The Alan Maclean Portfolio of Political Expressions

The (filing) Cabinet Minister
Backed into a Corner?

Discovering the Black Hole in the Economy when he takes over.

Whistle While You Work

Bastille Day. Watching how to guillotine
an Assistant Minister

A Shadowy Politician

How to Shake Hands... for the Camera

The New Hospital Funding: Be Patient! 

All Bow Down and
Kneel before the Treasury Minister and photograph him!

The "Columbo Look": Excuse me sir, there's just one more tax.

The Madame Tussauds Waxwork Model

Will the vote be a tie? Or on that tie?
The Tie on the Heath Charge

More grants to students,
or how to educate the public to re-elect you.

Making a strange Masonic-Like Gesture and Whistle

Rubbing hands with glee at the 20%  tax.
Do not seek to ask for whom the Martin Bell tolls!
It tolls for thee, O Rich Shops!

Now let us pray together for my re-election....

Votes on the Margin: Lost by 3 Votes

Votes on the Margin: Failed

3 Votes Short

This is the first of a series of examinations of those propositions which came close to success over the period 2015 to Jan 2018. Most were brought by backbenchers, but two were brought by Ministers. When backbench propositions failed, there were invariably comments by the Council of Ministers, who presumably brought the "block vote" of collective responsibility against the proposition.

Draft Strategic Plan 2015 2018 (P.27/2015): tenth amendment.
Lodged au Greffe on 14th April 2015 by Deputy R. Labey of St. Helier 

In the chart on page 14 of the draft Plan in row 4.5 in the column headed “Key Areas of Focus 2015 – 2018”, after the words “standards and quality” insert the words “with reviewed and appropriate criteria of density

To create a walkable Havre des Pas neighbourhood that is harmonious to the needs of its residents, enhances its heritage, and reinvigorates its visitor appeal.

To create a contiguous waterfront promenade for St. Helier, providing a continuous off-road walking and cycling facility connecting Havre des Pas to Corbière.

20 votes pour, 23 contre

Council of Ministers Opposed on grounds that St Helier needs one unifying Masterplan and Havre des Pas couldn’t be treated in isolation. What is this obsession with Masterplans when either they don’t deliver, or they deliver ugly messes? Just an excuse for delay, really, for much needed improvements.

Karl Popper had a thing or two to say about these kinds of Utopian visions: "the Utopian method must lead to a dangerous dogmatic attachment to a blueprint for which countless sacrifices have been made’ and he warned that we should abandon "dreaming about distant ideals and fighting over our Utopian blueprints for a new world and a new man".

Walter Lippman commented that:  "he supreme architect, who begins as a visionary, becomes  a fanatic, and ends as a despot. For no one can be the supreme architect of society without employing a supreme despot  to execute the design"

Medium Term Financial Plan 2016 2019 (P.72/2015): thirteenth amendment.
Lodged au Greffe on 22nd September 2015 by Deputy J.M. Maçon of St. Saviour

Insert the words – “except that the net revenue expenditure of the Education, Sport and Culture Department shall be increased by £1,400,000 for 2016 to increase funding for the costs of higher education”;

After the words “Summary Table D” in sub-paragraph (ii) insert the words – “except that the allocation to Contingency for 2016 in relation to ‘Economic and Productivity Growth’ shall be reduced by £1,400,000 to offset the increase in the net revenue expenditure of the Education, Sport and Culture Department”.

Jeremy Macon notes that growth bids of £1.2 million and £750,000 for increasing the threshold and maintenance levels of student grants by inflation since their introduction in 2001 were submitted and declined in the MTFP 2013 – 2015. As a result, the levels of these have not kept pace with inflation, and therefore students are effectively in a worse position than they were in 2001. T

18 Pour, 21 Contre

Council of Ministers: The proposed Amendment doesn’t appear to recognise the improvements since 2001 to higher education funding in the Education Department or the tax relief provided by increases in child tax allowances. The Minister and the Department do not support the Amendment.

No mention of the massive increase in thresholds for grants and funding given by the Treasury Minister this year. A complete U-Turn in an Election Year. A complete lack of principles by the Treasury Minister who, we are expected to believe, has suddenly had his eyes opened on the road to Damascus University!

Draft Budget Statement 2016 (P.127/2015): fifth amendment.
Lodged au Greffe on 1st December 2015 by the Connétable of St. John

For the figure “£622,155,000” substitute the figure “£621,433,000” and for the words “, land transactions tax and vehicle emissions duty” substitute the words “and land transactions tax”,

Constable Taylor provides statistical evidence to show that:

“Every year since 2012 in the Budget we have seen the Minister for Transport and Technical Services raise the charges for VED by 5% in the expectation of raising extra revenue and every year that the charges have gone up we have seen a reduction in the tax revenue collected. It is clear that there is a trend showing that every time the charges go up the revenue goes down.”

Pour 20, Contre 23

Council of Ministers: There are signs that the environmental objectives of VED (i.e. to incentivise people to purchase lower-emissions vehicles) are beginning to be achieved, although overall reductions in the purchase of new vehicles (as a result of the economic downturn) cloud the patterns.

Draft Finance (2017 Budget) (Jersey) Law 201-. , Article 17
Lodged au Greffe on 1st November 2016 by the Minister for Treasury and Resources

Amendments made by Article 17 to Articles 17 to 19 of the Rates Law would have effect to remove the exemption from liability of a public authority (including the States) to pay foncier and occupier’s rates in respect of land which it owns and uses for public purposes.

Pour 17, Contre 20

Television Licence Fee: exemption for Jersey residents aged 75 and over.
Lodged au Greffe on 4th November 2016 by Deputy M. Tadier of St. Brelade

Request the Chief Minister to enter into talks with the BBC to exempt Jersey residents who are aged 75 and over from the licence fee, and to report back to the Assembly on his progress no later than January 2018.

I saw this was in line with the UK government requiring the BBC to fund free licence fees for those 75 and over.

Council of Ministers:

Successful negotiations, overseen by Senator P.F.C. Ozouf, were concluded with the BBC in December 2016 to ensure the continued provision of broadcasting services to Jersey. The outcome of these negotiations is that the BBC has provided assurances on the future of service provision to Jersey, as well as agreeing very positive arrangements in respect of TV licences for over-75s in Jersey.

From 2018, the BBC intends to begin contributing towards the cost of Jersey’s means tested concession to the TV licence for eligible citizens over the age of 75. This contribution will result in a saving for the States of Jersey of approximately £270,000 in total from 2018 to 2020. The BBC has also committed its intention to contribute the full cost in 2020 of Jersey’s means-tested TV licence concession for people over the age of 75.

19 Pour, 22 Contre

Isn’t it strange how the UK can lay down terms to the BBC, and yet Jersey has to negotiate lesser terms? It sounds almost as if the BBC were threatening to pull out! What on earth is meant by " to ensure the continued provision of broadcasting services to Jersey."? If they didn't, satellite TV users would not need a licence fee. As it is, the Freeview service is a pale shadow of what is available in the UK.

Jersey Infrastructure Levy: approval in principle.
Lodged au Greffe on 20th October 2017 by the Minister for the Environment

“To agree, in principle, to the introduction of an infrastructure levy in Jersey, to ensure that those who benefit from an increase in land value arising from the award of planning permission make a small contribution to offset the impact of that development on the Island community;”

18 Pour, 21 Contre

The building lobby win!

An Individual Case

An Individual Case

The JEP recently reported on a speech by Jersey hildren’s Commissioner, Deborah McMillan who “told those in the audience about the very great work being done in Jersey schools, but also about those cases of hidden family poverty which had shocked her most, including the child who had been brought up using a bucket as a toilet, as the family lived in shared accommodation.”

Often we hear the mantra “we can’t comment on individual cases”.

It is rather a welcome surprise when someone official does!

I imagine as a matter of convenience, the parents taught their child to use a bucket as a toilet, and while that is one singular case, what it can do is open the lid of shared accommodation in Jersey.

Presumably by "shared accommodation", the JEP means accommodation in which families have to share a single toilet area. I do know there were flats in town converted from old town houses with shared bathrooms / toilets, and probably could not easily be plumbed as en suite. There are certainly a number of bedsits in Jersey which fall into that category. The 2001 census, which was the last one it appears that detailed matters noted that:

“ Of the 35,562 private households enumerated, 97% had their own cooking facilities, bathroom (or shower) and toilet. The remaining 3% (constituting 1,063 households) shared one or more of these amenities with at least one other household; approximately 80% of these households were not residentially qualified. 643 households had their own cooking facilities but neither their own bathroom nor toilet. 222 households had shared cooking facilities; of these, 85 also shared both bathroom and toilet facilities.”

The 2011 census doesn’t seem to report on these at all. It does tell us however that

“One in twenty (5%) of all occupied dwellings could be classed as ‘overcrowded’, that is, they had fewer bedrooms than the number required by the ‘Bedroom Standard’ (a measure of over-crowding). This measure of overcrowding rose to 15% in non-qualified accommodation”

In 2015, it was noted by the Housing Minister that “there remains around 20% of people whose lodging accommodation is not self-contained (i.e. they share amenities with other households)”

It was also stated that:

“The Ministers propose that any unit of accommodation that forms the principle residence of 3 or more unrelated households, and hence where they share amenities such as a kitchen, toilet and washroom, will be classified as ‘Houses in Multiple Occupation’ (HMOs) and subject to a compulsory licensing scheme under the Draft Public Health and Safety (Rented Dwellings) (Jersey) Law 201-. A compulsory licensing scheme will apply irrespective of whether the property is in the ‘qualified’ or ‘nonqualified’ housing sectors. Put simply, any property which meets the definition will be regulated.”

The Draft Public Health and Safety (Rented Dwellings) (Jersey) Law 201- was badly drawn up, and contained a whole raft of measured which had little to do with health and safety, and was withdrawn, and presented in modified form by the environment Minister Steve Luce in 2017. It was passed.

It improves matters with inspections of slum property, and enforcement of improvements, but does not really tackle the problem of families with young children in rental accommodation with shared toilet facilities, as these are not in themselves a health or safety issue.

The technical term is Houses in Multiple Occupation, and if we look at the UK, we find different categories. We just don’t seem to have a handle on this from current census reports locally. Apart from communal dwellings, we have these:

1. Bedsits are units of accommodation, where there is some exclusive occupation (usually bedroom/living room) and some sharing of amenities (bathroom and/or toilet or kitchen). Each occupant lives otherwise independently of others.

2. Houses occupied on a shared basis where each individual or household will normally have their own bedroom or bed/living room, although in some circumstances this may be shared. There will be general sharing of the bathroom, W.C. and kitchen.

3. Houses let in lodgings, i.e. a resident owner/occupier, catering for lodgers on a small scale but not living as part of the main household. Typified by a family or household who might take in a small number of individuals living away from their primary place of residence.

What we don’t know is the ages of children living in houses occupied on a shared basis, as compared with the other categories, and the number of units of accommodation that this describes. We need figures to get a handle on this, and only then can we see if the child trained to use a bucket is simply the tip of a slum iceberg.

The figures are probably "out there" in the raw data but they don't appear in the main reports.

Mitres: A Selection of the Solemn and the Silly

The mitre is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial head-dress of bishops and certain abbots in traditional Christianity.

In 2017, Rev Ian Paul, an academic theologian, said: “A piece of attire which communicates absolute authority has no place within Anglican understandings of ministry. To most, and I suggest especially the young, bishops in mitres put them in another world. It looks daft and it does not signify anything in the Church of England. It makes them distant and it makes them look silly.”

So here are a few and my comments!




Rowan William's mitre does not look at all bad. It has a rather nice pattern, but subdued, and doesn't detract from the gold which forms part of the tone of the rest of his apparel. A touch of Golden Dawn too, I think. Solemn 8/10.




This is a very solemn and ancient looking mite, and looks as if has been handed down over the centuries. Solemn 9/10



Oh dear. This looks a bit like an escape from a Pantomime or Christmas Party. The red and gold just don't go well together. Silly 6/10




Rather strange, presumably a kind of tongues of fire worn by Dr Carey who certainly has a sharp tongue. Verging towards the silly, I'm afraid, and one for Gardener's Question Time, looking like  a bad case of something needing fertilizer - or Entish. Silly 5/10




It is extraordinary rare to see Tom Wright in a Mitre, and it actually is not bad, very plain and simple. Alas, the same cannot be said for the rest of his outfit which looks like curtain material. Solemn 3/10 (marks off for silly outfit).




Just in time for something really silly. This is a Monty Python Bishop hat, what possessed him to wear it, goodness knows. I'm sure it is Trinitarian and deeply symbolic, but it looks more like a design from the person who supplies Michael Portillo's jackets. Silly 9/10.




Quite nice and pictorial. Looks a bit like something out of a wall painting from the Middle Ages, but the angels are a bit bright, and a rather strange colour. Is he trying not to laugh at himself? Solemn, but only 3/10.





Plain, simple, unadorned, and the colour inside is suitably subdued. The band is rather nice around the rim. Solemn 7/10




As a stand out moment, this seems very silly. Neither are especially solemn looking. But not as bad as Welby's last stand. Silly 5/10 and Silly 5/10.

Our very own Bishop Ashenden, wearing what looks like a converted T-cosy. It's too small.Gavin! Solemn 2/10.

Papal mitres always look old even if newly made. This is a very good one. Don't know about what looks like symbolic lipstick on the collar. Solemn 8/10.

Very bright and colorful, but we are back into Christmas Hats, I'm afraid. It's too bright, too sharp, and doesn't look sufficiently solemn. Silly 6/10

Probably a bit too tall, but has a Byzantine look. The gloves look very strange. Solemn 4/10

Not quite as good a papal one, but simple design, and no lipstick on the collar. Solemn 5/10

Simple is clearly best, but shiny I think is not. Of the two, I prefer the white. The gold while I'm sure is material, looks more like coloured cardboard. Solemn 5/10 and Solemn 5/10

Franciscian simplicity! What would you expect! Solemn 9/10

Partings

Poem for those bereaved, especially over the loss of a child.

Partings

Lay her beauty deep in earth

Underneath the frosty skies

For the love which from her birth

Pray and weep as here she lies

Mourning now, this is the hour

Darkness of the soul this night

Lay the wreath and funeral flower

Pray and weep in candle light

Lost to sight of human eye

Memory precious of delight

For the mystic harmony

Pray and weep, remembered sight

For the tears of human love,

Brother, sister, parent, child,

Looking down night stars above

Pray and weep, so gentle, mild

Partings now, not evermore

Grave below, we stand above

Waves crash down on nearby shore

Pray and weep, and ever love

Death comes with her crown of light,

Morrigan with such sad eyes

Journey’s end, as well it might

Pray and weep, as here she lies

Grief is a landscape robed in snow

Waiting spring, and weather mild

Wait in hope, with hearts aglow

Pray and weep, for my dead child

Ashes to ashes, here the sign

Life and death so freely given

On eagle’s wings, a spark divine

Pray and weep, and all forgiven

Jersey Our Island: A Brush with the French – Part 3

Published in 1950, this is an interesting snapshot of the Island and its customs as it was in the immediate post-war period, and not without humour. Most guide books of the time give the tourist information, or give the impressions of an outsider to the Island, but this is in "inside view", which is rarer.

Jersey Our Island: A Brush with the French – Part 3
By Sidney Bisson

To add to Rullecourt's discomfiture, he was now threatened with a direct attack from another quarter. Whilst the negotiations with Elizabeth Castle had been going on, the 78th and 95th Regiments, together with the greater part of the local militia, had assembled on Gallows Hill, now called Westmount, which over- looks the town from the West. Major Peirson, a young officer of the 95th, assumed command. However gallant his conduct in the battle which followed, it is difficult to decide how far Peirson was responsible for the decision to attack. According to one authority he bluntly refused to recognise the capitulation, saying that if he lost his commission for disobeying the Lieutenant-Governor's orders he would soon get another. On the other hand, a Militia officer writing a few days after the battle is emphatic that Peirson and the other English officers were bewildered by the absence of orders from higher authority, and had to be persuaded to attack the enemy.

Whatever the circumstances, Peirson eventually marched his forces down the hill in the direction of the town. Rullecourt had by now seized the guns of the Town Militia, which were stored near the Parish Church, and placed them at the entrances to the Royal Square. Possibly his own guns had been lost in the boat that carried his artillerymen, or the task of landing them on a rocky beach had proved too difficult. Handicapped as he was by their loss, he made a final attempt to bluff his way out. He sent one of his officers to meet Peirson's forces under a flag of truce. Peirson halted his troops and the French officer pointed out that resistance after capitulation was contrary to the rules of war and would lead to unnecessary bloodshed. Moreover if the troops did not immediately lay down their arms Rullecourt would set fire to the town.

Here again, accounts of what happened differ a great deal. According to one writer the French demanded that Peirson's troops should lay down their arms at the Court House, which gives Peirson the opportunity of making his popularly accepted repartee : `Yes, we will bring our arms to the Court House, but with fixed bayonets.' Another account makes Peirson say that he was not bound by the capitulation as .Major Corbet was a prisoner when he signed it. Yet another gives the last word to a Militia officer, who, when Peirson had pointed out that burning the town would be of no advantage to the French, added : `Go and tell your general that the troops you have seen are determined to drive him from his position in less than an hour, were he surrounded by ten thousand men.'

In whatever terms it was couched, the reply was evidently un- favourable, and the French officer asked for an hour's truce to enable him to consult his general. After some objection on the part of the Militia officers, who were in favour of an immediate advance, Peirson gave him thirty minutes, and joined in the game of bluff by sending his own adjutant to Rullecourt to demand the release of Major Corbet, if indeed he was a prisoner. The fact that the adjutant had instructions to inquire about the status of the Lieutenant-Governor favours the suggestion that all this time Peirson had at the back of his mind an idea that the capitulation might have been genuinely signed at Corbet's free will, in which case his proper course would have been to surrender to the French. The Militia officers, untroubled by the niceties of Military Law, showed impatience at the delay, but Peirson insisted on waiting for the adjutant's return.

He may have had other reasons for waiting. Before marching off he had sent a detachment by a roundabout route to occupy a hill on the other side of the town, where Fort Regent now stands. One account suggests that they were not yet in position. He must also have sent scouts to find out whether he could expect help from Captain Campbell at Fort Conway, for Campbell obeyed Corbet's orders to remain in barracks until he heard from Peirson, and his own message that he was attacking the French at La Rocque only reached Peirson when the adjutant had returned.

The adjutant's mission failed to clarify the situation. Both Rullecourt and Corbet assured him that the latter was not a prisoner, but he was not convinced. As soon as he reported back Peirson decided to attack. It was a courageous decision, for the only approaches to the French position in the Royal Square were narrow streets commanded by Rullecourt's cannon. Presumably Peirson did not know that they were manned by makeshift crews. Down one of these streets (now Broad Street) he sent Captain Lumsden at the head of the 78th Regiment, whilst he himself led the 95th and the Militia along King Street. The 78th naturally came in sight of the enemy first and received their first fire at a range of a couple of hundred yards. This was the signal for the detachment which had occupied the hill on the other side of the town to come down and attack the enemy from the East.

Meanwhile Peirson's column had met with little opposition until they reached the narrow street that leads from King Street into the Royal Square. Here they encountered the full force of the enemy's fire. Peirson fell, mortally wounded, in the arms of his grenadiers. The loss of their commander dispirited the British troops, who fell back down King Street until Lieutenant Dumaresq of the Militia, with the help of one of their sergeants, succeeded in rallying them. A few minutes later they re-entered the Square, where Rullecourt, holding Corbet by the arm, was directing operations from the steps of the Royal Court. Seeing these two, the 78th, who had fought their way into the Square from the other side, fired a volley at them. Rullecourt was wounded in the jaw. Corbet escaped with a bullet through his hat. The beaten French troops fled and took refuge un neighbouring houses.

The action had lasted less than half an hour. In view of the nature of the attack, it is not surprising that the British casualties were higher than the French. In addition to Major Peirson, the regular forces lost some forty other ranks killed and about seventy wounded. Eight militiamen were killed, and three officers and seventy-two other ranks wounded. About thirty Frenchmen were killed, eighty wounded, and four hundred taken prisoner.' As soon as the battle was over Major Corbet resumed command of his forces and marched on La Rocque, not knowing that Captain Campbell had already defeated the French forces there. The events at La Rocque read more like a chapter from a historical romance than sober history. Before his capture, it will be remembered, Major Corbet had sent Captain Hemery to warn the troops at Fort Conway. Having delivered his message,

It would be surprising if the various accounts, which differ so much in detail, agreed on the number of killed and wounded. There is, however, rough agreement, except as regards the number of Regulars killed. One writer gives the absurdly low figure of four, but quotes a poem written in commemoration of the event in which it is given as twelve.

P. J. Ouless in The Death of Major Peirson quotes from what purports to be an official return, '75th Regiment - 6; 83rd Regiment 12; 95th Regiment - 4.' According to him, this adds up to forty-two ! 

And so to bed

Another selection of quotes with pictures added. These are quotes I sign off on Facebook with under the usual way - "And so to bed..." borrowed from Samuel Pepys.

And so to bed... quote for tonight is from Ursula Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea:

As their eyes met, a bird sang aloud in the branches of the tree. In that moment Ged understood the singing of the bird, and the language of the water falling in the basin of the fountain, and the shape of the clouds, and the beginning and end of the wind that stirred the leaves: it seemed to him that he himself was a word spoken by the sunlight. Then that moment passed, and he and the world were as before, or almost as before.

And so to bed... quote for tonight is from T.S. Eliot:

Wavering between the profit and the loss
In this brief transit where the dreams cross
The dreamcrossed twilight between birth and dying
(Bless me father) though I do not wish to wish these things
From the wide window towards the granite shore
The white sails still fly seaward, seaward flying
Unbroken wings

And so to bed... quote for tonight is from Anne Fadiman:

When he looked back at the menu as an old man, it brought back everything; the food, the wine, the dining room, the pride he took in being able to pay for such a dinner,... the conviviality that grew as the night continued and everyone had a little too much to drink but not enough to impair the quality of the conversation, some of which, I feel sure, was about the wines themselves. 

And so to bed.. quote for tonight is from Algernon Charles Swinburne:

Wan February with weeping cheer,
Whose cold hand guides the youngling year
Down misty roads of mire and rime,
Before thy pale and fitful face
The shrill wind shifts the clouds apace
Through skies the morning scarce may climb.
Thine eyes are thick with heavy tears,
But lit with hopes that light the year's. 

And so to bed... quote for tonight is from Joni Mitchell:

I awoke today and found
the frost perched on the town
It hovered in a frozen sky
then it gobbled summer down
When the sun turns traitor cold
and all the trees are shivering in a naked row 

And so to bed... quote for tonight is from Robert Browning:

The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hillside's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn:
God's in His heaven—
All's right with the world!

Election Odds and Ends

Election Bribes?

One of the great things about being a Minister is that you can always bribe the electorate, or is that just me being cynical.

It does strike me as remarkable that over years of inaction, suddenly as the elections come around, matters that – we are told – have been in the pipeline have just come to fruition.

So Alan Maclean is giving better student grants now, rather than last year or the year before when there was no indication that any kind of rethink was taking place. He cannot guarantee how long the new system will last, which is not surprising as it has already been cut back a bit after Reform questioned how it was to be funded. Of course education is important, but isn’t it remarkable that this should just have come to the forefront now?

Lyndon Farnham meanwhile is waxing lyrical about getting an inter-island ferry, and a lot of statistics come from him about how good it will be for tourism. Those probably don’t really stand up to scrutiny, but they are intended more to instil a feel good confidence that the Minister has been responsible for boosting tourism. He has even, dangerously, said that a new deal will be forthcoming with Ports of Jersey on the Jersey Aircraft Registry, but there he may come a cropper, in which case he will probably pass it back to poor Murray Norton to make a statement.

Susie Pinel, meantime, has come up with a good deal for new mums – better maternity provisions. Cleverly this is something which the employers fund, while she gets the votes. That’s a very clever deal, but isn’t that amazing that it only came to fruition after being worked at so invisibly it was not even on the radar – when an election looms.

Of course, politicians using their office to bring forward projects just at election time is nothing new, and goes on all the time across the world. They always protest that it is just a coincidence! So is rolling two sixes on a pair of dice five times – it is within the bounds of chance, but the more times you see it, the more you ask: are those dice loaded?

A Period of Sensitivity

In the UK, the Cabinet Office imposes a “period of sensitivity” or “Purdah” before elections. This is a period of roughly six weeks in which Government Departments are not allowed to communicate with members of the public about any new or controversial Government initiatives (such as modernisation initiatives, and administrative and legislative changes).

During a general election Ministers remain in office and in charge of their departments but it is customary for them to observe discretion in announcing initiatives that are new or of a long-term character in their capacity as a minister.

I hope that Jersey follows the same custom here.

Election Time Lag

One thing I do wish would happen, however, is when nominations are made at Parish Halls officially, that Jersey followed the lead of the UK and many other Parliaments.

When the election takes place, each individual MP assumes office immediately upon the declaration by the local returning officer. The situation in Jersey by which the old States can continue operating until the new States are sworn in does not happen. In the past, this has been extended up to six weeks (when a budget debate took place), and this does no good for democracy.

Jersey should follow the UK’s lead in that after an election, those voted out are out, and even while awaiting swearing in at the first States sitting, those newly elected represent those who voted for them.

Haut de La Garenne and the Redemption of Memory

Haut de La Garenne and the Redemption of Memory

“Hiding the evidence and scars of such events is, in many ways, an act of denial.” (Kenneth Foote)

The JEP recently asked people what to do with Haute de La Garenne. For residents who survived and were abused there, it is still a raw wound. But equally, it has now become home to “The Jersey Accommodation and Activity Centre” where it is providing a life enhancing experience for young people. What can be done to remember the past, redeem the memory of past abuse so that it is not hidden or forgotten, and yet also look forward to the future?

One way in which the past might be memorialised would be to have an interpretation area, perhaps a wall or walls, sculptures, a plaque, and a memorial garden. There is already a war memorial in the entrance, but to one side, there is plenty of space for a very special memorial to the survivors of the home.

Remembering the Past in Memorial

In his book, “Commemoration and Bloody Sunday: Pathways of Memory”, B. Conway looks at ways in which the past can be remembered and transfigured.

Bloody Sunday occurred in the Bogside area of Derry on 30 January 1972. Also known as the Bogside Massacre, civil rights protesters and bystanders were shot upon by British army soldiers. As part of the healing process, a memorial was placed at the site. The memorial is a twelve foot obelisk of limestone and bears the names of the fourteen people killed.

Conway notes that “A memorial is more likely to have ‘legs’ when it is located in a publicly owned site, lacks competing claims on the space it occupies, resonates with a wide audience, and is promoted by memory choreographers.”

He suggests that this “suggests that the commemoration of a single event can encompass both fragmented and consensual commemorations.” They do not speak completely, but they tell their story, and they also contain the names of victims inscribed on the memorial.

In the USA, the Veterans Memorial Garden is located at 3200 Memorial Drive in Antelope Park. This also commemorates the past with a “brick of honour” on a wall next to the memorial, available for is available for all Veterans, living or deceased.

In the book “Deleuze and Memorial Culture: Desire, Singular Memory and the Politics of Trauma. Contributors”, Adrian Parr comments that:

“When expressing grief over a violent event, a community often memorializes the area where the incident happened, paying tribute to the victims of violence. Certainly moulding the landscape in order to respond to a shared loss is one way of reempowering a community.”

“Geographer Kenneth Foote, for instance, understands landscape memorialisation to be a platform whereupon the past is interpreted and given meaning. He examines how traditions are reinforced and even changed through what he describes as the sanctification of particular sites.”

Foote explained in an interview the different ways we can treat sites associated with traumatic events and history:

“At one end is the response I term ‘sanctification,’ where people see some real moral value or lesson epitomized by tragedy. Gettysburg or shrines to prominent leaders like John F. Kennedy are examples. Also, when communities experience loss, they often want to honour the victims and families who lost loved ones.”

“At the other end of continuum is ‘obliteration’; After events like Aurora, which are shocking or shameful, or involve taboo subjects like child abuse, people tend to obliterate or remove the evidence of the crime in efforts to downplay the event and create some distance.

“In between sanctification and obliteration are ‘rectification’ and ‘designation.’ With rectification, people fix up and reuse sites, perhaps after a fire or accident. People know why it happened and they’re saying, “Let’s get on with life.” The last area on the continuum is “designation.” People put up a sign indicating that the place is significant. Someday, it might be sanctified, but it isn’t quite at that stage yet.”

Redeeming Haut de La Garenne: A Proposal

A local example of what Foote calls “sanctification” is found in the Bunker at Hougue Bie. Once more of a museum displaying life in the bunker, it now has photos and quotations from those who were victims and survivors in the Occupation of Jersey. It is an interpretation of the events, and the suffering which took place, and while it is of historical import, it is also raw and painful to walk through.

Shrines to trauma and suffering such as this, and those examined above, are examples of sites which memorialize the horrible events that occurred there, and also the grief of relatives, survivors and complete strangers who feel kinship.

So I would recommend keeping Haut de La Garenne, because also part of the healing process is turning it from a place of suffering to one of joy, from a place where children were abused, to one where children can come in safety. That in itself is a good memorial.

But more is needed. An interpretation wall or memorial, and a garden, and perhaps the first names of those who suffered abuse (if they wanted it) in the grounds, in the public space before the building and in front of it, would also sanctify that space. This is, as Foote would say, something which everyone in the community should never forget. It is specific to the survivors, but the Care Inquiry Report showed that the tragedy of how children were mistreated was also a common, public loss: the whole community bears the scars as well.

Why a garden? A garden also points to future hope, that we find “in the sorrow, the seeds of joy” It is more than a bare memorial; it is a living symbol of those who survived. And it can be planted afresh to keep the memory alive.

In exact terms of deciding what should be placed in the grounds, Foote has some useful words of caution. He says that “the views of all parties touched by a tragedy need to be heard as plans for memorializing develop. If one group or a small group takes charge of major decisions, conflicts often arise. Conflicts may also arise when decisions about memorial making are rushed. Pushing for decisions too soon can cause resentment and friction later.”

But expertise should also be made available. As Kenneth Foote notes, “artists and landscape architects have been trying to develop innovative ways of symbolizing and expressing loss and grief.” They can suggest what might be possible, and what might work best and work with those looking for a memorial space.

And if there is a ceremony to open the interpretation wall and garden, there must also be the survivors at the forefront of that. The failing of the church services held by the former Dean of Jersey was that it was very much the establishment come to pray. The church may be present, but it should be the survivors who are allowed to take the lead and initiative over the form of any opening ceremony, and also any annual commemorations thereafter.

What needs to be heard are the voices of those who were unheard: people telling their stories as a way to make it real for them and for us.

Stormy Waters

Whatever Happened to the Jersey Independent Lifeboat Committee?

I’ve just been reviewing Ben Shenton’s recent press release. He is the Chairman of the Jersey Lifeboat Association. He commented:

“I am delighted to be associated with the Jersey Lifeboat Association. The provision of year-round lifeboat facilities to a small island community is of vital importance. The charity aims to work closely with the community in a manner that only a locally managed organisation can, with monies donated fully accountable and identifiable. The appreciation and respect of volunteers shall be at the forefront of everything that we do.”

“The council members of the charity are delighted to have a strong body of  volunteers working with us under the leadership of Paul Battrick MBE as  Chair of the JLA Volunteers Committee. “

As well as Mr Shenton, the founding council members of the Jersey Lifeboat Association are accountant Ian Jones as treasurer, trustee Tim Cartwright as secretary and marketing director Simon O’Donoghue as council member.

So effectively the old crew are now part of the JLA Volunteers Committee and not in the direct management of the JLA.

  

Remember this – 22 December 2017:

“An independent lifeboat for Jersey could be ‘in the water’ by early January, organisers have said. Philip Rondel, who chairs the Jersey Independent Lifeboat Committee, said they were looking at a vessel currently based in the UK, expected to cost about £250,000.”

That was the committee of what was also called the “Jersey Independent Voluntary Lifeboat Service”. It was chaired by former St John Deputy Phil Rondel, former crew’s spokesman Paul Battrick, and several others, as the JEP reported:

“Former St Helier coxswain Andy Hibbs and his partner Anna Davies are also involved, as is Senator Sarah Ferguson, long-distance swimmer Sally Minty-Gravett and fishmonger Vicky Boarder.”

“Founders of the political lobby group the Jersey Action Group John Baker and former States Member Sean Power are also on the committee, together with former St Helier crew member Robin Ovenden, jeweller Rachael Fay and Annalisa Bale.”

It had its own Facebook page, together with mug shots of some of the principals. And its first meeting was described on 28 November 2017 in the JEP:

“There was standing room only at the Town Hall as the Jersey Independent Voluntary Lifeboat Service committee held its first public meeting since the St Helier crew's acrimonious split from the RNLI.”

“In paperwork handed out to the crowd, the committee displayed vessels it intended to acquire and estimated that two million Euros would be needed to by two boats (1.8 million Euros for an all-weather lifeboat and 200,000 Euros for an inshore vessel).”

“Addressing crowds, former Deputy Sean Power, a member of the new committee, said the Island must not let people in the UK decide the future of lifeboat cover in Jersey.”

So whatever happened to the Jersey Independent Voluntary Lifeboat Service committee? It seems to have gone, or been subsumed into the JLA Volunteers Committee, although apart from Paul Battrick, there is precious little information about membership. Phil Rondel seems to have retired again, although Sarah Ferguson is bringing a petition to the States.

On December 5^th, the JEP reported:

“Following meetings in St Helier and St John – both of which were filled to capacity – the Jersey Independent Lifeboat Committee is to give a presentation at St Peter's Community Centre at 8 pm on Tuesday. A question and answer session will also be held. Former Senator Ben Shenton will be in attendance.”

So whatever happened to it? When Senator Sarah Ferguson lodged a petition on 18 January, it asked the States "to support the Jersey Independent Lifeboat Service Committee in establishing an independent Jersey Lifeboat Station, disassociated from the RNLI." 

This calls the old committee a "steering committee" and says "A steering Committee was formed, under the joint chairmanship of former Connétable Phil Rondel and Mr. Paul Battrick, M.B.E., in order to set up the organisation required to provide the service. This will be led by an Association." 

But with the advent of the JLA, it seems the Steering Committee's raison d'etre has vanished.

It is notable that the new Jersey Lifeboat Association Facebook page says firmly:

“WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE OF THE JERSEY LIFEBOAT ASSOCIATION.THE ONLY PAGE AUTHORISED BY THE JLA TRUSTEES..

The objects of the Association are: 1. To save lives, promote safety and provide relief from disaster, in relation to the coastal waters of the island of Jersey. 2. To advance the education of the public in matters relating to sea, and  inland and flood water safety.”

This is a far cry from December, when the other committee was in charge and when Ben Shenton was only  "in attendance".  

The fact that this is the "Only Page Authorised" seems to indicate that the previous steering committee has been sidelined and the new one certainly doesn’t want any supporters shouting their mouths off when it looks to work more closely with the RNLI:

“We have received a letter from the RNLI saying that they are willing to give their assistance in establishing the Jersey Lifeboat Station. We are not sure what form this assistance will take, but we are looking forward to working with them”

The JLA also says it “has the support of Andy Hibbs”, in other words, he is no longer on a decision making committee, although no doubt his input and expertise will be used by the JLA:

“The council is delighted to have the support of Andy Hibbs and the former St Helier lifeboat crew, whose knowledge of local waters and professionalism is unsurpassed.”

Interestingly the claims of the new JLA have moderated as well. On 4 February, the JEP reported Ben Shenton as saying:

‘We are in the very early stages, but I hope we will have a boat in the water in a matter of weeks rather than months”

But as Ben has been finding out, you need administration to manage the books and fundraising, insurance for the crew and equipment, rules to govern how the boat is used and when.

"When the RNLI raised the prospect of setting up an Independent Lifeboat,  during negotiations with the St Helier Crew, there would have been little comprehension amongst the crew of the enormity of the task ahead. Albeit  they did have the RNLI’s offer of support."

"To build a Charity from scratch is an enormous task and fortunately the JLA  has a very large bank of volunteers behind the scenes. The public have not  seen much yet because strong foundations are being laid and there is a massive amount of paperwork.”

Steve Luce, back in November 28, warned that setting up an independent lifeboat organisation would be “massively technically difficult” – he didn’t say impossible. Now that the initial euphoria has begun to evaporate, and more level heads like Ben Shenton are looking at the JLA, it is becoming clearer that this is not an overnight task.

One final comment – Ben Shenton comments that:

"Rather disappointingly we have received a very negative letter from the  Jersey Government, signed by the Chief Minister. This is not a problem as it is preferable to know where people stand on issues at the outset than be  misled, and we shall endeavour to convert our political leaders. I am proud

to be the spokesman and I am sure that the JLA will live up to the public’s  expectations."

It would be nice rather than giving an opinion on a letter, he explained what the contents were that were “very negative”. It couldn’t be that the States were not prepared to provide financial support for an Independent Lifeboat, perhaps, when the RNLI would provide cover for free? It would be nice to know, one way or the other.

Coffee and Conversations and Gender Matters

Coffee and Conversations

I was reading Gavin Ashenden in the JEP, which is something I generally try to avoid doing, as he seems obsessed with telling everyone the world is obsessed with sex, and I read this:

“I was careless the other day and glanced at a letter in which my critic found himself bemused. He had met me once, at a funeral I had taken, and found me apparently reasonably humane. He just couldn’t square the experience of meeting me in person with the person who expresses the ideas I do, in print.”

Actually that does not surprise me at all. People writing, at a distance from the people they are writing about, are generally more outspoken than they might be if they met someone, for example, for a coffee and a chat. That’s certainly true of myself, and probably true of Gavin Ashenden. I suspect that even the late Ian Paisley would not conduct a conversation over coffee in the same strident way he made his speeches for the media.

But just because people are reasonably humane if met in person, doesn’t mean they may not hold values which can be seemingly at odds with the pleasant person you might meet.

As an example of Godwin’s law, I cite (of course) Adolf Hitler. There are home movies of Hitler in his mountain retreat, drinking cups of tea, being kind to his dog, and generally behaving in what seems like a very affable way. People like Lloyd George or Neville Chamberlain, who met Hitler face to face, remarked on his charm and charisma. But that does not mean that Hitler, in full rant, at Nuremberg, was a very different kind of person.

Now I’m not suggesting that Gavin Ashenden is in the slightest bit like Hitler. All I am doing is giving an example of an extreme case to illustrate a general truth. How we behave depends a lot on the social context and who, and how, we are interacting.

So it is quite possible for someone like Gavin to express his views forcibly in the medium of a newspaper to an unseen readership, than it might be if he was meeting someone face to face. For one thing, it is not likely he would push the same views at a funeral, because there is a certain standard of decency in behaviour at funerals which most people adhere to.

Meanwhile in his JEP article, we have:

“Sexual appetite is one of our least noble and most basic, and almost animalistic of our appetites and activities; however fun, captivating and sometimes almost addictive it might be.”

I could not help but think how different a position (and so much more positive) was taken by C.S. Lewis in “The Four Loves” about human sexuality:

“It has been widely held in the past, and is perhaps held by many unsophisticated people to-day, that the spiritual danger of Eros arises almost entirely from the carnal element within it; that Eros is "noblest" or "purest" when Venus is reduced to the minimum. The older moral theologians certainly seem to have thought that the danger we chiefly had to guard against in marriage was that of a soul-destroying surrender to the senses. It will be noticed, however, that this is not the Scriptural approach. St. Paul, dissuading his converts from marriage, says nothing about that side of the matter except to discourage prolonged abstinence from Venus (i Cor. VII, 5)”

“With all proper respect to the medieval guides, I cannot help remembering that they were all celibates, and probably did not know what Eros does to our sexuality; how, far from aggravating, he reduces the nagging and addictive character of mere appetite”

I do detect a hint of asceticism and disapproval of sexuality in Gavin Ashenden’s piece. The only time he mentions “love” in the entire piece is in the context of an anecdote in which he decries the use of it:

“I remember a friend of mine whose hand I held as she ‘came out’ to her parents and grandparents when she was 21. I wiped her tears and helped her be brave, and encouraged them, to love her enough to hear the truth. Which is why I was so taken aback when she told me when she was 30, that she was in love and marrying a man.”

He find he cannot understand the modern “gender fluidity” and this is an example, and also explains why he says: “One practical problem for me is that I have found sexuality so complex, variable and fluid, that don’t see how anyone can sensibly use the clumsy term ‘gay’. “

I think part of the trouble is that the modern changes in how we view gender is largely cultural rather than biological, and we get muddled because we are trying to bring together rather different things which may overlap, but do not necessarily do so.

Biologically, gender is very simple, it is denoted by what are termed secondary sexual characteristics, which are markers of someone being male, or female, or in rare instances both – while hermaphrodites occur, they are rare among human beings. Nevertheless, they do happen in nature, and this shows us that biology cannot be constrained into a simply binary system, and Darwin’s own observations suggested that origin of separate sexes came from an ancestral hermaphroditic organism.

But gender as a cultural and fluid phenomenon seems to resemble far more a language, where words may appear the same, but the underlying meaning and usages changes over time. There is nothing right or wrong about linguistic changes, they are simply how language functions.

The problem with language is when you try to impose artificial grammatical rules on it, to make it fixed according to some basic system, when language is not like that. The Victorian grammarians and the French Académie française (which speaks of “linguistic treason”) both try to make language behave in ways that it was never meant to behave. A grammarian is often bewildered by the change in the English language over the last century or two, and the preponderance of books telling people how language should be used properly is testimony to the rearguard action of non-linguistics confronted with a breakdown in what they saw as eternal verities.

“Gay” was one of the earliest terms for colloquially describing homosexuality. Both homosexuality and bisexuality have a long history, and Freudians would have a field day with both monastic communities of the Middle Ages and public schools. For illustration, grounded in basic historicity albeit fictionalised, I would look at Umberto Eco’s “The Name of the Rose”, and the Lindsay Anderson film “If”.

Terminology can be scientific in tone – “homosexual” being an example of what is essentially a description of certain markers in sexual attraction, while a term like “Queer” tended to be used in a more insulting fashion, as did “a queen”. When “gay” began to be used and rose to become dominant, sometime during the 1970s and 1980s, it was very much a term adopted by homosexuals themselves, taken over the dominant meaning of the word “gay” which had been extant, and which still can be seen in words like “gaiety”. It provided a non-derogatory term which therefore fulfilled a need.

Gavin Ashenden is surely being disingenuous when he claims not to understand this, and also how gender attraction can change depending on many factors. One I alluded to in the film “If” was the public boarding school, in which some boys, deprived of female company, may have formed homoerotic attachments which they left behind when heterosexual relationships become possible. There’s a whole field of study on this described as “situational homosexuality” which also occurs in armies, prisons and other same sex environments, and has been described as early as the commentary by Josiah Flynt, published in 1899.

That is not to say that all homoerotic attachments are of this sort, and among gay people they persist. Nevertheless, in the sealed unit of a male boarding school, where adolescent boys go through the hormonal changes and emergence of sexual characteristics, it is hardly unlikely that some transient same sex attractions will result because of the lack of female company. Certainly the Victorians were aware of this with their emphasis on “Mens sana in corpore sano”.

What is interesting about situational homosexuality is that it can also cease to be transient and lead to a change in sexual attraction. In this respect a 2013 study is most interesting

“A 2013 study found that male inmates who once identified as heterosexual were 52 times more likely to change their sexual orientation after engaging in homosexual behavior.1 Conversely, even the most extreme forms of deprivation do not motivate other heterosexual males to engage in homosexual activity. Similarly, many homosexual males who are repressing their sexuality will still refuse to engage in heterosexual behaviour for their entire lives. This phenomenon gives credibility to the understanding of sexual orientation on a continuum rather than being binary.”

An interesting book on this subject is “The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World and Us” by Richard Prum (William Robertson Coe Professor of Ornithology at Yale).

Prum makes exactly this point – that the human desire to make rigid categories simply does not work in the natural world:

"The idea that sexual behaviour is a marker or definition of a person's identity is actually a quite modern, cultural invention--perhaps only 150 years old. Because we live in a society that is accustomed to conceiving of sexual behaviour in terms of sexual identity, we tend to think that sexual identity categories are biologically real and, therefore, require scientific explanation."

Prum sees the origins of sexual behaviour in the evolution of human beings from the lineage of African apes where the females look for a mate rather than the male, a pattern of female dispersal among social groups. Within such a situation, females are at a disadvantage, “because of the lack of social support of developed social networks to help them resist male sexual coercion and social intimidation.”

He sees female same sex relations as part of mutually supportive bulwark against this, which makes up for the alliances lost “when the females left their original, natal social groups."

Meanwhile, female mate choice has selected not only on male physical features but also by social traits, “"in such a way as to remodel male behaviour and, secondarily, to transform male-male social relationships."

So in selecting this way, the male population was changed by the female population and this also gave rise to a propensity for male same sex preferences -“ selection for the aesthetic, pro-social personality features that females preferred in their mates also contributed, incidentally, to the evolution of broader male sexual desires, including male same-sex preferences and behaviour."

This means that all these potential traits became, by sexual selection, part of the male population, regardless of the individual’s actual heterosexual or homosexual practice:

“The aesthetic theory of the evolution of male same-sex behaviour does not imply that men with a predominantly same-sex orientation have any physical or social personality traits that differ from those of other males. Exactly the contrary, in fact. The hypothesis maintains that there is nothing distinctive about such men, because the features that evolved along with same-sex preferences have become a typical component of human maleness in general. Therefore, individuals with exclusively same-sex sexual preferences are distinctive only in the exclusivity, not in the existence, of their same-sex desires.”

By placing this within a framework of evolutionary theory, Prum’s hypothesis shows a much more complex human biology than can be easily constrained within rigid demarcations, and it is the breakdown of these – that the term gay represents an area mapped out on a surface (to use a geometric metaphor).

As a shorthand for sexual preferences, and self-identification by individuals, it is useful however, because of the prejudice in society, in which markers can be useful, to turn from being scapegoated to being accepted.

That sexual identity is more fluid that previously believed seems to be the case. That much of Gavin Ashenden’s thesis, I would accept. That it is somehow a distortion of what makes us human beings, however, is manifestly untrue, and the idea that being gay – as Gavin Ashenden states elsewhere – is “a perversion which becomes more prevalent in an idolatrous society and undermines the teaching of the Gospel” is to introduce morality and religious prejudice into an area where it has no place to be.