Foxy takes on Facebook

Wednesday 20 September 2023

Guernsey's Chief Minister has entered the modern day version of the lion's den...by joining, and starting his first thread in, 'Guernsey People Have Your Say'.

The Facebook forum is notorious for conversations about all aspects of island life with a steer towards political commentary.

The page - which has almost 22,000 members - is used for discussions about anything and everything including what is really in scampi, and whether jelly fish can be put in food waste bins.

It is also used for sensible commentary by island residents recently wanting to discuss topics such as potential developments at Northside and warning each other of attempted scams. 

Now, the island's most senior politician has bowed down to calls to be more available on social media by entering the fray himself. 

Pictured: Deputy Peter Ferbrache posted his first comment on GPHYS this morning.

The account - which has not yet been verified by Deputy Ferbrache as being himself - was set up in September 2020, just weeks before the island wide election which saw him receive 11,142 votes - around 45% of all votes cast.

Soon after that, he was elected as President of the Committee for Policy and Resources which leads on things like the States (and therefore the island's) finances.

With the States facing increasingly tougher financial times, Deputy Peter Ferbrache has used his dormant Facebook account to start a conversation on GPHYS asking fellow users to "be polite" which acknowledge his own "innocence" regarding social media.

Pictured: Deputy Ferbrache was engaging in conversation with members of the public in the minutes following his initial post being made public.

The number of replies to his post quickly grew with it nearing 100 comments within an hour.

Deputy Ferbrache was attempting to reply to those comments asking questions about Policy and Resources tax proposals in particular.

It's a u-turn for a deputy who has historically been intensely critical of social media platforms. Notably, during a debate on Deputy Chris Le Tissier's year-long suspension, he said: “Social media is more often than not an ill; it is written by cowards; it is written by people who don’t have the courage to stand up and come speak to your face.”