Syria Refugees - 'We want to help but..' says Chief Minister

Manx Radio news editor Tim Glover has a sound lengthy clip with CM Howard Quayle MHK in which he outlines the stance on Syrian refugees and aid given.

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/island-turning-its-back-...

The news item persons the question ‘Island turning its back on International Duty’?

The CM avers this is not the case and states that the issue was studied thoroughly some years ago although as far as I’m aware none of this ‘study’ was made public indeed there was a suggestion that both the Isle of Man and the Channel Isles concealed the dialogue it had with the UK at the time. Why one wonders?

As it happens I don’t disagree with Quayle that aid targetted near the flight zone in refugee camps from which hopefully these poor folk can eventually retirn home is better spent and I note a major collection of aid items is underway (post currently on CDN site).

However why the government secrecy about this dialogue it had which should be a straightforward issue. Do Howard and Alf think they preside over a superpower and is the Cabinet Office our equivalent of GCHQ. I wish the media would ask these questions.

I welcome the Chief Ministers lengthy explanation but still have lingering doubts and think of the poet and writer John Donne’s famous words:

“No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

I hope if the ‘bell tolls’ for the Manx people in the future others are a tad more generous. I don’t suppose I should worry as hopefully I won’t be around when our economic miracle goes belly-up. However it would be nice to know for the sake of future generations.

Bernard Moffatt