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

Well, sort of. The island was well-known for birching violent criminals into the mid-1970s; birching officially remained on the statute books for years thereafter but was not applied after 1976 since the European Court of Human Rights outlawed it. It was a useful tool in the seventies as the island had a boat service from Stranraer and was a popular choice for Glaswegian stag weekends, which often involved trashing a pub or two or beating the shit out of some hapless locals. The Isle of Man Government had no intention of offering free board and lodging at the island prison to visiting thugs, so simply gave them a good thrashing immediately after sentencing and then put them on the first boat home. The presence of the birch also had a deterrent effect on visitors intent on causing trouble.

This was the test case that led to the withdrawal of birching on the island: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrer_v._the_United_Kingdom

By an odd coincidence, I was good friends with one of Mr Tyrer's relatives (who sadly died of cancer a couple of years back) and am friends with the granddaughter of the police officer who administered the birch to him.

As for gay rights: homosexuality was decriminalised here in 1992 and the same year the island repealed the death penalty.

Summerland was a major fire disaster in 1973 that resulted from the island's lax fire safety laws; it now has some of the most stringent in the world as Manx people have long memories and are absolutely terrified of fire.