Eleven Guernsey

Why has the States of Guernsey not stood up and supported Ukraine in its fifth year of turmoil, unnecessary death and destruction. Have we lost are moral integrity? Is our focus only for the pursuit of money through taxation from the meagre population of 65,000 souls.

@richarddigard @YvonneBurford @GuyPlummer34449 @DavidPiesing63 Where is the transparency?

@YvonneBurford @GuyPlummer34449 @DavidPiesing63 Will there be an audit of how this exemption came into being? Why it was proposed and by whom, who agreed it should be progressed and what political oversight it was exposed to? This is almost more important than the MyGov report.

A very damning “warts and all” report from Boley Smillie, and no doubt the content of NDAs from departed senior employees prevented the promised naming of names. But “Senior staff deliberately excluded from standard civil service disciplinary procedures” really stands out. It explains so much. Who on earth agreed that and when? The phrase “unelected and unaccountable” could not be more apt. Massive change needed and Boley must be fully backed to deliver it.

@oldfarmhorace Right on...

It’s a long one… Tomorrow the States is debating P2026/19, the Major Projects Portfolio Report, and after everything that has come out in the last few days I think every Deputy needs to read this before they vote. Last November the States admitted it had wasted 42 million pounds on two completely botched capital projects. (45m now) Everyone agreed it was an unconscionable waste of taxpayers money. Just weeks before that admission the Scrutiny Management Committee held its first public hearing into the States Property Unit, the very team that reports directly to Policy and Resources and will be heavily involved in delivering these big projects going forward. What they found was shocking. The Property Unit has no clear targets, no measurable performance indicators, and no proper strategic plan for managing the island’s entire public estate. Deputy Andy Sloan said it plainly, there were no clear targets for progress. This is the department we are supposed to trust with tens or hundreds of millions more in capital spending. Then in March the same Policy and Resources Committee lodged P2026/19, their shiny new Major Projects framework that they say will fix all the old problems. Scrutiny looked at it and on 17th April they published their formal Letter of Comment. They said the new system is better on paper but it still does not have proper early affordability checks, it reduces transparency for the whole Assembly, and it does not fix the fundamental issues around governance and accountability. They used a real live example to make their point. Leale’s Yard. As part of their Property Unit review Scrutiny has been asking since November for the basic documents, the business case, the options appraisal, the financial analysis, the due diligence. Despite formal requests and a public hearing they still have not received a complete, coherent set of records. Even after the Non-Disclosure Agreement was officially waived on 17th March the information remains incomplete. This is not ancient history. This is happening right now on a project that is sitting inside the new Portfolio that the States is being asked to approve tomorrow. Then this weekend two senior P&R members, Lindsay de Sausmarez and Yvonne Burford, went on social media and claimed Scrutiny had been given a very significant amount of information, that the NDA was the problem, and that they had been trying to arrange meetings since February. On Monday Scrutiny hit back with a public statement that directly contradicts those claims. They proved the information was late and incomplete, the NDA had already been waived weeks earlier, and there had been no proper pattern of meeting requests as claimed. The message from Scrutiny is very clear. After wasting 42+3 million pounds, with a Property Unit that has no targets and no plan, and with basic governance still failing on Leale’s Yard, the new framework does not contain the serious tightening of financial discipline and accountability that we need. Tomorrow’s debate is not just about approving some new process on paper. It is about whether the States is willing to learn from the 45 million pound disaster and from what Scrutiny has uncovered about the Property Unit and Leale’s Yard. If we approve this without the changes Scrutiny has asked for we are simply setting ourselves up for the next expensive failure. The full documents on Leale’s Yard must be provided. The Property Unit must be given clear targets and a proper strategic plan. The new Portfolio must have much stronger safeguards around affordability, transparency and accountability. Anything less is not good enough.

Sir Isaac Brock inspires 'Canada Strong' bailiwickexpress.com/news-ge/sir-is… via @bailiwickxpress Its a pity Guernsey does not promote this courageous man who changed the path of history.

@Lord_Sugar 17

17

@Lord_Sugar 16

@oldfarmhorace @MaryLowe501 Unfortunately route was scrapped last time because of loss of intake

I hope subsidising the price of air tickets for Islanders holidays with an undisclosed annual cash payment from tax payer money and the extra money Aurigny will need because of a loss of passengers on the profitable London route plus of course I bet the Airport is likely to have been pressed into some deal on Fees with BA as well, will be worth it. Do we know if ED has given the GDP growth KPI it is hoping for?

@oldfarmhorace @NealeJehan Not less than £800,000 per annum.

@NealeJehan I wonder how much the taxpayer has subsidised your ticket? And if BA wasn’t here would you have flown Aurigny today?

❤️

@advocategreen1 @GuyPlummer34449 So you have all so rans and a few party declared and not declared Nothing has changed from last run. Disappointment rules

@GuyPlummer34449 I sometimes think that candidates forget that it is their job to enthuse the voters. The by election is a platform for ideas & heated discussions. By and large [there are some exceptions] it isn't very exciting so far is it? A more radical approach is required on a few fronts.

I am detecting not too much enthusiasm so far for the islandwide by election, beyond the hardcore of usual suspects. Is that your experience? Which if any of the candidates is impressing so far? #Guernsey #by-election

@richarddigard @oldfarmhorace @Govgg And all wheels using the road pay their fair share of tax in the form of license

@oldfarmhorace is absolutely right. If regs were amended to allow more powerful eBikes and eScooters on the roads (as other towns successfully do), many of Gsy's traffic issues would be eased. And @govgg's active travel unit would have less to do at our expense!

The Ukrainian people and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Professor Dag Øistein Endsjø of the University of Oslo officially nominated the Ukrainian people and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. As a university professor, he holds the formal right to submit nominations. His argument: by defending their democracy against Russian aggression, the Ukrainian people have helped preserve peace across Europe. The nomination is not just about Zelensky as an individual. It recognizes an entire nation that has been resisting occupation, violence, and repression since 2014, and especially since the full-scale invasion of 2022.

Stand up and say from the beginning that you have been nominated by ex party members. Three nominated on first day bailiwickexpress.com/news-ge/three-… via @bailiwickxpress

@advocategreen1 In your dreams. Now who will be transparent and openly state they are party members?

By election fever. Let's hope we get a decent spread of candidates that will justify the cost and that there is proper debate about the ideas and policies that the island needs to be talking about. (This isn't the first islandwide by election btw)

The UK is considering an American style global tax regime. If you move to zero tax havens like Dubai, you will still be forced to pay British income tax for the privilege of holding a UK passport and getting embassy protection. The tax loopholes might finally close.

Absolutely heartbreaking reaction by little Ukrainian girl when she sees her kindergarten completely destroyed by Russian genocidal monsters. Horrendous crimes against humanity.

💔🇺🇦🙏 More than a thousand words. . . . This young boy quietly takes a flag from his home Bows in front of the funeral column for a fallen Hero🕯️ He removes his hat, kneels & bows in respect 🕊️

Every day, at 9am, the entirety of Ukraine stops, we honor the fallen and think about our heroes still on the front, fighting in the trenches. You won't find this in russia.

@Svyrydenko_Y About time.

Today, the Ukrainian delegation in Brussels received the European Union’s accession benchmarks for the final three negotiating clusters. This means Ukraine now has the full set of requirements to meet for EU membership. Ukraine is moving confidently along its path to European integration. The swift completion of the official screening of Ukrainian legislation for compliance with EU law demonstrates the country’s institutional capacity and readiness to move to the next stage. The next steps are successful closure of the clusters and signing of the Accession Treaty, the final step toward Ukraine’s full membership in the European Union. Today, Ukraine received the details for Cluster 3 “Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth,” Cluster 4 “Green Agenda and Sustainable Connectivity,” and Cluster 5 “Resources, Agriculture and Cohesion Policy.” In December, the Ukrainian side received the benchmarks for three other clusters: Cluster 1 “Fundamentals of the EU Accession Process,” Cluster 2 “Internal Market,” and Cluster 6 “External Relations.” The Ukrainian government will continue to fulfill the accession requirements, implement the necessary reforms and measures, and report to the EU on progress. Moving forward together!

@BBCGuernsey Brilliant. Stand up to the misconceptions of the tragic few.

The Confederation of Guernsey Industry, an independent voice for local businesses, has called on the government to look at alternatives to a goods and services tax 👉 bbc.in/4sPnMzD

She didn’t sneak into Nazi territory — she walked in. Calm. Collected. She rang the bell and asked for a room. Perfect German. Polite manners. A soft smile. Just a harmless tenant, they thought. Only she was anything but harmless. Her name was Lise de Baissac, agent of the British Special Operations Executive — and the Wehrmacht officer who rented her that room never realized he had invited a phantom of sabotage into his home. Every morning she wished him a pleasant day. Every night she slipped out with explosives hidden under her coat, whispering to the French resistance: “If we are loud, we are dead.” He thought she was a lodger. She was surveillance. She was a messenger. She was a silent disaster wrapped in courtesy. But the story didn’t begin in Normandy. It began in the dark sky over France — September 24, 1942. A Whitley bomber thundered above enemy land. A slim figure jumped — thirty-seven years old, fearless, alone. A parachute snapped open over occupied France. She hit the ground hard and immediately buried the silk canopy — burying any trace of England with it. She became “Madame Irene Brisse.” A shy widow who loved archaeology. A bicycle. A sketchbook. A quiet voice admiring Roman ruins. Invisible. In her basket: detonators, coded notes, blueprints of German defenses. In the shadows: the birth of the Artist network — a dozen resisters that became hundreds… then thousands. “They never search for sparks in ashes,” she would say. She moved her new headquarters 100 yards from the Gestapo. Agents slipped into her apartment trembling — but left trained, armed, and ready to fight another night. The enemy crossed her path daily. They never recognized the storm brushing past them. Then — betrayal struck. June 1943. The Prosper network collapsed. Arrests. Torture. She smashed her radio. Burned every document. Across a moon-black field she ran, lungs on fire, toward a waiting Lysander. Three minutes to escape life or lose it forever. Searchlights split the sky behind her — but Lise never looked back. London welcomed her as a hero. She refused rest. Eight months later — she jumped back into France. New name. New cover. Same fire. D-Day was coming. Her bicycle became a supply line. Vegetables on top — explosives hidden beneath. A warm smile for every German checkpoint. “They don’t see us,” she whispered. “That is their mistake.” When she needed lodging in a heavily garrisoned town? She rented a room inside the enemy command post. Tea with the officer. Bread and butter with troop movements. Then slipping out to cripple trains, bridges, fuel depots. June 6, 1944 — Normandy ignites. Reinforcements race toward the beaches — but roads erupt, rails twist, petrol depots burn. The feared Das Reich Division should’ve reached Normandy in three days. It took seventeen. Seventeen days purchased with coded ink, spinning bicycle wheels, and dynamite tucked beneath apples. Lise did that. A quiet woman. A silent blade. Two years undercover. Two parachute drops. Two entire networks built from dust. Death always inches behind — yet she never faltered. She lived. She won. She endured. She received the MBE, the Croix de Guerre, the Légion d’honneur. But among the fighters she trained, the title that mattered most was simply: “One of us.” After victory, she faded into ordinary life — flowers instead of fuses, roses instead of resistance. She never asked for praise. True heroes rarely do. Lise de Baissac died at ninety-eight — a quiet woman who once brought an empire to its knees. She proved something the Nazis never learned: Courage is not noise. It walks softly. It waits in the daylight. And in the dark — it becomes unstoppable. Sometimes the most dangerous weapon in a war… is a woman no one bothered to fear.