Perspective - Manx Radio

Earlier this week the Year of the Manx Language, Blein ny Gaelgey was officially launched at the start of the Cooish Manx language festival. The year has been organised by Jeabin, the Manx language network and there will be loads of events during the year to celebrate the Manx language. The year is primarily supported through existing budgets and a significant amount of voluntary effort, so why do...

Perspective 2.11.25 - Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce The Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce represents many Manx businesses and has been pretty vocal of late in expressing concerns over the minimum wage increase. It has at times been accused of being too influential over government but is that really the case? What do we need to change to drive economic growth, how can the Island’s housing problems...

October Tynwald highlights this week. Questions pondered how people will cope when the MiCard system is scrapped and whether the Manx economy is in recession. A new Child First Policy was received by Tynwald and there was unanimous support for a call to introduce a comprehensive program of neurodiversity training in Manx schools.

Tynwald’s Environment and Infrastructure Committee held an evidence session with officers from the MUA last week and there were several revelations which should be of interest to us all. A thousand Manx households are contributing 7 megawatts of renewable energy to the Manx grid and the MUA is working closely with private sector renewable energy projects in the south and north of the Island. So wh...

Liberal Vannin Party leader and former health minister Lawrie Hooper leads a somewhat lonely life as the only Liberal Vannin member in Tynwald. As a party of one he recognises his influence is limited but feels passionately that party politics is the best way to ensure our politicians are held accountable for their actions. Could party politics work for us? I guess Lawrie will need to lead more th...

The fourth and final Isle of Man Government Conference of the Cannan administration brought together ministers, senior officials and business leaders to discuss some of the Island's biggest challenges. We get the lowdown from the ministers about what their intentions are for the next 12 months, and reaction to some of those announcements.

Day One of the Isle of Man Government conference while light on major policy announcements and big reveals was very engaging and well put together. Government sees the conference as a great opportunity to engage with the public and there were plenty of opportunities to do that. Our government, like governments around the world, faces significant economic and demographic challenges but is our gover...

There’s a consultation happening now on a new strategic plan which, according to Cabinet Office Minister David Ashford, will help build great communities, protect our environment, and promote sustainable development. The new strategic plan will probably be in place until 2041 and will cement the core planning policies which will affect our lives and the appearance of the Island in which we live. I...

Former Douglas East MHK Chris Robertshaw tried and by his own admission failed to bring about the reforms he believes are essential to allow the public to have greater confidence in government and to allow government to actually succeed. He wants us to have a greater say on the major policy proposals government brings forward, he believes government should act as a unified body rather than as sepa...

Chief Minister Alf Cannan has a year left to demonstrate his government can succeed. With global disillusion in conventional politics Mr Cannan and his Ministers have a difficult task in gaining the confidence of a generally doubting Manx public. So what lies in store for the year ahead? Mr Cannan gives some hints on this week's Perspective. If votes were cast on the number of strategies...

Being beleaguered goes with the territory at the Department of Infrastructure, but relatively new DoI Minister Michelle Haywood is doing her best to get on the front foot. Government has had limited success in dealing with the housing crisis and Minister Haywood tells Perspective why her department’s plan for a Housing Agency will succeed where government has so far collectively failed. Building f...

Bashing government handling of public sector pensions used to be top of the list for wannabe MHKs looking for an easy vote winning target so what if anything has changed? The deficit between contributions and payments will be around £48 million this year that’s slightly less than the net spend for the Department of Infrastructure so it remains a substantial sum but the Public Sector Pensions Autho...

What do MHKs get up to during the summer recess? What work is there for our politicians between the July Tynwald sitting and the political season opener in October? You might be surprised at how much is being done out of the immediate political gaze and MHKs Corlett, Glover and Smith are keen to tell us all about it. Grab a deck chair, don your knotted hanky and settle down to a Perspective politi...

Junior Tynwald provided some lively debates which we’re covering on Agenda as well as some excellent questioning by Junior Tynwald members of Ministers and Department members. Manx Radio was there to record the whole sitting and on Perspective this week we’ll hear the first 50 minutes of the hour and eight minute long question time. Questions covered housing, tax, education, health and the environ...

July Tynwald still has a few treasurers to squeeze out including an impassioned speech from Sarah Maltby in which she called on Tynwald members to stop just singing about our Green Hills by the Sea and actually do something to protect and maintain the public rights of way that allow us access to some of the most beautiful countryside in these islands. We also catch up on some of the questions and...

July Tynwald was not only a lengthy affair but also jam packed with interesting debates. On Perspective this week we hear from Ministers Barber, Caine and Poole-Wilson about a lack of success in meeting carbon reduction, possible efficiencies and improvements in education and an A star for the Chief Constable’s report. Chris Thomas gives a D minus to Tynwald for not allowing him to move a debate o...

If Lawrie Hooper has read the book “How to win friends and influence people” it would appear he disagrees with its core premise. Indeed he seemed to be itching for a fight including with his own shadow during an at times tetchy Tynwald. You’ve heard the headlines but on Perspective you can hear the full Hooper interview together with responses from some of the Ministers he had his sights on. It wo...

DoI Minister Michelle Haywood certainly seem in a hurry to get things done and bring about significant change to our lives. With government’s record for speed being noteworthy primarily for its absence you’d imagine the Minister’s drive and determination might be welcomed as a breath of fresh air?! She’s certainly succeeded in dividing public opinion but is she out of her depth or boldly taking on...

With the sad news of the death of Pat Bridson, one of the radical nationalist politicians who helped develop Mec Vannin in the 1960s and 70s to become a credible political force I took the opportunity to catch up with two of her colleagues, Bernard Moffatt and Allan Bell. Pride in the place you live and a desire to develop Manx solutions to Manx problems has become quite a normal part of political...

What message lies at the heart of the Isle of Man Government? Is it a tax and spend government spending all our hard earned savings, or is it a government that takes a more cautious approach to spending and sees income growth as a product of a growing economy? Government’s Our Island Plan had some bold ambition but is it being delivered? There’s one man who should know the answer to these question...

On first glance June Tynwald’s Order Paper looked to offer little opportunity for political excitement. As it turned out there was plenty to exercise our MHKs, increasingly mindful of the 2026 general election. There were questions about the quality of child care and protection, was political messaging around the TT adequate, should we consider whether things are ethically okay and not just legall...

After a decade away from home, Palestinian journalist and film-maker, Yousef Alhelou travelled back to Gaza to reconnect with the people and places of his childhood. His intention was to make a documentary film, which would reveal the hidden beauties, joys, and treasures of Gaza .  The footage taken during his two months trip would become some of the final records of the cultural, social...

Douglas North MHK John Wannenburgh is approaching the end of his fourth year as a national politician. He’s Chair of the Manx Utilities Authority which unlike its private sector UK counterparts is pretty good at supplying us with water and, with the exception of Peel and Laxey, has a generally good record of disposing the sewage we produce without polluting the environment. John talks to Perspecti...

Fed up with the shabby state of some parts of the Island? Dismayed by the grot and litter you pass daily? Angered by potholes or the decaying nature of our Island’s infrastructure? Well what are you going to do about it? That’s the challenge set by the Destination First Board whose remit is to significantly improve the look of our Island and to motivate us all to get involved in making the Island...

May Tynwald was a little shorter than recent sittings but there was a lot packed in. Despite Tynwald and government talking for years about funding solutions for the mobile and family library the threat of its imminent closure was back on the agenda. Members all agreed that something must be done but nobody seemed willing to take responsibility for solving the problem. There was also discussion on...