Will Halsall

Has it really been good for the island though? It's certainly increased the population (and boy, a few farmers have benefited from selling land that should never have been sold for residential development to support the rental need of these industries), but perhaps not the reputation? I would argue that there is equal 'dodginess' in Gambling/Finance/Banking, but do three wrongs make a right? People (usually people who have arrived post 2000) occasionally ask me 'would you prefer the Spuds and Herring days' - they weren't anywhere near as bad as you may think tbh! I'd argue that the IOM Gov has been dancing with the Devil of immorality for far too long by embracing the gambling sector, and now there is no turning back. There will be a lot of negative equity on this island if ever this unscrupulous industry gets a good offer to relocate to warmer climes, taking their associated hangers on with them. Many people working within the Gambling sector on good salaries will inevitably defend the indefensible to protect their own life style, but I worry that IOM Gov have unwittingly potentially created a dialectical materialism type of situation that will one day bite this beautiful isle in the arse!

Thank you John and Albert, much appreciated!

Do any of our wonderful members know the origins and history of the name 'Ohio Forest'? I have been advised that it may have gained its name from Miners who emigrated to Ohio in the 1800's, in a similar way to the Cleveland Medal in the Guild, which was created by Manx people who emigrated to Ohio. I have researched but am non-the-wiser. Thanks in advance, Will

Indeed, I forgot about his time arson around at BV.

Aye, between Crookall, Cregeen, Longworth and Black it's been some feckin cost though!

Aye, these wankers diddled me out of £20 - I wouldn't recommend them!

By the old classic: Speak with authority and stupid people (Cregeen, Crookall, Black, CoMin, Procurement Dept., Work Permits, Treasury etc) will believe the yarn you spin! Unfortunately, he has cost us a feckin fortune and ruined a few (drivers) lives in the process! He should never have been employed, but he was more savvy than his predecessors - which wasn’t difficult.

Or maybe it’s a ruse to justify their own reliance on low paid workers and Zero hours contracts etc? 🤔

Apologies, I am with you now👍

That’s them!

Thank you, I had know idea. I note that that it is a tourist bus though, and I wonder exactly who is running it? Arriva finished in 2014/5 from memory (not sure if it was because of their Bendy Bus debacle) and Malta nationalised the network and then chose a subsidiary of ALBA to run everything, and I was under the impression that they modernised the fleet completely. Again, I stand to be corrected but can’t be arsed researching as I am in the garden drinking an Estrella - Shoprite PE were selling 10 for £12.99 yesterday or 20 for £13 - more you drink more you save!

Why - because there have been too many spurious answers from Bus Vannin that each and every minister seems to have spun to the great house and taxpayers since Brown created DCCL. Dim Tim first spun a yarn in his first appearance as Minister for DCCL, he didn’t learn and spun a yarn again a couple of months ago. Probably realised and hounded Alf for the DfE job as he knew BV were extracting the Michael out of him. Then after a month he resigns - what a prick, and what an absolute joke Longworth, Black, Cregeen et al have created with BV, I have been saying this since the Bendy Buses and Strike episodes many years ago. It’s all been a successful vanity project of Ian’s, helped by the incompetence of the ministers signing his fantasies off. BV is a national embarrassment, and Black and Longworth are laughing all the way to the bank!! On a separate note, and I stand to be corrected, I don’t think Malta took any of our buses, my understanding was that they wanted to move away from the old privately owned charabancs to a new modernised fleet. There was some amusing Bendy Bus incidents during this transition however.

Cross 4 ways has lights, St Marks from Ballasalla is closed but you won’t know until you are up past Abbotswood by Phildraw Road. A bit of a pain in the arse when I discovered that. Advance notice at Ballasalla stores would have been considerate.

Thank you 👏👏

Morning Stu, Indeed I agree, if the CS have lied or been selective in the information requested then there absolutely should be a remedy, but this has been going on probably since 979, and over a millennium later there still isn't a remedy for these failures! I am not (and I suspect this applies to most posters on MF) suggesting that every Tynwald question should be checked and double checked, but with specific reference to Bus Vannin which has an unacceptable history of misinformation, the answers from Longworth et al should be treated with a degree of caution. Even more so as this was Tim Crookall's second spell overseeing BV! Crookall has nearly 20yrs experience as an elected member for Peel. Importantly, he specifically requested the ministerial post of DoI, and stated in his manifesto that that department needed a shake-up, indicating that the public were being misinformed. You can't possibly deny that he should have taken these obvious lies at face value before presenting them to Tynwald and the public, and he should have clarified the facts first? It was so obvious to everyone that the answer was total horseshit, it makes a complete mockery of our whole political process - as an elected member you should be embarrassed about the perception this gives the public! To reiterate, in his manifesto he stated that the DoI needed shaking up, he then requested to be minister of the DoI, then he ignores everything he said about the department 10 months ago (when seeking election), and let's Longworth tickle his tummy while feeding him with 'duff gen'! To make things even more ridiculous, he then asks to run the DfE and resigns within 2 months - the guy is a fuckin disgrace!!!!!