The Secret People

There is a rally planned in the Royal Square, which seems to be part a remembrance and acknowledgement of the victims of child abuse at Haut de La Garenne, and partly a rallying cry against the perceived failings of the establishment. It reminded me of Chesterton, and slightly adapted, here is the first verse of his own rallying cry for the ordinary people, which he wrote as "the secret people"

Smile at us, pay us, pass us; but do not quite forget,

For we are the people of Jersey, that never has spoken yet.

There is many a fat farmer that drinks less cheerfully,

There is many a free French peasant who is richer and sadder than we.

There are no folk in the whole world so helpless or so wise.

There is hunger in our bellies, there is laughter in our eyes;

You laugh at us and love us, both mugs and eyes are wet:

Only you do not know us. For we have not spoken yet.

Another of the verses also I think sums up the general feeling of unhappiness with the approach (in the media) by the government of Jersey, and in particular, the Chief Minister and his entourage of press officers and civil servants.

They have given us into the hands of the new unhappy lords,
Lords without anger and honour, who dare not carry their swords.
They fight by shuffling papers; they have bright dead alien eyes;
They look at our labour and laughter as a tired man looks at flies.
And the load of their loveless pity is worse than the ancient wrongs,
Their doors are shut in the evenings; and they know no songs.

It is not that these people don't care, because they may well care very much. It is rather that they seem unable to show their emotions, they come out with stock phrases, in a bland, and unemotional manner, rather like a 1950s newsreader dispassionately reading the news. One gets the feeling of 9 to 5 politicians, who switch off at the end of the day - "their doors are shut in the evenings" - and are not to be disturbed..

It is also not helped by the fact that the one instance of emotion shown by Senator Walker was one of anger at Stuart Syvret in which he lashed out in anger, patently unaware of the comments being recorded. But it goes deeper than that. When I hear the phrases "there will be no cover-up, no stone unturned" trotted out time and again - while reports remain out of the public domain - Sharp Report, Bull Report etc, - and there is still no Freedom of Information Law - I am reminded of another time, another speaker:

"I condemn any attempts to cover up in this case, no matter who is involved."

Of course, the same speaker said:

There can be no whitewash at the White House