This week CrossKeys travelled up the stairs to the hallowed Tynwald Chamber.
Plusher on carpet and a full frontal view of Legislative Council, what more could we ask for?
Sadly, there wasn’t a great deal on the menu for us to get our teeth into. But that didn’t stop Tynwald Members giving us three hours of their time to keep us occupied.
The main course of this gourmet parliamentary delight was a motion from Head Chef Chief Minister Chris Thomas.
It was to state that Tynwald felt Council of Ministers should publish, by the end of November, a government document for debate in Tynwald that sets out the challenges the island faces and also a “prioritised policy agenda”, along with an action plan and legislative programme to address them.
Basically, it was a debate about whether to have a policy debate.
A pre-debate of the policy debate, if you like. And several of the new Thomas cabinet took the opportunity to actually give a taster of what their department’s contribution to that policy debate might be.
So, in fact, a pre-policy debate of the policy debate.
That’s a lot of debate.
Stop sniggering, juvenile readers, because we’re not going to go there.
Anyway, the upside is that everyone currently loves Chris and voted unanimously in favour of his proposal, even though there was some confusion about when the doc may appear and when the debate will take place.
I’m going to say that’s something we may have to get used to.
Ashy on Fire
In other news, Speaker Ashy revelled in the freedom of Tynwald Court and was the only MHK to table any questions. Basically because, by the time the questions had to be tabled ahead of the sitting, he was the only MHK who did not secretly harbour hopes of a minister’s job.
He also wins the prize of the best and at times funniest (deliberately funniest) speech. At least it was funny if you’re a politics nerd. Even Chrissy T smiled and gave a thumbs up at one point.
But he also laid bare the truth that you can call a policy paper anything you want, but if it has no meaningful public engagement, its worth is diminished
Tynwald Lookalikes (Part 1)
Now we must turn to the first part of the Tynwald Lookalikes series.
Today’s a soft one, and hopefully not too controversial or upsetting for those involved.
It may be early days, but if I’ve got my readers on and not my normal vision specs, I’m struggling to tell apart cabinet colleagues Jane Poole-Wilson and Rachel Glover. They are lookalikes of each other.
I think it’s the glasses (theirs, not mine). There’s almost a Two Ronnies vibe.
We must live in hope of a musical number before Christmas time.
I know that JPW has stage experience, so there’s always a chance.
And Dr G, if there hasn’t been an induction course on stage presence, we know people who can help.
Next week, the Tynwald Lookalikes Series will be looking further afield than the Chamber itself.
