Context 153 - March 2018

C O N T E X T 1 5 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 8 57 Vox pop Hon Chris Thomas MHK Who has been your greatest inspiration? I still remember pre-finals advice from my university professor: eat lots of fish, and remember it is easier to be effortless than it is to be superior, a reference to an informal college motto. What has been your best idea? In Manx political discussions I often get a credit when ‘evidence-based policy’ is mentioned as I once said that I believed in ‘evidence-based policy making, not policy-based evidence making’. What would you like to have been if you had not become a conservationist? My politics is aimed to conserve consensus so I guess I am a conservationist. Note that politician’s pivot! How do you reply when at a party someone asks what you do? That I am a politician, of course. Politicians always tell the truth! Then I try to persuade myself to change my mind because of the power of the other person’s arguments, as you would expect of a public representative. What is the biggest frustration in your job? An ‘often wrong, but never in doubt’ attitude characterises most politicians. Why can not everyone else accept the policies I propose? What would you like to be doing in five years’ time? Our next election is at the end of 2021 and I have already announced I hope to stand again. What is your favourite building? The Rossiya Hotel, Moscow, the largest hotel in Europe between 1967 and its demolition in 2006, and the largest in the world until 1990. The hotel had a great view into Red Square and the Kremlin. I always enjoyed stays there when working in Russia in the 1990s. The site is now a park, valuable open space that every town or city needs. Your favourite place? I accepted a job offer in the Isle of Man 20 years ago because it reminded me of where I was brought up in the Lake District, and it seemed my family would enjoy growing up here as I had enjoyed growing up there. So perhaps Duddon Bridge in the Lake District. I was always excited cycling there, jumping from it, and swimming beneath it with school friends. Only recently did I find theWordsworth poem which has a spooky resonance now: ‘For, backward, Duddon! as I cast my eyes, I see what was, and is, and will abide; Still glides the Stream, and shall for ever glide; The Form remains, the Function never dies; While we, the brave, the mighty, and the wise, We Men, who in our morn of youth defied The elements, must vanish; – be it so!’ Your favourite book? Farewell to theWorking Class: an essay on post-industrial socialism by Andre Gorz. Honestly, I could not put it down when I first read it, and often cite its analysis. What do you do in your spare time? Too much Facebook and Twitter. I used to play double bass, cycle and swim. Family things too. What organisations are you a member of? Isle of Man United Nations Association, ManxWildlife Trust, Isle of Man Victorian Society, Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society, Friends of Manx National Heritage, Positive Action Group, University College Union, and lapsed member of Chartered Financial Analyst Society UK and Securities Institute. Which one issue would you particularly like the IHBC to campaign on? Creative re-use of significant buildings to conserve their value. Hon Chris Thomas MHK is a member of the House of Keys, the elected branch of Tynwald, representing Douglas Central, and minister for policy and reform, Isle of Man Government.