Mann: Let’s Get Real!

This news published by the Celtic League:

Mann: Let’s Get Real!

NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE

Two stories running on Manx Radio news today would seem to beg the question has the Isle of Man become a ‘cacotopian’ society i.e. ‘not a good place’.

Of course, I don’t mean in terms of its environment (although the government seems set on undermining that) or the general good neighbourliness of its people but rather the way government and institutions of government behave.

The first story reveals that the long awaited planning application for the ‘toxic tip’ site at Poortown has been lodged and will be ‘considered’ i.e. approved or rejected by the Council of Ministers.

Now for the avoidance of doubt there is not ‘a snowballs chance in hell’ that this plan will be given either proper scrutiny or rejected. The reason of course is that whilst COMIN deliberations on the operation to remove the toxic brew from Peel Harbour are getting into their third week the glorified hole in the ground (sometimes referred to by government as a specially ‘engineered site’) is steadily filling up.

During the process of compiling the plan not surprisingly – since this is probably the worst operation since the term ‘Heath Robinson’ came into modern parlance – developments at the site have changed.

The site planning application has spilled from one field over into another as the ‘planners’ (I use the term loosely) realise that ‘settlement lagoons’ were necessary (originally two but now further multiplied) so that the flow of the heavy metal toxins back to Peel harbour via the River Neb would have to be paced.

The announcement of a ‘planning application’ on Manx Radio is therefore just a charade, but we have to give full marks to the stations news presenters for not bursting into hysterical laughter as they read the item.

If that was not ‘side-splitting’ enough further down the news there was another item about the Isle of Man Constabulary and DHA Minister Juan Watterson warbling on about…well I won’t be sarcastic I’ll post the original, I couldn’t better it!

http://www.manxradio.com/newsread.aspx?id=76454

Now, this is the same Police Force who still has to catch the Burglars who ran riot on the Island this year undermining public confidence in home and personal security in a manner without precedent.

Last week the Police even gave themselves a series of awards at an annual event with the same element of pathetic farce as today’s Ministerial utterances.

The two stories to my mind illustrate a government that is both out of touch and arrogant at the same time.

CELTIC LEAGUE (Manx branch) utterances quite frequently attract criticism but of late I’ve noticed my (e)mail box seems to be filled with views from Manx residents who concur. The common thread running through them is that people (and interestingly it seems to be at all levels) are cheesed of by a government that feeds them lies and rips them off.

Now lest I get taken to task by the media who interpret this article as an attack on them it is not!

The difficulty facing the media is that when they do pose awkward questions (actually I mean the questions that the Manx public really want asking) they get stonewalled or slapped down.

A case in point was a few days ago when a young Manx Radio reporter asked Health Minister Howard Quayles CEO (Father Fintan Stack lookalike) Mark Charters if the trip to New Zealand to study the ‘Canterbury Model’ was really necessary when the same ‘model’ of health care was in operation in the North of England. The answer: ‘let’s get real’!

Politicians and their ‘ADCs’ trailing around the world to look at esoteric ‘models’ of health care when most people have difficulty getting an appointment ‘within months’ with a DHSS Dentist – who needs to get real?

Maybe the Manx public should ‘get real’ with this government before it’s too late!

J B Moffatt (Mr)
Director of Information
Celtic League

01/05/15

(Please note that replies to correspondence received by the League and posted on CL News are usually scanned hard copies. Obviously every effort is made to ensure the scanning process is accurate but sometimes errors do occur.)

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