Perspective - Manx Radio

Everyone wants cheaper energy bills I imagine, and I suppose most of us would be happier knowing our energy supplies were directly controlled by governments we rely on. If this week’s guests are right renewable energy offers cheaper more secure electricity supplies, so why has government been generally silent in trying to sell the more sustainable and potentially cheaper green agenda which the Man...

Budget reform, the £20m health overspend, hospital beds, dyslexia and reform of government’s land ownership were all discussed in this month’s Tynwald. Is there any way of getting health spending back in line with budgets? Is government rushing its hurdles over changes to how in manages its property? All these questions and many more will be answered on this week’s Perspective. We also hear about...

Assisted dying moved a bit closer in June Tynwald. Despite neither Tynwald nor the public knowing why Royal Assent wasn’t granted amendments were moved which according to the Attorney General were all that’s needed to get the greenlight from the UK. Council of Ministers received two bloody noses from members on budget reform and dyslexia, and there was yet another horse tram debate. A pre-election...

Douglas City Council appears to have a plan to solve housing issues in the city. The Council recently opened its flagship housing development the James Brown Apartments. The complex is made up of 48 two-bedroomed units, built to the latest environmental standards and fitted with air source heat pumps. So what is Douglas doing that allows it to deliver quality housing projects on time and on budget...

Manx Care’s mission is to become the best small Island health and social care system in the world. An ambitious aspiration but few people would argue against it I imagine. That said, despite a substantial uplift in funding, Manx Care seems some distance away from its aspiration, and incapable of sticking to the budget set for it. So what’s going wrong and how do we cure Manx Care’s ailments. The M...

Quite a mix on Perspective this week with some cracking speeches from May Tynwald on a move to change the tax status for cohabiting couples, and a request to speed up changes to drugs law. We also have Christian Jones’ parting gift to Manx Radio, a revealing insight into a 1940s guide on how to sabotage government. It seems that what was viewed in the 1940s as sabotage is now deemed to be best pra...

Bearing in mind the fast approaching September General Election, May Tynwald was a relatively convivial affair. Health, Brownfield Sites and Cannabis were just some of the highlights which we’ll squeeze in to Perspective this week, but Ramsey Cottage Hospital, renewable energy, and government’s efficiency program were also raised. Perspective is bursting at the seams this week. We also ponder why...

Why are Garff residents so angry about the Ørsted Mooir Vannin wind farm and is it Ørsted or the government they’ve got in their sites. As the controversial Clause 5 is finally dropped from the Local Government Bill why did it cause such consternation across the local authorities? Also passing through LegCo at the moment is the Retirement Benefits Schemes (Amendment) Bill 2026 which updates our 26...

Inaction on climate and nature could reduce GDP by around 5% over the next decade, and the weather we’re experiencing now is the most stable it will be in our lifetimes. These were the stark messages delivered to an invited audience of the Island’s politicians and senior civil servants earlier this week. They heard a call for urgent action to address the climate and nature crisis, and were urged t...

Ørsted is proposing to develop the Isle of Man’s first offshore windfarm and as we heard on Perspective three weeks ago not everyone is happy about the proposal. Is the approximate 2 billion pound benefit to the Island worth the environmental and aesthetic cost of the project. Orsted gives it’s view on this week’s Perspective. If permission is granted the wind farm will be much more visible than o...

Perspective 26.4.26 - April Tynwald highlights In a relatively relaxed Tynwald sitting members appeared to be a little less argumentative than in recent sittings. Perhaps the calm before the election run in storm. Items discussed included a move to unify government’s land and property portfolio, the state of the economy and the National Insurance Fund, and the UK government’s decision not to recom...

Since 1992 the Department of Education has been teaching Manx to the Island’s children. For just over a third of a century now most children have been learning a bit of Manx at primary school, and some have been learning a lot more at secondary school. As part of Blein ny Gaelgey - Year of the Manx Language - Perspective continues its series of talks with the movers and shakers of the Manx languag...

The No Offshore Turbines 4 Isle of Man pressure group is fighting to stop the Mooir Vannin windfarm being developed. The group expresses concerns about the impact of 87 turbines, 80 storeys high being built from 6 miles off the east coast of the Isle of Man. They feel that the developer Orsted and the Isle of Man Government are not being open about the proposal. We hear from NOT4IOM and Garff Comm...

With Easter Day upon us it seems appropriate to hear from one of the Island’s Christian leaders. Canon Philip Gillespie has recently returned to the Island after a number of years teaching in Rome. At a time when the world seems as far away from love, peace and kindness as it’s ever been perhaps it’s time to hear from gentle, humble leaders, who really do care about our lives and fulfilment. There...

A few weeks ago we heard two of the debates from the special International Women’s Day junior Tynwald sitting, at which students from the Island’s secondary schools and UCM raised several issues that concern them. There were three other debates on Legal Protections and Accountability Measures to Address Gender‐Based Violence, Mental Health and Neurological Conditions and Education in Gender Discri...

In Tynwald this week there appeared to be some relative calm after the choppy political waters of recent sittings. The impact of the Iran War, an urgent question on bed spaces at Nobles and the ongoing work at the White Hoe were covered in question time. There was also a heated debate about the future of the post office an interesting discussion on scrutiny of government’s response to Tynwald deci...

Last week in a special International Women’s Day junior Tynwald sitting, students from the Island’s secondary schools and UCM raised several issues that are important to them and really should be important to us all. The students voices were very powerful and the evidence presented was quite shocking. We’ll hear two of the debates, on Gaps in Women’s Healthcare and Period Poverty, on Perspective t...

Last week Culture Vannin teamed up with Mooinjer Veggey to celebrate International Mother Languages Day. As part of the Year of the Manx Language they invited second language communities to come together to explore the richness of linguistic diversity in the Isle of Man. Find more about the Island’s amazing cultural communities on this week’s Perspective Are we doing enough to share Manx culture w...

What did the Treasury Minister actually deliver in last Tuesday’s Tynwald sitting? Was it a give away pre-election budget through prudent use of reserves to help kick start the economy or a reckless raid on government’s hard earned savings. I suspect the answer lies somewhere between the two but what did Tynwald members make of it? What is clear is the vast majority of earners will be better off i...

Government finances have read a little like recent weather forecasts, with a gloomy outlook, risk of budget overtopping particularly in health, and economic storms battering our sparse reserves. One former Treasury Minister who wasn’t afraid to grapple with the economic challenges of the day was Eddie Teare. He talks to Perspective about how he went about preparing a budget and considers what next...

Manx farmers are being challenged at the moment with several significant issues hitting all at once. As if the debilitating cattle disease Blue-tongue, a change in UK and IoM cattle health status, and ongoing problems with the meatplant weren’t bad enough a very wet winter and uncertainly over animal waste charging are adding to farmers woes. Can the Isle of Man Government’s stated aim of achievin...

Former Infrastructure Minister Michelle Haywood had the fairly straightforward task of bringing forward a Local Government Bill which was generally supported by local authorities. Along came Lawrie Hooper with an amendment which caused angst and anger among local authorities and was subsequently used as a one of the reasons for the Minister’s sacking. Find out what the Bill actually does and why t...

What Tynwald lacked in length this week it more than made up for in big announcements and policy changes. The Order Paper soon had the hefty addition of a statement on the Chief Minister’s reshuffle with two Ministers either ‘stepping down’ or being sacked depending on who you listened to. While Alf Cannan’s statement and a cooling in enthusiasm on the living wage grabbed the headlines, homelessne...

Blein ny Gaelgey is a year-long, Island-wide celebration of the Manx language. The Year’s website claims that it’s for everybody – Manx speakers, people who don’t know any Manx yet, people who call the Isle of Man home, and visitors to these shores and it will be fun and accessible, and provide ways to engage for everyone! On Perspective this week we hear from two of those hoping we’ll all be dust...

Jane Kelly is the Emergency Planning Officer for the Isle of Man Government and leads the Civil Defence team. We’ve probably all relied on her team’s expertise during storm and weather events, and though we might not know it we are all a lot safer because of the plans she and her team have created for the unlikely but possible emergency events we could face. Find out more about her work on Perspec...