Preview Mode Links will not work in preview mode

Mass for Shut-ins: The Gin and Tacos Podcast


Jun 14, 2019

Two police forces. Two sets of laws. Two postal systems. Two kinds of money. For 74 years the UK and France governed the island colony of the New Hebrides (since 1980, the independent nation of Vanuatu featured on Season 9 of Survivor) under a bizarre condominium arrangement. The islands were governed by the respective nations, with totally different laws and bureaucracies, on alternating days. And if you had a complaint, you appealed to...the king of Spain. Read that all again.

The New Hebrides flag was a flag of the UK and French flags. If your flag is the flags of two other countries, something is wrong.

How did this last for 74 years? The power of bureaucracy and indifference! Since independence the nation has faced some challenges we discuss here, but we're rooting for Vanuatu.

Please support Mass for Shut-ins, an independent and ad-free podcast, via Patreon. Contact me via Facebook, Twitter (@gin_and_tacos), or the venerable website Gin and Tacos

Thanks: Seth Wilson, all the bands that contribute music (WaxeaterIfIHadAHiFiThe Sump PumpsOscar Bait), Zachary Sielaff, Question Cathy, and all Patreon supporters, subscribers, and listeners.