Strange Times - stranger people

Russia invade Ukraine, big talk from world leaders and no action, an Islamic State is created led by crazy mad murderous perverts without an ounce of humanity or spiritual good, much of the Middle East is at war.

Back here in the UK in Rotherham, we find out that those paid to defend the weakest most vulnerable in society are found to have deserted them with police aiding and abetting rapists, social workers and councillors conveniently brushing aside the victims and fiddling with records, years go by 1400 children are violated, why because the perpetrators happened to be Asian, and those paid to look after them opted  to allow the vile abuse rather than confront the truth, that a group of Pakistani men were involved.

Oddly those "responsible" have all, so far managed to walk away unharmed, including Shaun Wright the former Labour councillor who'd been in charge of children's services at Rotherham Council, now Police and Crime Commisioner for South Yorkshire, despite calls for his resignation he has refused and why would he, clearly a man of principle, he has now resigned from the Labour Party however hanging on to his job a PCC despite the flak, made easier by the eighty grand salary.

Frankly the cowardly behaviour of those paid to protect and serve children in Rotherham shames the whole of British nation.

In contrast yesterday MP Douglas Carswell  resigned from the Conservative party and joined UKIP, a principled man, since unlike many past defectors, he is decided to stand in a bi-election. 

What has driven Douglas Carswell, is the clear misdirection of senior Tories including the PM who for instance promised a referendum which wont happen until sometime never, I think I've even heard my own party leader Clegg witter on about reforms. 

UKIP is a one trip pony, as local Cllr and Green party parliamentary candidate recently said (and God knows he's know having ridden a few ponies and band wagons), still that said Britain is under siege, and I suspect most of us have or are considering voting for UKIP.

The United Kingdom has been fundamentally changed, we have no boarder control and no say in government, we are subjects of a foreign government dominated by a Germany lead coalition, we as citizens of Britain, have been lied to and kept in the dark.

Rich politicians and media commentators, aren't like ordinary people, their jobs are not going to go to some East European, their children and grand children aren't going to be attending a schools where the education will be impacted by children not speaking English, nor do I suspect get in a long cue at 07:40 to get an appointment to see a doctor (now a standard procedure at my surgery), or increasing crime.

Anyway I often get comments about be being a UKIP member, well this is where I stand, I am and always have been a liberal, UKIP are a single issue party trying to disentangle the UK from the crazy EU, and it is quite likely that I will be voting for them in the next election. 

Should I resign from the Liberal Democrat party, well I'll answer that when Nick Clegg opens a debate which informs us and allows me and you to decide for ourselves.

We can expect another quarter million migrants, at least in the next year, will they be bringing their own homes, schools, hospitals, police stations, roads and transport er no, you and I will have squeeze up a bit more.

I think we should have open boarders for those who fill skills vacancies or are refugees in danger in their own country, everyone else ought go through a rigorous process (at their own expense) of education, of acceptable behaviour  and social customs, it could be pointed out that abusing children is not acceptable even in Rotherham, this could be extended to Brits returning from active duty with Isis.

Finally I take the view that people should be judged "by the content of their character" but Briton has had enough of the casual lack of protection afforded to its citizens by craven public employees such our politicians and of coarse police and social services.

Southern Water - A duty of care?

To flush or not to flush, that is the question for Thanet householders who now have to pay per litre for their water supply but whether Southern Water have any such qualms is a moot point, since twice this year, they've been caught short with their trousers down, just doing what comes naturally, which in their case is to pump thousands of gallons of toilet waste into the sea, a side effect of not investing enough in a system,  that can cope with our local weather and rainfall.

I followed up my earlier posting about Southern Waters appalling record on polluting our beaches and sea, and tried using plain English which is my first language to talk to the media department of Southern water plc unfortunately they don't speak plain English they speak, I assume a modified version of Orwell's newspeak ,which manifests itself, in that I would ask the question as to whether they report all incidents of released sewage into the sea and they'd reply by telling me that the environment agency would have details,  now this was not helpful,  they gave me a web link to some vaguely relevant webpage at the Enviroment agency however when pressed for more info they'd just refer me back to some useless web page from 2011.

Southern Water may or may not regularly flush raw sewage out to sea, however if  I understand  them correctly, their strategy is to say nothing and hope that when they do pollute it isn't picked up by the environment agency, when they take samples of the sea. It is worth remembering that in 2012 they kept schtum about a serious leak for days, the public only being alerted to health risks, literally by chance after which beaches in Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate were closed for around a week.

It is my belief that Southern Water have a duty of care to the public, so that when they have to release sewage into the sea they should, if they had any sense of public responsibility advise the publc so that we can take an informed decision whether or not to bathe in sea.

Finally, I see the Gazette website has one of those empty top knobs are looking into it type stories. A phrase I always remember comes to mind, spoken by Danny DeVito in the Film "Twins" which seems pertinent (Ladies and Children please look away "Money talks and B*!!sh/t Walks" 

PRESS RELEASE

Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidates call for the inspectors' report on East Kent hospitals to be taken seriously.

" Patients deserve the best care and dedicated staff deserve the best management. Hospital Trusts are complex organisations and it is difficult for individuals to hold them to account. Expert inspections are an essential part of keeping hospitals well run. "We can't pretend everything in the garden is rosy" says George Cunningham, "I hear from hardworking and caring staff who love their jobs but have been frustrated by poor management, and from patients whose experiences have been a mixture of the outstandingly good and the quite unacceptable."

Russ Timpson went on to say,”Basically we all want to know that patients will be safe and well cared for in hospital. The report highlights important areas for improvement in A&E and general management and should be acted upon without delay.

"We both think the response from Conservative MPs to simply dismiss the report out of hand is quite wrong. The report must be looked at carefully to see how our hospitals can be improved. There is no room for complacency.”

George Cunningham and Russ Timpson

LEFT-WING ALLIANCE LAUNCH ANTI DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN

Stumbled across one of those regular email rants from IMS who send out regular publicity for local demos and Thanet Watch Magazine and also promote Videos produced by Christine Tongue


EMAIL From I assume Christine Tongue


THANET STAND UP TO UKIP

Tel: 07947 424505

PRESS RELEASE

AUGUST 2014

“STOP FARAGE” CAMPAIGN IS LAUNCHED

A campaign has been launched to stop UKIP leader Nigel Farage being elected as MP for Thanet South.

Thanet Stand Up To UKIP is a broadbased campaign supported by trade unions, local people, Labour and the Green Party, LGBT and disabled activists.

The campaign has been launched even though UKIP hasn’t officially announced Farage is standing,

Campaign coordinator Bunny La Roche said: “Local UKIP activists have said Farage is on the shortlist and that means he’s bound to be chosen to run for Thanet South.”

Bunny continued: “We are dismayed that Nigel Farage is on the selection shortlist for south Thanet.  Farage is part of the establishment - a hard-right Tory.  He tries to present himself as the man of the people, he's not.

“He will only look after the interests of his class - the rich and powerful. That's why he's happy to make deals with the Tories. He has nothing to offer people of Thanet, except hatred, racism and bigotry. “

As evidence of what it claims is Farage’s “racist” attitude, the campaign is pointing to a report written by 18 year old Thanet resident Sula Shephard which appeared in the Independent  on Sunday newspaper.

"I intend to study politics at university,” Sula wrote in the newspaper, “so, before the European elections, when Farage held a rally in Margate, my friend and I went to hear what he had to say, away from the media spotlight.

“Naively, we believed that it would be an open meeting and that other non-Ukippers would have come to hear him, but we seemed to be the only two there.

“Surrounded by mainly middle-aged, white men and a few women, we felt out of place. But we became even more uncomfortable when Farage finally took to the stage. The standing ovations were so unsettling that we wanted the floor to open up and swallow us. Strangely, his racist remark about not wanting to live next door to Romanians, which he had publicly explained away as being down to ‘tiredness’ was repeated during the rally, eliciting another ovation."

Thanet Stand Up To UKIP, said Bunny, will be campaigning to try to stop Farage getting elected, by asking people to use their vote to stop Farage'.

Added Bunny: “We will be holding meetings, producing publications, and organising protests. We will also be involved in some fantastic cultural events to get our message across south Thanet, until Election Day in 2015.”

People are asked to contact Stand up to UKIP on thanetsutu@gmail.com  if they want to get involved.

MY REPLY EQUALLY RAMBLING

Dear Christine Tongue 

Question have you and your loose alliance of I assume Stalinist, Socialist workers and other highly rational "activists" finally lost the plot and gone completely barmy.  

You state at the start of your incredible ramble "A campaign has been launched to stop UKIP leader Nigel Farage being elected as MP for Thanet South. Pol Pot,  Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il and Kim Jong-un (junior) would be proud of your anti-democratic hate campaign as would any despot.

You continue your pathetic tirade "a hard-right Tory" , “He will only look after the interests of his class - the rich "deals with the Tories.

Compelling evidence is then bought to bare alleging Farage is a racist, coming from a highly credible source an eighteen year old (who wants to study politics at uni) even more so since apparently Sula Shephard's report appeared in the Independent on Sunday of a rally held by UKIP.

Now the rally in question, I attended and did not understand how Sula felt "we seemed to be the only two there" meaning non-UKIP members or that it wasn't an open meeting, I got my tickets explaining that I was a paid up member of the Liberal democratic party, no problem, yes of coarse at a UKIP rally not surprisingly you get a fair number of UKIP members what do really expect . 

Sula I suppose would be right in saying that the meeting wasn't entirely open, since at the entrance some fairly yobbish racist types were declined entrance to the meeting.  As for the accusation of Sula, of  being "Surrounded by mainly middle-aged, white men and a few women, we felt out of place... uncomfortable I'm sorry but Sula needs to get out more, perhaps to any political gathering where unfortunately it is true those who attend these things are predominately middle-aged and since this is Britain predominately white. 

Maybe it's me but your collaborator,  Sula seems to me to be not only to be ageist but a little racist, had the meeting been in Hackney or Southall then of course a meeting with predominately middle aged white men might be unusual.  

Anyway at least those in UKIP and those like me who sympathise with the desire to see this country independent of the EU are honest enough to use the democratic process, for someone who is so often involve in protest, its quite odd that you don't appear to be involved with any political party yourself.

No doubt should Nigel Farage stand for election in Thanet he will of course be haunted by a ragbag of work shy socialist "workers" "activist"  whose  behaviour will range from borish to thugish. To be bullied by self-righteous lefties every bit as obnoxious as any imaginary neo-nazis is clearly going to colour UKIP's campaign.

Anyway keep up the good work, may I suggest that you all get help.

Clearly it is not your view, but I for one do not believe there is any legitimacy in this countries relationship with the EU.

Who's your candidate Christine???? or is it all demo's and protest


Cheers tony flaig Bignews Margate

Sorry to all those who received this email pressed reply all rather than single reply

Weather forecast heavy rain with a chance of raw sewage- Thanks Southern Water

There was a time when you could naïvely look out the window and watch a thunderstorm or rainstorm, then think yourself lucky, that you were safe indoors, however in recent times and I suspect that I am not alone in this, each time we have a heavy downpour worrying that Southern water are going to discharge untreated sewage once again onto our lovely coast line. (it's already happened twice recently May 21st and 28th July.

Given that we have all ready seen to occurrences of our shores being polluted recently I thought that I would check with Southern water and ask whether they have had to release effluent at Foreness Point this weekend given yesterdays downpour.

I don't suppose as it will come as a shock to anyone but when I rang Southern Water this morning they were unable to to confirm whether as a result of yesterday's heavy rainfall, it was necessary to pollute our seashore once again, either they didn't know or couldn't find out.

No doubt some of my more conformist readers, those who still trust in authority, such as a large public company, will think that I'm being overly picky but here is the point in 2012 it seems Southern Water were quite happy to remain quiet about leaking sewage untreated from Foreness which for days was unknown until it only became public knowledge, after members of the public spotted toilet paper floating by in the water five days after the pollution incident started,  the council closed beaches for around a week  after it became public. 

So for anyone at Southern Water is there any danger of giving public health information a priority, I've spoken to Southern Water and will let you know if they have any information on what if any procedures they have for informing the public.

I just wonder if it should be part of the local weather forcast until such time as Southern Water divert the near million pound a day stream of profits it makes to share while it struggles with it's obligation  not to pollute. Expect heavy rain and with polluted beaches for the foreseeable future.

Margate Crackdown

In the week that the Council created a new team of  vigilante dustbin inspectors, snooping through peoples bins, TDC's latest press release reveals details of their Margate task force operations last month which involved up to 40 agencies from HMRC to Police and trading standards who took part in something called "Operation Streetweek" poking around the mean streets of Cliftonville.

No doubt it was all carried out to a high standard and everything was above board but to be honest for me it sounds rather sinister and authoritarian.

We learn from their press release that they have focused on Northdown Road visiting 382 properties at which resulted in 47 referrals to other agencies, these very apparently from housing enforcement concerns through to health concerns and of course minor drugs offenses.

I understand that this is a sort of annual event, when bureaucrats feel the need for the sun on their backs and a bit of fresh air, some exercise, perhaps a bit of finger waggling, so they get away from the desks and harass the people of Northdown and Cliftonville.

Those of us who have good luck not to live in or around Northdown Road are probably quite happy to see the authorities poke around, since quite a few people are reticent to go anywhere near the place these days.

However I just wondered about the legality and frankly the attitude of Thanet council, since when did they become a police force who are the Margate task force, who appointed them and who asked a bunch of publicrats to act as arbiter how people live.

Some aspects for instance cabinet member Elizabeth Greene, said that over 5500 properties have been visited since Streetweek activities began and then goes for a bit of street credibility by referring to needs being assessed, at street level, also the most worrying thing is the reference to officers "gaining valuable intelligence" from the community, you can just imagine TDC officers mounting covert surveillance on any of us under RIPA Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.

I personally hate it, when public services and authorities start to express their values, as if they have a place to do so.

The press release does not ask or give the views of any of the 382 occupants of properties that have been visited I just wonder what their opinions are, of having a posse of local authority police, Tax and immigration people turn up uninvited it might be slightly more interesting than the complacent view of our labour run council.

What occurs the rest of the year, who knows but maybe Margate Task force could perhaps make themselves present year round.

Finally for whatever reason, many in this area have more than a fair share of deprivation and I doubt that a mishmash of local services rattling peoples doors is the answer, Cliftonville's problems are the result of politicians, mainly Labour since they engineered the situation in which the lowest paid have become poorer. Politicians need to start looking at improving living standards.