hunter

It's DaaS - defamation as a service

Except for court reporting of course

What is he up to these days? He hasn't uploaded anything new on his youtube channel since his SLAPP threat announcement. Did the govt do him in? Silence him indefinitely?

As you said, I'm a newbie and thus was unaware of the "not being an utter dick" policy on ManxForums. I'm not getting personal, I'm criticising her public posture as a politician. Anonymity is a core part of MF, should all critics of MHK's de-anonymise before posting?

Anytime Joney opens her mouth about Gaza she gets sufficiently criticised. Anytime Alf does anything he gets sufficiently criticised. Anytime any MHK takes a side on a contentious issue, or does something instead of focusing on "more pressing issues", they get sufficiently criticised. Sarah takes no sides on any debates, and isn't in CoMIN, so she therefore avoids criticism.

@FANDL ??

This is by design. Maltby is a master of deception, using a smokescreen of cuppas and Manx flag emojis to obscure any real conviction. You can't be criticised if you work hard and show up, but say nothing offensive or opinionated ever.

THANK YOU! Finally, someone gets my point fully.

Fair enough, but that's sort of the point of this forum. Your 10k post history suggests somewhat otherwise. And wtf with the "particularly female ones"? Female MHK's should be held to lower standards than the men?

I think she's dumb and hollow and doesn't take the role very seriously and doesn't really study the details of politics and govt.

I make a post called "Sarah Maltby is insufficiently criticised" and half the responses are variations of "don't criticise her, run for MHK yourself". Lmao

Apologies to the regulars who feel like I have violated the sanctity of the ManxForums code of conduct. I didn't realise that this forum is opposed to criticism of politicians.

It's a bit silly to suggest that criticising the public posture of an elected politician as being the same as harassment of a private individual.

no that's scary

There is something uniquely dull and hollow about Maltby though, and I feel like the public hasn't addressed it at all since she became an MHK. At least Joney and the others try to have opinions.

Sarah has been an MHK for almost 3 years now and I still don’t know what her specific opinions or convictions are on anything. The only evidence I could find was a Manx Radio article where she called for reform of poorly performing public services, which is a rather generic and piss-takey opinion to have. I imagine asking her about more nuanced issues like Israeli settlements, the rise of multipolarity in international relations, or dealing with falling birthrates would elicit little more than a generic “put the kettle on” response with her personal phone number, which has been her dominant political strategy which I hoped would’ve started to wear thin by now. MHK’s are not supposed to be delegates, not clerks/customer service for constituents; they are supposed to use their judgment to make the best decisions, and that requires some level of stubborn opinion-having and ideological convictions especially in the absence of political parties. You would hope a lack of opinions would be excused with a more technical understanding of Tynwald and Government, perhaps some kind of eidetic memory on legislation or policy details, but that is sadly not the case. I watched a Mannin Line interview of hers from last year that she did with the benefits office manager and there was a rather hilarious clip at the 26:00 min mark where a caller specifically asks Sarah a question only for a bit of awkward silence and gesturing, resulting in the civil servant taking the question on alongside some intermittent head-nodding from Sarah. At the end of the call, Andy says the callers question is one of policy but immediately moves on to the next caller without asking Sarah - the politician - what the policy change should be. Lmao. It was a good example of how the role of a backbench MHK has become infantilised under the whole “care bear theory of Manx politics” and Sarah is rather over-leveraged on this strategy. There’s just something specifically offensive about her being an MHK; there’s the obvious reason, but the incessant selfies, positivity, and semi-ironic air-headedness contrasted with a lack of opinions, convictions, interest in detail, or any political vision beyond “being there” adds insult to injury. it’s almost like she doesn’t find politics interesting, but she’s also insufficiently malicious for me to accuse her of anything controversial. It’s a weird mix of inscrutability and straightforwardness.