From Daren O’Toole.
During the GST debates last year I took the opportunity to sit in the public gallery to observe proceedings.

At the time I was struck by how much like a schoolroom the whole process is. First of all, everyone rises as the teacher enters; prayers and the calling of the register then follow.

What the public at large don’t see is the almost constant note-passing that goes on. I’d love to put a pedometer on the poor usher to see how many miles he walks during a sitting, taking notes from one member to another.

Then there’s the sweets, which are passed around with almost as much frequency as the notes. (Senator Ferguson’s seem to be particularly favoured.)

And of course the bowing, from Constable Gallichan’s dainty little bob to the sweeping curtsy of the young lady from the Greffe. Special mention should also go to Deputy Power’s, a bow that any Japanese Emperor would be proud to be on the receiving end of.

Unfortunately I missed all the fun and games of last week, with accusations and denials of name-calling etc by Senators Syvret and Perchard, and the quite unwarranted attack on Senator Le Main by the Deputies Pitman. (Are there no depths to which the JDA will not sink?)

We are going into what looks to be a quite nasty recession. Would it not be better if our elected representatives grew up and stopped behaving like a bunch of adolescents and concentrated their efforts on that instead?
1 Westmount Park,
St Helier.