A vandal attacked the toilets at the Strand Shopping Centre in Douglas yesterday (Sunday).

He or she scrawled graffiti with a marker pen on the walls of the men’s and disabled toilets at around 3.15pm.

Police are investigating.

Ramsey commissioners hope their new powers under the Transfer of Functions to Local Authorities agreement will result in a cleaner, tidier town.

Responsibility for street sweeping, gully emptying, weeds and verges passed from the Departure of Infrastructure to the Commissioners with effect from April 1.

Members of the public are urged to report litter ‘grot spots’, dog fouling, fly tipping and over-hanging vegetation through the Ramsey Town Commissioners website: www.ramsey.gov.im

Chairman Nigel Malpass confirmed that all reports would be strictly confidential and would be dealt with as soon as practicable.

The ConIFA European Football Cup that Ellan Vannin are taking part in this summer has been reduced from 12 teams to nine and will now be hosted in Debrecen not Budapest.

The Confederation of Independent Football Associations made the announcement on social media over the weekend that three teams had been forced to withdraw from the competition.

Franconia, Monaco and Nagorno Karabach will no longer contest the tournament that was originally going to be hosted in the island but will now take place in Hungary’s second city in mid-June.

Ellan Vannin open the campaign with a match on the evening of Thursday, June 18 against the Romani People.

The Manx International Football Alliance team’s second group match is on Friday, June 19 against the County of Nice, the side that beat the Manx in last summer’s ConIFA World Football Cup final in Sweden.

The three group winners, plus the best runners up will contest the competition’s semi-finals, with the final on Sunday, June 21.

Ahead of the Hungary trip the Manx will play two challenge games against Alderney at the Bowl at the end of next month.

Ellan Vannin will then play a warm up game in Budapest on Tuesday, June 16 against the Janos Farkas Youth Foundation, a high-profile Hungarian team representing the Romani People.

The Manx Dyslexia Association is repeating a workshop it ran last year.

The event will be held at Kewaigue School on Saturday, April 25, between 10am and midday.

Open to everyone – students and parents – it will include help with ‘mind-mapping’, up to date information on apps and the use of technology, plus some maths tips.

There will also be general information and books available to look at.

If anyone just wants to go along to chat they are welcome.

Glen Maye Methodist Chapel will hold its annual animal blessing service on Sunday (April 26) at 3pm.

The service will be led by Reverend Grace Easthope.

During the service all pets will be individually blessed and a collection will be taken for the ManxSPCA and Pets’ Aid League.

Tea and biscuits will be served following the service.

Students will see little change despite moves to retender the work experience contract, education chiefs insist.

The government ended its contract at the end of March with my-work-experience.com to provide work experience for young people from the island’s five secondary schools.

A tendering process will begin for the contract in the coming months.

Sheffield-based my-work-experience.com has contacted 1,300 island employers about the decision to end its contract.

Directors Phil Porter and Ron Robinson said they have received a deluge of emails in response from companies ‘very disappointed and also very critical’ of how the issue has been handled by the government.

‘They are also concerned, as we are, about the status of the placements they have offered to students over the summer term,’ the pair added.

The Department of Education and Children said in a statement that previously arranged work placements will be honoured and Tracy Keig, my-work-experience.com’s island-based administrator would stay on for six months to manage the programme.

It said: ‘We are happy to confirm that existing commitments to on-Island work experience already agreed with my-work-experience.com will be honoured.

‘For the next six months Tracy Keig who was the on-Island administrator for my-work-experience.com has agreed to manage the work experience programme.

‘It is therefore envisaged that during this six month period those using the work experience service will see little if any change.

‘In line with government financial regulations during the coming months a tendering process will commence for the island’s work experience contract.’

My-work-experience.com was awarded the contract in 2007 by winning a tendering process against at least two other organisations.

Its directors said the programme for Manx schools had gone from strength to strength over the past seven years - and one key factor in that success was the selection, training and guidance of first Fiona Lambie and then Tracy Keig as the on-island representatives who worked on a sub-contract basis.

Mr Porter and Mr Robinson said: ‘We were fully aware that the provision of future work experience was coming up for tender in the coming year with a wider brief, based on detailed proposals that my-work-experience.com had submitted during 2014, to include students from the college and post 16 students in schools.

‘As our contract was up for renewal at the end of March 2015 we had put forward proposals to continue to provide our service until all schools had completed their work experience for 2015 and if required help with a smooth transition to a new provider.

‘As off-islanders we recognise we have been at a disadvantage, particularly in the past few months. We have no idea what behind the scenes ‘deals’ have been made.

‘We know too well from our long careers working in and for education authorities that decisions taken are more about who you know and politics than loyalty and negotiation.

‘Maybe one day we will find out the truth.’

Questions about the fairness of means testing child benefit are due to be raised in Tynwald today (Tuesday).

The issue has been highlighted by mum Deb Cripps who claims stay-at-home parents are penalised by the way means-testing is operated.

She and her husband Paul, of Cronk-y-Berry, Douglas, have been informed that their son James’s child benefit will be cut by 25 per cent this year as it has been calculated on the couple’s earnings before their baby was born.

They have written to all Tynwald members urging for a change in the rules so that child benefit for stay-at-home parents is based on the current year’s income.

The couple’s case has been raised in parliament by Douglas East MHK Brenda Cannell.

In Tynwald today, Mrs Cannell is due to ask Treasury Minister Eddie Teare MHK whether he is satisfied that the rules governing the levels of child benefit payments are ‘fair and proportionate’.

Mr Teare has already pledged to review the position in the wake of concerns raised by Mrs Cripps.

He will also provide a written response to a question from Douglas West MHK Chris Thomas who is asking for details of the annual running costs and actual system development costs for child benefit means testing and the total benefit to government of means testing this benefit.

In other questions to the Treasury Minister, Michael MHK Alfred Cannan will ask what impact changes to UK state pensions in April 2016 will have on the Isle of Man, while Peter Karran (Lib Van, Onchan) will ask what action he plans to take to enable young people to enter work without being worse off than when they were on benefits.

New MLC Bill Henderson has a question for written answer to Infrastructure Minister Phil Gawne about the recent breakdown of the Steam Packet fast craft Manannan.

Mr Henderson is asking if the DoI will be having talks with senior Steam Packet officials over failures in alternative arrangements for passengers and improvements to contingency planning in the case of ‘any future catastrophic failure’.

Turning to the main order paper, Douglas West MHK Mr Thomas has tabled a motion calling for the publication of a full report by the Ageing Population Working Group.

The Isle of Man Examiner this week reports on used oil deliberately put down mines years ago.

One of the men who was paid to do it says that it could be contributing to pollution elsewhere.

The paper also has an exclusive interview with multi-millionaire Trevor Hemmings, whose horse won the Grand National last week.

Mr Hemmings told our reporter he’d never spent so much time with a member of the media before.

Inside the paper, we have a report on the murder trial and a big photo of the walk to the Tower of Refuge.

After last week’s news about a fishing trawler being caught up with a suspected submarine, we look back to the 80s and recall a time that there was photographic evidence of such activity in Manx waters.

The Examiner also reports on claims that children have been looking at pornography on computers in Ramsey’s library.

There’s also a court report on a footballer who broke an opponent’s arm during a game.

With the lively letters page, your sports pullout, pictures from the bra dash, 12 pages of business news and Terry Cringle’s trip down memory lane, the Examiner is a great read this week.

It’s in the shops now.

Ulsterman Jonathan Rea scored his second double of the 2015 World Superbike campaign to extend his championship lead to a runaway 50 points after six rounds.

Rea made it six wins from eight starts after two exciting and often tense races at Assen, Holland. He was the start-to-finish leader in race one and took over from factory Kawasaki team-mate Tom Sykes on lap 12 of race two to seal his second double of the season.

The Castletown-based ace had to turn up the pace in the final laps of each race to keep ahead of eventual second place rider Chaz Davies on the factory Ducati, setting a new lap record of 1min 35.889sec on lap 20 of the first race to make sure of his opening win.

‘It is awesome to win two races here at Assen,’ said Rea afterwards. ‘Similar to Thailand, I need to sit down and savour this moment. There was a lot of pressure on me coming here, everyone talking about how Assen was my circuit, so I am just happy to deliver. We chose a different rear tyre in race two and it worked out well.

‘Race two was faster at the start and slower at the end because I used a different tyre to the first race. This one is for all my mechanics who have been working tirelessly and all the people at Kawasaki. Hopefully now we can go to Imola on May 10 and do a similar job - but this one feels very special.’

Cal Crutchlow, the Ramsey-based MotoGP ace, scored his best ride of the current season to finish third in round three of the series in Argentina.

Having registered a brace of seventh places at Phillip Island, Australia and Losail, Qatar Cal Crutchlow was itching to get into the frame in Argentina on his CWM-sponsored LCR Honda.

While Valentino Rossi and defending champion Marc Marquez weere having a close tussle for the top spot, ultimately ending with Marquez on the floor after having led by four seconds, Rossi’s decision to stick with a harder compound tyre paid dividends in the closing laps.

Ultimately, Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso finished a comfortable runner-up with Crutchlow passing Andrea Iannone at the final corner to take third place in a thrilling finish.

The driver of a BMW car which was in collision with a bus near Castletown, killing his 10-year-old daughter, has had a date set for his trial.

Raymond Adam D’Olier French of Ballaterson Fields in Ballaugh has denied charges of manslaughter and causing the death by dangerous driving of Alexis French in the collision in October 2013.

Mr French, who is 45 and appeared in court using a wheelchair has also denied a charge of causing serious bodily harm to the driver of the bus, by dangerous driving.

The trial is set to start on October 1 and is expected to last seven days, to October 9. Mr French was bailed in the meantime.

Scouts, Cubs and Beavers are pictured taking part in the St George’s Day parade in Port Erin at the weekend.

The salute was taken by Chief Commissioner Wayne Bulpitt. Photographer John Maddrell took a lot more photos.

See iomtoday.co.im/buyaphoto to see more.

A couple have launched a petition against planned restrictions on towed caravans on Manx roads.

Insurance broker Brett Hammonds, 50, and his wife Sam claim that caravan owners are being unfairly targeted and the aim is to price them off the roads.

Their petition has been signed by 266 people from across the island and the UK.

The couple say they have no objection to caravan owners needing a permit to enter and leave the island. But they say the cost should be reasonable and they should apply to motorhomes as well.

Mrs Hammonds said: ‘The whole issue appears to be heavily biased against caravan owners when compared to motorhome owners, which do not appear to be covered at all by these regulations.

‘Motorhomes, rather than being based a campsite for the duration of their stay, tend to travel the island and park up anywhere they see fit, despite their size and being restricted to 40mph, whereas caravans can be towed at 60mph.’

Mr Hammonds, a former chairman of the Kart Racing Association, said he had first bought a caravan 10 years ago to take to the UK for race meetings. He said he always keeps it off the public highway.

Planned restrictions on the use of towed caravans on Manx roads are being introduced in response to recommendations agreed by Tynwald in November last year following a select committee report on the issue.

But Infrastructure Minister Phil Gawne said: ‘We’re fixing a problem we didn’t really have and by fixing it we have created an even bigger problem.’

The Hammonds said they had been told the permit would cost a three-figure sum.

But Mr Gawne insisted this was not the case – and the likely cost would be just £25 for a permit.

His department is working with the Steam Packet and other freight operators to ensure towed caravans arriving at the island’s main ports have a valid permit.

Those without one will be prohibited from crossing the threshold of the Sea Terminal and Ramsey harbour. Permits will only be issued to those visiting for the TT.

Island residents who own a caravan that is already here will be issued with a permit. But permits will not be issued to those wishing to bring new or replacement caravans here.

The Isle of Man branch of CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing) and marketing agency Home Strategic are offering the local business community an opportunity to hear one of Britain’s leading brand practitioners talk about the changing marketing environment and what this means for place branding and marketing.

Roger Pride, Managing Partner of Heavenly, one of the UK’s leading brand agencies, is presenting ’The 5 tests for a successful place brand’ at NOA Bakehouse, Douglas on Thursday April 30th 2015 at 5pm.

Richard Slee, chairman of CIM Isle of Man said: ‘This event, which has been made possible thanks to the kind sponsorship by Home Strategic, promises to be an entertaining and thought-provoking presentation that will be useful to local marketers, other business professionals and those with an interest in promoting the Isle of Man and their business.

‘The marketing and branding of destinations, regions and cities has never been more significant given the increasingly competitive environment for visitors and inward investment.

‘Roger Pride is one of the few people to have led and implemented a brand strategy at national, regional and city levels. He led Wales’s international marketing, developing campaigns in the US and Europe and was also a board member of Ryder Cup Wales Ltd, the agency charged with the delivering the 2010 Ryder Cup in Wales. As director of marketing for the Wales Tourist Board, Visit Wales, Welsh Government and chief executive officer of Cardiff & Co, the place-marketing agency for Wales’ Capital City, Roger developed and delivered brands focusing on the tourism, economic development and regeneration aspects of place.

Roger is also chairman of the Wales Board of CIM.

Entry to the event is from 5pm with the presentation starting at 5.30pm, finishing at 6.30pm. Entry is free for CIM Members and CIM Students with a £5 for non-Members.

Light refreshments will be served. Booking is via www.cim.co.uk/events/69648/ via email at cimevents@cim.co.uk or by phone at 427340.

The destination of this season’s Canada Life Premier League title will be determined on Wednesday,

After Douglas High School Old Boys beat Peel last week, the advantage is now back with St George’s.

Chris Bass Sr’s men now only need to match the westerners’ result against St Mary’s in their game with Laxey to clinch a 16th top-flight crown.

The mid-week action kicks off on Tuesday evening with a couple of games in Combination One and Two.

The Kirby Estates Cowell Cup continues on Thursday with games in group A and B of the competition.

Tuesday, April 21

Canada Life Combination One

6.30pm Union Mills P-P St George’s

JCK Combination Two

6.30pm Foxdale 1-6 Pulrose

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Wednesday, April 22

Canada Life Premier League

6.15pm St Mary’s v Peel

6.30pm Ramsey v DHSOB

6.30pm Laxey v St George’s

JCK Division Two

6.30pm Foxdale v Douglas Royal

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Thursday, April 23

Kirby Estates Cowell Cup - Group A

6.30pm Braddan v Laxey

6.30pm Ramsey v Union Mills

6.30pm Rushen v Corinthians

6.30pm RYCOB v Peel

Kirby Estates Cowell Cup - Group B

6.30pm Colby v St Mary’s

6.30pm Ayre v Marown

6.30pm Castletown v D & D

A man has won £3.9 million just on a spin of an online slot game developed by Isle of Man software giants Microgaming.

The Circular Road, Douglas company has confirmed its Mega Moolah ‘progressive slot’ had been hit.

The life-changing jackpot was won by a player who is being identified only as Mark A.

He had been ‘spinning’ on his mobile phone playing with a Malta registered online gaming operation called Royal Vegas.

The player will take home a total of 5,375,695.08 euros, that’s the equivalent of £3.9 million.

He receives a single cash payout in full rather than an annuity, so Mark A, whose home country is not being divulged, has become an instant multi-millionaire.

John Quinn, head of casino at Microgaming, said: ‘We’ve been watching the progressive ticker grow substantially over the last few weeks; anticipation was building as to when it was going to strike!

‘Once again the jackpot was hit via a mobile device; it really is a sign of today’s industry and how prevalent mobile is!

‘Congratulations to Mark A on becoming one of the biggest jackpot winners in Microgaming’s history.’

A spokesman for Royal Vegas, said: ‘Mark A had only been a player with us for seven days; I don’t think you could ask for a better start to playing at Royal Vegas.

‘One of our senior VIP executive hosts had the pleasure of phoning Mark to confirm the win and to congratulate him; to say he was elated is an understatement.

Everyone here at Royal Vegas would like to congratulate Mark on this mammoth and historic win.’

Microgaming’s progressive jackpot network is the largest in the industry; to date it has paid out over €487 million.

Josie the rescued wallaby joey is ‘doing well’, the ManxSPCA has said.

The orphan baby wallaby is being cared for by the charity after a concerned member of the public found it.

They believe she either fell out of her mother’s pouch or was rejected.

Speaking to our sister paper, the Manx Independent, last week, Margaret Mansfield described her as being in a very fragile condition. She said it was touch and go whether she would survive.

Josie, who is being fed every three hours, has gained 0.08kg in weight, and now weighs in at 0.49kg (1.1lb). She is feeding well, is very lively and is starting to communicate but Margaret said it was still ‘touch and go’.

The charity has been liaising with Blackpool Zoo, which has a small colony of wallabies. It is hoped she will join them when she is strong enough.

Margaret said: ‘It’s early days but we’re doing everything we can to get her ready for her trip to Blackpool in a few weeks’ time.’

Josie’s story has been picked up by media outlets in the UK and even Australia, from where special milk formula is being sent.

‘She is becoming quite a celebrity,’ Margaret said. ‘The staff are all besotted with her.’

Ballaugh Curraghs is home to some 120 red necked wallabies, native to Tasmania and south east Australia. after a group escaped from the Wildlife Park in the 1970s.

The Isle of Man Government has completed the migration of its internal datacentre from Government Offices in central Douglas to Manx Telecom’s new Greenhill Datacentre.

The move saw some 25 racks of IT equipment that housed many of Government’s critical systems relocated without any major disruption and follows a significant amount of planning.

Government spokesmen say the benefits from the move are two-fold.

Firstly, as part of a broader relocation of assets in conjunction with Treasury’s Strategic Asset Management Unit and the Department of Infrastructure, it will release valuable office space in the centre of Douglas which in turn will realise savings from reducing the amount of office accommodation that Government rents.

Secondly and ‘equally important’ is the need to have critical systems hosted in a secure high availability environment.

The migration is said by the government to be part of a continued journey to improve the underlying resilience in Government’s increasing information systems estate.

The contract was awarded to Manx Telecom following an open procurement exercise undertaken in 2014.

Director of government technology services, Mark Lewin said: ‘One of the two critical datacentres had been externally hosted for many years and although our internal datacentre had operated well, it was approaching the end of its current economic life.

‘The cost of providing this type of specialised environment is significant and we have an excellent selection of dedicated datacentres on the Island.

‘Consequently it made perfect sense in keeping with looking at alternative means of service delivery to consider sourcing this function from the private sector.

‘We developed out the business case and could see that as well as improving the hosting environment and avoiding capital costs for a refresh of the internal datacentre, it made financial sense on an ongoing basis by allowing us to release the space it occupied for staff accommodation and move staff in from rented accommodation elsewhere.’

Mr Lewin added: ‘The process started in 2014 and the contract was awarded to Manx Telecom following an open procurement exercise.

‘This migration marks the completion of many months of planning and is a testament to the professionalism and teamwork shown by a great number of staff and a range of suppliers including Manx Telecom, ServiceTech, Island Express, Unisys and EMC.’

The move follows the successful relocation of a third datacentre to Netcetera in December 2014 which was awarded as part of the same procurement exercise.

Meanwhile Manx Telecom confirmed that the Isle of Man Government is the ‘anchor tenant’ for Phase 1 of its Greenhill Data Centre (GDC).

Phase one of the GDC, which is the company’s third data centre, created an additional 100 racks of storage space when it was opened in March 2014 at a cost of £3.5m.

The centre already provides hosting and managed services to a variety of sectors including eGaming, financial services and those requiring access to big data.

A spokesman said: ‘After a competitive tender, the Government signed a five year contract from February 1, 2015, which saw it take 25 racks at the GDC to support a variety of front-line Government services.

‘This agreement became operational in March 2015 after a complex and successful migration from existing Government premises.

‘In addition to the agreement for Phase 1 at the GDC, the Government has re-contracted from September 1, 2015 for the 25 racks it already occupies at the Company’s data centre in Douglas North. This contract will also run for a period of five years.

‘The company is also looking to develop Phase II of the GDC data centre later in 2015, following interest from another prospective anchor tenant.

Mike Dee, chief executive officer of Manx Telecom, said: ‘This agreement with the island’s Government is the highest form of validation for the quality and security that we can provide to customers in both the public and private sectors.

‘Our data centre operations continue to represent an important area of growth for Manx Telecom and we look forward to developing Phase 2 of the Greenhill centre later this year.’

This latest news comes hard on the heels of last week’s first annual results for Manx Telecom since the company went public with a listing on AIM, as reported in the Manx Independent.

As reported, Manx Telecom has shown a ‘good, solid performance’ with reported profit before and after tax for the year at £5.7m from £0.4m a year earlier.

Revenue was £79.3m from £76m, an increase of 4.2 per cent.

And the final dividend for shareholders was 6.6 pence, taking the total to 9.9 pence.

There was a small decline in EBITDA, (earnings before interest,taxes, depreciation and amortization) from £27.5m to £27.1m but the company said this was as a result of the additional costs associated with being a public company.

And the underlying operating profit was reported at £17.6m, down from £18.1m, a decrease of 2.8 per cent

MT chief executive officer Mike Dee said: ‘Looking back at our achievements in 2014 I am pleased to say we had a busy and successful year.

Ramsey Commissioners have joned the criticism of the Treasury’s proposals to reform domestic rating, saying it was inherently unfair as well as being difficult to put into practice.

The proposed system would be based on current capital value i.e. the price a home would fetch if sold on the open market.

Last week the Manx Independent reported similar concerns voiced by Maughold Commissioners.

Properties would be grouped into nine valuation bands ranging from below £125,000 to above £1 million, with those in the top band paying eight times more in rates than those in the bottom band. Householders would declare the capital value of their property so that its banding could be determined.

The treasury says that modernising the system using capital valuation would mean some households paying less in rates than they are at present, and others more, but it would not increase the overall amount of revenue raised.

Alex Allinson said he was not sure how it would work and that it would be difficult to put into practice.

Laurie Hooper said it was ‘quite poorly thought through’ and predicted it would lead to many disputes over house values and this, in turn, would result in costly legal challenges. He suggested that a points system, similar to that used in public sector housing, be used to calculate rates and be applied across the whole island.

Graham Jones was even more dismissive.

‘I’ve never heard of anything so daft in my life!’ he said.

He suggested that instead of a system based on fluctuating market values, it would be fairer to calculate rateable values on square footage.

All agreed that the current rating system was unfair, but that the current proposals were not the way forward. A letter will be sent to Treasury outlining their views.

The beating heart of Ramsey just got stronger.

That’s the verdict of one of the leaders of the successful community bid to take over the town’s post office.

Nigel Malpass told the Examiner: ‘My phone stopped working on Friday morning as there were so many messages of support coming in.

‘People are delighted that the post office is staying where it is, which is the essence of all this. They have taken ownership of the courthouse area, and I’m very happy to say the people have been listened to. The beating heart of Ramsey just got stronger.’

The Ramsey Postal Cooperative, soon to be incorporated as Ramsey Courthouse Limited, was formed to oppose the plan to close the Crown post office and open a sub-post office in a nearby shop.

The decision of the Post Office Board to award them the contract was ratified on Thursday by the Council of Ministers.

Captain Malpass revealed that the group’s current objective is to work towards a ‘seamless changeover’ on or before September 1.

‘Our aspirations are to deliver even more than the Post Office is expecting of us, and I look forward to working with them’, he said.

He also paid tribute to the volunteers who compiled the bid.

He said: ‘I have nothing but praise for the 27-strong team who were able to put together such a strong plan in only a few weeks.’

A date will be fixed this weekend for a public meeting in Ramsey, where the directors of the new company will discuss their plans.