Derek Flint

All well and good until you kill or seriously injure someone. Most policies carry £20m public liability cover. The UK is toying with this. But it’s the rates that are bonkers. My Disco sport would go up from £170 to over £500. That isn’t proportionate. Why don’t they listen before ?

They wouldn’t let me at the hospital. I think it changed after then

In most circumstances you can’t take another pension, although I’m pretty sure that is unlawful

I substantially agree with much of that. I'd personally introduce a pension system more like the military, with shorter 'jumping off periods. 6,12,18,22,30,35 years with a gratuity for everything up to the 22 year point then a pension proper being available. If applied across the public sector we might see better crossover, more diverse thinking and less silo. Imagine being able to move from a senior military or policing role into the civil service, or even vice versa? The force is bigger, but the job is definitely more complex than it was. Automation hasn't led to fewer people!

It’s happening wholesale in the UK. Much more flexibility and at last innovation. That said, I’m still a bit dismayed at some of the places money is being spent. We are a relatively rare breed to be honest. I’m actually struggling to think of the last one, other than myself, who went in that window. Most other Ill health retirements have been much younger in service.

I know folk with millions of quids worth of sports cars, who would SORN them all over the winter if they could. They haven’t got to the position in life of being able to buy this sort of stuff by being frivolous with cash.

Lots of vehicles would get laid up, sports cars and the like. The only issue with this is it will penalize rural communities in the UK Land Rover totally electric from 2025... This whole thing is an unnecessary nonsense. It’s one area where simply adopting the UK model, and rates would save a huge amount of bureaucracy. It’s being different for no practical reason

Who says the police are the ones that police the mail? 1 CC 3 Supt 4 CI 12 inspectors 40 something sergeants the rest constables. in General terms, the force is about 10% too small, taking into consideration its isolation and resilience needs for training and sickness. FWIW it was good to see Gary make a comment of public support of his staff.

On the first lockdown, there were some in the public service who were working incredibly hard. I understand there were also others who were literally sat at home in the sunshine on full pay.

Some years ago, I was across for some reason or other. The Ben couldn’t get in to Heysham because of fog, so they sent us all to Liverpool where they had to break the Lady out of dock to get us home. We were all boarded, but waited for an absolute age until they had the requisite number of crew on board to be able to sail. i wonder how fine the line is these days? Really tough situation today. I think that COMIN has likely ‘failed to govern’. Compare and contrast with the response in Howard’s beloved New Zealand.

Back amongst friends! I always valued my gay friends amongst the best company a man could keep.

You’ll be fine. JW as always gives a very succinct appraisal of the general set up of the Island. I recall sitting in the sea terminal with a couple of visiting gay friends maybe 12 years ago. One fired up Grinder for a skeet - nearest contact was in Workington!

There is a real dilemma facing the Island in September and I really feel for anyone who cares. The problem is that for the majority, the Covid ‘success’ has blurred things and most people will just think ‘ooh they’ve done a WUN-derful job’. If a candidate is currently in a seat they won’t have to work that hard to be returned. I thought that the 2016-21 administration was going to shit or bust one. Nothing has changed for the better in the last years so the need for radical change has never been more pressing

That’s the tip of the iceberg