General Thread for the election (old Electioneering starting early thread from Local News)

[Keiran Hannifin]

by ''asset rich'', I mean working class enough to be able to get on to the housing market if I wanted to, not buy a yacht

Edited May 15, 2021 by Keiran Hannifin

[manxman34]

18 minutes ago, Keiran Hannifin said:

i was a senior prefect at Ballakermeen

You peaked early, then

[Albert Tatlock]

1 hour ago, Keiran Hannifin said:

i was a senior prefect at Ballakermeen

Wow...you had it all.

I am just a poor boy...Though my story's seldom told...I have squandered my resistance...
For a pocketful of mumbles...
Such are promises.

All lies and jest, Still, a man hears what he wants to hear...And disregards the rest.

Which is why I now work at the Co-op.

 

[SleepyJoe]

3 hours ago, kangaroo jack said:

Challenge to all forumites. Can we all please try to find something that Sleepyjoe can agree with?

We can all surely agree that for an Australian of Manx descent recently arrived on the island you've racked up a dislike of female parliamentarians with an astonishing alacrity

[Grumble]

12 hours ago, Keiran Hannifin said:

Im relatively asset rich, i have long hold investments. I am also pretty well trained in anti money laundering and run an international business, which has worked with IKEA and various A List celebs. 

So your 'career' statement to Manx Radio's election form is a lie?

'He's a part-time cleaner, graphic designer and illustrator and has two dogs.'

[Ham_N_Eggs]

3 minutes ago, Grumble said:

So your 'career' statement to Manx Radio's election form is a lie?

'He's a part-time cleaner, graphic designer and illustrator and has two dogs.'

No, this is his business in which he has worked with IKEA etc.

[Keiran Hannifin]

14 hours ago, manxman34 said:

You peaked early, then

No pleasing some folks. Just responding directly to peoples incorrect presumptions of me.

And yes, I'm a concept artist, illustrator and graphic designer.

I also work part time as a cleaner, as I have for a while. As the company pays living wage, is family first orientated and the various teams allow me to be flexible around my hours. I clean doctors houses, so when they get home they can spend time with their kids. A great business on the Isle of man that i'm proud to work for.

I wear many hats. I also do a spot of gardening from time to time.

 

[thommo2010]

I got a card through the post gareth for garff, know nothing about the lad or his politics but it's got a snappy ring to it so he will get my vote lol

[Roger Mexico]

17 minutes ago, thommo2010 said:

I got a card through the post gareth for garff, know nothing about the lad or his politics but it's got a snappy ring to it so he will get my vote lol

Gareth Young, Manx Labour Party candidate.  Declared back in March.

[Keiran Hannifin]

7 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

Gareth Young, Manx Labour Party candidate.  Declared back in March.

Seems a nice lad. Don't know a massive amount about him myself. 

[SleepyJoe]

There's an interview here with Gareth by Ged Power

https://www.gedpower.net/gareth-young-is-the-manx-labour-party-candidate-for-garff/

[Rhumsaa]

Will Ged Power fall foul of the legislation by interviewing candidates?

[TheTeapot]

5 minutes ago, Rhumsaa said:

Will Ged Power fall foul of the legislation by interviewing candidates?

What do you mean? 

[Rhumsaa]

20 hours ago, Keiran Hannifin said:

Apologies for my absence, I have been wrapping up normal life and getting my campaign started properly. 

I'm not going to lie, I do not have it in me to go through the 50 odd pages I have missed, but I did pick up on a ''10 Questions for you candidate'' 

Here's my answers, it is a long read, but these are complex issues that should not be answered with 3 buzzwords:

1.    Which three issues are at the top of your agenda and how would you progress them?

i) Low-income earners/Benefits overhaul. We accept on the Isle of Man, that £10.19 an hour, is ‘’Living Wage’’, Living wage is what is considered the minimum wage needed to live a normal life, above poverty. Living wage and Minimum wage are not the same, however.
 Minimum Wage on the Isle of Man is £8.25. That is a difference of £1.94 an hour, which in a 40-hour work week is £77.60 difference. Where you would/should be earning £407.60 per week, you would only make £330. With the cost of rent or purchase of even the most modest of homes, is it any wonder that we spend so much of our budget on the Benefit System?
If we accept the idea of a Living wage and we also accept that thousands of our population are currently being paid below that, then we are effectively telling a decent chunk of our population that they are not valued enough to be able to live without worry or poverty. In fact, worth 23.5% less. 
The Government, alongside the businesses that profit the most from the work of low-income workers share a moral obligation to provide these people with the same Freedoms to Flourish that they themselves have enjoyed.
We need a system where hours of employee labour are valued, for what they are, which are taxable assets. There should be a cap on how many hours per week  a business may pay an employee at a rate that is below the living wage. Any persons who are hired below living wage, will have their wages subsidized in a benefit from the Government, like the Employed Person’s Allowance to bring it to living wage; but unlike the Employed Person’s Allowance, it will not be means tested beyond being paid to those who earn less than living wage. Any extra hours beyond this living wage cap that the businesses wish to employ, must be paid Living wage or above. This would be a move that would have massive economic and social advantages:
*Incentivize people off the benefits system – People rarely want to do the jobs that pay minimum wage, fair pay for these jobs would change that. Paying people a living wage would take a huge weight off our benefits system and encourage a much stronger workforce.
*This will encourage Business/Entrepreneurs – If the lowest income earners of our island all earned living wage, they could themselves afford start up for a business much more easily. When suggesting this idea, many have countered that businesses will simply up and leave if they cannot have unlimited minimum wage paid staff. However, if EVERYONE got paid at least living wage, there would be a lot more money flooding into our economy. More people will be able to afford drinks after work, a haircut, a cleaner once a week and more. In addition, any projected financial loss that a business may face through paying their workers a living wage, would be made up by those formerly underpaid workers spending their extra income on those business services. If this is not the case, then the business surely makes its profits not from the service that they provide, but from the exploitation and labour of low-income workers and it could certainly be argued that we should not encourage that sort of business practice on our island. Raising minimum wage to a living wage, would also drive innovation as many tests have proven that being below the poverty line can reduce an adult’s IQ between 13 and 15 points and can reduce the IQ in children between 4 and 7 points. How many Elon Musks die on a benefit system?
*Slightly ease the difficulty of getting onto the first rung of the property ladder. I am not suggesting that this will fix this issue, I do believe however that it is one of the most important steps we can take. There is a drive every election year for ‘’affordable’’ or ‘’cheap’’ housing. The notion of a house being affordable, or cheap to anyone earning £8.25 an hour is ludicrous to suggest as a realistic option. The first step to affordable housing, is making sure people have financial security.
*Healthcare – Many people might not notice the difference in their wages, because instead they would just work less hours, people might choose to work 3 different jobs. As well as allowing for creation of businesses, or improving Manx culture through art, this will also allow people more freedom to look after their mental health and physical health or give them time to raise their children or care for their elderly parents. The social implications of that alone are massive.
These reformations and the macro economic effects they would have, are just the tip of the iceberg. It could be argued that our Island is an economic microcosm of many parts of the wider world. The reformations we can make and the macro economic effects they would have would provide highly valuable data that could be utilized on a global scale.

ii) Healthcare on the Isle of Man
iia) Mental Healthcare is a HUGE issue on the Isle of Man, from no help for none-neurotypical adults, to an increasing rise in Alzheimer related deaths that has been matched with a stripping of services, many people on the island are given addictive pharmaceuticals that alter their personalities and abilities, as well as just masking the ailments that they may (or may not) suffer from. There is little help available to these people; the help that is available is locked away behind a door which cannot be passed through until you have endangered yourself or another. Our drug related death rate is shockingly high, our suicide rate was also on the rise, pre corona. We need to do more. There is of course a need for drugs, but we need a better service to ensure they are being given to the right people. The government’s ‘’areyouok’’ page over Covid was little more than a link to the Samaritans and a colouring book from the police.
iib) Waiting times/Lack of continuity of care. There are many people on this island who are on waiting lists for years, sometimes decades who are passed from pillar to post, locum to locum before they even get the relief of having their issues diagnosed. This also feeds into the drug/suicide death rate. It also causes a massive drain on our benefit system. It is non-sensical, to live on an Island so affluent, where so many people are unwell.
What would I like done about it? I would like to see little and large changes, from receiving a receipt when you leave your doctor. ‘’Patient came in on x date, displaying x symptoms, Dr X believes it to be X and is treating by prescribing x, patient to report back if no improvement after x’.’’ 
Many people find doctors and hospitals hugely uncomfortable and are, by the nature of the visit, not in a well state. Retaining information, certainly with complex problems is often difficult for the most vigilant and composed of people. If we expect a receipt for our weekly shop at the Co-op we should expect one from our health care provider. This way the patient can see a path for their care and what they can expect. Relief and a lack of stress is one of the best things for convalescence. This would also provide continuity and transparency for the patient, as well as a future health care provider when it comes to reviewing medical notes.
At a time where the UK is stripping its NHS, we should be doing the opposite and be recruiting clinical specialists. Offer suitable candidates a high-end salary and a relocation package to attract them to the Island. As a result, we would have an incredible NHS and our population would finally be able to receive adequate healthcare. Furthermore, as the world opens again post-Covid, we could position ourselves as the medical tourism capital of the world. We could also then begin to train more medical staff here. This could potentially lead to the Isle of Man being a place where we conduct useful medical research that would benefit the rest of the world.

iii) Accountability and accessibility of government. 
ia) Being able to openly assess and admit that an error has been made is the foundation to any strong leadership. Making mistakes is human, it is to be expected and is understandable.  A lack of direct accountability of mistakes, or diluting it between departments, or ‘’arm’s length institutions’’ not only slows down our ability as an island as it takes longer to learn from mistakes, but also causes an unrest and distrust between residents and Government. As a society, we have become so focused on liability, that we are terrified to be able to admit mistakes and as such, become stuck with them. Some examples of this:

Covid 19/Steam Packet disagreements. There has been so much valuable time and resources wasted dodging accountability for a mistake of which the consequences have already passed that we are months into this and it has been terrible for public relations of both government and the Steam Packet. Ministers passing information/instructions down to directors, but not minuting their meetings, or following up. You can pass workloads on, but not ultimate accountability. So much time being wasted, that could be being used to benefit the people of the island. Michael Josem, when entering an FOI to gleam some information on this receiving a report that was completely redacted, does not help to ease the public’s view that we do not have a transparent government.

 The Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) not reporting annually as legally required since 2014. I have actively tried to find out who is responsible for this and not been able to get to the bottom of it. The Isle of Man has twice the drug related death rate as anywhere else in the British Isles and the vast majority of Europe, we have spent both money and resources on consultations that have been blocked against public and scientific data for Medicinal Cannabis, have seen an increase in suicide, yet the ACMD have not reported once. I have attempted to have this resolved, to be passed between Public Health, Minister Ashford and various places between, no one will take responsibility. 

Dr Glover and the Ministers: A small disagreement of character turned catastrophe for the island. The public’s view of not taking extremely useful 24 hour genome sequencing that was offered for free during a health pandemic, where our biggest risk is mutating viruses for fear that back tracking would weaken a position is awful. Anonymous letters, which are destroyed is awful. They should have just put their hands up, admitted that they had come around to the idea of genome sequencing and apologized to Dr. Glover and paid her for her work. We should have done this because it is the right thing to do morally and for the island. It also would have saved months of time and public distrust. I believe steps are finally being made to resolve this.

The Council of Ministers run on a shared responsibility, that seems to act more of a guard from individual accountability. 

‘’ The Chief Minister Howard Quayle MHK has today dismissed Chris Thomas MHK from the Council of Ministers. It follows Mr Thomas's decision to vote against the Emergency Powers (Coronavirus) (Town and Country Planning Procedures) Regulations 2020 at yesterday's sitting of Tynwald.27 May 2020’’ 
If the ministers can not stand publicly by their own ethics without fear of losing their job and the Council of Ministers do not have to share meeting minutes, or individual voting records, how can the general public believe anything that they say? This was brought home to me, during the Kent variant school lockdown. As a hypothetical situation there, if Allinson and Ashford were both completely against the relaxed nature of the schools opening, would they be allowed to say at the press briefings or would they have to tow the line? If the latter, we potentially have been getting our answers from people who do not truly believe what they are saying. We also should have been questioning the entire Council of Ministers.

If we can fix this issue by making people and departments clearly accountable and responsible for their actions, we will be a far stronger nation. Accountability does not have to mean being punished; it can mean innovation. It can mean progression. 

ib) Accessibility of Government: 
I think a big push on the next administration should be focused on trying to engage with the community and become ‘’their’’ government, instead of ‘’the’’ government. So many of our population do not know how our political system works, or what advantages and/or disadvantages it has. I believe this is due to an apathy as most do not believe the government works in their interests. We need to change this.
Information on what is legal, what incentives or rights that you are entitled to, who is responsible for what, legislation, consultations, acts, policies and procedures should not be a mammoth task that can take months to cut through unnecessary jargon. We should be making certain, if not all information accessible to all. Information is the first step to opportunity. 
If you pass a degree, 5% of your dissertation is writing a layman’s summary of the entire piece. I understand that there is reason and need for correct legal language, but that is no reason to make this information un-accessible for all. A mother of two, with a full-time job and an abusive husband, likely does not have the time to comb through hundreds of pages of paperwork, written in a format that is not easy to digest. A hard-working farmer, or small landowner should not have to pay a lawyer to tell them what advantages and benefits they have access to if they produce or develop their area. An elderly couple should not have to be drowned in complex language when trying to figure out healthcare. You should not have to scroll through over 100 pages of budget, to figure out where the money is being generated and spent on the Isle of Man, when a few simple and graphs can make the info digestible. We need the information accessible to all, especially for those who could benefit the most from it. People are happier to pay tax when they know their money and their government are working for them. 
I think not only should we pay a team to do this ,but should also offer it out to students and rehabilitating prisoners who are using the time to get educated in law or English. This not only directly engages two groups of people into local politics, but also acts as a great community service and resource.
I believe all projects costings should be uploaded and visible, so the people of the island can see, not only who is being favored for contracts, but also who is being paid for consultations. 
On the Isle of Man, we have a Government funded translation service for documents, available on request. We should have certain important documents, such as how to register for GP/Vaccine and Tax forms etc. Should be readily available in various widely spoken languages across the island. We have accepted people on to the Island, we should encourage them to feel like it is their home, plus it would cost less then having the same document repeatedly translated case by case. It is extremely hard to integrate to a community, we could make it easier. France offers over 25 languages on most of their governmental documentation.

2.    What are likely to be the lasting consequences for the Isle of Man of the Covid-19 crisis?

High costs of living, as we are so reliant on import and our properties are becoming unobtainable for residents. I think if the worldwide vaccine effort is successful and the island does not adapt, we will see our young migrate elsewhere. As well as there being a few opportunities for them to work here, more and more people are finding the idea of being able to start families exceptionally daunting and many simply will not. The world is likely to change around us very quickly and the next administration need to be quick to action opportunities. If our population carries on increasingly raising, pensions will be the least of our worries.

3.    Overall, are you supportive of the priorities and performance of the current government?

Overall? No. It is an extremely hard thing to judge however as this last 18 months have been a curve ball that no one was expecting. I believe we could have been more pro-active in many ways during this administration then we have, I personally would have liked to have seen this time used to make us more able to be self-sustaining as a nation. Medical and Social issues are also hard to white wash over such as Cannabis laws, which our government have actively blocked against public and scientific favor, a lack of action regarding drug related death rates, suicides, Alzheimer related deaths, mental health care, waiting times. Infrastructure blunders such as carving up every road on the island with little plan, the Steam packet ferry costs inflating, the promenade fiasco, the NSC issues. Lots of costs, with nothing finished. And no innovation in sight. No urge to be world leading in anything. 

4.    Would you be prepared to increase taxes or charges to pay for health and social care, and for action on climate change?
I would if I thought it would work. I think a restructure on tax systems would be better to have a fairer determination on what is a value or a drain to society. I do not believe that taxes are always the answer. I believe in relatively small societal changes that can have massive impacts. There is already mass disruption around the world, now is the perfect time to accept some things we are doing are not working and re-evaluate things on a wider scale. New taxes very rarely fix a problem, innovation does. 

5.    What are the key factors that will ensure the future success of the Manx economy?
Putting money into the pockets of the most disadvantaged, encourage local businesses and startups; both in the service industry as well as international companies. We spend too much of our time on bringing rich people to the Isle of Man, instead of making people on the Isle of Man richer. More incentives for creation and exporting. More incentives for our most skilled and intelligent, to stay and to have children. Getting high speed internet, so we can compete in future tech companies. Setting examples for larger land masses to follow, biosphere and renewable options almost infinite. Getting the general health of the residents of the Isle of Man to a more acceptable level and improving quality of life generally.

6.    Does the Isle of Man need more new residents and housing development?
No, it does not need it. We already have a lot of unutilized space that should be redeveloped, instead of building new. The Isle of Man, with some changes in infrastructure/enterprise could host more people, but we should not be focusing on that until we can care for our increasing elderly population and do not have to have foodbanks. Too many people are already being left behind without adding more numbers. I do think in years to come it will be particularly important to attract more people, but I do not think it should be a focus just now.

7.    How do you view the island’s constitutional and economic position in a post-Brexit world?
I would be lying if I did not say I was concerned with our standing, mainly because I do not approve of how the conservative party in the UK operate and how dependent the Isle of Man is. I am yet to see any advantages to Brexit for Manx people. I think with the Isle of Man being so affluent and near perfect to test products on, there is no reason that we should not be able to prosper. With Scotland pushing for a referendum, we should be considering strengthening our ties with them. They are our closest neighbor; they produce huge amounts of renewable energy and have consistently produced world changing technology through the years. Scotland are also likely to rejoin the EU, which would be good for us regarding trade options. Being pragmatic in this would be a particularly good idea for the next administration. 
I do believe however that the Isle of Man could be in a primed position for economic recovery, based on our ability to adapt. If we are ready to accept that the world is changing around us and we need to move with, if not ahead of it, I think this next decade could be huge for the Isle of Man.  I just think we need to give the locals more incentive and opportunity.

8. What is the best way of helping the less prosperous parts of our society?
 See question one. 

9. What would you change in the Manx political system to make it more democratic?
I would make it so that the entire island had a vote for the Chief Minister, a further election could run 2 months after the normal General Election. The voters could have some time to weigh up from who announces their intention to run. Each department should be accountable for the issues their department faces, instead of the walls of ‘’independent bodies’’ they use to avoid accountability. We should not have a Bishop in Tynwald, as an Island I do not believe we have a majority base in any religion, there should be no weekly prayer. The Council of Ministers should be legally obligated to share minutes (unless particularly sensitive data) and release voting records, mutual responsibility should be abolished. We should at least attempt to renegotiate our terms of crown dependency. 

10. As an MHK would you vote for a proposal that was good for the Isle of Man but unpopular with some of your constituents?
Very much depends on what the proposal was. It’s hard to say…. I would be happy to respond to any specific examples, though this is just a touch too vague for me.

I'm not going to lie, I do not have it in me to go through the whole of this post.

[John Wright]

4 minutes ago, Rhumsaa said:

I'm not going to lie, I do not have it in me to go through the whole of this post.

If ever there was a post that screamed TL.DNR, that was it