Speaking over the weekend, Guernsey’s Public Services minister gave a pretty good impersonation of someone detached from reality by saying that how businesses respond to the price rises he intends to trigger by ratcheting up charges at the ports was really not his problem.

That level of detachment seems to be spreading. He has already removed himself from piloting the island’s revised waste strategy and, his critics would say, has distanced himself from human rights principles by seeking to drive through a compulsory purchase order using deficient legislation to facilitate the airport runway improvements.

Even Treasury and Resources, which triggered this mischief by demanding an extra £1.8m from the ports, has questioned PSD’s response to it, which appears designed to enrage islanders and penalise small boatowners, damage newspaper reading habits and increase things like building and some heating costs.

If it is a ploy to force the States into rejecting the package, it is a pretty cynical move, not least because of the work businesses will have to do to mitigate the effect of the new charges just in case they do come into being, as planned, on All Fool’s Day.

What makes this harder to stomach is that the sum required is disproportionate to the harm it will cause and, for an organisation that this year is expected to have an income of £343m., is trivial.

The problem lies not with the island’s revenue – but with what it spends.

While a newsagent struggles to make a living under States-induced petrol price rises and a Guernseyman with a modest boat is seen as fair game, government spending – described as profligate by its own advisers – remains untouched.

Headcount rises unchecked. Pension costs are out of control and public sector pay is remorselessly ahead of inflation.

The gulf between government and governed increases by the day, as does the sense of disillusionment.  Despite the promises, States members have not got their own house in order and clearly have no intention of doing so.

Instead, it is so much easier to continue fleecing islanders.