From the Summit of the Moral High Ground

GOLD!  The prospect of the world coming to an end on the 21st December left me with a rather tricky dilemma; do I go and see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey just in case or do I wait until 2016 and just buy the DVD extended version box set once it is available at a reduced price and get maximum value from the experience as I did with Lord of the Rings? In the end I decided that I would re-read the book and go (re-reading the book being essential so I could see what they had changed you understand). Personally I cannot believe they are going to drag it out over three films, but of course the sight of a horde of gold coins appealed to me. It was a tough choice but I succumbed to temptation and went for my first experience of 3D cinema since they did away with the red and green glasses. I think that red and green glasses are the way to go, the experience was nowhere near as good as whichever Nightmare on Elm Street it was that I saw back in 1991 in bi-colour spect...

Constable Clarke opens a fair  As part of looking back to see where the States of Jersey have gone wrong, it is probably beneficial to look back to the times when the States of Jersey got it very right. Fred Clarke served Jersey and the parish of St Helier for three terms as Constable of St Helier, now apart from the one little problem where a Centenier Pearce was unfairly dismissed  from office in order to cover up the maladministration of the then Attorney General, one Philip Martin Bailhache, later Bailiff and currently Senator, he excelled in the role, and all the while unpaid. His operation of the parish finances was remarkably similar to the operation of his company C. Le Masurier, he never spent a penny on anything that he didn't have to. So successful was Constable Clarke in running the parish that the finances remain in reasonably good health in spite of the spiralling bureaucracy which has been created by later Constables Le Brocq and Crowcroft. There was...

Jersey's Central Market viewed from the Halkett Place double gate  Reading old laws is a fascinating business; there is a totally different feel to them and to that end I present the  LOI (1885) TOUCHANT L’ADMINISTRATION DES MARCHÉS PUBLICS (the law regarding the administration of the public markets). English translations are mine and are included in brackets after the French. 1  ‎La régie, l’administration et la police des Marchés sont du ressort des États, et seront exercées selon les ordres et sous les directions de cette Assemblée, par le Ministre responsable pour Transport and Technical Services.  (The governance, administration and policing of the markets are the responsibility of States, and will be performed in accordance with the orders and directions of the Assembly by the Minister responsible for Transport and Technical Services.) The States of Jersey are solely the trustees of the Public Markets.  2 ‎Les États ou le Ministre...

Kitco reports  that the Chinese have forced down the price of gold on the markets and following the price today has made interesting reading, the price plummeted all the way down to the London PM fix at $1692 before rebounding sharply once the fix was in to back over $1700 then ending the day at $1696. The interesting thing will be to see how much physical metal was purchased today from the LBMA. It was a crazy day for bullion sales. I personally had my entire inventory purchased, with additional orders placed and booked. A quick tour of the jewellers and antique dealers revealed that gold coins for sale are near to non-existent. It is refreshing to see that many people in Jersey are heeding the warning signs of the impending end of the Anglo-Saxon domination of the world. The number one present this Christmas is going to be gold and silver bullion and coins. There is an increasing disconnect between physical sales and market prices however, physical sales continue to rise...

UK families get less back and pay more, it is official. Whilst Germany has an effective tax rate of 40% and the Netherlands 48% and the best place to live in the world is Chile where effective tax is just 20% the average family in the UK pays 73% of their earnings in tax. At the last election I tried to calculate what the effective tax rate in Jersey was, but Dr Gibaut (whilst quoted constantly by Senator Bailhache through the hustings) would not provide the figures for me. Isn't it time one of our representatives asked Dr Gibaut to provide the answer?

When will unions make arguments that everyone can support, a policy idea  Working for the government is for the vast majority basically being on 'benefits plus', they offer no more to the community and economy than those who choose not to work but live on income support or disability benefit due to 'depression' a 'bad back' or other unconfirmable but at the same time undeniable 'illness'. Changes to terms and conditions are needed; an end to paid sick pay, a reduction in paid holidays to two weeks a year, a change from final salary (or average salary) pensions to a personal pension account with a defined value. There also needs to be some evidence. We need an independent review of public sector wages taking into account: ease of recruitment into a range of jobs in the public sector versus the private sector, job comparability with a range of private sector jobs (but taking true accountability into account – businesses go bust if manager makes a...

I have noticed on Amazon that many sellers are selling goods at less than cost price and, this being an unusual state of affairs, it is important to ask why they are doing this and what the longer term consequences are going to be... The watch retail business is an interesting case study; everyone wants to sell Rolex and if you sell Rolex any brand will be desperate to put their range in your shop - of course selling Rolex is not easy, you have to have an invitation to even step onto their stand at the trade shows. The trend is for fewer and fewer Rolex agents and losing the agency is the death knell for that business, take C.T. Maine's for example. With a minimum spend of £250,000 per year of the models selected for you by Rolex (rather than the ones you want), it can be a double edged sword. There are the 'branded' watches; the Armani's, D&G's, Police etc of this world which when you open the case are £20 watches using old Citizen mass produced Miyota m...

Jersey's largest private employer and heart of the finance industry in Jersey, is to establish a 'branch' in Singapore in January, senior managers were informed last weekend. For those of you who have been following the posts on this blog which have highlighted Singapore as the favoured jurisdiction for those few people left with anything worth stealing by the banking/government colossus of fraud and exploitation may still be surprised to learn that plans are already underway for Jersey's finance industry to move its operation to this location. Of course the move will not happen all at once, expect things to happen gradually in small unnewsworthy, and thus unreported, tranches over the next 24 to 36 months until the office in Jersey is little more than a letterbox. Royal Bank of Canada employs approximately 1,000 of Jersey's 18,000 private sector workforce (out of a total workforce of 42,500 when the unproductive, make work States of Jersey, and its subsidi...

" All nations who are ruled by laws and customs are governed partly by their own particular laws and partly by those laws which are common to all mankind ." Emperor Justinian COMMON LAW - This was used in Roman Times to denote the laws which were common between the City of Rome and the various regions of Italy. It was also used by Alfred the Great to denote a 'Common Law' of England which was based upon the ten commandments which would stand above the local customs and baronial courts. In a very real sense then the Common Law is superior to the regional and subordinate laws of 'the Island of Jersey and its Dependencies' having been adopted into Jersey as part of the apocryphal 'Constitutions of King John' which, whilst the basis of Jersey law, were never actually written nor given to Jersey by the King but borrowed from Magna Carta. CUSTOMARY LAW - This is different to Common Law in that it represents the customs of a particular region, it shoul...

The man who thinks he should be paid £75,000 per year The Constable of St Saviour has lodged a proposition which has been reported in the JEP  as 'Don't give us a pay rise'. Now I find this an exceedingly interesting use of the English language and fundamentally a false statement. Firstly the use of the word 'give'. I cannot recall ever having 'given' the States members a pay rise, indeed I am with my good friend and business neighbour John Farley, former member of the States of Jersey, in believing that things started to go down hill when States Members started getting paid. If it were left to me they would not be paid at all. As an alternative those who were not of sufficient private means should be awarded income support, albeit without the need to have to look for work. Stuart Syvret served us for many years on this basis before paid States Members, for some reason, that they should be paid was about the only thing that all States members could ...