Jersey Reform Day.
This site is dedicated to the day, now officially recognised annually by the States of Jersey, to mark the anniversary of the events of 28 September 1769.
Jersey's own Independence or Bastille Day.
Ms Hamon of the Social Policy Team delivered her team's Disability Survey and Strategy this evening to the Jersey Disability Partnership at the St Helier Town Hall.
It is a work in progress and the Disability Discrimination law won't be implemented before 2017/2018 at the earliest so this dream is probably a long way off realisation yet.
Bearing in mind all the other "strategic" reviews that are going on at the moment and given the lowly status of disability issues, the size of the ever increasing black hole and the lack of funding from our austerity government....well this dream will probably vanish over the horizon and into the sunset eventually
How this all fits in with our deplorable housing shortages - especially of accommodation suitable for the 13 - 20,000 people identified here with disabilities - is another major concern.
But add this to the Health Department's care in the community project, the new hospital, reform of primary care and the ageing population....well it all looks rather incomplete and unrealistic...
Nevertheless, Ms Hamon's interesting presentation was video recorded and appears here in 3 parts below;
SURVEY Part One A
SURVEY Part One B
STRATEGY Part Two
At least our government has disability issues on the agenda...
I am all in favour of more public sculptures but why the obsession with "glorious" war memorials?
I simply want to see sculptures that celebrate and promote peace and human rights.
REFORM JERSEY organised a public demonstration in the Royal Square outside the States' Building to greet the government members as they arrived to discuss the Budget on 15 December.
The video that follows in three parts shows just some of the footage and amply shows the anger of the public towards this government which is applying an austerity policy and making widespread "cuts" to reduce costs.
Those on the lowest incomes are inevitably the most affected and pensioners are being especially targeted but the removal or curtailment of services as well as axing of jobs are all part of the package too.
With the approach of Christmas and the Royal Square being decorated accordingly the timing of this austerity Budget seems especially poignant the more so since this is the very historic heart of Jersey. Here the Government and administration buildings sit alongside the main church of the Island and are intermixed with Christian and Crown beliefs as integral parts of the political processes.
Thus the videos pick-up on signs and symbolism in and around the square which inevitably guide so much that goes on within the political forum and affect everybody in the Island.
Although some will claim that politics and "religion" are separate matters and it is s private matter whether an elected representative is a Christian or otherwise, the fact is that Christian prayers are said at the commencement of every States Assembly and oaths are routinely sworn by the Members of the States in the name of the "Sovereign" and of a Christian God.
A few Members choose to opt out of that process so far as they are able but when questions of morality, charity, generosity, care of the aged and such like arise it is necessary to understand something of the philosophical basis upon which decisions of government are made.
I suggest here that the Christian imposition amounts to hypocrisy - "humbug" - but I am not a Christian so have no difficulty in divorcing its involvement from my chosen political activities and I do not believe that it is appropriate for the States Assembly to operate as a "pseudo church" either.
There were about a dozen speakers at the Jersey farming Conference at the RJA&HS building in Trinity on 12 November 2015.
I plan to produce a DVD of all these and copies will be available to anybody interested at cost.
Meanwhile I shall be posting a few selected talks that seem most interesting to me for various reasons.
Here is the 18 minutes talk of John Vautier "Agricultural Consultant" in 3 parts.
This appeals to me as an attempt to analyse the political context and history of "farming" in Jersey and he challenges some widely held and expressed views.
Part One below;
Part Two;
Part Three;
The cosy lighting at the conference was not good for video recording but the sound was good enough.
We met up with and interviewed Jilly Spruyt several years ago about her NGO activities in Mongolia.
Her work continues so we have recorded this up-date in Jersey.
Jersey's Overseas Aid Department is not currently funding her school building and related projects but she continues to work with others such as a French group (described in the video that follows) and the Catholic Church etc but she always needs more money.
Now she is developing her Tours business to raise funds and many Channel Islanders have already visited this remote country with her.
See www.mongoliatours.co.uk for more information or Mongolian Outreach Mission on Facebook to discover more and to make contact.
M.A.D. Mongolia Newswire is also an interesting site to look at - and if you want to invest in Mongolia you should look here first.
An interview in two parts with Jilly follows - watch both.
