AS I said to Herself as we looked through the list of those aspiring Senators, trying to forecast the result of this particular contest was a bit like trying to win a fortune on the pools — in the days when you could win a fortune on the pools — but a bit more difficult.

Perm any six from 21 is the phrase I’m probably looking for, and I daresay some bright spark with a degree in operating the electronic abacus will write in telling me the odds.

However, it’s early days yet, so it remains to be seen which of this rat-her large collection is going to grab the public’s imagination by lobbing out the greatest number of soundbites between now and polling day.

Take it from me, the reference to soundbites is a relevant one because with the best will in the world there must be several from this list who know full well that they haven’t a cat in hell’s chance of getting a seat on the Senatorial benches.

So in the course of the next month attendance and a platform in all 12 hustings meetings will ensure that some at least will not be as relatively unknown as they are now and may well have a head start in the elections for Deputies. And, for those to whom I refer, that is the object of the exercise.

No fewer than 13 of the 21 have no experience as a States Member. In language everyone will understand, they will even have to be shown where the toilets are, so heaven only knows how long it will take them to find their way around in terms of understanding procedure.

But, and I do not quarrel with this at all, it is everyone’s absolute right to stand providing there is no legal impediment stopping them, although the presence of so many on the platform means that once the Constables chairing the meetings have got them under starter’s orders, there’s going to be precious little time after each candidate has spoken for more than a couple of questions at most.

It will take someone a lot brighter than me to determine exactly how well the democratic process is actually served in these circumstances, but I am open to suggestions.

That’s also the case about who to vote for, because if I use my customary criteria about voting for Senators — certainly at first glance but there’s time for me to change my mind — then I’m going to be hard pressed to find six to vote for, never mind have to decide which six.

You see, the first question I ask myself is which of those on the ballot paper I feel is well equipped to fight this place’s corner in Whitehall. Given that the current Privy Councillor with responsibility for the good governance of these islands is Jack Straw, it’s going to have to be people who are prepared to stand up to him, because Mr Straw’s track record when it comes to respect for Jersey, its traditions and its relationship with the Crown — as distinct from the British government — leaves a good deal to be desired. Do you see what I mean?

ARE there those, like me, who are looking at the almost hour-ly bulletins telling the world just how precarious the banks and other institutions are and how vulnerable our savings can be?

Put bluntly, I was amazed that in a place dominated by a finance industry, where we are constantly told that whether we like it or not that industry is the bedrock of our entire economy, people elsewhere have greater protection for what they entrust to the banks than we do.

Quite frankly, the disclosure by the Citizens Advice Bureau’s Francis Le Gresley that Jersey residents could lose all their savings in a bank collapse is little short of disgraceful.

As I read that, I couldn’t help thinking that had the Halifax Bank of Scotland Group gone belly up last week, as did one of the large American institutions, instead of being taken over by Lloyds TSB, then where did that leave the comment of the secretary of the Jersey Bankers Association that ‘it would be wise for people to take precautions and ensure that their money is deposited in a reputable institution’?

I’m no expert on these matters — I don’t qualify as an expert on anything, although I do have a well documented affinity for Calvados — so until Lloyds TSB stepped in I’d certainly have thought that HBOS fell fairly and squarely into Mr Scriven’s ‘reputable’ classification.

I’m not saying now that it doesn’t, but I do wonder what might have happened if Lloyds TSB had not step-ped in. Martyn Scriven draws comfort from the fact that Jersey only allows banks from the top 500 into the Island. Given who might have qualified a month or so ago, I wish I could share his confidence.

Why can’t we insist that when one of these institutions is licensed to make money in Jersey — and make money they certainly do, or they wouldn’t come anywhere near us — they deposit a sizeable bond with our Treasury that could be used to safeguard the deposits of residents if their savings are under threat?

I say residents deliberately, as distinct from people who have money deposited in Jersey banks, for obvious reasons. We have little in the way of alternatives. They have plenty.

AND finally . . . I complain frequently about the galloping anglicisation that is destroying much of what makes this place just that little bit different. Now there’s creeping americanisation — which is even worse in that a height limit at the underground car park at the Waterfront is denoted in something called ‘meters’. I despair