Point-scoring illogical choices a worrying trend

NOW is not the time to have a government split by personalities and egos.

The economy remains stagnant, the education system is in the grip of an unsettling redesign, households are about to realise just how much the new waste system will impact their lives and wallets and, most importantly, Guernsey has to negotiate its way through Brexit at the same time as appeasing the EU over its corporate tax system.

Yet here we are, nearly two years into a term, with a wounded awkward squad firmly in place and the prospect of real damage being done.

This is the fourth States I’ve had the fortune to cover, five if you count the dying embers of the old system of government back in 2003 too, and none has been riddled with the kind of warped logic that follows this one around.

Some members seem too happy to shake someone’s hand while simultaneously stabbing them in the back, damning with faint praise.

They will at the same time proclaim that they hope something works while warning that it cannot possibly, with all the maturity of a school kid waiting to shout na na na na na at someone while sticking out their tongue.

This is a States that has, at times, tried to make the illogical logical – no more so than with its decisions on education.

At one moment we have a strong vote in favour of one system, then so nearly put in place a president who openly opposes it.

I’ve yet to see a major policy successfully driven through by someone who does not support it because, ultimately, there comes a crunch point when doubts lead to delay and to U-turns – government gets stuck like the needle at the end of a record.

It is all too easy to predict who will lead the protests, depending on which politician is in the firing line.

That’s what makes you realise this is often not about reasoned differences or evidence-based challenges, but point scoring.

Of course, it has often been thus in politics, whatever the members want to tell you, but it is the amplification of this behaviour that is the worrying trend in the life of this States.

Often the most dangerous operators are not those who shout up front, but the ones who cajole in the background out of the public eye.

That all said, there has to be some hope that the churn at Education, Sport & Culture and Economic Development – although both came about for very different reasons – will eventually lead to stability and progress.

This might just be the turning point that was needed. ESC now has a path to follow and a destination to get to. Economic Development has a welcome fresh focus on initiatives to grow the economy in the short term.

Just how effective this remaining term of government is depends on the behaviour of those who have been deposed.

Two years of sulking and throwing spanners for the sake of it could be dangerously disruptive – and disingenuous to the voting public who put them in place and pay their wage.

Two years of applying healthy scrutiny in policy areas would lead to better outcomes.

An unforeseen catastrophe aside, it is hard to envisage any other major committees falling now.

Both that have gone were widely predicted, it was just a case of when.

Cast an eye around the others and they are either seen as doing a solid job, like Health & Social Care and Employment & Social Security, or while not pulling up any trees are simply ticking along, like Home Affairs.

Environment & Infrastructure has some tricky and very visible subjects on its plate that will attract a lot of public interest, which always makes them more vulnerable than others.

It would take a major groundswell to unseat Policy & Resources – and they are the committee that have left some feeling the most burnt.

Outside of the big hitters, the Transport Licensing Authority has escaped the level of scrutiny you might expect given its handling of the Waves issue.

One minute it appears to be showing no interest as the airline launches its service, a few months later, under pressure, it requires a licence application. Something went badly wrong there.

That will play out more vividly in the next few months.

Expect more too from the Public Trustee case, where, at least according to the details that have emerged so far, a public official resigned for following established procedures.

Not only do the circumstances and rights and wrongs of that need to be addressed, the operation and oversight of the body need to be reformed, but there is a very costly legal case ongoing with public money at stake about which very little detail has been confirmed.

There is a major question mark hanging over the future of the States’ Trading Supervisory Board – just who in the chamber has the skills and time to take on its presidency when Deputy Charles Parkinson stands aside?

And at a time when the waste strategy is being rolled out and more financial return is expected from the trading bodies themselves.