A lost decade

Ten years ago we had an election in Jersey.  The senatorial contest was notable for having  three declared groupings - JDA, TimeForChange and Jersey2020.  I was a candidate alongside Daniel Wimberley and Nick Palmer as the 2020 group.  It felt as though some organised politics might actually arise from  that.  It was also of course run in the backdrop of revelations and investigations concerning child abuse in the care system. 


The saddest thing for me is just how much those topics we were raising then  are still relevant today, many more so. And how so little has been achieved by the States since on those issues. Despite the intervening  Committee of Inquiry  we still have  repeated reports of various parts of the care system not adequate, needing  change and failing  children.


It will be hard for some to credit that back then we didn't have  an energy policy and there was no position on climate change. Energy if it was considered was a matter of the Treasury Minister as  shareholder  dropping round for a cup of coffee to Jersey Electricity and informing the chief exec what level of dividend they expected to receive. The difference that election was the revelations concerning the  new incinerator , since it does produce a spot of electricty  from the burned waste.


It took the  formation of the JCAN on the back of our campaigning that election, and a few more years  to finally get an energy policy and a commitment on climate change.  In classic Jersey fashion that was based on two decades old material - the Kyoto protocol.  And it hasn't been updated since despite the rest of  the world (arguably absenting the USA)  having agreed the more ambitious Paris agreement.


An area I was almost alone in raising was food security, waste and the role of allotments.  At that time the only proper site was at Grouville and that only because the land had been in the same hands since before the planning law was introduced and hence not controlled by it.  We do now have a number of other allotment sites , but that is much more due to the work of JALGA than any assistance from the States.  And all that before food banks became a big thing in the UK  and almost a decade before Brexit talks of needing food and medicine stockpiles.   It is a forgotten truth in politics that the best time to tackle a problem is when most cannot yet see it is going to be a problem.


No one would be surprised to hear that a former software developer like me was arguing for diversifying into a tech sector, especially software development, and for online voting.  We have a sort of tech sector now, but it is far too intertwined with finance to be a proper diversification.  One small step  which I did call for back in 2008 came to pass in the last couple of years  - putting  official notices on the States own web site.


Naturally some of those big items were never going to get much progress unless there was a significant change in States members and their political priorities as a group.  Of course that didn't (hasn't) happen.  And the small victories.  Easy really when you know how the highly personalised and individualistic system works.  Make a fuss in an election , and then go relatively quiet.  At some point the info seeps into the consciousness of the elected members and you let them think they dreamed it up all by themselves.  It only takes 7 to 10 years!  The frightening thing is we don't have that long to get properly on top of the big issues from a decade ago - climate change, sustainability and  living within our means.

CoM, CoI and coincidence?

As I write at least six of the current Council of Ministers are not seeking re-election to the States let alone as ministers. . Add in a handful of assistant ministers also bowing out at the prospect of another election and one has to wonder what has triggered this unprecedented winnowing of the chaff.

Commonly  social media  messages refer to rats jumping a sinking  ship.  I doubt that is the cause. If the CoM had lost a vote of confidence in the assembly, or serried ranks of protesters were evident outside the latest meetings I might  take that suggestion.  

I put to you another reason - their job is done as they see it.  Is it coincidence that many of those ministers were in the Assembly when the events leading to the Committee of Inquiry into abuse in care was put in place.   Some of them worked very hard to undermine, deflect and eviscerate the terms of reference and the standing and findings of the CoI.  Well the CoI reported  and there is now nothing left to attack.  The findings, however weak, are being implemented and the questions that never were put are now unnoticed.  Questions of no import to anyone except perhaps historians of some future age.

Job done. Arses covered, reputations quickly buffed up again and those who were to be protected have been .  Rewards, titles, and invitations in the post soon....

An outrageous proposal re the UK election.

Without a vote and only indirectly affected by the outcome , the UK election hasn't grabbed my attention.  I might have missed it but I am not aware any party has any significant proposals re paedophiles and child abusers in politics and public office.  I suppose that's only to be expected from the bigger parties given they all have rather  tarnished history in this area.  But when even the Green Party  is accused of playing down the role of climate change, you just know none of them is talking to my interests or priorities.  So I have a suggestion for the next 10 day or so to voting day.  


There are around 4 million people in the region of Nepal whose homes, livelihoods and useful infrastructure have just been smashed up.  This one of the world's poorest countries. If those people do not get water, food  and shelter before the date of the UK election  then many will die.  There is an opportunity here for one or other of the party leaders to do something. To make a difference and convince us they have the common humanity,  courage of leadership and ordinary decency that will engage the public. To do something that might just restore the ordinary people's faith in  politicians in the UK.  My simple and utterly outrageous proposal is this.  STOP IT.


Tell your supporters and canvassers, party activists and office staff and anyone who will listen to stop with the silly little he said she said,  will they won't they  bickering, and turn your efforts and party machinery to raising money and material to help those 4 million in the next 10 days.  It is critical to them, its only an election for you.  


So Cameron, Milliband, Clegg, Bennett, Sturgeon and the rest, are you leaders and representatives of  people or just operators out to get your hand on the levers of power?  Are you the sort of compassionate self sacrificing  person who Britain might respect and admire as a leader, or are you and your parties electoral interests for the next 5 years the most important thing right now.  Are you happy to see up to 4 million die while you scrabble for  a bit of power?  I wouldn't be.  I rather like to think million of electors wouldn't either.  Did you enter politics to make a difference? Here's your chance to do just that.

All political careers end in failure

“All political careers end in failure” is a maxim usually attributed to the logical genius but politically ineluctably detestable Enoch Powell.

May 2015 will be the 30th anniversary of my first candidature in a public election. I had of course already been a candidate, and often successfully so, to various bodies and organisations, including the National Union of Students and the national Liberal Ecology Group. This year it happens is the 25^th anniversary of my election as a County Councillor. Contesting elections is in my blood. I think it is a service to democracy when standing offers the electorate a distinctive choice they would not otherwise have. Given the peculiar first past the post voting system used in the UK, as here, that word distinctive is crucial. Having candidates of similar views standing against each other does not give more choice other than in the narrow sense of which person they 'like' more. In other places they either use primaries to sort out the differences upfront, or they use a preferential voting system.

People do not always stand to win the election. There are times when you are campaigning for a big challenging change and use the platform of an election to raise issues that are not otherwise being considered. I did that the last senatorial elections. And while the JEP delighted in repeatedly calling me a 'failed senatorial candidate' , it was only by standing that I was able to identify and contact like minded people and help use that to form Jersey Climate Action Network and Jersey in Transition.

Sometimes, however, the opportunity arises to go into the election with the purpose of winning and being in a position to argue and influence the course of policy and having a voice to raise issues in the public arena as they arise rather than being constrained to triennial  elections. When the current deputy of St Ouen declared he was not standing again, the possibility of standing with the aim of winning was clear. Of course there was much speculation about who might stand, and at least 7 names were mentioned. Of those only two were strongly progressive and ecologically minded. One was not standing for sure, the other I offered if they declared early on I would not stand against them. After some reflection they decided against and I then committed to standing , being as sure as I could be that I was likely the only environmentally minded  candidate, probably the only progressive.

Dutifully I notified the connetable so that I could be taken of the policing rota, I sorted out a proposer, who was very on board with the sustainability message (Thanks Mr R), and even had my pony tail cut. Helen and the children have never known me without it. Then things started to take a negative turn.

If you are unaware of it, a key prerequisite for standing, here as in the UK, is to have a proposer and 9 seconders on a duly completed form. I've never had a problem doing this, and it does not commit anyone to supporting you , to the extent I wonder if it really serves any purpose. Perhaps in the days when the number of electors would have been a couple of hundred, but not when it is in the thousands. I drew up a list of people in the parish I know and who have been supportive previously or made public comment in the past compatible with my campaign points. A couple had recently moved out of the parish, or taken a job with the States, and were unable or ineligible to sign. Fair enough. What did surprise me was that handful who said they were not prepared to sign as they were intending to vote for one of the early declared candidates because they were at school together, or think he's a nice person, even though they disagreed with them politically. I had no idea I was such an odiously disagreeable person that statement implies. Given what most people seem to think of politicians perhaps that should be taken as an unintended endorsement!

And then I heard the Russell Labey really was going to stand for deputy of the parish too. Given his high profile from the reform referendum campaign, and having been on local television for much of the '80's, I expected he would stand for senator where recognition is absolutely essential to being elected, and a real asset.

Having spoken to Russell about his standing it is clear we share a broadly liberal outlook on politics in general and would be campaigning on the same side on a couple of critical parochial issues, such as field 622. We would be seeking the same voters, and in doing so almost certainly let in one of the previously declared candidates with whom we both disagree on these points. So for some weeks now I have been struggling with the decision I have to make. Do I give up what is very likely my last and, until Russell declares, my best chance of being elected to the States, or not? From what I know of the declared candidates across the Island so far I do not see a likely champion for sustainable living, the organic growers, implementation of climate change plans, ending our mercury emissions, etc. There is no win-win scenario here. If this election is to be about personalities rather than policy then Russell is the better candidate. If it is to be about policy then both Russell and I lose if we both stand.

This is an incredibly hard thing to do personally. Assuming Russell does stand for deputy, as I believe , in effect it marks an ignominious end of my 30 year involvement in public elections. I feel wretchedly sorry and apologetic towards those people who desperately wanted to see a deep green voice back in the States (though Russell is far from a 'grey'!) . I have let them down. I am embarrassed at having to disappoint people in the parish who would have supported me. I feel so deflated. Much as I would love to carry on to have the platform and profile to raise in the States  those big issues on which our future depends, logic dictates the only sensible course of action for this election.  There are other ways of campaigning and there are other means to the end.