Home thoughts with the people of Ukraine

A good number of Guernsey residents will also be thinking of family back home in Ukraine or nearby countries and feeling helpless and disempowered over what has happened, and what may be about to happen.

Two local politicians who spoke out yesterday poignantly recalled memories of the Occupation from 1940 to 1945.

Although both Jonathan Le Tocq and Neil Inder would be too young to remember those days, they both feel those events through long family roots.

‘It may seem like something is happening in a faraway distance in a faraway country, but we cannot bury our heads in the sand. We don’t want to just fob it all off – we are all part of humanity. We have our own culture and history in Guernsey, we know what threatening behaviour looks like,’ said Deputy Le Tocq.

Deputy Inder said the last time he had heard stories of family members waking up to the sound of bombing was during World War II.

‘Roll forward 80 years and members of my family are waking up again to what is effectively a fascist aggression against a peaceful people,’ he said.

While our immediate response to the people of Ukraine will be to share their personal grief, the conflict also brings economic issues to the fore.

Despite Russia’s role as a major exporter of oil and gas, its trade ties with the advanced economies are fairly weak, and the impact on financial markets is expected to be relatively slim, unless the conflict was to escalate and hit investor confidence.

But almost inevitable increases in energy prices will particularly hit squeezed middle incomes, weaken consumption, and risk, at a time of rising inflation, a drift into recession.

Islanders will share their thoughts with the people of Ukraine this week, and indeed, until this conflict is resolved – remembering our own pain of suffering unwanted and unwarranted invasion – and we would all hope that will be through peaceful means, rather than through bloodshed.