It is an Alliance!

After years of joining this committee and that one, I am starting to find synergies in the way the work by one joins up with the work by another.

For example, this week I have registered both the Jersey Democratic Alliance and La Moye School PTA with the Jersey Financial Services Commission as Non-Profit Organisations. A simple process. Yet, when the NPO registration scheme was first announced, they planned something appallingly onerous, without exemption for even the smallest and most casual groups. The Jersey Rights Association, another of the pies I have a finger in, were one of the strongest and most articulate of the host of angry critics, and we had the satisfaction of seeing a massive backing off. We did not do it alone, but we certainly pulled our weight, and now all the organisations, that I am in, have benefited.

Another recent synergy has been that, while the JDA's Deputies have been working to do something about Woolworth's and other future redundancies, the JRA have also vociferously campaigned in support of States action. Unfortunately, neither group seems to have quite tipped the balance yet, but it all adds to the pressure on the Council of Ministers to do the right thing in the end.

Concern, yet another group whom I am with, are preparing a renewed assault on the La Collette “insanerator” project. And there was the JDA's Trevor Pitman alongside Daniel Wimberley at the launch of the latter's rescission campaign. Once again, it all ties in nicely.

In fact, being in the JDA can double the effect for a lot of pressure group campaigners. More of you should try it. When Gary Matthews tried to harness all the groups working on little pieces of a liberal agenda in the 1996 Rainbow Alliance, most were too proud to join in, and it failed. Let us learn from that mistake.

David Rotherham