I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that the Alliance Party should be renamed the Marie Antoinette Party. Of course the Queen of France probably never said “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche”, roughly translated as "Let them eat cake", but it stuck, and has been quoted down the ages as an exemplifying how totally out of touch the French monarchy was with the starving population.
I am sure that in the Royal Court of King Louis XVI, there were many who would have agreed with the sentiments of the Queen, but that is hardly a shining example of a political party in touch with the population.
Likewise, Jim Callaghan never said "Crisis, what crisis?" - that was a Sun newspaper headline - as he arrived back in the UK from sunny climes to the "winter of discontent" - of cold and strikes, but it perfectly summed up his dismissal of any real crisis.
Now locally, first Susie Pinel, and then John Le Fondre dismissed the housing crisis as a mere "problem". Susie Pinel thinks that because we don't have refugee camps in the Island, we have a "challenge" not a "crisis". Crisis, what crisis? And what a crass comparison!
The government came out recently against high stamp duty on property that is buy to let but failed to push that into the long grass of 2024 when the States voted it in. Expect delays in implementing it.
Rowland Huelin has now said we can't do much about it, or the population problem, until we have good enough statistics which will be on the distant horizon of 2023. He appears to be wholly dismissive of the "anecdotal" evidence by people writing into the Jersey Evening Post - one issue had pages of people writing in about leaving the island because of high cost of living, high rents, and scarce and scarcely affordable "affordable" housing.
Meanwhile, the Alliance head of Policy is Mark Boleat, who is known for his beliefs that Jersey's population can be resolved by a "Population Ponzi Scheme" whereby you solve the demographic of an aging population in the short term by importing younger people, a policy which is mathematically unsustainable in the long term, and who sees Hong Kong as his model of how Jersey could be. "If Jersey was as densely populated as the leafy London borough of Bromley it would have a population of 224,000", he remarked, "Could Jersey sustain these population levels? The answer is clearly yes."
And then just recently Jeremy Macon, John Le Fondre and Lindsay Ash have all made dismissive remarks about the higher numbers of people here using food banks that they are used by quite a lot of people who mismanage their money. No doubt they are concerned unless any of the food banks contain cake!
And Scott Wickenden has told Governors of Haut Vallee School that despite "putting children first", there is no money in the pot, as it has to be used for potholes.
Of course we are repeatedly told that the current Goverment is not the Jersey Alliance, and not all members are members of that party. But either the Alliance is radically different from current government policy, in which case why is the Chief Minister (and member of Alliance) carrying on with it, or else it must be more of the same.
And then just recently Jeremy Macon, John Le Fondre and Lindsay Ash have all made dismissive remarks about the higher numbers of people here using food banks that they are used by quite a lot of people who mismanage their money. No doubt they are concerned unless any of the food banks contain cake!
And Scott Wickenden has told Governors of Haut Vallee School that despite "putting children first", there is no money in the pot, as it has to be used for potholes.
Of course we are repeatedly told that the current Goverment is not the Jersey Alliance, and not all members are members of that party. But either the Alliance is radically different from current government policy, in which case why is the Chief Minister (and member of Alliance) carrying on with it, or else it must be more of the same.
"Please, Sir, can I have some more", said Oliver Twist, holding out his empty bowl. I think in this case, in the 2022 elections, a vote for the Alliance will mean more of the same, and Master Twist will be sent away empty by the new Chief Beadle, who will nonetheless assure the voters that the workhouse is the proper place for putting children first, and for that matter any other people who might use foodbanks or look for affordable rents.
Sources:
During last week’s States sitting, Deputy Jeremy Maçon and Chief Minister John Le Fondré caused controversy by asserting that some people end up using food banks because they ‘do not manage their finances well’.
Mrs Shenton-Stone said she had been ‘horrified’ by the remarks.
‘There’s always a minority who abuse things but the vast majority of people who use the food bank do so because they need to.
‘I think some people need to get in the real world and realise the difficulties that lower-income people suffer,’ she said.
https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2021/12/21/families-genuinely-need-food-bank/
As the Jersey Evening Post reported, treasury minister Susie Pinel was at a Chamber of Commerce lunch. She’s part of the right-wing Jersey Alliance Party. When someone questioned her about the housing crisis, Pinel said:
Having travelled quite a bit, you can see in places like Africa and India a crisis and poverty. We do not have that here. We might have a challenge.
The Jersey Evening Post reported that assistant treasury minister and fellow Jersey Alliance Party politician Lindsay Ash said:
My view is the same. People seem to be using the word ‘’crisis’’ for everything. If England lose the World Cup, they would say that is a crisis. We have a big problem with housing in the Island, I have no doubt about that, but I do not think it is a crisis like in places like Calcutta, where [people are] lying in the street. We have a problem but we are addressing it already by building a substantial number of houses over the next few years
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2021/11/22/jersey-has-a-housing-crisis-that-politicians-claim-doesnt-exist/
Sources:
During last week’s States sitting, Deputy Jeremy Maçon and Chief Minister John Le Fondré caused controversy by asserting that some people end up using food banks because they ‘do not manage their finances well’.
Mrs Shenton-Stone said she had been ‘horrified’ by the remarks.
‘There’s always a minority who abuse things but the vast majority of people who use the food bank do so because they need to.
‘I think some people need to get in the real world and realise the difficulties that lower-income people suffer,’ she said.
https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2021/12/21/families-genuinely-need-food-bank/
As the Jersey Evening Post reported, treasury minister Susie Pinel was at a Chamber of Commerce lunch. She’s part of the right-wing Jersey Alliance Party. When someone questioned her about the housing crisis, Pinel said:
Having travelled quite a bit, you can see in places like Africa and India a crisis and poverty. We do not have that here. We might have a challenge.
The Jersey Evening Post reported that assistant treasury minister and fellow Jersey Alliance Party politician Lindsay Ash said:
My view is the same. People seem to be using the word ‘’crisis’’ for everything. If England lose the World Cup, they would say that is a crisis. We have a big problem with housing in the Island, I have no doubt about that, but I do not think it is a crisis like in places like Calcutta, where [people are] lying in the street. We have a problem but we are addressing it already by building a substantial number of houses over the next few years
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2021/11/22/jersey-has-a-housing-crisis-that-politicians-claim-doesnt-exist/
Mark Boleat on Population sustainability and inward migration
Jersey’s density of population is not high.
Generally, economic prosperity and a rising population go hand in hand. Towns and
whole communities in economic decline are characterised by falling population, which in turn
adds to economic decline in particular through the impact on property prices and therefore
on the wealth of the remaining population. Prosperous communities are places where
people want to live and are characterised by rising population.
If Jersey was as densely populated as the leafy London borough of Bromley it
would have a population of 224,000; if it had Bermuda’s or Malta’s density the population
would be 149,000, Gibraltar’s density would give it a population of 464,000 while
Singapore’s density would give it a population of 779,000. Could Jersey sustain these population levels? The answer is clearly yes. There
would be significant transitional issues that would need to be managed, and as with other
communities that have expanded rapidly the use of reclaimed land would mitigate the impact
on existing land use.
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