Wednesday 30 June 2021

Jersey Turns Red










According to Jersey's own regional classification

The daily case data is used to calculate a 14 day case notification rate per 100,000 population for the most recent 14 day period for which data is available. Areas are then categorised as:

Green if the rate is below 50 per 100,000
Amber if the rate is between 50 per 100,000 and 120 per 100,000
Red if the rate is over 120 per 100,000

Jersey's own statistics have

CasesFortnight14dayNumberper100000

102.04 Friday
156.77 Monday
176.25 Tuesday

So for at least two days, Jersey is a "Red" country by its own rules!








Tuesday 29 June 2021

The Long Shadow of Covid


Since Friday 25 June, 13 individuals have recovered and 71 new cases have been identified. 24 cases have been identified through seeking healthcare, 23 through inbound travel, 2 through planned workforce screening and 22 cases through contact tracing.

The number of active cases in the Island is 172. 118 cases are symptomatic and 54 cases are asymptomatic. 

As cases continue to rise exponentially in Jersey, a lot of posts below the Government statistics say that there is nothing to worry about because there are no cases in hospital and no deaths. This is a grave mistake, and this also seems to be driving government policy to take no action. They seem to assume vaccines are so effective they can continue to open up society, and they are ignoring the science.

I'd like to look at two areas of concern: long Covid and deaths among the vaccinated. Neither of these seem to feature strongly in the government speeches by the Chief Minister or Health Minister, but one is happening now, and as cases rise, I predict with certainty that others will also occur.




















Long Covid

Jon Ashworth, MP, on Question Time, summed up the issue of long covid, as well as noting that the vaccine is also not 100% effective:

"We know that this virus, sadly, remains extremely dangerous. Now, I am fed up of the sodding restrictions. I am fed up of these restrictions, right? I am sick of them. But I am also aware that since the 1st of May, we have had 260,000 confirmed cases of this virus. In the last week, 80,000. In the coming weeks, because of the way it grows, we are going to see more of this virus grow amongst the unvaccinated, it spreads like wildfire amongst the unvaccinated."

"Those are Matt Hancock's words. And yes, for those who are vaccinated, the link between hospitalisations and deaths has been reduced, but it has not been severed and many of those people who get the virus today, tomorrow, next week, even if they don't end up in hospital, although some of them well, many of them will live with long-term serious conditions, debilitating conditions, whether that is fatigue, memory loss, for some, it is anxiety and depression, for some it presents as hair loss, teeth loss, some even suffer psychosis. It remains a very serious, deadly virus and we should not be complacent."

Victor Adebowale., Chair of the NHS Confederation, also picked up on this:

"I think the data is softening the link but it's not broken, that's the point I was trying to make. That's the point about the caution. And I do think there is a real concern about thinking that vaccination alone is the way out of this. Of course the vaccination programme has been amazing and all credit to everyone who has been part of doing that but on its own, it's not going to get us to safety. Interestingly, Kate mentioned Israel and Israel now is actually seeing some cases going back up again. The point is that we need to put in place something that this government has failed to do right from the start which is the basic public health provisions around test, trace and supported isolation so that we are not only relying on the vaccination."

And Caroline Lucas, MP, noted that the UK government was starting to take Long Covid very seriously:

"We have nearly 2 million people, it was said today, who are living with long Covid. That can have debilitating impact. I have been part of the all-party group on coronavirus. We have taken evidence from people with long Covid and it is not just people being a bit short of breath, it is people who have been running marathons one month and are in wheelchairs the next. It is deeply serious. Let us not forget either that we don't have all of our population vaccinated yet. A little bit more caution for a little bit longer along with some public health measures put in place will get us to the place that all of us really want to be."

When I posted on this on Facebook below the Jersey statistics, I also received information on local cases of Long Covid:

"A new study has found that around two million people may be suffering from long Covid in the UK. Imperial College London researchers working on the React survey found that about a third of people who report coronavirus symptoms have one or more symptoms that persist for at least 12 weeks. The team said long Covid could present a “major challenge” and may “ultimately affect millions of people in the UK alone."

These comments range from the mild (but still stressful) to the debilitating. I know one other case and they are still being signed off work, having chronic fatigue, and they were fit, walking 3-4 miles a day before.

"14 months on and my sense of smell still not back to normal"

"16 months on and have multiple symptoms that won’t go away and the most worrying one is that I can’t walk for long periods or do any type of slight strenuous work that i am in bed ridden for 2 days straight. I wouldn’t wish long covid on my worst enemies"

"My sister in law is suffering long covid after catching covid at the start of the pandemic. It’s dreadful and she is still signed off work. It will be interesting to see the stats for long covid in patients who picked up the virus following double vaccination."

There are currently no statistics on the prevalence of long covid in the general population of Jersey.



















Deaths of the Vaccinated

Vaccination does not provide 100% immunity, and the more spread there is among the unvaccinated - very high with the Delta variant - the more chances that older people with vaccinations will end up in hospital and dead. And at the moment, only around 52,000 have been double vaccinated, and when you consider a population of at least 110,000, that means the virus has at least half of the population to spread amongst.

At the moment, it is also spreading amongst those with no vaccinations currently due - i.e. under 17s, who can easily pass it to parents, maybe in their 20s or 30s, who can end of infecting vaccinated grandpa and granny, who may then end up in hospital and die. This is because the risk profile of vaccine effectiveness is age dependent, just as death from covid is age dependent. And as numbers rise, the chance of death increases.

https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/commentisfree/2021/jun/27/why-most-people-who-now-die-with-covid-have-been-vaccinated?

This piece, worth reading in the link, is by top statisticians: David Spiegelhalter is chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at Cambridge. Anthony Masters is statistical ambassador for the Royal Statistical Society. Here's a snippet:

"It could sound worrying that the majority of people dying in England with the now-dominant Delta (B.1.617.2) variant have been vaccinated. Does this mean the vaccines are ineffective? Far from it, it’s what we would expect from an effective but imperfect vaccine, a risk profile that varies hugely by age and the way the vaccines have been rolled out."

"Consider the hypothetical world where absolutely everyone had received a less than perfect vaccine. Although the death rate would be low, everyone who died would have been fully vaccinated."

"The vaccines are not perfect. PHE estimates two-dose effectiveness against hospital admission with the Delta infections at around 94%. We can perhaps assume there is at least 95% protection against Covid-19 death, which means the lethal risk is reduced to less than a twentieth of its usual value."

"But the risk of dying from Covid-19 is extraordinarily dependent on age: it halves for each six to seven year age gap. This means that someone aged 80 who is fully vaccinated essentially takes on the risk of an unvaccinated person of around 50 – much lower, but still not nothing, and so we can expect some deaths."

References for Long Covid:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jun/28/health-systems-should-be-prepared-doctors-brace-for-tsunami-of-long-covid
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-57584295

References for Deaths of Vaccinated
https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/commentisfree/2021/jun/27/why-most-people-who-now-die-with-covid-have-been-vaccinated?
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/nearly-30-those-dying-delta-20812363

Saturday 26 June 2021

Above the Night



From the dawn of time, the night sky has captivated human imagination. I was listening the Radio 4's The Essay on this subject. In the series, Astronomer Dr Stuart Clark gave his personal perspective on how we draw meaning from the stars on 5 essays. And I decided to do a series of 5 poems on the subject. This is the fifth.

Above the Night

The stars like dust, across the Milky Way
Shining in the night sky, points of light
Appearing one by one at close of day
Inspiring awe, wonder, at their sight

Mars roving, all the sky so very red
An alien land, yet we see it plain
Connected by a simple data thread
This new world of wonder we attain

Across Pluto, and onto Kuiper belt
New Horizons, onward, in its race
Exploring a far flung comet veldt
Silent running, into deepest space

Above the night, wonders never cease
And the beauty unfolds, piece by piece

Friday 25 June 2021

1954 Hotels and Tourism - Part 3

1954, and this month I will be looking at my Chamber of Commerce 1954 Holiday guide, I am struck by how many of the hotels listed here have vanished. In this blog I look at some of those listed, and also at some of the breaking news for that year. I've also tried to check where the hotels were and what replaced them.

To set the scene for the year, here are some events during January 1954, as the year opened.

A few other events from 1954 locally.

It's interesting to see after the resignation of St John's Constable this year that St Lawrence Constable was being taken to Court over irregularities!

January 1954:

20.—-Centenary of Petty Debts Court celebrated. a large number of practising advocates and solicitors accepting the hospitality of Judge E. A. Dorey. C.B.E.

21,—States: Substitute plan for the Troglodytes Caves Housing Estate agreed to; an Act, allowing milk to be sold at reduced prices to certain categories was adopted ; 9. proposal by the Home Secretary suggesting two Divisions of the CI. Court; of Appeal was approved by the House. Professor A. Newell. of Harvard speaks on Anglo-American relations at Rotary Club dinner.

22.-Jeresey Debating Club decide that “Room at the Top " is not a Jerseyman’s right by 2-1 majority.

23.—At today’s Royal Court a Remonstrance was brought against the Constable of St. Lawrence alleging irregular conduct at a recent parish assembly, the swearing-in of parochial officials thus being suspended. J.F.U. meeting shows concern at reduction in milk subsidy. Annual dinner of R.M.I.J. Association.

25. One hundredth anniversary of the inauguration of the Police Court, the Crown Officers and Island Centeniers attending and accepting the Magistrate's hospitality. Scottish Society of Jersey hold Burns Night dinner at Merton' Hotel.

26.States: First supply day of session: £2,250 voted for erection of bandstand in Howard Davis Park. Nurses salary increase to be retrospective; £1,200 was voted for expenses in connection with the Ecrehous and Minquiers case; various other Acts and votes were agreed to or lodged; after the sitting the members sat as the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (Jersey branch), this being the first meeting. Island pharmacists welcome national president at annual dinner.

27.—Annual meeting of the Jersey Eisteddfod, it being stated that the reserve fund now exceeded £2,600. Members of Les Amities Franco—Britanniques hear talk on the museums of France by M. Yvan Bizardel.

28.—States: Shortage of water on housing estates debated, a geological survey of the Island being suggested; the Dangerous Drugs Bill was adopted; the Law on Public Elections was amended, as was the Admission of Solicitors; Bill dealing with non-contributory pensions for the blind and aged was passed in all its stages. The Island shivers under the coldest spell for seven years, 11 degrees of frost being recorded just before midnight; several inches of snow fell with a biting east wind.

29, —Annual meeting of La. Société Jersiaise, an alleged violation of the terms of the Barman Trust being made by a. member.

30.—The Royal Court declares the St. Lawrence parochial assembly held on January 14th to be void, this following a Remonstrance presented by certain principals; an entire agenda was ordered for a further meeting and £25 costs awarded against the Constable. Outbreak of fire in upholsterer’s store in Ansley Road, a number of armchairs being destroyed. St. Helier Yacht Club hold film evening at West Park Pavilion, these being presented by Alan Villiers, famous author and broadcaster.—Annual dinner of St. Ouen Municipality held at l'Etacq Hotel.


This was a private house by 1998 with a Mr D Le Brun resident.




This family run hotel is still there! Hurrah!
https://www.norfolkhoteljersey.co.uk/



Here during the Occupation. This was in La Motte Street. No sign of it in 1998.



Here during the Occupation, can't find it now.



Assume gone, can't find it along Esplanade in 1998 Alamanac.



Can't find in 1998 Almanac.



Was in New Street. Can't find in 1998 Almanac.



Can't find in 1998 Almanac.
Looks like it is this now - Graham House, Office Space
http://jersey.co.uk/office/index.html

Saturday 19 June 2021

Midsummer's Eve



From 14/06/2006, one from the back catalogue, as we approach Midsummer. A look at the great trek out of Africa to Northern lands, and the dolmen builders of the stone age.

Midsummer's Eve

The longest day, the shadows creep
On the savannah, after hunting prey
Where our silent vigil, we still keep

Into the unknown, prepare to leap
Northern lands call a different way
The longest day, the shadows creep

Paths not always easy, maybe steep
In the cave, making fire this day
Where our silent vigil, we still keep

The sowing is past, soon time to reap
Stone tombs, offerings, burning hay
The longest day, the shadows creep

A time of sorrow, a time to weep
The dying god came once this way
Where our silent vigil, we still keep

Night falls, darkness calls to sleep
We chant in candlelight and pray
The longest day, the shadows creep
Where our silent vigil, we still keep

Friday 18 June 2021

1954 Hotels and Tourism - Part 2

1954, and this month I will be looking at my Chamber of Commerce 1954 Holiday guide, I am struck by how many of the hotels listed here have vanished. In this blog I look at some of those listed, and also at some of the breaking news for that year. I've also tried to check where the hotels were and what replaced them.

To set the scene for the year, here are some events during January 1954, as the year opened.

A few other events from 1954 locally. 

January 1954:

1954
January

11.—-Opening of January Assizes. the one case on the calendar being that of Ernest William Cattell, charged with blackmailing Margaret Vasse; the case continued on Tuesday when Cattell was found not guilty and discharged: a special sitting of the Full Court followed and sentence of six months was passed on Margaret Vasse. who had pleaded guilty previously to embezzlement.

12—Annual general meeting of Jersey Battle of Flowers Association. last year‘s Battle showing a profit of £1,700. Road widening proposals adopted by St Helier parish assembly, these being in Hill Street, Great Union Road and Bath Street; it was agreed that Ingouville Lane be taken over by the parish. —Lt. Governor and family pay visit to La Hougue Bie. A hoard of sovereigns found by workmen on States building site in Springfield Road, this consisting of 42 sovereigns and 27 half-sovereigns.

13.—The Island’s most disastrous fire occurs this morning, when Messrs. F. Le Gallais and Sons’ shops, stores and workrooms are completely gutted in an outbreak which was first noticed at 4 am; the fire became a raging inferno and business premises and houses adjoining were partially destroyed or otherwise affected; nearby streets were barricaded off and the fire was got under control shortly after 6 am: rain which fell incessantly between 4 and 6 fortunately prevented the whole of the block fronting Beresford and Cattle streets from being consumed.

14. Annual winter show of the Poultry and Ornithological Society revived at Springfield. Clearing and removing debris from the scene of the disastrous fire commences, streets in the neighbourhood being barred off: it was stated that 300,009 gallons of water were used by the fire fighters! Passenger figures published shows an increase of 40,000 by air with a decrease of 16,188 by sea, the overall figure being an increase of 24,000. Green Room Club annual dinner - speakers stressing the need for an Island theatre.

15—St. Clements’s holds meeting to discuss the National Service Bill. but only 30 persons attended and a mandate was not taken. Dr. J. B. Firth, Home Office expert. arrives to assist. in inquiries into cause of the recent Le Gallais fire. Annual dinner of Trinity municipality.

16—Before the Royal Court to-day, a professional golfer. A. H. Monk. was fined £50 and Alfred Cadoret £10 for infractions of the Import. and Export Control Order. St. Lawrence municipality hold
annual dinner at Portelet Hotel. Southampton A.B.C. gain a victory in boxing tournament at Springfield against St Helier ABC.

19 —States: Opening day of 1954 session. a Bill to amend the Income Tax Law being debated and then lodged; the resignation of Deputy J. B. Michel of St. Peter's was announced; various minor matters were lodged or otherwise dealt with and dates fixed for the session's agenda. Workman engaged on the clearance of Messrs. Le Gallais burned out premises have narrow escape from serious injury when a chimney-breast and top floor crash to the ground.

And also this year: Jersey Pottery was purchased in 1954 by Clive and Jessie Jones. Their children Colin Jones and Carol Garton steered the business through the heady tourism days of 1960’s through to the 1990’s.

Chamber Guide 1954

Looking at the Chamber of Commerce 1954 Holiday guide, I am struck by how many of the hotels listed here have vanished.

Hotel guide
.


Gone.



Rosebank is now Rosebank Condominium Complex.

Sunnyside is now Hastings Villas, which began construction in 2018.



2 Elizabeth place is now a restaurant and Clair de Lune Flats


I've not been able to identify these precisely. I'm pretty sure Beau Sejour is now part of Springfield Crescent (Flats).

Beau Sejour is showing in 2019 as a Registered Lodging House with Bedsitters at £130 per week, Single Flats at £160 per week, and £255 for Double Flats.

Tuesday 15 June 2021

The Threshold of Exponential Growth

Bailiwick Express reported that:

More than 700 people are in quarantine after being identified as direct contacts of the island's 43 confirmed covid cases. The Government confirmed that there was no unknown spread, with the contact tracing team "able to identify each positive case back to a known source."

It's the direct contacts that are the issue. As we found at Christmas, there's a threshold to that - after which testing the direct contacts, getting results back, and then chasing direct contacts of positive cases takes too long. That's the tipping point after which other measures need to be taken rapidly, but are often delayed in the mistaken hope that contact tracing will succeed in keeping numbers down. The mathematics says that it will not.

By the third of December 2020, direct contacts of active cases had crossed the 3,000 mark and by that time, it was hopeless overwhelmed. Some time in the previous two weeks, there had been a tipping point, probably between  1,500 and 2,000 cases, when track and trace simply could not keep up with the spread, and despite vaccines, with faster variants such as Delta, it will be very much the case again.

We can see the beginnings of this with "seeking healthcare" statistics. Those seeking healthcare have caught the virus before the contact tracing team caught up with them. If it is the Delta variant, they may well have also spread it wider. It is a game of catch-up which will be lost if numbers rise.














The peak was when it approached 4,900 direct contacts of active cases, and as we can see from the 14 day moving average cases per 100,000 that was also rising rapidly. That was around 9 December.















On December 4, the first rules - closing hospitality venues - began, and the increased rules over Christmas began to reverse the trend, until at last track and trace could finally make headway again.

Another factor to consider is that double vaccinated individuals may become - as has been the case - asymptomatic carriers. In this respect, the government policy, which flew in the face of known medical knowledge, of allowing double vaccinated individuals to take a test on arrival, but not need to self-isolate until after a test result, was extremely short-sighted - just as allowing anyone from a green area to do the same last year was almost certainly a cause of the autumn rise in cases.

It must be remembered that while hospitalisations may not  go up at the moment, the threat of long covid, which can affect even healthy young people, is not going to go away - and those are the people doing most mixing, and least vaccinated. We have no published figures in Jersey on long covid, even though in the UK, the Office of National Statistics has published them. Looking just at hospital and death statistics is misleading, because it leaves out an invisible cohort of sufferers from covid, who often need repeated medical interventions. This website has a lot more about it:

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/what-long-haul-covid-19-is-like-for-children-and-teenagers#What-is-long-COVID?

Long Covid affects around ten per cent of 18-49 year olds who get Covid-19, increasing to 22 per cent of people over 70. The researchers also found people with asthma were also more likely to develop long Covid.

And finally, while night clubs seem to be saying we can live with Covid and rising numbers, it should be remembered that while Jersey is an island, it is not, in the words of John Donne, entire in itself. Should numbers exceed 500 cases, it is very likely that anyone leaving Jersey will have to self-isolate for at least 8 to 10 days, and that itself will also have a bad impact on holidaymakers and tourism. This is a lesson that we can see from Portugal, where a spike in cases has led to reclassifications for tourists returning to the UK, and a large number of cancelations to that destination. 

When I met and spoke to an elderly couple at the Golden Sands Hotel, they told me they came to Jersey because it was the only place on the holiday map outside of the UK which was likely to stay green. If that was no longer the case, and there was even a growing risk of turning amber (as case numbers rise), we can say goodbye to summer tourism. And it is only June now, and the school holidays have not even begun. That is something the politicians, with their "safer travel" and "balancing act" need to consider, or they will fall off the high wire and come down to earth with a thud.

Other References


The Limitations of Contact Tracing: A Research Article

The whole is well worth reading. Here is an extract.

 http://www.sfu.ca/magpie/blog/fundamental-limitations-of-contact-tracing-for-covid-19.html

The fact that there is a critical value of the contact tracing delay beyond which contact tracing is not able to prevent a sufficient fraction of cases to bring COVID-19 under control  is an example of a tipping point: a value of a parameter where a system has qualitatively  different behaviour when the parameter is above or below it. If the delay τ is above its critical value, we have exponential growth in the number of cases; otherwise cases decline. There is another tipping point  for the coverage; increasing coverage (for example by expanding the definition of a contact to include more people, taking extra measures to insure compliance with self-isolation) could push R below 1 if τ is sufficiently short and other measures are in place. 

Now that vaccines are approved and are being widely deployed, and vaccinated populations are moving to reopen economic and social activities, testing and contact tracing will face new challenges. First, people will have a lot more contacts when they are working in person, socializing indoors and travelling more: effectively we are increasing the reproductive number back up towards pre-pandemic levels. 

Vaccination will counteract this rise, preventing a large fraction of infections and providing good protection against symptomatic disease, as infections in vaccinated individuals appear to be more often asymptomatic. The relative transmissibility per unit time is not known, but asymptomatic individuals will not know that they are infectious unless they are tested, so they will likely circulate (and have contacts) for longer times than symptomatic individuals have done under social distancing during the pandemic. This poses challenges for identifying an individual’s infector, though it does mean that if an individual is identified early in their infection, there is an opportunity to prevent a high portion of their onward transmission. It poses challenges for testing, as the contacts of a case may also be asymptomatic with higher probability due to vaccination.  This means that in order for contact tracing to succeed it may need to rely more on testing asymptomatic contacts, and its effectiveness may be undermined as we reopen by large numbers of potential contacts, reduced interest in testing, and assumptions that vaccinated individuals are not infected or infectious.  Contact tracing needs to be reassessed and adjusted once we know more about COVID-19 transmission in a largely immunized population.



Saturday 12 June 2021

Touching the Night




From the dawn of time, the night sky has captivated human imagination. I was listening the Radio 4's The Essay on this subject. In the series, Astronomer Dr Stuart Clark gave his personal perspective on how we draw meaning from the stars on 5 essays. And I decided to do a series of 5 poems on the subject. This is the fourth.

Touching the Night

Sputnik: a single message sounding high
And so it begins: the great space race
Soon the mighty rockets begin to fly
Soaring high, fireballs move with grace

Yuri Gagarin speeding round the earth
Soon the race is on to reach the moon
Two thousand and one: star child birth
Such visions of the future, coming soon

Neil Armstrong: A small step for mankind
From the earth to the moon he came
A dream come true: no more confined
The stars our destination, our new aim

A future in the stars, we touched the night
And will never quite lose that glorious sight

Friday 11 June 2021

1954 Hotels and Tourism - Part 1

1954, and this month I will be looking at my Chamber of Commerce 1954 Holiday guide, I am struck by how many of the hotels listed here have vanished. In this blog I look at some of those listed, and also at some of the breaking news for that year. I've also tried to check where the hotels were and what replaced them.

To set the scene for the year, here are some events during January 1954, as the year opened.

1.—Fine dry weather ushers in the New Year, the usual activities taking place ; the Drag Hunt held a. point—to-point meeting at Plémont, St. Ouen. whilst at Springfield the Jersey Football League drew 0-0 with the Newport and. District League ; the annual road races staged by the Jeremy Athletic Club took place in the morning; the traditional reception for members of the French colony was held at the residence of the Consul ; weather was fair with a keen northerly wind.

2.——Final performance of Green Room Club pantomime “Humpty Dumpty " at The Forum, all attendance records being broken.

4.—Resignation announced of the Rector of St. Lawrence, the Rev. C. P. du Heaume.

5.—Senator J. J. Le Marquand attacks Insular Insurance Scheme at packed meeting at Town Hall. Mr. J. P. Morison, M.A., tenders resignation as Director of Education.

6.—Parish of St. Peter municipal dinner, the Crown Officers being guests.

7.—His Excellency the Limit-Governor visits Police and Fire Services, presenting long service medals at police headquarters.

8.—-His Excellency makes tour of inspection of “The Evening Post” premises—Annual meeting of Sub—Aqua Club.—-Jersey Debating Club hold discussion on “flying saucers,” this being of a humorous nature.

9.——The first importation of the famous Landrace pig from Sweden arrives in the Island by air.

10.—Laying up of Militia colours in St. Heller's Parish Church precedes annual Peirson Day service.

Hotels Guide



St Saviour's Parish Magazine says:

Casa Marina and Marina House were occupied as dwelling houses for at least 50 years, but by 1932 they had been combined and converted into Hotel Casa Marina, no doubt to capitalise on the rapidly expanding tourism presence in Havre des Pas and Le Dicq. In the 1931 edition of ‘The Official Guide’ to Jersey, a full-page advertisement shows the ‘new and up-to-date’ premises in their pristine state, the proprietor being Mrs. E. B. Averty. The Hotel was still in the hands of the Averty family in the 1980s but in more recent times it was incorporated into the Hotel de Normandie when it was substantially rebuilt and enlarged, sadly resulting in the loss of its character.




Seems to have vanished. My 2018 Almanac lists 35-39 Colomberie as Maxwell Chambers. 36 Colomberie is now listed as Estecita, a health and beauty salon.



Seems to have vanished. Possibly replaced with Parkside Mews.



Gone. 

There's a comment online by anonymous:"I travelled to Jersey in our College vacation in 1970. Walked past the Mont Felard Hotel and on impulse went in and asked if they had any vacancies. They did and I worked as a chambermaid for the season. Staff accommodation was in Halfway House in Millbrook which was er basic! Whilst there I made friends with the owners of the Jubilee Hotel Pat and Mary O'Gorman. I have such amazing memories of those early days. I returned to Jersey each holiday and then came to live permanently in 1971, leaving sadly in 2002. Over those years the decline in agriculture and Tourism escalated. Seeing the old familiar names of those former hotels it is really upsetting. Now that magic buzz that was there in the seventies has gone. It is all very, very sad."


Saturday 5 June 2021

Cosmic Revelations



From the dawn of time, the night sky has captivated human imagination. I was listening the Radio 4's The Essay on this subject. In the series, Astronomer Dr Stuart Clark gave his personal perspective on how we draw meaning from the stars on 5 essays. And I decided to do a series of 5 poems on the subject. This is the third.

Cosmic Revelations

Touching the heavens with sight
Galileo’s telescope there did spy
And saw diamonds in the night
Moons of Jupiter in the sky

Imperfections seen on the moon
In craters and seas of darkness
The crystal spheres not immune
Disenchantment in starkness

No longer the centre of all things
Newton’s clockwork universe
And the cosmos no more sings
Cold stars look down as a curse

And yet it moves, the earth spins round
There is no more that solid ground

Friday 4 June 2021

German Occupation: A Report on Tree Felling and Afforestation.



This is the last of the Occupation reports written on the work done by the Jersey Department of Labour which I have transcribed. It's a fascinating study of how trees were both felled, and then more planted after the way. I wonder how many trees we see today stem from that post-war planting!

German Occupation: A Report on Tree Felling and Afforestation.

Forestry Section.

Report on Tree Felling and Afforestation.

During the years under German Occupation the civil population was mainly dependent on hardwood blocks for its fuel supply. This demand had to be catered for wholly from local supplies and therefore entailed the felling of a very considerable number of trees around the countryside. Whilst every effort was made to protect, as far as possible, the natural beauty of the Island and preserve its amenities, it will be appreciated that a total felling of approximately 200,000 trees compelled very heavy thinning out to be undertaken in the Island’s woods, cotils, etc.

Tree felling and the subsidiary work of sawing and converting into blocks was one of the main sources of industry in the Island during the “ Occupation ” years, and provided work, in supplying an essential need of the civil population, for a great many men who would have otherwise been unemployed. It also enabled the various private sawmills and fuel merchants to keep their factories and plants in operation.

Tree felling throughout the Island was under the control of the “Forestry Section” of the Department of Labour which, in carrying out its task, utilised the Department of Labour's workers, divided into gangs of various sizes, according to the sites allocated to them by this Section. Sites were also allotted to private gangs of piece-workers, and also to gangs made up by saw-millers and fuel merchants in order to keep their workmen in constant employment.

In July, 1941, the Forestry Section was given power to requisition trees in the Island, for which a payment of 10/- per ton was made, and it aimed at procuring sufficient fuel to supply each household with two hundredweight of wood blocks per month for the six months October to March, and one hundredweight per month for April to December. This meant the felling of 1,600 tons per month for the six winter months, and 800 tons per month for the summer months, making a total of nearly. 15,000 tons annually.

The felling of this amount each year was achieved without laying bare large areas of Woodland, in fact many of the areas were so densely wooded and overgrown that the thinning out of them has distinctly improved their appearance and will be very beneficial to the remaining trees in future years.

In addition to these amounts, the Forestry Section granted permits to farmers enabling them to fell trees on their land according to their needs for farm requirements (instead of drawing a ration), and several thousand households in the country took advantage of this opportunity each year. Many thousand tons annually were also required for non-domestic purposes.

Tree felling has been in operation under our control on as many as 50 different sites at the same time, and our weekly output was maintained for a considerable period at between 450 and 500 tons. Owing to the long duration of the Occupation and the consequent diminishing sources of tree supplies, We were later unable to approach this total as the sites on which we were then engaged were often far distant from a roadway, and the timber had to be transported by hand to the nearest loading site, thus entailing considerable labour and furnishing a lesser output.

Soon after “ D ” day, with the consequent stoppage of supplies from Europe for the Germans, and owing to the anxiety felt by the German Military Command concerning the despoliation of shelter for their gun emplacements and other defences, orders were received that no further trees could be felled by the Civil Authorities until the Platz- komandantur had reviewed the situation.

Grave concern was felt by us at this stoppage as it was realised that, unless we could accumulate a stock during the summer months, the whole fuel situation would be desperate for the coming winter. The demand for wood fuel would be constantly increasing due to the cessation of the gas supply, and it was apparent that the bakers and communal ovens, etc., would be compelled to operate on wood now that there was no possibility of obtaining further supplies of coal.

After we had made repeated protests against this order and the Germans had made various accusations of sabotage, accompanied with their customary threats, we eventually managed to recommence felling, but numerous restrictions were levied on our work and we were not permitted to select the trees for felling or the site upon which felling could take place.

The Germans reserved for their own use all the most convenient areas upon which they felled thousands of tons of the finest trees, many of which we had endeavoured to preserve either for their beauty or for the essential shelter of agriculture. They allocated to us principally the gnarled pollarded trees (most of which were hollow) and any others which were situated in difficult places for felling and removal.

Furthermore, they insisted that each tree had to be viewed and marked off by their German Forestry Expert stationed in the District before it could be felled by any civilian, and ten Germans were appointed as Inspectors to patrol the Island to see that these instructions were not infringed. Great delay and endless trouble was occasioned by these regulations and, as can be assumed, a minimum number of trees was marked for the civilian population by these German Experts. At this period, facilities for the transportation of the timber from the country to the sawmills was rapidly diminishing and this also constituted a very serious handicap to our work.

After meeting the essential requirements of the bread bakers and communal ovens under these conditions, the balance of fuel was inadequate to supply a ration for all domestic households and it was therefore decided to commence a Public Allocation Scheme. Under this scheme, a householder was given the option of having a standing pollarded tree allocated to him which he could fell and transport for his own use in lieu of a ration of wood blocks. The weight of each tree was estimated and a charge of 6d. per cwt. was made in order to compensate the owner. Several thousand households took advantage of this offer and so eased, to a certain extent, one of the greatest hardships which the Islanders had to face during the last Winter of the “Occupation.”

The small branches of the felled trees were made into faggots, and we have furnished up to 20,000 of these per month. Many hundred thousand faggots were utilised as fuel for the baking of a large proportion of the Island’s bread supply.

The larger branches were set aside for the manufacture of charcoal, for which ‘there was an urgent demand from haulage contractors for cartage of essential goods in converted charcoal-burning lorries.

A large amount of selected Beech was secured and this was supplied to “Summerland” Footwear Factory for the manufacture of clogs and other wooden-soled shoes. Other “ serviceable ” timber, viz : Ash, Elm, Oak and Pine was kept apart and supplied to the timber merchants for sawing into suitable sizes to enable them to furnish the Island’s requirements of tool handles, coffin boards, etc., whilst quantities of Poplar were peeled and made into barrels for the storage of potatoes and grain.

The Germans continued felling right up to “V.E. Day” when the whole of their dumps of wood fuel was taken over by this Department. This quantity amounted to approximately 4,000 tons, which they were conserving for the Winter of 1945/1946, and, with brighter prospects ahead, we were thus enabled to discontinue the felling of trees.

In view of the vast amount of tree felling we have been compelled to undertake, we have always taken into consideration the vital need of afforestation, and under the Forestry Section a scheme has been systematically carried out for the replanting of trees to replace those which have been felled.

During the years 1942, 1943 and 1944, large numbers of young trees of many different varieties, viz : Poplar, Elm, Sycamore, Cypresses, Beech, Oak, Ash, Pine, Larch, Chestnut, etc., were planted out in woods and other sites throughout the Island. A number of these trees were purchased from local nurseries and many thousands of self-sown young trees, which were growing in profusion in the wooded areas of the Island, were thinned out and replanted on depleted sites.

In 1942 we acquired a plot of land at St. Lawrence and set up our own nursery. This will undoubtedly prove a great boon to the Island in respect of afforestation, and it has already been instrumental in enabling us to carry out a far more ambitious programme than would have other- wise been possible. The following year a smaller nursery was started at Gorey. These nurseries are at present well stocked with thousands of trees of good growth ready for planting out this coming Autumn, and large numbers for the following year. Our efforts have been mainly directed in raising trees of quick growing varieties, and suitable for local climatic conditions, and have therefore been concentrated on poplars, sycamores, pines, etc., but large quantities of oak, ash, elm and chestnut are also being raised.

A small consignment of pine seeds was purchased from France and sown in the nurseries, and this has now produced thousands of firmly established young trees which will be ready this Autumn for planting out around the countryside. Apart from this small purchase of seed, all the trees now being raised in the nurseries have been. procured (free of charge) from cuttings, from thinning out on various estates self-sown trees where the growth was considered to be too thick, and from seed collected by ourselves. Many thousands of privets, etc., are also being raised so as to enable farmers to replant hedges. where tree felling has taken place.

The “ Forestry Section ” is greatly indebted to Mr. I. D. Colledge who has acted as Honorary Forestry Advisor through all these difficult years. His expert knowledge and vast experience on all matters appertaining to Forestry have always been at the disposal of this Department. Any success we have achieved in afforestation and the setting up and stocking of the nurseries is mainly due to the advice and energies of this gentleman who foresaw the need of this undertaking and offered his services gratuitously for the benefit of the Island. We are very pleased to know that it is the intention of Mr. Colledge to continue this good work in the post-war years.

Besides refurnishing the estates, woods, etc., from which trees have been requisitioned, the afforestation is envisaged of several areas of the Island which have been barren for many years, viz: Jardin d’Olivet, Trinity; Five Mile Road District, St. Ouen’s and also the site of the new Marine Drive, St. John's, and it is intended to raise several hundred thousand pines and other trees for the carrying out of this plan which, it is felt, will be of material benefit to the Island as well as a welcome addition to its amenities.

W. W. Rattenbury,
Secretary,
Forestry Section.

Thursday 3 June 2021

Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change’s report: Some Unanswered Questions












Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change’s report.

Among the action points the group has suggested are that no new petrol or diesel vehicles should be allowed to be registered in the Island from 2025 and that a full ban on such vehicles from Jersey roads should be in force by 2050. (JEP)

It's fine to have a vision and strong ideals, but if there is no practical way of implementing them, it is a pipedream. Part of my gripe with the recent report that it is a set of goals, but no homework seems to have been done on how to get there.

Unanswered Questions:

It’s estimated that around a third of the UK’s 27 million households don’t have off-street parking, so many EV owners will need to use public charging points. What is the estimated number of households for Jersey households with cars?

If no figures are available, when is it estimated they will be available?

Who is developing plans for implementing street charging points (such as lamp-post charging used in the UK) for users with street parking in St Helier? No details are mentioned.

How much will this cost and who will pay for it? No figures are given.

How much does a single public charging point cost to put in place? (as there are existing charging points in public car parks, this should be available). No figures are given.

Are there plans to retrofit chargers into multi-occupancy property parking? No details are mentioned.

How long is all this going to take? If we start now, will we have enough electric charging places by 2025? 2030? 2050? No figures are given.

Mention has been made of States support and incentives. How will this work, how much, and can the States afford it. No figures are given.

None of these questions have been addressed, and if there are calculations, they have been well hidden away. Obviously if there are, they will need to be examined carefully to make sure they stand up to scrutiny and the finances are properly costed.

Some Cases to Show  

















Les Quennevais - blocks of flats have shared tenancy parking, and there are no electrical points there. How are those occupiers going to manage to charge electric cars, assuming they can afford them? Who will pay for electric points?
















These people have their own driveways, and can implement (at their own cost) electrical connections. 
















Some of the parking at Les Quennevais - and of course a lot in St Helier - is on the roadside. Are these going to be excluded from electric cars?

Haves and Have Nots

Two stumbling blocks can keep drivers from switching to EVs: the lack of chargers and the cost of a new car.

A lack of enough cheap second-hand electric vehicles is likely to remain an issue for at least a decade; another is the high cost of new cars, although manufacturers say prices are coming down - but not that quickly, and increased post-Covid and Brexit costs are slowing that process.

It is the poorer who usually live in the blocks of flats, with communal parking, or on-street parking, while those with more means live in dwellings with driveways into which electric points can be placed. They are also going to find it harder to afford an electric car.

If we are not careful, we will have a lower-class population having to drive increasingly aging cars because the infrastructure for charging them is not available, while those well to do will have their shiny new electric vehicles. The gap between rich and poor will increase.

The Lesson from Germany

A report highlights some of the issues:

"Germany, like many other countries, offers subsidies of up to €4,000 ($4,400) to offset the cost of a new electric vehicle. On Friday, the government said it would hike those incentives within two years to help it meet a target of cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from vehicles in half by 2030. The subsidies will be paid out of the proceeds of a new carbon tax."

"Most governments in the world are trying to hit two important targets: on environmental issues and inequality. By protecting the environment, we're actually in danger of creating more inequality," Miguel Angel Tovar, co-author of a 2017 research paper on electromobility for the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), told DW.

"Tovar likened the German government's electric vehicle policy to the subsidy scheme for solar panels, which he said allowed wealthier households to benefit financially by selling their excess electricity to the national power grid. This income stream is often unaccessible to low earners in public housing."

"Similarly, higher-income households will quickly absorb the cost of installing home charging infrastructure for their new battery-powered cars, while low-income groups may be the last to get connected and be forced to rely on higher-priced public charging stations."

The Cloud-Cuckoo Future

A 2019 report by Bloomberg indicated, due to dropping prices for EV batteries, that electric vehicles should be more cost-competitive with combustion-engine cars within three years. Three years have passed, and it has not come to be the case. Technology will certainly have a gradual effect in reducing prices, but if anyone thinks it is going to be swift, they are living in cloud-cuckoo land.

The Australian noted in 2020 that electric cars "almost everywhere cost more across their lifetime than their petrol counterparts."

The Financial Times noted that:

Electric cars will remain significantly more expensive for European carmakers to produce than combustion engine models for at least a decade, according to new research.

Of course we could - as the Action report suggests - penalise those still driving petrol cars, but who will that hit the hardest - rich or poor?

















In Conclusion

I still have to see a solid, costed strategy for providing electricity to charge vehicles who are on roadside parking permits in St Helier, or even for that matter, on road sides in Les Quennevais for that matter. There are numerous flats which have a nice communal parking space, but that would need to be fitted out with charging points. 

As usual, the model being worked with is one which favours those who have their own house and parking space, i.e. mostly (but not always) the better off. It hasn’t been thought through at all! I can see panic as deadlines approach, and I suspect the UK is not in any better position. You cannot even with fast charging, just pull into a charging station and top up your electricity in a couple of minutes as petrol cars do. Even the fastest can only manage 20 minutes, and there is a risk of shortening the lifespan of your car batteries as well.

This reminds me of the Chief Minister and his gardens with outside entrances (if you have a garden at all) all over again.  Remember  how in the first lockdown, people could meet in gardens (if they had them!) and when John Le Fondre was asked about back gardens with only an entrance through the house, he expressed surprise that situation existed!

This strategy is a present clueless because they don’t think about ordinary people, they’ve been living in a comfortable, cosy place for far too long.

Most private EV owners are currently middle-aged, male, well-educated, affluent, and live in urban areas with households containing two or more cars and with the ability to charge at home. Evidence from various sources has found that private owners charge their EV mainly at home, on a daily basis, and generally overnight.

Why should I care? I have a driveway, so it is not such a big issue for me, but why should I not care? If we do not give adequate consideration to these matters, we will become an island in which the poorer are also power-poor. And penalising petrol cars will add further to the increasing division in our society.

The Shades of Micawber

We do need a properly thought out and costed scheme for moving everyone to electric cars, but this recent report doesn't provide one. 

It reminds me of the sunken road in the original Waterfront Masterplan. It was decided to lower the road, build on top of it, and bring it out at the bottom of Gloucester Street, which has been prone to flooding. How to solve that problem? All the wonderful plans said (in a footnote, no less!) was that "an engineering solution will be found".

It's the equivalent of Mr Micawber in David Copperfield - lots of brilliant ideas, and no practical homework done on how they may come to fruition, but just saying "Something will turn up." 

If I was to endorse this current wish list - and I wish I could - I'd need the Citizen's Panel to do a lot of homework, real research for practical outcomes, well thought out, well costed. Then I could take it seriously.

References
https://www.dw.com/en/electric-cars-low-earners-may-never-get-to-drive-one/a-50517095
https://www.stantec.com/en/ideas/power-poverty-the-new-paradigm-for-social-and-economic-inequality-of-electric-vehicles
https://grist.org/justice/making-electric-cars-more-equitable/
https://www.ft.com/content/a7e58ce7-4fab-424a-b1fa-f833ce948cb7
https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/metals/020221-expect-lithium-supply-crunch-by-2025-as-ev-market-booms-piedmont-ceo
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/464763/uptake-of-ulev-uk.pdf

Wednesday 2 June 2021

Len Norman - A small but significant part of his legacy












Constable Len Norman, who has recently died, has decades of time in the States, and many achievements in and out of the Chamber. I'm going to focus on just one - his time at PPC. During this period, he managed to get the ability to apply for your name to be entered on the electoral role online to make the whole process simpler, and also most significantly, the move to online streaming of States debates, debated in 2015. None of his predecessors - Simon Crowcoft, Jeremy Macon - had either raised the subject or got it though, but Len was determined to do so.

In that debate, 7 Constables voted with him and only 4 against. I'm afraid one of the Deputies in my own district, Graham Truscott voted against. And the current Chief Minister, then Deputy John Le Fondre spoke against and voted against. All Senators were in favour except for Senator Zoe Cameron, who it will be remembered, was often absent from States sittings.

Here is the extract from Hansard, and a fine speech from Senator Norman:

The Greffier of the States:

The States are asked to decide whether they are of opinion: (a) to agree that the proceedings of the States Assembly should be filmed and broadcast live on the internet and that the broadcast of each sitting should be available online to view again for a period of at least 6 months at a cost not exceeding the sums indicated on page 6 of the attached report and the addendum to the report; (b) to agree that the official media should be permitted, at their own cost, to record the proceedings of the States Assembly from the footage made in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (a), and to use it in news reports in accordance with rules to be established by the Privileges and Procedures Committee; (c) to agree that 3 digital display clocks should be installed in the States Chamber to indicate the length of speeches and other interventions made by Members.

The Connétable of St. Clement (Chairman, Privileges and Procedures Committee):

This proposition is not about filming ourselves; this was suggested in a proposition lodged yesterday. It is not about spending money on ourselves. This proposition really is about one thing: it is about re-engaging with the public, the public who we represent, the public who put us here in the first place. 

Filming and broadcasting our proceedings will allow us to open the doors of the States Assembly to our constituents. It will make our decisions more accessible and our communication with Islanders more effective. 

It is the responsibility of the Privileges and Procedures Committee to ensure the provision of information to the public about the work of the States. The committee has worked quickly since its appointment to investigate the feasibility and cost of installing cameras in the States Chamber to bring us in line with modern parliaments, modern democracies around the word. Not just parliaments, indeed, councils, county councils, tiny councils, councils with 9,000 constituents. 

It is now the norm filming of Assemblies. It is now expected that Assemblies will be accessible to the public through filming. What we are proposing is to stream our meetings live on the internet as well as to provide an archive of States sittings for people to access at their convenience. 

In developing this proposal, advice has been sought from the Department of Electronics and the Information Services Department, as well as from potential suppliers and other legislatures who film their meetings. Officers from the States Greffe have held initial discussions with potential third party partners who could manage the web-streaming and archiving services. If this proposition is adopted a formal tender process will be organised to select a supplier. 

During our investigations positive feedback has been received from other legislatures and councils who have said that filming and broadcasting their proceedings has led to better engagement with the public and improved transparency. As I said before, it is not just parliaments. You think of small parliaments like Gibraltar, Bahamas, Barbados, Malta, Iceland and town councils now all over the United Kingdom, it is significant throughout the world. 

The committee has previously used filming as a means of connecting with the general public. During the 2014 election campaign hustings meetings were filmed and broadcast online by the Vote.je website receiving, amazingly, some 11,000 hits in all which is much more than quite honestly most of us anticipated. 

The committee believes that the filming of the States Assembly will be of equal interest or even more interest to people in Jersey and indeed elsewhere. We have received positive feedback too from social media, comments on Facebook and Twitter, for example. Streaming our meetings online is an efficient and effective way of improving the transparency of this Assembly and re-engaging with the people that we represent. 

Details of the proposal: we propose to introduce 5 high-definition cameras in the Chamber which will be operated manually by a member of staff from the States Greffe. Four of the cameras will be positioned to cover our seating areas and a further camera will focus on the Presiding Officer and Greffier seats. The cameras are small and unobtrusive and will be installed sensitively to take account of the historic nature of the Chamber. 

When an individual speaks, the relevant camera will focus on the person who is speaking and the operator will zoom in on the speaker. The film and sound will be fed directly through a dedicated high-speed line to an outsourced provider and will then be visible live on a dedicated page of the States Assembly website. Streaming will be at a suitable resolution to allow it to be viewed by any user with a standard broadband connection. 

After each sitting, once the live broadcast is finished, the film of the proceedings will be available for at least 6 months in an online archive available via again the States Assembly website. Each film will have a basic index attached that will link to individual debates and other parts of the proceedings so that viewers can easily find that part of the meeting that interests them. 

In addition, links to the footage of debates will be able to be sent out via the States Assembly Twitter feed. The archive will be hosted and managed by a third party supplier who will be selected through an open procurement process. 

Paragraph (b) of the proposition proposes that footage will also be made available to broadcasters at their own costs for use in news programmes. This means that broadcasters will be able to provide improved coverage of States sittings. Discussions have already taken place with Channel TV and the BBC who are both keen to improve their coverage of States proceedings through the use of film to replace the current audio-only output. 

The BBC is also hopeful that some footage may be used nationally, either on the Democracy Live website or on the BBC parliamentary channel. The committee will be drawing up rules for broadcasters to ensure that footage provided is only used for genuine news and current affairs coverage of the Assembly. 

Local broadcasters have indicated they would welcome such rules to ensure that there are agreed parameters for everyone about the use of the footage. 

There is some speculation that the introduction of cameras could encourage some Members to speak more frequently or to play to an outside audience. I can recall similar concerns were expressed in the mid-1980s when the radio was first allowed to broadcast the proceedings in the Assembly and in other parliaments, such as the House of Commons, when cameras were first introduced. 

But in both cases any potential disadvantages were greatly outweighed by the benefits of opening up legislatures to a wider audience. Although in theory some Members may initially change their behaviour when cameras are introduced, in practice Members will almost certainly become oblivious to the cameras within a very short time. 

Following feedback from Members at the presentation we held a few weeks ago, we have lodged an amendment to our proposition to ensure that the costs are limited to those outlined in the accompanying report and addendum. 

The equipment costs for the filming and web-streaming could be funded in one of 2 ways. The initial equipment costs are, with some suppliers, paid for as an initial capital payment, whereas other suppliers provide the equipment as part of an overall annual contract which covers the leasing of the equipment and the running costs of the web-streaming. The decision on the most cost-effective option will be taken as part of the tender process. Leased equipment options are available for less than £30,000 per annum. Alternatively, if the equipment is to be purchased, the estimated cost of the initial setup would not exceed some £40,000 to £45,000. Under this option the annual running costs, including the need for a dedicated S.D.S.L. (Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line) and maintenance costs based on 48 meetings a year would be between £22,000 and £27,000 depending on whether the footage was kept online for 6 or 12 months. In both cases there would be a £3,500 per annum opportunity cost for staffing the equipment. 

Some Members have indicated to me, and I have heard them saying: “Now is not the right time. Spending £30,000 a year when some of our staff are to be made redundant is not appropriate.” I have to say that the spending on this project would not make one iota of difference to any of the departments of the States. We are not asking for any extra money. The modest costs will be funded by prioritising our existing resources, our existing budget. We have already made the savings which other departments have also made. The States Assembly budget has been reduced in the same way that other departments have had their budgets reduced. 

In addition to broadcasting our proceedings, we are proposing that clocks should be installed in the States Chamber showing Members the total time they have been speaking during a debate. Clocks such as this are in place in many parliaments around the world and have proved to be useful in Chambers such as the House of Lords to inform Members how long their speeches are lasting. 

We have no intention of introducing time limits on speeches. This proposal today is simply to assist Members to ensure that their speeches are concise and relevant. If this proposition is adopted, 3 clocks will be installed, one over each of the main exit doors in the Chamber. The clocks will appear on a simple flat-screen television around the size of an iPad and will show a digital clock display. It will be the Greffier’s responsibility to start, stop and reset the clocks which will be equally linked. We have received a quote in the sum of £1,748 for the supply and installation of 3 elapsed-time counters in the Chamber. We had intended to trial the operation of the clocks, but in view of the cost involved, we are proposing it should be introduced as a permanent measure, as it would be difficult to justify such an expense for a trial period. 

It was yesterday I heard the Minister for Treasury on the radio saying, when talking about the Medium-Term Financial Plan, that the States needed to become more efficient. Now, I know that he was talking about the various States departments, but of course we ourselves need to set an example and to be as efficient as we possibly can. We have no mechanisms for disciplining ourselves. We have no time limits on speeches; no time limits on debates; Back-Benchers have equal rights to spend time on propositions as Ministers; there is no priority between legislation and straightforward propositions; there are no guillotine motions. The only way of controlling ourselves is by our own self-discipline. The object of these clocks is to help us to understand how long we are speaking and how relevant, hopefully, we are being. 

This proposition as a whole is about moving the States Assembly into the 21st century. We cannot expect people to engage with the States via an audio feed and Hansard. If Members are serious about the need to communicate with Islanders and appeal to younger members of society, we must be prepared to accept the additional modest cost of filming and broadcasting our proceedings. 

As I said earlier, to provide such a facility is now the norm throughout many places in the world and is taken for granted. This is not about filming ourselves, but it is about bringing the public to us. 

I was thinking about this: there are many people who cannot come and watch our proceedings, even though we have a public gallery, because never will the disabled be able to enter the public gallery because of the design of this building. Those who cannot manage the stairs will never be able to come and engage with us as other people are able to do. 

I just wonder, if I was standing here today asking for £100,000 or £200,000 to make disabled access possible - which it is not - in that public gallery, would there be any objection whatsoever? I think probably not. 

The cost of web-streaming and of the installation of the clocks will be accommodated by making savings in other areas of the States Assembly budget. We are conscious that in coming years, the States Assembly will no doubt be required to find more savings to meet States spending targets, but we consider that this public engagement initiative is an important one that should be funded within existing resources. 

It is the Committee’s job to provide information to the public about the work of the States and to keep the public information services under review. Public engagement with local politics is difficult, but if we expect to be able to communicate with Islanders, our dialogue needs to be accessible. We must therefore consider the way in which Islanders access information in this digital age. 

The public does not have the time to digest voluminous verbatim records of States sittings. If we are going to communicate effectively, we must provide visual access to our decision-making process. This proposition provides us with an opportunity to broadcast our decisions, providing a more transparent and open parliament and re-engaging with the people we are here to represent. 

Supporting this proposition will be a commitment to transparency and openness; it will be a commitment to reconnecting with the people who put us here; it will be a commitment to keeping pace with other parliaments of significance; it will be a commitment to a vision of a modern, forward-thinking and self-confident Assembly; it will be a commitment to a belief that politics and the work that we do in this place is significant and important, and it should be captured, it should be open and not closeted. I make the proposition, Sir. [Approbation]

https://statesassembly.gov.je/Pages/Hansard.aspx?docid=CDE40149-C10F-486E-87F1-88BF36FDBFC8