Border skirmish threatens our united front
A LIVE music balcony gig, the first birdwatchers’ walk, a revel at St Saviour’s and the Marine and Sea Cadets back on parade.
Just a few of the multitude of events on one busy summer weekend.
Last night, football fans gathered for the much-anticipated start to the season and sports as varied as cricket, golf and athletics have long been in action. On Saturday night, clubbers left crowded pubs to join long queues for nightclubs.
Hugs and handshakes are back, full social distancing is occasional rather than enforced and there is barely a facemask in sight.
Life, inside the Bailiwick at least, is the envy of jurisdictions around the world. For many people it is close to normal.
And yet the pressure to break free of this bubble is growing. The voices of discontent with the island’s continuing closed-border policy have been raised from a whisper to a loud complaint.
That, too, is understandable. Families have been divided for many months, off-island holidays are restricted to the Isle of Man or staycations, businesses are suffering.
For many people – especially the vulnerable and their friends and families – that is a price worth paying for peace of mind and a freedom to live daily life without worries or restrictions.
For others it is intolerable. Guernsey and the other islands have become a gilded prison and they can only peek through the bars at the wider world beyond.
They want out, even if life in Guernsey and the other islands loses some of its liberties as a result.
Fuelled by social media and public forums such as this letters page, the danger is that the contrasting views are splitting our society. #GuernseyTogether is already seen by some as a negative, a way to drown out debate from those railing against the prevailing public health philosophy.
The island’s leaders have won plaudits at home and abroad for their flexible, bespoke approach to the Covid-19 crisis. Much of their success has been in carrying the majority of islanders with them through clear, evidence-based decision-making and innovative responses.
Holding together the fragile union of the cautious and the bold and finding some way to satisfy both will be their greatest challenge.