Orcadian Column, 11/12/25
I’m very sorry but no matter how well-crafted my parliamentary columns are in future they will never be an adequate substitute for The Giddy Limit, which has gone into retirement for the time being.
Over the past 20 years, Alex Leonard has quietly captured the essence and quirks of Orkney life in cartoons that have also given voice to the Orkney dialect and placed it in a modern setting with wit, warmth and real insight. Like all good cartoonists, Alex has an unerring ability to take often complex issues, situations or emotions and explain or express them with wonderful clarity and simplicity. It’s a rare talent to have, added to which he’s also one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet.
It was a privilege, therefore, to be invited to an event at Highland Park on Albert Street recently to celebrate Alex’s two decades at The Orcadian, during which he has produced over 1,000 instalments of The Giddy Limit. Many of these appear in a special 20th anniversary collection published just in time to ensure that anyone wishing to spread happiness and joy to their nearest and dearest this Christmas need look no further.
Alex has hinted at a comeback at some point in the future, but other work commitments make continuing to deliver a weekly cartoon strip impossible for the time being. I’m fairly confident, however, that if The Return of The Giddy Limit isn’t on the horizon in the next couple of years, petitions and crowdfunders will be getting pulled together.
For now, I’d like to offer my thanks again to Alex. As the son of a cartoonist, I’ve seen first-hand how difficult and stressful the job can be. Alex has performed the role with charm and no little skill, making it just a little easier to forgive him for leaving a Giddy Limit-sized hole in our week for a while.
Leaving a sizeable hole in the household finances of quite a few constituents has been the policy of some energy supplies to allow and even encourage customers to run-up significant credit balances on their accounts. While having a credit ‘buffer’ can be helpful in managing bills, particularly over the winter months, in some cases highlighted to me recently, these balances have run into many thousands of pounds often without the knowledge and certainly without the consent of customers.
I met last week with OVO to discuss this issue and while OVO insisted that accounts are regularly reviewed, they did agree to look again at the safeguards in place. Meantime, I’d urge constituents to check their accounts and get in touch with their supplier if they have any concerns, noting that this is not an issue limited to OVO. While being in credit, of course, is better than being in debt, it could be creating unnecessary cashflow issues for some households or tying up funds better used elsewhere.
Another issue causing growing anxiety locally over recent weeks has been the transfer of Kirkwall Post Office to a new provider, Universal Office Equipment.
Staffing issues have limited opening times at what is easily the busiest time of the year for the Post Office. Many local businesses, for example, rely heavily on being able to get products away to meet increased customer demand. Unfortunately, that has proved difficult of late, even despite the heroic efforts of Papdale Stores who have stepped in to help plug some of the gaps.
Alistair Carmichael and I met Post Office representatives this week to air these concerns and seek assurances on the steps being taken to address the problems. We were told that staffing numbers have increased, including the use of experienced UOE staff from south who will help with training as well as delivering services.
Time will tell whether this does the trick but at such a crucial time of the year, we really need to see this key local service literally start delivering again for islanders. And the bottom line is that if 20th anniversary collections of The Giddy Limit and Cheemo & Co’s 2026 calendars don’t manage to make it under folks’ Christmas trees over the next fortnight or so, it won’t be tears of laughter we’re hearing.