[BBC News] Race accident figures 'worrying'

[The_Godfather]

I must admit, it will be interesting to see where the IOM stands in 20 years or so. With the EU, UK and OECD doing their best to kill the finance industry and the comeovers and some locals trying to kill the only bit of tourism that remains, the future looks pretty bleak. One thing to keep in mind is when it all goes tits up, the comeovers will bugger off home and leave the locals to pick up the pieces.

 

Sad but very true buddy, and the dozen or so Manx left here including myself will have a bit of a job on our hands...

[3v0]

I must admit, it will be interesting to see where the IOM stands in 20 years or so. With the EU, UK and OECD doing their best to kill the finance industry and the comeovers and some locals trying to kill the only bit of tourism that remains, the future looks pretty bleak. One thing to keep in mind is when it all goes tits up, the comeovers will bugger off home and leave the locals to pick up the pieces.

 

Sad but very true buddy, and the dozen or so Manx left here including myself will have a bit of a job on our hands...

 

Totally right, I love living over here, but when the place is trashed, no more offshore business, no need for all the supporting companies keeping the financial institutions running and no tourism to fall back on, then there is going to be nothing here for me and i'll be on the first boat out in the morning

 

Won't be staying in that shithole they call england either though

[Wake Up Call]

The Flouride debate has been settled today via an independant telephone survey of a thousand residents.

 

Has the Government got the nerve to apply the same process to determine the following issues,

 

Do the Manx public want the TT to continue?

 

Do the Manx public want a national speed limit?

 

 

Seems easy enough to me and it has already been used on a significant political issue.

 

Why not?

[pongo]

With the EU, UK and OECD doing their best to kill the finance industry

 

The damning OECD report was being prepared a decade years ago and is now out of date. The IOM responded to the criticisms - which couldn't be ignored. The island now has much tighter regulation - and this has been recognized internationally. For example the island is now negotiating double taxation agreements with more and more countries. The island enjoys good relations with EU countries and the OECD. The financial threat we face is world economic depression. The same worries which everyone faces. We're in a much stronger position to face it as a result of the changes.

 

The TT, speed limits, proper safety legislation etc - all of that is a completely different matter. It seems disingenuous to attempt to link that with proper international financial regulation - as if it all change somehow collectively represented outsiders having a go at the cherished values.

 

Motorsport isn't some ancient Manx tradition - it's less than 100 years old* and isn't even especially Manx. Manx people are as divided ** about its merits as everyone else. It's not an issue of national self determination.

 

* ok slightly more.

 

** and when I say 'divided'- I mean mixed opinions

[rallybug]

Do the Manx public want a national speed limit?

 

They've already done that one, and a small majority voted no - democracy in action, even with the somewhat biased way the DoT set the questions.

[rallybug]

The damning OECD report was being prepared a decade years ago and is now out of date. The IOM responded to the criticisms - which couldn't be ignored. The island now has much tighter regulation - and this has been recognized internationally. For example the island is now negotiating double taxation agreements with more and more countries. The island enjoys good relations with EU countries and the OECD. The financial threat we face is world economic depression. The same worries which everyone faces. We're in a much stronger position to face it as a result of the changes.

 

The TT, speed limits, proper safety legislation etc - all of that is a completely different matter. It seems disingenuous to attempt to link that with proper international financial regulation - as if it all change somehow collectively represented outsiders having a go at the cherished values.

 

Motorsport isn't some ancient Manx tradition - it's less than 100 years old* and isn't even especially Manx. Manx people are as divided ** about its merits as everyone else. It's not an issue of national self determination.

 

* ok slightly more.

 

** and when I say 'divided'- I mean mixed opinions

 

I was listening on Manx Radio to Alan Bell's talk with the Chamber of Commerce, and he said that the IOM had been put on an 'interim' white list for money laundering etc, but that Russia was on the full white-list, and that even the Russian Ambassador in London was embarassed over that response! Does that say something about the international community? Maybe that politically, it wouldn't be good to allow the IOM onto the white-list, even if it was the best regulated jursidiction in the world.

[Cambon]

With the EU, UK and OECD doing their best to kill the finance industry

 

The damning OECD report was being prepared a decade years ago and is now out of date. The IOM responded to the criticisms - which couldn't be ignored. The island now has much tighter regulation - and this has been recognized internationally. For example the island is now negotiating double taxation agreements with more and more countries. The island enjoys good relations with EU countries and the OECD. The financial threat we face is world economic depression. The same worries which everyone faces. We're in a much stronger position to face it as a result of the changes.

 

 

Ok, That is the OECD report. The relationship that IOM (and all other offshore jurisdictions) has with Europe, Uk, etc. is good, and will stay good provided we bend over and let them shaft us repeatedly. At the moment we keep coming back for more but it will end.

 

My thread was not comparing the finance industry with the TT, but pointing out that finance and tourism are two of the main income streams for the IOM.

 

The key to the success of any business or brand is reinvention. The finance industry is constantly having to reinvent itself, I know, I have been part of the reinvention for over 20 year.

 

The TT is trying to reinvent itself and it's biggent threat is the cotton wool brigade and the come over nimbys. As I said in my previous post, when the finance industry dies, and it will, the come over nimbys will leave in their droves. The IOM will have to fund itself in other ways. Tourism is an area that can be exploited, especially with the cost of foreign travel rocketing. And yet, these people want to kill off the TT. They are completely blind and stupid.

[pongo]

The key to the success of any business or brand is reinvention ....

 

The TT is trying to reinvent itself and it's biggent threat is the cotton wool brigade and the come over nimbys

 

1. Are you absolutely certain that you are not blaming "the come over nimbys" for what is actually just an inevitable decline in interest? My experience is that locals and come-overs are equally pro / anti the TT. More than that: most people seem to have mixed opinions. Only a relative few actually love the event - and they would be a mixture of locals and come - overs. Ditto those who want it scrapped.

 

2. Watching a documentary about the TT on TV recently, the event seemed to be mostly run and staffed by a bunch of elderly men. Perhaps that isn't really true. Sometimes older men are not particularly good and imagining change. When you reinvent something - often that change will not be popular with a core element of your previously loyal constituency - you lose some of them. The challenge is to bring in a whole new audience who are attracted by the changes.

 

3. When the TT began - motor racing was at the cutting edge of the new vehicle technology. It isn't clear to me how the TT organizers propose to reinvent the TT such that it will bring in a whole new crowd. Perhaps they should introduce a series of an all electric vehicle events. That might attract a whole new crowd with money. It would certainly represent a reinvention.

[Jimcalagon]

The TT is trying to reinvent itself and it's biggent threat is the cotton wool brigade and the come over nimbys. As I said in my previous post, when the finance industry dies, and it will, the come over nimbys will leave in their droves. The IOM will have to fund itself in other ways. Tourism is an area that can be exploited, especially with the cost of foreign travel rocketing. And yet, these people want to kill off the TT. They are completely blind and stupid.

 

You seem to think that all 'come overs' hate the TT. In my experience a lot of 'come overs' are here because they love the TT and the island, not despite them. I came to the island because, yes, I was offered a well paid job here and I like the place. When I was made redundant here a year ago (because of tax changes imposed by the UK government) I could have gone back to the UK but didn't - I took a much lower wage to stay on the island.

 

If anything is going to likely to drive people away it's the attitude of blinkered, bitter bigots like yourself - thankfully a minority of the Manx people. Ever thought of going into politics?

[Albert Tatlock]

Perhaps they should introduce a series of an all electric vehicle events. That might attract a whole new crowd with money. It would certainly represent a reinvention.

Yeah - let's hold the 'Wacky Races' over here? With VIPs (Very Irritating People) allowed to race, I'm sure Adrian Earnshaw would make a natural Dick Dastardly and Bruce Hannay a great Muttley.

[Jimcalagon]

3. When the TT began - motor racing was at the cutting edge of the new vehicle technology. It isn't clear to me how the TT organizers propose to reinvent the TT such that it will bring in a whole new crowd. Perhaps they should introduce a series of an all electric vehicle events. That might attract a whole new crowd with money. It would certainly represent a reinvention.

 

We should have a leg of the rocket racing league over here. I'd pay to see that!

[Jimcalagon]

Yeah - let's hold the 'Wacky Races' over here? With VIPs (Very Irritating People) allowed to race, I'm sure Adrian Earnshaw would make a natural Dick Dastardly and Bruce Hannay a great Muttley.

 

[Cambon]

If anything is going to likely to drive people away it's the attitude of blinkered, bitter bigots like yourself - thankfully a minority of the Manx people. Ever thought of going into politics?

 

Thanks, but I am a come over. I love the TT, but the plain truth is that most of the anti TT brigade ARE come overs.

 

As for the "Elderly" people who run the TT - fine. However the reinvention is being driven by people like Richard "Milky" Quayle who is doing a fantastic job at attracting new riders (like Steve Plater) and consequently new fans. On top of that, look at the amount of coverage the TT had on TV this year. Every night on ITV4, most nights on BBC NI and a round up on BBC2. It has never had so much exposure, and there is no such thing as bad publicity.

 

Edit to add - I could not go into politics, I could not afford the pay cut!

[VinnieK]

The TT is trying to reinvent itself and it's biggent threat is the cotton wool brigade and the come over nimbys. As I said in my previous post, when the finance industry dies, and it will, the come over nimbys will leave in their droves. The IOM will have to fund itself in other ways. Tourism is an area that can be exploited

 

As has been stated by others, the biggest threat to the TT isn't the cotton wool brigade or nimbyism, it's disinterest pure and simple. The idea that opinion is polarised between pro and anti is convenient for the purpose of arguing from principal, but inaccurate. I'm willing to bet a fair number of people simply don't enjoy the TT enough, or care enough about it to be detemined that it stay.

 

I'm not that interested in the races, I find the entertainment is dire, and the yearly ritual of jostling around the tent got boring about half an hour after it first opened when it became clear that it was just an even less appealing Bushy's with little to recommend it beyond the chance to see some guy do a doughnut, or some ming mong riding past with her knockers out. Nor am I convinced that the TT's an integral part of our heritage or our economy, so why should I care if the races end?

 

So long as those who love the TT argue against cotton wool nimbys, they're going to be at a growing disadvantage since they're not actually addressing those who simply find no glamour or fun in either the races or its accompanying spectacle.

[Wake Up Call]

Do the Manx public want a national speed limit?

 

They've already done that one, and a small majority voted no - democracy in action, even with the somewhat biased way the DoT set the questions.

 

You missed my point. The DoT effort was a postal farce.

If the Government asked the same independant survey specialist to do a similar phone questionaire as what they did for the flouridation issue, surely that will give a fair representation of what the Manx public really wants in respect to TT and speed limits?