FURIOUS pensioners aired their frustration with the current government and called for a return to the ‘old Jersey’ at yesterday’s Senior Citizens Association meeting.
Almost 150 people packed into the Communicare Centre in St Brelade and many who spoke were visibly enraged, complaining about Island price rises and States decisions on television licences, childcare and the proposed incinerator.
The meeting was arranged to allow pensioners to raise their concerns, with Health Minister Ben Shenton invited to the event to respond.
Leading the meeting was Age Concern chairman Daphne Minihane, who said afterwards that she believed pensioners were ready to vote for a government reform ‘‘I think older people now are so unhappy,’ she said. ‘Whereas they may have been apathetic in the past I think now they realise we must get the right people in – people who care and people who will support us.’
Article posted on 10th October, 2008 - 2.59pm
13 Article Comments
Be afraid, be very afraid.
States Members have relied on public apathy. Members are visibly squirming at these meetings & Hustings, realising how p’d off people are - old, young and middling.
But remember you don’t have to use all 6 votes. If you can only find 1 person to vote for, only vote for 1. The 6th vote is just as valid as the 1st, so don’t let someone sneak in if you don’t want them.
I may only be 29 but I remember Jersey was so much better when I was a child. I wholeheartedly agree with their viewpoint and believe that old Jersey was a substantially better place to live. I want my children to see Jersey the way I still remember it. I am sure that if my grandmother was still with us she would have been saying exactly the same thing. We cannot let the island be destroyed by the uncaring capitalists that seem to have taken over. It is time to take it back.
Saying that Jersey was so much better years ago is like saying it snowed every winter and every summer was wall to wall sunshine. I have lived here all my life and remember people moaning about farmers, tourists and now the finance industry. The problem with Jersey is that people do not realize just how lucky they are to live here. It’s not perfect but nowhere is. I have just got back from the UK where it seems that every other shop is closed or closing, windows are boarded up, everything is taxed, CCTV and speed cameras are everywhere and the only ques are for the discount store and the job centre. I hate the saying that there is a boat out in the morning but perhaps we need to start reminding people.
Fat chance that we will get a government that listens to its people and puts its citizens first, not last!
However if people stand up and say enough is enough perhaps we can get back to the ‘old jersey’
where there was community spirit and people actually cared about one another.
The ruling on nursery education being free without means testing is yet another discriminatory act by this irresponsible government.
This government are a waste of space but what can we replace it with!
Nice piece Lauren
I remenber when jersey beans all worked together for the same end, a happy prosperous island, now its dog eat dog and has been since the ninties. So glad I left Jersey when I did, Jersey is just another little London where the elite lead and the working class do what they are told. Get some real people into the states with empathy enough to understand whats happening to all who live there.
Terry- sorry but where I moved to in the UK is nowhere like what you are describing-where the heck were you? People love to say “The UK” without remembering that it is a big place with loads of different areas -some dreadful but others are still great places to live.I could write a book about where I am and the better quality of life here.In our village most people have lived here all their lives and have chosen to raise families here which speaks volumes.I recently showed the JEP to a friend here and his mouth fell open at the property pages-not just the prices but the fact that the properties were so small and built on top of one another as he could see on the photographs-he was horrified!You are right though Terry in saying that people have always moaned about various aspects of Jersey and although I don’t like the boat in the morning stuff that’s what we decided to do and we are pleased with the result.It’s just sad if people aren’t ready to leave or feel forced to-fortunately my husband and I were ready.
If you don’t like it!
Get out now, I remember the old days,
Poverty in the Islands, Polio, scarlet fever,No children’s allowance, no rent rebate.
Boat in the morning comes to mind.
How sad people are to say the boat is out in the morning, what is wrong with you all.. Jersey was such a wonderful island and still could be if you all stuck together like we used to years ago.
Yes I am Jersey and still very proud of it but fortunately I left as well, the UK offers alot more, in the fact that I was able to buy a property that I could never have afforded in Jersey. I just wish all Jersey beans would stick together and get some decent people in the states to fight for their rights..then perhaps jersey could be the Island I used to remember all those years ago, where it was fun to live and you could enjoy life..now you can’t even afford a loaf of bread from what I saw when recently visiting.
I note the Jersey Senior Ciizens are concerned about the rising cost of everything on the Island - making those affected all the poorer.
This could be mitigated to a small extent by the following suggestion that could increase the Old Age pension to the more deserving cases by at least £200 year.
Let me tell you how……..
BWV of Denmark in association with specilist resource recovery engineers have offered Jersey a complete,solid waste processing plant that complies in everyway with modern day requirement - to minimise waste; recover everything reuseable and produce high quality carbon neutral power and heat.
This high quality technology is offered at a cost of £65.8 million AGAINST the £93.35 million for the “preferred bid” CNIM basic design massburn incinerator - to which there is an additional £12.13 million added for “enabling works” - that in itself, I respectfully suggest - can be cut.
The approximate saving of £30,000,000 could be invested at 6%.
This would provide a rolled up income of little less than £2,000,000 p.a. and provide 10,000 needy pensioners with an additional £200 each per year.
I understand the incinerator exchange of contracts are in abeyance awaiting final approval by the end of this month. SO THERE IS STILL TIME FOR COMMON SENSE TO PREVAIL - and in the interest of robity and the environment, get your Senate member to stop the incinerator contract.
BWV can have a plant up and running within the time agreed for the construction of the dreadful incinerator.
To advise our senior citizens to take the boat out in the morning if they don’t like it is overstepping the mark.
When they say they want to return to ‘old Jersey’ they mean back to the days of a simpler, slower more peacful way of life, where people had respect for one another, were less greedy and had more of a sense of community.
Oh get a grip, return to the ‘good old days’ what of the 60’s, bedsit land and bucket @ spade brigade, nowhere does this exist now. Don’t look back, look forward.
Nowhere in the developed world is it the same as it used to be. Nothing in life is constant except change. Some change is for the better some for the worse. The past in Jersey wasn’t as rosy as some will have you believe. When farming and fishing were the main economic activities, most children left the island (no work) which is why there is such a large Jersey diaspora in the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. I am a child of the sixties and I remember the apallingly overcrowded roads and beaches from the burgeoning tourist industry. My parents remember the people who lost all of their savings in the Jersey banks that collapsed.
The future is bright but different, embrace change and enjoy it. For older people this is more difficult but all the more reason to try. The comment from the 29 year old above is sad!