Fiscal Alienation

There are businesses which deal with products, grown, made, created, and those who deal with services. But it seems that the traders in currencies, buying and selling, are not really either - they make their money at a step removed from the real world, which is probably why they regard wealth creation as a success, and are existentially removed from the peoples whose lives the fluctuations in currency affect. They neither reap, not to they sow, except that they reap fortunes and sow misery. 

In some respects this alienation has become part of our  lives anyway. We don't kill our own meat - we have slaughter houses and butchers to remove the meat which we see for sale from the creature it came from. We push death away into care homes, and many people never see a dead body, something a previous century would have been familiar with. We are, as the existentialists and psychotherapists tell us, alienated from the real world. Why else would it be that farmers, who produce essential food, struggle to make ends meat, while CEOs of large companies, even when failing, have earnings that Croesus would envy.


This poem is about fiscal alienation in particular.

Fiscal Alienation

Money men, we dabble in the market
Like magicians, we take a shining coin
Sell here, buy here, take the basket
And with greed alone enjoin

The common people, the often poor
In the gutter, economics of trickle down
Eating stale crumbs upon the floor
Super rich celebrate upon the town

Detachment: figures on a balance sheet
When speculation is in money alone
Exchange rates plummet, such a cheat
Just ask for bread, and get a stone

Pity the disconnected world in which we live
When judgement comes, who will forgive?

Charles II in Jersey

Another piece from 1966, Jersey Life, this time on the connection with Charles II and Jersey. I would take issue with just one part of it - Jersey, the writer says, was "free from poverty and, in short, flourishing under a benevolent feudal system." As the article only deals with the upper echelons of society, I would rather dispute this. The lot of peasant workers on the land - and these were times of subsistence agriculture - were never exactly free from poverty.

Charles II in Jersey
By Robert Innes Smith

When the axe fell. upon the neck of Charles I in 1649, his son, the Prince of Wales, at once became de jure King of England and Scotland, and Duke of Normandy, though of course it was eleven years before he returned to England, to the accompaniment of pealing bells and rejoicing people to become dc facto monarch. called back by a country heartily sick of an abortive experiment in republicanism and of the rule of that tyrannical Bible-thumping hypocrite Oliver Cromwell.

Though Charles was King in 1649, it was an estate in name only. In fact he was a penniless hanger-on at the Courts of Europe, begging money where he could to support his meagre requirements and those of his faithful followers and hoping for an insurrection at home to enable him to return to his rightful patrimony. Poor Charles spent most of his life moving from pillar to post and the death of his father simply changed his potential status rather than his physical circumstances.

We have to go back in time to February 1646. The Civil War was at its height and things were going badly for King Charles. His son, the Prince. was then not quite sixteen years of age in command of his own troops in the West Country and had just been approached by Fairfax, the Roundhead general, to acknowledge Parliament and accept the Throne as Cromwell‘s puppet in place of his father. How much the Puritans underestimated the integrity and honour of the boy-prince even to contemplate such an offer!

The Royalist troops were meantime being pushed further west and Fairfax advanced rapidly, taking several towns. The Prince and a few battered remnants of his troops were sweating it out in Truro. Fairfax would be upon them at any minute and Charles would be taken. There was only one course left—flight. They made hastily for Penzance and sailed for the Isles of Scilly and safety.

For a month the Prince and his followers remained at St. Mary‘s, living in the tumble-down castle there. The weather was bad and the building was far from wind and water tight. There was never enough to eat and the islanders seemed little more than animals living close to the soil on a starvation: diet.

After a month of this miserable existence rebel ships were seen off the coast and it was decided to make for Jersey as soon as possible.

On the 16th April, I646. The Proud Black Eagle, a frigate carrying the Prince and his little Court, dropped anchor in St. Aubyn's Bay. The passengers disembarked gloomily, fully expecting a similar state of affairs as existed at St. Mary’s. They were happily proved completely wrong. Jersey at that time was a well-organised island, financially sound, free rom poverty and, in short, flourishing under a benevolent feudal system. Above all. the inhabitants were wholly loyal to the Crown. They welcomed the son and heir of the Duke of Normandy as their natural leader and the Prince was made welcome in the fine old manor houses of the island’s historic and highly civilised gentry.

The seven weeks which Charla spent in Jersey were comfortable ones during which, for a short dream-like period, he played at being a Prince. He attended church in St. Helier in state, reviewed the island‘s troops, visited Colonel Carteret at Mont Orgueil Castle and knighted him, held levees, was saluted by cannon, attended balls given by the local seigneurs and generally made himself agreeable to the ladies of the island by his fine manners.

The Charade did not last long. With this taste of kingship on a small scale, he suddenly realised that he was wasting his time. He must get away and fight his father’s holy war against heresy and hypocrisy. Was his father not King by Divine Right? Was he not his father‘s heir? Prince Charles became restless and eventually bored. But what was the next move to be? The adolescent Prince listened to the arguments in the Council Chamber of Elizabeth Castle between his courtiers and advisers, Hyde and Colepepper, Wentworth and Wilmot, Jermyn and Digby. Was he to remain in Jersey and risk invasion or go to France to his mother and probably get help from Cardinal Mazarin?

The objections to the latter course were that once abroad he would be ‘a foreigner and a beggar‘ to use Hyde‘s own words, and also that he would be persuaded by his mother, the Queen, to attend Mass. If he stayed in Jersey he would at least still be in his father’s kingdom and reasonably comfortable and safe.

But to a youth of Charles’s mettle the safe course was not for him. There was a cause to be fought for and won and even though a further fourteen years of wandering and humiliation were in store for him, he could not have foreseen this and in any case Henrietta Maria wanted him at the Court of St. Germain, where she was living as an exile. The courtiers wrangled on, most of them being against his going to France. But in the end, after hearing their arguments in silence, he made up his own mind and announced that he would sail for France at the earliest opportunity. This meant weather permitting.

For four days the young Prince waited with his boat at the ready, but the wind was against him. At last on the following day conditions were a little more favourable and the dark little figure walked away from the crowd at the quay, many of whom were weeping, to board the boat. He looked back to wave at the kindly gentlemen. and their ladies and the humbler people who had treated him in a manner fit for a man born to be king. The sails unfurled and soon the reddish rugged coastline receded into the distance and the Prince of Wales looked his last on the one corner of his father's kingdom which was one hundred per cent loyal to the descendant of the Norman overlords of the Channel Islands. ‘

A mere seven months and more than three centuries ago, yet still the future Charles II is remembered here. In the museum at St. Helier is a tangible reminder of the royal visitor—a somewhat diminutive suit which he wore while staying here. Looking at this faded garment the gulf of time is suddenly bridged and one can easily see in the mind’s eye the swarthy youth with his courtly manners and Continental charm.

The way before him was to be long and arduous and his life, until the Restoration, was to be something of a rough and tumble. He was to become the first English king with the common touch—- how else could it be when he was to spend so much time disguised as a servant and in the company of simple country people?

But in all that long haul which led at last to his rightful throne, Charles always remembered Jersey as the one civilised interlude during which the islanders gave him the warmth of their hearts and their hearths, and for a brief moment let him know what it was to be a Royal Prince.

Land Rezoning: A Look Outside Jersey

Windfall Taxes

The issue of rezoning land from agricultural use to housing or other commercial use is not just one local to Jersey. Other jurisdictions have looked to find mechanisms to claw back some of the “instant” change in value of the land.

One of the lessons we can see elsewhere, in Ireland and in the UK, is that rezoned land taxes often freeze development while the landowners wait for a change of government to repeal the previous legislation. This does not happen with other measures, such as Victoria's  growth areas infrastructure contribution (which applies to mainly urban areas) or Vienna's land use controls which specifies that two thirds of the rezoned land must be used for what we would call affordable housing, but does not seek to tax the rezoning value of the land.

Ireland

The Irish Examiner (Jan 2019) notes that:

Once land is rezoned for housing — nominally in the interests of the common good — the landowner sees the value increase exponentially. The muck of agricultural land transforms overnight into the gold of housing land. In this, the property-owner reaps massive profits on the back on the alleged common good.(1)

Attempts have been made to address the issue in Ireland:

In 1973, following a detailed study of the planning process, High Court judge John Kenny presented a report to Cabinet. The main recommendation was that rezoned land should be valued at the agricultural value plus 25%. Apparently, the Kenny Report was passed around Cabinet, generated a few comments, and was then simply filed away. Garret Fitzgerald, who was a minister at the time, said years later that he couldn’t recall why the report had not been properly examined with a view to acting on it. For the following three decades, any time the matter was raised, the stock response was that there were constitutional problems with implementing such a regime. (1)

In 2004, a study of the Kenny Report by an all-party Oireachtas committee on the Constitution concluded, on foot of a surfeit of legal advice, that there was no constitutional problem with implementing it. et, despite now being told that there would be no constitutional problem with an overhaul of the system of rezoning, nothing was done. Finally, in 2009, on foot of the collapse of the housing market, the Green Party managed to convince its government partner, Fianna Fáil, to take drastic action. An 80% windfall tax was imposed on rezoned land. (1)

Then, once the show was back on the road in 2014, the Fine Gael/Labour Government dropped the windfall tax. The reasoning offered by Finance Minister Michael Noonan was that the tax had not generated any revenue. How would it, at a time when no houses were being built? The reality was that interests such as the Construction Industry Federation had lobbied hard for the change and Mr Noonan and his colleagues knew on which side the party’s bread was buttered. (1)

A Look at Vienna

However, in 2019, the Dublin Inquirer noted that alternatives were possible and looked at Vienna, which didn’t put a tax in, but restricted the land use so that two thirds had to be for subsidised housing:

Resurrecting the Kenny Report isn’t the only possible way forward, though. Ryan, of the Workers’ Party, said she would like to see a new zoning category that would specify that the land should be used for affordable housing – rather than just any kind of housing. “That means that the land would stay quite cheap and the city council would buy up the land in order to build public housing on it,” says Ryan. (6)

Cahill of NESC said that is something that has been done internationally. Vienna has struggled in recent times, he said, to keep its housing affordable. “They brought in a new zoning category called subsidised housing,” he said. “So when an area is zoned subsidised housing, for all the developments within that area, two-thirds of the floor space has to be subsidised housing.” (6)

The Case of Australia

In Australia, a windfall tax was also proposed in the state of Victoria in 2021. The leader of the opposition, Mr Davis, opposed it:

The Windfall Gains Tax and State Taxation and Other Acts Further Amendment Bill 2021 is an omnibus bill. There are a number of significant parts to this bill, and I am going to step through those bit by bit. The purpose of the bill is to impose a windfall gains tax on the increase in the value of land resulting from rezoning. (2)

The point I would make about this windfall gains tax is it is a dirty big tax on family homes. That is what it is—it is a dirty big tax on family homes. Developers will pay more tax, which will be passed through and increase the costs of new homes for young families. It is amazingly hard already. It is the case that the government’s new tax will seek to clobber every new development, including many that have gone through a significant process already, and they will take this 50 per cent tax on any increase in value that is alleged to have occurred through any rezoning process. (2)

Now, I note that there is a growth areas infrastructure contribution (GAIC) that is in operation in the growth suburbs already, and I note that the government seeks to impose this windfall gains tax everywhere else in the state. One of the amendments that we will move is that we will try and cap the level of tax at the same level as the GAIC. The GAIC is lower than what is proposed in this amendment here, and we will seek to cap it at that level. (2)

He goes on the argue that this will affect supply significantly:

There will be less supply coming through, and what supply does come through will be more expensive, and there will be a compounding effect of less supply allowing much greater increases than would otherwise be the case.(2)

In reply, Ms Terpstra noted:

As announced as part of the 2021–22 budget, the government is introducing a windfall gains tax on rezoning decisions that create a land value uplift of more than $100 000. Currently landowners can receive significant windfall gains when the value of their land increases due to government actions, including government decisions to rezone land. Existing state taxation mechanisms do not adequately capture a share of these value uplifts. The windfall gains tax will ensure a fair share of the value generated from government decisions to rezone land is invested into infrastructure and improved services which will benefit the wider community. (2)

The windfall gains tax will apply to rezoning decisions that create a land value uplift of more than $100 000. An effective tax rate of up to 50 per cent of the total value uplift will apply where a value uplift is greater than $100 000, ensuring rezonings with smaller value uplifts are not affected. Rezoning decisions before 1 July 2023 are not subject to the tax. For a rezoning with a value uplift between $100 000 and $500 000, the tax will apply at a marginal rate of 62.7 per cent on the uplift above $100 000, and above $500 000 a tax rate of 50 per cent will apply to the total uplift. (2)

Brendan Coates, director of economic policy at the Grattan Institute, wrote when the policy was announced:

This is a good move. It should reduce incentives for corruption when planning applications are decided. As a tax, collecting unearned windfall gains is extraordinarily efficient, so efficient it shouldn’t even be called a tax but a charge for a change in allowable land use, which is what it is. (3)

He also said that:

It’s a myth that charges for changes in land use raise home prices. Australian evidence suggests those lucky enough to own land before it is rezoned pay the charges rather than pass them on to eventual homebuyers, which might be why they object. And future developers will pay less for their land, because the expectation of windfall gains won’t be built into the price. (3)

The ACT Government [Australian Capital Territory]has charged 75% for land value uplift for three decades without scaring away developers. Tax hikes are rarely popular. But they will become increasingly necessary as states try to repair their budgets after the COVID crisis. (3)

UK – Some Pointers

A report on the Parliament site gives some useful comments:

Professors Crook, Henneberry and Whitehead noted three reasons why land values increase: infrastructure investment improving the attributes of locations; increased prosperity leading to additional spending on housing and other goods, resulting in higher land values; and planning consent making it possible to change use to carry out physical development. They explained that, in England, land values are explicitly captured only in the third of these cases. This involves capturing some part of the difference between the value of the land in its existing use and its market value in its proposed new use. (4)

Many also stressed the distributional argument for capturing land value: that it is not fair that such significant profits, arising in the main from public policy decisions, should accrue to a small minority of landowners and that those who are disadvantaged by development generally do not receive some element of compensation. The Town and Country Planning Association told us that, “this is principally an issue of equity”. The Royal Town Planning Institute agreed, telling us they believed there should be a fairer way of sharing land value uplift between landowners and the community. Similarly, the Centre for Progressive Capitalism asked us to consider whether it was fair for significant profits, arising from public policy decisions, to accrue to a minority of landowners, arguing that this was at odds with a fundamental principle of our economic system, which rewards productive economic activity:

The Committee in its deliberations around land value capture should seek to understand why it is that the current land market enables a handful of private individuals and investors to earn £9.3bn of monopoly profits each year due to the productive work of others and local authorities changing land use.(4)

The Centre for Progressive Capitalism estimated that landowners currently retain an average of 75% of the uplift in land values arising from the granting of planning permission.

Development charges and betterment levies in the UK

There have been a number of attempts since 1945 to introduce some form of national development taxation. Of those that are no longer in effect, or were never implemented in full, these included:

The ‘Development Charge’, introduced by the Town and Country Planning Act 1947, which was effective from 1948 to 1951. It imposed a 100% tax on the difference between the value of a property with planning permission and the existing use value;

The ‘Betterment Levy’, introduced by the Land Commission Act 1967, which was in force between 1968 and 1970. Payable on the sale or lease of the land, or following “material development”, the Betterment Levy was initially charged at 40%—due to rise to between 60% and 80% in subsequent years—of the development value when land was sold, leased or realised by development, although there were a significant number of exemptions and allowances.

The Development Gains Tax, introduced in 1973, and the subsequent ‘Development Land Tax’, introduced by the Development Land Tax Act 1976, which was in force between 1976 and 1985, and taxed the ‘realised development value’ land upon disposal. Local authorities were additionally given extensive powers of compulsory purchase through the Community Land Act 1975, with the compensation due to landowners being the market value less any Development Land Tax.

The Mandatory Tariff, which was proposed in 2001, but not implemented, and the Optional Planning Charge—a proposed flat fee as an optional alternative to a Section 106 agreement—which was only partially implemented in 2004.

The Planning Gain Supplement (PGS), which followed a recommendation in Kate Barker’s 2004 Review of Housing Supply that infrastructure associated with new development be financed by capturing land value uplift at the point at which planning permission for a proposed development is granted. The PGS was not implemented in part because of opposition from the industry and insufficient support from local authorities.

I t is relevant to note that each of these attempts were not as successful as had been hoped. Dr Peter Bowman and Andrew Purves told us these strategies had:

[ … ] failed due to the political nature of their implementation - by successive Labour governments - which meant that landowners did not put forward land for development, in the belief that a change of government would bring about a repeal, in which assumption they were correct.(4)

Deloitte told us that these betterment levies “stymied development, proven difficult to administer efficiently, and have been repealed within a short period of time”.(4)

Given the failure of previous efforts to implement systems to capture uplifts in land value, it is important to learn the right lessons to ensure that future policies have far greater success and are not similarly repealed within a short period of time. As highlighted by the GLA and TFL, it is clear that, to be successful, future taxes or charges on uplifts in land value will need to have cross-party political support.(4)

The Town and Country Planning Association highlighted that, “it is clear that a future betterment tax would have to be set at a socially acceptable level”.58 Hugh Ellis said that the ‘Development Charge’, introduced by the Town and Country Planning Act 1947, set at 100%, “was always bound to fail—if you set taxation rates at 100%, they tend to”, and that it had “effectively killed off the speculative market in land” The CLA argued that, where betterment taxes were set too high, “the rational course of action for most landowners was to do nothing and so avoid triggering an obligation to pay the levy”.(4)

They conclude:

Any new land betterment tax will need to allocate land value increases fairly between central government, local authorities and landowners, without undermining incentives to sell or risk holding up the development process. Consideration should also be given to a mechanism for the redistribution of revenues between high and low-value areas. Where new land value capture mechanisms reduce incentives for landowners to participate in the development process, local authorities will require effective CPO powers to ensure that communities continue to benefit from developments in their areas.(4)

Appendix: A note on the GAIC in Australia

The growth areas infrastructure contribution (GAIC) was established to help provide infrastructure in Melbourne’s expanding fringe suburbs. It is a one off-contribution, payable on certain events, usually associated with urban property developments, such as buying, subdividing, and applying for a building permit on large blocks of land. Generally, the GAIC does not apply to events involving land under 0.41 hectares

There are four trigger events for this: Transfers of title, Subdivisions, Building Permits and Significant Acquisitions. The GAIC is imposed when the first of these events takes place and affects the land until it is paid. Once fully paid, the GAIC recording over the land title is removed and the contribution will not apply to any subsequent GAIC events. The charge is not on the value of the land, but by the area of the land and is index linked.

References
(1) https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/arid-30900238.html
(2) https://www.govtmonitor.com/page.php?type=document&id=1914848
(3) https://www.sro.vic.gov.au/growth-areas-infrastructure-contribution
(4) https://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/features/features-articles/the-lesson-for-australian-property
(5) https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmcomloc/766/76605.htm
(6) https://dublininquirer.com/2019/03/20/will-rezoning-industrial-lands-lead-to-affordable-homes

Last Ritual

In deference to keeping her family's privacy, I will not mention her name. Suffice it to say that we gathered in a field, on an unnamed coastal headland, to pay our final respects, to engage in a final ritual of passing. I didn't know everyone, but friends I did recognise, from when we met regularly at her house on special occasions through the year. Post-covid, we have not seen each other for ages, and there was joy in greeting each other again, sadness in knowing this is the last time we will probably come together in this place, now that she has died. This poem is to preserve a memory of that Friday evening.

Last Ritual

Out on the headland, autumn rain
We gather, in respect, in sadness
A heartfelt loss, grief, sorrow, pain
And yet also a farewell gladness

Elements of earth, air, wind, fire
This life is ended, finished, broken
In spirit, not flame, a funeral pyre
A candle lit, words softly spoken

Darkening clouds, a wind is rising
A presence felt, a presence lost
A final ritual, gather, energising
As to distant shores she crossed

We come to pay respects, finality
As she departs into eternity

Three Sets of stamps with commentary

 Here are three sets of commemorative stamps, with commentary.

MAJESTIC JERSEY £5 DEFINITIVE

The magnificent painting of Her Majesty The Queen, commissioned by the States of Jersey from Norman Hepple, R.A., to commemorate the Silver Jubilee, graces the new top value £5 Definitive stamp.

This outstanding portrait, which was exhibited in the 1979 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, takes pride of place at the entrance to the States' Chamber, home of the Island's Parliament. "It is going to be there forever as far as we are concerned and remind us of the close historic and present ties between Jersey and our Duke of Normandy" said the Bailiff of Jersey, Sir Frank Ereaut.

This stamp will crown the current set of Definitives, of which the low values were first seen in February 1981; despite an even longer- standing operational requirement, the top value has been held back for nearly three years but now takes its rightful position, sure to be considered by many as the most attractive portrayal ever of Her Majesty on a stamp. The very popular Jersey £2 value, issued in 1977, is not superseded and whilst stocks remain will continue in use during the life of the current Definitives, but will not be reprinted

Technical details: Printed in five colour gravure by Hélio Courvoisier, S.A., Switzerland in compact sheets of 10. Die size 33.6mm x 52mm. Issue date: 17th November 1983.

In addition to mint and CTO stamps, official First Day Cover envelopes and Presentation Packs will be available from the Jersey Post Office, PO. Box 304, Postal Heaquarters, St.Helier, Jersey, Channel islands or from stamp dealers.

INTERNATIONAL YOUTH YEAR

1985 has been designated “'International Youth Year” by the United Nations General Assembly; Postal Administrations have been invited to participate by issuing special stamps. and Jersey is pleased to honour the event with stamps featuring prominent youth organisations in the island.

10p The Girl‘s Brigade

13p The Girl Guides

29p Jersey Youth Service

31p Sea Cadet Corps

34p Air Training Corps

"Every successful country depends on three things - what people do for themselves, what people do let each other and what people do for their country. Training young people to meet their responsibilities to their country should therefore be the concern of everyone who wants to see this country strong and free. Academic training is important but so is it to provide the young with purposeful occupation and an opportunity useful for service in their leisure time, This is the purpose of our many youth organisations” — HRH. Prince Philip.

Technical Details: Stamps. First Day Cover and Presentation Pack designed by Anthony Theobald. Stamps printed in five colour Iinescreen photo lithography by The House at Quests, London in compact sheets at 20

Date of Issue 30th May 1985

Jersey‘s stamp set, coinciding with Opening Day of Ausipex'84 — the International Philatelic Exhibition held in Melbourne, Australia — features paintings by Jersey born artist John Alexander Gilfillan.

Born in St. Helier on Christmas Day, 1793, Gilfillan, at the early age of 13, ran away to sea, leaving it after ten years to establish himself as a painter in Glasgow, where he was appointed Professor of Drawing and Painting at Anderson's University. Later emigrating to New Zealand, he was w0unded, and his wife and several of their children killed, in the Maori uprisings. He moved to Australia where he gained a reputation for his fine portraits and topographical views, living successively in Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne until his death in 1864.

9p Robinson Crusoe leaves the Wreck

12p Edinburgh Castle

20 1/2p Maori Village

26p Australian Landscape

28p Waterhouse’s Corner, Adelaide

31p Captain Cook at Botany Bay

Technical Details. Stamps, Presentation Pack and First Day Cover designed by R. Granger Barrett. Stamps printed by Helio Courvoisier, SA in six colour photogravure. Die size 48.29mm x

29mm in compact sheets of twenty. Issue date 21st Sept. 1984.

State of Rest

They come, they bow, they nod their heads, curtsey, put hands together in prayer, so many, and every so often I look back at the lying in state, a scene I will never see in my lifetime again. And as we draw near to the funeral, a rondel poem on the lying in state.

State of Rest

Big Ben rings in the distance, a distant sign
Tolling the elegy, as the final curtain falls
The Queen lying in state, in that great hall
At an ending, of a reign so long, so benign

All is still, all is calm, at this sacred shrine
People queue for hours, soft footfalls
Big Ben rings in the distance, a distant sign
Tolling the elegy, as the final curtain falls

The jewels in the crown, her glories shine
Memories of pageants, everyone recalls
Hours go on, the queue, endless, crawls
She gave herself, she was yours, and mine
Big Ben rings in the distance, a distant sign

Invitation to Jersey 1978 - Part 3

Invitation to Jersey 1978. Its amazing how many of these hotels have gone.

The Hotel de la Plage, situated on the eastern side of the town, enjoys a splendid position overlooking the beach and faces due South.

All the bedrooms have private bathroom heating, radio, TV and a telephone, and many have balconies. The highest standards are comfort, food and service combine with the atmosphere of modern elegance to provide a memorable holiday for even the most discriminating.

Amenities include lifts to each floor, sun terraces and car parks.

The Portelet Hotel is the hotel for discerning people; it is quietly situated in the country overlooking the magnificent sweep of St. Brelade's Bay. All double, twin or family bedrooms have private bathrooms, many have private balconies and all are equipped with telephone and radio.

Partly rebuilt and entirely modernised in 1970 the amenities of the hotel include a heated swimming pool, tennis court, gardens and ample car parking.

A resident trio plays music for dancing and cabaret is presented weekly throughout the season.

First class cuisine and service are the foundations on which Portelet Hotel has made its reputation and it is our one desire to do everything possible to ensure satisfaction.

Centrally situated near the air and bus terminals, and with a panoramic view of the harbour, the Pomme d'Or Hotel offers accommodation for 270 guests. Many of the bedrooms have private bathrooms; all have radio, telephone and heating. A fire detection and alarm system has recently been installed.

Cabaret, carnival and fancy dress dances are presented during the season for those wishing to participate and the shopping and amusement centres of St. Helier are immediately adjacent.

The situation and amenities, which include stockrooms throughout the year, make the Pomme d’Or an ideal hotel for businessman and holidaymaker alike.

Merton Hotel is Jersey's largest and most popular Hotel. Having been under the same ownership since its foundation over fifty years ago, a reputation for value, courtesy and service second to none has been established.

Progressively modernised as the years have gone by, the latest additions are a superb ballroom, bar, lounge, coffee lounge and snack bar, and further bedrooms with private bathroom. The kitchens and service areas have also been thoroughly modernised.

A well organised, but entirely optional programme of entertainments, the gardens, the swimming pool, sunbathing lawns, the television room, lifts to each floor and ample car parking are some of the amenities that add up to a reasonably priced holiday.

Situated adjacent to the beautiful Howard Davis Park, Merton Hotel is but a short distance from the centre of St. Helier with its shops and amusements.

Acquired by SEYMOURS LTD., Jersey’s largest Hotel Group, in November 1972, LE COlE HOTEL is a large holiday hotel situated in St. Helier. With accommodation for over 500 persons, a special welcome is reserved for children.

Having been built up from the outset in 1946 by the previous proprietor the premises are up to date and include some bedrooms with private bathroom, lifts, TV lounge, ballroom, discothéque, swimming pool and an underground car park amongst its many amenities.

Whilst not luxurious (the Official Grade is'now 3 Diamonds in the Second Register) the Hotel has a fine reputation for inexpensive holidays and simple good food. .

Seymours Ltd. had its origins in a small Jersey Guest House which was opened by Mr. and Mrs. G. F. Seymour in 1919. The Company now possesses some of Jersey's best known hotels and intends at LE COIE HOTEL to continue its policy of offering value for money whilst progressively improving the amenities offered to its customers. A policy which resulted in LE COIE HOTEL being upgraded to 3 Diamonds in 1974.

Thoughts on White Privilege - Part 1

I've been reading Peggy McIntosh's list of "White Privilege" embedded in society, and there's some truth in that, some important omissions - because it is American based, and and some items which reflect the class and economic position of the writer in American society.

So here's the first part of the list and my comments:

I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.

To some extent this is always true. The United Club in Jersey is a male only club, so people who wish to be in the company, not of their own race, but of their own gender (itself a troubled concept) can do so and I am sure the same is true if one so wished. But that would be an exception in Jersey, I can't think of any venue which is naturally white only over here which is not the case in America which has a history of segregated communities, especially in the Southern States. 

Race is itself a confusing category as it does not strictly speaking exist in biology. There is no "race gene". White skinned peoples might be a more accurate designation of what Peggy is trying to say. But where do you draw boundaries? Do you include those whose skin colour is not black but more of an olive complexion (Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Greek?)?

What is also needed is a comparison of numbers anyway, and in a population where white skinned peoples are in a majority it is more likely that there are locations which are predominately populated by white skinned peoples - provided that is the case for that country. If you went to China, however, the same would not be the case. Or central Africa, likewise. 

If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.

So speaks an affluent American! Well, that's more to do with economy and perhaps class than anything else. In Jersey, this is completely false. The single consideration is money, and most of the population are struggling to find any housing to rent, let alone purchase. Race has nothing to do with it. Money has everything. Jersey people whose family have been here for generations are being forced to leave the island.

I can be pretty sure that my neighbours in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.

Troy Court, Nicholson Park - both were notable for being "trouble spots" in the past. My neighbours across the road are pleasant to me, but the one who used to live just on the other side of the corner tended to be irascible. I didn't choose any of them!

Again if you have enough money in Jersey, you can probably buy a secluded house with a long drive which is remote. Most of us don't have that option. Race has nothing to do with it, just money.

I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.

That's true of anyone in Jersey no matter what skin colour.

I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.

Now there is certainly some truth in that. Television is becoming better at providing mixed skin coloured peoples but it still has some way to go. I know how a number of celebrity black people have noted when they first saw someone of their own skin colour on television, and at last seen "someone like us", and changes are improving in British television - where women too were often relegated to subsidiary roles. 

Of course some areas are difficult - historical drama should be true to the time period in which it is set, so a black Ann Boleyn is really pushing the limits of acceptability, but then so too is a white skinned blue eyed Jesus. Only "The Chosen" is really making great strides in authenticity in eschewing white skinned actors for Jesus and the disciples. But drama, documentaries, and news all show signs of change and improvement - yet I'm not so sure on Reality TV and Game Shows. Apart from Mastermind (Clive Myrie), I can't think of many others presented by black presenters. 

When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilisation,” I am shown that people of my colour made it what it is.

I'm not sure that is true for modern history programmes. In fact, the history of a single house programme often shows how poverty and slavery and oppression of the working classes also forms part of our history. A series like "Victoria" definitely shows how the Victorians fashioned a lot of what we now have today, but it doesn't focus on their colour. In fact, one episode which focused on slave owning (in part of the story) made it seem very repulsive. A series on a king like Henry VIII (such as Wolf Hall) shows, as do history documentaries, that while Henry VIII made a significant change in forging the English monarchy in his own way, part of which survives, it is not necessarily something held up in a great light as something commendable. In fact even "Henry VIII and his Six Wives" from the 1970s hardly did that. 

I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.

I'm pretty sure that doesn't really feature in the National curriculum. The notion of "race" didn't feature much in the education I had, although the dark legacy of the eugenics movement did feature, and of course the legacy of the Nazi propaganda on racial purity. That was presented (quite rightly) in a very critical way. Of course America used IQ tests to segregate races in the 1930s, and that dark legacy is also told in Stephen Jay Gould's excellent book "The Mismeasure of Man". Rather like race -which has no biological reality but which can be suborned to political and social discrimination, IQ is also a statistical fiction which has been used to create various structural abuses in societies, not just in the USA but also in the UK - the 11 plus was the brainchild of Cyril Burt, a fraud who created fake data to prove IQ tests showed a fixed genetic status.

If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.

So speaks someone immensely privileged! Trying to find a publisher is difficult whatever the subject and most of us can't do it. The world of publishing is a hard one to break into, let alone make a career out of, and unless you move in the right circles, a good deal depends on luck. Peggy is obviously privileged, but most of us don't have that whatever our skin colour. This is one of the most bizarre claims she makes.

I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods that fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser’s shop and find someone who can cut my hair.

The mind boggles. What is "the music of my race"? Does she mean music composed or sung by black skinned peoples? Believe it or not, when I listen to music, I go for music I like the sound of, and I'm not convinced that peoples of different race or skin colour necessarily sound different. Different musical traditions do, and some singer's voices do give some details on background, but as a hard and fast rule, I doubt it. And are fish fingers racist? 

Mortem Regina

It was quite sudden. I'd been to Noirmont to view the 2022 air display and saw the news about the Queen being poorly, but she has been poorly before. At around 6.30 I put on the news to see if there were any clips of the air display, just as the news broke. 

The picture above I selected because the rainbow is traditionally associated with a sign of hope and promise (from the Noah stories) and also a sign of ending. It seemed almost miraculous that it should light up the sky above Windsor Castle, the flag already at half-mast, as if nature itself shared the sense of the departure of a great Queen.

The poem below follows the pattern of a well known Royal hymn. You may recognise it!

Mortem Regina

Now dies our gracious Queen,
Farewell our noble Queen,
We mourn the Queen
Seventy years victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Now she departs from us
God bless the Queen!

Memories so precious store,
Of her blessed reign we pour
As ends her reign
Long she defended laws,
And truly gives us cause,
To sing with heart and voice,
Farewell our Queen!

The Royal Visit of 1957

From the time of Rollo six Dukes of Normandy were lords and masters of the Island—William Longsword (son of Rollo), Richard the Intrepid, Richard II., so-called The Good, Richard III., who, dying unmarried, left his Duchy to Robert the Magnificent, and William the Conqueror, a son of Arlette, daughter of a tanner of Falaise and born at that same place, according to the best historical accounts, 1027 or 1028. (A Popular History of Jersey, A.E. Ragg)

Some photos from the year that I was born - from a Royal souvenir booklet. I have never known any other monarch until now other than Queen Elizabeth II. She leaves a long legacy, often as long as the line of Kings and Queens she is descended from, whose Island connection goes back almost a millennia.

A few memories. I remember the days when the cinema movie ended and then the national anthem was played. Most people took that as a signal to rush out, but some I remember stood.

I only caught a glimpse of the Queen visiting Jersey - I think maybe in the 1980s - when she and Philip went to Hotel L'Horizon and we stood at the top of my mother's drive - on dustbins as I seem to recall, the only thing to hand with enigh height, so we would get a good view as the Royal entourage drove past. It was only a passing glimpse, but there she was, being driven past our little part of St Brelade.

When there was just BBC and ITV on the television, programmes used to shut down around midnight or just after, followed by a high pitched whine - to tell people to wake up and turn the TV off. Those were the days when TV was 425 lines black and white, and TVs used valves, so they took time to turn on and turn off (off shrinking to a tiny dot).

Channel Television always finished just before that with a film clip of a very young Queen Elizabeth on horseback (probably from trooping the colours), saluting while the National Anthem played. I rather liked that. Memory of what is now a last salute.

And now it will no longer be God Save Our Gracious Queen, but King Charles III.

To the Lighthouse

 

A bit of history with today's poem. I started with a walk, and the poem just took of in that direction.

To the Lighthouse

Walking to the lighthouse, it feels like I am part
Of a book by Virginia Woolf, life imitating art;
But it is such a fine day, and the tide is so low,
Safe from the causeway covered in strong flow,
As happened once long ago, just after the war,
Two holidaymakers, trying to return to the shore,
The tide cut them off, in front, and then behind;
The man struck out for the shore, his wife declined
And took shelter on a higher rock, above the sea,
Trapped by a rising tide, no escape, no way to flee;
Tidal pools combined, waves breaking on the kelp,
Then it was that Peter Larbaliester came to help;
Assistant Lighthouse Keeper, knew his duty,
Leaving behind the lighthouse, its scene of beauty,
To the grim contrast of sea flecked rocks, peril there:
The woman crying out for help, beset with fear;
He reached her, tried to bring her back to shore,
Against rising tide smashing on the rocks with roar,
And both swept away, lost to the currents strong,
Claimed by the sea, Davy Jones’s Locker now belong;
Bodies washed up later, and mourning wife bereft,
Her husband Peter stolen by the sea: Neptune’s theft;
By the wall, a plaque remembers his brave deed,
That he tried to help the woman in her hour of need;
Traveller, take note, and take care of the rising tide,
The causeway covered, and no place there to hide;
For his widow and young daughter, a fund was raised,
To help them in their troubles, that he might be praised,
And not forgotten, that support for them was made,
As ashes to ashes, dust to dust, they prayed.

Invitation to Jersey 1978 - Part 2

Invitation to Jersey 1978. Its amazing how many of these hotels have gone.

OPEN THROUGHOUT THE YEAR

One of the most modern hotels in Jersey. The Beaufort has been built and designed to offer its guests every possible amenity and comfort. Situated within easy reach of the town centre and beach. 

This is now a care home.

Brochure text:

The Silver Springs Hotel is set in seven acres of superb gardens, within five minutes of Jersey’s famous St. Brelade's Bay.

The whole hotel is modern in both design and concept with excellent lounges overlooking Jersey's beautiful countryside, spacious restaurant looking over a wooded valley, bedrooms with private bathrooms and balconies and large play areas for families with children.

A courteous Continental staff offer unrivalled service. Residential licence with intimate Cocktail Bar. Dancing 3 nights weekly with a cabaret on one of these nights.

There is a superb heated swimming pool in front of the hotel with huge lawns, children’s play hut and nine-hole putting green.

All bedrooms are fitted with shaving points, baby-listening and radio-tel. We also offer our own free mini bus service to and from St. Brelade's Bay twice daily.

For more on the Stafford Hotel, now sold and to be demolished for housing, see here for an old brochure from the hotel detailing its amenies and photographed.

http://tonymusings.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-stafford-hotel-jersey-past-glories.html

Now a residential and care home (Lakeside)

All part of the "Repose Hotels" group. The company was dissolved 1 October 2004. Most of the hotels have been converted to residential use - e.g. the Lido Bay is now Lido Bay Court.

The Highfield is situated in more than one acre of ground in the quiet countryside near the north coast of Jersey, within walking distance of Bouley Bay and Bonne Nuit Bay. The grounds behind the Hotel containing our unique bridged swimming pool are tastefully laid out with mature rockeries and flower plots to continually delight the eye of the visitor.

Many rooms in the Hotel command panoramic views and all are equipped with razor points, intercom and baby-listening service. Some bathrooms en suite are available. The Hotel also features a games room, television lounge and attractive cocktail bar. Separate tables are provided in the dining room.

What now?

The Highfield Country Hotel is a fairly prominent structure, now empty, adjacent to the Ebenezer Chapel on La Route d’Ebenezer. The staff house, the subject of this application, is located at the back of the hotel, on the boundary with the chapel and is visible from the main road. Planning permission was granted in June 2007 for the conversion of the hotel into 41 flats (P/2007/0647).