Island has shone as a beacon of stability

IT’S NOW, as the year draws to a close and we take some time to be with family in the festive season, that we can take stock.

Our politics – and by that I mean the whole community, not only our politicians – has, it seems, become increasingly polarised and divided. This is part of something the wider world is seeing, perhaps one by-product of the social media age, and undoubtedly the result of the much tougher challenges we face. We’re getting older as a society, our expectations are changing, whilst our costs are rising with resources constrained.

Politics is largely about finding solutions to those problems – which are normally difficult by definition, otherwise they would already have been solved. Like life, politics comes with its share of conflict. And like life, it has its moments of solidarity, of sympathy and of success.

But in this season of goodwill, when we’re all feeling a little more charitable, we should celebrate that whilst our domestic politics in 2019 may at times in the year have felt divided, Guernsey has shone out as a beacon of stability in an unstable world. My hope for 2020 is that our stability is not lost. We will need it as we deal with external threats, including negotiating a new relationship for Guernsey with the EU after the UK has left. As we enter the uncharted territory of a new electoral system, island-wide voting, my aspiration is that Guernsey emerges with a group of deputies who are not divided by ideology, by ‘them’ and ‘us,’ but have shared values, committed to working together to ensure that Guernsey’s consensus-based committee system of government is more effective during the next term of government. We are strongest when we are united, pulling together towards common solutions. Even where we may disagree, let us see the good in each other’s view, and recognise the shared objective to make things better, even when we don’t agree on how to do it.

A couple of years ago, I said I wanted Guernsey to be among the healthiest and happiest places in the world. At the time, many people scoffed at that, and told me to ‘get real’. I’m not unrealistic about where we are and we still have some way to go. But I am proud that it now sits at the heart of our government’s plan. It is the right ambition for our community because it is no different to what we want for families and ourselves. Let us agree on that, at least. And then we can thrash out, with goodwill and in good spirit, how we can achieve our ambition.

In the meantime, my thanks to all those who will be working during the festive season, enabling most of us to rest; and my thoughts are with those for whom, for whatever reason, Christmas can be difficult. Finally, my very best wishes for a happy Christmas and a healthy and successful new year.