Roger Mexico

They've always been a lot like that to be honest. It's what having a monopoly for near 200 years does. It's just that with government now imposing management, the decisions are looking even more arbitrary and the communications are even more touchy and indignant.

It's more that the data would have been taken from the whole three period (including 2022 which was low on storms) so it's unlikely that it would have had much effect on the ratings of any of them. Presumably people didn't respond to that question in sufficient numbers because they did the same as you suggest and so couldn't comment either way. But other categories were too low as well which hints at the total number of responses being not much over the minimum.

A reminder of how this all started from a piece on the Afloat website in 2016, itself mainly taken from a now-vanished IOM Newspapers piece (presumably lost along with the rest of the archive when Tindle bought it) The Isle of Government, Tynwald has voted to acquire a site in Liverpool for a new ferry terminal writes IOM Today. The Manx Government are also to continue talks with the island's sole operator, the Isle of Man Steam Packet over a new sea services deal. But following a raft of amendments, and amendments of amendments, the near-four hour debate ended in farce as it became clear that the court was not sure what it had voted for. New Tynwald president Steve Rodan remarked: ‘You can look up in Hansard what we have just voted on if you are unclear!’ During the debate, the Steam Packet was criticised for its ‘threats and blackmail tactics’ and its motive in pursuing an early deal questioned, with a number of MHKs claiming a distressed fund manager called Anchorage which has a 31 per cent shareholding was just after making a quick profit. There was no such questioning of the role of the Peel Group from whom a 236-year lease on Princes Half Tide Dock is to be purchased for a new ferry terminal for a price of up to £3.5m. Indeed all Tynwald members appeared to support the move to buy the site despite no clear explanation being given as to why the taxpayer is to get involved at all, given that Peel had originally indicated it would fund the facility in its entirety – if it could get a guarantee of long-term commitment to the route. Infrastructure Minister Phil Gawne said it was ‘an opportunity we would not want to miss’. He said any agreement to buy the site would provide for it to be returned to the owner at no cost to government if the development didn’t subsequently go ahead. Leonard Singer (Ramsey) said the purchase of the site would mean we would control both ends of the route. There will be an open tender for the design and build contract for the ferry terminal, the £25m cost funded by the developer. The DoI report says no work would begin ‘until a suitable agreement has been reached for its long-term use by IOMSPCo’. Of course a lot of those voting would have standing down at the election later in the year (or had already decamped to LegCo) and others were helped on their way out by the voters. Only Cannan, Thomas and Watterson, plus Henderson and Skelly are still around. Full debate is here is you want to depress yourselves.

Well quite, but we mustn't set the bar too low. Being more comprehensible than Ashford won't be anything like enough.

It has to be admitted that the Steam Packet's reaction to the Which? survey is probably more revealing that the survey is. In its long whinge in response (all helpfully printed by Manx Radio) there's very little about striving to improve things or taking all criticism seriously. Just prolonged and bombastic self-justification, repeating all the same points we hear from them all the time and holding up things they are legally obliged to do as some sort of badge of excellence. They also claim "Steam Packet journeys are classed as short international voyages between the Isle of Man and the UK/Ireland, rather than domestic services as outlined in the Which? Survey" as if meant they should really be compared with those. But the worst performing by far of those is P&O on the Dover-Calais route who get 55% (no one else is below 66%). Compared to the Steam packet's 56%. So they'd still be down with the worst. It's also quite revealing that they haven't even looked at the Which survey properly - even though that might have helped their case. So they say it "was undertaken in December 2023, in the middle of the worst weather there's been for a number of years" but if you look at the survey it was based on "1,953 experiences of taking a ferry from the UK in the past three years"[1]. If they had been bothered to understand this, they could have claimed things would be improved with the arrival of the Manxman. Similarly the tables show now rating in some categories (eg Food and Drink) as "too few responses to rate"[2]. Clearly not that many people actually responded and they could claim it was unrepresentative. It also took them a fortnight to respond and then only after local media had reported on it. It's telling too that they have no customer satisfaction surveys of their own to respond with. Either they're truly dreadful or they think actually asking the public how things are going is beneath them. [1] I suspect this means that the number of people who responded will be even fewer, as some people who did will have made numerous ferry journeys over the time, possibly with numerous operators. For all we know 1,900 of the 'experiences' could be from John Wright. [2] It's not clear what limit Which? used, but normally something in the range 30-50 is considered sensible.

The Binnie Report on the Abattoir was quite revealing on the attitude to cheaper cuts: 10.3. Red Offal facilities The red offal processing facilities were inspected and the procedures which were in place were deemed to be of a high standard. The quality of processing was excellent, and the preparation and presentation of the product was good. The operative was trimming skirts, liver, kidneys, hearts and tongues to a very good standard. We were told that the product was going to a dog food factory, and it is possible that the product was being overprepared. The product was processed to a standard which would meet human consumption standards. If this could be achieved, the product could potentially be sold at a higher price point. It may be worth exploring the potential for sale of offal for human consumption. This may not be possible and is certainly not as large a priority as many of the other factors identified during this audit, but it is something which could potentially add revenue. As so often when government management is involved, the main driver seems to be keeping things simple for those in charge.

Not really. The thing about reporting criminal cases is that it's more about what you are allowed to report than what you are banned from. Reporters are safe with anything said in open court and not explicitly restricted, but otherwise it can be seen as attempting to influence the trial, because it might be something the jury hasn't been allowed to see. In the case of an aborted trial when the public at large will contain the next set of jurors, that will then even include what has been said in open court because they shouldn't be influenced by what was said in the previous trial but might not be in this one. Obviously what has been published can't be stopped, but further coverage of unpublished information that came out in court might be viewed unfavourably. And potential jurors might be quizzed on whether they followed the previous trial.

Not really. Once the trial was aborted it's important for there to be as little public information, especially about what line of defence is being taken, to be available as possible. This is to avoid prejudicing a jury at the new trial. It's very frustrating, but it's really the only way they can do it.

Yes, complete madness. Imagine selling food near an event where there are a lot of people who might buy it! You'd never catch the DfE experts making a mistake like that.

The Facebook post includes the words: We’d like to wish our successors at 38/40 Victoria Street all the very best for the future. So it seems more likely they are being replaced by another similar business. Perhaps there's retirement involved (the son has his own place). The McAleers have been running pubs for over a century, so forgetting how to do tax/NI seems implausible.

No supplied to the building now, but I think it had been supplied to the site in the past. Of course you don't need there to be a direct supply anyway - think of that case in Port Erin where gas leaked into a cellar from a nearby pipe.

Who were the other twenty-nine?

It was, December 2022. The most recent reporting I've seen is from last month. Three men had been arrested but still no one charged.

Available from these people in a variety of sizes and finishes. (Maybe Skelly was really promising us six Chinese Balls).

We don't know. There may be good reasons why the details of why the trial has been aborted can't be reported.

Yes, given they'll have done nine days, only three years when you're extremely unlikely to be called again in that period, it does seem a bit mean.

The first planning application I could find on the site is for a "Club name board, Rocket House Shelter, Shore Road, Peel" and dates back to February 1984 (they aren't online much before that). So it may have been there then or earlier.

A fraud trial has been sensationally aborted for legal reasons. The move came after defendant Jason Scales took the stand Friday morning to give his evidence on the eighth day of his trial at the Court of General Gaol Delivery. [...] Deemster Cook apologised to the seven members of the jury and thanked them for their patience while the court had met in chambers. He told them that Mr Scales had dispensed with the services of his advocate Laurence Vaughan-Williams. The Deemster described the case as a ‘complex’ one. ‘Frankly my role is to see fairness is done and it’s transparent,’ he said. Jurors were told they would be excused from further jury service for a period of three years. Mr Scales’ bail was continued. Obviously we need to be even more careful on commenting on this from now on as a new jury will have to be chosen.

Ingredients Pork (42%), Water, Rusk (Wheat), Pork Fat, Starch (Wheat), Soya Protein, Salt, Stabilisers: Diphosphates, Guar Gum*, Flavourings, Preservative: Sodium Metabisulphite**, Antioxidants: Ascorbic Acid, Alpha Tocopherol, Colour: Carmine, Casing: Beef Collagen, *A Vegetable-based ingredient that helps keep our Sausages succulent, **This just keeps them fresh for longer! (I've left Tesco's rather panicky-sounding comments in). It's not so much that you'd be better off with some bread and lard, it's that it's more or less the same thing. I think the 42% is the absolute minimum of pork there can be and it still be called a pork sausage. Note that the pork fat isn't included. Irrespective of what UK law was in 1967, the country has been through numerous Sausage Wars, both real (most recently in 2021) and imaginary (Yes Minister!) since. Currently the only fat etc that counts to the percentage is that attached to the meat - though with the right butchery that's a lot.

But until we know who was actually responsible, how can we tell? You can't just blame passing Ministers or even Nick Black. Someone must have been telling them stuff to make their decisions on. Are those people still in position? Are external advisers who advised wrongly still be used? Lessons will never be learned while the only governmental response to disaster is shrug their collective shoulders and claim that everyone meant well, so it's all OK really.

The lease doesn't actually expire till 2027, but the Commissioners have given them notice: https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/peel-sailing-club-lease-to-finish-in-2027/ They're claiming that it's because they need the building vacated so they can do vital maintenance on it, though if it's needed, why wait three years? The rather incoherent interview from Moughtin also goes on about redeveloping the wider site, including the old police station and toilets. While spending a lot of money on refurbishing something and then knocking it down is exactly what you'd expect from a Manx local authority, saying it now suggests they can't even get their story straight. Incidentally I suspect the Club has been in that location for rather more than the last 20 years as she seems to think.

Hadn't seen that yet (it was only 3 hours ago). Surprising it's taken them this long to admit it - have they even started recruiting staff yet?

Well clearly even Nietzsche's degenerated enough to lose his final 'e', I see. So there's no hope. On the other hand he might be pleased that there's now a reliable cure for syphilis.

That's because it still says Liverpool, not yet updated. The journey is a bit shorter to/from Heysham. But the interesting implication here is that they clearly now don't expect the new Terminal to be ready for TT.

You did ask: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2021.804804/full