My Week with Matt
More and more young people are becoming interested in politics- I happen to be one of them. As work experience week usually involves going to various companies, I was rather concerned as to what I was going to do during the week. I knew I wanted to study politics and hopefully go into a career in politics post-university, but I wondered what kind of work experience I could possibly do that would be relevant to my future career. It's not like there are any politics companies or specific training plans on the island, so I had to think outside the box.
Fortunately I was attending a mock hustings for the most recent election back in March, which was designed to help female candidates practice for their real hustings, and I saw Deputy Matt Fallaize there. He was giving advice to the women before the mock hustings began, and I managed to catch him and introduce myself before he left. The idea then came to me that I could shadow him in June, and I was positive that he would be re-elected (I was right, he gained the most votes in the island come April). Matt is my local parish Deputy (Vale) and he is also the youngest to be elected (first gaining his Deputy status in 2008 at the age of 26). So I emailed him and we set up the week I would shadow him. (Work experience week was the 13th-17th June this year but I shadowed him from the 6th- 12th as there was a States meeting on the Wednesday and Matt said it would be a more interesting week.
On Monday the 6th June, Matt picked me up and firstly he had to do the very exciting task of taking his printer into Frossard House to be fixed, and I have to tell you this experience was truly riveting (heavy sarcasm intended), and then after this we went to Mind Guernsey, an organisation designed to help those with mental illness. Ian le Moigne wanted to speak to Deputy Fallaize about a possible type of collaboration between deputies and Guernsey Mind, and Matt managed to volunteer himself for a charity run. The experience was enlightening and I learned a lot about the way mental illness in adults is treated on the island. Prior to this I really was not aware of what happened to those struggling with mental illness when they reached adulthood. Matt also introduced me to Emily Litten, who was working on a Mental Health and Wellbeing strategy.
At 11.30, we met with Simon Ross, the Senior Deputy Greffier, who does many interesting things such as handling Inter-Parliamentary relations and clerking the States of Deliberation. Simon was discussing a Westminster visit with Matt, which would involve meeting British MP's and bringing along Deputies of whom are new to the states this year. I really enjoyed this meeting with Simon, and he seems to really love his job. The next meeting on Monday was with Natasha Keys, who is Director of Sport and Culture, and is located at Beau Sejour. She was briefing Matt on the Committee for Education, Sport and Culture's policy letter on Guernsey hosting a future Island Games, which was a topic of discussion in the upcoming States' meeting on the Wednesday. Obviously this is a very exciting idea and Natasha was very helpful when it came to explaining the civil service to me. I really was very naïve to how much the civil servants do prior to this meeting, and I learned a lot from this meeting.
Following this, Matt picked up a document from Simon Ross' colleague, Adrian Nicolle, and he very kindly gave us a tour of the Royal Court, which is almost beautiful enough to make me want to be a lawyer. Then Matt had arranged for me to meet the Bailiff, which was possibly the highlight of my week. He answered all of my questions about his work, and the possibility of a female Bailiffe! He is a kind and humble man, and I feel honoured to have met him.
On Tuesday Matt sprung upon me that he had arranged for us to be interviewed by BBC Radio Guernsey after our briefing from Steve Wakelin, Head of Policy in the Chief Executive's Senior Leadership Team on the development of the States' Policy and Resource Plan. I was quite nervous to be interviewed on the radio as I have never been on the radio before and I worried I would say something I shouldn’t! Fortunately I don't think I made a complete fool of myself and I actually quite enjoyed it. The rest of the day consisted of a meeting of the Committee for Employment and Social Security, of which Michelle Le Clerc is the President.
Wednesday was the day of the States' meeting, so I observed from the public gallery and it really was great to see some of the deputies, old and new, that I had met previously, in action. It also happened to be Matt's birthday, but he had already arranged to attend a meeting with the Friends of Safer, a charity which aims to help those involved with domestic abuse. A few of the women involved include Bella Farrell, Maggie Costen and Carol Le Page. These women are truly inspiring and I really hope to get more involved in their charity, as domestic abuse is something I and many others feel strongly about.
The first thing on Thursday was a visit to La Mare de Carteret senior school. Totally honestly, I was extremely impressed. The standard of teaching was excellent and the energy from both the teachers and students was extremely inspiring. I had never visited La Mare before this as it isn't my catchment area secondary modern, and it is clearly a school making the absolute most out of their facilities, no matter how bad they are.
Later that day I was fortunate enough to encounter Simon Ross again, as there was a meeting that all deputies were invited to about inter-parliamentary relations, scrutiny in the States and dealing with the media. Many politicians attended this, and it proved very interesting to hear about politicians and social media. Matt does not use social media, nor does he have a mobile phone- as a 17 year old in this day and age, even the mere thought of this makes me shudder. He says that the reason is that when politicians have social media accounts like Twitter and Facebook, they are bombarded by often negative comments and they come to believe that this is representative of the public opinion, when this usually is not the case. I think this is a sensible point of view, and perhaps one I will adopt in the future.
Friday involved attending a conference about addiction, which I found very informative and also uplifting. There were many other deputies there, showing their support for those suffering with addiction. I met many inspiring people at the conference, and I learned a lot about their struggles and treatment. On Saturday, myself and Matt attended a College of Further Educcation art show, which proved very impressive, but sadly we did not see many other deputies in attendance.
On my final day of shadowing Matt, Sunday 12th June, I witnessed Matt taking part in the Sunday phone-in with Jenny Kendall-Tobias. Matt was on the panel with Deputy Paul le Pelley, and as they both have almost opposing ideas about education, most of the questions were about this topic. I did not mind at all, as I find education very interesting.
Overall, I would definitely recommend that anyone interested in politics contacts a politician (which politician is of course, their choice) for their work experience. I am so pleased I chose Deputy Fallaize as he really is a truly interesting and kind politician, as well as giving me great experience in the world of Guernsey Politics. Have I been put off my career path? Absolutely not. If anything, I am more motivated and keen than ever. I really loved the week, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Mathilda Green
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