This island and its people deserve much better

I have been in the island now since approx. 1989 and if I recall, I kind of arrived on the back end of the right to work being introduced on the island.

Like others, I queued to get mine, and overheard the various complaints etc of others, especially those local born on how it was a cheek that a local should need a RTW. Now this I fully understood (why should a local need one?) and I quietly agreed that non-locals should, despite personally feeling it was a bit harsh and draconian. However...

Town was heaving with people. As I was a very active DJ then, it was a fantastic place to go out, albeit with shorter bar times, but there was no such thing as a quiet pub or club. People used to walk up the Grange to get to Bonaparte's, Blue Notes etc... The good old days,

I believe some might call them.

Fast forward to 2014. I drive a bit more nowadays. Up the Grange, Bonaparte's is gone, so is Blue Notes. Scarlets and Whispers in Town also gone. But this isn't just about the clubs – after all, times change, so do people, I guess, and fashions.

Walking through Town now is not so much fun any more. Shops closed up, Mill Street still pretty much ignored, high prices and some local businesses decimated, and it occurs to a lot of people (myself included) that our States are not for, and do not represent, us, the taxpayer, at all any more.

I know what I'm about to write will look like I am taking things personally with Kevin Stewart, regrettably though, his comments have incensed me and many others and serve to illustrate a point.

For all of Kevin Stewart's bluster about his pay rise as an example, he is now starting to sound very unhappy with his wage. I know in an ordinary person's life, if it was that bad, you would change your job to one that suits you better, no?

With that in mind, please stop moaning, Kevin. I and many others would dearly love to earn even half of your bemoaned £47,000 salary. All you're doing now is sounding ungrateful, which, as a taxpayer, I find insulting. You chose to run for deputy, presumably you knew the pay, so as one of your many constituent bosses, please do the job you're paid for or find something else. We work very hard for our money.

Same can be said for any other deputies who feel a little hard done by. Try keeping things at home running on £300 a week (my wage), then you can complain.

But this is not just angled at one sole deputy – that would be grossly unfair. It's pretty much all (with some exceptions) of our current regime that baffles me in the truest sense.

How can you all be so disconnected from the people you should be representing? How? Are we now just sheeple (people who act like sheep) to you, merely to do as you command? I don't think so.

To single out St Peter Port for the paid parking is beyond outrageous, especially as the so-called bigger picture still has many holes in, and it screams of an idea that lacks any kind of structure at all.

No one spoke to CT Plus prior to the announcement about the free bus service? Seriously? How did this even get passed through the States in such an unfinished form? I and many others are under the impression that whoever thinks these things up should at the very least have a full and comprehensive plan to show in order to back it up. You wouldn't buy a half-baked loaf of bread on a promise it will be done properly, would you? Why should we?

An ordinary person with a half-baked plan would be laughed at or worse – a governing body, you would hope, should have the whole thing to hand.

But I would like to stress and thank those deputies who stood down because of this paid parking – finally a show of morality and good conscience.

How do we know that the ultimate goal is not to have island-wide, on-street paid parking, because nothing states that is not the case, and no matter how I look at it, the traffic will not ease even if it does still go ahead. Can we expect an assurance that this will never be the case? I won't hold my breath.

I and many others will not use the buses to go shopping for example, nor would those with children and prams ideally, seeing as a lot of the bus drivers don't even wait for parents to put the prams to the sides before driving off, nearly making many a mum, and myself at one point, fall over.

To cover the extra services, it would be prudent to have more buses or shuttles, which kind of kills the 'less traffic' idea straight away.

As for the long-term paid parking spots, they will simply be used full-time by the people who can afford the full week's cost, and of course it's cheaper than a parking ticket – leaving whatever short-term spaces so fellow motorists will be fighting over them like cats and dogs, ergo... no parking at all, for anyone, yet States members will be exempt. Why? What makes you so special?

Out of a £47,000 salary, are you seriously trying to tell me you can't afford it, so you're all quite happy to bend the rules to save yourselves money simply because you're in power? I don't know about you but I was always taught that in a position of responsibility you should lead by good example, or is the current thinking that of do as I say, not as I do?

The final insult also on this is what I read about smart meters. There is no other way to view these, except as another punishment for having the total cheek to want to park in our town.

Free if you're an electric car, 20% less if you're a hybrid car, or 20% more if you're a 2001 vehicle. Again, being punished for not having a vehicle that only rich people or States members on £47,000 can afford. Please don't waste your breath claiming this brings us in line with the UK or elsewhere. I'm not interested in what the Joneses are doing, I'm interested in my home island.

You do this and you will kill St Peter Port and the island, just like previous States have killed the tourist and hospitality trade, the tomatoes and local produce and the powerboats, which, at a guess, brought a very pretty penny to the island. Oh, and not to forget the internet businesses, which the States allowed to be killed due to greed and ignorance on their part. The Guernsey States were warned, yet they chose to ignore.

Now GST has reared its head once again – and I am not alone in thinking this will be the biggest nail in Guernsey's coffin.

Strange how this could be brought in, and seeing as the States very kindly gave themselves a pay rise while telling us we have to pull our belts in and most of us have had a pay freeze or worse, a cut... so that's a nice little buffer so you 47K'ers won't feel that particular pinch, while myself and my wife for example will feel as if every penny counts, as it does to all us common folk who work for a living.

A nice example of the haves and the have-nots, huh?

GST will not fix anything. GST hasn't solved even partly Jersey's issue. All it will do is totally undermine the slightly useless 'shop local' campaign. Now I only say that as for me, shopping for clothes would be fine if I lost some height, weight and a shoe size, but as I'm pretty OK with how I am right now, I'll do my clothes shopping online as Guernsey stores almost continually do not stock anything that fits me, so I would have to wait anyway. Plus, if this latest buzz about the shipping costs being kept on Guernsey retail prices is true, not only has the general public been really ripped off for years, it's cheaper online, and as the States have told us all, we have to make sacrifices and not spend frivolously, apart from the States who lost £2.5m. and HSSD who also keep managing to overspend, but stick at it chaps, you may get the message eventually.

If money is still being lost at HSSD, here's a tip: it won't be from the nursing staff you keep sacking. They, after all, are the ones who actually do the work and don't have access to the money.

There's a good chance it will be happening in middle to higher management. Try looking at some of the leeches and hangers on and really ask is the 'job' they do really proactive towards HSSD? It's not? Then get rid of them instead. Stop wasting our money, please.

GST will simply accelerate the decline of local shops and force more online purchases to be made. It will become an abused stealth tax when revenues decline further due to shops closing down and companies pulling out and establishing elsewhere.

Sales tax in Guernsey will not help one bit. The poorer families will feel it far worse, especially as there is no legislation for a cost-of-living increase, or perhaps that is the overall plan, to drive us ordinary folk off the island to leave to those better off so you can have your peace and quiet at our expense?

Zero-10. Can I ask, what is the point of it? Why is the public bearing most of the financial burden yet banks etc. are not paying their way? If there is one facility on this island that is more than capable of paying up, it's them. Please don't tell me it's to encourage business. Businesses were doing fine under the old way.

I'm saying this after it's been in the news of the disgusting and undeserved bonuses the banks are rewarding themselves with.

Most of the banks got us all into financial dire straits, yet by none of them being prosecuted for incompetence, these ridiculous bonuses and then the zero-10 farce, golden handshakes what-have-you, you might as well congratulate them for being bad at their job, but they won't get sacked.

A normal individual who cooks the books would be thrown in gaol straight away, but work high up in a bank, get away with murder and get a bonus to boot.

Does our States believe the whole island is made of money? If you want to tax us more, then make sure we have the money with which to pay it. Stop being so greedy and blinkered.

The United States has prosecuted banks a number of times, so that at least shows some governmental spine. But here and in the UK? OK chaps, here's a huge sum of money for dropping us all in it and a directorship on another company. Utter lunacy. Again, Joe (Or Joanne) Bloggs would be thrown to the wolves and be eating prison rations.

There are too many issues that have occurred under our current regime, I mean administration, that have deeply angered me. What I find distressing is that the anger and disgust as to how we and our island are being systematically abused is not letting go. It's safe to say I have never felt like this prior to my emailing the Press.

I have always tried to keep myself out of politics as it's been plain for too long here that an ordinary person's vote is only good enough to get someone in office, then common sense takes a long holiday from that moment on. Guernsey has been more of a home to me than the UK ever has. It has been good to me and I care about my home.

I would very much like to know if we are able to cast a vote of no confidence in our government. I'm not holding my breath as to what the answer is, but it is safe to say that our States government is very fond of using the stick. It appears the carrot has been thrown away and they truly believe that we, the taxpayer, will pay for absolutely everything they can dream up.

The old-boy way of running this island is killing it – keeping a few in power happy and never mind anyone else. Guernsey government does not work and must change. Correction, it has to change.

For people with high education standards, I truly believe they have done an appalling job. I didn't leave school in sixth form, or college nor uni. I left after the fifth form in the UK with a handful of grades, but I can tell the difference between various body parts and I have common sense. Also, as far as I can tell, there technically wouldn't really be anything stopping me running for deputy should I choose too.

What gives me a wry smile is, should that possibility occur, I'm sure there would be those that would do their utmost to prevent me getting on any committees, most likely because of this letter.

As you may be able to tell from the tone of this letter, I don't mind ruffling feathers, and oh boy, does this island need that right now.

This island needs people who care about it in control, not those with illusions of power, and I would strongly encourage those that feel they can do a better job to stand up and be counted. Enough with the political double speak, enough with empty manifesto promises, and most definitely enough with the tax on tax on taxation of us. The island needs a better government than the one we currently have.

RAY MARSHALL,

St Peter Port.