Monday, July 02, 2012

What is this Driver week?

Not a supporter of Ian Driver myself, I find it strange that Driver thinks has a chance as  a candidate for the role Police and Crime Commissioner as per this announcement from Ian Driver?

"I will be standing on a progressive platform calling for the reform of old fashioned and unworkable drugs and prostitution laws which will save £billions in police funding, which can be re-invested into community policing and cracking down on crime and disorder. I also want to Kent Police to take a much tougher stance on domestic abuse, hate crime and dangerous driving."

"Without the backing of a big party machine I will be reliant on donations from the Kent public to fund my campaign and pay the £5,000 election deposit. This is a chance for the people of Kent to have powerful, independent and non-party political person heading up law and order in the county".

For myself I would like to see a candidate, and I'm sure this does not apply to anyone we know, who is "independent" whether flitting from Labour to obscure left wing socialist activist led organisations and back to Labour over several years qualifies someone as a non-party person, is a moot point,  I have my doubts.

I don't want someone who is happy have principles, involve the police and then for political expediency cuts a deal with someone we are lead to believe is involved in Hate Crime, which as we all know is never trivial but always vile and unforgivable.

The ideal independent candidate in my book would be a normal sort of working person, not involved in extreme politics, who earns their money in the real world economy not through public sector, quangos or welfare, who has a respect for police and public perhaps but with some objectivity, who can recognise issues such as Kent  Police finding 30% of reported rape cases being non crimes.

Elsewhere this Press Release from local conservatives makes interesting reading

Press Release 2 July 2012



Cllrs Driver and Harrison – Lies and Hypocrisy


The TDC Conservative Group notes with interest that Cllr Ian Driver and Cllr Mike Harrison have agreed to work together, after Cllr Harrison referred to Cllr Driver as a ‘shirt lifting gender bender’.

Conservative Group Leader, Cllr Bob Bayford commented: “This is a cynical arrangement which ensures that both parties continue to exercise influence via the Overview and Scrutiny Panel and both continue to collect their Special Responsibility Allowances for doing so.  

“Before receiving an Harrassment Notice from Kent Police and admitting that ‘I probably did say them things (sic)’, Cllr Harrison claimed on several occasions that his Facebook account had been hacked by the Conservative Group in an attempt to smear him.  He has never apologised for these outrageous lies. The Labour Group has failed to call him to account for this.

“They have also failed to officially register Cllr Harrison’s derisory one month’s suspension, a period which did not include a single council meeting.”

The sudden announcement of the Councillors’ rapprochement came just days after Cllr Driver was quoted in the Isle of Thanet Gazette on 22 June as saying: “There is no place for misogyny and homophobia in politics.  If you put yourself up for public office to represent people, that must include everyone regardless of their gender or sexuality.  If you have these views, you are not fit for public office.”



-ENDS-



30 comments:

  1. I have known of Ian long enough to realise that he has overcome great personal stigma of speaking with a accent from up norf, and is struggling to make a political home with similarly difficult to place local councillors, Ian is a restless man and despite being taken in by Clive Hart and Thanet Labour party, given a nice safe seat, he soon realised that Labour wasn't for him.

    It's hoped that he will settle down now with his new friends, with a little help from Clive Hart who has show much generosity and is happy to feed him and his new friends with a little help from local taxpayers. God Bless them all.

    And all you can do is be mean Tony, you swine! Ian works hard to make any and every issue his own, one day animals, the next the gblt community, health, drugs, sex industry, housing you name he's on the case!

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    1. Do we wh0 are of the majority keep going round saying we are straight? No we don't! So why does Ian Driver and John Worrow insist on repeating at every given chance in public that they are bisexual, we really do not want to be continuously reminded of their sexual preferences, as I would not dream of inflicting others of mine, it is personal and of no inter3est to others.
      Grow up you two, there is more to life than sexual needs and you are being paid to do a job for the community. watch out you may not be as lucky in the next election, people are getting a little tired of me! me! me!

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  2. What does Ian Driver do for a living ? no agenda just interested

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  3. I see what you are gettinng at Mike, maybe instead of Police and Crime Commissioner maybe he should be on the NHS's department for Multiple personality disorders he seems to have an inside track in that department

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  4. Believe it or not, 9:30, but between standing outside health centres in the middle of the working day with a magaphone and sundry gay to beastly campaigns, he is actually manager of the Citizens Advice Bureau. You can pop along there for your next fix I believe, only joking, but one does wonder about a drug legalisation supporter giving advice to junkies.

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  5. How ignorant and ill informed some of these posters are.
    Anyone with any sense knows that the only solution to the drug related crime wave currently taking place in this country is to take it out of the hands of criminals.
    Do keep up.
    BTW, personal attacks just reinforce the lack of credible argument.

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    1. Yogi, how nice to see you joining in, but cannot agree your 'anyone with any sense' bit. Intelligent and informed opinion on the question of the legalisation of drugs is very much divided. On the one hand, it would take the supply out of criminal hands, though they will soon find something else for their talents, but it could equally send out the message to the young that drugs must be safe as they are legal.

      I would not profess to know the answer, but it is certainly not something I would highlight in my manifesto if running for police commissioner. I am not even sure that such appointments will even carry much weight in legislative circles.

      Think the trouble with Ian Driver is that, because of his constant bandwaggoning and tendency to shout down opposition, in the council chamber and on the street, he tends to invite personal abuse. Nice of you to defend him though.

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    2. It wasn't really my intention to defend him particularly. I just feel that some opinions about issues like drugs(which I don't take BTW) and homosexuality are rather outdated.

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    3. Can firmly held opinion ever really be dated, Yogi? Things have a tendency to go in and out of favour, or fashion if you prefer, and we have tended to lurch from one permissive society to the next puritanical one throughout history. Who is to say there is not another Cromwell waiting in the wings or Sharia law in the offing. What then for dated views on homosexuality?

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    4. OK. For "dated" substitute "unenlightened" if you like.
      Under Sharia or Neo Cromwellian regime, this term would still apply.

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    5. Even unenlightened depends on what light it is you follow. Those of most Christian, Moslem or Jewish faiths, following the light of their God, would hold a very different view to you Yogi.

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  6. Yogi
    Maastricht in Holland has already closed its drug selling coffee shops to tourists because of the concerns about nuisance and criminal activity,why would there be any difference here?
    In my eyes Driver is not fit to be a councillor let alone in charge of the police with these latest revelations and i hope that he is subjected to stop and search on a regular basis and a police search of his home on a saturday night is surely going to happen shortly.

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    1. Actually the restrictions on foreign tourists using coffee shops not just in Mastricht but in Holland generally is more to do with the traffic problems than any criminal activity.
      Also the right wing government whose idea it is, is on the verge of collapse so it will probably not last long.
      It's worth noting too that up until this u turn, Holland had the lowest rates of drug abuse in the developed world.

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    2. Mastricht is the only town i have been to in Holland so i can only judge from that,i was told that it was the bad behaviour by non dutch nationals that brought about the change in the rules and from what i saw there it was mostly drunken brits who insisted on being sold the drug that caused the most problems,not traffic,john that is a stupid way to back up your leaders arguement on soft drug usage.

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    3. I think you just hit the nail on the head Anonymous 6:31pm when you said "drunken brits"... After 30 years the war on drugs has done absolutely nothing to stem the flow here in the UK. Importers regularly have shipments found by the authorities, sometimes on purpose, but all this does is raise the street value and increases crime. For centuries other drugs have been legal namely tobacco and alcohol so arguing that cannabis is a class A is daft. I believe strongly in legislation followed by regulation and taxation.

      Fighting a war on substance abuse has done nothing whatsoever so time to change tactic.

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  7. As Ian is truly the leader of Thanet independent Group (TIG) not Worrow who thinks he is, it is patently clear that the lunatics have taken over the asylum, Worrow nowhere to be seen , won't turn up to Parish council meetings because the public will ask him questions, one must feel sorry for him so many important meetings for a VIP Cllr that prevent him from answering questions, perhaps all his busy extra activities are involved in trying to find TIG Blog Master David Fox!

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  8. “Breaking news. Ian Lereanmounth (sp?) the CC of Kent is apparently going to stand for Crime Commissioner of Kent. He was asked directly by the Federation if this was true but refused to comment. According to “someone in the know” the reason he won’t announce it yet is that the Government haven’t announced the regulations over the process yet.”

    http://inspectorgadget.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/feeling-it-all-begin-to-slide/

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  9. People get hypnotized by the word 'law'.

    As soon as people hear that something has been made a 'law', by some act of gov't, they get stunned and obey.

    Snap out of it.

    There is a difference between a threat to torture you if you do not submit and a true Law.

    Gravity is Law. Moral Action and Equal Reaction is Law.

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  10. Ken Gregory cleared of misconduct then.
    See what I mean by outdated, unenlightened and generally 19th century attitudes to these issues.
    Thanet is once again a laughing stock.

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  11. Don't you just love your dated nonsense, Yogi. What is dated today is back in fashion tomorrow and vice versa, Do you really belive that a very tiny minority are going to be able to force their particular bent on the vast majority in perpetuity. Of course it will not happen, and at some point in the future it will all go into reverse again.

    As for Cllr Gregory, well not being privvy to the remit of the Council's Standards Committee Powers and Rules of Conduct, I am unable, unlike you, to judge this decision. In his personal conduct what he did was wrong, but at least he did not try to wriggle when caught, like Harrison did, or try to blame someone else for hacking into his phone.

    Agree with you that Thanet is a laughing stock, but then so is the UK and has been for a long time. Typically, the last government were rightly condemned for not supplying our troops in Iraq with enough equipment. Their main critics, the Tories then take over and, instead of increasing the equipment supply to the right level, promptly cut the number of troops back to the fit the numbers of pair of boots they have got. That is called a Strategic Defence Review. That's my idea of a laugh, if it wasn't so bloody tragic.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Do I love my dated nonsense? Obviously.
      It's some others dated nonsense I object to.
      Anyroad up. No worries because homophobia is never going to go out of fashion whilst these kind of decisions are being made. But maybe that suits you. It doesn't suit me.
      As for tiny minorities forcing their "bent" as you put it, on the majority, it happens all the time and always has.
      Take our electoral system for example.
      I would dispute that the number of people who believe gays should be treated with respect are a tiny minority anyway. This may come as a shock, but some heterosexuals even believe in gay rights.
      Don't make the mistake of judging everyone else by your own standards.

      If you are happy to live with 50's attitudes. Fine. Stick with it. Don't presume you are in the majority though. Outside Planet Thanet, you might be in for a surprise.

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    3. As a DFL I am familiar with attitudes elsewhere, but I think you are missing my point. Gays are the tiny minority who seem, through the militant homesexual lobby, to be never ending in their ongoing demands. That is what I meant because at some point, the majority will say enough is enough. That too, has happened before.

      What you consider enlightened attitude is to others unsavoury attitude and, in the extreme cases, seriously offensive to their firmly held beliefs. If you don't choose to believe that, then that is your choice, but time will tell. There is always another Hitler or Mugabe waiting in the wings somewhere and acceptance is never universal, of anything.

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    4. Being never ending in their demands is not exclusive to the gay lobby. In that respect, they are the same as any other section of society.
      I don't disagree with your vision of a potential future. What I am concerned with is that in this time, when there is legislation against this sort of abuse, a person in public office escapes any meaningful repercussions.
      He could hardly wriggle out of it given the message was left in his own velvets in front of God and everybody.

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    5. I do not support the conduct of Ken Gregory and he was, of course, suspended by his party for six months when exposed. Nor do I support the language used by Mike Harrison, which is also displaying intolerance coupled with bad manners, but he was only suspended for one month by his.

      Yes, we could argue about levels or degrees of offence, but why are you so concerned about one seemingly escaping Council imposed sanctions and not the other.

      In my view, both should be expelled from office for showing such crass stupidity thus rendering them unfit for the purpose, if nothing else, but then so should those who renounce the colours under which they were elected.

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  12. Police Officer

    (Policy Enforcer Revenue Collector)

    An agent of a private corporation with a monopoly on force, employed to intimidate, harass and abduct anyone who falls
    to obey their corporate policies.

    Nothing to be proud of.

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  13. If I had my way none of them would still be sitting in council, If they have been selected and voted by the public to be a councillor for a certain party they should have no right what so ever to change to a different party without going through all the channels again at election time.
    I voted for Cllr Worrow because of the party he represented not for the person he was, I object to continue to waste my tax payers money paying for his wages to represent the opposition to whom I do not support.
    This whole business of voting for a person who represents a party of your choice is a complete farce, in fact I have never in all the years living in Thanet ever heard of this happening before. The whole country has gone mad, people do just as they like.
    The code of conduct which every councillor promises to uphold is not even enforced. Why do we even have these rules when all are disregarded? What an example to set for our young. I give up, there seems only a few who would receive my support the rest of them are disgraceful, disrespectful, abusive and are continually breaking the laws of this once wonderful country

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