Why is there so much apathy right now towards not only our government decision-making process but also towards our current politicians?
Approachable...?
Keen to make important decisions immediately...?
Popular among voters...?
Trustworthy...?
This will be the second time that I will be standing for the position of States deputy. I know that as well as being able to make common sense decisions, I am able to unite people with reasoning and approachability.
Successive local governments failed to invest in the infrastructure of these islands and failed to take the correct approach with the finance industry.
Government purchased a failed airline and continued to dictate to the taxpaying public incorrectly that the only way was Aurigny, when free-market forces could have saved us all from our current embarrassments. This was the start of the decline of our tourist industry, which is currently in tatters.
Aurigny could be scaled back (if no appetite to conclude its operations) with small aircraft servicing the Channel Islands and hopefully when Emas (Engineered Material Arresting System) is installed we can ask British Airways or easyJet etc. to serve us with their proven successful operational services.
When successive governments trashed the 11-plus they created a them-and-us society by intention, which is totally against everything that I consider being fair and equitable. Those families with the mindset of pulling in teachers to give extra tuition to their children to enhance their chances of passing the 11-plus were able to at a cost (nothing wrong with that), but not everyone else who wanted could afford to do so.
The housing crisis is the result of decades of short-term thinking, and a fear of borrowing. How can successive governments sit back and refuse to repair the islands’ infrastructure to ensure a brighter future for their children and their children’s children?
I hope it is not too late to repair the carnage of previous governments. If Reform can reflect the people’s disillusionment in the United Kingdom, surely it is not too late for you to vote for candidates who will focus on repairing our broken society, and by removing those politicians who have no real desire to listen to the people and make crucial decisions rather than discuss nice-to-have ideals.
Please, before you vote, look at the voting patterns of the current deputies who are standing again and, if possible, review their respective manifestos for 2020 and use that information as a benchmark for the people when you decide who will be determining the future of your islands.
It is not all doom and gloom. I am a big supporter of our bus service, our libraries, our beautiful parks, our focus on sport, music and the arts in general.
But to pay for what we need, the economy has to diversify and we can no longer place all of the eggs into the finance basket. There are so many other additional directions that we can go and be successful.
Why did we not move heaven and earth to get the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society box office success actually filmed here?
Why did we get UK experts without any real knowledge of these islands to tell us how to direct the traffic through Town? Why did we stand back and let the Market turn into an embarrassing characterless mess?
Yes, governments will of course not get everything right, but if you let in the wrong lot you can expect a goods and services tax (probably with few exceptions) that will surely rise year on year, you can expect the finance sector to continue to be wrapped in cotton wool, you can expect little or no regard for tourism, hospitality, the arts and little chance of borrowing to claw us out of this dark pit.
This election could be your opportunity to vote for people who are determined to knock a brick or two out of this solid brick wall that will allow a bit of daylight to shine through and encourage those on the border of total disillusion.
I will leave the last word to the Beatles: ‘We can work it out.’
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