Now it is one that litters the archive of this newspaper in articles under my name, like confetti on Victoria Avenue after the Battle of Flowers.
And on almost all of the occasions I’ve used it, it is States Members that are being accused of doing it – either by each other, the public, or, yes I’ll admit it, by me – generally with the gist being ‘stop it and get on with doing something more productive and/or worthwhile’.
But, it turns out it isn’t all bad. And there’s actually a place for a spot of ‘self-indulgent or excessive contemplation of oneself or a single issue, at the expense of a wider view’.
I recently interviewed Deputy Louise Doublet, who represents St Saviour and has earned herself a positive reputation as a down-to-earth politician capable of using common sense to make a real difference to issues that matter to everyday Islanders. For example, she has this month launched, along with Chief Minister Ian Gorst, the States Assembly Diversity Forum, which aims to make the States Assembly as reflective of the society that it represents as possible.
She is a refreshing addition to an Assembly which can often appear obsessed with finance, business and high-level policy. While all of those things are crucial considerations for government, there is a whole lot more to life in Jersey.
But Deputy Doublet is also going to be historically important for the fact that she is only the second female States Member to have a baby (eight or so months ago now) while holding public office.
And she is the first to have taken any kind of maternity leave (albeit not that much and less than that to which she was legally entitled), former Deputy Jennifer Bridge having gone back to her work as a States Member just three days after the birth of her first child in July 2001.
Back then Deputy Bridge – who was at an official States meeting on the Wednesday having given birth on the Saturday – was criticised in equal measure for not taking more time and for taking time off.
Fair play to her. When my son was three days old I was sitting at home in my pyjamas, baby-sick-soaked muslin on my shoulder, watching daytime TV and crying into my bowl of dried apricots (eaten to replace the iron lost through blood loss), as I struggled to get to grips with breastfeeding, a child that liked to stay up all night and the ‘Baby Blues’ that hit many new mums. Other friends I know weren’t even out of hospital after three days.
But, before any kind of maternity law, which we must remember has shockingly only been in place in Jersey for two years next month, and with the pressure to keep up in a male-dominated political world, this was the reality.
And, with the States Assembly still lacking a maternity policy of any kind, and women making up just 24 per cent of the House, it wasn’t much easier for Deputy Doublet.
However, these two women – both strong, vocal and forthright when representing the interests of their constituents – largely dealt with these issues and the inner turmoil of the situation that working parents will know only too well, quietly, privately and, in many respects, alone. They did not make a fuss, they did not use the soapboxes they had earned the right to step up on to, and they did not try to rally their colleagues or the wider general public. There were no questions in the States, no propositions, and no letters to the JEP.
And do you know why? Because they did not want to be accused of navel-gazing and of acting for their own self-interest.
For the part I have played during my time in contributing to a community which is quick to criticise its politicians in this way, I am sorry.
I do not apologise for the rigorous checks and balances the media keeps on our elected representatives, nor for calling out navel-gazing when I truly think it justified.
But these women – who after all had and have enough on their plates, with all the stresses and strains that come with bringing up families while also representing Islanders – and others like them who may (hopefully) come along in the future, deserve much better.
The States of Jersey needs a policy on maternity, paternity, adoption and caring leave, and it is unacceptable that in the modern day and age it does not have one. After all, how can the States set a good example to the rest of the Island – employers and employees – if it does not practice what it preaches?
Without such policies there will always remain one large, hefty and, for some, impenetrable barrier in the way of getting more women to stand for election.
