French time: Do you want it?
Thursday 19th June 2008, 3:00PM BST.
ISLANDERS will be able to vote in Jersey’s first referendum in October.
The issue at stake will be whether the Island moves to Central European time and falls into line with its French neighbours.
However, the people’s verdict will not be binding on States Members. If Islanders say yes, they can still say no, as any change would have to be approved by the Assembly.
Moving the clocks forward an hour would give Islanders more daylight on winter evenings, but would leave working days out of sync with the UK, and the News at Ten would be at 11 o’clock.
Members yesterday backed a proposition put before them by Senator Jim Perchard which called for a referendum. It was passed by 32 votes to eight.
The Assistant Health Minister asked the Assembly to back his plan that a referendum should be held on the subject on 15 October, the same day as the Constables’ and Senatorial elections.
On that day, Islanders will be asked to answer yes or no to the question: ‘Do you think that Jersey should adopt Central European Time?’
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definately..
It will be one of the best decisions that Jersey Makes!
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This is good news for democracy in Jersey.
Becoming out of step with the rest of the UK is obviously a decision of immense importance, and one that cannot be entrusted to politicians.
It is good to see that the politicians trust the good old common sense of the Jersey people. Maybe they could now propose a referendum on the Waterfront contract before it is too late? Or GST? Or on ‘whether or not the Chief Minister should be directly elected by his/her electorate’. Whoops, somone already proposed that.
But if there is not the political will for the last three, what about driving on the right, and making Chinese the official language of business?
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How ironic! A TIME for a change! Mr Perchard may end up regretting this proposition as it will surely end up calling time on him for a start. However, this is clearly just another deflection from the real issues. There are plenty of more pressing problems that deserve a referendum right now rather than this old chestnut.
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This is an insult to the intelligence of the public. Why is no referendum being held on who should become Chief Minister? Why was no referendum held on GST? Why was no referendum held on the Waterfront?
Stop treating the electorate like idiots.
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As long as the States act straight away and abide by the decision made.
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fantastic news, so long as we don’t have to hear people whining about the TV Times being an hour out. Get outside and enjoy an extra hour of sunshine instead!
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If it ain’t broke, why fix it?
Then again that still didn’t stop them digging up Victoria Avenue did it?
I wonder if there will be a substantial cost implication to switching over to CET time, no doubt there will be some where along the line and who will foot the bill, oh yes the taxpayer AGAIN.
I am sick to death of paying increased taxes, now 20% is 20%, GST, fazing out Mortgage Relief blah blah blah all to cover the costs of the errors made by the idiots (and lets face it ONLY IN JERSEY would these people hold such high positions within our government) we have running the island.
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I would prefer a system where we don’t change the clocks at all. just leave them on BST all year round then we would have none of this moving the clocks back and forward every Spring and Autumn.
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Whether some of us like it or not, the greater percentage of our links with other countries, whether that be trade / business, travel, or leisure, are with the rest of the British Isles (of which we are one) and not with Continental Europe. To change our time to the same as Continent would be a folly which we would eventally regret I feel, so I am definitely (and will vote) against this proposal.
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This is great. More light in the evening will allow more time for those that work all day to have some additional ‘me’ time … walking eating, gardening, playing sport – you name it. One of the reasons I and my friends love Europe is the lighter evenings. Tourists will love it.
I work in finance and it will have absolutely no ill affect – in fact it will assist our office in a number of ways.
I will listen to all arguments, but I have yet to hear any against other than – tv times (which is not a social reason) and darker mornings in the winter going to work and school! .. forgetting that it will actually
benefit those that do after school activities in the winter months.
Yes there are other issues we could have a referendum on – but this is about changing the clocks – this is what the discussion should be about … it is not about what else we should have a referendum on!
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A classic SOJ manoeuvre – offer the people a referendum on an issue that, whilst significant in its potential impact on business and trade with the UK, has zero impact on the perceived growth and financial stability of the Island.
It seems that they (the politicians) are prepared to trust the judgement of the people on any issue provided it doesn’t directly involve any fiscal or monetary impact.
Who cares if we go to work at 09:00 GMT or 10:00 GMT? We’re still being relieved of 3% of our income by a tax we weren’t consulted on and driving past a Waterfront project we weren’t asked about that has the potential to cost the Island millions of pounds of tax payer’s money which will no doubt be recouped by gradual increases in the aforementioned tax.
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no i like things as they are now
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Has everyone missed the point here that if we vote Yes they can vote No or vice versa, so what is the point of having a referendum in the first place. Why bother at all because at the end of the day, THEY will make the decision whatever the outcome as they do on everything.
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Hang on. We have a referendum to say Yes or No but then the States can totally disagree with the public and vote what they want?
So where is the democracy here?
Jersey actually gets a chance to have its say and yet its for a stupid issue and if the States disagree with the result can change it to thier liking.
How about a referendum on the Harcourt issue or The Waste for Energy program and when the public has voted the States stick to the discision.
The EU are shafting the Irish, dont let the States shaft us as well.
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I think we should have a referendum to force Europe to change their clocks to our time, not the other way around. After all we won the war.
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Just leave alone.Its a nightmare getting babies and kids to bed in the summer as it is for one reason.
The many others are already listed above.
Don’t fix what isnt broken.
There are bigger isues to deal with.
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If the public say “yes”, they can still say “no”.
The public effectively said “no” in an unofficial referendum on GST (19,000 is probably better turn out than this will get) but the States still said “yes”.
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THIS IS ONE OF TWO THINGS:
1. An attempt to smoke-screen from the Waterfront, or (more likely in my opinion)
2. An attempt to increase voter turnout at the next election:
More people care about ensuring we don’t do something stupid like step out of kilter with UK, than about voting in morons to the local government. But since they’re at the booth for the CET they can at least use negative voting to vote in the least-moronic.
As for CET – if it’s so good for business, get your staff in an hour early and steal a competitive advantage. Really, what a load of tosh. When the UK change, we should change, and not before.
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It seems to me that the prospect of changing our clocks to central european time is about as half baked as building a bridge to France. The majority of our trade and business is with the UK and the majority of us have more connections there than in Europe. Why confuse everyone in a pointless move that has no real benefit for the island what so ever?
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Why change it!!! we ARE NOT French or part of Europe so why act like it!
Doesnt matter what islanders say or how they vote because the states do what they want anyway. They dont care about the islanders, the only thing they care about is how to waste more of our money!!
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If the time changes it means our tv programmes and radio from the mainland will be out of sync and we will be constantly reminded about the different time.Whats the point of a referendum on this when we dont get to vote on more important issues from this one party government.What next we give the chief minister a knighthood.
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Why is no referendum being held on other more important issues like GST,Waterfront and plenty more…
The joys of living on this island..how about a referendum on keeping the current state members
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To be honest this makes absolutely no sense at all. For an island that is in line with the british crown, have british banks and obtain majority of imports from the UK this would put everything out of sync and probably cause more problems. Once everybody gets used to this ‘extra hour of sunlight’ it will be normal business as usual. Waste of time – maybe it was high time they sorted out the real important issues for the people of the island instead of moving hands around a clock!
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You would not think we are so close to France , looking at a few comments on this opinion, would you ? We should reflect our heritage and our proximity to our nearest neighbours. There are plenty of things we should have more of a relationship with France. Recycling, food, building materials, you name it. This is one thing i think will make us really be different from the mainland england,this will be good for tourism, and better for light in the evenings !!
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Do I get an extra hour in bed?
Seriously though it says a referendum but will go to the States anyway, who never listened to the public with GST etc…………..
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Unfortunatly we are part of the British Isles, We are linked to the UK, Our trade is done via the UK, Our defence is via the UK
The list goes on.
What advantage is there?
Also what ever we vote will not count.
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all very well but if england do not do the same
all tv radio and many other things the times
will be wrong and will be very hard for some
people to get time right i say leave it as it is
there is more pressing things than yhis
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i have a sneaking suspicion that the states of jersey are looking at converting to the euro. why else would they be banking so much money off of us in british banks and then change to the euro when the euro is strong and the pound is week, to gain mroe money again. a change to french time rather than english? maybe its another way of distancing ourselves from england and its problems more towards europe
as for teh time it doesnt bother me in the slightest. i dont watch alot of tv so i dont mind it being an hour out, and also, its nice that we would get lighter evenings to do things.
Maybe people shouldnt be so obssesed with the tv times being an hour out and pay more attention to the world around them and get some exercise!
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However, the peoples verdict will NOT be binding on states members.
This is not a referendum but a ploy to divert from the things that really matter…..
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i loved Ian’s comment “I think we should have a referendum to force Europe to change their clocks to our time, not the other way around. After all we won the war”. He is clearly out of touch, backward or over 70.
We should certainly vote ‘yes’ as there will be many social benefits and would not impact business – it would also be a boon to tourism and emphasise how different, unique and special we are from the UK. Bring it on!
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Not that any states members will listen to what the working class think anyway!!, but I think we need to stay in line with the UK, after all this is the BRITISH CHANNEL ISLANDS,we seem to worry more about France than the UK, and what have the French ever done for the C.I. It would make life very diffucult for Finance, but also flight connections, etc.
A lot of Jersey Residents also have family in
the UK and it is so much easier to be on the same time scale.
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This is a rediculous idea, as Jan & Nige say Great Britian is our protectorate, not France. This mean that we run off of British time! If we were part of France then maybe it might be acceptable, but we’re British, so it’s not!
Then there’s the Financial side, most companys in Jersey are linked with the ones in the UK, so bieng on a different time scale would be confusing.
I say we’re British, so we stay on British time!
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