Moody's affirms the ascent of Man

While Ireland teeters on the brink of financial distress, there's better news across the water on the Isle of Man. The ratings agency Moody's last week affirmed an AAA rating on the modest isle of 80,000 people, ending a year-long review for possible negative downgrade. The reason? The tone of international debate on offshore economies "seems recently to have eased", according to Moody's experts, ending a threat to the Isle of Man's "business model". In other words, an anticipated global crackdown on tax havens has failed to materialise. How pleased the people of Douglas must be. And the late Sir Norman Wisdom would have been proud.