Alf is the patron saint of flummery!

Alf Cannan gets a further helping in the portal and Tim seems to have a brand new white shirt for the occasion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=29&v=tT1R3sNIoqc

Although I’m caustic about these interviews it's not because they take place and provide me with an opportunity for cynicism but because they fail to realise any substance.

Let's be blunt whoever is Treasury Minister has an impact on our life. I mean from the halcyon days of Alfs dad in the late 1980s to the austerity of Eddie it's important to know what a Treasury Minister thinks and says.

However Alf says nothing he deals in the non specific, vagaries and generalisms at the end of the interview you are less wise than when it started I sometimes think if you are idling away a few minutes better to watch it without sound.

I love the Isle of Man and I respect its institutions but with this regime and to a certain extent the last my patience is wearing thin. Does that matter well yes it does because disagreement is fine (I’ve disagreed with a lot of governments) but when counter argument turns to outright contempt for government then it will corrode a community. We are in my view closer to that now than we ever were.

At the Mec Vannin meeting last night this issue of government obfuscation came up several times as we were discussing a wide range of issues from the Economic Development Fund, ‘Manx Jobs for Manx Workers’ to the detail on International Aid and Business Relocation ‘grants’ of our money from government. One of the things that is apparent (and which MV will be seeking clarification) on is the lack of detail surrounding a great number of matters. The government talk to business cabals such as the Chamber but not to the people - THAT IS WRONG!

Why should a political party or indeed an individual have to write to SEEK THE DETAIL around events? Our media should in these difficult times he holding the likes of the Chief Minister, Treasury Minister or Reform Minister to account and presenting this information to us on a plate!

Personally I don’t care if interviewers like Tim Glover etc undertake the interview wearing a boiler suit provided they hold the feet of the relevant Minister to the fire.

We cannot allow Ministers the largesse of evasion or obfuscation. People need and deserve FULL answers to the important questions of the day. Alf is becoming ‘the patron saint of flummery’ his meaningless and insincere words seep out like beaten egg but this dish is not sweet. The media meanwhile are letting him and others away with it. At the end of the day WE pay the Ministers wages and come to that the interviewers of the State broadcaster as well! We deserve respect not contempt.

Bernard Moffatt