Declan

Looks good. If you think it blocks your view, you could just stand with it behind you.

Churchill very much was a professional politican before WWII. He was first elected in 1900, had been Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer (as was his old man). He was a journalist and soldier in his early twenties and in the TA whilst a MP (and for a few months in 1916 he returned to the main army) but his career was politican. During the thirties he was a backbencher, I think seen rather as yesterdays man but still a politician.

Unbelievably arrogant. That's not the South it's the Midlands! Seriously though how does that benefit Port Erin or Port St Mary? It doesn't really benefit the local community, it's an expenditure for the benefit of the tourism lobby that's Island-wide but mostly in Douglas. I'm not sure where the idea that the South gets more spent on it than elsewhere - it's got a decrepit school, a collapsing swimming pool. The vast subsidy the government pumps into the TT each year is because the North would go into economic and emotional meltdown if it was taken away. Most of the sporting upgrades (Nomads pitch, Colby AFC ground) have been financed by the clubs concerned. I can't remember the last public expenditure in the South - Southlands, maybe?

Got to be more fun than the perpetual psychodrama at Old Trafford.

Well me obviously.

There is no higher authority and in the absence of one I don't think we should defer to the likes of Donald Trump, Suella Braverman or Alf Cannon. Ultimately, the decision to execute someone will always come down to limited number of people not society - and they'll be fallible.

So. Nobody has the right to give that right to anyone.

There's no way Alonso next season will be an assistant to anybody. Let alone the manager of a mid-table Saudi team.

I'm not sure it was expected. Xavi Alonso would be my choice, but does he have enough managerial experience yet?

Unfortunately, the Russians have already weaponised them against us.

Of course they do. But that doesn't mean anybody has the right to kill them.

I came across the following quote from Mavis Gallant today - "A Canadian is someone with a logical reason for believing they might be one."

It does say something positive about the depth of the English football league structure, that 245 travelled in a storm to windswept island by EasyJet to watch a mid-table league game in the 9th level. Or maybe it just says something about Kendal.

Oh dear ... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce4e5p7zqj4o

He’s still on dial up.

I didn't think Asperger's was used anymore

Police Facebook will be appealing for witnesses in March.

I love it when people presume to speak on behalf of the long dead. Maybe he'd be happy that a fellow artist got a bit of work. Personally I think commemorating a place where he was able to create work despite less than ideal circumstances isn't a bad thing. This is an interesting piece. https://vanabbemuseum.nl/en/collection/isle-of-man

Is your scenario? Britain and France quickly killed off the Nazi threat around 1936 The empire restructures as a trading union The UK benevolently assisting the various constituent parts to become self-governing That's not really an empire. It's the EU with different countries. Would the world be better off? WWII and the Nazi's would have claimed fewer lives. The former Empire countries would be about where they are now but perhaps have more trading power. What about the other European Empires would they create their own trading blocks within their empires rather than the EU? Maybe America would have been less dominant during the end of the 20th C. Is that a good thing? Britain and France, I think would need to fulfil that role. But the Soviets would still be in place in Russia. Would that be better than Putin? Where would the Iron Curtain fall. Germany, I guess would fall under British and French influence. But is will the post war settlement be fair? Would it return to the same situation it was in the early thirties. Then there's Japan. I think the world's better off with democratic Japan than it was with the Japanese Empire. Maybe America would still have gone to war with them? Technological advancement in the 40's would have been slower without the War. Would we have caught up now? By the time the world reached 2024, I think Britain would be quite similar to what it is now. We'd have still have had inward immigration from the former empire. Would Britain be any happier seeding it's sovereignty to an alliance with Canada, India, Australia than it was EU.

The comments on the IOM Today story are bonkers.

So the accused in a harassment case is allowed to cross examine the accuser.

I saw Bjorn Again at the Reading Festival in 1992. They were more like an ABBA inspired band than your traditional tribute act.

Shame. Three words guaranteed to make any event less fun "Fancy Dress Theme".

Well, it's easier to put on a second bus than a train.

It was better before the train line went there. You'd get off the boat and get onto a bus to Lancaster Station.