Bernard Moffatt's blog

The Manx Treasury Minister Alf Cannan MHK seems intent on spoiling my day. This photo of him at the Conservative conference induced a bout of laughter in me which was most unpleasant as I have an irritated throat at present.

Alf is ‘hanging out’ with former Minister Nicky Morgan MP. Morgan is a somewhat controversial figure as the attached Wiki entry shows. She seems to have downers on more groups than your average Manx Radio talk show host.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicky_Morgan

Casting around for distractions (I think my glorious day out yesterday in the brisk air of Eary Cushlin may have induced the first signs of the murran) I find these personal comment from Manx Radio presenter Stuart Peters on Manx Forums:

“I have two thoughts on this, entirely personal as ever and no doubt unpopular with the chattering liberal classes:

1. Charity begins at home. Not one penny should be sent off-island while people here suffer any hardship that government could reasonably be expected to ameliorate. This clearly does not apply to the workshy or feckless.

‘Eary Cushlin has gone up market these days….I suppose before they turned the riff raff away and marketed it for self catering at 4* Gold £1500 a week the had a consultation if so fat lot of good that did!’

I’m back from a refreshing walk at Eary Cushlin humming ‘Oh Land of our Birth’ to myself and breathing in the smell of the gorse. Fortunately dodged the rain. After watching clouds wafted on a fair breeze traversing the sky and thinking this is heaven I’m down to earth with a bump.

Manx Radio has caught up on the postal workers discontent and has a story here:

How did I miss this MTTV gem I puzzle then I realise it went up only yesterday but appears to be about that media event that ‘Cannes shaky man’ was interviewed at last week.

This lady doesn’t jig around but talks calmly and serenely to Paul while constantly smiling. You know within a couple of seconds it's another media luvvie event and just to reinforce it around he pans. Are, I wonder all these folk, media folk? If we have such a plethora of talent then why is mainstream media so dire.

The Chief Minister is of to the Conservative conference after the previous outing to the Labour event.

It's difficult to quantify what value these expeditions are certainly for over three decades after the Island achieved control of fiscal levers domestically in the late sixties no governments saw the need for these type of trips. I think I can recall Walker and Cannan (the Senior) going to ‘Wimbledon’ on one occasion but I don’t remember them feeling the need to ‘move and shake’ with Margaret Thatcher.

Choices, choices! I’m trying to work out what to do on The International Day of Older Persons (UNIDOP) tomorrow and decide it should be something special. I’ve given up on the idea that Alf Cannan MHK will come up with some big gesture like announcing that in future his income tax buddies will take their foot of old peoples necks and stop terrifying them. Especially as happened last year when I went a couple of days over the deadline to pay up and was told ‘I could be charged interest’.

When your feeling a little down because it’s just two days away from the ‘International Day of Older Persons’ (UNIDOP and you just know Alf Cannan MHK has forgotten you and to add to that you are a tad hungover from having to much older persons beer I generally cheer myself up by having a look at the Chamber of Commerce News.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF OLDER PEOPLE

Latterly there has been a lot of talk from some COMIN members about the population demographic and the fact that are ageing population is a problem.

The postal workers Trade Union says it will fight cuts in services and according to the Manx Independent front page is even mulling over industrial action.

I reported on the meeting of workers discontented at possible changes in an earlier post (link at cdn):

https://www.facebook.com/crowndependencypoliticalnews/posts/205765896758...

The Isle of Man minimum wage increases from Monday next - if you can call it an increase - the level will still be below £8 an hour with 16-18 year old workers on less than £6.

Enterprise Minister Laurence Skelly MHK who was away this week ironically swanning around the LABOUR Party conference says: