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Basically, yes. She's chartered from Seatruck by the IoMSP who sub-charter her when they can, for example covering an out of commission vessel on the Portsmouth - Channel Islands route a while back, and doing the occasional run for her owners out of Heysham. I think the arrangement dates back to the fiasco a few years back when the Ben was U/S for a week or so and there was loads of concern about freight not getting here. Not sure when the charter expires.

Lol. 'Gentlemen! You can't fight in here, this is the war room."

I think you are right to highlight Freemasonry, Gerry. As many police officers are members, I would have to hope that those involved with investigating the police cover up, and that those involved with decisions on prosecution, are not Masons. Whenever a Mason in a position of power investigates another Mason, or commissions an investigation or takes a decision concerning a fellow Mason there has to be public suspicion of partiality. For that reason, Masons in the police, judicial system and in political office of any kind ought to be forced to declare and register their membership. A register for Judges was abandoned in 2009 for human rights reasons. Police officers only have a voluntary duty to disclose membership to their superior officers. Inadequate in my view, The chance of the present UK government acting? You judge ....

Try as I might, I can't see a single flake of snow up there now on the webcams. Reviewing it after 1200 seems a bit tardy, Quick to close, slow to open.

Thank you, Diligaf. It isn't about whether the Sloc needed resurfacing. It's about what Gawne said, and the complacency and attitude towards public spending that it reveals. It's also about seeing it in the context of misgovernment going back decades.

When I read this on IoM Today I thought I was reading a piss-take from a spoof news site. My second reading, with the realisation that it wasn't satire, just made my jaw drop. The worst thing of all is that he saw nothing wrong with saying that they had the money left over, so they had to spend it! I thought that kind of thinking was long gone in the public sector, but not so and not here, it seems. It's our money, Gawne, not yours. Yes, zero based budgeting would help avoid this kind of waste. But I feel that we are simply not competently governed, and that there is very little chance of change coming from within. The complacency, silo thinking and plain lack of smarts is just too widespread and deep seated. The UK has a responsibility to ensure good governance, and the political climate in Britain would probably support intervention in the form of a fundamental review of our governance. For starters, get shot of LegCo, get shot of all the Commissioners and the Corporation and have a unitary authority in charge of everything. Quite possibly, just become a County in England or Scotland. The advantages of living in an offshore legislature just aren't there for most of Island's inhabitants.

Indeed. We need someone of the calibre of Churchill in these challenging times.

Sad news. I wasn't fortunate enough to know Lonan3 in the real world, but his posts here were considered and amusing. RIP.

I went outside in Douglas, but saw nothing. Light pollution, I expect. Some impressive pictures on BBC at Peel and Ballaugh though. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-34474043

A tantalising situation. Let's hope that they at least get a download of science data. It was an anti-climax when the lander went silent after such surviving such a hairy landing.

I don't think there'd be a return on capital any time this century from a cruise terminal on the Island. They are better off with the current strategy of attracting as many cruises as they can based on tendering ashore from the anchorage in Douglas Bay. They also occasionally get the odd 'expedition' sized cruise ship tied up alongside Victoria Pier. They do have to make sure the anchorages are useable, free from fishing gear etc. as one or two ships in recent years have complained that the anchorage is unusable and moved on to the next destination without putting any passengers ashore.

I don't think an every other day freight service would be acceptable to retailers. There are quite a few refrigerated trailers, and those M&S sandwiches have limited shelf life. Everything depends on goods flowing smoothly from distribution centres in England to stores, there probably just isn't capacity to handle the 'peaks'. I think that freight is much more critical than passenger, but if you free it from the constraints of shipping on shared passenger/freight ferries it ought to be straightforward to provide freight only service, just as the IoMSP does now at peak times. You could then have a dedicated passenger/car ferry replacing the Manannan with a conventional ship, but operating at rather higher speeds than the sluggardly Ben My Chree. A reduced frequency during the winter would just require a bit more planning. Not a major problem, at least as far as I can see,

trmpton the point is that running ships at times that will make them money will co-incide with demand. I am not against a monopoly, so long as that monopoly is periodically subject to fair and open competition, and not just handed automatically to the current holder. The small size of the sea market makes direct competition problematic. At the moment, we can all sleep in our beds during the long winter nights knowing that there is a ferry running if we had needed it. At least there usually is, excluding fishing gear, weather, bow thrusters, steering gear etc. It's the freight that keeps that going, obviously. I think that if we gave interested parties enough freedom to tailor services closely to demand, we would get a better deal.

Perhaps we should allow the operator to run a commercially sustainable service. Scrap the UA, but put a requirement out to tender that allows the bidders flexibility in how they meet the requirement. What's the point in insisting on twice daily NW England passenger crossings year-round? The operator should be able to run a winter PAX service 3 weekdays and Saturday, but a daily freight crossing.

Watched the launch, re-entry and splashdown on the NASA web-site. Enthralling. It looks just like Apollo. What is missing is the amazing tempo of the Apollo project, fuelled by cold-war/space-race angst and funding. Orion won't even fly again for 3 or 4 years, all a bit too slow!

A tragic failure where the relevant authority had a duty of care. They cannot be allowed to just express condolences, say the lessons have been learned and move on. The failure to prevent the death is awful, but the deletion of the records stinks too strongly of deliberate cover up to just accept at face value. The relevant hardware needs to be secured and forensically examined, and the authority needs to give a full account of how the deletion happened.

It was Spook's assertion, Thomas Jefferson, not mine. As far as I am aware, there is no call by Israel, or any other governmental or non governmental entity for a Jewish homeland in the countries you mention.

I am not surprised, Spook! I note that your disagreement is juxtaposed with your signature message about the US presidential inauguration of 20th January 2013.

I conclude rather that Israel is not sincere about land for peace, and that it's true intention is to grind away doing what it is currently doing until both the West Bank and Gaza become completely untenable by their Arab citizens. Israel is impervious to international criticism and UN resolutions, and attempts all the time to conflate such criticism with anti-Semitism, which it is not.

If Israel is sincere about land for peace, then it will withdraw its illegal settlements from the West Bank. It should also allow a corridor for free passage between Gaza and the West Bank, and cease to impose a naval blockade on Gaza.

I can see where you are coming from Roxanne. However, I would tend to use the terms un-compassionate or unskilled mind, as I think a great deal of evil can and does result from the conscious minds of the protagonists. It undoubtedly does in the case under discussion in this thread, for example.

I take the point regarding the word country. The former Mandate Territory of Palestine had both Jewish and Arab 'citizens' who owned land and had homes. The territory is now very largely the state of Israel and it's former Arab 'citizens' are dispossessed. It really changes nothing. My understanding is that the Israeli govt position is and has been that the "right to return" exists but that the practicalities would be part of a final settlement. That settlement would clearly involve an acceptance of the existence of modern Israel. Which is the sticking point for Hamas as it was for the PLO. The refusal to politically accept the existence of Israel is what prevents all other progress. And is stupid and regressive.It's a great pity that the original UN proposals were rejected by the regional govts (the Jewish side voted in favour) - leading to the 1948 war and the 'exodus'. The people living at that time in the region were badly let down by the govts of the Arab countries which invaded. But the notion of a Palestinian homeland is a first Cold War era invention. It is about personal land rights as opposed to national land rights - ie yes, some people lost their farms and villages as a result of the 1948 war - but a national people did not lose their national homeland. According to history. It's a real pity because modern Israel has much going for it and shares so much common regional culture. Israel in concert with Egypt is also on the verge of becoming a significant energy exporter. Interesting suff. The right of return is seen by Israel as a political claim only. There is no realistic possibility that any former Arab land will be vacated by Israelis and restored to its former owners with Israeli consent. There is no Palestinian agreement on precisely what the right to return might mean as an objective. I personally think that ultimately it will have to be seen as the right to a homeland with territorial integrity and full sovereignty, in compensation for the original territory that was lost. Hamas do not see it that way.

You're quite right -- about 90 % of it is on Facebook, but it's all stuff posted by Isle of Man residents. I'm impressed that a forum, where people are anonymous and could basically say anything, are showing a lot more self-restraint on this subject than people on Facebook who are not anonymous and are apparently proud for all the world to read their garbage opinions. You are quite right, Thomas Jefferson. It is at least respectful to avoid bile and spite in the face of a humanitarian horror such as this, when we ourselves live in such peace and security. It is not helpful to inflame the discussion with holocaust references, however. The power lies hugely disproportionately on the Israeli side now, and it is the Palestinians and not the Israelis who are the real victims. It is they, after all, who have lost their country and who are now struggling for a homeland.

I don't see why not. Europe is willingly, nay enthusiastically, creating a similar arrangement for Muslims. Noted, Woolley, as on each previous occasion you have made a similar point.

I'm afraid, Spook, that your solution is no solution at all. If you don't think Israel has a future in the Levant, but you also firmly believe that the Jews should have a designated homeland, then you require a territory where no-one currently lives but is nevertheless a hospitable environment, or you require a territory where the existing population is willing to create and be subsumed into a jewish homeland. Of course, niether is remotely possible. People have considered a single state solution down the decades, but of course that shares the land rather than providing a jewish state and thus fails as far as the Israelis are concerned. Given that, I can't see any reasonable solution other than a two state one. The reason why that has failed thus far is because Israel has failed to cede any true sovereignity or territorial integrity to the Palestinians. The West Bank is completely colonised with illegal Israeli settlements, and Gaza is essentially an open prison, with a naval blockade and closed borders. Both sides need to implement a two state solution with good faith, adhering to all UN resolutions.