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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. 

I don’t generally do requests but I get an email about the leachate issue from Trevor Cowin of Peel one of a range of matters he is pursuing with various organs of government. Apparently he’s is not making much headway with the Chief Ministers Office. This surprises me as I generally get a fairly expeditious response from HQ (or someone he delegates it to) perhaps I don’t bother them that much.

In a few days the Festival of Motorcycling will be over and although it's a good few weeks before the politicians go back to work the nights will start to draw in.

With the onset of autumn and winter we can look forward to those two hardy perennials hunger and cold returning for some.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon met with Catalan President Quim Torra in Scotland last month. At the meeting she accepted an invitation to go to Catalonia, the autonomous community in the northeastern corner of the Iberian Peninsula. Scottish National Party MP's (members of parliament) have backed Catalonia’s right to hold an independence referendum. Scotland's First Minister was critical of the Madrid government’s brutal approach to blocking the Catalan government from staging a vote on leaving the Spanish state last year.

Hardly have I penned a piece about Chief Minister Howard Quayle MHK saving the Steam Packet than ‘the Brexit Boatswain’ appears in person on something called the Isle of Man Government Youtube Channel (link):

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/irresponsible-to-ignore-...

News from Mannin Branch of the Celtic League:

THE DOWN SIDE OF THE CRUISE IDYLL

Breton website 7seizh carries a report from the Marine and Seafarers safety organisation MOR GLAZ in which the criticise the shooting last month of a polar bear on the Island of Svalbard.