Manxnificance!

Michael Portillo’s visit to the island aired last night as part of his Great Coastal Railway Journeys and it was just a little bit brilliant!

The ex-MP rode on the train and tram, drove a Peel P50 and went fishing during his time on the island.

Starting off on the MER, Portillo rode the tram, bizarrely shadowed through Groudle by an old bus on the wrong side of the road, into Douglas as he introduced the audience to what he called a ‘paradise of railway lovers’.

Not sure what’s going on here tbh.

From there, Portillo went to meet President of Tynwald Laurence Skelly to learn about the world’s oldest continuous parliament, which Portillo said he had ‘great respect’ for and was interested to learn about our tricameral system.

Having had a chat with Mr Skelly, Portillo took the steam train to Castletown where he went to Castle Rushen and took part in some Manx dancing with Perree Bane and its choreographer Carol Hayes.  As Carol told him, traditional Manx dancing may have cousins in Scottish and Irish, but ‘we do have our own unique style’.

A quick trip to Peel later and Portillo went for a drive in a Manx icon, the Peel P50, which while he seemed to struggle getting in and our, he did refer to it as being some of  ‘manxnificance’.

After arriving in Port St Mary, Portillo met up with fisherman Michael Kegg aboard the Sarah Lena where he learnt about the island’s fishing heritage and modern practices, as well as trying some King and Queen scallops.

The final stop on Portillo’s trip was to the jewel in the crown of the south that is Port Erin beach. There he met Ruth and Annie who taught him about the Manx language, Bunscoill Ghaelgagh and even had a go at some Manx,

Reflecting on his trip, Portillo said he is ‘astonished’ that the island managed to continue its self-governing during the British Empire and ‘that such a small population has kept alive its language and sustained a parliament for more than a thousand years impresses me deeply’.

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