THE sudden resignation this week of Home Affairs Minister Wendy Kinnard asks far more questions than it actually answers.

With only six weeks to go in her role as minister, Senator Kinnard resigned ‘on a matter of moral conscience and principle’.

It still remains, though, somewhat unclear what this matter was. Ostensibly it surrounds a proposal regarding the advice that judges are instructed to give to juries, but, with the best will in the world, without an explanation as to why this issue would cause her resignation — and so suddenly — all it really does is prompt you to scratch your head and ask why.  All right, so the instructions to juries by judges are an extremely important topic . . . but is it really one worth resigning over?

Maybe, as these things tend to do, all will become clear in time, but at the moment it is bizarre, in the extreme, to have a situation in which a minister of the States whose remit covers a large and vital area of public life can resign with such speed without other Members having the chance at the very least to ask why.

Steady on, there…Harcourt are jumping the gun at Esplanade Quarter

DOES anyone else get the impression that Harcourt are jumping the gun in terms of their involvement with the proposed Esplanade Quarter? The group are either supremely organised, and are just checking that all will be in place if and when they get the contract to do some work, or they are confident that, despite all the recent discussions about their suitability for the work and the court case currently unfolding in Dublin, they will be awarded the local contract.

They have apparently approached the Jersey Hospitality Association in an effort to ensure that there will be somewhere for their workers to stay once they are here.

That does seem a little bit forward at this stage of the relationship. After all, we are not even past the stage of giggling at each other’s jokes and blushing when inadvertent physical contact is made. Certainly no one is ready for a second date yet, especially while there is a court case taking up the company’s time in Dublin.

Indeed, Jersey could be forgiven for taking fright and getting cold feet in the face of Harcourt’s apparent desire to get the preliminaries over, move in, put its slippers by the fire and demand its dinner.

The JHA newsletter has stated that the company could be aiming to house up to 500 construction workers when they begin work on Esplanade Quarter. It is not really even the fact that the company are asking the question that rankled but more the certainty of tone the article uses.

‘We agreed to assist Harcourt with accommodation requirements for construction personnel who will be working on the future development of Esplanade Quarter. It is anticipated that there will be approximately 500 construction personnel coming to the Island,’ states the article.

It is that word ‘will’ that is troublesome. It may well be that private assurances have been made (let’s hope not) or that Harcourt getting the deal is a dead cert, but no one has yet signed on any dotted line. Given the economic circumstances that are likely to prevail in the coming years, assurances need to be made to local contractors that they are going to get first dibs on any work that is planned. This is not, let’s face it, the impression given so far.

A diploma for WEB in putting backs up

IS there a course being run in and around the States building entitled ‘How to get the message completely wrong and put people’s backs up’?

If the latest round of Waterfront Enterprise Board nominations are anything to go by, quite a few people seem to have been on the course and taken it to heart. Some current members of WEB apparently threatened to resign if Grouville Constable Dan Murphy was nominated on to the board.

The reason, admittedly according to Mr Murphy, is that he has previously criticised the board in the States during the debates over the Harcourt deal. This is not a good reason to exclude him, and indeed it is rather the opposite. One of the most enduring criticisms of WEB, whether fair or not, has been its apparent lack of accountability. This is hardly the best way to prove this not to be the case.

To be honest, who would want to be favoured candidate Deputy Ben Fox? Being labelled the ‘safe option’ in these circumstances is hardly a compliment.