As with all the 2021 election topics we have raised here we deliberately set out to start difficult conversations that nobody else is currently raising in order to bring things out in the open. We aren't trying to be partisan either and the main thing that we set out to do in publishing this blog is provide more frank and direct reportage on areas that we think perhaps don't come up to expected standards of scrutiny or transparency, or to raise issues that we think the local press just backs down from confronting.
So to try to qualify this approach before we dive straight in on the above subject. Despite ripping into Mr Michael Josem's various inconsistencies and perceived conflicts in the last week the writers of this blog in general support Liberal Vannin as a valid opposition party in the Isle of Man which brings a lot to the table in the Manx political system. Equally we like the Manx Labour Party and have already posted our view that it has some very good candidates this time round who should see it claim some new MLP seats in this next government.
But what we don't like though is the above word ..
The Oxford English Dictionary [in its abridged form] defines Nepotism as:
Giving unfair advantages to your own family if you are in a position of power. Especially by giving them jobs.
We've never liked this word in a political context and then we saw the below post on Facebook from a rather helpful chap called Dave offering election support to the people of Douglas South on behalf of standing candidate Sarah Maltby. As we all know up until February 2020 helpful Facebook Dave was the Chair of the Manx Labour Party - a position which he held for many many years. It is also the position which his daughter Sarah has now taken over with the very same organisation. As well as his Manx Labour Party Chairmanship helpful Dave was also an elected Manx Labour Party MHK for Douglas South for 30 years before retiring in 2015 to take on a non political role as an MLC [despite remaining Chair of an active political party until 2020 of course] within the Legislative Council.
So as former MLP Chair and former MHK for exactly the same area that his daughter is now standing in you can pretty much bet that most of the people who are Dave's Facebook friends, or who are actively reading Dave's Facebook posts, would be people who also remember Dave from his thirty plus years of representing Douglas South.
Therefore having already blogged fairly brutally in relation to the Manx Piss-takers Alliance and the various perceived conflicts that exist between Mr MIchael Josem and the Liberal Vannin Party that we feel should be clarified in the public interest [by either Mr Josem or Liberal Vannin] for balance we're certainly going to make the above observation and connection very clearly.
Mrs Maltby is a strong candidate in her own right. She understands the constituency and has the potential to be a very proficient and well liked MHK. But if you're a Douglas South voter do you really want to be voting first and foremost for a local dynasty? Do you think that the campaign is being run impartially and transparently with the involvement of helpful Dave in most things that are being organised or pushed out on social media? In short if you thought about it for more than five seconds do you really think that a family patriarch should be easing the passage of another family member into a role for which they themselves were handsomely remunerated by the Manx taxpayer for thirty years?
Let us not forget that nepotism isn't without precedent within the Manx Labour Party either. Following the establishment of the Manx Labour Party in 1918 in 1919 Christoper R Shimmin was elected as Manx Labour MHK for Peel. In 1933 nearly 15 years later his widow Marion succeeded to his seat immediately after his death where she remained as Peel MHK until 1942. That's another dynastic Manx Labour line of nearly 30 years. That might be fine for the early to mid Twentieth Century where most voters knew their place and looked up to so-called important people without questioning their real motive or agenda - but times have changed.
In 2021 and beyond we will be living in a post pandemic world that has decimated peoples incomes and jobs and which has already dramatically impacted upon government finances. And therefore we should all perhaps be instrumental in creating a clear catalyst for change away from the comfortable bloated status quo that has existed here since the late nineteen-eighties. Also being blunt [almost to the point of vulgarity] where money is concerned it's also passing on the key to a £50,000 plus a year well pensioned job when so many in the Island have already lost income or employment in the pandemic fallout.
We're certainly not here to tell anyone what to say or do. Neither would we ever presume to do so. But if you've read this to the end please don't shy away from asking any difficult or uncomfortable questions on the doorstep. Suffice to say that none of us lives in the nineteen-thirties anymore. We're all allowed to do the things that we choose to do. We should be making our political choices free of influence, free of any and all attempts at peer pressure, and with our eyes wide open as people who are all directly invested in the future of this Island. And we certainly don't have to assist political dynasties to stay in place amongst all the chaos and uncertainty that we'll be dealing with. The days of us humble voters simply paying our dues or doffing our caps to our betters in order not to be singled out are well gone.
So vote for the candidate on the basis of the skills and experience you think that they will bring to the role. Not because their dad asks you if you want a lift to the polling station or a banner to stick in your window.
Pictured: David Cretney former Douglas South MHK and Manx Labour Party Chairman.
