I HOPE I’m not the only one to feel more than a tinge of pride at the contents of the recent letter from Mike and Pat Reynolds, who are on holiday in the Island with a group of 14 or so deaf people from the Midlands.

It seems that everywhere they went, our guests – for that is what they were – found Island residents, businesses and organisations who were willing to go that extra mile in what, after all, is our busiest tourism period of the year.
What a refreshing change from the sort of publicity we’ve been getting from the national and international news media for the last few months – publicity which, on occasions, has threatened to disappear completely from the screen of a truth and reality radar, should such a thing exist.
The welcome plaudits of Mr and Mrs Reynolds came, of course, in a week in which the erstwhile deputy chief officer of the States police allegedly told a national newspaper that an ‘old boy network’ was obstructing and hampering the child abuse inquiry he was leading until his retirement earlier this month.
It would be all too easy to dismiss Lenny Harper’s comments – in common with others from fairly predictable sources – as sour grapes or the whingeing of someone with a massive chip on his shoulder about this place.
That, I am afraid, will not do, and for one very simple reason: in the remarks attributed to him, Mr Harper said: ‘We are walking through treacle at the moment.
‘One file has been with the Attorney-General’s office since 29 April, and it’s still showing no signs of moving. It’s been very frustrating. I don’t think they are involved in abuse – it’s more like an old boy network.’
I know I’m only a simple country boy, and obviously not as brainy as the plethora of lawyers employed at the Crown Offices by that lot in the Big House, but it’s now the third week of August and, according to the remarks attributed to Mr Harper, one file – I presume that means all the papers relating to allegations against a suspect in this case – has been with the legal beagles since 29 April.
By any standards – and let’s not forget that we are talking about an issue which, rightly or wrongly, has received worldwide attention – that is an awfully long time.
Indeed, to a lay person like me it seems far too long, and I would hope that it seems the same to those of our elected representatives who seek a proper and just resolution to these important matters. As such, an explanation should be forthcoming. And if it isn’t, then it should be demanded. Any more of a delay appears, in the absence of a pretty good reason, totally unjustifiable.
MIND you, if other cases are anything to go by, the wheels of justice grind exceedingly slowly here, as we have seen in that dreadful case of a young girl being drugged and then having her hair and eyebrows shaved by a 12-year-old boy and three teenage girls.
That all happened on 30 September last year, and the case was not finally resolved until the four were placed on probation (two got community service in addition) by the Royal Court last week – a year less six weeks after the offences were committed.
I say nothing about the apparent laxity of the sentences (I’ve learned over the years that there are usually fairly good reasons why judges do what they do), but the fact that it has taken the better part of a year to get this matter through a police investigation and the legal process is, on the face of it, appalling.
It is unfair on everyone concerned – and I include the four accused – and does precious little to strengthen confidence in the whole legal system at a time when even that is under threat from outside interference.
WE have now all seen what will replace the old abattoir building, and a very pretty picture it makes, too. Unfortunately, there are pretty pictures by the hundred on boxes of chocolate – but once the goodies inside have been scoffed, what remains is often useless.
We are told that there will be up to five food and drink (including alcohol) outlets and as many as 15 shops, all in addition to the hundreds of similar premises which can be found within a mile of this site.
I have no doubt that it will look very nice, but the picture I am more interested in is that which will be taken of King Street, Queen Street and those thoroughfares running off them in five or ten years’ time. Will that area become a ghost town, as many believe, or will it adapt to changing circumstances, as indeed the whole of Jersey has had to do at frequent intervals over the centuries?
My support for the concept of a vibrant waterfront is well chronicled, and many’s the time I have expressed the wish to live long enough to see the whole shooting match from West Park to the Dicq developed to the advantage of this Island and its citizens.
However, shifting half a dozen junk jewellery shops and the like effectively from one side of the Esplanade to the other doesn’t match my vision of what this area should be.
 I can but hope that I’m wrong.
AND finally . . . the recent fires, including the one near Beauport last week in which firefighters removed a potentially explosive acetylene cylinder, serve as a timely reminder of the quality of our emergency services. When we moan about taxes, perhaps we should remember that.