MISSED the news this week? Don’t worry, here’s a run down of what’s been going on.
The ten things we have learnt this week are…
1. It’s FlyMaybeNot
Flybe – the airline which served Jersey in its various incarnations for decades and occasionally arrived and departed on time – is back. The relaunched carrier, which has little connection to the Flybe which went bust in 2020, this week issued its long-awaited list of destinations… and Jersey wasn’t on it.
2. If you’re going to break into a shop, don’t stare straight at the CCTV camera
The States police revealed they were on the lookout for a cold-hearted crook who stole charity boxes from a corner shop in Columbus Street in the dead of night. After bagging cash that was destined for people more needy than himself, he was decent enough to have a good old gawp at the little camera in the corner of the room. Recognise those vacant eye? Then call the police. And don’t have nightmares.
3. Town could be getting a new school
First a developer wanted to build about a million homes on it. Then Andium bought it and had a vision for a much smaller development. Then someone pointed out there was probably an ancient burial site underneath it. Then Andium ditched the housing plan and decided it would be better to put some grass down instead. But this week the States said ‘no’ to that, and voted to build a primary school on the land. It’s fair to say that for many years we’ve not known what will end up being built on the former Jersey Gas site, next to the Millennium Town Park. What about a new hospital? Just a thought. No, forget it.
4… And more ‘affordable homes’ (whatever that means)
States Members voted in favour of a new planning policy that will require at least 15% of all homes in developments of more than 50 properties to be designated as ‘affordable’ from next year. The only problem is, someone’s ‘affordable’ is another person’s ‘I’ll have to sell a kidney just to get a deposit together’.
5. Normality has been delayed
Ministers announced that the lifting of the final Covid restrictions, which in theory would allow even those with Covid to roam free, have been delayed by a month until the end of April. It follows an explosion in cases in Guernsey and the UK, which both dropped their restrictions last month.
6. Green blobs are washing up on our beaches
This is exactly how bad sci-fi films from the 1980s started… Gooey masses begin appearing, they start walking, attaching themselves to humans, sucking out their innards and before you know it Kurt Russell’s on the scene trying to sort it all out. Or they could just have been pumped out of a ship in the English Channel. Who knows. But the green blobs found on the sand in St Aubin and Grouville this week are a whole lot more interesting than the Lidl nuts and air fresheners which have been washing ashore recently.
7. A man has been jailed for murder (again)
In what is turning out to be an annual event, Jamie Lee Warn was again jailed for life for the murder of his secret lover, Zsuzsanna Besenyei, in May 2018. It was the third time he had received a mandatory life sentence for the killing, after two separate appeals led to two retrials. And it’s not over yet – as he has indicated he is planning to launch a third appeal against his conviction.
8. There is a Better Way
No, not the Jersey Way, but a Better Way. That’s the name of a new political coalition which formed this week. The group, made up of Lucy Stephenson, Alex Curtis, Senator Kristina Moore, David Warr, Toni Roberts, Marisa Warren and Robert Surcouf, describes itself as a group of independents with some shared principles and a commitment to working together should they be elected.
9. Children as young as 13 are selling drugs to pay off debts to their own dealers
Yes, you read that correctly. And yes, we are talking about Jersey, not New Jersey. It’s a disturbing development. Why can’t the youth of today just stick to kicking over bins on the Waterfront or shouting abuse at people in the Millennium Town Park?
10. ‘Wonton’ theft doesn’t pay
A teenager was this week charged with theft after allegedly stealing another woman’s handbag and trying to use her credit card to buy £41 worth of Chinese food. And everyone was left thinking the same thing… no, not ‘what a callous crime’, but ‘that’s a lot of Chinese food’. Or she could have just ordered a couple of squid dishes, which are always a lot more expensive. Either way, it was naughty.
