IOM Covid removing restrictions

[the stinking enigma]

We have a lot to offer. Our children's livelihoods so a load of buy to letters can cash in on the fact they need somewhere to live being the main one.

Edited October 27, 2020 by the stinking enigma

[pongo]

3 hours ago, Phillip Dearden said:

On the IOM most of the wealth creation is the export of Financial Services products (and some manufacturing) . Without that, the rest would not happen. Without outside contact, the relationships that facilitate those sales will degrade.

Even much of what we would once have thought of as relationship building is today online (and often algorithmic). Look at how important search is today (and there are a few here doing great selling that). 

The younger or more techy you are, the less likely that actual physical proximity matters. Any business which depends on a handshake was already on the way to being done long before Covid. And (tbh) why base here if a handshake still matters?

Also - wealth creation here is not only "Financial Services products (and some manufacturing)". What about gaming, for example? Amd what about services in general?

[Phillip Dearden]

45 minutes ago, pongo said:

 

Also - wealth creation here is not only "Financial Services products (and some manufacturing)". What about gaming, for example? Amd what about services in general?

I agree re gaming/gambling. That is a big part of the Island's economy. For me they are part of Financial Services even thought that may not accord with Govt/GDP definitions.

I don't know what "services in general" means.

 

[pongo]

1 minute ago, Phillip Dearden said:

I don't know what "services in general" means.

There are a lot of online services we can provide from here. Especially around analytics, coding etc etc. Even marketing driven and bespoke remote services.

Back to gaming - that's often much more of a drive-by or search driven thing IMO. vs, say,  traditional 'financial services' where I suspect that building a relationship matters much more. I don't see gaming as being part of 'financial services'. I wouldn't really class much of CPS as being essentially "financial services" either. Especially as many of the reasons for being incorporated here gradually change away from only being about tax.

[Barlow]

8 minutes ago, Phillip Dearden said:

I agree re gaming/gambling. That is a big part of the Island's economy. For me they are part of Financial Services even thought that may not accord with Govt/GDP definitions.

I don't know what "services in general" means.

 

I applaud your use of the word 'gambling', sir.

They like to call it 'gaming', which conjures up kids playing Space Invaders (I may be a couple of generations out here) in their bedroom.

Whereas there can few things sadder and life destroying than online roulette and other gambling.

Still, the Isle of Man needs to make a living and as long as there is gambling administered here, we can live and eat like lords and stave off the need for them spuds and herrin'.

[Black Mirror]

Yesterday Lord Sumption made a speech at the Cambridge Freshfields Annual Law Lecture. A lengthy speech that makes a summary of UK government Covid response with a focus on the legal and constitutional implications; some parts of his analysis are quite technical frankly and many of us will have little interest in it. Here I copy below only his conclusive remarks, without commenting on it. He is a throughout cool-headed man; must be said.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is a common delusion that authoritarian government is efficient. It does not waste time in argument or debate. Strongmen get things done. Historical experience should warn us that this idea is usually wrong. The concentration of power in a small number of hands and the absence of wider deliberation and scrutiny enables governments to make major decisions on the hoof, without proper forethought, planning or research. 

Within the government’s own ranks, it promotes loyalty at the expense of wisdom, flattery at the expense of objective advice. The want of criticism encourages self-confidence, and self-confidence banishes moderation and restraint. Authoritarian rulers sustain themselves in power by appealing to the emotional and the irrational in collective opinion. The present government’s mishandling of Covid-19 exemplifies all of these vices. 

Whatever one might think about the merits of its decisions, it is impossible to think well of the process which produced them, which can only be described as jerky, clumsy, inconsistent and poorly thought out. There is not, and never has been an exit plan or anything that can be described as a long-term strategy – only a series of expedients. The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons reported in July that the lockdown was announced without any kind of cost-benefit analysis or advance planning for its disruptive economic effects. The many relevant social and educational considerations were disregarded in favour of an exclusive concentration on public health issues and only some of those. These are all classic problems of authoritarian government. It is habitually inefficient, destructive, blinkered and ultimately not even popular. The British public has not even begun to understand the seriousness of what is happening to our country. 

Many, perhaps most of them don’t care, and won’t care until it is too late. They instinctively feel that the end justifies the means, the motto of every totalitarian government which has ever been. Yet what holds us together as a society is precisely the means by which we do things. It is a common respect for a way of making collective decisions, even if we disagree with the decisions themselves. It is difficult to respect the way in which this government’s decisions have been made. It marks a move to a more authoritarian model of politics which will outlast the present crisis. There is little doubt that for some ministers and their advisers this is a desirable outcome. 

The next few years is likely to see a radical and lasting transformation of the relationship between the state and the citizen. With it will come an equally fundamental change in our relations with each other, a change characterised by distrust, resentment and mutual hostility. In the nature of things, authoritarian governments fracture the societies which they govern. The use of political power as an instrument of mass coercion is corrosive. It divides and it embitters. In this case, it is aggravated by the sustained assault on social interaction which will sooner or later loosen the glue that helped us to deal with earlier crises. The unequal impact of the government’s measures is eroding any sense of national solidarity. The poor, the inadequately housed, the precariously employed and the socially isolated have suffered most from the government’s. Above all, the young, who are little affected by the disease itself, have been made to bear almost all the burden, in the form of blighted educational opportunities and employment prospects whose effects will last for years. Their resentment of democratic forms, which was already noticeable before the epidemic, is mounting, as recent polls have confirmed. 

The government has discovered the power of public fear to let it get its way. It will not forget. Aristotle argued in his Politics that democracy was an inherently defective and unstable form of government. It was, he thought, too easily subverted by demagogues seeking to obtain or keep power by appeals to public emotion and fear. What has saved us from this fate in the two centuries that democracy has subsisted in this country is a tradition of responsible government, based not just on law but on convention, deliberation and restraint, and on the effective exercise of Parliamentary as opposed to executive sovereignty. But like all principles which depend on a shared political culture, this is a fragile tradition. It may now founder after two centuries in which it has served this country well. What will replace it is a nominal democracy, with a less deliberative and consensual style and an authoritarian reality which we will like a great deal less.

[Gladys]

Thank you BM, beyond the current "inconveniences", there is a real threat to society, individual freedoms and our acceptance of the replacement of democracy with state paternalism.  

[Major Rushen]

France and Germany on full lockdown. Is there no other way?

[Gladys]

43 minutes ago, Gladys said:

Thank you BM, beyond the current "inconveniences", there is a real threat to society, individual freedoms and our acceptance of the replacement of democracy with state paternalism.  

I am surprised at the sad and confused emojis.  That is for the simple reason that we have to critically examine what our politicians do, and question where it will end up.  For me, one of the "mission creeps" over the last 20 years or so has been the replacement of blind observance of religion, to blind observance of government.  You know,  the politicians are only human, as stupid, intelligent, devious thoughtful, caring and shallow as the rest of us.  They have not assumed a god-like all knowing and wise understanding of everything on being elected, but remain human with all the frailties and strengths they had before. 

[Lxxx]

19 minutes ago, Major Rushen said:

France and Germany on full lockdown. Is there no other way?

Not for increasingly authoritarian governments. 

If the whole of the civil service as well as MP’s were forced to relinquish their salary during any lockdown I would interested to see how quick they would resort to it. See when you have no worries about whether the bills are being paid or your future income is under threat it’s a lot easier to tell others they need to shut up shop. 

[Max Power]

21 minutes ago, Gladys said:

I am surprised at the sad and confused emojis.  That is for the simple reason that we have to critically examine what our politicians do, and question where it will end up.  For me, one of the "mission creeps" over the last 20 years or so has been the replacement of blind observance of religion, to blind observance of government.  You know,  the politicians are only human, as stupid, intelligent, devious thoughtful, caring and shallow as the rest of us.  They have not assumed a god-like all knowing and wise understanding of everything on being elected, but remain human with all the frailties and strengths they had before. 

Quite frankly Gladys, they have gradually shown themselves to be worse than their previous counterparts as the century has unfolded. Their lofty positions have blinded them and raised them in their own estimations to the point where they believe that they are superior and all knowing, when nothing could be further from the truth. The pandemic is being used to reinforce their self engrandment and to strip away hard won liberties across the world. I think these are very dangerous times indeed! 

[Mr Helmut Fromage]

23 minutes ago, Max Power said:

Quite frankly Gladys, they have gradually shown themselves to be worse than their previous counterparts as the century has unfolded. Their lofty positions have blinded them and raised them in their own estimations to the point where they believe that they are superior and all knowing, when nothing could be further from the truth. The pandemic is being used to reinforce their self engrandment and to strip away hard won liberties across the world. I think these are very dangerous times indeed! 

@Rob Callisterthis sounds like a job for “The Peoples Prince”

A man who thoroughly fulfilled promises of a manifesto 

Maybe Onchan voters for Rob should wear Red Trump style hats to identity themselves - if he goes another full term he’s pension eligible at taxpayers expense which is his ambition 

5 more years 5 more years 5 more years.....

[finlo]

12 minutes ago, Mr Helmut Fromage said:

@Rob Callisterthis sounds like a job for “The Peoples Prince”

A man who thoroughly fulfilled promises of a manifesto 

Maybe Onchan voters for Rob should wear Red Trump style hats to identity themselves - if he goes another full term he’s pension eligible at taxpayers expense which is his ambition 

5 more years 5 more years 5 more years.....

Well, it is "the best club in the world"

[Max Power]

9 minutes ago, Mr Helmut Fromage said:

@Rob Callisterthis sounds like a job for “The Peoples Prince”

A man who thoroughly fulfilled promises of a manifesto 

Maybe Onchan voters for Rob should wear Red Trump style hats to identity themselves - if he goes another full term he’s pension eligible at taxpayers expense which is his ambition 

5 more years 5 more years 5 more years.....

To be fair, this applies to several governments across the world, we are so aware of the fallibility of our leaders, partly due to continuous news broadcasts and journalism, plus social media, which seems to expose the true nature of many politicians.  

[Uhtred]

Just now, finlo said:

Well, it is "the best club in the world"

I’d like to take a club to most of them.