From Dave Le Peurian
SO business leaders and the majority of States members do not want to give an extra day’s bank holiday for Liberation Day this year (they claim that it will cost £5m – I wonder which fairy tale book they picked that figure out from?). Sadly there is no surprise there, the great money god rules everything in this Island. But it’s good to see that Guernsey as usual has its priorities right and have made it a bank holiday.

It’s not just a matter of another day’s holiday. Liberation Day is an important day in the history of not only Jersey, but also the other islands, as we were all occupied by German forces for five years and the fact that we are not all speaking the German language today and have our freedom is all down to those members of the armed forces of various nations (including the Channel Islands) who fought and won victory in WW2.

It’s funny how we get bank holidays during the year for no particular reason at all – look at the others in May and the one in August. But when it comes to one that actually means something in the Island’s history and is certainly the most important date in the Island’s history over the last 100 years, then the majority of our Island’s leaders, both business and political, simply think of how much one day will cost them. I for one would rather Liberation Day be made an official bank holiday and, if needs be, we could do away with one of the other bank holidays during the year. That should appease our business and political leaders and their bank accounts.

There are other countries in the world today that are still fighting for their liberty, something which we now obviously take for granted, but our elected politicians should reflect that they are only sitting in the Big House today because of the fact that the Island was liberated and if liberty and Liberation Day are not something worth declaring a bank holiday, I don’t know what is.

Certainly making Liberation Day a bank holiday is far more preferable than some of the other bank holidays that we have during the year and this really goes to show how the Island’s leaders have all their priorities in the wrong order – something the general public have known for a long time now!