From Derek Bernard.
IT is commonplace for States Members, journalists and members of the public, when being critical about the performance of our government and local organisations, to claim that we have much to learn from big organisations like the UK government, the EU, or the UN.

While it is certainly true that we need to strive to be open to criticism and to analyse and, where appropriate, adopt improved procedures, wherever they may come from, I am a deep sceptic of the likely benefits of copying Big Government. They probably do do some things well, but finding the pearls through the layers of bureaucracy, political correctness, corruption and incompetence is not easy.

As we rapidly approach the departure of the Jersey team for the NatWest Island Games in Aland, a comparison between the Island Games and the Olympics may help to make the point.
Aland consists of about 25,000 people clinging to 6,000 bits of rock (about 100 inhabited) in the northern Baltic, between Sweden and Finland. They have been self-governing for about 90 years, but ultimate sovereignty belongs to Finland, although they all speak Swedish.

To the small communities that host the Island Games, the Games are significantly more important, in both cultural and sporting terms, while being hugely more cost-effective, than the Olympics are to the big cities and countries that host them.

Aland will welcome 3,000 competitors, swelling their population by over 12 per cent. When London hosts the 2012 Olympics the population will increase by about 10,000 competitors, or 0.015 per cent. So the competitor impact on Aland will be about 1,000 times higher.

But the effect of Big Government is, as always, stunning to the point of incomprehension. An Island Games host community will probably spend between £1m and £2m and invariably leaves a terrific long-term legacy of improved sports facilities and stronger sports administration.

By contrast, the big countries will spend many billions (Beijing £20bn, London £9bn for about three times as many competitors. And, in the case of London, will cheerfully displace hundreds of people and spend £50m on a new shooting facility at Woolwich and then destroy it as soon as the Olympics are over, rather than invest a lesser amount on legacy facilities at Bisley.

As with the dinosaurs, size is not an accurate predicator of sensible behaviour!
Chalet Abaco,
Green Road,
St Clement.