Having had a day or so to reflect on how grateful I am for the experience we have just shared. Crikey, and what an experience it was. Two things I had not expected. The first was the growing respect I felt for my fellow Senatorial candidates. We shared 13 times in public so much of who we are, why we…
In recent months I have found myself returning to the same conversation. When I discuss my decision to stand as a Senatorial Candidate, the response is often supportive, but it is also remarkably consistent. Surely Senators are meant to be sitting Deputies? Or: Isn’t that really the route to becoming a Minister? These comments are rarely ill-intentioned. They are usually…
Value Jersey has made a useful contribution to the election debate. It has surfaced a set of ideas that speak directly to pressures Islanders feel – cost of living, competition, government efficiency, and economic growth (JEP 4 April). That in itself is welcome. Jersey benefits when groups step forward with proposals and invite scrutiny. But scrutiny matters. Because when tested…
Just imagine if Andy Burnham became Jersey’s Chief Minister? First published in the Jersey Evening Post 2026-03-03 A thought experiment about confidence, not personalities I sometimes wonder whether Jersey’s most persistent political debates are really about policy at all, or about confidence. We talk a great deal about housing, skills, health, productivity and diversification, yet often seem hesitant to draw…
A Chapter Closes In America and Jersey Faces Its Own Turning Point First published in the Jersey Evening Post 2026-02-27 The death of Jesse Jackson feels like the closing of a chapter. For many Americans, he was one of the last living figures directly connected to the high tide of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s –…
Jersey needs a political culture that can differentiate between frustration and corrosive fatalism First published in the Jersey Evening Post 2026-01-14 There is sometimes a particular tone in Jersey’s public debate that becomes more noticeable during discussions about civil servants and public service. It appears in online comment threads, letters to the JEP and, no doubt, discussions at kitchen tables.…
After Blue Islands: Why the Channel Islands Need an Integrated Air Network First published in the Jersey Evening Post 2025-11-22 Introduction The collapse of Blue Islands came as a shock to many islanders, but it should not have come as a surprise. For years we have depended on an aviation model that looks stable from a distance yet is structurally…
A Quiet Corner of Civic Life: Why the Islands Libraries Still Matter First published in the Jersey Evening Post 2025-08-02 Step inside the Jersey Library on Halkett Place and you’re met not with silence exactly, but with something rarer: a sense of shared quiet. Children come to feel the joy of books, older readers browse the shelves, and students work…
A Thought Worth Voting On: Should Jersey Embrace Electoral Participation as a Universal Civic Duty? First published in the Jersey Evening Post 2025-05-25 The recent Australian general election on May 3 drew headlines not just for its political outcome, but for the remarkable fact that, once again, around 90% of eligible voters cast a ballot. This level of engagement, extraordinary…