Small-arms trade via Jersey

I was alerted to the arms trade mainly by Mark Thomas, in his comic digs at such things. Especially interesting is how the rules over arms embargoes are routinely flouted with minimal effort, by roguish individuals, companies and governments alike. One of my original reasons for fearing for us all with George W being US President (along with his views on environmental protection), was his refusal to join up to the Small Arms Treaty.

So when I noticed a piece (I think on BBC Jersey online) about a year ago, about small arms being imported and then immediately exported from Jersey I was surprised. It included a bland quote from the man at Customs, saying that none of the cargo was sold locally. It sounded like one of the methods used in the avoidance of arms embargoes, whereby a third country is used to import the weapons and then export them with new documentation .This story seemed to disappear, and I couldn't find any other references. Does that ring any bells to anyone?

Jersey elections - baby steps on the way to progress?

Firstly, I'm a bit upset about the results and the turn-out. Being a selfish human, as it didn't go the way I was hoping, I think it sucks. I've heard and read lots of reflection on the election, and you can view it in many different ways.

One is that alot of people are seeing a missed opportunity for real change. So voting in novices with no political experience may, to many, seem too risky a prospect. I believe that even drunk baboons would a least fare as well as our collective Members have done, so it doesn't feel scary at all. There wasn't as much reticence for change as first may appear, regardless of what Frank Walker says. I may be wrong, but in numbers of votes, Ozouf down 40%, Routier down 25%, Vibert down 42% and voted out and Southern up 52%. Quite possibly some of the other runners were hampered by the number of candidates.

So I think it wasn't such a ringing endorsement of the status quo. But it does go to show that the majority of voters are still doing alright by this administration and are not yet (if they ever will) hurting economically. Or if they are feeling the pinch, they were hoodwinked into voting for them again as no-one pointed out to them their voting history or reneging on manifeso commitments.