Non-Believer

There are fresh accident markings at the Douglas end of the Mountain Mile and damage to the bank on the LH side, Douglas-bound. Yesterday morning there was a red hatchback off onto the bank at Keppel Gate and this morning a small, bronze coloured hatchback on the field at the inside of Windy Corner.

His confidence will have been bolstered by Allinson heaping praise on, "The last two Treasury Ministers" for their "financial prudence and good judgement" in post...(IoM Courier).

All living comfortably on DOI office salaries...

You switch it on just before you crawl in, it takes about 5 min to warm up and then switches itself off after 2 hours...by that time you're toasty and asleep. All that energy saved and you can still scrape the ice off the inside of your windows in the morning for your chilled grapefruit 😂

Electric underblanket from Marksies I think it was, awesome. Adjustable heat settings, timer incorporated, 2 hr increments up to 12 hours or you can just switch it on or off, I swear by mine. Helps me thaw out after being in the rest of the house 😂

Surely Govt pay rates will be aligned to DBC'S under the PSC terms? DBC are analogous to Govt in that respect, are they not?

Yes - as they were, perhaps with fond memories and a big lump of nostalgia. Those that wanted them kept wanted them incorporated as they were. But that's no longer the case, they've been butchered, messed around with and the layout altered beyond all recognition, all apart from the facts that it's incomplete and what there is there doesn't work. How much more money, on top of what's already been spent, should be thrown at trying to make a silk purse out of what is now a very, very expensive sow's ear?

You've already effectively lost them. They haven't run for 4+ years, no longer run the full course of the Promenade and what has been laid down for them is currently unfit for purpose and is having to go remedial work to make it fit (if ever). The only place they're going to be kept now without more huge financial intervention is a museum.

I think we have to accept that the horse trams (love or loathe them) as we knew them are now lost forever and will take further massive taxpayer investment if what was even promised to start with is going to be remotely realised. It would be interesting to hear now the opinions of those who were adamant that they should be retained at the time of the redevelopment proposals and what their take now is on what was a visitor attraction that had to be retained at all costs?

Precisely and it's those average, more vulnerable guys who have to chase a percentage of those faster guys' ever increasing race speed (and reducing lap times) in order to qualify for their own goals of replicas under the time trial format. Is it pushing them too far? "The throttle works both ways" is the usual get-out statement. I say "bollocks", when the mist is down and you're chasing an unseen target like that.

It happens at all levels including the LAs, "Tell 'em what you think they'd like to hear". Doesn't matter if it's little fibs or bloody big lies about things you don't know about or couldn't be arsed looking into. Just tell them good news and stroke the egos, don't rock any boats or create any work. That's why so many aspects are in shit creek.

I don't think that's in Hicky and Deano's mindsets on the startline though somehow and if it were me there in their position (some hope) it wouldn't be mine either. With the TT being run on a time trial basis the only option is to go like hell and hope that it's quicker than the other competitors that you may not even see during the course of the race?

If Dandara were given a development site there it wouldn't be a problem.....

Oh come on Max, it's been the primary objective over the last few years, the ever increasing lap records and as Dave Moly himself has stated he got sucked into it as much as anybody else. Some people claim its a dick swinging contest with the UGP, who knows? But certainly there's been a concerted effort (IMHO) to relentlessly push the speeds up and up. For instance, the commentary team this year only had 3 subjects that they were interested in talking about, the names of the first six competitors in any race, the names of the major sponsors and the potential to see the respective lap record broken.

Because the TT has now been moved up several gears in being commercialised as a revenue earning spectacle. More speed = more spectacle. It's not about manufacturers selling bikes anymore, it's about selling coverage and rights, TV or otherwise. The question is, given the nature of the course and event itself, is this the thing to do? Because if the money men break the TT in the course of exploiting it, they won't be bothered, they'll just move on to the next opportunity.