Richard's Blog - 2011

Necker animals - Flamingos

We have thousands of flamingo photos from Necker Island, but this is one of Charlie's keepers! The first Flamingos were, again, re-introduced to the British Virgin Islands after being wiped out by humans and have maintained a healthy population of around 180 individuals on nearby Anegada for the last 30 years or so. The first Flamingos were brought in from Cuba to Necker in 1996 in an attempt to establish a second, breeding flock in the BVI. Guana Island has several Flamingo's but they have not…

BA bmi deal bad for business & consumers

News that British Airways has agreed to purchase Lufthansa's bmi airways signals another titanic battle for Virgin Atlantic in the new year. Not satisfied with holding an overwhelmingly dominant position at London Heathrow - the busiest airport in the world – British Airways now wants to tilt the market even further in its favour by swallowing this major British carrier.  The proposed deal would see British Airways hold well over half of all landing slots at Heathrow and with BA alrea…

Lost London lemur home for Christmas

Everyone loves a story with a happy ending, especially at this time of year. I was saddened to hear recently that a lemur was found dumped on Tooting Bec Common in London. He was suffering from hypothermia, shock and dehydration.Thankfully, the brilliant team at Blue Cross animal hospital managed to revive him and he is now on the road to recovery.We have a thriving group of lemurs on Necker, so I offered to give a home to this lemur on our island.However, it turns out that he had been stolen fr…

Ask Richard 14 - Christmas dinner

@VTStaffordstn asked me: "Where will you be having Christmas dinner and will it be turkey?" Here's my answer, from the back of a cab in London... Well i've never missed a Christmas dinner yet! Generally speaking I have it in the sun on Necker Island. This year I would have just married off my daughter, Holly. "Fortunately she has agreed to postpone her honeymoon until after Christmas. So we'll be having a wonderful Christmas dinner and a lot to celebrate! If you've got a question then ask a…

Cleo's song - astounding voice

"Proud" performed by Cleo Megan Filander from Brett Michael Innes on Vimeo. Met this lovely 11-year-old in South Africa recently. Her name is Cleo, she dropped in via Skype for Holly’s wedding and thought it might be nice to share this song with anyone who wants to hear it. She’s from the Townships near Jo’burg. Absolutely astounding voice.…

Very happy day

Very happy day today. Giving away our daughter Holly to an absolutely delightful husband (and family). Here’s a photo of the last Branson family wedding on Necker Island also on December 20th but some years ago. Holly and Fred will get married at exactly the same spot, but unlike us, chose to wait for their children until married. The day after we got married some friends announced they were getting married. "They can't be getting married. They haven't had any children yet!" eight-ye…

Time to end the war on drugs

Visited Portugal, as one of the Global Drug Commissioners, to congratulate them on the success of their drug policies over the last 10 years. Ten years ago the Portuguese Government responded to widespread public concern over drugs by rejecting a “war on drugs” approach and instead decriminalized drug possession and use. It further rebuffed convention by placing the responsibility for decreasing drug demand as well as managing dependency under the Ministry of Health rather than the M…

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