It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” – Upton Sinclair
This is a manifesto for the Isle of Man people. People should publish their ideas; if there is enough support for them, they can then gauge whether it is worth pursuing them further. I am not planning on standing for election partly because of a number of commitments, and partly because I have stood before. I am more than happy to help and support people who would like to take these ideas further.
What I do believe is this: all the people who make so much noise and complain should try writing a manifesto themselves and see how they join the dots together. Commissioners will have unique insights into these matters, and of course, if they then gained exceptional support across the community, it would be very worthwhile for them to consider standing.
We are desperate for people to step up not on social media, but in real life. It’s only when you try to set out a vision that you realise how the pieces must fit.
There is, without doubt, a lot of wasted discussion in politics. Some people wonder why we have such poor performance in the Isle of Man, why capital projects always come in late and considerably over budget. More recently, we’ve reached a point where we are unable to balance the books. Health care costs are spiralling. How did it come to this?
Five years ago, we had a major shift in governance, with more than half of the representatives elected to Tynwald for the first time. So clearly something is not working. Some people will tell you that it is complex, which ultimately makes you feel powerless, as if we, as a country, cannot control our future.
Let me reassure you: it is not complex. All the issues we are facing could be resolved not only in a positive way, but in a way that would secure our future and our children’s future.
Election time gives a mandate from the people to those in power to ensure that our society operates in a way that is beneficial to the community as a whole. The video below touches on some of these aspects, and on why, ultimately, when people do not take democracy seriously, it will fail you, and everyone else. As this podcast below with Darren Faber will explain.
https://t.co/YxNyOwMbp8
Let’s take some examples. Housing is expensive here on the Island because demand is outstripping supply. But is that demand real? Do all the people who want to buy a house here actually want to live and work here, not just when the sun is shining, but when it’s dark, cold, and black? Because if their livelihood doesn’t depend on being here, then their contribution to the overall economy is limited. You can’t run a community on a six‑month‑a‑year presence. Well, maybe you can, but in that case we might as well all go and live in a warmer climate for the other six months.
When we build houses, the thinking rarely seems to go further than the ten‑year guarantee. Yet if we genuinely wanted to give young people a future, and it is the young that the future belongs to, we could enable schemes that allow them to build their own homes at a fraction of the cost. Yes, it’s a bit more complicated, but why should we saddle the younger generation with debts that the boomers never had to pay?
It can be done, in the blink of a year, with long‑term, sustainable planning. Not short‑term, box‑ticking, high‑price nonsense.
We are in, or fast approaching a crisis point within Manx care. Even saying that almost makes me throw my hands up in despair. The amount it cost just to change the name of our care system, supposedly to limit liability, is complete and utter nonsense. In a modern Western society, it is unthinkable that we do not have a modern workable health care system.
People are passionate about our health service, and without doubt, in my experience, the people working in our hospitals and surgeries are lovely, dedicated individuals. But the system itself is not efficient. The main purpose of a health‑care system is to get people better as quickly as possible.
We are on the cusp of a new technological revolution that will change life‑expectancy rates and the way health care works. I am a strong believer that we need to create deeper relationships between patients and practitioners.
In my own experience, spending three weeks in hospital in 2024, I had no idea of the names of the people who helped me. Every shift, it was someone new, looking at my report for half an hour and then making decisions. Health care is not a machine for anyone involved in it.
The focus has to shift to getting people better. Not only is that the humane approach, it is also the cost‑saving one. A healthy, productive person is ten times more valuable to society than a sick one.
No consultant is necessary if you run a hospital and don’t know what is happening or how to do the job. We need to create a system where that situation simply cannot occur. That means getting involved, planning properly, thinking long‑term, and solving problems once, not endlessly revisiting them. This is the efficient way to work.
What we should not be doing is commissioning yet another report from a consultant paid an astronomical amount, producing something the board may or may not understand, and then ultimately discarding it because no one knows how to solve the underlying problem. That is a cultural issue.
If you want the best, you have to make it happen. There are cultures and systems that achieve this. Leadership has to come from the top not from one or more groups of interested parties filling in questionnaires that tell you more about the people who wrote them than the people who have to live with the consequences.
Farming / self‑sufficiency
Is it mad to think about being able to control our basic necessities? We have a farming community, yet the current administration does nothing, it doesn’t even think about it because it’s “too hard”. But when COVID hit, we started to appreciate that having some resourcefulness might actually be handy. The world hasn’t become any safer since then.
Personally, I think this ties in with what real people love about the Island. It’s not just the glens, hills, and coastline, it’s that we produce quality products and have done so forever. We should make that a focal point: you get genuinely high‑quality food here. It may be more expensive at the checkout, but it’s far superior in nutrients and better for the body than food produced in the Americas or elsewhere.
So yes, it’s not a “sexy” industry, but it is very much the bedrock of the Manx community and deserves to be treated with respect, which it currently isn’t getting.
Every time I see Tesco saying “community matters”, you have to ask: what community do they know about? They are a machine that steamrolls over people’s livelihoods and jobs.
The Power of the Payroll and the Single-Issue Voter: A Reflection on Governance
As the beginning quote says on the post, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon it.” Let’s think about that.
Currently, around 8,000 people are employed by the Manx government. That is 9.3% of the total population, and 17% of the working population. That is before we start looking at work contracted out to various companies for services, and children who are unable to vote. So, in reality, perhaps as many as one-third rely on the Isle of Man government for their wage.
That is going to be problematic. The last thing anyone wants is to lose their job or lose their income. So, arguably, you are going to vote for somebody who protects those incomes that are enjoyed. More importantly, you might well be quite vocal in telling people that they should vote for somebody who may well be not very competent.
Let’s take a look at a second category. I remember when I was canvassing at the last election. One particular house greeted me very favorably. They had installed solar panels and were early adopters of the renewable energy economy. I thought, “My luck is in here.” However, as I was about to leave, they asked one more question: What were my thoughts about abortion?
I replied that it had already been decided and voted upon by the previous administration, and that it would not be an issue in this administration. To which they replied it was an issue for them. To clarify, I asked, “So if you had a truly awful candidate that supported your view on abortion, you would vote for him over me?” To which their answer was yes.
The point here is that there may well be sections in society that are completely irrational to good governance. Is it to be compared to fanaticism, this deciding nonsense that paralysis societies. I will let you, the reader, decide that. However, in my opinion, it does make a mockery of elections and democracy
Economy
In order for an economy to thrive, it needs many ingredients, but the most important is people who actually live here all year round. Without that, everything else becomes fragile. We need industries that operate in winter as well as summer; otherwise service businesses simply can’t justify staying open, investing, or hiring.
Some sectors, like tax‑driven financial structures, only work for the Island if the people involved genuinely live here. But even that isn’t enough on its own. Without a vibe, a buzz, a sense of creativity and purpose, which requires a creative industry that is supported and recognised, we will never build anything that isn’t a house of cards.
To name two opportunities from what must be a couple of dozen
- Education — the Island is an ideal place to study, to think, to build skills, and to attract talent.
- Biomedicine — not just labs and research, but the investment vehicles that can take advantage of our low‑tax regime while creating real, year‑round jobs.
And here’s a simple test: if you want to save money, who makes a pound go further? Who creates more with the least resources? One thing is certain — we all know who doesn’t. Creating the very best version of ourselves is now almost critical, given the state of the Island’s mental health (see my newsletter for more thoughts on this).
Beyond Left and Right
The things that need doing are neither left nor right. Many of us grew up with the idea that politics is divided into left, right, independent, or party. But for most people on the street, these labels mean very little.
People just want a society that works — one that functions, one that gives them a fair chance, one that doesn’t collapse every time the wind changes direction.
They want:
- Health services that get people better quickly and affordably.
- Transport that connects us cheaply and reliably.
- Education that prepares young people for the future.
- An economy that isn’t seasonal, brittle, or dependent on a handful of external forces.
- A community that feels alive all year, not just when the sun is shining.
This isn’t ideology. It’s common sense.
This is a work in progress blog post. Feel free to message me if you would like to engage with these ideas in the election.
What are you looking for? (Checklist)
- Don’t take anyone’s word about who you should vote for. If you want proper governance and a society with legitimate mandates, you have to do the hard work. I do believe that the majority of people actually want this.
- Sitting candidates are easy to judge: Have they delivered on the things that are important? Money could be used as a measuring stick. However, it could also be broken down into housing, travel, healthcare, community, the environment, and lowering the population age etc etc.
- Do they talk about democracy? Are they going to represent all people, or just the ones they want to?
- Do they look like they can take a beating? Because trying to do something is going to be messy. It is not always dignified speaking out or talking about what is right.
- Do they act in a professional manner? In this modern age, we have seen politicians worldwide act in a way that causes division. They are not there for select groups, but for society as a whole.
- Are they more interested in a photo opportunity or getting the job done? Look at when they appear in the newspaper and the media. If they are not appearing to talk about the things that matter, I would be very worried.
- Do they speak clearly, and do they have time for you? Obviously, they cannot do that for everyone. But they do need to try. The current sitting female Peel MHK has never answered any of my queries.
- Are they consistent? Turning up is 80% of the job, and I’ve been sorely disappointed. Now, right before the election, after five years of expensive consultants and constant costs, they’re suddenly debating whether we should have low‑cost energy. If they can’t be consistent, they won’t get anything done for you, the electorate.
