Sun Return

Sun Return
(A Tale for the Solstice)

It was cold, and a soft flurry of snow had drifted across the settlement, lightly dusting the rooftops. Ayesha's knuckles ached with the cold, and her joints felt stiff. Life was a struggle, she reflected, as she trudged across the hardened earth towards the greenhouses.

The greenhouses were doing well. They had salvaged glass, and metal frames, and built them in the summer. They were the key to the difference between mere survival, the subsistence economy, and being able to begin the slow climb back to civilisation. But, she thought, as the wind bit savagely into her face, there was still much drudgery and painstaking hard work to be done.

Nearby, on the other side of the hill, lay the ruins. This was the legacy of their civilisation; a source to pillage for items which could no longer be renewed. How far they had fallen, she pondered. All the shining metal toys, all those wonderful gadgets, now all gone, or useless with the limited power available to the community. They had salvaged a small generator, powered by the icy winds that swept across this mostly barren land, but that was all.

Would they return, Ayesha pondered, as she watered the plants. Or would she live and die here, bones buried beneath stones, for the ground was too hard to dig in winter time? Yet green shoots did grow, their farming was beginning to flourish, and the earth, enriched by the earthworms with which they had seeded it, was turning into a rich fertile loam.

The watering was done, and she returned to supper. By the smoky glow of the burning oil, the family sat in silence, and ate hungrily the warm stew. And then it was time, this day, the festival of sun return. They left their cottage and joined the other families in their small settlement, and climbed the hill top. At the top, they stood, and looked out, down the steep cliffs, across the roaring spray and waves, as the ocean reflected the bright moonlight, and dark seabirds flew high, casting giant shadows onto the white foam.

Idris, eldest man of their community, took the taper from a candle, and lit the bonfire, as was his right. The soft orange thread moved slowly across the wood and leaves, growing, until bright yellow flames flared out in the night, and smoke soared above them. Then they began to chant the tales of old, of how Prometheus stole the sacred fire from the gods. After that, there were even older stories, of how this world began, with light flaring in the dark, so brightly that it was painful to watch, and how they had lost their green and pleasant land, and now had to toil with the soil to restore their lost Eden, and make their slow return.

And there were songs, of green hills far away, of shining streets, and royal cities, and love unknown, and dancing when the earth was young, and they sang in glory at the memories come alive. Then Idris took bread, and broke it, and they all ate. And then stood, holding hands, in the dark, beside the embers of the dying fire, in silence.

For this was the shortest day of their year, and the darkest night, and that was why they had climbed this hill. And the time was very nearly there, and the most precious and sacred telescope was passed from hand to hand. Ayesha took hold of it, and placed it to her eye. This was the hope, the sun return, and she was filled with exhilaration and a fierce joy!

As she peered into the mass of stars, she could clearly make out a golden yellow speck, twinkling so many millions of miles away in the vast ocean of the night. She lowered the telescope and passed it on, looking down in the moonlight, at the great silver wreckage of their star ship, and wondered if her children would return to their home, their sun, and walk again on green fields; a memory they kept alive now only by the festival of sun return, and the songs of distant earth.

Thesaurus Memories

The last of the second hand book shops, Thesaurus, has finally gone.

I remember when it started out, as a few rooms near Sand Street Car Park. I used to go in on a Saturday morning to browse the books, and chat to Simon Crowcroft, who was working there on and off at weekends. It then moved to much larger premises in Burrard Street, and had at one time three floors of books to browse. Paradise!

It was not the only bookshop at the time. I remember there was also Hilgrove Books, which had local books mostly downstairs, and some good second hand books upstairs, and I used to chat to Mr Pipon who was running that one. When Hilgrove closed, I managed to get a half price copy of Balleine's Biographical Dictionary, and the Cartulaire of Jersey. Most of the books left then were taken on to fill extra space at Thesaurus.

Then there was the SPCK in Waterloo Street, which had its own back stairs up to the standard dusty room where gold could be found in out of print copies of books I sought, such as G.K. Chesterton or C.P. Snow.

And finally, in St James Street was the second hand bookshop run by the Jersey Democratic Movement, where Norman Le Brocq would sometimes be behind the counter, but more often Stella Perkins, whom I used to chat to quite a lot about the state of Jersey back then.

Sadly, it did not last. The SPCK closed, after a brief revival as Waterloo Books. Hilgrove Books went. The JDM bookshop closed down. And after the death of Kevin Creaton, Thesaurus downsized to a single room, then moved to slightly smaller premises over the road before becoming largely a card shop.

I suppose that in these days of the internet, when out of date books can be found on Amazon or eBay, there was bound to be pressure on second hand book sellers. Those that survive in England often are linked as Amazon Marketplace sellers or eBay shops, so that the powerful search engines of those sites find their stock with ease, and they have in fact a wider market than before.

Also in Jersey, the rise in popularity of car boot sales and charity shops did a lot to take away custom from a fixed shop, with rent to pay. But - apart from the Guide Dog's for the Blind booksale - I have not found the vast range of choice that I once found in the second hand bookshop, from the popular paperback to Chesterton's "Ballad of the White Horse", or older authors like Robert Heinlein, Michael Moorcock, John Brunner etc. What one finds is mostly the most recent books sold, the bestsellers like the Da Vinci Code (all over the place), the Romance novels, recent cookery, travel, gardening books. All second hand, but usually nothing really old.

Clergy Cutbacks 2

I've had a very strong and spirited defense of the clergy system in Jersey by email from the Dean, who has graciously agreed to let me post it on my blog. I had not contacted him beforehand as I was concerned about how busy he might be, and this gives a much more positive picture than the article in the Jersey Evening Post did. It certainly puts me straight on a number of issues, so I am glad of his correction, which I print here in full. I'm not always right!

From Robert Key. Dean of Jersey:

Dear Friends,
 
I always read Tony's contributions in the expectation that he will cast some light on things but, in this case, his writing falls somewhat short of that. I have to say that if he had done me the courtesy of asking me I could have given him the full situation. I am sure that folk don't have much time over Christmas to read long articles from the Dean so let me make just a few points and leave it at that. Of course my door is always open to anyone who wants to make constructive contributions to my thinking.
 
The parish system is at the heart of Jersey life and is, of course, linked to our relationship with the Crown. I am Her Majesty's Dean and appointed by her Letters Patent. The Constables insist, rightly in my view, that a separate Rector for each parish is Jersey's heritage and tradition. It is also built into the law of the land through the Canons of the Church of England in Jersey.
 
Secondly comparisons with Lincoln, Liverpool, Stockholm or anywhere else is rather like comparing apples and oranges. Islands are different and recognised as such. So let me compare us with the other Crown Dependency, the Isle of Man. By historical quirk they have a full-time Bishop and a half-time Archdeacon in addition to their priests. if we had clergy in the same propiortion as the Isle of Man (population for population) we would have 22 or so.
 
Thirdly, Ministry is not just about how many churches each Pastor pastors. That would be like comparing a Minister to, say, a golf club steward whose work is focussed on the needs and demands of members. The C of E  in Jersey is responsible for everyone whether they come or not. Any Islander can get married at their Parish Church or have their funeral taken by their Rector or Vicar. It is not about maintaining religious clubs it is is about the Mission of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Fourthly, as financial reality hits the churches (all denominations that I know of) we are realising that Ministry has to be paid for by the living not subsidised by those who have gone before us to glory. Each unit, be it ancient pairsh or Victorian District,  has to be financially viable and pay for the ministry it receives unless it is a tough mission area and is subsidised by other churches in the Island.
 
Fifthly, we have already been imaginative in Jersey. St Mary's has its own Rector on a house for duty basis as does St Martin de Grouville and we have actually improved the number of clergy in the Island in the last four years including a prison chaplain and a second chaplain at the hospital. We have also launched out in Fresh Expressions in schools (through St Mark's) at the Royal Yacht (through the Town Centre Missioner) and at a pub (through St Brelade's)
 
Sixthly. The Ministry Division of the C of E, is asking every area (including Jersey) to decide, long term,  how many clergy it can deploy and afford to pay. That is an exercise Jersey will undertake prayerfully and imaginatively.
 
Seventhly and lastly. The research that I have seen shows clearly that where you cut clergy, or have very long gaps between appointments, the church declines. Many denominations have been in managed decline for the last few decades. I don't know about you but I believe I am called by God to do everything I can to reverse that trend.
 
Let me take this opportunity of wishing all those who read this a very happy Christmas and God's richest blessing in 2010.
 
Yours in Christ,
 
Bob

The Very Reverend Robert Key
Dean of Jersey

 

Clergy Cutbacks

THE number of Church of England clergymen - including parish rectors - could be reduced following the announcement that the diocese of Winchester has to make cuts of £1.6 million. The Dean of Jersey, the Very Rev Bob Key, said that dioceses across England were having to reduce the number of clergy, but he added that 'the jury was still out' on whether Jersey would have to follow suit. Mr Key said that people would have to get to grips with the reality that the church did not have 'millions stashed away'. Mr Key, who attended a meeting on Monday on funding shortages with the Bishop of Winchester, the Right Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, said that the Island could only deploy the clergy that they can afford to pay. Mr Scott-Joynt recently announced a budget reduction for 2010 that would address the effects of the recession. He said: 'The Diocesan Synod, the diocese's decision-making body, has agreed what we believe to be an equitable budget. It should ensure that we sustain our vision and resource our mission appropriately in 2010.'(1)

A few facts are useful by way of background. A report on the diocese of Winchester as a whole notes that:

Ecclesiastically the Diocese is served by 411 churches grouped in 203 benefices; 13 deaneries and 2 archdeaconries on the mainland, and two deaneries in the Channel Islands. There are approximately 240 stipendiary clergy serving in the diocese; three Bishops, a Cathedral Dean, two archdeacons and a Dean for each of Jersey and Guernsey.(3)

So in terms of paid clergy per church, around each member of the clergy looks after 1.7 churches. Now there are some churches with clergy "doubling up", such as St Matthews Glass Church and St Ouen in Jersey, or St Brelade and St Aubin, but equally, there are churches such as St Marks, St Luke, St Andrew and St Paul which have just one member of clergy. If one looks at the total number of paid clergy in Jersey, and number of churches, my calculations are that on a proportional basis, there should be only 11-12 clergy at most in the Jersey over all the Anglican churches.

Of course part of the reason for the high numbers of clergy is the historical links between Parish and the 12 Parish Churches. The Rector is automatically a member of the Parish Roads Committee, is thereby involved in the Branchage inspections along with other Municipal duties, and on the other side of the equation, the Parish often maintains or helps to maintain the Rectory and Church financially.

This is a historical link, but it is not a necessary one. In England, for example, as in Jersey, the Church of England is the "established" church, but this does not necessitate either the automatic involvement of Rectors as part of the local Municipality, or of rate payers funds for Church fabric or clergy residence.

This should also be part of the equation. As far as the Diocese of Winchester is concerned, it should be aware that it is, in effect, subsidised in Jersey by the rate payer, and any reduction in clergy, especially on the numbers of rectors, might lead to increased costs by breaking that link.

Equally, however, as far as Parishes are concerned, should the Church of England have a privileged position (over other denominations) where ratepayers' taxes are concerned? I have no objection to my rates being used this way, but I think as a matter of justice, the position should be reassessed. But if it is, will the Parish or the Island take responsibility for maintaining historical church buildings? And would the Rector also not be required to take part in Parish matters? These are all questions which should be perhaps considered.

An interesting report by Trevor Cooper on Church Buildings gives notes on in Lincoln, a rural diocese:

The diocese of Lincoln has 647 church buildings... About two-thirds (65%) of these buildings are listed Grade I or II*; fewer than one in ten (9%) of the churches are unlisted. These churches are served by about 200 full time parochial clergy, averaging more than three church buildings per cleric.

Where is report is useful is that it shows how reduced paid clergy can by supplemented by non-paid clergy and other forms of ministry, which is a change which has already happened in Jersey in some Parishes:

To cope with its particular pressures, Lincoln has developed innovative forms of nonstipendiary leadership and ministry. There are a large number of people with such roles, including nearly 200 people accredited to minister at church services, and a further 230 lay readers, organised by deanery groups.

The report also looks at the old Victorian churches in Manchester, and comments that:

There is often no relationship now between the physical size of church and the population of the parish. This is not surprising. Not only have there been large movements of population in the last two hundred years, but the Victorians often built churches larger than the parish needed, sometimes assuming that a popular church would attract those from outside the parish... Indeed one can start to question the whole notion of a parish in  today's urban environment, and some dioceses are looking at ways of creating more fluid geographical groupings.

Rather than just closing churches, some of the space in these Victorian churches (often with relatively small congregations to the number of available pews), can be redeployed in innovative ways, especially where they are close to a centre of population, and do not have their own church hall.

At the simpler end of the spectrum - and much more commonly - there are changes such as the provision of basic catering facilities in the church (e.g. at the rear of the nave); the opening up of space by removing pews (often at the rear or in an aisle); the use of screens to create new rooms (for example, enclosing a transept); or the building of an extension, attached or unattached. Not only does this type of change allow worshippers to congregate more easily after the service (outside the scope of this section), but also allows the church building to be used for a wider variety of purposes, such as a mother and toddlers group or occasional concerts. Some churches have been more imaginative: one holds a regular Farmers' Market in the nave of the church building, and another has a village shop in the vestry.(2)

One of the people whom Trevor Cooper spoke to says that there can be resistance to change, sometimes  from the church members themselves:

Another problem is that many PCCs won't relax the use of church buildings. Some have - realising that the only way to keep the church alive is to have it open and to have it used for functions other than the one-hour Sunday service. Others shut their doors and have the Sunday Club mentality - at their peril.

We need to get away from the 'static' mentality - one should not try to preserve buildings in some time bubble where they never change and yet have to be used as working buildings. While conservation bodies fear that we may lose these buildings because of some Victorian holocaust of 'restoration', we risk losing them anyway.(2)

He also looks further afield, and quotes a correspondent from Stockholm, who notes that:
 
In Stockholm it was a delight to find most churches open, often with a small open-plan office area with computer and phone manned by members of the congregation or students. In  return for this free office space, people sold postcards and answered queries from visitors and took messages for the clergy. It is a bit odd to hear a phone ring inside a church but better that than being locked up six days out of seven. Every Stockholm church I went in had at least one other person in it, and often many more. People with armloads of shopping sat down for five minutes, taking a break from the retail experience.(2)

I know that churches are often locked when not in use because of problems with vandalism and theft, which is why many churches in England are closed. When I visited Southampton a few years ago, all except two of the city's churches were locked up, and those that were not were manned by volunteers. This is also true of some church in Jersey, such as St Luke's, which is even locked up on Sunday afternoons. Yet the report by Trevor Cooper looks at a survey on "how do you think of your local church/chapel?", which came with the answer:

Place of worship 83%
Quiet place or sanctuary 73%
Local landmark 59%
Social / community venue 56%
Historic place 53%

If a church is locked up when not in use, it can hardly function as either a historic place - and Jersey churches should surely be more on the the Tourism map - or as a quiet place or sanctuary. Often, like many other people (73%) in the survey, I have stopped for a few moments quiet and reflection inside one of our churches, and this valuable spiritual function (often not noted in congregational statistics) is lost when churches are forced to lock themselves away from the outside world.

Links
(1) http://www.thisisjersey.com/2009/12/10/future-of-parish-rectors-under-threat-from-uk-cuts/
(2) http://www.ecclsoc.org/keepingchurches.pdf
(3) http://www.gatenbysanderson.com/file/41658/Oxford+team+leader.pdf

 

 

The Curious Absence of Christine Herbert Online

When I was at school, my history teacher impressed upon me the danger of making over-generalisations. I was reminded of that when I read Christine Herbert's piece in the Jersey Evening Post, which managed to place all bloggers on Jersey politics on the same footing, i.e., mischievous troublemakers and bullies who are not accountable or responsible.
 
When I write various pieces, such as the piece I wrote on "Name and Shame", I take great care to research the issue thoroughly before putting pen to paper, and where possible, to provide details of all the sources I quote, so that it can be checked if I am taking them out of context. They might not be up to complete academic standards, because I don't have the time to fully annotate these, but it does take time to look up, research and read on these subjects, and what ends up on the blog is what I would certainly regard as a responsible paper. I don't just use Google or Wikipedia, I source peer reviewed academic journals and books as well.

In fact, some of my postings critique the Jersey Evening Post's sensationalist handling of statistics, where either they fail to give sufficient caveats (e.g. about average wage being used instead of the median) or pick the statistic likely to cause the most alarm (burglary up by a massive percentage - which is really because the figures are so small). It is what I regard as a failure of their presentation to be sufficiently thorough that prompts the articles. 
 
http://tonymusings.blogspot.com/2009/12/name-and-shame-some-reflections-on.html
 
I also write the satirical News from Nowhere, which is mischievous, but no more so than Helier Clement, when he pokes fun at some politicians. It is full of stock politician jokes - lawyers are more concerned with golf than law, and the odd swipe at local politicians, but as a "send up" in the style of "Yes Minister", with the occasional burst of "Spitting Image". Political satire has a long history, and I show no favouritism in my writing - all the politicians can appear equally silly, as in fact, some people think they do! All the characters are caricatures anyway, and are amalgams of real people and fictions, so that the education minister always appears to be uneducated, whether Peter Piaget or Hedley Weed, just as in "Yes Minister".  No one had ever accused me of this being "bullying", and it is very mild compared to UK satire. I keep well clear of issues that I regard as sensitive like child protection, and have very clear ethical principles on what I can and cannot satirise.
 
While I certainly don't imagine a vast establishment and media conspiracy (unlike some!), I nevertheless find it curious - hence the Sherlock Holmes punning title - that neither the article by Christine Herbert, nor the letter pointing out it's weaknesses - has appeared in the online edition of the JEP, where bloggers can read it. That is rather odd, especially as articles by Christine have appeared both before and after that article, and all the other letters from that letters page appeared online.

I can't locate the paper copy of the original article, but I think Dave Rotherham's letter deserves a wider showing.
 
Not all bloggers are bullies
From David Rotherham.

I WAS astonished at Christine Herbert's assertion that 'blogs in general are often little more than a licence to victimise and bully' (JEP, 5 December).

Although I can think of one particular one that is notorious for doing that, blogs in general are nothing of the sort. Apart from that one, which I am coming to take with ever larger pinches of salt, the ones I read are mainly the same kind of stuff that newspapers such as your own publish, from columnists like her and correspondents like me. While there may not be any quality control on the publishing side, nobody ever has to make a second visit to a bad blog. On the other hand, the unread author of the bad blog can be happy that he has had his chance to be read, and not been silenced by 'them'.  

Forum sites; much more open and less personal than blogs, do attract `trolls' with bad intentions, and the trolls often get a hefty dose of bullying in turn when the other users lose patience with them. That, however, is a somewhat different matter, even if there was a link between the downfall of a particularly unpopular Jersey troll and That Blog.

In conclusion, I find the general condemnation of blogs both unfair and inaccurate.

Name and Shame - States Members Voting

Proposition: Young Offenders: naming by the media.

POUR: 2 CONTRE: 39 ILL: 3 OUT OF ISLAND: 1 EN DEFAUT: 1 NOT
PRESENT: 7

Some curious voting on this proposition. On the original proposition, only
the two Pitman's voted. The amendment was for "name and shame" for children
of 16 or 17.

For (Pour)
Deputy Trevor Mark Pitman
Deputy Shona Pitman

Proposition:
Young Offenders: naming by the media (P.148/2009) - amendment

POUR: 12 CONTRE: 33 ILL: 3 OUT OF ISLAND: 1 EN DEFAUT: 1 NOT
PRESENT: 3

Several States members suddenly appeared by magic, and the vote was larger. Curiously, the Pitmans both voted against it, which seems a complete abdication of logic - after all, if name and shame was a good principle, why vote against an amendment which went some of the way towards what they desired?

But to name and shame those voting in favour:

Senator Paul Francis Routier
Senator Ben Edward Shenton
Senator Bryan Ian Le Marquand
Connétable Silvanus Arthur Yates
Connétable Graeme Frank Butcher
Connétable Peter Frederick Maurice Hanning
Connétable Juliette Gallichan
Deputy Carolyn Fiona Labey
Deputy Kevin Charles Lewis
Deputy Jeremy Martin Maçon

We'll have to wait until Hansard is eventually published before we find out the exact reasons given by those voting in favour. I think some may have been swayed by the idea that young people of 16 or 17 now had the vote, and should therefore be brought more into line with regard to criminal matters. This is of course, not entirely logical. No one is going to vote to reduce
the age at which people can drive to 16, or to reduce the age at which they can buy cigarettes, or drink. I suspect those were skimmed past at speed by those 12 States members.

It is interesting that Ian le Marquand voted this way. He was so careful in restrictions for sex offenders, so that the law as it stands does not allow a single parent in a new relationship to check the new partner, and the notifications list of sex offenders is firmly kept away from the public domain - because it would prevent rehabilitating sex offenders back into the community. Yet it seems fair to stigmatise and name young people, which may also cause problems with what might be youthful indiscretions. Is this right? There is a senior centenier in St Brelade whose early and only criminal record of theft was over 30 years in the past, and whose appointment was queried on that basis by the judiciary, which seems an over enthusiastic response to the failure with Roger Holland, whose sexual offenses were much more recent.

I would argue that the only valid link for voting age is not "name and shame", but payment of taxes. The American Revolution established a pretty solid precedent which was pithily summed up in the aphorism "no taxation without representation", and as payers of income tax in full time employment, there is a good case for voting at 16, because it is taxpayers money the States spend.

Digital Mayhem

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/jersey/hi/tv_and_radio/newsid_8362000/8362578.stm

Terrestrial television in the Channel Islands is provided by the Fremont Point transmitter in Jersey and seven 'relay' masts in Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney. All of these transmitters will switch from analogue to digital TV in a two-stage process starting in November 2010. The exact dates will be announced nearer the time. At the start of switchover, BBC Two will cease broadcasting in analogue and the first group of Freeview digital channels will become available. Around two weeks later, the remaining analogue channels will be permanently switched off and replaced by additional digital services

I was speaking to a relative in the UK, and he said the shortest period of overlap between analogue TV and digital TV is around three months, with six months being more common. This allows time for people to get set top boxes to receive digital transmissions, and test if they need those or freesat. In Jersey this time for testing will be a bare two weeks, and I would be most surprised if chaos did not ensue. Two causes of chaos:

1) People who have bought digital boxes and find that they will not actually work in their locality, which they can't do until the changeover takes place, and then have two weeks to get the alternative freesat in position, as well as being left with what, for them, is essentially junk.

2) People who do not want to risk that, and wait until the signal is broadcasting, then cause a rush on all local stores, which will probably sell out, and if they get someone to test the reception of the signal first, cause overload on demand on TV installer services.

My relative thought the Jersey change in such a short period was complete madness, and no district in the UK would put up with it. I'm inclined to agree with him. I suspect it is something to do with the limited number of transmitters, but I wish they would be more up front with the public, who can of course check on the overlaps in the UK and make their own comparisons.

In fact, Jersey because of its closeness to France, is not getting a complete freeview package, which is in fact sneaked into the FAQ:

After switchover, virtually all Channel Islands households will receive approximately 20 of the most watched Freeview channels and text services. These will include the public service channels BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1, C4 and Five, plus associated digital channels such as ITV2, E4 and BBC Three.

Ryan Morrison, of BBC Radio Jersey, answering a question, made this much clearer - why didn't he write the FAQ!

Jerry - without getting too technical it's all about available frequencies and because of our close proximity to France - we don't have enough in Jersey to have a full Freeview service available. Jersey isn't unique in this though as a number of areas of mainland UK will also only have a public service package available. However, what you will get in Jersey is a full public service - service. You should get all the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five channels as well as radio stations and digital text. If you have a satellite dish you will also be able to receive a lot more channels (most of what's available on Freeview and then some) through Freesat without a subscription.

It also seems apparent that digital radio will not be available. As Ryan (who certainly knows his stuff and is very informative) notes:

@First Mike - As far as I'm aware there are no current plans to move to digital radio in the Channel Islands.
Chris - the simple answer is no as radio probably isn't going all digital for a while yet so your FM or AM radio will still work fine.

This makes me wonder why the breakfast show this morning, at around 7.20 am, had a advertisement on it for the wonders of picking up the BBC on Digital Radio, suggesting a Digital Radio was an ideal Christmas present! Someone goofed there, I think!

 

Displaced People

Displaced People
 
It was the usual wait, the queues formed;
She pulled the shawl round, barely warmed;
And they stood in line, in another land,
She with her husband, holding his hand,
Wondering where they would stay tonight;
In the meantime, this bureaucrat's delight,
The usual paraphernalia, the tables laid out,
And the laws laid down, never to flout,
The engine of government, taking notes.
While people shuffled by in ragged coats,
None daring to flout this law, or disobey;
So far from her home, so many miles away,
And few possessions, her clothes, little more,
No certainty of resting place, no open door;
They were displaced people, counted here,
But they didn't really count, that was clear;
And all her hopes seemed of another time:
Where was blessing here, or anything sublime?
How she wanted rest, but strangers came to stay,
Like them, were frowned upon, hints to go away;
A silent night, a locked door, an unfriendly face,
In the dark streets, no shining welcome, no place,
So she was thankful for the cave, the hay, the straw;
And who would come to this stable, see the awe,
Amidst livestock smells, upon this cold night?
A child born, cries beneath the stars so bright.

Tax Havens Spooked

The Spy drama "Spooks" yesterday focused on banks, and on money salted away in tax havens. Switzerland, with a fictitious "De Witts" bank became the main focus, but Monaco, Luxembourg, Lichtenstein, the Isle of Man, and Jersey also had a few mentions as places where unscrupulous people would stash cash to avoid paying income tax. Despite the efforts to "talk up" the Island with the IMF report, it would appear that popular culture still regards Jersey as a safe haven for illegality.

This may be more difficult after the UK budget. The Telegraph reports that:

Those who fail to declare cash kept in tax havens will face paying a fine of 200pc of the back-dated tax owed on the income, up from a 100pc fine, the Chancellor unveiled in the pre-Budget report. (1)

The article also mentioned the OECD's efforts against tax evasion, although it failed to mention that Jersey was on the "white list. The Bahamas are still on the grey list.

There are now 59 countries on the OECD's "white list" of jurisdictions that have implemented internationally agreed tax standards while 28 remain on the "grey list" having not fully implemented them.  The pre-Budget report said all new offshore bank accounts in these "high-risk" jurisdictions have to notify the Revenue or face fines. (2)

Returning to the reporting requirements, it is clear that while the signing of TIEAs initially seemed to have no effect, as argued by Richard Murphy, because details about accounts were needed before any request was made, this new change in the UK makes monitoring who has a bank account in an offshore jurisdiction a lot easier. Unfortunately, it doesn't mention onshore jurisdictions with banking secrecy, such as Luxembourg, Austria and Brussels, but it is starting to show that TIEAs can have teeth:

As part of the new measures to clamp down on tax avoidance, UK residents will also be obliged to tell the British tax authorities when they open certain foreign bank accounts. The new reporting requirement will apply to UK residents opening accounts in "certain" offshore jurisdictions, with heavy penalties of up to 200 per cent of unpaid tax for those who fail to comply...."Currently individuals are only required to report the interest from an offshore account at the end of the tax year," says Richard Proctor, partner with Grant Thornton. "But this new requirement means the Revenue will have information at the start of the process. It means tighter surveillance."

Accountants believe the new rule is likely to be applied in tax havens, such as the Channel Islands, a popular financial centre for UK residents.(4)

Elsewhere, one of the measures against tax havens is significantly like that deployed in "Spooks", where an ex-employee of a fictional Swiss bank stole hundreds of suspect account details. The Associated Press reports that:

The Germans and the French have brandished the threat of exposing tax cheats after securing their names and account numbers from rogue employees in Swiss and Liechtenstein banks.

On Wednesday HSBC confirmed that an ex-employee stole confidential data involving a small number of clients in its Geneva private banking branch. These names appear to have fallen into the hands of the French finance ministry, which nonetheless vigorously denied it had paid to secure them.

In August the French budget minister announced he had a list of 3,000 names of French citizens who had stashed money in Switzerland. He warned that they risked prosecution if they did not come clean under a government amnesty for tax evaders, due to expire at the end of this month. In 2006 Germany's secret services paid a rogue employee of Liechtenstein's LGT bank €4.2m for a list of several thousand big clients. (2)

And in America, President Obama is also making waves regarding foreign investment, but unfortunately not yet putting the same rules to Delaware when foreigners hide money there. Again reporting requirements makes TIEAs more effective:

The crackdown on tax havens would impose new reporting requirements on foreign financial institutions doing business in the United States and on American advisers who help U.S. residents make investments overseas. Foreign firms that don't comply would be hit with a 30 percent withholding tax on income from their U.S. assets.(3)

In "Spooks", the banker at the heart of the crooked deals was led off to prison, which was certainly an exercise in wish fulfilment! It also suggested that secret services like the CIA would stash funds in tax havens to pay criminal operatives and mercenaries to do contractual work for them, which is one of the uses of tax havens which surprisingly has not surfaced in Richard Murphy's blog!

It seemed very plausible, but it should be remembered that  "Spooks" is a work of fiction, which engages tangentially with the real world, and seems to provide Britain with a secret service of a mere half dozen agents, which would be extremely good value for money, if true!

Links
(1) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/budget/6772634/Pre-Budget-report-efforts-to-combat-tax-evaders-start-off-shore.html
(2) http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a08b9576-e4ee-11de-817b-00144feab49a.html
(3) http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gGhm6kjmCpbNalNQcnDowf74IvDwD9CG23LG1
(4) http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/02a6ab04-e4e7-11de-817b-00144feab49a.html

Burning issues

Price hike repays cremation fees The cost of cremations in Jersey is to rise by 69% in 2010, following approval by the treasury minister. The move will see cremation costs rise from £317 to £535 at the Westmount Crematorium, St Helier. It follows a request by the health department, which said cremation charges had been below the actual cost of the service for several years.  The department said the increase would recoup the losses, without putting costs above those of a burial.  Charges had been due to increase by 10% a year, but this had not included some overheads and depreciation, which the health department said it needed to account for quickly.(1)

£535 will be the new cost of a cremation - Philip Ozouf's price hike up from £317, which means that it is actually cheaper to get cremated in some parts of the UK than in Jersey! Carlisle, for instance, charges £510, whereas Wakefield charges only £455.

At a time when people are grieving, and in a credit crunch, this is pretty insensitive. It is being justified by the fact that it had not increased for some time, but it seems a poor time to do so when public sector pay is frozen, private sector employers are also looking at cut backs and freezes. Why not wait until the economy recovers? An alternative would be to phase in an increase over a few years so that it is not such a great rise at once.

There are, at present, no alternatives apart from a traditional burial, and the State has control over burial and cremation.

There is at the moment an investigation into a site suitable for woodland burial, but the main problems (according to Tony Keogh when I spoke to him last weekend) are twofold - (1) policing it in some manner, to ensure that it is not vandalised in any way or simply treated disprespectully (as a general park), and (2) ensuring that bodies are buried deep enough so that dogs do not dig them up.

The United Kingdom is seeing more challenges to its own control of funeral rites, as it becomes more multicultural, although at present, this has been resisted (in 2009)

THE High Court has rejected the argument that the prohibition on open-air cremations in the United Kingdom amounted to a violation of human rights. The judgment, issued on 8 May, affects those who believe that failure to have their bodies burned on an open pyre would have a devastating effect on them in the afterlife. Davender Kumar Ghai, an or­thodox Hindu, said that funeral pyres were an integral part of the trans­migration of souls, and that the ab­sence of pyres in the UK had led bereaved Hindu families to suffer remorse. He said that dedicated grounds for open-air funeral pyres were the only safeguard for sincere religious observants. He sent an "earnest request" on behalf of the Anglo Asian Friendship Society to the leader of Newcastle upon Tyne City Council, asking for the provision of land about ten to 12 miles from the city and adjacent to flowing water for
traditional open-air funeral pyres.

Under the Cremation Act 1902, and regulations made in 2008, it is a criminal offence to burn human re­mains other than in a crematorium. A crematorium is defined as a build­ing; so all that is required is that cremations take place in buildings. The design of the building and its internal arrangements are not pre­scribed. The Secretary of State for Justice, who appeared as an interested party to the proceedings, argued that others in the community would be upset and offended by open-air funeral pyres, and would find it abhorrent that human remains were being burned in that way. The judge, Mr Justice Cranston, said that this was a difficult and sensitive issue, and for that reason those democratically elected, with the legitimacy that election conferred, were better-placed than a court to decide where the balance lay. It was a matter where opinions reasonably differed, and the balance struck by elected representatives was entitled to be given special weight. It was within their remit to con­clude that a significant number of people would find cremation on open pyres a matter of offence. In the judge's view, the prohibition on open-air funeral pyres in the 1902 Act and 2008 regulations was justified.(6)

And yet this was not an extremist, but simply a devout Hindu:

Davender Kumar Ghai, the devout Hindu at the centre of the case, fits no one's idea of a radical minority-rights activist.  He has lived in Britain since 1958, is the founding president of the Anglo-Asian Friendship Society and the holder of a Unesco Peace Gold Medal and an Amnesty International lifetime achievement award.(6)

The blog, the Daily Undertaker, has commented that a secret open air Hinda funeral had in fact taken place a few years ago:

Three years ago, in a secluded field in Northumberland, The Times witnessed the lighting of Britain's first open-air funeral pyre since the Home Office authorised one for a Nepalese princess at Woking in 1934.  The mother and sister of an Indian man who died aged 31 were among a small group of mourners, led by Mr Ghai, who watched as his body, covered in a white cloth, was placed on the wooden pyre.  A Brahmin priest led chanting as flowers were thrown into the consecrated fire. Incense burnt, water from the Ganges was sprinkled and an earthenware pot smashed to symbolise the soul's release and rebirth.  The ceremony was held in secret because Newcastle City Council had ruled that it was outlawed by the 1902 Cremation Act.(4)

One writer, Charles Cowling, commented that:

 

"As a point of interest, I visited Carl Marlow, the UK funeral director who undertook the most recent (2006) open-air cremation over here, on the day when he had retrieved what he could from the burnt-out pyre. There were some small bones, no more than a few inches long, and not unsightly, I think, or likely to shock. But he had used a good deal of coal under the wood."(5)

It is ironic that Hindus are not permitted to have open air cremations, because cremations came about as legally permissable because of an open air funeral.

Dr William Price (1800-1893) who fought and won a court case for the right to cremate his son - thus ensuring that cremation was permitted in English courts - forced the issue into the courts by attempting to burn the body of his dead infant son on a pyre of coal on a hillside overlooking Llantrisant. Because there was no statute against cremation, he argued that it should be permissible, and won his case, which was a landmark victory - before that cremations had been regarded as illegal, even though no test case had come to court. Dr Price himself himself was cremated on a pyre of two tons of coal in 1893. It was only in 1902 that cremations were brought into State control and State run crematoriums.

(1) news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/jersey/8399355.stm
(2) www.carlisle.gov.uk/pdf/New%20Table%20of%20Fees%202009%202010.pdf
(3) www.wakefield.gov.uk/CommunityAndLiving/CemeteriesAndCrematoria/FeesandCharges/cremationfees.htm
(4) www.dailyundertaker.com/2009/03/pyre-fight-for-open-air-cremation.html
(5) www.dailyundertaker.com/2009/10/open-air-cremation-way-out-west.html
(6) www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=75668

Name and Shame: Some Reflections on Restorative Justice

With the recent call for naming and shaming defeated when it was brought as a proposition by Deputy Trevor Pitman, it is perhaps time to take a closer look at young people, crime, and the notion of shame as in restorative justice, and how it differs considerably from Trevor Pitman's idea.

The 2003/2004 British Crime Survey found that a degree of anti-social behaviour was more a matter of perception than fact. The most commonly experienced form, the survey found was "young people hanging about". It noted that this is more how they are perceived by others, than any real criminal intent:

...much of this consisted in them 'being loud or rowdy on the street' or just 'being a general nuisance'. The authors of the study note that it is debatable whether the latter should be described as a problem and confirm that in 36 per cent of incidents, respondents who perceived there to be a problem, acknowledged that the young people concerned were 'not deliberately being anti-social'.(1)

Sean Hier, in an article in Theoretical Criminology, places the perception of young people as disruptive in the context of Stanley Cohen's ideas about moral panic.

In Cohen's assessment, every moral panic has its 'folk devil': a person or group of people, a condition or episode, onto whom (or which) public anxieties are projected. For Cohen, 'folk devils' are susceptible to recognition as 'unambiguously unfavorable symbols'(2)

Cohen studied the 1960s mods and rockers phenomenon, and found that there was a complex chain of social interactions, which involved people making claims about young people's behaviour, those who saw themselves as self-appointed moral guardians of society, and the media, who also raised the level of panic, with fear associated with random crime, and the risk of being a "potential victim" , and general anxiety over unruly teenagers and inattentive parents.

The scaremongering statistics in the JEP, are an example of this. They often display a rise in youth crime as a startlingly large percentage - because it is a rise in very small numbers, and not as a percentage of young people themselves, or crimes per member of the population. These headlines often fill the front pages, and suggest that youth crime is making the Island a dangerous place.

Hier sees how these "volatile moralizing discourses" alter public perceptions, while not really addressing problems of youth crime, or attempting to understand why it occurs, instead just blaming young people and their parents. As an example of that, he cites the the "Name and Shame Campaign" in Britain, presented in the News of the World as representing an extreme form of this rhetoric; locally, of course, we have Deputy Trevor Pitman.

What kind of young people do commit crimes? This can be seen in the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales which published an initial evaluation of the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP) undertaken by Oxford University. This was:

a rigorous form of intervention involving a minimum of 25 hours a week contact in the early stages of the programme with additional surveillance, most commonly in the form of an electronically monitored curfew.(3)

It is perhaps unfortunate that Jersey has recently opted, as a cost cutting exercise, to phase out electronic curfews and monitoring, when rather than it being used in general, it could be used for young offenders in particular as long as it was also linked to a programme of intervention.

The survey also reveals the kind of offending, and the general background. While it is simplistic to blame the actions of a criminal wholly on environment, it is certainly clear from the kind of social background of the offenders that most came from the poorest sections of society, and unless the social roots of crime are tackled, there will continue to be a fertile soil for learning criminal behaviour.

The evaluation confirms that ISSPs have successfully targeted serious offending with the most common current offences leading to referral to the programme being burglary or robbery. In addition, it is clear that young people involved are characterised by multiple disadvantage. Nearly half were recorded as living in a deprived household; almost 60 per cent had been or were involved with social services  departments; 30 per cent were thought to have experienced abuse; 9 per cent were known to have attempted suicide; and 15 per cent were deliberately self-harming. The average reading age for young people on the programme was five and half years below their chronological age.(3)

It is perhaps pertinent to comment that the "blame and shame" campaign often also focuses on parents who should be punished by society for not controlling their children. This demand is usually made by people who do not have teenage children themselves, or whose children have long grown up, and who believe that the old fashioned "virtues" of the 1950s approach - spare the rod and spoil the child - can still be applied today. They are living in the past. Parental control today, if that is the correct term, with a fifteen or sixteen year old, is a matter of consensus, negotiation and persuasion, and the skills required for success are much more demanding than the simplistic solution of applied violence. In fact, physical abuse of teenagers to control them is more likely than not to introduce them to idea that violence is a commonplace, and strength lies in being violent. Those who are abused, often learn to abuse others.

The survey shows that the result was a mixed success, as the programme was not always completed, but where it was, there was a clear reduction in reoffending, and a shift towards becoming productive members of society.

Around half of young people failed to complete their programme for one reason or another, and almost a third of those breached for a first time received a custodial sentence. Where the programme was completed however, the evaluation found statistically significant levels of positive change across all of the risk factors measured by ASSET except substance misuse and mental and emotional health.(3)

Part of the reason for failure was the limitations on curfew, and it was thought likely that the duration was too short to be effective. Consequently, changes have been made, and it will be interesting to see if this improves the outcome:

Schedule 2 to the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 extends the maximum length of a range of requirements which can be attached to a supervision order from 90 to 180 days. The legislation also increases the maximum duration of a curfew order, for a child under the age of 16 years, from three to six months. (Six month curfew orders are already available for young people aged 16 years and over.) The intention behind the legislative change is to allow ISSPs to be made for 12 months in place of the current maximum of six. Guidance issued by the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales indicates that the longer programme will comprise four months' high intensity (minimum 25 hours contact a week), two months' medium intensity (minimum 15 hours per week) and six months' low intensity.(3)

Returning to the issue of "Name and Shame", Melissa Lonergan sees this as trying to balance the needs for society to be protected against the opportunities for the criminal to be rehabilitated back into society. She asks:

What are the implications for offender rehabilitation and reintegration, if the public is unwilling to accept someone who has already breached societal bonds, 'back into the fold'? ...This conundrum is evidenced by the pre-eminence of the 'name and shame' debate. The question remains whether a balance between community protection and individual rehabilitation can be achieved, or if punishment and rehabilitation are mutually exclusive goals (4)

Which brings me to the area where "shame" is used, but in a quite different context to the public moralising on young people. The West Yorkshire Probation service has piloted a scheme based on Braithwaite's ideas about "restorative justice" for a mutually voluntary mediation between victim and offender. The authors of a report on this, Jane Wynne,  and Dr. Imogen Brown, explain how this works:

Braithwaite's' concept of reintegrative shaming has provided a theoretical base for the practice of mediation. This concept was developed following observations of the family group conferencing programmes based on traditional Maori justice, where victims and offenders, their families and supporters, met together to discuss the offence and its effects on their community. Offenders are held accountable and encouraged to feel shame, but the aim of conferences is to resolve conflict caused by the offence rather than inflicting punishment.(5)

'Shaming is a more effective sanction for unacceptable behaviour than punishment, provided that it does not
impose rejection and stigma for its own sake, but comprises measures which reintegrate the offender back into the community. (5)

This has been applied in the Leeds scheme, and notice that the shame involves two parties, the victim, and the offender, but not the public at large.

In the Leeds scheme, mediation is defined as a process of communication conducted through a neutral go-between, which allows victims to express their needs and feelings, and offenders to accept and act on their responsibilities. There is a continuum of possibilities for contact between victim and offender: from exchanges of letters and information, or audio and video tapes, to face-to-face contact.(5)

The aims of the Leeds Scheme are simple, but profound:

To offer an opportunity for voluntary mediation to victims and offenders;
To challenge offenders with the results of their offending behaviour;
To involve victims in the criminal justice process;
To influence the criminal justice system to become more restorative.

Participation is voluntary for both parties, but rather than gaining acknowledgment of their hurt by "having their day in court" as William Bailhache put it recently, it allows the hurt to be acknowledged directly, as the offenders come to see what the results of their crime have been:

Through participation, victims acquire information about the progress and outcome of the case; can get answers from offenders; have their hurt acknowledged; and negotiate some form of reparation, if appropriate. Offenders come to understand and accept the real impact of their behaviour in terms of harm or distress caused to others; and can try to make amends by apologising or through reparation. This may act to change their offending behaviour, and make them feel better about themselves; it may also assist with reintegration into their local community. (5)

The voluntary nature is important, unlike the "name and shame" campaigns. This does require the offender to want to enter mediation, and it might be thought unlikely that they would. But in fact, a number do want to participate:

Mediation must always be voluntary for both parties. It would be quite easy for a skilled mediator to push either victim or offender into taking the process beyond the level at which they feel comfortable, but the result would be dissatisfaction or eventual non-compliance with the process. West Yorkshire Probation Service's assessment of success includes participants' satisfaction with the process. In mediation, neutrality means treating people with equal respect. This is not to deny guilt on the part of an offender, but rather an acceptance of that guilt and of the offender's wish to repair harm where possible.(5)

This is not just talk; there is also sometimes a request for reparation to be made, so there can be a cost to the offender to not only acknowledge the offense, but to do something to try to repair the damage caused:

Sometimes victims have a specific request for reparation: a sum of money to compensate them for loss, or a specific piece of work to be undertaken by the offender. Experience has shown that reparation required by victims in serious cases is often at a more personal level. Victims want to know that their offenders accept responsibility for their behaviour and its outcome. The most requested reparation often seems to be assurance from offenders that they will change their behaviour. However, in some cases, financial reparation of even relatively small amounts can be important to victims and has to be negotiated. The smallest amount given to a victim has been £5, and the largest amount £25,000 in a case of theft from employer. The mediator usually
supervises any practical work agreed. If voluntary financial compensation has been agreed, the mediator will personally deliver it to the victim.(5)

The conclusion of the report is that this is an alternative which may well not apply in cases where offenders or victims do not want to take part, but where it has been used, both parties have in fact been pleased with the outcome, victims especially so. It is an attempt to break the cycle of crime, and the distancing of the crime from the victim of that crime:

The usual criminal justice process is one of public humiliation and shame. Where mediation differs is that offenders are offered a way to put the offence behind them by doing something to help their victim, and thus feel better about themselves. Whilst it is painful for offenders to hear about the effect of their behaviour on their own victims, that pain is acknowledged and offenders are praised for doing something so difficult on a voluntary basis. The personal recognition by each party helps break down stereotypes but, more importantly, offenders can no longer pretend that no-one got hurt or the offence is 'just a job'. The mediation work done properly helps to reintegrate offenders back into, rather than alienate them from, their communities.(5)

Links
(1) 2003/2004 British Crime Survey
(2) Sean P. Hier, Thinking beyond moral panic: Risk, Reponsibility and Politics, Theoretical Criminology 2008; 12; 173
(3) Youth Justice News, Tim Bateman, Youth Justice, Dec 2004; vol. 4: pp. 220 - 230.
(4) Probation Journal 2006; 53; 85, Melissa Lonergan, Options for an Insecure Society
(5) Probation Journal 1998; 45; 21 Can Mediation Cut Reoffending? Criminology and Criminal Justice Research, Alternatives to Prison: Jane Wynne, Co-ordinator of the Leeds Victim/Offender Unit, and Dr. Imogen Brown, Research and Information Manager in the West Yorkshire Probation Service

James Thurber

I first came across James Thurber with the short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty".

Forget the Hollywood Film with Danny Kaye. Excellent through it is in its own way, it is spoilt by changing Mitty to becoming a stay at home son, an adult, but under his mother's endless bossy regime, and a real life "thriller story" involving a murderous Boris Karloff. Kaye is wonderful, and the daydream sequences are well done, but it is not as good as the short story.

The real Thurber story is much more prosaic. Mitty is the middle aged henpecked husband, endless escaping his mundane existence to thrilling daydreams in which he is the heroic figure, but then returning to the grey drab life in which his wife nags him and tells him what to do.

Thurber's children's masterpiece "The Thirteen Clocks" has been out of print for years, but I am glad to see has recently been re-issued (and available on Amazon). This is a comic fairy tale, with a wicked Uncle, a captive princess, a prince in disguise (as a wandering minstrel), and the incredible character of the Golux (with his indescribable hat). Thurber takes the stock characters, and uses them to weave a delightful tale, which is bursting with humour that children will enjoy, and self-referential jokes for the adults. In its way, it is a post modern fairy tale before that term had even been invented.

For this blog entry, though, there is a mini masterpiece from his "Fables" - also back in print, I am pleased to say. Unlike Aesop, Thurber has fun sending up the genre, and takes a familiar story, and gives it his special twist. On this particular tale, I would also recommend "Hoodwinked", a marvellous cartoon retelling of the Red Riding Hood story from four different perspectives (the girl, the granny, the woodman, the wolf) which also subverts the tale extremely cleverly.

But here is Thurber...

The Little Girl and the Wolf
by James Thurber

One afternoon a big wolf waited in a dark forest for a little girl to come along carrying a basket of food to her grandmother. Finally a little girl did come along and she was carrying a basket of food. "Are you carrying that basket to your grandmother?" asked the wolf. The little girl said yes, she was. So the wolf asked her where her grandmother lived and the little girl told him and he disappeared into the wood.

When the little girl opened the door of her grandmother's house she saw that there was somebody in bed with a nightcap and nightgown on. She had approached no nearer than twenty-five feet from the bed when she saw that it was not her grandmother but the wolf, for even in a nightcap a wolf does not look any more like your grandmother than the Metro-Goldwyn lion looks like Calvin Coolidge. So the little girl took an automatic out of her basket and shot the wolf dead.

(Moral: It is not so easy to fool little girls nowadays as it used to be.)


Links:
The Thirteen Clocks, £5.96

http://www.amazon.co.uk/13-Clocks-Childrens-Collection/dp/1590172752/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260177357&sr=8-3

Fables for Our Time, £8.06

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fables-Time-Harper-Colophon-Books/dp/0060909994/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260177357&sr=8-5

An ‘honour’ we can do without

An excellent letter by in the December 3rd, JEP, on the moral dangers of doing business with China. Well worth a wider audience, so I'm posting it on my blog.

An 'honour' we can do without
From Wayne Le Cuirot.

IT was good to see a note of integrity in the letters page over the weekend
from Amnesty International Jersey Group's chairman concerning the recent
Chinese visit.

Madam Fu Ying's trip here in her role as Chinese Ambassador was described in
the JEP's leader column as an 'honour'. The paper showed much guffawing over
the presentation to her of a 'cuddly Jersey cow' and proceeded to quote her
fatuous comment that 'Jersey is not a tax haven, but a low tax place'.

It would have been pleasant to imagine that at some part of her visit
someone might have made pertinent comments regarding any future relationship
with the Peoples' Republic which might have washed the smile off this woman's
face.

We are in reality dealing with a regime which has little regard for human
rights.

Doubtless you have had little contact with the Uighur majority in Xinjang
who see themselves crowded out of their own country by the Han Chinese.
Recent executions have signalled what will happen to any future protestors
there.

Everyone must surely be aware of the fate of Tibet, occupied by the Chinese
in 1950 and having their culture and way of life systematically destroyed
ever since.

As a consequence of packing peasantry into large factories, paying little
regard to their well being and subsequently undercutting the world, the
regime is now in the fortunate position, for example, of holding $800
billion in US Treasury securities and is predicted soon to be the world's
largest economy.

There does appear to be this horrible logic being postulated that we can
merrily ignore the EU and instead choose to associate with the Chinese,
whose disregard for democracy and freedom of speech, their sale of arms to
dictatorial regimes throughout the world, while also being classified as the
world's worst polluter, means presumably it's just a case of money yet again
over morals.

Does anyone else feel slightly queasy over this prospective arrangement?

Amos minutes Dec. 2nd

Minutes for AMOS GROUP of  CHRISTIANS TOGETHER IN  JERSEY on Wed. Dec. 2nd at 5.15 at  Pastoral Centre

1.    Elizabeth was welcomed to her first Amos meeting of 2009. The opening reading was by Dietrich Bonhoeffer "God waits for and welcomes sincere prayers and responsible actions'

2. ELeQ reported that the Income Support Scrutiny panel has asked for information from States members and others about any recent experiences  of the IS system.  Questions are also being asked to find data about how the IS system is being used.  Dr. Martin Evans of Oxford University is the adviser with much experience of welfare systems.   Housing costs are a major factor in peoples' budgets.

3. The Whitehead report on social housing suggests big changes are needed in the way Housing is financed.  A linked report on affordable housing is looking at ways of providing affordable housing in Jersey and has a number of suggestions.  GB reported that a project in Guernsey had found that there are a number of sofa surfers, young people who sleep for short periods on a friend's sofa before moving on.  There may be a similar situation in Jersey but information is lacking.  Poverty and Homelessness week is 30th Jan to 7th Feb and may be a chance to have a seminar about the issues then.  Ensuring that everyone has the opportunity of an affordable home should be a high priority.  Then in that context other issues can be addressed, i.e. leaving care, coming out of prison etc.

4.  The One World Group evening about StoptheTraffik at SHMC was felt to be very successful.  BC was thanked for her letter to the JEP.

5.  The Jersey Link was looked at and ELeQ commented on some articles. EM reported that copies had not yet reached her church.

6,  Dates for next Amos meeting were agreed as Wed. Jan. 6th, Feb. 10th, March 10th

7.  Some of the items circulated by e-mail were discussed.  The tax loophole for luxury yachts was felt to be wrong.   It was agreed that personal donations to charity should generally be made privately rather than with much publicity.    David Warr's article in the JEP on the collateral damage from narrow concentration on finance is welcome.   There is a need to think carefully about introducing competition but avoiding protectionism.

8.  The meeting finished with the grace at 6.30.

Ouija boards

By way of something completely different....

Someone on one of the neopagan bulletin boards I visit from time to time, said of the Ouija boards, "Those things scare me silly, as I have known several people with some pretty horrific stories regarding their experiences with them."

I don't like them either. These are some of the reasons I have:

1. Abrogation of responsibility

Recently, there was an Ohio jury that couldn't decide between one charge or another and so you know what they did? They flipped a coin. There have also been reports of Ouija boards being used to come to a decision involving someone's liberty. (cf "The Great Debate V: A Debate on Judicial Reform, England V. United States." by Eugene R. Sullivan, American Criminal Law Review. Volume: 38. Issue: 2., 2001.). This led to a retrial when this decision making process emerged!

This illustrates the danger of a culture of dependency on such methods; it is an extreme example, but ceding responsibility in small matters, but by bit, and someone might find themselves in a similar situation, making a major decision with ethic implications by means of Ouija boards.

2. The Lure of the Forbidden

"Katie and Annae employed Wiccan rituals at the beginning of the Ouija board play, ostensibly to make the séance a more pleasant, perhaps "safer, " or maybe even a more "authentic" experience. Despite this ritual, however, most of the girls were "freaked out" by the end. And this, after all, is the point of Ouija boards. As has been discussed in earlier chapters, it is also the point of many of the teen experiences with the supernatural, from watching horror films, to visiting cemeteries, to telling scary stories late at night."(From Angels to Aliens: Teenagers, the Media, and the Supernatural." by Lynn Schofield Clark, 2003)

As with the Victorians, there is something deliciously creepy about a darkened room, curtains drawn, and a glass marking out answers to questions. Here it functions as a kind of parlour game, where part of the thrill is being frightened by the mysterious way it answers.

Again, from the psychological point of view, there is a culture of dependency, abrogating control: "All the Ouija boards and séances in the world won't conjure up the shades of the dead undead on demand. Do not be fooled: it is they who choose us. We become the helpless ones, the objects of their haunting. " (Cynthia Sugars writing in "Literature and psychology.", Volume: 45. Issue: 3., 1999)

Like "facilitated communication" (which I have come across in my studies on autism), people who use Ouija boards have a vested interest in believing the results. Observing powerful messages and the powerful effect of messages on impressionable people can be impressive.

Yet, as experiences with facilitated communication have shown, decent people often harbor indecent thoughts of which they are unaware. And the fact that a person takes a "communication" seriously enough to have it significantly interfere with the living responsibly is, I think, a sufficient reason for avoiding the Ouija board as being more than a "harmless bit of ntertainment" .'More' magazine in August 1996 reported on the findings of a Glasgow University survey. They estimated that as many as "1 in 10 people - 65% of them women - have been psychologically damaged by their (occult) experiences."

3. Do they work?

I don't think they can give us any truth that is not available from other means, but by placing store on the truth of their utterances, they can work considerable mischief.

G. K. Chesterton recalled how he played with the board as a youth. While he could not explain everything that took place he was sure of one thing: 'In the words that were written for us, there was nothing ostensibly degrading, but any amount that was deceiving...The only thing I will say with complete confidence, about that mystic and invisible power, is that it tells lies.'

An Unappealing Chairman

I've just heard on BBC Radio Jersey an interview with Edward Trevor, who is Chairman of the Joint Christmas Charities Appeal this year. The news report before mentioned how he had criticised and harassed people collecting for an Aids Charity, because it is World Aids day this week, and threatened to get the police to remove them from the streets. (1)

Part of his discomfort is understandable. He thought that they were collecting at a time (the period with the run up to Christmas) when the Joint Christmas Appeal had the sole monopoly on collecting in town. He discovered that this was not so, and the Bailiff had given them permission.

But what is extraordinary, and quite damaging to the Joint Christmas Appeal, is that when interviewed by BBC Radio Jersey, not only did he make his annoyance at this clear, which was a valid argument, but went on to call the Aids charity "a so-called charity", said he wouldn't give to them because he didn't agree with their aims, and that "in the West, people with Aids brought it upon themselves".

This is an extraordinary bigoted statement, and while he may have such views, it is not wise for him as Chairman of the Joint Christmas Charities Appeal to make a statement which gives the suggestion that the supporters of the appeal would mostly agree with him. I think he should apologise for not making it clear that he was speaking just as an individual, and stating views that were his own, and not in any way a reflection of the Joint Christmas Charities Appeal.

I was at school in the same year as two people who died of Aids. One of those suffered from hemophilia, and in the 1980s, a lot of the blood clotting agents used was imported to Britain, and was infected. This was a scandal that Lord Winston called "the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS"(2). I imagine that if his parents heard the Edward Trevor's views they would be both appalled and extremely and justifiably angry.

The other friend of mine went into acting, and was openly gay. Clearly he had picked up the infection from his lifestyle. And yet is that a reason to turn away, and say that nothing ought to be done? I remember his funeral well, because it was at St Brelade's Church, and his parents came, grief stricken, for it must be so hard to lose a son while you are still alive, and he was their only son, and only in his thirties. But the church was packed with people, because he was much loved. Would the only crumb of comfort that Mr. Trevor had to offer be that "he had brought it on himself?"

In the 1980s, I wrote a celebration of the Life of St Francis, which was performed at Grouville Church, and produced by Rosemary Hampton. Leprosy was the great fear, the AIDs of the time, and Francis was afraid of lepers, yet he overcame his fear, and embraced the leper. We know today that leprosy is not a result of a person's sin (as indeed the wise book of Job said long before), but in the Middle Ages, it was seen as a result of the individuals sin, as a curse brought upon them because of bad living. Have we progressed so little that some can still see Aids in this way?

Voice: Francis! Francis! All the things you used to love in the world, and wished to enjoy, you must now hate and despise if you wish to do My will. And those things that made you afraid will bring you My joy, and the love of Good Lady Poverty.

(Music plays, special lights off, normal lights on. A bell rings. Francis comes to, as if waking up. )

(The bell rings again. A white-faced leper comes into sight from the shadows, dressed in. rags, bent over, moving with a shuffling gait. )

(Bell rings (cue voice) )

Leper: Unclean! Unclean!

(Francis shrinks back away from the leper in horror. The leper stretches our a white hand and Francis flinches away, to avoid the touch. )

Leper: Take pity! Take pity on one of God's poor!

(Francis loses his fear. He moves forward, slowly taking out his purse. He holds the leper's hand and places coins in it. Then (impulsively) moves forward and embraces the leper. )

(Song; Good Lady Poverty (2 soloists begin singing (consecutively), and the congregation join in the last verse. ))

(Francis moves off with leper (arm around his shoulder) )


Links
(1) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/jersey/8385826.stm
(2) http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/may/25/health.politics

Agenda for Amos Group, Wed Dec 2nd

Agenda for AMOS GROUP of  CHRISTIANS TOGETHER IN  JERSEY on Wed. Dec. 2nd at 5.15 at  Pastoral Centre

1.  Opening prayer 
2.  Income support scrutiny panel
3.  Response to the Whitehead report on social housing   Poverty and Homelessness Week is 30th Jan to 7th Feb.
4.  One World Group event  re STT and follow-up.  
5.  The Jersey Link, comments
6.  Set date of next Amos meetings
7.  AOB
8.  The Grace

This is a poem of Annie's that I've just been given a copy of. It is an extraordinary and beautiful poem, and has really brightened my weekend up!

 

ALL THAT REMAINS

 

Until all that remains is the breath

as it ebbs and flows on the tide of consciousness.

Dreams and thoughts pass and go

until all that remains is the stillness.

 

A minute passes, an aeon passes.

 

I feel every cell in my body,

each one is familiar and present.

My roots are grounded in the russet earth,

and I know what it means to belong.

 

Betwixt the roots lies the nest of twin serpents

I feel them beginning to stir,

Slowly awakening from their long sleep.

Little by little they raise up their heads,

and tentatively initiate their timeless courtly dance.

Winding and twining round the column of my spine

in perfectly mirrored movements,

writhing upwards in the haze of a ruby.

 

Higher and higher they rise

sharing intimacy

in the light of a sweet amber moon.

I know how to share with another.

 

Onward and upward, curling and twirling

and into the light of the sun.

Into the fire that burns in the City of  Jewels,

fanned by the breath of forever.

I know what it is to have will.

 

Slither and slide in the grass of the garden

where compassion springs flowers on every tree,

where emeralds shine in the heart of forgiveness.

I know what it is to have mercy.

 

Ride on the thermals, and soar with the condor,

high above the peaks of Volcan.

Glide……. into azure……………..

purified, rarified, sanctified,

my voice gives meaning to chaos

 

Across the last bridge and the serpents

lie quiet in the Wheel of Becoming.

Amethyst mist is lifted

and my eyes raise the Veil of Illusion.

I see how to know without thinking.

 

Smooth in the groove into violet velvet

a lotus grows forth from my crown,

a thousand petals open into glory

and the sun meets the moon in fulfilment.

The might of their union

sears through each layer of my being

until I am one with creation

and shine like the birth of a star.

All at once I am all that I have been

and all that I am yet to become

This mortal shell is shattered

and scatters its atoms across space,

blasted by the force of the sublime,

it reaches the place in the universe

where the end and the beginning are one.

 

All that remains is peace,

and I find eternity

in a moment.

 

 

Wave Power: The World's Your Oyster!

A study into the feasibility of tidal power in Jersey has been commissioned. The Environment Department is measuring the tidal flow off the north east coast of the island and finding out whether the seabed is suitable for turbines. Mike Taylor, from the Fisheries and Resources Advisory Panel, said plans to use tidal power to generate electricity were only in the very early stages. He said tidal power in Jersey was "a long way off" and more technological advances were needed. Mr Taylor said the panel wanted to build a tidal power plant that was entirely underwater, with turbines on the seabed that generated electricity as the current passed through them.  It's just a germ of an idea and might not happen at all. "At the moment the idea is that you would see no structures coming out the water." But he said no such structure currently existed anywhere in the world. "So one would have to see how technology pans out," he told BBC Jersey,  "It's just a germ of an idea and it might not happen at all. "If it was to happen it might be 15 or 20 or 25 years away when energy prices possibly are much dearer," he added. (1)

I heard the substance of this with the interview Mr Taylor gave to Roger Bara this morning. One thing struck me, because it was repeated twice on BBC Radio Jersey, that Mr Taylor said "no such structure currently existed anywhere in the world".

Yet reported two days ago, on the 24 November 2009, a news story broke that:

Aquamarine Power activated the connection of the Oyster in the waters off Orkney, marking one of the few ocean power devices to be producing electricity.  The device is a hydraulic pump operated by a "hinged flap," where a large metal piece moves back and forth from the motion of the waves. The movement moves a hydraulic piston that pumps water underground to a hydro-electric turbine that drives a generator to make electricity. The peak power output of the Oyster 1 is about two megawatts, depending on the location. The company, which received research funding from the U.K. government, is now working on a second-generation device. There are a number of technologies being pursued to convert wave or tidal energy into electrical energy, including underwater generators. The advantage of the pump design is that it's relatively simple and many components, such as gear boxes and generators, are not exposed to the water. Twenty Oysters, which are attached to the seabed at about 10 meters of water, could produce enough electricity to power 9,000 homes in the U.K., according to Aquamarine Power. (2)

Why the Oyster is significant is because there are a considerable number of technologies being developed to use wave power, they haven't been used commercially. The research and development is coming on line, but nothing currently exists apart from the Oyster in the commercial field. It is linked to the electricity grid and is producing power now:

Research in ocean energy is active, with most of it done in the U.K. There are a number of pilot projects in the works which, if completed, would total 650 megawatts of electricity production. That's roughly the size of one coal or natural gas power plant. But charting the course from prototype to grid-connected generator has proven tricky, according to a number of speakers at an event last week hosted by the UK Trade and Investment initiative, Flagship Ventures, and Greentech Media. "The challenges have been greater and the timelines have all slipped. It hasn't been an easy ride so far," said Andrew Mill, CEO of the U.K.'s New and Renewable Energy Center (NaREC). "Most of the devices to date haven't actually reached the water." (3)

The Oyster is different because "it is currently the world's only hydroelectric wave energy device producing power"(4). It has mad the leap from experimental prototype to commercial application. That is not to say that there will not be others devices, but it does mean that Mike Taylor's knowledge is just a tad out of date, because it was officially launched by Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond MP, MSP at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney last week.

Who knows - perhaps Jersey may benefit from a different kind of Oyster industry?

Links
(1) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/jersey/8380516.stm
(2) http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10404209-54.html
(3) http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10063374-54.html
(4) http://www.insideireland.ie/index.cfm/section/news/ext/waveenergy001/category/1067
(5) http://www.fishnewseu.com/latest-news/scottish/2337-salmond-switches-on-oyster-wave-energy-device-in-orkney.html

 

Stirred But Not Shaken: A Review

I've been enjoying "Stirred But Not Shaken: The Autobiography"(2009) in which the late Keith Floyd reflects on his varied life with food and television.

Floyd begins by reflecting on life at home, and how in 1950s austerity Britain, his mother managed to produce a wonderful variety of different meals from basic but fresh ingredients, and inspired him with his lifelong love of food. He knew that you boiled beetroot before peeling it, and when handed a beetroot as a test when he applied for a job in the kitchen of a prestigious Bristol Hotel, he passed and was hired. Unfortunately, the food was cooked badly, with duck being overcooked, then reheated and covered with sauces; the Lobster soup, as he recounts with dismay, came from tins.

So it was not surprising that he left to set up his own restaurant, and had three in the Bristol area. Yet while a good cook, he was unfortunately not good at finances, and ended up being taken for a ride by his partner when the restaurants hit financial problems. Financial problems on his restaurants was a pattern to be repeated throughout his life, and one wonders why he did not learn from his mistakes, and ensure he had a good manager who could keep the books, balance budgets and control his finances. Instead, when the Maltsters Arms in Tuckenhay, Devon was closed and the receivers brought in, this led to personal bankruptcy in 1996.

His first BBC TV series Floyd on Fish led to fame, as his unconventional manner, glass of wine (as a means of giving himself time to think - it was all unscripted), and asides to the cameraman, breaking the "third wall", was in marked contrast to the carefully scripted "recipe by numbers" approach of the conventional cookery programme at the time - now, of course, it is more commonplace, and chefs such as Rick Stein have borrowed the television grammar which Floyd created almost by chance. At first, the local TV station would not contemplate a nationwide broadcast for a cookery programme in which the presenter swigged a glass of wine, but David Pritchard, the producer went to BBC in London to pitch for the show, and it got nationwide coverage on BBC2.

Floyd was a big fan of rock group The Stranglers, and their music became his well known zany theme tune for his TV programmes.

In Floyd on Food, he travelled around Britain, and one episode was set in Jersey, where he ate Jersey royals sitting outside at a table in a field with the President of the Agricultural and Fisheries Committee, a young Pierre Horsfall, and they discussed the accident of the "Jersey fluke", with Pierre Horsfall tending to pontificate. After that he went to a house (I think that of Francis Le Maistre) to cook ormers with, as he put it "a real Jerseyman, and not a politician doing a commercial", which was rather a neat put down on the previous segment! He ended up doing a barbeque of skewers of different fish at millionaire inventor Ron Hickman's house. in the early evening.

Not much of a cook myself, and not one for most cookery programmes - I was like Ria in Butterflies where her copying of the steps in food preparation led to disaster - I was inspired to try cream sauces, throwing in onions, peas etc and experiment with food after watching Floyd. It didn't matter if it wasn't perfect; Floyd's own slapdash way, always with fresh ingredients, showed that enjoyment of cooking was the key. My sister, who is a professional cook, loved the way in which he celebrated the way in which people cooked a diversity of different foods across the world, entering into their cultures, and let the food take centre stage.

He never criticised other cultures, and often went out of his way to explain the background of ones challenging to Western sensibilities. As an example, in "Far Flung Floyd" in the far east - he saw live frogs having their legs pulled off for a stir fry, and the bodies dumped in a tub; as he explains in this autobiography, while it may offend us, for their culture, it shows that the food is fresh, which is important for them.

This is an extremely candid book, in which he describes the failure of his four marriages, and his troublesome reliance on the bottle, as he sought to fight the lack of confidence in his "Floydy" TV performances, and suffered increasing ill health as a result of alcohol abuse, including several strokes. He began to look dissipated, many years older than he was.

In the end, he found happiness with Celia Martin, a lifelong friend, and the widow of his friend Dave Martin (the Bristol scriptwriter who created the Dr Who dog "K9" with writing partner Bob Baker). It was at her home that he died of a heart attack at 65.

Marco Pierre White said  Floyd "inspired a nation", and it was true.