Just a ref to 'autonomy' with regard to Jersey and the legal first rung of Senator Syvret's ladder:
Crown Dependencies are possessions of The Crown in Right of the United Kingdom, as opposed to overseas territories or colonies of the United Kingdom. They comprise the Channel Island bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea.
Being independently administered jurisdictions, none forms part of the United Kingdom or of the European Union. All three Crown dependencies are members of the British-Irish Council. From 2005, each Crown dependency has a Chief Minister as head of government. However, as they are possessions of the British Crown they are not sovereign nations in their own right, and the power to pass legislation affecting the islands rests ultimately with their own legislative assemblies, with the assent of the Crown (Privy Council). (Source Wiki)
My own view is that SS will not succeed today, simply because the UK has better things to be getting on with and to be frank, nobody over here really gives a tinkers cuss if Jersey sinks or swims, not being rude but folks are more worried about their jobs, mortgages etc. The good times are over, as they are on the mainland, one can either wallow in self pity and lament the good old days or look to fresh business oportunities which I believe TLS will, given the time in office, take Jersey forward. Some of the remarks on SS blogsite are awful, considering he moderates himself he must be aware of the damage it has done, not internationally, but more importantly to people living on Jersey who regardless of their jobs or past employment, do not deserve such attacks outside of the court system.
The recent storm surrounding swearing in government, well it was teacup stuff really, so JP has a short fuse and let us be honest about it, he was provoked and the man responsible knew what he was doing!
Issues such as child abuse always polarise communities and Jersey is no exception, but one gets the impression that if you agree with SS then you are okay, if you challange then you are immediatley slotted into the "one of them" camp, or as he calls it, the establishment. There is only one way to sum up the establishment, love them or hate them, they have served Jersey well since (and during) the war and when all is said and done, what was the alternative? There will always be rich and successful people in the world and who better to run the country or island? We tried socialism and labour over here and look what happened, the labour party had to clone themselves with the Tories to ever have a hope of getting into power again, now there is no difference between the two, barring personalities and a few minor policy issues in the margins.
Cover ups, well it is unfortunatley one of the ways which successive governments have hidden embarassing issues from the general public, sometimes for their own good. It is called democracy folks and we all have to learn to look the other way sometimes, hard but true. In a perfect world everyone would get justice but life just isn't like that and quite often the outcome of justice can rupture the society which it is supposed to serve. Think of what is happening in Zimbabwe and go back to 1980 when the world applauded GB for stepping in and showing great humanity and justice for overseeing the handover of power. I was there and well remember one of the Zanu officers whispering to me and tapping his AK47 as he handed it over "you do realise that as soon as you go home, Nkomo is a dead man!"
