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Comment by dboreham

2 hours ago

Orkney is only 20 miles from the UK mainland so I'm not sure that's the reason. People there make fudge which is pretty good. Until recently (1956) it hosted a major Royal Navy base.

Those two aren't quite comparable; Orkney's been inhabited since before ancient Egypt. Tristan's much more recent, from when we needed stopping points everywhere for sailing ships to pick up water etc.

Isn’t the hosting of a naval base a good example of this island being subsidized because the government wants to control the waters around it? And it being close to mainland is another reason, you don’t want another country having an island that close to you.