The gulf between public opinion and our elected dictatorship on the User Agreement and its operation by the Steam Packet is staggering. They live in an Andersonopia¹ where a majorityof their out-of-touch selves rarely see a ferry from their first class perch on a plane out of here.

I'm sure, like me most are bloody angry that a foreign owned company have an Isle of Man Government  agreed monopoly that ensures 36% profits² for them and a shoestring service for us with a backup that is not designed to handle Irish Sea winters.  Do they want to change this, do they heck! That might mean real political work.

The most recent illustration is the Department of Infrastructure's invitation to have an invitation (also known as 'Prior Information Notice' or PIN) this invitation was made on the 18th DECEMBER and elapses on 7th JANUARY.

Now, think.

Just suppose you wanted as few ferry operators as possible responding, what would you do?

Got it, let's have an invitation arranged for a minimum period, say three weeks tops, and let's issue it a week before Xmas. That way most senior management will be on holiday and miss it.

If that's not going on, DoI have made sure we are going to think it. It looks like the DoI are playing games with what is absolutely critical and a strategic necessity to everyone on this Island, not just some crusty in DoI.

Following complaints I understand that this deadline will be extended. A shame they didn't have the vision to see this coming before...

Stupidity or arrogance? I have no idea.

Link to User Agreement

In a Andersonopian survey of Nobles consultants, a majority thought things were going swimmingly at Nobles; unfortunately, in a letter from them the opposite was true. They also love the ugliest nativity scene^tm ever displayed. They are now voting with their feet.

Last available figure. For some reason they won't let us see recent figures.

Government as a Single Legal Entity:

The Plans behind the Plan

by Tristram Llewellyn Jones

*  "That Tynwald endorses the report into Government as a Single Legal Entity by Sir John Elvidge and requests the Council of Ministers to report to Tynwald, by no later than June 2015, with recommendations on the means of implementing the proposals contained in the report."

Attachments:

File	File size	Downloads
Government as a Single Legal Entity	427 Kb	129

Our first article (11/09) created quite a stir and so here are some further thoughts…...

A. Public Sector Pensions - Future Funding

It may be that the the mounting Public Sector Pension crisis is worse than thought.

In a detailed document published by the *Public Sector Pensions Authority, "IOM Government Unified Scheme 2011, Annual Report and Accounts 2012-2013" there is a gloomy set of notes at page 30 about the PSP funding gap. It is expected to "increase as a larger proportion of the Scheme's membership reaches retirement and that additional funding will be required from the Treasury".

It's worth reading this page in the Report, if nothing else.

The Government recently held a consultation to gather views on the Island’s current regime for identifying the beneficial ownership of companies, and whether a centralised registry of such information would improve transparency. This is in line with the governments G8 commitments.

Attached is both the initial consultation document and the PAG response.

Attachments:

File	File size	Downloads
Beneficial Ownership consultation	181 Kb	160
PAG Beneficial Ownership submission	33 Kb	178

In October 2013 this website published an article "Justice - truth in action"

It made the point that the public needs to have absolute confidence in our system of justice and referred to an inconsistency of approach in the Isle of Man.

Generally our police respond to drug offending with some vehemence as we are reminded this week via a report from EnergyFM:

"A 60-year-old man from Douglas has pleaded guilty to possessing and cultivating cannabis. Joseph Crook appeared at Douglas Courthouse yesterday charged with two offences.  He was stopped on Victoria Road by police on August 23rd who found he had a small amount of cannabis bush in his possession. In court Mr Crook also entered a guilty plea for cultivating four plants at a property in Douglas which were found on the same day. The case has now been adjourned for two weeks to allow the prosecutor to compile more evidence - Mr Crook will next appear in court on October 21st."