Where did it all go wrong? Overspending and a lack of investment for starters
RECENTLY, I turned 86. I was born in Essex of a Guernsey mum. I lived in NE London and was bombed by the Luftwaffe. I watched dog fights in the sky and sheltered in Anderson and Morrison shelters not so much from the bombs but from the shrapnel raining down.
My parents and I came back to Guernsey in 1946 and I was educated – and bullied – at Elizabeth College.
I left school and worked in London for a bank. At 18, living near Woodford, I put my cross on a general election ballot paper. The cross was against the name, Winston Churchill.
I returned to Guernsey where the States was run by unpaid, mostly sensible self-employed business men, who loved the island and knew how it ran and how to run it.
The civil service was small, cost effective and efficient. The island’s books turned a good profit annually and taxes were low. There were no ‘stealth’ taxes.
The parishes had direct input to government through having representation in the States of Deliberation.
Traffic was manageable and there was no parking problem.
Islanders made a, usually good, living from tomatoes, tourism and Tektronix.
I became a journalist and watched, first hand, how the island changed.
For some unknown reason, the civil service proliferated. We had no additional airports, harbours, or health service to support, yet the ugliest building in the island, Frossard House, had to be built to accommodate extra staff.
At the same time, the finance industry started to take hold, which meant salaries escalated to compete.
We taught the Dutch how to grow tomatoes rather than investing in more modern glass here. North sea gas meant the Dutch were able to heat their glasshouses more cheaply than we could. Result, the end of our tomato industry, once supplying one third of all the toms consumed in the UK.
The rapid expansion of the finance sector helped. Young islanders were able to earn much more at a desk than in a greenhouse.
The States changed from experienced businessmen to paid politicians, with the direct parish connection being removed by the Harwood report.
Today we stare bleakly into a black financial hole, caused by overspending, a lack of investment in the right things, a crumbling hospital and education running in circles not knowing which way to go.
I am glad that I am 86, not having years of indecision and a deteriorating way and style of life to look forward to.
God save the children.
JOHN NEALE