ELECTRICITY is to get more expensive, a housing plan has been blocked and it’s going to get hot.
The ten things we learnt this week are:
1. The Real Housewives of Jersey are no more
Islanders should no longer fear turning on ITVBe (yes, it’s a real channel – scroll down the TV schedule a bit and you’ll find it somewhere)… as the Real Housewives of Jersey will not be returning for a third series. But one of its stars has hinted she will be appearing on a new show. What’s the opposite of ‘every cloud has a silver lining’?
2. Electricity is getting more expensive
A week isn’t a proper week without an announcement of a price rise. This week it was the turn of Jersey Electricity, who said that prices would be going up 5% in July and by the same amount in January.
3. But wait, help is on hand…
A government scheme which gives £20 a month – yes, you read that correctly, 20 whole pounds – to Jersey’s poorest residents has been launched. Social Security Minister Judy Martin said the initiative will make a ‘real difference’. It’s not clear whether she meant it would make a ‘real difference’ when paying household bills, or a ‘real difference’ if you were buying something which cost, say, £21.
4. Some people want us to be a bit more French…
Or at least adopt Central European Time, as they believe the lighter evenings could help us reduce energy use and save us a few quid. But we’ve already had a referendum on this, and most of us voted against it. And the States ignore the results of referendums anyway. So it’s not going to happen.
5. An Islander saved a drowning Frenchman
Let’s be honest, by early afternoon during a holiday in France most of us are so laden with wine and cheese it’s a struggle to even get off the sun lounger. So well done to St Clement resident James Baudains, who plucked a man from the sea in the marina at Carteret after the unlucky individual banged his head on part of another boat and fell into the water.
6. The honorary police came under attack
Sadly, many honoraries are used to getting a bit of verbal abuse from irate drivers or youths who’ve had a few too many drinks. But things took a sinister turn this week, when a couple of ne’er-do-wells lobbed what can loosely be described as a Molotov cocktail at one of their cars outside St Saviour’s Parish Hall. Surely no one can be that angry an honorary. Anyone with info should call the States police.
7. Matt Le Tissier has been dropped as an after-dinner speaker for a Jersey Bulls event
No, not because someone at the club realised he was from Guernsey. The football pundit has recently been making headlines after spreading a conspiracy theory about the killing of Ukrainian civilians, as well as claiming that some Covid-19 patients were actors and describing PCR testing as ‘the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on mankind’.
8. Planners say no to a tall building on a hill…
(an artist’s impression of how South Hill would have looked)
No, not the new hospital (yet). This week the Jersey Development Company had their plans for 153 apartments on South Hill refused because the proposed building would be gigantic.
9. 25% of Jersey homes are ‘under-occupied’…
… as they have at least two bedrooms more than the household needs, according to a new report. If you are wondering where these homes are, they are at the end of those drives that are so long you can’t even seen the house.
10. It’s going to get hot…
Just in time for a bank holiday weekend. Jersey Met is forecasting top temperatures of 21°C for Liberation Day. Enjoy the celebrations!
