le Clercq vs Renouf

Regular readers will know that I'm a resident of the parish of St. Ouen, and tonight, we had our deputy hustings! There are two candidates for the seat: Richard Renouf, the sitting deputy since 2014, and Cliff le Clercq, a failed senatorial candidate from 2008 and professional psychotherapist. I must admit, first of all, that prior to his surprise stand for deputy (announced and arranged at the nominations meeting, with more than a hint of "token opposition" about it), I had never heard of him. That in mind, I was genuinely fairly taken aback with how credible he sounded. Renouf, with the exception of one question relating to mental health that he stumbled over and failed to recover, was his usual calm, collected and credible self - having run the Health and Social Services Scrutiny Panel over the last term, he has an impressive grasp of a range of issues. Interesting points were made on several issues; both candidates took a position in support of the Bailiff being removed as President of the States and in support of an elected speaker, which I found somewhat surprising for a parish which is - as noted by Renouf - one of the Island's more traditional. Both candidates expressed their approval for St. Ouen's shooting culture - Renouf supported further restrictions on firearms that would "keep them out of the hands of criminals", which I found slightly concerning as possibly giving gun owners even more red tape to fill out. Owning a firearm in Jersey is cumbersome enough - criminals, as a rule, don't carry weapons, and incidents are very rare - there is no reason for any change to the current laws (although apparently our favorite Assistant Home Affairs minister Deidre Mezbourian (one of Gorst's more obedient pets) disagreed). Happily, le Clercq was quite categorical in his support for the status quo. Another interesting topic covered was electoral reform and "superconstituencies", which Renouf seemed to show support for. le Clercq, slightly irritatingly, ignored the thrust of the question ("what are the candidates' views on electoral reform") and launched into a tirade about the committee system (although I didn't disagree with what he is saying - the man is in favour of abolishing ministerial government and returning to a consensus-based system). The prize for "most accurate point of the evening", however, must go to le Clercq for his bang-on point about disengagement from younger voters; his point, essentially, was that young people don't feel like they have a stake in society, and therefore, they don't vote. This, depressingly, is very true - people feel that the Jersey system isn't worth their time. They plan to leave at the earliest opportunity, and in many cases, never come back. Why? Because the Island is too expensive for many people to afford to live here.

The most concerning point, however, will be a joint award. Both candidates expressed an "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" approach to the introduction of ID cards. Sorry, but I find it difficult to support anyone in favour of these things. The idea that a citizen should have to carry around an ID card at all times for presentation on demand for any agent of the state is simply an appalling breach of personal liberty. I should not be expected, in my own country, to provide proof in the street that I am a legitimate citizen of this country. ID cards are a deeply dangerous and fascistic intrusion into people's personal lives and I find it deeply worrying that both of St. Ouen's candidates condone them.