This Is Guernsey » GP Opinion

States needs to get up to speed

GP Opinion — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:00:20 +0000

ONE of the frustrations of watching the States ‘in action’ - is that two words or one? - is how fast it can move when it really wants to.

The latest case in point is the introduction of a depositor compensation scheme following the Landsbanki collapse.

Islanders have been left in no doubt that the speed at which a complicated package was put … [visit site to read more]

A lose-lose situation…

GP Opinion — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 09:18:25 +0000

IN MANY respects, yesterday’s endorsement by the States of the international identity framework understanding between the island and the UK was a lose-lose situation.

The first casualty - for all that the Policy Council would have islanders believe otherwise - was a weakening of the island’s perceived relationship with the Government. It may … [visit site to read more]

No control on spending is the threat

GP Opinion — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 14:17:59 +0000

A BUDGET speech from the Education minister yesterday indicated how poorly served islanders are likely to be by the political process when it comes to taking this island forward during economically blighted times.

Faced with less money than it wants, the department’s immediate response is to threaten the people who pay its wages with the … [visit site to read more]

‘Gollygate’ clouds the real issues

GP Opinion — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:20:26 +0000

IF THE deputy chief minister and his colleagues on the Policy Council had wanted to make what some deputies are already calling ‘Gollygate’ worse than it already is, yesterday’s performance could not have been bettered.

What was essentially a localised debate on the best way to deal with Guernsey’s number-two politician making inappropriate … [visit site to read more]

Intent, not wording key to review

GP Opinion — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:03:48 +0000

CONFIRMATION from the chief minister that Guernsey had, indeed, been made aware in advance that the UK Government intended announcing a review of Britain’s offshore centres will provide some reassurance that Alistair Darling’s Commons statement was not an Edwards mark II act of hostility towards these islands.

So too will the Policy Council’s … [visit site to read more]

Clarification of intent is now needed

GP Opinion — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:19:01 +0000

GUERNSEY’S chief minister is expected to call a media briefing today to comment on yesterday’s surprise announcement by the UK Government that it is to launch a review of the role of the offshore areas it is responsible for as finance centres.

While the official line is that the examination will centre on supervision and international … [visit site to read more]

The fight goes on

GP Opinion — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:39:00 +0000

THEY may have lost the first battle but for St Sampson’s Infants’ PTA the war is far from over. With just a 10-week window remaining, several parents have agreed to regroup and fight on to save their local school from closure.

But clearly the odds are stacked against them. Education’s proposal to shut the Rue des Monts building - which houses … [visit site to read more]

No room for a wild-card deputy chief

GP Opinion — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 09:34:22 +0000

A GOLDEN rule for any politician is to be careful what you say. And if you can’t, be extremely choosy where you say it. So the deputy chief minister’s decision to tell a questionable ‘joke’ in front of an audience of journalists with TV cameras running was foolhardy in the extreme. Basing it on a quip – no matter how allegedly funny – … [visit site to read more]

The horse has bolted

GP Opinion — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:42:02 +0000

FOR customers of Landsbanki Guernsey, Treasury’s call for a depositor compensation scheme will both justify their anger and irritate their grievances.

The justification comes in the unequivocal message that the island and its banks got it horribly wrong. While member states throughout the European Union were compelled to have some form of … [visit site to read more]

‘New deal’ on funding has merit

GP Opinion — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:40:42 +0000

ONE of Guernsey’s most highly regarded figures in the financial services arena has entered the debate on how the island should finance its multi-million pound list of urgent capital projects.

And as the head of the Channel Islands Stock Exchange, she is well placed to suggest that innovative and creative ways be considered to get the necessary … [visit site to read more]

The code in the fiscal message

GP Opinion — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:55:11 +0000

CONFIRMATION from the Treasury minister that the States cannot control its expenditure is a worrying admission, for clearly no organisation can operate effectively, efficiently or for the long term without being in charge of its costs. In addition, the minister’s honesty might be seen to raise issues of government credibility.

The reason is … [visit site to read more]

Too hard, so States won’t tackle it

GP Opinion — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:25:13 +0000

ANYONE who has followed the emergence of the island’s zero-10 taxation strategy, the latest Budget and now the comments of the Treasury minister published today will realise that something of a crossroads has been reached.

Having agreed that a central plank of the strategy was public expenditure restraint, Treasury and Resources - without … [visit site to read more]

You pay, so they simply don’t care

GP Opinion — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:48:27 +0000

WHEN this newspaper criticised Treasury and Resources last week for abandoning any pretence of a policy of restraint in government spending, we did so on the basis of the department’s own 2009 Budget report and quoted some of the minister’s own words from the Billet d’Etat.

Since then, a number of readers and deputies have asked whether our … [visit site to read more]

I’d like my 150 quid back, please

GP Opinion — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 09:30:40 +0000

NOT so many years ago, the chief question about retirement was how early an individual intended stopping work. Now, that same question is how long someone has to struggle on in order to fund a realistic pension.

During that same period, the other aspect of retirement - thanks in part to Gordon Brown’s ill-judged tax raid as Chancellor on … [visit site to read more]

The damage is in no way lessened

GP Opinion — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:48:21 +0000

AS THE fallout from the blighted Jersey police investigation into historic child abuse continues, what is increasingly clear is that the two frontline casualties in the affair are trust and confidence. Sadly, the very people - the police - who are responsible for a catastrophic loss of public confidence are also the same people who are doing … [visit site to read more]