The Beginning

"In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth."

It has been a long time since I last read the above passage, yet I find it an appropriate place to begin. If one was to examine Jersey, then where would we place it? It may sound like a silly question, but like myself - a proud Jerseyman - I often consider Jersey to be a bit like Heaven. not in the traditional Golden gate and White Utopian ideal. But if you think about it, why not??

We are a crime-free, non tax-paying, self-governing and most importantly rich community, with the only set back being the difficult task of finding a partner who is not related to oneself!!

However, and this is a BIG however - De Facto - how much of the above can we say is true?

From personal experience - very little. We have a Government who do not Govern in an appropriate manner, led by someone who is not a leader. 

During the elections I was fully supportive of Terry Le Sueur but my enthusiasm for him has deteriorated. Love him or hate him - Frank Walker was a brilliant statesman and I hope that you dear readers would join me in calling for a romantic return to the House.

A leader to conquer recession, a man to coherently finish the historic child abuse investigation and take Jersey forward as a competing Independent Island.

Gone are the days of Agriculture, Gone are the days of Tourism and Gone are the days of Bergerac. Again love it or hate it the Finance industry is the way forward. Nonetheless I am not a narrow-minded Conservative such as Ozouf, Maclean et al. but in fact I believe the Finance industry needs to be expanded, we could be pioneers for enterprise with, "play.com" a great example of this. A larger fulfilment industry along with the adoption of Phil Rondel's newmarket-esque plan to introduce a large Horse breeding centre to Jersey are realistic options to expand our economy and to preserve dear Jersey.

We need a stronger Scrutiny to remove the dictatorial nature of the Ministers but also a more supportive scrutiny. In no possible way can Syvret help the Island in his current aggressive bitter nature - however if he along with the rest of those not inclined to vote with the majority formed an effective opposition which spearheaded in the direction of the idyllic, "Critical Friend" then perhaps it would be better for all of us...

In a sad way the above is the, "ideal" Jersey, the Jersey I describe to friends I have who live abroad, not the Jersey I will sit here and write about. 

Unlike other blogs my mission statement is to write it as it is, I am not here to force opinions or to criticise or sycophantically spin the way Jersey is run, these are my opinions written by Middle Jersey for those who want to know what it is like to live here not as a Millionaire and not at the alternate extreme.

I only hope you can respect me for this, no matter what position you take on whatever may be published here.

Jim .