Guernseywatch

I hope to get back over to Guernsey in the first weekend in October. Some interesting stuff happening.

A DETAILED survey of the Bailiwick seabed started yesterday. Guernsey Electricity's submarine survey is designed to gather information that could help potential developers assess whether conditions are suitable for tidal projects. The availability of this data is likely to make the Bailiwick more attractive to developers, who would otherwise have to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds carrying out a similar survey themselves. Project head Sally-Ann David, GE's engineering services manager, said the physical requirements for the seabed could differ depending on the type of technology being used. 'But whatever system you have, you are going to need to secure it to the seabed somehow in an area where there is a fast-flowing tidal stream. What this survey will do is provide the critical data engineers will need to assess whether locations we believe offer the right tidal conditions are going to be suitable for a particular technology.'

http://www.thisisguernsey.com/2008/09/16/survey-set-to-get-to-the-bottom-of-tidal-power/


It is clear they are very serious about tidal power, and why not? For islands with such huge tidal ranges, it seems folly not to be able to harness that immense flow and use it to generate electricity, especially in these energy conscious days. When we get very clear weather, a look over at France reveals wind turbines on their hills, just visible to the naked eye. Alternative energy can work, if you have the right energy source for your locality, which is why solar power is not such a good bet. But Guernsey are really putting a lot of effort into making tidal power attractive to developers by providing this survey data. Why isn't Jersey doing anything as forward looking? The only tidal power suggestion over here was part of the land bridge to France idea, and it was interestingly the power generation aspect that appealed to the French.

Elsewhere, however, Jersey has stolen a march on Guernsey.

http://www.thisisguernsey.com/2008/09/16/voting-for-a-check-on-attendance/


FOR avid States-watchers - and there is an island full of them - a move by the States Assembly and Constitution Committee to make the voting record of the House available online is a significant advance. For short of visiting the Greffe and asking to access the register, there is currently no easy way of seeing how your district representatives have voted on key issues. Yes, this newspaper publishes the main decisions but unless electors cut them out for future reference there is no easily researchable archive of the outcome of debates and, to that extent, less accountability than there should be.

I have found Jersey's own voting record site to be excellent in that respect. Its Hansard is sometimes a little on the slow side, but still brilliant in enabling us to see what arguments (or lack of arguments) are actually made, but the voting record is sometimes updated on the day itself, and if not by the morning of the following day. It does enable us to see how people vote, and pick up on consistent voting patterns, and all without having to buy the JEP. In the old days, columns of newsprint were devoted to States debates and votes, and while important ones still get a mention, there is much reduced coverage. But that is as it should be: democracy in action, as the Guernsey Press points out, should not depend on having to read a newspaper to find out what is going on.


More on Eugene Hughes at:

http://www.thisisguernsey.com/2008/09/15/he-nearly-got-away-with-it/


EUGENE HUGHES'S vile crimes were finally brought to justice when he ogled one of his victims' children by chance in Town. The woman, who did not wish to be named, had been walking up the High Street with her 18-month-old daughter when she spotted her abuser going the other way. She hadn't seen him for years and was unsure if he had recognised her. The encounter made the woman decide to tell Hughes how she would never forget what he had done to her. When she sought police advice on the best way to do it, she ended up making a formal complaint. By coincidence her decision came just before other women who had suffered at his hands decided to come forward. Last week, the 80-year-old was jailed for six-and-half years after he admitted eight counts of indecent assault on girls between the ages of seven and 14 between 1987 and 1996. Two other offences were taken into account in the sentencing. The case related to offences against five different girls, all now adults.


http://www.thisisguernsey.com/2008/09/15/he-tore-my-family-apart-and-took-my-life-away-from-me/


A YOUNG mother has told of how her physical abuse by a paedophile tore her family apart. Her complaint against Eugene Hughes was the first in a sequence that culminated in him being locked up for six-and-a-half years. 'I was determined that if it stopped one person from going through what I have, it would be worthwhile,' she said. 'The Royal Court made no allowance for his age, which is only right, as he made no allowance for mine.'


An example of justice that still stands out against Jersey where delay follows delay, and Lennie Harper again reiterated the difficulty he and his team had. However, On the child abuse issue, the Guernsey press highlights in its letters page that Guernsey still has not got a sex offenders register, although the paper itself is happy to name and shame when it feels it is in the public interest to know if a known sex offender is released in the community, as it did in late 2007, when the editor commented on his actions as follows:


[The article] simply reflected the very real concerns of the parent at the receiving end of James Brehaut's actions which, unless our critic believes them to be normal behaviour, were perverted. The reason we went into depth - and gave all those concerned or involved every opportunity to comment simultaneously - was that for reasons we cannot explain, none of the island's media appeared to know the case was being heard. The father's fears were all the more understandable given the context, which is why we felt it important to provide the background of what was presented in court, unpleasant though it was. Does the Guernsey Press have faith in the legal system? Yes. Do islanders feel adequately informed about the whereabouts and identity of child sex offenders? No. We are accused of scaremongering, yet the fact remains that a man who deemed it acceptable to steal into children's bedrooms and download shocking images of abused youngsters is now free. The issue, it seems to us, is how the authorities convince islanders that no more offences will be committed - and why they shouldn't see what Brehaut looks like.

Pity the JEP is not as outspoken!