Somethings seem to go on forever.

The ’somethings’ that I have in mind at the moment are the television and film awards presentations.

If it can walk, run or swim, if it is a man, woman, child or meerkat, there will be a category that it can be entered in to win an award.

There’s Oscars, Baftas and Brits, national and international film awards and dozens of others.

You can follow the red carpet-set all over the world, and if you want to watch the best of this, that, and you name it, whatever, whoever and why, it will be on TV.

I’m sure that it must mean a great deal to all those who take part, and an even greater deal to the winners, but I have to admit that it, to me, contrary to the popular tune, is not entertainment.

But there is one thing about the awards ceremonies which does puzzle me.

I’ve noticed that there have been more than a few comments both in the press and on the news that there is an imbalance in nominations for some of the categories, namely female and people of colour.

To me, the way that the nomination system functions shouldn’t be too much of a puzzle to understand so let’s start at the beginning.

In simple words, if a TV company or a film studio or whatever makes a film or similar production, it probably starts with an idea.

The idea becomes a script, and that script will be offered to an actor. If all goes well, everything will come together and eventually, or should I say hopefully, be nominated for an award.

Now these nominations will be considered on their merits and eventually a short list of hopefuls will be chosen.

Guess what? There can only be one winner in each group.

The rules of any competition have to be the same for all of those folk who enter.

Surely the logical result, namely the winner, must be the one that is chosen on merit. The campaigners who support the selection of any of their minority groups surely understand this simple qualification. May the best person win.

A similar situation raises its head in any competitive gender situation.

In particular, I’m thinking about employment opportunities and job applications.

Do the rules insist on the fact that all jobs in any situation have to be made available to either gender? I remember a situation developing in the UK a few years ago when the main political parties had successfully boxed themselves into a corner.

Not only had they made the idea of greater female representation in Parliament into a promise, they then had a struggle to recruit sufficient suitable applicants.

From memory (and I hope it won’t let me down) I seem to recall our Chief Minister making a similar comment in an election-time speech.

Mr Quayle, however, made it very clear that it was a ’nice to have’ idea rather than a ’must obey’ condition.

So to go back to the entertainment awards and their various ceremonies, the number of tweeters and bleaters must speak for themselves.

Their lack of success in certain categories can only mean one thing. The winners won.

And surprise, surprise, Chief Minister Howard Quayle got it right.

As we all know, we now have nine female members of Tynwald. And with Legislative Council nominations and elections due soon, and when you think about it, the way time flies, it won’t be all that long before we have a general election.

So, as well as being the oldest continuous parliament in the world, we could soon be able add to that, the words ’all female’.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the slightest problem with that, although it would be nice to have a vote, or even a walk on the red carpet.

A decade ago Pullyman - aka Michael Cowin - was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, a condition that affects people in different ways. Michael discovered writing and Island Life is featuring some of his musings. Sometimes topical, sometimes nostalgic, read about life as seen through the eyes of Pullyman