Spat between Chief Minister and Dr Glover

[display name]

7 hours ago, littlebushy said:

One of these is a tool, the other is a dysfunctional object.

They all suck

[The Voice of Reason]

23 hours ago, Non-Believer said:

Are you taking into account the fact that it never worked from the moment it was handed over to DBC? Who then also paid up over a sob story that the "manufacturers" would go bust if they didn't?

Your hero squandered an eighth of a million of ratepayers often hard-earned money. Try taking that into account.

“Your hero”?

I don’t have a hero so I don’t have to take anything into account.

I agree that the purchase of the chewing gum remover does not appear to have been the best decision, albeit with the best of intentions. With hindsight public and private enterprises, I and you ( I am sure) have all made decisions that haven’t worked out the way we would have wanted.

The corollary of course is that there has been expenditure of hard earned ratepayers money that has reaped dividends (before anyone inevitably says “ give an example” let’s say the refurbishment of the Villa Marina/Gaiety. This facility is undoubtedly an asset to the Island, whether or not profitable in financial terms)

I can’t comment on the “sob story “ as I have no evidence of its veracity. Be interested if you could provide some.
 

[Roger Mexico]

15 minutes ago, The Voice of Reason said:

The corollary of course is that there has been expenditure of hard earned ratepayers money that has reaped dividends (before anyone inevitably says “ give an example” let’s say the refurbishment of the Villa Marina/Gaiety. This facility is undoubtedly an asset to the Island, whether or not profitable in financial terms)

You are aware that the Villa has been owned by the Government since 2000?   And that the refurbishment took place after that?  And that the Government has owned the Gaiety since 1971?

So your best example of the beneficial use of ratepayers money is something that happened two decades ago and that the Corpy didn't do.

[Gladys]

14 minutes ago, The Voice of Reason said:

“Your hero”?

I don’t have a hero so I don’t have to take anything into account.

I agree that the purchase of the chewing gum remover does not appear to have been the best decision, albeit with the best of intentions. With hindsight public and private enterprises, I and you ( I am sure) have all made decisions that haven’t worked out the way we would have wanted.

The corollary of course is that there has been expenditure of hard earned ratepayers money that has reaped dividends (before anyone inevitably says “ give an example” let’s say the refurbishment of the Villa Marina/Gaiety. This facility is undoubtedly an asset to the Island, whether or not profitable in financial terms)

I can’t comment on the “sob story “ as I have no evidence of its veracity. Be interested if you could provide some.
 

Thing is, you learn from your mistakes and you also learn from others' mistakes.  

But more than that is the belief that winning an election suddenly endows you with superhuman powers.  What so often seems to be missing is a willingness or ability to correctly seek and interpret advice and apply a bit of prudent scepticism. There also seems to be a trait of following the advice which confirms preconceptions rather than that which has been fully scrutinised and questioned. 

For example, even though we seemingly had a cast of thousands in the gold and silver teams, (spreading the responsibility thin and wide), what we didn't have was a core team with appropriate knowledge and expertise to bounce things off, give a different perspective and view,  despite Tynwald requiring just that. 

[Gladys]

4 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

You are aware that the Villa has been owned by the Government since 2000?   And that the refurbishment took place after that?  And that the Government has owned the Gaiety since 1971?

So your best example of the beneficial use of ratepayers money is something that happened two decades ago and that the Corpy didn't do.

David got confused between his time in DBC and HOK. 

[Uhtred]

Ashford is Ray Reardon’s grandson.

[display name]

1 hour ago, Uhtred said:

Ashford is Ray Reardon’s grandson.

If that was true,poor Ray.

[Andy Onchan]

On 5/31/2021 at 10:47 AM, Shake me up Judy said:

Spot on that There's definitely something of the young Napoleon about Ashy.

Aye.... the Boy Napoleon has a certain je ne sais quoi about it.

[The Voice of Reason]

15 hours ago, Roger Mexico said:

You are aware that the Villa has been owned by the Government since 2000?   And that the refurbishment took place after that?  And that the Government has owned the Gaiety since 1971?

So your best example of the beneficial use of ratepayers money is something that happened two decades ago and that the Corpy didn't do.

Ah I wondered who would be the first to spot that!

[Itsmeee]

20 minutes ago, Roxanne said:

I still prefer the Boy Vampire. 

Moi aussi.

[Banker]

8 minutes ago, Roxanne said:

So the three active cases have been sent for genomics testing. Do we know where this genomics testing facility is based? 

Liverpool as far as I know as has been used for all others 

[The Dog's Dangly Bits]

26 minutes ago, Roxanne said:

So the three active cases have been sent for genomics testing. Do we know where this genomics testing facility is based? 

Yeh.

[display name]

34 minutes ago, Roxanne said:

So the three active cases have been sent for genomics testing. Do we know where this genomics testing facility is based? 

Yes,the results show two Jack Russell's and a Pug

[code99]

On 5/30/2021 at 9:56 AM, joebean said:

Add to that a political system that discourages scrutiny, opposition and clear policy commitments for the public to vote for and you have a recipe for more of the same and mediocrity. Whilst the Island has prospered large despite of our politics, more of the same in a changing global environment is not going to work well.

Agreed.

When even the tiniest slither of criticism is batted away with ‘don’t question me!’ attitude, then inevitably a wedge of failures will slowly but surely creep in and eventually the whole ‘house of cards’ will ultimately collapse in on itself.

People don’t seem to grasp that the condescending ‘’if you don’t like it here – then there is a boat in the morning…” mantra is not just an idiosyncratic feature of the local culture, it is a sad philosophy that has permeated every sphere of public life. Many of our civil servants and our politicians are far too thin-skinned. Some are little more than pampered narcissists who are more concerned about protecting and massaging their egos than they are of serving their nation. They don’t want to be held accountable for anything - time and time again their begrudging admissions of mistakes are turned into the other clichéd catchphrase ‘lessons will be learnt!’ Of course, no lessons will ever be learnt until the GMP wakes up to the fact that the prevailing quip; ‘if you don’t like it, leave!’ is not conducive to fostering talent, it is not encouraging higher standards, it is not building a better future by accepting differences of opinion and thinking outside the box to find better ways forward. Instead, it is a delusional fake comfort-blanket and a recipe for ongoing mediocrity and because of that, failure.  

As for G7 and the changing global political environment around the question of setting a minimum company tax rate, my view is that the impact on this Island’s ‘business model’ will be significant, and effectively dealing with that will require very different calibre of politicians and civil servants than we have today. The current crop have admitted that they are out of their depth – by deciding to leave this as an issue for the next Administration to solve. We will be ‘doomed’ if the next Administration do not do a lot better.       

[The Dog's Dangly Bits]

35 minutes ago, code99 said:

Agreed.

When even the tiniest slither of criticism is batted away with ‘don’t question me!’ attitude, then inevitably a wedge of failures will slowly but surely creep in and eventually the whole ‘house of cards’ will ultimately collapse in on itself.

People don’t seem to grasp that the condescending ‘’if you don’t like it here – then there is a boat in the morning…” mantra is not just an idiosyncratic feature of the local culture, it is a sad philosophy that has permeated every sphere of public life. Many of our civil servants and our politicians are far too thin-skinned. Some are little more than pampered narcissists who are more concerned about protecting and massaging their egos than they are of serving their nation. They don’t want to be held accountable for anything - time and time again their begrudging admissions of mistakes are turned into the other clichéd catchphrase ‘lessons will be learnt!’ Of course, no lessons will ever be learnt until the GMP wakes up to the fact that the prevailing quip; ‘if you don’t like it, leave!’ is not conducive to fostering talent, it is not encouraging higher standards, it is not building a better future by accepting differences of opinion and thinking outside the box to find better ways forward. Instead, it is a delusional fake comfort-blanket and a recipe for ongoing mediocrity and because of that, failure.  

As for G7 and the changing global political environment around the question of setting a minimum company tax rate, my view is that the impact on this Island’s ‘business model’ will be significant, and effectively dealing with that will require very different calibre of politicians and civil servants than we have today. The current crop have admitted that they are out of their depth – by deciding to leave this as an issue for the next Administration to solve. We will be ‘doomed’ if the next Administration do not do a lot better.       

There's a boat in the morning