Lxxx

As with anything it's all about individual perception and nuanced. I used to work on Canal Street in Manchester back in the late 90's and it was a great place to be around, loads of fun times were had with friends of all persuasions. Now none of my gay friends go near the place as it's no longer about being a comfortable space where gay and straight people could have a good time, it's become an embodiment of a quasi-political movement where anything goes and boundaries are pushed. Pride Festival for example has been hijacked by individuals with extreme views in recent years and exposing of genitalia in public has been tacitly accepted. It is usually the younger generation but then again this is a wider societal issue.

Is this the Cafe Mambo pop up in Peel?

I think you are conflating 'trans' people with the present LGBTQetc... movement which seem to want to thrust their views, lifestyle, quest for more rights, freedom to upset whoever they want... on the rest of society. I can well imagine the older gay generation recoiling in horror when faced with what they see in their name these days.

Which makes your point absurd. Most people do not dislike or have a prejudice against trans people. Most people have far too much going on in their own lives to actually give much thought to individuals they have no relationship/friendship/involvement with. I know a couple of trans individuals and they just want to crack on with their life, it's difficult enough as it is. They don't need rabid, vocal, cheerleaders speaking on their behalf which the media love to lap up and publicise.

'This' administration? As opposed to what other administration that proved they are fit for purpose with public money? Government's by their very nature are spendthrift and ran by the exact opposite of the profile you want as the steward of public funds.

How are you defining 'transphobic'?

Are there any lieutenants left?

There's no better free advertisement than being on the drop down list of the website of a global brand that is frequented by hundreds of millions of visitors annually. Most of the world doesn't even know we exist. A few LinkedIn posts by 'Visit Isle of Man' isn't going to change that.

Can't get past the paywall. Anyone cut n paste?

I don't dispute that. Hopefully we'll have our ATC issues smoothed out by then and something may improve in terms of the staffing.

Performance has dropped off a cliff as soon as we get to the spring/summer months, when they are operating at full capacity and their planes are in demand. Once the kids start school again, the summer season is over and business cools performance will likely improve. It just so happens we are a low priority and also have a shitshow of an airport. Hopefully from September onwards, if they don't can the route, things should settle down.

It's an outdated tool that works mainly in theory than practice and only serves to bolster the banking sector's greed. They could achieve the same ends by increasing, by flexible regulation, the reserve requirements of banks in times of high inflation instead of sucking money out of the people's pockets instead.

It's a fair point. What's changed?

Certain estate agents are still pricing as if it is 12 months ago and trying to distort reality. There are rough times ahead as we go back to pre-Covid prices, which is fair as it was artificially inflated anyway through excess money printing. I've had conversations with friends who are hoping rates come back down again within the next 6 months otherwise they're in trouble when it comes down to remortgaging. The trouble is we became addicted to virtually interest free money and the banks facilitated this feeding frenzy with no-one with any economic sense within our government bright enough to raise concerns locally of what will ensue when things inevitably turned. It's no wonder restaurants are closing, retail is on it's arse and the place feels like a ghost town. If you take hundreds of pounds a month of expendable income out of every household on the island then the velocity of money on the rock will dry up.

To be fair Stu I know a fair bit about airport operations having worked around the sector for a couple of decades. I'm aware of the number of stakeholders involved however to hide behind a level of complexity that is preventing the airport from operating anywhere near the required minimum standard isn't a fair comment. Of course it's not simple, nothing operating under civil servant supervision ever is, but could it be handled a damn sight better than it is at the moment? Unquestionably.