Great Britain and Ireland

     The Council of the Isles just met in Lancaster House, London. In addition to England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Northern Island, Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man were represented. It was a most encouraging affair, since the leaders were dignified, conciliatory, and very well-spoken. It illustrated the importance of that much-maligned profession, politicians.
     The whole complex is the result of the historic cobbling together of a variety of pieces. Even Tony Blair said he has been surprised to learn that the Channel Islands had no representatives in the Westminster parliament. Their representatives said they did not want them; they were proud to be dependencies of the crown.
     The meeting was conducted in excellent English, although the chaos of languages appeared when for example the Welsh representative spoke a few words in Welsh. The representative of the Isle of Man said a few words in Manx, and then translated them into English since there was no simultaneous translation! This remands me of a tale about Oxford.
     There was and may still be a chair of Manx. The professor went to his lecture hall, and there were never any students, so that was the end of his work for the year. A university committee found out about the situation and asked him to appear before it. The chairman asked him how many times he lectured each year. He replied solemnly "Once a year, but not every year."

Ronald Hilton - 12/28/99