We note with interest that after a claimed thirty-nine years in the Manx public sector retired [or retiring as he does not make this explicitly clear] civil servant Mr Gerard Higgins has announced his intention of standing in Douglas South this September.
At 57 with a thirty-nine year government career already behind him this makes Mr Higgins a life long benefactor of the public purse and a dedicated government pension enthusiast who we assume having amassed significant entitlements to almost free index-linked money for the rest of his life [let's remember that before 2012 civil servants contributed a grand total of almost zero by way of personal contributions to their pensions] now wishes to up the ante by booking another ticket on the government gravy train having just got off at the last station in order to cash up.
See full write-up from Gef:
Its a very carefully crafted statement so let us clarify why we have started on the rather blunt approach we have taken above. Superficially Mr Higgins makes it sound like he's the turkey who wants to vote for Christmas but we might suggest that he deliberately takes this approach as he will already be patently aware that many people in Douglas South will hold views similar to those expressed above about a lifelong civil servant attempting a classic double-dip of the bottomless taxpayer funded gravy boat. As a result it seems that Mr Higgins has decided to focus primarily on a need to create a smaller more responsive government and on a commitment to introducing a Private Members Bill that would stop MHKs being paid a salary on top of their public sector pension.
But of course as we all know the first thing will simply not happen as his thirty-nine year career likely attests and equally there is no guarantee that any Private Members Bill would be supported let alone passed. So at face value at a time when many families are really struggling due to the pandemic here we have a comfortable and well off ex-civil servant seeking public support to receive £60,000 plus a year on top of the generous pension they contributed hardly anything too for the bulk of their thirty-nine years of employment using the smoke-screen that Tynwald might actually be mad enough to pass a Private Members Bill that would significantly affect the incomes of several Tynwald members and likely stop anyone who has worked in the public sector ever standing for Tynwald in the future.
So we ask are the people of Douglas South really daft enough to be bought off with glass beads like these? Although maybe they are. After all they voted David Cretney back in for long enough.
Further strangeness is evident at the end of this write-up with Mr Higgins asking for a proposer, seconder and his nominators to be constituents who will come forward and make themselves known. Perhaps suggesting that after a thirty-nine year career in public service Mr Higgins might be a bit of a Billy No Mates when it comes to interacting with ordinary members of the Manx public who live outside of the government silo. That said we wish him well and we look forward to reading his manifesto in due course.
Pictured: Gerard Higgins hosting a recent nominators meeting.
