Senator’s poison is making Island politics
Saturday 18th April 2009, 2:58PM BST.
From John Henwood.
AN e-mail from Senator Syvret to the Attorney General, copied to all States Members, is in circulation among members of the public, as Senator Syvret undoubtedly knew it would be.
Noting that Mr Bailhache has wisely declined to comment, the majority, who will not see the e-mail, will not know the depths to which Senator Syvret is descending in his attempts to damage those who do not share his singular, and many would say distorted, perspective.
I would like to illustrate this point but cannot, because to quote from the e-mail would make me, and this newspaper, as guilty of defamation as Senator Syvret. Suffice it to say that the words and the wild allegations would shock most reasonable-thinking people.
It appears that the Senator is escalating the use of damaging abuse in his attempts to achieve – what exactly? He seems to be at the epicentre of the poison that is making political life in Jersey sick.
The problem is that poison spreads if not checked, and an antidote is urgently required.
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What should shock most reasonable thinking person Mr Henwood, is the trampling of civil liberties and the complete lack of integrity in public office in Jersey.
Only Senator Syvret seems to be prepared to challenge this.
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Perhaps the antidote we all need is a little more honesty, and a little less of shooting the messenger.
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By writing this letter all you have done is to ensure the majority get around to finding out what all this is about. May I congratulate you on a marvellous bit of advertising.
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Thankyou for bringing that scurrilous email to our attention, Mr Henwood. I went and looked for it on his blog and I must say I was shocked.
I’m looking forwards to the day when Mr Syvret has to defend all those wild allegations in court. No doubt he will say he has the evidence to back them up.
Well, now that the police have taken away all that evidence, at least they will be able to say whether that is true.
I don’t know much about the law but it probably means that Mr Syvret can now say that he can’t defend himself because the police have stolen all his evidence, so they may have helped to get him off the hook.
I hope not because it is just not right that anyone can go around making allegations against senior figures on the island and nobody does anything about it.
If he said that about me, I’d punch him on the nose. But then, I would probably be the one to get arrested! Madness!
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I have disagreed with John Henwood in the past but his letter like Richard Farnham’s previously is spot on.
Bully boy tactics and unsubstantiated allegations have no place in a civilised society,
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Spot on Sally – totally agree.
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Well written letter Mr Henwood, thank you.
And Adrian – the more people that become aware of Senator Syvret’s blog the better. I know people who logged on for the first time over the weekend and were appalled at the tone and content of the e-mail sent to the AG. The more people who read Senator Syvret’s blog, the more chance there is of the population realising that he is an aggressive, rude, ignorant bully.
And Sally – we need our messengers to be honest and intelligent and kind and wise and sympathetic. I honestly believe Senator Syvret has none of those qualities.
As someone else on this site has said, his e-mail to the AG has created a sea-change in people’s thinking, no elected politician should use language or tone like that. The messenger has well and truly shot himself in the foot.
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Look. Regardless of Senator Syvret’s actions or words, he is an elected member of the States and like it or not, he’s entitled to his point of view and opinion. His performance at the polls would suggest his views seem to resonate with a large portion of the voting populous. I don’t agree with 99% of what he says, but I absolutely agree with his right to say it.
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In reply to John Henwoods comments 18th April.Yes the poison has spread and that is why Senator Syvret is the only one doing something about it!
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Dompycat………i agree he has the right to say it, but it’s how he says it. He’s actually bullying and abusive, which is a sad irony bearing in mind what he purports to stand for. That is what is alienating people now. He still has a small band of loyal supporters, but he is nowhere near his voting mass appeal of 1999 and 2005.
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Betty, you say that Syvret has a ‘small band of loyal supporters’. Do you have any figures to support this assertion or did you just make it up? Have you counted them? Has there been a poll? Is there a list of Syvret Club members somewhere?
I thought not.
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l disagree with the letter. it is because our government seek to hide all is the reason that comments appear to be unbalanced.what is surprising is the number of comments by astute people who ignor the latter.
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