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The Manx government’s position on VAT is ludicrous.

It changed to publicising the Consumer Prices Index over the Retail Prices Index a couple of years ago and some time after the UK made that move.

The RPI figure is usually higher than CPI and, as you reported, is now a lot more than CPI.

For those of us whose salary rises are based on CPI (1.6 per cent), the rise in water rates by RPI (6.4 per cent) is outrageous.

I’m not one for conspiracy theories normally but it does make me wonder just how accurate the measures are.

This strange situation really does undermine the credibility of government statistics. It seems it picks and chooses which statistic to use depending on its own needs. After all, the Manx Utilities Authority is a state-owned and run organisation headed by a nominee of Tynwald, currently Dr Alex Allinson MHK.

Even more bizarre is that the Manx Utilities Authority, which now runs water and electricity, has decreed that there should be no increase in the price of electricity, even though it was the huge unauthorised debt incurred by the then Manx Electricity Authority that meant that the authority has to find millions of pounds to service that debt.

A cynic might point out that we can do things to cut our electricity bills by being careful and ensuring that we turn lights off etc.

But most of us cannot do anything about our water bill because it’s fixed.

Name and address supplied

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I am trying to trace Lindsay J Ridley. I used to play in a band with her in Birmingham in the 1980s.

There were two other girls, Sharon and Jane, but I know they are now married and I don’t know their surnames.

This might seem a strange way to try to find Lindsay but I’m in the US now and all the searches I’ve done have led me to the Isle of Man, which is where I last heard she had moved to.

I have some music on cassette tapes we recorded in her kitchen back in 1982/3 and I have converted them to mp3s. I would really like to be able to get copies to Lindsay, Sharon and Jane but I need to find them first!

If you can help in any way I would appreciate it immensely. Lindsay also recorded a CD in 2003 called ‘Cynefin’, don’t know if that will help or not.

Ann P. Coward

311 S Plover

Dr Carbondale

IL 62901

United States of America