Sadly, we have weak leadership, with members of the Council of Ministers comparing our Chief Minister to Abraham Lincoln! That was three to four hours after he sacked his best political ally, only to intimate later that he would be reinstating him, perhaps in a ministry of his own. You couldn’t make it up. The sacking was minutes before the vote of no confidence was about to be debated. Let’s just call it what it was – a game of chicken, a show of disdain for fellow Members, backbenchers, Jersey and the electorate.
The ‘Jersey way’ seems to reward failure with money and accolades. The need for a new hospital is obvious to most and agreed upon by many, but the size, scale and needs of the Island have not been thought through. What figures have been used to design the hospital? What data? The new hospital will have, at full capacity, only an additional six beds or so when the population has increased by at least 12,000 in recent years. I question the validity of the figures and calculations used. If we have a £301 million surplus and no black hole, why borrow money at all?
The Jersey Development Company have not returned any profit for me as a shareholder. I am both angry and dismayed to hear that huge bonuses have been paid. Where is the political oversight? I was told by Senator Alan Maclean at a public meeting ‘it’s your company’ and that he was looking after our interests.
I have no faith in Senator Gorst’s stewardship after his handling of the Innovation Fund, nor do I have faith in his fellow ministers Farnham, Maclean and the head boy of the Gorstian empire, Ozouf – the same team that brought us Keith Cavele and his ‘can’t be found and won’t be done’ film! Roll on the 2018 elections, and let’s hope people remember how our politicians voted, spoke and conducted themselves – and just how they distanced themselves from each other.
