People die, businesses go under, governments don't have magic wands

St Helier's main shopping street, there was a time when
the street was too full of people to walk down every night until 9pm.
Look at it now during the day, empty.

It's less than two weeks to my fortieth birthday but I am going to get ahead of myself and reminisce about the good old days slightly earlier than I am entitled to.

Come back Fred Clarke, Jersey needs YOU!

Fred Clarke, visionary, ultra successful businessman and a Constable who understood that the ONLY thing that matters is keeping the rates down and was much beloved by his parishioners as a result. It is hard to imagine what he would think of the shambles that has followed him.

We have been treated over the past few weeks to a succession of hard up stories by our over-spending, grossly bloated, inefficient spend thrift, utterly clueless government.

I just want to set the record straight... nothing the government does is free, WE pay for it through taxation. There is no 'free sewerage'.

The BIG ISSUE is who should run the sham electoral commission to reform the 'States of Jersey' but of course they will not look at the fundamental issue of whether there should be a States of Jersey at all and if there is how we can limit it.

If Christmas is a time for parents to buy things for their children, the other 364 days of the year (365 this year) is for children to buy things for their parents through the monstrosity that is SOCIAL SECURITY. We know the pot will be empty in 30 years why do they think we object to paying it?

As long as Doctors get paid then the system will be open to abuse, why do you think people on HIE see the doctor more often than normal working people? Because the state (that is WE the taxpayer) pays for their visits.

The real reason that Doctors want an end to charging is because they know the number of people they see will increase and thus their incomes will too. Of course YOU may wish to subscribe to the belief that Doctors like Lawyers always act solely in the interests of their clients and that they are above such trivialities as considering what will best serve their own ends, but I don't think I will be joining you.

Everyone dies, deal with it, Doctors can prolong the agony but death is not a preventable disease. Sometimes I think they forget this.

I am incredulous with the attitude of too many people in Jersey... everyone seems to think that they are entitled to something for nothing - free healthcare, 30 years of pension after only 40 years of work, a nice cushy overpaid job with the government that does not actually involve doing anything productive.

And yet in the real world - three more trust companies are being sent to the wall through JFSC 'investigations', probably for no better reason that they have 'the authority' and so want to use it like some playground bully- that's around 80 more jobs, real productive jobs, that have been lost. You wonder why the finance industry does not complain about the level of regulation? Well it is simply because that is a sure fire way to see yourself referred to PWC for an investigation which costs you £400 per hour (or per hour claimed) and there is no way you can complain about it because that is the 'price' of doing business in Jersey. It has hardly any wonder that no one is doing business in Jersey these days.

The disconnect between the government and the people of Jersey continues to widen and will as long as the government refuses to confront the obvious - it is not the solution, it is the problem.

Unfortunately some people seem to have actually believed the unfulfilled and unfulfillable promises of the government and our politicians are so egotistical that they glory in the false praise and their own self importance that they are unwilling to confront the harsh reality, they are only making things worse.

Being elected by a very small minority of people (no one has the support of more than 1 in 4 people), they forget that the majority of people want nothing to do with them or their abuses. The end of the Welfare State, like death, is not preventable the toxic debts of the excesses of the previous generations are piled too high, are too burdensome for us - the choice is simple, how long do we want to suffer before we accept the reality that is slapping us round the face?