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European wildcats arrived in Scotland some 9000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age. Now Scottish Wildcats are endangered and face extinction. They are under threat from cross-breeding with domestic cats, disease and habitat loss. In an attempt to save the Wildcat, sometimes referred to as the Tiger of the Highlands, the Scottish Wildcat Conservation Action Plan was launched in 2013.

Chores done I turn to the Manx news and apparently there is more doom and gloom. Some outfit called Moody’s say that Brexit will be negative for the Isle of Man economy. The Chief Minister Howard Quayle MHK has always been upbeat about Brexit and seemed to be steering us through the storm if he is to be believed. Now I don’t know what to think perhaps Peter Karran will have a view on it tomorrow (link):

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/brexit-will-be-negative-...

Last week Manx Radio was being criticised on one of the forums for carrying wall to wall coverage of Chief Minister Howard Quayle MHK and as the 'coup de grace' before heading for the deckchair and reaching for the Factor 50 Howard even popped up in an Arts Council video.

This week the media pendulum has swung and after an initial swipe at the Media Development Fund (MDF) that has lost a staggering £27 million former MHK Peter Karran outlines concerns about the proposed Public Defender System (PDS) - link:

Nothing typifies how out of touch this Tynwald is than the fact that as they were getting the sun loungers out for their extended vacation an appeal was being made for food.

Last week the food bank indicated that stocks were low ahead of a very likely increase in demand during the school holiday period,

KARRAN’S STRAIGHT TALKING WILL DISCOMFORT THE REGIME - BUT CHANGE...WELL!

‘A former MHK says the current Manx government is not open, not accountable, and not responsible in its actions.’ So says the story on Manx Radio as Peter Karran who was a member of Tynwald long enough to become the sort of institution in politics that Terry Cringle is to Manx journalism in a broadside.

The Manx Chief Minister is making the news - quite literally. It's mightily annoying to some on Manx Forums who think the great man is getting too much air time on Manx Radio but for hecks sake he is Chief Minister of the Isle of Man and he did tell Paul Moulton of MTTV recently that during the summer recess its business as usual….so!

News is thin on the ground even Crown Dependency News is quiet perhaps Eddie Power is scouring MercoPress - expect some South Atlantic stories later.

Temple Church is situated in the small remote hamlet of Temple on Bodmin Moor between Bodmin and Launceston, and lies within the parish of Blisland, it is bounded on the east by the village of St Neot, and to the south by Warleggan and Cardinham.

This year is the 100th anniversary of the Manx General Strike generally described as being a success. I should be a cheerleader for the event. My political party Mec Vannin is extolling its virtues and of course I am a creature of the Manx Trade Union movement so what’s not to like about it?

The story goes working people with their backs to the wall rebelled and thereafter the Isle of Man was a better place for workers. Well the first bit is correct but the last is way off beam.

‘Bloody grave robbers’ my friend, a well known Peel character since sadly gone to his own grave’ averred. We were many years ago studying - with the aid of a few pints - some archeological students who at the the time were excavating Peel Castle. You could say it was - on our part - an anthropological study aided by various local beverages of ‘Univeritystudentexciticas’ who had obviously had a good day at the dig and were chilling out by themselves imbibing.