Bernard Moffatt's blog

‘Bloody grave robbers’ my friend, a well known Peel character since sadly gone to his own grave’ averred. We were many years ago studying - with the aid of a few pints - some archeological students who at the the time were excavating Peel Castle. You could say it was - on our part - an anthropological study aided by various local beverages of ‘Univeritystudentexciticas’ who had obviously had a good day at the dig and were chilling out by themselves imbibing.

One of the great bonuses of Tynwald having their extended holidays is that we will be spared excerpts from Tynwald or the Keys by MTTV plus ‘The Portal’ at Manx Radio of Ministers answering interminable questions. The coverage I find about as interesting as a Dulux advert that just features paint drying instead of that big dog.

Footpaths are emotive issues. Some of the recent posts by Celtic League Secretary Alan Moore - coincidentally sampling the footpaths of SW Wales at the moment - garnered a brisk take up on our CL Manin Facebook pages. The issue was the state of them and the ‘Bête noire’ Ray Harmer MHK DOI Minister. Harmer is in the mud so to speak again having pushed through Tynwald the rerouting of a footpath on the East of the Island.

Not all MHKs were happy (see link):

With the subject of control and restraint very much de rigueur these days I thought this video of the French police in action on May day was worth an airing. Of course what makes this especially interesting is that government officials of the Macron regime are also involved. Indeed presidential aide Alexandre Benalla was even helpfully kitted out for the fracas by ‘les flics’:

My thoughts turn to Leitrim and a mountain top and my late wife saying as the road along which I was driving suspiciously turned into two ruts down an incredibly steep hill: ‘Do you know where you’re going?’. I averred snappily that I did but was only reassured of my own certainty when about 15 minutes later a discernible road appeared again. Anyway we certainly got views not found on your normal ‘tourist trail’.

Just when you think that all the Manx ‘politicos’ are packing their trunks, buckets and spades and heading for the beach there is a political frenzy in Tynwald.

Of course as the Chief Minister averred in one of his recent MTTV interviews everyone remains glued to their desks during the summer recess and ‘the business of government goes on’. However we all know that’s a load of tosh because it's obvious they are in holiday mode already DEFA Minister Geoff Boot has even had his first barbeque while singing: ‘I don’t want to set the world on fire’.

Manx Radio have got an item that suggests we are set to become the next Silicon Valley which would be good because some of our business interests have been more akin to Sicily than Silicon of late.

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/isle-of-man-a-new-silico...

While we export vast sums of money to the UK in terms of broadcast licence fees the Isle of Man does not have any TV services of our own. I often marvel that a enclave like Transnistria (effectively a country within a country) one of the poorest places in Europe has four TV stations.

For the time we only have MTTV and the Manx Radio Portal and even the latter has been quiet of late almost as if the novelty has worn off.

I can’t shake of the fact that Richard Butt thinks David Doyles witterings warrant a story (see earlier blog on ‘The Deemster’) still that’s the the price we pay for a ‘free press’ and anyway Doyle is still robed as First Deemster - Jane is still well down the ladder!

I’m in to one of those Thomas Beckett modes - a la - ‘Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest (or in this case Deemster)’ moods when the Argentinian actor Ricardo Darin comes to my aid - I’m watching ‘Tesis sobre un homicidio’ (Thesis on a homicide) don’t ask where I find these films.

I thought the First Deemster (David Doyle) had gone but not yet it seems he pops up in the columns of IOM Today holding forth about the impeccable credentials of a free press and bemoaning social media:

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/article.cfm?id=41841&headline=Outgoing%20First...