Ed Gregson, head of media and film studies at the Sixth Form Centre, listened to all 77 Guernsey Press candidate podcasts and posted his reviews online, which has been said to have helped guide many people in their voting intentions.
‘I took the dog for a walk and thought I’d listen to them. I listened to the first two and wrote a couple of reviews, one was quite critical and the other was quite surprising. I published them on Guernsey People Have Your Say, and someone said they enjoyed it but said it would take me a while, and I realised I had another 80 to do,’ he said.
‘It was what I intended to do anyway for my research into who to vote for, but it’s bizarre that it’s become so public.’
Mr Gregson said that since posting his first review on 22 May and his last on 14 June, he had become less brutal and more gentle.
‘For people I know it was quite tricky writing something, where I’ve been quite excoriating for some people and then to not be partial, I tried to do it on its merits,’ he said.
‘I’ve allowed myself to be surprised, and to try and reflect truthfully, even about people I quite profoundly politically disagree with. Sometimes I think they gave a really good performance and that deserves credit.’
With voting now under way, Mr Gregson said that his voting slip would mostly follow his initial reactions from the podcast interviews, although he had done some deeper research on some candidates.
He has posted up 24 of his picks on social media, but said there were also four wildcards he may use.
‘There have been times I’ve put up a review and then people have reached out to me privately and said look at this, or to do my homework and find out more about the person,’ he said.
‘Sometimes I have retracted. There was one where I left my original comment up but added a note at the end that I had changed my mind.’
As a teacher, Mr Gregson said that he had been encouraging students to vote, and trying to break through some of the apathy.
‘At the Sixth Form Centre, we had 63 candidates come in to talk to our young people, where else but Guernsey can that happen?’ he said.
‘I believe very much in the importance of a democratic system and I think Guernsey has a fantastically direct democracy.’
Mr Gregson posting of his electoral choices, led to a rebuttal from Deputy Andy Cameron, who raised concerns about ‘civil service impartiality’.
