Wonderwoman comes to Town

A scurrilous rag is apparently being circulated in Ramsgate outlining the so called acheivments of wannabe MP Laura Sandys. Sadly one has yet to drop through Observers door so I have had to rely on second hand copies. Apart from claiming to have sorted out just about everything thats wrong in Thanet generally she has also claimed credit for one or two specific things. One of these has provoked the ire of Labours Mike Harrison and Richard Nicholson. These two worthies have been campaigning for months to get CCTV cameras installed on the Newington Estate and it now seems that the lovely Laura is claiming credit for this. I am told that there have been a series of about twenty different meetings to discuss this and at no point has she been involved at all. Of course this is a well known Politico's trick to claim credit for someone elses deeds but normally you wait until after you are actually elected to something.
During my break from blogging Observer has been digging around in the bowels of TDC for interesting snippets and readers wont be suprised to learn that this much needed and widely supported CCTV scheme had apparently been put on hold by a very Senior Officer of our esteemed Council. How will the lovely Laura react when she discovers that one of her 'triumphs' has been scuppered by her Tory cronies at TDC?
Fortunatly all is not lost as Labour insiders tell me that Councillors Nicholson and Harrison have been making some very loud and uncomfortable noises at the very highest level including to Chief Inspector Peter West from the local Old Bill who's idea this was originally, indeed he even put some Police money into it to make sure it went ahead as speedily as possible.
More information as I get it.

Observing Thanet and Thanet Observer

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but I am not so sure about the idea of spinning a name around and using it as your own, but hey thats the Internet for you. Good luck to the new Blogger whoever he/she may be, shame he/she has banned political in fighting,,,,,,,,,,,thats half the fun of Blogging,,,,,,,

Jolly Boys Outing

It seems that our local worthies are going on a coach tour of Thanet tommorrow. The purpose of this outing is to introduce Councillors to Thanet. Now I am probably a bit niave but surely our local Councillors should know a bit about where they live already without having a guided tour and a nice lunch no doubt, paid for by the proletariat?
Presumably they will be shown the blank space where the never to be built Turner Contempt is proposed, then its quickly up the High street to veiw the 'major regeneration project' the old Marks and Spencer building, (soon to be a Primark,oops, cat out of bag again? )
Then it will be on to Christchurch University so that Sandy and co. can claim credit for that then if they can get through the traffic on to claim credit for Westwood Cross, ( conveniently forgetting to mention that they shelved the Labour plans for road improvments in May 2003 )
I suppose a quick visit to some empty Business Parks will be on the Agenda and the rest of the day will be spent pointing out to some Tories exactly where their Ward is, while proudly telling these gullible folks how 'we are going to create an Economic Development Unit' (conveniently forgetting to mention that they scrapped the last one.) So if you see this Grand Tour passing be sure and give them a quick wave as it may well be the first and last time you see your Tory Councillor

Down the pan , up the Swannee

So, Margate football club have finally been given their come uppance from the 'Authority'. Keith Piper has a long and distinguished history of making public statements that turn out not be 'not quite what I meant' or 'you obviously misunderstood me'.
Margate have tried several time to 'redevelope' their ground, only to change the plans at the last minute presumably hoping that no-one will notice the flats/houses/night club that have been slipped in.
The main trouble is that they have tried to run before they could walk, small wonder that there have been many transfer requests since the end of the season.
True Margate fans will be truly disappointed at the news of their clubs apparent demise.

Turmoil and Defections

Observer was reliably informed as far back as last Thursday from three separate and usually reliable sources that all was not well with the Ramsgate First Boys and Girls.
Apparently there had been a big falling out followed by resignations galore, this has been confirmed in todays Gazette.
All this may have something to do with the rumours that are circulating Ramsgate that Ramsgate First’s Cllr Mike Taylor is about to ‘cross the floor’ and join his old chums the Tories. For those that don’t know he used to be the Chairman of what was the Westcliff branch of the Conservative Party, he then defected to UKIP as the Conservatives “ weren’t right wing enough for me “. He is as far as I know still a member of UKIP, indeed he stood as a UKIP candidate in the Sir Moses Montifiore by election caused by the sad demise of Labours Dick Dickinson.
Now you have to understand that I am a bit thick but how can you be a member of one Party, get elected on the ticket of a second Party and then represent another in a public forum,,???
Allegedly one of his reasons for defecting to the Tories is financial, apparently he seems to think he hasn’t got enough Committee’s as a member of a small ‘Group’ ( oh yes, the err, Independents have formed a Group) so by being a member of the Tory Group he will get more committee’s and so increase his income. He obviously doesn’t know that Councillors Allowances are not determined by how many committee’s a member sits on, they get a standard allowance, maybe the Tories answer to Marta Hari who was apparently seen deep in conversation with said turncoat at a recent meeting should have explained that to him.
All of the foregoing doesn’t take into account the fact that he was elected as a Ramsgate First Councillor and the good voters of Central Harbour rejected three Conservative candidates in favour of alternative policies. When this becomes public knowledge (oh dear, have I let the cat out of the bag?) there will inevitably be a public outcry and calls for him to resign and refight the Central Harbour seat under his true blue colours.
If he has an ounce of honour or decency he will, but don’t try holding your breath until that time.

Olive Branch

I have changed the title back to Observing Thanet to please Tony Flaig.
I shall also be taking issue with him, politly of course, on his assertions about 'false science' in relation to global warming, if I can ever find the post again!!!
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He has also accused me of erupting "in a rather venomous and bitter way", well, yes guilty as charged.
My venom and bile was directed at the Tories as usual but was charged by the devious, blustering and spin ridden way they have conned the good people of Thanet into returning them to power again locally, although good sense prevailed in Ramsgate, I am unable to comprehend how certain areas returned Tory Councillors.
Listening to them sometimes I think they are actually starting to believe their own publicity.
The plain fact is that underneath all the touchy feely, huggy, huggy hype of David Cameron if you peel back the mask underneath you will find the same unpleasant, selfish I'm all right Jack Tory party and if you dont believe me follow the postings on Simon ( I'm Gods gift to everything) Moores Blog.

Whatever next !

from Tuesdays paper I glean the the new Tory Housing chief Zita Wiltshire has been guilty of kerb crawling and offering young children large sums of money to grass up whoever is doing the graffiti in Millmead.
I understand that there is a database of 'tags' available to Officers to indentify perpetrators.
Why then this desperate effort to get a small boy to give information?

Any Old Iron Guv ?

Oh dear, oh dear, it seems that Labour turncoat Ted Watt-Ruffell who now sits as a Tory on TDC has been slacking off at work as Thanets enterprising villians have been nicking stuff from under his nose.
It seems that our Ted is a security officer at the old dreamland site and is supposed to stop things like this happening, not content with stripping most of the site of precious metals they have stolen the power supply to the security hut !!!
It appears that the security staff thought there had been a power cut, presumably when they woke from their slumbers although they must be heavy sleepers not to hear toilets and sinks being ripped from walls.
I am probably casting aspertions on Mr Watt-Ruffells character when I say that maybe if there had been one or two foot patrols around the site these audacious theives would have had far less chance to make off with their booty!

No , my first thought was right,.

If you cant do the Time,,,,

Plenty to get our teeth into in what passes for Tuesday's 'newspaper'

It seems from reading the front page and talking to one or two people this poor chap was quietly catalouging his collection of pressed flowers or collating his collection of used postage stamps that had apparently come from a Post Office mail bag that was later removed from the scene, when Plod unceremoniously burst in the front door. The poor fellow was so suprised he leapt up and flung himself from his fourth floor window coming to a sudden stop when he hit the ground.
According to Chantelle 'The Chav' Webster who is pictured smiling inanley into the camera, about 30 police were in attendance plus ambulance and other assorted Agencies.

A message to all Thanet scroates:-

If you cant do the time, dont do the crime.

Now the dust has settled and election fever has subsided it is time to stand back and take a look at some of our new Councillors.
Where to start ?
Lets begin with the so called Ramsgate First Councillor who has covered himself with glory already, Mike Taylor has tried several times under different guises to get himself elected, having finally succeeded he now represent an organisation that wants to abolish the Ramsgate Charter Trustee’s.
One of his first acts was to dress himself up in the Trumpton like fancy costume that passes for ‘The Robes of Office’ and parade himself in front of the assembled multitudes at the annual Mayor making.

Hypocrisy of the first order methinks !!

While on the subject of Ramsgate First, it’s nice to see that their website is kept up to date, (NOT) it currently looks like they have forgotten to take the Christmas deccies down!!!

Another new boy is also in Central Harbour Ward, Westcliff to you and me, is Labour’s Peter Campbell. Cllr Campbell worked hard during the election and knocked on every door in his Ward. It remains to be seen if he walks the walk having talked the talk to good effect during the election.

Over in Eastcliff Labours Dave Green and Steve Ward are joined by new girl Kerry Harker. Kerry is apparently a nurse so has probably had plenty of experience of daft old duffers who have seen it and done it all. No doubt she will benefit from some sage guidance from the two senior Labour members.

Up in Sir Moses Ward Michelle Fenner and Alan Pool both retained their seats no doubt helped by their campaign the stop development of land at the side of King George Park. Observer hears that they continue to poke a sharp stick into the wound that is the Tory fiasco over this site.
More power to their elbow I say.


Meanwhile down in Nethercourt poor old Dennis Hart was unceremoniously dumped in favour of Brenda Rogers who looks like an airheaded bimbo who has never had a political thought in her head, I may well be doing the poor girl an injustice but only time will tell.

In outer Ramsgate all is well in the Labour heartland of Newington and Northwood where despite a furious onslaught from all sides sanity prevailed and the sitting Councillors were all returned with the addition of Labour new boy Mark Nottingham in Northwood.

Further afield Ella Lodge-Pritchard and Harry Scobie swept the board for Labour in Salmestone so poor old James Maskell was consigned to the loser’s enclosure, destined to look on from the sidelines for another four years.

Also elected was Gods answer to just about everything, well according to him anyway, Simon Moores. It seems that good old Simes has now got this Councillor business sussed,
he buggers off to exotic parts Chairing all sorts of obscure conferences leaving his co-Councillor Brian ( not me Guv ) Goodwin to do all the work, I bet that’s not what the good folk of Westgate signed up for when voting for him.

Finally who have the Tories chosen as Chairman of the Council this year?
Well its none other than the incompetent, mumbling, stumbling, incoherent former chief of Planning Disasters John Kirby, who’s performance at the Annual Council led Observer to think that he appeared very tired and emotional. No doubt he was drained from his exertions in Cliffsend during the election period.

Stop Press,

Ooops, I have just taken a look at the Ramsgate First website it seems that having run out of original ideas they are reduced to copy and pasting from the Times website.

Weally Wheelie Wubbish

The much heralded rollout of the current phase of wheelie bins seems to be causing much consternation among the various residents of Thanet who are having these things imposed on them.
Word reaches Observers ears of a mini disaster in Newington/Northwood areas,it seems that the leaflets setting out the new arrangments were missing when the bins were finally delivered, consequently collections were missed and the resultant mess is unbeleivable. It also seems that the contract for collection of waste paper was cancelled BEFORE the wheelies were due to begin, to add insult to injury Observer hears of problems with delivery in Holbrook Drive/ Newington Road areas where Labour dinosaurs Mike Harrison and Wynne Gore live, over to them to continue the story. Mike Harrison says
" When the guys who were delivering came into our road they missed the first house,delivered to the next one, missed the next six, delivered to the next two and then buggered off! I had to phone the depot to ask what was going on as most of one side and all of the other side had been missed out. The new bins duly arrived minus instructions and calender. A neighbour contacted TDC and was told all was well"
Wynne Gore added " For some reason, residents in Newington Road Ramsgate were not informed, in any way, of the change of refuse collection day before it took place - and only discovered the change when they rang TDC to report that their refuse had not been collected.
The call centre told the public that the paper collection day had not been changed. In my case the refuse collectors removed from our refuse bin four weeks supply of paper which had been for re-cycling but had got very wet outside on our previous collection day"

Now Observer is not noted for outstanding brain power but it seems to me that someone would have ensured that in an area where two opposition Councillors live special care would have been taken to get it right!! It appears that the shortfall in Newington is as a result of over enthusiasm in the Westbrook area where Mr Margate himself Mick Tomlinson has taken delivery of SIX wheelie bins.

No doubt Latchford will be in the paper next week proclaiming the whole excercise an outstanding success

Okay Ya !

Plans are apparently afoot to create some kind of artists quarter interspersed with fresh fish shops on Margate peir.
This grandious plan is the brain (sic) child of something called the Margate Renewal Partnership Board, not to be confused with the Margate Town Centre Regeneration Company, both of the august bodies claim to be the ones responsible for a renewed Margate and also claim the involvment of various partners. Strangely missing from BOTH lists is Thanet District Council.

New Year-new start

New Year-new start.
As the title suggests I am back,, I have been rather tardy in publishing of late but have been busy on Biggles blog.
Judging by some of the comments on there it seems his readers get more reactionary by the day, frequent references to Johnny Foreigner abound and one individual refers to 'feral children' in a rather unpleasant post.
It seems that everything is everyone elses fault and poor old Mr.Xenophobe, who apparently lives in a nice square box in a nice square town with nice square points of veiw is always the victim.
Why am I reminded of the Pete Seeger song 'Little Boxes' ?

LITTLE BOXES

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same,
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All went to the university
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same
And there's doctors and lawyers
And business executives
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.

And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same,
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

Words and music by Malvina Reynolds.
Copyright 1962, Schroder Music Company

Seconds Out!

My moles tell me that all is not well in the Blue corner for the forthcoming battle of the Parties. Apparently a trio of high profile Tories have been unceremoniously dumped out of the ring. The Tartan Terror has been punted from St Peters, the Bearded Wonder has vacated Viking. and Miss Prim has been clobbered in Cliffsend, also of course the Dentist deserted Birchington. You can hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth from here. what further shocks are there in store for unsuspecting sitting Tory Councillors?.

Meanwhile in the Red corner all is apparently going smoothly in the battle to become candidates for next years big contest.
Round one to the Red team!

But what of the others I hear you cry, well as yet I have not heard of any movement in the Yellow corner but as soon as I do it will be posted here, the Kalidescope corner has been very quiet apart from a few rumblings in the Westgate area but maybe there will be a renaisance of the 'Independant Spirit' ( or closet Tories ) in the North of the Isle.

Of course the disaffected and disenchanted erstwhile Councillors who have failed and failed again will no doubt hitch there wagons to the Ghengis Kahn party in the forlorn hope that there will be a surge of bigotry in Thanet.

It promises to be the most interesting local election for many years.

Oh no, another Jonathan, !!

So the local Tories have at last found a successor to whatsisname who had several abortive attempts to unseat Steve Ladyman.
It seems from the reports that this lovely Tory Gal is the answer to all our prayers. According to the synchophantic report in last weeks Gazette this angel of politics is going to swoop down and sort all Thanets problems with one wave of her magic wand. Then according to the Chairman of the Thanet South Tories she is going to be 'just like Jonathan'
Surely I cant be the only person who remembers the CONVICTED CRIMINAL who was our MP?
So it seems that according to her Chairman this lovely lady (sic) is doomed to go the way of our previous Tory MP and spend a good amount of time behind bars and then become a born again christian going round spreading goodness and light desperatly trying to forget past mistakes, or perhaps reflecting that the only mistake was getting caught.

Bubbles Bursting.

So has Dave the Chameleon's bubble finally burst?
It seems from the latest opinion polls that the British public have at last seen what those of us who take notice of these things ( there are about 17 in Thanet !) have known since day 1, that David Cameron is all show and no knickers. As he will no doubt discover this week you cannot be all things to all men ( and women) and the grass roots of the Tory Party are as resistant to change as they ever were.
The lack of any substance in his policies is of course reflected locally, Observer has a long memory and recalls Cllr Iris Johnston very publicly asking Sandy Ezekiel for a copy of the local Tory Manifesto.

below is a quote from The Labour Groups website
" The local Conservatives took control of Thanet District Council on May 1st but does anyone know what their plans for the area are? The Labour group produced a 17-page full manifesto before the election, widely available for anyone who requested it. However, the Conservative group still appear, after the election, not to have a manifesto. At the first full Council meeting after the election Cllr. Iris Johnston noted her concerns and asked the newly elected leader Cllr. Ezekiel if he had a copy of the missing manifesto. Cllr. Ezekiel replied that he had given a copy of the manifesto to the Chief Executive and that a copy would be available for Cllr. Johnstone at 10.30 the next morning. Cllr. Iris Johnstone duly turned up at the Council Office for her copy of the Conservative Manifesto, but was fobbed off with the claim it appeared on the Conservative Election address. This was despite the assurance from a flustered Cllr. Ezekiel the previous evening. Cllr. Ezekiel also told Cllr. Johnstone that the document that he has produced for the Chief Executive is "private & confidential". What are the Conservative group plans that are so secretive the electorate that voted for them cannot see? "

AFIK Cllr Johnston has never got her copy of the Local Tory Manifesto probably because it didnt exist nor have I heard of anyone else seeing it, so it seems that national Politico's are following Sandy's lead and making it up as they go along.

Saviours on White Chargers

Thanet seems to be awash with folks who are going to 'Save the Island' from some perceived disaster or other.

We have of course Gerry O'Donell who single handedly is going to reinvigorate Ramsgate by creating another costly tier of local Government.

We have Chris Wells who is in the process of 'saving' the Revolution skate park.

And now we have Roxanne Cheshire-Brazier who single handedly is going to stop the Westwood housing development.

O'Donell actually lives in Ramsgate and could therefore be said to be interested in its future, Chris Wells is a democratically elected representative so it could be said that his actions are legitimate, as Roxanne Chesher-Brazier however is unelected ( she was co-opted onto Acol Parish Council to make up the numbers ) and lives several miles from the proposed development. Observer fails to see what her interest is other than self promotion ( maybe with one eye on next May ) Incidently does the fact that she had to be co-opted onto a Parish Council to make up numbers indicate a distinct lack of interest in Parish Councils and does that fact bode well for O'Donell and co?

Goodbye Biggles

So Dr Moores has decided to call it a day when his Blog reaches 200.000 hits. He claims it has served its purpose and is taking up to much of his time. That may very well be the case, alternatively it could be that there are now several other Blogs that are creating talking points and putting a different slant on local news and issues and he is no longer able to propound the Tory Mantra unopposed. Undoubtedly Thanet Life has contributed to and increased awareness of Blogs in Thanet but has it contributed to a wider understanding of the issues or has it just been a vehicle for the disaffected to let off steam?
While Blogs give the opportunity for those people who do not have the chance to make their view's known in public they also give a platform for some of the more extreme and bizarre opinions to be expressed in public.

So should Blogs be a) a diary of the writers life, b) a platform for extreme veiws,
or c) a debating forum where people are free to express differering veiws?


Discuss:-

Referendum

So the Council decided last night to hold a referendum on the much debated subject of a Parish Council for Ramsgate. No doubt that Ramsgate First will be declaring it a victory. Well we will have to see, the outcome will depend on the question and the quality of the information available during the campaign. No doubt Ramsgate First will employ all the spin they can muster and lure people into voting for a Parish Council with promises of swimming pools, clean streets, extra policemen and all the other tit bits they can think of. At no point during the campaign will they be able to provide costings for this, other than to say that it will only cost another £25.00 on the council tax. They really should ask the cost of things before making wild promises, if a Parish Council is formed the Charter Trustee's will be abolished and all the assets handed over to the Parish Council. The Charter Trustee's assets DO NOT INCLUDE Albion House, all they hold are the Town Regalia. Some of the things they ( Ramsgate First ) havnt considered therefore are, the cost of aquiring and running a building to house themselves, the cost of staff to service a Parish Council, the cost of holding parish elections every year or four years depending on which option they choose, the cost of purchasing and maintaining IT, if they convert to a Town Council there will be the cost of the Mayor, hospitality for visitors, cost of the Mayors trips, the list is endless.
No doubt these refugees from UKIP who are desperate to have the prefix Cllr in front of their name will lie and spin their way through any referendum campaign in a final frantic effort to become COUNCILLORS!!!!

I would urge everyone to think very carefully about what they are doing and the potential effects on Council Tax in Ramsgate when they cast their vote.

Oh , and still no news of the 'Silent Six' presumably another fanciful thought from these Walter Mitty type characters.

Thanet Guide for Americans

Apparently the Adscene are to help produce a 'Guide to Thanet' for the bosses of CI Travel, thats the company who are supposed to be bringing in American tourists from next May.
Readers are invited to submit suggestions for inclusion in this guide.
And all the while there was I thinking that the Taxpayers funded lots of jolly folk at KCC and Thanet Councils whose job this was, also of course there are the other Quangos that employ more jolly people to do this kind of thing.
While it is NOT my intention to decry Margate I do think it is a bit of an exageration for CI's Director of Marketing and PR Victoria Cash to describe Margate as 'a lovely romantic destination'.
As I have said elsewhere I hope that the Airport is a success but there are still a couple of things bothering me,

As far as I know no contract has yet been signed between Infratil and CI Travel,

As yet the Airport still only employs TWO permanent full time staff,
The Manager and his nephew the Freight Manager,,( note to self ,,possible nepotism? )

The radar as yet has not been repaired, that probably accounts for some of the bizzare flight paths taken lately,

Where exactly are these hords of American tourists going to stay?, we hear only last week that another two large hotels are in trouble.

Or is this all just a sop to Thanet and the original plan is still to fly these folks into KIA and "spend a couple of days in Canterbury before moving on"

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Biggles,,,,

I see that Simon Moores has craftily taken the opportunity allow his readers to take yet another cheap and uninformed shot at the Goverment. Under the heading 'Clangers' he writes:-
What do you think of a fine or even two years in jail for not having a bicycle bell?
Another soft target for law-enforcement perhaps?
This has arisen as a result of an article in one of the Tory party house journals,



Of course his readers have leapt on the bandwagon claiming or assuming that this is a new law and is somehow linked to a soft line on child sex offenders, rapists and murderers. As far as I know it has ALWAYS been an offence not to have a means of warning on your bicycle and to try and pretend that this is another law to allow soft targets to be met is just one more in a long line of corruption of the facts. It is in fact the very type of spin that Dr Moores and his readers allege they have had enough of.
One rule for Tories and another for the rest of us ??

The politics of non politics.

With local elections looming large in the not to distant future all the wannabe Councillors are busy sharpening their axes in preparation for the forthcoming battle. Of course the two main parties have well oiled machines ready to spring into action at the slightest hint of an election and make no pretense at being 'non political' ( apart from certain Tories) however Residents groups of one kind or another are a different matter. They all pretend to be 'Independent' but the reality is that they are as political as a proper party. They usually campaign on the same issues with the same solutions and if elected immediately form themselves into a Group with a Leader, I cannot believe that these people are so naive that they don't realise that they have then formed a Political Party.
I assume that Tom King and Gerry O'Donnell and others have aspirations in that direction.


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Chip 'n Bin,,,,,or much ado about nothing.

The Gazette last friday announced that TDC had wasted £10.000 'spying on residents' wheelie bin rubbish'
One Erika Osbourne who apparently wrote some thing called The Wheelie Bin Diary for IOTG ( I assume they didnt have an expert journalist in rubbish ) loudly proclaimed " It's a shock. My refuse is my refuse. What I throw away is my business "
A Civil Liberties campaigner was also enraged and screeched " It's appaling. Its an excuse for them to poke their noses into our bins"
Malcom Kirkaldie of Ramsgate was also incensed, " people have given their lives to prevent these kinds of intrusions"
One poor old feller from Margate was so confused he thought that he may be in trouble for not throwing away enough.
I read these words with absolute disbelief, how can anyone possibly imagine that there is a micro chip capable of reading the contents of someones bin is beyond me. Dont these people realise that the chip was there for one purpose and that was to record the weight collected, not to see how many empties or used packets of cat food you are throwing away.
I was also unsuprised to realise that TDC had not thought or bothered to ask any other Council who had trialed this method what the results were before squandering ten grand of Taxpayers money.

Newspapers

People often ask why do so many people in Thanet think that the local papers are rubbish?
reproduced below is an article and photo from Tuesdays Thanet Times,,,,,,





Not much wrong with that you might think,,,,,well its a good thing that as a result of the previous Labour Councils forward thinking jobs are being created,,,,more investment in Thanet...etc, etc.

HOWEVER our wonderful local rag has decided to move Wickes new store from its current location on Thanet Reach to the former Pearce signs site....maybe a photo of the new store taking shape would have a) informed them exactly where it is and b) portrayed a more positive image for Thanet rather than the impression given that the unused building had been left to go derelict before anything was done,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,if they cant get an innocuous little story like this right what hope is there of ever getting a more important story right,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Of course to get the facts you have to get up off your butt and go out and talk to people,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,much easier to take an old photo out of the archives and add a few words of what you think are the facts and publish,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,



At least they have had the decency to acknowledge the mistake in today 'paper'

Kent International Airport

Observer hears that while ' Our Shirl ' was busy giving the Theatre Royal a big lump of money she was also giving the sum of £10,000 to something called the Kent-Virginia Direct Flights Project.
Now I am in support of the Airport and I hope its a success,,,BUT there are limits and questions that need answering,,,,
This sum of £10,000 was presumably given to this group to help promote inward tourism into Thanet but unless I misunderstood what I read in the local 'newspapers' the plan is that these folks will fly into KIA and "spend a couple of days in Canterbury before moving on"
not much benefit to Thanet there then,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
another wasted £10,000 on 'Tourism' ,,,oh well its only taxpayers money,,,,

And when are the airport owners going to employ some local people??
currently everyone working there apart from senior managers are emploiyed on a part time basis by an Agency in Scotland,,,,,presumably there wasnt one locally,,,,
Of course not much labour is needed because the airport Firefighters are now required to " justify their existance" and they are utilised to load and unload planes as required,,,,,,,,,,,,,

When are the airport owners and TDC going to sit down and agree a new section 106 agreement....

Politics or not,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Cllr. Bill Hayton recently critisised Cllr Clive Hart for being political during an exchange of veiws in the local rag..

Bill Hayton represents the Conservatives at Kent county Council,,
Bill Hayton represents the Conservatives at Thanet District Council,,
Bill Hayton represents the Conservatives on Broadstairs Town Council,,,

Now unless I missed something the Conservatives are a political party in much the same way as Labour are also a political party. Individuals standing under the banner of a Political Party automatically become Politicians by definition.I have also Observed that whenever the Conservatives propose a course of action it is always 'fair and reasonable' but whenever the Labour Opposition propose a different course of action or suggest an ammendment they are being Political.

Readers may have a different veiw,,login and post your thoughts,,,



nb. Liberal Democrats need not apply,,,

Theatre Royal,,death by a thousand cuts ??

Once again the Theatre Royal in Margate is in crisis and is looking to the entertainment world to bail them out. What is not mentioned in the story in Fridays paper is the fact that yet again they have gone cap in hand to Thanet Council to bail them out. Observer hears that in the absence of the Chairman of the Council, Cllr Geoff Kirkpatrick his deputy, Cllr 'Shirley Temple' Tomlinson has approved a further sum of £7,500 to keep them afloat for another few weeks. This is despite the fact that TDC agreed the following:-
"
i)
To ensure the Theatres short-term future a sum equal to 25% of the total grant be paid immediately pending the Consultants report; and
(ii)
A further report be submitted to the Panel after the Theatre Royals Consultants report is published in order that the remainder of the grant can be determined.

However, since this decision was made it has come to light that £25,000 of the grant has already been made to the Theatre Royal in accordance with previous yearsÂ’ practice (50% in April and 50% in September).

In light of this, Cabinet is recommended to approve that::
(i)
To ensure the Theatres short-term future the sum paid equal to 50% of the total grant be approved pending the Consultants report; and
(ii)
A further report be submitted to the Executive and Policy Scrutiny Panel after the Theatre Royals Consultants report is published in order that the remainder of the grant can be determined.
"

( Note the cock up!! )

So the Councils Scrutiny Panel had recommended that £12,500 of the grant be paid immediatly with a decision on the remainder to be taken on receipt of the Consultants report, Observer is told that this is now well overdue!!

Thanet Council paid over £25,000 in May,
KCC gave grant in a similar amount,,
In August they were back asking for another £7,500
They have had income as well during this time so the questions need to be asked,,
how are they managing to spend well in excess of £20,000 a month?
should TDC continue to support a sinking ship?
how many Thanet residents benefit from the continued existence of the Theatre Royal?

Eastcliff Blog suspended

Labour Councillor Dave Green has temporarily suspended his Blog spot due to pressure from 'The Authorities' It seems that he has been threatened with The Standards Board due to comments he has made on his Blog and in other places.
This of course is symptomatic of the paranoid reaction of not only Members of the Council but also Officers to any criticism at all. There is a deeply held belief that "we are right and everyone else is wrong and are being political" See comments on Biggles Blogspot and here Of course Tories have always reacted sharply to any suggestion that they are less than perfect so maybe we should step back and consider their past at TDC.
Depending on your memory some of you will remember 'The Fake Sheik Affair', maybe the Chairman of Finance who was printing his own money,,the Milkbottle advertising scandal,,,the pontoon fiasco,, these are just a few of the troubles that have beset Thanet Council over the years, there have always been the nudge,nudge, wink, wink allegations of scandal and corruption,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
If only there had been a Standards Board back then,,,,,,,

Interestingly Dave Green's wife Elizabeth also a local Councillor sits on the local Standards Board.......

Trouble 't Mill,,,,

Quote from bignewsmargate.blogspot.com

"Sometimes it's the little things in life that matter, and hidden in a small column within the Isle of Thanet Gazette in their business briefs column, was this small but revealing fact that Thanet District Council spent £450,000 last year on temporary staff. I would wager that £450,000 would be the equivalent of something like average pay for maybe 25 people.

There are a number of ways to look at this, firstly if Thanet council need 25 additional staff in the year, why don't they give them a contract of employment. Also of this £450,000 just how much of this money would be creamed off by employment agencies. If Thanet council spend nearly half-a-million on temps just how much are they spending on directly employed staff, given that many of the 'officers' are trousering £ 30,000 plus. "





I have Observed that since winning the local election in May 2003 the Tories have presided over an overwhelming mass exodus of very senior and experienced staff without batting an eyelid. While I am not intending to be critical of staff that have in some cases replaced them it is worrying nonetheless that this number of senior staff have felt that the Council is being run in such a way as to prompt departure. I list below the SENIOR staff that have left.
Director of Finance, Director of Planning, Director of Community Services,
Director of Support Services, Director of Environmental Services, Head of Regeneration, Head of Communications, Economic Development Manager, Head of Internal Audit,Audit and Performance Manager, Financial Services Manager, Coastal and Civil Engineering Manager, Head of Building Services, Head of Housing, Head of Legal Services, Monitoring Officer, Head of Economic Regeneration, Head of Leisure Services, Housing Services Manager –Strategy, Head of Revenue and Benefits, Head of Maritime Services, Head of Finance, Head of Democratic Services, Head of Leisure Services, Best Value/Performance Officer, LA21 & Health Improvement Co-Ordinator, Arts Development Officer, Arboricultural Officer, Sports Development Officer, Scrutiny Manager.

This list represents one senior member of staff leaving every six weeks and does not include experienced and knowledgeable junior staff, when they are included the leaving rate climbs to about one a week. If this situation arose in a private business senior Managers would be holding crisis meetings to address the situation and yet our Tory masters continue blindly on claiming that all is well.

It is understandable then that despite all that hype and spin coming from Cecil Street our roads continue to get dirtier, the Councils planning performance deteriorates, our housing waiting list gets longer, the overall performance gets worse,

Small wonder then that TDC had to spend nearly half a million quid just to keep services running,,,,and I bet they didnt say how much of that was spent on 'Consultants'

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Revolution Update

Our glorious first Citizein has announced 'efforts' to resolve the ongoing crisis at Revolution Skatepark. See Biggles Weblog. It also seems the Bearded One has been busy beavering away in the background. Still no news on what the position of TDC representatives attending TCDT board meetings is. There is much mention of 'Observing', but very little of actually participating. The question therefore is do TDC representatives actually know what their role is? if not why not? when was the role changed, if so when and by who? ( TDC representatives used to be FULL members) do they even care? are they just paying lip service to what is an issue of the moment? Are our glorious First Citizein and Ice Maiden Ingrid the right people to represent TDC at this organisation?

So many questions and so few answers!!

Observer also hears that The Wise One is incensed at the Bearded One's efforts to reach some sort of conclusion. No doubt when The Jovial General returns from family business he will sort it out by barking a few commands at his perceived inferiors.



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No news yet on the much trumpeted news that six Thanet Councillors have allegedly stated their support for Ramsgate First,,,,these are the folks who have fanciful notions of having a Ramsgate Town Council and spending very little money and acheiving a new Marina swimming pool,,more policmen in the town,,refurbishing Westcliff Hall,,,more advertising Ramsgate,,,and so on and so on,all at no extra cost to Ramsgate taxpayers,,,

anyway back to what I was saying,,,,six Councillors have stated support for a Ramsgate Town Council,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Observer hears that one lives in Birchington,and one is a Broadstairs Town Councillor already but no sign of the other four or any public statements of support,,,,,,,,,,
when are the ' Silent Six' going to come out of the closet?????