Jersey law, the universe and much more with Adv. Barbara Corbett

Jersey Advocate and English Solicitor Barbara Corbett is interviewed here about many aspects of Jersey Law and the legal system.
We have been trying to find a Jersey lawyer to appear here for some time and Barbara kindly volunteered . The result is 26 minutes long and there was still much to discuss.
Hopefully more will follow on specific topics in due course.

It transpires that there are now over 300  members of the Society of Jersey lawyers so they must have been breeding since I last looked on their web-site (which is being updated). In fact only about half of this number is in practice in Jersey so this is a very small world population. Almost as rare as Plemont Puffins...

AS always, if anybody has any comments to offer these are welcome in the appropriate place or we will arrange to video record a substantive response.

States Members Referendum voting preferences

I have emailed all States Members on 26 March as follows;

Dear…….

I am trying to compile a list of States’ Members to show who will be supporting the A, B or C Option on 24 April.

This to be published on tomgruchy.blogspot.com

It would be helpful if you could indicate your preference.

Regards

Responses so far

Further responses will be added if and when they arrive

Constables

Dan Murphy, Grouville. Not yet determined…

John Refault, St Peter. Will choose the best option…

Senators

Lyndon Farnham “C”

Ian Le Marquand “C”
Paul Routier in the street says it's a secret ballot and he will not be replying.
Francis Le Gresley "do not intend to reveal my preference"

Deputies

John Le Fondre, St Lawrence “C”

Geoff Southern, St Helier “A”

Kristina Moore, St Peter “B”

Montfort Tadier, St Brelade “A”

Robert Duhamel, St Saviour “A”
Shona Pitman, St Helier "A"
Roy Le Herissier, St Saviour, "A" as least worst.
Richard Rondel, St Helier, in the street "not yet determined"
John Young, St Brelade currently preferred (9 April) as "A" with "C" second option

Potatoes, Polish people and portacabins serving the Jersey Royal...

We return here in this interview with William Church (above) of the Jersey Royal Company to the subject of housing the 10,000 residents of Jersey without "housing quals".

In fact the Jersey Royal Company  employs up to 600 of the 1,500 who work in agriculture and some of these will have achieved Jersey housing rights. So this is specifically about those "seasonal" people - mostly from Poland - who work to produce the famous Jersey Royal potato.

In an Island where the very lucrative Finance sector is dominant economically (12,000 employees), the difficulty of generating comparable wealth from a simple crop such as spuds is obvious. But the importance of the agricultural activity to the image of the Island - keeping the countryside green - and maintiaining a place that is attractive to live in for residents and tourists cannot be overstated. However, that importance alone does not attract money.

The factors that dictate whether agriculture can survive in the long term are complex. We have tried not to take sides in the discussion posted in this or previous related blogs but discrimination is not, in our view, an accptable standard to base a fair society on.

Clearly, if agricultural workers are to be paid similar wages to workers in the finance industry and to be properly housed then Jersey's potato industry must soon collapse.
But why should agricultural workers accept lesser standards of pay and living conditions  in this tiny community of just 100,000 people?

We thank the Jersey Royal Company for meeting with us and allowing Wiilam to speak so frankly.
The company has its own web site;
http://www.jerseyroyal.co.uk
and several interesting videos are posted on Jersey Royal Company YouTube.

As always we invite comments and will be especially pleased to video record and post the views of local politicians or those with a particular interest in the subjects raised.

Miriam a UK Journalist in Jersey on Press Standards etc



It is always refresehing to meet a journalist - Miriam from the UK above -  prepared to be interviewed, especially when the subject is journalism itself.

Other professionals  such as lawyers and doctors in Jersey are still extraordinarily reluctant to appear before this lens although many mouth empty words about the need to communicate and to engage with the public. Our politicians more hopefully are slowly beginning to realise that "citizens' media" might not be such a bad thing after all...

Nevertheless, prejudices prevail but this journalist was prepared to be critical as well as flattering about her journalistic colleagues in the UK and their recent standards of conduct.

With regulation of the Media now imminent in the UK following so many scandals and the closing of the News of the World etc we - in Jersey - wait to see what might happen here.

Shall our Jersey government follow blindly whatever happens in the UK and accept the new regulatory regime ...and what about Bloggers....?

And how does this visitor view the local Jersey Media - what has she discovered about "free speech" and "investigatory journalism" during her brief visit....?

As always, this blog is open to anybody who wants to comment or record an interview.

Perhaps a locally based journalist would like to reply to this posting.....

If you want to understand about the Jersey electoral Referendum ask a Guernsey politician or three...

Once again we have invited St Peter Port Deputy John Gollop (above) to explain about Jersey politics and much much more...

In this 17 minutes interview he expresses in his usual extraordinarily well informed way about Channel Islands' government in a worldly context. His intricate knowledge is truly amazing.

Here he addresses especially matters relating to the approaching Jersey Referendum (24 April) and gives some background to the two-part interview that follows (below) with St Peter Port Constable (unpaid) Dennis Le Moignan with St Peter Port Deputy (paid) and Douzenier (unpaid) Lester Queripel.

John Gollop had not actually seen their recording before making his comments but as always he has much useful information to add and we urge you to watch him first...

Part One recording above ( 17 minutes) with Constable Dennis Le Moignan and Deputy/Douzenier Lester  Queripel

Part Two recording above (14 minutes)

We thank the three Guernsey politicians for giving their time and expressing these views and hope that the general public - and even some Jersey politicians (!) - might be sufficiently interested to reciprocate with comments in the space provided.

Anybody who wants to respond meaningfully with a recorded interview is as always invited to make contact...

Deputy Green's promises for the "non quals" in Jersey...

After all these years since 1949 can it really be true - that an end to housing discrimination in Jersey is about to be achieved?
Shall those 10,000 without "housing qualifications" have decent accommodation, security of tenure, fair rents, and no more exhorbitant electricity charges...?
Shall "portacabins" be outlawed...?
Can Deputy Green, the Jersey Housing Minister, really walk on water and shall the other 50 States' Members  be prepared to support these amazing policies...
See this third report in the current series and glimpse Jersey emerging from the dark ages...
perhaps.

Farewell to Jersey's portacabins and slums...?

Yesterday's evening presentation at the Town Hall was attended by about a dozen only of Jersey's 98,000 population. This is hardly surprisng since the purpose and time of the meeting was almost kept a secret and when I asked about it at the Town Hall during the day nobody knew what it was about or had any details or leaflets to offer.

If this Island government is serious about tackling the appalling housing conditions endured by so many it will have to show more resolution than this. As always, no Press Releases were sent out to bloggers such as I and it seems like just another limp PR aspect of the housing reforms package currently being touted.

However for the 98,000 who did not attend and especially the 10,000 "non-quals" working adults (and their children) who live in the worst conditions of all Jersey residents - here is a video-recording of the 25 minutes presentation from Val Cameron and Steve Petrie (?) for the Health Department.

There was no mention of portacabins before I left the meeting but I suspect that these will still be with us for many more years to come - in spite of election promises etc from our most senior States members! (see previous posting on this blog).

PUBLIC HEALTH and SAFETY (DWELLINGS) (JERSEY) LAW 201- is now a Draft Law only but if ever approved and implemented could have a substantial effect.

Of course, it is unlikley to attract the xenophobic enthusiasm currently being shown by so many States' Members and the general public to discover and expose "immigrants" and "white van man" under the related Housing and and ID card Laws soon to be implemented.

It is unlikley that there will similar calls to appoint inspectors to do "spot checks" on Jersey's worst landlords or to bring prosecutions for instances of dampness, fungus, broken and dangerous stairs, overcharging etc etc in the private sector - but since the Housing Department is to be abolished who might actually be legally liable for currently sub-standard States "social" housing in future, is not at all clear....