Uhtred

Now there’s a fucking irritating twat.

So what? Half of the existing members behave like 11 year old kids.

Of course you can’t. The man is a talentless lightweight.

Harsh though this sentiment is…do we care?

My god you’re a patriot. Coincidentally, every day Tynwald sits, I go commando.

Did he really? He was of course the first P of T and I guess he probably signed it off even if not actually responsible for it. He should have stuck to sheep farming. It’s gross.

DA is Tynwald’s leading revisionist when it comes to his political past.

What an absolutely tasteless, awful mess that robe is. Who the hell designed that - ‘Primark Parliament’?

‘Isle of Man Ladies Pants’. FFS.

The current topic.

Excellent. You’ve won; I’ll head ohm.

I don’t doubt that you’re right (sad to say). I nonetheless think that even the 9 year olds would have trouble following the vacuous guff from COMIN et al. A girl I knew at high school ended up years later as some high-falutin’ literacy/English advisor to the Scottish government and told me that the national average reading age in Scotland was 14, so things seem especially grim in Telford.

In which case we need to beef up our performance in teaching English.

I never enjoyed electric golf.

Yes. All of my friends, acquaintances and colleagues are drawn from the electorate.

Not mud slinging old chum, merely accurate (and I grant you frequent) highlighting of their general inability and failure to recognize their own limitations. (And when, therefore to rely on the skills and knowledge of others). Our political leadership are sadly lacking in self-awareness and seem preternaturally opposed to recognizing when it’s time to say ‘I don’t have the answer, let’s establish who does’.

It may not have been metathesis - simply a statement of fact.

All very fair comment - which immediately raises the question that if our political leaders are competent individuals on top of their brief and adequately informed, why don’t they write their own speeches?

I did not suggest that politicians use words such as ‘overweening’ with which the electorate are unfamiliar - it was your response that implied I did so. I chose to use it in my remarks because it was accurate, relevant and appropriate in the context of my sentiments. It was you who had no familiarity with the word. I’m absolutely in favour of clear, unambiguous, cogent and relevant communication from the political cadre to the electorate. Which is exactly what we don’t benefit from. Try and take a look at Quayle’s car-crash press briefing a couple of years back in relation to the VAT related ‘Paradise Papers’. If you consider that to be the performance of an effective leader and skilled communicator then I wash my hands of any genuine, serious, debate with you.

Well of course you would.

If the incoming government was actually to do this it would likely be the single most useful and effective policy decision of the last quarter century.

I accept all that. But it’s still legitimate for observers to make comment. And our political leadership cock it up with far greater frequency than Messrs. Klopp, Hamilton and Verstappen.

Yes I did mean ‘overweening’ - the definition of which is excessive confidence. Particularly apposite to Quayle and Ashford. If you are not familiar with the word consider yourself educated. Expanding your vocabulary is not my responsibility but I’m happy to assist on this occasion.

I’m not standing and nor am I obliged to in order to proffer comment on those who do. Politicians are not exempt from critique from those among the electorate who choose not to stand themselves. Especially when they reveal the limitations lately on show from what are (laughably) our senior political leaders. Are you suggesting, by the same token, that only those who have themselves been Premier League managers can critique the performance of Jurgen Klopp?

You are either too easily pleased by very poor representation and tissue-thin public policy making, or you’re simply an apologist. And no, I don’t ‘get my words wrong’ because I consider what I say before I say it and I only use words I understand. Because I don’t have an overweening belief in quite how wonderful I am.