Monday, April 21, 2014

Eight Years and a bit

Years, of news and comment, time flies when your having a good moan up.

Blogging, why do it, I often forget how long this blog has been a part of my life, I never forget why. But still the urge is weak these days, due to the endless disappointment of useless incompetent politicians tends drain the life out of me.

If you look at local media, newspapers and broadcasters, news output is rarely comprehensive, it's too easy for journalists to accept being spoon fed, that's why in recent weeks national broadcast news has endlessly reported the missing Malaysian airliner, and while doing so taking our minds off the crisis in the Ukraine and the West impotence in dealing with the awful criminal Putin.

The catalyst for this blog, was the incompetence of local government in getting the Turner Contemporary off the ground.  Unfortunately the local politisphere is still populated with those of average ability but high levels of self importance and the not unnatural, urge to grab as much of your money as they can.

Recent history has highlighted and boasted my view that local government is more than flawed, I'm sorry that I haven't time, recently to comment, but would like to thank in particular Cllr Ian Driver for giving us some flavour of the ineptitude of Thanet's Labour administration.

It would appear that Thanet's Labour group intend to govern at any price, just look at the dreary coalition that exist apparently with the sole purpose of affording hard "working" Labour to stagger from crisis to crisis.

Perhaps the most worrying aspect of Thanet Council is the pure hostility toward democracy, members of the public harassed at public meetings, shocking contempt for democratic decisions such as Clive Hart fighting his fellow democratically elected representatives over planning decisions (EKO) with the councils own money (YOUR MONEY), of course worse than Clive Hart seems to be the strange behaviour of council officers (who are virtually unsackable like all "public servants") who appear to be actively politicised refusing in the most petty fashion to assist.

Thanet council is facing a morass of financial disasters, with air head Labour thinking, things look pretty bad, finally just to give a flavour, Labour ignoring the fact that they did as much as they could to damage Manston Airports chances have created the Manston task force, no doubt this will make Labour top knobs feel good, contrast this with the Conservative response from MPs Sir Roger Gale and Laura Sandys who have at least challenged Anne Gloag and tried to save Manston. 

PS Thanks to local Bloggers such as Louise Oldfield, Ian Driver and Michael Child we have a window into our world which would not be covered by the Isle of Thanet Gazette, Thanet Extra, and taxpayer funded local BBC journalists.


23 comments:

  1. What do you think of the air pollution figures on Driver's blog Tony?

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  2. Not good we live in wealth country, take public transport, and give up smoking!

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  3. You forgot huge fans along our coast to blow the pollution back where it came from. Better still, just line up the Labour cabinet along the coast facing out to sea and invite them to tell us what is good about Labour. The outward expansion of hot air should do the trick.

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  4. Once again, Mr Flaig, you let your obsessive hatred of the Labour Party completely overtake your thinking and jottings. The result is a customarily negative rant without a hint of what YOU would do or what you would like to see happen.

    Your condemnation of Labour may well be right, but what is your alternative?. What policies and ideas do you hold? What policies and ideas do the two Parties - the Lib Dems and UKIP - that you seem to support have on, say, the regeneration of Thanet? On Manston, should KCC inject public funds as Gale seems to be proposing? Should central Government? If the airport can't be saved, what should be created there?

    What do YOU think? Why not start a positive debate for a change?

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    1. Regard my comments as a public service announcement, Labour our without a doubt a bunch of dangerous idiots imho, as to reference to my personal political leanings, please understand that I'm not an official spokesperson for any political party. The views expressed on these pages are my own, and would result in immediate suspension from any of our mainstream parties

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    2. You may not be an official spokesperson for UKIP or the Lib Dems, but that doesn't stop you saying what YOU would do. Fine to constantly bash Labour - as you habitually do - but without ever offering an idea of your own, your attacks lack credibility. All I am trying to encourage is a positive debate and exchange of ideas rather than a continuing, negative diatribe.

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  5. Difficult to have a positive debate with Hart and his clueless crew in charge for, whatever we may suggest, they will cock it up.

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  6. How much would Manston air pollution contribute to the deaths Tony?

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    1. None I suspect possibly they might even save a few, a quiet airport I imagine enables commercial aircraft minimal delays burning less fuel less nasty pollutants

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    2. What rubbish Tony: are you really saying car pollution would contribute to deaths but not airplane pollution?

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    3. The logic at 20:53 is incredible: no deaths are caused by Manston pollution but a quiet Manston would save lives? Eh?

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  7. You forgot to mention Matthew Brown and Simon Moores, surely their blogs are worthwhile too?

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  8. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  9. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    1. What a load of malicious garbage, exposed the moment the writer brought the term Tory into the frame. This is just an attempt to discredit a political party by association with unproven alleged activities.

      Bring together incidents years apart, locations miles apart and well known, but totally unrelated names, chuck it all in a pot, shake it about and, hey presto, out comes a conspiracy that some cadet officer, who just happened to be a Tory, was simultaneously plotting with the Army Intelligence Corps and South African Police to blow up Deal Barracks and oust Mandela as the leader of the ANC.

      You couldn't even write it as a fiction novel because it is too unbelievable even for fiction.

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    2. The mess in Thanet has not just happened in the last 2 years. In case anyone has forgotten for 9 of the last 11 years the conservatives were in control.

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    3. But Labour were in control before that, 12:01, and they once even had Steve Ladyman as leader of the council. When I first moved to Thanet we had both a Labour administration in Thanet as well as Westminster and it still did not exactly run smoothly. Anyway, how long does it take to start performing efficiently or is everything always the fault of the last Tory to hold office..

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    4. PLEASE NOTE THE COMMENTS ABOVE I BELIEVE REFER TO A COMMENTS I'VE DELETED..

      THE GENT I BELIEVE RESPONSIBLE NEVER HAS THE BALLS TO POST IN HIS OWN NAME MAY I CORDIALLY INVITE HIM TO FECK OFF PLEASE

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  10. All the main Parties customarily blame previous administrations for their current woes - the present Coalition being a prime example - and it is one of the off-putting characteristics of politicans. Locally, Mr Epps, we have seen Conservatives in power at District, County and Parliamentary levels at the same time. That delivered few benefits, too. I think we need to look beyond Party to establish what is so wrong with Thanet - and what should happen to make it better.

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    1. You may well be right, 13:03, but to bring about a system where the wisest heads, regardless of political calling, were to work together for the good the community, is not something we are likely to see under the present electoral method.

      Once upon a time, local governance was vested in good upstanding members of the local community without political tags, but I am offering no prizes for guessing which party changed all that by labelling their candidates. No matter which way you twist it, most of the evils that beset our nation trace back to the arrival on the scene of a certain political party.

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  11. We must agree to differ on your last point, Mr Epps.

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