Automatic temporary bans should be introduced to tackle the problem of ‘legal highs’ - and prevent the island being used as a channel to import these substances into the UK.

That’s the call from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs whose annual report will be presented to next week’s Tynwald sitting.

Currently automatic temporary bans are not an option in the Isle of Man but the ACMD believe they would be beneficial.

Requesting the Department of Health considers such a move, the ACMD’s report states: ‘The concern is that the Isle of Man could be used as a channel to import substances to the UK, whilst the island is updating its legislation.

‘In addition, it is important that, where the UK ACMD identifies a substance that causes harm etc, it is also automatically temporarily banned on the island so the population of the Isle of Man is equally as protected as that of the UK.’

Its stance on one legal high, however, resulted in the Health Minister David Anderson choosing to overturn its recommendation.

The Isle of Man remains the only place in the British Isles to have banned the legal high MDAI. Tynwald first outlawed the drug in December last year in response to the death of Ramsey teenager Tanya Hughes.

At the inquest into the death of the 17-year-old, Tanya’s father John urged the authorities to come together to stop the availability of legal highs and their exposure to youngsters.

Recording a verdict of misadventure, Coroner John Needham described the former Ramsey Grammar School pupil’s death as a ‘great tragedy’ and he recommended that MDAI was added to the list of controlled substances.

But while the Isle of Man temporarily banned the substance, it has not been banned in the UK.

The Manx ban was due to end on December 31 last year but Mr Anderson told that month’s sitting of Tynwald he was going against the advice of the experts at the ACMD and wanted to renew a temporary ban of 5,6-Methylenedioxy-2-aminoindan for a further 12 months.

Tynwald voted unanimously to continue the temporary ban.

In its annual report, the ACMD explained its stance: ‘After careful consideration the ACMD recommended not to continue to support this ban.

‘This advice was based on our health professionals not seeing any problems associated with MDAI use in those who have used it over the past year and evidence from the UK has not highlighted a need for a ban.

‘The Minister of Health overturned the ACMD recommendation.

‘To date, the UK ACMD has not made any recommendation to ban MDAI and we believe that the Isle of Man is the only country to have banned this legal high.’

Vehicle access to Isle of Man Newspapers’ offices on Peel Road, Douglas, will be cut off for a week starting from this weekend as the latest stage of the road works gets under way.

The work, which is currently ahead of its 80-week schedule, will continue with the breaking up of the road surface directly outside the newspaper offices’ entrance ready for relaying of the foundations and resurfacing.

Access to Publishing House will still be possible for those on foot using a signed route via Waltons electrical shop. On-site parking will not be available from July 8 to 11 but some customer spaces will be available at Eurocars and outside the businesses at the Milestone.

Traffic through the area is currently one-way between Quarter Bridge and Pulrose Bridge heading into town with traffic heading out of town via Groves Road.

Domestic abuse support groups run by the recently launched charity Safe, Strong, Secure (3S) have started in Ramsey and Douglas.

The charity was formed by victims of abuse for victims of abuse and aims to help anyone who has been affected by any type of domestic abuse.

Tamasin Wedgwood said: ‘I am very pleased people who have already felt able to contact us have included male victims – I am very keen men understand this support is for them too.

‘Abuse affects one in four women, one in four teenagers and at least one in six men.

‘The figure for men may be higher than that because men are even less likely to report it than women.’

Tam, who came to the island to escape from an abuse situation, has herself benefitted from a support group: ‘I know how much my group helped me and I know how tough it was for me to get through, even with my group.

‘Until now there has been no similar support system for victims of abuse on the island and I just want others to have the kind of support that I had.’

At present, a morning support group takes place at the Alpha Centre, Broadway, Douglas, on Mondays from 10am to 11am. And a Ramsey group meets at the Sure Strike Bowling Alley from 8-9pm. They are led by Tam and Marcia Brabbs, another survivor.

In time, volunteers will start to lead groups and it is hoped groups will eventually meet across the island. It is free to attend, but there is a collection towards room hire.

Tam said support groups were somewhere where you will be believed and where people will understand: ‘No one will tell you to leave your abusive partner or in any other way tell you what you should do, but they will listen.’

She said they were about learning to be survivors: ‘We can’t change what has happened to us, but we can change how we react to it, and we can regain our self esteem.’

Groups are anonymous and confidential. The only time confidentiality may be broken is if the abuse is current and involves children.

The structure of the groups is flexible. Usually the format will be taking it in turns to say how our day or our week has gone. If someone doesn’t want to speak at all that is fine. They will also draw on 12-step programmes such as Al-Anon.

Posters and postcards about the groups are being made available at the probation service, police, social services and churches. Alternatively contact 3s@safestrongsecure.im or 383050.

Tam said if a call is not answered victims are advised to send a text including a phone number where it is safe for 3S to return their call: ‘Because we know the danger of some abuse situations 3S will not normally phone a victim back unless we know that doing so will not put the person at risk.’

The Army Benevolent Fund are holding a charity lecture at the Manx Museum on Thursday, October 10, at 5.30pm.

The lecture will be preceded with wine and canapés and will raise funds for injured servicemen and women.

The guest speaker is Lt Col Stewart Hill (retd) formerly of the Royal Welsh Regiment.

Chairman of the ABF Alfred Cannan MHK said: ‘On July 4, 2009, Stewart Hill was leading 160 men in a close combat fight against the Taliban in some of the fiercest fighting seen by UK forces in Afghanistan.

‘He led from the front and yet eight hours later medics battled to save his life after shrapnel from an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) tore in to his brain.

‘Having fought valiantly to recover, Stewart provides a rare perspective of leadership in a moving, captivating and commanding presentation and I am sure that his thoughts and recollections will be both interesting and inspirational.’

Tickets for the event are still available from James Mylchreest, who can be contacted by email james.mylchreest@mylchreests.com or by telephone 453418.

World trade, resources and international marketing were on the curriculum when Mayor of Douglas Councillor Carol Malarkey exchanged the precincts of Douglas town hall for the classrooms of Scoill Vallajeelt.

Mrs Malarkey was at the school in her role as a Junior Achievement volunteer, delivering one of the charity’s programmes, ‘Our World’.

The Mayor is one of many volunteers helping deliver Junior Achievement programmes designed to encourage primary school children to explore global challenges faced by nations and the ‘real world’ of entrepreneurial and business-focused skills needed for when they leave full-time education and join the increasingly competitive jobs market.

During the current academic year Junior Achievement Isle of Man will run more than 150 classes in 18 primary and secondary schools and reach around 4,000 young people in full time education in the Isle of Man.

Junior Achievement Isle of Man is one of four charities to benefit from the mayoral charity appeal during the 2013-14 civic year.

Pictured with Councillor Malarkey is fellow Junior Achievement volunteer Lloyd Mister of G4S and pupils from Scoill Vallajeelt.

It’s time for young artists to get animated and learn from a professional about how to draw cartoon characters.

Father-of-two Gary, who has worked on television shows including the CITV hit Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids, is to hold a workshop in the Family Library, Douglas, on Saturday, July 13.

The workshop runs from 1.30pm to 3pm, is £5 per child and to book a place either call in at the Family Library or telephone 640650.

The Family Library is in Westmoreland Road, Douglas.

A team of Manx walkers competed in the Dublin Grand Prix at the weekend, two of which have been selected to represent England in the Paul Nihill Shield at the same venue.

Tom Partington and Jason Turner also produced fine performances at the Nationals in April.

Also competing were Jessica Wild, Alex Eaton, Michelle Turner and Richard Wild, while accompanying the walkers were Elizabeth Corran, a selected England team manager, and Steve Taylor, judge and technical delegate for European Athletics (to oversee the running of the event).

First to compete at 1km was Jessica who walked very well in her first off-island event and was rewarded with second place in a personal best time of 9min 09sec.

Jason was next at 2km, also walking a strong race in his second off-island event and debut for England to finish fourth in a pb time of 10.35.

Tom walked a superb race over 3km to finish first in a personal best time of 16.55.

Alex was in a strong field of under-18 boys and showed great determination and strength, even though he wasn’t feeling 100 per cent, to dominate the race from start to finish in a superb time of 23.12, taking the gold medal.

Michelle and Richard were competing at 20km in strong fields of international and Olympic walkers were not deterred. Improving with every race this year, Michelle produced another superb performance to finish 12th in a pb time of 1:45.38 to break Elizabeth Corran’s 17-year-old 20km women’s over-40 record.

Not to be left out, Richard also produced a personal best time of 1:51.21 to finish 13th. Women’s race winner was Marie Poves of Spain in 1:20.25, while the men’s winner was Olympic silver medallist Eric Barrondo of Guatemala.

England won the Paul Nihill Shield, hopefully the event will be hosted by the Isle of Man in 2014.

St John’s and Occitania will go head-to-head in the final of the first Tynwald Hill International Football Tournament this evening (Sunday).

he Saints booked their place in the tournament finale courtesy of a 2-1 victory over Alderney on Friday, coming from behind to beat the Channel Island team thanks to goals from John Haggerdon and Stephen Glover.

Tournament favourites Occitania booked their place in the final with a 8-0 demolition of Sealand in the evening kick-off on Tynwald Day, courtesy of four-goal hauls either side of half-time at Mullen-e-Cloie.

The final kicks off at 7.30pm.

In the earlier matches on Sunday, Sealand v Alderney go head-to-head in the fifth/sixth place play-off while Raetia face Tamil Eelam in the third/fourth place play-off.

More in Monday’s Isle of Man Examiner.

Grievances were aired as petitioners exercised their ancient rights at the foot of Tynwald Hill on Friday.

Four petitions for redress of grievance were presented in person to the clerk of Tynwald Roger Phillips.

But unusually this year, three further petitions were handed in by MHKs acting on the petitioners’ behalf.

Tomorrow’s Isle of Man Examiner will feature comprehensive coverage of the petitions, as well as a report from the far less informal proceedings of the fair and, of course, lots of pictures.

The Examiner will be in shops from first thing on Monday morning.

The joint committee of the Eastern district civic amenity site has revised the rule governing the height of vehicles permitted access to the site.

Vehicles of more than 2.2 metres in height can now access the site at restricted times, between 2pm and 4pm on Wednesdays and Sundays only, and for the depositing of domestic waste only.

The height limit was initially implemented to deter users from depositing commercial waste.

The committee recognises, however, that some householders do not have the use of a smaller vehicle, and it remains committed to encouraging the responsible disposal of domestic waste.

Vehicles will be inspected and any that appear to be carrying trade or commercial waste will be refused access.

Trade and commercial waste are not accepted at the site at any time.

The joint committee comprises representatives of Douglas Borough Council, Onchan District Commissioners, Braddan Parish Commissioners, Laxey Village Commissioners, Lonan Parish Commissioners and Santon Parish Commissioners. Its secretary is the assistant town clerk to Douglas Borough Council.

The 58th Steam Packet Southern 100 International Road Races take place this week on the Billown Course.

Practising gets under way on the 4.25-mile circuit at 6.20pm this evening (Monday) and will continue on Tuesday at the same time.

Racing will begin at 8.05pm tomorrow evening, followed by a full programme of racing on Wednesday, between 6.20pm and 9.15pm.

Thursday will see morning racing between 10.20am and midday, concluding with five more races in the afternoon, including the solo and sidecar championship.

The entry list is headed by the current and 2011 Solo Champion Michael Dunlop who hopes to retain his prestigious title for a third time in a row and emulate his Uncle Joey who achieved the event’s only treble in 1976, 1977 and 1978.

The 14-race programme has attracted no less than 21 newcomers to the friendly races, as the event has become known over the years.

l Preview on back page.

The Bishop has moved to distance himself from a recently-launched patient’s association which is calling for an urgent review of the management at Noble’s Hospital.

Bishop Robert Paterson said he has no idea why his name appeared as patron on the website of the Isle of Man Health and Care Association.

He said he has no knowledge of ever having been contacted by that association in the last five-plus years that he has been Bishop.

His name has since been removed from the IoMHACA website.

Bishop Robert recently agreed to act as ‘a listening ear’ to those with either concerns or praise for Noble’s Hospital.

After concerns about standards of patients care were raised by hospital consultants and in Tynwald, he says he will make himself available for anyone to express their views in confidence and he will forward those comments to an independent external audit committee.

In a statement, he said: ‘There has been some confusion as to the role the Bishop has accepted in relation to Noble’s Hospital.

‘The Bishop has simply agreed to listen to and/or read both affirmative and negative comments, and to collate and report on these comments confidentially to the forthcoming review.

‘He does not belong to, nor is he a patron of the Isle of Man Health & Care Association, nor of any patients’ forum or other such association, and he has no political affiliations.’

IoMHACA secretary Andrew Jessopp said there had been a ‘misunderstanding’. The charity was officially launched a few months ago to represent the views of health and care service users. It claims to have more than 100 members and supporters. It supports the call for an urgent review of Noble’s,

A Manx woman is to don her swimming costume and goggles to swim the English Channel.

Carina Crawford, aged 31, who grew up in Ramsey but now lives in London, will be part of a relay team.

They will be swimming multiple hour-long stints to raise money for Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART).

The team is due to take to the water over the next couple of days. They haven’t got a set time because they are waiting for favourable weather conditions.

Carina said: ‘I’m excited about the challenge and after the cold water training we’ve done I feel ready for what the Channel may throw at us. Although I’m really hoping for calm seas for the swim!’

She added:‘Having lived next to the sea I have an affinity with it and yet I’m also in awe of its vastness – every time I enter the water I learn to embrace the unknown.’

Nine months ago, Carina said she was barely able to finish a length of freestyle without the sensation of almost drowning.

‘I have had to practically re-learn how to swim,’ she said. ‘We’ve had to muster all of our courage to swim in the challenging sea conditions that have remained at temperatures well below 15 degrees given the coldest winter and spring in decades this year in the UK.

‘However, the motivation to dive in each time comes from remembering those we are supporting are facing much tougher challenges every day.’

The challenge is raising money for HART partners providing education to children affected by conflict in Sudan and South Sudan, and fighting child malnutrition on the isolated Atauro Island, which lies just off the coast of Timor Leste.

Carina has done voluntary work with HART assisting with analysis of a nutritional survey in Atauro Island.

The Villa Marina will be the venue next weekend for a concert celebrating its 100 years as a major entertainment venue in Douglas.

The concert will see the Isle of Man Symphony Orchestra performing along with a number of the island’s most popular and best known singers including Karen Elliott, Kristene Sutcliffe, Mandy Griffin, Ernest Thorn and Graham Crowe.

Among the others taking part will be current Young Musician of Man, Illiam Quane, and the The Rushen High School Big Band with their conductor John Kinley.

The orchestra’s conductor Maurice Powell said: ‘The Villa Marina was opened on July 19, 1913 with much pomp and ceremony and an afternooon concert.

‘The Centenary Concert is designed to pay tribute to the amazing diversity of music performed at the island’s premier concert venue over the last 100 years, and will include music actually performed at the opening concert.’

Mr Powell added he hoped the programme would reflect the great artists of the music hall era, the bands of the Swing era, the eminent classical singers who performed there, and the wealth of music and talent displayed during the Manx music festivals.

The evening will be be compered by Charles Guard who will also show some archive film footage of the development of the Villa Marina and Gardens over the years.

The concert is at the Villa Marina on Friday, July 12, starting at 7.30pm

Tynwald this week will be asked to splash out £400,000 on replacing a short-lived bus ticketing system.

A public accounts committee investigation found that serious mistakes were made in the purchase of the Almex ticketing system which is having to be replaced after less than five years.

Almex was introduced at a cost of £381,483 in September 2008, but is now deemed no longer fit for purpose.

Community Culture and Leisure Minister Graham Cregeen will seek Tynwald approval for a replacement system called Ticketer at a cost of £400,000.

The new system will allow for the use of Smart card technology for the first time. It will also be expanded to cover the heritage railways.

A public accounts committee report on the fiasco was presented to the November Tynwald sitting but never debated.

It concluded that serious mistakes were made in the procurement of the Almex bus ticketing system.

A civil servant with no experience in this area was put in charge of procurement and this hindered the selection of the most appropriate ticketing system.

When Almex was introduced, it didn’t deliver the required specification.

Giving evidence to the public accounts committee in September, director of public transport Ian Longworth said key routines were missed in the software and more than £30,000 had to be spent to fix it for immediate use.

Never more than a minor player, according to Mr Longworth, Almex has now withdrawn from the UK market entirely – confirming that the system was a ‘poor choice’, the committee concluded.

Its report found: ‘The department has not received value for money in spending £381,000 on the Almex system and having to replace it less than five years after it became operational.

‘Indeed we expect the overall cost to be much higher than £381,000 when considering the additional costs incurred in servicing.’

Unlike Almex, the proposed new Ticketer system will include a smart card reader so that the island can have a system like the top-up pay-as-you-go Oyster cards used in London. DCCL Minister Mr Cregeen has suggested they could be called Kipper cards.

Mr Longworth told the committee that the new system was expected to save about £200,000 a year and that it would help to eradicate ticket fraud.

Former top civil servant Tim Craine has been appointed to the board of an international corporate service provider.

Mr Craine, the island’s former head of business development within the Department of Economic Development, has been appointed a non-executive director at Isle of Man headquartered Cavendish Trust.

Two highly experienced Jersey-based English solicitors, William Bennett and Paul Egerton-Vernon have taken up executive director positions with the organisation.

Mr Craine took early retirement in April after a 34 year career within the Civil Service but has kept his word on a statement he made at the time that he was looking forward to pursuing fresh business opportunities.

His former Government role, which included responsibility for space commerce and eGaming, are two niche sectors with which Cavendish has developed strong links in recent years.

He said: ‘I am now looking forward to working alongside the team at Cavendish in a non-exec capacity and doing all I can to assist the company in pursuit of its business objectives.’

English Solicitors William Bennett and Paul Egerton-Vernon can draw upon nearly 70 years combined legal and trust company expertise.

Cavendish Trust managing director James Cunningham-Davis said the new appointments were a major step forward in taking the company to its next stage of development.

Occitania lifted the inaugural Tynwald Hill International Tournament honours at Mullen-e-Cloie on Sunday evening beating hard-working hosts St John’s United 2-0 in the competition’s final.

After a tight and goal-less first half, a lovely flicked finish by striker Guillaume Lafuente gave the region in the southern France the lead in the 73rd minute.

With just a couple of minutes left to play Didier Amiel’s side scored a second to secure the silverware. This time it was Brice Martinez finding the back of the net after good work by Boris Massare and Simon Delpech.

Earlier in the day, Tamil Eelam had secured third place with a 5-0 win of Raetia, while in the play-off for fifth and sixth, Sealand beat Alderney 2-1.

Reports on all the finals day games in Thursday’s Manx Independent.

During the informal gathering at Portofino, Douglas, PwC said goodbye to David Churcher, who began his career with Price Waterhouse (PW) in the UK before coming to the island to run the Isle of Man office.

He led the PW operations in the Isle of Man until 1998 when it merged with Coopers & Lybrand (C&L) to become part of the world’s largest professional services firm – PricewaterhouseCoopers or PwC as it is now known.

Since the merger of the two firms 15 years ago, David has seen the expansion of the Isle of Man partnership to more than 90 staff operating in its three key areas of assurance, tax and advisory, as well as many significant changes in the Isle of Man and its industries.

Senior partner Ian Clague thanked David for his long service and the legacy of quality and excellence he leaves behind for the new partners to carry forward.

He told guests: ‘David’s wise counsel will be sorely missed. He always provided a considered and pragmatic view to the most complex of issues.’ In his response, David confirmed the sense of pride and achievement he felt in the continued success of the firm and that this was assured given the quality and stability of the team.

The event also celebrated the promotion of Andrew Dunn and Nicola Shepstone to partner status, joining existing partners Ian Clague, Kevin Cowley, Peter Craig, Nick Halsall and Mike Simpson. Andrew, a director in the firm’s assurance practice, will take responsibility for the quality assurance area previously looked after by David.

Andrew qualified with a Big Four firm in 1994, working in the UK, US and Isle of Man before joining C&L in 1997.

Since then he has had lead responsibility for a number of the firm’s largest Isle of Man and international clients in the banking, insurance, shipping and telecoms areas.

Nicola, also a director in the firm’s assurance practice, qualified in 1996 with a Big Four firm in the UK, where she was working with small entrepreneurial businesses delivering complete business solutions. Nicola then joined PwC in Boston, USA, spending five years working on large multinational clients in the retailing and manufacturing sector, as well as with startups in the technology sector.

Since her return to the Isle of Man in 2003, she has been working closely with clients in the fiduciary services and insurance sectors. In addition, since joining the Isle of Man team, Nicola has had HR responsibilities and in addition to her client portfolio assumed the role of people partner with effect from July 1.

Introducing Andrew and Nicola to guests at Portofino, Mr Clague said: ‘Andrew and Nicola’s admission to the partnership of PwC in the Isle of Man demonstrates the continuing growth and success of the firm and ensures the next phase of succession is in secure hands.’

‘I don’t fear any opponent. Twenty20 is a bit of a lottery and anything could happen. The players have just got to go for it.’

The words of island cricket coach Gareth Dawson ahead of the ICC Division One Championship which starts today, Monday, in Sussex.

The Manx, who won Division Two and promotion in Corfu at the end of last summer, begin their campaign against one of the competition favourites Denmark this morning at 11.30am.

With France, Germany, Belgium and Jersey also in the island’s group, Dawson’s side will do well to achieve his aim of finishing in the top six.

‘It’s not the easiest of draws and we’re going there as underdogs having just been promoted.

‘We’ve got to front up to the challenge and see what happens. The aim is to finish in the top five or top six play-off places.’

‘We’ll take Denmark on, but I don’t think it will shape our tournament. Tuesday’s the key when we play two games in a day.’

The championship is a bit of a step into the unknown for the Manx squad who will be accompanied by tour manager Barry Smith, assistant coach Andrew Parkin-Coates and physio Mark Young as they set-up camp in Crawley having never played at this level before.

‘It’s quite hard finding out information about our opponents. Squads change quite a lot and there’s only so much you can find out over the internet.

‘I think one of big differences this time is that we’re not playing on Astroturf wickets. The adaptation to grass ones will be something that the players have got to come to terms with quickly.

‘We’re going to be coming up against a lot more slow bowlers than we’ve encountered in the past so that will be a learning curve as well.

‘The guys have got to be prepared to adapt to conditions that are completely different to what they’re used to. There may be cases where some people struggle. Hopefully this won’t be the case, but we may have to make different selection decisions to those we have made in the past.’

If the Manx match their heroics of last September and are in the top two come the week’s end they’ve got T20 World Cup qualifiers to look forward to in November.

l Catch the full video interview with Dawson online at iomtoday.co.im/cricket

Manx mobile phone customers are paying more for roaming charges in the EU, at a time when costs in the EU have fallen.

Today’s Isle of Man Examiner explains why.

The paper also reveals that pupils as young as a 11 are being repeatedly left stranded at bus stops in Port St Mary after cuts hit Bus Vannin.

Inside, we look at the Tynwald petitioners and devote the centre spread to pictures from the day.

Also in the paper, we look forward to the last Tynwald court sitting before the summer break. The paper also reveals that a Tynwald members’ expenses loophole is set to be closed.

The Examiner was in court when a man was jailed for 21 months after he grew cannabis.

As Topshop opens in Douglas, Annabel Wheeler looks at fashion in the capital.

The steep rise in charges for probate are vexing the island’s lawyers. They’re being described as a death tax. The Examiner has details of that.

Our letters page includes two long letters regarding the story about the religious group that called for the Queen to refuse to give royal assent to any law that allowed gay marriage.

{http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/queen-urged-to-throw-out-gay-marriage-bill-1-5816190|Click here for a reminder of the story}

The back page leads with the latest on Peter Kennaugh (when will ITV’s commentators learn how to pronounce his name correctly?) in the Tour de France and looks forward to the Southern 100.

Our business coverage leads with the latest breakthrough from Manx manufacturer Strix. It will help parents feeding their babies.

The island’s favourite newspaper is in the shops now.