Derided ‘Guernsey Way’ has stood us in good stead for generations
Some contributors to the letters page are not enamoured by our political system, status quo or the ‘Guernsey Way’. However Nigel De La Rue (Friday 29 December), did have the good grace to give credit to Deputy Peter Roffey for his undoubted hard work and commitment to Guernsey governments over many years, before he continued on his hatchet-job diatribe in the Guernsey Way. Deputy Roffey, together with like-minded colleagues of the same calibre, are a nucleus of conscientious deputies who are ‘hands on’ and basically just get on with it, as opposed to waffling on for hours and outsourcing and delegating, flagged-up as virtues, but to us voters, is a virtual slap in the face and pass-the-buck attitude. We select our chosen candidates because we want their stamp on their tenure of office, not to be offloaded on faceless and unelected substitutes.
What’s the point of being regaled, (and bluffed) by personal manifestos and hot air at the hustings, just to be palmed off? We’ll know better for next time! We know ideal governments don’t exist, the UK is a case in point. Try Sir Peter Hennessy’s latest book, Land of Shame and Glory. Get-rich-quick merchants ripping off the taxpayer with impunity with various scams for their own benefit, corruption and self-interest, besmirching, the honesty and credibility of the genuine members of parliament. Cliques and cronies abound, together with greed and sleaze in abundance. As a noted historian, political commentator and humanitarian, the author deplores the continual lowering of standards, the complete shambles masquerading as leadership and the spurious epithet of people’s representatives in both houses of government in the UK.
We are so lucky to have some deputies who are altruistic and insightful, who value honesty and transparency. They want no truck with an executive committee, a ruling elite answerable to no-one. Absolute power soon degenerates into autocratic bullying. Like us, our value-for-money representatives want integrity and probity to hold sway. Our Assembly is far better than the corporate culture or febrile greed the UK has to suffer, thank goodness.
Further afield in this chaotic world, the governments are even worse. We watch in horror at the despotic and barbaric fanatical crimes against humanity, played out on a daily basis on the innocent, and thank God for the saner and safer government we have than many millions of other poor souls. On a world-wide scale, we may not be on the sunny uplands en route to Utopia, but neither is any other government, we’re far better off, so viva the Guernsey Way.
No administration will ever please all of the people all of the time, but our Assembly has always been the core of our stability and identity. Our island has lost so much of the way we were – please, please don’t denigrate the Guernsey Way. It’s stood us in good stead for generations and change for change’s sake is not acceptable.
At election time, we voters could help more, by disregarding the siren voices of candidates’ individual manifestos which cannot (or will not) be honoured and not to be so profligate with our votes. Less is more.
We want the best who will do their best for our island and islanders.
That’s the electorate’s quid pro quo – it’s why we bother to vote!
J Martel
8 Courtil Jacques, Burnt Lane, St Martin’s, GY4 6HA