I am heading to Jersey today. It will be my first flight for four years. I can't avoid it: the boat service at this time of the year is poor and by all accounts, pretty darned uncomfortable, as well as slow and expensive.
I always thought it would take a lot to get my back in the air: having travelled far too much for work in the past I now loathe everything to do with air travel. But there is a good reason for making this trip.
The funeral of my friend Pat Lucas will be held in Jersey tomorrow.
Pat was an extraordinary force for good. Born in Jersey, she grew up in hardship and knew all about the plight of ordinary people in the island before the financial services industry arrived in it, and most especially since it did.
In 2003, Pat was one of three Jersey islanders who decided to support John Christensen, the former economic adviser to the States of Jersey who was by then working with me and others to help create the Tax Justice Network. Their story is told here:
Pat and Jean went on to become friends. Pat and I last spoke a few weeks ago. They were undoubtedly one of the reasons why, in the days when this blog was more about tax haven abuse than anything else, we focused our work so heavily on Jersey and what went on there, having a massive impact on that island and Guernsey and the Isle of Man as a result.
There was, though, more to Pat than that. An immensely intelligent woman who worked as a teacher until earlier this year when her health finally forced her to retire, Pat's speciality was in asking questions in ways that others would not.
Sometimes those questions appeared naive, but they never were. Their essence was always, 'Why does it have to be this way?' And the answer was always, of course, 'It does not need to be so.' Implicit was the challenge 'So, what are you going to do about it?' Asked by Pat, that was a question that required action.
Pat was an inspiration. I will miss her greatly. So too will John, I am sure. We are travelling together to mourn our friend.
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RIP Pat. A thoughtful piece. I hope a current representative of the tax justice network can attend.
I had to leave the island at five years old when my parents split up. I was last there in April for a commemoration of my half sister who died -of cancer-during the pandemic. I was unable to attend.
But next summer her younger son will get married.
Despite the scandal of the finance sector which involved one of the wider family, it is a beautiful place. Enjoy.
It is a beautiful place
Finance has not completely destroyed that
A nice tribute and very fitting.
Richard, people look up to you as a leader and thinker on environmental matters, so this is disappointing that you’ve chosen to fly. I trust you decided that, on balance, your time is better spent solving our problems than wasting time on slow boats. The gain of your time to the world is greater than the loss caused by the emissions?
Can’t say that about the bucket and spade bunch flying to benidorm can we!
This was an essential trip not possible to take any other way.
I notice that not one of the the many trolls making the point that you do has had the decent humanity to recognise the situation that this is for the funeral of friend. Being arseholes from the dregs of humanity is clearly more important to you.
And for the record, these are the second and third flights I have taken for non work reasons this century, so, politely, stop the crass stupidity of claiming hypocrisy.
Sorry to hear about your friend.
Given that it takes about 10 hours on the ferry and you have to get to Portsmouth on top of that the decision to fly is quite understandable and justifiable.
Thank you
Having had a no-fly holiday to the Channel Islands at a non-peak time (in my case Guernsey and Alderney) I am aware of how tricky arrangements for such can be – we took ferries from Portsmouth to Guernsey and back from Guernsey to Poole while our journeys to and from Alderney were made on small boats – and the crossing back from Alderney to Guernsey, when the sea was rough, was not a pleasant one.
In the summer we would not have flown
RIP Pat Lucas. She was a woman of integrity who fought for justice. You have every right as a friend to attend her funeral and pay your respects.
It’s a pity that right wing zombie trolls try to besmirch you about a short air journey. It did not distract me from appreciating your mini obituary of a an old school class fighter.
Thanks. Appreciated.