Derek Flint

It’s all very confusing. Further up red tarmac means ‘there be trams’.

They always do with no traffic on them. Let’s see what it’s like when chokka with parking, and when there is eventually a horse tram trotting up the middle...

I was pleased the year we got the BAC Mono! theres a great video on YouTube of a transplant organ run through London. This sort of thing wouldn’t happen any more - they’d just stick it in a helicopter. The italians however, understand the importance of ‘style’! And stuff like this is great PR. The year we had the Mono, we also had an RS Focus and a Mustang. The latter ended up with its own hashtag on Twitter. Great engagement tools, and a bit of a reward to the cops that got to drive them.

How can it be ‘not checked thoroughly’? It is a licensed medicine. It had to go through the same scrutiny as any other vaccine- they just put a lot more effort into it! during the Falklands War, an air refueling solution was engineered for the Nimrod in under a fortnight. In peacetime that would have taken 2-3 years necessity is the mother of all invention.

The problem remains that the Island is a great place to live, but remains a niche offering

Remember what happened last time the UK found itself short of loose change.... On the roads thing, they are no worse than anywhere else in the British Isles. In fact, the arterial routes are better.

Easiest way to manage it is to email them with a proper précis of what is up with you. This is fine as long as you are comfortable with the entire staff knowing your medical issues. Never bothered me, but I can imagine it would be an issue for others. i used to email my GP directly, but they now insist you email the generic inbox.

Cheaper to install than major re-engineering with build outs and chicanes , provide more crossing places as a secondary benefit and when people keep to the limit, traffic flows smoothly.

So many of these ‘speeding issue’ areas could be transformed with velocity controlled traffic lights as they have in Portugal. Kirk Michael is a good example. Two more crossings at each end of the village and convert the one by the shop. Approach at more than whatever the set limit is and they change to red. People soon modify their behaviours

I’m fervently of the opinion - and I hope they are right, that the UK govt has pinned a high degree of confidence in resolving the crisis with an effective vaccine. With indications roll out will begin soon ( https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/coronavirus-news-oxford-vaccine-christmas-lockdown/ ) there will hopefully be a turning point by the spring, and with a bit of a time lag, some good news for the Island in terms of travel and trade opportunities opening up again. God willing, by this time next year the world should be looking a lot more familiar.

Can we remind ourselves what the Strategy was? Then we can see if what the island is doing is actually meeting it.

A Ministry of Spaff is long overdue.

All good points. I still do wonder where all the cash comes from? It seems to be spent like it is never likely to run out. But even then, when money is being spent on bridges over Glen Wyllin, yet there are clear funding gaps in areas like social care and health, it does make you wonder where the moral compass swings

I think net years budget might give an idea of how much reliance there was on that income? the DOI have to try and make it pay now.

I agree, but it’s finding that tipping point that makes the last line cancel out. But then again, we have seen how much DBC were relying on parking income. Is that the sort of thing that is stopping the IOM taking that brave step towards free public transport?