Blogs

Having a ‘rootle’ around, as that pathologist on the TV series ‘Endeavour’ puts it, on the Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce website I see their equivalent of the ‘Organisation Todt’ is consolidating itself. Apparently the Construction Committee and the Construction Forum have both been doing the same things so they think they should harmonise things.

Tellingly they say:

‘In Iran the mullahs and their self interest and ideologically based agenda are destroying the economy in the Isle of Man we have the Chamber.’

The Chamber of Commerce will be holding their AGM shortly and in keeping with their new less showy and pushy style these days things seem to have been toned down. For example their will only to a two course meal but thanks to Isle of Man Creameries they shouldn’t to hungry as a cheese board is chucked in.

MTTV has wall to wall motorcycling but to be fair so does Manx Radio only over at IOM Today is there relief with plans for their ‘Isle of Man Awards for Excellence’. Sticking with the latter I suppose it's a tribute to the organising zeal that people can be ‘excellent’ in the face of so much Manx government indifference to suffering.

In what has been described as the best photograph of the Loch Ness Monster taken for a number of years, a 12 year hold girl on holiday has captured an image of "Nessie". The photograph was taken at around 7pm on 17th August. Charlotte Robinson, who was staying with her family in Invermoriston, when Nessie emerged some 50 feet away for about a minute. It then re-surfaced about ten feet further away and submerged again in less than sixty seconds, by which time the photograph had been taken.

Pope Francis (or Jorge Mario Bergoglio to non-believers like you and me) is on a visit to Ireland.

Bergoglio is a ‘nice guy’ (the narrative goes) and he met Leo Varadkar another ‘nice guy’. Leo had to politely tell the Pope off because of some of the Churches failings over child abuse scandals and Bergoglio was suitable contrite. However he has a way of masking is true persona. As part of the ‘nice guy’ image Francis steps out of the Popemobile sometimes to visit refugee centres or wash peoples feet.

Pope Francis, the 266th and current Pope, is on a visit to Ireland. It is a visit that is markedly different than when Pope John Paul II came to Ireland in 1979, nearly forty years ago, when the church still held centre stage in Irish society. The visit of Pope Francis has been dominated by criticism of the Catholic Church's failure to adequately address sex abuse crimes by clergy.

Back in the early 1990s housing was a real issue on the Isle of Man - you could say nothing has changed. The issue wasn’t really a TGWU matter but we literally had people turning up at Transport House because there was nowhere else to go. I once even had a couple in the foyer on one occasion with one of them threatening to commit suicide.

Kathryn Sharman says that as a student because of the fees/grants support available in the Isle of Man she thinks she is being ‘punished for being working class’. Some may see this as a bit emotive but for sure there's more than a grain of truth.

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/article.cfm?id=42432&headline=Manx%20students%...

Howard’s back! The great man our Chief Minister appears on MTTV and its the highpoint of the weekend for me. My weekend was of to a good start anyway I was doing my equivalent of ‘men in sheds’ which is called ‘men in beds’ and had a lie in to half past nine fortunately the arrival of the post (its always early on weekends) brought my hobby to a close. Breakfast consumed I scan the media and eventually reach MTTV.

Great minds think alike and first of all Moulton compliments our leader on his late summer/autumn attire - then they are off to the trenches literally:

Welsh poet and writer Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea (Abertawe) on 27th October 1914 and died at the age of 39. Although he died young he had achieved great popularity in his lifetime and continues to be regarded as one of the most important Welsh poets of the 20th century.  His works include the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion"; the 'play for voices' Under Milk Wood; and stories and radio broadcasts such as A Child's Christmas in Wales and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog.