cheesypeas

They don't appear to be getting financially raped by the cruise companies in Lerwick. They positively love the ships coming in. Surely the Isle of Man has more to offer than they do? We are in a good place geographically too. Stepping stone between to bigger ports of call, and they wouldn't use any extra fuel steaming between Ireland and the UK. Split the cost between private and public. If no private money offered, then no go. We do have more experience here in all things shipping, than in running airports.

Well that answers my question thank you. Suppose the mantra ' change what you can and accept what you can't' doesn't stack up with yourself. Hope all that hate doesn't eat you up, genuinely do.

Several months !!! That's more than a tad conservative. Don't spend much time in here, but you stand out as a bit of an obsessive if you don't mind me saying so. Where exactly does your obvious hate of the Police derive from? I'm genuinely interested.

Of course you're not biased though ?

Orkney started from scratch, and had to build piers for these vessels to berth alongside.

'Also it appears they've changed the design of the structure from a floating pontoon to a permanent fixed pier type thingy,possibly due to criticizm on here ?' Now that gave me a chuckle.

Depends on how much private sector investment is pumped into it for me. I attended the presentation earlier in the year, and was sceptical before. The proposed pier would be made in Spain and towed up here. It has to be made 'in a piece', and the manufactures have made others. I think they made one for Monte Carlo. Apparently the tides wouldn't be an issue, although again, I would need guarantees to be happy. A 350m pier will accommodate the largest cruise ships out there. British Isles cruising is very popular, and cruise companies are always on the lookout for new places to stop. I believe that the additional services required to service these vessels would be good for the Island. It will create jobs, and that's got to be a good thing hasn't it? We've certainly got more to offer than Orkney. .......just need to see more accurate figures.

Deadly. I think it's a great idea. So, it wont work because?

It will not work because?

Did you read the whole thread?

......you dodged a bullet Gladys.

Balla / Park Rd / St Nin All a bit of a blur as to who was where teacher wise. Gunger Dinn - Art teacher at Balla from memory Jakey Barrett - English teacher. Good guy, and unless I'm very much mistaken, Cat Turners dad ??? Mrs McCardle - History and my form tutor Mr Speers - Woodword and one sadistic mother. Mr Postlethwaite - Biology - great guy. Good runner too. Mrs Lambie - PE wife of Stuart (ex head of Foxdale). One of the nicest couples on the planet. Mrs McSheffrey - maths. Always had boobs covered in chalk. Quite amusing at the time. Mrs Musgrove - French. Had the hairiest legs I've ever seen on a woman. Robbie Teare PE. Watched him kick the crap out of Mark Bennet on the gym floor. To be fair, he deserved it. We had a science teacher at Park Road who was a diabetic scouser. Sound fella, can't recall his name. Oh yes I can McDermott. he got airlifted off the boat a few years back after going hypo. Olly Beak (Mr harding). head of Hillary, and Steven's father. Quite officious character. Garreth Jones - PE. Great guy. Mrs James - English teacher. Husband was a Police sergeant (Robin I think). Nice fella too. Lots more besides. Edited to add - anyone remember a lad called Michael Dalmedo at Balla? He was an entertaining character

Energy FM Isle of Man 48 mins Reports coming in that the Ben My Chree is unable to dock this evening due to an issue with a propeller although we have had no confirmation from the company. A listener contacted us to tell us that they are unable to get of the ferry at this time. The vessel appears to be currently docked on the Battery Pier. Reports from a passenger on board say they suspect fishing gear is wrapped around the props and they are waiting for divers to inspect the vessel

If that had been my daughter, God forbid, I would be happy to see him rot in prison. How could I look him in the eye without ending up in prison myself ? Couldn't give a damn about rehabilitation. He made a bad choice, and should suffer the consequences. Having his liberty taken away is a punishment, and the correct one IMHO.

There were 8 of them in the car. How would seat belts have helped? Wasn't sure if I thought the 3 year sentence was a good thing or not. However, after seeing the photo on Facebook, I have no issue with him going to prison.

Me and the lads were in the pool the afternoon of the fire. We used to walk down from Willaston through the fields every Saturday. My mother was a nurse, and has told me that on the night of the fire, the queue for folks wanting to donate blood stretched from Nobles to (almost) Rosemount !! I used to think Summerland was ace. Do you remember the giant inflatable they had that you climbed inside. Basically a huge bouncy castle that was enclosed. Bitter sweet memories.

When Cavendish starts to use his platform to speak up against injustice, to be a voice for the voiceless, then he might go on my list of top Manx people. Until then, he's just another bicycle rider. You're simply wrong. Mark is the ultimate advertisement for everything Manx.

Exactly. I believe billions of people have ridden around on a bicycle. I believe you need to look at this slightly differently

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2bc_1352517823

Why the interest? seems a strange thing to want to monitor.

You will certainly make more money selling now than the UK govt. did!

The ships were visited in Liverpool by the ITF that is how we have the proof of the wages paid to the crew. And with regards to your question about the if the vessels crews were paid more than the Steam Packet then the unions would be fighting the Steam Packet to get a pay rise for there members, the unions are out to protect there members not the Steam Packet. But as we know that would not happen as the rates of pay in the Isle of Man and the UK are way above those in the former eastern block countries all of these crew members are from. I believe that the company did flag out to the Bahamas at one time but they were still paying Isle of Man / UK rates of pay, the flagging out was not to get around paying lower rates of pay, around that time a lot of companies flagged out for tax reasons, this was just a practice of the time. You will also note that a lot of the companies who went away from the Isle of Man and UK flags have now returned as the respective governments have made it more attractive than it was before they left. As I have stated, the unions are not out to protect or even stand up for the company, we are only interested in protecting the conditions and employment of our members. If Mezeron carry on winning frieght from the Steam Packet the company could be forced into liquidation and cease operating altogether, this would then allow Mezeron if they so wished, to operate a RoRo service from Douglas using the link spans as the Steam Packet would have broken the user agreement. As Mezeron are now owned by Dohle who we know for a fact only employ seafarers from the former eastern block and would not be interested in employing the then redundent ex Steam packet employees, you would have a shipping company operating from the Isle of Man paying poverty wages under slave conditions. This is moraly wrong and should be nipped in the bud before it goes any further. As I have said all along, it will be the people of the Isle of Man who loose out in this, not the fat cats at the top of both companies, it is the Isle of Man that will be left with a sub standard service crewed by people who are being exploited by a company who appear to have no regard for the welfare of there employees. If any of you on this forum are happy to let this happen then all I can say is shame on you, and lets hope that you are never in the same situation that the employees of the Steam Packet are in now. Do you think these crew members from Eastern block countries / Indian / Chinese / Filipino etc etc don't actually live very well in their own countries on sea farers wages? I know of Filipinos who pay servents to look after their homes, based on the money they make at sea. What do you base your statement of 'slave conditions' on? and what makes you think people who choose a job at sea are being exploited ? Morals v business, no competition. Clearly the SPCO is not Manx anymore, and the Australian bankers can go and rot. Everyone on this island has been fleeced by these pirates at some time or another, and this is just the shake up we need.

Meanwhile back at the thread !