My Hustings and Radio Comment

Not having time to watch, I’ve been listening to an MP3 version of the hustings as I drive to and from work. I've also listened to all three BBC Radio broadcasts, and here are some comments:

Guy de Faye

Hustings: Nothing much new – 6 years of experience in his main speech, which when you consider took Mike Jackson as the following Minister at TTS at least 12 months to put right afterwards demonstrates something! Cock-ups – End of Avenue changes which didn't liaise with emergency services and needed extra work, extra cost, and a bizarre Ministerial Decision to allow utilities to cut through gardens at bequest of Mr Shepherd! Vague when it came to specifics – Hospital, Pensions etc. 

Radio was not much better, made a lot about being able to come in and hit the deck running, and couldn't even manage the minute manifesto! And one wonders: if he had such wonderful experience, why did the electorate boot him out?

Nick Le Cornu – the Class Warrior. 

Hustings: Underneath there is a good mind, but he’s so full of conspiracy - “The Establishment” against "the Workers" that it is hard to find anything positive. Saying the AG is corrupt won’t win him any favours, and while he attacked the AG for not publishing names of late election expense submitters, he hasn't done so himself! However, he rather neatly moved from hospital to aging population to the pension issue, which linked the two very cleverly I thought. If only he had less chips on his shoulder.

Radio was appalling, see yesterday's blog for details. Didn't attempt to answer one question, butted in when Gordon Troy was trying to speak.

Anthony Lewis 

Hustings: All rather vague, I felt. I kept expecting something on black holes to come up, and perhaps swallow the hustings. 

Radio was not much better, I'm afraid, and once or twice, it seemed almost like he was getting the synthesised voice he uses to just replay sentences he had on file rather than answer the questions. I;m sure he said "Vote for Ant Lewis, a different kind of candidate" at least three times at the end of questions.

Andrea Mallet

Hustings: Local engagement mentioned, but didn’t mention it is other side of town! Another spend without knowing how to raise money.

She came over better on radio, emphasising her Jersey roots to good effect as someone who cares about the Island,  and demonstrated some knowledge of reading up on stuff.

Lyndsay Feltham

Hustings: Straight Reform – A Party is Stronger. Part of a Team. And there’s some truth in that – A Reform Party with 6 people in the States would make even more of a game changer on close votes. Interestingly didn’t play on her mother being Deputy in the past. Apart from a lot of the reform manifesto, nothing actually that substantial. 

On radio, while Francesca lost the "ums" from the hustings, poor Lyndsay seemed to have surfeit of them, so much so it was hard to concentrate on any actual sentence! Could do with recording and playing back what she says and working on better presentation. Not that such is of most importance, but it gives the impression of someone not quite sure of what she believes and thinking it through on the spot., and rather slowly.

John Baker

Hustings - far, far too much CV. Done this, done that... now wants to serve Island, but since he’s done so much stuff so well, one wonders why he is not better suited to carry on there. Not surprisingly goes for Overdale, but doesn’t address Island Plan issues like Geraint tackled headfirst, namely that no site will get past issues with the Island Plan. 

Radio a long reiteration of his CV for the minute manifesto, and made some good points on work permits then spoilt it by a bizarre limit of population to around 10,000 less than at present. Then tries to make out that a target is something you put but don't necessarily mean to achieve. Weird!

Inna Gardiner 

Hustings – her accent came as a surprise as I hadn’t heard her speak before! But spoke very well I thought, on caring and community and people at the heart of politics, and in what she had done as a result of seeing people in the last election. Someone who would ensure people didn’t get lost as numbers in the system. 

The radio showed even more how she has read reports in detail, sometimes giving a mini-precis of what is there (or what is missing) and really done her homework extremely well. Her ability to not only mention her work in projects but also to explain how to check whether projects work was also good.

Geraint Jennings

Hustings  – very clear, right balance between experience and what he could do (unlike John Baker’s extensive and exhaustive, not to say exhausting CV). The only candidate to really tackle the hospital and Island Plan issue well in a sensible way – the States need to set parameters within the Island plan for exemptions first before choosing a site. In fact, of course, Les Q school used an existing provision for Green Field sites. Probably won’t get in but I was struck by someone who had really thought about issues well – on pensions, extra help to be targetted to those in most need, not to all (much as David Kirch has recently done) because we cannot afford all, and all do not need it.

Radio: probably even stronger on "local knowledge" and removing Constables as long as there was (and only if there was ) devolved power to Parish Councils is one of the best ideas on reforming the States. I could go along with that if there were safeguards to ensure the States could not then vote to remove devolved powers.

Gordon Troy

Hustings: Too much on the Irish Potatoe famine. And the family (Shenton/Troy) in the States, elect me, chip off the old block (as opposed to Nick Le Cornu's chip on shoulders) – what Feltham didn’t do, he did and it quite honestly didn’t come across as much of an argument – you need a Troy in the States! Why? Dick Shenton was a populist politician, but sometimes was spectacularly wrong, when championing lost causes. Otherwise platitude speak. His “Living Pension” however is a good idea. The “Pensioners Champion” rather less so, and he didn’t say if he was a pensioner himself, although he looks one – missed the opportunity to say “and I know as a pensioner”, thereby suggesting his means are better than most.

Radio - finally admitted his own self interest in supporting pensioners, and of course there's nothing wrong with that, but why not be explicit about it. Not a lot to say of note, and even less when interrupted by Nick.

Francesca Ahier 

Hustings: lots of ahs and ems. Played on local connection, but interestingly not her father. Positioning herself as a voice for the younger generation as someone who will fight to make sure they are not betrayed by politicians promises. Clearly looking to the youth vote – youngest standing etc. But demonstrated she knows the district and is well-read. 

She came over far better in the BBC Radio specials, when she had a chance to demonstrate more depth of knowledge than at the hustings, and was far more articulate too (hardly any "ums"). Addressed question of what would happen if she and her father were in the States and disagreed very disarmingly  - "Then we would disagree. We don't always agree on everything anyway".

In conclusion...

When there are a number of candidates - in this case 10 - the hustings do not really allow much scope for covering the breadth of island issues, whereas over 3 lunch time hours, a lot more scope was allowed. On the one hand, you do have parishioners asking questions about matters that concern them... or if they are supporters of candidates, primed with questions to show their candidate in a good light (and I'm sure there were one or two of those). 

The unexpected nature of questions is lost on radio, but then there was a chance to cover all the main areas, plus what is the big Island issue, and the big issue for the district, a differentiation not present at any hustings question. There is also the extra time for each candidate to speak, and it is I think a necessary supplement to the "bare bones" of the hustings.

A number of candidates promised they would support exemptions from GST on food, without explaining how the funds lost would be replaced, and this was a common problem: plenty of ideas on how to spend money, but perhaps less on how to raise money or manage it best. Geraint Jennings and Inna Gardiner were exceptions to that rule.

Immigration came up, but very little in the way of fleshing out what an immigration policy might look like. I would hope that candidates would by now have some ideas, but apart from looking at some demographic statistics, not a lot was said. If there is a skills gap locally which we need to fill, we need mechanisms to identify that in quantitative ways, and not just say "we must fill the skills gap locally".

The hospital site was largely left to be looked at for the best place, with the exception of John Baker who wants Overdale in top spot. But several candidates - Geraint, Inna - did tell some home truths about deficiencies in how the current plans have been advanced and the lack of controls. Curiously, the two-site solution popped up again - Overdale and Town.

Some people have mooted to me that 10 candidates is too many, and we need a deposit system. I think that may require thought, and if introduced, I'd like to see one which means tests candidates (if they want to) so that they pay no more than a percentage of their annual income up to a fix sum, otherwise essentially we discriminate against the poor. 1% of £18,000 per annum with be £180 which is a lot compared with £500 for someone on an income of £50,000 or more.