IOM DHSC & MANX CARE

[Harry Lamb]

2 hours ago, Roger Mexico said:

To be fair, stopping boats running is one thing the current Manx administration has been quite good at.

Of course you can see what happens when Reform-lite candidates, such as our own Stu Peters do get elected.  They immediately fall into line and do whatever they are told.  That's because they think 'politics' is all about rhetoric.  All you need to do is say the right sort of things and somehow they will happen.  If not it must be because of all those evil Woke Greenies with their magical powers.  There's absolutely no need to take any responsibility for making things happen - which is just as well as most of what they advocate is completely removed from how reality works.

But Alf is somewhere towards the right wing of Reform, and look how well he's done...

[FANDL]

It looks like there has been a commitment today to introduce a health surcharge on Visa applicants that could raise several million a year for the NHS. This should have been in place years ago. Certainly before we decided to put up taxes for low paying locals instead.

Hopefully this is the start of some common sense measures that aren’t just aimed at ripping off locals to plug gaps in immovable government budgets. 

Edited Wednesday at 03:35 PM by FANDL

[Ringy Rose]

8 hours ago, Gladys said:

We do not even know if anything promised in manifestos can ever be achieved even if the candidate is voted in.  

The only thing that matters is who the candidate would choose in the Chief Minister vote, and that’s the one thing that most of them will never ever tell you in advance.

I’ve been saying it for a long time, but we need a directly elected Chief Minister.

[Gladys]

6 minutes ago, Ringy Rose said:

The only thing that matters is who the candidate would choose in the Chief Minister vote, and that’s the one thing that most of them will never ever tell you in advance.

I’ve been saying it for a long time, but we need a directly elected Chief Minister.

At the least.  However, if directly elected, how do we deal with removal or replacement mid-term? 

[Two-lane]

This is pretty trivial compared to what is happening in other threads.

Today I telephoned 111 to arrange a covid injection. The automated voice told me that they were really busy and that I should register via the Internet.

The Internet application page required my NHS number which I should get from my NHS app. The number is given in 3 groups of digits, separated by spaces. When I submitted the form, it was rejected because the number I input had included the spaces. I removed the spaces.

They wanted my telephone number, which I gave as "07624 123456". This was rejected because of the space. I removed the space, but that was also rejected. I removed the "07624" and that was accepted.

I then got the response shown below.

I gave up and phoned 111. This time I got a real person, who unfortunately sounded as though he was under 10 feet of water.

NASA can still get understandable communications from Voyager 1, but for the gov. Ramsey to Douglas is a problem.

[Vaaish]

1 hour ago, Ringy Rose said:

The only thing that matters is who the candidate would choose in the Chief Minister vote, and that’s the one thing that most of them will never ever tell you in advance.

I’ve been saying it for a long time, but we need a directly elected Chief Minister.

I don’t disagree. How would you see it working administratively? Under current law, the CM must be a member of Tynwald. Thus, the public vote for CM would be required after the General Election, once the MHKs were known. Time would be required for the various CM candidates to submit their manifestos, and doubtless the electorate would expect a number of public meetings to question the candidates. During this interregnum, presumably those who were Ministers at the time of the dissolution of Keys would continue in their roles until the new CM selected their successors and the LG issued the warrants of appointment. This happens now, but a public vote for CM would prolong the timetable. 

Candidates standing for Keys could of course publicise during the hustings that they would put themselves forward as a CM candidate if elected, but that wouldn’t be known until election day (night). I suppose the vote for CM could be enmeshed with the GE, but what if (say) two CM candidates - Vaaish and Ringy Rose - are on the ballot and neither are elected in their constituencies? I don’t see how it would work to have a CM contest that  didn’t involve constituency MHK candidates - that is, trying to create a sort of ‘national’ political figure with candidates who stood for CM on election day, but not for a specific constituency. 

[Auntie Depressant]

26 minutes ago, Two-lane said:

This is pretty trivial compared to what is happening in other threads.

Today I telephoned 111 to arrange a covid injection. The automated voice told me that they were really busy and that I should register via the Internet.

The Internet application page required my NHS number which I should get from my NHS app. The number is given in 3 groups of digits, separated by spaces. When I submitted the form, it was rejected because the number I input had included the spaces. I removed the spaces.

They wanted my telephone number, which I gave as "07624 123456". This was rejected because of the space. I removed the space, but that was also rejected. I removed the "07624" and that was accepted.

I then got the response shown below.

I gave up and phoned 111. This time I got a real person, who unfortunately sounded as though he was under 10 feet of water.

NASA can still get understandable communications from Voyager 1, but for the gov. Ramsey to Douglas is a problem.

I had this exact same experience. When I got back through to 111 I was told the online booking hasn’t been activated yet and was told to wait for a written appointment in the post. This after spending ages trying to input data for an elderly relative. Hugely frustrating. It wouldn’t take much to put a banner at the top of the page to say it’s inactive, but there you go…

[Ringy Rose]

1 hour ago, Vaaish said:

Under current law, the CM must be a member of Tynwald. Thus, the public vote for CM would be required after the General Election

I’d increase the number of MHKs by 1 and the elected Chief Minister will automatically become an MHK at the same time. If that person also stood and was elected as a constituency MHK then the third placed candidate in that constituency can be appointed as the second MHK.

[Fred the shred]

No no no increase,  we need to decrease MHKs down to 13  and pay them a wage that would appeal to people with half a brain.    Then cut down LegCo .  Then start on the Civil service.   The pension fund will not be big enough to honour the pensions promised as people are living for 20 and 30 years past retirement.    Otherwise change the format and pay out what has been paid in by the individual on their retirement and then they manage their own finances otherwise it is just a ponzi scheme .   

[Two-lane]

12 minutes ago, Fred the shred said:

we need to decrease MHKs down to 13  and pay them a wage that would appeal to people with half a brain.

There are 9 in the Council of Ministers, which act as a block vote. Versus 4 others would not be a democracy.

MHKs are already paid £76,000 per year - with the Chief Minister being paid £99,000 per year - and look what you get.

Edited to add:

The Prime Minister does not get a great deal more, although he does get free tickets to Taylor Swift concerts.

Edited Wednesday at 08:01 PM by Two-lane

[Non-Believer]

19 minutes ago, Fred the shred said:

The pension fund will not be big enough to honour the pensions promised as people are living for 20 and 30 years past retirement. 

It will, because it will be absolutely the last thing ever to have its funding cut, on the grounds of Govt having no stomach for unrest it will cause within the public services and the legal challenges it will throw up. Plus the decisions would be at least partly made by future recipients who will have no intention of losing out themselves.

I honestly don't think that most people grasp the enormity of what they are paying for here, the length of time that they are going to be paying and what may be being sacrificed in the future.

The bitter medicine that comes from almost 20 years of can-kicking by politicians.

[Vaaish]

48 minutes ago, Ringy Rose said:

I’d increase the number of MHKs by 1 and the elected Chief Minister will automatically become an MHK at the same time. If that person also stood and was elected as a constituency MHK then the third placed candidate in that constituency can be appointed as the second MHK.

So you’d have a Chief Ministerial election run on a national basis, in tandem with the GE, and CM candidates could be ‘stand alone’ or, in parallel, seek election in a constituency. Ok - got it. 👍🏻 Various law changes no doubt required to set that up.

[WTF]

4 hours ago, Gladys said:

At the least.  However, if directly elected, how do we deal with removal or replacement mid-term? 

shotgun   😁

Edited Wednesday at 08:51 PM by WTF

[Gladys]

2 minutes ago, WTF said:

shotgun   😁

Well,it's an option. 

[Thomas Dalby]

1 hour ago, Gladys said:

Well,it's an option. 

Loving the banter, and don’t let it stop you posting on to the “why are the police armed?” thread