Derek Flint

I thought it was because of the separation of commercial and high street banking? when I was trying to set up a UK HSBC account I was repeatedly told by the IOM side that they were nothing to do with the UK side and nothing talked to their system. seeing as I’ve been with them for over 4O years it was by far the hardest arrangement to make. International? My arse.

Have you ever actually seen a customer in there? I went to the opening night and never set foot in there again.

This is a real shame. As a customer you were actually greeted by name when you walked through the door. Service was akin to that you might have received 20 or 30 years ago. i understood that its long survival was down to the number of HNW northern residents that banked there. Perhaps it’s closure is telling in itself? And of course, beyond the branding HSBC IOM is completely firewalled from the rest of the family. They have to cut their cloth accordingly.

The point that is missed is that the IOM is a cash strapped enclave of just 80,000 souls. That means you have to cut your cloth accordingly. 30 years ago we had Liverpool, Fleetwood, Heysham, Ardrossan, Belfast and Dublin. The world is no longer sufficiently interested in coming to visit so, as with any remote island, the best hope is having a sustainable on and off, with a contingency if needed. the money would have been better spent on mods to Birkenhead if Liverpool was to be that contingency. It’s permanently staffed and maintained and I’m pretty sure it would have come in well South of what has been spent. nobody has yet dared ask the question on the estimated running costs for The new Liverpool arrangements.

There were some good journalists about. Adrian Derbyshire was always on it - good sources and not scared to ask the right questions. He was front and centre on some of the big breaking stories well ahead of others. He would work with you too, making sure cases were in the right place investigatively before breaking the story. sadly, much these days is about cut and paste. Gef is the nearest I’ve seen to something proactive

Liverpool were running Doncaster remotely. They could do the IOM airspace the same way. The key requirement if I recall correctly is you need a human in the tower - LCY however is a virtual tower. it is probably tech- sortable, but they will be concerned about giving up ‘sovereignty’, rather than accepting the place is an isolated village with a lifeline airport.

Liverpool were running Doncaster remotely. They could do the IOM airspace the same way. The key requirement if I recall correctly is you need a human in the tower - LCY however is a virtual tower. it is probably tech- sortable, but they will be concerned about giving up ‘sovereignty’, rather than accepting the place is an isolated village with a lifeline airport.

I’ll think you will find it is. Just because you’ve got a bit of independence once you leave home doesn’t alter the bloodline

This has been mooted in the last 20 years. Part of the upgrade to the port Erin line was justified on faster trains. They were talking of some sort of diesel hybrid iirc. denmark I think have little light steam trains with super insulated boilers fired on light oil. At steam in under 10 minutes. That would work. needs a major interchange at Dandaraland outside Ballasalla and could be a winner.

A problem easily solved by importation of a vehicle with an MOT innthe previous 28 days being exempt

I was sad to hear this. Bob hadn’t enjoyed great health in his later years and being away from the Island I hadn’t heard of his passing. I often sent him snaps of Rolls I saw about in London. His knowledge on the marque was incredible. The collection he had up at Bride included Adnam Kashoggi’s roller which he used to knock around London in. He was indeed a very wealthy man. I understand much of his estate was going to charity as I don’t think he has any heirs. Rest In Peace Bob. Another of the Island’s ‘ good and the great ‘ has gone.

Good luck with finding one of those. I'm still looking

For a premium product craf spirit their pricing is about right especially when you factor in their raw costs are at least 20% higher than an equivalent UK outfit

Is there really a crisis? Or is that just what we are being made to believe? Covid, Ukraine, Taiwan, energy, inflation - every news story is apparently taking us to the brink. On another thread, there is a post about a restaurant with folk queueing out the door. I live in a pretty affluent town over here and the picture is very similar. There just isn't the 'feel' of a real issue - yet. I don't for a moment doubt that there is real suffering in the lowest income groups. And though I know a few mates who have turned off the hot tub and finally put in LED bulbs, the issue hasn't crept far enough up the income curve yet. Although I work to the doctrine that every pounds a prisoner and begrudge higher prices and taxes I'm lucky insofar as I can suck it up for now. I tend to take quite a cussed approach and do all I can to part with cash to someone or an organisation I think is profiteering. Only last week, after Octopus 'told' me they were putting my DD up to 260 quid a month from 100 quid, we had an exchange of views and settled at 150 quid. If I slip into the red I'll choose when I top it up with my credit card on which I get payback points. As I pointed put to then, my pain starts when the heating goes back on and I'm not inclined to prop them up in the meantime. I'm fervently of the opinion that if it was really that bad, the UK would have seen significant public disorder by now.

After getting my first grown up tax bill this year I can see why people want to do this. You wouldn’t mind so much if everything run by government wasn’t so fucked.