DING-DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD!

Vicious cyber bully Maureen Morgan humiliated as St. Helier No 1 District voters refuse to buy into the con…

It is undoubtedly true to state that a number of questions have continued to defeat even the finest of minds throughout the unfolding of history. Profound and intriguing mysteries such as…

·      What was the spiritual motivation underlying the erection of the gigantic and spectacular carven heads on Easter island?

·      Does the legend of the drowning of a super-advanced civilisation on Atlantis really have its roots in truth?

·   And does convicted petty criminal purveyor of cowardly death threats Jon Sharrock Haworth ‘get in to character’ by slipping into a frock and heels whilst posting on line abuse as ‘Sue Young’?

Yet daunting to the human condition as these great questions are truth be told we can be quite confident that eventually – given the inevitable march forward of scientific research and, indeed, psychic development – in time all of the above mysteries will be solved. A stark contrast I suggest to what is now surely set to become the most bizarre and illogical incident of all time.

I write of course of the question as to what the **** ever could have convinced a bitter and twisted, malicious, mean-spirited, potty mouthed pretend witch and claimed ‘professional’ Tarot card reader - one Maureen Morgan (‘Su-Mo’ to her victims on the internet) to kid herself she had even a cat in hell’s chance of conning enough of the fine people of St. Helier No. 1 District to vote her into the States Assembly?

Yes it is certainly true that things in The Island Democracy Forgot are bad: really bad! Hell, with having lost Daniel Wimberley, Stuart Syvret, Bob Hill and now also both Shona (Pitman) and myself – that’s a full five of only eight politicians in recent times who were brave enough to stand up to the Establishment cover-up merchants  and their corrupt judicial counterparts – things in truth have never ever been democratically bleaker.

But desperate enough to make any sane and basically decent person risk a vote for Maureen Morgan?

A woman whose entire contribution to the Jersey community appears to revolve around the spreading of vicious and cowardly lies on the internet about anyone who dares disagree with her; let alone commit the cardinal sin of challenging or criticising her? As the truly pathetic and embarrassing total of just 51 voters psycho Su-Mo managed to garner in the by-election of March 5^th 2014 spells out (no pretend witch pun intended!); and a fact all with even a rudimentary knowledge of politics, democracy, socio-economic and even plain and simple old common decency could have told her: the answer is a spectacular and resounding NO!

In fact the message for Maureen Morgan sent out by the electorate tonight could not be any less ambiguous: Go back to the broom cupboard. Stop taking your clear self-loathing, low self-esteem and twisted bitterness at your personal failures out on other people with this obsessive and cowardly internet bullying. Hell, act like an adult for once, take responsibility. Take a good hard look at yourself - and get some HELP!

The evidence of Maureen Morgan’s cyber abuse is shocking…

Indeed as just one of the many people Su-Mo has viciously and obsessively attacked (in all honesty her whole life seems to revolve around me as documented by numerous screenshots sent to me by people concerned I might have a deranged stalker) my ‘crime’ warranting this warped behaviour appears to have arisen simply from my daring to challenge her appalling cyber attacks on the name and character of the late Simon Abbott: a vulnerable individual barely cold in the ground.

Vicious cyber rants the style of which Morgan has continued to hurl to at the late Mr Abbott’s distraught and grieving father Jon!

Okay, so my other personal ‘crime’ in Su-Mo’s twisted mind also appears to be that I hold Leftist political principles and perhaps even worse in her warped imagination and seething jealousy – I have over a number of years put in the kind of hard graft on behalf of the people who twice elected me (and just as many who couldn’t or even probably wouldn’t) which a lazy motor-mouth bully like Morgan could only dream of.

Morgan ‘talks the walk’ but can’t ‘walk the talk’

Indeed, should anyone have any doubts on this last fact then just consider this little gem; Maureen Morgan bragged at the political hustings, on radio and on the net that she was the person who as Deputy would ‘just roll up her sleeves’ and ‘do the work’ that needed doing.’ How strange then that this very same person was simply too bone idle (or is that also too staggeringly arrogant?) to even knock on all the electorate’s front doors in the course of her election ‘campaign’? A ‘bad back’, Su-Mo - how very convenient.

In one of those bizarre twists of fate as chance would have it I came to be tipped off by the drunken blabberings of one of the tiny coterie of loons Morgan appears to feed on via a particular internet ‘political forum’ that Su-Mo was convinced she could get a great deal of publicity by deliberately goading me into exchanges throughout the weeks of the election campaign. ‘Jonnie’ or was it ‘Sue’ or ‘Julie’ being a bampot of equally staggering size let slip that not only would I apparently be ‘fuming’ at Morgan’s standing I also ‘just wouldn’t be able to resist firing back’ at Su-Mo’s on line abuse.

The fact was however her running for election actually had me in fits of laughter and further resolved me - thanks the troll’s loose tongue - that I wouldn’t make a single comment or criticism until after the polling station had closed on March 5^th. And despite the desperate and rabid abuse I have stuck to this. Indeed, as candidate Roy Travert observed in chatting to me only last week; though giving my personal view of who I thought best merited a vote in both St. Helier 1 and 2 unlike Maureen Morgan I haven’t laid in to any candidate no matter what I thought.

But now of course the gloves can come off

The fact is deprived of the publicity I would have guaranteed her Maureen Morgan’s election ‘campaign’ has consequently been all but non-existent: simply revolving around pumping out ever more vicious and childish abuse at those who she clearly knew were putting in the work and thus were more likely to have a chance of getting elected. People who also just happened coincidentally to be (you guessed it!) other community-driven leftists like Sam Mezec and Nick Le Cornu.

Candidates endorsed by...me! 

Candidates whose words reveal them to know far more about the nature of the problems facing those on the sharp end of our Establishment’s entrenched two-tier society economy than Morgan could ever hope glean given her sad existence in Sim City.  Candidates who were also, just like me, willing and committed to trying to do something positive about it.

But then it has to be said that Mad Maureen and her little band (one or two are actually real people!) would equally even pour scorn and abuse on Leftists who were not even on the internet nor even involved in the No. 1 campaign such as Shona! No insult it seems was too low. Shona, like me, was apparently even a ‘disgraced’ States Member. 

Whether this was because she too had an excellent reputation for helping vast amounts of people that even political adversaries such as Sean Power and Philip Ozouf acknowledged or simply because Su-Mo hated the fact Shona also had a science-based Degree in addition to a Masters was never made clear. Probably just being married to the person Morgan was wholly obsessed with was justification in itself?

Even the well-intended Gino Risoli was abused and ridiculed mercilessly by Su-Mo’s tiny gang of supporters for simply having contrary perspectives. Whilst incredibly the bullying Su-Mo would even mock her victims’ appearance. People were 'Bald Tits.' People were 'wankers'. (Rico Sorda in this case I believe). All pretty rich indeed coming from a woman who if one was to adopt her own standards would surely face the barb that she herself appears to have fallen from the very top of the ugly tree and bounced on every single branch on the way down?

Su-Mo would also happily mock her chosen victim’s demeanour – hey, I am apparently ‘camp’ amongst other things (no problem with that Su-Mo: if it was good enough for a pair of geniuses like Lou Reed and David Bowie then its quite good enough for me!) No insult it appeared was too low for this truly horrible, embittered individual. Indeed, at a special Church hustings Morgan even appalled people present with her ignorant, mocking views on inequality and ‘one armed black lesbians’!

Yet if all of this wasn’t enough then Maureen Morgan would also simply just make up lies…

For example I apparently had called her a ‘bitch’ a number of times on the internet. Yet oddly, when I took the trouble to write to her politely requesting she point out exactly ‘where and when’ Morgan obviously could not. As she knew full well it simply hadn’t happened. Indeed, faced with her lies being confronted head on Morgan never even bothered to reply.

Of course in reading this no doubt her excuse will be to claim that the letter had somehow never been received. Heck, perhaps because it had inadvertently been eaten by her witches ‘familiar’? (Now I obviously can’t confirm this but someone alleged to me they had heard Su-Mo actually claims to have one. A big, fluffy white supremacist rabbit named ‘Rolland’ or so the lady suggested!

Yet perhaps most troubling in looking back on all of Maureen Morgan’s horrible cyber bullying and abuse of people is what she actually told people on the internet – and within her ‘manifesto’ that she wanted to do had enough people in St. Helier No. 1 have been sufficiently gullible to vote her into the States.

Incredibly Maureen Morgan stated that she wanted to work within mental health!

Mental health! I ask readers: given all of the behaviour I have highlighted; all of the horrible abuse and attempts at cyber bullying could there really be a better example of what a lucky escape not just the people of No. 1 District but the Island generally have just had? Is this woman really that deluded? Quite possibly so given that in one of her rants at me Su-Mo had actually claimed that she was both a ‘counsellor’ and a ‘healer’! Indeed, just what poor Mr Jon Abbott will make reading such claims I really can’t imagine.

Indeed, real witches - 'healers' - as Morgan claims to be such as the late George Pickingill and Doreen Valiente would surely be disgusted in my view.

Yet for all of Maureen Morgan’s horrible abuse and the cowardly lies she has spread about me and my wife the fact is that ultimately I just feel sorry for this sad and pathetic individual. After all – when even the Establishment won’t take a risk on a rabid anti-Leftie candidate you really should know you are seen as one of life’s losers! Indeed, it is fair to say it would be quite difficult to sink any lower.

But let’s end this obituary on Maureen Morgan’s ‘political career’ and her now vanished 15 minutes of fame on a positive and conciliatory note. Firstly, thanks to an e-mail sent to me I am informed Su-Mo apparently stated that she worked for the States of Jersey? Is this true – I doubt it? But if it is then Su-Mo you actually may have to bite your forked tongue and send me a nice little ‘Thank you’.

You see back in 2009 it was my successful proposition which finally won ordinary States employees the right to be allowed to utilise their annual leave entitlement and/or any owed T.O.I.L for the purpose of conducting an election campaign in the same way any employee within the private sector is able to! Secondly, one can only hope that mmmmm.... Promatech - those nice sex toy people - allowed their employees to do the same...

Keep the Faith.

THE JERSEY WAY OR 'A FUNNY THING HAPPENED TO ME ON THE WAY TO THE UK PRIVY COUNCIL...'

This post is simply to update readers on the latest collusion between the scared and corrupt old men who control Jersey 'justice' and their City of London counterparts. Yes - Act 1159 in the desperate attempt to continually delay and ultimately prevent us exposing the disgrace of Jurat John Le Breton-Gate to the Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg.

In stark contrast to the dumbed down nonsense written by the Jersey Evening Pravda's Andy Sibcy the real issue underlying the privy Council's reported refusal to accept and hear our appeal is this I outline below. The Privy Council - the very highest court in the United Kingdom - apparently do not have the jurisdiction 'under Jersey Law' dating back to 1961 to hear the case! Confused? You will be...

For actually this isn't all that important in the our particular case in the long term - though it obviously has severe implications for the ever-growing number of other ordinary people in Jersey being shafted by Michael Birt's Theatre of the Absurd; all whilst Queen's Representative, Lieutenant Governor Sir John McColl sits on his butt doing nothing. You see we always knew we would have to get to Strasbourg to obtain justice.

How much longer will the 'Justice MInister' let them get away with it...

Because what readers need to understand is that here - just as they have done so many times now and in so many different people's cases - the corrupt Royal Court is once again trying to disregard its obligations under the ECHR.

As some readers may already know under the ECHR - Article 6 etc - the courts must provide a potential remedy and a genuine one at that for anything which impinges on ones Human Rights. With the collusion of the Jersey Appeal Court Judges we had already suffered this abuse of process when these stooges ruled that we should apparently not have sought justice for Jurat Le Breton's disgusting failings and conflicts of interest via the 'political' route. But should have instead put our faith in the 'correct' channel of the Jersey justice system.

Only to then...

tell us in the very next paragraph of their corrupt and flaw riddled judgement that actually Le Breton's clearly not being fit to hold office having deliberately refused to examine evidence relating to his paedophile friend and colleague Andrew Jervis-Dykes was not in fact in the business of the Court at all! That's right - no potential remedy was open to us whatsoever! The good old Jersey Way in action once again. 

Yet now, not only were we seeing the highest court in the land claiming it had no power over an obviously lower court, the fact is Jersey 'justice' has also taken an even more sinister twist...

Yes, according to Jersey's take on the ECHR should anyone find themselves made en desastre - no matter whether it be a consequence of an on-going court battle as opposed to a failed business for example - your ABSOLUTE Human Right to seek justice and a genuinely fair court process is taken away from you overnight and placed in the hands of the Jersey Viscount! With regard to Human Rights you become a non person

Incredible? Most certainly. Utter bollocks with zero legal standing? Absolutely.

For here is the real Jersey Way gem within all of this.

When one politely points out this clear abuse to the authorities the Jersey Viscount will then still take the matter to the very same corrupt Royal Court for a ruling on the nonsense! And it gets yet better still - or worse in truth if you are the victim on the receiving end of this. For though you have had nothing whatsoever to do with instigating this farce they will then employ a Jersey Advocate to investigate the matter!

A matter which will then cost around £22,000 (and rising!) and which you will discover can actually be charged to... little old YOU!

£22,000 which should have been available to creditors (well, at least until you get to Strasbourg and justice). As former Senator Stuart Syvret used to observe so rightly: 'you really could not make this stuff up!'

But just in case Michael Birt's Theatre of the Absurd hasn't quite got you toppling off your stool in disbelief yet this pathetic farce actually has an even bigger twist to it.

In representing the Viscount's case to the Royal Court the Advocate - having done his £22,000 worth of research - actually agreed with what Shona and I (Shona of course has a Masters Degree in a Human Rights based discipline) told him and stated to the Court that in his view the claim by the privy Council that they did not have the jurisdiction to accept and hear our appeal was completely WRONG!

The consequence of all this?

You could almost predict it. Commissioner Clyde-Smith and his two Jurats - who neither, all present agreed had clearly not appeared to understand a tad of what was being argued - hurriedly decided to adjourn. And have remained adjourned now for no less than 20 days without any sign of returning. Leaving us in limbo.

Having obviously complained as until we get a ruling on this we cannot progress on the long path to the court at Strasbourg where the professional justice of a true court can be guaranteed the truth of what is going on here seems quite apparent: somehow over these three weeks something is being cobbled together to ensure we are once again delayed as much as possible and so that this whole despicable and embarrassing farce may be passed off as legitimate.

Which ironically if only those who conduct the Jersey Way were not quite so stupid they might actually realise may eventually - no matter how stressful - help us finally achieve the justice we clearly merit no matter how long it ultimately takes.

Truth as they say will always out in the end.

Keep the Faith.

BALD TRUTH REVIEW 2014 BY-ELECTION SPECIAL.

The return of the Bald Truth Review! With the BTR due to be re-vamped and re-launched over the coming weeks having been asked by so many people to make some personal comment on the forthcoming St. Helier by elections I'm very pleased to now offer a short video review doing just that.

Okay, so for some reason a couple of Establishment gremlins got into the audio for a few seconds at the beginning of the video, but here are the answers to the key questions people have been putting to me over the past few weeks.

Questions like: are there actually any candidates putting themselves forward in the by-elections who are genuinely worth your vote? Indeed, do States Members even hold the real power in this Island at all? 

Answers that you will only be able to listen to here via Citizens' Media - Jersey's only media conduit for the truth!

Keep the Faith.

Trevor

JEP: AT THE CENTRE OF ISLAND LIES SINCE 1890 – AND NOW CHRIS BRIGHT WANTS YOU TO PAY AN EXTRA 20% BECAUSE IT’S GOING DOWN THE PAN!

Look – let’s get one thing straight.  Though I have written the above headline I also acknowledge the Jersey Evening Pravda probably still CAN be worth every penny of the huge and inflationary 60p its editor – liar, coward and bully - Chris Bright wants you to now shell out of your pocket each day to keep the old Establishment mouthpiece going a few years longer.  Shocked at the apparent contradiction? Well, don’t be.

You see if you are one of those rare and special people willing to invest time in saving all of the cardboard tubing from the inside of your Christmas wrapping paper; and then spending a few hours each week cutting the Filthy Rag into neat little 4 inch strips to make home made loo roll then it actually does work out very favourably against even Andrex!

Okay, so it is true that you will still always run the real risk of ending up with more s*** (sorry ‘news’) on your backside afterward then had you just chanced to a clean job. But surely this risk is handsomely balanced out by the possible guilty pleasure of wiping your rear end on the smirking face of some of those hell bent on entrenching Jersey as a two-tier society where power shall reside in the hands of a tiny wealthy elite forever: people such as a King Bailhache, Prince Ozouf or even despicable States e-mail thief - and new Pravda favourite in this election year – Court Jester, Deputy Sean ‘Fingers’ Power?

The fact is the JEP is dying the natural death of any newspaper that sells its journalistic soul to undermining democracy for self-interest…

Yet all humour aside for anyone who has not read the ‘Message from the Editor’ published in last night’s newspaper one really should do so just to marvel at the sheer desperation apparent in Bright’s risible attempt to justify the huge increase. Indeed, to this end I have taken the liberty of reproducing the piece below this blog post just to give even those within the ever-growing number who now refuse to by this Establishment mouthpiece and gutter journal out of principle a chance to read it. 

But be warned – it may make you vomit quicker than a Geoff Southern ‘You should never take on the media’ speech!

But honestly, the sheer bulls**** Bright spins in trying to sell this massive increase – a full 20% of the previous price let us not forget and also the second rise to hit people in little more than two years - is quite jaw-dropping. Indeed, it would be truly funny if it wasn’t so blatantly dishonest in its stated justifications. It is certainly best to judge for your self but I’ll also quickly deconstruct the core of the editor’s guff within a few brief paragraphs below.

For starters poor old Chris whines that the huge increase in cost is ‘necessary’ to allow the JEP to maintain their ‘trusted, professional journalism’ set against the current ‘difficult, economic times’. ‘Trusted and professional’, Chris? What year did that special edition come out then – 1891?

Okay, so yes, Mr Bright, times certainly are economically difficult – yet the truth of the matter is, as you and anyone else reading newspapers anywhere know full well, across the globe titles which are far more highly respected and of a far higher quality than the Filthy Rag has ever been are instead ruthlessly and regularly shaving money OFF the sale price to try and entice readers to stick with them.

The majority of people in Jersey simply do not trust the mainstream media (MSM) anymore and with good reason…

Yes, it is also true that advertisers have been deserting the JEP in droves with an obvious consequential knock on impact to its income – indeed, this was privately alleged to me firsthand by one of its better journalists only the week before Christmas.  One can hardly blame them: the Rag’s sales according to the journalist who spoke to me are now allegedly dropping down toward around just 50% of what they were as recently as just 1997! 

But the grim fact is that the JEP’s slide toward the media knackers yard is primarily and indisputably down to one thing. A growing number of people within the community are sick to the back teeth of Bright and co peddling ever more right-wing propaganda and – worse – calculated misinformation and even downright lies to try and smear Leftists/Progressives and any brave enough not just to vociferously fight for the welfare of the ordinary working people the paper so despises; but actually even stand up to the Rag’s bullying.  Add in the generally lousy writing and the advertisers jumping ship is hardly surprising.

Okay, so it’s true the JEP has been lying and seeking to discredit any who they view as serious threats to the corrupt Establishment Empire for generations – probably centuries. Certainly since the aftermath of the Second World War where the Evening Post’s then editor not only happily collaborated with the Nazis but then ensured the Rag did its best to help rig the following elections by smearing the likes of Norman Le Brocq and the Jersey Democratic Movement; even denying them the right to publish their manifesto whilst promoting the right-wing businessmen behind the sham Jersey Progressive Party.

Yes, good old Mr Harrison even secretly attended meetings and supported the opposing and bogus Jersey Progressive party but was such a stickler for fair play and democracy that he ‘refrained’ from actually joining. What a man he must have been! Almost Bright-esque?  Problem is now as Bob Dylan so rightly sang: ‘the times they are a-changing’. Though the names and faces of those democrats attacked by the Rag have come and gone these decades of smears and lies - and possibly most importantly the rise of Citizens’ Media - have finally taken its toll. Put in a nutshell essentially the JEP is now dying by its own hand.

99% of the journalistic professionalism now existing in Jersey is with the burgeoning Citizen’s Media…

Indeed, one particular line within Chris Bright’s ‘message’ cuts to perhaps the most important truth of all. Of course it is not the least surprising the soon to be ex-editor pumps out the standard Establishment lie that – and I quote:  

‘In an age of information overload and on-line gossip and rumour, it is more important than ever that readers can turn to reliable publication whose journalists are trained and professionally motivated to distinguish what is true and important and to help make sense of the complexities of modern life.’

But though a bigger and more desperate lie was likely never spun put into its right perspective the irony of what Bright was trying to spin to his fast dwindling readership is pretty much spot on.

This is that the examples of both the JEP’s incessant propaganda and lying and the manner of how they have been left in the dust over the past few years when it comes to investigating and then breaking news of real importance by local blogs such as Voiceforchildren, Rico Sorda, Stuart Syvret and indeed this one - as well as an ever-growing collection of others - is now there for all to see if one is only willing to look beyond the vested interest driven propaganda of Bright and his ilk to frighten you away.

Indeed, for just one revealing example simply compare the way the JEP and it’s local MSM ‘competitors’ Channel and the BBC have happily published again and again appalling and demonstrable lies to try and help trash the investigation into decades of institutionalised child abuse concealed by the Establishment; and with it of course the reputations of those such as Lenny Harper, Graham Power, Stuart Syvret and Shona’s and my own who were caring and resolute enough to seek justice for the victims. Lies remember that undermined the hope for justice for people – then young children - who have faced a daily living hell for decades!

Just like certain Bailiffs, senior politicians and civil servants the JEP and its MSM ‘competitors’ knew then and know now – they just don’t want you to know…

After all its not as if Bright and his paymasters couldn’t publish the truth even at the late hour of early 21^st Century – the Scrutiny investigation alone which I chaired into the alleged mishandling of the finances of Operation Rectangle blew the tripe Bright, his counterparts and lackeys were peddling to the public as ‘fact’s into a cocked hat in one single document. Gods - you can almost picture the news meetings…

‘What… so some little brat from a broken home got buggered a few times years ago? No, no, no can’t find space for that – not good for our image as a financial centre. Besides, look what we’ve got scooped – a policeman travelling with Lenny Harper ate two helpings of lemon meringue AND had an Irish coffee! Hold the front page, Rob!’

Yet in contrast the blogs listed above also added to the revelations of the Scrutiny review ten times over. Just as they have also done with countless other stories as diverse as the Lime Grove House scandal; the shafting of the Controller & Auditor General; the senior Police Officer spun as being allowed to leave the force for ‘personal reasons’ yet who had actually sexually assaulted a civilian member of staff; all the way up to the Plemont-motivated attempted political assassination of Deputy Rob Duhamel finally falling flat only two weeks ago.

The JEP – happy to even benefit from those who make excuses for abuse…

Yes, throw in the JEP’s willingness to keep quiet – and even years later consequently financially benefit – from outrages such as individuals like the disgusting John Le Breton who (yes, I’ll keep on publishing it!) deliberately disregarded sickening evidence against his predatory paedophile friend, Andrew Jervis-Dykes at Victoria College and yet was then allowed to sit as a Jurat by both Philip Bailhache and Michael Birt - whilst the blogs would eventually unfold the whole, horrific truth - and one not only understands the how and why the JEP is now facing the consequence of reaping what it has for so long sown.

You also understand how this most revolting of ‘newspapers’ inevitable demise should not merit either tears or regret. The truth is it did only damage and disservice to the vast majority of Jersey’s ordinary working people whilst pandering, decade after decade, to the interests of the self-proclaimed elite. No its final passing when it comes should not be mourned by any who cherish fairness and democracy. After all, as the legendary Malcolm X once famously stated: ‘If we’re not careful the newspapers will have us hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people doing the oppressing.’

As to the 60 million dollar question of just how long the rapidly sinking Pravda ship can manage to keep afloat my money is on it being gone before the final demise of the archaic dual role of Bailiff. Though for reasons I just can’t seem to put a finger on right now I do hope it can at least hold on until we get our case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Still… that quarter of a million plus pounds of taxpayers’ money the newspaper has got from its friends in government for so many years – monies you never got to vote on of course – for publishing vast and time consuming works like the Gazette ought to keep the sherry cabinet stocked for a few years more at least. Won’t it?

Keep the Faith

*Just a quick message to Paul Carter: in reading my factual outlaying of what I have been told by a JEP employee – who obviously wants to remain anonymous whilst he (or she?) ‘looks for a better employer’ - should you be considering a letter of the type sent to Citizens Media Investigative Journalist, Rico Sorda’s place of work in a clear attempt at intimidation – please save the company a stamp! As the JEP really should know by now I simply don’t do being bullied no matter what the cost along the way to ultimate vindication.

The message from the JEP Editor - ‘The price of your JEP – and its value’

Dear readers…

‘The cover price of the Jersey Evening Post will rise by 10p to 60p from Saturday 1 March. This increase, the first since 2011, is a reflection of the current economic circumstances, changes in the media landscape and what we consider to be the true worth of local newspapers like the JEP.

We hope that you will agree that a price of 60p for a comprehensive daily package of news, comment, analysis, features, information and advertising, offering both a vital daily snapshot of Island life and a forum for debate and discussion, still represents excellent value. The Jersey Evening Post has been serving this unique and special Island since 1890 and continues to reach the whole community at a level which is among the highest in the newspaper industry.

Recently, we have added electronic editions and an enhanced website jerseyevingpost.com, to help us offer the kind of multi-media news and advertising services which modern readers expect. More change will come as, in common with publishers across Britain, we find new ways to keep bringing you the kind of trusted, professional journalism which is so important to local democracy and the life of the community.

Maintaining the specialised organisation required to achieve that aim presents a commercial challenge in these difficult economic times, which have had an inevitable impact on the advertising revenues upon which newspapers like the JEP have traditionally depended, and to a great degree still do.

The 10p price rise, although unwelcome, will help us to redress the balance and invest in maintaining the standards which so many Jersey residents have rightly come to expect.

In an age of information overload and on line gossip and rumour , it is more important than ever  that readers can turn to reliable publications whose journalists are trained and professionally motivated  to distinguish  what is true  and important and to help make sense of the complexities of modern life. The increase will support the JEP’s continuing efforts to fill that role and remain one of the key elements which binds the Jersey community together.

The increased cover price will continue to absorb GST, as we have done since that tax was introduced.

And there is also a way in which readers can keep enjoying their JEP at the old price. Daily subscribers using the JEP Extra or JEP Digital services will not be affected by the increase. Details at jerseyeveningpost.com.

Whichever way you choose, we hope you will stay with the JEP as we evolve to meet the challenges of a new era.’

Chris Bright, Editor

End.

Well, fingers crossed, eh Chris…

GIVE 'EM ENOUGH ROPE: TIME TO LET BAILHACHE BE KING....

Unlike the vast majority of States Members - both past and present - I have never been afraid to admit when I have made a mistake. In now looking both forward to new projects lined up for this summer but also back at the past 5 + years in the States I realise that one of my biggest was in supporting Senator Ian Gorst in the vote for Chief Minister.

At the time I was, of course, quite candid in telling people, including Gorst him self, that for me the choice between the Senator and his opponent former Bailiff Philip Bailhache was very much like being told one had to choose between John Major and Margaret Thatcher: i.e. choosing between a misguided acolyte who might yet wake up and smell the coffee of democracy; or the actual political devil incarnate. 

The 'hold your nose' approach... 

To be quite fair to both myself and a few others who then took the ex-Deputy Bob Hill approach of ‘holding one’s nose’ and voting for the former Social Security Minister anyway for all the underlying concerns about his calibre and willingness to stand up for the interests of the majority rather than the few, it still seemed a wholly logical approach to risk.

Gorst, one truly hoped, was not quite past being saved from the failed political doctrine of ‘the Jersey Way’ silence on child protection failings, rabid ‘free-market’ fundamentalism and greed. Bailhache on the other hand was clearly already completely lost to this and the redundant ideology of the ‘natural order’ of a two-tier society of haves and have nots.  Okay, to be quite blunt Bailhache was also demonstrably none too bright, and almost entirely bereft of both common sense and understanding of the most basic tenets of socio-economics with it. In short the ‘ordinary’ person’s worst nightmare. 

Yet for all of this I now see in looking back at how Gorst’s opportunity to  ‘lead’ has  failed the majority of islanders - just as spectacularly as he failed to keep the basic promises he made to secure progressive’s votes – that apparently logical or not my decision to vote for Ian Gorst was wrong. 

I really should have ‘held my nose’, had a stiff drink voted for Senator Philip Bailhache anyway... 

But before I have people who have been so very - often wonderfully -supportive since Shona and I lost our seats in the States as a direct consequence of Michael Birt’s allowing the shamed and dishonest Victoria College paedophile protector, John Le Breton to sit a Jurat on our case angrily demanding to know just what the hell I am suddenly talking about I would briefly like to explain in this post my deeper reasoning for this change of heart.

Yes, as Chief Minister Ian Gorst has been revealed to be both a liar and a political fraud wholly out of his depth. He has been weaker in fact than any States watchers I know could ever have imagined. An on-going disaster who has shown himself to be without any shadow of doubt the worst of all three Chief Ministers this island has had since the move to ‘ministerial’ government in 2005. No mean achievement in itself!

But what overrides all of this for me upon reflection is that for all of the additional damage it would do to both Jersey’s community cohesion and socio-economic prosperity in the short term of perhaps five to ten years – not to mention our wider international reputation – this inept and sorry excuse for a politician has actually been played for a mug and used by those who have pretended to support him loud and long and never should have been afforded the opportunity.

Gorst I’m afraid to say, in my opinion, has been just a political glove puppet and I thus believe it would be far better in the long-term if those who have utterly manipulated him – not least in recent skulduggery surrounding both Plemont and the appalling treatment of Planning Minister Deputy Rob Duhamel - were now thrust into the spotlight as the true and deliberate architects of Jersey’s slide to an ever more deeply entrenched two-tier society whilst Gorst takes all the reputational bullets as the alleged Island leader. 

Time to let the Man who would be King have it... 

And this means of course Senator Philip Bailhache – champion and apologist of judicial injustice, child abuse cover-ups; and fundamentally of the ‘better’ people (i.e. the ultra rich, finance and big business interests) running the Island  no matter how incompetent and/or vested interest driven any should be – finally taking on the mantle of Chief Minister himself in order that he can finally take the flak his machinations; and those of his little Prince Machiavelli, Senator Philip Ozouf so fully deserve.

Yes, letting Bailhache and Ozouf along with all of their little wannabe ‘Assistants’ openly take the helm would, within five to ten years, undoubtedly bring not just the poor but ‘middle Jersey’ to their knees with consequences such as I outline below - but this is actually the point. Perhaps things really do have to get much worse before the circumstances can arise to enable them to get much better? 

As Chief Minister Bailhache would finally have his obsessive Holy Grail of ‘Independence’ (which he and his brother wanted former Police Chief Graham Power to undertake groundwork for) and with it, of course, we would consequently be severed from any potential intervention from the United Kingdom whatsoever when the finance industry abuses of the past 20 years finally goes belly-up due to changing global attitudes to tax dodging. Just as all true analysts – whether they are brave enough to admit it publicly or not - know will ultimately happen. 

Under Bailhache and his Machiavellian gofer jobs will also become ever harder for local people to secure as the truth behind the current rehashing of old and failed immigration control propaganda from 2007 is quickly exposed. Ozouf’s ‘Go for growth’ and hang the consequences will lead us on helter-skelter down the yellow brick road to becoming a high-rise concrete jungle with environmental protection issues all but abandoned other than as a spin exercise in advance of elections. 

Zero hour contract exploitation will mushroom as will the legislative enforcement via Social Security of ever more minimum wage ‘opportunities’. 

A youth exodus of never before seen proportions will undoubtedly follow as young aspirations and dreams of career and a home are crushed beyond all hope. 

A related knock-on effect for those already on the property ladder, negative equity will be the new ‘growth business’. 

Oh yes, and we will also finally become a Human Rights pariah on the international stage – all without even the current potential fall back of UK assistance which we should be able to access to challenge judicial corruption in our courts now - and would if only our tax dodging activities were not still so beneficial to some in the City of London.Indeed, let us not kid ourselves: under a Chief Minister like Philip Bailhache and his economic hit man Ozouf Jersey would be taken to the brink of no return.  

It would quite frankly be horrible: a kind of modern day Dark Age. Neo-Feudalism for the 21^st Century albeit hidden behind a crumbling façade of a whiter-than-white Disneyland ‘respectable and responsible’ finance centre. 

Yet the fact is it could all ultimately also be wholly worth the ensuing pain... 

Because exposing these champions of elitism, privatisation and the concentration of political power in ever fewer pairs of hands by ensuring that they had to at last take open political responsibility; instead of pulling strings whilst hiding in the shadows behind a weak and ineffectual ‘Chief Minister’ could bring an end to their machinations and selling of Jersey’s soul quicker than any other way currently likely in an island where political apathy has become a sad and sorry norm.  Not to mention a deliberate Establishment policy.

It is in direct tandem likewise, I believe, time for those of a ‘progressive’ or leftist leaning persuasion within the States to also stop playing along with the games. By this I mean that they should let the real architects of two-tier society Jersey and all of their Establishment enablers finally stand exposed in all their narcissistic glory.

What I mean is that it is time for progressives to not even contest positions such as Scrutiny Chairmen or the heading up of the Privileges & Procedures Committee and Public Accounts. Instead let Bailhache and Ozouf have their stooges and placemen fill them unopposed – with all ‘in Chamber’ opposition being swept away.

For the truth is every informed political watcher knows full well it is absurd that those on the ministerial side of government should then be able to vote to install Chairmen who will actually give the Executive the easiest time. Yet we let it happen and with the few brave enough to challenge and voice dissent the illusion of a democracy is maintained.

Thus the overall goal of what I am suggesting - let the public see if a wholly unchecked, unchallenged assault from the elitist right for several years will really give them the community cohesion and economy they have been conned into thinking they both want; and which will benefit not just their children but their children’s children. Conned let us not forget with the collusion of Jersey’s gutless ‘repeaters’ of the Establishment’s mainstream media.

After all, once the reality of a few years of this hit you how many ‘ordinary’ people struggling to make ends meet would really want a government of the sort Bailhache and Ozouf aspire to where questions, let alone direct challenge simply no longer happen?

For increasing numbers of the people who contact me or simply stop me out and about right up to this day of writing it seems the sense that a harsh ‘wake up call’ to prevent an inevitable and wholly irretrievable collapse of everything that has historically made Jersey so special a little further down the line is now called for. The approach I outline above appears to fit the bill no matter how seemingly extreme. A sort of new twist on Ghandi’s passive resistance one might argue.

I repeat: let Bailhache and Ozouf and all of those who enable them now carry out their policies and stand up to own and explain them in the full glare of the spotlight without either spin or others to give them the current smokescreen of democracy. And ff the majority of the public still support them after a few years of the official one party, two-tier society State then all well and good - whatever my own political perspective.

And if they do not, yet the same said public still just sit on their butts in continued political apathy of ever-decreasing electoral turnouts and passive acceptance of abuses of both justice and the most vulnerable of children as their long-term future crumbles around them then one has to conclude that the old saying that a ‘people get the government and policies they deserve’ may unfortunately well be right on the money.

JERSEY CHILD ABUSE: NON-PROSECUTION OF ‘GROOMING GANG’ SCANDAL PROVES NOTHING HAS CHANGED SINCE HAUT DE LA GARENNE

If anyone genuinely wanted proof that ‘the Jersey Way’ in all its sordid indifference to protecting children still ensures the safety of vulnerable minors comes a very distant second to promoting a bogus, squeaky clean image for potential international finance business then the revelations about how a grooming gang were let off the hook because ‘no one would give evidence’ surely provides it in spades. Quite frankly the excuses being offered, and just as horrifying, the fact it was all hushed up by the authorities is simply stomach-churning. 

Really, as one of the tiny band of States Members, both past and present, who fought the five year battle to secure the Committee of Inquiry - not to mention having personally led the Scrutiny review which finally exposed the deliberate trashing of Operation Rectangle by Jersey’s MSM - even I find myself asking ‘Just what the hell does it take to wake up so many people in this island to how upside down our Establishment’s values are even in the second decade of the 21st Century? 

Indeed, as a fellow blogger rightly commented it seems hitting ‘middle Jersey’ in the pocket with a small hike in school fees will get those parents out in convoy to protest. Yet tell them our kids are quite likely to be groomed, explicitly videoed or even buggered will barely raise an eyebrow! Have we really learnt so little from the predatory abuse of Roger Holland, Andrew Jervis-Dykes and their ilk; and the ‘look the other way’ attitude of the Bailhaches and disgraced Jurat John Lyndon Le Breton et al? 

Of course the true 6 million dollar question – and the one which really must not be overlooked here – in pushing for some accountability for this latest outrage is this: just who decided that this gang of young men should not be prosecuted? Was it ‘I’ll police in any way the Establishment tell me to’ Chief Mike’ Bowron? (Yes, he really did say that to a Scrutiny panel.) Or was it Attorney General Tim Le Cocq – perhaps trying to keep up the ‘Jersey Way’ tradition of his two Bailhache predecessors? Whatever the answer the culprit really has to be sacked. Yet he won’t be and the very fact we all know this surely only compounds the despair. 

What these events also remind us for the umpteenth time is that here in Establishment Jersey the law and whether or not it is enforced depends entirely , 100% upon who you are and what degree of damage might be done to image of the Flying Banana Republic by a prosecution. Equally of course what damage a pursued prosecution could help do to anyone who has dared challenge the Establishment. 

The examples of this are legion but if in any doubt just think Article 39A and William Bailhaches malicious prosecutions of ‘progressives’ for assisting disabled/elderly people to register a postal vote application; whilst leaving Establishment candidates who breached the same farcical law untouched. 

Just think Data Protection Law ‘breaches’ and the hugely expensive show trial prosecution of Stuart Syvret; whilst email thief and hate site publication enabler Deputy Sean Power received only a wrist slap. Why is this all relevant? The answer is really quite simple.do. 

Prior to the Jersey Evening Post’s welcome – if decades overdue and no doubt wholly temporary conversion to uncovering child abuse - I had been asking discreet but persistent questions on this very story following a tip off. 

Okay, so with all else going on in my life; and having recently also learnt that Bowron had been secretly complaining to the Privileges & Procedures Committee to try and prevent me asking any uncomfortable questions about police failings, I wasn’t able on this occasion to progress this or take it forward in the same very public manner I have always believed the island’s people deserved to ensure matters did not simply remain buried in time honoured ‘Jersey Way’ fashion.. 

But the fact is that what was said to be going on with this ‘grooming gang’ case was deeply disturbing. And there were two main reasons for my concern. 

Firstly, I knew for a fact that the ‘no one would give evidence’ to allow a prosecution excuse held about as much water as a string vest. Not only are such decisions never down to the victims alone to have the final say on when set against prosecuting ‘in the public interest’; the fact was that the Jersey Police had the example of a similar - though in my analysis of the facts – far less serious case only some short years ago.. And not only was a prosecution pursued despite similar alleged reluctance but this was done until a conviction was secured. 

Without going into full details of what is a case on public record if one wants to research, I was contacted by an involved party, with concerns about the media portrayal of how what was claimed to have been an immature male in his late teens had become involved in a scenario bearing some striking similarities to this latest scandal. In this case younger and underage females were also being provided with alcohol and cigarettes purchased at their request by the male in exchange for the promise of girls then displaying their bodies via a webcam link. 

Of course whilst it can be no excuse for the young man in this case both his stated immaturity and the alleged fact that the girls promises made to him to ensure he purchased the requested alcohol more often turned out to be nothing more than a lever they can be said to be relevant mitigating factors. Yet the fact remains that the teenage male was of course rightly prosecuted. So why then it must be asked – with according to my information – no such mitigating circumstances involved was an organised group of alleged ‘groomers’ not also pursued through the court in the same way? 

The answer I suggest may possibly lie in the second concern I talked of. This was the allegation made to me that one of the young men in this latest case had a family and educational background which may have caused significant embarrassment to Jersey’s Establishment should any public prosecution have eventually transpired. Can I confirm this to be 100% accurate? No now being out of politics I cannot. Yet as the information about the grooming gangs activities have proved to be on the money these concerns are surely ones which our Chief of Police and Attorney General need to address to Jersey’s wider community as a matter of urgency. 

If they do not then the Establishment’s usual denials about the ‘Jersey Way’ ensuring law is only applied here according to who a person is will continue to ring as hollowly as they have always done. Yet who knows…with Shona and I no longer being in the States Chamber as we tread the road toward Strasbourg for legal abuses tied to this very same ‘Jersey Way’ perhaps there is still another States Member brave enough to ask the questions this latest scandal so obviously demands…. 

Perhaps we had better listen out next Tuesday? Keep the Faith.