Italian lawyer Quirino Mancini of SCM Lawyers told the eGaming Summit in the Isle of Man that people in the gaming industry are ‘good guys’ but the media did not always see it like that.

Drawing upon a series of examples from his home jurisdiction Italy, which harbours a notoriously complex relationship with eGaming, Mr Mancini tackled the perennial problem of the controversial image of gaming in the face of media and public opinion.

He said the media in his home country often concentrated on gambling addiction but not other addictions such as smoking and binge drinking.

The first support day for bereaved parents in the Isle of Man takes place at St John’s Mill on Saturday.

The event is being run by Maddie Porter of Care for the Family, a national charity which is also the organiser, and she will be helped out by bereaved parent support co-ordinators Mike and Kath Coulson.

Mrs Porter said: ‘The death of a son or daughter is perhaps every parent’s worst fear. Sadly for around 25.000 parents in the UK every year that fear becomes reality and when your child dies you can feel very alone.’

The aim of the charity is to strengthen family life and help those facing family difficulties and the support team, who have all lost a son or daughter, will be on hand to talk to people.

Mr and Mrs Coulson will also share their own experience of bereavement and suggest strategies to find hope and a way forward.

‘The main aims for the event are to help parents develop resilience, rebuild their lives and discover a new “normal” for themselves and their family,’ Mrs Porter said.

She said the event was open to any parent, at any stage in the grieving process, whose son or daughter has died at any age, in any circumstance.

Tickets cost £20 and include lunch and refreshments. To book call 029 2081 800 or visit www.careforthefamily.org.uk/bpsday

eGaming chief Peter Greenhill has spoken of ‘dramatic changes’ ahead which will test the island’s ability to grow the industry.

‘To use a famous quote: ‘‘The old order changeth”, Mr Greenhill told delegates at the fifth KPMG eGaming summit.

‘Things are changing, they are changing dramatically and a lot of those changes are outside our control.

‘A number of licensees around the world will fall by the wayside.

‘Their business models will not be as strong as they were before and they will have to fall away.

‘That’s just the way things are.

‘New business plans are being brought forward now.’

And he asked the audience at the Villa Marina, Douglas: ‘As we move into a more mature market now are there suffiencient new ideas out there?

‘We need new ideas .’

He predicted: ‘We will lose licensees over the years to come, absolutely definitely.’

Mr Greenhill, chief executive officer, eGaming Development at the Department of Economic Develoment told the audience which included visitors from Italy, Germany and the USA: ‘We need to adjust, adapt and attract new people to the IoM.

‘We need to develop the public/private partnership. Working together is the only way forward.’

He spoke of mergers and acquisitions increasing.

He predicted major moves and acquisitions taking place in the UK as well.

Mr Greenhill said that looking to the future there wasn’t a single USP for the IoM. He said that when the decisions to relocate are made, they are made holistically.

Steve Brennan, chief executive of the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission said: ‘We are trying to be as helpful and supportive of our sector as possible.’

He reveale d that there are currently 56 licence holders. This is the same number as in November last year.

Twelve new licences had been issued this year and these had replaced operations that had moved out of the island over the last 12 months.

‘We’ve had some casualties along the way’ said Mr Brennan.

Both Mr Brennan and Mr Greenhill spoke of promising hopes in the ‘pipeline’ for the future.

Mr Greenhill said he was heartedned at seeing people in the audience he had met at foreign conferences which played an important part in boosting business.

eGaming now accounts for 13 per cent of the island’s economy.

Backbench MHK John Houghton’s antics in the House of Keys have been branded ‘outrageous’ by the Chief Minister.

Mr Houghton was ordered to leave the Keys last week after refusing to apologise for questioning the honesty of the Treasury Minister.

Chief Minister Allan Bell said: ‘It seems the election is already well under way – it’s started a year or two early in North Douglas!’

Mr Houghton’s departure from the House followed an exchange over Treasury Minister’s Eddie Teare’s visit to Berlin last month to sign a global tax information exchange deal.

The backbencher suggested it was a ‘huge black cloud which is about to pour down on us’ and then called on Mr Teare ‘to be honest with the House for the first time this morning’.

This prompted Speaker Steve Rodan to demand he apologise. When he refused, he was instructed to leave the sitting.

But Mr Bell said he believed this was nothing to do with the global tax deal. He said: ‘It was outrageous. This has nothing whatsoever to do with FATCA and everything to do with the Debt Recovery Bill he is trying to promote.

‘It’s worth reflecting that Mr Houghton has supported the government’s negotiations in relation to FATCA and never once spoken against it.

‘He talks of the island losing millions of pounds of business and of a dark cloud hanging over us. Nothing could be further from the truth. If the Isle of Man had not taken the lead we would have been in a very difficult position and at some point could have been blacklisted.’

The historic agreement signed in Berlin places the Isle of Man among the first group of countries in the world to move to a new global standard for tax information exchange. It is based on the FATCA model of automatic exchange agreed with the US and the UK.

Earlier in last week’s Keys sitting Mr Houghton had criticised the Treasury over delays in implementing the Debt Recovery and Enforcement Act, which started out as his private member’s bill.

Mr Teare said the original legislation was ‘defective’ and there were data protection issues over the listing of outstanding executions for debt.

TT organisers are requesting expressions of interest from organisations that may want to run the TT races from 2015.

The current contract to run the races is with ACU Events Ltd, which comes under the umbrella of the ACU controlling body for motorcycle events, but this expired earlier this year.

The Department of Economic Development, which is the current holder of rights relating to promoting and running the TT races, has advertised inviting applications from parties who may be interested in running the races in 2015 and 2016 with a possible extension up to and including 2019.

As well as running the actual races, the successful party would also be responsible for any parade laps on the course which form part of the programme and they would also oversee technical matters such as ensuring riders meet the entry criteria and operating the IT system for entries, race timing and race control.

Other duties include providing suitably qualified race officials, including a clerk of the course, currently Gary Thompson, and working with personnel like scrutineers, marshals and others.

Duties also involve liaising with contractors setting up the course, ensuring road closures are in place, ensuring the course is fit for purpose and ensuring medical cover including rescue helicopters are all organised.

A government spokesman said the contract was due for renewal and it therefore was offered out to tender to comply with standard financial regulations. The first stage of this was for parties to make inquiries and express an interest and if enough suitably qualified parties did this, a tendering process would follow.

Current organiser ACU Events Ltd has run the races since 2008 and is the commercial arm and a subsidiary of the ACU. In addition to running the TT races, it also runs the ACU British Motocross Championships and runs its own motocross track at Milton Malsor near Northampton. The company was set up in 2006 and has five directors, all from the ACU. Its initial contract to run the TT was for three years but this was extended by a further two years then one more year.

A government statement confirmed ACU Events Ltd would be submitting a tender for the new contract and has already submitted its expression of interest in the event.

Before ACU Events was in charge of the TT, the races were organised and run by the Manx Motor Cycle Club but this contract came to an end after the centenary TT races in 2007, after which ACU Events Ltd took over.

As well as the duties already mentioned, any body taking over the running of the races would also be responsible for a large budget for which audited accounts have to be produced. They would also need to ensure best practice was complied with in terms of risk management as well as accommodating any requests by the Department of Economic Development for promotional or commercial entertainment opportunities.

The three-D film Closer to the Edge, which was released in 2010, the year of Ian Hutchinson’s historic five wins in a week, coupled with day-by-day coverage on ITV4has seen a huge growth in popularity for the TT in recent years, spurring the Steam Packet to create extra space in the Manannan fast craft with an extra mezzanine deck to accommodate more motorcycles travelling next year.

Pre-fabricated sections for the new Isle of Man police custody block have arrived in the island and are in the process of being hauled into position for assembly.

The sectional building was brought over by boat from Wales and stored on the car park at the back of the Grandstand before being slotted into place behind the police headquarters off Glencrutchery Road.

The new block, which is costing £2.795 million, and consists of 30 separate sections, is expected to be finished by March next year. It will offer more up-to-date accommodation to comply with latest Home Office guidelines, which the old block, in operation since the 1970s, did not.

A presentation about drug and alcohol addiction in the Isle of Man is to take place later this week.

Motiv8 Addiction Services, in conjunction with the London-based National Centre for Social Research, has conducted a project funded by the Manx Lottery Trust.

The aim was to better understand experiences of drug and alcohol-related addictive behaviour in the Isle of Man.

The results involve the experiences of affected individuals and their personal, anonymous, testimonies.

According to Motiv8, these findings are designed to ‘give a voice to an often marginalised and stigmatised group’ on what it’s like to live with and also recover from an addiction and will ‘hopefully improve attitudes and interventions in harnessing what they felt helped them recover’.

The event is at the Manx Museum’s lecture theatre in Douglas on Thursday at 2pm and 7pm. All welcome.

The climbdown over parking and bus fare charges does not give a good impression of a government that is supposed to be working together, the Chief Minister admits.

A series of U-turns on controversial new charges were announced last week by Infrastructure Minister Phil Gawne MHK.

The planned 50p fare to be charged on school buses is to be halved to 25p.

Proposals to restrict free bus passes to pensioners, by raising the age of eligibility from 60 to the state pension age, are now to be phased in but in order to pay for this, pensioners will be charged half fare at peak times.

And two-hour disc zone parking on Douglas promenades is to be retained –following an outcry from retailers worried the plan to cut free parking to one hour would hit trade.

Mr Bell said: ‘It’s probably doesn’t give the best impression of government or government thinking – I fully accept that. One of my ambitions is to improve connectivity across government, to encourage an end to silo thinking and get government working more closely together. I’ve only been partially successful in achieving that.

‘But Mr Gawne has an exceptionally difficult job to do with the challenge to find £5m of savings. His department has identified several million pounds of savings so far. Transport issues are one part.

‘Mr Gawne made the announcement. Council of Minister were aware of this and went along with him at the time. Clearly there has been public reaction to some of these proposals and Mr Gawne has taken those comments on board, particularly the concerns of retailers on parking. The government is regularly criticised for not listening.’

Mr Bell added: ‘Communication in government has got to sharpen up.’

The Chief Minister stressed that the charges were the result of the island’s changed financial circumstances in the wake of the VAT bombshell.

‘Things change, We have not got the money we had and we’ve got to cut our cloth accordingly,’ he said.

But Mr Bell said he was hopeful that there would not be many more increases in charges for public services.

He said: ‘I hope we are close to the point where we don’t have to put up charges. There is only so much pressure you can put on the community without it have a contrary effect.

‘We are close to rebalancing the budget and with a fair wind we will rebalance a year early. I hope we won’t have to simply fall back on putting up charges all the time as the cumulative effect will have a detrimental impact on some sections of our community.’

Airport baggage handlers are being balloted on a proposal to cut their pay by about 20 per cent.

An access to government information request made by iomtoday has revealed that one baggage handler earned just under £44,000 last year, including overtime.

Department of Infrastructure chief executive Nick Black said serious consideration was given for the public sector to pull out of providing a baggage handling service altogether, saving £1m a year.

But Infrastructure Minister Phil Gawne MHK felt greater savings could be achieved by negotiating with the unions over revised terms and conditions.

The Prospect union, representing half the workforce, confirmed its members have voted to accept the proposals which are based on acceptance of a new shift system that effectively reduces overtime to nil.

A result of the ballot of Unite members is expected early next week.

Mr Gawne said a ‘few’ of the 26 baggage handler posts would be lost under the proposals but the main savings would be made through cuts in pay.

The Minister announced last week that a working group he is chairing was looking at reviewing terms and conditions for all new civil servants and government manual workers in a move that could save more than £1m next year and up to £10m a year after eight years.

In our access to information request, we asked for details of pay and overtime for airport baggage handlers.

Mr Black replied: ‘As at November 1 2014 there were 26 staff employed as baggage handlers. The basic annual salary ranges from £21,090 for apron hand grade 2 to £29,881 for supervisors. Shift, weekend and unsocial hours premia are also payable.

‘The maximum amount earned by a baggage handler was £43,996 gross including an exceptional overtime of £11,891 in 2013/14. Only one other person earned an amount close to this figure. The average overtime payment in the year was £2,145.’

Mr Black confirmed: ‘The department gave serious consideration to ceasing to provide this service. It did not consider privatising the existing operation as private sector companies are already capable of offering this service at Ronaldsway.

‘The department estimated an overall annual saving (not including redundancy costs) of £1m. The Minister is working with trade unions on revised terms and conditions for DoI and other government staff so that savings greater than this can be realised by negotiation.’

In our access to information request we also asked about pay and overtime rates for Bus Vannin supervisors.

Mr Black replied that there are four supervisors employed by Bus Vannin and six supervisors employed for railway supervision but who will also cover bus supervision.

He said: ‘The basic hourly rate is £14.92 per hour. Bus Vannin supervisors work four days over seven on a daily shift 9 hours 15 mins giving 37 hours per week.

‘For the period April 2013 to March 2014 the maximum earned by a Bus Vannin supervisor was £49,497. It should be noted that this reflects exceptional overtime worked during the 2013 industrial action.’

Directors of Manx-registered space exploration company Excalibur Almaz says they will vigorously defend ‘baseless’ claims made against them in a US civil lawsuit.

In a civil suit filed in Harris County district court, Texas, Japanese businessman Takafumi Horie alleges Excalibur Almaz founders Art Dula and J Buckner Hightower misled him into investing $49m in a commercial space transportation venture.

In a statement, Excalibur Almaz said: ‘These allegations are baseless and will be vigorously defended.

‘To set the record straight, Excalibur Almaz is not out of business and is vigorously pursuing a profitable commercial space program utilizing proven Russian flight hardware capable of re-use, contrary to recent allegations.’

Mr Horie’s petition alleges fraud, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. It claims that he learned the investment was a “sham” when he discovered that Mr Dula had sold a Russian spacecraft at auction that allegedly was ‘only suitable for display in a museum, and not as a potential flight vehicle as had been falsely represented to the plaintiff from the beginning.’

This isn’t the first lawsuit filed against Excalibur Almaz. In 2012, Donna Beck sued the company and a number of its directors for allegedly defrauding her and her late husband into investing $300,000 in an asteroid mining scheme. Lawyers for Excalibur said they would mount a ‘rigorous’ defence against the ‘completely unfounded’ claims.

In July, Mr Dula told the Examiner that the company had shelved its space tourism mission. One of the former Soviet space programme re-entry capsules formerly stored at Jurby has subsequently been sold at auction in Belgium.

The company says its mission is to become the world leader in space exploration, experimentation and tourism using flight tested products and systems from the US, European, and Russian space programmes.

The Manx Music Speech and Dance Festival is celebrating the Year of Culture with a show in Peel.

‘The Guild Goes West’ will take place at Peel’s Centenary Centre this Friday, November 21, at 7.30pm.

The concert will feature 2014 Cleveland Medal Winner Mandy Griffin, Karen Elliott, Laurence Kermode, Christian Cooper, Paul Costain, Ian Wright, Manx Youth Band Quartet, Simon Lynch, Samantha Ash, Michelle Jamieson, Tori Wright, Lois Mooney, Robyn Lawler, Elizabeth Shooter and Mike Durber.

Tickets are still available via Celtic Gold in Peel or Zoe Cannell and cost £10, which includes a buffet.

For more details phone or text Zoe Cannell on 412712 or email zoecannell@hotmail.com

Wi-Manx have appointed Elissa Morris as a new account manager to work with their growing base of business hosting customers.

Joining a highly skilled technical team, Elissa specialises in datacentre services, network, cloud, managed hosting and security solutions.

Joe Hughes, MD of Wi-Manx said of the hire: ‘Elissa is now an integral part of our team and her extensive industry experience means she is set to excel in this role.

‘Elissa’s technical knowledge coupled with her strong client focus will enable her to deliver technical solutions that meet the needs of our customers, and their businesses.’

Since graduating from Kingston University where she studied Film, Elissa went straight into a role as a production manager in London working with clients, budgets and film crew before returning to the island and making the crossover into IT.

Offering a wealth of knowledge from two previous years at Domicilum, her appointment comes at an exciting time for Wi-Manx following news their full telecoms licence was granted.

Elissa went on to say of her new role: ‘I’m extremely excited to join Wi-Manx as I believe there are a lot of opportunities to sink our teeth into especially since the recent expansion and becoming part of the Elite Comms Group.

‘This move not only strengthened our core network reach, it expanded Wi-Manx’s specialised in-house technical team and moving forward it enhances our technical product portfolio.

‘It means we can accommodate our clients’ needs with more services and in more locations, acting as their single supplier of choice for network, voice and datacentre services.’

Wi-Manx already provide hosting and network services throughout the Isle of Man, UK and Europe. With the recent changes in regards to eGaming and UK licensing, Wi-Manx is well placed to service customers looking to host in the Isle of Man or the UK.

Elissa added: ‘The doors are open to the IOM, UK and European markets across a broad range of sectors. These are exciting times. The world is our oyster.’

Wi-Manx are currently offering local businesses the chance to receive a free security assessment of their IT networks.

Register your interest here for a free assessment and full report http://www.wimanx.com/pen-test/.

An Employment and Skills day aimed at giving advice to students, jobseekers and those considering a career change was held at the Villa Marina on Thursday with almost 1,000 students from secondary schools attending.

The event gave people the opportunity to talk to employers about opportunities they have to offer, the training needed to enter their professions and the advice they’d give to potential employees.

Almost 60 stands were occupied by employers from the public, private and charity sectors, professional bodies and employment agencies.

Established exhibitors - among them representatives of the armed forces, retailing, engineering, ICT, the emergency services, utilities, hospitality, banking, accountancy and law - were joined by new exhibitors such as the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the Isle of Man Society of Architects and plan.im

Employment and Skills 2014 was organised by the Department of Education and Children (DEC) and Economic Development (DED).

Tony Wild MLC, a political member of both departments, said: ‘The Isle of Man has enjoyed continuous growth for 30 years and our economy is expected to grow further, driven by the creation of hundreds of new jobs.

‘The government’s Vision2020 strategy has identified that in order to achieve this, the Isle of Man requires a workforce with a broad range of skills.’

To download the Employment and Skills programme, visit www.gov.im/es2014

The chairman of the Post Office told Tynwald that the post offices in Douglas and Ramsey are not closing - but are being converted to sub-post offices nearby.

Graham Cregeen, replying to an urgent question tabled by Lib Van leader Kate Beecroft, said the post officers in Regent Street, Douglas and Parliament Street in Ramsey were losing £500,000 a year.

>> Island’s two biggest post offices to shut

Transferring the operation to the nearby Spar stores in a contract with Mannin Retail will save the Post Office £300,000 in the first year, rising to £350,000 in 2016.

‘We are not closing them, we are repositioning them,’ he said. He said the floor area would be virtually the same and there would be the same number of public counters.

Mr Cregeen confirmed the deal had been done with Mannin Retail.

He defended the decision to proceed with a closed tender, saying that they had wanted to give some certainty about the situation with the staff. He said: ‘We are very much aware that it’s shock to them.’

Mannin Retail have advised they will take on all 19 existing staff, he said, and the Post Office had a number of vacancies giving the opportunity for redeployment.

Nine companies had been asked if they would like to tender.

Mr Cregeen said the Post Office was operating in difficult circumstances with the core business dropping and facing increased competition from UK companies operating here. He said earlier this year, Royal Mail had increased the costs of the mail plane by £170,000.

The Post Office is also committed to giving £2m a year to Treasury whether or not it makes a profit.

Videos have been produced showing how the new sub-post offices will look, and as plans change they will be updated accordingly. Click the links below to take a look around.

Douglas: http://youtu.be/ttcg8TCO584

Ramsey: http://youtu.be/kzCF186Q4bk

A union leader says government is breaking its promises over public sector pension reform – and questioned whether proposed changes are even legal.

Angela Moffatt, negotiations officer for the Prosect union, said the government had given an undertaking in 2012 not to increase member contributions to the unified pension scheme before 2020.

She said: ‘How can they make an agreement and then break it? What kind of message does it send out if the government can break promises within two years of making them?’

She made her comments after a government working group report, due to be debated at the December Tynwald, recommended a further 3 per cent increase in contributions by members of the government’s unified pensions scheme.

It also recommends raising the minimum retirement age for current members from 55 to 58, amending the definition of final pensionable pay and says consideration should be given to taxing lump sums above £200,000.

The group, chaired by Policy and Reform Minister Chris Robertshaw, concludes the unified scheme, introduced in 2012, has not achieved all the savings expected when it was designed six years ago.

It says the new member contribution rate of 5 per cent was ‘pitched too low’ and the funding gap between expected contributions and expenditure which is currently about £30m, will widen considerably over time.

Chief Minister Allan Bell defended the work of consultants Hymans Robertson who drew up the original proposals, saying the government workforce had contracted faster than anticipated while pay had not kept up with inflation.

But Mrs Moffatt: ‘To say by 2012 the government didn’t realise the public sector would be shrinking and that pay rises would not keep up with inflation is unbelievable.

‘They spent millions of pounds on consultants. To have that outcome is completely unacceptable to the Manx public.’

She suggested public sector workers would pay more than the 10 per cent that Tynwald members will be contributing for their pension, which ‘absolutely puts into the shade anything anyone in the government’s unified scheme gets’.

One of the hightlights of the Manx calendar will take place on Thursday night when the Isle of Man Newspapers Awards for Excellence evening takes place.

Forty-eight finalists have been selected in 16 categories in awards in a wide variety of categories from the public and private sectors and charities.

The judges have had a difficult task picking winners.

The winners will be announced at a glitzy event in the Villa Marina in Douglas hosted by Dead Ringers impressionist Jon Culshaw.

More than 1,000 people will be in the audience for the show, which is a patriotic celebration of our island nation.

This year it will feature a tribute to the island’s armed forces and those from the Isle of Man who made the ultimate sacrifice in the world wars.

Before the event, 450 people will have a meal. Three different venues will be used.

The Sefton Group will cater at the Sefton Hotel and in the Royal Hall in the Villa Marina, while some guests will eat at the Claremont on Loch Promenade.

In addition, 400 people will have canapes and champagne before the event begins.

Towards the end of the evening, the guests will find out who has been given the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ in a surprise tribute.

The event will be streamed live here on iomtoday.co.im

Police are appealing for information after a radio was stolen from a van.

The incident happened on Friday, November 14, between 11am and 2.15pm, when the white Mercedes vehicle was parked opposite the Co-Op supermarket in Ramsey, in the Albert Road public car park.

The van was entered via the rear doors, which were insecure, and the Sony radio/CD player was removed and stolen.

Anyone with information about this incident or who has been offered a Sony car stereo is urged to contact Ramsey police station on 812234 or anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Business leaders, owners and entrepreneurs have the opportunity to learn some new ideas and tips on how to get people talking positively about their businesses.

James Gordon-MacIntosh, founder and managing partner of London-based Hope&Glory PR is presenting ‘seventeen creative ways of getting people talking positively about what you do’ at the Claremont Hotel, Douglas on Wednesday November 26.

Richard Slee, chairman of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Isle of Man said: ‘This is a free event thanks to the sponsorship of Home Strategic.

‘In his time, James has made Tom Baker the voice of BT’s text message-to-voicemail service, convinced Jersey to host the World Beach Art Championships, combined vintage shoes and old mobile phones to create Walkie Talkies to promote handset recycling for O2 and made a crowd-sourced beer using ‘‘Hops in a Box’’ given to drinkers in 12,000 bars across London.

‘Anyone with an interest in marketing and PR, whether working directly in the industry or not will be welcome to attend.

‘Hope&Glory are quickly becoming well-known in the industry for their award-winning, innovative campaigns for some of the best known brands in Britain.’

Registration is from 5pm with the event starting at 5.30pm for a 6.30pm finish. Free refreshments will be offered to those attending.

Registration for this free event can be made by going to http://www.cim.co.uk/Events/EventDetails.aspx?crid=67606 or by telephoning CIM Events on 01628 427340 .

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In other developments, the Minister for Economic Development, Laurence Skelly MHK and a renowned marketer, recently visited the current crop of CIM students at the CIM Isle of Man Study Centre, which is run by Heather Smallwood of the Marketing Partnership.

Mary Doyle of IOM Hospice is one of those undertaking the CIM Marketing programme.

She said: ‘I have worked in marketing and PR for over 25 years so had lots of experience but didn’t have a formal qualification.

‘When the chance came up to do a Chartered Institute of Marketing qualification in the island I leapt at the opportunity.

‘The qualifications are very thorough but the level of learning and understanding of all aspects of marketing will be a huge asset to my employer and I.’

Isle of Man police will be making their most ambitious foray yet into the world of social media in a couple of weeks’ time when they run the island’s first ever Twitter surgery.

The plan is to have a panel of experts, precisely who is still being decided, who will operate an interactive Twitter link from police headquarters with followers.

The session is being run by Sergeant Allan Thompson of the Roads Policing Unit who will be joined by specialists in fields such as forensic collision investigation and vehicle examination.

‘We’ll be sitting at police headquarters with an interactive link and the idea is to get issues brought to light and deal with them there and then.

‘It’s basically an open forum, bringing roads policing to the living room. If it’s a success then I see it flexing into other areas of policing. Long gone are the days of having a surgery in a cold church hall. Maybe down the line we can introduce video or audio feeds. There’s a great deal of peotential here. I’m simply dipping my toes.’

While it is certainly a first for the Isle of Man, Sergeant Thompson thinks it may not have been done in the UK either. The surgery is from 7pm to 9pm on December 4.

Changing terms and conditions for government new starters could lead to MHKs getting a 10 per cent pay cut too.

Tynwald members are already facing the prospect of having to pay double the amount they contribute to their pensions - that’s one of the recommendations of a government working group charged with looking at making public sector pensions more sustainable.

But the work of another working group could also having an impact on Tynwald members’ pay.

Infrastructure Minister Phil Gawne announced last week that the working group he is chairing was looking at introducing new terms and conditions for new starters within the civil service and Whitley Council.

It’s a move he believes could save in the region of £1m next year and up to £10m after eight years by reducing the salary scale for new starters by about 10 per cent together with restrictions on sick pay and holiday pay.

But Mr Gawne says the measure, if brought in, could also see Tynwald members getting a pay cut.

He said: ‘Newly-elected MHKs will certainly be new starters and it could be argued that if MHKs are removed from office when the Keys is dissolved and voted back in at the election they are all new starters.’

He stressed: ‘These are proposals at this stage.’

Chief Minister Allan Bell urged caution, however. He said: ‘It’s early days yet. Mr Gawne has yet to come to Council with a set of recommendations. Clearly it raises interesting questions about whether MHKs should be treated the same way as new starters anywhere else.

‘MHKs are only on five-year contracts at any one time. They are not in long-term employment. A number of MHKs over the years have only served one term. That needs to be considered.

‘Yes, MHKs should take their share of the pain the same as the rest of the community. But you need to look at the bigger picture. The actual savings would be minimal.’

Tynwald members are currently paid a basic annual salary of £38,771. The Chief Minister gets an extra 80 per cent on top, a Minister 50 per cent, a member of Treasury 40 per cent and other department member 30 per cent.

Each Tynwald member is also entitled to be paid an annual sum for expenses of £6,575.90.

They currently pay 5 per cent towards their pensions on a voluntary basis, although that will be compulsory for newly-elected members.

The public sector pensions joint working group chaired by Minister for Policy and Reform Chris Robertshaw recommends that pension contributions rise to 10 per cent after the general election and to 15 per cent for current members who want to protect their existing benefits.

The proposals will be debated at the December Tynwald.