Sorry, but euphoria of the Olympics leaves me cold

Don’t get me wrong. Anyone who can run 100 metres in less than half an hour has my admiration, but please let’s put it in perspective.

The Olympic Games were simply about sport and competition among individuals, although they were also supposed to promote the great Olympic ideals of excellence, respect and friendship.

Some might think it was simply a huge money-making exercise in which commercial considerations featured

almost as much as what was going on in the swimming pool or on the track.

However, we can be gladdened by the fact that a lot of good will come out of these Games because the UK government has promised to ensure that the country benefits in practical terms from the billions of pounds spent on the event. They wouldn’t have wanted to become involved otherwise.

Apparently now the UK plans to build on the great Olympic legacy while at the same time getting rid of school playing fields. That may, of course, be just a nasty rumour put about by the opposition parties, but it proves that the Games were not just about individual sporting excellence.

So we were bombarded with news and pictures of every sport taking place, including some that only a few people have heard of, and others I find difficult to characterise as a sport at all. It was all so important that news broadcasters were persuaded to reschedule their bulletins so that we could be forgiven for thinking that nothing important was happening in the world other than the Olympics. Unfortunately, while the Games were going on about half a million children died of malnutrition, but that’s not news, of course.

Obviously if there was a gold medal for cynicism and scepticism, I would be among the favourites to win. But although I may be in a small minority, I really don’t see the point in following the herds who heap excessive praise on sportsmen and fail to maintain any kind of sense of proportion. I’ve got nothing against having a bit of fun (in fact, I quite like it), just so long as we remember that this is all it is.

Luckily Jersey, which might have been in danger of being overcome by the same excessive enthusiasm for the Olympics, managed to keep its feet firmly on the ground. This may be because we had very little involvement in the competition, although we had several heroes helping to put on the show.

So Islanders weren’t diverted from the facts of life by the provision of circuses, and they have been preparing to man the pumps to help bail out Jersey’s anaemic economy.

The Transport and Technical Services Department has done its bit to turn the economy round,by providing some free parking in one car park on one day of the week. That should make retail sales go through the roof.

Tourists from far and wide also flocked to the Island for the Battle of Flowers, which was said to be another triumph. It would be interesting to see what would happen to tourism figures if we didn’t have the Battle at the height of the tourism season, but held it instead when we need to try and attract more visitors.

Luckily, the Olympics gave the tourism authorities the perfect excuse for why visitor numbers are poor again this year. Total arrivals were down more than 10% in July, because everyone in Britain was supposed to be glued to their TV sets. Total arrivals for the first seven months of the year were down 3.8%.

Jersey Tourism, however, said that the statistical report for June ‘showed good progress’ and the Island nearly caught up to the same level of business as last year. Now everyone will remember what a real bonanza there was for the tourism industry last year. Well, at least no one can accuse the tourism authorities of being over-ambitious.

However, that’s the accusation being levelled against the Treasury department and its minister because of their all-singing, all-dancing, brand new Medium-Term Financial Plan.

According to reports in the JEP, some people are apparently querying the assumption that Jersey’s economy is suddenly going to produce real growth, when figures for 2010 show Gross Value Added falling in real terms by 5%. Latest figures indicate GVA should have grown by 1.2% last year after inflation of 5%, and the whole tax and spending strategy is based on the assumption that this year the economy will produce real growth of 1.4% (remember that’s after inflation predicted at 3.8%).

Growth is also expected to continue at 2% in 2013 and even hit 2.5% in 2014, although the further forward you go, the less accurate the predictions are likely to be.

There are obviously plenty of good reasons why the experts have used these GVA figures, and they do tend to err on the side of caution, but you can also understand the scepticism of many people in business and industry who can only dream wistfully of this kind of growth. The figures are now going to the two wise men and one wise lady, although as I’ve said before, their input before the Medium-Term Financial Plan was drawn up might have been more useful.

Anyway, we don’t have to worry too much because we will soon be measuring the Island’s progress by more than just the traditional economic growth measures of GDP or GVA.

As the latest edition of Business Brief reveals, Jersey’s Statistics Unit is to launch a ‘better life index’, which will do more than just quantify economic output. Based on the OECD’s model, the index will look at everything from health status and work/life balance to civic engagement and subjective well-being.

It should provide a much better picture of how well Islanders are achieving their goals in life and perhaps help solve the conundrum of why some of the wealthiest people in the world (relatively speaking) appear so dissatisfied.

Whether the index will change anything remains to be seen, but it will at least show where the Island is falling behind other countries.

We could even view it as something like an Olympic sport, where we have to beat Guernsey in our education results (and that’s not just exams) or the Isle of Man for social inclusion (if that’s not too far-fetched).

That should get more of the Olympic couch potatoes interested in some of the rather more important aspects of life.

Peter Body is editor of Business Brief magazine