No extra day off for Liberation Day
Wednesday 3rd February 2010, 2:58PM GMT.
Islanders packed Liberation Square last year for the Liberation Day service of thanksgiving and re-enactment ceremony
ISLANDERS will not get an extra day off to make up for Liberation Day falling on a Sunday this year.
States Members voted yesterday by 27 votes to 22 to reject ministerial plans to replace the holiday with an extra day off for workers on Monday 10 May.
The vote means a £1.5m saving for the States and a bigger saving for businesses, but it means an extra day at work for many Islanders.
Acting Chief Minister Philip Ozouf – standing in for Senator Terry Le Sueur, who is at a prayer breakfast event in Washington DC – took the proposal to the States, saying that it had the backing of the States Employment Board and the Council of Ministers.
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What a surprise, yet another way for the states to screw the people of Jersey!
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Is this a statutory holiday? No.
Are we technically having an ‘extra’ day at work? No.
Does it stop people from celebrating Liberation Day? No.
Would it cost the tax payer £1.5 million? Yes
Two sensible votes in two weeks… Yes!
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Liberation Day is 9th May – it is a specific day that is engrained in the hearts of Islanders. It is not the 10th May or the second Monday in May, it is not a Bank Holiday, it is Liberation Day. All celebrations this year are being held on the 9th – never before have we treated the day as simply an excuse for a day off. Liberation Day is the 9th and special, although I doubt newcomers will fully understand.
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join my facebook group against this decision – Group name : “make may 10 a bank holiday”
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Typical! Jersey misses out yet Guernsey don’t. Should be one rule for everybody.
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What on Earth is a ‘prayer breakfast event’? In what context is it more important than running the Island?
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Hope Tez is praying for divine guidance – he can do with it!!!
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I can feel a duvet day coming on…….
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If American Independence day falls on a Saturday, then the Friday is a holiday and if it falls on a Sunday then the Monday is taken off. Just a thought . . .
. . .would have been nice though!
PS – will be interesting to see how many extra ‘sickies’ there are after a day on the ‘pop’!
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Surprise surprise, another kick in the teeth for hard working residents of this Island.
Its probably their sly way so not to miss out on the cash for parking fees that day….!!!!!
Im sick to death of their bad decisions on things.
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6 you are right where is our Terry!!!! absent at a crucial moment again.
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May 9th is the day for remembrance, not for celebrations.
Guernsey was liberated a day earlier, so their day comes on a Saturday.
I doubt there are many working today who were there during the war.
Those of us who were, just want to get on with what is left of our lives
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disgusting this should be a day that is marked with respect for all those that died or suffered. Our children and their children should learn about this time its part of our heritage which the states are trying to get rid off surprise surprise well done James (4) good luck I will be joining it but unfortunately i fear the states wont listen yet again !!!!!
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No surprises here, Jersey don’t look after their people but Guernsey do! Thanks Jersey, another great decision that makes your people rate what you do, NOT !!!!
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I cannot see what the fuss is about! May 9th IS Liberation Day. The former Senator Shenton fought very hard to ensure that Liberation Day was celebrated only on Liberation Day! An extra day off may be fine but who will celebrate what? We still have Saturday 8th to add to the celebration. Am I getting cynical or do people simply want time off work? Lots of firms allow staff to take off all or part of Battle of Flowers Day/ Battle of Britain but I wonder how many people go to the event or just use it as an excuse for jolly?
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Sign the petition on Facebook!!! “Power to the people”, not Jersey’s 21st Century Dictators!!
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Just who does Terry Le Sueur think he is,a prayer breakfast in Washington….the phrase fiddling whilst Rome burns comes readily to mind…just spent more of our tax quids on a private chartered jet to the Paris boat show ,now a schmooze session in DC.is there no end to this kind of disregard and arrogance..only if we kick ‘em out.. all at our expense,I’m sick to death of these people taking the p*** out of the hard working people of this island..prayer breakfast indeed.If you want statesman like privileges ,then let’s be having some proper adult statesman like behaviour,instead of this crass shoulder rubbing jaunt…sickening.
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“it is a specific day that is engrained in the hearts of Islanders” – true enough, and if there were more than a handful of true Islanders left in Jersey then it would be worth making it an official holiday. However, I would estimate that less than 5% of the working population could claim heritage as far back as 1945 and as such would just view it as another free holiday without giving a monkeys as to the significance of this event.
Whilst I would certainly be happy to have an extra day off with the family – and perhaps even visit my grandparents who were here during the occupation – I do feel that logically the States have made the correct decision.
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Perhaps we will all get a day to celebrate once the States make a decision that pleases Joe public for a change!
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I just don’t understand some of you lot!! You moan when the States make bad decisions (in your eyes), then when they decide something that makes a £1.5 million saving…..you still moan!!!
2,3 & 15 – spot on, I agree. I managed to get it and I AM a newcomer.
Oh and by the way, another crap piece of journalism from the JEP. Ozouf is the deputy CM, which means he deputises from time to time. What is the relevance of TLS being at a prayer breakfast (a what??) other than to invite ridicule and negative comments??? Honestly, grow up and write something sensible, or go and work for the Sun!!!
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Liberation Day is more important than Christmas Day and Boxing Day! At least it has more relevance to us as Islanders! We may have lost a loved one or a friend! We do not celebrate this with cards and presents and at least the people who lived through it were real!
Let’s have a Bank Holiday and come together as a community! We are only here for a short time!!!
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6.7 The DC prayer breakfast is just a cover. He really is at Disneyland getting advice from Mickey Mouse on how to run the COM
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I’m no supporter of Terry but wouldn’t knock him for going to the meeting, looks like the thing he should be at – try googling it. The US President is due to address it and it looks like its full of all sorts of people to influence in US and international politics.
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.
It is amazing that Guernsey will have a Bank Holiday on 10 May but Jersey will not. Both Belgium and France recognise their liberation from Nazi occupation with public holidays, yet 27 States members do not wish the same for Jersey’s celebration of the landmark 65 th anniversary.
I have today spoken to a number of people on the Island on this issue and I have been told that that there has been some pressure from the corporate world in Jersey to prevent an additional bank holiday by some accounts the States will save £1.5m and obviously the corporate world maintain will save much more if there is not an additional Bank Holiday this year.
This is an issue of culture, heritage and pride. Whilst most Jersey people are dependent on huge corporate organisations in order to earn a living there comes a point when principle should override commercial concerns; if indeed there are in realty any significant negative influences. Personally I doubt that the net cost of a Liberation Bank Holiday to Jersey’s economy would be that great. Economic research proves that planned shut down days cost very in little in actuality.
What is paramount in this matter is the fact that the occupation of Jersey by Nazi Germany is one of, if not the most significant event in the Island’s long history. To celebrate the event with a public holiday is surely right and proper and a tribute to the suffering of Islanders of the five years of oppressive rule by the most evil power known in Europe.
There is much debate as to the fact that the actual liberation took place on the 9 May 1945, which this year falls on a Sunday.
Whilst this is technically true the surrender of Germany forces came into effect at 12 midnight on the 8 May – the Germans did not relinquish actual control until 5 pm on the evening of the 9th and other than a small token British Army presence from one landing craft – the Island was not in actuality properly liberated until Saturday 12 May 1945 when Brigadier Snow’s troops landed in considerable forced on the beach opposite the Grand Hotel and effectively re-occupied the Island. Full Jersey civilian authority was then reinstalled.
The Liberation of Jersey was a prolonged process – thus a prolonged celebration of the Liberation in Jersey, as it will be in Guernsey, for this years 65 anniversary would be entirely correct and fitting.
Peter Troy St Saviours Jersey CI
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Prayer Meeting (via wikkipedia)
It is designed to be a forum for political, social and business leaders of the world to assemble together and build relationships which might not otherwise be possible. (“[T]he breakfast is regarded by the Family as merely a tool in a larger purpose: to recruit the powerful attendees into smaller, more frequent prayer meetings, where they can ‘meet Jesus man to man.’”[2]) Since the inception of the National Prayer Breakfast, several U.S. states and cities and other countries have established their own annual prayer breakfast events.
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For those harping on about saving the economy £1.5 million….absolute tosh!!
Every other Liberation Day which has fallen on a working day has not been an issue. In fact, many financial institutions do not close because the global markets are still open and therefore give staff the option of a “day in lieu” for working on Liberation day.
Why is this one so different just because it falls on a Sunday?
I seem to recall getting the Monday off last year when it fell on a Saturday so please get some real plans in place instead of making up the rules year by year!
It’s a joke!
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Welcome to capitalism!We are robots and you must work!!How about a swap/deal?
You must all work Christmas day 25th December and have May the 10th off instead.! LOL…
Simples!!
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22 Against!! tight gits!!!bet them 22 wont be at work that day….sorry correct that politians don,t work do they?…….at all?
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What was the quote from Len Norman…”I have detected no public appetite for an extra day of for Liberation day” ????? Are you for real, why wouldn’t people want an extra day off?? Just shows how out of touch these clowns are with public opinion.
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Hope you get it off also guys and gals.
Power to the people.
Rally in Royal Square during next States meeting and don’t let them out of the building until they grant you the day off.
Go for it !
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One could point out that not one member of Jersey’s establishment suffered deportation to a prison camp during the war.
Plenty of ordinary islanders were deported and some died in the camps.
But that does not seem to bother the people who now run the island!
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If I still lived in Jersey I would probably be fed up that I was not going to get an extra day off but the fact remains that Liberation Day is May 9th and people who were involved at the time celebrate on that day and that day only.My late mother loved her special day and May 9th was the only day she would celebrate the Liberation-not the day after if it fell on a weekend!She worked well in to her seventies and would most definitely not want to have worked on the day itself but would most probably have booked herself a legitimate days holiday rather then moan on about it!
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Liberation Day is 9th May, 75 years ago, I think it is time to move on, think of to-day and to-morrow, leave yesterday to the dreamers, and wingers.
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Why don’t those people that want a day off work to celebrate an annerversary the day after it happens just book it with their employers?
Quite why anybody feels they’re missing out on being able to celebrate (unless they’re working that Sunday) is beyond me; seems to be complaints based on just wanting a day off work, nothing to do with the reason for the celebration.
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With regard to my first comment, America is a democracy unlike Jersey which is a dictatorship!
‘You naughty citizens will do what you are told, the States know best!’
Probably. . .
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Truthseeker #17
You and others have failed to grasp that one of the core roles of being Chief Minister is to promote and encourage business to the Island. Don’t you think after all the recent and unwarranted pressure the Island has faced from the international community his time is best spent building relationships with that community? Don’t you think the cost of his travel is insignificant to the potential business his visits can attract? If you were Chief Minister would you be arrogant and so short sighted to think the world will come to you? So what if he missed a pointless debate about a holiday that is already prescribed by law; i.e. if it falls on a Sunday no extra day is given end of.
G #12
Couldn’t agree more. Seems like some people are only interested in a day off rather than what the day itself represents, especially that distasteful facebook campaign.
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To 33. Bridget. It was 65 years ago.
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J Lamborarri et al
I wonder. Would your attitudes change if the powers that be decided Christmas, Boxing Day, New Year and other public holidays which fall on a weekend did not have the following Monday off???
Hmmmm…….I bet you would not like that!
It should be a public holiday every year to remember those who sacrificed and suffered for our freedom.
Incidentally, what public celebrations are the states organising this year for the populace on this important “local” occasion.
Remember, this is Jersey’s Day. Nearly every other nation has it’s own day to celebrate (St Patricks, St Andrews anyone?)
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Whatever days are holidays, it is an important part of the Island, and those of us in exile. I’ll be over with my son, so he can learn his background. Looking forward to it. If you see an english rgisterd WW2 Dodge, driver with a wide smile, that’s me!
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@ mistershifter #9
“If American Independence day falls on a Saturday, then the Friday is a holiday and if it falls on a Sunday then the Monday is taken off. Just a thought…”
Remind how many days statutory holidays an American employee is given… oh yes, none.
Shall we adopt their minimum wage of £4.57 too?
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Shame! I wanted an extra day on the p***
Monday club anyone?
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When it was proposed in the UK that there should be an additional May Bank Holiday at the begining of May, there was a suggestion that the island adoopts this new Bank Holiday as their Liberation Day.
Of course this would have been unacceptable, and thus we got the benefit of the extra May Bank Holiday and Liberation Day, subject to the latter not falling on a weekend.
I was 9 when the islands celebrated the 25 anniversary of liberation, and my family spent much of the day with a delightful Jersey couple who had lived through the occupation. It was a day of celebration, and fireworks in the evening. I personally feel that as this is the 65th anniversary, and with the passage of time, thouse how lived through the occupation get fewer and fewer, the States should have made the 10th a Bank Holiday, allowing time for reflection on the 9th, with the opportunity to party on the 10th. With the occupartion and heritage sites open for visitoirs, it could have been a weekend to attract visitors. Alas, the powers that be have missed the opportunity.
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Treating the public who pay their wages with utter contempt will do them no favours.
It should be given on Monday like it always has been in the past.
What a joke all those fighting for freedom in the past,has had their freedoms curtailed by these penny-pinching politicians.
1 day a year to celebrate liberation is a kick in the teeth for the working class.
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@ BS Deluxe #35
“…Hmmmm…….I bet you would not like that!…”
You lose, it wouldn’t bother me at all. Christmas Day is the only day I’ve never worked, and only because I’ve never had a job that would let me; one year there was talk of my firm working, and I put my name forward, but in the end the need didn’t arise.
“…It should be a public holiday every year to remember those who sacrificed and suffered for our freedom…”
It is a Public holiday every year isn’t it? just not always on a week day.
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Warren J 42
Well said. It is indeed a lost opportunity to encourage visitors to celebrate our history.
It’s a shame when you consider a non-historical event (in terms of global importance) such as Battle of Flowers is often granted the afternoon off work (or time in lieu for most banks).
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I admit that I would like an extra day off, and I’m ever so slightly cheesed off that we’re not having one. Are you teacher’s pets that don’t want an extra day off really ecstatic about working on the Monday?
£1.5 million saved eh? Do the States want to publish all the amounts of money they’ve wasted as well whilst they’re showing off about this? Nah, didn’t think so.
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Those who doen’t look back and learn from history are destined to repeat it.
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@ bella #43
“…It should be given on Monday like it always has been in the past…”
Has it been a holiday on the following Monday in previous years bella? I don’t recall it being so.
“…1 day a year to celebrate liberation is a kick in the teeth for the working class…”
Who many days a year do you think should be given bella?
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The difference with American Independence day and Jersey’s liberation day is, America fought for its independence whilst Jersey waited to be rescued! Does that really deserve a day off?
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J Lamborarri 44
“It is a Public holiday every year isn’t it? just not always on a week day.”
Technically this is untrue (except for the few pure local companies perhaps). On the otherhand nearly every other business is non-local and so does not recognise the holiday as much (especially in finance when the rest of the world is still open for business). Although, in fairness, my employers have often asked for a “skeletal” staff and offered time in lieu to those that have worked.
Why can’t the States just make a decision once and for all to make it a permanent Public Holiday (for everyone) every year, including the following Monday if it falls on a weekend, instead of making a different decision each time.
Last year: May 9th was Saturday and we had Monday off.
This Year: May 9th is Sunday but no Monday off.
In my opinion inconsistency is a form of incompetence!
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Some of us on the other rock aren’t so keen on May 10th being a public holiday. As per usual it’s bound to turn into an excuse for all our chavs (we call them kevs) to hit the streets, get plastered and inflict grief on the rest of us. I think I’ll be taking a Condor day trip to Jersey myself
a) to escape the chavfest
b) to gloat at you lot
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Ouch 49
Ridiculous comment!
J Lamborarri 48
“@ bella #43
“…It should be given on Monday like it always has been in the past…”
Has it been a holiday on the following Monday in previous years bella? I don’t recall it being so.”
Last year it fell on a Saturday and we had the Monday off work.
Also, according to JACS:
“The Public Holidays and Bank Holidays (Jersey) Act 1952 states that Liberation Day is observed as a Public Holiday if it falls on a weekday. Previous legal advice, given almost 30 years ago, was that Saturday constituted a weekday. This advice has recently been re-confirmed (February 2009). Saturday May 9th is, therefore, a Public Holiday and any employee who works on that day is entitled to an alternative day off in lieu.”
It’s not like you to have a short memory
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J Lamborarri
I do apologise…perhaps its me with the short memory
I was confusing a day in lieu with having the following Monday off…..doh!
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Guernsey know how to look after their workers…
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Why don’t you local yokels remember ‘surrender day’?
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John Rambo
Posted February 4, 2010 at 10:57 am To 33. Bridget. It was 65 years ago.
Sorry John Rambo, As an 85 year old I sometimes get some things wrong, It WAS 65 years ago, so time for us to move on.
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To all those comments about waiting to be rescued… you are very rude and disrespectful…. I am guessing you can’t trace your family history in Jersey further back than 10 years, however, members of my family lived through the occupation and comments like that are unacceptable! Have you forgotten that there are still people alive today who were affected… You should be ashamed. You should respect the Island you live in and more than likely call home.
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The National Prayer Breakfast is organized by The Fellowship Foundation, a conservative Christian organization more widely known as “The Family.”
The breakfast is regarded by the Family as “merely a tool in a larger purpose: to recruit the powerful attendees into smaller, more frequent prayer meetings, where they can ‘meet Jesus man to man.’”
Can someone tell me;
a) is the taxpayer is funding Terry’s attendance at this cult gathering?
b) if he is attending it in a private capacity, why is he doing it in our time rather than his own?
c) will he really meet Jesus ‘man to man’?
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Liberation day is the 9th not the 10th tough
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Dont worry, il cover the cost of 1.5 mil tax payers money! Although im not sure why it cost 1.5 mil?
Its the fact i dont want to work! is that so wrong?
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Two points:
Firstly anyone alive during the occupation will now be at least approaching their 65th birthday so almost certainly retired so will have the day off anyway.
Secondly it should be the liberators who get the day off and be fated by the locals for their deliverance
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@ JP Special # 60
“…Its the fact i dont want to work! is that so wrong?”
No there’s nothing wrong with that. But you don’t HAVE to work, so take the day off if you want to.
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Thanks force 135 for liberating us……There’s a boat leaving in the morning…..
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As usual,The States decide what the people of Jersey want without asking the voters first.
It is a disgrace.A few years down the line, they will take it away all together then it will all be forgotten.They should remember that people died for our freedom and have some respect!
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I guess my Guernsey colleagues will be rather amused that their incoming calls for May 10th will be diverted to us here in Jersey !!
Of course we don’t mind at all…..
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A. Mackenzie #64
It’s comments like yours that make me glad the States don’t ask the ‘publics’ opinion. For a start off the States haven’t taken anything away from you, certainly not Liberation Day which as far as I’m aware can still celebrated on 9th May without having 10th May off.
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I don’t always agree with the states but on this occasion I do. Liberation day is the 9th May, not the 10th or the 8th. It is not a bank holiday, it is our day. That it falls on a Sunday is neither here nor there. My view is that people are just looking for another day off rather than what Liberation day is actually about. They will next be saying that they want the Tuesday off when it falls on the Monday? The main problem is that there are not to many Jersey people left that appreciate liberation day for what it is just many others who want an extra day off.
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I can’t wait for the suggestion that we make this retrospective and have a Monday off for every time it has fallen on a Sunday in the last 65 years. Would this satisfy the workshy?
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Liberation day is a significant day where many people should be remembered on that day for what they all sacrificed for us, here living today, we should remember them and respect them as they so highly deserve to be,but if no day extra should be given then why should we have extra at christmas time when this may so happen, like last year to fall over a weekend, no days there then should be allowed.
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People don’t seem to understand the economic fix the island is in. We are facing huge rises in GST and other taxation; people are losing their jobs and yet some people are clamering for an extra days holiday becayse a public holiday happens to fall on a non-working day for the majority of the working population.
Be careful what you wish for. Every day may soon be a holiday for many. Especially if the Unions don’t wake up and face the reality that those in the private sector have had to face. A pay rise? It has been so many years since I last had one I can’t remember what one is.
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@ 70
So why tell me are the USA having Monday the 5th off as their Independence Day falls on Sunday the 4th? A huge country like that can enjoy an extra day to celebrate but a dot in the sea ie Jersey can’t??? It doesn’t add up. There is no recession here in Jersey!! One day off is not gonna kill anyone! We should be remembering the people that did died during those 5 long years here 65 years ago!!!!
What about the people that are working hard on the 9th making all the celebrations run smoothly? Shouldn’t they have a break too? It all comes down to money and I believe the decision’s that were made by those 27 States members where either based on pressure from this tight, greedy financial world Jersey has grown into or from personal gain from certain members who have financial gain from everyone being at work for one more day!!
This island is a joke and run by out of date and out of touch Muppets…… Just you wait you 27 who voted against…… we have the list and we will vote with our feet…… Despicable and they should feel totally ashamed
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joker#66
read Peter#71 comments.say no more…
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I will be speaking to my States representitive to get this overturned. A day off is a day off regardless of where it falls in the week or weekend as far as I am concerned.
9 special days off every year should mean 9 days off not 9 some years and 8 others years. This is plain daft and needs addressing or else people are going to lose out yet again.
People have had a rough ride over this last year, it is about time they were cut a bit of slack and given the 10th of May off IMHO. If Guernsey can afford it Jersey can.
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“Just you wait you 27 who voted against…… we have the list and we will vote with our feet…… ”
Does that mean you will be leaving the island, then?
Most sober and cool-headed people vote using a ballot paper and a pencil. So much more grown-up and sensible.
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A Mackenzie is in error when stating that “As usual,The States decide what the people of Jersey want without asking the voters first”.
The whole purpose behind holding elections for Deputies and Senators (and Connetables, too, come to that) is that the voters, having read and agreed with their manifestos, choose someone to represent them – and to make decisions on their behalf.
Just because A Mackenzie may or may not personally agree with this decision or any other is no reason to ask the voters.
If A Mackenzie is so dissatisfied with the States’ decision he/she can vote out his/her Deputy at the next General Election.
Or – in the true Jersey way – A Mackenzie can avail him/herself of the next boat or airplane in the morning. No one is forcing him or her to stay here.
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John (58)
“a) is the taxpayer is funding Terry’s attendance at this cult gathering?
b) if he is attending it in a private capacity, why is he doing it in our time rather than his own?
c) will he really meet Jesus ‘man to man’?”
If the Son of God was to come to Jersey, He would be refused entry on the grounds he did not have the appropriate residence qualifications, and that His work here had no permit from the JCRA.
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Can I just say something here. There are millions of people around the world who lost family members in WW2. It was a tragedy of huge proportions. In the UK the vast majority of men who went to war never came back. Yes Jersey was invaded and occupied for 5 very very hard and difficult years. They may not have had Germans trudging around their Gardens, but they had ration books and poverty almost as harsh as Jersey’s. They don’t get a day off to remember V E day.
Jersey does. We should be grateful that we’ve even got this day and thank the States members who fought for us to have it all those years ago.
Liberation Day has fallen at the weekend a lot and we’ve never complained about it. We’ve all just relaxed on the day and enjoyed it for what it is. Some do the Rotary walk others just chill and have a bbq.
Get off your high horses people. This holiday is a gift 5 years out of 7. (Not considering leap years of course).
We’re lucky we were liberated and are alive to celebrate this day. There are lots of people who would love to be able to do this with us but sadly can’t
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The States should be ashamed of themselves. All they see is £ notes in front of their eyes so they can squander it!
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Fact liberation day is May the 9th celebrate it if you wish, book a days holiday for the tenth if you feel that strong about it.
The States should organise and pay for a celebratory meal and dance for all those here or involved at that time.
That way the shirkers and hangers on who just want an excuse for a day off miss out. When the economy picks up an extra day off should be given for either the battle of flowers or battle of Britain as our own Jersey day.
Woody
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I spoke to my mum about this and she is of the opinion that as someone who lived through the occupation May 09th is the only valid date.
She feels that the date is being hijacked by people who want a “duvet day” to quote a previous respondent and that the true meaning is being lost by the debate.
As a worker of course I would like an extra day off, but I am aware of the cost to business and I’m just glad to have a job in this current climate!
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May 9th 1945 I stood with my brothers & sister outside the Pomme D’Or hotel. We always celebrate each year on 9th May, not 10th May. The States made the right decision.
Jersey girl.
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Obviously Guernsey feel the people of Guernsey are valued and worthy of marking this special day as a holiday, so they can celebrate this day with their family and loved ones, unlike Jersey!!!!!!!!!!!
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The dwindling numbers of those who endured the hardship years of enemy occupation have for the last 60 odd years celebrated the liberation of Jersey on May 9th. Be it by way of spiritual remembrance, noisy flag waving, quiet contemplation or in the company of loved ones. This includes when the day itself falls on a weekend. To shift the day of celebration to a Monday purely because the correct date falls on weekend is no insult to those who suffered, fought or died for our freedom but merely a dummy throwing exercise as those concerned cannot spend the day in bed or in the pub whilst enjoying being paid by their employers to do so.
If you really want to commemorate the event, go to a service of thanksgiving, donate some money to the British Legion/Red Cross.
Liberation Day is May 9th, not May 10th.
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‘There is no recession here in Jersey!! One day off is not gonna kill anyone!’
What planet are you on?! Last time I checked there was a recession in Jersey and a lot of businesses have gone under and people have lost their jobs! Idiot!
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The Channel Islands to the outside world are one area, Jersey & Guernsey should be united in such decisions. In this case Guernsey has got it right & the Jersey politicians are being an ass. Give us the day off!!
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Spring heeled jack.
I agree 100% with you.
Paul. Don’t be so closed minded. You get the day off every year. The day is about reflection and remembrance not about a day off in lieu. Especially now that there are fewer people alive who remember the war let alone lived through it.
As I said above we’re lucky to have a day to do this on. there are plenty who don’t
As for Guernsey, just because they are getting the extra day off doesn’t make it right!
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I wonder if those who selflessly fought for our freedom knew that freedom has bred a selfish, what’s-in-it-for me society, an island inhabited by folk who will grab what they can for themselves and ask someone else to pick up the bill. Liberation Day is 9th May not the 10th – be grateful that Jersey was indeed liberated by a generation braver than us, remember those who suffered, and put your own selfish desire for an extra day off in the bin. You don’t need a day off to reflect on how lucky we are.
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‘be grateful that Jersey was indeed liberated by a generation braver than us’
We all respect those who liberated the island but to say they are a braver generation is unfair because until Jersey is threatened again by invaders you cannot tell how people will react.
Adversity brings out a lot in people, it always has done and it always will and I suspect that if the current generation had to live with an occupation or a potential invasion then their attitude to life and their values would change quite quickly.
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James, that is a very fair point and you are right, we live in different times (fortunately) and I shouldn’t be presumptuous about how we would react in circumstances anything like the early forties. Hopefully we will never find out!
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I apologise if I offend anybody….my comment is said tongue in cheek, but…..
aren’t we already occupied now by the dictatorship that is the States???
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What about the environmental benifit of a day off? Surely less cars on the road would reduce our carbon emissions, and cut down on road traffic accidents – just a thought.
Liberation Day is a day of rememberance which we should never forget or budge on – whatever the economic climate.
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@ Mrs Rosemary Bead #91
“…less cars on the road would reduce our carbon emissions, and cut down on road traffic accidents – just a thought…”
Good point, ’cause the roads and A&E are always empty on Bank Holidays… aren’t they?
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