Blogs

Its an overcast morning I smell rain and immediately regret devoting yesterday to ‘arts domestic’. However I’m up early and raring to go so its the North and a bracing walk with a coat or retail therapy in the covered confines of ‘the citadel of shopping’ - I’m a wimp I opt for the latter.

Politicians in the Isle of Man are not viewed in a good light. With a few notable exceptions, there is a lack of quality in the present Manx elected representatives. People do not have confidence in their ability to develop the Manx economy in a way that would benefit the community. In uncertain economic times there is a need for a government with a clear plan of action. However, there is a painful lack of direction coming from the Manx government. This results in them resorting to short term reactions to various economic issues as they arise.

I just knew that there would be a raft of intolerant comments from some under this story about refugees. By the way is the title right have we taken in any refugees I didn’t think so.

‘in the ‘old days’ before there was social media people sometimes let of steam by going around burning houses down - do you really want to put the clock back’

A former head of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and long time participant in Irish Army UN peacekeeping operations Major General Michael Beary has been presented with the Distinguished Service Medal by the Irish government.

During the ceremony at Cathal Brugha barracks at Rathmines, Dublin at which the Irish Defence Minister Paul Kehoe presented the award the United Nations paid tribute to Major General Beary. A message from Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping, Jean Pierre Lacroix, was read which stated:

In a few weeks Howard Quayle will get the opportunity to give the annual 2018 Chief Minister State of the Nation address. If you think back to last year the content was pretty vacuous and most notable for the quite outrageous attack on the media. It was the mainstream that was in his sights but he spun it to include social media. Quayles State speech was meaningless drivel that 12 months on sees people worse off than ever,

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has produced an in depth report citing the need for change in relation to human rights implementation in An Garda Síochána (the Irish Police).

The report by Alyson Kilpatrick a human rights advisor to the PSNI (the former Royal Ulster Constabulary) comes just days after the controversy surrounding the use of masked police to assist the eviction of housing protesters.

Unveiling the report the Director of the ICCL, Liam Herrick, said:

Ireland’s Department of Defence has issued a statement text below following the latest UN deployment in the Middle East:

Libya was hairy enough but I’m glad I gave Moscow a miss!

This Sunday sees the Edinburgh Riding of the Marches. Over 20,000 spectators from Scotland and around the world are expected to view the event. The annual tradition dates back to 1579 and commemorates Randolph Murray’s return with the ancient Blue Blanket and the tragic news of the defeat of the Scottish Army at the Battle of Flodden on 9 September 1513.