Stu Peters

Try harder? What, to agree with you about something they fundamentally believe in? I voted for the motion, but I feel absolutely no animosity towards anyone who voted against it.

I agree with him, and suggested the Bishop could have a guaranteed place on the shortlist for MLC elections rather a God-given right to sit in LegCo. I also agreed with the comment that whilst we indeed have bigger fish to fry, that is always the response when someone wants to block a motion, and on this issue people have been doing exactly that for years. There's never a 'good time' to bring this kind of thing forward, and it doesn't detract (except for an hour in Keys) from any of those bigger fish.

When you buy a car with faults, it’s more important you fix them than concentrate on the previous owner’s lack of maintenance. It might be rewarding to provide heads on stakes, but their owners are mostly long gone and could probably justify their decisions over the years anyway. My focus, and that of the new Board, is to improve the customer experience, comply with evolving mandates and reduce the cost to the Treasury. That will take some short term pain for long term gain.

Tell your friend I was brought up to speak the truth as I see it, be prepared to acknowledge that sometimes I’ll be wrong and to pin my colours to the mast. If that makes me a bit of a gobshite, then so mote it be (and I’m not a Mason). It’s not as common here as where I grew up, allegedly because in a small community there are consequences of speaking your mind. The rise in social media and use of pseudonyms means that more people are able to express sometimes ridiculous views without consequence, whereas in a lively discussion in person (at the pub maybe) they’d be told to STFU. If I post something on MF, people know who I am and something about me and my background and can agree or disagree, but I can only guess at who irritants like HiVibes and Two Lane are. I can also disagree with others like Declan, Mexico and Helix whilst appreciating and considering their points of view, but it’s still too much like talking into a void. At least on FB you usually have a better chance of knowing who you’re talking to.

I prefer alert. The world needs more lerts.

When Glenda Jackson became an MP she left showbiz behind to be a politician. I left being a broadcasting gobshite behind. You should be thrilled.

Bit like my charidee work, mate. I don’t like to talk about it.

Asking questions for oral or written answer is intended to elicit information, have that information put into the public domain and potentially embarrass the respondent with supplementaries, and of course prove to your constituents that you’re still alive and working tirelessly on their behalf (!). Since being elected I’ve asked and answered scores of questions in order to progress or challenge things. I just don’t issue a press release every time, and I think I achieve more as a result.

I agree. There should be no wriggle room on providing affordable housing.

Typical MF: ‘the airport is a disgrace and something should be done’. Three hugely impressive NEDs with significant relevant expertise appointed at a cost of maybe just £10k per year total and people are kicking off. I met them yesterday for the first time. These are exactly the kind of people we need to steer the airport back on track and make flying bearable again.

I'm pretty centrist these days but it amuses me that anyone who isn't a socialist is instantly branded 'extreme right' like they're part of the Ku Klux Klan. I've only watched a few Katie Hopkins clips and whilst she revels a bit too much in her attempts to be seen as outrageous, most of what she says simply appeals to the silent majority.

Andy, for all I know you could be a competitor seeking a commercial advantage, so you’ll understand that I can’t give specifics.

Absolutely, if that is the eventual judgement. Nobody should be above the law, but as I said in a speech in Tynwald this week, courts can only decide points of law and not make moral judgements.

Before my time in politics, but I think many of us ‘shat ourselves’ at the start of Covid, especially the impact in places like Italy and images of people dying in overloaded hospital corridors. It’s easy to look back knowing what we (assume we) know now, but this was being touted as a new Black Death and I can completely understand governments doing whatever they thought would provide things like PPI to save lives. The bad actors in all that are those who leveraged a global health panic into obscene profits, often for useless tat.

Turf wars from Moss Side and Toxteth surely extend to the IOM. Much better ROI here and an easier approach.

Because I’m old and cranky, it’s taken me some time to accept some of the more modern ways of thinking about these things. I met Chie some time ago for a coffee off the back of one of these MF ‘debates’ and learned a lot. We agreed more than we disagreed, and even then did so respectfully. She looks like a young woman, sounds like a young woman, presents as one so it was a no-brainer to interact with her as a woman. Thank you Chie. But I still get cranky about blokes with bushy beards, deep voices, leggings and lipstick expecting me to do the same. Eddie Izzards need not apply, it’s just too confusing and makes me wonder if they’re just out to shock and enjoy a display of ultra narcissism. To JWs point to someone earlier about ‘where did you read that’, it doesn’t matter. I think we’re all aware of the stories of young adults seeking compensation from places like the Tavistock Clinic for acceding to their teenage demands to transition, later regretted. It didn’t need to be reported by The Guardian to be true. I worry that some young people are simply seeking attention and need proper counselling rather than chemicals and surgery.

Virtue signallers and zero people affected in the IOM? Nope, I got nothing to add...

What exactly is the shitfest THIS administration is responsible for that wasn’t inherited?

I attended the 2021 event out of interest but left early in embarrassment. I have declined since then.

Because my fifty quid a week will employ a dozen postal workers?

No idea, before my time and I’m not an expert on the legally acceptable methods of dealing with various types of hazardous waste. Maybe heavy fuel oil is more of a combustion risk or emits more VOC vapour, but I’m only guessing. My point is that this coal tar response is pragmatic, safe and affordable rather than DOI looking for a Rolls-Royce solution, which is the usual complaint.

Coal tar is classed as hazardous. The options (given that IOM can’t process it) were to ship it off to an approved facility, tip it in landfill or make it safe and bury it onsite. I think it’s a pragmatic solution, although our resident coal tar experts will probably disagree.

I said earlier that MHKs don't get paid now to be political members of departments, which is perfectly true and was decided after a review and report before the last general election. I've already mentioned a couple of times on here that I get a small uplift for being chair of IOMPO, which isn't a department. Same goes for chairman of MUA, OFT etc. (See: https://tynwald.org.im/members-officers/remuneration-and-allowances ) The intention was partly to reduce the 'power' of CoMin/CM to be able to bully departmental members into following the official line or risk losing a significant part of their income.

In my own defence many people suggested that my (early) manifesto statement about not taking a departmental position was flawed thinking and that they expected their MHK to get stuck in to sorting problems rather than just shouting about them. I took that on board and changed my position to not accepting a departmental role for at least a year - which is exactly what I did when volunteering for DOI last year. Remember, there's no pay uplift now for being a political member of a department so I didn't do it for the money (one of the reasons voters think MHKs accept these gigs) and could have had a much quieter life as a backbencher. There is a massive difference between being an idealistic candidate and being a pragmatic politician. And that's not admitting I've gone native or been assimilated by the Borg. Most people outside don't understand (or choose not to understand) the nuances and unintended consequences of every issue, but I decided I had a better chance of influencing matters from within rather than without.

It was still RAF St Mawgan when I spent a week there as an air cadet in the late 60s. I presume the MoD paid for most of the infrastructure. I flew there with a friend a few years ago and there were very few passenger facilities.