Leaderboard

Yes ...... The government were told they would have to make some cuts. So they did............... They cut the retirement Christmas Bonus and took on a few more C S to administer the changes. 😀

-not-aware-how-many-workers-have-had-out-of-court-settlements So how do they audit where public money has gone and to what purpose ?

I’d really prefer not to say. Apparently if I provide accurate information I’m conceited, showing off, smug, superior, and so on. I’m terribly hurt by the slurs. It’s clearly because I’m a member of a group with protected characteristics. I’m being bullied.

I suspect that HR might not be too keen to release figures either, even if they are the holders. There would be public revulsion. ETA. It has to be remembered that these severance terms and conditions (a little like the pensions) were negotiated and set in stone when the island was awash with VAT. Yet now the money has "gone" we are apparently still obliged to uphold them without question for Govt's fear of "legal challenge" (of course it's Govt staff who benefit the most). Which does not auger well for the public finances or the reserves. But we know that.

Seems like one PC was acting the Hardman and the other acting too Hastie.

Ireland and one or two others were obliged to find ways of reducing their pension liabilities as part of the EU bailouts of a couple of years back. They managed to find the will to do it and that is what is missing here because of the unpopularity it would generate. As an ex- PS sector, I reckon that if you let a professional right-sizing outfit loose on IoMG/PS with a free hand, they would empty <20% straight away, including lots from middle and top. However, there would then be a huge knock-on to the economy and quite possibly an exodus too. So it's a rock and a hard place. Bankrupt the place by trying to keep the illusion going (the current approach) or accept that natural economic gravity will make the Island's population and economy far smaller - which is unacceptable for those who do very well out of the current position, to include politicos and reams of PS employees. So we will continue the slide unless 500,000 visitors or a gas-field appears and fills the coffers.

If you treat innocent people as potential criminals all the time people will hate you. All actions have consequences, that girl (or anyone treated in such a way) may find that in the future they might need some police help. Except now their opinion of the police is seriously damaged, they might not feel that the police will actually help. They might feel the police will make it worse. But the police don't think their actions are a problem, there is nothing wrong with searching teenage girls alone. Seething arrogance from absolute wankers.

And there we have - Stu has had his chip changed and has been been updated to the latest MHK- v11.23

All Jason Moorhouse wanted was for the Sea Terminal and Ronaldsway Airport to be tidied up so visitors get a good impression of the island. Anybody walking about would see what needs doing. We already have a vision and a strategy. https://www.gov.im/media/1377909/isle-of-man-visitor-economy-strategy-2022-2032.pdf What we need is action. Or at least somebody with a sweeping brush and a pot of paint.

When will they be “improving the resident offering”?

If we are going to be pedantic tits, then neither is it a tree.

If only you were joking...

They only work as people treat them like roundabouts, even though we were told not to do that.

It's effectively yet another form of corruption with the public coffers. We're being robbed in broad daylight and it's all legal.

Wheras you do your trolling from your main account. Congratulations you've found the lowest moral high ground possible.

Yebbut - 12 pages (to date) of this repetitive argument, arising from an initial OP which was basically low-level trolling, just slagging Devon for an online post… Cueey must be thrilled by all the attention - and all the argument that’s been generated!

Probably won’t have helped that’s she’s the sister of Leroy, currently on remand in Jurby for a substantial drug production case. That’ll be why the police pulled her.

I do not think that driving on the IoM requires the haute cuisine of motoring ability. Drive at a reasonable speed and look where you are going - that's about it. The equivalent of putting a slice of bread in the toaster. I can do that.

You can bet that, like the hospital, it'll cost three times as much to build as the same size school in the U.K.

This would be an ecumenical question.

you don't need to cut services to cut head count , often it improves services too.

The general apathetic attitude of Allison et al is most annoying. They really are not concerned and are content to use the reserves on an annual basis. The sums haven't added up for many a year.

No, not if they're obvious made up lies. There have been people who have suffered harm from vaccination, this was obviously likely to happen when you inject billions of people multiple times with a substance specifically designed to elicit an immune response. But the exaggerated harms, espoused by obvious cranks, damage those people massively too. It's like those at the other end of the scale who repeatedly go on about the Long Covid thing. Billions of people infected by a virus, some people will have some significant problems with recovery. The harm Long Covid advocates do is also massive. Extremists are always wrong.

The reason for that may be closer to home.

I reckon quite a lot, between young singlies and oldies, divorced/widowed etc. We've been promised a rating review since forever with the old system having been using rent values since the early 70s, for some reason Govt eternally drags its heels. Possibly because if all this was actually evaluated and applied it might involve some loss of revenue, in my cynical mind.

That’s a winter fuel allowance, not a Pensioners Christmas Bonus. And, yes, it depends on age and what benefits you are on and whether you are partnered ( and their age and benefit entitlement ). Anyone was suggesting the UK pensioners Christmas Bonus was £500. It isn’t. However, that shouldn’t detract from a debate about how IoMG justify not paying a pensioners winter fuel allowance for winter 23/4. Last year it was probably because they allowed MUA to sell electricity below the cost of production for an extended period. Racking up a huge loss, between £26 and £50 million. Of course that subsidised everyone, even those on tax caps, rather than focussing on those who needed it. We know that £600 to every pensioner is approx £14 million - because of the recent pension increase announcement. Now, all of us, from the very poorest to the very richest will have to suffer increased electricity prices whilst the additional debt is paid back. As in all these things, subsidy needs to be focussed, not general.

Sort anything out, You must be having a giraffe. They would be out of there depth sorting a pack of cards.

No it didn’t - there was a silt problem…

He'll be along with a third version in a minute which somehow proves that both previous arguments were correct, then send you a bill for it.

KPMG branded single use plastic bottles that are all going to be dumped. Biosphere yay!

Scratchings

Because that's criticising someone for their implied views and their behaviour rather than their appearance. No one is attacked for being a 'gammon' for having a red face, but because they have reactionary and stubborn opinions that they express in a way that might make them go red in the face - at least metaphorically and sometimes literally as well. It's also used to annoy such people because they very often complain that they should be allowed to use whatever language they like in describing or addressing other groups of people. But when anyone else uses the same freedom against them, by calling them gammons, they get terribly upset. So it points up hypocrisy and entitlement.

James Lay’s? May 1940 fire. Others from 1930 and 1970. Think the change to Peter Luis was 1974/5? Later research. Jimmy Lay from 1865, James Lay Ltd from 1907 to 1973 in Douglas. It lingered on in Ramsey for another 28 years. Peter Luis from October 1973 to 2013

Surely all they’re doing is highlighting the fact that we should all be checking our lights etc, no issue with what they’ve out out in respect of this.

The rest of the year we suffer a few R plate dickheads and boy racer types taking the piss. Why not just take them off the road and get them to behave first?

Not the M.O.T argument again. As soon as you leave the test garage the mot becomes mute as it was fine twenty minutes ago. The defects being flagged are lights and tyres, the tyres are only picked up because of a failed lamp which can happen in the blink of an eye. The lamp failure is more than likely caused by hitting one of the numerous pot holes that frequent manx roads, fix the holes save the lamps and stop the police crowing about an easy ticket. How did all investigations into that spate of burglaries go, yeh deafening silence there. 😁

Obviously a Photoshop as the sun appears to be shining through the window.

Was it really necessary to handcuff the girl given there was two police in attendance.? Genuine question, not having a go.

I think what you mean is the size of the administration and its penchant for wholesale waste. There is no money now, mainly because of government profligacy, ineptitude, mismanagement , call it what you will. Whichever way, we have gone from an affluent society to the bottom of the bowl in just a few short years. The funds wasted on failed and mismanaged projects and vanity projects could have built a number of schools.

Your dog being on-lead around other people and animals does not reduce its wellbeing. I think dogs are brilliant, but not everyone does. And they're entitled to that view. Some have been bitten or given a fright when younger, and that's perfectly valid for them to want my dog to be on a lead around them. So she is. I let her off lead in places that are appropriate and that I know will not have individuals or animals that might get spooked in them.

I thought I'd lob this into a Ramsey Rates thread. This is the Ramsey Parliament Square Xmas tree offering for 2023, complete with festive sandbags to stop it being blown away. Is this really the best that Ramsey residents can expect for the 2nd-highest rates on the Island?

Isn’t Crookall’s statement that DOI aren’t coping the same as admitting they’re a shit show?

Do you think that is a priority subject at DOI...? 🤭

It was good. We lit some candles (or tried in the wind), said some words, had a minutes silence and then retreated to the cafe for coffee and cake.

How much to service a real one though rather than the one you’ve just made up?

Wow, she managed quite a lot in just 7 months.

Bram Stoker dedicated Dracula to him. He was the best selling author of his day, but he's too melodramatic and lacking in humour for modern tastes. Culture tends to distill down to one or two examples of an ouvere over time mids-60s psyche-pop will be represented only by SGT Pepper in a decade or so and only academics and people obsessed with that time will listen to Forever Changes, Odyssey and Oracle or Their Satanic Majesties. Agatha Christie is constantly being remade but Naigo Marsh and Dorothy L Sayers etc no so much. Dickens trumps Caine everyday because he wrote memorable characters - that are good for filming and as user names on Internet Forums.

I agree. The fact that Dr Allinson did not give the current estimate of the total cost of the Liverpool Dock project is something that needs to be corrected. The circa £70m costs in the PAC report only count what was spent up to December 2021/ February 2022, not November 2023. In effect this report is a partial report. Since December 2021/ February 2022, how many more millions, or tens of millions have been spent on this project that we are not being told about? Rather than spending (just) £70m, is the actual current figure now over £100m? The fact that no MHKs, as political office holders, dared to ask about this fundamental issue speaks volumes about their non-desire for political oversight of important projects. I thought the astute pieces of Cohen’s lyrics particularly apply to the IOMG and the IOM CS/PS e.g., DOI, Treasury, Health, Education… all of them have something in common with the song; something along the lines of “I’ve been there and it didn’t work out well” and “I’ve tried my best, but it wasn’t good enough”. The song Hallelujah is a sad song about failure, regret and has many uncomfortable resonances with the situation that, sadly, the Island and its residents are now finding themselves in.