In this week’s Manx Independent we have four pages on the Budget.

It’s everything you need to know.

We also have a two-page feature about a Ukrainian couple who fled to the island to save their lives.

Inside:

Hospice Isle of Man has been evaluated in the latest report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and, while there is some good news, there is some bad news too.

Unlicensed motorist Alastair Mark Aubrey Flint has admitted drink-driving at more than double the limit after crashing his grandad’s van in Port Soderick.

The island’s social security fund will run dry within the next 25 years, according to a report by the UK Government Actuary, which is due to go to Tynwald in the spring.

Offender Lisa Pailing has admitted stealing more than £9,000 while working at Subway in Shoprite. She has been warned she might be sent to jail.

The nominees for Legislative Council. The editorial comment is devoted to the topic too.

A campaign to build some sort of monument to Sir George Dowty, a businessman who ran a factory in Onchan, has started.

Trials for electric buses in the island.

Tynwald has accepted the recommendations put forward in its sitting to better safeguard children, following the Knottfield child abuse scandal.#

Benefits fraudster Matthew Johnston, who was overpaid around £14,000, has been sentenced.

Long-running theatre group The Legion Players is celebrating its longevity with the comedy play A Bunch of Amateurs.

Talented performers amian Wilson and Adam Wakeman will be taking island audiences on an intimate musical journey with stories and songs from their back catalogues, their albums together and artists with whom they have been associated.

Manx poet Simon Maddrell has written a pamphlet about three episodes in the island’s queer history.

Textile artist Helen Winter is a self-confessed ‘woolaholic’ who is making a name for herself on both sides of the Atlantic with her passion for creativity, in particular using Manx loaghtan wool. We find out more in Island Life.

The Vikings of Mann re-enactment group held two open days for people to find out more about life as a Viking and to recruit new group members. We have two pages of photos and a feature.

A number of athletes, both Isle of Man and UK-based, are competing in the English National Cross-Country Championships this Saturday. That story is the main one on the back page.

There are 11 action-packed pages of sport in total.

There is also plenty of community news, our puzzles pages, our letters page, the gig guide and a seven-day television guide.

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