The first House of Keys sitting of 2022 gets underway today with a bumper crop of questions posed by backbenchers.

Time shouldn’t be a problem, though, because aside from the 18 questions tabled, there is nothing else on the agenda for today (Tuesday’s) sitting, with no legislation to deal with.

A wide range of topics are covered by the question paper, with varying degrees of specificity.

Chris Thomas (Douglas Central) is known for his forensic approach to some issues, and his question to Environment Minister Clare Barber about aspects and implications of the proposed Energy Bill, and another to Infrastructure Minister Tim Crookall about competition rules for gas supplies, both have the potential to illustrate that.

He also has further questions about gas prices and regulations.

On the other end of the specificity scale, Joney Faragher (Labour, Douglas East) will ask Treasury Minister David Ashford what his policy is on progressive taxation. We’re expecting a big picture reply rather than the minutiae, but you never know.

Other subjects covered in the order paper include more about the bond issue, tree felling, energy efficiency, bus fares and rates modernisation.

Isle of Man Bank’s services for charities will also be discussed, while race commentator turned MHK Tim Glover (Arbory, Castletown and Malew) wants to know who was consulted before the new Manx Grand Prix programme was announced - a topic also due to be raised by his constituency colleague Jason Moorhouse.

But perhaps the biggest question- that sadly does not appear on the agenda - is whether ministers have recovered from their grumpiness at MHKs having the temerity not to roll over, have their tummy tickled, and let the Island Plan debate go ahead at short notice in Tynwald last week.

Although no such question is on the order paper, if we were being cheeky we would suggest someone in the Council of Ministers could request standing orders be suspended so it could be asked.

In the absence of that, we must speculate as to the brightness of mood from within the cabinet.

Some ministerial comments on social media last week suggested they hadn’t entirely got over their failure to be allowed to have the debate and vote on the Island Plan, which only appeared at the last minute on a supplementary agenda.

Strangely, the majority of ministerial messaging didn’t acknowledge that having such a vote just four days after the Island Plan was published rather excluded members of the public from the chance to read the final document, let alone give their views.

As for today, keep an eye out in case any real questions get an answer along the lines of, ’We can’t tell you because we didn’t have the Island Plan debate.’

Not that we would ever expect such levels of pettiness from our elected politicians, even if they do appear to have broken the record for the shortest time it has taken dispel the post-election myth - resurrected every five years - that the new parliament will work together more than its predecessor.

If Speaker Juan Watterson grants permission for any late, urgent questions to be tabled today, the expression on some ministers’ faces may be quite entertaining.

We almost forgot to talk about Legislative Council. Well, there is no sitting because, well, there is no legislation to process. The Island Plan did promise an Income Tax Bill next month, though.