From Michael Wood.
I WOULD like to hear the pros and cons of any debate on the advisability of the independence issue and then be asked to register my viewpoint in a referendum.

My father, Cyril, who was born and brought up in London and served as an officer in the British Army from 1939 to1946, after which he moved to Jersey, was a great supporter of independence back in the 1960s, before the finance industry was even started, and when the current lot of politicians and advisers were either in short pants or nappies, or yet to be born.

I am sure that the issues and personalities have moved on since then and they need to be expounded, but note that independence is not a new idea.

Senator Stuart Syvret (JEP, 1 July) appears to be taking the Mugabe approach of deciding how I will vote without bothering to either inform or consult. If anybody is behaving like an overgrown schoolboy, trying to drown out opposition, it is he. At least the Bailhaches have been careful to stress that they have looked only at the feasibility and not the desirability of independence.

These are yet early days and all sides will no doubt have plenty of opportunity to put their viewpoints forward and to win my vote with the cogency of their arguments. I use the word ‘all’ intentionally, because such an important issue must not be allowed to degenerate into a brawl between the Bailhaches and Senator Syvret. They are neither the only, nor perhaps the most important, informants that we need to hear on this matter.

My vote in any referendum will be decided at the ballot box, not assumed to be theirs for the taking by Senator Syvret or anybody else.
Le Rivage,
Les Ruisseaux,
St Brelade.