From Dave Le Peurian.
I WRITE with reference to Roger Bale’s letters concerning a move to Central European Time.

Ah yes, driving to work or going to school with CET means it will be darker for longer in the mornings than it currently is with GMT. Think of all the kids going to school, either walking or on their bikes.

I see many kids in the evenings walking or cycling without any lights or reflective clothing, and if this is anything to go by then accidents would no doubt rise as a result of darker mornings, when there is more traffic on the roads. But we will have to wait for the States on that one.

But watching News at Ten at 11? And what about our precious finance industry? This would mean that we are not on the same time zone as London (which, as far as I am aware, is a slightly bigger player in the finance world than Jersey – but maybe one or two of our local politicians and their egos think that Jersey’s finance industry is larger than London’s).

Now I realise that we can’t be in the same time zone as all the major finance centres, but I would have thought that keeping in with the nearest and, more importantly, largest one to us, and the one to which we have more business connections, would make more sense.

But then, when did Jersey politicians ever do anything that made any sense? And I don’t really think that we can use the ‘holiday destination’ card as justifying a move to CET. The cost of coming to and staying on holiday in Jersey is not as attractive as it used to be, especially when you see the sort of holiday destinations that are available direct from the UK at a fraction of the cost of a stay in Jersey.

I don’t think that the fact that we will be on CET will really make us any more appealing.
Eastleigh,
Jardin du Couvent,
St Mary.