Inflation, Population, the TT or Tynwald Day it all looks better 'Through the Looking Glass'

The Isle of Man ‘through the looking glass’! It's a strange barely comprehensible twilight world which for the most part is inhabited by politicians and statisticians.

Less people came for the TT (in terms of bikes) and yet it was the best ever - let's forget a death or two or the odd maiming.

However with the return to everyday Island life ‘the looking glass’ is still there. Costs of living on the Island are rising. You notice it every time a utility bill drops through the letterbox or you browse the shelves in the supermarket yet strangely CPI and RPI have fallen. This of course will have nothing to do with the way the formula to calculate it has been gerrymandered it's all obviously down to ‘our good fortune’. We live on an Island where black is white if the government say so and it's the same with statistics.

If the Islands census says the population is falling you just wait a month or two and the government say it's rising again. It's a magical place the Isle of Man ‘a wonderful place to live and work’ because if anything unpleasant comes along we just aver its an aberration and stare ‘through the looking glass’ and everything is ok again.

Shortly it will be Tynwald Day and ‘record crowds’ will attend except we know now from that aerial shot that very few people relative to the population bother to go. But never mind the full cast from Lewis Carroll will be on the hill staring down ‘through the looking glass’ so everything will be fine.

You don’t need a March Hare in the Isle of Man they are there all year on Prospect Hill staring into that glass!

Bernard Moffatt