Blogs

I noted with interest remarks on Daphne Caine MHKs Facebook page of the occasion of the birthday of Sophia Morrison (24th May 1859).

She was in turn commenting on another Facebook page which says:

“Sophia was a Manx cultural activist, folklore collector and author. Through her own work and role in encouraging and enthusing others, she is considered to be one of the key figures of the Manx cultural revival”

Daphne says:

“I love the term cultural activist. Can I be one - who’s with me? “

The Isle of Man hasn’t got much of record when to comes to ‘the rights of the child’. As a country we retained birching until pressure from the Council of Europe and the United Kingdom made it untenable. More recently the Island which had avoided the child care scandals that have swept the British Isles finally started to confront its awful past - although how much of what the Tynwald Committee looking into this comes up with will determine if its a whitewash. We also infamously imprisoned children in the main prison while the rest of the UK if not the World looked on aghast.

Boat owners who sail too close to whales, dolphins and other cetaceans in the Moray Firth could face criminal charges and fines. The warning along with the launch of a poster campaign came after an increase in the number of incidents involving the mammals in the waters off Inverness. Reports of boats and kite surfers getting too close to whales and dolphins have been received. Police Scotland and partner agencies have urged people out in boats and enjoying other sporting activities to respect the marine wildlife off Scotland's coast. 

Is it ‘much ado about nothing’ or an affront to the authority of the President of Tynwald. Manx Radio reports that the Chief Minister summoned new legislative council (Legco) members to his Office and in a ‘meeting with the headmaster’ type meeting told them exactly where and when ‘not’ to overstep the mark.

If so as Kate Beecroft MHK avers its an affront to the President whose role it is to do the ‘herding of cats’ in Tynwald.

There have been calls for a enquiry into a killing three decades ago in Co Tyrone. The incident occurred at a border checkpoint in Co Tyrone at Aughnacloy. These major checkpoints ostensibly manned by the RUC were also staffed by regular British Army troops the one in question, that I passed through myself on foot while hiking in the 1970s, was heavily fortified.

News from The Manx Wildlife Trust - Treisht Vanninagh Y Doogys Feie:

The Manx Wildlife Trust (Manx: Treisht Vanninagh Y Doogys Fei) has announced that naturalist and writer Mark Crooker will be appearing at the Centenery Centre in Peel (Manx: Ynnyd Keead Blein ayns Purt ny h-Inshey). He will be talking about and signing copies of his new book Our Place.  There will be a discussion about wildlife, conservation and environmental protection

Liet International was invented and developed in 2002 to give modern bands who sing in a minority language a stage. In ten years it has grown to be a multilingual alternative of the Eurovision Song festival, with the main difference that singing in English is prohibited.

After a long night at Neushoorn, with 14 songs, a break and a long jury-meeting the results were as follows:.

Jury Award:

1. The Rowan Tree (Cornish)

2. Nastasia Zürcher (Galician)

3. Gerda Stevenson & Kyrre Slind (Scots)

The Isle of Man Civil Aviation Administration has issued a warning about the flying of drones near the TT course during TT fortnight and has introduced a prohibition. The move, which no doubt is a very sensible one has been taken in the interests of ‘safety’. However paradoxically hundreds of riders had been killed and many more injured, during the period in which Races of this type have taken in the Isle of Man, before drones had been invented.

The prohibition also applies to the Southern 100 races and an air display.

Here’s the IOM CAA missive in full:

Following a statement by the Prime Minister, Steve Double, Member of Parliament for St Austell and Newquay, has been appointed to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The Manx MHK, Alex Allinson. who has pushed abortion reform legislation through the Keys says that when adopted the Manx legislation will be an indicator to people on ‘the Island of Ireland’ to create a framework for reform there. He was speaking ahead of the ‘Repeal the 8th Amendment’ referendum this week which would if successful remove a bar in the 26 county constitution on introducing abortion law reform (link):