Fed up with all the hype and spin surrounding last week’s budget? Still not entirely sure what the budget was supposed to deliver? Agenda caught up with the Treasury Minister before his budget was debated in Tynwald to find out what he hoped it will achieve and why it was formed in the way we eventually saw last Tuesday. To find out what he thought before he had to react to public comment listen to this week's Agenda. It’s understandable that Chris Thomas maybe isn’t fully behind a budget that was largely constructed before he got there but he puts on a pretty good show of sounding convincing.

Agenda 16.2.26 - Chris Robertshaw and Future IoM

Former Douglas East MHK Chris Robertshaw has a new political vision for the Isle of Man. Describing itself as a movement towards good governance, Future Isle of Man has three core pillars to its thinking. ‘The Democratic Process’, which introduces the concept of holding Referenda into our existing system; ‘A Unified Government’ which bring government operations together under a single legal entity; and the introduction of high level cross-departmental strategic thinking. Is the Manx political system fundamentally broken or have we just been the really, really unlucky victim of events over the past few decades?

The Isle of Man’s native language and status as the world’s first whole-nation UNESCO Biosphere Reserve were highlighted at the Celtic Forum in Scotland this month. It was the first time the Isle of Man has attended the forum, which brings together Celtic regions to collaborate on shared interests. Education Minister Daphne Caine tells Agenda all about this relatively new Forum and how the Isle of Man could benefit from it. The Forum appears to offer some big opportunities for Manx musicians and linguists but could it provide invaluable links for Manx business. Oh yes, … and how’s the new Castle Rushen High School progressing