'The Deemster' - But not by Hall Caine!

I thought the First Deemster (David Doyle) had gone but not yet it seems he pops up in the columns of IOM Today holding forth about the impeccable credentials of a free press and bemoaning social media:

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/article.cfm?id=41841&headline=Outgoing%20First...

It always astonishes me that people as fortunate (in the context of life's goodies) as the Manx Chief Minister or the First Deemster are so obsessed by the wickedness that abounds in the internet ether and social media in particular.

These folk have good lifestyles and a weighty sinecure but yet the ruminate on what anonymous internet ‘trolls’ might say about them.

I’m reminded of a line from the film ‘A Man for All Seasons’ which goes:

‘It's a bad sign when people are depressed by their own good fortune’

In my day as a social media pundit and in my criticisms of the Howard and David I eschewed anonymity but in hindsight it may have been wiser to have adopted a pseudonym. There is this perception amongst ‘the great and good’ that they poor souls are the only ones to suffer abuse. I endured ageist digs from a leading legal luminary and was more than once alluded to as a liar by a politician. Perhaps I should book the Oxford Union to do some bleating?

Still no doubt Richard and the newsroom crew will be pleased to get their tummies rubbed as our good friend heads for the door and his replacement heads for the bench rubbing his hands in anticipation of good things to come - not least the salary and the hols.

The elevation of the second Deemster was almost seamless. Its as if in a ‘modern democracy’ its a given that the ladder of the judiciary is one that you work steadily upwards. I can’t wait for Jane to get to the top rung!

Actually the problem with the Isle of Man is not a free press or social media its the fact that its locked firmly in a mindset a couple of centuries old. Indeed the Island, its establishment and ‘the real trolls’ the Chamber of Commerce are so bad it’s a wonder we don’t cut off our own ears - that way we would not have to listen to their self-entitled bleating!

Image: ‘And its goodbye from him’!

Bernard Moffatt