spook

The problem is that Heysham is not good in fog, and the second problem is the vessels are damaged by debris because they are NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE.

'Tis if you use German! Fog is much to be preferred if one's going to be stuck in something!

'Albert', you're bang on the money.

I hate the expression, but it's time to think outside of the box. Instead of thinking in terms of a replacement for what the present ferry operator provides and the way that they do it go back to basics and look at the requirements of what the surface link to the UK needs to meet and how those requirements might be delivered.

So the ferry service charges extortionate rates and fares, and now delivers a service that is damming the reputation of the Island as a place to visit because the ferry company has created the impression that it is at best chaotic, and at worst indifferent to its present and prospective customers, as well as running boats that are not fit for purpose. Because that is the perception that IS being created, and with very good cause, and perception becomes reality in the eye of the perceiver. It's time for change. No, it's long past timer for change, and the government are being remiss in allowing this damaging fiasco continue for as long as they have.

Any links?

If flotsam (or jetsam) causes damage then it's shame on whoever or whatever caused the damage. Even if it happens a few times. But there come as a point when it's happening frequently and / or repeatedly as is the case with the Ferry then it's shame on the Ferry service. This is a matter that the Manx government should now start to play hard ball over.

Then the boat is unfit for purpose.

but you'd never blame the real culprit with the knife ? If there were an indeterminate number of culprits I would concern myself with ensuring that what I was doing would be immune to what they did. Look, the boat is simply unfit for purpose.

Quote :- How would you feel if someone kept slashing your car tyres every time you went out in the car, you can't blame the driver, or car maker, or even the tyre maker What I would do is rapidly reach the conclusion that I had the wrong tyres on my car or that I had a car that could not be fitted with tyres that would be resistant to being slashed. If I did not then as the driver I would be to blame, the tyres that I had bought were not fit for purpose, and I had bought the wrong car because it could not be fitted with the requisite tyres. So yes, blame can be apportioned, first to the boat owner, then to the form of boat, and if both were demonstrably blame free, the 'tyres'. There comes a point when a thing is plainly not fit for purpose.

If I believed in reincarnation I would suspect that Tear is Onan come back.

This whole thing would make a perfect plot for a Whitehall Farce. If it wasn't such a total screw up from beginning to end. What was Downie's role in all this?

Because many consider a flat rate is unfair as it does take account of the ability to pay. Would you be in favour of scraping income tax and levying a flat tax rate on everybody so that everybody pays a percentage of the overall cost of services rather than pay a tax based on the income? Did you note that means tests could be used to trigger subsidies?

Why should a per capita community charge cause a riot? All it means is that everybody pays a percentage of the overall cost the community services generate rather than pay a tax based on the value of the house they live in. With means tested rebates as I see it's a win win situation with consumers paying for what they use, not what money they have tied up in their houses.

It really is time to move away from rateable value and bring in a per capita community charge and KEEP IT and not make the mistake that the UK did by abandoning it. After all, it's PEOPLE who make use of facilities provided by central and local government funded resources, not houses.

Mandatory water meters with water charged to include water disposal costs. Add a further charge for surface area of land of property both domestic and industrial unless used exclusively for farming. Charges based on rateable values are inequitable. Hardly rocket science is it. As for water rates in the UK, the bills show two components, the water supply and the sewage costs. Average water plus sewage costs in the UK is £400+ per household.

I like teewurst! Especially on buttered hot toast. Oh wait! Must get new spectacles.

This one is 1300 years old, has been in a constant state of war with us, and has at best only ever beeb in an enforced armistice with us. Ignore this one and face the consequences.

These are important issues. But I think there is a danger of being a bit wet about the nature of the reality of the actual threat.It's a big deal. But not a super big deal. Let's wait and see. I believe that you could not be more wrong.

Pongo, and others. Google 'Dar ul-islam' and visit a number of sites.

Jihad is a major irritation rather than a global threat. They're dangerous and annoying. But they are not going to nuke Europe or North America by accident. It's a different scale of problem. They have no centre which is why they continually morph and schism.Disbanding NATO would surely imply abandoning rather than renewing Atlanticism and the whole move towards a global economy and freedom.ETA: I think the thing is to be subtle - to move change in such a way that it feels natural.Jihad is the biggest danger of them all. It is not a thing that is defeat able by conventional weaponry, nor is the jihad being fought only by conventional weaponry. Watch and see. No one more than me wants me to be wrong about this.

IMO NATO should be disbanded. It was created to address a particular threat that has now gone in spite of the recent acts of a Barack Hussein. NATO is now part of the problem, not a potential solution to any. What is now needed is a body to address the reemerging and rapidly growing threat of jihad.

The staggering arrogance of the majority of American people is equalled only by their staggering ignorance. I suspect the two are mutually supporting. Whenever I had to visit the US and watched the land below as we flew over it the thing that always struck me was how little the US as a nation had achieved compared to the devastation they had wreaked on the lands and forests let alone the huge environmental damage they have been responsible for over the rest of the world.

It's a crying shame that the USA don't keep their noses out of world affairs. They have done and continue to do NOTHING unless it is benefit to themselves. Worse yet they manipulate other countries out of nothing other than self interest and create no end of trouble that they then exploit. In this case the Ukraine legitimate government wee undermined by the combination of the USA and the EU in order to gain access to and so preclude from Russian use of the Russian ports in the Crimea, the Crimea that was in all respects a part of Russia other than resulted from convince following the break up of the USSR. Now it seems Barrack Hussein Obama is trying to resurrect " The Red Under The Bed" for domestic political benefit on the basis that it's a thing that the average American can understand though in that he's probably right. When it comes to the Ukraine and the Crimea if we back Obama and his provocative trouble making in my opinion we are backing the wrong horse.

Ah-a! So you admit that the Roman Catholic Church is an invention! Of course I do! The RC church is primarily on organisation established by the Nicaea stitch up between Constantine and the church leader in Rome in order to get control by state and church of Europe and later the New World. The RC even had to change parts of the Torah as well as the scriptures in order to claim what they do. When it comes to being a Christian church the Roman Catholic church absolutly is not. There are Christian churches, a good place to start is the Brethren.