NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUEAs storms lash the Celtic countries from the South West of Ireland to the North of Scotland the Isle of Man to is battened down. If anything the New Year weather is even less predictable this year than in previous ones.If only you could get away from it all and forget that ominous looming Manx Gas or Electricity bill and go somewhere just for a little while where the weathers, food and entertainment is blissful.Malaysia is especially good in January and you?ll be surprised to hear you have paid for a holiday there! You will be even more surprised that despite paying YOU will not be going on it.You guessed! It?s the political equivalent of Thomson Holidays the Commonwealth it always manages to stage a mid winter break for some of the great and the good and this month?s lucky winner is Claire Christian (aka Cruella Deville) President of Tynwald who has been sunning herself for a week in Kota Kinabalu, capital of the state of Sabah, Malaysia.Claire was accompanied by the Clerk of Tynwald (CoT) he probably had a bit of spare time as the rest of the political crew were still on Xmas hols until the third week of January. Anyway I bet that?s one freebie where they didn?t get to draw straws in the CoTs Office!Now the Tynwald press release of course explains this is not a holiday at all. They were there discussing all manner of heady stuff (see link): (voir le site) I would imagine between all the lectures, discussion papers and ?work-shops? there would be a chance for a few big dinners and a spell in the pool not to mention a few complimentary trinkets to take home.Without a hint of irony you will see the conference held a special plenary discussion on ?The Low Citizen Confidence in Parliamentary Institutions ? How Can Commonwealth Parliaments Build Trust in Legislatures??I doubt that the speaker suggested that ?low citizen confidence in parliamentary institutions? was caused by the fact that politicians are totally divorced from every day life of the people they represent or in the case of Claire and quite a few other Commonwealth Speakers and Presiding Officers they have no democratic mandate.The horse trams may be coming to the end of the line but there?s one gravy train that?s still running!BERNARD MOFFATTIssued by: The Celtic News29/01/16THE CELTIC LEAGUE INFORMATION SERVICE.The Celtic League established in 1961 has branches in the six Celtic Countries. It promotes cooperation between the countries and campaigns on a range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights human rights abuse, military activity and socio-economic issues (voir le site) this!