JOCC calls for financial independence from UK’s ‘big stick’
(CNS): Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly has said the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility, which gives the United Kingdom the power to veto the Cayman Islands budget if it falls foul of the strict criteria, should be reviewed. She said that this jurisdiction needs to be more financially independent with “our own internal FFR” and described the UK’s power as a “big stick”.
When Wayne Panton was premier, he also raised this issue, suggesting that the FFR should be reviewed because the cap on debt could prevent this country from making the necessary investment in climate resiliency.
The FFR is a set of metrics put in place back in 2011, when Cayman was facing significant difficulties with public finances, to give the UK ultimate control over government spending and avoid any of this jurisdiction’s debt liabilities.
However, the criteria are very strict and severely limit the country’s ability to borrow. Panton described the criteria as “too conservative”, which will make it difficult for future governments to invest in the type of resilience that will be needed as climate change impacts the country more and more.
Appearing on Radio Cayman on Wednesday after returning from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) conference in Samoa, O’Connor-Conolly noted that Bermuda doesn’t have the same limitations on its public finance act and said Cayman had proven itself over its fiscal prudence.
She said that she would prefer to see the country adopt its own internal FFR. Cayman had “to grow up”, she said, and officials should not have to go thousands of miles, cap in hand, to negotiate over the restrictions.
“Having an FFR in place… means there is an inherent distrust in our people, that we are not capable of handling our own finances, yet each year… we have a surplus… There are aspects of the FFR that… can be very beneficial that I would like to see entrenched, but in our own domestic legislation. I don’t think we should have a big stick over us.”
She said that if it did not work, it would be up to the voters to deal with that. Although she accepted that the FFR provided financial stability, she said that as the country matures, this was one thing she wanted to look at more and encourage Caymanians to have more “belief in ourselves”.
However, since taking up the position of premier, O’Connor-Conolly has been widely criticised for the amount of spending in the 2024/25 budget, in particular, the development of a costly new high school on Cayman Brac. The existing facility, the Layman E. Scott High School, currently has just 155 students.
In her role as minister of finance, she has also added to the borrowing over the next two years and is currently going through the process of soliciting a bid for a new $150 million loan to cover the costs of capital projects this year and next.
Following the recent Finance Committee meeting in parliament earlier this month, when the government steered through additional spending of almost $52 million this year, the anticipated surplus in the original budget of $44.5 million has been reduced to $16.5 million.
While the government remains within the current limits of the FFR, there are concerns that it is now sailing closer and closer to the winds of a potential deficit.
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Category: Government Finance, Politics
Can we please get her on the Saab back to lockdown in the Brac pronto!
#notmypremier
Julianna is spending like a drunken sailor. When you have little education in finance this is what you get. A 50million dollar school in the Brac for 150 students and vote buying in the CS
The composition of our Parliament rests in the hands of our people.We must drop the time honoured system of voting for people who will personally reward the voter in one way or another. There are many very well qualified Caymanians who meet the highest ethical standards, we must try and persuade these people to stand in the election.Unfortunately so far we have got what we asked for.The upcoming election can be a milestone in changing the system.
Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas.
Agree, however none of the good, honest people with integrity are stupid enough to run for office. You literally couldn’t pay me enough to do so.
“Give me my Bluff Mansion!”
But for single member constituencies, perhaps Marco Archer and other similarly talented people would have been office, and we would be in better shape today. Single member consitutencies rules were put in place by the PPM as it failed in referendum, so can we revert back to the old form of voting through legislation in parliament also?
I am still wondering how did she manage to fly to Jamaica and Eastern Caribbean with suitcases full of cash? Who approved, allowed that to happen? It is not like she can walk into a Bank, request $700,000 public cash, hop on a plane and start her charity tour. Why didn’t she stop in Cuba?
What does the Auditor General say about that?
And what does the Governor have to say about it?
I think she’s a bit inexperienced compared to past Governors. Julie sweets mouths her and HE feels all overwhelmed with Julie sweetness. I don’t believe that she has that sort of overpowering and staunch personality.
It’ll be her office and aids to guide her carefully with Judas Julie. However, the UK is closely watching if this CI Govt office is dragging their feets
Well, she got her independence all right, the hard way.
The Cayman Islands need independence from JOCC. If Brac elects her again, stop subsidizing them.
Cayman Brac seems like a Dependency of Grand Cayman… lol
Maybe you should stop blaming the UK for doing their job for the people of the Cayman Islands properly and looking out for our best interest, in respectfully managing the Cayman Islands Government on the people’s behalf; from those thousands of miles away as Our Mother Country and Protectorate. The UK does a better job for the Caymanian people more-so than what our Governments have done; and are worth every penny and their weight in gold in service to the Cayman Islands. The UK is only protecting the national interests of the Caymanian people economically, civilly, politically and constitutionally from ourselves, and especially from the inept actions and bad decisions done or attempted by our Government(s) or self-serving politicians, by right, international standards, practices, policies, legislation and agreements of which are held by a UK guarantee with the Cayman Islands which will deter us from being lead into financial follies by our own Government(s). You want more funds (JOCC) unrestricted? Then maybe you should take a pay cut or work for free and have your enormous salary go to fund these projects that you see that are so important to the Cayman Islands if you really care about the people of our Cayman Islands. The people of the Cayman Islands should actually be financially free of our own Government. If the Eastern districts are under-served or being left behind, this is no one’s fault but the Cayman Islands Government’s or the politicians who are under-serving their constituents in our eastern districts.
Instead of looking to borrow from banks and other countries, the Cayman Islands Government should seek advice and guidance in considering to incorporate funds for infrastructure such as, municipal bonds which be accessed and drawn upon by the Government which guarantees an interest rate to the purchaser of these debt products which can be used to finance local projects and which can be listed on the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange for purchase locally and internationally. The Cayman Islands stock exchange is a highly under-utilized financial vehicle that can be utilized with infinite great profit to all and should as well be made more attractive and attention g8ven to it by our own Government and attract a larger crowd of investors and financial services providers globally while providing dynamic investment products, investment vehicles and financial products such as infrastructure bonds created and guaranteed by our Government. It’s astonishing to me why Cayman being this dynamic financial services hub and global financial centre, and currently doing very well economically has not yet created Government backed bonds, treasury bills and other securities for the market that go towards the funding of projects and infrastructure which is the Government can borrow from locally within our own jurisdiction and be self-sufficient and be economically self sustainable. I believe that the Cayman Islands needs to seriously consider these financial products before looking to put us in debt with foreign entities or financiers that do not or never will have our best interest at heart.
Additionally, it is not any member of our Government backing up our Cayman dollar or securing its pegged rate with the US. I don’t see any member of our Government as the Head of State and our National Security. It’s not the Cayman Islands Government or the people taking any risks when it comes to borrowing over our 10% GDP but it will be the people of the Cayman Islands who will suffer to pay it back, and when things begin to fall behind our Government that messed us up financially the first thing I predict they will do is turn around and begin raising taxes on us and implementing a whole heap of new taxes to first keep their own pay checks coming in and the lights on while the Government struggles to stay in business.
So yes, I fully understand why the UK would employ restrictions on borrowing as they are the ones that are our head of state and taking the risks on the Cayman Islands Governments and the people’s behalf when it comes to borrowing. Maybe our Government should thank the British Government and the UK for a mother country that has pegged and secured our dollar in this way and makes restrictions to keep it this way; and as of 2024 is the worlds 7th most valuable currency. All this without even being taxed by the UK or British Government. The UK in fact treats the Cayman Islands better in many ways that their own people, as right now in the UK their citizens, workers, businesses, estates, incomes and properties are all heavily taxed being resided just yesterday totaling an additional £50,000,000,000 which for the most part is in attempt to lift half the developing world, the Commonwealth Realms, Dependencies and poor countries out of poverty and bring economic stability and climate resilience and sustainably to the world as a whole. The UK I can see wishes for our indefinite sustainably and would not like for us to devolve into economic hardship and instability.
I do not believe that any other country or BOTC has this coveted privilege of how our dollar is valued and pegged. Furthermore, our dollar is not subject to inflation when we borrow and for the UK to secure our currency and guarantee it from devaluation or fluctuating due to borrowing and debt we must adhere to certain restrictions on borrowing which currently is set at a limit of 10% of our GDP. Thoughtfully, this economic boom we are enjoying currently may not last too much longer and I surmise is not sustainable into the indefinite future. Caymans GDP may not be anywhere near as high as it us now in the next (5) years or less. Interest rates may again soar with the current and unpredictable nature of the global geo-economics and geopolitical ups-and-downs which will make it hard for the Cayman Islands Government to pay its bills, salaries and wages and to pay back on loans with high interest rates in the future. If we default on loans, there is really nothing we as a nation can give in resources or exports to settle these debts and it will have to be the people that it will cost the most. Maybe we should start mining our economic zones ocean floor for exotic minerals and rare earth elements and precision metals.
We as a tiny island nation should seek to be very shrewd, think responsibly, act more conservatively and humble; and do not be lead into what can quickly become a financial black hole of which the persons who lead us there in the end will take no responsibility or accountability in doing so.
You lost me after the first few words………yawn.
So reading, thinking and considering the pros and cons of the post taxes your attention span? I hope you don’t have the right to vote, as you should not be afforded that responsibility.
Not only do I have the Right to vote but it’s by over 10th generational Caymanian birthright, Caymanian nationality and ethnicity and in an informed educated, professional and honest and up standing member of our nation with a sense of duty and honor in blood and tears to my counrty.
Thank you for asking that question and making that statement so that you may be clearified and to know who and what I am. Do you come anywhere close to any of this..?
You should go back and read it. It matters. Take a nap in between if that’s what it takes. This is all our lives we are talking about. This was not my comment, but it was very beneficial and spot on, and you replied with a yawn. Do yourself a favour. Go back and read it. Slowly, if you must.
Perfectly said.
Next time you want to type a treatise, I suggest you break it up with paragraphs, so the reader has a place to rest their eyes. I just admonished a poster who said “yawn” and encouraged them to read your post.
I think you have a sharp mind and understanding of the situation. Keep up the good work. You will reach more people with paragraphs.
Maybe you should stop blaming the UK for doing their job for the people of the Cayman Islands properly and looking out for our best interest, in respectfully managing the Cayman Islands Government on the people’s behalf; from those thousands of miles away as Our Mother Country and Protectorate. The UK does a better job for the Caymanian people more-so than what our Governments have done; and are worth every penny and their weight in gold in service to the Cayman Islands. The UK is only protecting the national interests of the Caymanian people economically, civilly, politically and constitutionally from ourselves, and especially from the inept actions and bad decisions done or attempted by our Government(s) or self-serving politicians, by right, international standards, practices, policies, legislation and agreements of which are held by a UK guarantee with the Cayman Islands which will deter us from being lead into financial follies by our own Government(s). You want more funds (JOCC) unrestricted? Then maybe you should take a pay cut or work for free and have your enormous salary go to fund these projects that you see that are so important to the Cayman Islands if you really care about the people of our Cayman Islands. The people of the Cayman Islands should actually be financially free of our own Government. If the Eastern districts are under-served or being left behind, this is no one’s fault but the Cayman Islands Government’s or the politicians who are under-serving their constituents in our eastern districts.
Instead of looking to borrow from banks and other countries, the Cayman Islands Government should seek advice and guidance in considering to incorporate funds for infrastructure such as, municipal bonds which be accessed and drawn upon by the Government which guarantees an interest rate to the purchaser of these debt products which can be used to finance local projects and which can be listed on the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange for purchase locally and internationally. The Cayman Islands stock exchange is a highly under-utilized financial vehicle that can be utilized with infinite great profit to all and should as well be made more attractive and attention g8ven to it by our own Government and attract a larger crowd of investors and financial services providers globally while providing dynamic investment products, investment vehicles and financial products such as infrastructure bonds created and guaranteed by our Government. It’s astonishing to me why Cayman being this dynamic financial services hub and global financial centre, and currently doing very well economically has not yet created Government backed bonds, treasury bills and other securities for the market that go towards the funding of projects and infrastructure which is the Government can borrow from locally within our own jurisdiction and be self-sufficient and be economically self sustainable. I believe that the Cayman Islands needs to seriously consider these financial products before looking to put us in debt with foreign entities or financiers that do not or never will have our best interest at heart.
Additionally, it is not any member of our Government backing up our Cayman dollar or securing its pegged rate with the US. I don’t see any member of our Government as the Head of State and our National Security. It’s not the Cayman Islands Government or the people taking any risks when it comes to borrowing over our 10% GDP but it will be the people of the Cayman Islands who will suffer to pay it back, and when things begin to fall behind our Government that messed us up financially the first thing I predict they will do is turn around and begin raising taxes on us and implementing a whole heap of new taxes to first keep their own pay checks coming in and the lights on while the Government struggles to stay in business.
So yes, I fully understand why the UK would employ restrictions on borrowing as they are the ones that are our head of state and taking the risks on the Cayman Islands Governments and the people’s behalf when it comes to borrowing. Maybe our Government should thank the British Government and the UK for a mother country that has pegged and secured our dollar in this way and makes restrictions to keep it this way; and as of 2024 is the worlds 7th most valuable currency. All this without even being taxed by the UK or British Government. The UK in fact treats the Cayman Islands better in many ways that their own people, as right now in the UK their citizens, workers, businesses, estates, incomes and properties are all heavily taxed being resided just yesterday totaling an additional £50,000,000,000 which for the most part is in attempt to lift half the developing world, the Commonwealth Realms, Dependencies and poor countries out of poverty and bring economic stability and climate resilience and sustainably to the world as a whole. The UK I can see wishes for our indefinite sustainably and would not like for us to devolve into economic hardship and instability.
I do not believe that any other country or BOTC has this coveted privilege of how our dollar is valued and pegged. Furthermore, our dollar is not subject to inflation when we borrow and for the UK to secure our currency and guarantee it from devaluation or fluctuating due to borrowing and debt we must adhere to certain restrictions on borrowing which currently is set at a limit of 10% of our GDP. Thoughtfully, this economic boom we are enjoying currently may not last too much longer and I surmise is not sustainable into the indefinite future. Caymans GDP may not be anywhere near as high as it us now in the next (5) years or less. Interest rates may again soar with the current and unpredictable nature of the global geo-economics and geopolitical ups-and-downs which will make it hard for the Cayman Islands Government to pay its bills, salaries and wages and to pay back on loans with high interest rates in the future. If we default on loans, there is really nothing we as a nation can give in resources or exports to settle these debts and it will have to be the people that it will cost the most. Maybe we should start mining our economic zones ocean floor for exotic minerals and rare earth elements and precision metals.
We as a tiny island nation should seek to be very shrewd, think responsibly, act more conservatively and humble; and do not be lead into what can quickly become a financial black hole of which the persons who lead us there in the end will take no responsibility or accountability in doing so.
Not a nation
Dictionary
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noun
a large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory.
“the world’s leading industrialized nations”
Some comments can be so rude.
Some comments can be justified for being so…
2:18, The truth hurts in most cases.
I have a PhD, ABC, and Do-Ray-Me in Finance, and I can tell you JuJu is correct. Besides the $50M school on Cayman Brac, we need a $50M school for every 2,000 head of population in Cayman. Don’t let the UK stop us from doing the right thing. Next thing you know they will want us to allow same-sex marriage.
Imagine, she went thousands of miles to Samoa and all she could report “is that they have their garbage bins raised four feet off the ground to keep the wild chickens from digging in it” chickens can and do fly up. We can solve the problem by ensuring that the bins are securely closed.
As a compromise for those who cannot find lids or raise their bins, then I suggest a program to tie rocks to their legs to limit the height they might reach.
She also couldn’t stop waffling on about “breadfruit chips” in between ramblings on local farming which confirmed that she is full of kaka-doo-doo.
She could have skyped into these meetings whilst eating breadfruit chips that she’d picked up from our farmers market.
you know the problem with people like you, who think that a sarcastic post is the height of wit, is simply that you’re inadvertently reinforcing views here and those with limited intellect believe you. so either add something that genuinely reflects your view or please sit down
If she has gotten away with what she has spent money on in the last 12m ( a school with a build cost of $500,000 per a child attending) , imagine if there were no restrictions. Absolutely terrifying!
Half a million dollars pulled out of the budget for Pirates Week parties. Nuff said.
Thank God for UK control of FFR .
These fools are like kids running around in the candy store grabbing what they can, and throwing temper tantrums when told “that’s enough”!
It was the FCO and Taylor who stepped in and said “NO” to Mac and his generous new best friends CHEC.
Bush, through Juju and his UDPM hangers on (Saunders, Seymour Jay and Kenneth) are now seeking revenge and taking the first steps towards an Independence movement.
Our books are cooked. FCO reps have for many years, played dumb and mute, quietly allowing CIG to corruptly omit $2bln in liabilities from the Balance Sheet to later hang us all. It is the unfortunate product of many Governors enabling deliberate non-compliance with FFR for years. They let it happen.
direct rule for 2 years while a new raft of political candidates are selected/vetted based on qualifications, experience and integrity. then we have new elections.
time for class action lawsuit against the incompetence of the civil service and cig.
Ruled by Labour!? No, thank you. Their new budget came out today. The British taxpayer is getting absolutely shafted. I don’t want that for us.
Repeat, repeat, move on!
i know its halloween…. but this terrifying beyond belief!
This is completely stupid. The only thing they want is to spend all of the money we make for them. Welcome to Jamaica if we go independent. At least Jamaica has beaches and things to do, tourists here have very little. Cayman would be doomed. Get rid of this horrible grifting woman and her fellow cronies.
Exactly! She scraped up our finances and took it to Jamaica and the Eastern Caribbean pretending that we are rolling in the money. Those countries have more revenue sources than we do. If they don’t management their money properly that is on them. She should be more concerned on how we manage our funds. I am so glad that at least we have The FFR to hold her and her fellow jackasses back from totally destroying us.
At least Jamaica has a light manufacturing industry, Bauxite mines, considerable agriculture export industry, as well as beautiful scenery and thriving tourism to sustain it.
Talk about independence here and the financial industry, (with support services of legal and accounting) will be gone in two clicks of a computer keyboard.
Two mile beach , the basis of Cayman tourism, will not be enough to support 4000 civil servants and 40,000 Jamaicans.
With the developments today she has to go, and now, they all do. An early election and decent candidates PLEASE!!!
The Election Law prohibits them from nomination.
She needs to go NOW!
Andre and crew just made that happen.
She wants to get that monstrosity school building up on the bluff. I have no problems with the Brac getting a new building but from what I have heard they do not need one the size she is planning on building. She needs to understand it is not her money. When they waste our money it effects all of us.
Our government has continuously proven that this existing FFR is necessary and that the government is indeed “(in)capable of handling our own finances”.
And after reading the compass, hopefully this will be the last we see of ju ju
Our records are not clean, prudent, and do not finish the year with a genuine surplus. The Balance sheet has omitted $2,200,000,000.00 in liabilities for YEARS. That’s >200% of GDP, missing every year from the official count of things. Those are the findings of the Auditor General as well, and why no OAG has given a positive opinion on our prudence. Rather than put hat in hand and ask for a responsible path out of this mess with the FCO, we instead witness the crooked weasel thoughts of entrenched corruption.
Says the lady that built a stadium in the middle of nowhere in Cayman Brac along with 50 million school and 8+ million accommodations to build that school. She is totally gone off jezzuum man
What an ignorant ‘woman’!
Let’s call it what it is- She merely wants the unilateral authority to pave more driveways in the Brac.
Given the amount she’s spent in the last few months alone, these restrictions are more than appropriate.
first toe in the water of independence. they will massage everyone into believing the UK is at fault for such things. dont listen to them, Mac said the UK was restricting civil servants last week, now this. DO. NOT. LISTEN. an independent Cayman looks like Jamaica.
and we will all leave
I don’t trust our government to find its way out of a paper bag let alone fully control our finances. I don’t trust a Labour government anymore so for that matter but at least the rules set in place by the UK as a whole prevent our local clown show from wasting even more of our money.
This is pure madness from Premier Juliana. She is in denial and cannot be trusted to manage the fiscal affairs of the country.
The proof is illustrated with her vanity project the “New School of Opulence” or the New Cayman Brac High School that will cost nearly KYD 70m to service a student population of 150 students maximum at any given time.
The Brac has always been a welfare state and gotten worse during her tenure and Moses Kirkconnell in Cayman Politics. There are many examples in all three islands.
There should been investigations into the numerous examples of fiscal mismanagement by successive governments since 2006 to present day that involves incompetent and corrupt Cabinet members and inept senior civil servants that lead the projects on behalf of their respective ministries.
The time has come for FCDO reviews and investigations before we become a third world country.
None of us want to see Cayman bankrupt.
We don’t have enough saved for a rainy day.
Our borrowing capacity is our back-up.
Let’s not fritter that away.
The boom period receipts were frittered away long ago, without any provision for rainy-day reserves, where trusted gatekeepers in charge endorsed the scam. The CIG Balance sheet is deliberately omitting at least $2 billion in maturing healthcare and pension liabilities, that aren’t fundable. Ken Jefferson, pictured, has made this admission and with a decade of political support from JOCC and other deceitful parliamentarians, in a conspiracy to appear to be in compliance with FFR. If Cayman loses the UK backstop on our declared debt, and with that, the umbrella of preferential AA credit rating, Cayman alone immediately downgrades to high default risk, sub-investment grades, where debt service obligation costs skyrocket. Those that can leave will leave, before the taxes. The Finance Sector will flee on the ironic headline heard around the world. There will be no economic pillar to pay for the cleanup costs. All of this happens soon, teed up by power-drunk morons, and long before climate resiliency concerns.
Instead let’s have a festival of spending, what could possibly go wrong?
If the debt cap was raised to ADDRESS CLIMATE RESILIENCY ONLY then it COULD be entertained.
2011 was the year that UDP was in power and the Foreign Commonwealth Office had to step in and stop the China Harbor port deal that McKeeva, Rolston et al tried to push through without a proper tendering process. Madness!!
Where are the reports from the Auditor General’s Offices to go before the PAC for the public domain so that people know now what is driving the increased borrowing???
It would appear that government is failing to produce sufficient information for the Auditor General to complete their audit work.
Can we please get a list of what is outstanding???
Minister Jay Ebanks claimed that the halt on housing construction was due to playing catch up filing Annual Reports which is rubbish.
This was a play at words as the article also reported a loss for NHDT for fiscal year end 2021. We are now 2024 so any lack of financial reporting is under his watch!!
What the public needs to know is what was the original site preparation budget? What was the cost to construct the homes? What was the overall expected budget costs???
I’m waiting.
Ken Jefferson has relayed that at least KYD$2.2 billion in maturing civil servant healthcare and pension liabilities are missing from the CIG Balance Sheet – specifically omitted with endorsement from successive Cabinets, to appear to remain in compliance with FFR. It is just one of the active financial conspiracies that prevents the OAG from ascribing a passing accounting grade.
https://caymannewsservice.com/2024/03/cig-still-dodging-ci2-2b-cs-retirees-healthcare-liability/
Government spending can not create prosperity – unless you are in their inner circle and getting government ckntracts.
Looking for the power to raise minister’s salaries by 9 million percent.
If you think the FFR is a pair of handcuffs, just wait until our politicians run up the debt and completely shackle Cayman until the end of days.
Sounds like Mac is whispering bitter nothings in JuJu’s ear, flipping the finger at UK again. This might an opportune time for UK to cut the rope and let Cayman hang itself, although this is not likely to happen. More probable is that the FCO demand that pension and healthcare liabilities be moved onto the books and a National tax framework be implemented to address the deficit. This however is all hypothetical and such political bellyaching is to be expected prior to elections.
That’s the path we’re on. We know it is because in the opening minutes of this regime, JOCC sought to immediately exercise their legislative powers to apply blanket indemnity to Cabinet members, even against crime. They are truly above the law, presiding over a mountain of lies, all coming due.
The lack of income taxes (notwithstanding that work permits are a form of income tax), plus lack of property taxes, are the only things keeping the financial services expats (and thus the financial services industry) here. If that changes, Cayman is f**ked.
With the advertised 8% annual return on rental properties, I doubt anyone will be leaving. Taxed in other countries will still be higher and lets not get started on the median salary in other countries. Not comparable to Cayman.
8% is pure Bull Poop.
Lucky if you scrape 4% .
8% is easy to achieve elsewhere.
Keyword: Elsewhere.
Juliana, needs handcuffs and footcuffs to stop wasting the money and to stop running all over the world to attend rubbish that does not benefit us.
To the pillory with her!