reddal

There is bacon and there is bacon... Most bacon you get in cheap places will be commercially produced abroad - from breeds of pig bred to put on as much weight as possible as quickly as possible regardless of taste - and raised in giant factories where they are kept in small cages and never see daylight. Then the pork will be 'wet cured' which involves injecting it with huge amounts of water to increase the weight. Instead consider free range pigs - who roam around manx countryside their whole lives - from rare breeds that were selected because they tasted the best - and the pork then dry cured the old fashioned way - and with great taste award stars to confirm the difference. There really is a difference : https://www.facebook.com/closeleecefarmshopandcafe/videos/2609740855904068/ But not for long - maybe because not enough people understand the difference...

Someone sent me a message about it like an hour ago - why is the timing of awareness important?

Yes it was expensive - and yes anyone that made a killing exploiting the system should be held accountable. However - if the IOM Govt hadn't done these scheme - a lot - maybe most - of the companies on the island would have collapsed immediately. That would probably have been even more expensive in terms of benefits and long term impact. Maybe they shouldn't have done lockdowns etc - thats a separate debate - but doing lockdowns without putting big support behind companies affected would have been an apocalypse for the economy. Again - if companies made profits out if it - go after them. If they just about managed to survive even with the support - then that was the idea.

That sounds very reasonable - if they made a profit using the govt support they should pay it back. If they didn't make a profit even with govt support - then that support was probably necessary to keep them alive. Which was the idea.

I think KWC discounted their fees during lockdown or they wouldn't have been eligible for the schemes. Again - question is did they profit from it? If the govt money propped them up so they didn't have to close then fine. If they had a great profit because of the govt money then its a scandal.

There were different rules for different schemes - but for a lot of them they had to demonstrate they had lost > 25% of revenue.

The key thing is did the companies make a profit during the pandemic? If they didn't make any profit - but used the government money to keep people in jobs - and avoid govt having to pay as much in benefits etc - then I'd say fair enough, that was the point of it. If they took the govt money and made a tidy profit at the same time - then they were taking the piss.