Manx Joy

What a wonderful morning!

The exodus of Irish delegates from the six-monthly meeting of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly allowed British MPs a free morning. It was a glorious day of winter sunshine with the seagulls dancing across the waves at Douglas.

It luckily co-incided with a rare meeting of the House of Keys. Reading the agenda, it struck me that they could have arranged it especially for me. There was an amendment to a bill to allow the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes. At the time of writing I do not know the decision. For reasons I have argued before it would be an act of sense and compassion. Additionally the Isle of Man could boost their flagging tourist trade. They suffered with all cold-water beaches when the rush to warmth and sangria of the Mediterranean decimated their tourists.

It was delight to meet again a member of the House of Keys (MHK) who I had previously meet 20 years ago. Peter Karran is still the liveliest MHK and dominated the question time today. He was Labour a long time ago. Now he is a Liberal. Not that it makes much difference. He is still the strident restless voice of persistent opposition that adds spice to a parliament in need of a challenge.

For Westminster politicians it was bewildering. Nearly all but two of the 24 members appear to be ministers. Backbencher Peter asked most of the questions, but oddly many ministers asked other ministers questions! This is impossible in the British Parliament but makes sense in an assembly dealing with the affairs of 80,000 people. While the tasks often appear Liliputian the House of Keys have great powers to act independently in the family of British nations. Wales and Scotland have no such independence - yet.

Seaside3 This the world's oldest parliament. It is rivaled in its 1,000 year history only by the Icelandic parliament which is also named a Tynewald. Both have a tradition of reading out the details of their bills once a year in the open air. They share a pride in their Nordic ancestry. Strangely the Isle of Man gene pool is far more Nordic than Iceland’s which is overwhelmingly Celtic. That’s because the Icelandic Vikings stole the best looking Welsh and Irish women.

Peter is also a Manx Gaelic languages enthusiast and refereed to all ministers as ‘Surveyshock’ I cannot find the correct spelling but I presume that it is similar to the Irish Gaelic word for Prime Minister. A valiant campaign has rescued the langue from the brink of extinction. A new generation is now learning through the medium of Manx.

Later a group of us had a glorious bus ride to Snaefell mountain. It rises 2,000 foot in the middle of the island. The day was remarkably clear and we could see the Welsh mountains of Gwynedd, the Irish Mountains of Mourne, England's Cumbria and Scotland. No wonder the people of the island boast that they live in the centre of the British Isles.