The M Word Podcast

Chris was walking into a pub quiz in a Star Wars t shirt when a dig about nerds from someone at the bar stuck with him all night. That moment, and a childhood that included bullying led to a community of geeks that now sells out every month.

In this episode we talk to Chris about growing up on the Isle of Man as a self confessed nerd, finding his tribe at college and why that matters at any age.

Chris explains how a quiz that started with six people grew into a monthly gathering of more than 200, with a market, a council and plans for more.

The conversation also covers his path from fixing PCs to software, burnout, a trip to Everest base camp and the confidence to speak on a big stage.

Chris shares why artificial intelligence does not scare him, but what people choose to do with it does, and what he believes the Isle of Man can achieve when its communities pull together.

#sport #business #health #life #extraordinarystories #honestconversation #practical #mindset #resilience

What do you do when you ask a hospital team what one thing needs fixing and the answer is everything? Ed, a surgeon who moved into healthcare advisory work with KPMG, and Neil, KPMG's advisory partner on the Isle of Man, talk honestly about what is straining health systems and what islands can do about it.

Ed trained in the NHS, specialised in general surgery and spent time in global health in Africa, where a rural operating theatre in Madagascar changed how Ed sees healthcare. Together they explain the global workforce shortage, rising costs and ageing populations, and why islands feel those pressures more sharply than most.

The conversation also covers a digital health innovation challenge on the Isle of Man with finalists from around the world, from AI in radiology to consent taken at home. Ed and Neil share what other islands have learned, including digital records, joined up care pathways, charitable support and why frugal medicine is not bad medicine.

#sport #business #health #life #extraordinarystories #honestconversation #practical #mindset #resilience

A phone call on the way to the airport told Jade that her fight was off, with the bags packed and her supporters already booked to travel.

In this honest conversation, the Isle of Man boxer talks about the cost of a cancelled bout, the self doubt that crept in, and how the people around her turned a low point into a victory.

Jade explains how a GoFundMe page and loyal ticket buyers helped her get the fight back on, and what it felt like to win by stoppage. She also reflects on what she learned from watching it back, why she still needs to be more patient in the ring, and why she chooses to train away from home, out of her comfort zone.

With a step up in weight and a title fight on the horizon, Jay shares how she prepares, who is in her corner, and why she is feeling calm, strong and excited. It is a practical story about resilience, support and betting on yourself.

#sport #business #health #life #extraordinarystories #honestconversation #practical #mindset #resilience

Coach Tim Kennaugh returns to The M Word for a deep dive into how cyclists really get faster. Tim explains why chasing a higher FTP can be the wrong goal, how to read power, heart rate, lactate and perceived effort together, and why the pros treat recovery as seriously as training. We get into fuelling, carbs versus calories, strength work, the fads sweeping the peloton, and why most amateurs plateau by doing the same week on repeat. Tim also shares how he rebuilt after burnout and what coming home to the Isle of Man means to him. Nerdy in places, practical throughout, and relevant to any sport.

After the 2017 pivot, Jules rebuilt herself from the ground up using mindfulness, journaling and mindset work. She moved into fitness, personal training, sports massage and kept adding because something was still missing.

This second half covers her journey into coaching, the difference between therapy and coaching, how habits actually work, why people pleasing and imposter syndrome might be connected, and what it actually means to help people move from surviving to thriving.

She talks about her podcast Mental Wealth with Jules, the books that have shaped her thinking, why she uses journaling with clients, and why high standards can sometimes drive and sometimes hinder performance.

It’s a conversation about the invisible threads that connect burnout, perfectionism, people pleasing and imposter syndrome, and what it takes to genuinely help someone change.

Dr. Alex Allinson spent 20 years as a doctor in Ramsey before stepping into politics. Now, after years in government, he's stepping back. In this candid, wide-ranging conversation, he walks us through the major decisions, crises, and leadership lessons that shaped his time in public office.

We cover the big issues facing the Isle of Man right now: the healthcare system and how Manx Care was created to separate politics from operations; the airport and the impossible math of running a loss-making facility; the controversial decision to buy the Steam Packet Company and what accountability actually means; an aging population and the looming pension issues; and the energy security threat that sits quietly in the background.

But this isn't just about problems. It's about what it takes to lead when every decision has a cost. Why do people lose faith in politics? What separates those willing to take action from those who stand on the sidelines complaining? How do you make impossible decisions knowing half the island will disagree? And what does he wish he'd known before stepping into public life?

It's a conversation about resilience, accountability, the weight of responsibility, and the gap between how politics looks from the outside and how it actually works from the inside.

Jules Hobbs was born and raised in the UK. She had a difficult childhood, things that shouldn’t happen to kids, but she’s chosen not to dwell on that story. Instead, she talks about what came next.

She spent five years in international banking in London, then helped transform a budding wellness studio into an award-winning, top-ranked clinic. She increased revenue significantly and got the studio featured in national press.

But in 2017, something shifted. She describes it as an iceberg moment, literal and metaphorical.

Burnout, people-pleasing, perfectionism had built up beneath the surface, and suddenly it was visible and unavoidable.

This is the first half of a conversation about what it takes to rebuild yourself, why she moved from banking into wellbeing, and the moment she realised that fixing other people’s bodies wouldn’t fix what was broken inside her own.

Daniel Davison is 18 years old. He just got his A-level results this morning. Three years ago he taught himself to cut hair from YouTube videos, started in his kitchen, moved to his bathroom, and convinced his father to help him convert a derelict garage into The Garage Barbershop in Peel. They spent three months working on it at night and weekends. He’s now fully booked.

A year ago, bored after 7pm when the barber shop closed, he started a marketing business running Facebook and Instagram ads for hair transplant clinics across the UK and Australia. He’s got three companies on retainer and is trying to scale it.

He was just offered a place at university but is deferring for a year to focus on the businesses. He’s also the youngest declared candidate in the 2026 general election, running for Glenfaba and Peel because there’s no young voice in government and he wants to be in the room when decisions that will affect his generation are being made.

This is a conversation about entrepreneurship, self-teaching and what it means to bring a young voice into politics when you’re simultaneously running two businesses.

Blake Kelly built his entire racing operation on a shoestring budget and a DIY ethos, and last year became one of three locals to start the Manx Grand Prix. He works as a firefighter and blue light instructor. He paints his own bikes. He converted a 1997 ambulance into a race van with a sofa bed and a big TV. He edits his own YouTube videos. He designs his own vinyl stickers with a desktop cutter. He built a pit crew that nailed the third fastest pitstop at the Manx Grand Prix.

This is a story about getting to the mountain circuit on no money and a lot of stubbornness.

The episode covers late entry into racing, the gap between short-circuit racing and mountain roads, the cost of reaching the Manx Grand Prix (around £30k this year), the physical and mental experience of racing 37.73 miles on closed public roads on the Isle of Man, his YouTube channel as a creative outlet, building a support team from nothing, and what it actually takes to race at the sport’s most famous venue.

It’s a conversation about ambition without resources, risk management, asking for help, and the specific terror and peace that comes from knowing every inch of a road so well that you can do 160mph on it.

Becky Storrie was 19 years old, training thirty hours a week and studying full time, when she collapsed in a teammate’s hallway and started fitting. She had felt fine that morning. She says she was in the shape of her life.

That was the end of her triathlon career and the start of nine months in which she could barely make a cup of tea. Chronic fatigue syndrome gave her no timeline, no rehab plan and no promise of recovery. It also took away the only version of herself she recognised. She had a five year plan, she knew exactly what she was going to win, and within weeks all of it was gone.

She talks openly about the fear underneath it, whether her friends would still want her around, whether her partner would still want to be with her, when the sport they shared was the thing that had brought them together.

What happened next is one of the more remarkable stories on the Island. She threw herself into her psychology degree, drifted into cycling because swimming and running were still beyond her, entered her first bike race in 2019, and inside five years was riding the Tour de France Femmes.

The route there was not smooth. Her team collapsed financially at the end of November, leaving her with no contract and no agent, emailing teams she knew would never look at her. When one finally interviewed her they told her something she had no idea about, that they had been watching her for five years because a sports scientist at her university had quietly sent them her lab data without ever mentioning it.

In this conversation Beckie talks about the menstrual cycle and how little the sport understood it until recently, the gap between men’s and women’s resources at the top level, what nine days of Grand Tour racing does to your ability to make even the smallest decision, breaking the same collarbone three times in one season, and why she now tells every young rider she coaches to keep something else in their life.

It is a conversation about ambition, collapse, identity and the difference between wanting something and being willing to send the email.