Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/09/11/richard-bransons-private-isl.html
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His secret island base was devastated by the storm. Thus inadvertently saving the world from yet another one of his evil plots.
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Doesn’t he run an airline, that burns bunches of fossil fuels to earn his money?
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It seems that as far as plutocratic overlords go, we could probably do worse than Branson.
I do wonder what the carbon footprint of developing your own private island and traveling back and forth on your private jet is, though…
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Seems like building vacation properties on hurricane-prone islands is also contributing to the number of buildings being destroyed by hurricanes.
That said, hopefully those without Branson’s means will receive the help they need to repair their homes and livelihoods.
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Can’t stand the man myself.
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Ditto, here in the UK he’s profiting massively from the privatisation messes of the rail system and within the NHS. Branson is a vast offshore leech of taxpayer funds. 
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It seems like he’s making a more-than-token effort to use people’s fascination with private islands to raise awareness of the damage to public islands. And since the British Virgin Islands are still territories of the British Riddled Old Whore Islands, more political awareness in the UK probably does make a meaningful difference.
So, in a narrow sense, good for him.
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Had to look it up but Virgin America was bought out by Alaska Airlines, though i’m sure Branson has plenty of other business dealings. I don’t know enough about his reputation or how he does business though so i can’t comment.
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From my armchair perspective it does seem like he is doing a lot of work to try to raise the visibility of the devastation to the islands and getting as much action and help going. Here in the US there seems to be a lot of focus specifically on the damage done to his private island. Richard Branson is going to be more than fine, don’t worry about him. Worry about the locals, there is a very real chance quite a few locals will no longer be able to maintain a life on those islands if these hurricanes become the norm.
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I am.
I used to live in the US Virgin Islands; but over the years, I lost touch with everyone I used to know there, so I have no way of knowing who’s still ‘okay’ and who’s not.
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This looks like a commercial for a flatscreen TV mount.
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I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that’s probably not how Trump would have responded had Mar-a-Lago been wiped off the map.
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I would love to see him use the word “disaster” for an actual disaster.
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Have you ever been to one of the Family Islands? Just as Hurricane Prone, but inhabited largely by ordinary people.
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I was hoping it would be (and while I hate the guy, I doubt I’m even in the 25th percentile of Trump hate here at BB) just so I could see him tie everything else about Irma back to Mar-a-Lago. What an asshole.
How he got the island is an interesting story.
Makes me want to go get an island.
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On the bright side…outdoor kitchen!
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What would make you say such a thing? Trump cares more about ordinary people than… Oh, fuck it. Yeah, sixteen years ago he was busy calling into news stations to brag about how his building was once again the tallest in Lower Manhattan.
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It’s worth mentioning that this isn’t event the first of Branson’s private islands that has faced natural disasters this month.
He has an island in a part of Australia that was dealing fires in August. His island was fine, but some around him had their houses destroyed.
Branson was decent enough to invite them all to stay in the residences on the island (normally rented for A$5.5K/night), which does go some way to me not feeling like he’s just doing the ‘poor little rich guy’ when something bad happens to him. (Also his quote is a decent reply in a bad situation.)
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