'I stood amazed; for in the Isle of Man are poor are not neglected'

‘I STOOD AMAZED; FOR IN THE ISLE OF MAN OUR POOR ARE NOT NEGLECTED’

The words above are from the Manx poet T E Brown’s work ‘Bella Gorry’ but it seems these days if you find yourself poor or in debt you are the architect of your own misfortune. This propensity to blame-shift is not peculiar to our society just go on line type in a search and you will find academics are writing papers on the tendency to make the poor ‘the architects of their own misfortune'. They don't 'budget correctly' or plan for 'unforeseen misfortunes' etc.

However in a low wage dog eat dog environment where government talk of minimum wages while trousering fat salaries expenses and perks. In the workplace of the zero hour contract or the need to claim EPA or some other state top up to get by is it any wonder that folk find themselves in debt.

I doubt this item by Manx Radio helps one iota. It’s not investigative journalism - that would be to find out the size of the Manx personal debt mountain or indeed try to find folk who work long hours but still struggle to make ends meet and ask about their ‘budgeting’:

https://www.manxradio.com/…/debt-not-just-a-christmas-issue/

Ironically T E Brown whose poem I quote above and who focused in many poems on the poor and the injustice of the Manx elite has a statue in Douglas, He gazes across at Government Offices were Tynwald members and Civil servants can get a subsidised lunch in the canteen - very reasonable by all accounts - no budgeting for them!

The comedian W C Fields said ‘A rich man is nothing but a poor man with money’. We don’t have W C Fields but we have the OFT and Manx Radio.

Image; T E Brown statue Prospect Hill, Douglas.

Bernard Moffatt

Celtic League