The Curious Incident of the Silent Blast

No doubt in the UK, MPs are still reeling from the disclosures of the expenses scandal, but it seems strange to me that - outside of the Island - there seems to be a complete lack of coverage of "Operation Blast".

 

Even in our sister Island of Guernsey, it has not surfaced at all. Mind you, over there they have other concerns, a spat between the Bailiff and the Chief Minister, the resignation of an entire committee etc.

 

I don't see major conspiracies behind this, but you might have thought a footnote - perhaps in Private Eye, would be likely. Possibly it is a wait and see policy, to see if it is just a storm in a tea cup. Or perhaps it is just too crowded out with other impressive news stories to rate much importance.

 

Even over here, there has managed to be misreporting. Bob Hill is quoted as saying it is a lot of fuss about nothing after he saw his files, but as he kept reiterating on "Talkback", he did not see his files. Rather he said that making a police check on politicians was not something to make a fuss about, but for the fact that this had been done without consent. If States members were told that if they stood, a check would be made, that would be fair and above board, but he felt the sneaky way in which this was done covertly raised important questions.

 

At the moment, it is a stand off between Frank Walker and Graham Power over whether or not Frank requested this be done in the first place, alongside another individual, who has been named on Stuart Syvret's blog, but whose name has not appeared elsewhere. I will not mention his name here. But if the individual concerned was also involved in requesting Operation Blast be set up, we may expect any handwritten notes to have been long consigned to the shredder!