This week’s Manx Independent leads on a story about gas prices.

They might be dropping in the UK but in the Isle of Man it’s a different story.

Regular readers will have noticed that the Manx Independent is in the shops a day later than usual.

That has allowed us to include all the sports action from the new year.

There’s fell running, motorcycling, cycling, badminton, football, golf, hockey, athletics, rugby and tennis and an important story about the sports awards.

We also have part two of our Year in Pictures feature.

How many of news stories captured by our photographers do you remember?

In the news section:

The man appointed to help oversee the transformation of the island’s health service has quit after just over two months.

Ian Longworth, who stepped down as director of transport a year ago, has returned to his old job.

Education bosses are worried about the effects of a potential teachers’ strike.

The controversion dial-a-ride bus service for villages in the north of the island has seen an increase in passengers.

Why a boy’s third birthday party was cancelled at the last minute by bosses at the Villa Marina.

Did you know that police officers get extra money for getting finger prints from corpses? We find out what other tasks attract more cash.

A stepfather and son team is set to compete an extreme off-roading rally through the Sahara in a Land Rover that looks like a Tonka truck.

There’s no point in reserving land for housing for when the island’s population reaches 89,000 - when there’s no certainty that target will ever be reached, the author of the Manx Population Atlas tells us.

The Lieutenant Governor has written to The Times to correct one of its news stories.

Two pages of action from the cammag game.

A page of pictures from Peel’s New Year dip. (Other dips will appear in next week’s Isle of Man Examiner.)

The latest on the renovation of Ramsey’s Queen’s Pier.

We’ve given a page to Chief Minister Howard Quayle share his New Year message.

Removal of financial incentives for electric cars is a backward step but they will still be far cheaper to run than a petrol car, the island’s Green Party says.

The new leader of the farmers’ union speaks to Julie Blackburn about his role in our Food and Farming pages.

Our entertainment and leisure section, Island Life, looks forward to the comedians who are to visit the island in 2020.

We also preview Oie’ll Verree, the old Christmas Eve, which is yet to be celebrated.

And Mike Wade looks back at this year’s Bitching Party, which unites many of the island’s musicians.

The Independent also includes your letters, the Isle of Man’s What’s On guide, a page of puzzles, a page of pictures from the past, readers’ photos, a seven-day television guide and lots of community news.

The Manx Independent is in the shops now.

But you don’t have to go to a shop to buy a copy.

You can also read it online if you buy the digital edition.

To find out how to buy it, go to the ’Digital Editions’ section of the website on the grey line near the top of this site.

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