there for three hours...

IN a surprise move the Falkland Islands Development Corporation (FIDC) was sent a bill totalling £35,690.47 from the Falkland Islands Government for fire fighting support on Sea Lion Island.The bill, which came from the Department of Emergency Services and Island Security (DESIS) was stated to be for half of the costs associated with the fire on Sea Lion Island which occurred after lightning strike in March.Discussed in the FIDC Board (FIDB) meeting on September 18, it was agreed that the invoice would be disputed and not paid. Chair of the FIDB Michael Poole explained that, “the intention is to not pay until FIG explain the policy,”Members of the board expressed their surprise that this invoice had come through, with Janet Robertson commenting, “a user-pays principle for fire support seems peculiar.”There is no breakdown of the costs in the invoice, which was reproduced in the FIDB agenda, or explanation as to...

WHEN the population of West Falkland Islands had little else to talk about the conversation would invariably turn to the mysterious disappearance of Edward Casey, who was known generally as Ned. In late June 1890 a resident of Saunders Island fell ill and Ned was requested by the Manager of the Island, which ran several thousand sheep and which lies off the north west coast of West Falklands, to take a dingy and row across to the mainland of Hill Cove and make the relatively short 20 minutes walk to Shallow Bay house where a shepherd William Atkins lived.Most likely Casey would needed to have borrowed a horse and ridden for 5-6 hours to Fox Bay where a doctor normally resided. The first telephone line on West Falklands was not introduced until 1917 when William Luxton of Chartres sheep farm installed a line between his farm and Fox Bay with...

The Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly has welcomed the announcement of a new cooperation agreement between the UK and Argentina on a suite of matters relating the Falkland Islands and wider South Atlantic, which reflects the importance of collaboration on key issues which affect the Falkland Islands and Argentina, and the wider region. This agreement comes with no change in the individual positions of the Falkland Islands, United Kingdom, or Argentina, in regard to the sovereignty, or territorial or maritime jurisdiction over the Falkland Islands – as per the formula on sovereignty in paragraph 2 of the Joint Statement of 19 October 1989 between the United Kingdom and Argentina.The content of this new cooperation agreement includes the resumption of the weekly São Paulo–Mount Pleasant flight; the need to take concrete steps in the areas of fisheries conservation and improved connectivity for the Falkland; to organise a visit to the Islands by...

A DROP in the Falkland Islands Retail Price Index (RPI) for the year Q3 2023 to Q3 2024 was reported by Economist Andy Wu in Standing Finance Committee on Wednesday.The decrease of 0.1% has resulted in the lowest rate of inflation since Q1 of 2021. The largest contributor to the decrease came from fuel and food, however there was an increase in recreation & culture and restaurants & hotels.Retail prices fell during Q2 and Q3 this year by 1.4%; food and non-alcoholic beverages contributed most to this figure as they decreased by 1.16% in the quarter. Recreation & Culture prices increased by 0.44%.Over the course of the year, the category of Communication made a negative contribution to the inflation data due to the way in which the RPI is calculated. Sure South Atlantic increased their broadband data allowances, therefore effectively decreasing the price per gigabyte.In conclusion, Mr Wu stated that...

“AN agonizing process” is how Falklands Islands resident Rob Burnett (42) and former Penguin News journalist describes the journey to his two-book deal with prestigious publishing house HarperCollins.HarperFiction has acquired Whiteout, a novel set around researcher Rachael stranded in the Antarctic during a nuclear strike on the UK.Rob has had a fascinating career in his lead up to writing Whiteout so Penguin News chatted to him about his work with tabloid newspaper Daily Mirror and as an editor for Formula 1.BackgroundRob came to the Falklands at the age of eight in 1991 with his mother and father Tony and Liz Burnett and his brother and sister. His family had lived in the islands previous to that in the 1970s at Port HowardRob attended the schools here and then Peter Symonds College before heading off to Leicester University to study English. He then returned to the islands and during those years...

FREYA (11) the daughter of Falkland Islander Russell Evans and Cate Deakin Evans is currently playing Irish actress Saoirse Ronan’s character as a child in her new movie The Outrun.Ms Ronan (who you may have seen in the latest Little Women movie) plays alcoholic Amy Liptrop, named Rona in the movie, which is partially based in Orkney where Russell moved to around 15 years ago.Dad Russell is currently in South Georgia with NG Endurance.Freya has two sets of proud grandparents/step-grandparents in the Falklands and news of Freya is kindly sent by one set, Biffo and Ant Tusan at Saunders Island. Grandparents Raymond and Arina, will no doubt also be proudly looking forward to a viewing of the movie. The Outrun will be showing on November 10 and November 27 at the HarbourLights Cinema in Stanley.Freya visited the Falklands when she was around five years old.Penguin News spoke to Freya this...

HOSPITAL Inspectors inspecting the KEM Hospital in Stanley Falkland Islands do not have any serious safety concerns about the services that they have reviewed, members of the team told Penguin News this week.Clinical Auditors Dr Jim Gardner and Professor Heidi Fuller spoke to Penguin News on Monday. They are part of a four-person team visiting the Falklands examining areas of ambulance, casualty, ward, intensive care, theatre and medical treatment overseas within the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital in Stanley.Dr Gardner said: “What we’ve said is we’ve seen very good care within the parameters of the care that can be delivered.”He added: “We’ve got recommendations which are really about process, about governance, but they’re not based around whether we think there should be changes to clinical practice. They’re much more about, if you like, organisational assurance. There are issues about the IT system, for example, which we think probably needs some...