HAVING had my knuckles rapped for daring to suggest that most young people are quite capable of differentiating between television fiction and what the police might show them in relation to real crimes of violence because they are not stupid, it was comforting to have my faith in the next generation confirmed last week.

It was the extremely constructive letter from 17-year-old Joe Mayes which did it. Although I hesitate to suggest some essential reading for that lot in the Big House – and particularly so at the time of the year when many of them are facing (probably with some dismay, for it is far from their customary reading material, I suspect) that Big Book which contains the
Budget details – I do hope some of them at least glance at young Mr Mayes’ suggestions.

I particularly commend his excellent suggestions to the Education Minister – whose name, sadly, escapes me for the moment, although Herself seems to think he hails from way out west – not forgetting, of course, his hired help at Empire Builders plc, otherwise known as the Education department.

Mr Mayes has been eligible to vote for a year and if the contents of his letter are anything to go by it suggests to me that he will perhaps give more thought to where he marks his cross on the ballot paper than, my experience suggests, do some of his fellow voters far older than he is.

He refers at some length to political apathy among his peers – take heart, young man, for that disease is common also among the generations to which your parents and grandparents belong – and suggests that the mention of the issues and personalities which currently feature in Island politics meet with shrugs of indifference among those peers.

Mr Mayes suggests as a start to remedial action something which I would have thought would have already been standard practice – bringing Jersey politics into the classroom by way of workshops at the start of each academic year.

This he argues – and this bolshie little crapaud is already convinced – would fill the void caused by a lack of appreciation (understanding might be a better descriptive term) of Jersey politics.

As he said in his letter – and my own contact with that age group, albeit more limited than his, confirms his assertion – there is no dearth of opinionated bright young minds in this Island. He concludes: ‘Give us that knowledge in the classroom and watch youth voting turnout grow.’

In looking back I can identify two factors which contributed greatly to my own interest in Island politics. The first was this newspaper and its importance in the life of our family.

It used to come through the letterbox at teatime and while there was often a race between me and my sister to retrieve it from the mat in the hall, we both knew that it first had to be handed to our father.

After that my mother used to read it and only then were we permitted to look at it – sometimes both together as we spread it out on the rug in front of the fireplace and took it in turns to read the large pages.

It was something that, because of the fact that it was eagerly awaited by our parents, was deemed to be an important feature in family life. These days, sadly, there are perhaps too many distractions, not to mention the fact that many parents do not see that it is – or should be, in common with radio and television news programmes – part of the process of
education.

The second factor was the debating society or club – I can’t remember precisely what it was called. The first debate I was taken to took place when I was a teenager and I have a feeling that it may well have been about whether conscription for two years’ National Service in the Armed Forces should apply compulsorily to young people of my age from Jersey, as it did in those days to our peers in the United Kingdom.

I remember nothing of the discussion other than the extremely civilised – but nonetheless very clever – way it was conducted. No names were ever mentioned and it used to be stressed that the speakers did not necessarily hold the views they expressed.

Speeches were limited in length and time was allowed for members of the audience to contribute before a vote was taken – for or against the motion.
I went to several after that and from memory all related to issues of the moment – mostly local ones but sometimes national and even
international. Not surprisingly, some of the speakers were or went on to be politicians.

I wonder if the many and varied distractions of today prohibit the resurrection of such a body?

Still on the subject of young people, I have to say that I was impressed by last week’s comments by Scrutiny panel chairman Trevor Pitman on the suspension policy in relation to ‘problem’ pupils in secondary schools.

Reading both the reports of the panel meetings and Deputy Pitman’s later and lengthier question and answer session, it struck me that this was precisely the sort of issue and approach envisaged when the concept of Scrutiny panel was introduced.

And finally … I suppose it really is too much to hope that a certain warrant for the arrest of a certain person will not be executed unless or until that person sets foot in the Island and that the Jersey authorities do not trouble the Metropolitan Police – or any other police force – by adding unnecessarily to their already onerous workload.

That way we will be spared the trouble and expense of a Stalinist show trial and our 52 States Members will be able to represent the interests of residents unhindered by unnecessary distractions.