From Janet Newlands.
IS Jersey becoming too grandiose and glory seeking for its own good? I think it could be.
I came to Jersey in the 1970s to work for my living. I chose to come here because then, Jersey buzzed with hope and opportunity and was an Island of practical people who expected to work hard and enjoy life. I didn’t expect to make my fortune. There was an abundance of work and a simple, good way of life was there for the taking.
I have always been proud of Jersey, but lately that pride has taken a battering. I think it is time for us to remember that the granite and sea that make this an Island remain the same, but the expectations of our politicians are making us unrealistic.
More than ever, we need to keep this Island working and we need to remember the core values of what makes life pleasant for us. We need to take our heads out of the clouds of Jersey’s past success and start working together to maintain this Island’s future.
What’s making me really irritated is the truculence of our politicians and the delays their bitter in-fighting are causing. I want them to drive policy harder and faster to get more things finished, now, not in some airy-fairy time in the future.
When are we going to get a replacement for the Bellozanne incinerator, and a prison which passes inspection? How can we even contemplate an expensive referendum on something as silly as whether we change to Central European time when there are so many of the more serious considerations waiting to be discussed, such as changes to the Criminal Justice Act, bogged down and lost in consultation?
I am concerned at our economy and on what it is based. Our main industry, the finance industry, used to be based on the protection of assets. Nowadays the emphasis seems to be on world competition, and we have already proved with tourism that we can’t compete.
I am frightened by the unrealism of our social support systems, which can allow horrors such as that of the child abuse scandal to exist within our midst undetected; of the seeming slowness of our civil service; the lack of respect for our emergency services. I want our politicians to consider how these essential services can become more practical and dynamic, unhindered by red tape.
I am so saddened when I see our health service struggling for funds. I want it to be sufficiently well funded that all its employees can once again concentrate on its remit – that every one of its jobs exists solely for the benefit of the patients; of returning them to good health and back working. I want that to become the health service mantra, not for it to be crippled by constant worrying over finances.
I am aghast that the Waterfront remains such a contentious issue and still has not produced as many homes and business opportunities as it promised. Similarly, I question why we need so much development. Is it nothing more than to create bigger and more prominent buildings as top-dressing? Isn’t our standard of living a better measure of our success?
The job of politicians is to debate, accept and enact the decision of the majority. Jersey people already have moral and social integrity, yet the politicians are treating us with such disdain with their in-fighting.
Most people want simply to be comfortable, fairly worry-free and happy and to enjoy this wonderful Island in which we live. We want to sit by a beach café on a sunny day and read something in the JEP to smile about.
Politicians must get a move on. Argue for the things Jersey actually needs, not with each other. They must start working as a team. Maison Gruchy,
Route du Sud,
St Brelade.
We are simply getting too big for our boots
From Janet Newlands.
IS Jersey becoming too grandiose and glory seeking for its own good? I think it could be.
I came to Jersey in the 1970s to work for my living. I chose to come here because then, Jersey buzzed with hope and opportunity and was an Island of practical people who expected to work hard and enjoy life. I didn’t expect to make my fortune. There was an abundance of work and a simple, good way of life was there for the taking.
I have always been proud of Jersey, but lately that pride has taken a battering. I think it is time for us to remember that the granite and sea that make this an Island remain the same, but the expectations of our politicians are making us unrealistic.
More than ever, we need to keep this Island working and we need to remember the core values of what makes life pleasant for us. We need to take our heads out of the clouds of Jersey’s past success and start working together to maintain this Island’s future.
What’s making me really irritated is the truculence of our politicians and the delays their bitter in-fighting are causing. I want them to drive policy harder and faster to get more things finished, now, not in some airy-fairy time in the future.
When are we going to get a replacement for the Bellozanne incinerator, and a prison which passes inspection? How can we even contemplate an expensive referendum on something as silly as whether we change to Central European time when there are so many of the more serious considerations waiting to be discussed, such as changes to the Criminal Justice Act, bogged down and lost in consultation?
I am concerned at our economy and on what it is based. Our main industry, the finance industry, used to be based on the protection of assets. Nowadays the emphasis seems to be on world competition, and we have already proved with tourism that we can’t compete.
I am frightened by the unrealism of our social support systems, which can allow horrors such as that of the child abuse scandal to exist within our midst undetected; of the seeming slowness of our civil service; the lack of respect for our emergency services. I want our politicians to consider how these essential services can become more practical and dynamic, unhindered by red tape.
I am so saddened when I see our health service struggling for funds. I want it to be sufficiently well funded that all its employees can once again concentrate on its remit – that every one of its jobs exists solely for the benefit of the patients; of returning them to good health and back working. I want that to become the health service mantra, not for it to be crippled by constant worrying over finances.
I am aghast that the Waterfront remains such a contentious issue and still has not produced as many homes and business opportunities as it promised. Similarly, I question why we need so much development. Is it nothing more than to create bigger and more prominent buildings as top-dressing? Isn’t our standard of living a better measure of our success?
The job of politicians is to debate, accept and enact the decision of the majority. Jersey people already have moral and social integrity, yet the politicians are treating us with such disdain with their in-fighting.
Most people want simply to be comfortable, fairly worry-free and happy and to enjoy this wonderful Island in which we live. We want to sit by a beach café on a sunny day and read something in the JEP to smile about.
Politicians must get a move on. Argue for the things Jersey actually needs, not with each other. They must start working as a team.
Maison Gruchy,
Route du Sud,
St Brelade.
Article posted on 1st July, 2008 - 2.59pm