Friday 5 January 2018

Islanders (chapter 1): five things I've discovered

1.  After the Isle of Man opened Europe's first non-smoking prison in 2009, crime rates on the island dropped by 14%.

2.  Some Manxmen persisted in observing the pre-Gregorian calendar long after 1752.  If any of them are still alive, Happy Christmas today!

3.  The OECD no longer classes the IOM as a tax haven.  So that's all right.

4.  It's the world capital of cryptocurrencies, and it's even possible to spend them there.

5.  'The triskelion always lands on its feet.'

2 comments:

  1. Pliny the Elder (the guy down the pub to old Romans) reckoned Sicily's triskelion was on account of the shape of the island. That figures.
    What's the IOM's excuse? The same Pliny reckoned it was called Monapia. He got around a bit didn't he.
    I suggest you drop Amber a line re the smokeless prisons thing.

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  2. He came a cropper in 79 though, old Pliny. I think we may be on to something in regard to smoke-free prisons, though. If not smoke-free Bays of Naples.

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