LAST TUESDAY
Having sent off last week’s column to the JEP, I vow to keep away from the Great Fiscal Debate (GFD) this week. Hence this diary.

The GFD is important and a debate is needed to counter some of the shallow thinking, but I don’t want to contribute to the notion that it’s any kind of crisis. The Treasury Minister himself describes the pending deficit as ‘minute’, so I don’t support those who think it’s the end of the world if he has to increase taxes a little.

Part of the day is spent interviewing the boss of Huelin-Renouf, who sees a big opportunity in developing trade links with France.

WEDNESDAY
Try as I might, I can’t avoid the dreaded GFD. The JEP features two of my favourite critics (both of whom I respect even if I don’t agree with them). The former president of the Chamber of Commerce points out that he has little space in the newspaper to set out all his ideas about cutting States spending. Well, just one example of a significant cut would do.

The other critic – a regular economic commentator – says I am wrong to highlight Jersey’s very low level of taxation. He informs us that many of Jersey’s competitors have tax rates well below ours ‘and plenty of tax-sensitive business will flow to them if the gap widens further’. Yes, of course we have to be careful, but how did these competitors manage to keep their taxes so low? Well, they borrowed heavily, that’s how. Would our economic commentator like us to do the same?

He did annoy me a little by putting words in my mouth when he said I believed the whole States organisation was already running at 100 per cent efficiency. He may think I say some silly things, but I’m not completely b***** stupid

• Peter Body is the editor of Business Brief magazine. Read the rest of his diary in today’s JEP