The park that isn’t (yet)

Minor comedy moment whilst waiting at the bus stop this evening. Dottie and I were approached by a group of French tourists carrying a map.

This is a pretty common occurrence at this time of year and I mentally prepared myself to not speak in an outrageous accent (you silly king) before thinking which of the many hotels or shops they might be preparing to ask directions to.

The ambassador of the group opened with a cheery ‘allo and then asked if I could direct them to the Millenium Park …

the new Jersey “Millenium Park”

the “Millenium Park” that is still being built and won’t be completed until December (at the earliest) this year.

I asked if she was sure that she meant the “Millenium Park” and, after a look of Gallic confusion pointed to her “free from the tourist department” map where, sure enough, an sweeping area of verdant green was proudly labelled as the “Millenium Park”.

Only in Jersey!

Priorities

I don’t often post on matters political but today’s events in the island of Jersey require comment.

As is the case with governments around the world, the States of Jersey (responsible for governing the island) are facing a massive budget deficit and as such are currently debating fiscal policy reforms to identify areas in which costs can be cut and savings made.

Today’s debate saw a raft of options debated and voted upon but two caught my eye and caused me to stop and wonder just how utterly wrong a government decision can be.

This afternoon, the States of Jersey agreed to increase funding for Jersey Finance by £400,000. That’s nearly half a million pounds for an organisation that exists solely to promote Jersey as a desirable off shore financial centre for wealthy businesses and the ultra rich. The work that they do is certainly not necessary but it is useful in that it brings new business to an island that is  utterly dependant on the fickle finance industry to survive.

So the first part of the new “cost saving” budget is to grant an additional £400,000 to a marketing firm that does little to benefit islanders in their day-to-day lives.

The second figure announced was a genuine cut; a saving of sorts intended as one of many to address the £100m deficit the island is facing over the next three years.

This cut will save the island £183,000 per year, less than half the money granted to Jersey Finance in the same day.

£183,000 – a meagre fraction of the total amount of savings that need to be made.

And what did they cut?

The States of Jersey, in their infinite wisdom decided that the cost of providing free milk to school kids across the island was simply too great to bear.

Today our government took milk from the mouths of the island’s children.

I don’t have the words…