Is 23 Too Young To Be An Mhk?

[nipper]

I've just heard the young fella say on Manx Radio's Opinion Programme:

 

I've just finished being a young person - there's absolutely nothing to do on this Island

 

When I grew up on this Island I had a great time. I grew up as a member of various sporting clubs - including sea and shore fishing, swimming, football and motorcycling. I was in various musical societies such as brass bands, rock bands and orchestras. I loved my childhood, certainly never bored. My problem was finding time to fit it all in.

 

And not a video or computer game in sight. No NSC either although I have to admit to the occasional trip to Summerland to go rollerskating!

 

It seemed to me that this chap was trying to 'get down' with the audience who were from Ballakermen school. His remark was met with a wall of silence. The audience seemed to be a well adjusted group of intelligent youngsters who had full enough lives.

 

I doubt he would get my vote, not this time anyway.

[VinnieK]

Dosser should rightly be applauded for standing, but judging by his manifesto, it's difficult to see what, if anything, he promises to bring to the political scene of the Island.

 

Although it is unreasonable to expect any candidate's manifesto to be comprised of detailed plans, an outline of the candidate's political beliefs and ideas is usually not too much to ask, and indeed is necessary if the electorate is to make an informed decision as to their suitability for office. Dosser's manifesto gives us little to go on, instead comprising of little more than a general acknowledgement of the Island's problems, effectively doing little but posing the same questions everyone else is asking.

 

Take for instance the section on the Health Service:

 

"We are justifiably proud of the Island's health services and of the people who work in it. However, during the last term of government we have lived with the constant threat of cuts to front line services despite the huge amount of investment that has taken place"

 

Ok, so the health service is generally great, and we should make sure it stays that way by countering anything that may threaten it, such as "weak financial management", and we can do this by ensuring we "increase efficiency" and by the proper allocation of resources.

 

Given the massive issue that health care is for virtually every last member of the electorate, this manifesto offers a pretty glib response to their concerns. Indeed, we can effectively boil Dosser's policy on Health down to "Make sure the bosses are doing a good job", which in all its vagueness is little help in identifying his intentions, never mind differentiating them from any other candidates. Indeed, "efficiency" is one of the stock responses of political parties to an issue, and one which some political commentators have unkindly taken to indicate a lack of any genuine ideas.

 

It's a theme that runs through the entire manifesto, the entire first page of which can be summarised (with little or no loss of detail) to

 

Health: Great, lets keep it that way by improving efficiency.

Education: Education is great, but let's make sure the bosses have the powers to perform their jobs.

Housing: Housing is a problem. We need new initiatives.

Migration: Shouldn't be allowed to get out of control. We need a new residency bill.

Pensions: A problem that we need to assess.

 

or, put more succinctly,

 

"X doesn't work, we need to fix it".

 

Which of course the electorate already knows - if we were living in some utopia where everything worked we wouldn't have any need for an election. What we need is to see solutions presented to us so that we may choose, by voting for one candidate over another, the one we think best, and although Dosser boasts that he offers "proposals and policies on how we should deal with them (challenges and issues)" he does little other than reiterate our concerns and make the same kind of vague gestures that any politician would.

 

To be fair, he seems to be on firmer ground regarding crime, the environment, and local issues, but even so, where he makes proposals they are either so vague as to give the impression that little consideration of the surrounding issues has gone into their formulation, or so narrow in scope that he confronts only half of the issue.

 

As an example consider Dosser's response to environmental issues: We are told that "a cost effective recycling service would be a viable but practical step in the right direction. ". This is an improvement on his previous efforts, but not much of one. Of course such a service would be viable, that's implicit in the condition that it's cost effective, but there's no guarrantee that such a service exists, or consideration of how we would go about setting up such a service (should we process recycling on Island? ship it off to England for processing?), or of the impact such a service would have on existing services. Also, although he does better for the section of crime, making a legitimate contribution to the political discourse, it seems strange that a candidate for election would, as Dosser does, completely ignore the Police service and its future when discussing his policies on crime, focusing entirely on the judicial aspect of crime.

 

I can't help but get the idea that Dosser would probably be better suited to partisan politics, specifically a junior role in a particular department where he can play to his strengths (namely law and the judiciary). This might be unfair, and there's every possibility that he'll be absolutely brilliant in office, but, based on his manifesto, it's difficult to see how he's any different to any other candidate prepared to spend five minutes nodding sympathetically and making bland pronouncements about initiatives that no one could possibly disagree with.

[VinnieK]

I thought being able to openly discuss and question the qualities and merits of a potential candidate or those in power was one of the corner stones of a liberal democratic society.

 

Now we learn it's just whinging.

 

Best start ammending those copies of On Liberty.

[stookie]

Don't worry Vinnie - he's in my constituency, he's clueless and he won't be getting a sympathy (ahhh, the young lads got guts to stand for MHK, blah, blah, blah) vote from me or anyone in our house.

 

We already have too many lame policitians without encouraging this lad (works at McDonalds I learned today + he describes himself as an HR manager = he's in charge of the hiring and firing at Maccas - not exactly using his degree much is he?) to indulge in a lifetime of same.

 

In a democratic society, I'm exercising my right of free speech and don't care if his mum describes that as whinging.

[The Agitator]

is this the prick that was on manx radio saying criminals should meet their victims to make friends rather than go to jail - dosser the tosser, he wont get my vote!

(as im in South Douglas)

 

Another left wing tosser! ..... poor criminals..... lets give them a cash handouts too and let them rape our kids, rob our houses, beat up our elderly..... He is right, jail is not the answer.. if i was standing id agree, except at that point my view would go towards capital punishment, not kiss and make up! - The man is an idiot

[LoneWolf]

is this the prick that was on manx radio saying criminals should meet their victims to make friends rather than go to jail - dosser the tosser, he wont get my vote!

(as im in South Douglas)

 

Another left wing tosser! ..... poor criminals..... lets give them a cash handouts too and let them rape our kids, rob our houses, beat up our elderly..... He is right, jail is not the answer.. if i was standing id agree, except at that point my view would go towards capital punishment, not kiss and make up! - The man is an idiot

 

I always thought real left wingers favoured the Gulag system.

I take it you arent impressed with Mr Dosser?

[VinnieK]

is this the prick that was on manx radio saying criminals should meet their victims to make friends rather than go to jail - dosser the tosser, he wont get my vote!

 

To be fair to him, he doesn't say that at all. In his manifesto he makes it quite specific that he believes custodial senses are appropriate for serious offences, but counter productive for minor ones. I don't agree with him in certain regards, and think more could have been said on the matter, but I can understand his reasoning.

[The Agitator]

No. im not impressed at all.

 

Crims go to jail. we dont want them meeting us face to face to say soweeeeeeeeeee.

 

anyway, hes talking bollocks, they dont send people to jail for petty things. they let more of them off. you hear it all the time on the radio that someones been given suspended sentences, that wont put them off, they just try harder not to get caught. BANG EM UP!

[LoneWolf]

I cant really say any of the candidates have put forward a thought out policy on crime.

It isnt sufficient to say bang them up in prison.

I dont want to sound like Tony Blair but we really do need policies to address crime and the causes of crime.

What would such a policy look like? How could they be set out in a manifesto for people to read ....

 

Coming from my belief that crime is caused by alienation [specifically inequality and drug misuse] and inappropriate policing .........

 

Tough on Crime?

A decent justice system, accountable to local communites by means of an elected Judiciary.

 

Tough on the Causes of Crime?

 

Policing should be in the control of local communities and police policies should be framed by those advocated by local communities.

 

Every school leaver should have the right to high quality training either via a job or college place.

 

Everyone should have the right to free education without reference to age.

 

For a minimum wage set at a realistic level for all. No exemptions.

 

There should be democratic community action to tackle crime.

 

Drug related crime should be tackled head on by providing treatment maintenance and counselling for addicts. A proper monitoring system for local communities including treatment centres set up with the agreement of communities to treat local addicts.

 

I am not saying this is the best policy to tackle crime. [although I think it is] I am suggesting to candidates that perhaps they might set down a little more detail in their manifestos regading crime and its prevention.

It isnt that difficult to set down broadbrush policies.

[VinnieK]

I cant really say any of the candidates have put forward a thought out policy on crime.

 

Or any other policy in fact. Looking at the websites of some of the candidates (via IoM elections), it seems that most of them go into greater detail discussing their immediate family and personal history than their policies (favourite irrelevant detail so far: "My first achievement came when I won (some contest for attractive babies or something)". Brilliant! Here's the department of health, do with it as you will).

 

Having said that, and even though the bulk of most of their manifestos is made up of populist waffle and stock response, they at least have written at greater length on the issues that concern them in their manifestos than Andrew Dossor has. I know it's labouring the point somewhat, but one paragraph each for education, housing, immigration, and pensions, with a health policy that doesn't go beyond seven lines is, to put no finer point on it, taking the piss.

[Declan]

Vinnie’s analysis of Dosser's manifesto is an accurate assessment of far too many of the candidates. Look at this guy!

 

We got his manifesto - you could fit it into your wallet.

 

What I stand for:

 

- Effective immigration control, only allowing people with the skills we need

- Responsive housing policy to meet needs

- More relevant education policy

- Open and accountable Government with a Freedom of Information Act

- An Elected Legislative Council

- Sustainable solutions on pensions

- A representative voice in Tynwald

- Power for local authorities to better serve their communities

 

 

What I offer:

 

- Long term solutions to the Island's problems

- An MHK who understands finance

- A candidate with a sense of local community and heritage

- An enquiring, probing mind and a willingness to speak out

 

Other than telling us he is 26, a Chartered Accountant and has a "degree" in something called "Management" from the University of Lincoln (?), that's it.

 

So basically all he's told us is he knows how to count, but not how to write in sentences.

 

The worrying thing is his manifesto is not greatly different from the others we've received, just shorter. When there's a low turn-out on election day, all the candidates will bleat on about voter apathy, but the natural reaction to something lacklustre is apathy.

[stookie]

A decent justice system, accountable to local communites by means of an elected Judiciary.

 

There should be democratic community action to tackle crime.

 

Drug related crime should be tackled head on by providing treatment maintenance and counselling for addicts. A proper monitoring system for local communities including treatment centres set up with the agreement of communities to treat local addicts.

 

So back to mob rule for you then - where should we put our hanging tree in Onchan? Seriously, you cannot have the judiciary acting according to whether they will be re-elected - that would just be stupid

 

What exactly is drug related crime? Are you talking about the possession/use of banned substances, the sale of them or the crime needed to fund a drugs habit. I accept there is such a thing as addiction, but doesn't everyone have a choice before they risk that? I had a choice and chose not to bother. In spite of more of our children than ever getting a better education and allegedly better standards of education in our schools, how is it more of them are dumb enough to make a bad (and illegal) choice? Too many bleeding hearts, that's the problem.

 

Why don't we use this as a policy on law and order for discussion:

 

Tynwald prescribes penalties for breaking the law

Ignorance of the law is no defence against breaking it

If you are caught breaking the law you will receive the penalty prescribed, no exceptions

If you protect someone you know has broken/is breaking the law you will be liable to the same penalty as the offendor

[VinnieK]

That's absolutely terrible.

 

I don't think that we really need to be told that a candidate is in favour of "effective immigration control", "responsive housing policies", "a relevant education policy", and "sustainable solutions on pensions", the only time it could ever be of any use is if the only other candidate was a cartoon supervillain promised "mayhem, chaos, and dystopian horror" as part of his election campaign.

 

However, he does at least provide greater detail here. It's a bit treacle and waffle and short on subtance in places, but at least it's there. One of the disappointments of this election is how similar the new, younger candidates appear to be to their predecessors. Take away the pictures and the bio and you could be reading the manifesto of any token near-retiree looking at grabbing that "pillar of the community" spot. The more I read of the candidates' literature the more the prime motivation for running seems to be that first amongst equals cachet of government.

[LoneWolf]

A decent justice system, accountable to local communites by means of an elected Judiciary.

 

There should be democratic community action to tackle crime.

 

Drug related crime should be tackled head on by providing treatment maintenance and counselling for addicts. A proper monitoring system for local communities including treatment centres set up with the agreement of communities to treat local addicts.

 

So back to mob rule for you then - where should we put our hanging tree in Onchan? Seriously, you cannot have the judiciary acting according to whether they will be re-elected - that would just be stupid

 

What exactly is drug related crime? Are you talking about the possession/use of banned substances, the sale of them or the crime needed to fund a drugs habit. I accept there is such a thing as addiction, but doesn't everyone have a choice before they risk that? I had a choice and chose not to bother. In spite of more of our children than ever getting a better education and allegedly better standards of education in our schools, how is it more of them are dumb enough to make a bad (and illegal) choice? Too many bleeding hearts, that's the problem.

 

Why don't we use this as a policy on law and order for discussion:

 

Tynwald prescribes penalties for breaking the law

Ignorance of the law is no defence against breaking it

If you are caught breaking the law you will receive the penalty prescribed, no exceptions

If you protect someone you know has broken/is breaking the law you will be liable to the same penalty as the offendor

 

Actually you dickhead I was demonstrating it was not difficult for a candidate to write down some policies on his or her manifesto.

Had you read the post instead of engaging fingers on keyboard .............

[sarahc]

That's absolutely terrible.

 

I don't think that we really need to be told that a candidate is in favour of "effective immigration control", "responsive housing policies", "a relevant education policy", and "sustainable solutions on pensions", the only time it could ever be of any use is if the only other candidate was a cartoon supervillain promised "mayhem, chaos, and dystopian horror" as part of his election campaign.

 

Given my choice in Douglas West, I might be quite tempted if this guy stepped up this morning: