Bernard Moffatt's blog

“International Atomic Energy Agency study two decades ago: concluded that concentrations (of Technetium 99 etc) in the Lough were broadly similar to those measured elsewhere along this (Irish) coast”

Yesterday I reported on the controversy over the dumping of dredged spoil from Carlingford Lough in the Irish Sea to keep the waterway to the busy Port at Warrenpoint open.

Hidden archaeological treasures are celebrated in this article from BBC Wales (link):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-45770001

The finds together with these mentioned in a BBC NI article a few weeks ago show that ‘amateur archaeologists’ armed with metal detectors our harvesting a rich haul.

The Irish finds also mention rare Viking coins that originated from the Isle of Man and also unusually for Ireland Roman artefacts (link):

This news broke last week but was ‘embargoed’ until Monday why one wonders does the Minister only do a five day week?

One cannot help thinking that things are deteriorating I hope I’m wrong. NHS Dental care has been hived of NHS facilities at Nobles closed and there is a brouhaha about Consultants pay. It's hard not to see health service morale being further battered. Oh! Have health workers had their pay settled yet?

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Jim Masson at Down News has an interesting article here on the challenges facing small fishing ports around the Irish Sea as vessels have become much larger and literally have to squeeze into the harbours on a high tide.

He highlights the problems of under investment in the ports which traditionally were associated with long standing fisheries such as herring and prawns (link):

https://www.downnews.co.uk/herring-season-starts-in-ardglass/

Bernard Moffatt

I

Jim Masson at Down News has an interesting article here on the challenges facing small fishing ports around the Irish Sea as vessels have become much larger and literally have to squeeze into the harbours on a high tide.

He highlights the problems of under investment in the ports which traditionally were associated with long standing fisheries such as herring and prawns (link):

https://www.downnews.co.uk/herring-season-starts-in-ardglass/

Bernard Moffatt

‘I find it interesting that environmentalists and campaigners are now agitated because dredged sediment will be dumped close to home and yet no one seems to have become exercised when it was being dumped 16 miles offshore between Mann and the North of Ireland.’

Visions can be costly things. When Mary Beirne had a vision at Knock, Co Mayo they ended up with a massive airport that no one really needs. So when ‘Popeye’ (aka Alex Allinson) says people are seeing ‘a five year vision’ up at the MUA at Ballacottier it fills me with trepidation. Allison is holding forth about ‘rebalancing’ tariffs on MTTV the more he says the more I would like to rebalance a political baseball bat over his head.

I predicted that there might be problems with Interpol's choice of a senior Chinese Security official as its head and so there is (see link below). However even my bizarre imagination could not have predicted this twist.

Interpol boss Meng Hongwei has been disappeared. Some may think this is poetic justice to a man who inflicted the same fate on thousands of Tibetans Uighurs and other minority groups in China but the icing on the cake is that Interpol is so shallow even it doesn’t want to help track down its boss.

OK I’m a cynic! I want to believe that Treasury Minister Alf Cannan MHK wants to engage with people and have them inform his decision making process when he frames the budget. Alf to me is a pain in the neck but as I have a pain in the chest already I can do without getting all vitriolic and adding to it.

I happen to believe that the IOM government frames its needs around the business community rather than the desires or input of ‘the man in the Onchan omnibus’ however I haven't arrived at that view via cynicism but through observation.

Things are looking gloomy at ‘the shed on the head’ it's still losing money but Manx Radio Chairman Bill Mummery says this is ‘progress’. You tend to think if Bill was on the Apprentice someone would be saying ‘You’re fired’:

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/another-annual-loss-for-...

I muse I wonder why/how Bill was appointed I never did get a clear answer from Howard to that query, Was chairing Manx Radio a prize at some Chamber of Commerce Xmas shindig?