Anyone who has been to the Orkney Islands, off the north coast of Scotland, can tell you that. He starts on the Isle of Man (population 85,000) and travels to progressively smaller islands before ending up on Ray in Essex (population 0). I grew up with an oil lamp and a car battery powering a black and white TVThe internet emerges as a lifeline for many smaller islands. “There is no requirement for a century of centralisation to continue into the digital age.”But the real barometer of island life is the school. But he is also a shrewd observer who resists the idealised romanticism some visitors see in island life.

Source: The Irish Times January 24, 2018 05:37 UTC