Some good news. And who is right to “confiscate” Russian property?

Here’s a piece of good news. Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe has had her UK passport returned. Let’s hope this is the first step towards reuniting her with her husband and daughter. And let’s hope it works for other hostages as well. 

Closer to home, here’s another bit of good news, but maybe less spectacular! Saddleworth School, the secondary school both our children attended, was in a pretty decrepit state when they were pupils there. Eventually it was decided to sell off the site and build a new school in a new location. Despite much local opposition a site in Diggle was selected. Diggle is a ribbon development sort of village, largely one long street, although now with added housing branching off that main road. I think it was generally felt that the village wouldn’t cope with the daily influx of a couple of thousand adolescents. But planning was passed, building went ahead, the access road to the village was widened, unfortunately involving cutting down some mature trees, and after the recent half term holiday pupils moved in.

We’ll see how the village fares next time we go for a Diggle Chippy Hike, hoping that the little chippy and the area by the duckpond where we stop to eat our fish and chips are not swamped by teenagers in school uniform.

Over the last couple of years we have watched the building being erected: a fine modern school, in colours to blend into the countryside. 

 

In front of the new building is an old clock tower, all that remains of the pallet works that was on the site for more than 150 years until it closed down in 2006. It has a bit of patriotic history attached as the pallet works doubled up as a munitions factory to assist with the war effort during the Second World War and helped create parts for Russian submarines to help counter the U-boat threat. 

 

It’s the interconnectedness of everything once again. 

Every time we have been on one of our Diggle Chippy Hikes with our number two granddaughter, soon to be 19, she has waxed sentimental about the fine old building, declaring that the very utilitarian school building overshadows the elegant old clock tower. This indeed seems to be the case when you look down on the works from the vantage point of the hillside but is not actually so when you see it at ground level. I must confess that I have shared her concern that the old building would be allowed to go to wrack and ruin so that eventually they could say it was beyond hope and needed to be demolished.

However the historic clock tower has apparently been transferred to the council’s corporate estate under its ‘creating a better place’ programme. And now latest reports state that the local council has decided to put work in motion to preserve the building, even though they have not yet decided exactly what purpose it can be put to. Maybe they should throw the whole matter open and invite people to suggest ideas, a sort of competitive project! We shall see! 

I read in the news this morning that Spain has temporarily seized a Russian oligarch’s $140m (£108m) yacht in Barcelona, as two sources said the vessel belonged to the head of Russian state conglomerate Rostec, an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

“Today we seized – the technical term is provisionally immobilised – a yacht belonging to one of the principal oligarchs,” Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez said on La Sexta television on Monday. “We are talking about a yacht that we estimate is worth $140m.”

“There will be more,” he added, without elaborating.

Meanwhile here in the UK, in London, squatters took over an oligarch’s London mansion, declaring:

“This rich mansion will serve as a centre for refugee support, for Ukrainians and people of all nations and all ethnicities. 'Squat oligarchs’ properties everywhere.”

I was not at all surprised by this event. After all, Deputy Prime mInister Dominic Raab has said that he supports the idea of housing Ukrainian refugees in the seized properties of the Russian oligarchs. However, this has not yet materialised into an official scheme and governments don’t like ordinary people muscling in on their schemes even if, like Marcus Rashford, they get things done. And so police moved in to remove the squatters. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!