The Daily Tail 😽 — 7th APRIL 2026: More dog rescues, struggling cannabis cafés, and Channing Tatum 🌿🚌

Alright yessirs, Paws Morgan here, your favourite feline journalist. Hope you survived Storm Dave and the great Easter ferry cancellation saga. This week:

Kettle on. Let's go.

Just when you thought last week’s Teddy the cliff-diving Jack Russell had cornered the market on dramatic dog rescues, firefighters were called out to save another dog called Milo who'd gotten himself stuck in a ravine. Details are thin but the outcome was good — Milo was retrieved and reunited with his owners, tail presumably wagging. That's two miracle dog rescues in the space of a week. At this rate we're going to need a dedicated IOM dog rescue service. Is someone throwing milk bones down all the ravines / cliffs?! Yet again, big up the fire department 🚒 🙏

While the rest of us were refreshing Facebook to find out which garages still had diesel, local developer Zak Hoosen decided to actually do something useful and launched fuelwatch.im — a crowdsourced website showing which garages have fuel and how much it costs. Statuses get verified when three matching reports come in within a six-hour window, which is more rigorous than most government consultations. It's basically Waze for petrol on a 32-mile-long, one newsletter wide island, and it went live within days of pumps running dry and queues stretching round the block. Give that man a knighthood. Or at least a full tank.

The Steam Packet officially launched its brand new ferry route to Larne on April 1st — and no, it wasn't an April Fool. The Manannan made the inaugural crossing with the Mayor of Mid and East Antrim on board to wave it in (they were going to use the Manxman until someone mentioned the word wave). The route replaces the old Belfast service, which quietly sailed into the sunset back in December. From July, the Ben-my-Chree takes over with three sailings a week year-round after a big interior refurbishment. Whether anyone from Larne was actually waiting at the other end remains unconfirmed, but at least you can now get to the Giant's Causeway without routing through Heysham. Kiss them they’re Irish ☘️

The funding situation at Hospice Isle of Man made national headlines this week after Toby Porter, head of Hospice UK, publicly called the situation a "cack-handed muddle." That's quite the review. The hospice has been running at a deficit for six years, with government covering just 24% of its funding — compared to 44% in Jersey and 36% across the UK. Redundancies have been announced, services are being cut, and the health minister says core services will be "protected." With a general election in September - and end of life care being an understandably very sensitive service - expect this topic to come up again.

The row at Peel Town Commissioners has gone from simmering to full boil. Commissioner Katryna Baptist posted a video raising concerns about governance and transparency — the board responded by stripping her of committee roles and launching an internal investigation into her, which is certainly a choice. MHKs Kate Lord-Brennan and Julie Edge have both publicly backed Baptist. The dispute partly centres on whether a vote took place about a beach stage — the board says no, Baptist and others say yes. Local businesses on Peel High Street have also weighed in. At this point Beachgate has more plot twists than a soap opera, and we're only on episode three. Ya sonova’ beach 🏖️

Douglas's very own Joe Locke — Heartstopper star, Marvel villain, Broadway lad — has landed a role in Kevin, an animated comedy about a neurotic cat who breaks up with his owners and moves into a pet rescue in Queens. It drops on Amazon Prime on April 20th and the cast is absurd: Aubrey Plaza, Whoopi Goldberg, Patti LuPone, and our Joe. A Manx actor in a show about a cat. The Daily Tail would like the record to show that we manifested this.

The Green Lounge, the island's first medicinal cannabis café, has opened its doors on Parliament Street in Ramsey — and immediately ran into more problems than Seth Rogan in Pineapple Express. Founder Maria Bostock says bus strikes and soaring fuel costs have made it genuinely hard to get customers through the door, which is sad to hear. The café serves coffee, homemade food and mushroom-based nootropic drinks alongside a designated area for prescription cannabis vaporisation — no smoking, no recreational use, passes required. It's calm, it's legal, and it's much healthier than those 5 Sambucas you had Friday night. We’re all about supporting local businesses here at The Daily Tail, head over for a CBD coffee: https://www.thegreenloungecsc.com/

Channing Tatum has confirmed he's fit, healthy, and ready to start training for the TT movie — the Amazon-produced film about the Isle of Man TT races, backed by Brad Pitt's production company. Tatum had been recovering from shoulder surgery after a skiing injury but took to Instagram to say he'll be on the island filming in roughly six weeks. So yes, Magic Mike is coming to do laps of the Mountain Road. We're also getting a companion docuseries shot during the 2024 TT, so the island's getting the full Hollywood treatment this summer. If you spot an offensively handsome man on a motorbike around town, it's either Channing Tatum or Tyson Fury. I still think they should have cast me as the lead personally…

🎵 The Corrib Singers (Mon 7th, Old Grammar School, Castletown + Wed 9th, Laxey Wheel) — Traditional Irish vocal group over from Galway. Raw harmonies, no backing tracks, proper music. Two chances to catch them.

🍺 CAMRA Beer & Cider Festival (Thu 9th–Sat 11th, Villa Marina) — Three days of real ale, cider, and increasingly questionable pint choices. Year thirteen. Bring a designated walker.

🎸 John Power: Cast, the La's, and Me (Thu 9th, Villa Marina Prom Suite) — Britpop royalty tells tales and plays the hits. If "Alright" doesn't make you feel something, check your pulse.

😂 Tom Davis: Spudgun (Sat 11th, Gaiety Theatre) — The big lad from King Gary and Taskmaster brings his stand-up to Douglas. Loud, daft, and very funny.

Do you have a gripe, some hot off the press goss, or a funny story? Be our first ever letter writer and secure your place in Daily Tail history, drop us a line at [email protected]

Did you lock eyes with Mr Right at Bushy’s, or bump into your future wife in Marks & Spencer and wish you’d said hello?

Send your Missed Connections to [email protected] with the subject line 'Missed Connection.' If your person gets in touch, we'll play cupid. This island is too small for what-ifs ❤️

If you do go on a date, please send us a photo 📸

That's your lot for this week yessirs. Keep an eye on fuelwatch.im, give the Green Lounge a visit if you can make it to Ramsey, and if Joe Locke needs a Manx dialect coach for his cat role, we're available. If you didn't like this newsletter, there's a ferry to Larne in the morning.

See you next time.

— The Daily Tail 😽