Interesting article on the Isle of Man in "The Spectator"

Never seen that emoticon before. It looks like a drunken leprechaun.

American right-wingers are truly crazy. For them, the debate isn't about how much tax they should be paying to fund public services or how that tax should be spent; they seriously advance arguments like "Why should I spend any money to keep people I don't know alive?" I've actually seen that one verbatim in a forum.

You pays yer money and you takes yer choice

Personally I'd take numerous gigs every night, abundance of great pubs, a vibrant social scene, more culture than you can shake a stick at, progressive open minded people, the South Downs, sense of community etc etc over some tax haven backwater which by definition is full of selfish tax dodgers

The problem is that you're arguing from a position of ignorance here: you're attempting to compare two different places without having visited one of them.

You're right about live music, though: whilst the island has a lively rock and folk scene, gigs by interesting visiting artists are few and far between due to the cost of getting gear over here. Otherwise you're way off the mark, as the Isle of Man has far more of a sense of community and much more interesting people than I ever encountered in Sussex. It also has an almost complete absence of serious crime, very little social unrest and a relaxed and appealing way of life.

Yes, a friend who lives in Brighton and regularly visits the island says exactly the same thing. The culture here is more Irish than English, both for better (it's very friendly and informal) and worse (getting anything done in a hurry is virtually impossible – getting a contractor do a relatively small job can take literally years). It's certainly made me more mellow and relaxed. He's quite an impatient and tense person and I think the lack of efficiency would sooner or later cause him to explode with rage.

In addition to tax-dodging, the island is famous for its attempts to perpetuate corporal punishment, suppress LGBT rights, and the Summerland tragedy.