Agenda - Manx Radio

Agenda is Manx Radio's politics programme, and it works at the level of clauses, committee hearings and budget lines. Phil Gawne leads it. In most recent editions he brings one or two members of the House of Keys or the Legislative Council into the studio and has them explain what their legislation actually does. Guests get room to answer at length, and the conversations stay close to the paperwork. Ann Corlett, the Douglas Central MHK, sets out how the Gas Economic Regulation Bill is meant to protect customers and what her role as Deputy Speaker of the House of Keys involves. She also argues for a 20mph limit in central Douglas, noting that no member voted against her motion. Kirstie Morphet, just over a year into her time as an MLC, goes through the Justice and Home Affairs (Reform and Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2025 ahead of its final stage. The detail reaches as far as a fireworks provision that allows notice via social media and brings livestock into scope. MLCs Gary Clewett and Tanya August-Phillips cover four bills from a single Legislative Council sitting, on gambling, public records, income tax and employment, and Gawne notes at the halfway mark that three are still to come. On gambling, one guest calls the industry systemically important to the island and describes its law as seven separate acts that have drifted out of step. The format changes when the subject needs it to. One edition is assembled from highlights of a Public Accounts Committee public hearing, with the committee questioning the Treasury Minister, the Chief Financial Officer and the Director of National Insurance. The exchanges cover the structural deficit, health spending, government pay, the National Insurance Fund and the triple lock pension guarantee, and they are thick with budgeted-against-actual figures. Another edition has Amy Griffiths talking with MHKs Michelle Haywood and Ann Corlett about the Commonwealth Women's Parliamentary Conference, which Belfast hosted. Their conversation turns to self-criticism as a barrier and to why so many parliaments remain male-dominated. MLC and geographer Paul Craine brings the second edition of his population atlas, setting the island's falling births alongside a similar pattern in England and Wales, Scotland, both parts of Ireland, Jersey and Guernsey. Gawne's introductions carry a point of view: he calls it a sad reflection of the world that such a conference is still felt necessary, and he introduces Morphet as unafraid of rocking the political boat. The endings follow a pattern. Each edition in this recent run closes with Gawne turning the issue back to the audience, asking what they make of gas regulation, residential speed limits or the population figures. For the broadest sweep, start with the four-bill Legislative Council edition. For the public finances, go to the Public Accounts Committee highlights.