A question of numbers, by Peter Roffey
GUERNSEY and Alderney both have population problems, but there the similarity ends.
GUERNSEY and Alderney both have population problems, but there the similarity ends.
While the larger island frets over an ever-increasing number of residents living in just 24.5 square miles, its northern neighbour faces a real threat of depopulation. Of course Guernsey could someday face
similar issues if its economy ever suffered a major meltdown, but for the time being, the population challenges in the two islands couldn't be more different.
We mustn't underestimate the potential impact on Alderney if the current trend continues for much longer. Not only has its population reduced by about a fifth in a decade, but that exodus has been disproportionately among its younger, economically active residents. That not only erodes economies of scale but also creates a demographic headache even bigger than in other western communities.
It's all a far cry from Alderney's Victorian heyday when the northern isle's population was triple what it is today. I desperately hope we won't see a re-run of what happened in some Scottish island communities.
Against that backdrop, the suggestion from Anas Al-korj that Alderney might be interested in taking in a dozen families of Syrian refugees from Aleppo is fascinating. While it's a novel idea that has come out of left field, it may not be as whacky as some people seem to think. As part of the common travel area, Alderney could only agree to take those who'd already been granted entry to the UK, so I suppose they already have a technical right to move to Alderney. The only question is whether their relocation should be facilitated and the new residents welcomed to the island with open arms. From the initial response, that doesn't look very likely, but personally I have found some of those reactions depressingly negative.
What makes the 'heaven forfend' reaction from some in Alderney slightly hypocritical is that in many ways, the island already has a very large refugee population. Admittedly, those relocating to Alderney over the past 40 years haven't been fleeing war or political persecution – indeed, most of them seem to come from the Home Counties. Rather, they seemed to be fleeing 20th/21st-century Britain in search of a sort of Enid Blyton idyll based on a 1950s vision of middle class England. You know the sort of thing – a land where people still enjoy high tea washed down with lashings of lemonade. Well, being Alderney, maybe not lemonade.
Please don't get me wrong – I can buy into that idyll, too.
Indeed, I had several halcyon holidays in Alderney as a young boy swimming at Saye and catching rockfish off Raz Island. I can well understand the appeal to early retirees from Kent and Essex in escaping to the simple life of Alderney and leaving behind the complexities and travails of modern-day Britain.
My surprise is that those who up sticks and move to Alderney to avoid petty crime, council tax and a few minor social problems could be unsympathetic towards decent folk wanting to escape the far, far greater problems of a war-torn country seemingly intent on self destruction.
Some of the comments on the Press's www.thisisguernsey.com forum are dreadful. 'These people should stay at home and try to improve their own country.' Oh yes – I suppose that's just what you would do if your family faced imminent death, homelessness or destitution? Is that what you would have said to German Jews in the 1930s?
Or 'the next thing these people will want is a mosque'. So what? I don't really get religion myself, but Alderney already has an Anglican church and a Methodist chapel, so why not a mosque?
And worst of all, 'the last thing Alderney needs is a load more unemployed people'. Why on earth should anybody assume refugees would be a dead weight on Alderney's economy? The experience of most countries that have had the vision to take in refugees over the years is quite the opposite. The incomers tend to be driven, entrepreneurial and energised, creating a real economic boost.
I really don't know the practical issues standing in the way of Anas Al-korj's suggestion. They may be considerable. But as to the knee-jerk, instant opposition, it strikes me as reminiscent of UKIP on a bad day.
Just a few weeks ago I was one of a crowd of 70,000 in London's Olympic stadium cheering on a refugee from a war-torn Muslim country. It's lucky for Mohamed Farah that his family didn't seek refuge in Alderney.
