LOOKING back it seems so obvious now – I was wrong. Not just wrong, but thick, dumb and wholly incorrect.

Yes, it was wrong and stupid of me to try to give up smoking during a five-day States sitting.
I was foolish to even try it.

But let the record show that I came close. It was only after the two-day debate on GST exemptions, when I was struggling to describe how bad it was over a pint that I caved in.

It’s not the only error I’ve made recently – more on this later – but it’s the most obvious.

One of the more recent ones was my prediction that Deputy Carolyn Labey’s proposition would be approved, and that GST would come off food.

For what it’s worth, I’m sticking to the other end of that prediction – that after the elections the new House will do what this one so narrowly failed to do.

That’s partly because the margin – 25 for, 25 against – could not have been any closer. Which I guess leaves Health Minister Ben Shenton asking himself whether it was such a great idea to stand up and lay into the Constables for 20 minutes – when ten out of 11 subsequently voted against the proposal.

And it’s partly because although the coming elections have focused States Members’ minds on what they’re doing, they haven’t fully focused them on what the public want.

But the elections on 15 October and 26 November will do that. Part of the problem was that so much of the debate on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday was not really about GST on food.

It was about U-turns, electioneering, helping the rich, and, to a scary extent, it was about this week’s debate on the Le Fondré proposal to put the £4.8m from GST exemptions into Income Tax thresholds and benefits instead.

For Senator Mike Vibert and Deputy Peter Troy it was about how low a debate can go – their respective contributions included mature reflection on whether Senator Len Norman still played with colouring books, and the timeless political adage: ‘Who ate all the pies?’

And for Frank Walker, it was about some of these things, and a little something extra too.It was about resisting the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune – namely that ‘despite the suggestion by the ace reporter of the JEP, in no way do I consider this to be an embarrassing U-turn’.
Well, shucks, I’m still blushing.

Fortunately, Senator Walker was well rested for his speech in the debate – having grabbed 40 winks in the Chamber during Deputy Rob Duhamel’s speech the previous day.

And while he may not think it was an embarrassing U-turn, it was far from a unanimous position. One of his own Council of Ministers, Transport Minister Guy de Faye, certainly thought and said so, as did other Members you’d hardly class as anti-establishment firebrands like Deputy Le Fondré.

And Deputy Le Fondré’s proposition cast a shadow over the whole debate. It’s more than likely to go through this week – heard that one before? – mostly because it’s being debated after the GST proposal and it’ll have the support of the GST exemptions-crowd, who will want some protection built into the system this year.

But that doesn’t make it right – if the whole thrust of the Income Support changes were to provide an incentive to work, then why undercut it after less than a year with an attempt to expand benefits?

And does the idea of taxing people, then giving it back, really fit in with the ethos of the Council of Ministers/the States as a whole?

And will anyone provide an answer, a proper one, to the questions of how the money will get to an older generation who are often too proud to claim benefits?

Or a rebuttal to Senator Stuart Syvret’s excellent point that the total GST exemptions benefit to the rich would be less than £6 per year?

On to other mistakes I’ve made, and regret. I made reference to Deputy Jackie Hilton’s calling of a public meeting for St Helier No 3 over a planning application in a list of dubious electioneeringish things that had popped into the JEP Newsdesk over the course of a single week.

She’s told me since that she didn’t call the meeting – the residents did. I’m sorry about the mistake, and happy to correct it.

There’s still no challenger coming forward to stand against Treasury Minister Terry Le Sueur in the increasingly-dull race to be the next Chief Minister.

St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft dipped his toe into the water and didn’t like it and since then it’s been a bit quiet.

There was talk about Ben Shenton having a pop, but after he slated the Constables in the GST debate he’d be starting at around –11 when the States get round to voting on it.