Weekend Musings

A brief note that the JEP again makes a mistake, or was it a deliberate error, by calling the Senators up for re-election this year as the "class of 2005". Not unless they've shortened the period for elections! Doesn't anyone proof-read articles any more?

At least they get the page for the weather forecast right at weekends now, although the "light rain" promised earlier was somewhat heaver than expected, and caused flooding. Still that is the Met Office, not the JEP, who really should be paid by results - last week and the week before "heavy rain" was significantly absent from the skies, though not the forecasts. I met some unlucky tourists on Sunday evening, and tried to think of places to visit when raining. A section in the Tourism brochures and website for "rainy days" would be helpful.

On Sunday lunchtime, I visited the most tourism unfriendly cafe in the Island - unless you know otherwise?

The toilets are locked and there is a notice on them - in English only (of course!) - telling you that they are for patrons only, and to ask at the food counter - which is way back at the other end of the cafe. If you are lucky, not desperate, and there is no queue for food (so you can get noticed without shouting), the man there will press a button, which releases the electronic lock on the toilets, and you can walk up there and open the door. Yes, this is La Fregate Cafe, with a policy that would not have been out of place in the dark days of the Occupation - they also close at five!

If you are thinking of eating at the cafe, but old and infirm and have slow mobility and poor bladder control , or have young children (who often need to go in a hurry), or cannot read English (hard luck to those pesky foreigners), I suggest you give the cafe a miss, and go to the Sailor's Rest, which serves cheaper food, and had an open toilet policy.

In fact I can't think of another beach cafe in Jersey which operates that kind of policy. I'm sure some people will anonymously comment that it is up to the proprietors how they run their cafe, and that is true. It is also true that I am free by word of mouth to tell people why I think it is run partly on the lines of a prison service than a people service. It reminds me of "Panicos", the toy shop which called itself the "Toy Mecca in the West" at Quennevais, whose owners viewed children with such suspicion I always wondered why they bothered to sell toys if they evidently disliked children that much. La Fregate treats its clientele more like prison inmates than customers.

They also have a notice saying they only serve chips with meals (around £6.80), so don't go there if you are a young adult and looking for a cheap snack.

As an added disincentive, I think the dreaded smell of rotten seaweed is starting to creep in from the beach.

But Rosemary Geller would be pleased in the removal of chips alone for young people. I heard her on the radio this morning commenting on how to tackle obesity in young people, and suggesting they need some incentive to get them into allotments.

I didn't know there were enough allotments in Jersey, or that they came at the rental prices that the poorer people, who probably would benefit from fresh food, could afford. I do think it is actually a good idea, and a States subsidised allotment scheme (maybe using tax breaks as an incentive rather than funding) would be better for greenfield sites than rezoning and building on them. Or perhaps new social housing could incorporate not just parking, but allotments if in the countryside as well? G.K. Chesterton and the Distributists suggested that allotments could act as a counter-culture to the prevailing standardisation of fast food (in their day, in tin cans, in ours of frozen ready meals). The revival of allotments are testament to people's frustration with supermarket standardisation, and the demand for fresh, local food. Perhaps as farms close with declining agriculture, this would be a good way to manage the land, and feed the Island?

On the fat front, from CTV:

A protest group several hundred strong showed their support for the banned ladies outside the venue in Halkett Street last night despite a midweek apology from Mr Sayers. News of the ban has gone around the world and in just a week a fledgling anti-discrimination organisation has gained support from more than fifteen hundred outraged individuals - some from as far afield as America. They're now turning their attention to politicians who have been slow to push through discrimination law. A petition is being drawn up and has so far been signed by hundreds of people.

Who is responsible? Step forward the Council of Ministers!

The Council endorsed the draft Discrimination Law and recommended that the Minister for Home Affairs forward the draft Law to Scrutiny for possible review and with the provisional aim of lodging the draft 'au Greffe' no later than May 2008. The Council also recommended that the Minister for Home Affairs should publish a consultation report seeking comments on the draft Law.

Elsewhere, Rod Liddle, commenting in the Sunday Times on the Lambeth Conference, had a wonderfully choice piece of invective:" I had intended to take advice and guidance from the 2008 Lambeth Conference, that convocation of extravagantly bearded men in purple dresses, but it was like soliciting advice from a tub of margarine. When an issue of principle hove into view, the prelates ducked and pretended it hadn't been raised at all. "

Replace Lambeth Conference, with Council of Ministers on Draft Discrimination Laws, and you wouldn't be too far off the mark in the decision making ability on this law! When an issue of principle hove into view, the Ministers ducked and pretended it hadn't been raised at all.

Links

CTV report on Havana Protest
http://www5.channelonline.tv/news/templates/jerseynews2.aspx?articleid=15871&zoneid=1


Draft Discrimination (Jersey) Law 200- (MD-HA-2008-0013)
http://www.gov.je/StatesGreffe/MinisterialDecision/HomeAffairs/2008/Draft+Discrimination.htm


Rod Liddle in Sunday Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/rod_liddle/article4449315.ece


David Boyle on the Distributists
http://www.david-boyle.co.uk/history/goodlives.html