If anyone thought the idea of a massive international airport just off the Kent coast was so much pie in the sky, they definitely need to rethink. The involvement of Lord Rogers is enough to chill the bones.

His detailed work shows that a lot of time and effort has gone into the concept.

One might say "It is £50billion - it could never be done."

I would say: "If you want something enough, you'll find the money." Not everyone is like the Greek government, prepared to risk the loss of sums far greater than the Rogers' scheme.

I hate to admit it, but his scheme makes a lot of sense. That it would destroy the Isle of Grain, the environment, the tranquility, lives, investments elsewhere, top grade agricultural land.... all of that means nothing if you can raise the cash.

What can Medway - for that is where he is plans for the airport show it would be built - do to avoid Rogers Runways? It cannot say it has attracted the money that was expected from the regeneration of the area's infrastructure (piecemeal though that was).

Where are the jobs?

Where are the houses (if you exclude Chatham Maritime)?

We have the universities (though they all seem to be competing with each other). We have precious little beside.

Ironically, the buildings that have sprung up have done so without the government's millions. The appearance of HS-1 has done little to improve the rail services through Medway. Rather like flights to the moon, you get there - but you have little evidence of the speed that you have achieved. Anyway, the Medway - London journey is no quicker: East Kent is the one to benefit.

We still have Rochester Riverside looking like a Gruinard pastiche (apart from a handful of sheltered units that are being built near the inaccessible station.

I came to Kent in 1990 because I thought there was an air of change that would prove exciting. It has often pumped the adrenalin, but it has not attracted the many things that politicians promised.

Should we therefore consider the opportunities that an airport might offer?

I hope not. Most sincerely I hope not.

But it is becoming increasingly difficult to diagree with the correspondent who said nothing has been achieved by the regeneration of Medway except empty promises, hot air and frustration. He could have added the Rochester Riverside gravel raft that sits high above the floodwater levels of the Medway, staring out at a derelict Russian submarine and a river that is so close - but now is completely separated from the community through which it flows.

I SPENT a fair amount of time earlier this year reporting on the activities of Allhallows Parish Council.

It is one of those authorities to which the Prime Minister wants to hand over greater responsibility. The trouble is, most parish councils in Kent are self-perpetuating oligarchies.

They have insufficient candidates and select from friends and "interested" individuals. It rapidly opens the way to abuse of the system as I immediately discovered the minute I turned up for my first meeting.

"Who are you?" and "What do you want?" were rapidly followed by a refusal to make available papers to which any member of the public is legally entitled - agendas, minutes and any reports.

The problem in the village of Allhallows was the youth club had become a very popular attraction for the local kids who had nowhere else to go.

A couple of recently-appointed councillors had got to grips with the problem, taken over The Brimp (a tatty old builders' hut complex), roused local support from kids, parents and assorted adults, and transformed it.

That upset the Old School of Benevolents who handed out grants, ran a handful of activities and claimed the praise for so doing. They tried to shut it.

They were up against some angry residents.

The most disgraceful thing (for any observer or believer - however jaded - in democracy) was the way the local police support officer was ticked off in public by a councillor for having the temerity to praise the club for the work it was doing with the young people..

Several residents decided to force an election last May.

Hate and abuse messages started to fly through the ethernet, by phone, through whispering campaigns and even at this blog.

The election went ahead, and most of the old school was turfed out.

I raise this issue five months later because in the past few days the newlook parish council has won two of the top five awards in this year's Kent Village of the Year competition.

One was for best newcomer.

The other was for The Brimp - taking the best Social Action award.

It pays over £3,000 a year as a mayoral allowance, it still has a mayor's chain, and the recipient of the mayoral thousands wears the civic bling.

It simply lacks a mayor.

The man appointed to the position, Cllr Tony Searles, decided off his own bat to drop the title - and become the council's chairman.

No one seems to have approved the decision, consulted on it, or bothered to tell the person who runs their website which introduces Swanley Town Council with these words: "It is essentially a parish council but has adopted town status which means the chairman of the town cCouncil is designated mayor."

I was soaking up the sun in the Eastern Desert last week when the scale of the impact of Britain's summer of discontent became clear.

Earlier in the day my wife and I had watched the BBC World Service showing the scenes in Croydon, Tottenham and various other London locations a couple of days before we were due to fly home.

Now Egyptians from our hotel were concerned that we were about to return to "lawless Britain" risking life and limb. It was, for them, a matter of major concern.

Never mind that in Cairo and elsewhere that thousands of Egyptians have been forcefully demonstrating against the old Mubarak regime and the replacement arrmy government.

Nor that Coptic (Christian) churches were regularly being bombed and burned by militants.

All are symptoms of Northern Hemisphere 2011.

Watching from 2,500 miles away, it appeared to us there was little action by the police. It bore a striking resemblance to that which greeted the Egyptians when they decided to end the Mubarak regime.

The holidaymakers were more concerned about relaxing than rioting.

What strikes me as different is that this time there were incidents in dozens of places.

And politicians seemed to have their own ways of explaining it.

To the BNP it was race riots.

To David Cameron and the Lib Dems it was a sign of a sick society.

To Labour it was - well, something with which to beat the Tory smoothies with their featherduster of vitriol.

To the police it was an opportunity to demonstrate that cuts in funding were having a detrimental impact.

To the public? - well, it was a chance to voice their own preferences (and in some cases to misbehave).

Of course for the courts it was an opportunity to demonstrate they are not under the thumb of the politicians - just give 'em back the power to use the birch.

Now I have returned home, and having seen that across our green and pleasant land trouble seems to have broken out everywhere ranging from Manchester and Liverpool through the Midlands to London's destruction and the bonfires in Rainham, it was somewhat unsurprising to this scribe.

Every 15 years or so there is some sort of misbehaviour in Britain. Tottenham, Handsworth, Merseyside .... the list goes on.

Regrettably, it will go on in future years.

Hose reels, evictions, arming the police, bussing them into London from South Wales to provide mobs of bobbies on every corner, kicking the police authorities because in a few months there were be elected police commissioners  ....

It's largely playing to the gallery.

What is needed is firmness, fairness and fast action when problems break out.

There is one lesson that can be learned from August 2011's thefts, firebombings and destruction.: leave them alone for a few hours and the mobs will always get the upper hand.

***

The last thing I thought when we visited El Gouna was that we would be constantly reminded of the Member of Parliament for Gillingham and Rainham.

But it was impossible to escape Mr Chishti - or at least echoes of him.

It was all caused by two Pakistani buses that had joined a small fleet of Egyptian saloons to provide the public transport around the holiday resort.

Flamboyant in the extreme, the buses had rockets on their roofs, mirrors on the inside coving and numerous images of plants, stars and symbols.

Why was Mr Chishti constantly brought to mind?

Because both buses had been built in Karachi by a bodybuilder named G N Chishti.

One thing I have to concede was that they were considerably more comfortable than the locally-built buses. They had upholstered seats. The locals had wooden slats...

There are usually a few polite words said when a chief executive leaves office, a handful of gifts are handed over, drinks are supped and everyone gets on with the rest of their lives.

When Glyn Thomson decided to return to Liverpool to pursue a new career as a churchman in the city's second most deprived parish, it was as if half of Gravesham turned out - come to that, half of North Kent.

The quiet spoken, gentle former chief environmental officer of Gravesham needed a theatre for his departure from the council - and Gravesend's massive Sikh gurdwara for his farewell from the coimmunity.

People from all walks of life turned out. They ranged from the Sikh, Muslim, and Buddhist commuities to council staff past and present, politicians, Christian church leaders (Glyn had rescued one church when its priest left by taking on the role of lay reader).

He is taking on a major task at St Luke's in Liverpool.

He know what he is letting himself in for: throughout the years he has been in Gravesend he has commuted back and forth each weekend to be with his wife and family on Merseyside.

Here's hoping his knowledge of the inner workings of government and local government, grants and people will now help to transform life for people up there.

His successopr, David Hughes, chief executive of Tonbridge and Malling, takes over at Gravesham tomorrow: he is being shared with that council in a rare job split. he comes from one of the most successful councils in the country. He should find it an interesting time.

Gravesham has adopted the executive leader format following Labour's win at the local elections. The boss man is Cllr John Burden who is sure to be closely watched by Ed Miliband over the next few years after the Leader of the Opposition turned up in Gravesend three days out of four to ensure at least one Labour victory in Kent. he got his wish - one Labour victory.

The intriguing question is where were the Conservatives as their four year hold on Gravesham was wiped out. Not one notable turned up.

So was lost the chance of a clean sweep. Ooops.

(Alan Watkins apologises but he is on holiday for the next fortnight).

If you thought regeneration was a problem in Chatham, spare a thought for peaceful, pleasant Gravesend a few miles down the road.

Both towns are earmarked for riverside developments, have (or in Chatham's case, had) waterside gardens, and certainly have grand plans for the future that have upset a lot of people.

Medway residents would do well to watch what Gravesend's civic society has achieved.

Urban Gravesham is ostensibly local residents with local concerns. They got together four years ago when plans were announced to redevelop the heritage quarter in Gravesend that many people had reservations about.

The heritage quarter is one of six "quartiers" in Gravesend. It straddles the boundary between Gravesend and the former borough of Milton. The boundary is best recognised by the High Street where once I tried (and failed) to keep up with a surprisingly athletic Gordon Brown.

They found they had common concerns. They certainly heard the sort of stories that are fairly familiar in Medway that "if we don't get on with it now, it will be the end of us as a thriving community".

As individuals they were largely ignored. As a body corporate they suddenly found they had power.

There were experts in law and planning among them, but there were also people with commonsense ideas who had lots of friends and were able to explain the weaknesses in the "develop now" argument.

Their first success was to stop a 36-storey tower block on the waterfront.

They had been arguing loud, vociferously and intelligently against it. The basis of their comments was that such a creation was completely out of the question in a town like Gravesend where a car park and shopping centre are the tallest buildings.

The developer, Edinburgh House, scrapped the idea and went back to the drawing board.

The locals kept a close eye on the situation and were critical about some of the ideas that were coming forward.

The plans came forward - and the council's planning committee shocked everyone by voting 5 - 4 against the plans.

Edinburgh House decided they had invested too much to let it go. They appealed.

It has cost them millions.

This week they threw in the towel, recognising they were not going to win: either their case or the support of the community.

They have changed their tactics. They want to talk to the opponents and get their ideas - a complete reversal from the past.

Now consider Chatham. Replace "developer" with "council".

Medway Council is still seeking the public's support for its ideas.

Its problem is that it has never understood how to consult - or even what the word means.

In Gravesham, thousands respond to consultations, and plans get changed to take those ideas on board.

In Medway a hundred responses is looked on as a major triumph. It certainly is if you don't want common people spoiling your dreams.

The waterfront at Gravesend will be redeveloped, but should be closer to what the community wants.

In Chatham, the waterfront is littered with lost flyovers, unloved bus stations and motorists who feign traffic sign illiteracy.

***

Consultation is a risk.

You might get the mundane, the uninspiring or crass.

Take the new open space in front of the Civic Centre.

Gone are the goldfish that children loved to tickle.

In place if their sizeable pool is an open area with trees.

It seems yesterday's comments hit a nerve at the council. John Staples insisted its press release was crystal clear: the webpage would "publish the full press statements it has given to the media on specific stories if they have subsequently been chopped or altered and their meaning substantially changed when broadcast or published.

"....residents will be able to compare what was reported, or broadcast, with what was issued by Medway Council on controversial topics.
It would be updated on an ad hoc basis.Which means that residents will only get to learn what the council wants them to learn.

Mr Staples also insists that I never asked about asbestos checks. I assure you I did on at least two occasions.I quote his written response as received:

"Our records show that your enquiry was about the issue around caretakers (there was an enforecment notice after two school's site managers had not undergone proper training) and that you have not asked us if the HSE was carrying out an emergency audit following Woodlands - something that did not happen."

Their records might not show it. I did ask - formally - twice.

It is clear we are not going to agree on this.

The key issue remains that staff were exposed to asbestos at Woodlands, along with contractors' personnel. In some cases personal records will have to be kept for 40 years (the period which coincidentally seems to be when asbestosis and mesothelioma develops).

It is also a fact recorded in the papers from the auditors that 106 schools in Medway were to be inspected in a three month period following the failure of Woodlands to protect those people. It was "a tough target". Following those inspections all head teachers were required to undergo specialist training (something with Mr Fiddaman apparently objected to, but subsequently undertook).

It is also a fact that there was no sealing of the work areas, no protective gear, clothing was not changed following work and before mixing with other people, that cleaners moved from dirty areas to classrooms, that children were in school while the work was going on, and that none of the workforce was CRB-checked.

Deborah Upton, the council's legal eagle, housing chief and monitoring officer, said in her covering report: "The Council holds a legal duty to effectively manage asbestos in schools, and this duty cannot be delegated to others i.e. the Council ultimately retains

responsibility. However Health and Safety training and briefings are available to

all schools to ensure that they know what their responsibilities are in respect

of asbestos, and the Council has a Health & Safety officer dedicated to

schools.

"I am not satisfied that any enquiries were made of the School, or

that proper procedures were put in place to ensure that the school

appropriately met its health and safety responsibilities for asbestos, fire of [sic] other

health and safety matters in relation to the building works."

As the auditor's report comments: "A school can opt out of using the Council [for] delivery of a capital project. Who controls the school if they opt out?"

Even the government has a responsibility for Woodlands school that appears to be lacking.

As for the issue that sparked the debate, Mr Staples' colleagues continue to ignore the fears and worries that villagersw at Grain have arising from National Grid's LNG terminal at the bottom of their gardens.

Turn your back for one moment and something always happens at Medway Council.

The latest is an extraordinary announcement that it is publishing a webpage giving its answers to media questions.

It follows a disagreement with both the Medway Messenger and BBC South East over their reporting of the concerns raised by Jack Hope, a resident of the Isle of Grain. He has been mounting a vitriolic campaign against virtually everyone in authority (councillors, National Grid, MPs et al) over the failure of the any of them to advise what is the escape plan if there is a catastrophe at the LNG terminal. There has to be a plan if (heaven forbid) if there is a massive fireball at the terminal, along the pipe which crosses under the only roadway out of the Isle or aboard one of the 130,000 tonnes-liquid gas carrying tankers which now regularly dock next door to the village. (It's a good site they chose, between the laden wrecks of the munition-carrier Robert Montgomery and the minelayer Princess Irene.)

You would think the residents would know what to do They don't.

It is because there is an issue of national security (so those in authority maintain).

What seems to have upset Medway Council's press baron, John Staples, is that no one has reported that Mr Hope is demanding that National Grid buys his property. It is now blighted by its overbearing neighbours presence - along with everyone else on the tip of the Hoo peninsula.

The real issue is whether residents are safe living at the end of the A228 when they have millions of tonnes of gas stored in a near-frozen compressed state at the end of their gardens.

Mr Staples is a former reporter. He lives an uncomfortable life trying to balance the politicial pressures, officers; defensiveness and the ferrety inquisitiveness of the local media. I should know: I've done the same job.

What his decision means (and I suspect there are at least two politicians pushing this move) is that the confidentiality of press enquiries is going to be blown apart.

Let me explain the system employed by Mr Staples and his team.

A reporter phones in with a simple query. Let's say I ask: "How many staff does Medway Council employ?"

Mr Staples emails a query to HR with a deadline for a response, and asks the same question.

Someone in the HR department then responds. Let's say the answer is: "There are 8,000 full time and 2,200 part-time staff employed by the council."

An email is then sent to the reporter saying "Alan Watkins has asked how many staff does Medway Council employ. The answer is 8,000 full time and 2,200 part-time staff are employed by the council."

That simple enquiry will now find itself on the web. It won't mean very much to the general public. It might, however, mean something to a rival newspaper, broadcaster or whatever.

Mr Staples' bosses have really stirred an explosive mixture.

Their annoyance (did someone suggest petulance?) has led to the unprecedented step of revealing to other journalists what lines of investigation other reporters are following.

That's fine with innocuous enquiries (not that the general public will be interested). But what if it is asking about the asbestos crisis that is building in Medway's schools?

Would they have published the inquiries that I made a year ago when I first reported the spending and chaos that is the Woodlands School extension? I don't think so. They did everything they could to hide the answers I was seeking.

Would they have published the enquiry I made about asbestos examinations of more than 100 local schools? They strongly denied that there was any foundation in the story. In fact, the audit papers that were published earlier this month reveal that it was conducted in a three month spell, and that was a difficult target for the council to meet. But the council press office denied there was any foundation in the story.

Would they care to say how many council houses and flats have asbestos today, and what advice they have given their tenants?

Dogs eat dogs. When one of those hounds takes thousands of pounds of the money we lawful taxpayers reluctantly give them for their high salaries, shoddy schooling, tatty buildings and one-time pop stars he deserves to get bitten.

Medway Council should pull back - or expect a bit more than a bite.

MEDWAY's Cabinet meets tomorrow. There's nothing unusual in that.

It's a month since it last met - that is less usual.

What is absolutely normal is that nothing is likely to be discussed by the august members about the Woodlands School debacle.

This shocking mess has cost council tax payers a couple of million unnecessarily-spent pounds on an education scheme that no-one is sure who authorised it.

One senior person to leave the council is Simon Trotter, an assistant director with a record of mistakes that include the mishandling of the primary school mergers, the scrapping of scheme one for Borstal's primary school rebuilding and - now - the little-short-of-disaster modifications at Woodlands School that were supposed to make 15 extra pupil places available.

Mr Trotter has gone with a golden handshake in the form of an enhanced pension following a disciplinary hearing.

As one person said to me: "It was either that or he would stay on sick leave, being paid and blocking a replacement."

Mr Trotter is not a well man. I am sorry about that.

What I am not sorry about is the catalogue of errors from which he has repeatedly escaped scot-free.

The report into the debacle that is Woodlands does not make it clear that the children at the school were safe. It may be half a century before some of those youngsters start to develop breathing difficulties leading to asbestosis and mesathelioma. They had unfettered access to the work areas where builders were merrily smashing their way through asbestos areas.

There was no segregation of the workmen from the children or teaching staff, no protective screens, no clothing changes, nothing.

If people suggest this is scaremongering, think again.

In Higham the wives of workers at the former British Uralite factory never went to their husbands workplaces, but they contracted the cancers that took their husbands lives. They got it because they breathed in fibres from the clothes their husband wore.

Let us hope none of the children and staff at Woodlands breathed in anything dangerous. The trouble is, if they did the symptoms can take decades to be known. By then it is too late.

***

The matter will be discussed in open session tomorrow night by the normally lightly-loaded audit committee.

Among those expected to attend are the headmaster and the chairman of governors, Elena Mutter-Child.

The charismatic head teacher, Nic Fiddaman, strongly denies any responsibility for the appointment of his school manager's building firm to the contract. Whoever did - and it seems to have happened at the school rather than at the council - failed to observe European competitive tendering requirements. And he admits he did nothing to monitor the work.

The audit report is a masterpiece of understatement. It was, they said, "at best a catalogue of errors."

This type of mayhem could happen increasingly with the withdrawal of supervision from schools. This is because the government is increasing the ease for schools to opt out of local government control.

 Which is fine if they know what they are doing - and they have someone else to supervise them.

***

Cars have found Canadian Avemnue in Gillingham to be a fun place to race when there is a storm. It's one of those streets where the drains are incapable of moving all the water as quickly as the heavens empty it.

The result is that in sudden storms there can quickly be a foot of water outside local homes, followed by a tidal wave of tsunami proportions as drivers race into the flood..

It is, said Southern Water, an "extreme event".

That's correct - about every 16 weeks. That's how often the average gap is between "extreme events",

Southern Water has told householders new sewers are now in the company's five year plan - but that doesn't start until 2013.

Mr Johnson is at it again stirring up business leaders over his futile plan to spend £70 billion we simply don't have as a nation to build a floating 'pie in the sea' airport in the middle of the Thames Estuary ... or maybe on the Kent or Essex coast.

The Ayatollah of City Hall, Southwark says Londoners won't accept more flights over the capital.

Tough, Mr Mayor!

Nor do the people of the estuary - Medway, Kent and Essex.

If Londoners think they can offload their transport problems onto the the estuarine marshes, and wipe out a few hunbdred homes in the process think again.

If they don't want millions of planes transforming their countryside into a concrete, aviation fuel and tarmacadam'd plane, train and car park so overseas travellers have an alternative route to swap aircraft, neither do we.

Yes, I know Heathrow is at capacity, and yes, I have groaned when my plane has joined a late night stack over Slough.

What is in it for Kent, Essex or Medway?

Jobs? - certainly. Most will be low grade, manual or catering tasks.

Transport improvements? - Definitely. Park and rides to massive car parks, high speed trains zooming through our countryside unable to stop as they descend on the airport or the capital. Oh, and planes.

At what cost? - pollution. Unquestionably. It's bad enough having power stations. Think of the incinerators needed to burn the rubbish from 1,000-plus flights a day. Or consider the joy of breathing air full of aviation fuel.

Land grab? - what do you think. If the airport is built on Boris Island, it will need new highways, service roads, railways, coach stations, bus services (operated by the new Boris Routemasters, perhaps?), aircraft maintenance facilities, restaurants, car parks, security terminals, immigrant reception areas, rapid dog holding pens... that's just for starters.

Easyjet has found the alternative - by looking around. There are plenty of existing airports with spare capacity. Southend will be flying their planes from next April on 10 different routes, linked to London in 44 minutes by a train service that already calls at the airport.

Kent has one. It's Manston, and we are told the community is crying out for it to be developed. All it needs is a couple of billion pounds (probably less) to provide the high speed rail links and terminal buildings. Boris seems to have the cash to spare to judge from his continual claims.

If we have to have hub airports, then Manston is ideal. It would leave Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted to meet the exclusive needs of in- and out-bound flights to London and the surrounding counties.

That would solve a lot of problems and objections, create jobs where they are needed, and provide the extra capacity that the airlines seem to need.

Think outside your box, Boris.

It's always the same - you take a few days R&R and things happen while your back is turned.

Usually Medway is bypassed by the gong givers.

Not this time - it's been a veritable flood with only the odd knighthood missing from the Birthday Honours list.

I could go on about the CBE for Elaine Thomas who helped to create the University of the Creative Arts, but I won't.

Instead I want to concentrate on the two new recipients of the OBE, Rodney Chambers and Bill Ferris.

The awards are richly deserved for their respective services to local government and heritage.

Yet they are closely linked together.

Both men have an inate love for the dockyard and the rich heritage of Medway. Both have worked tirelessly to see them raised in world awareness, and both have had enormous vision for the way dockyard could be made to work.

Cllr Chambers, through thick and thin, has fought to ensure the historic parts of the dockyard (and Fort Amherst) go from strength to strength. It is not a political gesture: it is something deeply rooted in him, a passion that got him closely infvolved in the earliest days of their restorations.

Bill Ferris has quietly and effectively turned the area from one run by a lot of enthusiastic individuals with a common goal into a co-ordinated business. He has allowed - nay, encouraged - developments, professionals and amateurs, businesses and entrepreneurs to work alongside each other and (in most cases) generate cash to maintain the vast number of costly building treasures which are at the heart of The Historic Dockyard Chatham.

Both have done a lot more beside conserve and develop Medway's historic treasures: they have put Medway on the map (well, at least Google's).

Where it leads, perhaps the Ordnance Survey will follow.

***

I've been away for a few days - looking at how destructive Medway's Chavs can be.

Don't worry, they were doing it with the full authority of the government (we were at war at the time) but what they did survives (in parts) to the present day.

I was at Bomarsund in the Aland archipelago of Finland.

It is where the Royal Engineers and the Royal Navy joined with the French to attack (and destroy) an enormous Russian fortress at the start of the Crimean War.

The Russians were trying to control access to the Baltic, the Allies to maintain trade.

The fort was too big to defend successfully and was quickly overwhelmed b y cannons from land and sea.

Once they capitulated, the Sappers went in and blew up the buildings and outlying defences.

It is fascinating to learn that Brigadier-General Harry Smith got a knightood at the end of the seige. The sapper was very concerned to lose a saw during the battle - oh, and one of his soldiers. Meanwhile the Lords of the Admiralty insisted that the fleet admiral, Sir Charles Napier, could cause longrange damage - but he had to avoid damaging any of his ships. On that, he failed.

A few bits of the walls survive - including part of a forward post. One small section - about 30 square yards in area - has 19 distinct hits on the granite walls around one gun position.

Clearly, our lads certainly always knew how to have a good time when they are away from home.

***

The collapse of the Icelandic banks in 2008 continues to reverberate, particularly in Kent.

Tonbridge and Malling council invested £1 million on a three month, fixed term deposit with Landsbanki.

Three weeks before it was to mature the bank collapsed.

The council is one of a number fighting to recover community cash, and expect to get it back - with the interest.

Meanwhile, despite low interest rates at the present time, the council expects its various investments to bring in close to £337,000 in the current financial year.

Medway was fortunate. It didn't have any money in the Icelandic banks at the time.