Blogs

There is hardly a surfeit of telecom operators to share the business on the Isle of Man just two so you would think they would rub along.

However now SURE are accusing Manx Telecom of deceiving their customers - strong stuff. To me it sounds like a dispute between the Chamber of Commerce and the Employers Federation over who gets more time engaging with COMIN Ministers.

In any case I would have thought that SURE like MT are out to make a buck that's the nature of private enterprise so why wax all altruistic it has to be a sales ploy.

My comments - somewhat tongue in cheek - about the great student funding furore has spawned a sub debate of its own. We should invest in young graduates to work here say some others say quite accurately that many will not come back to work here. After all a good degree and even better academic follow up qualifications these days make the world your oyster.

So why should we - the great unwashed - fund students education for folk who may not grace our shores for many a year after throwing their academic caps in the air?

A recent workshop organised by the Isle of Man Family History Society in conjunction with Manx National Heritage, proved very successful with sixteen members of the organisation taking the opportunity to learn more about recent innovation within the Reading Room and Library and Archives at the Manx Museum.

Society member Sarah Christian, who also works in the Reading Room, took charge of the afternoon workshop, guiding everyone through various resources readily available, such as manuscripts, online data and printed material.

Manx students are revolting but it's less ‘barricades at Bordeaux’ and more ‘pontificating in the Portal’.

The students are not these days energised by challenging the capitalist system - after all they eventually hope to become part of it. They are challenging the imposition - nay burden - of student charges. (link):

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/manx-university-students...

Treachery and irregularity!

Following a protracted two year legal battle with the Department for Communities & Local Government (DCLG), the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) and others, Cornish campaigners have finally established the hidden truth which lies behind the Government's decision to halt proper funding for the resurgent Cornish language.

The problem with me is although I’m an ‘oldie’ now I still have an enquiring mind so when I see an item on Manx Radio referring to ‘The Third Sector’ I wonder just what it is. I always find the term somewhat dystopian:

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/third-sector-plays-down-...

Carwyn Jones is currently First Minister of Wales. In an interview with the French daily newspaper Ouest France, Carwyn Jones has raised the possibility of the creation of a Euroregion between Wales and Brittany.

He said: "European interregional cooperation remains a priority. Our cultural, linguistic and commercial links with Brittany date back hundreds of years, but it was not until 2004 that our relationship was formalized."

It's almost armageddon on Manx Radio. There’s hosepipe bans, the red meat market has collapsed even the Beach Buddies dog has gone to ‘the great lamppost in the sky’.

I start thinking of that quote from Robert Oppenheimer: "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds” and right on cue Manx Radio have an item with Enterprise Minister Laurence Skelly MHK on their pages.

The Syrian refugees are back! Remember that plan to bring a small number of families to the Island when the refugee exodus was on.

There was support here offers of accommodation and financial support for a tiny number of families. The government seemed equally supportive and met the Christian charity mob while making positive noises.

Years ago before the roof fell in on the Manx economy and population decline set in we were on course to ‘grow’ the population to over 100,000.

It would have been the final act of cultural genocide but the Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce would have been pleased and over the past decade or so that's all that matters.