ONE of the biggest concerns to regularly feature on the business pages of the national press is the price of oil.
Report follows report almost on a daily basis: one minute oil is up, the next it’s gone down, sighs of relief all around.

Last weekend, for instance, the average price of diesel at the pump in the UK fell by 0.2 pence per litre. But that followed a helluva spike on the preceding Friday when the wholesale price of oil went up by US$11 to nearly $140 a barrel. The reason for this largest rise on record, we are told, was weak unemployment data in the United States and fears over an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The problem for the average consumer is that this is a product farmed a million miles away, yet it has so much of a bearing on our daily lives.

Take electricity, which we are told has gone up because of rises in European prices which are in turn influenced by the price of oil. Jersey Electricity has already warned that since the start of this financial year European wholesale electricity prices have risen by around 30 per cent, compounded by the value of the pound against the euro falling by 15 per cent.

Having pledged not to increase prices this year, the JEC board will be looking forward to January, when they can increase tariffs and try and recoup some of those losses from customers.

In the meantime, there could be some other surprises. At the time of writing, Shell tanker drivers in the UK were planning a four-day walkout, with the UK government warning the public not to panic-buy.

Islanders have already felt the sting of the fishermen’s protest in France, with the folk manning the Mustard Seed delivery truck to Romania wondering whether they would be able to get their precious cargo through the blockades.

The most obvious pressure point for oil prices is the garage forecourt. Addiction to the four-wheel mode of transport shows no sign of slowing on the roads of Jersey, yet by observation more Island commuters are choosing to get to work on foot and en bicyclette and even by bus, where logistically feasible.

Not only is this decidedly more pleasant than sitting in a queue of four-wheel monster trucks, but it’s also cheaper, healthier and environmentally friendlier. The habit may also come in handy for future generations when the oil supply runs dry and they have to learn to do without this particular fossil fuel indefinately.

In the meantime, with the cost of all forms of transportation likely to increase in price – including both sea and air transport – the future bodes ill for those of us confined to a dot in the ocean where self-sufficiency has long disappeared. Given the added problems of an ozone layer which is causing increasingly disturbing climate changes, communities may need to start taking energy wastage much more seriously.

Recycling, for example, seems to be an increasing trend here, but in a few years from now it is likely to be an economic and environmental necessity.

Trendy magazines and Sunday supplements are even talking about using the ‘leftovers’ from unfinished meals and remodelling outdated clothing to remake more fashionable creations. It’s a ‘make do and mend’ mentality that is usually only associated with long recessions or war time.

One of the most interesting developments has been the estimated 95 per cent decrease in carrier bag usage in Jersey since supermarkets started charging 5p each. How much is based on conscience and how much on thrift is not yet clear.

At the same time investors are looking towards the green end of the equity spectrum, although conversely, so one analyst told me recently, the wise buys may not be the most sustainable. Biofuels, for instance, are tending to drive up the price of wheat. At the same time new and existing technologies may prove to be winners in the longer term.

What it all boils down to, I guess, is that our world is changing, and fast. Try predicting where the price of oil will be 25 years from now. Will we still be using the same energy sources? What will be growing in Jersey’s fields? How hot will the summers be? It’s just as difficult as predicting what might be built on the Waterfront.
And almost as perplexing.

FOR a jurisdiction which prides itself on its compliance and regulation, Jersey has displayed some pretty weak behaviour in the past couple of weeks.

Here we are, an Island of over 12,000 finance specialists with some of the sharpest eyes on the planet and we can’t even suss out a law suit on our own doorstep.

You have to ask: Why the heck didn’t any of the senior politicians in the know call a halt to the Waterfront debate, in order to properly assess the possibility that Harcourt might be in a spot of legal bother?

It really isn’t an excuse to say that a legal case may not yet have been filed and so it was best to ignore the possibility altogether. Even if the court cases that have emerged against Harcourt prove to be insubstantial, the bad smell is enough to raise alarm bells to anyone but the most fervent supporters of the Waterfront plans.

Meanwhile, Jersey’s administration has once again left itself open to ridicule on the grandest of scales. And no doubt competitor jurisdictions will make the most of it.