Marty, who is also a keen JEP reader (online, of course), believes Jersey is a very special place, although sometimes he’s brought to tears by what we do and what we don’t do. Martians are a little more emotional than the average Jerseyman.

Anyhow, the local news in the past week or so has given Marty a lot to think about. It started off with the publication of the white paper on the reform of the health services, described as a radical overhaul of the whole of health care in the Island. He’s not quite so sure about ‘radical’ because he’s only got an IQ of 360, and he finds it very difficult to understand what’s going on there’s so much change being proposed.

He thought that the big issues facing health care have all been pretty darn obvious for many years, and he wonders why it isn’t possible to make reforms in handy bite-sized pieces rather than having an all-singing, all-dancing shake-up which is unsettling and fraught with risk. Marty also mumbled something about babies and bath water, but I for one have every confidence in our politicians and health leaders. Perhaps they are more cynical on Mars.

Then last Wednesday, Marty was nearly knocked off his perch by the startling news that the States has got more money than they thought. An extra £7m is now due to be collected in income tax this year, which is certainly not a drop in the ocean. That will ease the pressure on the States slightly, and is obviously good news, but Marty warns that Jersey’s real problem is getting the economy growing again. He hopes an improvement in finances doesn’t persuade our leaders to ease up on their efforts. He says it’s happened before, but I would rather not comment.

On a lighter note, Marty was a little bewildered by the reaction to the suggestion that a disused Methodist church could be turned into a pub. They don’t have different churches on Mars and they worship only one God, so Marty couldn’t really appreciate the irony of a Methodist pub. However he says that redundant churches all over the place have been turned into all kinds of things, and a themed pub/restaurant could be a good way of preserving the façade of an old church if it’s no longer needed as a church.

Further discussion about States support for the rugby club also interested Marty in the past few days. He’s impressed with the number of visitors attracted to the Island to watch games, and wonders why the club needs taxpayers’ support if they are doing so well. But he really couldn’t understand the Economic Development Minister when he said money given to the club was money well spent because 1,000 visitors travelled to the Island for two games. Marty is a little sceptical about the numbers, but in any case he reckons the UK visitors would have come even if the States hadn’t coughed up any money.

Then he heard the Mars-shattering news that a scrutiny panel had concluded that a Channel Islands aircraft register could boost the economy. He thought that every man and his dog had known that for years, and that the only problem in making it happen was Jersey dragging its feet. The Channel Islands are already way behind several Overseas Territories in seeing an aircraft register as a nice little earner, and now that the Isle of Man has taken a lot of the rest of the business, the Channel Islands has to make do with what’s left. Marty says the good news is that the market is expected to grow strongly with 10,000 new business jets due to be sold by 2020. Guernsey is so keen to get some of this business that they are fed up with Jersey’s prevarication and are steaming, or rather jetting ahead on their own. Marty wonders why tiny Jersey can’t move quicker if the benefits are so obvious.

But the real shock of the week for Marty was the news that Jersey’s population could reach 140,000 in 70 years. Now life expectancy on Mars is an average of 120, and so Marty won’t be around to witness this cataclysm. However, he says Jersey might be lucky to be faced with this over-crowding dilemma. It’s just as likely that by that time the Island will have turned into a barren waste with just a few people ekeing out a meagre living from farming and running guest houses.

Marty takes a very practical approach to this argument between those who want to halt immigration and those who want to make sure the economy keeps on growing. There isn’t a similar problem on Mars, although even Martians need a certain amount of space and want to preserve their environment. What he doesn’t understand are the doom mongers who say the island is already over crowded and now is the time to stop all immigration.

He reckons Jersey’s population could be allowed to grow by quite a bit more if we were a little more clever. Planners should get really tough and refuse to allow any building of any description on land that isn’t already built on, he says. That includes first time buyers, last time buyers, and all those in between, as well as luxury accommodation of any description.

Then they could lift silly height restrictions in some built-up areas, notably the Waterfront, to accommodate more people. Some Islanders might then complain that parts of St Helier were beginning to look a little like Hong Kong, but Marty says that’s no bad thing if we have the same quality of buildings. However this would help the island retain huge areas of countryside and coast with hardly a building in sight. Restricting the use or the size of cars would also be sensible, but Marty realises that this is going a bit too far for Jersey.

Marty may be a long way away, but he keeps his finger on the pulse and perhaps he can see the bigger picture. We Islanders sometimes ignore it entirely.

By Peter Body, Editor, Business Brief magazine

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