In true traditional style H.M. Bailiff of Jersey decreed that there should be a bean feast this evening (23 October) for retiring and not so retiring Members of the States and that the generous public should pay....
Fortunately, some members of the public - such as Sandra Bisson - were not amused and started a petition against it. They also proposed a demonstration of their discontent and so turned out this evening to confront the diners in the dark lanes of St Mary...
The Bailiff did not meet the demonstrators to answer to their grievances but several States Members did....
Video one below...the demonstrators captured for the historic record and a short interview with Sandra Bisson;
Video Two below...Chief Minister Gorst being grilled;
Video Three below...Senator Ozouf's humble fayre without relish;
Video Four below...Constable Le Troquer...serving the States before his Parish;
Occupy St Mary! The revolution will indeed be televised. Or recorded on Mike's handicam at least :-)
ReplyDeleteI think it's a sign of just how aloof and out of touch with public sentiment the Bailiff is, to imagine that the financing of such an event, after 6 years of austerity, would not create a huge backlash.
I work in the public sector. My team is going for a Christmas meal in December. We're paying for all of it ourselves. We don't expect pensioners - who are forced to pay 5% tax on their food and utility bills - to help pay for us to have a good time. We can afford to pay for it, so we do so.
I'm all for tradition. Tradition is great, sometimes. Not all the time. It's a tradition when someone leaves to have a whip round amongst colleagues. No public money should have been spent on this event.
They - the establishment - just don't get it. That's the problem. They just don't GET it. They are the definition of aloof and uncaring.
I couldn't believe Constable Michel Le Troquer when he said "it's nice for my wife". Well, Mr Le Troquer, it's NOT nice for all the pensioners I know to be forced to pay tax on their food and heating, so that your wife can have a free beano. Can I make myself any clearer?
Mike, I'd be obliged if you'd copy this comment to that Politics Jersey site. I read it but don't participate in it - too many fake usernames for my liking.
It is quite apparent that these demonstrators are not very political people. They do not realise they have been instrumentalised by the Jersey Evening Post to make a point on behalf of the Editor and will be dropped and discarded like a whore once they no longer serve a purpose. This is right-wing populism.
ReplyDeleteTheir leadership noted that Channel TV was slow to respond to their story whilst the JEP had it running front page for several days. The difference was that CTV was defending the government line to simply ignore the protestors, but when push came to shove, the JEP has more clout. This must be the first time ever there has been dissonance between the Jersey media, usually in lock step conformity. Normality was restored with yesterday’s JEP editorial where Gorst & Co were duly lauded as fine leaders. At this point the protestors get dumped, provided their target is not authority itself. Sure enough the States Members dinner is being used as a example of government “waste”. This all fits in nicely with the present government’s ideological agenda to cut spending and the size of the state. Austerity is coming and it will hit the poorest hardest as benefits are slashed.
While there may be genuine economic discontents and an underlying concern about growing social inequaltiy, to target the political class rather than the capitalist class shows their naivety. Perhaps the next target will be Polish and Romanian immigrants, accusing them of “taking our jobs”. Strangely their children have no desire to be kitchen porters and work for minimum wage hire and fire employers. How about a pogrom against benefit scroungers or alcoholics in the park?
If the grumpy old Stalinist above prefers to wait for Jersey's genuinely "political people" to rise up - then he will be waiting a very long time. Like his Marxist heroes I fear they will have to rise from the grave so better to appreciate the efforts of the right wing populists because this Island is peopled almost exclusively by conservatives.
ReplyDeleteLets be grateful that a few thousand were prepared to put their names to a petition and that enough were prepared to turn out and confront our establishment political class face to face.
9,000 people put their X next to the NO box in the Referendum in favour of change. Don't knock their efforts. Whether they germinate to something bigger and better time will tell but the next States term promises to be a lean one for change from within the Assembly.