code99

I agree with you. I also think that the great swathe of global population has been ‘zombified’ by social media. Many Americans don’t seem to comprehend that they had allowed Trump to usher in a period of dystopia that almost no one alive has experienced before. The spitting image of Bond’s spoof character Dr. Evil, AKA the batsh*t crazy Elon Musk, has made Nazi-like salutes which his sheeple followers did not bat an eyelid at. Pantomime villains leap out of cartoons, films and comics books and are now taking centrestage i.e. these “untouchables” tech billionaires are threatening to run the world with complete impunity for anything they do or say. IMHO, there is a legitimate case for antitrust action against the American tech empires (e.g. Meta, X, Amazon, Google) that will force them to be broken up. But, since they are so powerful, who can possibly challenge them? The power these tech tycoons already had is now being amplified by Trump - their power is now so enormous that even the America’s Wild West business magnates e.g. the likes of JP Morgan, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, etc., couldn’t have even dreamed that this was possible. This bizarreness has only become possible because Trump is in the process of dismantling the checks and balances and accountability that have been cultivated within American institutions for the last 200 years. The IOM public is no more astute than anyone else in terms of being able to analyse what is happening in our small country and what impacts it might have on us. IMHO, the IOM public’s complacency is partly due to a still unwavering trust, especially among older folk, that our Government knows what they are doing and will somehow sort something out, but at some point, everything will unravel with some pretty serious consequences. Our politicians will ignore the lack of quality healthcare on the Island at their own peril. Political and economic reforms are desperately needed, sadly, I cannot think of anyone among the current crop of politicians who would be capable of walking the walk and not just talking the talk.

I agree with you. I do think though that concerned members of the public should be contacting their MHKs frequently about the state of health, and what they want to be prioritised. Perhaps contacting Manx Radio or Tindle Newspapers would not be such a bad idea either. Anyway, the next GE is only 2 years away and we will probably have a health service crisis before then, which will focus people’s mind.

If Manx Care closes 3 operating theatres, even for 5 weeks, but continues to pay all of the relevant staff, they will save next to nothing. So, why would they do this? Is the intention to upset the public to such an extent that it brings the whole issue of Manx Care’s funding to a head? As to the never-ending issue of appropriate funding, the IOMG should start taking steps of reviewing the roles and functions of their workforce of 9,000 civil servants, before the IOMG starts raising taxes that many residents, including low paid Government workers, are already too skint to pay.

No, but if Moggie is right, I’d say residents will not be happy because our public healthcare system is bad enough as it is. The right to health should not be a privilege for the rich. IMHO, Manx Care is an expensive ‘wonder drug’ not a panacea the Island needs – what we need is for our politicians and the DHSC to do their job and stop shirking responsibility.

I think that at this stage this ‘plan’ is a little more than a threat, but you need to ask Moggie, they seem to know.

If you are right, then to go from having 6 or 4 operating theatres to just 1 (plus an emergency theatre) is the equivalent of strike action by doctors AND by the Manx Care management, and would mean that only critical operations would take place and waiting lists would explode. This would set off an unprecedented healthcare crisis that would be completely unacceptable to everyone who lives on this Island. I see this as a continuation of the public bickering that has been going on between the IOMG and Manx Care Board for months i.e. Manx Care are saying to our politicians, in no uncertain terms, that if Manx residents want a quality healthcare system, then ‘we’ will have to pay for it. It surely must now be obvious to everyone, including our politicians that Manx Care has not worked as they hoped, and it is time to reverse this expensive, harmful experiment.

Perhaps, but Cannan mentioned hiring new "analysts", i.e. additional staff and he said that he expected "in the short term the Government headcount to go up".

Your plan sounds good to me, but Cannan wants to "invest" £5m to save £50m over 5 years...and recruit "new teams" to achieve the desired outcome, that's what he said.

I stand by my previous assertion that this current IOMG doesn't care enough about the patients' well-being. Shameful. And now "Former health minister questions how doctors' pay offer will be funded"... https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/former-health-minister-questions-how-doctors-pay-offer-will-be-funded/

In his Efficiency Savings Statement to Tynwald yesterday, Cannan did not provide any specific details, even clues, as to how the £50m efficiency savings over 5 years might be achieved. His plan is to set up new ‘teams’ who are tasked with ‘looking’ for and hopefully identifying various efficiency options. According to Cannan, all of this ‘looking’ will cost (what he calls “investing”) taxpayers £5m. In the ‘short term’ he expects the Government headcount to go up as these new teams will require additional staff. Over the last 6 months Cannan has been unceasing in his demands that Manx Care live within its budget. In contrast, he does not seem to have any problems spending £5m on this highly speculative idea. The SAVE programme and the formation of Manx Care are Cannan’s two signature initiatives – the SAVE programme was a flop and Manx Care, IMHO, continues to be a costly mistake. It is therefore only natural to be sceptical about his latest proposals. Incidentally, how ‘doing more efficiently what we currently do initiatives’ will help achieve his Island Plan and his ambition to grow population (or is it supposed to be ‘working population’) to 100,000, is anyone’s guess. How will a foray into Artificial Intelligence and greater digitalisation make life better for residents? I suppose it is possible that the Operations Performance Board and the Recruitment Control Framework will really put some oil into the proverbial gears and also take out some grit that is holding Government back, and very soon they will be speeding along… Unfortunately, I can’t help feeling the sense of déjà vu, and not in a good way.

IMHO, Tynwald’s reaction was appalling – they laughed their heads off as if SAVE was a joke (this initiative was launched in 2017 with “over 1300 ideas were submitted including around 700 suggestions to save money”). The IOMG’s failure to save money is no laughing matter, they should hang their collective head in shame, IMHO.

Tim Johnston's microphone may have been 'malfunctioning' as his answers were almost inaudible. I thought Julie Edge's questions seeking clarity on the DfE agencies' claims of making a significant contribution to £30billion of growth were entirely justified. The Island's latest/ published GDP numbers (2021-22 financial year) were £5.6 billion. The DfE’s £30billion ‘claim to fame’ figure covers every sector of the economy, i.e. a figure that is five times the total annual GDP, but the Minister said nothing concrete and detailed, and it seems that neither do his DfE reports. He kept insisting that these reports were perfectly adequate to explain what a wonderful job the DfE agencies are doing…as if the UN Report where the Island was mentioned unfavourably 25 times over ‘lax regulations‘ and poor oversight over modern-day slavery never existed. I hope he will be better prepared for the upcoming MONEYVAL Assessment in 2026, unless this will be after the next GE, in which case he may have no need to worry.

Doctors are not the only highly skilled people the Island needs - the IOM economy needs highly skilled, highly paid workers in many sectors of the private sector. My understanding is that some private sector employers on the Island employ off-Island workers (and deprive the IOM Treasury of the taxes) who don't want to live here. One reason these workers don't want to live here is because many of these non-medical workers have workplace private health insurance (BUPA, AXA) through their employers, but when they get here, they quickly discover that there is no private health service on the Island (we used to have private healthcare, but it was closed down by Ashford, ostensibly because the private ward needed refurbishment, IMHO because Noble's IT/administration system could not cope). The new Health Minister wants to have an honest ;conversation' about the level of health services provided by Manx Care (and also says that any increase in doctors' pay should be absorbed within Manx Care's budget).The Treasury has not been sufficiently clear as to how much money the increase in the personal tax rate from 20% to 22% will raise this financial year. What our politicians don't seem to appreciate is that (more and more) residents are travelling across for private healthcare and that having to do so is very inconvenient and expensive. Now that our Consultants (some of whom are millionaires) are asking for a 12.6% pay rise, the same residents who have to travel for their healthcare will be asked to pay the extra % tax to pay for Consultants’ pay rises. This 12.6% increase, if granted, will put Manx Care under even greater financial pressure that will, IMHO, lead to public health service cuts, which will make the public healthcare even less attractive. It is not the job of the public to solve these problems, it is the job of our politicians. They need to 'step up'. Jersey and Guernsey don't have it easy either, bur their GPs charge for consultations is a system that has been in place for a long time, albeit with many exemptions. Overall, Jersey and Guernsey are wealthier, but more importantly, they don't have VAIT, so any comparison with the IOM health service is rather tenuous. Rather than focusing on increasing taxes on low to middle income earners and pensioners with limited assets and resources, the IMOG should focus on getting rid of duplication, inefficiency and non-jobs within CS/PS and Manx Care, and also bring back private health services, something which is clearly needed. As we all know, even the relatively modest tinkering with taxes could trigger a mass exodus of the rich, who don't like paying any more tax than they absolutely have to. The lead story in yesterday's Times was about the increasing number of millionaires leaving the UK - 'because Labour raised taxes'. The same exodus of 'the rich'/ HNWIs could happen here if the Treasury raises taxes/ abolish the tax cap. And that would leave the heaviest tax burden on the squeezed middle - this would simply not be sustainable for a small country where the Government is the largest employer. Higher personal taxes would also have a negative impact on the local economy, i.e. money paid in taxes cannot be spent locally on hospitality, retail, etc. Too many of our politicians contribute very little to the common good, either hiding behind 'nothing to do with me, guv' or nodding through endless pointless 'strategy papers' arranged by the CS/PS that don't seem to result in any tangible benefits for residents. And when they do get around to implementing some of the recommendations, they seem to pick the wrong ones, like Sir Jonathan Michael's recommendation to create Manx Care. Unfortunately, every 5 years we elect the same old people in the hope that 'this time' it will be different, but it never is. Cannan's latest sermon that "The Isle of Man must not talk itself into a doom loop of negativity when it remains strong, stable and successful" is also not leadership, its political posturing. Let's see if he can pull any rabbits out of the proverbial hat before the next GE.

I gave the example from NSW Australia, where it has been enshrined in law that homebuyers’ deposits are guaranteed if the developer goes bust before completion. When I glanced over the article on IOM Today, the following phrase has caught my eye: “There were claims in court by advocates for the petitioners that some would-be homebuyers had not registered their claims as they were ‘scared’ they could lose their deposits”. I was perplexed by this. If these would-be homeowners’ deposits are totally ‘safe’, registered or not, why are they scared about losing their deposits? Surely, these people will have advocates who can clarify both the law and their circumstances for them? However, the above posts from JW and Thefella give excellent explanations as to why "would-be homebuyers" have no need to worry.

Agreed.