Ignorance and Superstition by G.K Chesterton

A lesser known piece by G.K. Chesterton in which he argues that myths about gods and goddesses attribited to natural phenemona did not emerge from ignorance of scientific facts but "are the abrupt expressions of unique spiritual experiences, quiet and queerly coloured moods; dreams and glimpses that do really lie on the borderline between this existence and some other."

George Fraser 's "Golden Bough" which he alludes to, not only looked upon mythology as the superstition of an earlier age, but also tended to gloss over differences in myths for the purpose of producing a "common mythology". Fraser glossed over so much to prove his point that most of his work is of a superficial quality, and has largely been disregarded by modern anthopologists.

Ignorance and Superstition

By G.K. Chesterton
It is customary for cultivated people from century to century to set up some artistic fashion and pretend to be more old-world or natural than they are. Thus the French noblesse played at being old Greek shepherds and shepherdesses; for the rich are always craving for barbarism while the poor are always pushing (rather blindly) for more civilisation.

Within our own memory drawing-rooms have been full of dismal people in dingy garments who were supposed (I hardly know why) to recall the gay colours and coarse virtues of the Middle Ages.

If ever I adopted one of these barbaric affectations it would be one which has been, I think, undeservedly neglected. In the British Museum, while others are admiring the bleak busts of Caesars or the placid horrors of Assyria, I always stray to a kindlier and more homely department.

I am found worshipping the hairy and goggle-eyed images from the Sandwich Islands; idols to which I really feel a man might bow down. For the beautiful Gods of Greece are cruel; but one always feels that an ugly god might be kind.

If therefore I ever arrange my house on one artistic plan (which God forbid) it shall be on a rugged Polynesion plan; it shall be on a goggle-eyed and hairy sort of plan. Everything I hear about these savages attracts me to them more and more. 

It is vain to tell me that under such a regime the man will be lazy and fond of pleasure while the woman is hard-working and practical; for that is already the case in the house which I inhabit at present. I do not mind painting myself; in fact, I never can paint anything else without doing so. If I colour so much as a cardboard figure for a toy theatre, I emerge painted like the leaves of autumn, painted like the sky of morning, as it says in Hiawatha.

I cannot imagine how the strange notion arose that ignorance is the origin of superstitions. It is true indeed, if we mean ignorance in the same sense that Plato and Bacon were ignorant; the common ignorance of all men about the meaning of their monstrous destiny.

But if this be intended, the phrase that ignorance is the origin of all superstitions is a coarse and misleading way of stating the case. It would be much truer to say that agnosticism is the origin of all religions. That is true; the agnostic is at the beginning not the end of human progress.

But those who speak of superstitions born of ignorance generally mean that myths and mystical assertions have arisen from mere accidental or animal incapacity to realise all the circumstances of the case.

The old Victorian scientific theory was that men invented fairy tales because they had not yet grasped facts. They thought the moon was a woman because they had not the sense enough to see it was a moon. They thought the sea was a god because no kind scientist had ever passed by and pointed out that it was really the sea. They worshipped a stone as a fetish because their lack of geological knowledge prevented them from noting that it was a stone.

They were so dull, inexperienced and narrowly materialistic that they could see no difference between a crackle in the clouds and a ringing hammer hurled by a red-headed giant; between a spat of yellow fire in the sky and a young god driving horses.

That is the materialistic theory of myths, and it is manifest nonsense.

Nobody could ever have thought that the moon looked like a woman, even of the amplest contours. Nobody can ever have thought that the sun looked like a carriage and pair, because it doesn't. If they used these terms in connection with sun or moon, mountain or river, rock or tree, they were certainly not using them because they knew no better.

On the contrary, they were using them because they knew something much better; because a woman is more beautiful than moonlight and a young man more splendid than the sun.

This is essentially admitted about such fables as those of Phoebus and Artemis; or even Balder and Thor; here it is vaguely conceded that `poets' and not mere ignorant savages, have had something to do with the matter. But what the folklorists of the Fraser type will not see is that the ruder savages also are poets; even if they are minor poets.

All that they say about their totems, their taboos, their dances, and services to the dead must be understood with a certain poetic sympathy, as meant to be weird, glorious, shocking, or even impossible.

They are the abrupt expressions of unique spiritual experiences, quiet and queerly coloured moods; dreams and glimpses that do really lie on the borderline between this existence and some other.

If a savage says that a pepper-plant is his divine great-grandmother, he is not speaking from ignorance, for ignorance would leave him with the bare knowledge that it was a pepper-plant. Rather he is speaking from knowledge, fragmentary and perhaps dangerous knowledge. He may have seen something about a pepper-plant that it is better not to see.

There is one really tremendous question. The savage respecting the pepper-plant, the idolator adoring the stone, the sage choosing his star, the patriot dying for a boundary, all do unmistakably mean something--something far down in the abysses of the universe and the soul. Do they mean that everything is sacred? Or do they perhaps mean that something is sacred--something they have not found?

Green Island

One from the "back catalogue" today, from 5 October 2005. It takes the seasons as a metaphor of time.

Green Island

Spring is coming, a pale sun steadily
Growing warmer, and beside the sea
On outcrop, a tribe lays stone on stone
Making a small tomb, a rest for bone.

Time passes, the sea erodes the coast
Until the outcrop is now almost lost
Beneath the waves, only an islet here
Where once they laid bones so dear.

Antiquaries come, excavate the site
Take stones from erosion's blight
To safer ground, inland, again to lay
Them where they remain to this day.

Autumn is coming, a pale sun warmly
Touches the land one final time, sea
Still wearing the islet away, but now
It still endures, like weathered bough.

Now parents bring toddlers to walk
Lovers kiss and cuddle, hug and talk
Dogs roam the beach, enjoy the play
Near the islet, many come this way.

But one day Winter will come, sea
Turbulent, storm driven, it will be
The last of Green Island, as the tide
Takes where once men did reside.


05/10/2005

This is Jersey - 1979 - Part 9

From 1979 comes this holiday guide - "This is Jersey". This is a flat brochure which is larger that the later glossy designs, and it doesn't have nearly as many pages - 16 double sided in all, including front and back covers.

It does provide a very interesting snapshot of the tourism scene in 1979, just as it was more or less at its peak, just before Bergerac launched, and before the package tour market and cheap holiday destinations abroad made Jersey's prices suddenly more expensive and the bottom fell out of the market.

Tourism is today rebuilding a new approach geared to the lifestyle of the modern tourist. It still has plenty to offer, but the old style of tourism probably won't sell today. But here's a chance to capture that flavour

I remember the Go-Karts and the amusement arcade, back in the days when there were twelve pence to the shilling. Petrol affairs with wheels, I think you were strapped in and had a helmet, but health and safety would have a fit today! This opened in the 1960s and closed in the early 1990s.

The JEP archive has this extra information:

"On 9 March 1970 the world's first self-fly hoverdrome was opened at Belle Vue. The machines were a type of hovercraft that travelled six inches above the ground on a cushion of air. They were designed by Jersey-based mechanical engineer Eric Bisson, who helped to design and build the famous Cooper Norton streamliner racing car which became the first 250cc car to break the 100 mph barrier at Monza Italy in 1957."

The land was bought for housing in 1992 using compulsory purchase powers, but which gave rise to a 12 year legal battle over the value, which was settled for double the original offer in 2004. The land is now an estate for Social Rented Housing, although that term is of modern use, and back in that day, we used to call it just "States Housing".

Lots of lost tourist sites here. The Underground Hospital has of course changed name to Jersey War Tunnels, but the St Peter's Bunker and Motor Museum is no more, nor the Strawberry Farm. The St Peter's Bunker, I assume was a real bunker and is still there, but no longer a museum. The Motor Museum was actually rather fun to go round, and I think I had a free tour as the father of a school friend of mine was at the entrance ticket office.

The Strawberry Farm: as well as Strawberries, the owner tried to make it an interesting venue for tourists. There were small models of Jersey Round Towers in a garden area, glass blowers from Venice, leather makers from somewhere (I can't remember where), but a number of the outbuildings fell foul of planning, and he had to remove them. We did his accounts, and when the farm was running, we used to get the odd punnets of fresh strawberries to enjoy in the office. After he had taken down the buildings, he sold up, and it became the Living Legend, another tourist venue, and that's gone as well! Curiously the Jersey Round Tower was still present in the garden. It's probably gone now.


The JEP has this to say about the Fantastic Gardens - later renamed the Fantastic Tropical Gardens:

"Nestled in St Peter's Valley, the gardens were run by the Parkin family and included family attractions such as a parrot show, different 'countries' from around the world to visit, as well as food stalls and giant models of dinosaurs."

"The venue was especially popular for children's parties, and many fondly remember running around the park as children trying to collect as many stamps in their 'passport' from stations in the various countries."

"Many of the parrots from the attraction were former residents of Fort Regent. More than 30 different species were moved to the gardens after the closure of the aviary at the Fort in 1988 following concerns about their health. Part of the problem was their exposure to the cold winters, but to combat that Gary Parkin, the owner of the Fantastic Tropical Gardens, agreed to move the birds into his own home during the winter."

It was closed in the 1990s, and replaced with housing.

Apparently these strange items in an advert in the brochure were a vitamin supplement. I traced these details

Terivite capsules (30, £1.95) a vitamin food 
supplement by Willow Retail Proprietaries 
Ltd. Described as a balanced mixture of 
vitamins and mineral concentrates

.


















This was another rather nice tourism venue which I think later did out door BBQ food. I remember ending up there at  the end of a scavenger hunt, and the food was rather nice. It was simple fair, but at good prices.

And so to bed

Another collection of choice quotes with which I sign off each day on Facebook.

And so to bed... quote for tonight is from T.H. Huxley:

In matters of the intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take you, without regard to any other consideration. And negatively: In matters of the intellect, do not pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable. That I take to be the agnostic position, which if a man keep whole and undefiled, he shall not be ashamed to look the universe in the face, whatever the future may have in store for him.

And so to bed... quote for tonight is from Stephen Hawking:

One of the basic rules of the universe is that nothing is perfect. Perfection simply doesn't exist.....Without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist.

And so to bed... quote for tonight is from Nick Lake:

I'm here to tell you that if you get broken, it's possible to put yourself back together. I'm here to tell you that if you get lost, it's possible that a light will come, dancing, on the horizon, to lead you home.

And so to bed... quote for tonight is from C.S. Lewis:

The Earth's disc was nowhere to be seen; the stars, thick as daisies on an uncut lawn, reigned perpetually with no cloud, no moon, no sunrise to dispute their sway. There were planets of unbelievable majesty, and constellations undreamed of: there were celestial sapphires, rubies, emeralds and pin-pricks of burning gold; far out on the left of the picture hung a comet, tiny and remote: and between all and behind all, far more emphatic and palpable than it showed on Earth, the undimensioned, enigmatic blackness.

And so to bed... quote for tonight is from William Blake:

The moon like a flower
In heaven's high bower,
With silent delight,
Sits and smiles on the night.

Murdering the Ending on the Orient Express [Spoiler Alert]

Murder on the Orient Express – Warning Spoilers

Warning – Spoilers Ahead

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express has the claustrophobic but exciting element of a train ride, and the fact that the train takes a traveller to or from “the Orient”, in this case Istanbul, gives an added exotic frisson. The American title – “Murder on the Calais Coach” makes it appear almost banal.

The book is a masterpiece of clever plotting, in which a murder is committed in what appears to be a “locked room” – a train caught in a snowdrift, with a sleeping coach which is cut off from the rest of the train, in which we find our suspects. Who can it be?

In classic style, clues and red herrings lead one way and another, but this is one of Christie’s clever murders where it turns out that the only correct solution is that all the suspects took part in the crime.

This, and the claustrophobic atmosphere of incarceration on the train, was reproduced very well in the first major cinema version – the Albert Finney version.

Don Gilbert sums up the case as follows:

“A man, Ratchett, is killed on the Orient Express. Ratchett’s true identity is Casetti, the one responsible for kidnapping and killing a child, Daisy Armstrong. Casetti, though, escaped justice, and the jury system failed. On the train, however, twelve of the passengers were somehow connected to the Armstrong family, and they get together and kill Casetti, each stabbing him until he is dead. Thus, the jury system triumphs, convicting and executing the criminal. In both the Finney film version and the novel, Poirot easily accepts the twelve killers on the train as a jury, and agrees to cover up their crime by saying the killer is some unknown man who escaped from the train.”

But the TV movie version, starring David Suchet as Poirot, makes a very different ending to the story.

“In the Suchet version, Poirot does not accept the killers as a jury, and believes they should all hang for the crime. Suchet’s Poirot, though, in the end reluctantly agrees to lie to the police, but he is clearly disturbed when he does.”

The blog Austen Prose elaborates on how this different version builds up to unsettle Poirot:

“While interrogating a British army officer in Palestine, Poirot catches him in a lie and the officer pulls “his revolver and commits suicide right in front of him. This alone is a shocking image, but Poirot’s unemotional reaction to his death was so chilling that there is no doubt that screenwriter Stewart Harcourt (Dracula) and director Philip Martin (Wallender) have taken an entirely different approach in their interpretation of the cosy mystery fare that we have become so accustomed to on Masterpiece Mystery.”

“Next Poirot is in Istanbul and he witnesses another pointless death of a woman accused of adultery being stoned by a mob of her family and neighbours. Is this a foreshadowing of what is yet to come for us aboard the Orient Express? Both of these scenes are added embellishments to Christie’s original novel and definitely not in the 1974 candy coated film”

So why are these scenes added? Suchet was coming to the end of his time as Poirot, and at this point he is portraying a much darker Poirot than the novel. These scenes set the tone for a much bleaker ending, where Poirot is far less accommodating than in the Finney movie.

But there is still a legacy from the original novel of the reasoning that this is justice, and that case is made:

John Arbuthnot: Now you listen, Poirot... by all accounts this man deserved to die last night... but I would have been happier if he'd been convicted by a jury!
Hercule Poirot: I see. Twelve good men and true?
John Arbuthnot: The civilized way.

Yet there is also a deeper sense of Poirot’s Catholicism, that he sees matters of justice in much more absolute terms than the killers:

Hercule Poirot: [furious] You people! With your kangaroo jury, your kangaroo justice! You had no right to take the law into your own hands!
Hildegarde Schmidt: M-m-monsieur Poirot, she was *five years old*!
Caroline Hubbard: We were good civilized people, and then evil got over the wall, and we looked to the law for justice, and the law let us down.
Hercule Poirot: No! No, you behave like this and we become just... savages in the street! The juries and executioners, they elect themselves! No, it is medieval! The rule of law, it must be held high and if it falls you pick it up and hold it even higher! For all of society, all civilized people will have nothing to shelter them if it is destroyed!

This is almost akin to Thomas More’s argument about doing away with the law in “A Man for All Seasons”, which is interesting because Catholicism looms large there too:

Roper: So now you'd give the Devil benefit of law!
More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
Roper: I'd cut down every law in England to do that!
More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you — where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast — man's laws, not God's — and if you cut them down — and you're just the man to do it — d'you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake.

In this adaptation, Poirot has to live with the knowledge that it is an imperfect world, but it is something which will trouble and haunt him.

The 2017 movie treads similar ground but in a different way.

It all hinges on a quote from Poirot where he solves a crime earlier in the story, not one mentioned in the book, but invented by the writers:

Hercule Poirot: There is right. There is wrong. There is no in-between

This leads to a different ending. As the Inverse.Com website review explains:

“After Poirot discovers that every single suspect was part of the murder, he gives them an ultimatum. The only way they’re going to get away with this is if they kill him, but the whole thing is a ruse. Poirot makes sure the gun, which he presents to the suspects, isn’t loaded — which means he was testing them to see how far they would go. This scene is nowhere in the book, and one Branagh and screenwriter Michael Green created for the film.”

“The people who conspire to kill him in Murder on the Orient Express are all enacting revenge, their own sense of justice. So, in discovering the killer is everyone, and the victim deserved it, Branagh felt that he needed to switch things up by giving Poirot an actual moral quandary to wrestle with. “We need someone more morally absolute than we are. Poirot,” he says. “There is right; there is wrong; there’s nothing in between. He needs to be faced with this problem: Can murder be justice?”

Poirot has to learn to live with an imperfect world: “I have understood in this case that the scales of justice cannot always be evenly weighed and I must learn for once to live with the imbalance.”

Both these later finales are very different from the book and earlier film, which set up the rationale for the denouement by preparing the ground.

"In fact, Colonel Arbuthnot, you prefer law and order to private vengeance?" said Poirot
"Well, you can't go about having blood feuds and stabbing each other like Corsicans or the Mafia," said the Colonel. "Say what you like, trial by jury is a sound system."

Which leads Poirot to the solution, pulling that back:

"And then, Messieurs, I saw light. They were all in it. For so many people connected with the Armstrong case to be travelling by the same train through coincidence was not only unlikely: it was impossible. It must be not chance, but design. I remembered a remark of Colonel Arbuthnot's about trial by jury. A jury is composed of twelve people— there were twelve passengers—Ratchett was stabbed twelve times.”

And this trial by jury aspect is again emphasised once more:

"Ratchett had escaped justice in America. There was no question as to his guilt. I visualised a self-appointed jury of twelve people who had condemned him to death and who by the exigencies of the case had themselves been forced to be his executioners. And immediately, on that assumption, the whole case fell into beautiful shining order.”

And when Linda Arden explains, she again evokes that:

“Colonel Arbuthnot was very keen on having twelve of us. He seemed to think it made it more in order. He didn't like the stabbing idea much, but he agreed that it did solve most of our difficulties.”

And Linda Arden brings forward the case for not taking the events to the authorities:

"Well," she said, "you know everything now, M. Poirot. What are you going to do about it? If it must all come out, can't you lay the blame upon me and me only? I would have stabbed that man twelve times willingly. It wasn't only that he was responsible for my daughter's death and her child's and that of the other child who might have been alive and happy now.”

“It was more than that: there had been other children kidnapped before Daisy, and there might be others in the future. Society had condemned him—we were only carrying out the sentence.

“But it's unnecessary to bring all these others into it. All these good faithful souls—and poor Michel-and Mary and Colonel Arbuthnot—they love each other. ..." Her voice was wonderful, echoing through the crowded space—that deep, emotional, heart-stirring voice that had thrilled many a New York audience.”

Throughout, Christie is very cleverly weighing matters – trial by jury, Ratchet definitely being guilty without a shadow of doubt, but beyond the death penalty, and the fact that being a cold-hearted killer who blackmailed, he could easily revert to form and is therefore still a menace to society.

Notice how Arbuthnot is opposed to vigilante justice, but in favour of trial by jury, and how the crime has those echoes of trial by twelve people good and true.

This is also not an angst driven Poirot, but one who appreciates that justice is not the same as the law. He’s not so bothered with the moral complexity as if Ratchett might be innocent – we know he is not and so does Poirot. We see the characters of those taking part, all lives wounded by the crime, but also a burning sense that justice must be done.

Christie grew up in a world where, in 1934, when she was writing, the death penalty was still on the statutes. Although not all her characters approve of the death penalty, it appears that she herself saw it as part of the British justice system, and she was not squeamish about it, not did she really think the legal system could malfunction: in her view, the English judicial system has never hanged an innocent person, and while a number of her plots centre around needing to prove someone innocent before they are hanged, the detective always manages that, even if in the nick of time.

But in the modern world, we see miscarriages of justice, and we know of innocent people wrongly hanged. The tradition of the Great Detective deciding where justice lies, and where the law lies – which we also find in Sherlock Holmes – is not something we are comfortable with.

Despite protestations, it always seems too much like vigilante justice, and therefore the more modern movies have to show how Poirot reconciles this conflict within himself, just as we might do.

It is notable that the character of Colonel Arbuthnot, the one character who makes such a strong case for trial by jury against vigilante justice, does not appear in the 2017 movie, and his arguments vanish with his own disappearance from the cast of characters, along with the certainties of the world of 1934.

The Charity Idea by Clement Attlee

Back in 1920, Clement Attlee wrote "The Social Worker". This is an extract from the book.

It is in many ways prophetic of the Beveridge report, and the reforms of the post-war Labour government. While I think that there is still a place for charity, it is clear that a larger society needs some government intervention to help the most vulnerable members of society.

Attlee comments on the necessity of this kind of change:

"When, however, the whole structure of society was altered by the agrarian revolution that broke up the old life of the countryside, and the industrial revolution which collected huge numbers of people together into particular districts, and divided society rigidly into two main classes, a small landlord and employing class, and a proletariat, the system that was suitable for small, almost self-contained communities was powerless to grapple with the host of new problems raised by a complicated system of industry and the emergence of the Great Society."

As well as a National Health Service, and a Social Security System, the last bastion of the small scale charitable kind of work in Jersey was that of Parish Welfare. Not strictly speaking a charitable organisation, it often functioned very much as if it was one.

While an advantage was that those administering it knew their Parishioners, this became increasingly less likely with the much larger populations of Jersey parishes such as St Helier, St Clement, St Saviour or St Brelade. Quite frankly, the notion that a Connétable could know all their Parishioners, except in the smaller rural Parishes, is no longer valid.

The move to Income Support has received criticism from some quarters, who see too much money being given to financial assistance - 5,763 households in 2017, which is about 12% of all households in Jersey.

But when Income Support was introduced, the more urban Parishes were facing rapidly rising increases in demand for Parish Welfare, which were stressing Parish Welfare and the level of support and caseloads in those Parishes. So part of that increase would have occurred in any case. Income support also gathered the myriad separate support allowances already paid by Social Security under Income Support, so it was always going to be more.

Yet perhaps the chief gripe was that Income Support was aided by a Universal Rate, levied alongside Parish rates, which spread the burden across the Island. Those living in smaller Parishes, thought like Mr Birling, they should just "look after their own".

The JEP did a special report on Parish welfare which highlighted the problems of leaving the aid to the financially distressed in the hands of those who might have their own idiosyncratic views. It gave anecdotal evidence which was not a million miles from the depiction of the Brumley Women's Charity Organisation in J.B. Priestley’s “An Inspector Calls”.

In that play, Mrs Birling is the chairwoman and persuades the committee to turn down the girl's appeal for financial assistance on the grounds that she is pregnant, and she believes that the father of the child should bear the responsibility. It brings into sharp relief how a well-meaning organisation can be dysfunctional because it is based on personal judgements and sometimes personalities rather than on due regulations enshrined in law, which are impartial, and the same for everyone.

While the loss of the more personal touch is sad, it was going anyway, and a much fairer system put in its place. And the time had come for change in welfare. To paraphrase Attlee, the system that was suitable for small, almost self-contained communities was powerless to grapple with increased demands of a much larger population.

The Charity Idea
By Clement Attlee

Before the industrial revolution the goodwill of the ordinary man and woman that is the main factor in social service, expressed itself in acts of charity.

For each particular need that arose our forefathers devised some form of voluntary organisation or relied on the efforts of charitable individuals.

Thus, when it was observed that there were a number of uncared-for, and unwanted infants the Foundling Hospital was started : for the needs of the sick, hospials and provident dispensaries were set up, and for the aged almshouses were built, while unusual distress would be met by the free issue of soup, or by gifts of clothing or blankets.

In a comparatively static society this method of individual provision worked fairly well ; although there were many poor there was not very much destitution, and for the destitute provision had been made by the poor law of Queen Elizabeth's reign. In general the kindness of neighbours and the benevolence of the well-to-do were sufficient to deal with the normal cases of distress, and provide relief according to the not very extended conception of necessary comfort that obtained.

When, however, the whole structure of society was altered by the agrarian revolution that broke up the old life of the countryside, and the industrial revolution which collected huge numbers of people together into particular districts, and divided society rigidly into two main classes, a small landlord and employing class, and a proletariat, the system that was suitable for small, almost self-contained communities was powerless to grapple with the host of new problems raised by a complicated system of industry and the emergence of the Great Society.

While industry was on a small scale masters and men were intimately acquainted with each other, and there was little need of intervention from outside ; there was no place for factory inspection, and little possibility of combined action on the part of the workers. In a small society custom and public opinion are enough to regulate the relationships between man and man in the ordinary affairs of life in accordance with elementary ideas of justice.

Here and there, it is true, the powerful and unscrupulous person may dominate a small community, and work his will ; but it is far harder than in large societies where the details are so many and the system so complicated that few people see much outside the narrow round of their own preoccupations.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the conception of society as divided into classes, each with its own particular function, held sway, and charity was regarded as an act of grace on the part of the rich to their poorer neighbours.

The tide of opinion was running strongly in favour of laisser faire, old regulations as to wages and hours of labour, formerly fixed by the justices of the peace, were being swept away, old restrictions on industry were found to be obsolete, owing to the changes in the methods of production, and the geographical distribution of industries, and the country was committed more and more to the forces of unrestrained competition.

The optimistic doctrine that if each individual sought his own good the interests of the community as a whole would be best served was generally accepted, and the only mitigation to the harshness of economic law admitted was the charity of individuals.

If we examine in a little more detail the charitable idea we shall see how essentially it belongs to a certain conception of society. The charitable motive is primarily religious. Christianity lays down that charity in its widest sense is necessary to salvation, and that almsgiving is one of the duties of the Christian, so that throughout the ages of faith one finds a large amount of charitable work done with the principal object of benefiting the soul of the giver, the effect on the welfare of the recipient being a secondary consideration.

Christianity shares this conception of charity with other oriental religions, and in so far as the object is the good of the benefactor rather than that of the beneficiary it is very far from the social service idea, although its effects may, or more probably may not be, socially desirable.

Thus the frequent English charitable donation by will of a sum of money to be laid out in loaves or bread for the poor, sometimes coupled with the obligation to pray for the soul of the testator, must be classed with the casual pence bestowed upon the beggar by someone who can well spare it. In both cases the element of self-sacrifice which is implicit in social service is absent, indeed, this is absent in all charitable gifts that are given out of superfluity of riches, or out of wealth which the donor cannot take away with him, so that the only people to be denied anything are the residuary legatees.

Akin to these are the numerous benefactions which are given in order to quiet the mind from uneasiness at the sight of wretchedness, or to satisfy a queasy conscience that, recognising that all is not well, endeavours to obtain a cheap insurance against disturbing thoughts, or a mild glow of satisfaction at the feeling that some good has been done, and that gratitude has been merited. As an early Victorian children's book puts it, " For Mary truly understood the luxury of doing good."

There is a great difference between this sort of charity and that of those who actually take the trouble to find out what is amiss before trying to devise appropriate remedies, and who themselves perform their own almsgiving.

Charity at its highest is the expression of the love for one's fellows that is at the root of all vital social work; but, at the period with which we are dealing, it had become narrowed down in most cases to mere almsgiving.

The old incentive to charity that we find in the mediaeval church became weaker when at the Reformation the doctrine of salvation by faith caused less stress to be laid on works, and although at the latter end of the eighteenth century it was reinforced by the philanthropic impulse which was so powerful a motive with men like Jonas Hanway and Romilly, the general view of charity was not a high one.

Society as constituted was accepted, and the existence of the poor taken for granted, nay even welcomed as providing an outlet for the benevolence of the rich.

Charity is always apt to be accompanied by a certain complacence and condescension on the part of the benefactor, and by an expectation of gratitude from the recipient which cuts at the root of all true friendliness. The charitable of the time seem to us to-day to be smug and self-satisfied. They delighted in sermons to the poor on convenient virtues, and lacked that sharp self-criticism that is the note of society to-day.

The change from this attitude to social service has been effected not only by the utter failure of charity to cope with the difficult problems of poverty (a failure that does not mean the condemnation of the charitable, for it was inherent in the very nature of the problem), but also by an entirely changed outlook, due to three principal causes the work of the social reformers, the advances in knowledge, and the rise of democratic ideas.

The change from the charity conception mentioned above to that of social service has been effected particularly by the work of the social reformers. Our attitude to social service will be different according to the conception that we have of society.

If we regard it as at present constituted as on the whole just and right, and approve of the present economic structure, social work will seem to us, as it were, a work of supererogation, a praiseworthy attempt to ease the minor injustices inevitable in all systems of society. We shall see a series of more or less disconnected problems not related to any one general question.

On the other hand, we may see as the root of the trouble an entirely wrong system altogether, a mistaken aim, a faulty standard of values, and we shall form in our minds more or less clearly a picture of some different system, a society organised on a new basis altogether, guided by other incentives than those that operate at the present time, and we shall relate all our particular efforts to this point of view.

All social reformers belong to one or other of these schools of thought ; the dividing line may be a narrow one in some cases, but is sufficiently visible.

The movements for reform of the earlier half of the nineteenth century were carried on mainly by those who held the first view, who dealt with particular social evils but did not attack the basis of society as a whole.

Thus the prison reformers, Howard and Mrs. Fry, the factory reformers, Shaftesbury, Oastler and Sadler, all belong to the first class. Shaftesbury was able to carry out his work of agitation for the enforcement of decent conditions in the factories and mines without consciously working for State intervention in industrial matters, and indeed without the realisation that he was sapping the foundations of the laisserfaire attitude of the -State, and starting the building of the great edifice of regulation and inspection which has extended over almost every part of the national life.

On the other hand, Robert Owen, who laid the foundations of so many fruitful movements for the bettering of conditions in factories, of education and co-operative distribution and production, was able to relate all his activities to his " New View of Society," and was essentially revolutionist in his attitude.

As the century proceeds a vast amount of practical reform in every field of activity was brought about through the disconnected efforts of little groups of reformers, most of them intent on the abolition of some particular abuse or the introduction of some advance in social organisation. Some grappled with the evil of pauperism and endeavoured to organise the goodwill of the ordinary man and woman so as to make charity effective, others attacked the evils of the housing conditions in the towns. Others, like Dr. Barnardo, were affected by the sight of some particular evil (as in his case of children sleeping out in the streets), and devoted their whole lives to a particular piece of social work.

As the time goes on we can see a steady tendency at work for social reformers to feel the need of collective rather than individual action. The man or woman who is interested in one particular piece of reform inevitably comes in contact with others who are working in the same field, but with different methods and a different point of view : he begins to realise what a small part of the evil he is able to affect by his work, and is driven to recognise that it is only by the co-operation of individuals with the community generally that the special reforms which he has at heart can be brought about.

He discovers that instead of a particular evil being, as he thought, peculiar to his own district, it is only a part of a wider problem, which as an individual he is powerless to solve, so that he finds himself obliged to turn to the organised community to help him. Thus to-day the social reformer is less apt to rely on his own individual efforts than to endeavour to arouse the nation to act by passing laws to prevent the occurrence of certain abuses or to empower local authorities to take action.

Again, the individual citizen or the social reform society may set to work to prove the practicability of certain reforms, and may then wish to see them adopted generally ; but it is found that precisely where such a reform is most needed it is impossible to get it put into action, owing to the indifference or even hostility of a particular class or locality. The need of some form of compulsion is felt.

A good instance is that of the notification of births, which was first pioneered by individuals, then made permissive so that the districts that were enthusiastic for child welfare could adopt it, and finally made mandatory to force the indifferent to take action. Thus while there is still much work done by voluntary individual enthusiasts, the whole tendency of late has been to translate the ideas of social reformers into legislative and administrative action.

The social reformers of the present day have little fear of State interference, and generally speaking are far more ready than in the past to face big changes.

Robert Owen and his fellow-workers in their day, the Christian Socialists in the 1850's were voices crying in the wilderness. To-day the ideas that prompted their reforming efforts are more and more widely accepted. Most social reformers are ready to accept a very large amount of control by the community over the activities of the individual, and to recognise the need for a greater recognition of the rights and duties of all citizens.

The question to-day is thus rather one of the method and proportion than of complete denial and assertion. Society is far more self-conscious than it was in the past, and the social conscience is at work among men and women of all classes.

The Settlement movement was an early expression of this, and the increased searchings of heart in the Churches as to the relationship between the principles of Christianity and business, and the difficulty of reconciling the two, are becoming more and more evident. The demand of the social reformer to-day is for a new attitude to social problems rather than for specific reforms in any particular department of life.

Cochlear Implants: What are they?

Cochlear Implants: What are they?

On the States petitions website, readers may have seen this petition and wondered what it is all about.

Petition: Provide resources for cochlear implanted children to be checked in Jersey

It is difficult for people with medical needs to have to travel to London for the whole day for an hour’s appointment. Many children over here with cochlear implants are in this position. It costs States money for travel expenses and it’s a traumatic experience for the children.

There is also no help if processors become damaged, broken etc, or if equipment needs checking. In addition, cancellations due to travel disruption cause children to miss appointments because of the difficulty of rearranging them.

The States should provide the resources for children with cochlear implants to be checked in the Island.

So what is a Cochlear Implant?

A cochlear implant (CI) is a surgically implanted neuroprosthetic device that provides a sense of sound to a person with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss.

Cochlear implants bypass the normal acoustic hearing process; instead they replace it with electric hearing. Namely, the sound sensation comes from the sound that is converted to electric signals which directly stimulate the auditory nerve.

The brain adapts to the new mode of hearing, and eventually can interpret the electric signals as sound and speech.

The implant has two main components. The outside component is generally worn behind the ear, but could also be attached to clothing, for example, in young children. This component, the sound processor, contains microphones, electronics that include DSP chips, battery, and a coil which transmits a signal to the implant across the skin.

The inside component, the actual implant, has a coil to receive signals, electronics, and an array of electrodes which is placed into the cochlea, which stimulate the cochlear nerve. The surgical procedure to insert this is performed under general anaesthesia. Surgical risks are minimal but can include tinnitus and dizziness.

From the early days of implants in '70s and '80s, speech perception via an implant has steadily increased. Many users of modern implants gain reasonable to good hearing and speech perception skills post-implantation, especially when combined with lip-reading.

What problems are caused by non-Island support?

Current policy in Jersey is for young children (from as young as six months) who are profoundly deaf to be offered the operation as the sooner sounds can be heard, the better the advantage for the understanding and learning of speech.

At present, while the operation takes place in the UK, so does support. So if something goes wrong and needs diagnosis and fixing, or the equipment needs adjusting, or it needs to be checked over, the only option is to arrange a flight to London with parents and children.

This may be for an hour’s appointment, but is disruptive to the child, who may have to be taken out of school, and if there are travel delays, may have to rebook another appointment with further delay in treatment.

At the moment, islanders who wear the devices have to travel to the UK to have them fitted and checked.

The States of Jersey pays for the travel of children and some vulnerable adults to go to the appointments in London and elsewhere.

However, as BBC Radio Jersey reported: “A health department spokesman said they do basic troubleshooting on island but there are a number of different processors costing about £7,000 each, which need to be programmed using expensive specialist equipment.”

That is probably true - there are 3 brands of cochlear implants, and children in Jersey have a mix between the 3 so it would probably be impossible to request funding as the specialist equipment to fix and check them varies, and it would need constant updating as well as trained staff.

How does it improve hearing? An Insider’s Perspective.

Rosemary Richardson (Mayoress of Verwood) has written about her experience of cochlear implants

“In October I will have had my cochlear implant for four years. I am still hearing new sounds; even today I heard a buzzard in the trees in our Recreation Ground field where we live. I said to my husband, “What bird is that?” as I listened to the short sharp mewing sound nearby. It was lovely to hear as it is a high pitch call. Today I just was wearing my implant and not together as I usually do with my hearing aid in the other ear. (I had forgotten to put it in. But sound came clear to me as I listened.

“Back in May 2013, my husband was elected our Town Mayor and I the Mayoress, here in Verwood, Dorset. Together we go out a lot to venues and meet people. Without the implant I don’t believe I could have done this with my current natural hearing loss being so severe.”

“I am enjoying life again being much more confident meeting people. I am so glad I was able to have this operation, to help me find pleasure in hearing sounds again. At first I was dubious, then eventually decided to have it done.”

References
https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2014/04/d09-ear-surg-coch-0414.pdf
http://www.bcig.org.uk/
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-jersey-45029137

A Vanished World

J.B. Priestley in “A Journey down a Rainbow”, published in 1955, describes a work on the cusp of massive change, and sees the fragmentation of society, and what Paul Heelas later called the “subjective turn” after the Second Word War.

Heelas documents a “massive subjective turn of modern culture” (Heelas & Woodhead 2005) which is seen as a “a turn away from life lived in terms of external or objective roles, duties and obligations, and a turn towards life lived by reference to one’s own subjective experiences”

There’s something startlingly close in Priestley’s comments to the consumer ridden, latest upgrade, philosophical lite world in which so many people live today. It is not the whole picture, but it is getting closer. There is a counter-culture, but it is a minority.

A Vanished World
By J.B. Priestley
Schoolboys on Speech Days are asked to prepare themselves for entry into a world that died about the time they were born.

Communities assumed to be Christian are mostly composed of people who know and care as much about the Holy Trinity as pygmies in the jungle. Spiritual admonitions are addressed to men who since they were fourteen have believed themselves to be trapped animals on a revolving cinder. Inheritors of a great democratic tradition, vigilant guardians of freedom, are widely discovered among people who have already allowed themselves to be robbed of many hardwon liberties, without a murmur, and would probably swap tomorrow those that are left for a larger car or a 20-inch television set.

Mobs that have been manipulated for years, badgered, bullied and hypnotised into whatever camp, party, store, type of mass amusement, has the cleverest and most unscrupulous propagandists and salesmen, are solemnly congratulated on exercising their power of free choice. 

Standards of value are still warmly recommended to people who would not guarantee two meals a day to any man who genuinely upholds them.

All this is as close to sheer fantasy as Science Fiction. Perhaps it is closer. We have now millions of youngsters who, so far as traditional human values are concerned, especially those expressed in religion, philosophy, art, might as well have arrived here from another planet.

Yes, and unless some of us-- and even a tired, disgruntled author, finishing his third whisky-on-the-rocks in an hotel bedroom, need not be left out--growl and grumble and make a nuisance of ourselves, the world out great-grandchildren will know will be another planet. The green Earth and all its shining dreams will have vanished for ever.

Journey's End

I should note, as these matters are in the air at the moment, that this poem has nothing to do with "assisted dying" of any kind. It is more about the transitions in life, and in particular about approaching death and death itself plaining as a voyage into uncharted seas, unknown waters. As such, it may not be too popular either among certain Christians (who can chart those waters clearly) or certain atheists (who are sure there are no oceans to chart).

Those rather strident voices can squeeze out what I suspect most people have at one time or another, a certain agnosticism, which it seems is even present in St Paul - "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

Journey's End

How age brings cares and frailty
It approaches midnight chime
The slowing down of time
The ship down on the quay

There’s a voyage on a restless sea
Departing soon, so nearly time
How age brings cares and frailty
It approaches midnight chime

Now dimly yet do weak eyes see
And shuffling slow as if in mime
The final obstacle to climb
The gangway to the ship I see
How age brings cares and frailty

This is Jersey - 1979 - Part 8

From 1979 comes this holiday guide - "This is Jersey". This is a flat brochure which is larger that the later glossy designs, and it doesn't have nearly as many pages - 16 double sided in all, including front and back covers.

It does provide a very interesting snapshot of the tourism scene in 1979, just as it was more or less at its peak, just before Bergerac launched, and before the package tour market and cheap holiday destinations abroad made Jersey's prices suddenly more expensive and the bottom fell out of the market.

Tourism is today rebuilding a new approach geared to the lifestyle of the modern tourist. It still has plenty to offer, but the old style of tourism probably won't sell today. But here's a chance to capture that flavour.




The Bonne Nuit Hotel, as noted last week, is closed and is now an appartment for a holiday let

"This immaculate 1 bedroom apartment is set on the islands' north coast above Bonne Nuit Bay which has a lovely beach and a small fishing harbour, popular with anglers, with fishermen's huts on the quayside."

"The apartment is beautifully presented and has stunning north coast and french coast views from both the open plan living space, the bedroom and the paved patio. There is access on to the north coast cliff paths going west towards Wolf's Caves and east, past La Crete Fort, towards Bouley Bay. There is a popular beach kiosk in the bay which is open during the day but also offers evening dining. "





Both Oscars and the Beau Vallon Hotel in Trinity have now gone.




At the foot of Mont Felard, the Mont Felard Hotel was built on the site of Richmond House. It was turned into a hotel in 1947 by William Turner and he sold it to the Alker family four years later. In the 1980s it was bought and run by Hughie and Joyce Behan, who also turned West Park Pavilion into Behan's West Park.

Back in 2005, it made the headlines in the JEP:

The doors of the Mont Felard Hotel shut for a week this morning after the Licensing Assembly suspended its licence for seven days. And a strong warning has been issued to all pubs that they face long suspensions or permanent revocation of licences if they serve underage drinkers or too much alcohol to adults who later go on to cause trouble.

It is now  part of the Randall group now, but apparently run as a pub rather than a hotel.

"Situated at the bottom of Mont Felard Hill with ample free parking, this is the place to go for live televised sports and live entertainment. In its spacious interior there are four large TV HD screens, two dartboards and a pool table – enjoy a game whilst cheering on your favourite team."

No longer a Mary Ann house, it is now part of the Boathouse group, rebranded as "The Tree House". In between it went under the name of "The Landmark".

A 2010 review said:

"My first visit for 20 years and it's now known as the Tree House Bar & Resturant although the old La Marquanderie sign is still on the front wall. A sort of conservatory has been stuck on the side of this old stone pub losing some of the outdoor seating and possibly the fountain? It's well geared up for food although I only tried the Liberation Ale which was excellent. The old traditional interior is now a beige/grey mess in the style of an office plus a couple of pool tables."

This one's gone too! I haven't been able to find anything about it, so if anyone has memories please let me know.

And so to bed

My regular collection of night time quotes on Facebook.

And so to bed.,.. quote for tonight is from Julie Murphy:

Sometimes catastrophes split you in half and even if all the pieces are there, they might not ever fit back together.

And so to bed... quote for tonight is from Alysha Speer:

You never really know what's coming. A small wave, or maybe a big one. All you can really do is hope that when it comes, you can surf over it, instead of drown in its monstrosity.

And so to bed... quote for tonight from Erich Maria Remarque:

We are little flames poorly sheltered by frail walls against the storm of dissolution and madness, in which we flicker and sometimes almost go out.

And so to bed... quote for tonight is from Barack Obama:

So much of our politics, our public life, our public discourse can seem small and mean and petty, trafficking in bombast and insult and phony controversies and manufactured outrage. It's a politics that pretends to be brave and tough, but in fact is born of fear. John McCain called on us to be bigger than that. He called on us to be better than that.

That's perhaps how we honor him best, by recognizing that there are some things bigger than party or ambition or money or fame or power, that there are some things that are worth risking everything for. Principles that are eternal. Truths that are abiding.

And so to bed... quote for tonight is from William Shakespeare (The Tempest):

Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises,
Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometimes voices,
That, if I then had wak'd after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again; and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that, when I wak'd,
I cried to dream again

The Housing Minister and Andium Homes

The Housing Minister and Andium Homes

The JEP reported recently:

“The annual rent increase for thousands of Islanders living in social housing has been postponed after ‘concerning’ earnings and cost of living figures were released by the States. Ian Gallichan, chief executive of Andium Homes, said the board has ‘strongly recommended’ that the current uplift policy is reviewed. 

‘We recognised that the June RPI at 4.5 per cent would have caused, under the current States’ Rent Policy, an annual increase in rent of 5.25 per cent for our tenants,’ he said”

And Sam Mezec has this to say:

“I am delighted to reveal that it has been agreed that Andium Homes rents will NOT be increased this year. I said during my election campaign that we needed to find a new, fairer and sustainable way of charging social housing rents, which doesn’t cause hardship for poor or vulnerable Islanders. I also said that rents should not be increased whilst this happens. Work will now begin to find a better way. I thank the board of Andium and the Treasury Minister for their understanding and support.”

Now the cynic might think that this is a Minister taking credit for a decision by the board of Andium, and I must confess - having seeing “Yes Minister” where Hacker does just that for a decision made by others, and a former Assistant Minister who jumped on any publicity bandwagon -  I was inclined to cynicism - but I have checked and can confirm from my own private source within the Council of Ministers that this is not the case.

Sam has indeed been in discussions with Andium regarding this rent increase and the deferral to the end of the year. Meanwhile, he is also in discussions to look at the long term policy past the end of the year.

As he himself said:

“The current freeze is meant to be so we can work out a new rent calculation system which is fairer than the current one. We hope to have completed that work in January. ’ll think you’ll find this was proposed in our election manifesto way back in April and supported by the Chief Minister in our agreement with him signed at the beginning of June.”

The agreement states:

“It is agreed that a Policy Development Board on Social and Affordable Housing will be established, which will work with the Housing Minister to research and develop a fair rent regulation system for social and private accommodation. Social housing (i.e. Andium) rents will be frozen whilst this work takes place”

Unfortunately, as former Reform candidate Sarah Westwater commented, the Andioum freeze doesn’t apply to Homes Trusts: “Can you work on the Homes Trust as well please?”

However, I remain quietly optimistic that something will be worked out in negotiation for them as well, and hopefully Sam can provide an update in due course.

[Since this blog was first written, I was informed that there would be a moratorium by Jersey Homes Trust on a rent increase, but embargoed from publishing until it was official. Today, BBC Radio Jersey broke story that JHT are freezing rent increases for 6 months]

It is worth noting that Deputy Kirsten Morel, who is not a Reform candidate, and actually stood against one, also agrees on this matter. Recently he said about the dysfunctional housing market:

‘What we need to be looking at is other options such as rent controls, a land value tax or an empty property tax. We need to do a proper analysis of these.’

An Opportunity to Help Others

In the meantime, Sam also posted this on Facebook:

“Over the last couple of years, my dad and I have been raising money for Youthful Minds, which is a group of young people volunteering for Mind Jersey to provide support for other young people struggling with mental illnesses. This September we are teaming up with others for a sponsored walk from St Malo all the way to Dinan. If you can spare any money, all donations will go to such a good cause, and I will be in significant pain at the end of the walk, so that’s got to be worth something!”

I think this is a very good cause, and have put my money where my mouth is, in recompense for my earlier cynicism!

I’d like to recommend that my readers to also donate. I think the distance is some 20 miles.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Samuel-Mezec

Ground to a Halt: Extending the Freedom of Information Law

Ground to a Halt: Extending the Freedom of Information Law

FOI - Who is and who isn't covered by the FOI law:

Jersey Electricity - majority owned monopoly electricity company (not covered)
JT Global - wholly owned telecom company (not covered)
Jersey Post - wholly owned postal company (not covered)
States of Jersey Development Company - wholly owned development company (not covered)
Visit Jersey - independent tourism body with States grant (not covered)
Jersey Finance - independent finance industry body with States grant (not covered)
Andium Homes - wholly owned social housing company (covered)
Ports of Jersey - wholly owned ports and harbour company (covered)

Kirsten Morel has recently raised a question about the extension of the FOI law to publicly-owned companies, which was originally agreed after being proposed by Deputy Carolyn Labey:

“This was a decision taken by the States Assembly four years ago and it's not been acted upon. It's neither these companies nor the remit of civil servants to stop that without another States decision to say 'Don't worry, we're going to let it go' - if that happened, that's one thing. But in this case, the States has made a decision and it needs to be followed through."”

I myself have made several FOI requests to check progress, as have various other members of the public.

Here’s a timeline of the abject failure to do anything at all.

https://www.gov.je/Government/Pages/StatesReports.aspx?reportid=2527

On 22 Dec 2016, an FOI request gave the following response:

A: What progress, if any, has been made to date on extending the Freedom of Information law to companies wholly owned by the States of Jersey - as voted on by the States assembly?

Response: The extension of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 (FOI) to cover companies wholly owned by the States of Jersey is still under review.

B: When is the law expected to be extended to those companies, or if no fixed date is there a deadline and what is it?

Response: The States of Jersey have committed to concluding that review during the first quarter of 2017, and reporting and proposing consequent changes as soon as possible thereafter.

As you may guess, that never happened.

https://www.gov.je/Government/Pages/StatesReports.aspx?ReportID=2863

On 30th May 2017, two months past the first quarter of 2017 previously stated, an FOI request asked:

When will the States external corporate bodies (or quangos) such as Andium Homes, Ports of Jersey, Visit Jersey, Events Jersey, etc., be subject to the Freedom of Information Law?

Response: The bodies currently covered by the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 are: all States of Jersey Ministerial departments, States of Jersey Police, States Assembly (including States Greffe), Ministers, Judicial Greffe, Viscount's Department, all 12 Jersey parishes, Andium Homes.

It then goes on to provide a link to the previous request as if this answers “When”. Honestly, who is responsible for such risible and non-informative answers? When a question says “When?” and is asked in 30 May 2017, a response which links to an answer which says “during the first quarter of 2017” is not remotely informative. However, they then proceed to answer the question when in the second question, which doesn’t actually ask “when?”!

Which Minister is responsible for implementing this?

Response: The review is being conducted by the Chief Minister’s Department and will be completed by the end of Q2/2017 (June 2017).

As you may guess, that never happened.

https://www.gov.je/Government/Pages/StatesReports.aspx?ReportID=2951

30th June FOI request.

A: What progress, if any, has been made to date on extending the Freedom of Information law to companies wholly owned by the States of Jersey as voted on by the States assembly? Including the review that a previous request revealed would be completed by the first quarter of 2017.

B: When will the results of the review mentioned above be published?

C: When is the law expected to be extended to those companies by or if no fixed date is there a deadline and what is it?

This got the reply – this has already been answered, see the 30th May entry. However, this request was made after the June deadline stated in the previous FOI request. 

Sometimes asking an FOI request seems to meet a brick wall of exemptions, obfuscation and delaying tactics – anything to avoid answering the questions.

https://www.gov.je/Government/Pages/StatesReports.aspx?ReportID=3793

So let’s go to the next request, August 2018

I wonder if you can tell me whether there has been any progress in extending the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 (the FOI law) to Government owned companies and other bodies that work with the States of Jersey? It was agreed by the States before the FOI law actually came in but has yet to be introduced.

Response: Each new Council of Ministers is responsible for developing its own strategic priorities and legislative programme. The new Council will need to prioritise within that the extension of the FOI law to cover companies wholly owned by the States of Jersey. Until such time as it does, no further information is held, other than to confirm that the work has not yet been completed.

It’s so like Yes Minister when Sir Humphrey uses the new Cabinet to “wipe the slate clean” on legacy projects and begin again with stalling. It is really appalling. What one really wants to know, but never does, is the actual name of the Sir Humphrey responsible for these delays, and how they came about.

However, a small insight may be gleaned from the following (from Yes Minister) on classic civil servant stalling technique:

Tom: Stalling technique? - It comes in five stages. First, he'll tell you there's lots of things to be getting on with.

Hacker: He told me that this morning.

- Quite. Then, if you still persist, he'll say something like "Ah, yes, Minister, I quite appreciate the intention, certainly something ought to be done, but are you sure this is the rightway to achieve it?".

Hacker: I must make a note of this.

Tom: Now, if you are still undeterred, he will shift his ground. He will shift from telling you how to do it to when you should do it. I mean, he'll say, "Now, Minister, this is not the right time, for all sorts of reasons".

Hacker: - And Ministers settle for that?

Tom: Well, lots do. And if you don't, he'll say that the policy "has run into difficulties".

Hacker: - Such as?

Tom: - Technical, political, legal Legal are the best sort. He can make those totally incomprehensible. And with any luck, this technique will have lasted for three years and you'll be at the final stage when he says: "We're getting very close to the next general election. Are you sure you can get this policy through?" How has it taken three years? Sir Humphrey will do absolutely nothing unless you chase him. And you've got far too much to do. You see, it's what they call "creative inertia".

Flotsam and Jetsam

A fair bit of TV watching over the last two weeks, as well as the odd snippet of diary type entries. It's all just washed up on the beach of the blog, like flotsam and jetsam!

About half an hour spent trying to turn "Voice Assistant" off on my mobile phone. Once on, not only did it not respond to voice, it also was nearly impossible to get to settings to turn it off! Never again!

Just seen Casino Royale (1967) is on TV. The best review I ever read was by Roger Ebert:

At one time or another, "Casino Royale" undoubtedly had a shooting schedule, a script and a plot. If any one of the three ever turns up, it might be the making of a good movie.

In the meantime, the present version is a definitive example of what can happen when everybody working on a film goes simultaneously berserk.

And yet there is something strangely compelling about this terrible film.

Watched Dr Richard Miles - Archeology A Secret History. Amazing to think that for centuries people just didn't think about stone circles, dolmens, menhirs as ancient past, but just as "something they grew up with", and no spark of curiosity.

Watched the Australian TV version of "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab". Gipping stuff, and lots of twist and turns before the satisfying conclusion. Great period drama, good acting, and a rival to the BBC historical drama.

Able to have coffee late afternoon at outside table on promenade in St Brelade's Bay. Making most of weather. Sunday is: Cloudy. Risk of a little patchy light rain or drizzle from mid-morning. Persistent and perhaps heavy rain from early afternoon with some mist and a risk of fog patches, clearing around midnight with fair periods developing.

Later - stormy foggy seas at Corbiere, but of course no fog horn. They decided not to replace it as a cost saving measure.

Nat West Cash Machine at Waitrose has been out of order for three weeks, with a sign saying it is "Temporarily Out of Order". I've half a mind to cross out "Temporarily" and replace with "Permanently". Apparently they are waiting for the bank. "We are what we do" is the advertising slogan for Nat West, and they don't do much here!

Watched Michael Palin in the Ripping Yarns story "Escape from Stalag Luft 112B". A brilliant piece of comedy, and still as funny today! Some people just have a gift for humour and Palin is one.

Watched final of last series of Upstart Crow about Romeo and Juliet. It's a delight! Glad a third series has started last Wednesday. The mixture of the historical and post-modern, and the high intellectual jokes with the down to earth baudy ones make this so compelling and funny. A literate sitcom from Ben Elton. I don't know whether we last had that mix since.... Shakespeare's plays.

Three solid hours and my "Astronomy in the News" presentation is finally complete, and I'm bunking off to watch some TV and have a well-earned snack! A nice variety of different and interesting stories.

Caught up with "Shut that Door: The Larry Grayson Story". It's always fascinating to get to know other people's life stories, and by all accounts he was a very nice man, and funny in a very idiosyncratic way. Something of a camp comic rather like Frankie Howerd, but actually a much nicer human being.

It was while he performed as Billy Breen at the New Pavilion Theatre Redcar (now the Regent Cinema) that he started using his familiar catchphrase "shut that door" when a side door had been left open causing a cold breeze to blow across the stage straight from the sea.

During this period, Grayson was briefly managed by Eve Taylor, who renamed him 'Larry Grayson' and she is credited with being the source of the phrase, as several of her clients revealed that whenever she wanted to discuss money or personal issues with her clients, she would always tell them to "shut that door"

Watched "Murdoch and the Temple of Death" - this time centred on the quest for the Holy Grail, with a rather nice homage to India Jones films. Canada does turn of the century period stuff very well too.