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 for success but is this another policy built on sand?

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 Authority argue that the Tynwald approved plan is getting this spending under control. Are gold plated government pensions really a thing of the past? It seems so.

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 political whippy with just the mildest sprinkle of nuts and rasberry sauce!

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 environment and the questioners did a great job in pinning down the government. Well worth listening to these promising political prospects for the future.

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 answers that began the mammoth four day sitting. Prepare to have your heart stirred by Sarah Maltby’s call for action. Will it make the difference that she’s hoping for? You know what …. it might!

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 on a significant change in housing policy and Joney Faragher led a very thoughtful debate on the position the Isle of Man should take on international law. A not to be missed Tynwald super summer special - well … if you’re a political nerd like me at least.

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 would appear that as the election looms the next 12 months could be filled with lively political exchanges. The question we’ll need to answer on election day next year is do we favour rhetoric over actual results?

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 the controversial issues that others have feared to tackle.

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 discourse these days but sixty years ago this was seen as quite a radical philosophy. Any chance that we’ll hear glowing tributes on previous government’s from Bernard? Well … prepare to be shocked!

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 questions and that’s Chief Minister Alf Cannan and he talks to Perspective. Are the promises of jam tomorrow being spread a little too thinly on the Manx political jam butty?