From Alan West Gillham.
THE letter from Bruce Norrington (JEP, 6 April) more than adequately detailed the modus of currency hedging. It is now a question as to who was responsible for not doing so, not an inquiry to ensure it will never happen again.

If one were to heed the platitudes of Peter Body, the editor of Business Brief magazine, it should or could not possibly be the civil service being responsible, his inference being that it must be the political coterie.

In earlier letters to the JEP I have inquired of Mr Body’s business affinity. More strangely, the auditor general (for whom I have great respect) also inferred that the civil service could not be responsible for this enormous potential disaster, due to staffing problems.

I do so hope he has read Mr Norrington’s letter detailing its relative simplicity. It would be naive not to be mindful that such senior staff (following publication of their presidential salaries) may well have had personal property transactions, or some such, overseas, or at least discussed them.

As to individuals, I do not believe I have seen mention of the chief executive, Bill Ogley, attending Monday’s hearing.

Isn’t this a question of where the buck stops? Or is life in the public sector such an alien phenomenon? With the largest ever public contract being awarded in Jersey, it would be a question as to how often the CEO was not involved.

Regarding Saturday’s JEP headline ‘States staff numbers rise’, it’s certainly not surprising, especially in the Chief Minister’s office. I recall last year writing a letter to the JEP inquiring where so many of them were being accommodated.

Then, around Christmas time, there was an advert for two appointments, each at £200,000 pa, one of whom was designated for the Chief Minister’s office, as well as two ‘editor’ positions at the same emporium.

We have now learned how the accommodation pressure is to be eased. A Planning application has been made for the caretaker’s flat in Cyril Le Marquand House to be to be converted, unsurprisingly, into an extension for the Chief Minister’s office.

Parkinson’s Law, and its pyramidal effect on salary structures,
is in good health in this Channel Island.
7 La Ruelle Vaucluse Court,
St Helier.