STRANGE as last week in the States was, a stranger thing happened after I got back to the office on Wednesday.

A colleague, himself no stranger to the joys and delights of States debates, asked how the cycle helmet proposition went.

I told him that the States had decided to go with compulsory helmets for under-18s, but that they’d kicked out the idea of extending a new law to adults by a single vote.

‘Oh right. That’s really, uh… sensible,’ he said. ‘That’s probably what I’d have done.’
There was a pause. I took a deep breath. And then I said: ‘Yeah, that’s what I thought too.’

And then we looked at each other slightly nervously, and backed away.

Something unnatural had happened. An unspoken agreement was made – we would never discuss this again.

But the fine print didn’t say anything about writing, so here goes: it was the right decision, and it was a good debate.

There’s more. It went on for a bit, but there were some really good speeches.

It goes on. Later that evening I was having a pint with someone who sat through most of the debate, and who made a particular point of praising the speech of a Member whom he normally doesn’t have much good to say about.

Fortunately he went on to describe the majority of States Members using a word that I am unable to repeat here, so the evening wasn’t a complete write-off.
But back to Deputy Andrew Green’s cycle helmet debate.

There seemed to be four arguments on offer – one saying that cycle helmets are good, and they save lives (best typified by Deputy Green, and Deputy Ben Fox whose job it had been as a policeman to knock on doors and explain to parents that their child had been hurt or killed), and another saying that the case was more balanced than that, but that if one life was saved it would be worth it (St Ouen Constable Ken Vibert and Deputy Ann Dupré).

On the other side there was an argument that helmets didn’t help and would reduce the number of cyclists (Deputy Daniel Wimberley’s line) and a classic conservative argument that it was up to individuals to take responsibility, not the state (and oddly, Deputy Mike Higgin’s version of this speech was by far the most fluent).

There was a fifth line going around – with Deputy Wimberley opening up the debate of the amendment to stall the law pending a detailed review, attacking the evidence on offer.

If he noticed a lack of consistency about criticising the evidence and then taking a stand on one side of the debate, then he didn’t mention it.

He’ll have a chance next time around – the law will have to come back to the States for approval when the Transport and Technical Services department have finished drafting it, and Deputy Wimberley gives the impression of a man not quite ready to quit just yet.

That will probably take more than a year, which was far too long for Deputy Phil Rondel.

The plumber was the butt of a lighter moment in the debate – the svelte St Clement Constable Len Norman cast doubts on the health benefits of cycling, noting that he hadn’t been on a bike for 30 years, but that the more obviously three-dimensional Deputy Rondel claimed to cycle every day.

Did this ruin the plumber’s fun? Not a bit of it. In fact, he enjoyed himself so much that he lost no time tabling a proposition to put licence plates on bicycles.

The proposal comes up for debate in just over a month, so we get to do the whole thing again. Thanks, Phil.

Well, another year over, and former Senator Frank Walker and Deputy John Le Fondré remain supreme, untouchable and unchallenged.

While there was a bit of tittering at the fact that the politician at the forefront of the cost-cutting, Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf, was the biggest of the spenders in 2009, the total claimed was a pale imitation of previous years.

Senator Ozouf’s total was just over half of the record set by Senator Walker in 2006, and Deputy Green’s highest assistant minister claim – £1,929 – was less than half of £4,261 claimed by Deputy Le Fondré in 2007.

This lot aren’t even trying. Maybe they should start counting the Scrutiny travel, accommodation and expenses claims too, to see how they get on.